reasons of the house of commons why bishops ought not to have votes in parliament. england and wales. parliament. house of commons. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a83813 of text r209667 in the english short title catalog (thomason 669.f.3[3]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 3 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a83813 wing e2696 thomason 669.f.3[3] estc r209667 99868532 99868532 160561 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a83813) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 160561) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 245:669f3[3]) reasons of the house of commons why bishops ought not to have votes in parliament. england and wales. parliament. house of commons. 1 sheet ([1] p.) s.n., [london : 1641] imprint from wing. spurious -wing. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng bishops -england -early works to 1800. church and state -england -17th century -early works to 1800. a83813 r209667 (thomason 669.f.3[3]). civilwar no reasons of the house of commons why bishops ought not to have votes in parliament. england and wales. parliament. 1641 441 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. 2007-09 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-09 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-10 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2007-10 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion reasons of the house of commons why bishops ought not to have votes in parliament . 1 because it is a very great hinderance to the exercise of their ministeriall function . 2 because they doe vow and undertake at their ordination , when they enter into holy orders , that they will give themselves wholly to that vocation . 3 because councels and canons in severall ages do forbid them to meddle with secular affaires . 4 because the twenty foure bishops have a dependancie on the two archbishops , and because of their canonicall obedience to them . 5 because they are but for their lives , and therefore are not fit to have legislative power over the honours , inheritances , persons , and liberties of others . 6 because of bishops dependancy and expectancy of translations to places of great profit . 7 that severall bishops have of late much encroacht upon the consciences and liberties of the subjects , and they and their successours will be much encourag'd still to encroach , and the subjects will be much discouraged from complayning against such encouragements , if twenty sixe of that order bee to bee judges upon those complaints ; the same reason extends to their legislative power in any bill to passe for the regulation of their power upon any emergent inconvenience by it . 8 because the whole number of them is interessed to maintain the jurisdiction of bishops , which hath been found so grievous to the three kingdomes , that scotland hath utterly abolished it , and multitudes in england and ireland have petitioned against it . 9 because the bishops being lords of parliament , it setteth too great a distance between them and the rest of their brethren in the ministery , which occasioneth pride in them , discontent in others , and disquiet in the church . to their having votes a long time . answ . if in convenient time and usage are not to be considered with law-makers . some abbots voted as anciently in parliament as bishops , yet are taken away . that for the bishops certificate to plenary of benefice , and loyalty of mariage the bill extends not to them . for the secular jurisdictions of the dean of westminster , the bishops of durham , and ely , and archbishop of yorke , which they are to execute in their own persons the former reasons shew the inconveniences therein . for their temporal courts and jurisdictions which are executed by their temporall offices , the bill doth not concern them . finis . a christian beleefe concerning bishops this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a32888 of text r33290 in the english short title catalog (wing c3940). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 5 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a32888 wing c3940 estc r33290 13119344 ocm 13119344 97815 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a32888) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 97815) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1547:16) a christian beleefe concerning bishops northbrooke, john. spiritvs est vicarius christi in terra. 1 broadside. s.n.], [london : 1641. "partly extracted from john northbrooke's spiritvs est vicarius christie in terra. a breefe and pithie summe of the christian faith"--nuc pre-1956 imprints. place of publication suggested by wing. creased with slight loss of print. reproduction of original in the harvard university library. eng episcopacy. bishops. church polity. presbyterianism -apologetic works. a32888 r33290 (wing c3940). civilwar no a christian beleefe, concerning bishops. [no entry] 1641 844 9 0 0 0 0 0 107 f the rate of 107 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the f category of texts with 100 or more defects per 10,000 words. 2003-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-05 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-04 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2005-04 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a christian beleefe , concerning bishops . i a beleeve , b that the office of a bishop is a worthy office , and warrantable by the word of god , c approved of by the apostles , d and instituted of god himselfe : e having the charge of one particular church , f or congregation , under each of them , g which they are h set over , i to feede ; k that is , to preach the gospel to them : l instructing and m teaching them , not by the traditions of the fathers , n but by the holy scriptures , o and shewing them good examples , by leading p unreproovable lives , and q performing such offices of the r ministeriall function , as becommeth s such faithfull guides ; having regard to their t bishoprick , ( which is the u great charge of their w pastorall office ) x over which they are set . and i y beleeve , that our z praelaticall bishops , a who are lifted up to a b ruling power , and a c lording hierarchie , are d not called of god , nor of e divine institution , but f anti-christian , g ethnicall , and h diabolicall ; and i suffered to be k in the church , l by the good will and pleasure of almightie god , as a m punishment for our sinnes , and a token of gods displeasure : and therefore n the people of god ought to pray , o that they may be cast out of the church , and onely p preaching presbyters may remaine , to q divide the word of god , and open and r interprete it to the people . and i s beleeve , that the t temporall magistrates are appointed of god , to punish sinne u upon all evill doers , whether clergie , or laytie ; and the government of the church doth pertaine to the w church , or x congregation , with the y laytie , and their z assistance , and not to the sole a prelates . the church hath foure offices . first , to keepe the canonicall scriptures . secondly , to publish the same . thirdly , to keepe it cleare from the counterfeit apocrypha , and all ●ounterfeit and corrupt bookes . fourthly , to make it the rule of their actions . the churches authoritie doth consist ●hiefely in foure things . first , to choose and ordaine ministers , according to the order of the apostles . secondly , to teach by lawfull ministers , so made . thirdly , to minister the sacrament by tho●e ministers , using su●● , time as shall be thought most expedient for the s●me . fourthly , to examine the doctrines , whether they be of god , or not ; ●nd that must be done by the scriptures . john northbrooke , preacher of gods ●ord , cantabr . cyprianus ad cornaelium , liber primus . sacerdos dei evangelium tenens , & christà praecepta custodiens , occidi potest , non pot●st vinci . the faithfull beleever , that will imitate christ the high-priest , in holding the gospel , and keeping the commandements , may well be killed , but conquered he cannot be . printed in the yeere 1641. notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a32888e-30 a acts 8. 13. b 1 tim. 3. 1. c phil. 1. 1. d acts 20. 28. e revel. 2. 1. f psal. 68. 26. g 2 cor. 4. 5. h acts 20. 28. i rom. 1. 15. k 2 tim. 4. 1. l 1 cor. 2. 16. m math. 15. 3. n 2 tim. 3. 15. o 1 tim. 3. 2. p 2 cor. 8. 11. q eze. 44. 13. r rom. ●● 7. s isay 51. 18. t acts 1. 20. u 2 tim. 4. 1. w ephes. 4. 11. x hosea 7. 12. y acts 27. 25. z 2 tim. 4. 10. a 1 tim. 3. 6. b hosea 4. 18. c 1 peter 5. 3. d 1 thess. 5. 24. e 1 pet. 39. f 2 thess. 2. 3. g mark . 10. 42. h 2 tim. 3. 10. i 1 tim. 4. 10. k acts 19. 29. l 2 thess. 2. 4. m amos 8. 11. n john 17. 9. o 1 cor. 15. 24. p 2 cor. 4. 5. q 1 cor. 3. 14. r 1 cor. 14. 5. s john 2. 22. t rom. 13. 2. u rom. 13. 1. w 1 tim. 5. 16. x psal. 58. 1. y 1 tim. 5. 19. z acts 20. 17. a 1 pet. 5. 3. a letter sent to an honourable gentleman in way of satisfaction concerning some slanderous reports lately raised against the bishops and the rest of the clergie of this kingdome. hall, joseph, 1574-1656. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a45301 of text r14131 in the english short title catalog (wing h392). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 6 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 4 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a45301 wing h392 estc r14131 12717914 ocm 12717914 66259 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a45301) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 66259) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 253:e158, no 9) a letter sent to an honourable gentleman in way of satisfaction concerning some slanderous reports lately raised against the bishops and the rest of the clergie of this kingdome. hall, joseph, 1574-1656. e. i. [2], 5 p. s.n.], [london? : 1641. signed: e. i. by e. i., i.e. joseph hall. cf. bm. reproduction of original in thomason collection, british library. eng bishops -england -17th century. clergy -england -17th century. great britain -history -charles i, 1625-1649. a45301 r14131 (wing h392). civilwar no a letter sent to an honourable gentleman, in way of satisfaction, concerning some slanderous reports lately raised against the bishops, and hall, joseph 1641 1069 1 0 0 0 0 0 9 b the rate of 9 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the b category of texts with fewer than 10 defects per 10,000 words. 2005-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-03 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-05 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2006-05 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a letter sent to an honourable gentleman , in way of satisfaction , concerning some slanderous reports lately raised against the bishops , and the rest of the clergie of this kingdome . printed in the yeare , 1641. to my noble friend sir vv. vv. knight . much honoured sir , so soon as ( to my great griefe and astonishment ) i received notice from you of the strange rumour generally scattered abroad , of a thousand horse or more , that should be provided by the clergy , and especially by the bishops of this kingdome , for some dangerous , but secret exploit ; i acquainted some eminent persons of that profession with the newes : who at the first seemed to entertaine it with a smiling kind of neglect , as the fained device of a thing impossible to finde beliefe : but when i told them , it was not onely seriously divulged , but also credited by many , who seemed not in-judicious , they began to be strucken with much horrour , and amazement ; and to lament the condition of themselves , and the times ; and to impute the first invention of this crime , to the malice of some ill affected persons , who meant , by this meanes , to stir up the envy , and unjust hatred of good people against their persons , and calling . good lord , said they , were wee not loaden enough before with the weight of more then our own enormities , but we must be crushed with the heavier pressures of imaginary mischiefes ? alas , what have we done thus to irritate , and enrage the world against us ? what can it bee that makes us guilty of this fury ? how many of us are there , that have not yet been taxed with any crime but our rochet ? yet wee suffer no lesse , then if it were an offence to be innocent . after they had a little breathed out their sorrow , they recollected themselves , and began to thinke what they might doe to give the world some kinde of satisfaction , in this odious aspersion that is cast upon them : at last they resolved that however they doubted not but time would fully manifest their integrity , yet , that in the mean while it was not fit that their silence should make them accessary to their owne causelesse infamy ; and therefore they earnestly desired me to take , and give notice to your worthy selfe , and all other ingenuous persons , of their serious and solemne protestation , before god and the world , of their cleare and perfect innocence in this behalfe . they doe therefore call the god of heaven to witnesse , that they are so far from having any hand in any businesse of this kinde , that they never heard or received the least intimation of any attempt , word , purpose , or thought tending this way ; neither can yet imagine what the meaning of any such combination , or enterprise might be : as those who have desired , in all their attendance on these publick services , to approve their fidelity , to god , their king , and country . in the conscience wherof , they bade me to challenge all those secret whisperers , who have thus gone about to poyson their good names in the opinion of all loyall and true-hearted subjects , to notifie and bring forth speedily the grounds of those accusations ; and to fix them upon such persons , as they dare charge for guilty ; that the truth of these criminations may so appeare to all the world , as that either themselves may receive shame , or the offenders , judgement . and withall they doe most humbly beseech the most honourable lords , and commons of this present parliament , that they will be pleased , with all possible speed , to search this matter to the bottom ; & to follow this foule slander home to the first rise ; that if any of them be found , in the least measure , guilty of this crime , pretended against king , or state , hee may forthwith suffer condigne punishment to the utmost ; wherein they profess that their hands shal be the first upon him , as the unworthy and perfidious violater of their sacred order : and , if this report shall bee found ( as they are confident ) utterly groundlesse , and meerly slanderous , they beseech that highest court of justice , for gods sake , and for the churches sake , that they will bee tenderly sensible of this abominable injury , that is herein done to their holy profession ; and take some speedy course for the publicke vindicating of their innocence to all the world . and , lastly , they doe earnestly beseech , and in the name of god , adjure , all christian people , to beware , how they give light credit to those slanderous suggestions , that are , in these deplored times , most untruly raised , and cast abroad by uncharitable , and malevolent men , against those , whom god hath set over them ; and who desire , in all good conscience , to bee approved to god , and men ; and that they will forbeare to hurt their owne soules in wronging the innocent . thu● noble sir , i have been bold to give you an account of the entertainment of your ill news ; not doubting of either your charitable beliefe of the truth of this unfained protestation , or of your just forwardnesse for the satisfying of others ; in which confidence , i take leave ; not without my humble and fervent prayers to the god of peace , that he would be pleased to temper all hearts , and to compose them so to an happy unity and concord , that we may at the last returne to our homes with joy , and with the comfortable expectation of no lesse blessed times then we have lived to see . your much devoted friend , e. i. a grateful mention of deceased bishops barksdale, clement, 1609-1687. 1686 approx. 9 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a78150 wing b794b estc r175499 45097522 ocm 45097522 171141 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a78150) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 171141) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 2561:5) a grateful mention of deceased bishops barksdale, clement, 1609-1687. 1 sheet ([1] p.). s.n., [s.l. : 1686?] author and date of publication suggested by wing. dedicatory verse signed: c.b. in verse. reproduction of original in the bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng church of england -bishops. bishops -great britain. broadsides -england -17th century. 2008-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-10 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-12 john pas sampled and proofread 2008-12 john pas text and markup reviewed and edited 2009-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a grateful mention of deceased bishops . d. episcopo glocestriensi . pagina non timet haec conspectum nostra bonorum , pastoris claro nomine tuta boni . pagina nec timet haec conspectum nostra malorum , divorum tantis splendida nominibus . c. b. 1 abbot , all englands metropolitan , by preaching , and by writing , honour wan . 2 abbot of sarum , regius professor , taught by 's learned lectures , and the books he wrote . 3 babington worster may be read with gain ; a writer very pious , very plain . 4 bancroft and whitgift , both in the prime seat , both in their books and government were great . 5 bilson of winton , great : no doubt of it : study the obedience which he writ . 6 may primate bramhall , with prime authors go ; his divine works we have in folio . 7 brideock of chichester , two kings did please , for latham-house , and other services . 8 bedel of kilmore , he right learned was , with him his irish bible's lost ; alas ! 9 bancroft of oxon , built the bishops house , burnt to the ground by rebels furious . 10 carlton of chichester , a grave learned man , wrote many good books , read them he that can . 11 cosins of durham , kings chaplain in 's exile , and wrote the scripture history therewhile . 12 creighton in war , and exile , kings attended , old faithful creighton then to bath commended . 13 carlton ( guy ) strong in arms , at bristol he bishop , got o're the phranticks victory . 14 davenant sarum , professor regius , stable , in life and doctrine strict , yet peaceable . 15 duppa of sarum , princes good grave teacher , a confessor , advanc'd to winchester . 16 earl worster , the prince charles's chaplain , first , to the exiled king made good his trust . 17 frewen of york ; vice-chancellor , an actor vigilant , to make laud our benefactor . 18 gauden at exeter , had laetitia , for anglicanae lacrimae & suspiria . 19 godwin of hereford bishop , justly so . his kings and bishops among good books go . 20 old goodman wrote the fall of man , and more : his name at gloster lives among the poor . 21 hall norwich-prelate , he hard measure had : admirable writer , under persecution glad . 22 harsnet of york , one of the first i find , who preach'd at pauls , gods love to all minkind . 23 hacket of lichfield , ingenious preacher , very charitable ; his word , do well and be cheery . 24 holdsworth and brownrig , good bishops elect , by the good king , by ungodly men reject . 25 jewel of sarum's works deserve gold chain , in every church , wherein they yet remain . 26 juxon of london , had kept kings treasury , kept his more precious soul , when led to dye . 27 john king london , had three sons of good names , stiled the king of preachers , by king james . 28 king ( henry ) of chichester , preach't first the memory of charles king-martyr , thirtieth january . 29 new colledg , winchester and wells may take a fair example from right reverend lake . 30 laud primate ; see's council-speech , and learn'd book of controverse , and on a martyr look . 31 lindsel of hereford , for this special act , is to be honoured , his theophilact . 32 matthews york , does in pulpit dominere , said campian ; sure he was most eloquent there . 33 winchester morley's exile is renown'd : he preach't to his great master being crown'd . 34 morton of durham prelate , his appeal , imposture , and of providence , wrote with zeal . 35 nicolson gloster's name shall not soon dye ; preserv'd by 's sermons and apology . 36 overal , after nowell , dean of paul's , to lichfield consecrated to save souls . 37 parker , great primate , rightly consecrate ; in th' great queens reign did bishops propagate . 38 parkhurst of norwich bishop , in that see vouchsaf'd to print his juvenilia . 39 parry belov'd at gloster , prefer'd thence to vvorster , latin'd raynolds conference . 40 prideaux worster , abus'd i' th' bishops throne ; famous i' th' doctor 's for moderation . 41 raynolds of norwich , merton colledg bred , passions and sermons , worthy to be read . 42 rust late of dromore , learnedly does tell the use of reason , englisht by halliwell . 43 sheldon dean , preach'd the kings deliverance . and was advanc'd to archbishops eminence . ' and sheldon fixed in so high a sphere , ' raised at oxford , the great theatre . 44 sanderson lincoln's book might now silence dissenters doubts . lectures of conscience . ' this doctors sermons at great rate are sold ; ' for solidness are worth their weight in gold. 45 sandys york-primate , see his happiness in his own virtues , and his sons no less . 46 york-primate stern , but lately from us gone , is worthy of an honourable mention . 47 smith glocester , great hebrician is blest , for great pains on the bible , with the rest . 48 spotswood scots loyal primate , and his son , for charles the first have suffer'd much , much done . 49 taylor the bishop , england and ireland fills with nectar dropping from his lips and quills . 50 usher lord primate , not one land alone ; his works in all the learned world are known . 51 philosopher and theologer , these two compleat the grave john wilkins , bishop too . 52 williams of lincoln , honour'd , dishonour'd ; this lincoln-colledg-chappel built , honour is . 53 vvren confessor , fifteen years in the tower , constant in loyalty to his last hour . 54 whitgift with all his might this church maintain'd , and bancroft likewise ; both much glory gain'd . the iv. kings . the first james many learned works hath done ; read first of all , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 first charles's wisdom to his enemies known , when came to light , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 2d charles hath said and done such things , which make him famous with the best of kings . king james the 2d , god guide all his days , in 's brothers , fathers , and grand fathers ways . ' he will the living bishops love and keep , ' as kings before him did those now asleep . quae fama unius lecti , lux quanta jacobos , qstendisse duos , atque duos carolo 's . ' what fame , what light for one age , to have shown ' two james's , and two charles's , in one throne densell hollis esquire, his worthy and learned speech in parliament on thnrfeday [sic] the thirtieth of december 1641 vpon the reading of the petition and protestation of the twelve bishoppes, for which they were accused of high treason, and committed to the tower : wherein is discovered the danger of this protestation, that it is both against the king and his royall prerogatives, the priviledges of parliaments, the liberties of the subject, and the subvertion of the fundamental lawes of this kingdome. holles, denzil holles, baron, 1599-1680. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a44208 of text r5542 in the english short title catalog (wing h2482). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 9 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 5 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a44208 wing h2482 estc r5542 12025042 ocm 12025042 52631 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a44208) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 52631) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 567:9) densell hollis esquire, his worthy and learned speech in parliament on thnrfeday [sic] the thirtieth of december 1641 vpon the reading of the petition and protestation of the twelve bishoppes, for which they were accused of high treason, and committed to the tower : wherein is discovered the danger of this protestation, that it is both against the king and his royall prerogatives, the priviledges of parliaments, the liberties of the subject, and the subvertion of the fundamental lawes of this kingdome. holles, denzil holles, baron, 1599-1680. [2], 6 p. printed for iohn thomas and thomas bankes, london : 1641. reproduction of original in union theological seminary library, new york. eng bishops -england. a44208 r5542 (wing h2482). civilwar no densell hollis esquire, his worthy and learned speech in parliament, on thnrfeday [sic] the thirtieth of december 1641. vpon the reading of holles, denzil holles, baron 1641 1535 4 0 0 0 0 0 26 c the rate of 26 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2003-01 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-02 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-04 john latta sampled and proofread 2003-04 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-06 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion densell hollis esquire , his worthy and learned speech in parliament , on thurfeday the thirtieth of december 1641. vpon the reading of the petition and protestation of the twelve bishoppes . for which they were accused of high treason , and committed to the tower . wherein is discovered the danger of this protestation , that it is both against the king and his royall prerogatives , the priviledges of parliaments , the liberties of the subject , and the subvertion of the fundamtall lawes of this kingdome . london , printed for iohn thomas , and thomas ●ankes . 1641. a speech made by master hollis in parliament , upon the reading of the petition and protestation of the 12. bishops since committed to the tower on thurseday the 30th . of december . 1641. master speaker , this petition and protestation of the biships presented to his majestie , is the cheife subiect of our present debate , i desire under the favour of this honorable house , to speake somewhat concerning the same , and in speaking thereof i shall observe the persons that deluded it , the subiect and matter conteined in the same ; the dangerous effects that are likely to follow thereupon if it bee not suddently prevented ; and lastly their crime in making and deluding thereof . first master speaker , concerning the persons actors of this tragedy , bishops of a holy function , the dedomination of their stile prescribes them in scripture to bee men of god , fathers of the church , starres , ( not blazing commets or meteors ( as it is to apparant , many of them have bne ; ) lights , the salt of the earth . ( that should seasons the hearts lives and conversation of the people of god , with piety and godlines , for these men . master speaker , the hinderers of the peace and quiet of the kingdome , is extreame vilenesse , for bishops governours ( aswell as teachers of the people of god ) to instruct , admonish , rebuke , reprove , and correct evill doers in the clergy , for these i say not onely to convey , and winke at superstition , innovations , and ceremonies introduced into the church , by the inferiour and scandalous ministers , but to amnimate and incourage them in their evill practises , nay not contented therewith , but themselves to innovate religion , corrupt the true and orthodox doctrine of the church , to attempt , to intice and draw the minds of peeres , nobles and great officers of state ; nay his most sacred majesty , to favour their indeavours and designes , shew them plainely to be the instruments of the devill , striving to increase and build his kingdome , to the decay of the propagation of the gospell ; and the kingdome of christ , to whom they would seeme to be devoted , these corrupt officers and ministers master speaker , both in church and state , haue , produced these corrupt and dangerous times , this it is that makes religion seeme vile , and hatefull to most men , this it is master speaker that staines their function , of it selfe uncorrupted ( sacred ) this changes their names of being called men of god , to be men serving onely the devill , if fathers and nurses of the church , prove the betrayers of the church , woe to that flocke of whom christ is the sheapheard ; if starres fall to the earth , wee notifie thereby great change and alterations in a state to insue ; if the lights of the church be put out , or put out themselves , or be hid and appeare not , how is it likely the children of god should , see to walke in the right way , if salt be corrupt and putrified and thereby looseth its savour , what profitteth it for the use of man , you know the phrase well enough . then master speaker to conclude these persons ( that have had all these titles ) that have ( as we have proved by woefull experience , shamed themselves , complyable to all the defects that are thus dishonourable to their denominations ) are as i under fav●ur conceive altogether unfit , and unworthy to beare them any longer . 2 now master speaker i come in the second place to the subiect of their petition and protestation , which is of most dangerous consequence , being altogether treacherous , both against his most sacred majestie his royall queene and princly progeny , his rightfull throane seated ouer all his maiesties kingdomes , against the fun●amentall lawes of this kingdome and all other statuts and lawes made for the good gouernment therof by the wisdome of his maiestie and his great and wise councell of state , against the priuiledges of parliament and the free proeeedings therof , and against all his maiesties loyall subiects that are true and good protestants . 3 thirdly the dangerous effects of this their malitious and traiterous actions are easie to be guessed at . 1 by this meanes the division betweene the two houses may be increased , the lords most of them favouring rheir cause , thereby keeping them from comming to triall vpon our accusations of them for their haynous crimes commited by them . 2 if ihey proceed in their intentions , it may prove the maine cause of setting an irreconcileable division betwene the king and his leig people who desire ther grevance may be redrest and all malefactors delinquents receiue condigne punishment for their misdeeds both in church and state , and especially the bishops accused whom they conceaue to haue bine the principell incendaries betwene scotland and us , great favorers of the dangerous rebellion in ireland , cheife actors in innovating our religion , & the greatest oppressors of parliamentarie proseedings . 3 by this attempt the romish faction will be much imbouldened to put in practise their wicked plotts priuatly now in agitation amongst them . 4 it may cause great uproares and tumults in the city , and about westminster , of the citizens who are altogether set against bishops . 5. it will be a great incouragement to forraigne princes that are disaffected , and private enemies to this state , ( seeing our devisions betweene our selves ) to put in practise some dangerous designe against the whole kingdome . 6. lastly , it will disable us for continuall supply of ayde into ireland to app●●se the rebellion there . 4. i come now ( master speaker ) to the fourth and last thing i intimate to you concerning this petition , and that is what fault they have committed , in-framing and delivering the same , my oppinion is master speaker , that they are guilty of high treason ; i will give you a few reasons and grounds of this my opinion , and then humbly leane it to the further consideration of this honourable house . to protect against the proseedings of a free parliament is adiudged high treason in the tenth year of edw : the second , by the parliament holden then at westminster where the bishop of yorke the duke of suffolke , and others of that conspiracy , protesting against the proceedings of the parliament for their appointing and placeing the commicinors about the king for the government of the kingdome for one yeare , were adiudged guilty of high treason and some of them executed , some banished and the rest fleed . 2. to endeavour to subvert the fundamentall lawes of the kingdome , was adiudged high treason in the earle of straffords case , my example of strafford take this present parliament , and to protest or incense the king by petition , or otherwise against the proceedings of parliament , ( which is a constitution of government , found to be the anninentest of this nation , and the onely meanes to preserve and defend the fundamentall lawes of this kingdome ; the powerfull councell of indicacature , to punish all delinquents in the government thereof , and the breakers , and infringers of the laws of this land , ) is to subvert the fundamentall lawes . 3. to endeauour to bring into this state an arbitrary way of gouernment was likewise by this parliament adiudged high treason in the earle of straffords case , to protest against parliamentary proseedings , is to change that forme of gouernment and to introduce an arbitrary and tiranicall forme of gouernment , for these reasons i conceive master speaker these bishop that have signed this petition and protestation are guiltie of high treason . and my humble motion , is wee may send up to the lords to accuse them perticularly and with all convenient speed make ready a charge or impeachment of high treason against them . finis . henry, lord bishop of london, and peter birch, doctor of divinity, plaintiffs the king and queen's majesties, defendants. in a writ of error in parliament brought by the plaintiffs upon a judgment in a quare impedit given for their majesties in the court of king's bench by the uniform opinion of the whole court, for the presentation to the rectory of st. james's in the liberty of westminster, vacant by the promotion of dr. tennison to the bishoprick of lincoln. compton, henry, 1632-1713. 1695 approx. 11 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a80298 wing c5666d estc r231630 99899867 99899867 137106 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a80298) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 137106) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 2462:8) henry, lord bishop of london, and peter birch, doctor of divinity, plaintiffs the king and queen's majesties, defendants. in a writ of error in parliament brought by the plaintiffs upon a judgment in a quare impedit given for their majesties in the court of king's bench by the uniform opinion of the whole court, for the presentation to the rectory of st. james's in the liberty of westminster, vacant by the promotion of dr. tennison to the bishoprick of lincoln. compton, henry, 1632-1713. 1 sheet ([1] p.) s.n., [london : 1694/1695] henry, lord bishop of london = henry compton. imprint from wing. reproduction of original in the folger shakespeare library, washington, d.c. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng church of england -bishops -early works to 1800. bishops -england -early works to 1800. 2007-10 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-10 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-08 olivia bottum sampled and proofread 2008-08 olivia bottum text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion henry , lord bishop of london , and peter birch , doctor of divinity , plaintiffs . the king and queen's majesties , defendants . in a writ of error in parliament brought by the plaintiffs upon a judgment in a quare impedit given for their majesties in the court of king's bench by the uniform opinion of the whole court , for the presentation to the rectory of st. james 's in the liberty of westminster , vacant by the promotion of dr. tennison to the bishoprick of lincoln . dr . thomas tennison being lawful vicar of the parish of st. martins in the fields , one part of the said parish was by act of parliament erected into a distinct parish and rectory , and called by the name of the parish and rectory of st. james within the liberty of westminster ; and dr. tennison appointed the first rector there . the same act vests the patronage in the bishop of london and his successors , and thomas lord jermyn and his heirs ; and then appoints in what order and proportion each of the said patrons shall present ; ( viz. ) that the first rector after the decease of the said dr. tennison , or other next avoidance , should be presented or collated by the bishop of london for the time being , and the next by the lord jermyn and his heirs ; the two next by the bishop of london and his successors , and the next by the lord jermyn and his heirs ; and the like succession of two turns and one turn , for all times to come . dr. tennison was duly elected bishop of lincoln . before dr. tennison's consecration , the then archbishop of canterbury did grant a dispensation to him in due form of law , to retain and keep the vicaridge of st. martins , and the rectory of st. james , together with the bishoprick of lincoln , until the first of july , then next following . this was confirmed by the king and queen , by letters-patents under the great seal of england , ( as the statute of 25. h. 8. requires ) . after which , viz. the said bishop elect was consecrated ; but by virtue of the dispensation , and according to the rules of law , the living did not become void at the time of the consecration , ( as otherwise it would have done ) ; nor did it become void until the first of july , 1692. at which time it voided by cession : in which case the crown hath an undoubted right to supply it by presentation for that turn , to whomsoever the patronage belongs . this cause was several times argued at the bar , and afterwards solemnly at the bench , and judgment given by the whole court for their majesties . the matters which have been and probably may be again stirred against their majesties right in this case , are these , i. whether the crown , upon the promotion of the incumbent of a subject's living to a bishoprick , hath a right by prerogative to present to that living for the next turn ? ii. if there be such a prerogative , yet , whether the dispensation and confirmation in this case do not amount to a serving of that turn ? iii. whether this act of parliament hath made any alteration in this case , to differ it from the crown 's presenting upon ordinary vacancies in other livings , upon the promotion of the incumbents ? the two first of these points being adjudged with the crown in the case of st. martins , ( which was enjoyed accordingly ) ; and there being no difference as to these points between st. martins and st. james , the third point rising upon the act of parliament was principally and indeed only intended to be considered in the case of st. james's ; but some of the now plaintiffs councel stirring the two first points again , the court of king's-bench took them also into consideration , and gave judgment upon all three for their majesties ; which was done by the uniform opinion of the whole court with great clearness . first , as to the first point , this prerogative and right of presenting by the crown , upon the promotion of the incumbent of a subject's living to a bishoprick , is an ancient right settled and established by divers solemn judgments in the reigns of king henry viii . queen elizabeth , king james i. and downwards ; and whenever questioned or doubted , always prevailed ; and there is no one judgment or judicial opinion in the law-books against it , but many for it . and if so full and particular an exercise of that prerogative doth not appear in the old books of the law , as hath done in and from the reign of king henry viii . downwards , it may reasonably be supposed to be occasioned by the unlimited power and usurpation which the popes of rome assumed to themselves in this kingdom , in making bishops , conferring titles to vacant livings , and the like , not only against the prerogative , but even against the statutes of the realm . and if any inferences have at any time been drawn from any thing said in any old book in doubt of such prerogative , the same have been rectified by settled judgments in courts for many ages past , in times when the learning and integrity of the judges admitted of no dispute . nor is it any objection against this right of the crown , that it hath not been put in execution in some cases anciently where the crown had another title , by reason of wardship , or of the temporalities of a bishoprick being in the king's hands ; for besides what is said before as to the pope's claims and usurpations , the crown , without prejudice to the prerogative , might make use of that other title not claimed by the pope , upon which to bring quare impedits ( wherein one single title must be relyed on ) rather than to make use of that which the pope then challenged and usurped , it being improper for the king to set up his own prerogative against himself , when he had another title in him by way of interest . and it seems a strange attempt after so many ages , and such setled judicial determinations , to question that point of prerogative , whereunto ( till this case ) an entire submission hath been made , and many eminent clergy-men of the church of england have enjoyed , and some now do hold livings under the title of that prerogative ; and it appears by some books of presentations to livings , in and since the reign of queen elizabeth , still extant ( the former being lost or destroyed ) that the crown hath presented several hundreds of times upon such promotions , and enjoyment were had accordingly . ii. as to the second point about the dispensation ; that can in no sort be any objection to the right of the crown ; for this dispensation being granted to the incumbent to retain his living , is not in judgment of law any commenda , but coming before the consecration was lawful and effectual ; and the now plaintiffs by their pleadings in the cause , have owned and admitted it to be so ; and then thereby the avoidance was suspended , and no vacancy happened by the consecration , nor till the dispensation expired , which was the first of july 1692. so that to affirm this dispensation , or confirmation , did serve or execute the king's turn , is to say the king used his turn before he had it , or filled a vacancy before it was , and that not by his own , but by the act or instrument of the archbishop ; the confirmation ( which is the king's act ) being barely a formality required by the statute hen. 8. to the dispensation of the archbishop . iii. as to the third point upon the act of parliament , there have been two things objected by the now plaintiffs council . 1. that st. james is a new rectory created by act of parliament , and that dr. tennison came not into it by presentation , but donation ; and that the prerogative operates only upon presentative livings . 2. that by the express words of the act it is provided , that the first rector , after the decease of dr. tennison , or next avoidance , shall be presented or collated by the bishop of london . as to the first ; there is no doubt but that st. james is by the act made a presentative rectory , participating of the nature of other presentative livings , and dr. tennison was continued in his former cure , though under another name : and there is no reason in law to make it a donative , or otherwise than of the nature of a presentative living in dr. tennison , nor for a distinction between old and new rectories ; but the right of the prerogative being founded upon the promotion of the incumbent that holds equally both in old and new rectories where such promotion happens to be , and when this new rectory voided by promotion , then , and not till then , the crown 's prerogative to present arose , as much as it would or could have done in the case of an old presentative living . as to the second , there can be no reason to think the act intended to take away the prerogative of the crown , which generally speaking , is not bound , unless specially named : but the end of this act was to erect a new parish and rectory , and to make them of the same nature with other parishes and rectories , and to settle the rights of each as between the patrons and parishioners , but in no sort to meddle with , much less to take away the rights of the crown ; nor was there any need of a saving of the king 's right which arose by the act by making the rectory presentative . and it is not of any weight to say the express words are for the bishop's presenting ; the intent of the act is satisfied by setling the ordinary course of presentations , without excluding the prerogative , and the bishop must take his right subject to the rules of law , one part of which is the prerogative ; and it hath been resolved that the grantee of the next presentation must give way to the prerogative , tho he lose his turn by it : and if this act should be taken literally , then there would be no right to present by lapse , nor presentation by the crown , in case of any forfeiture , or of the temporalities , being in the king's hands , which would be absurd to maintain ; and such a literal construction is against the rules and reason of law , and many judicial determinations in the like cases . wherefore it is prayed the judgment may be affirmed . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a80298-e10 ann. dom. 1635. 1 jac. ii. 20. dec. 1691. 22. dec. 1691. 23. dec. 1691. 25. dec. 1691. xvi. new quæres proposed to our lord prælates. prynne, william, 1600-1669. 1637 approx. 44 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 11 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a10198 stc 20475 estc s103456 99839209 99839209 3611 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a10198) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 3611) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 1253:07) xvi. new quæres proposed to our lord prælates. prynne, william, 1600-1669. [4], 17, [1] p. printed by j.f. stam], [amsterdam : printed in the yeare m.d.cxxxvii [1637] place of publication and printer's name from stc. some print show-through and some pages stained. reproduction of original in the union theological seminary (new york, n.y.). library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng bishops -great britain -early works to 1800. church of england -doctrines -early works to 1800. church of england -controversial literature -early works to 1800. 2002-03 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2002-03 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2002-04 tcp staff (michigan) sampled and proofread 2002-04 kirk davis text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-05 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion xvi . new qværes proposed to our lord prælates . printed in the yeare m. d. cxxxvii . to our holy ghostly fathers , the lord praeliglates of england m. e. sendeth greeting . my lords temporall farre more then spirituall , i have heard you oft cracke exceedingly , on your owne dung-hills , both of your great learning , and likewise of your arch-love and loyaltie ( yet invisible ) to his majestie and his prerogatives royall , as if hee could not be a king unlesse you were lord bishops : i shall therefore not challendge , but beseech your holynes , to give a reall demonstration to the world , both of your profound learning , and pretended peerlesse zeale and duetifullnes to his majestie , in publishing a speedy full ; and satisfactory answer to these fewe questions here propounded to you of purpose to resolve them . your lordlynesses have had above halfe a yeares time ( allmost half as much space as most of you take to penn or conne your annuall or bieniall sermons , and yet cannot get them perfect into your heads or hearts , into which they seldome sinke , but onely into your bookes : ) and yet have given no resolution to them , as people exspected you should or would have done : which makes many suspect , they have put you to a non plus ; either therefore answer them now , at this second somony and publication , or els i and thousands more shall proclaime to all the world , you cannot doe it , and so are open enemies to his majestie , his imperiall crowne , lawes , subjects , and in severall premunires , for all you beare your heads so high , like petty kings and popes : yea i dare pronounce you perjured to his majestie in the highest degree , by infringing your oathes of supremacie , so oft reiterated : and as you are the first men inioyned to take this oath , by the statute of 1. eliz. c. 1. because the likelyest of all others to violate it , so you are more guilty of the frequent , open , and professed violation thereof , then all other his majesties subjects put together , who seldome infringe this oath , but either by your coaction or occasioning of them , by force or flatery to breake it , be sure you now give a fatherly satisfactory compleat answer to them with speed , at your utmost perills , and lay all other worldly imployments and affaires aside ( as you have layed preaching by , long agoe ) till you have done it , els these . quaeligres will proove fatall to your popedomes , episcopalities , consistories , visitations , and elegall ecclesiasticall iurisdictions , and proceedings , and so i commit you to your studies for the present , as you ( no doubt in imitation of your saviour christ and his apostles , who had not any pursevaunts , iaylors , messengers , and catch-poales , attending at their heeles upon every occasion , and many jaoles and prisons , to commit poore christians and ministers too at their pleasure , as your lordships their successors now have , though wee read not of them in any author ) commit others to your prisons and dungeons , and would doe me no doubt , if you could catch me napping , as mose did his mare , even for presuming to propound these questions to you in the behalf of my soveraigne and countrey . m. e. 16. new quaeligres proposed to our lord praeliglates . i. quo iure : can our arch-bishops , bishops , and their officialls graunt lycenses , for money , to any of his majesties subjects to marry without asking banes , it being directly contrary to the statutes of 2. & 3. ed. 6. c. 21. 5. & 6. ed. 6. c. 12. and to the rubricke before the forme of solemnization of matrimony in the common-prayer booke , confirmed by parliament , 1. eliz. c. 2. which prescribes thus : first that the banes must be asked three severall sundayes or holy-dayes in the time of service , the people being present , after the accustomed manner ; and if the persons that should be marryed dwell in divers parishes , the banes must be asked in both parishes , and the curate of the one parish shall not solemnize matrimony , betweene them , without a certificate of the banes being thrice asked from the curate of the other parish . whether if marriage be a sacrament ( as the papists hold , who yet deny it , as an unholy-thing , to all their holy cleargie-men , and religious persons , a strange contradiction ) or an ecclesiasticall thing , as our praeliglates deeme it ( though common to pagans , and some kind of fowles and beasts , and so truely civill and naturall , rather then ecclesiasticall , if it be not * symony in them to sell licenses , and take money for marriages , and whether his majestie , who can onely dispence with lawes , and this rubricke in the common-prayer booke , it being a chiefe branch of his prerogative royall ) may not justly call all our praeliglates , and their officers to an account for all the money taken for such licenses ( and also for lycenses to marry in prohibited times , as they terme them , as meere oppressions and device to get money , there being no law of the realme nor canon of our church , prohibiting marriages in those or any other seasons whatsoever , which are alwayes free and lawfull for marriages , aswel as for christnings and burialls &c. ) from 21. iacob . till now ( which money amounts at least to 40000. p. or more ) they having no right or title to it by any law or patent extant ? ii. by what law can our praeliglates ( as now they begin to doe ) consecrate churches , chapples , or church-yards , as if they were unholy and common places before , unfit to be prayed in : contrary to acts 10. 14. 15. 1. tim. 2. 8. iohn 4. 20. to 25. contrary to the practise of christ and his apostles , who consecrated no churches or church-yards , and gave no such commission to bishops or any others to doe it , but men together in private houses , and unconsecrated places to receive the sacraments and preach gods word , acts 2. 46. c. 5. 42. c. 20. 7. 8. 9. c. 18. 7. 11. c. 19. 9. 10. c. 28. 30. 31. rom. 16. 5. 1. cor. 16. 19. col. 4. 15. philem. 2. marke 14. 12. to 27. luke 22. 16. to 24. contrary to the practise of the primitive christians for above 300. yeares after christ ( as the third part of the homilie against the perill of idolatry p. 66. 67. resolves . ) contrary to the statute of 15. r. 2. c. 5. which adjudgeth it mortmaine , and contrary to the statute of 3. and 4. ed. 6. c. 10. 1. eliz. c. 2. 8. eliz. c. 1. which abolisheth and inhibites all other rites , ceremonies and formes of consecration ( with all popish ceremonies and pontificalls , wherein the manner of consecrating churches , chappell 's , and church-yards is prescribed ) but such as are onely prescribed in the bookes of common-prayer and ordination , in which there is not one syllable of consecrating churches , chappell 's , or church-yards , or any one statute of the realme , or canon of our church since the beginning of reformation prescribing or allowing it . if they say , that the temple at jerusalem was dedicated , and that the tabernacle and altar among the jewes was also consecrated . ergo our churches , chappell 's and church-yards must be consecrated by their lordships . i answer . first , that the * temple was consecrated by salomon : and the † tabernacle and altar by moses , the one a king , the other a temporall magistrate , ( who consecrated aaron alsó and bis sonnes , and ordained them priestes ) neither of them a bishop or high-priest , therefore if any such consecrations are to be made , the king and temporall magistrats ought to make them , not their lordships , as hospinian prooves at large , de origine obedirationum c. 1. fol. 104. where hee concluds thus : hoc autem authoritas antiquitus semper fuit politici magistratus : and that as well among the pagans as christians . secondly , they had a commaund from god for the one ; but their lordships have none for the other . thirdly , these consecrations and purifyings were part of the ceremoniall law ; and so quite abolished by christ , acts 10. 14. 15. iohn 4. 20. to 26. 1. tim. 2. 8. col. 2. 13. to the end . heb. 8. and 9. therefore not now to be used . fourthly , the temple , tabernacle and iewish altars were consecrated and hallowed , because types of christ , of which our churches , chappell 's and church-yards are no types . fiftly , the iewes never consecrated their synagogues ( in which they had no altars ) nor yet their burying-places , in lieu of which our churches and church-yards succeed : therefore if their lordships will imitate them , they must not consecrate churches , chapples or altars , nor yet have any altars in our churches , much lesse take 20. 30. or 40. p. for consecrating them , as some of them have done , it being * simony in the highest degree , and nothing due by the cannon law but a dinner . iii. by what law of the land can our bishops , arch-deacons and their visitors in their visitations take money for procurations of those churches which they visite not in persone , or more money for procurations , then will defray their dyet and horse-meat , there being no † more due by their owne canon law , and that onely for the churches they personally visite : or by what law or canon can they take money of ministers or scholemasters for shewing their letters of order , or lycenses to preach , or teach schoole ; or of church-wardens and others for presentments . there being not one * penny due by law or canon to them , much lesse by patent or graunt from the king ? and whether may not his majestie lawfully call all our arch-bishops , bishops , arch-deacons , and their visitors to an account for all the money and extorted fees , thus taken by them in their visitations , and likewise in their consistories , for probate of wills and letters of administrations , where they take twice , thrice , yea 4. or 5. times as much as the statute of 21. h. 8. c. 5. allowes them , ( which is but 5. s. at the highest , where the goods amount to 40. p. or vpwards ) and punish them all in starre-chamber for extortion ( as hee hath lately done many officers in his temporall courts , since these their execrable extortions , taken duering his highnes raygne , will amount at least to 100000. p. as much as the cleargie gave to king henry the 8. to exempt themselves from that premunire they had incurred by submitting themselves to cardinall woollseyds power legatine . iv. quo iure : can any d. of the civill law , or other chancelor , vicar generall , officiall or commissarie to any prelate or arch-deacon , exercise any ecclesiasticall iurisdiction vnder them , without speciall lycense and patent from his majestie or his predecessors royall , it being directly contrary to the expres statute of 37. h. 8. c. 17. which ordaines , that the kings majestie , his heires and successors shall ordaine , constitute , and depute all bishops and arch-deacons , chauncellors , vicars generall , commissaries , officialls , scribes and registers ( or els it gives them no power to execute any ecclesiasticall iurisdiction ) and that by speciall letters patents , ( as appeares by 1. eliz. c. 1. and 8. eliz. c. 1. ) which patents they all now wanting , cannot exercise any such iurisdiction , and so all their proceedings are meerely voyd , and their places in his majesties disposall , to whom they ought to be accountable for all the proffits they have already unjustly received in these their usurped offices . v. whether is it not now meete and convenient for his majestie to appoint one of his nobles , or some other learned layman , to be his vice-gerent generall for good and due ministration of iustice to be bad in all causes and cases , touching the ecclesiasticall jurisdiction , and for the godly reformation , and redresse of all errors , heresies and abuses in our church , to take place of and sit aboue the arch-bishop of canterbury , and all other lord bishops in all places ; according to the statute of 31. h. 8. c. 10. yet in full force ; to bridle the pride , curbe the insolencies , redresse the usurpations , extravagances , innovations , and take away the pretended ius divinum , of our lordly prelates , directly repugnant to this act , and to 26. h. 8. c. 1. 28. h. 8. c. 10. 31. h. 8. c. 9. 31. h. 8. c. 31. 34. and 35. h. 8. c. 17. 35. h. 8. c. 1. 37. h. 8. c. 17. 1. ed. 6. c. 2. 1. eliz. c. 1. 8. eliz. c. 1. on which i would desire their lordships to chew the cudd , to abate their favour . vi. by the statute of 37. h. 8. c. 6. every person or persons that shall cut out , or maliciously cause to be cut out the tongue of any person , or shall maliciously cut off , or cause to be cut of the eare or eares of any his majesties subjects , is to render trible damages to the partie , and so forfeite 10. p. sterling for every such an offence to the kings majesty and his heires : and 5. h. 4. c. 5. makes it felony for any man maliciously to cut off any mans tongue , or put out his eye . whether then our lord prelates and their officers for cutting out our faithfull ministers tongues , and closing up their mouthes that they may not preach gods word to their people , and cutting of some laymens eares , and threatning to have the eares of more , that they may not heare gods word , ( and that maliciously against the lawes and statutes of the realme ) are not fellons within the latter of these two acts , and malefactors in the first , to render ireble damages to the parties greeved , and maymed by them , and to make a fine to his majestie , is a question worthy resolution . vii . whether these lordly prelates that have stood mute for one , two , or three yeares space and more , and never preached , nor given answer to these quaeligres ; refusing to put themselves to the tryall of god and their countrey , for their episcopall pretended ius divinum , and other their fore-mentioned usurpations and exactions upon his majestie and his subjects , are not by the * common law of the land , to be pressed for mutes , as other malefactors that stand mute and silent , are in like cases . viii . whether if the apostles were now in england , and should preach jesus christ dayly in our temples and from house to house , without ceasing , as they did acts 5 , 42. our lord prelates would not presently silence , suspend , and pursevant them into the high commission , and there fine and imprison them for convinticleers : and if they should preach notwithstanding their lordships inhibitions , ( as they did notwithstanding the chiefe priests commaund to doe it , ) whether their lordships would not therevpon be filed with indignation , and put them in the common-prison , and there keepe them fast , and beat them too , as their predecessors the high priests did , acts 5. 17. 18. 40. 41. since they thus serve our godly faithfull ministers for the same causes . ix . whether if our saviour christ himself were now on earth , and should be convented before our high priests , as hee was once before the iewes high priest , and they should offer to put him to an ex officio oath , and examine him concerning his disciples and doctrine ; and christ should refuse to take such an oath , and answer them as hee did the high priest : ( i spake openly to the world , i ever taught in the synagogue , and in the temple , whether the iewes and people alwayes resort , and in secreet have i sayd nothing . why askest thou mee ? aske them that heare me , what i sayd unto them : behold they know what i sayd : ) refusing to bring in a coppie of his sermons , or to accuse himself , would not their lordships pursevants officers upon such an answer as this stricke iesus with the palme of their hands , ( as the high priests officer did ) saying : answerest thou the high priest ( our lord arch-bishop and bishops ) so ? iohn 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. and would not their lordships for such an answer ( which satisfied the high priest ) commit our saviour forthwith to prison , to the clinke , the gate-house , fleete , new-prison , kings bench or counter , as they committed * mr. bambridg and m r. johnson of old , and many of christs ministers since , for the same answer . x. whether if s t. paul were now alive , and should preach so diligently in england , as he did amongst the iewes , our high priests , the prelates , would not lay the selfsame accusation against him before the kings majestie , as ananias ( the iewes high priest ) did by tertullus his orator before felix , and informe his majestie , that they had found this man a pestilent fellow , and a moover of sedition among all the iewes ( now english men ) throughout the world , or kingdome , and a ringleader of the sect of the nazarens ( the puritanes as they terme them , acts 24. 5. ) since they lay the selfsame accusations to the chardge of most godly ministers , as many late instances evidence . xi . whether if christ himself should preach * dayly in some of our prelates diocoese , as he did in the temple & jewish synagogues , and s t. paul † preach night and day ( morning and evening ) in our churches , as he did at ephesus , against our prelates inhibitions , and the people flocke from all parts and parishes to heare them , as they did to them ; our prelates would not forthwith suspend them from preaching , and clapp them by the heeles , and likewise present and punish all their hearers , for goeing out of their owne parishes , where they had no sermons , to heare them , since they thus use our painefullest preachers and hearers , who imitate their examples , contrary to the very doctrine of our homilies of the right of the church , p. 3. 4. which themselves have subscribed too , but refuse to practise ? xii . whether if our saviour should now descend in person from heaven , and give his precept to our lord prelates , which once he gave to his apostles luke 22. 25. 26. mat. 20. 25. 26. 27. yee know that the princes of the gentiles exercise dominion over them , and they that are great exercise authority upon them : but it shall not be so among you , but whosoever will be great among you , let him be your minister , and whosoever will be chiefe among you , let him be your servant , &c. they would presently convent and arraigne him for it , as an open oppugner of their lordly iurisdiction and temporall offices and power , and censure him as severely as ever they did d r. bastwick , or any other , that hath writt against their pretended divine right to their lordly hierarchie ? xiii . whether these severall actions and writs at common law ( mentioned in the register ) will not lye against the prelates ? namely ; the write intituled ad iura regia , for violating the kings lawes and prerogative royall , by their owne extravagant lawes , articles , decretalls , and canons , to reduce them to the kings lawes , in ad quod damnum , to inquire , what great dammages they have done to his majesties subjects soules , bodies , estats , and to informe his majestie what nusances they are : an apostata capiendo : to imprison them , for their apostatie , from the doctrines and faith of the church of england , to the faith and ceremonies of the church of rome , and casting off their spirituall cares and functions , to follow temporall affaires and manage offices like so many temporall lords : an assisa de nocumento : for the great musances they have lately done to our religion , church , state , ministers , and people ? a writt of association , to ranke ministers and temporall lords in aeligquipage with them , over whom they now so much lord it , like lords paramount over all other people . * an attachment on a prohibition : that lay-men shall not be cited before them to take any oath , or make any recognition , unlesse in matters of testament and marriage usuall in former ages , and necessary now : an attachment against them for refusing to admit prohibitions in cases whereby law they lie , and stopping the current of this write : an audita quarela , to heare the ministers and peoples severall complaints against them : an acquiet ando de servitijs , to free the ministers and people from their late imposed ceremonies , services , & vassaladge : a cautione admittenda , to make people more warie of them , and to procure absolutions for their vniust censures : a cercierari , to remoove them from their temporall offices and imployments , and have spirituall and temporall causes out of their unlawfull consistories and visitations ( kept in their owne name without patent or commission from his majestie into the kings owne temporall courts : a cessavit de cantaria & servitijs , per biennium ; for not preaching in their diocoese to their people by two yeares space and more ( the case of divers of them . ) de clerico admittendo , to inforce them to admite our suspended , silenced ministers to preach againe freely , as in former times : de clerico infra sacros ordines constituto non eligendo in officium ; to hinder them from being chosen , and being thrust into temporall offices and affaires , incompitable with their functions : de cognitionibus admittendis ; to hinder them from medling with all causes and affaires of which they have no cognisance : a writt of collution and deceipt ; for their hypocrisie and jugling , both with god , his majestie , and his subjects , and for seeming holy , pious , just , religious , yea fathers and pillars of our church , our faith , and being nothing lesse : an action of the case ; for vexing , excommunicating , suspending and silencing ministers and others against law , and without iust cause : an action of accompt ; to call them to an accompt for all their extortions and usurpations , both upon the king and subject : an action upon the statutes against ingrossers , regraters , and forestallers ; for forestalling all good bookes against their papall antichristian hierarchie , iurisdiction , extortion , injustice , and other episcopall vertues , both at the presse and porth , and ingrossing them all into their owne hucksters hands , of purpose to enhaunse the prises of them , and deprive the kings good subjects benefite of them . a writt of conspiracie ; for conspiring together against the kings ecclesiasticall prerogative , and the subjects liberties , and to set up new ceremonies , innovations and taxes : a contra formam collationis ; for mis-using their jurisdiction and office , and mis-imploying their temporallities and revenues ( which should be spent in releeving the poore ) upon their children , kindred , purchase of greater dignities and preferments , or maintenance of their owne pompe , pride , state , luxury , venery , and lust . a copia libelli deliberanda ; to enioyne them to give coppies of libells and articles to his majesties subjects , beforethey force them to sweare or answer to them . a curia claudenda ; to cause them to shut up their consistories , visitations , and ecclesiasticall courts , till they have a patent from his majestie to keepe them in his name and right alone , and grace to use them better , and to better purposes then hetherto they have done . a quo warrento : to question them by what authority they keepe their consistories , visitations , and make out proces , private articles , impose new oathes , ceremonies , and iurisdictions in their owne names upon his majesties subjects . de custode amovendo & alio admittendo ; to remoove them from their bishopprickes , and put better and other kinde of men in their places . an ejectione custodiaelig , for suspending and ejecting ministers from their churches and cures : an errore corrigendo ; to cause them to amend their manifold errors , both in life , doctrine , practise and proceedings . an essendo quietum de theolonia ; to exempt ministers and people from their intollerable exactions , extortions , and new imposed fees and contributions , both in their visitations and consistories . an excommunicato deliberando : to cause them to absolve and free all those ministers and people they have most unjustly excommunicated . an executione judicij ; to gett some judgements in starre-chamber and other his majesties temporall courts executed against them , and their most unjust proceedings . ex gravi querela ; to heare the grievous complaints , both of ministers and people , against their tyranny , lordlynes , pride , oppression , impietie , and other vices , their altars , crucifixes , popish ceremonies , ex officio , and visitations oathes , articles , proceedings and late dangerous innovations . a writt of false judgement ; for their wrong late unjust censures , excommunications , suspencions , sentences , and determinations , both in their consistories , visitations , and high commission , and resolving their episcopall lordlynes and iurisdiction to be iure divino ; contrary to the expresse acts of 25. h. 8. c. 19. 21. 26. h. 8. c. 1. 31. h. 8. c. 9. 10. 37. h. 8. c. 17. 1. ed. 6. c. 2. 1. eliz. c. 1. 8. eliz. c. 1. and other statutes , as 1. and 2. phil. and mary c. 8. resolving the contrary . de fine adnullando ; to anull their severall fines illegally imposed upon his majesties subjects in their high commissions , and lately in their consistories and visitations , where they have gotten a tricke to fine church-wardens and others , contrary to law , as is resolved fitzh nat. brevium fol. 50. p. 51. k. 52. ff . 53. a. 14. h. 4. 88. a. 20. e. 4. 10. b. 22. e. 4. 20. 12. h. 7. 22. 23. artic. cliri . c. 4. cooke 4. report to 6. 22. ass. 70. a fieri facies episcopa ; to cause them diligently to preach , and follow their spirituall ministeriall functions . an habeas corpora & homine replegianda ; to free the subjects wrongfully imprisoned by them and their pursevants . an habere facias seseinam & possessionem ; to restore good silenced , deprived , and suspended ministers againe , to the seisine and possession of their livings and lectures , and the exercise of their ministry . an habere facias visum ; to cause them to shew men their articles in their courts and high commissions , before they put them to answer , or take an oath . an idemptitate nominis ; to restore ministers to their ancient stile and titles of bishops , which they have ingrossed to themselves , though the scripture gives onely to ministers and presbyters , acts 20. 17. 28. phil. 1. 1. 1. timot. 3. 1. 2. 3. tit. 1. 5. 7. 1. pet. 5. 1. 2. 3. and knoweth no other bishops , but them alone of divine institution . de intrusione in hereditatem ; to shew by what divine title they have intruded themselves into the church , christs owne inheritance , into temporall offices , imployments , and state affaires , and into those great lordships and honors they now possesse . ad inquirendo de damnis ; to inquire what great hurt and damages they have done to their severall diocoese , his majesties prerogative , his peoples liberties and estates , the ministers and preachers of gods word , our religion and to the whole state of england . an inquirendo de vasto ; to inquire of the great waste and havocke they have made of late amongst the ministers and preachers of gods word , and the purity of his ordinances , and thereupon to render treble dammages a leproso amovendo ; to remoove these leopards out of our church , before they have so farr infected it with the leven and leprosy of rome , that she become incurable , and to remoove them farr from his majesties court , no place for lepers . a libertate ; to free both ministers and people from their late encrochments , visitations , articles , oathes , altars , bowings , ceremonies , and unjust censures , and proceedings . a libertatibus allocandis ; to enforce them to allow and no wayes to encroach upon the subjects liberties . a mandamus ; to commaund them to give over lording and loyetering , and sett themselves to frequent and diligent preaching . a melius inquirendo ; to inquire better of their pretended ius divinum , their oppressions , exorbitances , lives , proceedings , and underhand juglings , and to certify them into the starre-chamber , or some other court of record . an action upon the statute of monopolies ; for engrossing all temporall and ecclesiasticall iurisdiction , the sale of letters of order , lycenses to marry , preach , keepe schoole , &c. ( all grosse symony into their owne hands . ) a ne admittas ; to prohibite them to admit any altars , images , crucifixes , taxers , new articles , ceremonies , doctrines , or innovations into our church . a ne injuste vexes ; to restraine them from all unjust vexations , suspentions , excommunications , and proceedings against ministers and others . a writt of nusans ; to remoove their late nusances , altars , crucifixes , new oathes , articles , innovations , rayles , ceremonies , arminian and popish doctrines , out of our church . a non distringas ad respondendum , sive breve regis : to force them to summon all their visitations by the kings writt , as they ought , 25. h. 8. c. 19. and to make out all proces , citations , commission of administration , probat of wills &c. in the kings name and sti●e alone , and under his seale , according to 1. ed. 6. c. 2. 1. eliz. c. 1. a non molestando ; to hinder them from molesting good ministers , preachers , people , and other his majesties subjects without just cause . a moderata misericordia ; to moderate their illegall and excessive fines , and teach these holy fathers more mercy : a writt of false imprisonment ; for pursevanting and imprisoning men against law , which they have no power at all to doe : a writt de odia & atia ; to examine their malicious unjust accusations , imprisonments , and proceedings of and against his majesties subjects . a parco fracto ; for breaking the pales and hedges , both of the lawes of god and the realme , and ruling onely by their meere lusts and wills . a perambulatione facienda : to bound out the true limites of their ecclesiasticall and episcopall iurisdiction , courts , and power , and to cause them to give those prisoners they have a long time shut vp : and the common law and course of prohibitions , which they have pent up of late , to walke freely abroad . a ponendo in ballyam ; to enforce them to dischardge and bayle those they have unjustly imprisoned . a praeligcipe in capite ; to render to god and the king those their severall rights , iurisdictions , and prerogatives , they have a long time unjustly detayned from them as their owne . a prohibition : to hinder all their innovations , oathes , visitations , articles , extravagant proceedings , fines , imprisonments , extortions , excommunications , suspentions , encroachments on the common law and the like . a pro rata portione ; to give them onely that power and authority , and such competent maintenance as gods lawes allowes them , and no more . a quale jus : to examine their divine title of their bishopprickes , what right it is ? a quare impedit ; to force them to shew good cause , why they hinder ministers from preaching to their people , and prohibit those to heare sermons abroad , who have none at home . a quare incumbravit ; to shew cause why they have lately incombred our churches , ministers , people , with so many innovations , alterations , injunctions , articles , oathes , fees , taxes , rayles , ceremonies , erronious , and licentious bookes , and false doctrines , and to censure them severely for doeing it . a quare non admisit : to shew cause why they permit not ministers to preach on lords dayes afternoone , on lecture dayes , and other occasions , or so osten as heretofore , and why they resuse to admit those into the ministry , or to livings , who will not subscribe to their new innovations , and those articles they secretly tender to them under hand . a quod permittat : to permit the lords table to stand quietly in the midst of the church or chauncell , without being rayled in and remooved altar-wise against the wall , and to suffer ministers to preach , and people to heare and receive the sacrament , in such manner as they have formerly used . a querela coram rege , & consilio discusiendo & terminando ; to bring all these quaeligres and the complaints of the subjects against the bishops , and their officers , before the king and his counsell , to be there heard and determined by them . a quo iure : to examine by what law they have turned communion tables into altars , set up crucifixes , silenced our ministers , put downe lectures , and preaching , made and printed new oathes , articles and injunctions in their owne names &c. and by what law , and in what court they may be punished for them . a restitutione abstracti ab ecclesia : to restore our silenced ministers and preachers to their chruches . a salva conductus ; to suffer his majesties subjects to goe peaceably and safely about their busines , and ministers without danger of their pursevants and catch-poles . a securitate pacis ; to bind them to the peace and good behaviour , that they may no longer disturbe the peace , both of our church , state , and people . a supersedeas ; to stay all their innovations , and proceedings in their consistories and visitations , till they have a patent and commission under the kings great seale , to keepe them in his name and right alone . a writt of trespase against them , and their pursevants , for rifling and breaking vp mens howses , clossets , trunckes , chests , and carrying away their bookes and papers violently , against law and iustice , as if they were felons and traytors . an action upon the statute of vagarant rogues and vagabonds ; for wandering abroad from their owne callings ecclesiasticall , imployments , and diocoeligse , into temporall carnall worldly state affaires , and following the court like a company of flattering fawning beggers , hunting after greater preferments and revenues , and being seldome resident at their cures . a writt of ventre inspiciendo ; to inquire after and inspect , how many great bellyes their lordships with their officers , and servants have impregnated of late yeares , and to take the full measure of their lordships pampered bellyes , which they onely feed and take care of ; which must needs be monstrous great , when as their very tayles are so vaste , as to require an whole cathedrall church to make a seat for them ; pauls it self , being litle enough to make a lord prelates chayre ; and two or three sheires scarce able to make up one diocoeligse , or parish bigge enough for his oversight . a vi laica removenda ; to remoove all lay force and violence out of the church , and take away the temporall power of fining , imprisoning , pursevating , breaking open mens houses , &c. from their lordships , with all other lay power and iurisdiction now crept into the church . and a fieri facias ; for their lordships to shew cause , why they with their oppressing arch-deacons , commissaries , registers , and other officers , should not forthwith be indicted and convicted in a premunire ( and that ex officio by his majesties atourney generall and his iudges ) or deepely fined in starre-chamber , for all their severall misdemeners specified in the premises . xiv . whether those bloudy prelates , who out of their desperate malice to our saviour ( to evacuate the use of this his last supper , instituted purposely by himself to shew forth his death till he come , 1. cor. 11. 25. 26. coll. 3. 1. ( which now these crucifixes must doe as if this sacrament were not sufficient to doe it , no not when it is administred , unlesse there be a crucifixe then standing on or over the altar ) and to reduce us backe againe to rome ) now crucify him dayly in their new erected crosses and crucifixes , both in cathedralls , private chapples , and elsewhere , and that in the direct opposition to the 35. article of our church , and the homilie of the perill of idolatry ; which they have prescribed ost times too ; ( expresly prohibiting the very making and setting up of crucifixes , and other images in churches , or chappell 's , as unlawfull and idolatrous : yea to his majesties declarations prohibiting all innovations and backesliding unto popery in the least degree : ) to be guilty of perjury to god , and disobedience to his majestie in the highest degree , and to be deprived of their bishopprickes for it , by the statute of 13. eliz. c. 12. confirming the sayd articles of religion and homilies ? and whether their cathedralls , chappell 's and churches , wherein they have sett up such crosses to crucify their saviour owne ( whose holy , paynefull , dayly , preaching life , they have never before their eyes ; and therefore represent his death in these dumbe pictures , because they are growne so lazy , that they seldome or never preach it ) be not ipso facto forfeited to the king by the statute of 13. e. 1. c. 33. against setting up of crosses and crucifixes , and their very bishopprickes too ; which they better deserve to loose for this their open insolent erecting of crucifixes , altars , tapers , and other romish superstitions to usher in popery , then any godly ministers to be deprived of their livings for not wearing of a surpluse , or not bowing at the name of iesus , or not kneeling at the sacrament , or not yeelding to any other late innovations , for which their lordships against all law and conscience have deprived , and suspended so many of their godly brethren , more worthy a bishoppricke , and farr more innoxious , pious , obedient to his majesties and gods lawes , then themselves ? xv. whether the prelates , for disguising themselves with strangevestments , disguises vizors , and playe like apparell , as rochetts , copes , stoles , abbies , and other massing trincketts to difference themselves from all other men , and daunceing , cringing and playeing the mummers , with divers new antique gestures , piping organs and minstrelsy , before their new erected altars , hopping , limping and dauncing before them like the ancient pagan priests about their idolatrous altars , or like mummers about a cobloase , and putting on a meere vizor of piety & gravity on their faces , when as they have neither of them nor any other true christian graces in their hearts ; and under these disguises doeing greater hurt and mischiefes , both in church and state , be not finable , and to be imprisoned for the space of three monethes without buyle or mayneprise ; for every time they shall be thus masked and disguised , by the expres words of 3. h. 8. c. 9. intituled : an act against mummers and delinquents within that law : and whether the best use these lord bishops , thus disguised in their pontificallibus , can be put unto , be not to make skarrecrowes in some cornefeild or other , or to stand in the church-porch to keepe out dogges , from their holy consecrated temples , which would be so affrighted with their mumming vestments and disguises , that they never durst come neare the corne or church , for feare of these terrible lordly bugbears and skarre-crowes . xvi . whether by the statutes of 25. ed. 1. c. 4. and 34. ed. 1. c. 5. every arch-bishop and bishop of england , ought not personally to read the statutes of magna carta , and of the forest , with king edward the first his confirmations of them , in their severall cathedrall churches twice every yeare , and upon the reading thereof , openly to denounce , excommunicated , banned , and accursed , all those that willingly doe or procure to be done any thing contrary to the tenour , force and effect of them , or either of them , by word , deed , or counsell : whether they ought to be destrayned , suspended and excommunicated for not doeing of it , with farr greater justice and reason , then themselves suspend and silence ministers , for not reading their lordships declaration for sports on the lords day ( coulored over with his majesties name , to dishonor his highnes , and excuse themselves ) these two statutes enjoyning them , the one in expresse termes , and inflicting these penalties on them for neglecting it , but no law , precept or canon prescribing ministers the other , nor yet that booke it self ? whether their lordships both by word , deed and counsell infringing magna carta , these statutes sundry wayes , especially by their imprisoning , fining , excommunicating , suspending and depriving men against law , and by their new invented taxes , and talleges , to pill and poll the subjects , and in procuring iudges and others by menaces , flatery , or ill counsell , to deny prohibitions , and habeas corpore , to doe many things against the tenour and effect of these good lawes , now miserably every-where trampled vnder feet , be not ipso sacto excommunicated by divers ancient excommunications , fulminated against such desperate infringers and transgressors of those acts in a most direfull manner by their predecessors , and by the tenour of these statutes themselves , and so altogether irreguler , and to be shut out of all churches , his majesties court and chapple , all christian mens societie , and sequestred both from their office and benefice , till they have done publicke penance , and given sufficient satisfaction to the whole realme of england , for their enormious dayly multiplyed crimes , under which both church and kingdome groane and languish at this present . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a10198-e100 * see summa angelica & summa rosella tit . simonia . * 2. chron. 6 &c. 7. 7. † exod. 30. 22. &c. &c. 40. * summa angelica & rosella tit . simonia & consecratio ecclesiaelig . † lindwode de censibus & procurationibus , where all this is resolved . * lindwode ibid. & 23. eli. c. 1. * 28. ass. 19. 40. ass. 40. 43. ass. 30. stamford . l. 2. c. 60. fitz. ca. 27. 30. 36. 51. 53. 56. 58. 71. 72. 191. 218. 225. 233. 283. 359. br. pa. 1. 2. 4. 5. 8. 9. 12. 13. 14. 15. 19. * petition to q. eliz. p. 77. * luke 19. 47. c. 20. 1. c. 21. 37. 38. c. 22. 53. † acts 20. 20. 21. 31. c. 19. 9. * regist. par . 2. f. 36. ras. prohibition 5. a consideration and a resolvtion first concerning the right of the laity in nationall councels : secondly concerning the power of bishops in affaires secular : prepared for the honourable house of parliament / by sr. e.d. ... dering, edward, sir, 1598-1644. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a35728 of text r4300 in the english short title catalog (wing d1106). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 42 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 18 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a35728 wing d1106 estc r4300 12788099 ocm 12788099 93918 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a35728) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 93918) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 253:e156, no 23) a consideration and a resolvtion first concerning the right of the laity in nationall councels : secondly concerning the power of bishops in affaires secular : prepared for the honourable house of parliament / by sr. e.d. ... dering, edward, sir, 1598-1644. 32 p. printed for f. eglesfeild, london : 1641. attributed to edward dering. cf. blc. reproduction of original in thomason collection, british library. eng bishops -temporal power. a35728 r4300 (wing d1106). civilwar no a consideration and a resolution. first, concerning the right of the laity in nationall councels. secondly, concerning the power of bishops dering, edward, sir 1641 7749 5 355 0 0 0 0 465 f the rate of 465 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the f category of texts with 100 or more defects per 10,000 words. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-12 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-12 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2004-12 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-01 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a consideration and a resolvtion . first , concerning the right of the laity in nationall councels . secondly , concerning the power of bishops in affaires secular . prepared for the honourable house of parliament . by sr. e. d. kt. and baronet . a consideration vpon the late canons . that the late canons are invalidous , it will easily appeare , and that they are so originally in the foundation , or rather in the founders of them , i will assume upon my selfe to demonstrate , having first intimated my sence by way of preparative . the pope ( as they say ) hath a triple crowne , answerable thereunto , and to support that , hee pretends to have a threefold law . the first is , jus divinum , episcopacie by divine right ; and this hee would have you thinke to be the coronet next his head , that which doth circle and secure his power . our bishops have ( in an unlucky time ) entred their plea and pretended title to this crowne , episcopacy by divine right . the second is ius humanum , constantin's donation , the gift of indulgent princes ; temporal power . this law belongs to his second , or his middle crowne ; already also pleaded for by our prelates in print . these two crownes being obtained , he ( the pope ) doth frame and make his third crowne himselfe , and setts that upmost , upon the toppe — this crowne also hath its law , and that is ius canonicum , the canon law , of more use unto his popeship then both the other — iust so our prelates from the pretended divinity of their episcopacy , and from the temporall power granted by our princes they would now obtrude a new canon-law upon us . they have charged their canons at us to the full , and never fearing that ever they would recoyle backe into a parliament they have rammed a prodigious ungodly oath into them . the illegality and invalidity of these canons ( as i conceive ) is easily discoverable by one short question , viz. what doe you call the meeting wherein they were made ? give it a name to know it by : who can frame his argument aright unlesse hee can first tell against what hee is to argue ? would you confute the convocation ? they were a holy synod ? would you argue against the synod ? why they were commissioners , would you dispute the commission ? they will mingle all powers together , and answer that they were some fourth thing , that we neither know nor imagine . quo teneam nodo mutantem protea ? unlesse they will unriddle thēselves , & owne what they were , we may prosecute , but hardly with concludent arguments . yet i venture . i have conferred with some of the founders of these new canons , but i professe clearely , that i could never yet meete with any one of that assembly , who could ( in behalfe of their meeting ) well answer me the first question in the catechisme , what is your name ? alas , they are parted before they know what they were when they were together . the summe of the severall answers , that i have received , doth amount to this . they were a convocationall — synodicall — assembly of commissioners , indeede a threefold chimaera , a monster to our lawes , a cerberus to our religion . a strange commission wherein no one commissioners name is to bee found . a strange convocation that lived when the parliament was dead : a strange holy synod where one part never saw , never confirred with the other . — but indeede what use or need of conference , if that bee true of these canons , which i reade of the former ones , notum est canones formari lambethae , priusquàm in synodo ventilentur ? thus farre preparatory . i proceede to my argument , whereby to manifest the invalidity of these canons , not borrowing but avoiding what have formerly beene instanced by others . i will neither inveigh upon them as unnamed commissioners , nor infirme them as the worke of a dead convocation ; but will take them in the capacity of their owne affected title of a synod . such they bragged themselves to bee whilest they sate : such they stile themselves in the title-page of these ( never to be canonized ) canons — the words are — canons treated upon in convocation — agreed upon in synod . thus treating in one capacity and agreeing in another : is a new mould to cast canons in never used before . canons bredde , in a convocation , borne in a synod . thus although wee finde not one good father , here are yet two mothers to one illfavored child ; never knowne before , nor imagined but of bacchus , whom the poet calls among other attributes — solúmque bimatrem . i proceede , if their meeting be a synod , eyther it is so by donation , by election , or onely by vsurpation . donation from the king , is this title and authority , indulged to them by his majestie : looke through all his highnesse letters patents , and they are not once saluted with the ambitious title of a synod . yet in the canons they have assumed it seventeen times , it is their owne pride , their owne presumption . the king hath not done it , ( pardon me ) no prince ever did it or can doe it ; no power regall , imperiall , or papall did ever attempt it , to ordaine that william , & richard , mathew and iohn , &c. and i know not who more , being met and assembled upon other summons shall by a commission be on a sudden translated from what they were , into an unthought-of nationall synod , without voyce or choyse of any man to bee concerned : this never was done , this never can be well done . as for due election for such meetings , this indeede is or ought to bee of the true esse to a legitimate synod . but due election made up by voyces is so much a stranger to this synod , that their fatherhoods will confesse that they were never trusted to this synod , as a synod by any , either of the clergy or of the laity . concerning the choise of a few of them , and but a few ( about 50. as i guesse ) chosen to the convocation house , that will never render them a lawfull synod , untill they can prove metamorphosis and transubstantiation . — for the votes of all their chusers upon expiration of the convocation house returned backe home to every mans bosome from whence they breathed . so that if you will en-live the same men to bee now synodall , who were before but convocationall , you must renew the old pythagorean transmigration , for they want the breath and life of an election . a new one you have not , and the old one is not to be had but by {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . besides i do affirme & shall approve , that the electors to a convocation and to a synod are not all one . the clergie only doe , and of right onely ought to chuse unto the convocation house . the reason ; we of the laity ( so they will call us ) have our houses of commons where our trustees by vertue of our voyces doe sit at the same time . but in the choice unto a synod , wee who must be bound by the determinations of the synod , ought also to be interessed in the parties determining . this is cleare enough in reason , and will bee better cleared presently . of synods i finde five severall sorts , first a generall or universall synod ; secondly , patriarchichall , thirdly national , fourthly provinciall ; fiftly a diocesan synod . i passe by the two first and last , as not pertinent to this time and affaire . concerning provinciall and nationall synods a word or two ; if i knew which to call their late meeting . they runne on in riddles : and i want oedipus at every turne . these canons , were they forged in one synod nationall , or in two proncialls ? — were they two provinciall synods ? how then come their actes and canons to bee imbodyed together ? how comes it to passe that all the canons speake in the singular number ? the synod ; the holy synod ; the sacred synod . sacred will now be hardly granted , unlesse as the poet doth , — auri sacra fames . was it then but one ? was it a nationall synod ? why the provinces ( wee all know ) never did convene , they never met together . looke on the representative body of the commons of this whole land : every one within the same walles hearing every ones argument , and thereupon mending , altering , and ( as occasion is ) correcting his own judgement , & afterwards ( {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , ) joyning in unanimous consent . and if the able members of the north beyond trent were divided frō the rest , there would be quickly found a want of their worth and weight , nor could their sitting at the same time at yorke , make the rest a house of commons here , for the whole kingdome must be represented entire . but as we have done the title synod , so let us give them the attribute nationall , a nationall synod , and yet see how inconsistant and invalidous they are ! the very esse of every synod doth subsist in a double foundation . fundamentum materiale and fundamentum formale . — the due materialls of a synod are the inteteriour qualities and indowments of the persons where of the synod consisteth , not their externall dignityes and promotions . and therefore every man thus qualified is as capable to bee of the synod , as any deane or archdeacon of them all . the fundamentum formale , is delegatio ab ecclesia & debita electio . a due choyce to be made by all that are or shall bee concerned in the determinations of the synod : and this trust of choyce may fall upon another man , as well and as soone as upon deane or archdeacon . i will not quarell the want of able parts in any the members of that late doubtfull dangerous meeting : i grant them the materialls of a true synod , but will insist onely upon the second , want of forme , want of due election : which if they want the most virtuall and most obliging tye , and the most binding part is wanting . that they had no such election , we need not goe forth to prove ; no one man in the kingdome can say that he gave a voice to the election of any one deane or archdeacon to sit for him in that synod , nor were the clarkes chosen by all who were to be bound . so then there remaineth only to bee proved this . that such election of persons , by all persons to be concerned in the decrees , and canons , is necessary to the constituting of a lawful synod ; which is all one as to say , that the elections to a synod ought to by , both be the clergy and the laity . i will trouble you but with one reason , and a very few instances , all br●ifely . the acts and canons of every lawfull nationall councell or synod , ought to binde the whole nation both laity and clergie : but this cannot bee reasonable and just , if the laity bee excluded both from consultation and from choyce of consulters . the reason is plaine . it is ground in nature , and so confessed upon this very case by dr. feild , who hath it out of occom — quod omnes tangit ab omnibus tractari debet . and this is so cleare a maxime , that in this very sence also ; for the laity to be present at councells this very aphorisme is used by the pope in his own glosse upon the canonist gratian . quod omnes tangit ab omnibus tractari debet . surely our clergie are much too high , if herein they would outgoe the very canons of the papall synods , and conclude that which shall binde all , where all are not admitted to treate ; neither by themselves nor by proxy . now the benefit of this law of nature and of reason ( as dr. field calleth it ) we clayme . the present canons doe concerne us . i may be a church-warden , my sonne may bee a master of art ; then must i present upon their yet unborne articles , and he must sweare their oath of covenant — well , they were never trusted by us unto a synod , and therefore ought not to tye us up un-heard , it is against nature and reason . to second this argument by instance in proofe of practice , i shall produce a few , and but a few of many examples and authorities : the originalls i cannot now command , but must bee content to name a few extracts , which by way of transcript doe walke along with my vademecum . the point that i would establish is this , that in synods and councells where lay men are concerned in the decrees , there the laity ought to be present to consult if not also to decide the conclusions . i will but point , i will not enlarge to the vouching every place verbatim ; dr. feild , dr. fulke , goulartius , are cleare and positive in this point . our statutes for correcting & gathering together the former canons into a new body , doe clearely evidence this unto us ; in all which there is an equall proportion mixed , sixteene of the clergie and as many of the laity . the author of the history of trent is frequent in this point , adding this for a reason , that in a generall councell , the universall church cannot bee represented if the laity be excluded . so by the rule a paribus : the reason holdeth the same , a nationall councell cannot represent a nation if but one degree of men , men of one quality and capacity be onely present , and the rest altogether excluded . gratian , the canonist doth allow the laity to bee present , especially in such councells as doe treate of faith , and for proofe doth vouch pope nicolas . i will omit many proof●s of many emperours being personally present and president in many councells , by themselves and sometimes by their vicegerents , as marcellinus , candidianus , martianus , &c. yet even this is argumentative for us , and a preservative of our right , for the laity to be present . the greeke historians are so plentifull that i will but name them . theodoret. l 5. c. 9. eusebius de vita constantin . l. 3. c. 9 & 10 sozomen . l. ● . c. 16. & 17. niceph. callistus . l. 8 c. 15. socrates . l. 1. c. 5. & l 6. c. 2. among the latine fathers cyprian is very plentifull . as for councells , looke , nice . 1. vouched by eusebius de vita constantini — 4 conc. carthag . cited by gratian . — the councell of eliberis in spaine . councell of constantinople in theodoret. — councell of constance ; and the second of nice . — where it is said of that imperiall lady the famous pulcheria augusta , that ipsa persemet ipsam in sancta quarta synodo sedit : which fourth synod was with martianus the emperour . to these i adde the very ordo celebrandi concilia written by isidor , and like unto the modus tenendi parliamentum . thus much for humane testimonie , i have done with my hasty notes , onely i adde this , and i beseech you to intend it . whilest we of the laity had our power and voices to chuse our owne ministers , and our owne bishops , ( which was our ancient right , constantly allowed & practised in the best primitive times , whereof the proofes are yet evident enough ) so long ( i say ) we might trust them in a synod , whom wee first had trusted to direct and guide our soules in all the ministeriall function . — but to conclude us up now and shut us out contrary to the law of nature and reason , contrary to ancient usages : not to admit us to determination , nay to exclude us from consultation , and after all to take from us all assent both in choyse and in refusall of pastors to be set over us , and yet to binde us by decres so made , may prove ( i feare ) no lesse then soule-tyranny . i doe not presse the deserved right of our choyse of pastors : but one thing more , lend me patience to adde as supreme coronis to all that i have said for right of laity in synods . looke i beseech you in the first synod that ever was held in the christian church and that for so great and singular a cause as never was occasion for the like in the world before or since : you have it in the first of the acts of the holy apostles , and it is for the choice of a new apostle . there were in this synod and of this synod , the eleven apostles , acts 1. 13. with the brethren of the lord , verse 14. there were the disciples , there was turba {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} a multitude , of abovt a 120 names , ver. 15. saint peter tells them that out of that number one must bee ordained to be a witnesse of the resurrection of our saviour ; thereupon what doth the multitude of disciples there present . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} verse 23. they place or set two before the apostles : and the same men viz. all the disciples verse 26. {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} they give forth their lots , and thereupon , the lot falling upon matthias , he was numbred ( saith our translation ) with the eleven apostles ; but the originall is more {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} communibus calculis annumeratus est , he was by common assent or by common voyces reckoned with the eleven . now who were these common voyces , who were these 120 men ? evangelists , bishops , deacons , and presbyters or elders , as yet there was not one in all the world , the apostles were but eleven , perhaps not numbred in this 120. the disciples if you will say , that they were there and were clergy men , yet they were but 70. so that here is no evasion : the laity were present , and not passive only , they were active in this so originall , so weighty a synod . my second instance in this kinde , is out of the second councell that ever wee read was held , and this is acts 6. where the apostles call a councell for the choyse of 7 deacons . then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples to them , ver. 2. {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . they being assembled doe not say , we have decreed , we have ordered and ordayned , and injoyned , but their language is verse 3. {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , brethren looke ye out , the word is the same as {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} both from {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} to oversee , doe you oversee among you , seven men of honest report . and the saying ( as it is verse 5. ) pleased {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , the whole multitude , there is a consent of theirs , more plaine in {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} they the multitude chose seaven , stephen and philip , &c. {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} whom they ( still the multitude {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ) verse 6. did set or place before the apostles . the third and the last shall be the {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} the great and generall councell held by the apostles upon the dissention of the church in point of circumcision ( and that is acts 15. ) there you shall againe finde present , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} verse 12. all the multitude : but you will say and object that the next word is {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} the multitude kept silence . true , ergo what ? therefore they speake not at all in this councell ? nothing lesse . but ergo they had spoken before : for it is plaine by the word . then all the multitude kept silence . if they had nothing there to doe but to be alwaies silent , this particle of time , then might well have beene spared . this may perhaps be objected and therefore ought to bee prevented , for the further clearing whereof , observe ( i pray ) the next verse , v. 13. where in like manner , it is said of paul and barnabas {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . and after they held their peace , ergo they had spoken . and therefore the fryer who collected together a body of councells ( peter crabbe the german ) doth even from this place inferre a consent of the people saying , tacuit omnis multitudo consentiens petro . but if you would have this more clearely evidenced beyond all exceptions , i pray take notice of the resolution of this synod , verse 22. then pleased it the apostles and elders with the whole church . with the whole church , what is that ? the blessed apostles and their fellow labourers did not engrosse , and ( as our church-men affect to doe ) usurpe and monopolize the word church , as proper onely to church-men . — no you shall finde it even in the epigraphe of the canons and decrees of this true , holy , and sacred synod , that the despised laity are in these canons conjoyned with the blessed apostles although pope and patriarch , primate and metropolitan , archbishop and bishops , yea even downe to deane and archdeacon : ( i have heard it ) doe dispise the thought of admitmitting the laity . i do not say to decision , but even to consultation , nay to the very choyce of consulters in religion : nay lower even so much as to have a negative power , when a man of inabilitie , and of ill life is obtruded upon them ; i proceed , for i would not orare but probare , looke verse 23. they that were present had voyce , they who voiced the canons , joyned in the decree , and sending the decree unto antioch . the words are thus , the apostles and elders , and brethren send greeting to the brethren which are in antioch , &c. here the brethren at hierusalem are ( with the apostles and the elders ) actors in and authors of the canons in this councell agreed . there is no evasion , no clusion , to be had , unlesse you can prove that all the brethren in antioch to whom these brethren in hierusalem did write , were onely clergie men . which if you should affirme , our clergy will hardly bee pleased with you , for they must then be of the multitude ( not a speciall lot ) for barnabas and paul did deliver this epistle ( being t●e decree of this synod ) to the multitude {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} as it is found in the 30 verse . and when they had gathered the multitude together they delivered the epistle . thus much in way of pursuit for this one argument , that no canons can binde the laity where we have no voyce of our owne , nor choyce of the clergie persons who doe found them , nor assent in the susception of them after they are framed . quod omnes tangit ab omnibus tractari debet . it remaines as a wish that every member of that meeting , who voted these exorbitant canons , should come severally to the barre of the parliament house with a canon booke in his hand , and there unlesse he can answer his catechisme ( as i call'd it ) and shew what is the name of their meeting , and ( unlesse hee can manifest that the laity are no part of the church ) conceptis verbis in such expresse termes as that hovse should thinke fit , to abjure his owne ill begotten issue , or else be commanded to give fire to his owne canons . finis . hosea 8. 4. {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . they have reigned to themselves , and not by me : they have beene princes , and i knew it not . that bb. ovght not to hold secvlar power . ovr lord and saviour ( blessed for ever ) being indeede a king , pilate ( his judge ) seemeth to start and bee in feare at that great title : although our saviour had told him ( iohn 18. 36. ) saying , my kingdome is not of this world : pilate ( still in feare ) sought to release him ( iohn 19. 12. ) but more in feare of caesar ( the king at that time of this world ) he adjudged the lord of life to death , yet honorably writeth his title ( mat. 27. 37. ) this is iesus the king of the iewes . this title he then was crowned withall , when life and death divided his soule and body asunder ; that in a manner it may bee said , hee never was king indeede , untill he was out of this world . if he who was our lord and master ( ioh. 13. 13. ) had not this worlds royalty , whence commeth that the pope is crowned ? and his cardinall 's in purple ? whence have our bishops their lordships ? and as themselves call it ( bishop hall in his episcopacy , &c. part § 2. p. 106. ) jura regalia ) their royalty and rites of baronage ? it may prove a disquisition deepe and dangerous , yet i desire ( without envy to their pompe or persons ) to wade so farre as may satisfie a minde that loves truth , and desires to be led by it : and this with all possible brevity . there hath beene a happie and blessed reformation of our church , god send a better , and a more severe reformation of our churchmen , or else our church is now in danger to be deformed againe . the state of this inquirie may bee this , viz. whether the ministers of christs kingdome may receive worldly titles , and execute worldly offices and powers ? or more generally thus : whether a clergy man may semel & simul , be both a clergy man and a layman , in power , office and authotity over other men in both kinds ? goe we to the fountaine head ( luke 22. 24 ) there was a strife among them ( the apostles ) which of them should bee accompted the greatest ; which of the twelve soever beganne this emulation of power . certaine it is that the two soones of zebedee , iames and iohn with their mother first presumed ( mat. 20. 20. ) to come and aske the highest places of honour ( next to the very throne ) in the kingdome of christ ; which kingdome was conceited by them shortly after to be raised in the splendour of this world : this is genuinely gathered from this very story , generally confessed , & clearely confirmed in the historie of the acts , &c. where the apostles doe aske our saviour , even after his resurrection saying ( acts 1. 6. ) lord wilt thou at this time restore againe the kingdome to israel . therefore to these two brethren and their mother , so much mistaken in the nature of his kingdome he maketh answer ( mat. 20. 22. ) yee know not what you aske . he presently sheweth the entertainement of his kingdome , a cup to drinke of , that many were like to pray might passe from them ; but they answer they are able to drinke thereof . this their answer as it proved true in all the twelve apostles , so by the providence of god , one of these two brothers ( acts 12. ●● ) iames , was the first of all the rest , who dranke the cup of martyrdome , and as some thinke iohn was the last of the apostles . equalls looke awry on the ambition of their fellowes . these two were vaine in their high request , and the other ten murmured at their presumption ( math. 20. 24. ) they were moved with indignation saith saint matthew : ( mar. 10. 41. ) they began to be much displeased , saith saint marke . but by this happie error of these two apostles , our saviour takes occasion to instruct them , and the other ten , and in them all other ministers belonging unto him , how farre different the pastorall care of his church , is from the power which governeth in commonwealthes . here upon the sonne of god calleth unto him all the twelve apostles , saying , ( mat. 20. 25. ) ye know that the princes of the gentiles exercise dominion , &c. ( mar. 10. 24. ) ye know that they which are accompted to rule over the gentiles , exercise lordships , &c. ( luke 22. 25. ) the kings of the gentiles exercise lordships , &c. {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . but it shall not be so among you . this is a statute not to be repealed . this is spoken authorative & definitivè , it is the determinate law of a just authority . a canon ordained and irrevocably fixed by the wisedome of god . confirmed by an example above all argument ( mat. 20. 28. mar. 10. 45. ) for the sonne of man came not to be ministred unto , but to minister . ( luke 22. 22. ) i am among you as he that serveth . and before this hee had taught them , ( mat. 10. 24. ) that the disciple is not , above his master . ( ioh. 13. 15. 16. ) i have given you an example , that you shall doe as i have done to you , verily , verily , the servant is not greater then the lord . this ministry being thus performed in humility , and without worldly titles . the ministers shall be then exalted . our blessed saviour in the expresse words following saith unto them ( luke 22. 29. ) i appoint unto you a kingdome ( but addeth ) as my father hath appointed me . now his owne kingdome is spirituall , or as himselfe said unto pilate , not of this world . let them then renounce temporall , and they shall have spirituall honour . but some of the clergy would ( it seemes ) confound both kingdomes , being ambitious to inherit glory in the kingdom of grace . i feare our bishops doe not know how sublime a vertue christian humility is ! how full of honour . every {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} must bee {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , let the greatest be ( lu. 22. 26. ) as the youngest that is the way to be a right elder , he must be {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} luk. 22. 27. as he that serveth that is the way to be ministred unto . he must be {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ( matthew 20. 27. marke 10. 44. ) a servant , that he may be {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} the prime or chiefe . he must be {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ( mat. 20. 25. ) a minister that he may bee {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} a great one . these antitheses our saviour hath placed in the text upon the former occasion . from hence , may well bee argued as a corollary , to these undoubted premisses , that no minister of the gospel can lawfully assume , hold , or exercise that power which by the lord of the gospel is inhibited to his ministers . but our saviour iesus christ ( lord and only head of his church ) hath inhibited all temporall lordship , magistracy & dominion unto his servants . therefore no minister of this gospel may hold or exercise temporall lordships or dominion . these words {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} &c. it shall not bee so among you , doe so straighten the bishops miters , that they sit uneasie on their heads : to soften & as it were to line them for their ease : the bishops that are and would bee both papall and protestant do quilt a gentler sence into these words then can beare analogy with the text . they search the originall and pretend to finde another sence in our saviours sentence . this text ( say they ) forbids not unto clergy men , the use and exercise of worldly titles , power , offices , dignities , commands , dominion , lordships , &c. but the abuse of them : domineering and tyrannizing with them . this they pretend to make firme out of the greeke word {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ; which they would have so taken in the worst sence of exorbitant power , even for tyrannizing . so then , they would teach us , that , lord it they may , & lord it they may not : lord it they may with all pompe , state , power ; lord it they may not , with pride , vanity , & oppression . but i shall easily prove this interpretation to be inconsistent with the scope & analogy of the context . will they frame their argument from the verbe {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} to be a lord , or to rule ? or frō the preposition {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , added and united thereunto ? neither will serve . and if the pompe of our prelates cannot avoyd the power of this text , they are downe for ever . let me therefore scan it to the full . first {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} to be a lord , or to have rule or lordship , is never properly taken in that ill sence which they would he ere create , as having unjust , or oppressive power . it is derived from the usuall and most frequent title of our lord and saviour , whom the holy scripture so often saluteth {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} lord . heere is no shaddow for tyranny . the true sence of {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} is authoritatem habens one that hath authority : beeing derived from {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} authority which is knowne to bee approved and ordeyned by god himselfe from whom all lawfull authority is derived . marke how well this word is senced through all authours : demosthenes calleth the heads and cheife of the citty {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . a law in force and principall authority is called by aeschines {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . gallen calleth the cheife and principall members of a mans body {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} : yet one member doth not tyrannize over another . aristotle ( 6. ethic. ) hath {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} propria virtus , ( that is ) a vertue properly or principally so called . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} is one that is lord or master of himselfe , not one that domineeres over himselfe . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ( apoc. 1. 10. ) the lords day . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ( 1 cor. 11. 20. ) the lords supper . saint paul saith that ( rom. 7. 1. ) the law hath dominion over a man so long as he liveth , hee doth not meane that the law is a tyrant , yet the word is {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ( rom. 14. 19. ) christ both dyed , and rose , and revived , that he might bee lord both of the living and the dead : {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . from {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} lord commeth {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} lordship : foure times mentioned by the holy apostles , but never taxed as a power tending to tyranny , but to be obeyed in them who duly are therewith invested , as may be seene . ( ephes. 1. 21. coloss. 1. 16. 2 pet. 2. 10. and iude 8. ) clearely then in {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} there is no print of usurpation or of oppressive and tyrannicall power . if there be , we are then well warned to beware of our bishops , who not onely owne the title {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , but expressly pleade for it , as bishop hall in his late episcopacy , ( part 2. page 104. secondly , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} the very word ( used by saint matthew , and saint marke , in these before alleaged textes ) whereby our saviour forbiddeth his apostles to exercise dominion or lordship is a compounded word of two {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} and {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . that is , to rule as one that hath authority . i may render it to be , or to behave one selfe ( {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} juxta , secundum ) according as one that hath authority . this preposition in words compounded hath sometimes a signification of his owne , sometimes none at all as in {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , &c. clearely it hath no speciall signification in this {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , much lesse a force so exegeticall as to draw the lawfull power of {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} into the exorbitancy of a tyranny . that it hath no force here , is by this apparent , for that the speech of our saviour , recorded by the holy ghost in saint mat. and s. marke by {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} and by {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} are rendred by the same spirit in saint luke ) {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} and {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . so that plainely you must not pretend tyrannizing to be meant in the sence of one place except you can finde it also in both , unlesse you will come to this that he forbiddeth tyranny in one place , & worldly power in the other , which if you doe you grant the question . this is enough alone , yet for a further interpretation of {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} looke in ( 1. 28. genesis ) where god giveth unto man in the time of mans innocency , the rule and dominion over all his creatures , even whilest they all were ( gen. 1. 31. ) very good . the name and word of power in that great charter granted is {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . now the time of this power granted , the person to whom it is granted , the creatures all good on whom it was to be exercised , & above all the goodnesse of almighty god who granted it , do exclude all imaginatiō of a tyrannicall power , and admit onely of a fatherly mastership over the new creatures of god . if then the frequent and constant sence of both {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} and {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , bee onely to have power and authority , civill , temporall , and ordinary dominion , and that all such authority is forbidden them , how poore and weake is that evasion for our bishops , who would have this speech of our saviour taken in a forced sence different from all these other places ? and would forge a new meaning , as if our saviour did not here forbid {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} but only {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , not a commanding lordlines , but a tyrannuos use of it ; when as it is hereby evident , that christ having ordained the aristocracy of twelve , did therein and in his reprehension here take away those severall benches of honour , and that proud imparity of temporall power which our bishops doe swell withall . that the former speeches of our saviour , doth destroy the lordlinesse of our prelates , let us confirme it with a farther consideration , which is thus . our saviour christ being ( 1 cor. 1. 24. ) the wisedome of god , must be thought to fit and suite his answer to the question and request made unto him by the two apostles . but what bishop in defence of his usurped power , dares affirme that two such admirable ( gal. 2. 9. ) pillars , as iames , and iohn , should aske of such a master iniquam dominationem , a cruell dominion over their fellowes , as if the meaning of their request were thus . master , gives us two leave to tyrannize over the other ten ! he had taught them before , ( mat. 5. 5. ) blessed are the meeke and ( math. 11. 29. ) learne of me for i am meeke and lowly in heart : can it then bee thought that the beloved disciple and his brother , shall aske of the master of all humility , a tyrannicall power to oppresse their partners ? no man hath such a heart of leade to think , yet there have not wanted foreheads of brasse to affirme so : certainely , in that kingdom of christ , by them as then supposed to bee temporall , they desired the honour to shine in civill dignity , & eminency of power and authority , which ( no question ) they intended to have exercised with all brotherly moderation , yet are they ( and i wish our bishops also were ) answered with his reprehension , first ( math. 20. 22. ) yee know not what ye aske , next with his absolute denyall and forbiddance , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} &c. it shall not be so among you . will the practice of saint paul , and the councell of saint peter serve for comment to this text ? saint paul saith {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , ( 2 cor. 1. 2. 4. ) we lord it not . saint peter ( 1 pet. 5. ) himselfe an elder to other elders , exhorteth them to feede the flocke , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} overseeing it : and that not by constraint {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , nor as being lords . but as in the fifth verse , all of you be subject one to another . therefore my resolution stands cleare upon this vote ; that it may bee declared that true and right episcopacy is incompatible and inconsistant with secular power . they who give in their names to be labourers in gods vineyard must not goe out of the doore , and thinke to returne at pleasure : their whole time they have vowed to the great master of the vineyard , and i find no wages promised but to them who enter and continue there to the last houre . no man putting his hand to the plough and looking backe , is fit for the kingdome of god . luke 9. 62. let therefore this inhibitory statute against bishops having temporal lordships , stand ( as it must stand ) irrepealable {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . it shall not be so among you . finis . felo de se, or, the bishops condemned out of their own mouthes confessing their politick devices, and unjust practices, to settle and maintain their lordly dignities, and private interests, to the impoverishing and ruine of the nations wherein such idle and unprofitable drones are suffered to domineer : in a familiar discourse between the said bishops and their tenants, begun in 1660, the year of their unhappy resurrection, and continued to this present year 1668 : published for information of the people, who groan to be delivered from that yoke of bondage, which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear / by a mourner for the poor nations ... ford, thomas, 1598-1674. 1668 approx. 130 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 23 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-05 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a39933 wing f1512 estc r6792 12911742 ocm 12911742 95335 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a39933) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 95335) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 982:13) felo de se, or, the bishops condemned out of their own mouthes confessing their politick devices, and unjust practices, to settle and maintain their lordly dignities, and private interests, to the impoverishing and ruine of the nations wherein such idle and unprofitable drones are suffered to domineer : in a familiar discourse between the said bishops and their tenants, begun in 1660, the year of their unhappy resurrection, and continued to this present year 1668 : published for information of the people, who groan to be delivered from that yoke of bondage, which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear / by a mourner for the poor nations ... ford, thomas, 1598-1674. 44 p. s.n.], [s.l. : 1668. reproduction of original in huntington library. attributed to thomas ford. cf. nuc pre-1956. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng bishops -england. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-01 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-02 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2004-02 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion felo de se , or the bishops condemned out of their own mouthes : confessing their politick devices , and unjust practices , to settle and maintain their lordly dignities and private interests , to the impoverishing and ruine of the nations wherein such idle and unprofitable drones are suffered to domineer . in a familiar discourse betwen the said bishops and their tenants : begun in 1660 , the year of their unhappy resurrection , and continued to this present year 1668. published for information of the people , who groan to be delivered from that yoke of bondage , which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear . by a mourner for the poor nations , that are enslaved under prelatical tyranny , and one that was once of this black-fac'd hierarchy ( as luther was of the popish ) but is now wonderfully delivered from them . k. j. in his speech to a parliament in the year 1609. called , an apologie for the oath of allegiance , hath these words ; i do utterly deny that there is any earthly monarch of the church , whose word must be a law. because earthly kingdoms must have earthly monarchs , it doth not follow that the church must have a visible monarch too ; for the world hath not one earthly temporal monarch ; christ is his churches monarch , and the holy ghost his deputy . printed in the year of hope . 1668. the epistle to the reader . courteous reader , thou art here invited to see some strange and wonderful creatures , and if thou canst spare two hours time to look in , and behold them in their strange shapes , subtilties and natures , thou wilt not loose thy labour or money ; possibly thou wilt wonder where such monstrous beasts were bred , when thou hast taken a survey of them , and well pondred and considered them from head to tail ; it is twenty to one but thou wilt think , that i found them in utopia , arabia , or at rome ; that such hydra's could not be brought forth , and bred up amongst protestants , and suffered to live and devour their frutts : but to satisfie thy doubts , i do assure thee , that i found them nearer home , though they smel very rank of the romish air , and their speech and voices do assure us , that they are of that breed , and who were their sires ; yet i saw them thriving in the brittish fields , and knew that they were of a forraign extract , yet the very same sort of creatures that i enquired after . as soon as i went into the fields and vine-yards , i found them , and knew them to be of the romish crew , by several marks , spots , and qualities ; but withal , they have some pretended ingenuity , begond some other creatures , when they may get money by it , in confessing their subtilties and devices , as you may see in the discourse within , which came very seasonably and accidentally to my hand . you know that wolves , foxes , goats and hoggs , have very rank smels , and are not fit companions for any other creatures , they stink so abominably , especially if they have been well fed in their kennels and styes , as these have been these several years . these are known to be the very same cattel , that they were reported to be ; i knew them , as by their strong and hurtful scents , so also by their black feet , red faces , proud and lofty gates and carriages , disdainful looks , and churlish language , superstitious garments , covetous , tyrannical , oppressive , and persecuting spirits and practices ; their usual haunts and walks , and their different colours and complexions . for , whereas other cattel are either white or black , red or brown ; these , and every one of them , have all these hues , white and black , red and brown , and therefore they may well be called wonderful , and strange : for other beasts and these differ very much ; these can travel best in the dark nights , in dirtiest and filthiest wayes , so cannot others ; yea , other beasts are fatted and fitted for the slaughter in a years time , but these are above seven years a fatting . all other beasts are good for one use or other , either alive or dead , but these are good for nothing . the grease of hoggs , foxes and doggs , is good for something when they are dead , but so is not theirs , although they are fuller of grease than than others : so that thou mayest search all the world over and not find the like cattel ; not any beasts of their proportion , colours , natures , works , devices , ends , practices , and unsatiable lusts . these are the most venomous , dangerous , and deadly creatures in the world , which the subtilest naturalist can describe ; they have poyson in their tongues and teeth , in their feet and noses , in their canonical garments , in their ceremonies , worship , and discipline . these are they that corrupt and poyson all sorts of men ; these are the creatures that make the earth to groan under them , that are the great oppressours , and destroyers of thousands of souls and bodies in the nations where they are . these are the most loathsome and hateful creatures in the world , that have many a curse daily , both from rich and poor . these are they that have driven the lords labourers out of his vineyards , by violence and cruelty , and have usurped them into their own hands , and have spoyled the fruit , and have most abominably corrupted and polluted the lords pleasant and holy things . these are the creatures that have destroyed kings and nations , that have been the immediate authors of all the miseries that have fallen upon states and kingdoms . these are the cormorants and caterpillars , that have devoured the earth , that have spoiled the trade and traffique of the nations , and brought thousands to beggery . these are the creatures that have made so many widows and fatherless-children , that have filled the land with blood and violence . these are the corrupters of counselers and councils , the great obstructors of publick iustice and iudgement ; these do strain at gnats , and swallow camels , that neither fear god nor reverence men , and that have mens persons in admiration for advantage . these are without consciences , and such whose deeds are evil and only evil , and whose ends and rewards shall be according to their works . reader , i shall detain thee no longer in the porch , lest i should tire thee , and suffocate thy stomack , before thou hast read and considered what is within ; but while thou hast an appetite , i would have thee haste in , where thou shalt see these strange sights , and hear them speak with strange tongues ; and if thou art in doubt whether they are such indeed , as upon the report of this epistle they seem to be , i pray thee hear what they say of , and for themselves , whose testimonies are sacred and canonical , and thy doubts will be quickly and fully resolved from their own mouthes . farewel . felo de se , or , the bishops condemned out of their own mouthes , confessing their politick devices , and unjust practises , to settle and maintain their lordly dignities and private interests , to the impoverishing and ruine of the nations wherein such idle and unprofitable drones are suffered to domineer . in a familiar discourse between the said bishops and their tenants . begun in 1660 , the year of their unhappy resurrection , and continued to this present year , 1668 , &c. bishops . well met tenants ; how do you do ? we are glad to see you in health . tenants . pray excuse us , sirs , for we know you not ; pray tell us , what are your names , and titles , and from whence did you come ? bish. we pray take notice , we are not mean and ordinary persons , we are bishops , and are come for our rents , that you ought to pay us ; although hitherto you have paid rents to the uncircumcised usurpers , yet now we that are of the tribe of levi , are instated in our spiritual rights , and we demand of , and require you to own us for your undoubted land-lords , and pay us now the last six months arrears of rent . ten. please your fatherhoods , by what titles are you dignified , or have you dignified your selves , that so we may give you your dues of reverence ? bish. our titles are these ; lord-bishops , spiritual-pastors , grace , or your grace , holy fathers in — lords spiritual , and it may be temporal , or temporary too . ten. very well , now we understand your names and titles , please your lordships to tell us from whence you came . bish. although you be such silly asses as not to understand it , yet we must answer you by a distinction , otherwise we shall leave you in the dark . if you ask us from whence mr. iohn and mr. thomas , &c. ( as such ) came , we shall answer you accordingly . but if your meaning be from whence we came as lord bishops , &c. we must answer you otherwise ; for as the subject matter of the question differs much , so the answers must be accordingly different . ten. very well distinguished ; please your fatherhoods to answer to the first part of your learned distinction . bish. to the first we answer , that we came out of wine-cellars , and smoaky kitchens , as a drove of pittiful , poor , and base creatures , the sons of poor inconsiderable men ; where we were driven by unsanctified hands , and lay there among the pots , until this happy day of our resurrection . and truly , gentlemen , we lay among the pots , so many years , while the uncircumcised sate in our saddles , possessed our lands , and shut up our hands and feet in the afore-said places , that we are grown like tuns ; and being swoln with too lavish eating and drinking , ( having nothing else to do there ) we were constrained to put these black hoops or surcingles about us , before we came forth , for fear lest our vessels should have broken , and our garbidge fallen out , which would have stunk so abominably , that you would have loathed us , and not have entertained us in your houses , but have shut your doors against us , stop't your noses at us , and have abhorred us as a monstrous breed , unclean beasts , stinking vermin , coming out of the bottomless pit ; but being fastened with these sanctified girdles , we hope our trunks will hold until we have pickt your pockets , and chastized you for your sins . ten. it seems you have lyen among the pots by your scarlet complexions . bish. we have so , and you might easily have seen it , ( but you are a company of saucy ill-bred jacks ) and not have troubled us to tell you so . ten. pray tell us whence you came as lordships , holy fathers , &c. and where had you these qualities , transcendent-dignities , and lofty titles ? bish. we derived them from rome , we did not go over for them our selves , for we durst not do so , because our rulers would not suffer that now , but we found them ready for us , and took them to our selves , ( though you must know we had them not gratis ) and we have brought them with us , to shew them to you , that you may own us for your spiritual land-lords , and pay us the money we demand of you . ten. what then , it seems you are di●scessan bishops ( pray pardon our rude speech , for you know we are plain country men , and cannot speak like you ) and , as such , you are our land-lords , and demand rents of us . bish. yes , you say true , you are our tenants , and we your land-lords , as such , and we hope you will not deny to pay us our dues . ten. pray your lordships to dismount , and come in , and refresh your selves ? bish. have you any good sack to make us drink ? ten. no , if it please your lordships , we are poor farmers , and we think that a cup of beer will serve our turns . bish. no , it will not serve our turns , though it may yours , we have drunk good sack so long , that we cannot now drink your beer ; pray send for some sack for us . ten. please your lordships to send for it , for we are but poor tenants , and have no money , and we know that your purses and trunks are full ; but do what you please , we will not press you too far , for we do know that you do love to keep them full . but if it shall please your holy fatherhoods to stay a while and resolve us a few cases ( for we think you are best able , being , as you say , holy fathers , spiritual-pastors , and land-lords ) and then we shall so far as we can answer your demands . bish. well , let us hear what you have to say quickly , for we are in haste , and must be gone ; but we came for money , and money we must have of you before we go . ten. our first case is this , whether or no you are indeed such persons as you say you are ! viz. lord bishops , holy fathers , spiritual pastors , and land-lords , &c. pray clear it a little more to us , for we have only your say-soes for it ; pray tell us where we may be satisfied of , and concerning such persons , with such qualities and dignities ; are they to be found in the scripture ? or where are they recorded ? that we may know who we own , and whom we serve . bish , you are very hard to believe ; are not our assertions and testimonies sacred and canonical ? were you not a company of infidels , you would believe our testimonies without any more ado ; for do you not know , that t is our doctrine , that you are bound to believe as the church believers ? that is , what his holiness and the fathers of the church do say and teach . you are a pack of pure youths indeed ; what! will you not credit our words ? but however , at this time we will take some pains with you , to satisfie you , although we adjudge it far below our high and sacred dignities to talk with such jacks as you are ; and know ye , that we talk with you now , not for your sake , but for your moneys sake ; for we love and seek yours , not you . therefore we answer , that you may look if you please into the scripture , and if you cannot find such there as we have told you we are , then we shall send you to other records , where we are sure you will find us . ten. we thank your lordships ; please you to sit still a little while , and we will , first search the scriptures , and if we can find your names , titles and dignities there , we will look no further ; provided the scriptures approve of , and commends you , as appointed and sent of god in mercy . pray stay a little . bish. come on tenants , have you found us there ? you are a company of dunces , you cannot find us there , can you ? ten. no , we cannot find you there mentioned , as legittimate , approved children , or as persons of any good repute or honour , but the contrary is very apparent ; so that we have found you there in black characters , but we cannot find one word to your honour , but all to your shame ; not so much as one white character of you there . shall it please your lordships to inform us , what other records or registers there are of you , that will discover you to be such as you say you are , that so we may be satisfied . bish. what , is that all the account the scriptures give of us , which you have told us , surely you are mistaken , if you say so . ten. we pray you do not mistake us , for we do not say , what we mentioned is all that the scripture speaks of you , but we hinted these at present , only to show you what , and how the scriptures speak of you ; so that we begin to suspect you , that you are not holy fathers , nor spiritual pastors : we find domineering lords there , belly-gods , and notorious hypocrites , persecutors , oppressours , dumb doggs , idle drones and shepherds , bishops in sheeps-cloathing , but are wolves within ; zealous promoters of babylon , their own carnal interest , but contemners of christ , his laws and interest ; who pretend to serve christ , but 't is not so ; they would have men to think and believe so of them , though themselves do know and believe the contrary . bish. we advise you then to look into the romish records , and there you shall find all you desire to know of us ; there you shall find our original , if you please but to look back to that wicked traytor phocus his time , who to obtain pardon of his horrid murder , in killing his master mauritius the emperour , to advance himself to the empire did add sin to sin , and set up pope boniface , in the papal catholick chair , whereby he became lord pope ; which said pope with his holy successors , aspiring universal lordship and dominion , under the notion of spiritual men , did exalt bishops under them also , to lordly dignities and revenues , spiritual and lofty titles , power and dominion , which accordingly they have handed over to , and received of each other from generation to generation , and we that are now in being , do consent unto , agree with , practise their laws , and walk by their rules , written and conveyed unto us their children ; and our wayes are guided by the same spirit , directed to the same ends , from which we are not willing , ( though necessity sometimes constrains us ) to vary one hairs breadth . we thought good to tell you this much , because 't is a great way to rome , and we are loth you should be at so great cost and pains to look after us , but to tarry at home , and provide our rents in due season , for that is all we would have you concern your selves about , and therefore we desire this may suffice you . ten. well , we shall at present rest in what hath been said , although we doubt not but you could have told us much more , but we are loth to keep your lordships too long from dinner ; therefore pray tell us in the second place , what subtilties did you use to mount the saddle of preferment , in getting such fat bishopricks , lordly dignities , and dominion ? bish. we will tell you very briefly and plainly ; first , when we saw all obstructions removed out of our way , excepting our consciences , then we thought it the wisest way to get a grave made and bury them , and cause the sexton to throw a great deal of earth upon them , that so we might no more hear their clamours ; for till we took this course with them we could not be quiet , and we know that 't was impossible to get , and keep bishopricks , and good and quiet consciences also , and so concluded to put them into a deep sleep , and cover them up warm in the ground , and conjure them there to abide , until our bishopricks should be taken from us , or we from them ; so that now we have many good and peaceable dayes , only we must tell you ( but pray be very private with it ) they do sometimes appear to us , like evil ghosts , terrifying and affrighting us , but we make a shift by our spels to lay them again , or else there were no living for us in this world . secondly , another notable device was to render all good ministers , the were not without conscience like our selves , as vile as we could , as odious and abominable as possible , unto our rulers , that so they might despise them , and reject both their persons , and counsels , lest they should have obstructed our designes , we were eagle-ey'd , to spie out all opportunities , and to lay hold of them assoon as we could , with all possible advantages . we would be still buzzing their ears , that all preachers that were not of the prelatical order , were not to be instrusted either in church or state ; that they were men of dangerous principles , enemies to caesar , and what not . we did reprobate them as the iews did the samaritans , we did cloath them in all the beasts-skins we could get , and made them all look like bedlams , or some frightful spirits , as the false teachers did the apostle paul : and having been blessed with good success , in perswading rulers against them , we proceed unto a third device , which was to perswade our rulers , that there was such a near relation between church and state-monarchy , and such a dependency upon each other , that 't was almost , if not altogether impossible that monarchical government should long subsist in the state , unless the like were set up in the church also , although we knew 't was abominably false . king iames tells us it is false , that there is no such thing : his words are these ; because earthly kingdoms must have earthly monarchs , it doth not follow the church must have a monarch too ▪ christ is his churches monarch . and though we did pretend that that was our end in endeavouring to set up prelacy , ( viz. ) to secure and bear up the state-government , yet it is certain , our whole design was , to set up and establish our selves in lordly-dignities , and get a sword into our hands , whereby we might reign without controul , and crush whom we please under our feet . this was our designe , our consciences were , and still are witnesses , and 't is sufficiently evident to all men by our practices . fourthly , we did frequently suggest to our rulers , that the whole nation ( excepting a few phanaticks ) were for our lordly prelacy , and that by setting it and us up , they would greatly content and gratifie their subjects : and the better to countenance it , we made a shift by our agents ( and we promise you 't was a hard shift too ) to procure one or two grand inquests , in the nation , at assizes , to declare for our designs , as also some few of the militia , in their musters , in and about london , and caused their votes to be put into the news books with great triumphs , as if the whole nation had been for it ; but alas this was but a meer cheat , for it was well known then , and it is much more fully known now , that all the sober civil people of the nation were and are against it , and we are convinced and satisfied that if men were called to give their voices , there is not the fifth man in the nation for us : the nation groans under us , as under a heavy load . this was another device we made use of . fifthly , we suggested unto , and perswaded our rulers , that prelatical government would be the only means to enrich the kingdom , to honour and set it on high , to make it terrible to forreign nations , to preserve peace , to bart the doors against popery , and to supply publick treasuries with money in time of need . these and the like subtil pretences and devices we had , which we doubt not but you are sufficiciently satisfied were but pretences . we could tell you of other feats we had , but let these suffice at this time , because we are in haste . ten. we are satisfied in your ingenuous answers concerning your setting up of prelacy , and getting of bishopricks , &c. and so much the more because we knew before what you have here told us . now we desire you to resolve us if you are holy or consecrated , as we remember you hinted to us before ; pray tell us , are you so ? bish. yes , yes , that we are ; there is no body that knows us , but will easily grant that , and we require you to believe so of us , or else you will wrong us and our church . ten. very well ; then pray tell us what is so , and how you are so ? bish. you are a company of woodcocks , you know nothing at all , if you do not know that we are consecrated and sacred , for we are consecrated throughout , with holy oyl that came from his holiness , our dear father ; we have holy heads , beards , noses , and every part of our fat carcases are holy ; yea all our vestments , hoods , caps , gowns , surplices and girdles ; yea our doublets , shirts , shooes and breeches are holy , being all consecrated with romish oyl ; and although our breeches be now and than defiled and profaned at our merry banquets , when our vessels are over-charged , yet they are soon clean again , being near our sacred bodies . but do you yet believe that we are so holy ? yea we can tell you what is incredible , our very gate in walking in the street is holy : we suppose you have observed our manner of walking different from the laity ; we go very wide , and set out our toes at so great a distance , that hoggs with their yokes on their necks may pass through our twists , but that they are afraid to approach so nigh our holy shooes : yea we are made so holy with the said oyl , that we can spare a great deal , and yet have a enough for our selves too . oyl with us is like oyl in the womans barrel or cruse , 't is still full , although we sell away good store yearly , when we consecrate our journey-men , or curates , such as we imploy in our service ; besides many churches , utensils , and garments , and yet we are still full : 't is wonderful oyl , and we hope you do all believe so . ten. whether your religion be the best , or as some say , the only religion in the world ? bish. yes , we doubt not but 't is the best , and only religion in the world : the presbyterian , independant , and anabaptists religions are pittiful poor things if compared to ours ; for there is not one lord-bishop nor bishoprick among any of them ; alas , their church-men are a company of poor pittiful fellows to us , one of them is contented with one hundred pounds a year , but we are not contented with five or six thousand pounds by the year . besides , they will have all their ministers work hard with them , and for them , every week , and that we do not like . they will have their ministers fulfil their ministry themselves ; but in our religion , we can sit still , we can sleep , eat , drink , and rise up to play , and make others do our work for us . yea further , their religions are so strict , that men are watched , and if they do , or speak amiss , or neglect their work , they shall be presently told of it , and it may be reproved for it : but there is no such thing in our religion ; there all sorts of persons may be a bad as their bishops , and walk in their steps of pride , and all other sins , and yet be blamless ; a man need not fear reproof in our religion . besides , in the said wayes of religion , they will have such close-searching-preaching , that 't is impossible for persons to be in quiet in their consciences for them , they will have such persons as shall divide between the joynts and the marrow , as the scripture speaks , that there is not a sin can escape their mouthes , but they will discover it to the persons in whom it is : but it is not so in our religion , for we suffer no such preachers to preach openly ; and when we preach , we do all we can to keep all convincing truths far enough off from our auditors consciences , knowing that if once the consciences of men be savingly convinced by the truth , they will forsake both us and our church when once their eyes be opened to see our church , what she is ; for 't is one of the excellencies of our religion , that we do not trouble each other , or any way interrupt each other in our several wayes of sinning . we let the people alone , and they let us alone ; we tell them stories and preach some good sayings of the fathers , and some sentences of greek and latine , and make the poor silly people cry us up for excellent scholars , excellent divines , good church-men , and so we laugh to see what fools we ride ; for as we said before , our great care is to keep their eyes shut ; and they not knowing what a sad generation we are , have us in reverence , and dare not speak to us to tell us of our wickedness for fear of our horns . again , their religion is so strict , that we judge it wants much of that charity that we have in ours ; they will admit none into their churches that are openly scandalous , or grosly ignorant , but our church is full of such : we are so charitable to all athiests , blasphemers , drunkards , and all others , that we make no difference . those persons that they do most highly esteem for holiness , we least of all regard ; we scruple not to give that which is holy unto doggs , and to cast pearls before swine . 't is our constant practice to do so ; but those other religions are not so charitable , they make a separation between the clean and the unclean , according to the scripture ; but we dare not be so strait , we can give childrens bread to doggs ; we keep open house , but these persons shut the doors and keep them out . so that for these and other such like reasons , 't is evident that our religion is the best , if not the only religion , excepting the pop●sh . ten. now you speak of that , pray tell us if the popish religion and yours be not in many things alike ; for we have heard that those men , whom you call phanaticks , have said , that it is very near of kin , at least in many things , pray inform us . bish. how do such illiterate men as you are know that ? we promise you we have done all we could to keep you ignorant of such matters , for we knew if once you understood it , you would loath us ; but we begin to fear that they have found out our cloven feet : but seeing you desire our solution in the case , we shall very briefly shew you wherein we and they agree , provided you will be private and keep it to your selves . first , they and we agree in church-officers , our bishops are anointed and consecrated , with the same oyl , and by the same authority that theirs are . austin the bishop , brought it over from rome above one thousand years since . that is one thing wherein we are exactly alike . secondly , as they do execute their authority , so do we ; we have many such courts and officers as they have ; they keep courts to get money , and to punish men in their own names ; so do we to . the great design of setting up their courts , and executing their authority there , is to afflict , trouble and ruine the innocent , and to fill their purses , by their oppressing and persecuting such ; so do we . 't is our design and endeavour , and we have been succesful in it , and we promise you we will have you there to make trial of what we say , that by your senses , especially the feeling sence , you may be enabled to believe all that we tell you , if you do not prove good tenants , and pay us our dues exactly . thirdly , our church was formed and moulded only by the romish pattern ; the very foundation and building is the same . was theirs founded and built on humane policy , laws , decrees and canons ? so is ours also . is theirs of a monarchical form ? so is ours too . are their nations and kingdoms made churches ? so are ours likewise , and that by the like prelatical hands . are they guided and ordered by humane inventions and prelatical sanctions ? so are ours too . was theirs formed to serve and maintain a prelatical interest ? so is ours also . is theirs made to delude poor souls ? so is ours also . fourthly , we have some of their deluding and pernitious doctrines , which we enjoyn children to learn , that so they may be timely fenced against the truth : as in our church-cathechism , we teach them to learn and say , that in their baptisme they were made members of christ , children of god , and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven . and to make it the more authentick , and confirm them in the faith of it , we teach them , and accordingly practise before them , in and about our confirming of them , thus , defend , o lord , this child with thy heavenly grace , that he may continue thine ; perswading them , that if they can say ( by roat ) the lords prayer , the ten commandments , and the belief , that then they are undoubtedly such , and so need not to trouble themselves to look after regeneration by the word and spirit . and to secure this doctrine against all contradiction , we enjoyn our curats to teach , and say , at all funerals , whoever is buried , this our dear brother or sister deceased , in hope of a glorious resurrection , although he or she lived and died notorious swearers , drunkards , and blasphemers . besides , we teach , that there are only two sacraments , as generally necessary to salvation , that is to say , baptisme , and the supper of the lord. where are implied ; 1. that the sacraments are generally necessary to salvation : which is a doctrine of the popish church , but never taught by christ or his apostles . 2. here is clearly implied , that the five other sacraments instituted by , and used in the popish church , are sacraments , and of some use , and not to be rejected , although they are not generally necessary to salvation ; they may and ought to be received , and used as sacraments , though not mith that high respect , as the two mentioned . we have several other doctrines of the same import , which we cannot now speak of , because we must haste home . fifthly , we agree with the popish church in our church service also . they have a stinted liturgy or form of prayer ; so have we also , yea , and in the most parts of it , it is the same , we borrowed it of them . do they call it divine service ? so do we likewise . look what postures and gestures they use in the reading of it , the same we use too . do they compel men to use those prayers , and punish such as in conscience refuse to conform to such mock-worship ? so do we too . do they make an idol of that their ill-begotten brat ? so do we of ours also . so that to tell you the truth we are very nigh them in our service too . sixthly , our ceremonies and theirs are birds of a feather ; ours are very like theirs . do they make and account their churches holy places , and accordingly do them reverence when they come there , by putting off their hatts , congying , and falling down in their seats on their knees , when they first go into these places ? so do we likewise . do they ( as they say ) beautifie the houses of god , in their adorning them with gold , marble , pictures , and writing sentences of scripture on their doors and windows , ( as this is one sentence , this is none other but the house of god ; this is the gate of heaven , ) to draw fools there to the stocks , to get the more customers to their markets ? so do we likewise . again , do they use , and strictly enjoyn their ministers the use of the cross in baptism ? so do we . kneeling at the sacrament , the bowing at the name of jesus ? so do we . pretended holy surplices , girdles , gowns and other such like trinkets ? so do we . processions , holy fonts , and holy rails and tables ? so do we too . again , do they place all their religion in such base , carnal and unworthy things , in such pittiful empty nothings , gaudy vain shews , and trumperies of their own devising , to draw the eyes of sensualists , and to delude the minds of the simple ? so do we likewi●e . again , do they glory in their carnal , vain-glorious , out-side and formal religion , judging , censuring , condemning and punishing all such for hereticks , as are not of their stamp , and that dare not bow to their image of worship ? in like manner do we also . so that we hope we have satisfied you in this also . we might have enumerated many more pieces of their and our religion , but time hastens , therefore let that suffice at present . ten. if it please your lordships , it be so as you say , we wonder that any reasonable creatures will be of your religion , for in our opinion you are all much out of the way . bish. do you wonder at it , and think we are out of the way ? truly we must tell you , so do we too ; we think we are out of gods way , but as we told you , we be in our own way , in the right way to worldly honour , riches and greatness , ease and prosperity , which are the things we aim at , and our religion ( as we shewed you ) leads towards it ; and whereas you say , you wonder that any will be of our religion , we do so likewise ; but we can tell you how we do get and keep persons with us : t is thus . first , those that are more ignorant and yeelding , we do flatter , allure , and cheat , and with good words , and fair speeches , entrap such silly souls . secondly , those that we see are reaching after promotions , we do draw with golden baits , and silver cords , although we make some of them wait till their eyes be dim too , before they catch the fish , yet by this means we get a considerable herd . thirdly , when we find others stout and backward to come to us , we drive them with iron rods , as you drive your asses to their work ; thus you see by what honest means , prudent wayes and fetches we get fools into our pound . and we do assure you , if we had not used our best skill in practising these pretty devices , we had been as fathers without children , bodies without leggs , and pastors without flocks ; and we doubt not but we could by one or other of these devices , conjure you amongst us with others , but we suppose that you may be wiser in time . ten. please your lordships to resolve us , for what ends are you set up so high , or whatuse are you of , or what transcendent work have you to do in your church , beyond other men ? bish. ye are a company of block-heads ; for if you were not , you would ere now have known us , and our works , ends and use ; but we shall tell you seeing you desire us . first , we are set up to serve the lord , in doing his dirty work ; god hath lifted us on high , head and shoulders ( with saul ) above other men , to imploy us in scouring work , that is , to scour his vessels of gold and silver . for although we seem to be very high in respect of men , yet alas , we are but the filthy , nasty , and black skullions of the great god. you that are not very knowing men , may think , o surely lord-bishops are the most honourable and happy men in the world ; oh that we were as happy and honorable as they ! oh that we were in our lord-bishops-coats , that we might be thereby capacitated to do the church some honourable service ! but they are all mistaken in us , for whatever some do think of us , we are the most dirtiest fellows in the world , & are employed in and about the vilest work , ( as you know scullions work is so : ) for god being offended with his golden vessels , who while we lay among the pots , grew very rusty , and almost overspread with canker and filthiness ; and he having occasion to make use of the worst and vilest of men , was pleased to call us out of our dens , and styes , and bid us go to skullions-scouring-work , and therefore gave us spirits and opportunities accordingly , to get horns and courts , powers and faculties , whereby to do the said work : in and about which work we have been exercising our selves to the utmost of our power , and have scoured the flesh from the bones of some ; the nearest relations from each other : estates from some , and liberty from others : some we have cursed as black as soot , and then have rub'd them so hard , untill we have separated their souls from their bodies , so that you see we are not erected in vain , we are of good use , and we fear we shall be rewarded accordingly . secondly , we are set up to try professors if they be such indeed as they pretended to be in their day of liberty , that those that were approved might be made manifest , and those that were otherwise might not alwayes lye hid , and we have not in this neither laboured in vain , nor spent our strength for nought ; for by our means many are made much better , more strong , serious in , and adhering unto the truth , and practice of what they professed . they are become more studious , and industrious for established hearts , more constant and fervent in prayer ; much more cautious and watchful , more diligent to get loose from the world , and intent upon their eternal concernments . they have by our means more communion with god , more love to the saints , and delight in the pure ordinances of god , more united in the spirit of love and forbearance ; but no thanks to us , for we intended no such matter , but the god whom they serve ; in despight of us , hath made such use of us , and so blessed our cruel hands , to their spiritual advantages , that they can say , it hath been good for them that they have been afflicted by our uncircumcised hands . but we must tell you also , that as some are made better , so others are much worse by our means ; for some that were outwardly holy , are now openly profane . others that condemned prelacy , their church , and all their trumperies , are now fully of us , and serve their bellies ; as high in their zeal for us , and against all good men , and the wayes of god as we are our selves , as if they had been brought up with us ; and they sin more highly and presumptuously than some of us do , who never swore or declared against any of these matters , but did always love them , as being the only wayes to advance our selves and raise our interests . and therefore thought it our wisdomes not to decline them , but to comfort our selves in hope that we might live to see these good dayes , and obtain our desires , as now you see we have . thirdly , we are set up and used , to confirm the blessed truths and wayes of god , which his people espoused and professed , which once cost them but little or nothing : we mean , that by our wicked persecuting , and superstitious spirits and hands , god hath called forth many , both to bear clearer testimonies , and to seal them by their hardships , and sufferings , from and by us , whereby the holy truths and wayes of god appear to be real and excellent things indeed ; their suffering for , and sealing truths and practices , do greatly commend them to all men , and lay convictions upon them , that they are serious and weighty matters , and so thereby draw the eyes and hearts of persons towards them , causing such as accounted them but the meer fancies and conceits of a few precise persons , to believe them to be choice matters , and worthy of all acceptation , and perswading them that they ought to be embraced , and practised with all confidence and readiness , and at last to set to their seals , that they are most glorious truths and wayes , that they need not be ashamed of them , but own and profess them with all boldness ; and also our lyes and vanities , which we call religion , and with which for a time , we corrupted the minds of men , to lose their place and interest in mens hearts . and as we are of use in the world for these ends , so also ▪ fourthly , to devour , eat up , and consume the fat , and the sweetest of the lands where we dwell ; for we do assure you , that we are great belly-mongers , and devourers of gods good creatures ; we do daily eat the fruit of the field like grashopers , and cormorants ; our bellyes and appetites are like horshleeches , that alwayes cry , give , give . it is our study night and day , what we shall eat and what we shall drink , and where withal we shall be cloathed ; yea we can hardly find any creatur●s good enough to satisfy our ambitious minds , our greedy and curious desires , and appetites ; and therefore when we do not like the provisions our own kitchens will afford us , or we are not willing to go to the price that such provisions will cost , as we would have ; then we take a coach and visit some noblemans table , hoping we may find better provision there gratis , although we pretend , and make their lordships believe , that we , as their worthy fellows , and companions in dignity and greatness ( though the truth is we are not worthy to wipe their shooes ) come to visit them , as respecting their dignities and honours , and yet we know t is not they we do visit or respect , but their full tables , and our own bellys . thus we consume the best creatures we can get , both at home and abroad , and we care not whose bellys be empty so ours be full , nor how many families perish through want by our means , so we can live like fed beasts , for we can , and do eat the fat and drink the sweet , while we famish thousands . so that we have said enough to this also , considering how short our time is to be with you , and therefore pray be satisfied with these few and brief answers . ten. we thank your fatherhoods for what you have told us , for we assure you that our eyes begin to be opened , and to look out of their holes , wherefore we entreat you to open them a little more , and tell us how , or by what means or wayes you do keep so fast in the saddles of your dignities and bishopricks , you being such a generation of men , as we now perceive you are . bish. we will very briefly tell you , if you do not know , provided you will conceal and keep to your selves what we shall tell you . first , we have with a great deal of subtilty procured a law , to punish all such as shall speak or write against us , to lay us open to the world ; so that 't is no matter how abominable we are now , for having tyed up mens mouths , and prohibited their pens , we may be as wicked as we will or can , no men nor doggs dare open their mouthes , or use their pens to convict , or so much as to discover our filthiness ; and do you not think this was a pretty shift to keep us in the saddles ? we promise you , we laugh at it , when we consider how wilily we acted , and how seasonably and prudently we play'd our game with the legislative powers , for we were very timely in it : and if we had neglected that season before we were discovered to them , we are confident our market had been spoiled , for were it now to have been done , we are perswaded that we have so far lost our selves in the hearts of those persons , that made that law , they having found out our wickedness , that they would utterly reject any such motion ; which our learned wits foresaw ; so that now we are pretty well secured from all men , that are justly provoked at us . secondly , we do as woolsey and bonner , winchester or stephen gardner , and their adherents were wont to do in their princes courts , we do keep two or three , or more of us , close there continually , what ever work is left undone , we are very precise in that : and their work is to observe who comes there , and what they say and do , and to know what matters and counsels are on foot , and to dive into our princes secrets , all we can , and to understand what they intend , and what they are about to do , that so if there should be any thing started against us , we may crush the cokatrice egg betimes , lest it should come forth and take the air , yea we feel the pulses of counsellours , and nobles , and sound them all we can , and as we find matters we do improve them all we can to our own advantage , how prejudicial soever it may be to thousands else . thirdly , we endeavour , as much as possible , to keep all persons , that are not of us and for us , as low as we can , and we are still clamouring with our princes against them ; representing them as persons not worthy to live in the land ; and that all that are not of our black-fac't hierarchy , are disloyal and disaffected persons to their rulers , and keep them from having access unto them , lest they should make us appear to them in our colours , and so alienate their hearts to us ; although we are fully convinced that we abuse them , and that those men whom we represent as monsters to them , are far better than our selves , and are more sincere in their profession of love , and service to god and man , than we are our selves ; who in all our pretended love , zeal , and loyalty , to god and them , do nothing but designe the setting up , and upholding our interests , our great bishopricks , high titles and dignities . yea , we keep , as much as we can , all such persons as do not jump with us in our designs , from making known their grievances , and the many wrongs and injuries we do them in our courts , and otherwise , to their lawful magistrates , that so we may keep our interests entire and unmolested . fourthly , we imploy and send forth , as ignorant doltheads , debauched and superstitious curats , our journeymen , as we can find , to work for us in our profitable vineyards , that they by their doctrine and practice , may deb●uch and keep persons in gross ignorance : we instruct them what they shall say , and how they shall speak of us their masters ; and they understand our meaning , and what our designs are , ( viz. ) to endeavour all they can to preserve our reputation among the people , and to cry us up as persons that came from heaven ; and our orders , and authority , and high dignities , as divine and sacred things ; and to preach as little as possible , and to fill their belly with our old broath , which hath stunk in the nostrils of all sorts of men these thirty years , and is very odious both to the taste and sight of the wisest and holiest men . for we know , that if we should imploy holy and able ministers , to communicate the light of the gospel among the people , their eyes would soon be open to discern us , that it would be impossible to hide our deeds of darkness from them . moreover , we were the men that procured that law , to silence all honest and conscientious ministers , because they stood in our way , and withstood and obstructed our designs , so that we could not reign in that height , peace , splendour , and tyranny as we defired , until we caused them to be removed , that so we might hear no more of them , and that room might be made for our journey-men . by these and such like means , we got up , as we shewed you before ; and by the same , or such like , we do sit fast as yet in our saddles . ten. we are satisfied in what you have said as to that also : now pray tell us if you be such bishops as are spoken of in the scripture , or whether you are like them in qualities , call and practices there mentioned ; and all that take upon them the office and work of bishops , are appointed and commanded to be ? pray tell us briefly and plainly , as you have other matters already . bish. no , in no wise ; for did you ever know such bishops come from popish rome , as came from ierusalem ? rome is our mother , she that is the mother of harlots and abominations : but ▪ ierusalem was theirs , that is mentioned in scripture , and approved of by christ. they were made biships by the spirit of god , which we do hate and deride ; by the laws and authority of jesus christ , as their lord and king : but we are made by the antichristian spirit , laws and authority of rome , and , as prelatical bishops , we have nothing else to shew for our selves , but what was handed over to us by romes authority . but that we may throughly convince and satisfie you of what we do here assert , we do desire you to take a little pains with us , and hearken unto us , while we do briefly shew you in some particulars , wherein the scripture primitive bishops and we are unlike , and do disagree ; and indeed to tell you the truth , we are almost , if not altogether , as unlike them as light is to darkness , sweet to sowre , black to white ; the priests of baal to the lords true priests ; for we have nothing but the name of bishops , we are no way worthy of the name , much less of the office , work , honour and reward of a true bishop : alas we are but meer shadows and images of real substances , meer pretenders to it , for our gain , honour , and filthy lucre , as will evidently appear in these following particulars . first , the scripture and primitive bishops were the peoples spiritual servants , such as did administer to them spiritual things , in the name , by the authority , and according to the appointment of christ , as his and their servants , and were expresly forbidden to lord it over their flocks . the apostles did account it their highest honour , to be christs and the churches servants , as the scripture tells us . but we do lord it over gods heritage , and domineer over them , as if they were not worthy to wipe our shoes , or to speak to us ; and we are greatly displeased with such as do not cringe to us , and give us our titles : yea , we do tyrannically lord it over the kings true and honourable subjects , such as have adventured their lives and fortunes for his interest . yea , we lord it over , and carry it disdainfully towards many of the true nobles and peers of the land. we do tyrannize and lord it over , 1. the bodies and liberties of the kings loyal subjects , if their consciences be not so large , stupified , and besotted as ours are , to joyn with us , and bid us god speed in our wicked wayes ; them we cause to be humbled after taken , and imprisoned for meer triflles , and we have agents fitted to serve our turns , and execute our tyrannical and bloody decrees . 2. we lord it over their estates , endeavouring to ruine such as do not please us , and our journey-men ; we cite them into our spiritual courts , and cause them to wast their time , and spend their money , while their families want bread at home ; vexing and driving them up and down at our own and our curates pleasures , and at last fine them , or persecute them else where , till we have almost , if not altogether , ruined them and theirs ; there are thousands in the nation can sadly and experimentally testifie this against us , but that they fear our wrath and hot displeasure . 3. we do not rest there , but we do also lord it over their consciences , endeavouring to bring that which is subject only to the lord of glory in subjection unto our proud humours , our uncontroulable prelatical authority ; and all the engines we can procure , we make use of to effect our purposes , which is to rob christ of his right and due , and to bring over all his subjects to our usurped lordly interests and designs . thus did not the scripture bishops . we profess to you , that we would not have christ to reign where we reign ; or if we allow him a small interest in , and rule over mens consciences , 't is but as an underling to us , or as it may consist with our usurped and tyrannical authority , and be subordinate thereunto . this is so evident , as that he that runs may read it ; besides many other things ( which we do here , as in other things in all our discourse , omit for brevities sake ) in this , that when we visit our herds , and herds-men , ( that are our slaves and drudges ) we do not at all enquire , if men do subject themselves unto , and obey the laws , orders , and appointments of jesus christ ; but , whether our heards-men and their herd , be obedient unto our laws , and authority ? and such as we find conformable and obedient to us , our orders , and appointments , we do embrace as our dearly beloved children , how vile , rebellious , and disobedient soever they are to the orders , and appointments of jesus : and if any be found disobedient to us , and our authority , laws and orders , we do more or less punish them , with our canonical rods : but they may be open and flat rebels against christ his authority and laws , and no notice taken of it . oh horrid wickedness ! yea , we do much more mind the honour of our apparators , and houses , than we do the lord christs . secondly , the scripture bishops were constant preachers of the gospel of christ , to their flocks ; they did give themselves wholly to the work which they had received of the lord , that they might fulfil it , to the glory of christ , and the edification of his people , according as they were appointed and enjoyned . they did preach the word in season and out of season : yea , sometimes night and day , they did labour in the word and doctrine ; and did watch the flock over which the holy ghost had made them overseers : but we are least of all concerned , or do little or nothing at all concern our selves , in that which is indeed our only work and business , as we profess our selves or pretend to be bishops over flocks . our business is , and we wholly devote our selves to look after our revenues , honours , cour●s , and earthly matters ; we care not if the devil do our work ▪ so we may have our lordly titles , popish honours , and revenues , glutting our bellys , and cloathing our backs , and riding about in our coaches , to take our pleasures , and to fill our selves with wordly delights ; if we can keep in princes favours , and blind the eyes of counselours , flatter and delude legislative powers , to keep us in the height of our pride and luxury : these are the matters we imploy our prudent heads about from year to year , for we can neither preach nor pray when once we are lord bishops . we can opprass , suppress , and persecute those that can and would labour in the word , and fulfil the ministrey they have received . we account it a great disgrace , and far below our lordly dignities , to preach the word of god , except it be now and then , in princes courts ; 't is too unworthy a work for us to be exercised in , among the rascal herd . but we must hast homwards , for our bellies begin to cry cubbord . thirdly , the scripture bishops entred into their ministry by the door of christ's authority , according unto his laws and orders ; they durst not run till they were sent , nor come till they were called , nor go into the vineyard , until the master of the vineyard sent or thrust them in . but we like thieves and robbers , climb up another way ; a way which christ never appointed , neither doth he own or bless ; yea , though we plead ( like so many crafty lawyers for their fees , though they know their clients cause to be bad , and unjust ) that our call , standing , and ways of prôcedure , are of divine right and institution , to deceive the simple , that cannot fathom our depths of treachery ; yet we can no longer remain undiscovered to the wise and prudent , but we are sufficiently discerned to be intruders into , usurpers and ravishers of the ministry , and flocks of christ , wolves in sheeps-cloathing ; and therefore 't is no wonder that so many do refuse to own us for their spiritual pastors . fourthly , the scripture bishops were contented and well enough satisfied with that portion of worldly things , which iesus christ their lord had provided and appointed for them ; as persons that laboured in the word and doctrine , and what their particular flocks were able to aford them : and we do assure you that jesus christ never appointed or gave to them such fat bishopricks as our forefathers had , and which we have usurped : for look what christ by paul told and charged timothy ( viz. ) that he having food and raiment should be therewith content ; was an order sent to all christs bishops , which they accepted of , and were contented with as sufficient . but we are like greedy doggs , that can never have enough : and such as put not into our mouthes , we prepare war against them . we are the most dis-satisfied persons in the world , for when we have traded in fat livings , from two hundred pounds , to three hundred , and then to four or five hundred by the year , we are restless and dissatisfied , as a fish out of the water , or as a stone out of its centre : for then our next care is to procure money enough to purchase a deanary , or some higher promotion ; and when we have gotten that , then we make it our chief study , care and endeavour , to get a bishoprick , ( being so near it ) so that we can hardly sleep night or day , until we are mounted and fixed in the saddle of a bishoprick ; and then our great care is how to preserve and maintain our pomp and greatness , by racking and squeezing who we can , to gather in our thousands , and ten thousands : and being in the saddle of a bishoprick , we are not at all satisfied , but are exercising our wits about some augmentations , or present honours , and estates : and we do greatly envy the greatest nobles in the land , because they exceed us in any thing of true worth , honour , or estates . fifthly , we find that scripture bishops did all they could to fill up the ministry , and supply the vineyards of the lord , with able , holy , and faithful ministers , such who would make it their work to serve the lord christ , not their own bellies : such as did readily accept of the work , not the wages only , or chiefly . but we have beaten out the lords labourers , such as he planted in his vineyard , that we might bring in some of our ill-begotten sons into the vineyard . we care not who , or what they be , so they will bow to us , and call us father , and lord , and officiate as our black-mouth'd chaplains : for we would not have them look , nor speak , or walk like christ's ministers ; if they will observe our manners , and walk as they have us for examples , obey our unholy orders , and bloody decrees , no matter what loyterers , and bishop or beastlike persons they be . sixthly , the scripture bishops were men of peaceable spirits , doing their own work with quietness , labouring to make and keep others so likewise . but we , through our unsatiable pride , envy , and malice , have , and do labour all we can , to make snares , and bonds to catch and captivate our neighbours ; yea , the peaceable of the land do we disturbe , vex and turmoil , and all to gratifie our unquiet spirits , which be conjured up . we are like the troubled sea , whose waters cast up mire and dirt . and indeed , as we are a most wicked generation of creatures , having little or no peace at home , so we are never better satisfied then when we disquiet others . seventhly , they did greatly rejoyce when by their labours they did win souls to christ , and could help them forward in grace , comforts and fruits of holiness ; their flocks adhering to and standing fast in the truth , as 't is in iesus ; their walking in christs appointments , owning and submitting to his authority , as their lord and lawgiver ; and the more their practices were like christ's , the more their faces did shine with christ's glory and image upon them , the more they rejoyced in , and for them , and the more they loved them . but we hate and persecute such , we are grieved when souls are converted to christ , because then we know , that we shall lose our subjects , and that , they being made subjects of christs kingdom , and having gotten spiritual weapons from him , they will fight against our kingdom of darkness , with their faith , prayers , and tears . and some ( as luther did ) with the sword of the spirit , the word of god : and that we shall have no more homage and service from them . for we find that christ translates persons out of kingdoms of darkness ( as ours is ) into his kingdom of light , by which they see our darkness and hate it . for we fear nothing more , nor grieve at any thing so much as the loss of our subjects , or rather slaves ; and therefore to prevent it , we do all we can to send them preachers , that we think god will never bless to the converting of souls . they were supporters of the weak , comforters of the feeble minded , and poured oyl into their wounds , to heal and refresh them . but we fall upon them with open mouthes , push them with the shoulder , and tear them with our iron teeth , imprison , punish , and as much as in us lies ruine them ; so that we are not miscalled bishop-bite-sheep . eigthly , scripture bishops did not constrain their flocks to subscribe and swear to humane inventions , antichristian laws and appointments , and punish them that refused ; or such as did in conscience deny to pay the tenths of their estates and labours , to idol dumb shepherds , to idle drones , to strangers , thieves and robbers . but we do : 't is our constant practice , as the poor enslaved nation can sadly witness . there is no man fit , or worthy to minister the ordinances of christ , but such as will subscribe and swear to us , and our wayes , though they do it to their present and eternal wrong and shame : and such as will not , we cast out of their work and free-holds , we brand and mark them with odious reproaches , and render them to all as enemies to church and state. ninthly , scripture bishops did look upon , and own themselves , as christs and the churches servants , to administer his ordinances , and execute his laws , only to , and among their flocks , and they brought in none of their own amongst them , but kept close to the lord christs orders , in all their administrations . but we appoint , set up and administer our own laws and ordinances , not minding or regarding christ's ; so that we serve our selves , not the lord jesus , in administring . 't is our own authority , the products of our own brains , that are obeyed and respected in our own & iourneymens worshiping , though the common people see it not . tenthly , scripture bishops feed and watch over the flocks , over which the holy ghost had made them overseers , with their own hands and eyes , not by their iourneymen ; they take the charge and care themselves , as judging it their own work . but we , like scavengers or nightmen , who lye and sleep , or sit at alehouses eating and drinking , while some dirty persons do their dirty work , as they please . iust such a sort of men are we , wallowing in all idleness , pride , and filthiness , while our dirty iourney-men do our dirty work . eleven . scripture bishops by christ's appointment , took the care and charge only of one particular church or congregation , one bishop had the oversight only of one church , although sometimes one church had several bishops , and they found they had work enough to do , in a constant and conscientious discharge of their whole work among them . but we are so worthy , able , and transcendent in our own apprehensions , that we can , and do undertake the charge of several hundreds of congregations apiece ; and do you not think that we are brave fellows , notable pastors , laborious workmen ; and that we ought to be lorded , rewarded and reverenced , some of us 500 , some 700 , and other some 800 times more then the scripture bishops , seeing our charges are so much exceeding theirs ; though we never see the thousand part of them . yea , we are priviledged beyond they , for we can capacitate some of our iourneymen scavengers , to have two , three , four or five , yea , ten churches ( as they call them ) at once . so that you see our unlikeness in this also . twelve . scripture bishops , never enjoyned or appointed humane , absurd , insignificant ceremonies to worship god withal , nor did they appoint , or enjoyn , certain peculiar garments to be worn by ministers , as peculiar to them . but we like ghostly fathers , scribes and pharisees , wear , and enjoyn our curates to wear , long garments , singular attire , different from all other men ; thus they must do , or incurre our hot displeasure , because it is our pleasure , how odious and ridiculous soever they are . thirteen . scripture bishops lived holy lives , they practised what they preached , and preached what they practised , endeavouring to teach , encourage and draw men to heaven by their heavenly doctrine , and spiritual conversations ; they did shine before their flocks , in serious godliness , humble and meek deportments , in their self-denial and mercifulness , in diligence and faithfulness in their callings , and in other holy practices . but we are men of other spirits and wayes , our steps tend another way , they lead to the chambers of death ; so that 't is very dangerous treading in our steps , or walking by our rules , or to follow our examples ; for if any be so sottish as to follow our dark lanthorns , they will stumble , fall , and be broken without remedy : for we are such guides , as lead all that will follow us to destruction , and that in the greatest silence and security we can , lest we should draw inquisitive eyes upon us . yea farther , we will tell you , that there is no real worth in us , we are such a crew , such a nest of fowl birds , that there is hardly any thing worth the name of good in any of our lives . all spiritual eyes may see whence we came , and where we are going ; whose we are , and whom we serve ; who imploys us , and who will reward us ; that we do neither know jesus christ , nor believe in him ; that we have no saving acquaintance , either with him or his laws ; that we neither fear , love , nor serve god , but our own bellies ; yea , we make use , ( as we please and have occasion ) of the name and word of christ , for no other ends but to promote the covetousness , pride , tyranny , and ambition of our hearts ; that we make all religion to serve our carnal designs , gain of pretended godliness , and retain the truths of god in unrighteousness , willfully shutting our eyes against the light , lest we see our filthiness , and pull trouble upon our consciences ; endeavouring to suppress it as soon as it appears , and would make conscience speak lowder . yea , what ever some men think of us , we know that many of the kings true subjects are as yet greatly deceived in us , we are so far from having such spirits as the scripture bishops had , or walking as they did , that we are earthly and sensual ; some of us have our mouths full of cursing and bitterness : destruction and misery are in our wayes , the way of truth we have not known , neither is there any fear of god before our eyes : but we are altogether out of the way that leads unto life . yea , our feet are swift to shed blood ; and we have such guilty consciences , when they appear to us out of their sepulchres , such filthy stinking conversations , that we dare not reprove any abominations practised by others ; and so we partake of their sins , and lye under the guilt of their wickedness , as being the peoples spiritual lords and ghostly fathers . fourteen . scripture bishops sought the glory and honour of their lord and master that imployed them , the welfare and enlargment of the kingdom and gospel of christ ; that he might reign , be owned , and glorified every where . but we look not at all after that , our business is , to seek our selves , our own glory and renown , great riches and promotion , to be called of men rabby , to have thousands and ten thousands fall down and worship us , our image , and authority ; to have great and small under our girdles , at our becks and appointing , that our posterities may be exalted , and that our glorious names , titles and dignities , may be recorded to posterity . they did make it their business to discountenance and beat down sin , and promote serious holiness , the power and life of godliness : but we are the chief upholders , promoters , and encouragers of wickedness , doing all we can to discourage true holiness , and the practicers thereof . fifteen . scripture bishops , did glory in the cross of iesus christ , rejoyce that they were accounted worthy to suffer shame for his name and word . but we contemn his cross , set our minds on , and glory in earthly crowns and bishopricks , in our lordly revenues , lofty titles , honours , power and greatness ; we neither think of , nor design the lords cross , that is below us . sixteen . but we must haste ; therefore lastly , scripture bishops were called to the ministry by the people they were to administer unto ; they durst not intrude themselves , but waited for such a call , knowing that they had nothing to do there without their free consent ; and that if they should thrust in themselves , neither christ nor his people , would , or could own , or bless them , and that alwayes in such cases , vox populi is vox dei ; the call of the people , is the voice of god. but , both we our selves , and also our curats , are gross intruders , like hildebrands hoggs , who being unyoked , break through hedges , and violently thrust our selves into others proprieties , and plunder them of their fruit , and are as welcome as hoggs in corn fields . thus we have informed you how unlike we are unto the lords bishops mentioned in scripture ; and as we told you , there is no similitude or likeness between them and us . so we hope you see it made evident to you , and therefore you will not for time to come deceive your selves , in thinking us to be better than indeed we be , for we have told you the naked truth , and we could tell you a great deal more of the like stuffe ; as that scripture bishops were equal , of the same size , there was no inferiority nor superiority among them ; one was not a lord bishop , and another his chaplain or curate : christ crusht that spirit , that was rising amongst them , of lordliness , before he left the world . but we have cut ministers into several sizes and degrees , with our sacred hands ; so that one sort are apes , another sort asses , some are servants , others of the same tribe are lords and masters . but you are a company of cockbrains , you are such noddy-caps , that you know nothing but what you are taught by us your ghostly-fathers : alas men , you understand not the mystery of prelacy ; you see not our deep witted craft , policy , treachery , and deceit ; you look on us , and see us carry about mens faces , being fastened unto our fat shoulders , but you see not our hearts , and brains ; could you find us out , you would see a pack of cards that are all knaves , a herd of beasts all spotted , were it not that we delude such simpletons as you are , with our golden titles , gay and sumptuous cloaths , houses and horses , canonical and consecrated germents , and such like trumperies , with holy oyl , and orders , to dazzle and blind your eyes , that you can hardly discern us what we are within our doublets and breehces . ten. your lordships have ingenuously satisfied us in your unlikeness unto the approved scripture bishops ; now we desire your help in satisfying us concerning your likeness unto , and agreeing with bishop bonner , bishop gardner , and such like brave fellows of the romish ▪ tribe . bish. well , we shall satisfie you in this too , for we see there is no getting your money out of your pockets , till you have gotten all our divinity out of our heads . first , then we answer , we are the same with them in our original , state , places , and offices , in our spirits , natures , works , designes , dignities , and other things : but we must tell you also , that we cannot extort so boundless and unlimitted power from our rulers , as they got from theirs , so as to proceed in our designes , and execute our desires upon the generation of the righteous as they did : we have sought after it , and attempted it with all our might , but cannot obtain it , for our rulers , we perceive , are grown wiser now , than to trust male-pates , such sir johns as we are , with so much power as they had , which doth not a little trouble our deep witts ▪ indeed our bull is as good as theirs , but he hath not so long horns , yet we live in hope his horns may grow longer , for 't is a young bull. however , it must not be imputed to our want of craft or subtilty , for we have acted as wisely , or rather as wilily as they did , though , as yet , our success be not as theirs was , because , as we said , our magistrates are wiser : but we have not laboured altogether in vain , or for nought , for we got upon the backs of some magistrates long since , and prevailed upon them to establish us in our high dignities , &c. and to imploy themselves in , and about our service . we have perswaded them by many crafty wiles we used with them , to set their hands , ( we would have had their loyns too ) to our trade , and to assist , as our slaves , in persecuting all such as would not bow to our idols , and cry , great is diana of the ephesians . we thought , that ( as the world now goes ) we had done enough in procuring laws , though we set them to be executioners of them ; for we foresaw it would prove but dirty unprofitable work to afflict innocent persons , to please our humors , and that it would make all the agents about it , very hateful both to god and men , as is now evident ; we say , we therefore in policy did commend it to such of the laity as would undertake it , not judging it prudence to dirty our own sacred fingers with it , but with pilate to wash them , and so proclaim , we are clear of the blood of these men ; and set the prophane layty ( as we account them ) to pollute their hands with it , and so we have kept our selves clean . but we must not speak so loud , lest these gentlemen should find out our crafty knavery , and serve our designes no longer . and indeed , had not our chief magistrates been more tender and careful of their subjects welfare , than we are of our flocks ; and had those gentlemen , whom we imployed in our druggery , been as forward in executing the laws , which we by subtilty procured , according to our intentions and desires , there had been thousands of families ruined more than there are : and had we known before , that they would have acted no more violently against the best subjects of our princes , then they have done , and have ruined them , as we intended , we should have taken the work into our own consecrated hands , nothing doubting but in case we had stained our holy garments , and defiled our sweet hands in their blood , but that his holiness would have washed us as clean again as a fish. but we were not so wise as to foresee all events , and what cannot be cured must be endured ; we will let them alone and look to our selves now . but we are not a little troubled that we have set up so many mills , and have so few grists come there ; that our shops have been so long open , and we have had so little custome . our spiritual officers in our high courts have little work to do , there they sit till their noses drop , sighing and wringing their hands . they and we hoped to have allured many fools to our nets , but they do not come , and some of those few that do come , are grown so wise , that we cannot catch them . for they know that we have but lame courts , and that if they should own and submit unto our doings ( we acting in our own names , contrary to known laws , and kings supremacy ) they might incur a premunire ; and therefore when persons cited , do appear before us , they are grown so wise , ( and we cannot ride them like asses now ) that they presently demand to see our authority for keeping courts , and we having none , can shew none ; so they very fairly refuse to answer to our demands , and put us upon answering them , ( werein we think they do wisely ) and they carry themselves before us as if they were our cock-mates , so that they do deither love nor fear us . indeed now and then we catch an owl in our nets , but not alwayes ; our trading is so bad , that we are ready to shut up our shop windows , and verily we think it would be our wisdom so to do , before the frost catch us . but to return to our answer again , from which we diverted a little : we say further , that the aforesaid bishops and us , are much alike ; as , 1. they constrain and compell all men to their religion ; so do we . 2. did they erect a carnal church , both for matter and form ? so do we . 3. were they hot and restless in their malice against the poor innocent saints ? so are we too . 4. they made the hearts of the righteous sad , whom god would not have made sad ; so do we . 5. they strengthened the hands of the wicked , that they should not return from their evil way , by promising them life ; so do we . 6. they belye and slander the lords people to their rulers , and provoked and stirred them up , to help them in abusing them ; so do we . 7. they did endeavour to extinguish the light of the gospel , that it might not shine into mens hearts ; so do we . 8. they did delight in destroying the lords flock , and made slaughter among them , and havock of them ; so do we . 9. they would not suffer the lord iesus to appoint his own worship , but would carve out a worship for him as they saw good , and enjoyn all to own it , and conform to it , or punish them ; so do we , 10. they did revile and deride the holy spirit in the saints ; so do we likewise . we might instance in very many other things , wherein we are as like them as face answereth to face in a glass . but let these suffice to convince you , that we , and they do act by the same spirit , tread in the same steps , and drive on the same ends ; and to tell you the plain truth ( although to our grief ) we have ( by the wisdom of our rulers ) not been so succesful as they , yet we have acted as vigorously , and with as good a will as they , to accomplish the same ends , and have made our selves as abominable and loathsom as they , and we do look for the same reward that they have had . ten. you have satisfied us by what you have now said ; shall it please you to inform us what the reason is that you are not made peers of the land , that so your heirs may be instated in some of your honours and dignities ; for we suppose you intend to leave them great estates . bish. we do so intend , and hope we may effect it ; we do assure you , we do endeavour it , both by hook and by crook ; but as for their peerage , we cannot tell what to say to that , we fear we shall hardly obtain that ; for we have attempted it , but it would not take , which doth not a little trouble us , but however we shall watch all opportunities to effect it ; but when it was propounded , we met with an unhappy repulse , ( which was as we remember ) that if such an absurdity should be admitted , another as bad would follow , ( viz. ) that some of those young peers might be fetcht out of hospitals , which would not be well , nor for the honour of the honourable lords and nobles . but if it should not be obtained , we can satisfie our selves , we have done our utmost to promote it ; and our heirs must be contented to sit lower . but 't is pitty that so honourable persons as we are , such noble and useful barons , as we are thought to be , should leave our children without some badge of honour . ten. if it shall please your lordships , do you want any curats , or herdsmen to serve you ? if you do , we can procure you some . bish. yes , we want a dozen or two , pray help us if you can to such a number . ten. we shall , but pray tell us what manner of creatures they must be , for we cannot tell if they be quallified to your minds , and will serve your turns . bish. very well , we shall tell you briefly : 't is no great matter what they be , for they shall be blessed with our holy hands , consecrated with our holy oyl , and be ordained with , and by our romish authority ; all which we received from our holy father and mother : yea , they shall act , and administer in our names , which are but little less than wonderful ; they shall also receive a special mark from us in their foreheads , that they may be known to be our brats : they shall partake also of our scraps and leavings , which will be good enough for such fools as will be our slaves , to drudge up and down for us : yea , they shall be at our disposal , and officiate how , where , and as long as we please , and no otherwise : for , if they should prove better than we expected , then we will silence , and turn them out of doors ; but if they prove worser , we will connive at that , for we cannot endure that our herdsmen , and postilians should be better than we , which are their lords and masters : so that if they are iohn-a-nokes , and thomas stiles , they will serve well enough , provided alwayes ; 1. that they will be our slaves , and subject to our prelatical orders . 2. if they can drink and swear , &c. lustily ; if they can rail at , and blaspheme the lords people , that run not with them into the same excess of riot ; and if they will vigorously and tyrannically execute our canonical orders against them . 3. if they will abjure the covenant , and bind themselves to us , engage to own us for their canonical masters , and serve us as our iourney-men . 4. if they have good stomacks and can digest our old broth , without vomiting ; for it hath stunk so abominably these thirty years and more , and 't is so stale and sowre , they must be of very strong stomacks , that can without great offence and danger digest it : therefore both you and they must be prepared for it . 5. they must be such as will freely help to bear up our tottering kingdom of darkness , ( for our kingdom and interest cannot stand in light ) they must by their preaching and prayers , railing and deceit , assist to keep us upon our lame leggs , lest we should fall and break our consecrated noses : and indeed we have not any supporters to bear our selves upon but such rotten ones . our kingdom is not built on the chief-corner-stone ; we have little interest in heaven , nor in the hearts and prayers of the saints , for we have dealt with them as saul did with the witches in israel ; yea , the holy god is our enemy , and will not stand by to help us in time of need , for we are gods enemies , both in our states , principles and practices ; yea , our prayers , which are made by our canonical witts , and sacred hands , and which we call divine , will not help us upon our leggs , neither comfort , nor save us in the day of our distress : and we asure you , we did not intend , when we made them , that the use of them should please god , or profit the souls of men . but our ends were to encourage and help an idle dumb ministry , that by them we might keep souls in ignorance , put out the light in mens consciences , harden and besot mens minds in our superstition and prophaness , lest that men , by the light of the glorious gospel should have their eyes opened to see our loathsom nakedness , and thereby we should become more hateful . wherefore tenants , you will do us a good turo , if you can commend such unto us , for our sacred hands to consecrate ; but be sure they be so well qualified for us , that they may be like the rest of our herdsmen : for assuredly , our herdsmen are almost all such ; if any of them are of a better breed , they will not serve our ends , no matter if they have more of those prelatical qualities , for we can make them divine and holy enough for our use without any cost , and with our prelatical paws , and black-boxes , fit them for our work , and send them into our vineyards , that by our means are full of briars and thistles , and there they shall abide with scratcht faces : but be ye sure that they be such persons , as are before described , for should they be serious holy persons , that have the spirit of god , wise , self-denying , humble men , they may prejudice our interests , and like bold merchants , help to trip up our heels , as luther did our great grandfathers . we have but these three pillars only to bear our fat bellies , heavy purses , brave coaches , lordly titles , palaces and bishopricks upon , which we assure you are worth the keeping , by any means , right or wrong ; for if matters go well on our side , we cannot tell but we may be cock-mates with cardinals , yea , possibly some of us with his holiness ; for we are hastening to them as fast as we can , and had it not been for these cock-brain phanaticks , we had been there ere now ; however , we may yet come in good time , if we meet with no bad luck in our way : we will keep our standing sure upon , 1. the authority of laws . 2. the point of the sword. 3. on the interest and faithfulness of our right-trusty and beloved herds-men : and so if they keep their eyes out at their holes , to watch and secure us and our cause when we sleep , we shall not be moved . ten. your fatherhoods have satisfied us , and they are ready yonder at the common house : your holy fatherhoods know it well enough . bish. are they there , pray wish them to stay till we come to the house . ten. we shall , for there they are merry and jocund , they curse , roar , and sing , yea , as a high expression of their high respects to you , they very freely drink your healths , until they are dead drunk . bish. very well , such fellows , and pot-companions we like well , we wish you could procure us two or three dozen of such lads , seeing they are so well given , they are likely to be a pack of useful drudges in our vineyard ; pray get at least three dozen of such , and we shall give you one red herring and a pot of beer for every dozen that you bring us , for we judge they may be worth so much , seeing they are so well qualified and fitted for our turn . ten. shall it please your reverences to inform us what your bishopricks with their appurtenances cost you , because some say , 't is a profitable way of trading ; others again are of another opinion ; we would fain know of you , because you have traded in these wares ? are they dear or cheap , good penny-worths or bad , how goes the market ? bish. you country-small-wits , dottipoles and asses , you know not what you say , one of our bishopricks is worth more than a hundred such woodcocks as you are ; you will never be able to purchase one , and therefore trouble not your selves nor us about such questions , but pay us our rents now due , and do your utmost to provide them in due season for time to come , else we shall have very bad bargains , if you do not help us out . but to tell you the truth , our bishopricks with their appurtenances are so high rated , we cannot certainly tel you what they may cost us , for we have cause to fear , our gains will hardly countervail our losses and expences ; you had need therefore to look well to your business , and pay us our dues exactly , for , for ought we know , our grandfather iudas had as good a bargain as we are like to have : he sold his master , whom he looked on to he a poor man , for thirty pieces of silver , and we have sold our souls and bodies too ; yes , we have made merchandize of christs flock , and the souls of thousands , to get and keep our bishopricks , and the dignities and advantages belonging to them ; and the glory , gospel , and interest of the lord christ , is sold for the purchasing of them . the truth is , we have gotten them with so much wickedness ( and 't is impossible it should be otherwise ) that as king iames once said , when he was pressed by some to give a vacant bishoprick to a good man ; why , saith he , there is no good man will accept of a bishoprick ; i could never get an honest man to take any such wares ) that we fear , and have may sad thoughts about it , we shall pay for them hereafter , with the popes , cardinals , bishops , and the rest of that iovial crew . ten. please your holy fatherhoods not to think so hardly of your selves , your conditions and wayes , for in our opinions , if your highnesses think you shall pay so dear for them , you will have very hard bargaines , and were better let them alone : let the devil and his curates take them , and trade in those wares that are so dear : yea we think that none but such stout hearted creatures as you are , durst to trade at such dreadful hazards . but please your reverences to tell us , why you think you have such bad bargains ? bish. besides what we told you before , we can evidence it in many particulars . 1. we do by our bad examples draw many thousands of poor ignorant souls after us , as sheep to the slaughter ; we are some of those blind guides the scripture speaks of , we are doceitful comets in our pretended sacred offices , lordly titles , palaces , garments and great attendants , whereby we draw the eyes of many silly souls , to account us stars : they gaze upon us , and wonder at us , as if we were some rare birds ; yet they easily see our pride and ambition , our covetousness , extortion , luxury , wantonness , hypocrisie , superstition , idolatry , baseness , filthyness , vanity , ends , and designs ; and they doubt not but that they may follow our steps in peace and safety , while they hear us pretend to holyness , and cry up our selves as holy fathers , spiritual pastors , wise and learned men , and they see we have a form of godliness , and practise a pompous and gaudy religion , to make use of the name of god , and christ ; thus are they hardned and encouraged to go on in their evil ways without checks of conscience , because we embolden them by our example , whom they judge wiser and better . so that it was not without cause we told you , we feared hard bargains of our bishopricks . 2. we do not only cause men to erre by our pernicious and prophane examples , but we do all we can to shut up the kingdom of heaven against poor souls , by extinguishing the light , and putting out the candles that should direct men to eternal life : we hating the light ourselves , ( being as lord-bishops , children of darkness , cannot endure that others should have light. we were restless in our wily workings until we had turned out of christs vineyard such as he had sent thither , and were true , lights , and we saw many walking in the light to heaven by their teachings , which we did greatly envy . besides , we shut men out of heaven , and communion with god , by our forbidding them to draw nigh to god in his own wayes of worship . we were the men that shut up that door likewise , and are not a little troubled that our wise rulers , who seeing it their interests have conniv'd and wink'd so much at the meetings of good men , and th●● that door is so open as it is this day ▪ indeed our rulers would never have disturbed them ; but through our lying and dissembling inst gations , we possessed them with our charms , that such meetings would be very dangerous to church and state , although we knew it to be false , and we have since been proved lyans : and that our designes were to keep poor souls from happiness , and to secure our cursed interests . 3. we are the great countenancer● and encouragers of all iniquity and prophanness in others , as well as in our selves , so that it may be truly said , that from us is wickedness gone forth into all the land. our herds-men have much of their wickedness from us ; they seeing us such our selves , who hate real godliness in some , and like and approve of evil in all , and that as lord-bishops , we cannot well do otherwise ; we never reprove any sin , but we reprove godliness , mock and deride that , yea we constrain men to do worses than their fathers , as you shall see anon ; and undoubtedly all the abominable swearing , uncleanness , gluttony , drunkenness , blasphemy , oppression , and all sorts of villanies will be laid at our doors at last ; by which it appears that our merchandize is likely to make us bankrupts . 4. in the next place , we are the great impoverishers of the nation , we stop the trading of the land , and that among other wayes , we get in and damn up , the money of the nation in our coffers , wherewith men should trade , and that to maintain our voluptuousness , enrich our families , and buy sacred garments : by means whereof the poor of the nation are ready to perish for want of bread , because we have blasted the trading stock of the nation ( wherewith they should be imployed ) with our consecrated hands , mouths , bellies , and backs , and we are assured that thousands of almost starved families , do curse us as the only instrumental causes of their ruine ; besides the several thousands of ministers , whom we have endeavoured with all our might to starve to death . all which is as clear as the sun at noon day ; for , before our erection , how did our traders , merchants , and farmers thrive in , and by their labours ; but what a pittiful case are they in now ? our tongues , though sacred , cannot express how much the nation hath suffered by our wickedness . so that upon the whole , we are the destroyers both of the souls and bodies of all sorts of persons ; and we may well enough fear what the end will prove of our trading in those commodities . 5. you may behold yet greater wickedness in our practises , as lord-bishops ; we do dethrone the lord jesus christ , the lord of glory ; and as much as in us lies , rob him of his lordly authority and power , which he received from god , upon his dying for sinners , which was to ordain and appoint the worship that god should have from his subjects , both the matter and manner of it ; and that he should enact and ordain such laws as he saw good , for keeping his subjects in subjection to him ; as also the matter and form of his houses and temples , with their officers and duties . but we have endeavoured to divest and cheat him of all his glory and authority therein , by setting up our posts by his posts ( as his enemies of old did ) our own worship , churches , officers and discipline ; commanding and enjoyning christs subjects to leave his laws , worship and order , and conform , and bow down to ours , punishing and vexing such as will not reject christ and serve us ; that dare not be such flat rebels and traitors to jesus christ , as to own and submit their souls and consciences to our baubles and images , our usurpations and tyranny . 6. we are yet worser , if worser can be , and that is to constrain persons to lying , swearing , perjury , oppressing and persecuting ; as if it were not enough that they practise so , but they must be bound to it ; and if this be not to draw iniquity with cartropes , we do not know what is . to these abominations we compel our curates or herds-men , when we send them forth into our vineyards , and breath on them , ( as we falsly tell them ) the holy ghost ; although in their practises it soon appears , to be the evil spirit . they must engage to submit and conform unto our prelatical canons , decrees and orders , and to affirm , that our church and lordly discipline , is according to the word of god , how notoriously false , and contrary soever it be to the word of god. and they must bind themselves to execute our canonical or tyrannical laws , in oppressing , vexing and persecuting such good men as cannot bend to our bows , and conform to our filthy wayes , against their knowledge and consciences ; so we first tye up our herds-mens noses to the posts , and secure them to us , as our bondmen , that we may use them at our pleasure , as we do our asses ; and the said herds-men go forth , and make as many fools as they can to become their slaves and asses also . moreover , as we do compel our herds-men to take our iron yoke on their necks , to keep them close to our drudgery , so we deal with our other church-officers , the church-wardens , we constrain them to swear without fear or wit , to make our selves merry with it , to see what asses we make of some of them , how we conjure them to stand still , while we leap on their backs , and when we have mounted them , we do kick and spur-gale them till we draw blood . we enjoyn them to swear ( under the penalty of being accursed as black as our breeches , by our lordly authority ) to do that which is impossible for them to do , as you may see in the needless number of particulars , asserted in the church-wardens oath , and the book of articles . besides , if it were possible to be kept , yet not to keep it well ; for they must swear to sin with a high hand against the most high god , the lord christ , and the souls of men ; to cause all to be punished with our bull , that conform not unto our superstitious decrees . so that if the said church-wardens do swear to do what they are there injoyned , and do not do it , they ruine their souls by gross perjury ; if they observe and do what they swear to , then they endeavour to destroy their own and others souls another way ; all which may easily be seen in the book it self where the said oath is , and all the particulars of our prelatical will and pleasure , set forth by our authority , conrary to the known laws of the land. and now and then we catch such pittiful dunces in our trap , and make them swear what we please against sense and reason , and then we laugh at their follyes , and reproach them for their labour . here you may see unparallel'd wickedness , there is hardly the like to be found among the heathens . who can but blush at this villany ? by these bishop-like practices , we destroy men with our sacred hands . ten. pray tell us what your ends are in making and imposing such an impossible , horrid oath on church-wardens ? bish. we shall tell you briefly . 1. 't is to make all men our vassals and slaves . 2. that we may have the company of many with us hereafter ; for we being great persons , are loth to go alone , or with few attendants ; and that we may be used the ●ore civilly and kindly , we bringing multitudes with us . 3. to enrich our courts , and to keep our agents there from idleness , and catching of colds lest they being disabled from serving us , we should be without servants , and falling sick we should be at expence to recover them again . 4. that we may have their reverence and homage , and see their naked bald pates . 5. that we may keep them in blindness , lest their eyes should be open to see our cloven feet . 6. that we may thereby strengthen and uphold our kingdom , honours and greatness . 7. that we may boast of , and rejoyce in our good success , as fowlers , when they have gotten many birds in their nets , and caught a good gain ( as they say ) they triumph in the thoughts of their art and success ; so do we , when we come home and consider how many asses we have caught in our artificial canonical snares . so that we do all we can to ruine poor souls , and we have reason to fear , that there have thousands perisht by our means , whereby it appears that we shall have hard bargains in our bishopricks . 7. we have the ruine of many fatherless children and widows , crying for vengeance against us . for we are they that have undone men causelesly ; to fulfil our lusts , and promote our interests , we have turned many families out of doors , to famish with hunger , and perish with thirst ; by our sacred hands are they destitute , afflicted , tormented ; we have snatched the meat out of their mouthes , since we made them widows and orphans , insomuch that many families have no meat for their bellies , or cloathing for their backs , through our oppression , pride and covetousness . and as these cry against us , so do many prisoners also , whom we have cruelly imprisoned , and drove like beasts into filthy nasty goals , there to remain during our pleasure without bail or main-prize : for we were not satisfied in cursing them with our black bull , as black as ink , but have set them upon our bulls horns , to be tormented . many have lien in prison ( whom we drove there , three , four , five or six years , for meet trifles . for , ( tenants ) you must know that we have two slaughter-houses , the one for the soul , and the other for the body . the soul slaughter-house is our churches way of worship , ceremonies , orders , and discipline ; the other is the garnished palace of felons and murderers : and such as cannot in conscience be drawn into the soul-slaughterhouse , there to prophane the holy name and word of god , and promote the ruine of their souls ; we do with all rigour and violence drive to the other ; that so we may not fail either of destroying their souls or bodies , which we most vigorously prosecute . besides , there be some fled from us into forreign parts , through fear of our wicked hands , and others that by our means have been banished , and live in exile , all which cry for vengeance from heaven against us ▪ so that we are like to pay very dear for our dignities and bishopricks . besides , we have driven , and with all our might endeavoureed to drive all our kings best subjects , such as are the diligent and profitable traders in the nations , and that are most useful to assist their lawful rulers , out of the land , as our work was to ruine all , both rulers and ruled . 8. we have and still do all we can to root out all persons in church and state , that have any real worth in them , either for god or man ; that they may not have any office , power , or interest there . such as cannot comply with us in our hateful wayes and interests ; for we do loath all that have any acquaintance with god , or that are accounted holy and serious men , and desert our prelatical interests and pernitious wayes : but that which doth prety well quiet our consciences in such practices is , that 't is no new thing ; for we do in this and other of our wayes , tread in the steps of our infamous ancestors of the papal church , and we are resolved to dissent from them as little as we can , not knowing how soon we may be perfectly joyned together with them in all points and practices : yea , we are greatly comforted , and it doth not a little rejoyce us , that we have gotten so many into our netts , who were once against us , yea , did solemnly swear against us , who are now the great supporters of our hierarchy and interest ; who can swear backwards and forwards , as times will permit ; who make their oaths , covenants and professions , only a cloak to serve their carnal interests : for we think 't is more for fear of us , than love to us or our wayes ; and indeed if we could find that they were real and hearty in their joyning with us , and not for filthy lucre , it would more fully refresh our tormented consciences than it doth : but we fear they are but belly and time-servers , as well as we our selves . it is their fear of us , and love to good livings , that makes them do what they do ; and we have much ado with some of them , who have not with us , wholly buried their consciences , to bring them to our bow , and to make them own us , and do our drudgery that we enjoyn them ; they act like dull and tired horses , that must be spurred on to serve our designs : we are fain to fill up our vineyard with such asses , and we spread our nets every where to catch such owls , and when we caught them , we are afraid to trust them , for we think that such as can be false to god , and men of their own profession , so as to forswear themselves at our pleasure , will not long be stedfast and honest with us . but we will watch them , and goar some of them with our bulls horns , and make the rest the more circumspect and dutiful to us . you may see that these phanatick birds are loth to be catch'd in our nets , for we could catch but one of them with our allurements to accept of a bishoprick , to make up the jovial crew of lord-bishops ; and we fear that that bishop that once swore against us , will drive but a beggarly trade in norwich stuffs , and that he will lose himself at last , yea , we do know that his credit is generally crackt already , and we guess that his conscience is almost bankrupt before now . but we shall leave him to answer for himself , to him that will shortly call him to account for his perjury , and other sins which he is notoriously guilty of in complying with us : for he hath perswaded and seduced more to our wicked ways , then ten of us that had never his interest , fame and repute , which is now buried as well as ours . and as we rejoyce that we have gotten such birds to receive our prelatical unction , &c. so we rejoyce in that our journey-men have got so many phanaticks to hear them in their parish-churches , who come there more through fear of us than god ; and to avoid our horns , more than to avoid the displeasure of god. we know they do but dissemble with god and men , in their being present at our worship , and that they neither love us nor our wayes : so that we affright them to act contrary to their consciences , that they may avoid our corporal slaughter-houses ; and in this we do rejoyce : for as we are grieved when christ catches any of our subjects in his net , so we are glad when we catch any of christs in ours ; and we labour night and day , that we may have and keep more followers of us in the broad way to hell , than jesus christ hath in the strait way to heaven , moreover , it is notoriously evident , that our states and ways are very bad , wicked and hateful , and no way pleasing unto god ; in that we have none to pitty and help us , to love , comfort , and pray for us , for the prosperity and happiness of us and our posterities ; but ( for the most part , the vilest of men ) such as are our off-spring , and ill-begotten sons , such as have our qualities and wolfish natures , and have neither interest in heaven , nor in the hearts of the saints ; none but such as love and serve us for their bellies , as we our selves do serve god , and our rulers ; they are our very image , and look , speak and walk like us , and how can such help us ? are we superstitious ? so are they . are we dumb doggs , idle shepherds , prophane and cruel oppressors ? so are they too . are we worldlings , covetous wretches and wine bibbers ? so are they likewise . are we haters of god and good men , of the power and light of grace , and the gospel ? so are they also . are we proud ambitious wretches , time-servers , lyars and dissemblers ? so are they likewise . are we such as draw and drive others to iniquity ? so do they . have we whores foreheads that refuse to be ashamed ? so have they also . so that you may easily see and know what the fathers are by their children , and what the children are by their fathers . would you see the pretty faces and complexions of bishops , but cannot obtain the sight of their reverend nubal-faces , being denyed access to their lofty honours , by reason of the great distance that is between the laity , and these ghostly fathers ? be pleased to look on our children , we mean , our heard-men , and you may know us as well as if you had seen our canonical faces ; for they are begotten , taught and brought up by us , and will not vary from us in any thing , so long as we and they can hold up our interests , and make advantages of each other . but they are not one 〈◊〉 honester than we are , not fit to be trusted ; and we fear , if the tide of our fortunes should turn , and the sun shine on the other side of the hedge , and we not able to gratifie them any longer , that they will help to promote us to tyburn , notwithstanding they are our sons . yea , our case is very sad , for we are wholly rejected of god , and all good men ; or , we have rejected god , and persecuted them : and they cannot but judge , but that we our selves are the brats of the whore of babylon , that the devil is our father , and rome our mother ; and to tell you the truth , we do judge so too : but let it not be spoken in gath , for then you will marr our markets . and to tell you the truth , our consciences do rise out of their graves , appear to us , plague and torment us , at some certain times , that we are affraid of them , and cannot endure to hear or see them , for they look like damned ghosts , as if the devil had the keeping of them ; and though we do all we can to bribe and conjure them from us , yet they will speak and vex us : they present unto us the many cries , sighs and tears , the hungry bellies , and naked backs of thousands of fatherless children , and widows that we have made ; the griefs , sorrows and miseries of many poor prisoners and banished saints , that we have laid in prisons , and caused to be banished . they tell us of our horrid perjury , superstition and idolatry , and other abominable wickednesses , which we daily practise without repentance . but their voices are smartest and loudest against us , for persecuting and driving away the gospel from men , and for damning many souls daily ; they bring the dreadfull cries of damned souls to us , and lay the guilt at our doors , and tell us plainly ( and we cannot deny it ) that we sent them blindfold to hell ; that we did shut up the kingdom of heaven against them , took away the light of the gospel from them , and hardned their hearts in sin , that they had not been there but for our wicked practices . so that do what we can to remove these fiends from us , they will visit and dogg us up and down . we do endeavour to stop their mouths with the best arguments we have , as with our sacred orders , spiritual titles , holy garments , high and lofty places and honours , great revenues and attendants , the examples of our reverend romish ancestors , from phocus his days , until the year 1641. and also the many laws made to keep us in the saddle . but all these arguments are too short to help and comfort us ; yea , we fear his holiness's pardon cannot stop the mouths of our roa●ing consciences . besides , we miscarry and are blasted in all we do , we are the most unhappy statesmen , we will still be medling with state affaires , but without good success , our counsels are such as god doth curse ; so that if our rulers did but know , and observe us , how pernitious and mischievous we are to their counsels and government , they would spue us out of their presence . for were it not for us , they would be much more happy and prospe●ous in their publick affairs ; more quiet and comfortable in their government , more generally beloved of their subjects ; for we do divide the hearts of princes from their subjects , and subjects hearts from them , by our pride , extortion , luxury , superstition , persecution and oppression . so that it may be truly said , there are hardly any publick evils or miscarriages in the state , wher● we bear sway , but we are the immediate authors and causers of them . insomuch as you know it is a vulgar proverb , when any evil or cross happens , to say , the bishops foot was there . in fine , we cannot live but in troubled waters , and therefore believe it , there is no satyrical invective printed and published , that thunders out the peoples groans and burdens , whether spiritual or civil , but we are the authors of it , ( though like our brethren on good friday , we fetch blood at our own heels in so doing ) and all to possess supream authority that the people are disaffected to the government , and therefore ought to be vassalized ; thus prevent we a right understanding betwixt our rulers and the good people of the land , in whose amicable tranquillity , were it not for these cursed stratagems , our would unavoidably period . by this time we hope all your cases and doubts are resolved , and we promise you , we have taken paines with you , yea a great deal more than ever we shall do again . now we hope you will pay us the monies you owe us , that we may suck out all the sweetness and comfort we can from it , to support our miserable fainting souls ; we have need enough of it , although we have many thousand pounds lying by us ; for if you do believe what we have told you , you cannot but conclude we are the miserablest men upon earth , and have nothing to support us but such earthly things ; you poor country-men are in a far better case then we , for your sins are not so great as ours , who are your holy fathers , you have not so many to curse you , and cry for vengeance against you , nor so much innocent blood to account for as we have , neither shall you be plunged under so great vengeance in hell as we , for you sin not against so much light and mercy as we . o tenants , were it not for hell and the wrath of god , what brave happy men were we , could we make any shift to escape hell , we should be a more jovial crew than we are ; we would not at all trouble our selves about sinning , were it not for suffering that follows ; sin troubles us not , but we are terrified at the thoughts of lying in hell fire eternally . ten. we shall now dismiss your lordships as soon as you have resolved us this one case more , which is , whether tenants be bound to pay their rents unless they be able ? bish. yes tenants , you must pay us our rents , the whole sum to a groat , though you are not bound to do so to others , because we are spiritual persons , your holy and ghostly fathers , and if you detain rents from us after they are due , you are guilty of sacriledge , you rob the church , and that 's an unpardonable sin in our spiritual courts ; whatever sin else we can pardon , yet be assured we neither can nor will pardon sacriledge , especially against our selves ; and if you be found guilty in our spiritual courts , and held there under our black curse , you cannot so long be pardoned in heaven . you know we teach you , that whatever , or whosoever we bind on earth , is bound also in heaven ; and whose sins we remit , they are there remitted also . therefore we do not care nor mind how , or where you get the money , but we tell you that we must and will have it , else you know what will follow , if you be such fools to believe it . ten. well , we shall bring your rents next week , for we will not trouble your lordships to carry it home , for we judge it will be too heavy for you to cary so far , and think your eye-sight is much decayed with continual looking on money , so that you cannot test right , we fear you 'l mistake a shilling for six pence , therefore we will send it ready told . bish. very well , we shall expect it then , pray fail nor . but tenants , pray tell us briefly , what repute have we amongst men ? what do they report of us their spiritual lords ? do they speak honourably of us , or contemptibly ? do men reverence us or not ? we would know how the country doth stand affected to us , our hierarchy and proceedings , pray inform us , for we know you can if you will. ten. we shall tell you what we do certainly know , at least a little of it . first , we do assure you , that you are generally loathed and abhorred ; there are not any in the country , whither rich or poor , that do at all regard you , or so much as own you ; no , their hearts are set against you , as against the enemies of god , the gospel and nation , and the immediate causes of the ruine and destruction both of their souls and bodies . they do conclude , and are not afraid to speak it , that you are the greatest of all external judgments and plagues , the heaviest and saddest judgements that god in justice punisheth kingdoms withal : for when nations and kingdoms rebel against god , grow weary of his yoak and service , slight and contemn his gospel , and gospel-ministers , abuse their christian liberty , grow formal and cold in their duties to god , wax wanton with mercies , and quarrel with each other , loath the honey-combes of blessed ordinances , and neglect to walk humbly with their god : then god in wisdom and justice sends them such task-masters as you are , to scourge and afflict them , to take away their light and priviledges from them , to turn their day into night , their glory into shame , their joy into sorrow , and their liberty into bondage , their milk and honey into gall and wormwood , the holy and soul-nourishing ordinances , into superstition and humane inventions , to ruine , or at least to wast and impoverish their estates , and every way to punish vex and torment them , as the egyptians did the israelites . so that they do believe , that you are every way as vile and abominable as you have confessed and declared your selves to be , and that you are the rods of gods anger and hot displeasure against them , as the assyrians were to the iews . yea , we do assure you , that although many do cringe to you through fear , and give you flattering titles , yet they loath and abhor you : you are the eye-sore of the nations , grievous to all creatures excepting a few that gain by you ; you are like the prophets vile figgs , and are accounted the miserablest men upon earth . did you but believe how you stink in all mens nostrils , you would hardly come abroad but keep close in your cells ; for the children in the streets loath the very sight of you , and can hardly be perswaded that you are english men , but that you came from rome or turky , and were born turks or jews . we are all perswaded , that as god set you up in wrath and vengeance to the nations , for their high provocations , so he will keep you up until his wrath be appeased by repentance ; and that as soon as god shall return to us in tender mercy , as he did to jerusalem , and pardon us , that he will immediately root you out , and cast you forth as dung upon the face of the earth , and that you shall be more debased than ever you were exalted ; for as you are the staff of gods indignation , to punish us for our iniquities , so when you have done your work , god will burn his staff , and you shall not escape unless you do speedily repent in dust and ashes . you do now triumph and rejoyce while gods pretious redeemed saints do mourn , but saith christ , their sorrow shall be turned into joy ; but you , that are their oppressours and persecutors , shall howl for vexation of spirit , and leave your names for a curse unto his chosen . they do now weep in secret for your pride , they cry for vengeance upon babylon , and we are sure when it comes , that you shall not escape . you have turned many of the lords people out of the land ; but be you assured you shall be turned into hell without mercy , as having shewed no mercy to them ; your sun of prosperity is setting , your day is hastening upon you , and as a snare shall it overtake you . oh consider how much blood you have to account for , what a lamentable and distressed case will you be in when thousands of souls shall rise up and witness against you , and say . these are the men that destroyed us , these are the cruel ▪ butchers that murdered our souls and bodies , that ruined our families and estates , that made themselves drunk with the blood of christs flock , that did cruelly oppress them , violently persecute them , and like the babylonians of old to the iews , malitiously rob and spoile them of their spiritual pastures , and heavenly food ; that caused them to be dragged through the streets like wild beasts , only for their peaceable worshiping of god according to his will , and refusing to conform to your hateful and pernitious wayes . you condemn the jews for persecuting christ and his prophets , and say , ( to blind the eyes of men ) that you judge they were in an errour , that you would not have done so , had you possessed their places in those dayes , ( as the jews in christs time said concerning their predecessors ) and yet you do the same thing , as appears in your ingenuous confession . you tyrannize and lord it over their consciences , imprison , ruine and murder such as dare not bow down to your idols , and own you for their ghostly fathers . they say , if you are not the natural bratts of the whore of babylon , if you are not proud and malitious persecutors of christ in his members , for godliness sake , that there were never any such in the world . you are the vilest and most hateful persons under heaven , and many hundred thousands of the inhabitants of these lands , do greatly long for , and rejoyce in the faith and hope of the near approach of the day of your destruction ; yea thousands of prayers are put up to heaven daily , either for your conversion or utter ruine . all sorts of men do loath and abhor you , as the plagues of god , as the fire-brands of hell , as a most loathsom crew , and generation of vipers ; and we do greatly comfort our selves that it will not be long ere god will spew you out of his mouth . bish. oh tenants , you have told us a sad story , for although we knew our selves to be as bad , and worse than hath been declared , yet we hoped that the common people did not take notice of it , but we fear they do , and that we shall not be reverenced by them . alas tenants , what shall we do ? we shall go home with heavy hearts , for if we are so loathsom and abominable in the nations , surely the wrath of god is heavy upon us , and we are likely to perish quickly ; o what shall we do for comfort in this our great distress ? ten. we advise you send to your cathedrals , and thence summon all your organists , choristers and singing boys , and from amid them select the most expert for the base , tennor and trebble , then furnish them with the best organs and anthems , yea be sure you forget not good store of merry catches and roundelayes , exactly fitted to chant out your mad exploits , and great services you have done your master all your apprentiships ; take also your pockets full of good angels , that catholick medicine , and two or three hundred tun of the best canary ( 'cause you will need a cup of good liquor there more than you did when you pleaded so hard with us for it ) with this present if you procure not a plenary indulgence , yea what place or office you like in pluto's court , ( who will without doubt , with all his infernal fiends dance a iigg for joy of your jolly company ) we know not what to say , but farewel bishops , farewel plagues o' th nations . bish. you have cheerd us a little with your grave advice , which we think is very good and seasonable , and we promise you we will get a convocation shortly to consider of it , what is best to be done . but pray tell us , if when our glass is run out , and the devil whom we serve , sends for us to hell , will you be pleased to attend and wait on us there , in case we should want you ? ten. no , we will see you advanced to tybourn first : but you need not fear , you shall have attendants enough , for those devils that now do imploy you in your work , and wait on you daily , will honourably conveigh you into hell , with all your high honours and good works ; where we shall leave you , hoping no more to be troubled with you . bish. we charge you not to speak one word to any body what we have discoursed of , for you will quite undo us if you should ; and be sure if you do , we shall slap your bumkins for you , or send you to the devil with our bulls horns . ten. we shall mind what you say . bish. farewel tenants . ten. fare you well sirs . finis . the preaching bishop reproving unpreaching prelates being a brief, but faithful collection of observeable passages, in several sermons preached by the reverend father in god, mr hugh latimer, bish. of worcester, (one of our first reformers, and a glorious martyr of jesus christ) before k. edw. the sixth; before the convocation of the clergy, and before the citizens of london, at pauls. wherein, many things, relating to the honour and happiness of the king (our most gracious soveraign) the honourable lords, the reverend judges, the citizens of london, and commons of all sorts, but especially, the bishops and clergy are most plainly, piously and pithily represented. latimer, hugh, 1485?-1555. 1661 approx. 136 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 68 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a49701 wing l576 estc r217646 99829301 99829301 33738 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a49701) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 33738) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1869:16) the preaching bishop reproving unpreaching prelates being a brief, but faithful collection of observeable passages, in several sermons preached by the reverend father in god, mr hugh latimer, bish. of worcester, (one of our first reformers, and a glorious martyr of jesus christ) before k. edw. the sixth; before the convocation of the clergy, and before the citizens of london, at pauls. wherein, many things, relating to the honour and happiness of the king (our most gracious soveraign) the honourable lords, the reverend judges, the citizens of london, and commons of all sorts, but especially, the bishops and clergy are most plainly, piously and pithily represented. latimer, hugh, 1485?-1555. [30], 104 p. printed, and are to be sold by booksellers, london : 1661. reproduction of the original in the christ church library, oxford. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng preaching -england -early works to 1800. bishops -england -early works to 1800. 2004-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-12 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-01 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2005-01 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the preaching bishop reproving unpreaching prelates . being a brief , but faithful collection or observeable passages , in several sermons preached by the reverend father in god , mr hugh latimer , bish. of worcester , ( one of our first reformers , and a glorious martyr of jesus christ ) before k. edw. the sixth ; before the convocation of the clergy , and before the citizens of london , at pauls . wherein , many things , relating to the honour and happiness of the king ( our most gracious soveraign ) the honourable lords , the reverend judges , the citizens of london , and commons of all sorts , but especially , the bishops and the clergy are most plainly , piously and pithily represented . he that hateth reproof , is brutish , pro. 12. 1. london , printed , and are to be sold by book-sellers , 1661. quem dabis mihi de numero praelatorum , qui non plus invigilat subditorum vacuandis marsupiis , quam vitiis exterpandis ? o utinam tam vigiles reperirentur ad curam , quam alacres currunt ad cathedram , barn. serm. 77. in cant. to the reverend fathers , the bishops of england . my lords , the name of bishop latimer is of all good men had in great veneration , and therefore it is not to be doubted , but your lordships will afford him a favourable reception : where should the labours of a reformed bishop and martyr , find a safer patronage , then under the wings of the bishops of the reformed churches ? you succeed him in place and dignity , tread also in the steps of his zeal and diligence . the tongues and pens of men are very busie with you ; but be confident , if you be clad with the zeal of your quondam brother , they will be as loath to part with you , as they are now willing to be rid of you : for who is he that will harm you , if ye be followers of that which is good ? your reverend brother tels you in these following pages , that , though in the time of king edward the sixth much was done in the work of reformation , yet all was not done that was necessary : the greater rubbish of popery was thrown out , but ( saith he ) the house is not clean swept yet : the broom is once more in your lordships hands , sweep clean , we beseech you , out with the dust of ceremonies and superstition , as well as with the garbidge and filth of idolatry . take not from a thred to a shoe-latchet , lest rome should say , i have made england rich , if ornaments and ceremonies ( though judged indifferent ) be so necessary , can no other be pitcht upon , then such as are found in the idols temple ? why should the spouse of christ be arrayed in the attire of an harlot ? your pious brother pleads very heartily for the ordinance of preaching , lifting it up above all other parts of worship , and tels you more then once , take away preaching , take away salvation ; a sentence most worthy the mouth of a bishop , and fit to be engraven on the doors of your palaces , and porches of your churches . and your lordships know what that jewel of bishops said , oportet episcopum concionātem mori : oh imitate the zeal and forwardness of your famous predecessors , both in your persons and clergical charge . my lords , by a series of merciful providences , we are brought under the government of the best king in the world , whom one of your brethren not undeservedly stileth , a prince of the greatest suavity : his majesties gracious declaration for the ease of tender consciences , ( like a silken thread ) hath tied a faster and closer knot of love and loyalty upon the hearts of his subjects , then all the cords and cables of your severest canons ; had your lordships seconded his majesties clemeney , with a profession of your future moderation and gentleness towards ministers and people , how well had it savoured ? my lords , barnard gives you good counsel , in serm. 23. super cantica . audiant hoc prelati , qui sibi commissis semper volunt esse formidini , utilitati raro . discite subditorum vos esse matres debere , non dominos , studete magis amari , quam metui ; & si severitate interdum opus sit , paterna sit , non tyrannica , matres fovendo , patres vos corripiendo exhibeatis : mansuescite , ponite feritatem , suspendite verbera , producite ubera , pectora lacte pinguescant , non typho turgeant . quid jugum vestrum super eos aggravatis , quorum potius onera portare debeatis ! — . you live , my lords , in a discerning and jealous age ; you are like to find the good old asse more skittish now , then in former times . your fathers made our yoke grievous , let it be your glory , to make the heavy yoke they put upon us , lighter , and we will serve you . let not all the trouble seem little before your eyes , that hath come upon us , on our kings , on our princes , on our parliaments , on our ministers , on this famous city , and on all this people . we cannot be deaf to those sad complaints ( his late majesty , our dear sovereign hath left behind him ) of the vulgars violence and tumults in the dawning of our late unhappy differences : whence blew the wind that raised the noise and madness of those raging waves ? came it not out of your quarter ? remember , and forget not your & caetera oath , innovations in worship , corruption of your courts discipline , the decay of the soul-saving ordinance of preaching , the swarming of scandalous and idle clergy , the steighting and silencing of pious and painful ministers . these ( my lords ) with much more , were those vapours ( which being not purged out , but ) by your countenance pent up in the bowels of the kingdom , caused that hate overturning earthquake . after this earthquake ( through the working of our good god ) a still small voice is heard , a voice of peace from his majesty , speaking peace to all his people . a voice of praise from his people , rejoycing and blessing god for such a king. beware my lords , you step not back into your old circle , and conjure up again the dangerous spirit of this mobile vulgus . my lords , his majesty hath bin twice crowned since his happy arrival , once , by the commons of england , with a crown of hearts , and lately , by the nobles of england , with a crown of gold. it is much in your hands , to continue and encrease the glory of the first and best crown . the management of that indulgence , his majesty in his pious declaration , offers to his subjects , is like to be committed to your care : be tender of his majesties honour , before the people ( of which his majesty is very tender ) clip not his royal bounty . let ministers and people under your charge , tast the fruit of it in its greatest latitude . what if you decrease in some irregular excesse ? if his majesty encrease his dominion over the best part of his subjects possessions , their hearts , let it be no grief of heart to you . this you may observe ( in that which is here dedicated to your honours ) was the genuine temper and bent of the spirit and labours of , your reverend brother , hugh worcester . postscript . lest this reverend bishop should lie under the suspition of singularity and phanaticisme , your lordships may observe the same spirit breathing in one whom you will judge far enough from such an imputation ; it is cornelius a lapide ; whose zeal for englands return to rome , stands a tipto : yow shall find him upon his knees at prayer , in his commentary on zechar. c. 1. v. 12. moraliter id ipsum dicamus , id ipsum oremus & obsecremus pro anglia , scotia , dania , suetia , germania , in quibus stetit , statque haeresis — usquequo domine non misereris angliae ? yet this devout orator speaks the same sense , though in another language , in his commentary on ezekiel , c. 24. v. 4. with this reverend father . take his own words , as followeth ; audiant has prophetae minas ecclesiastici , pastores & praelati illi , qui ex beneficiorum proventibus lucris in hiantes , , arcarum opes quaerunt , non animarum ; qui beneficia beneficiis , pensiones pensionibus accumulantes , quaestuarii potius sunt quam beneficiarii . nonne hi detondent oves , tonsasq , & nudas aliis misellis pascendas relinquunt , qui pastoratus , canonicatus , episcopatus resignant in alios , ac fructus pene omnes sibi reservant ; ut si aureos mille annue det beneficium , ipsi ducentos vel trecentos cum eo resignent , sed oct●ngentos caeteros sibi praetextu pensionis reservent . nonne hos directe jaculo suo ferit & configit hic deus ? dicens , vae pastoribus israelis , qui pascebant semetipsos : lac comedebatis , & lanis operiebamini , & quod crassum erat occidebatis , gregem autem meum non pascebatis . nonne in hos detonat jeremias ? c. 6. v. 13. a minore usque ad majorem , omnes avaritiae student , & a propheta usque ad sacerdotem , cuncti faciunt dolum . & isaias , c. 56. v. 11. ipri pastores ignorarunt intelligentiam , omnes in viam suam declinaverunt , unusquisque ad avaritiam suam . sanctio prisca ecclesiae est , beneficium dari propter officium . quomodo ergo hi beneficii commoda & lucra captant , qui officium non praestant , sed illud in alium transferunt ? haeccine , fuit mens fundatorum ecclesiae , alere homines in ea nihil agentes & otiosos ? nonne si ad nos redirent , protestarentur ( imo jam in coelo aut in purgatorio degentes protestantur ) sua legata & testamenta everti , se sua bona legasse ecclesiae ad alendos pastores & ministros , qui reipsa per se fideles christi docerent , pascerent , regerent , non ut iis alii , qui nihil ecclesiae suae conferunt , fruerentur & ditescerent ? ●onne dei hominumque fidem implorarent , ut haec iis quibus ipsi ea legarunt restituerentur ? ingens sane est haec iniquitas ? primo , in deum & christum . christi enim patrimonium christi ecclesiae ministrantibus deputatum , ab iis evertitur , & in extraneos non ministrantes transfertur . secundo , in ecclesiam quamque particularem , quae hisce suis proventibus spoliatur ; ac proinde doctos & insignes pastores & ministros nancisci nequit , sed pauperes , misellos , quin & ignorantes & inidoneos qui quodvis stipendium acceptant , ut vivant . quod si quando dignos nanciscatur illi pro dignitate officium administrare , imo vivere nequeunt . tertio , in populum & fideles , qui ab hisce misellis ita erudiri , corrigi , formari , & dirigi in vita christiana nequeunt , uti a doctis & cordatis erudirentur & dirigirentur ; quare multorum salus periclitatur , imo de facto multi pereunt , & damnantur ministrorum ecclesiae ignorantia , inexperientia , incuria , qui salvati fuissent , si ministros dignos , quales poscebant opes ecclesiae , nacti fuissent . annon hasce animas , christus in die judicii requiret ab hisce lucrionibus ? quarto , in ipsos fundatores , quorum ultima voluntas , ipsaque legata & donationes evertuntur , ut dixi ; ipsi enim rogati dicerent , aliam prorsus fuisse suam mentem , nunquam se in hasce pensiones , imo , lacerationes & distractiones suarum oblationum consensisse , nunquam consensuros . quinto , in canones omnes antiquos , qui hasce pensiones vetant , statuuntque ut non nisi justa & gravi de causa , praesertim bene de ecclesia meritis , & emeritis assignentur , idque ut habet communis mos , ea proportione , ut tertiam fructuum beneficii partem non superent . sexto , in ecclesiam universalem , cui ingens datur scandalum . rident & subsannant haeretici , sicubi vident hasce avaritiae in praelatis ecclesiae nundinationes . gemunt fideles . clerici imitantur , ut pastorum & praelatorum exempla sectentur , ac pensionibus similibus inhient . septimo , in episcopos & patres omnes priscos & sanctos , quorum sanctiones , vita & exempla violantur . haec lucra , has pensiones , non sectatus est , imo in nullo suorum admisit s. august . qui teste possid . in episcopatu non opes , sed animas quaesivit ; ideoque opes suas in pauperes erogavit : non s. gregor . cujus liberalitatem & eleemosinas depraedicat ecclesia romana : non s. ambrosius , non chrysostomus , non basilius , non nazianzenus , non athanasius . patres in ea invehuntur , quasi in crimina , imo , sacrilegia , eisque inhiantes , sacrilegii accusant : tum quia patrimonium christi diripiunt ; tum quia indignos & inidoneos se faciunt suo gradu , dignitate & officio : officium enim eorum est verbo , & magis vita docere . dominus pars haereditatis meae & calicis mei , ille est , qui restituet haereditatem meam . clericus enim a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , id est , sors , dicitur , quod scilicet sortem non ambiat in terra , sed quod instar levitarum & sacerdotum veteris testamenti ; sors ejus sit dominus , a quo haereditatem expectat in coelo . clericus ergo profitetur se non quaerere opes in terra , sed in caelo se cor habere fixum in deo. jam si quis lucris terrenis studeat , contrarium profitetur , clamat enim re ipsa cor suum non esse in aethere , sed in aere , sortem suam non esse deum , sed mammonam . rursum , officium eorum est , praedicare regnum coelorum , quod christus & apostoli praedicarunt , ut scilicet homines a carne & terra ad spiritum & coelum avocent ; ut a superbia , gula , avaritia , homines ad humilitatem , temperantiam , opum contemptum traducant . jam quomodo praedicabunt opes coelestes , qui toti terrestribus inhiant ? quomodo oppugnabunt avaritiam , qui non nisi pensionibus accumulandis student ? quomodo aeternitatem & bona aeterna inculcabunt , qui non nisi temporalia & caduca sectantur ? s. hilarius can. 4. in matth. explicans illud christi , vos estis sal terrae , ait , quod apostoli & eorum successores sint rerum coelestium praedicatores , & aeternitatis velut satores , immortalitatem omnibus corporibus , quibus eorum sermo aspersus fuerit , conferentes . merito igitur sal terrae sunt nuncupati , per doctrinae virtutem salientes , aeternitati corpora reservantes . at quomodo aeternitatis erunt satores , qui toti temporalium sunt messores ? quomodo erunt sal terrae , qui quasi sal infatuatum in terram & terrena conversi sunt ? qui ut subdit s. hilarius , sensu accepti saporis amisso , vivificare corrupta non possunt , & projecti de ecclesiae promptuariis , cum iis quos salierint , pedibus incedentium proteruntur . denique in hos graviter invehitur s. scriptura & patres . clamat zachar. c. 11. v. 17. o pastor & idolum , derelinquens gregem , q. d. videris esse populi pastor , sed revera es idolum & larya pastoris , es fictus & pictus , non vivus & verus pastor , qui gregem deseris , & te pascis . pascentes semetipsos culpat s. judas . lex apostoli est , qui in sacrario operantur quae de sacrario sunt , edunt ; & qui altari deserviunt , cum altari participant , 1 cor. 9. 13. qui ergo sacrario & altari non deserviunt , ex eo non edant , ex eo non vivant , nec deservientes stipendiis sibi constitutis defraudent , eaque ad se transferant . apostoli ( quorum hi sunt posteri ) fidenter dicunt christo , matth. 19. ecce nos reliquimus omnia , & secuti sumus te . quomodo hi relinquunt non omnia , sed sua , qui inhiant alienis ? act. 3. 6. s. petrus ait claudo , petenti eleemosynam ; argentum & aurum non est mihi , quod autem habeo , hoc tibi do . ac per hoc meritus est id , quod ait s. aug. in psal. 103. dicens , prorsus totum mundum dimisit petrus , & totum mundum petrus accepit : quasi nihil habentes , & omnia possidentes . quomodo haec dicent s. petri asseclae & discipuli , qui immodice aurum auro , pensionem pensioni , beneficium beneficio , & quasi talpae terram terrae accumulant ? merito de his quaestus est s. bonifacius , germaniae apostolus , & in frisia martyr , anno christi , 755. atque ex eo conc. triburiense , c. 18. & habetur de consecr . dist . 1. c. vasa quibus , olim , inquit , sacerdotes aurei celebrabant in vasis ligneis , nunc sacerdotes lignei celebrant in vasis aureis . et s. gregor , hom 17. in evangel . pensate , ait , fratres , quantae damnationis est , sine labore percipere mercedem laboris ; quanti criminis , peccatorum pretia accipere , & nihil contra peccatum praedicando dicere . — s. bernard . epist. 2. ubi de his inter alia dicit , quicquid praeter necessarium victum , ac simplicem vestitum de altari retines , tuum non est , rap ina est , sacrilegium est . s. nazianz. apolog. 1. spiritualis omnis prefecturae , ait , finis est , privata utilitate neglecta , commodis aliorum inservire . denique inter alia , de pensionibus ita sancit concil . tridentinum , sess. 24. c. 13. omnes cathedrales ecclesiae , quarum redditus summā ducatorum mille ; & parochiales quae summam ducatorum centum non excedunt nullis pensionibus aut reservationibus fructuum graventur . — o aeterna veritas , vera sanctitas , sancta foelicitas , illumina tenebras nostras , aperi oculos mentis nostrae , ut nulla nos seducat , nulla inquinet , nulla condemnet phylargyriae vanitas . eja , aspiret dies , & lux tua , & inclinentur umbrae . infunde cordi nostro justitiam , ut quae ecclesiae sunt ecclesiae , quae dei sunt , deo reddamus . infunde continentiam , ut modico ( pro modicâ enim viâ hujus vitae modico opus est viatico ) victu & amictu contenti , sobrie , juste , & pie vivamus in hoc seculo , beatam spem expectantes , & adventum gloriae magni dei. infunde religionem & pietatem , ut non mammonae iniquo sed tibi domino nostro serviamus in sanctitate & justitiâ , omnibus diebus nostris . infunde charitatem , ut animam magis diligamus quam arcam ut pauperes & inopes magis amemus , quam aurum & opes . infunde sapientiam , ut veras divitias ambiamus & coacervemus , quae nobiscum perennent in coelis , non vanas & mox perituras in terris . da nobis sic transire per bona temporalia , ut non amittamus aeterna . da , ut domos , nomen & familiam construamus non apud homines brevi morituros , sed apud te & s. angelos , beatos & gloriosos , quae in omnia secula durent & aeternent . da ut simus sal terrae , & lux mundi , ut tam exemplo , quam verbo omnes trahamus ad te , eosque doceamus reipsa contemnere terrena , & amare coelestia , ut in magno illo decretorio mundi die , a te judice audire mereamur , euge serve bone , quia in pauca fuisti fidelis , super multa te constituam , intra in gaudium domini tui , amen . to the reader . christian reader , here is presented to thee some gleanings out of the labours of that eminent instrument of gods glory , bishop latimer ( who may worthily be stiled our english luther . ) the times wherein he liv'd and preach't , and the enormities against which he strugled , bear so great a conformity with ours , that with a little variation , he seems to speak to us , both as to our maladies and remedy : which as it was an invitation to the transcribing of these passages ; so if thou be one that longest after the peace and purity of the church , they will be found worthy of all acceptation ; thou wilt here see a most glorious pattern of zeal , piety and godly simplicity , fit for the imitation of the bishops and ministers of this age . thou wilt find also our first reformation ( how much soever gloried in ) not brought to its desired perfection , even by the confession of one of the prime reformers . that there are so many stops and pauses in the several pages , is not , because the rest that is omitted , is not worthy to be known , but meerly to avoid the trouble of transcribing , and prevent thy charge , it is desired that these few rivulets may entice thee to visit the fountain , the book it self ; wherein as thou wilt prove the sincerity of these collections , so thou wilt receive fuller satisfaction in any obscurities , occasioned by this brevity . the reformation and edification of the church is the only project of bishop latimer the preaching bishop reproving unpreaching prelates . part of a sermon that the reverend father in christ mr hugh latimer bishop of worcester , made to the convocation of the clergy . luk. 16. 8. filii hujus seculi , &c. christ in this saying , touched the sloath and sluggishness of his , and did not allow the fraud and subtilty of other : neither was glad that it was indeed as he said , but complained rather that it should be so ; as many men speak many things , not that they ought to be so , but that they are wont to be so . nay this grieved christ , that the children of this world should be of more policy then the children of light ; which thing was true in christs time , and now in our time it is most true . who is so blind but he seeth this cleerly , except perchance there be any that cannot discern the children of the world , from the children of light ? the children of the world conceive and bring forth more prudently , and things conceived and brought forth , they nourish and conserve with much more policy , then do the children of light : which thing is as sorrowfull to be said , as it seems absurd to be heard . when ye hear the children of the world , you understand the world as a father ; for the world is father to many children , not by the first creation , but by imitation and love . he is not only a father , but also the son of another father . if you knew once his father , by and by ye shall know his children ; for he that hath the devil to his father , must needs have devillish children . the devil is not only taken for father , but also for prince of the world , that is , of worldly folk . it is either all one thing , or else not much different , to say , children of the world , and children of the devil , according to that that christ said to the jews , ye are of your father the devil ; whereas undoubtedly he spake to the children of this world . — then this devil being such a one as can never be unlike himself ; loe , of envy , his welbeloved lemmon he begat the world , and after left it with discord at nurse : which world after it came to mans state , had of many concubines , many sons , he was so secund a father , and had gotten so many children of lady pride , dame gluttony , mistress avarice , lady lechery , and of dame subtilty , that now hard and scant ye may find any corner , any kind of life , where many of his children be not : in court , in cowl's , in cloisters , in rochets , be they never so white , yea where shall ye not find them ? howbeit , they that be secular and lay men , are not by and by children of the world ; not the children of light , that are called spiritual , are of the clergy . no , no , as ye may find among the laity many children of light , so among the clergy ( how much soever we arrogate these holy titles unto us , and think them only attributed to us ; vos estis lux mundi , peculium christi , &c. ye are the light of the world , the chosen people of christ , a kingly priesthood ; an holy nation , and such other ) ye shall find many children of the world , because in all places the world getteth many children . — these be our holy , holy men , that say they are dead to the world , when no men be more lively in worldly things , then some of them be . but let them be in profession and name farthest from the world , most alienate from it , yea so far , that they may seem to have no occupying , no kindred , no affinity , nothing to do with it ; yet in their life and deeds they shew themselves no bastards , but right begotten children of the world , as those which the world long since had by his dear wife dame hypocrisie ; and since hath brought them up , and multiplied to more than a good many , encreasing them too much , albeit they swear by all he-saints and she-saints too , that they know not their father nor mother , neither the world , nor hypocrisie ; as indeed they can semble and dissemble all things , which thing they might learn wonderful well of their parents . i speak not of all religious men , but those that the world hath fast knit at his girdle , even in the midst of their religion . — and i marvel , if there be not a great sort of bishops and prelates , that are brethren german unto these ; and as a great sort , so even as right-born , and worlds children , by as good title as they ? but because i cannot speak of all , when i say prelates ; i understand bishops , abbots , priors , archdeacons , deans and other of such sort , that are now called to this convocation , as i see to intreat here of nothing , but of such matters as both appertain to the glory of christ , and to the wealth of the people of england ; which thing i pray god they do as earnestly as they ought . but it is to be feared , lest as light hath many of her children here , so the world hath sent some of his whelps hither . i know there can be no agreement betwixt these too , as long as they have minds so unlike , and so contrary affections , and judgments so utterly divers in all points : but if the children of this world be either moe in number , or more prudent than the children of light , what then availeth us to have this convocation ? had it not been better , we had not been called together at all ? for as the children of the world be evil , so they breed and bring forth things evil , and yet there be moe of them in all places , or at least . — and as now i much pass not how you were ingendred , or by what means ye were promoted to those dignities that ye now occupy , so it be honest , good and profitable , that ye in this your consultation shall do & ingender . the end of your convocation shall shew what ye have done ; the fruit that shall come of your consultation , shall shew what generation ye be of . for what have ye done hitherto , i pray you , these seven years and moe ? what have ye ingendred ? what have ye brought forth ? what fruit is come of your long and great assembly ? what one thing that the people of england hath been the better of an hair ? or your selves either accepted before god , or better discharged toward the people committed unto your cure ? for that the people is better learned and taught now , than they were in time past , to whether of these , ought we to attribute it , to your industry , or to the providence of god , and the foreseeing of the kings grace ? ought we to thank you , or the kings highness ? whether stirred other first , you the king , that ye might preach , or he you by his letters , that ye should preach ofter ? is it unknown , think you , how both ye and your curates were in a manner by violence enforced to let books be made by prophane and lay persons , and sold abroad , and read for the instruction of the people ? i am bold with you , but i speak latine , and not english ; to the clergy , not to the laity . i speak to you being present , and not behind you backs . god is my witness , i speak whatsoever is spoken , of the good will that i bear you : god is my witness , which knoweth my heart , and compelleth me to say that i say . now i pray you , in gods name , what did you , so great fathers , so many , so long a season , so oft assembled together ? what went you about ? what would you have brought to pass ; two things taken away ? the one , that ye ( which i heard ) burned a dead man : the other , that ye ( which i felt ) went about to burn one being alive : him , because he did , i cannot tell how , in his testament withstand your profit ; in other points , as i have heard , a very good man , reported to be of honest life , while he lived , full of good works , good both to the clergy & also to the laity . this other , which truly never hurt any of you , ye would have raked in the coals , because he would not subscribe to certain articles , that took away the supremacy of the king : take away these two noble acts , and there is nothing else left , that ye went about , that i know , saving that i now remember , that somwhat ye attempted against erasmus , albeit nothing as yet is come to light . ye have oft sit in consultation , but what have ye done ? ye have had many things in deliberation , but what one is put forth , whereby either christ is more glorified , or else christs people made more holy ? i appeal to your own conscience . how chanced this ? how came this thus ? because there were no children of light , no children of god among you , which setting the world at naught , would study to illustrate the glory of god , and thereby shew themselves children of light ? i think not so : certainly , i think not so . god forbid , that all you which were gathered together under the pretence of light , should be children of the world . then why hapned this ? why i pray you ? perchance either because the children of the world were more in number , in this your congregation , as it oft hapneth , or at the least of more policy than the children of light in their generation . vvhereby it might very soon be brought to pass , that those were much more stronger , in gendring the evil , than these , in producing the good : the children of light have policy , but it is like the policy of the serpent , and is joyned with dovish simplicity ; they ingender nothing but simply , faithfully , and plainly , even so doing all that they do . but the children of this world have worldly policy , foxly craft , lion-like cruelty , power to do hurt , more than either aspis or basiliscus , ingendring and doing all things fraudulently , deceitfully , guilfully . — the children of this world be like crafty hunters , they be mis-named children of light , forasmuch as they so hate light , and so study to do the works of darkness . if they were the children of light , they would not love darkness . it is no marvel , that they go about to keep others in darkness , seeing they be in darkness , from top to toe overwhelmed with darkness , darker than the darkness of hell. vvherefore it is well done , in all orders of men , but especially in the order of prelares , to put a difference between the children of light , and children of the world , because great deceit ariseth in taking the one for the other . great imposture cometh , when they , that the common people take for the light , go about to take the sun and light out of the world . but these be easily known , both by the diversity of minds , and also their armors ; for whereas the children of light are thus minded , that they seek — these worldlings set little by such works as god hath prepared for our salvation , but they extol traditions and works of their own invention : the children of light contrary . the worldlings , if they spy profit , gains or lucre in any thing , be it never such a trifle , be it never so pernicious , they preach it to the people ( if they preach at any time ) and these things they defend with tooth and nail ; they can scarce disallow the abuses of these , albeit they be intollerable , least in disallowing the abuse , they lose part of their profit . the children of light contrary , put all things in their degree , best highest , the worst lowest . they extol things necessary , christian , and commanded of god. they pull down will-works feigned by men , and put them in their place . the abuse of all things they earnestly rebuke . — now to make hast , and to come somwhat nigher to the end , go ye to ( good brethren and fathers ) for the love of god , go ye to , and seeing we are assembled , let us do something whereby we may be known to be the children of light . let us do somwhat , lest we which hitherto have been judged children of the world , seem even still to be so . all men call us prelates ; then seeing we be in council , let us so order our selves , that as we be prelates in honour and dignity , so we may be prelates in holiness , benevolence , diligence and sincerity . all men know , that we be here gathered , and with most fervent desire they can , hale , breath and gape for the fruit of our convocation . as our acts shall be , so they shall name us , so that it now lieth in us , whether we will be called children of the world or children of the light . wherefore lift up your heads ( brethren ) and look about with your eyes , spy what things are to be reformed in the church of england . — how think you by the ceremonies , that are in england , oftentimes with no little offence of weak consciences continued , more often with superstition so defiled , and so depraved , that you may doubt whether it were better for them to tarry still , or utterly to take them away ? have not our fore-fathers complained of the ceremonies , of the superstitions , and estimation of them ? do ye see nothing in our holy-dayes ? of the which very few were made at the first , and they to set forth goodness , virtue , and honesty . but sithence , there is neither mean or measure in making new holy-dayes : as who say this one thing in serving of god , to make this law that no man may work . but what do the people on these holy-dayes , do they give themselves to godliness , or else ungodliness ? see you nothing brethren ? if you see not , god seeth : god seeth all the whole holy-dayes to be spent miserably in drunkenness , in glossing , in strife , in envie , dansing , dicing , idleness , and gluttony . thus men serve the devil , for god is not thus served , albeit ye say ye serve god ; no the devil hath more service done unto him in one holy-day then on many working dayes ; let all these abuses be counted as nothing , who is he that is not sorry to see in so many holy-dayes rich and wealthy persons to flow in delicates , and men that live by their travel , poor men to lack necessary meat and drink for their wives and children , and that they cannot labour upon the holy-dayes , except they will be cited , and brought before our officials . were it not the office of good prelates , to consult upon these matters and to seek some remedy for them ? ye shall see ( my brethren , ) ye shall see once what will come of this our winking . what think ye of these images . — if there be nothing to be amended abroad , concerning the whole , let every one of us make one better . if there be nothing at home or abroad to be amended and redressed ; my lords , be ye of good cheer , be merry : and at the least because we have nothing else to do , let us reason the matter how we may be richer ; let us fall to some pleasant communication ; after let us go home , even as good as we came hither , that is right begotten children of the world , utterly worldlings . and while we live here let us all make boon cheer . for after this life there is small pleasure , little mirth for us to hope for , if now there be nothing to be changed in our factions . let us say , not as st. peter did : our end approacheth nigh , this is an heavy hearing , but let us say as the evil servant said : it will be long ere my master come . this is pleasant ; let us beat our fellow servants : let us eat and drink with drunkards . surely as oft as we do not take away the abuse of things , so oft we beat our fellows . as oft as we give not the people their true food , so oft we beat our fellow . as oft as we let them dye in superstition , so oft we beat them . to be short , as oft as we blind , lead them blind , so oft we beat , and grievously beat our fellows . when we welter in pleasures and idleness , then we eat and drink with drunkards . but god will come , god will come , he will not tarry long away . he will come upon such a day as we nothing look for him ; and at such an hour as we know not . he will come and cut us in pieces . he will reward us as he doth the hypocrites . he will set us where wailing shall be , my brethren , where gnashing of teeth shall be , my brethren . and let here be the end of our tragedy , if ye will. these be the delicate dishes , prepared for the world 's well-beloved children . these be the wafers and junckets provided for worldly prelates , wailing and gnashing of teeth : can there be any mirth , where these two courses last all the feast ? here we laugh , there we shall weep ; our teeth make merry here , ever dashing in delicates , there we shall be torne with teeth , and do nothing but gnash and grinde our owne : to what end have we excelled others in policy : what have we brought forth at last ? ye see brethren what sorrow , what punishment is provided for you , if you be worldling ? if ye will not thus be vexed , be ye not the children of the world : if ye will not be the children of the world , be not stricken with the love of worldly things , leane not upon them , if ye will not dye eternally , live not worldly . come , go to ; leave the love of your profit , study for the glory and profit of christ , seek in your consultations , such things as pertain to christ , and bring forth something at last that may please christ. feed ye tenderly with all diligence the flock of christ. preach truly the word of god , love the light , walk in the light : and so be ye the children of light while ye are in this world ; that ye may shine in the world that is to come bright as the sun , with the father , the son and the holy ghost ; to whom be all honour , praise and glory . amen . part of a sermon preached by mr. hugh latimer at paul's church in london , the title of which sermon is the plough . — i told you in my first sermon ( honourable audience ) that i purposed to declare unto you two things . the one , what seed should be sowen in gods field , in gods plough-land . and the other who should be the sowers . that is to say , what doctrine is to be taught in christ's church and congregation , and what men should be the teachers and preachers of it . the first part i have told you in three sermons past , in which i have essayed to set forth my plough , to prove what i could do . and now i shall tell you who be the plowers ; for gods vvord is a seed to be sowen in gods field , that is , the faithful congregation , and the preacher is the sower . as it is in the gospel , exivit qui seminat seminare semen suum . he that soweth , the husbandman , the ploughman went forth to sow his seed , so that a preacher is resembled to a plowman , as it is in another place ; no man that putteth his hand to the plough and looketh back , is apt for the kingdom of god. that is to say , let no preacher be negligent in doing his office . albeit this is one of the places that hath been racked , as i told you of racking scriptures . and i have been one of them myself , that have racked it , i cry god mercy for it , and have been one of them that have believed and have expounded it against religious persons that would forsake their order which they had professed , and would go out of their cloyster : whereas indeed it toucheth not monkery , nor maketh any thing at all for any such matter . but it is directly spoken of diligent preaching of the word of god : for preaching of the gospel is one of gods plough-works ; and the preacher is one of gods ploughmen : ye may not be offended with my similitude , in that i compare preaching to the labour and work of plowing , and the preacher to a plow-man . ye may not be offended with this my similitude ; for i have been slandered of some persons for such things . it hath been said of me , oh latimer ! nay , as for him , i will never believe him while i live , not trust him , for he likened our ever blessed lady to a saffron . bag ; where indeed i never used that similitude . — but in case i had used this similitude , it had not been to be reproved , but might have been without reproach : for i might have said thus ; as the saffron-bag that hath been full of saffron , or hath had saffron in it , doth ever after savour and smell of the sweet saffron that it contained : so our blessed lady , which conceived and bare christ in her womb , did ever after resemble the manners and vertues of that precious babe which she bare . and what had our blessed lady been the worse for this ? — ye may not then i say , be offended with my similitude , because i liken preaching to a plow-mans labour , and a prelate to a plow-man . but you will now ask me , whom i call a prelate ? a prelate is that man , whosoever he be , that hath a flock to be taught of him , whosoever hath any spiritual charge in the faithful congregation , and whosoever he be that hath cure of souls . and well may the preacher and plow-man be likened together , first , for their labour in all seasons of the year ; for there is no time in the year , in which the plow-man hath not some special work to do ; as in my country , in leicestershire , the plow-man hath a time to set forth his plow , and other times for other necessary works to be done . and then also they may be likened together , for the diversity of works , and variety of offices that they have to do . for as the plow-man first setteth forth his plow , and then tilleth his land , and breaketh it in furrows , and somtime ridgeth it up again ; and at another time harroweth it , and clotteth it , and somtime dangeth and hedgeth it , diggeth it and weedeth it , purgeth it , and maketh it clean : so the prelate , the preacher , hath many , divers offices to do . he hath a busie work to bring parishioners to a right faith , as paul calleth it ; and not a swerving faith , but to a faith that embraceth christ , and trusteth to his merits , a lively faith , a justifying faith , a faith that maketh a man righteous without respect of works as ye have it very well declared in the homily . he hath then a busie work , i say , to bring his flock to a right faith , and then to confirm them in the same faith ; now casting them down with the law and threatnings of god for sin ; now ridging them up again with the gospel , and the promises of gods favour ; now weeding them , by telling them their faults , and making them forsake sin ; now clotting them by breaking their stony hearts , and by making them supple-hearted , and making them to have hearts of flesh , that is , soft hearts , and apt for doctrine to enter in ; now teaching to know god rightly , and to know their duty to god and to their neighbours ; now exhorting them , when they know their duty , that they do it , and be diligent in it ; so that they have a continual work to do . great is their business , and therefore great should be their hire . they have great labours , and therefore they ought to have good livings , that they may commodiously feed their flock : for the preaching of the word of god unto the people , is called meat : scripture calleth it meat , not strawberries , that come but once a year , and tarry not long , but are soon gone ; but it is meat , it is no dainties . the people must have meat that must be familiar and continual , and daily given unto them to feed upon . many make a strawberrie of it , ministring it but once a year ; but such do not the office of good prelates : for christ saith , quis ( putas ) est servus prudeus & fidelis ? qui dat cibum in tempore . who , think you , is a wise man , a faithful servant ? he that giveth meat in due time : so that he must at all times convenient preach diligently : therefore saith he , who , trow you , is a faithful servant ? he speaketh it , as though it were a rare thing to find such a one ; and as though he should say , there be but a few of them to find in the world : and how few of them there be throughout this realm , that give meat to their flocks , as they should do , the visitors can best tell : too few , too few , the more is the pity , and never so few as now . by this it appeareth , that a prelate , or any that hath cure of souls , must diligently and substantially work and labour : therefore saith paul to timothy , qui episcopatum de siderat , hic bonum opus de siderut . he that desireth to have the office of a bishop or prelate , that man desireth a good work : then if it be a good work , it is work ; ye can make but a work of it . it is gods work , gods plow , and that plow god would have still going : such then as loyter , and live idly , are not good prelates or ministers . and of such as do not preach and teach , god saith by his prophet jeremy , maledictus qui facit opus dei fraudulenter , guilfully or deceitfully ; some books have negligenter , negligently or slackly . how many such bishops , how many such prelates ( lord for thy mercy ) are there now in england ? and what shall we in this case do ? shall we company with them ? o lord , for thy mercy shall we not company with them ? o lord , whither shall we flee rfom them ? but cursed be he that doth the work of god negligently , or guilfully : a sore word for them that are negligent in discharging their office , or have done it fraudulently ; for that is the thing that maketh the people ill , but true it must be that christ saith : multi sunt vocati , pauci vero electi , many are called , but few chosen . here i have an occasion by the way , somewhat to say unto you ; yea , for the place that i alleadged unto you before out of jeremy . and it was spoken of a spiritual work of god , a work that was commanded to be done , and it was of shedding-blood , and destroying the cities of moab . for ( saith he ) cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from shedding of blood . as saul when he kept back his sword from shedding of blood ( at what time he was sent against amalek ) was refused of god , for being disobedient to gods commandments , in that he spared agag the king : so that , that place of the prophet was spoken of them that went to the destruction of the cities of moab , among the which there was one called nebo , which was much reproved for idolatry , superstition , pride , avarice cruelty , tyranny , and for hardness of heart , and for these sins was plagued of god and destroyed . now what shall i say of these rich citizens of london ? what shall we say of them ? shall i call them proud men of london , malicious men of london , merciless men of london ? no , no , i may not say so , they will be offended with me then ; yet must i speak , for is there not reigning in london , as much pride , as much covetousness , as much cruelty , as much oppression , as much superstition , as was in nebo ? yes i think , and much more too . therefore i say repent o london , repent , repent . thou hearest thy faults told thee , amend them , amend them . i think if nebo had the preaching that thou hast , they would have converted . and you rulers and officers , be wise and circumspect , look to your charge , and see you do your duties , and rather be glad to amend your ill living , then to be angry when you are warned and told of your fault ; what a doe there was made in london at a certain man , because he said ( and indeed at that time on a just occasion ) burgesses ( quoth he ) nay butter-flies . lord ! what a doe there was for that word . and yet would god they were no worse then butterflies . butterflies do but their nature , the butterflie is not covetous , is not greedy of other mens goods , is not full of envy and hatred , is not malicious , is not cruel , is not merciless . the butterflie glorieth not in her own deeds , nor preferreth the traditions of men before gods word , it committeth not idolatry , nor worshippeth false gods ; but london cannot abide to be rebuked , such is the nature of men , if they be pricked they will kick , if they be rubbed on the gall , they will winch : but yet they will not amend their faults , they will not be ill spoken of . but how shall i speak well of them ? if you could be content to follow the word of god , and favour good preachers , if you could bear to be told of your faults , if ye could amend them when ye hear of them , if ye would be glad to reform what is amiss : if i might see any such inclination in you , that you would leave to be merciless , and begin to be charitable , i would then hope well of you , i would then speak well of you . but london was never so ill as it is now . in times past , men were full of pity and compassion ; but now there is no pitty , for in london their brother shall die in the streets for cold , he shall lie sick at the door between stock and stock , i cannot tell what to call it , and perish there for hunger , was there any more unmercifulness in nebo ? i think not . in times past , when any rich men died in london , they were wont to help the poor scholers of the universities with exhibition . when any man died , they would bequeath great sums of money toward the relief of the poor . when i was a scholer in cambridge my self , i heard very good report of london , and knew many that had relief of the rich men of london , but now i can hear no such good report , and yet inquire of it , and hearken for it ; but now charity is waxen cold , none helpeth the scholer , nor yet the poor . and in those dayes , what did they when they helped the scholers : marry , they maintained and gave them livings that were very papists and professed the popes doctrine : and now that the knowledge of gods word is brought to light , and many earnestly study and labour to set it forth , now almost no man helpeth to maintain them . o london , london , repent , repent , for i think god is more displeased with london , then ever he was with the city of nebo . repent therefore , repent london , and remember that the same god liveth now that punished nebo , even the same god and none other , and he will punish sin as well now as he did then , and he will punish the iniquity of london as well as he did them of nebo . amend therefore . and ye that be prelates look well to your office , for right prelating is buisy labouring , and not lording . therefore preach and teach , and let your plough be going . ye lords i say that live like loiterers , look well to your office , the plough is your office and charge , if you live idle and loiter , you do not your duty , you follow not your vocation , let your plough therefore be going and not cease , that the ground may bring forth fruit . but now me thinketh i hear one say unto me , wot you what you say ? is it a work ? is it a labour ? how then hath it hapned , that we have had so many hundred years , so many unpreaching prelates , lording loiterers , and idle ministers ? ye would have me here to make answer , and to shew the cause hereof ? nay , this land is not for me to plough , it is too stony , too thorny too hard for me to plow. they have so many things that make for them , so many things to say for themselves , that it is not for my weak team to plough them . they have to say for themselves long customes , ceremonies , & authority , placing in parliament , and many things more . and i fear me this land is not yet ripe to be plowed . for as the saying is , it lacketh withering : this geare lacketh withering , at leastwise it is not for me to plow. for what shall i look for among thorns but pricking and scratching ? what among stones but stumbling ? what ( i had almost said ) among serpents but stinging ? but thus much i dare say , that since lording and loitering hath come up , preaching hath come down , contrary to the apostles times , for they preached and lorded not ; and now they lord and preach not . for they that be lords will not go to plough ; it is no meet office for them , it is not seeming for their estate . thus came up lording loiterers , thus crept in un-preaching prelates ; and so have they long continued ; for how many unlearned prelates have we now at this day ? and no marvel , for if the ploughmen that now be , were made lords , they would clean give over ploughing , they would leave off their labour , and fall to lording too outright , and the ploughstand . and then both ploughs not walking , nothing should be in the common-weal but hunger . for ever since the prelates were made lords and nobles , the plough standeth , there is no work done , the people starve . they hawk , they hunt , they card , they dice , they pastime in their prelacies with gallant gentlemen , with their dancing minions , and with their fresh companions . so that ploughing is set aside ; and by their lording and loitering preaching and ploughing is clean gone . and thus if the ploughmen in the country , were as negligent in their office as prelates be , we should not long live for lack of sustenance . — but they that will be true ploughmen must work faithfully for gods-sake , for the edifying of their brethren . and as diligently as the husbandman ploweth for the sustentation of the body : so diligently must the prelates and ministers labour for the feeding of the soul. both the ploughs must be still going as most necessary for man. and wherefore are magistrates ordain'd , but that the tranquility of the common-weal may be confirm'd limiting both ploughs . but now for the fault of unpreaching prelates , me-think i could guess what might be said for excusing of them . they are so troubled with lordly living , they be so placed in palaces , couched in courts , ruffling in their rents , dancing in their dominions , burdened with ambassages , pampring of their panches , like a monk that maketh his jubilee , mounching in their mangers , and moiling in their gay mannors and mansions , and so troubled with loitering in their lordships that they cannot attend it . they are otherwise occupied , some in kings matters , some are ambassadours , some of the privy counsel , some to furnish the court , some are lords of the parliament , some are presidents and comptrollers of mintes . well , well , is this their duty ? is this their office ? is this their calling ? should we have ministers of the church to be comptrollers of the mintes ? is this a meet office for a priest that hath cure of souls , is this his charge ? i would here ask one question : i would fain know who controlleth the devil at home at his parish , while he comptrolleth the mint ? if the apostles might not leave the office of preaching to be deacons , shall one leave it for minting ? — in this behalf , i must speak to england ; hear my country england , as paul said in his first epistle to the corinthians chapt . 