to the King yielding and rendering unto him onely the Style of Supreme Head next under Christ of the Church of England all other Service Subjection and Obedience to be given to any other forein Potentate which should be prejudicial to the Kings Highness in this behalf being excluded and that both frankly and freely of their own voluntary motion and also upon the faith and fidelity of their Priesthood as by their own words and handwriting may appear in form as hereunder followeth The Oath of Stephen Gardener Bishop of Winchester made to King Henry VIII EGO Stephanus Wintoniensis Episcopus pure sponte The Oath of Stephen Gardener to the King absolute in verbo Pontificio profiteor ac spondeo illustrissimae vestrae Regiae Majestati singulari ac summo Domino meo Patrono Henrico Dei gratia Angliae Franciae Regi Fidei Defensori Domino Hiberniae atque in terris Ecclesiae Anglicanae Supremo immediate sub Christo Capiti quod posthac nulli externo Imperatori Regi Principi aut Praelato nec Romano Pontifiei quem Papam vocant fidelitatem obedientiam c. Translated into English thus I Stephen Bishop of Winchester do purely of mine own voluntary accord and absolutely in the word of a Bishop profess and promise to your Princely Majesty my singular and chief Lord and Patron Henry the Eighth by the grace of God King of England and of France Defender of the Faith Lord of Ireland and in earth of the Church of England Supreme Head immediately under Christ That from this day forward I shall swear promise give or cause to be given to no forein Potentate Emperour King Prince or Prelate nor yet to the Bishop of Rome whom they call Pope any Oath or Fealty directly or indirectly either by word or writing but at all times and in every case and condition I shall observe hold and maintain to all effects and intents the quarrel and cause of your Royal Majesty and your Successors and to the uttermost of my power shall defend the same against all manner of persons whomsoever I shall know or suspect to be Adversaries to your Majesty or to your Successors and shall give my faith truth and obedience syncerely and with my very heart onely to your Royal Majesty as to my Supreme Prince I profess the Papacy of Rome not to be ordained of God by holy Scripture Stephen Gardener abrenounceth the Pope but constantly do affirm and openly declare and shall declare it to be set up onely by Man and shall cause diligently other men likewise to publish the same Neither shall I enter any Treaty with any person or persons either privily or apertly or shall consent thereto that the Bishop of Rome shall have or exercise here any Authority or Iurisdiction or is to be restored to any Iurisdiction hereafter Furthermore that the said Bishop of Rome now being or any that shall succâ—ed him hereafter in the said See is not to be called Pope nor Supreme Bishop or Vniversal Bishop nor most holy Lord but onely ought to be called Bishop of Rome and Fellow Brother as the old manner of the most ancient Bishops hath been This I shall to my power openly maintain and defend And I shall firmly observe and cause to be observed of other to the uttermost of my cunning wit and power all such Laws and Acts of this Realm how and whatsoever as have been enacted and established for the extirpation and suppression of the Papacy and of the Authority and Iurisdiction of the said Bishop of Rome Neither shall I appeal hereafter to the said Bishop of Rome nor ever consent to any person that shall appeal to him neither shall I attempt prosecute or follow any Suit in the Court of Rome for any cause of right or justice to be had or shall make answer to any Plea or Action nor shall take upon me the person and office either of the Plaintiff or Defendent in the said Court And if the said Bishop by his Messenger or by his Letters shall make any means or signification unto me of any matter whatsoeuer it be I shall with all speed and diligence make declaration and advertisement thereof or cause the same to be signified either to your Princely Majesty or to some of your secret Council or to your Successors or any of their privy Council Neither shall I send or cause to be sent at any time any writing or messenger to the said Bishop or to his Court without the knowledge or consent of your Majesty or your Successors willing me to send writing or messenger unto him Neither shall I procure or give counsel to any person to procure Bulls Briefs or Rescripts whatsoever either for me or for any other from the said Bishop of Rome or his Court. And if any such shall be procured against my will and knowledge either in general or in special or else howsoever they shall be granted unto them I shall utter and disclose the same and not consent thereunto nor use them in any case and shall cause them to be brought to your Majesty or your Successors Furthermore for the confirmation hereof I give my faith and truth by firm promise and in the faith of a Bishop that against this my foresaid Profession and Promise made I shall defend my self by no Dispensation Exception nor any remedy or cautel of Law or Example during this my natural life And if heretofore I have done or made any Protestation in prejudice of this my Profession and Promise here made the same I do revoke at this present and for ever hereafter and here utterly do renounce by these presents Whereunto I have subscribed and underwritten the name both of my self and of my Bishoprick with my proper hand and thereto also have put to my Seal in perpetual and undoubted testimony of the premisses Given the tenth day of February Anno 1534 and of our Sovereign Lord King Henry the eight twenty six Stephanus Wintoniensis The same Bishop of Winchester's Reasons against the Pope's Supremacy MOreover the said Gardener in the forenamed Book De vera Obedientia what Constancy he pretendeth Steph. Wint. a Lutheran in his Book De vera obedientia what Arguments he inferreth how earnestly and pithily he disputeth on the Kings side against the Vsurped State of the Bishop of Romes Authority by the words of his Book it may appear whereof a brief Collection here followeth IN the process of his foresaid Book The Sword of the Church how far it extendeth he alledging the old distinction of the Papists wherein they give to the Prince the Regiment of things Temporal and to the Church of things Spiritual comparing the one to the greater Light the other to the lesser Light he confuteth and derideth the same distinction declaring the Sword of the Church to extend no further than to Teaching and Excommunication and referreth all preheminence to the Sword of the Prince alledging for this the
