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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A79864	A rod discovered, found, and set forth to whip the idolaters till they leave off their idolatry (which yet remains in the rulers of England, their ministers, and the people who follow thier wayes) which doth consist in the houses of high places, falsly called churches; the two universities, Cambridge and Oxford, (and their ministers, which are made by man, and not of God) and their ministers maintenance (not the ministers of Christs) which is portions of lands, tythes, offrings, oblations, obventions, and great houses for a certain dwelling place on the earth, and forms of oathes, all which is the fruit of idolaters, and the abomination of the heathen. So likewise here is described the true magistrate and his work; and the way (for he who is not) to become such a one; and likewise, the way for all people to come out of their idolatry, vo worship the true God in spirit and truth. Written by me Henry Clark. Unto which is prefixed the epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Laodiceans.	Clark, Henry, 17th cent.	1657 (1657)	Wing C4457; Thomason E926_1; ESTC R207580	107,831	79

Vicarage-Lands and other Lands and likewise for what use the parties gave them the end wherefore they gave them and by this you may see how the Kings of the earth provided for the Clergy of their own and the Popes making but for the Prophets and Apostles and Ministers of Christ they would not provide any such things for them but instead thereof they and their Churches provided for them Prisons Dungeons Whips Stocks Bridewells Saws Swords Wracks Fire and Faggots And as for the Messengers and Ministers of Christ that he ordained and sent they would not receive them into their Houses nor their Doctrine neither but those who they ordained and consecrated themselves See Cesar Due by Tho. Bradley D.D. and Minister of Nettlebed in Oxfordshire but not Minister of Christ. or such as were made by a carnal commandment by the Pope and his Adherents or by a Commission of Tryers that come in their own names and not in the Name of the Lord such are received and provided for and called by them Master and a House and Land for a certain dwelling place is prorided for them worth 100. l. or 200. l. more or lesse by the year for the Rectory of Alsford in Hampshire stands in one of the Kings Books at 29. l. a yeer but said Bradley It was let at 450. l. communibus annis viz. one year with another beside a reserve of 30. l. a yeer that the Rector lived in himself And this was not sufficient but the Kings of the earth have taken away from the people and given to their Ministers as their servants to preach them up their Fields their Vinyards and their Olive-yards even the best of them and given them to their servants and the tenth of the peoples sheep and the tenth of their seed and of their vinyards and given them to their Priests Ministers and servants And thus the Kings of the earth have done according as God bad Samuel tell the people the King they asked for would do 1 Sam. 8.1 to the 18. But some it is like will say that the Kings gave their own lands to the Clergy Read Hollinshead Chron. Fox Act. Mon. Vol. 1. But I say How came the Saxon Kings by their Lands here in England that they gave to the Clergy Did they not take it from the people by their Swords And did not William the Conqueror do the like And did not the Saxon Kings and William the Conqueror prove tyrants to the people and treacherous likewise And one thing I do grant that is this That the Kings or Rulers of the earth may with the consent of the people assembled in counsel raise money for the publike good that is for the defence of the Nation and for the preservation of the Nations peace and welfare at home or abroad by Land and Sea and defence of the nations enemies But I say again That the Kings and Rulers of the earth ought not to take away the peoples Goods or the Fruits of their labour nor the increase of their seed nor the increase of their Flock or Herd or their Vinyard to give unto others nor to sell unto others Isa 1.23 Hos 4.6 7 8 9 Lam. 4.13 as some Kings of this Nation have done and taken away from the people the tythes and sold them to Improprietors others they gave to their own Ministers which thing is not good but evil and abomination in the sight of God and the buyer and the receiver are as bad as the seller and the giver But some will say it is like Must not our Ministers be maintained how should they live for they cannot work for they were never brought up to work and they cannot starve Thus I answer That they are big enough and strong enough to work therefore it is now time for them to begin to labour with their hands the thing that is good Act. 20.33 34. 1 Cor. 4 12. 1 Thes 2.9 2 Thess 3.6 7 8 9 10 11. and in the sweat of their brows to eat their own bread for our order is That they that will not work shall not eat provided that they be strong and able to work as your Ministers are and they that set them to work let them pay them their wages out of their own Purses and not out of theirs that own them not And again The true Prophets and Apostles and Ministers of the Gospel that Christ sent they did not take tythes nor gifts nor rewards for preaching nor prophesying for tythes was not the Gospel that they liv'd by But those Ministers that the Kings and Kulers of the earth the Pope and his Adherents make and sent forth they take gifts and rewards and tythes for their preaching therefore they commit sin with greedinesse and do the thing that is not right in the sight of God for God did not require tythes to be paid to those Ministers that are made and sent out by the Kings and Rulers of the earth the Pope and his Adherents but when God required tythes and first fruits to be paid he required that the tythes and first fruits should be paid to the Levites Aaron and his sons whom God did ●et apart to minister in the Priests office Exod. 24.12 Lev. 27.30 to 34. Ioh. 1.17 and for the service of the Tabernacle of the Congregation Exod. 28.11 Numb 3.12 Heb. 7.5 I find in the Scripture that God gave the Law in Mount Sinai unto Moses for the children of Israel to observe and keep even the Law which was a shadow of good things then to come for said Iohn The Law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Iesus Christ Now I say Deut. 26. chap That Law by which the children of Israel was commanded to pay tythes was given in Mount Sinai to Moses for the children of Israel to observe and keep when they came into the Land of Canaan Heb. 10.1 Deut. 7.6 7 8. 