her Council and Parliament reformed many things that the others set up in the high places and otherwayes but still they left the Arch-bishops Bishops their great Lordships and the Glebe-Lands the Rectories and the Parsonages the first Fruits Tythes and the Houses of High Places standing for to be maintained still But then in the dayes of the late King the bishops and the Clergy by his Authority had got an encrease into their High places of their Organs their Rails their Altars Organists and Queâ—istors bowing and cringing to the Altars their white Surplisses Tippits Hoods and Copes and likewise Courts Canons and Intergatories Parrators-prisons Stocks Whips Gags Pillories for the honest Puritans to be punished withall but when the long Parliament sate they voted twelve of the bishops to be Traytors and cut off the head of one and put down all the rest with Danes and Chapters and all their Courts called Ecclesiastical Courts the Star-Chamber the High Commission Court and Counsel Table Anno 17. Caroli Regis and all their Officers and Attendants belonging to them and caused the Altars Rails Organs Quirestors Canons Singing-men and Singing-boyes to be all pull'd down and laid aside and caused the priests to lay aside their Surplisses Tippits Hoods and took away the great Lordships and Lands from the Bishops Danes and Chapters and sold them and their great Houses for the publike use and cut off the late Kings head and put down Kingly power or Government as oppressing and burthensom to the people and voted down the House of Lords as uselesse and made sale for the publikes use of the Kings Houses Lands and Estates and broke the Crowns to pieces for the publikes use as was repeated An Act Dei Vonens Sept. 1650. And likewise they repealed those Laws which the Enemies of God made use of to persecute the godly people by and so granted some liberty to religious and peaceable people as you may see by an Act of Parliament but notwithstanding all this they have left the High places falsely cal eâ— Churches standing still with the priests belonging to them and the Glebe Lands the Parsonages and the Viccarages and the Laws that the pope and popish Kings made to oppress the people by with paying of tythes and suing men at Law for tythes and imprisoning men for non-payment of tythes made an Ordinance for the taking trebble damages by distresse of mens goods for non-payment of tythes all this still remains undone and unreformed still by this present power that now rules and all those Judges and Justices in whom the Devil rules are protected who casts some of us the people called Quakers into prisons Rev. 2.10 and whip and stock us for bearing our testimony of Jesus by the spirit of prophesie And likewise our payment of tythes is our testimony that we thereby do own Christ Jesus come in the flesh and that for his sake do suffer both imprisonment and the spoyling of our goods and so own him to be to us both King Law-giver Judge and Priest and deny all Laws that are made in opposition to him who has changed the priesthood and disanulled the Law even Christ Jesvs the same yesterday to day and for ever who is over all God blessed for ever Amen But I say all those that make Laws for to pay tythes and all they who by those Laws require or force people to pay tythes and all they who do pay tythes and all they who receive tythes priests or improprietors deny Christ Jesus by their works to be come in the flesh and set at naught what he hath done upon the crosse and so likewise by their works own him not to be unto them neither King Law-giver Judge Priest nor Redeemer and so they all agree together and set themselves against the Lord and against his anointed but of tythes I have more to say against them hereafter Quest But it is very likely that some may say What wilt not thou pay thy money to the building and repairing of our Churches or of that Church of the Parish where thou dwellest for they that live in a Parish must do as the rest of the parish does and be subject to the Orders and Customes of the place where they live Prov. 15.9 Exod. 23.2 ver 24. Deut. 12.2 3. Ans The way of the wicked is abomination to the Lord and it is written Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil nor do after their works but I am to obey the Lord and to keep his Commandments therefore I have nothing to do with Ieroboams House of High Places neither go I to worship in the House of Rimmon therefore if Baal must have a House built or repaired let Omri and Ahab do it for I deny their works and therefore refuse to put a hand to it Isa 15.1 2. or to pay any money toward it for I go not with Moab to the high places to weep nor to howle neither do I take any delight in the high places that are decked with many colours upon the Walls with the likenesses of several creatures drawn by the painters and likewise their Scutchins and Streamers and carved and graven Images of dead men and women and children and the pillars of the high places likewise deckt with several colors â—zek 16.16 1â— 18 19. all are whoredomes and abomination as you may read in the Scriptures And now I come to speak of the priests which now go under the title of Ministers of parishes but formerly they had titles given them by men of Arch-bishops Bishops Danes Prebends Arch-Deacons Parsons Rectors priests Clarks made after the manner of other Nations and not of God Isa 29.13 2 King 17.32 33. 2 Chron. 13.9 The people they feared the Lord but said the Lord Their fear towards me is taught by the precepts of men And they made unto themselves of the lowest of them Priests for the high places which sacrificed for them in the Houses of high places and after the manner of other Nations Ieroboam he made priests of the lowest of the people which were not of the sons of Levi and he placed those priests in the high places which he had made at Bethel Now the lowest of the people were young men who were made priests of for Micah the man of Mount Ephraim he consecrated a young man Iudg. 17. chap. and he became his priest and he likewise had before consecrated one of his own sons who became his priest but the young man that Micah consecrated came out of Bethlehem-Iudah and he was of the Family of Iudah and a Levite as saith the Scripture and he took hire for Micah he hired him to be to him a father a priest for ten sheckles of silver by the yeer and a Sute of Apparel and his Victual so Micah hired him Mich. 3.11 and consecrated him and he became his priest The priests preach for hire the prophets divine or study for money
