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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
city_n	bishop_n	church_n	rome_n	9,289	5	7.3911	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43613	The ceremony-monger his character in five chapters ... with some remarks (in the introduction) upon the new-star-chamber, or late course of the Court of King's Bench, of the nature of a libel, and scandalum magnatum, and in conclusion, hinting at some mathematical untruths and escapes in the common-prayer book, both as to doctrine and discipline, and what bishops, were, are, and should be, and concerning ordination, humbly proposed to the consideration of the Parliament / by E. Hickeringill ...	Hickeringill, Edmund, 1631-1708.	1689 (1689)	Wing H1799; ESTC R20364	90,871	81

Synod ep l. 2. c. 8. for not being contented with small Bishopricks and no bigger than a Bishop might superintend in his own person If Rapin be no sin It was never ● good World since ●he Clergy and Layety drove on two several Interests and two Bodies distinct and made the Church one thing and the State another If the Clergy endeavour to keep the people in subjection and under their Girdle Canonical by Impositions Canons and Acts of Uniformity endeavouring to Lord it over God's Heritage the Layety no wonder that they strugle for life and liberty and that the Feuds and Animosities betwixt them are Immortal but they would die cease and decease If Clergy-men studied to restore sinners and erroneous persons in the spirit of meekness Ay but the obstinate will not so be restored then let him alone perhaps he knows more than thou dost that art his Teacher However to his own Master he standeth or falleth and thou by giving him Warning hast deliver'd thy Soul as to matters of Faith and Opinion but as to evil works that is the Magistrates Province and care to correct and punish But if we cannot fright our Parishoners they will not care a Pin for us No you should say they do not care for you nor love you because you are such Scare-crows and Bug bears that would be If they fear you only they 'l never love you Do but labour diligently in the Word and Doctrine and fear not but that all good men will give thee of all men living as the Apostle says double honour which is due to a Ruling Elder much more to the Ministers ●hat labour in the Word and Doctrine though with us quite contrary to Scripture The Ruling Elder or Bishop is the man of double Honou● amongst us and the Pastor or Teaching Elder must ●carce keep his Har●on in the presence of the great Ruling Bishop to who● the Apostle indeed commands us to give double honour but more especially to the Ministers or Pastors that Labour in the Word and Doctrine Those are the most honourable the most reverend Jure divino if you believe the holy Scriptures But Fops mind chiefly who speaks not wha● is spoken if it be the word of a Lord It is with them more valued and obey'd than the Word of the LORD These are unjust and corrupt Judges but I will not punish them if I had power as King Cambyses did one of his unjust Judges of the Kings-Bench viz. pull'd his Skin over his Ears stuf● it with Straw and there Hung my Gentleman over the Bench in terrorem that other Tresylians might learn to beware of undermining the chief Pillar of any Government the Fundamental Laws Since therefore to give a Ruling Elder or Bishop more honour than a Paster or a good Preacher is expresly against holy Writ as aforesaid look you to that but that great Scripture which they bring to prove that every City had a Bishop and but one Bishop and every Bishop had but one City you see by what has been said both these assertions are sufficiently prov'd to be false though we had no other instance than in Tit. 1.5 For this cause left I thee in Greet to ordain Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greet is an Island that 〈…〉 a hundred Cities and was therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Reign of Leosophus the Emperor and Anno 880. there were but Twelve Bishops but all that time why should we imagine that they were all Christians when the third great City of the Empire Antioch where Disciples were first called Christians and bigger than any City except Rome and Alexandria yet had no more Christians in is than one Church will hold Acts 13.44 Nay Jerusalem where our Lord was Crucified had so few Christians fourty years after at the destruction thereof that all the Christians being warned by God to depart did depart to Pella a poor little Village says Eusebius lib. 3. c. 5. held them all But we will take it for granted that Titus ordain'd in every City in the Island of Creet a Bishop namely a hundred And which is not at all likely that all were Christians for till Constantines time one Church held all the Christians in Rome and one great Church in Alexandria held all the Christians there as their Bishop Athanasius gives an account in his Epistle to Constantius the Son of Constanine yet Heylin in his Cosmeg p. 263 says There are in Creet but two hundred and seven Parishes then by