Excommunicato Capiendo and Heretico Comburendo to catch and roast the Bird himself for the Bishop to eat it and of the subtlety of the Bishop as to this matter see more before p. 167 168 169. How little incouragement there is therefore for Protestants to take this Oath of Supremacy wherein the Kings name is only abused and made a Stale to draw a Supreme and Arbitrary Power to Bishops both over the King and them and to drein the Royal Treasury into their own Pockets and how untrue a Test such an Oath must be is humbly submitted to Supreme Authority Supremacy granted by Act of Parliament of Marriage and Legitimation to Canterbury yet Sworn to be in the King 6. By the Statute 25. H. 8.21 Power is granted to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and his Successors by their Discretions to Grant unto the King his Heirs and Successors all such Licenses Dispensations Compositions Faculties Grants Rescripts Delegacies for Causes not contrary to the holy Scriptures and Laws of God as heretofore had been used and accustomed to be held and obtained by his Highness or by any his most Noble Progenitors at the See of Rome and all Children procreated after Marriage by virtue of any such License or Dispensations shall be admitted and reputed Legitimate in all Courts Spiritual and Temporal So this Act of Parliament made in time of Popery translates the Pope from Rome to Canterbury and the Supremacy before used or accustomed by him over the King and his Subjects concerning all the matters mention'd in the Act is placed in the Person of the Arch-Bishop and the Bishops call this a Supremacy in them according to Scripture and the Law of God which is worse and more Papal than to claim it only by Act of Parliament for what more Papal Supremacy can there be than Power to Grant Licenses Dispensations Faculties Compositions Grants Rescripts Delegacies of Marriage Legitimation and all other matters which Popes have formerly granted from Rome to Kings and their Subjects at discretion and this Exceptio is contraria facto for the granting of Licenses by Popes to Kings is contrary to the Law of the Land and is a Power Supreme to the Legislative and Law of the Land so the Grant in the Act is Repugnant to the Exception for 〈◊〉 Licenses or Dispensations are necessary but where there is a standing Law of God or Man to the Licensed or Dispensed with no Composition or Pardon necessary but where there is a standing Law violated or broken no Faculty necessary but where is a standing Law disabling the Party to do what he desires to have a Faâ—ulty for that he may be enabled to do No Rescript is but from a Supreme Prince no Delegacy but from a Superior to an Inferior for the Pope is Superior to his Legate though he be Legatus à Latere and the highest preferment this Popish Act of Parliament allows the King is to be the Arch-Bishop's Legate then the Act having made him Supreme to the Legislative Law and King gives him as high Supremacy over the Judicial Power in all Courts as well Spiritual as Temporal which is Supremacy over the Parliament which is a Court-Temporal This Act therefore doth set up more than Prelacy or Arch-Prelacy at Canterbury for that was there before and the Gyants had piled up Pelion on Ossa already and now they steeple it with Olympus and if they set not on the Gyants head the Triple Crown 't is sure they have the Triple Miter three stories high of Prelacy Arch-Prelacy and Supremacy When the Arch-Bishop got therefore of the Parliament this Act he was something like the Carpenter who begg'd of the Wood only one Helve long enough to turn his Hatchet into an Ax and when he had got that he cut down the whole Wood for he having now got so long a Helve to his Spiritual Hatchet as Supremacy over the Marriage not only of the old Palm Trees and Legitimations of the young at his Discretion that is to say if they give him whatsoever Money he asks for Dispensation and Legitimation this gives him likewise Power to strike both at Root and Branch of all the Royal Protestant-Cedars themselves in the Popish Points of Ceremonial Marriage and Legitimation endeavour'd now to be brought to the true Test of a more Supreme Law and Judg than his the Moral Law of God himself How therefore the Protestant can safely Swear in Conscience the Supremacy to be only in the King when so great a share of it is granted to the Arch-Bishop by the King and Parliament until the same Act of Parliament of 25. H. 8.21 by which 't is done is Repealed I confess my Ignorance and if it be without cause crave Pardon 7. The Party who is to Swear who is the only Supreme Governour must be intended to Swear either who is Supreme De Facto or De Jure if De Facto who hath the Actual Power of the Sword it may happen to be in a time of War when two Armies are in the Field and Inter utrumque Volat Dubiis Victoria pennis It is necessary at such a time that the Swearer unless he will Forswear himself be a Prophet of whom there are not many in this Age amongst such as take the Oath of Supremacy if it be said the Swearer ought to Swear De Jure who hath Right to be only Supreme Governor to this is Answer'd 1. Unless he can Swear to the matter in Fact he cannot Swear to the matter of Law or Right for Ex facio jus Oritur all matter of Law must arise from the matter of Fact therefore the Fact must be first known before the Right can be known which is to be deduced from it 2. The Right when the Oath is required may be as to Succession of the Crown wherein the matter of Fact depending only on Genealogies the Heralds themselves especially after Wars may not be able to make any clear probation of the Descents as Ezra 2.62 and Nehem. 