is worthy of his hire and that it is their duty to make them partakers of their carnall things of whom they receive spirituall things Further you are carefull to have them sober and peaceable and not to preach and speake against what is established by Law * Indeede I must tell you in my judgement no man can make way for a true Reformation except hee declare what is evill before he shew what is good Further you say you suppose subscriptions will not be injoyned to formes of Government and Discipline Here you seeme to yeeld that your formes of Government and Discipline be not of God then if there be no injunction none will obey but if injunctions none will obey for conscience for what good man can yeeld to an injuction that is not of God so then you may see your injunctions have beene the way and meanes to breed and bring forth a world of hypocrites as one may easily see by the Timeservers of your Church But you say that without a toleration we may injoy in a secret way our Church fellowship Indeede M. Edwards we have learned that lesson already for Christ hath taught us that we shall fly into the Wildernesse * and that the earth shall helpe us * but sometimes it proves to the danger of our lives and alwayes to the danger of our liberty as it may appeare by the practise herein London for though wee meete never so privately and peaceably yet such Cattle as your selfe are alwayes bleeting in the eares of your Parish Officers and Constables with your other Officers even till you move the Lord Major himself to be your drudge and as your horne which you push forward for the destruction of our bodies when he hath laid violent hands on them for it is evident that it hath beene to the losse of some of their lives and this is the liberty we have in this Kingdome and all through the instigation of you Priests But you say though some of the more sober and conscientious Ministers and people could use it better yet the Brownists and Anabaptists and weake brethren would be apt to scandall and therefore to avoid scandall you would iâ—siâ—â—ate that we are bound to neglect the whole forme of Church worship I told you before and I tell you now that you are afraid to have your owne glory ecclipsed and by this all men may see and by all your formers answers also that you would have us to enjoy in this Kingdome neither Ordinances nor conscience The next thing you lay downe is the judgement of an antient Father But indeede he is as sound in the faith as your selfe for hee would have men to joyne to Churches that have no power * And this being the sixth answer that you have given to their third reason you entreat them to lay all your sixe together and to consider sâ—â—ly whether God require unlesse they have a toleration to leave the Kingdome to runne many hazards and dangers when as they may enjoy so much at home without a Toleration as you say you have opened to these sixe answers To â—ch I answer when they are laid all six together they make but a peece of an answer to one of their Reasons and this piece of your answer is stuffed full of falicies as hath beene already proved and may further appeare by the conclusion of all here when you say they may have so much at home for it hath beene proved already that they can have nothing at home either in respect of liberty or worship but what they must have by stealth for when they would injoy the Ordinances of God which are Iewels which you would have none to have but your selves that so you might seeme glorious If any I say will presume to borow the Iewels and carry them away you will pursue after them and you know it was the practise of the Egyptians of old for they would have suffered the Israelites to have gone away empty and left their cattle behinde them so that they might have had nothing with them to have offered sacrifice withall and I pray you were not the Southsayers the cause of this by withstanding Moses and Aaron against the children of Israel even by the false Figures which they cast before the eyes of Phaâ—aoh to harden Pharâ—ahs heart even as you Priests doe at this day And thus I have laid together your sixe Reasons and weighed them but one truth is sufficient to over weigh them all But yet you have also a seventh Answer which is by it selfe and it is this That if they will not be satisfied say you without setting up Churches it is better they should get out of the Kingdome Besides you would have all others that be of this minde to leave the Land and goe to New-England that cannot be satisfied but that they must erect Churches to the disturbing of the peace of three Kingdomes Truely Mr. Edwards you shew your selfe a bloody minded man that would have the Innocent suffer for the faults of them that are guilty Was not the sending of your Masse-bookes into Scotland the cause of the disturbance and hath it not appeared plaine enough to the Parliament and to the Scots before the Parliament sate that the Bishops and Priests were the cause of the disturbance I doubt not but you have read both the Scotish Intentions and their Demands with their Declarations which have plainely manifested who and what was the cause of the disturbance it was not the meeting of a handfull of the Lords people which ever sought and do seeke the good and wellfare of the three Kingdomes with the life happy reigne of their Soveraigne Lord the King who alwayes sue unto God for the peace of the Kingdome in whose peace they may enjoy peace but contrariwise it plainely appeares that it was you and your Fathers house which caused