that account the great Bishops will get but a Plurality two Parishes for their Diocesses And ever since that Bishops first Monopoliz'd so many Parishes all under their Ecclesiastical Government There has been no Ecclesiastical Government at all but a meer Anarchy and confusion as at this day and has been the occasion of setting up so many Independent Churches to the care of themselves and one another for whom the Ruling Bishop could not poisibly take care E●grossing all Government we have none at all but some silly face of it in a poor surrogate and Register that minds little else than to singer the Pence and shear the poor Clergy and Church-Wardens twice a year in Visitations c. Deliver your Purse Poor Sheep escape better than we they are clipt but once a year and the Master that seeds them has the Wool but they that shear us poor Lambs take our Wool but seed us not they have it for nothing and their great Revenues will not satisfie but as I said in my naked truth It is not a sin for a rich man to rob the Spittle Let such hard hearted Clergy-men who have such exceeding many Flocks and Herds read their Neck Verse 2 Sam. 12.5 6. In Nathan's Parable of the Lamb and the Sentence And David's anger was greatly Kindled against the man and he said to Nathan As the Lord liveth the man that hath done this thing shall surely die and he shall restore the Lamb four fold because he did this thing and because he had no pity And what do they visit for To see that all be Uniform Pish it is not to be done they themselves are not Uniform nor their Cathedral Worship Uniform with one another nor with Countrey Churches nor with the Act of Uniformity And what harm So all things be done decently and in order it needs not by order of Uniformity Nay Pope Gregory the 〈◊〉 Six hundred years after Christ commends variety of Usages In unâ fide nibil officit Sanctae Ecclesiae diversa consuetudo Let them show us one such Diocesan Bishop as we have got in England In the best and purest Times or one Bishop that ever durst pretend to Govern the Church by Implicite Faith in others for the first three hundred years or any thing like it In holy Scriptures or any reason for it or any possibility to discharge that heavy charge And I 'le strike out Avarice and Ambition as the

the T●uth whatever be the Tune And why do all the People say this Verie There 's no Rule no Rubrick for it Or is it because the Ministers are wise and know better things and therefore will give the loolish unthinking M●mick's leave to tell that false Story But I am quite Tyced It is end●ess to find fault I had much rather see it amended the Common-Prayer Book is the more Amiable to me as Old Gold is more acceptable than New it has been long Tryed and has endured the Test pretty well which is more than can be said of any other Desultory Prayers that like New Guinees may many times be Counterfeit but as the most Tryed Gold will well endure to it may sometimes need the Refiners Fire But as for the said Black-Guard of Sumners Surr●gaces Apparitor's Informers Registers c. that Live by the Sins of the People it is as much beyond the Art of Man to 'mend them as it is to 'mend a broken Cob-Web and when you have u●'d your utmost skill it will not quit cost I have Studied the Point and yet am I not one jot the better Artist at it than I was Seven Years ago when my advice in my Naked Truth was to dress them according to the Vertuoso's Receipt to dress 〈◊〉 viz After you have wash't them in several Waters then Salt them Pepper them and lastly the surest way to prevent their Maliguity is to throw them on the Dunghill A Racr To bring the Pillory in D●sgrace Fruges consumere nati as if they were born for no other end but like Rats M●ce Polcats and other Vermin to cat up the Victuals Hunt about for a Prey and Run Squeaking up and down N●ver was there such Church Discipline and such Ecclesiastical Fellows to Manage it in the whole Christian World except amongst the Papists they indeed have the like Harpyes but every private Priest there is more than a Bishop here can take Confessions search their Entra●s and enjoyn Pennance Whereas we are Cumber'd with the same great Diocesan's but every P●●st there has Power to Rule as well as Feed the Flock and the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 1 Pet. 5.2 Si●infies both to Rule and Feed God commands both to every Presbyter but the Bishops Counter-check God's Commands and will take all the Weight upon themselves with the help of Sumners Notaries Register's c. Well God help them and forgive them they can take the Charge and strive for 〈◊〉 and think it a great Honour Ay so it is if rightly d●arged which is impo●s●c in our present Circumstances therefore have a care that the great H●nos ●e not too great an Onus a Burthen heavy enough to break the Back of any Mortal no Apostle duest undertake it but took care to leave Res●●entiary Bishops in Creet one for every Two Parishes when the Tenth part of those were not Christians neither but the generality of our People also differ from ●●fi less only in Name or