societatem verumetiam quae ad Divinam religionem In this Kings and Princes do serve God as they are commanded by God if they do command as they are Kings in their Kingdoms those things that are good and honest and prohibit the things that are evil not only in causes that do properly appertain to civil society but also in such thâ—ngs as belong and have reference to Religion and Piety And when they do so the Bishops and Priests be they whom you will should observe their Commands That the Bishops Priests ought to submit themselves to the lawful commands diâ—ections of their Kings civil Governours and submitt themselves in all obedience to their Determinations and censures For Moses was the civil Magistrate and the Governour of the people and as he received them from God so he delivered unto the people all the Laws Statutes and Ordinances that appertained to Religion and to the Service of God And when Aaron erected and set up the golden Calf to be worshipped and so violated the true Religion and Service of God Moses reproved and censured him and Aaron though he was the High Priest of God and the Bishop of the people yet as a good example for all other Priests and Bishops he submitted himself most submissively unto Moses the chief Magistrate and said Let not the anger of my Lord wax hot Exod. 32.22 And I would the Pope would do so likewise And therefore though we say the Judge is to be preferred before the Prince in the knowledge of the Laws and the Doctor of Physick in prescribing potions for our health and the Pilot in guiding his Ship which the King perhaps cannot do Yet it cannot be denied but the King hath the commanding power to cause all these to do their duties and to punish them if they neglect it So though the King cannot preach and may not administer the holy Sacraments nor intrude himself with Saul and Vzzia to execute the Office of the Priest or Bishop yet he may and ought to require and command both Priests and Bishops to do their duties and to uphold the true Religion and the Service of God as they ought to do and both to censure them as Moses did Aaron and also to punish them as Solomon did Abiathar if their offence so deserve when they neglect to do it and both Priests and Bishops ought like Aaron and Abiathar to submit themselves unto their censures CHAP. VII The Objections of the Divines of Lovaine and other Jesuites against the former Doctrine of the Prince his authority over the Bishops and Priests in causes Ecclesiastical answered And the foresaid truth sufficiently proved by the clear testimony of the Fathers and Councils and divers of the Popes and Papists themselves BUt against this Doctrine of the Prince his authority to rectifie the things that are amisse and out of order in the Church of God Obj. the Jesuites and their followers tell us Spirituales dignitates praestantiores essâ— secularibus seu mundanis dignitatibus That the Spiritual Dignities are more excellent than those that are worldly When as these two Governments Gen. 1.16 Rom. 13 1â— And though the light of the Church be the greater yet that proves nor but that the King should be the prime and chief Governor of the Church the one of the Church and the other of the Common-wealth are like the two great Lights that God hath made the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night and the Government of the Church must needs be acknowledged to be the Day and to have the greater light to guide and to direct it The Apostle telling us plainly that now the Gospel being come and the Church of Christ established the night is past or far spent and the day is at hand and come amongst us And the Government of the Secular State is like the Moon that ruleth the Night and receiveth her cleerest light from the Sun as all Christian Kingdoms do receive their best light and surest Rules of Government from the Church of God which is the pillar and the ground of truth But To these that thus make the Civil Government subordinate to that which is Spiritual as both the Papists and our Fanatick-Sectaries here amongst us like the old doting Donatists would do and so abridge and deprive the Christian Prince of his just right and jurisdiction over the affairs and persons of the Church I answer Sol. 1. That Symbolical propositions examples parables comparisons and similitudes can prove nothing they may serve for some illustrations but for no infallible demonstrations of truth Isidorus in Glossa in Gen. ut citatur In the Scourge of Sacriledge 2. I say that Isidorus a popish Doctor preferreth the Government of the Kingdom before the Priesthood by comparing the Kingdom unto the Sun and the Priesthood unto the Moon 3. I say that Theodore Balsamon a good School-man saith Nota Canonem Dicit Spirituales dignitates esse praestantiores secularibus sed ne hoc eò traxeris ut Ecclesiasticae dignitates praeferantur Imperatâ—riis quia illis subjiciuntur You must note that when the Canon saith the Spiritual dignities are more excellent than the Secular Balsamon in Sexta Synodo Canone 7. you must not so understand it as to prefer the Ecclesiastical Rule or Dignities before the Imperial State because they are subject unto it and so to be ruled by it 4. And lastly I say that the Regal Government or Temporal State and civil Government of the Common-wealth is not meerly secular and worldly as if Kings and Princes and other civil Magistrates were to take no care of mens souls and future happiness which they are bound to do and not to say with Cain