7.64 it is said These sought their Register among those that were reckoned by Genealogie but it was not found therefore were they as Polluted put from the Priest-hood If therefore the Genealogies of Priests who wore themselves the Registers and kept their own Descents as curiously as was possible may be lost much easier may those of the Lay and the Law and Divinity may likewise be so doubtful that it is justly acknowledged by the King and Parliament themselves 25. H. 8.22 That Ambiguities and Doubts touching the Successions of the Crown have been Causes of much Trouble and no perfect and substantial Law hath been made for Remedy of the same and accordingly at the Death of Queen Elizabeth there were no less than Sixteen titles endeavour'd to have been set on foot to the Succession partly by Papists to overthrow the Protestant-Religion partly by others to overthrow the Union between the two Kingdoms in the Person of King James in which the Protestants of
not were called Kophrim Infidels or Heritics liable to the censure of Excommunication with whom it was not lawful as much as to eat having thus setled the opinion of his Sign of Mission he designs for the Jews in Constantinople and privately ships himself in a Turkish Saick in the Month of January 1666. and the Wind being Northerly he was detained Thirty-Nine Days in his Voyage so little command had the Messiah over the Sea and Wind at length he gets sight of Constantinople the Great Vizier being then there and not yet departed on his expedition for Candia who having heard some rumors of this man sent two Boats whilst the Saick was detained by contrary Winds with command to bring him Prisoner to the Port where being brought he was immediately clapt into the worst Dungeon in the Town where having remained two Months when the Vizier being designed for Candia and seeing the mighty conflux of People to him notwithstanding in his Dungeon and that the Jews at Constantinople were grown as mad to set up his Dominion as all the rest thought it not safe to leave him in the Imperial City whilst the Grand Seignior and himself should be both absent he causes him therefore to be removed to the Castle of Abydos being of Europe side of the Hellespont opposite to Sestos After he had been there a considerable time the noise of him flies louder to the ears of the Grand Seignior and he sends a Chiaux or Messenger to bring speedily Sabatai to Adrianople where he then was whither he was brought accordingly and being demanded several questions in Turkish by the Grand Seignior he desired a Doctor of Physick who had from a. Jew turn'd Turk to be his Interpreter which was granted him but not without some reflexion of the standers-by That had he been the Messiah or Son of God he would not have wanted Languages Being therefore come to make Answer for himself in that way he could the Grand Seignior demanded a sign of his Mission to be shewn by him of his Messiah-ship and would admit no other but a Miracle of his own choice which was That Sabatai should be stript naked and set as a mark to his Archers if the Arrows passed not through his Body but his skin was Armour of Proof then would he beleive him to be the Messiah Here the Devil forsook Sabatai as he useth to do Witches when brought before the Magistrate who beareth the Sword for the power of the Sword being a sign of Mission to it self in regard the Powers that are are ordained by God and lesser Powers are commanded to be subject to the greater The Power of the Magistrate may be greater then such petty Daemons as can only do such Ape-tricks as Inspirations or Witchcraft or if it is the roaring Lion himself he may perhaps be afraid to adventure on so many Troops of Hunters as the Magistrate can command and the Evil Spirit may not be in so high a degree Incorporeal as not to be liable to Corporeal-Force but whether he be or be not 't is certain his Instruments Sabatais Magicians and Witches are and they are therefore by the Magistrate to be compell'd to shew a sign of Mission as Elisha did to call Fire from Heaven which can protect them or the like against the Sword given by God to the Magistrate or else it is the duty of the Magistrate to execute Justice upon them Sabatai therefore knowing he had no Spirit of God to protect him against the Sword of God in the hand of a Power to the dreadful demand of such a sign of Mission disclaimed all his