the Baptismal Vow of Sureties in Baptism if ever they had any and is not worth a Rush nay it is ●orse than nothing by the P●rjury And in Italy at this Day they have many Diocesses that are not half so bigg nor by half so Rich and Populous as the Pa●ish●s of St. Andrews-Holborn St. Margarets-Westminster Sr. Martins Stepney St. Giles and many others yet not any of these is thought a Charge great enough for one single Shoulder under the Bishop whereas good St Augustine knew not how to discharge alone the Eplscopal Work of little Hippo without Co adjutors and in the little Teritory Adjoyning there were many Bishops as one at the Castle Synica near H●ppo another at the Castle Eussula ad Ecclesiae H●pponensis Paraeciam August de Civitate Dei l. 22. c. 8 Epist 261. Epist 68 Ecce Interim Episcopos nosires qui sunt in Regione Hepponensi ubi a vestris tanta mala patimu● convenite Aslemble our Bishops that are in the Territory of Hippo c. B●shops that had a City to Govern did not use to Bishop it in the Ter●ory Adjoyning the Bishop of Rome never pretended that his Diocess of Rome reached beyond the City for at this Day there are Forty Bishops in the Ter●tory of Rome and of old there were Sixty Nine Bishops there and not one of their Diocesles is so Great so Populous and so Rich as St. Andrews-Holborn Pope Innocent I. Epist ad Descentium Episcopum Eugubi Ep c. 4 cum omnes Ecclesi●e nostrae intrae Civitatem Constitutae sunt All the Churches of my Diocess are within the City and Acts 14.23 A Bishop or Elder had but one Church And Bishop usher Irish Relig. p. 63. says that the Diocess of the Bishop of Duplin in Ireland did not Reach over the City Wall tantum intra muros exercet Episcopale Offi●ium This which I have said is enough to pious Bishops but to such as are given to Filthy Lucre nothing will satisfie but more Mammon more more even Pope Leo himself Condemns such Bishops saying Domìnarì magis quam Consulere subditis quaerunt They make it their business to Dominter but not to Consult the Welfare of those under their Charge Pope Gregory Appointed Twelve Bishops in the County of York Respon ad 8. Interrog Surely our Bishops and great Doctors have contemptible thoughts of the Common Prayers as a Mean Underling Office or else why do they put mean Underling Curates and Singing men Sadlers or Coblers that can Sing and therefore made Deacon's to serve to Road Prayers and ●lo● them to some Tune and as soon as that Drudgery is over then a way goes the Quer●ster to his Shop whilst the Doctor and the Bishop reserve themselves for the Topping Pulpit if they say any thing except benedicite leaving the Common Prayer to Readers some School-boys not yet ●n●ncipated from School-dames will Read more Audibly and distinctly than many of them In short the Common-Prayer if ' mended will serve for a Crutch to the Lame and though I blessed be God need none yet the Crutch must not be thrown out of the Church for then you must throw the Parson after it general'y all England over The Common Prayer Book Oh! 'T is all in all it is a Crutch to the Lame Parson Eyes to the Blind Parson and puts Words into the Mouth of the otherwise Dumb Parson nay it is Ears too to the Deaf Disciples and Musick Ceremony monger the very O●accusticon of the Spirit Therefore here 's my Hand to it it shall have my Vote for my poor Brethrens sake upon condition tho' that it be not G●amb'd down other Men's Throats that need not be so Fed but can Chew what they swallow and also upon condition That we do no longer exclude a great part of Holy Scripture to make Room for Tobit and his Dog I mean The Apocrypha Have we not Apocryphal and unscriptural Ceremony-mongers enow that fill up the Steeples and High Places in the Church l●ke

see them at the further end of the Court let it Hail Snow or Blow this inclines Men to be pedantickly proud ever after I knew it too experimentally being made a fellow of Gonvil and Cajus Colledg in Cambridge when I was but Junior-Batchelor and not 19 Years of Age till Travel and Experience in the World which all Bishops have not refines this Insolence and makes it more sociable and complaisant But let no Man envy the Liberality of our Ancestors in endowing the Bishops and Universities so plentifully a few that are truly worthy and Learned Men may well compound for the generality of a contemptible Clergy that would not have been so truly contemptible but that my Ceremony-monger in bad Reigns got possession too often of the Steeple the lostiest Piece of the Church by Popish-likes and Foppish Ceremonies and then it behov'd him to keep open the Door by which he enter'd to such only as were like him and followed his Steps and ezclude all others to his uttermost whose Vertues and true Learning must necessarily if set near him ruddy his Cheeks and make him blush for shame But crafty young Lads finding that easy way to the Wood and that it was much more easy and profitable to go to a Dancing-school than to the Laborious Schools of Worth and Crabbed Learning to which it is so difficult and not so unprofitable as times hath been to bend the ●●nd and also so very s●cile honourable and beneficial to bend his Body in filly Cringings and Bowings farewel Books saith he and dry unprofitable Studies I 'le go to the Ecclesiastical Dancing-school and commence Doctor Ignoramus Hence it is that our Wise Men of England have made our English Bishopricks out of two poor words in Tit. 1.