Nunquid ego custos fratris Am I obliged to look what shall become of their souls But they are called Secular States and civil Government because the greatest though not the chiefest part of their time and imployment is spent about Civil affairs and the outward happiness of the Kingdom even as the Ecclesiastical persons are bound to provide for the poor and to procure peace and compose differences among neighbours and the like civil offices though the most and chiefest part of their time and labour is to be spent in the Service of God and for the good of the souls of their people And so Johannes de Parisiis another man of the Roman Church Johannes de Parisiis Can. 18. doth very honestly say Falluntur qui supponunt quod potestas regalis sit Corporalis non Spiritualis quod habeat curam corporum non animarum quod est falsissimum They are deceived which suppose that the Regaâ— power is only corporal and not spiritual and that it hath but the care and charge over the bodies of his Subjects and not of their souls Which is most false Obj. 2. They say as I have said even now that similitudes and examples nihil
Clergy man from the letter of the law doth pervert the end and abuse the meaning of the law I make it a case of Conscience and demand Whether such men as do let out the lands and houses of the Church for their own private gain and not for the benefit of Gods Church and the advancement of Gods service do not commit this horrible sin of Sacriledge For my part I conceive them to be the worst and most Sacrilegious persons of all others that should know the truth and not give such ill examples both of Covetousness and Sacriledge unto their neighbours How the Bishops and other Clergy-men may lease their Lands without Sacriledge but let them lease what they will for the benefit of Gods Church the furtherance of Religion and the no-prejudice of their successors and they shall never find me to oppose them But otherwise to lease the lands of the Church that is better worth then a 100 l. per annum for less then a 100 s. for to make our children great and the Church poor to benefit our selves and to prejudice Gods service and to say We have a law that warrants us to do it We have Acts of Parliament that allow it and have the practice and presidents of other Bishops Deans and Chapters that have done it is but to say as the Jews said to Pilate We have a law and by our law he ought to die And ought he therefore to die think you because these Jews had such a law I verily think not so and I think likewise that though you have or should have a law to take away and alienate the rights of the Church yet you should not do it if you love the Church or do any waies fear God And for the practice of some other Bishops Deans and Chapters I confess heretofore many of them have done bad enough and worse in my mind then the worst of lay men for them to sell the rights of the Church and so with Judas to betray their Master Christ but Vivitur praeceptis non exemplis if the practice and presidents of others would or could excuse our faults then Drunkards Whore-masters and Murderers might easily find presidents enough to excuse their wickedness and so I know the Sacrilegious persons may as easily find the like But I shall hereafter shew you how and by whose power and by what means these our Laws and Acts of Parliament for the alienating By whose power the laws for leasing and passing away the Church-lands came to be made Consider that leasing and selling of the revenues of the Church came to be made and leave it to any pious mind and conscientious man to consider Whether they ought in the strictness thereof to be observed or not and not rather commend the care and great piety of our late most gratious King and now glorious Martyr Charles the I. Who a little to curb the extravagancies and large extent of our laws by his regall Authority wrote his letters to all Bishops Deans and Chapters that they should lease out their lands for no longer term then 21 years as it appeareth by this his most gratious and pious Letter directed unto my self the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedrall Church of Bangor which for the honour and praise and our thankfulness to so pious and so Religious a King for his care and love to the Church and service of God I thought it my duty to insert it in this place To our Trusty and wel-beloved the Dean of Bangor Charles Rex TRusty and welbeloved We greet you well We have lately taken the State of our Cathedral and Collegiat Churches into our Princely Consideration that We may be the better able to preserve that livelyhood which as yet is left unto them Vpon this deliberation We find that of later times there hath not risen a greater inconvenience then by turning Leases of one and twenty years into Lives for by that means the present Dean and Chapter put great Fines into their Purses to enrich themselves their wives and children and leave their Successors of what deserts soever to Vs and the Church destitute of that growing means which else would come in to help them By which course should it continue scarce any of them could be able to live and keep house according to their Place and Callings We know the Statute makes it alike lawful for a Dean and Chapter to let their Leases for the Term of one and twenty years or three Lives but time and experience have made it apparent that there is a great deal of difference between them especially in Church-Leases where men are commonly in years before