Order be rich and proud shal the Function be rooted out for the offence of the person or was this ever held agreeable to Religion Law Justice or right Reason There was a Judas a Traytor who carried the bag among the twelve Apostles of Christ did Christ therefore take away the Apostleship Some Angels rebelled against God did God therefore destroy all the Angels as Rebels James and John would sit one at the right the other at the left hand of their Lord Christ must all the Apostles therefore be despised as proud and usurpers And to take away the Bishops Lands and give them a portion is it not to take away their meat and make them feed all on pottage Or to deale with them as some Idolaters or Eli's sons did who took the flesh or best part of the Sacrifices to themselves and sacrificed the bones or worst to God Or comes not this too neer our English Proverb to steal a goose and stick in place of it the feathers And when it is said they shall have a sitting maintenance for that is all can be challenged from the Scripture remember what Christ replied to those that murmured at the lord of the vineyards bounty to some of the labourers more then others Is thine eye evil because I am good Mat. 20.15 Or repinest thou at that which I have given to those labourers being it is lawful for me to doe with mine what I wil which holds right both in the several Kings giving the Lands and Gods accepting and allowing them to his Ministers But if we be to be pittanced by a competency as it is called who I pray shall be the Steward or Distributor Shall he that robs the true man of his purse give back what he thinks competent And shall this be held just If we understand and beleeve the Prophet it is God that is robbed and who shall judge but God Or what competency is fitting to be allowed to him Is it one or two hundred pounds per Annum If the best Interpreters even of our modern Divines may be heard they will tell you from Gal. 6. and 1 Cor. 16. that this maintenance must be honorable and hath this been performed when for two three foure yeares you have taken all from them and yet not so much as charging them with any offence against Law or your own Ordinances And is this Justice or an honorable maintenance Or would your Honors be content with the like Argum. 17 I have heard that which I would rather truly call a Project then an Argument that the Bishops in England antiently had the First-fruite and Tenths of all the Spiritual livings in every Diocese which were the proper maintenance of those Bishops and that therefore these might be restored to the Bishops in lieu of the Lands which by the Ordinance should be taken from them Resp To which I must desire you to know that this Project or Device is grounded upon a double mistake for 1. the maintenance of Bishops ever since they were in England was by lands such as were given them by their Royal Benefactors and others 2. The Bishops in England held or had not those First-fruits and Tenths but the Bishop of Rome who under the false pretended Title of Universal Bishop Mat. Paris in H. 3. p. 849. usurped and took the same in England as he did almost in most parts of Christendome besides witnesse that Grant of the Pope who De potestate sibi à Deo concessâ Pol. Virg. Hist Angl. lib. 20. gave those Tenths for three years to K. Henry the Third And the like of Pope Vrban who gave the Tenths in this Kingdome to K. Richard the Second to aid him against Charles the French King and those that upheld Clement the Seventh against him after which they were paid to the Pope again until they were restored to the Crown by K. Henry the Eighth 2 K. H. 8. c. 3. for that the King as in that Statute he was stiled the Head of the Church or rightly is the Defender of the Faith and Supreme Governor in all causes and over all persons Ecclesiastical Now then if it might be just to grant the Bishops these First-fruits and Tenths in lieu of their Lands yet what Justice can it be to rob as we say Peter to pay Paul to take that which is the Kings just right from him thereby to satisfie for that which is unjustly taken from God and the Church So that as this Project failes in the ground so in the superstructure too it tends to a double Injustice the one against the King and the other against the Church and yet if this could be done without Injustice to either I know not how to clear the act from impiety or Sacrilege when God by his Prophet as I before urged the Text saith Thou shalt not exchange that which is holy to the Lord Ezek. 48. Lev. 27.13 Except as it is excepted for the Levite and Priest it may clearly appear that the exchange be for the better which this cannot be Again if by an Act these Lands on these conditions be now taken from the Church then by another Act of Resumption or Restitution those First-fruits and Tenths may be taken away from the Church again and restored as of right belonging to the Crown and wherein then shall there be a maintenance for Bishops in the Church Argum 18 It hath been urged thereby to root out Episcopacy that the King gives those Bishopricks and so their Lands and by these means he holds the Bishops at his beck to say or do what he will Resp 'T is true that this was urged in Parliament for taking away the Bishops Votes there which being done why yet to take away their lands for these have no Vote in Parliament Or why not to take away as well the lands of all those who hold by Office Tenure or Honor from the King Yea or from all those who make conscience to keep Faith and Loyalty Or why not rather on the other side may ye not enact that all Bishops who shall hereafter act or assist against the Parliament shall lose their estates which is as much as in Justice can be done For will you forbid all Wine Knives Swords and the like for these have and may againe doe mischief and so have Parliaments too But God forbid all these should be taken away upon these grounds I confesse I have heard that Mr Knox in Scotland counselled after this manner Pull down the Crows nests said he for such homely or slovenly Similes they mostly use as best becoming them and sitting the palats of their Auditors for else the black Birds will build againe but of this counsel ere he died he repented though too late for when the steed was stollen he advised the Clergy by word and pen to gain-stand this black Sacrilegious act of taking away the patrimony and possessions of the Church Argum. 19 But we have bound our selves by an
