Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	bishop_n	king_n	winchester_n	2,881	5	10.8356	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A79864	A rod discovered, found, and set forth to whip the idolaters till they leave off their idolatry (which yet remains in the rulers of England, their ministers, and the people who follow thier wayes) which doth consist in the houses of high places, falsly called churches; the two universities, Cambridge and Oxford, (and their ministers, which are made by man, and not of God) and their ministers maintenance (not the ministers of Christs) which is portions of lands, tythes, offrings, oblations, obventions, and great houses for a certain dwelling place on the earth, and forms of oathes, all which is the fruit of idolaters, and the abomination of the heathen. So likewise here is described the true magistrate and his work; and the way (for he who is not) to become such a one; and likewise, the way for all people to come out of their idolatry, vo worship the true God in spirit and truth. Written by me Henry Clark. Unto which is prefixed the epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Laodiceans.	Clark, Henry, 17th cent.	1657 (1657)	Wing C4457; Thomason E926_1; ESTC R207580	107,831	79

c. but such a work God hath not required any one of them to do but they have in their own wills and by their own imaginations done it for I have read That it was thought good that the Election of the Bishop of Rome should be of no strength without the consent of the Emperor of Rome the Emperor did choose the Bishop of Rome But saith my Author This is now void for now the Cardinal they choose the Pope and the Pope he makes Cardinals and Bishops and the Bishops they ordain the rest with their Assistants viz. their Ordinaries Suffragans Arch-Deacons and by a carnal commandment did they ordain and consecrate them Pope Iohn the thirteenth writ to King Edger in England and willed him to see in his Cathedral Churches that none be promoted to be Bishops but such as were of the Monastical Religion Anno 747. And likewise willed the said King Edger To seclude all the Secular Prebendaries at Winchester to place in Monks And that no Secular Clark should be chosen a Bishop And so in King Edgberts reign Dunston Bishop of Canterbury Oswald Bishop of York and Ethelwaldus Bi●hop of Winchester they discharged the Priests and Cannons out of their Houses to place Monks in their Cells and Cathedral Churches as they called them but in former times the black Monks who went all in black clothes as the priests of England now do that followed the order of pope St. Bennit were called Regulars and Votaries and had nothing to do with any Ecclesiastical Ministry Anno 606. till the time that Bonifacius the fourth made a Decree that Monks might use the Office of Preaching Christening and of hearing Confessions and assoyling them from their sins And in King Edwins dayes the black Monks of Bennits Order began to swarm in England out of which Habite of black clothes the priests of England cannot yet get out of to this day And now seeing that I have mentioned these black Monks of pope Bennits Order I will put forth three Queries for the parish-Ministers so called of ENGLAND to answer with moderation First Seeing that you now in these dayes so many of you go in black Apparel and in long black clokes especially Whether the Chemarims which were certain idolatrous priests who wear black apparel as you may read in the Marginal Note upon the tenth chapter of Hosea and the fifth verse be your example so to do yea or nay Secondly Or whether do ye in love follow the fashion of the black Monks of Pope St. Bennits Order in your so doing year or nay Thirdly Seeing that Anselm Arch-Bishop of Canterbury with the Prelates and Clargy of England in their Synodal Council decreed Hen. 1. and about the sixth yeer of his reign at Westminst That the Garments of the priests should be of one colour and that their Shooes should be decent then I say Whether a black colour was thought to be most decent for the priests ga●ments and if it was then Whether you the priests of England who are now called Ministers do out of conscience at this day observe that Decree and so wear your garments all of a black colour as m●st decent yea or nay The Kings and Rulers of the earth with the pope made for themselves Bishops Danes Danes and Chapters Parsons Vicars Priests Ministers and by their own carnal commandments were they made and not otherwaies as you may see hereafter In the dayes of king Henry the fourth it was agreed upon by the king Statu●o ex Offi●i● Reg. Hen. 4. and the bishops and other lords That no man within this Realm er other of the Kings Majestyes Dominions presume to take upon him to preach privily or apertly without special License firct obtained of the Ordinary of the same place And in the dayes of the said king Henry the fourth Constitutions was made by Thomas Arundal Arch-bishop of Canterbury and others and he directed his Mandate and sent to all and singular as he said our Reverend ●rethren Fellow-bishops and our Suffragans and to Abbots Priors Danes of Cathedral Churches Arch-Danes P●ovests and Cannons also to all Parsons Vicars Chaplins and Clarks of parish-churches as he called them and to all Lay dwelling in his province of Canterbury Greeting That no manner of person secular or regular being authorised to preach now by the Laws prescribed or licensed by special priviledge shall take upon him the Office of preaching the Word of God or by any means preach unto the Clargy or Laytie either within church or without in English except he first present himself and be examined of the Ordinary of the place w●ere he preacheth and so being found a fit person as well in manners knowledge he shall be sent by that said Ordinary to some one chur●h or more as shal be thought