Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n
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A38840
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The Evil eye plucked out, or, A discourse proving that church revenues cannot be alienated by any secular persons or powers without a manifest violation of the known fundamental laws of this kingdom, and of publick justice, and a common-honesty
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1679
(1679)
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Wing E3555; ESTC R6758
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19,644
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92
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and experience to perfect it be not sacred yet in the sense of our Laws they are Clerks too that are exceedingly well read and Learned as Clergy-men are or should be From which use of the name Clerk by I know not what cause there are no Pen and Ink-horne men now relating to the Law termed Clerks but those that use Pen and Ink in Courts as Clerks of Parliament Roles Clerks of Chancery c. But blessed be God that the Laws of this Kingdome are not so little cultivated or understood especially by Gentlemen of any note or account in this latter age but that the interests of the Church and religion are sufficiently conceived and that by the constitution of this state the Lands both of the Clergy and themselves are so founded that one cannot be attacqued or invaded without a manifest wrong to the very settlements and freedoms of the other And therefore little doubt that so many hundreds or thousands should ever combine to do any acts of wrong and unrighteousness to them and therein besides the violation of their trust and consciences weaken and enfeeble themselves and their posterities for ever Nor have these Church-preferments been entailed to the off-spring of the Peasantry and common people which for the most part have not ability to give Education unto their Children to qualify them for such Offices but have generally been the reward and support of some branches of the most ancient and frequently of the most Honourable families of the whole Kingdom insomuch as those that have been born to sit with Princes have not disdained by a sedulous and studious life to fit themselves for those dignities Nor did the Policy of any former ages esteem them ever the less qualified to serve their Princes when they were so well prepared to serve God and his Church This little Catalogue that I have subjoyned will let you see that the dignities of the Church have been the Seats for several of the greatest families of this Nation which for the more speed I have set down promiscuously without any orderly marshalling Thus Agelnothus Bishop of Cant. was Son of Earl Agelmare Athelmarus Bishop of Winton was Son to Hugh Earl of March and Queen Isabel Henry de Bloys Bishop of Cant. was Brother to King Stephen Hugh de Pudsey Bishop of Durrham was Earl of Northumberland Boniface of Savoy Bishop of Cant. was Vncle to Queen Eleanor wife of Hen. 3. Richard Talbot Bishop of London was Allyed to the Talbots after Earles of Shrewsberry Henry Beaufort Bishop of Lincolne was Son of John of Gaunt Will. Courtney Bishop of Cant. was Son of Hugh Courtney E. of Devon Giles de Bruse Bishop of Hereford was Son of Will Lord de Bruse George Nevil Bishop of Exon was Brother to Richard Nevil Duke of Warwick Thomas Peircy Bishop of Norwich was Allyed to the Piercies E. of Northum Lionel Woodvil Bishop of Sarum was Son to Earl Rivers of Sarum Thomas Vipont Bishop of Carlile was Allyed to Viponts then Earls of Westmoreland Marmarduke Lumley Bishop of Carlile was Allyed to the house of Lumley's Walther Bishop of Durrham was Earl of Northumberland Julius de Medices Bishop of Worcester was Allyed to the house of Medices in Italy Nicholas de Longespee Bishop of Sarum was Son to Will Earl of Salisbury Will Dudley Bishop of Durrham was Son of Jo. Lord Dudley Walter de Cantilupo Bishop of Worcester was Of a great house in Normandy Lewes Beaumont Bishop of Durrham was Of the Bloud Royall of France Thomas Arundel Bishop of Cant. was Son to Rob. Earl of Arundell and Warren James Berkley Bishop Exon was Son to the Lord Berkley Rich. Scroope Bishop Cov. and Litchf was Brother to Will Scroope Earl of Wiltshire Thomas Bourchier Bishop Cant. was Son to Hen. Bourchier Earl of Essex Roger de Clinton Bishop Cov. and Lichf was Of the same family with Geofery de Clinton Jo. Stafford Bishop Cant. was Son to the Earl of Stafford Will. de Vere Bishop Heref. was Brother to the Earl of Oxon. Richard Beauchamp B. Hereford was Allyed to Beauchamp then Duke of Warwick Jo. Grandison B. Exon was Of the house of Grandisons Dukes of Burgundy Edmund Audley B. Heref. was Allyed to Audley E. of Glocester Hen. Burwesh B. Line was Nephew to the Baron of Leeds Jo. Zouch B. Llandaff was Brother to the Lord Zouch Hen. Beaufort B. Linc. was Allyed to the Beauforts E. of Dorset Fulco Basset B. Lond was Lord Basset James Stanly B. Ely was Brother to the Earl of