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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61448	The spirit of the church-faction detected, in its nature and operations more particularly in the mystery of the convocation-book lately published and exposed to the view and censure of the world by the late Arch-Bishop of Canterbury, and the progress of the faction, and the mischiefs thereof, the late civil war, and our present disappointments.	Stephens, Edward, d. 1706.	1691 (1691)	Wing S5443; ESTC R24618	38,051	52

related to God as our selves and to keep our selves pure and unspotted of the World And accordingly his Apostles and Disciples those who had not the things of the World sought them not but were contented with Food and Rayment and that they often sought by their own labours and those who had more distributed what they had to such as wanted On the contrary Antichrist is described in the Scripture 1. With great Pomp State Grandure Power and Dominion 2. With much Subtilty and strong Delusions 3. With great Violence and Cruelty being drunk with the Blood of the Saints And if we well consider the Methods which have been used for the suppression of the Christian Religion through the Instigation of that Wicked Spirit which rules in the Hearts of all wicked Men and too often prevails in such as are not of his party if not well purified from carnal and terrene Affections and very vigilant and circumspect we shall find that the first was indeed by open Violence by the Jews and the Heathens But as soon as that appeared not to be sufficient for his purpose he made use of his Subtilty and transforming himself into an Angel of Light set to work by his Instruments to corrupt the simblicity of the Christian Doctrine with subtile Notions and under pretence of Zeal for the true Faith to raise Dissentions and divide the Christians into different parties and set them one against another And by this Means he prevailed mightily among the Greeks who were addicted to Speculation and Oratory But when his first Method of Force wholly failed him and the Roman Emperours became Christians neither had his second Method that effect among the Romans as it had with the Greeks they being more addicted to Pomp and Grandure and Dominion than to Notions and Speculations he presently attach'd them with those things which were more agreeable to their Disposition and instigated them to express their Zeal for the Church by conferring as much of this kind upon it as might be and their Bishops as greedily to catch at it This is that which St. Augustine and the Bishops of that famous Council in Africa noted and gravely and sharply reproved in the then Bishops of Rome that they introduced Typhum Seculi in Ecclesiam the Pomp and Grandure of the World into the Church And when they were once tainted and levened with this Poyson of the Spirit of the World they were easily instigated to the use of Force and Violence against any who never so justly opposed their Ambition as that Council did till at last they proceeded to Blood and all kind of Cruelty in after Ages And now for the Tendence and Subservience of these things of the World so much neglected by Christ and his true Disciples and so greedily sought after by others to which of the Ends before mentioned it is most and the Effects and Consequences of them upon Men 1. It is plain that they do for the most part strangely insinuate themselves into the Affections of those that acquire them insomuch that what is commonly said of one of them Crescit amor nummi quantum ipsa pecunia crescit may truly be said of all much would have more and the more men have the more they still crave and so easily observable every where that I need say no more 2. These Affections to the things of the World are apt continually to occupy and take up the Mind and to avert it or detain it from God its proper Object partly by Complacency in them and partly by Distractions about them 3. And this doth easily proceed to a kind of Trust and Confidence in them and Reliance upon them with Acquiescence and Repose whereby they become such a false bottom to it as I mentioned before an Idol instead of the Living God 4. And this must needs partly chill if not extinguish all true Devotion and Affection to God and cause a Narrowness of Soul as to any generous Acts for his Service or the common Good of Men and partly infatuate it with False Security and Presumption of the Favour of God grounded upon such External Blessings and a formal outside Religion according to its own Disposition 5. And then lastly All is soon compleated with that height of Pride Arrogance and Indignation and Severity against all who oppose or refuse to stoop and pay Reverence to so Worshipful a Being All which is directly contrary to the intire Subjection of the Creature to the Creator which is the very End of our living here upon Earth and of the Conduct of the Divine Spirit and insensibly leads into the State and subjects it to the Power of the Devils And for the Effect and Consequence thereof upon others the Ostentation of those who have some share of these things is apt to provoke the Emulation of those who have less and that instigates them first to Care and Pains to get as much as their Neighbours though otherwise they may perhaps have enough for themselves and their Families if they would but conform to it and so robs them of much precious Time and distracts their Minds from their proper Object by unnecessary Care for Superfluities and so also gives advantage to the Spirit of the World to insinuate the deeper into them And Secondly if honest Pains and honest Gains will not satisfie the Emulation it instigates further to indirect Means as Frauds Cheats Exactions Oppressions secret Stealth and open Robbery wherewith particular Persons are wronged and molested and many undone many Arts Projects and Practices of Covetous and Ambitious Officers Courtiers Statesmen and Princes whereby States and Governments and whole Nations are disturbed and often involved in great Troubles and most of that various Wickedness which we daily see punished with the untimely Death of so many Malefactors But besides those grosser Evils which are apparent to every ordinary Observation there is another more subtile Evil Consequence which falls heavy upon a great part of Mankind and so makes the Curse much worse than ever God made it It keeps down many Young and many honest industrious People that with all their Care Labour and Industry they are hardly able to get an honest Livelihood and Subsistence for their Families and makes Necessity a great Temptation to many These are great Evils under the Sun such as do greatly strengthen and increase the Kingdom of Darkness and such as the Christians of the Reformed Churches as we call them have much to answer for before God But it would require a longer Discourse than is fit for this place fully to explain them I shall therefore only add that the Great Instruments of this Mystery of Wickedness are the Great Men of the World the Stately Dames and all that either prosecute the things of the World with Greediness and without measure retain them without use or use them with Ostentation in Attire in immodest Fashions such as our Womens Fioccoes fitter for Fore-horses heads than for the Foreheads of