expedient by the Ordinary according to the quality of the person Now take notice that all Laws Decrees Ordinances and Constitutions were made and established by the Authority that the kings and bishops had from the pope and by the pope and his authority was all the bishops danes arch-deacons suffragans priors priests vicars chaplains made and ordained here in England An. 25. Hen. 8. chap. 20. For first the king he was to nominate who should be appointed to be bishop to any See or Diocesse within this Realm and that then every person so presented to the pope and by him approved of was to be consecrated here in England by the Arch-bishop in whose province the said bishoprick shall be Read the Act at large An. 26. Hen. 8. cap. 14. but when king Henry the eighth had cast off the pope then it was enacted by the King and the Lords spiritual and temporal and Commons assembled in parliament That no person or persons that the King should nominate to be a bishop or arch-bishop in this Realm hereafter should be commended to the pope or to the See of Rome to have the dignity or office of arch-bishop or bishop within this Realm And it was likewise enacted That King Henry the eighth should nominate the person to be bishop or arch-bishop to the bishopprick that shall hereafter be void and that he was to send his Letters Missive to the Prior and Covent or the Dane and Chapter of the cathedral Churches where the See of such Arch-bishopprick or bishopprick shall happen to be void and they was to choose and elect that person whose name was contained in the Letter Missive to the Office and Dignity of the arch-bishopprick and then the party so chosen was to be presented to the King the other bishops was to consecrate him and then he was to be invested into his place And so king Henry the 8th was set in the popes place to be Head of the church An. 26. Hen. 8. cap. 1. and the Defender of the Faith and the same thing that the pope did for the most part he did with his bi●hops and others to help

and Diocess and of all other Suffragans to worship our Lady MARY the Mother of God our Patroness and Protectoress evermore in all adversity with such like kind of Prayer and accustomed manner of ringing as the Devotion of Christs faithful people is wont to worship her at the ringing of Coure Lesson when before day in the morning ye shal cause them to ring that with like manner of Prayer and ringing she may be every where honored devoutly by the aforesaid Our and Your Suffragans and other subjects as well religious as Secular in your and their Monasteries and Collegiate Churches And they had likewise the Image of St. Petronel and the Image of St. Christopher and the Image of the Crucifix all which and more were worshipped with Profession bowing of the Knees Oblations offering of Frankincense going on Pilgrimage kissings and setting up of Tapers or Images of Wax lighted and burning before them according to a Decree made by Pope Gregory the third at a Council at Rome held in the year 732. Fifthly In the Houses of high places that the Heathen and the Idolatrous Kings of Judah and Israel built they made Altars and reared up in them Ahab he reared up an Altar in the House of Baal 1 King 16.32 Chron. 33.3 and Manasseh he reared up Altars for Baal and a Grove as Ahab King of Israel did whereon they burnt Incense And Jeroboam stood by the Altar and he offered upon the Altar and burnt Incense And so likewise there was in those Houses of high places falsly called Churches here in England Altars and Super-Altars Rails Transubstantiation Reservation of the Lords Body as they called it and Mass Mattens and Evening-song holy Bread and holy Water Auricular Confession Absolution and Blessing and Cursing with Bell Book and Candle and singing of Dirges and playing on the Organs and burning of Lamps Now Now all this stuff and more was fetcht out of the bottomless Pit and turned into Decres to be observed and done by both Priest and people according to the Decrees made by the Popes viz Sebevianus Vitalianus Pelagius Martin and Benidicto the third And the ground and the end of all which doing was but to maintain the filthy lusts of the learned men who were trained up at Oxford and Cambridge to do all these things Sixthly The Houses of high places were consecrated for Pope Felix the third made a Decree That the Churches so called should be made hallowed by none but by a Bishop And Pelagius a Pope he devised a Memento to be used at the consecrating of them And Anselm Arch-bishop of Canterbury by the permission of King Henry the first and about the sixth year of his reign assembled a great Council of the Prelates and Clergy of England together at Westminster in which Synod and other Councils by them it was decreed That no Churches as they called them should be hallowed before the necessary provision be made for the priests and for the Church to be maintained And again the high places that the Heathens and the idolatrous Kings built up M●cca 10.83 84. Amos 6.13 were called by these Names following viz. Dagons House Dagons Temple Baals House and the House of High places that Jeroboam built up was called the Kings Chappel these Houses of high places are falsly called churches chappels Kings chappels Queens chappels Cathedal Churches and according to a device of Pope Felix the third they dedicated their Churches so called one to Christ and that is falsly called Christs Church and one to Peter and that is falsly called St. Peters Church and one to Paul and that is falsly called St. Pauls Church and others are falsly called by Name St. Georges Church St. James Church St. Maryes Church St. Katherns Church St. Bennits Church They might as well a called it Pope St. Benidicts Church and St. Martins Church or alias Pope Martins Church and Pope St. Nicholas Church Quest But some it is very like will say That their