Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	church_n	ecclesiastical_a	magistrate_n	1,410	5	8.1093	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19395	Conspiracie, for pretended reformation viz. presbyteriall discipline. A treatise discouering the late designments and courses held for aduancement thereof, by William Hacket yeoman, Edmund Coppinger, and Henry Arthington Gent. out of others depositions and their owne letters, writings & confessions vpon examination: together with some part of the life and conditions, and two inditements, arraignment, and execution of the sayd Hacket: also an answere to the calumniations of such as affirme they were mad men: and a resemblance of this action vnto the like, happened heretofore in Germanie. Vltimo Septembris. 1591. Published now by authoritie.	Cosin, Richard, 1549?-1597.	1592 (1592)	STC 5823; ESTC S108823	96,463	116

as Iohn a Leiden was in Munster Woulde they not quickely haue brought them downe as Cnipperdoling was from being Consull to the basest roome of accompt that might bee woulde these if they had preuailed haue spared thinke yee either place age or sexe or shoulde banishment onely haue serued No Viscera impiorum crudelia And did not Hacket take vpon him to bee as great a Prophet as Iohn Matthewe or Iohn a Leiden his successor and Coppinger the Prophet of Gods mercie as high as Cnipperdoling and Arthington the Prophet of Iudgement and penne of a ready writer as refined and excellent as Crechting the goldsmith had not these also appoynted out Wigginton and Lancaster to bee their assistants for a time as it were their petie Prophets Did they not pretende the will of the Heauenly Father for euery most vngodly and absurd motion speech or action as namely for the defacing of her Maiesties Armes and that shee shoulde not bee prayed for Did not these pretend and feigne to bee in high fauour with God and that they could tell secretes and things to come meerely contingent and to bee able to cast out Deuils and to obtaine rayne at pleasure matters of as great difficultie and vnlikelyhoode as soothsaying and bewraying of things concealed Did they not inueigh against the humane wisedome of diuers of their owne iudgement whome they supposed not to bee forwarde ynough and doe not many of the Disciplinarian veine despise and condemne all helpes of good Artes and learning as little lesse then impious but specially in Sermons Was not Matthewe the chiefe Prophet of Munster his fansie stronger and his resolution greater then these Conspirators shewed in any part of their action when hee thought himselfe alone able to repell an whole hoste and yet hee was not therefore accompted furious madde or distracted of his wits Was not Coppinger likewise as deepely bewitched as the people of Munster when hee coulde not perceiue that Hacket did but dally with him about particular intelligence of some treasons supposed to bee plotted by some great persons had not these three and this sort of Humorists as great enuie at olde and Cathedrall Churches and others when as they seeke to procure their ouerthrowe Did not Coppinger fansie to haue had his extraordinarie callings and enlightnings by dreames in his sleepe Had they not likewise appoynted their gouernours for matters of Counsell and for other ciuill administration Doe not this kinde of persons also make shewe of desire to haue all questions decided alonely by Scriptures Doth not the Discipline giue the chiefe and soueraigne allowance or disallowance of all Ecclesiasticall determinations vnto the whole congregation Did not these Conspirators vse as meanes to bee trusted that God had reuealed such things vnto them othes and execrations of damnation and confusion to themselues as deepely as Iohn a Leiden did when he did sweare by his coate and by the newe Testament touching the like reuelation Did not Hacket their great Prophet thirst after and threaten reuenge against some great persons who hee though did stand in his way Did not Coppinger and Arthington proclaime in the Market place of Chepe and afterwarde defende that Hacket was King and Emperor of all Europe and that God had so appoynted it Did they not holde that he together with themselues shoulde goe forth and take possession of all his kingdomes here and abroade and subdue all kings that woulde not holde their scepters of him and be gouerned by such lawes and orders as he should appoynt and that he should seuer with his Fanne the good from the bad so that they shoulde not trouble and afflict the godly any more Had not Hacket also his said Prophets to proclaime him publikely King of Europe as Iohn of Leiden had the goldsmith Did not Coppinger vpon Arthingtons aduertisement with three most lowly obeysances and with great grauitie take vpon him and was ready to annoynt and sanctifie Hacket with the holy Ghost but that by a shift he was put off and as they of Munster had their prophane and impious celebration of the Communion before they sent forth their 28. Preachers In like maner had not these their hypocriticall fasts and prayers promulgated and made knowen vnto sundry of their owne disposition that they might ioyne either in bodie or spirit with them afore they enterprised any matter or entred consultation of weight or would assume their supposed extraordinarie callings Doe not these and all like affected to them by their teachers in euery corner seeke to winne or perswade as many to the liking of their opinions as possibly they can any way compasse and hemme