not onely monstrously maymed the outward face of the church in the matter of gouernement and ceremonies but also grieuously wounded the same in the matters of doctrine and sacramentes vnto the mayntenance of all which corruptions in the gouernment of the Churche in the ceremonies in the doctrin sacraments they haue joyned the crimes of seducing and deceiuing the ciuill state and people by bearing all estates in hand that al hath bene and is well in the Church and in like manner as much as in them lay they haue vexed and persecuted as many of the deare seruants of God as haue but entended to motion the redresse of any of the former corruptions Hereof if I shall not be able to prooue the eyes and leaders of this synagogue consequently the whol house to bee guiltie let mee to the terror of all slaunderers be put to all the torments that may bee invented The Conuocation house cannot here object that I deal injuriously with the whol assembly by laying vnto the charge of the whol those crimes whereof our Bb. alone are guiltie For the whole house neuer as yet disauowed the hierarchie of Bb. their practises in vrging subscription in maintayning the dumbe ministerie nonresidencie c. And vntill the corruptions of the Bb. be ouerthrown in that assembly the whol house shall be still justly subject vnto the former accusations See now my Lords whether they doe not bewray their impietie who think that men weary them selues about small matters when they call for a reformation of the church And see whether there be not many and vrgent causes to inforce the parliament to take the gouernment of the Church out of the hands of these men vnlesse the continuance of the ruinous breaches of our Church would be stil maintined it is not the matter of capp surplice tippet and other beggerlie and popish ceremonies whence al the dissention and dissagreement in our church is sprong vp But the controuersies arise because our Archbb. and Bb. are not permitted with the silence and consent of the seruants of God to smother persecute depraue corrupt the truth of that true religion which in name they professe to vndermine and captiuate the church of God in this land Those who withstand their vngodly procedings haue hitherto dutifully kept them selues within the bonds of the calings wherin the Lord hath placed them they haue in al submission and duty entreated that the cause of God might be equally hard and that her Maiestie and the parlament would amend the things proued to be amis they haue neuer as yet presumed theÌ„selues to take in hand the correction of any thing But how quietly on the other side haue the leaders of the conuocatioÌ„ house behaued them selues wheÌ„ a redres hath bin caled for at the hands of the ciuil state Surely they haue alwais hitherto preseÌ„tly betakeÌ„ theÌ„selues to imprisonments and bonds and would neuer suffer the truth to haue the hering nor any man with quietnes to stand in the defence therof And therefore also al the tumults that hereafer are like to arise in the Church of God within this land about these controuersies the leders of the conuocation house are the causes thereof for they wil not yeeld vnto the truth but labour by all meanes possible to smother the same Gods seruants cannot winke at their procedings vnlesse they would betray Gods truth and the libertie of his church The least parte of the sinnes of our Bb. hath bin in the maintenance of vnprofitable supersticious and corrupt ceremonies If they would but yeeld free passage vnto the truth and hir authority vnto the church in other matters they should not be gretly molested for these things And woe be vnto them if they had rather prouoke god and his church to battel against them for the defence of the truth then receiue the light grant peace vnto the church Concerning her Maiestie who as it is thought can neuer be induced to aulter the established gouernment I answere that if it be made known vnto her and proued out of the word that the established regiment of the church is traiterous against the Maiestie of Iesus Christ that it confirmeth the popes supremacie O therfore it is dangerous vnto her crown that it is besides the commission giuen by our Sauiour Christ vnto his apostles and therefore accursed that it sheweth them to be void of all care of reâ—igion who wittingly countenance the same and that it calleth for the judgments of God against her and her kingdom and then if shee yeeld not vnto the razing of all sinful callings out of the church I will not desire to liue if this be thought a matter worthy of death for a man to be dutyfully perswaded of his soueraigne Be it that her Maiestie hath bin moued by some of this house for the redresse of the church you should moue her againe and againe and neuer leaue vntil you be heard Great matters