Churches are reformed of all such things as is before written To this I shall answer First The Names that was given them at their dedication by the Popes and popish bishops stands still as Christs Church St. Pauls Church St. Peters Church And again they are not yet reformed of all those PICTVRES and Images for still there remains the PICTVRES of men women and children in many of them and especially in and about London of Kings and Queens Earls Lords Ladyes and their children and others and in many places there is made by the Painters and others the likenesses of Angels Eagles Doves Lyons Wolves Hinds Asses Snakes the likeness of Boughs or Trees and the likeness of Water and the likness of the Sun Moon Stars and Firmament And their Churches so called are places of vanity and lightness and pleasures still and likewise they are places of false Worship Deut. 4.16 17 18 19. like the House of Rimmon still and they are Houses of Pictures and the likenesses of creatures is still in them which is contrary to what God did forbid the doing of saying Take ye therefore g●od heed unto your selves lest ye corrupt and make you a graven Image t●e similitude of any figure the likeness of male or female the likeness of any Beast that is on the earth the likeness of any winged Fowle that flyeth in the Air the likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground the likeness of Fish that is in the waters beneath the earth for ye saw no similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb And so yet the Houses of high places here in England were never reformed but in part like those of Israel and Judah that Jeroboam Rehoboam Ahab Manesseh and of other of those Kings caused to be set up were but in part reformed until such time that King Josiah came 1 King 13.1 2 3. according to the Word of the Lord spoken by the prophet when Jeroboam stood by the Altar at Bethel to burn Incense of which reformation I have set down some particulars as followeth For although much of the Idolatry that Jeroboam Ahab and others had set up were pulled down destroyed at several times by other Kings that succeeded them yet the complaint was That the high places was left standing still and not pulled down And so say I that some Kings and Rulers that succeeded the Saxons here in England have reformed many things that the Saxon Kings and others did do but to this day the houses of high places falsly called Churches the Tythes and the Priests remain standing up still like the stump of Dagon For Asa King of Judah did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God for he took away the Altars of the strange gods 1 King 15.14 2 Chron. 14 15. chap. and the high places and he brake down the Images and cut down the Groves that his Fathers had made and Asa removed his Mother

after they had sung a Psalm the Assembly was to be dismissed with a blessing Canon 33 35. and then they was to give with him a Testimonial of his ordination for the which he was to pay ten shilllings to the Register of the Assembly March 20. 1653. Ordinance O. P. and his Council Can. 39. and Can. 51. And an Ordinance was made by the present Rulers of this Nation for appointing Commissioners for Approbation of publike Preachers that the places destitute throughout this Nation may be supplied with able and faithful Preachers And for this end Commissioners were authorized to judge and take knowledge of the ability and fitness of any person that was nominated and presented to them and before any person was to be admitted to be setled in any Benefice or publike Lecture to preach and to take the stipened or profits thereof he was to be judged and approved one by the persons hereafter named in the Ordinance of whom you may see in the said Ordinance at large First They were to see if the party nominated and presented be a person for the grace of God in him Can. 36. 39. Secondly of his holy and unblameable conversation And thirdly as also for his knowldege and utterance able and fit to preach the Gospel And fourthlyly upon their Approbation of such his ability and fitnesse according to the qualification above mentioned they are to grant unto such Parson admission to such Benefice or Lecture by an Instrument in Writing under a common Seal Can. 41. The Bishops Cannons and Constitutions and the two Ordinances are in part equivolent each with other But in the latter end of the Ordinance they conclude and say It is not intended n●r shall be construed to be any solemn or sacred setting apart of a person to any particular Office in the Ministry of which I let passe for others to judge what difference there is betwixt this solemn and sacred setting apart and fome others in the foregoing generations for the Pope he gave power to the Cardinals who were his Legates and by them to the kings and the bishops And a Parliament they set King Henry the eighth in the seat of the Pope and then the bishops received their power from the King and the Parliament to make Ministers by a carnal commandment and so it continued so long almost as Kings and Queens reigned in England And the Parliament of Lords and Commons they took that power from the late King and his Bishops Articles of Religion 36. to themselves and gave power to an Assembly of Presbyter Divines to make Ministers by but that lasted but until the Parliament was dissolved And since the dissolution of the short Parliamont O. P. and his Council have taken the like Power and given the like power to their Commissioners for to judge and approve of who are fit to be preachers only in those places destitute throughout this Nation So that the Kings Queens and other Rulers of this Nation having got into their hands the same power that the Pope had did and do the same works in effect as the pope did but say I Who hath required this at their hands to do seeing that it is the alone and proper work of Christ to make and send forth his Messengers and Ministers as the Scripture testifieth how that Christ Jesus said unto his Disciples Luke 10.2 Matt. 9 37 38. Eph. 4.8 9 10 11 12. 