But why in Gods name are not the Assembly of Divines at Westminster consulted with in this point Or why doe not our conscientious Brethren read the Annotations of the Assembly who note that Egypt which would not in the greatest extremity of famine On Gen. 47. when all other mens lands were sold yet then that they would not sell the lands of the Priests shall rise up in judgement against the alienators or sellors of lands which have been dedicated to God or his Servants CHAP. VI. That this kind of Alienation is against Prudence Justice the good of the Kingdom in general and of the Tenents to such Lands in special BUt were there not so much said in Gods Book and by learned Orthodox Divines shall neither our owne Lawes nor Prudence nor Justice prevaile in this case to keep us from selling of Church Lands For what Justice is it to sell that which is not our owne And that these lands are 1. Gods I hope it is proved sufficiently by Gods words the verdict of allowed Divines and shall be further proved anon by the Lawes of our Land 2. They are the Bishops who are Gods Assignes and Usufructuaries and these lands are theirs by as good title in Law as any man can hold any land in this Kingdome 3. They are by Patronage the Kings for this is very lately professed in a good Parliament 1 Jacob. 3.3 in these words Whereas all the Lands of the Bishops in England and Dominion of Wales were given by Kings of England the full truth whereof I will not dispute whereby the King is become the lawfull and rightfull Patron of all those Lands therefore it is desired that the King would enact not that they without the King would or could no such power then knowne and what is desired not that the Bishops Lands should be sold but that they may not be leased out by the Bishops for longer terms of time then for 21. yeares or three lives no not to the Crowne And is this Justice so soone forgotten or so soone changed in so short a time that without the consent of God the Proprietary of the King the Patron and of the Bishops the Assignes the lands shall be utterly sold away And yet must we call this Justice I pray God this Justice call not for judgement from heaven And whether it can be just to sell the Bishops Lands I pray examine by that rule and touch-stone of true Moral Justice which our Lord Christ hath expressed in two short Precepts the one Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy selfe The other Mat. 19.9 Mat. 7.12 Whatsoever ye would that men should doe unto you doe you even so unto them for this is the Law and the Prophets Now by the first rule examine your selves whether in this act of selling the Bishops Lands you love the Bishops as your selves And trie this by the other whether you would yeeld your consent as to a thing just that if the Bishops had your power they might and should preserve to themselves their own lands and expose yours to sale If your hearts speake the truth I feare they would denie this to be just in the Bishops against you and if so then be assured that in this act of selling the Bishops lands you doe not that which by the verdict of your owne conscience is just And if you will as Law-makers should look forward and provide for future times stands it with civil Prudence to sell those Lands away which doe and will yeeld so much for maintenance of the King and Kingdome in Tenths First-fruits Subsidies and Taxes which for the most part will bee swallowed up when fallen into Lay-hands 2. Stands it with civil Prudence to robb Tenents of so good penniworths as they now hold from Bishops and Church-men which they must not expect when in Lay-hands whereby they have beene enabled the better to serve the King and Kingdome in time of need 3. Stands it with Prudence and Charitr to cast so many into a state of beggery and danger of theeving who by Bishops and Church-men have been reasonably relieved by under Offices and places in the Church Upon the dissolution of the Religious Houses in the Reign of K. Henry the Eighth Chron. f. 773. Mr Speed saith that a great Rebellion was raised in Lincolnshire and the Rebels expressing the cause thereof to the King they say Wee grieve for the suppression of so many Religious Houses whereby the Pooralty of your Realme is unrelieved and many put off their livings which is a dammage to the Common-wealth Soone after another Rebellion arose in Yorkeshire where 40000. with Horse Armes and Artillery rose for Religion who had upon their sleeves the Name of the Lord the ground of their rising was saith the same Author That the King by his evill Counsellers will destroy the Ministers of the Church f. 775. which makes against the Common good 4. Stands it with a Religious and civil Prudence to robb Learning and Religion of that profit and preferment which encouraged the study and encrease both of Learning and Religion Prov. 14.4 Where no oxen are the crib is cleane And the Land