are neuer brought to passe without great and mighty endeuours Our sinnes haue otherwise deserued then that the Lord should at the first encline mercy vnto vs in the sight of her highnes Would any of you alter any part of the gouernment of his family being perswaded by leud flatterers that all were well vnlesse the abuse were shewed and you earnestly dealt with for a reformation And can you then maruel that our soueraigne is hardly drawne to reforme the church whose estate in her hearing is daily said out of the pulpit to be most florishing wheras the deformity therof is not made knowne vnto her I know it is no smal perswasion that should driue a monarch to abrogat the receued constitutions and establish new vnles the vnanswerable necessiry thereof were made knowne vnto her or him I am perswaded that her Maiestie knoweth not the exacting necessitie that lieth vppon her sholders of reforming the church Shee knoweth not the estate of her vntaught and damned subiects to be as it is Wherefore serue parliament men if her eies must be in al places to see euery thing and what doe you see if you do not see our miserie and lament it I grant indeed that of this point she ought to be most careful but if of oversight the waightiest matters be omitted shoulde not you put her in mind hereof And in submission entreat her and neuer leaue entreating vntill shee yeeld to turne away the wrath of God from her and her kingdome by abollishing vngodly ordinances and restoring beauty vnto Zion Well I haue forged the most notable slanders that euer were coined or els the state of my cuntrey vnder her Maiesties gouernment is very miserable yours no lesse lamentable if it so continue And if you make not the same knowne vnto her Maiestie and see it be speedely amended the Lord make Quene Elizabeth and her crown free from the bloude of her destroyed people And I pray God if it be his will that their soules be not required at your
to consider so shal it be plaine and free without minishing or clipping any part of the trueth for the feare or fauor of any creature which it concerneth you to heare wherein I will vtter nothing but that which by the assistaunce of God I will seale with my blood if I shall be driuen therevnto The reason moouing me to so free and plaine a kind of writing as neither I dealing in the same cause nor yet any els before me haue vsed is not the Lord is my witnes because I would hereby arrogate vnto my selfe the prayse of a bolde rebuker of states great personages but it is first because I deale in that matter vpon the goodnes whereof I may presume to speak the whole truth of God especially writing vnto an assembly professing true religion Secondly because the suite is put vp vnto them who although they professe to seeke the honor of God yet haue heretofore altogether vndutifully refused to giue the hearing vnto any motion tending vnto the reformation of the religion which they pretend to fauor and professe Some of them thinking the cause at all not worthie to be delt in Others not altogether disliking the suite iudged notwithstanding the time wherein it was to be handled not to be as yet come Because they saw that the base and supplicatorie maner whereby it desired the hearing made al other causes comming with authority from men to be preferred before it The most who in deede sincerely fauoreth the cause haue thought it to be a gaineles matter to deale at all therein For as much as it is the generall voyce of all men that reformation cannot be taken in hand without the high and heauie displeasure of her Maiestie who to speake as I am perswaded being borne in hand by the vngodly perswasions of some godlesse and irreligious men of the Ecclesiastical state that the Church within her Maiesties dominions cannot be at a better stay then it is hath not without great reason bene hitherto the hard liar induced to haue the cause of religion againe dealt in which she is perswaded altogether to be in a tollerable sort according to the will of her God Being also vndutifully borne in hand that the endeuour of reforming religion is nothing else but a new fangled and seditious attempt proceeding from the factious discontented braines of those who are slandered to desire thereby nothing els but the alteration of the present state dangerous to her royal crowne and person and ruinous vnto the whole kingdome In respect whereof the cause offering it selfe againe to be considered of this high court it became the same to come with a maiesticall and terrifying countenance that if it pleased the Lorde it might this way for feare compell them dutifully to stoupe vnto it whose fauor and good liking in a peaceable manner hitherto it coulde by no means procure And it became it so to offer it selfe as withall it might appeare that the