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ill understood in every City making Elders or Bishops saith St. Paul to Titus as I have appointed thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ●u every City Thence it is that such a pother wa● made to make such a little Town ' as Carlisle a City for why Forsooth and Colchester an Ancient City and twenty times bigger than Carlisle to dwindle to a Village for why Forsooth Because every Bishops See must be a City 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and but one City in a Bishop●ick and therefore little Ca●lisle must be a City and Colchester which to my knowledge is Ten times bigger and Forty times more Rich and Populous must dwindle from a City as Antiently it was the only City of Essex and why 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 has done its business City and Bishopricks must be Convert●es and London being the greater City and Bishops See or Seat E●go c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I confess Origen lib. 8. contrae Celsum does Paraphra● 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 much like Chrysostome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tom. Homil. 1 in every City thus the Lifeless Feather of on 〈◊〉 consumes an other Feathers that are near it and in the Nest whereas not only the hest Greek Authors but the Holy Scripture confounds the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Village and a City in several places both in the Old and New Testament as for Instance in 1 Chron. 4.32 their Villages were Five Cities Exam ● So in the New Testament St. Luke calls Bethlehem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the City of David Luk. 2.4 but St. John calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Village of David and I'l● call Bethlebem as I 'le give Colchester a Name too why not Since I have help't to Christen a great part of the Town these Seven and Twenty Years 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a City Town though the Bishops See or Seat at the great City of London has taken its good Name from it most Scandalously and nureasonably to give it to little Carlisle for the sake of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word the Ceremony mongers never right understood they were so busie about Ceremonies they had no more leisure to understand Tit. 1.5 than Philip. 2.10 both of them falsely Interpreted and the latter falsely constructed and falsely Translated either through Ignorance or fraud to make room for a Nonsensical Ceremony There were 1000 Bishops in Armenia says Baron●us ad An. 1145. And Justinian the Emperour Petravon and Novel 31. c. 1. says there were but Twenty Cities in Armenia in his time and they have decreast ever since how could 1000 Bishops then Sit in Twenty Cities except there were many Bishops in one City or many Bishops in Villages and small Towns Nay to go no further than Ireland St. Patrick Founded there 365 Churches and as many Bishops saith Nemius and also Bishop Usher late Primate of Armagh and yet there never were 365 Cities and now but Ninteen In St. Augustin's Time there were 900 Bishops in Africa August Tom. 7. de ●estis cum Emerit And yet not half so many Cities and many of the Cities in St. Augustin's Time were Heathens nay the Inhabitants of the famous City in Syriae called Heliopolis were all Idol● to or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodores lib. 4. c. 29. Eccles Hist. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor a Man of them would hear saith Peter of Alexandria the Name of Christ And yet there was then a Bishop of Heliopolis says Bishop Eusebius Pamphilus vit Constantine l. 3. c. 5.6 a Bishop that had a Flock like that of Bishop Mills in Arabia who had not got one Convert in his City nor any thing else but blows Sozom. l. 2 c. 12. these two Bishops had fewer Souls by Seven in their Diocess to Excommunicate than Bishop Ischyras who had but just Seven whereas our Diocesses are as much too big nay Moustrously too big as the other too little Is there no measure in us No Medium No midle way for true Vertue which always sits Enthron'd betwixt the two Extreama In Gospel Times the Bishops were chosen by the People and most Voices carried it for two of which God chose one by Lot the Lot fell upon Matthias and 260 Years after Cyprian tells us that all the People that is the Majority consented or else no Bishop was chosen Cyprian l. 2. Epist 5. Convocat● plebe tot● de universae fraternitatis suffra●io and Caec●lianus was chosen Bishop of Carthage totius populi suffragio Optat. lib. 1. by the general Vote of the People No Man was Excommunicated Cyprian lib. 3. Ep. 14. nisi causam acturus apud universam plebem Not every sneaking Register and peaking Surrogate could send a Soul to Satan for refusing or neglecting to give the Knave a Groat or the like brave Ecclesia●●ical Discipline of Church of England It is just so in Spain and Portugal but not so bad as here in our said to be Reformed Church of England Reform'd In what Oh! the Service Book is in English and made Intelligible by the Peoples alternate babling like those illegal Irrational and unscriptural Mock-songs of the Singing-men and Singing