in Haue they not also their sette emptie thundring wordes and solemne obtestations to allure men to beleeue that which they teach Did not the said two English Prophets offer by their Proclamation great mercie and ioyes to them that should beleeue or follow them and infinite woes and damnation to those that should reiect them did they not signifie that the time was come for the establishing the Gospell and Reformation by their K. Hacket and therefore willed all true Christians to be of good comfort because the wicked should bee ouerthrowen did they not engage their liues yea and soules vpon the veritie of the messages that they published and were they not a good while after their apprehension very obstinate and resolute in their fansies conceiued was not Coppingers promises of speedie deliuerance vnto Vdall as confident and resolute as Iohn a Leidens was vnto the people of that Citie though the euent shewed that at last all did but come to the riding of a blind asse did not Hacket likewise blasphemously affirme that by the whipping which Pigge bestowed on him he did suffer for the sinnes of all hypocrite preachers such as fauoured the discipline but were not so forward as hee thought they ought to be Was not the resolution of one of these as lewd as Rotmans who after all hope was past ranne amongst the armed companies if hee also did as was sayd with like wilfulnesse refuse to take any sustenance was not the desperatenesse of Hacket also most horrible and fearefull when as seeing no remedie but death he opened his mouth blasphemously against heauen and against the Maiestie of the Eternall God And concerning certaine opinions of the Anabaptists doe not many of the Disciplinarian humour come farre neerer vnto them then were to be wished for though they denie not the ciuill magistrates superioritie altogether yet in causes Ecclesiastical though they admit it in words they allow vnto him nothing else but execution of their orders without attributing any superior preheminence of commaundement in church causes for retaining of good order of soundnesse of doctrine in the Church Likewise though they take not the soueraigntie from the chiefe magistrate in causes of the common wealth doe they not so abridge and pound his authoritie in causes Ecclesiasticall that the very Papists doe attribute as much in this behalfe vnto him as they doe And albeit they will not absolutely in iudgement denie the lawfulnesse of an othe before a magistrate yet

Father had laid vpon him the sinnes of the whole multitude so that now they were cleansed and freed from all vice which was the deliuerance which he promised vnto them therewith they were to holde themselues contented When the Bishops strength by common supplies from the Princes of the Empire were much reēforced matters in the town grewe to that extremitie that by meanes of two persons who conueyed themselues secretly forth of the towne it was at last surprised by the assaylants though with much adoe and bloodshed euen after they were entred Their King with Cuipperdoling and Crecliting their two false prophets were taken aliue but Rotman their Reformed preacher seeing no hope to escape desperately ranne in amongs the thickest of the armed companies and by them he was cut in pieces The three persons aforenamed were caryed about the countrey as a spectacle to sundry the Princes and others thereabouts and after were brought backe againe vnto Munster The Bishoppe of Munster demaunded of the King by what authoritie he tooke vpon him to rule in that Citie who asked the sayde Bishoppe againe by what authoritie he the sayd Bishoppe claymed any power there When he answered that he had it by meanes of election of the Chapter and by consent of the people the King replying sayde that himselfe had his authoritie from God After two dayes had bene bestowed with them to reduce them by godly perswasions from their errours Leyden their King confessed his sinne and desired for giuenesse at Christes handes But Cuipperdoling and Crecliting would confesse no fault but defended their course and opinions with great obstinacie So all three being tyed vnto postes were dismembred by peece meale and pulled in small peeces with hotte burning pinsers and tongs and afterward their carkases were hanged vp there in yron cages but the King in the midst and much higher then the other two as his place required Besides certaine especial opinions which these Anabaptists held namely the yong childrē were not to be baptized touching lawfulnesse of Poligamie or hauing many wiues Of communitie of goods and that Christ tooke not flesh of the virgin Mary c. they also taught and defended many other strange erroneous and hereticall positions and yet they shewed as much deuotion outward holines and puritie as might be As for example they held these folowing viz. that a perfit Christiā might not exercise the office of a Magistrat nor might take an oth before him that God doth now oftētimes shew his will by extraordinarie reuelations dreames and visions That the common people haue an especiall authoritie in determining and establishing of Chruch causes That before the day of iudgement the kingdome of Christ shal be such as that the godly and elect shall ouerthrow subdue all the wicked and then they alone shall rule in the earth That it is lawfull for the people to depose and put downe the Prince or Magistrate That Ministers and others godly affected ought to establish though it were by force a Reformation in all Countries