decree that the Order of Kings is of Divine Right the Ordinance of God founded in the prime Laws of Nature and clearly established by express Texts of Scripture That a Supream Power is given to this Order by God himself to command all and punish with the Temporal Sword all stubborn and wicked doers That the care of God's Church is committed to Kings in Scripture and her Government belongs in chief to Kings That the Power to call and dissolve Councils is the true Right of all Christian Kings That to avow in any of their Realms any Independant Coactive Power either Papal or Popular is to undermine their Regal Office That for Subjects to bear Arms against their King upon any pretence whatsoever is at least to resist the Powers which are ordained of God That Tribute Custom c. and all manner of support and supply is due to Kings from their Subjects by the Law of God Nature and Nations c. And they ordain this to be read by every Parson c. every quarter of the Year under pain of suspension and that no Ecclesiastical or Academical Person shall maintain or abett any Position in opposition or Impeachment of any part thereof under pain of Excommunication Now if this be true which they have decreed then have all Kings the same Power jure divino which cannot be restrain'd by any humane Constitution then are all those Constitutions of Government whereby a limited Power only is given to the King though settled by solemn Agreement and mutual Oaths for Observation and Performance thereof all void as to any Limitations as derogatory to the Law of God and the King may and must use his Power which he hath jure divino and then are all those who insist upon any Right by any such Laws which is inconsistent with that Plenitude of Royal Power jure divino factious and seditious and to be punished with the Temporal Sword as stubborn and wicked doers But if all Forms of Government when throughly settled have Gods Authority and the Powers that be in each be ordained of God if Publick Pacts and Agreements by which Governments are usually constituted and ratified are to be observed inviolably jure naturali and if Solemn Oaths by which Pacts and Agreements are usually confirmed and made as Sacred and Inviolable as may be are to be observed most religiously and jure divino then is their Doctrine false factious and seditious and tending to the Subversion or Disturbance of most Kingdoms in this Part of the World and of our own in particular and was therefore justly condemned by the next Parliament then is the Church of England in Convocation and her Doctrine no less fallible than the Church of Rome and then was that Faction the great Occasion of our late Civil Wars by misleading the Consciences of the King and of a great part of the People of great Abuses by Declarations and Clauses inconsistent with the Constitution of our Government obtruded into divers Acts of Parliament and of many illegal Arbitrary Acts in the Reigns since is still the occasion of our Civil Dissentions and Unsettlement and of much of our Disappointments under the present Government at this day and will continue so to be till either some good Counsel and Resolution put an end to it or it produce another Civil War For while Princes and some part of the People shall be perswaded upon pretended Principles of Religion that the Regal Power is Jure Divino above all Humane Laws and the rest know that it anciently hath been and to this day is very different all over the World in all Kingdoms according to their several Constitutions in some more absolute as the Eastern and the Roman Emperors in others very little as divers of the Northern and particularly the German from whom the English descended who acted in Council Authoritate suadendi magis quam Jubendi Potestate and that by the English Constitution it is limited and confined to the observance of Law in all parts of it this must be a perpetual Cause or Occasion of Dissensions which are apt to break out at last into Wars But if the Occasions of that Error being observed it be well considered that the Power of the Jewish Kings the Roman Emperors or any other is no Rule for the measure of our Government where the greatest Power of all is manifestly not in the King but remaining in the whole Body of King Lords and Commons That Expressions in some Acts of Parliament Articles of Religion or Canons used and intended meerly in Opposition to Papal Pretences ought not captiously to be extended to what was not intended or in question contrary to manifest Truth That Expressions in the Homilies out of Zeal against Conspiracies and Rebellions of Papists are of no Authority in Questions or Controversies of State nor Deerees of Universities when to serve a Faction or please those from whom they expect Preferment and That Ambition Self-interest and Flattery the usual Attendants of Princes Courts are always the promoters of such Pretences the Faction will soon be deserted by all honest men and then may we hope for a Happy Settlement which is the Design of this Paper and the sincere Desire of it's Author FINIS