Darby Simon Montacute B. of Ely was Allyed to the Montacutes then Earls of Salisbury I might extreamly enlarge this if there were either time room or need so to do And as for the Gentry and the Lawyers and Merchants which according to the constitution of this Kingdome are to be had in no small regard very few of all the Bishops of this Kingdome have been from any lower families than such or if here and there one have risen from small beginnings it hath been extraordinary merit parts and industry that have been the means of their promotions And such unthought-off advancement is common to the Laity as well as the Clergy amongst whom many of the now highest rank may attribute their rise purely to the grace and favour of Princes who as one saith have so much of God in them whose deputies they are that they oftentimes raise the poor out of the dust that they may set than with Princes even with the Princes of their people And although these preferments and dignities in the Church have in this latter age fallen more generally to the hands of such that have been the Branches of Knightly and Gentile Families and not to those that are the Sprouts of Peers there is no reason that the Peers should envy this honour and advantage unto those Worthy Families and neither accept of those imployments themselves nor be content that others enjoy them there is no cause that while they esteem those advantages too small for the least Peers they should conclude them too liberal or splendid for the best Commons Especially when by a chargeable Education and a painful and industrious Life they have acquired learning and parts to be able to undergo them to the glory of God and the honour of their houses It were most unreasonable and disingenious for the Nobility after themselves are entered into the Court of Honour to pull up a Draught-Bridg and shut to the Gates that none else may enter There are but these two ways for the Commons by merit to aspire unto honours by the Gown and by the Sword And if this way should ever be bayed up the rest of the pathes of the Gown would become so wondrous rough and uneven that there would hardly any ready way for them to come unto dignities remain but what they could dig out with the Sword For as for riches It is much more uncertainly attained by all industry than Wisdom and Learning and if
was brought to that perfection it now hath by Wulstan a succeeding Bishop St. Andrews Church in Rochester was rebuilt by Gundulphus Bishop of that See The Cathedral Church of Durrham was Founded by Aldwynus Bishop of the same That which now standeth was begun by Bishop William de Carileso and finished by Ranulphus Flambard his successor Magdalen Col. in Oxon with the Chappel annexed was Founded by William of Wainfleet Bishop of Winton Trinity Col. Originally Founded by Tho. Hatfield Bishop of Durrham All-Souls Col. by Hen. Chichely Arch Bishop of Canterbury Merton Col with the Chappel and Tower annexed by Walter Merton Bishop of Rochester Exceter Col. by Walter Stapleton Bishop of Exceter Queens Colledg in Oxon by Robert Eglishfield Chaplain to Queen Phillip Wife of Ed. 3. New Col. and the Appendant Colledg and School of Winton by William of Wickham Bishop of Winton Lincoln Colledg was Founded by Richard Flemming Bishop of Lincoln St. John's Col. in Oxon Originally Founded before the dissolution by Hen. 8. by Hen. Chichely Arch-Bishop shop of Canterbury St. Crosses Hospital and Church Founded by Henry Beaufort Bishop of Winton Catherine Hall in Cambridg Founded by Robert Woodlark DD. Jesus Colledg in Cambridg Founded by Jo. Alcock Bishop of Ely St. John's Colledg in Cambridg was first Founded by Nigellus the Second Bishop of Ely afterwards endowed and enlarged by Hugh Balsham a succeeding Bishop So that it appears that many of the best and most ample foundations of the most noble and admirable Piles and structures of the most costly publique workes and buildings that beautifie Cities and Vniversities that make this Kingdome famous in forrain parts and that here serve for the glory of God and the publick good have been founded and indowed by the Clergie The builders of the first Tower in the World that we read of were justly chastised with confusion of their Language for their rebellion against God for they sayd Gen. 11.4 Let us build us a Tower whose top may reach to Heaven not that they designed that it should indeed touch Heaven for then the whole Plain in the Land of Shinar had been too little for the foundation nay it may be the whole Earth it selfe but the meaning is a very high Tower such as might be a place of sanctuary to them against any future Deluge For whereas they understood that the Waters in the Flood prevailed on the earth but fifteen cubits upwards as Cap. 7.20 they imagined that this mole so much above the tops of the highest mountaines would secure them in the like case and being made of Bricks too which had endured the test of fire might protect them from the force of that furious Element which they had traditionally received should be the means of a second