soon after K. Solomon found this true 1 King 13.33 for when Jeroboam had taken away the best maintenance of the Priests what followed but that the Priests were chosen out of the lowest of the people Which I would it were not too true now in our Land and in after times the Church suffered more under Julian then Dioclesian for this tooke away the able men but that Apostate their maintenance I shall close this point with that memorable passage of Sr Edward Coke in Winchesters Case The decay of the Revenues of the Church will draw after it the downe-fall of Gods Service and Religion which God in mercy avert CHAP. VII That it is against the Lawes of this Kingdome of England which the two Houses of Parliament and Kingdome by their severall Declarations Protestations and Covenants are bound to maintaine BUt if neither Gods Word nor the Verdict of best Divines nor Justice nor Prudence can be heard yet I pray heare what our Lawes say in this case and yet before I urge these to which I am as much a stranger as to the Profession let me remember you with that which I have heard to be a Maxime in our Law That no Statute Law or Custome which are against Gods Law or Principles of Nature can be of any validity but are all null which if granted it will save me the paines to cite our Lawes as having before proved that it is against Gods Law to sell away the lands of Bishops Yet let me adde that one Statute saith 1 Edw. 3. c. 2. That the King by evil Counsellors caused the Temporalties of Bishops to be seized into his hands for a time to the great dammage of the said Bishops which from henceforth shall not be done and this Statute is not repealed and therefore
is in its full force at this day as all other Statutes unrepealed are I might add another Statute 17 Edw. 2. that when the Templars theeving bloudy decried Souldiers had their Lands taken from them yet were not those lands then divided among Parliament men nor sold for the Common-wealth although the Kingdome at that time was in distresse and want enough I beleeve more then now no the then Parliament surely conceived they might doe neither of these they therefore translated those lands and settled them on the Priorie of St John of Jerusalem and in the same Statute it is inserted that the Parliament then did not alienate the Lands of those Templars 1. Because they were given to God though possessed by men 2. Because they held it a sinne to rob the Donors of their gift 3. Because they held it would prove mortal to the Alienators and these causes were then held sufficient to keep a Parliament from selling or alienating Church Lands And it is in the same Statute provided that if in after times the said Hospitalers or their successors shall be put out of any of those lands they shall have power to recover the same according to the Law of the Realm I have likewise read that in the 25 Edw. 1. it is declared In the Review of the Covenant Printed 1644. That Lay-men have no authority to dispose of the Lands or Goods of the Church for they are only committed to the Priests to be disposed of I confesse I finde it not in the printed Statutes but this I find and read there That none high nor low by any occasion 3 Edw. 1. c. 1. shall course in any Parke nor fish in any Pond of a Prelate or other Religious person without the leave or will of the Lord or of his Bayliffe In those times sure the Parliaments found not that they had power to sell away the Bishops Lands and I conceive that the Parliament deemed not then that they had any such power by reason of the great Charter granted by this Kings father which Charter Sr Edward Coke calls the Bulwarke of the Subjects Tenures in England and therefore upon this give me leave a little longer to insist as being a maine part and foundation of our Lawes One Statute enacts 42 Edw. 3. c. 1. That if any Statute be made contrary to the great Charter it shall be void which Statute is still in force and now heare what this Charter speakes concerning the Lands of the Church and of Bishops and then say truely whether it be not against the Law of England to sell these Lands In this Charter confirmed two and thirty times by our best Parliaments it is expresly said Wee have granted to God and by this our Charter have confirmed for us and our heires for ever that the Church of England shall be free and shall have all her whole Rights 2 part Institut in Procemio and Liberties inviolable The great Charter saith Sr Edward Coke is no new Law but it is declaratory of the principal fundamental Lawes of England 25. Edw. 1. And he saith The Nobles and great Officers were to be sworn to the observation of it and by a Parliament it was judged to be taken as the Common Law of England and well may considering the four causes or ends of that Charter as is exprest in the entrance viz. 1. The honour of God 2. The health of the Kings soul 3. The advancement of the Church 4. The amendment of the Kingdome And now heare this Law speake which is almost the same which was granted by K. John in the nineteenth yeare of his Reign with the interpretation of the Oracle of our Law Paris p. 255. Sir Edward Coke on the Charter and first as all best Grants have it begins with God and saith Concessimus Deo where the Interpreter saith What is given to the Church as Bishops lands were is given to God and what hath this Law granted to God Why that the Church shall be free where the Interpreter tells you that by the Church is meant all Ecclesiastical persons their possessions and goods And these shall be free saith he from all exactions and oppressions and to sell away their lands is it neither oppression nor exaction If not heare the Charter and