this variance But say you it will be no great harme for many of them to goe away I answer It is like you apprehend the Judgements of God comming upon you and you thinke to be eased by driving out the Lords people in haste Further you say you would rather goe to the uttermost parts of the earth to live in a meane and hard condition rather than you would disturbe the peace or good of three Kingdomes For Answer to this I must tell you I would you had considered this before you had done it But now seeing God of his mercy hath reconciled them againe it may be the wisedome of you and your fellowes to depart unto Rome that Gods true Religion may be set up here in England without Popish Injunctions that so the last errour be not worse than the first for you say It is better that one perish than Vnity therefore in my judgement it is better that they should runne the hazard who have occasioned the strife Further you plead for your selfe and for hundreds of your brethren that you have borne the brunt
THE IVSTIFICATION OF THE Independant CHVRCHES of CHRIST Being an Answer to Mr. EDVVARDS his BOOKE which hee hath written against the Government of CHRISTS CHVRCH and Toleration of CHRISTS Publike Worship BRIEFELY DECLARING That the Congregations of the Saints ought not to have Dependancie in Government upon any other or direction in worship from any other than CHRIST their HEAD and LAVV-GIVER By KATHERINE CHIDLEY 1 SAM. 17. 45. Thou commest unto me with a Sword and with a Speare and with a Sheild but I come unto thee in the name of the Lord of Hoasts the God of the armies of Israel whom thou hast defied IVDGES 4. 21. Then Iael Hebers wife tooke a naile of the tent and tooke an hammer in her hand and went softly unto him and smote the naile into his temples and fastened it into the ground for he was fast asleepe and weary and so he died LONDON Printed for WILLIAM LARNAR and are to be sold at his Shop at the Signe of the Golden Anchor neere Pauls-Chaine 1641. TO The CHRISTIAN READER Grace Mercy and Peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ IT is and hath beene for a long time a Question more enquired into than well weighed Whether it be lawfull for such who are informed of the evills of the Church of England to Separate from it For my owne part considering that the Church of England is governed by the Canon Lawes the Discipline of Antichrist and altogether wanteth the Discipline of Christ and that the most of them are ignorant what it is and also doe professe to worship God by a stinted Service-Booke I hold it not onely lawfull but also the duty of all those who are informed of such evills to separate themselves from them and such as doe adhere unto them and also to joyne together in the outward profession and practise of Gods true worship when God hath declared unto them what it is and being thus informed in their minds of the knowledge of the will of God by the teaching of his Sonne Jesus Christ it is their duty to put it in practise not onely in a Land where they have Toleration but also where they are forbidden to preach or teach in the name or by the power of the Lord Jesus But Mr. Edwards with whom I have here to deale conceiving that the beauty of Christs true worship would quickly discover the Foggy darkenesse of the Antichristian devised worship and also that the glory of Christs true Discipline grounded and founded in his Word would soone discover the blacknesse and darkenesse of the Antihristian Government which the poore people of England are in bondage unto hath set his wits a work to withstand the bright comming of Christs Kingdome into the hearts of men which we are all commanded in the most absolute rule of Prayer to petition for for the turning aside whereof Mr. Edwards hath mustred up his forces even eight Reasons against the government of Christ which hee calls Independant and hath joyned unto these eight ten more which he hath made against Toleration affirming that they may not practise contrary to the course of the Nation wherein they live without the leave of the Magistrate neither judgeth he it commendable in them to aske the Magistrates leave nor commendable in the Magistrate to heare their petitions but rather seeketh to stirre up all men to disturbe their peace affirming most unjustly that they disturbe the peace of the Kingdome nay the peace of three Kingdomes which all the lands under the Kings Dominions know to be contrary nay I thinke most of the Kingdomes in Europe cannot be ignorant what the cause of the disturbance was But this is not the practise of Mr. Edwards alone but also of the whole generation of the Clergie as thou maist know Christian Reader it was the practise of the Bishop of Canterbury to exclaime against Mr Burton Doctor Bastwicke and Mr. Prynne calling them scandalous Libellers Innovators though they put their own name to that which they write and proved what they taught by divine authority and this hath beene alwayes the practise of the instruments of Sathan to accuse the Lords people for disturbing of the peace as it hath beene found in many Nations when indeede the troublers be themselves and their fathers house But in this they are like unto Athalia crying treason treason when they are in the treason themselves But for the further strengthning of his army he hath also subjoyned unto these his Answer to sixe Reasons which he saith are theirs but the forme of some of them seemeth to be of his owne making all which thou shalt finde answered and disproved in this following Treatise But