enterprise of reforming religion is not a matter tendinge to the disturbinge of the common-wealth and the disliking of her Maiestie Except men would slanderously surmise the estate of this kingdome to be so out of square as Gods trueth cannot haue passage therein without the imminent ruine of al and slanderously report her Maiesties will and affection to be then intollerably crossed when the will of her God is sought to be established which assertions shal be manifested to be grieuous and vndutifull slaunders against hir Maiestie and the state by the opening of such thinges as being amisse within Wales the Lorde requireth to be reformed at the handes of her Maiestie and this Parliament The wants therefore and corruptions of the seruice of God in Wales joyned with the misery of that people are first in that the most congregations within that countrie haue all this time of the Gospell preached in Englande had no other seruice of God for the working of fayth and repentance sounding in them but such as whereby the people partaking the same cannot possibly be saued ordinarily Mistake me not For I doe not saye that eyther that seruice which all this time of her Maiesties gouerment they haue had and now haue is idolatrous or that by the publike authoritie of her Maiestie and the Parliament they haue bin publikely enjoyned to professe any other religiō then that only true religion in the professiō wherof alone ordinary saluation is to be had But I affirme that God is not otherwise serued in the most assemblies there then that way whereby the food of eternall life shall neuer be ordinarily conuayed to the people This I affirme and this I will stand vnto because for the space nowe of 30. yeares complete they haue euery where for the most part wanted the preaching of the word without which as it is plainely set downe in manye places of the a Iam. 1.12 1 Pet. 1 2◠Iob. 33.23 1. Cor. 121. Rom. 10.14 Ephes 1.13 and 2.17 Acts. 20.32 Pro. 8.34.35 Isay 53.11 word and I haue elswhere largely prooued vnto her Maiestie and this high court ordinarily no fleshe can be saued Now my Lords and you the rest of this Parliament consider I pray you what care hath bin had of the soules of men vnder her Maiesties gouernement and how in the dayes of reckoning and account these things wil be answered Consider how lamentable a case it is that in the flowrishingest gouernment for outward peace that is again vnder the cope of heauen where publike idolatrie hath bene bannished not one family or one tribe but a whole nation should perishe for want of knowledge And see whether I haue not sufficient cause to deale with you on the behalfe of my countrie My crie my crie is not the crie of b Deut. 11.8 giltlesse and innocent blood which were verye woefull but of lost and damned foules which is most lamentable and giue you eare vnto it my LL. least the blood of soules bee laide to your charge and required at your hands For it is not the judispensible dutie of the Parliament to giue eare vnto this crie Howe then I pray you will it be answered before the judge of all the worlde in the day of judgement if you be carelesse of a dutie so necessarily required at your handes when our Sauiour Christ affirmed it to be nothing availeable vnto men to winne the whole worlde Luk. 9.22 if they lose their owne soules Did he thereby thinke you not only enforce that they are in a miserable taking who in respect of the knowledge of their saluation know not the right hand from the left but also forcible in feare that gouernours vnto whome of trust he hath committed inferiours discharge not their duties in his sight vnlesse they haue great care of the saluation of their people Questionlesse he doth Let them therefore be afraide of aeternall shame and confusion who blushe not to be busie in the consultation of euerye trifling matter and would be accounted great
lavvgiuer in his Church vvho hath protested that he vvil not abide to impart the glory thereof vnto any other And vvhom should they then feare in this suite The Lorde hath promised that none vvho trust in him shall perish Psal 34.22 And he hath promised that although the vvicked vvatch to slay the righteous yet he vvill not leaue him in his hand psal 37.32 Yea he hath promised to be vvith those that fear him vvhen they Esay 48.1.2 passe through the vvaters that they should not be ouerflovven and vvhen they vvalke thorough the fire that they should not be burnt VVherefore then shold they fear man whose breath is in his nostrels as long as they sincerely stand to the cause of their God Though they be but a fevv in nomber yet the Lord vvith legions of Angels standeth on their side to d scomfite all those that contende vvith him Oh J vvould that the vvords of the Lord spoken by Isaiah the Prophet vvere thoroughly