1 Cor. 12.28 The Harvest truly said he is great but the labourers are few pray ye therefore the Lord of the Harvest that he would send forth labourers into his Harvest And Christ when he ascended on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men and he gave some Apostles and some Prophecs and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers And said Paul God hath set some in the Church first Apostles secondly Prophets thirdly Teachers for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the Body of Christ and for the perfecting of the Saints Now I say That God nor Christ did not give that power neither to pope nor to Cardinals nor to Bishops nor to Kings or any other Rulers nor to Councils or Assemblies nor to Commissioners since the dayes of the Apostles neither did he command them nor any one of them to go and ordain men to be preachers for hire nor to make ministers of the Gospel nor to give any man a commission to go to a parish in a city or to a town or to a village and there of the people take tythes and money for their preaching to the value of 100.l 200.l more or less by the yeer this is a work that God never required at any one of their hands to do no more then he did of Ieroboam who for making and consecrating of the lowest of the people to be priests for the high places which thing doing became a sin unto the House of Ieroboam even to cut it off from the face of the Earth 1 King 13.33 34. and to dedroy it Ye may read in the Scriptures that Moses he had a command from God alone for to go and take Aaron and his sons the Levites with him Exod 28 29 chap. to 12 13 14 15. c. Lev. 8.1 2 3 4 c. Numb 8.5 6 19. ver from among the children of Israel that they might minister unto the Lord in the priests office and to do the service of the Tabernacle of the Congregation But who gave Ieroboam and other the Kings of Israel and Judah any command to make priests for the houses of high places And who required any Emperor King Queen or any other Ruler of the Earth to make ordain or consecrate bishops priests ot ministers for to pray read or preach in the houses of high places falsly called churches And Elijah he had a command from the Lord to go and annoint Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-Meholak to be a prophet in his room 1 King 19.16.19 20 21. ver FOXES Acts Monuments Vol. 1. but by what authority did the pope go annoint cardinals bishops c. for did not the Emperor and others choose the pope or popes then had not the pope his command and authority from the Emperor and others and not from the Lord God that commanded Elijah to do what he did Matth. 28.19 20. And Je●us Christ said unto his Disciples All power is given to me in heaven and in earth go ye therefore and teach all Nations teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with you alway unto the end of the world But the Bishops of England they had their power in the dayes of King Henry the eighth An. 25. Hen. 8. cap. 20. Luke 24.49 Acts. 1.4 and 2.4 Eph. 4.11 from him and the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament to make ordain and consecrate Arch-Bishops Bishops Deanes and Chapters Deacons Priests Ministers

the Lord God will lead you out of all strife and contention and teach you how to agree with your adversaries quickly and to love your neighbor as your self and to forgive your enemies and to live in peace with all men Therefore I say to all people Cease from the Lawyers and follow the Lord wholly who giveth to man every good thing And again I say people Cease from the Doctors for so long as ye follow them ye will never enjoy your healths and come to God who sent his Word and healed the people and delivered them from their destruction Christ healed the woman of her Issue who had spent all that she had and had suffered many things of many Physicians and was nothing bettered but grew rather worse Therefore I say Forsake the Physicians and come to Christ who rebuked the Feaver and it left Peters Wives Mother God he wounds and he heals he kills and makes alive he brings down to the Grave and raiseth up again But some it is very like may say Must we not use the means when we are sick and take something to do us good Yea but I say Wait with patience upon the Lord stand in awe and sin not and if the Lord command thee to go and take a Plaster of Figs and lay to thy sore or to go and drink water 2 King 20.5 6 7. 2 King 5.14 Luke 17.19 or wash in the water and thou shalt be whole then go in the name and in the fear of the Lord and do as he commands and believing in the Lord so shalt thou be made whole Now I say That these three sorts of men for I will put the Doctors and Astrologers together the Priests who are called Ministers the Lawyers and Physicians are all unto the people like the Locusts the Caterpillar the Palmor-worm for all of them will have the peoples money and what the one leaves the other comes after and takes And again I say That these learned men have been ever a generation of persecutors of the people and servants of God and the Scriptures doth testifie with me that those Priests that were made and consecrated by men end the false Prophets were in all generations persecutors of the true Prophets and servants of the Lord which he sent forth to declare his Messages and this I will prove both by Scripture and History to be true For it is thus written in the Scriptures That Ieroboam the son of Nebat King of Israel 1 King 12.31 13.33 34. made at Bethel Priests of the lowest of the people which were not of the sons of Levi for the high places But in the dayes of Ieroboam the son of Ioath King of Israel God sent Amos an Herdsman of Tekoa to Bethel and Amos in the Name of the Lord declared against the high places and said The Land should be desolate and the Sanctuaries of Israel should be laid waste and that the Lord would rise against the House of Ieroboam with the Sword But Amaziah the Priest of Bethel he sent to Ieroboam King of Israel Amos 1.1 7.10 11 12 13 saying Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the House of Israel and the Land is not able to bear all his words for thus saith Amos Ieroboam shalt dye by the sword and all Israel shall be led away captive out of their own Land And Amaziah the Priest of Bethel said unto Amos O thou Seer go flee thee away into the Land of Iudah and there cat bread and prophesie there but prophesie not again any more at Bethel for it is the Kings Chappel and the House of the Kingdome 1 King 22.11 22 24. ver 2 Chron. 