but as they formerly had their power from the Pope so doe they exercise this power and jurisdiction by Popish constitutions and customs and by vertue therof challenge power and right so to doe 2. This appeares to be true from that statute of 28. H. 8. which statute being the rule of our Archbishops Bishops and other the like Officers with all their ushering ceremonies shews plainly that they are the same they were in the dayes of darknes and so contrary to the Laws of God and the King yea even to the same act in the true meaning of it as all who will may see to be most plaine for first the King Peers and commons being at this time not instructed in the unlawfullnes of the Prelacy and their ushering ceremonies did not onely not aabridge anie of their former rights and Priviledges but gave them power to exercise them as before so they were not contrary to the word of God and the Laws of the Land now the Prelates being cunning Politicians and knowing what great revenues came into them and to the holy Father the Pope made use of their ignorance and the Kings clemency and so continued all or so manie of their Popish customs as might be sufficient to bring such an estate to them their followers as wherby their pride pomp and tyrannicall rule might be maintayned and hereby is it they Lord it over all Hereby is it they maintain their courtly governments and that they cite Summon and draw all causes and controversyes before themselves and their courtly government and do challenge power and right to doe so from their popish customs and constitutions which have been heretofore added to the severall seates and Seas of government and doe begin continue and end them in their owne name even as they did in the dayes of darknes onely they use not the Popes name but have left off his Supremacy although it seems to be their grief which appeares in this amongst other things in that they use him and his triple crowne for their character and superscrption in their seales of office Obje But it will be said to me they doe not exercise this rule from themselves nor from the Pope but as from the King and by his prerogative Ans To which I answere doe they not stand in relation to the Pope and more to him then to his Majesty when they will execute his laws to full and persecute his Majesties faithfull subjects even to death by imprisoning syning and banishing of them for the least neglect of them doth not every King speake by his owne lawes and by his own officers Now when the Popes lawes are thus executed by them doth it not declare them to be Subjects of his Kingdome .. 2. The Laws of the Land and so of the King are they not all snapped in peeces by them what Law can stand before them if they take-in with the offender Thirdly if they doe fine anie as they doe manie not onely without but against law under pretence for the King doe they not preferre one or other of their favourites to beg the fyne of the King and so he is never the better for it But if it were graunted that they stand by the King yet why should they execute these Laws among us seeing they doe us no good but hurt and annoy us and are needles and burdenous and I would to God both they and all their trash were footles too 3. No way can we more gratify the Pope nor give him hopes of a reentrance amongst us then by authorizing and practising his Lawes amongst us and this is the cause he hath so manie abetters and favourites amongst us and this causeth him to looke for a day still among us therefore can we doe the Lord no better service or his Majesty a better turn or the Land more good then by rooting out the pedlery wares of that man of sin by overthrowing this courtly governmē◠by which these merchants of Rome are grown rich mighty amongst us but alas my brethren may we not renue the cōplaint of the Prophet Habak 1. 1. 2. 3. 4. to the Lord and say Oh Lord how long shall I cry unto thee and thou wilt not help even cry out and thou vvilt not hear cry out unto thee of violence and thou vvilt not save c. The Lavv is dissolved and Judgment doth never go forth for the wicked doth compasse about the righteous therefore wrong judgment proceedeth But let Gods people be comforted the plowman hath a time to sow and a time to reap and therefore let them know God hath a time for them and in his time will send forth that Angell to reap and commaund him to thrust in his sickle and reap for the harvest is ripe Apoc. 14. and to cut down all the vines of the vinyards of the earth and to cast them into the winepresse of the wrath of Almighty God although now the locusts be like horses prepared to battle Revel 9. 7. strongly linked together with ready prepared minds against all such as doe but mute against their cursed usurpation yet let them know they and all their popish titles and dignityes with that head of theirs the Pope from whom they received their life and power are now allmost if not altogether ripe unto the harvest they are now become as a baskett of summer fruit and the Lord will not long passe by them anie more let them looke on the yeare 1539. and gnaw their tongues with grief with the remembrance thereof as they have often done and remember that that lopping of their vines that then was was but a begining to prepare them for the fire of the wrath of God which shal be kindled here and shal burne in the bottom of Hell at the kindling wherof they and all other the merchants of these things which are wexen rich shall stand afar off for feare of her torment weeping and wailing and saying alas alas Rev. 18. As I am perswaded some of them have done allready and shall doe more for he that rides on the white horse whose name is the Word of God will goe forth and conquer and smite the heathen and rule them with a rod of iron for he it is that treadeth the winepresse of the wrath of allmighty God Revel 19. 15. Then shall the Churches rejoyce and all the holy saints therin when God hath revenged their bloods for among these men is found the blood of the Prophets and of the saints and of all that were slain upon the earth Rev. 18. 24. Having thus farr inlarged according to my poore ability to strike at the maine pillers of the bodye of this beast that tyrannise over the bodyes and consciences of all I will ad a notable project or compact plotted between some of their under officers the thing is no fable but a certain truth found out and confessed by the chief actor before the justice who at first thought to have punished it