Interpreter goe on Wee have granted to God that the Church shall have all her Rights entire i.e. saith the Interpreter That all Ecclesiastical persons shall enjoy all their Rights wholly without diminution or substraction whatsoever Whereby saith hee all their Rights are confirmed as they had them before or as at the first grant and then they had them not to be sold It goes on and that the Church or Church-men have and hold all their liberties Which liberties saith he grants them the liberty of the Law of England the Privilege of Parliaments and all Grants by Charter or Prescription and shall none of these keep the Bishops Lands from sale Moreover these Grants are not alone for that or any set time but for ever Heare the Charter This we have granted to the Church i.e. Church-men for our selves and our heires for ever Which saith the Interpreter is added to take away all scruple that this Charter or Grant should live and take effect for ever And which is not unworthy your observation 12 Hen. 3. p. 23. in our printed Statutes there is an heavy Curse denounced against all those who shall breake this great Charter And now if you grant which I think you will not denie that this Charter is a part of our Law then I hope it will follow that by our Law the Lands of the Church or of Bishops may not be sold or alienated You have seene what the Charter hath granted the Bishops as Church-men Chap. 19. now consider what the same Charter grants them as free-borne Subjects of the Kingdome Nullus liber homo saith it capiatur vel imprisonetur vel disseisiatur de libero Tenemento suo vel libertatibus vel liberis consuetudinibus suis nisi per legale judicium parium suorum vel per legem terrae Where the Interpreter expounds 1. Who is a free-man 2. What disseising is 3. What is the Law of the Land To the first he saith That every free-born Subject is meant here to be a free-man To the second to be disseised saith he is to be put out of his seisin or dispossessed of his free-hold that is lands or livelihood To the third by the Law of the Land saith he that is either by the Common Law or the Statute Law or the Custome of England And for further explanation adds by the Law of the Land is understood by processe of Law by indictment or presentment of good and lawful men And all this saith he is no new Law or grant but it is onely declaratory of the Law of England And this saith he should admonish Parliaments that in stead of this pretious trial by the Law of
the Land they bring not in absolute and partial trials by discretion CHAP. VIII That it is against the Prudence and Justice of the King and against his lawful Oath AS the selling Bishops Lands is against our Lawes which the two Houses and Kingdome by their severall Declarations Protestations and Covenants have solemnly bound themselves to maintain so it is against the Kings Prudence against his Justice and against his lawfull and just Oath It is against the Kings Prudence to devest and rob himself of those Immunities 25 Hen. 8.20 26 Hen. 8.3 and 1 Eliz. 4. 14 Ed. 3.4 5 Rights Profits and Revenues which the Law of this Land hath settled in the Crown as Collation of Bishopricks First-fruits and Tenths It is against the Kings Justice to take or make that away from his Heires and Successours which by our Lawes are justly and rightly granted unto them and these Rights the two Kingdomes of England and Scotland have sworn to maintain It is against his Justice to doe or suffer it to be done in respect of the Bishops to whom the King as the fountaine of Justice is bound to see Justice done as to his Subjects in general 2. Institut 1. but then considering from Sr Edward Coke that by our old Law-books the Church is ever under age and in the custody or guardian-ship of the King who is bound to maintaine and defend the Rights and Inheritances of the Church and that it cannot be agreeable to Right and Justice that Pupils under age through the negligence or default of the Guardians should suffer losse or disinheritance I pray well weigh whether it wil not amount even to a crying sinne in the King to doe or suffer such an injustice to be done to his Pupil the Church destitute of all help on earth save onely what she may justly expect from the King Solomon the wisest King on earth from the Spirit of God hath spoken it Enter not into the fields of the Fatherlesse for their Redeemer is mighty and he shal plead their cause with thee Prov. 23.10 11 And when you wel consider and weigh what an Oath the King hath taken at his Coronation you cannot I beleeve acquit the King of a flat perjury if hee shall assent to the selling away of the Bishops Lands But what I shal urge in this point is not so much to inform the King who I am verily perswaded by the illumination of Gods Spirit his frequent reading the holy Scriptures and by the Principles received from his most religious and learned Father of ever blessed memory is so fully satisfied and resolved that neither height nor depth nor any creature shall be able to separate or deterr him from the just defence of the Church as to let the world see that it was not as some ignorantly and uncharitably may term it pertinacity in the King not to assent to the destruction of the Church established but the dictate of a good conscience rightly informed And that it may well be so be pleased to hear and consider what how to whom where when the King swears For being to be Crowned King of England in the convention or presence of his Nobles Clergy and People in the Church the Bishop askes the King Sir will you grant and keep and by your Oath confirm the Lawes Customes and Franchises granted to the Clergy according to the Lawes of