ought to be maintayned as good and iust or rather whether the same ought not as the Kings law requireth to bee reversed and disannulled as evill and erroneous And thus I leave and commend vnto your most honorable care circumspection and vigilancie the hearkening and spying out by all the possible wayes and meanes in your highest wisedomes you can best devise how the good lawes statutes Decrees of the Church Realme being duly executed a learned vertuous paynfull and godly Ministerie may be nursed and suffered to grow vp And how on the other side an Idle Ignorant Scandalous and godles ministerie may as worthily it deserveth be cut downe and troden vnder foote The one by a perpetuall Decree and ordinance of God hath establishment from heaven and therefore without sinne offence to God can not be neglected the other springeth from below and is much like to an evill herbe or weed which if it be not speedily rooted vpp but suffered to spread will soone so over-spread the gardens of God with vice and impietie as there will scarce be any roome left for vertue and pietie the one by vse and execution of the Kings ecclesiasticall lawes may easilie be cherished the other without abuse and contempt of the same law can not in any sort bee tolerated It was said vnto Shebna the Steward of the house of King Hezekiah What hast thou to doe here and what hast thou here that thou shouldest hewe thee out a sepulchre as he that heweth out his sepulchre in an high place or graveth an habitation for him selfe in a rocke But oh you most noble Lordes are not as Shebna in the house of Hezekiah but you are vnto King IAMES and his house as was Eliakim vnto Hezekiah and to the house of King David As the key of the house of King David was layde vpon the shoulders of Eliakim so is the Key of the house of King Iames laid vpon your shoulders If you shall open no man shall shut if you shall shut no man shall open Would your Lordshippes then bee fastened as a nayle in a sure place as Eliakim was And would you desire to be the throne of the glorie of your Fatbers houses as Eliakim was to his You must then hee clothed with the garmentes and strengthened with the girdle of Eliakim yea and you must be Fathers to the inhabitantes of Ierusalem and of the Cittie of God Yea Shebna though he were in mans iudgement so fastened as though he should never fall yet must his face bee covered and he him selfe rouled and turned like a bale in a large lande Yea hee must be driven from his station destroyed out of his dwellinge place and bidden to departe Nay the burden that was vppon him must bee cutt off that the Chariottes of his glorie may bee the shame of his fathers house These thinges most honorable Lordes if you accomplish and bring to effect you shall approove your selves vnto the great and mighty GOD to be such little Gods vnder him as you may not bee ashamed at his glorious appearance but may reioyce and be glad that your worthie and divine actes have beene aunswerable to your divine and worthie names And thus the God of power and Maiestie confirme strengthen and stablish your heartes faithfully and couragiouslie to doe the worke of God and of his King The Corrector to the Christian Reader THis tempest good Reader having blowne downe so many poore Parsons houses vncovered their Churches and overthrowne their Pulpits hath wakened mee to behold the harmes and to consider the danger least staying vnder the roofe of a tottering building I might perhaps bee suddenly overwhelmed with the ruines Herevpon I betoke me to examine the foundations vpon which this house so sore beaten doth stand I found the groundworkes good and sure even Christ and his Apostles with all the sacred word of God The walles I perceyved well strengthened with buttresses of the fayrest and firmest stone that the Temple hath bene repayred within these laste times I grew secure that howsoever the tiles did fly about our eares yet the walles and the substance would abide Notwithstanding I looked about me still for more props no store being superfluous in such extreeme perill and by Gods good providence I light vpon this worthy Treatise very learnedly written and with great judgement whereby I receyved comfort and confirmation a fresh In it I beheld how the vehemencie of the storme forced things cleane contrary to the current of our owne lawes And from hence I conceyved this tempest would be blown over anon For can his sacred Maiestie when he shall throughly vnderstand how his statutes are abused suffer his most loyall subjects to groane any longer vnder such heavy oppression It cannot bee but together with his high Court of Parliament he will at laste take order that the ambition of none shal be of greater force then his regale decrees I have thought good to imparte vnto thee this treasure that thereby thou maist learne what the Lawes of the Lande require in this case and maist labour by prayer and by what dutifull and lawfull meanes thou canst to obteyne remedie Farewell Certaine considerations drawne from the Canons of the last Synod and other the Kings Ecclesiasticall statute law ad informandum animum Domini Episcopi Wigorâ—ensis seu alterius cuiusuis iudicis ecclesiastici ne temere incoÌ„sulto prosiliant ad deprivationem ministrorum ecclesiae for not subscription for the not exact vse of the order and forme of the book of common prayer c. FIrst by the letter of the statute 25. H. 8. cap. 19. it seemeth to be a playne case that no constitutions canons or decrees by what name soever they be called ought to bee made promulged or put in execution within this Realme vnlesse the same be made by the whole clergie of the Realme assembled by the kings writ in their convocations For as by these wordes the Clergie of the Realme inserted in the submission petition of the clergie the whole clergie of the Realme is vnderstood even so likewise these wordes clergie of the Realme beeing repeated in the body of the act can not well be taken and vnderstood to bee meant of parte of the clergie but of the whole body of the clergie of the Realme For otherwise the body of the Act should not accord and bee answerable to the submission The last Synod then being as appeareth by the tytle of the booke of canons but a provinciall convocation for the province of Canterbury consisting only of the Bishop of London president of the same convocation and the rest of the Bishops and Clergie of the said Province it followeth the Archbishop of Yorke and the Bishops of that Province so the whole Clergie of the Realme not beeing assembled with the Kings writ to this Synod that the constitutions made in this Synode have nor bene made by the whole clergie of the Realme according to the