they come to those Places These are therefore to will and command you upon peril of Our utmost displeasure and what shall follow thereon that notwithstanding any Statute or any other pretence whatsoever you presume not to let and Lease belonging to your Church into Lives that is not in Lives already And further where any fair opportunity is offered you if any such be you fail not to reduce such as are in Lives into Years And We do likewise will and require that these our Letters may remain upon Record in your own Register-Books and in the Register of the Lord Bishop of that Dioces that he may take notice of these our Commands unto you and give Vs and our Royal Successors knowledge if you presume in any sort to disobey them O that the mind and piety of this most godly King expressed in this Letter had bin observed by all our Predecessors Bishops Deanes and Chapters the which I will do and punctually observe it by the grace of God And further whereas in Our late Instructions We have commanded all our Bishops respectively not to lett any Lease after We have named any of them to a better Bishoprick but did not in those Instructions name the Deans who yet were intended by Vs These are therefore to declare unto you that no Dean shall presume to renew any Lease either into Lives or Years after such time as We have nominated him either to a better Denary or a Bishoprick having observed that at such times of remove many men care not what or how they lett to the prejudice of the Church and their Successors And this is Our expresse Command to you your Chapter and your Successors which in any case We require both you and them strictly to observe upon pain of Our high displeasure and as you and they will answer the contrary at your and their utmost perils Given under Our Signet at Our Mannor of Greenwich the Two and Twentieth day of June in the Tenth year of our Reign Whereby you may perceive that the same holy Spirit that led this blessed King to be of this mind doth now likewise lead me to be of the same mind that no Bishop Dean or Chapter ought to Lease ouâ— the Lands and Revenues of the Church for any longer Term than 21. years For
judgements of God and Israel his Laws to put Vertue 2 incense before the Lord and whole burnt-Sacrifices upon his Altar which is the second duty of every Bishop and every faithful Minister of Christ Verse 10. to teach the people of God and to administer his holy Sacraments For his first care and chiefest duty should be to look to himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be blameless 1 Tim. 3.2 And his second care is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be apt and able to teach the people And so S. Paul tells and adviseth all the Clergy of Ephesus that they should first look and take heed unto themselves and then to all the flock whereof the Holy Ghost hath made them Overseers to feed the Church of God Acts 20.28 which he hath purchased with his own blood And therefore 1. How blameless Bishops and Ministers should be Luke 1.6 1. A Bishop and a Minister of Christ must have a special care to carry and behave himself so as that his life and conversation may seem blameless in the World like unto Zacharias the father of John Baptist that walked in all the Commandments of God without reproof And S. Hierom saith That talis tanta debet esse conversatio eruditio Pontificis ut omnes motus egressus universa ejus opera notabilia sint veritatem mente concipiat eam toto habitu resonet ornatu Hierom. in Epist 43. ut quicquid agit quicquid loquitur doctrina sit populorum The life and conversation of a Bishop and so likewise of every Minister of the Gospel should be such so grave and so holy that all his motions and progressions and all other his works should be notable and worthy to be observed he should conceive the truth in his mind and sound out the same by his habit and ornament that whatsoever he doth The mischief that the evil examples of Bishops and Ministers do produce and whatsoever he saith may be a lesson of instruction unto the people who do look more unto the examples that we give them and the actions that we do than to the Precepts that we preach or the Doctrine that we declare unto them And another Father saith that Nemo plus in Ecclesia nocet quà m qui perversè agens nomen vel ordinem sanctitatis habet delinquentem namque hunc redarguere nullus praesumit in exemplum vehementer culpa extenditur cum pro reverentia ordinis peccator honoratur No man doth or indeed can do more hurt in the Church of God than he that doth wickedly and lives dissolutely and hath the name or order of holiness that is holy Orders because no man presumeth or dares to reprove such an one when he offendeth and his fault exceedingly reacheth to the example of others to do the like when for the reverence of his Order they see such a wicked man so honoured And therefore I may say to such a one as Claudian saith to Honorius changing only but one word Hoc te praeterea crebro sermone monebo Claâ—dian de 4. Câ—nsolat Honorii Vt te totius medio telluris in orbe Vivere cognoscas cunctis tua gentibus esse Facta palam nec posse dari praesulibus unquam Secretum vitiis nam lux altissama fati Occultum nil esse sinit latebrasque per omnes Intrat abstrusos implorat fama recessus For such men are like a City that is set upon a Hill and all mens eyes are upon them and therefore their lives and their actions cannot be concealed but their doings are more conspicuous and their danger far greater