second Psalm And now you Kings be wise Psal 2. and be learned ye that judge the earth c. Also the example of Salomon who being a King 2 Par. 28. according to his Fathers appointment ordained the Offices of the Priests in their Ministeries and Levites in their Order Exod. 32. that they might give thanks and minister before the Priests after the order of every day and Porters in their divisions gate by gate And speaking more of the said Salomon he saith 1 Reg. 22. For so commanded the Man of God neither did the Priests nor Levites omit any thing of all that he had commanded c. Besides this he alledgeth also the example of King Ezechias 2 Paralyp 28. He alledgeth moreover the example and fact of Justinian which made Laws touching the Faith Bishops Clerks Hereticks and such other Aaron saith he obeyed Moses Salomon gave sentence upon Abiathar the High Priest 1 Macch. 10. 1 Macch. 14. Alexander the King in the first of Macchabees writeth thus to Jonathas Now have we made thee this day the High Priest of thy people c. So did Demetrius to Simon Then coming to the words of Christ spoken to Peter Matthew 16. Matth. 16. upon which words the Pope pretendeth to build all his Authority to this he answereth That if Christ by those words had limited to Peter any such special state or preheminence above all Princes then were it not true that is written Coepit Jesus docere facere forasmuch as the words of Christ should then be contrary to his own facts and example who in all his life never usurped either in himself any such domination above Princes shewing himself rather subject unto Princes nor yet did ever permit to his Apostles any such example of ambition to be seen but rather rebuked them for seeking any manner of Majority amongst them The Kings Style and Title approved by Steph. Wint. And where he reasoneth of the Kings Style and Title being called the King of England and of France Defender of the Faith Lord of Ireland and Supreme Head in earth of the Church of England immediately under Christ c. thus he addeth his mind and censure saying That he seeth no cause in this Title why any man should be offended that the King is called the Head of the Church of England rather than of the Realm of England and addeth his reason thereunto saying If the Prince and King of England be the Head of his Kingdom that is of all Englishmen that be his Subjects is there any cause why the same English Subjects should not be subject to the same Head likewise in this respect because they are Christians that is to say for the title of Godliness as though that God which is the cause of all Obedience should now be the cause of Rebellion At length thus he concludeth with an Exclamation saying To say saith he that a King is the Head of a Kingdom and not of the Church what an absurd and a foolish saying is this The King is as well the Head of the Church as of his Kingdom And further adding for example the subjection of the Servant and Wife If the Servant saith he be subject to his Master or Wife to her Husband being Infidels doth their Conversion afterward or name of Christians make them less Subjects than they were before As Religion therefore doth not alter the Authority of the Master over the Servant nor of the Husband over the Wife no more saith he doth it between the Prince and Subjects Paul making no exception nor distinction of Subjection save onely of that which belongeth to God willeth all men to obey their Princes and what Princes Those Princes which bear the sword And although we are bound by the Scripture to obey our Bishops and Spiritual Pastors of the Church yet that obedience diminisheth nothing the chief and head Authority that ought to be given to the Prince no more than the obedience of the Servant to his Master or of the Wife to her Husband exempteth them from Subjection due to their Superiour Powers And herewithall he inferreth a principle of the Law A Rule of the Law Divers Iurisdictions saith he proceeding from one person do not marry nor hinder themselves but rather do confirm and fortifie one another Again whereas the Bishop of Rome under the name of Peter doth appropriate to himself the highest place in the Church for that he is the Successor of Peter Thereunto he answereth in one word but in that one word he answereth enough and to the full I would saith he he were Wenchesters with that the Pope were Peters Successor for so in very deed he might well exceed and pass all Kings and Princes if not in preheminency of Dignity yet in admiration and excellency of Virtue in which kind of superiority the Lord Christ would his Apostles and Ministers to go before all Kings and Emperours in the whole world After this in prosecuting the Argument of Peters Confession he argueth thus and saith Argument The Prerogative was given to him which confessed Flesh and Bloud in Peter did not confess Christ Ergo the Prerogative was not given to the Flesh and Bloud of Petâ—r that as flesh and bloud did not reveal to Peter that Confession so neither was that Prerogative given to the flesh and bloud of Peter but to the better part that is to the spirit of Peter which is to mean in respect of the spiritual Confession of Peter and not in respect of any carnal place or person c. Item If the Scholar ought not to be above the Master how then could either Peter take that upon him which Christ his Master so constantly did refuse Or how can the Bishop of Rome now claim that by Succession whereof no example is to be found either in the Head or his Predecessor before him For so we read in Eusebius both of Peter James and John that they did arrogate no such Primacy unto them but were content that James surnamed Justus should be the Bishop of the Apostles And as for the name and signification of the word Primatus i. Primacy Prâ—matus or Primacy what it signifieth if it be taken for the first nomination or the first place given so he granteth that Peter had the preferment of the first name and place in the order of the Apostles but it followeth not that with this Primacy he had also a Kingdom given He saith Confirm thy Brethren but not thy Subjects And though he were bid of the Lord to confirm his Brethren yet was he not bid to exercise an Impery upon his Brethren for so were they not his Brethren but his Subjects Primus Primatus i. Primacy meaneth as much as the first standing in Vocation and is the name of Vertue and not of Power That Peter was Primus that is first or chief in the number of them which confessed Christ it is not
much better no place to be named than to name such as he purposed not to come to for so should he break no promise which maketh none And so going forward in his Oration toward the later end he thus inferreth by his words of Protestation saying No Princes as theâ— gave the Pope Primacy so they take it from him again we will the Pope and his Adherents to understand that which we have oft said and now say and ever will say He nor his hath no Authority nor Iurisdiction in England we give him no more than he hath that is never a deal That which he hath usurped against Gods Law and extorteth by violence we by good right take from him again But he and his will say we gave them a Primacy We bear them well we gave it you indeed if you have Authority upon us as long as our Consent giveth it you and you evermore will make your plea upon our Consent then let it have even an end where it began we consent no longer your Authority must needs be gone If we being deceived by false pretence of evil-alledged Scriptures gave to you that ye ought to have refused why may we not our Error now perceived and your Deceit espied take it again We Princes wrote our selves to be inferiour to Popes as long as we thought so we obeyed them as our Superiours Now we write not as we did and therefore they have no great cause to marvel if we hereafter do not as we did both the Laws Civil and also the Laws of God be on our side For a Fraeman born doth not lose his Liberty no nor hurt the plea of his Liberty though he write himself a Bondman Again if they lean to Custom Custom we send them to S. Cyprian which saith That Custom if Truth be not joyned with it is nothing but Erroris vetustas that is an old Error Christ said Ego sum via veritas vita I am the way the truth and the life he never said Ego sum consuetudo I am the Custom Wherefore seeing Custom serveth you on the one side and Scripture us on the other are ye able to match us In how many places doth Christ monish