vvritten in the hearts of as many in this honorable assembly as for the feare of man vvill be the hardliar dravvn throughly to stand to the cause of their God For thus comfortably the Prophet Chap. 51 of his prophesie speaketh vnto all those that vvith an vpright heart seeke the honor of the Lord. Heare me ye that follow after righteousnes and ye that seeke the Lord looke to the rocke whence you are hewen and to the hole of the pitt whence you are digged Consider Abraham your father and Sarah that bare you for I called him alone and blessed him and encreased him Hearken vnto me yee that know righteousnes and the people in whose hearts is my law fear ye not the reproch of men neither be you afraide of their rebukes I euen I am he that comfort you Who art thou that thou shouldest feare a mortall man and the sonne of man which shal be made as grasse and forgettest the Lorde thy maker which hath spredd out the heuens layd the foundations of the earth c. Novv then vvhosoeuer they be that are timerous in the cause of God as alasse vvhat flesh and blood is not too too feareful here is a stedfast rocke for them to leane vnto here is a defender for them vnder the shadovv of vvhose vvings they might be bold to contemne vvhatsoeuer their aduersaries can bring against them Are they but a fevv in nomber let them looke vnto Abraham he vvas called alone and yet the Lord blessed him and encreased him Are they afrayd of the rebukes of man vvhy they seeke the righteous vvayes of the Lord and therefore he commandeth them not to feare Are they povverfull and mighty by vvhom the suit is d scountenaunced yea but notvvithstanding they are but mortall they shal be made as grasse and the time vvill come vvherein it shal be demanded VVhere are they novv that vvithstood the cause of God in the Parliament of England Js not their memory vvritten in vvater and their hope perished together vvith them To desire the free passage of the Gospell in this land together vvith the speedie remoouing of all that hindereth the same is to plead the cause of that God vvho hath controlled kings and great Monarches yea quite ouerthrovvne them their kingdomes for denying the free vse of his seruice vvithin their dominions Euen the cause of that God vvho hath not onely brideled the rage of tyrants entending the suppression of his trueth but also turned that vnto the great good of his Church vvhereby they sought to vvorke the ruine thereof Pharaoh Achitophel Senacherib Haman came to the graue vvith blood vvhen in the eyes of men the most of them vvere likeliest to preuayle and the cause of God and his children vnlikeliest to stand The Lord in this kingdom can do the like vvhen he thinketh good Ezra 4.7.8 5.3 Cap. 6.7 7.23 The accusations and slanders of Mithridath Tabeel Rehum Shimsai Shetherboznai vvith their companions did seeme likely once and againe to hinder the buylding of the holy citie but at the length it broght froÌ„ Darius a most sure strong commandement for the furtherance of the work clean contrary to the expectation of the enemie And vvho knovveth vvhether the Lord at this Parliament vvill not stir vp the spirits of the Sates and especially of her R. excellent Maiestie that they may say vnto the enemies of this cause as Darius did vnto the men aforenamed Therefore Tatnai captaine beyond the riuer Shetherboznai vvith their companions be ye far from them Suffer the vvorke of this house of God to go forvvard And a Ezra 7.23 vvhatsoeuer is by the commandement of the God of heauen let it be done speedely for the house of the God of heauen for vvhy should he be vvroth against the realm c. vvherfore beloued vvhosoeuer you be that at any time shal be imployed eyther as Parliament or othervvise in the sâ—tting forvvard of the cause of reformation stand manfully in defence of the truth the liberty of his Church The practises of the aduersaries I mean of our bishops shevv manifestly that these reliques of cursed Babylon vvhich they maintayne among vs must needs go avvay vvith a noyse as the rest vvas ouerthrovvne They vvill not yeelde to the trueth hovvsoeuer it hath gotten the vpper hande of them The Lord must vse violence to throvv them out as he did against the caterpillers their forefathers Reuel 18.19 They haue manifested hitherto hovv desperate and past recouery the cause vvhich they defend is become in that they haue denyed to yeelde a quiet and a brotherly conference or disputation vvith those vvho are contrary minded vnto them Jf J may but procure this vvith our BB. in VVales I vvill loose my life if they be not ouerthrovven vvhich I speake not vvithout the humble acknovvledgement of myne ovvne vveaknes And let me not be thought by any to deale too confidently for J deale in a sure and a confident cause vvhich is not timerously