published which hath but the shew of a booke then as it seemeth hath the Clergie no law but the shewe of a law to enforce the vse of such a booke as the State hath not authorized And therefore we may not for clearing the Clergies iust reproofe confesse an vntrueth and still conceale a kinde of iniustice vnwitting to the State executed by the Cleargie vnder a colour of Iustice as if their iniustice by colour of errour were maintainable by the State For so contrarie to all reason and good duetie which we owe to the state and to the Church we should not only interlace the innocencie of the State with the guiltines of the Cleargie but also mingle the churches industrie with the Clergies ill husbandrie It is therefore no cavill to oppose a iust and true answere to an vntrue and vnsound plea For albeit the two bookes agree in many pointes and specially in mencioning the making of a crosse c. nevertheles the parish booke can not therefore any more truely be counted that booke which is authorised by act of Parliament then can that coyne bee reckoned to be the Kings coyne which hath in it nine partes silver and the tenth part copper nether is it any more lawfull for an ordinary to presse the vse of a booke in it selfe corrupted though in many points it agree with the originall then it is sufferable for the Kings Iustices to enforce the vse of a coyne in it selfe counterfeite though in forme and charactere it be like the Kings Image and superscription Wherefore the mencion made in the parish booke of making of a crosse c. not being a matter of power sufficient to warrant the parish booke but the booke authorised by act of Parliament being a matter of power to warrant the making of a crosse c. wee may iustly avow the booke of common prayer attayned and gotten by the parishioners not to bee that booke which the Ministers in their day he ministration of divine service be bound to vse notwithstanding the making of a crosse and signing the child in the forehead with a crosse be therein mencioned If reply bee made that this plea would but litle ease or advantage the Ministers in case the right booke should be reviewed corrected and new printed we then reioyne and averre First that the day is past long since before which time this worke should have bene refined and that therefore it is now too late without a new law to reviewe and amend the same Secondly that this plea will not only but litle ease and advantage the nullities iniquities and iniustices of sentences heretofore passed by the ordinaries vnder colour of that booke but also much advantage the King and his state if his Maiestie might bee pleased to do as King Ioash king of Iudah or as K. Henry the eighth king of England did king Ioash in or about the beginning of his raigne as it seemeth having appointed the Priestes to take all the silver of dedicate thinges brought to the house of the Lord and therwith to repaire the broken places of the house wheresoever any decay was found and the Priests vntill the three and twentith yeare of his Raigne not having mended that which was decayed nor repayred the ruines of the Temple the king I say because of the Priests negligence commanded the Priests to receive no more money and tooke from them the ordering of the money and committed the same to his Secretary and to Iehoâ—ada the high Priest who gaue the money made ready into the hands of them that vndertooke the worke and that had the oversight of the house of the Lorde of whom there was no reckoning taken because they dealt faithfully If the Priestes then of our age have not only not within three and twentie but not within three and fortie yeares published that booke which is mended and corrected by the Queene her state in the first yeare of her Raigne but also for the space of eight and fortie yeares have suffered a corrupted booke to be intruded into the place of a true booke we commend it to the wisedome of our Soveraigne Lord king IAMES who is as an Angell of God to discerne betweene things that differ there being no high Priest in our dayes like faithfull as was Iehoiada the high Priest in the dayes of king Ioash whether his Maiestie might not be pleased for the redresse of this and other corruptions in the Ecclesiasticall state to appoint as king Henry the eighth did an other Cromwell to be his Maiesties Vicegerent and Vicare generall over the Clergie Vnto these differences and alterations betwene the two bookes not mencioned in the statute may be annexed both an addition of certaine new prayers and some alteration also of the forme of the old prayers to be said after the end of the Letanie By addition in the parish booke there be set three severall prayers not any one of them mencioned in the Kings booke viz. A prayer for our Bishops Curates beginning thus Almightie and everlasting God which only workest great marveilles send downe vpon our Bishops and Curats c. Secondly a prayer out of the 2. of Corint 13. 13. viz. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ c. And thirdly a prayer beginning thus O God whose nature and propertie is ever to have mercie c. And whereas by the forme of King Edwards booke the Letanie should ever end with this collect following viz. Almightie God which hast given vs grace at this time with one accord c. and so this collect should be after the prayers for rayne for faire weather in the time of dearth in the time of warre and in the time of any common plague or sicknes as the time requireth This collect I say by King Edw. booke appointed to be said after all these prayers is by the parish booke set before all these Yea and it is to be said also before the prayer beginning O God whose nature propertie is ever to have mercy By meanes wherof the very forme and order of some prayers appointed in the Kings booke and by the statute commaunded to be vsed and none other or otherwise is so transposed and inverted as that the minister observing the parish booke can not but breake the order and forme of common prayer commanded to be vsed and so can not but cast his body one whole yeares fruites of his benefice vpon the kings Iudges and Iustices mercy Moreover besides these additions and alterations in the end of the Letany of King Edw. booke there is one prayer inserted which by the parish booke is wholy left out namely O God mercifull Father which in the time of Heliseus c. Lastly at the latter end of the communion in the kings book there is one Rubrick concerning kneeling at the communion which Rubrick is not in the parish booke the same beginneth thus Although no order c. There is also one Rubrick among those Rubricks
CERTAINE CONSIDERATIONS drawne from the Canons of the last Sinod and other the Kings Ecclesiasticall and statute law ad informandum animum Domini Episcopi Wigornensis seu alterius cuiusuis iudicis ecclesiastici ne temere inconsulto prosiliant ad depriuationem Ministrorum Ecclesiae for not subscription for the not exact vse of the order and forme of the booke of common prayer heeretofore provided by the Parishioners of any parish Church within the Diocesse of Worcester or for the not precise practise of the rites ceremonies ornaments of the Church Prov. 25. 2. The glory of God is to conceale a thing secret but the Kings honor is to search out a thing Esai 51. 