14.2 Ps 147.19 20. And this Law which was a shadow of good things to come was committed unto the people of Israel to observe and keep and to no other Nation for the Lord God had chosen them to be a peculiar people unto himself above all people that were upon the face of the earth and said David He hath shewed his word unto Iacob his Statutes and his Iudgements unto Israel he hath not said David dealt so with any Nation for his judgements they have not known And Paul said Rom. 3.1 2. That unto them were committed the Oracles of God And now I come to write more largely of tythes then hitherto I have written Exod. 34 26 27 28 29. Lev. 27.30 to 34. Deut. 10.8 9 10 11 12 13. 18.1 2 3 4. Deut. 12.10 11 12. 26 1 2. 19. v. 25. c. Lev. 27.30 32. Exod. 34.26 Mal. 3.8 9 10 First I finde that God did not command or require any people to pay tythes and first fruits but only by

their false Church which is but a house of high places For first at the end or in the middle of some there is a high place called the Steeple where the formerly christened Bells hang and that place is a high place for pleasure and a place for profit by their ringing of their Bells for when that one is dead they mourn and ring Bells and get money and when one is marryed they ring the Bells and rejoice and get money in the high place and formerly the Bells was wont to be rung to keep evil spirits and tempests from their Towns and when that the Pope or Bishop cu●st any for a sin as they called it they used to curse them with Bell Book and Candle then the Bells was rung that all might know that a he●etick or some such like was curst at high Altar So with the Bells they bless and with the Bells they curse with the Bells they weep and with the Bells they rejoice with the Bells they take pleasure and with the Bells they got money and with the Bells they used to call people to worship Images and now with the Bells the people are called together to worship a god a far off that they know not and at the ringing the bells the priests make themselves ready to go p●each for their hire who has the chiefest place in their Church so called viz the Pulpit and then there is a high place at the other end called the Chancel and high places of each side called the Iles and a high place called the Vestry in some where formerly the priests Vestments and Robes and other trinckits formerly lay in and then a high place in the middle called the body of the Church And thus I have shewed wherein and how they are called houses of high places and I deny them to be Churches c. Fourthly In the houses of hlgh places that the heathens and the idolatrous Kings of Israel and Judah built there was pictures images or the likenesses of creatures made and set up in them to be worshipped as gods which were not God but Idols the workmanship of mens hands for Jeroboam he made in likeness two Calves of gold and the one he set up at the City called Dan and thither the people went to worship and the other he set up at Bethel and Jeroboam said unto the people These are thy gods O Israel that brought thee up out of Aegypt 1 Sam. 5.2 by Tho. Grashop And the Philistines god was Dagon and he was as some write made from the Navil downwards in the likeness of a Fish and upwards like a man and to this I refer the Reader to the Marginal Notes of the great Bibles And the god that Ahab served was Baal which was set up in the house at Samaria which Ahab built for Baal and Baal is taken for Ashteroth the Idol of the Zidonians which Jezabel caused to be worshipped 2 King 10.18 1 Kings 16.31 32. Iudg. 16. and Baal was made in the likeness of a Ewe or a Sheep read I say your Marginal notes of your great Bibles upon the second chapter of Judges verse 13. And Micah the man of Mount Ephraim he had two Images made of Silver a graven Image and a Moulten Image and they were set up in the House of Micah for Micah had a House of gods and he made an Ephod and a Teraphim Now all these gold and silver gods were the workmanship of mens hands which the Carpenter the Founder the Graver formed and fashioned in the likeness of the creature the which doing was forbidden of God Deut. 5.8 who said Thou shalt make thee no graven Image or any likeness of that that is in heaven above or which is in the earth beneath or that is in the waters under the earth And now I come to shew what manner of Pictures and Images we had and now have in our high places falsly called Churches here in England First There was a Picture called the Rood of Grace that was swayed up in a place called the Rood Loft and hung upon shrines which the people being seduced were led aside to worship for I will instance two or three particular Roods that the Reader may know what they were The first that I now am going to write of FOXES Acts Monuments Vol. 2. is a Rood that a Carpenter had made at a Town called Haddam in Lancashire in the fashion of an old man gaping and grinning in such a sort that their children were so frighted at it that they durst not look upon it whereupon the Inhabitants did not like it and because it was so ill savoured they would not have it But in the dayes of Queen Mary bloody Bonner commanded that a