you to seek no Primacy to prefer your selves before nobody no to be obedient unto all Creatures Your old Title Servus Servorum evil agreeth your new forged Dignity The Popes Title and his Dignity agree not together But we will not tarry in matters so plain we onely desire God that Caesar and other Christian Princes would agree upon some holy Council where truth may be tried and Religion set up which hath been hurt by nothing so sore as by general not General Councils Errors and Abuses grow too fast Erudimini qui judicatis terram Get you Learning you that judge the earth and excogitate some Remedy for these so many Diseases of the sick Church They that be wisest do despair of a General Council Best that every Prince reform his own Realm and tarry not for General Councils wherefore we think it now best that every Prince call a Council Provincial and every Prince to redress his own Realm We make all men privy what we think best to be done for the redress of Religion if they like it we doubt not but they will follow it or some other better Our trust is that all Princes will so handle themselves in this behalf that Princes may enjoy their own and Priests of Rome content themselves with that they ought to have Princes as we trust will no longer nourish Wolves Whelps they will subscribe no more to Popish Pride to the Papacy c. Favour our doings O Christian Princes your Honour and ancient Majesty is restored Remember there is nothing peetaining so much to a Princes Honour as to set forth Truth and to help Religion Take you heed that their Deceits work not more mischief than your Vertue can do good and everlasting War we would all Princes had with this Papacy As for their Decrees so hearken to them that if in this Mantuan Assembly things be well done ye take them but not as authorized by them but that Truth and things that maintain Religion are to be taken at all mens hands And even as we will admit things well made so if there be any thing determined in prejudice of Truth for the maintainance of their evil grounded Primacy or that may hurt the Authority of Kings we protest unto the whole world that we neither allow it nor will at any time allow it Ye have Christian Readers our mind concerning the General Council we think you all see that Paul and his Cardinals Bishops Abbats Monks Friers with the rest of the Rabblement do nothing less intend than the Knowledge of Truth Ye see this is no time meet Mantua no place meet for a General Council and though they were both meet yet except some other call this Council you see that we neither need to come nor to send You have heard how every Prince in his own Realm may quiet things amiss If there be any of you that can shew us a better way we promise with all our hearty desire to do that that shall be thought best for the settling of Religion and that we will leave our own Advices if any man shew us better Which mind of ours we most heartily pray God that gave it us not onely to increase in us but also to send it unto all Christian Princes all Christian Prelats and all Christian People Injunctions given by King Henry VIII to the Clergy of his Realm IN the Name of God Amen In the Year of our Lord God 1536 and of the most Noble Reign of our Sovereign Lord Henry VIII King of England and of France Defender of the Faith Lord of Ireland and in the earth Supreme Head of the Church of England the twenty eighth c. I Thomas Cromwell Knight Lord Cromwell Keeper of the Privy Seal of our said Sovereign Lord the King and Vicegerent to the same for and concerning all his Iurisdiction Ecclesiastical within this Realm to the glory of Almighty God to the Kings Highness Honour the publick weal of this Realm and increase of Vertue in the same have appointed and assigned these Injunctions ensuing to be kept and observed of the Dean Parsons Vicars Curats and Stipendaries resident or having Cure of Souls or any other Spiritual Administration within this Deanry under the Pains hereafter limited and appointed THE first is that the Dean Parsons Vicars and other having Cure of Souls any where within this Deanry shall faithfully keep and observe and as far as in them may lie shall cause to be kept and observed of all other all and singular Laws and Statutes of this Realm made for the abolishing and extirpation of the Bishop of Romes pretended and usurped Power and Iurisdiction within this Realm Confirmation of the Kings Supremacy and for the establishment and confirmation of the Kings Authority
Fools O wicked men may we not justly so call you Are ye not Fools which being long suspected not onely of Princes but of all Christian People in a manner that in no case you could be brought to a General Council plainly shew the whole world that by these your Conciliables your Hutter-mutter in corners you take away all hope of lawful Catholick and General Council Are you not wicked which so hate Truth Truth mâ—y be pressed â—â— cannot be oppressed that except she be utterly banished ye will never cease to vex her The living God is alive neither Truth his Dearling he being alive can be called to so great shame contumely and injury or if it may be called to all these yet can it come to none of them Who is he that grievously lamenteth not men to be of such shameful boldness The Pope Enemy to Christ to shew apertly that they be Enemies unto Christ himself On the other side who will not be glad to see such men as foolish as they be wicked The World is not now in a light suspicion as it hath been hitherto that you intend no reformation of Errors but every man seeth before his eyes your deceits your wicked minds The Popes hatred against the truth your immortal hatred that ye bear against the Truth Every man seeth how many miserable Tragedies your pretence of an Vnity and Concord hath brought into Christendom They see your fair face of Peace hath served Sedition and troubled almost all Christian Realms The Pope troubler of all Christian Realms They see ye never oppugn Religion more than when ye will seem most to defend it They be sorry to see that great Wits a long season have spent their whole strength in defence of Deceits Reason to put his whole power to the promoting of Pride and Vngodliness Vertues to serve Vices Holiness to be slave to Hypocrisie Prudence to Subtilty Iustice to Tyranny They be glad that Scripture now fighteth for it self and not against it self They be glad that God is not compelled to be against God Christ against Christ They be glad that Subtilty hath done no more hurt to Religion in time past than now Constancy doth do good to Truth The Popes marks whereat he shooteth They see the Marks that ye have shot at in all your Councils past to be Lucre Money Gains they see you sought your Profit yea though it were joyn'd with the Slaughter of Truth They see ye would ever that sooner injury should be done to the Gospel than that your Authority that is to say arrogant Impudency should in any point be diminished And we pray you The Popes craft in stealing a General Council what may Paul the Bishop of Rome seem now to go about which seeing all Princes occupied in great affairs would steal as he calleth it a General Council What other thing than hereby to have some excuse to refuse a General Council hereafter when time and place much better for the handling of matters of Religion shall be given unto Princes of Christendom He will think he may then do as Princes now do he will think it lawful not to come then because Princes now come not We pray God that we ever brawl not one with another in Religion and