18.10 11 23. ver And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah one of Ahabs false prophets went and smote Micaiah the true Prophet of the Lord upon the Cheek c. And in the dayes of Iehoiakim King of Iudah God sent Ieremiah to go and stand in the Court of the Lords House and God commanded Ieremiah saying All the words that I command thee to speak unto them diminish not a word And Ieremiah said unto all the people that came to worship in the Lords House Thus saith the Lord I will make this House like Shiloh and I will make this City a curse to all the Nations of the earth c. And when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking Ier. 26.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 11 16. ver Luke 22.2 66. ver Matth. 26.3 4. 2● 1 2. then the priests and the false prophets and the people took Jeremiah saying Thou shalt surely dye And the priests the prophets spake unto the princes and to the people saying This man is worthy to dye but the Princes and all the people said unto the priests and to the prophets This man is not worthy to dye for he hath spoken unto us in the Name of the Lord our God c. And the chief Priests and the Scribes and the Elders conspired against Christ Jesus the Son of God and held a consultation and they and the whole Council took Jesus and bound him and carryed him away and delivered him to Pilate and would not cease till they had got him crucified and put to death for said they We have a Law Iohn 19.7 Act. 4.7 chap. 23. ch v. 2. 25. ch v. 2 3 and by our Law he ought to dye because he made himself the Son of God c. And so likewise in the dayes of the Apostles if any tumult or imprisonment or death fell upon them the Priests the Scribes and the Rulers of the Temple would often have a hand in in it first or last And as the priests and false prophets were that Jeroboam and other of the Kings of Israel and Iudah had made such like persons for persecuting were the Bishops and the Clergy of England who were bred up at the Vniversities of Cambridge and Oxford and such are the priests who are called Ministers in these dayes for I say The same spirit that ruled the Pope Cardinals Bishops c. in the persecution of the servants and saints of God the same spirit ruled the Bishops and the Clergy in the dayes of the Kings and Queens of England and the same spirit rules the priests called Ministers in England now in these dayes as it did them in those dayes Pope INNOCENT the third Pope LEO at RATISBONE See the form of the Spanish Inquisition FOX Act Mon. Vol. 1 2. See the Table of Germany Spain France Italy and other Countreys as well as the English Martyrs JOHN CLARK of Melden in France a Wool-Carder by Trade This latter was done upon him at METZ in LOTHERING 1524. for the Pope in his Councils made Degrees and Canons Institutions for the correction of Hereticks as they called them for whosoever did speak against him his Laws Decrees Canons and Institutions or the Popish Religion in general or particular either by disputing

God and man and the Canonical Institutions in this behalf accustomed That such Hereticks convict and condemned in form aforesaid ought to be burned with fire We command you as straitly as we may or can firmly injoyning you that you do cause the said William Sautre being in your custody in some publike or open place within the Liberties of your City aforesaid the cause being aforesaid published to the people to be put in the fire and there in the same fire really to be burned to the great horror of his offence and the manifest example of other Christians Fail not in the execution hereof upon the peril that will fall thereupon Teste Rege apud Westmonast 26. Febr. An. Regni sui And the like was done upon Iohn Badly a Taylor and Sir Iohn Oldcastle alias Lord Cobham and William Thorp for denying swearing by the Book and saying the Priests had no title to tythes under the Gospel was committed to prison in which it was thought that he dyed Now here I observe that in the Scriptures and in the heart it is written that Christ said Swear not at all and likewise that those Ministers that he sent out to preach the Gospel writ to the Brethren saying My Brethren swear not neither by heaven nor by earth nor by any other oath c. Now Christ that taught men they should not sweare at all he was by the Scribes and Pharisees and the high Priests who taught men to swear counted a perverter of the Nation and was vehemently accused and said that they had a Law and by that Law he ought to dye and they did not cease till that he was put to death And Iames he was by Herod slain with the sword who writ to the twelve scattered Tribes saying Above all things my brethren swear not c. And William Thorpe for denying to swear by a Book at the Pope and his Adherents command was put in Prison wherein it was thought that he dyed And now in these dayes some lye in prison because they will not swear at all Now I suppose that none will be so impudent as to say that Christ and the Apostles were not guided