7. Hearken vnto me ye that know righteousnes the people in whose heart is my Law feare ye not the reproch of men neither be ye afraid of their rebukes Cod. de Episcopis Cleric l. nul li licere Nec delatoris nomen suspicionemque formident cum â—ides atque industria corum tam laude quam honestate ac pariter pretate non careat cum veritatem in publicas aures lucemque deduxerint 1605. To the Right Honorable Lords the Lords of his Maiesties most honorable privie Counsell MOST Noble Lords may it please your good Lordshippes to be put in remembrance how the holy Ghost calleth and entituleth the Princes of the earth by the name of Gods By which so rare and admirable a style so high supereminent a title men of your estate coÌ„dition qualitie be taught that as your names are so should your persons be Gods by name calling therefore every way such maner of persons as the most high God the God of Gods hath commaunded you to be That is to say as Iob sayeth Deliverers of the poore and fatherles when they crie and there is none to helpe eyes to the blind feete to the lame diligent in searching out things you know not breakers of the chawes of the Lyons and the pluckers of the pray out of their teeth That so you being covered with Iustice as with a Robe and with a crowne the blessing of them which are ready to perish might come vpon you and the distressed beeing succoured might have cause to prayse you And most Honorable Lords by so much the more have we presumed to tender vnto your Lordships favorable examinatioÌ„ these considerations by how much the more your fame prayse and honour may be sounded and resounded throughout all the Churches when you shall be well pleased to become humble intercessors vnto our most gracious and Christian Lord and King for a more temperate mild and charitable course by the Diocesans and other ordinaries hereafter to bee held against the Ministers vntill they shall defend their late censures penall proceedings and sentences for omission of rites ceremonies ornamentes c. to be in every due regard and circumstance answerable to the Kings ecclesiasticall Lawes and Statutes In the meane season that more rigour and severitie of law hath of late bene vsed in some of their Consistories then was meete these considerations with their reasons drawen from the lawes statutes and Canons which them selves professe and practise if rightly they were applied to their proceedings may sufficiently witnes For by these grouÌ„ds and reasons if inquisition or information had ben made or taken sentences of grace and absolution rather then of disgrace and condemnation ought in our iudgement to have ensued If we should be demanded what colour of law or reason they can pretend for their forme and maner of proceedings we might rather have cause to wonder then be able to yeeld any reasonable aunswere to such demaund And therefore as they be old inough so good leave shal they have from vs to make answere for them selves Only thus much we might be able reasonably to defend that a good government being lightsome can not brooke the darksomnes of that which is evill And on the other side that an evill governement being darksome can not but flie the lightsomnes of that which is good If the government then of the Church by Diocesans other ordinaries had bene lightsomnes and not rather darksomnes it could not have come so to passe as it hath done that the Moone as it were abashed and the Sunne as it were ashamed should flye before the obscuritie of most grosse darknes That lampes of pure oyle and candlestickes of fine golde standing and burning day night in the temple should be removed and put out and that in steed thereof both woodden candlestickes and lights of bulrushes should be brought in and set vp Nay if we had not seene it with our eyes heard it with our eares it would have seemed a wonder altogether vncredible vnto vs that not one so farre as we can learne among 2. or 3. thousand Ministers some whereof are notoriously knowne to be ignorant vnlearned some idle and non resident some common bibbers taverne haunters some dycers and gamesters some fighters and quarellers some wanton adulterous some simoniacall and vsurious some pompous and ambitious some greedy and covetous some swearers and swaggerers and some prophane and voyd of all honestie of life should so much as once in twoo yeares for any of these grosse impieties bee publickly admonished or marked with the least note of disgrace for not conformitie to the holy lawes of God And yet notwithstanding that a third or fourth part of three or foure hundred painfull discreet learned grave and godly ministers within lesse then sixe monethes should be suspended deprived or deposed some from their offices and some from their benefices not for commission of the least of the grossest of these sinnes but only for omission of the least of the commaundements and traditions of men If wee say we had not both heard and seene and knowne these things wee could never have beleeved them to be true Nay if we had not heard it and knowne it how incredible might it be that sundry learned and godly Ministers vowing protesting offering to testifie vpon their corporall othes that they abstayned from the vse of ceremonies for none other cause but onely for feare of offendinge God wounding their owne weake consciences scandalizing their brethren could not for all this by the Diocesans be accepted but commanded away and put to silence Now alas Most noble Lords if such a course of Iustice and such an hand of iudgement by your Lordshippes or other the Kings Iustices Officers were held in the civil governement of the common weale what out-cryes would there be made in all the corners of the land yea with what swarmes of disordered and riotous persons would the Kings Dominions in short space be oversflowen and pestered It is true my Lordes we confesse that non relatione criminum sed innocentia rei purgantur And therefore to excuse any Minister wherein he may iustly be blamed is farre from our minde and purpose For we graunt that every one
must beare his owne burthen and that every man ought by his owne innocencie to purge himselfe bee other mens offences never so great or seeme his owne in his owne eyes never so small But we have therefore balanced the toleration of scandalous and vnlearned ministers with the molestation of learned and godly Ministers to the end your Lordshippes vnderstanding the number of sinnes and impieties every where daily abounding by the multitude of the former and the scarcitie of godlines in every place to be seene by the paâ—citie of the later your Lordshippes by your wisedomes might foresee and by your authorities prevent that pestilent contagion of ignorance of Gods revealed will which by this preposterous sufferance of the one violent progresse against the other is ready to infect the whole Church and by consequence to lay wast the common weale as a pray to the popish faction For is there not by this meâ—nes a way prepared and made ready for the greatest part of the people to revolt from the Gospell to poperie and so from their naturall and Christian Lord and King to a forein antichristian Pope For let the booke of God be once sealed vp from the people in English as in time of poperie it was sealed vp vnto our fathers in Latine and let the people by example of the wicked scandalous life of Ministers be drawne along in their owne naturall corruption who will not be ready to assist every Iesuite Seminarie wheÌ„ he shal preach poperie the very mistris and mother of all corruption rebellion The wearing of a whit Surplice and the feyned making of an ayrie crosse in Baptisme how litle the popish faction by the same wil be quieted and kept in awe the late outragious starting out in Wales and their madd combynings in other places may be a good caveat for your Lordshippes to consider whether their driftes bee not rather to enterprise a more publike disturbance then to continew them selves within the listes of that obedience wherevnto they were constreyned in the raigne of our late Soveraigne of blessed memorie Queene Elizabeth Your Lordships therefore could not but performe a most acceptable service first vnto God and his Church secondly vnto the King his Realme if your Lordships would be pleased to bee petitioners vnto his Maiestie that by his Regale and Supreame power there might bee an healing of the former errour and vncharitablenes of the Diocesans and other ordinaries For it can not be denied but that by their manner of proceedings they haue sinned against God in this that they have aequaled nay rather in some things preferred their owne Canons Decrees before the