Titles to Kingdoms and Governments and humbly alledged that he was a poor Cocham and a Jew as others were and had nothing of Priviledg or Virtue above the rest The Grand Seignior notwithstanding not wholy satisfied with this plain confession declared That having given publick Scandal to the Professors of the Mahometan Religion and done Dishonour to his Sovereign Authority by pretending to draw-such a considerable portion from him under the pretence of the Kingdom of a Messiah as Palaestin his Treason and Crime was not to be expiated by any other means then by a Conversion to the Mahometan Faith which if he refused to do the Stake was ready at the Gate of the Seraglio to Impale him Sabatai with much feigned cheerfulness replyed That he was contented to turn Turk and that he did it not of force but of choice and having been a long time desirous of so glorious a Profession he esteemed himself much honour'd that he had the opportunity to on◠it in the Presence of the Grand Seignior Hist Three Impost 48. The Messiah in whom the Jews had placed their Faith so high appearing not able to shew a sign of Mission and what was worse turning Turk they were extreamly confounded with shame which they might have prevented had they as they ought to have done demanded the sign effectually first And if Mahomet who was the Mussul-men's Messiah or the Popes who are the Catholics Messiahs had in their beginnings but been put by Princes to shew such signs of Mission as Sabatai was by the Grand Seignior neither Mahometans nor Popes nor Bishops nor so many Superstitious Sects and Schismes could ever have plagued the World as they now have done for all these have still been raised by pretences of Missions from God of which they never shewed a Sign They have falsely Translated and Expounded the Scriptures in all words relating to Marriage The falsity of the Translation appears in the particulars following First Ish Isha 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word Ish which in the Hebrew Text signifies amongst mankind a Male and amongst Beasts the same and the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in the Septuagint signifies the same and the word Isha which in the Hebrew signifies a Female and in the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Foemina in French Feme and in English Woman which all signifie amongst Mankind a Female Male Female which words Male and Female are used by Christ in their natural certain and general signification These have they translated into the Artificial Ambiguous and Arbitrary signification of their Vocabula Artis of Man and Wife as 1 Cor. 7.2 The Original Greek is Let every Male have his own Female and every Female her own Male which they have translated Let every Man have his own Wife and every Woman her own Husband that is to say such a Woman as the Bishop will please Arbitrarily true or false for Money to certifie to be his Wife and such Man as he will in like manner certifie to be her Husband and not such as Christ saith as God hath joined and made Man and Wife which is a false translation 1. Because it translates words general into words special 2. Because it translates words of a natural signification into Vocabula Artis of an artificial signification 3. Because the natural signification
Null all Oaths of allegiance unless they will buy their Crownes of them and pay Tribute There is in our own English History a Manifest Example of the same in that noble King Henry the second who Complaines to his Parliament against the Bishops and the whole Clergy That in their Election of King Stephen his Predecessor who was a Collateral Heir they had imposed on him their own Conditions with all advantages to themselves whereby they Deprived his Mother Maud the Empress and him who was her issue and the right Lineal Heir of the Succession to the Crown And how they dealt with the People as well as with the King appears by the Complaint of the Lay-Nobility to the King at the same time That the Privileges of the Clergy hindred all Execution of Justice that the same could have no Passage through the Kingdom and having Exempted themselves from the Jurisdiction of the Magistrate there had been since the beginning of his Reign above an Hundred Man-slaughters Committed within the Realm of England by Priests and men within Holy Orders Dan. Hist 83. Such were the Fruits of Bishops and persons within Holy Orders and the three fine Knacks of Consecration Ordination and Excommunication wherewith they both Allured and Terrified the Superstitious People And such were the fruits of their pretended Divine Mission with the Olive Branch of Peace for tho Unction and Crowning of Kings who confected their Oyntment of the Ingredients mention'd in Psal 55.21 The words of his mouth were smoother than butter but War was in his heart his words were softer than oyle yet were they drawn swords 1. Of Gods Preservation of John Keysar notwithstanding his Excommunication and Delivery to Satan by an Arch-Bishop of Canterbury 2. Of Delivery to Satan by Bishops and their Prohibition to cast him out again by Fasting and Prayer without the Bishops Licence 3. All Excommunication and delivery to Satan by Bishops without a Sign of Mission from God if Malefice follow ought to be Punished as Witchcraft if not as a Cheat. 