desidentes With unclean feet they Usurp the Seat of the Apostle Peter but through Covetousness they rather sit indeed in Judas his Chair of Pestilence This with much more that highly esteemed Author writes of the Clergy of his time which future ages did not make better For since the Conquest the Prelates and Monks have been more high-flown grasped more Lands upon the same account with the former into their Possession then their Predecessors in so much as the Clergie Monks and Nuns of England being not a fortieth nay not a hundredth part of the Kingdom had by these wiles and devices gotten as some intelligent men have computed a third part of all the prime Lands in the Nation into their clutches at what time King Henry the Eighth began to seize the lesser Monasteries and all upon the same ground of meriting Salvation for themselves and their Relations dead or unborn Thus Henry the Third in the ninth of his Reign himself being then but eighteen years of age was hook'd into that Great Charter Magna Chartae so much cryed up by the Prelatical Clergy to which he thus prefaceth Henry by the Grace of God King of England c. to all Archbishops Bishops c. Know ye that We unto the Honour of God and for the Salvation of the Souls of Our Progenitors and Successors Kings of England c. have given and granted c. to which all the Bishops and Abbots as well as others were of Counsel and Witnesses by which it appears that this Charter was granted to merit Salvation so as however the honour of God be mentioned yet the dishonour of God and Christ lay at the bottom of that Grant in reference to the Foundation laid in his heart by the Prelates The same is after declared in the Statute De Provisorib Beneficior in the 25 of Edw. 3. where it is expresly said That the Church of England was founded in the State of Prelacy within the Realm of England by his Grandfather which was Edw. 1. and his Progenitors and by the Earles Barons and other Nobles of the said Realm and their Ancestors to inform them and the People of the Law of God * This was ever pretended but never performed unless by some few very rarely as the stories of those Times plainly testifie See Mat. Paris ad ann 1253. Fox his Martyrol of the same times and to make Hospitality Alms and other Works of Charity in the places where the Churches were founded for the SOULS of the Founders their heires and all Christians c. In which Act the Bishops as well as others joyned thereby proclaiming to the world the superstitious Foundations of getting so many Lands to the Church Yea so zealously bent were the Prelates of those times to augment the Churches Patrimony that a Constitution t Lindw l. 5. tit de poenit remiss ca. Cum anima was made in a Provincial Synod under Richard Withershed alias Weather-head in the Reign of Hen. 3. not to suffer any Physitian to administer any Physick to any Patient whatsoever be he in never so great Extremity and Danger till the Patient were first shrived by a Priest under pain of Suspension ab ingressu Ecclesiae The pretence was to physick his Soul first but the meaning was to get a collop to some Chantery or Monastery to pray for his Soul in Purgatory upon which the Priest absolved him and not before And this was that which occasioned so many Chanteries justly vacated and seized by Edw. 6. being given to him by Parliament 1 Edw. 6.14 Nor were the Kings and Parliaments especially after King John so hood-wink'd and cow'd as not to take notice of and provide against those excessive gifts of Lands to the Church as they call'd it which so greatly rob'd the Commonwealth For the same Hen. 3. who first granted the Great Charter Cap. 36. wherein he confirmed the Rights and Liberties of Holy Church as that Idolized Crew was then termed did in the same Chapter enact a That it should not be lawful from thenceforth to any to give his Lands to any Religious House and to take the same again to hold of the same House * Because Lands so held were free from all Tythes Taxes and Eschetes Therefore many did so convey Lands to cozen the King and other chief Lords Nor shall it be lawful to any House of Religion to take the Lands of any and to lease the same to him of whom he received it And that if any from thenceforth gave his Lands to any Religious Houses and thereupon be convict the gift should be utterly void and the Land accrew to the Lord of the Fee Here then was a Liberty of resuming Lands dedicated to the Church and an imploying of them to such secular uses as the Lord of the Fee should appoint without incurring the guilt of Sacriledge Next after Henry the Third succeeded his Son Edward the First who confirmed Magna Charta in the 25 of his Reign and with it the Clause or Chapter last mentioned but before he did that even in the seventh of his Reign he made a strict Law against Mort-main by advice of the Prelates as well as others to make all gifts and Purchases of Lands without special License from the King to be null and void and the Lands forfeited to the chief Lord if he took the advantage within a year and half or else to the King in case the chief Lord neglected the seizure within the said time therein limited and appointed for his seizing thereof for his own use Which Law however it were mitigated at the importunity of the Clergy by Edward the Third who in such Cases enacted the taking of Fines in stead of Forfeitures Yet afterwards in 15 Rich. 2. that first Statute of 7 Edw. 1. was not onely set on foot again but extended to all Guilds Fraternities and Corporations yea to all Donations of Lands for Church-yards or for any other Church Use And that if contrary thereunto any should presume to give or to receive any Lands upon a Church account or otherwise without the Kings special License they should either procure his License or sell away those Lands by the then next Michaelmas By all which it is manifest that neither the Kings nor Parliaments nor Bishops themselves in Parliament ever took all Lands given to Churches to be Sacred and Gods Propriety Jure Divino or so much as lawful for the Church to hold them without License from the King or other chief Lord of the Fee of whom such Lands were before holden Witness the many Statutes against Mort-Main or against the falling of Lands into a dead hand that is the Church whereby neither King nor Kingdom could receive any thing out of them for Defence of the Realm nor the chief Lords enjoy the benefit of chief Rents Services Fines of Alienation or Eschetes which being an apparent wrong to all occasioned those Statutes Not that it is
account as he after expresly professed and protested to a Committee of that Parliament sitting to examine him among others touching a Printed Vindication of the Ministers in and about London that had been unjustly charged with having some hand in promoting the late Kings Death And whereas by that Dismal Division sharp and bitter Wars had been for some yeers waged and vast sums of Money raised on the Publike Faith exhausted the Parliament held themselves bound in honour and justice to pay those debts contracted by that War mainly promoted against the Parliament and Kingdom if not by yet in favour of the Arch-bishops and Bishops one of them having called the fore-runner of it Bellum Episcopale or the Bishops War therefore the Parliament passed an Ordinance Octob. 9. 1646. for an absolute taking away and abolishing the Name Title Dignity and Office of Arch-bishops and Bishops who having before incurred a Praemunire were thenceforth utterly disabled to hold or exercise the place or function of Arch-bishops or Bishops within England or Wales And their Lands and Possessions held in right of their Bishopricks being by that abolition escheted were vested in certain Trustees subject to such Trusts as both Houses of Parliament should appoint and declare Which Parliament by another Ordinance of Novemb. 16. 1646. appointed and ordained all those Lands and Revenues to be sold for raising of 200000 l. for the then present use of the State In which Ordinance they invited all that had before lent Money Horses Plate c. for the Service of the King and Parliament upon the Publike Faith to double the same and so to take the whole so doubled out of Bishops Lands either in Money or Lands For which purpose they engaged the Grand Excise and Bishops Lands not without intimation that such as doubled not must exspect no other security for what they had lent but the then-despised Publike Faith nor to be paid till all Doublers were satisfyed Dr. Burges seeing this necessity of doubling to prevent hazzarding of all doubled all his Bils which upon doubling amounted to 3400 l. beside his Loan and adventures for Ireland All which he endeavoured to receive back in Money but was therein hindred by such as laboured all they could to engage him in the taking of it out in Bishops Lands He therefore having a wife and ten children to provide for that must all be undone if that money miscarryed and finding the Divisions of Parties that now managed the Publike and pursued several Interests to be daily encreased and more heightened and himself ill requited for all his faithful Service was put upon this strait to take out his Moneys in Bishops Lands This was the only reason of his purchasing of Bishops Lands Since which purchase it hath pleased the Wise God to exercise him with many sharpe afflictions among which the scourge of tongues hath not been least And he hath fallen under so much prejudice with such as never heard or scarce ever saw him that not only sundry Suites at Law have been commenced against him and Verdicts given for his Adversaries even when their own Witnesses and Counsel yeelded the Cause but his Ministry also although acknowledged by his very Enemies to be useful hath been of small use Most of which hath befallen him by sundry false aspersions of virulent foul-mouthed Mercenaries that stick not to transgress