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 nâ—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 Jeâ—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-Arch-Bishops Bishops Deanes and Chapters Deacons Priests Ministers c. and the like power and command they received from other Kings Queens
if any such words was spoken as tended to Treason they were Traytors for concealing it so long Read the story of the life and death of THO. L. CROMWEL in FOX Act. Mon. Vol. 2 Here you see what was charged against the man for his good service and for all his good service that he had done the King and the Nation by the means of the blood-thirsty clergy had his head cut off at the Tower-Hill in London One thing I observe at the doing or bringing about this thing to be done is That before time the two Bishops viz. Sardiner Bishop of Winchester and Bonner bishop of London were made friends who before were the greatest enemies each to other that might be and by their means Barns Clark and many others were burned all that was contrary to themselves must be burned in the fire and they so delighted in burning of people that they burned some papists of their own Religion as well as Hereticks as they called them And thus ye may see what a bloody generation these learned men have been who were brought up at Cambridge and Oxford and other schollars and by a carnal commandment of man made Ministers and Preachers for no sooner did any thing of God appear in a King or other Magistrate but these like the red Dragon were ready to deuour that good thing in them For I find that young King Edward was one of a meek spirit Reâ— 12.4 and much inclined to clemency for he alwayes spared and favoured the life of man and favoured the life of those they called Hereticks for one Ione Butcher should have been burned and all his Council could not move him to put his hand to have her burned but were fain to get bishop Cranmer to perswade him to do it but Cranmer could not with much labour induce the King to do it do but take notice of the Kings answer to bishop Cranmer said the King What will ye have me to send her quick to the Devil in her error And yet although one Cheek the Kings School-Master could not perswade the King nor his council could not perswade him to set his hand to the burning of the woman Yet the bishop like the old Dragon overcame him to put his hand to the writing but Cranmer confessed that he had never so much to do in all his life as he had to cause the King to do it for said the King to Cranmer I will lay all the charge upon you before God So likewise his council sent the said Cranmer then Arch-bishop of Canterbury and Ridley bishop of London to perswade the King to permit his Sister the Lady Mary that bloody Queen to have private Masse in her House without prejudice of the Law for the which they alledged their reasons and perswasions for the accomplishing of the same but the King replyed to them by answering to them from the Scriptures so that they confessed what he said was true But still they like the Devil did urge him to it politickly and alledged what danger it might be to him if he should deny such a thing but the King answered them and willed them to be content for he would said he spend his life and all he had rather then agree and grant to that which he knew certainly to be against the truth Yet notwithstanding they urged him still to grant it and would by no means have his nay whereat the King seeing their importunity burst out in bitter weeping and sobbing and desired them to be content c. And by these two before writ of viz. King Edward and Thomas Lord Cromwell ye may see how those learned men could turn and wind about to destroy the appearance of God not onely in Kings and Rulers but likewise in others and if they could not destroy it one way they would destroy it another and that was by causing their bodyes to be imprisoned wracked whipped hanged burned c. as witness all the Martyrs in Queen Maryes dayes whereof Cranmer himself was one and the same spirit that ruled in those bishops and the clergy ruled in the bishops and the clergy in the days of the late King as witness the cruel sufferings of Henry Burton Iohn Lilburn William Prynne and Iohn Bastwick c. and the same spirit of envy and cruelty reign now in these dayes in the parish-ministers * But not in the Ministers of Christ of England for the Tree is known by its fruit for not only by their deeds but by their words do I judge them to be such as for what I have heard from some of their own mouths I shall let it pass and their deeds to me likewise But by the way take notice what Mercurius Politicus said viz. that several petitions were presented to the House Thursday the 18. day of Decemb. 