we are fallen and being enemies and opposers of Christ and his Kingdom it doth behoove us to know them to the end that wee may eschew them and their evill wayes and seek after the truth making strait steps unto the Kingdom of God Now that we our selves may make particular use hereof it is necessary for us to examine the Nationall Synod or Convocation consisting of the Prelacy and Clergie of the Land who whilst they remained under the yoke and bondage of the Church of Rome and whilst they exercised their power which was first given them by the Pope for and in the behalfe of that Church and Dominion they were the very Image of the first Beast before mentioned But being now separated from the Pope and Church of Rome they think as it should seem that their spirituall Pontificall power and authority which they exercise is lawfull and warrantable and to be submitted unto They being gathered together boast themselves to be the representative body of the Church of England and the true Church of Christ and that they have power to make Laws and Canons for Government thereof and for the worship of God which all men ought to yeeld obedience unto as appeareth by divers of their Bookes of Canons But we are not to take this upon their word but to make triall thereof by the Word of God whether it be true or false If the Word of God did give them such power and authority then indeed we were bound in conscience to yeeld already obedience to their Lawes and Canons But the most wise God and Disposer of all things who knoweth the vanity of mens mindes would not have his people to hold their faith in respect of mens persons and at their pleasure to alter and change the same and therefore did not give to any of his Ministers power to make Laws in matters of Religion and for the worship of God but gave them power onely to teach the Nations to observe the things which he had commanded them as in the 28. of Mathew the 19. and 20. verses And the Apostle Paul biddeth the Corinthians 1 Cor. 11.1 to be followers of him as he followed Christ And in the same Chapter he also saith That which he had received of the Lord he delivered unto them Acts 15. Also the Assembly of the apostles and Elders of the Church of Ierusalem they would not impose any yoke of bondage upon the Churches of Christ but held it to be a tempting of God so to do as before hath been shewed And this agreeth with that in Deut. 12.32 Whatsoever I command you take heed you do it Thou shalt put nothing thereto nor take ought therefrom By which Scriptures it is plain that the chiefest Ministers of the Gospell had no such power as these Prelates presume to have as we shall finde by examining their particular Canons and Constitutions of which for examples I will onely note some few of their late and best reformed Book made Anno 1603. in the first year of the Kings Majesties reign by which it will be apparant that they passe the bounds of the Subjects of Christ and that they have no power from him to make such Laws but by so doing they usurp the place of God to reign in mens consciences for unto him onely it doth belong to make Laws in matters of Religion and for the worship of God to which men are onely bound to yeeld obedience without adding or detracting and that for this their presumption they are liable to the curse of God being indeed the Image of the Beast here spoken of that is originally sprung from the Dragon and hath received power of Law-making from him Concerning the first and second Canons wherein they pretend their zeal for the abolishing of all forraign power repugnant to the jurisdiction of the Kings Majestie over the Ecclesiasticall estate he being the highest power under God to whom all men owe most loyall obedience and that his Majestie hath the like authority in Causes Ecclesiasticall as the godly Kings had amongst the Iews To these I do most willingly assent and agree And further do desire that as the Pope so the Prelacy with all their Antichristian Adherents which usurp spirituall power and superiority above the Majestie of Christ Iesus being a strange and forraigne generation brought in and established in this Land by the Pope of Rome may also be abolished and cast out after him for by them the Pope lives in hope hereafter to be served as he hath been heretofore to the great vexation of the Kings and Princes of this Land yea to the losse of their Crown and lives But to be short I will proceed to mention some few of their Canons whereby iniquity is established for a Law and their beastlinesse discovered In the third Canon it is enacted that whosoever shall affirme the Church of England by Law established not to be a true and Apostolicall Church teaching and maintaining the doctrine of the Apostles that person shall bee excommunicated ipso facto That there are some yea many doctrines of the Apostles maintained in the Church of England I do not deny so there are in the Church of Rome But that the Ecclesiasticall state or spirituall body politike which is called the Church of England which consisteth of Arch-bishops Diocesan