wel-favoured Rood should be made and of a tall stature which was done accordingly and the Rood was dressed in white and green and annointed with Oyle crept to and kist and weighed up and set in his old accustomed place called the Rood Loft in Pauls Cathedral Church so called by them and by Edmund Bonners Order the Bells were rung for joy at the setting up of the Wooden god alias the Rood Again I have read of another Idol which was called by the Name of the Rood of Dover Court unto which the people did much resort because a rumor was spread abroad among the people That the power of the Rood of Dover Court was so great that no man had power to shut the Church door so called where he stood therefore said they The door is fain to stand open night and day Whereupon one Robert King and Nicholas Marsh of Dodham and one Robert Debnam of Estborgholt being moved by the spirit of the Lord did like Gideon go in the night ten Miles and found the door of their Church open as was reported they took down the Rood from his shrine and carryed him about a quarter of a mile from his place where he stood and stroke fire with a Steel and a Flint and set fire to the Rood and burnt him for the which good act doing they all three good honest men did suffer death by hanging in Chains They had likewise in their Houses of high places falsly called Churches the Image of the Virgin-Lady Mary which they worshipped and called the Mother of God their Patroness and Protectress ever more in all adversity and therefore Thomas Arundal Arch-Bishop of Canterbury directed his Mandate to the then Bishop of London to warn people to say certain prayers at the toling of a Bell or ringing of Corphew his words were as followeth Thomas by the permission of God Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Primate of all England and Logate of the Suay Apostolike to the right Reverend our Brother the Lord ROBERT by the grace of God Bishop of of LONDON Greeting At the Request of the special Devotion of our Lord the King himself We command your Brotherhood straitly enjoyning you That you command the Subjects of your City

and Diocess and of all other Suffragans to worship our Lady MARY the Mother of God our Patroness and Protectoress evermore in all adversity with such like kind of Prayer and accustomed manner of ringing as the Devotion of Christs faithful people is wont to worship her at the ringing of Coure Lesson when before day in the morning ye shal cause them to ring that with like manner of Prayer and ringing she may be every where honored devoutly by the aforesaid Our and Your Suffragans and other subjects as well religious as Secular in your and their Monasteries and Collegiate Churches And they had likewise the Image of St. Petronel and the Image of St. Christopher and the Image of the Crucifix all which and more were worshipped with Profession bowing of the Knees Oblations offering of Frankincense going on Pilgrimage kissings and setting up of Tapers or Images of Wax lighted and burning before them according to a Decree made by Pope Gregory the third at a Council at Rome held in the year 732. Fifthly In the Houses of high places that the Heathen and the Idolatrous Kings of Judah and Israel built they made Altars and reared up in them Ahab he reared up an Altar in the House of Baal 1 King 16.32 Chron. 33.3 and Manasseh he reared up Altars for Baal and a Grove as Ahab King of Israel did whereon they burnt Incense And Jeroboam stood by the Altar and he offered upon the Altar and burnt Incense And so likewise there was in those Houses of high places falsly called Churches here in England Altars and Super-Altars Rails Transubstantiation Reservation of the Lords Body as they called it and Mass Mattens and Evening-song holy Bread and holy Water Auricular Confession Absolution and Blessing and Cursing with Bell Book and Candle and singing of Dirges and playing on the Organs and burning of Lamps Now Now all this stuff and more was fetcht out of the bottomless Pit and turned into Decres to be observed and done by both Priest and people according to the Decrees made by the Popes viz Sebevianus Vitalianus Pelagius Martin and Benidicto the third And the ground and the end of all which doing was but to maintain the filthy lusts of the learned men who were trained up at Oxford and Cambridge to do all these things Sixthly The Houses of high places were consecrated for Pope Felix the third made a Decree That the Churches so called should be made hallowed by none but by a Bishop And Pelagius a Pope he devised a Memento to be used at the consecrating of them And Anselm Arch-bishop of Canterbury by the permission of King Henry the first and about the sixth year of his reign assembled a great Council of the Prelates and Clergy of England together at Westminster in which Synod and other Councils by them it was decreed That no Churches as they called them should be hallowed before the necessary provision be made for the priests and for the Church to be maintained And again the high places that the Heathens and the idolatrous Kings built up M●cca 10.83 84. Amos 6.13 were called by these Names following viz. Dagons House Dagons Temple Baals House and the House of High places that Jeroboam built up was called the Kings Chappel these Houses of high places are falsly called churches chappels Kings chappels Queens chappels Cathedal Churches and according to a device of Pope Felix the third they dedicated their Churches so called one to Christ and that is falsly called Christs Church and one to Peter and that is falsly called St. Peters Church and one to Paul and that is falsly called St. Pauls Church and others are falsly called by Name St. Georges Church St. James Church St. Maryes Church St. Katherns Church St. Bennits Church They might as well a called it Pope St. Benidicts Church and St. Martins Church or alias Pope Martins Church and Pope