1657. containing divers complaints against the growth and exorbitances of the people called Quakers and so did Pharoah against the children of Israel was this day read Exod. 1. chap. The first was from the county of Devon and Exceter The second was from the Ministers of Northumberland Durham and New Castle upon Tine but not from the Ministers of Christ And the third was from the Justices of the Peace Gentry Ministers of the Gospel as he said and others in the county of Palatine of Chester and the attestation of the same petition by the Mayor Aldermen and Ministers of the city of Chester not the Ministers of Christ The fourth was from the Mayor Aldermen and Common-counsel of the city of Bristol with the Ministers of the Gospel as he said and other chief Inhabitants there The fifth was the humble petition of divers well-affected persons Gentlemen Ministers he did not say here Ministers of the Gospel and others in the county of Cornwall which said Politicus were all referred to a Committee to consider of them and to collect such heads as may be fittest for a Bill for the suppressing of the mischiefs and inconveniences complained of therein c. And let the prisons in England testifie of the sufferings of those people called Quakers by the means of the Parish-Ministers of England and also the losse and spoyle of their goods for non-payment of tythes and likewise the whipping stocking and stoning of them by the brutes of this Nation above all other Nations for whereever they have yet come the Rulers hath not dealt the like to them as they of their own Nation have done unto them which Nations may be a witness against England in the day of Judgement for the hypocrisie and cruelty in her Rulers and their Ministers c. Quest But it is very likely that some may say They be not all such as thou shewest them to be for some of them are better then others therefore thou must not condemn all to be alike c. Answ I do grant that amongst the Rulers and Magistrates of this Nation there is some that are more sober moderate and discreet
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 cuâ—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 heâ—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 pâ—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
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 Mâ—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 gâ—od heed unto your selves lest ye corrupt and make you a graven Image tâ—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
according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel And Iosiah he turned himself and spyed the Sepulchres that were at Bethel in the Mount and sent and took the bones â—ut of the Sepulchres and burnt them upon the Altar aâ—d polluted it according to the Word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed by the Altar before the face of Ieroboam as he stood by the Altar at Bethel to burn Incense and he slew all the priests of the high places tâ—at were there upon the Altars and burnt mens bones upon them And then he returned to â—erusalem and that he might perform the words of the Law which was written in the Book that Helkiah the Priest found in the House of the Lord Iosiah he put away all the abominations that were spyed in the Land viz. the Images and the Idols and the Wizards and the workers with familiar spirits and the times that Manasseh observed too And thus Iosiah he went on and prospered in his work Lev. 26.30 31. Deut. 18.9 to the 14. and made a thorow reformation both in Israel and in Judah for he turned to the Lord with all his might and with all his soul and with all his heart according to all the Law of Moses neither after him arose any like him Here ye may see that King Iosiah did not do as other Kings did before him that is reform Idolatry in Judah and let it remain in Israel and take away Baal the Altar and the Grove and the House of Baal at Samaria and leave the two golden Calves the high place and the Altar standing still at Dan and Bethel which Ieroboam set up Nay he reformed Iudah and Ierusalem Israel Samaria Dan and Bethel Lev. 20.27 and all of the abominations that were spyed in the Land according to the Law of Moses And now ye shall see what reformation hath been made in England since that the Saxon Kings the Danes and other Idolaters built up the high places falsly called Churches Monasteâ—ies Nunneries Fryer-Houses Chantâ—y-Houses and Colledges Now the first beginning of any reformation that I find of the Idolatry that they had set up was in the dayes of Henry the eighth wherein a Parliament was called it was enacted and decreed That in causes and matters happening in contention no person should appeal provoke or sue out of the Kings Dominions to the Court of Rome Secondly It was designed and concluded That all exportation of Anuities first Fruits out of this Realm to the See of Rome for any Bulls Breefes or Palles or expedition of any such thing should utterly cease Thirdly It was enacted That the Pope all his Colledge of Cardinals with his Pardons and Indulgences which had so long clogged this Realm of England to the miserable slaughter of so many good men and which never could be removed before was now abolished eradicate and exploded out of this Land and sent home to their own country from whence they came and what reformation was this none at all for all this which they took away from the Pope in a manner was setled upon King Henry the 8th For first they made him Head of the Church as they called it instead of the Pope Their words of the Act are as followeth Be it enacted by this present Parliament That the King our Soveraign Lord his Heirs and Successors Kings of this Realm shall be taken accepted and reputed the onely supreme Head in Earth of the Church of ENGLAND so called Anglicanâ Ecclesia Secondly And shall have and enjoy annexed and united to the Imperial Crown of this Realm as well the Title and Stile thereof all Honours Dignities Preheminences Iurisdictions Priviledges See Foxes Acts Monuments Vol. 2. Authorities Immunitiâ—s Profits and Commodities to the said Dignity of Supream Head of the same Church belonging and appertaining Thirdly And that our said Soveraign Lord his Heirs and Successors Kings of this Realm shall have full Power and Authority from time to time to visite repress redress reform order correct restrain and amend all such errors abuses offences contempts and enormities whatsoever they be which by any manner of spiritual Authority or Iurisdiction ought or may lawfully be reformed repressed ordered redressed