though these my Answers are not laid downe in a Schollerlik way but by the plaine truth of holy Scripture yet I beseech thee have the patience to take the paynes to reade them and spare some time to consider them and if thou findest things disorderly placed laâ—our to rectifie them to thine own mind And if there be any weight in them give the glory to God but if thou feest nothing worthy attribute not the weakenesse thereof to the truth of the cause but rather to the ignorance and unskilfulnesse of the weake Instrument Thine in the Lord Jesus KATHERINE CHIDLEY THE Answer to Mr. EDVVARDS his INTRODVCTION _â— Hearing the complaints of many that were godly against the Booke that Mr. Edwards hath written and upon the sight of this his Introduction considering his desperate resolution namely that he would set out severall Tractates against the whole way of Separation I could not but declare by the testimony of the Scripture it selfe that the way of Separation is the way of God who is the author of it * which manifestly appeares by his separating of his Church from the world and the world from his Church in all ages When the Church was greater than the world then the world was to be separated from the Church but when the world was greater than the Church then the Church was to separate from the world As for instance When Caine was a member of the Church then the Church was greater than the world and Caine being discovered was exempted from Gods presence * before whom he formerly had presented himselfe c but in the time of Noah when the world was greater than the Church d then Noah and his Family who were the Church were commanded to goe into the Arke e in which place they were saved when the world was drowned f yet Ham being afterward discovered was accursed of his Father and Shem was blessed and good prophesied for Iaphat Afterward when the world was grown mightier than the Church againe then Abraham was called out of Vr of the Caldeans both from his country and from his kindred and from his fathers house g because they were Idolatâ—rs to â—â—â—ship God in Canaan Moreover afterwards Moses was seâ—â— and his brother Aaron to deliver the
children of Israel out of the Land of Egypt when Pharaoh vexed them h at which time God wrought their deliverance i separating wondrously between the Egyptians and the Israelites and that which was light to the one was darkenesse to the other Afterwards when Cerah and his Congregation rebelled against God and were obstinate therein k the people were commanded to depart from the tents of those with 〈…〉 l were the children separated from the parents and those who did not separate were destroyed by fire m and swallowed by the earth n upon the day which God had appointed * as 〈…〉 Noahs time who repented not were swallowed by wateâ— Moreover when God brought his people into the promised Land he commanded them to be separated from the Idolaters and not to meddle with the accursed things And for this cause God gave them his Ordinances and Commandements and by the manifestation of their Obediance to them they were known to be the onely people of God * which made a reall separation And when they were carried captive into Babylon aâ— any time for their sinnes God raised them up deliverers to bring them from thence and Prophets to call them from thence p and from their backesliding q And it was the practise of all the Prophets of God which prophesied of the Church under the New Testament to separate the precious from the vile and God hath declared that hee that so doth shall be as his mouth Jer. 15. 19. And we know it was the practise of the Apostles of the Lord Iesus to declare to the people that there could be no more agreement betweene beleevers and unbeleevers than betweene light and darkenesse God and Belial as Paul writing to the Corinthians doth declare when he saith Be not unequally yoked together with unbeleevers for what fellowship hath righteousnesse with unrighteousnesse and what communion hath light with darkenesse and what concord hath Christ with Belial or what part hath he that beleeveth with an Infidell and what agreement hath the Temple of God with Idolls for yee are the Temple of the living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and walke in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people Wherefore come out from among them and by yee Separate saith the Lord and touch not the uncleane thing and I will receive you and I will be a Father unto you and yee shall be my sonnes and daughters saith the Lord Almighty 1 Cor. 6. 14 15 16 17 18. Moreover they are pronounced blessed which reade heare and keepe the words of the Booke of the Revelation of Iesus Christ r among which sentences there is a commandement from heaven for a totall Separation s These things in briefe I have minded from the Scriptures to prove the necessitie of Separation and though the Scripture be a deepe Well and containeth in the Treasures thereof innumerable Doctrines and Precepts tending to this purpose yet I leave the further prosecution of the same till a fitter opertunity be offered to me or any other whom the Lord shall indue with a greater measure of his Spirit But Mr. Edwards for preparation to this his desperate intention hath sent these Reasons against Independant government and Toleration and presented them to the Honorable House of Commons which Reasons I thinke he would have to be get a Snake to appeare as he saith under the greene grasse for I am sure he cannot â—ake the humble petitions of of the