Curats must all assent and consent that this falshood is a truth and such a falshood it is and of so evil consequence that it makes a blunder and confounds all our wise Methods of uniformity in Common-prayers Episties Gospels and Lessons And if we do not confess and subscribe that this falshood and untruth is 〈◊〉 truth then starve and dir I can give several other instances of our irrational Doctrine and Discipline but I am loth to offend let them even go on they 'l give me but little thanks for my pains already but I thank God I do not find the fault to expose it to shame but to cure it I know how And let me tell you it requires some skill in the Cure Why may not Lightning sometime come from a black Cloud and a dull By-stander see better sometime than he that play Some part of that seven-hill'd City Rome is scituated in a Vale as well as Westminster Hall and therefore no wonder 〈◊〉 sometimes both of them be in a Fog And if it abate the proved pragmatical imposing self-conceited dogmatical and imperious Spirit that confounds the whole Creation by Methods and Aims of Uniformity point blank against those different Measurer of God and Nature it is well CHAP. III. Concerning Bishops WHat I am going to speak concerning Bishops may the more favourably be received because so contrary to self-interest the worst of evil Counsellors For why may not I as well as any other live in hopes of a pair of Lawn Sleeves rightly put on since nothing else keeps me from making as good a Speech in the House of Lords as that which of late was only a Speech without Doors and proves so genuine and well aim'd that all of it 〈◊〉 now a Speech within Doors However I could serve as well as the best to make up the number of the Yea's or No's And that 's all the wise Speech that some men ever did make I do not say that ever they can make for the more frugal any man is and the less he spends the greater is his Stock But if I had been so hasty as to bespeak the Lawn-Sleeves this Sheet that I am going to write will spoil all my finery And certainly there cannot be such a Fool in England or the World as to think that the King's Letters Patents or Conge de Slyer can make the Baronet or the Bishop a Linguist or a Learned Man except he was so before though usually the Vulgar are of Opinion that if a Bishop or a Lord says it writes or preaches it O Heavenly because O Earthly and is a Judgment as preposterous a● that Action of the Orator when pointing to the Earth he declaimed O Caelum But it is a received Maxime No Bishop no King I know not who invented it but it may be true in some sense but it is false If it be meant no Rich Bishop no King for that the Rich Bishops were so Rich that what with the Hank they got upon silly Mens Consciences and the Interest that their Lands good Leases and Dependencies their Tenants Servants and Friends they were so prevalent when united that when our Kings have sometimes been so hardy and boid as to displease them they have either taken the Crown from his Head as the Rich Bishop of winchester unking'd his Brother King Stephen on whose Head that Nimrod of a Clergy-man had without any right clapt it on and upon displeasure the Bishop chiefly unking'd him again and in effect spurn'd 〈◊〉 off as Pandolfus the Popes Nuncio did the ●rown off King John's Head which say groveling at his Foot whilst the proud Prelat put it on and to shew the Ecclesiastical Insolence of some Lawn-Sleeves he up with his foot and kick't it off from the Kings Head. So that no Bishop no King Stephen or John and a Bishop no King Stephen or John for that Rich Bishops like other Rich Lords are a Strength to the Crown when it does not displease them and on the contrary have been too great and dangerous when controul'd growing musty and morose a King had as good be a Slave in Turky as to be at the mercy of such Popish-like Ecclesiastical Pride Nay did not the very Dean of westminster and the Arch-bishop of York chiefly though with others bandyed make the Reign of Hen. 4. and Hen. 5. very uncasie For which cause the wise King Henry 7. Invented a way to pull down the Stomacks of the great Temporal Lords with their own hands by enabling them to alienate and sell their Lands of which many were so glad that it was the first Bargain they would make to chuse away runs the Foot-man for the Usurer and Scrivener who were as glad to buy as the other to sell when both sides are willing the Bargain is soon struck up and Time was unwing'd till the Entail was dockt Then his Son Hen. 8. he reform'd the Clergy with