whereas Dissention is amongst us yet for our parts we do say that we as much as men may defend the better part and be in the right way We pray God that the world may enjoy peace and tranquillity and that then we may have both time and place to settle Religion For except first Princes agree and so War laid aside seek peace he loseth his labour that seeketh a General Council If the Bishop of Rome may keep his Council while they thus be together will not there be made many pretty Decrees If they which would come if they had leisure be absent and we which though we safely might come will not lose any part of our right trow you in all our absence that the Bishop of Rome will not handle his Profit and Primacy well The time and plâ—ce presently picked of the Pope Paul how can any of ours not refuse to come to Mantua through so many perils a City so far set from England so nigh your Friends Kinsmen and Adherents Is he not unworthy of Life that where he may tarry at home will pass through so many Ieopardies of Life Can he which cometh to Cremona a City not far from Mantua be safe if he be taken not to be the Bishop of Romes Friend What an Heretick is among the Papists that is as the common sort of deceived people doth interpret an Heretick And if there come to Mantua such a number as would furnish a General Council may not Mantua séem too little to receive so many Guests Put these two together all the way from England to Mantua is full of just perils and yet if ye escape all those the very place wâ—ere the Council is kept is more to be suspected than all the way Do ye not know all Civil Laws to compel no man to come to any place where he shall be in jeopardy of his Life all the way We have no safe conduct to pass and return by the Dominions of other Princes And if we had a safe conduct yet should not we be charged with rashness that where just terror might have dissuaded us from such a journey The way to Mantua long and dangerous we committed our selves to such perils Surely he that the time being as it is things standing as they do will go from England to Mantua may be careless if he lack not wit sure of his arrival or return from thence he cannot be For who doth not know how oft the Bishops of Rome have plaid false parts with them that in such matters have trusted to their safe conduct How oft have they caused by their Perfidie such men to be slain The falshood of Popes no new thing as they have promised by their Faith before that they should both come safe and go safe These be no news Popes to be false Popes to keep no promise neither with God nor Man Popes contrary to their oaths to defile their cruel hands with honest mens bloud But we tarry too long in things that as well touch all men as us We will these now laid apart turn our Oration unto such things as privately touch both us King Henry the Eighth and all Englishmen Is it unknown to any man what mind Paul the Bishop of Rome beareth to us King Henry the Eighth to us his Nobility to us his Graces Bishops and to us all his Graces Subjects for the pulling down of his usurped Power and proud Primacy for expelling of his usurped Iurisdiction and for delivering of our Realm from his grievous bondage and pollage Who seeth not him even enflamed with hatred against us The hatred of the Pâ—pe against England and the flames to be much greater
vincula next coming provide a Book of the whole Bible both in Latin and also in English and lay the same in the Quire for every man that will to look and read thereon and shall discourage no man from the reading of any part of the Bible either in Latin or English but rather to comfort exhort and monish every man to read the same as the very Word of God and the spiritual food of mans Soul whereby they may the better know their Duties to God to their Sovereign Lord the King and their Neighbour ever gently and charitably exhorting them that using a sober and modest behaviour in the reading and inquisition of the true sense of the same they do in no wise stiffly or eagerly contend or strive one with another about the same but refer the declaration of those places that be in controversie to the judgment of them that be better learned Priests not to haunt Ale-houses Also the said Dean Parsons Vicars Curats and other Priests shall in no wise at any unlawful time nor for any other cause than for their honest necessity haunt or resort to any Taverns or Alehouses and after their Dinner and Supper they shall not give themselves to drinking or riot spending their time idly by day or by night at Tables or Cards playing or any other unlawful Game but at such times as they shall have such leisure they shall read or hear somewhat of holy Scripture or shall occupy themselves with some honest Exercise and that they always do those things that appertain to good congruence and honesty with profit of the Commonweal having always in mind that they ought to excell all other in purity of life and should be example to all other to live well and Christianly Furthermore Parsons not resident to pay the 40th part to their Parishes because the goods of the Church are called the goods of the Poor and in these days nothing is less seen than the Poor to be sustained with the same all Parsons Vicars Prebendaries and other beneficed men within this Deanry not being resident upon their Benefices which may dispend yearly twenty pounds or above either within this Deanry or elsewhere shall distribute hereafter yearly amongst their poor Parishioners or other Inhabitants there in the presence of the Churchwardens or some other honest men of the Parish the fortieth part of the Fruits and Revenues of their said Benefices lest they be worthily noted of Ingratitude which reserving so many parts to themselves cannot vouchsafe to impart the fortieth portion thereof amongst the poor people of that Parish that is so fruitful and profitable unto them And to the intent that learned men may hereafter spring the more for the executing of the said premisses Every beneficed man worth 100 l. to find a Scholar at the University every Parson Vicar Clerk or beneficed man within this Deanry yearly to spend in Benefices or other Promotions of the Church an hundred pounds shall give competent Exhibition to one Scholar and for as many hundred pounds more as he may dispend to so many Scholars more shall give like Exhibition in the Vniversity of Oxford or Cambridge or some Grammar School which after they have profited in good Learning may be Partners of their Patrons Cure and Charge as well in Preaching as otherwise in the execution of their Offices or may when need shall be otherwise profit the Commonwealth with their counsel and wisdom Also that all Parsons Vicars and Clerks Beneficed men to maintain their Mansions having Churches Chapels or Mansions within this Deanry shall bestow yearly hereafter upon the same Mansions or Chancels of their Churches being in decay the fifth part of those their Benefices till they shall be fully repaired and the same so repaired they shall always keep and maintain in good estate All which and singular Injunctions shall be inviolably observed of the said Dean Parsons Vicars Curats Stipendaries and other Clerks and beneficed men under pain of Suspension and Sequestration of the Fruits of their Benefices untill they have done their duties according to these Injunctions Postscript CHristian Reader Who hast perused and well weighed this Protestation thou dost see therein the Frauds Pride Avarice Treacheries Cruelties Enmity to God and Christ and his Truth