for a good meal albeit he hath as it is very well known deserved far better at their hands who have so traduced him Nor is it unusual with Satan and his Instruments to cast most dirt in the faces of such as oppose his Kingdom that he may sully and disparage their persons by whose doctrine he suffereth For this cause that eminent Light and glorious Martyr Cyprian thus wrote to Antonianus touching Cornelius a good Bishop of Rome and an holy man greatly defamed by Novatianus and his fellow Schismaticks and Hereticks a Epist ad Antonian Quod quaedam de illo inhonesta maligna jactantur nolo mireris cum scias hoc esse semper opus Diaboli ut servos Dei mendacio laceret opinionibus falsis gloriosum nomen infamet ut qui conscientiae suae Luce clarescunt in alienis rumoribus sordidentur I would not have thee strange at it that sundry foul and malignant reports are thrown abroad touching him seeing thou knowest this to be ever the Devils work by lying to revile and make odious the glorious name of the servants of God that they who by the light and testimony of their own consciences appear brightest may by false rumors be rendred most sordid and vile Hence many not knowing nor caring to know the true state of the Doctors Case and Cause but resolved not for want of ignorance envie or malice to blast him are ready to hunt after all the base and false reports they can against him and as Jeremiah's enemies served him b Jer. 20.10 to encourage all to speak the worst they can of him Report say they and we will report it how false soever Yea so far have they proceeded in this hellish lawlesness of their tongues c Jam 3.6 as to impute all the troubles that have befallen him to the just hand of God upon him for buying of Bishops Lands pronouncing him guilty of that odious sin of Sacriledge for so doing Now albeit he resolve to suffer much rather than to take notice of every false report and to wait Gods time for the clearing up of his innocencie in other mattets yet this is of so foul a nature reflecting so deeply upon not only his person but the very Ministry it self that there is a necessity of some Vindication and of endeavouring the satisfaction if not of all yet of such as are rational and sober men by a brief Discourse of the nature of that sin of Sacriledge properly so called and of the Lawfulness of buying Bishops Lands Of Sacriledge 1. What it is not There are who deny that there is or can be any such thing as Sacriledge now under the Gospel they being confident that nothing is now due by Divine Right to Ministers of the Gospel But this being as shall after appear a palpable Errour deserves to be with contempt exploded rather then seriously confuted Others in another Extream stretch Sacriledge so far as to involve every man in that sin that deviateth from their Constitutions and Laws or offendeth in any thing which they please to call Sacred or Holy although never made such by Gods Ordination Thus the Roman Emperors stigmatize the Violation of their Civil Laws d L. 11 c. de Crim Sacril l 6 de appel in C. Theodos Vide Lexic Jurid Calv. and fasten that Crime on all who wilfully neglect or knowingly break their Commands e L. 1. c. ut digni The Canonists extend it to the aliening invading wasting stealing purloyning or perverting of any thing and to the abusing of any Person Place or Thing once dedicated and
of Bishops to be Sacriledge To make way hereunto he premiseth these things 1. That God accepts of things given him and hath a Propriety in them as well in the New as in the Old Testament 2. That God gets this Propriety as well by acceptation of voluntary gifts as by his command for the giving of them c. Now unless he make it out that Gods Acceptation and Propriety as he phraseth it reach to Church Lands of Bishops his labour is in vain and his Arguments from those Texts are no other then a gross abusing of the Scriptures like that of those unlearned and unstable ones who wrest them to their own destruction e 2 Pet. 3.16 His first Text out of Mat. 25. neither doth nor can extend to Christs Acceptation of or Propriety in Church-Lands voluntarily given to Bishops for their Maintenance It speaks onely of Alms whereby the Hungry Naked Sick or Persecuted Members of Christ are Christianly relieved Not the accepting Lands for Bishops such especially as that Author declareth for who Lord it over God's Heritage by appropriating the sole power of Ordination and Jurisdiction to themselves two of the most senseless Dreams that can be fathered upon those Scriptures which the same Authour abuseth * Page 20. to that purpose Nor is there the least hint of Christs Acceptation of Lands for any Uses whatsoever but onely of present supplies of Food Rayment and other Necessaries suitable to the instant wants of his distressed Members But saith he Doth Christ thus accept of meat and cloathing and not of those Endowments that bring these to perpetuity Will he take meat and refuse Revenues and he concludes it of both adding that it were a strange thing Christ should take those Gifts so kindly for provisions of all called His and that onely His Apostles and His seventy Disciples should be excepted from sharing therein This would not seem strange to him were he not a stranger to the Scriptures He might by further search know That though Christ accepted of Gifts for the Poor yet when they were more then there was present use of they were abused even under Christs own Nose by that thief Judas who bore the Bag f Joh. 12.6 And would it were a slander to say That most of those that since have been trusted with that Bag and with the large Revenues given to that Use are too near of Kin to that first Treasurer Under the Old Testament God made many provisions for the Poor but none in Land it self And how much the Poor get by the gift of Lands especially after one Age or two under the Gospel is too obvious and lamentable to behold That Author therefore begs the Question by way of a confident Interrogation Will He take Meat and refuse Revenues which should the Authour be kept from till he prove it he might perhaps starve to Death But as for Christs accepting of and having a Propriety in Lands given to the Church for Bishops c. he is out toto Coelo as far as the East is from the West That Christ took care for the Poor is evident and that his care was no less for his Ministers is no less a Truth For he that of old made that a Law Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the Ox that treadeth out the Corn g Deut. 25.4 did he it as taking care onely or chiefly for Oxen nay for our sakes no doubt is it written yea altogether for our sakes saith St. Paul h 1 Cor. 9.10 in behalf of all Ministers that labour in the Word and Doctrine Howbeit from hence to make it good that that Text in Mat. 25. extendeth or is extendable to Christs acceptance of the gift of Lands for Himself or for His Apostles or His seventy Disciples or any of their Successors will require time till the thirtieth day of February or the Greek Kalends come about As for Christ himself although he were of the Blood-Royal of the Lineage of David both by his Mothers side and by his supposed Fathers too i Luk. 2.4 He professeth that very Foxes and Birds were better provided then He for the one had Holes the other Nests but he had not so much as a Room or Pillow on which He might lay His Head k Mat. 8.20 And when He sent out the Twelve His charge was l Mat. 10.9.10 Provide neither Gold nor Silver nor Brass in your Purses nor Scrip for your journey neither two Coats c. Not that He meant to starve them for He took care that provision should be made for their present supply by those to whom they preached so as they wanted nothing m Luk 22.35 and that upon this account That the labourer is worthy of his hire n Mat. 10.10 May it not then upon better grounds be retorted Christ would accept of no Lands or House for Himself and forbad even Gold and Silver to His Apostles therefore he will not accept own or hold the Lands of Bishops especially of such as he never owned Not that it is unlawful now for Ministers that preach the Gospel to receive allowance but that those words of our Lord in Mat. 25. had no relation thereunto And albeit if we give credit to Platina Petrus de Natalibus and others Pope Vrban 1. about the year of Christ 233. by an Epistle Decretal ordained That the Church might enjoy praedia quorum proventibus alendos statuit Ecclesiae Ministros c. Possessions out of which Profits he appointed the Ministers of the Church to be maintained and forbad the alienating thereof under pain of Excommunication which Pope Lucius 1. afterwards o An. 255. seconded and Pius 2. long after him p An. 1459. confirmed as a Law Yet he that shall trace the best Ecclesiastical Histories shall finde that the Church was endowed with no Lands even in the greatest advancement of Bishops by Constantine the Great It is true that in the suppositious Donation of Constantine it is said That upon the Churches which he erected to the honour of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul possessionum praedia contulit he conferred the spoils of Possessions gotten by War Yet this in the Language of those times and of the Civil Law did not extend to the Lands themselves but onely to the Profits of them Before Constantine Bishops could enjoy no Lands for even in the beginning of his raign the Bishop of Rome himself Sylvester and his Associates in the Ministry were fain to hide for safety of their Lives in the Hill Saracte about twenty miles distant from Rome since called Monte di Sylvestro as by that very Donation appeareth Nor did that Emperour endow the Bishops with Lands but onely gave them large Allowances out of Lands for which a voice is said to be uttered from Heaven Hodie seminatur Virus in Ecclesia But be it as the Papalins and this Author perhaps would have it that such Decrees were made by Vrban 1.