yeare 1624. they have changed the oath of Curchwardens and sidemen as they call them into that forme that it is now become nothing ells but a rack for the consciences of men and may truly be called an injurjous and blooddy oath 2. What else is the ground why they have taken away all those Cannons that respect them selues that the people cannot see them but that they might more peaceably and freely prey on the bodyes and soules of men at their owne pleasures 3. What is the reason they doe of late use so many shiftes and trickes to maintayne their standings as they do by devising all the inchrochments upon the liberty of the subject the like whereof cannot beparalelled by robbing of the nobility of their honorus tytles offices and dignityes and conferring them on their owne heades or the heades of their favorites yea is it not matter enough if not a friend to the prelacy for any though otherwise deserving never so well to stand like a beakon on the top of a hill not respected 4. who seeth not that all the good and whollesomme lawes of the Common wealth is by them turned upside downe like a leaden wand bowed to every end that suits them selues be it right or wrong thus like horses are they prepared to battell with strong unresistible power to beare downe all before them that doth but mute against their cursed usurpations 5. what ranke or order of men comes not under their tyranny and oppression in their matchles extortions they sleight the rich in the height of their pride they regard not the cryes of the widdow and fatherlesse but like men voyd of compassion or bereft of humanity wring and wrest from all men in all causes abundantly more then is alowed them by their owne Cannons and Ecclesiasticall lawes and especially in the probats of wills and administrations they are as the Proph. Zeph saith 3. 3. Like the evening wolfs that leave not the bones untill the morning my brethre may not the Lord cōplaine against us as against his owne people Ier. 5. 26. that among his people are found wicked men that lay wait as he that setteth snares they set a trap to catch men as a cage is full of birdes so are their howses full of deceyt therfore they are become great wax rich also they Judg not the cause of the fatherlesse but as in the 29. shall not the Lord visit for these thinges shall not his soule be avenged on such a nation as this Therfore brethren and loving countrymen considering these things let me in a word speak to you all under these two ranks other as you are the called of God or as yet uncalled by him And first to you that are called of God let me speak to you in the words of the Lord by the Prophet Ierem. 2. 18. What have you to doe in the way of Aegypt to drink the waters of Sihor or what hast thou to doe in the way of Assyria to drink the waters of the river Or for the fear of man to bee found in the way of Gilgall for all their wickednes is in Gilgall there doth the Lord hate them and for their iniquityes wil in his time arive them out of his house therfore come not at their courts obey not their summons sent out in their own names against the law of the land and honour of the King so that if the Kings Majesty were not very patient towards them and those that submit to their usurpations where were they Trust God with your goods and lives he is able to recompence all wth better ad not fire then to this altar of Baal neither by purse nor presence Walk not after these commaundemens of men lest Ephraim like ye he oppressed and broken in judgment and the Lord become to you as to him a moth or as he was to Iudah rottenes Hosea 5. 11. 12. My brethren be not affraid of man in Gods cause consider what the Apostle saith to Timothy 2. epist 1. 7. God hath not given to us the spirit of fear but of power of love of a sound minde Where observe this fear of man for the prevailing power therof is called the spirit of feare and is opposed to the spirit of God as power and love and a sound minde whence then we may learn That where ever his fear of man is residing in the strength and power of it there no sound power of godlines nor soundnes of judgment nor power of action is to be looked for Besides this fear of man will be a snare to you for the fear of man bringeth a snare but who so trusteth in God shal be sure Prov. 29. 25. Besides there is a lake prepared for the fearfull say not then wth the fainthearted spyes there be giants and walls up to heaven and we shall never overcome for we overcome in sufferring Consider also that God the Gospell and the people of God are more beholding if I may so speak to one constant sufferrer sent of God then to ten thousand fainthearted apostates and backsliders therefore my brethren looke what Gods worthyes have done and doe likewise as Paule to Timo. 2. epist 1. 8. so I speak to you all in his words Be not you therefore ashamed of the testimonie of our lord nor of me his prisonner but be you partakers of the afflictions of the Gospell according to the power of God who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling And to you my countrymen that are yet uncalled what shall I say to sett you a worke about the works of a living mā that have not a principle of life in you were but a vain thing I therefore say no more to you but thus Take courage to your selvs as you are men and know your own priviledges and stand to them consider the laws of a kingdome are the subjects inheritance and no subject can be deprived of them without manifest injustice therfore suffer not your selvs to be gulled in these things looke the Statute for the probate of wills and testaments observe the penaltyes upon all that shall extort upon the same the lawe saying directely in these words That if a Bishop or Archbishop or anie other ecclesiasticall jurisdiction shall extort or take of anie of his Mayestyes subjects either more or greater fees then is allowed them by law they shall forfeit to the party wronged three times that they take to the party greived and over and above they shall forfeit to the King ten pounds the which shal be levyed by way of trespasse or of debt recoverable by lawe in anie of his Majestyes courts of record against which action there shal be no appeale nor act of errour to be graunted but the monies so levyed shal be one half to the King and the other half to the partye wronged Or els thou must maintain thy right by an inditement at the common sessions of the quarter where the offence was committed Thus