corrected restrained or amended any usage custome forraign Laws forraign Authority Prescription or any thing or things to the contrary hereof notwithstanding Now for my part I see that none of the poor common people were ever the more eased of their burdens onely the King and the Bishops with the rest of the Clergy except their paying of Peter-Pence to the Pope and that was none at all because now the Priests have a Penny for the smoke of every Chimney as the Pope had Now see where the reformation was first That a Bible of the largest Volume and in English be provided and set up in some convenient place of every Church as they called it Secondly The Pater-Noster was to be in English Thirdly Sermons was to be made quarterly Fourthly Such feigned Images but not all which were abused by Pilgrimage and Offerings were to be taken down without delay Fifthly Tho. Bockets day was forbidden to be observed but no other And sixthly The knoling of Aves was forbidden lest the people should hereafter trust to have pardon from the Pope for the saying of Aves between the said knoling as they have done in times past Seventhly The Abbies Monasteries Fryar-Houses were many of them pulled down destroyed And eighthly The Abbots the Monks the Fryars were suppressed but the Popish Bishops viz. Arch-Bishops Bishops and Priests were upheld stil maintained by their goodly Lordships Glebe-Lands Rectories and Tythes as well as when the Pope was the Head of the Church and men and women were burned for Hereticks as they called them then as they were when the Pope was Head of the Church so called And Transubstantiation and the Communion in both kinds and Vows of Chastity and the forbidding of Priests marriage and private Masse and Auricular Confession and all Images which served for no other use but as Books for unlearned men that can no Letters to be admonished by them as they said All such stuffe was left with the High Places falsly called Churches standing without any scruple at all And again in the dayes of King Edward the sixt many or very near all the aforesaid stuffe was laid aside onely the Houses of High Places the Bishops Arch-bishops Parsons Vicars Curates their great Lordships Rectories Parsonages Glebe-lands Tythes first fruits and all these remained still unpull'd down But when Queen Mary came to the Crown and ruled then all that her Father and Brother had reformed she set up again except Abbies Monasteries c. and fell to burning of men and women for declaring against her and her Bishops and the Clargies and the peoples abominations according to the measure of light by them received faster then all the Kings that were before her And Queen Elizabeth she and
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 Biâ—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 gaâ—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 mâ—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 Statuâ—o ex Offiâ—iâ— 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 â—rethren Fellow-bishops and our Suffragans and to Abbots Priors Danes of Cathedral Churches Arch-Danes Pâ—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 wâ—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 churâ—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 biâ—hops and others to help
him And so likewise I finde among the Injunctions and Ecclesiastical Orders drawn out by the King and his Council FOX Act. and Mon. Vol. 2. Constitut and Can. made by K. JAMES and the Bish. 50 51 it was agreed upon and directed to the Parsons Curates c. That they should not â—dmit any man to preach within their Cures but such as were lawfully licensed thereunto by the king or the bishop of the Diocesse Now it is to be observed That none was to preach but such as was licensed thereto by the king and his bishops And so likewise in the dayes of Queen Mary none was to preach but such as should be licenced or allowed by her authority An. 1. MARY 1. parl cap. 1. or by any arch-bishop or bishop of the Realm or by a lawful Ordinary or by the Vniversities of Cambridge or Oxford So that all the preachers was made either by a woman or by men that preached and they whom God ordained and sent was not suffered to preach but must be burnt And in the dayes of Queen Elizabeth it was enacted That every person under the degree of a bishop which doth or shall pretend to be a priest or minister of Gods holy Word and Sacraments shall in the presence of the bishop or guardian of the Spiritualities subscribe all the Articles of Religion which was agreed upon by the arch-bishops and bishops of both provinces Ann. 13. ELIZ. cap. 12 and the whole clargy but if the party did affirm or maintain any Doctrine directly contrary to those articles except he did revoke his error he was to be deprived And again Constitut and Can. 34. made in K. JAMES dayes None was to be made a Minister or admitted to preach or administer the Sacraments being under the age of 24. yeers unless he bring to that Diocesse from men known to the Bishop to be of sound Religion and a testimonial of his honest life and of his professing the Doctrine expressed in the said Articles So that all the preachers and ministers and priests was made ordained and allowed on by a Woman and her Bishops and all that they did was contrary to what God had done as you shall see hereafter And thus the Kings Queens Lords and Commons set themselves in councils and took counsel together but not of the Lord how to make to themselves Bishops Arch-bishops Danes Priests Preachers Ministers c. and if they did not like their preaching then they did turn them out when they had so don but who required any of all this at their hands did God requre it at their hands I say Nay for although God did long bear with them yet you may remember what end they came to by the Parliament in those yeers they sate in from 1641. to 1653. But in the yeer 1644. the Lords and Commons then assembled in Parliament