by the spirit of truth but that they will say on the contrary viz. That Christ and his Apostles were guided by the spirit of truth Then I say thus That the Scribes Pharisees and the high Priests and the Pope and his Adherents viz. the Rulers of the earth the Bishops and the Clergy were and are all guided by a spirit of error by which spirit of error the Scribes Pharisees chief Priests the Pope and his Adherents viz. the Bishops and the Clergy and the Rulers of the earth taught men to swear and do teach and compel men to swear by the same spirit of error And again The same spirit which Christ Jesus and his Apostles taught men that they should not swear at all taught many of the Martyrs to deny swearing at the Pope and his Adherents command And the same spirit teacheth us the people called Quakers to deny swearing at all for say we It is better to obey God rather then man and therefore we rather choose to suffer for the name of Christ then to obey man by swearing contrary to the Law written in our hearts by the spirit and by the power of the spirit of truth are we taught and do deny the paying of tythes to the priests of this Nation who are called Ministers or any other and by the power of the same spirit of truth do we so many of us as are called thereunto suffer not only bonds with patience but likewise the spoyling of our goods with cheerfulnesse for the Name of Christ Jesus our Lord our Law-giver our Judge and our Priest for ever of God by the power of an endlesse life and not by a carnal commandment as the priests of this Nation called Ministers are now made by But of tythes I have more to say hereafter and the priests likewise Anno 1540. 31. year of H. 8. April 8. And now I come to shew what an Act was made in the dayes of King Henry the 8th the popes Successor here in England who by the means of Stephen Gardiner was stirred up to shew himself severe and sharp against those new Sectaries Anabaptists and Sacramentaries as they called them and that some Articles might be set forth to confirm the ancient Catholike Faith and for this and other ends through the device of the popes Adherents the King summoned a parliament to be holden at Westminster of all the States and Burgesses of the Realm also a Synod or Convocation of all the Arch-bishops Bishops and other of the learned Clergy of this Realm to be in like manner assembled in which Parliament and Synod of the Bishops and the Clergy and by their means viz. the Bishops and Clergy it was decreed in pretence of unity among the Kings subjects That the six Articles which they had made should be received among the people and withall a penalty to be inflicted upon them that refused them which penalty and the Articles were called the Whip with six strings And the six Articles consisted the first of Transubstantiation The second of their Sacraments of both kinds FOX Act. and Mon. Vol. 2. The third about Priests Marriage The fourth was about the Vows of chastity or Widow-hood The fifth was about private Masse helping of souls out of purgatory And the sixth was about Auricular Confession And for the bloody penalty that was annexed unto those six Articles take as followeth and then judge whether the King and his Bishops and Clergy did not act like the Pope and whether they were not led all by the same spirit as the Pope was led by yea or nay Item That if any person or persons within this Realm of England or any other of the Kinge Dominions after the twelfth day of Iuly next coming by word writing printing cyphering or any other way should publish preach teach say affirm declare dispute argue or hold any opinion that the blessed Sacrament of the Altar under the form of bread and wine after the consecration thereof there is not present really the natural body and blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ conceived of the Virgin Mary or that after the consecration there remaineth any substance of the bread and wine or any other substance but the substance of Christ God and man or after the time abovesaid publish preach teach say affirm declare dispute argue or hold opinion that in the flesh under the form of bread is not the very blood of Christ or that with the blood of Christ under the form of Wine is not the very flesh of Christ as well apart as though they were both together or by any means abovesaid or otherwayes preach teach declare or affirm the said Sacrament to be other substance then is abovesaid or by any means contemn or deprave or despise the blessed Sacrament that then every such person or

their false Church which is but a house of high places For first at the end or in the middle of some there is a high place called the Steeple where the formerly christened Bells hang and that place is a high place for pleasure and a place for profit by their ringing of their Bells for when that one is dead they mourn and ring Bells and get money and when one is marryed they ring the Bells and rejoice and get money in the high place and formerly the Bells was wont to be rung to keep evil spirits and tempests from their Towns and when that the Pope or Bishop cu●st any for a sin as they called it they used to curse them with Bell Book and Candle then the Bells was rung that all might know that a he●etick or some such like was curst at high Altar So with the Bells they bless and with the Bells they curse with the Bells they weep and with the Bells they rejoice with the Bells they take pleasure and with the Bells they got money and with the Bells they used to call people to worship Images and now with the Bells the people are called together to worship a god a far off that they know not and at the ringing the bells the priests make themselves ready to go p●each for their hire who has the chiefest place in their Church so called viz the Pulpit and then there is a high place at the other end called