Censures for who sees not all men to esteeme of it as it is for all men see it is not the destruction of the flesh but of the man his monyes that they seeke And now to speak one word about the oath by which officers are sworne let the oath it self be minded the form wherof here standeth You shall sweare that you and every of you shall duely and diligently inform your selves of these articles given you in charge and that all favour hatred through feare or anie other corrupt affectiō set aside you shall present all and every such person now or lately of your parish which hath committed anie offence comprised in anie of these articles or which are vehemently suspected or defamed of anie such offence wherin you shall deale according to an upright conscience neither presenting nor sparing to present anie person contrary to truth so help you God and his faithfull promise in Jesus Christ. How farr this oath is chaunged from that it was in the years before 1624. let the reader judge The evills contayned in this oath are briefly these First whereas an oath ought to bee done in righteousnes in truth and in judgement this is unrighteously taken and imposed and without judgment as appears in these particulars 1. In that it is not imposed by a lawfull Magistrate 2. It swervs from my allegiance to other lawes besides the laws of the land and servs to all those inventions that a Lord Bishop can thrust into an article booke which is contrary to the statute of 25. Henry 8. and 1. Elizabeth Thirdly it binds me to a necessity of sining on one hand or other either I must present my neighbour for toyes yea for mere suspicious without grownd or breake my oath and whoever thou art that takest it thou bindst thyselfe by this oath to submit thyself and so hast made thyself the servant of sinfull man yea by this oath as an enemy to God a persecutour of his saints and dost sitt under the banner of Antichrist in that thou hast put to thine hand and sworn with thy mouth to put all such lawes and articles in execution and pursue those that doe not the same consider that in these words so help me God thou dost call God to witnes thy faithfullnes in these things and dost invocate his name that if thou dost faile to doe according to the tenour of this oath he would doe so to thee and more likewise that is bring some eminent judgment on thee consider these things and fear and tremble FINIS AN ADDITION By the foresaid Author AFter the finishing of the table of Fees and those observations of their abuses upon my short experience taken a copy comming to the hande of a mourner for such burthens upon his loving Countreymen was grieved that so many and intollerable abuses should be so briefly passed over whereupon knowing something farther that might discover the iniquity of this present evill generation I thought it my duty to spare from my own necessity some farther charge for my countries good Vnto their abuses then forementioned I will ad something of their extortion even in their visitation pretended for the Churches good to ease burdens and to reforme abuses and corruptions but effecting nothing lesse as may easily appeare by comparing these times with the times of darknesse In the times of darknesse no more procuration might be taken then did necessarily serve for the expences of the day whether it were taken in victualls or in money neither might the Visitor whether he were a Bishop Chancellor or Comissary visit any more Churches then one in one day or if he did yet was he not to take more then one procuration to the which all Churches so met were to communicate and this appears to be true from that constitution of Iohn Stradford Bishop of Canterbury which Procuration is limmited by a decree of Bennet the 12. not to exceed the value of So. Turons of silver every 12. Turons making one Florence of pure gold according to the English estimate not amounting in coyne the summe of five shillings at the most for a Bishops substitute and the whole charges for him and his followers not to exceed 35 s. although he should call forty or fifty yea a hundred Churches together And if the Archdeacons substitute visite then not to exceed 12 s. 6 d. and if the Archdeacon visit personally himself then he was to have 20 s. And if the Bishop visit himself then he was to have for himself and his reteiners 5. marks onely and none of them to take more although they should visit an hundred Churches in one day And these have also been mittigated since as being thought too much by a Provinciall constitution in Linwood whereby an Archdeacon is allowed for one dayes diet for himself and his followers but 3 s. 4 d. which as the glosse saith seemed to suffice foure persons and their horses with one Summoner for one day But now if they be compared to these times wee shall see them to exceed in their procurations at their visitations as they do in other things witnesse their extraordinary pomp gluttony I had almost said their drunkennesse too but if I had I could make it good on some of them whom I have known but their excesse is known to all they drink wine in bowls and rejoycing when they have robbed some Churches for their inordinate expences Besides what sums of money are taken and carried away by them is easie to be proved and what tricks they will have to increase their fees for every toy appears by one example known to the world in which they excommunicated the Churchwardens of T. because they had not finished the repairing of the Church in their yeare and would not absolve them without paying an unreasonable summe of monies If I should repeat all their extortion in this kinde I might make a volume of complaints But to leave these great master-Theeves whose daily oppression all sorts grone under yet none daring to reprove them lest he be reputed as he that rebukes the Priest and so accounted as an enemy to the Church and an opposer of the Kings Prerogative when as in truth it is themselves that are both enemies to the Church and prejudicious to the Kings Prerogative for although they pretend to uphold the Kings Prerogative yet it is their owne they seeke indeed that they may live like princes in the Common wealth neither if the thing be duly searched into will it be found they exercise any other power then what was received from the Pope in the daies and times of darknesse now contrary to the laws of the land which may appeare by these particulars 1 In that all their citations summons actions proceedings sentences decrees and judgements in all causes and controversies determinable before any of them are begun continued and ended in their own names titles and dignities without any relation or mention of authority given to them from the King