commaundement of God And therfore it cannot be but that they have herein as much as in them lay provoked the wrath of God against the King and his whole Realme if by the Kings zeale this their so grosse a sinne be not reformed My Lordes we are well advised what we speake herein before your Lordships for we speake nothing but what we prove thus Whosoever for not wearing a Surplice or for not crossing in Baptisme suspendeth or depriveth a Preaching Minister otherwise vnreproveable for life and doctrine and not suspendeth nor depriveth but tolerateth an vnpreaching minister scandalous in life ignorant of doctrine the same person preferreth in this thing the observation of his owne Canon and Decree before the commandement of God But some Diocesans and ordinaries for not wearing a surplice for not making a crosse in Baptisme do suspend and deprive preaching Ministers otherwise vnreprovable for life and doctrine and yet doe neither suspend nor deprive but tolerate vnpreaching ministers scandalous in life and ignorant of doctrine Therefore some Diocesans and Ordinaries in this thing preferre the observation of their owne canons and decrees before the commandement of God We could heape argument vpon argument vnanswerable to this purpose but we should then passe the boundes of an epistle and become over tedious vnto your Lordshippes Only therefore we most humbly beseech your Lordships in the behalfe of the faithful Ministers of Christ with patience to heare thus much viz. that for their dissenting in matter of ceremonie from the Diocesans they ought no more by the Diocesans to be traduced for factious sectaries or seditious scismatickes then the Diocesans them selves ought to be traduced for such maner persons by their owne dissenting from the Cardinals and Popes of Rome For there being as litle difference betweene a sect and a scisme as there is betwene a besome a broome there being also as smal oddes betweene faction and sedition as betweene an edifice and a building it followeth the Ministers dissenting from the Diocesans of England or the same Diocesans dissenting from the Cardinalls and Popes of Rome if neither of them be seditious scismatickes that neither of them can be factious sectaries When Paule was accused by Tertullus that he was found a pestilent fellow and a moover of sedition among all the Iewes thorough all the world the Apostle answered that they neither found him in the temple disputing with any man neither making vproare among the people neither in the Synagogues nor in the Citie Art not thou saith the chief Captaine speaking to Paule the Egyptian who before these dayes raysed a sedition and led out into the wildernes foure thousand men that were murtherers By which places it appeareth that a seditious or factious person by the holy scriptures is adiudged to be such a kind of person as who boasting himselfe rayseth leadeth or draweth away much people after him and vnto whom much people resort and obey yea and by the civile law not every one that omitteth some duetie commanded but such a one as gathereth people together or stirreth theÌ„ to make a tumult and shall drawe him selfe and his followers to some place of safetie to defende him selfe and them against an evident commandement and publike discipline only such a man I say by the civile lawe is to be punished as a seditious factious person For these kind of meÌ„ only are properly said seorsum ire partes facere Seditio then being quasi seorsum itio and faction quasi partium factio yea a sect also being sic dicta quia fit quasi sectio vel divisio and a scisme being illicita divisio per inobedientiam ab vnitate Ecclesiae facta vel illicita diâ—cessio eorum inter quos vnitas esse debet it followeth that whosoever by inobedience or tumultuouslie goeth not a part or maketh not a part from the vnitie of the Church but either in doing or suffering quietly submitteth him self to the lawes that he can neither be factious sectarie nor seditious scismaticke And indeed my Lords from hence is it that the Diocesans and whole Clergie of England ever since they made a separation from the vnitie of the Church of Rome have falslie bene named and reputed sectaries scismatickes as though they
Parliament and doctrine of the church of England Concerning addition and alteration specified in the act there be divers and sundry other alterations and some additions also in the parish booke differing from the booke of King Edward in wel-nigh l. materiall poyntes And for the vse of which pointes if the Kings Iudges and Iustices should as strictly and rigorously proceed as the Bb. have done and yet doe for the not vse of the Suâ—plice Crosse they might bring all the ministers of the church within danger of sixe monethes imprisonment and of the losse of one yeares profite of all their spirituall promotions to the King For these words of the statute that all and singular ministers in any Cathedrall or Parish church c. be bound to say and vse the Mattens Evensong celebration of the Lords Supper and administration of each of the Sacramentes and all their common and open prayer in such order and forme as is mentioned in the said booke so authorized by Parliament in the fifth sixth yeeres of the Raigne of King Edward the sixth with one alteration c. and none other or otherwise These wordes I say doe as exactly and precisely bind all Ministers to vse the book of King Edw. and none other or otherwise in all poyntes excepting the excepted as they binde anie Ministers to vse the rites ceremonies mencioned in the said booke But how can any Minister vse that order of service and none other or otherwise which is appointed in the booke of fift and sixt Edw. 6. excepting the excepted when as some other order of service exceptinge the excepted is concluded within the booke provided by the Parishioners And for the vse of which booke rather then for refusall of the vsâ— of which booke a minister is punishable by the statute And to make the thing which we have in hand to be vndeniable without cavil namely that the booke provided by the Parishioners is not that booke which is authorised by act of Parliament it is to be noted besides the alterations and additions specified in the statute that there is one great and mayne alteration betweene the two bookes of sundrie chapters appointed to be read for the first lessons at Mattens Evensong vpon divers festivall dayes Which alteration also it is evident that the same was made generally and for the most part from the better to the worse namely from the canonicall scriptures to the Apocriphall writings from whole chapters to peeces of chapters and that as it seemeth not without fraud and collusioÌ„ to the Queene Realm The proofe of which alteration is apparantly scene by the severall kalenders of both bookes Vnto which kalenders for the first second lessons except the same be proper lessons at morning and evening prayer the minister is referred For in a Rubrick before Te Deum at morning prayer it is said There shal be read two lessons distinctly with a loude voyce the first of the old testament the second of the new like as they be appointed by the kalender except there be proper lessons assigned for that day And in the order for evening prayer it is thus said Then a lesson of the old Testament as is appointed likewise in the kalender except there be proper lessons appointed for that day And after Magnificat then a lesson of the new Testament Now these first and second lessons whether they be proper or not proper lessons assigned by the parish booke that many of them doe vary from thâ— first and second lessons appointed by the booke of 5. and 6. Edw. 6. is plainly to be seene not only by the kalenders of both bookes but also by the order appointed for proper lessons A paterne whereof at certeyne feast dayes followeth  Kalender of King Edwards originall printed booke Kalender of the Parishes printed booke Stevens day Morning prayer 1. lesson Esa 56 Morning prayer 1. lesson Pro. 28 Evening prayer 1 lesson Esa 57 Evening prayer 1. lesson Eccle. 