Lord-bishops Suffragans Deanes Arch-deacons Prebends Canons Chancellours Commissaries with the rest of the Clergie as heads and guides of that body to go before and the whole multitude of the Layitie as they call it which is as the Tayle to follow those Heads that this politicall Body is the Spouse and Church of Christ as they affirme in their seventh eighth and ninth Canons that I do deny For first if it were true that they are the Ministers of Christ which is his Church we should finde warrant for them in his Testament wherein is set down the Ministers which he hath set in the Church namely Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors and Teachers and also their office and administration But in all the New Testament no Arch-bishops nor Lord-bishops no Deanes nor Arch-deacons Prebends Priests nor Canons no Chancellours nor Commissaries and other their Court-officers nor any such administration as they challenge and execute can there be found they are a strange generation that is risen up out of the earth for earthly-minded and vaine men have invented them and therefore the body which consisteth of them cannot of right bee acknowledged to bee the Body of Christ whose Ministers in respect that they are called according to the Commandement of Christ are from Heaven But it is indeed the Image of the first Beast whose mouth was as the mouth of a Lyon his body like a Leopard and his feet as the feet of a Beare an ugly compounded and deformed monster And as their names are strange and different from the Ministers of Christ so is their practise contrary they are not servants to the Flock and Church of Christ
society and refuseth none but the godly therefore fitly was he thus prefigured Secondly by the quallity and disposition of the Leopard was signified that this Generation should be subtile and crafty in getting their prey They boast themselves to be the Church and Spouse of Christ but if it be so whence then had they that infinite store and abundance of worldly wealth and riches wherewith they exceed in deliciousnesse of living This was not the condition of Christ and his Disciples the Lord himselfe had not whereon to lay his head but in that respect was more destitute then Foxes which have holes and then Birds which have nests his Disciples wanted gold and silver and had no certaine dwelling place whence therefore had this Generation their Lands Livings and Lordships Their Castles Mannors Houses and Princely Palaces It will be said of the donation and gift of Emperours Kings and other great States and of the charitable devotion of all sorte of people But how were people brought to be so full handed to this generation To bring this about much slight craft and nimblenesse of with was used first people were made to believe that what they gave to the Church was to the maintenance of the Ministery of the Gospell and for the comfort and reliefe of the poore and therefore should be a sacrifice so well pleasing to God and meritorious as that it should receive great reward at his hands herewith the mindes of religious and devout people was so much moved that they thought nothing too much to give to the Church by means whereof Churches began to grow rich Secondly people were made to believe that the worshiping of Images and Relicks of Saints and building of Churches Chappels Oratories c. and endowing them with Lands Tenements Parsonage and Vicarage houses c. was an effectuall way to have favour with the Saints and to procure their praiers and intercession for them By these and such like means this wylie and crafty generation deluded the people and made themselves rich and robbed Christ of his honour who onely is our Advocate to God And furthermore they gathered in heaps of wealth by Masses Pilgrimages Pursse-penance Offerings and such like Merchandises wherein their subtilty and craft was prefigured by a Leopard a Beast subtile by nature whose property is to lie in waite for her prey and slilie to catch it as the Cat doth the Mousâ— and in that respect doth well resemble the Antichristian Clergie that subtill generation But further it is added that the feete of this Beast were as the feete of a Beare The Leopard is more nimble to catch then the Beare but the Beare is more strong and eager to hold fast that which he hath seased vpon then is the Leopard both these properties this generation hath nimble to catch and greedy to hold they catch by slight But hold by force and therefore in catching resemble the Leopard but in fast holding the feete of a Beare To this it is added that the mouth of this Beast was as the mouth of a Lion And by this another propertie of the Antichristian Clergie was foreshewed for as the Lion when he hath taken his prey roareth vpon it at whose roaring the Beasts tremble So this generation being thus exalted and made rich and have gotten their prey they terrifie the small Beasts of the Forrests roaring with curses and excommunications against be he Prince or Pesant that shall presume to part stakes with them or meddle with their prey or diminish their portion