than any other men And that as Aquinas saith in a threefold respect First because the Dispensers of the holy Sacraments and the holy Word of God which ought not to be handled but by holy men in which respect a holy Father saith Mallem sustinere poenam Caiphae Pilati Herodis quà m Sacerdotis indignè celebrantis That he would rather chuse to suffer the punishment of Caiphas and of Pilate and of Herod than of a wicked Bishop or Priest that doth unworthily administer the Blessed Sacrament Secondly because these men are to render their account more strictly being looked into more narrowly than other men because as S. Bernard saith Those faults and transgressions quae in aliis nugae sunt Cujâ—s vita despicâ—tu restaâ— ut ejus praedicatio contemnatur Gregor super Evangel l. 1. Hom. 6. in Sacerdotibus sunt blasphemiae And those â—iâ—s that in others seem to be but steps and triffles veniâ—â— digna and may easily be pardoned yet in Bishops and the Ministers of God's word they are heynous offences and worthy to be punished heavily with many stripes seeing they knew their Masters will and did it not And thirdly because that by their Places and Offiâ—es they are to teach other men not to offend and to answer for then sins if through their neglect they do offend and yet by their ill lives and examples they teach them to offend 2. As they are in these respects 2. How careful the Bishops Priests ought to be to teach the people Ezech. 3.17 c. 3.7 to have a special care of their own lives and conversations to live justly and holily as the servants of Christ ought to do so they are likewise obliged to be sedulous and diligent in the instruction and tuition of the people committed under their charge for they are made the Watchmen and Shepherds over God's people to teach them and instruct them what they should do and what they should believe even as our Saviour saith unto his Apostles Go ye and teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son Matth. ult 19.20 and of the Holy Ghost and teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commâ—nded you And therefore S. Paul chargeth Bishop Timothy before God and before Jesus Christ that he preach the word and be instant in season 2 Tim. 4 1 2. 1 Cor. 9.16 and out of season reprove rebuke and exhort with all long sâ—ffering and doctrine and he saith Wo is me if I preach not the Gospel And S. Gregory saith Oportet ut praedicatores sint fortes in praeceptis compatientes infirmis Greg. in Mor. 30. super Job 39. terribiles in minis in exhortationibus blandi in ostendâ—ndo magisterio bumiles in rerum temporalium contemptu dominantes in tolerandis adversitatibus rigidi It behoves that Preachers should be strong and strict in their precepts compassionate and pitiful to the weak terrible in their threatnings to the impenitent smooth and gentle in their exhortations in shewing their power and authority humble in despising the world and all worldly things stout and domineering and in suffering and bearing adversities firm and constant And the same S. Gregory saith also Idem Moral l. 17. that Non debet praedicator infirmis insinnare cuncta
deny what Reason a voucheth But the law of Nature and Reason teacheth that no pension which is indifferent and tolerable ought to be denied and detained from the Common use and the good of publick weale for so Plato and Cicero and many more that knew no more but what the light of nature shewed them do say We are born on that condition not only to provide for our selves and our off-spring but also for our private friends That every man is to do his best for the publick good and especially for the publick good of our Countrey which is the common parent of us all and the examples of Theseus the Athenian Demaratus the Lacedemonian Epaminondas the Theban Curtius Decius and Coriolanus the Romans and among the Jews Moses Aaron Gideon Sampson David Zorobabel and abundance more in all Nations that underwent all charge and exposed themselves to endure all adventures for the furtherance of the common good do sufficiently confirm this truth unto us But the tenth part or portion The tenth the most indifferent part that we have from the Fruits and commodities that we receive from the earth is of the most indifferent condition competent for the receiver and tolerable for the giver as being of a middle size neither too little for the one to take nor too much for the other to pay for the publick service of God And this will easily be confirmed if we compare this tenth part with the taxes and impositions that are of other nature and are required and payable in very many Nations for the men of Cholchi beside their subsidy of money were forced to deliver a hundred male Children and as many maidens by way of task or tribute unto their Princes And Heredotus writeth of very strange distributions that do arise from the waters of Nilus to the proper use of the Inhabitants about that River and of the mighty subsidies that do grow from thence unto the Kings And the Egyptians have been forced to pay the fift part of their estate unto their Kings The tenth compared with the taxes imposed upon the people in divers Nations and Diodorus Siculus saith that a certain King of Egypt gave the yearly custome of the fishes which were taken out of the pooles of his subjects to find rayment and other Ornaments for his Queen and that the same amounted to a Talent of silver for every day in the year And Dion in the life of Augustus relateth how he levied the twentieth