4. Saint Iohn Morning prayer 1 lesson Esa 58 Morning prayer 1 lesson Eccle. 5. Evening prayer 1 lesson Esa 59 Evening prayer 1 lesson Eccle. 6. Innocents Evening prayer 1. lesson Esa 60 Evening prayer 1 lesson Wisd 1â— Vpon the circumcision day both bookes agree saving that King Edwa. readeth the whole 10. chapter of Deuter. at evening prayer and the Parish booke but part vpon the Epiphanie the chapters at morning and evening prayer for first and second lesson by both bookes are the same But the Genealogie of our Savior Christ mencioned in the third of Luke by the Kings booke is appointed to be read whereas by the Kalender and one rubricke in the parish booke the same is appointed not to be read  King Edw. Kalender The parish bookes Kalender Convers of Paule Morning prayer 1 lesson Ge. 46 Morning prayer 1 lesson Wisd 5 Evening prayer 1 lesson Gen. 47 Evening prayer 1 lesson Wisd 6 Purification of Mary Morning prayer 1 lesson Ex. 12 Morning prayer 1 lesson Wisd 9 Evening prayer 1 lesson Exo. 13 Evening prayer 1 lesson Wisd 12 Mathias Morn prayer 1 lesson Num. 33 Morning prayer 1 lesson Wis 19 Even prayer 1 lesson Num 34 Evening prayer 1 lesson Ecclus. 1 Annunciat of Mary Morning prayer 1 lesson Jos 21 Morning prayer 1 lesson Ecclus. 2 Evening prayer 1 lesson Jos 22 Evening prayer 1 lesson Ecclus. 3 Vpon Monday and Tewsday in Easter weeke vpon the ascension day and Whitsunday King Edwa. booke appointeth no proper Chapters for the first Lessons but only proper chapters for the second lessons and so referreth the Minister for the first lessons on those dayes to the chapters which by the common Kalender are appointed to bee read vpon those dayes Whereas the parish Booke appointed proper chapters aswell for the first as second lessons vpon all those dayes Vpon Monday and Tewsday in Whitsunday weeke by the K. book there be no proper chap. appointed for the first or secoÌ„d lesson at morning or evening prayer whereas the parish book appointed vpon Monday part of Gene. 11. at morning prayer for the first lesson and for the second lesson 1 Corint 12. And for the first lesson at evening prayer of the same day parte of the 11. of Numbers Vpon Tewsday in the same weeke for the 1. lesson at morning prayer part of the 19. 1. kings and for the first lesson at evening prayer Deut. 30.  King Edwa. Kalender The parish bookes Kalender Marke Morn prayer 1 lesson 2. K. 3 Morn prayer 1 lesson Ecclus. 4 Evening prayer 1 lesson 2. K. 4 Evening prayer 1 lesson Ecclus. 5 Philip and Iacob Morn prayer 1 lesson 2. K. 15 Morn prayer 1 lesson ecclus 7 Evening prayer 1 lesson 2. K. 16 Evening prayer 1 lesson ecclus 9 Barnabe Morn prayer 1 lesson Hest 3 Morn prayer 1 lesson ecclus 10 Evening prayer 1 lesson Hest 4 Evening prayer 1 lesson ecclus 12  King Edw. Kalender The parish bookes Kalender Peter Morn
which are in the parish booke not to be found in the Kinges booke beginning thus And in Cathedrall or Collegiat Churches c. Wherefore the parish booke in so many and materiall poyntes being thus grosly corrupted and no one true original copie provided by the parishioners for the ministers to vse it seemeth to be a very lamentable and wofull case that subscription to a feyned record should bee thus streightly vrged And that so many learned peynfull and godly Ministers for refusing to subscribe or precisely to vse an vnauthenticall scedule should be grieved and molested By what guyle or by whose cunning so foule a stratageme to the deluding of the Queene the Lords and commons in Parliament assombled was first wrought we know not Neither have we any reason to charge any of the Clergie now living with so foule and grosse an abuse Because there is not one of the Clergie to our knowledge living that in the beginning of our late Queenes raigne had ought to medle in Church-government or survey of printing bookes But this we may speake and not speake as we thinke vntruly that some one guilfull priest or other vnwitting to the Queene and State yea and it may be vnwitting to the Clergie too was suffered to shoufle and to set the cardes with the sleight of a false finger For otherwise it could not possibly have come to passe that so many chapters of the Apocryphall writings should be conveyed into the parish booke in steed of so many chapters of the true and authenticall scriptures appointed by K. Edw. booke especially the same chapters in the parish booke as it were of set purpose being ordered to be read when all the people are solemnly assembled togither vpon festivall dayes Wherefore these differences betweene these bookes being apparantlie true and the statute having decreed that the minister shal be bound to say and vse the Mattens Evensong c. in such order and forme as is mencioned in the same booke of King Edward with such alterations and additions as be mentioned in the act none other or otherwise and the parishioners not having atteyned and gotten the saide booke it is a matter that worthily and necessarily requireth the consideration and resolution of the Kings learned Iudges and Iustices Whether a Minister by the letter of the statute be bound exactly and precisely to vse a booke atteyned and gotten by the parishioners the same booke not being authorised by the letter of the statute And if not then whether the Minister by the letter of the statute bee to loose and forfeite to the King one yeares profit of all his spirituall benefices and promotions and his body to suffer imprisonment by the space of six monethes if he shall refuse to vse some part of a booke not authorised For it semeth as yet to vs absurd that a Minister should bee vrged to vse such a booke as for the vse whereof hee hath no authoritie or that he should be punished for refusing the vse of such a booke as for the vse whereof hee is by the law punishable But be it graunted that the very booke authorised and none other is atteyned and gotten by the parishioners for the Minister to vse then is it againe a matter carefully to be weighed and for the ful contentation of the mindes of all persons to be resolved by the Iudges what maner of fact is to be holden and adiudged by the Letter of the Statute to be a breach of the statute and for the which fact a Minister before the Kings Iustices is punishable in maner and forme expeessed in the Act. For the better resolution of which question it shall not be amisse to repeate in this place the first clause of the body of this Statute For in the clause of the repeale of the statute of Queene Mary and reviving the booke of king Edw. it is said that the laid booke shall stande and be in full force and effect according to the tenor and effect of this Statute the tenor and effect of this statute then is to bee noted the wordes whereof are these And further be it enacted by the Queenes Highnes with the assent of the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by authoritie of the same that all and singular Ministers in any Cathedrall or Parish church c. shall from and after c. be bound to say and vse the Mattens Even song Celebration of