Lucius 1. and others for enjoying of Lands yet the very best Original Title of Bishops to Church-Lands is not from Christ himself by vertue of what he spake Mat. 25. but onely from some Popes of Rome His pretended Vicars Touching the second Text Mat. 10.40 it is so clearly meant of the Apostles Ministry not Bishops Lands and of their entertainment for present supply of Necessaries not for Pomp and State and of giving them Gold and Silver enough to maintain it that it may well be wondered even by a wise man with what forehead that Authour could apply that Scripture to Christs accepting and owning the Gifts of Bishops Lands which in those times were not so much as dream'd of by any Bishop or Apostle of Christs Ordination All which that Text can imply is but this That he that receiveth His Apostles receiveth Himself and His Father also by vertue whereof He and His Father will effectually move the hearts of the Receivers to see that His Apostles shall want nothing while they are imployed in preaching to them Which what it can conduce to prove Christs acceptante of Lands for a perpetual Maintenance which by no Story appeareth to be enjoyed of His Apostles must be left onely to Impudence to make forth Nor was Ananias and his wife smitten or so much as questioned Act. 5. for selling of Lands devoted to God and the Church but for their dissembling and lying unto God For whereas in the first receiving of the Gospel by the preaching of Peter many thousands were likely upon that very account at that time to starve being hated and persecuted for believing in Christ such as were rich sold their Estates and put all into one common Banck or Purse for Relief of the whole Community of Believers Ananias and Sapphira pretended to do the like they sold their Lands yet brought but part of the price to the Apostles and pretended that what they so brought was the whole And being questioned by Peter whether this were All they sold their Lands for they both with impudence stood to their first Lye and for that were condemned and smitten with death not for Sacriledge by selling Lands but for Hypocrisie in making the world believe more then was true and by defrauding the Church of part of that which he pretended to dedicate unto God for the Relief of not Ministers but the poor Brethren that then held all things in Common There being then no Lands or Revenues sold or set forth for Ministers nor did these Hypocrites pretend unto it Howbeit in as much as they pretended to give all and yet kept back part of the price which they professed to devote to that publick Service of God and his People they are not to be excused of Sacriledge Not because they voluntarily devoted it without a Command for Christ himself in such cases of Extremity had commanded the imparting of what might be spared q Luk. 3.11 but because they had defrauded the Church and abused the world the Apostles and God himself of what they had with great shew of piety and charity professed freely to give even when the giving of the whole was not required But that great ruffling flourish which this Author makes thereupon That generally all the Fathers both of the Greek and Latine Church make his crime to be a robbing of God of that wealth which by Vow or Promise was now become Gods propriety is nothing as to the aliening the Lands of Bishops or of the Church which is the point he undertook to prove for his crime in lying and defrauding lay not in selling or alienating of Lands but in the price of them And so all Expositors Ancient and Modern agree which comes not up to our Authors purpose But whereas he pag. 26. alledgeth Calvin and Beza as being of the same judgment with the Fathers herein it is worth the noting to observe how corruptly he translateth their words which he produceth Calvin saith he speaking of that fact of Ananias Sacrum esse Deo profitebatur which this man thus translateth He professeth that his Land should be a sacred thing unto God And Beza too Praedium Deo consecrassent the man and his wife had consecrated their Land unto God This he doth to wiredraw that Text to make it reach to the unlawfulness of selling of Church-Lands of Bishops whereas he abuseth both these Authors and the Text it self by such a false Translation Calvin saith not that Ananias professeth his Land should be sacred unto God but the money he made of it should be all sacred unto the Lord. Nor can Beza's expression of praedium signifie Lands for that were expressly to contradict the Text which speaks it of the price not of the Land Nor is he blamed for selling Land devoted to God but for being false in his account of the sale which he pretended to make unto Peter yea unto God the Holy Ghost himself Oh what Fig-leaves is Error forced to cover its nakedness withal when called out by Truth to shew it self in the open light And as touching that of the Apostle Rom. 2.22 committest thou sacriledge It is not denyed but that there is now such a sin as sacriledge under the Gospel in the New Testament that it is as odious in a Christian as ever it was in a Jew and is more immediately a transgression against God than other sins against the second Table But still this Author begs the question in extending this to Lands while he produceth no proof or instance at all for such an Interpretation Yea those very instances which he alledgeth out of Iraeneus and Origen refer to goods not to Lands And what he adds viz. So the Fathers generally must by his own instances last mentioned be limitted to what himself hath alledged out of Irenaeus and Origen Else it were ridiculous to say So the Fathers generally if they speak in another sense How Kings have long after the reign of Constantine the Great given Lands c. to the Church shall after be shewed in due place But whereas this Author to prove Gods propriety by voluntary gifts not commanded gives instance in the Temple as a thing accepted and owned but not commanded of God he was surely asleep when he did it Did not God fore-tell and fore-Ordain a Place which himself should chuse to cause his name to dwell there Deut. 12.11 And if our Authour do not take upon him to be wiser then Solomon he must confess this to be meant of that very Temple For so Solomon himself calls it the place of which God had said My name shall be there 1 Kin. 8.29 And albeit David for that he had been a man of war and had shed blood 1 Chro. 28.3 was forbidden to build that house yet Solomon by Gods express appointment which hath the force of a Command was chosen to build that House ver 6. Who could imagine such frothy stuff to prove his second Proposition of Gods propriety in things
voluntarily given without a command could fall from the bold pen of such an high-flown Author He also confidently affirmeth r Pag. 29. that to say That God accepts of money that Land was sold for and not of the Land it self and instanceth in the very case of Ananias is contrary not only to all reason and practise of all the world but to what God himself hath expressed in the Old Testament this in his sense is so false that it cannot but astonish a modest Reader that knoweth the truth to finde him so boldly to affirm what there is no foot-step for in all the Old Testament As shall now appear in the ensuing Discourse wherein that Authors Impertinencies shall take up no more room To return therefore to the proof of the first branch of the point before undertaken That there is no warrant in Scripture for giving Lands to Bishops nor proof of Christs acceptance of them take notice 2. The Priests and Levites especially Aaron himself were prohibited to have any Inheritance in Lands by divine Lot among their Brethren s Num. 18.20 And this was to be a Statute throughout their generations for ever t ver 23. The Reason was given before unto Aaron I am thy part and thine inheritance c. That is his portion in Tythes and Offerings due from Israel unto him should be theirs For of these to wit Tythes he there expresly speaketh u ver 24. I have given them to the Levites to inherit therefore I have said unto them Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance Levi was a Tribe that made up a twelfth part of Israel yet so careful was God to prevent their claim to any Lands by divine Lot that when the rest of the Tribes were numbred in order to their several Lots in Land God gave express order to Moses not to number the Tribe of Levi nor to take the sum of them but to appoint them over the Tabernacle of the Testimony c. Whereby is more then implyed that their Office of Priesthood was then a bar to their inheriting of Lands to such especially as were chief among them and were always to attend the Tabernacle as did the High Priest Indeed the inferiour Priests and Levites being numerous did not could not all attend the Altar at once but had their several courses and orders for waiting there Therefore were they appointed by God to spread all over Israel when their courses at the Altar were over to instruct the people in the Law of God w Deut. 33.10 in their turns Which being so there was a necessity of preparing some places for their own habitation and some ground for their Cattle which they were to make use of as well for their domestick provision as for travelling between those habitations and the Altar when their turns came about Upon this ground God by Moses layd his Command upon the children of Israel that they should give unto the Levites of the inheritance of their Possessions Cities to dwell in and Suburbs for the Cities round about for their Cattle Goods and Beasts Num. 35.1 2 3. But of these none were appointed to the High Priest who was always to reside about the Tabernacle and Altar His portion and such as served at the Altar in Person consisted in Offerings and in a Tenth of the Tythes which the Levites were to pay before they shared the rest among themselves x Neh. 10.38 But Lands he had none And as for Levites dispersed over Israel although they had Cities and some Lands yet God limited