destruction of the World Thus they thought to elude Divine vengeance and to arme themselves against the force of Heaven which nothing is able to effect but innocency and holiness of Life And truly had they not thus erred in the main the other lower ends of this work would not have failed them which they express in the next words Let us make us a Name least we be scattered abroad upon the face of the earth For certainly it was a very likely means to perpetuate their Name and Glory and was besides as a Standard to which they might at any time repair in case of dispersion What these designed though rebelliously against God is really performed to us by those noble and stupend structures devoted to Gods honour it gets us both a name and is as standards for us to apply to in case of dispersion as holy sanctuaries to fly too to seek the God of salvation and cannot choose but be exceedingly the glory of the Nation that is so much for the glory of the Lord. And this is a thing so confessed and certain that Cromwell that great enemy to every thing that was good meerly for the greatness of the Workes and because they were such Ornaments to the places where they are built saved them from ruine when nothing sacred was spared besides But to conclude If it were not for Cathedral Churches and the Sees of Bishops our Noblest and most renouned Cities in the whole Kingdome would be of no more account then the poorest basest and most pedling Burroughs John Mayor of Brackley would govern as noble society of men as the Lord Mayor of London and Wotton-Basset contend with Bristoll For the Law defines a City thus Citie est teil ville corporate que ad un Evesque un Eglise Cathedral A City is a Town-corporate which hath a Bishop and a Cathedrall Church And so Cassanaeus affirming that there are in France 104. Cities gives this reason of it Pur ceo que la sont plusours Sees de Archieuesques Euesques because there are so many Sees of Arch Bishops and Bishops I know very well that there are too many factious and giddy people that aim at nothing but parity and levelling in Churches Cities Clergie and People in all persons and societies and that John may be a Lord would have every Lord a meer John They would debase and bring down all dignities and h nours to the rate and sieze of their own education and merits But I spupose that I write to men of sobriety and reason to men that have honours or estates to loose and such I beleive do well understand that the onely way to prevent ruine and confusion is the stability of the Laws and the stedfastness and continuance of the constitutions and Sanctions of this Kingdome Non capitur qui jus publicum sequitur He shall never be insnared that depends on the known and publick Laws But if this dependance be ever removed out of the hands of that generation of men that have fitted themselves for holy services the Laws that gave a security of those incouragements are turned into meer trapps and snares to invite them into Offices Dignities and Imploiments and there leave them exposed naked and derided Just as some Factious persons would have the Act of Vniformity become to all the Sober and obedient Clergie of the Kingdome that when it hath under the severe penalty of Deprivation exacted a Subscription and an exact Conformity and by this means drawn in a vast number of men that were not altogether so well satisfied in some particulars because they would not incur the censure of unpeacable men of Separatists of being stiffe and stubborn against Nationall Laws thinking that for peace and order sake it was but reasonable to lay aside some contracted prejudices and submit their private sentiments to the judgment of a Convocation and Parliament especially for this because they might not otherwise exercise their Ministery that now some Law of Tolleration should be made to let in all the stubborn and unpeaceable and consequently make the most obedient and honest hearted Clergie pass under the character of Cowards Temporizers Men of a large conscience and the like to their infinite reproach and discouragement the consequent of which if it could be effected would be inevitably this that all sober and wise men if in any thing they dissent from the publique opinions shall be for ever discouraged from yielding up their apprehensions to the publique quiet least when they have done it they be exposed to scorne and contempt for their obedience There is no prudent Man I conceive can have so low and dishonourable esteem of the greatest and gravest Council of this Kingdom the Parliament to imagine that they should be so unstedfast to themselves or others to hearken to such suggestions and so toss the Interests of the whole State like Shuttlecocks or think so poorly of their Faith or Honour that they should by severe penalties and strict Laws hunt men into an intricate and troublesome duty and condition upon hope of encouragement and reward and then leave them in the lurch or that Law-givers should ever unravel the whole texture of the present constitutions to set up unrighteousness by a Law FINIS