and People with many other notorious Enormities of the Pope and his Shaveling Priests and Clergy clearly and openly discovered detected detested and renounced by so great a King He pronounces them to be open Enemies to Christ himself and to carry in their Breasts an immortal Hatred to his Truth He Proclaimeth to all Christian Princes and Peoble the miserable Tragedies which under pretence of Unity and Concord they have brought into Christendom and that they have troubled all Christian Realms with Seditions under plausible pretences of Peace That in all their Councils and Actings touching Religion the only Marks they have shot at was Lucre Money and Gains yea that they sought their own Profit with the Slaughter of the Truth and were infinitely more willing that the greatest Injury should be done to the Gospel than that their Authority that is to say their Arrogant Impudence should suffer the least Diminution That their usual practice is to defile their cruel Hands with honest Mens Bloud and that contrary to their Oaths He further declares That this holy Vicar was so inflamed with Hatred against the King and Kingdom for pulling down his Usurped Power and Proud Primacy for expelling his Usurped Jurisdiction for rejecting his False and Heretical Doctrine and delivering this Realm from his grievous Bondage and Polage that He sought by all ways to endamage both King and People and by Enemies at Home and Princes Abroad to stir up Troubles and Commotions Upon which sufficient Grounds and for which just Causes he thus resolves saying Surely except God take away our right Wits not only his Authority to wit the Popes shall be driven out for Ever but his Name also shall shortly be forgotten in England And again We will ha' the Pope and his Adherents to understand that which we have oft said and now say and ever will say He nor His hath no Authority or Jurisdiction in England That which he hath usurped against Gods Law and extorted by Violence We by good right take from him again And He exhorts all Christian Princes to favour and follow his Godly and Just Proceedings Thus did God of his Infinite Goodness raise up this Great and Wise King to root out the Pope's Usurped Authority and False Religion also in a great measure out of England and the Lord grant that these Intolerable and Unsupportable Evils may be kept out of it for ever For without doubt that Curse of God which Joshua pronounced against him that should Rebuild Jericho which was destroyed by the Word and Power of God according as it is written Joshua 6.26 And Joshua adjured them at that time saying Cursed be the Man before the Lord that riseth up
them thou didst frequent the Solemn Assemblies of the Saints with the Multitude of them that kept right Holy-Day The Out-casts of Christ were wont to dwell with thee and thou wast a Covert to them from the face of the Spoiler Many Fatherless Children had harbour and succour in thee and thou wast a Husband to the Widows It was thy Meat and Drink to feed the hungry and to cloath the naked and to visit the Prisoners of Jesus Christ Thou wast as the Vine-tree amongst the Trees of the Forest Verily a Noble Vine But why hast thou so suddenly turned into the Degenerate Plant of a Strange Vine Why of a right Seed did you so easily become strange Children whose Mouth talketh Vanity and your Right Hand is a Right Hand of Falshood Why didst thou join thy self with the Wicked and help the Ungodly Why didst thou love them that hate the Lord and didst turn thy heart and hand against them that love the Lord Thou didst reject his Ministers thou didst persecute his People thou didst hunt the steps of the Righteous that they could not go in thy Streets thou didst hawll to Prison the Assemblies of the Saints and didst make havock of the Church of Christ till there was no remedy For when the Lord saw this he was angry for he looked for Grapes from you and you brought forth wild Grapes he looked for Judgment from you but behold Oppression for Righteousness but behold a Cry Whâ—refore he bent his Bow against thee like an Enemy He stood with his Right Hand like an Adversary He sent a Fire into the midst of thee that could not be quenched and it hath devoured thee and brought thee to Ashes on the Earth in the sight of all them that beheld thee He hath swallowed up thy Habitations he hath thrown down in his Wrath your pleasant Dwellings your stately and beautiful Buildings He sent into thee treacherous Dealers to deal treacherously with thee and Spoilers to spoil thee whilst thou wast become a silly Dove without heart He hath brought upon thee the days that have not come on thee since thou wast a City He hath stained the Pride of thy Glory and brought into contempt all thy Honourable Persons they that did feed delicately were left desolate in the Streets they that were brought up in Silks and Scarlet embraced Dunghils they that dwelt in well built Houses were glad to shelter themselves in Booths and to crowd their heads in desolate places they are come down from their Glory to sit in Dust For thy filthiness was found in thy Skirts therefore thou wast brought down wonderfully How are thy Merchandise of Gold and Silver and Precious Stones and of Pearl and of fine Linnen and Purple and Silk thy broidered Works thy Chests of rich Apparel thy Spices and Odors thy Vessels of precious Wood of Brass and Iron and Marble thy Wine and Oil thy stately Buildings and beautiful Structures of many Generations how in three or four days are they all brought to nothing London the Glory of the Kingdom the Beauty of England's Excellency is become as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and is now at present a place for doleful Creatures for Owls to dwell in and for Satyrs to dance in and for Wild Beasts to cry among the desolate Houses and Dragons in their Dwellings For thou art swept with the Besom of Destruction and the Line of Emptiness is stretched out upon thee because thou didst reject the Word of the Lord and knewest not the day of thy Visitation How art thou brought down which wast inhabited by Seafaring Men the renowned City which wast strong at Sea and thy Inhabitants did cause terrour to all Nations All that knew thee formerly are astonisht at thee thou art become a Terror to them that see thee and they that hear of thee are pained for thee I was bowed down at the hearing of it I was dismayed at the seeing of it O Lord bâ—hold my affliction for the Enemy hath magnified himself see and consider for I am become Vile Our Enemies say This this is the Day we have looked for we have found it we have seen it This Day shall do that which the Fifth of November could not do now shall we see our desire upon them for the Strength of the Protestant Interest is broken we have broken the Head of it and now shall we rase it to the very foundation of it But O Lord thou hast seen my wrong judge thou my Cause Thou hast seen all their Vengeance and all their imaginations against me thou knowest the Contrivers the Abettors the Incouragers the Actors the Favourers of this Hellish Mischief and all those that rejoice in it Give unto them All Sorrow of Heart thy Curse unto them Persecute and destroy them in Anger from under the Heavens of the Lord. And let all the People say Amen But now I must shake hands with thee O London in thy Dust and Ashes for there is hope in this thy End And I must turn my self back again to England the Land of my Nativity and take up a Lamentation for it O England what Nation was like unto thee from the Rising of the Sun to the Setting