The parish Ministers of Engl. are made by a carnal commandment they made an Ordinance to give power to the Presbiter Assembly of Divines so called by them and the Presbyters for the Ordination of Ministers according to the Directory for Ordination and they gave the Assembly of Divines Rules for examination of them they ordained to be Ministers as hereafter is expressed 1. He that was to be ordained was to address himself to the Ministers appointed to ordain and he was to bring with him a testimonial that he had taken the Covenant of the three Kingdoms Can. 33 34 36. and how long he had been in the Vniversity and of his diligence in his studyes and what Degrees he had taken up there and of his age which was to be twenty four years at least but especially of his life and conversation 2. They was to proceed to inquire touching the Grace of God in him and of his learning and sufficiency and they were to make tryal what skill he had in the original tongues by reading the Hebrew and Greek Testaments and of his other learning and skill in Logick and Philosophy and what Authors in Divinity he had read and they were to make tryal of his knowledge in the chief grounds of Religion and of his ability to defend the Orthodox Doctrine against that which they called unsound and erroneous Opinions and of his skill in the sense and meaning of such places of Scripture as shall be propounded to him in case of conscience and likewise what skill he had in the Chronologie of Scripture and of the Ecclesiastical History and he was to expound a place of Scripture before the ordainers of him and frame a discourse in Latine and he was to preach before the people and the Ministers that were appointed to ordain him and then after he was approved of he was to be sent to the Church where he was to serve and a Writing was to be read afore all the people and after it was to be fixed upon the Church door so called and if no just exceptions was found against the party that was to be ordained So it was done in the dayes of the Bish sâ—â—â— Constit Con. 31. then they that were appointed to ordain him were to proceed to ordination by fasting and prayer to God for a blessing upon him that was to be set apart to the office of the Ministry and seven of them that was appointed to ordain was to be at the place and one of them was to preach to the people of the office and duty of a Minister of Christ and how the people ought to esteem of him for his work sake And after Sermon was ended he that preached was to demand of him that was ordained concerning his faith in Christ Jesus and his perswasion of the truth of the then reformed Presbyter Religion of his resolution to be diligent in prayer reading meditation preaching and his zeal against Error and Schism and his care that himself and his family walk unblamably And when he had declared his willingness and promised his endeavours by the help of God so to do then they that were appointed to ordain was solemnly to set him apart to the office and work of the Ministry by laying their hands upon him with a short prayer to this effect Thankefully acknowledging the mercy of God in sending Iesus Christ for the redemption of his people and for his ascention to the right hand of God the Father and the pouring out his spirit and giving gifts to men Apostles Evangelists Prophets Pastors and Teachers for the gathering and building up of his Church and for fitting and inclining this man to this great work to beseech him to fill him with his holy sptrit whom in his Name we * Here let them impose their hands upon his head set apart to this holy service to fulfil the work of his Ministry in all things that he may both save himself and the people committed to his charge And then after they was to commend by prayer him and his Flock to the grace of God And
and Parliaments afterward but not from Jesus Christ for they whom Christ sent out to preach to them he gave power and to them he gave some Apostles some prophets and some Evangelists Pastors and Teachers But those who were made by the power and command of the pope the kings and rulers of the earth they were called cardinals arch-bishops bishops suffragans priors covents deanes and chapters deacons arch-deacons prebends parsons vicars priests rectors clarks ministers c. And the Assembly of presbyter Divines so called and the Commissioners for approbation of publike preachers they received their power rule and command to ordain ministers and preachers and to set them solemnly and sacredly apart to the office and work of the Ministry from the Rulers of the earth as you may read at large in the two Ordinances made one by the parliament of Lords and Commons and the other by Oliver protector and his counsel by them they had their power and command See JOHN GOODVVIN's Book of TRIERS pag. 5. and not from Christ for without their power and command they did not act and by that rule viz. Acts and Ordinances that the Rulers of the earth set them they acted by and not by the power or spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ as did the Apostles and therefore all both popes emperors kings queens counsels parliaments or rulers bishops assembly of divines protector counsels and commmissioners their works that they have done herein are abomination unto the Lord because they are not done by his power nor his spirit but by the imaginations and devisings of their own hearts wâ—ich by the light are seen and made manifest to the children of the day whom Cod hath by his spirit called out from amongst the Babylonians to dwell in the city of God and to worship him in spirit and in truth for God dwells not in temples made with hands nor is he worshipped in these churches that are made with hands And now I shall come to shew you something of what I have both heard read and seen and understand by the two Vniversities of Cambridge and Oxford and likewise of their teaching and bringing up and their making of young men