but an Egge or an Onion That these be the properties of this Generation needs no proof it is manifest by daily experience Here therefore we may learne what to esteem and judge of the Antichristian Cleargie together with those Multitudes People Nations and Tongues out of which they have sprung and over which they are set and supported namely that they are a monstrous and beastly Generation excelling in craft covetousnesse pride cruelty and all iniquity and therefore not to be esteemed as they boast themselves to be a holy Catholike Church and Spouse of Christ which cannot erre c. And by this we may see how lamentably the Nations have been deluded and led into errour and ungodlinesse by their guides and leaders Now it followeth that unto this Monster the Dragon gave his power and his Throne and great authority Here is declared of whom the Prelates and Clergie have received their spirituall Lordships power authority and jurisdiction to devise and make spirituall Laws and Canons to erect spirituall Courts and create Officers to beare rule and exercise dominion over the Nations even from the Divell they have not any lawfull authority from God but an usurped authority from the Divell whose instruments they are to advance his kingdom and to persecute the Saints which obey God rather then men And here we may observe that they are rightly called spirtuall Lords because originally they proceed from that prince that ruleth in the aire the spirit that worketh in the children of unbeliefe but withall in stead of spirituall Lords Laws Courts and Officers call them spirituall wickednesses and so we give them their right titles and being such if we will fight the good fight of faith we must by witnessing what they be wrastle against them and not submit unto them but stand fast in that liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and not be intangled with any yoke of bondage and that we may wrastle and prevaile we must take unto us the whole Armour of God Ephes 6. Further Iohn saith that he saw one of the heads of the Beast as it were wounded to death and his deadly wound was healed and all the world wondred after the Beast By this Head which was as it were wounded to death was signified the reviving of Priesthood the mysterie whereof in few words is this The workers of iniquity in this Antichristian kingdom having ordained this order of ministery called Priesthood whether it were in imitation of the Iews or Heathen it is doubtfull but certain it is that because it wanted externall sacrifices it came short both of the Iewish Priesthood and also of the Heathen so that it was a lame and wounded Priesthood and was not respected In time it came to passe that they found out a sacrifice as is to bee seene in their masse-Masse-book which was the transubstantiating of Bread into Wine into the very Body and Blood of Christ really and substantially as they use to speak and teach and being so transubstantiated to offer it up unto God a sacrifice propitiatory both for quick and dead Thus the wounded head of Priesthood was cured and revived and so became the worlds wonder as now it followeth to be declared according as Iohn here witnesseth And all the world wondred after the Beast That is the people of the Nations having this Priesthood set over them and commended unto them to be of such power and dignity as that they could make them
and helpers of their joy but they are authours of their woe challendging and exercising Lordship and Dominion over their faith for in stead of a due administration of the Word of God they have mingled a cup of fornication for the people to drink that is devised a forme of Book-worship with Orders Rites and Ceremonies which they have imposed on the people under the title of Divine Service and which they must observe without adding thereto or taking any thing from it as in the 4 6 7 8 and 14. Canons Further they are not painefull Preachers but lazy Lords they are not followers of Christ and of his Word but are contemners thereof casting it behinde their backs and will not be reformed nor ruled by it they are Law-makers much like Nebuchadnezzar for as he would destroy all that would not worship his golden Image So whosoever doth refuse to yeeld obedience to their Lawes shall bee most severely punished as is plaine by divers penalties annexed to their Canons In consecrating and ordaining Priests they are like to Ieroboam for as he consecrated whom he would of the basest of the people to be the Priests of the high places which he had set up so do they ordaine for the most part ignorant fellows to be their Parish Priests and inferiour Ministers wherein though they do most absurdly yet will they not bee contradicted as we may see by the 57 Canon where it is said whosoever shall refuse to communicate with a dumb and unpreaching Minister Let him be excommunicated And although their owne Doctours complaine and cry out against it yet they will not amend amongst the rest it is worthy to be observed what their own great Champion profound Master Hooper faith viz. That both Arguments