thereof thou wast a People satisfied with favour and full with the Blessings of the Lord but art now suddenly become a poor and peeled People meeted out and trodden down Thou art smitten with a perpetual stroke in anger by a heavy hand thou art oppressed spoyled and crushed in pieces evermore and there is no man to save thee For God hath remembred our Iniquities against us and set our sins in the light of his Countenance For by Lying and Swearing and Oppressing and Slaying and Drinkâ—ng and Whoring and Blaspheming c. the Land is defiled under the Inhabitants thereof We have forsaken the Laws of God changed the Ordinances of Christ and broken the Everlasting Covenant and therefore hath the Curse devoured us Our Labours yield us no Profit our Plowing Sowing and Reaping eats up the Husband-Man our Trade is every where decayed our Gold and Silver are exhausted and drained away our Estates are impoverisht and wasted the Abundance we had gotten and laid up is departed our Exactions and Taxes are heavy upon us so that we eat our Bread with sorrow and drink with sighing for they have found out our Riches as a Nest and as one gathereth Eggs that are left so have they gathered the Substance of the Nation and there was none that durst move the Wing or open the Mouth to the People We are brought so low that we have forgotten Prosperity but we daily mourn and fade away for we are filled with bitterness and made drunk with Wormwood For our Wise Counsellors are become Fools Understanding is perished from them our Princes are rebellious and Companions of Thieves they are Riotous Persons that eat not for Strength but for Drunkenness Our Counsellors take Counsel but not of God but against him our Judges
abhor true Judgment and pervert all Equity they turn Judgment into Gall and the fruit of Righteousness into Hemlock they justifie the Wicked for a Reward and take away the righteousness of the Righteous from him Our Priests of all Titles and Degrees are like roaring Lions in the midst of us ravening the Prey they rob the Purses of Men they imprison their Bodies they devour their Souls they live in Rioting and Drunkenness they commit Adultery and speak Lyes they strengthen the hands of Evil Doers that none doth return from his Wickedness Our People are foolish and unwise a company of treacherous Men that ly in wait for precious Souls they are perverse Children who have forsaken the Law of the Lord and have said to the Holy One of Israel Depart from us Wherefore we are become a base Kingdom because we have rejected all righteousness yea the basest of Kingdoms because we have Apostatized from the Truth Of a Pleasant and Joyful Land we are become a Land of Trouble and Anguish where is the Young and Old Lion the Viper and fiery flying Serpent We are become a Mingled People Strangers devour us in our presence they devour our Strength they swallow up our Riches they eat up our Bread yea they destroy us our Cities and Towns and there is none to reprove them We who were the chief of Nations the Princess of Provinces who when we spake there was trembling to the ends of the Earth are now become weak and contemptible because our Rock hath sold us and the Lord hath shut us up Therefore the Pomp of our Strength hath ceased and our Spirit fails in the midst of us So that we are shamefully brought down by the least and lowest of the Nations who have subdued our Naval Power taken burnt and spoiled our Royal Ships the Wall and Bulwark of our Nation fought us in our own Bowels triumphed over us in our own River blocked up the Passage of our chief City stopped all intercourse of Trade made a Spoil of our Riches and a Prey of our Merchandise hindred and deprived us of all our pleasant things bereaved us of several of our Rich and Advantageous Plantations brought us down to their feet humbly to beg their favour and have made us a Reproach a Proverb and a Hissing to all Nations O England who shall bewail thee What Lamentations shall we take up for thee Oh that thou wert sensible of thy Stroke and couldst bewail thy self for thou hast sinned grievously therefore art thou cast out of the Mountain of the Lord thou art cast to the ground and laid before Kings and Nations that they may behold thee This is the end of the Children of Pride for they that exalt themselves shall be made Low And therefore talk no more so exceeding proudly let not Arrogance come out of your Mouth again for God is a God of Judgment and by him actions are weighed The Adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces out of Heaven shall he thunder upon them and therefore let not the Rebellious exalt themselves Thus have I rehearsed the Evils we ly under and now I shall represent some of the Great and Deadly Dangers that we are in And one is to have the Nation quite overrun with Popery and to have the Popes Throne of Iniquity new erected amongst us And are there not swarms of Priests and Jesuits earnestly at work to bring this to pass they having emptied their Popish Cloysters and Monasteriâ—s from beyond Sea into England to promote their Catholique Design here And they knowing who stands at their right hand have done it with great boldness and with too great success For they have perverted not only very many of the Common People but some Nobility also and many Gentry And they have two great Engines to advance their design to wit on the one hand Safety on the other Danger on the one hand Promotion on the other Destruction on the one hand Life on the other Death with the one of them they allure with the other they terrifie with the one they draw whom they can with the other they drive whom they cannot draw And these Engines are of that force that thereby they have conquered many weak sinful and unstable Souls yea and have prevailed with some Persons of Honour and Quality to send their Sons to Monasteries and their Daughters to Nunneries beyond Sea to be trained up in their Damnable Religion there till better provision can be made for them here of which they now are in full hopes And now think with your selves and consider well O my Dear Protestant Country-Men how could you endure to see the Pope Worshipped here again in England for a God on Earth to see him set his proud Foot on the Neck of your King to see your King a Tributary to the Pope and to stand or fall at his base pleasure how could you indure to be forced to acknowledge his sinful and foolish Decrees to be equal to the Holy Word of God and to own his little Wafer or piece of Bread for the very Natural Body and Bloud of Christ which was crucified and shed on the Cross how could you indure to have your throats stretched so wide as to swallow down only this one Abomination of his which is more vast and rude than the first Chaos how could you indure to see new Roods erected in every Parish Church and to bow your selves down and worship Stocks and Stones Crucifixes and Images instead of the True and Living God how could you frame your selves to Auricular Confession and to rehearse or enumerate all your sins in a Priests Ear who himself stands in need of Forgiveness more than you being a greater Sinner how could you indure that their lusty Priests should defile your Wives and Daughters they being prohibited Wives of their own and so should drive again a General Trade of Whoredom in the Nation as they have been wont to do formerly how could you submit your selves to their Popish Pennance and to travel their Popish Pilgrimages to their feigned Saints and ridiculous Reliques how could you bear the severity of their Ecclesiastical Courts and Censures and to be pronounced Heretiques by those who are themselves the greatest Heretiques in the World how could You Noblemen and Gentlemen who have your Estates or part of them in Abbey and Church-Lands as they were called be content to have them taken away from You and your Posterity and given back again to maintain Abbots Monks Friers Nuns and such kind of Popish Vermin and Locusts which if once admitted will eat up again every green thing in the Land And let me tell you that all these Estates of yours they do not only promise to themselves but verily expect them Yea farther how could you indure to have your loving Husbands taken from your Heads and your dear Wives torn out of your Bosoms your sweet Children dragg'd out of your Houses your near Relations and friendly Neighbours
