the Scriptures as if it ordained any thing to the contrary but to the writing or tradition of the Scripture which among the Corinthians was in the vulgar tongue Here al that heare may hisse But what saith he to the 28. Article which condemneth Transubstantiation Surely his Reconciliation heere is at a stand For hee is forced to Say that Negare Transubstantiationem divinâ— c. To deny divine Transubstantiation in this fearefull Mystery is against the verity of Faith as it is defined in the Councels of Lateran Trent It is well then Herein in the point of Transubstantiation no Reconciliation betweene us and Trent Then what hope hath he to reduce us to Rome or to re-erect his Masse in England yes he hath one hope What is that By calling here a nationall Synod Of whom Not of those whom he calls Calvinists and Puritans who are of the Orthodox party For he sayth Deponentes secundum pristinam conversationeÌ„ verterem homineÌ„ nempe Calvinisticum qui corrumpitur c. Putting off as touching the former conversation the old man to wit the Calvinisticall which is corrupted And in his Paraphrase on the 37. Article utinam denuo c. Now I would to God that by publick authority the matter for the dignity of it Puritanis non â—ntermixtis the Puritans not intermedling or intermixt might out of an affection of revnion be throughly scanned For I know the Puritans abhorre this For they fly all communion with us and abominate us as the body of Satan and Antichrist as Cassander said of some Christians This doth Franciscus apply to the Puritans whom he would have vtterly excluded from a Synod assembled to revnite Rome and England And can ye blame him Did not the Trent-Conventicle in truth though they pretended the contrarie exclude Protestants from them And did not the Protestants being invited as warily refuse to come and that by the example of Iohn Hâ—ss when they might answere the Popes counterfet invitatioÌ„ as the Fox did the sick-Lyon refusing to visit him in his deÌ„ne Quia me vestigia terrent c. No no quoth Renâ—ld for full well I see All foot-sleps towards you none towards me Now who are those Puritans he excepts against as not to be admitted to the Synod Perhaps he may find some few Puritan tantum non in Episcopatu Bishops that are for doctrine Orthodox So also many Doctors and Divines that are Orthodox these must have noe place in his Synod And why Good reason For how els will he reconcile Romes night and our English twilight together in one League if the meridian light come betwene Or how shall Romes cold and livelesse religion have fellowship with ouâ— Lukewarme Neuters and moderate men if true Christian zeale come betwene and make an interruption Away therefore with Puritans and Calvinists out of their Synod Who then Onely peaceable and indifferent men as Ely Chichester and all other well affected to Rome and above all the Arch-Prelates as to whose definitive sentence all other Divines must vaile Bonnet captivate their judgements and therein rest themselues For these or one of them with his mighty traine is able to sweepe downe the third part of the starres of heauen But this by the way for Franciscus And to this agreeth the common cry among the Factionists and Factors for Rome that wee and they differ not in Fundamentalls Yea a great Prelate in the High Commission Court said openly at the Censure of Dr. Bastwick That wee and the Church of Rome differ not in FundameÌ„talibus but onely circa Fundamentalia Though the distinction bee absurd it being all one according to the Apostle to erre in fide circa fidem For circa fidem concerning or about faith men may make ship-wracke Yet this hee spake in defence of a little Pamphlet of one Chowne which he dedicated to his Lordship wherein hee affirmeth That the Church of Rome and wee differ not in Fundamentalibus and that the Church is one over the World whereby he would conclude our Church to be one the same with that of Rome And to this purpose is that of Dr. White in his Epistle Dedicatory to the Lords Grace of Canterbury before his discourse of the Sabbath in these words But from this which is delivered I shall intreaâ—e your Grace and all other impartiall and intelligent Readers to consider the vncharitable construction of Romish adversaries who from the rising up of some Schismaticall Spirits amongst us conclude that the maine body of our Church is Schismaticall And pag. 5. ibid. Now Schismaticall heere must needs be in relation to the Church of Rome as from which Romish adversaries object wee are Schismaticall which Dr. White cleareth and calls it an vncharitable construction of Romish adversaries So as heere is a change of our very Church and a bringing of us back to a reconciliation union with the Church of Rome as from which wee have made no such Schisme as they uncharitably charge us withall And thus will come in an universall change in all our Doctrines As in the Commencement at Cambridge not long agoe was openly maintained justification by Workes And Shelfords booke will proove justification by Charity And that the Pope is not