God The King answers I grant and promise to keep them Then the Bishop speakes to the King Our Lord and King we beseech you to grant and preserve to us and to the Churches committed to our charge all Canonical Privileges and due Lawes and Justice and that you would protect and defend us as every good King ought to be a Protector and Defender of the Bishops and Churches under his Government The King answers with a willing and devout heart I promise and grant that I will preserve and maintaine to you and the Churches committed to your charge all Canonical Privileges and due Law and Justice and that I wil be your Protector and Defender to my power by the assistance of God as every good King in his Kingdome by right ought to protect and defend the Bishops and Churches under his government Then the King at the Communion Table makes a solemn Oath in the sight of all the people laying his hand upon the holy Book and saith The things that I have before promised I shall perform and keep So help me God and the contents of this Booke Now I beseech you all good Christians judge whether this be not an Oath able with feare and reverence to bind the King to the performance For 1. it is taken by the King Gods Anointed 2. In Gods House the holy Church 3. At Gods holy Table 4. Upon Gods holy Book 5. Tendered by Gods Ministers the Bishops 6. In the presence sight and hearing of Gods people 7. To defend Gods servants the Bishops and the Church 8. With the imprecation of Gods curses and forfeiture of Gods blessings in case of not performance so that if ever Oath could truely be called the Oath of God this is it And yet if I mistake not there is somewhat more that adds strength to the Obligation of this Oath and that is That it is upon a contract betwixt the King and the Bishops for so the Oath is tendered to the King by and for the Bishops and from such a Contract and Oath if just and lawfull as this is who can absolve but he alone who is concerned and to and for whom the Oath and Contract is made which are onely God and the Bishops I have cast mine eye upon a Treatise touching the Kings Oath published by Order and written by Mr Geree Preacher of Gods Word at Saint Albans wherein hee goes about to perswade that the King without impeachment of his Oath at his Coronation may assent to the abolishing of Episcopacy I cannot without a great digression answer his Arguments which might easily be done from his own words and grounds but in stead thereof I shall set down his own words whence I hope it will appeare clearly that the King cannot saving that his Oath assent to the selling away the Church Lands His words are these The intention of that Oath is not against Legal wayes of change but against invasion of the Rights of the Clergy So that if selling the Lands of the Church be such an invasion then he professeth that the King by his Oath is bound from it and whether it be so or no in his sense and judgement heare himselfe speake in the same Treatise where he expresly saith To abolish Prelacy and to seize the lands of Prelates to any private or civil interest undoubtedly could neither want staine nor guilt So that by the plaine expresse verdict of this Preacher of Gods Word the King is proclaimed before hand to be a man of a stained and guilty conscience if he assent to the selling Church-Lands according
understood his Disciples and Apostles read Chap. 10. 1. where he cals his twelve Disciples whom he sends to preach and then in the close speaking of them he saith Who receiveth you Ver. 40. receiveth me And accordingly Saint Paul as I before proved maketh Sacrilege or taking away holy things a breach of the first Table which concerneth God which could not be unlesse God were the Proprietarie and owner of them but of such disputers I may say as Christ did of those Jewes Mark 12.24 Do you not erre because you know not the Scriptures nor the power of God What need we plainer proofe then our owne Law when as the great Charter speaking now in the name of King and people in Parliament saith We have granted to God c. Argum. 2 But the great Charter on which the Bishops so much relie was probably penned or gained by Bishops and it was granted in time of Poperie and savours too much of it Resp If the great Charter were obtained or penned by Bishops I know not but all Englishmen should rather commend then blame them for it for it is the best flower in Englands garden and I presume it savours not of Poperie but to such as have their senses stopped or themselves ill affected But if there be any Poperie proved in the Grant take that away in Gods name but let the Rights and the Lands continue for I know not how these can be capable of Poperie But wil all others who receive benefit by that Charter hold it null because granted in time of Poperie I trow not That which silences all such cavils is that as before it is proved this Charter was and is but the declaration and confirmation of the ancient Law of this Kingdome and therefore ought to hold and bind and then let me adde the first Impropriations in England were in time of Poperie and by Popes who of 9284. Parishes impropriated the Tithes of 3845. of the best of them which Tithes now for the most part are in Lay hands And thou that abhorrest Poperie committest thou Sacrilege For we say the Receiver is worse then the Thiefe Or why rather abhorrest not thou that act And why restorest not thou the Tithes being Sacrilegiously taken Argum. 