hawlled and hurried into Prisons and Dungeons and there to be wracked starved tormented and at last if they live to it to be put alive into the flames of Fire there to be burnt and consumed to Ashes and that only because they sincerely cleave to Christ and his Gospel and will not adhere to Antichrist nor receive his Mark nor do his Hellish Drudgery how could you indure to see this cruel Beast of Rome to play Rex here in England again and though he be the First-Born of the Devil yet to set himself up above all that is called God and Worshipped And yet you are now in more danger to see all these things come to pass because you received not the truth in the love of it whilst you enjoyed it than your Predecessors have been this Hundred Years they having now gotten both Wind and Tide with them even Opportunity and Incouragement Wherefore a Great Man concluded That now certainly the Papists would do their Work they were in so fair a way But he reckoned without his Hoast And lest my Protestant Country-Men should be too much discouraged in this apparent and approaching Danger I will furnish you with one Rich Cordial out of the Words of Henry the VIII which he directed to the Papists in his days in his foregoing Declaration against them where he saith Are you not wicked which so hate the Truth that except she be utterly banished ye will never cease to vex her The Living God is alive neither can Truth his Darling He being alive be called to so great shame contumely and injury as you would have her and if she may be called to all these yet can she come to none of them Who is he that grievously lamenteth not Men to be come to such Shameless Boldness to shew apertly that they be Enemies to Christ himself on the other side who would not be glad to see such Men as foolish as they be Wicked For they work a deceitful Work and by all their cunning Craftiness Mysterious and Industrious Actings they only dig the Pit into which they must fall themselves and contrive the ruine that must be their own Portion Your Second Danger is to have the most Cruel and Inhumane Massacre executed upon you that ever yet was committed in the World by the Consecrated Hands and Weapons of the Papists And this Glorious Service of theirs is designed upon the English Protestants for the singular Promotion of the Catholique Cause which hath its way usually prepared into all Nations by Fire and Sword The Wrath of the Papists is so kindled against you and they are so thoroughly set on fire from Hell that they are ready to break forth into their greatest flames and to endeavour the Destruction of All at Once It is well known how well they are Hors'd and Arm'd and how they train their Troops against the Bloudy Day intended It is well known how well they are furnish'd with Money intended for other purposes It is well known what numbers of French Men are brought into the bowels of the English and many Noblemen and Gentlemen are so pleased with the Children of those Strangers that they have French Servants Papists to attend them whom they have well Mounted and Armed enough to make a little Army of themselves And this they do that their strength may be hidden till opportunity shall serve to make it appear It is well known that the chief Places of Strength and many Chief Commands are in the hands of Papists And now they become so numerous and having such power what is there wanting but a convenient Opportunity to fulfil all that is in their Hearts upon Secure Unarmed Unprepared People and to dispatch their work in few days and especially upon thee O London who art their chiefest Eye-Sore O England except the Lord prevent it thy Calamity is near at the very Door and thou mayst expect every day now Peace is made Abroad when these will unsheath and draw their Swords upon you here at Home and you must be charg'd in the Kings Name for so they will abuse it to stand still and to hold forth your Throats to Murderers You cannot forget the dreadful Massacre at Paris nor that late more dreadful and bloudy Massacre of the English Protestants in Ireland when more than a Hundred Thousand Innocent Persons Men Women and Children were in a very short time with the greatest Cruelties and Torments that ever were heard of murdered by them and what Authority they pretended for it But they have treasured up in their minds the fulness of all Cruelties for you English-men They have discovered something of their Kindness and good Pleasure to you in their firing the City of London which they have left as an Everlasting Monument of their Treachery and Villany to England and of their hatred to English Protestants and let this most notorious fact of theirs be engraven in great Characters on the Gates and Walls and Chief Places of your City when it shall be built again that all Posterity when they shall see New London may know and consider what Persons and what Religion burnt the Old They have also often attempted the firing of Southwark and of the remaining parts of the City for nothing but the utter ruine of it will satisfie them And when the kindling of some of these later flames was related to a Great Person they laughing said Now the Game is begun again for they make but a May game of consuming all And yet Fire only will not satisfie them it is bloud must follow or they are never the near It is you O English Protestants whose lives they thirst after and they can neither eat nor drink comfortably nor sleep quietly till they be filled with this Venison And therefore of you it may be truly said Your lives are in jeopardy every hour Yet for all this let us not despond nor cast away our Confidence saying Our hope is cut off and we are perished for he that sits in Heaven laughs them to scorn even the Lord hath them in Derision and though we hold our peace he will speak to them in his Wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure He will make his Arrows drunk with their bloud and his Sword shall devour their flesh from the beginning of Revenges upon the Enemy Rejoice O ye Nations with his Paople for he will avâ—nge the Bloud of his Servants and will render Vâ—ng ance to his Adversaries and will be mâ—rciful to his Land and to his People Thirdly Another of your Dangers which also is one of the greatest is your own Heedlesness and strange Security in the midst of such thick Clouds and Storms which have encompassed us round able to awaken even dead Men. How stupid and sottish were you at the burning of your City when you saw with your own eies your Houseâ— your Substance your Riches all consuming together in those furious flames before your faces yet how insensible were you of your