both For the Israelites might not give what they would but so many Cities and no more so much Land about them and no more The number of Cities were in all 48. y Num. 35.2 3. c. among which six were to be Cities of Refuge the names of all which and the allotment of them to the several Families of the Levites are set down in the 21 of Joshuah Their Suburbs also were bounded by a set number of Cubites For so God commanded the Israelites saying z Num. 35.4 The Suburbs of the Cities which ye shall give unto the Levites shall reach from the Wall of the City and outward a thousand Cubites round about The Israelites might not give nor would God accept one Cubite more although the Levites were as is before said a twelfth part of Israel But here take notice that those Cities were not inhabited by Levites only Others dwelt therein and had shares also in the residue of the Lands adjacent as well as they Only care was to be taken that in every one of those Cities and Suburbs so many of the Levites as were designed to each City should be first accommodated and well provided for and the remainder if any were should still be inhabited by the Owners of those Cities now allotted to the Levites That this was so is evident by the City of Hebron or Kiriath-Arba the City of Arba a The Father of Anak Josh 15.13 a Great man that first founded it for that City being given to the Kohathites who among the Levites had the first Lot b Josh 21.10 11. was yet inhabited also by Caleb to whom Joshuah had before given it for an inheritance c Josh 14.13 14. Therefore after mention of disposing Hebron to the Kohathites by the free Lot of the Israelites it is said But the Fields of the City and the Villages thereof gave they to Caleb the Son of Jephunneth for his possession d Josh 21.12 Out of which Fields it is manifest by the next verse that the Suburbs were excepted for these were given to the Sons of Aaron the Priest e ver 13. Now then if Bishops take upon them as of late they did to be above ordinary Priests Presbyters or Ministers as Aaron above the ordinary Priests and Levites it is as clear as Analogie can make it that there is no colour or shew for a warrant out of the Old Testament to inable Bishops to hold any Lands or for others to give them but an express Law against it It is true that after the Temple was built there was no doubt conveniency of habitation and perhaps of some Lands for the Cattle of the High Priest who is not to be thought worse provided for than his inferiours And when Bishops can make it out that they are as Aaron above the rest of Christs Ministers the like ought be allowed to them while they continued Nevertheless those Cities of Refuge and the rest set out for the Levites with the Suburbs pertaining to them for the Cattle of those Levites that were imployed in the several parts of Israel to be teaching Priests f 2 Chr. 15.3 of the Law of God to the people which Lands by Gods command were not to be alienated g Lev. 25.34 may by analogie be a good argument to prove that Lands setled upon the faithful and painful Ministers of
each particular Congregation or Parish Church as Glebes for their habitation and necessary provision of Cattle for their use are accepted of God as sacred because Himself commanded the like for the Priests of the Law who had sundry other obventions and in-comes by the Levitical Offerings and Sacrifices which Ministers now cannot enjoy and it cannot be thought that God or Christ will be more wanting to Ministers of the Gospel than to the Priests of the Law And as God forbad the sale of those Lands vvhile that Priesthood continued so it vvill accordingly follow that parochial Glebes are not to be sold from the Church so long as they be imployed for the maintenance of such Ministers as truly and faithfully preach the Gospel to the people of those places where such Lands are given For the very Churches to which they are annexed vvere built by men of quality and piety for the good of the souls of the living and those Glebes vvere bestowed for the incouragement of such Godly Pastors as ministred unto them the bread of life so far as the Founders vvere able to judge Indeed vvhere Popes have appropriated them to his Italian tools and Creatures or unto those Augaean Stables the Monasteries erected in height of Popery vvho never took care to feed the Flocks of God in those places there they that called themselves the Church first led the vvay to Sacriledge in the point of Glebes by perverting and aliening them from their true use to pamper the bellies of Epicures and to maintain the State and Pomp of Atheists under the name and habit of the Prelatical Clergie Let none therefore vvho are of the Prelatical Party and cry out so much against Sacriledge blame the late Parliament for selling some Glebes that had been so appropriated and impropriated for they did but therein follow the same path vvhich those carnal Prelates had trodden out unto them Which if it be Sacriledge it is nothing but vvhat the Papal Church had taught them to commit If any should dream that the setting out of the holy portion of Land about the Sanctuary h Ezek. 45. cap. 48. shewed to Ezekiel in a Vision as a type and prophecie of the state of the Churches of Christ under the Gospel is both a vvarrant and command to set out Lands to be holy unto God under the New Testament that would be no other but a manifest perverting and overthrowing of the genuine sense of those Scriptures For although it be on all hands agreed that from the 40 chapter of Ezekiel to the end of that Book the main scope is to decipher and describe the state of the Church under Christ and his Gospel yet it is not affirmed by any one Author that the Temple there intended and Gods command there given touching the setting out of Lands for the same are to be understood properly according to the Grammatical construction of the vvords as if God meant to erect another new material Temple at Hierusalem in Judea and to revive and establish the same Levitical Offerings and Sacrifices formerly offered by Aaron and his Sons to be again offered by Zadock and others of Aarons Order But See Jun. in Ezek. 40. that all is spoken in a figure and in a spiritual sense yet under legal expressions and by vvay of allusion to the material Temple of Solomon as being the most glorious instance that could then be found to illustrate and most lively to set forth the far more glorious estate and spiritual endowments of the Evangelical Church of Christ the New Hierusalem vvhich should so far exceed that in Judea as the Heavenly Hierusalem i Heb. 12.22 doth the earthly and as the spiritual Temples of the living God do excel that of Solomon Wherefore to dravv an argument thence for the consecrating of Lands in a proper sense for the maintenance and state of Bishops is not only to proclaim him to be a weak man that doth it but to publish to all the vvorld that there is no ground in Scripture as indeed there is not to found any Title of Bishops Lands upon The Original of Bishops Lands in England The Original then and by consequent the Title of Bishops Lands in this Kingdom can derive no further or higher than the abused magnificence and bounty of Princes and others nuzzelled in ignorance and superstion both before and since the Conquest in the height of Popery vvhereby Monasteries and Cathedrals have been endowed vvith large portions of Land and other Revenues under the specious pretence of giving them to God and Holy Church even to the impoverishing not of private Families alone but of the Kingdom also Nor vvere they given indeed to maintain a Preaching Ministry to instruct the people in the true knowledge of Christ and his Gospel for this most of those men that held those Lands ever persecuted but for Superstitious ends and uses and imployed for the most part to maintain the Riots Pomp and State and other excesses and lusts of Abby-Lubbers and other belly-gods and drones to the great dishonour of God and scandal of the Gospel Therefore it is to be observed that the greatest and richest indowments of Cathedrals and Monasteries with Lands in England were made when Satans Throne was most exalted and his Kingdom in greatest peace even in times of thickest Popish darkness when even Kings themselves and Nobles scarce knew a letter nor the rest understood any thing of Christ or Religion no nor of the very Laws of the Nation but what the Prelatical Popish Clergie whose policy and interest it vvas to keep all in grossest ignorance thought fit at some special times for their own gain and advantage to communicate The Clergie being the sole Masters of the times and holding all the chief Offices and Places of Power and Judicature even in the State as vvell as in the Church did vvhat they list both with King and People And with their familiar spirit of Excommunication the great Mormo and scare-crow of the Laity they could and did conjure in to their own and other Churches what quantities of Lands or of ought else that was beneficial they pleased But in nothing did they exercise so much tyrannie as over the consciences of men according to what was prophecied by their greatly pretended Patron and Pillar St. Peter k 2 Pet. 2 1 3. who gave warning long before of their wiles and tricks whereby through covetousness with fained words they would make merchandise of the people This they did not only as they of old that swallowed up the needy first by making them poor and then buying them for silver and the needy for shooes l Amo. 8.6 but as those Merchants of Babylon whose Merchandise was not of beasts and sheep of Horses and Charets of Slaves and bodies alone but of Souls of men m Rev. 18.13 And as they kept the people in ignorance the more easily to prey upon them so they purposely winked at