6. for paul was no sitting bishop , but a walking and a preaching bishop : but when he went from them , he left there behind him the plough going still , for he wrote unto them , and rebuked them for going to law , and pleading their causes before heathen judges . i speak , saith he , to your shame , is there not a wiseman , &c. so england , i speak it to thy shame , is there never a noble man to be a lord president , but it must be a prelate ? is there never a wiseman in the realm to be a comptroller of the mint ? i speak it to your shame , i speak to your shame : if there be never a wiseman , make a water-bearer , a tinker , a cobler , a slave , a page comptroller of the mint . make a mean gentleman a groom , a yeoman , make a poor begger lord president . thus i speak , not that i would have it so , but to your shame , if there be never a gentleman meet nor able to be lord president . for why are not the noblemen and young gentlemen of england , so brought up in knowledge of god and in learning , that they may be able to execute offices in the common-weal ? the king hath a great many of wards , and i trow there is a court of wards , why is not there a school of wards , as well as there is a court for their lands ; why are they not set in schools where they may learn ? or why are not they sent to the universities , that they may be able to serve the king when they come to age . if the wards and young gentlemen were well brought up in learning and in the knowledge of god , they would not when they come to age so much give themselves to other vanities . and if the nobility were well trained in godly learning , the people would follow the same train . for truly , such as the noblemen be such will the people be , and now the only cause why noblemen be not made lord presidents , is because they have not been brought up in learning . therefore , for the love of god , appoint teachers and school-masters , you that have charge of youth , and give the teachers stipends worthy their pains , that they may bring them up in grammer , in logick , in rhetorick , in philosophy , in the civil law , and in that which i cannot leave unspoken of , the word of god. — it is as unmeet a thing for bishops to be lord presidents , or priests to be minters , as it was for the corinthians to plead matters of variance before heathen judges . it is also a slander to the noblemen , as though they lacked wisdome and learning , to be able for such offices , or else were no men of conscience , and not meet to be trusted . a prelate hath a charge and cure otherwise , and therefore he cannot discharge his duty , and be a lord president too ; for a presidentship requireth a whole man , and a bishop cannot be two men . a bishop hath his office , a flock to teach , to look unto ; and therefore he cannot meddle with another office , which alone requireth a whole man. he should therefore give it over to whom it is meet , and labour in his own business , as paul writeth to the thessalonians : let every man do his own business , and follow his calling . let the priest preach , and the nobleman handle the temporal matters . moses a marvellous man , a good man , moses was a wonderful fellow , and did his duty , being a married man ; we lack such as moses was . vvell , i would all men would look to their duty , as god hath called them , and then we should have a flourishing christian common-weal . and now i would ask a strange question ? who is the most diligent bishop and prelate in all england , that passeth all the rest in doing his office ? i can tell , for i know him who it is , i know him well . but now i think i see you listning , hearkning , that i should name him . there is one that passeth all the other , and is the most diligent prelate and preacher in all england : and will ye know who it is ? i will tell you , it is the devil : he is the most diligent preacher of all other , he 's never out of his diocess , he is never from his cure , you shall never find him unoccupied , he is ever in his parish , he keepeth residence at all times , ye shall never find him out of the way ; call for him when you will , he is ever at home , the diligentest preacher in all the realm , he is ever at his plow , no lording nor loytering can hinder him , he is ever applying his business , you shall never find him idle , i warrant you . and his office is to hinder religion , to maintain superstition , to set up idolatry , to teach all kind of popery . he is ready as can be wished for , to set forth his plow , to devise as many ways as can be , to deface and obscure gods glory . where the devil is resident , and hath his plow going , there away with books , and up with candles , away with bibles , and up with beads , away with the light of the gospel , and up with the light of candles , yea , at noon-daies . where the devil is resident , that he may prevail , up with all superstition and idolatry , censing , painting of images , candles , palms , ashes , holy water , and new service of mens devising , as though men could invent a better way to honour god with , than god himself hath appointed . down with christ's cross , up with purgatory pick-purse , up with him , the popish purgatory , i mean. away with cloathing the naked , the poor and impotent ; up with decking of images , and gay garnishing of stocks and stones . up with mans traditions and his laws , down with gods traditions , and his most holy word . down with the old honour due to god , and up with the new gods honour . — but here some men will say to me , what sir , are ye so privy of the devils counsel , that ye know all this to be true ? truly i know him too well , and have obeyed him a little too much , in condescending to some follies . and i know that he is ever occupied , and ever busie , in following his plow . i know by st peter , which saith of him , sicut leo rugiens circuit , quaerens qu●m devoret : he goeth about like a roaring lion , seeking whom he may devour . i would have this text well viewed . — there was never such a preacher in england as he is : who is able to tell his diligent preaching ? who every day and every hour laboureth to sow cockle and darnel , that he may bring out of form , and out of estimation , and room , the institution of the lords supper , and christ's cross. — the devil by the help of that italian bishop yonder , his chaplain , hath laboured by all means that he might , to frustrate the death of christ , and the merits of his passion . and they have devised for that purpose , to make us believe in other vain things ; as to have remission of sins for praying on hallowed beads , for drinking of the backhouse bole , as a canon of walton abbey once told me , that whensoever they put their loave ; of bread into the oven , as many as drank of the pardon-bole , should have pardon for drinking of it . a mad thing , to give pardon to a bole ! — wo worth thee , o devil , wo worth thee , that hast prevail'd so far , and so long , that hast made england to worship false gods , forsaking christ their lord ; wo worth thee devil , wo worth thee devil , and all thy angels . — when the kings majesty , with the advice of his honourable council , goeth about to promote gods word , and to set an order in matters of religion , there shall not lack blanchers , that will say , as for images , whereas they have been used to be censed , and to have candles offered unto them , none be so foolish to do it to the stock or stone , or to the image it self , but it is done to god and his honour before the image . and though they should abuse it , these blanchers whould be ready to whisper the king in the ear , and to tell him , that this abuse is but a small matter ; and that the same , with all other abuses in the church , may be reformed easily ; it is but a little abuse , say they , and it may be easily amended . but it should not be taken in hand at the first , for fear of trouble or further inconveniences ; the people will not bear sudden alterations , and insurrection may be made after sudden mutations , which may be to the great harm and lofs of the realm : therefore all shall be well , but not out of hand , for fear of further business . these be the blanchers that have hitherto stopped the word of god , and hindred the true setting forth of the same . there be so many put offs , so many put by 's , so many respects and considerations of worldly wisdom . and i doubt not , but there were blanchers in the old time , to whisper in the ear of good king hezekiah , for the maintenance of idolatry done to the brazen serpent , as well as there has been now of late , and be now , that can blanch the abuse of images as other like things : but good king hezekiah would not be so blinded , he was like to apollo , fervent in spirit , he would give no ear to these blanchers , he was not moved with these worldly respects , with these prudent considerations , with these policies , he feared not insurrections of the people . he feared not , lest his people would not bear the glory of god ; but he ( without any of these respects , or policies , or considerations ) like a good king , for gods sake , and for conscience sake , by and by plucked down the brazen serpent , and destroyed it utterly , and beat it to powder : he out of hand did cast out all images , he destroyed all idolatry , and clearly did extirpate all superstition . he would not hear these blanchers , and worldly wise men , but without delay followeth gods cause , and destroyeth all idolatry out of hand . this did good king hezekiah , for he was like apollo , fervent in spirit , and diligent to promote gods glory . and good hope there is , that it shall be likewise here in england ; for the kings majesty is so brought up in knowledge , vertue and godliness , that it is not to be mistrusted , but that we shall have all things well , and that the glory of god shall be spread abroad through all parts of the realm , if the prelates will diligently apply their plow , and be preachers rather than lords . but our blanchers which will be lords , and no labourers , when they are commanded to go and be resident upon their cures , and preach in their benefices , they will say ; what! i have set a deputy there , i have a deputy that looketh well to my flock , who shall discharge my duty . a deputy ( quoth he ) i looked for that word all this while . and what a deputy must he be , trow ye ? even one like himself , he must be a canonist , that is to say , one that is brought up in the study of popes laws and decrees , one that will set forth papistry as well as himself , and one that will maintain all idolatry and superstition , and one that will nothing at all , or else very weakly , resist the devils plow ; yea , happy it is , if he take no part with the devil ; and where he should be an enemy to him , it is well , if he take not the devils part against christ. but in the mean time , the prelates take their pleasures , they are lords , and no labourers ; but the devil is diligent at his plow , he is no unpreaching prelate , he is no lordly loyterer from his cure , but a busie plow-man ; so that amongst all the prelates , and among all the pack of them that have cure , the devil shall go for my money ; for he still applieth his business . therefore ye unpreaching prelates , learn of the devil to be diligent in doing your office. learn of the devil : and if ye will not learn of god and good men , for shame learn of the devil ; ad erubescentiam vestram dico , i speak it for your shame , if you will not learn of god nor good men , to be diligent in your office , learn of the devil . howbeit there is now very good hope , that the kings majesty being by the help of good governance of his most honourable counsellors , trained and brought up in learning and knowledge of gods word , will shortly provide a remedy , and set an order herein ; which thing , that it may so be , let us pray for him ; pray for him good people , pray for him , ye have great cause and need to pray for him , amen . part of the first sermon preached by the reverend father , master hugh latimer , before our late soveraign lord , of famous memory , king edward the sixth , within the preaching place in the palace at westminster , 1549. the eight of march. rom. 15. quaecunque scripta sunt , ad nostram doctrinam scripta sunt . — in taking this part of scripture , ( most noble audience ) i played as a truant , which when he is at school , will chuse a lesson wherein he is perfect , because he is loath to take pain in studying a new lesson , or else feareth stripes for his sloathfulness . in like manner i might seem now in my old age , to some men , to take this part of scripture ; because i would wade easily away therewith , and drive my matter at my pleasure , and not to be bound to a certain theam . but ye shall consider that the foresaid words of paul are not to be understood of all scriptures , but only of those which are of god written in gods book , and all things which are therein , are written for our learning . the excellency of this word , is so great , and of so high dignity , that there is no earthly thing to be compared do it . the author thereof is great , that is , god himself , eternal , almighty , everlasting . the scripture because of him , is also great , eternal , most mighty , and holy. there is no king , emperor , magistrate and ruler of what state soever they be , but are bound to obey this god , and to give credence unto his holy word , in directing their steps ordinately according to the same word : yea truly , they are not only bound to obey gods book , but also the ministry of the same , so far as he speaketh sitting in moses chair . — for in this world god hath two svvords , the one is a temporal svvord , the other a spiritual . — the king correcteth transgresson vvith the temporal svvord , yea , the preacher , if he be an offender . but the preacher cannot correct the king , if he be a transgressor of gods word , vvith the temporal svvord : but he must correct and reprove him vvith the spiritual svvord , fearing no man , setting god only before his eyes , under vvhom he is a minister , to supplant and root up all vice and mischief by gods word . — therefore let the preacher teach , reprove , amend and instruct in righteousness , vvith the spiritual svvord , fearing no man , though death should ensue . thus moses did reprove pharaoh . — thus micheas did not spare to blame king ahab , for his vvickednes , and to prophesie of his destruction , contrary unto many false prophets . — these foresaid kings being admonished by the ministers of gods word , because they vvould not follovv their godly doctrine , and correct their lives , came unto utter destruction . — let the preacher therefore never fear to declare the message of god unto all men : and if the king vvill not hear them , then the preachers may admonish and charge them vvith their duties , and so leave them to god , and pray for them . but if the preachers digress out of christs chair , and shall speak their ovvn phantasies , then in stead of vvhatsoever they bid you observe , that observe and do . change into these vvords follovving , beware of false prophets , change , quaecunque jusserint , into cavete à fermento pharisaeorum . — all things written in gods book , are most true , and profitable for all men ; for in it is contained meet matter for kings , princes , rulers , bishops , and for all estates : wherefore it behoveth every preacher , somwhat to accomodate himself and his matter to the comfort and amendment of the audience to which he declareth the message of god. if he preach before a king , let his matter be concerning the office of a king , if before a bishop , — i have thought it good to intreat upon these words following , which are written in the seventeenth chapter of deuteronomy , from verse 14. downwards . — as the text doth rise , i will touch and go a little in every place . — to have a king , the israelites did with much importunity call unto god , and god long before promised them a king , and they were fully certified thereof , that god had promised that thing : for unto abraham he said , gen. 17. 6. kings shall come out of thee . these words were spoken long before the children of israel had any king ; notwithstanding here yet god prescribed unto them an order , how they should chuse their king , and what manner of man he should be , where he saith , when thou shalt come , &c. as who should say , o ye children of israel , i know your nature right well , — i know that thou wilt chuse a king to reign over thee , and to appear glorious in the face of the world , after the manner of the gentiles : but because thou art stiffe-necked , wild , and art given to walk without a bridle or line , therefore now i will prevent thy evil and beastly manners , i will hedge strongly thy way , i will make a durable law which shall compell thee to walk ordinately , and in a plain way , that is , thou shalt not chuse thee a king after thy will and phantasie , but after me , thy lord and god. thus god conditioned with the jews , that their king should be such a one as he himself would choose them . this was not much unlike a bargain that i heard of late , should be betwixt two friends for a horse , the owner promised the other should have the horse if he would , the other asked the price , he said 20. nobles ; the other would give him but four pounds ; the owner said he should not have it then , the other claimed the horse , because he said he should have him if he would . thus this bargain became a westminster matter , the lawyers got twice the value of the horse , and when all came to all , two fools made an end of the matter . howbeit the israelites could not go to law with god for choosing their king , for , will they , nill they , their king should be of his choosing , lest they should walk inordinately — for as they say commonly , qui vadit planè , vadit sanè ; that is , he that walketh plainly , walketh safely . and the jews were stiff-necked , and were ever ready to walk inordinately . no less are vve englishmen given to untovvardness and inordinate vvalking . — there is a great error risen novv : dayes among many of us , vvhich are vain and nevv fangled men climbing beyond the limits of our capacity and vvit , in vvrenching this text of scripture hereafter follovving after their ovvn phansie and brain , their errour is upon this text , 1 sam. 8. 7. they wrench these words after their own fantasies , and make much doubt as touching a king and his godly name . they that so do , walk inordinately , they walk not directly and plainly , but delight in balks and stubble way . it maketh no matter by what name the rulers be named , if so be they shall walk ordinately with god , and direct their steps with god , for both patriarches judges and kings had , and have their authority from god , and therefore godly . but this is to be considered which god saith , thou maist not set a stranger over thee . it hath pleased god to grant us a natural liege king and lord , of our own nation , an englishman one of our own religion , god hath given him to us , and he is a most pretious treasure , and yet many of us do desire a stranger to be king over us , — let us follow daniel , let us not seek the death of our most noble and rightful king , our own brother , both by nativity and godly religion . let us pray for his good estate that he live long among us : oh what a plague were it , that a strange king of a strange land , and of a strange religion should raign over us : where now we be governed in the true religion , he should extirpe and pluck away all together , aud then plant again all abomination and popery , god keep such a king from us . well , the kings grace hath two sisters , my lady mary , and my lady elizabeth , which by succession and course , are inheritors to the crown , who , if they should marry with strangers , what should ensue ? god knoweth . but god grant ( if they so do , whereby strange religion cometh in ) that they never come to coursing not succeeding . therefore to avoid this plague , let us amend our lives , and put away all pride , which doth drown men in this realm , at these daies ; all covetousness , wherein the magistrates and rich men are overwhelmed , all lechery , and other excessive vices , provoking gods wrath ( were he not merciful ) even to take from us our natural king and liege lord ; yea to plague us with a strange king for our unrepentant hearts . wherefore if as ye say , ye love the king amend your lives . — now i hear all things shall be ended after a godly manner shortly . make hast , make hast , and let us learn to convert to repent and mend our lives : if we do not , i fear , i fear , lest for our sins and unthankfulness an hypocrite shall reign over us . — let us pray , that god maintain and continue our most excellent king here present . — he doth rectifie us in the liberty of the gospel , in that therefore let us stand . — he shall not prepare unto himself many horses , &c. in speaking of these words ye shall understand , that i do not intend to speak against the strength , policy and provision of a king , but against excess and vain trust that kings have in themselves , more then in the living god , the author of all goodness and giver of all victory . many horses are requisite for a king , but he may not exceed in them , nor triumph in them more then is needful , for the necessary affairs and defence of the realm . what meaneth it , that god hath to do with the kings stable ; but only he would be master of his horses , the scripture saith : in altis habitat , he dwelleth on high ; it followeth , humilia respicit , he looketh on the low things , yea upon the kings stables ▪ and upon all the offices in his house . god is a great grand master of the kings house , and will take account of every one that beareth rule therein ; for the executing of their offices , whether they have justly and truly served the king in their offices , or no. yea , god looketh upon the king himself , if he work well or not . every king is subject unto god , and all other men are subjects unto the king. in a king god requireth faith , not excess of horses , horses for a king be good and necessary , if they be well used , but — neither shall he multiply wives , &c. — let us not think that , because we read that kings among the jews had liberty to take more wives than one , that we may therefore attempt to walk inordinately . — for christ hath forbidden this unto us christians , and limiteth unto us one wife only . and it is a great thing for a man to rule one wife rightly and ordinately ; for a woman is frail , and proclive unto all evils ; a woman is a very weak vessel , and may soon deceive a man , and bring him into evil . many examples we have in scripture , adam by eve. — how did wicked jezebel ? — therefore let our king , what time his grace shall be so minded to take a wife , chuse him one which is of god ; that is , which is of the houshould of faith — and that shee be such a one as the king can find in his heart to love , and lead his life in pure and chast espousage ; and then shall he be the more prone and ready to advance gods glory , and to punish and extirpe the great lechery used in this realm . therefore we ought to make a continual prayer unto god , for to grant our kings grace such a mate as may knit his heart and hers , according to gods ordinance and law , and not to consider and cleave only to a politique matter or conjunction , for the enlargeing of dominions for surety and defence of countries . — we have now a pretty little shilling , indeed a very pretty one , i have but one i think in my purse , and the last day i had put it away almost for an old groat , and so i trust some will take them ; the fineness of the silver i cannot see : but therein is printed a fine sentence , that is , timor domini fons sapientiae . the fear of the lord is the fountain of wisdom . i would to god this sentence were printed in the heart of the king in choosing his wife and all his officers . for as the fear of god is fons sapientiae , so the forgetting of god is 〈◊〉 stultitiae , the fountain of foolishness ; though it be never so politique . — let the king therefore chuse unto him a godly wife , whereby he shall the better live chast , and in so living ▪ all godliness shall increase , and righteousness be maintained . notwithstanding i know hereafter , some will come and move your grace toward wantonness , and to the inclination of the flesh , and vain affections . but i would your grace would bear in memory , and history of a good king , called lewis ( that travelled towards the holy land ) which was a great matter in those dayes , and by the way sickned , being long absent from his wife , and upon this matter , the physitians did agree , that it was for lack of a woman ; and did consult with the bishops therein , who did conclude , that because of the distance from his wife ( being in another country ) he should take a wench . this good king hearing their conclusion , would not assent thereunto , but said , he had rather be sick even unto death , than he would break his espousals . wo worth such counsellors , bishops ! nay rather buzzards . nevertheless , if the king should have consented to their conclusion , and accomplished the same , if he had chanced well , they would have excused the matter ; as i have heard , one being reproacht for such counsel given , he excused the matter , saying , that he gave him none other counsel , but if it had been his case , he would have done likewise ; so i think the bishops would have excused the matter , if the king should have reproved them for their counsel : i do not read , the king did so ; but if he had , i know what would have been their answer , they would have said , we give you no worse counsel , than we would have followed our selves , if we had been in like case . well sir , this king did well , and had the fear of god before his eyes . — let the king therefore chuse a wife which feareth god , let him not seek a proud wanton , one full of rich treasures and worldy pomp. neither shall he multiply to himself too much silver and gold. &c. he shall not multiply unto himself too much gold and silver : is there too much think you for a king ? god doth allow much unto a king , and it is expedient that he should have much ; for he hath great expences . — necessary it is , that the king have a treasure alwaies in readiness for such affairs as be daily in his hands : the which treasure , if it be not sufficient , he may lawfully and with a safe conscience , take taxes of his subjects ; for it were not meet , — but who shall see this too much , or tell the king of this too much ? think you any of the kings privy chamber ? no. for fear of loss of favour . shall any of his sworn chaplains ? no. they be of his closet , and keep close such matters . but the king himself must see this too much , and that he shall do by no means , with corporal eyes : wherefore he must have a pair of spectacles , which shall have two clear sights in them ; that is , the one is faith , the other is charity : by them two , must the king ever see when he hath too much . — i will tell you , my lords and masters , this is not for the kings honour : yet some will say , knowest thou what is for the kings honour better than we ? i answer , the kings honour is most perfectly painted forth in scripture ; of which , if ye be ignorant , for lack of time , that ye cannot read it , though your counsel be never so politick , yet it is not for the kings honour . what his honour meaneth , ye cantot tell . it is the kings honour , that his subjects be led in the true religion : that all his prelates and clergy be set about their work , in preaching and studying , and not be interrupted from their charge . also it is the kings honour . — part of the second sermon preached by mr. latymer before king edward . and when the king is set in the seat of his kingdom , he shall write him out a book , deut. 17. i told you in my last sermon , of ministers of the kings people , & had occasion to shew you , how few noblemen were good preachers . i left out an history then , which now i will tell you . there was a bishop of winchester in king henry the sixth's daies . — this bishop was a great man born , and did bear such a stroak , he was able to shoulder the lord protector ; it chanced the lord protector and he fell out , and the bishop would bear nothing at all with him , but played me the satrapa ; so — was not this a good prelate ? he should have been at home preaching in his diocess with a wanniaunt . this protector was so noble a godly man , that he was called of every man the good duke humphrey : he kept such a house , — . and the bishop for standing so stiffly by the matter , and bearing up the order of our mother , the holy church , was made a cardinal at calice , and thither the bishop of rome sent him a cardinals hat : he should have had a tyburne-tippet , a half peny halter , and all such proud prelates . when he sitteth upon the throne , what shall he do ? shall he dance and dally , banquet , havvk and hunt ? no forsooth sir. what must he do then ? he must be a student ; not thinking , because he is a king , he hath license to do vvhat he vvill , as these vvorldly flatterers are vvont to say , ye trouble not your self , ( sir ) ye may havvk and hunt , and take your pleasure ; as for the guiding of your kingdom and people , let us alone vvith it . these flattering clavv-backs are original roots of all mischief ; and yet a king may take his pastime in havvking and hunting , or such like pleasures , but he must , — it follovveth in the text , deut. 17. 19. he shall have it with him , in his progresse . — he shall read in it , not once a year , but all the daies of his life . where are these worldlings novv ? these bladder-puft-up vvily men ? wo vvorth them , that ever they vvere about any king. but hovv shall he read this book ? as the homilies are read ? some call them homilies , and indeed so they may be vvell called , for they are homely handled . for though the priest read them never so vvell , yet if the parish like them not , there is such talking and babling , that nothing can be heard . and if the parish be good , and the priest naught , he vvill so hack and chop it , that it vvere as good to be vvithout it , for any vvord that shall be understood . and yet ( the more pity ) it is suffered of your graces bishops in their diocess unpunished . but i vvill be a suitor to your grace , that you vvill give your bishops charge ere they go home , upon their allegiance , to look better to their flock , and to see your majesties injunctions better kept , and send your visitors in their tayls , and if they be found negligent in their duties , out vvith them , i require it in gods behalf , make them quondams , all the pack of them . but ye vvill say , where shall vve have any to put in their rooms ? — your majesty hath divers of your chaplains , well learned men , and of good knowlede , and yet ye have some bad enough , hangers on the court , i mean not these , — what an enormity is this in a christian realm to serve in a civility , having the profit of a provostship , and a deanry , and a parsonage ? but i will tell you what is like to come of it : it will bring the clergy shortly into a very slavery . i may not forget here my scala caeli , that i spake of in my last sermon ; i will repeat it now again , desiring your grace in gods behalf , that you will remember it . the bishop of rome had a scala coeli , but his was a masse-matter : but this scala coeli that i now speak of , is the true ladder that bringeth a man to heaven : the top of the ladder , or first greese is this ; whosoever calleth on the name of the lord shall be saved . the second step , how shall they call upon him , in whom they have not believed ? the third stair is this , how shall they believe in him , of whom they never heard ? the fourth step , how shall they hear without a preacher ? now the nether end of the ladder is , how shall they preach except they be sent ? this is the foot of the ladder . so that we may go backward now , and use the school-argument , a primo ad ultimum . take away preaching , take away salvation . but i fear one thing . — ever since the bishop of rome was first in authority , they have gone about to destroy the gospel , but god worketh wonderfully , he hath preserved it , maugre all their hearts , and yet we are unthankful , that we cannot consider it . i will tell you what a bishop of this realm said once to me , he sent for me , and marvelled , that i would not consent to such traditions as were then set out . and i answered him , that i would be ruled by gods book , and rather than i would dissent one jot from it , i would be torn with wild horses . and i chanced in our communication , to name the lords supper : tush , saith the bishop , what do you call the lords supper ? what new term is that ? there stood by him a dubber , one doctor dubber , he dubbed him by and by , and said , that this term was seldom read in the doctors . and i made answer , that i would rather follow paul , in using his terms , than them , though they had all the doctors on their side . why , ( said the bishop ) cannot we without the scriptures order the people ? how did they before the scripture was first written ? but god knoweth , full ill yet would they have ordered them . for seeing , that having it , they have deceived us , in what case should we have been novv vvithout it ? but thanks be unto god , that by so vvonderful a miracle he hath preserved the book still . — it is in the text , that a king ought to fear god , he shall have the dread of god before his eyes . work not by vvorldly policy , for vvorldly policy feareth not god. take heed of these clavv-backs , these venomous people , that vvill come to you , that vvill follovv you like gnato's & parasites , if you follovv them , you are out of your book , if it be not according to gods word , that they counsel you ; do it not fo● any vvorldly policy , for then you fear not god. — but vvherefore shall a king fear god ? it follovveth in the text , that he may prolong his daies in his kingdom . — remember this , i beseech your grace ; and when these flatterers and flebergibs , another day shall come and claw you by the back , and say , sir , trouble not your self : what , shall you study ? why should you do this or that ? your grace may answer them thus , and say , what sirra ! i perceive you are a weary of us , and our posterity : doth not god say in such a place , that a king shall write out a book of gods law , and read it ? learn to fear god. and why ? that he , and his might reign long . i perceive now , thou art a traytor . tell him this tale once , and i warrant you , he will come no more to you , neither he , nor any , after such a sort . and thus shall your grace drive such flatterers and claw-backs away . — you have heard how a king ought to pass the time . — he may learn at solomon . — : what was solomons petition ? lord , said he , da mihi cor docile : he asked a docible heart , a wise heart , and wisdom to go in and to go out . — so your grace must learn how to do of solomon . you must make your petition , now study , now pray . — now when god had given solomon wisdom , he sent him by and by occasion to occupy his wit. for god never gave a gift , but he sent occasion at one time or other , to shew it to gods glory : as if he send riches , he sendeth poor men to be helped with them . — one word note here for gods sake , and i will trouble you no longer . would solomon , being so noble a king , hear two poor women ? they were poor , for as the scripture saith , they were together alone in a house , they had not so much as one servant betwixt them both . would king solomon , i say , hear them in his own person ? yea forsooth . and yet i hear of many matters before my lord protector , and my lord chancellor , that cannot be heard . i must desire my lord protectors grace to hear me in this matter ; that your grace would hear poor mens suites your self : put them to none other to hear : let them not be delayed . the saying is now , that money is heard every where ; if he be rich , he shall soon have an end of his matter . — hear mens suites your self , i require you in gods behalf ; put it not to the hearing of these velvet-coats , these up-skips . — i cannot go to my book , for poor folkes come to me , desiring me , — i walk somtimes in my lord of canterburies garden , looking in my book , as i can do but little good at it ; but somthing i must do , to satisfie this place : i am no sooner in the garden , anon my man cometh , and saith , sir , there is one at the gate would speak with you : when i come there , then it is some one or other , that desireth me , that i would speak his matter may be heard ; that he hath lien thus long , — a gentlewoman came to me , — there is a poor vvoman that lyeth in the fleet. — i beseech your grace that you will look to these matters , hear them your self , view your judges , and hear poor mens causes . and you proud iudges hearken what god saith in his holy book . audite illos , ita parvum ut magnum : hear them saith he , the small aswell as the great , the poor aswell as the rich . regard no person , fear no man , why ? quia domini judicium est , the judgment is gods. mark this saying thou proud iudge . the devil will bring this sentence at the day of doom : hell will be full of these iudges : if they repent not and amend . they are worse then the wicked iudge that christ speaketh of , that neither feared god nor the world . — our iudges are worse then this iudge was : for they will neither hear men for gods sake , nor fear of the world , nor importunateness , nor any thing else . yea , some of them will command them to ward , if they be importunate . i heard say , that when a suitour came to one of them , he said , what fellow is this that giveth these folk counsel to be so importunate , he would be punished and committed to ward . marry sir , punish me then , it is even i that gave them counsel , i would gladly be punisht in such a cause . and if ye amend not , i will cause them to cry out upon you still : even as long as i live . i will do it indeed . but i have troubled you long : beati qui audiunt , &c. part of the third sermon of mr. hugh latimer , preached before king edward . a preacher hath two offices . 1 to teach true doctrine ; 2 to confute gainsayers . — vvhy you will say , will any body gainsay true doctrine ? — vvas there ever yet preachers , but there were gainsayers . — ieremy was the minister of the true vvord of god. — elias had baals priests supported by iezebel , to speak against him . — iohn baptist , and our saviour christ. — the apostles had gainsayers , acts 28. 22. this sect is every where spoken against . — in the popish masse time there was no gainsaying . — so long as we had in adoration , the popish masse we were then without gainsaying . — vvhen sathan the devil hath the guiding of the house he keepeth all in peace . — vvhen he hath the religion in possession , he stirreth up no sedition , i warrant you . how many dissentions have we heard of in turky , — look whether ye hear of any heresies among the jews . — and if ever concord should have been in religion , when should it have been , but when christ was here ? ye find fault with preachers , and say , they cause sedition : vve are noted to be rash , and indiscreet in our preaching : yet as discreet as christ was , there was diversity . — there was never prophet to be compared to him , and yet there was never more dissention , then when he was , and preached himself . — this day i must do somewhat in the second office. — but first , i will make a short rehearsall to put you in memory . — the peevish people in this realm , have nothing but the king , the king in their mouths , when it maketh for their purpose . as there was a doctor that preached , the kings majesty hath his holy water , he creepeth to the cross ; and then they have nothing but the king , the king in their mouths . these be they my good people that must have their mouths stopt : but if a man tell them of the kings proceedings , now they have their shifts and their put ofts , saying we may not go before a law : we may break no order . these be the wicked preachers , their mouths must be stopt , these be the gainsayers . — now to my confutation . there is a certain man that shortly after my first sermon , being ask't , if he had been at the sermon that day ? answered , yea . i pray you said he , how liked you him ? marry , said he , as i liked him alwayes , a seditious fellow oh lord , he pinched me there indeed nay , he rather had a full bit at me yet i comfort my self with that , that christ was noted to be a stirrer up of the people . — it becometh me to take it in good part , i am not better then he was . in the kings dayes that dead is , a many of us were called together before him , to say our minds in certain matters . in the end , one kneeled me down , and accused me of sedition , that i had preached seditious doctrine . a heavy salutation , and a hard point of such a mans doing , as if i should name him , ye would not think it . the king turned to me , and said , what say you to that sir ? then i kneeled down , and turned me first to mine accuser , and required him ; sir , what form of preaching would you appoint me to preach before a king ; would you have me to preach nothing , as concerning a king in the kings sermon ? have you any commission to appoint me what i shall preach ? besides this , i asked him divers other questions , and he would make no answer . then i turned me to the king , and submitted my self to his grace , and said i never thought my self worthy , nor ever sued to be a preacher before your grace , but i was called to it , and would be willing ( if you mislike me ) to give place to my betters . for i grant there be a great many more worthy of the room then i am ; and if it be your graces pleasure so to allow them for preachers , i could be content to bear their books after them . but if your grace allow me for a preacher , i would desire your grace to give me leave to discharge my conscience . give me leave to frame my doctrine according to my audience , i had been a very dolt to have preached so at the borders of your realm , as i preached before your grace . and i thank almighty god , which hath alwayes been my remedy , that my sayings were well accepted of the king , for like a gracious lord he turned into another communication : it is even as the scripture saith : cor regis in manu domini , the lord directeth the kings 〈◊〉 . certain of my friends came to me with tears in their eyes , and told me they looked i should have been in the tower the same night . thus i have been ever more burdened with the word of sedition . i have offended god grievously , transgressing his law , and but for this remedy and his mercy , i would not look to be saved . as for sedition , for ought that i know , methinks , i should not need christ , if i might say so . but if i be clear in any thing , i am clear in this , so far as i know mine own heart , there is no man farther from sedition then i ; which i have declared in all my doings , and yet it hath been ever laid to me . another , when i gave over mine office , i should have received a pentecostal , it came to the summe of fifty and five pound , i set my commissary to gather it , but he could not be suffer'd , for it was said a sedition would rise upon it . thus they burdened me ever with sedition . so this gentleman , cometh up now with sedition : and wot ye what ? i chanced in my last sermon to speak a merry word of the new shilling ( to refresh my auditory ) how i was like to put away my new shilling for an old groat , i was herein noted to speak seditiously — when i was in trouble , it was objected to me that i was singular , that i took a way contrary to all . marry sir , this was sore thunderbolts , i thought it was possible it might not be true he told me . — i have gotten one fellow a companion of sedition ; and wot you who is my fellow ? esai the prophet . i spake but of a little pretty shilling , but he speaketh to ierusalem after another sort , esai . 1. 21 , 22 , 23. and was so bold to meddle with their coin . — ah seditious wretch , what had he to do with the mint . — was not this a seditious harlot , to tell them this to their beards ? to their face . — i am content to bear the title of sedition with esai . thanks be to god i am not alone . — in the latter end of my sermon , i rehearsed a parable of a wicked judge . belike good judges were rare at that time ; and trow ye , the devil hath been asleep ever since ? no , no , — the common manner of wicked judge , is neither to fear god or man. he considereth what a man he is , and therefore careth not for man ; he seemeth to be in a protection t well shall he escape ? ho , ho , est deus in coelo . there is a god in heaven , he accepteth no persons , he will punish them . — cambises was a great emperour , such another as our master is — it chanced , he had under him in one of his dominions , a briber , a gift-taker , a gratifier of rich men , a handmaker in his office , to make his son a great man ( as the old saying is , happy is the child whose father goeth to the devil ) the cry of the poor widdow came to the emperours ear , which caused him to slay the iudge quick , and laid his skin in the chair of judgment , that all iudges that should give judgment afterwards should sit in the same skin . surely it was a goodly sign , a goodly monument , the sign of the judges skin ; i pray god we may once see the sign of the skin in england . — i do it charitably , for the love i bear to my country . god saith , ego visitabo . i will visit . god hath two visitations : the first is , when he revealed his word by preachers , and where the first is accepted , the second cometh not ; the second visitation is vengeance . he went to visitation , when he brought the judges skin over his ears . — germany was visited twenty years with gods word , but they did not earnestly embrace it , and in life follow it , but made a mingle mangle and a hotch potch of it . i cannot tell what , partly popery , partly true religion mingled together . they say in my country when they call their hogs to the swine-trough , come to thy mingle mangle , compyr , compyr ; even so they made mingle mangle of it ; they could clatter and prate of the gospel , but when all cometh to all , they joyned popery so with it , that they marred all together . we have now a first visitation in england ; let us beware of a second . we have the ministration of his word , we are yet well ; but the house is not clean swept yet . god hath sent us a noble king in this his visitation , let us beware , let us not be unthankful and unkind , let us beware of by-walking and contemning of gods word . — part of the fourth sermon preached by mr. hugh latimer before king edward . i remember well what st. paul saith to a bishop , and though he spake it to timothy being a bishop , yet i may say it now to the magistrates , for all is one case , all is one matter ; thou shalt not be partaker of other mens faults , be not hasty in making of curates , in receiving men to have cure of souls , that either cannot , or will not do their duty ; do it not . now me thinks it needs not to be partakers of other mens sins , we shall find enough of our own . and what is it to be partaker of other mens sins , if this be not , to make unpreaching prelacy , and to suffer them in their unpreaching prelacy ? if the king and his council should suffer evil judges to take bribes , and suffer the great to overgo the poor , and should look through his fingers , to wink at it , should not the king be partaker of their naughtiness ? and why , is be not supreme head of the church ? what ! is the supreme a dignity , and nothing else ? is it not countable ? i think it will be a chargeable dignity , when account shall be askt of it . oh! what advantage hath the devil ? vvhat entry hath the vvolf , when the shepherd tendeth not his flock ? st. paul doth say , qui bene praesunt presbyteri , honore digni sunt . vvhat is this praeesse ? it is as much as to say , is to take charge and cure of souls , we say , ille praeest , he is set over the flock , he hath taken charge upon him ; and what is benè praeesse ? to discharge the cure well , to rule well , to feed the flock with pure food , and good example of living . — there was a merry monk in cambride , in the colledge that i was in , and it chanced , a great company of us to be together , intending to make good cheer , and to be merry , ( as schollers will be merry when they are disposed ) one of the company brought this sentence , nil melius quam laetari & facere bene . there is nothing better than to be merry and to do well : a vengeance of bene , quoth the monk , i would that bene had been banished beyond the sea ; and that bene were out , it were well ; for i could be merry , and i could do , but i love not to do well , that bene marres all , i would bene were out , quoth the merry monk , for it importeth many things to live well , to discharge the cure. indeed it were better for them if it were out ; and it were as good to be out , as to be ordered as it is : it will be a heavy bene for some of them , when they shall come to their account . but peradventure you will say , what and they preach not at all ? yet praesunt . are not they worthy double honour ? is it not an honourable order they be in ? nay an horrible misorder , it is an horrour , rather than an honour , and horrible , rather than honourable , if the preacher be naught , and do not his duty . and thus go these prelates about to wrestle for honour , that the devil may take his pleasure . — are they not worthy double honour ? nay rather , double dishonour , not to be regarded , not to be esteemed among the people , and to have no living at their hands ? for 〈◊〉 good preachers be worthy double honour , so unpreaching prelates be worthy double dishonour , they must be at their doublets . but now these two dishonours what be they ? our saviour christ doth shew ; si sal , — if the salt be unsavoury , it is good for nothing , but to be cast our , and troden of men . by this s●lt is understood preachers , and such as have cure of souls , what be they worthy then ? wherefore serve they ? for nothing else but to be cast out . make them quondams , out with them , cast them out of their office : vvhat should they do with cure , that will not look to it ? another dishonour is , to be troden under mens feet , not to be esteemed or regarded . st. paul in his epistle qualifieth a bishop , and saith , he must be apt to teach ? vvhat shall a man do with aptness , if he do not use it ; it were as good to be without it . a bishop came to me the last day , and was angry with me for a sermon that i made in this place . his chaplain , he complained against me , because i had spoken against unpreaching prelates . nay , quoth the bishop , he made so indifferent a sermon the first day , that i thought he would marre all the second day ; he will have every man a quondam , as he is . as for my quondamship , i thank god , that he gave me the grace to come by it by so honest means as i did , i thank him for mine own quondamship ; and as for them , i will not have them made quondams , if they discharge their office ; i would have them do their duty , i would have no more quondams as god help me . i owe them no more malice than this , and that is none at all . this bishop answered his chaplain , vvell saies he , well , did i wisely to day , for as i was going to the sermon , i remembred that i had neither said mass nor mattins , and homeward i gat as fast as i could , and i thank god , i have said both , and let his unfruitful sermon alone . unfruitful , saith one , another saith seditious : vvell , unfruitful is the best , and whether it be unfruitful or no , i cannot tell , it lieth not in me to make it fruitful ; and god work not in your hearts , my preaching can do you but little good . i am gods instrument but for a time , it is he must give increase , and yet preaching is necessary : for , take away preaching , and take away salvation . — christ is the preacher of all preachers . — as wisely , as circumspectly , as he preached , yet the fourth ground only was fruitful ; and if he had no better luck , that was preacher of all preachers ; what shall we look for ? yet there was no lack in him , but the ground . and so now there is no fault in preaching , the lack is in the people , who have stony and thorny hearts . i beseech god to amend them . and as for these folk that speak against me , i never look to have their good word so long as i live : yet i will speak of their wickedness as long as i shall be permitted to speak , as long as i live , i will be an enemy to it , no preachers can pass it over with silence . it is the original root of all mischief . as for me , i owe them no other ill will , but i pray god amend when it pleaseth him . — oh that a man might have the contemplation of hell , that the devil would allow a man to look into hell , to see the estate of it , as he shewed all the world , when he tempted christ. — if one were admitted to view hell , and behold it throughly , the devil would say , on yonder side are punished unpreaching prelates , i think a man should see as far as a kenning , and see nothing but unpreaching prelates , he might look as far as calice , i warrant you . and then if he would go on the other side , and shew where bribing judges are , i think he should see so many , that there were scant room for any other : our lord god amend it . part of the fifth sermon of master latimer , preached before king edward . 1 sam. 8. 1. &c. it came to passe when samuel was old , &c. father samuel , a good man , a singular example , and a singular pattern , a man alone , few such men as father samuel was . — he thought his sons would have proved well . but samuels sons walked not in his wayes . — vvhy is the son alwayes bound to walk in the fathers way ? no , ye must not take it for a general rule ; all sons are not to blamed for not walking in their fathers wayes . hezekiah did not follow the steps of ahaz , and was well allowed . — samuel would never have thought his sons would have been so corrupted , they felt the smack of this world , a perillous thing . it is a perillous thing , a dangerous state to be a judge — i have told you of scala coeli : this i am sure is scald inferni , the right way to hell , to be covetous and take bribes , and pervert justice . if a judge would ask me the way to hell , i would shew him this way . first , let him be a covetous man , let his heart be poisoned with covetousness ; then let him go a little farther , and take bribes ; and at the last pervert judgment . lo , here is the mother , and the daughter , and the daughters daughter : avarice is the mother , she brings forth bribe taking , and bribe taking perverting of judgment . there lacks a fourth thing to make up the messe ; which ( so god help me ) if i were judge should be hangum tunum , a tiburn tippet to take with him , and it were the judge of the kings bench , my lord chief judge of england ; yea , and it were my lord chancellor himself , to tiburn with him . — one will say you speak unseemly , so to be against the officers , for taking of rewards in doing pleasures . you consider not the matter to the bottom ; their offices be bought for great sums , how should they receive their money again ? — and is it so , trow ye ? are civil offices bought for money ? lord god! who should have thought that ? — god fore-fend that ever any such enormity should be in england , that civil offices should be bought . — and if ye be a selling civil offices , ye are as they which fell their benefices , and so we shall have omnia venalia . i marvel the ground gapes not , and devours us . surely , it is the great lemity of god that suffers it . o lord , in what case are we . — there was a patron in england , that had a benefice faln into his hand , and a good brother of mine came to him , and brought him thirty apples in a dish , and gave them to his man to carry them to his master ; it is like he gave one to his man for his labour , to make up the game , and so there was thirty one . this man cometh to his master , and presented him with the dish of apples , saying ; sir such a man hath sent you a dish of fruit , and desireth you to be good unto him for such a benefice . tush , tush , quoth he , this is no apple matter , i will none of his apples . i have as good as these ( or as he hath any ) in my own orchard . the man came to the priest again , and told him what his master said : then quoth the priest , desire him yet to prove one of them for my sake , he shall find them much better then they look for . he cut one of them and found ten pieces of gold in it . marry , quo●h he , this is a good apple . the priest standing not far of , hearing what the gentleman said ; cryed out and said , they are all one apples i warrant you sir , they grew all on one tree , and have all one tast . well , he is a good fellow , let him have it , quoth the patron . get you a graft of this tree , and i warrant you it shall stand you in more stead then all st. pauls learning . well , let patrons take heed . — part of the sixt sermon of mr. latimer , preached before king edward . i intend this day to intreat of a piece of scripture , out of the first chapter of luke v. 1. 2 , 3 , &c. i am occasioned to take this place by a book sent to the kings majesty that dead is , by master pool . it is a text that he doth greatly abuse for the supremacy , he racks it , and violents it to serve for the maintenance of the bishop of rome . — the text saith , the people pressed upon him ; so that christ was in peril to be thrust into the pond . a wonderous thing , what a desire the people had to hear our saviour preach . — vvhere read you that a great number of scribes and pharisees , and bishops followed him . there is a doctor that writeth of this place , his name is dr. gorrham , nicholas gorrham : i knew him to be a school doctor a great while ago : but i never knew him to be an interpreter of scripture , till of late ; he saith thus : major devotio in laicis & vetulis quam in clericis . there is more devotion , saith he , in lay folk and old wives , and in these simple and vulgar people , then in the clarks : they be better affected to the word of god , then the clergie . i marvel not at the sentence ; but i marvel at such a sentence in such a doctor . if i should say so much , it would be said to me , it is an evil bird that defiles his own nest . — our saviour had said , luke 4. 43. that he must preach the kingdom of god to other cities also ; for therefore am i sent , — is it not a marvellous thing that our unpreaching prelates can read this place , and yet preach no more then they do ? i marvel that they can go quietly to bed , and see how he allureth them by his example , to be diligent in their office. — the preaching of the gospel , is the power of god to salvation , to every one that believeth , rom. 1. 15 , 16. beware , beware ye diminish not this office , for if ye do , ye decay gods power . christ saith , jo. 3. 3. except a man be born again . — what is this regeneration ? it is not to be christned in water ( as these fire brands expound it ) and nothing else . how is it to be expounded then ? saint peter sheweth , 1 pet. 1. 23 , 24 , 25. it is the circumstance , and collation of places that make scriptures plain . we are born saith he , not of corruptible seed , but of incorruptible , by the word of god. — by the word of god , by the word of god preached and opened . thus cometh in our new birth . here you may see how necessary this office is to our salvation . this is the thing that the devil wrastleth most against : it hath been all his study to decay this office ; he worketh against it as much as he can , he hath prevail'd too much , too much in it . he hath set up a state of unpreaching prelacy in this realm this seven hundred years , a stately unpreaching prelacy , he hath made unpreaching prelates . he hath stirred up heaps to persecute this office in the title of heresie : he hath stirred up the magistrates to persecute it in the title of sedition . and he hath stirred up the people to persecute it , with exprobrations and slanderous words — and with impropriations he hath turned preaching into private masses ; if a priest should have left masse undone on a sunday within this ten years , all england would have wondred at it ; but they might have left off the sermon twenty sundaies and never have been blamed . and thus by these impropriations private masses were set up , and preaching of gods word trodden under foot . but what doth he now ? he stirs men up to outragious rearing of rents , that poor men shall not be able to find their children at the school to be divines . what an unreasonable devil is this ? he provides a great while before hand , for the time that is to come . he hath brought up now a most monstrous kind of covetousness that ever was heard of ; he hath invented a fee-farming of benefices , and all to decay this office of preaching ; insomuch that when a man shall hereafter have a benefice , he may go where he will , for any house he shall have to dwell upon , or any glebe-land to keep hospitality withall ; but he must take up a chamber in an ale-house , and there sit and play at tables all day . a goodly curate . he hath caused also patrons to sell their benefices . yea , what doth he more ? he gets him to the university and causeth great men to send their sons thither , and put out poor schollers that should be divines : for their parents intend not they shall be preachers : but that they may have a shew of learning . but it were too long to declare unto you , what deceit and means the devil hath found to decay the office of salvation . — it is in the text he taught sitting ; preachers be-like were sitters in those dayes , as it is in another place , they sit in moses chair . i would our preachers would preach sitting or standing one way or other . it was a goodly pulpit that our saviour christ had gotten him here , an old rotten boat. and yet he preached his fathers will , his fathers message out of this pulpit . he cared not for the pulpit , so he might do the people good . indeed it is to be commended ; for the preacher to stand or sit as the place is , but i would not have it so superstitiously esteemed , but that a good preacher may declare the vvord of god sitting on a horse , or preaching in a tree . and yet and this should be done , the unpreaching prelates would laugh it to scorn . and though it be good to have a pulpit set up in the churches , that the people may resort thither , yet i would not have it so superstitiously used , but that in a prophane place the vvord of god may be preached sometimes . — to have pulpits in churches it is very well done to have them , but they would be occupied , for it is a vain thing to have them as they stand in many churches . i heard of a bishop of england that went on visitation ( and as it was the custome ) when the bishop should come and be rung into the town , the great bells clapper was faln down , the ty-all was broken , so that the bishop could not be rung into the town . there was a great matter made of this , and the chief of the parrish were much blamed for it , in the visitation . the bishop was somewhat quick with them , and signified that he was much offended . they made their answers , and excused themselves as well as they could , it was a chance said they , that the clapper brake , and we could not get it mended by and by , we must tarry till we can have it done it shall be mended as shortly as may be . among the other there was one wiser then the rest , and he comes to the bishop . why ( my lord ) saith he , doth your lordship make so great a matter of the bell that lacketh his clapper ; here is a bell ( saith he ) pointing to the pulpit , that hath lacked a clapper this twenty years . we have a parson that fetcheth out of this benefice fifty pound every year , but we never see him . i warrant you the bishop was an unpreaching prelate , he could find fault with a bell that wanted a clapper to ring him into the town ; but he could not find any fault with the parson that preached not at his benefice . ever this office of preaching hath been least regarded , it hath scant had the name of gods service . they must sing salve festa dies about the church , that no man was the better for it , but to shew their gay coats and garments . i came once my self to a place , riding on a journey homeward from london , and i sent word overnight into the town , that i would preach there in the morning , because it was holy-day ; and me thought it was a holy-dayes worke , the church stood in my way . and i took my horse and my company and went thither , ( i thought i should have found a great company in the church ) and when i came there , the church door was fast locked , i tarried there half an hour and more ; at the last the key was found , and one of the parish comes to me , and sayes ; sir , this is a busie day with us , we cannot hear you , it is robin-hoods day . the parish are gone abroad to gather for robin-hood . i pray you let them not . i was fain there to give place to robin-hood . i thought my rochet should have been regarded , though i were not , but it would not serve , it was fain to give place to robin-hoods men . it is no laughing matter , my friends , it is a weeping matter , a heavy matter , a heavy matter , under pretence of gathering for robin hood , a traytor and a thief , to put out a preacher , to have his office less esteemed , to prefer robin hood before the ministration of gods word , and all this hath come of unpreaching prelates . this realm hath been ill provided for , rhat it hath had such corrupt judgments in it , to prefer robin hood to gods word : if the bishops had been preachers , there should never have been any such thing ; but we have a good hope of better . we have had a good beginning , i beseech god to continue it . but i tell you , it is far wide , that the people have such judgments : the bishops they could laugh at it , what was that to them ; they would have them to continue in ignorance still , and themselves in unpreaching prelacy . part of the seventh sermon preached by mr. latimer before king edward . many speak of faith , but few there be that have it . this faith is a great state , a lady , a duchess , a great woman , and she hath ever a great company and train about her ( as a noble state ought to have . ) first , she hath a gentleman usher , that goeth before her , and where he is not , there is not lady faith. this gentleman-usher is called agnitio peccatorum , knowledge of sin , when we enter into our hearts , knowledge our faults , and stand not about to defend them . he is none of these winkers , he kicks not , when he hears his fault . now as the gentleman-usher goeth before her , so she hath a great train behind her , following after her ; the fruits of good works , the walking in the commandments of god. he that believeth , will not be idle , he will walk , he will do his business . have ever the gentleman-usher with you : so if you will try your faith , remember this rule . consider whether the train be waiting upon her : if you have another faith than this , you are like to go to the scalding house , and there you shall have two dishes , weeping and gnashing of teeth , much good do it you , you see your fare . — not long ago , a great man said in an audience , they babble much of faith , i will go and lie with my whore all night , and have as good a faith as the best of them all : i think he never knew other , but the whoremongers faith ; it is no such faith that will serve . it is no bribing judges nor justices faith , no whoremongers faith , nor no sellers of benefices faith. — if you will believe and acknowledge your sins , so you shall attain to everlasting life , to which the father of heaven bring you and me , amen . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a49701-e200 see his sweet memorial in the book of martyrs . ● pe. 3. 13. rev. 17. 5 bish , reinolds . england so called formerly by the pope . then sadly complained of . 1 kings 19. 12. sir harbottle grimston's first speech in the banquetting house at whitehal . see his majesties speech to the lords house . the kings declaration mentions some that censure his majesty for want of zeal to the church , because he presseth not a general conformity to lyturgies , &c. notes for div a49701-e710 stabitque here latimer leaves him . nota. nota. nota. idle clergy guilty of sacriledge . nota. note , fas est & ab hoste doceri . notes for div a49701-e1480 brevis esse laboro , obscurus fio . notes for div a49701-e1620 mat. 5. 1 pet. 2. note , doth not the king in his declaration do so . note . note . o glorious zeal ! excellent counsel fit to be taken by this convocation . note . note . was it not so of late . this winking caused god to open his eyes , and so sorely to visit us as of late . 1. pet. 4 let the bishops learn their duty from this blessed saint . math. 13. 3. prelates have a busie work to do . strawberry preachers once or twice a year . 1 tim. 3.1 idle ministers make evil people . math. 11. ier. c. 48. o london see thy self in this glass . what would he have said if he had seen so many eminent ministers as are now in london ? note . look to it citizens . is this amended at this day . iniquity aboundeth and love waxeth cold . oh shame . hearken london . hear ye bishops . note . prelacy hath lain a withering this 20 years . it is hoped it will not be so churlish as formerly . note . note . note . note . note this ye nobles . the devil a busie preacher . satan the great hinderer of religion . note . note . 1 pet. 5. pope the devils chaplain note . why our reformation is so imperfect note this wel . note . note . note , who hindred a more perfect reformation . little hope of good by curates . excellency of gods word . hear ye preachers ex. 5. 6 , 7. 1 kin. 22. note . mat. 23. 3. luk. 12. 1 let court preachers note this let our wild phanatiques observe this . deut. 17. 15. this is our mercy . note this ye king-killers . latimer proved a true prophet ▪ note . the true roaylist . 〈◊〉 mercy at this day . let courtiers observe this . our present duty a good wish . note . note , a good motion . note . it is now upon the matter a common prayer matter . rom. 10 note , note . latimer desired gods word to be the rule of reformation . note . note . latimer a faithful bishop . note this court preachers note . luke 18. o zeal ! note . note . note . note . note . confession of sin . note . note . note . 1 tim. 5. note . 1 tim. 3. note . note . note . note . ver. 2. ver. 3. note , note . note . note . note . note . math. 23. note . note . note . note . a catalogue of such testimonies in all ages as plainly evidence bishops and presbyters to be both one, equall and the same ... with a briefe answer to the objections out of antiquity, that seeme to the contrary. prynne, william, 1600-1669. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a56148 of text s122412 in the english short title catalog (wing p3922). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 132 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 22 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a56148 wing p3922 estc s122412 12367377 ocm 12367377 60442 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a56148) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 60442) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 222:17) a catalogue of such testimonies in all ages as plainly evidence bishops and presbyters to be both one, equall and the same ... with a briefe answer to the objections out of antiquity, that seeme to the contrary. prynne, william, 1600-1669. [18], 23 p. s.n.], [london : 1641. attributed to prynne by c.a. briggs; in a marginal note on p. [9], the author refers to his the unbishoping of timothy and titus. place of publication from wing. this seems to be a reissue of the 1637 ed. (stc 4788) with "the epistle to the reader" (p. [3]-[18]) added and the two final digits of the date erased from t.p. and "41" substituted in pen-and-ink. errata: p. [18]. reproduction of original in union theological seminary library, new york. marginal notes. eng church of england -bishops -temporal power. bishops -england. a56148 s122412 (wing p3922). civilwar no a catalogue of such testimonies in all ages as plainly evidence bishops and presbyters to be both one, equall and the same in jurisdiction, prynne, william 1641 24828 1839 0 0 0 0 0 741 f the rate of 741 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the f category of texts with 100 or more defects per 10,000 words. 2002-03 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2002-04 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2002-05 tcp staff (michigan) sampled and proofread 2002-05 olivia bottum text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-06 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a catalogve of svch testimonies in all ages as plainly evidence bishops and presbyters to be both one , equall and the same in iurisdiction , office , dignity , order , and degree , by divine law and institution , and their disparity to be a meere humane ordinance long after the apostles times ; and that the name of a bishop is onely a title of ministration , not dominion , of labour not of honour , of humility , not of prelacy , of painfullnesse not of lordlinesse , with a briefe answer to the objections out of antiquity , that seeme to the contrary . printed in the yeere . 1641. the epistle to the reader . christian reader , there is nothing more fr●quent in the mouthes of our lording prelates and their flatterers , then to vaunt , that their hierarchie and episcopall s●periority over other ministers is by divine right and institution ; and that all antiquity from christs till calvins dayes , and all learned men , except a despicable small number of factious puritans ( as they term them ) suffragate to this conclusion . this was the more then thrasonicall b●ast of dr. la●d , arch-prelate of canterbury , and some others , not onely at the censure of dr. layton in the star-chamber , and dr. bastwicke in the high-commission some few yeares past ; but likewise at the late censure of dr. bastwicke , mr. burton , and mr. prynne in the star-chamber , iune 14. 1637. where , in his learned speech ( since printed by speciall command , through his own underhand procurement ) he thus magisterially determines , pag. 6 , 7. this i will say ( he might have done well to have proved it first , but that his ipse dixit only is now an o●acle ) and abide by it , that the calling of bishops ( to wit archbishops and d●ocaesans , superiour to , and distinct from pres●yters , else his speech is not onely idle but impertinent ) is iure divino : though not all adjuncts to their callings : ( he should have done well to have specifie● what adjuncts in particular● ) and i say further , that from the apostles times in all ages , in all places the church of christ was governed by bishops ( to wit diocaesan bishops like to our prelates now , which he will prove at graecas calendas . ) and lay-elders never heard of , till calvins new-fangled devise at geneva . to disprove which fabulous assertion , i have not only particularly encountred it , in the unbishoping of timothy and titus , to which no answere yet hath been returned by this over-confident boaster , or his champions , though specially challenged to answer it ) but likewise by way ef supplement to that trea●ise , drawn up this ensuing catalogue ( which i challenge his arch-grace , with his brother prelates , doctors , proctors , parasites to encounter with as many contrary authorities if they can ; ) ● wherby both learned and illiterate may with ease discern , that both by divine institution , the suffrages of fathers , councels , forraigne and domestick writers of all sorts aswell papists as protestants , and the resolution of the church and state of england in convocation and parliament , bishops and presbyters are but one and the sam● in point of office and iurisdiction ; and that the superiority of bishops over other ministers is a meer humane institution long after the apostles dayes , introduced , partly by custome , partly by the bishops owne insensible incroachme●ts upon their fellow brethren ; but principally by the grants , connivances , or indowments of christian princes , destitute of any divine foundation to support it . i confesse , in the * councel of trent , it was much debated among the popish prelates and divines there present ; whether bishops were by divine ordination , superiour to priests ? but the councel being divided in opinion , left the controversie undetermined . those bishops and divines who held the affirmative , produced nothing out of scripture , or solid antiquity to justifie their opinions , worthy answere , but that aerius was deemed an heretick for affirming the contrary ( which i have ●ere disproved : ) ye● * michael of medina who alleageth this of aerius , was so ingenious to conf●sse , that hierome , austin , and some others of the fathers ( as ambrose , sedulius , primasius , chrysostomus , theodoret , oecumenius ) did fall into aërius heresie in this point , it being no wonder that they did so , because the matter was not cleare in all points . this his boldnesse , to say that hierome and austin did savour of haeresie , gave great scandall : but h● insisted the more upon it : the doctors saith the history ) were equally divided into two opinions in this point . and when this * article was propounded in this romish councel ; that the bishops are instituted by christ , and are superiour to priests de iure divino ; the legates with others answered , that the lutherans and heretiques having affirmed , that a bishop and a priest is the sam● thing ( * putting no difference between a bishop & a priest , but by humane constitution ; and affirming , that the superiority of bishops was first by custom , and afterwards by ecclesiasticall constitution , for which they ci●e the augustane confession made by the german churches ; ) it was fit to declare , that a bishop is superiour , but that it was not necessary to say qu● jure , nor by whom a bishop is instituted from whence it appeares clearly ; that halfe or more of these trent fathers , with all the lutherans and protestant churches at that time were cleare of opinion ; that prelates episcopacy is not iure divino : and those who peruse that history and * b●llarmine may at ●irst discerne , that all our prelates arguments and authorities now produced to maintaine their episcopall iurisdiction to be divine , are taken verbatim from these popish fathers of trent who maintain their assertion , and bellarmine de clericis the stoutest champion for their cause . alas ! to what miserable shifts are our prelates driven , when they must thus fly to trent , to bellarmine for ayd to support their tottering thrones ! and yet these will stand them in no stead , all the trent prelates confessing with s. hierom. * that in the first beginnings of christianity , the churches were governed by a kind of aristocracy , by the common councel of the presbytery , and that the monarchicall government and superiority of bishops and archbishops crept in by custome , as the (a) history of the councel of trent relates at large ; where you may read the originall of their courts and iurisdictions , with the steps and meanes of their exorbitant growth and encroachments upon the temporall iurisdiction and prerogative of princes , well worthy the greatest statesmens consideration . besides , dionysius cathusianus , and cardinal contarenus in their commentaries on phil. 1.1 . confesse , that in pauls time , bishops and presbyters were both one , and that either order was conferred on the presbyter . that presbyters are there meant by bishops , whence it is usually said , that in the primitive times bishops were not distinguished from priests . azorisus the iesuite moral . part . 2. l. 3. c. 16. confesseth , that in the apostles times , every where , those who were ordained elders in cities were bishops : cardinal cusanus . de concordia cathol. l. 2. c. 13. writes the same in eff●ct : all bishops ; and perchance also presbyters are of equall power , as to jurisdiction , although not of execution ; which executive exercise is restrained by certaine positive laws ( not divine but canonicall ) whence the cause of these laws ceasing , (b) the laws themselvs determine . and johannes semeca a popish canonist , avers ; that in the first primitive church the office of priests and bishops was the same : but in the second primitive church , ( to wit , some space after the apostles times ) both their names and offices began to be distinguished . the same doctrine , together with the identity and parity of bishops and presbyters is professedly averred , not only by those hereafter cited in the catalogue ; but also by * huldrick bishop of ausburg , about the year of christ 860. in his epistle to pope nicholas , in defence of priests marriage : by john crespin . l'estate de l'eglise : printed 15●2 . fol. 14.97 . by phippe de mornax , tablea● des differens . par . 2. c. 6. p. 67 , 68 , 69. &c. and by mornay lord plessie in his mystery of iniquity in the french edition , p. 7.9 , 10.72.80 . to 87 , 9● . 92.95 . to 123.125.128.152 . to 155.159.160.172.179.197.210 . to 218 . 234.2●4 266 , 267.281.293.304.307.319 , 320 . 366● 389 . 395.397.404.410.412● 418.424 . to 427 . 452● 464.467 , 468.469.503.518.519.520.524 . to 528 533.535.545 , 546 , 547.567.568 , 569.603 . yea , * iohn ma●jor de gestis scotorum : l. 2. c. 3. w●ites , that in ancient times the scots were instructed in the christian faith , by priests and monks , and were then without bishops . and iohn fordon scotichronicon . l. 3. c. 8. before him , records , that before the coming of palladius , the scots had only presbyters or monks to instruct them in the faith and administer the sacraments , following the custome of the primitive church . and * from palladius dayes till the reigne of malcolm the 3d ; the bishops of scotland had no diocesse at all ( and so were no diocesan prelates ) but every bishop whom holinesse had made reverend in that age , exercised his episcopall function without distinction in every place he came . if then bishops and presbyters were all one and the same in the first primitive church , which church , ●ogether with that of scotland , was anciently governed only by presbyters , not by any lordly prela●es , or diocesan bishops ( which dr. william fulke in his answer of a true christian , &c. p. 20.50 . professeth ●o be antichristian , pa●all and no divine institution , ) why the churches of scotland , and england may not now be governed by presbyters only without bishops , aswell as at first , i canno● conceive● their regiment of late having been so tyrannicall , unchristian , antichristian and exorbitant , that they have almost wholly ruined our religion , church , state , and lef● them in a most perplexed , if not desperate condition ; which proves their hierarchy to be rather antichristian and diabolicall , then divine . and how can it be otherwise , if we rightly consider the persons or condition of our hierarchy● and their antichristian attendants ? i remember a merry s●ory in * giraldus cambrensis , and out of him related by mr. camden in his britannia : p. 604. it hapned that a certaine iew travelling towards shrewsbury with the archdeacon of malpas ( in ches-shire ) whose surname was peche , that is , sinne , and a deane named devill ; when he heard by chance the archdeacon telling , that his archdeaconry began at a place called ill-street , and reached as farre as to malpas towards chester ; he considering and understanding withall aswell the arch-deacons surname as the deans , came out with this merry and pleasant conceit ; would it not be a wonder ( quoth he ) and my fortune very good , if ever i get safe againe out of this countrey , where sinne is the arch-deacon , and the devill is the dean ; where the entry into the archdeaconry is illstreet , and the going forth of it malpas ? it was * st. bernards complaint in his age , that iesus christ elected many devils to be bishops , as he chose iudas to be an apostle . since then there be so many archbishops , deanes , and bishops , devills , so many archdeacons sinners , if not sinne ; and the entrance into these offices ( by reason of symony , ambition , and the like ) a meer illstreet , and their going forth of them ( by reason of their wicked lives , and exorbitant actions occ●sioned by their very office ) malpas , it is almost a wonder , and very good fortune , if any ●onest godly minister or professor ever get safe againe out of their courts and diocesse , or escape drowning in their seas . hence is it , that the devoutest men in all ages since prelates became lords paramount to ministers , have either utterly refused to accept of bish●pricks , or resigned them after acceptance ; as i have * elswhere manifested by sundry examples , and shall here fur●her exemplifie by ●ther evidences . (a) ribadenerra a iesuite , records it to the great praise of bernardine of sennes , canonized at rome for a saint ; that out of his humility he refused the 3. bishopricks of sennes , ferrara , and vrban , which severall popes offred to him : and though one pope put a bishops mi●er on his head with his own hands , yet he put it off againe , humbly beseeching him not to impose the charge of any bishoprick upon him , and to change that estate of poverty to which god had called him ; because he should bring more advantage to the church by preaching the word of god , and ayding the soules of many bishopricks , then by being a bishop in one church : the pope hearing his reasons confessed them true , and left him to his own liberty . (b) vincent ferrier another popish saint , is highly magnified , for that ' being urged by the pope to accept the bishopricke of leride , the archbishopricke of valence , and a cardinalship ; it was impossible to move him to accept of any of these charges ; deeming it a greater advantage to free one soule from the chaines of sinne , then to gain all the great preferments of the world . for he perceived that these honourable dignities seemed like so many golden chaines , whereby he should be detained at the court , and deprived of liberty to goe and preach the gospell with poverty , as god had commanded him . so thomas of * aquin , canonised for a saint , is highly applauded for refusing the archbishopricke of naples , with other great dignities offered unto him by the pope . in like sort * raimond of roche●ort , another roman saint , is extolled , for refusing to accept the archbishopricke of arragon , which the pope himselfe conferred upon him , and commanded him to accept within few dayes ; at which news he was very sad , and most humbly and instantly intreated his holinesse , not to lay such a burthen upon him , which he knew not how to beare : and seeing that the pope was resolved to enforce him to accept it , he fell sicke with indignation , a ●ieuere continuing upon him till he died of regret , and so discharged him of this care . * antoninus another ●ate romish saint , being elected archbishop o●florence by pope eugenius the 4th , refused to accept thereof , because being retired out of the tempests of the world , he should therby return into ●hem to the great perill of his salvation . the pope hereupon commanded him by his bull to accept it , threatning else to excommunicate him : whereupon by the advise of his covent and the magistrates of florence , who informed him , that he ought to obey the pope herein , he unwillingly accepted it ; and kneeling down before them , he lift up his eyes and hands to heaven , saying ; o my lord thou knowest full well that it is much against my will to accept this charge ; which i have undertaken for feare to resist thine and thy vicars will : and since thou knowest it , i beseech thee direct me to doe what i ought . then entring into his see , he had only 8. persons in his house ; he had no cupboord , tapistry or hangings of say in his chamber ; no vessels of silver ; no horses nor coaches , riding upo● a mule that was given him ; saying , that the goods of the poore ought not to be spent in nourishing beasts , and providing superfluities . he had the scripture alwayes read at his table : and ever said , they should doe him a speciall favour to thrust him from his archbishopricke , wherein he continued with as great regret as he received it . adde to these , that * linus the first bishop of rome , after paul and peter resigned up his bishoprick te anacle●us ; that pope cyriacus ( as fasciculus temporum , henry of erford , nauclerus , crispin●and others write ) quitted his bishopricke in a short space against the will of the clergy ; whence some have excluded him out of the number of the roman ponti●s ; that (a) pope stephen t●e 6. renounced his episcopacy , and became a monke , repenting of the cruelty shewed by him to his predecessor formosu● : that pope celestine the 5th ( as platina , luitprandius , anasta●ius , and all (b) o●hers in his life accord ) voluntarily renounced the papacy , as a charge exceeding his forces , and hindering his devotion : and this (c) anno 1448. (d) pope felix the 5th , renounced and deser●ed the papacy , which he formerly swa●ed . lo here five popes re●ouncing and resigning their bishopricks . herman a weda archbishop of colen , who deceased an. 1552. desired often to dye a simple christian without any charge or dignity , rather then to die a priest or a bishop : to come nearer hom● , dubritius b●shop of landaffe voluntarily re●ounced his archbishopricke ; so sampson , paulus , leonorius and amon made bishops volens nolens , voluntarily gave over their episcopacies . st. patrick the first archbishop or primate of all ireland , and benignus his third successor in that see , willingly resigned their prelacies , retiring themselves to glastenbury abby : and anno 1366. (d) richard havering , archbishop of dublin , voluntarily renounced his archbishopricke upon this occasion● one night he dreamed that a certaine monster heavier then the whole world stood eminently aloft upon his brest , from the weight whereof he chose rather to be delivered , then alone to have all the goods of the world . when he wakened , he thought thus with himselfe , that this was nothing ●ls but the church of dublin , the fruits whereof he received , but took no paines for the same : ( the case of most prelates now : ) as soon as he could therfore he came to the pope , of whom he was much beloved , and there renounced and gave over the archbishopricke ; for he had fatter and better livings then the archbishopricke came unto . why should not our archbishops and bishops now follow these many vertuous examples , in resigning and abandoning all their bishopricks , for the setting of a sweet peace and blessed harmony in our distracted church and state , which their ambition , pride , tyranny , exorbitances and innovations have almost brought to ruine ? had they but their humility and piety , they would speedily renounce their most pernicious hierarchy , to imbrace a fraternall unity and parity with their fellow-brethren , whom christ hath made their equals , as these and other prelats have done ; and as our present * archbishop of canterbury confesseth that famous nazianzen , rather th●n the peace should be broken , freely resigneth the great patriarchate constantinople , and retired : whose steps he should doe well to follow . but if he or they refuse to do it for our churches peace , and kingdomes safety , let them know that it is no new thing to abolish bishopricks by act of parliam● by which * most bishopricks were first created , and so not jure divino . how many bishopricks have been supprest in ireland and wales in later ages , * mr. camden can at large informe us , almost halfe the ancient bishopricks there , being not now extant . the bishopricke of westminster was no sooner erected almost , but instantly suppressed ; and 7. ed. 6. the * bishopricke of durham by act of parliament was dissolved , and the lands and hereditaments thereof given to the king : but 1. mariae pa●l . 2. c. 3. popery ●lowing in againe , that bishopricke was revived and reerected ; yet not so fi●mly , but that it and all others are still subject , both to a temporall and finall dissolu●ion , when eve● his majesty , or the state in parliament shall thinke meet ; ( as all the prelates and the whole convocation expre●ly acknowledge in their * institution of a christian man dedicated to king henry the 8. and ratified by parliament ) as the abbies , priories and such like nests of anti●hristianisme in this real● , though se●led by la●s and long prescription , were all suppressed by p●blick * acts of parliament in a moment . if any de●m the continuance of our lorly prelates necessary in regard of their presence in parliaments , which some conceive cannot be held without the presence of these ●ord● spirituall . i answer , first , that abbots and priors before the dissolution of mona●teries were spirituall lords in parliament aswell as bishops : since then parliaments both may , have been , and are now held without lord abbots and ●riors , they may by the same reason be held without lo●d bishops . second●● , b●shops sit n●t in parliament of right as they are b●shops ( for as bishops , they are not * prope●ly peers , and shal be tryed in case of treason by a common iury , as scr●ope , fisher , and cranmer were ) bu● as they hold of the king per ( a ) baro●iam , in right of their churches , which few of them at this day doe : therfore their si●ting in parliament is not of right , but of meere grace of the king , who may sommon or not sommon ●hem at ●is pleasure : sinc● they are no lords , nor yet so stiled by the king , in any of their paten●s ; though they so in●itle themselves in some of their (b) late prin●ed books . thirdly , in (c) matters of treason , felony , blood and capitall crimes debated in parliament , the bishops both by common and canon law o●ght not to give their votes , nor yet to be present in the house , but to depart , which no other peeres doe ●ut they : * if then the parliament in these cases of highest na●ure may passe a compleat iudgement without them , their presence is not necessary in it , nor they any needfull members of it . four●hly , bishops in former ages e●en under popish kings , when they had most sway , have been excluded parliaments , much more then may they be so now : (c) gardner and bonner in king edwards dayes ; and all bishops that were married ( as most then were ) in the first parliament in queen maries reigne were excluded the parliament ; and in king edward the 1. his time at the parliament held at s. edmonds bury , anno 1296. all the bishops were put out of the parliament and kings protection , and that parliament held good and made laws without them . and anno 1273. in the 20. yeare of henry the 3. the statute of merton cap. 9. to●ching bastardy , was made by the lords temporall and commons without and against the consent of the bishops . ●h●se two presiden●s are cited by bishop iewell in his apology against * harding ; f. 620. who there affirmes , that a parliament may be held without any bishops ; to which * mr. crompton , and bishop bilson likewise assent : therfore i shall no l●nger debate it , as being pas● all doubt ; concluding this point in bishop bilsons words ( a great champion for episcopa●y ) which are full and notable . * claime you ( bishops ) that interest and prerogative , that without you nothing shal be done in matters of religion , by the laws of god , or by the liberties of this realm . by the laws of the land , have no such priviledge . parliaments have been kept by the king and his barons , the clergie wholly exclvded . and when the bishops were present , their voyces from the conquest to this day were never negative . ●y gods●aw you have nothing to doe with making laws for kingdome● , & common-wealths : o● may teach , you may not command : p●rswasion is your part , compulsion is the princes . i● princes imbrace the truth , you must obey them ; if they pursue truth , you must abide them . by what authority then claime you this dominion over princes ; that their laws for religion shal be voyd , unlesse you consent ? after which he proves at larg● , that the kings of iudah and israel of old , with many godly christian kings and emperours since , have made not only civil , but ●cclesiasticall laws without a council , or any suffrage of bishops : much more then may they hold a parliament without their presence ; as bishop jewel proves at lange . it was a no●able speech and true of ludovicus cardinall arelatensis in the councel of basill ; (q) where he maintained the parity of bishops and presbyters : that rich and lordly bishops feare the power of the prince , and to be spoyled of their temporalities , neither have they free liberty to speak as is required in councels . albeit if they were true bishops and true pastors of soules , they would not doubt to put their lives in venture for their sheep , nor be afraid to sh●d their blood for their mother the church . but at this present ( the more is the pitty ) it is too rare to find a prelate in this world , which doth not prefer his temporalities before his spiritualities , with the love whereof they are so withdrawn , that they study rather to please princes then god ; and confesse god in corners , but princes they will openly confesse . concluding ●hat the poor are more apt to give judgement then the rich , because their riches bringeth feare , and their poverty causeth liberty . for the poore feare not tyranny as rich men do , who being given over to all kind of vanities , idlenesse and sloth , will rather deny christ then lacke their accustomed pleasures ; such are they whom not their flock but their revenues make bishops . have ye not heard how they said , they would consent to the kings will and pleasure ? but the inferiors are they which have had truth , righteousnesse and god himselfe before their eyes , and they are greatly to be commended for shewing themselves such men unto the church of god . if ●hen any desire the continuance of lord bishops in church or parliament , yet it wil be necessary to strip them of their temporalities and lordships , and to confine them to one living with cure , where they may reside and preach like other ministers , because their temporalities will make them temporizers , and to vote amisse ag●nst god and the republike both in parliament and convocation , as this cardinall truly informs us from experience . to close up all in a few words . i shall desire 〈◊〉 ●ordly prelates and others to observe ; that rev. 4.4.10.11 . c. 5 , 6.11 , 12.14 . c. 7.11 , 12 , 13 , 14● 15. c. 11.15 , 19 , 17 , 18. c. 19.4 , 5 , 6. the 24 elders are placed next in rank to the very throne of christ , as being next to him in authority and iurisdiction , no archb●shops or bishops ●●ing there named , much lesse interposed between them . that the angels ( whom our prelates will needs interpret ●o be diocesan bishops in the 2d and 3d of the revelation , though the contents of our last ●ranslated bibles expresly define them , to be the ministers , not bishops , of the 7 churches ) stand round about the elders , and are remoters from christs throne then they●therfore not so honourable . that christ standeth in the midst of the elders ; to signi●ie , that ●hey are subject to no diocesan bishop , but christ alone , and ●hat no lord bishops , but elders only belong to the kingdome and government of christ , who is never said to be in the midst of archbishop● and bishops ( none of his institution ) but of the 24. elder● only : that these elders alone worship and prostrate themselves , give thanks , and resolve doubts upo● all occasions●not bishops : and that when the kingdomes of this world , become the kingdome of o●● lord and his christ , and when the lord god omnipotent is said to raigne , the elders are still said to be about christs throne , and to adore and praise him , there being no mention at all of bishops . therfore our prelates must needs confesse themselves to be but elders only & properly ; or else acknowldge , that elders by divine ●nstitution are superiour to them in dignity● and that archbishops and bishops have no place at all appointed them by christ about his throne , or with●n his church and kingdome , and therfore must needs be antichristian and in●o●erable in our reformed church ; out of which i doubt not ●re long to see them quite ejected , and cast unto the dunghill as most unsavoury salt ; toward which d●sired good worke i presume this little catalogue may con●ribute some assistance ; especially if thou correct these ensuing errors of the printer , ere thou begin to read it , occasioned by the authors absence , and the printers unacquaintednesse with the authors names the●ein recited : which slips of course find easie pardon . errata . pag. 1. c●lum 2. line 19 read papias● p. 2. col . 1. l. 101. and 15. ● . al●xandrinus , l. 25. nazianz●num , l. 30. aerius , col . 2. l. 11. primasius 22. nazianze●● l. 25 , 26. rhabanus maurus . l. 35. o●●umeniu● . l. 43. for 34.1 , 3 , 4. p. 3. col . r. l. 5. ●vo . l. 6. decretalium . l. 2● . pla●ctu . l. 29. ●anormitan . l. 31. thol●sanus . l. 32. gratianum . l. 37. for cla●isio ● . clavasi● col . 2. sit , tit. l. 9. faber . l. 11. senensis . l. 13. annal. l. 22 with , which● l. ●7 . intendent p. 4 col . 1. l. 41. conclusion . p. 5. col . 1. l. 21. ausittes hussit●● 24. sylvius . l. 25 〈…〉 . illiricus , l. 34. monuments . col . 2 l 〈…〉 p. 6. col . 1. l. 2. tabaratrum , tabaritarum . l. 9. pig●tum . l. 10. galata● . l. 14. epis●opo● . l. 18. w●tenberge . l. 20. ●al. l. 21 , 22. p●tricow , madestania , wratis●avia . l. 27. ●ricus . l 41. con●ugio . l. 42. zuinglius . l. 44. imitatem , civitatem . l. 51. musculus . col . 2. l. 14. responsio . l. 28. class. l. 38. casper . l. 34. debe●sis , diversis . l. 40. saraviam . l. 4● . t●egedinu● . l. 49. con●r●v●rs . l. 42. polanus . l. 53. sy●tagma . l. 53. bibl●ander in chronog● . p. 7. col●● l. 1. arinis , aretius . l. 3. lubinu● . l. 2. wedfulne●●s , melsure●us . l. 9. edictum . l. 37. alcuvinus . col . 2 l. 13. pal●ody . l. 14. m●li●m , melu●●i . l. 15. palinodia . l. 36. nug● . l. 38. institutione . p. 8. col . 1. l. 12. england , i●eland . l. 26. chaucer . l. 28. swinderby . l. 39. vi●iarum vitiorum . col . 2. l. 2. stokesly . l. 3● . notingham . p , 9. col . 2. l. ●● . ●ancol●e , lanrelot . l. 24. osyru . l. 49. exposition . col . 2. l. 6. ma●tyr●martyn . l. 10. benb●●ge . l. 20. vol. 2. f. l. 30.12.10 . r. 1610. p. 10. c. 1. l. 47 whecen●al . c. 2. l. 45. coverdale . l. 46. pon●t . l. 47. scory . l. 52. resolve . l. 54. exstinguished , distinguished . p. 11. c. 1. l. 9. the , thu . c. 2. l. 8. t●rasonicall . l. 2● . ●o●her . l. 41. aeriu● . p. 12. c 1. l 1. a , a● . l. 17. ae●ius , make . l. 18. at . l. 3● as , ●● . l. 46. this , the . c 2. l. 4. est ; ●oe witnesse . l. 16. refutation ( in the margin , l 4. v●ritatu . l. 16. armat , anual . ) p. 14. l. 9.10 . evag●●um . l. 16. ●●etus . p. 13. c. 1. l. 38. inconsequences . l. 50. a●gu●●inum l. 54. gersomus . 2. l. 32. as , ●● . p. 14. c. 1. l 20. make . l. 29. but , ●oth . l. 41. tialliano● . l. 46. maguesiano● . l. 47. sc●atu● apost●lorum . l. 49. lymenses , smyrnense● . ● . 2. l. 13. presbytero●um . p. ●5 . c. ●l . 16. for 7 18. l. 1●extravagant l 20 geri● l 23. quod , quoad . l. 28. favour , savour . c. 2. l. 30 largnesse , largesse . p. 16. c. 1. margin l. 12. antiquitates , 16 crantziu● 2● . annal. c. 2 l. 13. adcodatus l. 22. w●fred . l. 25. lanfrankes : l 27. ca●kel , corbel p. 18. r. 1. l. ●9 , aasina , haf●ia . l. 34 see , so . r. 2. l. 48. these . thesa . p. 20. c. 1. l. 33. only by : c. 2. l. 15. resolve : l. 17. vag●● : l. 25.435 p. 22. l. 20. with , which : c. 2. l. 6. expending , expecting : l. 15. blot out ● : l. 38. disguises : ( margin l 1. chy●rae●● ) p. 22. c. 1. l. 47. was shattered . the first sqvadron . these tes●imonies i shall marshal into 5 distinct squadron● , for o●der sake . the first sq●●●●on consists of divine authorities ; whereof our lord and saviour christ himselfe ( the (a) chi●fe shep●ea●d and bishop of ou● soules ) is the sup●eame gene●all , whose testimony of this nature we have upon record . matth. 10 . 1● . c. 11 . 1● . c. 1● . ● . 4 . ● . 20 . ●0 . to 29. c. 23.8 . to 13. c. 18.19.20 . ma●k . 9.34.35 . c. 10.35 . to 46. ●●16 . 15 . luke 9 . 46.47.4● . c. 22 . 2●.24.2●.26.2● . io●. 6 . 1● . c. 1● . 36 . c. 20 . 2● 23. ne●t to him we have his apostl● st. pete● : 1 pet. 5.1 , 2 , 3 , 4. together with the apostle st. iohn , 1 iohn 2 . 15.16● 2 iohn 1 3. i●hn 1.9 . the apostle st. iam●s iam. 5.14 . a●t● . 15.3 . to 30. pa●l the apostle . acts. 20 . 1●.2● . phil. 1 , 1●1 . timo. 3.1 . to 6. c. 4.14 . c. 5 . 1● . ●c●r . 1. ●4 . tit. 1.5 . to 14. 1 co● . 1.14 . ●3 . to 34. ●phes . 4 . 11.12.●nd luke the ●●ang●list : act● 1● . 23 . c. 15.2 , to 30. c. 2● . 17.28 . to which all other ●ore alle●ged ●exts in tim●t●y and titus may bee added . the second sqvadron . the second squadron is made up of fathers and councels ranked according to their severall antiquities , ann● christi 1●● . we have ignatius the ma●tyr ( if the epistles be his and ●ightly unde●stood ) ●●istle 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 1● , 11 , 12 , 13.14 . 〈◊〉 apa● lusebiu● eccles. hist. l. 3. c. 33. po●●●●rp the mar●●● , epist. ad ph●lip . bibl. patrum . tom. 1 p ●● . b. anno 102. pope anacle●us , apud 〈◊〉 decre● , pars 5. c. 5● . & laurentium 〈◊〉 concil : tom. 1. p. 165. anno 150. iustin martyr . apologia 2 anno 160. a●ollinarius apud eusebium eccles. hist. l. 5. c. 16. an. 1●0 iren●us contra har●ses . l. 3. ● . ● . l. 4 c. 43.44 . & apud eusobium , eccles. 〈◊〉 . l. 3. c. 23. l. 5. c. 20.26 . anno 2●● . ●●men● al●xandrius : apud eus●bium 〈◊〉 . l. 3. c. 20. t●●●ullian apologia ad●●●s● gen●e● c. 39. anno 220. o●ig●n in mattha●● homily 1 . 13● & 31. in 〈◊〉 hom. ● . anno 240. di●nysius 〈◊〉 . a●ud ●us●●ium ●ccl●s . 〈◊〉 . l. 〈…〉 ambrose in ●phes . 4. tom. 3. p , 239 in 1 tim. 3 , p , 272 , adrius apud 〈◊〉 ●ontra 〈◊〉 l. 3. 〈◊〉 . ●● , p , 7●● . 7●● . pope damasus . the 1 ●pis●le apud 〈◊〉 tom. 1 p. 466 , 467 , anno 3●● , sa●di●●nse concil●um can. ● . ● , ibid p , 414 , ●nno ●90 , st. ierome epist. 2 , 83 , and●● , ad ●vagi●um . com , in ●hil . 1 tit. 1 , & 1 tim. 3● epist. 3. ad heliodorum c. 7. c●m in ●zek . l. 10 c , 33 , in soph. c. 2. c●m l. 2 , in epist. ad galatas c , 4 , com. l. 2 , in ep●es , ● , 6 , de 7 , ordinabus ●cclesia , t●m . 9 , p , 58 , 59. anno 400. s● , ch●isostome● hom. 1. in philip . tom● 4. col. 1039 , ●om . 11 , in 1 tim. col. 135 9 . ●om . 2. in tit. 1 , col. 1463 : hom● 35 , in o●ere imperfecto in matth. homil. 11 , in ephes. & de sacerdotio l , ● . anno 410. st. augus●ine epist. 19.38 . ●5 . tom. 2. ● , ●2 , 3●● , 310 , 311 , questiones ex utroque●ixtim , qu●st . 101. d●●aptism● contr donatum tom. 7. pa●s ● p , 471 472 , de civ●●ate dei l. 1● , c , 1● , en●●●●tio in psal. 126 , & adv●rsus har●s●s ; 〈◊〉 53 , a● 430 , t●eodorer interpretatio in phil. 1● 1 , 1 tim. 3. and t●t , 1. ● , tom. 2 , p , 8● , 129 . 1●9 , an 436 , the 4. councell of c●rthage can. 14 , to 26 , an 450 , pope leo the 1. epist docret : 8● . c , 2. pri●as●u● in p●il . 1 , 1. 1 tim. 3. & tit. 1 & apoc. 2 , anno 500 rem●giu● in p●il 1 , 1 , & 1 tim. 3 , an : 550. isidor p●l●siota epist. l , 2 : epist. 125 , l , 3 , ep. 223 an 600 gregory first : pa●●o●alis cu●a lib pa●● 2 , ●6 , epist. l , 7 , epist. 117 , moral●um l , ●4 , c , 29 , 30 , l , 20. c 28 , l. ●● . c 23. & 〈◊〉 1●● in evang●l●a . 4●● 30 , isi●d●●●●palensis o●iginum l , 7 , c 12 , l , ● , ● 5 , & de ecclesiasticis 〈◊〉 l , 2 , c 71 an. 657. the b councell o●●●ispalis 2 can. 6 , 7 , an : 790 , eli●s ●retensis coment : in nazianzen orationes fo●e repeated , an ●16 . the c counsell of a●en under lewes the podly , c ● , 8 10 , 11 , anno 840 rh●ba●us m●uru● de universo l , 45 ● , ●●matth . l , 5 , c. 16 , tom. 5 , p , ●● , ●n ●pist . pa●●● l , 19. in phil. 1 , 1 , l , 23 , in 1 tim. 3 , l , 25 , in tit. 1 , tom. 5 , p , 455 , 456 , 498 , 499 , 521 , 522 , 523 , de institu●●ons clericorur● l , ● , ● , 4 , 5 , 6 , tom : 6 , p. 5 , 6 , haymo halberstatensis , in phil. 1. ● , & tit. 1 , an 560. ( ) the 12 councell of toledo , can : 8 , a●●la●i●s fortunatus d ecclesiastic●● ofsi●●s l , 2 , c , 13 , anno 1050 , pecumen●a in a●●a apost : 5 15 , & 2 , in phil : 1 , 1 tim: 3 , & tit : 1 , fol , 79 , 586 , 655 , 683 , anno 1070 , theophylact. com : in act : 20 , 17● 28 , in phil : 1 , 1 , 1 , tim: 3 , & tit : 1 , p , 517.576 , 600 , 801 , anno 1●00 , conradus bruno , in phil : 1 , 1 , 1 tim: 3 , tit : 1 , anno 1130 , barnard de consideratione ad eugenium l. 2 , 34 , epist. 42 , serm● 23 , 25. & 77. super ●anti●● de laudibu● maria , homil 1 & concio in concilio rhemensi , & ad past●●●s s●r●● . the third sqvadron . the third squ●dron is constituted of forraigne cannonists , and popish schoolemen , w●iters and councels from the yeare of our lord 1100 till this present : as i●o carna●●nsis d● . ●al●lu●● pa. ●5 . c , ●8 , 59.72 , 1●● . 143.144 . peter lombard sententiarum l , 4. distin● . 24. i. k. l , m● & comen●a●i●m phil. 1 , 1 , tit : 1. & 1 , tim: 3 gratian the g●ea● can●onist distinctio 18 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 39 , 50 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 6● , 67 , 68 , 80 , 93 , 95 , causa 2 , qu. 7 , causa 24 , qu , 3 , hugo ca●dinalis in phil : ● , 1 , tit : 1 , & 1 : tim: 3 , aquinas secund● secundae , qu : ●4 , ar : 6 ●rg : 1. supplementum in tertiam p●rtem qu : 37 , art 7 durandus in l , 4 , sentent : distinct : 24. qu : 5 , 6 , & rational divinorum l , 2 , iohannis parisiensi● , de potestate regia & pap●li apud mo●●●um de ecclesia c , 11 , & catalogum testium veritatis p , 525 ) carthusi●● ca●etan and the author of the o●dina●y glosse in acts 15 , & c , 20 , 17 , 28 , phil : 1 , 1 , 1 , tim: ● tit , 1 , 5 , 7 , cardinalis arelatensi● apud aeneam sylvium de gestis concilij basiliensis l. 1 , p , 27 , 28 , 29 , alvarus pelagius de plainetu ecclesia ● , 1 , art : 70. l , 2 , art 1 to 17 , panormitam c , 4 , de consuetudine , anselmus lucensis collectanea can : l. ● , c. 87 & 127 : g●egorius tholosamus , polycarp l , 2 , tit : 19 , & 39 , iohn thiery glos●a in g●ationum distinct : 95 , cap olim , with all other glosses and canonists on that text he●●i●us gorichen . in l , 4 , sentent : distinct : 24● astensis summa pars 2 l , 6 , tit : 2 , artic : 2 , angelus de claucisio summa angelica ordo 1 , the e councell of lingon , anno 1404 , & of paris anno 1557 duarenus de sacr : eccle : injust l , 1 , c , 7 , onus eccl●sia c , 14 , to 27 , nicholas cusa●●● de conco●di● catholic● , l. 2 , c. 13. alphonsus a c●st●o advers , 〈◊〉 sit ●piscopus , michael medina de sacro h●m o●ig , et continetia , 〈◊〉 ●spenca●● in 1 tim. c 3 , digressio●●m in tim , ● 1 c : 1 , 2 , 3● and in tit , 1 ● , ● the rhemist ; ●nnot●tion ; on acts 〈◊〉 sect 4 and in tim 4. phil , 1. 1 , ●it . 1 ●● , i●●obus fabor in 1 , tim , ● & , 4 ● & tit 1. sixtus sevensi , bibl 〈◊〉 , l ● , anno 32● , azo●ius m●●●lium : p●r● , 2 l , 3 c , 1●● buoniu● an●u●ll eccles , ●om 1. p , 5●● iacobus de gr●ss●s d●s●●lionum au●●carum par● , 2 l , 1 c 9 : 11 , 5 , ● , 9 , 1● , 14 16 , l , 3 , c. 12 , 11 , 3.4 . pet●●s b●●sseldin , ●uchy●idion , te●●●giae p●storalis p●●s , 1 c , 15. with other pontis●●●ans though sundry else of them are the greatest s●icklers for ●●is●op●ll m●●●●ne of pu●pose to adv●nce the 〈◊〉 suprem●cy with the parity of bishops and p●esbiters iu●● d●●m● , ●sterly subverts and ruine●● i shall close up this squ●dr●n with the ●●e authorities of some semi●●● priests in en●land . as namely of ni●c●●las smi●h , in his modest and b●iefe discussion of certaine assertions which are taught by mr. doctor ●●l●ison in his treatise of the ●cclesiasticall 〈◊〉 . where thus he determines , * i judge is no rashnes to affirm that since england enjoyed a bis●●p● ( to wit a po●●s ●ishop● to confirme the papists , and controll the p●iests , namely rich●●d bis●op of ch●lced●● created the generall ●ishop and superintend●nt , both of england● and scotland , by pope vrbaus speciall bull , dated the 4th . of august , anno 1625. the coppy whereof you shall ●ind printed , in censura proposition●m qua●undam &c. per sacram facultatem theolog●a parisi●nsis factae pa●isiis , 1631 , p , 63 , 64 , 65 : that more damage hath happened to the catholikes in generall by reason of discord , and frequent losse of charity , then they have received benefit , by the sacrament of con●irmation onely conferred on some few . that all holy men have exceedingly e●deavoured to s●un such an high dig●ity . that a bishop is in a state which presupposeth but yet gives not perfection : which the state of religion , not onely presupposeth but giveth . that a vow not to receive a bishopricke is valid and sacred . that ●o desi●e a bishopricke even for that which i● best in it , to wit for the good of soules according to st : thom●s s●cunda s●●u●da , que 185. art , 1 , seemes to be presumpti●n , and there are some who stick not to say ( and that commonly ) it is a mo●tall sinne . that these ●ropositions following are strange , idle , and absurd . that it is d● iure divin● , and that the law of god is , that every particular church ( as england is ) ought to have a bishop . that without a bishop england were not a particular church . that unlesse every particular church hath its bishop or bishops , the whole and vnive●sall church could not be ) as christ hath instituted it ) an hierarchie composed of divers particular churches . that without a bishop we cannot have con●irmation &c. all which principles ( saith hee ) are worse then the concultion it selfe and demonstrated by us ( to ●it in that treatise ) to have no foundation at all . thus this popish priest who proving that the church of england may well subsist without a popish bishop to sway and order it ; grants that it may doe the like without our protes●ant prelates , and that plainly resolves that it is not from any divine law or institution , that the church of england should have any bishop at all to govern it . daniell a iesu another priest , and a reader of divinity thus seconds him , in his apologie for the proceeding of the holy see apostolike , as to the government of the catholickes in england during the time of persecution * that it is most false and of dangerous consequence , that a particular church cannot be without a bishop : that gods law requires no more , but that there be som● bishops in the church to wit so many , that there bee no danger , that the whole order should suddainly be taken away by their deaths and so dispersed through the world , that all christians may bee sufficiently provided of learned and vertuous priests . if this be done the law of god is satisfied although there be no bishops in f●ance , spaine , or , england . give me there●o●e a mul●itude of christians how great soever who want not a bishop to ordaine priests , and i will boldly affirm that there is n● need that the governour of that society should be a bi●●op . yea let us suppose the ordina●ion o● priests and the ministry of the chu●ch , not to be necessary in the church , and presently it followes , that there is no need the universall church should bee governed by bishops who are superior to priests . that in the time of persecution it is neither good , nor convenient , nor any solace or comfort to the church to have a bishop . that tho●e who of bishops are made religious persons may be said in some sort to fly ●igher , and not at all to descend . that if the catholickes of england should yeeld to this motion ( name●y to receive the bishop of chalcedon as their p●oper pastor and bish●p they could by no meanes excuse themselves● from being worthy of that reprehension which the c●rinthians received from saint paul , namely , that they rashly , and indiscreetly , put themselves into subjection that they should bestow their temporall goods , so as they could exspect no reward from god , as exercising humility , obedience , pat●ence , for which no crowne of righteousnesse is prepared : yea that they may by their blind receiving o● him ( though by the popes owne bull and authority ) expose themselves to manifest perill by falling into mortall sinne &c. these positions of theirs were publikely taught and maintained by many other priests both in england , and ireland as appeares by the censure of the faculty of paris , and nicholas i● maistre his instauratio antiqui principatus episcoporum parisijs 1633. written upon this occasion in answer of these treatises and some others . some of which propositions though they were censured as eronious , by the faculty of the divine● of paris . anno 1631. through the power of the bishop of chalcedon , as striking at the popes supremacy and the bishops hierarchie , yet in all that censu●e , i finde not one passage of scripture produced to prove them contrary to the word of god , and therfore that censure of theirs not much to be regard●● . the fovrth sqvadron . the 4th squadron consists of forraigne protestant churches and writers , which i shall muster & ranke in order according to their antiquities as neare as i may . i shal begin with the vvaldenses taborites albigenses & au●●ites , ( whose opinions and resolutions touching these particulars are registred at large , by aeneas sylvias : histor , bohemiae c , 35 , by renaerus contr : waldenses lib , c , 6. by refutatio : waldensuim , bibl. patrū . tom. 13 , p. 383 , by thomas waldenses● operum . tom. 1 , l , 3 , arti , c● 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , tom , 2. de sacramento ordinis c. 117 , 118 , & tom , ; , c , 60 , 61 , 62 , by alphonsus de castro adversus hereses , tit , episcopus , & de sacramento ordinis , by illiritus catalogus testium veritatis , p , 426 , 433 , 445 , by mr. iohn fox acts and monnments p , 210 , albertus pighius hierarch . eccles. l , 2 , c , 10 , gersomus bucerus de gubernatione ecclesiae p , 599● 600 , 601. marsilius patavimus , ( anno 1320 ) seconds them in his defensoris paris pars 2 , c. 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , and who ann● 1330 ) is backed by michall cezenas , henricus de iota , nicholaus orem , ioannes , de ianduno petrus de corbaria , ioannes de polaco , iohn of castele , ●rancis de archatara , and divers others of tha●age witnesse , extravagant , ioannis 23 antoninus quarta pars , summe , catalogus , testium veritatis p , 512 , 524 , 525 , 529 , fox acts , and monuments , p , 358 , 359 360. with others aetates ecelesiae written about that time , c. 2 registred in catalogo testium veritatis p , 453 , 454● & laurentius valla , the restorer of the elegance of the latine tongue , succeed next in order . annotationes in act. c. 15 , & c , 20 , in 1 tim: 3 , & tit. 1 , ioh● hus , and hierome of prague , two learned godly martyrs , tread in their footsteps witnes aeneas sylvius histor● bohem c , 35 , fox acts and monuments , p 55● , 559 , & gerson bucerus de gubernati●n● ecclesiae p. 602 , 603 , after these successively ensued ioannis lu●atwitz in confessione ●a●oratrum contr. roke●zanum c , 13 , apud lidij walde● . siam p , 53 , erasmus of rot●●rdam , annota● , & pa●●pht . in act 1● , in 1 tim: 3 , & 4 , phil. 1 , tit 1 , 1 , ●et . 5 , scholia in ●pist : ●ieronym : 〈…〉 , & adversus a●●●ert●m 〈◊〉 : martin luther , in ●salm . 2 , ●● , & 134 , in epist. ad gal●●es 〈…〉 1 , art● 15 , the synod of ●e●icon , artic : 6● the synod of modis●a●ia . ar●●c : 8 , 11 , 12 , & g●rs●m buc●r●●d 〈◊〉 : e●●●●siae , p , 370 , 373 , 374 , 4●● , 49● , 500 , 51● , 518.575 , 616 . 61● , 618 , c●ristian the 3 , king of denmarke , anno 1537● and the whole state of denma●●e together with ●gus● 〈◊〉 cricus ●ing of sweden , about the same ●ime who s●ppressed , banished , and hanged , up the lordly bishops , of their re●lms , a● false traitors , and rebels contrary to chists ins●itution , and having no foundation in the word of god . cl●●trae●s cl●r●n : saxon l , 6. p. 49. l● 7 , p , 219 . 2●● . l● 9. p , 259 , 261 , 262 , 263 , 270 , 279 , l , 10 , p , 297 , 309 , 311 , 340 , 341 , 342 , l , 12 , p. 358 , 359 , l , 13 , p , 388 , l , 14 , p , 407 , 421 , l , 15 , p● 433 , 434. philip melan●●hon , a●gam & respons● pezel pa●● 7●com● in 1 cor : 4 , et dis●utatio d● politia ecclesias●ica & d● coni●g●o sacerdotum oecolampa●ius in rom : 12 , ●ald●i●us ●●●nglius in amica s●a parenaesi a● commun●m helve●iorum ●mitatem operum . tom. 1. p , 115 , 117 , in p●●l . 1.1 , tom. 3 , p● 504. opus articulor●m artic. 34● 36 : francis lambert , his summa ch●i●●iani●atis . anno 1536. pr●sat mr. balli●ger in act. 20 , v , 28 , & decad. 5. ser : 3 , 4 , brentius apol. 〈◊〉 wettemb : c , 21. pellican●s in mat. c. 16 , & 18 , in act : 16 , & 20. mustulus loc●rum com. locut de ministris verbi d●i . p. 596.597 , 598. mr. iohn calvin instij● l , 4 , c , 3 , sect. 8 , c , 4 , sect , 2 , in phil , 1 , 1 , 1 , tim. 3 , 8 , ti●● 1 , 5.7 , antidotum concilij tridentin● ses. 7 de conformation● martin b●cer , de vt & usu ministerij , & in ma●th . 16 , araetius problem : lo●us de o●si●ijs eccles. ●● pi●l , 1 , 1 , in 1 tim● 3 , & 4● & tit. 1 , 5 , 7. mr. ralph g●●l●her , on acts. 20. verse ●8 . phil. 1 , 1 , 1 , tim. 3. tit , 1.5.7 . m●rtin chem●●tius examen ●on●ilij trid●●t pars . 2 , de sac●amento 〈◊〉 , 223 , 224 : innocentius gentiletus , exam●●●on●ilij trid●nt : ibid ioa●nis ma●o● , kin●sius & ma●lorat on phil. 1 , 1 , 1 , tim. ● , ti● . 1 , 5 , 7 , acts 20 , 28. 1 pet , 5 , 1 , 2 , 〈…〉 2 , ● , 8 , & in 〈…〉 ; c , 53 , 〈…〉 5 , ● , 14 , & co●●● 3 , c● 3 , 〈…〉 & lig● in 4 p●aecept : defide c , 25 , s●ct . 9 , & in p●●l . 1 , 1 , ●yperius in tit , 1 , 17 , & d● m●th●do t●●ologi● l , 3 , matthi●s ill●rieus clavis s●ripturae . tit presbiter , catalogus testi●m ve●ita●●s p , 426 , 433 , 445 , 512 , 524 , 525 , 529 , 553 , 554 , 488 , 528 , &c. 〈…〉 & basilius faber , centur : eccles : magd● 1 , l , 2 , c , 7 , col , 530 , 531 , 507 , 508 , cent. 1. c , ● , col , 125 , 126 , centu● 4 , c. 5 , de haresibus , &c , 10 , peter martyr loca●●m com● tom , 1. glass , 4 , ●ocus 6 : tom , 2 , d● eucharistia locu● 1. obiect , 50 , virellas religioni● christi co●pendium l , 3 , c , 11 , ●os●annus in tit , 1 , 5. 7 , heming●us , and iohn may●● , in phil , 1 , 1 , 1 , tim: 3 , tit. 1 , 5 , 7. antonis sad●el ad repetita tarriani responsio p , 50 , 51 , 61 , de legitim● voca●ione pas●oram p , 66 , to 88 , ad repeti●● tu●riani locus , 12 , p , 406 , to 500 , pezelius . a●gum & respons . pars 7 , de ordin ministr. . in argument 1 cos●●r ●levian in pi●l : 1 , 1 , & theodoret beza de dibes●●s ministrorum grad●●as cont●a sarabiam & annotat. in phil : 1 , 1 , & tit : 1. 5 , 7 , viret●s de minis●●is verbi dei , & sacram : l , 11 , c , 19 , & de adulterinis sa●ram stephanus ezegedim●s locorum com de ministr : sab 4 , p. 202 : lavather in ezech com 10 , george so●i●●● methodo theologia , p●scator theses theologi● locus 23 : thes : 50 , in act : 20 , 28 , p●il , 1. 1 , 1 tim. 3. & 4 : tit. 1.5 , 7 iunius controa●ares 5 lib. 1. c , 14. n 2 . 15● 23 , c , 25. n. 4.14 . contr. 3. l. 1. c. 8. n 24●contr●● . l 1. c. 5. n. 24. morney lord of p●essa tractatus de ecclesia c 11 holan●● syntagin● theologiae l. 7 , ● . 11 , bucanus loc. 42.44 . theodorus biblainder in chromagr . arinis scult●tus paraus , selneccorus , tossian●● an●onius fayus , io●nnis m●d●●lne●●s eilhard●s lubmus , george vveinrichus , ●●d●ous willichus , cosma● megalianus th●m●s ven●torius fredericus baldwenus , & g●o●ge de●vadius on phil. 1 , 1.1 . tim. 3. & 4 , 5 , tit. 1.5.7 . de o●ficio & jus●i● mi●istorum . & speculum s●●●rdot● carolus m●linaeus comment in edict●●● . 2 , cont● pa●nas datus & abus●● papa●●m p. 148 , to 1●6 petrus molmeus de vo●a●ion● mini●tror●m l , 1 , c , 7 , l , 2 , c , 8 , 9 , 10 , l , 3 , c. 6 , 3 , 8 , daniell chamierus pa●stratiae , catholica . tom , 2 de o●●um : pon●if l , 10 , c , 6 , l , 9 , c , 14 , 15 , gersom bucerus de gubernatione e●clesiae● m●●●l● , 1618 , ( in answer to bishop downhams sermon , ●nd his defence thereof , never yet replied to , the best and learnedest treatise ext●nt of this subject ) with infinite others (m) doctor reynolds ( the greatest bookeman of his age or since ) confessing that all learned men in forraigne nations● that he had read , and m●ny more ( no doubt ) which he had not re●d , treating of this subject did all co●sent in this particular of the parity of bishops and presbyters , by gods law , and divine institution to these i might add many s●ottish writers a● mr. iohn knox in the troubles of frank●ord in his history of the church of scotland & in his godly letter to the faithfull mr. robert ro●●● : comment in ephes : 4 , the whol● synod of f●●se an 1591 , & patricke ad●mso●arch-bishop of st an●rewes his polinody therein●andrew m●lium , in his m●s● , patricij : adamsoni palniodia , & cels● commis●ionis a●●omia , printed anno 1620. altare damascenum . a protestation . and tre●tise from scotl●●d printed 1608. vvilliam cooper bishop of gall●●a● in his sermon before the states anno 1606. the review of the synod of perth , with sundry others concurring in the selfe same jud●ment with all eage●nesse that may be . the fifth sqvadron . the 5. squadron is compacted and made up of our owne domesticke writers , martyrs , authors , aswell ancient as modern , which i shall here digest i●to a chronologicall order . anno 390 , we have sedulius scotus in 1 tim , 3 , & tit● 1 , bibl. patr. tom. 5 , pars 3 , p , 516. b. 519. g● h. an. 5●0 gilda● in his acris co●●eptio cleri angli● 720 : venerable ●eda in acta apost ● , 20 , tom : 5 , col : 657 , anno 790 , alcuminus de divinis officijs c , 35 : 16. col , 1082 , 108● , epistola 108 , ad sparatu●● comment in 5 ioan l , 5● cap : 25 , col. 547 , 548 , 549 , anno 1080 : anselme arch-bishop of canterbury (n) stiled the pope of the other world by pope vrb●n himselfe ) comme●t in ephes. 4 , tom : 2 , p , 280 , in phil : 1 , in 1 tim. 3.4 . & titus 1 ibid p. 295 , 356 , 357 anno 1140 iohn saresbury com . in phil. 1. tit● 1● & 1. 4 , 1 tim. ● . 3 & de nuges curialium l , 8 , c , 17 , & 23 , anno 1160 , petrus blesensis de i●stitutione episcop , tractatus & epistola 18 , 22 , 25 , 43 , 64 , anno 12 40 , alexander alensis summa theologia pars 4. qu. 26 , n. 8 , 9. artic. 1. & in 1 tim. 8. & tit. 1 , an : 1280. richadus de media villa . in l , 4. sent : distinct . 24. anno 1320. william occham in catalogo testium veritaris p , 524 , 525 , 589. & foxe , acts , and monuments , p , 358. 359 , 360. nicholas lyra , in act : 20 : phil. 1 , 1. tim. ● , tit. 1 , & 1. pet : 5 , anno 1350 , richard fitz-ralph arch-bishop of ardmagh , and primate of all england , responsio ad quest . armenorum l : ●1 , c. 1 , to 7. & apud thomam waldensem tom. 3. c. 60.61 , 62 , 63. & catalogum testium veritatis p , 52 s. robert holcot in l , sapienti● sect. 77 & 163. an. 1380. our famous english apostle iohn wickliff dialogorum l , 4 , c. 15.16 , 17 , 18.26 , apud thomam waldensem tom , 1 , l , 3 , artic . 3 , c● 29 , 30 , 31 , 32. tom. 2 de sa●cramento ordinis c , 117 , 118. tom. 3 , c , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63. thomam walsinghamum : hist. angliae p. 299●303 , 304 , & fox acts and monuments , p , 414 geofry chancer the p●oughmans tale patt 1 , 2 , pierce plowman passus 23 , anno 1390 william swinderbg martyr . fox acts , and monuments , p , 430. 431 , 434. see the epistle of lucifer to the prelates &c , written about that age ( thought to bee his ) anno 1391 , walter brute martyr , ibid p. 439. anno● 2425. sir iohn old-castle , the lord c●bham martyr . fox ibid p , 517 , 518 , 522 , all the disciples of wicklif●e in that age , walsingham hist. anglia p , 372. & antiqu , ecclesia , brit , p , 302 , anno 1430 , alexander fabritius destructorium viviarum pars 4 , c , 8 b , 5 , 14. c , c. 21 , b. c. i , c. 22. d , pars 5 , c , 2 , e , i , l , c , 14 : a pars 5. c , 2 , l. pars , 6.3 , iohn de b●rgo , pupilla oculi pars , 6 7 , c. ● , c , d , william lyndewood provinc . constit , l , 3 , tit. de vita & honestate clerìcorum f , 86 , cap , ordinis , iohn de aton constit. othonis de officio archiepisc. f. 44. c , archiepiscopum reginald peacocke bishop of chichester , anno 1457. de aequalitate ministrorum lib. apud balaum cent , 8 , scriptorum brit , c , ●19 . anno 1536 , iohn lambert martyr , fox , acts , and monuments p , 1009 , 1016 , cuthbert tonstall bishop of duresme , and iohn stokes by bishop of london , in their epistle to cardinall poole , fox p. 972 , 9●3 . & in thomas b●con his reports of certain men vol , 3 , fol. 267 , vvilliam tyndall martyr . obedience of a christian man in his workes p , 114 , 124. 133 , 192 , 185. the practise of popish prelates p. 342.343.354 . & in fox p. 986. anno 1537. thomas arch-bishop of canterbury , edward arch-bishop of yorke , iohn bishop o● london , cut●bert bishop of durham , stephen bishop of winchester , robert bishop of carlile , iohn bishop of exeter , iohn bishop of lincolne , iohn bishop of bath , rowland bishop of coven●●y and lichfield , thomas bishop of ely , nichola● bishop of salisbury●iohn bishop of bangor , edward bishop of hereford●hugh bishop of worcester , iohn bishop of ro●hester , richard bishop of chichester , vvilliam bishop of norwich , robert bishop of assaph . robert bishop of landaffe , richard vvolman arch-deacon of sudbury , vvilliam knight arch-deacon of richmond , iohn bells arch-deacon of glocester , edward bonner arch-deacon of leicester , vvilliam skippe arch-deacon of dorcet , nicholas heath arch-deacon of stafford , cuthb●rt marshall arch-deacon of vottingham richard corren arch-deacon of oxford , vvilliam cliffe , geoffry dowes , robert oking , ralph bradford , richard smith● symon matthew , iohn pryn , vvilliam buokmaster , vvilliam may , nicho●as vvottin , richard cox , iohn edmunds , thomas robertson , iohn baker , thomas barrett , iohn hase , iohn tyson doctors , and professors of divinity and of the civill and canon law , with the whole convocation house and clergie of england in their booke intituled the institution of a christian man dedicated by them to king henry 8. printed cum privilegio subscribed with all their names , and ratefied by the statute of 32 h , 8 , c. 26. chap , of the sacrament of order fol. 48. &c , an excellent place anno 1538. robert barnes doctor of divinity , and martyr in his workes , p. 210. anno 1540. vvilliam vvragh●on in his h●nting and finding out of the romish fox among the bishops in england , dedicated to king henry the 8. and his rescue of the romish fox a booke intituled the image as well of a true christian bishop as of a counterfeit and anti-christian bishop , printed about the same time , rode●icke mors his supplication or complaint to the ●arleament of england , c. 19.20 . a supplication to king hen●y the 8. by a namelesse author , against bishops their jurisdiction , pride , lordlinesse , and wealth , henry stalbridge his exhortatory epistle to his most deare country of england , against the pompous bishops of the same , as yet the true members of the great antichrist of rome , their most filthy father lincolne ridley , his exposition on ihil . 1. iohn frith a pious learned martyr , his answer to sir thomas moore , p. 116. nayler his answer to the epistle of the great turke , printed anno 1542. iohn bale afterward bishop of osgris , in ireland , his image of both churches , on apoc. c , 6 , f , 42 , 9 , f , 56.65 . c. 13. f. 105 , 116 , 118. c. 14 , f. 126. c , 15 , f , 150. c. 17. f , 160. king henry the 8 himselfe in his book inscribed● a necessary erudition for any christian man published with the advise and approbation of all the prelates , clergy of england in their convocation and of the lords spirituall and temporall ; and nether house of parliament with the kings own royall epistle to all his loving subjects before it anno 1545. by vertue of the statute of 32 h. 8. c. 26. chap. of the sacrament of order anno 1551. the book of ordination of ministers and bishops confi●med by act of parliament 3 ed. 6. c. 12.5 . & 6. ed. c. 1. & 8. elizab . c. 1. ( which prescribed the 1 tim. 3. & tit. 1. to be read at the ordination of ministers , and consecration of bishops , and limits the selfe same forme of ordination , with the power of impesi●ion of hands both to ministers and bishop● ) anno 1552. iohn hooper bishop of glocester , a martyr expition upon the 8. commandements , and in psalm 23● p. 40. hugh la●ymer once bishop of vvorces●er , a martyr in his fourt● sermon of the plough , and in his 2.3.4 . and 6. sermons before king edward the 6. anno 1●●5 . i●hn pove● bishop of vvinchester , in his apologie against thomas martyr● c , 4.5 . f. 43.44.52.53.59 doctor harpesfield arch-deacon of london , and iohn bradford martyr , fox acts , and monuments , p , 1465 , anno 1558 , thomas bomb●edge martyr , fox ibid p , 1856. iohn elmer ( after bishop of london , ) in his harborow for faithfull subjects , master bullingham , ( after bishop of lincolne . ) in his letter to master bull det 5 . 1●64 . master thomas becon , in his cat●chisme , in his workes dedicated to all , the bishops of england by name approved , applauded by them , and printed cum privilegio london 1562. vol. 499.500 . the doctrine of christ and anti-christ . vol. 3 , f , 409 , 4010. sect. 18.19 , iames pilkington bishop of durham , exposition on agge c , 1. verse 1 , 2 , 3.4 , 9.12.13 . c. 2. v. 1 , 2 , 3.4.9.10.11 . on obidias v. 7.8 . and in his treatise of bu●ning paules church . incomparable iohn iuell bishop of salisbury , defence of the apologie of the church of england , edit , 16.10 . part 2 , cap : 3 , divis : 5. c : 4 : divis , 2 , cap , 5 , divis : 1 , cap : 7 , divis , 5 , cap , 9. divis : 1 , p 99.100 , 101.196 : 202 , &c , vvilliam alley bishop of exeter , in his poore-mans library , part 1 , miscellanea pr●lect , 3. f. 95 , 96. printed cum privilegio edit. 2.1571 . alexander nowell deane of paules , his reproofe of do●mans proofe london 1565. cum privilegio f. 43.44.45 . doctor lawrence humfryes regiu● professor of divinitie in the vniversity of oxford , puritano papismi confu●atio : ad rat . 3. p. 262.263 iohn ke●ridge his sermon on 1 ●im . 3 : 1 , 2 , 3 , london 1578 , iohn vvhitgi●t arch-bishop of canterbury against cart-wright , p , 353 , master cart-wright in his second replie against whit-gist , anno 1585. ● tract , . 8 , of arch-bishops , and bishops p , 404 , to 616. confvtation of the remish testament on acts. 20. sect. 4 , ●hil . 1 , sect. 1 , 1. tim. 3. sect. 2. tit. 1 , sect. 2 , doctor vvilliam fulk against brislow motive 40 against gregory martin , london , 1583 , p , 172. confutation of the rhemi●● testament , on tit. 1 , sect 2 , phil. 1 , sect 1. master iohn foxe in his acts and monuments , ( prescribed to be had in every arch-bishop , bishops , archdeacons , deanes , and prebend residentiaries house & in every cathedrall and collegiate church by the canon● made in the synod of london , anno 1571 ) edit 1610 , p , 216 , 358 , 359. 360 , 414 , 430 , 432 , 434 , 439 , 517 , 518 : 599 , 625 , 961 , 972 , 1009 , 1016 , 1465 , 1856 both in the text and marginall notes . doctor vvilliam vvhittaker regius professor of divinity in the vniversity of camb●id●● : contra duraum l , 6 , sect : 19 , responsio ad 6 , rationes camp●ani rat : 10. p , 122 , 141 , contr , 2 , q● . 5. c , 7 , contr , 4 , qu , 1 , c , 1 , master p●ilip stu●t , his display of corruptions neare the end . the ●ee hive of the romish church oft printed and lately reprinted anno 1635. passing on● most learned doctor iohn rayn●lds in his conference with hart anno 1584 , london 1609 c , 3 , divis : 1. p , 100 , 101.105 . c , 4 , divis : 2 , p , 122 , 123 , c , 6. divis : p , 185. divis : 3 , p , 218 , c. 8. divis 3 p , 4●1 , divis : 5 , p , 540 , 541 , and his letter to sir francis knolles , in refutation of doctor bancrof●s sermon at pauls-crosse 9. feb. 1588 , dated s●pt . 19. 1598 doctor a●dr●●willes synopsis papisini , the 5 generall controversie . qu : 3 , doctor thomas bilson , after bishop of vvinchester in his true difference betweene christian subjection and unchristian rebellion oxon 159● , p , 125 , 126. iohn bridges bishop of oxford , his defence of the princes supremacy p. 359. the petition to queen elizabeth , p , 7 20 , 21 : discursus de gubernatione ecclesiastica . anno 1584 : thoma● vvhete●sall , his discourse of the corruptions now in question : london 1607 doctor richa●d field , of the church . l. 5 , c , 27 , master richard hooker , his ecclesiasticall polity ●● 5 , sect , 7. ● , tho : wilson his christian dictionary , title bishop , doctor henry airay sermon 2. on phil , 1 , 1 , doctor thomas tailor in his commentary upon titus 1 v : 5 , 7 : p , 121 , 122 , mr: robert parker de politia ecclesiastica christi & hiorarchia , apposita 1614 , a learned discourse paul bayne his answer to bishop down●ham his consecration sermon , doctor william ames , in his bellarminus enervatus . printed by license at oxford anno 1629. tom , 2 , l , 3 , c , 3 , 4●iamss peregrin his letters patents of the presbitery anno 1632. doctor iohn bastwicke his flagollum pontificis & episcoporum la●ialum & his apologeticus with above 40 , anonymous t●eatises that i have seene ; all these unamiously testifie ; that bishops and presbiters by gods law and divine institution are all one equall and the same ; that the superiority of bishops over other ministers is only of humane and canonicall institution long afte● the apostles most of them cōdemning it as anti-christian , unlawfull . diabolical , pernicious , to religion , & the church of god , & the cause of all the tyranny , schismes , corruptions , disorders , errors , abuses that now infest the church or hinder the power , the purity of religion and progresse of the gospell . to these i might accumulate the statute of 25 , h. 8 c , 19 , 20 , 21 , 26 , h , 8. c , 1 , 27 , h● 8 , c , 15 , 31 , h. 8 , c , 9.10 , 37 , h 8 , c , 17 , 1 , ed. 6 , c , 21 , & 2 : phil & marie c , 8 , 1 eliz c. 1 , 5 , eliz. c , 1 , 8 , eliz. c. 1. the patents of 31 h , 8 , pars 4. to enable bishops to consecrate churches , chappels , and church-yards with the kings license first obtained of 36 h. 8 pars 13. to robert holga●e arch-bishop of yorke , to enable and authorize him to keep a metropolicall visitation , the patents for the creation of the bisho●rick● of oxford , glocester , bristol , peter●●roug● , and vvestminster , an. 34 , & 35 , h , ● , the patents of miles goverdake , bishop of exeter , iohn povet once bishop of vvinchester , and iohn story bishop of rochester , 5 , e. 6 , pars prima , and of all the other bishops made in his raigne , by vertue of the statute , of 1 e. 6 , c , 2. wiih all the high-commission patents grounded on 1 eliz , c. 1. all which expresly resolves , that all manner of ecclesiasticall iurisdiction , wherby bishops are extinguished from , and elivated above ordinary ministers , is wholy vested in , and for ever , inseperably united and annexed to the imperiall crowne of this realme : that our arch-bishops , bishops , arch-deacons● and other ●cclesi●sticall persons have no manner of jurisdiction ecclesiasticall , but only by , under , and from the kings majesty , that they ought to have the jurisdiction delegated and devided to thē by speciall letters patents and commissions under the kings great seale to execute the same , not in their owne names and right , but only nomin● vice , authoritate nostris regijs ( as king edwards , patents run ) in the kings owne name right and authority , as his officers and subs●itutes , making out all their proces , citations , excommunications , commissions o● administration , probate of wills , and writs of iur● patron●●us &c : in the kings name only , and under his seale of armes , not their owne under paine of imprisonment and a premunire ; for the neglect and wilfull contempt whereof all our bishops and their officers have encurred severall premunires to the forfiture of all their temporalities , goods , estates , and liberties to his majesty , who may much enrich his exchequer thereby . all which acts and patents judicially condemne and overturn our bishops pretended superiority , over their fellow brethren by a divine right , the very claime whereof alone makes them all liable to a premunire and meer perjur'd persons both to god and the king , beeing directly contrary to the very oath of supremacy , prescribed by 1 eliz , c , 1 , which every bishop oft times takes , and every graduate and clergie man whatsoever who must either abjure this pretended ius divinum with which they would support the hierarchie , or prove : perjur'd disloyall subjects to their soveraigne . having thus presented you with this large catalogue of authorities proving the parity ●quality , and identity of bishops , and presbiters by divine right and institution . i shall now challenge all our great swelling ●relates , and their s●attere●s joyntly and severally ( ●s●ecially the two arch-bishops who have made so many throsonicall bragg●s of the proofe of their divine title in open court befo●e thousands of people ) to produce a contrary catalogue of auth●rities of thes● severall kinds eviden●ing thei● divine pretended right , supe●io●ity and jurisdiction over other minis●e●s , ●f they are able to do it and to give a satisfactory , answer to this treatise , i shall su●s●ib● to their opinion , and recant what i have written . but if they cannot performe ●t , ( as i am certaine they are altogether unable ) then let them retract their former vaine glorious vaunts● and abjure their pretended ius divinum by subscribing to that truth , ( which they are unable to contradict ) and laying downe their bishoprickes at ( least their rochests● ) as they have oft-times solemnly protested they would doe . if they can or will doe neither , they must give all the world leave to passe this censure on them . that they have neither that learning truth or honesty in them as hitherto they would make the world beleeve they had● and that they may have no starting hole to evade : i shall in as few words as may be , answer what ever they can object for themselves out of any undoubted a●tiquity which is but this● that acce●s was bran●ed for an hereticke by epipha●i●s and augu●tine , for affirming bishops and presbiters to bee equall one to the other : by divine insti●ution : this is all that either the (o) papists or (p) our prelates do or can alleage for their hierarchie out of the fathers or antiquity ; and this in truth is a good as nothing . for first this opinion of aerius was never condemned as hereticall , by any counsell or father whatsoever , but only by epiphanius , who alone is unsufficient to brand or make any man an hereticke . saint augustine indeed ( if the booke be his cites this opinion of his , out of epiphanius in his book de haeresibus , c , 53 , yet he brands it not as an heresie , but stiles it proprium dogma in expresse termes to wit , his proper assertion ( and his owne too ) taxing him only of heresie for●siding with the arrians in their branded heresie , (q) isiodor hispalensis & gratian reciting the heresie of arrius makes no mention a all either of this as an heresie or error in him , passing it over in silence and expresly averr●ing it thēselves as a truth . wherefore no ancient counsell or author whatsoever but epiphanius branding it either for an heresie or error . i see not well how it should be so esteemed . secondly , this hath been the constant received doctrine both of christ and his apostles , of all the fathers and learned orthodoxe writers , in all ages as the precedent catalogue witnesseth , therefore no heresie or error , as epiphanius and some few of late ( out of him alone ) have rashly deemed it . thirdly , it cannot properly be called an heresie , because the superiority of bishops over other ministers , by a d●vine institution , as no fundamentall point of faith , neither hath it any foundation at all in scripture , as i have elsewhere manifested . therefo●e it is most absurd to call it an heresie . fourthly , epipha●ius there condemnes aerius as much for reprehending and censuring prayer for the dead , as for affirming bishops and presbiters to bee equall . but this our prelates must confesse ( unlesse they renounce this doctrine of our church ) was no error or heresie in aerius but rather in epiphanius , why not therefore the other . fifthly , epiphanius himselfe doth not conde●ne a●rius his opinion in this particular for an hereticko but onely as a fond opinion ( as his words ) e● quod tota res stu●titiae plena est apud prudentes manifestum est . sixthly , st. hierom● nazia●zen , basill sedulius ambrose , chrisostome , and augustine taught the same doctrine that aerius did , at or about the same time , but they were never taxed of heresie or error for it either then or since : why then should a●rius only be blamed who argues just as hierome doth , producing the same sc●ipture to prove his assertion as hierom● hath done in his epistle to evagrius & on tit. 1. seventhly , epiphanius his refutations of aerius his arguments and opinion is very ridiculous , false , and absurd . for first he saith , that presbiters then had not the power of ordination , neither did they use to lay on hands , in the election and ordination of ministers , which is a meere falshood , as hierom in soph. c. ● . with the ●th . counsell of carthage , witnes , and i have elsewhere manifested at large . secondly , he saith that presbiters had no voice in the election of bishops and ministers , which is (s) contrary to all antiquities , extant , and a most palpable untruth . thirdly , he saith that there were then more bishops then presbiters and men sufficient & worthy enough to be made bishops but no● presbyters , and therfore the apostle writing to the philippians and others makes mention only of bishops , not of presbyters , because they had then bishops but not presbyters . a miserable ridiculous , answer , which subverts that he contends for , and constitutes bishops without any ministers under their command or jurisdiction● whence it will necessarily follow . that seeing the apostles instituted bishops without ministers under them , a●d more bishops then presbiters , there ought now to bee no presbiters subject to bishops , but bishops to be pl●ced in every church● without any ministers under ●hem , but deacons only and more bi●hops then ministers , which i presume the lordly prelates will not grant , for this would over-turne not only their lordships , but their ●ioces●e and episcopalities fourthly , he saith that the apo●●les first constituted bishops onely in the church , with●ut elders and then they afterwards elected elders as they f●und them worthy , which is contrary to st● t ierome and ●ll antiquity averring that elders were first ordained in euery church , 〈◊〉 14● 23 , tit. 1 , 5 , and that they afterward elected a bishop out of themselves . fifthly , he saith that the apostles used to write to the bishops of one church in the plurall number , when there was but one bishop there , which is very improb●ble yea contrary of all other expositors , on ●hil . ● . 1. tit. 1 , 5 , 7 , act. 20 , 17 , 2● . sixthly , he peremptorily determines timothy to be a bishop which i have elsewhere proved false , and f●om this false ground would prove bishops and presbiters distinct . seventhly , he interprets an elder in the 1 tim. 5.1 , to be a presbiter which most fathers else expound only to be an ancient man . eightly , he would prove timothy a bishop and bishops to be superior too , and distinct from presbiters , because paul exhorts him not to rebuke an elder , but to exhort him as a father , and not to receive an accusation against an elder , but under two or three witnesses , which are grosse inconsequence ( as i have else where manifested ) so that epiphanius whilst he goes about to prove aerius his assertion still of folly steps into many errors , follies , and absurdities himselfe , as bellarmine is inforced to confesse , though desirous to make the best of it . in a word then as all the forecited authors in generall , ●o in speciall , chemnitius examen concilij tridentini part 4. de ordinis ●acramento , danaus in augustium de haresibus c. 53 , theodorus bibliander , in chronagr . bucanus l●corum com . c , 32 , magdeburgenses cent . ● , c. 5. de haresibus beza de diversis ministorum gradibus c , 22. bersomus bucerus de gubernation● ecclesia p , 2●● , to 29● . bishop io●●ll defence of the apologie part 2 , c. 9. divis , 1. p : 196 202. doctor humphry conf●tat puritan● , papismi ad rat . 3 , p , 261.262 . doctor vv●itake● c●ntr . duraum l , 6. sect , ●● ad ratio 10 campiani resp. contr. lib. ● . qu. 5. c. 7. doctor fulke , and mr. cartwright confutation of the remish testament phil. 1.1 . bishop bridges in his defence of the princes supremacy , p. 359. doctor vvill●t synopsis papismi contr. 8. qu. 3. part 2. dr. reynolds in his letter to sir francis knolls and to michael medina a papist●de sacr. hom orig. l. 1● c. 5. & doctor armes in his bellarminnus enarvatus tom. 2. l 3 c , 4. ( to omit others ) do all joyntly acquit a●●ius both ●rō the guilt of heresie or error , in thi● very point , and taxe epiphanius for censuring him without the judgement of a synod or of the church , condemning his answers to aerius his reasons as notoriously absurd & impertinent yea as foolish & childis● worthy to be hissed and derided i shall therfore conclude as doth our learned w whittaker , in this case ; verily if to condemne prayers for the dead and to equ●ll presbiters● with bishops be hereticall . nihil catholicum esse potest , nothing can be catholicke , so farre as it from being either an heresie or error as o●r absurd prelates and their sycophants pretend . if they object the authority of x ignatius that he advanceth bishops above presbyters commanding them to obey the bishops as the apostles obeyed christ , and willing the people to be subject to their bishops as to god and christ , and to their elders as to christs apostl●s : therfore in his daies bishops were superior to presbiters . to this i answer , that these epistles of ignatius are false and spurious as many y of our learned men have proved at large , therefore of no authority . secondly , it is cleer by acts 10 . 2●phil . 1. 1. tit. 1 , 5 , 7. that in ignatius his daies bishops & presbiters were all one both in title , office , and jurisdiction : that there were many bishops in every chiefe city and church , not any sole ●ishop paramount the presbiters , over one or many churches : and that dioc●san bishops were instituted long after the apostles and therefore after ignatius his dayes ( who lived in the apostles age ) as all authors forecited accord and the whole clergie of england , in their institution of a christian man dedicated to king henry the 8 resolue in direct termes , these epistles therefore of ignatius which spe●k of one bishop in a ●hurch , distinct ●rom and superior to presbyters must needs be ●orged . thi●dly , ignatius in these epistles makes bishops successors to christ and to s●and in his stead , and presbyters to succeed the apostles , whereas all others ma●es them successors to the apostles only , not to christ , who z le●t no successor or vicar generall behind him , b●t a remains himselfe for ever the high-priest , chiefe shepheard and bishop of our s●ules , and hath promised b to ●e with us alwaies even to the end of the world : this therefore ma●es his authority but suspici●us and co●te●ptible . fourthly , ignatius hath not o●e word in him that bishops are superior to ●●e●biters ●y any divine l●w or i●stitution● ( the thing in question ) therefore his authority ( if ge●uine ) proves nothing for the oposites . fifthly , igna●ius equals bishops and presbyters both in jurisdiction , rule , and authority , for ●pist . ● . ad ●ral●●anus he writes thus : ●ut be ye subject to the presbyters as to the apostles of christ : for the presbyters are a certaine conjoyned sessions and ●ssembly of apostles epist. 6. ad magnesianes ●rebyteri president ●oco sinatus apostolis the ●resbyters rule in the place of the senate of the apostles . epist. 10. ad symenses . do ye al ●ollow the colledge of the presbiters as apostles : now if presbyters succeed the apostles in the government o● the church , & al are to be subject to them , to follow them as christs apostles , then certainely ●hey are equall at least to bishops , who at the highest are by gods institution only to be obeyed and followed but as christs apostles not to be pre●erred before them , if equalized with them , as the proudest prelate of them must acknowledge and and the c fathers witnesse . sixthly , d ignatius confesseth that the churches in those dayes were not ruled by the bishops as they are now but by the colledge senate and synod of the elders , & communi praesbyt●oum concilio as hierome e and all other after him affirme the presbiters therefore had then equall and joynt authority with the bishops even in point of iurisdiction & governments and did r●le and govern , the church in common with them , therefore the bishops were not then lords paramount , as now they ma●e themselves , but equall and one with them , yea their colleagues & companions as ignatius and the g ●our●h counsel o● ca●●h●ge stile thē . seventhly , his words h that they sh●uld ●e s●bject to the bishop as to god and christ , if rightly understood ma●e nothing for the prelates hiera●chie●●or saint paul ephes. 6 , 5.6 , 7. co●mands servants to be obedient unto them that are their masters according to the flesh , with ●eare and ●●embling in singlenes●e of heart as unto christ , not with eye-service as ●en pleasers but as the servants of christ , doing the will of god from his heart , with good will , doing service unto the lord , and not to men , &c. is therefore every master a bishop , equall unto christ , and superior in inrisdiction and degree to presbyters no , so polycarpus in his epistle to the ●hilippians chargeth them i to be subiect to their elders as unto god and christ using the same words of elders as ignatius doth of bishops . are pre●byters therefore paramount bishops , and succes●o●s to christ himselfe ? i trow not ignatius his meaning therefore is not , that bishops are as high above presbyters and the people as god and christ are above the apostles ( as some k ambitious prelates fansie ) but only that we must obey bishops in all things that they command and prescribe us out of gods word , as farre ●orth as we would obey god or christ himselfe , for he that heareth them , heareth christ himselfe , and hee that despiseth them , despiseth god and ch●ist himselfe . luke 10.16 . 1 thes. 4● 8. in this manner likewise are we to be subject to every minister whatsoever●heb . 13.17.7.1 thes. 2.13 . this therefore proves nothing for the prelates superiority over other bishops , especially since this igna●●us himselfe epist. 5 chargeth the trallians to reverence de●cons ( in●e●●or to ●resbyters ) as christ himselfe , whose vicars they are . as for those extravagail expressions of ignatius l episcopus typum dei patris ●mnium ge●ut , quid enim aliud est episcopus quam is qui ●mni ●●incipatu & protestate superior est & quod homini licet pro viribus imitator christi dei factus , ( and the m like ) on n which same ground both the popes and prelates monarchie , they are so ridi●ulous , ●alse , ambitious , and hyperbolical , as favor neither of ignatius or any christian , but rather of a meere papall and anti-christian spirit● discovering these epistles to be none of his , and those ●rela●ts who ass●me these speeches to themselues to be o none of christs mat. 11.29 . all which considered● this forged a●tiquity will stand thē in no stead at all , to prove them superior or distinct from presbyters by any diuine institution , and other antiquity , making for them i find not extant . that presbyters and bishops by gods law and ordination are both one and the same & of equall authority and jurisdiction as all these authorities resolve , i shall undeniable manifest by this one argument . presqyters by the expresse resolution of the scripture have the very name , and not so onely but the very office of bishops act. 20.17 , 28. p●●l . 1 , 1 , 1. tim. 3 . 1● to 5. tit. 1 , 5. to 1● . the same mission , and commission , the same function , charge , ordination , and quallification . matth. 28.19.20 . 1 tim. 3 , 1. to 7. c. 4.14 . c. 5 17. 2 tim. 4.1 , 2 , 1 , pet. 5 , 1 , 2 , 3. tit. 1 , 5. to 12. neither doth the scripture in any place make any differēce distinction , or superiority between them , or attribute any power to the one , that it doth not to the other , ●s the premises evidence , and matth. 20 25.26 , 27 , 28. mar. 10 , 42 , 43 : 44 luk. 22.25.26 . therefore by gods law and institution they are one and the same , and of equall authority power and jurisdiction in all things . as for that distinction in power , precedency , and jurisdiction , whi●● hath since been made between them it hath proceeded , partly from canons and constitutions made by bishops themselves , p partly by meer usurpation , and encrochment , but principally from the grant and largenesse of christian princes , who as they erected bishoprickes and diocesse and multiplyed them or divided them as they saw occasion , so they limitted q and granted them all that episcopall power , and jurisdiction whereby they were distinguished from , or advanced above ordinary ministers , as appeares by the originall charters of the foundations and erections of our own english bishop-rickes , the forecited statutes , and by our owne and forraigne histories , now that jurisdiction and superlority thus acquired , is but meere and humane not divine . againe bishop-ricks are meer h●mane institutions directly contrary to the holy ghost , who ordained many bishops in every church and city , not one bishop over many ( which he can never well instruct , rule , and oversee ) acts 20. 17.28 , 1 tim. 5.17 . p●il . 1 , 1 , tit. 1● 5 , 7. 1 pet. 5 , 1 , 2 , 3. now that episcopal jurisdiction which distinguishet● bishops ●rom presbyters . was r created with and annexed to their bish●pricks , yea it is delegated bot● by the ●ing to lay commi●●ione●s and visitors , and by bishops themselves to officials commi●●a●ies and meere lay men 26. h. 8. c. 1.31 . h. 8 , c , 9 , 37. h. 8 , c , 17.1 ● , 6 , c. 2.1 eliz , c , 1. therefore it is meerely humane , and belongs not to bishops by any divine right , neither is it peculiar unto them alone , moreover bishoprickes with all episcopall ju●isdiction ; incident to them have been s usually granted here●o●ore by our kings of england to their chancellours , trea●u●ers , secretaries , kinsmen , and temporall o●hcers , being meere lay-men , as an advancement and augmentation onely of their temporall revenues , and civill temporall things . and in germany at this day they are given to dukes , earles , and nobles , yea to children and in●ants only as a temporall dig●ity and revenue . there●o●e they are ●nly temp●rall ●ffices and revenues , and meere hu●ane in●titutions which may well be spare● in the church , not divine o● gods and christs institution , moreover most of the t re●ormed ●●otes●ant churches be●ond the 〈…〉 the re●●●ma●●n 〈…〉 bishopricks and dioce●an bishops as anti-christian , and humane in●●●tutions pernicious to the church of christ , and to the power pu●ity , and progres●e of the gospell , making bi●●ops proud , lordly , idle , luxu●ious , covetous , tyrannicall , symoni●call , seditious , sch●smatica● , ●pp●essive , vindictive , prophane , impious , lascivious unchas● , per●ideous , rebellious & ●recherous to their soveraigns , therefore certainly they are no divine insti●ution , use●ull or necessary for gods church , and people , o● which they have been the bane and ruine in all ages as our acts and monuments of martyrs testifie , they being the authors of all perse●●tions in our church , and of al our martyrs buchery & blood● shed . and in truth our kings in all former ages have ●eeme● bishops not al●oge●her so usefull or necessary in our church , as some now make them , which may appeare by the long vacancies , o●●●ve●s bishoprickes in sundry ages , of which i shall give you a ●ho●● ta●● , and so conci●●e u an●● 653 after the death of honorius arch-bishop or can●erbury , that see continu●● void 18 moneths ann● 669. after adeota●us●is death it remained vo●d almost 4 yeares , an 690. af●e●th●odorus his death it was void almo●t ●u●● two ye●res● and as long a●ter ●a●●yus●ecease an 734 : after ●u●hber●s death an 758. ●t was vacant above one yeare . anno 762 two years a●ter ●regwins death an 790 , 3 years a●●er lamb●r●s death an 830 , a●ove one yeare after vv●●reds decease an 958 : almost 3 yeares after odo his expi●ation an 1089. 4 ye●res after la●●●akes departure an 1109 5 yeares after an●elmes death an● . 36. 2 years after vvi●liam carke● a● . 11 , ● , ●3 , yea●s a●ter ri●hard vve●●er●ne● , an 1242 , 2 yeares a●●e● st. ●dm●n● an 1270 ●s long a●●er ●oni●ac● an 1502 , 2 yeares after 〈◊〉 deane , a● 15●8 , o●e ●ear a●●e● 〈…〉 v a● 644 , a●●er pau●●nus the 〈◊〉 a●●h-bi●h●p 〈◊〉 ●o●ke● that ●ee w●s vacant 20 , ( ●●me say 3●● yee●es an 1114 s●●ur , yeares af●er ●●●mas the second an 1140 ●lmost 2 ●eares a●ter t●●●stan an 〈◊〉 10 years after rogers de●th●an . 1213. 4 yea●es after 〈◊〉 , an 1255 , 13 , ●loneths after vv●●●e● g●ay , an● 13●3 , after ●homas de ca●bridge , above 2 , yeares . an 315 , ● years after ●illiam●●greenfiel● a●● 1240● 2 ye●res af●er vvi●liam de mel●●● , an , 1405 , 2 years and an ha●●e a●te● 〈◊〉 s●●ope , that arch-traitor benea●e● for his tre●son . an● 1423 , 2 yeares , after henry bowe●● an 14●9 . almost 4 yeares after iohn k●mp , an 1464 , 2 yeares after vvilliam b●●th , almost a ●ull yea●● both after cardinall vvolpe , and ●●●ard lee , an● 1559 , ●●●er ●●c●olas heath . 2 yeares an● 1568 after thomas ●oung , above one yeare . thus long have both our arch-bishoprickes been , void in severall age● without any prejudice to church or state w anno 619 after mellitus his translation from london to canterbury , that see continued void 31 ye●res together , an ●64 2 yeares an : 1133. 7 yeares a●ter guilbert an. 1187 alter gilbert fol●o● above 2 yeares an : 1279 above one yeare a●●er iohn de chishul . an : 1303 , almost 2 yeares after richard de granef●rd . anno 1501 after thomas sa●age above two yeares an 1171 after the death of henry de bloyes , the bishopricke of wincheste● was void above 3 yeares an 1238 , after peter de la roch 5● years● an 1243. after william de rawley 16 ye●res , ethelmanus holding it 9 , yeares without consideration anno 1259 after henry de wengham 6 , yeares , an 1492 , after peter coventry aboue one yeare an 1500 after thomas langton 2 yeares an : 1528 a●ter richard fox 2 yeares an 1530. after cardinal● woolsey , almost 4 yea●es , w an 1131 after the death of h●rnaus first bishop o●ely , that see was void above 2 yeares , an : 1169 after negellus the second bishop 5 yeares an 1197 , afte● william longchamp , above one yeare . an 1214 , after eustachius above 5 yeares , an 1256 , after william de kil●enny above one yeare , an 1297 , after william de luda 2 yeares . an 1373 after iohn barnet 2 yeares an 1434 after ●hillip morgan 3 yeares●an : 1486 after i●●n ●oorion 3 yeares an 1500 a●●er i●hn alcocke one whole yeare , an : 1533 : as long after nicholas west ; an : 158● after richard coxe almost 20 yeares together x ●n 11●7 , after the death of ro●ert de chisney the 4 bish●p o● lincoln , that see continued v●cant almost 17 yeares , ce●●ry ●en●y the 2 , his base s●nne ta●ing the ●rofits thereof without any consecration an 1184 , af●er walte● de c●●st●rtiis 2 ●eares , an , 1200 after st. ●ugh almost ● years , ●n 1206 , after william de bl●yes 3 ye●res , an , 1490 , after iohn rus●el 2 yeares an 1513 , after william smith one yeare , y an 1086 the bishoprick of coventry and lichf●eld was vacant 2 yeares , after the death of ●eter , and as long an 1●27 after robert ●each , as long an 118 after gi●acdus puella , as long , an 1208 , ●fter geof●ry de muschamp , an 1238 , almost 3 yeares after alexander●e sa●ensby an 1243 , after hugh pateshul 2 ye●es , an 1386 as long after ●ichard scroope an 1490 : as long after iohn hu●●e z an 1099 after os●ond his death the second bishop of salisbury that see was 8 yeares vacant an 1225 , after richard poore 4 years , an 1●●0 , 4 years a●●er walter de la wi●e , an 1588 3 yeares a●ter iohn ●ierce , an 1596 2 yeares a●ter iohn coldwell a an 1166 , the bishopricke of bath and wels upon the death of robert continued void 8 , yeares , 8 moneths , and 15 dayes an 1242 after ioceline , 2 yeares , anno 1262 as long after william butt●n anno 1503 as long after oliver king , an 1547. as long after william knight , an 1381 3 yeares after gilbert barkely an 1590 , 2 yeares a●●er thomas godwin , b an. 1103 the bishoprick of exeter after osber●us decease was vacant 4 yeares , anno 1182 after bartholmeus iscartus 2 , yeares an 1119 after william herbert the last bishop of thelfords , death that see ( now norwich ) was vacant 2 yeares , an 1214 , after iohn de grey it was vacant 7 yeares , anno 1222 afte● pandulfus 3 yea●es , anno 1236 after rodulphus almost 3 years , and as long after william de releigh , an 1240 , after henry spencer an. 1406 , ●lmost 2 yeares , c an 1095 after the death of wolstan bishop of wor●hester , that see was vacant 2 yeares an 1113 , as long after sampsons , an 1123 almost as long after theulphus , & an , 1179. after roger an 1184 , after william de northale 5 yeares an 1198 , after iohn de constantijs 2 yeares an ●1212 , 〈◊〉 long after mangere , anno 1373 , as long after vvilliam de lyn , an 1417 as long after thomas pondrell an 1427 7 yeares after thomas polton anno 1590 , 3 yeares after ednica freat , d an 1556 the bishopricke of hereford , after leoneyards death continued 4. yeares vacant , an , 1127 , after richa●d above 4 yeares an● 1167 , after ro●ert de melim , above 6 yeares , an 1539 after iohn skip above 13 yeeres an , 1585 after herbert west failing 17 yeares , an 1526 the bishopricke of chichester was void almost 4 yeares , after iohn reempale his death , an 1006 , after richard fitz-iames 2 yea●es , an 1235 , the bishopricke of e rochester , after ●enry de sand●ords death , was va●●nt 3 yeares , an : 1277 , 2 yeares a●●er walter de merton 1316 after thomas de waldham 3 yeares , an 1401 , as long after iohn boltesham● anno 1535 , after iohn fisher 2 , yeares , an : 1557 , the new created bishopricke of oxford , after the decease of iohn king first bishop , there , was vacant 10 yeares , an 1568 , af●er hugh carrow the 2. bishop it was voyd 21. yeares together . an 1592 , after iohn vnderhill the third bishop it continued void 11. yeares , so little want was there of a bishop in that see , an● 1559 , the new created bishopricke of oxford , after iames brookes the third bishops death was vacant three yeares● an 1578 , as long after edmond cheyney . an 1558 , the new created bishopricke of bristoll , after paul bush the first bishop was vacant 4● yeares● an : 1578 , 3 , yeares after richard cheyney which see continued void otherwise then by commendani 31 yeares together . anno 1593 , it continued vacant 10 yeares together . so little need was there of a bishop in this see , f an 1397 , the bishopricke of st. davids after iohn gilberts death , was vacant 4. yeares , an : 1592 after marmaduke middleton almost 2 yeares : an : 1133 , the bishoprick of landa●●e upon vrbans decease was void 6 , yeares an : 1183 , after nicholas ap georgant , 5 , yeares an : 1240 , after elias de radnor , above 4 , yeares , an 1287 , after william de brews 9 yeares : an 1213 , the bishopricke of bangor after robert of shrewsbury was vacant 2 yeares , an. 1374 , as long after iohn gilbert , an : 1378 , after iohn swaffham 22 , yeares● an , 1266 , after 〈◊〉 the 1 of bangor , that see was vacant two yeares , an : 1313 , after lewelin 6 , yeares , anno : 1406 , after iohn trevane 5 , yeares , an 1439 , after robert 5. yeares , g an 1017 , after aldhunus of durham , that see continued void above 3 yeares , an 1097 , as long after william carlaypho an 1140. after geoffry rufus above five yeares , an 1207 , after philip of poitiers , above 10 yeares , an 1226. above 2 yeares the king threatning the covent that they should have no bishop in 7. yeares , an , 1237 , after richard poore 2 yeares . an : 1249 , the king threatned to keep it vacant 8 , or 9 , yeares , till ( ethelmare his halfe brother ( whom he commended to the monkes election ) should be of age . an 1505 , after william severus 2 yeares , an 1587. after ri● ba●n●s , almost 2 years an : 1577 , the bishoprick of chester was vacant two years . if then all our bishoprickes in severall ages have been void thus , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 10 , 15 , 17 , 20 , and 30 , yeares or more together at divers times ( to omit all annuall vacancies ) without any prejudice to the church or state , and with great benefit to the kings of england , who enjoyed the temporalities in the meane time , t●en certainly bishops are no such necessary creatures of divine institution , but that we may spare them all together , for if we may want them 2 , 3 , 5 , 9 , 10 , 15 , 20 , 30 , yeares without prejudice , why not an hundred ? why not 500. yeares ? yea why not altog●ther , as they doe in all reformed churches , who have quite cacashierd them long agoe ? when as no church can spare or want their pastors and ministers that are of gods institution above 6 moneths , at most h after which if the patron present not in the interim an able and sufficient clerke the ord●nary by the common law may collate , and may seqnester , the profits in the meane time for the officiating of the cure , which must be at no time intermitted or neglected because of divine institution , and so absolutely neces●ary which the bishops are not● i shall close up this discou●se with a m●morable i resident of the d●nes , an dom , 1537 christian the third king of denma●●e , removed and suppressed by publike edict , all the bishops of his kingdome , for their intolerable treasons & rebellions , abolishing their bishopricks as contrary to our saviours institutions , ( the meanes that made them , idle , proud , ambitious , unpreaching ●relates , and seditious t●echerous rebels to their ●rinces , and in stead of 7 , bishops of de●mark , he instituted 7 , superintendents to execute the office of bishops , to give orders to others , and execute all ecclesiasticall af●ai●es , which 7 , superintendents , ( aug●st 26 , 1537. ) ●eceived ●heir ordi●ation from iohn bugenhagius ( ● p●otestant minis●er ) in the cathedrall of h●sina , in the prese●ce of the king , and se●ate of the kingdome , lo ●e●e all bishops cashiered as false rebellious traytors to their soveraigne , ( as they have ever been in all states and ages , the●e having been more noto●i●us traitors rebells , and conspir●tors , of bishops then of all other ranks of men in the world ( as i ●m able to ma●e good ) as contr●ry to divine institution , and see not iure divino , as they now bo●st , and superinte●dents ordained by a meere ●●es●iter in their stead , to conferre orders unto others in all the danish churches . in the beginning of reformation in germany and other places , luther and other ministers usually ordained deacons and ministers , and set out bookes of t●e manner of ordination without any bishops assistance , which power of ordination and imposition of hands hath , ever since been pr●ctised by ministers in all reformed chu●ches which have abandoned bishops ( such as ours are and ma●e themselves as contrary to gods word , ) ●atrick adamso● ( ar●h-bishop of st. andrews in scotland , ) in his recantation publickly made in the synod of fi●●e , ( aprill 8 , 1591 , ) con●es●eth , that this office of a diocesan bishop omne ●uthoritate verbi dei destituitu● & solo politico h●minum c●n●mento ●u●datur is destitute of of all authority from gods word , and is onely ●ounded in the politicke figment of men , out of which the primacy of the ●ope or antichrist ●ath sprung , and is worthily to be condemned , bec●use the as●embly of the ●●esbytery penes qu●m est j●risdictio & inspectio●●m in visitationibus tum in ordinationibus , which having the jurisdiction and inspection , both in visitations and in ordinations , will performe all these things , with greater authority , piety , and zeale , then any bishop whatsoever , whose ca●e is for t●e most part , intent not upon ●od or his ●●●ction , but t●e world which he especially serves , a 〈◊〉 bl●w to our prelates hie●achie . for i● bishops be not iure divino and have no ●oundation in the word of ●od , the● the power of ordinatiō belōgs not ●to them iure divino as they a●e bishops neither can do or ●ught , they to con●e●●e orders as bishops but ●rely as they are ministers : and if so ( as is most certaine , ) then this power of ordination belongs not at all to bishops as bis●ops , but only as ministers , and every minister as he is a minister , ●ath as much right and authority to give o●ders as any bishop whatsoever , the true reason why even among us at this day , ministers ought to joyn with the bishop in the imposition of hands , neither can our bishops ordaine any one a minister , unlesse 3 , or 4 , ministers at least , joyne with him in the ordination and laying on of hands . this being an apparent ●●uth , i shal hence from the bishops owne principles prove presbyters superior and greater then bishops , in jurisdiction dignity and deg●ee . these , say they , to whom the power of ordination belongs of right are ●●eater in jurisdiction , dignity , ●●d degree then those who have not this power , and the ordainer higher in all these then the ordained , but the power of ordination belongs onely jure divino to ●resbyters as presbyters , not to bishops , as to bishops themselves , not , as bishops , but presbyters and bishops when they ordaine in a lawfull manner , do it onely as presbyters not as bishops . therefore presbyters are superior to bishops in jurisdiction , order , and degree , and bishops themselves ●arre greater in all these● as they a●e presbyters , an office of divine ●●nction , then as they are lordly prelates or diocesan bishops , a meer humane institution . thus are our great lord bishops who vaunt of the weaknesse of puri●●ne principles , whereas their episcopall are farre more feeble and absur● , wounded to death with their own weapons , and all their domi●eering , swelling authority overthrowne by that very principle , and foundation on which they have presumed to erect it , the ancient proverbe being here truly verified , vis ●●nsilij ●●p●rs ●ol● ruit s●● . i shall close ●p this with the words of acute a●t●●ius s●d●●l , who after a large proof of bi●●ops and presbyter● to be both ●ne and the same by divine institution , winds up all in this m●nner . we couclude therefore , seeing that superior episcopall dignity is to be avouched onely humane institution , tantum ess● h●m●ni iuris , that it is only of hum●ne right : on the contrary , since it is evident by the express● testimonies of scripture , that in the apostles times bishops were the same with presbyters jur● diuin● p●t●st●t●● ordinandi no● minus presbyt●ri● qu●m episc●pis convenir● , that by god● law and divine right , the power of ordination belongs as much to pre●biters as to bishops . i have now , i hop● sufficiently ma●ifested our lordly prelates , arch-●ishops , dioces●n bishops , distinct from presbyters to be none of gods institution being therefore : none of gods bishop● , as they vainly pretend whose then must they be , not the kings● for th●n they are onely iur● human● which they have publikely ●●s●l●imed i● court● therefore certainly eithe● the popes or the ●evils or both , as many of the recited writers stile thē , for i know no other that can claime or own them : wherfore being neither gods nor the kings , but the pope● or devills● or both● what remaines but that now at last they should be sp●red out of our church● as no members at all of christs church , or body● but of the devill , pope , or antichrist of rome ( whose limbs and creatures in t●uth they are as mauritius d● i al●●d● , henry k st●lbrid●● and others● expresly resolves , and their actions past all dispute , discover many of them to be ) yea as meere individuum vaginus and meere unnaturall monsters , they being neith●r pastors nor members of any particular church or congregation , as all other christians are beside● themselves . i read in the l great dutch chronicle written by an augustin● frier , that in the year of our lord 1033 , beyond poland there was a strange fis● taken , of the quantity , length , and breadth , and shape of a living man , adorned with a bishop● miter● a pastorall staff , a cassock , a white surplesse , a chessible sandals● gloves● and all othes robes● and ornaments requisite to the dignity of ● prelate , like a bishop solemnly attired and prepared to say divine service● his cassocke might be well lifted up before , and behind , from the feet , to the knees , but not higher● and he permitted himselfe to bee sufficiently ●andled , and touched by many● but especi●lly of the bishops of that country● which fish being presented to the king , and demanded in the language of that country● and of divers other● nations who hee was , and answering ●othing , albeit he had opened hi● mouth , giving reverence and hono●r to the bishop● that were there in the kings presence , one monster and dumbe unpreaching beast● saluting and respecting another , the king being a●gry when hee had determined to commit him to prisō● or shut him up i● sōe strōg tow●r , the fis● being very sorrowfull at this newes , thereupon closed his eyes and would by no meanes open them untill the bishops , of that kingdome ( m kneeling downe before the king in the fish●s prese●ce , had with many prayers intreated and obtained of the king that he should be sent backe againe alive to the seashore● where hee had been taken● that god whose workes are incomprehensible might shew his nature and acts , least otherwise a plague should there ensue , both to the king and his subjects , which their suit the king had no sooner granted , but presently the ●oresaid monster opened his eyes , giving great thankes as it were to the king , and especially to those bishops . after with a chariot being prepared to carry the fish backe againe , the fish in presence of an infinite multitude ( of both sexes ) ascending into it in a decent manner with the said bishops , ●ate down between them like ● domestical tame creature endued with reason . the bishops whiles they were yet f●rre off from the sea , descended out of the chariot , and the fish like●●se ●omming downe from the chariot by himselfe , stood upon his feet and began to walke between two bishops , putting one of his hands upon one bishops shoulder● & the other upon the other bishops ●houlder , ( so lovingly ●id these monsters embrace on the other ) as if he had been● a reasonable creature , neither wondred he or was he moved with the tumult of the people● who flocked round about thē , but walked modestly . when he was come to the sea-shore hee courteously beheld the bi●hops and rout of people there present and craving leave to depart of the bishops with all humility , by the gesture of hi● body , and obtaining it he thereupon went into the sea-water . and going into the water , on his feet as high as his belly ( the se● being hard ●y to deep for him to wade in● turning himsel●e towards the bishops , and people expending the end of this matter he bowed downe his head in a most humble manner● bestowing a blessing on them with his right hand in forme of ● crosse● and fo●thwith descended into the depth of the sea after which he was no more seene of any man . thus the historian ve●batim . now what should i make this strange dumbe devill or monster , in the shape , the habit and attire of a lordly bishop , so courteous loving , and ●●miliar towards these lordly bis●ops● and they re●iprocally thus to him , or what doth or could all this pretend but that lordly prelates with their pontificiall masse-array , and muming disguises are meere monsters in gods church , and for the most part as mute as thi● dumbe or other fishes in the pulpit opening their mouthes wide oft-times , to bite , yea devoure their fellow brethren , and god● faith●ull people with their teeth like so many ravening wol●es or sea monsters , but seldome or never piously to instruct thē wth their diligent , pious , gracious preaching tongues , and that therefore they shal one day and i hope that day is now at hand , ) with all their anti-christian pompe , pride , vestments , trinkets , and masking massing disguised , be eternally cast out of the church of god , sent backe againe to ( the sea of rome ) from whence they came , and there so utterly drowned , that they shall never be seen nor heard of more in our or any other true christian church . this hath beene already fulfilled , not long after the appa●ition of this monster in n denmarke , and most of the reformed churches beyond the seas , which cast out their lordly prelates , as meere anti-christian , dumbe , mishappen , ravenous monster , , devouring christs deare flocke , and likewise in biscaie among the papists o where bi●hops a●e so execrable , to the people , that they will admit no bishop so much as to come among , them or enter into their territories , ( such terrible mons●ers are they ) insomuch that when ferdinand the catholicie came in progresse thither accompanied among others● with the bishop of pamp●line , the people ar●se in armes , draue back the bishop and gathering all the dust which they thought he had troden on● and ●lung it ●nto the sea . and certainly their late intollerable ty●anny , pride , amb●tion , cruelty , oppression , cove●uous●es , poperie , secularity ( for now they are altogether secula● , not spirituall lords , iniustice malice , persecutions , impieties , and monstrous prophannes , haue deservedly made our bishops as detestable as execrable to all sorts of english men ( who now groane and languish under these outragious dumbe silencing and silent monsters , ) as ever ●hey were , or are to bis●ane●s , so as we shall doubtlesse shortly see their fatall finall ruine who now seeke nothing but the utter overthrow both of our church , our state , and our religion , as i will make good , at my uttermost perill , to all their faces , and proue it to their shame . we know , that two of their cathedrals , ely & chichester , where bishop white and mountague , two late innovaters and champions of the prelates , lord it , were lately s●attered & much of them blown downe , and that the bishop of lincolnes chaire with the fall of his study of bugden shattered all to peices , with a poore despicable instrument a suddaine unexspected blast● of wind , all in one day on novemb. 4 1636. what is this and their present great wrath , and malice against gods people : but a certaine prognosticke , that p their time and lording tyranny is short , and their totall finall ruine neer at hand , though to carnall reason it seemes impossible : and that a suddain unexpected puffe of wind , ( even the prayers , c●ie● , and teares , of those many godly ministers , and poor christians they haue lately si●enced , persecuted , oppressed , and still proceed to vexe and greiue with all despite and cruelty , not withstanding all god● plagues , all late discoveries of ●heir vilenes , tyranny and injus●ice , shall shortly and suddainly overturn their lordly chaires , throw downe their epicureous sees , dismount their mushrom lordships , unexspectedly sprung out of the earth , the dunghill , and swoln so great with pride and ambition , that they will bee all head , yea heads and lords over all in church and state affaires , and dash ( q , these babilonish brats of rome in peices so as they shall never recover or get head againe . in the mea●e time i shall pray and conclude all in the words of our english letany● from all our lordly prelates evill and mischiefe , from the crafts and assaults of the devill , ( who rules and workes both in and by them ) from their wrath and unjust damnations , in any of their courts and high●commissions , meere spanish inquisitions , ) from all their blindnes of heart , their pride vaine glory● and hypocrisie , their envy hatred , malice , and all their uncharitablenesse , from all their sedition & priuy conspiracy ( with rome priests iesuites and betweene themselves● to ruine , & root out our faithfull preaching ministers and religion , and set up popery ) from al their false doctrine and heresie● ( both in presse and pulpit , ) from their hardnesse of heart , against their poore persecuted and oppressed brethren , against all gods mercies , threatnings , iudgements , a●d plague● of late inflicted ) and from all their contempt of gods word and commandements● in suppressing the frequent preachers , and preaching of the one , and most insolent violation of the other , especially the 2 , 4 , 6th command●men●s , by setting up altars , images , crucifixes , crosses &c , & bowing downe unto them , by idolizing their owne canons● ceremonies , an● romish fopperies , by maintaining the open prophanation of gods holy sabbath , with all heathenish sports and pastimes● and spurring men on headlong to this sinne , and starving , murthering the very soules of thousands of gods people , by robbing them of their ●pirituall ●ood , and encouraging them to al sin and dissolutenes . ) r good lord deliver us and le● all the people say amen . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a56148e-90 * histo●y of the councel of trent : edit , 3. p. 589 , 590 , 591. to ●16 . * idid . p. 59● see m●●i●● de sacra . horm . origine et cont. l. 1. c. 5. * ibid. p. 589. * ib. 591 . 60●.606 . * de clericis . l. 1. c. 14. * history of the councel of trent : p. 220. (a) pag. 220.330 . to 335. an excellent considerable place . (b) glossa , decret. distinct . 93 c. legimu● . * in iohn crespin . l'estate de leglise f. 254. * both cite●●y bishop vs●er , d● b●ittanicarum eccles. primo● diis , p. 800. * henric● 〈◊〉 man , 〈…〉 tom. 1 p. 31● * itinear , l. 2. c 13. * fratres sic facit iesus h●di● , multos si●i elige●● dia●olos episc●po● . in gone●● . rhemensi s●imo . * in the epistl● dedica●o●y befo●e the vnbishoping of timothy and titus . (a) les fl●wrs de● vies des so●●cts : part 1. parisiis : 1637. p. 500. (b) ribadenerra ibid. p. 3●8 . * idem ibidem , p. 313. * idem ibidem , p. 303● 304. * idem ibidem , p 358. * iohn crespin lestate de ●eglig● , f , 29 , with platina , anas●a●ius , and balz●● i● h●s life . (a) iohn crespin ●● . p. 59. brit. eccles. a●tiqu● p. 620 , 621 , 625 , 633. (b) crespin ●b . p. 266. (c) crespin p. 405 , 40● (d) c●espin p. ● 404. c●e●pin . p. 587. gal●●●●u●monumetensis . l 9. c. 15. ●●rald●● cambr. li 2. c. 4. ia●●bus vsse●●● de ecclesiarum britt●a . primordin , p. 81.532.538 . idem . p. 876.1012.1140 . (d) the annals of i●eland i● camdens bri●●●nia , p. 169. * relation of ● con●erenc● , p. 169 in the margin . * 31. h. 8. c 9.33 h. ● . c. 31.34 . h. 8. ● . * in his britania p. 160.161 . and ireland , p. 73 , 74. * rastall du●ham : f. 149. camdens brit. pag. 736 , and godwins catalogu● of bishops , p. 533. * chapter of the sacrament of o●de●s . * 27. h. 8. c ● 3● . h , 8 , c. 1● . ●● , ● . ● . 14. * cromptous iurisdiction , ● , 12 , b , stamford plee . d●l corone l , 3 , c , 1 , ● , 153 , ● , 3 , ● , 3 , p , 161 , 33 , 1● . ● . br , trial , 142 , (b) cromptons iurisdiction of courts , f , 12 , b , (c) bishop white bishop morton , arcshbishop laud , and bishop hall , in the t●tles of ●heir late books , * io , e , 4 , f , 6 , br , crown 153 , stamford plee● , l. ●pet●us ●l●sonsis de institat . episc●pi ●●bl , part , tom , 12 , p , 941 , 943. (c) fox acts and monument● in the old edition , p. 748. 901 905 , 9●7 b 1706 , b , i , 17 , b , * so cr●mt●n quotes it . but it ●s in his defence of hi . apology , at pa●t 6 c. 2 p. 5 , i 522 * crompto●s iuri●diction of cou●●s f ●9 b. * of the true dif●e●ence between chri●●ian ●ubjection● and antichristian ●ebellion , pa●t 3 , p , 541 , 542 , 543 , (q) for acts & monu●ent● lond. 1●10● p● 624● 625● ma● . ● . 13 . luk. 14.35 . notes for div a56148e-4920 (a) 1 〈◊〉 . 2 , ● , ●4 , 4. iohn 10 , 1.2 , 3. notes for div a56148e-5220 b suriu● cōcil tom. 2. p. 719. c surius● tom. 3 , p● 299.302 309 d suriu● tom. 3 , p. 4 , 5. notes for div a56148e-5890 e apud bochellum decreta eccles gal l 3. tit. 2. de ordinie c : 4 5. * see c●●su●●a u●ta●tis pa●●●ien●is 〈◊〉 16.31 . p. 16 21 24 . 2● , 37 * cens●rae pa●isi●nsis p , 40 , 48 , 49 , 60 notes for div a56148e-6800 (m) in his letter to sir fran●is k●ol● notes for div a56148e-8610 (n) antiqu●●ates e●ol●sia brit. & godwin in thi● life , speeds history p. 463. obiect 1. (o) thomas vvaldensis tom : 3 , c. 60 , 61 , 62. rhemists notes ●n phil. 1.1 : alphonsus de castrò advers. h●r . tit. episcopus . harding in bishop iewel , p. 196.202 . with others● (p) sacramia contra bezam bi●hop bancroft in his se●mon at paules crosse , bishop downeham in his consecration sermon , bishop vvhit● and others in t●e censure of doctor bastwick● , bishop bridges defence of governeme●● . p. 26● , 373 , 44● . (q) origi●um l , ● , c , 5 causa ● . qu , 3 , (s) see appendix catalogo testium veritis endmerus hist. novorum l , 2 3 , p , 34 , 36 , 50 , 71 , 97 , 109 , 110 , 112 , 131 , 132 , godwi●● catalogue of bishops , p , 74. ●1 , 84.106 , 437 , 516.525 , aventinus armak , boicorum , l , 3 , p. 214 , 219 , and heretofore p : 9● . 93 , 103. t ●●i●● . ad ev●●r●● & 〈◊〉 , in ti●● 1. tom. 1 c●ntr . 5 , l , 1●● , 15. ● . w ad ra●ione● 10 camp●ani respons● p. 51 , obiect . ● . x epist. 5 , 6 , 7 8 , 9 , 10. espenc●us digresi . in tim. l 3 , c , 1 , 2 , 3 a●s●er . y c●ci censu●● p , 5● , &c. z heb , 7 , 24. a heb. 7 : 17 , ●1 24 , 28 , 1 p●t , 2 , ●9 . b matth. 28 , 20. c isiodor ●●isp : de eccles. o●●●● cii● l , 2 , c , 17 , amalarius ●or●unatus de eccles● officij● l● 2 , c , 13.6 d epist , 5 , 6 , 10. e epist. ad enagrilem & in tit. 1. quid ve●● s●c●●do●ium aliud estquam sacerc●●as consiliary & assessorores e●iscopo epist : 5. g can , 35 , collegam se presbyterorum ess● cognos●at● h epist 5 6 7. i subjecti esto●e presbyteris & diacon●s sicut deo et christo ibid● k see espen●●us digress . in ti● l , 1 , c , 12 , 3. l epis●l . 5. m see coci censura p. 61.62.63 n esp●encaeus digres , in ti●●l , 1 ●● 1 . 2● o rom. ● . 9 . p institution of a christian man ch. o● orders , q see g●d●in● co●aloge● of bishops chytr●●●●● an s●xoni● , p. 23.31.226 , 615.616 , 617. cent. ●agd . 8. col . 786 , 794 , s. ●● . eccles. tu●● l , 5 , c. 8 , evag●●●● ec●l●s● 〈◊〉 l , 2. c 4 1●eadiner●●●nst novorum l , 4 ● 95.96 , et seld● ni spicelagium ibid p. 209.210 , 211 , 21● r see 31 , h 8. c. 9.33 . h , 8 , c 31 , 34 , & 35 , h , ● c , 17 , & the ●atents of the creation of the bishopricks of ox●ord , bristol● glocester and chester . s see antiqui●atae ecclesia brit. godwins catalogue of bishops cranthius metr●p . chytraeus ●hron . saxoniae & ●●entinus anuall l 5 6 , 7. pass●● . t chytraeus ●●on saxoniae ●● p 339 340 , l 11 l 14 15 , p. 241 43● . 434 435. u god●● 1 calog●● of bis●op . ● p , 52 , 53 , 55. ●● 57 , 58 , 59 , 76 , ●1 83 , 84 , 111 , 11● 114.119 , see malmesbury d● g●stis pon●●●icum anglia antiquitates ecclesia br●t●an●●●● mat●hew wo●mins●er , matthew paris , hav●d●n ●alsingham and others accordingly . v god●in p 559 579 587 5●8 599 , 607 , 608 , 623. w ●odwin p , 183 184 , 189 , 190 , 191 , 196 , 202 , 224 , 227 , 229.230 244 245 , 247 , w god●in p , 255 , 256 , 261 , 262 , 2●4 , 265 , 266 , 275 , 277 , 279 , 181. x ●●dwin p 1294 29● , 297 , 308 , 309. y godwin p , 317 , 31● , 319 , 321 , 3●2 , 343 , 3●● , ●2● . z god●in p. 337 33● , 344 , 345 , 3●5 . 356 . a godwin p 364 365 , 368 , 360 , 383 , 385 , 386. b god●in p , 396 398 , 420 , 421 429 , c godwin p , 439 440 , 444 , 44● , 446 , 449. d godwin p , 453 454 , 455 , 460● 561 , 473 , 478 , e ●odwin p , 484 485 . 4●6 , 48● 488.452 , 496.501 , 502 , f godwin p. 512 514 , 530 , 536 , 558 , 547 , 549 , 531. g godwin p , 634 644 , 647 , 651 , 652 , 653 , 656 , 667 , 671 , 685 , 6●6 . h rostall advi●son 1 , 2 , concil● lat●ran●nsis 2 can. 29 , s●●ma angelicae ben●ficium sect , 31 summa rosella beneficium 1 , i d● pra●●ll●nti● episcopal●● dignitatis l , ● . ● , 1 , sect , 21 , & ● . 8 , sect , 29● k henry s●albridge his ex●ortatoris ep●stle iohn ball n●● image of both churches . l magnum chro● b●lgicum a●●● 1433 , p. 374. m one monster ininterceeds for anothers safety , but ●id they ever so for a good pious christians life or liberty ? n chri●●au● chron , saxo●i● l. 11 , p 33● , ●40 , ●41 , l , 14 , & 15 , p , 412 , 43● , 4●4 , 4●5 , o peter heyl●ns geography . edit. 3 , p. 55. p rev , 12 , 12. q psal. 137. ● . 9 . r psal. 10● , 4● , ● a nevv discovery of old pontificall practises for the maintenance of the prelates authority and hierarchy. evinced by their tyranicall persecution of that reverend, learned, pious, and worthy minister in jesus christ, mr. john udall, in the raigne of queene elizabeth. to give satisfaction to all those that blindely endeavour to uphold episcopall government, that their lordly rule in the purest times of the said queene, is the very same with that they have exercised ever since, even to these times. together with the prelates devises to make him submit, and to subscribe to submissions of their own contriving and invention. and also king james his letter out of scotland to the queene, in the behalfe of mr. vdall and all other persecuted ministers in her realme. udall, john, 1560?-1592. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a95750 of text r212794 in the english short title catalog (thomason e87_6). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 168 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 27 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a95750 wing u14 thomason e87_6 estc r212794 99871364 99871364 123774 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a95750) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 123774) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 15:e87[6]) a nevv discovery of old pontificall practises for the maintenance of the prelates authority and hierarchy. evinced by their tyranicall persecution of that reverend, learned, pious, and worthy minister in jesus christ, mr. john udall, in the raigne of queene elizabeth. to give satisfaction to all those that blindely endeavour to uphold episcopall government, that their lordly rule in the purest times of the said queene, is the very same with that they have exercised ever since, even to these times. together with the prelates devises to make him submit, and to subscribe to submissions of their own contriving and invention. and also king james his letter out of scotland to the queene, in the behalfe of mr. vdall and all other persecuted ministers in her realme. udall, john, 1560?-1592. james i, king of england, 1566-1625. [8], 44 p. printed for stephen bowtell, and are to be sold at his shop in popes-head-alley, london : 1643. annotation on thomason copy: "jan: 31 1642". reproduction of the original in the british library. eng church of england -government -early works to 1800. bishops -england -early works to 1800. a95750 r212794 (thomason e87_6). civilwar no a nevv discovery of old pontificall practises for the maintenance of the prelates authority and hierarchy.: evinced by their tyranicall per udall, john 1643 29526 314 5 0 0 0 0 108 f the rate of 108 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the f category of texts with 100 or more defects per 10,000 words. 2007-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-06 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-07 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2007-07 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a new discovery of old pontificall practises for the maintenance of the prelates authority and hierarchy . evinced by their tyrannicall persecution of that reverend , learned , pious , and worthy minister of jesus christ , mr. john udall , in the raigne of queene elizabeth . to give satisfaction to all those that blindely endeavour to uphold episcopall government , that their lordly rule in the purest times of the said queene , is the very same with that they have exercised ever since , even to these times . together with the prelates devises to make him submit , and to subscribe to submissions of their own contriving and invention . and also king james his letter out of scotland to the queene , in the behalfe of mr. vdall and other persesecuted ministers in her realme . my sonne feare thou the lord and the king : and meddle not with them that are given to change . prov. 24. 21. london , printed for stephen bowtell , and are to be sold at his shop in popes-head-alley , 1643. an introduction by way of advertisement to the reader . in these prejudicate opinionated times it is difficult to give satisfaction , that the bishops illegall and unconscionable courses , have alwaies , without any variation , bin one and the same ; but if the impartiall reader will deigne to peruse this ensuing relation of mr. vdalls harsh usuage by ▪ them , he shall finde no mutation , neither in their councells nor actions : they were persecuters from all antiquity , of such as disclosed the dissonancy , betweene their authority , and the true rule of the word of god , as all ancient and neoterick histories record , both domestick and exoticke : and in this kingdome , they have not onely vented their fury against good men in the times of popery as in the raignes of king edward the third , richard the second ▪ and henry the fourth ; against iohn wicklisse , and such as they termed lollards , even untill the raignes of king edward the fixt , and queene elizabeth , but also in her time , when popery was relegated , and the protestant religion began to dispell the misty fog of errour and ignorance ; yet the reliques of darknesse could not endure the true light of perfect reformation ; which this worthy person mr. vdall , striving to introduce , was by the instigation of the prelates , hurried from his ministery at newcastle , in the depth of winter and in the bitterest weather that could be , brought to be examined by the lords of the queenes councell ; and because contrary to the laws of the land , he would not betray himselfe , he was by them committed to the gate-house , and there to be kept close prisoner , and not to be suffered to have pen , inke or paper , or any body to speake with him , his wife being also debarred his company , and his chamber-fellowes being professed papists , seminary priests and traytors : from thence he was conveyed to the white lyon in southwarke , and at the assises holden in croydon , 24 ●uly , 1590. was brought to the bar with fetters on his leggs , and there indited for malitiously publishing a scandalous and infamous libell against the queene , and no testimonies viv . ● voce produced to attest the same , but only depositions of men taken in the high commission court , ( which by the laws of the land was no court of record ) and reports upon heare-say urged against him , his witnesses not being permitted to testifie in his behalfe , because it was against the queene , ( which notwithstanding the laws allow , both in felony and in treason ) and the words of the stature 23 eliz. cap. 2. wrested by the judges , viz. baron clarke and serjeant puckering , that because the booke of demonstration of discipline , whereof he was supposed the author , and for which he was then indited , was against the bishops that exercised the government appointed them by the queene , therefore by consequent it was against her royall person ; and because that he strove against the prelates , who were put in authority by the queene , therefore he did strive against her , which was contrary to the maxime of law , that no penall or criminall statute which concerneth a mans life , ought to ●e extended beyond the power of naturall words of the same ( such an awing power have the bishops alwaies carried over the laws , judges and lawyers , as to over-rule them all , and to make them sing ●lacebo ) and then the said judges directed the jury to finde him the author of that booke , without legall proofe , and to leave the felony to them , which they said , was resolved by all the judges of the land , and the jury for feare complying with them , found him guilty of felony , being drawn thereunto by a promise , that it should be no further danger unto him but tend to his good ; for which afterwards , they were exceedingly grieved and troubled . then they kept him in durance for halfe a yeare uncondemned and at the assises in february after , holden in southwarke , used all the meanes and perswasions they could exc●gitate , to make him submit and relinquish his tenets against the bishops , which he refusing to yeeld unto , had the sentence of death pronounced against him by puckering , but they not daring to execute him , because his adertions were the constant doctrine of all the reformed churches in christendom , he was reprived by the queenes speciall command , then the court chaplaines repaired unto him , and tendered ready written submissions unto him , which he rejected ; and being perswaded by a friend of his to solicite sir walter ●awleigh to obtaine his pardon and freedom , he wrote unto him , and sent him also a confession of the severall points which he maintained ; in the interim came unto him dr. nowe●● deane of pauls , a man in those daies famous for his learning and pretended piety , who brought another submission unto him , whereunto he at the first refused to subscribe ; but after some advice and consideration he assented and attested it ; but afterwards perceiving that this was a trick of legerdemaine used by the deane , ( who had ingaged the word and faith of a christian ▪ to obtaine his remission and liberty ) which would be a meanes to hasten his end , he wrote to the deane modestly ▪ reprehending him for that prestigious device , desi●ing him to leave no stone unturned , that might further his liberty , or at least to cleare his own conscience from being any way accessary to his death . while these affaires were in agitation , james king of scotland wrote a letter to the queene , wherein he requested , that mr. vdall , mr. car●wright and other ministers of the gospell in her realme for their dissent from the bishops and others of her clergy , touching matters of conscience , might not be hardly dealt with , but that at his intercession they might be released from their restraints , and not further prosecuted for their professions of the gospell and their consciences , &c. hereupon mr. vdall , who was conveyed to the assises at kingston , and as was supposed , should have bin executed there , was immediately returned from thence by the judges unto the white lyon , in the evening before the first day thereof : and afterwards geting a copy of his inditement ▪ by the lord treasurers procurement , he framed a pardon upon the same and sent it to the privy councell ▪ who r●ferred him to the arch-bishop ; but his anger was still immortall , neither would he relent , or condiscend to his freedom , notwithstanding all his petitions nor all the entreaties of honourable persons , and others of good quality that mediated for him . at last the turky marchants sued to the arch-bishop , that hee might goe into guinea to teach their traffiquers in that place , who assented thereunto upon condition , that they would be bound he should goe as soone as he had his liberty , but when 2 of the ancients of that company desired to have the arch-bishops hand thereunto , he refused to subscribe , unlesse they would be bound not only for his present departure but that he should remaine there untill he had the queenes licence to returne againe into england &c. these premises being duly perpended , let any indifferent man give a solid reason , why such episcopall government should be restored ; for how they deported themselves in those pure times of queene elizabeth , ( as it is now termed ) by this relation is made apparent ; and in the time of king james there was no alteration , for it is well knowne that they persecuted mr. dighton and other good men for meere ceremonies , and silenced also many worthy ministers in his raigne ; yet it is observable that they seduced that learned king , after he once came amongst them ; and that is evident by the difference betweene his letter in this relation , and his conclusive sentence to maintaine the prelates authority , at the conference at hampton court , in the first yeare of his raigne . likewise in this king charles his time ▪ they have stopped the mouths of sedulous and faithfull preachers ; they have abolished lectures , mutilated , stigmatized , whipped and tortured sundry of the clergy and laity , as mr. burton dr. bastwicke , mr. prynne , dr. leighton and others , for disclosing their tyranny and abuses : and yet some sillie men are so farre enamoured of them that they had rather a destructive episcopacy should roughly sway in this kingdome , then that a preservative parliament should free both clergy and laity from such scorpions stings . and since experience in all ages evinceth , that wheresoever episcopacy is , there will be tyranny therefore all the truely reformed churches in europe have abolished the cause , that thereby the effect might also be utterly extinguished . to conclude , this pious and worthy person mr iohn vdall , ( as this ensuing relation testifieth ) stood firme and constant for the reforma●ion even to death , and would not be deterred from it , though strictly imprisoned , fettered , condemned , and bereft of all worldly comforts , which should prove a mirrour to all of that tribe , but especially to his own posterity , to instruct them not to deflect from so singular a patterne , and deviate into oblique and erroneous courses lest those objurgations of the prophet be justly applied to them , as namely hosea 7. 11. ephraim is also like a dove deceived , without heart : they call to egypt ; they goe to ashur , &c. the same is reiterated , hosea 12. 1. ephraim is fed with the winde , and followeth after the east winde , he increaseth daily lies and destruction , and they do make a covenant with ashur , and oyle is carried into egypt . and these places of scripture may one day heavily reflect upon mr. ephraim vdall his sonne unworthy of such a father , who hath forgotten to follow his fathers steps , but runeth a retrograde course from them , in erecting a new raile at his own charge about the communion table in his church , since the former was removed by the order of parliament ; and delivering the elements to none but those that come up to his rayle ; and denied to subscribe for moneys for the defence of the king and parliament ; refusing to read the orders that come from the parliament or lord major of london , but none was so forward as lie in permiting the booke of sports on the lords day and the prayer against the scots to be read in his church , and as it seemeth , he loveth the parliament so litle that hee never prayeth for good successe to their army , but on the contrary he prayeth , that the hand of vengeance may strike such as take up armes against the king : and no one can judge , but that the intent of such expressions are onely the calling for vengeance on the heads of those , who endeavor to defend religion , laws and liberties , against those trayterous and wicked counsellours which have too much entercourse with his majesty . and by report , his house is a receptacle for disaffected ministers that frequently resort thither , and as it may be conjectured by the persons , little good is hatched amongst them ; and he is growne into such estimation with birds of that feather , that doctors , proctors and such malecontents against the parliament are his constant auditors . the apostles councell is good and salubrious , study to be quiet and do your own businesse , 1 thess 4. 11. which if all perverse spirits would have practised ▪ these miserable distracters would never have ingulphed us in this unnaturall war . farewell the particular examinations , arraignement and condemnation , of iohn vdall , minister of the word of god , together with such things as passed betweene him and others by occasion thereof . seeing you desire to understand the particular things that have passed betwixt mee and them in authority , that have from time to time molested mee ; i am willing to satisfie you at this time , in that which concerneth this my last and greatest trouble , that ever befell me ; for that it brought me to prison , referring you to get the former of ▪ &c. by such meanes as you may , and to learne the particulars of my arraignement of those that heard it , seeing it was at the publike assises , in the presence of many hundreds , divers whereof i thinke were both able and willing to t●ke note thereof . after that i was silenced at kingston ( in manner as appeareth in the papers that contain a particular remembrance of the same ) i rested about hal a yeer preparing my selfe to a private life for that i saw so little hope of returne into my ministery , or any rest in it , to the good of the church . but god would not have it so : for meanes were made by some , that feared god in newcastle upon tyne to the earle of huntington to send me thither who did so and i was received thither in such sort as contented mee , and joyned in the ministery of the word there with two godly men , mr. houldesworth the pastor , and mr. bamford a teacher , through whose joynt l●bours god vouchsafed so to draw the people to the love of the word , ( no●withstanding that the plague was grievous in the towne all the while i was there , and consumed above 2000 of the inhabitan●s ) as we had hope in time to see much fruit and receive great comfort of our labours . but the enemy so envyed the same that after a yeares abode there , i was fetched thence by letters from the lord hunsdon lord chamberlaine in the name of the whole councell . whereupon i came thence , december●9 1589. in the forest weather that could bee , yet through gods mercy i and christopher applebie ( whom the major appointed to conduct me ) came safe to london , ianuary 9 ▪ and upon the 13. being tuesday i appeared at my lo. cobhams house in the blackfryers , before my l. cobham , my lo. buckhurst , my l. anderson , the bish. of rochester , mr. fort●scue , mr. egerton , the queens solicitor , doctor aubery ▪ doct. lewen . then was i called in before them , whereupon my lord anderson said unto me . anderson . how long have you bin a●newcastle ? vdall . about a yeere if it please your lordship . anderson . why went you from kingston upon thames ? vdall because i was silenced there , and was called to newcastle . rochester . what calling had you thither ? vdall . the people made meanes to my lord of huntingdon , who sent mee thither . roch. had you the allowance of the bishop of that diocesse ? vdall . there was none at that time . roch. then you should have gone to the archbishop . vdall . there was no archbishop at yorke neither . anders . you are called hither to answer concerning certaine books which are thoug●t to be of your making . vda . if it be for any of martins bookes ( according as my lord chamberlaines letters that fetched me import ) i have already answered , and am ready so to doe againe . ander . where have you answered , and in what manner ? vda . at lambeth a yeere and a halfe agoe , i cleared my selfe not to bee the author , nor to know who he was . ander . is this true mr. beadle ? beadle . i have heard that their was such a thing , but i was not there at it , if it please your lordship . aubery , lewen there was such a thing , as my lords grace told us . vda . i am the hardlier dealt withall to bee fetched up so farre at this time of the yeere . i have had a journey i would not wish unto my enemy . roch. you may thanke your owne dealing in matters that you should not have medled withall . ander . it is more then i heard that ever you were called to answer , but you are to answer concerning other bookes . vda . i hope your lordships will not urge mee to any others , seeing i was sent for about those . ander . you must answer to others also : what say you to those bookes , a demonstration or a dialogue . &c. did you not make them ? vda . i cannot answer thereunto . ander . why would you cleere your selfe of martin , and not of these , but that you are guilty herein ? vda . not so my lord , i have reason to answer in the one , but not in the other . ander . i pray you let us heare what reason , for i cannot conceive of it , seeing they are all written concerning one matter . v. this is the matter my lo , i hold the matter propos'd in them al to be one but i would not be thought to handle it in that manner , which the former bookes doe , and because i thinke otherwise of the latter , i care not though they should be fathered upon mee . buckhu . but i pray you tell me know you not penry ? vda . yes my lord that i doe . buckhu . and doe you not know him to be martin . vda . no surely , neither doe i thinke him to be martin . buck . what is your reason ? vda . this my lord , when first it came out he ( understanding that some gave out that he was thought to bee the author , wrote a letter to a friend in london , wherein he did deny it , with such tearmes as declare him to bee ignorant and cleere in it . buck . where is that letter ? vda . indeed i cannot now shew you , for i have forgotten unto whom it was written . buck . you will not tell where it is . vda . why my lord it tendeth to the clearing of one and the accusing of none . buck . can you tell where penry is ? vda . no surely my lord . buck . when did you see him ? vda . about a quarter of a yeere ago . buck . where ●id you see him ? vda . he called at my doore and saluted mee . buck . nay he remained belike with you ? vda . no indeed he neither came in my house , neither did hee so much as drinke with mee . buck . how came you acquainted with him . vda . i thinke at cambridge , but i have beene often in his company buck . where . vda . at divers places , and namely in mine owne house whilest i dwelt at kingston . buck . what cause had you to be so often in his company ? vda . he being a scholler & student in divinity , and one whom i alwaies thought to be an honest man your lordship may easily conceive he cause . here was much to this same effect spoken about mr. penry and my being at mrs. cranes house at moulsley and with her , &c. which i alwaies answered , as in the like case concerning m. horton of richmond before the archbishop . then doctor lewen reading my answers to those questions , that had beene by the archbishop propounded unto me concerning my papers in my study , and namely the notes of my severall conferences , with the bishops and their officer ▪ i was asked as i remember by mr. fortescue . fortescue . why did you pen such things and keepe them . roch. because he and such like might apisbly imitate the mart●rs of former times , and accompt themselves persecuted by us as those were by the popish bishops . vda . the cause is this , for that in the quicknesse of wit and readinesse of memory in youth those things may be spoken , that in age will be more easily made use of in writing then otherwise , the memory of man not being infinite . ander . what say you did you make these bookes , or know you who made them ? vda . i cannot answer to that question , my lord . ander . you had as good say you were the author . vda . that will not follow ; but if you thinke so , i cannot do withall . cobha . mr. vdall if you be not the author say so , and if you be confesse it , you may find favour . vdall . my lord i thinke the author for any thing i know did well and i know that he is enquired after to be punished & therefore i think it my duty to hinder the finding of him out , which i cannot do better then thuss ander . and why so i pray you ? vda . because if every one that is suspected do deny it , the author at the length must needs be found out . ander . why dare you not confesse it if you be the author of it ? dare you not stand to your owne doings ? vda . i professed before that i lik'd of the bookes and the matter handled in them , but whether i made them or no i will not answer , neither of any other book of that argument , whatsoever goeth without name if you should aske me for the reason alleadged before , besides that if i were the author i thinke that by law i need not answer . ander . that is true if it concerned the losse of your life . vda . i pray your lordship , doth not the law say generally no man shall be put to answer without pres●ntment before iustices or things of record , or by due processe or writ originall , &c. a●no 42. edw. 3. cap ▪ 5. ander . that is law and it is on t law . vda . i understand you not my lord , it is a statute which is in force if it be not repealed . ander . i tell you by law you ought to answer in this case ▪ vda . good my lord shew me this favour to tell me in what booke of the law i shall find it , for i professe to understand , the latine , french , and english tongues , wherein all the lawes be written . fortescue . you are very cunning in the law , i pray you by what law did you preach at new●astle being f●rbidden at kingston . vd. i know no law against it , seeing it was the official doctor hone , who did silence me , whose authority reacheth , not out of his arch-deaconry . fortescue . what was the cause for which you were silenced ? vda . surely i cannot tell nor yet imagine saving the secret suggestions of mr ▪ harvie fortescue . to bee ignorant of that , is crassa et supina ignorantia . vda . no sir the action was crassa et supina injurta . and. well what say ●●u to those books , who made them and where were they printed . vda . though i could tell your lordship , yet dare i not for the reasons before alleadged . roch. i pray you let me aske you a question or two concerning your booke . vda . it is not yet proved to bee mine , but i will answer to any thing concerning the matter of the booke so farre as i know . roch. you call it a demonstration , i pray you what is a demonstration ? i beleeve you know not what it is . vda . if you had asked me that question when i was a boy in cambridge of a yeers standing it had been● a note of ignorance in mee , to have beene unable to answer you . roch. surely it seemeth by the frame of the syllogismes and reasons , in it , that you know it not if you be the author of that booke , i read none of it late , but in the parliament time sitting in a morning in the house i read some of it , and it seemed to mee in many things , not to conclude probably much lesse demonstratively . vda . i will shew you as i take it why the author called it a demonstration , because the reason which is usually brought to prove the conclusions is commonly drawne from a place of scripture , which hath more force in it to manifest the conclusion {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} then any of aristotles proofes drawne as they say , ex primis , veris , necessarijs et immediatis causis . roch. indeed that which is proved by the scrip●ures is proved most demonstratively , but the proofes in that booke are far from any such . vda . let that be the question and try it in some one . ander . my lord of rochester , i pray you let us make short worke with him , offer him a booke ; will you sweare to answer to such things as shall be demanded of you in the behalfe of our soveraigne lady the queene ? vda . i will take an oath of allegiance to her majesty , wherein i will acknowledge her supremacy according to statute , and promise my obedience as becometh a subject , but to sweare to accuse my selfe or others , i thinke you have no law for it . ander . mr. soliciter , i pray you tell him the law in this point . then mr. solliciter ( who had sitten all the while very soberly , noteing what passed ( and if a mans mind may be knowne by his countenance seemed to mislike the course holden against me , upon my lord andersons commandement ) stood up , and puting off his hat unto me said : eger . mr. vdall , i am sorry that you will not answer nor take an oath , which by law you ought to doe : i can assure you , your answers are like the seminary priests answers , for they say , there is no law to compell them to take an oath to accuse themselves . vda . sir , if it be a liberty by law , there is no reason why they should not challenge it , for ( though they be very bad ones ) they are subjects ▪ and untill they be condemned by law , may require all the benefits of subjects , neither is that any reason , that their answering so , should make the claime of lesse value for me , seeing that herein we are subjects alike , though otherwise of a most contrary disposition . buck . my lord , it is no standing with him thus , what sayest thou , wilt thou take the oath ? vda . my lord , i have said as much thereunto as i can . then they commanded me to goe forth , and they consulted a little space and called me againe , at which time almost every one of them , used many words to perswade me to a confesse a truth , saying the queene was mercifull , and that otherwise it would goe hardly with me : to whom i said , my lords , i know not that i have offended her majesty , when it is proved that i have i hope her mercy will not then be too late , howsoever it bee i dare not take this oath . awbery lewen . you have heretofore taken it , and why will you not take it now ? vda . indeed you call to remembrance a good reason to refuse it , i was called to answer to certaine articles upon mine oath heretofore , which i voluntarily did , and freely confessed that against my selfe , concerning my iudgement and preaching of the points of discipline , which could never have bin proved ; and when my friends labored to have me restored to my place ; the arch-bishop answered , that there was sufficient matter against me , by mine own confession , why i should not be restored ; whereupon i covenanted with mine own heart , never to be mine own tormentor in that sort againe . and. whatsoever be the issue of it , you must do your duty and deale plainely with the magistrate . vda . i take my duty to be in this case , not to answer , nor the magistrats to require it of me , seeing the apostle saith , receive not an accusation against an elder ▪ under two or three witnesses , which semanca the spanish inquisitor alleadgeth to the same purpose . buck . what , you are an elder are you ? vda . my lord , howsoever the word elder be taken , whether so largely as i and any brethren that desire the discipline do take it , or only for a minister of the word , as our adversaries understand it , i am an elder . roch. it is true my lord , that an elder in that place containeth all such as he is , but none else . buck . yea but they would have other elders to governe the church , which desire of theirs , when it cometh to passe , i will give over my barony , and become an elder . vda . if your lorship understood what great paines and small worldly recompence belongeth to that office , you would never say so . roch. the day is past , and we must make an end , will you take the oath ? vda . i dare not take it . roch. then you must goe to prison , and it will goe hard with you ▪ for you must remaine there untill you be glad to take it . vda . gods will be done , i had rather goe to prison with a good conscience ▪ then to be at liberty with an ill one . roch. your sentence f●r this time is to goe to the gate-house close prisoner , and you are beholding to my lords here , that they have heard you so long . vda . i acknowledge it , and do humbly thanke their honours for it . and when they were all gon , my lord cobham stayed me to speake to me , who told me that it might be , he and others wished things to be amended as ▪ well as i , but the time served not , and therefore he wished me not to stand in it , and i praying his lordships good favour , he promised to do for me what he could , for which i humbly thanked him , and so was carried to the gate-house by a messenger , who delivered me with a warrant to be kept close prisoner , and not be suffered to have pen inke or paper ▪ or any body to speak with me . thus i remained there halfe a yeare , in all which time my wife could not get leave to come unto me , saying only that in the heareing of the keeper she might speake to me , and i to her , of such things as he should thinke meet , notwithstanding that she made suit to the commissioners , yea unto the body of the councell , for some more liberty : all which time my chamber fellowes were seminary priests , traytors and professed papists . at the end of halfe a yeare , i was removed to the vvhite-lyon in southwarke , and so carried to the assises at croydon , where what was done , i will not mention , seeing there were present such as were both able , and i th●nk willing to set down , unto whose report i refer those that would know the same . a collection of such things as were truely gathered concerning the arraignement of mr. john udall , at the assises at croydon the 24. and 25. of iuly , 1590. noted faithfully by such as were beholders of the same . master iohn vdall , minister of the word of god at newcastle in the north , being suspected to be the author of a booke , called a demonstration of discipline , was sent for to come to london , who at his comming was committed close prisoner at the gate-house at westminster , from whence ( after he had b●n kept close there the space of six moneths and above ) he was in like manner committed to the prison of the white lyon in southwarck , and from thence the 22. of iuly , was carried to the assises held at croydon in the county of surrey , where were appointed for that assises to be judges , baron clarke and serjeant puckering , who according to the custome , gave the charge of the assises : wherein baron clarke shewed the intent of their comming thither , which he referred to 3 heads , viz. the safety of the church , the good of the common wealth , and the preservation and honour of her most excellent majesty : and then speaking of these in particular , he shewed the great use and necessity of laws , and giving our laws their due commendation , hee preferred them before all other laws of any other nation in the world , and further declared how neere they were for outward government , to the laws of god ▪ wherein he noted some particulars of them ; shewing that as the laws of god did condemne blasphemers ▪ idolaters , prophaners of the sabath rebellious and disobedient against superiours . murtherers adulterers , thieves , raylers , and false witnesses : for most of these or all of them , hee shewed particular statutes of our land that condemned them , and shewed the punishments of them . then he shewed , that as the law of god would not have any to be condemned , but their cause must first be heard , and that not in corners , but in the gates and publique places , that all might heare and see with what equity they were dealt withall : so also our laws condemned none but in publique places , and those that were accused had free liberty to say what they could for themselves ; and as the law of god condemned none , but in publique places , and when there were witnesses to prove the guiltinesse of the offenders ; so also our law condemneth none but plaine evidences and true witnesses must be produced against them . many other things he spake of , which is too long to rehearse , but this is the sum of it : after the charge given , the prisoners were brought forth , amongst whom mr. vdal● came , having fetters on his leggs , which moved many greatly to lament to see a minister of the gospell , brought the foremost as principall of so many malefactors : then were the prisoners called by name ▪ and answered severally to their names , who were no further dealt withall for that time , by reason of many other things that the judges were busied withall : the next day in the morning , the iudges being set , and the prisoners standing at the bar , one iohn pepper a felon and a robber by the high way , was called forth to answer to his inditement , and according to the order he held up his hand at the bar and pleaded for himselfe , that he was not guilty ; and being demanded by whom he would be tried , he referred himselfe to be tried by god and and the country : after whom there were five or six others called , and were tried as the first was . then was mr. vdall called and commanded to hold up his hand at the bar , who held up his hand accordingly . then was his inditement read , being thus : iohn vdall , late of london clerke , thou art indited &c. the forme of which inditement was as against murtherers , namely , that he not having the feare of god before his eyes but being stirred up by the instigation and motion of the devill , did maliciously publish a slanderous and infamous libell against the queenes majesty , her crown and dignity : and being asked wheteher he were guilty or not guilty ? he answered thus : vda . my lords ▪ may it please you to heare me a word or two . iud. cla. answer first to the iuditement and then you shall be heard . vda , my lords i beseech you heare me first a word or twaine . iud. say on . vda . my case is rare , and such as hath not bin heard of heretofore , and consisteth upon divers points of law , i humbly crave of your lordships to grant me to answere by councell if it may be . iud. cl. you cannot have it , and therefore answer to your inditement . vda . then i answer ( my lrods ) that i am not guilty . iud. cl. how wil● thou he tried ? vda ▪ i do desire to be tried by an inquest of learned men , but seeing i shall not i am contented to be tried by the ordinary course as these men before me are , that is ( as you use to say ) by god and the country . then the clerke of the assises said to the parties a raigned ( after he had read the names of the iury before them ) these men whose names you have heard , are to goe upon your lives and your deaths , loooke upon them when they are called to be sworne ▪ and if you know any cause , take exception against them . then the rest of the felons haveing nothing to say , mr. vdall said my lords , i am ignorant of the law in this point , i pray you therefore shew me the manner of challenging the jury , how many i may challenge , and whether i may render a reason of the same . iu. i think you will know a cause in your conscience ; before you challenge any of them . vd. then i pray you my l. how many am i by law permitted to challenge ? iud. nay i am not to t●ll you that , i sit to judge , and not to give you counsell . then mr. vdal keeping silence , proclamation was made according to the manner that if any man could give in evidence against iohn vdall , prisoner at the bar ▪ that they should come into the court and be heard . then mr. daulton stood up . and in the meane while mr. vdall said to the iudges thus : my lords ▪ i beseech you answer me to one question before mr. daulton begin to speake : jud. sa● on . vda . is it permitted me by law to answer to those things in particular which are brought to prove this indictment ? jud. it is permitted . vda . then i humbly crave of your lordships to grant me two petitions , which i thinke will greatly further both him in speaking , me in answering and also be a more ready helpe to the memory of the jury , that they may be able to beare the matter away . jud ▪ what are your petitions ? vda . the first is , that when mr. daulton hath spoken to one point what he can ▪ i may answer to that before he proceed any further lest my memory being overwhelmed with multitude of matter , i should forget to answere to some points of importance and the jury made the l●sse able to discerne of the particulars . the second is , that it might please you to grant me to answer without interruption . jud. you shall have them b●th granted . dau. then mr. daulton said , mr. udall you have these petitions grandte you , i desire the same of you . and then he desiring leave of the judges , before he should prove the indictment , to say something touching this , that this man and such as he is do maintaine , &c. after leave given him ▪ hee used a very long speech to the great disgrace and slander of the cause , and those men that professed the same especially of mr. udall , and making mention in the same his speech ▪ of five severall bookes of common prayer , made by such as desire reformation , he affirmed , that in one of the said bookes there was horrible blasphemy in these words of the consecration of the lords supper , take eate this is my body , drink this is my blood . then he cryed out saving , oh horrible ●lasphemy , and taking occasion upon the variety of these bookes , he affirmed that there was no constancy in these men ; and whereas one of the bookes doth allow , that over every congregation there should be a faithfull pastor , that is quoth hee , a shepheard , whereby they may take the government out of her majesties hand , and so bring her majesty to be one of their sheepe ; no quoth hee , her majesty is no sheepe under any shepheard in the wo●ld ▪ except christ : and for the government that these men do seeke for , i am assured there is none such to be found in the word of god . vda . mr. daulton hath used a very large speech , which doth nothing concerne to prove the indictment or me in particular , and therefore seeing i am not called hither to dispute ( and if i would i should not be permitted ) i will not answer it , onely thus much will i say , ( if it please your lordships ) that seeing mr. daulton is by profession a lawyer , and the cause is yet in question amongst the learned divines ▪ methinks it had bin more modesty for mr. daulton to have suspend●d ●●s judgement un ill the controversie had bin determined amongst them ▪ to whose profession it belongeth ▪ especially seeing mr. daulton knoweth in his conscience , that he hath heretofore carried some shew of ●●keing to the cause which now he speaketh against . jud. sirra , sirra , answer to the matter that mr. daulton hath against you , mr. daulton proceed to the proofe of the points of the indictment . daul . my masters , you of the jury , &c. i will prove , first that he had a malicious intent in making of this booke : secondly , that he is the author of it : and thirdly , that these matters contained in the indictment are felony by the statute eliz. 23. cap. 2. then was mr. beadle the register called ▪ who was sworne that these examinations following ▪ were as the parties themselves confessed the same : and to prove the first , the clarke of the assises caused stephen chatfield to be called into the court , to give in evidence against iohn vdall , but he appeared not at all , for which the judges were offended and sergeant puckering said , there was a warrant sen● for him , whereupon some standing by affirmed ▪ that the warrant came after his departure from home . then mr. daulton said , that he went out of the way of purpose , and iudge clarke said , mr. vdall you are glad of that . mr. vdall answered : vda . my lords , i wish heartily he had bin here for as i am sure he never could say any thing against me to prove this point , so i have heard and am able to prove it to be true that he is very sorry that ever he made any complaint against me ▪ confessing he did it in his anger , when martin came first out ; and by their suggestions , whom he hath proved since by experience to be very bad men . dault. it is no great matter whether he be here or no ▪ for we have his articles , against you , and your own confession to prove this point sufficiently . then were mr. chatfields articles ( that he brought to the arch-bishop against mr. vdall ) read by the clarke ▪ containing a report of certaine written papers , tending as he supposed , to the making of such a booke as this is , and thereupon asked mr. vdall whose writing they were , who answered , they are a friends of mine , whereunto chatfield replied , wishing him to take heed of them , and to rid his hands of them , and to returne them to his friend from whom he had them , for he doubted they concerned the state . these papers he saw in mr. vdall ▪ study at kingston . also he further saith , that at an other time , he having conferred with mr. udall in a certaine field by kingston , called little ▪ field , about his putting to silence , he saith , that the said mr. vdall uttered these words , that if they put him to silence , he would give the bishops such a blow as they never had . vda . may it please your lordships that i may answer to these things in particular . jud. say on let us heare your answer . vda . i was accused this time two yeares upon the words of chatfield , that these papers that he did see in my studie , should be the matter of martyn mar-prelate , and because i cleared my selfe of that , it is now brought to prove an other matter , but it proveth nothing unlesse it were set downe in particular what they were . daul . it proveth this , that you had a purpose to write this booke , and those things were collections from your friends and preparations thereunto . vda . let the iury consider how that point is proved by it . besides it may be proved , that this boke was extant in mens hands before the conference betweene chatfield and me , therefore how can it be proved that this is the booke that should give them such a blow . dault. but you cannot deny the second point , that you had a pretenced malice , for it is extant in your own confession ; read his answer to those articles of mr. chatfield . then the clarke read his answer to this effect , tha● if the bishops put him to silence , they would give him occasion and leasure to be imployed in writing against them . then said mr. daulton , is not this most evident , what can be plainer then it is ? vda ▪ i pray your lordships to give me leave to explaine these things . iud. say on and be briefe . vda . mr. chatfield told me that he was commanded to come to kingst●n and be resident there ; of purpose that i might be put to silence , and that there might not appeare any want of a preacher ▪ i being put downe . whereupon i said in effect , as is above rehearsed : but i pray you heare in what sence these words were uttered . iud. the matter is cleare , and we see what you can say to it well enough , proceed mr. daulton to the proofe of the second point . dault. and that you be the author of this slanderous and infamous libell , it shall be proved cleerely to the iury before your face ; then said he to the clerke read the answer of ni●holas thompkins , which was made upon his oath before her majesties high commissioners then was read to this effect that thompkins knew that mr. udall was the author of that booke called the demonstration , for he said , that mr. udall himselfe told him so . also that he saw either in mr. udalls house , or in some other place in kingst●ne a catalogue of all the bookes that mr. udall had made , amongst which the demonstration was one . daul . you see here that this is cleare and a sufficient testimony . vda . it carryeth some shew , but it is nothing . iud. doe you c●ll the testimony of one being an honest man , and upon his oath , before the high commissioners to be nothing , can you answer it ? vda . my lords ▪ i answer it thus , denying it to be his testimony , for if it be , why is he not present to verifie it face to f●ce , according to the law ? iud. puck : it is verified to be his true answer under the hon●s of dr. auberie and dr. lewen , the latter wher●of c●nfirmed it before me upon his corporall oath . dault. you can take no exceptions against that , and will you say he is not an honest man ? vda . i am perswaded he was amazed , and answered he knew not what , for hee hath reported it so diversely , that it seemeth ●ee remembreth not what hee said . iud. but the oath of thompkins is to be preferred before his bare rep●●t . ude . my lords i answer , i protest unto you ( and will verifie it upon my oath ▪ if it please you ) that he told me the day before i was committed , at his masters house , that he could not say , neither would he for a tho●sand pounds affirme any more then this t●a● he heard me say , i would not doubt but set my name to that booke if i might have indifferent iudges . and further ( if it please you my lords ) here are some witnesses that upon their oaths will testifie , how diversly he hath reported of his confession to this thing , if it please your lordships to accept them . and the witnesses offering themselves to be heard , were answered ; that because their witnesse was against the queenes majesty , they could not be heard . and after other speeches passing , mr. udall said : uda . my lords , the speech of the catalogue is most vaine , and hath no sence in it , for can i have made so many bookes , as that i need make a catalogue of t●em ? it may be my lords , he saw a catalogue of the bookes in my study , wherin if that were one , it is ●ather an argume●t that i made it not , for men use not to put their own works in the catalogue of those that they have in their study . daul , you of the iury consider this , that thompkins was mrs. cranes man , and one that was privy to all the printing that was at her house , and m● , udall used to go often thither . uda . all that is nothing to me , what if i used to goe thither , she is of my acquaintance i know her to be an honest gentle woman , what can you gather by any of these things ? why is not thompkins here to d●clare his testimony , and to say what he can ? daul . he is beyond the seas about merchandises , sent away by mr. gore who married mrs. cranes daughter . vda . how doth that appeare he is no merchant but a serving-man , and if he were what is that to me , but it cannot be proved that mr. gore did send him so that here is nothing but bare papers to shew for evidence against me . then there was much said to prove that the testimony of a man absent was sufficient if it were proved to be his upon the oathes of others . and then the judge said . iudg. vvhat say you ? did you make the booke ( vdall ) yea or no , what say you to it , w●ll you be sworne ? will you take your oath that you made it not ? wee will offer you that favour , whi●h never any indited of felony had before , take your oath and sweare you did it not and it shall suffice . vda . my lords i pray you heare me to this , if i would have done so before the lords of her majesties privie counsell that committed mee , i had not come hither , but i neither then might nor may do so now ; whereof i pray you let me shew a reason to the iury . i and many more doe think the booke to be good ▪ for any thing wee can find in it , and to be written in defence of a cause which we take to be most true . now the author is sought for that he may be punished for some speeches that may be wrested in the booke ▪ therefore least he should be found ( if one after another that are suspected doe deny it ) it is thought best every one neither to confesse nor to deny , yea though we suffer some punishment rather then the author being found out should suffer extremity . iudg. nay this is but a shift , i will goe further with you , will you but say upon your honestie that you made it not ? and you shall see what shall be said unto you ? vda . my lords it is all one i make a conscience of my word as of my oath , for i must give accompt for both . this is no direct course in this place . iudg. you of the iury consider this ▪ this argueth that if he were not guilty he would cleare hims●lfe , and consider well of it ▪ and then speaking to mr. vdall , hee said doe not stand in it but confesse it and submit your selfe to the queens mercy before the iury find you guilty . vda . my lord i answer that according to my inditement i am not guilty , every point whereof must be proved or else the whole is false . and i beseech your lordships give me leave and i will be very briefe . my conscience doth not accuse me , that i have so much as offended her majestie , her councell ▪ or the meanest of her people in any thing , i have done concerning this cause , for if i should , of all other i deserved the least favour being one that professed to teach others loyaltie to her majestie , and love one to another , and would you have mee to confesse a fault where there is none , no i cannot doe it neither will i : wherefore proceed in your course begun . daul . we have yet more proofe then this , though yet this were sufficient of it selfe , wherefore read the other examinations . then was read the confession of henry sharpe of northampton who upon his oath before my lord chancellor had said that he ●eard mr. penry say that mr. vdall was the author of the demonstration . vda . sharpe and i were never above once in company together ( to my remembrance ) neither knew hee ever any of my dealings . this is nothing to prove me the author of the booke , reports bee uncertain , and if reports be true the archbishop himselfe told mee that mr. penry made it , which is more forcible for mee , then any of sharpes reports can be against me . daul . you mistake the matter , the force of the point resteth in mr penryes report , who was one of your great acquaintance and familiars , and you and walgrave and he were at mrs. cranes house . vda . here is one mans saying that another said so , let the iury consider of what force this proofe is , if you have any more let it appeare . iudg. clarke . you of the iury have not to enquire whether he be guilty of the fel●ny but whether he be the author of the booke , for it is already set downe by the judgement of all the iudges in the land , that whosoever was author of that booke was guilty the statute of felony , and this is declared ab●ve halfe a yeere ag●ne . vda . though it be so determined already , yet i pray your lordships give me leave to shew that which i have to say and i will be very briefe and it is to prove , that though i were found to be the author , yet it cannot be within the compasse of that stature , an. 23. eliz. cap. 2. whereupon the inditement is framed . iudg. you shall be heard to say for your selfe what you can , therefore say on . vda . though i bee not by profession a lawyer , yet i thinke i can shew it clearely by these reasons following . first , the intent of the law-makers , ( which alwaies is to bee regarded in these cases ) is to bee considered which appeareth in the preface of the statute in these words ; to suppresse the malice of those that be evill affected to her highnesse . now i pray you consider this , how can it be ? or how is it possible that a preacher of the same religion which her majestie professeth , and maintaineth who is known continually to pray unto god for her highnesse prosperity and happinesse both of soule and body ; how is it possible i say , that such a one should bee maliciously affected towards her ? therefore it is evident that the statute was made against the papists , who use to slander her highnesse with the tearmes of heretique , &c. and no way against us for i dare boldly say of my selfe , and in the name of all my brethren . cursed is he of god , and he deserveth doubtlesse to be hated of men that doth imagine the least hurt against her highnesse . secondly , the matter that maketh a man a felon by that statute , must proceeed from a malicious intent against her highnesse , which i or any such as i am can no way justly be charged with : pattly for that which is said before , and partly for that my course of teaching and living in this country these 9 yeares ( saving this last yeere , wherein i have been absent ) is known to have tended to no other end then the provoking and perswading of the people to like of and yeeld obedience unto her majestie , and the religion received in her dominions , for the proofe whereof i referre my selfe to the consciences of all men in the country that have knowne me : and further it is likely that i who have bin trayned up in the universities under her majesties protection and have alwaies bended my studies to the advancement of the sincerity of the gospell ▪ so that those small crums of learning which i have gatheted , i doe acknowledge to have received by her majesties meanes these things considered , how can it be that i should bee evill affected towards her highnesse , whom i protest i unfaynedly reverence ? and therefore the worst that the author can be charged withall is his overheat and to much vebemency by reason of his zeale against the abuses , and not any malice against her majestie , or the meanest of her subjects : againe the matter to bring it within the compasse of the statute must be false . but this booke is written in the behalf of a most true cause . lastly the end of it , must be either to the defamation of the queenes majestie or stirring up of insurrection , sedition , or rebellion . for the former i trust that the whole course of our behaviour both in our ministery and conversation , declareth it selfe to bee so farre from seeking to defame her highnesse as it tendeth to the uttermost of our powers , to the advancement , of her honour . for i am perswaded that there is none of us that would refuse to undergoe any paine whereby her majestie might any way be the better honoured , yea wee would not refuse if need so required , to lay downe our lives for redeeming of the least aking of her majesties little finger wherewith shee might bee grieved . now for the second end which is the moving or staring ●p of rebellion &c. i pray your lordships , and you of the iury to consider this , there have beene since the first day of her majesties raign , learned men that have desired the advancemen● of this cause and many of the people that affected it . and yet hath it never appeared that by occasion hereof , there hath in all this time bin any in any place that have raised any insurrection or sedition : yea this booke which is now in question hath bin extant these 2 yeeres , yet i trust neither your lordships nor any here present can shew that any people in any corner of the land , nay it cannot be justly proved that any one person hath taken any occasion hereby to enterprize any such matter , and therefore the making of this book cannot be felony . besides all this if there had bin any such thing meant by the author , or received by the people , as the indictment chargeth me withall , ( which is the defamation of her highnesse government ) yet ( as i take it ) it should not be felony by that statute , for the whole course of it , declareth , that it is onely meant of them that defame her highnesse person , and not her government , as it is manifest by the last proviso , wherein it is shewed , that the whole statute doth determine and end with her majesties life : and we may not thinke their wisdoms that made the law , to be so unadvised , as to make a law for the preservation of the princes government which is continuall , to last no longer then the life of one prince which is temporary . therefore it seemeth that the statute hath no further regard then this , that her highnesse person might be preserved in that honour and dignity which becometh her royall dignity and estate . and i do beseech your lordships to answer me , for i appeale to your consciences as you will answer to god for my life , and i pray you tell the iury whether you do thinke the ▪ intent of the statute were in any sort meant against us , and not rather against the papists . iud. puck . iudge puckering said , you do not well to charge us so with our consciences , which god only is to know : i answere you , the intent of the statute is against all , for so the words are . vdall . the words my lord , i confesse are so , but is the principall intent so ? iud. yea it is so . iud. cla. we have heard you speake for your selfe to this point at large , which is nothing to excuse you , for you cannot excuse your selfe to have done it with a malicious intent against the bishops ▪ and that exercising that government which the queene hath appointed them , and so it is by consequent against the queene . vda . my lords , i am perswaded that the author did it not of any malice against them , and for my selfe , i protest i wish them as much good as i do to my own soule and will pray to god to give them repentance . but the cause why the author did so earnestly inveigh against them was this , as it seemeth , because he perceived them not only to execute an authority which he taketh to be unlawfull by the word of god , but also for that they do not the tenth part of that good , ( even in those corrupt callings ) which by law they might doe : and i am perswaded , that your lordships know in your owne consciences , that they doe not the tenth part of that they are bound to doe . iud. clar. that is true , they do not the good that they might do ; but yet that doth not excuse you ▪ for it is plaine in your booke , that you writ not against them onely , but you writ against the state , for is it not against the state when you say , that it is more easier to live in england a papist , an anabaptist , of the family of love , and what not ? yea you say , i could live so in a bishops house it may be these twenty yeares and never be much molested for it ; what is this but a plaine standering of the state ? and marke the words , for you say , you could live so in england : and doth her majesties laws allow of papists ? this maketh eviden●ly against you , and it is so plaine that you cannot deny it . vda . my lords , if it might please you to heare me a word or two , i will shew the meaning of the author of the booke , i beseech you to heare me and i will be very briefe : i know that the laws of england do not allow of any such as are mentioned in the booke , for there are godly laws made for the punishing of them , if they were put in execution . but this i take to be the authors meaning , that it is not spoken in respect of her majesties government and laws , but in respect of the bishops whom your lordships know to be wholly imployed in finding us out , and punishing of us , not regarding ( in a manner ) the punishing any sinne else . iud. what sirra will you not confesse any fault to be in the booke , you seeke to excuse all . vda . my lords , i do acknowledge , that there was never any worke of man so perfect , but there have bin imperfections in the same , and therefore there may be some fault in the manner , but surely none in the matter : for the bishops themselves will confesse , that they may faile in their actions , and be partiall ( as they are men ) in the manner of handling of any thing ; so also the author of this booke , being assured that the matter is without reproofe , may erre in the manner , in being over-zealous in the handling of it , and this fault i will easily confesse to be in the booke my lords ; but i am sure the author never had any malicious intent against her highnesse , or any of her subjects . iud. clar. this booke hath made you to come within the compasse of the statute , though your intent were not so , for i am sure there was mr. stubbs , well knowne to divers here , to be a good subject , and an honest man , yet taking upon him to write a a booke against her majesty touching mounseir , he thereby came within the compass● of law , which he intended not in making of the booke , and i am perswaded , that he did it of a good affection towards her majesty ; and yet if this law had bin made then , which was made since , he had died for it : so you , though you intended not to come within the compasse of the statute , yet the law reacheth to your fact as that did to his . vda . my lords , his case and mine is not alike , for his booke , concerned her highnesse person , but the author of this booke toucheth only the corruptions of the bishops , and therefore not the person of her majesty . iud. but i will prove this booke to be against her majesties person , for her majesty being the supreame governor of all persons and causes in these her dominions hath established this kinde of government in the hands of the bishops , which thou and thy f●llows so strive against , and they being set in authority for the exercising of this government by her majesty , thou dost not strive against them but her majesties person , seeing they cannot alter the government which the queene hath laid upon them . vda . my lords , we are not ignorant of this , that her majesty hath a care that all things might be well , and in that respect hath given them often in charge , ( upon the considerations of these controversies ) to see to it that nothing be amisse , and because she hath a good opinion of them for their gravity and learning , she believeth them when they say all is well and in good case , whereas if they had the grace to looke into these things , and to make them knowne as they be , indeed her majesty and the state , i doubt not , would quickly redresse them , and therefore was it that the author did so charge them . then the iudge proceeding further in the booke to prove him to have offended , he tooke occasion by the same to speake against railing against magistrates , and speaking to mr. vdall he said in effect thus : iud. cla. sirra you that should have bin a teacher of her majesties people , you should have taught your selfe not to have rayled upon the rulers of the people , for do you not know what is written in the 23. of exodus , thou shalt not raile upon the ruler of the people , for whosoever doth so , shall die the death . and do you not know what is written in the 23 of the acts , where the apostle paul being before the high priest , called him a painted wall ; and being smitten by one of the high priests servants , it was said unto him , revilest thou the lords high priest ? to which paul answered , i knew not brethren that he was the high priest , loe thus did he acknowledge his fault , do you know these things sirra ? vda . my lord , you know that we hold it not lawfull for a minister to be a civill magistrate , and there are at least 500. in this land amongst whom i am the most unworthy , that are of the same judgement in this point . jud. but how if the queene doth give it them ? vda . they ought not to take it . and my lord , ( if it please you ) i will answere to your proofes , though i came not hither to dispute . but in my answering , my purpose is not to give any liberty to any man , to raile upon any that are in authority . now to your proofes i say my lords , that the place out of the 32 exod. doth rather concerne your lordships and such as are under her majestie for judges , then any way to concerne the bishops : and touching the second place out of the 23 of the acts , where the apostle saith , brethren i wist not that it was the high priest : the meaning of that place is , as if he should say , i thought there had not bin any high priest now , seeing christ being come , the high priesthood was to cease , so that the apostle doth not acknowledge any fault in that his speech , for there was no lawfull high priest of that time , neither did he acknowledge any , seeing they did end in christ : and thus do the best divines expound the place . then after some further speeches of this exposition , the judge returned to the matter of the booke againe , saying , that the booke did concerne the state ▪ and sayd : iud. but sirrah thou canst not so excuse thy selfe , as though it touched not the qu. and the state , for is it not written in thy booke , that this saying will not serve their turnes , the queene and councell will have it so : whereby it is plaine , that thou didst speake against the queene and the state . vda . my lord ▪ the author only meaneth this , that when we are called before the bishops , they were often driven to use this argument ( when they had nothing else to say for themselves ) that they could be content many things were amended , but it must be so , for the queene and councell will have it so : and surely herein me thinks they slander her highnesse , and we tell them , that however they beare it out here before men , yet before god that excuse will not serve their turne . iud. thou canst not carry it away so , dost thou not plain●ly say , that they are not safe though they have humane authority on their side , but he that is on our side is mightier then they ; whereby thou both abasest her majesty , and also dost threaten them with some force and vi●lence . vda . it is true , that whosoever doth unjustly is not safe in it , though all the princes in the world should desend him in it ; and that is the meaning of the author . but to say that force and violence is threatned them , is furthest doubtlesse from his meaning ; for it is knowne to all the world , that we desire by all good meanes to commend this holy cause of reformation to her majesty and the state , and do not looke for neither , that ever it should by any force prevaile , but that it would please god to honour her highnesse with the advancement of the same . jud. no , no , these are but excuses , these malicious speeches proceeded from thee , and were the ground-worke of all these ▪ lihells that have bin dispersed since , and thou art ▪ known to be the ring-leader of this faction . vda . there is no reason to charge me with other mens doings , every man must answer for himselfe ; but as for me ( alas ) i am no body ; there are five hundred ministers in this land of my judgement in these things , the meanest of which i acknowledge to be far better learned then i am . but by the way my lords , i pray your lordships give me leave to say one thing which i being about to speake of before , was interrupted , and therefore seeing now it commeth into my memory , i pray you to heare me , though it be out of time , concerning the felony whereof i am accused , it maketh greatly for me . iud. what is it ? let us heare what you can say ? vda . when i was before the lords of her majesties councell at the time of my commitment , amongst other things that i alleadged against the taking of an oath to accuse my selfe , i said that the thing was accounted criminall , and therefore by law i was not to answer : my lord anderson said that i said true if the case had concerned either the losse of life or limb , whereby it is manifest that then my case was not esteemed felony . iud. though the iudges had not then concluded it , yet it was law before , or else it could not so be determined after ; the violent course of others since , hath caused your case to be more narowly sifted . then the iudge ( having spoken to the like effect also ) said to the iury , that they should not need to trouble themselves to find him guilty of the felony but onely it was sufficient if they found him guilty to be the author of the booke , for ( quoth he ) it is already determined by all the iudges of the ●●●d , that the author of that booke was in the compasse of the statute of ●●●●ny , and this quoth he , was concluded before we came hither : therefore you being ignorant of the law , and we being sworne as well as you are , you are ●o heare us , and to take our exposition of the law : and after many other speeches , the iudges said , goe thy way , we will heare thee no longer , get thee hence , and shaking his hand hee called for the other felons to heare their causes . iury. then the iury said , what can we finde ? iud. find him author of the booke , and leave the felony to us . and after some other speeches , mr. fuller said to the iury , you are to finde him author of the booke , and also guilty of a malicious intent in making it ; whereat mr. daulton said , what have you to do with the matter mr. fuller to speake to the iury ? then there being some noyse at the bar , mr. vdall could not any more be heard ; yet as he was ready to depart , hee said to the iury ; you of the iury consider this , that you have not to consult about the life of a seminary and popish priest , but of a minister of the gospell . then iudge clarke shewed the reasons to the iury , why they must find him guilty , saying , the evidences are manifest for the first point , that he is the author of the booke ▪ and the second is a point in law agreed upon by all the iudges , as i have said . so the iury after they had heard the evidences of the other felons at the bar , departed to consult about them , in which time of their consultation there came two severall messages exhorting him to submit himselfe , and to yeeld unto the iudges before the iury had given up their verdict , unto whom mr. vdall replyed willing them not to trouble him with any such matter , for he was cleare in his conscience , and therefore he was not to accuse himselfe ; in which time also the iury diverse times sent and received messages from the iudges ▪ and at the last , the fore-man of the iury went himselfe unto them . thus having debated of the evidences of the rest of the felons with mr. vdall , after the iudges had dined the iury brought in their verdict that he was guilty of felony . after that baron clarke had finished all other matters of law , and that the iuries had given their verdicts on the felons , finding some guilty , and some not guilty : the iudge commanded all the prisoners to stand forth and to answere to their names ▪ which did so ; and first mr ▪ vdall was called , who stood forth at the bar , but the iudge commanded him for that time to stand aside , saying that he would deale with him anon : then some of the prisoners which were saved by their bookes , were burnt in their hands , and for that night there was nothing more don . then the iudge commanding the iay●or to bring the prisoners betimes in the morning , commanded them to depart , and so for that time every man departed to his place . the second dayes worke , being the 25. of iuly . the next morning neere about 4 ▪ of the clock the prisoners were brought to the bar , who stayed till the comming of the iudges ▪ who came thither by 6 of the clock , or thereabouts , and called the prisoners by their names to receive sentence of death ; and first they began with mr. vdall , who after he was called was commanded to stand aside till anon , and then there were 7 felons that received sentence of death ▪ who being taken aside , mr. vdall was called the second time and the clarke of the assises said , iohn vdall hold up thy ●a●d , what canst thou alleadge for thy self , why thou shouldst not receive judgment to dy . vda . my lords , notwithstanding my earnest pleading and protesting of mine innocency yesterday , which i could and would have done more cleerely , but that i was so much interrupted : yet it hath pleased the iury upon their consciences to finde me guiltie of that which i thank god never entred into my heart ; now therefore must i pleade another plea , and therefore i crave of your lordships to grant me the benefit of the pardon granted the last parliament . iud. i thinke you can have no benefit by it , for i am deceived if it be not excepted . then said he to the cleark or some other , reach me the statute booke , and whilest hee looked in the same : vda . mr. vdall said , i pray your lordships consider the ground of my plea , albeit ▪ indeed it seeme to be excepted : your lordships confessed yesterday , and i shewed it by my lord andersons speeches to me , that it was not thought felony till of late , and therefore the things that be excepted be such as be inquirable and punishable in the ecclesiasticall courts . jud. that is nothing , for if the lesser be excepted , much rather is the greater ▪ vda . my lords , i refer it to your consciences and favourable considerations : the words are these in the pardon , which he repeated , and they finding it to be as he had said , the judge said , here is no helpe for you : and after other speeches betweene them of the meaning of the words of the pardon , the judge said , mr. vdall your councell hath deceived you . vda . my lords , i have not received any councell herein , for i have bin close prisoner this halfe yeare , and therefore could not attaine to have any councell ; but thus much have i gathered , which is my judgement out of the booke . jud. what can you alleadge more for your selfe ? for this helpeth you not : vda . nothing but mine own innocency , but that your lordships may proceed . iud. what say you ? are you contented to submit your selfe to the queene : vda . yea , or else i were not worthy to live in her highnesse dominions . iud. but will you acknowledge your selfe to have offended her majesty in making this booke ? she is gracious and full of mercy , it may be , that we reporting your submisi●n unto her majesty , may procure her pardon for you . vda . may it please your lordships to heare me ; the cause for which i am called in question , i cannot forsake in any sort , for i hold it to be the undoubted truth of god : but , &c ▪ and then he was interrupted by iudge puckering , who said : iud. nay stay there , you cannot goe away with that speech unanswered , to buz ▪ into the peoples eares such a conceit , that it is an undoubted truth that you hold ; for i hold it to be an undoubted falshood : and then he proceeded further in a large set speech , the effect whereof was , that this land having bin governed by sundry nations , hath yet kept her ancient laws , which he affirmed would be overthrowne , if this government that these men seeke for should be established : and then he further shewed , what inconventences ( as he thought ) would come by the same , viz. that we having laws and iudges appointed to decide all controversies ; this presbitery which these men seeke for , would overthrow all , and bring to their censure and government , all mens causes ▪ or else they would excommunicate them from their churches ; yea and they are so hot for this government , that they will not stay for the magistrate , and if the magistrate will not , they will reforme themselves , and one of them writing in a letter to his friend of his , saith , let us number our hot brethren , that we may know who will stand to it , for it is high time . so that it is plaine , that if they cannot have it with her majesties consent , they will have it though it make our hearts to ake , as you say in your booke ▪ and whereas her majesty hath revenues belonging to her crown out of the church-livings , and cathedrall churches , these men would have her majesty give unto them those revenues , for the maintenance of their preshitery , and they would her a s●ipend allow at their discretions , so that they would bring the queene and the crowne under their g●rdles . and some of these men have gon so farre , that they say plainely we have no church , no sacrament , no ministers , nor any worship of god amongst us . if these things bee not loo●'t unto in time , what confusion shall wee have in this land shortly ? many other things be spake against the cause of reformation , which i cannot particularly lay downe but this is in effect the substance of it ; concluding he said , thus much mr. vdall have your speeches enforced me to speake least the people here present ( being deceived ) should be carried away by it . to which mr. vdall answered briefly . vda . my lords it is bootelesse for me to enter disputation with you in this place touching this matter , onely this i could wish you to leave it to be first decided by the learned divines to whose calling it belongeth . and although some weak men wan●ing iudgement have bin headily carryed in seeking the furtherance of this cause , and so for want of this government have runne into some errors , yet it is no reason to charge us with them , for your lordships know that wee have been the men that have taken the greatest paines to reclaime them to the joyning of themselves with the church , from which they have separated themselves . iudg. clar. you are deceived it is not a matter of divinity onely , but it is a matter of state , and within the compasse of our profession , and it is not so greatly in controversie as you would have us to beleeve it is . vd. it is diversly debated ( my lords ) and the greatest number of learned men in christendome doe maintaine the same . iudg. how doe you know that , have you bin beyond the seas , to know the greatest number of learned men to be of this judgement ? vdall . your lordships know that all the churches of france , the low countries , and of scotland doe maintaine the same ? besides many hundreds of learned men in this land . iudg. have you been in all these churches that you can tell so much ? vda . i know it to be true ( my lords ) for their practise doth shew them to be of this judgement . iu. well , if you can alleadg no more ; neither will submit your self to the queens mercy , then heare your judgement . vda . my lords i was beginning to speake , but you interrupted me , i pray you heare me , what i will say ▪ and then do as god shall move you . iud. let us heare what you will say . vda . as i said before so i say now , i beleeve the cause to be the undoubted truth of god , and therefore in the matter i cannot by any meanes yeeld ; yet seeing by your order of law i am found to be guilty , neither can i ( for the reverence i beare to her majesties lawes ) take any exceptions against you nor the iury , but that which you have done i acknowledge to bee done in all equity and right . seeing i say you have found me to bee guilty , whereby i cannot live without h●r majesties gracious and speciall favour . i acknowledge that whatsoever i have done to the advancement of the cause . i may offend in the manner , in which respect ( if i have offended ) seeing it hath pleased your lordships and the iury to find mee guilty , i doe willingly submit my selfe and heartily crave her majesties pardon . iud. but are you sorry , that you have offended the queenes majesty . vda . i am sorry , that the course of the law hath found me to have offended . iudg. so is every thiefe that is c●ndemned sorry , that his offence is found out , but not for the fact . this is a plaine fallacy . vda . my lord indeed if it were so as your lordship doth understand it , it were a plaine fallacy , but i say further , if in the manner of handling so good a cause , there be found in me any offence against her majesties lawes : and i acknowledge that in the manner of handling it her majestie may be justly offended , for which i am sorry . and i protest that i have never gone about to advance it by any other meanes , then by manifesting it to all men , and tendering it to them in authority , and that by such meanes as might not be contrary to the laws of this land , that so it might be received by her majesty and the state , and this is the care of us all , howsoever we be charged with factions . iud. you say if there ●e found any offence , whereby you call in question the equity of dealing in this court against you . vda . my lords i do not neither will i , let it be looked into by you and the rest whom it concerneth , i hope you would not deale otherwise then lawfully against me . iud. puck . you say you seeke no unlawfull meanes , what can be meant but unlawfull meanes in the words of your booke ▪ if it come in by that meanes that will make all your hearts to ake , blame your selves : what good meanes ca● bee meant by th●se word● ? vdall . my lords , yesterday i shewed you , what i tooke to bee the meaning of the author in some places of the booke alleadged against me in the inditement ▪ and then i would have spoken unto all , but you cut me off , i pray you therefore let me shew you the meaning of the author in those words now . iudg. let us heare you how you expound it . vda . my lords , your lordships must understand , that the author taketh it for graunted that the cause is gods and must prevaile , and therefore seeing god hath used all the meanes of his mercy to bring it in , in giving us a gracious prince , ●ong peace and aboundance ▪ and of stirring up some to exhibite s●●plications to the parliament ; these things not prevailing in his mercy , he will bring 〈…〉 some judgement as plague or famine , or some such like 〈…〉 his is alwaies the manner of gods dealing . 〈…〉 〈…〉 expound it so , for the words import another thing . 〈…〉 〈…〉 , the author himselfe expoundeth it so in the words follow 〈…〉 saith , that it must prevaile , for such a judgment will overtake this land 〈…〉 eares of all that heare thereof to tingle , so that he meaneth nothing 〈…〉 god will bring it in by his owne hand by judgment , if by mercy hee can 〈…〉 ▪ iud. no no , your meaning was that it should be brought in by force and violence . vda . god forbid ! farre be it from us to conceive any such imagination . the author of that booke doth plainely shew that hee meant no such thing , and the words following in the end of the epistle doe declare the same , for there he sheweth by whom it is to be brought in namely by her majesty and her honourable counsellors , that they may see it , and establish the same . iudg. nay the meaning is , that if the queene will not , yet you say it shall come in , for so the words are , that it must prevaile , maugre the heads of all that stand against it . vda . nay my lords the words are maugre the malice of all that stand against it ▪ for there are many heads that are not maliciously bent against it , there is great difference betweene malice and ●eads , for some are against the cause through ignorance ▪ iud. it is all one in effect ▪ vda . nay ( my lords ) there is great difference , iud. puck . well mr. vdall you were best to submit your selfe to the queenes mercy and leave these courses , for i tell you that your booke is most seditio●s and slanderous against her majestie and the state , and yet i assure you that your booke had bin passed over , if there had not come forth presently after it such a number of slanderous libels , as , martin marre-prelate , martins epitome , martin iunior , or thesis martiane , martin senior , and others such like , of which your booke was judged to bee the ring-leader . vda my lords those that are learned , and doe maintaine this cause , doe iudge this booke to be written very indifferently , howsoever it bee hardly construed . but for martin and the rest of those bookes that you have named , they were never approved by the godly learned . and i am fully perswaded that those bookes were not done by any minister , and i thinke there is never a minister in this land , that doth know who martin is . and i for my part have bin inquisitive but i could never learne who he is . iud. clar. you will not acknowledge your selfe faulty in any thing , and therefore it is in value to stand any longer with you . vda . i will easily confesse that in manner the author hath offended , for no man can handle a cause so well but there will fault appeare in it , as appeareth by iob who having a good cause handled it weakely : it is easier to handle an ill cause cunningly , then a good one well . iud. nay but you have maliciously offended in publishing this booke , which tendeth to the overthrowing of the state and the moving of rebellion . vda . my lords that be farre from me ▪ for we teach that in reforming things amisse if the prince will not consent , the weapons that subjects are to fight withall are repentance and prayers , patience and teares . iud. yea you had done well if you had used these weapons rather then to have made this booke . vda . god forbid but that wee should give unto her majestie that honour which justly is due unto her , for we have not taught the people to reforme the state without the prince , and our practice hath proved the same , for wee never taught any of her subjects to goe before her , but to leave that honour as belongeth to her majestie . iud. well ▪ will you submit your self or not ? for else i must proceed to iudgement , and i have no authority to favour you , neither will i stay sentence of death according to my office , what my brother hath i know not , and therefore shortly submit your selfe or else ! am to pronounce sentence of death . vda . and i am ready to receive it : for i protest before god ( not knowing that i am to live an houre ) that the cause is good , and i am contented to receive sentence so that i may leave it to posterity how i have suffered for the cause . but my lords the cause excepted , i will submit my selfe in any thing . iudg ▪ let the cause alone and tell us no more of it , but acknowledge your selfe to have offended the queenes majestie , vda . i may not in any case yeeld in the cause , i have almost ever since i was a preacher of the gospell professed it , and therefore i cannot bee at this time changed . iudg. let ( i say ) the cause alone and say what you will doe . vda . i must needs professe it and mention it , lest it should bee thought that i have started from it , but for any thing that i have done in the manner against law , i am heartily sorry for it , more then this i cannot say , do with me what you will . iudg. but are you sorry for offending her majestie and her laws , and be you conten●ed to amend and to live in obedience as becommeth a good subject ? vda . i am content to seeke the advancement of this cause by no other meanes , then that which may stand with the lawes of this land , and the duty of a good subject . iud. i come not here to intreate you to submit your selfe , but you shall doe it willingly upon your knees , and crave her majesties mercy . vdall . then mr. vdall kneeling downe said , i refuse not any kind of submission to her majestie : and i intreat your lordships to be a means to her majestie for me . and if i were worthy that my poore papers might come unto her majestie , or to her honourable councell , i would write thus much unto them . iudg. nay will you write thus much unto us , that wee may first see it and commend it to her majestie ? vda . i willingly doe it . thus they dismissed him . and this is the sum of that which i with the helpe of others could remember , having not any intent to leave out or enlarge any thing further the● the meaning of the speakers did intend ; notwithstanding many more things were said on both sides , especially the set speeches of both the iudges and of mr. daulton to the disgrace of the desired reformation , which could not well be expressed in particular , and therefore i have left them . also many other things mr. vdall purposed and begun to say , which they stopped , so that they could not be perceived . the assises being thus ended , mr. vdall was returned to the prison of the white-lyon againe where he continued till the sessions in s●ut●warke ▪ begining the 18. day of february , 1590. during which time he wrote a supplication or submission to the queenes majesty , as followeth : to the queenes most excellent majesty . most gracious and dread soveraigne , the present lamentable estate wherein i stand , being found guilty by verdict , to be author of a book intituled , ● demonstration of discipline , and being without your gracious pardon ▪ to die for the same : i humbly prostrate my selfe at your majesties fe●● , submitting my selfe in most humble manner as becometh a dutifull subject , to such order as it shall please your highnesse to appoint ▪ to whom god hath given so high and soveraigne a power as is able both to kill and to quicken , to bring to the gates of death , and to cause to returne to the comfort of life againe : before whom standing thus convict , i am not to pleade my innocency : yet i most humbly desire it may not offend your excellent majesty , that i protest ( of the truth whereof i call god to witnesse who knoweth all secrets , and will judge both the quick and the dead ) that i had never any thought or imagination to publish , write , or doe any thing maliciously ▪ or tending to the dishonour or slander of your majesties royall person or princely estate ▪ under whose gracious government i have attained to so many benefits and blessings ; amongst which i most highly esteeme the true knowledge and ●●a●e of god ; in regard whereof , i have bin alwaies ▪ ready even to adventure my life , for the preservation of your most royal person and defence of your princely estate , and the same have also taught un●o others , as a thing ●pecially commanded by god ; notwithstanding feareing the severity of justice unto death : i flie for life unto your majesties most gracious mercy most humbly desiring your highnesse of your mercifull compassion for reliefe of my poore and miserable estate , to grant me your gracious and comfortable pardon , whereby ▪ i may be discharged , both of the offence and punishment ▪ which the law hath said upon me . other hope then this have i none ▪ ( but the trust i have in ▪ god , according to his promises ) that your majesty by a speciall gift of god , is gracious and mercifull , and have vouchsafed to shew mercy even to such as were not only by imputation of law but indeed malicious and mortall enemies to your highnes●e , and therefore ▪ i hope that the same goodnesse of so princely a nature may be moved , and will shew forth it selfe in like gracious compassion on my behalfe ; which gracious pardon on my knees i most humbly crave your excellent majesty to grant unto me ▪ by which speciall favour being raised as it were from the dead , i promise and vow to leade the rest of my life in all humble and dutifull obedience unto your majesty ; praying continually for the preservation of your highnesse precious life and happy government , to the honour of almighty god , and the comfort of all obedient and dutifull subjects . a declaration of that which passed betweene the judges and mr. vdall at the assises in southwarke febru. 19 , 1590. because you are ▪ ●●sirous to understand of me the particular things which passed betweene the iudges and me the 18 ▪ 19 , and 20. daies of ●●b . 1590. albeit i had rather you should learne it of others , yet seeing the ground of all dependeth upon some things that passed between them and me in private , i am the rather induced to satisfie your request praying that it may be kept secret amongst those friends that may have good by it , and not given out unto any such sort as may aggravate this heavy burthen that is already ●aid upon me . being called the first day of the assises in the afternoon sergeant puckering said : puck . we do not meane now to deale with you , only i must put you in mind that you have made a ▪ petition , wherein you promise to submit your selfe to such order as her majesty shall appoint ; consider of it , and looke that you ●● it , for ●●an tell you , it is looked for at your hands ▪ vda . i know not my lord what you meane ▪ i made a petition but to her majesty , and will willingly performe any thing promised therein : puck . well , advise well with your selfe and looke that you do it , i tell you aforehand . vda . unlesse you meane that i know not your meaning . justice fenner dwelling in●urre sat on the bench and said , mr. vdall , i must needs say something unto you , i have heard much good of you , and that you are learned , it were pitty you should do otherwise then well , i pray you take heed that those good things which are in you , be not marred for want of humility : i tell you humility is a speciall vertue in a man of your calling ▪ the want whereof marreth all in them that what i● ▪ i pray you stand not in your own opinion too much , i have heard that you have don much good ▪ let not humility be wanting , &c. vda . my lord , i acknowledge that humility is a vertue generally required in men of my calling , without which all other gifts are nothing ▪ for god resisteth the proud , and giveth wisdome to the simple : and i desire that the same vertue may be found in me ; but i trust your meaning is not thereby to perswade me to deny the truth , which i trust the lord will keepe me from , whatsoever befall me . fenner . i speake to you of good will , i would not have you stiffe in your own conceipt . puck . remember what i said unto you . and so i was carried into a chamber to be conferred with by some of the bench ▪ &c. and when that promise which the judge so much spake of came to be examined , it was nothing but a sentence in my submission to her highnesse , the meaning whereof is ( as the words going before it and immediately following it do declare ) that i professed my selfe willing to live or die , according as that power which god hath given to her majesty ▪ shall appoint . i having bin dealt withall to this effect the first day of the assises ( by certaine of the bench in private ) as also the second day by some of them to this effect ▪ that i would make such a submission as would condomne the booke in question ▪ and justifie the hiera●chy ▪ and perceiving that i was not to be heard till the last day ▪ i intreated sir william moore and mr. bowyer to be a meane to the judges for me ▪ that ( for asmuch ▪ as ▪ my case was rare , and i had ( as i was perswaded ) sufficient to alleadge why ( notwithstanding the verdict against me ) judgement ought to be stayed ) i might be heard over-night , that so ( according to that good councell given by them unto me ▪ to advise with my selfe , and to consider what i would do ) also they mig●● have a night to thinke of what i had to say , and the next day to do with me as god should move them . hereupon i was ●etcht forth before the judges in private , immediately after dinner , who using many perswasions to draw me to relent ( which being in private i will not expresse ) told me that they sent for me , for that they understood i desired to be heard over-night , which they were willing then and there to do : i answered : my lords , my meaning was not to desire private but publique hearing , seeing i have nothing to say : but such as would prevent my selfe , and disappoint my publique speech , if i should utter it in private : yet because they told me their other affaires would not permit them to have any time with me till the latter end of the assises , i was rather willing that i should be prevented , then they should be constrained to determine on a suddaine upon so weighty a matter ; whereupon i did draw out a paper for each of them , containing these reasons following . i humbly pray your lordships to consider , whether these reasons ought not in conscience to move you to stay the sentence notwithstanding the verdict against me , and to be meanes of my release . 1. it seemeth that my case is not esteemed felony by the judges of the land ▪ seeing they do usually sit in the high-commission court , where the printing and dispersing of the same and such like bookes are usually enquired after as transgressions of another nature . 2. no judgement in law ought to be given in case of felony , but upon a party first found guilty thereof by verdict of twelve men , but i am not so , for proofe whereof i pray you it may be remembred , that your lordship gave the jurie in issue onely for the triall of the fact , whether i were author of such a booke , and freed them from enquiring the intent , without which there is no felonie . 3. i humbly pray you to call to minde by what meanes the iury was drawne to give that verdict they did , whether they were left wholly to their own consciences , or were wrought unto it partly by promise assuring it should be no further danger unto me , but tend to my good ; and partly by feare , as appeareth in that it hath bin an occasion of great griefe unto some of them ever since . and then i pray you to consider , whether upon such a verdict so drawne from twelve simple men , christian iudges in a good conscience , may proceed to sentence of death ? 4. in case the verdict were never so free , yet your lordships being men of wisdome and knowledge are to consider , whether the statute whereupon i am indicted , do agree to my case in the truth and meaning of it , there being nothing in that booke spoken of her majesties person , but in duty and honour ; and whether the drawing of it from her majesty to the bishops ( as being a part of her body politique ) be not a violent depraving and wresting of the statute , which if it be , you being christian iudges , cannot in a good conscience upon such a ground proceed to sentence , contrary to your own knowledge . 