Antichrist contrary to the resolved Doctrines of our Church in our Homilies and elsewhere As Homily against wilfull rebellion part 6. The Pope is the Babilonicall Beast of Rome c. Also the Second part of the Sermon for Whit-sunday The Pope the Devill and all the Kingdome of Antichrist And in a Prayer for private Families in the Communion-Booke by publike authority Confound Satan and Antichrist c. And Shelfords Second Treatise is to beate downe true Preaching and Pulpits for hee saith hee cannot finde a Pulpit in all the Scripture How Did the old Priest never read the 8. of Nehemiah appointed to bee read for the 27. of May wherein hee might find both a Pulpit vers 4. and Preaching vers 8 I omit many more passages in that Authour of the like nature all contrary to the expresse Doctrines of our Church according to the Scriptures And yet this Booke was licenced by the Vicechancellor of Cambridge that then was Dr. Beale and published at the very Commencement whereat my selfe then was that so it might poysonall England Adde wee hereunto another Booke intitled the Female glory By Anthony Stafford printed by authority 1635. Wherein hee mightily deifies the Virgin Mary calling her The grand white immaculate Abbesse of the Snowie Nunneries of those votaries to whom hee speakes before whom hee would have them to kneele presenting the All-saving babe in her armes with due veneration Loe heere a change of our God into a Goddesse And there hee commends the Sacred Arethmitick in praying on their beades And pag. 153. hee commends Candlem as day for the Lights burning and Masse-singing taken from the Heathen guise and converted into Christian. And That which was performed
by Superstitious Idolaters in honour of Ceres and Proserpina Heathen Goddesses may bee turned into the prayse and glory of the Virgin Mary And pag. 209. The Assumption of his Lady is set forth with a picture how shee is taken up into Heaven with Verses And pag. 212. Hee seemes to hold the Virgin Mary to have beene without sinne And pag. 219. 220. Hee boldly beares himselfe upon the approbation of the Church of England in magnifying the Virgin Mary as considered not as a meere woman but as a type and Idea of an accomplisht piety And pag. 158. of Sanctity it selfe And pag. 220. hee preferres the errour of the adoring extreme before the Puritans neglecting of her in calling her Mal Gods mayd and rejecting Hayle Mary full of grace And pag. 223. hee saith Of one thing I will assure them Till they are good Marians they shall never bee good Christians And pag. 235. Of sundry Grandees hee saith All which are Canonized for Saints having erected and dedicated Temples to her memory Neither have the Princes of this our Ile beene defective in doing her all possible honour and in Consecrating Chappels and Temples to her memory And ibid My arithmeticke will not serve me to number all those who have registred their names in the Sodality of the Rosary of this our Blessed Lady the originall is derived from the battaile of Naupactan gained by Iohn of Austria and the Christians which victory was attributed to the intercession with her Sonne And pag. 236. hee recites the many holy orders of this Sodality Styling them Great worthy and pious people and concludes thus For shame let not us alone deny her that honour and prayse which all the world allowes her And pag. 247. he Invocates her saying O pardon gratious Princesse my weake indeavours to summe up thy value c. And pag. 248. Thou deservest a Quire of Queenes here another of Angels in heaven to sing thy prayses c. And I confesse O my sweetest Lady And pag. 249. To give thee an estimation answerable to thy merit is a thing impossible I must therfore be cōtent to do by thee as the ancient heathen did by the images of their gods when by reason of their height they could not place the Crownes they humbly layd them at their feet many more passages might be added as pag. 150. he cals her womans deerest mistrisse And pag. 32. a glorious Empresse And pag. 3. Empresse of this lower world And pag. 2. If Christ was faire above the Sons of men should not shee bee so above their daughters And in his Epistle to his feminine reader speaking of the Virgin Mary This is shee who was on earth a confirmer of the good and a reformer of the reprobate Al her visitants were but so many converts whose bad affections and erronious opinions the sweetnes of her discourse had rectified The Leprosy of sinne was her dayly cure and they whom vice had blinded were by her restored to their in ward sight their prostrate soules adored divine Majestical vertue residing in this Sacred Temple The knowledge of her humbled the most proud natures for the lustre of her merits rendered their owne obscure And in his Epistle to the Masculine Reader Truly I believe that the under-valuing of one so great and deare in Christs esteeme as his Mother cannot but bee displeasing to him and that the more we ascribe to her setting invocation apart the more gracious wee appeare in his sight And hee concludes it thus I will onely adde this that