part of every mans estate and of such Donations Legacies and Gifts as were bequeathed at the time of their death and said that he found some Records of that custome formerly used in the Registers of Caesar and it is written that the Thuringi exceeded this payment in the taxes that were imposed upon them For they were forced to pay yearly to the Kings of Hungary not only the tenth part of their goods but also the tenth number of their children and yet they that are under the Tyranny of the Turks must indâ—re a Heavier yoke and a far greater slavery for they pay the fourth part of all their fruits and increase of the earth and of their labours in their several trades and they pay tole-money for every servant that they keep the which if their estates be not able to do yet must they make it good or sell themselves for slaves to do it And now judge you what rational man comparing the tythes with these tributes and the taxes of other Nations will not conclude that the tenth part is the most equal just and indifferent portion that can be allotted and adjudged fit to be given and paid for such a publick good as is the service of God and the Ministry of the Gospel without pressing too heavy upon the giver or paying too slight a portion to the receiver 2. Whatsoever things have their foundation and introduction What natural Reason sheweth 1. That publick Ministers should be by the publick State mainâ—ained in the Reason 2 Law of Nature the same things ought still to be observed and continued but natural Reason suggesteth and telleth every man that is not voyd of Reason 1. That as they which serve the Common-wealth Kings Magistrates and Governours should live upon the taxes and Contributions of the Common-wealth so they that serve the Church of God as Bishops and Priests should be maintained by the Church and the Histories of the Gentiles do bear witness that all the Nations of the World have alwayes fully and sufficiently provided maintenance for their Priests Judg. 17.5 For so Mâ—â—ha having set up his Temple and made an Ephod and his Teraphim consecravit ministerium unius è filtis suis he made one of his sons to be his Priest and implevit manum ejus which consecravit ministerium signifieth saith Tremellius in his notes upon that place that is to give him an estate and the maintenance of a Priest and so he did to the Levite that succeeded him consecravit ministerium ejus id est implevit manum ejus He filled his hand and satisfied him with a certainty of maintenance And Pharaoh and the rest of the Egyptians allowed lands and possessions and other sufficient maintenance unto their Priests and Magicians And the Babylonians were very bountiful to their Wise-men and the Professors of the Mysteries of their religion And so was Jezabel also to the Priests of Baal making them to sit at her own Table 2. That the Tythes are the fittest part to maintain these publick Ministers and were so given by Jews and Gentiles before Moses time 2. That the Tythes or tenth part of our goods and fruits of the earth is the fittest part and the most ind fferent proportion that we can assign and lay out for the maintenanâ—e and allowance of the Priests and Ministers of Religion for not only Moses by the instinct and inspiration of God's Spirit appointed and commanded the tenth part to be paid unto the Priests but also many good and godly men before Moses time were by the secret instigaâ—ion of the same Spirit and the innate light of their natural reason directed before God commanded the same to give the Tythes of their whole Estate unto God and to deliver it into the hands of his Receivers the Priests Veteres ex unaquaque re deci mam â—fferâ—e diis solebant Fran. Sylvius Insul And Plautus saith Uâ— decimam solveret Herculi As among the people of God Abraham and Jacob paid Tythes of all and that long before Moses time And among the Gentiles Plutarch recordeth that when Hercules had vanquished Geryâ—n King of Spain and by a strong hand had taken away his Oxen from him he made an oblation of every tenth Bullock unto God And it is said that Cartalus was sent by the Carthaginians unto Tyrus to offer unto Hercules the tenth part of the spoils that he had gotten in the Isle of Sicâ—ly And the Histories do relate further That the Tythes of
would collect the testimonies of our best Writers I will adde but one of a most excellent King our late King James of ever blessed memory for he saith The improbity or fault of the Governour ought not to subject the King to them over whom he is appointed Judge by God for if it be not lawful for a private man to prosecute the injury that is offered unto him against his private adversary when God hath committed the sword of vengeance onely to the Magistrate how much lesse lawful is it think you either for all the people or for some of them to usurp the sword whereof they have no right against the publique Magistrate to whom alone it is committed by God This hath been the Doctrine of all the Learned The obedient example of the Martyrs in the time of Queen Mary of all the Saints of God of all the Martyrs of Jesus Christ and therefore not onely they that suffered in the first Persecutions under Heathen Tyrants but also they that of late lived under Queen Mary and were compelled to undergoe most exquisite torments without number and beyond measure yet none of them either in his former life or when he was brought to his execution did either despise her cruell Majesty or yet curse this Tyrant-Queen that made