by degrees all to pieces as they have fretted a great deal of it already And what English-man or Protestant is there that wiâ— not sâ— with us in these necessary Desires which if they be not granted farewel all Good Days from England for our time And now to conclude all I shall only leave two or three Sovereign Antidotes with my dear Country-Men to preserve them from the noysome Contagion and Plague of Popery 1. Consider with Trembling that none are given up to this Damnable Delusion but those whose Names are not Written in the Lambs Book of Life as the Spirit of God affirms Rev. 13.8 saying And all that dwell upon Earth shall worship him i. e. the Beast or Antichrist of Rome whose Names are not writtâ—n in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World And what Person would carry such a Worm in his Conscience continually for the whole World and all the Kingdoms and Glâ—â—y of it as to know and certainly to understand that his Name is not written in the Book of Life nor can ever be put in for all the Writings in that Book are from Eternity and no new thing can be inserted in it And therefore let Men say what they will they are none of Gods Elect who close in with this False and Hâ—â—â—tical Religion after the Gospel hath been Preached to them and they have been instructed in it For to depart from the known Truth to known Error is not a Sin of Ignorance but of Malice and this is the Sin unto Death for which there is no Remission Wherefore let every one that would attain to any comfortable Assurance that his Name is Written in the Book of Life flee from Popery 2. They that Apostatise to this False Religion are a surely to be Damn'd as if they were in Hell already This is a hard saying but a True One as it is evident in that of Paul 2 Thes 2. where speaking of Antichrist that Wicked One whose coming is after the working of Satan with all Powâ—r and Signs and Lying Wonders and with all deceiveableness of Unrighteousness in them that perish because they received not the love of the Truth that they might be saved He adds And for this cause God shall send thâ—m strong Delusions that they should bâ—lieve a Lye that they All may be Damn'd that bâ—lieve not the Truth but have pleasure in Unrightâ—ousness This sort of People God gives them up to believe a Lye the Grand Lye of Popery for this whole Religion is nothing else but one continued Lye from the beginning to the end of it to the intent that they should all Perish and be Damn'd This is the Word of God against all wilful Papists and it cannot be made void John also testifies Rev. 14.9 that an Angel Proclaimed with a loud voice saying If any Man Worship the Beast and his Image and receive his Mark in his Forehead or in his hand the same shall drink of the Wine of the Wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the Cup of his Indignation and he shall be tormented with Fire and Brimstone in the presence of the holy Angels and in the presence of the Lamb and the Smoak of their Torment ascâ—ndeth up for ever and ever and they have no rest Day nor Night which Worship the Beast and his Image and whosoever receiveth the Mark of his Name In which Scripture you may see with open face the sad end of all the Popish Generation which is to be tormented for ever and ever Wherefore out of very Malice they have been are and will be our Tormentors here when they get opportunity because the Devil is to be their Tormentor in Hell for ever Wherefore who ever would avoid the Torments of Hell let him fly from Popery 3. Lastly Antichrist is now in his Old Age and draws near his End yea is drawing his last breath He is very shortly to be utterly destroyed with the Spirit of Christs Mouth and the Brightness of his coming And what Wise-Man yea what Man of common reason would join himself to Antichrist for one hour yea for one quarter or minute of his hour If Men might have reigned with him many years and have enjoyed his Delicacies for a long Season then might it have been a strong inducement to a carnal heart who seeks his Portion only in this life to have closed in with him but now to do it when his Destruction draws near what extream Folly and Madness must it needs be Who would venture a Board that Ship which is just a sinking or become a Subject in that Kingdom which is just ready to be rooted up and confident I am through God that after Antichrist and his Brood of Serpents have play'd a few more of their old cruel Pranks anew in England both He and They will become so utterly odious to All that their Name shall be no more remembred among us but with highest Contempt and Indignation and that for ever And let the Lord say Amen and all his People AND now O Lord to whom should we look our Eies are only unto thee And we beseech thee to look down from Heaven the Habitation of thy Holiness and of thy Glory upon us and upon our present Sad and almost Desperate Condition and stretch forth thy Holy Arm to maintain Thine Own Good Cause which thine Enemies scorn and deride and laugh at among themselves and to help afflicted Righteousness and thine own poor People who are brought very low so that their belly cleaveth even to the dust Indeed Vain is the Help of Man and our Enemies say There is no help for us in God But yet we know there is help in thee and that thy help is never in vain For thou canst do the greatest Things by the smallest Means yea thou canst do the greatest Things without all Means For thou spakest and the World was made thou didst command and it stood fast Therefore our Eies are unto thee O Lord and we do believe that thou canst do all things and can so do them that none can resist thee Is any thing too hard for the Lord shall we call thy Power in Question who didst prepare a safe passage for thy People through the mighty Waters and didst cause them to walk on dry ground through the depths of the Sea Take therefore thy great Power and come and Reign in the midst of these thy greatest Enemies till thou make them All thy Footstool and till thou hast put down all Rule Authority and Power which lifts up its Head and stretcheth forth its Arm against thee O Lord and thy Holy and Blessed Gospel and thine Anointed Oh cause Iniquity to stop its Mouth and Wickedness to hide its face again Let Violence no more be heard in our Land nor Wasting and Destruction within our Borders let the cause of the Fatherless and of the Widows be justly judged Let thy Prisoners be loosed and thine oppressed be eased let them be helped who have no helper Make way with thy strong Arm for thy own Labourers to continue to come to thy Harvest-Work for thy Harvest we trust is very great in England And therefore O Thou into whose hands all Things are delivered of the Father and all Power in Heaven and Earth is given and who by this Greatest and Highest Authority of Thine hast commanded thy Ministers to go and teach all Nations after thou didst send them Oh do thou make way for them to teach this Unworthy Nation before the Coming of the Son of Man that through their ministring thy Word thy Church may awake and rouze up it self and put off its filthy Raiment and may be restored to the Brightness of its first rising when it was full of faith and love and all Graces and Gifts of the Holy Ghost without any mixture of Antichristian Errors that all thy People may strive together for the Faith of the Gospel and not quarrel any longer about empty Forms but may with One Mind and with One Mouth confess the Truth as it is in Jesus and then shall all Kings bow down before thee and all Nations that serve Thee they shall sing forth the Honour of thy Name and make thy Praise Glorious Amen FINIS