St. Nicholas Church Quest But some it is very like will say That their Churches are reformed of all such things as is before written To this I shall answer First The Names that was given them at their dedication by the Popes and popish bishops stands still as Christs Church St. Pauls Church St. Peters Church And again they are not yet reformed of all those PICTVRES and Images for still there remains the PICTVRES of men women and children in many of them and especially in and about London of Kings and Queens Earls Lords Ladyes and their children and others and in many places there is made by the Painters and others the likenesses of Angels Eagles Doves Lyons Wolves Hinds Asses Snakes the likeness of Boughs or Trees and the likeness of Water and the likness of the Sun Moon Stars and Firmament And their Churches so called are places of vanity and lightness and pleasures still and likewise they are places of false Worship Deut. 4.16 17 18 19. like the House of Rimmon still and they are Houses of Pictures and the likenesses of creatures is still in them which is contrary to what God did forbid the doing of saying Take ye therefore g●od heed unto your selves lest ye corrupt and make you a graven Image t●e similitude of any figure the likeness of male or female the likeness of any Beast that is on the earth the likeness of any winged Fowle that flyeth in the Air the likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground the likeness of Fish that is in the waters beneath the earth for ye saw no similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb And so yet the Houses of high places here in England were never reformed but in part like those of Israel and Judah that Jeroboam Rehoboam Ahab Manesseh and of other of those Kings caused to be set up were but in part reformed until such time that King Josiah came 1 King 13.1 2 3. according to the Word of the Lord spoken by the prophet when Jeroboam stood by the Altar at Bethel to burn Incense of which reformation I have set down some particulars as followeth For although much of the Idolatry that Jeroboam Ahab and others had set up were pulled down destroyed at several times by other Kings that succeeded them yet the complaint was That the high places was left standing still and not pulled down And so say I that some Kings and Rulers that succeeded the Saxons here in England have reformed many things that the Saxon Kings and others did do but to this day the houses of high places falsly called Churches the Tythes and the Priests remain standing up still like the stump of Dagon For Asa King of Judah did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God for he took away the Altars of the strange gods 1 King 15.14 2 Chron. 14 15. chap. and the high places and he brake down the Images and cut down the Groves that his Fathers had made and Asa removed his Mother

according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel And Iosiah he turned himself and spyed the Sepulchres that were at Bethel in the Mount and sent and took the bones ●ut of the Sepulchres and burnt them upon the Altar a●d polluted it according to the Word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed by the Altar before the face of Ieroboam as he stood by the Altar at Bethel to burn Incense and he slew all the priests of the high places t●at were there upon the Altars and burnt mens bones upon them And then he returned to ●erusalem and that he might perform the words of the Law which was written in the Book that Helkiah the Priest found in the House of the Lord Iosiah he put away all the abominations that were spyed in the Land viz. the Images and the Idols and the Wizards and the workers with familiar spirits and the times that Manasseh observed too And thus Iosiah he went on and prospered in his work Lev. 26.30 31. Deut. 18.9 to the 14. and made a thorow reformation both in Israel and in Judah for he turned to the Lord with all his might and with all his soul and with all his heart according to all the Law of Moses neither after him arose any like him Here ye may see that King Iosiah did not do as other Kings did before him that is reform Idolatry in Judah and let it remain in Israel and take away Baal the Altar and the Grove and the House of Baal at Samaria and leave the two golden Calves the high place and the Altar standing still at Dan and Bethel which Ieroboam set up Nay he reformed Iudah and Ierusalem Israel Samaria Dan and Bethel Lev. 20.27 and all of the abominations that were spyed in the Land according to the Law of Moses And now ye shall see what reformation hath been made in England since that the Saxon Kings the Danes and other Idolaters built up the high places falsly called Churches Monaste●ies Nunneries Fryer-Houses Chant●y-Houses and Colledges Now the first beginning of any reformation that I find of the Idolatry that they had set up was in the dayes of Henry the eighth wherein a Parliament was called it was enacted and decreed That in causes and matters happening in contention no person should appeal provoke or sue out of the Kings Dominions to the Court of Rome Secondly It was designed and concluded That all exportation of Anuities first Fruits out of this Realm to the See of Rome for any Bulls Breefes or Palles or expedition of any such thing should utterly cease Thirdly It was enacted That the Pope all his Colledge of Cardinals with his Pardons and Indulgences which had so long clogged this Realm of England to the miserable slaughter of so many good men and which never could be removed before was now abolished eradicate and exploded out of this Land and sent home to their own country from whence they came and what reformation was this none at all for all this which they took away from the Pope in a manner was setled upon King Henry the 8th For first they made him Head of the Church as they called it instead of the Pope Their words of