unlawful to endow particular Parochial Churches with Glebes or Lands necessary for building of Churches upon and for the accommodation and provision of faithful Ministers of Christ that faithfully dispense his Ordinances to their Flocks so it be with leave from Authority and all interessed in them and that it be done moderately for necessary sustentation of them and their Families The Levites that might have no large Territories answerable to the rest of their Tribes had yet several Cities set out for their habitation and Suburbs for their Cattle But withal they might not grasp all that the People would give but were conâ—â—â—ed and limitted to such a quantity a thousand Cubits outright from the wall round about their several Cities and no more as was before shewed And so far hath it ever been accounted from being lawful for Bishops to lay Field unto Field Mannor to Mannor to impoverish many to inrich one upon the account of the Church and Gods acceptance thereof as sacred and holy that even an Archbishop w Spalat de Repuo Ecclesiast l. 9. c. 7. n. 36. having deserted the Romish Church hath proclaimed it Sacriledge rapinam injustissimam and most unjust rapine This is not saith he to inable men to labour in the Gospel but to supply them with Fewel for Riot and Excess and to pervert what was given for the benefit of the Church and for necessary provisions to the shame scandal and ruine of the Church it is not to take off but to multiply the impediments of the saving of Souls Thus we see the Title of Bishops Lands what it was and upon what grounds and in what manner procured and enjoyed vvhich argues them to be in the construction of Scripture far from being sacred and holy unto God by such corrupt Dedications and particularly of those very Lands purchased by Doctor Burges It remaineth now to make out That the aliening diverting No Sacriledge or sin to buy or sell Bishops Lands or purchasing such Lands for common use notwithstanding their first dedication neither is or can be Sacriledge or otherwise sinful or unlawful This is in great part evident by what hath been before set forth yet for more full satisfaction somewhat more shall be added To begin with the Cities and Suburbs of the Levites will be a good step to the clearing hereof First their Houses might be sold even by themselves without sin For that Law which was made for the redeeming of it at any time which others might not do that sold Houses in a walled City unless they redeemed them within the compass of the first yeer after sale and for the return of it at the next Jubilee x Lev. 25.32 33. in case it were not redeemed before plainly implies a lawfulness for any man to buy an House that pertained to a Levite if it were to be sold and that it vvas no sin to detain it till it vvere either redeemed or returned at the Jubilee as all other Lands sold by others were to be This might be done without the least branding of the seller or buyer Yet those Cities were by Gods own appointment set out for the dwelling of the Levites Indeed God forbad the Levites to sell their Lands to wit the Fields of the Suburbs of their Cities for it was their perpetual possession y Ibid. ver 34. It was the same in effect vvith our Parochial Glebes and so might not be aliened or sold so long as their service and Priesthood continued Howbeit afterwards vvhen their service vvas ended and the Priestood removed they might as lawfully sell their Lands as their Houses Else Joses sirnamed Barnabas a Levite had committed Sacriledge for that he after Christ changed that Priesthood having Land sold it and laid down the money at the Apostles feet which is recorded by the Spirit of God as an eminent act of exemplary piety and charity and of the souâ—â—lness of his faith and conversion Now if it were no sin in him then to sell it could not be a sin in others to buy such Lands and other Lands the Levites might then have none albeit those Lands by God's own Edict were to be continued in the Priests while their Priesthood lasted Can it then be so haynously sinful to sell or purchase Bishops Lands which no Law of God ever settled upon them after their Office and Function is wholly taken away But it is happened to some of those rash Censurers as it did to those Oxen of whom Columella that famous Husbandry-Writer in the dayes of Claudius Caesar noteth z De re Rust lib. 2. that feeding upon some rank grounds ran wild with the fatness of their Food And vvhatever some think now that it is Sacriledge to aliene any thing once pretendedly dedicated unto God yet even the Bishops themselves in Parliament have thought and determined otherwise as well as Kings and the rest of the Parliament in the Acts formerly mentioned vvherein especially in one of them a 15 Ric. 2.5 they make all Lands given vvithout License to be forfeited and to be seised unless they procure a License to amortise them or sell or alien them to some other Use before Michaelmas then next coming This shews plainly that albeit it was not held lawful for Bishops Monks or others to receive or purchase Lands in Mort-Main yet it was lawful if they had so done to sell them for the Parliament directed the sale and therefore lawful for others to purchase them for common uses when once it should be discovered that those Lands were so given and dedicated as therein was forbbidden To which may be added 1. That Bishops Lands especially were at first given to maintain their State and Magnificence as Lords with special reference to State-Imployments For that the Kings were wont to have the greatest part of their Counsel for the safegard of the Realm when they had need of the said Prelates and Clerks so advanced b Stat. de Provis Benefic 25 Edw. 3. 2. That neither in those times nor since did many of them yea scarce any take paines to teach the Law of God to the People which was one end for which Bishops were endowed with such large Revenues as the Statute De Provisoribus Benefic before cited expresly declareth So that this being neglected they lived in so great a sin as in the judgement of those few of them who made more conscience of their Duty in this kind next to the sin of Lucifer there could not be a greater Witness that Learned and Zealous Bishop Robert Grosthead Bishop of Lincolne in the reign of Hen. 3. who having received a Command from Pope Innocent the Fourth Mat. Paris ad Ann. 1353. to admit one Frederick de Lavania that Popes Nephew that is his Bastard to be a Canon and Prebend of Lincolne that Bishop wrote back to the Pope a flat refusal of that his command telling him moreover Post peccatum Luciferi c. That next to
be afraid of those Curses who finde a warrant from God for such cursing A cursed people is ever a cursing generation q Rom. 3.14 Who set them on work to Curse Even the same who indeed set on Shimei to curse David r Sam. 17.23 not God as David feared but the Devil and Ahitophel as David afterwards plainly found that 109 Psalm being chiefly bent against Ahitophel of whose cursing vve never read but that by the mouth of Shimei David fared never the worse for their cursing But themselves that cursed fell under their own curse For however in Davids time Shimei felt not the Curse yet it came home to him vvith a witness by Solomon s 1 Kin. 2.44 And as for Ahitophel he drew a Curse from David that reached his very neck and life For as he loved cursing by setting Shimei on vvork so it came unto him As he clothed himself with cursing like as with a garment which covereth him so it came into his bowels like water and like oyl into his bones c. when he hang'd himself Those busie Cursers of the Prelacie have found this effect upon themselves and Successors their curses being come home to the Bishops and the rest of the Prelates many hundreds yeers after their mouths were so full of cursing and bitterness Let therefore such as please themselves vvith frighting others vvith curses beware they meet not vvith some share in those very curses vvhich now they so groundlesly seek to scare their brethren vvithal it being no other but an engine of Antichrist forged in Hell Object 4 The last and most generally-taking Objection is this Be it that Bishops are justly cashiered their Lands forfeited and rightly taken from them by the Parliament Yet it is generally held by all sound Divines that those Lands and Revenues although at first superstitiously or superfluously given being once dedicated unto God may not be aliened sold or diverted to any secular or common use but ever continued for the maintenance of the true worship of God This objection is plausibly received among honest Godly men Yet is capable of Answer thus Answ 1. This opinion is not in the case of Bishops Lands founded on the Scripture but upon that commonly received maxime cast in the Popes mint Semel dicatum Deo non est ad humanos usus ulteriùs transferendum Which wherein and how far forth it holds good hath been above declared and need not to be repeated Things once given to God by his command warrant or approbation may not be aliened to other uses vvhile the use of Gods appointment doth continue But not all that men pretend or say they give unto God As in Persons so in things such only as the Lord chuseth or accepteth and none else are holy t Num. 16.7 let men say and think vvhat they vvill to the contrary To pin therefore Bishops Lands upon God because once pretendedly given to him is like those gifts of the Israelites in the absence of Moses pretended to be given unto God vvhen they brake off the golden ear-rings which were on their ears and brought them unto Aaron to make them Gods to go before them u Exod. 32.3 They intended them as gifts to the true God as they thought yet were those gifts far from acceptance with him or reserved for holy uses after the folly and wickedness of the Givers vvas discovered and punished 2. It is apparent that those gifts to Bishops were to be no longer continued than the function of those to vvhom they vvere given remained Datur Beneficium propter Officium Office and Benefice are relatives like twins they live and die together The Bishops share in the goods and Lands of the Church hath been for many hundred yeers severed and