Masters preachers Doctors c. As for the two Vniversities they were founded by the popish Saxon Kings and other popish Kings Bishops Knights c. men and women The first common School in Cambridge was founded by Sigisbert King of the East-Angles and the Vniversity colledge in Oxford was founded by Allured one of the Saxon Kings and Baylie colledge at Oxford was founded by Iohn Bailiol King of the Scots and it is recorded That Queens Colledge at Cambridge was founded by Margaret the Wife of King Henry the sixth and finished by Elizabeth the Wife of King Edward the fourth and the Brazen-Nose-Colledge at Oxford was founded by William Smith bishop of Lincoln but St. Iohns colledge at Oxford was founded by Sir Thomas White Alderman and late before Mayor of London and for the other Colledges they were founded in the honor of one Saint or another and called by their Names viz. St. Iohns Colledge All-Souls Colledge Magdalene Colledge and another is called falsly by the Name of Trinity Colledge and another by the Name of Jesus Colledge and one by the Name of Christs Colledge and one by the name of Corpus Christi Colledge that is the Body of Christs colledge and another by the Name of Christs Colledge So by these Names and Titles ye may see what the founders were and what their religion was and now you shall see hereafter by the practise that is in these colledges that the great and wise men of the world so highly esteem of for their works sake are But first you shall see what the learned themselves have writ of them Wickliffe terms the Vniversities to be the Synagogue of Satan and John Hus. called them Lievetenants of Antichrist And Luther called them the Gates of Hell the Stews of Antichrist Houses of Lyes for said he TINDALL in his Book of The Revelation of ANTICHRIST They are all Heretical by their School-Divinity and they are Dens of Thieves said he And Tindal said That whosoever ordained Vniversities be it Alexander at Halis St. Thomas or any other he was a star that fell from Heaven to the earth for there are brought in said he moral vertues for faith and opinions for truth and said he The Vniversities are the very confused Cloud and opened Gate of Hell and said he This Cloak meaning the Vniversities is of all other most noysome and doth most hurt and damage for said he All moral Divines have a wicked conscience full of scrupulosity And Will Dell sayes That yet the Vniversities are the strongest holds that Antichrist hath had amongst us So that notwithstanding all their reformation in their Religion the Vniversities remain in a manner as bad as they were Now for their works first When any Schollar comes to any of these colledges he is examined of his Latine and Greek and Hebrew Tongues and if he be a good schollar and perfect in his answers he is approved of and when he has got him a Gown and a pair of Cuffs he is admitted into the colledge to be a Student and if he be a great mans son or one that can make great friends to the Vice-chancellor or the head-man of an House then he gets the greater place in the colledge but if he be a poor young man and of mean parentage then a mean place must serve his turn So that in their Fountains of learning to be Ministers is respecting of persons for there is saying to the rich Sit or be thou here and to the poor Be thou in one of the meanest places And then they are set to study Logick that is the Art of Reason Philosoyhy that is studying for Wisdom And there they read Aristotle and Plato's Works and others that they may become able disputants that they may dispute at Schools and make Theams and Verses And in that time called Lent one colledge disputes against another Now do but observe a little of their behaviour and carriage in that time of their disputations Those colledges who are to dispute one against another makes choice of one amongst themselves in each colledge to dispute that by their disputations it may be seen which is the greatest schollar And he that they have made choice of to dispute they take him up upon their shoulders carry him out of the school and in the time of their disputing there is such hissing and shouting like a company of Gamesters at play and when they cannot get mastery with their tongues by disputing then they fall together a fighting for mastery and teares the Gowns from one anothers backs and lose their hats and beats one another along the streets and some of them go away with black eyes And at the end of four years if
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. 2â— 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
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 Heretiâ—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
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
persons so offending their aiders comforters counsellors consenters and abettors therein being thereof convinced in form under-written by the Authority abovesaid shall be deemed and adjudged Hereticks and every such offence shall be adjudged manifest Heresie and that every such offender and offenders shall therefore have and suffer judgement execution pain and pains of death by way of burning without any abjuration Sanctuary or benefit of Clergy to be therefore permitted had allowed admitted or suffered and likewise the forfeiture of all the Estate real or personal to the King c. And by the same Parliament it was likewise enacted That Parliament confirmed the Spanish Inquisition The Oath for the Commissioners of the bloody Inquisition That for the more effectual execution of the Premises full Authority of Inquision of all such Heresies c. should be committed and directed down into every Shire to certain persons provided that the Arch-Bishop or Bishop or his Chancellor or his Commissary to be one and that every person that should be named Commissioner in this Inquisition should first take a corporal Oath the tenor of which Oath here ensueth Ye shall swear that ye to your cunning wit and power shall truly and indifferently execute the Authority to you given by the Kings Commission made for correction of Hereticks and other offendors mentioned in the same Commission without any favor affection corruption dread or malice to be born to any person or persons as God you help and all Saints c. All you Rulers and Magistrates of England that swear and take Oaths what spirit is it that teaches you to frame Oaths leads you to swear Oaths and to give Oaths to men or women Heb. 6.16 Exod 22.10 11. 