since the finishing of this Story I have read a booke of the now Bishop of Chicester intituled Apparatus c. and I am glad to find that I have not digressed from him in any one particular So hee Loe therefore what a Metamorphosis of our Religion is here Here is a new goddesse brought in amongst us The author glorieth that hee is the first who hath written as hee saith in our vulgar tongue on this our Blessed Virgin And God grant he be the last But he beares himself in al this upon the Church of England where I pray you At last I perceive this Church of England is the now Bishop of Chicester in his Apparatus c. From whom he hath not digressed in any particular And surely it were strange that such a mystery of iniquity could bee found but in a Prelate and in this one by name for a tryed Champion of Rome and so a devout votary to his Queene of heaven Againe they have laboured to make a change in the doctrine of obedience to Superiours of which wee spake before setting man so in Gods Throne as all obedience to man must bee absolute without regard to God and conscience whose only rule is the Word of God But wee spake of this sufficiently before We will conclude with one instance more touching change in doctrine and that is concerning the doctrine of the Sabbath or Lords-day wherein our novell Doctors have gone about to remoove the institution of it from off the foundation of divine authority and so to settle it upon the Ecclesiasticall or humaine power For maintenance hereof they have strained the vaines of their Conscience no lesse then of their braines And they are so mad upon it that no shame will stay them till confusion stop their mouthes It is reported that Doctor White hath sent an answer to A. B. which is now at the presse Surely hee will sacrifice all the remainder of his reason if any be left in him upon it Sure I am he can never answer it except with rayling and perverting wherein lyeth his principall faculty in fighting against the truth which be hee well assured is too hard for him and all his confederates But herein hee hath great advantage that hee may print what hee will at hand But the contrary side with much difficulty and delay Otherwise hee had had his hand full before now when he should have beene put to the taske to answer the full answer at large to his tedious Treatise of which A. B. was but a tast Well thus much of the first and grand change to wit in doctrine which our Prelates especially of late dayes have beene a hammering and now almost except the Lord Christ strike in and prevent them brought to perfection We shall bee much shorter in the rest and dispatch them in a Word because they have beene touched before The next change is innovation in Discipline which in a word is this that whereas of old the Censures of the Church were to bee inflicted upon disordered and vitious persons notorious livers as drunkards adulterers hereticks Apostates false teachers and the like now the sharpe edge thereof is turned mainly against Gods people and Ministers even for their vertue and piety and because they will not conforme to their impious orders Our Homily proves Rome no true Church as wanting the three essentiall markes the Word Sacraments and Discipline And of
Iurisdiction of Bishops jure divino as being no where found in the Scripture but the contrary sayd openly that in matters of divinity wee are not tyed to the Scriptures but to the Vniversall Catholicke Church in all ages for how said hee shall wee know the Scriptures but by the Church And therefore not without some reason doth that Iesuite in his Pamphlet printed in English 1636 intituled A Direction to bee observed by N. N. make a laudable mention of that great Prelate saying Although I ought not to dissemble but doe gladly acknowledge and deservedly publish in this occasion for a patterne to others in this Realme the care of the Chiefest Prelate in England in prohibiting the sale of Bookes tending to Socinianisme So there But what meaneth the Iesuite here by Socinianisme Hee tells us plainly pag. 16. and 17. in these words First then I say that the very Doctrine of Protestants if it be followed closely and with coherence to it selfe must of necessity induce Socinianisme This I say confidently and evidently proove by instancing in one errour which may well bee termed the Capitall and mother Heresy from which all other must follow at ease I meane their hereâ—y in affirming that the perpetually visible Church of Christ descended by a never interrupted succession fromour Saviour to this day is not infallible in all that it proposeth to bee believed as revealed truthes For if the infallibility of such a publicke Authority bee once impeached what remaines but that every man is given other to his owne wit and discourse And talke not here of holy Scripture And a little after And indeed take away the authority of Gods Church no man can bee assured that any one Booke or parsell of Scripture was written by divine inspiration or that all the contents are infallibly true which are the direct errours of Socinians