the Act are as followeth Be it enacted by this present Parliament That the King our Soveraign Lord his Heirs and Successors Kings of this Realm shall be taken accepted and reputed the onely supreme Head in Earth of the Church of ENGLAND so called Anglicanâ Ecclesia Secondly And shall have and enjoy annexed and united to the Imperial Crown of this Realm as well the Title and Stile thereof all Honours Dignities Preheminences Iurisdictions Priviledges See Foxes Acts Monuments Vol. 2. Authorities Immuniti●s Profits and Commodities to the said Dignity of Supream Head of the same Church belonging and appertaining Thirdly And that our said Soveraign Lord his Heirs and Successors Kings of this Realm shall have full Power and Authority from time to time to visite repress redress reform order correct restrain and amend all such errors abuses offences contempts and enormities whatsoever they be which by any manner of spiritual Authority or Iurisdiction ought or may lawfully be reformed repressed ordered redressed corrected restrained or amended any usage custome forraign Laws forraign Authority Prescription or any thing or things to the contrary hereof notwithstanding Now for my part I see that none of the poor common people were ever the more eased of their burdens onely the King and the Bishops with the rest of the Clergy except their paying of Peter-Pence to the Pope and that was none at all because now the Priests have a Penny for the smoke of every Chimney as the Pope had Now see where the reformation was first That a Bible of the largest Volume and in English be provided and set up in some convenient place of every Church as they called it Secondly The Pater-Noster was to be in English Thirdly Sermons was to be made quarterly Fourthly Such feigned Images but not all which were abused by Pilgrimage and Offerings were to be taken down without delay Fifthly Tho. Bockets day was forbidden to be observed but no other And sixthly The knoling of Aves was forbidden lest the people should hereafter trust to have pardon from the Pope for the saying of Aves between the said knoling as they have done in times past Seventhly The Abbies Monasteries Fryar-Houses were many of them pulled down destroyed And eighthly The Abbots the Monks the Fryars were suppressed but the Popish Bishops viz. Arch-Bishops Bishops and Priests were upheld stil maintained by their goodly Lordships Glebe-Lands Rectories and Tythes as well as when the Pope was the Head of the Church and men and women were burned for Hereticks as they called them then as they were when the Pope was Head of the Church so called And Transubstantiation and the Communion in both kinds and Vows of Chastity and the forbidding of Priests marriage and private Masse and Auricular Confession and all Images which served for no other use but as Books for unlearned men that can no Letters to be admonished by them as they said All such stuffe was left with the High Places falsly called Churches standing without any scruple at all And again in the dayes of King Edward the sixt many or very near all the aforesaid stuffe was laid aside onely the Houses of High Places the Bishops Arch-bishops Parsons Vicars Curates their great Lordships Rectories Parsonages Glebe-lands Tythes first fruits and all these remained still unpull'd down But when Queen Mary came to the Crown and ruled then all that her Father and Brother had reformed she set up again except Abbies Monasteries c. and fell to burning of men and women for declaring against her and her Bishops and the Clargies and the peoples abominations according to the measure of light by them received faster then all the Kings that were before her And Queen Elizabeth she and

c. and the like power and command they received from other Kings Queens and Parliaments afterward but not from Jesus Christ for they whom Christ sent out to preach to them he gave power and to them he gave some Apostles some prophets and some Evangelists Pastors and Teachers But those who were made by the power and command of the pope the kings and rulers of the earth they were called cardinals arch-bishops bishops suffragans priors covents deanes and chapters deacons arch-deacons prebends parsons vicars priests rectors clarks ministers c. And the Assembly of presbyter Divines so called and the Commissioners for approbation of publike preachers they received their power rule and command to ordain ministers and preachers and to set them solemnly and sacredly apart to the office and work of the Ministry from the Rulers of the earth as you may read at large in the two Ordinances made one by the parliament of Lords and Commons and the other by Oliver protector and his counsel by them they had their power and command See JOHN GOODVVIN's Book of TRIERS pag. 5. and not from Christ for without their power and command they did not act and by that rule viz. Acts and Ordinances that the Rulers of the earth set them they acted by and not by the power or spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ as did the Apostles and therefore all both popes emperors kings queens counsels parliaments or rulers bishops assembly of divines protector counsels and commmissioners their works that they have done herein are abomination unto the Lord because they are not done by his power nor his spirit but by the imaginations and devisings of their own hearts w●ich by the light are seen and made manifest to the children of the day whom Cod hath by his spirit called out from amongst the Babylonians to dwell in the city of God and to worship him in spirit and in truth for God dwells not in temples made with hands nor is he worshipped in these churches that are made with hands And now I shall come to shew you something of what I have both heard read and seen and understand by the two Vniversities of Cambridge and Oxford and likewise of their teaching and bringing up and their