Kings subjects to be a Snake for petitioning is a way of peace and submission without violence or venum neither can it cast durt upon any government of the Nation as he unjustly accuseth the Protestation Protested for that Author leaveth it to the Magistrate not undertaking to determine of himselfe what government shall be set ever the Nation for the bringing of men to God but leaveth it to the consideration of them that have authority And whereas Mr. Edwards grudges that they preach so often at the Parliament in this he is like unto Amaziah who bid the Prophet Amos to flee away into the Land of Juâ—â—a and not to Prophesie at Bethel the Kings Chappell and the House of the Kingdome * And though Mr. Edwards boast himselfe heare to be a Minister of the Gospell and a sufferer for it yet I challenge him to prove unto me that he hath any Calling or Ordination to the Ministry but that which he hath successively from Rome If he lay claime to that he is one of the Popes household But if he deny that calling then is he as void of a calling to the worke of the Ministry and as void of Ordination as any of those Ministers whom hee calleth Independant men which have cast off the Ordination of the Prelates and consequently as void of Ordination as a macanicall trades man And therefore I hope that Honourable House that is so full of wisedome which Mr Edwards doth confesse will never judge these men unreasonable because they do Petition nor their petitions unreasonable before they are tried and so proved by some better ground then the bare entrance of Mr. Edwards his Cavit or writ of Ne admittas though he saith he foâ—ched it from heaven for I know it was never there Neither is it confirmed by the Records of holy Scripture but taken from the practise of Nimrod That mighty Hunter before the Lord * and from the practise of Haman that wicked persecucuter * from the evill behaviour and malicious speeches and gesture of wicked Sanballet * and Tobias who were both bitter enemies to God and sought to hinder the building of the walles of Jerusalem But the Prophet Haggai reproveth not onely such as hindred the building of the Lords House but also those that were contented to live in their seyled Houses and suffer the Lords House to lie waste Hag. 1 AN ANSVVER To Mr. EDVVARDS his BOOKE Intituled REASONS against the Independent GOVERNMENT in particular CONGREGATIONS Mr. EDWARDS I Understanding that you are a mighty Champion and now mustering up your mighty forces as you say and I apprehending they must come against the Hoast of Israel and hearing the Armies of the Living God so defied by you could not be withheld but that I in stead of a better must needs give you the meeting First Whereas you affirme That the Church of God which is his House and Kingdome could not subsist with such provision as their father gave them which provision was by your owne confession the watering of them by Evangelists and Prophets when they were planted by the Apostles and after planting and watering to have Pastors and Teachers with all other Officers set over them by the Apostles their own Election yet notwithstanding all this provision the Father hath made for them it was evident say you they could not well stand of themselves without some other helpe This was the
have but something amongst you wanting yet that were to be desired and therefore you say there is no cause to leave the Kingdome nor for private men to set up true Churches Answer Indeed If your Church Ministers could be proved true which you see is a thing unpossible then it had beene needlesse as you say to leave the Land but neither is your Church nor Ministers true nor can the Ordinances be had amongst you without sinne and that this is the judgement of the Independant men is plaine by your former confession Where you affirme they will not heare of growing into one body or communicating with you before a Reformation neither submit to your Classes or Presbyters as Jure Divino But in the next place you say the setting up of devided Churches would be to the scandall of all the Churches and not the giving of scandall to one brother but to tenne thousands of Congregations Truely Mr. Edwards you overshoote yourselfe in that you make your selfe such an apparant dissembler for you would make men beleeve that you desire to keepe your Church and brethren unspotted and yet you your selfe with your owne tongue have most foulely scandalized the chiefe members of your Church making them so foule a people that they ought not to be communicated with * Further your words imply that so long as a man is not put upon the practise of that which is unlawfull he may beare I tell you againe that your whole manner is unlawfull and therefore all the Lords people as they desire to be blessed and to be found walking in Gods waves have cause to separate from your Church and to practise Gods Ordinances among themselves as well as they who are separated already which you here you call Brownists and the grounds and causes be so great that they may well be justified But you would have conscious men to consider Mr. Robinson concerning circumstantiall corruptions you say he shewes it is not an intolerable evill for evill men be suffered in the Church c. yet you confesse he affirmes it to be an evill Two things are here to be minded First that you would still please your selfe with this that you have a true Church though corrupted which hath beene proved contrary Secondly that you would justifie your Church by the sinnes of others But you know what