So hee Where wee see what his meaning is when hee commends the chiefe Prelate as a patterne to all other in prohibiting such bookes as exalt the sole authority of holy Scripture as the onely Rule of faith Thus not unde servedly hee commends him for upholding the authority of the Church to wit of the Pope primarily and next after him the Prelates as whereon depends the authority and sence of Scripture Well But is this the way of setling the faith of Christians in the true religion Nay is it not the high ready way to unsetle all to make religion a wether-cocke to be turned this way or that way as the winde of mans unstable erronious fancy shall blow move it And for proofe hereof let us but obserue what the same Iesuite faith a little after For writing of the present state of our Church and that since this new generation of Doctors and Prelates hath Sprung up amongst us I know not from what Popish root hee saith * And to speake the trueth what learned judicious man can after unpartiall examination imbrace Protestantisme which waxeth even weary of it selfe Its Professors they especially of greatest worth learning and authority declare themselves to love temper and moderation allow of many things which some yeeres agoe were usually condemned as Superstitious and Artichristian and are at this time more unresolved where to fasten then at the infancie of their Church Thus by the way hee sheweth who they bee that are the chiefe Fathers of that new-fangle religion of Protestancy of late birth in England namely those of greatest worth learning and authority as the Prelates are counted to bee who are of that temper and moderation as they allow of many things which some yeeres agoe were usually condemned as superstitious and Antichristian But how doth the Iesuite demonstrate this Pag. Twenty two Hee saith For doe not the Protestant Churches begin to looke with another face Their walls to speake with a new language Their Preachers to use a sweeter tone Their annuall publicke Tentes in their Vniversities to bee of another style and matter Their books to appeare with titles and arguments which once would have caused a mighty scandal among the brethren Their doctrine to be altered in many things and even in those very paints for which their Progenitors for sooke the then visible Church of Christ Their 39 Articles that is the summe the Confession and almost the Greed of their Faith are patient Patient They are ambitious of some sense wherein they may seeme to bee Catholicke To alledge the necessity of wife and children in these dayes is but a weake plea for a married Minister to compasse a Benefice Fiery Calvinisme once a darling in England is at length accounted Heresy yea and little lesse then Treason Men in word and writing use willingly the once fearefull names of Priests and Altars Nay if one doe but mutter against the placing of the Altar after the old fashion for a warning hee shall be well warmed by a coale from the Altar English Protestants are now put in mind that for exposition of Scripture by canon they are bound to follow the ancient Fathers And to conclude all in one maine point The Protestant Church in England willingly professeth so small Antiquity and so weake subsistence in it selfe that they acknowledge no other visible being for many Ages but in the Church of Rome So the Iesuite Behold here now Protestant Reader what testimony a Iesuite can give of the present state of our Church and that out of his owne reading and observation and which we our selves cannot deny all which hee ascribeth to the Prelates as those whom hee indigitates for men of greatest worth learning authority who declare their Innovations as Sodome her sinnes and hide them not even our enemies now their friends being witnesses who gladly feed their infants with the pappe of our new Papisme But to returne to our particular point of Innovation concerning the rule of faith which our Prelats have turned off from the holy Scripture to the authority of the Church this is the maine upshot in Dr. Whites Treatise of the Sabbath day wherein he tyes the observation of the Lord day to that limitation which the Prelates of the Church doe or shall prescribe so also all other matters of Religion And doe they not also overthrow the Scriptures as the rule of faith in that they restraine the preaching of them to their illiberall allowance inhibiting such and such points to be medled with as before is shewed doe they not place the Communion booke as a rule of faith in all matters of Religion wherin the Arch-Bishops definitive sentence must determine as Recv ibid. p. 206. The 8th innovation or Change is in the rule of manners which rule must not be any more the word of Christ and the writings and examples of the holy Apoles wherein they followed Christ for that is counted too precise and puritanicall but our Prelates have prescribed a new rule of Christian manners to wit the example of