1 Kings 8.31 were they that forged the Oath above-written and sware and required people to take the said Oath guided by the spirit of God so to do yea or nay And again Was that Oath the Oath of the Lord that they had forged to be taken yea or any Did the Pope and his Adherents give or administer the Oath of the Lord to any yea or nay Was the Pope and his Adherents taught by the spirit of God to frame Oaths to be taken yea or nay Or did the spirit of God lead the Pope and his Adherents to swear and to take Oaths against the Saints and Servants of God whom they persecuted to death yea or nay I say Nay the spirit of God neither taught them to make or to forge Oaths neither did the spirit of God teach or guide them to swear by their own forged out of the bottomlesse pit Oaths Neither are Parliaments nor Councils in these our dayes taught by the spirit of God to make Oaths nor doth the spirit of God teach them to swear neither by the Bible or by their hand Iames 5.12 Matth. 5.34 35 36. 23.16 to 22. or by any other creature or part of any creature nor by any of their framed Oaths but the spirit of God did teach and does teach the contrary now as it did in the dayes of Christ and the Apostles which spirit I own and obey but that spirit that frames Oaths which are not the Oath of God and swears and requires people to swear by an Oath forged out of the bottomlesse pit FOX Act. Mon. Vol. 2. L. CROMWEL made Earl of Essex Great Chamberlaine of ENGLAND and Vice-goâ—â—rnor to the King I deny that spirit and its practise for it is not the spirit of God but the power of the prince of the Aire that rules in the hearts of the children of disobedience I have read in the Book of Martyrs of one Thomas Lord Cromwel that in the dayes of King Henry the eigth did this Nation of England a deal of good service as the story of his life death doth relate how profitable an Instrument he was in destroying Abbies Monasteries Nunneries c. and routing out of the Land the works of the Monks Fryars Nuns and other such like brutish drones and pulled down the Rood called the Rood of Grace and all his Engines and shewed them openly at Pauls Crosse with the blood of a Duck which the papists made the people to believe it was the blood of Hailes and other such like pieces of Idolatry and Witchcraft he removed out of the way that the people was seduced by with the learned men of Oxford and Cambridge So likewise he was an Instrument to discover the treachery of the Bishops and the Clergy who had sworn to be true to the King and afterwards swore also to be so to the pope and for the proof of the same he produced a copy of their oath to the pope which was read in the Convocation-House before them and the matter was so plain that they could not deny it And likewise Thomas Lord Cromwell presented the Bible to the King and obtained License that the same might freely passe to be read amongst all his subjects This Bible was of the lesser volume but a Bible of a large Volume began to he printed at Paris with an intent of Marginal Notes to it of which the said Lord Cromwel was a great helper of it forward At which the Clergy was offended and the cursed Bishops bringing their purpose to passe brought Thomas Lord Cromwell out of favor with the King and after to his death For after the six Articles with the penalty annexed to them and the full Authority of the bloody Inquisition was confirmed then the said Thomas Lord Cromwell being in the Council-chamber was suddenly apprehended and committed to the Tower of London and sundry crimes surmizes objections and accusations as they called them were brought against him c. The best of men in their generations have alwayes been counted Hereticks by they who are Hereticks indeed 1. The first and chiefest Article that they had against him to accuse him with was above all others Heresie alias an Heretick 2. That he was a supporter of them whom they counted for Hereticks as Barns Clark and many others who he by his Authority and Letters written to the Sheriffes and Iustices in divers Shires rescued and discharged out of Prison And I say he did well in so doing 3. That he did disperse among the Kings subjects great numbers of Books containing as they said manifest matter of much Heresie Diffidences and Misbeliefe was their manifest Heresie in the Bible that he disperst abroad let the Hereticks themselves answer 4. That he caused to be translated into our English Tongue books comprizing matter expresly against their Sacrament of the Altar and that after the translation thereof he commended and maintained the same for good and Christian Doctrine and good reason he should so do 5. They charged him with some hainous words spoken against the King in their falsly called Church of St. Peter the Poor in the month of March so called in the thirteenth year of the Kings reign which was about 18. years before but