That Princes and Magistrates ought not to pursue this kinde of persons for that they are innocents and the beloued people of God That the seate of Dauid which was fallen downe must bee reestablished and that Christ nowe in the latter ende of the worlde shall reigne externally vpon the earth That the time of besiege they then liued in was that whereof Esaie prophecied wherein the iust and godly were afflicted and persecuted That the time of their deliuerance and enlargement was at hand which should be like to that deliuerance of the Israelites from the thraldome vnder the Babylonians And that then the wicked and vngodly shall receiue the guerdon and recompense of all their impieties committed against the saints all the vngodly being ridde out of the way the seate of righteousnesse should bee prepared and aduanced That there is none efficacie or force in that baptisme wherewith infants are baptized All which they obstinately defended and yet whensoeuer they were charged they pretended that they woulde acknowledge and confesse their errors if they shoulde bee shewed vnto them by the Scriptures to be errours Nowe as I haue done afore in the Historie of Thomas Muncer I must craue leaue that with the readers patience I may also briefly compare and resemble some of the dealings and errours of the Anabaptists of the Citie of Munster with the actions and opinions of these late conspirators of their Disciplinarian schoolemasters from whom they haue sucked like poyson For did not Hacket the most ignorant of all the three being but an vnlettered Maltster in like sort take vpon him to rule the other and to mannage the whole action and are not the most ignorant of such as be of this humor most presumptuous to direct all others and to discusse deepest doubts Haue not their mutuall cohortations and seditious instructions with their conceiued prayers and hypocriticall Fasts that they practised in priuie conuenticles and assemblies giuen greatest strength to his faction to the seduction of numbers Haue not the Magistrates now as great cause to looke into these proceedings before they make head vpon confidence of their multitudes Haue not all the stayed and sounde Preachers of this land by sundrie Maleperts and nowe againe by Arthington bene most insolently challenged vnto disputation Hath not the cause of this pretented Discipline beene neuethelesse quashed oftentimes in Pulpits in publike disputations in the vniuersities and by learned treatises written whereby the weakenesse and meagernesse of their childish collections haue beene fully displayed Will they make any haste or dare they to offer disputation if such conditions assistants and indifferent and learned Iudges as are fit shall bee set downe and appoynted and being beaten from their ordinarie meanes haue not these Conspirators and such as haue animated them betaken themselues vnto pretended extraordinarie callings rauishings in spirite caryings into Heauen reuelations dreames and visions Haue they not seditiously filled our streetes with their like hypocriticall outcries of Repent Repent c. and by gathering of Routes tending to vproare and popular tumult If their purposes had succeeded and their prophecies of killing and massacring men like swine in London streetes had come to passe woulde the outrages in haynousnesse haue come any whit behinde those of Munster If this sort of persons haue bene gratified with any indifferent toleration coulde their restlesse busie heads though they haue promised otherwise cease to hammer by long hand and secretely the bringing to full effect of their designements viz. That they might gouerne in the Church with Christes scepter and administer his kingdome for so they blasphemously terme the Discipline which they haue forged Was not the displacing of her Maiesties Counsell plotted by the Confederates and had they not assigned other Counsellors in their roomes Should those whome themselues had thus chosen and assigned haue remained long in place if their King Hacket had bene once inuested as fully and royally

great part of their Christian profession and zeale in the onely reproching and odious traducing of gouernors and gouernment Ecclesiasticall These two hauing itching eares most vsually heaped to themselues and made choise to heare and follow such preachers as were thought fittest to feede their humour which preachers with their sad lookes frequent sighes abroad long and vehement conceiued prayers bitter and playne inuectiues in priuate and priuie deprauing in publike of the lawes and policie Ecclesiasticall ioyned with their vsuall speeches besides sundry infamous libels and other pamphlets spred alreadie for aduauncing that gouernement which they strangely terme The Discipline may seeme so to haue inflamed these two persons as that they thought this Discipline a worthie subiect whereupon they should spend most of their actions and cogitations Their mindes being thus prepared it happened that some preachers of this Discipline were begun to bee proceeded with in the most honourable court of Starre chamber about the same time that this Coppinger by meanes of one Giles Wigginton came acquainted with William Hacket the third actor and chiefe setter foorth of this tragedie Concerning the sayd Wigginton because this also tendeth to the better vnderstanding of the whole action he was borne or bred vp in Oundel in Northhamptonshire where Hacket dwelt and he often resorted into that countrey by that occasion He was not long since