known from the rest of the Churches Patrimony that vvas to maintain others and so cannot be claimed by others vvhen the Bishops Order and Office is taken away 3. When the vastness of the Revenue or unlawful procuring of it is a vvrong to the Common-wealth or to any particular Family this is not a dedication to God which he will own but an abusing of him by fathering upon him the acceptance of that vvhich is a vvrong to others and a profaning of his name by teaching all to take that for a vvarrant to deny to others their due That position therefore now urged vvould be of dangerous consequence if taken universally and vvithout due bounds 4. Things voluntarily dedicated by Gods own appointment cannot be aliened If it hath been abused that must be rectified and the things continued for some other holy use although not at first intended by the Donors Thus the Censers abused by Korah and his Companions were no more used for incense yet because they were hallowed they were converted into broad Plates to cover the Altar w Num. 16.37 But in things not appointed by God from the beginning this Tenet holdeth not For being dedicated upon false grounds for superstitious ends most derogatory to God and Christ to maintain feed and encrease the pomp and pride of Harpies that lay in wait as he that setteth snares and traps to catch men x Jer. 5.26 thereby to fool them out of their estates upon false pretences for ends of their own this dedication is no vvhit better than the hire of a whore or the price of a dog that is then money gotten by whoredom or by the sale of a dog brought into the House of the Lord and dedicated to him both which he abhorreth y Deut. 23.17 Such are all those gifts of Lands dedicated to God first gotten by rapine and spoyl or to put Christ out of office of saving souls and to do it by such gifts He looks no otherwise upon them then as the offering of swines blood the cutting off of a dogs neck or the blessing of an Idol z Isay 66.3 When it can be proved that God accepted of such offerings in time of the Law then also it may be granted that he vvill own such mongrel Dedications in the days of the Gospel 5. Things dedicated to God vvithout his order and allowance is a laying aside a Mar. 7.8 and a rejecting the Commandment of God b ver 9. and a making the Word of God of none effect c ver 13. It is the Pharisees Corban d ver 11. which they for filthy lucres sake taught children to plead and thereby to break the fifth Commandment when required to relieve aged and needy Parents If a father demanded ought of his son and his son answered This is Corban a gift devoted to God therefore you must excuse me Vows must be paid and things once dedicated must not be recalled or aliened This by the Pharisees Doctrine vvas so sacred unto God that if the child should be willing to pleasure his parent with some part of it they would suffer him no more to do ought for his father or mother e
ver 12. Did Christ take this for a dedication that might not be aliened nay he abhorred it and them that taught it Such are all dedications of mens inventions and fancies vvithout a Rule from him And therefore to be aliened to other uses that God may no longer be abused and provoked by them 6. The same thing hath been for many yeers and still is done every day by the greatest Censurers of the present Purchasers of Bishops Lands Even they who now cry loudest against buying Church-Lands because once dedicated to God and make it high Sacriledge in others can yet be content and quiet to hold things of the same kind in respect of dedication heretofore aliened from the Church They can digest abby-Abby-Lands Canonical Houses yea which is worst Appropriations of Tythes first made by that Arch-Thief the Pope in favour of Monasteries and other his Creatures who neither would nor could do service to their souls that paid them and after their dissolution devolved to private hands and common uses as Bishops Lands now be How many Nobles and Gentlemen who now cry Sacriledge against present purchasers do possess many Lands and Mannors of Bishops alienated since Henry the Eighth began to destroy Monasteries Many of those Lands being by secret I say not Symoniacal compact between Petitioners for Bishopricks and their friends at Court exchanged or otherwise aliened from the Church upon condition to get such a Bishoprick for them If any doubt hereof it is his ignorance let him but inquire into that one Bishoprick of Bath and Wells and he will finde that since the 30th of Hen. 8. the Mannots of Wokey Blackford Comptondando Congersbury Yaton Chew Wike Puckle-Church Wester-Leighe Hampton Claverton Cranmore Ever-Chritch Kigsbury Chard Wellington Lidford Compton Parva and Chedder to omit many Appropriations Hundreds Burroughes Farmes c. have been alienated from that Church before ever the late Parliament seised the rest and are to this day held by Lay-men to their own private uses without scruple or blame Yea this is not the first time that the Mannor of Wells hath been alienated from the Church for in Hen. 8. it was aliened by the Bishop himself to him that was afterwards Earl of Hertford and Duke of Somerset and by him held without clamor until by his attainder it escheted to the Crown and thence returned to the Bishop again Nor is there any scruple made of purchasing those many Canonical Houses in Wells which formerly belonged to the Church yet were a part of the Bishops Land and Mannors of Wells and are held of the same Mannor unto this day yet none of the Possessors hold it to be any fault in them while some yet condemn the same thing as Sacriledge in Doctor Burges albeit he performeth more service in that Church than any Bishop that ever sate there Let not such think to wash all off by saying these were things done before their times which they could not help for they can without scruple enjoy yea purchase them An accessory in sin long before committed must share with the principal in punishment f 2 Commandment And this all acknowledge to be a truth Non firmatur tractu temporis quod de jure ab initio non subsistit No house will grow strong by long continuance whose foundation is on the sand Time will never make that to be no sin which from the beginning was sinful They therefore that thus censure him Rom. 2.1 are themselves inexcusable for wherein they judge him they condemn themselves because they that judge do the same things g If this satisfie not yet it behoves such Censurers to be quiet and to let him that is without sin cast the next stone at the Doctor Rom. 14.4 Who art thou that judgest another mans servant to his own Master he standeth or falleth THE SECOND PART Declaring The Differences between Dr. Burges and the Corporation of Wells With The Necessity thereof on his part DOctor Burges is not in common repute so weak as not to apprehend the great disadvantage which a single man hath in encountring a Corporation wherein there are ever some Spirits that pretend to see further into and to be more zealous of the good of that Community than the rest thereby to engage them in Controversies and that others of them gaining thereby will not fail to add fewel to the fire when once the coles are kindled between a vvhole Body and any one particular man that shall be so hardy as to oppose them although never so justly concerning any thing unjustly done by them Insomuch as it is taken for a maxime among such if they have a minde to transgress that many subtle heads combined a common Purse to make great Friends and to impoverish and weary a single Adversary and the difficulty of obtaining Justice against them is enough in their conceit to justifie their greatest frauds and oppressions and to proclaim and doom him the only Offender that dares to seek Justice against them This hardens them in their wickedness and draws into common obloquy and reproach any one that being necessitated to maintain his own rights shall presume to question their foulest encroachments This the Doctor hath found in prosecuting the Differences here after related Wherein he first appeared in behalf of the Parliament having discovered sundry gross vvrongs done to the State by some Agents for the Corporation of Wells Afterwards he vvas enforced to pursue the same contest in behalf of himself being by the Contractors for sale of Bishops Lands and by the then Committee of Parliament for removing Obstructions in sale thereof drawn to purchase the Mannor of Wells and what else there then remained unsold vvhich they promised he should quietly enjoy Hence sprang all the Differences between him and that Corporation vvhich to his great grief have been sadly ventilated almost ten yeers notwithstanding his utmost endeavours to compose them in vvays of love and peace The first Rise and Sum of all vvhich is now exposed to publike view that they vvho have been abused by false and scurrilous clamors against him may now be better able to judge vvhich Party hath indeed been in fault in causing or occasioning the beginning and continuance of those unhappy Contentions In publishing vvhereof it vvill be requisite to advertise that it is not here intended to rip up all the particular affronts and injuries done to the Doctor but only to set forth 1. What vvas the Original of all the Differences between them and how that hath been since prosecuted 2. That what is after alledged in reference to any former Mayors of Wells is not imputed to their own personal aversness from peace but as they have been the mouth of the rest that have put them upon vvhat they have spoken or acted herein 3. That albeit this Narrative often mentioneth the vvhole Corporation yet it is not meant to involve all alike in the same Charge some of them being better inclined to reason and