3 But these or many of these Lands of the Bishops were given as by superstitious men and in superstitious times so to superstitious uses Resp Who doubts not but many good lawful and religious acts may have been performed in superstitious times and by superstitious persons Time or person do not I am sure should not denominate the act simply good or ill But was King Lucius who An. 176. gave the Church in England Lands was he superstitious Or those times such Who can prove it But which are the superstitious uses in Bishops lands Are they Preaching keeping Hospitality doing acts of Piety Justice Charity paying the King his due and serving the Publike For I finde no worse But grant there were some superstitious uses in the first Grant yet why shall the lands be taken and sold if the abuses be by the Bishops or other wayes taken away And Mr Geree before mentioned pag. 19. saith it What was Antichristian and contrariant to the Lawes of this Land was taken from the Church in the reigne of King Henry the Eighth And though the impulsive cause of giving some lands might be ill as to pray for the soules of the dead or the like yet the final cause being good as given to God why not separate the ill take away praying for the dead and the like all which is done and yet continue the good the keeping the Lands for Gods Honour and Service For read you not that the bullock which was set apart for the Sacrifice of Baal Judg. 6.26 yet Gideon sacrificed it to the Lord because it was not then in state Idolatrous Things I confesse which have and retaine the matter forme and dependence on Idols as having the badge of Idolatry these are not to be offered or continued to God and his Service which Bishops Lands neither had nor have no not so much as is continued in the City of Londons Armes or some great mens Coates they have not so much as a Crosse on them But if all should be taken away that hath been given to superstitious uses what would become of our Churches and if all abolished that hath been abused what would become of our Pulpits Communion Tables Sacraments yea of Parliaments or that most adored peece of Gods Service Preaching Exod. 23.2 In a word the censers are by wicked persons to as wicked ends abused by Korah and his complices what then are they therefore sold or turned into pots kettles or the like the like whereof hath been done in our times no but they were by Gods owne ordinance preserved in their holy kind Ver. 18. and that because as it is expressed in the Text They were hallowed to the Lord. Argum. 4 But the King it is said is bound to confirme what the two Houses have decreed and they have ordained the selling of the Bishops Lands Resp I shall passe by that so often fully answered Elegerint and shall confidently say that the King is no more bound to assent to what they decree then they are bound to decree and to sell the Bishops Lands to which they are not bound if the thing be not just and agreeable to the Law of God and man which whether so or no Chap. 4 5 6. I desire you consider what is before expressed The Precept of God I hope in your judgements holds Exod. 23.2 Thou shalt not follow a multitude to doe evil againe if that which appeares good and just to the two Houses be evil in the conscience of the King the King is not bound nay he ought not to joyne with the two Houses for Protestants as they rightly hold no salvation by implicite faith so neither that one mans conscience should ride upon the backe of another so that although some in Parliament may in part be excused in doing that which is not just through the false guidance of an erring conscience yet the King in doing the same thing against the light of his conscience may sinne whereupon further it may become a fearfull sinne by any tentation of promises threats restraints to draw or drive the King to assent to what his conscience forbids him to doe Againe the case betwixt the King and the two Houses in selling the Bishops Lands is very different for the King is bound by Oath to the Bishops to maintaine them and their Rights in their lands and possessions according to Law and Justice to which the two Houses stand not alike and so deeply obliged whereupon it followes I conceive that though the two Houses might the contrary whereof is before proved yet the King ought not to give his assent Lastly 1 Jac. 3. Coke Instit 4. the King as the Act of Parliament stiles him is the
this you will not yeeld to yet why not some other way to be found which lawfully may be taken rather then run this course which as proved is against Gods and mans Law I remember Mat. Paris it is storied that the Pope requiring great sums of money from the Clergy at which they repined the Pope answered that there was a necessity for it Yet upon examination in a Councel in France it was discovered that the Pope had made or brought on the necessity and partly to that end that he might fleece the Clergy which that just Councel well weighing put the holy Pope besides his plot and made him finde some other tricksom way to salve his necessity To answer therefore if there be such a just real debt just it is that it should be satisfied and as just that they should pay who have caused the debt if this be not liked yet that the debt should be discharged by a just and legal way which I cannot see how it is by selling the Bishops lands who were not the causes but if they were yet it cannot be just to take from God what is his for his Servants offence In answer to last Argument of which more anon That it will prove an hazard to the Church and State unlesse these Lands be sold I conceive is an Argument that lies either in the opinions or wils of them who other wayes may remedy it if they wil partly by finding the true proper causes of this mischief and necessity or by levying the money by some general Tax on the whole Land who so much groan under the present calamity and oppression