Mr. Robinson saith That the government instituted by Christ is not onely neglected or violated in the Church of England but the plaine contrarie to it is established by Law But you say now supposing your Reformation it will be otherwise with England then when he writ But you may see it is verie plaine that the crueltie and wickednesse of the Church of England hath increased ever since that time You say there is but something neglected and you would make it the want of some Law to suppresse evill men To which I answer That your Canon Lawes be evill Lawes and your Lawmakers evill men and therefore it could not stand with their principles to make Lawes to suppresse evill men Thirdly you say that they whom you call Independant live in and are members of such Churches and yet they thinke it unlawfull to forsake them I pray you have any of them told you that their Churches be like the Church of England you must make proofe thereof for in this I will not take you upon your bare word Further you say they want some parts of Government and Officers appointed by Christ more matertally than will be in your Church upon a Reformation I answer I have plainely proved to you that Christs Church hath his Government and Officers but your Church hath neither Christs Government nor Officers But what it will be upon the Reformation I cannot tell But you say they must want the Ordinances or else they must have them with instruments without ordination I answer This is untrue as hath beene proved at large in the answers to one of your former Reasons against Independancie But you say you would have them heare with the defects in your Church and waite till God give you more light I answer I know noâ—e that interrupteth you for wee will neither meddle with your Idols nor with your Gods if you would but suffer us to worship our God after the way that you call heresie The next thing you say is that they tell you that something may be omitted for a time and that affirmatives binde not alwayes and that the exercise of Discipline may be forborne for a time when it will not be for edification to the Church but for destruction and therefore you question them for not incorporating themselves into your Church though something were more there to be desired yet you say there will be nothing contrary put upon them nor quite another thing Now that something may be omitted for a time that may plainely appeare for a man that hath brought his gift to the Altar and there remembreth that his brother hath ought against him must leave the offering of his gift and goe and be reconciled to his brother Matth. 5. 23. 24. Now that affirmatives binde not alwayes is plaine for they binde not alwayes in cases of impossibility but in such cases God accepteth the will for the deede Further whereas you say the excellencie of discipline may be forborne for a time when it is not for Edification of the Church but for destruction I say true discipline being rightly used is alwayes for the edification of the Church and never for destruction And whereas you affirme that there is nothing contrary put upon us by you or quite another thing I answer wee know you have none of Gods Ordinances without some other thing to accompany them Fourthly you say that they may safely be members of your Church in the Reformation of you I answer You might well have spared this your vaine repetition till you had obtained a Reformation But the Reason you have heard alleadged for their first going away granted in a letter from Rotterdam that reason still remaines though you say it is ceased and will remaine till the Reformation you have formerly promised But say you that practise they judge themselves tied to is founded upon a false principle namely that the power of government is given by Christ to the body of the Congregation I answer I have told you before in the reply to the second part of this your answer to their third Reason I now tell you againe that you make your Priests the head and body both but Christ hath given the power to the Church which is his body by whose power every Officer and member thereof doth move and doe their severall Offices Fifthly There is say you a medium between persecution and a publike Toleration a middle way say you betweene not suffering them to live in the Land and granting them liberty I Answer This is a very true thing for Pharaoh would have beene willing that the children of Israel
should have stayed in Egypt and made him bricke but he would not suffer them to goe into the wildernesse to offer sacrifice But if Pharoah had beene willing to have succoured the children of Israel he would have commanded his taskemasters not to lay burthens upon them that they could not beare but he did not doe so and therefore their bricke-making turned to persecution even as your injunctions and penall Lawes doe here in England and you binde them up with a pretence of his Majesties command which makes the burthen very mighty By this it is plaine that no good man can live in England without persecution even at this day But you would have them to have a third way for you say persons may live in the Land and injoy their Lands and liberties and not be compelled to professe and practise things against their conscience I pray you Mr. Edwards bethinke yourselfe now how untruly you speake and whether you doe not looke one day to give an account for your words for you know that no man can live in this land and enioy his lands and liberty but he shall be forced to worship according to the custome of the