such havock of the Church of Christ and causelesly spilt so much innocent blood but being true Saints they feared God and honoured her and in all obedience to her authority they yielded their estates and goods to be spoyled their liberties to be infringed and their bodies to be imprisoned abused and burned as oblations unto God rather then contrary to the command of their Master Christ they would give so much allowance unto their consciences as for the preservation of their lives to make any shew of resistance against their most bloody Persecutors whom they knew to have their authority from that bloody yet their lawful Queen And therefore I hope it is apparent unto all men that have their eyes open and will not with Balaam most wilfully deceive themselves Numb 24.15 Gen. 19.11 or with the Sodomites grope for the wall at noon-day that by the Law of God by the example of all Saints by the rule of honesty and by all other equitable considerations it is not lawfull for any man or any degree or sort of men Magistrates Peers Parliaments Popes The conclusion of the whole or whatsoever you please to call them to give so much liberty unto their misguided consciences and so farre to follow the desires of their unruly affections as for any cause or under any pretence to withstand Gods Vice-gerent and with violence to make warre against their lawful King or indeed in the least degree and lowest manner to offer any indignity either in thought word or deed either to Moses our King or to Aaron our High Priest that hath the care and charge of our souls or to any other of those subordinate callings that are lawfully sent by them to discharge those offices wherewith they are intrusted This is the truth of God and so acknowledged by all good men And what Preachers teach the contrary I dare boldly affirm it in the name of God that they are the incendiaries of Hell and deserve rather with Corah to be consumed with fire from Heaven then to be believed by any man on Earth CHAP. X. Sheweth the impudencie of the Anti-Cavalier How the Rebels deny they warre against the King An unanswerable Argument to presse obedience A further discussion whether for our Liberty Religion or Laws we may resist our Kings and a pathetical disswasion from Rebellion I Could insert here abundant more both of the Ancient and Modern Writers that do with invincible Arguments confirm this truth But the Anti Cavalier would perswade the world Anti-Cavalier p. 17 18 c. that all those learned Fathers and those constant Martyrs that spent their purest blood to preserve the purity of religion unto us did either belye their own strength * Yet Tertul. Cypr. whom I quoted before and R ssiâ— hist Eccles l. 2. c. 1. and S. August in Psal 124. and others avouch the Christians were far stronger then their enemies and the greatest part of Julians army were Christians or befool themselves with the undue desire of over-valued Martyrdome but now they are instructed by a better spirit they have clearer illuminations to inform them to resist if they have strength the best and most lawful authority that shall either oppose or not consent unto them thus they throw dirt in the Fathers face and dishonour that glorious company and noble army of Martyrs which our Church confesseth praiseth God and therefore no wonder that they will warre against Gods annointed here on Earth when they dare thus dishonour and abuse his Saints that raign in Heaven but I hope the world will believe that those holy Saints were as honest men and those worthy Martyrs that so willingly sacrificed their lives in defence of truth could as well testifie the truth and be as well informed of the truth as these seditious spirits that spend all their breath to raise arms against their Prince and to spill so much blood of the most faithful subjects But though the authority of the best Authours is of no authority with them that will believe none but themselves yet I would wish all other men to read that Homily of the Church of England where it is said that God did never long prosper rebellious subjects against their Prince were they never so great in authority or so many in number yea were they never so noble so many so stout so witty and politique but alwayes they came by the overthrow and to a shameful end Yea though they pretend the redresse of the Common-wealth which rebellion of all other mischiefs doth most destroy The Homily against rebellion p. 390. 301. or reformation of religion whereas rebellion is most against all true religion yet the speedy overthrow of all Rebels sheweth that God alloweth neither the dignity of any person nor the multitude of any people nor the weight of any cause as sufficient for the which the subjects may move rebellion against their Princes and I would to God that every subject would read over all the six parts of that Homily against wilful rebellion for there are many excellent passages in it which being diligently read and seriously weighed would work upon every honest heart never to rebell against their lawful Prince And therefore the Lawes of all Lands being so plain to pronounce them Traytors that take arms against their Kings as you may see in the Statutes of England 25 Edw. 3. c. 2. And as you know it was one of the greatest Articles for which the Earl of Strafford was beheaded that he had actually leavied warre against the King The Nobles and Gentry Lords and Commons of both Houses of Parliament in all Kingdomes being convicted in their consciences with the