the Chancel and high places of each side called the Iles and a high place called the Vestry in some where formerly the priests Vestments and Robes and other trinckits formerly lay in and then a high place in the middle called the body of the Church And thus I have shewed wherein and how they are called houses of high places and I deny them to be Churches c. Fourthly In the houses of hlgh places that the heathens and the idolatrous Kings of Israel and Judah built there was pictures images or the likenesses of creatures made and set up in them to be worshipped as gods which were not God but Idols the workmanship of mens hands for Jeroboam he made in likeness two Calves of gold and the one he set up at the City called Dan and thither the people went to worship and the other he set up at Bethel and Jeroboam said unto the people These are thy gods O Israel that brought thee up out of Aegypt 1 Sam. 5.2 by Tho. Grashop And the Philistines god was Dagon and he was as some write made from the Navil downwards in the likeness of a Fish and upwards like a man and to this I refer the Reader to the Marginal Notes of the great Bibles And the god that Ahab served was Baal which was set up in the house at Samaria which Ahab built for Baal and Baal is taken for Ashteroth the Idol of the Zidonians which Jezabel caused to be worshipped 2 King 10.18 1 Kings 16.31 32. Iudg. 16. and Baal was made in the likeness of a Ewe or a Sheep read I say your Marginal notes of your great Bibles upon the second chapter of Judges verse 13. And Micah the man of Mount Ephraim he had two Images made of Silver a graven Image and a Moulten Image and they were set up in the House of Micah for Micah had a House of gods and he made an Ephod and a Teraphim Now all these gold and silver gods were the workmanship of mens hands which the Carpenter the Founder the Graver formed and fashioned in the likeness of the creature the which doing was forbidden of God Deut. 5.8 who said Thou shalt make thee no graven Image or any likeness of that that is in heaven above or which is in the earth beneath or that is in the waters under the earth And now I come to shew what manner of Pictures and Images we had and now have in our high places falsly called Churches here in England First There was a Picture called the Rood of Grace that was swayed up in a place called the Rood Loft and hung upon shrines which the people being seduced were led aside to worship for I will instance two or three particular Roods that the Reader may know what they were The first that I now am going to write of FOXES Acts Monuments Vol. 2. is a Rood that a Carpenter had made at a Town called Haddam in Lancashire in the fashion of an old man gaping and grinning in such a sort that their children were so frighted at it that they durst not look upon it whereupon the Inhabitants did not like it and because it was so ill savoured they would not have it But in the dayes of Queen Mary bloody Bonner commanded that a wel-favoured Rood should be made and of a tall stature which was done accordingly and the Rood was dressed in white and green and annointed with Oyle crept to and kist and weighed up and set in his old accustomed place called the Rood Loft in Pauls Cathedral Church so called by them and by Edmund Bonners Order the Bells were rung for joy at the setting up of the Wooden god alias the Rood Again I have read of another Idol which was called by the Name of the Rood of Dover Court unto which the people did much resort because a rumor was spread abroad among the people That the power of the Rood of Dover Court was so great that no man had power to shut the Church door so called where he stood therefore said they The door is fain to stand open night and day Whereupon one Robert King and Nicholas Marsh of Dodham and one Robert Debnam of Estborgholt being moved by the spirit of the Lord did like Gideon go in the night ten Miles and found the door of their Church open as was reported they took down the Rood from his shrine and carryed him about a quarter of a mile from his place where he stood and stroke fire with a Steel and a Flint and set fire to the Rood and burnt him for the which good act doing they all three good honest men did suffer death by hanging in Chains They had likewise in their Houses of high places falsly called Churches the Image of the Virgin-Lady Mary which they worshipped and called the Mother of God their Patroness and Protectress ever more in all adversity and therefore Thomas Arundal Arch-Bishop of Canterbury directed his Mandate to the then Bishop of London to warn people to say certain prayers at the toling of a Bell or ringing of Corphew his words were as followeth Thomas by the permission of God Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Primate of all England and Logate of the Suay Apostolike to the right Reverend our Brother the Lord ROBERT by the grace of God Bishop of of LONDON Greeting At the Request of the special Devotion of our Lord the King himself We command your Brotherhood straitly enjoyning you That you command the Subjects of your City