5. but if the statute be to be taken so as it is urged , it ought to be considered that without a malicious intent against her majesties person , the statute it selfe maketh no act forbidden by it to be felonious ; wherein i appeale first to god , and then to all men that have seene the whole course of my life & to your lps. own consciences wherin i pray you to examine your selves in the sight of god , whether either by your selves or the just report of any other you can finde me guilty of any act in all my life , that savoured of any malice or malicious intent against her majesty or of any other behaviour than standeth with the allegiance and duty of a most dutifull and christian subject . of which malice or malicious intent against her majesty , if your consciences cleare me before god , the act wherewith i am charged being not felonie without such an intent , i hope you will consider that you cannot with a good conscience proceed to judgement . 6. yet if the statute and intent were such as it is said , in case of life the evidences ought to be pregnant and full living witnesses ( i am sure by the word of god , and i trust also by the laws of this land ) were to have bin produced face to face to charge me . but i have none such against me , neither any other thing ▪ saving onely papers and reports of depositions taken by ecclesiasticall commissioners and others , which kind of proofe the judges of the land cast away in case of lands , and by no meanes allow to be sufficient , and therefore are much lesse to be allowed in a case of life , which being so , your lordships ought to have a conscience , that upon so weake evidences sentence of death be not pronounced . 7. but if the same that hath been given in for evidence in writing , had bin testifyed by men living ▪ standing out in the presence of the court and of mee the accused , i trust your lordships will consider that no one of the evidences do directly prove me to bee the author of the booke in question which as it was hath little force in it as appeareth by this ▪ that the author of the chiefest testimony is so grieved , that hee is ashamed to come where hee is knowne . whereupon howsoever the iury have not discerned thereof , yet you being men of skill and understanding , are to have regard of it , and not upon so weake and impertinent proofes to proceed to judgement of death . 8. if all these things were such as they ought to bee , yet your lordships are to consider ( supposing me to be the author of the booke in question ) that the said booke for the substance of it , containeth nothing but that which is taught and beleeved to be a part of the gospell of christ , by all the best reformed churches in europe ; wherein nothing being diverse hom them , i cannot be condemned without condemning in me all such nations and churches as hold the same doctrine . in which ( if there be no error in them ) the offence commonly be in forme , circumstance and manner of writing which some men may thinke worthy an admonition , some more severe worthy correction and amercement , the sharpest cannot judge it to deserve more then some short time of imprisonment . but death for an error of such a kind in termes and words not altogether dutifull of certaine bishops ▪ cannot be but extream cruelty : which seeing it ought to be farre from any christian man that hath the bowells of christ in him . surely christian judges professing the gospell , for a service of the gospell ( saving some oversight in words and termes ) ought not to proceed against me ( that hath endeavoured to shew himselfe a dutifull subject and faithfull minister of the gospell ) to give sentence of death . 9. my offence not being aggravated but remaining as it was the last assises ▪ when my submission was excepted , and judgement , thereupon stayed : i trust your favour will be the same towards mee now also , seeing i am ready to doe the like . if all this prevaile not , yet my redeemer liveth to whom i commend my selfe , and say as sometime jeremy said in a case not much unlike . behold i am in your hands do with me what seemeth good unto you ; but know you this that if you put me to dea●h , you shall bring innocent bloud upon your owne heads and upon t●e land . as the bl●ud of abell , so the bloud of vdall , will cry to god with a loud voice ▪ and the righteous judge of the world , will require it at the hands of all those that shall bee guilty of it . this is the summe of that which i delivered to the iudges . the assises being almost finished , and the other prisoners that were called to the barre to haue sentence of death , standing forth to heare the same ▪ i was at the last called , and demanded what i could say for my selfe , why i should not have judgement to die . hereupon i humbly craving audience began to this effect . vda . my lords i doe acknowledge that i have been hitherto proceeded against by due course of law , and that a verdict was given in against me the last assises as guilty of felony , &c. but i do not onely ( as heretofore ) protest mine inno●enc●● , but also think that i have sufficient to alleadge why ( not withstanding the verdict ) judgment ought not to be given where i intreat to be heard . iud. puck . i pray you stay , you seeme in the beginning to speake contraries , for first you acknowledge the course of law to be due , and afterwards stand upon it , that you are innocent . how can a due course of law condemne the innocent ? vdall . these things agree well enough , as i will shew if it shall please you to give mee leave : it is by due course of law ▪ that i have been indited , arraigned , have had a iury impanelled upon me ▪ bin accused , heard speake for my selfe , and testimony produced against mee . but in that the proofe by witnesse was insufficient and the iury either in judgement or affection missed ; thereupon it hath come to passe that ( notwithstanding the due course of law ) guiltin●sse is laid upon a guiltlesse person . but i pray you let mee proceed to the reasons that i have to alleadge for my selfe . then i lest the first reason of purpose seeing i did rather wish that they only should understand it ( which they did by my papers overnight ) then to blaze it to the world so that i did begin to speake according to the second reason mentioned before ; whereupon sergeant puckering prayed baron clarke to speake , seeing it did most concerne him . iudg. clar. i must needs tell you , you ●●e us and the seat of iustice great wrong , indeed ● told the iury what was the law in the opinion of all the judges of the land , for it was not my private opinion as i said also at that time . vda . it is not materiall my lord in this case what the judges thinke , for though all the judges in the world thought so , our lawes thought no man a felon , or capable of sentence as a felon till hee bee convicted by the verdict of 12. men . clar. you are so convicted as the record will testifie . vda . i acknowledge the record against mee , but i appeale to your lordships conscience whether you delivered not unto them speeches to this effect . as ●or the felony you are not so much to enquire , but only whether he made the booke , leaving the felony to us . clar ▪ you doe me great wrong , i onely told them the law . vda . well i leave it to your lordships favourable consideration you perceive my reason . then i spake to the third reason , whereupon it was said . puck . all that you say tendeth to the disgracing of the court of iustice holden against you heretofore , the jury were left to their owne consciences , and did as they saw meet to doe , vda . no my lords , i speake not any thing to disgrace the court of justice , for i acknowledge both this course and all others of the like nature , to bee gods holy ordinance , which i ought to reverence , neither doe i speake to defame the jury , but onely to give your lordships occasion why you may not to proceed to sentence , thereupon , for if the jury did well , why should it grieve any of them ? if they did ill your lordships may not proceed to sentence thereupon . puck . we cannot remember the particular circumstances that then passed ▪ ●either are we to call in question the verdict ▪ but it is our office to give sentence according to it . vdall , i pray your lordships tell mee one thing , must the judges alwaies give sentence according to the verdict , or may there not be cause to stay it ? clar. yes there may be cause to stay the verdict ; such may the case be , vda . and i desire no other but that my reasons may be well weighed whether my case be such or no . then i prayed for so much as they had the substance of that in writing afor hand which i meant to say , it would please them to give mee leave to say at once what i could ; lest my memorie ( being so much weakened and dulled be imprisonment should faile mee , and so i leave some materiall thing unspoken . then i spake according to the 4 & 5 reasons ▪ wherunto little was replyed saving such as things were mentioned at my arraignment . only baron clarke used a very long speech , wherein he compared mr. stubbs his cause and mine together and after the end of his speech , judge puckering said . puck . who taught you such law tell you , you are much deceived and abused in it ; one may bee within the compasse of felony , though hee doe not directly meant any such thing . vda . your lordship knoweth i pleaded these points the last assises , when i came from close imprisonment to the barre : i understand english which is the language wherein the statute was written , and i professe my selfe a scholler and therefore to have ( through gods mercy ) some understanding of the sence of that i read . it seemeth to me most direct , and no otherwise to be taken then i understand it . then i spake according to the 6 , and 7 , reasons whereunto it was replyed thus . puck . you are deceived in that you thinke the witnesses against you the lesse lawfull because the parties were not present . it is an ordinary thing to have witnesses examined in the chancery and other such like courts , which doe remaine thereof as sufficient credit for ever , as they were when the parties oath was taken upon the same . vda . then would i have answered that the case was not alike , seeing the high-commission is no court of record , but i was not then suffered to speake , for that it was said by the other judge . clar. where do you finde that there must needs ( by the word of god ) be two witnesses face to face ? vda . it is so cleare as the witnesses were also to have the first hand in executing the punishment upon the party offending . puck . that was according to moses law , which we are not tyed unto . vda . it is the word of god , which hath a parpetuall equity in it , for the life of man is so precious in the sight of god , as he would not have it taken away without most evident and manifest proofe , such as in his law is set down . clar. we are not now to call in question the proofes , seeing the iury did thinke them sufficient ; this speech of yours tendeth to prove the iury perjured . vda . not so my lord , i thinke of them that they did according to their consciences , but being men unlearned , and the case being strange unto them , they may have don their best , and yet you being men of more knowledge and judgement , are to looke further into the matter . puck . whereas you say that none of the witnesses did directly prove you the author of the fact , that was not necessary , for if all layd together , and the circumstances considered do prove it , it is as good a proofe as if every witnesse were direct . vda . but the law of god from which i trust our laws dis-agree not , would that every proofe be direct . puck . and do you thinke indeed , that the laws of this land are agreeable to the word of god . vda . i do not professe to know them , but surely i have so reverent an opinion of them ▪ that i trust the grounds of them are according to the word of god , however in some particulars the proceedings may misse thereof . puck . then the government by arch-bishops and lord bishops is according to the word of god . seeing the laws of the land do allow them . vda . i pray you my lord take me not so generall , for that will not follow upon my speeches . p. well you may not now disgrace the witnesses , you should have done it at your arraignement . vda . i neither meant then nor purpose now to disgrace the witnesses , but to shew the insufficiency of their testimony in this case , that your lordships may thereby see some reason to stay the sentence . the first testimony that was alleadged , was that of mr. chatfield , who affirmeth , that it was not given in against me upon his oath , but only in his anger he set his hand to , but is now sorry for it . puck . you should have alleadged this before , it is now too late . vda . it is alleadged too late , to prevent the verdict ▪ but if there be any force in it , it ought to be considered to stay the sentence ▪ i could alleadge it no sooner , because i knew it not till after the verdict . puck . we may not suffer you to proceed so to disgrace that which is passed already ; if you have any other thing to say , speake on ▪ otherwise we must do our office . vda . it is not my meaning howsoever you take it , to disgrace any thing passed hertofore , onely i pray you further to consider , that thompkins whose testimony onely carried some shew , protested before my commitment , that he would not for all the world affirme me to be the author of the booke . puck . why did you not pleade these things to the iury ? vda . i did so , and offered to produce sufficient proofe for it , but your lordships answered , that no witnesses might be heard in my behalfe , seeing it was against the queene , which seemeth strange to me , for methinks it should be for the queene to heare al things on both sides , especially when the life of any of her subjects is in question . puck . the witnesses were then thought by the iury sufficient to prove the matter which we may not now call in doubt , therefore say on if you have any more . vda . then i spake according to the eight reason , whereupon it was said , clar. i tell you , you are not called into question for the cause ( as you call it ) nor for the body of the booke , but only for slanderous things in the preface against her majesties government , and therefore you may let the cause alone . vda . but it is for the hatred borne to the cause that i am thus entreated , for had not it bin handled in the booke , such matter as is now made of the preface had never bin objected against me or any other . puck . well it is best for you to leave off all other pleas , and submit your selfe to the queenes majesties mercy . vda . i will do so with all my heart . puck . but will you do it as you did the last assises ? vda . yea that i will ; and so i spake according to the last reason , whereupon it was said : puck . you confessed that you were justly condemned . vda . i am not yet condemned : puck . i meane convicted by the iury ; then you acknowledged that you had offended her majesty , that you were sorry for it , and promised that you would never do the like againe . vda . my lord , it is not for me to oppose my word and credit , ( which is nothing ) against yours , i refer it to them that heard it ; onely i pray you give me leave to speake of it , as i take it that it was : first , i did avow ( and so i do now , and will do whilst i live ) that the cause handled in that booke , is an undoubted truth . clar. how often shall we bid you leave the cause , and tell you that you are not troubled for it . vda . but it is the cause that is sought to be defaced in my person , and therfore i must and will still prof●sse it and justifie it , wha●●●ver disgrace i receive by it unto my selfe . i pray you let me proceed . secondly i did protest that i never had any purpose to deface , but ever to seeke ●o honour her majesty and her government . thirdly , i professed that the course of law against me was due ; whereby what i have meant you have heard . fourthly , i said that i never had any purpose to do any thing to the advancement of this cause , but keeping my selfe ( to the uttermost of my power ) within the compasse of law . lastly ▪ i never confessed my selfe to be author of the booke . then my submission was this , that if i had don any thing to the advancement of so holy a cause ▪ which had brought me within compasse of the law , or might justly offend her majesty , i was hea●tily sorry for it ; if this be not it , let me have any other drawn , wherein the former points are justified , and i will set my hand unto it . puck . but all this is nothing to your booke in particular , what say you to it ? vda . i say this , that though i hold the matter in it to be a most manifest truth ▪ yet i confesse the manner of handling in some part to be such as might justly provoke her majesties indignation . puck : because you stand so much upon the cause , as you call it , you provoke me so , as i must needs say somewhat of it , lest the audience should thinke some matter in it more then is . vda . my lord , you understand my judgement therein , i beseech you speake not against it ▪ unlesse you will give me leave to replie unto you . puck . i may not do so , you pr●v●ke me to it , your discipline that you stand upon , whereupon is it grounded ? forsooth upon the saying of christ , tell the church : which never was expounded these 1500. yeares , as you do within these few yeares . vda . my lord , he did abuse you that told you so , chrysostome expoundeth it thus tell the church ▪ that is the governors of the church : puck . he meant the governors of the iewish synagogue . vda . how can that be ? when he lived above 400. yeares after christ : puck . was there never any that could finde it out before now if it were a truth ? vda . yes it hath testimony sufficient if it might be received : puck . and lest men should thinke that your matter were as good as you pretend i will tell you what i know : it is written in one of your bookes , that without an eldership there is no salvati●n . vda . i am perswaded that cannot be shewed . puck . yes it is in theses martinianae , one writ that i● is time to number our hot brethren . another ( mr. snape of northampton by name ) wrote that the bishops should be p●t down all in one day . these things he did discourse of at large in an invective speech most bitter ●ending to perswade the people that we meant to rebell and set up the disc●pline , and pull downe the bishops by strong hand , and went about to imp●ir● the queenes prerogative and patrimony . after which with much adoe i got aud●ence to this effect . vda . my lord , i protest in the presence of god , and hearing of all this people that neither i nor any of my brethren that ever i was acquainted with to my knowledge , did so much as ever purpose or speake of any such means as your lordships mentioneth to bring in the discipline , but onely by prayer to god , supplication to her majestie , and such other peaceable meanes : this is my answer to your large invective . and whereas my lord you seeme to bee so hardly carried against the cause i would not doubt ▪ but if i might privately conferre with you , with the blessing of god to perswade you to be a friend unto it . and after some other speeches of other bookes , and the aforesaid speeches in the bookes mentioned already , judge puckering said . puck . nay i tell you there are as foule things in your owne booke , for doe you not say that the church is committed to the mistris of the stewes , and ruled by the laws of a brothel-house , vda . it is spoken of the popish canon-law , which is an unfit to rule the church of christ , as the laws of a brothel-house to govern an honest woman . puck . and those laws are established by her majesties lawes . vda . it would trouble the learnedst lawyer in england to prove that . then baron clarke began a voice , tending againe to compare my case to that of mr. stubs , and to perswade me to submit my selfe telling me what good i might doe , but because he spake low , and i said i did not well heare him , he gave over , and prayed the other to speake , who told mee his meaning , and then said . puck . wee shall make short worke with you , will you here acknowledge all the lawes ecclesiasticall and temporall of this land , to bee agreeable to the word of god . vda . my lord , i have disgrace enough upon mee already , you may easily perceive what i thinke of the present ecclesiasticall government . i pray you presse me not with these things , i can yeeld no further then you have heard . puck . then we must doe our office and pronounce sentence on you . vda . gods will be done . puck . yea gods will be done on you indeed . then he gave sentence upon me and the rest , after which i did purpose to speake according to the last sentence after the reasons . but the ●●amors of the other prisoners calling to the judges to be good unto them disappointed mee thereof . thus was i returned to prison , what will bee the issue i know not . the lord turne to his glory the good of his church , and shame of his foes , and then welcome life or death . i being reprieved ( as the sheriffe said by her majesties owne commandement ) doctor bond one of the queenes chaplaines , came to me as from the queene her selfe and from the councel , with the submission that was tendered an●o to conferre with me in generall , but specially to perswade me to yeeld thereunto , or to take the reasons of my refusall , after two dayes conference wee agreed upon a forme of submission , as followeth . the forme of that submission which was offered unto me , and i refused . i iohn vdall , have bin hitherto by due course of law convicted of felony , for penning and setting forth a certaine booke , called a demonstration , of discipline , wherin false , slanderous and seditious matters are contained , against her majesties prerogative royall , her crown and dignity and against the laws and government ecclesiasticall and temporall , established by law under her highnesse , and tending to the erecting of a new forme of government contray to her said lawes . all which points i do now by the grace of god perceive to be very dangerous to the peace of this realme and church , seditious in the common-wealth , and justly offensive to the queenes most excellent majestie , so as thereby i now seeing the grievousnesse of this my offence , doe most humbly on my knees before god and this presence , submit my selfe to the mercy of her highnesse , being must sorry , that so deepely and worthily i have incurred her majesties indignation against mee , promising if it shall please god to move her royall heart to have compassion on mee , a most sorrowfull convicted person , that i will for ever hereafter forsake all such undutifull and dangerous courses , and demeane my selfe dutyfully and peaceably to all authorities both civill and ecclesiasticall established in this realme , for i doe acknowledge them to be both lawfull and godly , and to be obeyed of every faithfull subject . the forme of that submission whereunto i did consent and set my hand . with these three protestations i doe submit my self in manner as followeth . 1. i hold the cause of discipline debated in that booke to be an undoubted truth . 2. i never imagined any evill against her majesties person or estate , but have sought to honour them both ▪ 3. i never purposed to do or perswade any thing whereby the discipline might be advanced but by peaceable meanes , endeavouring to keepe within the compasse of law . i iohn vdall , ●ave been by due course of law , convicted and condemned of felony , for penning and publishing a certaine book called the demonstration of discipline , in the preface whereof some matter as also the manner of writing , i confesse to bee in some part so bitter and undutifull , as deserveth justly to bee censured and punished , and justly offensive to the queenes most excellent majestie : wherefore the tryall of the law imputing unto me all such defaults as are in that booke , and laying the punishment of the same in most grievous manner upon me , and i seeing the grievousnesse of this offence , doe most humbly on my knees , as in the presence of god , submit my selfe to the mercy of her highnesse , being most sorry that so deepe and just occasions should be given to procure her majesties displeasure against me , promising that if it shall please god to move her royall heart to have compassion on me a most sorrowfull condemned person , that i will for ever hereafter forsake all undutifull and dangerous courses , and demeane my selfe dutifully and peaceably as becommeth a minister of the gospel , and as a loyall subject to the queens most excellent majestie . at the same time that doctor bond was with me , i received a letter from a friend of mine , that did solicite sir walter rawleigh for mee , wherein were these words . sir walter rawleigh willed me to let you understand , that her majestie is informed of you , that you hold that the church of england is no church , and the sacraments of the same , no sacraments , and that all her ecclesiast●●●●●●ws are against the word of god , and so her government , and that all ecclesiasticall matters ought to be governed by a presbytery , and shee her selfe to be subject to the censures thereof . and that for these things and such like you are not worthy to live . but if you will write halfe a dozen lines under your hand , unto sir walter concerning these opinions , that hee may shew it to her majestie ▪ he hopeth to obtaine your life . i know it is an easie thing for you to answer all these things , and therfore doe it with speed , and in your writing to sir walter take knowledge , that he hath sent you such word . hereupon i wrote a letter to sir walter rawleigh , and what i hold in these points as followeth . to the right honourable sir walter rawleigh , knight , lord warden of the stannery . my duty being remembred unto your lordship , i humbly thanke your honour for your great and honourable care over me and for my good ; whereof i trust you shall never be ashamed , m●st humbly beseeching your good lordship to be a meane to appease her majesties indignation conceived against me , by meanes of some accusations untruely suggested ; for god is my witnesse , i have never had any earthly thing in so precious accompt as to honour her highnesse , and to draw her subjects to acknowledge with all thankefullnesse the exceeding blessings that god bestoweth upon them by her majesties happy government , whereof i trust mine adversaries will be witnesses when i am dead . i have sent unto your lordship ( as in perplexity i could upon the sodai●e ) what i hold concerning certaine points declared unto me , as from your lordship , praying that it would please you to make known the truth thereof unto her highnesse : and if neither my submission heretofore delivered , nor these things now set down will be accepted to draw her highnesse of her gracious compassion to pardon me , that yet it would please her majesty ( that the land may not be charged with my blood ) to change my punishment from death to banishment . thus trusting your lordship will vouchsafe me this favour , and that it will please her majesty thereupon graciously to consider of me , i humbly take my leave , from the white-lyon , febr. 22. 1590. your lordships to command , iohn vdall prisoner . 1. i do believe and have often preached , that the church of england is a part of the true visible church of christ , and that the preaching of the word and administration of the sacraments therein are the holy ordinances of god , profitable and comfortable to every one that rightly partakes thereof . in which regard i have bin and do yet desire to be a preacher in the same church ▪ and have communicated in the sacraments and prayers therein , for the space of 7 yeares at kingston , and about a yeare at newcastle upon tyne , immediatly before mine imprisonment , and therefore i do from my heart utterly renounce the schisme whereinto the brownists have fallen in condemning the churches of england , and separating themselves from communicating in the publique ministery thereof . 2. i know no other but that the statute laws of this land do maintaine the holy ministery of the word and sacraments in such manner as any christian may with a safe conscience both administer therein and communicate therewithall . also that the law which requireth a subscription to the articles of religion so far as they contain the doctrine of faith and sacraments is agreeable to the word of god . 3. i do believe that by the word of god her majesty hath , and ought to have ▪ a supreame authority over all persons , in all causes , both ecclesiasticall and civill to inforce every man to do his duty and to be obedient in every thing that is not contrary to the word of god . and if the prince should command any thing contrary to gods word , it is not lawfull for the subjects to rebell or resist , no not so much as in thought but with patience and humility to beare all the punishments layd upon them ▪ seeking onely by prayer to god , and supplication to authority , and such like peaceable meanes to have ●aults amended . 4. i do believe that by the word of god , the churches rightly reformed ought to be governed ecclesiastically by the ministers , assisted with elders , and this is not my private judgement ▪ but such as i have learned out of the word of god , bin confirmed in by the writings of the most learned and godly men of ancient and latter times , and have seen practised with much peace and comfort in the best reformed churches in europe , and even by those exiles which her majesty to her great honour hath hitherto protected . 5. i do believe that the censures of the church ought meerely to concern the soule , and may not impeach any subject , much lesse any prince , in the liberty of body , dominion , goods , or any earthly priviledge whatsoever ; and that therefore the papall excommunication that deposeth princes , and freeth their subjects from their allegiance or any part of christian obedience to civill authority , is blasphemous against god , injurious to all men , and directly contrary to gods word : neither do i believe that a christian prince ought otherwise to be subject to the censures of the church , then our gracious queene professeth her selfe to be unto the preaching of the word & administration of the sacraments according to the doctrin of our church in mr. nowells catechisme and the hom : of the right use of the church , at this day appointed publiquely to be read . if i understand of any other thing that i am charged to hold as a strange and private opinion , i would be willing to shew my minde freely in it ; for my desire is , that her highnesse might truely be informed of every thing that i holde : so should i be sure to obtaine her gracious favour , without which i do not desire to live . these things thus passed , i remained as before , without any great hope of liberty , or feare of extremity , untill the next assises drew neere , at last there came mr. nowell deane of pauls , and mr. doctor andrews with a new submission yet containing nothing one clause excepted ) which was not in the former , which i condescended unto , notwithstanding i refused presently to set my hand unto it ▪ ( though they promised in the name of the councell , that in yeelding to it i should obtaine pardon and liberty , because i would do nothing without good advice and consideration . the copie of the submission given me by mr ▪ deane of pauls , with his name to it as followeth . i iohn vdall have bin heretofore by due course of law , convicted and condemned of felony , for penning and publishing a certaine booke called the demonstration of discipline , in the preface wherof some matter , as also the manner of handling of it . i confesse in some part to be so bitter and undutifull ▪ as deserveth justly to be censured and punished according to the laws of this realme , established under her highnesse , and justly offensive to the queenes most excellent majesty ; wherefore i now seeing the grievousnesse of this offence do most humbly on my knees and in the presence of god submit my selfe to the mercy of her highnesse , being most sorry that so deep and just occasion should be given to procure her majesties d●●pl●●sure against me , promising that if it shall please god to move her majesties royall h●●rt to have compassion on me , a most sorrowfull condemned person , i will ever hereafter forsake all undutifull seditious and dangerous courses , and demeane my selfe dutifully and peaceably , as becometh a minister of the gospell , and a loyall subject of the queenes most excellent majesty . this is the true copy of the submission ●●nt unto me from her majesties most honourable privy-councell . alexander nowell . when i had weighed with my selfe , that the clause which is added may admit a good interpretation , and the omitting of that which is left out of my former submission , causeth no ill sense of that which is set down i condescended ( being also advised thereunto by my good and godly friends ) to set my hand unto it , and thereupon wrote a letter unto mr. nowell as followeth . right worshipfull mr. deane , i praise god with all my heart , that authority hath so good remembrance of my lamentable estate , and yet more that by the same i am for my forme of submission to deale with a man of that piety and wisedome , that you have bin worthtly in the church long agone esteemed to be of , and so have continued to t●●● reverend age that you are come unto . it may please you sir to understand , that i have considered of the forme of submission , that your worship brought unto mee , and find nothing in it , but that in a good conscience i can yeeld unto , for it requireth not of me any dentall or disallowance of the cause of discipline debated in the booke , for which i am in question , the substance of which doctrine i believe to be the undoubted truth of god , and therefore ought never to deny or disallow it : notwithstanding with my perswasion i take god to witnesse , that i never purposed to doe or perswade any thing , whereby it might be advanced , but by peaceable meanes , endeavouring to keepe within the compasse of law ▪ further also the said forme of submission , chargeth mee not with any malice against her majestie , from which likewise i acknowledge as in the presence of our saviour christ , that is ready to come to judge the quick and the dead , that i have bin alwayes free and have carried a christian , loving and dutifull affection to her majesties royall person and estate , as i know by the word of god i ought to doe , which being so , i have resolved to satisfie the authority from which you brought me the said forme of submission , and at your good pleasure without further limitation simply to subscribe it . good mr. deane in the bowels of christ have compassion of my estate , more wayes lamentable then i can in a few or many words expresse , or ( as i thinke ) any other but only the spirit that is taught to pray with groans that cannot be uttered , and in such christian compassion by your favourable and earnest mediation to the authority that may relieve me , procure my pardon and free discharge , of the dangers and troubles wherein i am , that i may say with the prophet i shall not die , but live and declare the works of the lord . so shall not only my poore wife and children , but i hope many others praise god for you in that respect , and my selfe as beholding unto you in a case of life , continually pray for you your good estate to the lord of life blessed for ever . amen . after i had thus set my hand hereunto , i advised also to write unto certaine of the councell and other honourable persons besides , partly to let them understand in what sense i had yeelded hereunto , and partly to intreate their favour , and furthermore for my liberty : the copy of which letter ( for it was the same word for word to every one , the title of their severall estates excepted ) here ensueth . right honourable my present lamentable condition enforceth me in most humble manner , to crave so much leisure of your lordships from the weighty affaires of the state , as to consider of these few lines . the reverend mr. nowell deane of paules , and mr. doctor andrewes a few dayes agoe brought me forme of submission ( as they said ) from authority with hope of favour for my life , if i would yeeld unto it . whereof having considered and finding nothing in it , but which i had heretofore yeelded unto , when mr. doctor bond was with me , one clause excepted , to wit , that the faults doe deserve to bee punished according to the lawes of the land . which yet hath no such words but may beare so good a sense as i thinke may in such forme submit my selfe , without either condemning the suite for a further reformation or my selfe as justly deserving by the lawes to die . i cannot discerne sufficient cause to refuse it , for by the hardest word that i have by due course of law bin convicted and condemned . i understand the forme of proceeding by ind●●ment arraignement , jury , witnesses and such like as also by that clause , that the manner of writing is in some part such as deserveth justly to be censured and punished by the lawes of this land . i meane of such censures as the good lawes of this land administred with justice do ordaine for punishing of such offences in the manner of writing which cannot bee of death without malice against her majestie . from which ( i take almighty god to witnesse ) i have bin alwaies free . in regard wherof i feared lest i might be thought to stand too comentiously and undutifully with authority , & too be to carelesse of mine owne estate , if i should not yeeld to such a form of submission as they brought unto me . wherein having yeelded , as farre as in conscience i may , and as authority by their meanes requireth of mee . my most humble suite to your lordships is that in your christian and honourable compassion of my most lamentable estate , that that may please your lordships by your favourable mediation to her excellent majestie , to further my most humble suite , for my pardon and free discharge of these my grievous troubles . so shall i bee bound yet more heartily to praise god for your honour , and to pray unto god for your prosperous estate long to endure to the glory of almighty god , and to your own everlasting comfort . within foure or five dayes after mr. doctor andrewes returned unto me , signifying that all that was done was mistaken , for that was not the submission that was meant of me , but another . which when i had perused i sound it the same ( onely the last clause left out ) which was ostered mee by the judges at the assises . and he said the clarke to whom the making of the letter to mr. nowel putting in one for another . and because i utterly refused to consult of it , as having yeelded before to so much as i might hee prayed me to understand what i tooke exceptions against and for what reasons . so wee entred into many discourses , as first how the discipline could be said to be against the queenes prerogative royall seeing it was ( as i said i did beleeve ) expressed in the scriptures whereby all lawfull priviledges of princes are warranted . then we debeted whether the supremacy of a christian prince be the same with an heathen , or diverse from it . after that whether the authority of princes in making church laws be dejurt , or de facto only . and lastly of the most points of discipline . thus we continued 5 or 6 hours , and at last he would have no answer of me then , but he prayed me to advise of it , for he would come againe . i answered , that the oftner he came the welcomer he should be , but i told him i would not accept of it , yet hee came twice after and tooke my reasons of my refusall to yeeld thereunto , and promising me all the favour he could procure me , he departed . after this the assises approaching , and the generall report being that it would go hard with me . i being desirous to use any good meanes , did not onely solicite the earle of essex , and sir walter rawleigh , who had heretofore dealt for mee , but also i was advised to write againe unto mr. nowell , earnestly charging him to take my case to heart , seeing he had promised to procure me favour , whereupon i wrote unto him this letter following . right worshipfull mr. nowell , as i did rejoyce when i perceived that you were imployed to deale with mee about my submission , because of that reverend estimation that you have bin so long of among the worthies in the church of god , hoping , that i i should have found thereby , some comfortable meanes of meditation unto authority for my release , so i am now occaisoned to feare that all that credit with you are of , shall be used as an instrument to further and hasten extremity upon me . for so much time being passed since i voluntarily yeelded to that submission which you brought unto me and no liberty appearing from any place , but rather that being given out , that my submission shall be a speciall meanes to hasten my death , and no way to procure my liberty , i am constrained to write unto you , to let you understand , that as i looke for that end the next weeke at the assises at kingston ( where i have been a preacher ) which hath so long bin threatned , but ( to the doubling of my torments deferred , whereunto ( i doubt not the lord will strengthen me , as graciously he hath hitherto done . so i pray you as you will answer unto god for my blood , which i am perswaded your credit being imployed to the uttermost ( as in the word and faith of a christian you promised ) might have preserved that you would so take my case to heart , as it may inforce you to leave no stone unturned which may either further my liberty , or at lest cleere your conscience from being any way accessary to my death . for it will one day bee an heavy thing to your heart , to thinke that you should be set on worke , and the accompt that is worthily made of you , imployed under pretence , yea and as it were with assurance of life and liberty , to draw that from a preacher and professor of the gospel which afterward shall be used to hasten his end : and you will say it had bin better that you had never bin of any reckoning , then to bee made an instrument to further such an action . this i write unto you not in any troubled affection with the feare of death , for i thanke god i am willing to end my daies , and ( if it please the lord ) even in this manner and hope that my death shall further the cause , for which i suffer more then my life . but lest i should neglect any meanes which might seeme to be a furtherance to prevent the same , or leave that dutie unperformed unto you , which i take my selfe in conscience bound to discharge , the lord make us willing and able to discharge every good dutie , that he enjoyneth us to his glory , the good of his church , and our own comfort , whether by l●fe or death . about the same time came a letter from the king of scotland to a scotish merchant , one mr. iohnson lying in london , to be delivered to her majesty ( as was said ) being written in my behalfe , as he had done once before when i was close prisoner ; this letter did the merchant deliver to her majesty , and the dean of pauls upon my letter went to the councell , whereby whatsoever was wrought , as soone as the judges heard that i was brought to kingstone where the assises were then kept , i was immediately returned unto the white-lyon in the evening before the first day thereof . afterward mr. iohnson had the copy of the kings letter sent unto him , which then appeared to be written not for me alone , but also for the rest of my brethren the ministers in prison for the same cause of discipline , the tenor of which letter here followeth . right excellent high and mighty princesse , our dearest sister and cousen , in our heartiest manner we recommend us unto you : heareing of the apprehension of mr. udall and mr. cartwright and certaine other ministers of the evangell within your realme , of whose good erudition and fruitfull travells in the church we heare a very credible commendation ; howsoever that their diversitie from the bishops and others of your clergy , in matters touching them in conscience , hath bin a meane by their dilation to worke them your misliking ; at this present we cannot ( weighing the duty which we owe to such as are afflicted for their conscience in that profession ) but by our most effectuous and earnest letter interpone us at your hands to any harder usage of them for that cause : requesting you most earnestly , that for our cause and intercession it may please you to let them be relieved of their present straite , and whatsoever further accusation or pursuite depending on that ground , respecting both their former merit , in setting forth of the evangell the simplicitie of their conscience in this defence , which cannot well be their let by compulsion , and the great slander which could not faile to fall out upon their further straiting for any such occasion , which we assure us your zeale to religion , besides the expectation we have of your good will to pleasure us , will willingly accord to our request , having such proofes from time to time of our like disposition to you , in any matters which you recommend unto us . and thus right excellent , right high and mighty princes our deare sister and cozen , we commit you to gods good protection . from edenborough the 12th ' day of june . 1591. the just copy of the kings letter , sent to her majestie . presently upon these things fell out that wretched matter of that lewd fellow h●cket , whereby the adversary did take occasion so to slander the truth and to disgrace the professors of the same unto her majestie , that i thought it bootelesse to sue . and so i did little til the lord chancellor was dead and forgotten by such as were sorry for it , so that about easter terme following , i sued for liberty to goe to church , which was denyed mee being a condemned man , but by the lord treasurers meanes i got a copy of my inditement , which before i could not obtaine . hereupon i getting a pardon framed according to the inditement , sent it with a petition by my wife to the councell , who referred mee to the arch-bishop , unto whom i both sent diverse petitions and dutifull letters , and also got many of my freinds both honourable personages and others , to sue to him , yet could not his good will be gotten . at last the turkie merchants having my consent to goe for a time into guynea to teach their people , that abide in that place , if they could procure my liberty sent unto him for his consent ▪ who promised his good will so that they would be bound that i should goe indeed , when i had my liberty . but when two of the auncients of the company went unto him for his hand thereunto , he would not yeeld it ▪ unlesse they would be bound not onely that i should goe ( which they were willing unto ) but also that i should tarry there , till i had her majesties licence to come thence . this condition they could not yeeld unto ▪ for that i denyed to go upon any such ground , so was their suite and my hope of liberty at an end , saving that one mr. ca●ell who had bin the first beginner of it , and being to goe into turkie did most affect it , moved the deane of pauls in it , who thereupon wrote unto my lord keeper , perswading him of the conveniencie of that journey for me , and my fitnesse thereunto , which letter when he received he did so deale with the arch-bishop , as they both promising at their next meeting at court to deale with her majestie , to signe my pardon , that so i might have liberty to goe the voyage . fjnjs . jani anglorum facies nova, or, several monuments of antiquity touching the great councils of the kingdom and the court of the kings immediate tenants and officers from the first of william the first, to the forty ninth of henry the third, reviv'd and clear'd : wherein the sense of the common-council of the kingdom mentioned in king john's charter, and of the laws ecclesiastical, or civil, concerning clergy-men's voting in capital cases is submitted to the judgement of the learned. atwood, william, d. 1705? 1680 approx. 277 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 87 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a26172 wing a4174 estc r37043 16187699 ocm 16187699 105035 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a26172) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 105035) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1085:3) jani anglorum facies nova, or, several monuments of antiquity touching the great councils of the kingdom and the court of the kings immediate tenants and officers from the first of william the first, to the forty ninth of henry the third, reviv'd and clear'd : wherein the sense of the common-council of the kingdom mentioned in king john's charter, and of the laws ecclesiastical, or civil, concerning clergy-men's voting in capital cases is submitted to the judgement of the learned. atwood, william, d. 1705? [2], 266 [i.e. 166], [4] p. printed for thomas basset ..., london : 1680. attributed to atwood by wing and nuc pre-1956 imprints. errata: p. [1] at end. advertisements: p. [3]-[4] at end. errors in paging: p. 69-184 omitted, p. 233-248 repeated, both in numbering only. reproduction of original in the huntington library. includes bibliographical references. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng england and wales. -parliament -history. feudal law -england. bishops -england -temporal power. constitutional history. 2006-03 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-03 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-04 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2006-04 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion jani anglorum facies nova : or , several monuments of antiquity touching the great councils of the kingdom , and the court of the kings immediate tenants and officers , from the first of william the first , to the forty ninth of henry the third , reviv'd and and clear'd . wherein , the sense of the common-council of the kingdom mentioned in king john's charter ; and of the laws ecclesiastical , or civil , concerning clergy-men's voting in capital cases is submitted to the judgement of the learned . decipimur specie recti — hor. london , printed for thomas basset at the george near st. dunstan's church in fleet-street . 1680. jani anglorum facies nova . that king john's charter exhibits the full form of our english great and most general councils in those days ; if i may fay so , is the vulgar error of our learned men ; and 't is that which hath given the only prejudice to the pains of the judicious mr. petyt , who , i must fay , has laid the foundation , and sure rule of understanding the ancient records and histories , which mention the great or general councils , in his distinctions between the curia regis , and commune , or generale concilium regni , barones regis , and barones regni , and the servitia which were paid , or performed by reason of tenure : and those common prestations , which bracton mentions , sunt etiam quaedam communes praestationes quae servitia non dicuntur , nec de consuetudine veniunt , nisi cum necessitas intervenerit , vel cum rex venerit , sicut sunt hidagia , corragia , carvagia , & alia plura de necessitate & consensu communi totius regni introducta : which are not called services , nor come from custom , but are only in case of necessity , or when the king meets his people ; as hidage , corrage , and carvage , and many other things brought in by necessity , and by the common consent of the whole kingdom . this i must observe upon the differences here taken , that 't is not necessary to the maintaining a real difference , to insist upon it , that none of these words were ever used to signifie what is the natural signification of the other : for example , barones and milites , are sufficiently distinct in their sence ; and yet when but one of the words is used , either of them may , and often does take in the other : but when barones , milites , &c. are set together , the barones are a rank of men superiour to the ordinary milites ; 't is enough to prove that the differences above mentioned are rightly taken , if according to the subject matter , and circumstances , we can clearly divide the one from the other . now let us see the words of the charter , and observe whether they are meant of all general or common councils for making of laws , and voluntary gifts to the crown , or only of such as concern'd the king's immediate tenants . nullum scutagium vel auxilium ponam in regno nostro , nisi per commune consilium regni nostri , nisi ad corpus nostrum redimendum , & ad primogenitum filium nostrum militem faciendum , & ad primogenitam filiam nostram semel maritandam , & ad hoc non fiet nisi rationabile auxilium . simili modo fiat de civitate londinensi . et civitas londinensis habeat omnes antiquas libertates , & liberas consuetudines suas , tam per terras , quam per aquas : praeterea , volumus & concedimus quod omnes aliae civitates , & burgi , & villae , & barones de quinque portubus , & omnes portus , habeant omnes libertates , & liberas consuetudiues suas , & ad habendum commune consilium regni , aliter quam in tribus casibus praedictis here the london edition of matthew paris , and that at tours make a period distinct from what follows , and then the sense is , that except in those three cases , wherein the king might take aid or escuage at the common law , without the consent of a common council , for all other aids , or escuage , a common council should be held ; and the city of london , all cities , burroughs , parishes , or townships ; that is , the villani their inhabitants , the barons , or free-men of the five ports , and all ports should amongst other free customs , enjoy their right of being of , or constituting the common council of the kingdom . but so much is certain , that if these , or any besides the tenants in capite came before this charter , and were at the making of it , their right is preserved to them by it , and is confirmed by the charter of hen. 3. cap. 9. civitas lond. habeat omnes libertates antiquas , & consuetudines suas : preterea volumus & concedimus , quod omnes aliae civitates , burgi , villae , & barones de quinque portibus , & emnes alii portus habeant omnes libertates , & liberas consuetudines suas . and for an evidence of what was their custom and right , as to the great council of the kingdom : both these charters were made to , and in the presence of all the clergy , counts , barons , and free-men of the kingdom . king johns ( as mr. selden tells us he conceives ) was made by the king , and his barones & liberos homines totius regni , as other particulars were of the same time . but the record which he cites in the margent puts it out of all doubt , that the charter was made by them all . haec est conventio inter dominum johannem , regem angliae ex unâ parte , & robertum filium walteri marescallum dei & sanctae ecclesiae angliae , & ric. com. de clare , &c. & alios comites , & barones & liberos homines totius regni ex alterâ parte . and in another record it is said to be , inter nos & barones & liberos homines dominii nostri : so that the liberi homines of the kingdom were present ; and who were at the making of the great charter of hen. 3. which has been so many times confirmed , it acquaints us at the end . pro hac autem donatione & concessione libertatum , & aliarum libertatum in cartâ de libertatibus forestae , arch. ep. ab. pr. comites , barones , milites , liberè tenentes & omnes de regno nostro dederunt nobis quinto-decimam partem omnium mobilum suorum . the charter here mentioned of the forest had been granted in the second of hen. 3. as was the great charter ; the parties to the grant of a subsidy are the very same : archiepiscopi , episcopi , abbates , priores , comites , barones , milites & liberè tenentes , & omnes de regno . not to produce here the proof of such general assemblies from the conquest downwards to the 49 h. 3. i may say upon what i have already shown , that this interpretation of king john's charter , whereby the tenants in capite are divided from the rest , and made a common council for escuage only , agrees better with the records and histories , than the notion , that they alone compos'd the whole council of the kingdom , which can never be proved . but i will take the words together , even as they who are fond of the conjecture of their being the full representative body of the nation would have it . et ad habendum commune consilium regni de auxiliis assidendis , aliter quam in tribus casibus praedictis , & de scutagiis assidendis submoneri faciemus arch. ep. ab. & majores barones regni singillatim per literas nostras . et praeterea faciemus submoneri in generali per vicecomites & ballivos nostros omnes alios qui in capite tenent de nobis ad certum diem , scilicet ad terminum quadragint . dierum ad minus , & ad certum locum in omnibus litteris submonitionis causam submonitionis illius exponemus , & sic factâ submonitione negotium procedat ad diem assignatum , secundum consilium eorum qui praesentes fuerint , quamvis non omnes submoniti venerint . here was i grant the form of a common council of the kingdom , to the purposes here named , which are for aid and escuage : the aid i say , and shall show , was from those tenants which held of the king in comon socage , such as held geldable , or talliable lands , the escuage concern'd the tenants by knights service , but both concern'd only the king's tenants in chief , which appears in the very confining the summons to the majores barones regni , and others which held of the king in capite . whereas ( 1 ) there were majores barones , who held not by any feudal tenure , that were not oblig'd to attend at the kings ordinary courts , and they , with them that were under their jurisdictions , had their common councils apart , though all might meet at general councils : so that what was a common council of the kingdom to this purpose , was not so indefinitely to all . 2. there were others who were oblig'd , or had right to be of the common council of the kingdom , though not upon the accounts mentioned in this charter . 1. the norman prince , to the encouragement of those great men that adventured for his glory , made some of them as little kings , and gave them the regal government of several counties , in which they with the great men thereof , and the liberè tenentes freeholders , made laws for the benefit of their inheritances , and the maintaining the peace ; and that of chester in particular was given to hugh lupus tenendum sibi & haered . ita verè ad gladium , sicut ipse rex tenebat angliam ad coronam : so that he wanted nothing but a crown to make him king. in a charter of count hugh's , of the foundation of the monastery of st. werburg , he says : ego comes hugo , & mei barones confirmavimus . and one of his successors grants to his barons , quod unusquisque eorum curiam suam habeat liberam de omnibus placitis ad gladium meum pertinentibus . and at the coronation of h. 3. which was after this charter , earl john , another of william's successors , carried st. edward's sword before the king , as matthew paris tells us , for a sign , that he had of right a very extraordinary power : comite cestriae gladium sancti edwardi qui curtein dicitur ante regem bajulante , in signum quod comes est palatinus , & regem si oberret habeat de jure potestatem cohibendi , &c. though this was the chief count palatine , yet others had their separate councils , where they made laws . william fitz-osborn was made earl of hereford under william the first , of whom william of malmsbury says ; manet in hunc diem in comitatu ejus apud herefordum legunm quas statuit inconcussa firmitas , ut null●s miles pro qualicunque commisso plus septem solidis , cum in aliis provinciis ob parvam occasi inculam in transgressione praecepti herilis , viginti vel viginti quinque pendantur . of the same nature are examples in the constitutions of the old earls of cornwal , and the like . to return to the county palatine of chester , its count was not tent. in capite with the restrictions above taken , viz. subject to the feudal law , and obliged to attend once at the courts as other tenants , and yet at the general councils he was present . therefore this council mention'd in king john's charter , where none but tenants in capite ( obliged to the ordinary incidents of such tenure ) were , was no general council of the whole kingdom , as our modern authors would have , though it were for the matters of ordinary tenure , all that were concern'd being at it . in the year 1232. king hen. 3. held his curia or court at winchester , at christmas , which was one of the court days , or rather times of meeting ; for it often held several days ; and therefore when that at tewksbury , in king johns reign , held but a day , it is specially taken notice of . soon after king henry's christmas court , he summons all the magnates of england ad colloquium ; when they meet , because he was greatly in debt by reason of his wars ; he demands , auxilium ab omnibus generaliter . quo audito comes cestriae ranulphus pro magnatibus regni loquens respondit , quod comites barones ac milites qui de eo tenebant in capite cum ipso erant corporaliter praesentes , & pecuniam suam ita inaniter effuderunt , quod inde pauperes omnes recesserunt , unde regi de jure auxilium non debebant , et sic petitâ licentiâ omnes recesserunt . here was the earl of chester , this being a summons to a general assembly ; but when the king asked money for his expences in the wars , he tells him in the name of all the laity , that those which held of him in capite ( which is as much as to say he was none of them ) served him in their persons , and at their own charge ; therefore they beg'd leave to be gone , if the king had no other business with them , for no aid was due : so that it seems they look'd upon auxilium to be something in lieu of the service which the kings tenant was to perform . that this concern'd the kings tenants in capite by k t s . service , and no others ( except the inferior talliable tenants ; ) & they that were then assembled , being the great council of the kingdom , took upon them to umpire between the king and his tenants , and to tell him that he had no pretence for aid from them , for they had perform'd their services due . if only tenants in chief , by knights service , are here intended by tenants in capite , they only most commonly attending the king in person , though sometimes all tenants whatever , were required to attend ; and so in king john's charter , the summons be taken , to be only of such tenants in chief , then the aid there is meant only of such as comes from them ; but that takes not in all that are within the meaning of king john's charter , it adding simili modo fiat de civit. lond. which paid a socage aid as i shall shew : but for chester , even at those times when aids were granted by more than the king's tenants , the earls , barons , and freeholders of chester gave by themselves . prince edward , afterward king edward the first , was in the 44th of h. 3. count palat. of chester , and he had his common council there , wherein he consulted for the good of his palatinate apart , from the great council of the nation : barones & milites cestrenses & quamplures alii ad sum . domini edw. coram ipso domino edw. apud shorswick , super statum terr . illius domini edw. consul . & propon . quae hab . proponenda . nay so careful were they that the kings feudal jurisdiction should not interfere with the earls or other lords there , that they insisted upon it as their prerogative , so say many records , that if one held by knights service of the king , and of any lord within the palatinate also , the heir should be in ward to the lord there , not to the king ; and so by consequence of the other incidents and attendance at the kings courts ; so that those of the county of chester , could be no part of this common council , which therefore was not general . in an inquisition taken 22 edw. 1. dicunt quod a tempore quo non extat memoria , tam temporibus comitum cestr . quam temporibus regis hen. patris domini regis qui nunc est , ac tempore ipsius domini edw. regis nunc secundum consuetudinem per quandam praerogativam hactenus in com. cestr . optentam & ufitatam domini feodorum in com. praedict . post mortem tenentium suorum custodiam terrarum & tenement . quae de eis tenentur per servitium militare usque ad legit . aetat , haered . hususm . ten . licet iidem tenentes alias terr . & ten . in com. praed . vel alibi de domino rege tenuerunt in capite semper huc usque habuerunt , & habere consueverunt , &c. king edward the first , sends arch. ep. ab. pri. com. bar mil. & omnibus aliis fidelibus suis de com. cestriae , and desires them that since the prelati , comites , barones & alii de regno , which one would think took in the whole kingdom , had given him the fifteenth part of their moveables , they would do the like , and we find a record of their giving a part from the rest of the kingdom . cum probi homines & communitas comitatus cestriae sicut caeteri de regno nostro 15 m. omnium bonorum suorum nobis concesserunt gratiosè . so that these were then no part of the commune concilium regni within this charter , and no man can shew that they were divided since the time of william the first . 2. there were others who were obliged , or had right to be of the common-council of the kingdom , though not upon the accounts mentioned in this charter ; which if it appear , then this was not the only common council of the kingdom , or the full form of it , because there were common councils wherein were other things treated of , and other persons present . for this it is very observable , there is nothing but aid and escuage mentioned , nothing of advice or authority given in the making of laws , which were ever enacted with great solemnity , and all the proprietors even of palatinate counties were present in person or legal representation , when ever a general or universal law was made that bound the kingdom . but to wave this at present , i shall give one instance from records , that others were to come or had right , besides they that came upon the account of tenure as here mentioned . the pope writes to king hen. 3. in behalf of some of his great men , who had complained to the pope that he had excluded them from his councils . the king answers that they had withdrawn themselves , and that falcatius de brent the chief of them , was by the advice of the magnates totius regni , all the great men of the kingdom , called and admonished to receive the judgment of the king's court , according to the law of the land. cum aliâs teneatur ratione possessionum magnarum , & officii maximi quod habuit in curiâ nostrâ , ad nos in consiliis nostris venire non vocatus . although besides the obligation to obey the king's summons , he was bound by reason of great possessions , and a very considerable place at court to come to the king's councils , though not called ; that is , when ever it was known that a council was to meet , which might have been done by an indiction of an assembly without sending to any body . this shews very plainly that there were others to come to the great councils , besides those that were to come to those common councils , and other occasions for meeting ; for confine it to the persons and causes here specified they were to have summons , the majores special , the minores general by the sheriffs , and 40 days notice ; whereas the king said , and could not be ignorant of king john's charter , which was but 10 years before , that falcatius was to come without summons . but there is a further irrefragable argument in the negative , viz. that this commune consilium regni , was not the great council of the nation : and that is the judgment of a whole parliament in the fortieth of edw. the third , above three hundred years ago , when 't is probable that they had as clear a knowledge of the laws , customs , and publick acts in king john's time , as we have of what past in the reign of henry the eighth . it appears by the history that king john had resigned his crown in such a council as this here , it was communi consilio baronum nostrorum and yet the prelats , dukes , counts , barons and commons , upon full deliberation in parliament , resolve that the resignation was void , being contrary to the king's oath , in that 't was sanz leurassent , without their assent : and the king could not bring the realm in subjection , sanz assent de eux . if it had been in the great council of the kingdom , though it was not possible for the parties then at council to have been assenting personally to king john's resignation ; yet they had assented by a natural as well as legal representative , as has been long since shewn by the judicious mr. hooker . to be commanded we do consent , when the society whereof we are part , hath at any time before consented without revoking the same afterwards by the like universal agreement : wherefore as any man's deed past is good as long as himself continueth ; so the act of a publick society of men done five hundred years past sithence standeth as theirs , who presently are of the same societies , because corporations are immortal . that king john resigned his crown , without a parliamentary consent , is to be taken for granted after this solemn determination ; the only question is , whether 't was with the consent of his curia , or such a commune consilium regni , as his charter sets forth . the king had summoned his military council to dover , in the 14 of his reign , as in the third he had to portsmouth ; they which were summoned to the last are specified under the denominations of comites , barones & omnes qui militare servitium ei debebant , this was to have them pass the seas with him , and they that stay'd at home , gave him escuage . veniente autem die statuto , multi impetratâ licentiâ dant regi de quolibet scuto duas marcas argenti . here was a military council , and a military aid given ; they that were with him at dover are not particularly described by matthew paris , but he tells us , convenerunt rex anglorum , & pandulphus cum proceribus regni apud domum militum , templi juxta doveram 15. die maii , ubi idem rex juxta quod romae fierat sententiatum , resignavit coronam suam cum regnis angliae , &c. this was communi consilio baronum nostrorum , as matt. paris and knyghton render the charter . as matt. westminster ad optimum consilium baronum nostrorum , the last gives us the form of the summons which shews who were the commune consilium regni here , the proceres regni mention'd in matt. paris . omnes suae ditionis homines , viz. duces , comites & barones , milites & servientes cum equis & armis : so that here was a military summons to them that ought to come , because of services , which is explained by the summons to dover , which was to omnes qui militare servitium ei debebant , if he thought all were bound to that service , and summoned all , still the parliaments judgment satisfies us , either that the rest were not obliged , and therefore came not , or if they came as they often did in hen. 3. time , upon the like summons , as appears by many records of that age , that the king's tenants only assented to the resignation . either way it resolves into this , that a council of the king's tenants , was not a council that could lay any obligation upon , or pretend to a representation of the whole kingdom . indeed i meet with a ms. wrote i suppose in the time of hen. 6. above two hundred years past , the author of which ( being induced by all the records , or histories , which had then appeared to him , to believe that nothing could be of universal obligation , even in king john's time , but what was assented to as universally as laws were when he wrote ) gives us king john's charter of resignation in a very full and complete form , as if it had been — per consilium & assensum nostrorum procerum arch. ep. ab. prior. comitat. baronum , militum , liberorum hominum , & omnium fidelium nostrorum : whereby if his authority could stand in competition with the great councils , he would remove the objection that had been long before made , which was , that this resignation made in the ordinary curia , was not in a legal representative of the kingdom . it seems that both the parliament and this author were then satisfied that the king 's feudal peers or tenants in chief could not make a commune consilium regni , as a full parliament in king john's time . besides it is worthy of consideration , that if none but tenants in capite were of the common council of the kingdom at this time , then all the abbots , priors , and other dignified clergy , who held not of the king in chief , and yet were very numerous , together with the whole body of the inferiour clergy , were entirely excluded from , and never admitted to this common council any more than the rest of the layty , from the time of william the first , to the forty ninth of henry the third . this i conceive is enough in the negative , that the king's tenants could not within the meaning of this charter make the common or general council of the nation : if it be said that they made the common or ordinary council for matters of tenure or ordinary justice , i shall not oppose it , in which sense they might be said to be a commune consilium regni , but that sense cannot be here intended , because the words are commune consilium de auxiliis assidendis aliter quam , &c. & de scutagiis , &c. so that 't is manifestly no more than a common council for the assessing of aids and escuage ; and if i shew that the aids and escuage concern'd the king's tenants only , then the common council of the kingdom dwindles into a common council of the king's tenants for matters concerning their tenure . if no instance can be shewn from record or history of auxilia or aids raised by the kings of england without more general consent , except such as were raised of his immediate tenants ; and those cases wherein the king here reserved to himself a power of charging with aid or escuage without consent of a common council concern'd his tenants only , and more than those tenants were parties or privies to this charter , it must needs be that the other cases wherein the consent of a common council was requisite , concerned tenants only , since only their consent is required , and they only stood in need of this clause of the charter . that two of the three above mentioned ( viz. ) aid to make the eldest son a knight , and to marry the eldest daughter were incident to tenure , appears by the stat. west . 1. cap. 36. which ascertains the aid which before as that declares was not reasonable , and shews upon whom it lay ( viz. ) tenants by knights service and socage tenants , and there is no doubt , but if the king might by law have required aid , in those two cases he might have done it , in the third for the redemption of his own body , which was a service a king of england , especially after the loss of normandy , which often occasioned the exposing their sacred persons , so little stood in need of and was likely so rarely to happen , that there was no need to redress , by the statute of west . any grievance arising from thence . though the statute here spoken of be only in the affirmative , what tenants by these services shall pay : yet this has been taken to be pregnant with a negative as to all others not mentioned . so 11 hen. 4. fol. 32. nul grand sergeanty ne nul auter tenure mes seulement ceux queux teigne , in chevalry & en socage ne paieront aid a file marrier pour ceo stat. de west . 1. cap. 36. voet que ceux deux tenures serroint charges & ne parle de auters tenures ; that is , none but tenants by knights service and socage are liable to these auxilia . but over and above these incidents , whether with consent of tenants , or advice of other council , or meerly of their arbitrary motion kings used to raise money upon their tenants , and these were called auxilia , which is the word used in this charter of king john , the leavy upon tenants by knights service was called escuage , because of their servitium scuti , service of the shield , that upon tenants of their demesns in common socage , tallage , which is a word that might be of a large extent , as it signifies a cutting off from the estate , but being it was never used as an imposition with pretence of duty but upon his tenants , and that which was raised upon tenants by knights service had its proper name , therefore this has generally been applied to the payments of socage tenants , either as ordinary services , that is , upon the ordinary occasions wherein 't was of course raised by the king , or upon extraordinary occasions and necessities , which required advice . yet as an exaction or unjust payment it has been taken in the largest sence to reach to all tenants and others ; as in william the first his emendations or charter of liberties , the 1. magna charta . volumus etiam ac firmiter praecipimus & concedimus , ut omnes liberi homines totius monarchiae regni nostri praedicti , habeant & teneant terras suas & possessiones suas benè & in pace liberas ab omni exactione injustâ & ab omni tallagio , ita quod nihil ab eis exigatur vel capiatur nisi servitium suum liberum quod de jure nobis facere tenentur , & prout statutum est eis & illis à nobis concessum jure haereditario in perpetuum , per commune concilium totius regni nostri praedicti . in a general council of the whole kingdom it had been setled what the king should have of his tenants by reason of tenure , and what free services he should have even of those freemen which were not his tenants . thus by the oath of fealty or allegiance and by the law of association , or the revival of the frank pledges , every freeman was tied to service for the defence of the peace and dignity of the crown and kingdom , and by the association more particularly to maintain right and justice ; for all which they were to be conjurati fratres sworn brethren . and besides this there were services belonging to the crown , which lay upon the lands of freemen ; to instance in treasure , trove and royal mines , thesauri de terris regis sunt nisi in ecclesiâ vel coemeterio inveniantur . aurum regis est & medietas argenti & medietas ubi inventum fuerit , quodcumque ipsa ecclesia fuerit dives vel pauper . and this was as properly a service as the roman servitus praediorum , which consisted in something to be suffered upon lands or houses . but he would not exact or take from them by force any kind of tallage . therefore the historian tells us , that in the year 1084. de unaquaque hidâ per angliam vi. solidos accepit , he accepted as a voluntary guift 6 s. of every hide of land throughout the kingdom , if 't was without consent , 't was against his own charter , and so illegal . but to proceed to shew the nature of the auxilia , which came from tenants in the reign of some of his successors , either ordinary as common incidents or extraordinary . by the common law , as the lord cook observes upon the statute of west . 1. cap. 36. to every tenure by knights service and socage , there were three aids of money called in law auxilia , incident and implied without special reservation or mention ( that is to say ) relief when the heir was of full age , aid pur fair fitx chevalier , & aid pur file marrier . when the lord cook tells us that these services were incident to socage tenures , as well as knights service it must be intended , when it is spoke of the services of the tenants of the king 's ancient demeasn only , for they that held of the king by certain rent , which was socage tenure , were not subject to the payment of the tallage , except their land were of the ancient demeasn of the crown . and therefore robert de vere earl of oxford , who held a mannor of the crown by a certain rent , which to be sure was not knights service , pleads that he held the mannor with the appurtenances , per servitium decem librarum regi , ad scaccarium annuatim reddendum pro omni servitio , & regidedit intelligi quod idem manner non antiquo dominico coronae regis angliae nec est de aliquibus temporibus retroactis in tallag . per progenitor . regis angliae in dominicis suis assessis consuevit talliari . upon search made he and his tenants are freed from tallage . so the king declares that he will not have aid , that is tallage for marrying his eldest daughter of any clergy-men that hold in frank-almaign or socage , which must be taken in the same sense with the former . and before this walterus de esseleg held a mannor , ad foedi firmam , that is at a certain rent of the gift of hen. 2. and was never afterwards talliated , quum praedecessores nostris reges angliae & nos talliari fecimus dominica nostra ( it seems though the land had been of ancient demeasn , yet it was severed by the purchase . ) this tallage was called auxilium in the record . de consilio nostro provisum est quod auxilium efficax assideri faciamus in omnibus burgis & dominicis nostris . yet the city of london being charged with a tallage , the common council dispute whether it were tallagium or auxilium which is there meant of a voluntary aid , not due upon the account of any of their houses being of the kings demeasne , though indeed 't is then shewn that they had several times before been talliated . this explains that part of the charter , simili modo fiat de civitate londinensi , that is , as in all cases besides those excepted , escuage or tallage should not be raised but by a common council of the kingdom , that is , of all the persons concern'd to pay : so for the city of london , unless the aid were ordered in a common council , wherein they and all other tenants in chief were assembled , none should be laid upon any citizens , but by the consent of their own common council ; and if the ordinance were only in general terms , that all the kings demeasns should be talliated , the proportions payable there should be agreed by the common council of the city , according to that record , 11 hen. 3. assedimus auxilium efficax in civitati nostra london . ita quod singulos tam majores quam minores de voluntate omnium baronum nostrorum civitatis ejusdem per se talliavimus . et ideo providimus simile auxilium per omnes civitates nostras , burgos & dominica nostra assidere . this per se talliavimus was a talliating per capita , for when the common council refused to give such a sum in gross , as the king demanded , then the king was put to have it collected of every head , and is , according to the faculty of every socage tenant of his demeasn , as appears by the record of 39 hen. 3. whereas by this charter the king might take escuage or tallage in three cases without the consent of the tenants , but confin'd to reasonable , that is , secundum facultates , or salvo contenemento , and in those cases wherein their consent was required , things were carried by the majority of voyces amongst them that were present upon his summons , which sometimes were very few ; as when he held his court at westminster in the fifteenth of his reign on christmass the chief time , 't was cum pauco admodum militum comitatu , there arose a very great inconvenience , and a few tenants called together at a time , when the rest could not attend , as in harvest , or the like , might ruine the rest ; therefore this seperate court of tenants is wholly taken away in the reign of edward the first , and he promises that no tallage or aid ( without any reservation ) should be leavied for the future , without the consent of a full settled parliament , not that it was incumbent upon all that came to parliament to pay either tallage or escuage ; but as they were the great council of the nation they should advise him , when , or in what proportion to talliate his demeasns , or lay escuage upon his tenants by knights service : and when the king's tenants paid escuage by authority of parliament , the tenants by knights service of inferiour lords , were obliged to pay to their lords , lit. sect. 100. the statute is thus , nullum tallagium vel auxilium per nos vel haeredes nostros in regno nostro ponatur seu levetur sine voluntate & assensu arch. ep. comitum , baronum , militum , burgensium & aliorum liberoum hominum de regno nostro . pursuant to this the very same year is a record of a summons for a parliament to consider of an aid to make his eldest son knight , for which before he need not have consulted his parliament , nor the council of the tenants ; de jure coronae nostrae in hujusmodi casu auxilium fieri nobis debet , says the record , and yet he had tied up his hands from raising it without consent of parliament . however king john had in some measure redressed their grievance , giving them assurance that there should always be the general consent of tenants for what was not payable of right and custom , without any consent of theirs , and for the assessing those sums to which consent was made necessary , there should be a convenient notice that none might complain of the injustice of the charge . but all these things so manifestly relate to tenure , both the cases excepted and the cases provided for , that no other sense can be tolerable , for where the king reserves three incidents to tenure , and the particulars within the provision are appendant to tenure , and none but tenants are mentioned , shall we believe that something forreign is intended by the very same words ? though we may well believe that all aids whatever were intended by the statute of edw. 1. because the consent of all people ; tenants , and others is required . thus far i think i am warranted by very good authorities ; i take leave to observe farther , that it should seem that before this charter the king might have charged his geldable or talliable lands , that is , those lands which were held of his demeasn in socage at his own discretion , but could not charge them that held by knights service without their consent , and so this part take it , barely to the consenting is for the advantage and relief of the socage tenants only . the charter of henry the first , which exempts the king's tenants by knights service , ab omnibus geldis , that is , tribute or forced payments beyond ordinary services , leaves the king a power of charging his other tenants by meaner services , though not those which held by serjeanty , pro omni servitio . militibus qui per loricas terras suas deserviunt terras dominicarum carucarum suarum quietas ab omnibus geldis & ab omni opere proprio dono meo concedo , ut sicut tam magno gravamine alleviati sunt , ita equis & armis se bene instruant , ut apti sint & parati ad servitium suum & ad defensionem regni . but then as the consent is qualified upon such notice and summons to a certain place ▪ herein the tenants by knights service are eased in relation to part of their service . they were obliged to attend the king's court , either in his wars , his administration of justice , or for the assessing of escuage upon those that made default in their personal services ; for the first there could not be any time of summons or place of attendance ascertained , because occasion and necessity was to determine that ; for the second , they could not claim it as a priviledge , the administration of justice being within the king 's ordinary power , and his ministers and justices were sufficient assistants . but in the last there was a grievance in which 't was proper for the king 's extraordinary justice to relieve them . et ad habendum commune consilium regni de scutagiis assidendis , for the assessing of escuage , which was part of the work of the curia , they should be summoned , as is therby provided . even before the normans coming the kings used to celebrate feast-days with great solemnity , and at those days they chose habere colloquium , to consult with their people : so king eldred summoned all the magnates of the kingdom to meet him at london on our lady-day . in festo nativitatis b. mariae universi magnates regni per regium edictum summoniti , &c. londoniis convenerunt ad tractandum de negotiis publicis totius regni ; so king edgar had a great assembly , and called it curiam suam at christmass . cum in natali dominico omnes majores totius regni mei tam ecclesiasticae personae quam seculares ad curiam meam celebrandae mecum festivitatis gratiâ convenissent coram totâ curiâ meâ corroboravi . that the curia regis then consisted not of the king's tenants only : i could shew more particularly by a discourse of the feudal law , and of what prevalence it was here before the normans time : but i think there is enough to this purpose here from one piece of antiquity , which shews what in ancient time made a churl or pesant become a theyn or noble , and that so anciently , that in a saxon ms. supposed to be wrote in the saxon time , it is spoke of as antiquated . that was five hides of his own land , a church and a kitchin , a bell-house and a burrough-gate , with a seat and any distinct office in the kings court. this churle is in an ancient ms. cited by mr. selden called villanus ; so that if a man were not free-born if he could make such an acquisition he became ipso facto , a thane , a free-man , as they were often used the one for the other , which i think is easily to be collected from several places in doomsday book , and as at that time such circumstances with a place in the king's court made a thane or free-man , so a thane or freeman had a place in the great court , as we see edgar's curia had all the majores totius regni , without any qualification from tenure . but this is to be observed that this being spoke of as antiquated , and that the people and laws were in reputation when this was the usage , there is a strong presumption from hence , that since that time a less matter than five hides of land , a church , &c. gave a place in the king's court when nobilty was cheaper , and so the people , the nobles of less reputation . the normans followed not only the lane but the decent customs and ceremonies of the former government , though not directly yet by way of resemblance . and whereas the saxon kings celebrated their courts often on great feast days before all their people upon publick notice , king william erects tenures , whereby all that he had obliged by his gifts , except such as out of special favour were to do some small thing , pro omni servitio , should make a little court or council by themselves either military ( if occasion were ) or judicial in matters belonging to their feud . and by henry the third's time , if not henry the second's , it took in all , or most matters of ordinary justice ; whereas before , its business was confined to the controversies arising between the king 's immediate tenants , other suits , especially about lands , were settled in the counties or hundreds , or in particular lords courts , as appears by the charter of henry the first , de comitatu & hundredis tenendis . henricus rex anglorum sampsoni episcopo & ursoni de abecot & omnibus baronibus francis & anglicis de wircestrescirâ , salutem : sciatis quod concedo & praecipio ut à modo comitatus mei & hundreda in illis locis & eisdem terminis sedeant sicut sederunt in tempore regis edw. & non aliter . 〈◊〉 enim quando voluero faciam ea satis summoneri propter mea dominica necessaria ad voluntatem meam . i cannot here omit the plain observation that dominica necessaria , cannot be meant otherwise than of the king 's own business ; for his necessary demeasns were nonsense , therefore the sense is , that as often as he had occasion , he would give them , that is , all the counties and hundreds , sufficient notice for attending him ; so that here is a clear description of the nature of his great councils , nay , and of st. edward's too , in that when he says , they shall sit no otherwise than they had done in st. edward's time , he adds ; for when i have a mind to it , i will cause them to be sufficiently summoned to meet upon my necessary occasions , of which , i will be judge , that is , so it was in king edward's time , and indeed so it appears in the body of his laws recited in the fourth of william the first , where 't is enacted that tythes shall be payd of bees , we are there told with what solemnity the law passed , concessa sunt à rege , baronibus , & populo ; so whereas king ethelwolf father to the illustrious king alfred had in the year 855 or 854 granted to the church the tythe of his own demeasns . rex decimas ecclesia concessit ex omnibus suis terris sive villis regiis , about ten years afterwards the tythes were settled all over the kingdom by a general consent , totâ regione cum consensu nobilium & totias populi . by the populus is not to be intended all people whatsoever , for they who were not freeholders were not people of the land , were no cives , and were not properly a part of any hundred or country , for they were made up of the free pledges , the freeholders , masters of the several families , answering for one another by tens , ten tens , or tythings at first making an hundred court , and more or fewer hundreds ( according to the first division or increase ) a country , and for the clear understanding the general words , as principes , thaini , barones , proceres , baronagium , barnagium regni , or the like , relating to the great councils of the kingdom before and since the norman acquisition , we find by this charter of henry the first , that the counties and hundreds , that is , the men which composed those courts were upon sufficient notice to attend upon the king's business , that is , constitute the councils , and therefore simeon of durham very properly says of the great council , concilio totius angliae adunato , the same with what eadmerus says of the council of pinnedene in the first william's time , adunatis primoribus & probis viris non solum de comitatu cantiae sed & de aliis comitatibus angliae , here were the probi homines the freeholders of the counties , they that made the county court or turn , either of which in st. edward's laws is called the folkmote , and is there described vocatio & congregatio populorum omnium , and we find by statutes made before this time , that the populus omnis , or the primores & probi homines , according to eadmerus are called peers or nobles , for that the country-court , or turn at least , was celeberrimus ex omni satrapiâ conventus . thus in king edgar's laws , centuriae comitiis quisque ut antea praescribitur interesto oppidana ter quotannis habentur comitia . celeberrimus autem ex omni satrapiâ bis quotannis conventus agitor , cui quidem illius diocesis episcopus & senator intersunto , &c. this some great men have taken for a general council or parliament , but the contrary is manifest in that only the bishop of the diocess , and one senator either the count or the sheriff are to sit there in chief and this very law being taken notice of by bromton , it is there called scyremotus ; so in canutus his laws , where this is repeated , and where canutus his laws give an appeal from the hundred to the county-court or turn ; this of the county is called conventus totius comitatus quod anglicè dicitur scyremote . but to proceed with the charter of henry the first , concerning the county and hundred court. et si amodo exurgat placitum de divisione terrarum si interest barones meos dominicos tractetur placitum in curiâ meâ : et si inter vavasores duorum dominorum tractetur in com. &c. though according to this the titles to land between all but immediate tenants , or such lords as had none over them but the king , were determinable in the county , yet sometime before the great charter of henry the third , common pleas in general , which takes in the titles of land followed the king's court , where ever he held it , and by that charter were brought to a certain place . communia placita non sequantur curiam nostram sed teneantur aliquo loco certo . the king's bench is coram rege , and used to follow the king's court , and was removeable at the king's pleasure . here common pleas as well as matters of the crown were heard , and at this doubtless all the king's tenants by knights service used to be present , of this bracton says , illarum curiarum habet unam propriam sicut aulam regiam & justiciarios capitales qui proprias causas regis terminant & aliorum omnium per querelam vel per privileginm sive libertatem ; but as the curia regis was held sometimes of the tenants and officers only sometimes of the whole kingdom , when matters having no relation to tenure or ordinary judicature were in question , hence has arose the mistake of some learned authors in taking the curia regis to be nothing but the court of the king's tenants , of others that 't was meant only of the great council of the nation . whereas we may trace their frequent distinctions from the conquest downwards very apparently , and very often their union . it is agreed on all hands that the ordinary curia was held thrice a year , at christmass , easter , and whitsontide , and in the time of william the first , the places were as certain on christmass at glocester , on easter at winchester , on whitsontide at westminster , while they were held at the accustomed places , there was no need of any summons , they that were to come ratione tenurae might well come de more ; afterwards , they removed from place to place , the king made the court where ever he was pleased to hold it , and indeed when ever ; but then it could not be the curia de more : if it were at a different time or place , then there was need of summons , if there were summoned at any time more than the ordinary members of the curia ; if this was on the day of the curia there was an union of the great council and the curia , if on a different day there was a great council by its self , yet the members of the curia were a part thereof . not to anticipate what will appear from the presidents which i shall produce to make good this my assertion ; i shall make my observations upon them in order . about the first year of the reign of william the first , as mr. selden supposes , was held the council at pinnedene , to determine the difference between odo bishop of baieux , earl of kent , and archbishop lanfranc ; if this were a curia de more , then 't is evident that more than tenants in chief ; nay , all proprietors of lands assembled then of course even at the curia , for the probi homines of several counties were there , but it appears that it was upon the king's summons to all the freeholders of kent , and of some adjacent counties . praecepit rex quatenus adunatis primoribus & probis viris non solum de comitatu cantiae , sed & de aliis comitatibus angliae querelae lanfranci in medium ducerentur , examinarentur , determinarentur . disposito itaque apud pinnedene principum conventu godfridus episcopus constantiensis vir eâ tempestate praedives in angliâ vice regis lanfranco justitiam de suis querelis strenuissime facere jussus fecit . here all the probi homines are by variation of the phrase conventus principum , a bishop was president and pronounced the judgment ; but it was , as 't is said afterwards , ex communi omnium astipulatione & judicio , this judgment was afterwards revoked in another council , which to be sure must have been as large as the other , else the lawyers who were there , could never have made any colour of an argument for the revocation . item alio tempore idem odo permittente rege placitum instituit contra saepe fatam ecclesiam & tutorem ejus patrem lanfranc & illius omnes quos peritiores legum & usuum anglici regni noverat gnarus adduxit . cum igitur ad ventilationem causarum ventum esset omnes qui tuendis ecclesiae causis quâque convenerunt in primo congressu ita convicti sunt ut in quo eas tuerentur simul amitterent . 't is observable that there was a legal tryal , and the cause went on that side , where the law seemed to be ; but indeed afterwards lanfranc coming possibly upon producing some evidences not appearing before the first judgment was affirmed . here matter of ordinary justice was determined before more than the ordinary curia . this looks very like a general council of the whole nation , to be sure 't was more than a curia of the king's tenants and officers , and is more than a county court. yet in the nature of a county court , it being several counties united , and so was adunatio conciliorum , though not of the council of the whole nation . an ancient ms. makes this chiefly a court of the county of kent . praecepit rex comitatum totum absque mora considere , & homines comitatus omnes francigenas & praecipuè angl. in antiquis legibus & consuetudinibus peritos in unum convenire . but then it adds , & alii aliorum comitatum homines , and so confirms what eadmerus says . the nature of these courts is easily to be explained by writs , which we find from william the first for such tryals as this at pinnedene . willelmus anglorum rex omnibus fidelibus suis & vicecomitibus in quorum vicecomitatibus abbatia de heli terras habet , salutem : praecipio abbatia de heli habeat omnes consuetudines suas , &c. has inquam habeat sicut habuit die qua rex edwardus fuit vivus & mortuus , & sicut meâ jussione dirationatae sunt apud keneteford per plures scyras ante meos barones , viz. gaulfridum constansiensem episcopum , & balwinum abbatem , & petrum de valonnus , & picotum vicecomitem , & tehehen de heliom , & hugonem de hosden , & gocelinum de norwicum , & plures alios teste rogero bigot . willielmus rex anglorum lanfranco archiep. & rogero comiti moritonio & gauffrido constantiensi episcopo , salutem . mando vobis & praecipio ut iterum faciatis congregari omnes scyras quae interfuerunt placito habito de terris ecclesiae de hely antequam mea conjux in normaniam novissimè veniret . cum quibus etiam sint de baronibus meis qui competenter adesse poterunt , & praedicto placito interfuerunt et qui terras ejusdem ecclesiae tenent . quibus in unum congregatis eligantur plures de illis anglis qui sciunt quomodo terrae jacebant praefatae ecclesiae die qua rex edwardus obiit , et quod inde dixerint ibidem jurando testentur . quo facto restituantur ecclesiae terrae quae in dominico suo erant die obitûs edwardi , exceptis his quas homines clamabunt me sibi dedisse ; illas vero literis signate quae sint et qui eas tenent . qui autem tenent theinlandes quae proculdubio debent teneri de ecclesiâ , faciant concordiam cum abb. quam meliorem poterint et si noluerint terrae remaneant ad ecclesiam . hoc quoque de tenentibus socam et sacam fiat . denique praecipio ut illi homines faciant pontem de heli qui meo praecepto et dispositione hucusque illum soliti sunt facere . willielmus rex anglorum goffrido episcopo et rodberto et comiti moritonio , salutem . facite simul venire omnes illos qui terras tenent de dominico victu ecclesiae de heli , et volo ut ecclesia eas habeat sicut habuit die qua edwardus rex fuit vivus et mortuus , et si aliquis dixerit quod inde de meo dono aliquid habeat mandate in magnitudinem terrae et quomodo eam reclamat , et ego secundum quod audiero aut ei inde escambitionem reddam aut aliud faciam ; facite etiam ut abbas symeon habeat omnes confuetudines quae ad abbatiam de heli pertinent , sicut eas habebat antecessor ejus tempore regis edwardi , preterea facite ut abbas seisitus sit de illis theinlandis quae ad abbatiam pertinebant die quo rex edwardus fuit mortuus , si illi qui eas habent secum concordare noluerint , et ad istud placitum summonete willielmum de guaregnna , et richardum filium gisleberti , et hugonem de monteforti , et goffridum de manna villâ , et radulfum de belfo , et herveum bituricensem , et hardewinum , de escalers et alios quos abbas vobis nominabit . upon these writs many useful things might be observed , but i will confine my self as nigh as i can to my purpose . from them as interpreted by equal authority of history it appears , that wil. the first us'd to commissionate several of his barons . i will not oppose their being his great tenants in chief , these were to preside in the tryals of matters within ordinary justice , which were to be try'd in the several counties where the question arose , sometimes in one county , sometimes in several together as the men of the several counties , that is , the several counties were united . sometimes these great men , sometimes the sheriffs were to summon the parties , and to take care that an inquest of the county or counties concern'd be impannell'd , in the counties , that is , by the choice of the freeholders . the kings commissioners were to pronounce the judgment in the kings name or stead : so the bishop of constance did right to lanfranc , 't was judicio baronum regis qui placitum tenuerunt , and yet ex communi omnium astipulatione & judicio , the inquest upon their oaths found the matter of fact , the judges stated it to the people , and delivered their judgment ; to which the primores & probi homines assented , for 't was ex communi omnium astipulatione ; this agrees with what bracton says of the laws pass'd in the great council of the nation . de concilio & consensu magnatum & reipublicae communi sponsione . but it may be objected that the kings writ is to the great men to do justice , to which the books give an answer that the kings writ does not change the nature or jurisdiction of a court , and therefore though a writ of right or a justities be directed to the sheriff , yet the suitors in the county court are judges . and what their jurisdiction was in the time of wil. the first , is to be gathered from what continued to the freeholders or suitors of the county court of chester even till the time of edward the first . upon a writ of error to remove a judgment out of the county palatine of chester into the king's bench in a plea of land ; the chief justice of chester certifies that the judicatores et sectatores the suitors at the county court , clamant habere talem libertatem quod in tali casu debent omnes barones & eorum seneschal . ac judicatores ejusdem comitatus summoniri audituri hujusmodi processum & recordum & illa antiquam sigilla sua apponant ; si fuerit infra tertium comitatum per seipsos emendare . et hujusmodi libertates a tempore quo non exstat memoria usi sunt et gavisi . and the chief justice farther certifies , quòd fecit summoniri omnes barones et judicatores , accordingly . the parties assembled at the council of pinnedene , were the primores et probi viri of the counties concern'd , which answer to the proceres et fideles regni , in the union of all the counties in parliament , as in the 42 of henry 3. which in another record of the same parliament are branch'd out into hanz hommes e prodes hommes , there are the primores et probi viri , e du commun de nostre realme : that is , as the statute of the staple has it , the prelates , dukes , earles , barons , the great men of the counties , grands des county's as the french , and the commons of the cities and borroughs . the testimony of eadmerus concerning the parties to the judgment at pinnedene confirms me in my opinion , that the summons to a great council as i take it in this kings reign , mentioned by simon of durham and florentius wygorniensis , which was to all the bishops , abbots , earles , barons , sheriffs , with their knights , was not to them and those only who held of them by knights service , for more than such were judges even for matters of ordinary justice within the counties , but that it was to them and the sheriffs , knights , the freeholders of the countys who were by st. edwards laws oblig'd to find arms , and became knights milites as soon as by publick authority they took arms ; the antient form of manumission proves this sufficiently . siquis velit servum suum liberum facere tradet eum vicecomiti per manum dextram in pleno comitatu , et quietum illum clamare debet a jugo servitutis suae per manumissionem , et ostendat ei liberas portas et vivias et tradat illi libera arma , viz. lanceam et gladium et deinde liber homo efficitur . thus he becomes a freeman and the sheriffs knights at the same time . that all freeholders had the appellation of milites , is evident by many records , and even a statute , that for the choice of coroners which was but declaratory of the common law , as appears by several records , before that time ; i will instance in one . because one that had been chosen coroner , was neither a knight or freeman , as that interprets it self , nor yet discreet , therefore a new choice is directed , miles non est , et in servitio alieno , et juvenis et insufficiens et minus discretus . here in servitio alieno , a servant , is put in contradistinction to miles , that is , to a freeholder , or liber tenens . et here , has the like import with sed , unless a man might have been a knight , and yet no freeman . the freeholders of the county of cornwall fine to the king for leave to chuse their sheriff , 't is said in the record . milites de com. cornubiae finem fecerunt rot. fin . 5º h. 3. pars 1 a. m , 9. and these which are here called by the general denomination of knights , are in another record of the same specified under these names . episcopus , comites , bar. milites libere tenentes , et omnes alii de com. so that all the people of the county , that is , they which were part of the county court were comprehended under the word milites . in another record , the milites et probi homines , that is , honest freeholders are used as the same . in pleno com. tuo dicas militibus probis hominibus ballivae tuae . &c. the milites or probi homines were under the sheriff , an officer of their own choice , as was the law and custom of this king's time to be sure and long after : the office of the heretochius , who had been the ductor militiae , had been discontinued no body knows how long , and 't is spoke of only as an office that had been . but the sheriff , being of the freeholders choice , not the kings , having no certain salary , nor fee upon any account taken notice of in the eye of the law ; but depending upon what the king should give out of the two thirds of the profits of the county , ( the tertium denarium , the third part , the earl o● count had ) who will imagine that the sheriffs as sheriffs , had any feud rais'd upon them by the king , that is , were to attend at his courts or in his wars , with their feudall knights the posse commitatus which was assisting to them , being of quite another nature ? indeed i find one fulcherus , homo vicecomitis , that is , tenant by knights service , to which homage was incident , and in that sense miles vicecomitis ; in another part , tenet rogerus de picoto vicecomite de foedo regis hanc terram tenuit gold. sub abbate eli potuit dare absque ejus licentiâ sine sacâ . this had been freehold within the abbots precinct , alienable without licence , subject to no suit of court , and was granted to picot then sheriff of the county to hold of the kings feud , that is , by knights service . yet he did not hold this as vicecomes , but as baro , so 't was if any man had the county in fee : but the king summoned the barones , & vicecomites , that is , the vicecomites without consideration of their capacity as barons , and their knights ; 't was long after this , that the word vicecomes was any thing more than tbe name of the office here spoken of ; an honorary viscount was not then known , such indeed might at their creation have had feuds rais'd upon the lands granted along with their honours . there is this farther proof , that this was more than a council of the kings tenants and officers or ordinary court ; in that the summons was immediately after the curia , and that to a place sufficiently capacious , salisbury plain . et in hebdomada pentecostes suum filium henricum apud west . ubi curiam suam tenuit armis militaribus honoravit ; here was the proper work of the curia , the king gave arms in his court to the great men , and immediate tenants , the common freeholders received them in the county court , either at coming to age , or upon becoming free by manumission ; which 't is not probable that a man would desire , unless he had a freehold to live upon , or that thereby those lands which were held in villenage became free . but though one were born free , yet i take it he was to recieve a formal military honour , have arms deliver'd to him when he came to age , and in the time of hen. 1. 't is us'd as a sign that one was not of age when he seal'd a deed , and consequently 't was not effectual because militari baltheo nondum cinctus erat . we find that when a freeman died , his heir under age ; some body was to have the custody of the arms. siquis arma haec habens obierit remaneat haeredi suo , et si haeres de tali statu non sit quod armis uti possit , si opus fuerit ille qui eum habuerit in custodia habeat similiter custodiam armorum , &c. and when he came of age , tunc ea habeat , this was in hen. 2. time , and then the publick delivery of arms to all freemen might have been disus'd , but antiently as mr. selden observes , the taking arms by young men from publick authority was a kind of knight-hood . but soon after will. the first had at his court knighted his son henry , he call'd this great assembly of barones , & vicecomites cum suis militibus , his curia was held at whitsontide ; nec multo post mandavit ut arch. ep abb. com. bar. vicecomites cum suis militibus die kal. aug. sibi occurrerent saresberiae , quocum venissent milites illorum sibi fidelitatem contra omnes homines jur are coegit . here i take it milites illorum refers to the knights of the sheriffs , that is , the freeholders , this was adunatio conciliorum , a joyning together of the several councils of the counties , where the swearing allegiance to the king was one of their principal works ; the kings tenants had done it of course in the curia , but methinks 't is a strange thing that it should be us'd for an argument , that this was not a great council of the kingdom , because they were evocati● ad fidei vinculum . for satisfaction i will offer a record of the same work done in parliament in the time of henry 3. celebrato nuper concilio apud bristol ubi convenerunt universi ang. praelati tam ep. ab. quam primores et multi tam comites quam barones qui etiam univerfaliten fidelitatem nobis publicè facientes , concessis eis libertatibus & liberis consuetudinibus ab eis prius postulatis & ipsis approbatis . &c. here the king yields them those liberties and free-customs , which they desired , and they swear allegiance to him , here was the fidei vinculum . but perhaps they will say that this of w. the first was no common council or parliament , because it appears not that any laws pass'd or that they were summon'd to that end . for the first i think no man will say that the assembly is less parliamentary because nothing is agreed upon in it . indeed we find that where a parliament was dissolv'd without any act pass'd , 't is said by judge cook not to be a parliament , but the inception of a parliament , that is , no session : but whoever will consult the summons to parliament in the time of ed. 1. & 2. may satisfie himself that there were many parliaments call'd , at which there were no laws pass'd , but meerly advice given , and yet at the end thereof , the knights , citizens and burgesses had their writs of expenses , wherein the kings declared that they had been called to parliament , nobiscum de diversis negotiis nos & populum regni specialiter tangentibus tractatur . for the last , 't is no matter whether the cause of summons were express'd , 't is enough if it were de quibusdam arduis , or however else was the use of that time . besides 't is certain many laws have pass'd in publick councils antiently of which we have no intimation from those historians which mention such councils . wherever i find any publick act of recognizing a kings title of justice , or of elections of persons to any office , i shall not scruple to call such an assembly a council , and if it it be general , a great or common council of the kingdom . and lanfranc i conceive was in this kings reign chose to be metropolitan of all england in such a council ; 't was indeed in curiâ regis as gervacius , and the author of antiquitates britannicae shew , but not the ordinary curia , for 't was on our lady-day , which was not the time of such curia , and the clerus and populus angliae more than the kings tenants and officers there confirm'd the choice of the seniores ejusdem ecclesiae , that is , of canterbury . in the fourth of this king the controversie between the archbishop of york , and the bishop of worcester , was determined at petreda before the king , archbishop lanfranc , the bishops , abbots , earles , et primatibus totius angliae , this mr. selden rightly calls a parliament , which is easily to be gathered from the large and comprehensive signification of primates . that general summons the same year to have an account of the laws , looks as if it were to a parliament , to which a representation of twelve for every country was agreed on , but appears not to have been specially directed : be that as it will , there was no need of a full representative , or meeting in an entire body , because it was not to lay any new obligation upon them , but was an enquest of the several counties to present their old laws . but when he seemed inclined to make the customs of some few counties the rule to all the rest , ad preces communitatis anglorum , he left to every county its old customs . in the seventeenth of this king , convocavit rex multitudinem nobilium angliae , the multitude of the nobles of england , says gervace of dover , this was about ecclesiastical affairs , concerning the bringing regular monks into monasteries , and an old monk tells of the charter or law then agreed on . haec charta confirmata est apud westm . in concilio meo , anno regni mei xviii . praesentibus omnibus episcopis et baronibus meis , where barones mei must either be meant with relation to the whole nobility of england , which were all the king's men , though not his feudal , especially immediate tenants , before whom the test of charters used to be , as in henry the third's time , the earls only subscribed at the request of the rest , or it might be only his tenants in chief , subscribing as was usual . in the eighteenth the king impeaches his brother odo for his extortion , this was at the isle of wight ; in insulâ vectâ ei obviavit , ibi in mirum congregatis in aulâ regali primoribus regni : this was matter of ordinary justice , and though primores regni are named ; yet it might have been only such of them as attended on his wars , or in his court ; and 't is not probable that being abroad , all the primores angliae were summoned to this . in the nineteenth of his reign , i take it that he held barely his curia at glocester , for 't was a military council , except that his judges , great officers , and constant attendants were part of it . partem exercitus sui remisit , partem secum per totam hyemem retinuit et in nativitate domini glavorniae curiam suā tenuit , & at this court i find only some ecclesiastical preferments disposed of to three of his chaplains , which required no solemn consult ; but his laws passed per commune concilium totius regni , semel atque iterum ait se concessisse , &c. per commune concilium totius regni , and his leges episcopales , ecclesiastical laws were established , de communi consilio arch. episc . abb. et omnium procerum regni sui . for william the second , whereas a great antiquary will not say whether there were any solemn convention of the nature of a common or general council in his time , 't is manifest there was and we may find the marks of distinction between his ordinary curia & great council or parliament . he was crowned convocatis terrae magnatibus , says bromton , volentibus animis provincialium malms . that is , the whole kingdom agreeing or the major part ; indeed it seems the normans were for duke robert , but the english were not so wasted , as some imagine , but that they carried it , angli tamen fideliter ei juvabant , as simeon of durham shews , and hoveden out of him . in the second year of his reign he held a curia on christmass at london , but 't was more than a curia de more , for there were justiciarii ac principes totius angliae . in the third , turmas optimatum accivit & guentoniae congregavit , he called together the troops or army of nobles , barones aloquitur , inveighs against his brother robert , and perswades them to a war , & ut consilium inirent quid sit agendum jussit , bids them consider or advise what was to be done . his dictis omnes assenssum dederunt , all consented to a war. the king being very ill , omnes totius regni principes coeunt , episcopi , abbates , & quique nobiles , promittuntur omni populo bonae & sanctae leges ; here the princes and nobles reach to omnis populus . here anselm is named archbishop by the king , & concordi voce sequitur acclamatio omnium , the noyce and publick acclamation witnesses the peoples consent , and this is said to be secundum totius regni electionem , or as another author . rex anglorum consilio & rogatu principum suorum , cleri quoque & populi petition● et electione . the king being upon leaving england , to settle his affairs in normandy , ex praecepto regis omnes ferè episc . unà cum principibus angl. ad hastings convenerunt . here anselm pressed that there might be generale concilium episcoporum , but went from the curia , the great council , dissatisfied . anselm had propounded a question to be discussed in council . utrum salvâ reverentiâ et obedientiâ sedis apostolicae possit fidem terreno regi servare annon ? ex regiâ sanctione fermè totius regni nobilitas quinto id. martii pro ventilatione istius causae in unum apud rochingham coit . fit itaque conventus omnium , this is called curia , but could not be the court of tenants and officers only . anselm harangues the assembly in medio procerum et conglobatae multitudinis sedens . the other bishops are the mouth of the assembly , and the bishop of durham the prolocutor ; they tell him they will have him obey his prince , upon this he appeals to rome , miles unus , a good honest freeholder steps out of the throng , de multitudine prodiens , and with great devotion sets before his holy father the example of job's patience , upon this the prelate hugged himself in the opinion that the populus , the populacy were for him , though the princes , the heads of the assembly were against him . this controversie is adjourned to the curia , on whitsontide , which still was no ordinary one : anselm was celebrating a curia by himself , when he should have attended at the king 's , according to the adjournment , but it seems he expected special summons , which he has accordingly by word of mouth , no formal writ , but messenger . the king tenuit curiam suam in ipsâ festivitate apud windlesoram , and there were proceres , et coadunata multitudo , a very solemn convention . the authority cited by sir hen. spelman says , that the clergy was not at the council at roch. in quo fermè totius regni nobilitas praeter episcopos & clerum convenitur ; so that it would seem a president for that parliament , in the time of edward the first , taken notice of by bishop jewel , of which he says our publick monuments , that is , records have it . ha●ito rex cum suis baronibus parliamento et clero ( id est ) arch. et ep. excluso statutum est . there it seems the lords and commons , who undoubtedly came at that time , without relation to tenure , are barones sui : but whether the council at roch. had the clergy present or no , the bishops and barons tell anselm at another great council , how much soever he thought the assembly on his side , that placitum habitum est contra se , his pretences were over ruled , totius regni adunatione . yet notwithstanding their sense then delivered , they gave a farther day till whitsontide ; so that in effect 't was judgment nisi , then indeed anselm with a side wind got an advantage of the king , he cunningly waves the question , whether he might swear obedience to the king , and puts it only whether the pall were to be received from the pope , or the king , and carried that point , that it belonged to the singular authority of saint peter . this was a general council on the feast day , adquievit multitudo omnis , unde cum omnes silentio pressi conticuissent , statutum est . it seems till the multitude rested satisfied , the law could not pass . but two years after on whitsontide was held no more than the ordinary curia — cum igitur in pentecoste festivitatis gratiâ regiae curiae se presentasset : peractis igitur festivioribus diebus diversorum negotiorum causae in medium duci ex more coeperunt — that 't was usual when the height of the feasting was over , to go to the tryals of causes , or matters of ordinary judicature . in august following is held a great council , the king being , de statu regni acturus . then he sends out a general summons . in sequenti autem mense augusto cum de statu regni acturus rex , episcopos , abbates & quosque regni proceres in unum praecepti sui sanctione egisset , & dispositis his quae adunationis illius causae fuerant ; &c. anselm asks leave to go to rome , but is denied it . in october following there was a general council at winchester . wintoniae ad regem ex condicto venimus , eadmerus was there himself . the first day the tumult from the vast multitude was so great , that they could do nothing , and therefore broke up the court , and adjourned to the next day . orta est igitur ex his quaedam magna tempestas diversis diversae parti acclamantibus ; the sense of the assembly was , that anselm should observe the king's laws ; upon which he departs the realm in a pett . 't was pity eadmerus went with him , so that we loose the account of what passed in his absence . i think however we have enough to prove that there were then no less , nay greater assemblies , than what now compose our parliaments , nay the very word parliament was not unknown in that time . parliamentum dixêre croylandenses caenobitae sub tempore willielmi secundi . for farther proof 't is observable , that this king stood upon it , that malcolm king of scots , secundum judicium tantum baronum suorum in curiâ suâ rectitudinem ei faceret . that is was to do him right , or answer his demands , according to the judgment of his curia , or ordinary court of justice ; malcolm pleads that 't was to be in the confines of both kingdoms . secundum judicium primorum utriusque regni , that is , according to the judgment of a great or general council of both kingdoms united , and who were the primores that constituted the great council of scotland , even till the 23. of james the first , is evident by his act of alteration , or recommendation of a change , which has it , that the small barrons , and fee-tenants ( or freeholders ) need not to come to parliaments , nor general councils , without election , which shews that till then they did : and how they came here in this king's time , i leave any body to think as they please , sure i am here were more than tenants in chief . there was one council in his reign , which had no addition to it , the author says only celebravit concilium , and this , i take it , was no more than an ordinary curia , especially it being octabis epiphaniae ; and there was a legal tryal by duel , and by judgment of the court , the party conquered had his eyes pull'd out , and his stones cut off . that besides the great council , this king above mentioned , held the ordinary curia , sive de more , we have clear authority . cum gloriosè & patrio honore curiam tenuisset ad natale apud glocester , ad pascha apud winchester , ad pentecosten apud londoniam . by the foregoing instances , we may see , notwithstanding virgil's suppressing , as much as in him lay , the mss. which might take from the authority of his history , how many rise up in judgment against his assertion in the time of king h. 1. illud oppositè habeo dicere , reges ante haec tempora non consuevisse populi conventum consultandi causâ , nisi perrarò facere , adeò ut ab henrico id institutum jure manâsse dici possit — and it seems the great mr. lambert ( who possibly was the first that after the ages , in which the word baronagium was used and known to express the full great council or parliament received its true notion , viz. that both the nobility and commonalty of the realm were meant under these words , the barons of the realm ) this great man it seems , had not met with those mss. which since have offered their light to the world ; otherwise he would not have subscribed to the foregoing opinion of polydore virgil , however polydore himself , as far as his authority goeth , gives us to believe the frequency of such solemn councils , from this king's time downwards . this prince was so pleased with his people , and they so much at ease under his gentle reign , there was that mutual confidence in each other , that 't is a question whether he ever held a solitary curia of tenants and officers , only we find , tota nobilitas cum populi numerositate , cuncti majores adunati , and regnum angliae . all at several times at the curia de more . at other times we have commune concilium gentis anglorum , clerus & populus congregatus , the same called commune concilium baronum regni angliae . regni nobilitas sua sanctione adunatâ , concilium magnum — magnum placitum apud northamtune congregatis , omnibus principibus angliae , that is , baronibus , that is , clero & populo — though 't were a pleasure to dwell upon this king's reign , yet it is needless to insist upon further proof , that his councils consisted of more than tenants in capite and great officers . king stephen was elected king , a primoribus regni cum favore cleri & populi , clericorum & laicorum universitate , ab omnibus . viz. tam presul . quam com. & baron . stephanus his et aliis modis in regno angliae confirmatus , episcopos et proceres sui regni regali edicto in unum convenire praecipit , cum quibus hoc generale conciliam celebravit . this to be sure was more than the ordinary curia : the eighth of july two years after a council was held at oxford , which broke not up till september following , this was conventus magnatum , was not on the ordinary court day , yet perhaps was not a great general council : it was only for matter of ordinary justice ; some of the laity had complain'd of two potent bishops that fortified their castles , as if they intended to rule over them by the temporal , as well as spiritual sword , and had made a catholick interpretation of st. peter's , ecce duo gladii . it seems the bishops plea was , that this was no ecclesiastical synod , that is , in the true sense , not assembled for ecclesiastical , but for civil matters ; but in their sense , that they would be tryed by the canons , and canonical persons ; the debate is put off to be determined , in a general council appointed to be at winchester . here the clergy set up for themselves , & having the popes legat , thought themselves a body sufficiently entire , without that other part of the clerus , gods inheritance , which used to make up eventhese assemblies ; with much ado , they first let in the nobility proprietors of land , omnes barones in eorum communionem jamdudum recepti . they had not sate four days but the londoners-citizens demanded to be admitted amongst them as citizens or traders , they were no part of the nobility , 't was a disparagement for the son of a noble man a freeholder to be married to a trader . and this our constitution agreed with that of poland , where mercator and nobilis were alway contradistinct , and there is a remarkable clause in one of their statutes . nobiles appellandos censemus , qui licèt matre populari , patre tamen nobili sunt procreati , quorum tamen parentes & ipsimet vivant & vixerint ad instar aliorum nobilium in regno ut supra ; & non exercuerint vel exerceant eas artes & actiones quas communiter cives & qui in civitatibus morantur exercere solent ; per contrarium enim usum nobilitas ipsa in popularem , & plebeiam conditionem transire solet , and with them the inhabitants of cities which were sicut proceres sent deputies , whereas the possessionati the nobles came to the great councils in person . there came to the council above-named a representative in the name of the whole city of london . feriâ quartâ venerunt londinenses , & in concilium introducti causam suam eatenus egerunt , ut dicerent missos se a communione quam vocant londiniarum , but the clergy carried it with an high hand , and told them , that it became not them who were principal men in the kingdom and sicut proceres , as it were nobles , to favour them who forsook their lord , which i think was meant of the pope , and his clergy : to be sure they excommunicated the king , and those that held with him , for medling in their matters : but they had much ado to quiet the city of london for the haughty answer they gave them . they that were at this assembly came not as the king's tenants , or because of any office in his court. notwithstanding all the canonical thunder , at a great council possibly of lay-men only , habito post modum concilio coram primoribus angliae , statutum est ut omnia per angliam , oppida , castella , munitiones quaequae , in quibus secularia solent exerceri negotia regis & baronum suorum juri cedant . whereby all the strong holds which clergy-men had were subjected to the dominion of the laity , whether only the king's barons , barones curiae suae were to be judges in the disposal is needless to determine . but statutum est coram primoribus angliae , this was made a law by all the baronage of england . we have several other councils in this king's reign . in the seventh of his reign , there is an act of recognizing matilda the empress her title to the crown by all but the men of kent , and 't is not improbable that they looking upon themselves as a freer people than the rest , thought it was not fit for them to own any title but meer election . maltida imperatrix ab omni gente anglorum suscipitur in dom. exceptis kentensibus . in the ninth the proceres are summoned per edictum regium to st. albans . the same year is a great council at northampton called parliamentum . in the seventeenth , generale concilium convocavit at london , to which were called the bishops and all the proceres . in the ninteenth and last of his reign , all the principes met at oxford ad octavis epiphaniae , and soon after the colloquium at oxford they met at dunstaple . and he held another great council the same year at london on michaelmas tam pro negotio regni quam provisione eccles . ebor. cum episcopis & optimatibus terrae , this was both for ecclesiastical & civil matters . the council of clarendon with that part of its constitutions which hath been much controverted of late , will detain me and the reader too long to examine the several instances of great councils or of ordinary courts in this king's reign . by the examination of this possibly i may give some additional light to what i have already represented . the end of this convention was , to vindicate the crown and kingdom of england from the usurpations of the clergy , who insisted upon exemptions , and an uncontroulable license to do ill upon pretence of the sacredness of their persons . whereas the king would allow them no other priviledges , or exemptions , than what his laws had given them . this council was compos'd of more than tenants in chief , 't is call'd a great , and full parliament ; generale concilium ; the parties present are under divers denominations , all coming to the same : rex , arch. ep. ab. pr. com. bar. & proceres regni , as m. paris , rex & magnates regni , mat. west . anglicani regni praesules & proceres , gervasius ; episcopi , & proceres , radulphus de diceto . praelati , proceres & populus regni , as another , clerus & populus regni , hoveden . the whole kingdom as dr. stillingfleet shews us out of the quadripartite history . the body of the realm as sr. roger twisden terms it ; yet i conceive that the clause so much tost to and fro , without any right settlement , referrs to the ordinary curia regis , to which the kings tenants were bound by their tenure to come ; and where ordinary justice or jurisdiction in all , or most causes was exercised , and this gives some account why the bishops who have been from the normans acquisition downwards tenants in chief , because of their temporalties , and during vacancies the guardians of those temporalties , upon that very account have been particularly summon'd , why i say they should be allowed to vote in a legislative capacity which they have as proprietors , though no tenants of the king , when they proceed by way of bill of attainder , and yet tenure only qualifying them for judges in parliament ( as before in the kings ordinary curia , interesse judiciis curiae , or at least they succeeding to the jurisdiction of the tenants in the curia ) according to the constitution of clarend . that jurisdiction which they have as tenants , or as succedaneous to such , extends not to matters of blood . it will not be proved , that the coming to the great council , where the extraordinary power , justice , or legislature was exercis'd , was meerly because of tenure , and that no body had right to be of the great council but they that held in capite , or were members of the ordinary curia ; indeed when that was taken away , or disus'd , they that before were to do suit and service at the curia , were to perform it at the great court , the parliament ; for there was no other court where they could , and therefore in the 8th of ed. 2. the inhabitants of st. albans plead that they held in capite . and as other burroughs were to come to parliament pro omni servitio . but that the coming to the judgements of the ordinary curia was meerly because of tenure appears from the words of the constitution : arch. ep. &c. & universi personae regni qui de rege tenent in capite , habent possessiones suas de domino rege sicut baroniam , &c. & sicut barones caeteri debent interesse judiciis curiae regis cum baronibus , &c. that is , except as is there excepted , these ecclesiastical tenants or barons were to be present , or interested in the judgements together with the kings justices and officers , as the other barons , that is lay-tenants in capite . it seems both ecclesiasticks and lay-tenants in capite held per baroniam , yet i think caeteri barones ought to be confin'd to them that held of the king in chief by knights service , for many held in feodo firmâ by the payment of a certain rent , or petty serjeanty , the payment of a gilt spur or the like , pro omni servitio , of which the records are full , who were not ordinarily to give their attendance at the curia . but tenure per baroniam , was i take it in those times no more than tenure by knights service in capite . this perhaps i could prove by many records . i shall instance in one to the honour of a noble peer of this realm , now earl late baron of berkley , as his ancestors have been ever since the time of hen. 2. one of his ancestors had the grant of the mannor of berkley harness from hen. 2. tenendum in feodo & haereditate sibi & haeredibus suis per servitium quinque militum . an office is found in edw. the third's time upon the death of maurice berkley , and there 't is that he held per baroniam faciendo inde servitium trium militum pro omni servitio . two knights fees having been alien'd ; inde , upon the account of the barony , or rather the land , was the knights service , and the knights service made the barony , as appears , there being no particular words creating any honourable tenure , but what resulted from serving the king with men upon his own charges : the number i take it made nothing towards the nature of the tenure . these tenants by knights service , the kings barons , were obliged to be at the kings courts de more ; if at the great court when he should call them , the chief ground was upon their ordinary attendance amongst the rest of the tenants . that what relates to the curia regis within the const . of clarendon was meant of the ordinary justice of the kings court , and consequently the ordinary court , old _____ of glocester is express . yuf a man of holi-church hath ein lay fee , parson , otherwhat he be , he shall do therevore king's service , that there valth , that is right ne be vorlore . in plaiding , and in assize be ; and in judgement also . but this farther appears by the summons to , and proceedings at northampton the very next year . this hoveden calls curia regis , and mr. selden informs us out of an antient author , that the summons thither was only to the members of the ordinary curia , omnes qui de rege tenebant in capite , mandari fecit : upon the bishops withdrawing from the judging of becket , ( the ground of which i shall soon examin . ) quidam vicecomites & barones secundae dignitatis were added , 't was quidam vicecomites some sheriffs , it could not be all because several were majores barones , having the countys in fee , but this restraint seems not to reach to the barones secundae dignitatis ; suppose that it does , and so comes only to the uppermost of them , the vavasores perhaps , that is inferior or mesne lords holding mannors of others , not the king ; still here were more than tenants in chief , and to be sure , these being said to be added , were more than the members of the ordinary curia , and this court to which they were added was only the ordinary court of justice . if we can shew when this ordinary court of justice determin'd , and who succeeded into the places of the ordinary members of it , we may go farther to clear the matter in question than perhaps has yet been done . if the lords the great men , succeeded the court of tenants , and were let into that jurisdiction which they exercised , and there is no colour of proof that clergy-men in the curia regis ever voted in capital causes , but if on the other side , ( the prohibitions running against judicia sanguinis , and the constitution of clarendon referring to the curia regis , where the ordinary judicia sanguinis were agitated and pronounced ) justly , they took themselves to be excluded the curia , quando de illis materiis agitur ; it will i think be evident that the bishops , as a part of the house of lords , answering to the court of the kings tenants , never had any right to vote in capital cases . but it lyes upon me here to shew when and how the curia regis went off . i have before observed that the duty of tenants was either to attend the king in his wars , in his administration of ordinary justice , or as a council to give him aid in lieu of , or by way of advance upon their personal services in the wars . as they attended in the wars they could not be a court or council , and so no curia regis . as a court of justice , their attendance was superseded by magna charta , 2 , or 9 of hen. 3. communia placita non sequantur curiam nostram sed teneantur in aliquo loco certo . hereby the administration of justice was taken from the ordinary curia , and fix'd at the courts in westminster-hall . yet after this they continued a court , or council for aids till the 34th of edw. the first , and by that they were wholly gone as a separate court , or council ; being from that time no tax nor aid could be raised without full consent of the great council , or parliament . when this court was gone , as before i observed , we find tenants in chief pleading that their coming to the great court or parliament was pro omni servitio , which shews manifestly , that the great court not only took in the less , as it did in the nature of the thing , being that and more ; but that it preserved the image of it ; and indeed what was a duty in them that came to , or were members of the ordinary curia , turn'd to a priviledge or right in them who succeeded to the dignity , though not the services of tenants . as the tenants were obliged by their tenure interesse judiciis curiae regis , they that succeeded to their dignity had right to be judges in parliament . and whereas the curia regis , as a court of justice was taken away or defeated in the time of hen. 3. we find by britton , suppos'd to have wrote in the fifth of his immediate successor , that the barons were judges in parliament , as the tenants and officers had been in the curia regis . et en case ou nous somes partie volons que nostre court soit judge sicome counts & barons en temps de parliament . now let us return to the constitution of clarendon . the tenants whose duty it exacts ( the lay tenants disputed not ) were tenants by barony ; that is , by knights service of the person , or crown of the king , and except as there is excepted , were of duty to be present at all tryals or judgements , or to exercise jurisdiction in all causes : but judicium vitae vel membrorum they were not to meddle with ; when they came in judicio , in jurisdiction , or the tryal of causes , ad judicium vitae vel membrorum , that is to such a cause , or the exercise of such a jurisdiction , or such a tryal , they were to withdraw ; and this is the plain sense of judicium vitae vel membrorum , given us by that great judge learned both in the common and civil laws , bracton , who wrote in the reign of hen. 3. grandson to this king , who enforc'd the leges avitas , in this particular , and others contain'd in the constitution of clarendon . this great lawyer , having enumerated several priviledges , or jurisdictions , granted from kings of england to their subjects , amongst other things has these words . item si cui concedatur talis libertas quod habeat soke , & sake , toll , & them , infangthef ; & utfangthef , judicium vitae & membrorum , & furcas , & alia quae pertinent ad executionem judicii , &c. here this judicium vitae & membrorum must be meant of the whole tryal , or jurisdiction , otherwise it is supposed , that he tells us , the king granted those men liberty to pronounce , or depute those that should pronounce , the final judgment , who yet neither by themselves , nor deputies , had any thing to do with the praeliminaries , the questions arising between , and leading to the justice of the judgement , which is an absurd supposal . the having judicium , or power in judicio , does not , as i conceive , any way suppose a tryal already begun , and the bishops present so far in it ; but when it comes to the point of mutilation or death , then they have leave to withdraw ; that is , they are a court , or of the court , for such a cause , and yet they are not a court for such a cause ; for the cognizance of causes takes in the judicium , the tryal , in the agitation , agitare judicium , and in the final or solemn pronouncing of the judgement . it is indeed possible , though not rational , that the law should give the jurisdiction over part of a cause , and not the whole , yet 't is not to be imagined that such was the meaning of the law-makers , especially , when we find the words of the law , according to the sense put upon those words , by the most learn'd , in the age nighest to them that transmit the law to us , are not to be brought to such a dividing sense without a great deal of force : and to this the several other copies of this constitution give weight . but we are told that the sense is best understood by the practice of that age . if the sense be plain , a contrary practice is not to determine the sense another way , as , as great an author , the learned doctor stillingfleet , proves at large in his answer to mr. cressy's epistle apologetical , where he shews the number of statutes made against provisors , in express terms : and yet when the king of england comes to settle the points in difference , between him and pope martin the 5. there is no manner of regard had to the statutes of provisors , although so often repeated ; nor did common practice agree with the positive and plain law . but the testimony of petrus blesensis brought to prove the practice in the time of hen. 2. i could set aside with better colour , than the author of the grand question does the true sense of judicium and in judicio . for petrus blesensis joins together the principes sacerdotum and seniores populi , the last of which , in common acceptation , relates to the laity ; and for their withdrawing just at the final judgement , surely there could be no pretence from the practice of that age . but let 's take his authority , and make the best of it . principes sacerdotum & seniores populi licet non dictent judicia sanguinis , eadem tamen tractant disputando & disceptando de illis : ideo seque immunes à culpâ reputant , quod mortis aut truncationis membrorum judicium decernentes , à pronunciatione duntaxat , & executione poenalis sententiaese absentent . here he expressly confirms the sense , which i shall enforce , and makes the votings in the preliminaries , mortis aut truncationis membrorum judicium decernere . some clergy-men it seems did thus decernere judicium sanguinis , and he blames them for it , but can their practice of any thing against law be an argument that there was no law against such practice ? and besides this being brought to shew the meaning of the constitution of clarendon , which speaks only of the curia regis ; this has no colour of a proof , because they might have handled such matters in their own courts , where the king gave them judicium vitae & membrorum , as bracton has shewn us ; but that they did not in the curia regis , we are to believe , till express authority be brought to shew that they did . one of the editions of blesensis has but quidam , some of them only could dispense with the obligation ; of what nature the obligation was , i shall soon shew , and will usher it in with the judgement of mr. selden , who was best acquainted with the several copies of this constitution , and with those laws which were the ground of it , perhaps of any man since the making the constitution . the meaning of it is , says he , that all bishops , abbots , priors , and the like , that held in chief of the king had their possessions as baronies , and were accordingly to do all services , and to sit in judgement with the rest of the barons in all cases , saving cases of blood . the exceptions of cases of blood proceeded from the canon laws which prohibited clergy-men to assent to such judgements . but we are told , that hen. 2. in the parliament at northampton declar'd , that bishops were bound by virtue of the constitution of clarendon to be present , and to give their votes in cases of treason . that this was only a curia regis , no parliament , i have shewn . that it should be affirmed that the king then press'd the bishops to give their votes in a capital case , ( as the author supposes every crimen laesae majestatis then to have been ) i wonder , because 't is apparent from the circumstances that the king prest for a final judgement , and therefore could not urge that as the duty of their tenure , when even according to this learned man , the canons prohibited their pronouncing final sentence , and the king at clarendon , out of regard and reverence to the canons of the church , requir'd only that they should act in such causes , till the cause was ripe for sentence , not that they should stay at the sentence : that point he was content to yield them ; and he himself shews us out of fitz-stephen , that the bishops look'd not on the matter as capital , for they did not urge the canons in the case ; but they excus'd themselves upon the account of the arch-bishops prohibition . and the king reply'd , that ( viz. that prohibition ) had no force against the constitution of clarendon , which was in effect to say , you have no manner of pretence , no canon forbidding you to pass judgement upon becket , and therefore according to the constitution of clarendon , you ought interesse judiciis curiae regis at this time . notwithstanding the plain sense of all this , we find a very artificial management of fitz-stephens , and other authorities . 1. as if becket were accus'd of a capital matter , it being call'd crimen laesae majestatis . 2. as if the crime he was accus'd of was appealing to rome , and that such appeal was treason by the ancient common law before any statutes made . 1. i will readily grant that in the language of that age becket was accus'd or impeach'd of crimen laesae majestatis , but that all crimina laesae majestatis were then capital , glanvile , who was chief justice in that kings reign , denies . crimen quod in legibus dicitur crimen laesae majestatis , ut de nece , vel seditione personae domini regis vel regni vel exercitus , occultatio inventi thesauri fraudulosa , placita de pace domini regis infracta , &c. hereby every breach of the kings peace , was crimen laesae majestatis ; every breach of the laws by acts of injustice is a breach of his peace , contra pacem & coronam ; therefore becket having denied justice to john the marshal , and refusing to answer the king who charg'd him in account , especially standing in contempt of the kings court , was guilty of this crime . indeed glanvile when he has named homicide , malicious firings , and other crimes , adds et siquae sunt similia ; quae scilicet crimina ultimo puniuntur supplicio , aut membrorum truncatione . as if no crimes were within this name , but those which drew after them capital punishment , but that is certainly to be meant of such as are not there specified : that is , all such like crimes , provided they are capital in the punishment annext by law , are crimina laesae majestatis , though neither homicide , nor firing , &c. nor any direct and open breach of the peace . 't is evident that he confines not placita de pace infractâ to homicide and those that follow ; for he takes in assaults and batteries de verberibus , de plagis etiam . which he says are tryable by the sheriff in default of mesn lords , unless the indictment be in the kings name . nisi accusator adjiciat , de pace domini regis infractâ . but it appears from fitz-stephen , that becket was not impeach'd for appealing to rome , even upon his second impeachment , but pro ratiocinio cancellariae reddendo ; to which he pleads , that the king remitted him when he was made arch-bishop , that he then was quietus & solutus ab omni regis querelâ . but further , that he was called only to answer in the cause of john the marshal , in which he complained that he had had hard measure , but for the last neque in causâ sum ratiocinii ; neque aliquam habui ad eam citationem : still the king urges the proceres to proceed to judgement against him , he finding them ready to comply with the king , appeals to rome , and strictly enjoyns all his suffragan bishops and others not to meddle in the matter . upon this , redeunt ad regem episcopi & in pace à judicando archiepiscopo excusati à baronibus seorsim sedent , nec minus à comitibus & baronibus suum exigit rex judicium : evocantur quidam vicecomites & barones secundae dignitatis , &c. what is here like the pretence of his being accused in a capital matter , and the kings urging the bishops to judge him notwithstanding a capital accusation ? nay further , admit that he had been impeach'd of appealing to rome ( which 't is evident both from fitz-stephen and gervase that he was not ) i question whether it had been capital then , or whether the lord cook says that such an owning of the popes power was treason , by the ancient common law , before any statutes were made ; which i conceive he do's not : the most which i find in him towards this point , is of a judgement in the 30th of edw. the first , where 't is resolv'd that a subjects bringing in a bull of excommunication against another subject , and publishing it to the lord treasurer of england , was by the ancient common law of england treason . now this publishing a bull of excommunication , and thereby assuming the exercise of justice without the kings authority , is certainly a much greater offence against the kings crown and dignity , than barely the appeal : however either might have been crimina laesae majestatis , against the crown and royal dignity , and yet not capital , as glanvile shews . but this is further observable that the king himself appeal'd to the pope in this very controversie between him and becket . hâc igitur celebri celebratâ & acceleratâ appellatione misit rex , misit & archiepiscopus nuntios ad dominum papam . and according to grev. the bishops appeal'd to the pope against becket , with the great approbation of the king. wherefore the article in the constitution of clarendon touching appeals , the first declaration that i find of the law in this point , comes not up to beckets appeal . de appellationibus si emerserint ab archidiacono , debent procedere ad episcopum , ab episcopo ad archiepiscopum , et si archiepiscopus defuerit in justitiâ exhibendâ , ad dominum regem est perveniendum postremò , ut praecepto ipsius in curiâ archiepiscopi controversia terminetur ; ita quod non debet ulterius procedere absque assensu domini regis . this is of causes begun in ecclesiastical courts , these were not to go further than the archbishops court , that is , not to the pope without the kings licence ; now admit an appeal had been before the pope with the kings licence , yet it might have been crimen laesae majestatis , to put the popes sentence in execution without new licence had : but where a matter lay not in these inferiour courts , as becket's did not , whether the appealing in such a case had been against the law then , i make a doubt , i am sure it is not prov'd at least , that 't was capital . i know not of any greater penalty than a premunire ever annext to it , till the reformation . but if it were capital from the beginning , 't would not be any thing to the purpose here , because becket was not impeacht for appealing . i cannot but charge this author with a great deal of artifice in this place , and of much labour to reconcile things , as i should think , very disagreeing : he tells us that according to fitz-stephen , becket was accus'd of treason , and the bishops sate together with other barons , and because it did not come to a sentence of death , after a great debate between the other lords and bishops about pronouncing the sentence , the bishop of winchester did it : here he jumbles together , what in another place he rightly divides , he takes it right that there were two causes , the one that of john the marshal , the other that which he would make capital ; in the first , the bishops did certainly sit in judgement , there the bishop of winch. pronounc'd the sentence ; as mr. selden ( who this author confesses has printed the proceedings of this judgement very exactly ) shews out of stephanides : for this our author do's not pretend that becket was accus'd of treason , and yet he says that the bishop of winch. gave sentence , where he was accus'd of treason ; nay , though his own author stephanides is express , that upon the second charge , which contain'd the suppos'd capital matter , the bishops withdrew , & quidam vicecomites & barones secundae dignitatis were taken into the court. thus i think i have shewn that the king did not declare at northampton , that the bishops were bound by virtue of the constitution of clarendon to be present and to give their votes in cases of treason , ( as such were capital ) but rather it not being a capital case upon which the king demanded judgement , that therefore the bishops were by that constitution oblig'd to be there . admitting that this constitution is no law prohibiting clergy-men to vote in capitals , only obliging them to the duty of their tenure ; and leaving them to act in matters of blood , according as they thought themselves bound by the canons : yet i think herein it appears that those canons were received by the temporalty , and so became laws . but not to insist upon this , the question here is , 1. first , what the canon law prohibited . 2. what force that prohibition has at this day . 1. the author of the grand question has i conceive misrepresented the sense of lanfranc's canon concerning this matter , which he has render'd thus : that no bishop or clergy-man should condemn a man to death , or give vote in the sentence of condemnation . here he confines the prohibition to the final judgement only ; and yet says , lanfranc had brought the canon of the eleventh council of toledo into england : so that lanfranc's and that of toledo he yields must speak the same thing ; that of toledo , is this : his à quibus domini sacramenta tractanda sunt , judicium sanguinis agitare non licet ; & ideo magnopere talium excessibus prohibendum est , nequi praesumptionis motibus agitati aut quod morte plectandum est sententiâ propriâ judicari praesumant , aut truncationes quaslibet membrorum quibuslibet personis aut per se inferant aut inferendas praecipiant . his à quibus domini sacramenta tractanda sunt , undeniably reaches to bishops , as well as inferior clergy , and so removes the cavil which many make upon some canons , or laws , mentioning clerk , or clerus only . here 't is laid down for a principle , non debent agitare judicia , they must not to debate upon such judgements , or try such causes , that is as petrus blesensis expresses it , eadem tractare disputando & disceptando de 〈◊〉 . now can we think the wise council of toledo understood sense so little to declare , that clergy-men ought not to debate about , or try such causes , and therefore should prohibit only the final judgement ? nay 't is very clear that they , agreeably to the maxim they receive , forbid them quod morte plectendumest sententiâ propriâ judicare , to judge of , or try the matter , or cause in their own persons ; not but that where the king gave them judicium vitae & membrorum , as we find in linwood , they might delegate authority to others to judge , without breach at least of after canons . but this of toledo i conceive wholly shuts them out from the cause , or tryal of it . and according to this very author , this canon of toledo is to be taken as explanatory of lanfranc's , which is much shorter , and less express ; yet comes to the same , in the signification of the words , as well as in the intention of the council , which received the above-cited canon of toledo . lanfranc's we have in these words , iterum ut nullus episcopus vel abbas , seu quilibet ex clero hominem occidendum , vel membris truncandis judicet , vel judicantibus suae autoritatis favorem accommodet . this speaks of the man guilty of a crime worthy of death , or loss of member , the other of the cause , or matter ; which are tantamount : but by this they were not to judge themselves ; nor sit by , while others judge , or any way contribute to the judgement . but of this the great council at westminster in the year 1175. is the best interpreter . and if the clergy-men neither before the constitution of clarendon , nor by it , were excluded from medling in these causes ; they are by the last in full parliament , the testimony of which is transmitted by us by no less an author than gervase of dover , who liv'd in the very time , and whose credit this learned person supports by following him rather than matthew paris . in hoc concilio , he tells us , ad emendationem anglicanae ecclesiae assensu domini regis & primorum omnium regni haec subscripta promulgata sunt capitula : amongst which the third is this , hiis qui in sacris ordinibus constituti sunt , judicium sanguinis agitare non licet , unde prohibemus ne aut per se membrorum truncationes faciant aut inferendas judicent , &c. this is almost the same in words with that of toledo , and by the concession of the learned author of the gr. question that of toledo was then produced by richard arch-bishop of canterbury : the same we find in hoveden , said in the margent to be ex concilio toletano . judicium sanguinis agitare non licet , surely comes up to the preliminaries , and i cannot understand the coherence of saying to this effect . it is a received maxime that clergy-men ought not so much as to vote in preliminarys , relating to capital cases ; and therefore to give the final judgement is only unlawful by the canon , which declares that to vote , even in preliminarys , is unlawful . in richard the second 's time , the bishops understood not this nice reasoning , and therefore they enter their formal protestation on record . agitur de nonnullis materiis , that is capital causes , in quibus non licet nobis aut alicui eorum juxta sacrorum canonum instituta quomodolibet personaliter interesse . 't was not so much because 't was in parliament , as because matter of blood was in question . and indeed the canons mentioning judicia sanguinis , that is ordinary judgements , such as were agitated in the kings ordinary court of justice , and the constitution of clarendon referring only to that court , it appears that these constitutions were received in parliament in the reign of edw. the first . when the king ty'd up his hands from giving clergy-men power , even so much as by his special commissions , to sit upon the tryals of such causes . we for the utility of our realm and for the more assured conservation of our peace have provided and ordained that justices assigned to take assizes in every county , where they do take as they be appointed assizes , incontinent after the assizes taken in the shires , shall remain both together if they be lay. and if one of them be a clerk , then one of the most discreet knights of the shire being associate to him that is a lay-man , by our writ shall deliver the gaoles of the shires . hereby it appears that if one of the judges were a clergy-man , he was not so much as to sit with the other upon the delivery of the gaol ; that is the tryal of capital causes ; but another lay-man should be commission'd for that purpose . and agreeable to this we find in the records of the tower , that when two have been commissioned as judges for the same circuit , whereof one has been a clergy-man the other lay , the clergy-man has had only common-pleas in his commission , the other both common-pleas and pleas of the crown : nor is it material that some rolls may be found out purporting as if pleas had been held before two whereof one hapned to be a clerk ; for it is to be taken reddendo singula singulis . ( 2. ) this were enough to settle the 2d point , viz. of what force such prohibition , as i have shewn , is at this day ; but i take leave to offer farther , what as i conceive may give yet clearer satisfaction ; which is , that the difference of an ecclesiastical synod from a temporal great council , was not taken from the persons present in either , but the matters of which they treated , and the parties which managed there according to the different matters ; if ecclesiastical affairs , 't was a synod , if temporal , it had some other name , as commune concilium regni angliae , or the like to distinguish it by . the great jewel hath long since given authority to this assertion about ecclesiastical synods , which he calls concilia episcopalia : ab episcopis nomen concilia invenisse fateor , eoque dicta fuisse episcopalia : quod episcoporum judicio & prudentiâ omnia constituerentur . sed tune idcirco concilia haec nihil ad principem attinuisse colliges . as the ecclesiastical laws were supposed to lay a more immediate obligation upon the conscience , and were for the most part enforc't by ecclesiastical censures , they were call'd canons or rules , not having that outward coertion and penalties annext which others had , but yet they were no less laws . the statute of henry the 8th . which provides that no canons , constitutions or ordinance shall be made or put in execution within this realme , by authority of the convocation of the clergy , does not in the least abrogate , or condemn those which were made by the authority of the king , the clergy , and the laity : as i will not say all ecclesiastical constitutions were , from the time of william 1. to the above-mentioned synod at westminster , it is enough if that alone were so . and then if that be not repugnant to some law since made , i conceive it is still in force , having had full legal sanction . for the clearing this 't will be necessary to shew something of the nature of the ecclesiastical councils according to the modus establisht anciently in engl. i must confess that several historians , when they mention concilium totius angliae , speaking of an ecclesiastical council , add frequently , episcoporum , viz. & abbatum , nec non & multarum religiosi ordinis personarum , or to that effect . but bishop jewel has well interpreted such expressions , and therefore we need not wonder , when we find another say , lanfrancus cant. arch. & totius angliae primas diversa in diversis locis angliae celebravit concilia . though to be sure the king were sometimes jubens & praesens , as at the council at winchester . but it appears even by their own modus tenendi synodos in angliâ primaevis temporibus , which i take it was the same that was agreed on in lanfranc's time , of whom malmsbury sayes , quaesivit à senioribus episcopis qui esset ordo sedendi in concilio antiquo more statutus , &c. by their antient modus , i say , it appears that the laity were to be present in their ecclesiastical councils ; for when it mentions the clergy in order it adds , exinde introducantur laici bonae conversationis , that is probi homines , vel qui electione conjugali interesse meruerint , every lay-man of good conversation , probus homo , or free-holder in his own person , or ex electione conjugali by joint-election of the clergy and laity . it would be superfluous to produce the many authorities , which shew that the laity used to be of council in ecclesiastical affairs , as well as the clergy in temporal , and to give their assent in making canons or laws . i will instance in some very remarkable ones out of many ; one eadmerus recommends with a solemn protestation , en ordinem gestae rei teste conscientiae meae veritate , sicut eam praesens audivi & vidi , in nullam partem declinando descripsi . matilda daughter of malcolm king of scots marryed to henry the first , being reputed a nun , offers her self to be tryed by the ecclesiastical law , offert se judicio totius anglorum ecclesiae probaturam . in another place , obtulit se vel sacramento vel alia quam magis eligerint ecclesiasticâ lege probaturam , &c. at the day appointed there assembled episcopi , abbates , nobiles quique ac religiosi ordinis viri : the case appeared to be that she had taken upon her a nuns habit , but had never been profest ; whereupon anselm having stated her case to the tota regni nobilitas populusque minor , the nobility and commonalty , and in the name of god required them , quatenus siquis aliter de negotio illo sentiret ac sententia tulerat ( unde scilicet ipsam copulam secundum legem christianam fieri non debere posset ostendi ) nihil haesitans salvâ pace omnium coram proferret . here any man there had free leave to offer wherein he thought that marriage void by the christian law , or law of holy church : but cunctis unà clamantibus rem justè definitam , legitimè conjuncti sunt . had not this been to vindicate anselme , who it seems lay under the imputation of marrying the king contrary to the laws of holy church , possibly eadmerus had never given us so full an account ; but he shews very particularly how those great councils acted , that 't was in an intire body ; the assent was , cunctis unà clamantibus . if any thing was offered , or pronounced in a definitive way , which was generally dislik't , fremitu aspernabatur , as we are elsewhere told of such assemblies . if the council was divided , diversis diversae parti acclamantibus , they were forc't to adjourn or break up . thus , as 't was amongst the lacedemonians , what was propounded was determined , clamore non calculis . we have the like account of an ecclesiastical synod in the 28th of the same king. gulielmus dorobernensis congregavit generale concilium omnium ep. & abb. & quarumcunque religiosarum personarum , cui praesedit ipse . this we see was an episcopal council , and the bishop was president , but then confluxerant quoque illuc magnae multitudines clericorum laicorum tam divitum quam mediocrium , & factus est conventus grandis & inaestimabilis , here was a confluence of the inferiour clergy , and the lay-lords and commons , and the number was beyond account . acta sunt ibi de negotiis saecularibus nonnulla ; being all met together , though upon ecclesiastical affairs chiefly , yet they had colloquium about secular too ; and coming all in their own persons , ( not by way of representation , when they that were chose to come instead of the rest , might receive certain instructions according to the matter propounded for treaty , beyond which they had no power , ) it was not needful that they should know before-hand what they were to treat of , but might fall upon any thing pro re natâ . quaedam quidem determinata , quaedam dilata , quaedam verò propter nimium aestuantis turbae tumultum ab audientiâ judicantium , profligata . it seems they had appointed some judges of the pole , or rather of the noise , and the crowd was so vast , the noise so confused , that of many things they could not make any certain judgement ; some things were determined by a general acclamation , and others were prorogued to a further day . quae autem communi episcoporum consensu in ipso concilio decreta sunt & statuta , sicut illic publicè recitata sunt & suscepta , in hoc opere placuit annotare , &c. here ecclesiastical matters were first debated , and settled amongst the bishops , then they were publickly rehearsed , and either rejected , or suscepta receiv'd by the whole assembly of clergy and laity ; but this was not enough to give them the force of a law , they must have the stamp of royal authority to be currant . rex igitur cum inter haec londoniae moraretur , auditis concilii gestis consensum praebuit & confirmavit statuta concilii à guilielm . cant. arch. & rom. eccles . legati apud westm . celebrati . at this time it seems the king was not in the council , but the canons , though drawn up by the bishops , promulgated before and assented to by the body of the realm , yet had no force till authenticated by the head of the church and state. gervase of dover is little less particular in the account of the ecclesiastical synod in his time , wherein the canons or constitution declaring it unlawful for clergy-men , agitare judicia sanguinis , was embodyed into the laws of the land. ricardus vero cant. arch. totius angliae primas & apostolicae sedis legatus convocato clero angliae celebravit concilium in ecclesiâ beati petri ad westm . 15. kal. junii dominicâ ante ascensionem dom. afficerunt in hoc concilio omnes suffraganei cantuar. eccles . praeter vigorniens . qui diem clauserat extremum . in hoc concilio ad emendationem anglicanae ecclesiae assensu domini regis & primorum omnium regni haec subscripta promulgata sunt capitula . ad dextram primatis sedit episcopus londinensis quia inter episcopos cantuar. ecclesiae sussraganeos decanatus praeminet dignitate ; ad sinistram sedit episcopus winton . quia cantoris officio praecellit : caeteri tam episcopi quam abbates secundum primogenit . consecrationis suae consederunt . ipse vero archiepiscop . primas , & legatus residens in sublimi post sermonem quem tam facundè quam disertè fecit in communi de scripto legi fecit statuta concilii sui sub hac forma , &c. here it appears that their councils were held by the arch-bishops of cant. that the statutes or canons were drawn up in some private consults of bishops , but they took their force from the assents of the king and all the primores regni , the clergy and laity of the land ; and that the third canon by me cited , was a statute . this to be sure and the other ecclesiastical councils abovementioned , were more than the curia de more . i cannot , as the author of the grand question does , summ up the arguments on both sides ; for i know not one that hath yet been offered , against what i have gone upon , which may be thus represented in short , 1. that the canons prohibit the judging in capital causes , and all preliminary votes too . 2. that these canons were received by the great council of the nation , and so became incorporated into , and part of the laws of england . 3. and that they , running in the terms of judicia agitare , which in the common intendment is of ordinary justice , and the constitution of clarendon particularly referring to the ordinary court of justice , except it can be shewn that clergy-men voted in the ordinary curia ; the court of tenants and officers whilst that court continued , there is not one president against this sense of the law. if it be said they have voted in bills of attainders which in effect are judicia sanguinis : still these are not within the ordinary justice ; however if they are judicia sanguinis , in a strict sense , let them who are concerned , answer the evading the sense of the law. i shall give one plain instance of a great council , and another of an ordinary court in this kings reign , and hasten to the next . circa festum sancti pauli venit dominus rex usque northampton & magnum ibi celebravit concilium de statutis regni sui coram episcopis , comitibus & baronibus terrae , & coram eis per concilium comitum & baronum , militum & hominum suorum hanc subscriptam assisam fecit , &c. this was more than an ordinary curia , and there being the barones terrae ; the milites and homines sui are not to be taken for his feudal tenents , but his liege people . for his ordinary curia we find a clear president in the glossary of that great antiquary sir henry spelman , who if he had lived to finish the second part would certainly have given a compleat body of antiquity . we find in him the form of a fine levy'd in the ordinary curia . haec est finalis conventio facta in curia domini regis apud clarendum anno 33. regni regis henrici secundi coram domino rege & joh. filio ejus , &c. & aliis baronibus & fidelibus qui tunc ibi praesentes erant , &c. richard the first was spirited to jerusalem , and therefore we must not expect many instances from him of the one sort or t'other , but i am sure the ecclesiastical council at pipewell in northamptonshire , could not be the curia de more . sir hen. spelman calls it concilium pambritanicum , and bromton tells us in general who were at it , amongst others there were all the abbots and priors of the kingdome , but it is very manifest that they were not all tenants in chief , many holding in purâ & perpetuâ eleemosynâ , and others of temporal lords , as appears by the statute of carlisle , 34 ed. 1. and therefore this was not a court of the kings tenants and officers only . but then in november following he assembled a full parliament at london . rex congregatis episcopis , comitibus , & baronibus regni sui parliamentum habuit & tractatum . this was manifestly more than the curia regis . a great court was held the next year at bury in normandy , ricardus rex angliae festum nativitatis domini quod secunda feria illo anno evenit in normanniâ apud burium cum primatibus terrae illius celebravit . it seems he had held another court in england , for this was the second court , but the great council at london was not of either of the feast days . but let us see whether this distinction is observable in the reign of that prince upon whose charter our dispute is . he was crowned in the presence of a larger representative than the interpreters of his charter have put upon us , a populo terrae susceptus est . king john in one of his charters says , he came to the crown jure hereditario & mediante tam cleri quam populi unanimi consensu & favore . congregatis arch. ep. comitibus & baronibus atque aliis omnibus . this explains who are meant by the magnates regni , which assembled at london in the second of his reign , which , the historian not having mentioned any feast day , or saying barely that the king held his court , is to be taken for the great council : but the records give further light , they shew us that there the queen was crown'd de communi assensu & concordi voluntate arch. episcoporum , comitum , baronum , cleri & populi totius regni : nor is it a wonder that the queen being a foreigner had such a formal consent of the people to confirm her queen , for there had been at least the pretence of a law against any king of england's marrying a foreigner without the consent of the people , and therefore harold pleaded against william the first , when he urg'd his oath for placing the crown upon william's head , and marrying william's daughter , that he could not do either inconsultis principibus , or absque generali senatus & populi conventu & edicto : as another author explains the council , the consent of which harold pleaded to be necessary . from london king john issues out his summons to william king of scots to attend him at lincoln , which summons he was obliged to obey as one of his tenants in chief , but thither came more than tenants in chief , nor was it the place or time for the curia de more , and therefore the curia and general council was united , the king of scots coming as attendant upon the curia , convenerunt interea ad colloquium apud lincolniam , rex anglorum johannes & rex scotorum willielmus cum universà nobilitate tam cleri quam populi utriusque regni vndecimo kalendas decembris . as under the nobility , the senators of scotland , were comprehended all the free-holders at that time beyond dispute , 't is probable at least that our nobility was of the same extent . and for the probability of the assembling of so great a body as the proprietors of both kingdoms must have made even then , 't is observable that the meeting was without the walls , for the city was not able to hold them . the king of scots did homage upon a mountain in conspectu omnis populi , before all the people , the united body of free-holders of both kingdomes . in the third of his reign this king held his curia on christmass at guildford , and this was no more than his military council . multa militibus suis festiva distribuit indumenta , ( that is , ) in festival bounty he gave many coats to his souldiers . and that this was no more , is very evident in that the arch-bishop of canterbury to shew himself a prince in the ecclesiastical empire set up the like court of his tenants and dependants . hubertus verò cantuariensis arch. quasi cum rege à pari contendens eodem modo fecit apud cantuariam . at easter the king held his court at canterbury , where the arch-bishop by sumptuous entertainment of the king hop'd to atone for his former vain-glory. on ascension-day the king issues out his summons from theokesbery , for the holding his ordinary court at whitsontide following at portsmouth , generale proposuit edictum ut comites & barones & omnes qui militare servitium ei debebant , parati essent ad portesmue cum equis & armis ad transfretandum cum eo ad partes transmarinas in die pentecostes iam instante . those that would not pass the seas with him consented to the payment of escuage two marks of silver upon every knights fee , dantes regi de quolibet scuto duas marcas argenti . the next year he held his curia on christmass in normandy . and the year following this , he held his christmass court in normandy likewise . in the year 1204. his curia was held on christmass at canterbury , from thence he went to oxford , where were present more than the members of the ordinary curia ; convenerunt ad colloquium apud oxoniam rex & magnates angliae . indeed what is then given the king is only from his feudal tenants , but that is no argument that therefore no more were there , because the council advis'd him to charge his tenants ; nay , 't is very observable that the historian does not say that they which were there assembled gave , but ubi concessa sunt regi auxilia militaria de quolibet scuto scilicet duae marcae , that is , there escuage was given by or upon them , who held by knights service , or it might be an aid given generally by every one according to the number of acres , or value of his estate in proportion to the valuation of a knights fee. as was usually done in that and succeeding times . and then i take it provision was made for the defence of the kingdome , ( viz. ) that every nine knights throughout the kingdome should find a tenth arm'd at all points to be ready in servitio nostro ad defensionem regni quantum opus fuerit : this to be sure reacht further than to the knights by military tenure ; because every one that held a knights fee was by his tenure to find a man , and consequently this would have been a weak'ning of the kingdome to abate of their services , but it must needs have extended to all that held to the value of a knights fee , though not by knights service . this was provided communi assensu arch. ep. com. baronum & omnium fidelium nostrorum angliae . and so a general land tax . and at the same parliament the king per commune concilium regni made an assise of money . in the year 1205. he held his court at theokesbery which broke up the first day . soon after he call'd together his army , that is , those who were oblig'd by their tenure to attend him ; for though the curia de more was confin'd to certain days , yet the king made the court where-ever he pleas'd to appoint it , and the obligation to attendance at the court was indefinite ; his military council when met , refus'd to go with him beyond sea as he required , whereupon with a few of them he sets out to sea , and after he had coasted about a little , he exacted a great summ of money from those whose tenure could furnish him with a pretence for it , because they discharg'd not the duty of their tenure , occasiones praetendens quod noluerunt ipsum sequi . the next year he held his court on christmass at oxford . the historians give no mark of any thing more than an ordinary curia , but the records do . there was a grant of subsidy upon every mans personal estate per commune concilium & assensum concilii nostri apud oxoniam . this in another record is said to be by the arch. ep. abbates & magnates regni nostri , rot. par. 8 jo. m. 1. on whitsontide he held his court at portsmouth . in hebdom . pentecostes exercitum grand . apud portesmouth congregavit . but then the christmass following at winchester he held a general council , and that was on the court day . celebravit natale domini apud wintoniam praesentibus magnatibus regni . deinde in purificatione beatae mariae cepit per totam angliam tertiam decimam partem ex omnibus mobilibus & aliis rebus tam de laicis quam de viris ecclesiasticis & praelatis cunctis , murmurantibus sed contradicere non audentibus . here was a grant of what no way belong'd to tenure , and therefore all the magnates regni were privy to it , though 't was done grudgingly . in the year 1208. he held his court on christmass at windsor , where he distributed coats to his souldiers . he held his christmass court at bristol . he held a great council on the feast day at windsor praesentibus omnibus angliae magnatibus . so the year following at york praesentibus comitibus & baronibus regni . 1212. 't was but an ordinary court held at windsor , fuit ad natale apud windsor . 1213. he held his court at westminster with very few tenants ad natale domini tenuit curiam suam apud westmonasterium cum pauco admodum militum comitatu . in this year we find a military summons to more than tenants , and of an extraordinary nature . misit literas ad omnes vicecomites regni sui sub hâc formâ : rex johannes &c. summone per bonos summonitores comites , barones , milites & omnes liberos homines & servientes vel quicunque sint & de quocunque teneant , qui arma habere debent vel arma habere possint , & qui homagium nobis vel ligeantiam fecerunt . quod sicut nos & seipsos & omnia sua diligunt , sint apud deveram ad instant . clausum paschae benè parati cum equis & armis & cum toto posse suo ad defendendum caput nostrum & capita sua & terram angl. et quod nullus remaneat qui arma portare possit sub nomine culvertagii & perpetuae servitutis . et unusquisque sequatur dominum suum . et qui terram non habent & arma habere possint , illic veniant ad capiendum solidatas nostras . hereby all free-men as well as the kings tenents , nay servants , and all that ow'd allegiance to the crown , though not oblig'd to bear arms , if they could get any , were required to give their attendance , and those that had not wherewithal to maintain themselves should have the kings pay : this was upon expectation of an invasion , and therefore the assembly seems to have been as general as the summons ; but there is a shrewd circumstance to induce the belief that many considerable men not holding in chief , thought themselves not oblig'd to attendance till necessity press'd them , for otherwise he would never have been terrified into a dishonourable peace , the parting with all his right of patronage to the pope , and submitting to his pleasure , if he had not been sensible by the absence of many great men that there was truth in the french king's boast , jactat se idem rex chartas habere omnium ferè angliae magnatum de fidelitate & subjectione . but that this was not a general council of the nation appears by the statute of provisors which declares that the popes assuming the jus patronatus was an incroachment , that is usurpation , or unlawful act , which it would not have been , if the comites , barones , and turba multa nimis that unanimously agreed to those shameful terms which king john yielded , had been enough to constitute a full representative of the nation . if they had been call'd to council not to fight , then indeed upon knowledge that matters of general obligation were to be settled , though but few had come , they would have concluded the rest . the army as it was computed were about 60000 , but that being made up of servants , villains and all manner of people , 't is not to be supposed that there were there nigh the half of the proprietors , which must have been present , to make any thing of general obligation without notice of its being so intended . of the same nature with this , was that shameful resignation of the crown before mentioned near dover , whereas the first agrreement was at dover . the same year his tenants who were to maintain themselves in his court and army at their own charge , complain that he had kept them out so long that they had spent all their money and could follow him no longer unless he supply'd them out of the exchequer . this year there was a great council at st. albans where were all the magnates regni and there was a confirmation of the laws of hen. the first , whereas we find nothing of that nature at any curia of the kings tenants and officers only . the same year he held his court on christmas at windsor , but a great council was held at oxford , the summons to which mr. selden produces , but sayes the record of it for ought he had seen is without example . rex vicecomiti oxon salutem , praecipimus tibi quod omnes milites ballivae tuae , qui summoniti fuerunt ad nos à die omnium sanctorum in quind . dies , venire facias cum armis suis . upon this part 't is observable , that there had been a general notice or proclamation of the time when he would have those that ow'd him military service to attend with their armes , but the place was not named , for they were to follow him whereever he would have his court , and therefore herein was an apparent grievance in some measure redress'd by his charter two years after in ascertaining the place of meeting to consult of aids and escuage ; but besides these tenants , there were others , corpora vero baronum sine armis singulariter & quatuor discretos milites de comitatu tuo venire facias ad nos ad eundem terminum ad loquendum nobiscum de negotiis regni nostri . teste meipso apud . witten 11 die nov. eodem modo scribitur omnibus vicecomitibus . thus much i take to be clear from it , that here was an union of the ordinary curia regis , the court of the king 's military tenants , who were to attend with their armes , and of peaceable senators , in a great council . if the barones of whom the sheriff was to take special care were only such as were barons by tenure , 't is not supposable , that contrary to the obligation of their tenure , they should be ordered to come unarmed , whil'st only their tenants , or at least inferiour tenants to the king had their swords in their hands ; wherefore barones here must be taken in the most large and comprehensive sense . but this is farther observable , that where the summons was general to all the arch-bishops , bishops , abbots , priors , earles , barons , knights and free-holders , yet there has been a special inquest summoned or taken out of the generality , as in the summons to attend the justices in eyre . summoneas per bonos summ. omnes arch. ep. abb. pri. comit. baron . milites , & liberè tenentes de balliva tua , & de qualibet villâ quatuor legales homines & praepositum , & de quolibet burgo duodecim legales burgenses , &c. and even agreeably to this record of the 18 of king john , we find that in the 42 of henry the third , it was agreed , that there should be quatuor milites inquisitores , four inquisitors in every county , who were to be sworn in the county court , to enquire faithfully into the business of every county , in order to represent it at parliament , which has no semblance of their being the representatives of the counties , only the presenters and methodizers of that business , to which the great council gave their assent or dissent . from this time to the great assembly at rumny mead , i find neither a great council nor curia mentioned , that to be sure was of more than the king's tenants , as i have already shewn ; i shall only observe farther , that it consisted of that army which was got together on both sides . on the peoples side was a very great army comitum , baronum , militum & servientium , peditum & equitum cum communibus villarum & civitatum ; and after this , they had a great accession , by gaining the whole city of london , and all that were neutral before , and even most of those that had kept along with the king : upon this the king condescends to treat , the place is agreed upon , and accordingly convenerunt ad colloquium rex & magnates , who these were the record tells us , and the assembly was as general as the concession on the king's side , concessimus omnibus liberis hominibus nostris regni angliae pro nobis & haeredibus nostris in perpetuum , omnes libertates subscriptas habendas & tenendas eis & haeredibus suis de nobis & haeredibus nostris . even this was a curia regis in a large sense , but not the ordinary curia ; and though 't were the common council of the kingdom , as 't was the assembly of the whole community , yet not the ordinary common council , for that might be , and i need not scruple to say that it was , of the king's tenants and officers , which in that sense , and to the purposes for which of course it met , was the commune concilium regni , yet like the kings ordinary privy council , or his courts of justice long since settled at westminster-hall , they could exercise no act of legislation . if it be said , that the charging tenants with more than was due of custom were such an act , by the same reason the power of making by-laws would argue a legislative power , and there would be a little parliament in every village . without re-examining particular instances i conceive 't is obvious , that admit the ordinary curia regis at any time exercised a power peculiar to the great council , of which i dare boldly say there are very rare if any instances , such that it can be affirm'd with certainty this was an ordinary curia , without a more solemn convention , or summons ; yet in irregular times many of them would not make one legal president , especially against so many declarations and confirmations of the antient laws , and free customes , as princes either to obtain , or assure the crown to them swore solemnly , inviolably to observe and keep . if sometimes the marks of distinction between the curia regis , and the great council are not clearly apparent , in that the curia only might be summon'd ad colloquium , and in that sense might be styl'd parliamentum , though not generale parliamentum , and the generale parliamentum might be , as indeed it alwayes was , curia regis , though not the curia de more : yet the certain difference is upon particular instances , where the full circumstances are set down , alwayes to be known . as the ordinary curia consisted of the kings tenants , and officers ; and there appears no grievance worth publick notice to have lain on the last , nor on the first , as to their attendance at the wars , or as a court of justice , the remedy was properly apply'd by king john's charter , to that wherein they were uneasie , which was the assembling about the matters relating ad servitia to their services , without convenient notice for time , or for the occasion ; so that they might think it was only for matters of ordinary justice , which might go on well enough without them , when it was really to charge them in their properties , by such as should appear , by design and contrivance , which was a great mischief . wherefore for this the redress was , 1. that they should have forty dayes notice . 2. that the time , place and occasion of meeting should be ascertained . and then they that were there were justly concluded by the rest , and had no reason to complain of the charge . thus i conceive , i have given a rational account of this charter , and i question whether upon other grounds any man can reconcile it with the records and histories both before and since the charter till the 49 of hen. 3. when 't is supposed that more than tenants in chief , which compos'd the common council here mentioned , were let into the great , or common council of the kingdom . if they cannot , i conceive they must take my sense . for , this charter was either declarative of the law as 't was before , or introductive of a new law . if the first , then it must be interpreted by the records and histories both before , and since , till a time of change can be assign'd with some colour . if introductive of a new law , then we must see what interpretation practice has put upon it ; not that the sense of a law is alwayes to be interpreted by practice , because then we should think , especially upon the several statutes against provisors , which were rarely executed according to the letter , that we could not judge of the sense of former laws by the plain words . but if the words will any way admit of a double sense , that sense is alwayes to be taken which agrees with constant practice , especially if the sense inclines most towards the practice . i have at large shewn the evident proofs , that to the great council of the nation there us'd to come more than the king's tenants in chief , and consequently this very charter confirming free customes of every particular the place , or of the inhabitants of those places . according to this charter the common council of the nation by law consisted of more than the king's tenants in chief , and that the law was thus there is a very strong proof , which turns upon them who suppose that king john's charter gives us the full form of the great council , and that none but the king's tenants in capite , made the common council or parliament of the kingdom till 49 h. 3. in the thirty ninth year of h. 3. several years after he had granted and confirmed that famous charter , which alone obtained the addition of great , so that the magna charta or grand charter of william the first , hen. the first , king stephen , hen. the second , and king john , all lost their names , and were swallowed up in that , the baronagium or omnes fere angliae magnates refused to give a royal aid , demanded of them , the ground of their refusal is very remarkable . quod omnes tunc temporis non fuerunt juxta tenorem magnae cartae suae vocati . this some would render and call king john's charter , and that the complaint was , that the peers had not their particular summons according to the tenour of that charter . were it so , 't would prove nothing for them that urge it ; because it does not appear , but that the aid demanded might have been escuage or taillage , or both , which lay upon the king's tenants only , such a common council as that charter i conceive establishes . but it is cartae suae , not cartae regis johannis patris regis nunc : 't is the then king henry the third's charter , no man will say that 't was the barons charter , and besides it was the great charter , and no other charter then maintained that epithete . but what puts this out of dispute is , that though h. 3.'s charter was comprehensive of all the fundamentals of the government , and was so many times confirmed , and explained where it was thought needful ; yet there is not one clause referring to the great council of the nation , but what leaves to every particular place , and the inhabitants thereof all ancient customes and liberties ; so that unless it be proved that such a commune concilium regni as is in king john's charter , us'd to compose the great council exclusive of all others , ( excepting what is implyed in the general salvo at the end ) they must needs have referred themselves to the ninth chapter of henry the third's charter ( which indeed is but a revival of the law affirmed in king john's . ) whereby the city of london , all cities , burroughs , vills , townships , or parishes , the barons of the cinque ports , and all other ports were to enjoy all their liberties and free customes . that by villae is meant parishes , or townships . i think may appear from doomsday book , where villa is taken for the next division under an hundred . hic subscribitur inquisitio terrarum quo modo barones regis inquirunt ( viz. ) per sacramentum vicecomitis scirae & omnium baronum & eorum francigenarum & totius centuriae presbyteri praepositi vj. villani uniuscujusque villae . here are the sheriff , the great barons , and clergy-men and headboroughs within every hundred , and six inhabitants of every villa , parish or township , then follows an account of the several lands and tenures by hundreds and villae within those hundreds . now according to the ninth chapter of magna charta custome is to be the legal interpreter what was the great or common council of the nation , and as the whole nation is made up of cities , burroughs , and parishes or townships , they being the integral parts of every county , all the counties of england were to be summon'd according to their free customes . and methinks the right of the counties for their coming to the great council and its being preserved under the free customes of the villae , appears from the plea of the men of coventry the inhabitants of that villa in 34 ed. 1. they plead and their plea is allowed , that in the times of that king and of his progenitors , which to be sure reaches to the custome before magna charta , they us'd not to be taxt as citizens , burgesses , or tenants of the kings demesn , but only along with the community of the county of warwick , that is , with the whole county and not with the cities , burroughs , and antient demesn of the crown . so that when the commune concilium , in k. john's charter , or the kings tenants in chief , laid any charge or gave an auxilium or aid , this could not affect them ; but when they came , and agreed to any charge with the body of the county , as part thereof , then they were liable , and no otherwise : and indeed the stream of records of both h. 3. e. 1. and e. 2. evidently prove all this : but let us touch the record , ex parte eorundem hominum regi est ostensum quod cum villa praedicta , civitas , burgus , seu dominicum regis non existat , ut homines villae predictae tanquam cives burgenses seu tenentes de dominico regis in aliquibus auxiliis , tallagiis seu contributionibus regi seu progenitoribus suis concessis non consueverunt talliari , sed tantum cum communitate com. warwic . &c. no man will imagine surely the meaning of this plea to be that the vill or town of coventry was not lyable when the kings immediate tenants taxt themselves only , but they were when such tenants taxt the whole county ; for that would have been an admittance of a grievance beyond that against which they petitioned , for by that the kings tenants might have excused themselves , and have laid the burthen upon them who were not tenants in chief , so that it would have been their greatest advantage to claim the priviledge of being tenants to the crown , and in that capacity to have had a right and priviledge to be parties , and consenting to all charges and grants laid upon them , and given to the crown : and for that they might have prayed in aid and pleaded king john's charter , nor should we have met with so many records in those times , whereby so many pleaded off the tenures in capite as chargeable and burthensome ; nay even the tenure of barony it self ; but on the contrary every one would have given the king great summs of money to have changed their tenures to have held in capite ut de coronâ ( when indeed it clearly appears they did the contrary ) because they not only could save their individual estate , if they had the sole power of making laws , and giving taxes , but would have encreased and better'd them by their services and tenures , which capacitated them to lay charge upon all the barons , knights and freeholders of england who held not in chief and who were by far the major part , many of which held of the great lords by such and such duties or payments pro omni servitio , and beyond that were not lyable without their own consents to be charged ; and all this is demonstrative if any will read over and consider the infinite number of pleadings in the ages we speak of , viz. ( for some few instances ) that a. b. holds of c. d. of his mannor of e. by paying 10 s. rent or one bow and arrow , or one horse , or the like , pro omni servitio , or holds of the honour or castle of d. to find one or more men bene paratos cum armis to defend such a postern-gate or such a chamber there when summon'd by the great lord pro omni servitio ; but to charge them without their assent further , was to overthrow the very salvo in the end of henry the thirds , and in king johns charter , which runs thus . salvae sint archiepiscopis , episcopis , abbatibus , prioribus , templariis , hospitalariis , comitibus , baronibus , militibus & omnibus aliis tam ecclesiasticis personis quam secularibus omnes libertates & consuetudines quas prius habuerunt . if king john's charter , in the particular of which our dispute is , introduced a new law , then we must examine only what custome or practice followed upon it , or who made the common or great councils of the nation from that time to the 49th of henry the 3. that is , were of right to come , or to have notice of the councils sitting juxta tenorem magnae cartae suae , as is insisted upon in . the 39th of henry the 3. as above mentioned . that they were more than tenants in capite , which made the commune concilium in king johns charter , the record of the 38th of this king henry , where two for every county , besides tenants in chief ; were summon'd , were enough to evince . we there find writs to all the sheriffs of england , to summon the lesser tenants in chief , the omnes alios qui in capite tenent de nobis , as in k. johns charter , and two more to be chosen by every county respectively , the precepts recite ( though 't were falsum & deceptorium , as the historian tells us ) that the earls , barons , & caeteri magnates regni , had promis'd to be at london with horse and arms , to go towards portsmouth , in order to passing the seas with the king for gascony , against the french king who then was in war with king henry . mandamus ( says the record ) quod omnes illos de ballivâ tuâ , qui tenent viginti libratas terrae de nobis in capite , vel de aliis , qui sunt infra aetatem & in custodiâ nostrâ ad idem distringas , which was to perform their personal services , which not requiring their crossing the seas , here is a suggestion that 't was by the advice of the great council . but besides the services of tenants in chief , who were to be out upon their charges no longer than forty days ; the king wanted a supply of moneys to maintain them beyond that time , and therefore for this he directs a representative of the several counties . tibi districtè praecipimus quod praeter omnes praedictos venire faciatis coram concilio nostro apud west . in quind . paschae prox . fut . quatuor legales & discretos milites de comitatibus praedictis quos iidem com. ad hoc elegerint vice omnium & singulorum eorundem , viz. duos de uno com. & duos de alio ad provid . unà cum militibus aliorum com. quos ad eund . diem vocari fecimus , quale auxilium nobis in tantâ necessitate impendere voluerint . these were to come vice omnium & singulorum , instead or in the place of all the free-holders of the county , which asserts their personal right : but further , et tu ipse militibus & aliis de com. praed . necessitatem nostram & tam urgens negotiam nostrum diligenter exponas & ad competens auxilium nobis ad praesens impendend . efficaciter inducas , ita quod praefati quatuor milites praefato concilio nostro ad praed . term . pashae respondere possint super praed . auxil . pro singulis comitat. these were properly to come in the stead of all , for they were only deputies to carry the sense of their principals , the matter was to be propounded in the county courts before the knights there chose , & aliis , and the rest of the free-holders ; this whole assembly was to be moved to grant a large contribution , and the knights were to make the tender of their present , before the king and his council ; if the county had wholly refused , the knights had no power then to grant for them , so says the record , for it was to be propounded to all , ita quod , the knights might answer for an aid from the county . and it seems whether the counties chose deputies or not , or gave them not full instructions , the king was not able to work upon them that met at the place and time then appointed , but they broke up in great discontent . et sic cum summa indignatione tristes admodum proceres recesserunt . but if the tenants in chief made the common council of the kingdom till 49 h. 3. and had a power to tax the rest of the nation de alto & basso ad meram voluntatem suam : why this summons for a representative of the counties ? the very next year , being the 39th above-mention'd , the king sollicites them for aid . they tell the king he undertook that war against france , for which he demanded aid , sine consilio suo & baronagii sui . and when some were for complying with the kings demands : they answer , that all were not call'd according to the tenour magnae cartae suae , that is , of this kings great charter . now whether this were because many who were exempted from common summons ( for many such there were by particular charters ) had not special summons , singulatim from the king himself , or that he put a representative upon them , whereas they might plead that 't was their free custome to come themselves in person , or send as many as they pleased in their names , i need not determine ; it being enough that here were more than tenants in capite . but a mighty argument has been raised against inferiour proprietors or the barones , milites & liberè tenentes , which held not of the king , being part of the great or common council of the nation , upon such records as mention their being summon'd coram concilio . and in effect the force resolves into this , they are no part of the kings standing council , the assistants to him and his lords , or of his common council of tenants and officers in the curia , therefore no part of the great or common council of the kingdome . to clear this , i need offer but one instance of many . at christmass in the 6th of hen. the 3. he held his curia at oxford , but 't was more than a curia de more . tenuit curiam suam praesentibus comitibus & baronibus regni , words of an extensive sense , or ad natale dom. fuit apud oxoniam ubi festa natalitia solemniter cum suis magnatibus celebravit . we have a record of a subsidy granted that year , probably in that very curia , coram nobis & concilio nostro praesentibus arch. cant. ep. com. & magnatibus nostris de communi omnium voluntate . now many of these were members both of the standing council and curia too , and yet were coram nobis & concilio nostro : but the meaning of it is , that this was granted either before the king and his standing council , or the king in his curia by all these , that is , here was a conjunction of all councils in one , adunatis conciliis . but because here are only com. bar. & magnates mentioned as if here were not any but great lords : 't is to be observed , and cannot be denied by any antiquary , that free-holders , and they that came from the counties as the representatives of such , had the appellation of magnates , even a long while after : and therefore much rather before , when lands had fewer owners , the owners , especially such as came in their own persons , were magnates . in the 37 of this king in parliamento london . so mat. westm . p. 352. rex angliae r. comes norfolc . &c. caeterique magnates angliae , consented to the excommunication of all the violators of the great charter . rex & praedicti magnates , that is , as is explain'd by fleta who was judge in the 16th of edward the first , archiepiscopi , episcopi , abbates regni angliae , priores , comites , barones , milites , & alii magnates : the record goes on , & communitas populi protestantur publicè in praesentiâ arch. cant. nec non & episcoporum omnium in eodem colloquio existentium . in cujus rei test . & in posterum veritatis testimonium tam dominus rex quam praed . comites ad instantiam magnatum & populi praesentium scripto sigilla sua apposuerunt . here the communitas populi were the communitas civitatum & burgorum ; for the rest were magnates , the king and some earls subscribed at the desire of the rest . perhaps by this time they that suppose the commune consilium regni within king john's charter to have been a full parliament , or great council , till the 49th of henry the third , will compound for their notion , and will yield , that more than such often came to council , but that 't was of courtesie , and that the king 's immediate tenants alone could charge the rest , and often did . for which they have two false grounds ; though perhaps but one within the time we are now upon , yet both are worth notice . 1. they take it for granted , that the lords us'd to answer for their tenants in benevolences out of parliament ; and upon this weak , and at least uncertain foundation , they build the supposition , that they at other times represented them in all great and publick councils . 2. ( which falls within the time ) that it should seem by record , that the immediate tenants have charg'd others without their consent . 1. to prove that the lords answered for their tenants , they run back as far as william the second's reign ; when his brother robert sent to him to borrow ten thousand marks of silver , proffering normandy for security for repayment . the bishops , abbots , and abbesses , brake in pieces the silver and gold ornaments of their churches , the earls , barons , and sheriffs , suos milites spoliaverunt , that is , robbed those which were under them ; and 't is a fine president for the right of the thing , which carries sacrilege and robbery in the face of it . here the sheriffs robb'd or took away from the freeholders that were within their ball'ia or balliva , and the lords took from the tenants within theirs ; wherefore if the lords could charge their tenants , the sheriffs could the freeholders : but i would fain see one president , that the kings tenants ever answer'd for them that were within their ball'ia , further than the sheriffs did for those within theirs , which at the most was as collectors under the king , of what was duly charg'd upon their tenants ; but generally i take it , they did no more than certifie how many held of the king within their precinct , as the jurisdiction of great men extended its self within such a compass , they were best able to give the king an account of those that were liable to any payment within that ball'ia . and thus in henry the second's time , the king issues out his precept , that quilibet praesul et baro should certifie quot milites tenerent de ipso rege in capite ; this was for escuage towards the marriage of the kings daughter , to which all that held in capite were lyable ; and here the great lords were to certifie for the resiants within the compass of their leet or ball'ia , though they held not of them , but of the king : upon such certificate , according to the number they return'd , so many were enter'd in the exchequer rolls , under the name of such a lord ; and thus we find it expresly in the case of the prior of coventry . compertum est in rotulo 29 regis h. tertii sub titulo de auxilio ad primogenitam filiam regis maritandam , viz. de quolibet scuto 20 s. contineri sic . prior de coventry reddit compotum de 10 l. de decem feodis de quibus quidem decem libr ’ . willi ’ tunstall vic. dicti comitatus in compoto suo de anno 32 ipsius regis h. oneratus fuit . here so many knights fees are enter'd under the prior's name , but the sheriff collected for them . upon this the prior pleads , hoc ei non prejudicat in hac parte , dicit enim quod auxilia illa non fuerunt nec censeri possunt esse servitia , imò quaedam subsidia per magnates et communitatem régni spontaneâ et merâ voluntate regi concessa , et tam de tenentibus aliorum quam de tenentibus de domino rege levanda . 't is observable , the ground of demanding for so many knights fees was the entry on the roll in the 29th . of henry the 3d. and he pleads , that at that time the coumunitas regni were parties to the grant ; and that it was charg'd by , and lay upon more than tenants of the king in chief , but that he was chargeable upon the account of aid or service with but two knights fees , which he says may appear by the certificate of the then prior , de feodis quae ipse tunc prior tenuit de veteri feoffamento , that is , the number of knights with which he was to serve , according to the first infeodation from the crown , & de novo , which is the number of knights fees rais'd under him by sub-infeodations , the first were all that he could be answerable for , but the second could not be charg'd without their own consent , the charges upon such were , quaedam subsidia per magnates & communitatem regni spontaneâ & merâ voluntate regi concessa . and thus we find the records , ( 1. ) that the kings tenants were answerable no farther than according to the vetus feoffamentum . so in the 26th . of henry the 3d. the sheriff is requir'd to shew cause why he distrain'd a man for two knights fees , who pleads that he held but one , de veteri feoffamento . monstravit , &c. quod cum non teneat de veteri feoffamento nisi feod . unius militis in comitate tuo tu exig . &c. quantum pertinet ad feod . duorum militum & eâ occatione averia sua cepisti , &c. ( 2. ) that lords of mannors could not charge their tenants without their consent . rex omnibus & liberè tenentibus de episcopatu lond. reciting the great debts which the bishop had contracted in the kings service , the king earnestly entreats the bishops tenants to make a contribution towards the supply of his necessities , which surely need never have been , if the bishop had by virtue of the feudal law , power of charging his tenants , or raising upon them what he had pleas'd . unde vos affectuosè rogamus quatenus amoris nostri intuitu efficax ei faciatis auxilium ad debita sua quibus pro favore nostro honoratus est . ita quod exaudita in hac parte prece nostrâ precibus vestris pro loco & tempore nobis porrigendis aures benignas exhibere debeamus . ( 3. ) when there was a grant of more than from the kings immediate tenants , whose grants were in the nature of services , if it reacht beyond the vetus feoffamentum , 't was spontanea voluntate suâ & sine consuetudine . ( 2. ) but there is a knocking record which i wonder i find no where insisted upon , to prove the kings tenants to charge others . sciatis quod arch. episc . abbates , priores , comites , barones & omnes alii de regno nostro qui de nobis tenent in capite spontaneâ voluntate suâ & sine consuetudine concess . nobis efficax auxilium , &c. undeprovisum est quod habeamus de singulis feodis militum & wardis quae de nobis tenent in capite duas marcas ad praed . auxilium . here was a grant only from tenants in capite , and yet it may be urged , that other records explaining this , shew , that the grant reacht to the novum feoffamentum , as well as the vetus . but it will be said , that i make an argument for them , which they are wiser than to offer , since the records of this very cleerly overthrow it ; yet if there be no better , i may offer this , that they may cultivate and improve it . the matter of fact , i take it , was , that the tenants in capite granted by themselves a charge upon the vetus feoffamentum , and the record which mentions their grant goes no farther , but another record of a grant from ecclesiastick tenants in chief is more express , and explains the other . cum peteremus à praelatis angliae quod nobis auxilium facerent , pro magnâ necessitate nostrâ de quâ eis constabat , viz. epis . abbatibus abbissis , prioribus & priorissis qui de nobis tenent in capite ipsi nobis liberaliter concesserunt auxilium tale , viz. de singulis feodis militum suorum 40 s. de tot feodis de quot ipsi tenentur , nobis respondere quando nobis faciunt servitium militare . this is express , that the tenants in capite , granted only for so many knights fees as were of the vetus feoffamentum , that is , so many as they were to answer for , when they were to perform their military services to the crown . but whereas in the 19th . the tenants in capite were said to have made such a grant , and at the same time there was a grant which reacht to the tenants de novo feoffamento , the record mentioning that , shews us that more than tenants were parties to the grant. rex vic. somer . salutem sciatis quod comites & barones , & omnes alii , de toto regno nostro angliae spontaneâ voluntate suâ & sine consuetudine concess . nobis efficax auxilium ad magna negotia nostra expediend ▪ unde provisum est , de consilio illorum quod habeamus de singulis feodis quae de nobis tenent in capite & de wardis tam de novo feoffamento quam de veteri duas marcas . whether the tenants in capite granted at this council by themselves , or all agreed in one body , is not material , but here is a grant from all , jointly or severally ; i will shew one instance , which is barely of such a commune concilium regni , as king john's charter exhibits . rex bar. quia per commune concilium com. baronum & aliorum magnatum nobiscum in walliâ nuper existentium provisum est quod nos & ipsi qui servitium nobis fecerunt , ibidem habeamus scutagium nostrum , viz. de sicuto 40 s. pro exercitu nostro wall ’ anno regni nostri 41. vobis mandamus quod de omnibus feodis militum quae tenentur de nobis in capite vel de wardis in manu nostra existentibus exceptis feod . illorum qui brevia nostra habuerunt de scutag . suo habendo levari fac . scutag . nostrum ▪ here was a common council of tenants , such is according to their obligation of their tenure , had attended the king in his wars , and they laid escuage upon them which did not perform their services due , which still were only tenants in chief , and the tenants of the king's wards which were liable to the same service , and they which made default , were to pay escuage to the king , which he says was to his tenants too , in as much as he out of that satisfi'd their charges beyond the duty of their tenure . i think i have clear'd my way to the treasury of records in this kings reign , which acquaints us with the members of the great council of the nation . as before is observ'd , for the obtaining magna charta , and charta de forestâ , the arch. episc . abbates , priores , comites , barones , milites & liberè tenentes & omnes de regno granted a subsidie . there is a grant of carvage , which bracton says , us'd to be consensu communi totius regni , not being a service , or such as tenants only us'd to charge or pay the reward , has it , omnes magnates & fideles totius regni nostri , granted de qualibet carucatâ duos solidos . the king in his letter to the pope , says , that he had summon'd to northampton , arch. episc . abb'es ac omnes magnates totius regni , to give him concilium & auxilium . the king undertook a foreign voiage , de communi concilio omnium comitum & baronum nostrorum angliae . a fourth part of their moveables is granted by the archiepiscopi , episc . abbates , priores & clerici terras habentes quae ad ecclesias suas non pertinent , comites barones , milites , liberi homines , & villani de regno nostro . so that 't is plain here , who made the cōmune conciliū regni , and gave the subsidie , the arch-bishops , bishops , abbots , priors , inferior landed clergy-men , the counts , barons , knights , free men , it being a grant of goods not lay'd upon land ; and that it may fully express the parties to the grant , the record tells us there were the villani the inhabitants of every villa . a provision about the sheriffs turns , hundred-courts , wapentakes , and the courts of lords of mannors was de communi concilio domini cant. & omnium episc . comitum , & baronum & aliorum . comites & barones & omnes alii de toto regno nostro concess . nobis efficax auxilium , &c. it is provided , coram venerab . patre cant. arch. & coram majori parte episc . comitum & baronum totius regni nostri angliae , that no assize of darrein presentment shall be taken of any prebendary belonging to a cathedral church . at a parliament , cum ad mandatum nostrum convenirent , apud west . archiepisc . abbates , priores comites & barones totius regni nostri & tractatum haberent nobiscum de statu nostro & regni nostri , they grant a subsidy archiepis . abbates ▪ priores , & cler ’ terras habentes quae ad ecclesias suas non pertinent . comites , barones , milites , & liberi homines pro se & suis villanis 30. m. partem omnium mobilium suarum . nus volens & otroiens ke ce ke nostre — la greignure partie de eus ki est esluz paromis & par le commune da nostre roiaume a fet u fera al honir de dieu & nostre foi & pur le profit de nostre roiame sicum il ordenera seit ferm & estable en tuites chesel a tuz jurz commandous a tuz noz faus & leaus en la fei kil mis devient kil fermement teignent & jurgent a tenir & meintenir les establissements que sunt fet u sunt a fere par lariont dit conseil . this agrees with what was done afterwards , in the 42d . of this king , and it seems by this , that even in the 24th . par le commune de nostre roiaume , by the whole realm or great council , the king had a special council assigned , which was to have an extraordinary power . magnates nostri ad sedem apostolicam appellarunt & quosdam pro universitate totius baronagii angliae ad concilium in brevi celebrand ’ ad appellacionem pred ’ prosequendam duxerunt destinandos . the barnagium here according to mat. paris , were , barones , proceres & magnates , ac nobiles portuum maris habitatores , nec non clerus , & populus universus . the pope had order'd , de apostolicâ se●e , that a years profit of the churches which were of the gift of lay-men , should be settled by way of subsidy upon the church of canterbury ; but 't was deny'd in full parliament . magnates terrae nostrae noluerunt in ultimo parliamento nostro quod fuit london ut de ecclesiis ad donationem laicorum spectantibus &c. in parliamento nostro oxon. communiter fuit ordinatum , that was about settling and new modelling some things relating to the government , which the king promiseth should be done , per concilium proborum et fidelium hominum nostrorum regni angliae unà cum consilio legati domini papae . pur le profit de nostre reaum et a la request de mes hauz homes e prodes homes e du comun de nostre reaume . the king and people having in the 42 d. agreed upon a standing council , and that what they did in the way of settlement , should be effectual , and acquiesced in on all sides . cum &c. promiserimus praedictis proceribus et magnatibus nostris quod reformac'onem et ordinac'onem per praedictos vigitni quatuor vel majorem partem eorum faciend ’ ratam habebimus et firmam . &c. hereupon in the 45th they order a representation of 3. for every county , pro ea vice , but do not yet settle it for a standing rule . cum ex parte episcopi wign ’ com. leicester & gloucester ac quorundam aliorum procerum regni nostri vocati sunt tres de singulis comitatibus nostris quod sint coram ipsis ad sanctum albanum secum tractaturi super communibus negotiis regni nostri . here the lords of the council exceeded their power , and , as if the king were a cypher in the government , would have the knights from the several shires come before them ; the king , not without reason , jealous of his honour , commands , that they which had been summoned to st. albans , should come to him at windsor . nobiscum super premissis colloquium habituros . venerab . pater g. eboracensis arch. angliae primas et alii praelati magnates milites liberè tenentes et omnes alii de regno nostro servitium fecerunt et auxilium ultra quā tēporibus retractis in aliis sūmonitionibus exercitus nostri facere consueverunt . this the king promises should not be drawn into consequence ; upon an extraordinary occasion they that were not accustomed to perform military service , did it then ; and they that did owe services , did more than they were oblig'd to by their tenure ; all , as well those that held not of the king in chief , as those which did , joyn'd together and made a general charge upon the kingdom of subsidium et auxilium . in the 48th of this king , there was a right understanding between him and his people , the record sayes , haec est forma pacis a domino rege et domino edwardo filio suo praelatis et proceribus omnibus et communitate regni angliae communiter et concorditer approbata , &c. amongst other things , 't was agreed , ad reformac'onem status regni angliae , that they should chuse 3 men who should have power from the king to name nine that should be the kings standing council ; and if any of the three displeas'd the community , si videatur communitati prelatorum et baronum , one or more was to be plac'd in their room , per consilium communitatis praelatorumet baronum . and the record concludes , haec autem ordinatio facta fuit apud london de consensu voluntate et praecepto domini regis necnon praelatorum , baronum ac etiam communitatis tunc ibi praesentium . the council so chose as aforesaid , were to advise the king in hiis quae spectant ad regimen curiae , et regni . and at that time , or immediately upon it , rex statuit et ordinavit , as mr. camden tells us , whose authority i shall enforce , that none of the multitude of barons should come to parliament , but they to whom the king vouchsaf'd to send his special summons , or were chose by the people , in pursuance of the alia illa brevia . what i have already drawn from the bowels of antiquity , makes me think that mr. selden was arriv'd to this maturity of judgment , when he put out the first edition of his titles of honour ; wherein he received without doubting the testimony of the learned clarenceulx mr. camden , concerning the new modelling of the great council of england , which mr. camden tells us , he has out of an author old enough to know the truth of his assertion ; upon this authority , mr. selden took it then pro concesso , that the alteration was as is there shewn , and began in the 48th of hen. the third , and that the first summons accordingly was the 49th ; which he illustrates by the like many years after in scotland . item , the king with the consent of the hail council generally , hes statute and ordained , that the small baronnes , and free tennentes , neid not to come to parliaments nor general councels , swa that of ilk shirefdome their be send , chosen at the head court of the shirefdome , twa or maa wise men after the largeness of the shirefdome . all bishops , abbots , priors , dukes , earls , lords of parliament , and banrets , the quhilks the king will be received and summon'd to council and parliament , be his special precept . this i conceive is an illustration of mr. camden's authority . ad summum honorem pertinet , speaking of the word baro. ex quo rex henricus ex tantâ multitudine quae seditiosa et turbulenta fuit optimos quosque rescripto ad comitia parlamentaria evocaverit : ille enim , ( ex satis antiquo authore loquor ) post magnas perturbationes et enormes vexationes inter ipsum regem , et simonem de monte forti & alios barones motas , & sopitas statuit & ordinavit quod omnes illi comites & barones regni angliae quibus ipse rex dignatus est brevia summonitionis dirigere venirent ad parlament ’ suum , & non alii nisi forte dominus rex alia illa brevia dirigere voluisset , sed quod ille paulo ante obitum incepit ed. 1. ejusque successores constanter observarunt , unde illi soli regni barones censebantur qui ejusmodi summonitionum ut vocant rescriptis ad comitia evocaverant , donec r. 2. joannem de beauchamp de holt baronem de kiderminster diplomate dato 10. octob. anno nostri sui . 11. creaverit . the substance of this is , that the word baro , was applicable to the whole people , the body of free-holders , especially as assembled in parliament , till the king confer'd particular honour upon some by his especial writs of summons , and none other came , but in pursuance of the aliae illa brevia , that is , the writs for elections in counties , cities , and boroughs : that this was begun to prevent those tumults , of which both the king , and the barons , had fatal experience . that this was enacted in due form of law ; though the form is not express'd , yet 't is imply'd under the statuit & ordinavit , being words of legislation , and for confirmation , that it was so , it has been followed ever since : and that the barons by creation , who have ever since their creation had right to sit as of the higher order previous to their sitting or express summons , came not in till the 11th . of richard the second . against this mr. selden , whose insight into records and ms's made him take it ill that any should escape his view , has rais'd these objections . ( 1. ) in all occurrences that i meet with ▪ since the grand charter of king john , i find no mention of any interest that those other tenants in chief , eo nomine , had in parliament , who doubtless were the persons that were excluded from it , when soever such law was made . tanti viri pace , this objection comes not nigh the point , it not being prov'd at least , that king john's charter gives the form of a parliament or general council , or of any other than a council of the kings tenants , for matters belonging to their tenure : and this sense mr. selden himself confirms , when he says , that he finds not that the minores barones in chief , or those other tenants in chief , eo nomine , had any interest in parliament ; now not having any peculiar interest , what need of a particular exclusion ? ( 2. ) besides , we have some good testimany of barons being distinguish'd by holding in chief , from others that held not in chief , long before the end of henry the third , or the time to which that ancient author refers the law of alteration , which seems to shew , that there were then barons by writ only ; as well as ancient barons by tenure : that testimony in mat. paris , rex edicto publicè proposito ( saith , he , speaking of the 29th . of henry the third , et submonitione generaliter facto fecit notificari per totam angliam ut quilibet baro. tenens ex rege in capite haberet prompta & parata regali praecepto omnia servitia militaria , quae ei debentur tam episcopi & abbates quam laici barones . barons holding in capite are mention'd here as if some held not so , which must be such as were barons by writ only . thus much he yeilds here . if there were not barons by writ , there being in those times other barons besides barons by tenure , mr. camden and his author were in the right , and the word baro , was of large extent , that is reacht to every free-holder , who according to sir henry spelman , had that appellation . however it does not follow , because there were other barons besides barons by tenure , that they must be by writ ; for what hinders , but that they might have been by reason of their possessions , and the freer from feudall tenure , so much the rather barones , as free-men . the distinction of barones majores and minores , i take it has been moveable , sometimes all the tenants in chief were majores , as in henry the seconds time , where the barones secundae dignitatis , that is , minores , are added to sit upon the judgments with the tenants in chief : in king john's time we find majores barones holding in chief , & alios , so that , the estates of the great barons being parcel'd out , some that held immediately of the king , were minores barones , by reason of the smallness of their estates . but this is clear from record , that writs of special summons made none barons out of parliament , whatever they did in parliament , except where there was such an unusual clause as we find in a writ of summons , 27 h. 6. volumus enim vos & heredes vestros masculos de corpore vestro legitimè exeuntes barones de vescey existere . here was a special clause of creation to a barony ; but if the usual writs , quatenus , writs of summons , made none barons out of parliament , and there is not the least ground of conjecture , that such writs were devis'd in the time of henry the third , it follows , that when henry the third summon'd only his own tenants to perform their military services , not to parliament , and these were barones tenentes in capite , but there were other barons omitted , that these barons must have been such , by reason of their freehold . that an usual writ , or writs of summons , made none barons out of parliament , appears very fully in the case of thomas de furnivall , in the court of exchequer . thomas de furnivall had been amerced tanquam baro. he pleads in discharge of his amercement , that he was no baron , nor held by barony , or part of a barony , licet ipse baro non sit , nec terram suam per baroniam vel partem baroniae teneat , nihilominus idem thomas pro quibusdam defaltis in quibusdam curiis , &c. in eisdem curiis tanquam baro amerciatus fuit . now according to mr. selden's notion , he ought to have pleaded that he was no baron , in that he neither held by barony , nor had receiv'd or us'd to receive special writs of summons to parliament . but 't is observable , that the only matter put in issue by the direction of the court , was , whether he held by barony , or no , et quia barones ante quam ulterius , &c. volunt certiorari super superius suggestis . concordatum est quod inquiratur inde & quod robertus de nottingham rememerator hujus scaccarii assignetur ad capiend ’ inde inquis , &c. et datus & dies prefato thom. per attornatum suum pred hic à die pasche in unum mensem ad audiend & reccipiend inde quod cur. &c. there was an inquisition directed into the several counties , where he had lands to know how he held them , and according as his tenure appear'd to be , was he to receive judgment upon his plea ; and 't is certify'd , upon the inquisitions taken , that he held not any land per baronium vel partem baroniae , and therefore according to the sense of the whole court , though we find not the judgment then given , non fuit baro. and yet this man had been call'd to thirty parliaments before the time of his plea ; and his son , as i take it , was call'd to seven in the life-time of his father , thomas de furnivall sen. summonitus fuit per breve ad parl ’ rot. claus . 23 ed. 1. m. 9. dorso . rot. claus . 23 ed. 1. m. 3. d. 24. ed. 1. m. 7. d 25. m. 25. d. 27. m. 18. d. 28. m. 16 , 17. d. 28. m. 2 , 3. d. 30. m. 7. d. 32. m. 2. d. 33. m. 21. d. 34. m. 2. d. 35. m. 13. d. rot. claus . 1 ed. 2. m. 19. d. 1. m. 11. d. 1. m. 8. d. 2. m. 11. d. 3. m. 17. d. 3. m. 16. d. 5. m. 17. d. 5. m. 3. d. 6. m. 31. d. 6. m. 17. d. 6. m. 2. d. 7. m. 15. d. 8. m. 25. d. 8. m. 29. d. 9. m. 22. d. 11. m. 14. d. 11. m. 12. d. 11. m. 8. d. thomas de furnival , jun. rot. claus . 12. d. 2. m. 29. d. 12. m. 11. d. 13. m. 13. d. 14. m. 23. d. 15. m. d. 16. m. 26. d. 17. m. 27. d. this great man was no baron in the sense of the word baron then appropriated , the several writs of summons had made him no baron , and yet he was a lord of parliament , and since the king dignatus est brevia summonitionis ad eum dirigere , according to mr. camden , he being before one of the multitude of barons , the word baro which was applicable to all the nobility , the free-holders in him , pertinebat ad summum honorem . mr. selden's last objection is this , ( 3. ) that old author also used by the learned camden , speaks of earls no otherwise than of barons , as if some like exclusion had been of any of them also ; than which nothing can be more advers to the known truth both of that age , and all times , and even in that we have some character of the slightness of his authority , whosoever he were . this i conceive can be of no great weight , for he might as well have said that barons were never excluded before , and by the same consequence not then ; for i know not how any man can prove , that earls had more right than barons , in the most honourable acceptation especially . but this being then made a law , 't is not improbable , that the disposition of this honour of receiving particular writs of summons to parliament , might have been lodg'd in the breast of the king , who is the fountain of honour ; nor is it likely that any earl , but he that justly forfeited the kings favour , would have been denied it ; however , he were deprived of no natural right . since the 11th . of richard the second , indeed , the nobility have had settled rights by patents , which are as so many constant warrants for the chancellor to issue out the writs of summons , ex debito justitiae ; with this agrees the great antiquary , sir henry spelman . sic antiquae illa baronum dignitas secessit in titularem & arbitrariam regioque tandem diplomate id circo dispensata est . upon the dissolution of the separate court of tenants , the tenants still succeeding to that jurisdiction and preference in the way of being call'd to the great court , which they had in and to the less , without such a provision as mr. camden takes notice of , i will grant , that the majores barones holding in chief , ex debito justitiae , would have had right to special summons , but the lesser tenants had the same right to a general summons ; and the right of being represented , as properly concluded , the one as the other , unless where the king had exerted his prerogative . but where the king ex tantâ multitudine baronum , differing in their circumstances , ( some holding of him immediately , others of measn lords , and his very tenants being divided into two different classes , of majores and minores ) advanc'd some to be of his particular council in parliament . this , with submission , i take it , made them not judges in parliament , eonomine ▪ because a court may amerce its own members , but counts and barons by magna charta , are not amerceable but by their peers , and therefore none but their peers could without their own consent be of the court with them ; which though they might be with consent , as to all acts amongst themselves , still it would be a question how far they might without particular patent or writ creating them to such honour ; act in that station to the prejudice of others . that special summons to parliament , without a seat there granted and settled by the king , gives no man vote amongst those who now have right to such summons , appears , in that the judges and masters in chancery have had the same writs with the lords ; and yet are , and have been , but assistants to them , no members of their house . the great tenents in chief , and others , in equal circumstances , were pares to one another , and if such an one was chose knight of a shire , though the lord coke says , the king could not grant a writ to supersede his coming that was so chose , because 't was for the good of the commonwealth ; yet he being look'd upon as one that ordinarily would be specially summon'd , the king might supersede it ; and thus we find even before any settled right by patent . rex vicecomiti surria salutem , quia ut accepimus tu thomam camoys chivaler , qui banneretus est sicut quam plures antecessorum suorum extiterint ad essendum . unum militum venientium ad proximum parliamentū nostrū pro coōmunitate comitatus praedicti de assensu ejusdem comitatus elegisti , nos advertentes quod hujusmodi banneretti , ante haec tempora in milites comitatus ratione alicujus parlamenti eligi minimè consueverunt , ipsum de officio militis ad dictum parlamentum pro communitate com ’ praedict venturi exonerari volumus , &c. when tenants in chief , oreorum pares , werce call'd by special writ , they very properly exercised the same jurisdiction which tenants did before in their separate court. in the 5th . of richard the second , many having refused attendance , and not owning themselves liable to amercements , because of absence , if tenure laid not a special obligation upon them , comes an act of parliament which makes it penal to refuse , or rather delares , that the law was so of old . all singular persons and communalties ▪ which from henceforth shall have the summons of parliament , shall come from henceforth to the parliament , in the manner as they be bounden to do , and hath been accustomed , within the realm of england of old times , and every person of the same realm , which from henceforth shall have the said summons ( be he arch-bishop , bishop , abbot , prior , duke , earl , baron , banneret , knight of the shire , citizens of city , burgeis of burgh , or other singular person , or commonalty , do absent himself , and come not at the said summons , except he may reasonably and honestly excuse himself to our said sovereign lord the king , he shall be amerced , and otherwise punished , as of old times hath been used to be done in the said realm ) in the said case . this shews that of old time , they who were summon'd by the king , or chose by the people , ought to come to parliament ; but this being before any patent , or writ of creation to the dignity of peer , and to a seat in parliament , supposes no obligation upon the king to give any special summons ; indeed where he had granted charters of exemptions from common summons , there he had oblig'd himself ( if he would have them oblig'd by what pass'd ) to give special summons , were it not that they might have been chose in the counties particularly , ( which alters the case from what it were , if every body came , or might come in their own persons , some by special , others by general summon's ) but this exemption , and particular summon's after it , made none peers that they found not so , but they that came were to come as they were bounden , and insuch manner , as had been accustomed of old . which is pregnant with a negative , as if it were in such manner , and no other manner , quality , or degree : and thus they us'd that to come as assistants to the lords , continue even at this day to come in the same manner , and no otherwise , notwithstanding particular writs of summon's eodem modo as to the lords of parliament . this is further observable , that in the forecited statute , and records , bannerets are spoken of as above knights of the shire , and these were certainly some of the pares baronum which often occur to us . if these receiv'd their summons to parliament , it seems , as it had been of old accustomed , they were to have voices with the barons . it may be urg'd , that they which held by barony , and their peers , pares baronum , were by the law exempted from being of common juries , because they were lords of parliament : and therefore they were to come of course and right . to which it may be answerered , that is a priviledge above the rest of their fellow subjects , to be own'd by them , as being in common intendment likely to be call'd to parliament , and therefore so accounted by the courtesy of england ; but what do's this signifie to bind the king ? who is above the reach of an act of parliament , unless particularly nam'd . but for this a resolution by all the judges of england in the reign of hen. the 8th . is a full authority , where 't is adjudged , that the king may hold his parliament without such lords as come onely upon the account of their possessions . the same in effect mr. selden tells us , in in his notes upon eadmerus , neque eos ( speaking of barones ) duntaxat ut hodie significare , quibus peculiaris ordinum comitiis locus est , sed universos qui saltem beatiores regia munificentia &c. latifundia possidebant . so that he was of opinion here , that there were several who had great estates of the immediate grant of the crown , who yet had no seat in the house of lords . i would not be thought to assert any thing dogmatically , i onely offer by way of learning , some thing which perhaps will be look'd on as paradoxes at the least . i divide not my matter into heads and positions , because i run counter to the sense of many great names : and the direct opposing such in thesi would be invidious , and gain a disadvantage to the authorities i produce . if any body will take the pains to shew me , by authentick proofs and warrantable reasons , that all or most of the records or histories by me cited , or others not occurring to me , ought to be taken in a sense contrary to what has appeared to me , i shall thankfully receive and acknowledg his instructions ; but till then i must crave pardon if i cannot swallow or digest any learned modern antiquarie's bare ipse dixit , where i find the best of our historians and a series of records in my judgment diametrically opposing and contradicting their positions and assertions i am aware , that besides the many slips of an hasty pen , and the weakness perhaps of several of the inferences , which amongst some avocations may have pass'd neglected ; there is a material objection against the foundation of the whole , which is the general agreement of records and histories , that till the 48th or 49th of henry the third , all proprietors of land came to the great council without any settled exclusion ▪ when yet we many times find that the councils were held in churches , or halls , and yet at those times 't is said that the populus were there as if the great men were the standing representative body of the nation , and answer'd for all the people , the freeholders of the nation . to which i answer , ( according to the modus tenendi synodos , which i may apply to the civil councils ) that the probi homines , or bonae conversationis came sometimes in their own persons , and when they agreed to it , which was no abridgment of their personal right , they came by representation ex electione , and every one was there himself virtually by his deputy , but they often met in vast bodies , and in capacious places , both in the saxon times , and after william the first obtained the imperial crown . the whole body of proprietors were assembled at runemed between stanes and windsor at the passing of king john's charter ; and if we believe matth. westminster , it was not unusual for the kings of england long before king john's time , at that very place to meet their people to treat of the affairs of the kingdom . maximus tractatus habebatur inter regem et barones de pace regni inter stanes & windsoram in prato quod dicitur runemed quod interpretatur pratum concilii eö quod ab antiquis temporibus ibi de pace regni saepius consilia tractabantur . this shews the usual places of assembling to have been large enough for all the people , which are in so many records and histories printed and in manuscript , said to have been present at the great or general councils ; i shall conclude with one instance of the parties present at such a council , which is deliver'd with sufficient perspicuity . anselm in one of his disputes with henry the first , desires the debate may be adjourn'd till the easter following . differantur haec si placet usqu ; in pascha ut audito episcoporum , regnique primatum consilio , qui modò non assunt respondeam hinc . upon this anselm comes to the court at easter , igitur in pascha curiam venit regni ingenuitatem praesens consulit , communi consilii vocem accepit , &c. here the council episcoporum et primatum , to which he referr'd himself , was reciprocal with the ingenuitas regni , that is , as sir henry spelman shews us , the liberi et legales homines , the good honest freeholders , some of which were no better than plebeians . and therefore this authority alone , especially as 't is strengthned by those others to the same purpose , which i have cited absque dolo et malo ingenio , evince to me , that he or they who put out the second part of sir spelman's glossary , did not do right to his memory , in representing him affirming , that the plebs , the ingenuitas , or liberi et legales homines , as he himself tells us the word ingenuus , has anciently been us'd , are no where amongst the several councils which he had read of , mention'd to have been there , from the entrance of william the first , to the end of henry the third . the words to this purpose which i conceive are put upon him , are these , sine ut sodes dicam collegisse me centenas reor comitiorum edictiones ( tenoresque plurimorum ) ab ingressu gulielmii ad excessum henrici 3. existentium nec in tantâ multitudine de plebe uspiam reperisse aliquid . indeed notice being taken of those councils where were optimates et barones totius angliae , and of that famous assembly at salisbury-plain of the barones et vicecomites cum suis militibus , in pursuance of the summons of william the first , the positiveness of the assertion is restrain'd with a ni in his dilituerit . but what doubt can be made of those words , whereby they are expresly mention'd , and that according to the true sir henry spelman , i am not yet aware of . finis . errata . page 3. l. 16. r. tzurick for tours : p. 5. margin . r. contemporaneo ▪ p. 8. l. 12. for william read hugh : p. 9. l. 9. r. attendance : p. 10. l. 7. add laici before omnes : p. 12. l. 29. joyn a to part : p. 17. l. 4. r. fuerat : p. 25. l 6. add est de before antiquo : l. 7. dele est de : p. 27. marg . r. hil. for mich. p. 35. l. 3. add è before tota : p. 40. l. 22. r. illuc : l. 19. r. knight for knights : p. 45. last l. r. antequam : p. 47. l. 4. dele comma after sheriffs : l. 15. r. vias : l. 19. dele s after knight : p. 53. l. 28. make a comma after kings title : l. 29. r. election : p. 60. l. 28. add is after that : p. 63. l. 18. r. of for in : p. 64. l. 14. put a comma after only : p. 65. l. 15. r. 't was : p. 66. l. 7. put a comma after nobility : l. 10. after londoners make a comma : so after citizens : l. 11. put a comma after amongst them : p. 68. l. 14. r. matilda : p. 206. l. 2. r. plectendum : l. 3. r. judicare : p. 217. l. 11. r. affuerunt : p. 228. l. 9. r. doveram : p. 237. l. 7. add the before free customs : l. 8. dele the : 2d . sheet of p. 237. l. 13. r. militibus : p. 238. l. 9. r. tenants us'd : p. 240. l. 20. r. de scuto : l. 28. r. the for their : p. 241. l. 11. dele s after acquaint : l. 22. r. record : p. 245. l. 2. r. negotium : p. 246. l. 5. r. retroactis : p. 247. l. 23. r. his instead of this : p. 251. margin . r. proprietariis : p. 255. r. baro : l. 21. put a comma after freeholders : p. 261. l. 1. r. that before us'd : p. 262. l. 20. add s to thing : p. 265. l. 14. add s to ●●mmuni . a catalogue of some books , lately printed for tho. basset at the george in fleet-street . an institution of general history , or the histo of the world in two volumns in folio , by dr. william howel , chancellor of lincoln . printed 1680. historical collections , being an exact account of the proceedings of the four last parliaments of the renowned princess queen elizabeth , containing the journals of both houses , with their several speeches , arguments , motions , &c. in folio , writ by hayward townshend esq then a member of parliament , printed 1680. the antient right of the commons of england asserted , or a discourse proving by records , and the best historians , that the commons of england were ever an essential part of parliament , by william petyt of the inner temple esq of the french monarchy , and absolute power , and also a treatise of the three states , and their power , deduced from the most authentick histories , for above 1200 years , and digested this latter , by mat. zampini de recanati . l. l. d. the constitution of parliaments in england , deduced from the time of king edward the second , illustrated by king charles the second , in his parliament summon'd the 18th . febr. 1660 / 1. and dissolved the 14th . jan. 1678 / 9. with an appendix of its sessions , in oct. the politicks of france , by monsieur p. h. marquis of c. with reflections on the 4th . and 5th . chapters : wherein he censures the roman clergy , and the hugenots ; by the sir l'ormegregny . le beau pleadeur , a book of entries containing declarations , informations , and other select and approved pleadings , with special verdicts , and demurrers , in most actions real , personal , and mixt , which have been argued , and adjudged in the courts at westminster , together with faithful references to the most authentick printed law books now extant , where the cases of these entries are reported , and a more copious and useful table than hath been hitherto printed in any book of entries , by the reverend sir humphrey winch knight , sometime one of the justices of the court of common pleas. a display of heraldry , manifesting a more easie access to the knowledg thereof than hath been hitherto published by any , through the benefit of method ; whereunto it is now reduced by the study and industry of john guillim ; late pursuivant at arms. the 5th . edition much enlarged with great variety of bearings , to which is added a treatise of honour military , and civil , according to the laws and customs of england , collected out of the most authentick authors both ancient and modern , by capt. john logan , illustrated with variety of sculptures suitable to the several subjects ; to which is added a catalogue of the atcheivments of the nobility of england , with divers of the gentry for examples of bearings . now in the press dr. heylins help to the english history , with very large additions . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a26172-e230 petyt 's appendix , p. 131. bracton . lib. 2. cap. 16. p. 37. charges upon the land according to the value or number of acres . charta johannis 17. regni , anno 1215. tiguri , fol. 247. magna carta , cap. 9. 2 iust . fol. 20. titles of honour , f. 586 , & 587. rot. claus . 17 johannis dorso m 21. rot pat. 17 johannis pars unica m. 13. n. 3. ib. m. ●3 . dorso . magna charta cap. 38. confirmatio magna chartae facta 2. h 3. in consimili formâ cum magna charta 9. hen. 3. ( testibus & data exceptis ) exemplificata & confirmata 25. edw. 1. prout charta de forestâ . ex ms contemporaneâ statutor . penes sam. balduin equitem auratum & servient . ad legèm . et de scutagiis assidendis faciemas summoneri , &c. that is such of the majores as held intra 〈◊〉 . aid upon tenants in common socage . escuage upon tenants by knights service . chester . tit. honor. 1 edit . p. 247. see leicester's survey of cheshire . 20. h. 3. m. paris fol. 563. ed. lond. tit. honour 1 ed. p. 233. selden , ib. domesday in cheshire saith , comes tenet comitatum de rege . see leicester 's survey of cheshire . mat. p. fo . 497. ed. lond. anno 1232. 17o. h. 3. m. p. an. 1205. 7o. johannis . mat. pared . tig. f. 359. nequi magnates viz. comes , baro , miles seualiqua alia notabilis persona rot. claus . 3 e. 2. m. 16. dor . m. p. f. 359. an. 1232. 17o. rs. h. 3. nota , this shews that the tenants in capite were not all the council , because they in particular are taken notice of amongst them which came to that council . the earl of chester was not to attend the king in his wars , nor to pay escuage in lieu of military service , because all his tenure was to keep to the defence of the marches . rot. pat. 44 h. 3. m. 1. dor . 22o. ed. 1. n. 45. sub custod . camerar in scaccario . rot. pat. 2. ed. 1. m. 6. rot pat 20. ed. 1. m. 6. bundella literar . in turre london . an. 8. h 3. ne qui magnates viz. comes , baro , miles seu aliqua alia notabilis persona , &c. rot. claus . 3 e. 2. m. 16. dor . rot. parl. 40 ed. 3. n. 7 , 8. matt. par. p. 236. hooker eccles . lib. fol. 29. matt. paris ann. 1212. 14 johannis . matt. par. matt. par. knyghton . matt. west . fol. 271. matt. west . fol. 271. ms. cod. ex bib. dom. wild nuper defunct . note , a common lord had aid in the like case by king john's charter . william 1. seldeni ad fadmer . & notae & specilegium fol. 190. ib. cap. 52 , 59. et ad judicium rectum & sustitiam constanter omnibus modis pro posse suo sine dolo & sine dilatione faciend . ib. knyghton , fol. 2358. leges will. 1. servitutes rusticorum praediorum sunt haec , iter , actus , via , aquaeductus . digest . lib. 8. tit . 3. servitutum non ea natura est ut aliquid faciat , sed ut aliquid patiatur , vel non faciat , ib. fol. 215. sim dunelm . fol. 212. 1084. 14 will. 1. 2. inst . f●l . 232. inter brevia directa baron . de term . mich. 32 ed. 1. m. 4. dorso penos rem . regis in scaccario . the same plea for the earl of glocest. and herts . allowed , ib. m. 5. inter brevia directa baron . de term. hill. 33 ed. 1. penes rem . domini thes . in scaccario . inter communia de term mich. 31 hen. 3. penes rem . domini regis in scaccario . rot. claus . 11 hen. 3. m. 19. de term . hill. 39 h. 3. penes rem . regis in scaccario . nota. supra inter communia de term. mich. penes rem . regis . m. p. fol. 224. ed. tig. 34 ed. 1. cap. 1. coke 2. inst . 532. rot. claus . 34 ed. 1. m. 16. dorso . 25 ed. 1. cap. 6. in this part declarative of the law , as by king john's charter . carta , hen. 1. anno 948. vita aelfredi , fol. 124. ne qui magnates viz. comes , baro , miles seu aliquae alia notabilis persona , &c. rot. claus . 3. e. 2. m. 16. d. carta edgari regis ex registro de ramsey in scaccario penes rem . regis , fol. 336. thani autem appellatione , viri interdum nobiles interdum liberae conditionis homines , in terdum magistratus , atque saepenumerò ministri notantur , glos . ad finem lamb. archaionomia . vide hackwel 's ancient customs of england , p. 97 , spelm. glossar . de hundred● . vide lambart . de priscis legibus . in vita aelfredi , fol. sym. dunelm . fol. 243. anno 1121. so. mat. west . f. 352. of the 37 hen. 3. adunato magno parliamento edicto regio . ead. l. 1. fol. 9. nobiles , minores sunt equites sive milites , armigeri & qui vulgo generosi & gentlemen dicuntur , camb. brit. fol. 123. lambert de priscis legibus . the county was satrapia , as they that composed it were satrapae , so in a ms. cited by mr. selden , a tryal is had at london before the principes , duces , lawyers and satrapae , and the same renewed at northampton , is said to be congregatâ ibi totâ provinciâ sive vicecomitatu coram cunctis . titles of honour , fol. 524 , & 525. bromton , fol. 872. bromton . fol. 924. canuti leges . bracton , lib. 3. p. 105 , in praecipuis festis profusè convivabat natale domini apud gloverniam , pascha apud wintoniam , pentecoste apud westm . quando in anglia foret tenere consuevit knyghton , fol. 2354. william 1. an. 1067. titles of honour , p. 581. eadmeri hist . nov . ● . 1. fol. 9. cod. roff. ms. seldeni notae in eadmer . fol. 197. ms. historia de terris aedel woldi scriptus est hic liber temporibus hen. 1. jussu herveri episc . eleensis primi . so the record inter com . de term. pasc . 18. r. e. fib . r. e. breve aliud p. 107. a. a jury . under tenants . lords of mannors . aliud . these had lands which belonged to the abby , as appears in the inquisition . eadmerus codex roff. seldens spic . ad edm. fo . 200. bracton fo . 1. cook. 6. rep. fo . 11. a. & b. gentlemans case . pl. dom. r. apud berwick super tweedam de octab. sanctae tr. an. r. ed. fil . r. h. 2º coram gilberto de thornton reog . brabazon . & rob. malet . just . ad pl , ejusdem dom. r. tenend . assignat . rot. pat. 42. h. 3. m. 10. & m. 4. stat. staple 27 ed. 3. an. 1353. sym : dunelm . f. 213. el. wygorn . f. 641. nec multo post ( viz. ) post curiam mandavit ut arch. ep. com. bar. vicecom . cum suis mi lit . sibi occurrerent , saresberiae quo cum venissent milites illorum sibi fidel . contra omnes homines jurare coegit . cowslli ins . juris , ang. de libertinis tit. 50. p. 11. inter leges wil. 1. cap. 65. seldeni ad ead. notae & spicel . stat. west . 1. rot. claus . 38. hen. 3. rot. claus . h. 3. p. 1. m. 18. it appears by another record that this shrivalty was of fee in the count according to the exception in the statute , which gives each county leave to chuse . rot. claus . an. 11. h. 3. vide leges edw. renov 4. wil. 1. isti vero viri viz. heretochii eligebantur per commune concilium , pro communi utilitate regni p● provincias & patrias universas & per singulos comitatus in pleno folemo●● sicut & vicecomites provinciarum & comitat. elegi debent . lambert a●chaio nomia ed cant. fo . 147. 2. iust . f. 74. 〈…〉 neither had we any of dignity although the office in some places hath been hereditary from antient time . until hen. 6. tit. of hon. 1. ed. p. 255. & 256. sym. dunelm . fo . 213. tit. of hon. 1 ed. p. 373. assisa de armis 27. hen. 2. tit. hon. 1 ed. p. 306. s. dunelm . lamb. archaionom . leges ed. f. 146. omnes proceres & milites & liberi homines universitotius regni britanniae facere debent in pleno folemote fidelitatem dom. regi coram episcopis regni . this seems to be meant of a court of all the counties and then confirms my sense . in express terms . claus . 1 h. 3. m 14. dorso . rolls . rep. rot. claus . 33. e. 1. m. 15. dor . rot. claus . 5. e. 2. m. 21. dor . actus pontif . cant. autore gervatio dor. f. 1653. antiq. brit. f. 110. relat. wil. primi ad finem tractat . de gavelkind a sylâ tay. ed. p. 194. r. hoveden fo . 453. fecit summoniri , &c. nobiles sapientes . &c. electi igitur de sing . totius patriae comit. viri duodecim , &c. lamberts archionom . fo . 138. seld. spicil . f. 171. an. 1083. 17 will. 1. gerv. dorob . actus pontif . f. 1653. tota angliae nobititas in unum collecta , quasi sub numero non cadebat , matt. paris p. 255. monachus anongm . ord. st. bened . p 44. an. 1084. 18 will. 1. ( i. e. ) curia regis , ord●ricus vitalis fol. 647. an. 1085. 19 will. 1. s. dunelm . fol. 213. spelm. glos . 2 ▪ part . fol. 451. tit . parl. seldeni aut & spic . ad eadmerum , fol. 168. an. 1087. bromton , fol. 983. malmesb. fol. 120. s. dunelm fol ▪ 215. rog. hoveden , fol. 461. an. 1088. bromton , fol. 983. an. 1089. 3 will. 2. order . vital . fol. 680. an. 1093. 7. will. 2. eadmerus , fol. 16. gondulfus roff. ep. monac . bec. inter anselm . epist . lib. 3. an. 1094. 8. will. 2. eadmerus , fol. 24 , & 25. eadmerus , fol. 26. an. 1095. 9. will. 2. fol. 27. fol. 28. fol. 29. fol. 31. fol. 34. spelman concil . vol. 2. fol. 16. jewelli apcontra hard. fol. 455. eadmerus , fol. 39. eadmerus , fol. 34. an 1097. 10. will. 2. eadmerus , fol. 38. eadmerus , fol. 38. spelman glos . 2. part . tit . par. sim. dunelm . fol. 218. an. 1093. titles of honour . 1. ed. p. 287. rad. de diceto . fol. 492. christmass court. huntington fol. 578. note , he lived but in the time of henry the eighth . lambert's archaion , pag. 26● , 263. pag. 237. eadmerus , fol. 49. fol. 94. & 105. matt. paris , ed. tig. fol. 54. mat. par. f. 52 , & 53. florentius wigorn. an. 1129. an. 1131. 32 hen. 1. huntington fol. 384. 1 stephani an. 1135. rich. hagustal . p. 312. joh. hagust . f. 258. mat. par. f. 71. rich. hagust . f. 314. an. 1138. 3. step. malmsbury f. 181 , & 183. malmsbury hist. nov. 2. p. 188. 189. stat. of merton . cap. 6. 1 inst . f. 80. statuta regni polonici . continua . ad floren. wig. f. 671. an. 1141. 7 step. h. hunt f. 392. an. 1143. neubergensis p. 37. radulphi polycron . 1152. 17. stephani ger. dorober . f. 1379. an. 1154. h. hunt f. 398. 19. step. neu●ergensis lib. 1. c. 32. brompton f. 1040. henr. 2. 11 hen. 2. an. 1164. vid still . answer to cressy 's apol . à p. 377. usque ad finem . titles of honour , fol. 582. m. p. fol. 96. ma. west . fol. 248. gervasius dor. fol. 1385. imag. hist . fo . 536. antiq. brit. in vitâ tho. becket fo . 133. hoveden fo . 493. answer to cressy's apol. p. 392. 11 article conc. clar. grand quest . p. 152. 8 ed. 2. qui habent personatum . ger. dorob . fo . 1387. cum baronibus suis , seldens jan. angl. facies altera , p. 9● com. de term. pasch . 4 ed. 3. penes rem . dom. thes . in scac . jani anglorum facies altera , p. 100. hoveden , fo . 494. tit. of honour , fo . 583. evocantur quidam vicecomites & secundae dignitatis barones , antiqui dierum , ut addantur tis & assint judicio , stephan . ms. magna charta , cap. 11. this explained by articuli super chart . stat. 34 ed. 1. de tallagio non concedendo . britton p. 41. the king 's bench. debent interesse judic . curiae regis , &c. usque perveniatur in judicio . gerv. dorob . & vat . cop . quousque perveniatur ad diminutionem membrorum vel ad mortem . ma. par. & others . this the author of the grand question follows as most authentick . bracton lib. 2. cap. 24. p. 56. grand question , p. 34. grand quest . p. 34. still . answer to cressy , à p. 339. ad p. 447. p. 449. grand quest . p. 34. titles of honour , fo . 582. so of glocest . bote war man shall be belemed other to deth ido . jani anglorum facies altera , p. 100. grand quest . p. 40. p. 28. grand quest . p. 40. ejus simplex prohibitio . steph. ms. grand quest . p. 40. glanvile de legibus lib. 1. c. 2. glanv . p. 2. stephanides . so gerv. dorob . f. 1389. grand question , p. 40. cook de jure regis ecclesiastico . 5. rep. gervasius dorob . f. 1400. ex communi consilio , nos inquiunt , eum appellabimus coram papâ , de facili convincetus , sine remedio deponetur , quae cum plurimum placerent regi , exierunt omnes ep. gerv. dor. f. 1392. gerv. dor. f. 1387. p. 35. grand question , p. 38. grand question , p. 27. concil . toletan . 11. cap. 6. edit . madr. f. 553. 〈…〉 grand question , p. 27. spelman 's concil . 2 vol. f. 11. an. 1175. 22 hen. 2. pa. 30. ann. 1175. 22 h. 2. gerv. dor. f. 1429. grand question , p. 42. hoveden , f. 543. grand quest . p. 46. 28 ed. 1. cap. 3. jewel contra ward , p. 518. 25 hen. 8. cap 19. ex cod. ms. in bib. cot. sub effigie domitiani , a. 5. n. 2. spelm. conc. v. 2. f. 3. malmesburiensis , f. 118. spelm. conc. vol. 2. f. 1. ex pervetusto ms. cod. in bibl . cot. sub effigie cleopatrae . c. 8. f. 35. eadmer . hist . nov. f. 58. eadmer . f. 57. f. 58. contin . ad flor. wigor . an. 1127. 28 h. 1. contin . ad flor. f. 663. chronica ger. dorob . f. 1429. 〈…〉 sup . n. this was according to the modus tenendi synodos , secundum ordinationis suae tempus resideant , only that the modus more particularly referred to the inferiour clergy in that . hen. 2. anno 1176. 23 hen. 2. bendictus abbas sub effigie julii ad. f. 72. int. bib. cott. 33 hen. 2. glos . tit. finis . 1 rich. 1. anno 1189. bromton . fol. 1161. spelm. con. 2 vol. f. 119. poltons stat. f. 95. stat. asporta is religiosorum . bromton . f. 1166. anno 1189. bromton . f. 1170. this seems to have been a great council on the court day . k. john anno 1199. 1 jo. knyghton . f. 2414. carta moderationis feodi magni sigilli an . 1. joh. ex vet. registr . in archivis cant. arch. ma. par. fol. 189. anno 1200. 2 joh. rot. cant. 5 jo. m. 5. n. 33. & rot. cart . 17 jo. p. 2 , 2. m. 3. n. 2 5. eadmerus . fo . 56. malmesbury . fo . 59. mat. par. 196. 3 jo. 1201. mat. par. fo . 198. m. par. 〈…〉 celebrata igitur apud portesmue solemnitate pentec . ib. 4 joh. anno 1202. m. p. f. 199. 5 joh. 6. ma. par. fol. 200. natale celebravit . ma. par. f. 201. rot. pat. 6 jo. m. 2. dorso . m. 7. dors . 7 joh. ● jo. 1206. ma. par. f. 205. m. west . f. 266. rot. pat. 8 & 9 jo. m. 3. dorso . 9 jo. 1207. archiepisc . episc . abbates , priores , comites , barones milites & & alii magnates regni angliae . a. 37 h. 3. fleta . lib. 2. c. 42. f. 212. 10 jo. 1208. 11 jo. 1209. 12 jo. 1210. 13 jo. 1211. 14. 15 jo. ma. par. f. 224. of being reputed a turntail or runaway . mat. par. f. 225. stat. 25 ed. 3. pryn 's king john , f. 269. fol. 230. 15. 1213. mat. par. fol. 230. 15 jo. ad natale curiam suam tenuit , apud windleshores . m. paris ad . tig. f. 238. titles of honour , fo . 587. bracton lib. 3. p. 109. b. so rot. finium 8 h. 3. m. 2. dorso . the head-borough . rot. pat. 42 h. 3. mat. par. f. 241. magna charta , 17 jo. an. 1215. pat. 4 ed. 1. m. 14. in primo generali parl. nostro post coronationem . charta johannis . an. 1254. 39 h. 3. mat. paris ●d tig. f. 884. mag. charta , cap. 9. legier book of ely. hundred . inter communia de termino sancti michaelis , an. 34 e. 1. pro hominibus villae de coventre . mat. par. f. 860. nota before the large and comprehensive acceptation of magnates regni . rot. claus . 38 h. 3. m. 7. c. 12. dorso . to the sheriff of bedford and bucks . mat. par. f. 859. mat. par. f. 884. anno 1221. 6 hen. 3. mat. par. f. 298. mat. west . f. 280. rot. claus . 6 hen. 3. m. 7. inter communia term. s. mich. 34 e. 1. penes remem . dom. thes . in scaccario . rot. claus . 3 e. 2. m. 16. rastalls statutes p. 85. 15 e. 3. 25 e. 3. stat. 27 e. 3. statutum stapulae . rot. pat. 37 hen. 3. m. 12. dorso . fleta f. 93. inter communia de term. mich. anno 28 ed. 1. rot. 27. dorso . communiae de term. sancti hill ’ anno 17 regis ed. 3. penes remem . regis in scaccario . inter communia de term. paschae penes rem . in scaccario . rot. pat. 6. h. 3. rot. claus . 19. h. 3. m. 6. rot. claus . 19. h. 3. rot. pat. 15. h. 3. m. 3. nota women granting . rot. claus . 19. h. 3. m. b. inter communia de term. sancti mich. anno 42. h. 3. rot. 4. de scut . levand . 2 h. 3. or at least 9. rot. claus . 4 h. 3. m. 5. bundela literarum in turre lond. a. 8 h. 3. rot. claus . 14 h. 3. m. 2. dorso . rot. claus . 16 h. 3. m. 2. dorso . the clergy that were landed-men or free-holders . rot. claus . 18 h. 3. pars unica . m. 10. rot. claus . 19 h. 3. m. 6. rot. claus . ●8 h. 3. m. 3. dorso . rot. claus . 21 h. 3. m. 7. dorso . rot. pat. 24 h. 3. m. 1. rot. claus . 29 h. m. 8. dorso . mat. par. anno 1246. vid. more at large mr. petit's rights of the commons of england , asserted from 111 , to 115. rot. claus . 32 h. 3. m. 12. dorso . rot. 42 h. 3. m. 3. rot. pat. 42 h. 3. m. 10. rot. pat. 42 h. 3. m. 4. rot. claus . 45 h. 3. m. 6. dorso . rot. pat. 48 h. 3. m. 2. n. 5. anno 48th . h. 3. 1264. rot. pat. 48 h. 3. pars unica . m. 8. dorso . n. 10. vid. rot. claus . 28 h. 3. m. 12. dorso . consideratum fuit in curiâ nostra coram nobis & toto parliamento nostro . titles of honour . p. 278. ex satis antiquo authore loquor . anno. 1427. 23. jac. 1. ordines angliae . p. 122. titles of honour . fol. 589. titles of honour . f. 589 , 590. glos . tit . baro. proceres nempe & maneriorum domini nec non liberè quique tenentes , hoc est fundorum proprietariis anglicè free-holders , hoc nomine contineri videtur antiquis paginis . claus . 27 h. 6. m. 26. dorso . communia de term sancti hill ’ anno 19 ed. 2. rot. penes rem . domini thes in scaccario . pro thomâ de furnivall seniore exonerando . titles of honour . fol. 590. glos . tit . baro. in charta johannis . 4. instit . claus . dors . 7 r. 2. m. 32. titles of honour . ●609 . 5 r. 2. cap. 4. anno 1381. vid. prin● ▪ first part of parl ’ writs . p. 251. titles of honour . fol. 608. rot. parl. 1 h. 4. m. 16. n. 59. ib. cited , &c. countess of rutland 's case , coke 6. rep. fol. 53. standish's case . kelloways rep. 184. 6. selden ad eadm . spelm. con. 2. vol. fol. 1. mat. westm . fol. 273. anno 1215. eadmerus , f. 70. glos . tit . ingenuus . glos . 2d . part , tit . parlamentum , ed. lond. anno 1664. a briefe view of the state of the church of england as it stood in q. elizabeths and king james his reigne, to the yeere 1608 being a character and history of the bishops of those times ... / written ... by sir john harington ..., knight. harington, john, sir, 1560-1612. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a45581 of text r21165 in the english short title catalog (wing h770). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 260 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 116 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a45581 wing h770 estc r21165 12681071 ocm 12681071 65663 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a45581) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 65663) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 356:6) a briefe view of the state of the church of england as it stood in q. elizabeths and king james his reigne, to the yeere 1608 being a character and history of the bishops of those times ... / written ... by sir john harington ..., knight. harington, john, sir, 1560-1612. chetwynd, john, 1623-1692. [11], 211 [i.e. 213], [3] p. printed for jos. kirton ..., london : 1653. "the epistle dedicatory" signed: john chetwind. reproduction of original in union theological seminary library, new york. includes index. eng church of england -history. bishops -england. a45581 r21165 (wing h770). civilwar no a briefe view of the state of the church of england, as it stood in q. elizabeths and king james his reigne, to the yeere 1608. being a char harington, john, sir 1653 48374 37 25 0 0 0 0 13 c the rate of 13 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2003-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-05 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-09 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2003-09 paul schaffner text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a briefe view of the state of the church of england , as it stood in q. elizabeths and king james his reigne , to the yeere 1608. being a character and history of the bishops of those times . and may serve as an additionall supply to doctor goodwins catalogue of bishops . written for the private use of prince henry , upon occasion of that proverb , henry the eighth pull'd down monks and their cells . henry the ninth should pull down bishops , and their bells . by sir john harington , of kelston neer bath , knight . london , printed for jos. kirton at the kings arms in pauls churchyard . 1653. to the noble lady , and his honoured friend , the lady jane pile , the sometimes vertuous consort of the late worthy baronet , sir francis pile of colingborne in the county of wilts , deceased . the publisher of these relations wisheth all presperity in this world , and the world to come . most honoured madam , i had fully designed another discourse , viz. concerning the nature & work of conscience for your ladiships patronage . but understanding of preparations by an abler judgement , on that subject , i have for some time suspended the publishing of my own conceptions . and therefore , though at present i shall not entitle your ladiship to my own , yet make bold to prefix your name to the labours of another , viz. this following supply to a former catalogue of bishops : a work that calls him authour , whom my mother call'd father , and in which i presume your ladiship with delight will read the duly merited commendations of that reverend prelate dr. john still , whom your ladiships children call great grandfather . this author stiles his acquaintance , his friend , his instructer , his diocesan , whom the diocesse of wells once knew their worthy bishop , and the poore of the almes-house of wells still remember their bountifull benefactor . now as this authour in the following relations hath avoyded the needlesse multiplying of words , and hath industriously studied a compact brevity : so i shall not widen the entrance to them by rarifying these dedicatory lines into any large compasse , either by an importunate craving your ladiships acceptance , that were to wrong your goodnesse , or else by any ample declaring the reasons that guided my thoughts to the publishing this tract , or entitling your ladiship to it . yet that i may somewhat satisfie the reader , i shall give a briefe account for the one and other . and thereby let the world know , that an equitable gratitude to the dead authors memory , and a good will that aimes at the pleasure and profit of the living hath engaged my desires to lend a helping hand to midwife this discourse , which hath layen ready for the birth above 40 yeers , now at last unto the publique view ; it being the ingenious off-spring of his braine who was a remote instrument of my being . and indeed the discourse it selfe is so full of profit and delight mixt together , as acquainting us with many and choice occurrences of former men and times , that it would have engaged the greatest stranger to greater labour . and therfore prevents a needless commendation from my related pen , since it will abundantly commend it selfe to the ingenious reader . to whom it likewise will sufficiently be justified even in those passages that seem most likely to offend : since such that are ingenious are supposed duly to consider , the nature of the discourse : a history , the greatest commendation of which is impartiall truth . the quality of the author : a courtier , that writes to a prince , the sonne of that king who held that prophetick axiom as a sure truth , and we see it fulfilled , no bishop , no king . the time when , and the subject of whom this tract is . so that if any should take , what is not intended , offence at the honour he gives those , that have been since lesse honoured , or at the zeal he shews against some whom he supposed their adversaries : the publisher desires such to consider , that in those daies when this discourse was penned , those principles which now ap peare publiquely as the sun , and have burnt as a flame , were then but a small candle newly lighted , and that carried in a dark lanthorne , not to be seen by all , or in all places , and not at all to be seen in the court , where the authour lived ; which considered , the most displeased reader , if any such be , must impute those heats to the authors zeale , if not according to truth , yet according to his knowledge , and the then apprehended true principles of ecclesiasticall policy . and as for my prefixing your ladiships name to this discourse , i shall onely adde , that as i conceive it not incongruous to entitle one of those bishops grandchildren to the relation of the lives of those bishops , so am i exceeding glad by such an opportunity to have the advantage of letting your ladiship know , that in what soever may fall within the compasse of any capacity to be any way serviceable to your ladiships concernments , your desires or command shal not meet with a readier or more industrious compliance from any , then from him , who craving pardon for this boldness , takes the liberty to write himself , without complement or vanity , madam , your ladiships most humble and respectfull servant , john chetwind . wells , may 1. 