making of young men Masters preachers Doctors c. As for the two Vniversities they were founded by the popish Saxon Kings and other popish Kings Bishops Knights c. men and women The first common School in Cambridge was founded by Sigisbert King of the East-Angles and the Vniversity colledge in Oxford was founded by Allured one of the Saxon Kings and Baylie colledge at Oxford was founded by Iohn Bailiol King of the Scots and it is recorded That Queens Colledge at Cambridge was founded by Margaret the Wife of King Henry the sixth and finished by Elizabeth the Wife of King Edward the fourth and the Brazen-Nose-Colledge at Oxford was founded by William Smith bishop of Lincoln but St. Iohns colledge at Oxford was founded by Sir Thomas White Alderman and late before Mayor of London and for the other Colledges they were founded in the honor of one Saint or another and called by their Names viz. St. Iohns Colledge All-Souls Colledge Magdalene Colledge and another is called falsly by the Name of Trinity Colledge and another by the Name of Jesus Colledge and one by the Name of Christs Colledge and one by the name of Corpus Christi Colledge that is the Body of Christs colledge and another by the Name of Christs Colledge So by these Names and Titles ye may see what the founders were and what their religion was and now you shall see hereafter by the practise that is in these colledges that the great and wise men of the world so highly esteem of for their works sake are But first you shall see what the learned themselves have writ of them Wickliffe terms the Vniversities to be the Synagogue of Satan and John Hus. called them Lievetenants of Antichrist And Luther called them the Gates of Hell the Stews of Antichrist Houses of Lyes for said he TINDALL in his Book of The Revelation of ANTICHRIST They are all Heretical by their School-Divinity and they are Dens of Thieves said he And Tindal said That whosoever ordained Vniversities be it Alexander at Halis St. Thomas or any other he was a star that fell from Heaven to the earth for there are brought in said he moral vertues for faith and opinions for truth and said he The Vniversities are the very confused Cloud and opened Gate of Hell and said he This Cloak meaning the Vniversities is of all other most noysome and doth most hurt and damage for said he All moral Divines have a wicked conscience full of scrupulosity And Will Dell sayes That yet the Vniversities are the strongest holds that Antichrist hath had amongst us So that notwithstanding all their reformation in their Religion the Vniversities remain in a manner as bad as they were Now for their works first When any Schollar comes to any of these colledges he is examined of his Latine and Greek and Hebrew Tongues and if he be a good schollar and perfect in his answers he is approved of and when he has got him a Gown and a pair of Cuffs he is admitted into the colledge to be a Student and if he be a great mans son or one that can make great friends to the Vice-chancellor or the head-man of an House then he gets the greater place in the colledge but if he be a poor young man and of mean parentage then a mean place must serve his turn So that in their Fountains of learning to be Ministers is respecting of persons for there is saying to the rich Sit or be thou here and to the poor Be thou in one of the meanest places And then they are set to study Logick that is the Art of Reason Philosoyhy that is studying for Wisdom And there they read Aristotle and Plato's Works and others that they may become able disputants that they may dispute at Schools and make Theams and Verses And in that time called Lent one colledge disputes against another Now do but observe a little of their behaviour and carriage in that time of their disputations Those colledges who are to dispute one against another makes choice of one amongst themselves in each colledge to dispute that by their disputations it may be seen which is the greatest schollar And he that they have made choice of to dispute they take him up upon their shoulders carry him out of the school and in the time of their disputing there is such hissing and shouting like a company of Gamesters at play and when they cannot get mastery with their tongues by disputing then they fall together a fighting for mastery and teares the Gowns from one anothers backs and lose their hats and beats one another along the streets and some of them go away with black eyes And at the end of four years if

Priests tythings and offerings to * To maintain finden his Priests but Lord in the old law the tythings of the lay-people they were not due to such Priests but to that other children of Levi that served in the Temple The Pope used to curse those that paid not tythes But Lord Paul thy servant said that the Order of Priesthood ceased in Christs coming and the Law of that Priesthood But Lord What doom is it to curse the lay-people for tythes and not curse the Parson that robbeth the people of tythings c. And I finde in the story of Walter Brute in his Examination before the then Bishob of Hereford these words following viz. That no man is bound to g●ve tythes nor oblations c. said he and if any man will needs give he may give his tythes to whom he will and not to their Curates And said he Anno 1407. Fox Act. and Men. Wherefore seeing that neither Christ nor any of his Apostles commanded to pay tythes it is manifest and plian that neither by the law of Moses nor by Christs laws are Christian bound to pay tythes c. And William Thorp in his Examination before the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury in answer to their fourth Article he affirmed that in the new law that neither Christ nor any of his Apostles took tythes of the people nor commanded the people to pay tythes neither to Priests nor to Deacons but as Cistersiensis telleth that in the yeer 1211. one Pope Gregory