a minister and Vicar of Sedberghe and Dent in the North partes but for his intollerable insolencies and contempts agaynst lawes and the peace of the Church was both depriued of that his benefice and deposed from his ministerie by authoritie of her Maiesties commission for causes Ecclesiasticall a man by report of such as know him best and fauour him not a litle whose zeale neuer came behind knowledge nor bold-hardie forwardnes at any time went after discretion in him This Hacket had dwelt also by a long space in Oundel where first he serued one master Hussey an Esquier by the space of tenne yeeres and after for some time hee serued Sir Thomas Tresham Knight he was a notable bragging and quarelsome fellow yet thought in trueth to be but a very recreant dastard He long together vsed one lewd vngodly practise which was to resort vnto sermons of purpose to gibe mocke and carpe at them and hauing a good memorie which was the onely commendable part in him he vsed in scoffing maner to preach ouer againe in alehouses the sermons that hee had heard most insisting and sporting himselfe and others at such passages thereof which pleased him least or whereat he imagined any likely matter of deriding might be gathered Whiles thus hee serued Master Hussey hee obtained by his masters countenance the mariage of one Moretons widowe of reasonable substance hauing also a good Farme in that towne But hee following loose and licencious companie and an idle course of life without labour or industrie either to get or saue lewdly and riotouslie mispent and wasted in short space all her goods It fell so out that at length hee pretended from a Papist or an Atheist to be couuerted to religion and knowledge of the trueth at what time he grew to be of familiar and inward acquaintance with the said Giles Wigginton and was an especiall follower and disciple of his both at publike sermons and priuate conuenticles Of late times hee was also consorted in partnership of malt-making with Wigginton their great acquaintance and familiaritie may appeare by a letter sent from Hacket vnto him the third of March last and by his lending vnto Hacket of ten pounds the superscription is To the worshipfull Minister of Gods word M. Giles Wigginton at Newgate In the letter thus hee writeth M. Wigginton I desire to communicate my spirit at large with you but I know not your keeper And in the ende thereof thus Good M. Wigginton make my sound heart knowen to master Cartwright master Snape master Vdall master Lord c. By his and such others like affected mens instructions and example of life and behauiour he so profited that in short space hee proued one that professed with the forwardest and practised with the frowardest For falling as fooles doe from one extremitie to an other Qui dum vitant vitia in contraria currunt he grew to a most insolent proude and contemptuous disdaine of all preachers and others whomesoeuer that flew not his pitch or lay not to the leuell of his pretended zeale But most gladly and with greatest felicitie that might be hee vsed to spend his mouth largely in inuectiues railings and contumelies against Bishops and other gouernors of the Church and also against the lawes orders and whole gouernment Ecclesiasticall not sticking as was probably suspected to procure also sundry lewd infamous libels against thē and other preachers c. to be framed and set vp thereabouts His detestation of Ecclesiasticall orders commaunded was so great that he could not endure to frequent the sermons which Ray the minister of that towne did preach because he seemed to him a little more conformable in some few matters by authoritie established then Hacket liked of Wherfore on Sabboth dayes Hacket vsually did resort to a place a mile off called Stoke where the minister fitted his humor better in companie of some of like strayne to himselfe and of certaine light idle gossips whereof some of the sincerest were sayd to loue and like him so little as that she could oft times be content to take the meate off his trencher which hee had cut for himselfe and to eate it vp from him But whensoeuer this deuout flocke came so neere to Stoke Church as they might perceiue the minister to be yet at diuine seruice and prayer then they vsed to stay abroad and rest themselues in the Greene churchyard there without going into the Church vntill they heard the Psalme begun before sermon for feare least they should be polluted by those prayers One most memorable pranke aboue others was played in Oundell by Hacket which is renoumed farre and neere for the vnmanly brutishnesse of it It hapned that M. Hussey his master fell at debate and was offended with one Freckingham an artificer of the towne This Frechingham had a sonne which was a schoolemaster who as in nature hee was bound did take part with his father Now Hacket meeting this schoolemaster in an Alehouse or Inne did louingly as seemed signifie vnto him how sorie hee was that there should bee any breach betwixt his master and him the sayde schoolemaster entertaining him that suspected no trecherie with such good speeches till spying an aduantage hee so grasped both Freckingham his armes as that he might easily hold him and throw him to the ground Thus hauing gotten him down on the ground vnder him Hacket most sauagely and currishly bit off the poore schoolemaster nose with his teeth which when hee had so barbarously performed both the sayd Freckingham and one Clement a cunning Surgion instantly desired the nose of him agayne