preaching writing printing or otherwayes were counted Hereticks and then according to the Popes Canons Decrees and Institutions were the Cardinals Bishops and others of his Clergy to proceed against them in their Ecclesiastical Courts by iniquisition examination or proof of Witnesse c. and so to passe definitive sentence upon them according to the Popes Canons and Decrees c. and then those they called Hereticks were delivered by them to the Secular Powers viz. the Magistrates of the Land who did punish those that they called Hereticks by whipping stocking hanging burning chopping off of their heads or cutting out of their tongues and put balls of Iron in their mouths and boared their tongues through with hot Irons banishment and confiscating of Goods and many other torments c. And now I will instance one particular mans sufferings and that which they made his crime was for setting up a certain Bill upon one of their falsly called Church doors against the Popes pardons in which Bill he named the Pope to be Antichrist for the which he was three several dayes whipped and after that he was burned in the forehead I would have Parliaments to take notice of this whipping and burning and not do as the papists do and for pulling down the Images and breaking them to pieces he was by the Canons Priests and Monks c. judged and condemned and by the Secular Powers had his right hand cut off from his arm and with a sharp pair of pinsons they violently pull'd his Nose off from his face and his paps from his breasts and both his arms from his body and afterward burned him in the fire And so by this example let all judge what spirit these were of whether this spirit that led them on to do this was of God or of the Devil I say That that spirit that led them on to destroy mens bodies or otherwayes Luk. 9.54 55 56. Matt. 26 51 52 53. by burning was not the spirit of Christ Jesus for Christ answered Iames and Iohn saying The Son of man is not come to destroy mens lives but to save them therefore see how contrary that spirit was by which the Pope and his Clergy was guided by to destroy the lives of men to the spirit of Christ as you may read And the same spirit that guided the Pope and his Councils to destroy mens lives guided them to make Decrees to pay tythes for in the Council of Lateren under Pope Gregory the tenth said they Let no man give his tythes where he pleaseth as before but let them be paid to Mother-Church c. Now do but observe Tindall who said That all moral Divines have a wicked conscience TINDAL in his Book of the Revelation of Antichrist full of scrupulosity and said he All that do pursue are Antichrist the Pope the Cardinals Bishops and their Adherents Take notice and their Adherents do pursue therefore the Pope Cardinals Bishops and their Adherents are Antichrist and I say If of Antichrist then not of Christ but against Christ and his annointed did they sit in counsel and plotted against the just to destroy them And now ye shall see it appear that the Popes Adherents viz. the Bishops and the Clergy of England were guided by the same spirit as the Pope was Statute ex Officio Hen. 4. and also the Magistrates likewise for in the dayes of King Henry the 4th it was agreed upon by the King the Lords spiritual and temporal and by them enacted That no man within this Realm or other of the Kings Dominions do presume to preach teach inform maintain openly or in secret or make or write any Book contrary to the Catholike faith and determination of holy Church and if it happen that any person or persons of what kinde state or condition soever he or they be do attempt any manner of thing contrary to this Proclamation and Statute c. the Ordinary of the same Diocesse upon information had power by the said Statute so called to cause the party or partyes so defamed and evidently suspected to be arrested and to detain the party or parties in safe custody until he or they had purged themselves touching the Articles laid to his or their charge in that behalf or else till they had denyed and recanted c. And further If any person was lawfully convinced before the Ordinary of the place or his Commissaries of the said preachings teachings opinions writings c. and would not abjure and recant then sentence was to be pronounced by the Ordinary or his Commissaries upon the party or partyes and after sentence pronounced he or they were to be delivered over to the Secular Power viz. the Mayor Sheriffs or Sheriff or Bailiff of the City Town Borrough or Village of the same County who were to take unto them the said persons so offending and cause them to be openly burned in the sight of all people c. And Thomas Arundal Arch-Bishop of Canterbury with other of the Popes Adherents added to the Statute so called their own Constitutions whereof one was Item No manner of person shall presume to dispute upon the Articles determined by the * The Pope his Adherents were meant by them to be the Church Church as is contained in the Decrees Decreetals or Constitutions provincial or in the general Councils nor none shall call in doubt the Authority of the said Decreetals or Constitutions or the Authority of him that made them nor teach any thing contrary to the determination thereof c. and whosoever doth preach teach or obstinately affirm contrary to this and all other Constitutions and Decrees except he recant in manner and form aforesaid shall forthwith incur the penalty of Heresie and shall be pronounced an Hereti●k in all effect in Law And no sooner was these Constitutions and their pretended Laws finished but Thomas Arundall Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and the learned Clergy his Brethren Suffragans and Assistants fell to put it in execution and past sentence definitive upon William Sautre alias Chautre for an Heretick and delivered him over to the Secular Power viz. the Mayor and Sheriffs then of London to be put in execution and for fear said my Author that it should not be speedily enough done The Spanish Inquisition is no Law of God nor the Dominican Fryars that were deputed Inquisitors were no just Iudges of Heresie Neither was the English Clergy who were led by the same spirit See FOX Act. Mon. Vol. 1. Elizabeth Young denyed to swear in the dayes of Queen MARY Matth. 5.34 35 36 37. 23.16 17 18 19 20 21 22. Ier. 31.33 Heb. 8.10 11. Iames 5.12 Luke 23. chap. Act. 12.2 the Bishops called upon the King to make a Decre who thereupon did and sent it to the then Mayor and Sheriffs of London to put it in execution and the words of the Decree in the latter end of it are as followeth Provided alwayes according to the Law of