the tenth ordained tythes to be given to priests now in the new law But said William Thorp The priests that challenge tythes now in the new law say in effect that Christ is not become man nor that he hath suffered death for man And said he again That those priests that will challenge and take tythes deny that Christ is come in the flesh and do the priests office of the old law for whom tythes were granted for else the priests now take tythes wrongfully And said he The parishioners that pay their temporal goods be they tythes or offerings to priests are partners of every sin of those priests because they sustain those priests folly in their sin with their temperal goods c. Now do but take notice of one question that Thomas Arundal Arch-bishop of Canterbury asked the said Will. Thorp that is said the bishop Why Lossel doest thou deem that Holy Church hath erred in the Ordinance for tythes c. Now I answer and say Yea their Church hath erred and doth erre in making Ordinances Constitutions Canons and Decrees both for tythes and all other things and all the Rulers of the earth that do the same things are the Popes Adherents and do erre likewise c. And here followeth in part the testimony of divers others in these late dayes that they have born against tythes A Book called led the Inditement of tythes Printed 1646. and also by their imprisoment and spoyling of their goods First Whereas divers honest and consciencious persons of the city of London of the parish of Brides and of the parish of All Hallows-Barking were convented before the then Mayor of London for their non-payment of tythes to their parish-parsons some of the Inhabitants of the parish of All-Hollows-Barking gave in their grounds and reasons for their so doing which were as followeth Said they 1. We humbly conceive that tythes and circumcision were to cease and to have an end at the coming of our Saviour Christ Jesus 2. We do not know of any place in the New-Testement that commandeth the payment of tythes nor that either the Apostles or Disciples required the same or pretend a right thereunto or to any other set-maintenance but on the contrary 3. Tythes Offerings c. being contrary to sound Doctrine and the power of godlinesse though the law of the land should require the same we conceive our selves and all others bound in conscience and by our covenant to endeavor the extirpation thereof and cannot without wilful sinning submit thereunto And said they We hope it will now appeare no more strange to abolish tythes or any other thing contrary to sound Doctrine then it hath been to abolish Episcopacy Prelacy and the Book of Common-prayer c. 1. The paying of tythes is a submission unto the Jewish bondage the law of tything being known to be a part of that ceremonial law and yoke of bondage which was laid upon Israel after the flesh The Testimony of Nicholas Waterson against tythes to be observed and born by them in the land of Canaan 2. The requiring and paying of tythes is an implicite denying that Christ is come in the flesh for said he If there be not a change of the law then the priesthood of Aaron remains Heb. 7.12 and if that priesthood remains then Christ is not yet come 3. The Doctrine that tythes ought to be paid to the priests presbyters or clergy is a popish Doctrine inasmuch as it hath been devised and maintained by the pope and his prelates and is contrary to the Doctrine of the Scriptures And said he The payment of tythes or any thing in the lieu of tythes doth and wil support popish and prelatical iniquity and those humane laws that have required such payment of tythes have been grounded upon popish Doctrine and therefore are no more to be observed then those laws that injoyned the use of the Service-Book And said he They which have vowed the extirpation of popery and prelacy have therefore bound themselves not to pay tythes nor any thing in the lieu of tythes c. If tythes said he be an Ordinance under the Gospel The Testimony of Tho. Bennet against tythes then they must be of an Evangelical institution even from the command of Christ as well as other Gospel-Ordinances but we find no other Ordinance for the exaction of tythes now but a bare Mosaical Ordinance therefore tythes are no Gospel-Ordinance Tythes said he were never ordained but for the wages of typical services therefore to continue the wages of such a work cannot in equity be without the continuance of the work which is a flat denyal of Christ come in the flesh And said he These that had the commandment for tythes were onely to receive them of their Brethren that is of the other eleven Tribes therefore not of the Gentiles or were the Gentiles by that command bound thereunto and if not in Moses time muchlesse now for said he They were imposed upon the land of Canaan therefore not upon England or English men being no part of Canaan or the people any of the twelve Tribes and the Iews to this day terminate the equity of tythes to their own land as said he Mr. Seldon a Member of the House of Commons writeth in his History of Tythes and likewise That no payment of tythes was ordained in Christian Churches as Mr. Seldon observeth till the General Counsel of Lateran Therefore the Ordinance for tythes