1652. a supply or addition to the catalogue of bishops to the yeare 1608. and first of mr. parker . when i consider with my selfe the hard beginning , though more prosperous successe of the reformed church of england , me thinks it may be compared to a foughten battell ; in which some captaines and souldiers , that gave the first charge , either died in the field , or came bleeding home ; but such as followed , putting their enemies to flight , remained quiet and victorious . or i may more fitly ( without offence ) liken that to the successe of them of the primitive church , wherein the apostles and their immediatc successors were one while honoured and magnified , by their followers the christians ; as st. peter , at whose feet the believers layd down all their goods ; and st. paul , who was received as an angel of god ; another while tormented , and persecuted , by jews and heathen ; as the same apostles , whipped by jewes ; hanged and headed by the romans ; sometimes ( i say ) a centurion , a lieutenant● a proconsull favouring them ; straight a priest , a scribe , and a lawyer promooting against them . a few of caesars houshold wishing well unto them , and believing them . but the caesars themselves for 300 yeeres ( except a very few ) detesting and suppressing them . for in such sort cranmer , ridley , latimer , hooper , rogers , coverdale , and many others enduring great conflicts in those variable times of king henry the eighth , king edward , and queen mary , suffering by fire , by imprisonment , banishment , losse and deprivation , with many fights , many flights and many frights for their conscience sake ; those that died had the glory of valiant souldiers , and worthy martyrs ; such as survived , have since in a long and happy peace , enjoyed the comfort of their victory , and are like still to hold the same , if some mutinous souldiers of their own camp , doe not by disturbing the peace at home , give heart to the enemy abroad . among the surveyors of these first leaders , that past so many pikes , the first in time , and the highest in place , was doctor matthew parker , ( who , as by this author is noted ) having lost all his livings for his marriage , now being made archbishop of canterbury , dissembled not his marriage , as cranmer in king henry the eighths time , was found to doe ; which , because some have taken occasion to note with too black inke , to exclude him from the reputation of a rubricated martyr ; and have cited the testimony of his sonnes widdow yet living , that she was carried in a trunk , and by misfortune almost stifled , by being set by an ignorant porter with her head downward ; which tale goes very current among the papists . i can truly affirme , that this is a meere fiction , for i have examined the gentlewoman her selfe ( being of kin to my wife , and a rogers by name ) and she hath sworn to me , she never reported , nor ever her selfheard , of any such misfortune . but now though this arch-bishop ( parker ) dissembled not his marriage , yet queen elizabeth would not dissemble her dislike of it . for whereas it pleased her often , to come to his house , in respect of her favour to him ( that had been her mothers chaplain ) being once above the rest greatly feasted ; at her parting from thence , the arch-bishop and his wife being together , she gave him very speciall thanks , with gratious and honourable termes , and then looking on his wife , and you ( saith she ) madam , i may not call you , and mrs. i am ashamed to call , you so as i know not what to call you , but yet i do thank you . it is true , she misliked marriage in bishops , and was not very forward to allow that , in some of the layety ; for i knew one of good place about her , that had contracted himself to a rich widdow , and yet would not adventure to marry her , till he had gotten the queen to write , for that , which he had obtained before , to the intent , that the queen reputing that as her benefit , might not dislike with her own act . but for clergy men , caeteris paribus , and sometime imparibus too , she prefer'd the single man , before the married . of arch-bishop edmond grindal . of mr. edmond grindal , whereas my authour writes he was blind , i have heard by some ( that knew somewhat in those dayes ) that he kept his house upon a strange occasion , the secret whereof is known to few , and the certainty is not easie to find out , but thus i was told ; that there was an italian doctor ( as i take that of physick ) that having a known wife a lyar , yet bearing himself on the countenance of some great lord , did marry another gentlewoman , ( which to do now , is by most godly laws since made fellony . ) this good arch-bishop , not winking at so publick a scandall , convented him for that , and proceeded by ecclesiasticall censures against him ; letters were presently written from this great lord , to the arch-bishop , to stop the proceeding , to tolerate , to dispense , or to mitigate the censure ; but the bishop remained still unmoved and unmoveable : when no subjects intreaty could be found to prevail , they intreat the soveraign to write in the doctors behalf ; but this john baptist not only persisted in his non licet habere eam , but also in a reverent fashion , required an account of her majesties faith , in that she would seem to write in a matter that ( if sh . were truly informed ) was expresly against the word of god . the queen in a gracious disposition , was purposed to have yielded an account in writing ; but the great lord not onely disswaded her from that , as too great an indignity ; but incensed her exceedingly against him ; whereupon , he was privately commanded to keep his house ; where because he was sometime troubled with sore eyes , his friends gave out he was blind . but if he were blind , that was like to the soothsayer tiresias that foresaw and told pentheus ruine as qvid writes . et veniet , nec enim dignabere numen honore , meque sub his tenebris nimium vidisse quereris . for that lord , that so persecuted this prelate about his physitians two wives dying twenty years since , left two wives behind him , that can hardly be yet agreed which was his lawfull wife , and so much for arch-bishop grindall . doctor whiteguift . upon the decease of arch-bishop grindall , the state desirous , to have a learned and discreet person , in so eminent a place ; and the queen resolved to admit none , but a single man ; choyce was made of doctor whiteguist , then bishop of worcester , a man in many respects very happy , and in the best judgements very worthy . he was noted for a man of great learning in cambridge , and he was grown to his full ripeness of reading and judgement ; even then , when those that they called puritans ( and some meerely define to be protestants scar'd out of their wits ) did begin by the plot of some great ones , but by the pen of mr. cartwright , to defend their new discipline . their indeavour as was pretended was to reduce all , in show , atleast to the purity , but indeed to the poverty , of the primitive churches . these books of mr. cartwright not unlearnedly written , were more learnedly answered by doctor whiteguift . both had their reward . for mr. cartwright , was by private favour placed about coventry , where he grew rich , and had great maintenance to live on , and honoured as a patriarck , by many of that profession . doctor whiteguift , was made bishop of worcester , and there having a great good report of houskeeping , and governing the marches of walles , he was ( as my authour hath told , called unto canterbury . while he was bishop of worcester , though the revenew of that be not very great , yet his custom was to come to the parliament very well attended , which was a fashion the queen liked exceeding well . it hapned one day bishop elmer of london , meeting this bishop with such an orderly troop of tawny coats , and demanding of him , how he could keep so many men , he answered , it was by reason , he kept so few women . being made arch-bishop of canterbury , and of the privy councel , he carried himself in that mild , and charitable course , that he was not onely approved greatly , by all the clergy of england , but even by some of those , whom with his pen he might seem to have wounded ; i mean these called puritans , of whom he won divers by sweet perswasions to conformity . in the star-chamber , he used to deliver his sentence in a good fashion , ever leaning to the milder censure as best became his calling . he was a great stay in court and councel , to all oppressions of the church , though that current was some time so violent , as one mans force could not stop that . he founded an hospitall in or nigh croyden , and placed poor men therein , in his own life time , and being grown to a full age , that he might say with st. paul . bonum certamen certavi , cursum confeci , &c. he was so happy , as to give to his soveraign and preferrer , the last spirituall comfort she took in this world ( i hope to her eternall comfort ) and after that , he not onely joyned with the other lords , for the proclaiming of king james , but on st. james his day following , did set the crown on his head , and anointed him with oyl , and so having first seen the church setled under a religious king , and the crown established in a hopefull succession , he fell into a palsey , to which he had been formerly subject , and with no long or painful sickness , he yielded to nature , deserving well this epitaph , written by a young scholar of oxford , who was with me at the writing hereof . candida dona tibi whyt●gifte , sunt nomen , & omen , candidior a tuis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dedit . nomen habes 〈◊〉 inscriptum nunc ergo lapi●●o , et sto●● pro meritis redditur alba 〈◊〉 . doctor richard bancroft . upon the death of arch-bishop whiteguift , divers worthy men were named in the vacancy . his majesty not after the manner of some princes , seeking to keep that vacant , but rather hastning to fill that . the bishops of durham and winchester were as it were , voce populi made competitrs with the bishop of london , rather by their eminence of merit and learning , then by any known desire , or endeavour of them or their friends . wherein methinks by the way , envy it self cannot but gratulate the church of england , that is so furnished with learned bishops , as if choyce had been to be made , not by a judicious prince , but by the fortune of a lot among those three , and many more beside , that could not have fallen amiss . but his majesty had long since understood of his writing , against the genevising , and scotizing ministers : and though some imagined he had therein given the king some distaste , yet finding him , in the disputations at hampton court , both learned and stout , he did more and more increase his liking to him ; so that although in the common rumour , thoby matthew then bishop of durham was likest to have carried that , so learned a man , and so assiduous a preacher , qui in concionibus dominatur as his emulous and enemy wrote of him , yet his majesty in his learning knowing , and in his wisdom , weighing that this same strict charge pasce oves mes feed my sheep , requires as well a pastorall courage of driving in the stray sheep , and driving out the infectious , as of feeding the sound , made especiall choyce of the bishop of london , as a man more exercised in affaires of the state . i will add also my own conjecture out of some of his majesties own speeches , that in respect he was a single man , he supposed him the fitter , according to queen elizabeths principles of state : upon whose wise foundations , his majesty doth daily erect more glorious buildings . but i lose labour to repeat these things to your highnesse better known , then to my selfe . i should onely speak of the former times . of his beginning therefore , and rising , i will boldly say that , which i would i might as truly of all that follow in this treatise , viz. that he came to all his preferments very clearly , without prejudice or spoile of his churches . he was tutor in cambridge , to the lord cromwell , who had cause to wish , and ( as i have heard ) hath wisht , he had staid with him longer , though he were sharp and austere . my lord chancellor hatton made speciall choyce of him , to be his examiner . est a liquid de tot graiorum millibús unum a diomede legi . by his means queen elizabeth came to take knowledge of his wisdome and sufficiency . he both : wrote , as i touched before , and laboured earnestly by all good means for the suppressing of the fantasticall novellists . after the strange and frantick attempt of hacket and his fellows ; which practice , though the branches thereof were easily cut off , yet was it thought , to have a more dangerous and secret root . but for these his travels , as the queen and state favoured him , so the seditious sectaries ( to use judge pophams word , that would not have them call'd puritanes ) they , l say , no lesse maligned-him in libels and rimes ; ( for they were void of reasons ) laying the imputation of papistry unto him ; some of them were punished in the starchamber , namely one darling , the last . starchamber day in queen elizabeths time , was sharply censured . and it is no wonder , if they lov'd him not , for indeed he had stoutly opposed their chiefest darlings . as for the imputation of papistry , which they lay on all men that crosse their designes , he is so free from it , that i can truly affirme the greatest blow the papists received in all queen elizabeths time , came from his hand , or at least from his head : for having wisely observed the emulation , ambition ; and envy , that lurked in the minds of their secular priests , and the jesuits one against another , he found the means by the same policy , and with the like spirit , that st. paul set the pharisees against the sadduces , to set the priests against the jesuits , watson against parsons ( impar congressus ) but yet thereby he so divided their languages , as scantly they can understand one another as yet . these things acted , before the king your fathers happy entry , i thought good to touch , though more sparingly then my particular affection & his just deserts do give me occasion . of his late imployments of his great care , in setting ; forward and setting forth all his majesties godly proceedings , though i know much , yet if i should say all i know , perhaps it is lesse then your highnesse knowes ; therefore i will conclude with that which the truth , rather then my kindnesse enforceth me to say , that no bishop since i can remember hath been counted more vigilant in looking to his charge . ne quid ecclesia detrimenti capiat . of the bishops of london , and first of bishop ellmer . my purpose in this work from the beginning , and my promise to your highnesse , being to adde to this author , a supply of some matters that he purposely omitted writing in the latter yeers of queen elizabeth , and my relation being to write plainly , without feare or favour of those i doe write , i will proceed confidently , as i have begun ; in which , i perswade my selfe i have some advantage of the author himselfe , for freedome of speech , both in the time , and many other circumstances . for he was no foole that gave that rule , mitissima sors●est regnorum , sub rege novo . againe , i being a lay-man ; am not so obnoxious to their apprehensions ; that may be offended with that i shall say , as he was being a churchman . thirdly , i lived in a place , where i might know many things without enquiry ; which had been scarce safe for him , in that time to enquire after . lastly , he writes to the world publiquely , and i but privately to your highnesse . therefore i will proceed quoad sciam , poteroque . the first bishop of london i have to write of , is mr. john elmer , of whom my author hath spoken-too little , and i perhaps shall seem to say too much ; yet once i thought to have said somewhat of bonner , because i may remember him living in the late queens time unbishopped , and went sometimes abroad ; but i was so young then , as i could judge nothing ; and he was so hated , that every ill-favoured fat fellow that went in the street , they would say , that was bonner . but me thinks now , by that i have heard of him , i could liken him to dionysius the tyrant of syracuse , who being cruell and peremptory in prosperity , was both patient and pleasant in adversity . for example , that tyrant being expelled his realm , and living a poore pedant , was one day with men of mean sort drinking in a tavern , some diogenes espying him , came to him with reverence , opening , and shaking his upper garment ( for so they used in those daies , that came into the kings chambers , to shew they had no weapons . ) dionysius perceiving the scorn , was nothing troubled , but bad him come and drink with him , and shake his clothes at the going out , that his host might see he carried nothing with him . so bonner having twice lost his bishoprick , walking with his tippet in the strete , one begg'd it of him ( in scoffe ) to line a coat ; no ( saith he ) but thou shalt have a fooles head , to line thy cap. and to another , that bad him good morrow bishop quoudam , he straight replied , farewell , knave semper . i have been told also , that one shewed him his own picture in the book of martyrs , in the first edition , on purpose to vexe him ; at which he laught , saying , a vengeance on the foole , how could he get my picture drawn so right ? and when one asked him if he were not ashamed to whip a man with a beard , he laught , & told him , his beard was grown since ; but ( saith he ) if thou hadst been in his case , thou wouldst have thought it a good commutation of pennance , to have thy bum beaten , to save thy body from burning ; but this is too much of this sloven . i come now to bishop elmer , whom in my own particular i loved very well , and yet performing truly the taske i have undertaken , i shall shew perhaps no great signe of it . he was ā man but mean of stature , yet in his youth very valiant , which he forgat not in his age . when he first became a preacher , following the popular phrase , and fashion of the younger divines of those times , which was to inveigh against the superfluities of the churchmen , he is remembred , namely to have used these words in a sermon , beforē a great auditory , wherefore away with your thousands , you bishops , and come down to you : hundreds , &c. but this was but a heat of his spirit ; of which not long after , by reading and conference , he was throughly cured ; in so much as being asked by one of his own ranke , after he was bishop of london , what he meant , to preach of the brainsick fashion , he answered with the words of st. paul , cum essem parvulus , loqu●bar ut parvulus , sapiebam ut parvulus . but certain it is , no bishop was more persecuted and taunted by the puritans of all sorts , then he was , by libels , by scoffes , by open railing , and privy backbiting . it is vulgar , yet a passage not unworthy remembring , that past between one mr. maddoxe , and him : for when the bishop had recovered him about some matter concerning paritanisme , and he had answered the bishop somewhat untowardly and thwartly ; the bishop , ( as he was ingenious ever ) said unto him , thy very name exprefseth thy nature , for maddox is thy name , and thou art as mad a beast as ever i talked with . the other not long to seek of an answer , by your favour , sir , ( said he ) your deeds answer your name righter then mine : for your name is ellmar , and you have marr'd all the elms in fulham , by lopping them . he used for recreation to bowle in a garden ; and marton marprelate thence takes this taunting scoff● , that the bishop would cry , rub , rub , rub to his bowle , and when it was gone too farre , say , the divell goe with it ; and then , quoth he , the bishop would follow . thus they rubb'd one another , till they were all gall'd sometimes ; and the bishop was so weary of the place , that he would gladly have removed to ely , and made great suit for it , and was put in some hope of it . i have seen a letter or two of his , to his friend , subscribed thus , yours in love , but not in london ; yet would he not take it with those hard conditions that were proposed , lest mr. maddox , and his like , might call him ellmarr ; so as it was noted as an ill fortune of his , to have died bishop of london , which eight before him in an hundred yeers had not done , but been either preferred , or deprived . he was diligent in preaching at his cure , where he was first beneficed ; and when his auditory grew dull , and unattentive , he would with some pretty and unexpected conceit , move them to attention . among the rest was this : he read a long text in hebrew , whereupon all seemed to listen what would come after such strange words , as if they had taken it for some conjuration . then he shewed their folly , that when he spake english , whereby they might be instracted and edified , they neglected , and hearkned not to it ; and now he read hebrew , which they understood no word of , they would seem so carefull and attentive . when there was talk of dangers , rumours of warres , and invasions , then he was commonly chosen to preach in the court , and he would doe it in so chearfull a fashion , as not onely shewed he had courage , but would put courage into others . here is much doubt , saith he , of malum ab aquilone , and our coleprophets have prophecied that in exaltatione lunae leo jungetur leaenae , the astronomers tell of a watry trigon . but as long as virgo is in that ascendent with us , we need not fear of nothing ; deus nobiscum , quis contra nos , and for this , the queen would much commend him , yet would she not remove him . but though he were stout , and wise and rich , yet had he beside his conflicts with those called puritans , also some domesticall crosses . he had a daughter , a modest gentlewoman , and very well brought up , whom he gave in mariage to one mr. adam squire , a minister and preacher , and learned , but a very fantasticall man , as appeared partly the first day ; for as i have heard , he would needs preach at his own mariage , upon this text , it is not good for adam to be alone . this text he so pursued , after he had been some years maried , that though his wife were away , yet adam would not be alone . this course bread jealousie , jarrs and complaints , and the bishop as he had good cause , reprehended his son in law , he thinking to defend , or at least to revenge himself , by recrimination , accused her to have received a love letter from a knight ( but the squire himself had indited that ) and this was so cunningly handled by him , and with such probability , that her fault was as suspitious , as his was manifest , falshood will out at last . the bishop that feared never a knight , nor lord in england , sends for the knight ( contrary to the squires expectation ) boults out the whole matter , finds there were treacherous tricks put on his daughter , but no meretrix , and being too wise to publish his own disgrace , and too stout to indure that ; i have credibly heard ( and believe that to be true ) that with a good waster , he so mortified this old adam of his son in law squire , that he needed no other pennance but this , which was according to the old canon per disciplinam , & verbera . in his sons he was more fortunate , than many bishops in england have been thought to have been ; his eldest being a civil gentleman , and well left , another an excellent preacher , that hath preached oft before the king , and namely one sermon on this text out of the 2d of the canticles , verse 15. take us the foxes , the little foxes that destroy our vines : for our vine , have small grapes : which sermon so pleased his majesty , that besides other approbations of that , he said to me , that if mr. ellmer had not had his fathers collections and notes against puritans , he could never have made so good a sermon , and so much of bishop ellmer . of bishop fletcher . there succeeded in less then one years vacancy , as hath been already told , mr. richard fletcher , a comely and courtly prelate , but i may say , as tully said , when he had commended king dejotarus to caesar , by the name of rex frugi , a frugall , or thrifty king , he straight addeth this parenthesis , quanquam reges hoc verbo laudari non solent , although said he , kings are not accustomed to be praised with this word thrifty , so i might say , that comely and courtly , are no fit epithetons for the true praise of a prelate . i remembred before how ely had been long vacant , almost 20 years , and bristol and oxenford though both new erected bishopricks ( saved as it were out of the ruines and ashes of the abbies ) were thought in some danger again to be lost , for bristoll was held in commendam , and oxford not much to be commended ; wherefore about the year 88. that same annus mir abilis , some of the zealous courtiers , whose devotion did serve them more to prey on the church , than pray in the church , harkened out for fit supplies to these places , and sent their agents to find out some men that had great mindes , and small means or merits , that would be glad to leave a small deanry to make a poor bishoprick , by new leasing out lands , that were now almost out of lease , but to free him from the guilt of it , the poor bishop must have no part of the fine . there was then a deane whom i may not name ; but to give the story more life , i will name his place for names sake of coventry , a man of great learning , but of no great living . to him was sent one of these foxes , the little foxes that destroy our vines , and make small grapes with this favourable message , that his honourable lord , had sent him to him , to let him know , how much he respected his good gifts ( in which word also , there might be some equivocation ) and though that was hard in those times , to pleasure men of his worth , according to their merit , yet my lord in favour of him , hath bethought him of this course , that whereas salisbury was then like to be void by a remove , if this dean would for the present take the bishoprick of oxford , which was then in a long vacation also , and make leases , & c. ●he should the next year be removed to salisbury : the honest dean that in his soul detested such sacriledge , made this mannerly and ingenuous answer . sir , i beseech you commend my humble service to his honourable lordship ; but i pray you tell his lordship , that in my conscience , oxford is not my right way , from coventry to salisbury : what became of oxford i shall touch , and but touch hereafter , i come now to bishop fletcher , that made not so much scruple to take bristol in his way , from peterborough to worcester , though that were wide of the right way , upon the sinister or bow hand many miles ; as the card of a good conscience , will plainly discover . i fottuned to be one day at the savoy with mr. secretary walsingham , where mr. fletcher was then upon his dispatch for bristoll , a familiar friend of his meeting him there , bad god give him joy , my lord elect of bristoll , which he taking kindly and courtly upon him , answered that it had pleased indeed the higher powers , so to dispose of him ; but said his friend in his eare , do you not lease out tot & tot to such and such . he he clapping his hand on his heart , in a good gracefull fashion , replied with the words of naman the syrian . herein the lord be mercifull to me , but there was not an elizeus to bid him go in peace . what shall i say for him ? non erat hoc hominis vitium sed temporis ? i cannot say so , for your highness knowes i have written otherwise in a book of mine i gave you libro 3. numero 80. alass a fault confest were half amended , but sin is doubled , that is thus defended , i know a right wise man sayes and believes where no receivers are , would be no theeves . wherefore at the most i can but say dividatur . he was a well spoken man , and one that the queen gave good countenance to , and discovered her favour to him , even in her reprehensions , as horace saith of mecaenas . rerum tutela mearum , cumsis , & prave sectam stomacheris ob unguem ; for she found fault with him once for cutting his beard too short , whereas good lady ( if she had known that ) she would have found fault with him for cutting his bishoprick so short . he could preach well and would speak boldly , and yet keep decorum . he knew what would please the queen , and would adventure on that though that offended others . once i remember there had been two councellors sworn within compass of one year , and neither of them had a gray hair at that time , whereupon he glawnc't in his sermon at it with a sentence of seneca . which mr. daniel upon a better occasion did put into english verse in this sort , that we may truly say , these spoild the state , young councel , privat gain , & partiall hate . the queen as i said , found no fault with his liberall speech , but the friends of these councellers taxing him for that , i have heard he had this pretty shift , to tell the friends of either of them , he meant it by the other . being bishop of london , and a widower , he maried a gallant lady and a widow , sister to sir george gifford the pensioner , which the queen seemed to be extreamly displeased at , not for the by-gain of a bishop ( for she was free from any such superstition ) but out of her generall mislike of clergy mens mariage : this being indeed a mariage that was talked of at least nine dayes , yet in a while he found means to pacifie her so well , as she promised to come , and i think did come to a house he had at chelsey . for there was a stayre and a dore made of purpose for her , in a bay window , of which pleasant wits descanted diversly , some said that was for joy , to shew he would ( as the proverb is ) cast the house out at window for her welcome , some more bitingly called it the impresse or emblem of his entry into his first bishoprick , viz. not at the doore , but at the window . but certain it is that ( the queen being pacified , and hee in great jollity , with his faire lady and her carpets and cushions in his bed-chamber ) he died suddenly , taking tobacco in his chaire , saying to his man that stood by him , whom he loved very well , oh boy , i die ; whereupon many bolts were roved after him , and some spitefully fether'd , which both for charity sake , as wel as brevity , i wil omit ; but this blunt one , not knowing out of whose quiver it first came ; but fitting a gray goose wing , i wil produce as his most vulgar epitaph : here lies the first prelate made christendom see , a bishop , a husband unto a ladee , the cause of his death was secret and hid , he cry'd out i die , and ev'n so he did . he was buried in the church , the dean and chapter of pauls not being so scrupulous , as they of york were , the 9. of hen. 1. who because their archbishop died suddenly , buried him without the church-porch , notwithstanding he had been their great benefactor . bishop vaughan . mr. richard vaughan is the next i have to speak of , being the last man nam'd in my authors book , and of him he hath but two lines , onely declaring him to have been the bishop of chichester . upon the remove of my lord of canterbury that now is● he succeeded him in london , as is not unknown to your highnesse . his beginning of preferment was under the lord keeper puckering , being his examiner , of such as sued for the benefices in my lords gift ; in which , though some complaine he was too precise , yet for my part i ascribe to that one of his greatest praises . for this i know , that a preacher being a noblemans chaplaine , and therefore qualified for two benefices , came to him ●recommended in good sort , and brought with him a gentleman of both their acquaintance , that sometime had been an university man , to speak for his approbation . mr. vaughan examined him of no very deep points , and found him but shallow , and not very ready in the roman tongue , his friend having been fain to help him up in two or three foule stumbles , both of language and matter ; whereupon he dismist him , without all hope of the benefice , and after told the gentleman seriously , that if he would have it himselfe , he would allow him sufficient , but the suitor by no means . he was in those daies very prompt , and ready in speech , and withall factious ; he was an enemy to all supposed miracles , insomuch as one arguing with him in the closet at greenwich , in defence of them , and alledging the queens healing of the evil for an instance , asking him what he could say against it , he answered , that he was loth to answer arguments taken from the topick place of the cloth of estate ; but if they would urge hi● to answer , he said his opinion was , she did it by vertue of some precious stone in possession of the crown of england , that had such a naturall quality . but had queen elizabeth been told , that he had ascribed more vertue to her jewels ( though she loved them wel ) then to her person , she would never have made him bishop of chester . he grew heavy and corpulent of a sudden , not so much with too much ease , as with too little exercise . corpus quod corrumpitur aggravat animam , soon after his remove to london he fell into that drousie diseas● , of which he afte died , growing thereby unfit for the place , that requires a vigilantius , and not a dormitantius . he was held a milde man , and was well spoken of in the city , which sometime hapneth not to them that deserve the best . to conclude , being taken with an apoplexie , he may be properly said to have slept with his forefathers . doctor ravis . within a few moneths there succeeded him doctor ravis bishop of gloucester , who is not formerly mentioned in this book , because mr. goldborow his predecessor in gloucester was then living . his preferment to gloucester makes me remember a story that some record of scipio , who being made generall of the roman army , was to name his questor or treasurer for the wars , whom he thought fit ; being a place in those daies , as is now in these , of great importance , one that took himselfe to have a speciall interest in scipios favour was an earnest suitor for it , but by the delay , mistrusting he should have a deniall , he importuned him one day for an answer . think not unkindness in me ( said scipio ) that i delay you thus , for i have been as earnest with a friend of mine to take it , and yet cannot prevaile with him : noting hereby , that offices of charge and conscience , are fittest for such as shunne them modestly , rather then such as seek them greedily . and even so did my lords of the councell deale with mr. ravis , who being then dean of christ-church , which lightly is not held , but by some choise man of the university , being a place of good valew and reputation , was requested by them to take this bishoprick , when many that sued to have it , were put by . but as he was not willing to goe thither , so they of gloucester were more unwilling he should goe thence , he was in a short space in so good liking of all sorts , insomuch as some that can scaut well brook the name of a bishop , yet can be content to give him a good report . for my part , i have observed a great change in gloucester , from that it seemed nine yeers since , about the earle of essex going : into ireland ; for at that time neither their bishop seemed to care for them , lying at a prebends in worcester , which methought was very inconvenient ; nor they seemed much to care for themselves , all their buildings both publique and private looking old and ruinous : whereas of late yeeres , their bishop keeping his house neere them , and being daily with them , they have built them a new market-place , and are now building a faire hall for justice ; which commendable and comfortable disposition of the people , there and elsewhere , though it be principally ascribed to the joy and comfort that all wel affected persons took of his majesties happy entrance , and peaceable government , and of the succession established in his hopefull issue ; yet is not the leaft to be imputed to the discretion and diligence of the pastors that waken and stirre up their charity , and make them more sensible of gods good blessings bestowed on them ; and the rather by this good bishops means . the lord of shrewsbury hath very nobly , and like himselfe contributed to this so great and necessary work , giving a large portion of timber towards it . now , as i said , it hath pleased his majesty to place him in london , magistratus indicabit virum . this publique place ( for i count the other was almost private to this , will shew what is in the man , i need not prognosticate , but i can wish and hope , that as he is for his perfon comparable to mr. fletcher , so he may equall doctor ellmar in courage , doctor bancroft in carefulnesse , and doctor vaughan in his milde demeanour , to win the love of the people ; and thus much be said concerning the bishops of london . of the bishops of winchester . having past canterbury and london , both neighbours to the court , and as it were within the verge ; i thought the greatest part of my task passed over . howbeit winchester i finde also will afford some variety of matter ; and as it hath been a place that hath had many learned men , and bred many , both divines , philosophers , and poets , so i shall take occasion in speaking of some of these that ensue , to produce some poems both latine and english ; some made at winchester , some of winchester , some against winchester : not digressing herein much from the method and manner of my authour ; who , as your highnesse may see , produceth good old riming verses of fryers , both in praise and dispraise of some of the bishops , for my purpose from the beginning , though it were chiefly to inform your highnesse , knowledge , with a faithfull report of some things passed in queen elizabeths time , overpassed by my authour ; yet was it also to sauce it in such sort with some variety of matter , not impertinent , to cheer your spirit , lest a dull relation of the acts of grave gray-beards to a young prince might grow fastidious . first therefore of the first bishop wickham , whose life my author hath set out so amply and orderly , as i need adde nothing thereunto ; onely , because a man that hath made so many good schollers deserves a better verse then that on his tomb . willelmus dictus wickhā jacet hic nece victu● jugiter oretis , tumulum quicunque videtis . and such like stuffe , which a winchester scholler now would be scourged , if he make no better . i having this pretty poem of his whole life , made by doctor johnson , thought i could never doe it or him more honour , then to present it to your princely view , for as sir philip sidney curseth all despisers of poetry , with this poeticall anathema : first , that they may be in love , and lose their love for lack of a sonnet ; next , that when they die , their memory may die for want of an epitaph : so , i would wish such as wrong good poets , no worse punishment , then to have some vile verse written of him , whose reading ( as martial saith ) might make a mans physick work the better with him ; such as for the most part those lazie friers were were wont to write ; for my part , though wickhams epitaph be but seven or eight lines , and this elegie ( i think ) about twenty times seven lines , yet i must confesse , it were lesse tedious to me at this present to read the seven score , then the seven ; and hoping it may seem so to you , i have here annexed them . ortus & vita gulielmi de wickham olim episcopi wintoniensis , & conditoris istius collegii . qua capit australes comitatu hamptona britannos wickhamia est vicus nec nisi parvus ager ; vixit johannes illic cognomine longus cui fuit in casti , parte sibilla tori hanc habuit patriam gulielmus & hosce parentes wickhamus augurio , nec tamen absque bon● . namque loci ut nomen , sic vim matrisque patrisque haud dubie in vitam transtulit ille suam . longus enim ut longo duraret tempor a caute ut bene prospiceret cuncta sibilla dedit ergo sub edvardo natus regnante secundv tunc ubiter sceptri , sexta cucurrit hyems vinginti primos studiis & moribus annos wickhamiae patris cura ea summa dedit . nec tamen hic omnes , nam partē temporis hujus venta & edingdoni praesulis aula tulit : potinus edwardi translatus tertius in aulam non fieri nullo caepit & esse loco . namque bis octo annis recte & feliciter actis rem fidei plenam consiliique subit ; winde●ora a suit pagus celeberrimus illic rex statuit castri maenia magna sui : wick●amus huic operi praeponitur atque probatū est ingenio quantum polluit arte fide ergo fit edvardo charus custo sque sigilli non ita post multos incipit esse dies . nec tamen optati meta haec fuit ultima honoris crevit adhuc regi charior usque suo : usque adeo ut sexto sit factus episcopus anno jussus ventana pascere in urbe gregem hic mihi vaniloqui minuenda est fabula vulgi fabula de tanto non bene ficta viro namque nec estmeonam petiit fallaciter unquam , sed tulit auratum rege sciente pedum nec fuit indoctus doctos facturus ut illum fama refert regi verba dedisse suo . consule quae in tanti gessit molimine regni prudentem dices palla diumque virum . consule quae in sacri scribuntur calce statuti an faceret doctos addubit asse scies : adde quod chistorici si pagina vera frosarti ) rex intercessor praesul ut esset erat . missa igitur vulgi facimus verba prophani quaer at & exactam nostra thalia fidem : wickhamus ad summos evectus praesul honores edwardo inque dies charior inque dies jam patriae lumen , jam cancellarius idem summus er at regi presidiumque suo ; cum subito ( sic magna ruunt summisque negatum est stare diu ) ex tanto decidit ille gradu : namque per invidiam regi dilatus ab illo pellitur e patria missus ut exul humo . hoc factum est potius regem stimulante sonatu quam quod erat culpae conscius ille malae an tamen exiret regno non convenit & sunt qui paenae summum displicuisse putant . interea moritur rex hic edvardus & ejus opportuna nepos sceptra richardus habet : hic jubet exilio revocetur praesul ab isto utque locumrursus quem tulit ante fer at ; quin etiam census cereales reddit ad annos tres minus exilii quod puto tempus er at . his opibus dives , mentemque per omnia versans non male quo servet tam bene parta modo ; sed quid agat virtute sua quid praesule dignum quidve deo tantas cui reserebat opes post a lia oxonii ( quod longum duret in aevum possit & a memori posteritate coli , constituit pulchros studiis phoeboque penates atque sacram musis aedific are domum . septima crevit hiems post fundamenta locata ingreditur custos & sua turba larem ; turba atque his pue●is famulisque decemque ministri otia discentum qui bene semt er alant . magna quidem sunt haec tamen haec tam magna lector adhuc tanto non potuere viro namque opere exacto hoc vix proxima fluxerat placere cum parat alterius tecta locare domus quae prope ventanae bene caepta palatia sedis aestas crevit & in sexto vere parata stetit ; ergo illic totidem studiosos esse jubebat queis & rectores pedonomosque dedit . qui simulac primos complerint fortiter annos musarum in studiis rhetoricisque tropis , altius inque novas diducta colonia terras oxonium semper lecta juventus eat : haec duo pieriis collegia condita mistis sunt in tutela diva maria tua ; id●irco nova dicta puto quod nulla vetustas nulla dies morsus tentat in illa suos hic potuit credi finem fecisse struendi wickhamus & sumptus jam tenuisse suos . non tenuit divi nam quicquid in aede swithini nolari occiduam spectat ab arce plagam ; concio qua festis celebratur sacra diebus quaque suo in tumulo conditus ipse jacet . totum hoc tam vastam molem tantasque columnas impensis struxit restituitque suis ; regis opes dicet propius qui spectat & idem vix regum tantas esse putabit opes . forsitan & gallis ( nam sic & fama monastis quos rex a regno jussit abire suo . reddidit aequali praetio quaecunque recepit parisiiis fundos parisiisque lares . non tamen hoc sumptu minor esse domestica caepit cura , sed & famulos pavit ut ante suos . pavit , & ipsius testatur script a sepulchro littera gustavit dives , inopsque cibum huic it a viventi cum jam longaeva senectus corporis effaeti debilitasset onus , grata quies venit vitae non discolor actae , ultima curarum linea grata quies . annus erat vitae decies octavus & illis henrici quarti sceptra diebus erant ; j am testamentum quaeris si fecerit ullum , fecit ; si fuer at quod daret ille ? fuit . quod fuerit factis reliquū tot sumptibus ? ohe inveniet nullum pagina nostra fidem . et tamen hoc dicam regales vincere gazas quae dedit in scriptis ultima dona suis extat opus craesumque putes scripsisse vel illum cujus facta haeres roma superba fuit : vel cujus digitis mutatum fertur in aurum quicquid in aurifluas contigit ire manus ; nec tamē ignavos bona tanta reliquit in usus successusque bonus propositum gresuit . namque diocesin ditavit templa per omnem multaque cognatis , pauperibusque ded it : multa quoque & regi non fidis pauca ministris sed neque gimnasiis muner a pauca suis . haec sunt ergo viri monument a perennia tanti cujus dum vixit gloria tanta fuit . nec dubito qui sic vixit sic mortuus idem est , quin sit apud superos nobilis umbra deos . est etenim nam si caelestis clauditur aula tot meritis , nobis illa patere queat ? hactenus ire libet de magni laudibus , hosce suscipe conatus , lector amice meos . and hereby your highnesse may observe how vaine that foolish tradition is which my author discreetly omitted , as not beleeving that some will still maintaine that wickham was unlearned , and onely a surveyer of buildings , and by a kinde of fraud deceived king edward 3. ( no likely prince to be so deceived ) beging the parsonage of eastmeane , to which by like authority they will have the bishoprick of winchester annexed as unseparably as the earledome of arundell to arundell-castle , for who could think that such a king as edw. 3. would make sir john laclattin , first his secretary , then privie-seale , then master of the wards , and treasurer of france , and lastly prelate of the garter , and chancellor of england , and so much of the first wickham . of stephen gardiner . because i will not be alwayes be praysing , but sometimes when just cause is given , reprehend mens demerits , as well magnifie their merits , i will take occasion to speake somewhat of stephen gardiner , twice bishop of winchester ; and therefore may challenge to be twice remembred , though for some things of him that were to be wisht they were ever forgotten , my author derects this reader to mr. foxes booke of martyrs , for a more full relation of his doings ; but that is so full ( though i assure my selfe it is very faithfull ) that i doubt your highnesse will find it over tedious to read ; my purpose is therefore but to note some important observations out of this story , and after , as i did of wickham in latin , so to adde some english poetrie written of him , and to him , which is not to be found in mr. fox , though some of it helps to confirme something concerning him , affirmed by mr. fox , and called in question by others . mr. fox therefore first greatly prayseth his naturall gifts of minde , his sharpe wit , his excellent memory , which is indeed the store-house of all learning and knowledge , for tantum scimus quantum meminimus . but to these ( saith he ) he had great vices , as pride , envie , & cruelty , flattering to his prince , submisse to his superiours , envious to his equals ( namely to cromwel ) and haughty to his inferiours , these or the like are mr. foxes words . it seemes further in relation of his life and death , he was a catholick-protestant , or a protesting catholick , for as he showes at large out of his books & sermons , though he received the popes authority in queen maries time ; yet his opinion was as his writings before declared , and as the wiser sort i thinke , do still hold of it , that it is but a temporall constitution of men , and agreement of princes , to allow the same , which upon just occasions they may restraine or exclude , as they shall find cause ; but yet i observe this , that although it was necessary for queen mary , in respect of her birth to admit of the popes authority , as the contrary was as necessary for her sister , yet this so catholicke queen , and this so popish prelate could keep out the popes legat out of england by her royall prerogative when he would have sent a legat hither not to her liking ; again , he was earnest against marriage of ministers , yet he confesseth frankly , that a married man may be a minister : he defended the reall presence , yet he allowed the cōmunion under both kinds , he writ in defence of images , yet he publickly approved their pulling down when they were superstitiously abused . finally he said at his death , that that would marre all , to teach the people , that they are freely justified by the blood of christ , and yet even then , when hee could not dissemble , he confessed it to be true doctrine . loe how farre this stout prelate , cedere nescius , ( as mr. fox saith of him ) did yeeld in those many points of popery . 1. supremacy . 2. the marriage of some ministers . 3. the sacrament in both kinds . 4. removing images . 5. justification . but now for his sharp persecuting , or rather revenging himselfe on cranmer and ridley , that had in king edwards daies deprived him , his too great cruelty cannot be excused . lastly , the plots he laid to entrap the lady elizabeth , his terrible hard usage of all her followers , i cannot yet scarce think of with charity , nor write of with patience . my father , onely for carrying a letter to the lady elizabeth , and professing to wish her well , he kept in the tower 12 moneths , and made him spend a thousand pounds ere he could be free of that trouble . my mother , that then served the said lady elizabeth , he caused to be sequestred from her as an heretick , insomuch that her own father durst not take her into his house , but she was glad to sojourne with one mr. topcliff ; so as i may say , in some sort , this bishop persecuted me before i was born . yet , that i speak not at all in passion , i must confesse i have heard some as partially praise his clemency and good conscience , and namely , that he was cause of restoring many honourable houses , overthrown by king henry the eighth , and in king edwards minority . the duke of norfolke , ( though mr. fox saith , that gardiner made him stay long for his dinner one day ) yet both he , and those descended of him were beholding to him : with the house of stanhops , and the lord arundell of warder ; and i have heard old sir matthew arundell say , that bonner was more faulty then he , and that gardiner would rate at him for it , and call him asse for using poor men so bloodily ; and when i would maintain the contrary , he would say , that my father was worthy to have lain in prison a yeer longer , for the saucy sonnet he wrote to him from out of the tower ; which sonnet , both because it was written in defence of queen elizabeth , and because ( if i be not partiall , it is no ill verse , for those unrefined times , and toucheth the matter i enforce ) i will here set down ; presupposing that in the eleven moneths before , he had sent him many letters , and petitions full of reason , ( that could not prevaile ) for his liberty . the distressed prisoner writeth this rime . 1. at least withdraw your cruelty , or force the time to work your will ; it is too much extremity , to keep me pent in prison still . free from all fault , voyd of all cause ; without all right , against all lawes . how can you doe more cruell spight , then proffer wrong , and promise right ? nor can accuse , nor will acquight . 2. eleven moneths past , and longer space , i have abid your divellish drifts , while you have sought both man and place , and set your snares , with all your shifts ; the fault lesse foot to wr ap in wile , with any guilt , by any guile ; and now you see that will not be , how can you thus for shame agree , to keep him bound you can set free ? 3. your chance was once , as mine is now , to keep this hold against your will , and then you sware you know well how , though now you swearve , i know how ill . but thus the world his course doth passe , the priest forgets a clerke he was ; and you that then cry'd justice still , and now have justice at your will , wrest justice wrong , against all skill . 4. but why doe i thus coldly plaine , as if it were my cause alone ? when cause doth each man so constraine , as england through hath cause to moane , to see your bloody search of such , whom all the earth can no way touch . and better were that all your kind , like hounds in hel with shame were shrind then you had might unto your mind . 5. but as the stone that strikes the wall , sometimes bounds back on th' hurlers head , so your foule fetch , to your foule fall , may turn and noy the brest that bred . and then such measure as you gave , of right and justice look to have ; if good or ill , if short or long ; if false or true , if right or wrong , and thus , till then i end my song . but to shew a pattern , what partiality can paint in his praise , and what ill will can pervert to reproach , i will adde an elegie in english also , written by one mr. prideaux , in commendation , and the same answered in execration of the same bishop . 1. the saints in heaven rejoyce , this earth and we may waile ; sith they have won , and we have lost the guide of our availe . 2. though death hath loosed life yet death could not deface his worthy work , his stayed state , nor yet his gifts of grace . 3. as gardner was his name , so gardned he his life with justice , and with mercy both , to 'stroy the weeds of strife . 4. a steven in religion stout , a bishop by his acts , a faithfull man most free from fraud , as witnesse be his facts ; 5. a judge most just in judgement seat , of parties no regard ; an eye to see , an eare to heare , a hand that shunn'd reward . 6. a heart to help , and not to harm ; his will was wisdomes law , a minde that malice could not move , such was of god his awe . 7. a faith in friendship firm and fast , a mount the right to raise . a spright ' not pall'd with slanderous bruits nor puft with pride by praise . 8. not light of credit to reports , revenge he never sought , but would forgive , and did forget the wrongs that were him wrought . 9. a truth , so tri'd in trust , as tongue could never taint . nor earst was heard in guilefull wise , a lie with lips to paint . 10. though natures child by birth , yet vertues heir by right , which held his height so madestly , as measure master'd might . 11. ambitions climing cliffe could never move his minde , nor fortune with her fawning cheer , his heart did ever blind . 12. nor misery which most he felt , or prison might him pall , but bare his minde in levell so , as change could be no fall . 13. in all these turns of joy and woe , he turned to the best ; and held him to the tried truth , which now hath won him rest . 14. from foes deface , and envies bell , his end hath made him free , and pluckt him from this wicked world , too worthy here to be . 15. who can give tears enough to plaino the losse and lack we have ; so rare a man , so soon bereft , when most we did him crave . 16. when age and yeers had made him ripe , and surely had him set , to know himselfe and weeld the world and right with mercy met . 17. and when of envy , and of hate , the conquest he had wonne , and falsehood forc'd to fly his fort , and right his race to run . 18. and when of glory and of grace , he wonne the palm and price , and conquered all affections force , with wisdoms good advice . 19. and in the office that he bare . and service of his queen , so choice a man to serve her call , scarce anywhere was seen . 20. then death , that fatall fce , the line of life did lose , and in the belly of the earth as earth shee did him close . 21. the prince may plaine his death , the realm his lack may rue ; all men may say , o winchester , most worthy wight adue . 22. the poor may plaine and pine , whose lacks he did relieve ; his servants may lament their lord which lordly did them give . 23. the bishops may behold a bishop then bereft , a perfect priest , a shield of faith , a mirrour of them left 24. his foes if any were , that first did wish him gone in length of time and lack of life too late his loss will mone . 25. o pastor past this pilgrims pain in earth thine acts do live , in skies thy vertues written are , all penns thee praise shall give . 26. which after all these heaps of kap a happy life hast led , and in the happiest hap of all in fame and love art dead . the same answered verse for verse by an ill-willer of the said bishop . 1. the devils in hell do dance , this realm and we may joy since they have got and we forgone the cause of our annoy . 2. though death hath wipt out life , yet death cannot outrace his wicked works usurped state nor faults of his deface . 3. a gardner such he was , as spoiled so our plants , that justice withered , mercy dy'd and we wrong by their wants . 4. a stev'n in name , a fox in fact , a bishop but in weeds , a faithless man full fraught with frauds as deem him by his deeds . 5. a partiall judge in judgement seat , of parties great respect , a blinded eye , a closed eare , a hand with bribe infect 6. a heart to harm and not to help his lust was laid far low , a mind with malice over-whelm'd of god nor man no awe . 7. a fained fickle friend and false that right could never bid , a courage every storm cast down and praise puft up with pride . 8. of fowle reports and slanderous bruts he nourisht up the brood ; his wrongs to pardon or to passe revenge and rage withstood 9. a tri'd untruth in trust , as tongues well try'd have told , a mouth that breath'd more odious lies then it ' upbraid am bold . 10. scant natures child by birth sure satans sonne in right which rule maintain'd with sword & fire , and measur'd all by might . 11. ambitious clyming cliffe had ravisht so his mind , as he was sotted drunk therein , and fortune made him blind . 12. the smell of prisons misery felt his pride did greatly pall he bare his staffe so staggeringly , as each change seem'd a fall . 13. in all these turns of joy and woe he turned with the best , and never left the surer side till breath did leave his brest . 14. from widow course and orphans crie his end him cannot save , though that have rid kim of his raigne unworthy rule to have . 15. who can give thanks and joy enough that we have scapt this syre , this monstrous man this bloody beast , when most we did desire . 16. when yeeres had fram'd him fit for hell and pride so high had set , as god nor man nor self he knew and might with mischiefmet . 17. and when the envy and the hate he wan of every wight , and falshood florisht in his fort , and wrong had wrong outright ; 18. and when he gloried most in pomp , in honour and in health , and by affection conquered all , and wallowed all in wealth ; 19. and in the office that he bare to rule above the queen , so cruel and so merciless , scarce ever man was seen ; 20. then god that most just judge lifes line to part was pleas'd , the earth his carrion corps hath caught ▪ the devil his soulhath seiz'd 21. the prince his death may please , this realm his life doth rue , all men may well his birth-day , ban this cursed wretch that knew . 22. the poor may plain and pine ; for none be would relieve , his men may joy his death was such his goods were his to give . 23. good bishops may beware this ravener them bereft , this popish-priest this shield of wrong , a warning for them left . 24. his friends if any were , that wisht him longer ruigne with length of time might cause have caught too late his rule to plain 25. o thou devourer of the good thy wrongs in earth do dwell , thy cruel thirst of guiltless blood now must thou quench in hell . 26. which in the world of deadly hurts most burtfull life didst lead , and now with englands common jay in shame and hate art dead . which of these wrote truest i will not take upon me to judge , left i should be thought partiall ; but that saying appeares true : scribit in marmore laesus . therefore i will conclude against all partiall poets , with two verses of horace , falsus honor juvat et mendax infamia terret quem ? nisi mendosum & mendacem . doctor john white . he was born of a worshipfull house , and in the diocess of winchester , and became after warden of winchester , thence for his great learning , and vertuous life prefer'd to the bishoprick of lincoln , and after upon the death of stephen gardner , made bishop of winchester ; wherefore of him i may say , his fame did well answer his name , and so would all men say ( how contrary soever to him in religion , but for one black sermon that he made ; yet for the colour is may be said he kept decorum , because that was a funerall sermon of a great queen both by birth and mariage , i mean q. mary . but the offence taken against him was this . his text was out of eccles. 4. 2. laudavi mortuos magis quam viventes , & faliciorem utroque judicavi qui nec dum natus est . and speaking of queen mary her high parentage , her bountifull disposition , her great gravity , her rare devotion , ( praying so much as he affirmed that her knees were hard with kneeling , her justice and clemency in restoring noble houses to her own privat losse and hindrance . and lastly her grievous yet patient death : he fell into such an unfaigned weeping , that for a long space he could not speak . then recovering himself , he said she had left a sister to succeed her , a lady of great worth also whom they were now bound to obey ; for saith he melior est canis vivus leone mortuo , & i hope so shall raign well and prosperously over us , but i must say still with my text , laudavi mortuos magis quam viventes ; for certain that is , maria optimam partem elegit : thus he , at which queen elizabeth taking just indignation , put him in prison , yet would proceed no further then to his deprivation , though some would have made that a more haynous matter . he was a man of austere life , and much more mortified to the world , than his predecessor gardiner , who was noted for ambitious , but vet to his prince very obsequious . but if doctor white had had a true propheticall spirit , he might have urged the second part of his text . sed faeliciorem utroque judicavi qui nec dum natus et ; for that may seem verified indeed in the kings majesty that now is , who was then unborn , and hath since so happily united these kingdoms ; yet least that which i would make in him a prophecy , others will take in me for flattery ; i will proceed to the next , or rather i should say to another , for of the two next i need add nothing , my authour having testified by both their epitaphs , that they lived and died well . doctor thomas cooper . i intend therefore to speak next of dr. cooper , because of bishop herne , and bishop watson , i cannot add any thing upon sure ground , for of the former times , i have either books of stories , or relation of my fathers that lived in those dayes ; but or these that lived in the first twenty yeeres of the queens raign when i was at school , or at the university , i could hear little , yet at my first coming to the court , i heard this pretty tale , that a bishop of winchester one day in pleasant talk , comparing his revenue with the arch-bishops of canterbury , should say , your graces will showe better in the rack , but mine will be found more in the manger , upon which a courtier of good place said , it might be so in diebus illis ; but saith he , the rack stands so high in sight , that it is fit to keep it full , but that may be , since that time , some have with a provideatur swept some provender out of the manger : and because this metaphor comes from the stable , i suspect it was meant by the mr. of the horse . to come then to bishop cooper , of him i can say much , and i should do him great wrong , if i should say nothing ; for he was indeed a reverent man , very well learned , exceeding industrious , and which was in those dayes counted a great praise to him , and a chief cause of his preferment , he wrote that great dictionary that yet bears his name , his life in oxford was very commendable , and in some sort saint-like ; for if it be saint-like to live unreprovable , to bear a cross patiently , to forgive great injuries freely : this mans example is sampleless in this age . he maried a wife in oxford , for that speciall just cause ( i had almost said onely cause ) why clergymen should mary , viz. for avoiding of sin . melius est enim nubere quam uri , yet was that his very hard hap that she proved too light for his gravity by many grains , or rather many pounds . at the first he winkt at that with a socraticall and philosophicall patience , taking , or rather mistaking the equivocating counsel of erasmus ecchoe . quid si mihi veniat usu quod his qui incidunt in uxores parum pudicas parumque frugiferas ? feras . at qui cum talibus morte durior est vita ? vita ; wherein i observe in the two ecchos , how in the first feras signifies either the verb , suffer , or that nown , wild beasts , or shrews . in the latter , vita signifieth the nown life , or the verb shun or eschew : so he ( good man ) construed feras , vita . suffer during life , and i should take that vita feras shun shrews . but this fera whom his feras made feram , committed wickedness even with greediness , more then was in power of flesh and blood to bear : wherewith being much afflicted , having warned his brother privatly , and born with him perhaps 70. times seven times . in the end taking him both in a place and fashion ( not fit to be named ) that would have angred a saint , he drave him thence , ( not much unlike ) as tobias drove away the spirit asmo●eus , for that was done with a roste , and this with a spit . it was high time now to follow the counsel . dic ecclesiae , so ( as all oxford knows ) her paramor was bound from her in a bond of one hundred pound , but they should rather have been bolts of an hundred pound . the whole university in reverence of the man and indignity of the matter , offered him to separate his wife from him by publique authority , and so to set him free , being the innocent party . but he would by no means agree thereto , alledging he knew his own infirmity , that he might not live unmarried ; and to divorce and marry againe , he would not charge his conscience with so great a scandall . after he was bishop , mad martin , or marprelate wrote his book or rather libell , which some ( playing with martin at his own weapon ) answered pleasantly both in ryme and prose , as perhaps your highnesse hath seen , or i wish you should see , for they are short and sharp . but this bishop with authority and gravity confuted him soundly ; whereupon martin madcap , ( for i think his cap and head had like proportion of wit ) replying , and anabaptized his bastard book by the name of work for the cooper ; and had not the wisdome of the state prevented him , i think he and his favourers would have made work for the tinker . and so much of bishop cooper , though i could adde a report , that a great lord dying in his time bequeathed him a great legacy , but because i have not seen his last testament , i cannot precisely affirm it . william wickham . this bishop my authour professeth to reverence for his names sake , and his predecessors sake ; and i much more for his own sake , and his vertues sake . about the yeere 1570. he was vice-provost of eaton , and as the manner was , in the schoolmasters absence would teach the schoole himselfe , and direct the boyes for their exercises ( of which my selfe was one ) of whom he shewed as fatherly a care , as if he had been a second tutor to me . he was reputed there a very milde and good natured man , and esteemed a very good preacher , and free from that which st. paul calleth idolatry , i mean covetousnesse ; so that one may say probably , that as the first william wickham was one of the richest prelates that had been in winchester a long time , and bestowed it well ; so this was one of the poorest , and endured it well . he preached before the queen at a parliament , i think the last time that ever he preached before her ; and indeed it was cygnea vox , sweetest , being neerest his end , which if i could set down as he delivered , were well worth the remembring . but the effect was this , that the temporalities of bishopricks , and lands of colledges , and such like , were from the beginning for the most part the graces , gifts , and almes of princes , her majesties progenitors , that for some excesses and abuses of some of them , they had been and lawfully might be some quite taken away , some altered , some diminished , and that accordingly they were now reduced to a good mediocrity ; for though there were some farre greater bishopricks in france , spaine , and germany● , yet there were some also lesse and meaner even in italy . but yet he most humbly besought her majesty to make stay of them at least in this mediocrity ; for if they should decay so fast in thirty yeeres to come , as they had for thirty yeeres past , there would hardly be a cathedrall church found in good repaire within england ; which inconvenience ( he said ) would soon spread from the clergy to the temporalty , that would have cause with hippocrates twins to laugh and weep together . this , as he spake zealously , so the queen gave eare to it graciously , and some good effect was supposed to follow it , for which they both now feel their reward ; and thus much of wickham . william day . it was said that a pleasant courtier and servitor of king henry the eighth , to whom the king had promised some good turn , came and prayed the king to bestow a living on him , that he had found out , worth 100 li . by the yeere more then enough ; why , saith the king , we have none such in england : yes sir , said his man , the provostship of eaton ; for ( said he ) he is allowed his diet , his lodging , his horse-meat , his servants wages , his riding charge , his apparrell , even to the points of his hose , at the colledge charge ; and 100 li. per annum besides . how true this is , i know not , but this i know , that mr. day having both this and the deanry of windsor was perswaded to leave them both , to succeed him ( that had been once his vice-provost of eaton ) in the church of winchester . he was a man of a good nature , affable and courteous , and at his table , and in other conversation pleasant , yet alwaies sufficiently containing his gravity . when he was first deane of windsor , there was a singing man in the quire , one woolner , a pleasant fellow , but famous for his eating , rather then his singing ; and for the swallow of his throat , then for the sweetnesse of his note . master deane sent a man to him to reprove him for not singing with his fellows ; the messenger thought all were worshipfull at least that did then weare white surplices , and told him mr. deance would pray his worship to sing ; thank mr. dean ( quoth woolner ) and tell him , 1 am as merry as they that sing ; which answer , though it would have offended some man , yet hearing him to be such as i have described , he was soon pacified . he brake his leg with a fall from a horse , that started under him ; whereupon some waggish schollers , of which my selfe was in the quorum , would say it was a just punishment , because the horse was given him by a gentleman to place his sonne in eaton , which at that time was thought had been a kind of sacriledge , but i may also say , cum eram parvulus sapiebam ut parvulus . he had in those daies a good and familiar fashion of preaching not mincing the word , as some doe , with three words to feed 3000 people , that goe away all sometimes as empty as they came ; nor as others , that are nodosi drawing their auditory with them into deep questions and dangerous passages ; that howsoever they suppose they come of themselves much admired , they leave their auditors many times more then halfe mired ; but this was a good plain fashion , apt to edifie , and easie to remember ; i will repeat one lesson of many , that i remember out of sermons of his , which i can imagine yet i heare him pronouncing , and it was concerning prayer : it is not ( saith he ) a praying to god , but a tempting of god , to beg his blessings , without doing also our own endeavours ; shall a scholler pray to god to make him learned , and never goe to his book ? shall a husbandman pray for a good harvest , and let his plow stand still : the pagans , and the heathen people would laugh at such devotion . in their fabulous legion they have a tale of hercules , whom for his strength they counted a god ; how a carter ( forsooth had overthrown his cart , and sate in the way crying , help hercules , help hercules ; at last hercules , or one in his likenesse came to him , and swadled him thriftily with a good cudgell , and said , thou varay lazie selly fellow ( so he used to pronounce ) callest thou to me for help & dost nothing they selfe ; arise , set to thy shoulder & heave thy part , and then pray to me to help thee , and i will doe the rest . and thus much of our good old provost , who being made a bishop , & of a register of the garter becoming now prelate of the garter , enjoying this dignity a very short time , turned his day into night , though no night can oppresse them that die in the lord . by the way , i think this worthy the noting , that whereas in anno dom. 1486. being the first of king henry the seventh , it was found that three bishops successively had held this bishoprick six score yeeres save one , namely , wickham , beauford , and wainfleet . now in queen elizabeths raigne , there had been seven bishops in forty yeeres , five in seventeen yeers , and three in four yeeres . doctor thomas bilson . my author , following his own resolution of forbearing to speak of men now living , or but lately dead ; and i holding my purpose to speak frankly and truly , as farre as my understanding will serve me , both of dead and living ; i am now comming to speak of the present bishop of vvinchester , of whom i finde in this book but foure lines ; and if i should give him his due in proportion to the rest , i should spend foure leaves . not that i need make him better known to your highnesse , being ( as on just occasion , as i noted before ) one of the most eminent of his ranck , and a man that carried prelature in his very aspect . his rising was meerly by his learning , as true prelates should rise . sint non modo labe mali sed suspicione errantis , not onely free from the spot , but from the speech of corruption . hee ascended by all degrees of schooles ; first , wherein to win knowledge himselfe , next whereby to impart it to others , having sometime taught the schoole that doth justly boast of the name of vvinchester , where , if i mistake not , he succeeded the excellent scholler and schoolmaster doctor johnson , that wrote that forecited poem of vvickham ; and having praised all his predecessors in pretty disticks , he wrote this at the last in modesty of himselfe . ultimus hic ego sum , sed quam bene quam male nolo dicere , de me qui judicet alter erit . and accordingly his successor gave this judgement , ultimus es ratione loci , re primus johnson , sed quis qui de te judicet aptus erit . tam bene quam nullus qui te praecesserit ante tam male posteritas ut tua pejus agat . wherein mr. johnson became truly fortunate , according to the saying , laudari a laudato viro , laus est maxima . him fame doth raise , whose praiser merits praise . from schoolmaster of vvinchester , he became warden , and having been infinitely studious and industrious in poetry , in philosophy , in physick ; and lastly , ( which his genius chiefly call'd him to ) in divinity , he became so compleat , for skill in languages , for readinesse in the fathers , for judgement to make use of his readings , as he was found to be no longer a souldier , but a commander in chiefe , in our spirituall warfare , being first made bishop of worcester , and after of winchester . in the mean season a crew of mutinous souldiers ( a forlorne hope ) untertook to surprize one of the twelve fortresses of our faith , i mean one of twelve articles of the creed , and ere men were aware they had entred by a postern corrupted , a watchman or two thrown down a battlement and set up their colours of white and black ( black and blew had been fitter for them ) publishing a book in print , that christ descended not into hell . the alarum was taken by many faithfull servitors of the militant church , but many were not found fit for this enterprize , for that was whispered , ( nay rather publisht in the enemies camp , that some cowardly souldiers of our side had made a motion to have this fort , or part thereof rased , because there was thought to be perill in defending of it ; for so campian writes confidently , that cheyney bishop of gloucester had affirmed to him , how it had been moved in a convocation at london , quemadmodum sine tumultu penitus eximatur de symbolo ; how without many words it might be taken out of the creed wholy . but i leave erasmus eccho to answer it , oly . true it is , there was a hot shot one mr. browghton , no cannonere , for he loves no cannons , but that could skill of such fireworks , as might seem to put out hell fire ; this hot braine having with a petard or two broken open some old dore , tooke upou him with like powder out of some basilisk ( as i think ) to shoot hades quite beyond sunne and moon ; such a powder-work against all divinity and philosophy , as was never heard of , alwaies excepting the powder-treason . then this learned bishop , like a worthy leader ( that i proceed in this metaphor ) with a resolute troop , not of loose shot , but gravis armaturae , arm'd to proofe out of christs armorie , the old and new testament , fathers , doctors , schoolmen , linguists , encounters these lanzbezzadoes , casts down their colours , repaires up the raines , beautifies the battlements , rams up the mynes , and makes such ravelings , and counter-searfes about this fort , that now none of the twelve may seem more impregnable . their great inginere , before mentioned , upon griefe of this repulse , is gone ( as i heare ) to teach the jewes hebrew ; god send him to scape hades at the end of his journey . yet in the heat of these skirmishes there happened an accident worthy to be remembred , and i think by the very devise of the divell . this bishop preaching at pauls crosse , upon this article of the creed ; and there proving by authority irrefragable , that hell is a place prepared for the divel and his angels ; that it is beneath in corde terrae , and that christ descended into it . satan , that knew all this to be true , and was sorry to remember it , and wisht that none of the auditors would believe it , raised a sudden and causelesse feare , by the fraud or folly of some one auditor . this feare so incredibly possest not onely the whole multitude , but the lord major and other lords there , that they verily believed pauls church was at that instant falling down , whereby such a tumult was raised , as not onely disturbed their devotion and attention , but did indeed put some of the gravest , wisest and noblest of that assembly into evident hazard of their lives , as i have heard of some of their own mouthes . the bishop not so dismayed himselfe , sympathizing in pitty , rather then feare of their causelesse dismay , after the tumult was a little pacified , finished his sermon ; upon which accident , some favourers of that opinion make themselves merry with this story , that at least that which they could not confute they might seem to contemn . of eely . doctor martin heaton . of eely i have not much to say , yet in a little i may be thought by some to say too much ; which i will adventure , rather then your highnesse shall blame me for saying nothing . i was among others at bishop cox his funerall , being then either batcheler , or a very young master of arts ; but some yeeres after we thought it would have proved the funerall of the bishoprick , as well as of the bishop . something there was that had distasted the queen concerning bishop cox , in his life time ; either his much retirednesse , or small hospitality , or the spoyl he was said to make of woods and parks , feeding his family with powdred venison ; all which , i know not how truly , was suggested to her against him , in his life time , and remembred after his death . for our opinion of him in cambridge , we held him a good scholler , and a better poet then doctor haddon , who call'd him master ; whether as having been his scholler or servan't i know not ; but among his poems , is extant a distick written to b. cox. vix caput attollens e lecto scribere carmen . qui velit is voluit , scribere plura , vale . which verse being but even a sick verse , he answered ex tempore , as they tell , with this , te magis optarem salvum sine carmine fili , quam sine te salvo carmina multa . vale . as for his church of eely , it seemed he had no great love there , to have his monument defaced within twenty yeeres ( as this authour writes ) so as remembring his good beginning , one may say of him , coepisti melius quam desinis . but to let him rest , i must confesse that it was held for one of the blemishes of queen elizabeths virgin raigne . first , to keep this sea of eely vacant so long after bishop coxes death , and after to take away so large a portion from it , as is generally spoken ; yet that i may both speak my conscience , and shew my charity as well to my deceased soveraigne , as to the reverend bishop yet living , i will say this : first , i could wish it had not been so , and that the occasion of such a scandall between the crown and miter had been taken away . secondly , i doe say for the queen , she did no new thing ; and it is held a principle of state , that whatsoever there is a president for , is lawfull for a prince . i consider further , that eely was a bishoprick of none of the first erections , but many yeeres after the conquest ; so as england stood christned without a bishoprick of eely from augustine the monk above five hundred yeeres . it was a place also that the crown had been jealous of for the strength of it , having sometime held out the conquerour , as our writers affirm ; and king henry the third , a wise and fortunate prince , said , it was not fit for a cloyster man , and of late yeeres mooreton undertook to hold it against richard the third , for henry the second . adde hereunto , that though it was vacant in name , yet the profits thereof may seem to have been perhaps more charitably and honourably imployed then before , to relieve the poore distressed king of portugall , who was call'd by some schollers bishop of eely , which is lesse scandalous then for jeffrey plant agenet to hold the bishoprick of lincoln for seven yeeres , without consecration , the sea being kept voyd seventeen yeeres ; and for ethelmare to hold winchester in like manner nine yeeres in henry the thirds time ; to omit how stygand in the conquerours time , and woolsey in henry the eighth his time , both held winchester in commendam . as for changing or abating the possessions of it , the laws then in force allowed it ( though a most godly law since restrained the like ) and i would all the bishopricks in england were but so well left . now to come to doctor heaton , he was compelled in a sort so to take it ( for potentes cum rogant jubent ) and as long as there was not quid dabis , but haec auferam , the more publique it was , and by authority then lawfull he may be thought the more free from blame . but were eely as good as ever it was , that could not finde the mouth●s bread that finde fault with his taking it in that order . before his majesties comming to oxford , i was in oxford library , and some of good quality of both the universities ; and one of their chiefe doctors said merrily to a cambridge man , that oxford had formerly had a good library , till such time ( said he ) as a cambridge man became our chancellour , and so cancell'd or catalog'd and scattered our books ( he meant bishop cox in king edwards time ) as from that time to this we could never recover them . the other straight replied , then are you even with us , for one of your oxford men hath seal'd so many good deeds of our good bishoprick in cambridgeshire , that till they be canecl'd , it will never be so good as it should be . by his christen name also many take occasion to allude to this matter , which whether for brevity sake he writ mar or mart , or at full length martin , alwaies by adding eely unto it , it sounds to the like sence , that either he did marr it , or mart it , or martin it . but he is too wise to be troubled with these . sapientis est nil praestare praeter culpam . if any fare the worse for this now , it is himself . and as for his learning , nd other good parts belonging to a bishop , he is inferrour to few of his ranke , as your highnesse can tell , that have heard him preach before the kings majesty , who said of him , that fat men were wont to make lean sermons ; but his were not leane , but larded with much good learning . and so much of the bishoprick and bishop of eely . of lincoln . of doctor chaterton now living . following my authors method , i am next to speak of lincoln , a very large diocesse , yet not so great a bishoprick as it hath been , which i suspect by the oft removes from it , as bullingham , cooper and wickham in queen elizabeths time ; and white in queen maries time . i'note also , that one of these removed to worcester , namely bullingham ; of which i can imagine no reason , except the largenesse : of the diocesse make it more painfull , as indeed it would , if the decree made in a synod held by saint cuthbert in england were duely observed . of which the third , as mr. fox hath it is , that every bishop once every yeere should goe over all the parishes of his diocesse ; with which decree by what authority men dispence , i know not , but sure few doe keep it . this doctor william chaterton , now bishop of lincoln , and before of chester , i may remember in cambridge a learned and grave doctor ; though for his gravity hee could lay it aside when pleased him , even in the pulpit , it will not be forgotten in cambridge while he is remembred , how preaching one day , in his younger yeers , a wedding sermon ( which indeed should be festivall ) as the marchant royall was at my lord hays marriage ( with which being now in print many a good husband doth endeavour to edifie his wife . ) i say , mr. chatterton is reported to have made this pretty comparison , and to have given this friendly caveat : that the choice of a wife was full of hazzard , not unlike as if one in a barrell full of serpents should grope for one fish ; if ( saith he ) he scape harm of the snakes , and light on a fish , he may be thought fortunate , yet let him not boast , for perhaps it may be but an eele , &c. howbeit he married afterwards himself , and i doubt not sped better then his comparison . he was well beloved among the schollers , and the rather for that he did not affect any soure and austere fafhion , either in teaching or government , as some use to doe ; but well tempered both with courage and courtesie . being made bishop of chester , he was a very great friend to the house of darby . preaching the funerall sermon of henry earle of darby , for some passages whereof he was like to be call'd in question , though perhaps himselfe knew not so much ; i was present when one told a great lord that loved not ferdinando the last earle , how this bishop having first magnified the dead earle for his fidelity , justice , wisdome , and such vertues , as made him the best beloved man of his ranke ( which praise was not altogether undeserved ) he after used this apostrophe to the earle present ; and you ( saith he ) noble earle , that not onely inherit , but exceed your fathers vertues , learn to keepe the love of your countrey , as your father did ; you give , saith he , in your arms , three legs ; know you what they signifie ? i tell you , they signifie three shires , cheshire , darbishire , and lancashire ; stand you fast on these three legs , and you shall need feare none of their armes . at which this earle a little moved , said in some heat , not without an oath : this priest , i believe , hopes one day to make him three courtsies . but the two earles i trust are friends now , both being since departed this world , ( though neither as i could wish them ) the one dying of a yex , the other of an axe . the bishop was removed to lincoln , where he now remains in very good state , having one onely daughter married to a knight of good worship , though now they living asunder , he may be thought to have had no great comfort of that matrimony , yet to her daughter he means to leave a great patrimony ; so as one might not unfitly apply that epigram written of pope paulus and his daughter to this bishop and his grandchild . cum sit filia paule , cum tibi aurum , quantum pontifices habere raros . vidit roma prius patrem non possum , sanctum discere id sed possum beatum . which i thus translated , when i thought not thus to apply it . thou hast a daughter paulus , i am told , and for this daughter store thou hast of gold . the daughter thou didst get , the gold didst gather make thee no holy , but a happy father . but if the bishop should fortune to hear that i apply this verse so saucily , and should be offended with it , i would be glad in full satisfaction of this wrong , to give him my sonne for his daughter , which is a manifest token that i am in perfect charity with him . of coventry , and lichfield . doctor william overton , now living . of this bishoprick may be observed , that which hapned ( i think ) to no other in all queen elizabeths raigne , that from the first yeere of her entrance ( what time she made them all new ) she never after gave this bishoprick , but once , and that was to doctor william overton , the one and twentieth yeer of her reigne , he being then of good yeeres ; so as one may probably conjecture , that he honoured his parents well , because he had the blessing promised to such , viz. that his daies have been long in the land . i can make no speciall relation concerning him , but the generall speech as i have heard travelling through the countrey , which is not to be contemned ; for , vox populi , vox dei est . two speciall things are commended in him , which very few few bishops are praised for in this age : one , that he keepeth good hospitality for the poore ; the other , that he keepeth his house in good reparation . both which i have seldome heard a married bishop commended for ; and i will be bold to adde this further , that if they would doe both those , i think no man would take exceptions either for their marriage or bigamy . the churches also are very well kept ; and for those of coventry , they are ( of parish churches ) the fairest i have seen , though ( as i partly noted before ) they have had sometimes another kind of superintendency , for the bishops keepe most at lichfield . the pavement of coventry church is almost all tombstones , and some very ancient ; but there came in a zealous fellow with a counterfeit commission , that for avoyding of superstition , hath not left one penny-worth , nor one pennybredth of brasse upon the tombes , of all the inscriptions , which had been many , and costly . further i note this , that whereas in bishop langtons time there were many parks belonging to the sea , in which the prince committed some disorder in the time of edward the first , now it is much altered , for he hath not past one , the rest being perhaps turned to pastures , and the deere into tamer beasts . of salisbury . bishop jewell . of how great antiquity this bishoprick had been in former times , two things doe especially declare . one , that ever since the conquest ordinale secundum usum sarum was received over all england ; another , that the clergy of salisbury were able of their owne charge to erect such a goodly church , and stonesteeple , as that is which now stands , which at this day a subsidy were scarce able to performe . to omit how sherborn castle , and the devizes were both built by one bishop of salisbury , and in this state that continued till the yeer 1539. what time doctor capon was translated from bangor thither , a man for learning and wit worthy to be of apollos crew ; but for his spoile and havock he is said to have made of the church-land , more worthy to be of apollions crew , for he is noted to be one of the first that made a capon of his bishoprick , and so guelded it , that it will never be able to build either church or castle again . the place being in this sort much impoverished , bishop jewel was preferr'd unto it the first yeere of queen elizabeth , a jewel indeed , as in name , re gemma fuit , nomine gemma fuit . he , though he could not maintaine the port his predecessors did , finding his houses decayed , and lands all leased out , yet kept very good hospitality , and gave himselfe withall much to writing books , of which divers are extant , and in many mens hands , viz. his apology of the church of england ; his challenge , answered by harding ; his reply to the said answer ; all in english , and all in such estimation , even untill this day , that as st. ofmond in william the conquerours time , gave the pattern for form of service to all the churches of england , so mr. jewels writings are a kind of rule to all the reformed churches of england , and hardly is there any controversie of importance handled at this day , of which in his works is not to be found some learned and probable resolution . one thing i will specially commend him for , though i shall not be commended for it my selfe of some , and that is , whereas he defended the marriage of priests , no man better ; yet he would never marry himselfe , saying , christ did not counsell in vaine , qui potest capere , capiat . he had a very reverent regard of the ancient fathers writings , and especially st. augustine , out of which books he found many authorities against some superstitions crept into the roman church . why he had such a mind to lie by bishop wyvill , i cannot guesse , except perhaps of his name he had taken a caurat , to keep himselfe without a wife . for the whole course of his life from his childhood , of his towardlinesse from the beginning , and how he was urged to subscribe in queen maries time , and did so , being required to write his name , saying , they should see he could write ; ( which shewed it was not ex animo ) doctor humphrey hath written a severall treatise . doctor john coldwell , doctor of physick . though doctor guest succeeded bishop iewell and my author makes him a good writer , yet he shall not be my guest in this discourse , having nothing to entertaine him with , or rather your highnesse with in reading of him . but how his successor doctor coldwell of a physician became a bishop i have heard by more then a good many ( as they say ) and i will briefly handle it , and as tenderly as i can bearing my self equall between the living and the dead . i touched before how this church had surfeited of a capon , which being heavy in her stomacke , it may be thought she had some need of a physician . but this man proved no good church physicians ; had she been sick of a plurisey , too much abounding with bloud as in ages past , then such bleeding physick perhaps might have done it no harm . now inclining rather to a consumption to let that bleed afresh at so large a veine , almost was enough to draw out the very life bloud ( your highnesse will pardon my physick metaphors , because i have lately look't over my schola salerni ) i protest i am free from any desire to deface the dead undeservedly , and as farre from any fancy to insult on the misfortunes of the living uncivilly , and in my particular the dead man i speake of never hurt me , and the living man i shal speake of hath done me some kindnesse ; yet the manifest judgements of god on both of thē i may not pass over with silence . and to speak first of the knight who carried the spolia opima of this bishoprick , having gotten sherborne castle , park and parsonage , he was in those dayes in so great favour with the queen , as i may boldly say , that with lesse suit then he was faine to make to her e're he could perfect this his purchase , and with lesse money then he bestowed since in sherborne in building and buying out leases and in drawing the river through rocks into his garden he might have very justly and without offence of the church or state have compassed a much better purchase . also that i have beene truly informed he had a presage before he first attempted it , that did foreshew it would turne to his ruine , and might have kept him from medling with it ( si mens non laeva fuisset ) for as he was riding post betweene plymouth and the court , as many times he did upon no small imployments , this castle being right in the way , he cast such an eye upon it as ahab did upon naboths vineyard and once above the rest being talking of it , of the cōmodiousnesse of the place , of the strength of the seat , and how easily it might be got from the bishoprick , suddenly over and over came his horse , that his very face , which was then thought a very good face , plowed up the earth where he fell . this fall was ominous i make no question , as the like was observed in the lord hastings , and before him in others , and himselfe was apt enough to construe it so ; but his brother adrian would needs have him interpret that not as a courtier but as a conquerour , that it presaged the quiet possession of it . and accordingly for the present that fell out , he got that with much labour and travell and cost , and envy , and obloquy to him & his heires habendu et tenendum but e're that came fully to gaudendum ; see what became of him . in the publick joy and jubile of the whole realme , when favour and peace and pardon was offer'd even to offendors , he that in wit , in wealth , in courage was inferiour to few , fell suddenly i cannot tell how into such a downfall of despaire , as his greatest enemy would not have wished him so much harme , as he would have done himselfe . can any man be so wilfully blind , as not to see and to say , digitus dei est hic , that it is gods doing and his judgement which appeares ? yet also more plaine by the sequel , for by st. augustines rule , when adversity breeds amendment , then that is a signe it is of gods sending , who would not have our correction turne to our confusion : so hapned it to this knight being condemned to dye , yet god in whose hand is the heart of the king put into his mercifull minde against mans expectation to save his life ; and since by the suite of his faithfull wife both to preserve his estate and to ease his restraint in such sort as many that are at liberty , tast not greater comforts then he doth in prison , being not barr'd of those companions ( i meane bookes ) that he may and perhaps doth take more true comfort of then ever he tooke of his courtly companions in his chiefest bravery . neither is he without hope , that upon his true repentance , god may yet further adde to incline his majesty ( e're seven times goe over his head ) to a full liberty . now to returne to the bishop that was the second party delinquent in this petilarceny , or rather plaine sacriledge , what was his purpose , to make himselfe rich by making his sea poore ? attain'd he his purpose herein ? nothing lesse : no bishop of sarum since the conquest dyed so notorious a beggar as this , his friends glad to bury him suddenly and secretly . sine lux , sine crux , sine clinco , as the old by word is , being for hast be-like clapt into bishop wyvills grave , that even at the resurrection , he may be ready to accuse him and say , i recovered sherborne from a king , when that had beene wrongfully detained two hundred years , and thou didst betray it to a knight , after that had been quietly possest other two hundred yeares . some might imagine this a presage that sherborne may one day revert againe to the bishoprick . but there is a signe in hydromanti against it . for in digging your grave ( notwithstanding all the hast was made ) so great a spring brake into that , as fill'd that all with water , & quite wash't away the presage , so as that dead bishop was drowned before he could be buried , and according to his name laid into a cold well before he was covered with the cold earth . doctor henry cotton . this bishoprick being now reduced to a mediocrity more worthy of pitty then envy , her majesty ( as i have heard ) made a speciall choyce of this her chaplain , being a gentleman of a worshipfull house , and her god-sonne when she was lady elizabeth , whereupon it is reported that she said , that she had blest many of her god-sonnes but now this god-sonne should blesse her ; whether she were the better for his blessing i know not , but i am sure he was the better for hers . the common voyce was sir waltcr raleigh got the best blessing of him ( though as i said before ) i rather count it a curse to have his estate in sherborn to be confirmed that before was questionable . but it was his wisest way rather then to have a potent enemy and a tedious suite . he married very young ; for i was told some yeares since , he had nineteene children by one woman , which is no ordinary blessing , and most of them sonnes . a man that had three sonnes or more among the ancient romans enjoyed thereby no smal priviledges , though the later romans make it not a merit in a bishop . his wifes name was patience , the name of which i have heard in few wives , the quality in none . he hath one sonne blind ( i know not if by birth , or accident ) but though his eyes be blind , he hath an understanding so illuminate , as he is like to prove the best scholler of all his brethren . one especiall commendation i may not omit , how by this good bishops means , and by the assistance of the learned deane of sarum doctor gourden , a seminary called mr. carpenter , a good schollar and in degree a batchelour of divinity , was converted and testified his owne conversion publickly in a sermon upon this text , acts 9. 18. there fell as it were scales from his eyes , saying that three scales hath bleared his sight , viz. antiquity , universality , and consent , but now the scales being fallen away , he saw plainly , their antiquity novelty , their universality a babylonicall tyranny , and their consent a conspiracy . and thus much be said of my god-brother , and ( be it said ) without presumption your highnesse god-brother , doctor henry cotton . of the bishops of bath and wells , and first of dr. oliver king . concerning bath i have such plenty of matter to entertaine your highnesse with ( i meane variety of discourse ) as i study rather how to abbreviate it , then how to amplifie it : i should have begunne at bishop barlow , but i respect so much the very name of king , as i could not let him passe without some homage ; and because the chiefe bath of which the towne hath the name is called the kings bath , i shall add somewhat also , either omitted , or but sleightly touched in the precedent booke by mine author , but somewhat more largely handled in the latin treatise mentioned by him page 307. in the life of stillington out of which i will cite a passage or two as occasion shall serve . first therefore for the city of bath , to omit all the antiquities noted by mr. camden and other good authors , as also seen by my selfe , i observe this , that amongst all our old traditions and legends thereof , that seemeth as it were purposely left in suspence and not yet fully determined , whether the crowne or the miter have more claime to the vertue that all men see and say to be in these waters . some affirme that king bladud a learned king , brought up at athens long before christs time , either by his cunning in magick did frame it ; or rather by his search did finde it , or at least with his cost did first found it : others believe that king arthurs uncle st. david a bishop of wales , that lived longer with leekes then we doe now with larkes and quailes , by his prayer procured this vertue to these springs , but this is manifest by most credible histories , that offa king of mercia built a goodly abby there , where before had been a temple of minerva and hercules , whom they feined to be presidents of hot bathes . this monastery built by offa 775 was destroyed by the danes being then no christians about the yeare 900. then it was reedified by elphegus a bishop of canterbury 1010. and continued in great estimation for a place of holy and strickt life , but had not yet the title of a bishoprick , till john de villula , a french man borne and a physician by profession , being made bishop of wells , which was in latin de fontibus , admiring the vertue of these bathes and the cures they wrought , for which it had been long before by the saxons surnamed akmanchester , that is sick mans towne . this john de villula thinking this place de fontibus , more honourable then the other cal'd wells , bought this city of k. william rufus and translated his seat thither . and finding that both that towne and abbey had beene late before defaced with fire , he new built both about the yeare 1122 and was the first bishop was buried there . then was that againe burned in the yeare 1132 and repaired againe by bishop robert , and remained still the bishops seat and inheritance , till that bankrout b●shop savaricus for covetousnesse of glastenbury , in mercedem bujus unionis ( to use my authors word ) for recompence of this union of glatenbury to wells , gave bath againe to king richard the first , and yet notwithstanding these two so huge revenues , he spent so prodigally and unprovidently in his many journeyes to the emperour , that it is written he had a legion of creditors , and for his wandring humours he had this written for an epitaph , though not set on his tombe at bath . hospes eras mundo , per mundum semper eund● sic suprema die , fit tibi prima quies . thus bath againe after 100 yeares , became the kings , and ever may it be so . but the church was not so sufficiently repaired as it ought in so much that in henry the sevenths time it was ready to fall , what time that oliver king about 100. yeares since built it againe with so goodly a fabrick as the stone work stands yet so firme , notwithstanding the injuries of men time and tempests upon it . here i may by no meanes omit , yet i can scarce tell how to relate the pretty tales that are told of this bishop king , by what visions , predictions he was encouraged and discouraged in the building of this church , whether some cunning woman had foretold him of the spoyle that followed , as paulus jovius writes how a witch deceived his next successor hadrian bishop of bath , or whether his own minde running of it gave him occasion to dreame sleeping of that he thought waking , but this goes so currant and confirmed with pretty probabilities . that lying at bath and musing or meditating one night late after his devotions and prayers for the prosperity of henry the seventh and his children ( who were then all or most part living ) to which king he was principall secretary and by him preferred to this bishoprick ; he saw , or supposed he saw a vision of the holy trinity with angels-ascending and descending by a ladder , neere to the which there was a faire olive tree supporting a crowne , and a voyce said , let an olive establish the crowne , and let a king restore the church . of this dreame or vision he took exceeding great comfort and told it divers of his friends , applying it to the king his master in part , and some part to himselfe . to his mr. because the olive , being the emblem or hieroglyphick of peace & plenty , seemed to him to allude to king henry the seventh , who was worthily counted the wisest and most peaceable king in all europe of that age . to himselfe ( for the wisest will flatter themselves sometimes ) because he was not onely a thiefe councellor to this king , and had been his ambassadour to conclude a most honourable peace with charles the eight , who paid ( as hollinshed writeth ) 745. duckets , besides a yearely tribute of 25000 crownes , but also he carried both the olive and king in his name ; and therefore thought he was specially designed for this church work , to the advancement of which he had an extraordinary inclination . thus though ( as st. thomas of aquin well noteth ) all dreames be they never so sensible will be found to halt in some part of their coherence ; and so perhaps may this : yet most certaine it is , for the time he was so transported with this dreame , that he presently set in hand with this church ( the ruines whereof i rue to behold even in writing these lines ) and at the west end thereof he caused a representation to be graved of this vision of the trinity , the angels and the ladder , and on the north side the olive and crowne with certaine french words ( which i could not read ) but in english is this verse taken out of the booke of judges chap. 9. trees going to chuse their king , said be to us the olive king . all which is so curiously cut and carved , as in the west part of england is no better worke then in the west end of this poore church , and to make the credit of all this more authenticke , he added this word to it , de sursum est , it is from high . thus much the stones and walls ( though dumbe witnesses yet credible ) doe plainly testifie . but in midst of all this jollity having made so faire a beginning to his owne great content , and no lesse to the kings , who came into this country at that time , and lay at the deane of wells his house nine dayes ; i say in all this joy and comfort , that hapned the kings primogenitus , the noble prince arthur , having lately before married a great infanta of spaine to depart this life . this so daunted the heart and hopes of this good bishop , that he doubted now his vision would prove but an illusion , that his oliva would be but an oleaster , which melancholy thoughts were increast in him by the predictions as i touched before of some wizards ( to which kind of men that age was much affected ) concerning the new prince who was after henry the 8th , of his incest ious marriage , of the decay of his off-spring , that he should pull down what the kings had builded , which no marvell if the bishop being by sirname a king mistrusted to pertaine also to his buildings . i heard by one flower of phillips nortor , who said he saw henry the seventh in this country , that this bishop would wish he paid above the price of it , so it might have been finished , for if he ended it not , it would be pulled downe e're it were perfected . as for the later predictions or rather postfictions ( since this bishops death ) i willingly omit concerning the successors of this bishop , as things worthier to be contemned then condemned , written by cole-prophets upon whited walls , which the italian calls the paper of fooles . muro bianco charta di matio , of which sort many have beene made as well by our owne country men as others ; but the best i remember was this written by an english gentleman since the three and fortieth yeare of queen elizabeth on the church wall with a charcole . o church i waile thy woofull plight , whom king nor cardinal , clark nor knight have yet restored to ancient right . subscribed ignoto . whereunto a captaine of an other country wrot this for the comfort of this church , and i wish him to prove a true prophet ( though perhaps he dyed rather a martyr . ) be blythe faire kirk when hempe is past , thine olive that ill winds did blast shall flourish greene for aye to last . subscribed cassadore . but to proceed in this sad story , and leave this pleasant poetry , to pursue truths and eschue fictions to imbrace reason and refuse rime , it is most apparent that after the death of this oliver king , his successors cardinall adrian , cardinall woolsey , bishop clerke , and bishop knight , all succeeded in five and thirty yeares , of which the first two were supposed to poyson themselves , the third to be poysoned by others , the last survived to see the death , or at least the deadly wound of this church ; for while the builders were ready to have finisht it , the destroyers came to demolish it ; yet to give the devill his right ( as the proverb is ) it is said that the commissioners in reverence and compassion of the place , did so far strain their commission , that they offered to sell the whole church to the town under 500 marks . but the townsmen fearing they might be thought to couzen the king , if they bought it so cheap , or that it might after ( as many things were ) be found conceal'd , utterly refused it ; whereupon certain merchants bought all the glasse , iron , bells and lead , of which lead alone was accounted for ( as i have credibly heard ) 480 tun , worth at this day 4800 ! . but what became of these spoiles and spoylers . desit in hac miki parte fides , neque credite factum ; aut si credetis facti quoque credite paenam . for i may well say non possum quin exclamem . but in a word , soonafter the sellers lost their heads , the buyers lost their goods , being laid up in the great treasury of antichrist , i mean drowned in the sea , from whence ( as some write ) by the devills power , he shall recover all lost treasures for the maintaining of his unmeasurable guists . thus speedily it was pull'd down , but how slow it hath risen again , i may blush to write . collections have been made over all england , with which the chancel is covered with blew slate , and an alms house built ex abundantia , but the whole body of the church stands bare ex humilitate . the rest of the money never coming to the townsmens hands , is laid up as i suppose with that money collected for pauls steeple , which i leave to a melius inquirendum . and thus the church lies still like the poor traveller mentioned in the 10 of luke , spoiled and wounded by theeves . the priests go by , the levites go by , but do nothing . onely a good samaritan honest m. billet , ( worthy to be billited in the new jerusalem ) hath powr'd some qyl in the wounds , and maintained it in life . in so much as a wealthy citizen of london , hath adventured to set his tomb there , whom i commend more worthily then the senate of rome did thank karra at his return from cannas , quod de salute reipublicae non desperasset ; for it seems this honest citizen did not despair of the reedifying this church that gave order to be richly entomb'd therein , and thus much be said of this last church of bath . bishop barlow . the next i am to write of is bishop barlow , of whom my authour in this book saith little in the latin treatise : there is somewhat more , and i will add a word to both . bath ( as i have noted before ) is but a title in this bishoprick , so as for many years bath , had the name , but wells had the game : but yet that one may know they be sisters , your highness shall understand that this game i speak of which was one of the fairest of england , by certein booty play between a protector and a bishop ( i suppose it was at tictak ) was like to have been lost with a why not , and to use rather another mans word then mine own to explain this metaphor : thus saith the latine relation of him . he was a man no less godly then learned , but not so markable in any thing as in his fortunate off-spring , for which niobe and latona might envy them , happy in his own children , more happy in their matches ( to let passe his sonnes , of whom one is now prebend in wells , and esteemed most worthy of such a father . he had five daughters whom he bestowed on five most worthy men , of which three are bishops at this hour , the other for their merit are in mens expectation designed to the like dignity hereafter . howbeit ( saith he ) in one thing this prelate is to be deemed unfortunate , that while he was bishop his sea received so great a blow losing at one clap , all the rents and revenues belonging to it . thus he , and soon after he tells that for his mariage , he was deprived , and lived as a man banisht in germany . here is his praise , here is his dispraise . if he were deprived for a lawfull act , no marvel if he be deprived for an unlawful : sith then my authour compares his felicity with that of niobe , i will also compare his misfortune with peleus , making ovids verse to serve my turn in changing but a word or two . faelix & natis faelix & conjuge barlow , et cuisi demas : spoliati crimina templi omnia contiger ant ; hoc tanto crimine sontem accepit profugum patria germanica tellus . but god would not suffer this morsell to be quite swallowed , but that it choaked the feeders ; to say nothing in this place , but how the protector was foretold by a poet , that he should lose his head . aestatis sedes qui sacras diruis aedes , pro certo credes quod cephas perdere debes . i speak now onely of the spoil made under this bishop scarce were five years past after baths ruines , but as fast went the axes and hammers to work at wells . the goodly hall covered with lead ( because theroof might seem too low for so large a room ) was uncovered , and now this roofe reaches to the skie . the chappel of our lady late repaired by stillington a place of great reverence and antiquity , was likewise defaced , and such was their thirst after lead ( i would they had drunk it scalding ) that they took the dead bodies of bishops out of their leaden coffins , and cast abroad the carcases scarce throughly petrified . the statutes of brasse , and all the ancient monuments of kings , benefactors to that goodly cathedrall church , went all the same way , sold as my authour writes to an alderman of london , who being then rich , and by this great bargain , thinking to have increast it , found it like auruin tholosanum ; for he so decayed after , no man knew how , that he brake in his majoralty . the statues for kings were shipt for bristoll , but disdaining to be banisht out of their own country , chose rather to lie in st. georges channel , where the ship was drown'd . let atheists laugh at such losses , and call them mischances ; but all that truly fear god will count them terrible judgements . these things were , i will not say done , i will say at least suffered by this bishop ; but i doubt not but he repented hereof , and did pennance also in his banishment in sacco & cinere . but some will say to me , why did he not sue to be restored to his bishoprick at his return , finding it vacant , but rather accepted of chichester : i have asked this question , and i have received this answer , by which i am half perswaded , that wells also had their prophecies as well as bath , and that this bishop was premonstrated ( that i may not say predestinate ) to give this great wound to this bishoprick . there remain yet in the body of wells church , about 30 foot high , two eminent images of stone set there as is thought by bishop burnel that built the great hall there in the raign of ed : i. but most certainly long before the raign of h. 8. one of these images is a king crowned , the other is of a bishop mitred . this king in all proportions resembling h. 8. holdeth in his hand a child falling , the bishop hath a woman and children about him . now the old men of wells had a tradition , that when there should be such a king , and such a bishop , then the church should be in danger of ruine . this falling child they say was king edward , the fruitfull bishop , they affirmed was doctor barlow , the first maried bishop of wells , and perhaps of england . this talk being rife in wells in queen maries time , made him rather affect chichester at his return than wells , where not onely the things that were ruined , but those that remained serv'd for records and remembrances of his sacriledge . of bishop thomas godwin . of bishop gilbert bourn i can add nothing , and of the other gilbert but a word , that he was a good justicer , as saith the same author ( nisi quatenus homo uxoris conjugis importunitate impulsus a veri ac recti tramite aberravit ) saving that sometimes being ruled by his wife , by her importunity he swarved from the rule of justice and sincerity , especially in persecuting the kindred of bourn his predecessor . the fame went that he dyed very rich , but the same importunate woman caried it all away , that neither church nor poor were the better for it . but for doctor god win of whom i am to speak , i must with my authors leave add a word of mine own knowledge . he came to the place as well qualified for a bishop as might be unreprovably without simonie , given to good hospitality , quiet , kind , affable , a widdower , and in the queens very good opinion , non minor est virtus quam quaerere parta tueri , if he had held on as clear as he entred , i should have highly extold him : but see his misfortune that first lost him the queens favour , and after forc't him to another mischief . being as i said , aged , and diseased , and lame of the gout , he maried ( as some thought for opinion of wealth ) a widow of london . a chief favourite of that time ( whom i am sory , to have occasion to name again , in this kind ) had labored to get the mannor of banwell from this bishoprick , and disdaining the repulse , now hearing this intempestive mariage , took advantage thereof , caused it to be told the queen ( knowing how much she misliked such matches ) and instantly pursued the bishop with letters and mandats for the mannour of banwell for 100 yeers . the góod bishop not expecting such a sudden tempest , was greatly perplext , yet a while he held out and indured many sharp messages from the queen , of which my self caried him one , delivered me by my lord of leicester , who seemed to favour the bishop , and mislike with the knight for molesting him , but they were soon agreed like pilat and herod to condemn christ . never was harmless man so traduced to his soveraign , that he had maried a girle of twenty years old , with a great portion , that he had conveyed half the bishoprick to her , that ( because he had the gout ) he could not stand to his mariage , with such scoffs to make him ridiculous to the vulgar , and odious to the queen . the good earl of bedford happening to be pr̄esent when these tales were told , and knowing the londoners widow the bishop had maried , said merrily to the queen after his dry manner , madam , i know not how much the woman is above twenty , but i know a sonne of hers is but little under forty ; but this rather mar'd then mended the matter . one said , majus peccatum habet . another told of three sorts of mariage , of gods making , as when adam and eve two young folks were coupled , of mans making , when one is old , and the other young , as josephs mariage , and of the devills making , when two old folks marry not for comfort , but for covetousness , and such they said was this . the conclusion to the premisses was this , that to pacifie his persecutors , and to save banwell , he was fain with wilscombe for 99 yeeres , ( i would it had been 100. ) and so purchased his peace . thus the bishoprick as well as the bishop were punished , who wished in his heart he had never taken this preferment to foile himself in his decrepid age , with that ftain , that all his life he had abhorred , and to be made an instrument of another mans sacriledge , and used like a leaden conduit pipe to convey waters to others and drinke nothing but the dreggs and drosse and rust it selfe , wherefore right honesty and modesty and no lesse learnedly writes his owne sonne of him in the forenamed treatise . o illum faelicem si faelix mane●e maluisset , quam regi ●inis ecclesiastici labo is tum susciper , cum laboribus i●par fractus senio necessu n illi fuerit aliorum uti auxilio , &c. o happy he if he would rather have remained happy ( where he was ) then to undergoe the labours of ecclesiasticall government when he grew unable to travell , broken with age constrained to use the helpe of others , who though their duty required a care of so good a natur'd old man , yet they proving as most do negligent of others good , and too greedy of their owne , overthrew both ; for my part , though i loved him well and some of his , yet in this case i can make no other apology for him , nor use no other plea in his defence but such as able debtors doe , that when they are sued upon just occasions plead per minas , or rather to liken him to an husband-man , that dwelling neare a judge that was a great builder , and comming one day among divers other neighbours with carriages , some of stone , some tin : the steward , as the manner of the country was , provided two tables for their dinners , for those that came upon request , powdered beefe and perhaps venison , for those that came for hire , poor-john and apple pies , and having envited them to fit downe in his lordships name , telling them one boord was for them that came in love , the other for those that came for money , this husband-man and his hind sate not downe at either , the which the steward imputing to simplicity repeated his former words again , praying them to sit downe accordingly , but he answered ( for there is craft in the clouted shooe ) he saw no table for him , for he came neither for love nor mony , but for very feare ; and even so i dare answer for this bishop , he neither gave wilscombe for love , nor sold it for money , but left it for fear . how strangely he was intrapt in the unfit marriage : i know not if it may be called a marriage . non hymenaeus adest illi , non gratia lecto . himselfe protested to me with teares in his eyes , he tooke her but for a guid of his house , and for the rest ( they were his own words ) he lived with her as joseph did with our lady . setting this one disgrace of his aside he was a man very well esteemed in the country beloved of all men for his great hospitality , of the better sort for his kinde entertainment and pleasant discourse at his table , his reading had beene much , his judgement and dcctrine sound , his government mild and not violent , his minde charitable , and therefore , i doubt not but when he lost this life he wonne heaven according to his word , win god , win all . this i say truly of him which his son was not so fit to say for feare perhaps of the foolish saying , yet wise enough if it be well understood . nemo laud at patrem nisi improbus filius . doctor john still . but what stile shall i use to set forth this still , whom well nigh thirty yeares since my reverent tutor in cambridge stil'd by this name divine still , who when my selfe came to him to sue for my grace to be batchelour , first he examined me stricktly , and after answered me kindly ; that the grace he granted me was not of grace , but of merit , who was often content to grace my young exercises with his venerable presence , who from that time to this hath given me some helpes , more hopes , all encouragements in my best studies . to whom i never came but i grew more religious , from whom i never went but i parted better instructed . of him therefore my acquaintance , my friend , my instructor , and lastly my diocaesan , if i speake much , it were not to be marvelled , if i speake franckly , it is not to be blam̄ed , and though i speake partially it were to be pardoned , yet to keep within my proportion , custome , and promise , in all these i must say this of him , his breeding was from his childhood in good literature , and partly in musick , which was counted in those dayes a preparative to divinity , neither could any be admitted to primam tonsuram , except he could first bene le bene con bene can , as they called it , which is to read well , to conster well , and to sing well , in which last he hath good judgement and i have heard good musick of voyces in his house . in his full time more full of learning , he became batchelor of divinity , and after doctor , and so famous for a preacher , and especially a disputer , that the learned'st were even afraid to dispute with him , and he finding his own strength could not stick to warne them in their arguments to take heed to their answers , like a perfect fencer that will tell aforehand in which button he will give the venew , or like a cunning ches-player tha will appoint aforehand with which pawne and in what place he will give the mate ; and not to insist long in a matter so notorious , it may suffice that about twenty yeares since when the great dyet or meeting should have beene in germany for composing matters in religion , doctor still was chosen for cambridge , and doctor humphrey for oxford , to oppose all commers for the defence of the english church , for this his knowne sufficiency he was not long unfurnish't of double honour . the puritans in cambridge wooed him , and would fain have wonne him to their part ; and seeing they could not , they forbare not in the pulpit after their fashion to glaunce at him among others with their equivocations and epigrams . there was one mr. kay that offended them , and one said in a sermon , that of all complexions the worst neare such as were kay-cold , and in the same sermon and the like veine he said that some could not be contented with a living worth 100 l. a year , another worth 120 l. but still will have more . but howsoever they snarl'd , this still was counted worthy of more , so as in the year 1592. being the 34 of the late queen he was prefer'd to this sea after it had bin vacant wel nigh three years ; during the vacancy i can well remember there was great enquiring who should have it , and as if all bishops should now be sworn to follow usum sarum , every man made reckoning that the mannour house and park of bamvell should be made a reward of some courtier , it encreast also this suspition that sir thomas : hennage an old courtier , and a zealous puritan was said to have an ore in the matter , whose conscience , if it were such in the clergy , as that was found in the dutchy , might well have disgested a better booty then banwell . but when it was notified once who was named to it , i had better conceit , and straight i wrot to him as of old cambridge acquaintance , and in such rusty latin as i had left , gave him warning of this rumour , which he tooke exceeding kindly at my hands , though some others frowned on me for it many months after . so that for his entry to it i may boldly say that i said before of his predecessor , that he came cleerly to it without any touch or scandall , that he brought a good report from the places where he had lived , shewed himselfe well natured and courteous to the kindred of his predecessor , had a farre greater fame of learning and merit , and which the queen liked best of all , was single and a widdower . nay i may compare them yet further , he married also soone after he was setled , and the queene was nothing well pleased with his marriage . howbeit in all indifferent censures this marriage was much more justifiable then the other for age , for use , for end ; he being not too old , nor she too young , being daughter to a worshipfull knight of the same country and a great house-keeper , and drawing with her a kinde of alliance with judge popham that swayed all the temporall government of the country . these respects though i will not strive greatly to praise in a bishop , yet the common sort will allow no doubt for wise and provident , so as the queenes displeasure ( your times being somewhat more propitious and favourable to bishopricks since bishop wickbams sermon ) was the easier pacified without so costly sacrifice as a whole mannour , and she contented her selfe onely to breake a jest upon the name of the bishop , saying to sir henry barckley , it was a dangerous name for a bishop to match with a horner . since which time he hath preached before her more then once , and hath received good testimonies of her good opinion , and god hath also blest him many wayes very greatly to see his children well brought up , well bestowed , and to have an unexpected revenue , out of the entralls of the earth ( i mean the leaden mines of mendip greater then his predecessor had above ground , so as this bishop seemes to be blest with josephs blessing , benedictionibus caeli sur sum , benedictionibus abyssi jacentis deorsum , benedictionibus uberis & vulvae , with blessing from heaven above , blessing from the deepe that lyeth beneath , blessings of the breasts and of the wombe , which fortunate increase of living hapning to a provident man that was ever homo frugi , it is supposed hath brought him to a great ability . in so much that his church of bath seemes to conceive some hope that he will have have compassion of her ruines at the least ( as sir arthur hopton a good knight of the bath was wont between earnest and sport to motion unto him to give toward it , but the lead to cover it which would cost him nothing , but he would reply againe , well said gentle sir arthur , you will coffe me as you scoffe me , which is no great token that he liketh the motion . yet at his being at bath he promised them very faire , which they are bound to rem ember to remember him of sometime by their friends . one trifling accident hapned to his lordship there that i have thought of more consequence , & i tell him that i never knew him nonplust in argument but there . there was a crafts man of bath a recusant puritan who condemning our church , our bishops , our sacraments , our prayers , was condemned himselse to dye at the assizes , but at my request judge adderton reprieved him , and he was suffered to remain at bath upon baile the bishop confer'd with him in hope to convert him , and first my lord alledged for the authority of the church st. augustine ; the shoomaker answered austin was but a man , he produced for antiquity of bishops the fathers of the councell of nice , he answered , they were also but men and might erre ; why then said the bishop thou are but a man and mayest and doest erre . no sir , saith he , the spirit beares witnesse to my spirit i am the child of god ; alasse saith the bishop thy blinde spirit will lead thee to the gallowes : if i dye saith he in the lords cause i shall be a martyr . the bishop turning to me stirr'd as much to pitty as impatience ; this man said he is not a sheepe strayed from the fold , for such may be brought in againe on the shepheards shoulders , but this is like a wild buck broken out of a parke , whose pale is throwne downe , that flies the farther off the more he is hunted . yet this man that stopt his eares like the adder to the charmes of the bishop , was after perswaded by a lay-man and grew comfortable ; but to draw to an end ( in one question ) this bishop whom i count an oracle for learning would never yet give me satisfaction , and that was when i askt him his opinion of witches . he saith , he knowes other mens opinions both old and new writers , but could never so digest them , to make them an opinion of his owne . all i can get is this , that the divel is the old serpent , our enemy that we pray to be delivered from daily ; as willing to have us thinke he can doe so much as to have us perswaded he doth nothing . to conclude of this bishop without flattery i hold him a rare man for preaching for arguing , for learning , for living ; i could onely with that in all these he would make lesse use of logick and more of rhetorick . of exeter . doctor william cotton . when i reflect my thoughts and eye upon that i have written formerly , and see that i am like to equall or rather exceed my author in quantity of volume , taking the proportion of the longest kings raigne to that of queen elizabeth , i am the lesse troubled to thinke , that for lack of sufficient intelligence , i shall be constrained to doe as he also hath done with divers of those former bishops , namely , to obscure and omit the good deserts of some , and to conceale and hide the demerits of others , which if i fortune to doe , yet will i neither crave pardon of the one , nor thanks of the other , being to be excused of both by an invincible ignorànce . howbeit , if in these i have or shall treat of , i have been so plain and liberall , as thereby i may move the spleen of some bishop to write against me , as bishop jovius did against petro aretino , whom notwithstanding some italians call unico & divino , whose epitaph paulus jovius made thus , the man being long after alive . qui giace l' aretino l' amoro tosco , che besthemia ognivno fuor che dio , scusandoi con ill dire non lo cognosco . which one did thus put into english : here lies aretine , that poysonous toad , whose spightful tongue & pen ( all saints beshrew him ) did raile on priest and prince , and all but god , and said ( for his excuse ) i doe not know him . i say , if any should follow this humour of jovius , yet shall he not thereby put me into the humour of aretine , that answered him . for i reverence all their places , and many of their persons . i know how high their calling is , that may say , pro christo legatione fungimur . i know that next to kings , bishops are most sacred persons , and as it were gods on earth ; howbeit also some of them have the imperfections of men , and those not prejudiciall to the acts of their office . for my part , i would i could speak much good of all , and no ill of any , and say ( for mine excuse ) i doe not know them . accordingly of the bishoprick and bishop of exceter , i can say but little , namely , that it is since bishop harmans time ( as my author noted , pag. 337. ) reduced to a good mediocrity , from one of the best bishopricks of england ; so as now it is rather worthy of pitty then envy , having but two mannors left of two and twenty ; and i will adde thus much to your highnesse , that as in publique respect , your highnesse should specially favour this bishop , in whose diocesse your dutchy of cornwall , and your stanneries are ; so the duke may uphold the bishop , and the reverend bishop may blesse the duke . of norwich . concerning norwich , whether it be the praise of the bishops , or the people , or both , i know not , or whether i have here a partiall relation . but by that i have heard , i shall judge this city to be another utopia : the people live all so orderly , the streets kept solemnly ; the trades-men , young and old , so industrious ; the better sort so provident , and withall so charitable : that it is as rare to meet a begger there , as it is common to see them in westminster . for the four bishops that were in queen elizabeths time , i know nothing in particular , but that they lived as bishops should doe , sine querela , and were not warriours , like bishop spencer their predecessor in henry the fourths time ; nor had such store of gold and silver , as he had that could leavy an army . but for the present bishop , i knew him but few yeeres since vicechancellor of cambridge ; and i am sure he had as good latine as any of his predecessors had , and accounted there a perfect divine ; in both which respects he is to be thought very fit for the place , being a maritine town , and much frequented with strangers , very devoutly given in religion , and perhaps understands latine as well as english . worcester . doctor gervase babington . worcester hath been fortunate in this last age to many excellent bishops ; of which but two in an hundred yeeres have died bishops thereof , the rest having been removed . also in lesse then fourteen yeeres that had one bishop became pope , namely clement the seventh ; another that was a protestant , as hugh ladymer . of the seven therefore that were in queen elizabeths time , i shall in this place speak but of one , and that is him now living , who by birth is a genman of a very good house ; for learning inferiour to few of his rank . hee was sometime chaplaine to the late earle of pembrooke , whose noble countesse used this her chaplaines advice , i suppose , for the translation of the psalmes ; for it was more then a womans skill to expresse the sence so right as she hath done in her verse , and more then the english or latine translation could give her . they first were means to place him in landaffe , neere them ; where he would say merrily his true title should be aff , for all the land was gone thence . he came back over the sea to the sea of exeter , and thence on terra firma to worcester ; a place where both the church and town are at this day in very flourishing estate , and the church especially in good reparations , which i take ever for one good argument of a good bishop ; for where the sheep be ragged , and the folds rotten , there i straight suppose is no very good shepheard : yet , as every generall rule , hath commonly some exceptions , so hath this in some places in england , and many more in wales , of which i shall in their due place note somewhat in the insuing treatise . and thus much of worcester . of hereford . john scory . of this twice bishop scory i have heard but little , yet it hath been my fortune to read something that will not be amisse to acquaint your highnesse with , that you may see how satan doth sift the lives and doings of english bishops with the quills sometimes of strangers and forraigners . for whereas this our english modest writer onely reports how he was first bishop of chicester , being but batchelour ; of divinity , and deprived for no fault but that he continued not a batchelor whereupon he fled for religion ( as the phrase was ) till comming home in the yeare 1560 he was preferred to hereford : the french writer stayeth not there , but telleth how that being setled there , though he professed to be a great enemy to idolatry , yet in another sence according to st. paul , he became a worshipper of images ( not saints but angels ) belike he feared some future tempest , and therefore ●his h● to provide better for himselfe then he had at chichester , so as what with pulling downe houses and selling the lead , and such loose ends , what with setting up good husbandries , what with leases to his tenants , with all manner of viis et modis , he heaped together a great masse of wealth . he that hath store of mettle must have also some drosse , and no marvaile if this bishop then according to his name had much scoria with this treasure . a noble and honourable councellour and thenlord president of wales , hearing so frequent complaints made of him for oppressions , extortions , symonies , and the like , caused a bil to preferred into the star-chamber against him ; in which bill was contained such matter as was enough not onely to disgrace him , but to degrade him if it had been accordingly followed . his sollicitour of his causes brings him a copy of the bill , and in reading it with him seemed not a little dismaid in his behalfe much , like to the servant of elisha that came trembling to his master , and told him how they were beleagred with a huge army . but this bishop though not indewed with the spirit of a prophet , yet having a spirit that could well see into his profit , bids his sollicitour ( who was his kinsman , perhaps his sisters brothers sonne ) to be of good comfort ; adding it may be the very words of elisha , for there are more of our side then against us . but when his gehezi ( for the comparison suits better to the man then to the master ) could see as yet no comfortable vision ; the good bishop did not open his eyes to let him see as elisha did the chariots of fire on the tops of the mountaines : but he opened his own bags and shewed him some legions or rather chiliads of angells , who entring all at once , not into a herd of swine , but into the hoard of a lady that then was potent with him that was dominus fac totum , cast such a cloud into the star-chamber , that the bill was never openly heard of after . this or the like and much more to the like effect writes this french author of the said bishop of hereford , though the treatise it selfe was not specially meant against the bishop , but against a temporall lord of a higher ranck that was not a little netled with the same . in so much as many travelling gentlemen , and among other this bishops son was called in question for the publishing of this booke , belike because some particularities of this matter were discovered that could come from none but him . but to come againe to this bishop ; i hope it shall be no just scandall to other good bishops , judas will have successors as well as james , and simon magus as well as simon peter ( and sometime perhaps both in one chaire . this man indeed had been brought up in the age of the fryars that made much of themselves , and relinquisht their cels , that read in the old testament laetare & fac , but left out bonum ; for so he followed the text in the new testament , make you friends of the wicked mammon , but left out that part that should have brought him to everlasting tabernacles . for if gods mercy be not the greater , i feare his friend and he are met in no pleasant mansion , though too too durable , if the vision of henry lord hunsdon were true , as an honest gentleman hath often reported it . but all this notwithstanding , his posterity may doe well , for god himselfe forbids men to say , that the fathers eate soure grapes , and the childrens teeth be on edge ; and if the worst be , the english proverb may comfort them , which , lest it want reason , i will cite in rime . it is a saying common , more then civill , the son is blest , whose sire is with the divel . after his decease a great and long suit was held against him about his dilapidasions , which makes the former report to eem the moreprbable . doctor herbert westphaling . there succeeded him a learned & famous doctor indeed , dr. westphaling , who after he had been a bishop divers yeeres , yet to showe that good bishops do not quite discontinue their studies , but rather increase their knowledge with their dignity , came to oxford at her majesties last being there , and made an eloquent and copious oration before her , for conclusion of the divinity disputations : among which one speciall question , that bred much attention , was this , whether it be lawfull to dissemble in cause of religion ? and one argument more witty then pithy , produced by an opponent was this , it is lawfull to dispute of religion , therefore it is lawfull to dissemble , and urging it further , he said thus , i my self now do that which is lawfull , but i do now dissemble . ergo , it is lawfull to dissemble ; at which her majesty , and all the auditory were very merry , i could make a rehearsall of some of the bishops oration concerning this question , how he allowed a secrecy , but without dissimulation , a policy but not without piety , least men taking too much of theserpent , have too little of the dove , but i am sure in all his speech he allowed no equivocation . howbeit , if i should-insist long hereon , i might commit the same fault to your highness , that the queen at that time found in him , which was that she thought him too tedious . for she had sent twice to him to cut short his oration , because her self went to make a publique speech that evening , but he would not , or as some told her , could not put himself out of a set methodicall speech , for fear he should have marr'd it all , and perhaps confounded his memory . wherefore she forbare her speech that day , and more privately the next morning , sending for the heads of houses , and a few others she spake to them in latin , and among othere she school'd doctor reynolds , for his preciseness , willing him to follow her laws , and not to run before them . but it seemed he had forgotten it when he came last to hampton court , so as there he received a better schooling . i may not forget how the queen in the midst of her oration , casting her eye aside , and seeing the old lord , treasur er burleigh standing on his lame feet for want of a stool , she call'd in all hast for a stool for him , nor would she proceed in her speech till she saw him provided of one , then fell she to it again , as if there had been no interruption : upon which one that might be so bold with her , told her after , that she did it of purpose to showe that she could interrupt her speech , and not be put out , although the bishop durst not adventure to do a less matter the day before . but this bishop was every way a very sufficient man , and for such esteemed while he was of christ-church . trifling accidents showe as good proof of times , as the waightiest occasions . such a one hapned this doctor while he was of the university as a scholar of that time hath told me , and it was this . there had been a very sharp frost ( such as have been many this year , and a sudden rain or sleet falling with it from the south-east , had as it were candied all that side of the steeple at christ-church , with an ice mixed with snow , which with the warmth of the sun soon after 10. of the clock began to resolve , and doctor westphaling being in the middle of his sermon , it fell down altogether upon the leads of the church , with such a noyse , as if indeed it would have thrown down the whole church . the people ( as in sudden terrors is usuall ) fill'd all with tumult , and each man hasted to be gonē so fast that they hindered one another . he first kneeling down , and recommending himself to god , as in the apprehension of a sodain danger , straight rose again , and with so chearfull , both voice and countenance , encouraged them as they all returned , and he quietly finished his sermon . but his chief praise i reserve for the last , which was this ; for all such benefices as either were in his own guift , or fell into his hand by lapse , which were not few , and some of great value , he neither respected letters nor commendations of lords nor knights , nor wife nor friends in preferment of any man , but onely their sufficiency and their good conversation , so as to sue for a benefice unto him , was rather a means to miss then to attain it . doctor robert bennet . this bishop was preferr'd to this place since my authour wrote his catalogue , so as he is not therein specified ; yet must i not do him that wrong to omit in this relation . this is he ( if your highness do remember it ) of whom his majesty said , if he were to chuse a bishop by the aspect , he would chuse him of all the men he had seen , for a grave reverent and pleasing countenance . concurring herein in a sort , though by contraries with the judgement of henry the foūrth emperour , who comming from hunting one day ( as malmesbury writeth ) went for devotion sake into a church , where a very ill-favoured faced priest was at service . the emperour thinking his virtues suted his visage , said to himself , how can god like of so ugly a fellows service . but it fortuned at that instant , the priests boy mumbling of that versicle in the hundred psalm , ipso nos fecit & non ipsi nos , and because he pronounced it not plainly , the priest reproved him , and repeated it again , aloud , ipse nos fecit & non ipsi nos , which the emperour applying to his own cogitation , thought the priest to have some prophetical spirit , & fromthat time forward esteemed him greatly , and made him a bishop . thus that bishop , though he could not set so good a face on it , yet perhaps he got as good a bishoprick . but to come to our bishop whom my self knew in cambridge , a master of art , and a proper active man , and plaid well at tennis ; and after that , when he came to be batchellor of divinity , he would tosse an argument in the schools , better then a ball in the tennis-court . a grave doctor yet living , and his ancient alluding to his name in their disputation , called him erudite benedicte , and gave him for his outward , as well as inward ornaments great commendation . he became after chaplain to the lord treasurer burleigh , who was very curious , and no lesse fortunate in the choyce of his chaplains , and they no lesse happy in the choyce of their patron , as mr. day after bishop of winchester , the bishop i now speak of doctor neale now dean of westminster , and divers others . chichester . i finde in former ages many unlearned and unfit men , by favour recommended to bishopricks , but of a man recommended by the king , and refused by the clergy , onely for his want of learning , i think there is but one example , and that was one robert paslew in the time of hen. 3. which prince is no less to be commended for admitting the refusall , then they for refusing ; but yet in speaking of learned bishops , this church may say their last have been their best . doctor watson your highness can remember his majesties almoner , he was a very good preacher , preferred by the queen first , to the deanry of bristol , where he was well beloved ; and after to chichester , where he was more honoured , if not more beloved , for the course of his life , and cause of his death , i might in some sort compare him to bishop vaughan , late of london , he grew somewhat corpulent , and having been sick , and but newly recovered , adventured to travel to wait in his place , and so by recidivation he dyed . doctor andrews . his majesty having a great desire to prefer doctor andrews , then dean of westminster , made speciall choyce of him to succeed him as well in the bishoprick as the aumnership , and i suppose if hen. the 3d his chaplain had been so good a schollar , he had not been refused for his learning . this bishop your highness knoweth so well , and have heard him so oft , as it may be you think it needless to hear more of him . but i will be bold to say your highness doth but half know him , for the vertues that are not seen in him , are more and greater then those that are seen , i will therefore play the blab so far , that your higlmess may know him better . he was born in london , and trained up in the school of that famous mulcaster , and for the speciall towardness was found in him in very young yeares , he was not onely favoured , but had liberall exhibition given him by a great councellor of those times , as i shall note hereafter . the course of his study was not as most mens are in these times , to get a little superficiall fight in divinity , by reading two or three of the new writers , and straight take orders , and up into the pulpit . of which kind of men a reverent bishop yet living said as properly as pleasantly , when one told of a young man that preached twice every lords day , beside some exercising in the week dayes , it may be ( saith he ) he doth talk so often , but i doubt he doth not preach . and to the like effect the late queen said to the same bishop , when she had on the fryday heard one of those talking preachers much commended to her by some body , and the sunday after heard a well labour'd sermon that smelt on the candle , i pray said the , let me have your bosom sermons , rather then your lip-sermons ; for when the preacher takes pains , the auditor takes profit . but to come to doctor andrews that gathered before he did spend , reading both new writers and old writers , not as tasting but as disgesting them , and finding according to our saviours saying . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} the old to be more profitable , at last his sufficiency could be no longer conceal'd . but as an industrious marchant that secretly and diligently follows his trade with small showe , till his wealth being grown so great , it can be no longer hidden , is then call'd on for subsidies and loans , and publique services : so did this mans excellencies suddenly break forth . his patron that studied projects of policy , as much as precepts of piety , hearing of his fame , and meaning to make use thereof , sent for him ( as i have credibly heard ) and dealt earnestly with him , to hold up a side that was even then falling , and to maintain certain state points of puritanisme . but he had too much of the {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} in him to be scar'd with a councellors frown , or blown aside with his breath , answered him plainly , they were not onely against his learning , but his conscience . the councellor seeing this man would be no fryer pinhie ( to be taught in a closet what he should say at pauls ) dismist him with some disdain for the time ; but afterward did the more reverence his integrity and honesty , and became no hinderer to his ensuing preferments . of these one was a prebend in pauls , belonging to him , they call the confessor or confessioner , a place notoriously abused in time of popery by their tyranny and superstitition ; but now of late by a contrary extream too much forgotten and neglected : while he held this place , his manner was , especially in lent time , to walk duly at certain hours , in one of the iles of the church , that if any came to him for spirituall advice and comfort , as some did , though not many , he might impart it to them . this custom being agreeable to scripture , and fathers , expressed and required in a sort in the communion book , not repugning the 39 articles , and no lesse approved by calvin in his institutions , yet was quarrel'd with by divers ( upon occasion of some sermons of his ) as a point of popery . the like scandall was taken of some , though not given by him , for his reverent speaking of the highest mystery of our faith and heavenly food the lords supper , which some are so stiffe in their knees , or rather in their hearts , that they hold it idolarry to receive that kneeling . but whatsoever such barked at , he ever kept one tenor of life and doctrine exemplar and unreproveable . two speciall things i have observed in his preaching , that i may not omit to speak of . one to raise a joynt reverence to god and the prince , to spirituall and civill magistrate , by uniting and not severing them . the other to lead to amendment of life , and to good works , the fruits of true repentance . of the first kind , he made a sermon before the queen long since , which was most famous of this text . thou leddest thy people like sheep by the hands of moses and aaron . which sermon , ( though courteous ears are commonly so open , as it goes in at one ear , and out at the other ) yet it left an aculeus behind in many of all sorts . and henry noel one of the greatest gallants of those times , sware as he was a gentleman , he never heard man speak with such a spirit . and the like to this was his sermon before the king , of two silver trumpets to be made of one peece . of the second kind i may say all his sermons are , but i will mentition but his last , that i heard the fifth of the last november , which sermon i could wish ever to read upon that day . when the lord turned the captivity of sion , &c. and i never saw his majesty more sweetly affected with any sermon then with that . but to conclude , i perswade my self , that whensoever it shall please god to give the king means , with consent of his confederate princes to make that great peace which his blessed word beati pacifici seemeth to promise , i mean the ending of this great schisme in the church of god , procured as much by ambition , as by superstition ; this reverent prelate will be found one of the ablest , not of england onely , but of europe , to set the course for composing the controversies , which i speak not to add reputation to his sufficiency by my judgement ; but rather to win credit to my judgement by his sufficiency . and whereas i know some that have known him so long as i have , yet have heard and believe no lesse of his learning then i speak , find fault that he is not so apt to deliver his resolution upon every question moved as they could wish , who if they be not quickly resolved of that they aske , will quickly resolve not to care for it . i say this cunctation is the mean between precipitation and procrastination , and is specially commended by the apostle st. james , as i have heard him alledge it , sit omnis homo {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} tardus ad loquendum , tardus ad iram . rochester . doctor barlow . this bishoprick having been noted in hen. the 3d his time , to have been one of the poorest of england , hath i suppose the less been impoverished in the spoyling times . the grand spoylers being of the mind of some taylors , that when their allowance of stuffe was most scant , they would make the garment the larger . thiscity in these last 100 years , hath had 14 bishops , of which one was a cardinall , two were arch-bishops , and i take it but one hath dyed bishop , and that was the last before this whose name was young , but lived to be very old , and desired not to remove . his successor doctor bar low is one of they oungest in age , but one of the ripest in learning of all his predecessors , since bishop fisher that had ill luck with his learning , to die upon tower-hill . there are so many printed testimonies of his sufficiency , as i need say the lesse of it ; but it is like he shall not abide there long . of all his sermons he preached before queen elizabeth , which were many , and very good . one that she liked exceedingly was of the plough , of which she said , barlows text might seem taken from the cart , but his talk may teach you all in the court . he made a sermon not long after that at pauls , which man , especially puritans , did much mislike , and for that cause call it ( alledging to his name ) the barley loaf , not marking how much honour they give it in their scorn , by example , both of the old testament and new . in the old testament , the barley loaf signified gedeons sword , ordained to destroy the wicked . in the new , by the blessing of our saviour , that fed more thousands of honest men then this offended . of oxenford . doctor underhill . from rochester i should go a long pilgrimage to st. davids in wales , save i must bait a little out of my way at four new bishopricks erected by king henry the eighth of famous memory , and therefore i hope not ordained to be dissolved of a henry the ninth of future and fortunate expectation ; i say i will but bait especially at oxford , lest i be baited , if i stay too long , for i know this discourse is to some as unguis in ulcere . this bishoprick being but 66 yeers since erected , had two bishops in 26 yeeres , and then continued voyd 21. yeeres , what time of pure devotion to the leases that would yield good fines , a great person recommended doctor underhill to this place , perswading him to take it , as in the way to a better ; but god knowes it was out of his way every way . for ere his first fruits were paid , he died ( as i heard at greenwich , in much discontent and poverty ; yet his preferrer to seem to doe some favour to the university of oxford , for recompence of the spoyle done on the bishoprick of oxford , erected a new solemne lecture there at his own charge , which doctor reynolds did read , at which lecture i hapned , once to be present with the founder , where we were taught , nihil & non , . as elsewhere i have at large shewed to your highnesse . but though the many-headed beast , the multitude was bleared with this bounty ; yet the schollers that were more nasuti , oculati & cordati , did smell , and see , and say , that this was but to steale a goose , and stick a feather . and indeed this was the true theorique and practique of puritanisme . one impugning the authority of bishops secretly , by such lectures ; the other impoverishing their livings openly by such leases . after the bishop underhill was laid under the earth , i think the sea of oxford would have been drowned in the sea of oblivion , if his majesty , whose soule abhors all sacriledge had not supplied it with the good father that now holdeth it , doctor john bridges , a man whose volumes in prose and verse give sufficiend testimony of his industry , though for mine own part i am grown an unfit praiser of poetry , having taken such a surfeit of it in my youth , that i think now , a gray head and a verse doe not agree together , and much lesse a grave matter , and a verse . for the reputation of poetry is so altered by the iniquity of the times , that whereas it was wont to make simple folke believe some things that were false , now it makes our great wise men to doubt of things that be true . when the creed was first put into english verse , as it is now sung in the church , the descending of christ into hell , was never questioned , but since it hath been sung 50 yeere or more , his spirit did after this descend into the lower parts to them that long in darknesse were , the true light of our hearts . the doubt that was made of the latter of these two verses , hath caused the truth of the former to be called in question . wherefore though i grant that psalms and hymns may , and perhaps ought to be in verse as good linguists affirme , moses and davids psalms to be originally , yet i am almost of opinion that one ought to abjure all poetry when he comes to divinity . but not derogating herein from the travels of my betters and the judgement of mine elders i proceed or rather post to my next stage . of glocester . dr. thomson . at glocester i shall at this time make a very short bait , the last bishop thereof being but lately removed to london , and the present bishop scant yet warme in his seat ; yet this i must say , that i have heard some students of good judgement that knew him in oxford affirme , that in his very young yeares he gave a great hope and good presage of his future excellency , having a rare gift ex tempore in all his schoole exercises , and such a happy wit to make use of all occurrents to his purpose , as if he had not taken the occasions , as they fell out by accident , but rather bespoken such pretty accidents to fall out to give him the occasions . i have often heard him before queen elizabeth , and it was not possible to deliver sounder matter nor with better method , for which cause he was greatly respected and reverenced at the court . but for his latter sermon before the two most magnificent kings , your highnesse father and unckle , i cannot praise him ; no , for i am a cambridge man , but i can envy him , that in two judgements , omni exceptione majoribus ▪ did carry the commendation of the pure latine language ( peculiar as i thought unto cambridge ) to her younger sister of oxford ; and thus much for him whose vertues no doubt will give matter for some further relation under some other title hereafter . of peterborough . dr. thomas dove . i should doe both this worthy prelate and my selfe much wrong , if i should not commend him for many good parts , being one whom i have long known to have been greatly respected and favoured by the late queen ; and no lesse liked and approved in the more learned judgement of his majesty . how beit the ground on which i would build his chiefe praise ( to some of the aristarchy and sowre censures of these daies , requires first an apologie . for i remember that even in cambridge , about twenty five yeers since , and i am sure he remembers it too ) a question arose among the divines scarce fit for the schooles , lesse fit for the pulpit , yet was it both handled and determined in the pulpit , whether rhetoricall figures and tropes , and other artificiall ornaments of speech taken from prophane authors , as sentences , adages , and such like , might be used in sermons , and not rather the plaine naked truth delivered out of the word of god . the precise fort , that would have the word , and church and all goe naked , saving some apron perhaps of fig-leaves , were not onely earnest but bitter against the use of all such humane , or ( as they call them ) prophane helps , calling them paintings fitter for strumpets , then for chaste matrons . but the graver and more orthodox were of the other opinion , and namely my learned tutor doctor flemning , by appointment of the heads of the colledges in an excellent sermon determined the controversie . that seeing now the extraordinary gift , first of tongues , then of miracles was ceased , and that knowledge is not now infusa but acquisita , we should not despise the helpe of any humane learning , as neither st. paul did , who used the sentences of poets , and hath many excellent tropes , with exaggerations and exclamations in his epistles ; for chastity doth not abhor all ornaments , for judeth did attire her head as curiously as jesabel , &c. about twelve yeeres after this , the very same question in the same manner was canvased at oxford , and determined in the pulpit by dr. house against doctor reynolds , who held the other opinion . but upon occasion of this sermon , at which my brother ( that had been his scholler ) and my selfe hapned both to be present ; he retracted to us his opinion , or rather disclaimed , as my lord of duresme that now is ( but then dean of christ-church ) doth well remember . this opinion then being sound , that eloquence may serve as an handmaid , and tropes and figures , as jewels and ornaments to this chaste matron , divinity ; i must say as i began , that his sermons are as well attended and adorned in this kind , and as plentifully as any of his predecessors have been , or his successours are like to be ; and that they were wont so to be long since sufficeth this testimony , that her majesty that last raigned when she first heard him , said , she thought the holy ghost was descecded again in this dove . of bristol . dr. john thornbury . bristoll being a bishoprick of the later erection , namely but 66. years since , no marvaile it never had any bishop thereof cannonized for a saint , yet it cannot be denyed since to have had one holyman ; and if copulation with a bishop might make them holy , it hath had also in his short time more then one holy woman . ispent a roving shaft on fletchers second marriage , i would i could as well plucke out the thorne of doctor thornburies first marriage out of every mans conscience that have taken a scandall of his second . for my part whatsoever i think in my private , it becoms us not to judge our judges , the customes and lawes of some countries differ from other , and sometimes are changed and mended in the same , as this case of divorce is most godly reformed in ours , and as vincentius lirinensis saith well of st. cyprian who had before the councell of carthage defended rebaptizing . the author of this errour , saith he , is no doubt in heaven , the followers and practifers of it now goe to hell , so i may say of this bishop , his remarriage may be pardoned , et in hoc saeculo et in futuro , but he that shall so do , again may be met with in hoc saeculo . but it was the bishop of limbrick in ireland and not the bishop of bristoll in england that thus married ; what ? doth this lessen the scandall ? i suppose it doth . for i dare affirme , that most of that diocesse are so well catechised , as they thinke it as great a scandall for their bishop , ( yea rather greater ) to have one wife as to have two , and though for lay mens marriage , their priests tell them it is a holy sacrament in them ( which they count a sacriledge in a bishop ) and they conferre to them out of st. paul {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , there is a great sacrament , yet their people and some of their peers also regard it as slightly , and dissolve it more uncivilly then if it were but a civill contract , for which they draw not onely by their bastardies and bigamies many apparent scourges of god the heavenly father , but also a peculiar pennance unto their nation of one fasting day extraordinary from their holy father the pope . but setting aside this misfortune rather then fault , which is god and the king pardon him for , who shall impute to him ? for other matters , i have reason to think him and his in gods and the kings favour . he and his whole family had a miraculous escape in ireland , which i would all our bishops did know ▪ that they might remember to keep their houses in better reparations . lying in an old castle in ireland in a large room , partitioned but with sheets or curtens , his wife , children , and servants , in effect a whole family ; in the dead time of the night , the floore over head being earth and plaster , as in many places is used , overcharged with weight , fell wholly downe together , and crushing all to pieces that was above two foot high as cupbords , tables , formes , stooles , rested at last upon certaine chests , as god would have it , and hurt no living creature . he did many good services in ireland for our queen and state , for which he was thought worthy of a better aboade , then in that purgatory . he hath very good understanding of that countrey , and if some others , who are since gone out of this world , had been as willing as he to have reported to his majesty the diseases of that countrey and the fittest cures , it may be it would not in long time have needed those desperate remedies of secandum and vrendum , as sharp to the surgeons oftentimes as to the patients . but to conclude , of this bishop , whom i love more then i praise , he is not unfurnisht of learning , of wisdome , of courage and other as well episcopall as temporall panoplia or furniture beseeming a gentleman , a dean , and a bishop . of st. davids , and the present bishop , dr. anthony rudd . of this ancient bishoprick or rather archbishoprick of st. davids ( as the old true brittans doe call it ) in latter called menevia , and the bishop menevensis , i was told of an old indulgence granted by calixtus the second , of a very speciall note , ascribing thereby great holinesse to this place , viz. that two pilgrimages to st. davids should be equal in merit to one pilgrimage to rome , expressed since for brevities sake by some fryer in a ryming verse , roma semel quantum , bis dat menevia tantum . this place hath yielded many excellent bishops , as well for good learning as good life , and for abstinence miraculous , if we believe stories that 33. bishops successively did eat no flesh . i can adde little of the bishops save of him that now lives whom if i knew not , yet by his looke i should guesse to be a grave and austere man , even like st. david himselfe , but knowing him as i doe , he was in more possibility to have proved like to st. john baptist in my opinion . there is almost none that waited in queen elizabeths court and observed any thing , but can tell , that it pleased her very much to seeme , to be thought , and to be told that shee looked young . the majesty and gravity of a scepter borne 44. yeares could not alter that nature of a woman in her ; this notwithstanding , this good bishop being appointed to preach before her in the lent of the yeere 1596 , the court then lying at richmond , wishing in a godly zeale , as well became him , that she should thinke sometime of mortality , being then 63. years of age , he tooke this text fit for that purpose out of the psalms , psalm . 90. vers. 12. o teach us to number our dayes , that we may incline our heart unto wisedome , which text he handled so well , so learnedly , and so respectively , as i dare undertake & so should i if i had not been somewhat better acquainted with the humour , that it would have well pleased her , or at least no way offended her . but when he had spoken a while of some sacred and mysticall numbers , as three for the trinity , three times three for the heavenly hierarchy seven for the sabbath , and seven times seven for a jubile ; and lastly ( i doe not deliver it so handsomely as he brought it in ) seven times nine for the grand climactericall yeare ; she perceiving whereto it tended began to be trouled with it . the bishop discovering all was not well , for the pulpit stands there vis a vis to the closet , he fell to treat of some more plausible numbers , as of the number 666. making latinus with which he said he could prove the pope to be antichrist also , of the fatall number of 88. which being so long before spoken of for a dangerous year , yet it hath pleased god that yeare not onely to preserve her but to give her a famous victory , against the united forces of rome and spaine ; and so he said there was no doubt but she should passe this year also and many more , if she would in her meditations and soliloquies with god , as he doubted not she often did , and would say thus and thus . so making indeed an excellent prayer by way of prosopopeia in her majesties person acknowledging gods great graces and benefits , and praying devoutly for the continuance of them , but withall interlarding it with some passages of scripture that touch the infirmities of age ; as that of ecclesiastes 12. when the grynders shall be few in number , and they wax darke that looke out of the windowes &c. and the daughters of singing shall be abased : and more to like purpose , he concluded his sermon . the queen as the manner was opened the window , but she was so farre from giving him thanks or good countenance , that she said plainly he should have kept his arithmetick for himselfe , but i see said she the greatest clerks are not the wisest men , and so went away for the time discontented . the lord keeper puckering though reverencing the man much in his particular , yet for the present to asswage the queens displeasure , commanded him to keep his house for a time , which he did . but of a truth her majesty shewed no ill nature in this , for within three dayes after she was not onely displeased at his restraint , but in my hearing rebuked a lady yet living for speaking scornefully of him and his sermon . onely to shew how the good bishop was deceived in supposing she was so decayed in her limbes and senses as himself perhaps & other of that age were wont to be ; she said she thankt god that neither her stomack nor strength , nor her voyce for singing nor fingring instruments ; nor lastly , her sight was any whit decayed , and to prove the last before us all she produced a little jewell that had an inscription of very small letters , and offered it first to my lord of worcester , and then to sir james crofts to read , and both protested bona fide that they could not , yet the queen her selfe did finde out the poesie , and made her selfe merry with the standers by upon it ; and thus much for st. davids . yet i have been told of a strange story of a huge waight and bignesse that hath a pretty quality , namely , that with one finger you may stir it , yet twenty yoke of oxen cannot remove it ; but i rather think it is mistaken , for the stone mr. cambden writes of is neere pensance in your country of cornwal , called mam amber , of which he writes page 136. hath the very like quality . of landaff . doctor francis godwin . it is doubtlesse a wonderfull antiquity that my authour produceth of landaff , that it professed christianity , and had a church for christian religion in the yeer of our lord 180. but alas , for a man to boast of great nobility , and goe in ragged clothes , and a church to be praised for great antiquity , and make ruinous showes , is in mine opinion according to the vulgar proverbe , a great boast and a small roast . but by this authors relation it appeares , this rost was so marred by an ill cooke , as by a worse kitchen ; for in the yeare 1545. being the 37 yeare of henry the eight , doctor kitchen being made of an idle abbot , a busie bishop , & wading through those hazardous times that ensued till the first yeare of queene elizabeth , to save himselfe was content to spoile his bishoprick ; satan having in those dayes more care to sift the bishoppricks then the bishops , else how was it possible for a man of that ranke to sing , cantate domino canticum novum four times in fourteen yeares , and never sing out of tune , if he had not lov'd the kitchen better then the church . howbeit , though he might seeme for name sake to favour the kitchen , yet in spoyling that sea hee was as little friend to the kitchen as the rest , spoyling the woods and good provisions that should have warm'd it , which gave occasion to doctor babbington , now bishop of worcester , to call it aph without land , and doctor morgan after to remove to saint assaph , from thence not for name sake , but for his own name sake , that is more-gaine : at what time the present bishop i now speake of , being then sub-deane of exeter , doctor francis godwin , having that yeare newly published this worke , she gave him presently this bishoprick , not full two moneths vacant , and would as willingly have given him a much better in her owne disposition , as may well appeare in that she gave doctor cooper the bishoprick of lincoln● , onely for making a dictionary , or rather but for mending that which sir thomas eliot had made before . of this bishop therefore i may speake sparingly , yea , rather spare all speech , considering that every leafe of his worthy worke , is a sufficient testimony of his vertuous mind , unfatigable industry , and infinite reading ; for even as we see commonly , those gentlemen that are well descended , and better bred , are most carefull to preserve the true memory and pedigree of their ancestors , which the base and ignorant , because they could not conserve , will seeme to condemne : so this worthy bishop , collecting so diligently , & relating so faithfully the succession and lives of so many of our christian most reverend bishops in former ages , doth prove himselfe more by spirituall , then carnall birth , to come of those ancestors , of whom it was long before prophecyed by the princely prophet , in stead of thy fathers , thou shalt have children whom thou shalt make princes in all places . though the policy of these latter times hath sought to make our fathers all but children , and younger brothers ( as they say ) and to disinherit them of their patrimonie ; he deserveth therefore a pen much better then mine , and equall to his own , to doe that for him he hath done for others . before his going to ex eter , i had some acquaintance with him , and have heard him preach more then once at our assizes and else where , his manner was to be sharpe against the vices most abounding in that time , sacriledge symony , contempt of god in his ministers , and want of charity . amongst other of his sermons , preaching once of dives and lazarus , the said , that though the scriptures had not expressed plainly who dives was , yet by his clothes and his face he might be bold to affirme , hee was at the least a justice of peace , and perhaps of oyer & terminer too . this speech was so ill taken by some guilty conscience , that a great matter was inforc'd to be made of it , that it was a dangerous & seditious speech ; and why ? forsooth because it was a deare yeare ; but see how a mans enemies sometimes doe him as much good as his friends : their fond accusation & his discreet justification made him both better known , & more respected by them that were able to doe him most good . since this he hath lived in so remote places from my occasions , first at exeter , and then beyond sea in wales , that i am become almost a stranger to his person , but yet i am growne better acquainted with his writings both in latin and english , and namely by this his catalogue , which having read first with great contentment to my self ; i have since for your highness pleasure perused again , and presumed to adde some notes , and a table , by way of alphabet , for the more readie finding of most memorable matters , beside a supply of such as were in his edition wanting ; of whom finding himselfe to be one , that comming in so worthily was unworthy to be left out . i give him here in his due place his more due commendation , which if i should fortune upon some envie to have forborn , or upon judgement to have omitted , as a praise needlesse where the whole worke is his praise , he might worthily have said as much of me , as i wrote of a certaine poetaster some yeares paft , who left me out of the bead-roul of some riming paper blotters that he call'd poets . of poets balbus reckoning up a table , doth boast he makes their names more honourable , and nere vouchsafing me to name at all , he saies he knowes he grieved me to the gall . i galled ? simple soule ; no , thou art gulled to thinke i prize the praise of such a dull-head , whose verse 〈◊〉 guilty of some b●dge or blame , let them seeke testimonialls of their fame . then learn untaught , then learn ye envious elves , no books are prais'd , that praise not most themselves . and thus much be said for the province of canterbury and the bishops of the severall diocesses thereof . there follows now to say somewhat also of the province of yorke , which i shall indeavour to accomplish with like brevity and fidelity . of the arch-bishops of yorke , and first of doctor thomas young . concerning the arch-bishops of yorke that have been in the former ages , whose lives are particularly-related by this author , it seèmes to me a matter worthy some note , that there have been of them , for devotion and pietie , as holy , for blood and nobilitie , as high , of wealth and ability as huge , as any not onely of england but of europe . now that every age may have his excellency , i will say of this our age , i meane for some fifty yeares past , in which there hath bin seven arch-bishops of yorke , that these have been as excellent in courage , in learning , and eloquence ; for doctor nicholas heath whom her late majesty found both arch-bishop and chancellor ( though she did take or rather receive both from him ) yet did she ever gratefully acknowledge both his courage & fidelity show'd in her cause , & used no man of his religion so graciously . of arch-bishop grindall i have spoken before , and in his due place given him his due praise ; now i am to adde a word or two of arch-bishop young , that in the third yeare of queen elizabeth was made arch-bishop . he was first bishop of saint davids , and either next or very soon after bishop farrar , who among other articles that were alleaged against him , had one that i thinke was never alleaged against clergy-man or lay-man before , and that was for riding on a scottish saddle ; but this bishop walked more warily then that bishop did ride , so as this came to live in a state when t'other died at a stake : and how great soever his honour was in being both arch-bishop and president , he left one president that too many are apt to follow , which was the pulling downe of a goodly hall , for the greedinesse of the lead that covered it . plumbi faeda fames . a drossie desire and unworthy part , with which he stained the reputation of learning and religion , that was before ascribed to him , and although by meanes of some great friend this was lesse spoken of in his life time then after , yet if i have beene rightly informed , even by that he was made no great gainer . true it is , he purchased great things of the earle of arundell , and how his heires thrive with it , i do not heare , but there is a perilous verse , demale quaesitis vix gaudet tertius baeres . for my owne part i must confesse , that where i finde that same destroying and reviving spirit , that in the apocalyps is named in hebrew abaddon , & sounds in my english care and heart , a bad one , i suspect there is little true vertue or godlines harbour'd in that breast . but if he were finely beguiled of all this lead by his great friend that would be bold with him , i imagin that none that heares it will much lament it ; at a venture , i will tell your highnesse the tale that i heard , from as good a man as i tell it of , onely because he named not the parties , i cannot precisely affirme it was this man , but i dare affirme this man was as worthy of it . a great lord in the court in those daies sent to a great prelate in the north to borrow 1000 livre. of him : the prelate protested on his faith ( i think not a justifying faith ) that he was not able to doe it , but if he were , he would be very willing , acknowledging great favours of the said lord , and sending some present enough perhaps to pay for the use of 1000 li. the noble man that had a good espyall both north and south , hearing of a certaine ship loaden with lead , belonging to this prelate , that came to be sold at london , even as it came to land , sends for the prelates agent , shows him his lords letter and protestation under his hand , proves the ability demonstrable by the lead , and so by treaty or terrour , or treachery of the servant , made him betray his master for 1000 li . doctor edwin sands . as those that saile from flanders or ireland , to london or bristoll , being past the tempestuous and broken seas , and now in sight of the harbour , yet even their fear to miscarry sometime by mistaking the channell , are oft so perplext , as one bids to set saile againe , another advises to cast anchor ; so is it now with me , drawing toward the end of this my short and voluntary voyage : i remember a ship of london once that having past the goodwin sands very safe , and sayling on this side black-wall to come up to ratcliefe , struck on the black rock at the point below greenwich , and was almost cast away . i have , as your highnesse sees past already the godwins , if i can aswell passe over this e'dwin sands , i will goe roamer of greenwich rock , not forgetting to vaile as becomes me in passing by , and if the spring tide serve , come to anchor about richmond . for i am entring now to write of an archbishop , who though he dyed twenty yeares since in that anno mirabili of 88. yet he lives still in his off-spring , having a sonne of his name that both speakes and writes admirably , whose profession , though it be not of religion as his fathers was , yet never did his fathers preaching shew better what to follow , then his writings shew what to shun ; if my pen therefore should wrong his father , his pen no lesse might wrong me . i must appeale therefore for my justification in this point to the most indifferent censurers , and to yours especially sweet prince , for whose fake i write ; for ifi should let passe a matter so notorious as that of this archbishop of yorke and sir robert stapleton , it were so willfull an omission as every one might accuse me of ; and if i should speake of either partially and against my owne conscience and knowledge , i should much more accuse my selfe . here then is the scylla and carybdis that i saile betweene , and if i faile of my right course , i shall be driven to say as a filly preacher did upon an unlike occasion , and much lesse to his purpose when he hapned unawares to have a more learned auditory then he expected . incidi in ancillam cupiens vitare caribden . but the story that i make this long introduction unto is shortly this . about 25. yeares since there was great kindnesse , and had long continued between archbishop sands and sir robert stapleton a knight of yorkeshire , whom your highnesse hath often seen , who in those dayes for a man well spoken , properly seen in languages , a comely and goodly personage , had scant an equall , and ( except sir philip sidney ) no superiour in england : for which reasons the arch-bishop of all his neighbours and countreymen , did make a speciall account of him . about the year 83. also he was high-sheriffe of york-shire , and met the judges with seven score men in sutable liveries , and being at this time likewise a widdower , he wooed and won , and wedded soon after , one of the best reputed widdows in the west of england . in this felicity he sailed with ful sails , but somewhat too high , and no lesse the arch-bishop in like prosperity of wealth , and friends and children , yet seeming above all , to joy in the friendship of this knight , who answered in all good correspondence , not onely of outward complement , but inward comfort ; but well said the spanish poet , nulli te facias nimis sodalem , gaudebis minus & minus . dolebis . too much companion make your self to none , your joy will be the lesse , and less your mone . these two so friendly neighbours and consorts swimming in this calm of content , at last hapned to fall foul one on another by this occasion . the knight in his great good fortunes , having as great defigns among other things , had laid the foundation of a fair house , or rather palace , the model whereof he had brought out of italy , which house he intended to name stapletons stay ; and for that cause invited the arch-bishop in good kindness to see it , and requested him for the more credit , and as it were , blessing to the house , that his grace would give it the foresaid name . but when the arch-bishop had fully beheld it , and in his judgement found it fitter for a lord treasurer of england , then for a knight of york-shire . he said to him , would you have me call this intended house stapletons stay . nay rather let me say to you , stay stapleton ; for if you go forward to set up this house , it will pull you down . how often a man loses a friend with a jest , and how grievous it is for a mans vanity to be crost in the humour . this speech of my lords that i should think , intended friendly , uttered faithfully , and applyed even fatherly unto him , he took in so deep disdain and despite , that howsoever he smothered it for the present , from that time forward he sought a mean to revenge it . and wanting neither wit to devise , nor courage to execute his design , he found out , or at least he supposed he had found a stratagem , not onely to wreak this scorn on the good bishop that mistrusted nothing , but also to make the old mans purse pay for the finishing of the new house . he acquaints him with an officer in my lords house , some malecontent that had been denyed a lease . these two devise , that when my lord should lie next at doncaster , where the hostess of the house having been ( formerly i suppose ) mistriss sands maid , was bold sometimes to bring his lordship a cawdle to his beds side ( for in charity i may surmise no worse ) sir robert should also by chance come and host at the same house . this bad wife and her good man are made partakers and parties of this stratagem , her part was but a naked part , viz. to slip into my lords bed in her smock , mine hoast must sodainly be jealous , and swear that he holds his reputation , though he be but a poor man , more dear then that he can indure such an indignity , and thereupon calls sir robert stapleton , brings him to the bishops chamber in his night-gown , takes them in bed together with no small exclamation . the knight that acted his part with most art , and leaft suspition , takes great pains to pacifie the hoast , conjures all that were admitted to secresie and silence , and sending all to their lodgings without tumult , asketh of my lord how this came to passe . the bishop tells him with a great protestation , that he was betrayd by his man and his hoast , little suspecting the knight to be of the quorum . the knight sooths him in all he said , condoles the great mischance , is sorrowfull for the danger , and carefull for the honour of the bishop , and specially the church . proh superi quantum mortalia pecior a caecae noctis habent ? ipso sceleris molimine ( miles ) creditur esse pius . the distressed archbishop distrusting no fraud in him , asketh his advise in this disaster , and following his counsel from time to time , gives the hoast a peece of money , the false officer a farm , and the knight for his travail in this matter many friendly recompences . but when he found after all this smoothing and soothing , that he grew so bold at last to presse him beyond all good manner , for the good mannour of soothwell , then he found that in sooth all was not well , and was even compell'd too late , to that he might much better have done much sooner , viz. to complain to the lords of the councel , and to his ancient and dear friend , the earl of leicester ( for whose father he had almost lost his life ) by whose help , he got them call'd to the star-chamber . ore tenus , where they were for this conspiracy convicted , fined and imprisoned . the fame , or rather the infamy of this matter specially before their conviction was far and diversly spread , according as the reporters favoured or disfavoured either : and the friends of each side had learned their tale so perfect , that many long time after , held the first impression they had received , notwithstanding the censure and sentence in the starr-chamber . part whereof being , that the knight should publickly acknowledge how he had slandered the arch-bishop , which he did in words conceived to that purpose accordingly , yet his friends gave out , that all the while he carried a long whetstone hanging out at the pocket of his sleeve , so conspicuous , as men understood his meaning was to give himself the lie , which he would not in another matter have taken of any man . but thus the bishop had a conquest which he had no great comfort of , and lived but few years after it , and the knight had a foile that he would not seem much daunted with , and lived to have part of his fine releast by his majesties clemency ; but yet he tost up and down all his life without any great contentment , from wiltshire into wales , and thence to the isle of man , a while to chelsey , but little to york-shire where his stay should have been , so that of this story i could collect many documents , both for bishops and knights , but that i shun prolixity in a matter no way pleasing . howbeit because one p. r. or r. p. for he can turn his name as mountebank turns his capp , in his epistle before the resolution ( a book much praised by sir edwin sand , hath a scoffe after his manner at this hostess of doncaster ; i would pray him but to peruse the life of st. bernard , not that of their lying legend , but that which unworthily perhaps goeth among his most worthy works , written by william abbot in five books . there he shall find in the third chapter of his first book , how that same maidenly saint was subject to the like manner of scandall : first , of a young woman lying by him in naked bed , half a night when himself was not 30 year old , and yet we must believe he toucht her not ; and next of his hostess also offering three timesin one night to come to his bed , and he crying out each time , latrones , latrones , theeves ▪ theeves , which our bishop had much more cause to have cryed , and had he but remembred it , as i doubt not but he had read it , he might peradventure have dissolved the pack with it . to utter mine own conceit franckly , if parsons conjecture were true , that by humane frailty this prelate had in his younger dayes been too familiar with this woman , which is said to passe but as a veniall sin among those of his profession , yet was the knights practise very foul , and the lords censure very just that condemned him : for i heard judge anderson , a learned and stout judge , condemn one for a rape , upon the oath of a woman ( notwithstanding , the man affirmed , and the woman denyed not , but she had often in former times yielded her self to his lust ) because it seemed she had repented that course of life , in betaking her to a husband . so my lord , if he had once such a fault , yet now that the fault had left him , as well as he the fault , had just cause to complain , and the knights practise was blame-worthy to seek to entrap him thereby to the spoile of the church and disgrace of his calling . and the arch-bishop did much noblier to hazard this obloquie of some idle tongues then to have incurred the greater scandall of betraying his church . to conclude therefore , i wish all squires and all knights to be fuller of reverence toward bishops and arch-bishops , and not to oppose or contest with them . the play at chess , a game not devised for or by fooles may teach , that the bishops due place is nearest the king , and though some knight can leap better over the pawns heads , yet ofttimes he leaps short , where the bishops power , if you crosse it , reacheth the length of the whole province . doctor john piers. of this doctor john piers , who lived and dyed a moft reverent prelate , i must , to give him the greater commendation , do like those , that when they will enforce them to leap their farthest , go back the contrary way some part of the ground , and by little and little amending their pace , at last over-leap the mark themselves had designed , so shall i look back into some part of his life , and showe first how unlikely he was to come to such high honour and place as he dyed in . for although he was a scholar towardly enough in his youth , of good wit , and not the meanest birth , having a gentleman of good sort to his brother : yet hasting to a competent ftay of life , he accepted of a small benefice in the countrey , as i take it near oxford , and there was in great hazard to have drowned all those excellent guifts that came after to be so well esteemed and rewarded in him : there first he was enforced to keep mean and rusticall company , that company enticed him to the german fashion , even then grown too common in england , to sit whole nights in a tipling house at ale and cakes , as ennius & cato are noted , of the former of whom horace saith , ennius ipse pater nunquam nisi potus ad arma prosiluit dicenda , and of the latter martial saith , quod nintio gaudes noctem producere vino ignosco vitium forte catonis habes . howbeit this gentleman never met with such a disgrace by such company as the parson of limmington had , whom our countreyman sir amias pawlet about a drunken fray set in the stocks , and yet after he proved both arch-bishop of york , and one of the greatest cardinals of christendom . neither do i bring these examples to lessen this fault , as if i were to leave some aspersion hereof upon him , my purpose is nothing lesse , for i am rather of that gentlemans mind , that having by fatherly indulgence tolerated the humour of gaming and wenching in his sonne , disinherited him for drinking , saying of the first , if he had wit he would not lose much by it : of the second , that in time for his own ease he would leave it ; but of the third he said , he would prove the elder the viler , and hardly ever amend it . now therefore that i have show'd you how this bishop was in danger by this fault , let me also showe how he was freed from it . being once against preparing , as well himself as others for receiving the holy communion , and making choice of a discreet confessor , before whom he might powre out his soul , a custom as pittifully abused in those dayes , as disused in these , he declared to him by the way this disposition of his to company and drinking . the preacher like a true spirituall father indeed , no less ▪ learnedly then zealously , laying before him the enormity of such a custom , did earnestly dehort him from it , affirming to him , that though every particular excess in that kind , did not reach to a habit , or height of mortall sin , as one act of adultery , murder , or false witness doth , yet if it should grow to a habit , it were not onely an ugly scandall in that profession , but would draw also as bad sins as it self with it . behold a comfortable example , how where nature is weak , grace can strengthen it ; upon this grave admonition , he left first the vice , and after the company , and following his study more industriously then before at the university , he ascended worthily the degrees of doctor and deane , and bishop and arch-bishop , and lived all his life not onely continent , but abstinent : of his continence , my authour hath said sufficient , of his abstinency this may be one proofe , that being sickly toward his end , he was so fearfull to drinke wine though his stomacke required it , that his physician being a pleasant man , and loving a cup of wine himselfe very well , was wont to fay to him sometimes , now if your grace will call for a cup of wine and drinke to me , i warrant it will never hurt you . doctor matthew hutton . i no sooner remember this famous and worthy prelate , but me thinks i see him in the chappel at white-hall , queen elizabeth at the window in the closset , all the lords of the parliament spirituall and temporall about them , and then after his three courtsies that i heare him out of the pulpit thundring this text : the kingdomes of the earth are mine , and i doe give them to whom i will , and i have given them to nebuchodonozor and his son , and his sons son : which text , when he had thus produced , taking the sense rather then words of the prophet , there followed first so generall a murmur of one friend whispering to another , then such an erected countenance in those that had none to speake to , lastly so quiet a silence and attention in expectance of some strange doctrine , where text it selfe gave away kingdomes and scepters , as i have never observed either before or since . but he , as if he had been a jeremiah himselfe , and not an expounder of him , shewed how there were two speciall causes of translating of kingdomes , the fulnesse of time and the ripenesse of sinne , that by either of these , and sometime by both , god in secret and just judgments transferred scepters from kindred to kindred , from nation to nation at his good will and pleasure , & running over historically the great monarchies of the world , as the kingdome of egypt and after of israel swallowed up by the assirians , and the golden head of nabuchodonozor , the same head cut off by the silver brest and armes of the medes . and perfians . cyrus and darius this silver consumed by the brazen belly , and this of the graecians and alexander , and that brasse stamped to powder by the iron legges of the romans and caesar . then coming neerer home , he shewed how oft our nation had been a prey to forreiners , as first when we were all brittans subdued by these romans , then , when the fulnesse of time and ripenesse of our finne required it , subdued by the saxons , after this a long time prosecuted and spoyled by the danes , finally conquered and reduced to perfect subjection by the normans whose posterity ▪ continued in great prosperity till the days of her majesty , who for peace , for plenty , for glory , for continuance , had exceeded them all , that had lived to change all her councellours but one , all officers twice or thrice , some bishops foure times , onely the uncertainty of succession gave hopes to forreiners to attempt fresh invasions and breed feares in many of her subjects of new conquest , the onely way then said he that is in pollicy left to quase those hopes and to asswage these feares were to establish the succession . he noted that nero was specially hated for wishing to have no successor , that even augustus was the worse beloved for appointing an ill man to his successor , and at last insinuating as farre as he durst the neernesse of bloud of our present soveraigne , he said plainly , that the expectations and presages of all writers went northward , naming without any circumlocution scotland , which said he , if it prove an errour , yet will it be found a learned errour . when he had finished this sermon there was no man that knew q. elizabeths disposition , but imagined that such a speech was as welcome as salt to the eyes , or to use her own word to pin up her winding sheet before her face , so to point out her successor and urge her to declare him , wherefore we all expected that she would not onely have been highly offended , but in some present speech have shewed her displeasure . it is a principle not to be despised , qui nescit dissimulare nescit regnare , she considered perhaps the extraordinary auditory , she supposed many of them were of his opinion , she might susspect some of them had perswaded him to this motion , finally she ascribed so much to his yeares , to his place , to his learning , that when she opened the window we found ourselves all deceived ; for very kindly and calmly without shew of offence ( as if she had but waked out of some sleepe ) she gave him thanks for his very learned sermon . yet when she had better confidered the matter , and recollected her selfe in private , she sent two councellours to him with a sharp message , to which he was glad to give a patient answer . but in this time that the lords and knights of parliament and others were full of this sermon , a great peere of the realme that was then newly recovered of an impediment in his hearing ( i would he did heare no worse now ) being in great liking of the archbishop for this sermon , prayed me to prove my credit with his grace to get a copy thereof , and to use his name if need were , alledging that impediment which caused though he were present , that he carried away little of it , i did so and withall told how my selfe had stood so incommodiously by meanes of the great presse , as i heard it not well , but was faine to take much of it on trust on others mens reports , who varyed so , as some i was sure did him wrong . the archbishop welcom'd me very kindly , and made me sit with him a pretty while in his lodging , but in fine he told me plainly he durst give no copy , for that sir john fortescue and sir john wolley ( as i remember had beene with him before from the queene with such a greeting as he scant knew if he were a prisoner or a free man , and that the speech being already ill taken , the writing might exasperate that which already was exulcerate so he denyed my suit , but in so loving a fashion as from that time to his end i did greatly honour him , and laid up in my heart many good lessons i learned of him , and it was not long ere the queen was so well pacified , that he went downe with the presidency of yorke in the vacancy ( halfe against his will ) committed to him . till afterward the lord burleigh now earle of exeter , of whose courage fidelity and religious heart the queen had great assurance , was made the lord president . but to returne to this archbishop ; as he was in place , so was he in learning , and especially in reading , not second to any in his time , insomuch as in cambridge long since , he was one of the chosen disputants before the queen , and a jesuit 26. yeares since disgracing our english students , as neglecting and not reading the fathers , excepts this matthew hutton , and one famous matthew more , and of this hutton he saith , qui unus in paucis versare patres dicitur , who is one of those few that searcheth the fathers : for matters of the world i can say but that that is known to the world ; his eldest sonne is a knight of faire living , and now or lately sheriffe of yorkeshire , and a man of very good reputation . one other sonne he had , that had an ill life , brought to a worse end , his name was luke hutton , so valiant that he feared not men nor laws , and for a robbery done on st. lukes day , for names sake he died as bad a death , i hope with a better mind then the theef , of whom st. luke writes , that he bad our saviour , if he were christ to save himself and him . the arch-bishop herein show'd the constancy and severity worthy of his place ; for he would not endeavour to save him ( as the world thought he easily might ) deserving herein the praise of justice , which eli wanted , that was too indulgent of his sonnes voices , and having hereby no blot , but such as may sort him with the great monark of this last age , king philip , with two famous warriors of the old romans , manlius and brutus , and with the highest priest even aaron . his own death was more happy then his life , to die satur annorum , full of years , and to see and leave peace upon israel . doctor thoby matthews . the praises of a friend are partiall or suspicious , of strangers uncertain and not iudicious , of courtly persons complementall and mannerly , of learned and wise men more pretious , of a prince most cordiall and comfortable ; but of an adversary , though often dangerous , yet never undeserved : what exceptions then can be taken to his just prayses , whom friends commend , strangers admire , nobles imbrace , the learned affect and imitate , his soveraigns have advanced , and even his enemy and emulous cannot chuse but extoll and approve . for edmond campion in his pamphlet of the ten reasons , which the catholiques count an epitome of all their doctrine , labouring to prove , that the fathers were all papists , to give the uttermost credit he can to his assertion , saith , that thoby matthew confest to him so much . pertentavimus ( saith he ) aliquando familiariter thobiam mattheum , qui nunc in concionibus dominatur , quem propter bonas artes & virtutum semina dileximus . we did once in familiar sort sound thoby matthews opinion , he that now domineers in your pulpits , whom for his good learning and seeds of vertue , we esteemed &c. this then is the testimoniall of their champion concerning his excellent guifts 27 yeers since ; if this commendation were then due , as indeed except it had been very due , that pen would never have given it , what may we think of him now , that for preaching may say with st. paul , i have laboured more then ye all , for reading lets no book passe , which for authour , matter , or wit hath any fame , who hath so happy a memory that no occasion slips him , whether premeditate or sudden , either in publick or private , to make use of that he hath read . but it is worth the hearing , which he answers to this calumniation , as well as commendation , which answer being in a long and learned latine sermon , ad clerum , i will not wrong so much to abbreviate in this place , but only for that same point . qui in concionibus domininatur , his sharp and modest return , i could not let passe being but a line . neque enim nostrū ministeriū est dominatio , neque dominatio vest : ministeriū . for neither is our ministery any lordly authority , nor your lordly command a true ministery . but his reading , learning & preaching is so well known to his highness , as i do but lose labour in recounting either generall or particular prayses thereof . i will descend now to some personall matters , which though commonly they are more captious for the writer , yet are they withall more pleasing and acceptable to the reader . he was born of honest rather then honourable parents in the city of bristol , which city , standing in two counties , somerset and gloucester , might move both counties hereafter to challenge him for their countreyman , as divers cities of greece did homer , if himself would not somtime clear it , by saying that he is a somersetshire man , or to write it as he spake sportingly a zomersetshire man , showing a towardliness in his very infancy to learning , he was set very young to school at wells ; but over-running his school-masters doctrine with his docility , he went quickly to oxford , yet ere he went , he had a marvellous misfortune ; for even as if sathan had foreseen that he should one day prove some excellent instrument of his service that must bruise the serpents head , he forgot not to attempt his part insidiari calcaneo , procuring him in a plain easie way so terrible a fall , as brake his foot , and small of his legg and ankle almost to pieces . but if the strong man procured this harm , a stronger granted the remedy ; for he was soon after so soundly cured , as there remained after , no sign or scar , no effect or defect . either for fight or use of this rupture . after his coming to oxford , he took all his degrees so ripe in learning , and so young in age , as was half a miracle . there it seems also the colledges strove for him , he removed so oft , till he rested in that for which he was ordained a principall vessel , christs church ; during his abode , there being dean of christschurch , it was hard to say , whether he was more respected for his great learning , eloquence , authority , countenance given by the queen , and the great ones : or beloved , for his sweet conversation , friendly disposition , bounty , that even then showd it self , and above all a chearfull sharpness of wit , that so sawced all his words and behaviour , that well was he in the university , that could be in the company of thoby matthew , and this name grew so popular and plausible , that they thought it a derogation to their love , to add any title of doctor or deane to it ; but if they spake of one of his men , as he was ever very well attended , they would say mr. matthew , or mr. thoby matthews man , yea even since he was bishop , and archbishop , some cannot leave that custom yet . among some speciall men that enjoyed , and joyed most in his friendship and company in oxford , and in remembrance of it , since they were sundred , was doctor eedes , late dean of worcester , one whose company i loved , as well as he loved his thoby matthew . he for their farewell , upon his remove to durham , intending first to go with him from oxford , but one dayes journey , was so betrayed by the sweetness of his company , and their old friendship , that he not onely brought him to durham ; but for a pleasant penance wrote their whole journey in latine verse , which poem himself gave to me , and told me so many pretty apophthegmes of theirs in their younger years , as might make a book almost by it self . and because i wrote onely for your highness pleasure , i will hazard my lords displeasure to repeat one or two of his , of one two hundred , that doctor eedes when he lived , could remember , being vice-chancellor in oxford , some slight matters & men coming before him , one was very importunate to have them stay for his councel : who is of your councel saith the vice-chancellor , ( saith he ) mr. leasteed , alas said the vice-chancellor , no man can stand you in less stead , no remedy saith the other , necessity hath no law . indeed quoth he , no more i think hath your councellor . in a like matter another was to be bound in a bond very like to be forfeited , and came in hast to offer it , saying he would be bound if he might be taken , yes saith he , i think you will be taken , what 's your name , cox saith the party , and so prest as the manner is to come into the court , make him more room there said he , let coxcome in . such facetious passages as these that are as delightfull to the hearer , as a fair course at tilt is to the beholders , where the staffe breaks both at the point , and counterbuffe even to the hand , such i say a man might collect a volum of , not at the second hand but at the first , that had been so much in his company , and so oft at his board as i have been , but that i must keep good manners , remembring the greek proverb , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} odi memorem compotorem . and if your highness had a fancy to hear more of them , mr. doctor dromond can as well relate them as my self , both of us having met in his graces dish sometimes , and tasted of this sawce . yet this kind of pleasantness that i repeat as one of his prayses , himself will most seriously check in himself , sometime as his fault and infirmity , which he confesses he is inforced to use , sometime as a recreation of his wearied spirits , after more painfull and serious studies , and though in these conceits , the wit might seem to labour , as much as in these gravest , and had need to carry as it were , a good bent to send them so smartly as they come from him ordinarily : yet methinks it may be fitly compared to a bow that will endure bending the contrary way , and thereby come to cast the better in his right bent , or by a more homly comparison , to a true and tough laborer in our countrey , that having sweat at hard labour all the week , asketh no better refreshing , then to sweat as fast with dancing about the may-pole , or running at base , or wrestling upon the holiday . wherefore let himself call it his fault , as i have heard him oft , and say he knows such nugacity becomes not his place , and lament that nature and custom have so fram'd him , that when he ceases to be pleasant at his meat , he must cease to be ; for my part , i' speak frankly , i will love this fault in him , if it be a fault , and be glad if i can follow it , having learnt an old rule of my mother in law , at meat be glad , for sin be sad ; and i will say hereafter for my selfe , haud metuam si jam nequeo defendere crimen cum tanto commune viro . or , as upon no unlike occasion , i wrote ten yeers since to dr. eeds . though m●s love mens lines and lives to scanne , he saith he thinks me no dishonest man ; yet one great fault of mine he oft rehearses , which is , i am too full of toyes and uerses : true 〈◊〉 true it is , my fault i grant ; yet when thou shalt thy greatest vertues vaunt , i know some worthy spirits one might entice to leave that greatest vertue for this uice . but if any wil be so stoicall , as to make this confession of my lords grace ( which is indeed of grace ) to serve them for an accusation , to give him thereby the nick-name of nugax , given 500 yeers past to radulphus archbishop of canterbury , and successour of the great anselme , as is noted in the catalogue p. 38. i should think them unjust and undiscreet to stir up new emulation between canterbury and yorke ; but rather i might compare him with one of his own predecessors in durham , cuthbert tunstall , p. 532. of the same book , well worth the reading and remembring . in the mean time let me lay their censorious mood with this verse . qui sic nugatur tractantem ut seria vincat , hic tractaturus seria quantus erat . but to draw to an end , i will tell one act of his of double piety , done not long since . he made a journey , accompanied with a troop , fit for his calling , to bristol , to see his mother , who was then living , but not able to travel to him ; after much kindnesse shewed to her , and much bounty to the city , he went to visit his other mother of oxford , and comming neer the town with that troop of his retinue , and friends to the water , it came into his mind how that time 40 yeer , or more , he past the same water , as a young poor scholler , going to oxford , remembring jacobs words , in baculo meo transivi jordanem istum , &c. with my staffe i passed over this jordan , and now i passe over again with these troups , he was so moved therewith , that he alighted from his hors , and going apart , with devout tears of joy and thankfulnesse , he kneeled down and used some like words . it may seem pity that a man of so sweet and milde disposition should have any crosse , but he that sends them knowes what is best for his . he hath had one great domesticall crosse , though he beares it wisely , not in his wife , for she is the best reported and reputed of her sort i thinke in england , and they live together by st. pauls rule . uientes hoc seculo . but i meane such a crosse as david had in his sonne absalom , for though he gave both consent and commission to prosecute him , yet nature overcame displeasure , and forced him to cry , absalom my son , my son , i would i might suffer for thee or in thy stead my son , my son . for indeed this son of his whom he and his friends gave over for lost , yea worse then lost , was likely for learning , for memory , for sharpnesse of wit and sweetnesse of behaviour to have proved another thoby matthew , neither is his case so desperate , but that if he would belief matthew better then thoby , i would thinke yet there were hope to reclaime him . of durham , and the present bishop thereof dr. james . it is noted of dionysius of sicily that he had no care of any religion that was professed in his country , as neither had his father before him , making but a sport to robbe their gods , taking away aesculapius beard of gold , because his father apollo had no beard , and jupiters golden cloake saying that it was too heavy for sommer and too cold for winter , yet used he to conferre sometimes with philosophers , and have the choysest of them and give them honourable entertainment , which honour at last bred him this commodity , that losing his crowne hee learned to beare poverty not onely without dismay but with some disport . the like i may say of a late great earle of this realme , son of a great duke , who though he made no great conscience to spoyle the church livings no more then did his father , yet for his reputation and perhaps for his recreation , he would have some choyce and excellent men for his chaplaines of both universities , as doctor thoby matthew now archbishop of yorke , doctor john still bishop of bath and wells , and this prelate that i am now to speake of doctor james then deane of christchurch and this hope of comfort came to his lordship thereby , that if it pleased god to impart any mercy to him ( as his mercy endureth for ever ) it was by the speciall ministery of this man , who was the last of his coat that was with him in his sicknesse . concerning this bishoprick it is formerly noted by mine author , that it was once dissolved by act of parliament in the minority of king edward the sixth , what time the two new dukes of sommerset and northumberland like the souldiers that cast lots for christs garment divided between them patrimonium crucifixi , namely , the two good bishopricks of bath and durham , one being designed as a seat for the western duke , the other for the northern ; and whereas by an old metamorphofis the bishop of durham had been earle of northumberland , now by a new apotheosis the duke of northumberland would have beene bishop of durham : but qui despexit de coelo deribedat eos . that visible hand that wrote in the wall while balthasar was quaffing in the holy vessels , that hand though invisible weighed these petty monarks in the ballance of gods judgements , found them too light ; and because they should not grow too long , they were both cut shorter by the head : the bishopricks restored to what they now are by queene mary , one being in substance , the other by accident of leaden mines , two of the best bishopricks of england , and as worthy bishops they have had , especially these two of them , namely two matthews are spoken of in the title of yorke . there remaines now this third , who having had yet scant a yeare and a day as they say , i have the lesse to speake of as of a bishop . but that examining by the infallible square set downe by st. paul to timothy chap. 3. for choyce of a bishop he will be found as worthily chosen as any : for his learning it may be sufficient to say he was deane of christchurch , which as i have said formerly attaines not to but choyce men , and there are sermons of his extant in print that testifie no lesse . for hospitality which is a speciall praise of a bishop , he shewed in oxford his disposition thereto in that lesse hability , and for both at once at the comming of divers great states , and lastly fifteen yeares past of the queen her self before whom he preached , and to whom he gave so good entertainment , as her majesty commended the order and manner of it long after ; which commendation of well setting out and ordering a feaft , i should have thought of the lesse moment , if i did not finde in plutarke in the life of paulus aemylius a great captain and conquerour , and otherwise a man of much vertue and temperance , the well ordering of a feast to be esteemed not one of his least commendations . but i will conclude with a greater and more worthy commendation ; and which i could wish , as it is exemplar , so it might be followed by all ensuing bishops . for whereas durham house had been granted to queen elizabeth only during her life , when few thought that such a house would have proved too little for her estate . it fortuned after she was queen this house to be neglected according to the proverbe not unfit to be applyed to his learning that first built it : praestat esse caput asini quam cauda leonis . among other roomes the chappell was not onely prophaned but even defaced this good bishop the first thing he doth at his comming repaires this chappell , and and furnisheth it within in comely and costly sort ; for which good mind and act , i doubt not but god wil build him a house , toward which he shall ever have my best wishes . of carlile , and the bishop dr. henry robinson . this bishopricke , as my author hath touched page 540. and 543. hath beene so fortunate to have yeilded two singular examples of fidelity and loyalty of prelats to their soveraigne , one of especiall marke worthy to be cannonized with the patron of venice . st. marke was also named merks commended here by my author , and no lesse worthily extolled by mr. samuel daniel , in his excellent poem of the civill warres of lancaster and yorke . the other was bishop oglethorpe , who when all the bishops of england refused to crowne elizabeth because of her religion , yet he being himselfe of a contrary religion performed it , neither of these received their reward in this world that they were worthy . merks being removed from carlile to samos in greece , viz. out of gods blessing into a warme sunne as the saying is , oglethorpe enduring deprivation because even at the coronation he would not omit the ceremony of elevation , howbeit it is supposed if he had not so suddenly after dyed of the griefe , her majesty would have had some speciall respect of him above all fellowes , which i speake not upon meere conjecture , but upon some speech of her majesty used to the present bishop that now is , for when shee received his homage , she gave many gracious words to him of her good opinion , for his learning integrity , and sufficiency to the place , concluding that she must ever have a care to furnish that place with a worthy man ; for his sake said she that set my crowne first on my head , and many words to like effect , as the bishop himselfe hath partly told me . he seemes a man of great gravity , and temperance very mild in his speech , but not of so strong a constitution of body as his countenance doth promise ; but having seen his sea never , and himself but seldome , i must content me of him with this short relation . of chester ; and the present bishop , dr. flood . of this new bishopricke , and new lord bishop also i have very little to say , and i need say the lesse , because your highnesse hath heard him preach often , and very well ; i call him a new lord bishop , because though he were a bishop before , yet was he not thereby a lord of the parliament house ; howbeit his title before sounded to the vulgar ears more universall then either rome or constantinople , namely bishop of man : but from thence he was translated to chester the chiefe city of that shire , that some call chiefe of men , which shire having a speciall temporall blessing ( to abound ) not with milke and honey , as the land of promise , but with milke and salt , a matter more necessary in sacrifice ; i wish it may also flow in spirituall blessings , and doubt not but that by the irrigation rather then inundation of this floud they shall encrease in them , and as our saviour commands to joyne peace with salt , and especially i wish that blessing to their neighbours beyond the salt water , i meane in ireland , who though they have milk , and are so weake in faith they cannot yet digest hard meat , yet for want of this salt and peace , they make many goe of pilgrimage to westchester against their wills from both realmes , some of whom the bishop of chester was wont to entertaine in kinde sort , as my selfe can testifie , and this bishop i heare doth herein succeed also his worthy predecessor doctor vaughan . thus have you , most highly esteemed and most entirely beloved prince , this unworthy supply of mine to the worthy worke of a more worthy man . it is growne into greater length then i expected , by reason i tooke some kinde of pleasure with the paine of writing hereof , supposing i was all the while telling a story as it were in your highnesse presence and hearing . now if any that favour not the persons i write of , nor the purpose i write for , happen to sport at this my fashion of writing to your highnesse , as tigranes jested at lucullus army , saying , if he came as an embassadour his traine was to great , if as a warrier , his troop was too small . so if they say this treatise for an epistle is too long , for a history too little , i will also hope that this whether long epistle or short relation , shall have like successe in your highnesse approbation , as that contemptible army had to conquer their contemners . finis . an alphabeticall table according to the sir-names of those bishops who are discours'd of in the fore-going relation . bishops names . place . page . andrews chichester 140 babington worcester 128 bancrost canterbury 10 barlow bath and wells 106 barlow rochester 147 bennet hereford 138 bilson winchester 71 chatterton lincoln 81 coldwell salisbury 70 cooper winchester 34 cotton salisbury 93 cotton exeter 124 day vvinchester 67 dove peterborough 153 elmer london 14 fletcher london 22 flood chester 209 gardiner winchester 42 godwin bath and vvells 110 godwin landaff 164 grindall canterbury 5 heaton ely 76 hutton york 186 james durham 203 jewel salisbury 85 king bath and vvells 97 matthew york 169 overton coventry & lichfield 85 parker canterbury 1 piers york 182 ravis london 31 robinson carlile 206 rud st. davids 159 sands york 172 scory hereford 130 still bath and vvells 118 thompson gloucester 152 thornbury bristoll 156 vaughan london 29 underhill oxenford 148 vvatson chichester 140 vvestphaling hereford 134 vvickham elder winchester 35 wickham younger winchester 65 white winchester 59 whiteguist canterbury 7 young york 169 finis . the consecration and succession, of protestant bishops justified, the bishop of duresme vindicated, and that infamous fable of the ordination at the nagges head clearly confuted by john bramhall ... bramhall, john, 1594-1663. 1658 approx. 289 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 123 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a29194 wing b4216 estc r24144 12116438 ocm 12116438 54322 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a29194) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 54322) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 759:30) the consecration and succession, of protestant bishops justified, the bishop of duresme vindicated, and that infamous fable of the ordination at the nagges head clearly confuted by john bramhall ... bramhall, john, 1594-1663. 239, [1] p. by john ramzey, gravenhagh : 1658. errata: p. 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in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng episcopacy. bishops -england. 2003-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-06 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-07 rina kor sampled and proofread 2003-07 rina kor text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-08 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the consecration and succession , of protestant bishops justified . the bishop of duresme vindicated . and that infamous fable of the ordination at the nagge 's head clearly confuted . by john bramhall , d. d. bishop of derry . necesse est ut lancē in libra ponderibus impositis deprimi , sic animum perspicuis cedere . gravenhagh , by john ramzey , anno 1658. chap. i. the occasion of this treatise . the fairest eares of corne are soonest blasted , so the more conspicuous the church of england was among the reformed churches , ( as not being framed according to the brainsicke dictates of some seditious oratour , or the giddy humours of a tumultuous multitude , but with mature deliberation , and the free consent and concurrence of all the orders of the kingdome , ) the more it was subjected to the envie and groundless calumnies of our country men of the roman communion . but of all the slanderous aspersions cast upon our church , that liyng fable of the nagge 's head ordination doth beare the bell away . those monstrous fictions of the cretian bulles and minotaures , ( devised by the athenians to revenge themselves upon minos king of creete , who had subdued them in a just warre , and compelled them to send their sons to him for hostages , ) were not more malicious , nor that shamelesslie of kentish long tailes more ridiculous . the first deviser of it doth justly deserve the character of a man of a brasen forhead and leaden hearie . if the unpartiall reader after he have perused this treatise , thinke i doe him wrong . i do willingly submitte my self to his censure . this prodigious fable received its deathes wound from mr. masons penne , and hath remained ever since for the space of thirty yeares buried in deepe oblivion . and those assaies which it maketh now to get wing againe , by the assistence of two ignatian fathers , are but the vaine attempts of a dying cause . neither would i have troubled the reader or my self to bring owles to athens , or to confute a cause which hath bene so demonstratively confuted to my hand , but for two new additions lately spread abroad . the one by orall tradition which concerneth my self . that father t. and father b. had so confuted the bishop of derry in the presence of the king , that he said he perceived his father had made me a lord , but not a bishop , and that afterwards , by my power i had procured those two iesuits to be prohibited that presence . so that whereas father talbot used to be the interpreter in the spanish treaties , now he was not admitted , and don iohn would admitte no other . so the bishop of derry is accused not onely to have bene publickly baffeled , but also to have bene a disturber of publick affaires . yet i know nothing of all this , which concerneth myself . i never heard of any such conference , or any such words , i never knew that father talbot was designed to that imploiment . i was never guilty of having any such power , muchlesse of any endevour to turne out any man. if the fathers seemed too pragmaticall to those who were intrusted , or to involue the interest of their religion into civill treaties , what is that to me ? if it were true they may thanke themselves . if it were false , they may thanke them who did it . whether true or false i never had an hand , nor so much as a little finger in it . all the truth that i know is this . hearing that these two fathers , had spoken largely in the courte of the succession of our english bishops , but never in my presence , i sought out father b , and had private conference with him about it in the iesuits college at bruges , and afterwards some discourse with father t. and him together in mine owne chamber . whatsoever they did say , they put into writing to which i returned them an answer , shewing not onely that there was not , but that it was morally impossible there should be any such ordination at the nagges head . from that day to this i never heard any thing of it , that concerned myself . now if a man should search for an authour of this fabulous relation , he shall be sure to have it fathered upon some very credible persōs , without names , who had it from iohn an okes whilest he was living , and he had it from iohn a stiles , and he had it from no body , but feined it himself out of a good intention , according to that case theology which he had learned of machiavell , to advance the credit of religion by all meanes possible true or false . the other addition concerneth the learned and reverend bishop of duresme one of the ancientest bishops this day living in the christian world , being 95 yeares old at least . that he owned and justified the nagges head ordination in publick parliament , in the house of the peeres : it is very well , we can not desire a better place where to have it spoken , then the house of parliament . nor better witnesses then the lords spirituall and temporall . we have no man of the episcopall order , whose memory can reach so neare those times , or in whose integrity we doe more confide , then the bishop of duresme . he might heare many things either from the persons praetended to have bene then consecrated , or from the notaries or witnesses who were then present at that imaginary consecration . or at least he might receive the tradition of that age from such as were eiewitnesses of what passed . let it be put to his testimony if they thinke fitte , ( without doubt he is the same man he was then ) or to the testimony of any other of his age and reputation , whom they can produce . we refuse no sort of proofe but onely vaine hear say , which as our english proverbe saith is commonly , and in this case most undoubtedly a lier . nay we would not refuse the testimony of mr. neale himself , though a professed enemy , who was the onely founder of this silly fable , so he might be examined upon oath , before equall iudges , but compell him either to shame the divell , and eate his owne words , or to runne himself into such palpable absurdities contradictions and impossibilities , that no man of reason how partiall soever , could give any credit to him . my first taske shall be , before i meddle with the fable it self to vindicate the bishop of duresme , and the truth which is wounded through his sydes , with this intimation to the reader , that if this branch of the legend be proved apparently to be false , which is pretended to have bene publickly acted in a full house of the peeres of the realme , we can expect no truth from the voluntary reporte of one single meane malicious enemy , to his own party . and with all a confessed spie , of what was done at the nagge 's head . breake ice in one place , and it will crack in more . chapt . ii. the vindication of the bishop of duresme . to vindicate the bishop of duresme , i shall first set downe the relation of this passage in the words of the fathers themselves . in the beginning of the late parliament some presbiterian lordes presented to the upper house a certeine booke , proving that the protestant bishops had no succession or consecration , and therefore were no bishops , and by consequence had no right to sitte in parliament . hereupon doctor morton pretended bishop of durrham who is yet alive , made a speech against this booke in his owne and all the bishops behalfe then present . he endeavoured to prove succession from the last catholick bishops , who ( said he ) by imposition of hands ordeined the first protestant bishops at the nagge 's head in cheap syde , as vvas notorious to all the vvorld . therefore the afore said booke ought to be looked upon as a groundless libell . this vvas told to many by one of the ancientest peeres of england , praesent in parliament vvhen morton made his speech . and thesame he is ready to depose upon his oath . nay he cannot believe that any vvill be so impudent as to denie a thing so notorious , vvhereof there are as many vvitnesses living , as there are lords and bishops that vvere that day in the upper house of parliament . here are three passages . one concerning a booke presented to the upper house , against the successiō of english bishops , by some presbiterian lords . the second concerning the pretended refutation of this booke by the bishop of duresme . the third the proofe of both these allegations by the testimony of an ancient peere of england , first for the booke , it is most true there was a booke written about that time by a single lord against episcopacy , and dedicated to the members of both houses of parliament . no wonder . how often have the parliaments in the reignes of queene elisabeth and king iames bene troubled with such requests and representations . it is no strange thing that a weake eie should be offended with the light of the sun . we may justly ascribe the reviving of the aerian heresy in these later daies to the dispensations of the courte of rome who licensed ordinary priests to ordeine , and confirme , and do the most essentiall offices of bishops so their scholes do teach us , a preest may be the ex●raordinary minister of priesthood , and inferiour orders by the delegation of the pope . againe the pope may conferre the power of confirmation upon a simple priest. by such exorbitant practises as these they chalked ou● the way to ●nnovators . and yet they are not able to produce one president of such a dispensation throughout the primitive times , a good christian ought to regarde more what the whole christian world in all ages hath practised , then what a few conceited persons in this last age have fancied . among all the easterne southern and northerne christians , who make innumerable multitudes , there neither is nor ever was one formed church that wanted bishops . yet these are as farre from submitting to the exorbitant power of the roman bishop as we . among all the westerne churches and their colonies , there never was one formed church for 1500. yeares , that wanted bishops . if there be any persons so farre possessed with prejudice , that they chuse rather to follow the private dictates of their owne phrensy , then the perpetuall and universall practise of the catholick church , enter not into their secrets o my soule . thus farre we agree , but in all the rest of the circumstances , ( though they be not much materiall ) the fathers do pittifully mistake themselves , and vary much from the testimony of their witness , and much more from the truth . first the authour of this booke was no presbyterian lord ▪ much less a company or caball of presbiterian lords in the plurall , but my lord brookes , one that had as little favour for presbytery as for episcopacy . secondly the booke was not praesented to the upper house . it might be brought into the house privately , yet not be praesented to the house publickly . if it had bene publickly praesented , the clerkes of the parliament or some of them must needes have known of it and made an act of it , but they know no such thing . the lords spirituall and temporall could not all have forgotten it , but they remember no such thing , as by their respective certificates praesently shall appeare . thirdly as the authour is mistaken , and praesentation mistaken . so the subject likewise is mistaken . sit liber iudex , let the booke speake for it self ▪ thus an able freind certifieth me . i have got my lord brookes booke which he wrote against the bishops with much labour , and perused it with no less patience . and there is not in it the least shadow of any argument , that the bishops ought not to sitte in parliament , because they had no succession or consecration . what did my lord brookes regard succession or consecration or holy orders , who had a coachman to be his preacher . the less canonicall the ordination had bene , the more he would have applauded it . time and place and forme and all were agreeable to that christian liberty which he dreamed of , it was not wante of consecration , but consecration it self which he excepted against , as all men knew who knew him . and in this quarrell he lost his life , after a most remarkable and allmost miraculous manner , at the siege of lichfield church , upon st. ceaddas anniversary day , who was the founder of that church and bishop of it . i know the fathers will be troubled much , that this which they have published to the view of the world , concerning the bishop of durrham , as a truth so evident which no man can have the impudence to denie , should be denied , yea denied positively and throughout , denied not onely by the bishop of durrham himself , but by all the lords spirituall and temporall that can be met with , denied by some lords of their owne communion , who understand them selves as well as any among them , though their names are not subscribed , to the certificate , denied by the clerkes of the parliament , whose office it is to keepe a diary of all the speeches made in the house of the peeres for proofe hereof first i produce the protestation of the bishop of duresme him self , attested by witnesses in the praesence of a publick notary . take it in his owne words . vvhereas i am most injuriously and slanderously traduced , by a nameles authour , calling himself n. n. in a booke said to be printed at rouen 1657. intituled [ a treatise of the nature of catholick faith and haeresy ] , as if upon the praesenting of a certein booke to the upper house in the beginning of the late parliament , prouing as he saith the protestant bishops had no succession nor consecration , and therefore were no bishops , and by consequence ought not to sit in parliament , i should make a speech against the said booke in my owne and all the bishops behalfs , endevouring to prove succession from the last catholick bishops as he there stiles them , ) who by imposition of hands ordeined the first protestant bishops , at the nagges head in cheapsyde , as was notorious to all the world , &c. i do hereby in the praesence of almighty god solemnely protest and declare to all the world , that what this authour there affirmes concerning me is a most notorious untruth and a grosse slander . for to the best of my knowledge and remembrance , no such booke as he there mentions was ever presented to the upper house in that or any other parliament , that ever i sate in . and if there had , i could never have made such a speech as is there pretended , seeing i have ever spokē according to my thoughts , and alwaies believed that fable of the nagge 's head consecration to have proceded from the father of lies ; as the authentick recordes of the church still extant , which were so faithfully transcribed , and published by mr. mason , do evidently testifie . and whereas the same impudent libeller doth moreover say , that what he there affirmes was told to many , by one of the ancientest peeres of england , praesent in parliament , when i made this praetended speech : and that he is ready to depose the same upon his oath : and that he can not believe any will be so impudent , to denie a thing so notorious , whereof there are as many witnesses living , as there are lords and bishops that were that day in the upper house of parliament &c. i answer , that i am very unwilling to beleeve any peere of england should have so little sense of his conscience and honour , as either to sweare or so much as affirme such a notorious untruth . and therefore for the justification of my self and manifestation of the truth in this particular , i do freely and vvillingly appeale ( as he directs me ) to those many honourable persons , the lord spirituall and temporall yet alive , vvho sate in the house of peeres in that parliament , or to as many of them as this my protestation shall come to , for a true certificate of vvhat they knovv or believe concerning this matter . humbly desiring them and charging it upon their soules , as they vvill ansvver it to god at the day of iudgment , that they vvill be pleased to testifie the truth , and nothing but the truth herein , to the best of their knovvledg and remembrance , vvithout any favour or affection to me at all . i cannot reasonably be suspected by any indif●erent man , of denyng any thing that i knovv or believe to be true , seeing i am so shortly in all probability to render an account to the searcher of hearts of all my words and actions , being now ( at the least ) upon the ninetyfifth yeare of my age . and i acknowledge it a great mercy and favour of god , that he hath reserved me thus long , to cleare the church of england and my self of this most notorious slander , before he takes me to himself . for i can not imagine any reason , why this shamelesse writer might not have cast the same upon any of my reverend brethren as well as me , but onely that i being the eldest , it was probable i might be in my graue , before this untruth could be taken notice of in the world . and now i thanke god i can cherefully sing my nunc dimittis , unlesse it please him to reserve me for the like service hereafter : for i desire not to live any longer upon earth , then he shall be pleased to make me his instrument to defend the truth , and promote his glory . and for the more solemne and full confirmation of this my free and voluntary protestation and declaration i have hereunto set my hand and seale , this seventeenth day of iuly . anno domini 1658. thomas dvresme . signed sealed published and declared , in the presence of tho : sanders sen : , tho : sanders iun : , iohn barwick clerke , r : gray , evan davies . i tobias holder publick notary , being requested by the right reverend father in god thomas lo. bishop of duresme , at the house of thomas sanders esquire , in the parish of flamstead , in the county of hartford , in the yeare of our lord moneth and day above specified , was then and there personally present , where and vvhen the said reverend bishop did signe publish and declare this his protestation and declaration above vvriten , to be his act and deed , and did cause his authentick episcopall seale , to be there to affixed , in the presence of the vvitnesses vvhose names are there to subscribed . and did there and then likevvise signe publish and declare as his act and deed , another of the same tenor vvritten in paper , vvhich he signed vvith his manuall seale , in the presence of the same vvitnesses . all this i heard , saw , and therefore knovv to be done . in testimony vvhereof i have subscribed and thereto put my usuall and accustomed notaries signe . tobias holder . publick notary . how doth this so solemne protestation agree with the former relation of the fathers , that the bishop of durham affirmed publickly in the upper house that the first protestant bishops were consecrated in the nagge 's head , that they were not consecrated at lambeth , that this was notorious to all the world , that it is not credible that any will be so impudent as to denie it , that all the rest of the bishops approved his assertion by their silence , and were glad to have such a retiring place against the presbyterians , that none of the bishops did give credit to mr. masons new found registers ? even as light and darknesse , or truth and falshood , or two contradictory propositions do agree together . this is the first witnesse whom any of that party hath adventured to cite publickly and directly for that infamous story whilest he was living . and they see the successe of it . i hope they will be wiser hereafter , then to cite any more living witnesses . but it may be that they who do not stick to suppose that our arch-bishops make false certificates , may object this is but the testimony of the bishop of durham in his owne cause . let us see whether the other bishops dissent from the bishop of duresme . take the testimony of them all , who sate in that parliament , which are now lining except the bishop of bangor , whose absence in wales is the onely reason why he is not a subscriber with the rest . whereas we the surviving bishops of the church of england , who sate in the parliament begun at westminster the third day of november 1640 , are required by our reverend brother the lord bishop of duresme , to declare and attest the truth , concerning an imputation cast upon him in the pamphlet of that namelesse author , mentioned in his protestation and declaration here prefixed . and whereas we are obliged to performe what he requesteth , both for the justification of the truth , and for the clearing of our selves of another slanderous aspersion , which the same authour casteth upon us , as if we had heard our said reverend brother make such a speech as is there pretended , and by our silence had approved , what that libeller falsely affirmeth was delivered in it . vve do hereby solemnely protest and declare before god and all the world , that we never knew of any such booke presented to the house of peeres , as he there pretendeth , nor believe any such vvas ever presented : and therefore could never heare any such speech made against it , as he mentioneth , by our said reverend brother or any other , much lesse approve of it by our silence . and if any such booke had bene presented , or any such speech had bene made , there is none among us so ignorant or negligent of his duty in defending the truth , but vvould have bene both able and ready to have confuted so groundlesse a fable , as the pretēded consecration of bishops at the nagge 's head , out of the authentick and knovvne registers of the church still extant , mentioned and faithfully trāscribed and published by mr. mason so long before . for the confirmation of which truth , and attestation of what our said reverend brother hath herewith protested and declared , we have hereunto set our hands . dated the 19th . day of iuly anno domini 1658. london . m. eli . br . sarum . bath . & wells . jo. roffens . oxford . if all these proofes seeme not satisfactory to the fathers , they shall have more . let them take the testimony of the principall peeres now living , who sate then in parliament . vve of the lords temporall whose names are here under written , who sate in the parliament begun at westminster the third day of november 1640 , being desired by the bishop of duresme to testify our knowledge concerning an imputation cast upon him , about a speech pretended to be made by him in that parliament , more particularly mentioned and disavowed in his prefixed protestation , doe hereby testify and declare , that to the best of our present knowledge and remembrance , no such booke against bishops as is there mentioned , was presented to the house of peeres in that parliament . and consequently , that no such speech as is there pretended , was or could be made by him or ony other against it . in testimony whereof we have signed this our attestation with our owne hands . dated the nineteenth day of iuly anno domini 1658. dorchester . rvtland . lincolne . cleveland . dover . lindsey . sovthamton . devonshire . monmovth . to this proofe nothing remaineth that can be added , but onely the testimony of the clerke of the parliament , who after a diligent search made in the booke of the lords house , hath with his owne hand written this short certificate , in the margent of one of your bookes pag. 9. over against your relation , vpon search made in the booke of the lords house , i do not find any such booke presented , nor any entery of any such speech made by bishop morton . henry scobel clerk ▪ of the parliament ▪ and now methinkes i heare the fathers blaming of their owne credulity , and rashnesse , and over much confidence . they had forgotten epictetus his rule , remember to distrust . i judge them by my self , homo sum , humani a me nihil alienum pu●o . one circumstance being either latent or mistaken , may change the whole drift and scope of a relation . but though we would be contented to lend a skirt of our coate , to cover the fault of them who calumniate our church : yet this relation can never be excused in any man from a most grievous mistake , where both the person , and the whole scope of his discourse is altogether mistaken . this is almost as great a mistake as the nagge 's head ordination it self , where a confirmation dinner was mistaken for a solemne consecration . but those who cherish such mistakes for advantage , and deck them up with new matter , and publish them to the world for undoubted truths , can not be excused from formall calumnie . the last thing to be considered in this first part of this discourse , being the vindication of the reverend bishop of duresme , is concerning the witnesse , whom as the fathers do forbeare to name , so shall i. of whom they say foure things , ● that he is one of the ancientest ▪ peeres of england , that he was present in parliament when morton made this speech , that he will take his oath of the truth of it , and that he can not believe that any will be so impudent to denie it . we have no dispute concerning the antiquity of peerage , let that passe : but i am confidēt whatsoever his present judgement had been either of the speaker or of the speech , your witness would have abstained from uncivill language , as to stile the reverend bishop of duresme a pretended bishop , and plaine morton , without either welt or garde he would not have forgotten all his degrees both in the church and in the scholes . he will not charge all them with downe right impudence , who tell him that he was doubly mistaken : nor call that no●orious to all the world , which he himself acknowledgeth that he never heard of before in his life . he is not guilty of those inferences , and eo nomine● which you have added . i do not beleeve that he doth , or ever did know the bishop of duresme ▪ so well as to sweare this is the man : nor doth take himself to be so exact an analyser of a discourse , as to be able to take his oath what was the true scope of it , pro or contra ; especially whē some thing is started that doth quite divert his attention , as the sound of the market bell did the philosophers auditours . this is my charity . and my ground for it is this . when i had once conference with him about this relation , he told me the name of the naggeshead did surprise him , and he betooke himself to inquire of another what it meant . and when i urged to him , that it was incredible that any protestant bishop should make such a speech , unlesse he used it onely by way of supposition , as argumentum ad hominem , a reason fitte for my lord brookes , that such a consecration as that was , agreed well enough with his principles , he told me he knew not that , the bishop might answer so for himself . to conclude , i have heard the bishop of lincolne did once mention the fable of the nagge 's head in a speech in parliament , but with as much detestation of it , as our ancestours used to name the devill . why might not the mistake both of the person , and of the drift or scope of his speech , be the occasion of this relation ? i had rather out of charity run into two such right handed errours , then condemne a noble gentleman of whose ingenuity i never had any reason to doubt , of a malicious lie . take it at the very best , the mistake is great enough , to mistake both the person of the speaker , and the scope of his speech . i hope they will all do that which in conscience they are obliged to do , that is acquitte the bishop of duresme , and crave his pardon for their mistake . if they do not , the world will acquitte him , and condemne them . but the greatest mistake of all others was , to publish such a notorious untruth to the world , so temerariously without better advise . chap. iii. three reasons against the nagges head consecration , 1. from the contradictions of the relaters , 2. from the latenesse of the discovery , 3. from the strictnesse of our lavves . now having beaten downe the pillar about their eares , which they had set up to underproppe their nagge 's head ordination , it remaineth next to assault the maine fable it self , as it is related by these fathers . having told , how the protestant doctors who were designed for bishopricks in the beginning of queene elisabeths reigne , had prevailed with anthony kitchin bishop of landaffe , to give them a meeting at the nagged head in cheapesyde , in hope ●he would ordeine them bishops there . and how the bishop of landaffe through bishop bonners threatenings refused , ( all which shall be examined and laid open to the view of the world in due order , how it is stuffed with untruth and absurdities . ) they adde , that being thus deceived of their expectation , and having no other meanes to come to their desires ( that is , to obteine consecration ) , they resolved to use mr. scories helpe , an apostate religious priest , who having borne the name of bishop in king edward the sixths time , vvas thought to have sufficient povver to performe that office , especially in such a strait necessity as they pretended . he , having cast of together vvith his religious habite all scruple of conscience , vvillingly vvent about the matter , vvhich he performed in this sort . having the bible in hand , and they all kneeling before him , he laid it upon every one of their heads or shoulders , saying , take thou authority to preach the world of god sincerely . and so they rose up bishops of the nevv church of england . this narration of the consecration at the nagge 's head ( they say ) they have taken out of holywood , constable , and dr. champneys workes . they might as well have taken it out of aesops fables , and with as much credit or expectation of truth on our partes . so the controversy betweene them and us is this . they say that arch bishop parker and the rest of the protestant bihops , in the beginning of queene elisabeths reigne , or at the least sundry of them were consecrated at the nagge 's head in cheapesyde together , by bishop scory alone , or by him and bishop barlow jointly , without sermon , without sacrament , without any solemnity , in the yeare 1559. ( but they know not what day , nor before what publick notaries , ) by a new phantastick forme . and all this they say upon the supposed voluntary report of mr. neale ( a single malicious spie , ) in private to his owne party , long after the businesse pretended to be done . we say arch bishop parker was consecrated alone , at lambeth , in the church , by foure bishops , authorised thereunto by commission under the great seale of england , with sermon , with sacrament , with all due solemnities , upon the 17 day of december anno 1559. before foure of the most eniment publick notaries in england ; and particularly by the same publick notary who was principall actuary both at cardinall poles consecration and arch bishop parkers . and that all the rest of the bishops were ▪ consecrated at other times , some in the same moneth but not upon the same day , some in the same yeare but not the same moneth , and some the yeare following . and to prove the truth of our relation and falshood of theirs , we produce the registet of the see of canterbury , as authentick as the world hath any , the registers of the other fourteene sees then vacant , all as carefully kept by sworne officers as the recordes of the vatican it self . we produce all the commissions under the privy seale and great seale of england : we produce the rolles or recordes of the chancery ; and if the recordes of the signet office had not been unfortunately burned in king iames his time , it might have been verified by those also : we produce an act of parliament express in the pointe , within seven yeares after the consecration : we produce all the controverted consecrations published to the world in printe anno 1572 ▪ three yeares before arch bishop parkers death , whilest all things were fresh in mens memories . these bright beames had bene able to dasell the eies of mr. neale himself , whilest he was living , and have made him recant his lewd lie , or confess himself starke blinde . the first reason which i bring against this ridiculous fable , it taken from the palpable contradictions , and grosse absurdities and defects of those roman catholick writers , who have related this silly tale of a tub , and agree in nothing but in their common malice against the church of england . it is no strange matter for such as write upon hearesay , or relie upon the exact truth of other mens notes or memories , to mistake in some inconsiderable circumstance : as to set downe the name of a place amisse , which may be the transcribers faulte , or the printers , as well as the authours : or to say two suffragans for one , when there were two named in the commission , and but one present at the consecration . such immateriall differences which are so remote from the heart of the cause , about indifferent circumstances , may bring the exactnesse of the relation into question , but not the substantiall truth of it . such petty unsignificant variations , do rather prove that the relations were not made upon compact or confederacy . especially where there are originall recordes taken upon the place by sworne notaries , whose names , and hands , and acts are as well known to every man versed in the recordes of those times , as a man knoweth his owne house . to which all relaters and relations must submitte , and are ready to submitte as to an infallible rule . but he who should give credit to such a silly senslesse fable as this is , which is wholy composed of absurd , improbable , incoherent , inconsistent , contradictory fictions , had need to have a very implicite faith . the greatest shew of any accord among them is about the consecrater , yet even in this they disagree one from another . the common opinion is that bishop scory alone did consecrate them . but mr. constable one of their principall authours supposeth , that bishop● barlow might joine with him in the consecration . and sanders , whose penne in other cases useth to runne over , one who had as much malice as any of them , and had reason to know the passages of those times better then all of them , leaveth it doubtfull , when , or where , or by whom they were ordeined , quomodocunque facti sunt isti pseudo-episcopi ; by what meanes soever they were ordeined . but they disagree much more among themselves , who they should be that were ordeined . first mr. waddesworth ( whose ingenuity deserveth to be commended ) doth not say that any of our bishops were actually consecrated there , but onely that there was an attempt to consecrate the first of them , that was arch-bishop parker . but that which destoyeth the credit of this attempt is this , that it is evident by the recordes , that arch-bishop parker was not personally present at his confirmation in bowes church , or at his confirmation dinner at the nagge 's head , which gave the occasion to this merry legend : but was confirmed by his proctor nicholas bullingham doctor in the lawes , upon the ninth of december anno 1559. a man may be confirmed by proxie , but no man can be ordeined by proxie . it is a ruled case in their owne law , non licet sacramentum aliquod praeter matrimonium absenti administrare . so if there was an attempt to consecrate any man at the nagge 's head , it must be doctor bullingham , it could not be arch bishop parker . others say there was more then an attempt , that one or more of them were actually ordeined there : but they name none . others name some , but they accorde not one with another in naming of them . some say , iewell , sands , horn , grindall ; where was arch bishop parker ? others say , parker , grindall , horne , sands . lastly others say , they were all ordeined there , who were named to bishopricks , and number fifteen of them . these fathers speake indefinitely , parker and his fellowes . but they seeme to extend this word fellowes as farre as doctor champneys fifteene : for they tell us , that they all kneeled downe before him , and he laid the bible upon every one of their heads or shoulders . thus these cadmean brethren , like those false witnesses which testified against christ , destroy one another with their mutuall contradictions . thirdly , the time is a principall circumstance in all consecrations , and is evermore most punctually recorded by the actuaries , or publick notaries . but in this fabulous relation the time is concealed . it seemeth the forger was no good actuary , and either did not know how materiall that circumstance was , or had forgotten it . onely doctor champney telleth us , that it was before the ninth of september anno 1559. but this is not precise enough for an act : and moreover , it is most apparently false and impossible . for whereas there are two commissions under the greate seale of england , for the confirmation and consecration of arch bishop parker , both recorded in the rolles ; the one which was not executed , dated the said very ninth day of september ; and the other which was executed , dated the sixth day of december following : if doctor champney said true , arch bishop parker was consecrated before he was confirmed , yea before there was any commission out , either for his consecration or confirmation ; which is one of the drowsiest dreames that could droppe from an english penne . lastly , every consecration must be performed before one or more publick notaries . ( we shall shew them notaries enough of great eminence , beyond all exception , for arch-bishop parkers true consecration . ) and indeed what could a consecration availe any man , without a publick notary to recorde it , to make an authentick certificate of it under the seale of the principall consecrater ? now who recorded the nagges head consecration ? who drew it up into acts ? who certified it ? no body , because the silly forger did not understand what things were requisite to a consecration . onely as the athenians sometimes said of metiochus , metiochus grindes the corne , metiochus bakes the bread , metiochus mendes the high-waies , metiochus doth all , an evill yeare to metiochus : so we may say of mr. neale ; mr. neale was the spie , mr. neale was the witness , mr. neale was the publick notary , mr. neale was the chiefe eugenier or forger , mr. neale was all , what honours are due to mr. neale ? qui tot sustinuit , qui tanta negotia solus . so they feine a consecration without a publick notary , or ( which is all one ) no man ever knew who that publick notary was ; at a time impossible , or els no man knoweth at what time ; without any certeinty who consecrated , whether scory alone , or scory and barlow together , or god knoweth who ; and yet with much lesse certeinty who were consecrated , whether none at all , but onely an attempt was made , or one , and who that one was ; or some indefinitely , without naming who they were , or how many they were ; or foure expressly , but dissenting one from another who those foure were . here is a story composed altogether of uncerteinties and contradictions , like a man and no man , ●it a bird and no bird , on a tree and no tree , with a stone and no stone . to make this uncerteine , groundless , contradictory rumour , to be the touchstone of truth , and to overballance all the authentick recordes of the kingdome , in a matter of such publick concernment : is just to make the parish clock goe truer then the sun , because the clerke who settes it is our freind . my second reason against this senseless fable , is the late discovery of it to the world , and the long concealing of it in ▪ holes and corners before they durst adventure present it to the view of the world , can any man who is in his right wittes be so stupide as to imagine , that the nagge 's head ordination happened in the yeare 1559 , and ( if these fathers say truely ) was notoriously knowne to all the world ; and that it should never once peepe into the light for almost a whole age after it was pretended to have been done , that is till after the yeare sixteen hundred ? we use to say a monster is but nine daies wonder : but this ugly monster was not taken notice of in the world untill after forty yeares . the reason is evident ; either it was then but newly hatched , or it had bene kept all that time at dry nurse in a closet . if it had bene so notorious to all the world from the yeare 1559 as the fathers feine , all the windowes in the nagge 's head would have been full of it , and the roome would have been shewed to all their guests , where such a prodigious pageant had bene acted . i dare appeale to the judgments of these fathers themselves , whether it be credible , that this story should be notoriously knowne to the world in the beginning of queene elisabeths reigne , and yet neither stapleton , nor harding , nor bristow , nor alan , nor reynoldes , nor parsons , nor any one of all their roman catholick writers , should so much as mention it for forty yeares ensuing ; especially writing so much as they did upon that very subject , the validity or invalidity of our ordination . how could their silence have bene excused from betraying of their cause , to lose such an egregious advantage ? was it peradventure out of affection to us , to conceale the defects of the protestāts ? no , they had will enough , but they durst not avouch such a monstrous untruth in earnest , ( if ever they did heare of such a vain rumour , which i can not easily beleeve , ) so contrary to the knowledg of that age . especially let them tell me how it commeth to passe , that nicolas sanders , who professeth to write the ecclesiasticall history of england , from the one and twentieth yeare of henry the eighth , untill the eight and twentieth yeare of queene elisabeth then current , in his three bookes of the originall and progresse of the english schisme , hath not one syllable of the nagge 's head ordination ? he was never accused of partiality for the protestants , ( but as malicious against the protestants as any man could wish ) : nor of concealing truths to their advantage , but of devising fables to their prejudice . he having related the forme of our english consecrations , partly true and partly false , proceedth to this first ordination of protestant bishops , in the beginning of queen elisabeths reigne ; alleging that the catholick bishops refused to impose hands upon them , and that they had not of themselves two or three bishops , or so much as one metropolitan . what a shameless untruth is this , that there were not two or three protestant bishops , when the queenes commission under the great seale of england , recorded in the rolles , is directed to seven protestant bishops , expresly by their names and titles ? he addeth , that they were very instant with an irish arch bishop to have presided at their ordination , but he would not . he mistaketh the matter altogether , they might have had seven irish arch bishops and bishops if they had needed them ; where the procedings were not so rigorous , where the old bishops complied and held their places , and joined in such ecclesiasticall acts , untill they had made away to their kindred , all the lands belonging to their sees . we found one bishoprick reduced to five markes a yeare by these temporisers , another to forty shillings a yeare , and all of them to very poore pittances for prelates . but by this meanes there wanted no ordeiners . never did any man question the ordination of the first protestant bishops in ireland untill this day . then he telleth , how being thus rejected by the catholick bishops and the irish arch bishop , they applied themselves to the lay magistrate in the ensuing parliament for a confirmation , from whence they were called parliamentary bishops . by whom were they called so ? by no man but himself and his fellowes . how many ordinations were passed over , one after another , before that parliament ? was there any thing moved in this parliament , concerning any the least essentiall of our episcopall ordination ? not at all , but onely concerning the repealing and reviving of an english statute . english statutes can not change the essentialls of ordination , either to make that consecration valid which was invalid , or that invalid which was valid . the validity or invalidity of ordination , dependeth not upon humane law , but upon the institution of christ. neither did we ever since that parliament change one syllable in our forme of ordination . then what was this confirmation which he speakes of ? it was onely a declaration of the parliament , that all the objections which these men made against our ordinations , were slanders and calumnies : and that all the bishops which had been ordeined in the queenes time , had bene rightly ordeined , according to the forme prescribed by the church of england , and the lawes of the land. these men want no confidence , who are not ashamed to cite this statute in this case . but we shall meete with this parliament againe . in all this impertinent discourse , where is the fable of the nagge 's head ordination ▪ it had bene a thousand times more materiall then all this iargon . and you may be sure it had not been missing , if there had bene the least graine of truth in it , or is there had but been any suspicion of it when that was written . it was not then full thirty yeares after arch-bishop parkers consecration , and there were store of eye-witnesses living to have hissed such a senselesse fable out of the world , and therefore sanders very prudently for himself , after so many intimations , passeth by their ordination in a deepe silence , which was the onely worke he tooke in hand to shew . qualescunque fuerint aut quo modocunque facti sint isti pseudo-episcopi &c. vvhat manner of persons soever these false-bishops were , or after what manner soever they were ordeined &c. if bishop scory had ordeined them all at the naggeshead , by layng a bible upon their heads , and this forme of wordes , take thou authority to preach the word of god sincerely , m. sāders needed not to have left the case so doubtfull , how they were ordeined . and if there had bene the least suspicion of it , he would have blowen it abroad upon a silver trumpet : but god be thanked there was none . the universall silence of all the romish writers of that age , when the naggeshead ordination is pretended to have been done , in a case which concerned them all so nearely , and which was the chiefe subject of all their disputes ; is a convincing proofe to all men who are not altogether possessed with prejudice , that either it was devised long after , or was so lewde a lie , that no man dared to owne it , whilest thousands of eyewitnesses of arch bishop parkers true consecration at lambeth were living . a third reason , against this ridiculous libell of the nagge 's head consecration , is taken from the strictness of our lawes , which allow no man to consecrate or be consecrated but in a sacred place , with due matter and forme , and all the rites and ceremonies prescribed by the church of england . no man must be consecrated by fewer then foure bishops , or three at least , and that after the election of the deane and chapiter is duely confirmed , and upon the mandate o● commission of the king under the great seale of england ; under the paine of a premunire , that is , the forfeiture of lands , and goods , and livings , and liberty , and protection . they allow not consecration in a taverne , without due matte : and forme , without the ceremonies and solemnity prescribed by the church , without election , without confirmation , without letters patents , by one single bishop , or two at the most ; such as they feine the nagges head ordination to have been . who can beleeve , that two arch-bishops and thirteen bishoppes , having the reputation of learning and prudence , should wilfully thrust themselves into an apparent premunire , to forfeite not onely their arch bishopricks and bishopricks , but all their estates and all their hopes , for a phantastick forme , and scandalous consecration : when the queene and kingdome were favorable to them , when the forme prescribed by the church did please them well enough , when there were protestant bishops of their owne communion enough to consecrate them , when all the churches in the kingdome were open to them ; unlesse it had been midsummer moone in december ▪ and they were all starke mad , and then it is no matter where they were consecrated ? in criminall causes , where things are ●retended to be done against penall lawes , ●uch as this is , the proofes ought to be clea●er then the noone day light . here is no●hing proved , but one single witnesse named ●nd he a professed enemy , who never testi●●ed it upon oath , or before a iudge , or so much as a publick notary , or to the face of a protestant , but onely whispered it in corners ( as it is said by adversaries ) among some of his owne party . such a testimony is not worth a deafe nut , in any cause betweene party and party . if he had bene a witnesse beyond all exception , and had beē duly sworne and legally examined ▪ yet his testimony in the most favourable cause had been but halfe 〈◊〉 proofe , though an hundred did testifie it from his mouth , it is still but 〈◊〉 single testimony : and as it is , it i● plaine prittle prattle . and ought to be va●lued no more then the shadow of an asse ▪ to admit such a testimony , or an hundred such testimonies , against the publick authentick recordes of the kingdome were to make our selves guilty of more madness , then they accuse the bishops of● if st. paul forbid timothy to recei●● an accusation against a single presbyter under two or three witnesses , he would no● have us to condemne fifteen bishops of such a penall crime , upon a ridiculous rumour contrary both to the lawes and record● of the kingdome . the severity of ou● lawes doth destroy the credit of this fable . chap. iii. the fourth and fifth reasons against this improbable fiction , from the no necessity of it , and the lesse advantage of it . my fourth plea is , because there was no need to play this counterfeit pageant . we use to say necessity hath no law . that is , regardeth no law . in time of warre the lawes are silent , but this was a time of peace . first there could be no necessity why they should have a clandestine consecration , without a register or publick notary , when they might have had an army of publick notaries ready upon their whistle , evē under their elbowes at bowes church , out of the courtes of the arches , and the audience , and prerogative . secondly , there was no necessity why they should anticipate the queenes letters patents for their consecration , by whose gracious favour they were elected , and of the accomplishmēt whereof in due time they could not doubt ; unlesse they would wilfully destroy their owne hopes , by such a mad pranke as this had been , that is , unlesse they would themselves hew downe the bough where upon they stood . thirdly , there was no necessity that they should chuse a common taverne for the place of their consecration , when the keies of all the churches in the kingdome were at their command , fourthly , there could be no necessity why they should deserte the forme of ordination prescribed by the law , which was agreeable both to their judgements , and to their desires , and to their duties ; and to omitte the essentialls of ordination , both matter and forme , which they knew well enough , to be consecrated after a new brainsick manner . then all the necessity which can be pretended , is want of a competent number of ordeiners . suppose there had bene such a necessity 'to be ordeined by two bishops , or by one bishop , this very necessity had bene a sufficient dispensation with the rigour of the canons , and had instified the act. as st. gregory pleadeth to augustine ▪ in the english church wherein there i● no other bishop but thy self , thou can● not ordeine a bishop otherwise then alone ▪ and after this manner , our first english bishops were ordeined . and so migh● these protestant bishops have bene validely ordeined , if they received the essentialls of ordination . but what a remedy is this , because they could not have a competent number of bishops , according to the canons of the church , and the lawes of england , therefore to reject the essentialls of ordination , for a defect which was not essentiall , and to cast of obedience to their superiours , both civill ād ecclesiasticall ? this had bene just like little children which because they cā not have some toy which they desire , cast away their garments , and whatsoever their parēts had provided for them , wante of three bishops might in some cases make a consecration illegall or uncanonicall , but it could not have rendered it invalide , as this silly pretēded ordinatiō had . but now i come up close to the ground worke of the fable , and i denie positively that there was any such want of a competent number of bishops , as they pretend . and for proofe hereof , i bring no vaine rumours or uncertein conjectures , but the evident and authentick testimony of the great seale of england , affixed to the queenes leuers patents , for authorising the confirmation and consecration of arch-bishop parker , dated the sixth day of december , anno 1559. directed to seven protestant bishops , namely anthony bishop of landaffe , william barlow sometimes bishop of bath and welles , and then elect bishop of chichester , iohn scory sometimes bishop of chichester , then elect bishop of hereforde , miles coverdale sometimes bishop of exceter , iohn suffragan bishop of bedford , iohn suffragan bishop of the●ford , and iohn bale bishop of ossory in ireland . three are a canonicall number , if there were choise of seven , then there was no wante of a competent number to ordeine canonically . i adde , that if it had bene needfull , they might have had seven more out of ireland , arch bishops and bishops , for such a worke as a consecration . ireland never wanted store of ordeiners . nor ever yet did any man object , want of a competent number of consecraters , to an irish protestant bishop . they who concurred freely in the consecration of protestant bishops at home , would not have denied their concurrence in england , if they had been commanded . which makes me give no credit to that vaine reporte ▪ of an irish arch bishop prisoner in the tower , who refused to complie with the desires of the protestant bishops , for his liberty and a large rewarde . but the arch bishop wanteth a name , and the fabl● wanteth a ground ; the witnesses and persuaders are all unkowne . and if there had bene a grane of truth in this relation ; yet in this case one man is no man , one mans refusall signifieth nothing . against the evident truth of this assertion , two things may be opposed out of the relation of these fathers . the first is particular , concerning the bishop of landaffe , that he was no protestant , but a roman catholick untill his death . so they say indeed , that he was the onely man of all the catholick bishops , that tooke the oath of supremacy . observe how prejudice and partiality doth blindfold men of learning and partes ; they confess he tooke the oath of supremacy , and yet esteeme him a good roman catholick . i see censures go by favour , and one may steale an horse , better then another looke over the hedge . i am well contented , that they reckon him for so good a catholick . they adde , that he knew parker and the rest which were to be ordered bishops to be hereticks , and averse from the doctrine of the roman catholick church , which he constantly adhered unto , ( the supremacy onely excepted ) during his life . and a little after they tell us , that he desired to be numbred among catholicks . now what if the bishop of landaff after all this should prove to be a protestāt ? then all the fathers story is quite spoiled . and so he was . if he knew parker and the rest , to be heretickes , he knew himself to be one of their brother hereticks . his daily masse was the english leiturgy , as well as theirs , he adhered constantly to a protestant bishoprick during his life , as well as any of them , and if he did not hold it as long as any of them , it was deaths fault , and none of his fault . they say they prevailed with him to give them a meeting at the nagge 's head in cheapeside , where they hoped he would ordeine them bishops , despairing that ever he would do it in a church , because that would be too great and notorious a scandall for catholicks . they were too modest . they might easily have prevailed with him , or have had him commanded to joine in their consecration in a church , after a legall manner . he who did not stick at renouncing the pope , and swearing an oath of supremacy to his prince , would not have stucke at a legall ordination , upon the just command of his prince . but to desire him to do it in a taverne , in a clandestine manner , without the authority of the greate seale , before their election was confirmed , was to desire him out of curtesy to run into a premunire , that is to forfeit his bishoprick of landaffe , his estate , his liberty . is it become a more notorious scandall to catholicks , to ordeine in a church , then in a taverne , in the judgment of these fathers ? there may be scandall taken at the former , but notorious scandall is given by the later . here bishop bonner steppeth upon the stage , and had well neare prevented the whole pageant , by sending his chaplein to the bishop of landaffe , to forbid him under paine of excommunication to exercise any such power of giving orders in his diocesse , where with the old man being terrified , and other wise moved in conscience refused to proceed . bishop bonner was allwaies very fierce which way soever he went : if acworth say true , he escaped once very narrowly in rome , either burning or boiling in scalding leade , for being so violent before the assembly of cardinalls , against the pope , on the behalf of henry the eight , if he had not secured himself by flight . afterwards he made such bonefires of protestants , and rendered himself so odious , that his prison was his onely safeguard from being torne in pieces by the people . but that was , dum stetit iliam & ingens gloria teucrorum , whilest he had his prince to be his second . now he was deprived , and had no more to doe with the bishoprick of london , then with the bishoprick of constantinople , he had the habituall power of the keies , but he had no flock to exercise it upon . if he had continued bishop of london still , what hath the bishop of london to do with the bishop of landaffe ? par in parem non habet potestatem . thirdly , bowes church which is neare the nagges-head , wherein the ecclesiasticall parte of this story , so farre as it hath any truth in it , was really acted , ( that is the confirmation of arch bishop parkers election ) though it be in the city of london , as many churches more , is not in the diocesse of london , but a peculiar under the iurisdiction of the arch-bishop of canterbury . lastly , the fathers say that when parker and the rest see that he had refused , they reviled the poore old man , calling him doating foole , and some of them saying , this old foole thinketh that we can not be bishops , unlesse we be greased . the contrary is evident by the recordes of the confirmation , that arch bishop parker was not present in person : so this whole narration is composed of untruthes , and mistakes , and incongruities , and contradictions . but that which discovereth the falsity of it apparently to all the world is this , that the bishop of landaff lived and died a protestant bishop , in the reigne of queene elisabeth , as he had bene formerly in the reigne of king edward , for proofe whereof i produce two of their owne authours . the one is sanders , but the bishops , who had bene created out of the church in those most wicked times , who had now repented from their hearts of their schisme , being not contented wiih this common dispensation and confirmation , did each of them particularly crave pardon of their former grievous fault from the see apostolick , and confirmation in their bishopricks , excepting the bishop of landaffe , who omitting it rather out of negligence then malice , did onely relapse into schisme in the reigne of queene elisabeth , as we interprete it by the just judgement of god . he acknowledgeth , that he became a protestant againe , that is in their language , relapsed into schisme . the other is cited by doctor harding , we had onely one foole among us , ( we see whose livery the foole was , ) who now i know not by what entisements is become yours , being unworthy the name of a lord and a bishop , whose learning is very little , and his credit by this action much lost . thus writeth doctor harding of the bishop of landaffe , about the fifth yeare of queene elisabeth , at which time he was living , and continued protestant bishop of landaff . a second objection against the truth of that which hath bene said of the competent number of our protestant bishops to make a canonicall ordination , is an exception against all the seven bishops named in the letters patents , that they were no true bishops , because all of them were ordeined in a time of schisme , and two of them in king edwards time , according to a new forme of ordination , and consequently they could not ordeine . that ordination which was instituted by edward the sixth was judged invalide by the catholicks , and so declared by publick judgment in queene maries reigne , in so much as leases made by king edwards bishops , though confirmed by deane and chapiter were not esteemed available , because they were not ( saith the sentence ) consecrated , nor bishops . to the first part of this objection , that our consecraters were ordeined themselves by schismaticks or in a time of schisme , i answer three waies . first this argument is a meere begging of the quaestion . the case in briefe is this . if those branches of papall power which we cast out of england by our lawes at the reformation , were ●laine usurpations , then our reformation 〈◊〉 but a reinfanchisement of our selves , and ●he schisme lieth at their dore , then they may question the validity of their owne ordination upon this ground , not ours : but we are ready to mainteine to all the world ●hat all those branches of papall power , which we cast out by our lawes at the re●ormation , were grosse usurpations , ●irst introduced into england above ele●en hundred yeares after christ. so this ●art of the objection concerneth them 〈◊〉 us . ●econdly these fathers know wel enough , ●●d can not but acknowledg , that according to the principles of the catholick church and their owne practise , the ordination not onely of schismaticks , but o● hereticks , if it have no essentiall defect i●●valide , and the persons so ordeined ough● not to be reordeined , but onely reconciled ▪ many orthodox christians had their holy orders from hereticall arrians . if cra●mer , and latimer , and barlow , and hodgkins , were no true bishops , because the● were ordeined in a time of schisme then gardinar , and bonner , and tu●●stall , and thurleby , &c. were no true bi●shops , for they were ordeined in a tim● of schisme likewise ; then cardinall pol● and bishop watson , and christophers ▪ and all rest of their bishops were no tru● bishops who were ordeined by these . 〈◊〉 to put out one of our eies ( like the envio● man in the fable ) they would put out 〈◊〉 their owne . thirdly i answer , that it was not we 〈◊〉 made a discrimination betweene our ●●●shops and their bishops , as to the poi●● of ordination , but the marian bisho● themselves , who made a mutuall co●●pact , one and all , that none of them shoul● impose hands upon any new elect● bishops ; thinking vainely , there could other consecraters have bene found out , and that by this meanes they should both preserve their bishopricks , and bring the queene to their bent : but they found them selves miserably deceived . many bishops who had bene chased out of their bishopricks in queene maries daies , did now returne from exile , and supplie the place of consecraters . then conjurationis eos penituit , the bishops repented of their conspiracy . multi ad judices recurrunt , &c. many of them ran to the iudges , confessed their obstinacy , and desired leave to take the oath of supremacy . thus writeth acworth an author of good account in ▪ those daies . if this foolish conspiracy had not bene . we had had no difference about our consecrations . to the second part of this objection , that the forme of ordeining used in king edwards daies , was declared invalide in queene maries daies , i answer , first , that we have no reason to regarde the iudgment of their iudges in queene maries dayes , more then they regard the judgment of our iudges in queene elisabeths daies . they who made no scruple to take away their lifes , would make no scruple to take away their holy orders . secondly i answer that which the father● call a sentence , was no sentence . the word is dicitur , it is said or it is reported , not decretum est , it is decreed . neither were queene maries lawes proper rules , nor queene maryes iudges at common law the proper iudges , of the validity of an episcopal consecration , or what are the essentialls of ordination , according to the institution of christ. they have neither rules , no● grounds for this in the common law . thirdly i answer that the question i● queene maries daies was not about the validity or invalidity of our orders , bu● about the legality or illegality of them , not whether they were conformable to the institution of christ , but whether they were conformable to the lawes o● england . the lawes of england can neither make a valide ordination to be invalide ▪ nor an invalide ordination to be valide , because they can not change the institutio● of christ. in summe king edwards bishop● were both validely ordeined according to the institution of christ , and legally ordeined according to the lawes of englād . 〈◊〉 queene mary changed the law , that the forme of ordeining which had beē allowed in king edwards daies should not be allowed in her daies . notwithstanding queene maries law , they continued still true bishops , by the institution of christ , but they were not for that time legall bishops in the eie of the law of england , which is the iudges rule . but when queene elisabeth restored king edwards law , then they were not onely true valide bishops , but legall bishops againe . that corollary which the fathers adde , in so much as leases made by king edwards bishops though confirmed by the deane and chapiter were not esteemed available , because they were not consecrated or bishops , that is in ●he eie of the english law at that time , signi●ieth nothing at all . leases concerne the be●efice of a bishop , not the office of a bishop . a bishop who is legally ordeined , though ●e be invalidely ordeined , may make a lease ●hich is good in law . and a bishop ●hich is validely ordeined , if he be ille●ally ordeined , may make a lease which is ●oide in law . concerning bishop bonners conscience , ●hat he lost his bishoprick for his con●ience , and therefore it is not proba●●e that he would make himself guilty of so much sacrilege , as to declare king edwards forme of ordination to be invalide for the profit of new leases , it belongeth not to me to judge of other mens consciences . but for bishop bonners conscience i referre him to the testimony of one of his freinds , nicolas sanders , who speaking of bishop gardiner , bishop bonner , bishop tunstall and the bishops of worcester and chichester , concludeth with these words . t●●mide ergo restiterunt pueri regis prima●● spirituali , imo simpliciter subscripseru● , & in omnes caeteras innovationes , quae ne● videbantur ipsis continere apertam haer●●sim , ne episcopatus & honores perderent ● vel ul●ro , vel comra conscientiam coa● consenserunt . therefore they resisted the sp●●rituall primacy of the king being but a boy fairly , yea they subscribed to it simply , and they consented to all the rest of the innovations , whic● did not seeme to them to conteine manifest heresy either of their owne accord , or compelled agai● conscience , least they should lose their bishopricks and honours . we see they had no grea● reason to bragge of bishop bonners conscience , who sometimes had bene a grea● favorite of cranmer and crumwell . he g●● his bishoprick by opposing the pope , a●● lost his bishoprick by opposing his prince ▪ but if reordination be such a sacrilege , many romanists are guilty of grosse sacrilege , who reordeine those proselites whom they seduce from us , with the same essentialls , matter and forme , imposition of hands , and these words receive the holy ghost ; wherewith they had been formerly ordeined by us . lastly i answer , ( and this answer alone is sufficient to determine this controversy , ) that king edwards forme of ordination was judged valide in queene maries daies by all catholicks , and particularly by cardinall pole then apostolicall legate in england , and by the then pope paul the fourth , and by all the clergy and parliament of england . the case was this . in the act for repealing all statutes made against the see of rome , in the first and second yeares of philip and mary , the lords spirituall and temporall in parliament assembled , representing the whole body of the realme of england , presented their common request to the king and queene , that they would be a meanes to the legate to obteine some settlements by authority of the popes holiness , for peace sake , in some articles where of this is one . that institutiōs of benefices and other promotions ecclesiasticall , and dispensations made according to the forme of the act of parliament might be confirmed . institutions could not be confirmed , except ordinations were confirmed . for the greatest part of the english clergy had received both their benefices and their holy orders , after the casting out of the popes usurped authority out of england . and both benefices and holy orders are comprehended under the name of ecclesiasticall promotions . this will appeare much more clearely by the very words of the cardinalls dispensation , ac omnes ecclesiasticas seculares seu quorumvis ordinum regulares personas , quae aliquas impetrationes , dispensationes , concessiones , gratias & indulta , tam ordines quam beneficia ecclesiastica , seu alias spirituales materias , pretensa authoritate supremitatis ecclesiae anglicanae , licet nulliter & de facto obtenuerint , & ad cor reversae ecclesiae unitati restitutae fuerint , in suis ordinibus & beneficiis , per nosipsos seu a nobis ad id deputatos misericorditer recipiemus , prout jam multae receptae fuerunt , secumque super his opportune in domino dispensabimus ; and we vvill graciously receive ( or interteine ) by our selves or by others deputed by us to that purpose , ( as many have already been received ) in their orders and in their benifices , all ecclesiasticall persōs as well secularas regular of whatsoever orders , vvhich have obteined any suites , dispensations , grants , graces , and indulgences , as vvell in their ecclesiasticall orders , as benefices and other spirituall matters , by the pretended authority of the supremacy of the church of england , though ineffectually and onely de facto , so they be penitent , and be returned to the unity of the church . and vve vvill in due season dispense vvith them in the lord for these things . here we see evidently , that upon the request of the lo●ds spirituall and temporall and commons , being the representative body of the church and kingdome of england , by the intercession of the king and queene , the popes legate did receive all persons , which had been ordeined or beneficed , either in the time of king henry or king edward , in their respective orders and benefices , which they were actually possessed of , at the time of the making of this dispensation or confirmation , without any exception or condition , but onely this , that they were returned to the unity of the catholick church . neither was there ever any one of them who were then returned , either deprived of their benefices , or compelled to be reordeined . from whence i argue thus , either king henry the eighths bishops and priests , and likewise the bishops and priests ordeined in king edward the sixths time , had all the essentialls of episcopall and priestly ordination , which were required by the institution of christ ; and then they ought not to be reordeined , then ( in the judgement of these fathers themselves ) it is grievous sacrilege to reordeine them : or they wanted some essentiall of their respective ordinations , which was required by the institution of christ ; and then it was not in the power of all the popes and legates that ever were in the world , to confirme their respective orders , or dispense with them to execute their functions in the church . but the legate did dispense with them to hold their orders , and exercise their severall functions in the church , and the pope did confirme that dispensation . this doth clearely destroy all the pretensions of the romanists against the validity of our orders . it may perhaps be objected , that the dispensative word is recipiemus , we will receive , not we do receive . i answer , the case is all one ; if it were unlawfull to receive them in the present , it was as unlawfull to receive thē in the future . all that was done after , was to take a particular absolution or confirmation from the pope or his legate , which many of the principall clergy did , but not all ; no not all the bishops , not the bishop of landaff , as sanders witnesseth , yet he injoied his bishoprick , so did all the rest if the clergy , who never had any particular confirmation . it is not materiall at all , whether they were confirmed by a generall or by a speciall dispensation , so they were confirmed or dispensed with at all , to hold all their benefices , and to exercise their respective functions in the church , which no man can denie . secondly it may be objected , that it is said in the dispensation , licet nulliter & de facto obtenuerint , although they had obteined their benefices and promotions ineffectually and onely in fact without right : which doth intimate that their orders were voide and null , before they had obteined this dispensation . i answer , that he stiled them voide and null , not absolutely but respectively , quoad exercitium , because by the roman law they might not be lawfully exercised without a dispensation : but not quoad characterem , as to the character . if they had wanted any thing necessary to the imprinting of the character , or any thing essentiall by the institution of christ , the popes dispensation and confirmation had been but like a seale put to a blanke piece of paper . and so the cardinalls dispensation in generall , and particularly for benefices and ecclesiasticall promotions , dispensations , and graces given by such order as the lawes of the realme allowed and prescribed , in king henries time and king edwards time , was then and there ratified by act of parliament . lastly , that this dispensation was afterwards confirmed by the pope , i prove by the confession of sanders himself , though a malicious enemy . he ( that is cardinall pole , in a publick instrument set forth in the name and by the authority of the pope ) confirmed all bishop which had bene made in the former schisme , so they were catholick in their judgment of religion , and the six new bishopricks which king henry had erected in the time of the schisme . and this writing being affixed to the statute , was published with the rest of the decrees of that parliament , and their minds were pacified . all which things were established and confirmed afterwards , by the letters of pope paul the fourth . we have seene , that there were a competent number of protestant bishops beyond ' exception to make a consecration : and so the necessity , which is their onely basis or foundation of the nagge 's head consecration , being quite taken away , this prodigious fable having nothing els to support the incredibilities and inconsistencies of it , doth melt away of it self like winter ice . the fifth reason is drawen from that well known principle in rethorick , cui bono ? or what advantage could such a consecration , as the nagge 's head consecration is pretended to have been , bring to the consecraters or the persons consecrated . god and nature never made any thing in vaine . the haire of the head , the nailes upon the fingers ends , do serve both for ornament and muniment . the leafes defend the blossomes , the blossomes produce the fruite , which is natures end . in sensitives , the spider doth not weave her webbes , nor the silly bee make her celles in vaine . but especially intellectuall creatures have alwaies some end of their actions . now consider , what good such a mock consecratiō could doe the persons so consecrated ? could it helpe them to the possession of their bishopricks by the law of england ? nothing lesse . there is such a concatenation of our english customes and recordes , that the counterfeiting of of any one can do no good , except they could counterfeite them all , which is impossible . when any bishops see becommeth voide , there issueth a writ out of the exchequer to seise the temporalties into the kings hand , as being the ancient and well knowne patron of the english church ; leaving the spiritualties to the arch bishop or to the deane and chapiter , according to the custome of the place . next the king granteth his conge d'eslire or his license to chuse a bishop , to the deane and chapiter ; upon the receite of this license , the deane and chapiter , within a certein number of daies , chuse a bishop , and certifie their election to the king , under the common seale of the chapiter . upon the returne of this certificate , the king granteth out a commission under the great seale of england to the arch bishop , or in the vacancy of the arch bishoprick to so many bishops , to examine the election : and if they find it fairely made to confirme it , and after confirmation to proceed to the consecration of the person elected , according to the forme prescribed by the church of england . this commission or mandate must passe both through the signet office and chancery , and be attested by the clerkes of both those offices , and signed by the lord chanceller and lord privy seale , and be inrolled . so as it is morally impossible there should be any forgery in it . vpon the receite of this mandate , the bishops who are authorised by the king , do meete first at bowes church in london , where with the assistence of the chiefe ecclesiasticall judges of the realme , the deane of the arches , the iudges of the prerogative and audience , with their registers to actuate what is done , they do solemnely in forme of law confirme the election . which being done , and it being late before it be done , the commissioners and iudges were and are sometimes invited to the nagge 's head to a dinner , as being very neare bowes church , and in those daies the onely place of note , this meeting led mr. neale ( a man altogether unacquainted with such formes , ) into this fooles paradise ; first to suspect , and upon suspicion to conclude , that they were about an ordination there , and lastly to broach his brainsick conceites in corners ; and finding them to be greedily swallowed by such as wished them true , to assert his owne drowsy suspicion for a reall truth . but the mischief is , that doctor parker who was to be consecrated , was not present in person , but by his proxie . after the confirmation is done , commonly about three or foure daies , ( but as it happened in arch bishop parkers case nine daies , ) the commissioners proceed to the consecration ; for the most part out of their respect to the archbishop in the chappell at lambeth , with sermon , sacrament , and all solemnity requisite , according to the forme prescribed by the church of england ; in the presence of publick notaries or sworne officers , who reduce every thing that is done with all the circumstances into acts , and enter them into the register of the see of canterbury . where they are carefully kept by the principall officer in a publicke office , as recordes , where every one who desireth may view them from time to time , and have a copy of them if he please . and it is to be noted , that at any consecration , especially of an arch-bishop , great numbers of principall courtiers and citisens are present : so as it is no more possible to coun●erfeite such a consecration , then to walke ●nvisible upon the exchange at noone day . after the consecration is done , the per●on consecrated is not presently admitted to his bishoprick , first the arch bishop maketh his certificate of the consecration with all the circumstances of it , under his arch-episcopall seale : thereupon the king taketh the new bishops oath of fealty ●nd commands that he be put into the actuall possessiō of his bishoprick : then he is ●nthroned , and at his inthronisation his or●ination is publickly read : then he injoieth ●is spiritualties : then issueth a writ out ●f the exchequer to the sherif , to restore ●im to the temporalties of his bishoprick . this custome is so ancient , so certein , so generall , that no englishman can speak● against it . here we see evidently how al things 〈◊〉 pursue one another , and what a necessary and essentiall connexion there is betwee● them . so as the stealing of an electio● or the stealing of a consecration , can ge● no man a bishoprick , as mr. neale dreamed . he that would advantage himsel● that way , must falsifie all the record● both ecclesiasticall and civill . he mu●● falsifie the recordes of the chancery , 〈◊〉 the signet office , of the exchequer , 〈◊〉 the registries , of the bishop , of the de●●ne and chapiter . he must counterfeit th● hands and seales of the king , of the arch● bishop , of the lord chanceller , the lo●● privy seale , of the clerkes and public● notaries , which is not imaginable . 