Contractors for the sale of the said Lands IN pursuance of your Honours Order of the 27 of February last touching VVells we do humbly certifie as followeth In the first Particular the things brought in amount to 25 l. 03 s. 04 d. per annum The things in the Survey valued and contained in that Particular do make up that sum Which things are these viz. The Royalty of VVells-Forum within which are two Fairs to wit of Priddy and Binnegar valued in the Survey at the yeerly sum of 01 l. 10 s. 00 d. The Collection of certain Post-fines and Amercements issuing out of the Exchequer called the Green-wax within the Liberty of the said Bishop valued at the yeerly sum of 10 l. 00 l. 00 l. The Leets or Law-days within the City of VVells and every week a Court of Record and every three weeks a three weeken-Court valued in the Survey at the yeerly sum of 08 l. 00 l. 00 l. The four Fairs in VVells the Profits whereof go to the Bayliff for three lives yet in being valued at the sum of 05 l. 13 s. 04 d. The whole sum for this Purchase at 20 yeers for the 19 l. 10 s. in possession and for 5 l. 13 s. 4 d. after 3 lives at four yeers purchase amounts in all to 412 l. 13 s. 04 d. But we certifie that the Hundred was included in the nineteen pounds ten shillings per annum in possession And that the Markets were thrust into the first Particular as valued under the five pounds ten shillings four pence for the Fairs in VVells which we now find to be a mistake and surprize The said Markets were severed from the Fairs in the Survey and not valued though valuable VVe also certifie that being informed by Casbeard that the Baylywick contained nothing more then is comprehended in the Particulars here above specified unless what is made out of the Bayliffs labour upon that ground only we did admit the Baylywick to be put into the said Contract wherein we also find our selves mistaken and surprized it being of greater value and extent VVe did likewise intend to sell to the said Town all VVaives and Strays Felons goods c. as in the Survey within the said Town and Forum belonging to the said Town or Burrough and Forum only And the VVays and Streets mentioned in the said Particular were no otherwise intended by us to be sold unto them but in reference to the Fairs and Market place only As for the Guild-Hall and Prison we neither did nor could intend to sell these unto them they being not at all in the Particular by which we contracted with the Town And how they came in afterwards we do not know they being not then returned in the Survey Other then the Particulars hereabove specified we never intended by any words general or special to sell them any thing although within the said Town of VVells or Hundred of VVells and VVells-Forum Nor do we know that those things are any part of the Mannor of VVells of which or of any other Mannor we never meant to sell them any thing Only we intended that as on the one side the Corporation should be free from the Lord of the Mannor so on the other side that they should have nothing to do with the said Lord or with any of his Tenants or with his or their Possessions by way of Jurisdiction over him or them by vertue of their said Purchase Gurny-House 7 Mar. 1648. VVill. Roberts Ti. Middleton Rob. Fenwick Ja. Russel John Blackwel Rich. Turner Thomas Ayres This being certified It was Ordered that a Sub-Committee should draw up a Report of the whole business to be by that Committee Reported to the Parliament in case the Town of Wells some of them confessing the truth of that Certificate should not forthwith relinquish and reconvey the residue unduly thrust into their Conveyance And then the said Contractors and Committee of Parliament pressed Dr Burges to go on with the purchase of the Mannor of Wells vvhich he accordingly did For on the 16 of March then instant he contracted for the Mannor of Wells and for whatever else was then unsold that belonged to the late Bishop of Bath and VVells in or about VVells in right of his said Bishoprick But before the Contract was signed Colonel Web came to the Contractors with a Message from the Trustees to des re them to beware what they did in selling the Mannor of Wells and what else was the Bishops there for that those Trustees were informed that there were divers things belonging to the said Bishop in and about Wells that were not surveyed Doctor Burges then desired him to instance what those things were but none could be given Whereupon the Doctor having before met with some c. that so soon as they heard he was about that purchase sought to deter him from it he took it to be some Artifice of theirs to hinder his present proceeding Therefore he first appealed to the Contractors and Register whether they could upon a bare suggestion refuse to sign a Contract made according to Ordinance of Parliament They answered No. Doctor Burges then offered that whereas divers purchases of several things in and about Wells had been made before his if the Contractors would engage to allow him a Reprise for whatever should appear to be sold before or not to be part of the premises for which he now Contracted he would enter an engagement to them to pay for whatever more than was then Surveyed should be after within a fixed time then to be agreed upon discovered according to the rates at the Contract agreed upon Provided he might have his Conveyance in such comprehensive words as might take in all without a new Deed of purchase The Contractors consented and set six Moneths for the time of discovery Dr Burges then signed the Contract with this clause in it On the 19 of that Moneth the Contractors signed the Contract which was to be absolute according to the Particular therefore they took no notice therein of this Agreement Yet for discharge of their Trust they after certified it to the Trustees and gave the Doctor a Duplicate thereof subscribed with their own hands in these words WE the Contractors vvhose names are subscribed do hereby Certifie That we have taken an engagement of Dr Burges purchaser of the Mannor of Wells in the County of Somerset under his hand That in case any other Land Tenements Rents or hereditaments shall vvithin six Moneths to be accounted from the 16 day of March instant be discovered which may possibly pass by the general words contained in his Particular albeit not comprised or mentioned in any of the surveys The said Doctor shall pay for the same at such proportionable rates as he hath Contracted for other the premises With whom also we have agreed that a Reprise shall be allowed to him according to such proportionable rates for whatsoever Lands Tenements Rents or Hereditaments mentioned
was drawn up which being first perused by Robert Woolrich of Greys-Inn and Matthew Hale of Lincolns-Inn Esquires and by them both attested under their hands to be agreeable to the foregoing Agreement it was after tendred to several Maiors successive to each other at Wells to seal But they waved the Agreement resolving to hold what they had gotten denying that they knew of any thing granted to them but what was really intended to be bought by them and they are confident was really intended by the Honorable Contractors to be sold unto them and therefore conceived it lawful for to improve their best endeavours for the enjoyment thereof This with much more was sent in a Letter to the Doctor in the name and by the Order of the whole Society Jan. 5. 1649. Signed by the Maior Mean while the said Committee of Parliament minding their promise and finding the business to be so foul and that the Town would not Seal any Reconveyance Order of Aug. 11. 1649. made an Order the 11 of August 1649 to the Sergeant at Arms attending the Parliament or his Deputy or Deputies forthwith to apprehend the Body of John Casebeard and to bring him up in safe custody and him to keep in safe custody until the said first Particular be brought in to the Contractors Registry or that the said Casebeard do clear himself from any concealment or imbezelling of the same He was apprehended accordingly but had a friend that first got him loose not by Order but connivence till the 14 of September 1651. Then he got his Liberty till the 15 of November following Upon the 21 of which moneth he alledging that the Town and Dr. Burges were agreed he got an Order for his dismission that day seven-night if nothing were further alledged to continue his restraint Howbeit he was not dismissed till the 12 of December following witness this Order 8 May 1650. Order of Dec. 12. 1651. IT is this day Ordered that John Casebeard be discharged from his restraint in the Custody of the Sergeant at Arms attending the Parliament Mr. Lislibone Long having undertaken for his appearance before this Committee at any time in Term-time upon Summons But long before that the same Committee of Parliament finding the Corporation so pertinacious in holding what they had so unduly gotten Ordered the former Report to be offered to the Parliament The Order was this 8 May 1650 At the Committee of Parliament for removing of Obstructions in the sale of Bishops Lands Order of May 8. 