bind these all-shapeturning Monsters to good behaviour May not this whole State say as that good King Iehâ—shaphat in the straites of Ierusalem Wee know not what to doe but our eyes are towards 〈◊〉 O Lord And besides all this in the last place being pulled away from the hornes of their Cathedrall Altars as not able to shelter them from their pursuers they fly as to their last refuge and most impregnable Fort as they conceive to the Kings Chappell Wherein they doe as the Fish Polypus or many-foot which gets her selfe closse to the rocke and putting on the colour of the rocke so as she seemes to be a part of it when other fishes swimme toward the rock for shelter she catches them unawares in her net-like haires or hornes So our Innovators getting closse to the King as unto the rock assimiling themselves to the manners of the Court when the fishes think to fynd shelter and protection under the Rocke they are ready with their fangs to intangle and devour them Well what say they of the Kings Chappell They plead the whole equipage furniture and fashion thereof as a patterne for all Churches There say they is an Altar there bowing towards it there Crucifixes there Images other guises And why should Subject be wiser then the King Totus componitur orbis Regis ad exemplum To this I answere 1. Why should subjects think to compare with the King in the State of his royall Family or Chappell 2ly there be many things in the Kings Chappell which were presumption to have in ordinary Churches and some things cannot be had or maintained in them as a quire of Gentlemen Singing men other Choristers which dayly sing Service in the Chappell and sundry other 3ly The worship and service of God and of Christ is not to be regulated by humaine examples but by the Divine rule of the Scriptures In vaine they worship me teaching for Doctrines the Commandements of men The three children would not bow to the Kings goodly golden Image The old Christians would not so much as offer incense in the presence of Iulian the Emperors Altar and at his commaund though he propounded golden rewards to the doers and menaced fiery punishments to the denyers 4ly The externall rites and ceremonies in the Church are limited by Act of Parliament prefixed to the Communion booke and no more to be added or used in Churches Lastly Suppose which we trust never to see which our hearts abhorre once to imagine Masse were set up in the Kings Cappell is this a good argument why it should be admitted in all the Churches throughout the Realme of England But enough of this And here an end for this time and thus farre of this text which as I began so I will conclude with all My Son feare thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change For their calamity shall rise suddenly and who knoweth the ruine of them both FINIS * Golden sentence Invicem cedunt dolor voluptas brevior voluptas Senec. Psal. 42. 11 Psal. 2. 11. * Id est cum variantibus ac perfringentibus Dei suorumque Principum mandata denique deficientibus vita sua immorigera à reverentia Dei Regis Point 〈◊〉 Question Answer Psal. 85. 8. 1. Thess. 2. 13. * 1. King 22 Iohn 8. 39. 41. v. 42. 39. Nec quenquam senem audivi oblâ—tum quo lovo thesâ—urum abruisset Omnia quae curant menunerunt Cre. de Senectute Mal. 1. 6. Poiâ—… 2. Math. 15. 9 Phil. 3. 18. 19. Article 17. * What mâ—râ— jeared by a generation of upstarts in these dayes Galath 6. 1. Rom. 15. 1. Point 3. * Aug. De correptili gratia Cap. 9. quia non habuerunt perseuer antiam sicut non vere discipuli Christi ita nec vere filij De fuerimt etiam quando esse videbantur at itâ— vocabantur * V. 10. Reasons Rom. 8. 38. â—9 Rom. 11. * Examen * Ioh. 6. 39. 2. Ioh. 10. 11. * Dr. Corbet Chancellor to the Bp. of Norwiâ—h Mr. Greenhill an eminent Minister coming to him with another Minister in humble manner to desire absolution from excommunication for the refusall of conformity to their new rites said unto him in a great head of passion that if hee had the power as hee desired he would Pistoll him ‡ As Master Buck in his Sermon at Norwich inveighing against the Puritans said If a cup of cold water had a reward much more a cup of blood As Dr. Corbet said to Mr. Powell a Minister who refused to read the booke for sports That were it not for a point in the common law he deserved to bee hang'd drawne and quartered †Iustum tenacem Propositi virum non civium ardor Pravâ— Iubentium non vultus instantis Tyranni mente quaâ—it solida Horat. * 1. King 18. 18. 2. King 3. 14. ‡ Zozoâ— Hist. l. 5. Cap. 4. * It was in old time when some Bishops were content to bee poorevita S. Wilfredi See Caml Remaines Wisespeeches p. 183. Act. 7. †Bono probari malo quam multis malis Ausonius Lu. 12. 4. 5. Revel 12. 4 * Prosperâ—… ac fâ—…lix scelus virtus vocatur Senec si malâ— res cessit licet optima male tamen audit Rom. Gen. 11. 6. Turpiu◠〈◊〉 grâ—…â—â—icitur quam non admittâ—tur â—espes Virgil. Eglog Sic cantbâ—â— carulos similes sio matribus hoedos Noram sic parvu componere magna solebam * See Shelforts Sermons and Dr. Pockl. Sunday no Sabbath And others * Matt. 13. 