〈◊〉 mr. neale , who first devised this drow● dreame ( or somebody for him ) had 〈◊〉 more experience of our english lawes 〈◊〉 customes , he would have feined a mo●● probable tale , or have held his peace fo● ever . answer me , they who are calumniate to have had their consecration at the n●●ges head , did they meane to conceale it 〈◊〉 have it kept secret ? then what good could it do them ? de non existentibus & non apparentibus eadem est ratio : if it were concealed , it was all one a● if it had never bene . or did they meane to have it published ? such an ordination had bene so farre from helping them to obteine a bishoprick , that it had rendred them uncapable of a bishoprick for ever : and moreover subjected both the consecraters and the consecrated to deprivation , and degradation , and a premunire or forfeiture of their lands goods and liberties , and all that were present at it to excommunication . rome is a fitte place wherein to publish such ludibrious fables as this ; where they can perswade the people , that the protestants are stupid creatures , who have lost their re●igion , their reason , and scarcely reteine their humaine shapes . it is too bold an attempt , to obtrude such counterfeit ware●●n england . chap , iiii. the sixth and seventh reasons , that all the records of england are diametrally opposite to their relation , and do establith our relation . hitherto we have beene taking in the out workes : now i come directly to assault this castle in the aire , that which hath bene said already is sufficient to perswade any man , who is not brimme full of prejudice and partiality : the other five reasons which follow next , have power to compell all men , and command their assen●● ▪ my sixth reason is taken from the diametrall oppositiō which is betweene this fabulous relation of the nagge 's head ordinatio● ▪ and all the recordes of england , both ecclesiasticall and civill . first for the time . the romanists say , that this ordination was before the ninth of september ann. 2559 : 〈◊〉 it is apparent by all the recordes of the chancery , all the distinct letters paten●● or commissions for their respective confirmations , and consecrations , whereupo● they were consecrated , did issue out lo●● after ; namely , arch bishop parkers lette●● patents ( which were the first ) upon the sixth day of december following . next th● commissions for grindall , cox and sands , then for bullingham , iewel , and davis . then for bentham and barkley : and in the yeare following for horn , alley , scambler , and pilkinton . he that hath a mind to see the copies of these commissions , may find them recorded verbatim both in the rolles of the arch bishops register , and in the rolles of the chancery . to what end were all these letters patents , to authorise so many confirmatiōs and consecrations , if the consecrations were done and past long before ? no mans election can be confirmed in england , but by virtue of the kings letters patents . therefore the letters patents must precede the confirmation and consecration , not follow after ●t three moneths , or foure moneths , or six moneths , and in some of thē above a yeare . and as by the recordes of the chancery , ●o their relation is proved to be a notorious fable , by all the ecclesiasticall recordes ; first of their severall and distinct confirmations , which pursued their commissions punctually ; then of their severall and distinct consecrations which pursued their confirmations punctually . he who desireth ●o see these , may finde authentick recordes of them all , both confirmations and consecrations , in the register of the arch bishop of canterbury . it is not the forging of one recorde that would serve the turne : either all these recordes must be forged , o● the nagges head ordination is a silly senslesse fable . lastly after the consecration followeth the installement or inthronisation , which is to be found in the register of the dea●● and chapiter : and the restitution of the new bishop to his temporalties by virt●● of the kings writ , mentioning the confirmation and oath of fealty to the king , 〈◊〉 being temporall things . observe ho● every one of these do pursue another● arch bishop parkers commission issue● december the sixth , his confirmation followed december the ninth , his consecration december the seventeenth , his inthronisation forthwith , and the restitution 〈◊〉 his temporalties the first of march ensu●●ing , that is , at the later end of the ver● next terme : but by their relation , th● consecration was long before the electio● was confirmed , which can not be ; th● letter patents to license the confirmation and consecration , come out three moneth● after the consecration was done , which 〈◊〉 incredible . as for the confirmation , m● neale who was their contriver , knew not what it was . the installement followed three moneths after the consecration , and the restitution to the temporalties six moneths after ; which have no probability . thus for the time , next for the place . their lying relation saith , the elected bishops were consecrated at the nagge 's head : all the ecclesiasticall recordes say they were consecrated at lambeth . the kings commission injoineth a legall consecration according to the forme prescribed by law : such a legall consecration ours at lambeth was ; such a legall consecration theirs at the nagge 's head was not , neither for the place , nor for the rites , nor for the essentialls of consecration . and without good assurance that the consecration was legall , neither the person consecrated could have bene inthroned , nor made his oath of fidelity to the king , nor have bene restored to his temporalties : but he was inthroned , and did his fealty , and was restored to his temporalties , that is as much as to say , that his consecration was legally performed at lambeth , not illegally at the nagge 's head . thirdly for the consecrater . that fa●ulous relation feineth that there was but one consecrater , or at the most two : the authentick recordes of the church of england testifie , that there were foure consecraters . the letters patents require that there should be four consecraters , and without an authentick certificate that there were four consecraters , the king● writ for restitution had not issued . they feine that they imposed hands m●tually , scory upon them and they upo● scorie : but the recordes witnesse that scor●● was solemnely ordeined bishop in king edwards time , the thirteenth day of augu●● anno. 1551 , by the arch bishop of canterbury , the bishop of london and the susfragan bishop of bedford ; and needed no● to be reordeined at the nagge 's head . lastly , for the persons consecrated so● of them feine that all the elected bishops and all of them say that many of them , we●● consecrated together at one time wi●● arch bishop parker : but all the record● both civill and ecclesiasticall do testifieth contrary , that they had severall commissions , severall confirmations , severall consecrations , upon severall daies , in severa● moneths , in several yeares , severall co●●secraters ; as appeareth most evidently 〈◊〉 onely by the authentick recordes of the s● of canterbury , but also by the record● of the chancery , and particularly by the severall commissions directed expresly to archbishop parker , as a bishop actually consecrated , for the consecration of all the rest , the three first of which commissions or letters patents beare date the eighteenth of december an : 1559 , that is the very next day after archbishop parkers consecration ; for the confirmation and consecration of grindall , coxe , and sands , three of those elected bishops . he that doubteth of the truth of these letters patents , may find them recorded verbatim , both in the arch-bishops registry , and in the rolles . if they were confirmed and consecrated by arch-bishop parker , then they were not consecrated together with arch-bishop parker , as in that lyng relation is affirmed . and with this their subsequent installements and restitutions do exactly agree . either all the recordes of england must be false , or this silly fable of the nagge 's head is a prodigious forgery . thus we have seene how the recordes of england , civill and ecclesiasticall , do contradict this tale of a tub . my seventh reareason sheweth how the same recordes do confirme and establish our relation . we say first ( that the see of canterbury being voide by the death of cardinall pole , ( who died as some say the very same day with queene mary , others say the day following , ) the queene granted her conge d'es●ire to the deane and chapiter of canterbury to chuse an arch-bishop . this is clearl● proved by the authentick copy of the cong● d'eslire itself in the rolles . regina dilect● sibi in christo decano & capitulo ecclesiae m●tropoliticae cantuariensis saluiem &c. examinatur richard broughton . secondly we say , that the deane and chapiter having received this license , did chuse doctor mathew parker for their arch-bishop . this is apparent by the queenes commission for his confirmation and restitution , wherein there is this clause and the said deane and chapiter , by vir●●● of our license , have chosen our beloved in christ mathew parker professor of theology , for arch-bishop and pastour to them and the aforesaid church , as by their letters . patent● directed to us thereupon it appeareth more fully . thirdly the queene accepting this election , was graciously pleased to issue out two commissions for the legall confirmation of the said election , and consecrating of the said arch-bishop . the former dated the ninth of september anno 1559 , directed to six bishops , cuthbert bishop of durham , gilbert bi●hop of bath , david bishop of peterburough , anthony bishop of landaff , william barlow bishop , and iohn scory bishop , in these words . elisabet● dei gratia angliae &c. reverendis in christo patribus cuthberto episcopo dunelmensi , gilberto bathoniensi episcopo , davidi episcopo burgi sancti petri , anthonio landavensi episcopo . vvillelmo barlo episcopo , & iohanni scory episcopo , salutem . cum vacante nuper sede archi-episcopali cantuariensi per mortem naturalem domini reginaldi pole cardinalis , ultimi & immediati archi-episcopi & pastoris ejusdem , ad humilem petitionem decani & capituli ecclesiae nostrae cathedralis & metropoliticae christi cantuariensis , eisdem per literas nostras patentes licentiam concesserimus alium sibi eligendi in archiepiscopum & pastorem sedis praedictae . ac iidem decanus & capitulum vigore & obtentu licentiae nostrae praedictae , dilectum nobis in christo magistrum matthaeum parker sacrae theologiae professorem sibi & ecclesie praedictae elegerint in archiepiscopum & pastorem , prout per literas suas patentes sigillo eorum communi sigillatas , nobis inde directas , plenius liquet & apparet . nos electionem illam acceptantes , eidem electioni regium nostrum assensum adhibuimus pariter & favorem , & hoc vobis tenore praesentium significamus . rogantes , ac in fide & dilectione quibus nobis tenemini firmiter praecipiendo mandantes , quatenus eundē magistrum matthaeum parker in archepiscopum & pastorem ecclesiae cathedralis & metropoliticae , christi cantuariensis praedictae , sic ut praefertur electum , electionemque praedictam confirmare , & eundem magistrum matthaeum in archiepiscopum & pastorem ecclesiae praedictae consecrare , caeteraque omnia & singula peragere , quae vestro in hac parte incumbant officio pastorali , juxta formam statutorum in ea parte editorum & provisorum , velitis cum effectu . in cujus rei testimonium &c. teste regina apud redgrave , nono die septembris anno regni elisabethae angliae &c. primo . per breve de privato sigillo . examinatur ri : brovghton . now if any man desire a reason why this first commission was not executed , the best account i can give him is this , that it was directed to six bishops , without an [ aut minus , or at the least foure of you ] : so as if any one of the six were sick or absent , or refused , the rest could not proceed to confirme , or consecrate . and that some of them did refuse , i am very apt to beleeve , because three of them not long after were deprived . but the reader may note , first that there were three protestant bishops in that first commission . they who were such punctuall observers of the law of england , that they would not proceed to consecrate without a fourth , in the vacancy of both the archiepiscopall sees , certeinly would never give way to a private profane ordination at the nagge 's head , by one single bishop . and secondly , that for all their pretended intelligence , our english romish writers are great strangers to the true passages of those times , knowing nothing but what they heare at rome , or rhemes , or doway . if it were otherwise we should have heard of this commission sooner . the second letters patents which were executed , were dated the sixth of december following , directed to anthony bishop of landaff , william barlow sometimes bishop of bath , now elect bishop of chicester , iohn scory sometimes bishop of chichester , now elect bishop of hereford , miles coverdale sometimes bishop of exceter , richard suffragan bishop of bedford , iohn suffragan bishop of the●ford , and iohn bale bishop of ossory in ireland , in these words . regina &c. reverendis in christo patribus anthonio landavensi episcopo , willelmo barlow quondam bathoniensi episcopo , nunc cicestrensi electo , iohanni scory quondam cicestrensi episcopo , nunc electo herefordiensi , miloni coverdale quondam exoniensi episcopo , richardo bedfordensi , iohanni thedfordensi , episcopis suffraganeis , iohanni bale ossoriensi episcopo , salutem . cum vacante nuper sede archiepiscopali cantuariensi per mortem naturalem domini reginaldi pole cardinalis , ultimi & immediati archiepiscopi & pastoris ejusdem , ad humilem petitionem decani & capituli ecclesiae nostrae cathedralis & metropoliticae christi cantuariensis , eisdem per literas nostras . patentes licentiam concesserimus alium sibi eligendi in archiepiscopum & pastorem sedis praedictae , ac iidem decanus & capitulum vigore & obtentu licentiae nostrae praedictae , dilectum nobis in christo magistrum matthaeum parker sacrae theologiae professorem , sibi & ecclesiae praedictae elegerunt in archi-episcopum & pastorem , prout per literas suas patentes nobis inde directas plenius liquet & apparet . nos electionem illam acceptantes , eidem electioni regium nostrum assensum adhibuimus pariter & favorem , & hoc vobis tenore praesentium significamus . rogantes ac in fide & dilectione quibus nobis tenemini firmiter praecipiendo mandantes , quatenus vos aut minus quatuor vestrum , eundem matthaeum parker in archi-episcopum & pastorem ecclesiae cathedralis & metropoliticae christi cantuariensis praedictae sicut praefertur electum , electionemque praedictam confirmare , & eundem magistrum matthaeum parker in archi-episcopum & pastorem ecclesiae praedictae consecrare , caeteraque omnia & singula peragere , quae vestro in hac parte incumbant officio pastorali , juxta formam statutorum in ea parte editorum & provisorum , velitis cum effectu . supplentes nihilominus suprema authoritate nostra regia , ex mero motu & certa scientia nostris , si quid aut in his quae juxta mandatum nostrum praedictum per vos fient , aut in vobis , aut vestrum aliquo , conditione , statu , facultate vestris , ad praemissa perficienda desit aut dèerit eorum , quae per statuta hujus regni nostri aut per leges ecclesiasticas in hac parte requiruntur , aut necessaria sunt , temporis ratione & rerum necessitate id postulante . in cujus rei &c. teste regina apud vvestmonasteriū sexto die decembris , anno regni reginae elisabeth angliae &c. secundo . examinatur . ri : broughton . before i proceed further , to prevent cavills , i must acquainte the reader , that the suffragan bishop of bedford is misnamed richard in the rolles ; by what mistake or errour , after so long time it is folly to inquire . we may conjecture how it might easily , and most probably did come to passe : but to say positively how it did come to passe , whether it was the errour of the transcriber , or the mistake of him who gave the instructions , or it was no faulte at all , ( he might have two names , as many have had , and many have and owne them severally , ) is not possible . in the ecclesiasticall register of the church , he is alwaies stiled by his right name iohn , throughout all the acts of the confirmation and consecration of arch bishop parker . once his name had been written richard , but it was corrected , and my friend assureth me , that it is the onely word in that long narration which is expunged or interlined ; so exact is that recorde . this is certeine , his right name was iohn , as it is in the register . to this the recordes of his own consecration , and twenty other recordes do beare witnesse . but as to the validity of the act or ordination , it is not materiall whether his name were iohn or richard , or both , or neither . so he was truely ordeined himself , and did truely concurre in ordeining , it is no matter how he is stiled in the commission , or in the register . regall commissions are no essentialls of ordination ▪ notariall acts are no essentialls of ordination . the misnaming of the baptise● in a parish register doth not make voide the baptisme . when popes do consecrate themselves , ( as they do sometimes ) , they d● it by the names of paul , or alexander o● vrbanus , or innocentius : yet these are not the names which were imposed upon them at their baptismes , or at their confirmations , but such names as themselves have been pleased to assume . but to come to more serious matter . there are two differences betweene these two commissions . the first is an [ aut minus , or at the least foure of you ] , which clause is prudently inserted into all commissions , where many commissioners are named , least the sicknesse , or absence , or neglect of any one or more , might hinder the worke . the question is , why they are limited to foure , when the canons of the catholick church require but three . the answer is obvious , because the statutes of england do require foure in case one of the consecraters be not an arch bishop , or deputed by one . three had bene enough to make a valide ordination , yea to make a canonicall ordination ; and the queene might have dispensed with her owne lawes : but she would have the arch bishop to be ordeined both according to the canons of the catholick church , and the known ●awes of england . the second difference betweene the two commissions is this , that there is a supplen●es in the later commission , which is not in the former . [ supplyng by our soveraigne authority all defects either in the execution , or in ihe executers of this commission , or any of them ] . the court of rome in such like instruments have ordinarily such dispensative clauses , for more abundant caution , whether there be need of them or not , to relaxe all sentences censures , and penalties inflicted either by the law or by the iudge . but still the question is , to what end was this clause inserted ? i answer , it is en● enough , if it serve ( as the court of rome useth it , ) for a certeine salve to helpe any latent impediment , though there be none ▪ a superfluous clause doth not vitiate 〈◊〉 writing . some thinke it might have reference to bishop coverdales syde woollo● gowne , which he used at the consecratio● toga lanea talari utebatur . that was uncanonicall indeed , and needed a dispensation fo● him that used it , not for him who was consecrated . but this was so slender a defe●● and so farre from the heart or essence o● ordinatiō ; especially where the three othe● cōsecraters , ( which is the canonicall number ) where formally and regularly habite● that it was not worth an intimation und●● the great seale of england . this miles coverdale had been both validely and legally ordeined bishop , and had as much power to ordeine as the bishop of rome himself . if he had been roman catholick in his ●udgment , he had been declared by cardinall pole as good a bishop , as either bon●er , or thirleby , or any of the rest . others thinke , this clause might have relation to the present condition of bishop barlow and bishop scory , who were not yet inthroned into their new bishopricks . it might be so , but if it was , it was a great mistake in the lawiers who drew up the commission . the office and the benefice of a bishop are two distinct things ; ordination is an act of the key of order , and a bishop uninthroned may ordeine as well as a bishop inthroned . the ordination of suffragan bishops , who had no peculiar bishoprickes , was alwaies admitted and reputed as good in the catholick church , ( if the suffragans had episcopall ordination , ) as the ordination of rhe greatest bishops in the wolrd . but since this clause doth extend ir self both to the consecration and the consecraters , i am confident that the onely ground of it was that same exception , o● rather cavill which bishop bonner did afterwards make against the legality of bishop hornes consecration ; which is all that either stapleton or any of our adversaries ha● to pretend against the legality of the ordination of our first protestant bishops ▪ that they were not ordeined according to the praescript of our very statutes . i have set downe this case formerly in my replication to the bishop of chalcedon ▪ but to avoide wrangling , i will put i● downe in the very wordes of the statute ▪ king edward the sixth in his time by authority of parliament , caused the booke of common praier and administration of sacraments and other rites and ceremonies in the church of england , 〈◊〉 be made and set forth , not onely for or● uniforme order of service , commō prayer , and administration of sacrament● to be used whithin this realme , but also did adde and put to the said booke , a very godly order manner and forme , ho● arch-bishops , bishops , priests , deacons and ministers , should from time to time be consecrated , made , and ordered , within this realme . afterwards it followeth , that in the time of queene mary , the severall acts and statutes made in the secōd , third , fourth , fifth and sixth yeares of king edward , for the authorising and allowing of the said booke of common praier and other the premisses , were repealed . lastly the statute addeth , that by an act made in the first yeare of queene elisabeth , entituled an act for the uniformity of common prayer and service in the church , and administration of sacraments , the said booke of common praier and administration of sacraments , and other the said orders rites and ceremonies before mētioned , and all things therein conteined , is fully stablished and authorised to be used in all places within the realme . this is the very case related by the parliament . now the exception of bishop bonner , and stapleton , and the rest , was this . the booke of ordination was expresly established by name by edward the sixth , and that act was expresly repealed by queene mary : but the booke of ordination was not expresly restored by queene elisabeth , but onely in generall termes under the name and notion of the booke of common praiers and administration of sacraments , and other orders rites and ceremonies . therefore they who were ordeined according to the said forme of ordination in the beginning of queene elisabeths time , were not legally ordeined . and those bishops which had bene ordeined according to that forme in king edwards time , though they were legally ordeined then , yet they were not legall bishops now , because quee●● maries statute was still in force , and was not yet repealed . is this all ? take courage reader , here is nothing that toucheth the validity of our ordination , but onely the legality of it ▪ which is easily satisfied . first i answe● that queene maries statute was repeale● sufficiently , even as to rhe booke of ordination ; as appeareth by the very word of the statute which repealed it . a● that the said booke , with the order of service 〈◊〉 of the administration of sacraments rites 〈◊〉 ceremonies , shall be after the feast of st. 〈◊〉 baptist next in full force and effect , any thing 〈◊〉 queene maries statute of repeale to the contrary in any wise not withstanding . that the booke of ordination was a part of this booke , and printed in this booke in king edwards daies , besides the expresse testimony of the statute in the eighth of queene elisabeth we have the authority of the canons of the church of england , which call it singularly the booke of common praier , and of ordering bishops priests and deacons . it is our forme of praier upon that occasion , as much as our forme of baptising , or administring the holy eucharist , or our forme of confirming , or marryng , or visiting the sick . secondly , it is also a part of our forme of administration of the sacraments . we denie not ordination to be a sacrament , though it be not one of those two sacraments , which are generally necessary to salvation . thirdly , although it were supposed that ordination were no sacrament , nor the booke of ordination a part of the booke of common praier : yet no man can denie that it is a part of our ecclesiasticall rites and ceremonies , and under that notion sufficiently authorised . lastly , ejus est legem imerpretari cujus est condere . they who have legislative power to make a law , have legislative power to expound a law . queene elisabeth and her parliament made the law , queene elisabeth and her parliament expounded the law , by the same authority that made it ; declaring that under the booke of common praier , the forme of ordination was comprehended and ought to be understood . and so ended the grand cavill of bishop bonner and doctor sapleton and the rest , of the illegality of our ordination ; shewing nothing but this , how apt a drowning cause is to catch hold of every reed , that the supplentes or this dispensative clause had relation to this cavill , ( which as it did breake out afterwards into an open controversy , so it was then whispered in corners , ) is very evident by one clause in the statute : that for the avoiding of all questions and ambiguities that might he objected against the lawfull confirmations , investing , and consecrations of any arch-bishops , bishops &c. the queene in her letters patents had not onely used such words as had bene accustomed to be used by king henry and king edward , but also diverse other generall wordes , whereby her highness by her supreme power and authority , hath dispensed with all causes and doubts of any imperfection or disability that could be objected . the end of this clause and that statute was the same : and this was the onely question or ambiguity which was moved . yet although the case was so evident , and was so judged by the parliament , that the forme of consecration was comprehended under the name and notion of the booke of common praier &c : yet in the indictment against bishop bonner , i do commend the discretion of our iudges , and much more the moderation of the parliament . criminall lawes should be written with a beame of the sun , without all ambiguity . lastly , before i leave this third consideration , i desire the reader to observe three things with me . first , that this dispensative neither hath , nor can be construed to have any reference to any consecration that was already past , or that was acted by bishop scory alone ; as that silly consecration at the nagge 's head is supposed to have been . secondly , that this dispensative clause doth not extend at all to the institution of christ , or any essentiall of ordination , nor to the canons of the universall church : but onely to the statutes and ecclesiasticall lawes of england . si quid desit aut deerit eorum quae per statuta hujus regni nostri , aut per leges ecclesiasticas requiruntur . thirdly , that the commissioners authorised by these letters parēts to cōfirme and consecrate arch bishop parker , did make use of this supplentes or dispensative power in the confirmation of the election , which is a politicall act , ( as by the words of the confirmation in the next paragraph shall appeare , ) but not in the consecration , which is a purely spirituall act , and belongeth meerely to the key of order . fourthly we say , that by virtue of these letters patents of december the sixth , foure of the commissioners therein named did meete in bowes church , upon the ninth day of the same moneth : and then and there with the advise of the chiefe ecclesiasticall lawiers of the kingdome , the deane of the arches , the iudges of the prerogative and audience , did solemnely confirme the election . this is proved by the recorde of the confirmation or definitive sentence it self , in these words . in dei nomine , amen . nos willelmus quondam bathonienfis & vvellensis episcopus nunc cicestrensis electus , iohannes scory quondam cicestrensis episcopus nunc electus herefordensis , milo coverdale quondam exoniensis episcopus , & iohannes bedford episcopus suffraganeus , mediantibus literis commissionalibus illustrissimae reginae fidei defensatricis &c. commissionarij , cum hac clausula videlicet [ unae cum iohanne the●fordensi suffraganeo & iohanne bale ossoriensi episcopo ] , et etiam cum hac clausula [ quatenus vos aut ad minus quatuor vestrum ] , nec non & hac adjectione [ supplentes nihil ominus &c. ] specialiter & legitime deputati , &c. idcirco nos commissionarii regii antedicti , de & cum assensic iurisperitorum cum quibus in hac parte communicavimus , praedictam electionē suprema authoritate dictae dominae nostrae reginae nobis in hac parte commissa confirmamus ▪ supplētes ex suprema authoritate regia , ex mero principis motu & certa scientia nobis delegata , quicquid in hac electione fuerit defectum . tum in his quae juxta mandatum nobis creditum a nobis factum & processum est , aut in nobis aut aliquo nostrum , conditione , statu , facultate ad haec perficienda deest aut deerit . tum etiam eorum quae per statuta hujus regni angliae , aut per leges ecelesiasticas in hac parte requisita sunt aut necessaria , prout temporis ratio & rerum praesentium necessitas id postulant , per hanc nostram sententiam definitivam , sive hoc nostrum finale decretum &c. i cite this the more largely , that our adversaries may see what use was made of the dispensation , whieh they cavill so much against : but in the consecration which is an act of the key of order , they made no use at all of it . this is likewise clearly proved by the queenes mandate for the restitution of arch bishop parker to his temporalties , wherein there is this clause . [ cui quidem electioni & personae sic electae regium assensum nostrum adhibuimus & favorem , ipsiusque fidelitatem nobis debitam pro dicto archi-episcopatu recepimus . ] fifthly , we say that eight daies after the confirmation , that is to say the 17. of december anno 1559 , the same commissioners did proceed to the consecration of arch bishop parker , in the archi-episcopall chappell at lambeth , according to the forme prescribed by the church of england , with solemne praiers and sermon , and the holy eucharist ; at which great numbers of grave persons communicated with him at that time , [ frequens gravissimorum hominum caetus . ] this is proved evidently by the authentick recordes of the consecration , as they are still and alwaies have been to be seen , in the publick registry of the archi-episcopall see of canterbury . registrum reverendissimi in christo pa●ris & domini , domini matthaei parker &c. principio sacellum tapetibus ad orientem adornabatur , solum vero panno rubro insternebatur , &c. and so first setting downe both how the chappell was adorned for the consecration , and what habit and garments as well the consecraters as the person who was to be consecrated did weare , both at the praiers and sermon , as likewise at the holy sacrament and consecration , it proceedeth to the consecration itself . finito tandem evangelio , herefordens●● electus , bedfordensis suffraganeus , & milo coverdale . archiepiscopum coram cicestrensi electo apud mensam in cathedra sedente his verbis adduxerunt , reverende in deo pater hunc virum pium pariter atque doctum tibi offerimus atque praesentamus , ut archiepiscopus consecretur . postquam haec dixissent , proferebatur ilico regium diploma sive mandatum pro consecratione archiepiscopi , quo per dominum doctorem yale legum doctorem perlecto , sacramentum de regio primatu sive suprema ejus authoritate tuenda , juxta statuta primo anno regni serenissimae reginae nostrae elizabethae edita & promulgata , ab eodem archi-episcopo exigebatur . quod cum ille solemniter tactis corporaliter sacris evangeliis , conceptis verbis praestitisset , cicestrensis electus populum ad orationem hortatus ad letanias decantandas choro respondence se accinxit . quibus finitis , post questiones aliquot archi-episcopo per cicestrensem electum propositas , & post orationes & suffragia quaedam juxta formam libri authoritate parliamenti editi apud deum habita , cicestrensis , herefordensis , suffraganeus bedfordensis , & milo coverdallus , manibus archi-episcopo impositis , dixerunt , accipe spiritum sanctum , & excitare memineris gratiam dei quae in te est per manuum impositionem . dedit enim nobis deus spiritum non timoris , sed potestatis , charitatis , & sobrietatis , &c. this is so evident that our adversaries have nothing to say , but to crie the recordes are forged . forgery of recordes is a grievous crime , and ought to be manifestly proved , or the accuser to suffer for his calumny . let them tell us who forged them , and when and where they were forged . but they know nothing of it . did any of the succeding proto-no●aries complaine that they were forged ? or so much as an under clerke of the office , or any man that had once occasion to view them , and afterwards found some change in them ? no such thing . examine all the officer● and notaries and clerkes living , whether ever they observed any change in them during their remembrance ; and they will all answer , no. and so would all their predecessors since arch-bishop parkers time have answered , if they had beē put to their oathes . who are they then that accuse them of forgery ? they are the adversaries of the church of england , who neve● read one word of them , nor know muc● what belongeth to such recordes : bu● they wish if they be not forged , that they were forged . what would you have 〈◊〉 do ? if they could answer them otherwise they would ; but they can not , and the●●fore they crie them downe as forged . it is possible to forge private acts 〈◊〉 in a corner : but to forge a consecratio● done publickly at lambeth , in queene e●●●sabeths time , and to forge it so early as th●● was published to the world , is incredibl● surely these fathers do not know the c●●stomes of the church , that all things whi●● are done at publick consecrations , are p●●●sently drawne into acts by principall n●●taries , and kept in publick registries , 〈◊〉 the custody of them committed to swo●● officers . and this practise was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in england upon this occasion , but ●●th beē observed throughout both provin●●s for time immemoriall . i should not 〈◊〉 one penfull of inke upon an english ●an , who either doth know or ought to ●●ow what credit the law of england doth 〈◊〉 to these recordes : but for the satis●●●tion of strangers who are misled by 〈◊〉 bold calumnies , i will take leave for 〈◊〉 to prove that , which like the common ●●●nciples of artes , ought to be taken for ●●anted , and de quo nefas est dubitare . 〈◊〉 us trie whether they can say more for 〈◊〉 vatican recordes , then we can for 〈◊〉 . for the present , i produce six grounds 〈◊〉 convince all those who gainsay them . 〈◊〉 first is that value and respect which 〈◊〉 lawes of the kingdome do give them , 〈◊〉 is to allow them to be authentick ●●ofes ; especially in cases of this nature , ●●●cerning spirituall acts belonging to 〈◊〉 key of order . if a clerke have lost 〈◊〉 letters of orders , a certificate out 〈◊〉 this registrie , under the seale of the ●●ch-bihop , or the hand of the protono●●● , is an authentick proofe . shall 〈◊〉 or three adversaries , who are strangers and know little of our affaires , altogethe● unacquainted with our lawes and recordes , dare without any ground to defa●● that for forged , which the lawes of 〈◊〉 kingdome do allow for authentick ? eithe● these recordes are authentick , or christendome never had an authentick ecclesiasticall record . the very act● of our synods or convocations are 〈◊〉 more undoubted , then these are . my second proofe is taken from 〈◊〉 credit of the publick notaries , who 〈◊〉 testifie this individuall consecration , 〈◊〉 draw it up into acts. the testimony 〈◊〉 two publick notaries , for matter of 〈◊〉 maketh full proofe over all europe : but 〈◊〉 at least foure publick notaries we●● present at this consecration , and testif●●●he truth of these acts ; whereof two 〈◊〉 them were the principall publick notari●● in england , that is , anthony huse proto●●●tary of the see of canterbury , and 〈◊〉 argall registerer of the prerogative 〈◊〉 assisted in actuating this consecration 〈◊〉 thomas willet and iohn iucent publick n●●taries . who can make doubt of a m●●●ter of fact so attested ? but is it further observable that these foure publick notaries were the same who did draw cardinall poles consecration into acts , and attest them . either let ●hese fathers denie that cardinall pole was consecrated , or let them grant that arch-bishop parker was consecrated , aut u●ramque negate , aut u●rumque conced●●e . there are the same proofes for the one and for the other . there needeth no more to be done to satisfie any man that hath eyes in his head , but to compare the one register with the other , we owe a third ground to the queenes extraordinary care , who was so solicitous least some circumstance in the politicall part might be defective in some punctilio of law , by reason of the frequent change of the statutes in the reignes of her father , brother , sister , and her self , that she caused the letters patents to be carefully perused by six of our most eminent lawiers , who all with one unanimous consent did certifie , that the commission was good in law , and that the consecraters might proceed legally to consecration upon it ; which certificate subscribed with their owne hands is preserved in the recordes . so if these recordes be forged not onely the acts of the principall no●●ries of england , but also the hands of the principall lawiers of england 〈◊〉 be forged for company , which is incredible . the fourth ground is irrefragable , taken from the testimony and authority 〈◊〉 the parliament of england , in the eight● yeare of queen elisabeth , that was about six yeares after this consecration wa● acted ; which speaking of the great car● was taken in and about the elections , confirmations , and consecrations of arch-bishop parker , and the rest of those fir●● bishops in queene elisabeths time , for proofe thereof referreth us to these very recordes , [ as the recordes of her majesties said fathers and brothers time , and also her owne time , will mo●● plainly testifie and declare ] . doth the parliament referre subjects to recordes which are forged ? you see the contrary , that it mentioneth them as authentick , undoubted , undeniable proofes of what was really done . to this unanswerable reason , these fathers pretend to give two answers : but they are such as are able to satisfie any man , that no answer is to be expected . the first answer is in their printed booke pag. 16 , that the word recordes is but a generall terme . as if truth ought not to be regarded in generalls ; as well as in particulars . yet the termes which are added to recordes , that is , [ of her fathers time , her brothers time , and her time ] , are no generall but restreining termes . they adde , that it is a word of course , which men do rather suppose then examine , when they mention things that have been practised in former times . what latitude these fathers may allow their confitents in case theology for words of course , i do not now examine ; but what have words of course to do in a printed law ? they might as well tell the parliament in plaine termes , that they lied , or that they spake they knew not or regarded not what : as tell them that their words were but words of course . if these wordes of course were not true , why did not ●hey confute them then , when all things were fresh in mens memories ? no man can beleeve that they did forbeare out of affection to the parliament , but because they could not then oppose so evident truth . yet they conclude it to be evident , that there were no such recordes of parkers consecration . this is more then words of course , to charge the parliament directly with an untruth . but how is it evident that there were no such recordes ? because they were never produced to those roman catholick doctors , who desired to see some evidence of parkers consecration . this is wonderfull , they were cited in printe , they were alleged by the parliament in the publick lawes of the kingdome , of which no man can pleade ignorance ; and yet they tell us they were never produced . but to satisfie their very pretensions . their exception● in those daies were of another nature , either against our english ordinall , or against the legality of our bishops ; which later exception hath been answered already , and the former shall be answered i● due place . the reason why bishop iewell , and bishop horne , and others did not ci●● these recordes more expressely , was no dread at all least they should be found to be counterfeit , but because they had no need to cite them , to answer any thing that was objected against them . either the roman catholick writers of those daies were false to their owne interest , to smother a thing which ( if it had been true ) had been so much to their advantage ; which no rationall man can imagine : or the nagges head ordination was altogether unknowne and unheard of in those daies ; which is most certeine . but now the fathers change their note , could they not be forged as well in queene elisabeths time as in king iames his reigne ? this is to blow hote and cold with the same breath . before they demanded , how it was possible they should be extant then and not produced ? now they tell us , they might be extant then , and yet forged : nay , such a dexterity they have in turning all which they touch into gold , that they make this very supposition that they were extant then , to be a proofe against us that they were forged . therefore they were not produced , because in queene elisabeths time many were living , who would have proved them to be forged . observe first , what honour and respect our countrymen do beare to our princes and parliaments united . before they did as good as gave them the lie , and now they make them at the least accessaries to forgery , so farre as to avouch and justifie forged recordes . secondly observe , with what confidence and conscience they say that these recordes were never produced : and yet confesse that they were cited in printe , and alleged in our very statutes . if bishop iewell and bishop horne had cited them , ( as they would have cited them if they had had occasion ) , they could have done no more then was done . did any man upon this publication go about to convince them of forgery ? no i warrant you , the case was too plaine to be convinced . the parliament , and the booke of the life 's of the seventy arch bishops of canterbury printed by iohn day anno 1572. have spoiled the fathers arguments , [ they were not produced , therefore they were forged ] ▪ and furnished us with a demonstrative proofe of the contrary . they were produced and cited in printe , and neither convinced , nor so much as accused of forgery ; therefore they were not forged . it seemeth this answer did not satisfie the fathers themselves : and therefore the one of them hath addeth a second answer in the margent , with his penne , in these words ; the act of parliament relates onely to the recordes of the queenes letters patents , and not to the recordes of the bishops consecration or ordination . they say that glosse is accursed which corrupteth and contradicteth the text , as this glosse doth egregiously . the statute speaketh expresly , of the recordes of elections and confirmations and consecrations , which are all of them ecclesiasticall acts , and none of them recorded in the rolles of chancery , or any other civill court of recordes , but onely in the ecclesiasticall registers of the arch-bishops , deanes and chapiters respectively . this answer is a groundlesse evasion . my fifth ground to prove that these recordes were not forged , is taken from that booke of the life 's of the seventy succeding arch-bishops of canterbury , printed in london in the yeare 1572 ; wherein the authour , ( that was arch bishop parker himself , ) having described the confirmations and consecrations of bishop grindall , bishop sands , bishop iewell , bishop horne , and all the rest of those first protestant bishops , he addeth in the margent , hae confirmationes & consecrationes in registris apparent : these confirmations and consecrations de appeare in the registers . then the registers were then extant , and not onely extant but publickly printed , whilest all things were fresh in mens memories , yet no man did or durst except against the truth of them ; so free they were not onely from corruption , but from suspicion . the sixth and last ground to prove that the recordes were not forged , is taken from the agreement and concurrence of our civill recordes ( which no man ever doubted of ) with our ecclesiasticall registers . we have seene the queenes letters patēts , directed to seven other bishops , for the confirmation and consecration of arch-bishop parker , dated the sixth of december anno 1559 ; therefore upon the sixth of december 1559 he was neither confirmed nor consecrated . we have seene the ecclesiasticall recordes , how by virtue of those very letters patents , he was confirmed upon the ninth day , and consecrated upon the seventeenth day of the same moneth . we find three other letters patents , directed to arch-bishop parker himself as a consecrated bishop , for the confirmation and consecration of other bishops ; namely richard coxe , edmund grindall , and edwin sandes , dated the eighteenth of december , that is the very next day after his consecration : therefore he was then consecrated . and this agreeth exactly with the ecclesiasticall register . elisabeth dei gratia angliae &c. reverendissimo in christo patri & domino , matthaeo archi-episcopo cantuariensi , totius angliae primati & metropolitano , &c , salutem . rogantes , ac in fide & dilectione quibus nobis tenemini firmiter praecipiendo mandantes , quatenus eundem magistrum edmundum grindall in episcopum & pastorem ecclesiae cathedralis divi pauli london praedictae sic ut praefertur electum , electionemque praedictam confirmare , & eundem magistrum edmundum grindall in episcopum & pastorem ecclesiae praedictae consecrare , ceteraque omnia & singula peragere , quae vestro in hac parte incumbunt officio pastorali &c. teste regina apud west monasterium , decimo octavo die decembris , anno reginae elizabeth angliae &c. secundo . examinatur per rich : broughton . consimilia brevia ( eisdem forma & verbis , mutatis solummodo mutandis ) directa sunt cidem mattbaeo archi-episcopo cantuariensi , pro confirmatione electionis , & consecratione richardi cox sacrae theologiae professoris in episcopum eliensem , et edwini sands sacra theologiae professoris in episcopum vvigornensem , omnia sub dato praedicto & in rotulo supradicto . examinatur per richardum broughton , there cannot be a clearer proofe in the world , to prove that arch-bishop parker was neither confirmed nor consecrated upon the sixth of december anno 1559. and that he was both confirmed and consecrated , and commanded to consecrate others , upon the eighteenth of the same moneth . neither doth the king , or church , or lawes of england , take notice of any man as a true arch-bishop or bishop , untill hands be imposed upon him , but alwaies with this addition [ elect ] as in the booke of ordination , ego i n. ecclesiae atque sedis n. elecius episcopus profi●eor ▪ and in the letany , te rogamus ut huic fratri nostro electo episcopo benedicionem & gratiam ●uam largiri digneris . lastly , by the lawes of england , a bishop can not be admitted to do his homage or sweare fealty for his bishoprick , nor be restored to his temporalties , untill he be legally consecrated : but it is apparent by the queenes letters patents , dated the one and twentieth day of march following , ( that was at the end of hilary terme , as speedily as could be ) he had done his homage , and was then restored to his temporalties . which proveth clearly , that he was legally consecrated , that is to say , according to the register . such a perpetuall agreement there is , between our ecclesiasticall-recordes and our civill recordes . chapt . v. the eighth ninth and tenth reasons against that fabulous relation , from the authority of our statute , the booke of the life 's of the arch-bishops of canterbury , and all sorts of witnesses . the eighth reason to prove the nagges-head ordinatiō to be a fable , is takē frō the authority of the statute in the eighth yeare of queene elisabeth , which is thus entituled . an act declaring the manner of making and consecrating of the arch-bishops and bishops of this realme , to be good lawfull and perfect . [ an act declaring ] not enacting or making ; [ the manner of making and consecrating the arch bishops and bishops of this realme , ] that is , those in the beginning of queene elisabeths time , as appeareth by the whole body of the act ; [ to be good lawfull and perfect . the title of the statute alone is sufficient to confute this fable : but there is much more in the body of the statute ; as where it approveth the making and consecrating of the same arch bishops and bishops to be duely and orderly done , according to the lawes of this realme . if it was done duely and orderly according to the lawes of this realme , then it was not done at the nagge 's head , nor after such a silly ridiculous manner , as these fathers do relate it . that forme differeth from our forme in all things . in the consecrater , or minister of the consecration : we must have three bishops at the least , there was but one . in the matter : our matter is imposition of handes , their matter was the laying the bible upon the head or shoulders of the person consecrated . in the forme : our forme is receive the holy ghost &c , their forme was , take thou authority to preach the word of god sincerely . the statute proceedeth , that they were elected made and consecrated arch bishops and bishops , according to such order and forme , and with such ceremonies in and about their consecrations , as were allowed and set forth by the said acts statutes and orders , annexed to the said booke of common praier before mentioned . this is plaine enough . if the parliament say truely , then they were consecrated in a church , not in a taverne ; not according to the brainsick whi●sies of a self conceited foole , or rather the ludibrious devise of an archenemy , but according to the forme prescribed by the church and kingdome . the parliament had more reason to know the truth then these fathers , for there were personally present both the persons who did consecrate , and the persons who were consecrated , and many lords and gentlemen who were eye witnesses of the consecration . chuse reader , whether tho● wilt trust the tale of a single , obscure , malicious spie , tatling in a corner : or the asseveration of the parliament of england , i● the face of the sun , published to the world in print . the parliament testifieth further , that i● is and may be very evident and apparent that no cause of scruple ambiguity or doubt 〈◊〉 or may justly be objected , against the said elections confirmations or consecrations . do they thinke the parliament would have give● such a testimony for the nagge 's head consecrations . and so they conclude , th● all persons which had been or should be orde●● or consecrated , after the forme and order presc●●bed in the said english ordinall , wer● very deed , and by authority of parliament were declared and enacted to be rightly ordered and consecrated . the scope of the parliament and of this act , was to confirme the consecration of arch bishop parker and the rest of the bishops , and to free them from ca●ills and objections : but they confirme no ordination at the nagge 's head , neither can their words be extended any way to such a ridiculous consecration : therefore the ordination of arch bishop parker and the rest , was no nagges head ordinatiō . my ninth reason to prove that nagges-head relation fabulous and counterfeit , is taken from the testimony of that book formerly mentioned , of the life 's of the seventy ar●h bishops of canterbury ; wherein the consecrations of arch bishop parker and all the rest are particulary related . that which was published to the world in print , above thirty yeares before the death of queene elisabeth , was not lately forged : but the legall ordinations of arch-bishop parker and the rest , according to the register , was published to the world in print , above thirty yeares before the death of queene elisabeth . againe , that which was published to the world in print with the allowance of arch bishop parker , or rather by arch bishops parker himself , was not intended by arch bishop parker to be smothered o● concealed . men do not use to publish their forgeries in print ; especially so soone , and of such publick actions , whilest there are so many eye witnesses living . that the relation was not confuted , that the authour was never called to an account for it , that no man stood up against the registers , nor on the behalf of the nagg●●head ordination in those daies , that 〈◊〉 neale was so tame to endure the lie in prie● and all his party so silent , at that tim● when the truth might so easily have bee● discovered , as if it had bene written with ● beame of the sun , ( as it was indeed ) ; is 〈◊〉 evident proofe that our relation is undeniable , and the relation which thei● fathers make is but a drowsy dream● , which could not indure the light of the sun . the tenth and last reason to prove on relation true and theirs fabulous , is taken from all sortes of witnesses , ours and theirs indifferently . mr mason reckoned up seven of our writers , who had justi●●ed the legality of our ordinations , and ●ited our registers as authentick recor●es , before himself ; bishop iewell , bishop hall , bishop goodwin , doctor ●ollings , mr , camden , mr. shelden , ●nd one who was then living when this ●uestion was so hotely debated in king ●unes his time , and had been an eye-wit●esse of arch bishop parkers consecra●●ons at lambeth , that was the earle of ●ottingham . one that was , well stored ●ith our english writers in queene elisabeths time , might adde many more : ●ut that can not well be expected from me 〈◊〉 this distance . we may produce as many of theirs , ●ho have confessed or been convinced of 〈◊〉 truth of arch bishop parkers conse●●ation . first mr. clerke , whose father ●as register to cardinall pole in his le●●ntine courte , and he himself an actu●●y under him , when theophilus higgins 〈◊〉 out of england to st. omars , or ●●oway , ( i remember not well whether ) . ●here he met with this mr. clerke , ●ho falling into discourse with him ●●ncerning his reasons why he had forsaken the church of england , mr higgins told him , that one of them 〈◊〉 that saying of st. hierome , it is no church which hath no priests ; reflecting upon thi● nagges head consecration . mr. clerke approved well of his caution , because 〈◊〉 dubiis tutior pars sequenda : but withall 〈◊〉 wished , that what their authours had written concerning that point , could be ma● good ; confessing that he himself was 〈◊〉 england at that time , ( the witnesse do●● not positively remember whether at t●● consecration or not . ) but mr , cler●● said that he himself was present when 〈◊〉 advocate of the arches , whom the quee● sent to peruse the register after the consecration , and to give her an account whether it was performed canonically , retur●● her this answer , that he had peruse the register , and that no just excepti●● could be made against the consecration but ( he said ) something might h●● been better , particularly that bish●● coverdale was not in his rochet , 〈◊〉 he assured her , that could make no ●●●fect in the consecration . here 〈◊〉 have , if not an eye witnesse , yet at least 〈◊〉 eare witnesse in an undoubted manner , of●● legall consecration ▪ and of the truth of the register , and of the judgement of the advocate of the arches , concerning the canonicalnesse of the consecration . thus much mr. higgins was ready to make faith of whilest he was living , and mr. barwick a person of very good credit , from him of at this present . the second witnesse is mr. higgins himself , who comming afterwards into england had a desire to see the register , and did see it , and finding those expresse words in it [ milo vero coverdallus non nisi togalanea talari ●●ebatur , ] and remembring withall what mr. clerke had told him , whereas the canonicall garments of the rest of the bishops are particularly described : he was so fully satisfied of the truth of the consecration , and lawfull succession of our english bishops , that he said he never made doubt of it afterwards . my third witnesse is mr. hart , a stiffe roman catholick , but a very ingenuous person , who having seene undoubted copies of doctor reynolds his ordination by bishop freake , and of bishop freakes consecration by arch bishop parker , and lastly of arch bishop parkers owne , consecration : he was so fully satisfied with it , that he himself did rase out all that part of the conference betweene him and doctor reinoldes . my fourth witnesse is father oldcorne the iesuit . this testimony was urged by me in my treatise of schisme in these words . these authentick evidences being upon occasion produced , out of our ecclesiasticall courtes , and deliberately perused and viewed by father oldcorne the iesuit , he both confessed himself clearly convinced of that whereof he had so long doubted , ( that was the legitimate succession of bishops and priests in our church ) and wished heartily towards the reparation of the breach of christendome , that all the world were so abundantly satisfied as he himself was ; blaming us as partly guilty of the grosse mistake of many , for not having publickly and timely made knowne to the world , the notorious falshood of that empty , but farre spread aspersion against our succession . to this the bishop of chalcedon , who was better acquainted with the passages of those times in england , then any of those persons whom these fathers stile of undoubted credit , makes this confession . that father oldcorne being in hold for the povvder treason , and judging others by himself , should say , those registers to be authentick , is no marvell , a fifth witnesse is mr. wadsworth , who in an epistle to a freind in england doth testifie , that before he left england he read the consecration of arch bishop parker in our registers . this made him so moderate above his fellowes , that whereas some of them tell of five , and the most of them of fifteen , which were consecrated at the nagge 's head , he saith onely that the consecration of the first protestant bishop was attempted there , but not accomplished ▪ if it were onely attempted not accomplished , then the nagge 's head ordination is a fable . but it falleth out very unfortunately for mr wadsworths attempt , that of all those first protestant bishops , whose elections were all confirmed at bowes church about that time , ( and it might be all of them , it is very probable ●undry of them had a confirmation dinner at the nagge 's head ) not one was confirmed in person , but all of them by their proxies : arch bishop parker by doctor bullingham , bishop barlow and bishop scory by walier iones bachelour of law , bishop grindall by thomas hink doctor of law , bishop cox by edward gascoine , bishop sands by thomas bentham , &c ; as appeareth by the authentick recordes of their confirmation . bishops are ordinarily confirmed by proxie , but no man was ever consecrated , no man was ever attempted to be consecrated by proxie . the four next witnesses are mr. collimo● ▪ mr. laithwait , mr. faircloth , and mr. leake , two of them of the same order with these fathers ; to whom the archbishop of canterbury caused these recordes to be shewed , in the presence of himself , the bishops of london , durham , ely , bath and welles , lincolne , and rochester . they viewed the register , they turned it over and over , and perused it as much as they pleased , and in conclusion gave this sentence of it , that the booke was beyond exception . to say , that afterwards they desired to have the recordes into prison , to peruse them more fully , is ridiculous . such recordes may not goe out of the presence of the keeper . but these fathers may see them as much as they list in the registri● , if they seeke for satisfaction , not altercation . lastly bishop bonner had a suite with bishop horne , and the issue was whether bishop horne were l●gally consecrated bishop ; upon that ●c●uple , or rather cavill , which i have formerl● mentioned . if mr. neale who they say was bishop bonners chaplein , and ●ent on purpose to spie what the ●ishops did , could have proved the ordination of bishop horne at the nagge 's head , he might not onely have cleared his master , but have turned bishop horne deservedly out of his bishoprick . but he was loath to forfeit his cares , by avouching such a palpaple lie . the nagge 's head ordination was not talked of in those daies . how should it , before it was first devised ? mr. sanders dedicated a booke to archbishop parker , which he called the rock of the church : if the nagges head ordination had bene a serious truth , how would he have triumphed over the poore arch-bishop ? to conclude , ●f faith ought to be given to concurring recordes ecclesiasticall and civill , of the church and kingdome of england , if a full parliament of the whole kingdome deserve any credit , if the testimony of the most eminent publick notaries in the kingdome , if witnesses without exception , if the silence , or contradiction , or confession of knowne adversaries , be of any force , if the strongest presumtions in 〈◊〉 world may have any place , that men in their right wittes will not ruine themselves willfully ▪ without necessity , or hope of advantage , if all these grounds put together do over ballance the clandestine relation of a single malicious spie , without either oath , or any other obligation : then i hope every one who readeth these grounds will conclude with me , that the register of the church of england is beyond all exception , and the malicious relation of the nagge 's head ordination , a very tale of a tub , and no better ; so full of ridiculous folly in it self , that i wonder how any prudent man can relate it without laughter . who told this to bluet ? neale . who told this to haberley ? neale . who told it to the rest of the prisoners at wisbich ? neale . onely neale . who suggested it to neale ? the father of lies . neale made the fable , neale related it in corners , long after the time it was pretended to be acted . if his maister bishop bonner had knowne any thing of it , we had heard of it long before . that the arch-bishop should leave lambeth to come to london to be consecrated ; that he should leave all those churches in london , which are immediately under his owne iurisdiction , to chuse a common taverne , as the fittest place for such a worke ; that bishop bonner being deprived of his bishoprick , and a prisoner in london , should send neale from oxford , and send a command by him to one over whom he never had any iurisdiction ; that the other bishop being then a protestant should obey him being a roman catholick , when there were so many churches in the city to performe that worke in , where the bishop of london never pretended any iurisdiction ; that these things should be treated , and concluded , and executed all at one meeting ; that bishop bonner did foresee it would be so , and command his servant to attend there untill he see the end of that businesse . that the bishops being about such a clandestine worke , should suffer a knowne enemy to stay all the while in their company , is incredible . if neale had feined that he had heard it from one of the drawers boies , it had deserved more credit , then this silly , improbable inconsistent relation ; which looketh more like an heape of fictions made by severall authours by starts , then a continued relation of one man , quicquid ostendas mihi sic incredulus odi . chapt . vi. the nagg●s head ordination is but a late devise . of the earle of nottingham , bishop bancroft , doctor stapleton ▪ the statute 8. el. 1. and the queenes disp●nsation . now having laid our grounds , in the next place let us see what the fathers have to say further for themselves . this stor● of the nagge 's head was first cno●radicted b● mason in the yeare 1613 : yet so weakly and family that the a●ten●ive reader may easily perceive he feared to be caught in a lie . first , the fathers seem to argue after this manner ; many athenian writers did mention the cretan bulls and minotaurs and labyrinth , but no cretan did write against them , therefore those ridiculous fables were true . rather , the cretans laughed at their womannish ●evenge , to thinke to repaire themselves for a beating , with scolding and lying : such ridiculous fictions ought to be entertained with scorne and contempt , spreta exolescunt , si irascaris agnita videmur . secondly , it might be ( for any thing i know to the contrary ) mr. mason was the first who dissected this lie , and laid the falsity of it open to the world : but he was not the first who avouched and justified the canonicall consecration , and personall succession of our protestant bishops , which is the same thing in effect ; the bishop of hereford did it before him , and doctor reynolds before the bishop of hereford , and he that writ the life of arch-bishop parker before doctor reynolds , and the parliament before him that writ arch bishop parkers life , and the publick registers of the church before the parliament . thirdly , they would make us believe that this fable was ancient , and published to the world from the beginning of queen elisabeths time in print , and unanswered by the protestants untill the 13 , of king iames : but there is no such thing . for their credit , let them produce one authour that mentioneth it in the beginning of queen elisabeths time , or if they cannot doe that , for forty yeares after , that is , before the yeare 1600 : or otherwise the case is plain that it is an upstart lie , newly coined about the beginning of king iames his time ; the fathers would not have us answer it before it was coined , or before it was known to us . where they say that mr , mason did handle this controversy weakly and faintly , they know they doe him wrong : he hath so thrashed their authours , fusherbert , and fitz-simon , and holywood , and constable , and kellison , and champney , that the cause hath wanted a champion eversince , untill these fathers tooke up the bucklers . but whereas they adde , that mr. mason vvas affraid to be convinced by some aged persons that might then be living , and remember vvhat passed in the beginning of queen e●isabeths reign ; is so farre from truth , that mr. mason nameth a witnesse beyond all exception , that was invited to arch bishop parkers consecration at lambeth , as being his kinsman , and was present there , the earle of notting●am lord high admirall of england . why did none of their authors goe to him , or imploy some of their friends to inquire of him ? the case is cleare , they were more affraid of conviction , and to be caught in a lie , then mr. mason : who laid not the foundation of his discourse upon loose prittle-prattle , but upon the firm foundation of originall records . they say , in the yeare 1603 , none of the protestant clergy durst call it a fable , as some now doe . i am the man , i did call it so , i do call it so . such a blind relation as this is , of a businesse pretended to be acted in the yeare 1559 , being of such consequence , as whereupon the succession of the church of england did depend , and never published untill after the yeare 1600 , as if the church of england had neither friends nor enemies ; deserveth to be stiled a tale of a tub and no better . they adde , bancroft bishop of london being demanded by mr. vvilliam alabaster , hovv parker and his collegues vvere consecrated bishops ? ●nsvvered , he hoped that in case o● ne●essity a priest ( alluding to scory , might ordein bishops . this answer of his was objected in print by holywood , against him and all the english clergy in the yeare 1603 ▪ not a word replied , bancroft himself being then living . and why might not holywood be misinformed of the bishop of london , a● well as you yourselves were misinformed of the bishop of durham ? this is certain he could not allude to bishop scory , wh● was consecrated a bishop in the reign of edward the sixth , as by the records of those times appeareth ; unlesse you have a mi●● to accuse all records of forgery . if you have any thing to say against bishop sc●ryes consecration , or of any of them who joined in ordeining arch bishop parker , spare it not , we wil not seek help of 〈◊〉 act of parliament to make it good . in summe , i doe not believe a word 〈◊〉 what is said of bishop bancroft , sub mod●● it i● here set down , nor that this accusation did ever come to the knowledge of 〈◊〉 prudent prelate ; if it did , he had great●● matters to trouble his head withall , the● mr. holywords bables : but if ever such a a question was proposed to him , it may be after a clear answer to the matter of fact he might urge this as argumentum ad hominem ; that though both bishop scory and bishop coverdale had been but simple priests , ( as they were complete bishops ) , yet joining with bishop barlow and bishop hodgskings , two undoubted bishops ( otherwi●e gardiner and bonner and tunstall and thurleby and the rest were no bishops , ) the ordination was as canonicall , as for one bishop and two mitred abbats to consecrate a bishop ( which you allow in case of necessity ) , or one bishop and two simple presbyters to consecrate a bishop by papall dispensation . so this question will not concern us at all , but them very much , to reconcile themselves to themselves . they teach that the matter and form of ordination are essentialls of christs own institution , they teach that it is grievous sacrilege to change the matter of this sacrament , they teach that the matter of episcopall ordination is imposition of hands of three bishops , upon the person consecrated : and yet with them one bishop and two abbats , or one bishop and two simple priests extraordinarily by papall dispensation , may ordein bishops . the essentialls of sacraments doe consist in indivisibili , once essentiall alwaies essentiall , whether ordinarily , or extraordinarily whether with dispensation or without . so this question whether a priest in case of necessity may ordein bishops , doth concern them much , but us not at all . but for my part i believe the whole relation is feined , for so much as concerneth bishop bancroft . they adde , or the one of them , i have spoken vvith both catholicks and protestants , that remember neare 80. yeares , and acknovvledge that so long they have heard the nagges head story related as an undoubted truth . where i wonder ? sooner in rome or rhemes or doway , then in england , and sooner in a corner then upon the exchange . you have heard from good authors of the swans singing , and the pellicans pricking of her breast with her bill : but you are wiser then to believe such groundlesse fictions . i produce you seven of the ancient bishops of england , some of them neare an 100. yeares old , who doe testify that it is a groundlesse fable : yet they have more reason to know the right value of our ecclesiasticall records , and the truth of our affaires , then any whom you convers● withall ▪ the authours proceed , this narration of the consecration at the nagge 's head , have i taken out of holywood , constable , and doctor champnies vvorkes . they heard it from many of the ancient clergy , vvho vvere prisoners for the catholick religion in wysbich castle , as mr. blewet , doctor watson , bishop of lincoln , and others . these had it from the said mr. neale and other catholicks present at parkers consecration in the nagge 's head , as mr. constable affirmes here is nothing but hearsay , upon hearsay , such evidence would not passe at a tryall for a lock of goats wooll . holywood and the rest had it from some of the wisbich prisoners : and the wisbich prisoners heard it from mr. neale and others . what others ? had they no names ? did bishop bonner send more of his chapleins then one to be spectators of the consecration , and they who were to be consecrated permit them being adversaries to continue among them , during the consecration , supposed to be a cla●de●●ine action . it is not credible , without a pl●● between neale and the host of the nagge 's head , to put him and his fellowes for that day into drawers habits , least the bishops should discover them . here , is enough said to disgrace this narration for ever , that the first authors that published it to the world , did it after the yeare 1600 ; untill then it was kept close in lavander , bishop wa●son lived splendidly with the bishops of ely and rochester , at the time of arch-bishop parkers consecration , and a long time after , before he was removed to wisbich castle . if there had been an● such thing really acted , and so notoriously known , as they pretend , bishop wa●s●● and the other prisoners , must needs ha●● known it long before that time , when mr. neale is supposed to have brought the● the first newes of it . the who●e story 's composed of inconsistences . that which quite spoileth their story , is that arch bishop parker was never present at any 〈◊〉 these consecrations , otherwise calle● confirmation dinners : but it may be 〈◊〉 merry host shewed mr. neale docto● bullingham for arch bishop parker , and told him what was done in the withdrawing roome , which ( to gaine more credit to his relation ) he feigued that he had seen , out of pure zeale . howsoever , they say the story was divulged to the great griefe of the newly consecrated , yet being so evident a truth they durst not contradict it . we must suppose that these fathers have a privilege to know other mēs hearts , but let that p●sse . let them tell us how it was divulged by word or writing , when and where it was divulged whilest they were newly consecrated , who divulged it and to whom ? if they can tell us none of all this , it may passe for a great presumption , but it cannot passe for a proofe , but they say , that not onely the nullity of the consecration , but also the illegality of the same was objected in print against them not long after , by that famous writer doctor stapleton and others . we looke upon doctor stapleton , as one of the most rationall heads that your church hath had since the seperation : but speake to the purpose fathers , did doctor stapleton print one word of the nagge 's head consecration . you may be sure he would not have balked it , if there had been any such thing , but he did balke it because there was no such thing . no , no , doctr. stapletons pretended illegality was upon another ground , because he dreamed that king edwards statute was repealed by queen mary , and not restored by queen elisabeth , for which we have an expresse act of parliament against him in the point : and his supposed invalidity was because they were not consecrated ritu romano . if you think doctor stapleton hath said any thing that is materiall , to prove the invalidity or nullity of our consecration , take your bowes and arrowes and shoote over his shafts againe , and try if you do not meet with satisfactory answers , both for the institution of christ , and the canons of the catholick church , and the lawes of england . you say , parker and the rest of the protestant bishops , not being able to answer the catholick arguments against the invalidity of their ordination &c. words are but wind . the church of england wanted nor orthodox sonnes enough to cope with stapleton and all the rest of your emissaries : nor to cry down the illegall and extravagant manner of it at the nagge 's head , how should they cry down , that which never had been cryed up in those daies ? we condemne , that form of ordination which you feign to have beē used at the nagge 's head , as illegall , and extravagant , and ( which weigheth more then both of them ) invalid , as much as yourselves . they were forced to begge an act of parliament , whereby they might enjoy the temporalities , not withstanding the known defects of their consecration &c. o ingenuity ! whither art thou fled out of the world ? say , where is this petition to be found , in the records of eutopia ? did the parliament ever make any such establishment of their temporalties , more then of their spiritualties ? did the parliament ever take any notice of any defects of their consecration ? nay , did not the parliament declare their consecration to have been free from all defects ? nay , doth not the parliament quite contrary , brand these reports for slanderous speeches , and justify their consecrations to have been duely and orderly done , according to the lawes of this realm : and that it is very evident and apparent , that no cause of scruple ambiguity or doubt , can be justly objected against their elections confirmations or consecrations . yet they give a reason of what they say , for albeit edward the sixths rite of ordination was reestablished by act of parliament in the first yeare of queen elisabeth : yet it was notorious that the ordination at the nagge 's head was very different from it , and formed extempore by scoryes puritanicall spirit &c. i take that which you grant out of sanders , that king edwards form of ordination , was reestablished by act of parliament 1. elisabethae ; wherein you doe unwittingly condemne both bishop bonners and stapletons plea of illegality . the rest which you say is partly true and partly false . it is very true that there is great difference between the english form of ordeining , and your nagge 's head ordination , as much as is between the head of a living horse and the sign of the nagge 's head , or between that which hath a reall entity and an imaginary chim●ra ( mr. mason was the bellerephon that destroyed this monster ) : but that the form of the nagge 's head ordination was framed extempore by scoryes puritanicall spirit , is most false ; that posthumus brat was the minerva or issue of mr. neales brain , or some others who fathered this rapping lie upon him . then they repeat the words of a part of the statute , and thence conclude , by which act appeares that not onely king edwards rite , but any other used since the beginning of the queeens reign , upon her commission was enacted for good , and consequently that of the nagge 's head might passe . cujus cōtrarium verum est . the contrary to what these fathers inferre , doth follow necessarily from these words which the fathers cite . the words of the act are these , [ by virtue of the queens letters patents or commission ] : every one of the letters patents is extant in the rolles , not one of them did ever authorise any form but that which was legally established ; that is , the form of edward the sixth . first , the queens letters patents or commission hath an aut minus in it , or at the least three or foure of you : but to justify the nagges head ordination , the aut minus must be altered to at the least one or two of you . secondly , the queens letters patents have alwaies this clause in them : iuxta formam & effectum statutorum in ea parte editorum & provisorum ; according to the form and effect of the statutes in that case made and provided : but the statutes allow no lesse number then four , or at the least three to ordein , at the nagges head ( you say there was but one ordeiner . our statutes prescribe imposition of hands as the essentiall matter of ordination , and these words , receive the holy ghost as the form of ordination : but your nagge 's head ordination is a mere phantasm , without matter or forme ; our statutes allow no such fanaticall and phantasticall formes , as your form of the nagge 's head . and so your consequence , [ consequently that of the nagge 's head might passe ] , is foundered of all four , and can neither passe nor repasse , unlesse you can rase these words [ by virtue of the queens letters patents ] out of the statute , and insert these [ without the queens letters patents ] : and likewise rase these words out of the commission [ according to the form and effect of the statutes ] , and insert these [ contrary to the form and effect of the statutes ] . a single falsification will doe your cause no good . two poisons may perchance help it at a dead lift . it is in vain to tell us , that mr mason see this over clear to be denied , who know better that mr. mason did not onely deny it over and over again , but sqeesed the poore fable to durt . i have shewed you particularly what was the end of the queens dispensations , the same which is the end of papall dispensations , to meet with latent objections or cavills . i have shewed you what that cavill was ; which needed no dispensation in point of law , but onely to stop the mouths of gainsaiers . but where you adde , that the queens dispensation was given , not in conditionall but in very absolute termes : you are absolutely mistaken . the queens dispensation was both in generall termes , which determin nothing , ( not like the popes dispensations , a quibusvis excommunicationis suspensionis & interdicti sententiis ) : and also in these conditionall terms , si quid &c. desit aut deerit eorum quae per statuta hujus regni nostri , aut per leges ecclesiasticas in hac parte requiruntur : if any thing is or shall be wanting , which are required by the lawes civill or ecclesiasticall of this kingdome . you see it is conditionall and hath reference onely to the lawes of england . they goe on , the truth is , all the world laughed at the nagge 's head consecration , and held it to be invalid , not so much for being performed in a tavern , as for the new form invented by scory . if all the world did laugh at it in those dayes , they laughed in their sleeves , where no body could see them laugh . it had been too much to laugh at a jeast before it was made , nay before it was devised . the reader may well wonder , how all the world came to get notice of it so early as the beginning of queen elizabeths reign , and we onely in england should heare nothing of it for above 40 yeares after ? but assoone as we did heare of it , we laught at it as well as they , and held it as invalid as they could doe for their hearts ; but they laught at it as bishop scoryes invention , and we laught at it as theirs . cap. vii . of bishop bonner , the reordination of our clergy , the quality of their witnesses , mr. fitzherberts suspicions , the testimony of their doctors , and the publishing of our register before mr. mason their next instance is in bishop bonners case , who was indited by mr. horn , one of the first protestant bishops consecrated by mr. parker , or together with him , for refusing to take the oath of supremacy . the first errour might be pardoned , as being onely a mistake in a word , to say that bishop bonner was indited by mr. horn , where as he was onely signified by bishop horn : but the second mistake is fatall , that after all this confidence , and this great notoreity of the nagge 's head ordination to all the world , these fathers themselves are still uncertain , whether bishop horn were consecrated by archbishop parker , or at the same time with him ; that is as much as to say , they know not certainly what was done at the nagge 's head , but they wish that if the confirmation dinner were not a consecration , it had been one . it could never end better , for mr. neale to feign an ordination , without an actuary to record what was done . bishop wa●son and mr. bluet and the rest were much to blame , that ( since he had the fortune to weare gyges his ring and walk invisible ) they did not cause him to play the publick notary himself , and draw that which was done there into acts ; then we might have known as certainly as he could tell us , whether dr ▪ parker had been consecrated there by his proctor dr bullsngham . it may be , some very credulous reader , who like the old lamiae , could take out his eyes and put them in again when he pleased , would have given more credit to mr neales pleasant fable , then to the publick rolles and registers of the kingdome . i have handled bishop bonners case before : and th●se fathers themselves have unwittingly given sentence in it against him ; that king edwards forme of ordination , was reestablished by act of parliamant in the first yeare of queen elisabeth . but finall sentence there was never any given , untill the parliament gave a finall sentence in it , that bishop horn and all the rest were legall bishops . to admit a plea to be tryed by a iury , and the veredict of the iury , are two very distinct things . they tell us , he was a man specially shot at . rather he was a man graciously preserved by the queens mercy , from the rage of the common people against him . if they had shot at him , they could have found waies enough to have tendered the oath of supremacy to him , without bishop horn. i professe i am no great patron of such oaths , men have more dominion over their actions then over their judgements : yet there is lesse to be said for bishop bonner , then for other men . he who had so great a hand in framing the oath , he who had taken it himself , both in king henryes time , and king edwards time , and made so many others to take it , he who had been so great a stickler in rome for the kings supremacy , who writ that preface before bishop gardiners booke de vera obedientia : if he had suffered by the oath of supremacy , he had but been scourged with a rod of his own making . their next reason to prove the nullity of our holy orders , is taken from the constant practice of the romane catholicks , to reordein protestant ministers , not conditionally but absolutely , which they call an evident argument of our mere laity . a doughty argument indeed , drawn from their own authority . can any man doubt , that that they which make no scruple of taking away our lifes , will make conscience of taking away our orders ? this is that which we accuse them of , and they doe fairly begge the question . if reordination be sacrilege ( as they say it is ) , we are ready to convince them of grosse sacrilege , or iterating all the essentialls of ordination , the same matter and the same form that is for episcopacy , the same imposition of hands by three bishops , and the same words receive the holy ghost &c. some were of the same mind with these fathers in queen maries time : but paul the 4. and cardinall poole were wiser , who confirmed all ordinations in edward the sixths time indifferently , so the persons professed but their conformity to the roman religion . how doth this consist with your pretended nullity ? they say , our records were produced by mr ▪ mason in the yeares 1613 , fifty yeare● after they ought to have been shewed . they forget that they were published in print in arch bishop parkers lifetime , that they were justified by the parliament 8. elisabethae , that all of them goe hand in hand with our civill records , he saith , it cannot be testified by any lawfull witnesses ( produced by us ) that they were 〈◊〉 forged . this is their method , first to ●ccuse us of forgery , and then to put us to prove a negative ; where learnt he this form of proceding ? by all lawes of god and man the accuser is to make good his accusation : yet we have given him witnesses beyond exception . they say , there can not be a more evident mark of forgery , then the concealment of registers , if they 〈◊〉 usefull and necessary to the persons in whose custody they are . the proofe lieth on the other hand . tell us how they were concealed , which were published to the world in print , by a whole parliament , by private persons , and were evermore left in a publick office , where all the world might view them from time to time , who had either occasion or desire to doe it ? that our adversaries did insult and triumph over us , is but un empty flourish without truth or reality , as we shall see presently . they say , it is not worth refuting which some modern protestants say , ye have no witnesses of the story of the nagge 's head &c. but roman catholicks , we value not their testimony , because they are known adversaries . this answer they term ridiculous , and paralell it with the answer of an officer in ireland . you will not find this answer so ridiculous , upon more serious consideration . protestants know that some exceptions in law , do destroy all credit , and some other exceptions do onely diminish credit . an adversaries testimony may be admitted in some cases , but it is subject to exception and makes no full proofe , especially in cases favourable in the law ; as the case of persons spoiled , ( which is your irish case ) . such witnesses may be admitted , an●e omnia spoliatus restitui debet : but then they ought to make up in number what they want in weight . but you mistake wholy , our answer is not , that you produce no witnesses for the story of the nagge 's head but roman catholick● : our answer is that you produce no witnesses at all , neither roman catholicks nor others . for first one witnesse is no witnesse in law , let him be beyond exception duely sworn and examined , yet his testimony makes but semiplenam probationem , half a proofe ; especially in criminall causes such as this is , it is nothing . one witnesse shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity or any sinne , at the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses shall the matter be stablished . which law is confirmed by our saviour . they were never yet able to pretend any eye witnesse by name , but mr. neale , or some body that had no name , because he had no being in the nature of things : all the rest had it from mr. neales single testimony , because they cannot testify what was done , but what mr. neale said . secondly , mr. neale testifieth nothing , as a single witnesse ought to testify . he was never sworn to speake the truth , he never testified it before a publick notary , he was never examined before a competent iudge , 〈◊〉 was never produced before the face of a protestant . is this the manner of the romans now a daies , to condemne whole churches upon the ver●all testimony of a single witnesse , before ●e be brought face to face with those whom ●e accuseth ; and such a testimony which 〈◊〉 clogged with so many improbabilities ●nd incongruities , and incoherences , 〈◊〉 no rationall impartiall man 〈◊〉 trust one syllable of it ? whereas in such a case as this , against the third estate of the kingdome , against the records civill and ecclesiasticall , against the testimony of a parliament , an hundred witnesses ought not to be admitted . we regard not mr. fitzherberts suspicions at all . what are the suspicions of a private stranger , to the well known credit of a publick register ? his suspicions can weigh no more then his reasons , that is just nothing . he saith this exception is no new quarrell , but vehemently urged to the english clergy in the beginning of the queens reign , 〈◊〉 shew how and by whom they were made priests bishops &c : you have said enough to confute yourselves , but you touch not us . if they had known that they were consecrated at the nagge 's head , as well as you would seem to know it , they needed not to urge it so vehemently to shew how and by whom they were ordeined ; they would have done that for them readily enough : unlesse perhaps you thinke that they concealed the nagges head ordination out o● favour to the protestants . but i see you are mistaken in this as in all other things ▪ there was an old objection indeed , that ou● consecraters were not roman catholiks and that our consecration was not ri●● romano , or that we were not ordeined by papall authority : but the nagge 's head ordination is a new question . what might be whispered underhand , in the eares of credulous persons of your own party in corners , we do not know : but for all your contrary intimations , none of all your writers did dare to put any such thing in print , for above fourty yeares after arch bishop parkers consecration . if silent witnesses in such circumstances prove more then others , as you affirm , then all your writers are our witnesses . but none of all your doctors did ever urge any such thing , as required that we should cite the registers in prudence , as by a cleare answer to all your testimonies shall appeare . the water did not stop there in those dayes : yet even in arch bishop parkers life time the consecration of our bishops was published to the world in print ; either shew us as much for your nagge 's head ordination , or hold your peace for ever . bishop andrews the learned bishop of winchesters absurdities falsities and lies , are easily talked of , men may talke of black swans : but he who hath laid your greatest champions in the dust , requires another manner of discoverer then mr. fitzherbert . but these fathers are resolved to confute themselves , without the help of an adversary . they tell us , that no mention was ever made of registers testifying parkers consecration at lambeth , untill mr. mason printed his booke . this is not true , they were mentioned by the parliament , mentioned in print , i think before mr. mason was born ▪ what though lambeth were not mentioned , if the legality of his consecration were mentioned ? this is enough to answer your objection ; this is enough to confute your romance of the nagge 's head . yet thus much you yourselves confesse , in the same paragraph , that in a booke printed in the yeare 1605 ( that is eight yeares before the yeare 1613 , wherein you say that mr , mason printed his booke ) called antiquitates britanniae , there is a register of the protestant bishops of england : thē there was a register of the consecration of protestant bishops extant , before mr. mason did write of that subject . you say , that register doth not mention any certain place or form of their consecration . it was not needfull ; the law prescribeth the form , and the place was indifferent , so it were a consecrated place , which the law doth likewise prescribe . but you tell us further , that thi● register was forged or foisted in , and that your learned but namelesse friend , see the old manuscript of that booke , wherein there is no mention of any such register , which you tell us in your friends words , that all the world may see how this register was forged . why are all the world bound to believe your friend ? how should we give credit to a man who tells us three notorious untruths in foure lines ? first , that it is pretended that archbishop parker was made a bishop by barlow scory and three others , by virtue of a commission from queen elisabeth : he was made a bishop by barlow scory and two others . secondly , that this work was acted on the 17. day of september , an : 1559 , which was acted on the 17. day of december 1559. thirdly , that we had no form then or order to doe such a businesse ; whereas you yourselves confesse , that edward the sixths rite of ordination , was reestablished in the first yeare of queen elisabeth : and archbishop parkers ordination was in the second of queen elisabeth . he who stumbles so thick and three fold , may erre in his viewing the manuscript as well as the rest . but to gratify you , suppose it was foisted in , what good will that doe you ? it must of necessity be foisted in before it was printed , it could not be foisted in after it was printed , and it must be foisted in by a protestant , for no roman catholick would foist it in . so still you see a register of protestant bishops , was published to the world in print , eyght yeares before mr. mason published his booke . your friend saith , that this printed booke of parkers antiquitates britanniae , is the first that mentioneth any such pretended consecration of him and the rest . so it might be well when it was first printed , that was not in the yeare 1605 , but in arch-bishop parkers life time , three yeares before his death , an. 1570. so much you might have learned from the very title-page of the booke , printed at hannovv ; historia antehac non nisi semel , nimirum londini in aedibus iohannis day anno 1572. excusa : that this history vvas printed formerly at london in the house of iohn day in the yeare 1572. this doth utterly destroy the credit of your friends relation , that he had viewed the manuscript of that booke . there needed no manuscript , where they had a printed booke for their copy , ( as the title-page telleth us they had ) ▪ and that printed above sixty yeares before your friend writ , it is probable before his birth . if there be any thing of foisting in the case , there is rather something foisted out of the former edition , then foisted in ; namely , archbishop parkers life untill that time , with the particular consecrations of our first bishops , which were in the london edition , and are omitted in this edition of hannow . this is cleare enough by the very title , an history of 70. archbishops , and there are in this edition but 69. archbishops , because the life of archbishop parker is wanting ; which neverthelesse is promised in the life of archbishop warham pag. 312. [ ut in matthaei parker cantuariensis archiepiscopi vi●a inferius di●emus : as we shall say hereaf●er in the life of mathew parker archbishop of canterbury . you see how infortunate you are in accusing others of forgery . your authour proceedeth , any man reading the printed booke , will manifestly see it is a meerly foisted and inserted thing , having no connexion correspondence or affinity , either vvith that which goeth before , or followeth it . say you so ? there was never any thing more fitly inserted . the author undertaketh to write the life 's of 70. succeeding archbishops of canterbury , from austin to matthew parker , and having premitted some generall observations concerning the antiquity of christian religion in britany , with the names of some arch-bishops of london , and the originall and changes of episcopall sees in england , and some other generalities concerning the privileges of the see of canterbury , and the conversion of kent ; iust before he enter upon the life of st. austin the first archbishop , he presenteth the reader with a summary view of the archbishoprick of canterbury , at that time when the booke was first printed , in the yeare 1572 , with the names of all the bishops of the province at that time , their countries , their armes , both of their sees and of their families , their respective ages , their vniversities , their degrees in schooles , with the times of their severall consecrations , if they were ordeined bishops , or confirmations , if they were translated from another see. it is hardly possible for the wit of man to contriue more matter into a lesser roome . then , he settes downe a like table for the province of yorke : and lastly an alphabeticall catalogue of the bishops whose lifes were described in this booke , and among the rest , archbishop parker , whose life ( if you call it foisting ) is foisted out of this hannow edition . if this hath no connexion or affinity with that which goeth before , and followeth after , i know not what connexion or affinity is . your friends last exception against the authority of that booke called antiquitates britanniae , is , that it conteineth more things done after matthew parker had written that booke . so you confesse that archbishop parker himself ( about whom all our controversy is , ) was the author of that booke ; wherein i agree with you . the conclusion of the preface , and many other reasons invite me to doe so . surely this author meant that there is something conteined in this register , which is not within the compasse of the following lifes in the hannow edition . ( that may well be because matthew parkers life is foisted out in this edition : ) but there is nothing which was not in the london edition , much more largely then it is in this register , especially for the confirmations and consecrations of our protestant bishops : there is nothing after the time when this register was made , which is prefixed in the frontispice of it in the hannow edition , with m p for matthew parker . matthew parker died may the 27 , anno 1575 : he printed his booke at london three yeares before his death , without the authours name , in the yeare 1572. i appeale to the ingenuous reader , ( let him be of what communion he will , or never so full of prejudice ) , whether it be credible , that arch bishop parkers own booke should be printed in london , by the queens printer , in his life time , and have any thing foisted into it contrary to his sense . here then we have a register of protestant bishops , with their confirmations and consecrations , published to the world in print at london , by arch bishop parker himself , ( who was the principall person and most concerned in that controversy , ) as if it should dare all the adversaries of our church to except against it , if they could ▪ registers cannot be concealed , being alwaies kept in the most publick and conspicuous places of great cities , whither every one hath accesse to them who will. they need no printing , but this was printed ( a work of supererogation ) . they who dared not to except against it then , when it was fresh in all mens memories , ought not to be admitted to make conjecturall exceptions now . now the fathers come to shew , how their doctors did object to our protestant clergy , the nullity and illegality of their ordination . if their doctors give a cause or reason of their knowledge , we are bound to answer that : but if they object nothing but their own iudgement and authority , we regard it not ; their judgement may weigh some thing with them , but nothing at all with us . this is not to make themselves advocates , but iudges over us , which we do not allow . if i should produce the testimonies of fourscore protestant doctors , who affirm that we have a good succession , or that their succession is not good , what would they value it ? the first is doctor bristow ; consider what church that is , whose ministers are but very laymen , unsent , uncalled , unconsecrated , holding therefore amongst us when they repent and return , no other place but of laymen , in no case admitted , no nor looking to minister in any office , unlesse they take orders which before they had not . here is doctor bristows determination , but where are his grounds ? he bringeth none at all , but the practise of the roman church , and that not generall . paul the 4 , and cardinall poole , and the court of rome in those dayes were of another iudgement , and so are many others : and so may they themselves come to be , when they have considered more seriously of the matter , that we have both the same old essentialls . that which excuseth their reordination from formall sacrilege ( for from materiall it cannot be excused upon their own grounds , ) is this , that they cannot discover the truth of the matter of fact , for the hideous fables raised by our countrymen . but where is the nagge 's head ordination in dr. bristow ? then had been the time to have objected it , and printed it , if there had beē any reality in it . either dr. bristow had never heard of this pageant , or he was ashamed of it . here we meet with dr. fulke again , ād what they say of him shall be āswered in its proper place their next witnesse is mr. reinolds , there is no heardman in all turky , who doth not undertake the government of his heard , upon better reason and greater right order and authority , then these your magnificent apostles . &c. and why an heardsman in turky , but onely to allude to his title of calvino turcismus ? an heardsman in turky hath as much right to order his heard , as an heardman in christendome ; unlesse perhaps your dr. did think , that dominiō was founded in grace , not in nature . this is saying , but we expect proving . it is well known that you pretend more to a magnificent apostolate , them we . if the authority of the holy scripture ( which knoweth no other essentialls of ordination ; but imposition of hands ād these words receive the holy ghost , ) if the perpetual practise of the universall church , if the prescription of the ancient councell of carthage , and above 200. orthodox bishops , with the concurrent approbation of the primitive fathers be sufficient grounds , we want not sufficient grounds for the exercise of our sacred functions . but on the contrary , there is no heardman in turky who hath not more sufficient grounds or assurāce of the lawfulnesse of his office , then you have for the discharge of your holy orders , upon your own grounds . the turkish heardman receives his maisters commands without examining his intention : but according to your grounds , if in ●n hundred successive ordinations , there were but one bishop who had an intention not to ordein , or no intention to ordein , or but one priest who had an intētiō notto bap●●ise , or no intention to baptise any of these bishops , then your whole succession commeth to nothing . but i must aske still where ●s your nagge 's head ordination in all this ? ●r . reinolds might have made a pleasāt pa●●lell between the nagge 's head ordination ●nd the ordination of the turkish mufti , and wanted not a mind mischievous enough against his mother the church of england , if he could have found the least pretext : but there was none . you seek for water out of a pumice . their third witnesse is dr. stapleton , in his counterblast against bishop horn. to say truely , you are no lord winchester , nor elsvvhere , but onely mr robert horn. is 〈◊〉 not notorious that you and your collegues vvere not ordeined ▪ according to the prescript , i vvill not say of the church , but even of the very statutes ? hovv then can you challenge to your self the name of the lord bishop of winchester ? you are vvithout an● consecration at all of your metropolitan , himself pooreman being no bishop neither . this was a loud blast indeed● but if dr stapleton could have said any thing of the nagge 's head ordination , he would have given another manner of blast , tha● should have made the whole world ech● again with the sound of it . in vain you see● any thing of the nagge 's head in your writers , untill after the yeare 1600. for answe● dr. stapleton raiseth no objection fro● the institution of christ , whereupon an● onely whereupon , the validity or invalidity of ordination doth depend : but onely from the lawes of england . first for the canons , we maintein that our form of episcopall ordination hath the same essentialls with the roman : but in other things of an inferiour allay it differeth from it . the papall canons were never admitted for binding lawes in england , further then they were received by our selves , and incorporated into our lawes : but our ordination is conformable to the canons of the catholick church , which prescribe no new matter and form in priestly ordination . and for our statutes , the parliament hath answered that objection sufficiently , shewing clearly , that the ordination of our first protestant bishops was legall , and for the validity of it , we crave no mans favour . their last witnesse is dr. harding , who had as good a will ( if there had been any reality in it ) to have spoken of the nagge 's head ordination as the best , but he speaketh not a syllable of it more then the rest : and though they keep a great stirre with him , he bringeth nothing that is worth the weighing . first he readeth us a profound lecture , that sacerdos signifieth both a priest and a bishop . let it signify so , and in st. hieroms sense , what will he inferre from thence ? next , he askes bishop iewell of bishoply and priestly vocation and sending . what new canting language is this ? could he not as well have made use of the old ecclesiasticall word of ordination ? thirdly he taxeth the bishop , that he answereth not by what example hands were laid on him , or who sent him . what doth this concern any question between them and us ? hands were laid on him by the example of christ , of his apostles● , of the primitive and modern church : so christ sēt him , the king sēt him , the church sent him , in severall respects . he telleth us , that when he had duely considered his protestant ordination in king edwards time , he did not take himself for lawfull deacon in all respects . if his protestant ordination were a nullity ( as these mē say ) , thē he was a lawfull deacon in no respect . pope paul the 4. and cardinall poole were of another mind . then follow his two grand excepitons against our ordination , wherein you shal find nothing of your nagge 's head fable the former exceptiō is , that king edwards bishops who gave orders , were out of orders themselves , the second is , that they ministred not orders according to the rite ād manner of the catholick church . for the former exception , i referre him to the councell of carthage in st. austins time , and for both his excepitons to cardinall ●oles confirmation of king edwards bishops and priests , and paul the 4. ratification of his act. if any man have a mind to inquire further into the validity of our form of ordination , let him leave these fables and take his scope freely . to all this they say , that bishop iewell answers with profound silence , yet they adde , onely he sayes without any proofe , that their bishops are made by form and order , and by the consecration of the arch bishop and other three bishops , and by admission of the prince . i expected profound sile●ce , but i find a profound answer ; this is the first time i learned how a man can both keep profound silence ●nd answer so pertinently all at once . how doth dr. harding goe about to take away ●his answer : for bishop iewell was the defendent , and the burthen of the proofe did ●ot rest upon him ? first i pray you how was ●our archbishop consecrated ? if dr. harding did not see his consecration , he might have ●een it if he would . he askes further , what ●ree bishops were there in the realm to lay hands ●pon him ? ask the queens letters patents , ●●d they will shew you seven . what a ●●eake socraticall kind of arguing is this , ●ltogether by questions , without any infe●ence ? if dr. harding could have said it justly , ( and he could have said it if it had been so ) , he should have confuted him boldly , and told him your metropolitan was consecrated in the nagge 's head , by one single bishop , in a fanaticall and phantasticall manner : but he did not , he durst not do it , because he knew it to be otherwise , and it was publickly known to be otherwise . all his exception is against our form , if you had been consecrated after the form and order vvhich hath ever been used , you might have had bishops out of france or at home in england . it is the forme established in king edwards time , and restored in queen elisabeths time which doctr. harding impugneth , not tha● ridiculous form which they father upon bishop scory : and their cheife objection against that form , was that vain cavill that it was not restored by act of parliament , which since hath been answere● abundantly by an act of parliament . here upon he telleth bishop iewell , that his metropolitan had no lawfull consecration . thoug● his consecration had not been lawfull , y●● it might have been valid , but it was bot● legall and valid . this is all that docto● harding hath , which a much meane schollar then that learned prelate might have adventured upon , without feare of burning his fingers . their next proofe against our records , is taken from the contradictions of our writers , mr. masons registers and records , disagree with those that mr. goodwin used in his catalogue of bishops , sometimes in the day sometimes in the moneth , sometimes in the year . and againe , mr. mason sutcliffe and mr. butler , all speaking of mr. parkers consecration , doe all differ one from another in naming his consecraters ; mr. mason saith it was done by barlow , scory , coverdale ▪ and hodgskins . mr. sutcliffe saith , besides the three first there vvas tvvo suffragans . m butler saith , the suffragan of dover vvas one . vvho is not named in the commission . so as these men seem to have had three disagreeing registers . i answer , first that it is scarcely possible to avoid errours in transcribing and printing of bookes , in the authors absence , especially in names and numbers . to keep a balling and a stirre about these errata of the pen or of the presse , is like the barking of little curres , which trouble the whole vicinage about the mooneshining in the water . such were the most of these . secondly supposing that some very few of these were the reall mistakes of the authors , yet innocent mistakes , which have no plot in them or design of interest or advantage , which conduce neither pro nor contra to any controversy that is on foot , they ought not to be exaggerated or pressed severely ; it is the wisdome of a wise man to passe by an infirmity . such are all these petty differences . whether arch-bishop parker was consecrated by three city bishops and two suffragan , or by three city bishops and one suffragan bishop , and whether this one suffragan were suffragā of bedford or suffragan of dover , cōduceth nothing to any controversy which is on foot in the church , and signifieth nothing to the validity or invalidity , legality or illegality , canonicalnesse or uncanonicalnesse of his ordination . all memories are not so happy , to remember names and numbers , after a long distance of time , especially if they entered but by the ●are ▪ and were not oculis subjecta fidelibus . i● any man should put me to depose ( wanting my notes and memorialls , ) what priests did impose hands upon me with archbishop mathews at my priestly ordination , or what bishops did joine with my lord primate of ireland at my episcopall ordination , i could not doe it exactly . i know there were more then the canons doe require , at either ordination ; and referre my self to the register . whether two suffragans or one suffragan , is an easy mistake . when there were two in the commission , and but one at the consecration : so is the suffragan of dover for the suffragan of bedford . thirdly , whether these were the faults of the pen or the presse or the authour : yet after retractation it ought not to be objected . it is inhumane to charge any man with that fault , which he himself had corrected and amended . bishop goodwin corrected all these errours himself , without any monitor , and published his correction of his errours to the world in print long since , in a new edition of his booke . likewise dr. sutcliffe acknowledged his mistake and gave order to mr. mason to publish it to the world , as he did . to ground exceptions upon the errours of the presse , or the slips of the tongue or pen or of the memory , after they have been publickly amended , is like flies to delight in sores , and neglect the body when it is sound . i have the same errour crept into a booke of mine , of [ five ] for [ four ] , how it came i know not , for the booke was printed in my absence : but i have corrected it in mine own copy and in many copies of my friends , where i meet with the booke . lastly , there is no danger in such petty differences , so long as all parties doe submit themselves to the publick registers of the church , as all these writers doe ; although is may be some of them were better acquainted with polemick writers , thē with registers , or the practicall customes of the church of england . the very reference or submission of themselves to the register , is an implicit retractation of their errours . as in a city the clocks may differ , and the peoples iudgements of the time of the day , but both clocks and clerkes must submit to the sun dyall when the sun shineth out : so all private memorialls must be , and are submitted to the publick register of the church . where these fathers talk of plurality of registers , they erre because they understand not our customes . every bishop throughout the kingdome hath one registry at least , every dean and chapter hath a registry . the ordinations of priests and deacons , and the institution of clerkes to benefices , are recorded in the registries of the respective bishops , in whose diocesses they are ordeined and instituted . the elections of bishops and inthronisations and installations , in the registry of the respective deans and chapiters : and the confirmations and consecrations of bihops , in the registry of the archbishop where they are consecrated ; except th● archbishop be pleased to grant a commission to some other bishops , to consecrate the elected and confirmed bishop in some other place . but the same thing can not be recorded originally but in one registry . cap. viii . dr. vvhitaker and dr. fulke defended , bishop barlowes consecration justified , of iohn stowes testimony , and the earle of notinghams &c. here the fathers take upon them the office of iudges or censors rather then of advocates . mr. mason ought to have answered as mr. whitaker and mr. fulke , ( they were both eminent drs. in the schooles ) who had reason to be better informed of the records then he . how ? nay nor half so well . they were both contemplative men , cloistered up in st. iohns college , better acquainted with polemick writers , then with records , they were both ordeined deacons and priests legally , canonically , according to the form prescribed by the church of england : and were no such ill birds to defile their own nests . if the records of their ordination will ●atisfy you , that they were no enthusiasts , ( as you imagin , ) you may quickly receive satisfaction : but if they had said any thing contrary to our lawes and canons , you must not thinke to wrangle the church of england out of a good possession , by private voluntary speculations . let us see what these doctrs say as you allege them , for i have not their bookes in present . mr. whitaker saith , i would not have you thinke we make such reckoning of your orders , as to hold our own vocation unlawfull without them . you see doctor whitaker justifieth our ordination in this very place as lawfull , and much more plainly elswhere in his writings . that though our bishops and ministers be not ordeined by papisticall bishops , yet they are orderly and lawfully ordeined : again , the romanists account none lawfull pastors , but such as are created according to their form or order . these are your two main objections against our ordination , that we are not ordeined by bishops of your communion . that we are not ordeined according to the roman form. in both of these doctor whitaker is wholy for us against you , that which he maketh no reckoning of , is your form of ordination , as it is contradistinct from ours , as it is in many things , especially in your double matter and form in priestly ordination . you say mr. fulke speakes more plainly let us heare him . you are highly deceived if you thinke we esteem your offices of bishops priests and deacons better then laymen : and with all our heart we defie , abhorre , detest , and spit at your stinking , greasy , antichristian orders . this is high enough indeed , and might have been expressed in more moderate termes : but it is to be expounded , not of the invalidity of your ordination , as if it wanted any essentiall , but partly in respect of the not using or abusing these sacred offices , and partly in respect of the lawes of england . excesses may make an ordination unlawfull , although they do not make it invalid . holy orders are an excellent grace conferred by god for the conversion of men : but if those who have them , instead of preaching truth do teach errours to his people , and adulterate the old christian faith by addition of new articles , they are no longer true pastors , but wolves which destroy the flock , and so they are not onely no better , but worse then lay men , corruptio optimi pessima . in this respect they tell you , that your priests and bishops are no true priests and bishops , as marcellus told his soldiers that they were no true romans ( who were naturall romans ) because they wanted the old roman virtue . lastly you have habituall power to exercise these offices , but you want actuall power in england , by reason of the not application , or rather the substraction of the matter by our lawes : so you are no legall bishops or priests there . this i take to have been the sense of these two doctors . now are we come to their grand exception , against bishop barlow , who was one of the consecraters of archbishop parker , whose consecration is not found in the archbishops register , and there fore they conclude that he was never consecrated . if this objection were true , yet it doth not render archbishop parkers consecration either invalid or uncanonicall , because there were three other bishops who joined in that consecration besides bishop barlow , which is the full number required by the canons . but this objection is most false . bishop barlow was a consecrated bishop above 20 yeares before the consecratiō of archbishop parker . they should have done well to have proposed this doubt in bishop barlows lifetime , and then they might have had the testimony of his consecraters under an archiepiscopall or episcopall seale , for their satisfaction , the testimony of the archi-episcopall register , is a full proofe of consecration affirmatively , but it is not a full proofe negatively ; such a bishops consecration is not recorded in this register , therefore he was not consecrated . for first , the negligence of an officer or some crosse accident might hinder the recording . secondly fire or thieves or some such casualty might destroy or purloin the record . thirdly though it be not recorded in this register , it may be recorded in another , the arch bishop may , and arch bishop cranmer usually did delegate or give commission to three other bishops for consecration . and though the work be ordinarily performed at lambeth , because of the place , where they may have three bishops alwaies present without any further charge : yet they are not obliged by any law to consecrate them there . and if there be a sufficient number of bishops near the cathedrall which is to be filled , or if the person who is to be consecrated do desire it , they may be consecrated either in that , or any of their own churches . the bishops of the province of yorke , by reason of the former convenience are usually consecrated at lambeth , yet i have known in my time bishop sinewes of carlile consecrated at yorke upon his own desire , by the archbisop of yorke , and the bishops of durham , chester , and mā a man might seek long enough for his consecration in the archbishop of canterburies register and misse it , but it is to be found in the register at yorke . so the omission of it in that register though it be no full proofe , yet it is a probable proofe that bishop barlow was not consecrated there , but it is no proofe at all that he was not consecrated elswere . and this i take to have been the case both of bishop barlow and bishop gardiner : and although the effluxion of above an hundred yeares since , hath rendered it more difficult to find where it was done , yet by the help of those records which are in the court of faculties , i should not despaire of finding it yet . but there are so many evident proofes that he was cousecrated , that no ingenuous person can have the face to deny it . the first reason is , his actuall possession of 4. bishopricks one after another , st. assaph , st. davids , bath and wells and chichester , in the reigns of three princes . they feign some pretenses why archbishop parker was not consecrated canonically ▪ because there wanted a competent number of bishops , though it were most false : but what can they feign why bishop barlow was not consecrated in henry the eighths time ? was henry the eighth a baby to be jeasted withall ? in archbishop parkers case , they suppose all the bishops to have been stark mad , to cast themselves down headlong from a precipice , when they had a faire paire of stairs to descend by : but in bishop barlowes case they suppose all the world to have been asleep ; except there had been such an vniversall sleep it had been impossible for any man in those dayes to creep into a bishoprick in england without consecration . to say he is actually possessed of a bishoprick therefore he is consecrated , is as clear a demonstration in the english law , as it is in nature to say the sun shineth , therefore it is day . but it may be objected , that he held all these bishopricks as a commendatory , no● in title , as an vsufructuary not as a true owner . it is impossible , vsufructuaries are not elected and confirmed , but bishop barlow was both elected and confirmed . the conge d'eslire to the dean and chapter , the letters patents for his confirmation , the commission for the restitution of his temporalties , do all prove that he was no vsufructuary but a right owner , this is a second reason . thirdly , the same letters patents that doe authorise bishop barlowes confirmation , did likewise command the archbishop with the assistence of other bishops to consecrate him himself . or to give a commissiō to other bishops to consecrate him , which if they did not perform within a prescribed time , or perform after another manner thē is prescribed by the law , it was not onely a losse of their bishopricks by the law of england , but a premunire or the losse of all their estates , their liberties , and a casting themselves out of the kings protectiō 25 , hen : 8. c. 20. no mē in their right wits would r●n such a hazard , or rather evidētly ruine thēselves and all their hopes without any need , without any ēd in the whole world . fourthly , by the same law no man could be acknowledged a bishop in england , but he who was consecrated legally , by three bishops with the consent of the metropolitan , but bishop barlow was acknowledged to be a true bishop ; the king received his homage for his bishoprick ; the king commāded him to be restored to his temporalties , which is never done untill the consecratiō be passed . king henry sent him into scotland as his ambassadour with the title of bishop of st. davids ; and in his restitution to the temporalties of that see , the king related that the arch bishop had made him bishop and pastor of the church of st. davids . this could not be if he had not been consecrated . thirdly , he was admitted to sit in parliament as a consecrated bishop : for no man can sit there as a bishop before he be consecrated , but it is plain by the records of the house of the lords that he did sit in parliament many times in the 31 of henry the 8. in his episcopall habit , as a consecrated bishop ; and being neither a bishop of one of the five principall sees , nor a privy counseller , he must sit and did sit according to the time of his consecration , between the bishops of chichester and st , assaph . what a strange boldnesse , is it to question his consecration now , whom the whole parliament , and his consecraters among the rest , did admit without scruple then as a cōsecrated bishop . sixthly , there is no act more proper or essentiall to a bishop then ordination , what doth a bishop that a priest doth not ( saith st. hierom ) except ordination ? but it is evident by the records of his own see , that bishop barlow did ordein priests and deacons frō time to time , and by the arch bishops register that he , joined in episcopall ordination , and was one of those three bishops who imposed hands upon bishop buckley feb. 19. 1541 , seventhly , there is nothing that ●●inth a bishops title to his chuch more then ●he validity and invalidity of his leases . if bishop barlow had been unconsecrated , all the leases which he made in the see of st. davids , and bath and wells , had been voide , and it had been the easiest thing in the whole world for his successour in those dayes , to prove whether he was consecrated or not , but they never questioned his leases ; because they could not question his consecration . lastly , an unconsecrated person hath neither antecessors nor successors , he succeedeth no man , no man succeedeth him . if a grant of any hereditaments be made to him and his successours , it is absolutely void● , not worth a deaf nut ; if he alien any lands belonging to his see from him and his ▪ successours , it is absolutely void : but bishop barlow● received the priory of br●cknock from the crown , to him and his successors bishops of st. davids , and in king edwards reign being bishop of bath and wells , he alienated from him and his successours to the crown much land , and received back again from the crown to him and his successours equivalent lands . if he had been unconsecrated all these acts had been utterly void . in summe , whosoever dreameth now , that all the world were in a dead sleep then , for twenty yeares together , whilest all these things were acting , is much more asleep himself . to these undeniable proofes i might adde as many more out of the records of the chancery , if there needed any to prove him a consecrated bishop . as. a grant to the said william barlow bishop of st. davids , to hold in commendam with the said bishoprick the rectory of carewe in the county of pembrooke , dated octob. the 29. anno 38. hen. 8. a commission for translation of william barlow bishop of st. davids to the bishoprick of bath and vvels , dated . 3. feb. 2. edv. 6. a commission for the consecration of robert farrer to be bishop of st. davids , per translationem vvillelmi barlow &c. dated 3. iul. anno 2. edv. 6. a commission for the restitution of the temporalties of the said bishoprick to the said robert farrer , as being void per translationem willelmi barlow . dated 1. augusti anno 2. edv. 6. in all which records and many more he is alwaies named as a true consecrated bishop . and lastly , in bishop goodwins booke de praesulibus angliae pa. 663. of the latin edition printed at london anno 1616. in his catalogue of the bishops of st. assaph num . 37. he hath these words . gulielmus barlow canonicorum regularium apud bisham prior consecratus est . feb. 22. anno 1535 ; aprili deinde sequente meneviam translatus est . vvilliam barlow prior of the canons regulars at bisham was consecrated the two and twentieth day of february , in the yeare 1535 , and in aprill follovving vvas translated to st. davids . which confirmeth me in my former conjecture , that he was consecrated in wales , which bishop goodwin by reason of his vicinity , had much more reason to know exactly then we have . they say mr. mason acknowledgeth that mr barlow was the man who consecrated parker , because hodgskins the suffragan of bedford was onely an assistent in that action : and the assistents in the protestant church doe not consecrate . by the fathers leave , this is altogether untrue . neither was bishop barlow the onely man who consecrated archbishop parker ; neither was bishop hodgskins a meere assistent in that action ; thirdly , who soever doe impose hands are joint consecraters , with us as wel as them ; lastly , mr. mason saith no such thing as they affirm , but directly the contrary , that all the foure bishops were equally consecraters , all imposed hands , all joined in the words , and this he proveth out of the register it self , l. 3. c. 9. n. 8. & l : 3. c. 10. n. 9. they object he might as well be proved to have been a lawfull husband , because he had a woman ▪ and diverse children , as to have been a consecrated bishop because he ordeined . and discharged all acts belonging to the order of a bishop . what was bishop barlowes woman pertinent to his cause . are not governants , and devotesses , besides ordinary maidservants , women ? all which pastours not onely of their own communion , but of their own society , are permitted to have in their houses . let themselves be ●udges whether a woman a wife , or a woman a governant or a devotesse , be more properly to be ranged under the name or notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , such women as were prohibited to cohabit with clerkes by the councell of nice . but to leave the hypothesis and come to the thesis , as being more pertinent to the present case . if a man have cohabited long with a woman as man and wife in the generall estimation of the world , and begot children upon her , and dies as her husband without any doubt or dispute during his life and long after , though all the witnesses of their marriage were dead , and the register lost , this their conjugall cohabitation and the common reputation of the world during his life uncontroverted , is in law a sufficient proofe of the marriage : but all the world nemine contradicente esteemed bishop barlow as the undoubted bishop and spouse of his church . they adde , ridley hooper farrer were acknowledged and obeyed as bishops in king edwards time , yet were iudged by both the spirituall and temporall court not to have been consecrated . they mistake , they were not judged not to have been consecrated , ( for their consecrations are upon record , ) but not to have been consecrated ritu romano , after the roman form. and who gave this iudgement ? their open enemies , who made no scruple to take away their lifes , whose unjust judgement we doe not value a rush : but paul the 4. and cardinall pole ; more authentick iudges of their own party , gave a later iudgemēt to the cōtrary . they aske , how it is possible that barlowes cōsecration should not be found recorded ( if ever it was ) , as well as his preferment to the priory of bisham , and election and confirmation to the bishoprick of st. assaph . i answer it is very easy to conceive . i have shewed him sundry wayes how it might be , and one probable way how it was . i desire the reader to observe the extreme partiality of these fathers , they make it impossible for the acts of one consecration to be lost or stollen , and yet accuse us of forging fifteen consecrations . it is easier to steale fifteen , then to forge one act. we have often asked a reason of them , why the protestants should decline their own consecrations ? they give us one , the truth is , that barlow as most of the clergy in england in those times were puritans , and inclined to zuinglianisme , therefore they contemned and rejected consecration as a rag of rome , and were contented with the extraordinary calling of god and the spirit , as all other churches are , who pretend reformation . it is well they premised the truth is , otherwise there had not been one word of truth in what they say . first how do they know this ? it must be either by relation , but i am confident they can name no author for it : or by revelation , but that they may not doe : or it is ( to speake sparingly ) their own imagination . it is a great boldnesse , to take the liberty to cast aspersions upon the clergy of a whole nation . secondly , how commeth bishop barlow , to be taxed of puritanism ? we meet him a prior and a bishop , we find him in his robes , in his rochet , in his cope , officiating , ordaining , confirming . he who made no scruple to ordein and consecrate others gratis , certainly did not forbeare his own consecration with the apparent hazard of the losse of his bishoprick , out of scruple of conscience . thirdly , this aspersion is not well accommodated to the times , for first zuinglianisme was but short heeled in those dayes when bishop barlow was consecrated , who sate in parliament as a consecrated bishop 31. henr. 8 : and the first sermon that ever zuinglius preached as a probationer , was in zurick in the yeare 1510. that was in the 10. or 11. yeare of hēry the eighth . if there were any one zuinglian in those dayes , upon their grounds , it is most likely to have been bishop gardiner , for his consecration doth not appeare more then bishop barlowes . but there is yet a greater mistake in it ; it is the anabaptists who reject ordination , and content themselves with the extraordinary calling of the spirit , not the zuinglians . in the writings of zuinglius we find a letter of him and ten other of the principall helvetian theologians , to the bishop of constance ; beseeching him in all humility and observance , to favour and help forward their beginnings , as an excellent work and worthy of a bishop ; they implore his clemency , wisdome , learning , that he would be the first fruits of the german bishops ; they beseech him by the common christ , by that fatherly affection which he owes unto them , to looke graciously upon them &c ; they court him to shew himself a father , and grant the request of his obedient sonnes , zuinglius and the zuinglians liked bishops well enough , if he could have had them . but the bishop of constance of another communion was their bishop . here meanderlike they make a winding from st. asaph back again to cheapside , from bishop barlowes consecration to archbishop parkers . they say , that if there had been any other consecration of archbishop parker then that of the nagge 's head , iohn stow would not conceale it in his annales ; who is so diligent in setting down all that passed in and about london , and professeth personall respect to him , he having related the consecration of cardinall pole with so many particulars . they adde out of dr. champney , that iohn stow acknowledged to many persons that the story of the nagge 's head was true . their store is very low , when they are forced to produce iohn stow , who scarce knew what a consecration was . but what saith he in his chronicles ? not a word , either of the feigned consecration at the nagge 's head , or of the true consecration at lambeth . but he told it to many persons by word of mouth , that the story of the nagge 's head was very true . if he did , he lied notoriously to many persons , but we acquit him of that calumny : let it rest upon them , who think it a meritorious act , to advance religion by any means true or false , we are too well acquainted with their hearsay reports . they who dare wrest his printed workes , ought not to be trusted what he spake by word of mouth , to some body , whom no body knowes . their authour saith to some persons , they say to many persons , thus this snowball increaseth . iohn stowe is now dead , and dead men do not bite : yet let us know to whom he said it ? doctor champney tells us , they are ●imorous and would not be named . good reason , for they have no names : so iohn stow is a silent witnesse , and they are namelesse witnesses . so much for the man : now for the thing i give three answers ; first if iohn stow were a lover of the truth , he should rather have set down the nagge 's head ordination ( if there was any such thing ) then the lambeth ordination . men would suppose the lambeth ordination of themselves , where nothing is said to the contrary , it is presumed for the law : but the nagge 's head consecration , had been such a consecration , as never was before , never will follow after . secondly , their authours wrest iohn stow abhominably . he was no profest writer of ecclesiasticall annales . it is true he mentioneth the consecration of cardinall pole , whether it was his respect to his eminence , as being a neare kinsman to the queen , a cardinall , the popes legate , and his grand minister for the reconciliation of england , or because a toy tooke him in the head : but not with so many particulars as the fathers intimate ; all he saith is this , the 21 of march dr. cranmer archbishop of canterbury was burnt at oxford , the same day cardinall pole sang his first masse at greenwich in the friars church , on sunday next he was consecrated archbishop of canterbury ( here was speedy worke ) , and the 25 of march received the pall with the usuall ceremonies at bowes church in cheape . here is another nagge 's head meeting ; where he was consecrated , by whom , after what form , he leaveth the reader to presume : but of all the other consecrations performed in queen maries time , this diligent authour mentioneth not so much as one ; of all the consecrations in queen elizabeths time , i think not one ; of all the consecrations in england since the conquest , not one , or so rarely that they are not to be taken notice of . if the argument of these fathers were of any value iohn stow mentioneth not his consecration at lambeth , therefore he was not consecrated there , we never had a consecration in england , since the conquest , but cardinal ' poles : for he mentioneth none but that which i remember , i am sure if he mention any it is most rarely . if the fathers argument were good , archbishop parker was never elected , nor confirmed , because his election and confirmation are not recordsd by iohn stow : but all our records civill as well as ecclesiasticall do testify the contrary . lastly , if the fathers would lay aside their prejudice , there is enough in iohn stowes annales , to discover the falshood of their lying fable of the consecration at the nagge 's head . by their account the nagges head consecration was september 7. anno 1559 , but after this in relating the solemne obsequies kept in st. pauls church , for the french king , iohn stow calleth him , dr. parker arch-bishop of canterbury elect , therefore the nagges head consecration is a lying fable ; if he was still elect , he was not then consecrated . but afterward speaking of his death may 17. 1575 , which is the next time i find him mentioned , he stileth him the right reverend father in god matthew parker dr. of divinity archbishop of cāterbury . here is no more the word elect , for after confirmation and consecration , the word elect ceaseth , here he is complete archbishop of canterbury . they say , they who make no conscience to falsify scrip●ure will forge records : and how notoriously the english clergy have falsified scripture , is demonstrated by gregory martin . i hope none of us did ever attempt to purge st. pauls epistles , because there were in them , quaedam male sonamia , something 's that sounded not well , in the point of iustification . we desire good words , untill they be able to prove their allegation . rather then be accounted falsifiers of scripture , we are contented to stand to the vulgar latin , in any controversy between them and us . but who is the man doth accuse us of so many falsifications ? one gregory martin , one of their fellowes , whose censure we do not weigh a button . this is a new inartificiall kind of arguing , from the authority of their own writers . but they use it much , so it followeth in the next words , it is want of charity to think that stapleton , harding , bristow and the rest of the english catholick doctors , who did forsake all at home for conscience sake , would publish to the world in print , the nullity of parkers ordination ; thereby engaging posterity to commit so many damnable sacrileges , in reordeining those who had been validly ordeined already , without due examination of the matter . this plea is much like that of the old roman , that his adversary , did not receive the wound with his whole body , that he might have killed him fairly . they would have us rather put up the losse of our holy orders , then the skill of their doctors should be questioned . if reordinatiō be damnable sacrilege , the authority of your own doctors may be a fit medium to convince yourselves of sacrilege , not us of the invalidity of our ordination . i hope stephen the sixth and sergius the third , two popes , were other manner of men then your english doctors , and did both pretend to examine the matter as duely , and to be as a verse from damnable sacrilege as you , yet they decreed publickly , and most unjustly , ( as you yourselves doe now confesse ) that all the holy orders received from formosus were void , and compelled all those who had been ordeined by him , to be reordeined . bell. de rom. pont. l. 4. cap. 12. mr. mason cited the testimony of a witnesse beyond all exception , charles howard earle of nottingham , lord high admirall of england , who acknowledged archbishop parker to be his kinsman , and that he was an invited guest at his cōsecration at lambeth . to this the fathers reply , if this were true , it proves onely that there was a good dinner at lambeth , which might well be to conceale the shamefull consecration at the nagge 's head . it proves there was a good consecration , as well as a good dinner , the words are to honour his consecration , and the solemnity thereof with his presence . it had been something uncivill , to encumber the tavern with a consecration , and not stay dinner there . the earle was invited to the consecration , at lambeth , therefore it was at lambeth , the earle was not at the nagge 's head ; mr. neale himself , who see more then ever was acted , or so much as thought of , did not see that . is it the custome when one is invited to a consecration , to come after it is done to dinner : or to invite a nobleman to a consecration in one place , and then be consecrated in another ? this had been so farre from concealing the shamefulnesse of such a brainsick consecration , that it been a ready meanes to divulge it to all the world . they adde , besides we must take the earles friends word for the earles testimony , and mr. masons word for his namelesse friend . that is none of mr. masons fault , but mr. holywoods , mr. constables , mr. sacroboscoes , dr. champneys , mr. fitz herberts , mr fitz-simons , who first broached this odious fable . mr. mason published this relation to the world in print while the earle was yet living , on purpose that they might enquire and satisfy themselves ; if they did not , they can blame no body but themselves ; if they did by themselves or their friends , ( as it is most likely they did ) it is evident the answer did not content them , and so we never heard more of them since . it had been the greatest folly in the world to allege the testimony of such a noble man in his life time , contrary to his own knowledge , which might have been disproved from his own authority , and so have easily laid mr. mason flat upon his back . you may remember your own case with the bishop of durham . but it was too true to be contradicted then , and too late to be contradicted now . they say , they bring more then one witnesse of the nagge 's head consecration . pardon me , you never produced one yet , and which is lesse then producing , you never so much as named a witnesse , whilst he himself was living . in or about the yeare 1603. you first named mr. neale and innocent iohn stow , when they were both dead ; you might as well have named the man in the moone as iohn stow. onely i confesse you named the bishop of durham in his life time , and you see what is the issue of it : and if you had named the others in their life times , you must have expected a like issue , either the perpetuall infamy of your witnesse , or the utter confusion of your cause . you speake much of the learning , and virtue , and judgement of your hearsay witnesses , who knew how to distinguish between an episcopall consecration , and a banquet . i hope you doe not meane that the earle of nottingham did not know , how to distinguish between a banquet and a consecration , if he did not , the high admiralship of england was ill committed to him : or that he had not as much regard to his honour and conscience , as any of your priests . we meddle not with their learning and virtue , but we are no more obliged to take their testimonies upon hearsay , then they would take our testimonies . they have givē an account to god , and know before this time whether they have done well or ill . they proceed , the priests and iesuits , to whom the recordes were shewed in king iames his time , protested against them as forged and improbable , as appeareth by the testimony of men yet living , whose honesty cannot be called in question . father faircloth , one of the imprisoned iesuits , testified so much to many by word of mouth and in writing . where is the writing ? where is the protestation ? why are they not produced ? still here are no proofes but upon hearsay . one eye witnesse is worth an hundred such , who can sweare to no more but that they heard it , and god knowes through how many hucksters hands . i hope the bishop of durhams case will make them more wary for the future . but they are angry with some protestants , who endeavour to make this well grounded story a meer fable , and thereby call many persons of much more learning , virtue , and prudence then themselves fooles or knaves . we are plain macedonians , who call a fable a fable , without either welt or gard : yea , so notorious a fable , that ( but that you tell us the contrary ) , we could not believe that any one of you did ever give any credit to it your selves ; any more then the athenians did believe those monstrous fables of bulls and minotaures , which themselves had raised , because some of their eminent citizens had devised it or related it : but we call no men fooles or knaues , that langguage is too unmannerly for civill writers . what new topick is this , because we cannot beleeve a ●mans relation or his iudgement , do we straightway call him foole or knave ? excuse me , there are credulity , and prejudice , and mistakes , and pious frauds in the world , and none of these will willingly weare the livery of knaves or fooles . we are not of the same mind with pope stephen and pope sergius , for the reordeining of those , who had been ordeined by formosus , yet we do not call them knaves or fooles . we cannot beleeve what you yourselves have related of my lord of durham , yet we are not guilty of such extravagant expressions . cap. ix . the fathers insist too much upon the authority of their ovvn party , vvhy consecration is not mentioned at restitution , the exactnesse of our records justified . it seemeth to me , that the fathers insist too much upon the honesty , and virtue , and learning of their own party ▪ in dispute with an adversary , virtue is like fire , which preserveth it self by being covered with ashes : but spread abroad by ostentation , it is quickly extinguished ; especially comparisons are odious , and beget altercation . we say , there is not a hill so high in lincolnshire , but there is another within a mile as high as it : take you the reputation of learning and prudence , so you leave us the better cause ; and we shall be able to defēd it well enough against you . but the maine defect in this part of your discourse is this , the bishop of chalced●● confesseth of mr. oldcorn , one of your order , that he acknowledged these records to be authentick , and the rest of the imprisoned priests , who viewed the records , are charged publickly in print to have done the same , by bishop goodwin , by mr. mason ; every thing ought to be unloosed the same way it is bound . they were all schollars and could write , if this charge were not true , they ought to have published a protestation to the world in print to the contrary , whilest their adversaries were living , whilest the witnesses were living : but now after they and their adversaries , and the witnesses are all so long dead , to talke of a verball protestation to some of their friends , upon hearsay , signifieth nothing . now we must make another winding , and return to bishop barlow : but i hold to the clue , in hope at length to get out of this fictitious labyrinth . henry the 8. letters patents , vvhereby bishop barlow vvas installed in ( they would say restored to ) the temporalties of his bishoprick , make mention of his acceptation and confirmation , but none of his consecration . why should this last be omitted , if he were really consecrated ? this objectiō sheweth nothing , but the unskilfulnesse of the fathers in our english customes and forms . let them compare all the restitutions of their friends to their temporalties in england , as cardinall poles , bishop gardiners and the rest , and they shall find the form the very same with bishop barlowes ; i hope they will not conclude thence that none of them were consecrated . the reason of the forme is very prudent , in a restitution to temporalties , they take no notice of any acts that are purely spirituall , as consecration is : but onely of such acts as are temporall , as acceptation and confirmation . but if he was restored to his temporalties not being consecrated , he might also sit in parliament without consecration . the assumtion is understood , but bishop barlow was restored to his temporalties without consecration ; which is most false . from the conversion of the nation untill this day , they are not able to produce one instance , of one bishop , who was duely elected , duely confirmed , and duely restored to his temporalties by the kings mandate , without consecration , or did sit in parliament without consecration . he must sit in parliament in his episcopall habit , but that cannot be before consecration . it seemeth they think that bishops sit in parliament , as temporall barons : but it a great mistake , bishops sate in the great councells of the kingdome , before the names of parliament or barons were heard of in england . they bring an argument from the exactnesse of our records , and that connexion that is between records of one court and another . the first thing necessary to obtein a bishoprick in england , is the kings conge d'eslire ; that appears in the rolles . next , the actuall election ; that appeares in the records of the dean and chapiter . thirdly , the kings acceptation of the election , and his commission to the archbishop , or four bishops in the vacancy , to confirm the election and consecrate the person elected and confirmed legally ; that appeares in the letters patents enrolled . fourthly , the confirmation of the election before the dean of the arches , but by the archbishops appointment , ( this is performed alwaies in bow church , except extraordinarily it be performed elswhere by commission ) ; this appeares in the records of the archbishop . fifthly , the consecration it self by the archbishop and other bishops , or other bishops without him by virtue of his commission ; this appeares in the records of the protonothary of the see of canterbury . lastly the restitution of the temporalties ; which appeares in the rolles , and his enthronisation in the records of the dean and chapiter . every one of these takes another by the hand , and he who will enjoy a bishoprick in england , must have them all . the chapiter cannot elect without the kings conge d'eslire . the king never grants his letters patents for confirmation and consecration , untill he have a certificate of the deā and chapiters electiō . the dean of the arches never confirms , untill he have the kings commission . the archbishop never consecrates untill the election be confirmed . and lastly the king never receiveth homage for the bishoprick , or giveth the temporalties , nor the deā and chapiter enthrone , untill after consecration . he that hath any one of these acts , must of necessity have all that goe before it in this method : and he that hath the last , hath them all . but this was more then mr. neale , or whosoever was inventer of that silly fable , did understād , otherwise he would have framed a more possible relatiō . hence they argue , the records being so exact , how is it possible that no copies of barlowes consecration do appeare in any court or bishoprick of england ? they mistake the matter wholy , the consecration ought not to appeare in any court but one , that is that registry where he was consecrated , which being not certainly known , at so great a distance of time , is not so easily found , and i believe was neversought for yet further thē lambeth . but all the other acts doe appeare in their proper courts ; the kings license , the dean and chapiters election , the kings letters patents , the confirmation of the dean of the arches , which all goe before consecration : and his doing homage , and the restitution of him to his temporalties , and his enthronisation , all which do follow the consecration , and are infallible proofes in law of the consecration : as likewise his sitting in parliament , his ordeining of priests , his consecrating of bishops , his letting of leases , his receiving of heriditamēts to him and his successours , his exchanging of lands ; all which are as irrefragable proofes of his consecration , as any man hath to prove that such persons were his parents , either father or mother . and whē the right register is sought , which must be by the help of the court of faculties , i doubt not but his consecration will be found in the proper place , as all the rest are . mr. mason alleged , that bishop gardiners consecration was not to be found in the register of lambeth , any more then bishop barlowes : yet no man doubted of his ordination . they answer first , that mr. mason did not seek so solicito●sly or diligently for bishop gardiners consecration , as for bishop barlowes . then why do not they whom it doth concern , cause more diligent search to be made ? without finding the records of bishop gardiners consecration , they cannot accuse bishop barlow of want of consecration , upon that onely reason . secondly they answer , that if gardiners consecration , were as doubtfull as barlowes and parkers , they would take the same advise they give us , to repaire with speed to some other church of undoubted clergy . yes , where will they find a more undoubted clergy ? they may goe further and fare worse . rome itself hath not more exact records , nor a more undoubted succession , then the church of england . there is no reason in the world to doubt either of archbishop parkers consecration , or bishop gardiners , or bishop barlowes . neither doth his consecration concern us so much , at the fathers imagine : there were three consecraters ( which is the canonicall number ) besides him . it is high time for the fathers to wind up , and draw to a conclusion of this argumēt . that which followeth next is too high and can scarcely be tolerated ; to accuse the publick records and archives of the kingdome , and to insimulate the primates and metropolitans of england of forgery , upon no ground but their own imaginatiō . i doubt whether they durst offer it to a widow woman . as to the impossibility of forging so many registers , in case there be so many , it is easily answered , that it is no more then that the consecraters and other persons concerned , should have conspired to give in a false certificate , that the consecration was performed with all due cerimonies and rites , and thereby deceive the courts or make them dissemble . should any man accuse the generall of their order , or one of their provincialls , or but the rector of one of their colleges , of forgery and counterfeiting the publick records of the order ; how would they storm , and thunder , and mingle heaven and earth together and cry out . no moderate or prudent persons can suspect that such persons should damne their soules , that so many pious learned divines should engage themselves and their posterity , in damnable sacrileges , without feare of damnation . if a man will not believe every ridiculous fable , which they tell by word of mouth upon hearsay , they call persons of more virtue learning and prudence then themselves , fooles and knaves : but they may insimulate the principall fathers of our church , of certifying most pernicious lyes under their hands and seales , not for a piece of bread , which is a poore temptatiō , but for nothing , that is to make them both fooles and knaves . is not this blowing hot and cold with the same breath ? or to have the faith of our lord iesus christ with respect of persons ? compare the politicall principles of the church of england with your own , and try if you can find any thing so pernicious to mankind and all humane society , in ours more then in yours . compare the case theology of the church of england , with your own , and try if you can find any thing so destructive to morality , to truth , and iustice , and conscience , as might lead us to perpetrate such crimes more then yourselves . we are not affraid of a paralell . you professe great endeavours to make proselites ; we do not condemne zeale , yet wish you had more light with it : even in prudence , which you yourselves extoll , this is not your right course , to follow those birds , with noise and clamour , which you desire to catch . in summe , your answer or solution is full of ignorant mistakes . it confoundeth civill rolles and ecclesiasticall registers . it supposeth that our records are but transcriptions , one out of another ; whereas every court recordeth its own acts , and keeps itself within its own bounds . it taketh notice but of one consecrater : where as we have alwaies three at the least , many times five or six . it quite forgetteth publick notaries , which must be present at every consecration with us , to draw up what is done into acts ; with us every one of these notaries when he is admitted to that charge , doth take a solemne oath upon his knees to discharge his office faithfully , that is , not to make false certificates . secondly , it is absurd and unseasonable , to enquire how a thing came to passe that never was : you ought first to have proved , that our records were forged , and then it had been more seasonable to have enquired modestly , how it came to passe . thirdly , it is incredible , that persons of such prudence and eminence , should make false certificates under their hands and seales , to the utter ruine of themselves and all that had a hand it , and no advantage to any person breathing . it is incredible that those records should be counterfeited in a corner , which were avowed publickly for authentick by the whole parliament of england in the 8 yeare of queen elisabeth ; which were published to the world in print by the person most concerned , as if he dared all the world to except against them : and yet no man offered to except against them then . fourthly , it is impossible to give in a false certificate of a consecration which was never performed in england , ( especially at lambeth ) before lesse then thousands of eye witnesses : and that at lambeth , in the face of the court and westminster hall. surely they thinke we consecrate in closets , or holes , or hay mowes . they may even as well say that the publick acts of our parliaments are counterfeited , and the publick acts of our synods are counterfeited , and all our publick monuments counterfeited . it is none of the honestest pleas , negare factum , to deny such publick acts as these . fifthly , this answer is pernicious to mankind , it is destructive to all societies of men , that bishops of so great eminence , should conspire with publick notaries , to give in false certificates , in a matter of such high consequence as holy orders are , without any temptation , without any hope of advantage to them selves or others . it affordeth a large seminary for jealousies and suspicions . it exterminateth all credit and confidence out of the world , and instructeth all men to trust nothing , but what they see with their eyes . lastly , it is contradictory to themselves ; they have told us , i know not how often , and tell us again in this paragraph , that if the nagge 's head consecration had been false , they might have convinced it by a thousand witnesses : here they make it an easy thing , for the consecraters and other persons concerned , to conspire together to give in a false certificate , that the consecration was performed with all due ceremonies and rites , and thereby deceive the courts or make them dissemble . if the world will be deceived so , it is but right and reason that it be deceived ; to be deceived by a false certificate , that may be convinced by a thousand witnesses , is selfdeceit . but they say , this is more possible and more probable , then that all the clergy should conspire not to produce the same registers , when they were so hardly pressed by their adversaries . these are but empty pretenses , there was no pressing to produce registers , nor any thing objected that did deserve the production of a register . that which was objected against our orders in those dayes was about the form of ordination published by edward the sixth , and the legality of our ordination in the time of queen elisabeth ; the nagge 's head consecration was never objected in those dayes . besides , registers are publick enough themselves , and need no production ; and yet our registers were produced , produced by the parliament 8 elisab . who cited them as authentick records , produced and published to the world in print , that was another production . they adde , or that so many catholicks should have been so foolish to invent or maintein the story of the nagge 's head , in such a time when if it had been false , they might have been convinced by a thousand witnesses . feare them not , they were wiser then to publish such a notorious fable in those dayes ; they might perchance whisper it in corners among themselves , but the boldest of them durst not maintain it , or object it in print , for feare of shame and disgrace . it was folly to give any eare to it , but is was knavery to invent it : and to doe it after such a bungling manner , ( whosoever was the inventer ) was knavery and folly complicated together . if the fathers write any more upon this subject , i desire them to bring us no more hearesay testimonies of their owne party ; whatsoever esteeme they may have themselves , of their judgment , and prudence , and impartiality . it is not the manner of polemick writers to urge the authority of their owne doctors to an adversary , or allege the moderne practise of their present church . we have our owne church and our owne doctors as well as they . if we would pinne our faith to the sleeues of their writers , and submit to their judgments , and beleeve all their reportes , and let all things be as they would have it , we needed not to have any more controversy with them : but we might well raise a worse controversy in our selves with our owne consciences . cha. xi . of our formes of episcopall and priestly ordination , of zuinglianisme , of arch bishop lavvd , of ceremonies . our assurance of our orders . we have done with the nagge 's head for the present . that which followeth next doth better become schollers , as having more shew of truth and reality in it . they object that in all the catholick ritualls , not onely of the west but of the east , there is not one forme of consecrating bishops , that hath not the word bishops in it , or some other words expressing the particular authority and power of a bishop distinctly . but in our consecration , there is not one word to expresse the difference and power of episcopacy . for these vvordes [ receive the holy ghost ] are indifferent to priesthood and episcopacy , and used in both ordinations . i answer , that the forme of episcopall ordination used at the same time when hands are imposed , is the same both in their forme and ours , [ receive the holy ghost ] , and if these words be considered singly in a divided sense from the rest of the office , there is nothing either in our forme or theirs which doth distinctly and reciprocally expresse episcopall power and authority . but if these words be considered coniointly in a compounded sense , there is enough to expresse episcopall power and authority distinctly , and as much in our forme as theirs . first two bishops present the bishop elect to the arch-bishop of the province , with these words , most reverend father in christ , we present to you this godly and learned man to be consecrated bishop . there is one expression . then the arch-bishop causeth the kings letters patents to be produced and read , which require the arch bishop to consecrate him a bishop . there is a second expression . thirdly the new bishop takes his oath of canonicall obedience . i a b elected bishop of the church and see of c. do professe and promise all reverence and due obedience to the arch bishop and metropoliticall church of d. and his successours . so god help me &c. this is a third expression . next the arch bishop exhorts the whole assembly ▪ to solemne praier for this person thus elected and presented , before they admit him to that office ( that is the office of a bishop , ) whereunto they hope he is called by the holy ghost , after the example of christ before he did chuse his apostles , and the church of antioch before they laid hands upon paul and barnabas . this is a fourth expression . then followeth the litany , wherein there is this expresse petition for the person to be ordeined bishop , we beseech thee to give thy blessing and grace to this our brother elected bishop , that he may discharge that office whereunto he is called diligently to the edification of thy church . to which all the congregation answer , heare us o lord we beseech thee . here is a fifth expression . then followeth this praier wherewith the litany is concluded . allmighty god , the giver of all good things , which by thy holy spirit hast constituted diverse orders of ministers in thy church , vouchsafe we beseech the to looke graciously upon this thy servant , now called to the office of a bishop . this is a sixth expression . next the arch-bishop telleth him he must examine him , before he admit him to that administratiō whereunto he is called , and maketh a solemne praier for him , that god who hath constituted some prophets , some apostles &c. to the edification of his church , would grant to this his servant the grace to use the authority committed to him , to edification not destruction , to distribute food in due season to the family of christ , as becommeth a faithfull and prudent steward . this authority can be no other then episcopall authority , nor this stewardship any other thing then episcopacy . this is a sevēth expressiō . then followeth imposition of hands , by the arch-bishop and all the bishops present , with these words receive the holy ghost &c : and lastly the tradition of the bible into his hands , exhorting him to behave himself towards the flock of christ , as a pastour , not devouring but feeding the flock . all this implieth episcopall authority . they may except against christs owne forme of ordeining his apostles if they will , and against the forme used by their owne church : but if they be sufficient formes , our forme is sufficient . this was the same forme which was used in edward the sixths time , and we have seen how cardinall pole and paul the fourth confirmed all without exception , that were ordeined according to this forme ; so they would reunite themselves to the roman catholick church . they bring the very same objection against our priestly ordination , the forme or words whereby men are made priests must expresse authority and power to consecrate , or make present christs body and blood , ( whether with or without transubstantiation is not the present controversy with protestants . ) thus far we accorde , to the truth of the presence of christs body and blood ; so they leave us this latitude for the manner of his presence . abate us transubstantiation , and those things which are consequents of their determination of the manner of presence , and we have no difference with them in this particular . they who are ordeined priests , ought to have power to consecrate the sacrament of the body and blood of christ , that is , to make them present after such manner as they were present ar the first institution ; whether it be done by enunciation of the words of christ , as it is observed in the westerne church , or by praier , as it is practised in the easterne church ; or whether these two be both the same thing in effect , that is , that the formes of the sacraments be mysticall praiers and implicite invocations . our church for more abundant caution useth both formes , as well in the consecration of the sacrament , as in the ordination of priests . in the holy eucharist , our consecration is a repetition of that which was done by christ , and now done by him that consecrateth in the person of christ : otherwise the priest could not say this is my body . and likewise in episcopall consecration , homo imponit manus , deus largitur gratiam , sacerdos imponit supplicem dex●eram , deus benedicit potente dex●era : man imposeth hands , god conferreth grace , the bishop imposeth his suppliant right hand , god blesseth with his almighty right hand . in both consecrations christ himself is the chiefe consecrater still , then if power of consecratiō be nothing els but power to do that which christ did , and ordeined to be done , our priests want not power to consecrate . they adde , in all formes of ordeining priests , that ever were used in the easterne or westerne church , is expresly set downe the word priest , or some other words expressing the proper function and authority of priesthood &c. the grecians using the word priest or bishop in their formes , do sufficiently expresse the respective power of every order . but our reformers did not put into the forme of ordeining priests , any words expressing authority to make christs body present . i answer , that if by formes of ordeining priests , they understād that essentiall forme of words , which is used at the same instant of time whilest hands are imposed , i denie that in all formes of priestly ordination , the word priest is set downe either expresly or aequivalently . it is set downe expresly in the easterne church , it is not set downe expresly in the westerne church . both the easterne and westerne formes are lawfull , but the westerne commeth nearer to the institution of christ. but if by formes of ordeining , they understand ordinalls or ritualls , or the intire forme of ordeining : both our church and their church have not onely aequivalent expressions of priestly power , but even the expresse word priest it self , which is sufficient both to direct and to expresse the intention of the consecrater . vnder that name the arch deacon presēteth them , right reverend father in christ , i present unto you these persons here present , to be admitted to the order ef priesthood . vnder that name the bishop admitteth them , well beloved brethren , these are they whom we purpose by the grace of god this day to admit [ cooptare ] into the holy office of priesthood . vnder this name the whole assembly praieth for them , almighty god , vouchsafe we beseech thee to looke graciously upon these thy servants , which this day are called to the office of priesthood . it were to be wished , that writers of controversies would make more use of their owne eyes , and trust lesse other mens citations . secondly i answer , that it is not necessary , that the essentiall formes of sacraments should be alwaies so very expresse and determinate , that the words are not capable of extension to any other matter : if they be as determinate and expresse , as the example and prescription of christ , it is sufficient . the forme of baptisme is , i baptise the in the name of the father , and of the son , and of the holy ghost : not i baptise the to regeneration , or for remission of sins . there are many other kinds of baptismes or washings , besides this sacramentall baptisme : yet this forme is as large as the institution of christ. and these generall words are efficacious both to regeneration and remission of sinnes , as well as if regeneration and remission of sins had bene expresly mentioned . in this forme of baptisme , there is enough antecedent to direct and regulate both the actions and intentions of the minister : so there is likewise in our forme of ordination . thirdly i answer , that in our very essentiall forme of priestly ordination , priestly power and authority is sufficiently expressed ; we need not seeke for a needle in a bottle of hay . the words of our ordinall are cleare enough . first receive the holy ghost , ( that is the grace of the holy ghost ) to exercise and dicharge the office of priesthood , to which thou hast been now presented , to which thou hast been now accepted , and for which we have praied to god , that in it thou maiest disscharge thy duty faithfully and acceptably . secondly , in these words , whose sins thou doest remit they are remitted , that is not onely by priestly absolution : but by preaching , by baptising , by administring the holy eucharist , which is a meanes to applie the alsufficient sacrifice of christ , for the remission of sinnes . he who authoriseth a man to accomplish a worke , doth authorise him to use all meanes which tend to the accomplishment thereof , that which is objected , that laymen have power to remit sinnes by baptisme , but no power to consecrate , signifieth nothing as to this point . for first their owne doctors do acknowledge , that a lay man can not baptise solemnely , nor in the presence of a priest or a deacon , nor in their absence , except onely in case of necessity . saint austin gives the reason , because no man may invade another mans office . lay men may , and are bound to instruct others in case of necessity : yet the office of preaching and instructing others is conferred by ordination . the ordinary office of remitting sinnes , both by baptisme and by the holy eucharist , doth belong to bishops and under thē to priests . thirdly , this priestly power to consecrate is conteined in these words , be thou a faithfull dispenser of the word of god , and sacraments . and afterwards , when the bishop delivers the holy bible into the hands of those who are ordeined priests , have thou authority to preach the word of god , and administer the sacraments . we do not deny , but deacons have been admitted to distribute and minister the sacraments , by the command or permission of priests , or as subservient unto them : but there is as much difference between a subserviēt distributiō of the sacrament , and the dispensing or administring of it , as there is betweene the office of a porter who distributeth the almes at the gate , and the office of the steward who is the proper dispenser of it . looke to it gentlemen ; if your owne ordination be valide , ours is as valide , and more pure . they make the cause of these defects in our forme of ordination , to be , because zuinglianisme and puritanisme did prevaile in the english church in those daies . they bele●ved not the reall presence : therefore they put no word in their forme expressing power to consecrate . they held episcopacy and priesthood to be one and the same thing : therefore they put not in one word expressing the episcopall function . this is called leaping over the stile before a man comes at it , to devise reasons of that which never was . first prove our defects , if you can : and then find out a● many reasons of them as you list . but to say the truth ; the cause and the effect are well coupled together . the cause , that is the zuinglianisme of our predecessours , never had any reall existence in the nature of things , but onely in these mēs imaginations : so the defects of our ordinalls are not reall but imaginary . herein the fathers adventured to farre , to tell us that we have nothing in our formes of ordeining , to expresse either the priestly or episcopall functiō : when every child that is able to reade can tell them , that we have the expresse words of bishops and priests in our formes , over and over againe , and mainteine to all the the world that the three orders , of bishops priests and deacons , have been ever from the beginning in the church of christ. this they say is the true reason , why parker and his collegues were contented with the nagge 's head consecration , ( that is to say , one brainsick whimsey is the reason of another ) : and why others recurred to extraordinary vocation in queene elisabeths time . say what others ? name one genuine son of the church of england if you can ? doctor whitakers , and doctor fulke , who are the onely two men mentioned by you , are both professedly against you . doctor whitakers saith we do not condemne all the order of bishops , as he falsely slanders us , but onely the false bishops of the church of rome . and doctor fulke , for order and seemely goverment among the clergy , there was allwaies one principall , to whom the name of bishop or superintendent hath been applied , which roome titus exercised in crete , timothy in ephesus , others in other places . adding , that the ordination , or consecration , by imposition of hands , was alwaies principally committed to him . the fathers proceed , if mr. lawd had found successe in his first attempts , it is very credible , he would in time have reformed the forme of the english ordination . that pious and learned prelate wanted not other degrees in church and schooles , which they omit . he was a great lover of peace , but too judicious to dance after their pipe , too much versed in antiquity to admit their new matter and forme , or to attempt to correct the magnificat for satisfaction of their humours . but whence had they this credible relation ? we are very confident , they have neither authour nor ground for it , but their owne imagination . and if it be so , what excuse they have for it in their case divinity , they know best : but in ours we could not excuse it from down right calumny . they have such an eye at our order and uniformity , that they can not let our long cloakes and surplesses alone . we never had any such animosities among us about our cloakes , as some of their religious orders have had about their gownes : both for the colour of them , whether they should be black , or white , or gray , or the naturall colour of the sheep ; and for the fashion them , whether they should belong or short &c , in so much as two popes successively could not determine it . if mr. mason did commend the wisedome of the english church , for paring away superfluous ceremonies in ordination , he did well . ceremonies are advancements of order , decency , modesty , and gravity in the service of god , expressions of those heavenly desires and dispositions , which we ought to bring along with us to gods house , adjuments of attention and devotion , furtherances of edification , visible instructers , helps of memory , excercises of faith , the shell that preserves the kernell of religion from contempt , the leaves that defend the blossomes and the fruite : but if they grow over thick and ranke , they hinder the fruite from comming to maturity , and then the gardiner ▪ pluckes them of . there is great difference between the hearty expressions of a faithfull friend , and the mimicall gestures of a fawning flatterer : betweē the unaffected comelenesse of a grave matrone , and the phantasticall paintings , and patchings , and powderings , of a garish curtesan . when ceremonies become burthensome by excessive superfluity , or unlawfull ceremonies are obtruded , or the substance of divine worship is placed in circumstances , or the service of god is more respected for humane ornaments then for the divine ordinance ; it is high time to pare away excesses , and reduce things to the ancient meane . these fathers are quite out , where they make it lawfull at some times to adde , but never to pare away : yet we have pared away nothing , which is either prescribed or practised by the true catholick church . if our ancestors have pared away any such things out of any mistake , ( which we do not beleeve , ) let it be made appeare evidently to us , and we are more ready to welcome it againe at the foredore , then our ancestours were to cast it out at the backdore . errare possumus haeretici esse nolumus . to conclude , as an impetuous wind doth not blow downe those trees which are well radicated , but causeth them to spread their rootes more firmely in the earth : so these concussions of our adversaries , do confirme us in the undoubted assurance of the truth , and validity , and legality of our holy orders . we have no more reason to doubt of the truth of our orders , because of the different judgment of an handfull of our partiall countrymen , and some few forreine doctors misinformed by them : then they themselves have to doubt of the truth of their orders who were ordeined by formosus , because two popes stephen and sergius one after another , out of passion and prejudice , declared them to be voide and invalide . but supposing that which we can never grant , without betraying both our selves and the truth , that there were some remote probabilities , that might occasion suspicion in some persons prepossessed with prejudice , of the legality of our orders : yet for any man upon such pretended uncerteinties , to leave the communion of that church wherein he was baptised , which gave him his christian being , and to apostate to them , where he shall meet with much greater grounds of feare , both of schisme and idolatry ; were to plōge himself in a certein crime , for feare of an uncertein danger . here the fathers make a briefe repetition of whatsoever they have said before in this discourse , ( either out of distrust of the readers memory , or confidence of their owne atchievements , ) of the nagge 's head , and mr. neale , and the protestant writers , and bishop bancroft , and bishop morton and the other bishops that sate with him the last parliament , ( which being the onely thing alleged by them in the authours life time , and proved so undeniably to be false , is enough to condemne all the rest of their hearesay reports , for groundlesse fables ) of our registers , of king edwards bishops , of bishop barlow , and of the forme of our ordination ; directing him who will cleare all those doubtes , what he hath to do , as if we were their iournymen . let them not trouble themselves about that , they are cleared to the least graine . but if they will receive advise for advise , and pursue a prudentiall course which they prescribe to others ; if they regard the present face of the skie , and looke well to their owne interest , and the present conjuncture of their affaires : they have more need and are more ingaged in reputation to defend themselves , then to oppugne others . so they conclude their discourse with this short corollary , how unfortunately was charles the first late king of england , misinformed in matter of his bishops and clergy ? what scruple could he have had , if he had known the truth , to give way to the parliament , to pull downe parliament bishops , who were so farre from being de jure divino , that they were not so much as de jure ecclesiastico ? we thanke you gentlemen for your good will , the orthodox clergy of england are your feare . and you know what commonly followeth after feare , hate , oderunt quos metuunt . what pitty it is that you were not of king charles his councell , to have advised him better ? yet we observe few princes thrive worse , then where you pretend to be great ministers . if you had counsailed him upon this subject , perhaps you might have found him too hard for you ; as another did whose heart he burst with downe right reason . if ever that innocent king had a finger in the blood of any of that party , that was it , to choake a man with reason : but certeinly that wise prince would not have much regarded your positive conclusions , upon hearsay premisses . we hold our benefices by human right , our offices of priests and bishops both by divine right and humane right . but put the case we did hold our bishopricks onely by humane right , is it one of your cases of conscience , that a soveraigne prince may justly take away from his subjects any thing which they hold by humane right ? if one man take from another that which he holds justly by the law of man , he is a thief and a robber by the law of god. let us alter the case a little , from our bishoprickes to their colleges or their treasures : if any man should attempt to take them from them , upon this ground because they held them but by humane right , they would quickly cry out with ploiden , the case is altered . be our right divine , or humane , or both , if we be not able to defend it against any thing the fathers can bring against it , we deserve to lose it . finis . errata . p. 14. l. 9. r. that the. p. 15. l. 22. r. as to . p. 18. l. 9. and p. 19. l. 10. r. tob●e , p. 20. l. 20. r. requested . p. 23. l. 2. d. present . p. 30. l. 2 r. chapel . p. 37. l. 23. r. to present . p. 40. ma●g ▪ lib. 3. p 47. l. 1. r. chap. 4. and in like manner correct the number of the chapter , till chap. ●1 . p. 63. l. 21. r. temporal , and commons in p. 76. l. 20. r. 1599. p. 77. l. 8. rolles r. acts. p. 82. l. 20. r. ac i●dem decanus & capitulum &c. and p. 86. ad l. 24. marg. add . rot. par . 14.2 . e●●zab . p. 101 l. 10 r. commissaru . l. 19. assensu . r. consilio p. 104. l. ● . marg. add . regist. parker . tom. 1 sol . 10. l ▪ 12. r. per thomam yale l. 25. r. se adju●●it . p. 105 l. 7. r. dix erunt anglico . take &c. as in the preface , p. 108. l. 25. r. john incent , p. 117. l. 11. r. metropolitano salutem , &c. p. 127. l. 7. d. of . p. 154. l. 1. d. that . p. 162. l. 14. r. 1572. p. 168. l. 14 r● . r. merry and for w. r. we . p. 188. l. 7. r. fif●ly p. 190. l. ult . r. 31. iul. p. 191. l. 12. r. num . 27. p. 200. l. 19. r. september 9. p. 211. l. 10. p. 212. l. 12. and p. 213. l. 10. for dean of the a●ches r. archbishop or his comm●ssioner . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a29194-e240 treatise of the nature of catholick faith and haeresy c. 2. p. 9. notes for div a29194-e1280 the first reason . seeond reason . de schism . angl. c. 3. p. 400. edit rom. the third reason . 25. h. 8. c. 20. notes for div a29194-e2700 resp. int. 8. august . rot. 14. pars 2. elisab . acworth cont . monar . sander . l. 6. p. 195. sand. de schism . l. 2. p. 350 confut. apol. parte 6. c. 2. brookes novel , cafes placit . 493. ace worth . cont . sander . l. 2. pag. 197. de schismate l. 2. p. 282 edit . rom. cardinall poles dispensation . de schism . l. 2. p. 305. de schism . l. 2. p. 350. a fifth reason notes for div a29194-e4810 rot● pars 1 4.2 . el. reg. cran. fol. 334. the seventh reason . the seventh reason . rot. pa. 6.1 . elis. ro : pars 2.1 . elis. can. 36 8. elc. cap. 1. rot. pars 14.2 . el. reg. park . t. 1. f. 2. 8. el. c. 1. notes for div a29194-e8450 the eighth reason . the tenth reason . survey c. 9. p. 122. in ep. ad ami . n. 5. notes for div a29194-e9900 8. elis. cap. 1. notes for div a29194-e11910 deut. 19.15 . mat. 18.16 . pa. 10. notes for div a29194-e18240 bell. de sac. bapt. l. 1. c. 7. in praefa●ione . de eccles . cont . 2. q. 5 c. 3. in titum c. 1 a defence of the vindication of the deprived bishops wherein the case of abiathar is particularly considered, and the invalidity of lay-deprivations is further proved, from the doctrine received under the old testament, continued in the first ages of christianity, and from our own fundamental laws, in a reply to dr. hody and another author : to which is annexed, the doctrine of the church of england, concerning the independency of the clergy on the lay-power, as to those rights of theirs which are purely spiritual, reconciled with our oath of supremancy, and the lay-deprivations of the popish bishops in the beginning of the reformation / by the author of the vindication of the deprived bishops. dodwell, henry, 1641-1711. 1695 approx. 412 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 60 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-12 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a36241 wing d1805 estc r18161 11822490 ocm 11822490 49601 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a36241) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 49601) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 529:8) a defence of the vindication of the deprived bishops wherein the case of abiathar is particularly considered, and the invalidity of lay-deprivations is further proved, from the doctrine received under the old testament, continued in the first ages of christianity, and from our own fundamental laws, in a reply to dr. hody and another author : to which is annexed, the doctrine of the church of england, concerning the independency of the clergy on the lay-power, as to those rights of theirs which are purely spiritual, reconciled with our oath of supremancy, and the lay-deprivations of the popish bishops in the beginning of the reformation / by the author of the vindication of the deprived bishops. dodwell, henry, 1641-1711. [6], 111 p. [s.n.], london : 1695. attributed to henry dodwell. cf. dnb. reproduction of original in bristol public library, bristol, england. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual 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church of england -bishops -early works to 1800. nonjurors -early works to 1800. bishops -england -early works to 1800. dissenters, religious -legal status, laws, etc. -england -early works to 1800. 2005-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-05 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-06 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2005-06 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a defence of the vindication of the deprived bishops . wherein the case of abiathar is particularly considered , and the invaliditly of lay-deprivations is further proved , from the doctrine received under the old testament , continued in the first ages of christianity , and from our own fundamental laws . in a reply to dr. hody and another author . to which is annexed , the doctrine of the church of england , concerning the independency of the clergy on the lay-power , as to those rights of theirs which are purely spiritual , reconciled with our oath of supremacy , and the lay-deprivations of the popish bishops in the beginning of the reformation . by the author of the vindication of the deprived bishops . london , printed mdcxcv . the contents . § i. the doctor 's late book no answer to the vindication . page 1 § ii. the baroccian m. s. disproved by the vindicator , and not defended by the doctor p. 2. § iii. the doctor has not offered , at any answer to the argument against him in the first part of the vindication . p. 3. § iv. he grants the proposition principally disputed between us , concerning the invalidity of lay-deprivations , and takes no care to prevent the consequences of that confession p. 4 § v. the doctor gains nothing by his changing the state of the question ▪ p. 4. § vi. the doctor 's whole proof unconclusive , admitting the invalidity of lay-deprivations . p. 5. § vii . the doctor 's limitation of his own pretended self-evident maxims do all of them prove our case unconcerned in it . chap. i p. 6. § viii . submission of subjects to the ecclesiastical usurpers is sinful by the law of god. p. 7. § ix . such submissions would make the ecclesiastical subjects , accomplices in the injustice . p. 9. § x. the same submission in the clergy is sinful , on account of the oaths of canonical obedience they have taken to the rightful possession . p. 10. § xi . our principles afford better reasons why the unjust deprivations of synods may be received without the deprived bishops consent , than those insisted on by the doctor . p. 12. § xii . there is great disparity between the obligations of a competent and an incompetent authority . p. 13. § xiii . no reason to reckon on the presumed consent of the injured bishops by an invalid deprivation , for discharging their subjects consciences , from duty to them . p. 14. § xiv . our deprived fathers gives publick significations , that they do challenge their old rights , as far as is necessary in their circumstances . p. 15. § xv. the oaths of canonical obedience to our fathers still obliging . p. 17. § xvi . the complyance with usurpers is also therefore sinful , because usurping bishops are really no bishops at all . p. 20. § xvii . the evil of sin and scandal in complying , greater than that of persecution which is avoided by it . p. 22. § xviii . the evill of schism not avoided , but incurred by complying with the usurper p. 24. § xix . the abuses that may follow on compliance , are a just reason to refuse it , where it is not otherwise in conscience due . p. 25. § xx. no security that have compliance will not be abused . p. 26. § xxi . that abuse is a greater mischief , than , that it can be made amends for by the doctor 's expedients . p. 29. § xxii . the main design of the doctor 's new book , in arguing from facts already overthrown by the vindicator . p. 32. § xxiii . the doctor himself is unwilling to stand by the consequences of such facts as himself produces . p. 33. § xxiv . the doctor 's remarks against the reasoning of the first part of the vindication concerning the possession of cornelius , turned against himself . p. 33. § xxv . the doctor 's book afforded no subject for a reply , but what would be personal . p. 35. § xxvi . the doctor 's turning the dispute , to later facts draws it from a short and decisive , to a tedious and litigious issue . p. 35. § xxvii . we have no reason to suffer our selves to be overruled by him in these arts of diverting us . p. 36. § xxviii . we decline his topick of facts rather because it is undecisive , than because we think it dis , advantagious to us . p. 36. § xxix . for want of some other subject relating to the vindication , we pitch on the case of abiathar . p. 37. § xxx . this fact is not commended in the scripturs as a precedent . p. 37. § xxxi . the magistrate could not by the doctrine of that age have any direct power over the priest-hood . p. 38. § xxxii . the benefits of the priest-hood out of the power , and far greater than any in the power , of the civil magistrate p. 39. § xxxiii . the ancient jews , of the apostle's age did believe their priest-hood available to a future and eternal state. p. 40. § xxxiv . and consequently did expressly own it far more honourable than the magistracy its self . p. 42. § xxxv , this same reasoning holds on account of the priest-hood representing god tho' without relation to a future state. p. 45. § xxxvi . and that also according to the opinions of those times . p. 46. § xxxvii . solomon's act of abiathar was only of force , p. 47. § xxxviii . which force might in the consequence render the exercise of his right unpracticable . p. 48. § xxxix . yet solomon was in conscience obliged to be cautious in exercising this force against the priest-hood . p. 49 § xl. what solomon did was only to fulfil , what god has before threatned against the house of eli. p. 51. § xli . abiathar was not then the high-priest , properly so called , but zadoc . p. 53. § xlii . there were in those times two high-priest at once ; the chief , such as zadoc was , of the family of eleazar , the lower such as abiathar , of the family of ithamar . p. 54. § xliii . no deprivation of the posterity of phineas in those times . p. 56. § xliv . zadoc put in the room of abiathar , as to the courses of ithamar , which were not under him before . p. 58. § xlv . the jews by our principles could not justifie a separation , on account of abiathar . their case not like ours . p. 59 § xlvi . when invasion had passed into a prescription , as in our saviours time , he that was in possession had really the best title . p. 60. § xlvii . among the jews the true high-priest was to be known by his possessing the one altar : among the christians the true altar was known by its being possessed by the true bishop . p. 62. § xlviii . the reasons for exemption from the power of the prince stronger in our deprived fathers case , than in the case of abiathar . our bishops are properly priests p. 64. § xlix . the gospel priest-hood more noble than that of abiathar , &c. p. 66. § l. this reasoning admitted in the apostolical age , &c. by clemens romanus , &c. p. 68. § li. he does it by the same principles , as agreable to the constitution of the gospel . p. 70. § lii . he draws the like inferences , in practice as we do . p. 72. § liii . the laity cannot now pretend to any indirect right of depriving bishops , as the jewish princes could in the case of the jewish priest-hood . p. 75. § liv. our reasoning against the magistrates rights of deprivation in spirituals proceeds universally , and therefore in the case of temporal crimes ; also the owning such a power would have been pernitious to the primitive christians also , whowere charg de with temporal crimes . p. 77. § lv. the spiritual rights of our fathers have been now invaded by civil force . bare characters without districts not sufficient to preserve the church as a body . p. 79. § lvi . supposing the church and christian state had made one body , ret more had been required to make that supposition applicable to our present case , which is not yet taken notice of . p. 82. § lvii . the prince on account of his being a christian , has no title to any spiritual authority . p. 83. § lviii . a whole nation by baptism may be made one society in the church , without prejudice to their being still a society distinct from it . p. 85. § lix . the churches obligations are more necessary for the subsisting of the state , than these she receives from the state are for hers . p. 87. § lx. the benefits received by the state from the church , are also greater then those which the church receives from the state. p. 89. § lxi . if the state had been capable of conferring the greater obligations , yet a good pious magistrate could not in reason , desire such a recompence as should oblige the church to yeild any of her ancient rights . p. 90. § lxii . princes have been allowed by the church a right to keep persons out , not yet canonically possessed , but not to turn any out , who were already in possession of bishopricks . and that without any proper cession of right on the church's part . p. 92. § lxiii . the power of turning out bishops once possessed too great to be granted on any consideration whatsoever . p. 94. § lxiv . in this case particularly no temporal favour whatsoever can make amends for the loss of the benefits of the spiritual society . there can therefore be no implicite contracts for such an exchange that can in equity oblige the ecclesiastical governours to performance , tho' it had been in their power to make such a contract . p. 96. § lxv . but here it is not in the power of ecclesiastical governours to make such a contract . p. 98. § lxvi . it is not agreable to the mind of god ; that the church should so incorporate with the state , as that the bishops should be deprivable at the pleasure of the civil magistrate p. 100. § lxvii . the magistate is by no means a competent judge of the church's interests . p. 102. lxviii . the surrender of the clergy in henry the viiiths . time , cannot oblige their posterity now lxix . no reasoning from the rights of the jewish princes to the rights of christian princes now . § lxx . our present deprivations not justifiable by even our present secular laws . p. 107. § lxxi . the conclusion . p. 110. a defence of the vindication of the deprived bishops . § i. the doctor 's late book , no answer to the vindication . what the vindicator thinks of the answers that have been made to his defence of our deprived fathers , himself best knows . for my part , i should not have concerned my self for him , if i had not been over-rul'd by the judgments of others , for whom i profess a veneration , rather than my own . i have that due esteem for his adversaries , which their excellent abilities deserve , particularly for dr. hody . his diligence in history none questions that i know of . i also value his skill and judgment in it , much more than many who are concern'd on his side of the question here debated . nor do i deny but several things are very well observed by him in this very work i am now considering at present ; though i think it more hastily and tumultuarily laid together than several of his other writings . the only thing that made me think a reply needless , was that in all the learning he has shewn , i could find nothing that i thought any indifferent person could think proper for satisfying conscience in the single point here in question , nothing that could give me the least reason to doubt of the arguments principally insisted on by the vindicator . for other things not relating to that , i thought our candid adversaries themselves would excuse us when they considered the disadvantages on our side , the difficulties of the press , the displeasure of our pretended superiors , much more considerable than any argument that i could find produced either by him or any other adversary . § ii. the baroccian m s , disproved by the vindicator , and not defended by the doctor . so far i am from trusting my own opinion in this matter , that i would gladly know some particular of the doctor 's book , that even our adversaries , who are so clamorous for a reply , think sufficient to excuse their schism against the charge of the vindicator . his baroccain m s has already been proved impertinent to our present dispute . the vindicator has shewn that the occasion of his writing did not oblige his author to defend the validity of lay-deprivations ; he might have added , that his author himself was not ignorant , that synods did intervene in several of his instances , which must have made so many of them perfectly impertinent to his design , if that had been to vindicate the validity of lay deprivations . that is not all : the vindicator has also shewn from the canons subjoyned at the end , and suppressed by the doctor , that the author could not design the defence of lay deprivations . nor has the doctor offered at any thing that might shew such a design consistent with those canons , or the author's subjection to them . yet those canons alone are decisive to our purpose , both as to the sense of the constantinoplitane church , and of that author as a member of it , whether they were part of his work or not ; concerning which , the impartial reader is to judge whether what the doctor has said , be sufficient to purge his wilful suppressing them . the vindicator has also shewn the author not only remoteness from , but ignorance of the times he writes of . nor has the doctor proved , or pretended any thing to the contrary . nay , even of the facts enumerated by him , there are but few that the doctor has thought fit , on second thoughts , to assert independently on his authority . it cannot therefore be on this account , of vindicating his m s , that any impartial reader can judge the doctor 's performance to be a just reply to the vindicatoin § iii. he has not offered at any answer to the arguments against him in the first part of the vindication . but whatever becomes of the so boasted m. s , a conscientious person , who was only sollicitous for truth , not victory , will easily excuse the doctor , if he had at least been pleas'd to clear our present case , relating to the lay-deprivation of our holy fathers , and the schism that necessarily follow'd upon it . yet even here i could find nothing that could pass for answer , with an indifferent conscientious arbitrator . facts without right , none can think proper for satisfying conscience ; yet this is all which is so much as pretended in this book . the whole question of the * magistrates right , for doing what has been done , is reserved for another book . and then i thought it seasonable enough to reply , when a question was debated , that did indeed concern our consciences . so far his book is from being a just answer , as to the proving what himself asserts . but for that also , we can wait his leisure , if the doctor had been pleased in the mean time , at least , to weaken what had been produced for our cause by the vindicator . we would gladly have been excused from the violence we have offered our selves , in forbearing their communion , and we should have thought our selves obliged to him for it , if he had cleared what was objected to the contrary in that very book which he pretends to answer ; if he had shewn , that notwithstanding what is there objected , we might still continue in their communion , with safety to our souls , and consistency to the discharge of a good conscience . what we had to say on this point , was professedly insisted on in the former part of the vindication . this ought in the first place to have been considered by him , if he had regarded our consciences , as that which was necessary to dispose us for considering his other proofs or answers . but in vain we have expected it . he does not so much as pretend to consider that first part in his whole book . how then can any unprejudiced judge take the doctor 's book for an answer to the vindication ? he also grants the proposition principally disputed between us concerning the invalidity of lay-deprivations , and takes no care to prevent the consequences of that confession . that is not all : he also grants that which the vindicator designed in that place principally to prove , the * invalidity of lay-deprivations . this concession the vindicator has drawn into its just consequences , that then the deprived bishops must still be bishops , and bishops of the same jurisdictions , and retain their right to their subjects obedience in their several respective jurisdictions , as much ( with regard to conscience ) as if such depriving sentences had nevre been decreed . none can doubt , who knows what invalidity imports , but that invalid censures , leave cases exactly in the same condition as to conscience , in which they find them : that therefore as it would have been schismatical to have set up altars and anti-bishops in the same districts against our h. fathers , in case the depriving act had never passed , on the same account it is so still , in case the deprivation proves invalid . that , as in that case , that the depriving act had not passed , communicating with the schismatical altars , had involved the bishops and churches that had been guilty of it , in the same schism with the principal and original schismaticks ; so also it must , by the same parity of reason , do so now , invalid sentences not being capable of making a disparity . now what can any one preteud , that has been suggested by the doctor for securing himself against these just inferences , from so unwary a concession ? for my part , i can find no place where he does so much as offer at it . where then can be his answer , if even himself grants all that we are concerned to assert in the question principally disputed between us ? § v. the doctor gains nothing by his changing the state of the qustion . this being so , what advantage can the doctor propose to himself , by changing the state of our present question , from a dispute concerning the magistrates † right of deprivation , to another concerning the lawfulness of submission in the ecclesiastical subjests , to the invaders and intruders ? i grant indeed , that these two questions are not directly the same . but it is abundantly sufficient to the vindicators purpose , if the disproof of the magistrates rights , do by necessary consequence infer the unlawfulness of submission in the subjects to the invaders of ecclesiastical districts , not otherwise vacated than by such lay-deprivations . and this it does by the inferences now mentioned . invalid deprivations leave as much right in conscience as they found , and therefore as much obligation to duty in the subjects . the subjects therefore still owing duty to the invalidly deprived bishops , must be guilty of sin , if they pay the same duty to their rivals : and for committing sin , the doctor does not , nay , dares not own , even an irresistible force to be sufficient . if he should , i know none of his mind , besides the old gnostik and elcesaite hereticks . thus pertinent it is to disprove the magistrates right of deprivation , in order to the disproving the lawfulness of submission in the ecclasiastical subjects , on the pretence of irresistible force . § vi. the doctor 's whole proof unconclusive , admitting the invalidity of lay-deprivations . but the doctor pretends that it was neither the design of the author of his baroccian m. s. in writing it , nor his own in publishing it , to prove the right of the lay magistrate for spiritual de privations i easily agree with him , that it was not the design of the author of this m. s. and i shall as easily excuse him from designing it , if it be consistent with the exigency of his cause which engaged him to the publication . but can he deny at least , that his design in publishing it , was to purge his party from the guilt of the present schism ? can he deny that in order hereunto , his design was to prove the lawfulness of submission in the subjects of the deprived destricts to the ecclesiastical intruders ? his own words in these particulars are too manifest to leave him to the liberty of denying them . let him then try his skill , wether he can from this m. s. or from any thing offered in his book , prove the lawfulness of such submission in the ecclesiastical subjects on the supposal now mentioned , of the invalidity of lay deprivations . if he can , he may then indeed , but not till then , call the disproof of the magistrates right for spiritual deprivation , and the consequent proof of the invalidity of such deprivations , when attempted impertinent to his design in publishing his m s. but how will he undertake to do this ? does he think the facts alone , either of his m. s. or his book , sufficient for this purpose , supposing them such as he is concerned they should be , instances of submission , upon lay , or otherwise invalid deprivations , to usurpers of the vacated thrones ? dare he stand by the consequence , that a like enumeration of as many facts in as large a distance of the like times , is sufficient to prove the practice allowable , nay , exemplary , to succeeding generations ? if he dare not , he must think of some other way of proving them well done , than barely this , that they were done . this will reduce him , whether he will or no , to the merit of the cause . and how is it possible for him to prove submission to the usurper lawful and unsinful , till the subjects be first fairly discharged from their duty to the first incumbent ? how can he prove them discharged from their first duty , if the lay deprivation be not sufficient to discharge them ? and how can he pretend it sufficient for that purpose , if it was from the beginning null and invalid ? thus he will find the disproof of the power of the lay-magistrate for spiritual deprivations to be more pertinent , than perhaps himself could wish it , for overthrowing his pretended lawfulness of submission in the ecclesiastical subjects to persons obtruded on sees no other way vacated , than by the authority of a lay-deprivation of the civil magistrate . § vii . the doctor 's limitations of his own pretended self-evident maxime , do all of them prove our case unconcerned in it . chap. 1. but the doctor pretends to demonstrate ( no softer word it seems would serve his turn ) the truth of his proposition ; and god forbid we should not yield to demonstration . but i confess , i very rarely find great solidity joyned with great confidence : however , we must not prejudge it , but examine whether it will answer the character with which he has possessed us concerning it . his demonstration therefore he draws first , from the reasonableness of it . secondly , from the authority and practice of the autients . the reasonableness of it , he grounds on this certain and self eviden-maxime , that whatsoever is necessary for the present peace and tranquillity of the church , that ought to be made use of , provided it is not in it self sinful ; and the ill consequences which may possibly attend it , are either not somischievous to the church , or at least not so likely to happen as the evils we endeavour to avoid . but upon the supposed invalidity of lay-deprivations this submission of the ecclesiastical subjects to the usurper of the ecclesiastical throne , will not come under the limitations proposed by the dr. himself , of his self evident maxim. i have already shewn that , on this supposal , this submission to the usurper will be in it self sinful . and the same observation may be applied to his other limitations , if the case propos'd be judg'd by our principles . the consequences which we think will follow from this obligation he layson our ecclesiastical superiors , to yield their rights as often as they are invaded , where nothing but the right is concerned ; and the liberty he allows ecclesiastical subjects to desert their superiors , if they think fit to assert their rights ; we think tend , by inevitable consequence , to the perfect subvertion of the church as a society . and this consequence is worse than can be feared from the persecutions of erresistible force ( if we can agree , as the primitive christians did , to keep our stations ) or from the divisions of them who will not agree to maintain society with us in a state of independance on the civil magistrate . and natural consequences from principles , are evils more likely to hapen , than any that depend on the wills of mutable men. so that be his maxim never so self-evident , yet there is not one of the doctor 's own limitations , but excludes his own case , as judged by our principles from being concerned in it . this perfectly discharges us from all concern in the instances by which he pretends to prove his maxim received by the antients as self-evident . yet it were easie to answer them , if we were concerned to do so . they are generally in things indifferent , and changeable by their different circumstances ; and the dispensations were made by persons in authority , without prejudice to any third persons right . so that not one of his instances reach our case . but the subjects of our dispute are not mutable , nor depend on circumstances . as the ecclesiastical society was designed by christ not temporary , but perpetual ; so the essenital cements of it must have been so too . and such are the rights of governours , and the duties of subjects . these if they be taken away for a moment , dissolve the society , and therefore cannot be left to the prudence of governours for the time being , because the very supposal of the case , destroys the very being of the government and of the society , and therefore leaves no governours in being , that may consider such circumstances , and suit their practices accordingly . § viii . submission of subjects to the ecclesiastical usurpers is sinful by the law of god. but though the doctor answers nothing produced by the vindicator for proving such submission of the subjects to an intruder sinful ; yet he pretends to prove it unsinful . but so unhappily , that not one of his proofs hold for the purpose for which he has produced them . first , he pretends the scripture silent in our case ; and therefore that such submission is not forbidden by any express law of god. yet he denies not but that the law of god commands us to be obedient to our governours , to them also who are over us in the lord. but where there are two competitors , and both claim our obedience , to which of these two our obedience ought to be payed , this he says , it leaves to our wisdom to determine . but will he therefore pretend that disobedience to any particular governour in our age , is not against the express law of god , because no law of god is express in determing any particular person now living to be our governour ? this will overthrow all divine obligations to any since the apostles age. now only in this but in most other duties relating to men , the determining circumstances are settled by human authority ; yet none does therefore pretend , but that the offence against the duty so circumstantiated , is against the law of god. the law of god requires duty to parents . but who are to be taken for our parents , not only nature , but the laws of men have determined in several cases , as in that of adoption , which is ancienter then moses himself , and in the other of our civil and spiritual parents , who are generally concluded in that divine commandment . so in the case of murther , it is certain , that only illegal killing , by a person not authorized , or for an unjust cause , is forbidden in the 6th commandment . but they are human laws which pitch upon the person who is to be vested with the authority of life and death , and which determine the cases wherein death is to be inflicted . so also in the case of adultery , it cannot be jugded what facts are chargeable with that crime , but by the laws of matrimony , which depend on the particular constitutions of the places , and are accordingly various . but in no case this is more evident , than in that of the 8th commandment . theft is all that is there forbidden , which cannot be applied to any fact , but by supposing the determination of human laws concerning property , which are again very various . for some persons have been excluded from all property , as slaves , and unemancipated children . and the determinations of property in persons capable of it , are so different in different places , that what is property and the violation of it , theft in one country , is not so in another . yet what casuist has ever doubted , but that disobedience to parents , murther , adultery and theft , are still violations of the law of god , notwithstanding that the imputation of these crimes to particular facts , does now generally depend on circumstances determined by human law ? if therefore by our , wisdom , the doctor means the wisdom of the subjects themselves , as if the scriptures had left the determination of these circumstances to that , his observation it not true . the subjects are to be concluded by the wisdom of their superiours ; and that upon account of the divine law , which obliges them to duty to superiours in general , which is to be so expounded , that it may extend to all our superiors for the time being , in what time or place soever . this therefore will oblige us to take all the ways of conveying power to particular persons by the constitutions of particular societies , not only for human , but divine establishments . i am sure st. cyprian looks on all particular bishops in his own time , as appointed by god and christ. and in this way it is manifest , that they who are intruded into places vacated by an incompetent authority , cannot be taken for the bishops to whom the subjects obedience is due by divine law. this also is as certain from the reasonings and principles , as well as the sayings , of st. cyperian . § ix . such submission would make the ecclesiastical subjects accomplices in the injustice . the doctor adds secondly , that submission to the usurpars does not make us accomplices in the injustice . but why , if our duty still be owing to the rightful claimers , as it must notwithstanding an invalid deprivation ? the only reason he pretends , is that refusal of duty to the usurpers would only draw ruin ; upon the clergy themselves who should refuse it , and cannot restore the rightful owners whom the state has deposed thus this divine takes persecution , and deprivation of revenues , for ruin ; and sufficient to excuse from the duty which may still remain , notwithstanding any thing he has pleased , or can plead , from a deprivation which himself has granted to be invaild . i am sure his texts teaches us otherwise , that persecutions incurred for duty , are not ruin , but gain , a hundred fold even here , besids the future eternal rewards . nor can any one believe otherwise , who believes our revealed religion . nothing but flesh and blood , and a carnal prospect , can make these things appear as the doctor has represented them . but he says , their refusal of obedience to the intrudors , cannot restore the true owners to their rightful possession . what then ? will this therefore excuse them for joyning with the usurpers , for thereby maintaining their unjust possession in opposition to those who have a better title , which title themselves were obliged to maintain ? can he reconcile this with their old duty , or excuse themselves , for violating that duty , from being accomplices in the injustice ? but the suggestion is not true which he insists on , that the refusal of obedience to the intruders , and paying it to the lawful pastors , would not continue the rightful poslesiors . it would not indeed continue them in their possession of their secular dues , or of any thing of which the state could deprive them . but it would continue them in a possession of those things for which our consciences are concerned , i mean of spiritual ; in such a possession as is consistent with a persecution from the state ; in such a possession as was enjoyned by their holy ancestors in the first and purest ages . this we might continue to them , whether the state would or no , if we could find in our hearts to agree among our selves , as the primitive christians did , to be unanimous in performing our duty to them . and so far is the prospect of the publick good from obliging us , as the doctor pretends , to the contrary ; that that very consideration of the publick good , is that which we principally insist on for our purpose . it is certainly for the publick good of the spiritual society , that the rights of its governours , and the duties of its subjects , should be preserved inviolable . and it is for the publick good also , that the interest of less valuable societies , should give way to the interests of that society which is more valuable . and it is withal , as certain , that the spiritual , is the more valuable society . i cannot foresee what part of this reasoning the doctor can question , if he will be true to the interests of revealed religion . § x. the same submission in the clergy is sinful , on account of the oaths they have taken to the of rightful possessors canonical obedience . he proceeds , and says thirdly , that such compliance with an usurping ecclesiastick governour , is not sinful on account of the oath of canonical obedience to the lawful possessor . and why so ? because the bishop so deprived , can no longer govern . but god be praised , our bishops can still govern , if their clergy and laity would obey . and that the clergy will not obey , the doctor ought to shew how it is reconcileable with their oaths of obedience , by some other topick than what he has here insisted on . our bishops are not banished , are not imprisoned , are not confined , nor any way disabled from exercising that actual government , which relates to conscience , and which is practicable in a persecution . yet the primitive christians did not think their bishops disabled for governing , when they were in exile , as long as they maintained a correspondence with their clergy . so st. cyprian , even in his exile , exercised his authority , and was obeyed by his . carthaginian clergy st. athanasius was banished further into the west , which perfectly disabled him for keeping up that ordinary correspondence with his alexandrian clergy which was requisite for actual government . yet this was not then thought sufficient , either to give them leave to joyn with any of those who were substituted into his place by suspected arian synods , as well as by the imperial authority ; or to set up any person , without his leave , of as unsuspected orthodoxy as himself . while he was living , and might return to a capacity of governing , they did not think themselves discharged from their duty to him , on the doctor 's pretence of the publick good . i have already also shewn , how that pretence in this case , makes against him , and am not willing to repeat what has been there said . if the church's intention be regarded , as the doctor seems to regard it here , she certainly could never intend that her governours should be robbed of their spiritual right , and her subjects discharged from their spiritual subjection , and her body thereby dissolved at the pleasure of the sacrilegious encroaching magistrate . this dependance of the subjects is so universally the interest of all churches and bishops in general , and indeed of all societies , as that i know not any shew of reason the doctor has , to make it the private intention of the bishop , in opposition to the publick intention of the church . it is an invidious interpretation , and a very false one , which he gives of the oath , when he makes it in effect the same as if they should swear , that they will for the bishop's sake , oppose the welfare of the publick , and break the union of the church , and leave the communion of it , and adhere to the bishop , though they should have no reason to do so , besides this bare oath . no need of this . the welfare of the publick , and the union of the church require that in affairs of publick spiritual interest the judgment of the subject ought to be concluded by the judgment of the bishop , at least to the practice , which perfectly overthrows the doctor 's interpretation , and makes it impossible that those considerations should ever really interfere , which the doctor makes so opposite . and st. cyprian's definition of a church , that it is a flock united with the bishop , makes it impossible that the true church's communion can ever be left in adhering to the bishop . but this perhaps the doctor will call a saying of st. cyprian , and a sort of theological pedantry , as he is used to stile other , the like doctrines and principales of the cyprianick and purest ages , when they are urged to oblige him to any thing that may give him occasion to shew , what he calls , his fortitude . what he pretends with his usual confidence , without the least offer of proof , that particularly here in the church of england , the oath of canonical obe dience is always taken with this supposition , that the civil power as well as the ecclesiastical , do allow the bishop to govern , we shall then believe , when he shall be pleased to prove it by some stronger topick than his own authority . the oath it self has no such matter expressed in it . and he should have pitched on some expression in it , if there had been any , which ( in his opinion ) might seem to imply it . our civil laws require that our ecclesiastical causes should be determined by ecclesiastical judges , which , if they had been observed , had left no room for the case of lay deprivations . § xi . our principles afford better reasons why the unjust deprivations of synods may be received without the deprivea bishops consent , than those insisted on by the doctor . that a synodical deprivation , though unjust , discharges the subjects from the obligation of the oath of cononical obedience , is usually admitted . but not for that reason which the doctor has given for it . the division which might otherwise follow in the church , and the publick disturbance which might follow thereupon , if they were not so discharged , are equally applicable to the opposite pretenders , and could afford the subjects no directions with whether of them they ought to joyn . the true reason ought to decide the title , and therefore ought to be such as one only of the rivals can pretend to . that is , that the synod , however unjust in its way of proceeding , is notwithstanding to be allowed as a conpetent judge ; and therefore that , on that account , its sentences ought to hold in practice , till repealed by a higher authority of the same kind , that is , by a greater synod . but an incompetent jude leaves things in the same condition in which it found them , and ought not , in conscience or equity , to have an effect at all . nor can it therefore impose on the consciences of the subjects any , the least , obligation , even to acquiescence . nor does it follow , that because the bishop's conscent may not be necessary to oblige him to stand to the unjust sentence , that therefore the reason of his obligation to acquiescences is not grounded on episcopal consent . the consent of his predecessors on the valuable consideration of having the conveniences of synodical debates , may conclude him while he enjoys the same valuable considerations . and the consent of his collegues may oblige him also , who have the right of judging with whom they will observe the commerce of their communicatory letters . their agreement in denying him their communicatory letters , is , in effect , a deprivation , when what he does is not ratified in the catholick church . this will go far to hinder his cummunion from being catholick , which may go far also towards the absolving his subjects from duty to him , if by joyning with any other , they may have the benefit of catholick communion . but this following the judgment of episcopal predecessors , or of the episcopal colledge , will by no means , allow the subject that liberty which the doctor disputes for , of deserting their bishops on their own private judgments concerning the publick good . it will not follow , that that necessity must excuse them , which has no other consideration on which it may be grounded , desides that of an irresistible force . § xii . there is gre●● disparity between the obligations of a competent , and an incompetent , authority . but the doctor ( it seems ) can see no difference , as to acquiescence in a case of necessity , between what is done by a competent , and what by an incompetent , authority . it is strange that a person so able to judge in other cases , where interest permits him to judge impertially , should not see it . the obvious difference now mentioned is , that the deprivation by an incompetent authority leaves subjects under obligation to duty , from which they are discharged , when the authority , though acting unjustly , is notwithstanding competent . thence it plainly follows that , where the obligation to duty is taken away , there compliance is not sinful . and where it is not sinful , it may be born with in the case of that necessity , which is the result of an irresistible force . but where the obligation to duty remains , and the compliance is therefore sinful ; i know no tolerable casuisty that allows it upon such necessity . the doctor himself , as we have seen already , excepts it in his own stating of the case . tenants do not usually hold their tenures by oaths : but where they do ; i am sure all creditable antiquity thought them under stricter obligations to performance than ( it seems ) the doctor does . the peace and tranquillity of the publick are , no doubt , useful considerations for understanding the sense of oaths , in which they oblige to performance . but the doctor might have been pleased to consider that here are two publick , oftentimes incompareble , interests concerned in the obligation of oaths . there is the publick interest of those to whom , as well as of those by whom , the faith is given . and all fair and equal dealing casuists prefer the former before the later in oaths given for the security of others . how than can the doctor make the good of sworn tenants in general to put restrictions on oaths given for the security not of the sworn tenants , but of the liege lords in general , for whose security the obligations are undertaken ? he ought to prove that a conqueror can daprive a bishop of his spiritual power if he be pleased to reason upon it . that the church of jerusalem supplyed the place of narcissus , when they thought him dead , does not prove that they had thought themselves at liberty to have done so , if they had known him to have been living . whatever present incapacity he might have been under for the administration of his office , they might have thought themselves obliged to stay for him , as the alexandrians did for st. athanisius . st. chrysostomes case is less for his purpose . he only desired his people to submit to the bishop that should be substituted after his decease . yet even in that he prevailed not with them , the schism of the joannites being continued many years after , till an honourable amends was made to his memory . during his own life time he was so far from it that he challenged their duty to himself , and dissuaded their complying with the schismaticks . § xiii no reason to reckon on the persumed consent of the bishops injured by an invalid deprivation , for discharging their subjects consciences from duty to them . the doctor here foresees an answer , that i do not find was ever admitted by the vindicator , and therefore will only concern them on whose principles it is made . that is , that in such difficult cases , it is presumed that the deprived bishop gives his consent , and that this presumption must be reckoned on to discharge the subjects from their duty to him with regard to conscience . it is a most extravagant remissness thus to permit the interpretation of the oaths to the desires and interests of those who are to be obliged by them , that whenever the observing them puts them upon any straights , they shall then be at liberty to betray their own faith , and his security for whose sake they had undertaken them ; and that by so unreasonable a persumtion of his consent whose security was thus provided for . it utterly ruines the whole design of giving this security by the way of oaths . that is , to oblige them in such cases wherein no considerations can oblige them , but those of conscience , where their corrupt affections , should incline them to the contrary , and where there is no visible force appearing that may make the inconveniences of breaking their faith greater than those of keeping it . that is , perfectly to disoblige them in that very case wherein the psalmist does most commend the observation of oaths , that is , when they are to the hindrance of those who must observe them : nor does it follow that because the consent of an injured governour may indeed be presumed in acts of government , for a time , which do not by any consequence affect his title ; therefore it may be presumed also in acts wherein his consent would be inconsistent with his design of continuing his claim , when he neither has , nor intends to relinquish it . nor does it follow that , because in some cases , wherein publick considerations may prevail with them , good men may patiently submit to the prejudice of their own right ; therefore they cannot be good men , who do not submit in cases , wherein the same considerations of the publick ( of which they only have a right to judg who have a right to authority ) do , in their judgments , make the insisting of their rights more necessary and becoming them . if rights must always be surrendred by good men as often as ill men are pleased to invade them ; in vain are laws for determining or defending them . in vain at least must good men ( who ought to be the favourites of wise and just lawmakers ) expect the benifit of laws , if they must never plead their rights . in vain are good men trusted with such rights as are the publick interests of their societyes , if they , who are otherwise the more trusty for being good , must here upon that same consideration of their being good men , be obnoxious to those impressions of conscience which must make them think themselves obliged to betray them ; if that very consideration that the publick and their own private interests are coincident , must make them as prodigal of the publick interests as they would be of their own . nor has the doctor , nor any other that i know of , insisted on any considerations particular to our present case , but only on such general ones , as ( if they proved any thing ) would prove in general , that all good men are obliged to surrender their rights whenever wicked men are pleased to invade them . § xiv . our deprived fathers give publick significations that they do challenge their old rights , as far as is necessary in their circumstances . upon these terms the doctor is pleased to tell us , that he is fully persuaded that our ejected fathers are very worthy and good men . but not without a manifest design . they must , if they will maintain the place he has admitted them to in his good opinion , be true to that idea of good men by which he is resolved to try them ; give up those rights whose maintenance may oblige him and his brethren to any temporal loss . and is not this a very obliging reason to induce them to it , that they must give up the trust committed to them of the publick interests of god and of religion , rather than he and his brethren should hazard their temporal and private interests in maintaining those rights , by contributing no more on their own parts than what is otherwise their duty to them ? they must have agreat stock indeed of that which he is pleased to call goodness , if this way of reasoning can make them think themselves obliged to him . much more , if , upon this pretence of kindness , he may be allowed to beg , what he can never be able to prove , that they are obliged in conscience rather to surrender their rights , than that he and his obliged brethren should be obliged to any hazard in maintaining them . this one would think too much for him to persume till he were better able to prove it . but the greater easiness of presuming , than proving , makes him very hold indeed , when he prosumes that our h. fathers themselves give their consent that their successors should be acknowledged . yet he pretends reason why we ought to presume it . and what may that be ? that they have never by any pablick signification of their wills , lay'd claim to the obedience of their people ; and do not now exercise their episcopal power as before . but truly conscienticus observers of oaths would rather persume on the oaths side than against , it , least otherwise if god should help them no otherwise than they perform what they have sworn by him , the from of the oath it self should prove a dreadful imprecation . this was , i am sure , regarded in the cases of edward the ii. and richard the ii. the subjects did not content themselves with a presumed consent to what was done in deposing them , gathered only from their silence ; but they desired and procured an express renonciation of their rights , and an express releastment from the oaths which they had taken to them formerly . this reason therefore alone would hinder such persons from undertaking second inconsistent engagements , that they had not yet been expresly discharged from the first . so far they would be from reckoning on their silence alone as sufficient to discharge them . for there are besides , especially in such circumstances as ours , obvious reasons why silence only should not be taken for an argument of a presumed consent . the fear of those under whose violence they suffer may hinder them from publick signification of their dissent , and yet , ( it seems ) nothing under a publick signification will satisfy the doctor . if this fear should less influence so worthy and good men , yet the fear of miscarrying might , in prudence , discourage them from attempting what they might easily foresee that they should never be able to go thorough with . and how could our h. fathert hope to succeed under so manifest and general a desertion of those who owe duty to them , and know they do so ? but it is not very human in our adversaries by their notorious undutifulness to oblige our fathers to this silence , and than ironically to turn their silence into an argument of a presumed consent . in the mean time these considerations make it plain that it is very possible for them to continue their claim , though they should give no publick significations of doing so . and their cnotinuing it , though without any publick signification , is sufficient to our obligation with regard to conscience , till they give a publick signification that they will discharge us . for that is sufficient to continue their old notorious claim they had to our duty before the pretended deprivation . i know no other case wherein our advarsaries where concerned , in which they would think it just to presume that persons living under a notorious force do therefore surrender their rights because they do not further provoke their oppressors by an open signification of their claim . but if nothing less than a publick signification of their claim will content the doctor , methinks he should have acquainted us what acts they are of episcopal power which he expects from our h. fathers as publick significations of it . does he expect that they must signify their minds herein juridically , as they did formerly , from their courts and their cathedrals ? but he knows these are in the power of those who have pretended to deprive them . he knows their officers and subordinate governours will not now obey them . must they publickly warn those who are in possession of their cures and parishes ? but how can they expect more duty from them who follow the revenues into the schism , and who are in actual communion with , and under the pretended obligation of oaths of canonical obedience to , their rival schismaticks ? what could they expect from such a publication of their dissent , ( besides their gratifying the doctor ) but to expose their own authority , without any prospect of publick benefit that might countervail it ? what but a fruitless exasperation of their persecutors ? would he have them fix publick protestations against what has been done , in publick places ? but the worthy dean of worcester's case is a notorious instance how such a publication would be resented . i hope he will not own any design of urging them to such difficulties only to gratify him , if he has really that veneration for them which he professes to have . by all the episcopal acts that are necessary , and of which their circumstances are capable , they do already publickly signify their insisting on their old title . i know no episcopal acts , necessary for our present condition , but what they readily exercise as they see occasion for them . they exercise them in dioceses not otherwise vacated than by the schism , without the ordinaries leave , and to persons not owning the ordinaries communion , which also our h. fathers themselves abstain from . these are publick significations that they do disown the state communion as schismatical ( not only as using unlawful offices ) which cannot be justified on any other terms but their challenging their old rights , and condemning their schismatical rivals . § xv. the oaths of canonical obedience to our fathers still obliging . so , unreasonable are the gratifications expected by the doctor from their lordships , whereas , all things considered , there is no reason why he should expect any gratification at all . for if they will not discharge him from his duty , he is however resolved not to pay them any . for he puts the case of a bishop forbidding his people , on their oaths , to accept of any other bishop , and then asks , what must be done in such cases ? is the church perjured if she accept of another ? will our adversaries say that she is ? he knows our mind very well that we know not how to excuse her . and what has he to prove the contrary ? nothing but the voice of flesh and bloud ; a hard saying ! who can bear it ? but this learned divine knows very well that the hardness of a saying ( especially if it be only so to flesh and bloud ) is no argument to prove it false . he knows it was not so in that very passage whence he borrows the expressions . he knows it is not so in all cases of persecution , and of doctrins that may deserve to be maintained by suffering . and he urges nothing peculiar in our present case . but he cannot imagine that the welfare and prosperity of mankind does depend upon so ticklish and uncertain a point as that of an ejected governors consent . that , if he refuses to give his consent , all the church , or the nation , must be made a sacrifice to him . so he represents the case very invidiously . as if the competition were between the private interests of the governour and the good of the community . he therefore fancies that the false principles on which this nation is built is this , that the oath that is taken to the governour , is taken only for his sake . but though that principle which he calls folse be really in the constitution of some particular gouernments , and therefore is not universally false ; yet neither , on the contrary , is it universally true . particularly , it is not true in the case of the ecclesiastical government . this government is not a property of the governours , but a trust committed to their management for the good of others , rather than of themselves . yet though this be the case , it is the publick interest of the whole society , that all the members of it be unanimous in defending the particular persons in whom the government is vested , against a forcible dispossession . it is the publick interest , that no rights whatsoever be overpower'd , because if they be , no rights whatsoever neither private nor publick , can be secure ; but may be also overpower'd by the same precedent . it is yet more particularly the publick interest , that those rights be secured against all force , upon which the security of all the particular rights of the whole society depend . such are those of the supream governours who if they be not enabled to defend themselves , can never be able to protect either the whole body , or any particular members of it , in possession of the rights to which they were intitled by the constitution . upon this account it has been accounted the interest of societies in general , that they be unanimous in defending it . for this will make the government better able to defend it self , and protect its subjects in their rights , if it have the united assistance of the whole society , not subdivided into several little interests . it has also been thought the publick interest of societies rather to be concluded by their governours , as to their practice , in their judgment concerning the publick good , than to be permited to embroyl their whole bodies by forming subdivided factions and intestine animosities , which is the natural consequence of being allowed the use of their private judgements , even concerning the publick good in a society already constituted . thus the doctor may see how even the regard of the publick good may oblige him to hazard all that he calls ruin , in asserting the rights of suprem governours , by reasons anticedent to the oath it self , and independent on his pretended false principle , that oaths are taken only for the sake of governours . these reasons proceed , though the government of the churches had been like many humane governments , founded on humane institution , and the agreeing consent of its respective members . but the reason of hazarding all for the rights of our ecclesiastical superiors holds more strongly . for god himself has so constituted his own church as to oblige us , in regard of all interests , to the strict dependence on our ecclesiastical governours . as schism is the greatest mischief that can befall any society ; so a society , such as the church is , that must subsist over all the world , independent on the secular arm , nay under pesecution from it , must be in the greatest danger of schism . and god has accordingly most wisely contrived his spiritual society so as to secure it from that danger , by making it the greatest interest of the church in general , and of all its members considered severally , to adhere to their spiritual monarch . it is certainly their greatest interest to keep their mystical communion with god the head of christ , and with christ the head of his mystical body the church . but this , god has made no otherwise attainable but by maintaining a communion with his visible body by visible sacraments , obliging himself to ratify in heaven what is transacted by the visible governours of the church on earth . thus he admits to his mystical union those who are admitted by the visible governours of his church into his visible body , and excludes from the mystical union those who are by the church governours excluded from the union that is visible . so the apostle st. john reasons that whosoever would have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 communion with the father and the son , must not expect it otherwise than by the communion with that visible body of which the apostle himself was a member 1 st. joh. i. 3. so our saviour himself makes the despising of those who are authorized by him to be the despising of himself , and not only so , but of him also who sent him . and in st. joh. xvii . he makes his mystical union to be of christians among themselves as well as with himself and the father . and upon this dependend the dreadfulness of excommunication , and indeed all obligation to discipline , and the penances imposed by it in the primitive church but there was none in the visible constitution of the church that represented god and christ under the notion of a head but the biship . and therefore he was taken for the principle of unity , without union to whom there could be no pretensions to union with god and christ. this was the doctrine of st. cyprians age , and not his only , but of that of ignatius , and not only of ignatius , but of that which was apostolical , grounded on the notions then received among the jews concerning their union with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the archetypal high priest , by their union with the high priest who was visible . how then can the doctor make any interests either publick or private , separable from those of adhering to our bishops , and thereby avoiding schism by discountenancing usurpers of their lawful thrones ? § xvi . the complyance with usurpers is also therefore sinful , because usurping bishops are really no bishops at all . the doctor now proceeds in the 4th and last place , to shew that this complyance with the new intruders is not sinful on account of the objection insisted on by the vindicator , that the usurpers are in reality no bishops at all . this matter were indeed very easy if all the vindicator had produced for his purpose had been only a saying of st. cyprian , and a saying nothing to his purpose . he might then indeed wonder that the vindicator should pretend to raise so great a structure on so weak a foundation . but considering what the vindicator had said to prove the saying true , one might rather wonder at the doctors confidence in slighting and overlooking what one would therefore think him conscious that his cause would not afford an answer to . the vindicator had proved it more than a saying , that it was the sense , not only of st. cyprian , but of all the bishops of that age , who all of them denyed their communicatory letters to such an intruder into a throne not validly vacated , thereby implying , that they did not own him of their episcopal colledge , and therefore took him for no bishop at all . the vindicator shewed withal that it was agreable to the principles and traditions of that age , derived by tradition from the apostles , and therefore that they had reason to say and think so too . the vindicator farther proved it independently on their saying or thoughts ( however otherwise creditable in an affair of this kind ) from the nature of the thing it self , that where there could be but one of a kind , and two pretenders could not therefore be both genuine , the validity of one title is to be gathered from the invalidity of the other . but to what purpose is it to produce proofs if the doctor will take no notice of them ? but cornelious ( with relation to whose case st. cyprian uses this expression , that the latr bishop is not second , but none ) the doctor says , had never been deposed , but was still the possessor , which he takes for a disparity from our deprived fathers case . he was deposed as much as it lay in the power of the pagan emperour to do so . he was set up , not only as the christian bishops then generally were , without his consent , but notoriously against it . he was as much grieved at it as if a rival had been set up against him for the empire . and he had kept the see vacant for a considerable time after the martyrdom of fabianus , doing all that he could do to hinder the clergy from meeting in such a way as was requisite for supplying the vacancy . let the doctor himself judge what decius could have done more for deposing him . however the doctor tells us that cornelius was the possessor . very true . but not in regard of any possession of which the emperour could deprive him . and indeed in no higher sense than ours are , as shall appear hereafter . cornelius was possessed of no more temporals of which the state could deprive him . and our h. fathers are still , notwithstanding the invaled deprivation , in as firm and indisputable a possession with regard to conscience , as cornelius . so unhappy the doctor is in proving the doctrine , which he calls the saying of st. cyprian , nothing to to the vindicators purpose . what the doctor adds that he cannot believe so great and wise a man as st. cyprian could have been of another opinion from himself , we are not much concerned for till he shall be pleased to produce some better arguments why he should not be so . one would think he wanted better arguments when he insists upon the fairness of the elections of the usurpers for legitimating their call. he knows very well the liberty our laws allow the canonical electors , that they must choose the person proposed , or a premunire , but he must never expect to be restored to the rights of his function if he , and such as he , will not only betray their own rights , but plead for their adversaries invasion of them . the doctor enthymeme the vindicator will then be concerned to take notice of when the doctor can shew it in his book . but the doctor thinks he has got an argument to prove that an unjust synod can deprive no more than an incompetent authority . and why ? because a synod proceeding unjustly cannot deprive of the right . for to him , he says , it is absurd that any unjust sentence should take away the right . hence he iners that a bishop substituted in the place of another unjustly deprived by a synod , must also be no bishop , if a bishop substituted into a place vacated by a lay deprivation be also none . this would indeed hold if a bishop deprived wrongfully by a competent authority retained as much right as he who had been deprived no otherwise than by an authority that were incompetent . but the doctor , methinks , might easily have discerned the difference if he would have been pleased to judge impartially . all the right that he has who is deprived unjustly , is only a right to a juster sentence , either by an appeal to a superior authority , if the authority which has deprived him be subordinate ; or in the conscience of that same authority which had deprived him , if it be it self supreme . but till the competent authority put him into possession , he has no right to the consequences of possession , the duties of the subjects , and the actual benefits ▪ of his office. nor has he any right to possess himself of the place by violence , but must use legal means of recovering what is already his due in conscience . this he knows is the sense of our legal courts concerning sentences pronunced by competent , though corrupt , judges . but where the dispossession is by a judge not competent , the injured person may make use of force for regaining his possession , and in the mean time he retains an actual right to all the duties and benefits of his office during his dispossession . this our laws would allow the doctor , if the king of france , or any other force not seconded with a legal right to use that force , should dispossess him of his fellowship of wadham colledge , and substitute a successor into his place . our laws would notwithstanding own him as the true fellow , entitled to all the duties and priviledges of the fellowship , and would not allow his rival as a fellow , nor indemnify any that should pay him the dues belonging to the place , not allow him the plea of a forcible entry , if the doctor should recover his possession by force . but none of these things would be allowed him , if himself had been ajected , and his rival substituted by the unjust sentence of a corrupt judge , but in a legal court. thus he may see a better reason than what is given by him for our submission to an unjust deprivation of a synod . the actual right of the bishop so deprived to the duty of his ecclesiastick subjects , and the priviledges of his place , are really taken from him , till he be again possessed by the acts of those who are empowered by the laws of the society to give possession . and all the right he has , is only in the consciences of those who are empowered by the laws for it , first to be put into the possession , and than to all the other benefits and privildges annexed by the law to be legal possession . this is very consistent with a paying the rights consequent to possession , to another , till the possession be legally restored . but even the legal possession by the laws of the church , and with regard to conscience , cannot be affected by an invalid deprivation of an incompetent judge . § xvii . the evil of sin , and scandal in complying , greater than that of persecution which is avoided by it . having thus , as well as he could , proved this compliance with the usurper's unsinful , the doctor now proceeds to the other limitations of his self evident maxim. he therefore endeavours to prove that the evils following upon disowning the intruders are greater and more like to fall out than those which are likely to follow upon complying with them . i have already proved the contrary . what now remains , is only to answer what he produces to prove his own assertion . the evils they pretend to avoid by complying , are a schism and a persecution . these he says are two evils as great as can possiably befal thè church . i easily agree with him concerning the former , that it is an evil of the first magnitude . but the latter was never counted so by truly christian spirits in the flourishing times of our religion , then martyrdoms were courted with as much ardency and ambition as preferments have been since , as sulpitius severus has long since observed . then the apologists tell their persecutors that it was rather for their sakes than their own that they vouchsafed to write apologies . then they always gave thanks when they received the sentance of death for so glorious a cause . then they bemoaned the unhappiness of their own times if they had no persecutions , as origen expresly : then nothing troubled them more than that they lost their lives cheaply upon their beds , as appears in st. cyprian de mortalitate . the doctor is no doubt well acquainted with ignatiu's epistle to the romans , full of an ardent zeal of losing his life for christ , and earnest expostolations with the romans that they might not so much as use their interest with god in prayers for his deliverance , telling them that he would take it for an argument of their good will to him if they would not be so desirous of saving his flesh , and of their ill will if they should prevail with god for his safety , even by an interposition of an extraordinary and miraculous providence . and when blondel takes upon him to judge of the heroical ardor of that age by the cold and degenerous notions of his own ; our most learned bishop pearson has proved his actions far from beīng singular by many more very express testimonies of those most glorious times of our christian religion . nor are the canons against the provoking persecutors , which the doctor takes notice of , near so old as these great examples of desiring and meeting persecution , nor indeed till the abatement of the first zeal appeared in the scandalous lapses of warm pretenders . none such were made whilst they were true to their profession , so that the consenting practice of the best times was far from the doctors mind in reckoning persecution among the greatest evils that can possibly befal the church . they did not take it for an evil , but rather for a favour and a benefit . and though it were allowed to be an evil , yet the utmost that can be made of it is that it is an evil only of calamity , the greatest of which kind conscientious casuists have never thought comparable with the least evil of sin. i might add also , that scandal also , as it is a cause of sin , is a greater evil than persecution . our saviour himself pronounces wo to him by whom the scandel cometh , and the fire of hell which never shall he quenched . and these are evils which the doctor himself must own to be worse than that of persecution . the doctor therefore must not insist on the persecution avoided by this complyance with the intruders , till he has cleared the condition of avoiding it , from not only sin , but scandal also . if he thinks deposing all bishops in general , to be in earnest a just cause for him to shew his fortitude , let him bethink himself how the matter is now in scotland . it were easie by just consequences from the grounds and principles of ecclesiastical commerce , to shew how that case would concern him in england , if it were convenient . if christ were equally to be enjoyed in the communion of the true bishops and their schismatical rivals , we should be as willing as he to keep off the evil day as long as we could . flesh and blood would easily perswade us to it , if it were safe . but he knows very well , that the catholick church in the purest ages , never believed our mordern latitudinarian fancies , that schismaticks have any union with christ , whilst they are divided from his mystical body the church . if this were true , or if he thought it himself true ; i do not understand how he could reckon schism among the greatest evils that can befal the church , if even schismaticks may enjoy christ , though they be in open hostility with his authorized representative . §. xviii . the evil of schism not avoided , but incurred , by complying with the usurpers . as for the case of schism which he pretends to be avoided by them by their compliance with the usurpers , this evil is so far from being avoided , as that it has been occasioned by it . the doctor cannot deny but that their communicating with the intruders , has occasioned a notorious breach of communion , which on one side or the other , must needs be schismatical . all therefore that he can pretend , is , that they , by complying , are not chargable with the crime of the schism that has been occasion'd by it . how so ? it is because if we had also done as they have done , there had been no schism . very true . but it had been full as true , if they had done as we have done . this pretence therefore leaves the criminalness of the breach as uncertain as before , and necessarily puts them ( for tryal of that ) on the merit of the cause . and if that be enquired into , all the presumptions , as well as the particular proofs , are in favour of us , and against them . we were plainly one before this breach . as therefore the branch it self is new , so the guilt of it must be resolved into the innovations that occasion'd it , which will , by unavoidable consequence , make them chargeable with the breach who were guilty of the innovations . the innovations that have caused the breach , are the disowning our old bishops , and substituting others in their places , whilst themselves are living , and continue their claim , and are not deprived by any authority that had really a power to deprive them . but in these instances , they , not we , have been the aggressors and innovators . do we own the old bishops for the true bishops of these sees , of which they have pretended to deprive them ? and did not they do so too , as well as we , before the deprivation ? and what had they to pretend for themselves , why they do not so still . besides this very sentence of deprivation , which the doctor owns to be invalid ? and how can they justify their disowning them upon a sentence confessedly invalid ? this new behaviour of theirs , they must wholly own , as it is new , to be their own . we only continue to own our holy fathers , as dr. hody himself and his brethren did formerly . as for the second act , the setting up new bishops in opposition to our fathers , they cannot excuse themselves from being the innovators , and concerning us , they cannot pretend it . they have made the new bishops who consecrated them , and they also who own them by communicating with them , or their consecrators , these have intirely been the acts of the ecclesiasticks . yet without these , all that the lay-power could have done , could never have formed a schism , nor divided our communion . and as to what has been done on both sides , we can better excuse our selves , than they can . could they and we have consented to have acted uniformly , there could have been no schism : but we can better account for our not complying with them , than they can for not complying with us . on their side , they have nothing to plead but worldly considerations . they could not doubt of the lawfulness with regard to conscience , of doing that on their side , which , if done , had prevented the schism . they can pretend no obligation in conscience , for setting up other bishops , as we can , for not owning them ; till they can prove us fairly discharged in conscience , which they , as well as we , were obliged in , in regard of the old true proprietors . they could pretend no cementing principles essential to the subsistence of the church , as a society , and a communion independent on the state , obliging them to comply with these encroachments of the politicions , for making spiritual considerations to give way to temporals . they could pretend no catholick authority of the church , in any age , approving what was done by them , as we can of the best and purest ages , for what has been done by us. they could not pretend any such united authority , of even the church of england , before this change , for many things wherein we differ now , as we can . so far thay have been from avoiding schism by these compliances , or from purging themselves from the guilt of the schism which has followed thereupon . § xxi . the abuses that may follow on compliance , are a just reason to refuse it , where it is not otherwise , in conscience , due one inconvenience the doctor himself foresees , which he seems to own as justly chargeable on their principle : that by a submission to the possessor , the civil governour is like to be encouraged to tyrannize over the church , and to turn out such bishops as he does not like , whensoever he pleases , though never so unjustly . this must necessarily be the consequence of defending such practices in such a way as the doctor has done , not by conside rations particular to the present case , but by such topicks as the doctor has insisted on , which ( if they prove any thing ) proceed in general , that is , prove bishops obliged in general , to yield their rights as often as they are invaded , and subjects as generally absolved from their duty to such bishops though the bishop should think fit to assert their rights . both of these are asserted by him on account of the irresistibleness of the force which brings on the violence , which is an argument that must always hold on the side of the state , in all disputes that she has with the church . these things asserted by ecclesiasticks , such as the doctor is , must for ever encourage the laity , who are not acted by great skill , as well as good inclinations to religion , to believe they do well in what they do of this kind , and therefore to repeat it without any scruple . but how does the doctor pretend to avoid this consequence ? he first pretends that the same inconvenience is in all manner of government . particularly , that a synod may also be encouraged to unjust sentences by our acknowledging an obligation to submit to such sentences , if passed synodically . but we are far from making abuses arguments for denying just rights : nor does our cause require it . we are only for denying obedience to an incompetent authority , that invades rights which do not belong to it . and for this it is certainly a very just reason for denying them what they have no right to , if yielding will encourage them to the like injuries and usurpations frequently , which it must needs do , if they must never expect opposition , how frequently soever they are pleased to renew the injuries ; nay , if persons concerned against them , shall encourage them in the belief that they are no injuries at all . however if the injustice had been equal in the encroachments of incompetent judges and synods ; yet the danger is not . in synods nothing can be transacted but by a majority of the episcopal order . so the episcopacy it self is secured by a majority of suffrages against any mischief that can be acted against it synodically . but in a lay judicatory , the whole authority may combine against them , and ( god knows ) is too likely to do so in these days of irreligion , when their revenues are more regarded than their function . this authority therefore is not to be trusted to dearest friends , who are in any disposition to be otherwise . much less to those who are under present jealousies and disaffections to their whole order . § xx. no security ●ere that compliance will not be abused . the doctor adds secondly , that here in england it is not the will of the prince that can turn out a bishop . and that king and parliament may by compliance be encouraged to depose bishops at pleasure , that supposition , he says , is wild and extravagant . as if he had never heard of a parliament , even in england , that did not only deprive bishops at pleasure , but episcopacy it self . as if he knew not that men of the same principles are notwithstanding qualified to serve in our parliaments as if he were perfectly ignorant of the case of scotland , where notwithstanding the interest the bishop have by the fundamentals of the government , as on of the three states in which the legistative power is seated ; yet not bishops only , but episcopacy has been extirpated , as far as the votes of the laity can contribute to the extirpation of it . there the doctor may see , what he seys he cannot imagine , that what he calls king and parliament can concur for the deprivation , not of a bishop only , but of episcopacy . and we have little security that it shall not be put in practice , if we must by principles , as he does , allow them to do it here , upon an occasion that they shall judge extraordinary . that extraordinary occasion is not very difficult to be found by them , who make spiritual considerations give way to temporal . the use of the cathedral revenues for carrying on the present expensive war , is likely enough to be judged so . and the psalmist , who was himself a king , has warned us not to put confidence in princes . the doctor indeed tells us , that the bishops here have the same security that other subjects have . i am sure they ought to have it , not only for the reason of the things , but by our constitution . their rights ought to be accounted more sacred than any other rights or liberties of the subjects and therefore more inviolable . all the sacredness that has been made use of by our legislators for securing them , has been derived from the interposition of the clergy , who , if they be not treated as sacred themselves , can never secure other rights which have no other sacredness than what they derive from the intervention of the clergy . but if he considers how little laws often signify considering those who are allowed the authority of authentically interpreting and executing them , and what principles are now allowed in those who are thought qualified for that authentical interpretation and execution ; i know no sort of subject that he could pitch on that either have been , or are likely to be , treated so arbitrarily by our legislators . the laity in henry the viii ths time , dissolved whole bodies of the clergy , and alienated their revenues , without any consent of those bodies , or of any authorized to represent them , without any legal trial or eviction in any form of law. when has any such thing been ever attempted against any lay bodies by their representatives in parliament , who were chosen to preserve , not to oppress , the liberties of those who chose them . the other states have presumed to eject the spiritual state , who as a state , have as sacred a right in the fundamental constitution of the legislative power as themselves . and the commons have turned that president against the temporal lords . what if the lords spiritual and temporal should turn it upon the commons also ? could they think this agreeable to the design of the constitution ? the law certainly never intended such violences between those who are equally fundamental to the legislative power , and who have no legal judges or tribunals appointed by the law for determining differences between them by way of judicial process and authority . thus the doctor may plainly see , that in the opinion of those who justify these proceedings , and who are therefore likely to plead them as precedents , clergy-men have not the same securities that othe subjects have , if persons so principled , make a majority in our legislative assemblies . i say no more at present for making application , how probable it is for such principles to gain acceptance with the majority . i should be as willing as any to presume better things , if i could see reason to believe them . but our best security is certainly to assert principles that my not put it in the power of any to ruin our spiritual society , and to be true to them . he adds , there is nothing more manifest than that this inconvenience is not so likely to happen as those evils we endeavour to avoid . why so ? these , he says , are certain and present , that only possible . if they be certain and present how can they pretend that , by their compliance , they have avoided them ? if they have not avoided them by complying ; how can they pretend that the benefits of their compliance can have made amends for all the further injuries they may expose the church to for the future , by suffering such ill practices to pass into precedents for want of a timely opposition ? methinks he should have made the avoidal of the feared evils certain and present , not the evils themselves , if he would have spoken consequently to the exigence of his case . but it is too true , that the evils themselves are present , and that their compliance has not avoided them : the schism is so notoriously . and so is the persecution also to all that will be true to their old principles , and to their old communion . for , what favour has been shewn on condition of deserting old principles , can by no fair interpretation be extended to that church , whose principles they were . so far as they hold firm to their old principles , they are still liable to the persecution ; and so far as they desert them , so far they also cease to be of the church , whose principles they have deserted . few persecutions have been so severe , but that they might have been avoided by desertion . but the further inconvenience likely to follw on this compliance , is more than possible . it is as probable as most events are that depend on humane wills. it is a natural consequence , and a consequence likely to be drawn by persons so principled ; and there are but too many that are so , and too tempting occasions to put them in mind of , and to engage them on , such inferences . § xxi . that abuse it a greater mischief than that it can be made a mends for by the doctors expedients . yet 3ly , should this inconveniences follow ; the doctor thinks himself provided against it . though the government should be so very dissolute as to turn out frequently the bishops of the church without any just cause ; yet who ( says he ) can look upon that mischief to be comparable to that of a schism and a persecution ? if he could find in his heart to be as much concerned for a more noble society , when it can intitle him to nothing but sufferings , as he is for a less noble one , that can give him revenues ; i cannot think he could be so indifferent for bearing frequent injuries by invalid deprivations of its governours , which cannot discharge subjects from their duty in conscience to those which are so deprived , he would be sensible , how this would tend to the dissolving such a socièty that must have its governours removable at the pleasure of a hostile society , whensoever but pleased to invade rights not belonging to it , without any remedy or relief by insisting on their own rights , which the doctors principles make unpracticable . and what schisms or persecutions can be worse to a society than dissolution ? he would be sensible , there is now a schism , and a persecution . that our late common body is now divided , that his late brethren upon principles of conscience are now persecuted ; if he could not otherwise believe , he would feel , if he had the compassion of a living member : if he had the zeal of the apostle , when he used that passionate expression , who is offended , and i burn not ? if he had any sense of the afflictions of joseph . he would be sensible of the many future schisms that must follow upon the frequency of these encroachments , upon his own loose principles , that neither allow bishops to assert their own just rights , nor oblige subjects to stand by them when they do so , as long as there shall be any bishops that shall think themselves obliged to assert them , and subjects that think their doing so will not discharge themselves from duty to them ; that is , as long as there are any that are true to the concenting principles of the church as it is a society and a communion . he would be sensible , that upon such brethren as these , such frequent encroachments would draw frequent persecutions . so far his principles and practices are from securing our common body from schisms and persecutions . but it seems he has forgot all concern for his old brethren upon the surest most uniting principles of brotherhood ; nay for our common body , and of the terms upon which it was common to us formerly . if he had not , he would not think our common body so unconcern'd in our divisions , and our persecutions . but what , says the doctor , can the suffering of a few particular men be , when compared with the peace and tranquillity of the whole church besides ? not so much undoubtedly , if the few had been men of singular opinions , of no consequence for the good of the whole ; if they had not been such as all ought to have been , if they would cement into a body by any solid uniting principles . the suffering of such , how few soever , would have involved the whole church , if all its members had been such as they should have been . it is therefore the unhappiness of a church that such members are but few . so far it is from being a consideration to be boasted of that the majority avoids sufferings by doing otherwise than becomes them . if the doctors regard to multitude alone had been true ; then whenever there was an apostaoy , the church would be , by so much , the more happy , by how much , the more had been engaged in the apostacy . these multitudes would call themselves the church as confidently as the doctor and his party do now , and would as little regard the sufferings of a few particular men as our late brethren do . i am sure the antient catholicks did not so little regard the sufferings of a few particular men , in a common cause . in the eastern empire there were very few that incurred the displeasure of constantius besides athanasius and paulus . in the west no more than five bishops are reckoned that suffered for their constancy . the rest might have pretended generally to as much peace and tranquillity as our adversaries do now . yet he was not than taken for a true catholick , who was as unconcerned as the doctor is , for the few particular men that suffered . nor do i see but that the cause of episcopal authority , and ecclesiastical subjection , is of as great and common importance to the church in general as any one article of the faith can be . this the vindicator has proved , nor has the doctor vouchsafed any answer to what he has produced for it . indeed the whole expedient insisted on by the doctor seems very strange to me , that he should think to secure the church from schism by allowing subjects to desert their ecclesiastical superiours on pretence of irresistible force , and by by renouncing all principles that may oblige ecclesiastical subjects to adhere to their ecclesiastical governours , whensoever the state shall be pleased to refuse to pretect them , and thereby renouncing all principles that may oblige them in conscience to continue a society independent on the state. these principles and practices leave them at liberty to form and maintain as many schisms as they please , when the decrees as the church are not seconded by the civil power . how then can the maintaining so licentious principles be taken for an expedient for preventing schism ? the doctor withal would have us consider , that it was not for the bishops that the church was established ; but the bishops were appointed for the sake of the church . hence he concludes , that it is not the welfare of the bishops as the bishops are these or or those men , much lese of some few particular bishops but the welfare of the whole church in general that is chiefly to be regarded . this is a pretence for all rebellions and innovations whatsoever , to make the persons invested with authority , to be regarded only as private persons , whose interests are different from those of the publick , which the innovators pretend to promote by removing their private persons , and substituting others in their stead . nor indeed need any rebel desire any more . let the head of the rebellion be the particular person , and the controversy is soon determined . he will pretend no quarrel with the publick , but only whether he or the present possessor shall be the particular person that is to be intrusted with the publick ; and to be sure , will pretend it to be for the publick interest , that of the two , himself should rather be the man , if for no other reasons , at least for those of the doctor , viz. irresistible force , and the peace and tranquillity of the whole , which he is otherwise resolved to disturb . and the same pretence is applicable to any other from of government as well as that which is monarchical . the administration of it cannot be managed but by some few chosen out of the whole body , and then those few are only so many particular persons , against whom the publick good may still be pretended , if others may judge of it . but this is so general a principle of rebellions and intestine discords , that all well constituted societies have used all means they could think of , to secure themselves against it . how private soever the interest might seem to particular persons to have the government committed to them , or to be invested in a right to it , yet when once they were possessed , or had a right , the publick has thought it self concerned to oppose , and to provide against , a violent dispossession , and has allowed no pretences of publick good , where the dispossession could not be compassed by any other means than by force . hence these very severe laws against any thing that might look like force to the persons of governours , especially those that were supreme , hence their arts of making their persons sacred , to secure them from those violences against which the force even of the community it self was not able to secure them . what need of all this care , if they had thought it fit still to have regarded them only as particular persons ? the book of judith , when it would express how the nations despised king nabuchodonosor , does it thus : he was before them as one man jud. i. 11. what difference is there between this language , and that of the doctor ? the same societies , have also taken security that no pretence of publick good should ever be made use of against the persons of governours , by allowing none others for judges of the publick good besides the persons invested with the government , and allowing them so to judge as to conclude all private persons . and there was reason why societies should be so concerned against violent removals of their governours , because they cannot be violently removed whithout violence to the whole societies which are obliged to defend them . if therefore they do their duties , the whole societies must suffer violence , and he over-powered in the removal , which must consequently subject them to the arbitrary pleasure of the forcible usurper . and to take the doctors way is yet worse , to desert their governours . this perfectly dissolves the government and disables the governour to do any thing of his duty to the publick . thus it appears how destructive it is to his whole cause to own the deprivations of our h. fathers invalid . where then can be his answer , if even himself grants all that we are concerned to assert in the question principally disputed between us ? § xxii . the main dedsign of the doctors new book in arguing from facts already overthrown by the vindicator , yet no notice taken of what was there said . but far be it from me that i should oblige him to any unwary concessions , if at the same time he has produced any thing solid in his book to prove them unwary . i am therefore willing to consider the main design of his book , if i can even there find any thing that can deserve the name of an answer , that is , that is not either acknowledged to be unsufficient by himself , or that had not before been prevented by his adversary . and what is , upon these accounts , made unserviceable , cannot certainly , in the sense of any just judge , be taken for a solid and satisfactory answer . the main design of his answer to the vindication is still to carry on the argument by him imputed to his baroccian m. s. to prove by an enumeration of facts ( which the doctor will needs have pass for precedents ) that deprivations by the lay-power have been submitted , to , and the intruders own'd by the subjects of the dioceses out of which the lawful possessiors had been uncanonically ejected . now this being nothing but the old argument , i cannot , for my part , see any reason the doctor can pretend , why the old answer of the former part of the vindication may not still be insisted on as sufficient , till at least , he offer at something to the contray , which he has not as yet so much as attempted . the vindicator has there shewn the unconclusiveness of that whole topick from naked facts , without something more particularly insisted on for proving them justifiable by true and defensible principles . especially in those lower ages in which the author of the baroccian m. s. deals , and to which the doctors new examples are reducible , the vindicator has shewn , that nothing is to be presumed to be well done , which has no other evidence of its being so than that it was actually practiced in those degenerous ages . and what has the doctor attempted to the contrary ? nothing , but that he has added some new facts to those enumerated by his baroccian author , and that he has endeavoured to defend some of the old facts that they were such as he pretended them . but neither of these things can pass for answers , whilst that part of the vindication remains unanswer'd . for how can he secure his new facts when all of their kind have been prov'd unconclusive ? and to what purpose does he endeavour to prove those few , he has meddled with , of his authors facts , to have been for his purpose , when the former part of the vindication has already evidenced that tho' they were so , that would not be sufficient for carrying his cause ? § xxiii . the doctor himself is unwilling to stand by the consequences of such like facts as himself produces . so far he has been from answering , that himself confirms the vindicator's sence upon this argument . * he professes beforehand his own unwillingness to be concluded by such instances as himself has produced , though they should appear to be against him . why so , if there had been any reason that he should have been concluded by them ? why so , if he did not thereby own that the reasons given by the vindicator against the argumentativeness of such facts were solid and concluding ? and how then can he find in his heart to insist principally in his following book on that very kind of facts , which he has acknowledged so unsafe to be relyed on in his preface ? he cannot pretend to argue ad hominem , when the vindicator had so expresly enter'd his exceptions against that whole argument . he cannot do it in his own person , when he professes himself unwilling to stand by the consequen ces of it . and how can he have the confidence to obtrude that upon us , which he does not believe himself ? in what sense can he take this whole reasoning for argumentative when it does not proceed ex concessis ; when it proceeds on one premiss , at least , not granted by either of the parties cancern'd in the dispute , neither by us , nor even by himself ? how can he possibly mistake a book , which proceeds principally on such reasoning as this , for a solid and satisfying answer . § xxiv . the doctors remark against the reasoning of the first parts of the vindication concerning the possession of cornelius turned against himself . thus it appears that the principal answer of the vindicator to the doctors book remains still in its full strength untouched and unconcerned in all the doctor has said in his new book . what is it therefore that he can pretend to have answer'd in it ? what is it that either makes his book need , or his brethren so clamorous for , a reply ? has he answer'd the vindicators argument for us , from facts more justifiable , more agreeable to principles , and to principles more certain and indisputable in the times of greatest ecclesiastical authority , in the earliest , and purest , and unanimous ages ? on this he has bestowed one single paragraph , in which he has offered nothing that can affect the principal lines of the vindicators reasoning and hypothesis . * all that he pretends is to observe one single disparity between the case of the primative christian bishops and ours . yet so unhappily , that even that disparity , upon a closer examination is likely to prove none at all . he tells us that cornelious was in poffession when novatian was set up against him . very true . but how can he deny that our fathers were in as true a possession , with regard to conscience , when their rivals usurp'd their thrones , as cornelius was ? he can pretend no possession of which our fathers were deprived but such as depended on the pleasure of the pretended secular magistrate . the secular act could not pretend to deprive them of any thing but what was secular , their baronies , their revenues , the priviledges annext to their function by the fovour of the secular powers . and can he pretend that cornelius was possessed of any thing of which the magistrate could deprive him ? as for spiritual rights , i cannot see the least disparity but that our fathers were as properly possessed of them as he was ; as properly as any can be in a state of persecution and independence on the civil magestrate . our bishops were consecrated and installed with all the solemnities requisite for a compleat possession , before the contrary encroachments were thought of . that possession was acknowledged and ratified by all the acts of intercourse and spiritual correspondence , by which any spiritual possession can be acknowledged by our natinal church of england . this possession of spirituals has not been touched by any spiritual authority , that can be pretended a proper judge of spirituals , that might discontinue this possession as to spirituals , and with regard to conscience . all this our h. fathers can truly plead , for their possession as to spirituals , at the time of the schismatical consecrations . and what can the doctor say more for the possession of cornelius against novation ? his district and jurisdiction as to spirituals , were manifestly not own'd by cornelius for favours of the magistrate . this being so , we need not depend on a saying ( the vindicator prov'd it independently on st. cyprian's saying it ) that second bishops are no bishops for proving his intruders to be none . the doctor himself confesses , that a second , that is , a schismatical bishop , an intruder into a see already filled and possessed , is no bishop , is confessed to be st. cyprian ' s doctrine . and this has now appeared to be their case for whom he is here concerned . § xxv . the doctor 's book offorded no subject for a reply , but what would be personal . besides ; these great neglects and omissions of the doctor were so separable from an accurate management of the cause and so peculiar to his person , that i knew not how to secure my answer from meddling with his person , with whom i had no mind to deal in any other way than that of civility and respect . in reference to the principal argument relating to conscience , he has brought so little new , as would hardly afford subject for a useful answer . yet the shewing that he did so , which was requisite to be done , if an answer were made at all , methought looked like a design of exposing his person , which i was willing to be excused from . i have always liked those defences best , which had the least mixture of personal considerations , not only as more christian , but also as more useful to those who are disengaged . this made me think it more advisable to wait till either the doctor himself , or some other able author would be pleas'd to attacque the principal strength of the vindication . § xxvi . the doctor 's turning the dispute to later facts draws it from a short and decisive , to a tedious and litigious , issue . but the principal discouragement of all from answering was , that the doctor seemed to me to draw the whole management of this cause from a shorter and decisive , to a tedious and unconclusive , issue . the doctor 's talent lies in history , and therefore he is willing to bring this question also to an argument that may give him an occasion to shew his skill in history . had not this been his case , why could he not be prevailed on , to say something to the reason of the thing ? especially having in the title of his book , promised a stating of the question . but where he pretends to have performed his promise , i cannot guess . i can find nothing in his book , but what concerns bare matter of fact. had he offered at any stating of the question , why would be not at least take notice of the distinction of facts observed by the vindicator , of the facts excepted against , and the facts allowed by him , for argumentative ? had he not allowed the distinction , at least he ought not to have produced more facts of the exceptionable kind , till he had either answer'd the vindicator's exceptions against them , or at least produced stronger arguments of his own , to prove his own facts also argumentative . if he did not think fit , either to answer the vindicator's reasons , or to produce his own , why did he not confine himself to the practice of the first ages proceding on pinciples than received by the whole catholick church , and fundamental to all the discipline then practised ? had he done so , the vindicator professing himself ready to joyn issue with him on those terms , had been indeed obliged to answer him but how can he expect an answer , when the vindicator's exceptions against the whold kind of facts he deals in , remain , i do not say unanswer'd only , but , not so much as attempted by him . § xxvii . we have no reason to suffer our selves to be overruled by him in these arts of diverting us. what himself designed in so unreasonable ways of proceeding , i will not pretend my self so privy to his thoughts , as to be able to determine . but it is easie to observe the interest of his cause in it . it shews indeed a greater variety of his reading , than if he had confined himself to the precedents of more decisive times but withal , it obliges us , if we follow him in all his instances , to write larger books than we can ever hope to get printed in the difficulties of the press on our side . we cannot hope to satisfy him , by answering some of his instances , if we do not all . and why must we be obliged to follow a way of his prescribing , which we cannot hope to go through , when we can reduce the whole dispute to narrower , and yet more conclusive bounds ? he gives us small encouragement to gratify him in this case , when he tells us that he will not be concluded by what we can say upon it , though we should prove the practice of these later ages , from which he will not be restrained , otherwise than he pretends it was . and why must we take so much pains to no purpose ? why should he desi●e it of us , it his design had been to satisfy conscience , either his own , or ours ? § xxviii . we decline his topick of facts , rather because it is undecisive than because we think it disadvantageous to us. considering the difficulties of our case , how hard it is even to get small discourses printed , it concerns us to endeavor all prudent arts of contracting the question into as narrow a compass as we can , and by no means to suffer our selves to be distracted to impertinent arguments , till what we have to say on pertinent ones be first satisfied . this will be sufficient , perhaps more than so , to fill up what can be allowed , whilst the intruders have the power of the press . we shall not envy the doctor the pleasure of seeing his challenges and gantlets refus'd , if he will not be pleas'd to confine them to more useful subjects . he has already seen a specimen of what might have been answer'd to all the facts he has or can produce , in what the vindicator has said to the facts insisted on in his baroccian m. s. the ages he deals in , were very degenerous from the piety and skill of their primitive ancestors , to whose judgments we appeal . yet i do not think any of them so far debased , as that they either did , or would have insisted on the doctor 's plea , that lay deprivations were sufficient to discharge them from their duty to their spiritual superiors . he that is so forward to make challenges , would do well to shew us one single instance wherein this doctrine was directly defended , i do not say by the ecclesiasticks only , whom i take for the most competent judges of ecclesiastical doctrines , but even by the parasites of the lay power . for my part , i remember not one single one . the emperors themselves who acted so precipitantly as to deprive without synods , did however after use their uttermost endeavours to get a synodical ratification of what they had done before by violence and indirect artifices . so far even they were sensible how little what they did of that kind , would be regarded in relation to conscience . this is sufficient to let the doctor see that our declining this topick , is not for want of sufficient advantage against him in it , if the press had been as free for us , as it is for him ; but because it is impertinent and unsatisfactory . § xxix . for want of some other subject relating to the vindication , we here pitch on the case of abiathar . this i thought sufficient to shew how little the vindicator is obliged to return any reply to the doctor 's pretended answer , till the doctor can be prevailed on to try his skill on the former and principal part of the vindication . but this is so particular to the doctor 's personal management of the cause , that i could not think this alone worthy the reader 's trouble in perusal of it , without some other subject of more importance to the cause it self . this therefore made me think of selecting something of the doctor 's book , which ( though it cannot be taken for an answer to the vindication , which had said nothing concerning it ) yet might give an occasion for clearing a particular prejudice against us , insisted on by many more besides him , abstracting from the principal topick of his book concerning facts in general . of his kind , i take the case to be of solomon's deposing abiathar , which may , even on the doctor 's account , deserve a more particular consideration , because he seems to have taken the greatest pains , in amassing the several hypotheses relating to it , of any one particular in his book . here they find a high priest * removed from his office by solomon , and another , that is zadoc , † put in his room , yet without the least scruple concerning the validity and acceptableness of zadok's ministry , with relation to god and conscience . this they think exactly parallel to our present case . § xxx . this fact is not commended in the scripture as a precedent . but fist , this fact is barely related in the scripture , without any censure on it , whether it was well , or ill done . and it is not indeed condemned , so neither is it excused or justified from any right asserted in solomon to do it . yet the whole force of reasoning from it as a pre sedent , must suppose it well done , for which they have not the least intimation in the holy writers . the whole enquiry , whether it was well , or ill done , must therefore be derived from other reasonings from the sense of that age , by which it may appear whether solomon had any right in offices of the priest-hood , by which he might be enabled to grant , or hinder , the practice of it , so as to oblige god to ratifie what he did concerning it . and for this it is much more certain . § xxxi . the magistrate could not by the doctrine of that age , have any direct power over the priest-hood . 