4. To grant a Bishop Power of Excommunication is to grant him Power to set up Idolatry to make all Sins equal to Pardon all Sins for Money Coke part 3.42 Ex Mich. 5. E. 4. Rot. 143. Coram Rege Keysar deliver'd to Satan protected by God John Keysar was Excommunicated by the greater Excommunication before Thomas Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and Legate of the Aposto lick See at the Suit of another for a reasonable part of Goods and so Remained Eight Months and the said Keysar openly affirmed That the said Sentence was not to be feared neither did he fear it and albeit the Arch-Bishop or his Commissary hath Excommunicated me yet before God I am not Excommunicated And he said he spoke nothing but the Truth And so it appeared for that the last Harvest standing so Excommunicate he had as great plenty of Wheat and other Grain as any of his Neighbours saying to them in scorn That a man Excommunicate should not have such Plenty of Wheat the Arch Bishop denying these words to be within the Statute of H. 4. concerning Lollards who were the Primitive Protestants and Protomartyrs of England did by his Warrant in writing comprehending the said Cause by Pretext of the said Statute Commit the Body of the said Keysar to the Gaol at Maidstone for that saith he in respect of publishing the said words Dictum Johannem non immerito habemus de Haeresi suspectum by reason whereof the said John Keysar was Imprison'd in Maidstone Gaol and in Prison detained under Custody of the Keeper there untill by his Councel he moved Sir John Markham then Chief-Justice Justice of England and other the Judges of the Kings-Bench to have an Habeas Corpus and thereupon as it ought a Habeas Corpus was granted upon which Writ the Gaoler Returned the Cause and Special Matter and withal according to the Writ had his Body there The Court upon mature Consideration and on Conference with Divines Resolved That upon the said words Keysar was not to be Suspect of Heresie within the said Statute as the Arch-Bishop took it and therefore the Court first Bailed him and after he was deliver'd for that the said Arch-Bishop had no Power by virtue of the said Act to Commit to Prison John Keysar hereby proved the Arch-Bishop to be no Incantor Messium but he thereby proved though he was no Witch yet he was a Cheat. Prohibition to cast out the Devil by Fasting and Prayer In the Book of Canons newly Printed 1673. the Canon 72. contains these words No Minister or Ministers shall without the Licence and Direction of the Bishop of the Diocess first had and obtained under his Hand and Seal attempt upon any pretence whatsoever either of Possession or Obsession by Fasting and Prayer to cast out any Devil or Devils under pain of Imputation of Imposture or Cozenage and Deposition from the Ministery The Bishops in prohibiting to cast out the Devil without their Licence imitate something the Popish Exorcists part of whose Exorcism is according to Mengus Flagell Daemon p. 36. The Exorcist ties a Stole about the Neck of the Party with three knots saying Oh ye Abominable and Rebellious Spirits I Adjure Conjure and Compell you wheresoever you have your Residence in this man by the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost that ye immediately understand the words of my Conjuration and the virtue of it and that ye dare not depart from the Creature of God and Image of Christ without my Licence This is not only Anti-Protestant and the way to bring in all the Popish Magick and Exorcisms into the Church but is Anti-Christian for Christ himself affirms There is no holier or higher way of casting out the Devil than by Fasting and Prayer as appears Matth. 17.14 And when they were come to the multitude there came to him a certain man kneeling down to him and saying Lord have mercy on my Son for he is Lunatick and sore vexed for oft-times he falleth into the fire and oft into the water And I brought him to thy Disciples and they could not cure him And verse 18. And Jesus rebuked the Devil and he departed out of him and the Child was cured from that very hour Then came the Disciples to Jesus apart and said Why could not we cast him out And Jesus said unto them Because of your Vnbelief for verily I say unto you if ye have Faith as a grain of Mustard-seed ye shall say unto this Mountain Remove hence uâ—to yonder place and it shall remove and nothing shall be impossible unto you Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by Prayer and Fasting Christ agian will not suffer the Disciples to prohibit any to cast out the Devil as Mark 9.38 And John answered him saying Master we saw one casting out Devils in thy Name and we forbad him because he followed not us But Jesus said Forbid him not for there is no man that shall