Nation Nay children that be but sixteene yeares of age though ignorant and scandalous in their lives are forced to receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper though it be to their utter condemnation Further you adde that if upon petition to the Parliament the Papists should have the Statutes repealed which injoyne them to come to your Church yet say you the granting the Papists a publike toleration for their Religion would be quite another thing in as much as you say though the Papists were the first in pâ—tâ—tioning for the former yet they move not for the latter For answer to this I tell you First That for granting the Papists publike exercises will not much crosse your principles for they and you are naturall brethren Secondly for that they move not for the latter as you say They neede not for they injoy it without moving and till this Parliament none hath disturbed them for many yeares But further you adde that so you judge that the Independant men may live in the land freely and injoy their liberties and estates but you have your clause whereby you still crosse all your own tale your clause is that it must be by comming to your Churches and enjoying the Ordinances Whereas you say so you judge it presupposeth that the Papists doe come to your Churches by what comes after that it must be by comming to your Churches and enjoying the Ordinances Indeede the Papists may come to your Churches and injoy your Ordinances for first they were their Ordinances for when you apostated from Rome you carried the Romish traditions with you even as your forefathers in their apostacie from Christ Iesus carried some of his Ordinances with them so you retaine something of Gods to make your owne ware passe in sale and have patched you up a bundle of worship borrowing â—lso some Iewish and Heâ—â—henish Ceremonies to make up your paâ—ke and will you be so kinde to suffer men to live in the land if they will but submit to this worship and promise them they shall never be compelled to professe or practise any more Indeede you are very liberall but it hath beene often said already and you have said it yourselfe that the Independant men cannot of conscience communicate with you before a Reformation Therefore if this be the medium you have betweene leaving the Land and toleration even that they must submit to your worship you might have bequeathed this Legacie to some that would accept of it and give you thankes for the Lord hath bequeathed liberty to his Sâ—â—â—ts and Servants and hath purchased it at a deare price even that they should be freed from all Egyptian bondage and hath commanded them to stand fast in that liberty wherein he hath made them free and whether they must obey Gods commands or your counsell be judge your selfe Sixâ—â—y you say If the former answers will not satisfie but that they must needs be in a Church fellowship as now they are then you say you you will shew them away according to their owne principles of a visible Church For answer whereof I must tell you that fallacies and false conclusions upon mens words without bringing their conditions can satisfie no man concerning the matter in hand but it may satisfie all men of your evill minde that you still labour to turne away the truth as it may appeare by the way you here have chalked them out to walke in which is That because it is their principle say you that a few Saints joyned together in a Covenant have power therefore you imply that there should never neede a greater addition to them * This you may know crosseth the whole Scripture as the very prophesies of the Church under the New Testament that is to say that a little one shall become a thousand and a great one a strong Nation Esay 60. 22. and that they should grow up as the Calves of the stall Mal. 4. 2. not onely in greatnesse but also in number and especially when the Lambe overcommeth that is even when the Saints overcome by the blood of the Lambe and the word of their testimony not esteeming their lives to the death Therefore you might have saved your schollership when you went about to teach them to make Churches in houses and also to come to your Church to the Word Prayer and Sacraments for they have not so learned Christ to come one part of the day to worship before the Idols and to stand another part before God for if they should doe so the Lord saith Ezek. 44. 13. they should not come neere him neither to doe the office of the Priest nor to come neare the holy things but that they should beare their shame and their abomination Further you might have saved your labour in teaching them to make family Church es for God hath directed them what to doe in their Families And it is not the practise of Gods people to shut out from their prayers and holy duties them that are of their Family for God gave his Law to Abraham for another end namely that he should teach it his Family and by so doing traine up members in his family for Christs Family Further you might have spared your care taken to shew a way for maintenance for those men among us that are schollers bred for if you can find no better maintenance for them then to come and be Lecturers amongst you as you would have them and to live in hope of the gifts of the dead that is no good provision for for want of those shooes men may goe long barefooted seeing they cannot by your owne confession doe that of conscience till there be a Reformation But you might rather have perswaded your Parish Priests to have bequeathed some of their large revenewes unto them