2dly , that the magistrate had no direct power of intermedding in the offices of the priest-hood , according to the sense of the sacred writers . this appears not only from facts much more argumentative than this is , but also from principals professedly asserted in those times the facts are , saul's being deprived of his kingdom , for presuming to sacrifice in the absence of samuel , though he pretended a * force that obliged him to do so . then also the fact relating to uzzah , † who was struck dead upon the place , for presuming out of good will , to stay the ark , in danger ( ashe thought ) of being overturn'd , only because he was not one of the priests by office , who were alone allowed by god even to touch it . a third is that of king uzziah , * who likewise , for presuming to sacrifice , was punished by god with leprosy , ( which in those times was taken for a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and plainly supposed as such in all the discipline of moses relating to it ) and by being so , removed from the administration of the government , of which he was thereby rendred incapable . here are facts attested by the same authority as the other of abiathar was ; but not so nakedly related . the facts themselves discover not only the sense of the writers , but of god himself . his interposing his own authority in the cases , shews plainly that those facts were highly displeasing to him , and piacular ; than which , what can be more decisive for our purpose ? nay god took particular care , through that whole dispensation , to assert the rights of the prie sthood , as immediately depending on himself , more than he did , even for the magistracy . in the † rebellion of corah , dathan , and abiram , he asserted the priest-hood , not only against the reubenties , but the levités also . and * aaron's rod that blossomed , was laid up for a monument against such mutiniers for all suceding generations . plainly to exclude the whole body of the laity , from ever more presuming to pretend to it , † that no stranger that was not of the seed of aaron , come near to offer incense before the lord ; that he be not as corah , and as his company . so the holy writer expresly . and that even kings were not excepted , appeared manifestly in the examples now mentioned of saul and uzziah . and before the institution of kings , the cause was carried against the whole body of the people , in the cases of corah and aaron's rod. nay to cut off all pretensions of the priest hood being virtually at least , and eminently included in the regal office , the holy writers do still suppose the priest hood to be the nobler office of the two. as it advanced the dignity of the peculiar people that god had separated them to himself from all other nations , so in the same way of reasoning , it is a preference of the tribe of levi above all other tribes , that god had * separated them from the congregation of israel . accordingly , when the right of primogeniture was taken from reuben , and divided between levi and judah ; the priest hood , as the principal part of it , was given to the elder brother of the two. and as it advanced the whole nation of the israellites above all the nations of the earth that god himself , the supream infinitely perfect being , was their portion , and the lot of their inheritance ; and that indeed it was the segullah or peculium in contradistinction to all other nations ; so when the same god is pleased to stile himself the levites portion , that very appellative imports their excellency above all the other tribes out of which the kings were chosen , and makes them a peculium in contradistinction to the other peculium , which had no other title to that stile , but what was common to the whole nation in general . §. xxxii . the benefits of the priest-hood out of the power , and far greater than any in the power , of the civil magistrate . nor can this be thought strange , if we consider the opinions than generally receiv'd concerning the benefits then expected from their perist-hood , far greater than could be pretended to by the civil magistrate . this was indisputable , when its benefits were believ'd to extend to the future life as well as this , as it was generally believed by the jews of the apostolical age ( excepting only the sect of the sadducees , ) and as we christians are assured of it now in the times of the gospel . whether those rewards were by god eexpresly cove nanted for , or only as a divine gratuity reserved for the peculium as his favourites , more than could be expected from the letter of the covenant ; or whether they were implicitely understood , as included in the mystical sense of the covenant it self , as either discovered by the mystical reasonings , or the oral traditions of their ancestors , is not perhaps so easie to determine . yet certain it is , that they were actually and generally believed by the jews of the apostolical age. this appears in that it is noted as a singularity in the sadducees to deny them ; thence it appears , that the three other sects of the pharisees , essens , and galilaeans , were all agreed against the sadducees in asserting them . and how inconsiderable the interest of the sadducees was then , appears in the apostle's taking sanctuary in the single sect of the * pharisees alone for securing himself against them . now all the challenge of the. benefits proper to the peculium , depended on the right they had to partake in the publick sacrifices , and the covenant transacted in them . god's promises were his part of that covenant , and the covenant is expresly said to have been by sacrifice , psal. l. 5. that being the ordinary way used in those times of transacting covenants between mankind also . as therefore it was in the power of the priest-hood , to which the right of sacrificing was then confined , to admit to , or exclude from , the participation of the sacrifice , so it must consequently have been in the power of that sacred function , to grant or deny , these benefits , which were not attainable otherwise than by those sacrifices but these are benefits manifestly beyond the power of the magistrate , and manifestly greater than any to which his power does extend . the magistrate can conser no title to future and eternal rewards to persons otherwise never so well qualified for receiving them . he cannot oblige the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to ratify in heaven , what is transacted by him on earth , as the high priest could , who was ( in the sense of those times ) taken for his authorized representative . god , at his first permission of kings , neither suppressed the priest hood , nor united it in the person of the king : and therfore there can be no pretence that what was not otherwise in his power , was put in his power thence forward by any particular provision or gift of god. how than could he pretend to to that power ? how could he give or take away a power from others , to which himself could not pretend ? how could he suppose his act would be ratified in heaven ? or how imagine god obliged by it , to reject the priest whom he as prince was pleased to reject , and accept of others who were permitted only by his authority to officiate at god's altar ? and what could all his intermedling in these matters signify , if he cannot oblige god to ratify what is done by him ? if notwithstanding god should accept of the person rejected by him , and reject the person obtruded by the civil magistrate ? nothing certainly , with regard to conscience , which is the principal consideration in this case . § xxxiii . the ancient jews of the apostle's age did believe their priest hood available to a future and a eternal state . i cannot for my life , conceive how our adversaries can avoid the force of this argument , if the benefits procured by the sacerdotal office were thought spiritual , and principally relating to a future and eternal state ; things perfectly out of the power of the magistrate , and incomparably exceeding whatsoever is within it . and that this was the sense of that age , i need not insist on the article of our own church . it sufficiently appears from the earliest coaeval monuments of that age , not only that they thought the sacerdotal office to have influence on the future state ; but that they did on that very account , believe it superior to the office of the civil magistrate . besides what i now mentioned concerning their agreement against the sadduces , the two only jewish authors that we have undoubtedly coaeval with the apostles , philo and josephus , are both of them sufficiently clear in these particulars , that the priests ministry was thought available for the future state , what can be clearer than those words of philo ? where he tells us , that * priests and prophets were men of god , and therefore did not vouchsafe to account themselves of any particular city in this world , or citizens of the world in general ( as some of the philosophers did ) but soared above all that was sensible , and being translated to the intellectual world , fixed their habitations there , being registred in the city of incorruptible incorporeal ideas . and it were easie to shew , that the language and notions of the n. t. concerning the correspondence between the visible priest hood on earth , and the archetypal † priest-hood of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in heaven , and between the visible tabernacle in jerusalem , and the true ‡ tabernacle in heaven , not pitched by men but god , were perfectly agreeable to these notions of philo , who was such as the apostles were before their conversion to the christian religion ; and that all the benefits of their outward ministry , were thought due to this mystical communication with that which was invisible ; by which it may appear , that those words of philo were perfectly agreeable to his avowed principles . now how could the magistrate pretend to promote or interrupt this mystical communication between the earthly and heavenly offices ? how could he therefore advance any person to that dignity , or exclude him from it ? josephus also is as clear in owning a future state , which by these principles could not be claim'd by any but on account of this mystical communication , and consequently of that priest hood , which was thought to have a just title to it . he also expresses that state by the laaguage of the * christians also of that age. to these i might add the testimony of a third tewish hellenist , the author of the apocryphal book of wisdom . he also , personates solomom making the temple built by himself to be a resemblance of the holy † tabernacle which god had prepared from the beginning . which shews , that this mystical communication was understood , even then when that author lived , who seems to have been elder than even the apostles themselves . how could the magistrate pretend to any right in affairs of this nature ? § xxxiv . and consequently , did expresly own it for mor honourable than the magistracy it self . so far is he from any right to intermeddle in these matters , that if these things be true , the priest hood must needs be own'd for an authority of a higher nature , and more noble than even the magistracy it self . nay , this very consequence was inferred from those principles , and own'd as true in that very age. philo owns it for the highest honour possible : speaking concerning the words of moses there mentioned , * using ( says he ) an hyperbolical expression of honour , god , he says , is their lot , with relation to the consecrated gifts , on two account : one , of the highest honour , because they are partakers of those things which are by way of gratitude , allotted to god : the other , because they are employed on those things alone which belong to expiations , as if they were guardians ( or gurators , that is the roman word ) of the inheritances . the similitude seems to be taken from the roman custom of making tutors and curators of young heirs , whose estates , till they themselves came to age , were said to be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of such tutors and curators , being till then , at their disposal supposing that the revenues of god were so at the disposal of the priest , as the estates of the young heirs were so at the disposal of the curators . this philo takes to be the reason why god was pleas'd to call himself the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the priests , as if god himself had been their pupil , which was indeed a very hyperbolical expression of the highest honour that could be ascribed to mortals . but this is general only . he else where expresly equals , nay prefers the dignity of the sacerdocal office to the regal . he equals them in that same discourse . it is manifest , says he , that the law prescribes that reverence and honour to the priests , which is proper to the king. in another place he prefers the priest hood . these are his words ; † priest hood is the properest reward of a pious man , who professes himself to serve the father , whose service is better , not only than liberty , but also than a kingdom . nor was this a singular opinion of philo. jesephus also is of the same mind . the scripture it self owns the power of moses to have been regal , when it calls him a * king in jeshurum ; when it says , that the † voice of a king was among the israelites , there being no other besides moses who could pretend to it . and his right was as absolute , and as free from any judicatory then established , that could call him to an account , as any of the kings themselves . this , at least , is manifest , that the supream power of the jews as to seculars , which is all that i am concerned for at present , was lodged in him , and in him alone , and that he had no rival in it . yet moses himself , as josephus personates him , owns his brother's priest-hood as preferable to his own office of the magistracy . for so he makes him speak concernig his disposal of the priest-hood : ‖ if i had not had regard to god and his laws in giving this honour . i would not have endured to pass my self by , to give it to any other . for i am more nearly related to my self , than i am even to my brother , and more disposed to love my self them him . he plainly supposes him to have denied himself in what he had done in distribution of those offices , which he could never have said , with any consistency , if he had reserved himself the nobler office of the two. this mr. selden was not aware of , when he therefore conceives the author of the testaments of the patriarchs to have lived in modern times , because he prefers the priest hood before the civil magistracy , as if that doctrine had been first brought in , in the times of the popes encroachments on the right of princes in the west . had he recollected himself , he might have found the same doctrine in the east , and in those earlier ages , wherein no examples could be found of such encroachments . he might have remembred that the work he there disputes of , was brought by lincolnieufis first from the east to these western parts , and therefore was written by an eastern author , where there were no bishops pretending to a civil independency on the empire , or to a right of deposing princes , and absolving subjects from their oaths of allegiance , who might have been gratified by such doctrines . for my part , i take that work to have been written in the apostolical age. it is expresly quoted by origen , long before such encorachments on temporal rights were thought of it is written in the hellenistical greek hebrew stile , then ordinarily used , when the apostolical converts had formerly been for the most part jews , bevond the skill of the modern times to have imitated it . besides , it mentions the apostolical times as the last times , a mistake frequent in the reasonings of those times , but which could not have been believed by any who lived at an age's distance from them . it has very little ; if any thing , relating to the destruction of the temple by titus , which the design of the author would have obliged him to have been large in , if he had lived after it . these things considered , will make that work also fit to be considered , as another testimony of the sense of the jews in the ages of the apostles ; the style and notions of the author making it , every way , seem probable that he was a convert from them . this doctrine therefore being then believed , must perfectly have destroyed all pretensions of the magistrate in affairs of this nature , at least , in the opinion of those who believed it . the magistrate of this world , could not , in his own right , challenge any power in things relating to the other world. the only way therefore left him , by which he might challenge it , must have been some donation of god. yet niether for this was there any the least pretence . no text of written revelation ever so much , that i know of , as pretended for it . and no likelihood for it , in the nature of the thing it self . no probability , that god would intrust concernments of a nature incomparably more noble , with a magistracy less noble than the trusts committed to it . no probability , that god would hereby expose interests so much in themselves more valuable and dearer to himself , to the hazard of being postponed to those less noble ends for which the secular magistrate was principally concerned . these things supposed , cut off all pretensions of right , imaginable in such cases . and the dreadfull examples of god's severity against meddling in holy things without right ; even in the cases of saul and uzziah , who were themselves invested with the supream civil authority , must have been thought sufficient to deter all posterity from intermedling in such matters , without very just and evident claims of right for doing so . § xxxv . this same reasonning holds on account of the priest representing god , though without relation to a future state. nor did this reasoning hold only our supposition that the benefits of the priest-hood were thought to extend to a future state. though it had only related to this world , as all other priest hood besides that of the jews , did undoubtedly ; yet even so , there was no reason to believe the civil magistrate had any rights to dispose of it . this at least was thought certain that the high priest who could oblige god to accept him and his obligations , ( without which all his ministry must have been unavailable ) must first have been suppos'd to derive authority from god. had the priest only represented the people , there might have been some pretence for the magistrates interest in appointing and removing the person of the priest , as being himself invested with all the power that can be derived from an original purely humane . but as the priest has a power of blessing and cursing authoritatively , so as to oblige god to ratify his blessing and curses , as men have qualified themselves respectively ; so it is certain that he cannot oblige god , unless he represent god , which he can never do , unless god have granted him authority to do so . and as he does not only offer the peoples prayers and sacrifices , but offers them with a title to acceptance , so he must himself be a person acceptable to god on account of his office , which he cannot be presumed to be if he come into his office any other way than god has appointed for his admission . indeed the whole ground of his obliging god depends on god's promise , which is god's part of the covenant . and in this regard none can oblige god but the priest , and no priest but he who has before been appointed by god to do so . covenants are mutual , and therefore require , and give security , on both parts concerned in them . the priest therefore , as , in a lower sense , mediating in this covenant between god and man , is to procure security on gods side , as well as on ours . this he cannot do but by obliging god to promise performance on his part , of what is to be done by him as his part of the covenant . and that promise being god's part of the covenant , he cannot be obliged to it any other way than as he is obliged to the covenant it self . nor can he be obliged by the covenant , if the priest be not first authorized by him to covenant for him , and to oblige him by that act of his own authority . thus there , fore it appears that the priest as a common mediator in a covenant between god and man , must therefore be invested with a divine , as well a humane , authority . § xxxvi . and that also according to the opinions of those times . nor was this reasoning only true , but also believed to be so in the times i am now discoursing of . st. paul plainly supposes it as true of priests in general , in his reasonings in the epistle to the hebrews , that priests ought to be authorized by the god for whom they are to officiate . every high priests taken from among men is ordain'd for men in things pertaining to god , that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sin. heb. v. i. and he tells us by whom they were so taken and ordained , v. 4. no man taketh this honour to himself ; but he that was called of god , as was aaron . the proposition is universal . accordingly he observes that christ also glorified not himself ; to be made an high priest : but he that said unto him , thou art my son , to day have i begotten thee , v. 5. and that he also was called of god an high priest , though of the order of melchisedec . v. 10. the duty must be universal , when he reasons thus upon it from the aaronical priest-hood ( which himself counts of another order chap. vii . 11. ) to that of melchisedec . the apostle here speaks exactly according to the sense of the old testament . god there also says concerning aaron and his sons : i have given your priests office unto you. numb . xviii . 7. and again : behold i also have given thee the charge of mine ●eave offerings , of all the hallowed things of the children of israel . unto thee have i given them by reason of the anointing , and to thy sons , by an ordinance for ever . v. 8. this was said after the punishment of korah , and the second confirmation of the priest-hood to them , by the blossoming of aarons rod. no doubt with a design to intimate that they who should come in otherwise , should be as korah and his company ( so it is expressed chap xvi . 40 ) though not in the miraculousness of their punishment , yet at least in the unacceptableness of their ministry . it is withal observable further , that gods giving the priest hood is said to have been by reason of the anointing , that is , by the rites of consecration . it is certain . god did intend , as in other things , so particularly in his priests , on occasion of whom he says it , to be sanctified in them that come nigh him , lev. x. 3. in order whereunto it was requisite that they also should be holy as he was holy : this was a federal and external holiness , upon account of their being initiated into their office by the external and federal rites of consecration , among which this of the anointing was the principal . whosoever therefore was not thus anointed , was , for that very reason , presumed not to be holy , nor therefore acceptable to god , and consequently uncapable of the priest-hood . but this anointing required not only the holiness of the oyntment , but of the person also that administred it , and that in a higher degree than could belong to the civil magistrate . the princes indeed had an unction , and were by that enabled to perform some lower acts of consecration . so solomon makes the prayer of dedication of the temple . but the principal consecration of the temple was by the sacrifices , in which the forementioned examples of saul and uzziah shew that the prince had no right to intermeddle . what moses did in the consecrating aaron and his sons , was by special direction from god , and before god had confined to priest hood , and therefore could not be made a precedent afterwards . after that first consecration was performed , we never find moses any further intermeddling , but he leaves all the acts of priest hood afterward to them who , by that first consecration , were authorized for them . the unction and holiness of the priest-hood did so far exceed the unction and holiness of the regal power , that the princes intervention in the consecrating of a priest could not , in the sense of those times , be taken for the act of god , requisite for giving a priest-hood . it is very true , the king , on account of his anointing , was counted holy. and so were all the congregation holy . numb . xvi . 3. and it is reckoned among the privildeges of the peculium in general , that they were a holy-priest-hood . yet that did not excuse them from a great piacular crime , whenever they invaded any offices of their own priest-hood . every lower degree of holiness was counted prophane in comparison of that which was above it . as therefore the gentiles were reputed prophane in comparison of the jews , who were equal in holiness to the gentiles priest hood ; so the laity of the jews were reckoned prophane in comparison of the levites , as the levites also , in comparison of the ordinary priests , and those also in comparison of the high priest ; and were accordingly treated by god , it they presumed on offices higher than those committed to them . though therefore the prince was more holy than the laity . yet that did not warrant his invasion of the office of the meanest levite . so far it was from giving him any power over the high priesthood it self . he had no power of inaugurating , and therefore had none of exaugurating , to speak in the old roman pontifical style . § xxxvii . solomons act on abiathar was only of force . thus it appears on all accounts , that judging by the doctrines received in that age , solomon could not pretend any direct power , for depriving abiathor of his priest hood . hence it follows 3ly , that all that solomon could do , on account of his regal power , was only to exercise that external force on him , which he might justify , on consideration of his secular crime , as his sovereign in seculars , which though it could not in conscience deprive abiathar of his right yet might ( in the consequence ) make all the exercise of his right impracticable . and indeed the words of the text imply no more than what was the effect of pure force . so solomon thrust out abia thar from being priest unto the lord , 1 kings 11. 27. and that very agreeably to the true importance of the word there used . the vulgar latine renders it ejecit . the lxxii . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the hebrew roo is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the lxxii . render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , but most frequently , as in this very place , by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , words all of them denoting violence . nor can we think that this word , rather than any other that might have been used , was chosen without a particular design . that seems to be to let us understand , what i have now been proving , that solomon could not make abiathar cease to be a priest unto the lord by any judicial determination that might directly affect his right , but by the force now mentioned , which might make the exercise of his right impracticable . this solomon might do by banishing him from jerusalem , and confining him to anathoth . § xxxviii . vvhich force might , in the consequence render the exercise of his right impracticable . for it is to be remembered , that the jewish priest-hood included seveveral secular rights , which must therefore have been in the power of the secular magistracy ; and as to the spiritual offices , was so confined to places , which the magistrate could hinder the priests from by his power of external force , that , in case he would make use of his force to hinder them , the whole exercise of the right of priest-hood would thereby be rendered impractable . it included , by divine institution , many secular rights . particularly , as to the oracle of urim , by which many secular causes were to be determined , and by which , ( on account of the governments being theocratical ) the supream civil magistrate as well as the subject , was in conscience to be concluded . this was consulted by the elders of israel concerning their designed expedition against the * benjamits , by saul on the miraculous victory of † jonathan , by david in the cases of sauls exepedition against him , and the treachery of the men of keilah , and his own expedition against the philistians . and the elders of israel , even in the time of joshua , are blamed for not * asking counsel at the mouth of the lord in the case of the peace made with the gibeonites , by which we understand the obligation of the civil magistrate , as well to consult , as to observe this oracle . and in private cases , when a cause fell out † too hard in judgment , that is , for the decision of the ordinary judges , between blood and blood , between plea and plea , and between stroke and stroke , as in the time of moses , they consulted him , and he consulted god ; so afterwards the ordinary course was , to make the ultimate appeal to the priests ( no doubt the high priest more principally , ) and to stand to their award under of pain death . these causes which concerned blood and blood , and stroke and stroke , were undoubtedly secular , as also the capital punishment to be afflicted on those that proved refactory . these secular rights god annext inseparably to the priest-hood . but the execution of them wholly depended on the power of the sword , which god was pleas'd intirely to permit to the civil magistrate , whom the priests could therefore only oblige in conscience , which obligation if the magistrate would not regard , it was fully in his power to hinder the execution of such decrees . so also , even the spirituals of that sacerdotal office depended on things in the power of the civil magistrate . the lawful priest himself could sacrifice no where but in the temple , and at the altar of jerusalem , and in the particular vestments prescribed by the law. if he did , such sacrifices would not only be unacceptable , but piacular . this the romans very well understood , when , by locking up the vestments in the fort antonia , and by keeping a guard there that should command the temple , to which the fort was contiguous , they engrossed the disposal of the high priest hood intirely to themselves . and it was also in the power of solomon to make the whole exercise of abiathar's priest-hood impracticable , by the like force which he had a right , as a prince , to exercise , where he should judge it necessary for the good of the secular society , for which he was principally concerned . this was an indirect power over abiathar's spirituals in order to his own temporals . § xxxix . yet solomon was in conscience obliged to be cautions in exercising this force against the priest-hood . but then it is to be considered further 4ly , ( by the opinions of those times grounded on reasons lasting still ) princes , though they had that power annext to their office , were notwithstanding obliged in conscience , to be sparing in the use of it against such holy persons as abiathar was . holy places were every where , by the consent of civilized nations , allowed the right of protecting such as fled to them , if they were not guilty of the highest piacular crimes . thus it was in the case of * adonijah , and others mentioned in the old testament . thus , in the cases of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and supplices , among the greeks and romans , the piaculum cylonianum among the athenians was famous . though † cylon justly deserved what he suffered , yet because some of his party were killed in the sanctuary , the displeasure of the deity , on that account , was to be atoned by a solemn expiation , which was performed by epimenides . and if the places were thus reverenced on account of their consecration , much more the priests from whom they received it . this is exactly the reasoning of our blessed saviour in a * like case . accordingly it was a general rule : † touch not mine anointed , for whose sakes even ‖‡ kings also are said to have been reprov'd . this was the security of the whole peculium of israel , among the many nations through whom they passed in their expedition from aegypt to canaan . this was the security of the prince himself , that none could * stretch out his hand against the lord 's anointed , and be guiltless , that is , without being guilty of a piacular crime . and how could solomon hope that assassinates would regard his own anointing , if himself had violated an anointing so much greater and holyer then his own , from whence his own was derived ? this reverance also to holy persons obtained by the consent of civilized nations , which is to us an argument of the law of nations . aesop as a person holy and beloved of the gods was revenged by them . the like was their opinion of several poets also , as pindar , stesichorus , &c. and this also was among them translated to the interests of the civil magestrate , the tribunes of the people among the romans were first secured by it . afterwards the emperours were so also , by having the tribunitian power and the pontificate annexed to their office. and how far this opinion prevailed , even among the jews of those earlier ages , appears plainly in the murder of abimeleck and the priests by saul . his own * servants could not be prevailed upon to do it . none indeed but † doeg the edomite , who being of an other nations might be supposed to have less regard for the jewish consecration . and there was particular reason for this revernce to the priest-hood in the jewish governments as it was theocratical . as it was such , the magistrate was more particularly obliged to do every thing according to the mind of god himself whose vicegerent he was . and god being the principal and supream governour , he was as much concerned in every thing , to take care that it were performed according to his pleasure , as every inferior magistrate is bound , at his peril , to do every thing according to the mind of the supreme legislator , rather than his own . this would oblige the prince to value every thing according to the esteem that god was pleased to put upon it . and therefore to make religion his principal care as it was certain god did , and to make his own interest to give way to the interests of religion , and the honour of his own function , to the honour of the priest-hood , as he would approve himself faithful in the trusts committed to him . that god had given the less noble office a more effectual security , as to this world , against encroachments , he had reason to look on as a wise provision for the publick , that where there might otherwise have been the most specious pretentions , and consequently the greatest temptations to encroaching , there might be the lesser advantage for it . but it ought by no means to embolden him to be the first aggressor . he had reason to fear , in those ages so famous for the frequency of divine interpositions , god himself might the rather think himself the more obliged , by the rules of his own providence , to vindicate the sacred power , by how much the more he had left it destitute of humane patronage . uzziah afterwards found it so . this therefore must have obliged solomom to use the coercive power granted him , rather in his own defence , than in a way that might , even in consequence , look like violence to so holy an office , § xl. what solomon did was only to fullfill what god had before threatned against the family of eli. and to make it probable that solomon had these very considerations before him , to contribute nothing by his legal force to this deprivation , but what was agreeable to his own station and the mind of god ; i observe 5ly that the text it self gives a reason of what he did , perfectly suitable to such thoughts , that he did it only as an executioner of the prediction of samuel concerning the removal of the priest-hood from the house of ithamar . the words are these : * so solomon thrust out abiathar from being priest to the lord , that he might fulfil the word of the lord , which he spake concerning the house of eli in shilo . i know very well that this particle that , is used in the n. t. when a prophesy was fullfilled in the event , though he who fulfilled it knew nothing of the matter . but the circumstances of this place make it probable that solomon knew what he did , and intended the accomplishment of that prophesy , and that what he did was done by him purposely , for that very end , that he might fullfill it . the prediction was very notorious , being twice repeated , first by a man of god , 1 sam. ii. 27 , then by samuel also , chap. iii. 11. as the first initiation of him into his prophetick office , which recommended him to all israel from dan to beersheba , as one that was established to be a prophet of the lord , v. 20. it was also in both cases notified to eli himself , that all , as well friends as enemies , might know it . how therefore can we believe solomon ignorant of it ? then the distance of the time between eli and abiathar was such , as that there was reason to expect that it should be fullfilled in abiathar , if it were fullfilled at all . such punishments of the children for the parents were not usually deferred beyond the fourth generation , as appears from the words of the 2d commandment . so also in the heathen history , the treachery of gyges against candaules was punished in croesus , who was in the fourth generation descended from gyges ; as jehu's conspiracy was also , in his fourth generation , in the sacred history . by these examples we find a consent in those traditions of the earlier times . and the distance between eli and abiathar could not be less . * josephus indeed makes eli to have been the grand-father to abiathar . but it is certain that they were further removed than so . abiathar was himself the son of ahimelech , and ahimelech the son of ahitub . so ahitub must have been his grand-father . thus it appears that abiathar was , at least , in the fourth generation from eli , whose sin was to be punished in him . further yet , ahitub is said to have been the brother of ichabod , the son of phineas , the son of eli , 1 sam. xiv . 3. thus abiathar will be the vth from eli , ( if both terms be included ) and in the 4th generation , in the utmost way of counting possible . there was therefore no reason to expect any further delay of that punishment which had been so long before predicted . and therefore abiathar was the person in whom it was to be expected . this being so , solomon could not but look on it as very providential , that abiathar should be permitted by god to fall into the conspiracy of adonijah , and thereby to incur his royal displeasure , in whose power it was to execute the divine sentence on him , by that power of force which god had committed to the prince . it tended withal very much to confirm the same observation , that , for above 40 years since his first evil ( for so many years were contained in davids reign reckoned from the death of saul ) abiathar should have no posterity that might succeed him in his office , if this was indeed his case . for by this it appar'd necessary that if he were depriv'd , the whole family of ithamar should be deprived also , at least the family of eli , as the prophesies forementioned had foretold . for as for the rest of his family , saul seems to have destroyed it universally . these observations put together might give reason to believe , that this was the very time design'd by god for the accomplishment of this prophesy . at the same time zadok was firm to solomon's interests , which seemed to tend to fullfil the prophesy to phineas of an everlasting priest-hood , implying that the time should come , when the whole succession from aaron should be confined to the family of phineas , which therefore was not to fail together with the other collateral branches derived from aaron . but i rather believe , that abiathar's family did not fail intirely , which still makes further for my purpose , that what solomon did in this matter , was really with a design and prospect on the prophesy it self . otherwise , had he only designed a personal punishment for abiathar , that might have been done by removing him form the priest-hood , and substituting the next of the family of ithamar in his place . what he did more is not , any other way , so well accountable , as by supposing him to have had a direct design of fullfilling the prophesy . it is otherwise as apparent from the prophesy it self , that eli was to have a posterity that was to survive the fulfilling of the prophesy , as that they were to be deprived of the priest hood by it . what else can be the meaning of those words ? * and it shall come to pass , that every one that is left in thine house , shall come and crouch to him ( the faithful priest before mentioned , not of eli's family ) for a piece of silver , and a morsel of bread , and shall say put me ( i pray thee ) into one of the priests offices , that i may eat a piece of bread . now , in this way of reasoning here mentioned , god himself had declared his pleasure that abiathar , and the house of ithamar too , should be deprived of the priest-hood ; and deprived at that very time . so that solomon had nothing more to do in it , than to use that lawful power god had given him for forcing him out of his possession . § xli . abiathar was not then the high-priest ▪ properly so called , but zadok . but whatever solomon's concernment was in the deprivation of abiathar , i add farther , 6ly that it was not an example , so far it was from being a precedent , of a deprivation of a high priest properly so called . i deny not but abiathar was a high priest , but not in the appropriated sense . the n. t. history and josephus , mention whole bodie of high-priests , who with the bodies of the scribes , made up the jewish judicatories relating to religion . these might consist , partly of those who had been high-priests , partly of the heads of the several sacerdotal families , partly of the heads of the sacerdotal courses . but the high priest concerned in our present despute , is he only who answered our christian bishops , as a principle of the unity of the jewish communion , as the bishops are in the christian. this could have been only one , the chief of all who were called by the common name of high priests , who could be the principle of unity . and i deny abiathar to have been high priest simply in this appropriated sense . * for zadoc is frequently mentioned with him , yet so , as that he is always preferred before him . and this , in davids time as well as solomon's , which plainly shews that this superiority did not begin from the expulsion of abiathar . from that time he was alone , and therefore had so little reason to be reckoned in the first place , that he had no reason to be joined with him at all . indeed he was every way superiour to abiathar , as well in order of time , as in the dignity of his office. in order of time . for he is joined not with abiathar only , but with † ahimelech also , and so joyned with him as still to have the precedency of him also . if ahimelech be the true person designed to be joined ▪ with zadok in these places , he cannot be the son of our abiathar , * as the doctor fancies , because both places refer him to the time of david if he were his father , then as it is certain that ahimelech was put to death by saul , so it must be certain that zadok who was coaeval with him , must have been in the time of saul also , and before abiathar . but perhaps there may have been an easie transposition of ahimelech the son of abiathar , instead of abiathar the son of ahimelech , in both places . so they will be parallel to those other places now mentioned , where they are so joyned , and the time of both will agree with the time assigned them in the text , that of david , whose reign will hardly admit of any collegue for zadok , besides our abiathar . besides , as the time of david is inconsistent with either a son or a father of our abiathar , so neither was the father of our abiathar , the son of another abiathar , but of ahitub . unless possibly both father and son of had both names , that of ahimelech and of abiathar also . it is certain that ahimelech the father , under whom david did eat the shew bread , is in the gospel called * abiathar . but whether i may securely reason from these readings or not , it is certain from the unanimous consent of so many other places , that zadok was high priest , and superiour to abiathar in that office , even in the time of david . this is at once sufficient to overthrow the doctor 's fancy , that zadok's high-priest hood commenced from the expulsion of abiathar , and those of josephus also , and of the rabbins , who made the high-priest hood , for many generations , translated from the family of eleazar , to that of ithamar , and not restored to its true oncient course , till this dishonour of abiathar . § xlii . there were in those times two high-priests at once ; the chief , such as zadok was , of the family of eleazar , the lower , such as abiathar , of the family of ithamar . they had no books to inform them in this matter more than we , no other coaeval writings but the scriptures , which no where assert any such matter in plain terms the only way remaining therefore how they might gather this opinion thence , must be by their own reasoning and consequences . and it is not very difficult to guess what those might be . there is indeed no high priest mentioned in the interval from phineas to abiathar , but eli , ahias and ahimelech , all of the race of ithamar . thence they conceived that all the stock of phineas for that time , were private persons ; not-invested with the high-priest hood . but the name of high priest is never given to any of those predecessors of abiathar , much less in the appropriated sense of which i am now discoursing . how then do they come to know that they were high-priests in the sense here disputed ? is it because ahias ministred before the ark , and ahimelech and abiathar gave divine answers to david ? but how do they know that this office of giving responses by urim , was so the prerogative of the first high-priest , that it might not in his absence agree to the lower high priest of the junior family ? why might not the two families take their turns , for the mutual ease , in these offices of attending the king , as the ordinary priests did afterwards in their 24 courses in attending on the temple ? and why might not these times fall on the courses of ithamar ? the great occasion of their mistake is , that judging of the customs of these more ancient times by more modern practices , they thought none capable of wearing the ephod , by which the oracle of urim was given , but the high priest , properly so called in the appropriated sense , in which there could be no more at one time , but one . and that which gave them this occasion , was , that this ephod is reckoned among the garments peculiar to the high priest , in contradiction to the priests of lower orders . but upon a closer examination , they might have found that the high-priesthood , as to the execution of it , was common to aaron and all his sons , and therefore that the vestments were so too , only with dependence on him , while he lived , and on him who should afterwards succeed him in his prerogatives , as first and chief of those who did yet all partake in the execution of the high-priest-hood . this seems clear in all the places where the high-priesthood is spoken of in the pentaeuch . aaron is hardly ever mentioned without his sons , as joint sharers with him in it . the first command was , that * aaron and his sons should be taken from among the children of israel , that he might minister in the priest office. they are * consecrated together , and by one common form , which seems plain to imply , that the power communicated by that form , was common also , only reserving the rights of the prerogative . their † washings were the same , and their * unction also , which was the principal rite of consecration , which entitled them to all the right they could pretend to as the lord 's anointed . the † offerings were also common among them , both those which were to be shared by them , and those which were offered for them . the form of * blessing the people prescribed to both , is exactly the same . and from this power of blessing , the † apostle reasons , in judging the greatness and excellency of priest-hoods . the * levites also were given in common to aaron and his sons . and even in this very particular of the vestments , aaron is not mentioned alone , but his sons also are joined with him . the holy † garments were for aaron and his sons , that he might minister unto god in the priest's office. that he alone is so often said to minister , even when they also are joyned with him , shews plainly their dependence on him , as a principle of unity . accordingly all aaron's sons were joyned with him in this affair . so the text runs , * that he may minister unto me in the priest's office , even aaron , nadab and abihu , eleazar and ithamar , aaron's sons . so that all the four should have had high-priests , if they had all of them left posterity . this is expresly given as the reason why the common rights were only succeeded to in the families of eleazer and ithamar , that the other brethren left no posterity . † nadab and abihu died before their father , and had no children ; therefore eleazar and ithamar executed the priest's office. wherein then consisted that appropriation of those vestments to the high priest properly so called ? that there was but one of those vestments made , which could therefore , on no occasions , be worn by any more than one at once : that these were in the custody , or at least , at the disposal of the first high-priest , and could therefore be worn by none of the rest , without his particular favour and indulgence : that they were therefore worn only by that high priest , who was the principal in the particular respective ministry : that therefore they were worn by the first high priest as often as he ministred , because he never could be other than principal ; but by the second , never but when , by the absence of the first , he thereby came to be principal . and hereby a clear account is given how the high-priest's office was performed , in case of the sickness , or uncleanness , or any other incapacitating circumstance , of him whose particular duty it was . in this case , the second high-priest might perform it for him . this was a case which might probably and frequently fall out , and therefore was particularly to be provided for in the constitution . the rather , because in the day of expiation it might have been of formidable consequence to the whole nation , if the solemnity of that great day had been omitted , even on what account soever , and thereby the annual sins of the peculium had not been attoned for . the rabbinical sagan , is not a scriptural but chaldee term , and therefore wholly derived not from well-attested traditions , but later reasonings . § xliii . no deprivation of the posterity of phineas in those times . thus therefore it appears , that all the conjectures of the private life of the posterity of phineas , till the expulsion of abiathar , are perfectly groundless and precarious . they who first thought of it , ought to have considered how this was reconcilable with the promises made to phineas of an * everlasting priesthood , if either he , or his immediate posterity , had been deprived of the priesthood , and not restored till so many ages after . none could have thought it reconcilable , who had lived in those ages before the restitution . nor are there any later demerits of phineas pretended , that might occasion , nor any prophecies that gave the least warning of , even that interruption , in an age whose rewards and punishments were particularly adapted to mens behaviour in this world. it now appears , that ithamar's posterity might , by this constitution , officiate as high priests , without being so in the strict ense of the word . it also appears , that on account of the same constitution , zadok was before abiathar , as being of the elder family of eleazer , and that therefore his being always mentioned before abiathar was grounded on the real greater dignity of his priesthood before that of abiathar . whilst aaron lived , we have seen how his pre-eminence , and his sons dependance was maintain'd , by his being said to do what they all assisted him in . this therefore being the prerogative of the principle of unity , must have descended from aaron to his successor in the prerogative . accordingly we find , at aaron's death , that the right of his vestments did not descend to his sons in common , but only to * eleazer . this josephus himself confesses to have been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , on account of his primogeniture . what made him then not think on some better account than that he gives , why zadok is preferred to abiathar , even in the time of david ? all the reason he gives for it is , that he was his , that is , david's † friend . how is this reconcilable with what he says elsewhere , that the posterity of phineas did * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , were private persons till this restitution of the priesthood by solomon , to the family of phineas , at the expulsion of abiathar ? yet even in this † later place also , he owns that zadok was high priest under david . could the restitution be made by solomon , and yet zadok be high priest in the time of david ? was it likely that so religious a prince as david could prefer a private person before the high priest , only because he was his friend ? but it was the plain testimony of the scriptures asserting the priesthood of zadok in the time of david , that forced josephus to these contradictions to his own reasonings . he might have found a better title for zadock than david's friendship , if he had but remembred that zadok had the same title with eleazer , which himself had founded on the right of primogeniture . but we need not ground zadok's right on the bare opinion of so inconsiderate , and therefore so inconsistent , a writer . the scripture it self is sufficiently clear in this matter . speaking of the garment's of aaron , no doubt those peculiar to the high pristhood strictly understood , it adds , * and that son that is priest in his stead , shall put them on seven days when he cometh into the tabernacle of the congregation , to minister in the holy place . the sacred writer manifestly supposes only one of his sons that had so frequently been joined with him in the administration of his office , who could succeed him in the right to the vestments : and who could that one son be , by the customs of those times , who could plead the best title to succeed him in incommunicable indivisible prerogatives , but the eldest ? how then can we doubt of the title of zadok before abiathar , zadok being descended from the elder brother ? § xliv . zadok put in the room of abiathar , as to the courses of ithamar , which were not under him before . but then the difficulty will be , how these words are to be under stood ; zadok the priest did the king put in the room of abiathar , 1 kin ii. 35. not certainly , of his being then put first into the high priest's office , if what i have already proved hold true , that zadok was already possessed of a nobler station in the priesthood before , than abiathar himself was . that had been a degradation of zadok , rather than a promotion of him . but we have another , and an easier and more probable account of it . * david had before divided the two sacerdotal families of eleazar and ithamar , into four and twenty courses , whereof sixteen were of the house of eleazar , and only eight of the family of ithamar . those of the family of ithamar were committed then to the care of abiathar : for him i understand , as i said before , by the name of abimelech , who was indeed the son of abimelech . the room therefore into which zadok succeeded upon this exile of abiathar , was the management of those eight remaining courses of ithamar , which were not under him before . thence forward therefore , all the twenty four courses were under the disposal of the house of eleazar . yet so , that the high-priest of the family of eleazar , did not immediately take care of them , but committed them to another nominated , as it should seem , by himself , but not one of the house of ithamar . this i take to be the second priest mentioned , 2 kin. xxv . 18. jer. lii . 24. in contradistinction to the chief priest , who was the high priest properly so called , in the confined sense of the word . and these eight courses of ithamar , i take to be meant by them who are elsewhere called the † priests of the second order , not hitherto so commonly understood . and perhaps the levites also of the second degree , 1 chr. xv. 18. were they whose particular office it was to attend these priests of the second order , the whole tribe of the levites being given , as i observed before , to aaron and his sons , in common . and that these second priests , under the house of eleazar , were not , as formerly , confined to the house of ithamar , i take to be the ground of the inconvenience the posterity of eli were like to be reduced to by this change , as it is expressed in the prophesy concerning it , that they were to crouch to this second priest , in order to their being put into one of the priests office , 1 sam. ii. 36. there was more necessity of crouching now , when they had to do with one not so nearly related to them , than when they were always secure of having one to deal with , who was of their own family . this might be the sagan , mentioned by the rabbins , in the language used after the captivity , who , though he were more subject to the true high-priest of the house of eleazar than formerly , might yet be serviceable to him in the same capacites that those were in , who had been of the house of ithamar , in officiating for him , when himself was under any legal impediment for performing his own duty , in his own person . § xlv . the jews , by our principles , could not justify a separation on account of abiathar . their case not like ours . hence it follows 7ly , that , even by our principles , the jews had no reason to make any separation on abiathar's account , though we should suppose him deprived , not unjustly only , but invalidly also . for supposing his deprivation invalid , all that can follow is , that still he retain'd the same right as to conscience , which he had before . but even that would not have sufficed for to justifie a separation , on his account . even before , not he , but zadok ; was the principle of unity . so that , in case of difference , they were still secure in adhering to zadok , in opposition to all others whatsoever , whoever he were that occasioned the separation . even before , therefore , zadok , owed no duty to him , but he to zadok ; and consequently , not zadok , but he . had been guilty of the schism that would have followed upon the difference . if such an invalid deprivation could not affect , or weaken , the title of abiathar , as to conscience , much less can it be pretended to affect that of zadok , who was not any way concerned in it . even before , the duty of the communicants , in case of such division , had been still owing to zadok ; and therefore they also must have involved themselves in the schism , if , upon pretence of their duty to abiathar , they had violated their more sacred and obliging duty to zadok , to whom abiathar himself owed duty , as well as they . indeed they owed abiathar no duty at all , but in subordination and dependence on their antecedent duty to zadok : and therefore when that subordination and dependance had been taken away , as it must have been by a notorious separation , they could not then owe abiathar any duty at all ; and therefore thy must have broken their duty to zadok , in paying any to abiathar . for thus it is in other subordination also . whilst a general does himself observe his own sovereign , his soldiers cannot pay their duty to the common sovereign , without paying it to the general , who has the sovereign's authority to exact duty from them . but if the general , revolt , they are judged rebels , as well as he , to the common sovereign , if , upon any pretence whatsoever , they pay him any duty at all . so far this case therefore is from being paralled to that of our present holy fathers , that here the reasoning and the duty lie directly contrary . if our fathers still retain their right in conscience ( as they must , if the sentence of deprivation be invalid , with regard to conscience , as pronounced by them who have no right to judge them , in relation to their spiritual ) then their rivals can have none in the same jurisdictions , and the whole charge of schisms must lye against them , and those who maintain them in their invasions of our father's rights . how can they then apply here the case of abiathar ? § lxvi . when invasions had passed into a prescription , as in our soviour's time , he that was in possession had really the best title . thus far i have proceeded on the sense and reasonings of those earlier times of the jews , which is certainly the truest and solidest way of judging concerning obligations and duties incumbent on the subjects then . and by these it has appeared , that the civil power could not pretend to any right of depriving priests of their right as to spirituals , and with regard to conscience . this consideration did restrain princes of their own nation , who had any regard to their duty to god , from putting the case . but when they were not under the government of princes , who were of their own nation and religion , but under those who did not think themselves obliged by the positive laws of god , to protect the priests from the legal power of force which god had committed to them ; this was the time indeed , wherein we find examples of true high-priests , even properly so called , who were deprived by the secular power . here therefore were two cases ; one was , when the practice of intrusions was now grown so frequent , that no high-priest living had a better title ; the other , upon the first invasion , when the true predecessor was still living , and had not renounced his right . the former , was the case in the time of our saviour . the old way of deriving the succession to the next of the family who was legally qualified for it , having none of those corporal blemishes which by the law could make him uncapable of it , ( on which account eleazar succeeded aaron ) was long before that laid by a prescription sufficient to antiquate it . for many generations , it had been disposed of by the secular princes who had the power of the temple , first by the macedonians , then by the romans , to persons no otherwise qualified than by their being only of the family of aaron . there was therefore then no person living who had a better title as to the designation of his person , than the pleasure of the civil magistrate who had the command of the temple , and the sacerdotal vestments . as soon therefore as any person was once possessed of the temple and the altar , the same way as his predessor had been , his right , was every way , as good as the right of any other , who could pretend against him ; in which case , the publick interest , ( which is inseparably right ) for ending controversies , has always given proference to the possessor . both of them were as well consecrated into the office by spiritual persons , as well as invested by the lay-power into the possession of the externals requisite for executing the spiritual office committed to them . and that the later was consecrated into his predecessor's place , both without the consent , and by the subjects of his predecessor , was as applicable to all his predecessors as himself , and therefore must as much weaken their title also , as it did his , and make them only equal to him , on this consideration also . this would resolve the right only into some dead person , whose rights all laws determine with their lives , especially were no person living is concerned in them . all therefore that can be said in this case is , that what ought not to have been done at first , was now done , and ratified by providence , the same way as all other humane governments , as well secular as sacred , are usually changed by prescription ; which by the law of nations , and with relation to the good of mankind , and governments in general , is , in process of time , judged sufficien to extinguish an original right , and to make that a right which at first was no other than invasion and violence . this holds especcially where the right is only personal , as that of the priest-hood was ; and the person made uncapable of holding it . mutilation alone was sufficient to have taken away the right of the priest hood , by the same law that gave a right to it , and therefore much more death . this was really the case , when our blessed saviour communicated with the high-priests , obtruded by the romans . josephus himself observes , that whereas the high priest-hood was before for life , then it was not so , but during the pleasure of those who had the power of the temple . and i know no eternally obliging law frow the nature of priest-hood in general , that makes it essential to the priest-hood to be for life , more than for any other humane office. if it were therefore changeable , such a prescription was undoubtedly sufficient for actually changing it . and if this case hold any where among christians , it does so , at present , among the constantinopolitane greeks . they also now are brought to that pass , that their patriarchs have not their power given them for life at the time it is given them , but during the pleasure of the infidel magistrate . the greeks therefore are under no obligation of conscience to assert the rights of any predecessor , by refusing communion with his successor , because the predecessor himself had no better a right ; and the successor , has on this account , an equal right , but , on account of possession , a better than he . but this can , by no means , be applied to the case of our present fathers . they , at their consecration , had a power given and intended for life , which is not yet taken from them by the power , that gave it them ; and therefore have manifestly , by our present constitution , a better title than their successors . they are indeed thrust out of their possession as abiathar , but with no such evidence of the divine sentence passed against them , as was in his case . we have , as yet , no prescription for such violences ; nor have we to deal with an infidel magistracy , as they had . heathen governours , might with more consistency to their own principles , use such violences so frequently , as at length , when all were dead who had a better title , to make them pass into a prescription . this can , by no means , become christian princes , defenders of the faith , nor christian parliaments ; mueh less , members of our late flourishing churches in these dominions . this i say , on supposition only of the legality of our civil establishment . § xlvii . among the jews , the true high-priest was to be known by his possessing the one altar . among th christians , the true altar was known by its being possessed by the true bishop . if our adversaries will needs reason from precedents of those times , they must put a case exactly parallel with ours , of a high-priest possessed of a title unquestionably better than his successors , yet violently forced , as ours are , out of his possession . this case , i grant , did frequently befall the jews when they were subject to infidel magistrates . but it was in such times whose practice we cannot reckon upon as infallible , as we can upon that of our blessed saviour and his apostles . here therefore we cannot reckon upon their bare practice , that , what was done , was as it ought to be , purely on this account alone , because it was done ; but , independently on that , we must enquire what the principles then received obliged them to do , if they would approve themselves true to them . and here , i have already shewn that external force alone was sufficient to make all exercise of the priest hood impracticable , to the person so deprived by secular force . hence it follows , that it was not in their power directly to assert his right , by communicating with him in acts of his sacerdotal authority . for him to erect any other altar , where it might be in his power to officiate , besides that in jerusalem , was condemned as schismatical , by the doctrines of those ages , in the case of the samaritans , and upon the same accounts as the worship in the high places had been condemned in the scriptures , and as the altar built by the tribes beyond jordan was condemned , till they knew the true design of that altar , that it was only for a monument of their interest in the altar of jerusalem , not for opposite sacrifices . the only way therefore left them to assert his right , had been to have abstained from communicating in the sacrifice of his rival in the temple . but there is great reason to believe that that was more than they could justify then ; and that reason , peculiar to their constitution at that time , which therefore cannot be drawn into consequence now under the gospel , nor applyed to the case of our present holy fathers . it is certain that their communion then was as much confined by god to the one altar at jerusalem , as to the one high priest. the only consideration remaining , is whether of the two regards was principal . that is the proper way to determine , whether was to give way to the other , where both could not be had : that is , whether that altar was to be taken for the one altar designed by god , where the true high priest officiated , who had the nearest title in the order of succession from aaron ? or , whether that high priest was to be taken for the true representative of god , and thereby could oblige god to performance , who officiated at the altar of jerusalem , provided he were otherwise qualified , by being of the posterity of aaron , and of the line of phineas , and fairly consecrated by those who had power to consecrate him , though he were not the next that was legally qualified , of that very line . and we have reason to believe , that the altar was the principal consideration in the design of god , who thereby secured the communion against schismatical factions , even of the high-priests themselves , by allowing none for his authorized representatives but those who were possessed of that one altar . for jerusalem alone is called the holy city , st. matt. iv. 5. xxvii . 53. and so call'd in the jewish coins for that very reason , because that was the place where men ought to worship , st. joh iv. 20. that only was the place whither they were to bring their tythes and offerings , and where all their males were , thrice a year , to appear in person . so that all face of publick worship must have been laid aside at the pleasure of their infidel princes , if one obtrusion of a remoter person , in the order of the succession , might have sufficed to hinder their communicating there , which none can think but that god did intend to lay greater stress on , than on the immediate order of the succession . it is certain , they could not , by the law it self , challenge their dues for maintenance any where else than there , nor eat several of the oblations any where else than in that holy place in their temple . which shews plainly , that the dues of priesthood were not due to them on any other condition , than that of their officiating in that very place designed by god for their holy offices . hence it appears , that what right they might pretend , when they were excluded from the altar of jerusalem , was only such a remote right as men ordinarily have to offices , before their admission into the legal possession of them . they are indeed wronged if they be not admitted as the law requires ; but till they be admitted , the same laws allow them no title to the profits , and duties , and dependencies annexed to the office. this was the practice of the jews , when there were exumples of violent exclusion of those who by the law had a right to possess the temple and altar , but did not actually possess them . and by the reasoning now mentioned , the practice appears to have been agreeable to the mind of the divine legislator , but the case is quite different in our fathers case under the gospel . by the apostolical ignatius it appears , that the bishop is the standard of our christian altars : that where he is , there the peculium is to * assemble ; and they only who do so , can , by the laws of christianity , be properly called the † church : that his altar is the true altar ‖ and his eucharist the only * valid eucharist : and that no acts of ecclesiastical authority are † acceptable to god , or can expect a ratification by him , which are performed any where else than where he is , or without his ‖ leave . this ruins all consequences from their practice then to our present case . § xlviii . the reasons for exemption from the power of the prince stronger on our deprived fathers case , than in the case of abiathar . our bishops are properly priests . hitherto i have considered the case of abiathar in general , as it concerned the jews , with some general strictures only , with relation to our present case . i now proceed farther to consider the same reasonings , insisted on by the principles of those ages , for proving abiathar exempt , as to his spirituals , from the jurisdiction of solomon , with relation to the constitutions of the gospel , which are those by which our present fathers rights are to be estimated . here therefore i design to shew that the same reasonings hold , and hold with more evidence and force , for our deprived fathers rights , than they did for those of abiathar . first therefore our episcopal fathers rights are as properly ( indeed in a more noble sense ) the rights of a priesthood as those of abiathar were . so that it is very proper to reason from one to the other . i know how very difficulty this is admitted by many . and yet i wonder it should be so , considering that it is manifest in the reasonings of the writers of the apostolical age , who reason from one to the other as plainly as i do , which reasonings must be perfectly unconclusive as proceeding on four terms , if the notion of priesthood be not supposed univocally common to ours , as well as the jewish ministry . thus the apostle reasons in the case of maintenance : do ye not know that they which minister about holy things , live of the things of the temple ? and they which wait at the altar , are partakers of the altar ? even so hath the lord ordained , that they which preach the gospel , should live of the gospel . god's ordaining there , is supposed as known by them to whom he argues , from what god had constituted in relation to the jewish priesthood , and temple , and altar ; which could by no means be applicable to his design for proving an obligation under the gospel , for maintainance of the gospel ministry , but by supposing our case the same with theirs , that we have a priesthood , a temple , and an altar , as properly as they . the same apostle reasons on the same supposal , when he compares our eucharistical bread and wine , and the communion we have with christ by them , with the communion maintain'd both by the jews and the gentiles , with their respective deities , by sacrifice . with the jews , in these words : behold israel after the flesh : are not they which eat of the sacrifices , partakers of the altar ? v. 18. here plainly he supposes our partaking of the one bread , in the words immediately preceeding , to be the same thing with us , as the eating of the sacrifices , and partaking of the altar . how so , if our eucharist had not been properly a sa●rifice ? with the gentiles . where he compares our drinking the cup of the lord , with drinking the cup of devils ; and our partaking of the lords table with partaking of the tables of devils v. 21. and our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with christ v. 16. with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with devils , v. 20. it plainly appears , that the table of devils was furnished with no other feasts but sacrifical , and they are expresly called sacrifices , v. 19 , 20. these things also plainly shew , that the benefits expected by the christians from their eucharist were transacted , according to the then receiv'd notions both of jews and gentiles , by sacrifices , as properly so called as the others were , as to all intents and purposes of legal transaction . so again , the same apostle owns the sacrifical style , when he calls that an altar which he had elsewhere called the lords table : we have an altar whereof they have no right to eat , which serve the tabernacle . that altar he compares with meats in the verse before , and therefore must probably mean the eucharistical altar . besides the jews did pretend to the heavenly altar , as is clear from the places formerly produced from philo. but it was notorious that their priests as such had no right to the christian eucharistical altar , nor did they ever pretend to it . this therefore was more unquestionable , and more fit to be reason'd on , for the apostles purpose . so also clemens romanus argues from the sacredness of the jewish priest hood , to the like sacredness of the gospel ministry . and from the like notions of an altar , ignatius also reasons in the places already mentioned . so many precedents we have of reasonings of this kind in the apostolical times themselves . and if he consider the things themselves sedately , i see no reason why we should think these notions strange in that age. the jewish sacrifices themselves were not then thought available as they consisted in shedding the bloud of brutes , but as they represented the archcetypal sacrifice of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and as covenanting symbols gave the communicants a right to what was represented by them . this was the truly beneficial notion of a covenant transacted by sacrifice . and in this sense , i cannot conceive how our adversaries can deny our eucharist the name of a sacrifice , as properly , as it agreed to any used among the jews . our eucharist also was designed by our lord to represent his own archetypal sacrifice on the cross. and not only so , but as a covenanting symbol , to convey a right to that sacrifice , so represented , to the worthy rightly disposed communicant . what therefore can our adversaries desire more for satisfying the proper beneficial notion of a sacrifice ? wine may , by christs appointment , signify his bloud to covenanting beneficial purposes , as well as real bloud itself . § xlix . the gospel priest-hood more noble than that of abiathar . the same reasoning therefore holds now which did then ; but now more strongly . this therefore being supposed that our gospel ministry is a priestheod ; i add further 2ly , that it is a nobler one than that of abiathar this i am sure is proved or supposed in all the n. t. reasonings , that whatsoever was common to the old and the new peculiam , was still more excellent under the new peculium than that which answer'd it under the old . i cannot now spare leisure to give instances . it is at present sufficient for my purpose , that what was less certain concerning the jewish priest-hood , is more certain in ours ; that the principal design of ours is to oblige god to performance of promises , as his part of the new covenant , explicite and clear , not only implicite as formerly , in relation to spiritual and future and eternal benefits , which none but god is able to perform . in this regard the new 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which our lord is a mediator , is called a better testament , hebr. vii . 22. as introductive of a better hope , v. 19. a better covenant established on better promises . hebr. viii 6. life and immortality being elsewhere said to be brought to light by the gospel . and the priest hood relating to this new covenant is preferred before the other levitical one , in that levi in abraham pay'd tithes and received a blessing from melchisedec , as the lesser from the greater . hebr. vii . 7 , 9. in that the priest-hood of the new testament is an everlasting one , as all archetypal ideal beings were supposed to be , in the sense of the platonick hellenists , whose language and notions the apostle alludes to in those places . not only as it was eternal in the individual person of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , but also as it was to be so in the succession of the gospel ministry , which was never to give way to any other future dispensation , as that of the law did . besides , in that here the entrance into heaven the true tabernacle , was more immediately performed by the archetypal high priest himself ; hebr. viii . 1 , 2. than under the law , where it was only shadowed by the high-priests entring into the holy of holyes hebr. ix . 7. this also advanced the dignity of the gospel priest-hood , even in the ministers themselves as representing the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more immediately , and under a noble depensation than they did who were of the order of aaron . hebr. vii . 11. to this also the apostle adds that the melchisedekian priest hood , as it was for ever , so it was also by an oath , of which there was no use in the constitution of the levitical priest hood . hebr. vii . 20 , 21. thus therefore it every way appears that the consequences inferred in the case of abiathar , must hold here , but with more force and cogency . if the levitical priest hood exceeded the dignity of the civil magistracy , much more the evangelical priest-hood must do so too . if that required a divine call greater than could be given or repealed by the civil magistrate , this must do so also . if the unction of the priest hood then so far exceeded the unction of the civil magistrate , as that the magistrate could not invade the office without sacriledge and a piacular crime , much less can he now justify his invasion of a priest-hood , so much holier than that was . if the sacredness of their office then was thought sufficent to awe all conscientiou , magistrates from offering any thing that might look like violence to such holy persons ; a greater sacredness of our priest hood now ought in reason more to awe the magistrate now under the gospel dispensation . the punishment of such encroachments was indeed more frequent and visible then , but in the apostle's reasoning , it is sorer now : hebr. ii. 2 , 3. x. 29. i am sure it must needs be so , if we believe our religion , that it s not being inflicted here is only a reserving it for the future state. § l. this reasoning was admitted in the apostolical age. particularly by clemens romanus . he also vindicates the churches rights against lay-deprivations from jewish precedents . nor are these consequences only just from this concession , but 3ly , agreeable also to the actual sense of even that apostolical age. the necessity of a divine call for priest-hood in general is owned by the sacred author of the epistle to the hebrews , as we have seen formerly , and therefore could not be denyed by him concerning the gospel ministry , which i have also shewn that he believed to be a priest-hood . the dignity also of the priest-hood above the magistracy is plainly own'd by the author of the testaments of the twelve patriarchs . this also will be another testimony of the christians of the apostolical age , if what i have said before prove sufficient for shewing that he lived and wrote in that age. however , we have an author unquestionably of that age , so clear and evident for our purpose , that i cannot foresee what any of the vindicators adversaries can be able to reply to him . that is , the apostolical clemens in his famous epistle to the corinthians . and which is more , what he says , he says in prospect of a case as like ours as those times were capable of . some of the laity who were inspired with the spiritual gifts mentioned 1 cor. xii . 8 , &c. had then taken upon them to make a faction against the established governuors of the church , who restrained them from the disorderly liberties they had been used to , before the government had been introduced and settled among them . before , they had been used to honours not suitable to their station , but their gifts ; but government being settled , they were thereby obliged to confine themselves within the decorum of their station . hence that emulation and envy he there complains of , when persons formerly more regarded for their gifts , were now engaged in duty to give way to others less gifted , but in a more eminent station . this made those gifted brethren mutinous , and the esteem they had acquired by their gifts so recommended them , as that a defection followed so universal , that the governours were forced out of their possession . clemens calls it a † deprivation , or by words implying it , and argues against it exactly as we do , on the principles already mentioned . he insists on the care that god had taken formerly for asserting the rights of the jewish priest hood , and to let them see that it was himself who had appointed them to that honour . * when the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fell out , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he observes how god decided it by the blossoming of aarons rod. this plainly implyes , that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or emulation so often by him reproved in the schismaticks , concerned the priest-hood also . he observes the care god had taken then , that all their † offices should be performed in their due order . this might be purposely to warn the gifted brethren to forbear the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 cor. xiv . 16. when now there was an order of men purposely allotted for the eucharistical sacrifices . he enumerates all ranks of their subordination , ‖ high priests , priests and levites , nay laicks also . he seems therein to intimate , that they were laicks who were guilty of that invasion of sacerdotal offices , agalnst which he there disputes , that is , who were guilty of the deprivations now mentioned . indeed he supposes such a deprivation to be an invasion of sacerdotal offices not tolerable in a layman . and when he says this concerning the laity in general , who can doubt but that christian magistrates must be concluded in the consequence of what he there discourses ? the same indignity of the schismaticks , as to their station in the church , is implyed in what he elsewhere says , that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , dishonourable against those who were honourable . against these therefore he so disputes , that laymen ought to be so far from pretending to exclude the ecclesiastical governours , that even inferior ecclesiasticks ought not to presume upon the offices of those who were superior to them in the ecclesiastical subordination , as the levites were not to intermeddled in the function of the common priests , nor the common priests , with that of the high priest among the jews . he therefore obliges them , to perform their * eucharistical offices in the rank and station wherein god had placed them , not transgressing their bounds as they had done fromerly , as it should seem , in imitation of the old prophets , who had , as prophets , taken upon them , not only to communicate , but to officiate in sacrifices . this he implys as a thing that ought no longer to be born with , since the eucharistical ministry was now settled and established . he therefore observes further to this purpose , that among the jews , whoever had been guilty of such invasion , had suffered † capitally for it . he seems to allude to the known stories of corah , dathan and abiram , and uzzah , among whom were examples of encroachments of both sorts , some of the laity , on the sacerdotal function in general , such were dathan and abiram , who were reubenites ; some of inferior , on the superior sacerdotal stations . thus he argues from these precedents under the law , to prove the like obligations under the gospel . so far he was from our late brethren's fancies concerning the unconclusiveness of such arguments in this very case of the priest hood . §. li. he does it also by the same principles , as by him owned agreeable to the constitution of the gospel . so far , i say , he was from that , that he makes such invasions more formidable now , under so much a nobler dispensation . so his following words imyly : * take care , my brethren , lest , by how much our knowledge of the divine mysteries ( that is the importance of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that age ) is advanced , by so much our danger be advanced also . and so far he was from being obliged , by any exigency of his cause , to argue as he does , from precedents under tthe law , if that way of reasoning had not then been judged , solid ; that he tells us , that christ also had made the like provision for securing the gospel ministry from the like encroachments . he tells us therefore , that the apostles being forewarned by our lord , that the like contentions should arise among the christians , concerning the * name of bishop , as had been before , among the jews , relating to the † priest hood ; had therefore , in their * foreknowledge of that very event , taken the like care for preserving the office from the like invasions . the apostles here mentioned , i take to be st. peter , and st. paul , who had by their common labours planted both churches , that of rome , from whom this epistle was written , and that of corinth , to whom . as therefore , he calls them in this place , ‖ our apostles , so elsewhere he says , that st. peter and st. paul had set a noble example of patience * among us . these two places thus compared together , give us to understand who the apostles were of whom he there speaks . he therefore further acquaints us with the expedients those apostles took for securing the holy office from these foreseen invasions . he says , they themselves † put several of those persons into their office , of whom he was then discoursing ; that is , of those who had been deprived by these laical mutiniers . this therefore , it seems he looks on as an argument , that they who had been put in possession of their places by persons of the supream ecclesiastical dignity , should not be dispossessed at the pleasure of the laity , who , how great soever their station might be otherwise , yet were not regarded in their ecclesiastical judicatories , but according to their ecclesiastical honours , ( st. james ii. 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6. ) which in the laity were none at all . but there were at that time , in their ecclesiastical presbytery , some substituted in the place of those of the first settlement , who were since deceased . and for these also he makes the apostles to have taken care . he tells us , that in foresight of this case , they provided for an * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , an inheritance that others might succeed into their places . possibly it ought to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as denoting an additional law to those other † 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , received from our lord , which had formerly been mentioned by this same author . so , in imitation of plato's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , philo , as i remember , calls deuteronomy by the same title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as given a little before moses his death , after the collection of his former laws . so our author teaches us , that this law also for securing the succession , was given by these apostles , after they had now settled the church of corinth , and ordained as many as they then thought necessary for the government of it . that is the notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , it signifies in him afterwards . as appears by another ‖ example very little distant from this same place . he tells us therefore what this additional law was , that they who were to be substituted in their places as they died , were to receive their authority from persons of the highest rank in the church . that i take to be the notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as that signifies to be had in reputation , and as on the contrary contemptible persons are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , like the proletarii or capite censi in the roman matricula of citizens , registred as so many names , not for any considerable benefit that their cities receiv'd from them . these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore , were such as by the apostles themselves were designed for supplying the apostolical office after their deprature , in filling up the vacancies of those presbyters , who had been put in office by the apostle , themselves , as they ●ell this therefore st. clemens , in this reasoning , takes for a great presumption , that the laity who were of the lowest rank in the church , should take upon them to displace those who had been put into their office by the highest ecclesiastical authority . and yet the laity whose case he speaks of , where prophets , and spiritually gifted persons , which gifts were always admitted for fairer pretences to spiritual power , than all the worldly grandeur , and the secular terror of the civil magistrate . prophets had been allowed that power even in sacrificing , which never was allowed the secular prince . yet even against these , st. clemens asserts rights of the church , by the very same topick insisted on by us , that the power of the church was derived from god himself . we see he ascribes this power of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the authority of the apostles . so he also derives the authority of the apostles themselves , from god himself . * the apostles taught us the gospel from our lord jesus christ , jesus christ from god. christ therefore was sent by god , and the apostles by christ ; so both missions were orderly according to the will of god. his designed inference therefore with reference to his cause was , that they who had been put in office by an authority so manifestly and nearly derived from god , ought not to be turn'd out of their office by a power that could not pretend to any such power derived from god at all . in all these gradations , he supposes none that gave it to the laity , on which account it is , that he overthrows all right they had to claim it . how then can the magistrate pretend to it ? § lii . he draws the like inferences from those reasonings , in practice , as we do . thus then the reasons from our principles , and therefore supposes them generally known , and as generally granted , even in that happy age. that is not all : he pursues those principles to the same uses in practice , that we are making of them now . do we cleave to our deprived fathers , notwithstanding the lay deprivation ? we do therein no more than what he advises also . * let us reverence , says he , the lord jesus christ , whose blood was given for us . let us pay a veneration to our rulers ; let us honour our presbyters . † let us cleave to the innocent and rïghteous , for these are the elect of god. do we complain of the desertion of our bishops . and betraying of the ecclesiastical rights , as schismatical ? and are we deeply concerned at the consequences which have followed upon it , distructive to our common religion ? and does not he the same ? * your sebism has deprived many , has driven many to despondency , to doubting of religion , and all of us to grief . i wish we could not also apply his following words to our present case : ‖ and yet your sedition holds on . do we heartily wish that the schismatical rivals would think of repentance , and returning to their duty ? and how are we therein singular ? does not he recommend the like thoughts to the schismaticks of his own time ? these are his words . * you therefore who have laid the foundation of the sedition , be subject to the presbyters , and be disciplined to repentance ; bending the knees of your heart , learn to be subject , laying aside the haughty and insolent arrogance of your tongue . how worthy are his following words of their consideration ? ‖ for it is better for you to be little , and of good repute in the flock of christ , than seeming to have preheminence to be cast off from his hope . let them never complain of the severity of our censures , when they find this holy unconcerned apostolical fellow labourer of st. paul , judging as hardly in a parallel case . we here see , that he thought such schismaticks out of the flock of christ , and cut off from his hope . he elsewhere adds , with reference to the same case , and the same persons , † christ is of those who are humbly minded , not of those who exalt themselves over his flock . plainly denying them any interest in christ , whilst they continued in that condition impenitent , that is , whilst the rivals hold their schisinatical preheminence . he tells us , that * it is no small crime , if we cast them out of their bishoprick , who have offered their sacrifical gifts unreprovably and holily . he accordingly adds ; † it behoves us therefore , brethren , to cleave to such examples . for it is written , cleave unto those who are holy , for they who cleave to them , shall be made holy . and again , in another place , he says , with the innocent thou wilt be innocent , and with the perverse thou wilt be perverse . he supposes no holiness reputed by god for such , but in the true communion . thence he adds , * let us cleave therefore to the innocent and righteous , for those are the elect of god one of the prerogatives of the peculium , is to be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the chosen generation . so that in confining the elect of god , to the true communion , he must necessarily be supposed to confine the peculium to it also . his following exhortation therefore firts our circumstances , as well as it did his . † why are there strifes and anger 's , and divisions and schisms , and war among you ? have we not one god , and one christ , and one spirit of grace that is shed upon us ? and is there not one calling in christ ? why do we draw and tear asunder the members of christ , and foment seditions against our own body , and come to such madness , as to forget that we are members of each other ? may this pathetical exhortation of so great a person , prevail with our brethren to study some expedient for securing our ecclesiastical liberties , and healing the breach they have been driven into by carnal politicks ! what a glory wou'd it be to them who are princpally engaged in it , to do what he invites them to ? * who is there among you generous ? who is merciful ? who full of charity ? let him say , if the sedition and strife and schisms be for my sake , i depart , i go away , where you please , and do whatsoever is required by the multitude . only let the flock of christ have peace with the presbyters , who are set over it . he who would do so , would gain to himself great glory in the lord . how much would it advance their honour here , and their peace hereafter , if they would turn their emulations for preheminence , into those more noble ones of humility , and peace , and condescention ? the worthy doctor , since his ingenuous owing his † mistake of the design of clemens , discover'd since by the vindicator , may be presumed , by this time to be sensible , now much it is more proper to make such addresses to his . fathers , than ours . he must , at least , acknowledge the making them so , to be more agreeable to the design of st. clement . § liii . the laity cannot now pretend to any indirect right of depriving bishops , as the jewish princes could in the case of the jewish priesthood . thus it appears , that by the principles , even of the apostolick age ▪ no laity whatsoever can pretend to any direct power over our ecclesiastical governours , with regard to their purely spiritual and ecclesiastical rights . i now proceed to shew 4thly , that they cannot now pretend even to an indirect power ( such as i shewed that princes might pretend to the● ) of depriving our bishops with regard to conscience . for neither of the reasons given there , will hold her . they cannot make their right impracticable now , as they could do then , by excluding them from any particular place , from which it is in their power to exclude them . their consecrations and eucharists are not now confined to cathedrals , as the sacerdotal acts of the jewish priesthood were to the temple , but are equally valid , where ever they are exercised within their ow jurisdictions . this hinders them from being perfectly useless when they are excluded from cathedrals . nor has god fixed upon any particular places , to which he has confined his own acceptance of them under the gospel . but as we have seen from ignatius , ( for i now descend no lower ) the one acceptable altar now follows the one bishop , not the bishop the altar . this hinders the additional right formerly accruing to a possessor , purely on account of his possession , which was then sufficient to make a possessor's right better , which without possession , would have been worse than that of an excluded predecessor . nor indeed is there that reason now , as was then , to expect that god should confine the exercises of the evangelical priesthood to a particular place . their religion then was confined to a particular nation , and was part of the national constitution , as it was theocratical . there was therefore all the security given that laws could give , that their princes should always patronize it . one of another nation was uncapable of the office , any other way than by conquest . and that did necessarily suppose the subversion of the laws themselves , and therefore of all the security that could be given by law. but the evangelical priesthood was first instituted by christ , and settled by the apostles , in a time when the kings of the earth stood up , and the rulers were gathered together a-against the lord , and against his christ , acts iv. 26 , not only without the consent of , but in opposition to all the civil powers then being . and therefore to have made it depend on the pleasure of the magistrate then , had been perfectly inconsistent with a design of securing and perpetuating it . and that could not have been avoided , if it had depended on any thing that was in the power of the persecuting magistrate . it was instituted and established under actual and violent persecutions , and therefore must have been fitted with provisions that might enable it to subsist under a state of persecution , by a power perfectly disentangled from the secular power . to this it was requisite , that it should be under no obligation of conscience , to depend on any thing that was in the power of the persecuting magistrate , as it must have done , if it had been obliged by god to any one particular place . it was also requisite , that this priesthood being constituted by god as the cement of a spiritual society , all that was requisite for managing that society , should have been by god , ( who was pleas'd to found that society ) conferred on the priesthood , as its right in conscience , and therefore by the same divine power , exempted from the right of the civil magistrate . for all that this priesthood could have to recommend duty to the consciences of its subjects in a state of persecution , was only its sacredness , and the obligation that lay on god to ratify his own act , in inflicting the censures denounced by it against refractory persons ; and therefore they must be very well satisfied , that the censures were denounced by one to whom god had given a lawful authority to denounce them . otherwise , they could not think god obliged to ratify them . and for this it was absolutely requisite , that they should believe the magistrate to have no right in those cases wherein those censures were concerned . otherwise , they could not think god oblig'd to ratify them , if they had been invasions of the right of the magistrate . but the districts were then absolutely necessary for making the churches censures , as settled out by lord and his apostles practicable . by them the bishops knew what persons were liable to their particular respective jurisdictions . by those the subjects olso knew the particular bishops to whose censures they were obliged to pay a deference . if the bishop had censured persons not belonging to his jurisdiction , by the settlement then made by the apostles , they could not think god obliged to second him in his usurpations , and therefore could be under no obligation to regard such censures . it was therefore absolutely necessary that the right of preaching the gospel , and settling districts , without the leave of the possessing magistrates , must by god have been made the right of the ecclesiasticks , in reference to conscience , and therefore could not at the same time have been the right of the civil magistrate . what then will become of the doctor 's imaginary contract ? bellarmine fancies , that when the magistrate was baptized , he also was supposed to make an implicite contract with the bishop , that his crown should be at the bishops disposal , whenever the bishop should judge that his holding it would be inconsistent with the churches interest . this is as reasonable as the doctor 's pretended contract , that on consideration of the leave allowed by the magistrate for preaching and settling districts in his dominions , the bishops make an implicit contract with the magistrate that they will submit to be deposed by him . when he shall judge their holding their places hurtful to his worldly interests . if either of these implicite contracts would hold bellermines is the more likely of the two , that the lesser worldly interests should give way to the spiritual . but from what has been said , it appears that the right of making districts , was a right inseparable from the authority given by god for making , and governing proselytes all the world over . if therefore it be not the magistrates , but their own ; what reason have they to make any , however implicite contracts , for that which is their own already ? § liv. our reasoning against the magistrates right of deprivation in spiritual proceed universally , and therefore in case of temporal crimes , also the owning such a power would have been pernicious to the primitive christians also , who were charged with temporal crimes ▪ the magistrate therefore cannot , by the constitutions of the gospel , pretend to any ●ight , whether direct , or indirect , for depriving our bishops of their spiritual power . this our adversaries themselves do not deny , where the causes pretended for their deprivation , are purely spiritual . but where the case is temporal , as it is here in our fathers case , there they think that the magistrate may punish them , not only by secular punishments , but by deprivations , as to the exercising of their spiritual right in districts contained within his dominions . but all that can fairly follow from their crime being secular , is no more but this , that it properly belongs to the cognizance of the secular magistrate , and is therefore justly punishable by them who have a just title to the supream secular authority , that is , in such a way ▪ of punishment as properly belongs to the right of the magistrate . and we allow that to extend as far as the secular honours , and revenues , by the secular laws annexed to their office , nay to their persons also , as to what is personal to them . this is perfectly sufficient to secure the magistrate ( in case not only a single bishop , but the whole synod , should prove guilty of violating their duty to him ) whatever the doctor pretends to the contrary . but that this will give him any new right of punishing . which he cannot pretend to by the nature of his office , our adversaries have not yet pretended to prove . till they do so , or till they answer what has now been produced to prove the contrary , that his right of magistracy does no way reach the spirituals of our bishops , no nor their right to exercise them in jurisdictions contained in his dominions ; we may as easily deny , as they assert , that power of deprivation , by them ascribed to the magistrate . one would think , that when we have proved the nature of the spiritual power , such as that it is not in the power of any but god , or those authorized by god for this purpose , to deprive them of that power who have once received it ; and that neither the things themselves transacted by the spiritual power are in the power of the magistrate , nor that god has given the magistrate any authority to represent him in these matters , which may oblige him to ratify in heaven what the magistrate , in his name , pretends to act on earth : it should unavoidably follow that the magistrate has not this power at all , which if he have not in general , he cannot have in this , nor in any other particular case assignable by our adversaries . why are they therefore so unreasonable as to expect , after we have disproved this power in general , that we must be put to the further trouble of disproving it in a particular case ? they themselves can easily perceive the partiality of their demands in other the like cases . they who , on the other side , are for the encroachments of the clergy upon the rights of the magistracy in order to spirituals , in case of heresy , do so far proceed successfully , when they shew that heresy is a crime properly cognizable by the spiritual judicatories , and that magistrates , as well as others , are subject to such judicatories in matters purely spiritual . but then the consequence would only be , that a magistrate , so convicted of heresy , might by such spiritual judges be deprived of his right to communion , and consequently of all the spiritual rights and benefits , to which he is entitled as a member of the true communion . this is the utmost that spiritual judges can pretend to , or wherein they can expect that god will second and ratify their determinations . but when they proceed further to forbid all civil conversation with the magistrate , to deprive him of his civil rights , to absolve his subjects from their duty of civil obedience : these are consequences , which , i believe our adversaries will not defend . yet how they can avoid being obliged to it , if they will be true to the consequences of their reasonings in this case , for my part , i cannot understand . for why may not the church assume a right of punishing temporally , a crime that is really allowed to be of spritual cognizance , if the magistrate ; for a temporal crime , may inflict a deprivation of spirituals ? i do not now insist on what we have to say , as to the validity of the sentence given against our fathers , in respect of the temporal authority that can be pretended for it . however , that is , at least , sufficient to shew , that it is only the judgment of those , who have given judgment , against them , that they had even temporal authority sufficient for it . and if the secular powers may deprive bishops , for any crime , which they who deprive them , shall be pleased to call temporal ; and if we also , are obliged to think such deprivatons sufficient to discharge us from the duty we owe them , with regard to our conscience : i cannot see how the primitive christian bishops could have escaped such deprivation . julion the apostate pretended temporal reasons for most of his persecutions , purposely to hinder the sufferers from the glory of matyrdome . and even in the earlyer persecutions , secular crimes were imputed to the christians . that was the case when the burning of rome was charged upon them in nero's time , and the burning of the palace at nicomedia , in diocletian's ; when the stories of the dog and candle ; and oedipodean incests and the mothers of children , were pretended to be proved against them , by the extorted confession of some slaves in the time of marcus antoninus . their very meetings came under the laws de sodalitijs , and de hetaerijs , and de factionibus . and their refusing to swear by the genij of the emperors , or to sacrifice for them , were by the interpretation of those times reducible to the laws of loesa majestas , which we call treason . will our adversaries therefore grant that , on these accounts , those pagan emperors might have deposed the christian bishops , and absolved their subjects from their duties in conscience owing to them ? if they will , we are very sure our glorious ancestors of those ages were not of their mind . and let our adversaries themselves judge , whether we have most reason to follow , as guides of our conscience . besides the advantage the primitive christians had for knowing tradition better , this was also a manifest one ; that our late brethren's practice goes along with their worldly , interests , and indeed never began , till motives of such interest inclined them to it ; but the practice of the primitive christians was directly contradictory to such interests . § lv. the spiritual rights of our fathers have been now invaded by civil force . bare characters . without districts not sufficient to preserve the church as a body . but the strangest answer of all is , that our adversaries cannot yet be perswaded that our h. fathers spiritual rights have yet been invaded by secular force . as this way of defence signifies their unwillingness to undertake the patronage of such invasions , i confess , i am not a little pleased with it , in regard to the liberty it may allow them hereafter , if god shall be pleased to turn our captivity , to defend the rights of their own function , when they may be defended without danger . and i do not know why , even now , the clergy should be forward and active in promoting a casuistry that may absolve the magistrate from the obligation incumbent on him in conscience for their protection . but it is a strange degree of confidence to deny the fact. had they not set up other bishops to exercise spiritual power in the same jurisdictions , they might indeed pretend to it , but having done so , it is from thence we date their schism . nor do i see , how they can avoid the charge of it . for if the spirituals of our fathers be yet untouched , then they must still have the same right over those same jurisdictions , as to spirituals , as they had , and as was own'd by our adversaries themselves formerly . if so , their rivals , exercising spiritual power in the same jurisdiction without their leave , must be looked on as invaders of their yet untouched uninvaded spirituals rights . if so , they must , in the language of st. cyprian be foras , be aliens , be non secundi , sed nulli . not barely on the authority of that holy martyrs saying , but as the vindicator proved , from the nature of the spiritual monarchy , which allows no more than one at once , without conscent , to have a right within the same jurisdiction . it is very plain from hence , that their right to their particular districts and jurisdiction , even as to spirituals , is actually invaded by their intruders . and we have now , and so had the vindicator formerly , shewn the settling of districts in order to spiritual jurisdiction , to be a right of the church , independent on the favour of the civil magistrate . we have shewn that the church , as well as the state , was by christ and his apostles made a visible body , and that their way of knowing the visible governours , and subjects of this visible , body , was , even from the apostles time , taken from the extent of those visible districts ; that they who lived in these districts , were all subjects to the governours of the districts , and that the governours of those districts as to spirituals were the particular governours to whom the christian inhabitants of those districts , ow'd obedience as to spiritual : that whatever right the magistrate had formerly , that might seem inconsistent with these rights , was by god himself taken away from the magistrate , in order to the making this way of propagating the gospel , practicable ; yet so , that power enough was still left for securing the authority of the magistrate , as to temporals : that the first christian magistrates , found the church possessed of these districts , and the bodies of the christians , in the several districts , possessed also of the opinion of the independency of those districts , as to spirituals , on the civil magistrates ; which they had always made appear , in all difference between the magistrate and the bishops , by their unanimous adherence to the bishops , as to spirituals : that therefore those districts , as to spirituals , were never derived from the favour of the magistrate , and therefore not obnoxious to his disposal . here therefore this whole dispute is reducible to a short dilemma . if the presumed magistrate has not invaded the spiritual districts of our fathers ; then the intruders are schismaticks for intermeddling with those rights which their predecessors are not deprived of . and all others also must be schismaticks who own and communicate with the intruders . if the rivals be not intruders , they must needs say that the predecessors have lost their right , even to those districts , as to spirituals . and how they should come to lose it but by the sole act of their magistrate , i know nothing that our adversaries can pretend . there is manifestly no act of the church , that they can so much as pretend for it . their character , they say , is not yet touched . no wonder it should not , since the schoolmen , from whom they borrow the term of character , hold characters to be indelible by any humane authority whatsoever , not only secular , but ecclesiastical also . however all the use our adversaries make of their remaining character , is only to make them restorable to their old jurisdictions , without a new consecration ; and in the mean time , to legitimate some acts of epicopal power , which must no be supposed to depend on a relation to a particular jurisdiction . but this character , that has no relation to a particular district , could not be sufficient for preserving bodies ( such as the church was designed to be by , them who founded it ) in a state of independency on the civil magistrate ; bodies , as then understood by the ecclesiasticks , being determined and distinguished by such districts . the allowing therefore the heathen persecuting magistrates a power of dissolving the relation of all the bishops of their dominions , to particular districts , had parfectly dissolved all particular churches , as bodies , when the magistrate was pleased to dissolve them ; and therefore cannot be agreeable to the design of christ and his apostles , who intended to perpetuate churches , as bodies , independent on the state . and it is certain , that this power of discharging ecclesiastcal governours from the districts in their own dominions , was not own'd in the civil powers by the apostles and earliest christians . had it been so , the apostles themselves must have quitted jerusalem , when they were forbidden by the sanbedrim , and sought out other converts and districts , wherein they might exercise their function and character . but where could they seek or find them , but the same objection , would still recur from this right of the civil magistrate ? there must therefore have been no churches in the world , if this doctrine had been allowed of . but it is certain , that the apostles did still challenge and exercise their jurisdiction in jerusalem , and were own'd and seconded in doing so , by the christians inhabitants of that city , against all the persecutions of the magistrate , and were all of them own'd by god , by the credentials that followed them , which could never have been , if these their practices had been usurpations . and all the right that bishops then had for obliging the whole catholick church , was grounded on the commerce of communicatory letters , and the common interest of all , to ratify the acts of particular districts . thence it appears , that all exercise of epicopacy , as catholick , was grounded on the right , each bishop had to a particular district . so vain are our adversaries pretences for making our bishops , bishops of the catholick church , though deprived of districts , in order to the exercising any episcopal act for preserving the face of a body , under a persecution . § lvi . supposing the church and christian state had made one body , yet more had been requisite to make that supposition applicable to our present case , which is not yet taken notice of . but the principle pretence of all that our adversaries insist on , is , that in those earlier times , the church was indeed a society distinct from the state , and whilst it continued so , the deprivations of the state , could therefore not extend to spirituals , which were the constituts of the church as a society distinct from it : but that there is no necessary consequence , because it was so then , that therefore it most be so now : that the reasoning from the sense and practice of those times , does indeed hold where the case is the same as it was then , that is , where the state consists of infidels ; but not in ours , wherein the state professes the christian , religion . this is suggested by the worthy author of the defence of the church of england , as he calls it , from the charges of the vindicator . and he has therein managed the reasoning part of this dispute better than the doctor , in that he has pitched on the particular proposition , which he thinks needs further proof in the scheme of the vindicator , seeming withal to allow that if this also be cleared , the rest of the vidicators proof will hold , as being firmly superstructed on it . this therefore brings the question to a short issue , and affords a further subject of useful discourse , for improving what has been said already , and i therefore return my hearty thanks to that author for it , only wishing that he had allowed himself a larger scope for making that out , which if proved , would have been so very considerable for his purpose . supposing he had proved his assertion true , yet other things , remain'd to have been proved further , for making it applicable to our present case . something more had certainly been requisite for his purpose , than barely to suppose the magistrate barely christian. he might easily have foreseen that , even among christians , there are different communions , on account of herisy and schism . if the magistrate therefore be guilty of either of those , he is as uncapable of uniting with the church in one cmmunion , as if he were an idolator . and i suppose all the ground that worthy person has for making a believing prince's case different from that of an infidel , in order to the church's coalition into one body with the society that is governed by the believing prince , must be the church's union in communion with him , which it cannot have with an infidel . for that political union , which is requisite for secular government , as far as it is consistent with difference in communion , as to spirituals , the orthodox are as capable of maintaining with infidel princes , as they are with either heriticks , or schismaticks . and for applying that case , he might have considered further , how far communicating with schismaticks in other places , and setting up schism where he found the true communion established by law , and allowing no patronage of law , without schismatical conditions , may go to prove a prince's case schismatical . then supposing the church and state united into one society , he should have enquired further , why this union must rather be under the secular , than the spiritual , common monarch . this , i am sure , is against the general rule of subordinations , to make the more noble power subject to that which is less so ; and therefore ought to have been proved by reasens peculier to this particular coalition of two societies into one . such peculiar reasons i doubt are more then ever we can expect from him . but supposing both these difficulties surmounted , that the church had a prince of one communion with her , and that the two societies now united , were to be governed rather by the prince , than the metropolitane ; yet still another question remained worthy his consideration , how long this union was to hold ? if irrevocably , then the church would be left destitute of a power , necessary for her subsitence , whenever the prince should apostatize to infidelity , or an infidel should succeed him by the rules established for the succession . if therefore the church's power be granted revocable , the enquiry then would be , whether the grant can in reason be supposed to hold any longer than the prince's protectoon of her . if so ; then whether , when he revokes his protection granted on conscionable terms , and persecutes his fellow brethren , for no other reason , but for being true to the principles of the old communion , this be not the very season wherein they are , in conscience , absolved from their old grants , and are perfectly free to resume their old spiritual liberties ? i know our adversary will understand me , without any further application . § lvii . the prince 〈◊〉 account of his being only a christian , has no title to any spiritual authority . these things , i say , had been requisite to make his doctrine practicable , if it had been proved , and proved as well as himself desires to prove it . but , for my part , i am perfectly of the vindicators mind , nor do i see any reason to doubt but that his whole proof will hold , if this be the only suspicious proposition concerned in it . i see no reason , why the church should loss her liberties , or princes gain more power by their conversion , than they had before . the nature of the thing , does not the least require it . princes , when they are received into the church's communion , are received , as other laicks are , by baptism ; which can therefore intitle them to no more power , than other christians , who are admitted into the same society , the same way , as they are . as therefore baptism alone confers no spiritual authority to others , no more it can to the prince , who has no preheminence above them , on this account . when therefore he is baptized , he still remains , in reference to spiritual power , no more than a private person , as all others do , who have no more spiritual authority given them , than what is conferred upon them in their baptism . how then comes he by this power in spirituals , which our adversaries challenge for him ? all our forementioned reasons proceed as validly against his claim of spiritual power , whilst he continues only a lay-man , tho' baptized , as they did before his baptism . still , the spiritual power is grounded on the power of rewarding and punishing spiritually , by admitting to , or excluding from , the spiritual benefits of the society . still , the power of that admission to , or exclusion from , those benefits , depends upon the power of the incorporating rites ; which being granted , admit into the body , or if denyed , exclude from it . still the incorporating acts , are the two sacraments , as we are baptized into , the spiritual body , and as we are made one spiritual body , by our partaking of one bread : so that none can have the power of these incorporating acts , who has not the power of administring the sacraments . still , the power of administring the sacraments , is proper to the evangelical priest hood ; and it is still , as unlawful for princes to invade the sacerdotal offices , as it was under the old law , when the prince was obliged to be always of one body , with the priest-hood , in reference to religious acts of communication . still , the reasoning of st. clemens holds that laymen are only to meddle with acts properly laical , and proceeds with more force than in the case wherein that holy apostolical person used it . the gifted laicks had been baptized as well as our believing princes , and in that regard were every way equal with them . but as they were endued with spiritual gifts , they were better qualified for extraordinary calls to acts of sacerdotal power , than princes can be by any pretensions to , or advantages of , worldly grandeur . baptism indeed makes the prince and the church one society , as the prince is thereby incorporated into the priviledged society of the church , but then , this baptismal union is rather of the prince to the bishop , than of the bishop to the prince , and therefore on the bishop's terms , not the prince's . how then can the prince's being receiv'd into the church as a private person , and as a subject to the spiritual authority , intitle him to any of that same authority , to which by his baptism , he professes his subjection ? he is indeed so far from being a publick person in his baptism , that the obligation and benefits of his baptism , are wholly personal to himself , none of his subjects , being in the least , concerned in it . if he had acted as a publick person in it , his single act had obliged all his subjects , and would have consequently intituled them to all the benefits of his stipulation . but this is more than our adversaries will pretend in this case . how then can an act purely personal , intitle him to an accession of spiritual authority ? § lviii . a whole nation , by baptism , may be made one society in the church , without prejudice to their being still a society distinct from it . thus far therefore it is certain , that a prince's admission into the church , is not alone sufficient for a coalition of the state into one body with the church , because that other body of the state , whereof he is head , is not the least concern'd in this act of his as a private person , not as a publick , much less as a head of any body at all . suppose we therefore the generality of a state converted and baptized also . this will indeed make them one body with the church . but on the same terms as it made the prince one , that is , on the church's terms , not on theirs : that is , by so many repeated personal acts qualifying them for , and receiving baptism , as there are supposed to be particular persons in that whole secular society , and as so many private persons , not as invested with any publick authority in another society . still , therefore , proselites of that kind , how numerous soever , can never hurt the authority of that society , into which they are incorporated only , as so many private persons . a whole nations therefore , how populous soever , coming in on these terms , cannot change the spiritual society from what they find it . they add to the numbers of the subjects of the spiritual society , and in that regard , should rather advance , than diminish , the authority of that new society into which they are incorporated and as their accession to the church cannot make any change in the government of the church , so neither in their one . their admission into the church being only the act of so many private persons singly considered , can therefore not concern them as a society , can therefore no way affect them as publick persons , and as concerned for the government of the society , into which they were incorporated before . there is therefore on neither side any explicite renunciation of ancient rights , nor yet by any fair interpretation . their coalition into one body with the church , does not dissolve the same relation they had formerly to different societies , on different considerations . the bishop , though he act the part of a publick person in admitting them into his own spiritual society , does not thereby put off his former subjection as to temporals , nor acquire any thing inconsistent therewith . nor does the magistrate by his subjection in spirituals , profess any thing not fairly reconcilable with his temporal sovereignity . their coalition therefore into one body , is very well consistent with their still continuing as distinct societies as they were before . nor does our worthy adversay object any thing to prove the contrary , but that upon conversion and baptism of the seculars , the church and state consist of the same persons . how should the church and state make two distinst societies , says he , where the church and state consist of the very same persons ? the very same way , say i , as our k. edward the iii. was , at the same time , a sovereign of england , and subject of france , when he swore homage to philip of valois for his dominions in france . yet who doubts but england and france were then two distinst and perfectly independent societies ? the same way as the bishop himself was the head of the church , and yet a subject of the state , therefore a member of both societies , antecedently to any such conversions , or any pretence that could be therefore made , for a coalition of both into one society . conversion therefore , thought it bring all persons into one society of the church , yet does not hinder but that the two societies of the church and state , continue as distinct from each other as formerly , whilst the same things remain that made them two societies formerly . and conversions do not hinder but that they may still remain so . still , the spirituals and temporals , are as distinct as ever . still , the same right continue for the bishops to be the competent judges of spirituals , as the magistrate are , of temporals . still , the same distinction of laws continues , by which the two societies are governed as formerly . that the church is to be governed by the church , which are made by a consent of the ecclesiasticks , and that the state is governed by the laws , which receive their sanction from the lay-authority . still , the independence continues , that the bishops are as supream unappealable judges for spirituals , as the magistrates are for temporals . conversions i am sure , do not hinder , but that this also might have remained as it did formerly . for such a coalition of the two societies as our adversary reasons for it , would be necessary that the government of one of the societies should surrender , or acknowledge a dependence on the government of the other . but neither of them can be pretended at the first conversions of magistrates . neither of them now , in the case of the church of england . the name of head , on which our adversary insists , is long ago laid aside by q. elizabeth . and one of our articles disowns all pretensions of our princes to the power of preaching the word , and administring the sacraments . this article is ratified , and made law by an act of parliament . upon these considerations , we can fairly take the oath of supremacy , as thus intrepreted by the legislators themselves , without owning any subjection of the bishops , as to causes purely spiritual , to the supream magistrate , even in england . so far the church and state are yet , even here , from being made one society , as our adversary pretends . the examples of bishops taking out patents for the right of giving orders , were , i believe , never known before the reign of henry the viii . and that i hope our adversary himself will not plead as a reign of presidents . if he do , the liberties of the people will be no more secure , than those of the clergy . nothing was security against him , who made such manifest invasions on the two fundamental securities , magna charta , and his own oath , taken at his coronation . thus clear it is , that conversions alone could not make any change in the rights of power in spirituals , of which the church was possessed before , notwithstanding that the converts are thereby made one body with the church , with which they were not one formerly . § lix the church's obligations are more necessary for the subsisting of the state , than those she receives from the state are for hers . if therefore the majestrate will lay claim to a right in spirituals , it must be on some other account than bare conversion . that , he must rather lose , than gain by , as i have already shewn , because in his conversion he comes to the bishop's terms , not the bishop to his . our adversaries therefore have another pretence for his superiority in purely spirituals . that is , the benefit that the church enjoys by the magistrate's favour and protection , the honours and profits annex'd to the sacred offices , and the security she has thereby against adversaries , and the assistance of the secular arm for reducing rebellious subjects by secular coercions . for these things they think her obliged in gratitude , to remit some of her former rights , by way of compensation for them . and this obligation in gratitude they conceive sufficient to engage her to an implicite and intrepretative contract to continue this remitting of rights on her part if she will , in reason , expect that the magistrate shall continue his favours . but , i confess , i cannot see , proceeding on principles that must be granted by all who believe religion , but that the disadvantage will still lye on the side of the magistrate . for by this way of reasoning , the implicite contract for remitting rights , will lye on that side which is most obliged ; and that side will appear most obliged , which receives more benefit by the commerce than it gives . for this consideration of remitting right , on account of gratitude , comes only in by way of compensation for what is wanting on its own side , to make the benefit it confers equal to that which it receives . but i cannot imagine how the magistrate can pretend his favours equal to those which he receives by religion , especially the true religion . so far he is from exceeding them , so as to expect any compensation for arrears due to him on ballancing his accounts . it is by religion , and by those obligations which nothing but religion can make sacred and inviolable , that he holds his very throne it self . if he hold his throne by compact , nothing but religion can hold the subjects to the contract made by them . if by any other right , nothing but that can oblige them to pay him that which by any sort of right soever is his due . where he has no force to exact duty from them , nothing can restrain them but ties of conscience , and nothing alse can lay a restraint on their conscience but religion . where he has a power of force , yet even that is not near so formidable at the irresistible power of heaven , and the fear of future and eternal punishments . no considerations but those , can curb them from secret practices , which oftentimes subvert the greatest humane force by degrees insensible , and therefore unaviodable . nor is any religion so conget on these accounts , as that which is truest and most acceptable to god. god may be obliged , by the general laws of providence , for the general good of mankind , to inflict imprecations made for securing faith , even in false religions . but he is most present at the offices of his owe establishment , and therefore they have the greatest reason to fear them who imprecate in that form which is most suitable to the ture religion , no religion so formidable at that which threatens future and eternal pains in case of violation . no religion can so well assure us of the future and eternal state , as revealed religion . no revelation so well evidenced by credentials attesting it in ages of writings and accurate information , as our christian religion . no one communion even of christians , so just and equal against invasions on either side , either of the church , or the magistrate , as that of the primitive christians ; and of these churches which lately came the nearest to those primitive , in these late flourishing dominions . thus it is every way certain , that the church does more contribute to the security of the state , than that secular protection , which is all the state can contribute , does to the security of the church . the church can subsist by her own principles , if she will be true to them , without the support of external power . the state cannot subsist without force , nor secure her possession of a coercive power , without the support of religion . thus , even in point of necessity , the church is more necessary to the state , than the state is to the church . § lx. the benefits received by the state from the church , are also greater than those which the church receives from the state. nor only so . but the obligations on the church's side are greater , and more beneficial to the seculars , than those of the seculars can be to the ecclesiasticks . and this is withal a great consideration in judging concerning the measures of gratitude , and the extent of what is to be done , in order to a compensation . the greatness of the benefit on one side , is the principal thing that requires additional offices on the other side , to make an equality on both sides , which is that which we call a compensation . indeed the necessity of it is no otherwise a consideration in this matter , than as the need we have of a thing adds to the price expected for it in ordinary commerce . but the benefits of religion are without compare beyond all that can be pretended from the power of the state. consider we the supream magistrate in his own person ; and all that he enjoys as a prince , is not to be mentioned with what he may expect as a member of the true cammunion , and a professor of the true religion . our saviour himself has told us , that his gaining the whole world , is no purchase nor profit , if he lose his own soul for it , and that nothing can make amends for such a loss . the magistrate who believes his christian religion true , cannot avoid believing this . and how can he that does so , think the church in his arrear for his favour and protection ? this is , and in reason ought to be , of more censequence to him than his crown and scepter , which are a very small part of the purchase mentioned by our lord , nay , than the flourishing of the whole community for which he is concern'd . but we may consider him further as a publick person , inspired with a publick spirit , and with all that zeal for the good of his community , which becomes his noble publick station . consider him as devested from all private , though greater interests , in his acts relating to the publick ; yet even so he must believe the whole society , for which he is concerned , more obliged by being admitted into the true church , than that any thing that he can do by the power and interest of his whole society , can ever recompence it . so far he is from any hopes of supererogating and obliging the ecclesiasticks more than they deserve , though all the favour done , were no more than their admitting his whole society , into the true communion . the saving of one soul is , in our saviour's now mentioned doctrine , a greater benefit than what can be performed by the greatest worldly power . but the receiving his whole community into their priviledged society , is a publick benefit to the whole community , and a benefit of the highest kind , far exceeding that of which a single-soul is capable , which yet is too great for him to hope to recompence . as therefore he is obliged upon account of his socitey , to be grateful for kindnesses received from the church , so he never can hope by all the publick power of the society of which he is possessed , to make even with the ecclesiasticks . when he has done all he can , his good will must by the ecclesiasticks be accepted for his deed . how can he then oblige them to any further accounts on their part ; that are to be made up by cession of their just rights ? even as to temporals , the whole body of the state , and the prince as concerned for the body , are more obliged to the true religion , and the society in which alone it is to be had , than they are ever able to requite . not now to mention the temporal blessings to which they are hereby intitled , godliness having the promises of this life , as well as of that which is to come ; all that justice in conversation , all that sweetness and obligingness which their duty to god obliges religious persons to shew to all with whom they converse ; all that sincerity and open heartedness which makes mankind love , and trust , and please each other , are the most genuine fruits of the true religion , where it is heartily believed and practised . it can therefore be nothing but inconsideratness , and disbelief , and forgetfulness of the true value of things upon sober consideration , that can tempt the magistrate to think that the church is so over-obliged to him for his protection , as to need a compensation . § lxi . if the state had been capable of conferring the greater obligations , yet a good pious magistrate could not , in reason , desire su●h a recompence as should oblige the church to yield any of her ancient rights . it rather on the contrary appears , that the greatest obligations are on the church's side , and that therefore what compensation by cession of ancient rights , was necessary on account of gratitude , was rather to be expected from the magistrate . the best and most pious magistrates have always thought so , who were certainly the most competent judges of matters of religion . yet supposing it possible , that the state could supererogate ▪ a pious magistrate would never desire nor accept of such a recompence , as should oblige the clergy to yield their ancient and original rights , conferred on them by god himself at their first establishment . he would presume that power was necessary for the good of the spiritual society , which god was pleas'd to put them in possession of , antecedently to the favours of secular princes , and could not find in his heart to deprive the spiritual society of any power which god himself had judged necessary for it . he might the rather presume it concernin a society instituted under a persecution , and designed to continue the same under all the revolutions , not only of his own , but all other states in the world. he would consider himself also as a trustee of the power committed to him by god , and therefore under an obligation to manage the trust in that way that he could judge most agreeable to the mind of him who had committed the trust to him . he would therefore think himself obliged to value all things according to the value that god has put upon them ; principally to regard that which was principal in the design of god , and to make all other considerations subservient to it , which god intended should be so . this would oblige him to make all designs for the temporal prosperity of his subjects , ultimately useful for the publick good of their souls . this would oblige him further , to mind that in the first place , and principally those expedients which more immediately tend to the promoting it , and all other temporal politicks no otherwise , nor further , than as they also may promote it , or at least be consistent with it . and in this way of reasoning , i know not how he could avoid preferring the spiritual , before his own authority , and therefore managing his own authority in subserviency to it , for the promoting and supporting it , not for diminishing it . this i am sure every truly christian magistrate , must look on as more solid and judicious reasoning , from the principles of the christian religion , and securer therefore for his last accounts to god , and his soul 's eternal interest , than to suffer himself to be influenced in matters of so momentous a nature , by atheistical fooleries and flirts of being priest-ridden . this therefore being supposed , how conscious soever such a magistrate might be of his own good will to the church , yet he would not be willing to accept of any branch of that power which god had judged necessary for her , that himself might have the managing it for her interest . he would not think it for the glory of his time , upon any pretence whatsoever , to leave that holy society more destitute of power than he found her . he must needs think , that god's own settlement of it was the wisest , that they were fittest for administring the power , who , by the nature of their function were best qualified to understand the causes in which it was conversant , and who were most concerned for the good of the society , for whose use god had given it ; and who by obligations of conscience , and by being destitute of external force , were the least likely to design , and least able to carry on encroachments to the injury of lriva powers . he would not be willing that a successor should be trusted with an administration of such a power , which , if ill administred , might prove of so dangerous consequence to the church's walfare , and for whose good meaning he has not that security as he has for his own . he would not easily trust , even his own partiality , of his own mutability , with it . these would be the natural reasonings of a generous and well minded prince : and methinks they should be so of pious and generous parliaments also . here has been very much zeal pretended for securing our church against a popish successor : this should make those who call themselves protestant parliaments , unwilling to challenge that as a right of parliaments in general , which may put it in the power of a popish parliament , and indeed of any other that may be of another communion , to dissolve our church , as this power of lay deprivations will certainly do , if they may be allowed as sufficient to discharge us from our spiritual duties to our so deprived bishops . § lxii , princes have been allowed by the church a right to keep persons out , not yet canonically possessed ; but not to turn any out , who were already in possession of bishopricks . and that without any proper cession of right on the church's part . thus it has appear'd , that a well meaning magistrate to the interest of the church , and religion , has neither obligation nor equity to expect such a cession of spiritual rights on the churches part , as a compensation for his protection , nor would himself be inclinable to think he had any . what ill meaning ones may expect , is not worthy our regard . such are too partially concerned , to be taken for competent judges in affairs of this nature : they neither deserve such a cession , nor indeed are fit to be trusted with it . however we deny not , but that the magistrate has a right in the disposal of those favours which are requisite for the churches interest in order to a legal settlement and protection . and he has withal thereupon a right to expect a security to be given him for his own temporal power , against invasions from the ecclesiasticks , in consideration even of that act of justice , of securing them also from the like invasions from the temporal power , by his employing it in their defence , though he be otherwise obliged in conscience to protect that which himself believes to be the true religion and the true communion . but then this is no proper cession of spiritual rights . for even antecedently to the amicable correspondence between the church and state , the church was as much obliged in conscience to forbear encroachments on the temporal rights , as the magistrate was on the spiritual . only the difference was , that before the correspondence , the church her self took upon her to judge concerning the trustiness of the persons put in office by her , having then no access to the civil magistrate ; but afterwards she suffered him to judge himself of his own security . that was by not having bishops imposed upon him to enjoy his temporals annexed to their office , without his own approbation which was no more than what was generally reasonable on equal terms . this sometimes allowed him a power at first of stopping any person proposed if he did not like him , sometimes of pitching on the person by the right of a lay patron . so also he was allowed to judge concerning canons , whether they might prove prejudical to the temporal government , before he seconded them with his temporal government , and by secular coercions , which was also very just and equal , without any cession on the churches side . for this was only allowing him to judge where his own power and right was concerned . but then this right was only to keep out a person who was not yet possessed of the power he pretended to , by even the spiritual right of consecration , and therefore no act of authority upon a bishop properly so called , but only on a candidate for the office. but there was never any act of the ancient church so much as pretended , that i know of , that ever allowed princes to turn bishops out of their spiritual rights , without synods , when they were once canonically possessed of them . no emperors of the same communion that acted sedately , and like persons who regarded principles , who ever attempted it , without at least packing or pretending synods for the deprivation of bishops . the canons omitted by the doctor are sufficient , if there were no more , to shew that this was , at least , the sense of the church , and jurisdiction of the constantinopolitan patriarchate . and even this power that was allowed , was allowed on obligation of interest , not of conscience . none could pretend to the temporals annexed to the episcopal office without the princes consent . and whilst the correspondence between the church and the prince held , there was no need of separating the spiritual rights form the temporal . but the church was at perfect liberty in conscience , if she was willing to want the temporals , to give the spiritual power alone , and much more to continue it , where it was already given , if she judged the prince's impositions more prejudicial to her spiritual society , than his favour was advantageous ; and when that case fell , she was to judge . thus much therefore may be allowed the magistrate on account of his own right , without any thoughts of cession of the church's rights , and without any acknowledgment of obligation from the magistrate that should make a cession necessary , or so much as reasonable . and the acknowledging a liberty in the magistrate to keep out , does not in any equity of interpretation infer a right to turn out bishops , and absolve their subjects from their duties to them in spirituals , and with regard to conscience , this being greater than the right that is confessed . thus therefore there is not the least ground for an implicite compact on the church's side , for cession of her rights and liberties . for this cannot be proved , but from the nature of a greater obligation , than can be othewise made amends for , without a cession , or a grant of things greater than that of deprivation : neither of which can be here so much as pretended , and therefore the church cannot in reason be pretended to have done it by a tacite consent , or an implicite compact . and for an explicite compact , that may seem to have agreed to it , i do not think our adversaries can pretend any , before that reign of violence , against sacred rights , especially , of henry viii . a prince unbounded by any sense of right whatsoever whether sacred or secular . § lxiii . the power of turning out bishops once possessed , too great to be granted on any consideration whatsoever . indeed the nature of this is such as cannot be granted by any society that is absolute , on any consideration whatsoever . no obligations that can be lay'd on a society can be valued by it more than its own subsistence . it must be , to be capable , of receiving obligations , and it must have a security of its continuance , in order to its having a security , that the obligations shall be continued also . it s subsistence therefore is antecedent to all possible obligations , and therefore the securing that , is of more importance to it than any possible obligations . no present obligations , can be a sufficient recompence for them , to put it in the power of another , to dissolve and destroy them as a society . especially such obligations , which concern them principally , as they are a society . they are therefore only obligations perpetual , that can pretend to be an equivalent for a society , ( that may promise to it self perpetuity , if governed by it self ) to put it self in the power of another society , of interests seperable from its own . but that such obligations to their society , shall be perpetual , they can have no security , unless they be first secured , that the society it self shall be so . and for this , it is a very justly suspicious circumstance , if the magistrate , who pretends to confer the obligations , refuses to do it , but on condition that the bishops will submit to hold during his pleasure . he who designs to weaken the security they have already , is justly to be suspected of a design on the security it self . and the church must needs look on it as a diminution of the security , for her subsistence , if from subsisting as long as her self pleases , ( so she may do , whilst she has her own government in her own hands ) she must be reduced to depend on the pleasure of another , of affections variable from her interests . she has therefore reason to break off all treaty with a magistrate , who should openly treat with her on such terms , as the sheep were obliged to do ( in the apologue of demosthenes ) when the wolves are said to have made specious proffers of peace , and future kindnesses , on a like condition that the dogs ( which were the only real security the sheep had to oblige the wolves to performance ) should be delivered up to be destroyed by them . so semiramis when no doubt with great professions of good will , she had prevailed with ninus to allow her the liberty of commanding his dominions for one only day , secured it to her self for ever , by destroying him before the time appointed for her resignation . for to allow this power to the prince of depriving the supreme governours of the church , i know not how it can be contrived without danger of ruine to the whole society , or at least , without lessening the security it has , whilst it is confined to the ecclesiasticks . to allow him a power of derpiving alone , without a power of filling their sees by substituting successors , will not indeed involve us in schisms by communicating with those who administer their jurisdiction for them by authority derived from themselves , tho' the bishops themselves cannot interpose in the administration of it . but it will at least disable the incumbent ordinary , to perform any episcopal office for his life , if the the magistrate be pleased so long to disable him for it . and by the same reason as this is granted concerning any one , it may hold concerning the whole episcopal college in the dominions , if he be pleased , with a design of ruining the spiritual society , to deprive them all for the same term , of their several lives . for this must evidently hazard the whole succession , and dissolve the constitution of the church , and in the next age , at least , in the opinion of the greatest part of christendom , if none of the bishops in being , be permitted to secure the succession by new consecrations . for this is a power greater , than what is supposed to be in those who exercise their jurisdiction in their absence . the presbyteries , may perform what is requisite for their own time . but the power of ordination , is not given them , without which a succesion cannot be secured to posterity . to provide against this intolerable consequence , the church is obliged to take care that the supplying the sees with new bishops , be not deferred so long till the whole episcopal order be extinguished . either therefore the magistrates deprivation must discharge the subjects from their obligations in conscience to the first bishops , or it must not . if it do not discharge them , the second bishop who is consecrated into a full see , where duty is still obliging , must be a schismatick , and break the spiritual society in pieces by intestine divisions among themselves . if he may discharge them , then his depriving all the bishops , must be taken for a discharge of the subjects of all the diocesses in his dominions , from their duty to all their bishops , which must consequently disable them to do any episcopal act in any of them all , for preservation of the church , or of their own order , if the obligation of such deprivations , may be supposed to extend to conscience . thus the church must necessarily be dissolved and destroyed whenever the magistrate with the consent , and assistance of the greater society , shall be pleased to dissolve it . this is inevitable wherever two absolute independent societies by compacts do unite in one , under the government of one of them as absolutely supreme . our adversaries themselves will grant it in the other case of encroachment of the ecclesiasticks , on the rights of the secular magistates . when the pope was allowed a power of depriving princes of their crown , and absolving their subjects from their duties , and oaths taken to them , it was impossible for secular governments to defend themselves against the pope , tho' then the removal only of the person was the thing pretended . in this case , our adversaries themselves are sensible that the whole society is concerned in him , who has the power of the whole society , and the whole right of governing is concerned when a possessor is put out , who has as much right by the establishment as any other can have who shall pretend to succeed him . and why can they not see the inevitableness of the same consequences , in the contrary encroachments of the state upon the church , maintained by themselves . this therefore is a power too great to be recompenced by any possible obligations the state can put upon the church , and therefore such as ought not to be alienated upon any possible pretence of obligation . § lxiv . in this case , particularly , no temporal favour whatsoever can make amends for the loss of the benefits of the spiritual so ciety . there can therefore be no implicite contracts for such an exchange that can in equity oblige the ecclesiastical governours to performance , tho' it had been in their power to make such a contract . particularly , this reasoning holds in our present case , more strongly than it would in others . it may indeed be possible , by being members of another society , that all the particulars of which a society does consist , may enjoy greater advantages by being dissolved into another society , than by being a society by themselves , and at their own disposal . and a case may therefore fall out , wherein a less beneficial society , may not only put their liberties in the power of another more beneficial society , to be by it disiolved at pleasure , but may also actually surrender their very liberties themselves , in consideration of greater benefits , to all the particulars of the less beneficial society , not only than those which they possess on account of their incorporation , but also than that liberty also which they enjoy on account of their independency , which is it self also a very valuable benefit , and adds considerably to the other advantages of their present society , in the common esteem of mankind . but for this , two things are requisite to make the case practicable , neither of which are applicable to the subject of our present discourse first , the benefits of the new society , must indeed be more valuable than those of the old one , together with their liberty considered into the bargain . 2dly . they who are possessed of the rights of the old society , must be possessed of them on their own accounts , not as trustees of any other , that so they may have no further obligation to preserve them , than their own present interests in them , and may therefore be at liberty to accept of considerations of graeter present interest . if either of these considerations fail , they cannot think themselves obliged in equity to stand to such a contract , especially where no more is pretended than an implicite one , not expressed in words , but gathered only from considerations of equity . and here neither of them can be so much as pretended . first it cannot be pretended that any secular favours or immunities whatsoever can make amends for the benefits of their present spiritual society . this has been proved already . i shall therefore here take it for granted . indeed it is in our present case so very manifest , that i need no great favour of our adversaries themselves to give me leave to do so . supposing it therefore granted , all the rules of equitable reasoning in the sense of those ages wherein the state first became christian , will relieve the church against any such pretentions , as are here insisted on , of an implicite contract for surrendring her independency . societies had in the roman civil law ( which is the best standard for judging what was thought equitable in those times ) the same favour as minors , from being obliged by over-reaching contracts . and indeed there was reason for it , when their interests were transacted by others who as seldom consulted the sense of the communities , as guardians did their pupils , and who were liable to as just suspicions of corrupt insidious dealings , and private interests , as guardians were . this therefore would allow the church a restitution in integrum , a perfect rescission of such a contract , made in her name by her representatives , where the disadvantage was in it so manifest , as the alienating spiritual rights in exchange for temporal ; and the contract had yet proceeded no further than to be implicite only and interpretative . indeed here the very representatives themselves might expect to be relieved in equity . for , receiving a valuable consideration , is that which is expresly mention'd , even in our modern contracts , even where that valuable consideration it self is not mentioned , purposely to prevent their revecableness , if it had not been mentioned . it is therefore supposed that when the consideration is not valuable in comparison with the right contracted for , it is but reasonable in equity , that such a contract be rescinded . especially , where the contract is not expressed in words , there is no reason in equity to presume that any such alienation was intended . all that can be pretended in this case , is , that the prince's favour , and protection , is accepted of by the representatives of the church . but how does it appear , without an explicite contract , that it is accepted of with a design of entring into a contract ? how does it appear , that it is accepted of as a consideration ? how does it appear , that any right , on their own side , is intended to be parted with in consideration of it ? how does it appear , but that it is thought already sufficiently required in the favour already conferred on the prince and his subjects , in admitting them into a society so much more beneficial than their own ? if any cession of rights , had been thought of , why must it needs be of a right , so essential to its subsistence and continuance , as that is of the independence of the supream govornours of their own society ? how can it appear , that in accepting of the prince's favours , such a contract as this was ever thought of ? nay the very unequalness of it would be in equity a strong presumption , that it was not though of , nor intended , nor ever would have been consented to , if it had been expresly insisted on . it is certain many kindnesses are accepted of , without any thoughts of a contract , it is strongly presumable such an alienation as this , would never have been consented to , if it had been thought of . here is no proof of a contract , but bare acceptance . on these considerations , there can be no reason or equity to oblige the ecclesiasticks to stand to so partial an interpretation of a contract imposed on them by their adversaries . indeed there can be no such contract at all , as an implicite one , which can be no otherwise proved , but by reasonable equitable interpretation . § lxv . but here it is not in the power of the ecclesiastical governours to make such a contract . thus much might have been pleaded for discharging the church officers from these obligations , though they had indeed a power to oblige themselves thus far , and had no more to do in this matter , than to consider whether there were prospects of present interest sufficient to induce them to it . but that is not the case here . all they can do , on any consideration whatsoever , by any however explicite compact is not sufficient to alienate that power , by which the church must again subsist , whenever the magistrate deserts her . for this power is not her own , but a trust commited to her by god , and a trust committed to her , with a design the power should be perpetuated . whatsoever therefore she does , she cannot oblige god by an act of alienation of it . so a servant that should alienate his lord's rights without his leave , cannot hinder his lord from challenging them again , nor any other servant who is impower'd by his lord to demand them . this is allowed among our hired servants , and much more with the roman slaves , to whom the scriptures allude in this matter . ( the apostles themselves call their office a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 words in the language of that time importing slavery . ) such were usually then intrusted with stewardships . and the lower degree of slavery , that of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 st. paul looks on as a higher dignity of his apostolical office. and he calls his power a trust , and a dispensation , and looks on himself as under an obligation of fidelity , to discharge it according to the mind of him who had committed the trust to him . this was undoubtedly to signify the nature of his power by the roman civil laws received at that time , which allowed servants to acquire actions to their masters , but not alienate them without their express command . the apostles themselves therefore were not at liberty to alienate this trust committed to them upon any considerations whatsoever of their own private convenience ; nor much less can they do it , who now succeed them in a power , indeed derived from them ; but in many particulars more limited than theirs was . besides this power is intrusted with them not for themselves only , but for the interest also of souls in general . thence it appears that they cannot be allowed to dispose of it on considerations relating to their private interests . as it is a trust for others , the same notions will take place here which did with the roman tutors and curators , who where also officers in trust for managing an interest which was none of their own . nothing they did to the prejudice of the pupil could oblige him to performance . especially if they presumed to alienate any part of the inheritance entrusted with them on considerations of private interests of their own . such contracts were perfectly rescinded , and left no obligation on him to ratify them when he came to age , as other contracts might , which were beneficial to him . here therefore they could lay no obligation on god , to ratify their alienation of the power intrusted with them , to the civil magistrate . and yet without a right obliging god to ratify what was transacted by the ecclesiastical governours , all the conveyances they could pretend to make of their spiritual rights to the magistrate , must be perfectly insignificant for then god may still own him for a bishop who is deprived by the magistrate , and disown that person as an intruder , who is substituted into his office by the lay power . for it is god's act alone that can determine the question as to right , and with regard to conscience seeing therefore the ecclesiastical governours cannot confer a right upon the magistrate to have his acts ratified by god ; after all the compacts they can make , the right continues as it was before . they who had the right of making and depriving bishops , have the same right still , and may resume the exercise of it when they please , and are obliged to do so , as they will approve themselves faithful to their trust , when they shall judge the exigences of the church to require it . what then can their contract signify , be it never so express ? it on the contrary appears , that no consideration whatsoever of private interest , can be a reasonable inducement for ecclesiastical governours to enter into such contracts , not only because they cannot validly oblige themselves , or confer any valid right upon the magistrate in this matter , which he had not before ; but even in consideration of their own interest . suppose the favours of the magistrate were indeed sufficient to countervail the personal benefits they enjoyed , purely on account of their being the heads of a distinct independent body ; yet it cannot be denyed but that the punishment they have reason to fear from god on account of their falshood to their trust , is without comparison greater than what can be recompenced by the civil magistrate . § lxvi . it is not agreeable to the mind of god , that the church should so concorporate with the state , as that the bishops should be deprivable at the pleasure of the civil magistrate . indeed the nature of the spiritual society as constituted by god is such , as that it cannot be thought agreeable to the mind of god , that it should so concorporate with the state , as wholly to depend on the authority of the civil magistrate , so as that its supream governours , the bishops , should be subject to him in spirituals also . it is not agreeable to his mind that the more noble society should be subjected to that which is less noble ; that the interests of souls which are more valuable in his esteem than all the kingdoms of the world , should depend on the pleasures of particular princes , and the interests of their particular little districts . it is not agreeable , that he should trust a government of principal importance , in the hands of those who are not likely to regard it , as their principal employment , who make the world their principal study , and take their understanding that , and its concers throughly to be the principal accomplishment they are capable of , for the discharging of that which they take to be their principal office , and who either take no pains at all to understand the concerns of religion , or do it no otherwise than as it is consistent with their other employments , which are not indeed of that importance as matters of religion are . it is much more likely that he intended that it should continue , as himself had settled it at its first establishment , in the hands of those whose principal care it should be to mind it as it deserves , that is , principally , and other things , no otherwise than as they may prove subservient to it . it is no way likely that he would have religion left to their disposal , who by their office think themselves obliged to be swayed principally by their worldly interests , than which there is hardly any thing more contradictory to the great ends of religion ; to make reformation of manners necessary to be begun by courts , which are usually the originals of the corruptions of that kind , and the great hindrances to well meant designs of reformation . an obvious consequence of such a trust would be , that religion , which princes do not take for their principal work , must be made subservient to their worldly politicks , which princes generally take for their principal employment . and who can think that god would ever intend that a religion at first established in a state of independency on the secular power , should afterwards be brought to a state precarious , and depending on the pleasure of the secular magistrate ? gods establishing it otherwife at first shewed plainly that it was better for the church to be independent on the state , whensoever there should be any difference between it and the secular magistrate . this withal we are certain of , that god is not changeable as man is ; but that whilst the same reason holds , or when the same case returns , his mind will be the same as it was before . when ever therefore the magistrate who has once favoured the church , shall again desert it , and withdraw his protection from it ; we must then conclude that the church is in the same condition she was in before the magistrate received her into his protection ; and therefore that it is gods pleasure also that she should subsist then , as she had done before , on her own government . on her own government , i say , as well qualified now , as formerly , for continuance , and perpetuity , by its independence on the pleasure of the magistrate . this is indeed the only way of knowing gods pleasure concerning a case , where no now revelation is so much as pretended , as none is here , even by our adversaries . this therefore being certain , that , in case of a new breach , gods pleasure is that the church should again be independent ; it will be also certain , that in the interval ; whilst the good correspondence holds between the two societies , god cannot allow such an alienation of power as shall disable her , in case of a now breach , to persist on her old terms . this will requite that the old society be preserved with the old government of bishops during the interval . for the church is not such a society as other humane ones , that can be set up at pleasure by the agreement of the particular members of which it consists , whenever they are free from other antecedent inconsistent obligations . this is a society erected by god , and requires governours authorized by him more than other civil societies do , for obliging him to confer spiritual blessings exceeding the power of the members considered in themselve . god has given them no reason to expect , when the breach shall fall , that he will extraordinarily empower men immediatly as he did the apostles . the only way therefore for securing the continuance of the church , is to keep up a body of governours . authorized by the apostles in that succession , which has been derived from them to our present times , which cannot be , unless the succession it self be continued on , in all the interval of good correspondence . this therefore requires that they do not suffer themselves so to be incorporated into the state , as to have no governours of their own acting by a highery authority than what can be derived from the prince . this consideration alone is sufficient to disprove our adversaries fancy concerning the coalition of the two bodies , under the king as the common head of both of them , when , in the mean time , the church is obliged to continue in her bishops a power not derivable by any patents from the king . this power therefore not derived from him , must be perfectly independent on him . and indeed no power but what is so , can justify , and make practicable , a resumption of ancient rights . for what ever depends on the magistrate , may , and will in course , be taken from the bishop when the correspondence is interrupted . if therefore , when it is taken away the bishop has then no right to govern , he cannot expect god will ratify any exercise of a power to which he can pretend no right . but without god's ratifying what is done by the authority , and good reason to presume that god is obliged to ractify it , such a government can signify nothing for keeping the society in a body , that has nothing to recommend it , but consideratinos relating to god and conscience . the alienation therefore of this power so necessary for securing the society , being so plainly against the mind of god in giving the power , no act of alienation of it , can expect a ratification from god , and therefore it must be originally null and invalid . § lxvii . the magistrate is by no means , a competent iudge of the church's interests . besides , there are other things so peculiar to the design of god , in instituting the spiritual society , that make it by no means probable , that it was his pleasure , that it should coalesce into one society with the state under one common supream government , both for spiritisals and temporals . it is inconsistent with the office of the supream magistrate , to endure that his subjects should live under a state of perpetual violence from another power , without using his utmost endeavours to resit it . the church may , and often must , submit to a persucution , when it is not otherwise in her power to avoid it but by resistance . she may with great generosity choose a persecution , when she judges it to be for the interests of religion , and it is her glory to overcome evil with good , and to subdue her enemies rather with patience and constancy , than arms and open violence . she can still subsist and gain by such a state , whereas the civil state is perfectly dissolved when once that violence becomes irresistable . the magistrate is , by the law of nations , allowed to return violence for violence , and to do many things when provoked by his enemy , which the church can never decently do on any provocation whatsoever . it is for the interest of the magistrate ( if he look on religion as his interest ) that the church should be free in her actings for reformation of manners , which she cannot be , if the bishops must , at his pleasure , be turned out of their office , for no other reason , but their being faithful to it . the church withal was designed by god for a society that should correspond all the world over , as they did anciently by their communicatory letters , as to spirituals . for her censures can significe nothing for reclaiming hereticks or ill livers , if they extend no further than her own jurisdiction ; if they exclude not from catholick , as well as diocesan communion . she ought therefore to enquire into new opinions , as they may occasion difference of communion , that she may neither recommend heriticks to the communion with foreign churches , nor receive them to her own communion , if recommended by them . this cannot be done by single bishops , because in these things , at least , they are to proceed by a common rule , and unanimously , not as in other things , only by a majority of suffrages , because no differences of faith can be born with in the same communion , as differences of opinion may be , in other things of lesser importance . this will require frequent synods , such as they had farmerly before the state was christian , twice a year in course , besides what greater synods , might be thought necessary on extraordinary emergent cases but these cannot be had , if they must depend on the pleasure of the local magistrates . general synods cannot be had on these terms , without a general peace , and freedom from jealousies , in all the worldly state , or till all the dioceses in the world should come under the power of one secular magistracy . nor were there any synods of that kind before the conversion of the empire of the christian religion . however , the church was even then possessed of a right of meeting in provincial synods for her own affairs , without asking the magistrates leave , pursuant to the general right given her by god for propagating her religion . and even those provincial synods had such a correspondence as was absolutely requisite for settling unanimity and a good under standing between them . but since they have depended on the pleasure of local magistrates , not only this correspondence , but also the subordinate provincial and national synods have been discontinued . nor can this catholick correspondence which is notwithstanding so necessary for all ( even diocesane ) discipline , be retrieved , without the consent of so many local magistrates , as have churches in their dominions , if the churches must be concluded by these pretended contracts . but certainly christ could never intend , that a thing so universally necessary for that discipline which is to be continued in all ages of the church , should depend on a consent of so many different minds and interests as are veryrarely to be expected in any age. i see not therefore why it should be expected that christ should ratify such compacts against his own designs . § lxviii . the surrendry of the clergy in henry the viiith ' s time , cannot oblige their posterits now . thus it appears , that no contract has been made generally , and that none can be made validly , for alienating the church's right , of which she was possessed before the conversion of princes . thence may be judged how little obliging those act of the clergy in the sacrilegious reign of henry the viiith were , for obliging themselves and their posterity , never to meet for affairs concerning their spiritual function without the prince's leave . had that right been a property of their own conferred on them by a humane conveyance for the private benefit of their function , they might indeed have pretended a right to oblige posterity by those acts of resignation . but considering it as a right not conferred , but entrusted by god himself for greater ends than their own private interests ; thy can pretend no right to hinder posterity from resuming the priviledges then surrendred , whenever they shall judge them necessary for those great ends for which their function was entrusted with them . especially what the magistrate either has , or can do , in consideration of that surrendry , falling infinitely short of being an equivalent . besides it is manifest , that the surrendry then made , was perfectly forced on them , as well as the fine was laid upon the whole body of the clergy ' on account of the praemunire they had incurred for owning cardinal wolsey's legatine power . it has therefore , on that account also , that consideration of the force by which it was extorted , for discharging posterity , from its obligation , which , added to the considerations now mentioned , will free it every way from the obligation of the contract . all that can be said for it , must be grounded on some antecedent right that the prince might pretend before his force ; and therefore it must not wholly be resolved into this extorted surrendry . for if the prince had no right before his force , he could have none afterwards , on account of conscience , whatever he might pretend by human secular laws . for his force without any antecedent right , had been no other but downright injustice , which could not entitle him , nor his successors , to any right in conscience . especially where the right it self is of that nature , as it is here , that it belongs to a higher than human secular judicatory . it therefore concerns our advesaries to consider what they can pretend for that right antecedent to that force . and i think what has already been proved , sufficient to cut them off from all pretensions of right by the constitutions of the gospel . for i have shewed , that the church was possessed of a right to govern her self independently in visible districts and jurisdictions before any conversions of princes . i have shewn withal , that no contract either was made , or could be made , that could dispossess her of that right , with regard to conscience . if therefore they will pretend to any such right antecedent to the forcible surrendry , it must be on some other topick than that of the constitution of the gospel . the tell us therefore , that the jewish kings in the old testament , ordered many things relating to religion . thence they infer , that our princes have the same power now . but , granting the fact true , that the jewish princes were invested with that power , it will however by no means follow , that our christian princes must be so now , if what i have already proved , hold true . for having directly proved , that the constitution of the gospel is otherwise ; the question then will be , whether precedents are to take place . and that in this case , cannot be difficult , according to the ordinary rules of judging concerning the practice of inconsistent laws . these rules are , that laws of greater importance take place of laws of lesser importance ; that later laws of even the same legislative power take place of elder laws , as being so far virtually repeals of them as their practice proves inconsistent : that laws more suited to present circumstances take place of those which were made on a remoter prospect of our present circumstances . and by all these rules there can be no doubt but that now all such legal precedents are to be overruled by the peculiar constitutions of the gospel . this , i am sure , is generally admitted in other reasonings of this kind . and there is nothing peculiar pleaded in this case , why jewish precedents should rather overrule here than in other instances . much less is there any reason , why they should take place at a distance , upon the first conversions of princes , when it is so manifest that they did not do so at the first settlement of the christian churches . however , as to this particular of deprivation , i have already given my reasons against the magistrates right , even in the times of the jews , and have answer'd already what has been pretended to the contrary , from the case of abiathar , and those other later deprivations by the heathen magistrates . and this is at present our principal dispute . § lxix . no reasoning from the rights of the jewish princes to the rights of christian princes now . indeed in this whole matter concerning reasoning from the jewish to the evangelical priesthood , i have taken care to argue barely from what was common to them both , the nature of priesthood in general , and in those very instances wherein even the apostolical christians admit the argument . our adversaries on the contrary when they reason from the princes power then , to the power of christian princes now ; they do not argue , as i have done from the priesthood simply considered , but from the power annexed to the priesthood , yet seperable from it , according to the design of god in the particular constitution . the power of governing the society , whose holy rights are administred by it , is , i confess , very seperable from the right of priesthood in general , and whether it was actually annexed to it , or not , is therefore to be judged by the particular constitution . but particularly for the jewish state , i rather believe that it was not annexed to it . for the right of government as annexed to the priesthood , is founded on the right the priest has to oblige subjects by excluding refractory persons as such , from partaking in his sacrifices . but so much erastus has , i think well observed , that the only things that then hindred from the sacrifices , were only legal incapacities , such as not being of the holy seed , or being under some legal pollution ; not any whatsoever immoralities of life . and therefore the punishment for not standing to the award of the priests was capital , as being a disobedience to so much of the secular government , as it was theocratical ; not exclusion from the sacrifices of those who had been contemned by the delinguent nor indeed was there that necessity that the government ; even as to spirituals , should be annexed to the priesthood then , as there is under the gospel now . the prince was then always obliged to be a jew , and therefore of the religion establish'd for that nation by god himself . now his being of an other than the true religion , is no hindrance by our modern constitutions , from having a lawful right to the secular government . then the prince had a better pretence , as the head of the theocracy , to command in affairs concerning god ; than any prince living can now , when no state pretends to be theocratical . then all the concerns of the peculium were confined to that single nation which was wholly commanded by one prince . now the concerns of every national church , are mixed with those of all the other national churches in the world , with whom their prince has no concern at all . this very consideration makes the national church's interests seperable from the interests of their prince ; of which he can therefore be by no means presumed a competent judge . that priesthood was not intended to be practicable in a time of persecution and independence on the civil government . on the contrary , the want of all the exercises of their religion was the most dejecting consideration of their captivities , and one of the greatest inducements for good men to be earnest with god in prayer for a restoration . they were then to be without a * priesthood , without an † ephod , without a teraphim . and the ‡ temple of the lord was the principal thing bemoaned by them who pretended any zeal for their nation or religion . no doubt on account of their losing all the comfort of sacerdotal ministrations which could be performed in no other place besides that particular temple . then the loss of their daily * sacrifices was the highest calamity that the antichrist then expected could bring upon them . and the perfect uselesness of the priests afther the destruction of the temple made titus put the priests to the sword when the obstinacy of the jews had obliged him to destroy the temple . so clear it was , that that was not a religion capable of subsisting in a persecution , as to the exercises of it as a communion . but it is withal as clear that our church was instituted in a persecution with a power of depriving disobedient subjects of the benefits of communion , and with a power of exercising sacredotal offices in that very state of independecy on the civil magistrate . and indeed that state was principally provided for here at the first institution of the church , which was not so much as designed in the jewish church , besides , the clear and express revelation of spiritual and eternal benefits conveyed by our evangelical priest-hood is a thing peculier to the gospel . yet this alone is sufficient to put it beyond all pretensions , even of a theocratical magistracy , designed only for temporals . thus therefore it every way appears that more power is by god himself annexed to the evangelical , than to the legal priest-hood . this therefore is sufficient to overthrow our adversaries reasoning here , that our princes now may challenge all that power that the jewish princes could formerly . for they cannot challenge that which , though it was not then , has yet been since annexed to our evangelical priest-hood . § lxx . our present deprivations not justifiable by even our present secular laws . yet after all , we can even from the laws of of our countrys , and the supremacy settled by those very laws , except against the sentence of deprevation passed against our fathers , as to their spirituals . the supremacy in causes ecclesiastical is , by all the acts made concerning it , vested , not in the parliament , but in the king . and even as it is in the king , it was never intended for him , so as that it might be in his power to confound the several courts and jurisdictions to which causes are appropriated by the laws themselves . the acts for the supremacy , even in temporals , do not allow him to transfar any cause from the court appointed for it to his own hearing out of it , nor even to any other court , than that to which the cognizance of it does properly belong . this holds , as in other cases , so in this also , of the deprivations of spiritual persons . and it is own'd to hold by mr. hooker himself in that very book to which we are referred by our adversaries . he owns it with express application to the case of the king himself , the seat of the supremacy in spirituals . he tells us , that , all men are not for all things sufficient , and therefore publick affairs being divided , such persons must be authorized judges in each kind , as common reason may presume to be most fit . which cannot of kings and princes ordinarily be presumed in causes meerly ecclesiastical ; so that even common sense doth rather adjudg this burthen to other men. he owns that bishops alone were before accustomed to have the ordering of such [ ecclesiastical ] affairs . he confesses , that virtuous emperours . such as constantine the great was , made conscience to swerve unnecessarily from the custom which had been used in the church , even when it lived under infidels . i know not why others should not emulate the example of so great a prince , if they also would be esteem'd , in the judgment of so great a person , virtuous . i know not why it should not be counted commendable also in them , if they also had made conscience to swerve unnecessarily from these acknowledged antient ecclesiastical liberties . he owns , that this same excellent prince ratified the order , which had been before , exhorting the bishops to look to the church , and promising , that he would do the office of a bishops over the commonwealth ; and when he did take cognizance of causes of this kind , yet this great person doubts whether he did so , as purposing to give them judicially any sentence . here we find plain confessions , that the church was in possession of these liberties before the conversion of this first christian emperor , and that emperor himself was so sensible of this possession that he made a conscience of invading it . and who could better judge of his right as a christian prince , than he who was the first example of it ? mr. hooker does indeed think that constantine abstained from what he might lawfully do . but he seems plainly to grant that the emperor was of another mind , when he says he made a conscience of doing what mr. hooker thinks he might have done . that same judicious person adds further , with reference to our particular laws in england : there is no cause given unto any to make supplication , as hilary did , that civil governours , to whom common wealth matters only belong , may not presume to take upon them the judgment of ecclesiastical causes . if the cause be spiritual , secular courts do not meddle with it . we need not excuse our selves with ambrose , but boldly and lawfully we may refuse to answer before any civil judge in a matter which is not civil , so that we do not mistake either the nature of the cause , or of the court , as we easily may do both , without some better direction than can be by the rules of this new sound discipline . but of this most certain we are , that our laws do neither suffer a spiritual court to entertain in those causes which by the law are civil ; nor yet , if the matter be indeed spiritual , a meer civil court to give judgment of it . thus mr. hookeer . and he proves what he says in the margin from passages of the laws themselves , and the book de nat. brevium , and bracton , plainly asserting the difference of those two jurisdictions . i am sensible what a scope i have here of enquiring into the laws themselves , and proving this independently on the testimony of this admirable man. but perhaps i have already said more than can be printed in this difficulty of our circumstances . i therefore say no more at present , but refer our adversaries to him . the rather because he is indeed against me in making the church one body with the believing state , and because one of our adversaries has expresly insisted on his authority . both these reasons , as well as the distance of the age he lived in , are sufficient to clear him of any , the least , suspicion of partiality on our side . even in this very cause he defends the use of lay persons joyn'd in commission with spiritual ones for determining spiritual affairs . and possibly he may do so by examples ( if all examples must pass for precedents , ) since henry viiiths usurpations . but when king james the ii , added laymen in the same commission with the bishops concerned in the case of the bishop of london , with a power of deprivation or suspension ab officio , as well as a beneficio ; it is very well known that his lordship excepted against the competency of his lay judges , that as a bishop of the catholick church he ought to be tryed by bishops only . his lorpship would do well now to remember his own plea then , in order to the judging of his own case now , how he can justify his communicating with those who are set up against his colleagues deprived no otherwise than by a lay power . it is well known that his council then learned in our laws insisted on this plea as maintainable by our present laws made since the constitution of the ecclesiastical supremacy . and what good church of england man was there then that did not think the plea very just and reasonable ? let those lawyers be pleased to recollect what they had to say on that case , and try whether it will not also affect our present deprivations . it is very certain that the liberties of h. church are the very first things provided for in magna charta . and the coronation oath , so that if these things be not inviolable , nothing else can be so , being fundamental to all the security that can be given by our present constitution . and it is no way reasonable , that bare precedents , without express acts for alienating such rights as these are , should be thought sufficient for extinguishing a claim grounded on so inviolable a security . if they be so , henry the viiith made such precedents for violating magna charta , and the coronation oath too , that no liberties of the people can now be secure . and it is withal as certain , that in the disputes which occasioned the passing magna charta , this particular of the exemption of the clergy , was one point principally insisted on . nay , it was insisted on then to higher purposes than were reasonable , or than i am concerned for now , so far as to exempt them from secular courts , even when they were guilty of secular crimes , and even so it was most frequently determined in favour of the clergy . that was becket's dispute , which generally prevailed in the following ages , when he was canonized , and when henry the iid had submitted to pennance for what he had done in opposition to him . this case of their exemption as to their spirituals , which is all for which i am now concerned , was than so generally acknowledged , even by the laity themselves , that there was very little occasion of disputing it . rarely was it ever invaded , and more rarely yet ( if ever ) was that invasion defended by themselves who were guilty of it , till the unhappy times of henry the viiith . so uncontroverted was the right for which i plead , that i do not think our adversaries can give one single instance of substituting a successor into a see vacated by no better , than a lay deprivation . this privilege therefore against lay deprivations , was so undoubtedly the sense of magna charta , and the coronation oath , that on that account , as well as in point of right , all patriots ought to be zealous for it , as well as all good christians ; all who have a true concern for those two fundamental securities of property as well as of religion ; all who are so wise , as to foresee how far precedents of violating them in one instance , may proceed for violating them in others also . § lxxi , the conclusion . i hope the worthy defender of the present dividers of the church of england will , by this time , see that this proposition questioned by him . concerning the distinction of the church , even from a christian and orthodox state , is as firmly proved as any other particular of the vindicators whole hypothesis . i hope he will also find it conformable to those very same authorities he was pleased to porduce against it , that of mr. hooker , and even of our church of england , as settled by our ancient laws . though the compass i am obliged to confine my self to , will not allow me to follow either him or the doctor into other arguments , or into particular applications of this i have insisted on ; yet i have endeavoured to urge my argument so , as to obviate whatever they have said that might otherwise have seemed to weaken it . i now leave and recommend the success to him whose cause i have endeavour'd to plead , not as i would , but as i was able . a good cause alone is indeed a very great advantage above artifices of wit and subtilty , in pleading for an ill one . that is all that i pretended to . but it is god alone that must give the word to the preachers , and dociliey to the hearers . and it is his usual way to glorifie his own power , in the weakness and contemptibleness of well-meaning instruments . this title i have , and this alone , to his assistance and blessing on the management , that it will appear to be his own work , if the good cause it self do not suffer by my concernment in it . the same good god dispose our adversaries to follow the truth rather than their worldly interests ; to consider impartially what is said , how contradictory soever it may seem to their fleshly inclinations , to examine with their more sagatious judgments , rather what the cause it self would afford to be said for it , than what has been said by me . he alone can revive in them their old love of the truth of peace , of unity ; their former seriousness in these concerns of the greatest importance to them ; their former , or even the primitive zeal for the interests of the church and of religion in this unbelieving apostatizing generation . when he shall be pleased to do so , we may then hope to see endeavours for healing the breaches themselves have made ; we may then hope to see them ambitious of doing it on the most honourable terms that may be for the church's security against future invasions , and against the precedent of making spiritual interests give way to worldly politicks ; we may then hope to see them again as much concerned as we are , nay , as we ought to be , that our church and our communion may not depend on the precarious pleasure of a persecuting magistrate . how much more pleasing a sight must this be to all generous and christian tempers than our present divisions and scandals , and animosities ? when , o when , shall it once be ? finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a36241-e3310 * preface to the reader : the vindication of the civil power , in depriving a bishop for political crimes , i reserve for a particular treatise notes for div a36241-e3780 * pref. to the reader . i grant at present , that all lay-deprivations are invalid . notes for div a36241-e4310 † pre. to the reader . notes for div a36241-e6830 1 thess. v. ●● . ●●● . xiii . ●● . notes for div a36241-e8330 matth. xix . e● . mark 10. 31. notes for div a36241-e9530 ch. 1. p. 2. 9. p. 5. notes for div a36241-e11910 see unity of priesthood nec . to unity of comm. p. 63. &c. notes for div a36241-e13060 psal. xv. 4. notes for div a36241-e14450 p. ●● notes for div a36241-e18970 p. see p. 18. p. 10. p. 11. notes for div a36241-e21860 p. 11 sulp. sever. sacr. hist. l. 11. orig in num. hom. x. pearson , vind . ign , part 11. c. 9 notes for div a36241-e25220 ● . 12. notes for div a36241-e26260 p. 12. notes for div a36241-e28360 p. ●● . p. ●● . notes for div a36241-e32330 * preface to the reader : should our adversaries be able to produce such an example ( as i think they will never be able ) 't will advantage their cause but little , especially if it be one of the later ages , since it is not agreeable to the practice of the church in general . notes for div a36241-e32820 * c. 1. §. 9 p. 9. 10. c. 1. p. 10. notes for div a36241-e35210 see above , § xxiii . notes for div a36241-e36130 * 1 kings ii. 1. † v. 35. notes for div a36241-e36970 * 1 sam. xiii . 12. † 2 sam. vii . 6 , 7. * 2 kings xv. 5. 2 chron. xxvii . 16. to 21. † numb . xvi . * numb . xvii . 8 , 9 , 10. † numb . xvi . 40. * numb . xvi . 9 notes for div a36241-e38360 * 〈…〉 xxiii . 6. notes for div a36241-e39610 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 philo de gigantib . p. 292. ed. paris . 1640. † heb. iv. 14. vii . 26. ix . 23. 24. ‡ heb. viii . 1 , 2 , * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 joseph . macab . c , 13. [ see mat. v ii . 11. s luke xiii . 28 , 29 ] again , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . cap. 16. [ st. luke xx. 38. ] the bosome of abrahan is there mentioned in the translation of that work by erasmus p. 1090 edit . colon. whether from any greek he had i know not . but i think it is in the ms. of new-colledge . see also josephus ' s oration , l. iii. bell jud. c. p. 852. † wisdom ix . 8. notes for div a36241-e40780 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 philo de praem . sacerd. p. 830. edit , paris . 1640. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ibid p. 832. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . philo de monarcia , p. 819. * deut. xxxiii . 5. † numb . xxiii . 21. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . joseph . antiquit . lib. iv . cap. 2 pag. 104. see also lib. iii. cap. 9. pag. 87. edit . colon. 1691. notes for div a36241-e45780 * judg xx. 27. 28. 1 sam , xiv . 18 , 19. † 1 sam. xxiii . 9 , ●0 , 11 , 12. 2 sam. v. 23 , 4. 1 chr. xiv . 14. 15. * josh. ix . 15. † deut. xvii . 8 , 11 , 12 , 13. notes for div a36241-e46870 * 1 kings i. 50. † thucyd. lib. 1. * st matt. xxiii . 17 , 19. † 1 chr. xvi . 12. ps. cv . 15. ‖‡ 1 chr. xvi . 21. ps. cv . 14. * 1 sam. xxiv . 10. xxvi . 9 , 11 , 23. * 1 sam. xxii . 1. 7. † v. 18. notes for div a36241-e48340 * 1 kings ii ●7 . * joseph anti. lib. viii . c. 1 * 1 sam. ii. 36. notes for div a36241-e49970 * 2 sam : xv. 29. 35. xvii . 15 , xix . 11. xx. 25. 1 kings iv. 4. 1 chr. xv. 11. † 2 sam. viii . 17. 1 chr. xviii . 16 * chap. ii. s. 3. p. 17. * st. mark. ii. 26. notes for div a36241-e51400 * exod. xxviii . 1. 1 chr. xxiii . 13. * exod. xxix . 4 , &c. lev. viii . 2. &c. † exod. xxx . 19. xl . 12. 31. * exod. xxx . 30. † lev. ii . 3. vi . 20. vii . 34. xx iv . 9. 1 chr. vi . 49. * numb . vi . 23. † heb. vii . 7 ▪ * numb . iii. 9. iv. 19. 27. viii . 13. 19. 22. † exod. 11. xxviii . 4. 43. * exod. xx ▪ viii . 1. † 1 chr. xxiv . 2. numb . iii. 2 , 3 , 4. notes for div a36241-e53510 * numb . xxv . 15. * numb . xx. 26 , 28. joseph . ant. lib. iv. c. 4. † 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 joseph . ant. lib. vii . c. 6. p. 222. * joseph . ant. lib. viii . c. 1. p. 254. † 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * exod. xxix . 30 notes for div a36241-e55090 * 2 chr. xxiv . ● . ● . † 2 kin. xxiii . 4. notes for div a36241-e57090 joseph . ant. l. xx . c. 8. p. 7●● . notes for div a36241-e59410 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ignat. epist. ad smyrn . n. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 etist . ad magnes . n. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. ibid. n. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . epist. ad philadelph . inscrip . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ibid. n. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . epist. ad trall . n. 7. † 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 epist. ad trall . n. 3. ‖ ut quis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sit . quid sit faciondum , it a hortatur . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 epist. ad eph. n. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 epist. ad philadelph . n. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . epist. ad trall . n. 7. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . epist. ad smyrn . n. 8. † 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ibid. ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ibid. notes for div a36241-e61780 1 chr. ix . 4 1 cor. x. 16 , 17 18. 21. heb. xiii . 10. clem. rom. ep. ad corinth . notes for div a36241-e63410 2 tim. i. 10. notes for div a36241-e64710 † 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 n. 44. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . n. 43. † 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. n. 40. ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 n. 40. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . n. 41. † 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . n. 41. notes for div a36241-e66610 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 n. 41. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . n. 44. † 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . n. 43 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . n. 44. ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 n. 44. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . n. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . n. 44. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , n. 44. † 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 &c. n. 42. ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. n. 44. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . n. 42. notes for div a36241-e68470 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 n. 21. † 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . n. 46. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ibid. ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ibid. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . n. 57. ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ibid. † 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . n. 16. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . n. 44. † 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 n. 46. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . n. 46. † 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ibid. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . n. 54 † ch. 18. p. 197. notes for div a36241-e69690 bellarm de rom. pontif. lib. v. ● 7. letter to a f●●end . p. 20. notes for div a36241-e101100 * 2 chr. xv. 3. † hos. iii 4. ‡ jer. vii ● . * dan. vii . 1. 12 , 13. ix . 27. xi . 3. xii . 11. joseph . bell jud. l. vii . notes for div a36241-e102750 hook. eccl. polie . book viii . p. 463. ed. lond. 1682. ibid. p. 465. ibid. p. 466. defence of the church of england , p. 7. a vindication of the deprived bishops, asserting their spiritual rights against a lay-deprivation, against the charge of schism, as managed by the late editors of an anonymous baroccian ms in two parts ... to which is subjoined the latter end of the said ms. omitted by the editors, making against them and the cause espoused by them, in greek and english. dodwell, henry, 1641-1711. 1692 approx. 412 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 52 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-12 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a36263 wing d1827 estc r10150 11817102 ocm 11817102 49536 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a36263) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 49536) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 529:11) a vindication of the deprived bishops, asserting their spiritual rights against a lay-deprivation, against the charge of schism, as managed by the late editors of an anonymous baroccian ms in two parts ... to which is subjoined the latter end of the said ms. omitted by the editors, making against them and the cause espoused by them, in greek and english. dodwell, henry, 1641-1711. 104, [2] p. [s.n.], london : 1692. attributed to henry dodwell. cf. dnb. a reply to humphry hody's translation of a baroccian manuscript in the bodleian library, which was published under title: the unreasonableness of a separation from the new bishops. cf. dnb, v. 27, p. 77. imperfect: page 2 of "the canons in the baroccian manuscript" is lacking on film. reproduction of original in cambridge university library. i. shewing, that through the instances collected in the said ms. had been pertinent to the editors design, yet that would not have been sufficient for obtaining their cause -ii. shewing, that the instances there collected are indeed not pertinent to the editors design, for vindicating the validity of the deprivation of spiritual power by a lay-authority. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released 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and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng hody, humphrey, 1659-1707. -unreasonableness of a separation from the new bishops. church of england -bishops -early works to 1800. nonjurors -early works to 1800. bishops -england -early works to 1800. 2005-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-06 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-07 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2005-07 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a vindication of the deprived bishops , &c. part i. shewing , that though the instances collected in the baroccian ms had been pertinent to the editors design , yet that would not have been sufficient for obtaining their cause . 1. that the laity should be favourable to mistakes derogatory to the sacred power , cannot be thought strange in an age wherein they generally use so little diligence to inform themselve , or to receive information from those who are qualified to inform them , concerning the rights of the clergy : their own interests are alone sufficient to make them partial in affairs of this nature , though they were more sincerely influenced by considerations of religion , than we generally find them ; but that clergymen should also ●avour them in encroachments on their own function , that they should professedly patronise doctrines tending to lessen the esteem of that greatest and most valuable of all authorities wherewith god has honoured and instrusted none but them ; that they should make it depend on the pleasure of the magistrate , which was designed for greater and more noble ends than the magistracy it self ; that they should put it in his power to destroy the very being of the church as a society by a secular deprivation ; that they should not onely own , but teach , that none are obliged to adhere to themselves in such a case wherein the magistrate is against them , no not so much as in regard of conscience ; that they should by this means make the greatest and most momentous concerns for souls subordinate to worldly , carnal politicks , and the far less weighty interests of worldly prosperity ▪ and of particular societies ; that they should hereby make it least capable of subsisting under a persecution , which was the case most obvious in the view of our b. saviour and his apostles , and therefore most particularly provided for , if they took care for any thing beyond their own time : these things , i say , would not be very credible , if they were not very notorious ▪ one would think none who valued the general good of religion , and the catholick church , and the souls of mankind , before the temporal prosperity of any particular state , ( and it is hard to conceive how any good man can doe otherwise , ) could even wish such opinions true , though his wish alone were sufficient to make them so . how then is it agreeable , that clergymen of all men should be the most favourable and zealous advocates for such opinions , so manifestly destructive of those greatest interests , which they of all men ought best to understand , and to be most zealously concerned for ? how is it agreeable , that they of all men cannot be content to let the memory of ill precedents dye , but that they must allarm us with future fears of having them acted again , by not only abetting but also justifying them ? how is it agreeable , that they should do this in a prospect , such as ours is , of a laity so little concerned for the good of religion , and the church ; when even they who have any principles , have such lax ones , and so very little obliging them , even in conscience , to venture any thing for any particular communion ? that their preferring their worldly concerns depending on the pleasure of the magistrate , before the greater concerns of souls and eternity , is the true cause of it , is not to be believed , while there are any reasons that might induce them to it . yet little reasons cannot in equity excuse , when the consequences ought to be so very valuable on that very account of mens being either good or religious . but this advantage our adversaries have , that their cause is like to suffer nothing by ill management , when it is in the hands of such able advocates . let us therefore see whether all they say will amount to reason , and to reason sufficient to excuse them . 2. they pretend , and pretend with great confidence , that nothing can justifie our adherence to even unjustly deprived bishops , if the successors be not hereticks . that this is so , they appeal to an antient greek ms. of instances collected to their hands , before any prospect of our present case . they pretend from this collection , that neither the bishops themselves , who were unjustly deprived , made any separation , nor any subjects of such bishops , on account of any obligation of conscience to adhere to them . hence they collect , that these things being the sense of the antient church , as often as any such instances appeared , ought also to be our sense who profess a veneration for antiquity . and were these things so as they pretend , they would perhaps be considerable to excuse the practice of our present adversaries : but all these things are justly questionable , and far from that evidence which their cause requires , and themselves pretend to : all they say is resolved into this ms. and this will do nothing for their purpose . the author , whoever he was , is much too young , to be admitted as a witness of most of the facts enumerated by him ; especially considering we have authours of the earlier times to speak for themselves . nay , he has not pretended to be a witness on his own credit : he has been particularly carefull to tell us his authors , most of which are extant to this very day . as therefore his credit is nothing for things so much earlier than his own age ; so neither is there any need we should depend on his credit , when we can have immediate recourse to his original authors themselves . it is called an antient ms. and yet pretended no elder than the 13th century . but sure the ingenious english prefacer cannot think antiquity of so low a date as that is , to be that antiquity which we profess to imitate , or pretend to alleadge : yet neither can he prove his author a competent witness even for that low antiquity . all that appears from his quoting nicetas choniates , is onely this ; that he could not be elder than that century in which the author lived who was quoted by him : but neither doth it thence follow , that he lived in the same age ; nor can it thence be determined how long he lived after him . this mention of nicetas will bring him down below the year 1205. where nicetas ends his history . nicetas himself lived some while after . but our author refers to his history as an authority , as being elder than the traditions of the age he lived in . he neither pretends to remember the things for which he quotes him , nor to have received any informations concerning them from the relation of any old men who could remember them . but where nicetas fails him , he shews himself perfectly ignorant of the affairs of that age , which was concerned in the history written by nicetas . nicetas mentions no successor in the see of constantinople between cosmas atticus and theodosius : our author therefore takes theodosius for cosmas's immediate successor . nicetas does not mention the synods , nor the abdications , that were in the cases of the patriarchs deposed in the time of isaacius angelus ; therefore our author supposes there were none . nicetas mentions the opposition , but not the schisms , that fell out in the two settlements of dositheus ; therefore our author takes it for granted that there were none , and reasons accordingly upon that supposition . these things plainly shew , that our author did not write within any near memory of the history written by nicetas ; and therefore must be considerably later than the beginning even of the xiiith century . 3. it will farther add to the probability of this observation , if it be considered , that our author was a constantinopolitane , and in such a station in the church of constantinople , as that he could not have needed the information of written monuments for the affairs of the church of constantinople , that had been within the reach of a near tradition . this has already been observed by the english prefacer , mr. b. and observed from hence , that our author derives the orders of the church he was concerned for from former bishops of constantinople : but for this perhaps it might have been sufficient , that he had been of any part of the constantinopolitane jurisdiction , at least of a church which owned the patriarch of constantinople for their more immediate metropolitane ; i therefore add another argument that will not be so easily evaded . our author speaking of the synodicon , says it was read in the church , as every body knew . this was particularly true of the particular church of constantinople : there it was that the tomus vnionis , that part of the synodicon to which our author refers , was made , as anastasius caesareensis assures us . and therefore there it was that it was ordered to be read every july annually . the union it self particularly concerned breaches , which had been before between constantinopolitane patriarchs , and was therefore most proper to be read in the patriarchal church . i add farther , that the author seems to have a constant fixed relation to that particular church , as an officer of it , and such and officer as that it was his particular duty to be conversant in the histories belonging to it . the subject matter of this discourse is historical : and the address of is not to readers , but auditors . this plainly shews that it was spoken : and of these spoken historical discourses we have many instances in this very same baroccian ms. we have here the larger epitome of the ecclesiastical history of the arian philostorgius , which is here said to have been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . we have also several collections of history ascribed to nicephorus callistus xanthopulus in the same form of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , out of the ecclesiastical history of eusebius , of theodoret , of theodorus lector . this form therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seems to have been opposed to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as the address to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is also to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . both together seem to imply that it was rather a speech designed for auditors , than a writing for readers : that is , that it was not committed to writing by the author himself , but by the author only spoken ; it was taken from his mouth , and committed to writing by the auditors . i think there can be little reason to doubt , but that the address of this discourse to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , is exactly answerable to this other form in the works inscribed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . if so , then we may reasonably judge , that our author , whoever he was , was in the same office in the church of constantinople wherein photius and nicephorus were , when they also pronounced and dictated the works which are so inscribed to them ; and that his office was , as theirs was , particularly to enquire into ecclesiastical history , and to instruct his auditors in it . as for what mr. b — collects from this address , that the tract it self was a homily , methinks the whole nature of the subject might have sufficed to convince him . he might as well have conjectured all the collections out of eusebius , socrates , sozomen , &c. to have been homilies , because they are also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . but this i believe that worthy person was not aware of , who does not seem himself to have perused the ms. 4. perhaps these expressions may afford us some , not improbable conjectures concerning the nature and design of all these historical collections ; particularly mr. hody may be pleased to remember what himself has very well observed in his premonition to malela . he has there observed a multitude of historians called rhetors and sophists , whence he well infers , that those very titles seem to have had some relation to their very faculty of being historians . he observes farther , that there was a rhetor appropriated to the service of particular churches . such was the rhetor of aenus , joyned with the ecdicus or defensor of the same church . and it is indeed probable that all those historians , who are called rhetors and sophists , were called so from their bearing that office in some particular church . he has observed farther , that in the service of these churches there were bodies of these rhetors , and among them one who presided over the rest , as samuel over the prophets , called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , magister , ( as that name was in those ages applied to presidents of the palatine offices also , ) and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , answerable also to the secular campidoctores in vegetius , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . these ecclesiastical rhetors seem to have been one part of the clergy , that were maintained by the revenues of the foundation , mentioned frequently in the imperial constitutions , particularly designed for this purpose of studying ecclesiastical history . the young men therefore designed for this study , were obliged to be auditors of the principal rhetor , who was a kind of a publick professor of ecclesiastical history . the use of this study for the service of the church , was to search into precedents when any act of publick discipline required it , and very probably into canons also , when the case was resolvible by written canons . both are made use of in this discourse , though the editor has omitted all the canons . thus this ecclesiastical history was consulted for both laws , both the written ones and the unwritten ones , which were nothing else but allowed practice . this profession therefore being found so useful for the service of the church , care was taken that there might always be an ecclesiastical nursery , that might continually afford candidates qualified to supply the chair , as often as a vacancy should fall . that was by obliging the master to a constant duty in his function , for the instruction of his young students . and the duty was either to take a received historian , and to abbreviate him , or to collect a multitude of instances in a particular case when he was consulted , thereby to let the young students understand the design of their historical studies . but all was by word of mouth and by way of dictates , to be committed to writing by the auditors themselves . this was the easiest way for multiplying copies before printing was invented : and withal it exercised the abilities of the writer , in teaching him to write truly . and indeed it seems to have been the general way of teaching . thus the authors taught in the ordinary schools , are called centum cirratorum dictata . and hence it is , that we have so many homilies of the fathers preserved in writing by their pupils , when only spoken by themselves , under the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 5. this therefore is an easie and obvious account of the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and the address to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . nor is it easier in it self , than fit to the persons of those whose dictates we have in this same ms. nicephorus tells us himself , in his preface to his history , that he had been bred up from a boy in the church of st. sophia . this is the exact character of those young students , who were educated at the charges of the church for these ecclesiastical services , and who were withal the fairest candidates for these masterships , whenever they fell vacant , either by the death , or the farther promotion of those who possessed them . then it was probably to be expected , that after many years profession , they should draw up their dictates into the form of a continued history , as it is most likely all those historians did , who are still known by the names of rhetors and sophists . and it is very probable that nicephorus's history was the last thing performed by him : he says himself he was in the 36 th year of his age when he began it , and yet that he was then but young , implying plainly , that he was old when he finished it , and wrote the dedicatory epistle to andronicus . it is also probable that photius , who was afterwards patriarch , had been also his predecessor in this same office , because his excerpta out of philostorgius , contained in this same ms. are said also to have been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . that may , perhaps , give an account how these excerpta of photius came to be inserted among the dictates of nicephorus . it is not unlikely those larger excerpta of photius dictated from philostorgius , had occasioned the loss of philostorgius himself , and that nicephorus was therefore necessitated to use those excerpta for his own text , which he was to dictate to his pupils . the office it self seems to have been far antienter than the time of photius , as appears from the multitude of rhetors and sophists before him , that were historians : for my part , i am apt to think it near as old as the foundation of the church of constantinople by constantine the great . socrates the historian himself has two collections of historical precedents ; one concerning the different customs of different churches , to satisfie , as it should seem , the scrupulosity of some who scrupled the lawfulness of things themselves had not been used to ; the other of the translations of bishops from one see to another , occasioned by a translation , made in the 5th century , of proclus from cyzicus to constantinople . hence one might conjecture , that as he might have the materials for his history from the dictates of his master troilus , the sophist ; so he might have these collections of precedents , so like to ours , from some cases proposed and resolved by the same troilus , and by him communicated in dictates to his pupils . this is the rather to be conjectured , because digressions of that kind are not so usual in histories antienter than this custom . withall socrates assures us that troilus had the office of rhetor , and that he was not the first , but succeeded silvanus in it . this was in the same church we are mentioning , of constantinople . and valesius has elsewhere observed the habit proper to that rhetor , answerable to those of our academical professors : see his notes on socr. l.vii. c. 12. it is certain , long before that time there were grammarians , orators , physicians , philosophers , maintained on the publick for the use of cities , and frequently mentioned in the pandects , at least from the time of marcus. why should it therefore be thought strange , that even constantine himself should make the like provision for studies necessary for the church , out of the revenues himself was pleased to settle upon churches ? and the like provision we find in the ecclesiastical foundations . we have several writers called grammatici , no doubt because they were the instructers of the ecclesiastical grammarians : others we have , called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as presiding also over the ecclesiastical philosophers . it is perhaps a little more difficult to give an account of the use of this phrase in this ms. upon occasion of producing a passage of hegesippus out of eusebius , which is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . but it is not probable that that custome of the ecclesiastical rhetor was near so old as the time of hegesippus . i am sure eusebius , from whom nicephorus took all he pretends concerning hegesippus , gives him not the least occasion to think so . it is particularly certain , that eusebius himself had that passage , not from the voice , but the writings of hegesippus . i therefore rather believe , that this passage also of hegesippus , was from the voice of nicephorus , delivered by him in dictates to his pupils , as many other things in this same ms. are , out of eusebius's ecclesiastical history ; only perhaps there might be some particular occasion for dictating this passage of hegesippus out of the ordinary course and method of his readings . 6. i am apt therefore to think , that the author of this ms. was the ecclesiastical rhetor then in office when the schism happened that occasioned it . who that was , it is hard now to judge , because we have no catalogues extant of the successors in that office : and if we had any , it could hardly be guessed at till we can first gain some prospect of the time wherein it was written , which is the thing into which we are at present enquiring . and in order hereunto all that we can infer from this office of the author , is that he could not live within memory of the latter part of the history of nicetas choniates . i now add farther , that it seems also probable , that he did not live at any great distance from the memory of it . this i gather , because he ascribes the generality of the orders of his own time to these five successors in the time of isaacius angelus . he does not say so of the ignatians and photians , nor of the nicolaitans and euthymians , nor of any of those more distant patriarchal factions . that therefore he says it of these latest of his examples , the reason seems to be to let his auditors thereby understand , that he had now brought down his succession of precedents so near his own time , that the old clergymen then living , though they could not remember those patriarchs of the time of isaacius themselves ; yet they could at least remember , that the old men ▪ from whom themselves received their orders , did remember them , and did withall profess , that they had received their orders from them . this will bring our author's time within a century after those times of isaacius angelus . so the first remarkable schism that fell within that distance , will most probably be the occasion of this work , and the ecclesiastical rhetor then in office the author of it : but of this more hereafter . 7. i confess , i was once of the mind that nicephorus callistus was the author of it : my reason was , that which is mentioned by mr. hody , that his name is made use of in most of the works contained in this volume , either in the titles , or in the tables ; and that both before and after this of which we are at present discoursing . this made me think , that the whole volume was intended for a collection of pieces wherein he was some way concerned , and that his name was intended for the title here , if the illuminator had performed his office , in adding a title to it : but upon more thorough consideration i have , i confess , altered my opinion . i observe this tract is in a hand extremely different from the other hands of the whole volume : it is withall contrived within a quire proper to itself , and the latter end in a little smaller hand , that it might come within that compass . thence it appears , that it was written singly , not to be connected with a following vacancy , where there might have been room for what remained ; but to be bound up with other things already written . accordingly what follows begins abruptly , as if the former quire had been purposely left out , to make room for this insertion : these are tokens , that it was not at first designed as a part of this particular collection . then it begins so near the top of the page , that one would suspect no title was intended , but that the author's name was purposely omitted . and indeed no author's name seems to have been mentioned in the copies from whence cotelerius intended to have published it . withall i doubt , that nicephorus callistus , who wrote when andronicus was now grown old in the empire , might have been somewhat of the latest to have been the author of it . besides , there are considerable differences between our author and nicephorus : mr. hody has observed one , if the interposition of leontius between the inthronings of dositheus be not rather some disorder of our copy of nicephorus's catalogue of patriarchs . there are also several other differences : our author calls the first of the patriarchs deposed by anastasius dicorus euthymius , and that as often as he mentions him , both in the tract itself , and the summary , as several others had done before him . nicephorus calls him rightly euphemius , both in his ms. catalogue , and in his ecclesiastical history . our author takes no notice that timotheus , the next successor but one to euphemius , was a heretick ; but nicephorus does in his catalogue of patriarchs , if the inserted censures of the patriarchs be his : there he is called , in an interlineary note , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . however in his history he takes notice of his fickleness , that he sometimes approved , and again openly condemned the synod of chalcedon . this was sufficient to hinder him from arguing , that his orthodoxy was the reason why his communion was owned , notwithstanding his usurpation . so also from the remaining contents of the 23d book of nicephorus callistus , it appears that nicephorus owned that there were schisms in the time of leo sapiens , under the patriarchate of stephen , the emperor's brother , and of nicolaus mysticus and euthymius , though it seems our authour knew nothing of them . 8. thus much therefore we have gained , that in matters of so great antiquity as are here debated , this author's word alone is by no means competent to be depended on as an authority . hence it will follow farther , that we may now very justly put the stress of our cause upon examining the merit of the things themselves , without any relation to the author : and if we can shew , that his way of reasoning is not concluding , though the matters of fact produced by him were as pertinent to our present case as our adversaries are concerned they should be ; and also that his matters of fact are far from being such as they suppose them ; i cannot foresee what our adversaries can in reason desire more , for shewing how little reason they have to be so confident , on account of what is said by this author . 9. first therefore , as to the reasoning itself , how much soever it be insisted on by our late brethren in our present disputes ; yet neither is it such as would be thought fit to be regarded by men of conscience , nor safe to be trusted by men of prudence and skill in the art of reasoning . they pretend to have amassed 18 instances , ( of bishops who did not think fit to insist on their right , or were not seconded by their subjects if they did so , when they were not deprived on account of heresie , ) out of the history of 900 years . whether they did well or not in it , is not here so much as attempted to be proved ; only it is presumed to be well done , barely because 't was done in so many instances , and no publick opposition made against it . but if matters of fact so nakedly mentioned must be urged for precedents , it will be impossible to make any thing of this way of arguing from history . what history is there , that in a succession of 900 years , does not afford examples against examples ? and how can it be understood which are rather to be followed as examples , if no more be considered concerning them but barely this , that they were examples ? how easie were it for an historian , by this way of reasoning , to justifie , as our brethren do , the wickedest things that can be ! they prove it lawful to break oaths , from the example of king stephen , which i believe they will hardly find one antient historian who does excuse it from the charge of perjury : i am sure they may find several , who charge it as expresly as we do , with that very imputation . and can we not , in the same scope of time , produce 18 instances of successfull wickednesses , of murther , adultery , sacrilege , &c. committed by potent persons , whom it was no way safe to contradict , at least where there are no memorials of opposition transmitted to posterity ? can any man of conscience think it fit , that 18 instances on one side , in such a space of time , should be the rule of his conscience ? or can any wise man think himself obliged to defend whatever may be patronized by such a number of instances ? 10. the design of this way of arguing is , no doubt , to prove the sense and approbation , at least , of those churches where these instances passed without contradiction ; but it is manifest , that many more things are requisite for proving that , besides naked matter of fact. what if in the instances here mentioned , the churches did not adhere to unjustly-deprived bishops , when the intruders were not hereticks ? yet many more things must be requisite to be made out , before application can be made to our present case , which are not yet in the least attempted . it must first appear , not onely that the deprivation was indeed unjust , but that the church , who deserted them , and adhered to the intruders , did also think it so : yet this will hardly be made out , particularly in the case of st. chrysostome . i believe they can give no instances of any who thought him unjustly deprived , but they were joannites , and therefore separated from the communion of his deprivers . 11. it must appear farther , secondly , that they thought him invalidly deprived as well as unjustly : that they know very well is our sense of the present case , on which we lay the stress of our cause ; not onely that our bishops are deprived for what our laws , in the true sense of the legislators , did never intend should be a crime ; but also that they are deprived by a power that can no way pretend to a right of spiritual deprivation ; that is , purely by a lay-power , without the least pretence of ecclesiastical censures . this therefore they ought to prove , that , even in case of a purely lay-deprivation , those eastern churches did not think fit to assert their spiritual liberties , against the encroachments of the secular magistrate . but that seems more than ever their author undertook , i believe than his cause required . i am sure , several of his instances did suppose synodical deprivations ; yet if they cannot shew this , all they say is utterly impertinent to our present dispute : for we our selves may say , and say agreeably to our own principles , as much as their own author says , and perhaps as much as he intended , if he had been living to make application to our particular case . we do no more say than he , that the injustice of a sentence does null or invalidate it , when otherwise the authority by which it is pronounced is valid and obliging . nor do we say , that subjects are , even in conscience , free to adhere to their bishop , when the authority by which he is deprived , has not onely a right to conclude them , but to conclude him also : yet all this is consistent with the liberty allowed by this author , of withdrawing communion from an heretick . the reason is this , because even the canons of the church , to go no farther now , allow subjects this liberty to judge of their bishop's faith , by a private judgment of discretion , and with reference to their own particular act of communicating , as has been shewn by their own author himself , in the latter part of his tract , ommitted by mr. hody . 12. yet this is not all that had been requisite for their reasoning in this case : it ought also to appear , thirdly , that the church thought her self at liberty to deny her adherence to an unjustly deprived bishop , even when he insisted on his own right , and challenged her duty from her . this is the actual case of our present bishops ; and of this also their whole collection does not afford one single example : yet this is the onely case wherein her not adhering to him can , by any art of equal interpretation , be taken to signifie , that she did not think such adherence his due , even in regard to conscience ; otherwise the non-payment of debts alone , does by no means imply a belief that they are not due . it is certain , the person to whom they are due may remit them , if he please ; and his not challenging them is often taken for an argument , that he does remit them , at least that he does not challenge payment now : it is therefore no more an argument in such a case , that the church does not think such a duty of adherence to such a bishop really due , than that the bishop himself does not think it so : for it is as consistent in them , with an acknowledgment of right , to defer the payment till it be demanded , as it is consistent with the bishop's owning it for his right , that he does not as yet think fit to demand it . but our author pretends , that by his collection of instances it appears , no bishop ever challenged his right , if the person substituted in his own place were not an heretick . so indeed he says ; but thence it does by no means follow , that they had no right , because they did not challenge it : nor can it be thence gathered , but that it may be prudent , as well as just , for successors to insist on their right , though predecessors , who thought it just , did yet not think it prudent to insist on theirs . the change of circumstances may make so great a variety in the case it self . if it be only a personal injury , the mischief the church may suffer by the person 's defending his right , may be more than what she may suffer by permitting a single act of injustice to go unredressed : but in our case , our adversaries very well know the injury is more than personal . they know the old doctrines of our church are involved in the injustice that is offered them : they may also know , that this new doctrine of the validity of lay deprivations with regard to spirituals , is of intolerable mischievous consequence , as granting to the laity principles , by which they may ruine us when they please ; and that this pernicious doctrine cannot well be opposed in this case , but by our bishops insisting on their rights . and they cannot shew but when doctrines of such consequence were concerned , the bishops not onely did , but were also commended for insisting on their rights . indeed where such doctrines were concerned , the antients would have called the adversaries hereticks , and in that case this author himself allows , that bishops may judge it to be for the publick good of the church , that they challenge their private rights . yet after all our author's pretensions in his title , his examples give a small account of the sense of the injured bishops themselves concerning their own case , but principally pretend to tell us what others thought concerning it . how then can our adversaries pretend to persuade our present bishops to wave their right , upon account of this collection of precedents , where st. chrysostom is expresly excepted in the very title , notwithstanding what is pretended from palladius ; and where withall there are so few examples observed in the discourse it self , of any who did so before them ? 13. yet , to let them see how far this way of reasoning is from proving the thing our adversaries are concerned for , we may venture to give , not grant , what they neither have proved , nor can prove from the instances here alleadged , that the churches had deserted their unjustly and invalidly deprived bishops , and deserted them , even whilst they insisted on their right ; i yet deny farther , that from the naked matters of fact they can any way conclude , even the judgments of those churches , whom we may for a while suppose to have done what our adversaries wish they had done : for in order to the proving the judgment of such churches , it will be farther requisite , fourthly , that what they did , they did by principles by which they thought they could justifie their facts , at least with regard to their own consciences . it is certainly no breach of charity to suppose , ( what histories afford us so many examples of , ) that as numerous bodies as were here concerned , even of persons making a great profession of religion , have notwithstanding been influenced by motives very different from what themselves professed . and it is certain , that in this lower antiquity , wherein this author principally deals , the generality of christians were both ignorant enough in true originals of our religion , to be mistaken concerning their duty ; and withal wicked enough to be seduced from the practice of it , though they had never so throughly understood it . so easie it was for what was done , not to have been done by principles , though it had been determined by the greater number of suffrages . who knows not that in great bodies the ignorant and the wicked have generally the greatest number of suffrages , who notwithstanding cannot be presumed to doe what they doe by any solid principles ? yet who withall knows not how few are many times concerned in the motions of whole bodies ; and how far what they do is , upon that account , from being imputable to a majority of suffrages ? i do not now insist on the greater numbers , who are in duty obliged rather to follow the conduct of others , than to shew their opinion distinct from that of their conductors : even spiritual guides , and those in spiritual authority , are not for the greatest part the best and wisest ; and yet the nature of societies requires , that the fewest able and good men should be determined by the majority ; that is , that they who are the most likely to know principles , and to be influenced by them , should be concluded by those who are least skilfull in principles , and are withall least presumable to act by principles . and in that case who can presume , that the actings of such bodies are agreeable to the principles of the actors themselves ? especially who can presume it then , when the cases of ignorance and insincerity are most frequent , as they were most certainly in many of the instances here amassed at a great distance from the apostles , and in great ignorance of the originals of religion ; and when withall worldly prosperity had taken them off from regarding principles , or being willing to suffer for them . the very least signification of principles , where they are not expresly owned , is that good men are pleased and satisfied with what they doe . but as this reasoning does onely hold in men who are otherwise known to be good , so from matters of fact alone none can gather , whether the actors be secretly pleased with what they doe , or whether they be not really ashamed of it . 14. thus difficult it is to conclude principles , even where the matters of fact attested are actions : but it is yet more difficult , fifthly , where they are not actions but omissions . such are these we are now discoursing of , whether of bishops not insisting on their rights , or of their subjects not seconding them when they did insist on them . in either case it is extremely difficult to gather , that pure regard to conscience was the true reason of such omissions : that is , that when any injured bishops did not insist on their rights , the reason was , that they thought themselves obliged in conscience not to insist on them , as being chargable with the schism , which would follow from the intruders maintaining their possession against them . and that when subjects did not second them in the assertion of their own rights , the true reason was , that such subjects also did not think themselves obliged to second them , even in conscience . many other reasons might have been given in both cases , besides this of conscience , which our adversaries are concerned that it should have been the only reason : many , which will by no means reach our present case , to prove either that our present bishops are obliged in conscience by those precedents not to challenge their rights ; or that we are not obliged , on their callenging them , to maintain them in them . one reason might have been the vnactiveness of their temper naturally following from their monkish education , which might make them willing to be excused from a life of labour and action ; especially when it might withall seem to have so many commendable ingredients to a mind willing to be excused , of native bashfulness , of modesty , of humility , of self-denial to themselves , without considering on the other side the publick interest● that might balance them . another might be the great difficulties to be expected in asserting their rights , and the great uncertainty of the event which must depend upon the concurrence of many others , who must all doe their duty , as well as themselves , and yet could not be depended on . another might be the great danger to their persons , as well as the difficulty of their design , when they had to contest with exasperated as well as potent adversaries . these are the more plausible , and more pardonable inducements , to which might be added many more real though corrupt ones , which , to be sure , would never be owned openly . it is needless to enumerate them particularly , and yet not uncharitable in the general to suppose them possible , till something appear particularly in the lives and principles of the persons concerned , to believe their case to have been particular . it is certain all the endeavours of bishops to assert their own rights can signifie nothing , unless they who owe them duty will stand by them in it . and we know withall upon how ticklish points the motions of multitudes do depend , even where they are well disposed to their duty , and are particularly satisfied that the case proposed is so . they also reckon upon the difficulties and dangers that must befall each particular , if all cannot be persuaded to move together ; and that is a thing they know not how to reckon on . and thus whilst all expect the other should move first , and each of them is affraid of moving singly ; whilst all depend on a few examples , and those few are affraid of not being followed as examples , the season of motion is lost , and no likelihood of its recovery , when their hopes of the concurrence of others is lost , and each is to act separately . all that principles can oblige men to , is only to do the thing to which they are obliged by principles : but affirmative precepts do not , as they say , oblige ad semper ; and therefore they are not obliged to put the duty in practice , till it be prudent , or till the circumstances with which the action is vested make it a duty : and that men often resolve on , who yet by such delays find that what was at first resolved on , at length becomes unpracticable . how unreasonable would it be thence to conclude , that they never resolved on it , or that they did not think it their duty to resolve on it ! 15. thus very difficult this whole reasoning is , from instances barely represented , to gather the judgment and opinions of the persons concerned in these instances . and yet if this point were gained , it would not suffice for our adversaries purpose : for it is farther considerable , sixthly , that the instances here collected rise no higher than the fourth century , and extend no farther than the greek church ; and therefore cannot pretend to argue the sense of the catholick church , nor of those ages which are most to be regarded , not onely for their antiquity , but their integrity also . suppose therefore we should so far gratifie our adversaries , as to give them leave to believe , that all was proved that is so much as offered at in this collection , and proved as solidly and as pertinently to their cause , as themselves can either pretend or wish : this would certainly be a great favour , indeed the uttermost they can hope for with regard to this collection ; yet still they must not pretend by this collection to one single instance that may signifie the sense of the western church , or consequently of the catholick church in any one age ▪ still we are left a liberty , for any thing is said here , to challenge the doctrine of the church , as signified by her behaviour at the first and ancientest instances of schism , as making for us . and this we can do with greater certainty and evidence , than our adversaries can pretend to , in their more modern cases . 16. we can say that , even in the age of st. cyprian , ( which is the ancientest we know of that an antibishop was set up against a bishop in the same see , ) it is , 1st very notorious , that they then owned no such power of the secular magistrate to deprive bishops of their purely spiritual power ; and that the church , as a society distinct from the state , subsisted on their not owning it , even as to a deprivation of their particular districts and jurisdictions . it is notorious , and as notorious as any one tradirion of the catholick church in those ages , ( not excepting that of the canon of the new testament it self , ) that christians then , and not only then , but in all the former persecutions that had been from the times of the apostles to that very age , did own themselves bound to adhere to their bishops , when it was notorious withal , that those bishops were set up , and maintained against the consent of the civil magistrate . it is as notorious also , that this adherence of theirs , was not only matter of fact ( which is all our adversaries pretend here ) but a duty owned by them as obliging in conscience , and as the result of principles . this appears , not only by the unquestionable sincerity of the christians of those ages , who were generously influenced by no considerations , but those of conscience ; not only by their suffering those severe penances imposed on them , in order to their recovering the bishop's communion , even when the magistrate was against him , which no other considerations could recommend , but only those of conscience : but from the principles themselves insisted on in the reasonings of st. cyprian . such were these : that all hopes of pardon of sin , of the holy ghost , of eternal life , on performance of duty , were confined to the visible communion of the church ; that their visible communion with the church could not appear , but by their visible communion with the bishop , as the head of that church , and the principle of its vnity ; that who that bishop was , to whom any particular person owed his duty , was not then any otherwise distinguishable , but by the visible districts in which themselves lived , and to which he was therefore supposed to have a title , whether the magistrate would or no. it is also as notorious , that these reasonings were not then the sense of private persons ; but the received sense of christians in general , and indeed fundamental to that catholick communion , which was then maintained where-ever there were christians . not only every particular christian of a diocess , did thus assure himself of his right to ecclesiastical privileges , by his communion with the bishop of that particular district ; but he was intitled also to communion with all the other bishops of the world , and consequently with the catholick church in general , by the communicatory letters of the bishop of his own particular district . for it was by the mutual obligation all bishops of the world had to ratifie the acts of particular districts , that he who was admitted a member of one church , was intitled to the communion of all ; and that he who was excluded from one ; was excluded from others also ; because no other bishop could justifie his reception of a christian of another jurisdiction to his own communion , if he had not the communicatory letters of his own bishop . thus it appears , that the obligation , even of particular districts without consent of the magistrate , was then catholick doctrine . whence it plainly follows , that this lay-deprivation , which is all that can be pretended in the case of our present bishops , is , in the principles of the catholick church of st. cyprian's age , a perfect nullity , and consequently that , in regard to conscience at least , our present bishops are still bishops , and bishops of those particular districts , as much as ever , and the obligations of the clergy and laity in those districts , as obliging to them now as ever . 17. this therefore being so , that our present bishops are , by the principles of st. cyprian's age , as obliging bishops in conscience to the clergy and laity of their respective jurisdictions ; it will thence be as notorious 2dly , that the antibishops of those same jurisdictions , are by the same principles , to be taken for no bishops at all . it is plain , that novatian was disowned as soon as ever it appeared that cornelius was canonically settled in fabian's chair before him , and disowned universally , so universally , that whoever did not disown him , was for that very reason disowned himself . this is as clear as any particular mentioned in our adversaries collection . but we do not satisfie our selves with that . it is also further as notorious , that he was disowned by principles obliging them in conscience to disown him , and those again not private opinions , but principles also fundamental to the correspondence then maintained in the whole catholick church , as the other were that we mentioned under the former head. it was then a principle , that * secundus was nullus , which will as much invalidate the consecrations of the present antibishops , as it did that of novatian . this is a principle so universally acknowledged , wherever there can be but one , that it needs no authorities to recommend it . no man can convey the same thing twice : and therefore if there be two bonds for the same thing to several persons , the 2 d can never be thought obliging , but by supposing the invalidity of the 1 st . so also in all monarchichal districts , none can suppose an antimonarch's title good , till he has shewn that the first monarch's title is not so . thus this principle needed no authority , and yet it had all the authority of the whole catholick church of that age. the whole collegium of catholick bishops ( that is st. cyprian's term ) gave their communicatory letters , not to novatian , but cornelius ; and received none to their own communion on the communicatory letters of novatian , but only on those of cornelius . and that upon this same common principle , that cornelius being once validly bishop of rome , novatian could never be a bishop of that same district without the death , or cession , or deprivation of cornelius ; and that supposing him no bishop of that place to which he was consecrated , he could be no bishop at all . so far they were then from our late fancy of a bishop of the catholick church without a particular district . had they thought so , they might have ratified novatian's acts as a bishop , because he had received his power from bishops , though not as bishop of rome . comparing the catholick church to a fanum or temple , he was profanus , as not being in the temple , nor having a right to enter into it . comparing it to the house in which the passover was to be eaten by the jews , he was foris , not in that house , in which alone the passover was to be eaten . these were the notions of st. cyprian , and were by him and his colleagues understood of the catholick church in general , when they all supposed novatian out of the catholick in general , by being out of that particular church of rome , of which he had formerly been a member . just as in ordinary excommunications , they also always supposed , that he who was by any act of obliging authority deprived of his right to his own particular church , had also lost his right thereby to all the particular churches in the world. and they also supposed novatian to have cast himself out of his own body , by assuming to himself the name of a head of that body , which already had a head , and could have no more than one . and these notions , and this language of st. cyprian , were supposed and owned universally by the whole body of the catholick bishops of his time , when they acted consequently to them , and took them for the measures , by which they either granted , or refused their own communion . nor is it to be thought strange , that these notions should be received , and received universally , not as the opinions of private persons , but as the publick doctrine , and fundamental to the catholick communion , as practiced , not only in that early age of st. cyprian , but as derived from the apostles themselves , and the very first originals of christianity : for these were not , as private opinions usually were , only the result of private reasonings ; they were received as the fundamentals of christianity , which were not as new revelations generally were from the like notions received among the jews , and among them received not as private opinions , but as publick doctrines , and fundamental to the then practised sacrifical communion of the then peculiar people , and only thence deduced ( as other things also are , in the reasonings of the new testament ) to the case of the new mystical peculium , and their new mystical sacrifices . the language of erecting altar against altar in st. cyprian , is derived from the like earlier language received among the jews , concerning the samaritan altar of manasses , against the jerusalem altar of jaddus , that is of a high priest against a high priest , when god had appointed but one high priest in the whole world , and him only at jerusalem . and it is also plain , that the body of the jews did look on such schismatical high priests , and all their communicants , as cut off from the body of their peculium , and consequently from all their publick sacrifices , and all the privileges consequent to them . why should we therefore think it strange , that the apostolical christians should have the like opinion of them , who set up themselves as opposite heads of their mystical sacrifices ? 18. but this is not all . it is further as notorious , 3dly , that all who any way professed themselves one with novatian , were for that very reason of their doing so , taken for divided from the catholick church , as well as he was with whom they were united . here also the reason was very evident , that he who professed , and , by publick profession , made himself one with a person divided , must , by the same analogy of interpretation , profess himself divided , and by that very profession , actually divide himself also , by making himself one with the person suppos'd to be divided . nor was this reason more evident , than universally aknowledged in the discipline of that age. all such vniters with the schismatick , were refused to be admitted to communion , not by particular bishops only ( as the case would have been if the opinion had been singular ) but by all the bishops of one communion in the world. 19. not only so : but it is also as notorious , 4thly , from the practice and discipline of that age , that all whom they looked upon as united with novatian , they consequently looked on as divided from themselves . to be sure in the first place , those who had any hand in his pretended consecration , which were principally and particularly reflected on by cornelius in his epistle to fabius of antioch . nor would his people be receiv'd to communion by any catholick bishop on the communicatory letters of novatian , and they could expect none from cornelius whilst they were divided from him . thus all his subjects came to be involved , as well as himself . but that which was highest of all , was , that even bishops were supposed to have divided themselves from their brethren , if they communicated with him ; that is , if , according to the custom of that age , they either gave communicatory letters to him , or receiv'd any to their own communion on the like communicatory letters received from him . this appear'd plainly in the case of martian of arles , who was , on this very account , denied the communicatory letters of his brethren ; and would , no doubt , have appeared also in the case of fabius of antioch , if he had proceeded so far . and this does plainly suppose , that such bishops also had cut themselves off from catholick communion by their own act. especially according to st. cyprian's principles , who makes every bishop in his own district , supreme and accountable to none but god ; and therefore obnoxious to no superiour jurisdiction . and by this means it also appeared , to have been more than a private opinion in that age , when even no bishop could be permitted in the communion of his brethren , if he dissented from them in this particular . thus , to make application to our present case , all the bishops will be involved , who communicate either with the principal schismaticks , or the schismatical consecrators . and this will also take in , by the same principles , all communicants with such bishops . for when the bishop was refused communion , the effect of such refusal was , that none should thence forwards expect to be received to the communion of those who had refused him , on his communicatory letters ; and no other communicatory letters could be hoped for , whilst they continued in communion with him . 20. and then , 5thly , it is also as notorious , on the same principles of st. cyprian's age , that such schism from the visible communion of the catholick church , was also supposed to deprive the person so divided of all the invisible benefits of church communion . god was supposed obliged to ratifie in heaven , what was done by those whom he authorized to represent him on earth . he avenged the contempts of his ministers , and would not be a father to those , who would not own his church for their mother , by paying her a filial respect . they were not to expect any pardon of their sins : they could not hope for the holy ghost , who dissolved the vnity of the spirit : they were uncapable of the crown of martyrdome , whatever they suffered in the state of separation . this is the result of many of st. cyprian's discourses on this argument : and indeed it is very agreeable with the design of god , that they who cut themselves off from the peculium , should by their doing so , lose all their pretensions to the rights and privileges of it . not only so , but that they should also incur all the mischiefs to which they were supposed liable , who had lost their right of being members of the peculiar people . accordingly as they believed all persons , at their first admission into the church , to be turned from darkness to light , and from the power of satan unto god ; so upon their leaving the church , or their being cast out of it by the judicial act of their superiours , they were supposed to return into the state of heathens , to lose the protection of those good spirits who minister only to the heirs of salvation , and again to relapse into their former condition of darkness , and being consequently obnoxious to be infested by the devil , and his powers of darkness . and that this was so , appeared by several ordinary experiments in those earlier ages , not only of the apostles , but that also of st. cyprian , who has many examples of it in his book de lapsis . and this confinement of the spiritual privileges of the peculiar people to the external communion of the church , as it was fundamental to their discipline , so it was rational consequently to their other principles . god was not thought obliged to confer those privileges , but by the act of those whom himself had authorized to oblige him : but dividers were supposed not to belong to that body to which the promises were made ; and ambitious intruders into other men's offices , could not in any equity pretend to have their acts ratified by god , from whom they could not be supposed to receive any authority , when they did not receive it by the rules and orders of the society established by him . these things were then believed , and believed universally . indeed nothing but an universal belief of them would have maintained that discipline , which was then observed in the church ; could have obliged them generally to suffer , as they did then , the severest inflictions from the magistrate , rather than incurr the much more feared displeasure of their ecclesiastical superiours . when we are also of the same mind , and alike influenced by principles and regard to conscience ; then indeed , and then alone , we may pretend to be a posterity not degenerous from the great examples of those glorious ancestors : then it will not be in the power of acts of parliament to drive us from our principles , and bring a scandal on our religion : then where our bishops follow christ , we shall follow them , and it will not be in the power of the worldly magistrate , or the gates of hell it self , to prevail against our church , and to dissolve the vnion between us : then magistrates themselves will be more wary of involving consciences on occasion of their little worldly politicks ; at least they will not pretend religion , and the religion of that very church which suffers by them for doing so . may we live at length to see that happy day ! however it will hence appear how impossible it will be to excuse our adversaries present case from schism , if it be tried by that antiquity which we do indeed profess to imitate and alledge . 21. † now in this case i am discoursing of , i have purposely selected the instances of st. cyprian's age rather than any other , not only because they are the ancientest , indeed the first we know of , of one bishop's invading another's chair not vacant ; but because we have withal in him the most distinct account of the sense of the church in his age of such facts , and of the principles on which they proceeded in condemning them . he had occasion given him to be so distinct by two schisms , one of his own church in carthage , where felicissimus was set up against himself , another ( that i have principally insisted on ) of novatian set up against cornelius in rome . on these occasions he has written one just discourse , besides several epistles . but these principles were not singular and proper to that age ; they descended lower , and are insisted on by optatus and st. augustine in their disputes with the donatists , whenever they dispute the question of their schism , without relation to their particular opinions . 22. * and now what can our adversaries gain , though we should grant them all they can ask concerning their collection , till they be able to disarm us of these earlier authorities , neither mentioned , nor perhaps so much as thought of , by their author ? till they do so , we have all the advantages against them that our cause does need , or we desire . they give us a bare collection of facts , without any other evidence of the principles on which they were transacted than the facts themselves : we give them here a contrary fact of persons of unquestionable sincerity to principles , and not only so , but the principles themselves on which they proceeded , acknowledged by the persons themselves . they give us facts of the greek church only : we give them one , wherein the sense of the whole catholick church appeared , not of the greeks alone , but of the latines also . they give us those of modern , of barbarous , of divided ages , wherein the great bodies of the eastern and western churches were divided in communion , the eastern churches particularly , ( within which their instances are confined ) into nestorians , and several subdivided sects of eutychians ; who yet , if they had been more unanimous , were otherwise no very competent witnesses of apostolical tradition , not only in regard of their age , but their corruptness , their vnskilfulness , their credulity : we here have given them the sense of the church , in an age wherein her testimony is every way unexceptionable , wherein she had certain means of knowing the truth , and withal valued it as it deserved . even there we find the principles now mentioned universally received , and universally received as the grounds of that universal catholick communion , which she had received by an uninterrupted tradition from the apostles to that very time. even there , i say , we find them received , where nothing could have been received universally that had been an innovation . in so short a time it was hard to bring in variations from the primitive rule , and harder yet that all the churches could have been unanimous in them , if they had been variations as tertullian reasons in his prescriptions ; especially when there was no vniversal authority received over the whole catholick church that could induce them to it . from the time of trajan , the succession of our saviour's family failed in the church of jerusalem , to which all particular churches paid a deference . from the time of hadrian , there could be no pretence for that church above others , when it consisted not of jews , but greeks and romans . what was there therefore that could make them unanimous in variations , and variations of such importance as this had been ? they had then no general councils : and the absolute supremacy of particular bishops in their proper districts , is by none maintained more expresly , and more zealously than by st. cyprian , with particular regard to all other powers , that in later times have pretended to oblige bishops ; that is , to councils , and the bishop of rome . this catholick communion , grounded on the common interest of all the bishops , to have all their acts of discipline in their particular dictricts , ratified over the whole world , might have brought in other things that were consequential to these common interests . but there was nothing antecedent that can be imagined , that could have brought in this catholick communion of those times , among such a multitude of absolute and independent societies , as the churches were then , if it had not been brought in from their very first originals . and yet these notions we were speaking of , were fundamental to that catholick communion it self , as managed in those earlier ages . let them therefore make their uttermost advantage of those instances , which our adversaries call precedents , in later ages . this is however plain : if they be not found inconsistent with these earlier instances , they can make nothing for their purpose : if they be ; yet none can doubt , but that later deviations , how numerous soever , are to be over-ruled and concluded by the precedents of these first and earliest instances , not so much as mentioned by their author . 23. yet after all , though we should admit that this author had been successfull in all that he has attempted ; we may yet justifie our adherence to the deprived bishops , and our separation from their opposite altars , and justifie it too by the doctrine of their own author : for , 7thly , even he permits a separation where orthodoxy is concerned , and expresly excepts this case , from the number of those which he pretends to confute . an heretical bishop he calls a false bishop , a false teacher ; and tells us that they who separate from such , do not divide the vnity of the church by schism , but endeavour to free the church from schisms and divisions . these are his own words in the conclusion of his discourse . i easily foresee this charge will seem new and surprizing to our adversaries ; and yet i cannot see how they can secure themselves against it . st. augustine observes , that schisms generally end in heresie : that is the natural consequence of defending it as our adversaries do , by principles . a single act of vndutifulness to superiors will in course pass away with those who are guilty of it ; so that posterity will not be concerned in it : but when it is defended by principles , it turns into false doctrine , and doctrine of that pernicious consequence , that the church is obliged to take notice of it , as she will be faithful to her trust , in securing her body from the like divisions for the future . thus the donatists took the first occasion for their schism , from the pretended personal faults of caecilian and his ordainers . this , whilst it was a particular case , went no farther than that particular schism : but when it turned into a general doctrine , that personal faults were sufficient to justifie separation ; then it laid a foundation of frequent schisms , as often as any criminals got into places of trust , and either evidence was wanting , or themselves too powerful to be contested with : then it concerned ecclesiastical governours to condemn this doctrine , that encouraged even men of conscience to divide designedly and frequently . and when that doctrine was thus condemned by the church , and was notwithstanding maintained by the donatists as a principle on which they subsisted as an opposite communion , it then became a character of a party to maintain it , and from that time forward the donatists were reckoned among hereticks , as well as schismaticks : for this was the true notion of heresie in those ages , as contradistinct from schism : both of them supposed a division of communion , or tended to it . but that division was called schism , which only broke the political vnion of the society , without any difference of principles ; as when thieves or robbers transgress their duties without any pretence of principles authorizing them to do so . so whilst resentment alone was the reason that made subjects separate from the communion of their ecclesiastical governours , or whilst ambition alone made any to invade the office of his bishop , and to erect an opposite communion ; this was schism properly so called as contradistinct from heresie . but when the schism is patronized by doctrines , and justified as well done , and consistently with conscience ; such divisions , besides their being schismatical , were heretical also in the sense of the ancients , and such doctrines , as characteristical of a distinct communion , were properly called heresies . on this account the same doctrine of the original identity of bishops and presbyters was no heresie in st. hierome , who notwithstanding kept communion with the bishops of the jurisdictions he lived in ; and yet was heresie in a●erius , when upon account of that pretended identity he presumed to pay no more duty to the bishops of the respective jurisdictions , than he would have done to single presbyters . this is the most agreeable account of the heresies , not only in philastrius , but in other more judicious collectors of catalogues of heresies . and it is very agreeable with the notion of that term among the philosophers , from whom the christians derived it . all notions that were proper and characteristical to particular schools among them made heresies , not those which were received in common among them . answerably whereunto those differences only of opinion made heresies in the church , which were the notes of different communions , not those which went no farther than speculation . 24. i am very well aware how surprizing this will be to those who , upon popular opinions , have been used to believe no opinion heresie that was not against fundamentals . but if they will for a while lay aside their prejudices , they will possibly find this as slightly grounded as many other popular opinions are . the very distinction between fundamentals and non-fundamentals , is not , that i know of , ever taken notice of by the primitive christians , either in the same or in equivalent terms . and if a person will needs make a breach on account of an opinion , it rather aggravates , than diminishes his guilt , that the opinion is of little consequence : his own will is more concerned in it ; that is , his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; and he is therefore more a heretick , and as hereticks were , more self-condemned , tit. 3.2 if , even in his own opinion , the matter for which he separates , be not of any considerable importance . even a truth , and a truth that has great evidenct of its being so , may make a heresie , if it be no way conducive nor disadvantageous to the good of souls ; and yet the person who maintains it , will by no means endure communion with those who are of another mind . he might have more pretence of zeal , though mistaken , if the mistake on the church's side did indeed concern souls , and seemed , at least , of dangerous consequence to them . when he has not even that to pretend for himself , who can impute his breaking on such accounts to any other original than an assuming imperiousness of temper , and a love of contention , which we generally acknowledge to be the principal ingredients of heresie ? certain it is , that such a breach for opinions , though true , yet of no consequence , is highly culpable , and destructive to that vnity , which christ designed for his church , and the more culpable for that very reason , that the opinion is of little consequence . yet it cannot properly be called schism , which is only a breach like those which fall out frequently in secular affairs , when men fall into parties , on account of a temper ungovernable , or ambitious , without any proper difference of opinion and doctrine . and it being no schism , what can we call it in the discipline of the church , if it be not heresie ? 25. these opinions therefore which are not otherwise heretical on account of the nature of the opinions themselves , do then begin to be heretical , when they begin to be characteristical of distinct communions . and that they do , not only when men designedly separate from others on that very account because they are not of the same opinions ; but also when they venture on such practices on account of their singular opinions , wherein others cannot communicate with them , for that very reason because they cannot join with them in those their singular opinions . then plainly the differing in such opinions , makes a difference of communion unavoidable ; and therefore the opinions themselves , in such a case as this is , are signals of different communions , which will come under the charge of heresie , as contradistinct from schism , in the notion now described of the primitive church . thus ; had st. hierome proceeded as far as aerius in the practice of his opinion concerning the original identity of bishops and presbyters , and had thereupon broken himself off from his duty to the bishop of the diocese , and by that means either made or countenanced a schism , which he had never countenanced but on account of this doctrine of his which he held in common with the aërians , that doctrine had then been heresie in him , as well as the aërians . so also opinions do then begin to be treasonable , when they are actually productive of treasonable actions : thus latitudinarian opinions in the church , do always weaken or dissolve the obligation in conscience to maintain the church as a society in a time of persecution from the civil magistrate ; yet till that case fall out , and when interest lyes on the church's side , they often still keep one communion who are for such opinions , and may continue in it while there are any other inducements to keep them in it besides those of conscience only it may perhaps be fit to be considered whether it be prudent to trust such persons with the management of the government of the church , who have no obligation of principles or conscience to maintain it as an independent society , or to suffer for it , that is , indeed who are never likely to maintain it in that very case which was most in our saviour's and the apostles v●ew ; that is , of a persecution . but when they actually divide that communion which they were never obliged in conscience to maintain , if they took the utmost liberty their latitudinarian principles would afford them ; and when their lax principles are the very grounds of their dividing the communion without any remorse of conscience for doing so ; when they are hereby emboldned to do those things which inevitably cause a breach from those who cannot follow them in these very principles : this is the case wherein these principles are characters of a distinct communion ; and therefore , by the reasoning now mentioned , become heretical : especially the principles being withal false , not only in the opinion of those from whom they have divided themselves ; but also of our earliest purest ancestors , even those of the apostolical age it self . 26. yet i deny not but that in this case of heresie , there is also regard to be had to the momentousness of the opinion it self . whoever sets up or abets a communion opposite to that of the church , on account of opinions , is , as i have shewn , in the judgment of the primitive church , an heretick ; and is the more , not the less so , if the opinions be also frivolous . but for such opinions the church would never have driven him out of her own communion , if himself had been pleased to have continued in it . her judiciary censures ought , no●doubt , to be confined to opinions fundamental and of great importance ; especially , if an internal assent be required , and that under pain of excommunication . yet let not our adversaries flatter themselves as if they were secure from the charge even of this notion of heresie , as it signifies an erring , even in fundamentals also . i know very well , men have hitherto considered the church rather as a sect , than as a society ; and have therefore usually had no regard to the doctrines fundamental to it as a society , if they did not withal concern it as a sect , and antecedently to its being a society . but there seems very little reason for their doing so , if they will be pleased impartially to reflect on it . it is very true , its notion as a sect is antecedent to its being a society , because it is a society into which men find themselves obliged to enter by the doctrines they must be supposed to believe , if they own it as a sect. but even thence it appears , that the doctrines which concern it as a sect , do withal make it necessary it should be a society . these two considerations therefore are by no means to be separated . nay it hence appears , that the doctrines constituting it as a sect , do also by a near , and unavoidable , and evident consequence , make it a society . thus therefore the fundamentals of its being a society , will be included in that system of doctrines which concern it as a sect. and then what matter is it that one of these notions is antecedent and the other consequent ? thus much at least will follow , that there is no subverting it as a society , without subverting it also as a sect ; because those very doctrines which make it a sect , do also consequently oblige it to be a society . for my part i believe those doctrines of the trinity and incarnation , which all who believe any fundamentals proper to the christian religion as revealed by god , do reckon among fundamentals , not to have been revealed for speculation only , but purposely to oblige men to unite in it as a society . the vnity in trinity , which is the principal thing insisted on in the doctrine of the trinity as revealed in the scripture , was purposely to let men see the extent of the mystical vnion to which they were intitled by the external vnion with the visible church , that by partaking in the orthodox communion , the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mentioned by st. john , they had also a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the father and the son , 1. john 1.3 . for it was manifest they must also partake of the spirit , because he who had not the spirit of christ was none of his . it was therefore supposed that by partaking of the trinity we are made one mystically , and that by being united visibly to the church , we are intitled to that mystical vnion . so whoever is united visibly to the church is thereby , if he be not wanting to himself in due conditions , united also mystically to the trinity ; and that whoever is divided externally from the church , is thereby also dis●united from this communion and vnion with the trinity . and what more prevailing inducements could be thought of to oblige men to keep in a society ? so also the design of the incarnation was , by christ's taking upon him our body and our flesh , to make us also one body and one flesh with him , thereby to entitle our bodies to a resurrection ; but then our being one body and one flesh with him , depended on our being members of the church , which is called his body , his flesh , his bones . we were to be baptized into this one body , and become one body by partaking of one bread. which plainly shew that all the benefits of the incarnation are derived to us by our partaking of the sacraments , and therefore by our adhering inseparably to them who alone are authorized by god to administer them . thus plain it is that those very fundamentals of our revealed religion as revealed , are revealed and designed for this purpose of making the church a society . how can therefore our adversaries make these doctrines fundamental , if this be not fundamental also , that the church was by god designed to be a society ? 27. this at least is certain , that we are intituled to all the benefits of our religion , by our owning the church not only as a sect , but as a society also ; and that though we believe all its doctrines as it is a sect , yet if we be divided from it as a society , that belief alone will not secure us a title to any of the benefits of our religion . excommunicates , however orthodox in their opinions , were never suppos'd , in the discipline of the church to have any actual title to the benefits of religion , if they persisted wilfully in that state of excommunication . the same i have already observed concerning the case of schismaticks , on the principles of the early age of st. cyprian . hence therefore it appears , that this notion of the church as a society , whatever it be in it self , is at least fundamental as to us , in order to our partaking of any of the benefits of religion : that is , indeed it is fundamental to all intents and purposes that we can think worthy our enquiry . without this , the other notions , if any be , will never be beneficial to us . so that whatever those other notions may be in order of reasoning ; yet this notion of the church as a society must be fundamental to them in order to their being beneficial ; that is , as far as we have any reason to concern our selves for them . these things ought certainly to be taken for fundamental as to the discipline and censures of the church . she ought certainly to be most concerned for those things that are most influential on the interests of souls ; and those are so whose belief is most beneficial and their dis-belief most hurtful to those most valuable interests . i cannot therefore see why she should not think doctrines of this kind fundamental , and reckon them among those fundamentals on which she ought to lay out her principal care. if therefore she ought to excommunicate for any errors at all , certainly she ought in the first place to do it for errors so destructive of all obligation to her communion it self , and of her authority of excommunicating ; that is , indeed so destructive to all that power she has either for the preservation of truth , or the prohibition of error in general . and if she ought not to inflict her censures , at least these highest of them , for any errors but those which are fundamental ; it will plainly follow , that errors of this kind must be reckoned for fundamental ones . our adversaries would have errors in fundamentals punished , and punished as a spiritual crime by a purely spiritual authority ; but they do not , in the mean time , seem to be aware how fundamental this very notion of the church , as a distinct and spiritual soceity , is to its having any authority , or power to punish , so much as spiritually . all they can do as a sect , is only to reason with hereticks concerning their errors , and all the means to reduce them are those reasons which can no farther prevail with them than as they may seem convictive in the judgment of the hereticks themselves . but on that account they stand on even terms with the hereticks , whose reasons ought likewise to take place with the ecclesiasticks , so far as they also are in conscience convinced by them . a true authority , and a power of punishing refractory persons by excluding from communion , do fundamentally suppose a spiritual society over which they are to exercise this authority , and from which delinquents are to be excluded by spiritual censures and excommunications . how can they therefore avoid reckoning those errors from being fundamental ones as punishable by a spiritual authority , which ruine fundamentally that very authority by which such errors are to be punished ; which destroy the society on which that authority is grounded fundamentally ? 