25. * See the Homily of the place time of Prayer part 2. Where these words are Finally Gods vengeance hath beene and is dayly provoked because much wicked people passe nothing to resort to the Church either for that they are so sore blinded that they understand nothing of God and godlinesse and care not with divellish example to offend their neighbours or â—ls for that they see the church altogether scoured of such gay gazing sights as their grosse fantasy was greatly delighted with because they see the false religion abandoned the true restored which seemeth an unsavory thing to their unsavorly tast as may appeare by this that a woman sayd to her neighbour Alas Gossip what shall we doe at Church since all the Saints are taken away since all the goodly sights we were wons to have are gone since we cannot heare the like piping singing chanting and playing upon the Organs that wee could before But dearely beloved wee ought greatly to rejoyce and give God thanks that our Churches are delivered out of ALL those things which displeased God so sore and filthily defiled his holy house and his place of prayer for the which hee hath justly destroyed many nations according to the saying of Saint Paul If any man defile the Temple of God God will him destroy And this ought wee greatly to prayse God for that such Superstitious and Idolatrous manners as were utterly
neere affinity or rather consanguinity they being sensible of the smart of his whip tooke it all upon themselves and so as Iudges in their owne cause passed their Episcopall censure upon him yea although he not only in his booke but openly before the whole Court professed and protested that hee medled not with those Prelates who received and acknowledged their Episcopall Iurisdiction from Kings and Princes and withall he alleadged and read in the audience of the Courts sundry Statutes as in King Henry the eight Edward thâ— sixt and Queene Elizabeth which doe annex all Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction unto the Crowne of England So as no Prelate or other Person hath any power to visit Ecclesiasticall persons c. But he must have it immediately from the King and confirmed by Letters Patents under the great Seale of England This Iurisdiction annexed to the Crowne of England Doctor Bastwicke alledged in Court against that usurped Iurisdiction of the Hierarchy of Rome which they challenge from Christ. Notwithstanding they alledged for themselves that they had their Episcopall authority from Christ and if they could not proove it they would cast away their Rochets So they may cast their caps too for any such proofe they can bring for it But stopping the Doctors mouth that he might not plead his cause they proceeded to a most grievous censure of him in 1000. pound fine to the King for maintaining the Royalty of His Crowne against the Prelates usurpation who would plucke away that gemme from it Imprisonment Excommunication suspension from his practise in Prison and the many miseries depending thereupon and devolving upon his Wife and children So as it is plaine they usurpe professe and practise such a jurisdiction as is not annexed to the Imperiall Crowne of England but which with the Pope and Prelates of Italy they claime from Christ. And this is cleere by a threefold practise of theirs 1. Their censuring of Doctor Bastwick for this very cause that hee impugned all Episcopall Iurisdiction over Gods Ministers claimed from Christ or the Scripture So as they make it their owne cause with the Pope and his Prelates as all holding by that title and not from the authority of Kings and Princes And this is according to that in Dr. Pockâ—â—ngtons Sunday no Sabbath where hee saith pag. 48. Hereby wee may by Gods mercy make good the trueth of our Church For wee are able lineally to set downe the succession of our Bishops from St. Peter to St. Gregory and from him to our first Archbishops St. Austin our English Apostle downward to his Grace that now fits in his Chaire Primate of all England and Metropolitane So hee Thus wee see how our Prelates have no other claime for their Hierchie then the Popes of Rome have and doe make which all our Divines fince the Reformation till but yesterday have disclaimed and our Prelates cannot otherwise assume but by making themselues the very limbes of the Pope and so our Church a member of that Synagogue of Rome Secondly the constant practise of our Prelates proveth this for they neither have at any time nor have sought to have any the Kings Letters Parents under the great Seale of England for their keeping Courts and Visitations c. But doe all in their owne names and under their owne Seales contrary to the Law in that behalfe Thirdly in that they labour by all meanes possible to maintaine this their absolute and independed Iurisdiction as no way depending on the King and namely by stopping the ordinary course of Law that the Kings people may bee cut off from all benefit of the Kings good Lawes and of their native ancient Liberties so as it is become very geason and a rare matter to obtaine a Prohibition against their illegall practises invexing oppressing the Kings good Subjects nay they are