the Lords supper and administration of each of the Sacramentes and all their common and open prayer in such order and forme as is mentioned in the said booke so authorised by Parliament in the said fifth sixth yeares of the raign of King Edward the sixth with one alteration or addition of certayne lessons to be vsed on every Sunday in the yeare and the forme of the Letany altered and corrected and two sentences only added in the deliverie of the Sacrament to the communicantes and none other or otherwise Out of which clause one special poynt for the better vnderstanding of the whole tenor and effect of the statute is to be observed Namely that the Parliament hath wholy in this branch omitted and not once mencioned the vse of any rites or ceremonies in saying and vsing the Mattens Evensong celebration of the Lords Supper and administration of each of the Sacramentes So that vnlesse such rites and ceremonies as be mentioned in the book of K. Edw. the sixth be respectively part of the order forme of saying vsing Mattens Euensong celebration of the Lords Supper and administration of each of the Sacramentes c. it can not bee denied but that rites and ceremonies mencioned in that book are secluded out and not comprised within this branch and therefore not commanded by this branch to be vsed The 2. branch of the body of this statute followeth in these words And that if any maner Parson Vicare or other what soever minister that ought or should sing or say common prayer mencioned in the said booke or minister the Sacramentes c. refuse to vse the said common prayers or to minister the Sacramentes c. as hee should vse to Minister the same in such order and forme as they be mencioned and set forth in the said booke or shall wilfully standing in the same vse any other rite ceremonie order forme or maner of celebrating of the Lordes Supper openly or privily or Mattens Evensong administration of the Sacramentes or other open prayers then is mentioned and set foorth in the said booke c. or shall preach declare or speake any thing in the derogation or depraving of the said booke c. shal be therof lawfully convicted according to the lawes of this Realme c. shall loose and forfeite to the Queenes Highnes c. for his first offence the profite of all his spirituall benefices and promotions comming and arising in one whole yeare next after his conviction And also that the Parson so convicted shall for
the same offence suffer imprisonment for the space of sixe monethes without bayle or mainprise Now by the letter of this branch it can not be denied but that foure severall kindes of offences mencioned in the same by what soever minister they shal be committed are every of them punishable alike by one and the self same maner of peyne notwithstanding the offences seeme to be of divers natures One consisting in the refusall of the vse of common prayer an other in the refusall of the administration of the Sacramentes in such order and forme as they be mencioned and set foorth in the said booke A third vpon a wilfull and obstinate standing in the same in vsing some other rite or ceremonie then is mencioned and set foorth in the said booke And a fourth in speaking against or depraving the booke or any part thereof As for the which speaking against or depraving the booke the letter of the Statute seemeth to bee so playne as that no maner scruple can be moved what the minde intendement of the Parliament was about the speakers against or depravers thereof But touching the offence of a Ministers refusing to vse the said cōmon prayers and of his refusing to minister the Sacramentes in such order and forme as they be mencioned set forth in the said booke and wilfully obstinately standing in the same of his vsing any other rite or ceremonie then is mencioned c. these Queres following reallie and properly arise from the letter of the foresaide two former branches For seeing there is no mention at all made of rites and ceremonies in the former branch and seeing also there is no punishment by the second branch mencioned to be inflicted vpon a Minister for the refusall of the vse of rites and ceremonies but onely vpon a wilfull and obstinate standing in the same for the vse of other rites and ceremonies then are mentioned and set foorth in the saide booke it seemeth doubtfull and questionable First Quaere Whether a Minister conscionably refusing to vse some of the rites and ceremonies mencioned and set forth in the saide booke be punishable before the Kings Iustices in maner and forme before expressed vnles wilfully obstinately standing in the same hee shall vse any other rite or ceremonie then is mencioned c. Second Quaere If a Minister that is bound to minister the Sacrament of Batisme doe not refuse to minister the same Sacrament in such order and forme as is mencioned set forth in the said booke but shall in very deed and trueth minister the same Sacrament in such order and forme as is mencioned and set foorth in the said booke whether the same Minister bee punishable before the Kings Iustices in maner and forme before expressed for not making a crosse or not signing the childe in the forehead with a crosse after the sacrament of Baptisme is fully and perfectly ministred For so this sacrament bee ministred in such order and forme and with such rites and ceremonies preceeding baptisme as be mencioned in the said booke and none other rite or ceremony with wilful obstinacie be vsed in the ministration of Baptisme it seemeth cleere by the letter and sense of the Statute that the Minister is not punishable before the Kings Iustices by the peyne of imprisonment c. for omission of the crosse after baptisme For this fact of not crossing after baptisme not being within the letter of the Statute it is absurd to say that the same fact should be punishable by the law when as the same fact is not within but without the compasse scope and letter of the law That this omission of crossing is an omission after the ministration of Baptisme and not an omission of the order forme mencioned to bee in the ministration of Baptisme is made cleere vnto vs by the decree of all the Lordes spirituall and Clergie by the Kings confirmation vnder the great seale of England by the opinion of some great Lawyers Iudges published in open seates of Iustice For this hath ben decreed confirmed and published that the making of a crosse and signing the childe in the forehead with a crosse is no parte of the sacrament of Baptisme and that baptisme is fully and perfectlie ministred without these rites and ceremonies This case then of the omission of the crosse after baptisme being most cleere by such a cloud of witnesses that the same is not an omission of that order and forme appointed to be in the ministration of Baptisme it seemeth to be a thing most cleere that a minister by the letter of the Statute is no more punishable before the Kings Iustices for omission of the Crosse after Baptisme then is any person by the letter of the Statute of Queene Mary punishable by the Kings Iustices for maliciouslie or contemptuously molesting letting vexing or troubling or by any other vnlawful wayes or meanes disquieting or misvsing any Preacher not in but after his sermon preaching or collation Third Quaere Whether a Minister that ought or should say common prayer in any parish Church bee punishable before the Kings Iustices in maner and forme before expressed if he shall not refuse to vse all but shall vse some of the said common prayers in such order and forme as they be mencioned and set