that I perswade my self they would rather pay that debt then longer bear this burden But suppose you cannot or wil not find out any course whereby to discharge the Publike debt but this then confider how just and agreeable to Gods Word this course is and unlesse you can shew by Gods Law that you may sell these Lands then I dare affirme that be the necessity never so real never so great you may not sell them to any end In which case Saint Paul is bold and peremptory when he saith Some affirm Rom. 3.8 that we say Let us do evil that good may come whose damnation is just just to them that say or teach so and just to them who follow and practise so Let me for your memory repeat that acts of Pharaoh Gen. 57 the Heathen King and a Tyrant who would not in the greatest necessity which was of famine yet in that necessity he would not sell the Priests Lands Annot on the place and may we not feare a famine or some other great plague to fall on those Christians who shall dare doe contrary And will you give me leave to add and close this with the Note of Mr Calvin What bowels On Acts 4.35 What soules have we Christians now a dayes For the Primitive Christians sold their own lands and laid the price at the Apostles feet to relieve in time and case of necessity whereas we are not content alone maligne like Malignants this was the sense of the word then to keep close our own but cruelly and unjustly we take away that which is other mens they sincerely in faith and a good conscience offered their own for the Publike necessity but we use a thousand pretexts arts and tricks fraudulently and falsly on all hands and from all sorts of men to rake and draw to our selves other mens goods and estates I beseech you lay this to heart and considering the too much truth of it at this time what in you is labour to correct and amend it Argum. 16 The Bishops have too much which makes them proud whereas if they prove humble they shall have portions or pensions for life and this is as much as they can challenge by Gods Word Resp Just thus did some plead in the hurling times of K. Richard the Second Speed in R. 2. for so those times were called when many Peers and Commons not Ordained it was not then come to this but Petitioned the King that the Temporalties of the Church might be taken from the Ecclesiastical persons adding that it were charity thereby to humble them Whereupon saith he divers Parliament men designed among themselves out of which Religious Houses each of them would have his share The King heard them saith the story as I hope our King will but yeelded not to their wicked projects But if the Bishops be not yet humbled enough prove who those proud ones be in what or how and let those proud suffer according to Law for is it enough to say such an one is a Felon and without more adoe condemn him and forfeit his estate And if it be said they have too much have they any more or have they so much as their first Donors and Benefactors gave them and hold they it not by the same Law by which all other Subjects hold their estates I before told you what the Levites held under the Law and that God who gave it them thought not that too much no not for them who were but bodily labourers as it were in the Temple And if it may not offend to ask the question why in Gods name may not a Scholar as well born as well descended and as well if not better bred then others who hath spent all his life time in the study of Humane and Divine knowledg whereby to teach the people and govern the Church why may not he I say without envy have and hold as much as a Lawyer a Merchant a mechanick Tradesman and leave for his wise and children thereby to live after him For God held it just to apportion the opulency of his Priests under the Law to the wealth of the times and the Land wherein they lived yea and that if there were any exceeding it was on the Priests behalf I would you would be pleased to read two places of Saint Paul 1 Cor. 9.9 10. Gal. 6.6 with the Notes of Mr Calvin Bucer and others who observe that Saint Paul in those two places made not a simple and bare comparison that as the oxe and the husbandman lived by their labour and had no more so it should be with the Minister But they say there should be a proportionable equity and equality in their maintenance and this to be according to the dignity of their Function and the quality of their work and all this may be rightly evinced from those Words of God himself Luke 10.7 The labourer is worthy of his bire And who but an irreligious Atheist or an ignorant Mechanick wil say but that the Study the Function the Work of a Bishop or Minister of the Gospel is sequal to the best Lawyer Merchant or Tradesmen God forbid that we should be fallen into the times of Sylla who banished or sold the best of the Romans if they were rich But to return if some one of that
