Selected quad for the lemma: england_n
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A50916
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Of reformation touching chvrch-discipline in England, and the cavses that hitherto have hindred it two bookes, written to a freind [sic]
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Milton, John, 1608-1674.
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1641
(1641)
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Wing M2134; ESTC R17896
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44,575
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96
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the rightfull K. of France and gives the Kingdome to Pepin for no other cause but that hee seem'd to him the more active man If he were a freind herein to Monarchy I know not but to the Monarch I need not aske what he was Having thus made Pepin his fast freind he cals him into Italy against Aistulphus the Lombard that warâ—…'d upon him for his late Usurpation of Rome as belonging to Ravenna which he had newly won Pepin not unobedient to the Popes call passing into Italy frees him out of danger and wins for him the whole exarchat of Ravenna which though it had beene almost immediately before the hereditary possession of that Monarchy which was his cheife Patron and Benefactor yet he takes and keepes it to himselfe as lawfull prize and given to St. Peter What a dangerous fallacie is this when a spirituall man may snatch to himselfe any temporall Dignity or Dominion under pretence of receiving it for the Churches use thus he claimes Naples Sicily England and what not To bee short under shew of his zeale against the errors of the Greeke Church hee never ceast baiting and goring the Successors of his best Lord Constantine what by his barking curses and Excommunications what by his hindering the Westerne Princes from ayding them against the Sarazens and Turkes unlesse when they humour'd him so that it may be truly affirm'd he was the subversion and fall of that Monarchy which was the hoisting of him this besides Petrarch whom I have cited our Chaucer also hath observ'd and gives from hence a caution to England to beware of her Bishops in time for that their ends and aymes are no more freindly to Monarchy then the Popes Thus hee brings in the Plow-man speaking 2. Part. Stanz. 28. The Emperour Yafe the Pope sometime So high Lordship him abovt That at last the silly Kime The proud Pope put him out So of this Realme is no doubt But Lords beware and them dâ—…fend For now these folks be wonders â—…out The King and Lords now this amend And in the next Stanza which begins the third part of the tale he argues that they ought not to bee Lords Moses Law forbode it tho That Preists should no Lordships welde Christs Gospell biddeth also That they should no Lordships held Ne Christs Apostles were never so bold No such Lordships to hem embrace But smeren her Sheep and keep her Fold And so forward Whether the Bishops of England have deserv'd thus to bee fear'd by men so wise as our Chaucer is esteem'd and how agreeable to our Monarchy and Monarchs their demeanour ha's been he that is but meanly read in our Chronicles needs not be instructed Have they not been as the Canaanites and Philistims to this Kingdom what Treasons what revolts to the Pope what Rebellions and those the basest and most preten selesse have they not been chiefe in What could Monarchy think when Becket durst challenge the custody of Rotchester-Castle and the Tower of London as appertaining to his Signory To omit his other insolencies and affronts to Regall Majestie till the Lashes inflicted on the aâ—…ointed body of the King washt off the holy Vnction with his blood drawn by the polluted hands of Bishops Abbots and Monks What good upholders of Royalty were the Bishops when by their rebellious opposition against King John Normandy was lost he himselfe depos'd and this Kingdom made over to the Pope When the Bishop of Winchester durst tell the Nobles the Pillars of the Realme that there were no Peeres in England as in France but that the King might doe what hee pleas'd What could Tyranny say more it would bee petty now if I should insist upon the rendring up of Tournay by Woolseyes Treason the Excommunications Cursings and Interdicts upon the whole Land For haply I shall be cut off short by a reply that these were the faults of the men and their Popish errors not of Episcopacie that hath now renounc't the Pope and is a Protestant Yes sure as wise and famous men have suspected and fear'd the Protestant Episcopacie in England as those that have fear'd the Papall You know Sir what was the judgement of Padre Paolo the great Venetian Antagonist of the Pope for it is extant in the hands of many men whereby he declares his feare that when the Hierarchy of England shall light into the hands of busie and audacious men or shall meet with Princes tractable to the Prelacy then much mischiefe is like to ensue And can it bee neerer hand then when Bishops shall openly affirme that No Bishop no King a trimme Paradox and that yee may know where they have beene a begging for it I will fetch you the Twin-brother to it out of the Jesuites Cell they feeling the Axe of Gods reformation hewing at the old and hollow trunk of Papacie and finding the Spaniard their surest friend and safest refuge to sooth him up in his dreame of a fift Monarchy and withall to uphold the decrepit Papalty have invented this super-politick Aphorisme as one termes it One Pope and one King Surely there is not any Prince in Christendome who hearing this rare Sophistry can choose but smile and if we be not blind at home we may as well perceive that this worthy Motto No Bishop no King is of the same batch and infanted out of the same feares a meere ague-cake coagulated of a certaine Fever they have presaging their time to be but short and now like those that are sinking they catch round at that which is likeliest to hold them up And would perswade Regall Power that if they dive he must after But what greater debasement can there be to Royall Dignity whose towring and stedfast heighth rests upon the unmovable foundations of Justice and Heroick vertue then to chaine it in a dependance of subsisting or ruining to the painted Battlements and gaudy rottennesse of Prelatrie which want but one puffe of the Kings to blow them down like a past bord House built of Court-Cards Sir the little adoe which me thinks I find in untacking these pleasant Sophismes puts mee into the mood to tell you a tale ere I proceed further and Menenius Agrippa speed us Upon a time the Body summon'd all the Members to meet in the Guild for the common good as Aesops Chronicles averre many stranger Accidents the head by right takes the first seat and next to it a huge and monstrous Wen little lesse then the Head it selfe growing to it by a narrower excrescency The members amaz'd began to aske one another what hee was that took place next their chief none could resolve Whereat the Wen though unweildy with much adoe gets up and bespeaks the Assembly to this purpose That as in place he was second to the head so by due of merit that he was to it an ornament and strength and of speciall neere relation and that if the head should faile none were fitter then himselfe to step into his place therefore hee thought