1650. To Report to the Parliament WHereas the Report formerly made by Colonel Harvy touching the business of the Purchase made by the Maior Masters and Burgesses of Wells was this day read upon Debate thereof It is Ordered to be reported to the House as now it is Unless the said Maior Masters and Burgesses do before this day moneth give satisfaction to a Sub-Committee touching the same And it is Ordered that Col. Jones Mr. John Corbet Mr. Alderman Allen and Colonel Harvey be the said Sub-Committee and they or any three of them be desired to receive what shall be offered by or on the behalf of the said Mayor Master and Burgesses of Wells therein and report the same to this Committee All this notwithstanding nothing was offered nor done herein by the Corporation Sundry Overtures and Letters were addressed to them by the Doctor for an end Divers References were made wherein two several times all businesses were agreed But the Corporation resolved to part with nothing for having made friends who understood not the case to stand by them therein they encroached dayly upon the Doctors Wasts Commons Pounds Estrays c. threatning more Especially since they so strongly engaged sundry of the Souldiery who were set to keep peace not to intermeddle in differences or to become parties in them by sweating three Officers of one Troop who had not any foot of Land or other Estate within that Corporation Burgesses of their Town Then Belly-gods and every rayling Shimei gladly made it their business to run up and down to Gentlemens Houses yea any-whither where any good chear was to be had to make the Doctor odious by false reports where they supposed they could command belief of their confident tales Yea so far did some proud Wiselings of their Faction proceed that if any friend were but in any neighbourly manner familiar with the Doctor or invited any of his to their Houses they would take occasion to quarrel them for entertaining their enemies insomuch that scarce any person of quality durst to own the Doctor or to come near his house much more to own his cause All which the Doctor bore with what patience he could knowing that nothing but Nettles and Bryers can be expected from Dung-hills That which remaineth is a brief account of prosecuting that Report which was to have been made to the Parliament but never could find opportunity to be reported there An Act passed Octob. 12. 1652. to enable the present Commissioners for removing of Obstructions among other things to hear and determine all such reports of particular Cases as by the late Committees of Parliament for Obstructions were ordered to be made to the then Parliament Which Act gives them that power that never was in the Committee of Parliament for Obstructions or in any Court of Judicature but onely in the Parliament it self to redress those abuses that otherwise in an ordinary course of Justice were not to be cured This Act the Doctor for two or three years made no use of in hope the Corporation would at length be drawn to do him right because such as were discreet and moderate among them on all occasions professed themselves very inclinable to peace But they frustrated his expectation for the more he bore the more was laid on him which opened his eyes to see that they who began upon trifles would when they saw their time proceed to seise upon more yea upon all that their general words might include And this was no less then all he had except the soyl of the Mannor For they might on the same ground carry all his Rents Fines for Copyholds and Leases Forfeitures Lot-Lead all his Courts of the Mannor and in a word whatever else he could make one penny profit of And all this because it was within the Hundred of Wells and late the possession of the Bishop of Bath and Wells in right of his said Bishoprick The first difference began on their side upon a small business namely their setting up Pens for Sheep at a Fair against his Walls in a place called South-over which belonged always to him that kept the Bishops Park purchased by Dr. Burges Of this when he had complained the Corporation sent up a Certificate that they had made little of it and that it should be restored if it appeared to be the Doctors right This being but a trifle the Doctor passed it by without farther contest After this the Corporation
be done that day but onely to order the preparing of the Bonds against the next morning Friday being come August 6. Mr. Buckland who went not home on Thursday night as he had intended and Mr. Harrington met again in the same place expecting the sealing of the Bonds But insteed thereof the Maior the Town-Clerk and two Gentlemen more of the Town told the Referrees That the Corporation had that morning met and resolved That neither now nor hereafter would they become bound to the Doctor by their personal named and that they were now also resolved That their second purchase should not be referred as a Difference but be excepted out of the Reference in the Condition of the Bonds Dr. Burges then pressed the Agreement made the day before for altering the Bond if by Counsel it should be found to be of no force And next that the putting such an exception in the condition of the Bond was not at all mentioned on the Thursday And if they excepted that difference it must needs argue their dissidence in the Gentlemen joyntly chosen to arbitrate the whole yea that if before Bonds were sealed the Corporation would thus limit and bind up their own Agents there could not be any hope of their standing to any thing debated and determined by those Gentlemen Hereupon the Doctor drew up and delivered a second paper at the same time to the said Mr. Buckland and Mr. Harrington in the presence of the other side which Paper contained the same Heads of Differences he had given in the day before whereunto he added the following Lines viz. Now forasmuch as the Reference signed by the Lord Disbrow July 5. 1658. since he spake with the Agents for the Town expresseth ALL Differences without exception and that not onely the Maior subscribing Letters to all the Arbitrators but two several Acts of the Council or Convocation of the Corporation of Wells the one held July 23 last the other August 2 instant enabling several of their Members to treat and to prosecute the Reference so signed do not at all except any of the particulars above mentioned I do absolutely refer all without exception to the said Arbitrators or to the major part of them or to the Umpire chosen by them according to the said draught of Reference signed by the Lord Disbrow not waving the same in any thing and do earnestly desire the Corporation to do the like forasmuch as without this there can be no firm peace C. Burges May 6. 1658. The Agents for the Town pleaded that their hands were bound up so that they could not yeild hereunto Presently after the Gentlemen brake up that meeting and never more met about it Whereupon the Doctor having drawn up the short Narrative foregoing in Writing of the Proceedings at that time the Gentlemen were pleased to certifie the truth thereof thus This is the substance of what passed in the Reference between Dr. Burges and the Corporation of Wells John Buckland John Harrington Mr. Roll did the like for so much as passed on the Thursday Aug. 5. This Reference as all other before had done coming to nothing the Doctor was now necessitated to attend the honourable Commissioners for removing of Obstructions for an Hearing at Worcester House Nov. 12. according to their last Order But some of the Commissioners being then absent the Hearing was put off until the 25 of November which was no ordinary sitting day but assigned on purpose for that only business that nothing might intervene to interrupt them in the full hearing of it That day being come both sides with their Counsel attended The honourable Commissioners entered upon the Cause a little after three of clock which held until past eight at night And having fully heard both sides and after debated the whole alone by themselves they made this following Order 25 Novemb. 1658. By the Commissioners for removing Obstructions in the sale of Bishops Lands WHereas the Cause upon the Petition of Cornelius Burges Dr. in Divinity Purchaser from the Trustees for sale of Bishops Lands of the Mannor of Wells in the County of Somerset against the Maior Masters and Burgesses of Wells and their Agents John Casebeard John Standish David Barret and others upon a Report of the Case drawn up by the late Committee of Parliament for removing Obstructions which by their Order of the eighth of May 1650. was to have been reported to the then Parliament came before us this day to be heard and determined by Vertue of an Act of the said late Parliament bearing date the 12 of October 1652. in this and the like Cases made and provided in the presence of the said Doctor Burges and Mr. Graves his Counsel and of Mr. Maddison and Mr. White of Counsel with the said Maior Masters and Burgesses the matter of the said Petition being to be relieved against the said Maior Masters and Burgesses of Wells amongst other things for undue keeping from the Petitioner by colour of a Conveyance made to them from the Trustees for sale of Bishops Lands bearing date the 22 of March 1647. of divers things not contracted for by them which did of right belong to the said Mannor of Wells contracted for by the said Doctor Burges and accordingly conveyed unto him by the said Trustees on the 24 of March 1648. And it now appearing unto us upon reading the said Report of the said late Committee of Parliament that as well by Certificates from the Contractors for sale of the said Lands as upon examination of the matter they found That at the Request of the said Casebeard the said Contractors made an Order of the 26 of November to the Register of the said Lands to make forth a Particular of the Royalties of the Burrough and Hundred of Wells and Wells-Forum with the Fairs of Priddy and Bineger parcel of the possessions of the late Bishop of Bath and Wells and that this was the onely Warrant for any Particular in reference to the said Corporation That the said Corporation after their Contract made with them the 15 of December 1647. by their Agents surprised the said Contractors and much wronged the State by taking away of the first Particular upon which the said Contract was made and the drawing up of a new one without Warrant by one Mr. Thomas Salmon And that this last Particular contains much more in it then the said Town bought and paid for or then the said Contractors intended to sell to them And that accordingly to the latter Particular their Conveyance was drawn up and Sealed And that by the Special words of that Conveyance amongst other things they carry these following which were never Contracted for nor sold to them viz. the whole Baylywick valued after three lives in being at 40 l. per annum which they now alledge they have since purchased Two weekly Markets in the City of Wells the Guild-Hall and Prison which have ever belonged to the Lord of the Mannor which said Guild-Hall and