received thanks and two thousand pounds per annum bestowed upon him for his later service Doe Protestants think you maintain the Popish Tenent remissâ culpâ remanet poâ—â—a to punish after pardon Yea which is more to punish after pardon and reward Or may not Gods example work somewhat for preserving the Bishops Lands which did proclaim it selfe for the saving of all Sodom that if but ten of so many thousands could be found for God he would spare all those thousands grievous sinners for the sakes of those ten Or did God when ten could not be found involve Lot and his family in the general judgement of Sodom And shall the Lands of that Bishop who hath deserved so well of the two Houses be sold with the rest for the Ordinance concludes the sale of all If it be yet said as what hath not been said no matter how untruly that the late Archbishop of Canterbury promoted this last War yet was it any part of the charge at his trial And saith not our Law for Treason of dead persons not attainted or judged in their lives time 34 Ed. 3.12 their Lands shall not be impeached nor challenged And if not their own then as I conceive much lesse shall the Lands be impeached which they held of the Church But I proceed have all the Bishops promoted this War which none yet with any shadow of truth hath said for ought I ever could hear and if not why I pray shall Robert be punished for Richard And if any of the Bishops have promoted the War have they been called or suffered to answer the charge And was it ever found agreeable to Justice Law or Reason to give sentence before the party was heard if he may be found Sr Edward Coke saith it is against the Charter nay 2 Instit c. 29. was the late Impeachment of the eleven Members though by a special charge written and professed to be proved I say was this Impeachment Voted and Declared illegal and unjustifiable as to the suspending their Votes but for a time And shal such a general charge as this against the Bishops be held legal and sufficient for the selling away the Lands of all Bishops in England born and unborn without summoning hearing or giving the charge against any And if upon trial some Bishop shall be found guilty according to Law which I presume never shall be yet shall the punishment of one or more personal Delinquents extend to others who are innocent Yea to Successors which are not heirs at Law Or shall the Lord of the Land which is God lose his interest for the offence of his Assign or Tenent which is the Bishop Or is this sin in the Bishops greater then that vast damning original sin in Adam to condemn all not onely that come of his seed and race but all his Successors who are as little kin to his body or his soul as to his offence Nay yet shall the insensate thing that is the Land be prophaned and let the pretended Delinquent the Bishop goe unquestioned which is as if a Judge should take away the Sword and break it in pieces because it killed the man but let the murtherer escape the while The Charter saith 〈…〉 Nullus liber homo c. that no Free man shall be amerced or punished but according to the quality of the offence and yet so as with a salvo sibi contenemento where the Interpreter saith this Free man extends to Bishops and expounding contenementum to be his countenance saith That as the Bishop is a Scholar his books are his countenance and as he is a man of holy Function an honourable maintenance should be his countenance which if it might have held then some Bishop in this Land should not have had not onely all his maintenance Spiritual and Temporal for these four years utterly taken away not allowing him in all this time one shilling but not his bedding all houshold-stuffe and goods yea and all his books not leaving him one nor all or any of these taken by the plunder of rude Souldiers but by the Warrant of an honourable Committee although without any Ordinance The Charter goes on and saith That no Ecclesiastical person shall be amerced or punished according to his Ecclesiastical but to his Lay fee whereas here the clean contrary is published and practiced by this Ordinance â—â—od 32. Aaron the high Priest made a golden Calf Ver. 28. and built an Altar before it and proclaimed a Feast for it and said To morrow is a Feast to the Lord for which abominable act 1 Sam. 21. Moses caused three thousand men to be slain Abiwelech the Priest victualed and armed David against his King for which act Saul the furious King caused fourscore and five of the Priests to be slain 2 Reg. 1.7 1 Reg. 2.26 And K. Solomon said to Abiathar the Priest who had helped Adonijah to be King against Solomon Thou art worthy of death I could instance in many more acts of these Priests most displeasing to their Kings and some really sinful before God yet doe we find that any went about for all these acts to deprive the Priests of their Lands and maintenance for ever Might I not put you in mind that we have had in the time of Popery a Becket a Langton a Wolsey and other Bishops who instigated by the blind false Principles of their Religion have fallen into grosse treasonable acts yet did the King and the two Houses for their offences sell away the Lands of the Church which they held I read in the Reign of King Henry the Third that the Jewes in England were forced to pay the third part of their estates Mat. Par. p. 489 that they might enjoy their peace but must Bishops be worse used by Christians and their Countrey-men contrary to all Law then Jews And may not the Bishops truly say what the eleven Members give for their Answer in their printed Papers viz. We must be removed and that we may so be we must be represented to be what we are not and what ever is amisse in the Kingdom we are made the cause and must bear the blame of it Christianos adignem what publike calamity soever befell in the Primitive Persecutions the poor Christians were said to be the cause and must be made the expiatory Sacrifice for all But let men say what they will Elijah the Prophet of God was never the more the troubler of the Kingdom because he was called so and therefore we will say as Job Our witnesse is in heaven and our record is on high Thus far they and so the Bishops But for the close of all supposing the Bishops were what is here or elsewhere unjustly charged upon them yet give me leave to put you a Scripture case and Gods judgement thereupon and I shall leave it to your judgment and conscience to make the Application the case is set down Numb 16. where three ringleaders and