growne so formidable of late as if they were some new generation of Giants that the very motion of a Prohibition against a Prelate or their Proceedings in the High Commission makes the Courts of Instice startle So as good causes are lost and Innocents condemned because none dare pleade and judge their cause according to the Kings Lawes whereby wee ought all to be governed For example the Ministers of Surry who are suspended from their Ministery and outed of their meanes and freeholds against all Law or Conscience yet are so disheartned and overawed that they dare not contend in Law against the Prelate for feare of further vexations and they are out of hope of any fayre hearing in an ordinary Legall way Nay when Doctor Bastwicke had procured a Habâ—as corpus to remove him out of the Bishope stincking prison in the Gate-house unto the Kings Bench. and thereupon was removed thither-yet notwithstanding they procured the reversing of this Legall Order and brought the Prisonner backe againe with avengeance and triumph to his old lodging Thus wee see they have gotten such a power into their hands as doth overtop and countermaund the Kings Lawes and the peoples Liberties Now this power they have not from the Imperiall Crowne according to the Lawes of the Land but it is a meere usurpation So as being a power not derived from the King as the immediate fountaine of it it proves to bee at least a branch of that forraigne power altogether excluded in the Statute of 1. Elis. cap. 1. And it is flatly against the Oath of Supremacy in the same Statute which all Prelates take wherein they professe and promise faith and true allegiance to the Queenes Highnesse her Heires and lawfull Successors and to their power to defend all Iurisdictions Priviledges c. granted or belonging to the Queenes Highnesse her Heires c. Now all Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction which the Prelates have authority to exercise being annexed to the Crowne as is cleere by the foresayd statute either they must not claime it by another title or if they doe they are all in a Tramunire and under the guilt of perjury And whither they bee not also in a Praemunire for practising their Iurisdiction as keeping of Courts visitations c. in their owne names not having the Kings Letters Patents under the Great Seale of England I leave to the learned in the Law to judge But some will say that they defend and maintaine all Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction to bee from the King For in the visitation Articles for Norwich by Mathew their Lord Bishop this is one Be there any in your Parish that have denyed or perswaded any other to deny withstand or impugne the Kings Majesties Authority and Supremacy in causes Ecclesiasticall within this Realme First I answer this is a faire colour and pretence as if it were against Papists Secondly it is against their ordinary practise as in the former examples And thirdly admit they doe sincerely professe that they have or hold no Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction but from the King yet the question is whither they will say that all those outrageous courses they how hold and
little examine what force there is in this Argument Cathedralls are so and so therefore all other Churches must conforme to them I deny the Argument Legibus vivendum est non exemplis We must live by lawes not by examples The rites and ceremonies of all our Churches are prescribed and precisely limited by the Lawes of the Land by Act of Parliament and are not left at large to the Example of Cathedralls Nay how comes it about that Cathedralls have usurped that Lawlesse and boundlesse Liberty of conforming themselves to Rome in all those their ceremonies What law can they show for this Will they plead prescription For how long time What prescription can Durhams Cathedrall-Church plead for her new service new Copâ—s new Images of Saints and Angels new rites on Candlemas day with their hundreds of tapers and candles and instead thereof bringing a Spirituall darkenesse upon mens soules by shutting out the ancient morning Prayers and other meanes of true knowledge and devotion Are not the authors of this innovation yet alive What Prescription of long custome can the Cathedrall Church of Bristow plead which now of late also hath set up new Images of the Apostles and other Saints What Prescription can Pauls Cathedrall bring for those mitred Images and Statues newly erected and for those winged Angels round about the Quire What Prescription can that Cathedrall Church at Woâ—verhampton in Staffordshire plead for her goodly costly new Altar with the Dedication thereof within these 2. or 3. yeares last past in which Dedication all the Romane rites were observed as Censings washings bowings Copes though but borrowed from Lichfeild chantings abusing of Scripture as Iohn 10. 