to be delt in but in the feare of God vvith all boldnes to be stood to and auouched And whensoeuer they or any of theirs shal but aduenture their places against my life they shall perceiue by the grace of God that there is strength in the cause which hitherto they haue withstood to their smal gaine Yea but I might haue dealt more sparingly against them It vvere pity in deed but J should intreat the high court of Parliament to heale the disease of my countrie but so notvvithstanding as they vvould suffer the cause of the griefe and misery thereof still to remaine The Parliament should be sued vnto for helpe against the disease and bane of the country of VVales but so as they vvould fauor the causes thereof And vvhat malladie is there J pray you in our Church vvhereof the dumbe ministers nonresidents our Lord BB. vvith the rest of that vngodly generation are not the cause J should spare them vvho spare not the Church
shall reape the same Beleeue them not who tell you that all is well within Wales that they are a sort of clamorous and vndiscreet men who affirme the contrary Beleue them not who tell you that it belongeth not vnto your duties to be carefull of the estate of the Church and that the Lorde requireth no more at your hands but the mayntenance of outwarde peace As though men committed to your gouernement were but droues of bruite beastes onely to be foddered Ie. 17.13.14 and kept from external invasions and inroods Giue eare rather vnto the words of the Prophet who with a loude voyce crieth vnto you Why will you die you your families people by the sword by the famine and by the pestilence And why will you be damned I may alude without injurie vnto the word as the Lord hath spoken against all those gouernours that wil not see their people prouided a Ezra 7.17.23 psa 2.10 101. 2. chr 29 10. 30.9 34.27 ex 20.10 gen 18.19 2. chr 15.12.13 17.7 for of the meanes of saluation Therefore heare not the words of the prophets who tell you that you shall neyther see sword nor famine though you be still as careles of your people as hitherto you haue bene Looke the punnishments both of flattering prophetes and of those that are deceiued by their flatterie Ierem. 14.15 Heare them not I say but obeye the Lord in the execution of that dutie which he exacteth at your hands by calling your people to the knowledge of his sonne that you may liue For why should this lande be made desolate for this your carelesnes Ierem. 27.17 They prophesie vanitie and lies vnto you which saye peace peace while you dispise the Lorde and walke in this secure course or else Ieremiah is deceiued If they be prophets and if the word of the Lord be in their mouths let them intreat her Maiestie you of this parliament that the misery of helples Wales may at this time of your meeting be considered off and redressed Thus I haue set downe some part of the wants â—n the seruice of God in Wales and some part of â—hat miserie wherein my countrie is bewrapped â—nd which you are bound vnto the Lord but by â—â—e most humbly entreated to redresse And this â—s the cause wherein if you deale not you betray â—he honor of God betraye his trueth betraye the â—eligion which you professe and betraye her Maâ—estie and the whole kingdome vnto the reuenâ—ing hand of God For without controuersie the continuance of our ignorance and the defectes of Gods seruice will one day and that shortly I feare me bring the Lord in fearefull and consuming judgementes to take punnishment of you your wiues children families and the wholland because in your states consultation his honor and the blood of mens souls were not regarded But this is neyther all the miserie of the inhabitants of Wales neythet is this all that the Lorde requireth to be amended by this Parliament vnder paine of his heauie wrath In the seconde place then we are to consider the corruptions tollerated by the positiue lawes of this land and countenanced by the authority of this high court of Parliament in the seruice of God within Wales Whereby no small dishonor redoundeth vnto the Maiestie of God and wherein no small part of the spirituall miserie of that people doth consist For the remouing of which corruptions it behoueth the Parliament with speede to be very carefull euen before such time as the Lord calleth the land to an account for the wicked constitutions therein maintayned Here therefore I affirme vnlesse without delay you labour to cleanse the Churche vnder your gouernement in Wales of all L. Bb. dumbe ministers nonresidents archdeacons commissaries and all other romish officers offices there tollerated and so tollerated as by the consent authoritie of the Parliament they are mainteyned that you are both in this life and the life to come likely to be subiecte vnto the intollerable masse of Gods