a Witness and pocketed up the Reformation by Act of Parliament and excluded from the House of Lords all the spirtual Lords Abbots and ●ut their Lands in his Pocket by Statute Law. Edw. 6. and Queen Elizabeth were his own Children too for they and their wise Counsel finding that though the Spiritual Lords Abbors were excluded the House of Lords yet the other Spiritual Lords Bishops were so proud sometimes and high that no Body could imagine them to be the best Disciples of Christ who was meek and lowly therefore Edw. 6. took at once from the Arch-bishop of York about 37 great Mannors and were annext to the Crown and Queen Elizabeth amongst other things took all the Lands belonging to the Prince Palatine of Ely Bishop in the Vacancy and gave 2000 l. to be paid out of the Exchequer Annually a sufficient Competency and an Injury to no Man for the Bishoprick was in Abayance as the Law calls it in nubibus it being in posse any bodies but in esse no bodies So that I also am so much a Friend to that Proverb No Bishop no King and so very much a Friend to Bishops that where there is one now in England I wish there were twenty and as old as I am I hope to live to see it and yet not take one Farthing from the present Incumbenrs nor in the least diminish the vast Revenues and Grandeur of my Lords the Bishops that are in possession let them keep it I say till they die and die they must and then their Bishopricks being vacant by Death however if not sooner justly forfeited it will be no Injury to any Man to share out and divide the vast Incomes to many Bishops who must take the pains and perform the Work of a Bishop in their proper persons which is now done by Proxies Sureties and Implicite Faith. And I doubt not but that all my Lords the Bishops would be of my mind herein as to the Work of a Bishop which they themselves and all English-men find to be so great a Work and a

boys to feed which Mouthing Tribe so vast an Income is Yearly thrown away in Gathedrais that would easily supply together with the Sleepy Prebendaries when Vacant all the scandalous Livings in England For what Heart can a poor Minister of Twenty or Thirty pound per annum have to Study A Carpenter Journey man has more besides out of that Synodals Procurations First Fruits Tenths Delapidations Repairs Poor-Rates Arms Assesments and Taxes besides a great deal of Money most unconscionably to the Rich Bishop or his Secretary for Ordination Seven or Eight pound more for Institution to the Bishop then to the Rich Arch-deacon for Induction c. though he seldom or never stirs one foot about it but he and his Register agree to Pocket up the Money these charges Preliminary must be payed out of the poor Pittance and Trade he cannot Farm he may not nay Beg he may 〈◊〉 Starve he may except his great Task be to Study how to get Bread Drink and Cloaths and how to keep out of his Creditors Clutches Serjeants and Bum bailiffs This is his greatest Study and closest concern If he can spare a Six-pence or two to buy a Printed Sermon his Study has Books enow whilst the Lazy Fat Prebend and Ceremony-monger with two Livings a Prebendry or Deanry and Arch-Deaconry and two or three more unseen Incomes Advantages and Pluralities Drink Wine in Bowles and is not affected with the affliction of Joseph but as Red in the Gills as a Turky-cock or his Searler hood ever since he was made Doctor by Mandamus or the Morrocco Ambassadour Vertue and Learning always Shoot low If there he not some high and glorious Mark set to aim at Never greater Warriors in the World nor more Succesful than the Old Romans Why They were not so big as the Gauls much less then the Germans nay less then the little Don Diego the Spaniard yet Conquer'd them all wherefore The Historian tells us by the great Triumphs Priviledges and Rewards they gave the Emperours or Generals with all his Souldiers which made them Fight like Mad. This is certain Would you have a good Army Pay them well A Learned Ministry Pay them well but do not permit as they do in some Fish-ponds Ten or Twenty great Jacks to devour all the small Fry Yet too great Preferment breaks a good Back by over loading it A Scanty mean Presbyterlan-level of Preferments makes Scanty and mean Schollars for who will mend his pace and pains when fast or flow is all one all of a price all of one Reckonine And poor Scandalous Livings must make a poor and Scandalous Glergy and reduce us again to Barbarism How would such a Primitive episcopacy as I have shown here Reconcile the difference betwixt Presbyterians Episcoparians so truely construe that saying of Jerom Epist ad Evagrium I know not what a Bishop has more than a Presbyter except Ordination which is by our Bishops for want of Numbers now performed by ●he laying on the Hands of the Presbyters in Conjunction with the great Bishop who yet knew no more of the matter as to the Fitness of the Person Ordain'd than the Bishop himself viz. by Implicite Faith in oculo Episcopi called Mr. Arch-deacon or some Surrogate as is usual in his Room The Apostle Paul from Miletus sent to Ephesus