22. to prove dedication of Altars and the like or what custome can the Same Church plead for erecting their new Altar and throwing out of their ancient and painfull Preacher What warrant have they for setting up such Altars for Baal such dumbe gods and casting downe the throne and stopping the mouth of the living God The like may be said of many other Cathedrals if not all which within these few yeares yea but Yesterday have beene strangely metamorphosed into a Curtizan-like garbe and now must be Like Mother Like Daughter Must therefore all Churches conforme to their new Romish Pashions Must therefore the Cathredrals in Oxford I meane these Câ—lledge-Churches as Magdaleâ—s Christs Church Queenes S. Iohns and others as also those Chappels in Cambridge as Peter-house Chappell S. Iohns Kings Queenes become the â—â—rceries and Springs of Superstition and Idolatry to the whole Land because of late dayes they have crested goodly new Altars Images Crucifires and such like ornâ—ments of the Romish where And because they both practise and presse the bowing to those Idols must therefore all Scholars bow unto them To what end then shall men send their Sons to the Universities if there they must be trained up to the Superstition and Idolatrie of Popery Thus we see how unlike our Cathedrals be to that they were formerly being newly set out with a Romish dresse according to those Spirits which rule in the ayre so as their examples ought to be no Lawes to bring in an universall conformity to these yesterday innovations in Mother-Cathedrals Againe by what title doe Cathedrals came to be Mothers to other Churches what Mothers Except Step-Mothers For they never bore nor brought forth those Churches whom they call daughters And right Step-Mothers they be that cheat the children of their Fathers inheritance as these would doe who rob the Spowse of her Iewels and put upon her the cast attyre of the whore But they alledge the Order for St. Gregories by Paules wherein there is an imitation of this conformity of other Churches to their Mother-Cathedrals I answere our gratious King at that as at other times as still likâ— himselfe plainly said that he would have no innovations Nor can we imagine that it was any part of his meanning that all Churches should in all things conforme to Cathedralls much lesse that all Cathedralls should bring in new rites that so other Churches might conforme to them What Must other Churches have Organs Singing Quires Altars Images Crucifixes Tapers Copes and the like because such is the guise of Cathedralls Must long chanting Service goe up and preaching goe downe because it is So in Wolverhampton Durham and other Cathedralls But by what Law By the Popes Canon Doth not our Law exclude out of all Churches all other rites besides those in the Communion Booke Doth not the Homily fore-cited prayse God for the purging of our Parish Churches from piping chanting and the like as wherewith God is so sore displeased and the house of Prayer defiled And doth not another Homily coÌ„demne the setting up of Images Crucifixes and such Reliques in Churches and all for the perill of Idolatry which doth necessarily attend the same And doth not the Queenes Injunctions forbid all skrines and reliques of Idolatry and Superstition And doth not another Homily condemne many Altars Images and Idols as heathenish and Iewish abuses How then will our new Masters our Innovators make good the bringing in of these things afresh into Cathedrals forcing all petty churches to coÌ„forme thereunto would the Prelates thus make the Mother Cathedrals thus by theÌ„selves made adopted Romes daughters their Concubines whereon to beget a new bastard generation of sacrificing Idolatrous Masse-Priests throughout the Land which our good Lawes and all our learned and pious Divines proclaimed illegitimate and abominable So as I cannot but wonder though I hope better that these desperate and all daring Popish Innovators turning off the State of the Kingdome and Church upside downe beating themselves either upon the Popes Canon-Law overtopping the Regall power or upon the evill example of their lately metamorphosed Cathedrals conformed to Rome that so they may finely or furiously inforce all the Churches in England to the like conformity and so reduce England under the Papall yoake againe they being now dead that felt the intollerable pressure of it and a new generation sprung up that affect novelty and to trade with Rome againe and nothing can now stay them but they will either breake all in pieces or their owne neckes that they are not cited before the Royall Tribunalls of Iustice and the Iudges and Iustices in their Circuits and assises doe not take Cogniscance of such perturbers who undermine and overthrow the State of Church and Common weale and mingle heaven and earth together and so condignely punish them for their intolerable usurpations So should my text be here made up My Son feare thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change For their calamity shall rise suddainly and who knoweth the ruine of them both But alas have they not got the Lawes under their girdles and doe they not trample them as durt under their feet And therefore with what chaines shall wee bind these men How shall wee