forth in the said booke For it is not said in this clause if he refuse to vse all or any of the said prayers but it is saide if the Minister that ought to singe or say common prayer mencioned in the same booke refuse to vse the said common prayers c. If then he observe the order and forme of the booke by saying some of the prayers in that order and forme as they bee mencioned in the booke though hee say not all and singuler the prayers it seemeth by the letter of the statute that he is not punishable before the Kings Iustices Indeed if the booke had appointed but two prayers onely as it hath appointed but two Sacraments only and the Minister in this case should haue refused to say one prayer and only have said the other prayer in this case it seemeth to be without all controversie that hee should have violated the law because the letter of the law sayth if he shall refuse to vse the said common prayers which word prayers being of the plurall nomber must conteyne two prayers at the least Fourth Quaere Whether a Minister that ought or should vse the rites and ceremonies mencioned in the said booke of common prayer be punishable before the Kings Iustices in maner forme before expressed if he shall not refuse to vse all but shall vse some of the said rites and ceremonies in such order forme as they be mencioned and set forth in the said booke For it is not enacted that the Minister shall vse all and every the said rites ceremonies or if he shall refuse to vse any of the saide rites and ceremonies but it is said
or in any other Court by other of the Kings Iustices would our lawes freecustomes of the Realme think you iustifie that the spirituall person enioyning still his spiritual function might in this case be mulcted with the losse of his benefice and yet the teÌ„poral person not to be punishable by the losse of his freehold The examples produced by you relieve no whit at all your case nay rather they stand on our side and make good our part For how long soever the Maister of the Rolles and Warden of the Fleete doe enioy their offices for so long time by your owne collection they ought to enioy their Freeholdes annexed to their offices yea and you assume in effect that they may not lawfully for contempt or any other cause be disseised of their freeholds so long as they be possessed of their offices Now then if from the identity of reason you would conclude that a Parson or Vicare for contempt lawfully deposed from his ministeriall function should in like maner lawfully loose his freehold annexed to his office as the Maister of the Rolles and Warden of the Fleete put from their offices should loose theirs we would not much have gainsaid your assertion For we hold it vnreasonable that a Parson or Vicar deposed from his ministeriall function should enioy that freehold or maintenance which is provided for him that must succeed in his ministerial charge But then your assertion would make nothing against vs. For so you must prove that your officers for contempt only may lawfully be put from their freeholds annexed to their offices and yet notwithstanding remaine the same officers still And then indeed froÌ„ some parity or semblance of reason you might have inferred that a Parson or Vicare for coÌ„tempt deprived of his free hold annexed to his function might notwithstanding such coÌ„tempt enioy his ministeriall function still But to dispute after this sort were idlely to dispute not to dispute ad idem For how doth this follow The Kings officer if for contempt he be displaced from his office can not withall but be displaced from his freehold which ioyntly with his office and in regard of his office he possessed Therfore a Parson or Vicare for contempt may lawfully be deprived from his benefice or freehold annexed to his ministeriall function and yet notwithstanding enioy his ministeriall function still And this is the maine point generall case for the most part of all the Ministers which at this day for contempt stand deprived For among all the sentences pronounced for contempt there is scarce one to be fouÌ„d which deposeth a Parson or Vicare from his ministerial office but onlie which depriveth him from his Church Parsonadge or Vicaradge Whereby the vnreasonablenes of certeine ordinaries in their processe of deprivatioÌ„s become so much the more vnreasonable by how much more vnreasonable it seemeth to be that any publicke officer should lawfully be continued in his publicke office and yet not be suffered to enioy any publick meanes to mainteine the same his office And thus much have we replied vnto your answere made vnto our pleadings that by the lawes and freecustomes of the Realme a Parson or Vicar being a freeman of the Realme may not for coÌ„tempt vnto his ordinaries admonitioÌ„ be deprived from his freehold if so be you grant that he may enioy his ministerial function still As touching the lawes of the church it hath ben already sufficiently demonstrated that there is then no contempt at all committed against an admonition wheÌ„ the partie admonished can alleadge any iust or reasonable cause of his not yeelding to his admonisher And if no contempt in such case be made then no deprivatioÌ„ from a benefice or deposition from the ministerie in such case ought to follow Considerations against subscription to the booke of the forme and maner of making and consecrating Bishops Priests and Deacons WHat the reason or cause should be that subscription vnto this booke of consecration ordination of Bishops Priests and Deacons hath bene of lâ—te yeares so hotly and egerly pursued by the Lords of the Clergie is a misterie perhaps not of many of the laytie well vnderstood And how soever vnder colour of the maintenance of obedience to the statute of the Realme whereby this booke is confirmed the same subscription may seeme to be pressed nevertheles if the maine drift and reason of this pressure were well boulted out it is to be feared that not only the vnlawful supremacie of an Archbishop is sought to be advaÌ„ced above the lawfull supremacie of our Soverayne Lord King Iames but also that the Synodals Canons and Constitutions made by the Clergie in their convocation are intended if not to be preferred above yet at leastwise to be made equall to the common law and statutes of the Realme By the ancient lawes and customes of the Realme one parcell of the Kings iurisdiction and imperiall Crowne hath evermore consisted in graunting ecclesiasticall iurisdiction vnto Archbishops Bishops and other Prelats For the maintenance of wich imperiall iurisdiction and power against the vsurped supremacie of the Bishop of Rome divers statutes not introductorie of new law but declaratorie of the old in the time of King Henry the eight King Edward the sixth and of our late most Noble Queene deceased have bene made and enacted Yea and in a book entituled The Institution of a Christian man composed by Thomas Archbishop of Canterburie Edward Archbishop of Yorke all the Bishops divers Archdeacons Prelates of the Realme that then were dedicated also by them to King Henry the eight it is confessed and acknowledged that the nomination presentation of the Bishopricks apperteyned vnto the kings of this Realme And that it was and â—halbe lawfull to Kinges and Princes and their Successors with consent of their Parliaments to revoke and call againe into their owne handes or otherwise to restreine all the power and iurisdiction which was given and assigned vnto Priests Bishops by the lycence consent sufferance and authoritie of the same Kings and Princes and not by authoritie of God and his Gospell whensoever they shall have grounds and causes so to doe as shal be necessarie wholesome and expedient for the Realmes the repressing of vice the increase of Christian faith and religion Ever since which time vntill of late yeares the late Archbishops of Canterbury with the counsel of his colledge of Bishops altered that his opinion which some times in his answere made to the admonition to the Parliament he held it was generally and publickely maintained that the state power and iurisdiction of Provinciall and Diocesan Bishops in England stood not by any Divine right but meerly and altogether by humaine policie and ordinance alone And that therefore according to the first and best opinion and iudgment of the said Archbishops Bishops c. the same their iurisdiction might be taken away and altered at the will and pleasure of the kings of England when