and called the Elders of the Church Acts 20.17 which are there called ver 28. Bishops Nay Mr. Mede in his proof for Churches in the second Century evidences That no one Bishop had more than one Altar and that o●e Bishop and one Altar were Correlates But Pride Avarice and the Pope first made one Bishop serve many Altars by Curates and Journey-men and in requital they made the Pope The one great Bishop of Bishops Papa as every bulky Bishop is usually Styled in our Ecclesiastical Histories a Pope Pater Patrum ●ay the Pope himself called our great Bishop of Canterbury alterius orbis Papa And Mr. Fuller a great Friend to our Episcopacy confesses in his History of the Holy War lib. 2. c. 2. p. 45 46. that Bishops were set of old too thick for all to grow Tall and to such a Height as now and Palestine fed too many Cathedral Churches to have them generally fat Lidda Jamnia and Joppa three Episcopal Towns were within four Miles one o● a●other ●●d surely many of their Bishops to use Bishop Langham's expression had high Racks but poor Mangers Ay! this alone will breed the quarrel against all that I have said my lean Project starves greedy Avarice that will be ready to eat me for my pains well actum est de Episcopatu meo this is not the way for me to get a pair of dainty Lawn sl●eves I have read my own Doom and may use the Words of Bishop Chrysostome upon Heb. 13.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The fear of that threatning as they that must give an account makes my ●ul to tremble continually And the p●ous Learned Bishops will thank me heartily and those that are otherwise may live to amend Here has been a sad do with some of them in this poor Kingdom and all to keep up that Eccles●●stica● Grandeur that God never made which makes Chrys●stome say in Hev Hom. 34. I wonder how it is possible for a Bishop ●o go to Heaven or to be saved Read se●●ously his Homilles in Tit. in Act. in Heb. and if thou hast Grace thou wilt not so strive so for a Bishoprick and if thou hast not Grace thou arr not fit for a Parish-Priest to whom Bishops allow no part of Discipline or Government they are are only to Feed not to Rule the Flock But the Learned Fuller proceeds after this Interruption Neither let it stagger the Reader if in that Catalogue of Tyrius we light on many Bishops Seats which are not to be found in Mercator Ortelius or any other Geographer for some of them were such poor places that they were ashamed to appear in a Map and fell so much under a Geographers notice that they fell not under it No but as little as 〈…〉 pace tuâ quaint Mr. Fuller it is a great Bull for in that Age Bishops had their Sees at poor and contemptible Villages The Apostles Paul and Barnabas ordained Eiders Bishops In every City at Antioch Iconium Derbe and Lystra the three last are there called Cities Acts 14. Antioch was a great City the third in the World but in that almost all the Christian Inhabitants could meet together in one place to hear a Sermon Act. 13.44 And I●onium was but a small Village says Strabo l. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Derbe only a Cittadel in Isauria and Lystra only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ● Village in Isauria too And as for the Names of Bishops and Presbyters or Elders of Aldermen they are in holy Writ Indifferently used to signifie one and the same Grand Seigniour Why are the Arians so condemned by the Orthodox as Theodor

great cause and Surrogate a better Reason in the room and be their Profe●●te Nay I 'le stoop lower I 'le condescend to be my Lord 's the Bishops Chaplain and Apologist But If all their skill cannot do it then it is high time to Recant and Repent that iniquity may not be our ruine and to restore the Lamb four-fold and because rich Dives had no more pity of his brethren whom the rich Diocesan calls according to the Style in the Primitive Church Reverend Brother and Brother but looks over the head of his Brother Elder or Presbyter as if a Conge d'Fslier had made him a Saul and higher by the Head when he only Struts being Rich and stands a Tip-toe but is not a better man nor a better Scholar than he was before It may binder his Worth and Learning rather by Avocations runing from Ordinations to the House of Lords thence to the Council-chamber thence to confirmations thence to Visitations c. If these do not hinder a Mans Study and Improvement I have lost my aim Let them but Read Mr. Baxter's Learned Book of Episcopacy or Arch-bishop C●●nmer's Opinion or Ordination This latter a Learned and Holy Martyr The former a most Learned and pious Confessour or let them bu● read the New Testament and there is little or no difference at all betwixt a Presbyter or Elder and Bishop what in one Verse is called Presbyter in the next is called Bishop as Bethlehem the Town is the same with Bethlehem the City aforesaid And a Parish signifi'd the same with Dioce●s But in alter ●●mes when Christians Multiplyed if a Presbyter could not Watch over all their Souls they allowed him a Co-adjutor and for distinction and Precedency sake