under the Gospel deriving its being and institution from the injunction of the Pope and his Council doth subject us to the dictates of the See of Rome against which we are all engaged by our former protestations c. And the men of Middlesex in their first Letter to his then called Excellency the Lord General Cromwel said That tythes is an usurped popish Relique And in their petition to the Parliament they said It is very clear that tythes have been formerly by the popish Clergy subtilly perswaded or rather extorted from our Ancesters Wherefore said they we humbly desire that all tythes and tenths may be speedily removed as a great oppression and usurpation c. And Aug. Wingfield calleth tythes the Nursery of contention and strife and that the proud and pompous priests did constrain the poor people of England viz. the popish Canons to pay their tythes unto them In his Book called Tythes totally routed by Magna Charta printed 1653. So that tythes were grounded meerly upon a popish Canon contrary to Magna Charta which is acknowledged by the learned viz. Magna Charta to be the Common-Law of England both before and after the Conquest c. And Cook that learned Oracle in the Laws of England said in his Chapter of tythes Eighth Book of Cooks Reports and in Dr. and Stud. JENKINS fol. 139. That all Canons which are against the common law or custome of the land are of no force And in Bonhams case it is laid down for law That Acts of Parliament made against common Right or Reason are ipso facto void And it is proved by Jenkins That the Common-Law shall controle Acts of Parliament made against Right or Reason and adjudge them to be void c. And such are all the Acts Statutes and Ordinances for tythes against both reason equity and truth And at a Parliament holden at Westminster in the two and forty yeer of Edward the third it was assented and accorded That the Great Charter and the Charter of the Forrest 42 Ed. 3. cap. 2. be holden and kept in all points and if any St●●nte be made to the contrary that shall be holden for none And the Free-men of Bucks Bedfordshire and Herefordshire said That Tythes t s the mark of the Beast or Antichrist spoken of in the Revelations the 13. chap. ver 16 17. for said they There is no ground in the New-Testament as can be found for them See their Booke called The Husbandmans Plea printed 1647. but onely from the Popes laws and canons and therefore may they be truly called a mark of the Beast or Antichrist the Pope of Rome Neither is there said they any greater tyranny of the Pope exercised over mens persons and goods then is by this law of tythes And said they in their Epistle That tythes is the most unequal the most irregular and the most unagreeable to the Word of God f●r said they in their Plea If theref●r● perfection had been by the Priesthood of the Levite then what further need was there that another priest should arise for under it was the law established unto the people the ceremonial law was but for a time even until the time of reformation which was done by Christ Iesus who changed the priesthood Col. 2.14 and at his death abolished the law bloting out the hand-writing of Ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us and tooke it out of the way nailing it to the Crosse And said they As the payment of tythes is contrary to the Doctrine of the Gospel so likewise it is repugnant to the power of godlinesse for said they Pope Gregory the tenth ordained that tythes should be given to the priests So that the customs that we pay tythes by at this day were setled upon this Kingdom by the Popes Legates in Provincial and Synodal Constitutions about the time of Hen. 3. and Hen. 5. And said they Tythes is a popish custom that is imposed by the Popes Authority and not by the Authority of God Seldons History of tythes chap. 11. without any warrant for it in the New-Testament So likewise tythes are a Relique of superstition because they were at first given out of a superstitious opinion viz. for satisfaction for the sins of the giver his wife and children as it appears by some of our old Charters recorded by learned Selden And said they Tythes are an oppression to the Husbandman and too heavy for him to bear because that the tenth of the Husbandmans stock and yeers labour is yeerly taken from him under the name of tythes which is every particular Husbandmans proper goods by a civil and natural right so that neither Kings nor Parliaments can take them from them nor any particular man by their appointment without giving to every particular man a consideration for it of equal value when he takes it from him Rom. 8.2 Acts 20.33 34 35. or else he sins against the eighth Commandment Thou shalt not steal and against the tenth Thou shalt not covet c. which Paul a Minister of Christ said he was free from c. And I finde in a Book wherein is contained certain grievances of divers persons of this Common-wealth of England See a Booke printed 1653. called The afflictions of the afflicted or The unjust exaction o● the Tythemongers discovered who suffered as the said Book relates both imprisonment and the spoiling of their goods for the testimony of Jesus and against tythes as appeareth both in the Epistle and Schedule of their particular sufferings in the Book They said That Antichristian Teachers Improprietors and all others which afflicts the consciencious people by owning receiving and urging of tythes and forced maintenance denieth the work of the Lord Jesus done at his death for in that he hath dissolved the levitical law and the priesthood for he said It is finished as you may see Ioh. 10.30 for said they Christ is the end of the law for righteousnesse to every one that believeth and Christ is our Law-giver and High-priest which came of the Tribe of Judah and so the priesthood is changed and therefore a necessity of a change of the law also Luk. 10.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. But said they Tythes is no law of Christ to us and it is a great sin to pay tythes and forced maintenance the payment of tythes said they is against the Law of Christ and the Apostles Doctrine Gal. 5.1 Act. 15.1 2 10 19 20. ver and that if the law of England be contrarary to the law of God we are not to obey it but to obey God for whether is it better to obey God or to obey man judge ye But said they Seeing that tythes is thus unjustly taken from the free people of this Nation it is absolutely treason both in the Priest and Improprietor for in so doing they destroy the fundamental law where it is ordained that no free-man shall be taken or