that lay upon the people and likewise for the unprofitablenesse thereof The children of Israel were by the law commanded to pay first fruits and tythes for the maintenance of the levitical priesthood And the sons of Levi who received the office of che Priesthood had a commandment to take tythes of their Brethren according to the law and of no other Nation or people were they to receive any first fruits or tythes but verily that commandment is disanulled and the law is changed by our King our Law-giver and our Iudge and Prophet and Priest for ever viz. Christ Iesus who having abolished in his Flesh the enmity even the law ef commandments contained in Ordinances and hath blotted out the hand-writing of Ordinances that was against us and contrary to us which was a yoake of bondage upon the neck of the Disciples he took it and nailed to his cross tryumphing over them in himself and said It is finished for he is the end of the law for righteeusnesse to every one that believeth in him c. But wicked and ungodly men who believe not in him even Kings Rulers Pope Matth. 13.54 55 56 57. Mark 6.23 Ioh. 7.48 49. Bishops Priests for out of their own mouths they are judged Have any of the Rulers believed in him And said Paul Not many wise men after the flesh nor many mighty nor many Nobles are called even such as believe not in Christ Iesus will not that he should reign over them therefore they have made unrighteous unjust and unholy laws for to require people to pay tythes to the priests and ministers which they themselves have so ordained consecrated and sent forth and not God And the Priests and Ministers who are not ordained nor consecrated nor sent forth of God but by man even they by their unrighteous unholy and the unjust laws of men they take tythes and sue men at the unrighteous law for tythes and cause men to be put in prison by the unjust law for tythes and by the unholy law they take trebble damages of mens goods for non-payment of tythes thus contradicting what Christ Jesus hath done for Christ the true King and the just and righteous Lawgiver he disannulled the law Eph. 2.15 Col. 2.14 15. and abolished the law of Commandments and blotted out the Hand-writing of Ordinances and changed the priesthood that took the tythes so that when the levitical priesthood ceased to be a priesthood the tythes ceased also and the law likewise Therefore I say That the Kings and Rulers of the earth the Pope and his Adherents who have made laws to pay and to take tythes by they are such as believe not in Christ Jesus the Son of God for had they believed on Christ Jesus the Son of God they would have owned him to have been a King and a Law-giver unto them and likewise they would that he should have reigned over them as King and had they loved him Isa 26.12 13 33.22 Ioh. 13.21 Matth. 23.23 Luke 18.12 they would have kept his commandments but such as own not Christ to be King and Law-giver believe not in him and so will not that he should rule and reign over them These as the Scribes Pharisees and Hyyocrites did so do they pay tythes of Mint Annis Cummin Rue and all manner of Herbs yea and of all that they possesse and so by their works they deny Christ to be King and Law-giver and Priest too but said Christ Those mine enemies which would not that I should reign over them bring them hither Luke 19 27. and slay them before me Now there was a time that the Hypocrites Scribes and Pharisees paid tythes as said Christ Ye pay tythes c. and at that time that they paid tythes they omitted the weightier matters of the law Judgment Mercy and Faith which said Christ ye ought to have done and not to leave the other that is tythes undone which tythes was to be paid according to the law by the people of Israel which law and carna ordinances imposed upon the people continued for them to observe and do until the time of reformation which reformation was by Christ Jesus who changed the priesthood and disannulled the law and said Paul He having abolished the law of commandments and blotting out the Hand-writing of Ordinances that was against us nailing it to his crosse so that after that time that Christ had fulfilled the law and put an end to that law which was a shadow of good things to come and changed the Priesthood to which the tythes was paid I say again That there was no more tythes nor first fruits to be paid and all they that refused to pay tythes and first fruits after that time of reformation which was made by Christ Jesus who offered one sacrifice for sins for ever and after he had so done Heb. 10.12 Rom. 4.15 he sate down at the right hand of God they transgressed no law in so doing for where there is no law there is no transgression But the Heathen at this they raged and the people imagined a vaine thing the Kings of the earth they set themselves and the Rulers and the Pope and the Cardinals the Bishops and the Popes Adherents took counsel together against the Lord and against his annointed saying Come let us break their bonds asunder and cast their Cords from us such would not that Christ should rule and reign over them these were and are enemies to God they have made the Word of God of non-effect they have set Christ at naught and have lightly esteemed the Rock of their salvation they have cast his Law behinde their backs and will have none of his reproof they have not taken up the Crosse of Christ nor gone in the strait way that leads unto life but have gone in the broad way that leads unto destruction being led by a spirit of error in their Councils whereby they did make Decrees Canons Constitutions Laws Statutes Acts and Ordinances which are unjust unrighteous impure and not good for said the men of Buckinghamshire Bedfordshire and Herefordshire speaking of the Acts and Statutes made in former Kings dayes for the payment of tythes said they The Husband-mans Ploa against tythes printed in the year 1647. Because Acts of Parliament are Acts of men and not Oracles from Heaven a Parliament said they as well as a Council may be led by wrong Principles and so erre and so make Laws or Statutes that are unjust c. So acting against the Lord and against his Annointed in making Laws Canons Acts c. to pay tythes by for after that Christ had disannulled the Law and put an end to it they made Laws to uphold and to pay tythes therefore those Councils and Parliaments c. who have acted and made such Laws formerly and those that do act and make such Laws to pay tythes by now were and are led by a spirit of error to bring again upon the necks