wrath the execution whereof is not vnlikely to fall vpon you and your houses vnlesse you preuent the fiercenes of the Lordes indignaâ—â—â—â— If Moses by a positiue lawe should haue allowed the offring of strange fire by Nadab and Abihu tollerated the ministery of blemished a Leu. 20.18 23. deformed Leuites ennacted that one not being of the line of Aaron might presse before the Altar b Num. 16.10.18.7 to offer the bread of his God if Dauid had made it lawfull for Vzzah to lay his hand vpon the Arke if Iosiah or any other the godly rulers had either giuen leaue to the cursed shepheardes in their dayes to place others in their stead to take c Ezek. 44.9 the ouersight of the Sanctuary Or permitted a consecrated priest to be a ciuill gouernour briefely had established any thing in the Churche gouerment prescribed by Moses contrary to the commandement had they not bene in danger of the Lords wrath They had without controuersie And shall you of the high court of Parliament be dispenced with being guilty except you labor to remoue the dumbe ministery nonresidence with the vsurped and Antichristian seats of L. Bb. c. of tollerating establishing greater sinnes among your people in Wales in steed of the gouernment prescribed by Iesus Christ assure your selues no. I do therefore in this point also for the discharge of my dutie and conscience towardes the Lord his Church my countrie and the whol estate of this kingdom taking my life in my hand â—estifying vnto you before the Maiestie of God â—nd before his church that our dumbe ministers â—hat the callings of our L. Bb. archdea commiss with al other remnants of the sacriledge brought â—nto the Churche by that Romishe strumpet and now remaining in Wales are intollerable before the Lorde and that it is not likely 〈◊〉 â—uer you tollerating these thinges any longer shall escape Gods fierie wrath The trueth hereof I do briefly make knowne by the reasons following and offer to prooue them more at large euen vpon the peril of my life against our 4. L. Bb. all their chaplains retainers fauorers and wel willers whether in eyther of the two vniuersities of this lande or in any place els whatsoeuer These things I offer to prooue against M. D. Bridges who lately in a large volume hath vndertaken their defence In which booke of his he hath offered her Maiestie the Parliament most vndutifull injurie by going about for the maintenance of his owne belly the belies of the rest of his coat to allien at the hears of the loyallest subiects in the lande from their most carefull prince and gouernours As though her Maiestie and this honourable court ment to turne the edge of the sword against theÌ„ who indeed deserue not to be threatned with the scabbord Compare pag. 448. of D Bridges his booke with Bellarmine cap. 10. li. 5. cont 3. and you shall finde
of man They do not stick to affirme it lawful for them to teach many thinges not included in the commission giuen by our sauiour Christ vnto his Apostles These men reject as vntrue that which the spirite of God hath set downe by the Apostle Paule 1. Cor. 1.21 Rom. 10.14 which is that men are ordinarilye saued by the preaching of the word For they are perswaded that saluation may be ordinarily attayned vnto by reading so they are perswaded that the Lorde hath promised his spirit to seale that doctrin in the hearts Ephes 1.13 of men which through preaching was neuer made knowen vnto them What care then will they haue to see the people prouided for of preching wheras they are not perswaded of the ordinary necessitie thereof They my Ll. maintaine the continuance of the dumb and ignorant ministery whereby our Church hath long since gotten her bane Their judgement is that they may be tollerated for lawful ministers in a christian commonwelth and that the parliament may securely maintain them in our Churche without all feare of Gods judgementes for tollerating them O the great hand of God in punnishing our ingratitude that in this cleare light of the gospell they who take vpon them to be Archseers willingly see not that none can be lawfull embassadors of Iesus Christ but they out of whose mouthes this embassage is heard 1. Cor. 5. VVe beseech you in Christs steed that you be reconciled vnto God And yet such is the blindnes of the convocation house that they cannot see this But I blush to thinke that they dare once presume to giue any countenance vnto nonresidencie that gastly and fearfull sinne and yet behold notwithstanding they are not onely all of them guiltie thereof themselues but euen in the books which they haue published vnto the world in the defence of their corruptions they haue not bene ashamed to advouch the lawfulnes of this vnnaturall and desperat murther Yea the verye pulpits haue rung again againe with invectiues against al