and the Fraud being detected I leave the rest to every one 's own Observation And 3. This is done with the greatest Solemnity and Formality that could be in a Convocation of the Clergy in the Form of Canons and Decrees and those severally passed as upon particular Debates with a Placet eis to each and attested to have passed with one consent under the terms of Constitutions by Bancroft for the upper House of the Province of Canterbury by Overal for the lower House and by Thornborough for the Province of York whereas those Canons of that Convocation which were published passed only the Convocation of the Province of Canterbury And now to consider the Consequences of it How scandalous and impious it is to the Christian Religion and how scandalous and derogatory to the Authority of the Church of England and Convocations of our Clergy I leave to the Consideration of others Likewise how pernicious it might have been to the Civil Government of Soveraign Princes and their States by sowing the seeds of Dissention between them had this Convocation Book been published and obtained Authority or Reputation in the World But what Work it might have made in the World may be perceived by what it hath actually made in these Nations which I will briefly note in some few Observations concerning the Progress and Success of it and of this Regal Ecclesiastical Faction Whether Archbishop Whitgift had before had any hand in laying down the Plot or not he lived not to have any share in the Management of the Convocation That Dr. Heylin Life of Laud Anno 1610. p. 63. attributes solely to his Successor Bancroft who had before manag'd A Secret Corrrespondence with K. James in Scotland insinuating unto him the Necessity of Consorming both Kingdoms in Government and Forms of Worship and laying down a Plot for restoring Episcopacy to that Kirk without Noise or Trouble But that Faculty of laying down Plots he notes in them both and the great Intimacy there was between them And another special Qualification in Bancroft for such a Work may be observed from that Author viz. a close management of his matters without noise and forbearing upon occasion to appear in them himself I have already noted p. 27. the Complaints of that Parliament against the Higher Clergy for writing Books and the Inferiour Clergy for inveighing from the Pulpits against them and pa. 29. that Book of Dr. Cowels published not long after the passing the Convocation Book which may all reasonably be judged the Effects of this Work of the Convocation Thornborough himself had before written one for which he was questioned in Parliament And though Bancroft published none now yet he failed not to promote the Work otherways not only by close Insinuations but by open plain Assertions whereof Coke's 12. Report pa. 63. hath a considerable Instance and by encouragement of such Principles in the Court the Universities and all parts And doubtless his Project of a New Colledge at Chelsey for which he had gotten an Act of Parliament was principally designed for a Seminary of Champions for this Cause and being Chancellor of the University of Oxford he would not fail to leven and prepare many there for the purpose But Death put an end to his Progress and Project 2 Nov. 1610. But the Faction died not with him Nor was the Propagation of the Doctrine even by printed Books neglected There was one published that Year and dedicated to him by Dr. Carleton afterwards Bishop of Landaff which hath divers passages in it to that purpose and others it seems there were which occasioned new complaints in Parliament the same Year And yet so hotly was it still maintained and promoted that within few Years after was Bishop Neile who by the Power and Mediation of Bancroft was made Clerk of the Closet That standing continnally at the Kings Elbow he might be ready to perform Good Offices to the Church and Churchmen Heyl p. 60. for seditious Speeches questioned in Parliament till by many tears and a submissive behaviour he got off But he so gained the Favour of his Master that he was preferred to the Deanry of West minster afterwards successively to the Bishopricks of Rochester 1608. Lichfield 1609. Lincoln 1613. Durham 1617. by K. James and of Winchester 1628. and York 1631. by King Charles after he had been again complained of in Parliament All which Promotions gave him Opportunity to promote the Work for which he was an apt and active Agent in all parts of the Nation Such another Zealot for the Cause was Harsnet Bishop of Chichester who in Parliament time preached such a Sermon at Whitehall upon the Text Give unto Caesar c. as gave such Offence that King James was constrained to call the Lords and Commons to the Banqueting House and calm them with Good words and the Sermon was burnt but the Bishop was afterwards preferred to Norwich by K. James and after that to York by K. Charles The like was done by Dr. Roger Mainwaring Chaplain in Ordinary to the King in two Sermons before the King and Court at Whitehall and after published for which he was impeached in Parliament and charged with a wicked intention to seduce and misguide the Conscience of the King touching the Observation of the Laws c. sentenced to be imprisoned fined a 1000. li. disabled from Preferments c. and his Sermon suppressed by Proclamation declaring the Censure and Sentence just Yet was he soon after pardoned preferred to the Rectory of Stanford Rivers void by the promotion of Mountague to Chichester and had a Dispensation to hold it with that of St. Giles's in the Fields afterwads to the Deanry of Worcester and finally to the Bishoprick of St. Davids which was highly resented by the Lords so that the King commanded him not to come to the Parliament nor send any Proxy And this brings me to the Top of all the Faction who promoted it to its Perfection or rather Confusion viz. Dr. Laud against whom then Bishop of Bath and Wells Complaint was made to the Commons that he had warranted these Sermons to the Press and Mainwaring was no sooner censured but Lauds Cause was called to the Report But all further Proceedings against him at that time were soon stopped by Dissolution of the Parliament 26 June and 1. Jul. had he his Conge d'eslier for Bishop of London and soon after other Favours of which more hereafter These Sermons were preach'd in pursuance of certain Instructions drawn up by him at the Command of the King for promoting an illegal Imposition under the name of a Loan and being preached at Court upon such an Occasion by a Chaplain in Ordinary he had no doubt some special Instructions Directions or Advice in it In other places the Preachers did their parts according as they were required by the said Instructions amongst whom 〈◊〉 Beale was taken notice of and Sibthorp Dr. of Divinity and in Commission of the Peace advanc'd the Service