from light of nature Laws and Statutes of Scripture the Canons that are taken out of ancient Synods the decrees and constitutions of sincerest times the sentences of all antiquity and in a word every mans consent and conscience is against ignorance in them that have the cure and charge of soules If it be so how unreasonable and beastly is it for the Prelates to ordain allow and approve of such for the Ministers of Christ of which there are many hundreds in the Land whom the Prelates are not ashamed to forbid to expound the Scriptures as in the 49 Canon where it is said that some of their Parish Priests shall not take upon them to expound in their cure or else-where any Scripture or matter or doctrine but shall onely study to read c. It is greatly to be wondred at that so many grave heads as were gathered together and sate consulting about these matters should breed and bring forth such absurd and impious Canons If there were nothing else this allowance of dumb Ministers is sufficient to shew the vanity of their mindes and the darknesse of their foolish hearts So that wee may truely say of them that when they professed themselves to be most wise by exalting and making themselves equall with God in making Laws for the government of his House the Church even then they became most foolish and voide of judgement As for the best sort of their Parish Priests which are men of learning and gifts they must also be confined within their limits they must worship God according to the rules prescribed them by these their spirituall Fathers as in the 38 Canon If any Minister shall omit to use the forme of prayer or any of the Orders or Ceremonies prescribed in the Communion Book let him be suspended and if he do not conforme within the space of a moneth let him be deposed The absurdities and blasphemies contained in that Comon Prayer-book are many which having been discovered and laid open by divers Treatises already published in print I will omit onely this I will adde that in the imposing of that Service Booke or any other this great iniquity is committed by the imposers thereof That they do exalt themselves both against Christ who is ascended into Heaven and hath given gifts to his Ministers Ephes 4.1 11 12. for the gathering together of the Saints for the worke of the ministery and for the edification of the Church his Body and also they exalt themselves against the Holy Ghost who onely hath power to help our infirmities Rom 8.26 and to furnish men with gifts to worship God aright Further their Preachers may not teach against their corrupt Church state and Ministry though they know it to bee Antichristian nor against the forme of worship prescribed in the said Common-prayer Book nor against the ceremonies nor the Government of the Church of England by Arch-bishops Bishops Deanes Archdeacons and the rest that beare office in the same nor against the manner and form of making and consecrating Bishops Priests or Deacons nor against the Laws and Ordinances Ecclesiasticall established in the said Church whosoever transgresseth in these things shall be excommunicated ipso facto as is plaine in the 4 6 7 8 and 54. Canons Thus by excommunicating and cursing they labour to maintaine and defend their corruptions but not one jott of Scripture dare they shew and no marvaile seeing the whole Scriptures are against mens inventions and traditions of which nature these abuses are being left here by the Pope and retained and renewed by his Prelates As they may not teach against these things so on the contrary they may not teach the true and right way which Christ hath prescribed in his Testament how we must worship God nor how the true Church of Christ ought to be gathered and constituted the Ministers thereof ordained nor the manner how it ought to be governed as appeareth in the 9.10 11. and 12. Canons By which we may see in what bondage their Preachers are kept they must hide their Talent in the earth and put their candle under a Bushed lest men by the light thereof should come to the knowledge of the truth and believe it Also it is to be observed as a generall rule that none good or bad learned or unlearned can be suffered to receive their Orders of Priesthood or Deaconship or be admitted to preach or execute a Ministery in their Parish Churches unlesse they sweare to conforme to the worship and ceremonies prescribed by these Prelates and also submit to their Anti-christian rule and government which they challenge to themselves as being Lords over all Thus by swearing they make their inferiour Priests to sell themselves to worke wickednesse which trick they have cunningly devised to bring the Land in subjection to these Antichristian yoke And upon the taking of this Oath they receive the Prelates Marke which is called in this Chapter the Marke of the Beast which is understood to be the Letters of Orders under the Prelates hand and Seale to testifie that they are made Priests or Deacons according to the Order and Canons prescribed in that behalfe in this their Convocation as we may see in the 36 48