called him a Bishop who sometimes had not one Presbyter under him as aforesaid most commonly but one and till Bishops begun to Scramble for more Ground and like other Princes to enlarge their Dominions and Jurisdictions which was not till the Emperour Constantine made them so bigg that in the Fourth Century the great Work of Councils and synods was Perambulation to Mark out the Bounds of the● 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their Parishes or Diocesses to keep the Peace bet wixt the Encroaching Bishops in that Fourth Century called Ambitionis seculum The Ambitious Century not that Bishops in after Ages grew more humble or were Ensamples to the Flock in Self-denial Modesty Humility and Contempt of Worldly Grandeur and as they say they Vow'd in Baptism to forsake the Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanitles of this Wicked World c. But then first they begun to be ambitious of large Diocesses more than possibly they could 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or oversee then they got Journey-men and Surrogates and Registers and Apparitors and all that Tribe to Feed whom the Church Wardens are the Spaniels Sworn to Hunt and Flush the Game that the hovering Jar-Faulcon the Register may Pounce them there 's all and make a Prey of Poor Sinners never to be Redeem'd but by Silver or Gold. The Golden Key always gets Absolution which in Gospel Times and the Primitive Times never was purchased but with Tears in the midst of the congregation as Jerom of Fabiola ep ad ocean Episcopo Presbyteris omni p●puio Collachry-mantibus c. The Bishops Presbyters and all the People Weeping for Joy at those Peultent Tears and at the Return of the Prodigal mixing their Tears with his Heb. 13.17 Obey them that Rule over you for they Watch for your Souls as they that must give an Account c. A woful and sad Account must that Bishop make when God calls him to give an Account which will be very shortly of his Bishoprick for he shall be no longer Bishop Howought he to Tremble at the Thoughts of it When in ●●ead of Watching for the Souls committed to his Charge he has only wa●ch't for their Pu●●es And instead of Guiding them he has sent out Doctor 's Commons-men to Watch all England over in the Bishops Room we Trace them by the Footing at a Visitation c. What have they been doing Citing Admonishing Excommunicating Jayling Absolving this Twenty Nine long Years in all this Kingdom What ●en●●en●s have they made What Penance What Repentance Is it not a great Chear that defeats all Repentance By Commuting as the Papists and we say turning the Whores Sins by which she got Money they Joy in her for they go Ships into Money and a few great Whores are ●how to Maintain all the Ecclesiastical free-booters in Doctors-Commons she is the Thief that Pick 's Men's Pockets they the Receivers Oh! the Jubi●ee's they make when the Apparitor has found out a Rich Wh●re and a Rich Bastard which least they should miss let the Church-Wardens look to it for they Swear the Ecclesiastical Span●el always to quest upon a Haunt if he do not he is forsworn Oh most Preciou● Ecclesias●ical D●scipline that begins with Perjury and ends with Mercenary Repentance or Bribery Why should not the King and Parliament be as careful of their Subjects Souls as their Bodies For they also must give an Account But what an Irrational account would it be if it was to be feared that an Enemy should Land and Invade us at Harwich or Canterbury to say I have set a Watch-man upon the Top of Paul's or to make sure upon the Higher Steeple of Lambeth call to the Watch-men is the Enemy Landed at Harwich How angry would they be at such a non-se●sical Question And say Surely you are Mad Do you think any Mortal Man can see from London to Harwich Or from Lambeth to Canterbury There may be a Hundred Thousand Enemies Landed for ought we know How is it possible for us to Watch and Ward at this Distance In the ●nte●im the Kingdom is well look't to And the Coasts well Guarded are they not We are the next Door to Ruin if more Watch men be not set and stronger Guards which is easie and no charge or expence at all when the Pay that two Watch-men have ingrost would well pay and maintain fourty of as good Vigour and Ability and in some Sence better-sighted and better Tongu'd Watch-men to Feed and give Warning Or are the wellfare of our Lands and Bodies only the care of Governours And as for Mens Souls one Watch-man is enough betwixt this and Canterbury But you 'le say a Man is but a Man he does what a Man can do Nemo tenetur ad Impossibilia I grant But who bid him undertake such a Charge that no Mortal can discharge Who Who think you but Filthy-lucre and Ambition The Council of Sardica in the Fourth Century Anno 347. saw this Devilish mischief coming Trowling into the Church and a perpetual strife and comest about the Borders and Limi●s as Litigious as now at Doctors-Commons about the Probate of Wills and about Letters of Administration namely who shall get the Money whether the Bishop's or Arch-deacon's Courts of that Diocess