28. if h●r●fore errors that destroy the very being of the church , as a society be fundamental , i cannot for my part fore-see how our adversaries can ex●u●e their anti bishops , and all that own them , by principles , from erring fundamentally . their being bishops supposes such doctrines as , if they be once admitted , make it impossible for the church to subsist as a spiritual society whenever the state is pleased to persecute it . they cannot possibly be supposed bishops of those dioceses to which they are consecrated , till it first be supposed that their predecessors are validly deprived , and consequently that the sees are vacant in conscience . if it should prove otherwise , the clergy and laity of those some jurisdictions , will still be obliged in conscience , as much as ever , to adhere to their canonical bishops till they be canonically deprived , and to disown such intruders as are put over them , not only without any canonical procedure , but without any authority also that can obl●ge in conscience . the only principle therefore on which they can pretend that their rival bishops have lost their right , as to conscience , must be the power that even the lay-magistrate has to deprive bishops even with regard to conscience . if therefore they will defend their schism by principles , it will be necessary that they defend this principle also , without which it is not possible that it should ever be defended . they have no ecclesiastical judicatory , just or unjust , that they can so much as pretend in this case and the defending this is that which will increase their guilt , and will add to their charge of schism , the aggravation of heresie also . for in order to the asserting such a right as this to the secular magistrate , it will be necessary to assert that the authority of the church , even as to spirituals , is , in conscience the right of the civil magistrate . if it should not be so , then the subjects of the respective dioceses may still be at liberty in conscience to adhere to their deprived bishops . and if they may , they must , because then all their former obligations in conscience will still hold as obliging as ever : for it is impossible that those antece●ent obligations in conscience to adhere to their spiritual superiors can be dis-annulled , or diminished by a power that can pretend no right in such matters with regard to conscience . but if we grant this power to the magistrate , this will perfectly overthrow the church as a society distinct from the state , and perfectly disable it to subsist as a society in a time of persecution . for when the magistrate persecutes it , it cannot then subsist as a society without a government , and a government obliging in conscience , and not derived from the persecuting magistrate . but if the right of that spiritual government be in conscience the magistrate's right , it must be an invading the magistrate's right to pretend to it when he expresly forbids it . and if so , how can spiritual governors in such a case pretend to it ? how can they pretend to a right that is none of their own , consistently with conscience ? how can their pretending to it with ill consciences , oblige their subjects to adhere to them on account of conscience ? nay how can it , even excuse them in conscience for not adhering rather to him whose right it is supposed to be , and that even in conscience ? no necessity whatsoever can excuse a sin , much less lay an obligation in conscience on subjects to abett it , least of all lay an obligation on god to ratifie such acts of authority as must be supposed no better than vsurpations . and yet all acts of ecclesiastical authority in a time of persecution can signifie nothing if they be not such as may oblige in conscience , and such as god , as well as men , is obliged to ratifie , thus it had been sin in the romans to set up cornelius ( as plainly they did ) not only without the consent , but against the will of decius . it had been sin in him , and not in him only , but in all the bishops of his age , to pretend to any districts in the roman empire . it had been sin in them to exercise authority in districts not belonging to them . thus the church had been perfectly dissolved , as a society at least , within the roman empire ; unless we can suppose a notion of a society without governours , without districts , without any lawful exercises of authority . and yet the bishops of those ages never thought themselves obliged in conscience , to go out of the roman empire to retrieve the power which is pretended to belong to them as bishops of the catholick church . and very probably it had signified nothing to have done so . they could have gone into no civilized inhabited countreys , but they must have expected magistrates who could pretend to the same right , as well as de●ius , and who were as much disposed as he , to use their right to the prejudice of the christian religion . what therefore would our adversaries have advised the christians of those ages to have preserved themselves in a society ? would they have had them retired into unoccupied wildernesses ? but how could they make societies there where there were no numbers of subjects , requisite to make a society ? plainly therefore , the catholick church had then been dissolved as societies , if these new principles had been maintained in those earlier ages . and these same principles do still put it as evidently in the power of the civil magistrate to dissolve the church as a society within his own dominions . for how can a church continue a society where bishops are in conscience deprived of their spiritual authority , and where subjects are also absolved from their obligations in conscience to obey them ? and this is also a dissolving the catholick church as to such , as live in such dominions , and as to any benefits they can derive from the catholick church also . for subjects of particular districts are no otherwise received into the catholick church , than as they derive a right to communion with all churches in the world , by their being admitted members of the churches of their particular districts . and they are also deprived of their right of catholick communion , when they are excommunicated by the lawful authority of their particular districts i cannot therefore see how our adversaries can excuse themselves herein from erring fundamentally if the church's being a society be admitted for a fundamental . 29. if there be degrees of fundamentals . i should think the fundamentals concerning the church as a society to be of the greatest consequence , and therefore fundamental in the highest degree . the church is indeed obliged to keep the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . these are the expressions by which our adversaries thems●lves , i believe , conceive the articles themselves call fundamental to be signified but she is obliged to keep them as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a trust committed to her . how so ? by avoiding disputings ▪ by stopping the mouths of hereticks , by rebuking them with all authority , b● rejecting and avoiding , not their doctrines only , but their persons also , when they prove incorrigible . now these things plainly suppose governors invest●d with spiritual authority , and a communion , from whence incurable hereticks are to be rejected . so that in order to the keeping these o●her fundamentals , the church as a society is supposed antecedently as a condition that alon● can qualifie her for having such a trust committed to h●r . this no●ion therefore as antecedent must be fundamental to those other fundamentals , and therefore fundamental in a higher sense than those things can be whose security is superstructed upon it . and accordingly the damage to the publick in subverting these notions of the church as a society ▪ i● proportionably greater than that which follows from the denial of other particular articles which are commonly taken for fundamental . he that denies one of the other articles may yet believe all the rest , and zealously defend them and that by principles too ●gainst all other hereticks . but he that denies the church as a society invested with a spiritual authority , does as eff●ctually contribute to the ruine of all the other fundamentals at once , as he does to the ruine of a h●use who subvers the foundations of it . it brings in impunity for heresie ●n general and suffers hereticks still to hope as well in their separate sects , as if they were in 〈…〉 communion i● l●aves them destitute of even any presumptions that might oblige them ●o judge in favour of the church's doctrine , as the safest error , if it should prove one it does by this mean● reduce the trial of the cause to the reasons themselves , and their native evidence , and put● it in the power of assuming men to pretend greater evidence than either they have , or they really believe . and thing● being reduced to his pass , it is more god's providence ▪ than the security of principles , that hinders any heretick who disputes any one of the other articles , from questioning all the rest . 30. i am sorry our adversaries case affords ma●ter for so heavy accusations : but they may by this time understand how naturally the cause affords it , if we will judge impartially , as we must do , if we will judge either solidly or justly ; if we will judge as no doubt , the righteous judge of all the world will at the day of the general judgment and what can our late brethren , either of the clergy or laity , say for bringing things to this melancholy prospect ? neither is the cha●ge ●light , to which they have made themselves obnoxious by this unhappy schism ; nor is the evidence slight , by which this charge may be ●roved against them : and yet they have wholly been the aggressors in ●his whole affair . we are exactly where we were ▪ exactly where they left us . so little can they pretend that we have contributed to this division . we hold the same doctrines that we did , that themselves did , formerly . we adhere to the same bishops themselves have owned for bishops till now . nor are we otherwise divided from them , than as they have divided themselves , by erecting new altars against the altars themselves have hitherto acknowledged lovers of unity would be as much grieved for breaches in the mystical body as living members when by any violence they are divided f●om the body natu●al . the lit●le concern the harlot shewed for the controverted infant , was to solomon an argument , that she was not the mother of it . and how comes it to pass they can divide themselves from us with so little remorse , if ever they were living members of our common mystical body ? do they not tempt us to reason as st. john did , tha● they never were ours by principles when they can so easily leave us ? have they lost all reverence for their so lately celebrated fathers ? have they lost all brotherly love and compassion to their brethren ? and all for no other crime than constancy to our common principles . and can they still pretend a zeal to our common religion for doing so ? these , they will say , are our opinions . but lovers of unity would be afflicted for violations of it , whoever were the occasions of it . lovers of unity would not willingly grieve their brethren , much less would they do that , which , even in the opinions of their brethren ▪ might occasion a breach of unity . if there were otherwise no great necessity for doing it . least of all would they do it , when they knew those princip●es to be principles of conscience , an● of a conscience firm and stedfast to the true publick , spiritual interests of the church . so far they must be from accepting promotions , when they must be purchased at so dear a rate as that of a publick schism . but i wish these opinions of ours were no more than private opinions , i h●s now app●ared that they were the sense of the who●e catholick church , in those ag●s which all ought to reverence , who will pretend to reformation , and which is to be the standard of catholick unity . yet let them regard us as little as they please , methinks at least they should have some regard to the publick in●erests even of their own church ▪ and yet both the intruders and their consecrators proceed on those principles , that put it in the power of a popish or schismatical prince to dissolve it when they please . they cannot justifie what they do without supposing a vacancy in the sees to which the new promotions are made ; nor can they suppose such a vacancy without allowing the validity of a state depriva●ion , even with regard to conscience . suppose therefore a popish prince with a popish parliament should turn their principles against themselves , and deprive all our bishops with one act of state ; i cannot see what these fathers can pretend to secure their chu●ch as a society , and as a communion , in opposition to them . they must then no longer pretend to dioceses in england . they must not pretend to any obligation of their protestant clergy and laity to stand by them , even in conscience . they must therefore never pretend to communions ●n those dioceses , which are plainly exercises of spiritual authority in them . nor can they then justifie , or even excuse , any assemblies for religion , when forbidden by the civil magistrate , who is only supposed , by these principles , to have also the right to that spiritual authority by which alone they can be justified . and are these the ways to secure our religion against popery ? no open persecutions whatsoever can ever ruine us so eff●ctually as these doctrines will , if ever we receive them . doctrines of our own will break our union among our selves more than any of our adversaries open violences . 31. thus i have shewn that our author 's reasoning is not concluding for our adversaries purpose , though his matters of fact had been as pertinent ●s our adversaries conceive them to be . i now proceed to the examination of the matter of fact themselves , and shall endeavour to shew that even they are not pertinent to our adversaries case . a vindication of the deprived bishops , &c. part ii. shewing , that the instances collected in the anonymous baroccian ms. are indeed not pertinent to the editors design , for vindicating the validity of the deprivation of spiritual power by a lay-authority . 1. the use that our adversaries make of this collection of instances , which they call precedents , is to shew that our present bishops are obliged to acquiesce in their unjust deprivation , and that their present clergy and people are not obliged to stand by them , if they think fit to insist on their right , and chalenge their duty from them . these things they conceive clear from these instances , that neither unjustly deposed bishops did chalenge their rights , nor their clergy and laity assist them in chalenging them , if the bishops substituted in their places were of the same faith with those who were deprived . but undoubtedly these reasonings can never pretend to hold any farther than as the instances here mentioned were parallel to the case of our present bishops . if the cases be different , and different in so remarkable a circumstance , as will make a difference of reason also ; it will not follow that our bishops now are obliged to doe as those did then , though we had been better assured than we are , that what was done in the cases here instanced was justifiable , and on other accounts than bare matter of fact , argumentative , and fit to pass into a precedent . and for my part , so far i am from thinking the case the same , that i believe their author himself never intended it should be so . our adversaries make application of his instances to a case , wherein not onely the deprivation is unjust , but the authority itself is null and disobliging ; that is , of a lay-deprivation as to the purely spiritual authority of our bishops . but in all likelyhood this neither was no● could be the design of this author , to make a collection of precedents for submission to a lay and invalid deprivation ; much less in such circumstances as ours are , wherein men are so prone to make ill interpretations of such submission , to the justifying such invasions for the future , and the ruine of the church , as a society distinct from , and independent on the state. 2. to shew that this was not his design , it will be convenient to enquire into the matter of fact , which gave occasion to their author to draw up this collection of precedents and canons : for from thence it will appear how much he was obliged to prove , that he might make his collection pertinent to the case undertaken by him ; and whether the speaking home to that case that was then before him did , by any way of rational consequence , oblige him to say things applicable to our present case , to which what he says is applied by our adversaries . this i shall the rather endeavour , both because it will be acceptable to the world to know the occasion of writing this new published discourse , and because it is not so much as a●tempted by either of the worthy editors , which yet was an omission of very ill consequence , as to the reasoning : for how was it possible to judge of the reasoning of their author , whilest as yet the case was unknown against which the reasoning was designed by him ? and in order hereunto we have gained a point , in discovering the time of the author , and thereby the true age of this discourse . this will confine our enquiry within a narrower compass , wherein we are to expect the case that gave occasion for it : indeed it is the onely token we have for knowing it , the author having given us no historical account of the persons concerned , in the discourse itself . 3. the original therefore of the schism which occasioned this discourse , is , i believe , to be derived from the reign of michael palaeologus , the father of the elder andronicus , under whom our authour wrote . i mention nothing now of that elder schism wherein nicephorus of ephesus was set up against arsenius , mentioned by pachymeres : that quarrel was ended on arsenius's restitution ; and therefore could have no influence on the discourse written afterwards . the second schism therefore is that which is to our purpose ; and it was thus : theodorus lascaris had left a young son behind him , called john : of him , by that time he came to be ten years of age , michael began to be jealous , and to secure himself puts out his eyes . this the then patriarch , arsenius was very much displeased at , and excommunicated him for it . the emperour bore it for a while , and wore a penitential habit , hoping within a while to be restored : but finding at length no hopes of it , this made a grudge between him and the patriarch ; so that the emperour was resolved to lay him by . what then ? does he deprive him by his secular authority ? no such matter . gregoras observes , that * he did not take the course his power would suggest , nor use it openly . there was no such power so much as pretended to by the lay-magistrate , even in those late and degenerous ages . he pretends indeed a frivolous cause against the patriarch ; yet he makes not himself the judge of it , but a synod . however he gained his point ; the synod did as the emperour would have them , and deposed the patriarch . this being done , they translate germanus from the see of adrianople to that of constantinople ; which revived a dispute about translations , first started , as georgius pachymeres tells us , by joseph who succeeded him , and occasioned a like collection of instances as this is , which we have still preserved in the same baroccian ms. there we have also the synodical proceedings concerning the translation of germanus , which gi●es us the time of it , that it was in may , the year of the world , as they then reckoned , 6773 ; that is , in the year of our lord as we now account , 1266. but germanus , not being able to endure the envy and odium of coming into arsenius's place so injuriously vacated ; retires after two years , arsenius being yet alive . pachymeres says , that the emperour was also underhand very active in it . upon this arsenius stirs again , but in vain ; joseph was , by the emperour's interest , again set up against him . thi● was about the time of the eclipse which gregoras mentions in may , in the year of the world 6775. that was the year of our lord 1268. pachymeres is more distinct , and tells us , that germanus resigned about september . arsenius upon this acts authoritatively , and deprives joseph ; for so we find it pleaded elsewhere by the followers of arsenius , in the same * gregoras . this was a chalenging of his right , upon the vacancy , and had this effect with those who thought him injured , that they would no more own the communion of joseph ; so that from that time forward the schism began . this is certain , that when michael afterwards endeavoured an vnion with the latines , in the council of lyons , in the year 1274. both parties opposed it with great zeal ; joseph himself so far , that he was deposed for it , and beccus set up in his place : and yet though both parties united against the common adversary , they would not doe so among themselves . they still avoided each * others communion as much as they did that of the latines . thus things continued in that reign , though both parties were persecuted by the emperour , who did all he could to force them both to his vnion of the council of lyons . at length he dyes , and then all things return : beccus retires , and the schismatical exiles of both parts come home . this must have been in the year 1284. if gregoras date it right , in the year of the world 6791. phrantzes and pachymeres agree with him ; onely puchymeres adds , that it was the 11th of scirrophorion . this possinus misunderstands , when he thinks it was december ; but scirrophorion in the table of hesychius , where he describes the signification of those old names of months , in the use of the modern greeks is august : and so the matter is clear , and the other note given by pachymeres , that it was the parasceve agrees exactly . in that year the 5th cycle of the sun the dominical letters ba , the 13th of august is dominical exactly . and so the number of his years of reign answer exactly . p●●chymeres says , that he began his reign the 1st of hecatombaeon ; that is , in hesychius , september ; not january , as possinus would have it : according to which beginning his reign from septemb. 1. 1260. he must have reigned 24 years , except 20 days , as pachymeres says he did . then joseph returns , and enjoys the patriarchal throne for a time , and they who had owned him before , own him still , and communicate with him : but the arseniate ( so they were called , and opposed to the josephiat● , ) return with their old animosities , and would not own him upon account of his former deposition by arsenius , who was by this time some while dead , and could not head them ; yet they would not communicate with joseph , though he had now no rival to be opposed to him . the death of arsenius was the next year after the vnion of the council of lyons , on the 30th of gamelion , in the language of pachymeres ; i. e. on the 30th of march , 1275. on the other side the josephiatae pleaded , that arsenius had been canonically deprived in a synod , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . there was also a third party , which charged both these , no doubt , joseph then living , with new canonical accusations . this obliged joseph again to recede , both for peace sake , and because indeed he was by this time superannuated for his charge : thus he left the two parties engaged , and soon after dyes himself . the new emperour andronicus did not think fit to let the throne lie vacant at so dangerous a time as the beginning of a new reign ; he therefore pitches on georgius cyprius , an eloquent and learned man , and fit for the place , and immediately invests him with what he could give him , the crosier , or pastoral staff , according to the custome then generally received for some ages , both in the east and west . this enabled him to perform those patriarchal offices onely which required not priesthood , as gregoras expresly observes ; so carefull they were then of avoiding these present invasions on that sacred function . the reason he deferred his consecration for a time , was purposely that he might get him consecrated by persons no way concerned in the schism between the arsenians and josephians , nor in the vnion attempted by his father in the council of lyons , as wisely foreseeing that it would make the whole consecration questionable , in a time when that whole design was so unpopular and abominated ; and a short time afforded him persons fit for his purpose . within a while the bishop of mozula came on an embassy from his master the despote of aetolia , and a little after him another bishop of debra in macedon , upon another occasion . these , i suppose , were therefore free from any contagion of latine communion , or of the schism , because they had not been liable to his father's jurisdiction : but he pitched rather on the bishop of mozula , as being a suffragan of constantinople ; for mozula was subject to naupactus , naupactus to constantinople ; whereas debra was under justiniana prima , exempted by justinian : him therefore andronicus prevails on , first to consecrate a monk , called germanus , bishop of heraclia , whose antient right it was to preside in the consecration of the patriarch ; then with the bishop of debra to assist the so consecrated bishop of heraclia in the following office , when there should be need of them . this being done , they then proceed to the consecration of georgius or gregorius , for the modern greeks especially do often confound those two names ; and being onely a reader before , they first ordain him deacon , then presbyter , before they all joined in making him patriarch . thus all the caution was used that could be , to prevent the schism that might follow , if his consecration had been exceptionable in the opinions then received ; and all was no more than necessary , as did afterwards appear . this did not hinder but that his former familiarity with becus , and metochita , and meliteniota , was objected to him ; and even that inferior order of reader , which he did not receive then , he was said to have received from latinizers . how true these objections were is not material to our present design : this at least appears , how prone they were then to make them , and how little occasions served for those who were so predisposed to receive them . the patriarch thus made , endeavours then were used to reconcile the arseniatae and the josephiatae : accordingly an expedient was thought of suitable to the superstition of the age , and the tales formerly invented by the legendaries . on the great sabbath , that is the saturday before easter , two libels were received , each containing the sense of the party that deliver'd it ; one of the followers of arsenius , the other of those of joseph . these they cast into a fire prepared for the purpose , expecting ( according to the fancies of our saxon ancestors concerning their fiery ordeal ) that the libel which was more pleasing to god should escape untouch'd : but the event was , that the fire destroyed them both , and the controversie still remained unresolved , whether was in the right . however it was thus interpreted , that the making parties was generally displeasing . this sufficed at present to unite them among themselves , and with their present patriarch . and to sweeten the arseniatae the more , it was granted them , that the body of arsenius should be honourably received into the city with a solemn procession . the easter that this vnion was transacted in could hardly be sooner than that of the year 1285. and the great sabbath was april 13. according to the computation of isaac , a monk near this time , that we may not suspect any alteration in the paschal account between this time and his . but the vnion then made does not seem to have held long , possibly no longer than the time of this george of cyprus . in the time of nipho of cyzicus we find the arseniatae out again , ( how long before we know not ) and by him reconciled on very honourable terms , and then apostatizing again : this was about the year 1315. thus fickle they were , for so many years together after the death and honourable amends made to the memory of their arsenius . however the prospect of things in our author's view when he wrote this discourse , i take to have been that of the year 1285. which i have been now describing . 4. it gives indeed so clear an account of the whole design of this discourse , that we can hardly doubt but that this was indeed the case that occasioned it . that the author excepts st. chrysostome's case , as affording matter for a particular consideration , seems to imply that this case was particularly insisted on by the adversaries with whom he was concerned . and indeed the case of arsenius was so very like that of st. chrysostome , that it cannot be thought strange that the arsenians should reason from that case as a precedent . st. chrysostome excepted against the synod ad quercum that deposed him , that his notorious and professed enemies , theophilus , acacius , severian , and antiochus , presided in it : so did arsenius against the synod that deposed him , that the emperour had convened it , and influenced it , with whom he had a known difference on occasion of his late excommunication . the synod ad quercum admitted not this exception of st. chrysostome , but condemned him for non-appearance , without any examination of the merits of his cause ; and the same way this other synod also proceeded in the case of arsenius , that he also had no hearing concerning the particulars objected against him . in the case of st. chrysostome , not onely the eastern joannites , but all the bishops of the west renounced communion with those who had proceeded so unjustly in censuring him without ever hearing his defence ; and this not onely while st. chrysostome himself was living , but for many years after his death , till an honourable amends was made him , as far as was possible ; that is , not to his person , but his memory . that was , not onely when his name was received into the ecclesiastical dip●ychs , thereby owning him to have dyed , in right , as bishop of constantinople ; but when his body was brought back , and received into the city by a solemn procession of the then bp. proclus , the emperour himself assisting at the ceremony . this was , as socrates tells us , in the 16th consulship of the younger theodosius , ( in the year 438. ) and in the 35th year of the dishonour done him , which seem therefore to be reckoned from the synod ad quercum , where he was first deposed , which was the year before he was banished constantinople . he was not banished till the 30th of septemb. in the year 404. for they usually allow him onely five years and some odd months for his bishoprick , which began febr. 26. in the year 398. and therefore must end in 403. and the time of that former synod ad quercum , which probably was the reason why socrates began his account from thence . no doubt the arsenians also had this example before them , when they procured the two translations of the body of their patron ; the first from the place where he dyed to the monastery of st. andrew in the city , in the beginning of this reign of andronicus ; then from the monastery to the church of st. sophia , in the later concordate made by the patriarch nipho of cyzicus , in the year 1315. for so st chrysostome's body also had been interred in the church of the apostles , built by the emperour constantine the great , and where himself was buried also , no doubt the principal church of the city then , till this of st. sophia was afterwards built by the great justinian ; so carefull the arsenians were , that their patriarch arsenius should not fall short in any punctilio of the honour that was done to the memory of st. chrysostome . 5. and from hence we understand the reason why our author is so particularly carefull to observe , that past invalidities in succession , did not use to be critically examined , but left to god , not even by the dividing persons themselves , when they were so long past that they could not be remedied , and were withall not injurious to the rights of any person living . thus he observes , even in the principal case of st. chrysostome , that severianus of gabala , and acacius of beraea , though they were accused to pope innocent , ( that is the true notion of * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ) were notwithstanding not censured by him , but permitted to the divine vengeance , when their fact was now too late to be redressed . the like he observes concerning pope caelestine's approving of atticus and his successors , in his epistle to nestorius . these are arguments ad homines , even from the sense of those who were the principal separators , on account of the injustice done to st. chrysostome ; for such were the bishops of rome : and he is frequent in his observations of this kind ; a sign that the schismaticks he had to deal with were rigorous in retrospection , and unraveling what had been done since the injurious deprivation ; and this the arsenians did insist upon . arsenius himself , upon his restitution after his first expulsion , expresly ratified all the orders that had been conferred by the intruder , nicephorus of ephesus : and in the reconciliation made by niphon of cyzicus , one thing granted them was , * that the clergy should submit to a penance of forty days suspension ; no doubt as an acknowledgment that their whole ministry was in right unlawfull as far as it had been received in the schism . and this seems to have been the reason why gregoras censures the arsenians , as having that design of advancing their own party to all the preferments of the church . that was a consequence of their vacating all the places that had been filled since the intrusion , and invalidating their orders ; they thereby left none qualified to fill their places but themselves . 6. but our author expresly excepts the case of heresie , as that alone which could justifie a separation . the heresie then in view , in the sense of the greeks , was no doubt the doctrine of the latines , which they called heresie , and with which they had been allarmed since the pretended vnion at lyons . this exception therefore the author could very truly and prudently admit , and urge against both the dividing parties , that neither of them could charge the other with latinizing , or pretend that as a cause for their separation . joseph had suffered in that cause as well as the arsenians , and was forced to retire , and beccus was set up against him , because he would not comply with the emperour in that matter : yet in the latter end of his discourse he adds out of the canons two prudent limitations of this case , even of heresie : one is , that he requires that the heresie should have been antecedently condemned by the church , lest otherwise private persons should be left at liberty to separate for whatever themselves should be pleased to call heresie : another is , that the heresie so condemned should be openly , and in the face of the church owned by the pretended heretick , that no publick separation might ever be permitted , without publick evidence of the cause on which the separation was to be made . i cannot think these limitations were made precariously , but in prospect of a cause then in view , that might have suffered by the consequence of this concession , that heresie at least would justifie separation , if these limitations had not been interposed : and i can think of no cause so likely as that of george of cyprus , who was now made patriarch . we find by gregoras , that notwithstanding the care that was used that his consecration might have no ingredient of any authority derived either from latines , or latinizing greeks , yet he lay under some suspition of that very charge , which was then so very odious . his former familiarity with beccus , and metochita , and meliteniota , in the time when the vnion was rigorously urged by the emperour , made him suspected of having imbibed their doctrine . at least his inferior order of readership , which was now not given him , but supposed , they did not know but it might have been derived from latinizers . but these limitations secured his case from justifying any separation that might follow from these jealousies . he might hold some opinions in common with the latines , if they were not condemned as heresies by his own church . and particularly gregoras observes , that in that vnion of lyons the * faith was not meddled with ; i believe he means the article concerning the procession of the holy ghost from the son. and this being free , there were not many of those which they called errours of the latines , which they could pretend had been condemned as erroneous in the faith. this even beccus himself might have pleaded , as well as george , that he had not expresly professed that doctrine of the latines which the greek church condemned for heretical ; but he could not excuse himself as george could doe , from at least communion with those whom they called hereticks : at least the other limitation would bring george off , that they onely suspected him to maint●in the doctrine of those with whom he had been so familiar , not that even his adversaries could pretend that he had owned them openly , or taught them in the publick ecclesiastical assemblies . if this was the occasion , this collection could hardly have been made before the synod of a●ramittium , which being about the time of easter , could not have been sooner than the next year to that wherein andronicus succeeded ; that is , the year 1285. nor is it likely to have been sooner , if this author wrote it when himself was rhetor. georgius logothetes acropolita , whose chronicle we have , was rhetor in the time of arsenius . germanus , who was set up against arsenius , put manuel holobolus in that same office ▪ perhaps the same whose notes are extant in ms. on the ar● dosiadis . holobolus was very hardly used by michael the emperour for his aversion to the latines , as pachymeres tells us : nor was he , that we know of , then put out of his place . but whether it was he that was continued , or that was restored at the beginning of andronicus , we cannot judge till we have more light from history . this at least seems probable , that this was the time of writing this discourse : before this time there was not such occasion for this exception , and these limitations of this exception of heresie , as there was now . it is certain the author was a constantinopolitane , and wrote on occasion of a constantinopolitane schism , and wrote withall about this time , and could hardly have avoided mentioning this schism , on one side or other , if he had written after it ; and there is neither any schism , nor any time of this schism , so fit for it as this . withall we know that an union did follow upon it ; who knows how much this discourse of the publick rhetor might have contributed to it ? 7. if therefore i have guessed right at the true occasion of writing this discourse , the author , whoever he was , had no occasion from his design to speak to our present case , of an invalid deprivation , as to spirituals , by a lay-authority . the case of arsenius was plainly managed by a synod ; so also was that of st. chrysostome , so much insisted on by them , and pleaded as a precedent of a parallel case . the secular power , in both cases , concerned themselves no farther than in executing the synodical decrees : particularly michael pal●ologus was so far from encroaching on the church's power , that gregoras observes expresly , that he would not use the power he had in his hands to right himself ; so far , that he owned the validity of arsenius's censure against him , that he submitted to it , and wore a penitential habit , and profered any satisfaction that the patriarch would impose upon him , and that nothing seems to have hindred the reconciliation , but that arsenius did not yet think fit to come to particulars ; so far , that he was once minded to have surrendred his imperial sword to the patriarch , till finding arsenius willing to accept of it , he suddenly snatched it back ▪ and refused to stand to it ; so far , that even after arsenius was deposed , he never was at ease in his own conscience , till he was absolved from those censures by another patriarch ; that he scrupled the validity of an absolution from germanus , because of his translation from another see , and was thereupon very desirous underhand , as pachymeres informs us , to oblige him to resign ; that when that resignation was made , he then rested not till he had the absolution solemnly pronounced by the patriarch joseph , after a publick and solemn acknowledgment of the crimes by which he had incurred those censures , in the face of the church . what occasion therefore could this author have to justifie the validity , or the obligation in conscience to submit to a lay-deprivation ? the case before him not requiring it , he could have no temptation to undertake it , but to gratifie the emperours ; but even that cannot be pretended here : the emperour principally concerned never chalenged such power to himself , no not in conscience , though he was under such temptations to enlarge his pretensions to the uttermost . and the emperour andronicus , under whom the discourse was written , was not so much as under any temptation to chalenge more than what was , in the opinions of that age , believed his due , and shewed himself displeased with the proceeding of his father's reign . 8. there was therefore on this account no occasion that might oblige our author to speak to our present case of a lay-deprivation . that is not all : i add farther , that our author could not justifie this case , if he would be true to the principles advanced by himself in this very discourse . the canons that are omitted would have made this matter very clear , if the editor had thought fit to have taken them in . they plainly mention no other case of a bishop's being deposed , but that of his being deposed by a synod : but this negative testimony will not , perhaps , satisfie our adversaries ; they farther say , such things as are utterly inconsistent with their owning any deprivation to be valid that is not synodical . the canons of the first-second synod , here produced , ( so it was called , because it was twice convened , like the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or quinisext , which made the canons ascribed to the 5th general council , though the bishops who made them were convened some while after the 5th council : ) these , i say , are very home and decisive to our purpose , and such as our adversaries can by no means stand by . it is there decreed , that if any presbyter or deacon shall dare to fall away from his bishop , before a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , conciliary judgment of his case ; nay , before a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ( the judgment alone was not sufficient , unless it proceeded to a definitive sentence . ) if , i say , such a person either leave his bishop's communion , or leave his name out of the diptychs , and do not mention it in the ecclesiastical offices ; he is to be deprived of all his sacerdotal office. not onely so , but all that follow him , if they have any sacerdotal office , are to be deprived as well as he ; if they be laymen , they are to be exmunicated , till they quit the communion of the schismaticks , and return to that of their own bishop . no other sentence or deprivation is here allowed of to excuse a separation , but a synodical one ; till that be had , the fathers who made this canon , look on all the separation that is made as no better than schism . and is not this exactly our deprived father's case ? what synod can our adversaries pretend that has , i do not say sentenced , but so much as judicially heard them ? what then can they say that , by the doctrine of this canon , may excuse their present separation from being schismatical ? will they say they are guilty of no separation ? but erecting another altar opposite to the altar of their own bishop is separation , not onely by the doctrine of the cath. church of st. cyprian's age , but even of their own author himself . so it appears from the canons of the apostles , and of the council of antioch here produced by him , which use this very expression of erecting altar against altar . and it is notorious , that all who have used this phrase , have ever included this case of setting up a bishop against a bishop within the same jurisdiction : the very first occasion of using it was taken from a case exactly parallel among the jews , that of setting up a high priest against another high priest , within the same peculium . so also by the doctrine of the same canons produced here , it is schismatical to omit mentioning the bishop's name in the ecclesiastical diptychs : the design of those commemorations in the diptychs , was plainly to own them as bishops of those particular districts . thus cyril of alexandria argues against atticus , that the receiving st. chrysostome's name again into the diptychs , would be an owning him a bishop , who had been deprived of his bishoprick , and consequently a reversing the sentence of deprivation that had been pronounced against him . thus it appears , that it was the same thing to receive a bishop's name into the diptychs of a particular diocese , as to own him for a bishop of that diocese ; and to leave his name out of the diptychs of a particular diocese , was also the same thing as thence-forward to disown his episcopal relation to that particular diocese . and accordingly with us , who have not now that custome of ecclesiastical diptychs , owning men for bishops of such dioceses , is the same thing as receiving their names into the diptychs , and disowning them for bishops of those dioceses , will also be the same as excluding them out of the diocesan diptychs . particularly the case of those clergy in the deprived dioceses will fall under the purview of that canon , who omit the deprived bishops , and mention the intruders , in those prayers where it is customary to mention their diocesane ordinary . and now what can our titulars say for themselves , upon the principles of this their so celebrated author ? do they own the deprived bishops to have still a title in conscience to their dioceses ? how can they then at the same time pretend themselves to have a title also , and that in conscience ? how can they in conscience justifie their invasion of those thrones , to which others are acknowledg'd to have a right in conscience ? do they therefore , to make way for their own right , deny that of their predecessors ? but their very doing so forfeits all the rights they can pretend , not only to the dioceses , but their other (a) sacerdotal offices , by the doctrine of this canon , till they can prove what in our case they cannot so much as pretend , that their predecessors have had a (b) compleat conciliary hearing , and a conciliary deprivation . this canon therefore reaches the titulars themselves ; and not onely them , but the (c) clergy also of the respective dioceses who shall own or follow them , they are also liable to the very same sentence of deprivation . the (d) laity also of the same dioceses that shall own them are to be excommunicated , and not received again till they disown all communion with our titulars , who are here called schismaticks . this will take in all their whole bodies , at least in the deprived dioceses . 9. the next canon of that same synod here produced goes farther yet , and takes in the case of all the other bishops , who shall be guilty of the like undutifulness to their metropolitane , in leaving his communion , or not mentioning his name out of the diptychs in the li●urgical offices . and this canon also is as express as the former , in assigning the case wherein such omissions and defections are allowed as justifiable . no other judgment is allowed as competent in this matter , but that of a synod , the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as here again the fathers express it , if any bishop do fail in his duty to his metropolitane before it , he is by this canon to be * deprived . and what can our late fathers say for themselves , if they were to be tried by this canon ; they can as yet no more pretend a synodical deprivation of their metropolitane , than of their other brethren ; yet they have taken upon them to disown him , as well as their otherwise equal brethren : they have taken upon them to meet in a convocation , without his presidency or permission ; and would , no doubt , have acted in matters of great importance to the church , if they could have agreed among themselves . this was a direct invasion of his right by the nicen● canon , which makes the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the ratification of what is to be done in such assemblies , to be the prerogative of the metropolitane ; yet this they did , before they could pretend so much as a lay-deprivation . they have since proceeded farther , and made new schismatical bishops , not onely without his leave , but against his will : this is also expresly against the nicene canon , which allows not even a majority of the provincial synod to doe it , without the metropolitane's consent for one , though the bishop so made had not been schismatical . yet they have not stopped here ; they have presumed to set up his own dean against him , they who have sacredly promised subjection to him as his suffragans ; him who was under the same canonical obligations and promises too , as an immediate member of his diocese . and i need not tell him how scandalous this case of breaking faith was in the antient cases of arsacius of constantinople , and flavianus of antioch , not onely to discredit their persons , but to justifie a separation from them ; though i do not think that case alone sufficient to justifie it where the scandal was not injurious to a better right , than that of him who was in possession : but in the case before us i cannot imagine what they can pretend to avoid this canon . i do not urge these canons , as laws particularly obliging us , by whom they were never particularly and explicitly received : yet if i did urge them as obliging without explicite reception , perhaps the particular reasonableness of the canons themselves would bear me out in it . the law of nations obliges all particular civil nations , though it be not taken into their codes of written laws , and therefore not ratified by express reception . the reasonableness of the things themselves , and their necessity for maintaining correspondence , are alone sufficient to oblige all nations who will correspond with others , and correspond justly . so the case is here : the securing subordinations already received and settled , are so much the interests of all churches , and these expedients are so manifestly necessary for maintaining those subordinations , that they do as little need explicite reception to make them obligatory in particular churches , as the laws of nations do to make them also obligatory to particular nations . for my present design it 's sufficient that these canons do at least express the sense of the eastern church , and of this collector , who produces and owns them as authorities . hence at least it follows , that that church and this collector owned no validity in deprivations of bishops that were not synodical , when without this they account all refusals of duty schismatical , whatever other deprivations could be pretended in favour of such refusals . how was it then possible for this collector to plead precedents for even excusing duty on such deprivations , which he did not think sufficient to excuse them ? how could he call facts of this kind precedents , and reason from them to a church which had by her rules and canons so expresly condemned them ? 10. but mr. hody did not think this latter part , where the canons are , to belong to the discourse published by him : nor will i charge him with any designed disingenuity in suppressing them , though they make so manifestly against the cause espoused by him . i onely desire that his omission may not prejudice them who shall be pleased again to consult the ms. the thing it self gives no occasion that i can see for suspecting it to belong to any other author . the hand is manifestly the same with that of the part already published ; and this hand is manifestly different from those which are either before or after : it follows also without any new title , without any footsteps of any that had once been legible , but now defaced , and grown illegible ; without any the least convenient distance left for a title , if the author had intended one . but these things are not unusual with the unskilfull librarians , where notwithstanding the works themselves so injudicially connected are very different . i grant it , nor would i insist on these things , if there were any great evidence in the matter itself to the contrary ; but unless we will allow our selves a liberty of breaking off arbitrarily and unaccountably , and leaving out whatever displeases us in manuscripts , we must at least allow these things to pass for presumptions , where there is no contrary evidence : and that is all that need be granted us in this matter . the subject matter of this appendix is so far from affording arguments for suspecting it as part of another work , that it adds rather farther evidence , that it was really from the same author , and with the same design . the canons are to the same purpose of opposing the schisms now mentioned , as well as the historical precedents : both of them together do clear the sense of the church , as well from her written laws in words , as from her unwritten ones of custome and matter of fact. and what could be more proper than to join these two together ? indeed the facts alone would not be so argumentative , without the canons ; for they are not bare facts , but approved facts , that are fit to be admitted as precedents . and what facts are approved by the church , we can most securely judge by their conformity to her written laws . besides , this was the custome of the ecclesiastical rhetors , to give in their evidences of both kinds concerning the questions wherein they were consulted : so troilus the sophist mentions a canon as well as examples , relating to the case of translations , if he were the author of that collection , made use of by his disciple socrates , as i believe he was . so here in the same ms. in the collection fitted to the case of germanus of adrianople , intruded into the throne of arsenius , besides the collection of troilus , there are added many more instances , and express testimonies , out of the decretals of the popes , callistus and anteros , which in the discipline of that age were equivalent to canons . it should seem that , during the time the latines possessed constantinople , some latinizing greek translated isidore mercator's forgeries , which from that time were taken for law in the greek church , as they had formerly been in the latine . this is , i think , the first time we find them mentioned by the greeks : we do not find that their canonists , who wrote a little before , ever take any notice of them ; not zonaras , nor alexius aristenus , nor balsamon ; yet balsamon does mention the donation of constantine , which i believe was translated from the same collection of isidore's forgeries , a sign that even then the greeks began to look into them . but methinks the latter end of the canons of our appendix should put this matter out of doubt : there it is explained and limited what had been so often inculcated in the former discourse , concerning the liberty which had been allowed of separating in the excepted case of heresie . our author here produced his authority for what he had said as to that case , that his auditors might understand , that ( in a case of so great importance ) he did not presume to give them any singular opinions of his own , but that he instructed them in the received and allowed doctrine of the church of constantinople , to which they were all related . withall he thereby warned them of the cautions necessary in the practice of that doctrine , that they might not break the peace of their church in the case then proposed . who sees not how naturally this coheres with the former part of his discourse ? it is indeed so natural , that i once thought them to be the author 's own words , till i was convinced of my mistake , by comparing them with the canon itself , from whence he took them . but it was somewhat better for his purpose , that he should express his sense in this matter rather in his church's words than his own . and it must have been a wonderfull chance , if any scribbles of a librarian could have light on so fit a place , and so apposite to the precedent design of another author , who thought not of them . he that can believe it , may next believe the epicuraean hypothests , that the world was made by such a casual concurrence of undesigning atoms . all that is pretended to the contra●● ▪ is only that this collection of canons follows the summary subjoined to the former collection . but this is too conjectural a proof to be opposed to the evidences now mentioned : yet how do they know but that this very summary is the author 's own ? it is in as large a hand as the rest of the discourse itself ; it is not in red letters , as the like summary is in the fragment of philippus side●es , in this same ms. where it was added by the librarian : and it is not unusual for authors to add arguments and abstracts of their own works ; so did pliny to his natural history ; so did gellius to his noctes attioae ; so has the anonymous chronologer under alexander severus ; so has gildas and nennius in the later and more barbarous ages ; and what should make the librarian think that fit to be done in another man's work , that might not also make the author himself think so too ? but for our present purpose i am not concerned , whether this summary was drawn up by the author , or the librarian ; if the librarian thought fit to insert it into the text , ( as plainly he has done , ) this was the properest place for it , before any other part of the discourse intervened that was upon another argument , not of facts but canons . 11. thus i have shewn that our author was neither obliged by the occasion ▪ of his writing , nor could consequently to his own principles , design to give us a collection of precedents for withdrawing obedience on a lay-deprivation , or for a cession in a person so invalidly deprived . and now methinks this might excuse me from descending to a particular examination of the facts produced by him , which our adversaries are pleased to call precedents : for what if in the history of so many centuries as are here accounted for , there might be found some instances wherein christian emperours were partial in favour to themselves , and chalenged more power than did really belong to them ? and what if christian bishops for peace sake submitted , not waving the right , but bearing the injury ? what and if the clergy and laity did sometimes , as they do now , fail in their duty of adhering to them ? it is yet sufficient for our present purpose , that this was no design'd collection of such pretended precedents ; that therefore if any of these facts should prove so , that was beside the meaning of the author ; that his authority ought not to be concerned for them ; that neither his judgment , nor the judgment of the eastern churches , can ever recommend such facts for precedents , which were so disagreeable to their rules and canons . if therefore our adversaries will make precedents of those facts which were condemned by this author , by the doctrine of those very churches where they were committed , this is plainly reasoning otherwise than they can justifie by any authority : for what authority can it be that they will insist on for making such facts pass for precedents ? is it that of the eastern church ? but her doctrine will not allow our adversaries to disown our deprived bishops , or to set up antibishops against them , on account of such lay-deprivations . is it the authority of this collector ? but he owns these doctrines for the doctrines of his own church , which are so inconsistent with our adversaries practices . or , is it , lastly , the authority of the princes themselves , who were concerned in the facts here enumerated ? but it is certain princes doe many things which they never do so much as pretend to justifie by principles : and yet it is withall certain , that no other facts but such avowed ones ought in reason to pass for precedents ; and for knowing what they do avowedly justifie , no better expedient can be found , than to appeal to the doctrine of the church that was owned and protected by them , which they took for the guide of their consciences . thus it will come to pass , that if any of the facts here mentioned should prove for our adversaries purpose , yet seeing they could not be well done , as to the consciences of the persons concerned , our adversaries must not presume them well done , but prove them so independently on the persons , before they can make precedents of them , and reason from them as authorities ; and then what will they gain by this celebrated collection , when it will leave them to the tryal of the merit of their cause as much as ever ? 12. however to gratifie them as far as we may , let us now descend to particulars . the first is that of meletius , who was set up in the throne of antioch , while eustathius his predecessor was yet living ; yet he was owned as bishop of antioch by st. basil , and st. chrysostome . but eustathius was deposed by a * synod , perhaps of bishops secretly favouring arius , but not as yet declared an opposite communion . the synod indeed charged him with sabellianism ; but it was no otherwise than as they who favoured arianism used to charge the catholicks in general ; nor did the catholicks understand it otherwise . the chief pretence of depriving was a crime of life . false indeed it was , but of that the synod was to judge , though they judged corruptly . his onely remedy had been to have appealed to another synod ; but that he did not think fit to try : yet till he did so , the throne was fairly vacated , and he could pretend no right in opposition to meletius , who was also set up by an ecclesiastical authority . the canons of antioch made after his deprivation , but before the translation of meletius , and urged afterwards against st. chrysostome , and since received into the codes and canons of the vniversal church , allowed him no remedy but that of another synod , and that a more numerous one than that which had deprived him . had he so much as attempted it otherwise , he had been cut off by that same canon , not onely from all hopes of restitution , but from being admitted to a tryal of the merits of his cause . i will not now call in question his being alive after meletius was set up , because it is expresly attested by socrates and sozomen , and among others by nicephorus in his ms. catalogue of patriarchs ; especially so remarkable passages in history depending on it , that of the banishment , not onely 〈◊〉 ●imself , but of evagrius ( whom he had consecrated bishop of 〈…〉 by the emperour valens . this had been enough for our purpose , though the synodical deprivation had not been chargeable against him , that he lay hid , even after the liberty he had of returning from his exile by the edict of julian ; that he did not appear to chalenge his right ; that they of antioch did not know that he was in being to chalenge it . this had made the throne itself a derelictum ; this made meletius a possessor bonae fidei , and sufficiently excused all who paid duty to him . undoubtedly lucifer calaritanus , who set up paulinus in opposition to meletius , whose return from exile was then expected , would never have done it , if he had any thoughts or hopes of the return of eustathius . eustathius was not onely as orthodox as meletiu● himself , but was free from the charge brought against meletius , that of an arian ordination . meletius therefore being thus secured against the title of eustathius , nothing could then be pretended against him , but his receiving his power from arians . but their heresie was 〈◊〉 so manifest , when he was brough●●nto antioch by them ; all that 〈◊〉 required from him was to subscribe the creed of selencia , drawn up sept. 27. 359. the year before he was translated to antioch ▪ and that expresly condemned the * anomaeans , and laid aside both words , that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as unscriptural : nor did the catholicks so much insist on the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , where they could otherwise be satisfied , that no ill sense was intended in avoiding it . this was the onely reason that could make any orthodox person join with the arians in bringing him to antioch , who otherwise owned no communion with them , when they once declared themselves . and as soon as they who brought him to antioch owned themselves anomaeans , as they did soon after , meletius never prevaricated , but protested openly against them . and why should that be made an exception against him , that he was made bishop by them who , after they had made him so , declared themselves arians ? this was looked on as a rigour in lucifer , by his fellow ●onfessor , eusebius vercellensis , and athanasius , and the generality of the catholick church : and if he was guilty of no incapacitating heresie at his first coming in ; if he owned the catholick faith publickly before the consecration of paulinus , and had been a confessour for it ; if even those who gave him his orders had not yet declared themselves arians , nor a distinct communion , when they gave them ; what reason could there be to question his title before paulinus was set up against him ? if there was none ▪ the other consecration being into a f●ll see , must have been schismatical . thus we see how agreeable it was to the canons and discipline of the church , that st. basil and st. chrysostome should own the communion of meletius in opposition to paulinus . it does not appear that ever they did so in opposition to eustathius : yet even in this case it is observable , that all those catholicks who never from the beginning communicated with meletius , and who joined with lucifer and paulinus 〈◊〉 him , owned other reasons besides heresie sufficient to justifie the●● ●●●paration from him . they did not , they could not charge him with that after 〈◊〉 had publickly declared for the nicene faith ; they never charged him , as we can our present intruders , with injury to any other person , whom they supposed to have a better title to his throne , neither to his predecessor eustathius , nor much less to paulinus , who was consecrated after him ▪ the onely thing they charged him with , was the original invalidity which they supposed in his consecration by those who afterwards declared themselves for * arianism . and could they believe a lawfull power necessary to confer a title , and not as necessary to take it away ? rather laws are favourable to possessours , and require more to take away an office , than to keep one in possession whom they find so . they therefore who were so difficultly reconciled to meletius's being bishop , purely on account of the original want of authority in them who made him so , must by the same parity of reasoning much more have disliked the deprivation of our present bishops , on account of 〈◊〉 want of authority as to spirituals , and to conscience , in them who have deprived them . however 〈◊〉 a clear instance against our adversaries , and against the collector himself , of catholicks who owned , and owned by principles , that orthodoxy alone , without a good title , was not sufficient to excuse communicating with him whose title was thought deficient : for this was their opinion concerning this case of meletius , that he was indeed orthodox , onely having an original defect in his title , they thought themselves on this very acccount obliged to forbear his communion . how could they then have thought it safe to communicate with bishops ordain●● into see● not otherwise vacated than by an originally invalid lay-deprivation of their predecessors ? 13. the next case is 〈◊〉 of st. chrysostome . it is indeed the first in the summary subjoined to it ; probably because it was the first in the church of constantinople , for the use of which this collection was originally designed : or , perhaps rather because that other case of meletius was produced onely as another evidence of the opinion of the same st. chrysostome . this is the case which the author is largest upon , as deserving the particular consideration mentioned in the introduction to it : the reason i have now given , because it seems to have been most of all insisted on by the arsenians , as most apposite to the instance for which they were concerned . but , 1. this deprivation was synodical , and by two different synods , the former that ad quercum , that deprived saint chrysostome for not pleading , but questioning their jurisdiction upon an appeal ; the other that of the following year , which denied him the liberty of pleading upon the 〈◊〉 of antioch , for coming in again , not without a synod , but by one 〈◊〉 they pretended less numerous than that which had deprived him formerly ▪ so far is this from our present case . and , 2. even as to the abetting this holy person 's case , as to the in●ury done him by an otherwise competent authority , far the greater part of the church was concerned against the design of this collector , if to the eastern joannites 〈◊〉 the unanimous consent of all the western churches : they separ●●ed from the communion of his deprivers notwithstanding their ack●●wledged orthodoxy ; and that not onely while saint chrysostome was living , but after his death also , till an honourable amends was made to his memory . this , how clear soever it was against our author's general remark in his preface , and elsewhere ; yet he neither denies nor pretends to answer , a● if he were conscious to himself he could not do it : onely he prevents a farther consequence drawn from it by the arsenians , for unravelling all the orders derived in a succession from the ●njurious intruders , after the person was dead who had been injured by the 〈◊〉 . this also is none of our 〈◊〉 wherein the injured bishops are 〈◊〉 ▪ yet even concerning that very case , he words his observation ●o as to own that they might ▪ if they pleased , have called in question ●he present orders derived from the intruders . he says indeed that the church did not call in question the orders given by arsacius nor articus , thoug● atticus , besides his intrusion , was guilty also of what this author himself owns to have been a persecution against the joannites ; so far he is from condemning even their separation on this account . he says that a●ticus and sisinius were commended by pope caelestine , though they both of them derived their succession from that same intrusion ; and though the bishops of rome were the most zealous advocates for st. chrysostome . he says the same flaw descended to proclus also , st. chrysostome's disciple , and the friend and reconciler of the joannites : nay , to nestorius also , the heretick , who gave occasion for assembling the synod of ephesus ; yet the synod questioned not eve● 〈◊〉 orders , on account of the original defect , if the persons who had received them did not partake in his heresie ; but that they did not do it he imputes to their not being willing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , plainly implying , that in rigour of justice they might have done it . he says , that even severianus of gabala and acacius of beraea , the principal architects of the injustice to st. chrysostome , though accused to pope innocent , yet suffered no canonical censure for it ; not that they deserved none , but that the pope referred them to the divine vengeance . still he confesses that the case deserved vengeance from god , even where none was attempted by men. and in the end of the discourse he says , that , excepting the case of heresie , the church never made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . if the case he reasons against be strictly justice , how can he reason from these precedents universally , without regard to circumstances , that even strict justice is never to be exercised ? yet he could make no universal observa●●●● , even in his own cases , that right was never to be defended . he does not observe it concerning st. chrysostome himself , though his editors observe it for him : he could not observe it as the sense of the more numerous joannites , who defended his right whether he would or no , and at last ca●●ed the cause against his adversaries , that his name was at length received into the diptychs , and that he was thereby owned to dye bishop of con●●antinople , notwithstanding the two conciliary deprivations . the onely observation therefore that he does or could make truly , was , that a●●he successions were not scrupulously inquired into , that depended on the authority of the intruders . those were left to god , on a presumption grounded on their possession with at least a disputable title . but that is a case we are not concerned for at present . 14. the third case is that of flavianus , deposed from the same see of constantinople by dioscorus , against whom our author supposes anatolius to have been set up , whose consecration was notwithstanding never questioned , because of his orthod●●y . but this deposition our author himself owns to have been conciliary , though by a synod very infamous , afterwards stigmatized by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or latrocinial , for the violence used in it . then it appears not , that ever flavianus did in the least submit to that synod itself : he had before appealed , and his appeal was then depending when they murthered him . then for my part i can see no reason to believe that anatolius was set up against him , or placed in the throne before it was empty by the death of flavianus . victor tununensis makes anatolius set up under the following consuls . possibly it might be because the first news of his promotion came to africa under those consuls . that second synod of ephesus was called the 1st of august , under the consulship of asterius and protogenes , for the year of our lord 449. but their first meeting was not till the 8th of that same month , or the 15th of mesori , in the language of dioscorus . certain it is , that it was after this time that ●●●vianus was deposed and murthered : but we have not so distinct an account of the actions of this council , repeated in the council of chalcedon , as to be able to ascertain the time particularly . pope leo's epistles help us best to judge of it ; onely we must allow him the time to receive his information . leo tells us that flavianus had suffered many things in an epistle dated septemb. 29. perhaps he was before that deposed : for the same day the same leo wrote another epistle to the emperour theodosius , for a council in italy , probably on the account of flavianus's appeal upon his deposition . in another epistle of octob. 13. he warns anastasius thessalonicensis , that he should not consent to the condemnation of flavianus . in another of octob. 15. he is very earnest that no successour should be ordained into his place . in another of the same date he has these words concerning flavianus , in quo utique omnium domini sacerdotum reverentia caeditur , & universa corporis christi membra pulsantur . these seem to be the kicks he received , as some say , from barsumas the monk , other from ●ioscorus himself ; probably enough from both of them , of which he dyed within three days . that he dyed of kicks the synodicon owns ; and that he dyed in their hands by whom he should have been carried into exile , we have the testimony of prosper , an author of that age ; so that he could not reach the place of his banishment , as some other less considerable authors conceive : and very probably those violences to flavianus's person , and to the other bishops also , to oblige them to subscribe his condemnation and deprivation , were the reasons that made hilarus fly from ephesus : so the violences must , in all likelihood , have been offered before he left the place ; and he might bring news , if not of his death , yet that his bruises were such as would in all probability prove mortal . this might be the reason why , among the letters of this latest date there are none to flavianus himself . leo might not think it fit to write letters that were not likely to reach him alive , but would be exposed to the danger of falling into the hands of enemies . this i think is the latest date of any epistle written by leo that mentions flavianus as yet alive . and very probably the news of his imminent death stopped him from proceeding any farther : so nicephorus xiv . 40 . thus it appears that the last mention of flavianus supposes that he had , as yet , no rival set up against him . plain it is , that they did not set up anatolius at the same time that they deposed flavianus ; and it is not likely that there was any long respite between his deposition and his death . flavianus certainly was murthered before the breaking up of the synod , whilst dioscorus had yet his guards about him : and it seems to be the dissolution of the synod that breaks off the course of leo's letters , till the following year . as for anatolius himself , we have no actions of his that give us any reason to suspect that he was in office before the year assigned by victor . the first thing it concerned him to take care of for settling his communion with the west , was to put out a confession of his faith , according to the custome of tha●●ge : the rather , because of the late suspicion on account of eutyches , who had lately been cleared by anatolius's friends . this he indeed delayed ; possibly to see what effect the letters of valentinian and placidia would have with his emperour theodosius . nor did leo receive his confession till about easter , of the year 451. before that time it is probable theodosius had put chrysaphius to death , which obliged anatolius to take this course when he found the eutychian interest declining , and that it would be no longer able to support him . yet the first complaint against him for not doing it is in an epistle of leo to pulcheria , bearing date july 20. 450. we should in all likelihood have had earlier ones , if anatolius had succeeded , as our author fancies , whilst flavianus was yet living , in the year 449. the best testimony we have that assures us that anatolius was preferred under the consuls of the year 449. is a fragment of theodorus lector , preserved in the 2d nicene council , which baronius did not think of . and particularly it is observed by zonaras , that dioscorus concerned himself in that which did not belong to him , the making of a bishop of constantinople : but the reason zonaras gives why he did so , and why he recommended his own apocrisiarius to the place , shews that it must have been after the death of flavianus . that author tells us , that it was the fear dioscorus was in that put him upon it : he therefore suggests to chrysaphius , the author of all these mischiefs , that he would persuade the emperour to name anatolius to the throne of flavianus hoping thereby to gain two points , ( as the same author observes , ) very necessary to his ill designs : one was , that eutyches might be continued in the constantinopolitane communion , to which he had been restored ; another was , that he might thereby prevent any accurate enquiry into the matter of flavianus . plainly it appears by this account of the affair , that the fear dioscorus was in was that of being called to account for this murther ▪ which being the cause , must therefore be antecedent to his interposition for a successor . this is certain ▪ it was not proper to interpose for ● successor , till they had first deprived flavianus : and those bruises being given him at the very time of his appeal , which was immediately upon his deprivation , it thence appears , that there were onely three days respite between his deprivation and his death ; which is by much too short a time to write from ephesus to constantinople , and to receive a return ; so impossible it is that anatolius could have been set up before the death of flavianus , or that he could have made any cession to anatolius , as our collectour fansies . he did not withall consider how unlikely it was that flavianus should pay any deference to anatolius at that time ▪ on that very account which himself excepts from any obligation to such deference , that of heresie . anatolius himself was at that time j●stly suspicious of it , as coming in by eutychian interest ; nor did he , till some time after , doe any thing to purge himself from that suspicion . nay , we are told , that at the very time dioscorus designed him for the place , he communicated with eutyches . nay more , that dioscorus recommended him for that very reason , that he might thereby continue eutyches in the communion to which he had restored him : how therefore could flavianus yield to anatolius ? how could our author , if he had done it , commend him for it , and plead his fact as a precedent , so contrary to his own principles ? yet if our author's observation prove mistaken , and anatolius did not succeed till after flavianus's death ; his whole reasoning will fail him , will at least fail our present adversaries , for obliging wrongfully deprived bishops to a cession of their title to schismatical usurpers . all the ground he has to think flavianus was then alive when anatolius was possessed of his throne , is onely guess , not any competent historical testimony . he refers us , in the end , after this manner , to the acts of that second ephesine synod ; i suppose as we find them still extant in the council of chalcedon . but there we find nothing concerning the consecration of anatolius ; not so much as whether dioscorus and the synod were any ways concerned in it , or whether it was done before the synod was dissolved : so far we are from learning thence that he was set up before the death of flavianus . he might think it more to his purpose what he has observed out of the epistle of pope leo to the emperour marcianus , where that pope pretends , that it was the orthodoxy of anatolius , ( no doubt as signified by his confession of faith , which he had at length received from him ▪ ) that hindred him from enquiring too scrupulously into his ordination : but the delays he used before he sent that confession , made him justly liable to suspicion ▪ together with his personal interest in the eutychians , though he had otherwise received no consecration from them . and the uttermost that can be conjectured from hence was , that he had received his orders from their hands , not that he received them whilst flavianus was yet alive , much less that flavianus himself had made any cession to him on account of his orthodoxy . thus the case had not been like ours , of a schismatical invasion of a right , to which another had a better title , but of a title defective indeed , ( in regard of the authority from whence it had been derived , ) but not injurious : that is , it had been a case like that of meletius , and catholicks would have been here as much as there divided in their opinions concerning it . if the council of chalcedon did not enquire concerning it , yet leo certainly thought he might lawfully have done , it when he upbraids his not doing it as a kindness to anatolius , in his disputes with him concerning the canon made in that council of chalcedon equalling the see of constantinople to that of rome . 15. i come now to the time of anastasius dicorus . and here our author has several examples ; the first is of euphemius , whom he calls constantly euthimius , both here , and in the summary , as also eutychius , and cedrenus , and metaphrastes do , such other authors as himself ; and not only they , but also the fathers of the vii●●● general council , act. 6. nicephorus callistus does constantly call him ●●phemius , both in his extant history , and in his ms. catalogue of patriarchs . but as little as anastasius loved this euphemius upon old accounts , yet he durst not depri●e him without a synod ; no , though his immediate charge against him was a secular crime , that of his being pretended to have favoured the emperour's enemies the isaurians . this is like what is now pretended against our present h. fathers ; yet it is certain he had a synodical deprivation : so * theodorus lector and theophanes tell us expresly . it was indeed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , of the bishops then in town , whose authority though it was questioned for the greatest affairs ( as appears in the 4th action of the council of chalcedon , and the dispute of maximus with pyrrhus , ) yet was often made use of in such occasions as these , and was by the canons of the church sufficient and obliging , till a greater number of bishops could be persuaded to restore him . till he could get such a number to do it , it was the duty of euphemius to acquiess in the deprivation , and to communicate with his successor ; and it will be our present bishops duty also to doe so , when this can be proved to be their case . and indeed i know no other evidence of his communicating with his successor , but that he did not set up a communion against him . 16. in the case of macedonius the emperour's rage did somewhat precipitate him ; he had him forcibly seized , and sent immediately into banishment , without so much as the formality of a tryal : the rather so , because he feared the people would not endure it , such a zeal they had for macedonius , and the cause defended by him . afterwards he bethought himself , and got an assembly that did his business for him : they took upon them at the same time the persons of witnesses and accusers , and deprived him absent and in exile ; and when they had done so , they notifie the sentence to him by bishops and a presbyter of cyzicus : so theophanes tells the story . no doubt it must have been a synod that proceeded after the receiv'd way of synods , in notifying their sentence by ecclesiastical persons . however our author says , that he communicated with his intruder timotheus : so he might possibly interpret macedonius's exile and submitting to it , as he seems to have done that of euphemius , in relation to the case of macedonius . in this case , certainly it neither could have been true , nor could he have any good testimony for him to believe it so . when the bishops came to notifie the sentence to him macedonius , asked them , whether they owned the council of chalcedon ? and when they durst not answer him positively , he asked again , whether if the sabbatians and macedonians had brought him the like sentence , they would think him obliged to acquiesce in it ? is not this a plain exception against their authority as hereticks , for not receiving that council , and a protestation against their sentence as null and invalid , and a disowning any obligation in conscience to submit to it ? and what needed timotheus to fly into that rage against the name and memory of macedonius , if what our author says had been true , that macedonius owned any communion with him ? why should this same timotheus refuse to officiate in any sacred place , till he had first defaced the pictures , if he found any , of macedonius ? why should he prosecute julianus only for being his friend ? how came it to pass that when the emperor sent forth his edict , for subscribing the condemnation of macedonius , together with the synodical letters concerning the consecration of timotheus ; the more constant adherers to the council of chalcedon would subscribe neither of them , and even the weaker would not subscribe the deprivation of macedonius , which notwithstanding in consequence subverted the succession of timotheus ? why should timotheus bring up the use of the nicene creed more frequently than macedonius had done , purposely to draw odium upon macedonius , if there had been communion between them as our author would persuade us ? what needed then all those persecutions and violences against the followers of macedonius , but only to force them to the communion of timotheus ? why did juliana , as an assertor of the council of chalcedon , refuse the communion of timotheus , if it was not manifest that the difference was such as broke communion ? why should the praefect of the studite monks refuse to receive consecration from him who had condemned the council of chalcedon , if it had not been notorious that he had condemned the council , and was therefore an heretick , and of another communion from them who owned that council , in defence of which macedonius had been banished ? he did indeed , to please them , anathemize those who had anathematized that council ; but when the emperor expostulated with him concerning it , he pretended to mean his anathematism against those who received the council : so true he was to his heresie . one would admire whence it was that our author came by that good opinion he had of this timotheus , as if he also had been a catholick ; and the 3d catholick bishop of constantinople , who had been deprived by anastasius . neither of these things were true , nor affirmed by , i believe , any one good historian . our ms. catalogue of patriarchs , by nicephorus callistus , has either marginal or interlineal censures of the patriarchs , whether orthodox or heretical ; in all likelihood , according to the received opinions of the time and church where these observations were made . there in an interlineal note , over the place where he speaks of timotheus , we find him called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . it is of no great consequence to our purpose , whether this note was from nicephorus himself , or some constantinopolitane librarian ; either way it will shew the received opinion of the modern constantinopolitanes . so also in the iambicks concerning the patriarchs published before the i volume of the byzantine historians , timotheus is with some indignation called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , by which we see how unworthily our present rhetor expressed himself on this occasion , even with reference to the sense of his own church . the only occasion of his mistakes , that i can think of , is that he injudiciously followed the authorities of flavian of antioch , and elias of jerusalem , as related by cyrillus scythopolitanus his author , and a very good one in these matters . that author says indeed , that those two patriarchs assented to the synodical letters for timotheus , though they would not to the other letters that came with them concerning the deprivation of macedonius . this , i suppose , gave him occasion for his good opinion of timotheus , that those great men , afterwards such sufferers in the same cause , as yet rejected not his synodical letters . our author was very well aware , that if they owned the communion of an heretical successor , their examples must have been faulty , and could not be pleaded as precedents by his own principles ; and it seems he was not aware how notorious it was , that this was indeed the case of timotheus . but their behaviour herein was exactly the same with the behaviour of those whom theophanes censures as weak ; so far he is from our author's opinion , in making it exemplary : and it is plain macedonius and timotheus differed not only as rivals of the same see , but also as heads of different communions : how then was it reconcilable to any principles , to own timotheus without disowning macedonius ? only the receiving timotheus might , as for a while it did , keep them in their thrones . 17. the truth is , these men were all so fickle and untrue to principles for a long time , that it is impossible to gather from their bare facts what they did consequently even to their own principles . euphemius himself , though he afterwards declared himself synodically for the council of chalcedon , yet came in at first upon the henoticon of zeno : so also was his successor macedonius at first brought in on the same condition of owning the same henoticon : so theodorus and theophanes . accordingly the emperor's instruments got from him a confession of faith , mentioning neither the 3d nor 4th councils ; upon which his people of constantinople deserted him till he returned to own the council of chalcedon : so we are told by a coaeval monument of that age , an epistle of the palestine monks to alcyso in evagrius . how could euphemius then own his communion , even by our author's principles , as of an orthodox successor ? this was about the end of the year 495. cedrenus tells us , he again relapsed to his henoticon in the 8th year of the same emperor anastasius , that was about the year 499. after he again declared for the synod of chalcedon , with that zeal , as that he anathematized flavianus and his legates for declaring against it . this was the 19th year of anastasius , if we may trust theophanes concerning it ; that is , about the year 510. not only so , but a little before his expulsion ; that is , in the 21st year of the same prince ; that is , after the beginning of april , 511. celer again prevails on him to receive the henoticon , aad to omit the 3d and 4th council as he had done formerly , though he presently retracted it , and was therefore immediately banished : nor was flavianus of antioch more constant than he . immediately on his coming into the see , no doubt the bigotted emperor made him speak home to his cause , before he would permit him ; and accordingly victor tununensis tells us , that in a synod of constantinople , under the consuls of the year 499 , ( if he be more to be trusted here , than usually he is , in assigning years , ) he condemned the tome of leo , and the council of chalcedon . after this cyrillus scythopolitanus says , he joined with macedonius and elias in defending the same council . again in the 18th year of the same reign , that is in the year 509 , he declares as high for the eutychians as themselves could wish : he condemns the council of chalcedon ; he condemns the confession of two natures in our blessed saviour ; he condemns all the persons concerned in the disputes concerning the tria capitula , who had been absolved in the council of chalcedon , and the council that absolved them . and the next year he was condemned himself for condemning them , as we have seen , by his old friend macedonius . but he recovered himself again , and again provoked the emperor , who therefore assembles the council of sidon , purposely to overthrow the council of chalcedon , and to depose flavianus and elias from their sees : this affrightens them both , and they send saba to intercede for them to the emperor , with flattering and trimming letters . thus flavianus escaped that storm , and the council of sidon was dismissed without doing any thing against him : this was in the year 512. immediately he returns to his old orthodoxy , which puts the emperor out of all patience , when he received the news from sotericus and philoxenus , that by these pretended submissions he had made him dismiss the synod so fruitlesly . cyril tells us the hard * words the emperor used concerning it , which i am loath to translate . hereupon he orders his informers to use what means they thought fit to get him out of his place ; they then repair to antioch , and with some bribes set the rabble upon the bishop , and force him once more to anathematize the synod of chalcedon , and then send him into exile . these are the express words of cyrillus , which baronius is willing to understand of an endeavour to force him , but without success . so i would also have been willing to understand him , if he had not frequently been guilty of such apostasies . but here particularly it appears , that the endeavours were successful , from the express * testimony , and the very reason theophanes gives why they banished him notwithstanding his compliance ; that is , because he anathematized that council with his mouth only , not with his heart : but perhaps elias , the great , the blessed elias , as our author styles him , was more true to principles . he was as frail as the rest , and as little resolute in resisting any force that the exigence of his affairs brought him under . no doubt he came in first , as all must have done who were preferred by that emperor , by promises for opposing the chalcedon council ; but he soon recovered , and joined first with euphemius , then with macedonius and flavianus , in defence of it . after he relapsed again , and condemns it again before the banishment of macedonius , and went so far , that his example was made use of by the emperor to persuade macedonius to follow him in it : so theod. lector and theoph. but when macedonius was banished , he received the communicatory letters of timotheus , but would not those concerning the deprivation of macedonius . this again provokes the emperor against him : accordingly the synod of sydon was called with full design of condemning the council of chalcedon , and banishing him . then he wrote the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , mentioned by cyrillus . baronius indeed endeavours to bring him off , by observing from the letter of the palestine monks to alcyso , that elias pretended something to have been added to his letters in relation to his condemning the doctrine of two natures in christ : and to prove this elias produced a copy of his own letter he had kept by him , wherein there were no such words . cyrillus has nothing of this : but be that as it will , it seems however clear , that he was very express in condemning the council of chalcedon , and that his expressness in that particular , with the intercession of saba , was that which secured him against the council of sidon . as flavianus then owned only three councils , taking no notice of the council of chalcedon ; so elias did indeed mention it ; but so as withal to signifie that he did not receive it . so theophanes ; and not only he , but his great admirer cyrillus explains what he meant by the flattering and trimming words , made use of by him in his letter to the emperor : he tells us the very words of his letter , as the emperor himself signified them to sabas , that he did not approve of what was done in chalcedon , for the scandals that followed thereupon : and when he refused to receive severus to his communion , he tells us again , that the emperor sent his trimming epistle from sidon as an evidence against him , professing that he did not own the council of chalcedon ; nor does he in the least signifie that elias had any thing to say to it that could satisfie him : he intimates the contrary , when he calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , shifts and artifices of evasion , to serve a present turn ; so little reasoning there is from such men's facts as these , where there is nothing more than the bare facts themselves to recommend them for precedents . no facts can certainly be allowed for precedents , that are not agreeable to principles , and how can we presume facts to be agreeable to principles , meerly because they are theirs , who are known so frequently and so easily to vary from the principles themselves profess , and own for principles ? we see they corresponded with so notorious a heretick as timotheus , which is more than ever our author 's own principles would have allowed them , rather than hazard their places : why should we then wonder if they had corresponded with schismaticks , even such as themselves took for such ? why should our author presume such correspondence allowable , because allowed by them , who did so many things not allowable even by their own principles ? i do not willingly detract from the merits of these excellent persons for what they did afterwards ; but there is no reason , that their repentance at last should commend the prevarications they were guilty of before , and make them pass for precedents . 18. besides these , our author produces another example in the same reign , that of elias himself : he also was at length deprived , and john was set up against him ; yet both of them were owned by theodosius , and sabas . they owned john for their bishop , and yet the compassion they had for elias's case appear'd by the visit they made him in his exile . accordingly our author appeals to the dyptichs of the church , which mention both of them with honour and respect . the expulsion of elias from his see to his place of exile was managed immediately with that violence which was ordinarily used by the emp●ror anastasius in most of his undertakings : olympus did it with a guard of soldiers ; yet certainly the emperor's sending a copy of elias's dissembling letter to be shewn at the doing of it , was not without a particular design . had he thought his own authority sufficient for it , his own satisfaction alone had been sufficient ; and so assuming and imperious a temper as his was , would not have condescended to give others an account of his proceedings ; especially where withal there was no form of a judicial process , where these letters might have been produced as legal evidence . i need not produce the many testimonies of that age , as well as others , concerning the incompetency of his secular power for a spiritual deprivation : the actings of this emperour himself do sufficiently shew , that himself was sensible , how little his lay-authority would signifie in such a case as this was , without a synod . what made him else take that pains to assemble the synod of sidon , purposely with a design of deposing flavianus and elias ? what made him in such a rage , when by their prevaricating letters they had eluded that synod ? what made him after he had driven away macedonius from constantinople by plain force , afterwards to order a synodical judgment and censure of his case , but that himself did not , before that second judgment , as theophanes observes , look upon him as deprived even when he was in his exile ? but by this sending the letter of elias , he seem'd only to execute the synod's judgment concerning him , which had certainly deprived him , if he had not eluded them by that letter . his exposing therefore that letter seems to have been to shew , that he was not now the person whom the synod continued in their communion , but that person rather , whom they had designed to condemn , and deprive . thus he might very well believe this present act to be only an execution of that synod's design , and so not chargeable with any invasion on the sacred authority . i am not now concerned to justifie this reasoning , as solid , and concluding ; it is sufficent at present to observe , how probable it is , that it was at least the reasoning of anastasius ; that alone will sufficiently overthrow the consequences from it , as a precedent to invade the sacred power . it thence appears , that without this interpretative application of the synod's design , the fact had not been justifiable , even by the sentiments of him that did it : how then can it be pleaded as a precedent ? it shews withal , that with this interpretative application here was a synodical deprivation , which might validly deprive elias of his right , in the opinion of those who judged the interpretation reasonable . 19. but whether the deprivation was valid or not , no doubt elias , by his own cession , might ratifie that ordination of john , which otherwise had been invalid and unobliging : and this cession might be known by his not-challenging his right , and by his not-taking it ill at their hands , who owned his rival for their patriarch , and by the friendly behaviour of his rival to him in continuing his name in the ecclesiastical dyptichs , if he was not afterwards restored , but then continued , as our author supposes : otherwise this form in the jerusalem dyptichs , mentioned by our author , of wishing the memory of elias and john perpetual ; like that in the tomus vnionis in constantinople , seems rather as if it were brought in after their deaths , to accommodate some differences , that might have been formerly between parties , that had been made on their accounts . indeed i know no mention of any express cession in any good author , unless we may be allowed to conjecture it from some such reasonings as those now mentioned . but what if we should grant them that he yielded his right to john ? this single instance will not suffice to justifie the author's vniversal observation , that it never was insisted on by any , where the successor was not an heretick ; it will not suffice to shew , that he thought himself oblig'd to it by principles , who in many other things acted so disagreeable to principles : it will not thence appear , that he did do it out of fear , when by challenging his right and by perswading his people to withdraw from the communion of his successor , intruded by the emperor , he must have provoked him who was so easily provoked , to new severities against him . indeed he could not expect duty from his own subjects , who had countenanced so many intruders , even timotheus the heretick , and approved so many revoltings of subjects in the injurious deprivations of his brethren . and can our adversaries with any reason make these actions pass for precedents , to which he was necessitated by the consequence of his own past behaviour , and the exigency of his cause ? i am sure , he had no great reason to think his flock secure under the conduct of so fickle a successor . john had departed from his principle , when it was not his fear , but only his ambition , that could induce him to it ; in order to his getting into the place , had promised both to anath●matize the council of chalcedon , and to communicate with severus . and that he did not stand to his promise the reason was manifest ; he feared that if he had done so , that his clergy and his people would not stand by him : still it does not seem to have been his conscience that kept him right , but his ambition . that very soon appeared when afterwards he was imprisoned for this violation of his former promise : he then as easily repeats the promise , as he had formerly broken it ; only he pretended , that he might not seem to perform it unwillingly , it was fit he should first be set at liberty . when he had thus wheedled the praefect , and got his guard of monks about him , that he no longer feared him ; he then does as the monks , not as the praefect would have him , and anathematizes severus and sotericus , and all who would not receive the council of chalcedon . then he frightens away the emperor 's prefect ; and the fam'd sabas , and theodosius , with their ten thousand monks , were as active as any in it . if these mens actions were counted exemplary then , yet i am sure , they would not have been thought so in the first , and purest ▪ ages of our christian religion . well might cyrillus call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . but christianity was too far degenerated , when these were counted titles of honour in such pretenders to mortification , and renouncers of the world. our present holy fathers have more of the primitive spirit of christianity , than to think themselves oblig'd to follow such examples . 20. our author now directs from the throne of constantinople to that of jerusalem : and from the time of anastasius to that of great athanasius : so it should seem this example occured to his memory . he tells us therefore ; that when athanasius was condemned in the synod of tyre ▪ he fled to maximus of jerusalem , and was by him restored by a synod conven'd by him , where he decreed for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and repealed the synod of tyre ▪ this , the author says , provoked the bishop of caesarea against him : he must mean acacius , the ring-leader of the arian faction in those parts . acacius then , he says , gathers a synod against maximus , and deprives him , and sets up cyril against him , who at that time professed arianism . afterwards cyril declares for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and then maximus and he was reconciled , and owned the same communion : so our author . but very little of this story is true , even as to matter of fact ; and yet if it had been all so , it is nothing to our adversaries purpose . very little of it is true , as to matter of fact. first , at the synod of tyre , it is certain athanasius did not fly to jerusalem , but to constantinople to make his case known to the emperor himself . it had been at that time in vain to have had recourse to maximus , who in that very synod of tyre had given his suffrage against him . he did indeed see his error afterwards , but it was many years first : athanasius was condemned in the synod of tyre , in the year 335. but the time when maximus convened his synod , and declared for athanasius , was in the year 350. when at the interposition of the emperor constans , athanasius was released from his banishment . then maximus did indeed declare for him , and that synodically . but all that we can find acacius did against him , was to upbraid him with his inconsistency , and by his contrary vote in the synod of tyre . socrates indeed does elsewhere imply , that when cyril was brought to the throne of jerusalem , maximus was driven from it ; and he is , i believe , the only ancient author near those times that does so much as imply it . theodoret is very express in making cyril's succession after the death of maximus : so also is st. jerome , who lived nearer the remembrance of that fact than socrates himself . he tells us , that before the arians would admit cyril to the place , they obliged him first to renounce his orders of presbyter , which he had received from maximus ; and that , when he was in , heraclius also , who had been taken by maximus himself for his successor , was by cyril also obliged to degrade himself to the order of presbyter . we have in the same see of jerusalem a very ancient instance of a bishop who brought in his successor . so eusebius tells us , narcissus did alexander , a bishop of cappadocia ; — who also adds , that that election was ratified by a divine testimony . but who can believe that maximus would have brought in a successor , if himself had been deposed and dispossessed ? who can think he would have actually have made him bishop , if himself had not been so actually ? the whole occasion of the mistake seems to have been , not that maximus himself was removed to make way for cyril , but rather heraclius who had been substituted by maximus . for this was indeed a case sometimes questioned in the discipline of the church , whether a bishop might be allowed to substitute his own successor : the records of the church of jerusalem are in these times very intricate and difficult . when cyril himself was banished by the arians , we have the names of three persons who filled his see in the interval before he was restored . among them there is one heraclius , possibly this very person who took the advantage of cyril's deprivation for recovering his right which was conferred on him by maximus . and as to the dispute concerning the priviledges of their sees ▪ theodoret , who gives us the most distinct account of this matter , tells us it was started in the time of cyril , who was deprived after by acacius , among other causes , for this also of maintaining the priviledges of his own see. it is very true , jerusalem , though it had the title of a patriarchal see , yet had no patriarchal jurisdiction till the council of chalcedon , but was subject to the metropolitane of caesarea . even the council of nice which owned it for patriarchal , did notwithstanding reserve to caesarea the priviledge of being the metrapolitane . but the honour of maximus's age , and of his having been a confessor in the persecution ( which in that age was very great ) made no doubt the adversaries of his cause have notwithstanding a great veneration for his person . these reasons ceased in cyril , who was at first set up by arian interest , and with him his competitors of the same faction did therefore think they might be more bold . accordingly then it was that those controversies fell among the arians concerning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which broke them in pieces among themselves , as epiphanius assures us , who lived in the nearest memory of them of any author now extant that mentions them . and eutychius one of the principal rivals of cyril in these disputes , had been a disciple of maximonas , ( so epiph●nius calls maximus the predecessor of cyril ; ) and therefore seems to have had a great veneration for his memory , and was therefore unlikely to have started this dispute in his time . in that dispute cyril was so far from acknowledging any superiority in the bishop of caesarea , that it seems he challenged a right of filling the see himself , and contested it with that eutychius , bishop of elutheropolis : but that seems to have been after the time of acacius , after his second restitution . his first contest was with acacius himself of caesarea , and patrophilus of scythopolis , the same persons who are supposed to have been concerned in the deprivation of maximus : and that the deprivation of cyril by acacius , was by some mistake taken for a deprivation of maximus in favour of cyril , we have reason to conjecture from the phanes himself : he , though he follows our author's opinion , ( probably on the same authority of the life of athanasius , which was elder than theophanes , ) yet places it as the truth required he should , not at the time of the entrance of cyril , but at the year of his deprivation , and the succession of hilarion , whom he makes his immediate successor . what can thence be clearer than that it was the deprivation of cyril , not his promotion , that was here performed by acacius ; especially when we are withall as●ured that those disputes , which occasioned this deprivation , concerning prerogative , were started first in the time of cyril ? all that the adversaries of maximus and athanasius did , on this restoring of athanasius by maximus in the synod of jerusalem , was ( as socrates himself observes ) only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to jeer maximus for it , that he himself should restore him who had voted against him in the synod of tyre . how came he here to forget his carrying on his resentment farther afterwards to the deprivation of maximus ? how comes he here not to mention at least the anger of acacius as well as his jeerin● if he had resented this synod of maximus , and the determination o● it , as an invation of his prerogative ; if this had been the cause why he afterwards deprived him , if his ground for saying so had not been rather mistaken conjectures , than express and positive authoritties ? so little ground he had for believing that cyril was set up against maximus . has he therefore any express testimony for the communion between maximus and cyril , as anti-bishops of the same see ? no , not so much as in his celebrated life of athanasius it self ; neither as we have it extant at present , nor as we have the sum of it in photius . he only seems to guess at that , as he has done at other things now mentioned , from presuming the matter of fact , that they both at once pretended espiscopal authority in the same district , and yet had both their names continued in the ecclesi●stical diptychs . 21. in truth , the credit of all our author says to his own purpose , is wholly resolved into that life of athan●sius , which is vouched for it . in the appendix to the paris edition we have two lives of that great man , one by metaphrastes , the other by an unknown author , elder perhaps than metaphrastes : both of them own this tale , that maximus was deposed by acacius . if either of them was the life read by photius , that of the anonymous author was the more likely of the two . metaphrastes was manfestly too late for him ; otherwise the excerpta of photius do better agree with metaphrastes . photius takes no notice of the notes of time which are frequent in the anonymous life , though he otherwise uses to take particular notice of such things in the authors on which he makes his observations . but in making two tyrian synods , wherein the cause of athanasius was debated , he better agrees with metaphrastes . perhaps therefore there was a third life seen by photius , and interpolated , after his manner , by metaphrastes , which perished after the interpolation , which also mentioned this pretended deprivation of maximus by acacius . yet even that elder life also , by the account of it in photius , seems to have been such a life of athanasius as hierome savier's gospel was of our saviour : the several forgeries and mistakes of his predecessors are taken in , and his own added to them . here we are told of athanasius's acting the part of bishop while he was a boy , and that alexander the then bishop ratified what he did in that sportive personation , though he would have it believed that the children were serious in what they did . but how could they be serious in taking upon them exercises of an authority that did not belong to them ? this in all likelihood he had from the greek translation of ruffinus's addition to eusebius's history , by which socrates confesses he had been seduced in several things concerning athanasius , before he consulted the works of athanasius himself . here we also read the tale of athanasius's absconding for several years with a young and beautiful virgin : this seems also to have been taken from the truly monkish historia lausiaca of palladius . here we find also the two councils of tyre against athanasius ; one the true one , on the tricennalia of constantine the great ; the other in the time of constantius , where the case of arsenius was debated , which we are certain could be no other than fictitious from the certain accounts athanasius himself has preserved us of the whole affair : but perhaps it was thought more convenient for connecting the actions of maximus , for which this author would suppose him deprived by acacius . many other instances might , no doubt , have been observed , if we had leisure to compare this legend with the undoubted monuments of athanasius and his coaeval authors . photius himself who saw and read that life , gives but a mean account of it . i mention not his censures of the style of it ; that we are less concerned for at present . he says , there were also several things new in the historical inf●rmations of it . and new indeed they must be which had no antient historical monuments to be vouched for them . so little reason there is to believe the matters of fact true from whence our author reasons in this case : for it is manifest that eldest life mentioned by photius , must have been the original of this other life , whatever it was that was mentioned by our collector . yet had they all been a● true as they wish they were , our adversaries would gain nothing by them : here are synods concerned in all the particulars of this account , the synod of tyre for depriving athanasius , the synod of jerusalem for restoring him and a supposed synod also for the supposed deprivation of maximus , accordingly taken in by the modern greeks , with several other fabulous synods , into their synodicon , first published by pappus and justellus , then taken by labbee into his volumes of councils . but what is that to the case of our present fathers , whose deprivation cannot be pretended to have been synodical ? 22. our author's next instance is in eutychius , deprived of the see of constantinople by justinian , in the year 564. because he could not assent to the apthartodocitae , who thought our saviour's humane nature incorruptible . yet our author says , he did not separate from the communion of john , who was set up against him . but neither is this for our adversaries purpose . justinian did indeed here behave himself with as much transport on this occasion as his predecessor anastasius had done in the case of macedonius . he first sends eutychius into exile ; then he tries him by an assembly of * bishops and princes . what the greek word was here we know not ; nor therefore can we determine whether the princes were corepiscopi , or prefects of monasteries , who by this time began to take upon them in affairs relating to ecclesiastical cognizance , as having very considerable ecclesiastical bodies under them , who would be concluded by their suffrages . certainly they were ecclesiasticks : for in the synods of those times , though there were present secular persons to represent the emperor ; yet they never used to vote : only they took care that all things should be fairly managed , and made their reports to the emperor accordingly . and indeed the secular part of the deprivation had already been performed , in sending the patriarch into exile . nor was it requisite by the lex regia ( as it was called ) in those times , that the emperor should have any concurrence of council for affairs of this nature . it was therefore undoubtedly a synod , and is owned for such in the greek syn●dicon . and accordingly they send their summons to eutychius by persons of their own rank , bishops and princes , which was the way of synods , not of imperial councils . yet * eutychius received them so as still to own himself for their patriarch ; which , as yet , even the legates themselves could not deny . only he pleaded , that if they would proceed judicially with him , he ought first to be restored to his full patriarchal power , and then he promised , that he would make his defence . this was so fair , that even the legates themselves had nothing to except against it . it was thus supposed on all sides , that the emperor's deprivation was perfectly invalid , and could not make him cease to be patriarch , as to conscience . and it is withall supposed , that however the assembly now convened had power to do it , if they would proceed judicially . but how fair soever the patriarch's proposal was , the synod could not rescind the emperor's act without his own consent ; and yet being resolved to gratifie the emperor , they summon the patriarch thrice , and then depose him for non-appearance . herein consisted the injustice of their proceedings against him , without hearing , and in exile . hereupon he disowns their whole proceeding as not judicial , by inflicting censures on his deprivers . where then is his not disowning john , on which our author's , on which our adversaries argument is founded ? our author 's general argument for it , from his finding both their names in the patriarchal dyptichs of his own time , seems to be all he has to say ▪ for his frequent confident assertions in matters of this kind ; yet that is very fallacious : many names were afterwards restored , which had been formerly excluded from the dyptichs ; and successors generally were obliged to ratifie the past acts of their predecessors , how questionable soever the authority was by which they acted , unless they would unravel things as the arsenians did , for whom we are not concerned and this indeed was all that could be gathered from their continuing their names in the dyptichs , that they did not question all they did for the time past . this is certain , that their being barely continued in the dyptichs , is no argument that even their successors , who continued them in the dyptichs , did therefore think them fit to be communicated with , because we find many there who were hereticks , at least , in the opinion of their successors ▪ especially if they ever renounced their heresie , though they were never solemnly received again into the church from which their open profession of heresie had divided them . and particularly , this must in all likelihood have been the case in the subject matter of which we are at present discoursing : for did justinian drive out eutychius for not consenting to his heresie concerning the incorruptibleness of christ's humane nature ? and can we doubt but that he took care , at the same time , that his successor should consent to it ? would he not endure one in possession , whom he found so , that would not gratifie him in his new opinion ? and could he admit another into possession that would not doe it ? if therefore john , his successor , complied with the emperor , ( as there is very little reason to doubt but that he did , ) this instance can by no means be serviceable to our author's design : he ought not then to presume that eutychius did communicate with his successor , if he will not ( as certainly in charity he ought not ) presume any thing concerning him but what became him : or if the matter of fact appeared true beyond presumption , he ought not to argue from it as a precedent . the case of communicating with hereticks is not commendable , nay , is expresly excepted by our author himself from the rule wherein he thinks it obligatory to continue communion ; and therefore ( with him at least ) can never make a precedent . 23. the following instance in the beginning of the same reign of the great justinian , of anthimus deposed for heresie by pope agapetus , in the year 536. was not designed by our collector for any thing wherein our adversaries are concerned ; our author supposes him a heretick , and deposed therefore justly : nor does he pretend any cession , but what was forcible . he therefore neither did , nor could reason from his example for persons deposed unjustly , to oblige them to yield their just right to an orthodox successor . it was wholly designed for the other question , wherein we are not concerned , to shew that even his orthodox successor , menas , did not unravel the ordinations performed by anthimus before he was deposed . only thus much is observable for our purpose , that the lay power had not the least hand in it , any otherwise than as they executed the decree of the ecclesiasticks in it , and thought themselves obliged in conscience to do so in affairs of this nature . theodora , who was joyned with justinian in all publick forms , was anthimus's patroness , and did all she could to keep him in the office to which she had promoted him : and justinian himself , who was sufficiently uxorious , was very unwillingly brought to comply with that which was so vehemently opposed by her . that which determined him , was only the authority of agapetus and his synod : and they determined him in a time when his affairs were very prosperous ; when therefore they had no other inducement that could bring him to it , but a conviction of their right for dealing in such matters , and of his own obligation , even in conscience , to be determined and concluded by them . 24. as little also to their purpose are the four following examples of the monothelite bishops of constantinople , sergius , pyrrhus , paulus , and petrus : and as little did our collector intend them to serve the purpose of our present adversaries . none of these were deprived : even pyrrhus himself needed no deprivation : he left his omophorion behind him , though at the same time he protested not to abdicate ; but only to give way to the fury of the rabble . but his leaving the omophorion behind him , not out of forgetfulness , but design , was in truth , as much an interpretative abdication of his office , in the sense and practice of that age , as it was a deprivation of any palatine office , when the emperor sent for the zona or cingulum , which was then the ensign of such offices . and so it was plain pyrrhus foresaw it would be understood , when he thought to elude that interpretation of it by this declaration of his design in it . so it was understood in the case of eutychius , when his omophorion was not taken from him , that his right was providentially contintued to him . so that it was a protestation against fact , and therefore null in it self , when he made use of this symbol of surrendry , notwithstanding to pretend that he did not surrender . in all likelihood he designed to be understood to have surrendered when he did it to gratifie them who were for having him deprived of his office , and who were therefore inclinable thus to understand what should be done to gratifie themselves . and thus in all probability he hoped to avoid too severe a scrutiny into the murder of the emperor then charged upon him , when he thus prevented a synodical trial by a seeming voluntary surrendry : and with what ingenuity could he disown what he knew would , and what he desired should be understood to be his meaning ? at least this was sufficient for them to presume his place vacant , and to fill it up without a formal sentence against him . however when the heresie is once condemned , and it is withal notorious that the persons own the heresie , our author himself requires no act of authority to justifie a separation : nor could he think hereticks unjustly dealt with , in having canonical censures pronounced against them ; nor to be qualified for communion with their successors , without renouncing their heresies ; which none of these did but pyrrhus , who notwithstanding returned to his vomit : nor would he ever make the actions of hereticks argumentative as precedents . the action therefore that he reasons from here , is only that of their catholick successor george , and the sixth general synod of constantinople , who did not scruple the orders of so many of his heretical predecessors : but this is , as i said , a question wherein we are not concerned . 25. the next example is of callinicus deprived ( or rather driven from his throne ) by justinian rhinotmetus , who set up cyrus the recluse in his stead : yet neither did callinicus , as our author reports , separate from the communion of cyrus , nor did the church ever question the ordinations that were made in the time of the supposed usurper . here i confess no synod appears , by which callinicus was deprived : but what need was there of a synod to deprive a rebel bishop , who had forfeited his life to his master for assisting his enemies , leontius and his fautor , and exciting the people to dethrone him ? the emperor took away his sight , and sent him to rome , as king solomon did abiathar to anatoth , when he might justly have taken away his life ; nor can it be imagined that such a bishop would stand upon his right to his see , who had none to his life , and whose ignominious blindness justly incurred , did in a great measure disable him from the exercise of his office , and render him base and con●emptible to his flock . if we never read that any of the greek emperors , who were so served by their enemies , ever off●red to resume the throne ▪ but acquiesced under their misfortune ; we have reason to presume that a guilty bishop so served by his sovereign , would never after pretend to his chair , but quit all manner of claim to it by cession , or resignation ; and then it is no wonder , if ha●ing divested himself , he did not refuse to communicate with his successor cyrus ▪ and that the church did not question cyrus's ordinations , when they had no reason for it . but whether callinicus did , or did not refuse communion with cyrus , is uncertain ; none of the historians say any thing of it , and i have shewed that our author asserts things precariously , and often speaks more than he can prove . 26. the next collection is of a succession of iconoclast patriarchs , whom this author takes for hereticks , from the time of germanus to the second nicene council ; that is , for the space of fifty six years , according to his computation . he begins his account from the expulsion of germanus in the year 730. and the second nicene coun●il was in the year 787. so his account will hold , reckoning only the interval , but leaving out the extreams . in this space he obser●es , that the orders must generally have been derived from iconoclasts : so that even the orders of tarasius and his brethren , who acted in that council , must generally have been affected by them . yet so far was that council from scrupling such orders ▪ that they admitted the orders even of those who were to be iconoclasts , when they could pevail with them to renounce what they called their heresie . this also plainly concerns not us , but the question disputed by this author with the arsenians ; nor are we concerned for the deprivation of germanus though it was not synodical . there was no need it should have been so ; for he expresly † abdicated ; perhaps unwillingly : but that cannot prejudice the validity of the thing when done . multitudes of such resignations there have been , both of princes and bishops , the validity whereof was never questioned by men of the severest principles ; especially where the unwillingness was not total , but such as was consistent with conditional willingness . such a willingness i mean as men rather chose , than they would abide the consequences which were otherwise to be expected , in case they should prove refractory . this none , that i know of , allows to be sufficient in conscience to absolve a man from an obligation he has brought upon himself in such a case of unwilling , if i might call it , voluntariness . and this was manifestly the case of our germanus : he thereby freed himself from any farther trouble from the emperor . 27. the next case concerning theodorus and plato , with their monks , withdrawing from the communion of two patriarchs , has no relation to our case , though it was very opposite to that of the arsenians which occasioned the discourse . no doubt the author's design herein was to let the monks see that they medled with what did not belong to them , when they took upon them for matters of discipline to separate from the diocesane communion to which they were related . this pla●o and theodorus , with their saccudiote and studite disciples , were guilty of , when they presumed to separate from their two patriarchs , tarasius and nicephorus , for keeping joseph in their communion , who had married constantine the emperor to the nun theodote , when he had forced his empress mary into a nunnery . accordingly they were condemned for it in a synod of bishops and abbats , when they made their second separation from nicephorus , and driven from their monasteries and the city , as theophanes tells us , though our author mention nothing it . the bishops therefore forced them to recant all the invectives they had used against the patriarchs , not that they thereby intended to defend joseph , but to assert their own authority , as the only competent one in affairs relating to communion , against these monastical invasions . st. ambrose told the great theodosius , that his purple did not entitle him to the priesthood , which yet was not more true of the purple than of the cowl . thither therefore relates what our author observes from the patriarch methodius , that if theodorus had not recanted , he had not been received to communion . he observes farther , from the testament of the same methodius , ( probably in imitation of the testament of nazianzene , ) that he prescribed , that whenever the studites were received as penitents , they should only be received to communion , not to their sacerdotal dignity . so in the synodicon drawn upon the occasion of these schisms , and ordered ( as our author observes ) thenceforward to be read in churches , those invectives against the patriarchs are not only recanted , but anathematized . nay , theodorus was therein declared not to have done well in his separation , and that the schism was on his part , whatever was the occasion of it . and the reason is given exactly agreeable to the principles of ignatius , and st. cyprian , that tarasius and nicephorus were the church . whence it plainly followed , that theodorus and his followers cast themselves out of the church , by their being divided from their patriarchs . this very synodicon is mentioned in some fragments of this work of nicon here referred to , and in a discourse of anastasius caesareensis , both published by co●elerius . and anastasius is very particular in distinguishing it from the nomocanon : he tells us that it consisted only of three synods , two relating to faith , and the third to marriages ; probably all of them relating to this case . and thus we understand why our author excepts only the case of heresie , wherein it might be lawfull to separate from the bishop . he speaks of persons subject to episcopal jurisdiction , acting by themselves without a bishop to head them ; for so did plato and theodorus , with their monks : and so nothing but heresie could excuse their separation from their ordinary , by the principles of the catholick church ; for the guilt of schism will wholly be imputable to such subjects who separate from their ordinary for any other cause but heresie . 28 and to this case agree exactly the canons omitted by mr. hody . they also speak of monks and laity separating from their respective ordinary , without any episcopal authority . so the synod called ab expresly ; by which we understand that the presbyters and deacons mentioned in the former canons , in reference to the case here particularly designed , were understood of monks , and such persons , destitute of episcopal authority : and very probably these encroachments of the monks on the sacerdotal authority , were the real occasion for the synod ab to make that canon . the monks of constantinople were , at that time , admitted into most debates where religion was concerned . we have seen that they made a part in the synodi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , against eutychius in the time of the great justinian , and now in the time of nicephorus against the schismatical studites . we see they had a part in the electing their bishop , by the opposition theophanes tells us this same theodorus with his studites made in the election of this same nicephorus . we see they were consulted by michael curopolates concerning his war against the bulgarians , and that they over ruled him against his own inclinations ▪ on account of the concern religion was supposed to have in that affair : nor was it amiss that nothing should be done without the consent , at least , of so great and so numerous bodies of persons devoted to the service of religon . and this consideration it was that brought the mitred abbats also in the west into their synods , and into their parliaments : but then this only gave them , in the original design of it , a power of interposing and interceding , like that of the tribunes among the romans , not of invading the sacred sacerdotal power ; but among the romans this power of interceding being granted first , incouraged the tribunes afterwards to aspire farther to give laws even to the senators themselves . so it succeeded with these monks : the devotedness of their state made them to be looked on somewhat above the ordinary laity ; and some sacerdotal acts were indulged them for the government of their own members , but no doubt at first with the consent of their ordinaries , to whom they were at first all subject . thus they had power of suspending their own monks from the communion : then they challenged the power of consignation in the bishops absence ; this was done first in egypt , as hilary the deacon observes in the commentaries which go under the name of st. ambrose . there were the most numerous bodies of monks , most remote from bishops , and therefore the most inclinable to these sacerdotal encroachments . thus we see there was occasion for asserting the sacerdotal rights against them in the times of the patriarchs , nicephorus and methodius : for so far the schism of these studites continued , as appears from the observations our author has made from the writings of methodius . it is also plain that the monks were the greatest part in the schism of the arsenians , principally regarded by our author : so it appears from several passages in georgius pachymeres . he tells us , that many of the (a) monks and laity divided and kept their separate assemblies : and the emperor michael in his oration against the schismaticks describes them so , as that we cannot doubt but that the monks were they who were principally intended by him . he says , they were such as by their course of life had been inured to (b) corners and secrecies , that they were cloathed in (c) sackcloth . so joseph in his oration to germanus , where he perswades him to resign , represents the (d) monks as the principal adversaries with whom he had to deal on this occasion . and the names (e) mentioned in this cause are generally either of monks or nuns : such were hiacinthus and ignatius rhodius , and martha and nostogonissa ; and the * pantepoplene monks ( so called from their monastery ) were the most violent against joseph and those who sided with him . and now we understand that they were not any latitudinarian dwindling notions of schism ( such as our adversaries fancy ) that made our author allow of no cause but heresie to justifie a separation : these were perfectly unknown , even to that lower antiquity in which our author lived . the persons he had to deal with were such as had no bishop to head them : a●senius himself was dead now for some years before our author made this collection , and he hath substituted no successor , nor was there any bishop of the party to make one , if even that might have been reconcilable with any rules of ecclesiastical discipline : and joseph also was dead , at least had expresly abdicated , before georgius cyprius was set up , in whose time we suppose our author to have written : so that neither of the schismaticks had bishops to head them . and then i shall easily grant , and grant upon the principles of st. cyprian , and the church of his time , that in a case of separation of subjects from bishops , the charge of schism can never lie against the bishop directly ▪ indirectly it may , as an vnion with a rightfull bishop does make the accusation of schism chargeable against another bishop , unjustly pretending to the same jurisdiction : or as the onely bishop of a particular district , if he cut himself off from the episcopal collegium , does thereby make it impossible for them to hold communion with him who would hold communion with the whole catholick church , and with the episcopal college : but where there were no bishops with whom they could maintain communion , whilst divided from the communion of the bishop of their particular district , there no charge of schism could be brought against such a bishop , neither directly nor indirectly : and therefore the onely pretence such dividers can have for defending themselves , and laying the blame on the bishop , must be not by charging him with schism but heresie . thus our author may be rightly understood to allow no excuse for separation in the persons with whom he had to deal , but onely that of their bishop's being a heretick . 29. and now our author's sense being rightly explained , we are so far from being concerned in what he says , as that indeed we need no other principles but his to charge our adversaries with the schism of the present separation . whilst we have bishops , and those unexceptionable , to head us , we can wave the charge of heresie , and yet insist upon that of schism against our present intruders : but i cannot for my life foresee what the clergy and laity of the deprived diocesses can say for themselves , for deserting their bishops , whose title was formerly owned by themselves , by this their author's principles . what is the heresie they can charge their bishops with ? yet that is the onely cause here allowed them to excuse their separation ; and it is indeed the onely charge that can be brought by subjects against their incumbent directly : as for an indirect charge in favour of other bishops , our adversaries case is exactly the same with that of the studites , or arsenians , and they cannot pretend to it . they have no other bishops to whom they can plead an obligation against their old incumbents . it is plain their antecedent obligation lies in favour of their deprived fathers : they cannot deny them to have had once a good right to their duty , and they can give no reason allowable by their author how they might lose it ; neither that of notorious heresie , nor the other of synodical deprivation . they cannot deny but their new invaders found the diocesses possessed by just acknowledgments of right in their predecessors , and those acknowledgments ratified by vows of canonical obedience in the clergy , and of the duty incumbent on them as members of such owned societies in the laity also . thus it cannot be difficult to determine where the duty is still rather obliging , that the indirect charge of schism lies against the intruders for erecting altars against altars already possessed ; not against the possessors , who were put in vacuam possessionem ( as the law calls it ) by an unquestionable lawful authority . will they therefore pretend the greater obligation lying on them to own the episcopal college , than to own any particular bishop ? this they might have pretended , if any synodical deprivation of persons authorized to act in synods had gone before : that might indeed have cut off the incumbents from their vnion with the episcopal college , and continued the invaders in their vnion with the same college , and so have obliged all , as they are bound to prefer their vnion with the college before their vnion with any particular bishop , to withdraw from the communion of the incumbents . now even this very charge lies in favour of our brethren , and against our adversaries . our deprived fathers must still be supposed to retain their vnion with the college , till there be some act of the college to deprive them : and so the invaders of their jurisdictions must , by their doing so , not only divide themselves from the bishops whose right is invaded by them , but from the whole episcopal college also . this would have appeared clearly as to fact , if the old practice of communicatory letters had still been observed : the invaders could not have been received to communion by any other bishop of the whole world , without the communicatory letters of the incumbent not synodically deprived ; and if any particular bishop had done otherwise , even that bishop had , by his doing so , cut himself off from his vnion with the whole episcopal college . thus we see how this precedent of condemning these encroachments of the studite monks does not in any wise affect vs , but our adversaries . 30. our author next observes , that for 26 years together during the reigns of leo armenus , michael traulus and theophilus , till theodora managed affairs during her young son mich●el's minority , the patriarchs were all iconoclasts . his account , no doubt , begins from the year 815. and the second of leo armenus , wherein theodotus melissenus , the first iconaclast patriarch , was brought in upon the expulsion of nicephorus : and it ends with the expulsion of joannes , or jannes ( as they call him for his conjuring practices ) by theodora in the year 842. in the beginning of her administration of affairs . that space was not full 27 years : for theodotus melissenus was brought in april the 1st . and john was expelled not long after the 30th . of january , on which theophilus died . the design of this observation is only to take notice how it would affect the constantinopolitane succession , long before the times of arsenius and joseph , if even such deriving orders from hereticks were rigorously enquired into ; for such the icon●clasts were esteemed by our author . but this is not the question for which we are concerned at present . 31. his next example is therefore in the case of ignatius and photius . but to judge exactly how far either of them had right , our author should have distinguished the times and the several degrees by which this dispute proceeded . the first deprivation therefore of ignatius , i take to have been on november 23. 858. precisely : and here was indeed no synod , though i know the synodicon published by pappus and justellus pretends one : but pope nicholas in his 10th . ep. where he gives an account of his roman synod , owns nothing in the deprivation of ignatius , but the violence and terror of the emperor , plainly therein reflecting on the vncanonicalness of it . again , his words in his ep. 13. to ignatius himself are these : ab imperials potentia absque ulla canonica auctoritate tua pulsus ecclesia , &c. which he insists on as an argument for invalidating their whole proceedings against him . so also anastasius bibliothecarius in his preface to the eighth general council , speaking of the same ignatius , says , that he was praejudicialiter expoliatus . by which , in all likelihood , he means , that he was robbed of his throne antecedently to any form of judicial proceeding . the author therefore of the synodicon himself , owns that he was driven away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , meaning , i suppose , the secular 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as distinguished by that word from the ecclesiasticks . he therefore calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a simple synod ; probably because they were only a few bishops and monks that concerned themselves in this matter , without any synodical formalities , not even those of the synodus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ bardas therefore the caesar , who was the author of it , did now all he could by hard usage to force him to abdicate . it plainly hence appears , that even he did not think the emperor's power sufficient for it : yet he was wicked enough , and prejudiced enough on that side to have believed it , if the casuistry of that age would have afforded him any countenance in it . but they had not then the confidence to allow actions of that nature to pass for precedents : yet all the rigours they could use to him , could not prevail with ignatius to quit his right . how is it therefore that our author can have the confidence to say , that he did not divide from photius , nor perswade the people to divide from him ? how could he possibly claim his right , but that he must at the same time challenge the clergies and peoples duty , as obliged in conscience to adhere to him , and to own him as their onely lawfull pastor ? how could he do that without obliging them to leave and disown photius ? we have therefore here one of our author 's own precedents so far from making for his cause , that it makes directly against him . ignatius thought it lawfull to challenge his right against a successor whom even him●elf could not charge with heresie . and this invasion of ignatius's throne , was censured as schismatical in photius , by the generality of the disinteressed judges of that age. pope nicholas the first , in the name of the western church , charges it directly with that very imputation of schism . and even the eastern bishops themselves † threatned bardas , that they would never own another bishop , and that they would break themselves off from the publick assemblies , till they were partly wheedled , and partly terrified from what they had resolved on . and whatever their practice was , this very threatning is an argument of their judgment in the case , that photius and his party had been the schismatick● , though themselves had made the separation . our author himself observes , how ordinary it was in those ages to call photius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , an adulterer and invader of the throne ; and those phrases do at once signifie his want of right , and the violences used by him in coming in against the consent of ignatius : nor has he any thing that i can find ▪ to prove that ignatius kept communion with photius , but only his old argument from the pretended dyptichs of his own time , which has already been answered . thus the case was , at least , till the synod wherein ignatius was deposed , and photius confirmed . but what needed a deposition , if ignatius had already yielded his right , as our author would perswade us ? what needed a synodical deposition , if that by the imperial authority had been thought sufficient ? 32. the friends of photius discovered their consciousness of his want of right ; first , by the violence used to the person of ignatius to force him to surrender ; then by diligence used by them , when they found their endeavours with ignatius unsuccessfull , to get a synod that might deprive him of his right , whether he would or no : yet the difficulties and delays they met with in procuring a synod , and corrupting the suffrages of it , are also arguments of the opposition they met with in their main cause , even in the east , even among the greeks themselves , where the authority of bardas was most significant ; for it was some years before chey could effect their purposes that way , not till the latter end of the year 860. the auhor of the synodicon , besides his former synod makes two more , the former in blachernis , the latter in the church of the apostles . this i take to be the a b synodus , wherein ignatius was deposed , as the commentators expresly tell us . and the two sessions of that same synod in different places , as it gave occasion for them to give the title of a b to their synod it self ; so it also seems to have been the occasion why this injudicious collector of the synodicon should make two synods of it . the latter of the two was that wherein the pope's legates were either forced or bribed to sign the condemnation of ignatius . i am apt to think that the true occasion of convening a second time the same bishops before they were departed to their several homes , was the unexpected arrival of the legates , that they also might conciliarly confirm what had been done in the council before their arrival . if i guess right , their former sitting must have been immediately before the arrival of the legates : and indeed it seems to have been so . the pope was surprized at the proceeding against ignatius , and charges photius with breach of promise , in medling farther in that matter than he had pretended he would do . and he says , he sent his legates not to determine any thing concerning the cause of ignatius , but only to enquire into it , and to make report to him of the success of their enquiry : and if we may believe his adversaries account of this affair , photius had pretended that ignatius had resigned , and this , it should seem , they reckoned on ; which could not have been , if this decision of ignatius's case had been long before : even that pretence argued his consciousness that what had been done before against ignatius , would never be thought sufficient to deprive him of his right in conscience , as soon as the falshood of this pretence should be discovered . this therefore put him upon a conciliary trial of ignatius , in that former meeting wherein ignatius was personly present : but ignatius pleaded what pope nicholas also pleaded in his behalf , that he ought to be restored to his possession , before they could , by the canons , bring him to a trial. this photius's council would by no means admit of , but proceeded their own way , pretending to give him a fair thorough hearing , and deprived him . however , knowing that his plea was indeed allowable by the canons , they thought their cause would require all the confirmation that could be got by the legates , and the reputation they would gain by having the western communion on their side . if this therefore were so , the time of these synods , or meetings rather of the same synod , will best appear from the time of the arrival of the popes legates . the letters pope nicholas sent with his legates going to constantinople , bear date septemb. 25. indict . 9. so it must have been the latter end of the year 860. before those legates could finish their journey : and when they had reached constantinople , they were 100 days there before they could be prevailed on to ratifie the deposition of ignatius so contrary to the instructions they had received from him that sent them . this must necessarily bring it to the beginning of the year 861. before the 18th . of march , nicholas had received the news of their prevaricating , and wrote again what he thought fit upon that occasion . but when the suffrages of a council were once gained , what arts soever they were that were used to gain them , photius had then some appearance of right , till ignatius could relieve himself by another and a greater council . that was a lawful way allowed him of recovering it , by the very canons . however photius could , in the mean time , plead this canon hence produced by our author , in favour of himself , which before he could not , that none ought to separate from himself thus synodically settled , nor to joyn with ignatius thus synodically condemned , till himself were condemned , and ignatius resettled , by a greater and more numerous synod . and to add the greater authority to their own synod , they boasted of the same numbers that was in the council of nice , as pope nicholas observes in his answer to them . this was a plausible artifice ●o the superstition of that age. 33. pope nicholas therefore , no doubt , made all the interest he cou'd to get a synod that he might oppose to this synod of photius . he knew his authority alone would never be admitted for it without a synod , and such a synod as the canons required : and though he allowed no superstition for the number ▪ yet the antiochian canon , which by this time obtained in both the eastern and western churches , required , that the synod that must restore ignatius , must at least be more numerous than the synod that deprived him . no synod therefore could serve his purpose , but such a one as must have had more than 318 bishops . this , i suppose , made it some time before he could condemn photius , or restore ignatius with such a synod . anastasius tells us , it was in the 11th . indiction : that must have been , either in the end of the year 862. or the beginning of the year 863 till then , at least , how good soever his title was , yet the guilt of schism had been imputable to ignatius , if he had made a separation , or intruded himself into his own throne before a synod had restored him . nay ▪ by the antiochian canon he had forfeited all pretensions of having the merit of his cause considered , if he had challenged any duty from his clergy and people before a council had restored him . but when pope nichol●s had restored him in the roman synod , and deprived and anathematized photius , with them who look●d upon that restitution as an act of superiour authority , ignatius w●s then restored to his full right , and photius was deprived even of that right ●o which a canonical settled possession had intitled him ▪ and from that time forward , if ignatius had ●●●●enged the obedience of his clergy and laity , and withdrawn them from the obedience of photius , the guilt of the schism had notwithstanding not been imputable to him but ●hotius . but these principles do not even in that ag● ▪ seem to have been the sense of any more than the concerned part of the western church the council of constantinople when they decreed that constantinople should be next to rome , did never seem to ●nderstand it of p●oper jurisdiction , but only of precedency in place : afterwards ●he council of chalcedon decreed equal priviledges to the same s●e , because it had an emperor , and a consul ▪ and a senate , which were no more consistent with a subordinate jurisdiction in the bishops than in the emperors , the consuls , and the ●enates . none ever pretended at that time ●hat the emperors , the cons●ls , and the senates of new rome were properly subject to the emperors , consuls , and senates of old rome , in rega●d of jurisdiction : and the canon concerning appeals made in that same council o● chalcedon wa● utt●rly inconsistent with any such jurisdiction ; that allows to recourse for such appeals beyond the see of constantinople . i know very well , pope leo's legates disowned both these canons , and so have the latine collectors generally , who reckon no more than 27 canons as made in that council : but the 16th action of the council shewed that they were the genuine sense of the council , and at least of the eastern empire , and the eastern churches : and so it descended down to the times of ignatius and photius , of which we are discoursing . by the judgment therefore of the eastern bishops of those times , who were the most competent judges of that eastern dispute ; and by the other canons of the church which required , that judgments concerning matters of fact ( such as this was ) should be decided in the same place where the matter of fact had happened , the synod by which ignatius was to be relieved , must have been another , and that a greater synod in the same constantinople ; and till he could get such a synod on his side , himself had been responsible for the schism that must have followed on his claiming his right : nay , the antiochian canon made him forfeit his right , if he claimed it in such a way as this was : and it is plain by the pope's letters to the emperor michael , that the emperor did not allow the pope's authority in this case ; nor do we find that ignatius made any stir upon it , till he was restored conciliarly in the same place where he had been deprived . this seems therefore to have been the state of that dispute , if nicholas proceeded by way of proper jurisdiction ; if he had proceeded on the principles of the primitive church on the supposition of equality , then he could no otherwise have obliged the eastern bishops , than as the bishops or provinces that sided with him were more numerous than those that were against them : for this is all that had been reasonable in that case , that where peace was absolutely necessary , and yet could not be had without cession on one part , there it was also necessary that the smaller part should rather yield to the greatest . but whether empire had more bishops or provinces is needless now to determine : the rather , because it does not seem to have been thought on , or insisted on , in the disputes of that age. it is sufficient for our purposes , that , in the sense of the eastern bishops , and by the rules of the eastern discipline , ( which ignatius was to stand by , ) this roman synod was no competent authority , and therefore left both him and photius in the same condition wherein it found them . but in this whole dispute the emperor's authority is never urged , but that of the synods that appeared on the one side or the other . and the roman synod was so little regarded by photius and the bishops of his party , that they also condemned pope nicholas . this was in the latter end of the reign of his patron michael , after basilius macedo was now made caesar ; that is , after the 26th of may 867. 34. in the latter end of that same year , sept. 24. michael was murdered . this photius upbraided basilius with , and excommunicated him for it . this makes basilius immediately dispossess him . we are told that he did it the very next day after his succession : however the emperour himself did not look on his own dispossessing him of the patriarchal palace as any decision of the question concerning his right . the worst interpretation we can make of it is , that he followed his own resentment in the case , ( as several authors say he did , ) or that he followed the precedents of anastasius dicorus , and the great justinian , who , as we have seen , first deprived their patriarchs before they judicially condemned them . this could hardly have been made a precedent by him , if he himself had not been under a present and a great resentment , if he had not followed them in their passion , as well as in the fact that proceeded from it . it becomes us rather to put the best interpretation we can on the facts of those who are deceased , whose lives did otherwise not make them obnoxious to have the worst things presumed concerning them . the rather in this case , because there was another reason as consistent with the design of basilius , and much more agreeable with his honour : ignatius when he was before the synod of photius pleaded , that he ought to be restored to his possession , before he could be obliged to answer to a synodical judgment : this plea therefore being canonical , ought to have been admitted by the synod that deprived him ; the putting him therefore into a present possession , even before a new synodical tryall , was no more than what ought to have been done by the synod itself ; and their proceeding irregularly could not therefore prejudge against the canons that required it , nor hinder the putting it in practice as soon as the violence was over that occasioned the violation of those canons . yet it was so to be understood , as not to prejudge any thing concerning the merit of the cause . otherwise , instead of doing ignatius a kindness , it had done him a prejudice by the rules of discipline then received in the eastern church ; he had thereby made himself really obnoxious to the apostolical canon , which photius had no colour to charge him with before : that canon was then received in the eastern church , and made it a new cause of deprivation , if any bishop did forcibly intrude himself into a present possession by the assistance of the secular power . so far that eastern church , whose sense our adversaries pretend to gather from these instances , was from acknowledging the lawfulness of bishops obtruded by the secular power , that with them it rather prejudiced a good , that advantaged a suspicious title . this , by the way , it were well our adversaries would think of , how it affects the case of our present intruders : the rather , because it does not only deprive them of the benefit of this argument from these eastern precedents , but may also be urged against them wherever these canons have been received , as these first fifty have been generally in most , even of our western collections . however , that the emperor did not look upon his own actings as decisive in this case , appears from hence , that he ordered both parties to send their legates to the pope , to inform him throughly of the matter of fact ; and that withall he convened a pretended general council for a final decision of the dispute . i rather suspect that he ascribed more to the determination of pope nicholas , than either the doctrines of his own church , or his own preingagements , would fairly allow of , and that he might therefore look on his own putting ignatius in possession , as an executing the decree of the roman council . plainly he did more herein than several of his own party did like : first , he preferred the judgment of a foreign italian before that of a domestick council . this was what was opposed , not only by his predecessor michael , but also by his successors in the eastern church to this very day ; nay , what himself after repealed in the synod of photius in the year 879. then he preferred that elder synod of nicholas in the year 863. before the later synod of photius , ( that third of his against pope nicholas and his synod , as the two former had been against ignatius , ) which had been celebrated in the very year wherein himself succeeded ; that is , in the year 867. between the 26th of may , whereon basile was made caesar , and septemb. the 24th , whereon michael was murdered . he seemed to obviate this by calling this other synod , which now passes for the eighth general council with the latines , as if it had been to repeal that later constantinopolitane council synodically . this was in the year 869. but no liberty was reserved for a fair hearing of things in this council . ignatius had before that , immediately upon his return into his place , done all that ought to have been reserved for the synod , if any fair dealing had been intended ; he had deposed and excommunicated his rival : not only so , but he had nulled the orders of those who had been ordained by him , and excommunicated those who had communicated with him . nay , the bishops were all obliged before hand to stand to the decisions of the pope's council , which it appears in the very beginning of this , they neither thought consistent with the honour of their own church , nor were they willing to be concluded by , if the emperor would give them liberty . and photius was immediately , before any conciliary hearing , condemned and anathemetized , and ignatius owned before any repeal of the later council of photius . thus this unfair way of promoting even a good title , did rather injure than advantage it : the rather , because basile had , in all likelihood , obliged himself but a little before to maintain that synod of photius . photius pretended basil's subscription to his own synod ; and his adversaries themselves confess he did so , and do not disprove what he pretended : and we know it was generally received in those times , that what was subscribed by the augusti , was subscribed by the caesars also . here therefore , i doubt , we can hardly be able to excuse this prince from a transport of resentment , perhaps not even ignatius himself , that made them do things so little for the honour of their own church , and in favour of a foreign power , rather than fail of compassing their ends . i doubt it was their consciousness of their weakness at home , that put them upon these straits : the cause was within a little while after carried against them by the photians , and so continues to this very day . this council was repealed in the time of this very emperor . the doctrine and creed of photius concerning the procession of the holy ghost from the father alone , was also restored . and this advanced the dispute from a charge of schism alone , to a charge of heresie also , in the opinion of this author : those servile notions also of allowing even pretended general councils a power only of ratifying , not of debating the predecisions of the pope , have been generally disowned , and looked upon as very odious in all the emperors who have endeavoured to restore them . this the two palaeologi , michael and john found to their cost ; the one in the council of lyons , in the year 1275. the other in the council of florence , in the year 1437. nor do the numbers of those who are mentioned in this latinizing synod , either of those who had still sided with ignatius , or of those who were here received upon their revolting from photius , seem sufficient to have carried the cause on that side by equal management ; especially considering that the later would , in that case , have given their suffrages against them . and who could look upon this as a fair decision , with regard to conscience , that was so manifestly contrary to the sense of the greater numbers of their own church , which ought alone to have been owned for the competent judge in causes between her own members ? 35 here therefore ignatius injured his good cause by this way of defending it , and gave photius new advantages against him : however he found no farther opposition from him , during his own life . ignatius died octob. 23. 878. and then photius was restored by the same emperor that had before excluded him : yet with no such inconsistency as our author fancies . he that was an adulterer and an invader whilst the true husband was living , might now be a husband and just possessor after the true husband was deceased . probably the emperor himself , when his passion was over , might think himself obliged in conscience and honour to make him this honourable amends for his past irregular and unequal proceedings against him ; though i know nicetas , who was an ignatian , pretends other arts whereby he regained the emperor's favour : and indeed we have photius's cause conveyed to us with no small disadvantage : his adversaries at that very time suppressed his principal writings on that subject ; they seized and burnt his original papers , before any copies could be transcribed ; they have afterwards had it in their power to suppress many of his other works , whilst the empire of constantinople was in the hands of latines or latinizing greeks ; and they have since had it in their power to hinder the printing of as many of them as have not fallen into the hands of protestants . this , no doubt , must needs have proved very prejudicial to a right understanding of his cause , that we have very few assistances for understanding it , but from his professed and very inveterate enemies . however it was , photius , on this restitution , had now no longer any rival that could pretend a better title : so that now they had nothing plausible to pretend for themselves that they would not own him . however it appears from this nicetas , that the ignatian party still retained their old resentments , when even ignatius himself , if he had been living , had less to say for himself than formerly , and his followers had yet much less to say for themselves now than he had . the next year therefore after hi● new restitution , that is , in the year 879. photius calls a general council wherein he is confirmed by pope john's consent , his legates b●ing present , and the eighth general council in the latine account expresly repealed , this being received in stead of it by the modern greeks to this day ; wherein the second nicene is received among the general councils as the greeks do still receive it ; wherein the creed of constantinople is received without any mention of the procession of the holy ghost from the son , nay , with censures against innovators of it ; and wherein , lastly , censures are threatned against all who would not submit , and own photius for their lawfull patriarch . these are the principal particulars here decreed , as appears from the fragments of this council first published by dr. beveridge from oxford mss. most of them from beccus , a zealous latinizer , though baronius is willing to call them in question , for not being mentioned by later men than beccus . and the pope's legates assent to all , and as to that particular of obliging all to submit to photius , the pope had given them particular and express orders , in his letters and instructions still extant : so that now the ignatians could no longer pretend any patronage of the roman church to countenance them in their schism and to sweeten them the more , it was also here expresly stipulated , that there should be no indecent reflections on the memory of ignatius . the pope was gained by his finding the emperor bent on it , and by the beneficial agreements made with photius in order to it : he obliged photius to quit his right in the bulgarians , a grant which his predecessor could not gain even from ignatius , who had been so much obliged by him . he obliged him also to quit the communion of some of his own excommunicates ▪ as himself also disowned the schismaticks from photius . and this probably went far towards the uniting the ignatians , when the exasperating severities were laid aside , and there was now no rival , nor considerable authority to head them . and this , in all likelihood , was the reason , why , notwithstanding their former heats , they are nevertheless both of them mentioned honourably in the synodicon . it was in course to be expected concerning photius , because he was the last in possession , and because his disputes with the latines started on that occasion , obtained afterwards so universally , that his sense is the sense of the greek church to this very day . and though ignatius's sense be now as generally deserted , yet the union of the ignatians did necessarily require a decent behaviour to his memory , which was now no longer difficult to be granted , when he was now no longer capable of being a rival . thence forward therefore photius seemed to have enjoyed more quietness till the year 886. and the succession of leo sapiens , which is the last time we find him mentioned in history . 36. and now in this whole history thus represented , there is nothing that , if fairly understood , will make for the purpose , either of our author , or of our adversaries . our author pretends that they neither of them separated from each other's communion , as thinking each other orthodox , and that they did not scrupulously enquire into each other's ordinations : but it is very strange he should so much as pretend it , when the contrary is so very notorious . what account then can they give of all those severities and persecutions which are mentioned of photius against the ignatians , if not to force them to his communion ? what needed all those violences to ignatius's person , to force him to sign a form of abdication , if he abdicated willingly , and thought himself obliged to do so , because his adversary was not a heretick ? why then did photius in his two synods deprive and excommunicate and anathematize him ? why did he endeavour to reordain the persons ordained by ignatius ? and when the emperor would not endure that , why did he use the (a) art nicetas tells us of , of seeming at least to do it , by buying sacerdotal habits , and sending them , already blessed , as presents to the parties concerned , if he were so well satisfied , as our author would perswade us , of his predecessor's ordinations ? this photius did upon his restitution to the see , after ignatius's death , when there was no danger from ignatius that might exasperate him , when there was no apparent reason but principles of conscience that might induce him to it . but the world has been sufficiently inured to believe hard things concerning photius : perhaps ignatius , the holy ignatius , behaved himself with more temper , and more agreeable to our author's fancy : he would , in all likelihood , have done so , if he had been of our author's opinion . but if we will chuse rather to learn matter of fact from history what he did do , than from fancy , what we may think he ought to have done , as , no doubt , we ought to do , how much soever he differed from photius in other things , yet he was perfectly of his mind in this , and seems no less to have rivalled him in his zeal in it , than he did in his chair . his unwillingness to resign as our author and our adversaries would have had him done , has been already observed : photius indeed pretended he did resign ; and hadrian's eighth general council seems to speak suspiciously , when they tell us that , if he had done so , he was notwithstanding not oblig'd to stand to it . it is certain he did not stand to it , and if ever he did yield , that it was fear , not our adversaries opinions of charity and conscience , that made him do so , that made him think himself obliged to do so ; so far from that , that as soon as his conscience was at liberty to hear sedate reasonings , he thought himself obliged to do the contrary . this brought upon him those deprivations , excommunications , and anathematisms , in the synods of photius . and can we still believe that there was no breach of communion on the part of the ignatians ? what needed then those violences which they were freed from as soon as they could be prevailed on to communicate with photius ? why do the (b) legates of three eastern patriarchs , boast that they had never owned nor communicated with him from the beginning , if it had not been notorious that the firm ignatians had , from the beginning , not owned his communion ? why then did (c) ignatious , immediately , upon his restitution , excommunicate not only those who had been ordained by photius , but those also who had ever so much as communicated with him ? is it not plain from hence , that ignatius's party did separate ? that he himself exacted it as duty from them that they should do so , and so was accessary to the separation ? that he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , use the summum jus of enquiring into the ordinations of photius ? and what will then become of our author 's general observation , that none was ever known to do so ? why did the ignatians still forbear the communion of photius , even after the (d) death of ignatius , if they had not been used to do so before , when they had more pretence for it ? if ignatius had not persisted in that same mind , even to his very death ? besides , our author was not aware that the dispute at length came to that which he thought heresie , at least which he was bound to think so by the doctrine of his greek church in that age wherein he made his collection ; i mean , photius started the dispute concerning the procession of the holy ghost from the son. then he must have thought them obliged by principles to separate , and could never argue from their actions as precedents , if they were not agreeable to principles . it is very true that photius's doctrine was not thought heretical then . this appeared even in the latine's eighth general coumcil . some desired to be excused from anathematizing him on that account , that they thought none ought to be anathematized but hereticks . and the council it self , though it obliged them still to anathematizi him , yet did not do it upon account of any heresie wherewith they thought him chargeable . however this makes his case more opposite to our purpose , because it is notwithstanding sure that ignatius did not therefore think himself obliged to yield to him . what can be clearer to this purpose than the words of ignatius , as he is personated by theognostus , one who was very well acquainted with his mind ? (e) had this adulterer , says he , been of the church , i would willingly have yielded to him . but how shall i make an alien from christ a pastor of the sheep of christ ? plainly therefore he thought schism as well as heresie a sufficient reason of challenging his right against him . and photius was charged with schism antecedently to his being set up against ignatius , for joyning with (f) gregorius syracusanus , who had been excommunicated by ignatius . so little do these instances make for the design of our author . 37. nor are they much more pertinent to the design of our adversaries . none of these deprivations were any farther regarded than as they were synodical : i mean , they were not till then thought sufficient to disoblige their charge from their obligations to adhear to them . bardas and photius did both hope at first , to extort an abdication from ignatius : but when they found they could not succeed that way , they never thought themselves secure , till they got him deprived synodically . so it was also in the deprivation of photius , after he had been synodically confirmed : though it was in favour of one who had a better antecedent right ; yet the emperor basile excuses himself from having any hand in it , otherwise than as he excuted the decree of pope nicholas's synod , whereby photius had before been deprived and excommunicated . so he tells us in the synod , that he had done nothing in it by his † imperial hand or power . for it was not , says he , the work or contrivance of my imperial station , that our most holy patriarch should return to his own throne . but long before , the most holy and blessed pope nicholas , having fully informed himself concerning the case of ignatius , had decreed synodically , that the right of his own throne should be restored to him , and with the whole roman church had anathematised all such as should resist that decree and sentence . here therefore being before informed of these things , and dreading the judgment of the promulgated anathema , we thought it necessary to obey this synodical judgment of the roman church , and for this cause we restored him to the possession of his own throne . so far were even princes , in that age , from pretending any right to intermeddle in such matters without the leave , nay without the authority of the church to warrant them in it : and so little were they then ashamed to own themselves executioners of the church's canons in affairs properly relating to the church's right . none who is in earnest with religion , can in the least doubt , but that the interests of religion are incomparably both nobler and greater than the interests of any worldly politicks : even the secular magistate himself cannot deny but that his soul , which is benefitted by promoting the interests of religion , is of more importance , even to him , than his secular empire . and why then should poor mortals be ashamed to own their obligation to make their worldly power subservient to ends so undeniably nobler and greater than those of their worldly power ? but so trifling are the reasonings of those who call this being priest-ridden , when they are examined seriously , that it is no wonder they should look upon it as a principal art of recommending them by bantering , and avoiding seriousness . 38. our author's next instance is in the next and last deprivation of photius which he tells us was by leo sapiens , in favour of his own brother stephanus substituted in his stead : yet the successor being also orthothodox , he observed that no schism followed upon it . and indeed we do not find any matter for a synodical accusation objected to photius by the prince himself , who is said to have deprived him , not any of those immoral practices wherewith he had been formerly upbraided by his exasperated adversaries : much less does any synod appear that gave judgment against him upon such allegations ; nor could he pretend , as his father basile had done , that he only executed a former synodical deprivation for fear of the anathem● he might incur if he did not do so . photius had now no rival who could pretend a better tittle , in favour of whom those synodical determinations had been made : and he had since been restored in a general synod , later than that which had deprived him , and wherein all the defects were supplied which had been objected formerly . here he had the suffrages of the eastern patriarchs : not only so , but even of the papal see it self , which had before been most implacable against him . i know baronius fancies that there was afterwards a breach between pope john and him : nor is it unlikely , that john did indeed resent the retaining bulgaria from him ▪ the recovering of which was the principal inducement which had brought him to that condescendence . this i take to have been the reserved case , when he afterwards disowns his confirming what his legates had done , if they had in any thing gone beyond the orders he had given them . nor is it unlikely also but that , on occasion of that resentment , he might use some threats and hard expressions , that might have been so interpreted by the authors that gave baronius occasion for this conjecture : but there is no likelihood at all that those resentments ever proceeded so far as an open rupture ; otherwise we should certainly have had some mention of it in so many following epistles written by john himself afterwards . whatever he thought , he seems , at that time , to have thought it seasonable to suppress his resentments , as finding himself opposed by a greater interest than that of photius . photius therefore does not indeed seem to have been deprived synodically ; the reason given for it is , that leo resented what santabarenus had done against him in his father's time , in making a difference between them , and thought photius the principal hindrance that kept him from his designs against santabarenus . this was a reason in state likely enough to have been the occasion why leo would endeavour to get photius deprived : but it was not a reason likely to have been owned openly , and to have been produced before a judicatory . he could hardly for shame have owned a resentment for things so long past ; much less could he have charged photius with favouring santabarenus , when santabarenus himself had not yet received an open trial. however , it is certain that the emperor himself was the cause that the place was vacated ; and in this historians agree : only they do not tells , whether it were with his own consent , though forced to it by the emperor , or whether the emperor pretended to do it by his own authority , without any consent of photius . but what the historians have not informed us of , that his great adversary pope * stephen the fourth has , and that from the letter of the emperor himself who is said to have deprived him . by that letter it appears , that the emperor did not so much as pretend force on his own part , but a voluntary resignation on the part of photius : so that as yet we have not one instance , that ever any lay-power did ever pretend to a power of depriving bishops as to their spiritual authority , though we could not have known it in this case , had it not been for this occasional mention of it by pope stephen . the case may therefore have probably been the same in other examples , where we read of depositions by emperors , where we are not so happy to light on a particular account of them . here there are other circumstances that make it probable that this cession was voluntary : photius was treated very respectfully even after his deprivation , as appears in the trial of santabarenus , which would not have been , if he had stood out to the utmost ; so it was this willingness of his cession that hindered pope stephen also from proceeding to his designed severities against him : besides , stephanus his successor had been his pupil , and educated under him , and therefore unlikely to have accepted of his office without his leave ; nor do we find that he ever afterwards endeavoured again to get into it , though stephanus did not long enjoy it : and therefore going off willingly , he had thence-forward no pretence to disturb his successors ; the schism had been his , not theirs , if he had gone back from his own agreement , and either resumed his throne , or withdrawn the peoples duty , which had been already quitted by him . 39. the next example is in nicholas , deprived by the same prince leo sapiens , for opposing his fourth marriage . against him euthymius was set up ; yet so , as our author says , that neither nicholas himself withdrew from his communion , nor taught the people to do so . nay , so , that when he was restored to his throne by alexander the brother of leo , he did not so much as question the orders given by euthymius , because the persons ordained were orthodox , and the person who ordained them was himself also orthodox . so our author . the time of this ejection of nicholas is somewhat intricate : it could hardly have been where baronius places it , in the year 901. the surest grounds we have for discovering it , is from the age of constantine porphyrogennetus : it is certain he was born before his mothers marriage , which made immediately the breach between his father and the patriarch . not only so , nicholas also christened him ; so that as yet he was in possession of the patriarchal throne . this it seems he condescended to , on condition the marriage should not go on : however , within three days after , thomas a presbyter performed the solemnity , and was thereupon excommunicated by the patriarch . constantine was christened on the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , our epiphany , jan. 6. so his mother zoes marriage was on the 9th of the same january . that immediately caused the breach , and from that time forward the emperor formed his party for depriving the patriarch . and cedrenus tells us that they did it on the beginning of february . the anonymous continuator of theophanes and leo grammaticus , are more particular yet in fixing it to the first day of that month. these are more to be regarded than baronius's author , joannes curopalates , who would have it to have been on the beginning of january . constantine was crowned on pentecost , and then euthymius officiated : thence is appears that nicholas was dispossessed before pentecost . but constantine could not have been baptized , nor crowned before the year 906. at his uncle alexander's death he was seven years old , as we are assured by the continuator of theophanes , and by leo grammaticus , the best authors of those times . alexander died on june the 6th , the first day of the week , and the first indiction , as the same authors tell us . these notes shew it could not have been the year 912. as baronius would have it , but that it must have been on the year following , 913. so also it is agreed that he was thirteen years old when his father-in-law romanus lacapenus got to be joyned in the government with him ▪ this appears by leo grammaticus to have been in that year wherein the feast of the annunciation , march the 25th , fell on the 5th day of the week , which must have been on the year 919. the same appears from the death of constantine in the year of the world 6468. indict . 3. novemb. 9. all these notes concur in the year 959. not in the year 960. wherein it is placed by baronius . this was in the 54th year of his reign or life , for there is no great difference between them . and this number is made up of the three several periods of his reign , 13 wherein he reigned with his father , and vncle , and mother ; 26 wherein romanus was joyned with him , and 15 more after the deposition of romanus . these numbers reckoned backward from the year now mentioned , can go no farther than the year 906. wherein therefore nicholas must have been deprived . nicholas himself tells us , that it was in the pontificate of sergius , which is not by any means reconcilable with the chronology of baronius . this , by the way , for the time of this example . 40. however , it does not appear that leo acted herein only by his secular authority . if there be any heed to be given to eutychius , he tells us of something like a synod , that sided with the emperor against the patriarch . he says the emperor had with him legates from the patriarchal sees , to whom were joyned several of the bishops then in constantinople , who were for his marriage . these were somewhat more than the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . and whether they were enough or no , to secure the emperor and his priest from the censure of the patriarch , and for continuing them in communion ; yet certainly they had been sufficient , according to the customs of those ages , for the deprivation of a patriarch ; if there had not been particular reasons to suspect whether , in a question so much disputed among the bishops as that was , the majority would think themselves obliged to be concluded by them . and it was , upon their joyning with the emperor , that , as eutychius tells us , the deprivation followed , though eutychius be not indeed express in telling us whether they were particularly concerned in the deprivation . but neither have we reason to doubt , but that the emperor would rather choose to deprive him synodically than otherwise , if for no other reason , at least for this , that he might therefore clear himself from the odium of making himself a judge in his own cause : the rather so , because we know he endeavoured to transact the dispute amicably , and with due deference to the ecclesiastical authority , which shews him unwilling to use his power , if he could have avoided it ; and because withall he had a synod ready convened , who were likely enough to second him in it . for why should we suspect them unwilling to concur in the deprivation , when they had concurred in allowing the marriage that had occasioned it ? and there are circumstances which confirm the likelihood of a synodical deprivation , independently on the authority of eutychius . nicholas himself owns the concurrence of pope sergius's legates against him , who were for dispencing with the marriage . it seems therefore that leo had sent for them before the marriage , and the breach occasioned by it ; otherwise they could not have reached constantinople before the deprivation of nicholas . thus therefore it is certain , that at that time there were present the legates of at least one of the patriarchal sees . and why should we suspect but that , in a controversy of so great importance , when he sent for the legates of one of the patriarchal sees , he sent for all the rest ? but so it was , those legates could only undertake for the sense of those patriarchal jurisdictions that were represented by them . it is by no means likely that he would neglect the fifth patriarchal church to which himself was particularly related . in all probability , the same time that he sent for the legates of the foreign patriarchs , he ordered matters so , that upon their arrival they should be met by a synod of bishops of his own dominions , that so he might have the sense , if not of his own patriarch , at least of his own patriarchal church . this made an appearance of the whole church , and of a general council , when he could pretend to the sense of all the patriarchates , and is withall certain that he endeavoured to draw the bishops of his own dominions to his party , and that his endeavours were successfull with many of them : and this difference of opinion that was between them , was that which occasioned the following schism . then withall we know that he charged the patriarch with a crime , as the ground of the deprivation ; that was of lying and perjury . probably in the agreements made between them before the breach , to which it is probable that the parties concerned had sworn , that the prete●ded violation of those oaths was that which the emperor charged with perjury . thus as there was a judicatory , so we see likely materials to ground a judicial process . and why should we doubt but that as he made this synod judge of the marriage it self ; so that he also allowed them to pass their judgment on this canonical accusation ? so little likelihood there is that this case can serve the purpose of our present adversaries , concerning a lay-deprivation . 41. however our author says that nicholas did not thereupon separate from the communion of his rival-intruder . nay , farther , that when he was afterwards restorded in the time of alexander the brother of leo , in the year 912. he did not disanull the orders given by him . b●t that a division of communions followed on this injurious deprivation is certainly evident in the history of that age , if any thing be so . the words of the collector of jus graeco-romanum are very express , that there were schisms among them , and much disturbance . i need not mention the like testimonies of the historians in a case so undeniable . these were the schisms which occasioned the famous tome of vnion , which made the third part of the synodicon here referred to , and which is still preserved in the now mentioned collection . so the continuator of theophanes and joannes curopalates say , that it was here that the metropolitanes were united who had been divided by nicholas and euthymius . but perhaps this breach of communion was rather from the followers of nicholas , than from nicholas himself . so our adversaries might possibly pretend ▪ if we had not still extant an epistle of nicholas himself to the bishops who were out of communion . this makes it plain , that they were out of his communion also when he was again resettled in his patriarchate . so unhappy our author is in his design , that even in his own collection he has given us another instance of that which he would needs perswade u● , and perswade us from this very collection , that it never happened . for here we have another case , when a separaration of communion was made for vindicating a personal right in one who had been injuriously deprived , even against an orthodox successor : for euhymius was so far from being gui●ty of any other properly-called heresie , that he was orthodox even in the point here disputed of , which in that age was called heresie , even in preserving the canon , which nicholas had been so zealou● for , against fourth marriages . leo the emperor , when he had gained his point , was not contented with the liberty himself had taken , but wou●d have carried the matter farther : he endeavoured also to set forth a constitution whereby fourth marriages should have been permitted to others of the lai●y also ▪ so hi● predecessors valentinian the elder ▪ and the great justinian , had done in like cases of doubtful marriages practiced by themselves . no doubt they looked upon it as a thing discreditable , if themselves should take a liberty that might not be allowed to others of the laity . but this euthymius also opposed , as nicholas had done before ; and with such success that it did not pass . this he did by his interest in the ecclesiastical council requisite by the customs of those times for passing constitutions that were ecclesiastical ; as there were lay councils requisite for the constitutions that were purely temporal . all therefore that euthymius had done to gratifie the emperor , was the same which had been granted by the legates of pope sergius at the expulsion of nicholas , not to justifie the matter of fourth marriages in general , but only to dispense with the emperor 's particular case . 42. nor has our author any express testimony for denying the schism which here fell out so contrary to his own principles , at least as to matter of fact. zonaras is his author from whence he took his case , and to whom he refers us for it , but he has nothing to countenance our author's observations upon it . he neither tells us that nicholas did communicate with euthymius , nor that he did approve his ordinations . these things are our author's inferences , not from him , nor from the dyptichs , ( as our editors fancy , ) but from the acclamations at the passing the tomus vnionis . : these acclamations he therefore takes for the sense of the church , because in his time they were read every year , on the month of july , in the ecclesiastical desk . we do not otherwise find any intire publick catalogues of the patriarchs preserved in any ecclesiastical dyptichs in our author's age ; and our author mentions none but those who were mentioned in that tomus vnionis , as we have it now extant : there we find all the names of those whom our author reckons as still honourable in the esteem of the church of his own time , and that in the forms alluded to by our author . our author says an anathema was pronounced against all things that had been written or spoken against tarasius and nicephorus : he means by plato and theodorus , and their saccudiote and studite monks . and this very form he expresly quotes , not from the dyptichs , but the synodicon , as it is also quoted from the same synodicon in the fragments of photius's eighth general council , first published by dr. beveridge ; and accordingly we find it in the tomus vnionis as still extant in the collection of jus graeco-romanum : for this tomus vnionis concerning marriages made a third part of the synodicon , as we are assured by anastasius caesareensis , published by cotelerius . this synodicon our author supposes every man to know , that is in his own church of constantinople . for it was read publickly in the desk in the patriarchal church , as nico tells us , one of our author's witnesses , in a fragment of his , preserved by the same cotelerius . nay , it was read annually , not on the first sunday of lent , as our editors fancy , but in the month of july , as we are assured by balsamon . our author again proves the honour the church had for photius , and ignatius , and stephanus , and antonius cauleos , from those words which he therefore supposes to be the publick words of the church , may the memory of ignatius , photius , stephanus , and antonius , the most holy patriarchs , be everlasting ; and whatsoever has been spoken against ignatius , and photius , and stephanus , and antonius , the most holy patriarchs , let it be anathema . these words are also produced from the same synodicon in the fragments of dr. beveridge , and are also the very words of the tomus vnionis . thus therefore our author reasons , that because all these persons are honourably mentioned by the church , therefore they all died in her communion , and therefore could not have been out of communion with each other . and as from that mention of ignatius and photius in the tomus vnionis , and the synodicon , our author gathered , that they were not out of communion with each other , against the express testimonies of coaeval historians to the contrary ; so , in all likelihood , it was the same reasoning that made him presume the same concerning nicholas mysticus and euthymius ; they were as expresly mentioned in the synodicon as the others , though our author is not himself so express in taking notice of it . and why should he otherwise refer us for their story to zonaras , who mentions nothing of their keeping in each other's communion , if he had not presumed this as notorious as the other , from the so often formerly mentioned synodicon ? the reason was obvious why he did not repeat this , because he says every body knew it , and he had mentioned it so often before . we must remember , he spoke these things to his pupils in the patriarchal church , in the very place where it used to be read annually ; but this reason would not have held for his concealing any other evidence , that had neither been so evident to his auditors , nor so expresly and so frequently mentioned by himself on other occasions . 43 but neither our author , nor our adversaries , have hitherto considered how incompetent this testimony of the synodicon was for proving what they design to prove by it . dyptichs indeed might have been presumed from the times of the persons mentioned in them , if nothing had appeared to the contrary , because the names conveyed by them were in course entred into those dyptichs whilst the persons were living , and in office , if it had then been the custome to continue names in them after the death of the persons concerned in them : this had been at least a presumption that they had dyed in communion with the church , and with each other ; and that whatever differences might have risen between them whilst they were living , that might have occasioned an expunging them ; yet that those differences were reconciled before their death , when both parties were thus communicated to posterity , without any blemish on their reputation ; but the case was quite otherwise in the tomus vnionis , and the synodicon : the tomus vnionis was made on a particular occasion of a difference , and that a difference in communion , which might have proceeded to the uttermost extremities before the vnion was at last agreed on . thus it can by no means be taken for an argument that the persons concerned in it had not been formerly divided , but rather the contrary : for if there had been no d●vision in communion before , what need had there been of their vniting , which was agreed on by both parties in the tomus vnionis ? not onely so , but this tomus vnionis was agreed on at some time after the persons principally concerned on both sides were dead ; and at that distance that can give it no security from being mistaken , as to matter of fact. thus all that can be gathered from it is , that the church at that distance was in communion with both , as far as the dead are capable of communion with the living ; that is , by an honourable commemoration : but it cannot thence be gathered , that the persons , when living , were ever in communion with each other ; the contrary may rather be presumed , where their mutual communicating cannot be made out by express and positive testimony . thence it appeared , that the differences in communion proceeded farther than the lives of the persons who begun them : whence it will rather follow , that those beginners of the divisions persisted in them to their deaths , unless evidence may be produced to the contrary , that may over balance this presumption . our editors tell us , that this synodicon was first agreed on in the year 842. in the beginning of the reign of michael and theodor● . had it been so , that had been some while after the deaths of tarasius and nicephorus ; but they give us no authority for it : nay , it was impossible it could have been so . the tomus vnionis , and that part of the synodicon we are speaking of , do wholly concern fourth marriages . and how could that vnion be made before the divisions that occasioned it ? that question was not started till the time of leo sapiens , and the patriarch nicholas mysticus ; that is , as we have already shewn , not before the year 905. accordingly the first passing of this bill of vnion was not before the year 920. in july , the 8 th indiction , in the year of the world , as they reckon , 6428. in the time of constantine porphyrogennetus , and romanus lacapenus ; some make it the year following : and from this former time of passing it in the month of july , the custome of reading it annually seems to have been derived , and that was appointed for the month of reading it . but it seems the differences revived again , and there was a new synod for restoring the same vnion ; that was in the reign of basile and constantine . the basile who had a constantine for his collegue , could be no other than he who for distinction sake was called bulgaroctonos , from his victories against the bulg●rians . to his time belong the patriarc●s , who are said to have presided in this second synod : johannes curopalates makes it to have been sisinnius ; but the words of the synod it self , as we have them extant in the jus graeco romanum , shew that it was his predecessor nicholas , not mysticus , but chrysoberges : they are both of of them patriarchs of this reign , and probably both of them presided in this synod , nicholas in the beginning , and sisinnius in the end of it . if this conjecture be right , we shall thereby gain the year of it exactly : it must have been the year wherein nicholas dyed , and sisinnius succeeded him . this will conveniently enough suit with the insertion at the end of that tome , which the editor has printed in a smaller character , and called a scholion , no doubt because he found some such note of distinction in his ms. what follows from that place to the end , seems to have been added in that later council , wherein this tome of vnion was decreed . the author of that scholion , as it is called , speaks plainly of those times as if they were his own : in regard that the words do very well fit the persons of the fathers of the council themselves : they there reckon from the first starting of the controversie concerning fourth marriages , to that part of the reign of basile and constantine in which that synod was held ; that is , as i have shewn , to the year of the death of nicholas chrysoberges , and the succession of sisinnius , ninety years : this will sufficiently fix the year of this second council . the beginning of this dispute was when leo the wise first designed his fourth marriage , which must have been in the year 905. in the very beginning of the year 906 the nuptials were solemnized , and matters were so far advanced , that the patriarchal legates were now at constantinople , and sided with the emperour against the patriarch , which could not have been , if the matter had not been debated , and they sent for in the year before . thus the 90 years will end exactly in the year 995. and the death of this nicholas is by johannes curopalates placed in the 8 th indiction , which concurs with the former part of that year before september ▪ but however though the vnion was perfected under sisinnius , yet the decree , as we have it now , was made before the death of nicholas . that appears from the acclamation there mentioned in the council ▪ not in the form used by them to the deceased , but that which is there appropriated to the living . their acclamations to the dead are to wish their memory everlasting : their acclamations to the living are to wish them many years . this was the old form first taken up in the times of the heathen emperors , and from thence deduced to the christians ; and in this form the acclamations in this council run to the living emperors and empresses , and the other patriarchs of this synod , and so to our nicholas among the patriarchs . and to this later synod belong all the acclamations subjoyned to the tomus vnionis : that is clear from hence , that even nichlaus mysticus , in whose time the former synod was held , is here celebrated with the acclamations of the dead ; and not only he , but all his successors between him and our present nicholas chrysoberges . so little reason there is to think strange that the predecessors of that elder nicholaus mysticus should be mentioned in the same form . thus we see how little reason there is for this inference , that the heads of these dividing parties must therefore , when living , have kept communion with each other , because their differences were at length accommodated so long after their deaths , and because the church which lived , as well out of the memory as the concern of the first heats , pleased at length to take up forms grateful to both parties , in honour of those who at first began the differences . 44. the next instance is of cosmas atticus , deposed unjustly from the same see of constantinople by the emperor manuel comnenus . yet he , as our author tells us , neither made , nor taught any division of communion from them who had injured him . but it is certain this deprivation was not made by a lay-power , but synodically . the synod is expresly mentioned by those who mention the case . nicetas choniates , to whom our author refers us for the story , tells us expresly ; that the patriarch * excommunicated the synod that assembled to deprive himself , for their frequenting the palace , and their manifest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , accepting of the emperor's person , in the judgment they had given against him . the like expressions there are also in (b) cinnamus , intimating that this deprivation was decreed conciliarly . nay , (c) leo allatius has preserved and published the synod it self , by which we know the year , and day of it . thence it appears , that cosmas was deprived on the 26th of feb. which fell in the 10th indiction , and the year of our vulgar account 1147. but our author says , that cosmas himself neither divided , nor countenanced any division on his own account . but how comes our author to know that he did not so ? his author nicetas choniates says no such matter . and he has here neither dyptichs nor conciliary acclamations from whence he might either gather , or presume it . his author particularly is so far from owning it ▪ that he tells us expresly of his excommunicating the bishops of the synod ; that is the constant notion of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the ecclesiastical canons , as it is opposed to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as that signifies a deprivation of an ecclesiastical dignity : and the crimes he objects against them , were such as had been particularly censured in the canons and constitutions of the church of that age : they had provided against bishops appearing frequently at court , and against partiality in the ecclesiastical judicatories . thus he avoided their jurisdiction over himself as being themselves criminals , and responsible for their breach of canons antecedently to their sitting in that synod : and he insisted on his own right to put the canons in execution on those who were subjects of his own jurisdiction . but our author understands his author choniates so , as if cosmas's sealing up the womb of the augusta from having any male children , had been an argument that his resentment proceeded no farther ; and that he otherwise owned their authority , and submitted to the deprivation . but the word which the interpreter of nicetas , and from him the interpreter of our present author , translates by execration , the english interpreter by denunciation , is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and signifies the infliction of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ( that is the proper ecclesiastical term for ecclesiastical penences ) upon the violaters of the canons . this is exactly agreeable to the person he had acted in the now mentioned excommunication of the bishops who deprived him : this was as plainly an exercise of his patriarchal authority over the emperor and empress , as the other was over his suffragan bishops . how then can it be an argument of any difference to their censures ? of any obligation that he thought lay on him , in conscience , not to separate from their communion ? our adversaries may perhaps fancy that our author had some other testimony for cosmas's not separating , than that of choniates : for my part i cannot think he had any other , but that he gathered it , not from the words of choniates , but his own inferences . he says in the summary that cosmas was succeeded by theodosius . these could hardly be the words of any other summist than the author himself , who had not , in his tract , so much as mentioned the name of theodosius : yet he could not have made theodosius his immediate successor , had he consulted any other catalogues of patriarchs : but nicetas choniates took no occasion of mentioning any other patriarchs between cosmas and theodosius ; and theodosius he does indeed mention towards the end of this same emperor , manuel . thence our author had an occasion likely enough to lead him into this mistake , that theodosius was that immediate successor with whom he supposes that cosmas still maintained communion : but it is certain that there were many patriarchs and many years too between them ; and therefore it must also be as certain , that our author could have no express testimony , that cosmas did continue in the communion of the dosius . these answers hold on the supposition that cosmas was deprived unjustly : yet there is reason to question whether that was indeen his case . it is sufficiently clear that the synod charged him with the bogomilian he●esie , for favouring nipho , who had been censured for it synodically in the time of his predecessor : nor does nicetas bring any thing in his defen●e to prove that he was not guilty of it . nay , he owns that he had an excessive favour for the heretick , without the least distinction made between his person and his heresie : this at least is certain that he was a heretick in the opinion of the synod that deprived him . and how then could he continue in their communion ? how could our author justifie his doing so , when himself acknowledged that a precondemned heresie , such as this was , did oblige to separate from communion ? how can he commend them for doing so , or reason from their practice as a precedent , when by his own principles it was not allowable ? 45. as to his instances in the reign of isaacius angelus , we have a very imperfect account of them in history . we have now no other original author of those times that gives any distinct account of that reign , but our author nicetas choniates . thus we do indeed know as much as our author , and no more ; for nicetas is slighter in these matters than they deserved . in the deprivation of basilius camaterus , he tells us the charge laid against him , was that he had suffered women who had been made nuns against their wills , to resume their secular habit , and to return to their secular way of living . this was an ecclesiastical crime , and therefore proper for an ecclesiastical tribunal . and the next instance of nicetas mu●tanes , who was cast out meerly for his old age , * without any accusa●ion , and yet against his will , seems to imply that bazilius had accusation which nicetas had not . this accusation , if it had any thing peculiar in it from that which was used in the case of nicetas , must have been such wherein the emperor did not judge as he did in the case of nicetas . and what judicatory then can we suppose it to have been before whom it was brought , if not a council ? however nicetas ( will our adversaries say ) was deprived by a lay power , without any accusation , at least before any other judge besides the emperor himself . suppose it was so , yet that will not prejudice the right of his next successor , nor make him schismatical , nor warrant any separation , even by our principles : before he came in the see was validly vacated ; if not by the deprivation , yet by the cession , however involuntary , that followed upon it . that he did at length † surrender , we have the express testimony of the author of the catalogue of patriarchs that is subjoyned to the jus graeco-romanum . thus the third of the patriarchs under the emperor , was brought in by a good authority . the question then can only be , whether his place was as fairly vacated for his successor , as his predecessor's had been for him . and indeed it was so , and by the same way , not of a conciliary deprivation , but of a voluntary surrendry . so we read in our ms. catalogue of patriarchs by nicephorus callistus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . so the author of the catalogue in the jus greco-romanum assures us , where we read expresly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the last case is that of dositheus ; and here the emperor shewed a piece of art that did not very much become him . balsamon , the famous canonist , was at that time patriarch of antioch ; him therefore isaacius consults , as a person whose authority was like to go far in influencing the bishops ; and the question he proposes to him , was that which has so frequently been controverted in the greek church , concerning translations : and to incline balsamon to be favourable in the case , he makes him believe , that his design was to translate the canonist himself from antioch to constantinople ; whether this influenced him , or not , is uncertain : however the event was such as the emperor desired , that the patriarch gave his opinion in favour of translation . we plainly see hereby , that the emperor did not pretend absolute power , but only the execution of the canons . when therefore he had thus gained his point , he immediately orders the translation , not of balsamon from antioch , but of his favourite dositheus from jerusalem to constantinople . the bishops finding how they were imposed on , make head against him , as a person for whom they never intended the favour of a dispensation : but he got possession of the throne , though he held it only for nine days ; then he was (a) cast out again by the schism that followed upon it of the arch-bishops and clergy from him : so our ms. nicephorus callistus in his catalogue expresly . here we see a withdrawing of communion from a person who wanted a good title , without any pretence of any heresie maintained by him : but the emperor was very much bent on having dositheus in that employment , and at last prevails ; but not by our modern way of using his force , but by the consent of so many of the bishops as were sufficient to make a (b) synod in favour of him . this perhaps our author might not know , because his author nicephorus had nothing of it : however we have as good authority for it as our adversaries can pretend from their author's silence in it . our author of the catalogue of the patriarchs subjoyned to the jus graeco-romanum , is very plain and full in it ; and he was perhaps a little elder than their anonymous ; for he concludes his catalogue with the first patriarchate of joseph , in the reign of michael palaeologus . however , dositheus did not enjoy the place long : (c) some few years are mentioned in the catalogue with the jus orientale ; but the number was not legible there . the greek catalogue in the first volume of the byzantine historians , is something more particular , and tells us of two years . with the help of this information , we may possibly gather a more distinct account out of our manuscript catalogue of nicephorus , which had otherwise not been so easily intelligible , that it was not two full years ; for so nicephorus in his catalogue has it , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , — the number of the months and days are wanting which must have made up near another year . but by that time nicephorus says , the schism was risen to that height , that he was the second time deprived , and finding his former throne of jerusalem filled , he abdicated both thrones , as well that to which , as that from which , he had been translated . thus it again appears in an instance so near our author's age , that there was a schism in this case , where notwithstanding our author's reasonings does necessarily oblige him to suppose there was none ; by which we may easily perceive how unaccurate his informations were , even in matters so ●ear his own memory . he seems to have known no more of this whole affair , than what his still extant author nicetas choniates told him , and he did no● think fit to take notice of the schisms that occasioned both these deprivations of dositheus : yet even nicetas mentions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , separate assemblies . here was plainly a schism , not on the pretence of any objected heresie , but on account of an original defect of title . they reckoned the emperor's translation as nothing , and the church's consent to it as nothing , because the question had been proposed insidiously . all that balsamon and the bishops influenced by him had granted , was , that in general the canons of the church aganst translations were dispensible , where the church was pleased with the person , so far as to think that he particularly deserved a dispensation with her general rules ; only the application of the canon to dositheus , was the emperor's act , which we see was not allowed him by them who made the separation . had the translation been valid , and by a sufficiently obliging power , their duty had necessarily followed upon it , and they could not have been at liberty , even in conscience , to dispute it , after a synod had consented to it , and after a possession with two years settlement . but by the schism we have reason to believe that the numbers of the synod that consented , were less than of those who had never consented from the beginning ; otherwise they had been concluded by the synodical act. or else the only reason that could be for excepting against the synodical suffrages , must have been , that the emperor's authority was thought too influential on those publick meetings . every way it appears how little the secular power was regarded , even in those late times of isaacius angelus , when his authority , tho' seconded by a synod for applying the dispensation to dositheus , was not thought sufficient to oblige an absent majority dissenting from them , even with regard to conscience , when even in such a case as this , the cause was at last over-ruled by those that separated , and carried for them . this plainly shews how little these practices of isaacius were approved of by the generality of the best judges of his own time , when they durst express their thoughts concerning them with any freedom . it was , in all likelihood , the unpopularness of these invasions of the liberties of the church , that gave his brother alexis a great advantage against him , which ended in his deprivation . even (a) nicetas himself , from whom our author takes these things , does not mention them without a severe censure . how then could our author reason from them as precedents ? how could he pretend the authority of nicetas for a reasoning so different from the sentiments of nicetas ? 46. it was therefore no such admirable matter , if it had been true , if there had been no separation between these five patriarchs of this reign , succeeding each other in so short a time . it is not true , that they were deprived purely at the emperor's pleasure . it is not true , that their places were invalidly vacated . all of th●m were either deprived synodically , or abdicated . there is no need to dispute how unjustly or corruptly the synods proceeded in depriving them , nor how unwilling themselves were in their abdication . even an unjust synodical sentence was , by the canons , sufficient to vacate their places , till they could be remedied in another and a greater synod , which none of them ever had . and even an involuntary abdication , if formally and canonically made , was sufficient to cut them off from any pretensions to their former rights . they had therefore , in these cases , no pretence left to vindicate their rights by a separation , or to question the validity of the acts of successors , who were brought into sees so validly vacated . and why should it be thought so admirable that they did not make disturbances where they had , by the canons , no tolerable pretence to do so ? why should they be thought precedents for our present holy fathers who are neither deprived conciliar●y , nor have made any even involuntary abdication . 47. thus upon the whole , it has appeared that our author's instances , as they were never designed so neither do they make for our adversaries purpose . our adversaries pretend , that unjustly deprived bishops never vindicated their rights by a separation . and we confess we cannot make the contrary observation , that unjust possesso●s were always so modest and so resigned to the church's peace , as willingly to surrender the vsurpations . will they therefore make them precedents in this particular ? so indeed they may if they can have the consciences , if they can find in their hearts to do so . but are they not in the mean time ashamed to tell us that good bishops have been willing to part with their rights rath●r than they would break communion , when their own fathers will rather break communion than make restitution ? it were easie here to retort all mr. hody's exhortations upon his own intruders ; i am sure he can give no arguments why good men ought to surrender rights for peace sake , but what will proceed more cogently for surrendering vsurpations . but we have many new topicks that we can justly use to his fathers , which he cannot pretend to use to ours : we have the right and duty which was owing from his to ours before the encroachment , and which his own reasoning does not pretend not to be owing still : we have their sacred vows of canonical obedience , for securing that right and duty where no worldly power can force them to it , which no other power in the world can dispence with , but that for whose interest they were imposed : we have the dreadful imprecations implied in all such oaths as an obligation for performance . methinks our adversary bishops should tremble at the consequence , if god should no otherwise help them , than as they have performed their duties to their respective ordinaries and their metropolitane . their great plea of the publick good we can beter pretend than they , if they will allow that the eternal interests of souls and of religion , are more to be valued in a publick account than worldly politicks : and this is methinks a concession for which we need not be beholen to any who own themselves christians . and certainly it is more for the publick good of the church that subordinations should be preserved , than that any particular person should be made a bishop by offering violence to them . it is more for the publick good of religion , that the glorious passive doctrines of the church should be maintained in opposition to worldly interests , than that they should seem prostituted to serve them . it is more for the publick good of religion , that the credit of the clergy should be maintained , than that they should enjoy the benefits of worldly protection . it is more for the publick good of religion , that the independency of that sacred function on the state should be asserted by challenging their rights , than that by yielding them the lay-power should be owned to have any power of depriving us of the comfort of sacraments in a time of persecution . it were easie also to shew , that the doctrines and practices , in defence of which our holy fathers have incurred this deprivation , are more for the interest even of the state , even of the civil magistracy , than those which are likely to obtain upon their cession . even the state cannot subsist without obligations of conscience and the sacredness of oaths , and these can signifie nothing for the security of any future government , if they must signifie nothing for the time past . it is not for the interest of the publick to secure ill titles in their possession , and thereby to encourage the frequency of ill titles and frequent subversions of the fundamental constitutions , and all the publick miseries that must follow on such changes ; especially in a settlement where all the care has been taken that was possible , to preserve it by obligations of conscience . and certainly mr. hody will not say , that our invalidly deprived fathers are obliged to submit to the wrong that is done them , where there are not publick considerations that may make amends for the private injuries . but if mr. hody will needs live rather by precedents than rules ; yet where will he find even a precedent for his own case ? good men indeed have been willing rather to part with their own rights , than they would violate the church's peace . so did st. gregory nazianzene , so st. chrysostom , so the african fathers : but where will he find a mediator for peace on any good account , who did as he does , who only addressed his exhortations to the injured persons to part with their rights , not to their injurers to restore them ? how can he hope to perswade those persons against whom he shews himself so manifestly partial ? his own instances of mediation are all against him . clemens romanus did not perswade the injured presbyters , but the schismaticks , the invaders of the rights of the presbyters , to submit and quit their interests in the party that sided with them . i know dr. owen as well as mr. hody , has fallen into the same mistake , to think they were presbyters who are here exhorted by st. clement ; but it is strange such learned men should fall into such a mistake , if they had considered any thing of the design of the epistle . the persons with whom he had to deal , were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . n. 3. which are unlikely characters of such as were presbyters by office. they were such as are supposed to oppose the presbyters in general , n. 1.44 , 47 , 57. in opposition to them st. clement insists on the example of military subordinations , n. 37. who sees not from hence that they aspired beyond the rank and station assigned them in the church ? he insists on the sacredness of the sacerdotal function , n. 32 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , and he warns them particularly , that laicks were to be restrained within the duty imposed on the laity , n. 40. implying plainly that the schismaticks were laicks , and had nothing to do with the sacerdotal function . he makes it such a rivalling the priesthood , as the israelites were guilty of when god convinced them of his own choice of aaron , by the miraculous blossoming of aaron's rod , n. 43. this was evidently of persons pretending to the sacerdotal office when they had no right to it . he says the apostles foresaw the same aemulations for the sacred office under the gospel , and secured it from being invaded by deriving it in a succesion , out of which it could not be received , n 42 , 44. to what purpose could that discourse tend , but to restrain such invasions in the schismaticks he had to deal with , supposing withall that they had no pretence to it on account of that succession ? it is to the head● of those schismaticks that this author speaks in this place , n. 5● . nay , in the very words produced by mr. hody , where the apostolical author personates them , saying , they would do the things enjoyned them by the multitude , so that the flock of christ might live in peace with the presbyters appointed over them . so that in this very place they are opposed to the presbyters . only the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is unhappily translated plebs , which made dr. owen fancy he had got a testimony for his lay congregational authority , and perhaps made mr. hody think they were not themselves plebeians who were to receive the commands of the plebs . but the greek ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) signifies no particular rank of the ecclesiasticks , but takes in the whole 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the presbyters , in opposition to the smallness of the number of the schismaticks , who were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 n. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , n. 47. and as little to his purpose is the other author produced by mr. hody , dionisius alexandrinus . he also addresses his exhortations , as became a just mediator , not to cornelius , but novatian ; to the invader , not to him who had received the injury . if he will therefore be true to his authorities , let him perswade his vsurpers to do justice to the persons injured by them . they are said to excuse themselves from the odium of the schism , by pretending they were forced into their chairs : but they who had the spirit of our ancestors would not have given the occasion for a schism for any violence . st. cyprian counts it as glorious to die , if the cause should require it , for vnity , as for the faith. nor do our laws force any to accept of bishopricks , though they indeed force them who are to elect and consecrate them ; and they have had some good precedents of those who neither would be , nor have been forced into schismatical thrones : god reward then for i● . had all followed their examples , the schism at least had been avoided , which is that which truly christian souls can bear with the least patience . but though the first trial be past , mr. hody's dionisius has found an expedient for them yet , by wh●ch they may satisfie the world whether they deal sincerely in pretending unwilli●gness . that is , by now resigning what they tell us they were forced to· 48 may all at length return to a love of vnity , and an abhorrence of carnal politicks ! may they doe it whilst god is yet ready to accept it at their hands , and before it be too late for securing their own greatest interest ! may they doe it whilst they have yet an opportunity of satisfying the world by not gra●ifying flesh and blood in it ▪ whilst they may in some measure retrieve the honour of religion , and prevent the ruine of innumerable invaluable souls , for which they must otherwise be responsible ! may they doe it whilst it may be in their power to make some amends for the scandals given by them , without which their very repentance cannot be acceptable to god , nor beneficial to themselves ; before they provoke god to farther and severer inflictions on our beloved countries , and to deprive us of that religion for which they pretend so great a zeal ! when shall we again return to our former communion , and to our former glorious passive doctrines , and to our much more glorious practice of them , in suffe●ing for a good conscience ? when shall we on both sides instead of vpbraidings and reproaches remove all just occasion of reproach , and return to a noble emulation , who shall doe most for a solid lasting peace by principles ? we have had principles more contributive to vnion tha● all our new projects of comprehension , without uniting principles ; but what can principles signifie , if we will not be true to them , if we will fall from them as often as they pinch us ? we desire no hard things from them as conditions on their side for a reconciliation : we onely desire the same terms from them on which we were united formerly , the common doctrines of not onely ours , but the catholick primitive church ; the preservation of our sacred ecclesiastical rights , our duty to our h. fathers , which is not their invaders interest to deny , before a just conciliary deprivation , and the same innocent offices in which we formerly communicated . and what can they pretend to yield for peace , if they will scruple concessions so very just and reasonable ; if they will not restore the old terms , which may be done without any thing that can properly be called concession ? these things if they will grant us we shall all return into their communion with joy ; and they vvill also have reason to partake in our joy ▪ for our having vindicated their sacred rights against future encroachments . but the least we can ask , or they can grant , is to gratifie us in the matter of our present dispute , that they vvill not invade nor maintain injurious possessions ; that they vvill not by doing so cut themselves off , by their ovvn act , from communion with us . the end of the second part . the canons in the baroccian manuscript , omitted by mr. hody . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the 31 canon of the holy apostles , instead of the 32. if any presbyter , contemning his own bishop , shall hold a separate meeting , and erect an opposite altar , having nothing wherewith to charge the bp. in matters of * piety and justice , let him be deposed , as an ambitious affector of government ; for he is an vsurper . so also as many of the clergy as shalt join with him shall be deposed , and the laicks excommunicated ; but all this after the 1st , 2d , and 3d admonition of the bishop . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the 6 th canon of the synod of gangra . if any man hold a private meeting out of the church , and despising the church , shall presume to perform the offices of the church , the officiating presbyter not being thereunto licensed by the bishop , let him be anathema . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the 5 th canon of the synod of antioch . if any presbyter or deacon , despising his own bp. hath withdrawn himself from the church , and set up an altar in a private meeting , and shall disobey the admonitions of the bp. and will not be persuaded by him , nor submit to him , exhorting him again and again , he is absolutely to be deposed , and ought no longer to he treated as a curable person , neither as one who can retain his honor ; and if he shall persevere to make tumults and disturbances in the church , he is to be turned over , as a seditious person , to the secular power . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the 15 th canon of the same synod . if any bishop , accused of any crimes , be condemned by all the bishops of the province , who have all with one accord denounced the same sentence against him , such a one by no means ought to be judged again by others , but the concord●nt sentence of the provincial bishops ought to remain firm . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the 10 th canon of the synod of carthage . if any presbyter , being puffed up against his own bp. shall make a schism , let him be anathema . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the 13 th can. of the synod of constantinople . the devil having sown the seeds of heretical tares in the church of christ , and seeing them cut up by the sword of the spirit , hath betaken to himself a new way and method , viz. to divide the church by the madness of schismaticks : but the holy synod being also willing to obviate this strategem of his , has decreed as follows ; if any presbyter or deacon , under pretence of accusing his own bp. of any crimes , shall presume to withdraw from his communion , and not mention 〈…〉 in the holy prayers of the liturgy , notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a36263-e10 clergymen not excusable for appearing in a cause so destructive of the interest of religion in general , and of their own function in particular , without reasons very evident and convincing . the author of this manuscript too low to pass for an evidence of the facts mentioned by him . he knew nothing of the later part of the history of nicetas choniates , relating to constantinople . which yet he must have known , as a publick officer of the church of cp. if he had liv'd near him . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , p. 25. anastas . de jejux . deipar . p. 435. tom. 3. coteler . mon. gr. eccl. fol. 243. fol. 212 , 225 , 230. the use of the publick ecclesiastical rh●tor . this office very antient in the church of cp. perhaps from the first foundation of it by constantine the great . l. v. c. 22. vid. etiam sozom. l. 7. c. 19. l. vii . c. 36. l. vii . c. 37. this discourse seems to have been written by the ecclesiastical rhetor of the church of cp. then in office when the schism happened that occasioned it . not by nicephorus callisius . coteler . n●t . ad 3 vol. mon. gr. eccl. p. 645. niceph. h. e. xvi . 19 , 20 , 25 , 26 , 32. ibid. 35. ad finèm cap. 1. l. 1. nicephor● . this author no competent witness of the matters mentioned by him . our adversaries way of reasoning in this case is neither conscientious , not prudent . see the instances produced by the author of the vnreasonableness of a new separation upon the account of the oaths . 1. non-adherence to unjustly deprived bishops will signify nothing to our present case , unless the persons who did not adhere to them did believe them unjustly depriv'd . 2. nor unless they did believe them invalidly deprived , ( that is , by an incompetent judicatory , ) as well as unjustly . 3. nor unless the bishops so deprived did insist on their right , and challenge duty , as ours do . 4. nor unless such non-adherence was thought justifiable by principles , and with regard to conscience , 5. nor is it easie to gather principles from non-actions : such are not chalenging right on the bishops part , or not adhering to them on the subjects part . 6. nor do the instances here produced prove the sense of the catholick church , but of the greek , especially of the constantinopolitane church . nor even of that church in the first and earliest ages . the doctrine of the catholick church in the earliest ages may ( for what appears from this collection ) be on our side , and indeed is so . 1st . the whole church then owned no● power in the secular magistrate for depriving bishops as to spirituals , not even as to their particular districts . thence it follows 2dly that antibi●hops consecrated in districts , no other way 〈◊〉 than by the power of the secular magistrate , are by the principles of that earliest catholick church , no bishops at all , but divided from the church . * epist. 57. ad antonianum , in the oxon edition of st. cyprian . and 3dly , that all who profess themselves one with antibishops so divided from the church were ( in consequence to the same principles ) themselves divided also . st. cypr. epist. 43 edit . oxon. and 4thly , that all who were united with novatian , and by consequence divided from the church of the roman district were ( in the discipline of that early age looked upon as themselves divided also from the catholick church . and 5ly , that all who were ( on these principles ) thought divided from the visible communion of the catholick church , were also , ( on the same principles ) thought deprived of all the invisible benefits , of church communion . vid. st. cyp. de unitate eccl. ep. 49. edit . ox. ep. 52.54.55 . † these doctrines of the catholick church in st. cyprian's age , were also doctrines of the catholick church in the age of optatus and st. augustine . * till our adversaries can disarm us of the advantage we have from the doctrine of the catholick church , signified on occasion of these earliest instances of schism in st. cyprian's age , their authors collection of later instances , were it never so pertinent to their purpose , can do them no service . 7ly , this author himself allows a separation in case of heresie . and with that our adversaries are chargeable , 1st , as they do not only separate , but justifie their separation by principles . separation on account of opinions , is by so much the less excusable if the opinions be not fundamental . such opinions then begin to ●e heretical , when they cause an actual separation as the latitudinarian opinions do now in our adversaries . 2. even as he●●sie sign●fies an error in fundamentals . the church's being a society is a fundamental doctrine . it is at least fundamental a● to us , and as to all benefit we can pretend to by being members of the church . the intruders cannot be defended to be valid bishops , but by principles fundamentally destructive of the church , as a s●ciety distinct from the state in a time of persecution . this sort of errors fundamental in the highest degree . our adversaries are wholly the cause of this late breach , and have shewn themselves neither kind to us , nor careful of themselves , in it . 1 joh. 2.19 . transition . notes for div a36263-e26530 the vse out adversaries make of this collection , is in all likelihood very different from the design of the author . the design of the author of this discourse is to be known from the occasion of his writing it . the schism which occasioned this discourse seems to have been that between the arsenians and josephians , in the reign of michael palaeologus . niceph. gregor . lib. 4. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. gregor . lib. 4. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . gregor . lib. 5. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . gregor . lib. 5. gregor . lib. 6. niceph. gregor . lib. 7. this case of arsenius is very like that of st. chrysostome , which our author thought principally to deserve consideration . the arsenians also gave our author occasion to observe , that past invalidities in ordinations did not use to be insisted on rigorously . * so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , can. 15. of the synod under photius , here produced in the later part of this discourse , under the title of ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , is an accusation to a synod . the translator does not seem to have understood the importance of this phrase , neither in his latine nor english version , nor the annotatour on the english. the latine translation seems to imply , that severianus and acacius personally appeared before pope innocent , which no history owns them to have done the english , that they were called in question by him ▪ which ( if meant juridically ) could not be true , when he after exercised no censure on them , either of condemnation , or absolution . the annotatour understands it of discovery ; but what needed that when the fact itself was notorious ? the notion of accusation solves all . so also in the n. t. acts 24.1 . and 25.2 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to accuse or infor● against ; which is a proper authority for this purpose , because most of the ecclesiastical terms were designedly taken from the scriptures . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . gregor . lib. 7. p. 183. there was also in this schism an occasion for the author to add his exception of heresie , and his limitations of that exception . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . gregor . lib. 5. this case did not oblige our author to justifie the validity of a lay-deprivation ▪ nay , our author could not justifie the validity of a lay-deprivation , if he would be true to the canons here produced by himself , but omitted by the editors . for presbyters to disown their bishop not synodically deprived , is , by the doctrine of these canons , schismatical . (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . can. 13. synod . a ▪ b. (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ibid. (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ibid. (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ibid. so it is also , by the same canons , for suffragan bishops to disown their metropolitane , without the like synodical deprivation . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . can. 14. ib. this unpublish'd appendiz asserted to the author . this collection therefore can be no authority for our adversaries , neither as to the sense of the author , nor of the church he was concerned for . the case of meletius in antioch . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . socr. l. 1. c. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . soz. l. 2. c. 19. * see the creed in socr. l. 2. c. 40. * so socrates concerning the meletians , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lib. 2. c. 44. so elsewhere paulinus , the rival of meletius , pleads against him : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . l. 5. c. 5. of st. chrysostome in constantinople . of flavianus . ep. 42. in edit . pasch. quesnel . ep. 43. quesnel . ep. 45 quesnel . ep 47. quesnel . act. concil . chalced. evag. l. 2. c. 11. nicephor . eccl. hist. xiv . 47 . zonar . in the time of anastasius dicorus , 1. the instance of euphemius . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . theod. lect. l. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . theophanes . 2. of macedonius . theoph. & niceph . e. h. xvi . 26 . theod. lect. 2. niceph. xvi . 26 . theoph. theod. lect. l. 2. theoph. theoph. theod. lect. l. 2. theoph. theoph. euphemius , macedonius , flavianus , and elias , were so untrue to principles , that it ●s not easie to gather from their facts what even themselves thought agreeable to principles . evagr. iii. 31 . theoph. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . theoph. vit. sab. n. 52. ib. 52. ib. 56. the deprivation of elias , bishop of jerusalem , in the same reign , how synodical . elias was in reason obliged to yield to john , though not on the account of his orthodoxy . cyrillus vit. sab n. 56. maximus , bishop of jerusalem , was in all likelihood not deprived by acacius , bishop of caesarea . soc. ii. 38 . theod. ii. 26 . in chron. euseb. co●tin . epiph. h●r . lxxiii . phot. cod. 258. the life of athanasius no good authority . the d●privation of maximus , if true , had not been for our adversaries purpose , because synodical . the case of eutychius under justinian . eustath . vit. eutych . ap . sur. apr. 6. * episcoporum & principum . eustath . * sed vir sanctus episcopis & principibus qui consessus mandato nuncium attuler●nt : ad quem ( inquit ) accedi●is ? & quem me vocatis ? illi veritate coacti responderunt , ad dominum nostrum & patrem . quibus ipse rursum , quis est , inquit , iste dominus & pater vester ? venimus , inquiunt , ( tanquam occultis quibus dam verberibus vapularent ) ad patriarcham nostrum dominum eutychium . patriarcha ego , inquit ille , patriarch● dei gratiâ sum , nec à me quisquam hominum tollet hanc dignitatem . quis est ille , quem meo in loco collocâstis ? quibus verbis cum illi respondere non possent , victi reverterunt ad ●os à quibus missi fuer●nt . verum idem conventus iterùm & tertiò contra canones eum vo●avit . sed ille semper congruenter respondit , si canonicum , inquiens , judicium constitutum est , detur mihi clerus meus , & ordo patriarchatus , & veniam , defendamque m● , & accusatorum meorum u●●r testimonio . haec illi responsa , cum accepissent , nihil consent●neum facientes , sententiam contra ipsum tulerunt ipsis judicibus dignam . quam tamen beatus vir antevertens subjecit omnes poenas canonicis , donec resipiscarent . eustath . ib. anthimus deposed in the same reign by the ecclesiasticks , against the will of the secular power . the cases of sergius , pyrrhus paulus , and petrus , not to our adversaries purpose . theophan . eustath . in vit. eutych . callinicus punished for his rebellion : his communicating with cyrus uncertain ; but his cession very probable . lampad . mel. h. pars 3. p. 24. aen●as syl. in decad. blond . lib. 10. p. 180. volat. fol. 247. germanus abdicated . † 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . niceph. patr hist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . cedren . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the schism of theodorus and plato an encroachment on episcopal authority in general , and nothing to our case . that case of those monks very apposite to the arsenian schism , which was also abetted not by any bishop , but only monks : in such a case nothing but heresie could excuse separation . (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . georg. pa●hym . lib. iv. c. 10. (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. pachym . lib. iv. c. 11. ve●ba michaelis . (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . verba michaelis i●p . ubi supra . (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. verba josephi ad germanum , ap . ●und pach. l. iv. c. 18. (e) pachym . iv. 18 , 19. again . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . idem iv. 28 . * ib. this case turned against our adversaries of the deprived dioceses . the next instances to another question considered by the author , but not to ours . ignatius challenged his right against photius , though no h●●retick . † 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . constant porphyrog . continuat . theophan . lib. iv. n. 31. when ignatius was deposed synodically , he could not challenge the duty till he was restored synodically . ep. 2. nicola● ap . labbaum . ep. 5. pope nicholas with his western synod were not sufficient to deprive photius of his synodical right , in the opinion of the eastern church . pref. ad concil . viii . nicet . vit . ignat. the restoring of ignatius by basilius macedo , was not very fair , by the principles of his own church . can. apost . 30. photius's title was good after his restoration upon ignatius's death ; especially af●er his general council . these instances of ignatius and photius , neither servic●able to the design of our ms. (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . nicet . vit . ignat . (b) concil . gen. 8. act. 5 , & 6. (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . nicet . ib. (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . nicet . ib. (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . libel . theognost . ex personâ ignatii , initio concilii 8. (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ep. nicolai graecè vers . de suo concilio rom. ante synod . 8. graec. nor of our adversaries . † cum nulla penitus imperiali manu & potentia , ut quidam parvum vel magnum effecerim . neque enim ut sacratissimus patriarcha ad proprium regrederetur thronum , imperii mei opus vel excogitatio facta est . sed multum ante sanctissimus & beatissimus papa nicolaus quae circa eum erant perfectissime discens , synodice decrevit reddi ei jus proprii throni , & anathema cum tota romanorum ecclesia pronunciavit contra resistentes hujusmodi decreto atque sententiae . hic autem nos olim sciente ▪ & paventes judicium anathematis promulgati , obsecundare synodico judicio romanae ecclesiae necessarium duximus , & hujus rei gratia reddidimus ei proprium thronum . act. 6. synod . 8. photius abdicated before the succession of stephanus . * sed de photio quidem ita vos s●●i●sistis : illas vero imperatoris literas cum legissemus , ●asdem à vestris procul abesse comperimus . ita ●nim se habebant , quod photius quietam vitam ●l●git . quapropter in dubitatione versamur . multum enim interest , abrenunciasse , & expulsum esse . stephan . ep. 2. ad episcopos oriental . the breach between nicolaus mysticus and le● was in the ●ear ●06 . against baronius . leo gram. script●res post theoph. vi● . leon. sap. nicol. ep. ad anast. ap . baron . an . 910. it is very probable that nicholas was deposed by a synod . however our author is mistaken when he thinks a schism did not follow upon it . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . gr●● . rom. part ▪ 1. lib. 2. p. 104. ap. baron . an. 917. numb . 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . annal. simeon . logot . inter scriptores by zantinos post . theophan . our author does here , as well as elsewhere presume there were no schisms where really there were schisms , only on the testimony of the tomus vnionis . p. 25 , 26. anast. caes. apud cotelerium tom. 3. monumentorum graec. eccles. p. 432 , 433. nico ib. p. 443. p. 29 , & p. 30. the acclamations of the tomus vnionis , to which our author so frequently refers , were no● elder than the year 995. from d● quesne's gloss●grae● . sim. mag. ann. n. 18. the case of ●osmas atticus in the time of manuel comnenus . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. nicet . chon . l. 2. n. 3. (b) so cinnamus also makes the proceedings to have been done by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , by which i understand the metropolites who in that age concluded their suffragan bishops , cin. l. 2. n. 10. (c) allat . de con● . occid & orient . eccl. l. 2. c. 12. in all the successions under isaacius ange●us , the throne was validly vacated . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ nicet . cho● . l. 2. vit . isac . ang. n 4. † 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . jur. gr. rom. part 1. p. 303. (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. niceph. callist . ms. catalog . patriarcharum . (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . jur. gr. rom. p. 303. (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 catalog . in jur. gr. rom. (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . therefore it had not been strange if no schism had followed it . mr. hody's exhortations to yield for peace's sake , more justly applicable to his own fathers than ours . or faith. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , in ●ead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . clem. rom. epist. ad . corinth . a pathetical conclusion . notes for div a36263-e83040 * or faith. * for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , in stead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the reformed bishop, or, xix articles tendered by philarchaiesa, well-wisher of the present government of the church of scotland, as it is settled by law, in order to the further establishment thereof. gordon, james, pastor of banchory-devenick. 1679 approx. 372 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 159 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a41549 wing g1279 estc r10195 13555802 ocm 13555802 100258 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a41549) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 100258) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 456:12) the reformed bishop, or, xix articles tendered by philarchaiesa, well-wisher of the present government of the church of scotland, as it is settled by law, in order to the further establishment thereof. gordon, james, pastor of banchory-devenick. [16], 300 [1] p. s.n.], [s.l. : 1679. reproduction of original in cambridge university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng bishops -scotland. 2003-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-11 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-12 tonya howe sampled and proofread 2003-12 tonya howe text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the reformed bishop : or , xix articles , tendered by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a well-wisher of the present government of the church of scotland , ( as it is settled by law ) in order to the further establishment thereof . tertul. praescript . advers . haer. id verum quod primum . sanctum est , veritatem cujuslibet amicitiae anteponere . aristot. in ethic. lib. 1. cap. 6. printed for the author , anno dom. 1679. advertisement to the reader . in order to the better understanding of the nature of this ensuing remonstrance , i judged it fit to premit some particulars to the serious consideration of the iudicious reader . 1. that over and above the homologation of our assertions in the respective articles by reason , and inartificial arguments derived from authority , and dispersed ( like so many veins , nerves and arteries ) thorow that complex body ; i thought it ●it to confirm those great truths embosomed in these xix proposals , by a more evident method . first , seeing divine authority is both infallible , and more noble than any other ; therefore we have superscribed every article with the royal placet of the king of kings : and that these sacred allegations may also serve as rubricks , or titles , to indicate the principal contents of the several articles . yet we have not cited the places at large ; char●tably believing , that whosoever will be at the pains to read these lines , will think it no trouble to find out the chapter and verse in the holy bible , as they are ●ere pointed at . next , we have immediately subjoyned to every article some canons of councels ; being extensively much more to be regarded than the authority of any individual father , seeing they necessarily presuppose a complex of many ; ( for without a sanhedrim of divers ecclesiastical seniors no councel can consist . ) and intensively too , in the iudgment of those who look upon these canons as binding to the church ; but in the eyes of all rational men , they afford a more authentick testimony of the doctrine , worship , discipline , and government of the church of god at that time , than any one particular could do . in the last place , we have annexed some testimonies of the most famous luminaries of the primitive church , whose doctrine is not found to interfere with the most approved morals and rituals of the catholick church in the ages wherein they lived ; yet we have very seldome cited them at large , for the reason above expressed . 2. let the reader take notice , that as the aera of our allegations is the apostolick age , ( though there was no provincial councel celebrated therein , far less any general , save that at hierusalem , which was obligatory to the whole church then in being ; whatever some divines imagine to the contrary . ) so the terminus ad quem of the citation of councels , is , the sixth general synod , called otherwise synodus quinti-sexta . it had been very easie to amasse a multitude of canons posteriour thereunto ; yet we judged it neither necessary , nor fit to proceed further ; because not long after that convention , the image-storm arose ; some adhering to the councels which were assembled by leo isaurus , and constantinus copronymus , where the image-worship was condemned by the iconoclastae ; ( as they were then termed ) and others cleaving to that of constantine and irene , at nice , and to some roman synods , where the adoration of images was approved by those who were named iconolatrae . then the greek and latin churches began to be divided , which have never since that time been thorowly cemented . as for the vltimate term of the allegation of the fathers ; we have fixed on gregory the great inclusively , whom i look upon as the last of that venerable number . yet we have sometimes mentioned ( though very sparingly ) isidore of sevil , beda , anselm , and st. bernard ; the three former , because they are so often alleged in the canon law ; and the last , in regard of the sublimity of his style , ( blended with so much eloquence , and divine zeal ) in his 4. books de consideratione , ad eugenium tertium ; though i am not ignorant , that he was at the distance of many centuries from gregory the first at rome . 3. in the third place ; i shall subjoyn a word or two concerning the apostolick canons , ( as they are usually termed ) in regard we have here made some vse of them . they were indeed to the number of 185 , received by the sixth general councel ; ( but whether they were the same which are now extant , is not certainly known . ) but in respect that some ecclesiastical writers reject them all , as apocryphal , and some admit but 60 of them ; yea , the plurality but the 50 which are first in order ; therefore i have laid no great stress upon them , citing these only which ( either in express terms , or sence at least ) are adopted by some of the most approved general or provincial councels : but whether these canons were collected by clemens of rome , or of alexandria , we shall not determine , though the last is most probable . 4. next ; i shall give a brief account why the sixth general councel is termed synodus quini-sexta ; because under that notion we have many times cited it . the ingenuous reader shall know , that the fifth general councel assembled by justinian the great , and the sixth by constantinus pogonatus , made no canons for discipline , but only some defitions or declarations in matters of faith ; the former determining against some errors fathered upon origen ; ( fathered , i say , by hereticks upon that zealous man , whose books they corrupted , if we believe ruffinus , and him whose testimony is more to be regarded , viz. vincentius lyrinensis . ) and condemning the writings of the t●ia capitula , v. g. theodorus mopsuest●nus , theodoret of cyrus , and ibas of edessa , as savouring of nestorianism : the other against the monothelites ; and condemned the doctrine of divers patriarchs of constantinople , one of alexandria , and one of rome , viz. pope honorius ; for the hereticks themselves were dead long before that time . but , that the church might be regulated , not only in matters of faith , but also in point of manners , justinian the second , son to constantinus pogonatus ( boni patris , filius pessimus ) summoned a new synod for that effect , who did again meet in t●ullo , an apartment of the imperial palace . and in regard the fathers thereof made 102 canons to supply the defect of the fifth and sixth general councels ; therefore that councel was termed synodus quini-sexta ; so the greeks ( as balsamon observes ) call that convention , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or synodum quintam-sextam . and it being re-assembled within few years to the former , ( four or five at most ) so that the greatest part of the eastern b●shops who were present at the former , were also present at the later ( as may appear by their subscriptions to hoth these councels ; ) therefore the canons of that synod usually pass under the name and notion of the sixth general councel . this we take to be the more probable account , which tarasius patriarch of constantinople , and petrus , bishop of nicomedia , gave of it in the face of the second councel of nice , as it is termed ; ( viz. actionem quartam istius synodi . ) for the reasons just now expressed ; than what theophanes , anastasius , & g. cedrenus , averr that there interceeded no less than 27 years betwixt the one synod , assembled by the father , and the other , by the son. 5. and that the candid reader may lay the greater stress upon some canons of provincial synods here alleadged by us , he shall further observe ; that there were divers provincial councels adopted by the quini-sexta , or sixth general councel ; so that we are to look upon their canons as is equvalent to the constitutions of one oecumenical councel : these are concilium neo-caesariense , gangrense , antiochenum , laodicense , sardicense , & carthaginense ; as is evident from the second canon of the sixth general councel . and in regard there were no less than seven councels holden at carthage , betwixt the first and sixth general councels ; therefore it is the opinion of some iudicious antiquaries , that this indefinit homologation doth approve , and adopt them all ; five of which , with the four general councels , make up the code of the universal church , as justinian in his novels phraseth it . 6. seeing the discipline , and government of the church , are mainly concerned in ( almost all ) these articles , an ingenious reader may happily find fault , that we make so little vse of the canon law , in order to the confirmation of these points . for answer ; though formally we have seldome cited it , yet upon the matter , we have built upon the same foundation , which is the base of the best and ancientest part of the canon law ; which is decretum gratiani . as for the decretalia of boniface the eighth , and gregorie the ninth ; with the clementines of clement the fifth , and extravagants of john the twenty second ; they are indeed extravagant enough , for they are so stuffed with the decrees of the bishops of rome , and of recent popes , and the worst of popes too , that they have scarce noticed any thing else ; and if it be done , it is but obiter , and ( as it were ) ex superabun danti ; the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of that roman idol being all-sufficient authority to the adorers of it : whereby they have sufficiently verifyed that observation concerning the decretalia ; that , since the decreta received alae , they have soared above reason and discretion too . therefore ( as if we had studied to be antipodes to them ) we have not adduced any of the rescripta of that roman dictator , since he arose to any worldly greatness , save only of pope leo the first , who was contemporary with the councel of chalcedon , and whose name is very great in all the churches of christ. but though the text is too extravagant , yet the glosse upon it ( in the approved gregorian edition ) is much more : for , what greater extravagancy imaginable , than to call the pope , dominus deus noster ? the parallel blasphemy thereunto may be found in additione glossae , in extravag . un . sanct. by pet. bertrand . a roman cardinal . neither was it any commendation to the decretum gratiani , that it was first confirmed by pope alex. the third ; so proud a priest , that he presum'd to tread upon the necks of emperours , even in a literal sence ; but this commends it indeed , that it is fram'd in imitation of the corpus juris civilis : for , in lieu of the rescripta imperatorum , we have the decreta pontificum , in stead of the responsa prudentum , the iudgments of the primitive fathers ; and in place of the senatus-consulta , the plebis-scita , & edicta praetorum , we have the canons of the general and provincial councels : and above all the oracles of god consigned in the holy scriptures . yet it cannot be deny'd , that this best part of the canon law is too defective as to the citation of those infallible responses . neither can we omit , that gratian himself not only cites many dubious and spurious books , which are falsly father'd upon those great lights of the primitive church ; but also , that he is such an abettour of these supposititious arts , as to fix such paraphrases upon some ancient councels and fathers , which are like to the gloss of orleance , that destroyed the text : and all for that end , to make them subservient unto the interest of the roman church , per fas aut nefas . i shall point at some few instances , ut candidus lector ex ungue leonem pelle vulpinâ adumbratum facilè dignos●at . let him only collation decret . gratian. par . 1. dist. 19. c. 6. with august . lib. 2. de doctr. christ. c. 8. and decret . grat. p. 3. de consecrat . d. 4. c. 125. with concil . arauscan . 1. c. 1. and decret . p. 1. dist. 22. c. 6. with can. trullan . 36. and decr. grat. p. 3. de cons. dist. 4. c. 4. with can. 99. and 100. concil . carthag . 4. and decr. grat. p. 2. caus. 2. q. 6. c. 35. with concil . milevit . can. 22. contra trans-marinas appellationes . we might easily adduce many other falsifications of this nature practis'd by gratian ; but by these trumperies and strange metamorphoses we have instanc'd , ( which are well known , with many more , to those who have any gust of antiquity : ) the candid reader may , with no less facility , perceive , what arts the emissaries of the roman church have improv'd to buoy up a sorlorn cause : so that these pretended sons of the antient fathers make no bones to practise jupiter's cruelty in reference to his own father ; so much talked of by the heathen poets . 7. i am not ignorant , that we have not always observed the exact series of time , in the allegation of councels and fathers : but , seeing that method is not very material in this matter , i have pursued that order ( for the most part ) in which they crowded into my mind : yea , we have made an hysteron-proteron purposely , as to the time of the celebration of some councels , and writings of the fathers , that , what we judged fit to express at length , might be either the prologue or epiphonema of the probation . we have also purposely forborn to cite the canons of the eastern councels in the greek language ; but thought good , eos jure latii donare : because these insignificant lines may happily fall into the hands of some ingenuous gentlemen , who are acquainted with the one language , and not the other : the latin tongue being much more epidemical in scotland , than the greek dialect . 8. the author hath also carefully avoided the citation of all those books which are sublectae fidei , and rejected as spurious by those who have best skill to judge . once indeed , ( and i think but once , ) opus imperfectum in mathaeum is cited ; but so worded , that the candid reader may easily perceive , that the author doth not believe st. chrysostom to be the author thereof : yet because it contains many excellent things in it , he judged it worthy of a single citation . yea , he hath been also sollicitous in giving the child to the right parent : for many books father'd on st. hierom ( some of them being found in the volumes of his works ; ) are by him appropriated to origen , as the only true author of them . 9. there be divers testimonies of the fathers , and of ecclesiastical , and secular history , produc'd in these articles , without any indication of paragraph , chapter , or book , where to find them ; but there be two reasons of this omission : first , because these authorites are generally obvious to any who understand any thing of antiquity or history ; so that they who daily carry about a far greater library in their brains , than is here pointed at , cannot but easily find them out . the other reason is once and again hinted at already ; viz. lest this little book swell to a great one . and for that same end we shall put a period to this premonition ; reserving liberty to make this protestation ; ( which i hope all charitable readers will believe . ) that i have shunned as the syrenian rocks , those four wayes whereby the iudgment of a writer may be perverted ; ( though it were but in penning nineteen articles for the good of the church : ) viz. timore , cupiditate , odio , vel amore ; so sayes hierom , in amos , cap. 6. and isidorus hispalensis , lib. 3. cap. 57. but if the reader will have patience till we arrive at the peroration , he will then find this protestation much enlarged . to which we hasten , propitio numine . carpere , & detrahere , vel imperiti possunt : doctorum autem est , qui laborantium novere sudorem , vel lassis manum porrigere , vel aberrantibus iter ostendere . hieronym . com. in cap. 4. ion. the reformed bishop . seeing there be too many who are apt to exclaim against the governours of this church , under the notion of ambitious , auaritious , and luxurious persons , as if they designed not the glory of god , nor the good of his church , and re-establishment of its government upon lasting foundations ; but that honour , gain , and bodily ease , are the adequate ends of their undertaking that eminent and weighty charge : it is most probable , that if the primitive pattern were retrived into this age , it would endear the present government to all those who have not put off the use of reason , with all sense of religion and loyalty . which holy emulation may be rendred practicable by the seasonable and speedy improvement of the ensuing proposals . and would to god , our present church-governours could say , in reference to all their holy predecessours , what themistocles the athenian did usually declare concerning one of his ; viz. miltiadis trophaea sibi somnos adimere . article i. exod. 28. 36 , 37 , 38. levit. 21. 6 , 17. psal. 132. 9. isa. 56. 10 , 11 , 12. ezek. 34. 2 , 3 , 4 , &c. mal. 2. 1 , 2 , &c. mat. 9. 15. act. 13. 1 , 2 , 3. 2 cor. 6. 5. & 11 , 27. 1 tim. 3. 2 , 3 , 4 , &c. & 4 , 12. & 6 , 2. tit. 1. 7 , 8 , 9. 1 pet. 5. 2 , 3. that none be elected to that sacred order , but these only who are approved to be eminent in piety , charity , learning , humility , gravity , hospitality ; and in the exercise of the four cardinal vertues : whose pedigree and education reflect no stain of dishonour upon them . and i do heartily wish , that all church-men ( especially the governours thereof , ) were honourably descended ; which , being joyned with the former endowments , would render their piety the more splendid , and their example the more efficacious . for , as it contributes to the temporal felicity of our holy religion , to have kings to be its nursing-fathers ; so , without all peradventure , it tends not a little to the honour and enlargement of the visible church , to have nobles to be it's priests . greg●rie the seventh ( usually termed hildebrand . ) and sixtus quintus were indeed men of illustrious spirits , ( if they had been sanctified , though their descent from one illustrious house was meerely ironical . but these are rare to be found , and scarce one such in an age ; the gifts and parts of those who are terrae filii , being generally as low as their birth . and let the godliness of our church-governours be evidenced to all charitable judgments , by a blameless conversation in the world ; so that no man may truely say black to their eye . and let their christian prudence be demonstrated by a well-ordered and religious family ; all the constituent parts thereof being as far removed from vanity , intemperance , prodigality , and all sort of profaneness , as the east is from the west ; so that it may justly be termed a sanctuary , for its devotion : as ( was the court of theodosius the younger . ) for if a man know not how to rule his own house , how shall be take care of the church of god ? vid. 1 tim. 3. 1 , 2 , 3. &c. and tit. 1. 6 , 7. &c. now if these indispensible apostolick precepts were conscionably practised by the governours of our church , a generous disdain of all carnal illectives , and blandishments of the flesh , would immediately spring up in the soul ; so that they should have good reason to say , with that noble roman ; major sum , & ad majora natus , quàm ut corporis mei sim mancipium . yea more than so , it shall produce in the soul such an absolute mortification , that the result will be , an entire resignation of the ecclesiastick to god , without any reservation , limitation , or exception ; and ( to borrow but once a phrase from the mysticks , ) an universal self-abnegation , and ( as it were ) a soul-annihilation . then they needed not fear , that the men of the world would at any time tax them with that diabolical ceremony of kissing bandstrings ; there , where the living god should be adored , and not the idol of a beautiful strumpet ; and that they abominate a crucisix in their closets , much more than a cestus , or any other symbol of venus . the mitre , which should be engraven , holiness to the lord , should not any more be reproached , as being impressed with the black characters of an whore's name ; or that the priest's rocket hath too much sympathy and fellowship with the kirtle of a courtezan . but , on the contrary , all charitable persons would be so just to them , as to suppose them of the temper of bernard , who cryed cut , thieves , thieves , when he was unlawfully accosted : and that in the practice of mortification they imitate s. hilarion , who did thus expostulate with his own body , faciam aselle , ut non ampliùs calcitres ; nec te hordeo alam , sed palëis ; fame & siti te conficiam . they would apply to them that commendation of alexander the great for his continency , victor , magis darii vxorem non videndo , quàm darium vincendo ; and that of the poet. fortior est qui se , quàm qui fortissima vincit . moenia . — yea they would be apt to conclude ; that these had not only studied to good purpose , the 〈◊〉 chapter of the enchiridion of that excellent stoick , epictetus ; and the brief ( but very emphatical ) advice of that christian poet , boethius sever . lib. iii. de consol. phil. metr . 5. but also that they have merited from the world that character which clemens alex. lib. 7. strom. hath given of a man that is verè gnosticus , or a devout ascetick ; voluptatis causâ aliquid agere , ●is relinquit qui vulgarem vitam seq●●tur . et r●●erâ non potest fieri , ut qui deum cognovit , magnificè & verè ●is quae adversantur ser●iat voluptatibus : and that description of a self-denyed man found in the third book of theophilus antioch . ad autolycum ; qui omnes affectiones , & animae perturbationes debellacit , faci●● mundum ●espicere potest . but they that are christ's , have crucifyed the flesh , with all the affections and lusts thereof ; and consequently , they not only endeavour to subdue the irascible faculty ; ( that furor brevis being most unsuitable in a church-man , and that which usually deforms his countenance worse than that of thersites , unless that passion be transformed by grace into a well-ordered zeal . ) but this general mortification is also extended to all the appetites of the concupiscible faculty ; so that a church-man who makes this his study and delight , will never be ranked by the world with the most brutish of the epicurean sect , who did not eat that they might live , but lived that they might eat ; such as sardanapalus , apicius lucullus , heliogabalus , the emperour maximinus , ( whose gigantine appetite was above the proportion of his vast bulk ) and that usurper bo●osus , ( of whom it was said , that he was born , not to lead a life , but to lift a pot ) but , on the contrary , all just m●n w●ll be so ready to reckon them with the ancient fabricii , the bruti , and ca●ones , who were so much renowned for temperance ; yea more than so , they shall be reputed the true disciples of that great doctor of the gentiles , who 1 cor. 9. 24 , 25. &c. recommends s●briety to all ministers of the gospel from his own example , and by an argument drawn ab incommo●● ▪ all which inconveniences of 〈…〉 in church-men ) are expressed at 〈◊〉 by clemens alex. in his paedagogus ; who 〈◊〉 us there ; that the spirit of god and the spirit of bacchus will never thrive together ▪ and that he cannot be a spiritual minister of the gospel , who is a sensual man , and immersed in voluptuousness : and that gluttony and drukenness are brutish vices in all sorts of people ; but odious in great men ; very detestable in women ; but most abominable in the clergy , who ought to be paterns of temperance , abstinence , and fasting to all the world ; it being a great point of christian prudence in a church-man , to habituate himself , by abstaining now and then from things lawful , that with the greater facility he 〈…〉 to things unlawful ; 〈…〉 still trenching nigh to a precipice , may sometimes stumble and fall into it . it is very observable , what the judgment of am. marcellinus ( though a heathen man ) was , concerning the splendour and luxury of the roman bishops , which he liked not ; but said , that there was another way for them to be truly happy , si magnitudine urbis despectâ , ad imitationem quorundam provincialium viverent , quos lemulas e●●ndi , potandique parcissimè , ut puros numim commendant . i say not , that fasting is a formal part of god's worship ; though we read in scripture of one that served god , with fasting , and prayer ; but as it is said of the knowledge of languages , that it is not properly learning , yet a good help thereunto ; so it may be deemed of fasting , that it is not properly the worship of god , but a good adminicle thereunto ; for a grosse belly makes not only a gross understanding , but also a stupid devotion . i wish , this were well observed on the day of the consecration of bishops ; for it is but too much noticed ; that though the ancient ceremony , of reading the 13 chapter of the acts of the apostles be still in use , yet the duty therein recommended , which is fasting , ( not to speak of that moral one of prayer ) hath fallen into such a desuetude , that in lieu thereof , too sumptuous and excessive feasting hath succeeded ; so that the solemnity of such a day doth rather resemble the pagan cerealia , floralia , the saturnalia , and bacchanalia , than the ancient agapae of the christian church ; of which , tertullian , in his apologetick , tells us , that they were so far from supping prodigally , as if they meant to dye to morrow , ( as diogenes said of the people of megara , ) that what cost was laid out upon those love-feasts , was not expended for vain-glory , and to nourish parasites , but upon the account of piety and religion , and to refresh the poor : and that they fed sparingly at them , as remembring they were to rise at night to worship god ; so that they appeared not so much to have feasted at supper , as to have fed upon discipline , and order . sure , it were much more commendable , ( and fitter too ) to vouchsafe these hundreds of crowns misimployed that way , by way of charitable largess on the poor ; that the consecrated person may have many supplicants at the throne of grace , to pray for the health of his soul , and for the divine blessing on the future exercise of his office ; that ( as charlemain used to say ) by these hounds he may hunt after the kingdom of heaven . we find indeed that st. cyprian , the three asian gregories , basil , chrysostom , and augustine did prepare themselves for that most eminent ecclesiastical degree , by various acts of mortification , ( as is evident from the respective histories of their lives ) but none of them 〈◊〉 in apollo the night of their consecration . but , as the wise man hath told us , there is a time for all things ; so that even fasting it self may be sometimes unseasonable ; not only upon a physical , but also upon a moral account ; which is never more untimely than upon the lord's day . i shall not be so uncharitable to such fasters , as is the author of that epistle to the philippians , ( fathered on st. ignatius , though none of his : ) who says , that they are no better than murderers of christ , who fast on that day ; yet one thing is most certain , that the antient church prohibited fasting ( both privately and publickly ) on the lords day ; ( i mean all religious fasts , ) and never permitted them , no not in the time of lent , because that day was the most ordinary and constant festival of the church ; it being a weekly solemnity instituted for the resurrection of our saviour . and though these detestable hereticks , the manicheans , and priscillianists , made it their practice , ( in opposition to the catholick church ) to fast on sunday , yet even the montanists ( who pretended much to that kind of mortification ) abstained from fasting on the lord's day ; as is evident from tertullian's treatise de iejuniis , which he wrote after his unhappy montanizing . but this fasting in our church on the lord's day , is a part of that old presbyterian leaven , not yet half well purged out of this land ; for when that tyrannical usurpation was culminating in the cuspe of the tenth house , such was their meridian line , that they thought it their glory ( though it was indeed their shame ) to run counter to all the practice of the primitive church ; therefore the pilots of the leman lake steered such a course , as they might at last become perfect antipodes thereunto : for whereas the primitive church solemnized a joyful remembrance of the nativity of our blessed lord , on the anniversary thereof ; ( which in the time of dioclesian proved a dismal solemnity to some in bithynia ) and of his resurrection , every lord's day , especially on easter , which is caput institutionis ; they on the contrary , ( as if they had not been unvaluable mercies , but rather great plagues to the world : ) must needs fast on these dayes ; and alwayes on that sunday which did immediately preceed the lord's day on which the holy communion was to be celebrated ; though the anniversary of our saviour's passion was judged by the ancients the much fitter season for solemn humiliation , and preparation , in order to the due reception of that commemorative sacrifice of christ's body and blood , on easter day ; ( for when persecution ceased , by the haloyonian-dayes of the great constantine , too much of the christian fervour abated therewith ; so that in the later centuries of the primitive church , the holy eucharist was not received every day , no not every lord's day , but appointed to be celebrated thrice a year ; viz. on the anniversary of the nativity and resurrection of our blessed lord , and of the descent of the holy ghost , on the day of pentecost ; ( which canons did at last terminate in easter day . ) but these antipodes are at the expence of a kalendar , only to shun those dayes , as a s●ylla and charybdis , or the greater and lesser syrtes . and that they might give a demonstration to the world , that they are not sworn enemies to their own flesh and blood , and that it was not the mortification of their own sensual natures they designed by such abstinence ; but rather that they fasted for strife and debate , and to smite with the fist of wickedness , under such a religions palliation ; it was usually observed , that their most solemn fasts did usher in the greatest villanies they intended to act ; so that all honest-hearted men looked upon these intimations as prodigious meteors portending some bad omen either to church or state , and too frequently to both . but that they might make a sufficient amends to the animal life for these few politick substractions , they gratified the same with feasting ( when they could come at it ) all the dayes of the week ; though epiphanius hath told us , that in his time fasting was practised throughout all the world , every wednesday and friday , unless the anniversary of our saviour's nativity did happen upon one of these dayes . as for saturday's fast , ( though pope innocent pretended the apostles fasted that day , because christ lay in the grave all that time ; ) it did not so early , nor universally obtain ; for it was not practised at millan , in the time of s. ambrose . yea more than so , they were most willing to feast all the time of lent ; the passionwee ( kwhich was deservedly termed by the ancients , hebdomada magna & sancta ; not , that it hath ( sayes chrysostom ) either more dayes or hours than other weeks ; but because this is the week in which truly great and ineffable good things were purchased for us : ) not being excepted : and were more ready to gormandize , than on the anniversary of our saviours passion ; all the sympathy they discovered with his imparallel'd sufferings on that day , being meerly symbolical ; and that in a physical sense too . for as the flesh of our blessed lord was inhumanely torne on that day , so they were ready , with too greedy appetites , to tear the flesh of brutes : hateing so much to be reputed pythagoreans , or manicheans , on that day ; that they would have chosen rather to be accounted canibals : and ever since that time , the flesh-market on that day is the greatest of all the year ; and though the change of it to some other day , hath been frequently desired by some sober persons in this church , for the avoiding of scandal ; yet , such is the prevalency of fanaticisme in some royal burghs , that the bishop with his clergy could not obtain that most reasonable request : this being one of the cimelia è scrinio polonico eruta , which they fail not to bring home with them , per hellespontum danicum . whereas the emperours theodosius the first , valentinian the second , and gratian ( as we find in the theodosian code , ) commanded all suits and processes at law to cease , and all prisoners to be set free , in this holy week . whence it may appear ; these carnivorous animals have never seriously pondered that typical expostulation of our dying redeemer , which we find in the lamentations of ieremie , chap. 1. ver . 12. ( interpreted by all the ancients , of christ himself , ) and which concerns them as much as any . but , that they might shew themselves prefect in that art of opposition to the primitive church , they still presumed to approach to that holy table , absque virgine saliva ; though it was also condemned by the ancient canons ; ( and i wish some of them had rested satisfied with their ordinary repast , in that great morning of the feast . ) but there is good reason to fear that the generality of plebeian christians , shall rise in judgment , and condemn those epicurean fanaticks ; for these will not ( upon any account ) usher in that spiritual and incorruptible food with any temporal and perishing harbinger . now if any shall say , that they are afraid of fainting ; i must confess , necessity hath no law : but i wish , some have not contracted that necessity by intemperance ; for nature is content with little , and grace with less . i have also heard some object , that christ himself condemned fasting in the pharisees . but take st. chrysostom's answer to this ignorant scruple , who tells us , that christ did not simply condemn the pharisees their fasting twice a week , or their exact payment of tithes ; but their hypocrisie and ostentation . but if we shall judge by the practice of too many of those , we have good reason to conclude , that they have perswaded themselves , that christ condemned both these matters in thesi ; and that there is no necessity of any hypothesis to expound the text. but in the last place ; some of the more knowing of them are ready to adduce the authority of thorndyke and ieremy taylor , ( both which were very far from phanaticism , ) that they have sufficiently evinced the lent-fast not to be an apostolick tradition , as it is now calculated by a quadragesima dierum ; but , that the proper lent of the infant christian church , was only a quadragesima horarum . for answer , i cannot but reverence the judgment of those great clerks , and do indeed look upon the quadragesima horarum , as the only apostolick tradition ; ( though the strict observation of the whole passion-week did begin very early in the church : ) but i think it a very strange parologism , to infer from thence , that feasting on good friday is lawful , seeing it must needs be inclusively the 〈◊〉 of that most absolute fast of fourty hours . but in these dayes of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , animosities and epicurisme have made the usage of fasts by papists , a command to us not to use them ; and to conclude , the abating any thing of our gluttony , to be an encroachment on our christian liberty : but the best apology which can be made for such absurd arguings , is that old dicterium , anima est in patinis . i might speak also of their usual marriages on the passion-week ( which the primitive church would have deemed a very indecent pageantry : ) and of the fatality which observant christians have noticed to attend them : but , lest any should take occasion from the period of this invective against superstitious sensuality , to judge me also superstitious , i do instantly put a close to this overgrown article . vid. can. apost . 42 , 65 , & 68. item concil . gangrens . can. 18. concil . 1. gener. can. 3. contra subintroduct as mulieres ; ( which the greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ( which is repeated in many general and provincial councels . concil . caesar. august . can. 1. concil . bracarens . 1. can. 4. concil . carthag . 4. can. 64. ( the tenor whereof is this ; qui die dominico studiosè jejunat ▪ non credatur catholicus . ) concil . anti 〈◊〉 . can. 11. concil . bracarens . 1. can. 16. bracarens . 2. can. 10. concil . toletan . 7. can. 1. concil . gen. 6. can. 29. ( quo abregatur synodi carthag . tertiae decretum , vt quintâ feriâ , in qua coena d●mini perag●tur , fideles coenati communicent : f● renovatur can. 50. concilii laodic . ne co die solvatur iejunium . ) concil . laodic . can. 52. concil . illerdens . can. 1. concil . aurelianens . 4. can. 2. concil . turonens . 2. can. 13. concil . braccarens . 2. can. 9. & concil . toletan . 8. can. 9. vid. clem. rom. epist. ad corinth . pag. 55. vid. s. hieronymi comment . in tit. cap. 1. ( on these words , a bishop must be blameless ; ) quomodo potest praeses ecclesiae auserre malum de medio ejus , qui in delicto simili corruerat ? aut quâ liberta●e corripere peccantem potest , cùm tacitus sibi-ipsi respondeat , eadem admisisse quae corripit . ( to which that of greg. 1. runs parallel ; cujus vita despicitur , restat ut ejus praedicatio contemnatur . hom. 12. in e●ang . lib. 14. moral . & praefat . in iob. cap. 3. & in exposit. iob. lib. 30. cap. 27. where also he gives an excellent description of the quinque vitia gulae . ) idem in cap. 3. mich. tibi , o sacerdos , de altario vivere , nonluxuriar● permittitur . ad heliodorum epist . 1. de laude vitae solitariae . ad nepotian . de vita clericorum . ad eustochium virg. & lib. 2. advers . iovinian . origin . hom. 15. a● cap. 21. matthaei : augustin . tract . 41. ad cap. 8. ioan. lib. 7. epist. 39. ad aurclium episcop . epist. 64. chrysostom . hom. 29. ad cap. 12. epist . ad heb. ambros. serm. 20. super beat● immaculati , &c. isidor . de eccles. ossic. lib. 2. cap. 2. b●da , in cap. 8. ioan. de iudicio adulterae . vid. etiam august . epist. 118. pro virgine saliva ; ex hoc enim placuit s. sancto , vt in honorem tanti sacramenti , in os christiani priùs dominicum corpus intraret , quàm caeteri ●ibi ; nam ideo per vniversum orbem mos isle servatur . and for the quadragesimal fast , in order to our preparation for the holy communion , vid. comment . hieronymi in cap. 3. ionae . article ii. num. 18. 26. deut. 14. 28 , 29. mat. 16. 24. & 18. 2. & 20. 26. & 25. 35. 36. luk. 12. 33. 1 cor. 13. 1 , 2 , 3. &c. 1 tim. 4. 12. & 3. 2. 2 tim. 2. 22. tit. 1. 8. heb. 13. 2 , 3. iam. 1. 