those that withstood this their madnes O my Ll. you the rest of the R. honourable and worshipful of this high court of parliament I can not stay my selfe but I must needes in this place crie vnto you for helpe and justice against these vnnaturall men The Conuocation house my Ll. defendeth nonresidencie to be lawfull Nonresidencie my Ll. is defended to bee lawfull in the Conuocation house And will you then trust thē with the ouersight of the people who are of judgment that they may lawfully starue murther them Can you hope for any good to come vnto the church of God from that councel where it is enacted that it may be lawfull for a bond of murthering nonresidents to destroy the same If therfore in the parliament of Englande there be any care of the glorye of God and the libertie of his Church if any pitie and compassion of the starued soules of men let others bee trusted to prouide foode for your people and not those whose very judgements are so darkened that they hold it allowable by the worde for them to take order that men may not be fedd It is now meet my Ll. that they who holde it lawfull for men to make a trade of murther should be allowed for phisicions And what els are they who defende the lawfulnes of nonresidencie but suche as professe it lawfull for men to bee maintayned rather then they shoulde want liuing euen by the murthering of their brethren Is it not great pitie then but that this Conuocation house should be stil countenanced by the state to be the only place whence reformatiō of all the things out of order in our Church should be expected For therein doubtles any thing shal be heard which may tende to the furtherance of the gospell seeing none sound few excepted are admitted into that assembly who are not guiltie of the merciles and cruell murther of soules as beeing all of them for the most part cursed and bloody nonresidents And is it not great pitie but that the parliament should staye and go no further in the reformation of religion then it should bee directed by the Conuocation house For it may be hoped out of question that the Cōuocation house will see that no calling be henceforth tollerated in the ministerie but such as the Lord in his worde warranteth to be lawfull And therefore it may bee hoped that the leaders thereof will not sticke to put downe Archbishops and L. Bb. that Christ alone by the officers which he in his word hath appointed may rule in his church They will not abide that anye blemished maymed Leuit should come neere to the Lords Sanctuarie nor any pharisaicall high priest shoulde vsurpe anye authoritie ouer his brethren in this lande If this hope might be conceiued of them then in deed woulde they bee meete to cure the diseases of our church But the truth is that there is no reason why this should be expected at their hands because they are so far as this whole land knoweth from hauing anye remorse of the vnlawfull and vngodly callings wherein they nowe remaine that their practises against God and his trueth doe proclaime vnto the worlde that they neuer meane to restore againe her owne authoritie vnto the Churche whereof by their Lordships it hath bene spoyled I haue determined with my selfe not to trouble this honorable assemblie at this time with any large discourse concerning these men their dealngs otherwise I would shew by euidēt profs that they and so the whole Conuocation house are guiltie of such crimes as the fauorablest interpreter of their proceedings woulde of necessitie be drawne to giue this sentence against thē namely That they are intollerable oppugners of Gods glory and vtter enemies vnto the liberties of his Church And they should also be drawne to confesse that the parliament in maintayning the Conuocation house did maintayne and defend together with the hindering and smoothering of the trueth not only the deformed ruines but also the lamentable oppression of the Church So that it should appeare that as long as that house standeth as at this day it doth there could be no hope at all that either Gods heauenly trueth should haue free passage or the Churche her lybertie in this kingdome The briefe heades of the publike crimes whereof the leaders of the Convocation house are guiltie I will here set downe they shal be herafter evidently prooued if they vnto whose charge they are laid dare deny them First therefore their very callings and places that is the callings places of our Archbishops and L. Bb. are such as they they cannot possibly but dishonour God and bereaue the Church of her libertie by continuing in thē Secondly their practises in those places for the maintenaunce of their tyrannicall superioritie others the corruptions of the Church which they wilfully contrary vnto all trueth and aequitie doe maintaine are such as by them they haue