as he was perswaded grounded vpon the holy commandement of the most high God that he durst not for feare of wounding his owne conscience and displeasing God to weare the surplice in any part of Divine worship For if the request of an earthly king superior to an Archb. be a reasonable excuse to save a BB. from contempt against an Archb. How much more ought the authoritie and precept of an heavenly king be a iust and reasonable impediment to save a minister from contempt against a Bishops admonitiō Vnlesse then a Bishop will avow and be able out of holy writ to iustifie that a Ministers conscience especially a Ministers conscience who walketh as Zakarias did in all the commandements and ordinances of the Lord without reproofe can not be any iust or reasonable excuse or impediment why he ought not or may not or will not in Divine worship weare a surplice being thervnto admonished by his ordinary vnles I say the Bishop out of holy writ be able fully to prove that such a Ministers conscience is no iust or reasonable cause to stay him from wearing a surplice in Divine worship in this case I say that even by the Romish canon law it self there can no contempt be charged vpon such a Minister for not obeying his ordinaries first second third admonitions the reasons whereof even out of the same canon law have bene alleadged before in the first parte of these cōsiderations But to leave the foraine canon law and all the rules thereof as being no branches of the Ecclesiasticall lawes of England let it be granted that before the statute of 25. H. 8. c. 19. some canon or constitution Synodall or Provinciall had bene made or since have bene made by the Clergie of the Realme in their cōvocation assembled by the Kings writ that a Parson or Vicare for periurie or contempt ecclesiasticall should bee deprived of his benefice neverthelesse it seemeth that the same is a voide canon and a void constitution Because it is contrary or repugnant to the lawes and customes of the Realme By which lawes and customes no free man of the Realme can be dispossessed of his franck tenement for contempt or periury in any of the kings temporall Courts All Parsons and Vicars then canonically instituted inducted being not subiects at this day to any forain power but being freemen of the Realme in as large and ample maner as any Layickes the Kings other subiects be it seemeth that a Parson Vicare by the lawes and customes of the Realme being a Freehoulder should for none other cause loose his Freehould then for the which like cause a Layicke may loose his Yea and because no Layicke by the laws customes of the Realme may bee put from his Freehould for contempt no though the same cōtempt be committed against the kings Proclamation or any decree made in his high Courte of Chancerie by so much the more vnreasonable it seemeth to be that a Parson or Vicare for contempt against his ordinaries admonition should bee deprived from his benefice by how much a contempt against the Kings commaundement is more heinous then is a contempt against the ordinaries admonition You mistake the cases as it seemeth you vnderstand not the law The Freehold of a layick and the Freehold of an ecclesiasticall person be not of one nature The former belongeth vnto him by a title invested in his person but the latter apperteyneth vnto a Church-man in the right of his Church If then the Churchman be displaced from his Church it followeth by a necessary cōsequence that he must likewise be discharged from his freehold For he being in the eye of the law dead vnto his Church can no more enioy the freehold which he held in the right of his Church then can a dead Layick any longer holde a Franktenement in right of his person And for your better satisfaction herein I would have you to consider that the like course of Iustice is kept and ministred against certeine officers in the common weale which officers so soone as for any iust cause they shall be put frō their offices doe withall and forthwith loose such their freeholdes as iointly with their offices and in regard of their offices they held The Maister of the Rolles and Warden of the Fleete having their offices graunted for terme of life though other of them by the same graunt be seised of a freehold the one of the house called the Rolles the other of the house called the Fleete nevertheles if the first bee put from his Mastership and the second from his Wardenship neither can the one nor the other by the law and iustice of the Realme reteyne either of those houses as his Freehold For as the houses were iointly with their offices in respect of their offices granted So their offices being once taken from thē they must withal by necessary consequence forgo those their houses w ch for the time they held as their freeholds Well if this be all that may gaynesay our position then be not our cases mistaken neither yet have we so ignorantly vrged applied the law and free customes of the Realme as you would beare vs in hande For though we grant whatsoever you have excepted to be true yet can not the same be a barre against our pleading For wee have hetherto pleaded no more in effect but thus viz. that a Parson or Vicar during his ministeriall function being in the eye of the law no dead but a living person and a free man of the Realme ought no more for a contempt vnto his Ordinaries admonition by any law of he Realme bee dispossessed from the freehold which in right of his function he enioyeth then can a Layicke for contempt vnto the Kings commandement be disseised of his And what if the Freeholdes of a Layick of an ecclesiastical person be as you say they be diversly possessed the one by right of church the other by right of person what doeth this I say impugne our saying that no Freeholder for cōtempt of the Kings cōmandment may be punished with losse of his freehold whē the great Charter of England telleth vs that a freemā shall not be amerced for a small fault but after the quantity of the fault And for a great fault after the maner therof saving to him his contenement or freehold If then vnto every freemā punishable by the law though his fault be great his Contenement or Freehold ought to be reserved it seemeth much more reasonable to follow that no Churchman being a freeman of the Realme may for contempt be punished with losse of his Contenement or Freehold And that you may consider against our next conference more deeply of this matter let me put this case vnto you viz. That a Churchman and a temporall person both freemen of the Realme for one and the selfe same contempt against the king were punishable by the great Lordes in the starre chamber