27. that none be chosen to that eminent degree , but they only who have formerly vowed ( and sure i am , some presbyters in this church have put on such inviolable resolutions in reference to that election ) to employ ( almost all ) the revenue of the respective bishopricks , to which they have a lawful call , and which is secured to them by law ( whether it be an episcopal or archiepiscopal see ) for pious and charitable uses ; such as ; the building and repairing of bridges on high wayes ; maintenance of poor widows & orphans ; endowing of indigent maids , of an honest descent ; the erection of hospitals for infirm persons who cannot worke , and are ashamed to beg ; and the building of monasteries for contemplative souls ; yet without any bond upon the conscience , ( as it is in some convents of germany . ) save that , of serving god more strictly in their speculative retirements . and i suppose , there should be much more purity within the walls of these cloysters if the recluses had not vows of continency imposed on them ; ( that of the poet , nitimur in vetitum . &c. being too frequently verified in every age : ) for that fervor novitius may last a while beyond the years of probation , and then degenerate into a perfect congelation ; which by an hellish antiperistasis doth frequently produce an vstulation . ) but there be two great advantages which a contemplative life affords to some christians . first , it is a most secure sanctuary to all those , who , in regard of a cholerick nature , are very obnoxious to impatience ; the matter about which our patience is exercised ordinarily proceeding , either immediately from god , or from our neighbours , or from our selves ; if they come from men ( as injuries either real or verbal ) they are generally more bitter than those that come from god , as sickness , &c. though in themselves greater ; because other men are but equal to us , and we know not their secret intentions , but are apt to suspect the worst when they do us any ha●m ; therefore we take such things worse at their hands than we would at god's , who ( besides that he is omnipotent , and ●ath the supreme dominion over us , ) we know that his goodness is infinite ; so that we can assure our selves , that all his deali●gs towards us are meant for our good ; though sometimes we cannot see how they can contribute to it . and as for matters of affliction , which through imprudence , or any other defect , we bring upon our selves ; we are less moved to impatience by them ; ( though often to a secret shame : ) because that ( besides we are too apt to excuse and favour our selves , ) we are secure that we meant no harm to our selves . whence it is evident , that a speculative life ( being far removed from the crowd of the world , ) is lesse obnoxious to impatience than an active life . the other great advantage which redounds to christians by comtemplation is , that vertues are more easily obtained , more securely possessed , and more perfectly practised , than in an active life . let us suppose a person to aspire unto perfection in this , yet he stands in need of many things to enable him for the practice of the duties disposing thereunto : for the exercise of the external works of charity , the●● are needful riches or friends , &c. and for spiritual alms-giving there is required learning ▪ study , disputation , &c. and if by the help of these there be acquired an established habit of solid charity , it is not very securely possessed in the midst of so many distractions , solitudes , and temptations : but a comtemplative life ( as the angelical doctor observes , even from aristotle himself ; vid. thom. summ. secunda secundae . quaes . 182. art. 1. ) stands in need of very few things ; being to it self sufficient . such a person alone , without needing other assistance , or favour from abroad , can both purchase and exercise all vertues ; yea and liberally dispense all kinds of charity to others also ; for by prayer alone , exercised in solitude , he can employ and engage god's omnipotence , wisdom , and all the treasures of his riches , for the supplying all the necessities , external and internal , of his church . yea the greater solitude there is , the soul is at the more freedom to run speedily and lightly to the course of vertue : for nothing doth indeed fetter her but self-love and propriety . and when the habits of vertue are once acquired , they are most securely possessed in solitude , from whence all distractions ( and almost all temptations ) are excluded . there is yet another advantage to which the poverty of this countrey would frequently exhibit the occasion ; which is , that these would be excellent cities of refuge for some persons of a noble descent , ( specially of the female sex , ) whose prodigal parents have wasted all their patrimonies ; so that they ( finding too good reason to despair of a match according to their quality : ) live exposed to the contempt of the world , even to their dying day : for though some of them are so happy , as to twist nobility and vertue together , yet that conjunction not being irradiated with the splendid aspect of plutus , they become despicable in vulgar eyes , which are only dazled with the glistering of gold and silver . so that i heartily approve the judgement of the author of claustrum animae ; necessary reformations ( saith he ) might have repurged monasteries , as well as the church , without abolishing of them : and they might have been still houses of religion , without having any dependance upon rome . i have insisted the longer upon this theam , ( though it may be termed a digression ; ) because i judged my self concerned to vindicate that most excellent kind of life from the imputation of vselesness , as if they were all ignavum pecus fruges consumere nati . et , — telluris inutile pondus . sure i am , if the practice of the devout asceticks of nitria , and of the primitive monks in general , ( whereof s. hierom , augustine , palladius , cassian , and others , give us an account : ) were retrived into our church , judicious calvin would not have been so uncharitable , as to say of them all , that — velut porci saginantur in haris . for if the abuse of a thing should always take away the lawful use thereof , the most laudable institutions of the world would fall to the ground ; for what therein hath not been abused ? but to take off the groundless odium of the name , let these habitations be also termed hospitals . but above all ; let the governours of the church make conscience to educate towardly youths , ( whether descended of the clergy or laity , ) whose parents are not in bonis to entertain them at schools ; yet are well principled , and derived from honest families : that ( having a liberal and holy education in the bishop's family , and their conversation being alwayes in his eye , ) they may prove excellent materials at last , to build the house of god ; when , being found good proficients in knowledge , and in the school of holy iesus ; they may be called forth to that holy function in god's good time ; it being the practice of st. augustine and divers others in the primitive church , to have always such seminaries about them . and these ( even in this age ) would be look'd upon as the succedanei of the ancient acoluthi , who were the individui comites of the primitive bishops ; and being constant witnesses unto their holy conversation , were thereby framed ( through the divine grace ) to the exact imitation of that excellent pattern . this method would be found , not only a charitable office , but also an act of great prudence and christian policy , in reference to all ; but especially the ministers of the gospel . and would to god all church-men were taken up with the study of such laudable politicks , and piae fraudes , as the apostle phraseth them : for it could not but perswade them who have any principles of generosity within them , to a cordial complyance with the government , when they perceive it their great care to do good to them and theirs . yea , more than so ; it would excite a commendable emulation amongst the clergy of the same diocese , which of them should appear most deserving in the eyes of their ordinary , and that in order to a preference as to the foris-familiation of their sons ; when they perceive , that over and above the poverty of their estates , and riches of their principles , these presbyters are most countenanced , and their sons regarded by their bishop in the first place , who are persons of a pious and prudent conversation , diligent in their studies , and faithful in the discharge of all the duties of their holy vocation . i might add to the former instances of charity , the redemption of christian captives ; ( for which merciful acts acatius , ambrose , paulinus , and many other primitive bishops , are highly applauded : ) as also , bequeathing the holy bible , and other books of devotion , gratis , to poor christians ; ( the soul being the principal object of charity to our neighbour : ) for which the martyr pamphilus is celebrated by eusebius and hierom. and in ●ine ; the furnishing of some resolute evangelists with a viaticum , to propagate the christian faith among infidels ; which was one of the elogiums of st. chrysostom : ( for which act of universal charity demetrius of alexandria was , long before him , highly applauded ; for sending the learned pantaenus to preach the blessed gospel unto the remotest indians . ) and that the roman propaganda may not rise up in the great audit , against the governours of the reformed church , they should be no less solicitous for it . we need not multiplie any more particulars ; for if the half of these instances of charity be practised to purpose , there will be few materials reserved for the gaudy busks of wives , the prodigality of sons , the vanity of daughters , and debauchery of their retinue : for the treasure of the church ( thus s. lawrence termed the poor , and not works of supererogation : ) would exhaust all those conduits of luxury , and nothing would remain to be bestowed on costly furniture , rich hangings , curious coaches , &c. for the primitive bishops used not coaches , neither had they any swords to draw upon their coach-men . ( not to speak of their expending more on their horses yearly , than some poor ministers have to maintain their families : the very possession of which ( as clemens alex. hath well observed , ) creates envy , especially to the clergy , whose ornaments ought to be of a more spiritual make and temper . neither would they have any temptation to re-act that tragedy of the ewe-lamb in nathan's parable , by designing to abridge any poor minister's stipend ; far less to substract that inconsiderable pittance destinated for the provision of communion-elements : least of all would they find in their hearts , to give money to an advocate , to obstruct the reputation of a church ; if ten merks scots be all the summ which is expected from a hard-hearted patron , to uphold a decayed fabrick . yea , suppose they had a legal title to part of that salary , yet they would dispence with it as a part of their charity unto those who may be said sedere super chaenicem , in regard of the smalness of their intrado , and greatness of their families : and none should have occasion to upbraid that order , that no publick charitable works have been done by any of them ; such as , the such as , the building and repairing of bridges on high-wayes ; ( though some of those already half demolished , are within the prospect of their ordinary residences , and daily invite them to put to their helping hand . ) neither would any who travel by their parish-churches , find any ground to admire that pitiful spectacle , of bells hanging upon trees , for want of bell-houses , as if they owned that part of mahomet's doctrine , which condemns bells in steeples ; or did joyn issue with the invectives of the quakers against steeple-houses . and till reason and religion can suggest no other imployment for that parcel of the churches patrimony in their hands ; let them not be sollicitous to make that invidious and uncharitable scrambling for a great estate , to aggrandize a near relation in this world , who ( deserendo castra nostra ) do ( as it is too frequently observed ) in the next age , if not in that of their creation , resemble the viper , in tearing by scorn and contempt the bowels of that parent , which alone produced their fortune and honour ; it being , through the just judgement of god , the unhappy fate of that sacred grove , to lend an handle to that ax which lops its reputation : for the clergy had no greater enemy , nor vilisier , in that age , than caesar borgia , the perverse spurious brat of an ecclesiastick . but for them to retain so much of their revenue as is requisite to supply the necessities of nature , or the wants of others , ought neither to be the object of envy , or fear : for he must needs be worse than a momus , or zoilus , who carps at the provision of food and raiment , which a poor tradesman makes to his own family by his lawful calling . yet the dignity of that sacred office is such , that decency requires a more ingenuous manner of living , than the sordid and mean way of plebeians ; in regard they are particularly commanded to practise hospitality . ( for which , not only spiridion was famous , but also the generality of the prelates of the primitive church , whether in a celibate , or married state : ) but as that famous bishop of cyprus was far from superfluity in his entertainment of strangers ; so should they be , who are bound to know , that simple habit and diet are most consonant to the primitive simplicity of christians ; but especially of church-men : there being no heavenly-minded ecclesiastick , who is thorowly mortified as to the blandishments of the flesh , and hath absolutely resigned his soul to god ) but useth even these things which are necessary , sparingly and moderately , not paying nature its tribute without some regret , grudging the little time he spends about it ; and therefore makes haste to get from the table , that he may return to his better exercises . and seeing ( in imitation of st. augustine ) he comes to his meat as to a medicine , it cannot be presumed , that he will cast away much of his precious time in such unedifying employments , but rather ( after the example of that great conquerour , ) will drive away all curious cooks , and other artificers of luxury , far from his habitation . and let not any imagine that this practice of charity , which cannot but interrupt the study of these persian arts of splendour , and effeminate gallantry , ( too much in fashion in this age ) shall expose that sacred order to contempt in the eyes of the world : sure the contrary will fall out ; there being no person ( of what quality soever ) that hath any ti●cture of christianity within him , but will be apt to deferr more internal respect unto them on that account , than can be procured by all these characters of honour which the most bountiful temporal monarch is pleased to conferr upon them . yea , more than so ; when they accost those holy persons in the way , they will be ready to alight , and beg their blessing ; as was usually done to st. basil of cappadocia , and to our countrey-man s. a●danus , though his mode of travelling was no more honourable than that of a 〈◊〉 . and that this visible impress of the divine image doth extort admiration , and a rever●●d esteem , from the most virulent enemies of the christian religion , may sufficiently appear from that epistle of iulian the apostate , to the high priest of galatia : and it is very observable , that the greatest of this land ( who understand the nature of true nobility ) are apt to caresse some presbyters who are of a good descent , and have the repute of pious , charitable , and learned men , and the discretion to demean themselves handsomly in the company of their betters , as much as any bishop of them all , ( balking only some titles and places , in lieu whereof they a●●ord them the more internal respect ) in imitation of monsieur de renty , that excellent french nobleman , who thought it his greatest worldly honour , to honour the clergy . and they who are knowing persons of the nobility , look upon it as no disparagement to their grandeur , to put characters of respect , and signatures of honour , on the worthy ambassadours of holy iesus : remembring constantine the great his kissing the hollow of paphnutius his eye , because he was a famous confessor ; ( who also used to treat those of the clergy at his own table , though in the meanest and most despicable habit ; which some reguli in this age would think it below them to do : ) and the high respect which theodosius the great carried to st. ambrose : ( not to speak of theodosius the younger , s. lewis of france , s. edward of england , ( called the confessour ) and st. david of scotland , with many other great and pious princes : and for the female sex , placilla the empress , and st. margaret of scotland , are examples instar omnium ; for they caressed all in holy orders to the admiration of the world. and though it be very commendable in any great person ( as being a great evidence of true piety in them ) to put such respect upon the representatives of their great masters ; yet i cannot but condemn the ambitious affectation of it in any church-man , or a solicitous desire in any of them , to be preferred to the great officers of state : for this vanity they did never learn from him who gave them their commission ; ( if ever they were sent of god , ) for , he was meek and lowly in heart , and commanded all his disciples to learn that document from his example . but , if it be objected ; how then shall a church-man vindicate himself from contempt , seeing it is their fate to be sometimes palpably dis-respected : the blessed gospel is indeed a bundle of mysteries and a complex of innumerable wonders ; ( viz. in the dispensation of the incarnation ; ) that the ancient of dayes should become an infant ; that he who thunders in heaven should cry in a cradle ; that he who hath his center every where , and circumference no where , ( as mercurius trismegistus describes a deity : ) should be enshrined , for the space of nine moneths , in the narrow womb of a virgin : that he who grasps the world in his fist , who upholds all things by the word of his power , whose boundless arms are stretched in●initely beyond the vast expansion of the poles of heaven , and who hangs the earth upon nothing , should be sustained by the feeble arms of a woman : all these are incomprehensible mysteries . and , in that of the passion ; that the lord paramount of the world should become servant to all ; and impoverished , that we might become rich ; abased , that we might be exalted ; exposed to much ignominy , that we might be glorifyed ; and to suffer a painful and cursed death , that we might enjoy a blessed immortality : all these are unfathomable wonders . ) yet this degenerated age hath added one mysterie thereunto , whereof the apostles themselves never dreamed ; that the preaching thereof should render the sons of plebeians , gentlemen in the vulgar esteem : and on the contrary , be a disparagement to those of a more honourable descent ; as if ( forsooth ) their blood ( be it never so noble ) were attainted by the most honourable employment in the world : whence it comes to pass , that some gentlemen in decimo-sexto ( whose nativity is scarce so honest , whose fortunes are inferiour , and though they be but too insolent , yet are not so impudent to enter the lists of competition for gifts and parts : ) do set themselves forward before such persons ; which they would not have presumed to do ; if they had not become of the clergy : ( doing that to the tribe of levi upon the matter for which the good levite is highly applauded in scripture ; viz. they forget their father's house , and acknowledge not their most valuable worldly concerns ; but it wants this formality , they do it not in the cause of god. ) and these are too much animated to such insolencies by the countenance of some great ones of both sexes , who ( being strangers to god and themselves ) did never yet dream , that true nobility consists rather in their proper vertue , than in those empty scutcheons which the vertue of their ancestours hath transmitted unto them . for answer ; to return pride for pride , folly for folly , and madness for madness , is neither a christian , nor a generous method of vindicating one from contempt : for in effect it amounts to no more than this ; that because they are mad with pride and folly , therefore we must be like them . but the first course a church-man is to take , is , to reflect upon himself , if there be any proper objects of contempt within him , for if the cause be taken away , the effect ●sually c●aseth : and these are , ignorance , imprudence , levity , scurrility , and a sordid way of living ; but above all , a scandalous habit , too much noticed by the world. and such is the unhappiness of our church , that the particular ecclipse of one organical member thereof , casts a dark shadow upon the whole order . as for the baseness of 〈◊〉 in some of the clergy , ( though i heartily wish , that , as it is the foundation of some monasteries in germany , whereunto none are admitted save gentlemen of good families , it were so in our church , yet ) that being no moral defect , it merits no such contempt as any of the former , provided they become the sons of their own right arm , ( as the spanish proverb hath it ) and by sublimated parts and piety , the sons of the most high : so the strength of their intellectuals , and goodness of their morals , preponderating that first original defect , when a good man is tempted to any such act , his heart will smite him ; as we read of that good emperour sigismund , when he reflected on that of the prophet , it was god that made us , and not we our selves : yea the heathen poet could say , at genus & proavos , & quae non fecimus ips● . vix ea nostra voco . — the same poet elsewhere speaking to the same purpose ; hath these lines , ingenua de plebe virum , nec census in illo nobilitate sua major ; sed vita sidesque inculpata suit . but if none of these natural or moral 〈◊〉 can justly be charged on some church-men , ( who shine in their own o●bs like stars of the first magnitude ) all the retaliation i would have them make for these undeserved undervaluings , is , a generous inward contempt . for , seeing it is yet controverted among moralists , whether honour be in the giver or receiver , they have good reason to conclude , that such despicable arts will rather rebound a dishonourable stigma upon the subject , than leave any durable impression upon the object . and all church-men should carefully avoid the company of such who have little civility , and less christianity ; as being unedifying and contagious : for the general disrespect of the clergy flowes usually from one of the ensuing principles . the first is atheism ; and it is no wonder that they hate and despise the servant , who could never yet find in their hearts to love and honour the master . and because the presence of an holy man ( how mean soever he be ) doth , as it were , fetter the devil with chains in a wicked man , so that he cannot actuate his perverse habits so frankly as before , therefore these gadarenes drive away such persons from them with contempt , that they may enjoy their swinish lusts without controul . the second principle is sacriledge ; they who have a vehem●nt desire to rob god of that poor pittance which hath fallen beside the tallo●s of some rapacious vultures , ( which ravenous harpyes did , with a cyclopaea● impiety , sight against god , by robbing the fountain of all goodness : ) cannot endure to see any secured by law in the possession thereof ; therefore are they too prone to put affronts upon them . but i wish these would consider , that if they snatch a collop from off god's altar , a fatal coal may adhere unto it , which will burnt up nest and all . and if they were acquainted with 〈◊〉 history , they would take example from cambyses , xerxes , the phocians , brennus , the consul cepio , mar●us crassus and heliodorus , before they be made such examples : neither should ● wish that any in this age become the detestable instances of vice running in a blood , by tracing the sacrilegious footsteps of some other ancestors , who have impropriated no small part of the patrimony of this church . the third principle is , want of civil education ; they who have travelled beyond seas , and have noticed that great respect which the grandees there put upon the clergy of the roman church ; when they return they cannot dis-respect their own , unless they have brought home either atheism or superstition with them . but , as we read of a laplander , who imagined there had been no better country than his own ; ( though it is one of the worst in the world : ) so it fares with some young heirs of great families , who come to their land long before the dawning of their witt , they look never above them , but converse only with their own swains that are below them ; so that their breeding cannot chose to be without some great tincture of the plebeian in it : whence it is , tha● they vainly imagine , none are shapen t● be their companions , but those only wh● have an aequilibrium of fortune wit● themselves ; yea ( narcissus-like , becom●ing fond of themselves , ) at last they com● to think , that every man is bound to stoop to that idol which they adore which exactly resembles the old egyptian temples , that were curiously garnished without , but the deity that wa● worshipped within was some vile and despicable animal . the fourth principle is that of pride which is most apparent in some fantastic● mushroms of a night's growth , who ( pe●●as aut nefas ) have scraped some fortune to themselves . now , as king iames ( 〈◊〉 blessed memory ) used to say ; that the first war the scottish young heirs commenced , was against their mothers ; so it may be said of these singular successours ▪ they begin their first quarrel with thei● mother , the church : whereby they demonstrate , that they have not god to be their father , yea , they think it thei● glory to undervalue church-men , and to contend with them , whereby they hope to become famous : and lest the clerk should forget to enroll their names at the next head court , as heretours of such a parish , they take this boisterous way of intimation : but their glory is their shame , and they render themselves infamous in the ears of all good men . i deny not , but that the devil hath thrown a temptation in the way of these doëgs ; for let a church-man be never so innocent , and do no more but what the law of nature allows to all living creatures , which is , to defend themselves the best way they can ; they shall be sure to bear the blame of it , and be taxed as men of contention : so uncharitable is this countrey to the clergy ; who are obliged to remember , that the fortitude which is mainly required of them , quà ●ales , is passive , and not active : and that they ought ( like to the good palm-tree ) to grow up in charity , humility , and patience , under the burthen of reproach and contempt . but i would have those whom god permits to be the scourge of his church , seriously to consider , that there is a curse attends all , who strive with the priest , and have a complacency in doing so ; which many in this land have experimented : the very plebeians being apt to observe ; that some , since they began with the church in a preposterous way , in that day made an end of thriving in this world , and th●re is nothing more observable in humane history , than that all they ( which was no small number ) who had accession to the barbarous assassination of bomsace the eighth , and cardinal beton , cam● to violent ends , though these two were the worst men of their age : ( not to speak of another great cardinal , georg. martinusius whose murtherers did undergo the same unhappy fate . ) for god reserves the punishment of wicked ecclesiasticks to himself ; they being , noli me tangere to all the rest of the world ; excepting god's vicegerent upon earth , whose subjects they are . the last principle is , a compound of vanity , fanaticism , and epicurism ; which three naughty ingredients are most usually found mixed in some of the female sex ; whose way of living hath been a sufficient demonstration , that they are void of the life of religion : yet they endeavour to shrowd all their impieties under the title of catharism , much like ●o the ancient gnosticks , who , pretending to eminency of knowledge , did pal●iate , under that name , the most abominable villanies in the world. now seeing the prora and puppis of the religion of these persons consists in an antipathy against the present constitution of this church , it must needs have such an ascendant upon them , that they cannot choose but hate ( and consequently undervalue ) all that bear office therein . but the main reason of that contempt is luxury ; for their carnal brains are so overclouded with the fuliginous vapours of sensuality , that they cannot put a right estimate upon a spiritual office. but i am confident , there is no conscientious minister of the gospel who is not ready to render good for evil to all such despisers , by pitying them , and praying earnestly for a dissipation of that cloud of wrath which is hanging over their heads , like a hovering meteor ; and ready to fall upon them : any indignity which is done to a church-man , the son of god looking upon it as done to himself ; and because he is wounded through their sides , he will not fail to avenge his own interest . that dreadful sentence of the gospel may awaken the securest amongst them all , ( if they had grace to lay it to heart ) they who despise you despise me , and they who despise me despise him that sent me : it being a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living god ; for our god is a consuming fire . i am not ignorant that this is a prol●● digression ; but the interest of the gospel induced me to enter upon it . for i● ought to be lamented with tears of blood , that there is no civil nation und●● heaven which conferrs so little respect on their church-men as ours doth ; and that but of late too . sure i am , the ancient pagan dr●ides were ( almost infinitely ) more honoured in this land ▪ than the present ministers of the gospel ar● i pray god it be not a sad prognostick of the extinction of the gospel among us ▪ and it is god alone that can disappoint our fears . we come now to answer the second scruple against that method of charity proposed in the entry of this article . let not any of that sacred order say , if we do thus , what shall become of our wives and children when we are gone ; seeing it is not now the custom of nourishing the relicts and orphans of the clergy , out of the churches intrado ? this is easily answered . for , without all peradventure , a good and holy education is a rich patrimony ; as gregorie nazianz . tells of his sister gorgonia , ( who was also daughter to an humble and self-denying bishop , that she bequeathed great riches to her children , in leaving them such an excellent pattern as her self , and a desire to follow her example . yea more than so , seeing the best way to gather is , thus to scatter , these charitable husbands and parents may considently leave their widows and fatherless children with god : for the heavenly compost of the divine blessing will not fail to enrich their poor and small possessions . it was a remarkable story , concerning a charitable minister ( whose sirname was crow ) who had many children , and very little of a yearly income to bequeath to them ; when he was a dying , yet considently cry'd out , the great god who hears the young ravens when they cry , will not suffer these young crowes to starve for hunger . and it was observed , that god provided very well for them all . christum debitorem habere , ( sayeth gregorie nazianz. ) plus est quàm omnia possidere . it was also a golden sentence , worthy of that golden mouth which uttered it ▪ eleemosyna est ars omnium artium quaestuosissima : to which that dutch proverb is consonant , thest never enricheth , alms never impoverish , and prayer hinders no wark : and when the hand of violence seiseth on a charitable man's estate ; he may say with him in seneca , i have at least tha● still which i have given away . and lest it should be objected ; tha● this method of gratifying this i●on ag● ▪ is singular and unpracticable : i must 〈◊〉 them , in the end , that many in 〈◊〉 primitive church have gone a 〈◊〉 length in self-denyal : for s. cyprian 〈◊〉 no sooner converted to the christian faith , but he instantly abandoned a very plentiful patrimony to the use of th● poor . so did s. paulinus afterward● bishop of nola , and so soon as epiphanius , and divers others undertook th●● eminent employment , they immediately expended all for the behoofe of the indigent members of that mystical and glorious head , from which exhaustible fountain every good gift is derived . i have been the more prolix on this particular ; first , because i would have bishops carefully to avoid the application to themselves of that satyrical character given by one , of a puritan , that he is such an enemy to merit , and so afraid of pharisaical ostentation , that in a seeming complyance with our saviour's precept in the matter of charity , not to let the left hand know what the right hand doth , he lets none in heaven or in earth know it . and next , because people are generally apt to look upon charity , as the most infallible demonstration of the sincerity of the faith and piety of church-men ; all being naturally prone to homologate that of s. augustine ; quanta est charitas ! quae si desit , frustra habentur caetera ; si adsit , habentur omnia . and clemens alex. gives it as the best motto of an ecclesiastick , terram calcare didici , non adorare . and if this self-denyal were universally practised by church-men , there should be no place found for that complaint of boniface of mentz , ( usually termed the apostle of germany ) ecclesia antiqua ligneos habuit calices , sed aureos episcopos : at hodierna calices aureos , sed ligneos episcopos . neither would any sober person take occasion from any donation made to the church , to say , hodie venenum infusum est ecclesiae : or , ecclesia peperit divitias , & filia devoravit matrem ; yea there should not have been any need of that eloquent sermon of s. chrysostom , preached against those who envyed the wealth of the clergy . vid. can. apost . 58. item concil . turonens . 1. can. 1 , & 2. concil . toletan . 3. can. 7 , & 19. concil . antisiodorens . can. 38. concil . cabilonens . can. 3. concil . toletan . 11. can. 2. & 5. concil . bracarens . 3. can. 4. concil . turonens . 2. can. 9. concil . gener. 6. can. 33. ( ubi legimus , quod non genus , sed mores attendendi sunt ad manus-impositionem . ) et can. 50 , & 51. istius concilii . concil . carthaginens . 4. can. 15. cujus haec sunt formalia verba ; vt episcopus vilem supellectilem , & mensam ac victum pauperem habeat ; et dignitatis suae authorita●em fide , ac vitae meritis quaerat . et can. 95 ejusdem concilii . concil . agathens . can. 3 , & 4. concil . vasens . can. 2. concil . aurelianens . 4. can. 14. concil . turonens . 2. can. 18. concil . parisiens . can. 1. concil . aurelianens . 5. can. 10 , & 11. concil . hispalens . 2. can. 10. ( as for monasteries ; there is s●arce any ancient councel , whether general or provincial , but speaks of them . ) but all the qualifications of st. paul's bishop , are expressed at length in the first canon of the fourth councel of carthage : to which i remit the ingenious reader . vid. chrysost. homil. 65. in gen. 47. vid. august . ad. bonifac. comitem , epist. 50. si autem privatim possidemus quod nobis sufficiat , non illa nostra sunt , sed pauperum , quorum procurationem quodammodo gerimus , non proprietatem nobis damnabili vsurpa●ione vindicamus . et serm. 2. cap. de vita clericorum . vnum filium habes ; putes christum alterum : duos habes ; putes christum tertium : decem filios habes ; christum undecimum facias , & suscipio : hieronym . ad nepotian . habens victum , & amictum , his contentus ero ; et nudam crucem nudus sequar . comment in galat. cap. 6. qui clementiam non habet , nec indutus est viscera misericordiae & lachrymarum , quamvis spiritualis sit , non adimplebit legem christi : ambros. lib. de offic. 1. cap. 30. non satis est bene velle , sed etiam bene facere : non quid dixeris , sed quid feceris , &c. lib. 2. offic. cap. 21. gregor . 1. lib. 5. epist. 29. de episcopo mariniano . largam manum habeat , necessitatem patientibus concurrat , alienam inopiam suam credat ; quia si haec non habeat , vacuum episcopi nomen tenet : and in his epistle to the emperour mauricius , he holds forth at length the great advantages of a monastical life ; though i cannot approve that sentiment of his , plerique sunt , qui nisi omnia reliquerint , salvari apud deum nullatenus possunt . anselm . lib. 13. cap. 28. pas●e same morientem ; quisquis enim pascendo hominem servare poteras , si non pavisti , occidisti : vid. totam chrysost. hom. in . cap. 6. epist. ad hebr. greg. 1. lib. 12. epist. 6. et tertul . de iejunio . ( though at that time he was montanizing . ) vid. omnes libros prosp. de vita contemplat . et hieron . panegyric . in vitam solitariam . idem epist. 2. isidor . pelus . epist. ad palladium diaconum . & bern. declam . in illud evang. reliq . omnia &c. article iii. ier. 23. 21. ioh. 10. 1. act. 19. 13. 14 , 15 , 16. 1 tim. 3. 6. heb. 5. 4. 3. ioh. 9. it were to be wished , that none set themselves forward to leap into a vacant chair , and to ascend with too much precipitation that summum sacerdotii fastigium , before others much more modest , and more worthy . it was the regret of gregory nazianz. that some in his time were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , they commenced divines and bishops in one day , who yet understood nothing before ; nor brought any thing to the order , but only , a good will to be there . whence he fitly compares such mushroms to the dragon's teeth sown by cadmus ( as the fable hath it ) which immediately sprung up giants out of the earth , armed cap-a-pe , perfect men , and perfect warriours in one day . but this is the excentrick motion of rash and ignorant young heads , and ambitious hereticks . for the most eminent pillars of the primitive church ( such as s. cyprian . gr. naz. ambrose , augustine , nectarius , chrysostom , synesius , and many others ) from a principle of humility , and a serious consideration of the weightiness of that charge , declined the same with all vehemency imaginable , till by the civil and ecclesiastical authority , and the inspiration of the almighty , and great mortifications , they were at last inclined thereunto . by which shieness they verified that observation of sulpitius severus , ( speaking of the ninth persecution : ) men in those dayes ( saith he ) much more greedily sought martyrdom in the cause of christ , than for bishopricks , or other preferments in the chuch . vid. can. apost . 30. & 31. item , concil . gener. 1. can. 2. concil . carthaginens . 4. can. 1. concil . antioch . can. 17. concil . toletan . 1. can. 10. concil . avernens . can. 2. & 6. concil . parisiens . can. 3. concil . aurelianens . 5. can. 9. concil . matisconens . 2. can. 11 , & 13. concil . toletan . 4. can. 18 , 20 , 21 , & 24. concil . agathens . can. 6. concil . gen. 6. can. 35 , & 86. concil . toletan . 8. can. 8 ▪ & ad finem ; solus ergo accedat ad sacra dei mysteria tractanda , quem morum innocentia , & literarum splendor reddunt illustrem . concil . toletan . 3. can. 1. nullus deinceps ad promerendos honores ecclesiasticos contra canonum statuta aspiret indignus . &c. vid. august . tract . 46. ad cap. 10. ioan. quid est sua quaerentes , non christum gratis diligentes , non deum propter deum quaerentes ? &c. hieronym . comment . in eum locum titi , nemo te contemnat . qualis enim aedificatio erit discipuli , si se intelligat magistro esse majorem ? quia vehementer ecclesiam christi destruit , meliores laicos esse quàm clericos : l●onis 1. epist. 22. sin in laicis vix tolerabilis videtur in●citia ; quanto magis in iis qui praesunt , nec excusatione digna est , nec venia , vid. etiam origin . hom. 6. ad cap. 8. levit. & hom. 4. in lib. iudic. vid. panegyric . of greg. nazianz. upon s. basil ( the expressions whereof , which mostly concern this particular , we have already cited in the article ; ) and what he sayeth on s. basil he almost repeats in that great encomiastick upon athanasius : and further adds ; et priusquam pergentur , purgan● ; heri sacrilegi , hodie sacerdotes ; heri sacrorum expertes , hodie in sacris duces ; veteres in malitia , ac novi in pietate : quorum mores haud quaquam gradum indicant , sed gradus mores . &c. and leo magnus , epist. 91. speaks to the same purpose ; cùm valde iniquum sit , & absurdum , ut imperiti magistris , novi antiquis , & rudes praeserantur emeri●is : nam inordinata erunt omnia , si ●ictilia aureis , & lignea prae●erantur argenteis . &c. likewise greg. the great , did frequently wish , ( as is evident from his excellent treatise , de cura pastorali : ) that church-offices were bestowed on those alone who did not ambitiously sue for them , but fled from all promotion , and yet had deserved well of the church , by honest principles , and an holy life and a diuturnal proof of the excellency of their knowledge and prudence ; it being ( saith he ) in this divine art , as it is in all other sciences and trades , viz. no small disgrace thereunto , to promote any to be masters in that profession , who are nothing else but bunglers and smatterers : for which he cites the usual saying of gregorie nazianz. nemo per legem nauticam admittitur ad gubernacula navis , nisi priùs din sederit ad remos . &c. and what theodosius the great was wont to say of his two sons arcadius and honorius , is applyed by this great bishop to all ignorant clergy-men , conducibilius est , ut vitam privatam agant , quàm doctrina nulla , cum periculo , aliis imperarent . the serious consideration of which sad truth , was the great prompter of charlemain , to prefer only those in the church who were good prosicients in knowledge and vertue ; and to reject all lazy drones from those rich hyves : the frequent reflection on that no less prudent , than conscionable practice , gave occasion to that excellent masculine queen , elizabeth of england , to keep alwayes beside her , an exact list of the worthiest men in the universities , and that in order to church-promotions . article iv. mat. 21. 12 , 13. ioh. 2. 16. & 10. 1. act. 8. 10. 2 tim. 4. 3. tit. 1. 10 , 11. 2 pet. 2. 14 , 15. much less should they be preferred to that sacred function who are rei ambitûs , and have endeavoured by indirect means to purchase that degree unto themselves : these by the ancient canons being declared inhabiles for ever to officiate at the altar . as also they who had been publick penitents ; lest the umbrage of their former scandals should stain the pure white of the ephod . but to obviate the inconveniences mentioned in the foregoing proposal , and this in ha●d ; it were most desireable , that this ensuing method should be observed , for election of bishops to vacant places ; ( there being first a most humble address made by the clergy of the nation to our gracious sovereign , graciously to permit the same ; and the favour supposed to be granted : ) viz. that immediately after the vacancy , the primate should warn ( by his letters ) the chapter of that diocess to convene themselves : and they being assembled , to call the whole synod together unto a certain day , appointed for fasting and humiliation ; at which some of the most grave and learned of the ministers , appointed by the chapter , should preach , in order to the conscientious choice of a person fit for that eminent employment . and that after fasting and prayer in the cathedral church , a list be made of a certain number of the most pious , learned , prudent , and grave persons , by the common suffrages of all the ministers of the diocesan synod : and that some discreet persons among them be commissionated to carry the said list to court , and humbly to present the same to his majesty ; and ( with all due submission ) to entreat his gracious majesty to present , out of that number , one to the vacant chair : they sufficiently knowing them all to be pares negotio , and throughly acquainted with the state of the diocesse , and with all the tempers of the clergy , and considerable laicks who live within that precinct . i shall not mention the observation of spondanus upon the enterview of francis the first ( one of the french kings ) with pope leo the tenth , at bononia ; ( the renowned historian i. a. thuanus , having made the same observe in the first book of his admirable history . ) neither shall we reflect on the most christian deportment of valentinian the first in reference to the postulation of st. ambrose : nor what is decree'd by charlemain , and lewis the godly ; lib. 1. capitular . cap. 84. least of all on the pious act of lewis the ninth , ( deservedly termed st. lewis ) his burning with indignation that pretended privilege of nomination , granted by the pope , saying that the election of bishops belonged only to god and his church . it being a trite axiom of the canon-law , petitio plebis , electio cleri , & consensus principis . ( vid. leonis 1. epist. 85. ) but sure i am , if his gracious majesty ( who is a lover and protector of this church ex traduce , it being one of his royal epithets to be the defender of the apostolick faith , and government , which that glorious martyr , king charles the first , sealed with his most precious bloud ) were well informed , that this way of election was the apostolick method , who in the first vacancy of that sacred colledge of apostles , did fill it in this manner ; ( as we read in the first chapter of the acts of the apostles ; ) and that it was the most ordinary custom of the primitive church to do so ; and of our own also , not many years ago ; i am fully perswaded , that our gracious sovereign ( whom god bless with a long and prosperous reign over us ) who hath also manifested such transcendent goodness towards this church , would be pleased graciously to condescend to the humble address of his obedient subjects and servants : whereby the mouths of the adversaries of our church may be stopped , and these reproaches which are cast upon the office , wiped off ; as , that bishops are only the creatures of courtiers , or of some leading church-men , introduced by motives best known to themselves ; and that they are yet but presbyters , as having no call from the church , but only invested with a little more secular power than they formerly enjoyed ; and that the said office amongst us is nothing but a politick design , contrived rather to serve secular ends , than the evangelical and ecclesiastical interests ; and , in fine , that the prayers of the chapter in their elections , are but a mocking of god , in seeking grace to direct them in the choice of a fit person for the vacant place , whilst ( being predetermined by a conge-d'elire from court ) they make indeed no election at all . vid. concil . arelatens . 2. can. 35. concil . avernens . can. 2. concil . aurelianens . 5. can. 3. concil . toletan . 4. can. 18. synod . antiochen . can. 23. concil . aurelianens . 2. can. 7. concil . aurelianens . 3. can. 2. concil . avernens . can. 2. concil . aurelianens . 5. can. 3 , & 4. concil . toletan . 4. can. 18. concil . parisiens . can. 6. nullus civibus invitis ordinetur episcopus , nisl quem populi & clericorum electio plenissimâ quaes●êrit voluntate , &c. et concil . cabilonens . can. 10. si quis episcopus , de quacunque civitate , fuerit defunctus , non ab alio , nisi à comprovincialibus , clero , & civibus suis , alterius habeatur electio ; sin autem , hujus ordinatio irrita habeatur . vid. ambros. lib. 2. offic. cap. 24. bonis artibus , & sincero proposito nitendum ad honorem arbitror , & maximè ecclesiasticum : ut neque resupina arrogantia , vel remissa negligentia sit , neque turpis affectatio , & indecora ambitio : ad omnia abundat animi directa simplicitas , satisque seipsa commendat : greg. 1. lib. 9. ex registro . epist. 50. ad ethericum episcopum galliae , ita fatur ; nihil in dandis ecclesiasticis ordinibus auri saeva fames inveniat , nil blandimenta surripiant , nil gratia conserat : honoris proemium vitae sit provectus , sapientiae incrementum , madestia morum : ut obtinente hujusmodi observantiâ , & indignus , qui proemiis quaerit ascendere , judicetur ; & dignus , cui bonum testimonium actio perhibet , honoretur . vid. ejusdem greg. hom. 4 , 13 , & 14. in evang. ( in qua postrema scitè describit mercenarium ) vid. etiam hieronymi comment . in tit. ad ea verba , constituas per civitates presbyteros . a brief historical account of the form of electing bishops in the primitive church . that the method of election expressed in the article , was observed in ecclesia primo-primitiva , ( as gratian somewhere speaks ; ) that is , in the first three centuries , may appear from the subsequent historical instances . clemens rom. the first of the christian fathers next the apostles , in his excellent epistle to the corinthians , gives a full account of that method of election , which was practised in the infancy of the christian church , and is absolutely consonant to that we wished for in the last article . but , for brevity's sake , we remit the ingenuous reader to the 101 pag. of that epistle . yet , for all our haste , i must make a little stop , and congratulate ( with all lovers of antiquity ) the restitution of the only genuine treatise of that apostolick man , unto the present church ; this notable epistle , so full of primitive simplicity , candour , and zeal ; having ( like the river alphaeus ) run under ground , for so many centuries of years : but in this last age , that fountain arethusa hath appeared to the publick view of the world. the next instance is in the 39th chapter of tertullian his apologetick , where he speaks to this purpose ; praesident probati quique seniores , honorem istum , non pretio , sed testimonio adepti &c. the next in the series of time , is the famous origen , in hom. 6. in levit. who there speaks to the same purpose . yet it cannot be denied , but that sixtus senensis , praesat . in bibliothec. averrs the said commentary to be falsly ascribed to origen ; as also , that on iob ; and he pretends solid reasons for his assertion . s. cyprian is so copious in this matter , and his mind so well known therein , unto all that have read his works , that we need not consume any paper in citing that zealous father . i shall therefore remit the reader to his 68th epistle throughout ; and the 52d ; wherein he tells us , that his fidus achates , cornelius bishop of rome , was chosen clericorum pene omnium testimonio . this amicable couple may put us in mind of those friendly pairs celebrated by the antients ; viz. damon and pythias , pylades and orestes , achilles and patroclus ; if all our bishops were so affectionate , no rebeckah could perswade them to steal the birthright , by supplanting an elder brother . and that the patriarch of alexandria ( who was next to rome , till constantinople ( quoniam erat nova roma ) shuffled him by ) was chosen by the presbyters there ; and that from among themselves ; even from the dayes of s. mark , is evident from eusebius , hierem , theodoret , and eutychius . to this purpose athanasius in his second apology introduceth p. iulius the first , complaining of the irregular promotion of gregorie the cappadocian , by the arrians , unto the see of alexandria ; si enim pos● synodum in culpa deprel●ensus fuisset athanasius , non tamen oportuit crea●ienem no●● episcopi , ita illegaliter , & praeter canonem ecclesiasticum fieri : sed in ipsa ecclesia , & ex ipso sacerdotali ordine , atque ex ipso clero ejus provinciae , episcopos constitui ; & nequaquam ex illis qui nunc apostolorum canones violant . to the same purpose also gregorie nazianz . ( in oratione , quando assumptus est in consort . pat. ) nam etsi paternis laboribus succedere , dulce est , ac noto ac familiari gregi praeesse , jucundius est , quàm externo & alieno ; addam etiam , deo carius , ( nisi me fallit , & mentem eripit consuetudo : ) non tamen conducibilius est , nec tutius , quàm ut volentibus praesint volentes ; quandoquidem neminem vi duci vult lex nostra ; nec coactè , sed sponte gubernari . ambrose , com. in epist. ad ephes. cap. 4. ( if it be his ) sayeth ; antiqua consuetudo fuit , ut antiquissimo presbytero , antiquissimus succederet in episcopatum . there be many epistles of s. leo , to this purpose , which are adopted by the canon law. vid. epist 88. ( habetur dist. 63. ) epist. 93. ( habetur etiam dist. 63. ) epist. 95. ( habetur dist. 62. ) where he speaks thus ; nulla ratio sinit , ut inter episcopos habeantur , qui nec à clericis sunt electi , nec à plebibus expetiti . and epist. 90. he requires these things as necessary to the ordination of a bishop ; viz ; subscriptio clericorum , honoratorum testimonium , ordinis consensus & plebis : and in the same epistle , speaking of the choice of a bishop , he sayeth it was done , subscribentibus , plus minus , septuaginta presbyteris ; therefore it is observed , that all the clergy concurred to the choice of the bishop of rome himself , ( except what was done in that time called the infaelix seculum , which turned all good order topsy-turvy in the church . ) till the rise of gregorie the seventh , in whose time popery began to culminate in the cuspe of the tenth house ; thence casaubon calls it haeresin hildebrandinam . that it was so , before the time of hildebrand , is evident from the gloss upon the canon-law , which from the decree of p. honorius the third , concludes , non posse eligi praelatum ex aliena dioecesi , sed illum postulandum ; & praevalere electionem personae de proprio clero , electioni factae de alio , etiamsi illa facta sit à minore parte electorum . and in the theodosian code , ( l. 33. de episcop . & cler. ) we find an imperial constitution of arcadius and honorius , corroborating that ecclesiastical law ; ne , viz. in ecclesiis , alii quàm originarii locorum ordinentur . for it was ob inopiam clericorum catholicorum , that nectarius a laick was chosen ; and ambrose designed , somewhat miraculously . as for tarasius and photius it was long before other bishops gave them the right hand of fellowship . but whoso desires more ample satisfaction in this matter , let them read m. anton. de dom. repub. eccles. l. 3. c. 3. where he proves at great length from councels , fathers , and church-history , that the regular election of bishops did pertain to the clergy sedis vacantis ; and that many ages after the famous councel of nice . sure i am , if that method had been constantly observed ; some , who are now situated in the zenith of the church , should have still remained but few removes from the nadir thereof , as henry the third of france said to some bishops of his own nomination , who pressed him to pemit the election to run in the ancient channel , that if it had alwayes done so , they should never have been bishops . article v. ier. 23. 11. zeph. 3. 4. 1 tim. 3. 2 , 4. & 4. 7. & 6. 20. 2 tim. 2. 16. tit. 2. 1 , 2 , 3 〈◊〉 when the prelate of this church is regularly elected and consecrated , let him manifest the sacredness of his order , rather by the gravity of his deportment , and spirituality of his discourse , tending alwayes to the edification of the hearers , than merely by his canonical garb : though it was alwayes my judgment , that it is most consonant to reason and good order , that the clergy be differenced by their habit from the laicks ; for that sacerdos habitus ( according to the african dialect of tertullian , in his obscure treatise de palli● ) imports no less . and if they go abroad without that discrimination , they should not enjoy the privileges which the civil law hath granted in their favours : ( as was well discerned by that learned , devout , and resolute prelate , arch-bishop lawd : ) that he may verifie of of his function what minutius foelix said of christians in general ; non habitu sapientiam praeserimus , sed mente ; non magna eloquimur , sed vivimus : and may give no occasion to any to apply that of st. hilary to himself , sanctiores sunt aures plebis , quàm corda sacerdotum ; not to mention that more celebrated sentence , surgunt indocti & rapiunt coelum , &c. that which the traveller sands sayes of the mufti at constantinople , ought to be the commendation of all church-men , grave were his looks , and grave was his deportment . i deny not but urbanity ( if seasonable ) is tolerable in a church-man ; there is a time to laugh , saith solomon ; and they who have a solid interest in holy iesus , have the greatest reason in the world to be merry . the morosity of an aristarchus , and soureness of a diogenes , are not only unpleasant to company , but also scandalous to religion ; as if it behoved all real christians to be sick of bellerophon's disease , ( which was a furious sadness ; ) on which account , some brain-sick hereticks in this land have brought up a reproach upon the most rational and excellent religion in the world. st. cyprian had a most complaisant conversation with his presbyters , ( as is recorded by pontius diaconus in the history of his life : ) and martin of towrs had his own jests , as sulpitius s●verus reports of him ; and st. ambrose had his witty repartees , as is testified by st. augustine ; yet they were accounted the gravest men of their time. but as for scurrility , and a trade of buffoonery or drollery , and the least shadow of obscenity , with all trifling discourses , church-men should hate them all cane & angue pejus ; remembring that old maxim , nugae , nugae in quolibet ore ; at in ore sacerdotis , blasphemiae : it being noted as a great crime in pope iulius the third , ( by that great historian thuanus ) that he was , ad scurrilitatem usque festivus . and if before plebeians they lose the least of their gravity , they may resolve upon it , to lose infallibly so much of the intrinsick authority of their office. vid. concil . carthaginens . 4. can. 45. concil . matisconens . 1. can. 3. & 4. concil . bracarens . 1. can. 30. bracarens . 3. can. 2 , & 3. synod . quini-sext . can. 27. ( where we have these words ) clericus vestem sibi convenientem induat , tam in urbe quàm in via . concil . agathens . can. 28. concil . carthaginens . 3. can. 3. carthaginens . 4. can. 60. ( where we find these words ) clericum scurrilem , & verbis turpibus joculatorem , ab officio retrahendum . vid. etiam can. 61 , & 62. ejusdem concilii . vid. clement . alex. paedagog . circiter finem . et lib. 3. strom. circa initium . tertull . lib. de pudicitiâ : chrysostom . lib. 3. de sacerdotio : prosp. de vita contemplativâ . lib. 1. greg. 1. cura past. part . i. bernard . lib. 1. de considerat . article vi. isa. 56. 10. act. 6. 4. & 20. 20 , 31. 1 cor. 9. 16 , 17. 2 tim. 4. 3. let this prelate be frequent in preaching the blessed gospel ; not neglecting that duty every lord's day , whether at home or abroad , if he be in health . ( which was expressly ordained by the 19. canon synod . quini-sext . and 20 can. of the fourth councel of carthage : ) that he may not only avoid the sarcasm of that buffoon , who said , he would hide himself in the pulpit , where the lazy bishop would not find him for a year and day ; but also by his practice may demonstrate to the world , that his heart joyns issue with st. augustin's wish , that when christ comes again to iudge the world , he may find him either praying or preaching . which last behoved to be the practice of bishops in some parts of the world ; unless either they , or the people belonging to their cathedral , were deprived of preaching on the lords day : for in the churches of africa no presbyter was permitted to preach in presence of the bishop , till the time of valerius , st. augustine's immediate predecessour in the see of hippo : who ( as possidius in the life of augustine reports ) being a greek , and by reason of his little skill in the latin tongue , unable to preach to the edification of the people , ( hippo being a roman colonie ) admitted s. augustine ( whom he had lately ordained presbyter ) to preach before him : which was ill resented by some bishops , yet became a precedent at last to other churches . but there is another exception ( besides that of bodily infirmity ) which may sufficiently warrant the conscience of a bishop to forbear preaching , pro hic & nunc ; and that is ; a desire to experiment the gift of another within his jurisdiction ; ( whether a candidate , or one already in orders ) for seeing he is , virtute ossi●ii , pastor pastorum ; that inspection must needs be a special part of the episcopal function . vid. concil . aurelianens . 1. can. 13. cujus haec sunt formalia verba ; quod episcopus , si infirmitate non fuerit impeditus , ecclesiae cui proximus fuerit , die dominico deesse non debet . et can. 2. concil . toletan . 11. where an unpreaching bishop is fitly termed praeco mutus . but because the elegancy of the style and matter , would invite any to read that canon , i shall therefore give the ingenuous reader an account of it . quantum quis praecelsi culminis obtinet locum , tantum necesse est praecedat caeteros gratiâ meritorum , ut in eo qui praesidet singulis , singulariter ornetur eminentiâ sanctitatis ; habens semper & in ore gladium veritatis , & in opere efficaciam luminis : ut , juxta paulum , polens sit exhortari in doctrina sana , & contradicentes revincere . nos proinde nostri ordinis gradum , vel suscepti regiminis modum magnopere cogitare debemus , ut qui officium praedicationis suscepimus , nullis curis à divina lectione privemur ; nam quorundam mentes pontificum ita corporis otio à lectionis gratia secluduntur , ut quid doctrinae gregibus subditis exhibeat , non inveniat praeco mutus . insistendum ergo semper erit majoribus , ut quos sub regiminis cura tuentur , fame verbi dei perire non sinant . the ninteenth canon of the sixth general councel speaking almost to the same purpose ; and adds something more ; that in the exposition of scripture , they ought to follow the interpretation of the primitive fathers , and doctors of the church ; and not presume to deliver to their auditors , quicquid in buccam venerit . and for that end , recommends unto them the accurate study of these ancient luminaries of the church . which useful speculation is too much neglected in this age ; to which , that of the egyptian priest to the grecian philosopher , may be applied ; ye have neither knowledge of antiquity , nor antiquity of knowledge . vid. augustin . contra faustum manish . lib. 32. cap. 10. at vero qui electus ab ecclesia ministerium evangelizandi renuerit , ab ecclesia ipsa meritò contemnitur : qui enim & sibi prodest & ecclesiae , bene intelligitur utroque pede calceatus . vid. etiam lib. 19. de civit. dei , cap. 19. chrysostom . lib. 2. de sacerdot . hieronym . ad nepotian . & greg. 1. part. 1. de cura pastor . article vii . prov. 27. 23. act. 15. 36 , 41. & 20. 28. act. 8. 14 , 15 , 17. heb. 6. 2. next , let this shepherd of pastors be careful to visit his diocess once every year , in conformity to the antient canons ; unless it be of a very great dimension , and the churches therein so numerous , that the difficulty is insuperable : but what is wanting the one year , should be supplied in the beginning of the next ; that by such accurate visitations he may find opportunity to water what god hath planted , and to thrust those out of the vineyard , whom the great master never sent to work there : ( they being hurried thereinto by their own insufficient forwardness , simoniacal pactions , and other unconscionable principles ; and whose after-practices are found too sutable thereunto . ) and let him exactly take notice , when he comes upon the place , if the minister and people perform reciprocal duties , and afford mutual encouragements one to another . but , seeing all these particulars are fully expressed in the books for visitations , i shall add no more but this general ; that he is bound to take inspection , if the incumbent use a conscionable endeavour to perform all personal , relational , and functional duties ; which if he be found to do , let him have his due encouragement : for , virtus laudata crescit , &c. & laudando praecipimus . but if any be deprehended to be very defective in their intellectuals , or morals , or in any of the elicit , or imperat acts of those faculties , so that charity it self cannot be so blind , but may perceive , that they throw down more with the one hand , than they build with the other ; let these be censured according to their demerits . for ( as a skilful physician ) our prelate is obliged to purge the mystical body , of its most noxious humours , by applying seasonable catharticks , and a dose too that is proportionable to the distemper ; and ( as a good surgeon ) speedily to cut off these organical members , which are already sphacelated , lest that gangrene invade the whole body . ense recidendum , ne pars sincera trahatur , ( saith the poet. ) which if he do not , he must resolve to be accountable to the most impartial tribunal imaginable , ( which is infinitely above the pretended justice of aeacus , minos , and radamanthus ) for those destructive neglects , which carry the apparent ruin of many souls in the front of them . likewise , at these visitations , they may find an excellent opportunity of retriving ( jure-postliminii ) that antient ceremony of confirmation , excluding ( in the mean time ) all superstition therefrom ; though some are apt to believe , that it is not the fear of giving offence , which is the remora of this useful practice , but rather the laziness of some church-governours ; that ceremony being one of the honourable prerogatives of episcopacy , and , ( as some thought ) incommunicable to presbyters ; there being very few instances of any of them , who in the primitive church were delegated to perform the same . and sure , the seasonable noticing , if ministers and parents have exercised their respective duties in order to the education of young ones , is so far from giving just matter of offence to any , that ( if rightly considered ) it would be found in it self a work highly commendable , and very profitable for the church , if conscionably practis'd . for what harm can the imposition of a bishop's hands do to any , unless they have the polonian plica , or a fanatical leprosie in their heads ? and sure i am , the fervent prayer of an holy bishop , seconded with the devotion of that church before which the confirmed person hath solemnly homologated his baptismal vows , may do much good , in order to the procuring of their growth in grace , and the knowledge of holy iesus , and the enabling of them to perform these vows and purposes , and that profession of faith which they had before embraced in baptism . but we need not insist any more on this particular ; for the usefulness thereof is so evidently , and fully holden forth , by d. hammond , taylor , dallee , hanmer , and baxter , that no rational man will any more doubt thereof . vid. concil . toletan . 4. can. 35. cujus haec sunt formalia verba ; episcopum per cunctas dioeceses , parochiasque suas per singulos annos ire oportet ; ut exquira● quo unaquaeque basilica indigeal : quod si ipse , aut languore , aut aliis occupationibus implicatus , id explere nequiverit , presbyteros probabiles , aut diaconos mittat , qui & reditus basilicarum , & reparatio●es , & ministrantium vitam , inquirant . but the form of these visitations is holden forth at greater length , can. 1. concil . bracarens . 2. sic incipit . placuit omnibus episcopis atque convenit , ut per singulas ecclesias episcopi , & per dioeceses ambulantes , primùm discutiant clericos , quomodo ordinem baptismi teneant vel missarum ( whereby we are to understand the ordinary liturgie of the church : for what the greeks called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the latines about that time called m●ssa . ) & qualiter quaecunque officia in ecclasia peragant . et si rectè quidem invenerint , deo gratias agant ; sin autem minimè , docere debent ignaros , & modis omnibus praecipere ; sicut antiqui canones jubent , &c. et sic posteà , episcopus de illa ecclesia proficiscatur ad aliam . as for those canons which concern the ceremony of confirmation , and the privilege of bishops therein , they are so numerous , that it 's in vain to consume paper about them . vid. hieronym . in epist. ad galat. cap. 5. resecandae sunt putridae carnes , & scabiosa ovis à caulis repellenda , ne tota domus massa , corpus , & pecora ardeant , corrumpantur , putrescant , interiant : arrius in alexandria una scintilla fuit , sed quia non statim oppressa est , totum orbem ejus flamma populata est . vid. etiam prosp. lib. 2. de vita contemplat . cap. 7. & bernard . de considerat lib. 4. article viii . isa. 42. 19 , 20. mat. 10. 16. & 23. 16 , 24. luk. 6. 39. & 12. 42. 1 tim. 4. 6 , 13. & 5. 22. & 6. 3 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14. tit. 1. 8 , 9. & 2. 7 , 8. § mat. 26. 52. act. 23. 5. rom. 13. 1 , 2. 1 pet. 2. 13 , 14. §. iohn 2. 16. act. 8. 20 , 21. 1 tim. 5. 21. 2 tim. 2. 2. 2 pet. 2. 3. seeing the candidates of the sacred function are no inconsiderable part of the episcopal charge , let those of that eminent order , exactly note the ensuing particulars , before they proceed to ordination . 1. if they have a competent measure of knowledge , whereby they are able to oppose , and convince gain-sayers . vrim and thummim , should be laid up in the pectoral of every gospel-priest ; that is , the light of knowledge , and perfection of manners : for , if they be sent of god , the almighty will put his word into their mouths , before he set them over the nations . and if any be found to reject knowledge , let them be rejected from being priests unto the lord ; our saviour having told us , that if the blind lead the blind , both shall fall into the ditch . but , alas ! there be too many in this age , to whom that old observation may be too justly applied , multi fiunt indoctorum magistri , &c. 2. yet there be some who undergo the fate of our first parents ; the tree of knowledge bereaves them of the tree of life : for , as there be comets which have the light and elevation of stars , so there are vicious persons that are endued with excellent parts , and though they have the venom of dragons in their hearts , yet they have precious stones in their heads . and there be too many who resemble the carpenters of noah's ark , they are instrumental in saving others , and , in the mean time , by acts of immorality , ruine their own souls ; and though their heads be like the winter-sun , which is sometimes full of light , yet their hearts resemble the winters earth , which is alwayes cold and barren . therefore their present conversation should be carefully examined : and let a prelate of the church choose rather to lay his hands upon thorns , than on the heads of those , whose hearts are polluted , and their deportment is scandalous to the world ; which cannot but prove a stumbling-block to many , and paves the way to speculative atheism in their hearers . 3. but as a compound of intellectuals and morals , let the next inquisition be after his prudentials . ( which inquest is too much neglected in this age. ) s. gregorie of rome hath told us , that , ars artium est , cura animarum : and sure , he needs no small measure of christian prudence , who hath not only his own soul to govern , but is also appointed to be the guide of others . our saviour hath commanded all his disciples , to joyn the wisdom of the serpent , with the innocency of the dove : which holy sagacity is indispensably necessary in all ministers of the gospel ; in destitution whereof , he that is iuvenis moribus , if admitted to sacred orders , will bring that curse upon the church , children shall rule over them . 4. neither ought he to be iuvenis aetate : for ; the word of the lord was precious in those dayes , when the child samuel ministred before him in a linnen ephod . i wish , the canonical year appointed by the ancient church , were well observed in this : then no minor should be found to intrude himself into the administration of spiritual matters , to whom the civil law permits not an irrevocable management of his own temporal affairs . and let not a dispensation be given to any , upon the pretext of the more early blossoms of his youth ; for that will open too wide a door to many others , to claim the same privilege , though no praecox fructus is visible in them , or scarce any appearance of winter-fruit : for , unto all such , that dicterium may be fitly applied , malitia supplet aetatem . therefore let all the governours of the church be careful to stop the career of those hasty births , who run abroad with the shell on their heads . 5. and let them not fail to search diligently into the principles of the candidates , before they give them imposition of hands . and if they be found to be , either schismatical , ( as that they are apt to controvert the lawfulness of the present government of the church , by arch-bishops , and bishops , or to question any innocent ceremony which may be imposed by authority . ) or disloyal ; by justifying the late damnable rebellion , at least as to the two great wheels of that hellish combination : viz. by maintaining the lawfulness of defensive arms in subjects against their prince ; which ( if once taken up ) do seldome fail to become offensive , e're they be laid down . i shall say no more against this infernal spring , but that the primitive church knew no such doctrine , nor practice : and they must be grossely ignorant of their tenents who imagine the contrary ; it being lippis & tonsoribus notum , that preces & lachrymae , were the only offensive and defensive arms of that church , against her most violent persecutors , under the notion of authority : so that we need not instance s. mauricius , with his famous thebaean legion ; nor the army of iulian the apostate ; nor make a retrogradation unto the apologetick of tertullian , who tells the roman emperour , that the christians in his time were so numerous , that they had so filled the court , and places of judicature , yea and the imperial army it self , that they wanted not sufficient physical power to defend themselves against all their adversaries ; if their excellent religion had not taught them , rather to suffer patiently for god , than to resist the authority then in being ; which ( though wickedly exercised ) they acknowledged to be derived from god. or if they have the confidence to say , that there is an obligation lying upon people , ( when they dream of a necessity ) to reform the church , if they suppose the prince to be negligent ; and that , not only without , but also against the authority of their sovereign : such bigots , though dying in the attempt , were never reputed martyrs by the primitive church , but rather judgjudged seditious ; as is evident from can. 60. concil . elib . which insinuates this reason ; that paul made not use of his hands , but only of his eloquent tongue against the idols of athens . if such phanatical principles be found in them , let them be rejected , as the dangerous spawn of presbyterian , independant , and anabaptistical brood , which is still endeavouring to hatch a cockatrice egg , that may prove a basilisk to this church . and i fear there be too many such young snakes already taken in her bosome , which , being once warmed with the heat of sedition , will do their endeavour to sting unto death the mother that fosters them . yet , i should wish , that if any of these youths be found towardly ( though pitifully marred in their education ) the bishop who is most concerned in them , would take them home to his own family , and ( by piece-meal ) instill better principles into them ; it being found by experience , that they who are sincere converts , become most zealous for the interest of the church . 6. the next particular i would have noticed , is that of simony : therefore let all those who desire to enter into holy orders , or who are to be transplanted from one church to another , purge themselves by oath of that crime . it cannot be denyed , but that the usual oath tendered in this church , is indifferent strict , though some ( in this subtle age ) have invented modes of evading it ; but whatsoever paction parents make privily with the patron , let not the sons be balked from vindicating themselves of being art or part of those hellish transactions ; it being more consonant to reason , that they who are of approved integrity should be waved , than those who are under suspition : for , as iulius caesar said of his wife , so it should be with all ministers of the gospel , even not only void of a crime , but also of suspicion . but i fear the contrary is too frequently done ; that oath being tendered in course to those who are under no suspicion but these sometimes pretermitted who are under a flagrant scandal of simony . which omission not only verifies that of the poet , dat veniam corvis . &c. but also brings an indelible reproach on the church , and governours thereof . and if any church-man , having come by a blank presentation , should be so graceless , as to fill up the name of his reciprocal beneficiary , because he hath replenished the pockets of his patron with some money ; though a jeering laick would happly say , emerat ille prius , vendere jure potest : yet there is not modest ecclesiastick , but would be so far out of countenance with that reproach upon the church , as to return nothing else , save that lamentation of the poet , — pudet haec opprobria nobis et dici potuisse , & non potuisse refelli . and if any refuse to take the oath when it is tendered to them , let them be declared inhabiles , according to the ancient canons . and if they be found afterwards guilty , notwithstanding they have taken the oath ; let them be degraded and excommunicated , for adding perjury to that crime which needed no complication to make it great ; for they who , living in the gall of bitterness , and bond of iniquity , have owned simon magus for their father , ought not to be reputed sons of the church . and let all those gehazites , who have the impudence to sell such matters ( that kind of merchandise having become too much in fashion in this age ) be censured according to the canons of the church : for to their souls , ( as an old father hath said , st. ambrose by name ) in lieu of the grace of god , a leprosie doth cleave , much worse than that which did adhere unto the covetous servant of elisha , and his seed for ever . their common apology may be easily answered . for , though it is no spiritual gift which they sell , and consequently not properly simony ; yet it is spirituali annexum , and therefore declared by the canons of the church , to fall under the censure of that crime , and its denomination . and seeing , by all the laws whereby our church is governed , the officium is declared inseparable à beneficio , ( there being no ministeria vaga amongst us ) and by the canon-law , when a presbyter was ordained sine titulo , the bishop who did so , was bound to maintain him , till he were otherwise provided ; therefore our church hath good reason to censure the buyers and sellers of benefices , as simoniacal persons . now over and above that pathetical declamation of st. ambrose , i could amass many other sharp invectives of the fathers against this crime ; but i forbear , lest this article swell to too great a bulk : and shall only add this wish ; that , seeing there be too many laick patrons who have a liquorish appetite after the sweetness of god's bread , ( as one phraseth it to a very bad sence , ) i say , i wish that they were authorized by a municipal law , to gather up the fruits of the first year's vacancy , or of the half thereof , where there is an annat ; provided , that the bishop of the diocess , with the advice of the respective presbytery , ( who may be presumed to know better than any , the state of a vacant church within their own bounds ) have the nomination of the incumbent . which expedient , would not only obviate that detestable crime , but should also prevent many other inconveniences , not fit to be here expressed . as for the pretence of a law , wherewith some in this land are apt to ●alliate their simony ; i shall remit them to the epistle dedicatory of d. i. forbes of corse , before his tractate upon simony , where our learned compatriot , with an holy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , declames most rationally against that surreptitious edict , which he fitly terms , non lex , sed labes : and though some account it lex soli , yet , that it should never be reputed by any christian to be lex poli. if we should amass all the canons of the councels , and invectives of the fathers , these alone would amount to no small volume ; but lest this enchiridium swell too much , i shall supersede many of them : yet the ingenious reader may find divers of them subjoyned , by way of confirmation , to this article . but to shew how detestable that crime of simony was in the eyes of the ancient church , and how cautious these primitive lights were in that affair , i cannot forbear , just now , to notice that canon of the councel of ancyra , which determined , that nothing should be given at the time of receipt of the eucharist , though under the notion of charity to the poor ; lest any should suspect that donation to be made for the holy communion , but , alack ! we have reason to fear in this age , that the time is come of the fulfilling of the prophecy of s. bernard , that christ will again descend from heaven , and take the whip in his hand , and scourge mercenary priests out of his temple , as formerly he did other kinds of merchants . which flagellation too many avaricious prelates of rome have good reason to fear , for presuming to dispence in this matter ; not only with all the ancient canons , but also with the inviolable law of god ; by practising various kinds of simony , not fit here to be expressed . i am not ignorant of that base flattery of some roman parasites , ( i mean the sycophantine canonists : ) who look upon the pope of rome as the lord paramount on earth of all the degrees of priesthood ; whence they infer● , that he cannot commit simony , though he should make sale of them all ; because a lord may lawfully sell his own . which perverse doctrine ( as it was well observed , so it ) is most rationally confuted by that moderate and learned roman doctor cl. espencaeus in his excellent comment . on the epist. to tit. to which i remit those base flatterers for their castigation . and i wish from my heart , that some leading men in this church , did not transcribe that copy of pretended dispensations : if it were so , we should not find any of them so impudent as to give it under his hand , that a simple rebuke is an adequate punishment unto a presbyter who is convict of notorious simony ; & that this least of censures is an expedient fit enough to unload the church of that great burden of reproach , w ch such a flagrant scandal had laid upon it . but seeing this oracular response of delphi is so diametrically opposite to all the ancient canons , we hence perceive fortuna quem nimium favet , stultum facit . 7. in the last place , i would tender this humble advice to all the governours of this church . seeing they enjoy the privilege of the advocation of some churches , that they be exceedingly solicitous , to provide persons for those vacances , that are pares negotio : and let them be of alexander the great his mind , about the succession , whose last words were , detur digniori ; rather than the more uncertain testament of pyrrhus the epirote , who bequeathed all at random , unto him who had the sharpest sword. for if it be otherwayes , indifferent spectators will be apt to pass this verdict upon it , that bishops are no more concerned with the interest of the church than laicks , and that they have drawn them a copy , to present insufficient men . but , as i hope , none of the sacred order shall in that race which god hath set before them , be found to resemble atalanta , who was diverted from her course by the three golden apples of hippomanes , ( a fit emblem of the profits , pleasures and glory of the world , which are a snare to all , and ruine the greatest part of the sons of men . ) so i should wish , that none of them be so blind with natural affection , as to bring a reproach upon themselves , and give scandal to the gospel , by preferring unworthy relatives in the church . perit enim omne judicium ( saith seneca ) cùm res transierit in affectum . i cannot deny , but if indifferent persons ( who have a faculty of judging such matters , ) do observe in those , a competency of means adapted to the end of their employment , so much respect may be deferred to a natural obligation , that caeteris paribus , they may be preferred : for there is a possibility of erring when they consult not with flesh and blood ; as is evident , in civil matters , from antipater's mistake , in preferring polyspercon to the protectorship of aridaeus , though his son cassander was found by experience to be the fitter man : and that greek emperour who mixed the meal of the western christians with lime , when they went to recover the holy land from infidels , was recommended to the imperial dignity , by his dying father , before his elder brother , meerly upon the account of that publick spirit , and sentiments of justice , which the misjudging father apprehended to be in him . but if the tie of nature be the a and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his recommendation , there being scarce any thing else to make the aequilibrium , ( far less to preponderate the scale ; ) but only some grains of homogeneal blood ; then let a church-man remember , that in the cause of god , a good levite regards not his nearest relations , nor doth acknowledge his brethren . and let them trace the foot-steps of that holy groslhead , bishop of lincoln , when one of his relatives ( who was but a ground-labourer , ) heard of grosthead's preferment , his gross ignorance and meanness of his former employment , were no remora to his vain ambition , in desiring to be a labourer in god's vineyard ; but that famous prelate repelled him with this deserved sarcasm , cousin ( said he ) if you want a yoke of oxen , i will cause buy them to you ; if ye are destitute of seed to sow your ground , i will supply that also ; or if your plough be broken , i will give you a new one ; but an husbandman i found you , and an husband man i leave you . vid. can. apost . 30. item synod . neo-caesariens . can. 2. concil . arelatens . 3. can 1. concil . toletan . 4. can. 19. concil . general . 6. can. 14 , 15. concil . general . 4. can. 2. where the giver , the receiver , the mediator ( even all that are found to have trucked in that sinful affair of simony ) are condemned to great censures . yea can. 3. concil . bracarens . 2. there is an anathema danti , & anathema accipienti . concil . aurelianens . 2. can. 3 , 4. concil . avernens . can. 2. concil . aurelianens . 5. can. 3. concil . toletan . 8. can. 3. concil . toletan . 2. can. 8 , 9. concil . bracarens . 3. can. 7. concil . cabilonens . can. 16. sic se habet nullus episcopus , nec presbyter , vel abbas , seu diaconus , per proemium ad sacrum ordinem accedat ; si accesserit ipso honore privetur . concil . toletan . 6. can. 4. the express words thereof , being adopted by concil . general . 6. can. 22. are these ; ob pecuniam promotos , sive episcopos , sive clericos , deponi jubemus . & concil . toletan . 10. can. 3. where at great length , bishops are prohibited to prefer unworthy relations to churches . vid. hieronym . in malach. ad cap. 1. coecum animal offert qui ordinat indoctum loco docti , magistrumque facit qui vix discipulus esse poterat . origin . hom. 6. in levitic . & 22. in l. num. august . lib. de catechizandis rudibus cap. 9. ambros. de dignita●e sacerdot . cap. 5. cum ordinaretur episcopus , quod dedit , aurum fuit ; quod perdidit , anima fuit : cum alium ordinaret , quod accepit , pecunia fuit , quod dedit , lepra fuit ? gratiam cum ordinareris non suscepisti , quia gratuitò 〈◊〉 non meruisti . idem , lib 4. ad cap. 4. luc. leon. 1. epist. 84. & 85. ad episcop . afric . ubi invehitur adversus candidatos nimium juvenes . greg. 1. in evang. tract . hom. 4. & lib. 4. epist. 55. vid. etiam lib. 5. epist. ambros. in oratione contra auxentium . non pila quaerunt ferrea , non arma , christi milites . coactus , repugnare non novi : sed dolor , fletus , orationes , lachrymae , fuerunt mihi arma adversus milites ; talia enim sunt mumimenta sacerdotis , aliter nec debeo , nec possum resistere : fugere autem , & relinquere ecclesiam , non soleo : servum christi , non custodia corporalis , sed domini providentia , sepire consuevit . here we have a clear authority of a great and good man , condemning defensive arms in subjects , against their prince , in any case whatsoever . but the iambicks which usher in this testimony , have been prefixed thereunto by another hand . article ix . isa. 30. 20. zech. 11. 17. act. 6. 2 , 3 4. rom. 12. 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , & 8. this article may be termed the corolary of the two former : as divers ensuing fall under that denomination : for if the superintendency of the doctrine , discipline , worship and government of the church , ( especially of his own diocess ) should be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of this office , yea the center and circumference of the episcopal vocation , as may appear from the preceding proposals : ) then we may pertinently inferr , that the crime of non-residency , must be very odious in the sight of god , and scandalous to the church ; unless very urgent reasons plead for a dispensation for a short time . what was said of some monks , by anthony the father of them , monachus in oppido , ut piscis in arido , may be applyed to all wandering levites , who are found straying in cities where there is no cathedral . the spanish bishops in the councel of trent , argued well against non-residency ; that it was contrary to the ancient canons , and repugnant to that which was established jure divin● : yet they needed not have gone further for a topick to prove the point , than their own natural reason ; it being a self-evident principle , that when the end is commanded , all the means are supposed to be enjoyned , without which it cannot possibly be obtained : now this spiritual employment alone , being a burden too weighty for atlas his shoulders , ( it being s. chrysostom's judgment , that the burden of a bishop was formidable , even to an angel , to undergo , ) unless sufflaminated with the divine aid ▪ so that a church-governour would need argus's eyes , and briareus's hands , to buoy up the church from sinking ; therefore there can be no place left for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of non-residency . and if any have the forehead to say , that the most part of these duties incumbent on a bishop , may be performed per vicarium ; he must give me leave to apply the other part of that maxim , per vicarium intrabit regnum coelorum . sure the ancient church had no such sentiments ; for , when the fathers of the councel of sardica took notice , that some bishops used to go to court upon by-errands , and private designs of their own , they ordained ; that no bishop should go to court , unless either immediately summoned by the emperour's letters ; or that their assistance were required , to help the oppressed , to right widows and orphans , and to rescue them from the unjust grasps of potent and merciless oppressours ; or to seek occasion to represent unto the supream magistrate the most pressing grievances of church and state , not suppressing the oppressions of great ones , whether without any shadow of law , or under some pretext thereof ; ( summum jus proving too often summa injuria ; ) and finally , to preserve their respective cities from imminent ruin ; thus flavianus the patriarch resorted to constantinople , to intercede with theadosius the great , in behalf of his antiochians , whose extermination that exasperated prince had designed ; and who can blame s. leo of rome , for travelling many miles , to divert that flagellum dei , from being a scourge to his city ; who at last , ( like to the high priest iaddus ▪ ) prevailed in his sute ? neither can we omit the usual temptation to non-residency ; which is ; plurality of benefices ▪ a scandal condemned even by the councel of trent , for a crime . such ingrossers would never have troubled rome , as ●nce a scottish bishop did , prompted by his conscience , to be rid of a considerable part of his charge and revenues . but , as the peace of conscience , so this heterogenial conjunction , passeth my natural understanding : and i think , my shallow capacity shall never reach it , how one man can be parson in one diocess , and bishop in another , and yet have a simultaneous sufficiency for both : for who is sufficient for one of these things ? and if it be said , that they are not without a precedent , being nothing else but emulators of that infamous bishop of lincoln , of whom it is written , that he had an organical church within himself , as having monopolized all the species of ecclesiastical offices in his own person , at one time ; yet i would demand of these monopolists , ( for i ingenuously confess , that such a davus as i , would need an oëdipus to unriddle this mystery . ) if they can determine the proper boundaries and measures of the subordination of that excentrick rectory to the bishop thereof ; and whosoever doth it intelligibly , erit mihi magnus apollo , and much wiser than that monster sphinx , in my esteem . for under the notion of a presbyter , he ought to be subordinate to his ordinary , and should reverence him as a father ; and yet ( in the mean time ) he may possibly claim ( jure stationis ) the place and privilege of an elder brother . but , seeing i have not so much geometry as to determine these marches , i shall only subjoyn this sentiment of mine ; that though many have good reason to doubt how these scattered flocks shall be competently fed by one who doth not pretend to bilocation , yet i have not the least scruple imaginable to believe , that they have a cordial design to feed their own families to the full , and not to live precariously . but i fear , that this tympany in their splenes , shall at last produce an atrophia in the mystical body ; unless a more skillful hand than that of an empyrick , do speedily apply chalybeat potions to their hypochondria . vid. can. apost . 14. & 37. item , concil . general . 1. can. 15 , 16. concil . sardicens . can. 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 14 , 15 , & 20. concil . general . 2. can. 2 , 3. concil . general . 4. can. 5. ( the canon law having adopted that ; and the 10 canon of that councel , against plurality of benefices . ) concil . antioch . can. 3. & 11. concil carthaginens . 3. can. 37. concil . aurelianens . 2. can. 13. concil . carthaginens . 5. can. 5. cujus haec sunt formalia verba ; placuit , ut nemini sit facultas , relictâ principali cathedrâ , ad aliquam ecclesiam in di●eces● constitutam se conferre ; vel in repropria , diutiùs quàm oportet , constitutum , curam vel frequentationem propriae cathedrae negligere . but what would these fathers have thought of those bishops who reside not at all within their own diocesses , and see their cathedral but once or twice a year at most ? their punishment we find in the 80 canon of the sixth general councel ; si quis episcopus , vel eorum qui in clero censentur , vel laicus , nullam graviorem habeat necessitatem , vel negotium difficile , ut à sua ecclesia absit frequentiùs , sed in civitate agens , tribus diebus dominicis unà non conveniat : si clericus est , deponatur ; si laicus , à communione separetur . vid. athanas. apolog. ad constantium imp. vid. chrysost. lib. 2. de sacerdot . prosp. lib. 2. de vita contemplativa : greg. 1. lib. 8. epist. 11. et secund. part. cura pastor . bernard . lib. 3. de consideratione , ad eugenium . article x. luk. 12. 14. ioh. 18 ▪ 36. 2 tim. 2. 4. & 4. 10. if non-residency be a crime in ecclesiasticks ; their immersing themselves in secular affairs , must needs be a piacular transgression , and scandal of the first magnitude : for such demonstrate themselves to be the genuine issue of demas , who first harkened to the gospel , and afterwards embraced this present world ; but with this difference , that demas again devoted himself entirely to the ministerial function ; but these who leap out of their own element , ( as if they were animalia amphibia ) declare by their polypragmatick● , that they have a complacency to live and die divided betwixt god and the world : and , for all the world , resemble that infamous pope boniface the eighth , who the one day appeared in the habit of a priest , and the next , in that of a secular person : yet with this discrimination , that some have adventured to do so , when it was no year of iubilee to the church . it cannot be denied , but that it hath been alwayes reputed ( even in pagan times too ) one of the honourable flogiums of an absolute s●cular prince , to be mixta persona cum sacerdote ; he being cus●os utri●sque tabulae ; and ( as constantine the great said of himself ) episcopus extra ecclesiam : but i did never read that it was accounted an encomium of a church-man , to be mixta persona cum saecularibus : sure , the primitive church judged not so , it being the great care of these times , to free ecclesiasticks from what might be either scandalous , or burdensome to the● calling : therefore , by their address to the great constantine , they p●●rchased that decree in their favours ; that the orthodox clergy should 〈◊〉 exempted from all civil offices , or whats●●ver might hinder their attendance upon the services of the church . his son constantius decreed ; that bishops in many cases should not be chargeable in the se●ular courts , but be tried in an assembly of bishops : which privilege was extended by honorius to all the clergy , that they should be tryed before their own bishops : and by another constitution , that , for the veneration which is due to the church , all ecclesiastical causes should be decided with all possible speed . the scope of all which laudable constitutions was , to obviate the unnecessary avocation of church-men from their own peculiar employment . but let those ●insey-woolsey m●dlers take example ( before they be made such examples ) from the tragical end of that famous chronologue , funcius , who commanded this instructive epilaph ( composed by himself ) to be engraven upon his tomb ; disce , m●o exemplo , mandato munere sungi : et fuge , ce● pestem , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . vid. can. apost . 7. & 80. item concil . chalcedonens . can. 3. concil . carthaginens . 1. can. 6 , 8 , 9. concil . carthaginens . 3. can. 15. con●il . mil●vitan . can. 19. concil . agathens . can. 7. the reason which is generally given by these canons , why ecclesiasticks ought not to immerse themselves in s●cular affairs , is that of the apostle , nemo militans deo , implicat se negotiis saecularibus . vid. h●eronym . ad nepotian . de vita cler. neg●tiatorem clericum , quasi quandam pestem , suge , &c. cypr lib. 1. epist. 9. augustin . 〈…〉 quaest. vet. & nov. test. cap. 〈…〉 ●mperf . in matth. ( quod 〈◊〉 tribuunt chrysostomo ) hom. 38. ad cap. 21. matth. all which homily speaks very pertinently to this purpose . cassiod . in ps. 70. article xi . we have not yet done with the excentrick orbs and epicycles of the episcopal function , which should be carefully evited , as distractions from their proper employment , and no less dangerous than the syrenian rock . therefore let me perswade all office-bearers in the church , to be very shie in medling with state-matter , and to hate ( cane & angue pejus ) the abbetting of state-factions ; and let them be ashamed to be found parasites to any : for all these irregularities are abominable stains in a mitre ; it being an observation of a very ancient date , that church-men never made good politicians ; ( the fatal ends of many of them in britain , being a sufficient evidence thereof . ) for , when ecclesiasticks abandon christian simplicity , ( which is the great ornament of all the disciples of holy iesus , but especially of church-men : ) and betake themselves to the infamous disingenuity of pope alexander the 6th , and that mali corvi malum ovum , caesar borgia ; ( for , as guicciardin reports , the father never spake as he thought , and the son never thought as he spake ; ) it is but just with god , ( who is truth it self , and abhors all deceitful men : ) to cast them out of his protection ; and not only to cause them tast ( even in this life ; ) the bitter fates of tantalus , sisyphus , tityus , prometheus , and the belides ; but also to permit them to dye the death of slaves , rather than of ingenuous persons : because they have divested themselves of the proper ga●b of the sons of the church , as a pope said of a french bishop , taken armed with a cask and corslet . yet this dehortation is not so to be understood , as if it were absolutely unlawful for the governours of the church to be assessors in any secular court : for , if a grand case of conscience be under debate there , or if the interest of the church be highly concerned , they may be lawfully present , if called thereunto ; not only as the fittest persons to resolve those doubts ( which must needs be granted by all , if it be supposed they have the due qualifications of their office ; for , artifici in sua arte ●redendum est ; ) but also , in regard they are the representatives of a considerable body in the nation . yet ( in the mean time ) let them with all modesty and humility decline to intermeddle with affairs that are purely secular ; in imitation of the arcients their abstention , and of that most reverend modern prelate l. andrews , the pious and learned bishop of winchester . and when they are called by their prince , to give their advice in the supreme councel of the nation ; let them not be m●er pedarii senatores , or the insignificant e●●oes of some leading secular subject ; but , with a christian freedom of spirit , ( as having dependance upon none , save god , and his vice-gerent upon earth : ) let them give their judgments impartially , according to their consciences ; eying singly in all their consultations and suffrages , the glory of god , and the good both of church and state. but if it happen , ( because of the sins of the land , that the prerogative and privilege seem to interfere ; let them use their utmost endeavours to find a temper , that they may be alwayes found to be nuncii pacis , and not bellows of sedition , and whirlwinds , agitating the contrary ●ides of faction , and sometimes tossed upon a s●ylla or charybdis by them : to which unstable elements the graecians resembled the orators and people of athens . but if any of them desire to ride safe at anchor , nigh to a calmer shore ; let them make it their chiefest study , to become favourites of the court of heaven , without any affectation of being darlings of the world , or special favourites of any court-minion upon earth : for if they be found to entertain no sublimer studies than these little arts of policy , they need not expect an euge bone serve , from the lord paramount of the world , and but little trust , in the end , from those terrestrial grandees whom now they pretend to adore . for , though the great minister at the time , hath , by his admirable abilities , served the interests of church and state , much better than all of them have done ; yet he may be afraid of as ingrateful a requital from some of them , as a very generous person , in the like circumstances , did meet with not long ago ; though he had done very good offices to this church . for , alas ! these old aphorismes , semel malus , semper malus ; & qui sallit in minimis , etiam in maximis , are too frequently verified in this age. and that prodigious wit who now sits at the helm , hath the more reason to apprehend that distastful event , it having been his fate heretofore , to find such unsuitable returns from many who had experienced his real and great favours in abundance . the best antidote against this unthankful venom of these vertiginous creatures , is , the unparallel'd constancy of his prince's favour , which ( i hope ) will not fail to buoy him up ( in the midst of all these fluctuating euripi , and most violent hurricanes , which have threatened , more than once , to tear all his sails in pieces : ) as long as the sinking example of the great deputy of ireland is recent in memory . and in fine , let them all study such an abstractedness from the world , and an entire precision from secular affairs , that all may find reason to judge , that they are the persons who use the world ( as the apostle phraseth it ) as if they used it not ; because the fashion thereof passeth away . yet though any of them were at much pains , to promove the mystical espousals of any heretrix in this land , with that lion of the tribe of iudah , it were a very commendable procuration , as being a part of their charge ; but to go about with vehement clandestine sollicitations , to make up a match betwixt secular persons , as if they had been employed ambassadours to conclude the treaty , and marry them by proxy , is so far from an ecclesiastick's due recollection , that it argues an intolerable distraction ; yea , so invidious and disobliging , that it hath proved no small temptation to many persons of quality , ( known to be lovers and supporters of the order : ) to have fallen , by that excentrick motion , into no small disgust therewith . vid. concil . toletan . 10. can. 2. which ordains those of the clergy , who are seditious or factious against authority , to be immediately 〈…〉 all dignity and honour . concil ▪ carthaginens . 4. can. 56. gujus ha●c sunt formalia verba ; cleri●us qui adulation● . & pr●ditio●ibus , vacare deprehenditur . ab 〈◊〉 degradatur . vid etiam can. 5● , 58 , 5● , & 61. ejusdem concilii . as for the testimonies of the scriptures , and of the 〈◊〉 ; seeing these which are adduced to homologate the article immediately preceding this in hand , do 〈◊〉 very ●itly for confirmation of the sam● , i shall therefore , ( for brevi●y sake ) 〈◊〉 the reader unto the perusal of them . but if any grudge for want of these , let them read epist. clem. rom. ad corinth . cypr. de simplicitate pra●lat . vel de vnit. eccles. and ambros. de dignitate sacerdot . in which excellent treatises , they will find abundant testimonies to this purpose . article xii . act. 1. 15 , 16 , 23 , & 15. 6 , 22 , 23. & 22. 18 , 20 , &c. 1 pet. 5. 3. 3 ioh. 9 , 10. having mentioned in the fore-going article , that bishops are the representatives of the organical church , it is a most rational consequence , that in all the great concerns thereof , they ought to consult the represented ; otherwise let them not any more usurp that title : it being an approved maxim of law , quod omnes tangit , ab omnibus tractari debet ; and there is another , ( whose application i wish they deserve not ; ) nem● fiat deterior , per quem melior factus non est . this was asserted long ago by a most ancient and honourable bishop , st. ignatius , in epist. ad trall . where he calls presbyters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , councellours and assistants of the bishop , and his synedrion ; making them parallel to the sanhedrim , or councel of elders , that were joyned to moses in his government , to facilitate the burden to him . but within the sphere of their own dioceses , i hope none of them will act any matter of importance , without the advice of the most judicious and conscientious of their clergy . i shall not take upon me to determine , whether episcopatus be ordo , or gradus tantum ; or if presbyters in the ancient occumenical councels , had a decisive suffrage ; sure i am , in some later ones they had : and in the most ancient , we find presbyters subscribents to the canons . and if it be alleged , that they were but delegates of some absent bishops ; ( for the chor-episcopi did unquestionably subscribe for themselves : ) yet it is as certain , that their delegation could not make them bishops . nam quod alicui suo nomine non licet , nec alieno licebit . but they must needs be hospites to all antiquity who deny them , even in general councels , to have had a consultive voice ; seeing some deacons ( who could speak good sence , and understood the matter in controversie , intus & in cute : ) were admitted to all their deliberations . this is evident from the instance of the great athanasius , at the first councel of nice ; who ( as he testifies of himself ) was then but a deacon of the church of alexandria , and not the president of the councel ; ( the as●ertion whereof , was a great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in i. calvin ) yet permitted , not only to debate , but also to consult ; because he understood the arrian heresie as well as any of them all . and that they had a decisive voice , ( i mean presbyters , and many times deacons also ) in the provincial councels ; we need no other evidence , than the inspection of the inscriptions and subscriptions of these synodical acts and canons . neither did any approved bishop of the primitive church erect a tribunal within his own precinct , from which , velut à tripode ) he alone , inconsulto , clero , pronounced oracular responses , and fulminating sentences , against any of the culpable clergy , whose gross midemeanours deserved the highest censures of the church : but this was done by a judicial concurrence of the synodical meeting , at least of some select brethren delegated thereby to be the bishop's assessors in that act of judicature . this is most evident , from the resolution of s. cyprian ; ( and in so clear a matter we need not amass any more instances . ) who , being consulted by some of his clergy , what they should do in the case of the lapsed ; he answered ; that being now alone , he could say nothing to it ; for that he had determined from his first entry upon his bishoprick , not to adjudge any thing by his own private order , without the councel , and consent of the clergy : which in the present case holds very well à minori ad majus . yea it is one of the most trite axioms of the canon-law ; episcopus solus honorem potest deferre , sed solus auferre non potest . vid. can. apost . 38. item concil . carthaginens . 1. can. 11. carthaginens . 2. can. 10. cartharginens . 4. can. 22 , & 23. the express words of the last canon , are these : vt episcopus nullius causam audiat absque praesentia clericorum suorum ; alioquin irrita erit sententia episcopi , nisi clericorum praesentiâ confirmetur . can. etiam 28 , & 29. ejusdem concilii . concil . aurelianens . 3. can. 15. concil . turonens . 2. can. 1. 6. concil . hispalens . 2. can. 6. cujus haec sunt formalia verba ; comperimus quendam presbyterum à pontifice suo injustè olim dejectum , & innocentem exilio condemnatum . ( which tragedy hath sometimes been acted upon other scenes than that of spain ) ideo decrevinus , ( juxta priscorum decretum ) synodali sententiâ ; vt nullus nostrùm , sine concilii examine , dejicere quemlibet presbyterum vel diaconum audeat . episcopus enim sacerd. libus & ministris solus honorem dare potest , auferre solus non potest ; tales enim neque ab uno damnari , nec , uno judican●● , poterunt honoris sui privilegiiste exm : sed praesentati synodali judicio , quod canon de illis praedep●●it , 〈◊〉 . vid. greg. 1. lib. 11. epist. 49. si quid de quocunque clerico ad aures 〈◊〉 pere en●rit , quod te juste possit offendere ; facilè non credas , sed praesentibus senioribus ecclesiae tuae diligenter est veritas perscrutanda : et tunc si qualitas rei poposcerit , canonica districtio culpam feriat delinquentis . this was the advice of that great bishop of rome , to one of his suffragan bishops . and i wish it were well observed by all of that order : if it were so , we should not at any time hear of the relegation of any presbyter , without a judicial ecclesiastical process first deduced against him . epist. ignatii , ad trall . orig. lib. 3. contra cels. compares the bishop in the church to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and the presbytery to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; as s. ignatius before him , resembled the bishop to the nasi in the sanhedrim , and the presbyters as the common councel of the church to the bishop . vid. cypr. epist. 6. 10. 18 , 24 , 34. hierom. ad cap. 3. isai. nos habemus in ecclesia senatum nostrum , coetum presbyterorum . ambros. in 1. tim. c. 3. hic enim episcopus est , qui inter presbyteros primus est . idem , in rom. 5. ( though it 's more probable , that hilary the roman deacon was author of that commentary , which is frequently cited by s. augustine with great applause . ) nam apud omnes utique gentes , honorabilis est senectus ; unde & synagoga , & postea ecclesia , seniores habuit , sine quorum consilio nihil agebatur in ecclesia . but if any desire to be fully cleared in the matter of fact , let them read blondel his apology ; where we find a shoal of instances for the assessorian dignity of presbyters and councels . i shall only point at two or three , which are obvious to any who have any acquaintance with church-history . we shall begin with pope victor ; and though his spirit was too violent , ( which peaceable irenaeus scrupled not to tell him ; ) yet he acted not any matter of moment without the consent of his clergy . so at antioch p. samosatenus , that heretical patriarch , was deposed by a synod , consisting of bishops , presbyters , and deacons ; and in their names the synodal epistle was penned , and directed to the catholick church ; and cornelius at rome declares , that all his presbyters concurred with him in condemning the schismatick novatus , though ( as eusebius informs us ) he had sixty bishops to be his associates in that synod . neither can we pretermit that excellent councel of illiberis , ( whose laudable canons are yet very instructive to thee catholick church : ) in which there were but nineteen bishops , and twenty six presbyters : but that which is instar omnium in the first and best of general councels , ( i mean that at ierusalem ) that the presbyters had a decisive voice with the apostles , is evident to any who can read ( without prejudice ) the tenour of those decrees . i shall shut up this point with the judgment of a learned and moderate episcopal man , who , in his irenicum , speaks to this purpose ; the top-gallant of episcopacy cannot be so well managed for the right steering the ship of the church , as when it is joyned with the vnder-sails of a moderate presbytery . a succinct dissertation concerning the chor-episcopi , ( as they were termed in the greek-church , ) or the vicarii episcoporum , as they were named in the western church . we have added this paragraph ex superabundanti , to prove that some presbyters were honoured iure suffragii in general councels ; it being granted by all , that the chor-episcopi did subscribe in their own names , even in those oecumenical assemblies : if we shall make it appear , that they were nothing else but presbyters , invested with some more power than ordinary ; i hope the point is gained which we designed to prove . now the same is evident from the 13th canon of the councel of ancyra , and the 13th of the councel of neo-caesarea ; as also the 10th of the councel of antioch : in all which , the privilege that is accounted most essential to the episcopal function , viz. the power to ordain presbyters and deacons ( which ierom supposed to be the only formal difference betwixt bishops and presbyters ) is denied to the chor-episcopi . and though it may be objected ; that the tenth canon of the councel of antioch ( which is one of the provincials that was adopted by the sixth general councel ; ) insinuates , that the chor-episcopi were consecrated as bishops , by the imposition of the bishop's hands ; yet , that seems either to be a sophisticated canon , or that it was a ceremony of particular designation , like to that of the thirteenth of the acts ; for it is most certain , s. paul was an apostle long before that imposition of hands . which gloss upon the canon appears to me to be most probable ; because this provincial was celebrated a little after that famous councel of nice ; and it is most improbable , that they would have contradicted , so expressly , that great oecumenical , in two particulars ; viz. the ordination of a bishop by one individual of that order ; and the making two bishops in one diocess : whereas that first general councel ordains , three bishops , at least , to concur in the ordination of a bishop ; and appoints but one bishop in every diocess : the ignorance of which canon was a matter of regret to the great augustine , qui valerio in episcopatu hipponensi non successit , sed accessit . on which account , although he design'd eradius his own successor , yet he would not have him ordain'd in his own time : erit ( inquit ) presbyter ut est , quando deus voluerit futurus episcopus . and though it may be presumed , that p. damasus was not ignorant of that canon of antioch , ( if there was truly any such : ) he living so nigh to the time of that councel ; yet , in his constitution , whereby he endeavours to abolish the chor-episcopi , ( which we find in decr. gratian. p. 1. dist. 68. c. chor-episc . ) he calls them , meer and single presbyters ; and that through pride only they usurped the episcopal office : and that by virtue of their ordination they could not exercise any episcopal privilege , both the councel of neo-caesarea , and damasus , ground upon this foundation , that presbyters succeed only to the 70 disciples , and not to the apostles . but suppose the foundation on which they build to be a tottering basis , yet we may clearly read so much upon the frontispiece of that superstructure , that they judged the chor-episcopi to be nothing else but presbyters . but as to the succession , the learned spalatensis ( a great asserter of the episcopal privileges ) judgeth aright , that both bishops and presbyters are the apostles successors in potestate ordinaria ; but with this difference , that the former succeed in plenitudinem potestatis , the latter in partem sollicitudinis ; which in the case of the chor-episcopi , was a little amplified : that restraint which the ecclesiastical law hath laid upon the intrinsecal power of a presbyter being taken off . for an ecclesiastick may be impowered jure sacerdotii , to do many things in actu primo , even when the exercitium actûs is sitly bound up by the canons of the church , in order to the eviting of schism , scandal and confusion in the house of god ; which ought to be domus ordinata . and if that accurate antiquary beveregius had well considered this , he would not ( i suppose ) have so bitingly maintained , that the chor-episcopi could be nothing else but bishops . article xiii . mat. 20. 26 , 27 , 28. 1 tim. 5. 1 , 2. 2 tim. 2. 24 , 25. philem. 8. 9. having but just now mentioned the honour of the clergy , i would next advise all the governours of the church to demean themselves courteously and affably to all ; their christian gentileness and condescendence being the fittest machin to scrue out internal respect from all ranks of people . for nothing commends church-men so much , as a pious modesty : all degrees of persons , but especially theirs , being like coins , or medals ; to which , howsoever virtue give the stamp and impression , humility must give the weight . let not therefore any of them in their travels towards the northern pole , use insolent boastings towards any person of honour ; especially in their own habitations , which ought to be asyla to all . and let them not improve that strange logick any more , as to inferr , that some gentlemen are bigot fanaticks , because they earnestly entreated them to preach on the 29th of may , seeing they were upon the place , and the church was vacant : though they were not pleased to do it . or , to conclude , that they called some other bishops , cheats & knaves , because they wished , that all of them were as good and just as their own ordinary . for , without all peradventure one haughty expression of a proud priest , hath a greater tendency in it to proselyte a far greater number to fanaticism , than twenty uttered by the humblest of them all , can bring over to conformity . and let all honest ministers of the gospel have a large share of those acts of humanity ; ( none of which deserve that title , who afford not a due respect to their superiours , either in church or state ; he being most unworthy to command , who hath not first learned to obey . ) nothing being more easie than a little civility . and yet an obliging deportment in reference to the clergy , is a matter of great importance for the good of the order ; for by cherishing all those , as sons , and brethren , who are well principled , and make conscience of their office , they insinuate themselves into the hearts of those , who ( next to the favour of god , and of their prince , ) are indeed the best support of their government ; for ( as the excellent historian hath said ) concordiâ res parvae crescunt ; discordiâ maximae dilabuntur . o! how lovingly ( as there had been no disparity at all ) did st. ignatius , polycarp , irenaeus , cyprian , the three asian gregories , athanasius , basil , augustin , and many other lights of the primitive church , converse with their respective colleges of presbyters ? neither will i ever forget that excellent attestation of the pious and eloquent bishop hall , ( deservedly termed the english seneca ) who appealed to his own clergy , if his deportment amongst them were not such , as if he had been no more but a presbyter with them , or they all bishops with him . away then with that invidious expression in reference to presbyters , the inferiour clergy , ( though it is one of my eusticks , that all the governours of our church were superiour to all their presbyters , in that which is usually termed clergy : ) but whether that fantastick phrase savour more of pride or ignorance , it can hardly be determined . sure i am , in the primitive church only deacons and sub-deacons , with the rest of the orders inferiour to them , were so accounted : as for presbyters , they were called clerici superioris loci . and though some popish schoolmen have multiplyed the sacred orders into the number of nine , yet the generality of their theologues and canonists , reduce them to seven , whereof sacerdotium is the highest order ; which opinion indeed makes episcopatus to be but gradus sacerdotii ; and compriseth cantores under the lectores . it is also the judgment of some moderns , that , after the chor-episcopi were exauctorated by the primitive church , as useless and burdensome ; that presbyters were termed , antistites in secundo ordine ; which they collect from that iambick of s. gregorie , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . &c. i.e. the venerable senate of presbyters , that preside over the people , and possess the second throne . deacons were indeed prohibited by the ancient canons , to sitdown before presbyters , without their leave and command : but as for the demeanour of bishops in reference to their presbyters , it was a canon , renewed more than once ne sedeat episcopus stante presbytero . yea , more than so ; there be some , not inconsiderable antiquaries , who are so far from thrusting presbyters below the hatches , that they have elevated deacons to the upper deck of the superiour clergy ; imagining , that only sub-deacons , and these orders below them , are to be accounted the inferiour clergy , which they would collect from hierom. on tit. and aug. epist. 162. but , non sic fuit ab initio ; if we consult the 6th chapter of the acts of the apostles , where we may find , that they are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , viz mensarii , & eleemosynarii . ( see can. 16. concilii sexti generalis , & can. 4. con●cilii quarti carthag . and s. chrysostom's comment on the 6th of the acts. ) yet it cannot be denied , but that in the latter centuries of the primitive church , the order of deacons at rome , ( who were but seven in number , according to the primitive institution ; and that of presbyters very numerous ; ) began , not only to equal themselves , but also to look big upon the presbyters ; and the arch-deacon assumed the title of cardinal deacon : which superciliousness , not only gave occasion to the framing of those canons we have already hinted at , against them ; but also to st. hierom , a presbyter , to take the pen in his hand , that he might vindicate his own order from the contempt of their inferiours , which he doth at length , epist. 85. ad evagrium . for let blondel and salmasius pretend what they please , this renowed father had no quarrel with the order of episcopaly but was not a little irritated by the sawcy and arrogant behaviour of the deacons : and that they might learn to know , and keep their distance ; and that presbyters might look down upon them , as the church-nethinims , he screws up the presbyteratus as nigh to episcopacy as possibly he can . and , ( if i were not afraid to be accounted an impertinent digressor ) it were easie to demonstrate from the writings of this father , that he acknowledged the power of ordination , iurisdiction , and confirmation , to belong most properly to bishops . and , even in his comment on titus ( on which blondel layes the greatest stress ; ) he hath this differencing expression , in quo differt episcopus à presbytero , exceptâ ordinatione ? now , as exceptio firmat regulam in non exceptis , so the exception is presumed as true as the rule . and his , ad evit and a schismata &c. is by the greatest antiquaries looked upon ( and not without good reason ) as such an accident that did emerge in the apostles days . and how can it be conceived , that a man of hierom's temper , who was indeed very pious and learned , but withal had much keenness in his spirit , ( neither did his great adversary ruffinus belye him in this character , ut erat in quod intenderat vehemens : ) that he would have taken it in good part , that augustine should call himself , major hieronymo quà episcopus , if he had not believ'd the truth thereof ? credat iudaeus apella , non ego : not to mention his writing always respectfully to pope damasus , as his superiour in the church . so that one of the fifteen passages usually cited out of st. hierom's works , to prove the superiority of bishops over presbyters ; and that is , his dial. adv . luciferian . doth preponderate more with me , than spalatensis lib. 2. c. 3. who saith , that hierom's prejudice against bishops cannot be excused ; neither can i deny , but that he was much irritated by the insolent pride of iohn , patriarch of hierusalem . i shall only take notice of that , which indeed i account a punctilio not worth the noticing , though the enemies of this sacred order we are pleading for , lay no little weight upon it , therefore i shall speak a little unto it : and that is , hierom his asserting , that in the infancy of the christian church , there was an identity of names ; and that episcopus and presbyter signified one and the self same thing . for answer . i never judg'd it a real controversie which is managed about names ; he must be drenched very deep in the dregs of malice , ( saith tertullian ) who raiseth deadly quarrels about words or names , if there be no real controversie about things . therefore i shall readily grant unto them that bishops of old were called presbyters , or elders ; and shall go a greater length too , than ambrose in his comment on the ephesians , ( if it be his ) who tells us ; that omnis episcopus est presbyter ; sed non omnis presbyter est episcopus ; for i verily believe , that in the infancy of the gospel , presbyters were also termed bishops or overseers ; and that the appropriation of those names to the different orders , or degrees of the same order , was not made till a little after . yet i joyn not issue with these , who cite the 20th chapter of the acts , verse 28. to this purpose : they who are for the genevian platform , will have those elders to be nothing else but presbyters , and they hug this text as their palladium ; because ( as they fondly imagine ) it affords them an achillaeum argumentum against episcopacy ; for here ( say they ) the very name and office is confounded with that of presbyter ; overseer in the original being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . but i must take the boldness to say , that i lay more stress upon the sole testimony of irenaeus , than on all the commentaries which have been written on this text , since the year 1638 , to 1600 , or since 1536. ( when calvin settled at geneva ) till this present year of god : for that ancient and peaceable father , ( who carried peace in his breast , as well as in his name ; living withi● 180 years of the birth of christ ; he was the disciple of polycarp , who was brought up at the feet of s. iohn the apostle , and conversed with many apostolick men , and had an easie tradition of the sence of this place ; this irenaeus , in his five books against heresies , ( especially the valentinian gnosticks ) expresly te●ls us , lib. 1. c. 14. that these elders were bishops of asia , he of ephesus being their metropolitan , or arch-bishop . and lest any should imagine , that it would have been a tedious work and attendance , for the apostle to call for all the bishops of asia , we must suppose it was not of such a latitude , as the then third , and now fourth part of the terraqueal globe , at least , of the known world ; nor the dimension of all asia the lesser , called anatolia by the greeks , ( as being east from them ; ) and now natolia by the turks ; neither was it the roman asia in its greatest latitude , which comprehended the great kingdom of pergamus , viz. ionia , aeolis , lydia , caria , with the two mysia's and phrygia's . the proconsular asia was yet less ; for it comprehended only ionia and aeolis , with the islands of the aegaean sea , and about the hellespont : but asia propr●● dicta , ( of which the apostle and irenaeus speak , ) was least of all ; for it had no more in it but ionia and ae●li● , as i herom t●stisies : and erasmus is of the same opinion , that asia in the acts ●mports only that country where epheus stood , that is , ionia . now , though 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 , ( as it is distinguished ●●om the greater ) . consisted of many other provinces , over and above what we have expressed ; 〈◊〉 bithynia , paphlagonia , 〈…〉 pontus , armenia , the lesser , ly●aonia , pisidia , isauria , lycia● , and 〈◊〉 yet all of them amount not ●igh to the dimension of the famous kingdom of france . and though ionia was very fertile , and consequently populous ; yet the dimension thereof being but small , it was ●asie for st. paul , staying at miletus , a little city on the coast of i●nia● not far from ephesus , ( and st. hi●rom saith truly , within ten furlongs of the ostiary 〈◊〉 that famous river meander ) to call fo● all the bishops of that province to come unt● him . we have insisted the longer upon this ●istorico-geographical digression , to demonstrate to the world , that presbyterians make much adoe about nothing , and build their largest hopes on a sandy foundation . but let us grant to them , ( which i know d. hammond , and they that follow him , will not yield ; ) that the apostle , in his epistles to timothy and titus , us●th these names promis●uously ; what have they gain'd thereby ? were bishops of old called elders ? so were the apostles in scripture sometimes termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; yet no man in his right wits , but will grant , that they had a superiority over presbyters and deacons . use is certainly the best master of words ; for nomina being ex ins●ituto , that which is applyed to signifie such a notion of the mind , may ( by common consent ) import a contrary conception : as is well observed by that glorious and learned martyr king charles the first , in his dispute at newport , in the isle of wight ; where that royal champion ( like another athanasius , fighting against the world : ) tells those presbyterian ministers , that he is not much concerned , whether they call episcopatus ordo , or gradus ; or what name they give it ; provided they acknowlege the superiority of those church-officers , over presbyters and deacons . this was formerly ●●●●uated by that great and good prince , in his disputation with m. henderson at new-castle , whom he routed both horse and foot , and s●nt home that apostle of the covenan● , a royal proselyte . for this great athleta ( like to the invincible hercules in all his labours : ) was , in all the disputes that he managed with his unparallel'd ●en , more than conquerour , through him that loved him . yea salmatius and blondel ( the two great champions of presbytery ) are constrain'd 〈…〉 least in the 〈…〉 , betwixt presbyters and 〈◊〉 . and if blondel from the year 〈◊〉 ( which he makes the epocha of that 〈◊〉 impropriation ; ) had made a 〈◊〉 to cxi , he would have found s. ignatius , in his epistles , which are accounted 〈◊〉 , cl●arly and frequ●ntly distinguishing betwixt bishops , presbyters , and deacons ▪ ( and that in no less than 35 several 〈…〉 , which we have no leisure to 〈…〉 , accounted 〈◊〉 , for these 〈…〉 so fully vindicated by 〈…〉 and d. pearceson ; that all the gratings of salmasius , blondel , capellus , and d. owen , will never file off the least atom from their solidity . i hope all they of the episcopal order , and way , will pardon this digression ; i shall therefore only deprecate for the tediousness thereof , if these insignificant lines chance to fall into the hands of others ; all my design being to speak a word for truth , and to give an evidence to the world , that i am no bigot presbyterian . but we have not yet done with this article ; for there is something yet quod cadit in consequentiam . let not therefore the governours of our church be inaccessible to any of their presbyters , nor suffer them to dance attendance at their gates , as if they were the poor yeomen of their guard : clemens rom. in his excellent epistle , describes the lord jesus to this purpose ; ( whom all church-men ought to imitate ) dominus noster i. christus ( sceptrum magnificentiae ) non venit in jactantia superbiae & arrogantiae , quamvis potuerit , sed in humilitate . for i would have them to remember , that it is not nature , but only the providence of god , that hath made the difference betwixt them ; and , it 's possible , rather the grace of their prince than any merit of their own , which hath dignified them with such a title . and if the same be substracted , their ●rest would instantly fall down to the point base of the shield . and when presbyters come where bishops are , let them enjoy a ferene countenance , without any supercilious command to keep their distance , or ( according to the new coyn'd phrase ) know your measures . but i wish they consider , and practise that sober measure , which an heathen poet prescribes unto all mushroms of a night's growth , fortunam reverenter habe , quicunque repente , dives ab exili . &c. for good words never hurt the mouth , nor excoriate the tongue . and when any presbyter ( who is sufficiently known to have been constantly of sound principles , and practice conform : ) shall , with all due respect , represent some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the ecclesiastical government ; ( for , i believe , they think not themselves , we are living in platonis republica , sed in faece romuli : ) to whic● regret he is prompted by his . loyal●y 〈◊〉 church and state ; let him not be 〈◊〉 away , as presumptuous and impertinent ▪ to tender an admonition ( be it never to brotherly and humble , ) to one that i● ( forsooth ) so much his superiour : as if the ingenuous presbyter had committed a solaecism greater than that of 〈◊〉 who pr●sum'd to teach the great 〈◊〉 , the stratagems of war. but 〈…〉 them to remember , that humanum 〈◊〉 & aliquando bonus 〈…〉 , and hath need to be awaken'd to 〈◊〉 his charge : and 〈…〉 times suggest 〈…〉 alexander the great 〈…〉 to abdolominus , a poor gardiner , ( 〈◊〉 of the blood royal of sid●n ; ) that 〈◊〉 spake bett●● 〈…〉 point of 〈◊〉 than eve● 〈◊〉 heard from any of his greatest captains : yea , anti●●●us the great declared solemnly , that he had learned more concerning tru●hs ( as to the interest of his government ) from a poor countrey peasant in one night's con●renee with him , than he had done from all hs courtiers heretofore . for if such presbyters be discountenanced , and their company slighted ; that disrespect put upon them will give occasion unto many to imagine , that som● bishops conceive an internal honour at the first vi●w of those who have been constantly lo●al ; ( as if a ravenous wolf had suddenly appeared unto them , or that per●eus had accosted ed them with gorgon's head upon his shield ; ) because in the glass of their straightness , they behold their own obliquities ; rectum ( being ) index sui & obliqui . but seeing good words ( when they are given very liberally ) are but empty complements , without good deeds ; ( for that cha●acter of the echo may be applied to ma●y promises and oaths , now-a-dayes ; fo● est , praetereaque nihil . ) it is also one of my euc●icks , that the fathers of the church espouse the just interest of their sons , to the utmost of their endeavours : and , that if a minister of the gospel have any business before a secular court , the bishops would be pleased to assist him in his innocent pursuit or defence , according to the sphere of their activity : for , whither shall a son flee for protection , if his own father abandon him ? but if they shall meet with more humanity , and readiness to dispatch their affair , from those members of the court who are not in orders 〈◊〉 the great officer of state for the present , is highly applauded by all the clergy , for his assability and favour in their addresses to him for justice● ) some will be apt to conclude , that these fathers are only so termed equivocally , and deserve rather to be called step-fathers ; as being too like unto saturn , of whom the poets feigned , that he devoured his own children . but , arbor honoretur , cujus nos umbra ▪ and what greater evidence can b● desired of any allegorical 〈◊〉 , a bus●ris , a polyphemus , a diomedes , or the inhabitants of taurica chersonesus , than this hypothesis ? let us suppose it the great endeavour of some , to undermine and blow up , by base calumnies , and false sugg●stions , ( as if they carried faux's da●k lanthorn in their tongues , ) the reputation of some of their brethren ; they having no other provocation to that diabolical office , except their envy of a litle favourable aspect , and good opinion ▪ which some great persons have conceived of them ; they being hugely concern'd to study a monopoly of those grandees , lest at any time they give an ear to any true suggestion against themselves ; or that any ascend an empty chair , who are not their creatures , or of their own swarthy complexion ; truth it self having told us , qui malè facit , odit lucem . but the best countermine i know to the fears and jealousies of those men , the most forcible antidote against their cordolium , is , to undeceive them by this assurance , ( which every honest man is ready to give them : ) that they would deem 〈◊〉 the greatest unhappiness in the world , to be constrain'd to draw in the same yoke with those that have cast off the yoke of holy iesus ; or to be of the same order with those who are guilty of so many disorders . which voluntary engagement may afford them more security against their imaginary fears , than if the object of their dread did affect the stupidity of iunius brutus , whose counterfeited folly paved the way to the first consulship of rome . and let us suppose these obloquies to be as successful as malice it self could wish ; ( it being a very old maxim in the school of envy , calumniare 〈◊〉 , aliquid adhaerebit ; and , as one said truly , concerning that accursed combination , call'd the covenant , that lyes were the life of their cause ; ) yet these traduced brethren have , not only the gracious promises of the gospel to support them , with that blessed spirit who did dictate those holy lines , but also the consideration of that of st. augustine , quisquis detral●●●●mae meae , addit mercedi meae : yea , a seriou reflection upon that of an heathen man , cannot but somewhat solace them ; sen●●a having said , mala opinio benè parta , delectat ; the brazen-wall of a good conscience within , being a sufficient fence , and cordial too , against the malicious batteries from without , which the infinite wisdom usually makes to end in a brutum fulmen , because these uncharitable arietations proceed mostly from persons of brutish affections . but , let us jubjoyn this last hypothesis , that some of these sons of belial ( as if they had sucked the breasts of hyreanian ●yge●s , and had petrified bowels ; ) were as implacable in their malice , as those cruel roman emperours ; ( one of which monsters of nature said , non adhuc ●ecum ●edii in gratiam ; another ita serii , ut se ●●●ri sentiat ; a third wished , that all they whom he hated , had but one neck , that with 〈◊〉 blow he might cut it off ; and a fourth said concerning the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his own brother , 〈◊〉 divus , modo ne sit vi●us . ) yet i would have these suffering brethren seriously to consider , that the servant is not greater than his lord : and , seeing innecency it self was persecuted from the womb to the tomb , and from the cra●●● to the grave , both with the scourge of hands and tongues , they , who are almost infinitely guilty before god , ought not to take it in ill part , ( far less to be overcome with despondency of mind ) when they trace the footsteps of their lord and master ; for not only the patriarchs and prophets of old , with the apostles of our great master , but also many other eminent lights of the primitive church , have run the same fate ( so that they are not singular in this rugged way ) such as , narcissus of hierusalem , eustathius of antioch , athanasius of alexandria , gregorie nazianzen , s. basil of cappadocia , and s. chrysostom of constantinople ; most of which were persecuted by the instigation of churchmen , because they endeavoured to rectifie those errors , and to redress those abuses , which had fullied the very altar of god ; that aphorism , corruptio optimi est pessima , being not only a physical observation , but too often verified of morals also . and these suffering brethren have good reason chearfully to undergoe the fate of aristides , even to suffer the ostracism , because they are too vertuous : though i confess , let them be as innocent as was once the man without the navel , they will be look'd upon as criminal , if they do not homologate all that some men say , or do . vid. concil . general . 1. can. 14. concil . carthaginens . 4. can. 34. vt episcopus in quolibet loco sedens , stare presbyterum non patiatur . can. 35. vt episcopus in ecclesia , in consessu presbyterorum , sublimior sedeat ; intra domum verò , collegam se presbyterorum esse cognoscat . can. 37. diaconus ita se presbyteri , ut episcopi ministrum esse cognoscat . can. 39. diaconus quolibet loco , jubente presbytero , sedeat . can. 40. vt diaconus in conven●u presbyterorum , interrogatus loquatur . concil . arelat . ● . can. 18. arelat . 2. can. 15. concil . laodic . can. 2● . synod . quini-sex● . can. 7. concil . bracar . 2. can. 2. ( a part whereof hath these words ) similiter & parochiales clerici , servili timore , in aliquibus eperibus , episcopis servire non cogantur ; quia scriptum est , n●que ut dominantes in clero . vid. hieronym . epist. 2. ad nepotian . where he sayes , s●a subjectus pontifici tuo , & quasi animae parentem suscipe : ( which counsel savours very little of fanaticism ) se sacerdotes , non dominos , esse noverint ; honorent clericos , quasi clericos ; ut & ipsis à cleric●s , quasi episcopis , honor deseratur : s●itum est illud oratoris domitii , cur ego te ( inquit ) habeam ut principem , cum tu me non habeas ut senatorem ? augustin . epist. 48. nonomnis qui parcit amicus est , nec omnis qui verberat i●micus ▪ &c. ambros. serm. 14. leon. 1. epist. 82. greg. 1. de cura past. par . 3. admonendi sunt subditi , ne plus quàm expedit sint subjecti : ne cum student , plus quàm necesse est , hominibus subjici , compellantur vitra eorum venerari . article xiv . psal. 95. 6. mat. 18. 20. rom. 15. 6 , & 16 , 17. 1 cor. 1. 10. & 5. 8. & 6. 20. & 11. 2 , 4 , 7 , 22 , 34. & 14. 33 , 40. col. 2. 5. tit. 1. 5. heb. 10. 25. seing we have so frequently mentioned the ancient canons of the church ; ( it being as indecent , if not as dangerous , for a church to be without canons , as for a state to be without edicts ; these serving not only as a directory to the reciprocal duties of bishops , presbyters , and people , but being also boundaries to all . ) i wish we had some thing that looked like them , and served in lieu of them , till they be imposed by authority . for the tender of the canonical oath unto the candidates of that sacred function doth necessarily presuppose some canons according to which their obedience should be squared ; and by which also the injunctions of their superiours ought to be regulated . for i hope none of them are so simple , as to imagine , that this oath doth imply an absolute implicit obedience unto the beneplacita of ecclesiastick governours , as if sic volo , sic jubeo , slat pro ratione voluntas , were the adequate law of our church . the angelical d●ctor hath better de●in'd it , who tells us , that ( to speak properly ) lex , est sententia praecipiens honesta , &c. and that it must be enacted with the general consent of the clergy , otherwise it cannot be a binding law to the church : and if those qualifications be wanting , though that precept may be ●ermed an ecclesiastical law ; yet it is not truly such , but violentia : yea , more than so ; as the swearing of a souldier to the colours of his general , doth not only import , that he knows them from the standard of the common enemy ; but also , that this sacramentum militare is with a due subordination unto him who gave that general his commission ; ( unless any have a mind to imitate the treachery of that famous wols●ein , of whom it is reported by some , that , before his fatal retreat to fgra , he took an independent oath of the imperial army . ) for the precepts of the superiour must not interfere with the commands of the supreme ; which , if they be found to do , they ought not to be obeyed . and if it be concluded , that this canonical oath in the privation of canons , is but a meer non-ens ; certainly these fanatical preachers are most obliged to some bishops , who have permitted them still to officiate in this church , and yet were never so impertinent as to require from them any subscription to this chimerical fiction . therefore , i would humbly entreat the reverend fathers of our church to meet privately amongst themselves ( accompanied with one or two of their respective presbyters , 〈◊〉 they judge most judicious , and kno● to be of unquestionable principles ; ) and let them unanimously resolve upon an uniformity of doctrine , worship , discipline , and government , to be practised in this church . it is certainly a matter of lamentation , that our national church should resemble america , in its first discovery : for ( as peter martyr , and ioseph acosta report , ) a good horseman , in one summer's day's travel , might meet with variety of languages , habits , and religion , amongst that barbarous people . sure i am , ( not to speak of confirmation , which is already pressed ; ) they might easily introduce a platform of administrating the blessed sacraments of the gospel ; for when one varies from the precise words of the institution , ( which is but too frequently done ; ) he shall hardly perswade me , that he hath consecrated those holy symbols or elements , ( as they are usually termed ) at that time ; the words of the divine institution being the essential form of a sacrament . and let not the lord's prayer be any more neglected in the consecration of the eucharist , which ( as st. cyprian testifies ) was the constant epiphonema of that solemn benediction , in all the churches of christ , in his time : the same is also attested by st. hilary , and st. augustin . as for the gesture at the holy table , i humbly suppose , standing will be found the best expedient to introduce uniformity into this church ; not only because it staves off the serupulous fears of an arto-latria , but also in regard we find direct evidence for the practice thereof in the primitive church . i shall only produce one private , and another publick authority for it , though many more might be adduc'd to this purpose . dionysius alexandrinus ( who lived about the middle of the third century , and wrote anno dom. 260. ) testifies , in a letter to pope xystus , that it was the custom of the church in his time , to stand at the lord's table . as for the publick authority ; the 20th canon of the great and first general councel at nice is sufficient , where we find kneeling on the lord's day , and on the day of pentecost , expresly prohibited , and the practice of standing at their devotions , explicitly enjoyn'd : and that because the lord's day is the ordinary christian festival , and the whole time of pentecost ( which comprehends the fifty dayes betwixt easter and whitsunday inclusively : ) the constant festivity of the church . tertullian and epiphanius , looking upon it , as an apostolical universal tradition , not to kneel all that time . whence we may infer , that if some men speak consequenter ad principia ; ( one whereof is , that this blessed sacrament is the most solemn part of christian devotion : ) they must either grant , that the eucharist was received on those dayes in a standing posture ; or that the people of god did not at all communicate at these times , which were a very absurd notion ; seeing they are acknowledged by all , ( who are not wildly ●a●atick ) to be the fittest seasons for the participation of that great mystery ; whereas that of kneeling is but consequentially inferr'd , because the fathers usually term the holy eucharist , the most sublime , the most solemn , and most useful part of christian devotion ; and that it is , tremendum & adorab●le mysterium : though , under favour , we must expound it ( and so the context usually imports : ) of internal adoration : unless we intend to joyn issue with the popish idolatry . as for that irreverent and lazy posture of sitting , we find neither direct nor indirect testimony for it : those canons which command standing every lord's day , do consequently exclude sitting , if we look upon that solemn action as an act of devotion : and optatus hath told us , lib. 4. that the people may not sit in the church ; and tertullian gives the reason , lib. de oratione , cap. 12. that it was an heathen custom , and therefore ought to be reprehended . let all those who plead so much for that irreverent and lazy posture , remember , that they comply in their gesture , not only with these detestable arrian hereticks , ( who design'd thereby to vilifie the son of god : ) but also with those who are worse , the damnable socinians ; as is evident from socinus his tract . de coena domi●i . and i wish all sober christians would seriously advert to this ; that it is not a corporal repast , but a spiritual refreshment they are call'd unto , when they come to that holy table : and let the consideration of the great king who invites them , and of the unparallel'd mystery they are to receive , ( the feast-maker being the feast it self ; ) perswade all christians to present themselves at this gospel-altar with much more reverence than they are obliged to practise at an ordinary banquet , or a penny-bridale . yet , let not any imagine , that we intend by these lines , to reflect upon some canons of our church ; truly i had no such design ; but on the contrary , de regret that these articles are fallen too much in des●etude : but it is a principle of love to uniformity , that did prompt me to tender this overture ( yet with all due submission ) to the governours of our church ; it being a most desireable thing to see all those who desire to fear god's name , blessed with one mind , one heart , and one way . as for mine own judgment , i can easily subscribe to those words of r. mr. baxter ; if it be lawful to take a pardon from the king upon our knees , i know not what can make it unlawful to take a sealed pardon from christ and his ambassadours , upon our knees . likewise , a set form of excommunication to be used by all ; whether it be the lesser , call'd properly abstentio ab eucharistia ; ( the practice of the primitive church , which was so copious in this matter , being too much neglected in this age ; ) or the greater anathema ; with their respective relaxations , may be easily resolved upon ; with a form of ecclesiastick testi●icates , in conformity to the 〈◊〉 formatae of the ancients . and let all bishops , wherever they are , ( if they be in health ) preach on the anniversaries of the nativity , passion , and resurrection of our blessed lord , and on the anniversary of the descent of the holy ghost ; as also , on that of the nativity and restauration of our gracious sovereign upon earth . and let it be recommended to all their presbyters to do so ; as also to celebrate the holy communion on easter and pent●cost , at least on every easter-day , which ( as hath been said already ) is caput institutionis of the christian sabbath ; for though these things be not authoritatively enjoyn'd ; yet the governours of the church may easily thereby find the pulse of their clergy ; and by this tessera discover , if there remain as yet any amongst them , who are fermented with some of that foure leaven of presbytery . it were no difficult province ( if i did not study brevity ; ) to answer all the paralogisms , and most foolish cavils of the fanaticks , against these festivals of the church : but i shall remit them for their doom to s. augustine , who makes it a character of a true son of the church , to solemnize the festivals thereof . serm. 253. de temp. ( in which number he places that of the nativity in the front : ) and to epiphanius , who in his 75th heresie , tells us , that aërius was condemned as an heretick , as for other things , so for opposing and condemning the festivals of the church . but the ingenuous reader may find the lawfulness and usefulness of these festivals fully asserted by that admirable hooker , in his ecclesiastical policy ; and the ( no less ) wonderful d. hammond , in his treatise on that subject : and in particular , whosoever desires to see the feast of the nativity vindicated from the imputation of novelty , let them peruse origen lib. 8. contra celsum : and his hom. 3. in math. the treatise of cyprian , on that day : and the homily of chrysostom , to the same purpose ; and they will find each of them deducing it from the practice of the first antiquity : yea , that the 25th of december is the anniversary of our saviour's birth , ( in my humble judgment ) is notably demonstrated by baronius , in his apparatus , and the learned mountague , in his answer to him : but most of all , by m. i. gregory , oxon : of whom it may be truly said , that he hath dived into the very bottom of antiquity . if these things , and such as these , were universally practis'd , a liturgy might be stollen in pedetentim upon this church . and i wish we had a well-reformed one , purified from the dregs of popery and superstition , and framed after the pattern of the most authentick liturgies of the primitive church ( of which the learned g. cassander hath collected no small variety ; ) that we may again resume the face and garb of a national church ; which hath been , too long , as a body without the natural ornament of skin and muscles , or as a flat picture , not duely heightened with its shadows : a liturgy being found , by the experience of all ancient times , as a necessary hedge and mound to preserve any profession of religion , and worship of god in a national church , from irreverence , confusion , and contempt : without which boundary , it is impossible that a tolerable uniformity should be long retained in any great incorporation of christians . and it 's observable , that m. calvin himself , when from frankfort he had received an odious , malicious account of many particulars in the english liturgy , ( as any will acknowledge , who shall compare the report then made , with what he finds : ) though he were so transported as to call them ineptias tolerabiles , yet in a more sober mood , he gave positive approbation of the same ; as is evident from his epistle to the protector of that kingdom ; in these words : as for form of prayers , and ecclesiastical rites , i very much approve that it be set , or certain ; from which it may not be lawful for the pastors in their function to depart : that so there may be provision made , for the simplicity and vnskillfulness of some ; and that the consent of all the churches among themselves , may more certainly appear : and lastly also , that the extravagant levity of some , who affect novelties , ( or at the best , vent a rhapsody of pious non-sence : ) may be prevented . &c. whence we rationally infer ; that they who endeavoured the total abolition of a liturgy in that church , had a design to reform , ( or to say better , deform ) geneva , as well as england ; and to chastise calvin's estimation of it , as well as that of the english prelates : not to speak of that applause which the learned isaac casa●bon gave , of the great care of antiquity and purity observed in the english liturgy , proclaimed every where in his epistles to all his friends ; that there was not any where else in the world the like to be found , nor ever hoped he to see it , till he came into that kingdom . but it seems hippolitus , the old martyr , prophesied of these haters of all liturgies , under the notion of anti-christian ; ( for all their declamations against anti-christian rites ; ) for in his book de anti-christo , he tells us ; that in the times of anti-christ , ecclesiarum aedes sacrae , tugurii instar erunt ; pre●●osum corpus & sanguis christi non exstabit ; liturgia extinguetur ; psalmodiae decan●atio cessabit ; scripturarum recitatio non audietur . and sure i am , at the reestablishment of this government , it might have been introduced with as little noise and odium , as the governours themselves were ; for this 〈◊〉 policy then might have done the 〈◊〉 , even to have holden away the odious name of the service-book ; which 〈◊〉 hateful to many who have a zeal for the reformed religion , but not according to knowledge ; they ignorantly imagining , that it is stuffed with popery and superstition . as for any expressions therein which sound harshly in the ears of tender consciences ; the governours of the church might have indulged them that favour , as to expunge what they could justly pretend gave the least offence . but they neglecting to take occasion thus by the foretop , they have ever since found it bald behind . which puts me in mind of the great soloecism committed by the great hannibal , in point of war , ( though he was one of the slyest and wariest captains that ever liv'd : ) who went not immediately to rome , after the mighty defeat given to the romans at the battel of cannae ; for during that great consternation he might ( as rawleigh hath judiciously observed ) easily have plucked up the roman empire by the roots ; but being too much taken up with the pleasures of capua , and his amours in salapia , he lost that occasion , which he could never find again ▪ and therefore was justly upbraided by maharbal , the master of his horse , in these words , vincere s●is hannibal , victoriâ uti nescis . and gave occasion unto the romans to say , capuam poenis alteras ●uisse cannas . but in my weak judgment , the best succedaneum to this neglected solemn fo●m of divine service , and that which is also the best expedient to pave the way into a more perfect one , is ; to recommend unto all the ministers of the gospel , that every lord's day before sermon they read , with great reverence ) a lesson at least , out of the old testament ; and a chapter or two from the new ; ( this being much more properly the word of god , than what they preach : ) that their people may , in process of time , be as well acquainted with the historical part of the scripture , as with the precepts , promises , and dreadful comminations of the gospel ; for they are meer strangers to antiquity , who doe not know , that preaching was scarce the third part of the solemn service of the lord's day , that being but a tractatus ( as augustine testifieth ) on the lesson which was last read . and let them solemnly pronounce the decalogue , and apostolick creed ; all these steps of divine service being variegated and intermixed with short acts of prayer and praise . and sure i am , there is no congregation ( unless the people thereof be very rough hewen : but will stand up ( if desired by the minister to do so , ) when he solemnly pronounceth the sum of the moral law , and ( as the mouth of the people ) makes a publick confession of faith ; whereby they shall testifie their willingness , through divine grace , to believe and obey all that god hath revealed and commanded . and let not those , who have the cura animarum , forget , specially to enjoyn their respective flocks to put themselves in a reverent posture , when they accost heaven with solemn acts of prayer and praise ; that being indispensibly practised by all the primitive church , whose bodily infirmities proved not an invincible impediment to them . and , seeing the seeking of a blessing before meat , and thanksgiving after it , are brief adorations of the infinite goodness , let all ministers by their own example recommend a reverent posture to the rest of the guests . sure , it is a matter of admiration , to see the generality of fanaticks ( the quakers only excepted : making their graces ( as they are usually termed ) commensurable with any pertinent prayer that is void of tautologies , and yet not to accost the great provisor of all the families of the earth , with more reverence than a temporary host. and when that short ( but very substantial ) hymn was sung , which is termed the doxology , and is a direct adoration of the blessed trinity , ( which if i were not asham'd of frequent digressions , i could easily evince by good authorities , to have been composed , as a lesser creed , by the first councel of nice ▪ as a testimony and pillar of the catholick verity , against the arrians : ) all they of the primitive church stood up and uttered the same with an audible voice , as a discriminating character of the orthodox , from these detestable hereticks , the cerinthians , samosatenians , and arrians : ( the samosatenians being called paulianistae , in the 19th canon of the councel of nice from paulus samosatenus , the haer●siarcha , and pe●verse bishop of antioch . ) for , though it is an unquestionable truth , that the heart ought to be the primum mobile in all our acts of divine worship , without whose primary influence and concurrence , it is at best but a carkass of devotion we offer unto heaven ; yet , seeing by the law of creation and grace of redemption , we are bound to glori●ie god with our souls and bodies . ( for both are his saith the apostle . ) therefore when we make our addresses to the throne of grace , we are obliged to put them both in an humble posture of adoration : the primitive christians being so far from practising that irreverent and lazy posture of sitting in the time of prayer , that tertullian ( as we find in his excellent treatise de oratione : ) inveighs sharply against those who did sit down instantly after prayer ; and he tells them , that they upbraid god to his face , that they are soon weary of the duty . and it were also very fit , that all ministers were desir'd to exhort their people , to hear reverently , and with discovered heads , that weekly proclamation from heaven : ( i mean the preaching of the gospel , ) which was the constant practice of constantine the great , who was so far from covering his head then , that he could not be perswaded to forbear standing all the time of preaching , much less to sit in the time of prayer : and of the two theodosii , and martianus , the immediate successor of theodosius the younger : and i wish that of the poet were fulfill'd in this particular , regis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis . but the deportment of the far greater number of those who are called christians , is so intolerably notorious , and desperately profane , that if st. pauls infidel should come in , he would be so far from falling down and worshiping , that he would be presently bound to report , god is not in you of a truth . yea , some christians do more reverence to the outside of a church , than we to the presence of god within it : these of habassia , ( saith alvarez ) if they pass by a church ( be their haste never so great ) they instantly dismount , and walk on foot , till they leave not only the church , but also the church-yard , very far behind them . and , i fear , the turks shall rise up in judgment against many christians for their irreverence in gods house ; for ( as busbequius tells us ) if a turk should but scratch his head in the time of divine service , he would be verily perswaded that he should lose the benefit of coming to church at that time : but with us it is iniquity , even the solemn meeting . but take we heed lest we come to know , that god was here , by his departure from hence ; and that voice be uttered out of our temples , which was once heard out of that of the iews , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , migremus hin● . and , in sine , let it be recommended to all preachers , to humble themselves when they ascend that sacred ambo , where they are to be the mouth of the people to god in prayer , and the mouth of the almighty to the people in preaching : which introitus they ought to commence with much more reverence , than if they were to begin a dance . neither should we have such occasion to mind that famous story ( if it may be so termed ) of the seven ephesian sleepers ; if the governours of our church , during these eighteen winters last by-gone , had studied so much uniformity , as to be at the pains , unanimously to compile a plain and brief catechism ; ( but withal a material sum of the whole christian doctrine ) and that for the publick use of this nation : that every country-curate may not improve a mode of his own ; which , if it be not contradictory , is at least disparate from the platform of his neighbour : but that by a form of sound words generally authorized , and practised , young ones may be early informed of the principal duties of piety they owe unto god , of charity to their neighbours , and of sobriety to themselves . if such things as these were accorded unto , and accordingly performed , it could not truly be said of the governours of this church , that they never yet pursued the right ends of their government . yea many such acts would be a sufficient gagg to stop the mouths of the virulent adversaries thereof , who stick not to say , that they look upon bishops as the easiest persons in the world , who scarce take any thing else in hand , but to gather up their rents ; and do apply to them that blasphemous character which epicurus hath given of his imaginary deity , that he is an idle spectator of the affairs of the world , and doth no more notice humane actions , than a ●ational man doth the humming of gnats in a hot summer's day . they do also accommodate that epicurean motto unto them , satis magnum alter alteri theatrum sumus : some compare them to the hedg-hog , which rolls it self in its own soft down , and turns out it's bristles to all the world besides : yea some resemble them to a young gentleman , who takes a flying crop of a possession , and regards not the reparation of its buildings : and finally , some make no bones to assimulate them to that fat monk in the story , who ( when the abbeys were a going down ) having received assurance of a pension during his own life , stroaked down his belly , and said , modo hic sit bene , he cared not whether religion did sink or swim . but leaving these odious comparisons , ( as favouring too much of an anti-episcopal spirit ; ) i proceed to the end of this article . when such things as these are resolv'd upon for the behoof of the clergy , they ought to be prudently recommended , but not imperiously commanded , under the notion of church-canons ; for it is only a general convocation that can make them such ; as being the sole true representative of a national church : and till his majestie 's authority be interposed , they cannot have the force of laws . it being a well known saying of optatus milevit . ecclesia est in republica , non respublica in ecclesia . let us therefore patiently wait till divine providence give us serener times , and more tranquillity in the land , ( for as physitians say , cocta movenda sunt , non cruda . ) and till it please his majesty to indict a general convocation of the clergy . ( and , that the determination of the circumstances of such a meeting , is one of the royal prerogatives , none , but they who are fanatically principled , will question . ) but if once this church were so happy , as to enjoy , with his majesty's favour , such a convention ; then all the ancient canons , which are judged useful for this church , ought to be retrived : and whatsoever is ( after mature deliberation ) found convenient , pro re nata , should be reduc'd into canons , that all may know the proper standard of the church . and let an effectual course be taken to suppress and eradicate all schisme , heresie , and profaneness , out of this land ; that the church of god may become terrible to all such , as is an army with banners . and let a door be opened to all accusers ( who are habiles in law ) to give in indictments , sub periculo , against any simple or organical member of this church ; the king's majesty alennarly excepted ; who ( as tertullian sayes , ) is solo deo minor , and consequently hath no judge upon earth . the same father usually terming the supreme magistrate , post deum s●cundus : parallel whereunto is that of optatus milevit . super quem non est nis● s●lus deus . but that church-men must needs be more presumptuous than any pope of rome , who imagines himself to be both infallible and impec●able : for , though there be some roman doctors ( especially the canonists : so parasitical , as to adore that bishop of rome as a demi-god , and more than a man ; and to teach , that he is iudge of all , and can be iudge of all , and can be iudged by none upon earth ; yet the most sober and judicious of them , even when they conclude him to be major singulis , yet acknowledge that he is minor universis , and consequently subordinate to the jurisdiction of a general counc●l . and that this was the sentiment and determination of two late general councels , ( when the pope's usurpation was in its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and zenith ; ) is evident from those instances , which the acts of the councel of constance and basil do afford us : ( not to speak of that anathema which the sixth general councel pronounced against honorius of rome , for being a monothelite . vid. concil . 6. gener. act. 1 , 4 , 12. ) for the first depos'd a three-headed cerberus , the simultaneous popes , ( so monstruous was the roman hierarchy at that time . ) viz. iohn the 24th , ( or 23 d as some reckon ) call'd bal●hasar cossa , gregory the 12th , formerly named angelus corarius , and benedict the 13th , termed otherwayes peter de luna ; and in the vice of these anti-popes surrogated martin the 5th . likewise the councel of basil pronounced the sentence of degradation against eugenius the 4th , and in his place substituted the duke of savoy , under the name of pope foelix the 5th : and , though providence permitted not this deposition to take effect ( amadee being at last content to exchange the triple-crown for a cardinals hat ; which ( as calvin saith wittily ) was a loaf thrown into the mouth of cerberus : ) yet , that the authority of this last councel , was no less than that of the first , is evident from the 39th session of the councel of constance . from which brief history we may infer , that these roman doctors , who teach , that the councel is above the pope , would laugh heartily , if they heard any other bishop pretend to a negative voice in that assembly : for if any church●man dream of an infallibility in himself , he may be justly derided , as was that dissolute prince demetrius , in whose favour the athenians made that wild decree ; that whatsoever king demetrius should command , ought to be held sacred with the gods , and just with men . yet i have heard it many times debated as a problem , whether some bishops , or the fanaticks , would be more filled with consternation at such a general meeting of the clergy . but it may be easily determined , that iohn the 23d , paul the 4th , or any other pro●ligate pope had not more dreadful apprehensions of a lawful and free general councel , than some of those would have of a rightly constituted convocation . vid. can. apost . 73. item concil . gerundens . can. 1. concil . toletan . 4. can. 1. & 4. ( also the 5th and 17th canons of the same synod . ) concil . bracarens . 1. can. 20 , 21 , 22 , 23. ( where uniformity in all the steps of publick worship is recommended . ) concil . toletan . 11. can. 3. concil . milevitan . can. 12. concil . agathens . can. 21. concil . vasens . can. 7. concil . valentin . can. 1. concil . turonens . 2. can. 14. concil . toletan . 3. can. 2. toletan . 4. can. 9. 12. toletan . 5. can. 1. in all which , a liturgy is recommended , and ordained to be used in the church ; viz. a publick platform , as to the matter of solemn prayer , praise , and the administration of the blessed sacraments of the gospel ; none being permitted in the ancient church to invent and vent battologies or tautologies , nor any irreverent expressions ( favouring either of blasphemy , or pious non-sence at the best ) in the solemn acts of divine adoration . in the ensuing canons , the solemn anniversary festivals and fasts of the church are appointed . vid. concil . elibertin . can. 43. concil . agathens . can. 14 , 38 , 39. concil . aurelianens . 4. can. 1. concil . matisconens . 2. can. 2. cujus haec sunt verba ; pascha nostrum , in quo summus sacerdos & pontifex , pro nostris delictis immolatus est , omnes debemus festivissimè colere : & in illis sanctissimis diebus , nullus servile opus audeat facere . ( where by pascha we are not to understand easter-day , but also good friday , which was that great day of expiation . ) concil . toletan . 4. can. 6. statuimus in sexta feria passionis domini mysterium crucis ( quod ipse dominus cunctis annunciandum voluit ) praedicari , atque indulgentiam criminum clarâ voce omnem populum praestolari ; ut poenitentiae compunctione mundati , venerabile festum dominicae resurrectionis , remissis iniquitatibus , suscipere mereamur , corporisque ejus & sanguinis sacramentum , mundi à peccato sumamus . et can. 7. ejusdem concilii ; in die passionis domini , jejunium ( praeter parv●los , senes , & languidos ) quicunque arte peractas indulgentiae preces , solverit , à paschali gaudio depellatur ; nec in eo sacramentum corporis & sanguinis domini percipiat , qui diem passionis ejus per abstinentjum non honoravit . which is more fully expressed in the 89th canon of the 6th general councel , where we have these words ; qui dies salutaris passionis in jejunio , oratione , & compunctione cordis peragunt , oportet circa horam mediae noctis magni sabbati , jejunos esse : sum evangelistae matthaeus & lucas , ille per dictionem , ( vespere autem sabbati , ) hic vero per , ( profundum diluculum , ) tarditatem noctis nobis praescribant . vid. concil . bracarens . 1. can. 4. concil . caesar-august . can. 2. & 4. item vicesimo primo die , i. e. à 16. kal. ianuarii , usque in diem epiphaniae , qui est 8 idus ianuarii , continuis diebus nulli liceat se de ecclesia absentare , nec latere in domibus , nec secedere ad villam , nec montes petere , ne● nudis pedibus incedere ; sed ad ecclesiam concurrere : quod qui non observaverit , anathema sit in perpetuum . but it seems this endless curse is little regarded by these fanaticks , whether preachers or others , ( for that four leaven is not yet sufficiently purged out of those who officiate under bishops ; ) who are so far from preaching on the anniversary of our blessed saviour's nativity , that they cannot be perswaded to countenance with their presence the shortest homily thereon , no not on those dayes of the week , whereon , by publick authority , royal burghs are appointed to have sermon . and how can it be expected , that these non-conformists should cordially bless heaven for common mercies , when they cannot find in their hearts to adore solemnly the infinite goodness for that unparallel'd demonstration of free love ? heaven having no greater gift to bestow , neither was earth capable of a greater , than this matchless mercy , which was celebrated by the heavenly anthem of celestial quiristers , in the dawning of that blessed morning , wherein oriens ab alto , that bright morning-star first appeared ; yea , wherein that glorious sun of everlasting righteousness arose with healing in his wings , upon a sinful world. vid. etiam concil . tolet. 4. can. 3. statuimus , ut saltem semel in anno , à nobis concilium celebretur , &c. and a little after , omnes autem qui causas adversus quoscunque habere noscuntur , ad idem concilium concurrant ; & pro compellendis quibuscunque personis , quidam executor à principe postuletur , &c. in regard we have cited many canons at length , for the confirmation of this article , and that there be many testimonies of the fathers inserted in the body thereof to the same purpose ; therefore , left this enchiridium should be too much dilated , we have forborn to allege any more authorities to that effect . article xv. mat. 18. 17 , 18. 1 cor. 4. 19 , 20 , 21. & 5. 4 , 5 , 7 , 11. 2 cor. 10. 4 , 5 , 6. 1 tim. 1. 20. tit. 3. 10. rev. 2. 2 , 14 , 15 , 20. but till this church be blessed with such a general rendezvouz of its clergy , let every bishop vigorously set about his duty in his own sphere . for what one said well concerning a general reformation ; that if every man would reform himself , there would little remain for the supreme magistrate to do , may be here fitly applied ; for , if every governour would act his part within his own precinct , sure there would be less trouble given to a general assembly , whenever providence shall give the occasion thereof . therefore let them use all means possible , which are purely ecclesiastick , to reduce all schismaticks to the path of unity , and all hereticks to the path of verity . but if ( after much patient waiting for the fruit of their labours ) there be no hope of their conversion , then let them proceed to a judicial conviction of these obstinate sinners , who are found to be irreclamable : and let the church-censures alwayes prevent the castigations of the civil magistrate ; it being a most invidious thing , for the governours of the church to clamour upon the criminal judge to fine and confine those delinquents , whom they have scarce ever noted as such in their ecclesiastick courts . this preposterous method looks , not only like the duo gladii of boniface the 8th , but doth also resemble pope iulius the second , his throwing s. peter's keys into tyber , that he might betake himself unto s. paul's sword. but this was not the method of the primitive church , which permitted none of it's organical members to meddle , either directly , or indirectly , in the matters of blood , or bodily coercions ; as is evident from the ancient canons ; the passive effusion of the precious blood of holy iesus , and of his blessed martyrs , being a rich compost to the soil of the church ; but not the active shedding of the blood of others , under a pretext of religious zeal for the enlargement thereof . which looks liker mahumet's way of propagation , than the tranquill methods of the gospel of peace . primitive christianity ( which did almost infinitely transcend this age , in the glowings of divine zeal , ) knew no such calentures of passion : bellona was not then looked upon as a nursing-mother to the church ; nor mars as a god of reformation : neither were the laws of christ like those of draco or mahumet , written with the blood of his enemies ; though he sealed them with his own , and sprinkled them with the blood of martyrs ; as tertullian saith : it being very observable , that the temple of ianus was then shut , when the prince of peace was born . for the church is sufficiently furnished with means of saving souls , though she never draw a temporal sword : the diseases of the mind not being cureable like those of the body ; for asperitie is no proper remedy for them , but only reason , and lenity of words . those good emperours , constantine , valentinian , the two theodosii , and martianus ; proceeded unto no greater extremity against the most to no greater extremity against the most damnable and incorrigible hereticks of their times , than the sentence of banishment . which christian lenity was consonant to the judgment of tertullian , cap. 24. & 28. apologet. and in his book to scapula , we have this excellent expression ; sed nec religionis est cogere religionem ; quae sponte suscipi debet , non : vicum & hostiae ab animo libente expostulentur . with whom s. cyprian joyns issue , epist. 62. and athanasius , epist. ad solitar . vit. agen . & orat. 1. cont . arrian . hilar. con . auxent . & lib. 1. ad constan. ambr. epist. 32. & lib. 2. epist. 27. hierom. epist. 62. ad theoph. august . lib. 3. con . crescon . grammatic . c. 50. nullis bonis in ecclesia catholica placet , si usque ad mortem in quemquam , licèt haereticum , saeviatur . whence we may perceive , that the apology of some ecclesiasticks , for imbruing their hands in the blood of that detestable heretick servetus ; is point blank contrary unto the unanimous doctrine of the primitive fathers . and if we shall alter the scene from geneva to rome , it will be found no less tragical and bloody : for ( as east and west meet together at last , by going asunder ) so the iesuit and fanatick trust most unhappily in that anti-christian conjuncture of treachery and cruelty , & in those damnable arts of rebellion , and king-killing ; to which execrable assasinations , and perverse intendments , britain hath been too long the fatal theatre . and though these pretend to be christians , yet i suppose they have no other apology for their perfidiousness , than that of a barbarous king , who said , that his tongue was not made of bone. for it is impossible that christian religion should afford them any ; it being very observable , that in all those famous persecutions of the primitive church ( whereby many millions were absorpted in the gulfe of death : ) not one was found , who thought it lawful to make use of defensive arms , ( though in a just cause ) against the supream authority then in being ; but did conquer their victors and tormentors , with constancy and patience ; it being most false what bellarmin asserts , that it was not a moral , but a physical incapacity , which restrained them ; for tertullian in his apologetick doth clearly evince the contrary . whence we may easily conclude , in what shop those offensive arms were framed , wherewith hildebrand assaulted the german emperour henry the fourth , and by what hellish councel his successor paschal the second , was influenced to excite henry the fifth against his father and sovereign ; not to speak of those storms which disquieted frederick the first and second all their dayes ; the clouds that ingendered them being exhaled at rome . but we had need to transcribe the annals of germany , to enumerate the hostilities of the roman bishops against the emperours their lords ; eight of which they excommunicated , and when that was done , then they made the temporal sword cut off those whom the spiritual had struck at . which anti-christian methods became so formidable to the languishing emperours , that rodulph of habspurg , ( the founder of the austrian greatness ) would not go into italy , to receive the crown of gold at rome , after he was chosen emperour ; calling that bloody city , the lyon's den : and unto those who urged him to go thither , to receive that third ceremonial crown , he frequently uttered that of the poet , olim quod vulpes aegroto , cauta , leoni respondit , reseram &c. but germany was not the sole theatre of the unchristian plots and practices of these anti-primitive prelates ; for , no little trouble was given to philip the fair , of france , by p. boniface the eighth of whom it was truly said , intravit ut vulpes , regnavit ut leo , mortuus est ut canis . likewise lewis the 12th had his share of disquiet from that martial prelate iulius the second , by whose fulminations the poor king of navarr was thunder-struck without remedy . ferdinand of arragon , having indeed a most catholick appetite after the dominions of his neighbours ; not to speak of the barbarous assasination of henry the third , and fourth of france , by two desperate villains , who had been carefully instructed by their ghostly fathers in that meritorious art of king-killing : sixtus quintus having the forehead , in a publick consistory at rome , to celebrate that iacobin friar , as a notable martyr upon that account . but we need not cross the seas for instances of this nature ; for if innocent the third ( the hatcher of that most seditious and perfidious xxx canon of the councel of lateran : ) with his legate pandolphus , were now alive , they would be found to talk of that inauspicious king of england , named iohn , his constrained resignation : and it is no small wonder , after so many centuries of years , to hear again ( in this age ) any noise of that vain and illegal pretence which all sober persons imagined , had been blown up long agoe by that subterranean powder-plot : but it seems , they intend to give a demonstration to the world , that no prescription of time can render a common whore honest . and if a grain-weight of christian ingenuity , or humanity , can be found in that late prodigious conspiracy against our church and state , let the universality of that infernal design , with those base appendages of diuturnal plotting , vile ingratitude , treachery , and cruelty , be the sole judges thereof . and , in fine , it is my humble judgment , that , till these coals of iuniper be quenched , which have too long inflamed all the vitals of the christian church ( i mean the puritanical papist , and jesuited puritan : our unchristian animosities and feuds ( many whereof are meer logomachies , and groundless ) shall never be throughly extinguished , till the devouring fire of hell consume these lesser flames . neither will i ever forget that notable instance of this concordantia discordantiarum , which that excellent historian i. a. thuan. affords unto us , in his 56th book , where he tells us , that the daemagogues of paris , and pulpiteers of rochel , centered in that point of treacherous inhumanity , viz. to put to death all prisoners of war , even after the publick faith had been given unto them . but tractent fabrilia fabri . therefore the antisignani of the arrians , macedonians , nestorians , and eutychians , ( not to speak of many other hereticks : ) were not only conven'd before the respective general councels , which are accounted the most famous of them all ; but were also judicially convicted and sentenc'd with the highest censures of the church , before the civil magistrate took any other notice of them as delinquents , than to compell those erroneous schismaticks to appear personally before the ecclesiastical court , to which they had been legally summoned : the church in these dayes laying down this , as an inviolable conclusion , that they would not fail to do their own duty ; and if the civil magistrate afterwards neglected his , let him answer to god for it , who punisheth potentes potenter : and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; as saith herodot . in chione and seneca , omne sub regno gravi●ri regnum est . and in that great audit , every man must stand and fall to his own master . the brachium seculare being indeed fit enough to restrain exorbitant practices , but it hath no direct influence upon irregular judgments ; and i fear , it makes more hypocrites than sincere converts ; fire and faggot ( the beloved argument of the roman church ▪ ) having a more natural tendency to a preternatural consumption , than to a spiritual conversion . therefore the arrians ( whose courses were generally very violent , and bloody : ) are deservedly look'd upon as the genuine parents of these coercive motives , and disingenuous arts , which were judged very heterogeneal to the nature and constitution of the church ; which as it transacts only in spiritual matters , so it could inflict no other than spiritual censures and chastisements . but when the fiery dominicans arose , ( the dream of dominicus his mother being a sad prognostick of the violence of that order ▪ ) they might justly have been termed , in this regard , arriani redivivi ; so merciless was that persecution of the poor waldenses , to which they carried both lanterns and faggots : which bloody method continues to this day in the spanish inquisition : these violent spirits being usually the cruel lords of that infamous judicatory , whose inhumane machins resemble the wild and barbarous fancies of mezentius and procrustes , the unnatural bellowings of phalaris his bull , the turkish gaunching and impaleing upon stakes , much rather than the harmless engines of the gospel . and if a pythagorean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were possible , i would imagine , that there had been a transmigration of the souls of these dominicans into the bodies of some late presbyterians ; one egg , or fish , not being found liker to another , than is the resemblance of some of these incendiaries : on which account , one of their abortive issue hath ( in one of his pamphlets ) not unfitly termed their covenant , taht great instrument of blood ; whereby he verifies that common observation , omnis apostata persequitur suum ordinem . but seeing the dominicans were nothing else but the emissaries of those masters who pretend to be s. peter's successors , and in their fierce anger , and cruel rage , have cut off more than the ears of many who were much more innocent than that servant of the high priest ; therefore i cannot forget to take notice , in this place , of another great abuse committed by some popes ; for the croysade ( which was at first design'd to rescue the holy sepulchre from the possession of infidels ; to which great undertaking many myriads of christians were animated by the preaching and miracles of s. bernard : ) was so perverted from that primary pious institution , that it was employed to the utter extirpation of many thousands of the simple and harmless inhabitants of the mountains of languedoc , and provence . such is the affectation of the roman bishops to wear the livery of that scarlet-coloured beast . but the bright olybian flames of the primitive church ( which were not ignes comburentes , sed lambentes : ) hated , with a perfect hatred , those sanguinary spirits ; as may appear from the deportment of s. martin of tours , who ( as sulpitius sev. reports ) refused to communicate with ithasius and idacius , two spanish bishops , because they did prosecute unto death some of the priscillianists , and that before the tyrant maximus ; ( though it cannot be denyed , but that they were detestable hereticks , even manichaei redivivi , and consequently but half christians . ) so great was the aversion of these truly evangelical spirits , from shedding of blood , even in the cause of god. yea more than so : so great was the antipathy that s. martin had conceived against such violent courses , that when he was informed , the tyrant had impower'd some military tribunes to go into spain , & there to depopulate the country , & pillage the goods of all those who would not conform , he immediately went to that emperour , and freely told him , that this pretended zeal was not kindled by a coal from the altar of god , but rather an infernal fire bred in the breasts of some furious bishops , and fomented by the venome of that old red dragon , the natural feuel thereof : the event whereof could be no other , than that of a furious tempest , or overflowing inundation , which bears down all before it , and puts no difference betwixt the good and the bad , old or young , male or female , but sweeps away all promiscuously : or like unto a number of ravenous wolves let loose upon a multitude of harmless and naked animals , which have not the faculty to discriminate betwixt the mangy sheep and those which are sound in the flock ; so it should fare with those defenceless creatures , if an hostile army should invade a peaceable people , living securely without any fear or apprehension of such a sudden deluge ; friends and foes , heterodox and orthodox , conformist and non-conformist , would be all overflowed alike : the insolent souldier having no other eyes to discern ( but what nature hath given to all living creatures ; ) betwixt the faith of an heretick , and the orthodox , save only by their paleness and garb. so that they who are accustomed to rapine , almost from their infancies , if they found rich moveables , and easily transportable to their own countries , whether the owners were rich in the faith , or not , they would not concern themselves with that nice distinction ; but , as it was said of the dayes of caligula , that it was then crime enough to be rich ; so all should be fish that should come in their net : so impartial would these rude souldiers be . and the emperour would be so far from attaining his end , that it would rather harden these deluded people to persist in their non-conformity ; they looking upon themselves as martyrs ( at least confessors ) for their imaginary faith : the most ignorant among them being at least so intelligent , as to understand , that this is not the peaceable method of the gospel , to proselyte any to the christian faith , but point blank contrary thereunto . by which ( truly zealous ) intercession , this devout man at last diverted the tyrant from that most cruel design . but , in fine , i shall remit them to the serious consideration of the state and practice of the primitive church , when the civil magistrate was no christian , but a persecuter of that way , whose concurrence they could not expect to their discipline , but rather a violent opposition thereunto . and if any of them seemed to put to their helping hand , it was not any love to the discipline of the church , but ragione del ' stato , as the italians phrase it ; thus the emperour aurelianus did drive away paulus samosatenus , that arch-heretick , and bishop , from antioch ; but it was out of no principle of respect to the church that he did so , ( for he was accounted one of the persecuting emperours ; ) but from reason of state , because that proud heretick was a great incendiary in that city . let therefore the present church imitate that excellent pattern of the primitive , before the halcyonian day of the great constantine . but if ( in ordine ad spiritualia ) they will needs make their address to the secular magistrate , for the coercion of delinquents , i wish it were rather in the matter of gross scandal , contumaciously persever'd in , notwithstanding of the highest censures of the church inflicted upon them ; than of the sentiments of the judgment which proceed not the length of unwarrantable practices . for they who are incorrigibly profane are more overawed by the terror of man , than by the fear of god ; and much more by the temporal sword of the criminal judge , than by the spiritual sword of the church ; for habitual practical atheists may ( without breach of charity ) be presum'd to be such in speculation . i shall only instance the profanation of the lord's day by salmon-fishing ; there being a vile pack of brain-sick hereticks in this land , who allow the practice of it . i am indeed far from pleading for a judaical sabbath in this church ; but for any who are called christians to be so employed in the time of god's solemn worship , must needs be very odious in the sight of heaven , and exceedingly scandalous in the eyes of all those who are devoted to a religious service . neither find we any such irregularities tolerated in any christian church , which passeth not under the name of barbarous ; no , not in geneva , or amsterdam . i know certainly , that this insolency hath been represented , both privately and publickly , to the chiefest governours of this church ; and they obtested , to implore the assistance of his majesties secret councel , in order to the effectual suppression of that scandal , as being so reflective upon the present government : but i fear , it hath not yet been done , for there is neither bruit nor fruit of that address . but if the governours of our church desire to avoid those bitter sarcasmes , medice cura teipsum ; & turpe est doctori &c. de ingratis etiam ingrati queruntur : qui non ardet , non accendit : si vis me flere &c. which ( in plain english ) import that we should wash our own mouths before we apply gargarisms to others ; or ( to use our saviour's phrase ) pull out the beam , before thou espy the mote ; then let them have a special care , not to be found profaners of the lord's day themselves . which scandal ' they ought to shun the more solicitously , because it was one of the rocks on which their predecessours did split ; if we may believe the verbal assertion of many living witnesses , and that which a late learned writer hath consign'd in print : which reflection should serve , at least , as a pharos , to prevent all shipwracks of that nature for the future . but how this beacon hath been observed , may be perceived from the ensuing little story . a bedal of a country-church being questioned , not long agoe , before a country-session , for bringing home a burden of flax on the lord's day , made this apology for himself , that not many days before , there had been a bishop in that village , who in his return from the north , ( where he had been visiting his aged father , of the same order with himself ; ) lodged all night in the minister's house , though the incumbent was not at home ; and ( not staying to supply that vacancy ) travelled many miles that day of his removal , which was the lord's day , with a great baggage-horse in his train , whose burden was far above the proportion of flax he had brought home ; whence he inferr'd , that he thought the bishops had brought such carriages in fashion on the lord's day , and that he might lawfully imitate them who were the fathers and lights of the church . from which blunt , but true , story , ( for the poor door-keeper was censured in publick , for all his imaginary authentick apology . ) i shall also deduce this inference ; that all church-men should be as vigilant as dragons , over their conversation in the world , that they give not the least offence unto any ; ( that stumbling-block occasioning the most dangerous fall , which is laid by the imprudent deportment of an ecclesiastick . ) the plurality of men being more enclined to live by examples than by rules , the former being much more obvious to plebeian heads than the latter , besides it hath a secret magnetical virtue , like the loadstone it attracts by a power of which we can give no account . yea such is the perverseness of humane nature , since that woful lapse of our first parents , that the generality of men are more prone to follow evil , than to imitate that which is good. but , that we may shut up this point , i shall add no more to the prosecution of delinquents in foro ecclesiastico , but only this wish , that the governours of our church do not ( by their applying violent corrosives to some who are obnoxious to error , and too great lenitives to others who are scandalous , ) give occasion unto any , of applying to them that usual observation concerning the roman church , that she punisheth more severely the violaters of her own laws , than the transgressors of the unquestionable laws of god. i cannot deny , but that it doth exceedingly grate my spirit , to hear the adversaries of our church upbraid the present government with a connivence at some scandals , by saying , that it was not so in the time of their covenant , ( for so they term that rebellious combination against church and state : ) and that presbytery was a better bulwark against error and prophaneness , than episcopacy ; i fail not indeed to tell them , that it must needs have been a very precious rampart which was cemented with the blood of kings ; and that i could give them an account of many tyrants ( both in regard of usurpation and domination ) who made very good laws , and put them severely in execution ; for , ex malis moribus bonae oriuntur leges . yet i wish from my very soul , that our church ( as it is now constituted ) did in piety , charity , and purity ( both as to errour and prophaneness ) outvie all the sects and conventicles in the world. see the acts of the first general council at nice , under constantine the great , against the arrians . the second general council at constantinople , under theodosius the great , against the macedonians . the third general council at ephesus , against the nestorians , auspiciis theodosii iunioris . the fourth general council , against the futychians , under martianus . the fifth under justinian the great , against the t●ta capitula . and of the sixth , under constantinus pogonatus , against the monoth●●●es . ( not to speak of many provincial synods during that interval . ) vide concil . ta●raconens . can. 4. concil . antisiodor . can. 34. concil . tolet. 4. can. 30. tolet. 11. can. 6. tol. 1. can. 5. conc. matiscon . 2. can. 1. where we have these express words , nemo die dominico ●alem sibi necessitatem exhibeat , quae jugum cervicibus jumentorum imponere cogat . fslote omnes hymnis & laudibus deo intenti . si quis vestrûm proximam habeat ecclesiam , properet ad eandem ; & ibi die dominico seme●ipsum precibus lachrymisque afficiat , &c. vid. etiam concil . antisiodor . can. 16. vide hieronym . comment . ad cap. 4. thren . peccantes mansuetudine provocentur , non austeritate abjiciantur : august . ( scribens ad proculianum , partis donatianae sectarium ; ) doceri , & moderatä ratione ad colloquia & amicas collationes invitari debent , qui cogi non possunt : decere quippe ●erae religionis cultores , ut à perpetuo proposito non recedant , vincendi in bono malum . idem ad cecilianum praesidem i●a scribi● ; vt tumor sacrilegae vanitatis terrendo potius sanetur , quàm ulciscendo resecetur ▪ & epist. ad aurel. episcop . si quando minae ab iis qui praesunt adhibeantur , id cum dolore fieri oportere , ultionisque ●●●tum ex seripturis intentari debere , ne ipsi in sua potestate , sed deus in corum sermone timeatur . et in luculenta illa ad bonifac. comitem epist. idem subdit ; in hujusmodi causis , ubi pergraves dissentionum s●●ssuras , non hujus aut illius hominis est periculum , sed populorum strages jacent , detra●endum esse aliquid severitati , & majoribus malis sanandis , charitate subvenien●lum . ( quod adeo in ecclesia obtinuit , 〈…〉 sententia semel atque iterumin gratiani decretum transcripta sit . ) b. ambrosius à valentiniano imp. puero , ad maximum imp. missus ( sub id tempus quo iste tyrannus priscilliani caput amputasset : ) in relatione sua testatur , cum treviris esset , abstinuisse se ab iis episcopis qui 〈◊〉 communicabant , & à side devios ad ●ecem petebant . vid. etiam greg. 1. moral . lib ▪ 2● ▪ par. 4. c. 6. et lib. 2. epist. 52. lib. 11. ep. 15. article xvi . 1 king. 21. 19 , 20. & 22. 14 , 15 , 16 , 17. 2 king. 3. 13 , 14. isa. 58. 1. ier. 1. 17 , 18. ezek. 2. 6. & 3. 9. mat. 10. 28. act. 4. 19 , 20 , 29. & 9. 27 , 29. 1 tim. 5. 21. tit. 2. 15. in the foregoing article we have hinted at the execution of discipline . and seeing divers appeals come from inferiour church-judicatories to the bishops , and their diocesan synods ; let me entreat them with a holy and discreet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to reprehend all who are found guilty within their jurisdiction , by discountenancing and censuring all who are contumacious in schism , obstinate in prophaneness , and pertinacious in errour ; especially , if they be apostates from our religion , to quakerism , popery , or atheism . for , if they be observed to be destitute of that courage or resolution which is necessary in any governour , it will give occasion unto many to conclude , that god never call'd them to that office , seeing they are not e●du'd with the spirit of their calling ▪ for ( as the spirit of government was imparted by heaven to the son of kish , before his election to the regal office , so ) the almighty sends none to labour in his vineyard , but he first furnisheth them with competent abilities to work there . the passion of fear ( as syracides tells us ) betrays those forces which reason brings into the soul , and many times argues an evil conscience within ; for the righteous are bold as a lion ; but the timerous and wicked are hide-bound , irresolute , resty , and unactive , always obnoxious to a pannick fear , and void of zeal for the glory of god , through want of the virtue of active fortitude ; so that they are many times afraid of their own shadows . and it was upon the account of that destitution , that the primitive church did declare the lapsi and clinicks , who were baptized in that condition , irregular , and inhabiles to ossiciate at the altar ; the former , because they wanted christian courage ; as is insinuated can. x. concilii magni nicaeni : and the later should not be ordain'd , because their faith ( who are baptized on their sick bed ) seems not to be voluntary , but of necssity , which is explicitly given as the reason of that interdict , by the 12th . canon of neo-caesarea . and , without all peradventure , he ( and he only ) is framed by heaven to be an approved governour , either of church or state , who can say in sincerity , with s. chrysostome , i fear nothing but sin : for as the poet saith , degeneres animos timor arguit . now the courage of a church-governour imports such a magnanimity that excludes pusillanimity on the one hand , and temerity on the other ; that foelix temeritas ( which , as seneca observed , attended the actions of alexander the great ) being unsutable in a church-man , who ought alwayes to order his affairs with discretion ; for christian prudence admits of the sagacity of the serpent , in conjunction with the harmlesness of the dove . therefore this virtue in an ecclesiastick , must also shut out that volatile salt which is observed in some who pretend to greatness of spirit , and should be reduc'd to such a fixation that amounts to an immoveable constancy in that which ( after mature deliberation ) hath once been well resolved upon , in conformity to that advice of judicious salust . antequam incipias consulta . — ubi consulueris maturè , facto opus est . but that fixation must never come the length of a caput mortuum ; for , as a faint-hearted creature is easily frighted by the audacious ; so an unconstant wavering spirit is , with no less facility , imposed and wrought upon by the crafty . that character of socrates ; semper eodem incedebat vul●u ; and that prince's motto , semper idem , are decent epithetes in a church-man . as the inflexible justice of aristides merited that elogium , that the sun might be sooner diverted from its course , than that noble athenian from the path of iustice ; so the inviolable resolution of athanasius to adhere unto the truth , procured that deserved encomium , sedem potiùs mutare voluit quàm syllabam : yea , less than a syllable ( even the interposition of one letter into the churches creed , ) would have composed the difference betwixt the orthodox and arrians , and have procured eternal peace to the christian world , all the years of the reign of the emperours constantius and valens : and that ( in all probability ) much more effectually , than the nine disparate creeds penned by the arrians , during the reign of constantius . but they adhered closely to the council of nice , and did choose rather to cast themselves upon the providence of god , than to consent to the least alteration ; they perceiving that the substitution of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , did not only pervert the sence , and enervate the authority of that great synod ; but that it did totally invalidate its determination for consubstantiality . for the orthodox considered , that as wisdom is alwaies justified of her own children ; so that wisdom which descends from above , is first pure , then peaceable ; and that optabilius est bellum pace impiâ , & à deo distrahente . but i greatly fear that there are too many in this iron age so flexible , that they would cause to renounce , not only any letter of the alphabet , but also all the dutch consonants , and selavonian words , yea , both α , and ω , before they willingly abandoned their seats , they being willows , and not oaks : which was given as the reason , by an old courtier , why he stood ( but i suppose not uprightly ) in favour , during all the twenty four years of bloody war betwixt the red rose and the white : such persons having a versatile ingenium ( as was said of cato the elder ) which can uti foro , & servire scenae . but a prudent resolution with a couragious constancy , in a church-governour , will not fail to animate all the presbyters within his jurisdiction , to exercise church-discipline impartially , without any fear of finding their own subordinate authority baffled in the matter of appeals , when scandalous persons provoke from their award to the bishops tribunal ; which is too frequently practis'd in this age. but if ( in lieu of strengthening ) they perceive their superiours palpably weakening their hands , by conniving too long , and indulging too much unto some delinquents , it will give occasion , even to those who cannot but approve the form of government , to wish that they had never seen such governours , who regard not the glory of god , or the good of his church , nor the credit of their own office , nor the reputation of their clergy ; and that they are too like unto k. saul , given rather for a curse , than a blessing unto the people of god : all laodicean bishops , and all who ( as the satyr said ) blow hot and cold with one mouth , being hateful in the sight of god , and odious in the eyes of those who have a pure zeal for the glory of god , and the good of his church ; for corruptio optimi est pessima . yet i doubt not , but that this free remonstrance ( though made by the most conform of the clergy , ) shall verifie that of the royal prophet , tange montes , & fumigabunt ; which by some of the old fathers is applied to these rancorous vapors which barefac'd truth exhales from some mountains of worldly dignity . and from these little partial policies ( which savour too rankly of a timorous sinful compliance : ) judicious spectators will take occasion to compare them unto aesop's dog , who would neither do good , nor let good be done ; and to the crimaean tartars , who will not suffer the polonians to manure a parcel of fertile ground interjacent betwixt them , and that part of the ancient scythia europaea , neither will they be at the pains to cultivate it themselves . i deny not , but pax cum hominibus , & bellum cum vitiis , is an ancient christian maxim ; but sure i am , pax cum hominibus & vitiis , is an antichristian conjuncture . but the impartial execution of discipline hath also a train of many other excellent advantages following after it ; for all the cardinal vertues do evidently and eminently appear therein : and it is an imitation of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of our great master ; as also the best expedient to perswade all ranks of people to comply with their admonitions , and to submit enirely and cheerfully to the yoke of discipline , when they perceive their rulers to be no respecters of persons , and that their justice is so far blind , as not to put any difference ( in their censures ) betwixt the noble and the ignoble , the rich and the poor . but if any byass be perceived towards the left hand of secular interest , unbyassed persons will be apt to resemble those canons whereby they pretend to be regulated , unto spiders webs , ( as one compared solon's laws ; ) which catch the lesser insects , but the greater ones pass through them scot-free . it was certainly the consideration of the unmalleable impartiality of a prelat , which prompted that great emperor theodosius to say , that he knew no bishop but ambrose . there is but little fear , in this byassed age of the world , of the violation of that antique precept , ye sh●ll not countenance a poor man in his cause ; but the reverse thereof is too frequently transgressed , it being an old complaint dat veniam corvis , vexat censura columbas . another advantage of the impartial execution of discipline , is , a great conformity to the method of the primitive church . and sure if the prudent practice of many disused penitentiary canons were retrived into this age , it would resemble the face and garb of the ancient christian church , much more than it doth . me thinks , it cannot but be a matter of great admiration unto any that is acquainted with the primitive history , to find ( even before the roman empire turn'd christian ; ) such a crowd of penitents , especially the lapsi , willingly offering themselves to undergo the severest penances enjoined by those ancient canons , which were so strict and diuturnal , that many of them required many years appearance in sackcloth and ashes , before they were accomplished ; the church-guides wanting the brachium saeculare to second their discipline , and many times meeting with much opposition therefrom . neither had the penitents any temporal hopes or fears to induce them , but only a firm belief of the future rewards and punishments of another world. the principal canons which contain a platform of that ancient austere discipline , and which do enjoin an impartial execution of church-censures upon all delinquents without respect of persons , shall be subjoin'd at the period of this article . i shall only here take notice of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the primitive fathers ; for in some cases , these disciplinarian canons permitted a great latitude to the governours of the church , to dispence with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or rigorous execution of them , upon the account of humanity , charity , prudence , and compassion , especially towards those who were in danger to be swallow'd up of too much grief , or to be absorpted in the gulf of death , before they were reconciled to the church by fulfilling the whole canonical time of penance . this discretion is recommended in the 11th . canon of that great council of nice : and the reason of this remission of the rigour of the law in some cases is expressed in general , by the 7th . canon of the xi th council of toledo ; where we have these very words ; ecclesiarum rectoribus discretio esse debet , ne per inconditam & indiscretam disciplinam , subeant homicidii nolam . and the 12th canon of the same council of toledo may be termed a commentary upon that 11th of the council of nice . now this relaxation of penance ( which was nothing else , but a dispensation with the rigour of the canon , upon prudential and charitable motives , ) being a great favour granted by the poenitentiary , or spiritual guide to the publick or private penitent , it was fitly termed by the primitive church , an indulgence ; which word in the later ages was grossely abused by the roman church , in the matter of purgatory ; and the unlawful gain which redounded from that doctrine , reckoned upon as one of the three spiritual fountains of the temporal intrado of the popes of rome . but whether this politick invention did contribute more to the avarice , or ambition of that hierarchy , can hardly be determined . but sure i am , the primitive fathers knew no such lucrative doctrine : and if they could have heard ticelius , with the rest of his dominican pardon-mongers promulgating that most scandalous sale of indulgences in germany , ( where , for a little money , they promised in the pope's name , that the living should be preserved from the flames of purgatory , and the dead immediately extricated out of them ; ) they would undoubtedly have concluded , that these praecones came from hell , to publish that simoniacal doctrine , of which we find ne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quidem , in all the authentick decrees of the most ancient bishops of rome : yea to him that readeth the decretals , it may plainly appear , that an indulgence is , an absolution from penance imposed in confession only ; which was the opinion of that learned cardinal cajetan , after he had once and again conferr'd with m. luther at ausburg ; the judgment of that great cardinal being homologated by that ingenuous ( but miserably deluded by his cardinals ) pope adrian the 6th , who was also a great divine , and had written on that subject long before luther thought to handle it . as for the aera of that unhandsome way of gaining money ; it was certainly posteriour to the 11th century , and did not commence , till vrban the second , having granted a plenary indulgence and remission of all sins to whosoever made war in the holy land , to regain the sepulchre of christ out of the hands of the mahumetans ; which was imitated by his successors for some hundreds of years ; some of which granted it to those who maintain'd a souldier , in case they could not go to war themselves in person : and after , in progress of time , the same indulgences were given for the taking of arms against those that obeyed not the church of rome , ( at which we hinted in another article , ) although they were also christians ; and for the most part , in●inite exactions were made , under these pretences ; all which ( or the greater part ) were applyed to baser ends and uses , than was pretended . but it is high time to crave pardon for this brief polemical digression , and i shall speedily shut up this article with an answer to one or two objections . peradventure some are ready to say , it 's impossible to retrive that primitive pattern unto this age , unless it were reduced ( whereof there is but little hope , ) unto that intense contrition , and zeal , faith , hope , charity , humility , patience and temperance , which abounded in the infant christian church . yea , more than so , there were many schismaticks in the primitive times , ( such as the novations , donatists , miletians , and luciferians . ) and some hereticks , ( especially the montanists , called otherwise cataphrygians , ) who , with a malicious vigilancy , watched for the halting of the orthodox ; which made them bestirr themselves the more vigorously against delinquents ; and with a seeming severity , lest these watchful dragons should upbraid them with too much lenity . for answer ; it is a matter of great regrett to all the true lovers of sion , that these christian vertues are at the best practised among us in too remiss a degree ; and it should be the endeavour of all christians to come up to the length of that grand exemplar ; for we have souls to be saved or lost , as well as they ; and there is no less obligation lying upon us to glorifie god , than was on them . and if every one who professeth that holy calling , would in his own sphere move aright through divine grace , we needed not doubt , but that golden age would , in a great part , be brought back to the church , and that we should anticipate that blessed millenium which was expected by the most ancient primitive fathers , before the consummation of the world. to which purpose the most learned m. mede applyes the doctrine of the ancient chiliasts , and vindicates the sectators of papias , from the imputation of s. hierom. as for the other objection ; it is but too evident , that we have but too many hereticks and schismaticks living amongst us , whose lyncaean eyes are as maliciously observent of the defects , and neglects of our church , as any of those of the primitive times were : and whosoever hath not noticed this , it may be truly said of him , that domi peregrinatur . vid. canones ferè omnes concilii illiberini , neo-caesariensis , & ancyrani . concil . general . 1. can. 2. & 19. concil . tolet . 3. can. 2 , 16. concil . agathens . can. 37. concil . carthag . 4. can. 74. concil . turon . 2. can. 19. concil . hispalens . 1. can. 3. concil . matiscon . 2. can. 14. concil . toletan . 4. can. 31. tolet. 6. can. 3. synod . quinisex . vel concil . general . 6. can. 95. the practice of holy bishops being the best commentary upon their doctrine , before we subjoyn any of their testimonies for the confirmation of this article , i shall give a brief hint of some histories , in order to the refreshing of the memory of the judicious reader ; for he must needs be a stranger to all church-history , who is altogether unacquainted with these ensuing instances . the first is of maris bishop of chalcedon , a blind bishop , yet he fought not andabatarum more , but boldly told the emperour iulian to his face , that he was glad the almighty had bereav'd him of his eyes , that he might not see such a vile apostate as he was . such was the freedom of spirit wherewith even an arrian bishop was endued in behalf of the christian religion . but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of s. basil ( a greater , and much more orthodox bishop , ) was so admirable in the eyes of the lieutenant of the emperour valens , that this heretical servant told it as one of the greatest wonders in the world , unto his arrian master , that there was no threatening imaginable could deterr that metropolitan of cappadoc●a , from the path of truth and vertue . st. chrysostom his freedom of spirit in reprehending the vanities of the empress eudoxia , was so great , that some supposed it had too much of the satyr in it : and that his wonderful eloquence would have run in a smoother channel , if a little gall , vinegar , and vitreol , had not sometimes troubled the stream . but he deserved from all ( and in a right sence too ) to be term'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or a kneeless bishop , he being inflexible to all the petitions of ignorant and scandalous ecclesiasticks , who lived within the priphery of his patriarchate : neither could all the hopes or fears , wherewith the greatest secular persons in the world accosted him , divert that resolute prelate , from that which he judged just and good , and a part of his episcopal charge . though we might subjoyn many other examples to this purpose , yet i shall forbear , for the reason above frequently express'd . yet we cannot balk in silence the well-known instance of that most worthy prelate of millan , who repell'd , for the space of eight moneths , that good emperour theodosius the great , from the holy eucharist , ( that blessed sacrament being frequently celebrated in the western churches , at that time ; ) and that for his temerarious and cruel sentence in the mattter of thessalonica . but whether the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of that great bishop , or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of that great emperour , were most admirable , i shall not determine ; but shall shut up this historical account , with that resolute answer which this couragious prelate gave to valentinian the second , emperour of the west ; who ( being instigated by his mother , an arrian , to give the principal church at millan to those hereticks ) did meet with this unexpected repulse from s. ambrose , in the porch of his cathedral , non prodam lupis gregem mihi commissam ; hic occide si lubet . in which expression his holy boldness , in conjunction with a due submission to superiour powers , affords new matter of admiration . now , in regard that this little cento of history hath wasted more paper than at first i imagin'd it should do , we shall therefore add no more authorities to this article . article xvii . mat. 23. 6 , 7 , 8. &c. act. 21. 20. rom. 12. 10. 2 cor. 3. 5. 2 pet. 3. 15. whatever bombast epithets others give unto them , let all bishops when they converse and salute one another viva voce , or by writing , use no other compellation than that of brethren , which is most consonant unto the primitive pattern ; all christians then living as brethren , and denominating one another under that notion of fraternity ; ( which word was much used in the infancy of the church : and from it the pagans also took occasion to traduce our religion . ) but none used it more than the ministers of the gospel , whether bishops or presbyters ; it being ( as baronius that great annalist hath well observed ; ) the most usual compellation of all bishops among themselves , where there was a parity of age , or no great disproportion . but when any of the order , who had stepped in upon a decrepit old age ( called by the latines , aetas capularis , and silicernium : ) did converse with one of the same order much younger than himself , he usually called him son , and vice versâ , the younger termed the elder father ; ( though none of them were so young , but that fourty winters ( at least ) had snowed upon their heads ; yea , very few presbyters were ordained in these times of persecution , whose pulse had not beaten twice twenty years : ) to which , if some late criticks had well adverted , they would have made use of a better argument to repudiate the pretended areopagite , ( as there want not some solid reasons to do the feat , ) than his impertinency , in calling timothy , son , at the close of his book , of ecclesiastical hierarchy ; though ( say they ) the said timothy was equal to him , ( if not his superiour ) in piety , doctrine , and authority , both being bishops of famous churches , and ephesus ( where timothy govern'd ) rather a mother-church than athens ; and that it was the general custom of the primitive church , for bishops to call one another brethren : but this is a meer fallacy , à dicto secundum quid , ad dictum simpliciter ; for in respect of age , he might have called him son , though in many other things he had been his superiour ; seeing we find , more than a thousand years after that time , ( when christian simplicity and humility were much rarer in the world , ) that ioseph patriarch of constantinople , flatly refused the emperour thereof , ( whose , almost desperate , affairs , in that conjuncture required as great complyance with the latin church , as conscience could possibly permit , ) to prostitute himself to the bishop of rome , by giving him the usual adorations of the occidental church at that time ; and plainly told him , that if eugenius the 4th ( by whose influence the councel of florence was celebrated , which was first assembled at ferrara : ) were a man much elder than himself , he would call him father ; if but of equal years , he would term him brother ; if much younger , he would style him son , without the ●east mention of his pretended title of holiness . and this was all the compellation and obeysance could be obtained from that peremptory patriarch . it were also desireable , that all our bishops took place among themselves according to their age ; ( excepting the metropolitan or primate , who is constant praeses of that sacred colledge , and who usually in the primitive church was eminent above the rest , not only in all laudible qualifications , but also in respect of age. ) for in doing so , they would not only imitate the sons of that great patriarch iacob , but they would shew themselves humbly obsequious to many ancient canons , which appoint the precedency of bishops among themselves , to be , at least , conform to the aera of their present dignity ( of which we shall give an account at the end of this article ; ) it being a most indecent spectacle , ( and that which in the city of sparta would have appear'd a very ridiculous pageantry : ) to see a reverend old man treading upon the heels of one who might have been his grand-child , and yet of that same order with himself . but whether young or old ( if they be once of the order ) there is all the reason in the world , that all of them should be interested in all the material concerns thereof . time was , when there were no such peculiar precincts in this church , which are now termed dioceses ; but all of that sacred order governed this church communi-consilio & suffragio , and therefore were denominated episcopi scotorum , in general : and without peradventure , all bishops and presbyters , canonically elected and ordained , are , iure divino , organical members of the catholick church , ( as is sufficiently demonstrated by m. hudson , and divers others : ) though we should prescind from all limitations of diocesan and parochial churches ; which restrictive boundaries were only determined iure humano : ( damasus and platina testifying , that p. evaristus , primus in urbe roma , divisit titulos presbyteris . ) for , if this most reasonable ▪ correspondence , and good understanding were observed amongst all the bishops of a national church , there should be no occasion given unto any of that order , to regret that they are seldom call'd to give their advice in the most important affairs of the church ; far less their consent required to the management of them . nor should they complain , that when their assistance is offered , they are us'd much worse than the pedarii senatores at rome ; the point-blank contrary being put in execution to that which the plurality had resolved upon ; as if they were not the edifiers of sion , but the builders of babel , and understood not one another's language . which slight put upon bishops , may a little alleviate the neglect of presbyters ; for , solamen miseries , &c. but i would humbly tender my advice to the governours of our church , not to use such singular methods , and dis-joynted counsels ; lest they give occasion unto intelligent persons , for to resemble them unto lewis the eleventh of france , of whom it was said , that he carried all his councel about with him upon one horse . and philip de commines , that excellent historian , observes it to have been the cause of the final ruin , and fatal end of that king's rival , charles the warlike , that he harkened to no counsel , save that of his own . perhaps some of these leading-men have not only the vanity of themistocles the athenian general , who dispatch'd all the important concerns of his office , the last day of his abode in the city ( as plutarch reports in the history of his life ; ) but also the ambition to be thought no less sufficient than that perpetual dictator , whose great parts did cast such a dark shadow upon his insignificant colleague in the consulship , that they , who in mockery did calculate the fasti consulares , design'd that year thus ; iulio & caesare coss. ( the remaining bibuli sitting rather as ciphers , than consuls , in the church of god. ) yet let them be never so sharp , i hope they will acknowledge there is some acuteness in that expression of the wise man , in the multitude of councellors there is safety ; and some sence in that old maxim , plus vident oculi quàm oculus ; and in this also , vis consilii expers , mole ruit suâ . for they who will not give ear to the advice of any other man , ( be he never so godly and learned ) must needs be such opiniators , as iamblicus out of aristotle speaks of , who imagine themselves a middle sort of rationals , betwixt god and man. yet these fantastical semidii , shall not only dye like men , but they have good reason to fear , that there shall be no such king found as david was , to follow the bier , and to lament over them thus ; dyed these generals of the ten tribes as fool dieth ? nay , on the contrary , they may apprehend the fate of iehoram , that wicked king of iudah , who departed not being desir'd ; i.e. none seriously affecting the prolongation of that life , which was so useless and noxious to the world. and let them remember , that there is scarce any ancient councel ( if ever they did read them ; ) whether general or provincial , ( so that we need not amass citations to this purpose ; ) but ordains every metropolitan to assemble a councel of his comprovincials once every year at least , that with common advice and consent they may resolve on those things which concern the good of that church , at whose helm providence hath placed them . and it is very observable , that there have been some in the world , who , having dream'd of an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in themselves , ( as if these fantastick deities did emulate one of the names of the true god , which is schaddai , ) yet have been led by the nose by some sycophantine creatures of their own ; which sons of ptolomee ceraun . and campobasso , will not fail ( when occasion serves ) to cut the throats of their deluded patrons . but whatever success their subterranean attempts may have , that ecclesiastick must needs be too prodigal of his fame , who is surrounded with such disingenuous varlets , that cast so dark a shadow upon him , which proves not only a great scandal to the church , but also a very great reflection upon his own judgment and honour ; for ( as constantius chlorus said well ) he who is not faithful unto god , can never be faithful unto man. it was an old saying , nulla fides pietasve viris qui castra sequuntur . i wish there be no ground to apply this to any of the spiritual militia of this age : and that none of them may be found like to that perfidious grecian lysander , who vaunted of himself , that , as some men cheated young children with a little dose of sweet junkets , so he used to trepan men with oaths . and it is beyond all doubt , that they must needs be men of prostituted consciences , and who would make no bones of falsifying their own oaths for a little worldly interest , who endeavour to perswade a metropolitan councel to become guilty of perjury ; without all peradventure , such persons would not think any singular wickedness too great for them to boggle at . vid. concil . arelat . 1. can. 9. cujus haec sunt verba ; vt nullus episcopus alium episcopum conculcet . concil . carthag . 4. can. 83. concil milevit . can. 13. concil . agathens . can. 16. concil . bracar . 1. can. 24. cujus haec sunt formalia verba ; — item placuit , ut , conservato metropolitani episcopi primatu , caeteri episcoporum , secundum suae ordinationis tempus , alius alii sedendi locum deferat . concil . antioch . can. 9. & concil carthag . 4. can. 25. vid. greg. 1. lib. 12. epist. 15. cùm certum sit honoris ista distinctio , ut ipse prior & major habeatur , qui prius fuerat ordinatus , communitatis consilio , & concordi actione . clem. alex. paedagog . & lib. 5. strom. tertull. contra marcion . lib. 4. & contra psychicos . ( though he had followed the errour of montanus , before he wrote that invective against the orthodox ; yet there be some sad truths in it . ) orat. gregorii n●zianz . post reditum . article xviii . act. 20. 30 , 31. rom. 16. 17. philip. 3. 2. 2 tim. 2. 2. tit. 1. 9 , 10 , 11. having hinted already at the sentence of inhability pronounced by the primitive church against all those who had been publick penitents , declaring them for ever incapable to officiate at the al●ar , whether they were candidates of 〈◊〉 holy function , or already in orders ; it 〈…〉 here subjoyn , that they took the same course with all those who deserved to be such , ( suppose they continued for a time refractory to the discipline of the church ; ) whom they reduc'd , if of the clergy , to the laick-communion , and thought it favour enough in doing no more . which censure was not to participate of a mutilated sacrament , ( as some ignorant papalins pretend , in their pitiful arguings for that detestable sacrilege : ) but to be in the state of laicks , that they should not any more enjoy the honour of sitting among the clergy , or of being reputed such . and they must needs be void , not only of greek and latin , but of common sense too , who do not perceive that to be the genuine import of those numerous canons of the eastern and western churches , which have pronounced that kind of censure against the great delinquents of the clergy , these refractory persons being so much the more criminal , because they added contumacy to their guilt , and were many removes from conviction . i wish from my very heart , that the same method had been us'd in this church ; which would have obviated that great reproach which hath of late befallen it , in reference to those of the clergy , who engag'd into a schismatical and seditious combination against the government of church and state ; that pernicious conspiracy levelling both at prince and priest , though many well-meaning creatures were seduced by these ignes fatui , like those simple souls which followed absalom to hebron . yet this was not the sole aggravation of their guilt ; for ( as if it had been too little for them to become once the sons of the devil ; ) they confirmed that hellish confederacy by reiterated oaths , in complyance with that old maxim , tutum sceleribus per scelera est iter . and ( not satisfied with raising a devouring fire in this national church ; ) they rested not till they promoted that combustion , by throwing firebrands into the bowels of our neighbour kingdom ; ( as if they were the genuine issue of semele , after iupiter had approached unto her with the ensigns of his deity . ) which , raging there much worse than aetna or vesuvius could have done , or the most violent vulcano in the world , inflamed all the vitals of that well constituted government : the universal conflagration of this poor island being carried on by these boutefeu's , with no less pretence of divine zeal , than if they had fetched the first coal thereof from the altar of god. if justice had been done on those incendiaries , they would at least have been reduc'd ad communionem laicorum ; and they ought to have looked upon it as a very great favour indulg'd them , to have been permitted to remain in statu quo priùs , without any other chastisement , than the corrodings of their own consciences , ( when they reflect upon the catastrophe of that horrid tragedy they had been acting ; which was , the barbarous assassination of one of the best of princes . ) and a final desperation of being advanced to any higher degree in the militant church . that hereticks and scismaticks , even after they have returned with penitent hearts to the catholick church , should look upon it as a very great favour , to be permitted to continue in the order wherein they were before that scandalous lapse , ( yet absque omni spe promotionis , ) is so evident from the ancient fathers , that we need not wast any paper thereabout : there being no less than thrice mention thereof in prima causa secundae partis decreti gratiani . vid. q. 1. c. 42. & c. 112. q. 7. c. 21. in all which paragraphs , that expression is still mentioned , vt in magno habeant beneficio tolerantiam in statu quo priùs permanendi , absque &c. but o! how my heart doth ach , ( for , as the tragedian hath said , curae leves loquuntur , ingentes stupent , ) when i consider , what a scandal the preferment of some of these , hath given to the church of god. their grasping of that which formerly they had solemnly abjured , and persecuted odio vatiniano , as one of the strongest limbs of anti-christ , puts me in mind of that of the poet , ille crucem sceleris pretium tulit , hic diadema . which honourable elevation is too apt a temptation to pave the way in corrupt nature unto inveterate knavery , when it is observed , that early villany is prosperous in youth , and hath the hap to be crown'd in old age ; unless it be such a mock-diadem wherewith an ambitious nobleman was once stigmatized in this land. to which unhappy advancement and ominous elevation , as the causa defectibilis , ( together with that curse which usually attends such weather-cocks , ) many are apt to impute the non-pursuance of the true ends of this present government , and the re-establishment thereof on sure foundations ; that proverb being too often verified , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . i.e. mali principii , malus exitus : and errours in prima concoctione are most dangerous . for , sir iohn presbyter is scarce yet warned to remove from his usurped possession , save only , that in lieu of a presbyterian moderator , we now have a presbyterian bishop , invested with a new title , and larger revenues . and what greater demonstration need we of it than this , that some presbyterian preachers , and ministers too , are tolerated , by the sole authority of some bishops , to enjoy the officium & beneficium of those churches wherein they have been bellows of schism and sedition : and never yet acknowledged any church-judicatory higher than their kirk-session , since the re-establishment of this government ? which is a sufficient evidence , that simile simili gaudet , and birds of one feather flock together . for if there were not such bigots to cajole the populace , the fanaticks of this land would soon crumble away to nothing . another evidence of the continuance of their doting upon their darling presbytery , is , their design to depress ( as much as possibly they can ) those of the conform clergy , who have been constantly loyal to church and state. who ( in his right wits ) would imagine , when any episcopal see , theological chair , or headship of a college is vacant , but that they would be ready ( secundum vires inventarii ) to prefer unto those vacancies , a well-qualified person , who would be fast to their government , upon the account of his loyal principles ? but we see the contrary practis'd ; their old associates in that hellish combination must be the only men of whom they are fond ; whereby they embrace ixion's cloud instead of iuno , and verifie the common proverb , quos iupiter vult perdere , illos dementat : and qui sibi nequam , cui bonus ? which joyn issue with that of homer , talis est hominum terrestrium mens , qualem quotidie ducit pater virorumque deorumque . but — aliquisque malo fuit usus in illo . for ( these being the inveterate socii criminis ) they are sure they will never upbraid them , either directly or indirectly , with their former immoralities ; for , carere debet omni vitio , qui in alterum dicere paratus est . and if any of them should prove such bold adventurers , they have this recriminating repartee in readiness , for such shameless upbraiders , quamvis dignus essem hac contumeliâ , indignus tu qui diceres tamen ; or that other , which is parallel thereto , loripedem rectus irrideat , aethiopem albus . but it is a matter of lamentation , that their endeavours of depression have prov'd too successful . ( though , nascitur indignè per quem denascitur alter . ) for , ( suppose we had lived the life of nestor ) none could remember , that ever they saw this holy function under so much obloquy and contempt , as it hath been these few years past . for , unless a man have something else to commend him than the dignity of his office , ( though it is most sacred , and should render the exercisers of it every way inviolable : ) yet it is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to protect him from the scoffings , and scurrile expressions of the profane ; nor from the undervaluings of those who pretend to some shadow of civility and religion . yet i should wish , ( in behalf of the church ) that , what is grated from the circumference , were at least , cemented with the center . but alack ! we find there is such an unhappy conjuncture in this affair , that there is too perfect a resemblance thereof , unto pharoah's dream , of which we read , that the lean and ill-favoured kine did eat up the first seven fat kine , yet it could not be known that they had eaten them up ; for they were still lean and ill-favoured , as at the beginning . but that we may put a period to this grating article ; i do firmly believe , that if his gracious majesty had been well inform'd of those deplorable inconveniences , he would have chosen rather to have sent down some english doctors to have govern'd us in prima instantia , than have permitted any of those willy-wisps to jump into these empty chairs ; our neighbour-church being such a fertile soil , that it could easily spare a charitable antidote against the famine of another ; ( though , to speak truth , it is a kind of nazareth to our wildest fanaticks ; for they cannot foresee , that any good shall come from thence . ) yea , i am con●ident , if our own ierusalem had been search'd with light candles , as many , who have been constantly loyal , ( and have suffered much too upon that account ; ) would have been found to be pares negotio , who are inferiour to these late daemagogues in nothing that is truly good , and much superiour to them all in real honesty . yea it is the opinion of many judicious persons , that some leading secular subjects , whose hearts were not well disposed towards the government , had a hand in the advancement of such ; that through their sides ( which were too patent to reproaches ) this sacred regiment might be easily wounded : their feeble arms not being able to susslaminate that burden , they conjectured that the weight thereof would make them faint at last , and so permit that celestial load to fall to the ground , before an hercules could be found to support it with his shoulders . but as for those who longed for the reestabliment of that ancient government upon lasting foundations ; and cordially wished to see all that dirt of obloquie and contempt , which had been thrown in the face of that primitive regiment , and sullied it for half an age , so wiped off , that it might shine with a greater lustre than before : these well-wishers knowing , that outward esteem and reputation is the same to great persons ( especially of the clergy ) which the skin is unto the fruit : for , though it be but a slight and delicate cover , yet without it , the fruit will presently dis-colour , and rot . sure it would never have entered into the minds of those real friends of the church , that no better expedient could be found to appease a raging sea , and to procure halcyonian seasons unto that storm-beaten ( and almost shipwrack'd ) vessel , than to invert the story of ionah by placing those runnagate prophets at the helm of the church ; the more dexterous and auspicious pilots being , in the mean time , thrown over board , into a sea of confusion and contempt , like to the scattered limbs of innocent absyrtus , and all for that end to retard the just pursuit of a criminal medea . but , seeing it hath been the unhappy fate of this church , that such persons have become the steer-masters of that fluctuating ark ; yet true repentance being ( as s. hierom hath said ) optima tabula post naufragium ; i should wish , that there had been a day of solemn humiliation appointed , wherein these fugitive lapsi , might have given glory to god , by confessing before all his people , ( and that from deep conviction too ) a penitent sense of their former schismatical and seditious courses . which exomologesis ( in my humble judgment ) should have been found more justifiable , and much more edifying too , than to attest the searcher of all hearts , that their consciences did still approve that persecuted way , even then when they were preaching , and acting with all their might against it : whereby they detected themselves , either to have been hypocrites all that time ( than which heart , and a heart nothing is more odious in the sight of that god who delights in uprightness : ) or at least , that they would have others to repute them such . for , i deny not the truth of that maxim , ne pudeat ad meliora transire , the meaning whereof , as to the present case , is this ; that these malefactors should not be asham'd to repent of their former perverseness , and to learn more candour and christian ingenuity for the future . but , i fear , that many of those who were protei before the year 1660 , if there come a new revolution , ( which , as long as i breath , i shall every day pray god to prevent , ) would easily become vertumni : and that the canting language of a bold usurper , would cast them into a new paroxysm of their old vertigo ; so that they should again become the ecebolii of their age. vid. concil . general . 1. can. 9. concil . elibertin . can. 30 , 51 , 76. concil . arelat . 2. can. 25. concil . aurelianens . 4. can. 8. concil . toletan . 4. can. 52. concil . valentin . can. 4. concil . carthag . 4. can. 68. concil . tolet. 1. can. 2. concil . agath . can. 29. 33. concil . illerdens . can. 5. concil . aurelianens . 3. can. 5. concil . matisconens . 1. can. 2. vid. tertul. apolog. arnob. lib. 7. adversus gentes . euseb. de praep. evang. lib. 12. greg. nazianz. orat. contra iulian. apostat . s. basil. lib. de spiritu sancto . s. ambros . lib. 2. de offic. chrysost. lib. 1 , 2 , & 3. de sacerdot . greg. 1. lib. 4. epist. 17. & lib. 7. epist. 25. isidor . hispal . de eccles . offic. lib. 2. bern. de consid. lib. 3 , 4. article xix . this article concerns only those bishops who are chancellours of universities : and i wish they look upon that honourable prerogative , as a special part of their province ; having a particular care , that the respective houses intrusted to their charge be well governed , by causing exact discipline to be observed in them , and edifying doctrine alwayes taught , even all the learned languages , and liberal arts , if there be competent maintenance settled for these several professions , or which may be provided by a right improvement of the old revenues , and the encouragement of pious christians ( who are in bonis ) to make some charitable donations for that effect . and let them regard all professours impartially , by hugging them all ( as a common father ) with an equal paternal affection ; provided they be men of conscience , learning , prudence , and authority , joyn'd with a faithful sufficiency to exercise their respective functions seasonably and diligently . and , above all , that they be persons of loyal principles , both in reference to church and state : as also , peaceably disposed , and averse from intrinsecal factions . as for these salamanders , who ( like the seditious in ierusalem ) are still jarring within , when they should be opposing the common enemy from without , let such be speedily turned out , lest that brood of the viper at last tear out the very bowels of their mother . but , seeing the education of youth , at their first appearance upon the university-theatre , is immediately intrusted to the care of the professours of philosophy ; let not these masters be permitted to be vain in their conversation or apparel ; ( as if they were school-boys themselves , who needed to be tutor'd , and have not as yet attain'd to that measure of prudence , as to govern themselves aright : ) but let them be ordered to be patterns of piety , gravity , sobriety , and all kind of temperance , to young ones ; that they may edifie them both by their example and doctrine . and let them be careful to teach youths the most solid parts of philosophy ; viz. the most useful part of aristotle's logicks , ( which was his greatest talent wherein his strength did lye , and whereby he did merit most from the world : ) remitting the vain pursuit of these aëreal notions concerning vniversale , ens rationis , &c. to brain-sick creatures , whose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is , festucas legere , and chief employment , nugas & quisquilias prosequi . let them be also taught somewhat of the physicks , ethicks , and metaphysicks : but , i humbly suppose , moral philosophy may be more exactly learned from the platonists and stoicks , than from aristotle's ethicks ; viz. the books of plato , hierocles , plotinus , epictetus , simplicius , antoninus , arian , cicero , seneca , and plutarch : but seeing christians are to call in auxiliaries from such , there is no question but thomas aquinas his secundae secundae would be very useful in this affair . and , i should wish , that the most learned , solid , and discreet philosophers of an university , or nation , were employed , not only to draw up an exact systeme of moral philosophy , but also of natural , collected from des cartes , gassendus , the french and english virtuosi , not forgetting the learned works of sir francis bacon , ( whose profound philosophical wit gave the first rise to the modern experimental philosophy : ) especially his natural history and novum organum ; yea , his advancement of learning , his history of winds , and the prolongation of life , would be found also good adminicles 〈◊〉 such a design . but , as that systeme should be very material , so it ought to be succinct , like to that brief ( but excellent ) epitome , composed , as some suppose , by m. arnold , and term'd ars cogitandi , which is a notable summary of logick . such a systeme should serve , at least , as a text , both to masters and scholars ; a little latitude being indulg'd to professors to paraphrase on that diuturnal ephemerides . but let not capricious brains presume to set forth a new philosophical almanack every year , with a design to put the former out of date , till a new authority re-enjoyn it . but , above all , ( in destitution of a particular professour of the mathematicks ) let every master of philosophy teach his scholars every year some of the most useful species of that excellent science ; viz. arithmetick , geometry , geography , and astronomy , which will be found infinitely more useful , than these operosae nugae , taught heretofore in those places ; which have no better effect , than to stuff the brain , like to a bubble of water , or a blown bladder ; and which directly resembles those delicious viands wherewith necromancers pretend to feed their guests , but when they go away , they find their maws as empty , as when they began that imaginary feast . so that when these deluded youths come to commence masters of arts , their instructors may say of them , ( though not with a good conscience ) accipiamus pecuniam , &c. and ( without any humble modesty to be their prompter ) they may say of themselves , ( with as much truth at least as socrates , when he was pronounced by the oracle , to be the wisest man in the world ) this i know ; that i know nothing . and , that with secular learning they may drink in the first milk of piety , from the breasts of that alma mater , let the principles of christian religion be early instilled into the minds of young ones ; that , being seasonably taught to remember their creator in the dayes of their youth , they may not forget him in their old age , nor be forsaken by him ; for quo semel est imbuta , &c. for that end , let such a book as h. grotius his excellent little treatise de veritate religionis christianae ( which , without any hyperbole , is worth it's weight in the purest gold , ) be so inculcated into their memories , that they may , not only have it all by heart , but also throughly understand it . as also that notable summary of christian offices , call'd , the whole duty of man , composed by an unknown author : or the practical catechism of the learned d. hammond ; or that of d. vsher of armach , primate of ireland : provided they be first jure latii donati ; for all the communications of the lycaeum ought to be in the dialect of old rome , or that of the city of minerva ; that the tenacious memories of the young ones may be habituated to those learned languages . and how necessary the good education of youth is , may appear from that excellent observation of the great lo. verulam , that , the great multiplication of vertue upon humane nature resis on societies well ordered and disciplin'd : for common-wealths and good governments nourish virtue grown , but do not much mend the seeds . whence he infers , that there ought to be a most exquisite delectus of the tutors of youth . and ( if we give faith to plato , seneca , and plutarch ; ) they should be as well qualified persons as are lightly to be found in the world. and sure , this solicitous choice of the educators of youth was never more necessary , than in this iron age , wherein many have been so marred in their education by schismatical and disloyal principles , too early instilled into them , that this foundering in the feet hath caused convulsive fits , and unsteady motions in them , as long as they lived . but if the universities of this land were blessed with such professours as we have above described ; it is most probable , that from those seminaries of knowledge , and fruitful nurseries of the muses , eminent plants might blossom , in process of time , to the great advantage either of church or state , as divine providence shall determine their lot. and , seeing these stations of philosophy are the best seminaries this nation enjoys , for perfecting young men in order to that sacred function ; therefore let not these professours monopolize them for many yeares , by nestling their families therein , as if the foundator had designed nothing else , but the provision of their posterity . but let them be enjoyned to live in a celibate state , that with less distraction they may prosecute their studies : and , after the expiration of five , or six years at most , let them give place to others ; that , by such a happy circulation , all the corners of the land may reap the advantages of that foundation . it were ( in my humble judgment ) a very desirable blessing to this nation ; that his gracious majesty , with his great councel , would be pleased to allow some few months cess , to be stocked , for the inhancing of the revenues of the universities ; especially of the primar , and masters of philosophy ; that the head of the house may have a competent and constant annual intrado , to live splendidly , according to the dignity of his station . and this opening of free-schools to the professours of philosophy , ( without any expectation of the least acknowledgment from any scholar , and that under the pain of immediate extrusion from the respective house where they officiate : ) would not only obviate those scandalous animosities which too frequently occurr betwixt masters of different colleges , in the exercise of their beggarly trade of mendicating scholars , but would also be found the best expedient to retrive ( jure postliminii ) that ancient university-discipline , which hath been obnoxious to such a woful lapse , that it hath undergone the fate of an immemorial dispossession . for , if avarice and self-interest did not prevail with too many , over the qualifications and proficiency of those intrusted to their charge , yea , and preponderate the publick reputation of the house where they live , many who are now ambabus ulnis amplexi , would be declar'd incapable to enter within the philosophick porch , as being deprehended foundered in the feet , and frequently criminal in breaking priscian's head. and not a few who have already entred within these gates of the muses , would either be found unworthy to remain there , upon the account of vitiosity of life , ( which is contagious to the rest of the society : ) or be extruded for non-proficiency in their studies : degradation to a lower class , till they caught hold of minerva's train , would certainly be the least of their censure . neither should the subject , by this wished for contribution , be a loser ; but ( as we use to speak ) he should prove a gainer at the long run ; for , what is now expended by them , would , by this method of free-schools , preserve no less , ( if not much more ) to their posterity , over and above their more laudable education : for persons of all ranks in this nation , usually sending their sons to be taught in some university , ( which is highly commendable , and much applauded beyond seas : ) they are , ( according to their quality ) oblig'd to dispense proportionable salaries to their instructors ; yea , they who have the inspection of them , are necessitated to require these honoraria , seeing the provisions of some foundations are so small a pittance , that they are disproportionable to that victus and amictus which the most sober person stands in need of ; not to speak of the fuel of charity and hospitality , and those materials for buying of books , and entertainment of a servant to wait upon them , which the dignity of that office calls for . all which require much more money , than the poverty of some foundations can afford . and let this chancellour of the university contribute his utmost endeavours that the provost , or head of the college , ( usually term'd primar ) excell , not only in the above expressed qualities , ( that he may deservedly be termed the principal of that incorporation ) but that also he be doctor of divinity , and the reformed canon law ; that he may be in a capacity to conferr that dignity upon the most learned of the clergy , when their ordinary shall call them thereunto , that many may be encouraged to merit that degree ; honour being the best nursing-mother of arts , and promover of sciences . — but , let those who are , not only pious , learned , and prudent , but also known to have deserved well of the church , by their constant loyalty , be invited in the first place , to the participation of that honourable degree : for it is well enough known , that bishops are not in a capacity to promote all such to the most eminent dignity of the church ; ( it were indeed a pitiful nation , if the number of those did not far surpass that of the episcopal sees , suppose the church were so happy , as to have the absolute disposal of them : ) therefore it were but just and fit , that such deserving persons were ( at least ) rewarded with those minute and inexpensive honours , as a character of the churches special favour towards them . but seeing the royal family ( the sole fountain of honour ) hath gratified our universities with that honourable privilege and faculty , to dispense that cognizance of learning to the worthy ; let the chancellours have a special care , that the same be not abused and disgrac'd , by the promotion of the unworthy : for , if old knaves , epicures , buffoons , and grosse ignorants , who have not a mouthful of good latin , nor the art to form a right syllogism , ( not to speak of those doctorculi dominarum : ) be advanced to that honour ; it may provoke his majesty to recall that privilege from universities which hath been so vilified . and , suppose his majesty be not informed of such an abuse , yet it will infallibly render that honour despicable , for an age at least . we read indeed of that famous epaminondas , that by his undertaking the sordid office of a scavenger , he rendered that ( which was formerly accounted the basest , ) the most honourable in his city : but i fear , these pitiful doctorculi shall be found the reverse of the story , and the antipodes of that gallant theban ; for the degree will never dignifie them , but they will vilifie the honour : and it shall fare with it in the end , as it did with the order of s. michael in france , which was at first reputed very honourable , but when two or three unworthy persons were admitted unto that fraternity , no man of any worth would look after it any more , nor regard it in the least , who had any regard to his reputation . thus thuan in the 23 d book of his excellent history , introduceth a french gentleman , speaking to this purpose , of that order of knighthood , ( which was first instituted by lewis the 11th , and at last abolished by k. henry the third . ) torquem conchiliatum postquam indignis promiscuè communicari coepisset , non jam esse fortium virorum insigne , sed omnium bestiarum collare . and it shall be the fate of those ignorant knights errant , to be compared unto that vain roman , ventidius bassus , of whom it was said , that he spoiled a good muleter , and made but a bad consul . but i shall shut up this paragraph with the observation of some very judicious persons ; that the principal reason wherefore pallas hath so few painted shields in this nation , is , because the sons of minerva receive so little encouragement from their superiours ; the much easier arts of adulation , and implicit obedience , being more valued , than the wearisom trade of evisceration ; ( it being no unfit etymology of the word minerva , quod nervos imminuat ; and of pallas , quod pallidos reddat . ) for there is much sence in that of the poet , sint maecenates , non deerunt flacce marones . and some in this too , — quis enim virtutem amplectitur ipsam , praemia si tollas ? time was ( even among the heathen ) that learning was a sufficient protection against tyranny ; winess antonius triumvir , who , when varro ( his enemy , and of a contrary faction ) was listed for death ; thus gallantly superscrib'd his name , vivat varro vir doctissimus : not to mention alexander the great his sparing of the house and family of pindarus , in that total eversion , and epidemical destruction of the thebans ; because he was the renowned prince of the lyrick poets , and unimitable , as horace terms him . for , though this domitian , maximinian , and lycinian age affords but few examples of this nature , yet ancient records have ( almost innumerable ) instances to this purpose . it cannot rationally be expected , that this article should be confirmed ( as the former are ) with many ecclesiastical canons ; seeing in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of our citations ; there were few universities in the world , ( that of pavia and bononia , the oldest in these western parts of the world , being by many years posteriour thereunto : ) and scarce any doctors , honore doctoratus , as it is now used ; which is not properly an ecclesiastical dignity , but a civil honour conferred , by the secular prince , upon incorporations , ( i mean the faculty of dispensing it ) or on particular persons : thus d' avila , in his excellent history of the civil wars of france tells us , of that privilege , which henry the third , the french king , vouchsaf'd on the cardinal bur●on ; 〈…〉 make doctors 〈…〉 , or liberal 〈◊〉 . for , it being a 〈◊〉 honour , most originally desire it's 〈◊〉 from the 〈◊〉 . yet 〈◊〉 somee mention of doctors , and some orders concerning them , in a councel holden within the intervall of our allegations ; viz. concil . caesar augustan . which was celebrated in the 6th century . but whether it was that honour we have been lately describing , or a dignity purely ecclesiastical , adhuc dubitant doctores ; though it is most probable , that it ●lludes unto those catechists who were appointed to instruct the catechumem gra●des , ( which was an office equivalent to our professours of theology . ) such were pantaenus , clemens , and origen in the school of alexandria . and , ( if we give faith to s. hierom. lib. de script . eccles. ) there was a continual series of such ecclesiastical doctors in that church , from the days of s. mark the evangelist , unto pantaenus . of which some interpret those teachers , mentioned eph. 4. 11. for , as pastors govern the church , so these theologues ( say they ) govern the schools . but of this article enough , if not too much . the peroration . being stirred in spirit , i have adventured ( yet with all due submission ) to tender these nineteen proposals unto the serious consideration of the governours of this church . and sure i am , the conscionable practice of them , would be found more honourable , and much more useful , both to church and state , than were the propositions of an equal number , which by the mischievous long parliament , were sent after that glorious martyr , king charles the first , whom they had first driven from his royal residence , by most insolent tumults . if the author had not resolved , long ago , never to raise his insignificant name out of the dust of oblivion , by giving the press the trouble thereof , ( which is already too much oppress'd with a shoal of others , ) he would not have been asham'd to owne those lines before all the world , with as much confidence , and more innocency too , than heliodorus espoused his ingenious romance : but this ingenuous boldness had never its rise from a reflection upon the eloquence of these few sheets ; for he is throughly convinced , that his blunt style is very far from the art of oratory , and his genius no less removed from any affectation of the flowers of rhetorick : but it is the sense of these sad truths , and good wishes , embosom'd in those lines , which did create that confidence ; with something also which his conscience calls zeal , for the glory of god , and good of his church : wherein he hath endeavoured to trace the footsteps of salvian , ( that zealous bishop of marseils , who , in a parallel case to ou●s , speaks to this purpose , non verba , sed res ; non ornamenta , sed documenta affectamus : nudus enim veritatis ensis intimiùs penetrat ; at vitrum fucatum veritatis lucem excludit ) and gildas his ruthful lamentations for the great degeneracy of the british church . and , if his heart deceive him not very much , he may confidently appeal to the searcher of all hearts , that it was no dissatisfaction with the present form of church-government , which prompted him to pen this pamphlet ; but rather a sincere affection thereunto , and an ardent desire to see the glory of the second temple transcend the splendour of the first ; which he would account a kind of beatifical vision upon earth ; and wisheth not to live one minute longer , than to behold this church once in possession of that blessing : for , since he was blessed with any understanding , he had alwayes a veneration for that mode of government , as having ( in the greater lines thereof ) a greater analogy to the primitive regiment , than any other form coyn'd in the mint-house of geneva : and if the most ancient records of church-history , and fathers of the church be made judges in the matter , ( which , in matters of fact , must needs be ; unless any be so enthysiastick as to expect divine revelation de novo , to determine this controversie . ) i suppose the little antiquity which he hath read , would engage him to pawn his natural life upon the probation of that assertion , against all the paralogisms of blondel and salmasius ( the two great genevian champions ) and the more foolish cavils of many other praters to the same purpose . now , though the author hath humbly tendered this advice unto all of that sacred order ; yet he would not have any to imagine , that he undervalues any of them , or that he values all alike : he knows , that there were some two or three stars among them , of the first magnitude , now eclipsed from us ; ( the dark curtain of death being drawn divers years ago , betwixt them and this world : ) who , ( when they were in it ) were looked upon by all honest men , as persons of approved integrity , and who suffered much for conscience-sake , even imprisonment , banishment , and confiscation of their goods ; yea , some of them hardly escap'd with their lives : that hellish conspiracy amongst us being somewhat of kin to the grecian confederacy , whose insolent cruelty did so oppress the poor trojans , that it gave occasion to the poet to say , vna salus victis , nullam sperare salutem . yea , the author being honoured with the intimate acquaintance of some that are alive , he doth highly esteem them , as very good men ; and so they were generally reputed when they were but presbyters ; yet , either the want of a resolute courage in them , ( the privation whereof is a great remora to great actions : ) or the destitution of concurrence in others , ( it being the fate of those who are unequally yoked , when one presseth forward , another draweth back ; hath nullified their best wishes , and annihilated their good endeavours ; nothing being more contrary , nor a greater adversary to a direct and strait motion , than that which is oblique and retrograde ; and nothing more repugnant to a natural conamen , than a peristaltick motion . which deplorable disappointment cannot but give occasion to those well-meaning men , to take up that lamentation of pope adrian the sixth , ( whose best motions were retarded , and absolutely hindred by his unhappy colleagues in the consistory : ) who said to his familiar and trusty friends , that the condition of popes was miserable ; seeing it was plain , that they could not do good , though they desired and endeavoured to do it . ( which obstacles are set down at length by padre paulo , or pietro saovè polano , in his excellent history of the councel of trent . ) from which story marcellus cervinus ( another pope , of 22 days standing ) took occasion to say , non videre se , quomodo qui fastigium hoc altissimum tenerent , saluti suae consulere possint . yea , they will be apt to joyn issue in the end , with the protestation of that dying emperour , faelix si non imperassem : and multum incola fuit anima mea . and from this inefficacious employment , many spectators ( who see not these hidden impediments , and secret back-sprents ; ) are ready to take occasion to pass this uncharitable verdict on those good men ; that their best wishes are but velleities ; and that they have marred good presbyters , and made but ill bishops : and , in fine , will apply to them the observation of the historian concerning the emperour galba ; that all men thought him worthy to reign , before he did design to reign : the same being observed in the last age , concerning henry the third of france . for , magistratus indicat virum . neither was it any schismatical humour in the author , which prompted him to this remonstrance : for he is so far from having any design to trouble the peace of the church , that he is still apt to comply with the counsel of clement of rome , to the corinthians , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . epiphanius — ( haeres . 27. ) sayeth , that clement was an instance of this christian advice , by resigning the roman see to linus and cletus : but sure chrysostom ( hom. 2. in ephes. ) professeth so much of himself ; and that excellent theologue gregorie nazianz. did really practice it at constantinople , making himself a ionah ( as he protested in his eloquent oration to the second general councel . ) to pacifie those tumults which were raised about that patriarchate , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , saith socrates , hist. l. 5. c. 7. he would willingly choose rather to be exiled into terra australis incognita , and to be transported extra anni solisque vias , than to throw the least spark of fire into the bosom of the church : which pernicious flame ( if he were conscious of any guilt of his own that had kindled the same ; ) he would judge his heart-blood too mean a sacrifice to extinguish it ; having still in mind the sad sentence of s. cyprian , that schism is such a crime , which cannot be expiated by martyrdome . neither is he unmindfull of the words of diony●ius alex. his contemporary , who tells us : that it is better to suffer any thing , than that the church of god should be rent in pieces : and it is no less glorious to suffer martyrdome , to keep division out of the church , than to die for not sacrificing to idols ; for in the one case a man suffers martyrdome only upon his own account , but in the other , he suffers for the advantage of the whole church . it is also very remarkable to this purpose , what optatus ( lib. 7. cont . parmen . ) hath said , bono vnitatis , sepelienda esse peccata . but he must needs be very uncharitable to a skilful physician , who imagines , that he hath a bad design upon the life of his patient , because he applyes corrosives , when lenitives are found by experience to have done no good ; yea , he who hath tasted of that art of esculapius but summis labris , may know , that one whose body is plethorick , and cacochymick , may sleep for a time in a whole skin ; yet he cannot enjoy perfect health , till these superfluous humours , which oppress nature , be evacuated by seasonable phlebotomy , and specifick catharticks : and that there be some stupid diseases , ( such as a lethargy-fever ) whose narcotical distemper so benummes the brains , that the patient cannot be throughly remedyed , till he be awakened , and kept waking , though it were with pinching . it is indeed easie for any chirurgeon to cicatrize a dangerous wound , but it will certainly fester and corrupt within , if it be not first launced , and searched to the bottom : paracelsus his palliative cures lasted not beyond the year . but that methodical physitian merits most praise , who , by removing the cause of the disease entirely , is an happy instrument ( under god ) of producing the noble and diuturnal effect of health : mens sana in corpore sano , being the most excellent blessing of this world. much less was ambition his instigatrix to this remonstrance : for the author knows very well , that this freedom of spirit , is not the mode of this age levare se humo . he was accounted a wise man in his time , who uttered that much experienced truth in ours , obsequium amicos , veritas odium parit : it being the temper of this iron age , to look upon ingenuous persons as none of the wisest ; ( so much honesty appearing as so much folly , in the eyes of all those who have not yet learned to discern true wisdom from cunning and base craftiness ; though there is usually no better fence against the blows of envy or malice , than the received opinion , of not being greatly wise . ) and , if his conscience had permitted him to study the modern politicks , he would have found the advice , which tiresias the sooth-fayer gave unto vlysses , a very useful reflection to this purpose ; who , being enquir'd , what was the readiest stair to rise unto preferment in this world , that hermaphrodite ingenuously told him , that he ought to make use of a ladder consisting of three 〈◊〉 ; viz. to learn to lye , to 〈…〉 to dissemble . now , as that 〈…〉 was found but too docile a disciple in that school ; so these matchavelian arts of modern policy , ( as policy is now-a-dayes defin'd by falshood and knavery : ) are but too much in fashion in this age , where disingenuity is accounted wit , and honesty the height of folly : astrea having fled to heaven it 's no wonder , that heroical vertue hath ascended with her , and scarce left any thing behind , but species virtutibus similes ; which shadow cannot expect much caressing and countenancing in this world , seeing bold-fac'd vice hath usurped both the place and name of her antagonist . but he who lives every day in the view of death , and is very sensible of its swift approaches , is far out of the reach of that temptation : ( being thorowly convinc'd , that he who walks uprightly , walks securely ; and that frost and fraud have dirty ends ; and that no truly generous person ( though he were no christian ) can be disingenuous , seeing it always argues some principle of baseness within . ) yea , the dark visage of that king of terrours hath , long ago , ecclipsed from his eye the sight of a mytre . i remember a story , which one of my intimate acquaintance told me ; ( whom i have very good reason to believe : ) about the time of the reestablishment of this government , a motion was made to him , by one that was a great favourite then , that he would procure unto him a call to ascend one of those empty chairs . but he answered to this purpose ( having first returned a homely complement of thanks to that generous person , for that immerited favour : ) in such a conjuncture , when that tabernacle is to be reared up again , which ( not many years agoe ) was thrown down with so much malice , obloquie , and contempt , so that the very name of the government was odious to a multitude of bigotted people , who demolished that ancient fabrick , with no less aversation of it , than the government of the decemviri was at rome , or the thirty tyrants of athens ; and who would be no less averse from the restitution of it , than those of old rome were , from the restauration of the expulsed tarquins ; or those of syracusa , from the redress of dionysius the younger ; or the people of constantinople , from the return of iustinian the second : that these vile aspersions which had been thrown upon the late government and governours , ( many whereof he supposed were invidious and groundless : ) might be speedily wiped off ; and that apostolick regiment restored to its pristine beauty and vigour ; there was an indispensible necessity , that the new governours should be endued with piety , charity , learning , humility , meekness , patience ; with self-denyal , gravity , hospitality , and all the cardinal vertues , far above the ordinary level ; that by the extraordinary and admirable lustre of their parts , they might again restore this church to its former splendour . which being a very impar congressus for him , who was juvenis omni modo , and the unfittest of ten thousand ; therefore he neither could , nor would undertake that office , in such a ticklish conjuncture . i have not the ambition ( subjoyned he ) to say with cato the elder , that i had rather it were enquired , wherefore cato hath no statua , than , wherefore he hath one ; but sure i am , it would be a matter of no less complacency to me , than it was to that noble spartan , to hear , that there be , not only 300 , but also 3000 of my country-men , more capable of those sublime imployments , than my poor self . yet , ( as he further added ) if i thought my self par negotio , i bless heaven for it , that i have the same sentiment that possessed the soul of dying s. martin of tours , who in his last agony cryed out , domine , si adhuc sim utilis tuae ecclesiae , non recuso laborem ; provided that labour could be useful to the church : which , in this present conjuncture , can hardly be expected . yea , the reporter , being honoured with some familiarity by that great man , when he was in private , ( for , as minutius faelix hath said , amicitia aut pares invenit , aut facit : ) he had shut up this declinator with these very words , quia nec possum , nec debeo , ideo non volo , for ( if there be any truth in that old maxim , qui clàm vixit , bene vixit ; ) it must needs be verified in this vertiginous and critical age. and , sure i am , he then spoke as he thought : and if at any time since he entertained any such thoughts , god knows he had no other design , but to retrive again the apostolick pattern into this church as much as possibly could be effected by one moving within the sphere of his own capacity . yea suppose he had the fairest invitation imaginable to be elevated unto the solstice of ecclesiastical honour in this national church , yet he would entertain it with no other complacency , but this alone , that he had now a call from heaven to exercise an art of very great self-denial , even to sacrifice all his worldly contentment , and enjoyments , for the interest of the church , and glory of his heavenly master . if s. paulinus did willingly make himself a slave , to redeem a poor widow's son from bondage ; ( not to speak of those heathen heroës , codrus zopirus , curtius , and the two roman decii , who devoted themselves to death for the good of their respective countries : ) sure it becomes all the true sons of the church ( in imitation of moses , and s. paul ) to devote all their dearest interests , that they may procure the manumission of her that conceiv'd them . but , lest this pamphlet run out at the gate of a tedious peroration , ( as the cynick philosopher said of the little city of mindus , with its disproportionable gates : ) i shall therefore period it with this humble intreaty to all ingenuous readers , that they be not so uncharitable to the author , as to impute these lines unto a principle of envy or malice against the persons of any of our governours , as if he had the desperate boldness to run the hazard of that curse of cham , for discovering his father's nakedness : but , let us suppose the author to have been basely injured by some of them to whom he had done good offices , and palpably betrayed under trust ; ( though he is not so dispirited with the consideration of their sublimity , and his own lowness , but that he knows , that formica habet suam bilem , and that the despised scarabee aveng'd it self on the bird of iupiter , though the same is reputed king of the plumed animals ; ) yet christianity would have prompted him to have gone a greater length in self-denial than christopher , ( who said only , if i were not a christian , i should be avenged : ) by heaping even coals of fire upon the heads of his greatest enemies , when occasion served : and in doing so , would have expected a reward from god. which self-denial he might have learned from some of the heathens ; even from the practice of lycurgus and zeno , and from the doctrine of seneca , who hath taught us , that immane verbum est vltio : in which regard he discovered himself a much better moralist , than that stagyrite , who reputed revenge an act of magnanimity . for when the author ruminates upon all these things which fall under consideration in reference to that office , he is very apt to acknowledge , that whosoever undertakes it in this age , becomes rather the object of pity than envy ; it being truly said by the emperour dioclesian , difficillimum est rectè imperare : how much more in this iron age , in which that wish is absolutely unnecessary , materiamque tuis tristem virtutibus opta . and as for any imputation of malice , ( if his heart deceive him not very much ) he would be much more ready to make use 〈…〉 paludamentum of constantine the 〈…〉 make any i●vidious detection . and till the reader can convince him , that there cannot be pax cum hominibus , & bellum cum vitiis , in sensu composito , he hopes charity will dissever them in his behalf : yea , ( as seneca hath observed well ) cato the elder was no less useful to the state of rome , than scipio africanus ; because , as this noble roman did defeat the physical enemies of his countrey , so that austere censor did successfully combat against the moral adversaries thereof . that apology which st. hierom made for his tartness , is a sufficient vindication of the author ; for , if a stylus aculeatus be allowable against a charge of heresie , it is no less lawful in the cause of god. for when the honour of the divine majesty , and the interest of his church , are deeply concerned , we ought to regard the glory of the supreme , infinitely above that of any other superiour ; for amicus socrates , amicus plato , sed magis amica veritas : to which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the truth , and interest of the church , all truly zealous ecclesiasticks are animated by that notable saying of saint augustine , qui veritatem occultat , & qui prodit mendacium , uterque reus est : ille , quia prodesse non vult ; hic , quia nocere desiderat . but , though tiberias ( none of the best of emperours ) used to say , in civitate libera , linguam , mentemque liberam esse debere ; yet sure i am , if these gravamina ( which would amount to the number of german ones , if they were subdivided , and sold by retail ) had been heard patiently in private , they needed not have been told in publick ; though there were never more provocations for all men to speak than now , when all the mischiefs that other ages did but imagine , are now practised , and when oppression hath made a wise man mad , and ( in the mean time ) the dumb asses are taught to forbid the madness of the prophets . but there being too many in the world , who , ( as aristippus said ) have their ears in their feet , and they who are straight , finding it very inconvenient to stoop so low , therefore are necessitated to take other measures of communication : desperata ejus principis salus est , ( as said a wise man ) cujus aures ita formatae sunt , ut aspera quae utilia , nec quicquam nisi jucundum accipiant : nam libertas consilii est ejus vita , & essentia , quâ ereptâ , consilium evanescit . but perhaps it may be objected , that it is fit , that all papers which are design'd for the press , should ( in prima instantia ) be presented unto those , who , iure eminentiae , are appointed supervisors thereof . i shall refer it to the judgment of the candid reader , if the author had not good reason to conclude , that he might spare his pains in making such an address , by the strange ensuing narration told him ( not long ago ) by one who had designed something very useful ( as he supposed ) for the church ; viz. an exact method of studying the primitive fathers , even to the death of gregory the great , whom he accounted the last of those worthies ; ( as one called brutus and cassius , vltimi romanorum : ) though venerable bede , holy anselm , and devout bernard , have merited eternal remembrance in the church . which method , ( if prosecuted as he intended ) he humbly conceiv'd , would be found more useful for all unbyassed readers , than the treatises of baronius , sixtus senensis , bellarmin , possevin , perron , lawney , sirmundus , and contius , to that purpose ; or the tractates of the magdeburgenses , with their epitomator osiander , scultetus , reinolds , cocus , rivet , blondel , and dallee , the popish authors being generally too lax ( though the four last in order are either nasutiores , or much more ingenuous than the rest , ) and the reformed too strict , on that subject ; the former discovering too palpable a design to buoy up a forlorn cause by supposititious fathers , and spurious books ; and the latter having too much of the critick and satyrist in them . the diagram of which great design being presented by the author to a principal member of that order , in order to the giving of his judgment as to the propos'd method ; and what he concluded to be either defective or redundant therein , the author was resolved to take in very good part ; ( thinking himself bound to reverence the opinions of his superiours . but he did meet with no other verdict or complement , save this astonishing answer from such a person ; that he had no leisure to look after such books , ( he being distracted too much with other imployments : ) and that there were too many books already in the world. ( which hasty censure he passed on that whereof he had never read one line . ) which could not but appear very strange to any in his right wits , when he reflects upon the disposition of the country whereof it was spoken . we find indeed in a late satyrist , ( who had the spirit of his calling as abundantly as any ; ) a nation taxed as being epidemical , because they send forth many examina of the fruit of their bodies into forreign countries , and divers colonies to new plantations ; but it is the first time i have heard them charged with the exuberant spawn of the fruit of their brains . and though that observation concerning africa , semper aliquid adfert novi , may be also applyed to this country , yet it is not to be understood of the one or the other , in reference to new books ; but rather of renewed monstruous productions ; both these countries being , in these latter ages of the world , sandy and barren , as to intellectual births . but , in fine , he remitted the perusal of that platform to another of his order , who was no less taken up with the study of modern politicks than himself ; yea , was become so much in love with that trade , that he had put the intervall of many german miles and years , betwixt himself and his proper charge , that he might practice the principles of his beloved art upon a fitter scene : whereby this ghostly mountebank did emulate the sagacity of a sharleton , as to the conveniency of the erection of his stage ; all quak-salvers ( who have the spirit of their base calling ) being sure to resort unto those places where there is most money , and the greatest concourse of people . the slighted brother finding such addresses to be in vain , immediately call'd to mind the answer which that cruel duke de alva gave to henry the 4th of france ; who having demanded of him , if he had observed that great ecclipse of the sun which had lately happened ; the duke ingenuously reply'd , that he had so much adoe upon earth , that he could not get leisure to look up to heaven : and at last concluded , that the true cause of their aversation ( though they were asham'd to utter it ) was that old maxim , ignoti nulla cupido , and blind men should not judge of colours . yet that indiscreet repulse proved such a temptation to the author , that he had much ado to restrain himself from throwing those painful papers into the jaws of vulcan ; and hardly refrained from crying out with scipio africanus , ingrata patria , ne ossa quidem mea habebis : but could not forbear the pronouncing that expostulation , bone deus ! ad quae tempora me reservasti ? yet some were more charitable to their intellectuals , than to their morals ; and did apprehend , that the fear of the expence of a dedication , made them so shye ; wherein they were indeed greatly mistaken : for , as it was never the intention of the author to prey upon his patron , ( he having alwayes hated a beggarly dependance ; ) so it was as little in his mind to shelter himself under the wings of such protectors , ( lest that support should prove a staff of reed in the end : ) that lucubration being design'd for a noble person of much greater worth and eminency , who was pleased , out of his own mouth , to permit that honour to the author ; yea , more than so , who was so obligingly condescending , as to declare , that he look'd upon it as a special honour design'd for himself : ( so vast is the difference betwixt a noble and a plebeian education ) the effect whereof will appear in its own time : there being ( as to this great undertaking ) an indispensible necessity of complying with that sound advice , in reference to the writing of a book judiciously , in nonum prematur annum : and , i wish , that even these years be found commensurable to such a work. for the author of such a laborious task , hath good reason to say , as virgil did of his works , se versus suos componere , ut vrsi foetus , lambendo . but from this supposed misconception , we may inferr , that none should controvert upon the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , till they be sure of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . and thus ended that narrative . but if it be further objected ; that , ( howsoever those of the order imploy their time , ) they have chaplains whose province it is to supervise the press . for answer ; this were indeed a pertinent objection , and fit expedient , if they who pass under that notion , did emulate those of that office in england ; ( some whereof , not only merited to be doctors of divinity , but have also a stock of knowledge little inferiour to any of the nation : ) but with us , some have not any servants that go under that denomination , ( and , i wish , in the destitution thereof , they be not wanting to that oeconomical religious solemnity , termed family-worship . ) and as for those who are invested with that title , they are usually such pitiful , ignorant striplings , that they have not sufficient capacity to examine , to good purpose , the most inconsiderable catechism , far less are they pares negotio for so great a work , which cost the learned bishop andrews eighteen years study . and if any of these chaplains had the forehead to undertake such animadversions , it might be deservedly said of them , velut asinus ad lyram ; and they would be found to resemble aesop's cock , who preferr'd the barley-grain to the precious gemm ; and greater fools than paris , who put a greater estimate on fading beauty , than on wisdom or power ; yea , they would be observed to run parallel to the phrygian midas , who preferr'd the pipe of pan to the harp of apollo , and got asses ears for the guerdon of his foolish judgment : neither should they have any thing to magnifie their ignorant boldness , save that epitaph of phaeton , ( whose fate they would surely undergo ; ) et si non potuit , magnis tamen excidit ausis . but it is high time to end this little enchiridium , which is swell'd to a greater bulk than at first we design'd it ; ( it being one of my greatest troubles , in studying brevity to avoid prolixity : ) therefore i shall conclude with this one sentiment upon the whole premises . i am fully perswaded , that if our governours did cordially comply with the fore-going proposals , this church ( which hath been long militant in the most pitiful sence , ) would at last become triumphant , and should erect the trophies of its victory over its most implacable enemies ; and our bishops , being honoured by the almighty to be the instaurators of this church , should ( in fine ) have occasion to say of it , as augustus caesar said of rome , inveni lateritiam , relinquo memoream . for i have heard many well-meaning persons , who pass under the notion of fanaticks , solemnly declare , that if they observed our bishops making conscience to perform all those duties which are incumbent on their office , they would be as forward as any to hugg them in their arms , and ready to submit cheerfully to their jurisdiction : yea more than so ; that if their morals were intire and eminent , their moderate rituals would be but feeble scar-crows , and fearless bug-bears to them . for when they see any ecclesiastick of an holy life , and who sets about all the duties of his calling diligently and faithfully , though he be diametrically opposite , and point blank contrary to their way ; yet they inwardly reverence him , and defer no little external respect to him : yea , they are apt to envy our church the possession of him , and to say , talis cùm sit , utinam noster esset : and i am fully perswaded , that this would be a more durable enoticum , than that german interim , which was contrived with so much craft , by that triumviri of almain , viz. flugius , eslebius , and sidonius . but this is to be understood onely of those fanaticks , whose hectick fever hath not as yet proceeded the length of an incurable marasmus . the best epiphonema i can subjoyn , as an epilogue to this enchiridion , is , the royal judgment of one who deserves to be termed a nursing-father both to church and state , who hath testified of himself , that he esteemed it his greatest title to be called , and his chiefest glory to be the desender of the church , both in its true faith , and its just fruitions ; equally abhorring sacrilege and apostacy . this is that glorious martyr king charles the first , in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , where he expresseth himself thus : not that i am against the managing of this presidency and authority in one man , by the joynt counsel and consent of many presbyters : i have offered to restore that , as a fit means to avoid those errours , corruptions , and partialities , which are incident to any one man ; also to avoid tyranny , which becomes no christian : least of all church-men : besides , it will be a means to take away that burthen , and odium of affairs , which may lye too heavy on one mans shoulders , as indeed i think it formerly did on the bishops here . and a little after , in that same section , concerning the difference betwixt the king and two houses , in point of church-government , his majesty adds this brief , but most judicious sentiment concerning church-government ; a right episcopacy would at once satisfie all just desires , and interests of good bishops , humble presbyters , and sober people ; so as church-affairs should be managed neither with tyranny , parity , nor popularity ; neither bishops ejected , nor presbyters despised , nor people oppressed . amen . finis . errata . in the advertisement to the reader , pag. 4. lin . 21. for 185 , read 85. p. 7. l. 14. for , as is equvalent , r. as equivalent . 1. 15. for , one , r. an . p. 8. l. 4. for happily , r. haply . p. 10. l. 19. for , collation , r. collate . p 12. l. 1. for happily r. haply . book . p. 3. l. 17. for one r. an . p. 5. l. 15. for rocket r. rochet . p. 15. l. 19. for wee ( k which , r. week ( which . l. 25. for were more r. were never more . p. 25. l. 23. for solitudes r. sollicitudes . p. 32. l. 16. for reputation r. reparation . p. 38. l. 16. for officers r. offices p. 45. l. 7. for other r. of their . l. ult . for chose r. choose . p. 52. l. 18. for his r. this . p. 53. l. 4. for exhaustible r. inexhaustible p. 80. l. 27. for speaking r. speaketh . p. 93. l. 23. dele judge . p. 182. l. r. for church-men r. church-man . p. 190. l. 3. for irreclamable r. irreclaimable . p. 251. l. 18. for regiment . r. regimen . the fame p. 152. l. 2 p. 268. l. 13. for flacce r. flacci . p. 298. l. 8. for 〈◊〉 r. marmorean .