An Advertisement.  
AT the earnest request of some Friends I have been prevailed with to publish this small Treatise, which had been sooner done, had it not been seized in the Press in the Year 1667; by which the Reader will easily see what a prospect the Author then had of the Miseries we now groan under, and with what Zeal he then earnestly laboured to open the eyes of Englishmen, against the cursed Plots and Contrivances of the bloodthirsty Papists.  
M. D. June 18. 1681.   

THE INCREASE OF Popery in England, Since the Reformation made by King Henry VIII.  
SHOWING The great encouragement that Priests, Jesuits, and other Promoter. of that bloody Religion have had from Persons of Power and Authority. The Discouragements and notorious Hardships, even to Silencing, and Banishment from Cities and Corporations, that have been the portion of many able and faithful Protestant Ministers, that have eminently opposed it. With an Essay towards what may possibly befall the Churches of Christ from the Hellish Contrivances and Damnable Plots of Romish Emissaries.  
With a faithful Extract out of the most Authentic Records of the most memorable things referring to the Reformation, viz. King Henry VIII. his Reasons given in his Proclamation for taking away the Popes Usurped Power. His Protestation against the Pope. His Injunctions to his Clergy. Bishop St phen Gardener's Oath or Protestation, and his Reasons against the Pope's Supremacy in England. And the public Agreement of the whole Clergy of England, as confirmed and ratified in the Book called The Bishop's Book, published in the Year 1534.  
Intended to be published in the Year 1667, but seized at the Press by R.L.S. and others.  
By the late Reverend William Dell, sometime Rector of Yelden in Bedfordshire.  
LONDON, Printed for Richard Janeway, 1681.   

THE PREFACE.  
FOrasmuch as the great and sudden growth of Popery in these three Nations, especially in England, (which hath now for a long time, through the Merciful Goodness of God, flourished and been happy in the True Reformed Protestant Religion) is now sufficiently manifest to all who have not either blinded their own Eyes, or been blinded by Satan. And forasmuch as the means whereby this great Misery and Mystery of Iniquity hath been brought thus far, to this dreadful and unhappy success, are also as fully manifest, to wit:  
First, The great Countenance and Encouragement that this Heretical and Bloody Religion hath had from Persons of Power and Authority, together with all the detestable Professors and Promoters thereof, Papists, Priests and Jesuits, who have their daily Councils and Cabals, in the Highest Places, to promote this great Design of the Devil, and of his Firstborn on Earth the Pope, even to set up the old Damnable Superstition and Doctrine of that Man of Sin, whom the Weekly Pamphleteer terms (very devoutly) His Holiness, and yet is no other indeed and truth, than His Wickedness; the Old Enemy of Christ and his true Christians and Followers, the Son of Perdition; the Angel of the Bottomless Pit; the Destroyer and Murderer of Souls and Bodies; the impudent Agent of Hell upon Earth; the Devils chief Servant and Factor for his Kingdom of Darkness; the Monster of Monsters, who hath abused, abased and vassalized all Christian Princes, made himself superior to them, yea their very Lord and Master even in their own Dominions; who hath enforced all their People, not only by his frivolous Excommunications, but also by Fire and Faggot, by Imprisonments, Tortures and all manner of exquisite Cruelties: (which are the only Weapons of his Warfare) to bow down to this Beast, and to own him as God, sitting in the Temple of God, not only directly against God, but most Proudly and Insolently above him: Who hath peeled and polled them of all their Money and Riches (which is the only Fish this great Fisher of Rome fishes for) who hath disturbed, interdicted, disordered, wasted and overturned whole Empires, Kingdoms and Nations, at his Wicked Pleasure, and hath been no other through all Ages than Satan's eminent Vicegerent upon Earth. This, this prodigious and unparalleled Wretch, must now in the midst of three Protestant Nations, be publicly styled His Holiness forsooth! who only is holy as Satan is holy; for it may truly be said of him, above any other, He is of his Father the Devil, and of his works he doth. I say the countenancing of this Damnable Religion, and of this abominable Sect, and of the chief H add of it, the Pope, is one great cause of the new Increase of this Catholic Her●si● amongst us.  
Secondly, Another cause is, The open and notorious discountenancing, discouraging, silencing, displacing and banishing from the Chief Cities, and Towns in England, all the ab e, faithful, and godly Ministers of Jesus Christ. Who being the diligent, painful and sincere Teachers of his true Doctrine, set forth in his Gospel for the salvation of Souls, and for the reducing the lost Sheep to the fold of the true Shepherd, were the greatest and strongest Bulwark against Popery in the Nation. For His Wickedness, i. e. the Pope and his Wicked Followers, knew well enough that Popery could never t●ke root again and prosper in these Nations, if these men's Mouths were open. They knew well enough that their dark Doctrine and Kingdom could never prevail, where the clear light of the Gospel shines. And therefore they used their chief Artifices and Satanical Subtleties, to seduce the Secular Authority to run on their Errand, and to do their Drudgery; even to Suppress, Imprison and Banish These, upon slight and forged Pretences, and in their stead to foist in a number of ignorant, unlearned, lose, worldly, profane and debauched Priests, in every City, Town and Parish; Men generally, who neither understand the Law nor the Gospel, neither know God nor Themselves, nor are endued with any sound and serious knowledge of any thing; that so these keeping away the Light of the Knowledge of the Truth from the people, they (poor Souls) might walk in darkn ss, and not know whither they go, though they should be led into Popery again, which is the Open, Broad Way to Hell.  
Thirdly, Another Cause is, The letting lose the reins to all mann●r of Ungodliness and Unrighteousn ss whatsoever, that Men, not only without control, but with countenance, may be as wicked as they can be in the World; may Whore, commit Adultery, Revel, Drink, Swear, Blaspheme, Reproach the Holy Word of God, Vilify his Ministers, Abuse and Persecute his People, in the greatest freedom the Devil can give; whereby Hell is let lose upon Earth, and the Smoke of the Bottomless Pit, that is, Sin and Wickedness of all Sorts and Sizes, hath filled and darkened the Nation; and Men are gone to the highest extent of Wickedness that can be practised on Earth; that if they would be worse, they must go to Hell in Hell. And that which hath had a Stretchedout Arm to bring about this Kingdom of the Devil amongst Men, is, the frequent acting and frequenting of Stage-Plays, wherein the most Holy and Dreadful Name of God is prostituted to the Abuse and Contempt of every base Villain; where the Preaching of the Word and Prayer, the Highest and most Sacred Ordinances of God, are scorned and jeered in the presence of great Persons, where all Vice, and Wickedness, and Filthiness are made familiar and pleasant to the People. These are the Nurseries of Hell, and the Seed-plots of Damnation, whereby most of our greatest Persons, and of the Gentry are corrupted, and rendered wholly useless for any worthy or noble employment in the Commonwealth: they being through their influence become brutish, and without understanding, worse than the Beasts that perish, and viler than the Earth. For the Pope knows, that as Christ gathers his Kingdom here in the world, of the Elect and Faithful; so his Wickedness must gather his Kingdom out of th●m that perish, who have made shipwreck of Faith and good Conscience, and are throughly practised to commit all inquity with greediness. And now when Men are brought to this sad pass, that they are of no Religion at all, but are very Atheists, so that they can mock at the Name of God, and at his Holy Word, and most Blessed Spirit, then are they become sit Subjects to receive Antichrists Religion, which can please them with Organs and Anthems, and with Vain-Shews, Ceremonies and May-Games, and thereby can stifle their unquiet Consciences: and He by his false Pardons and Indulgences, can yet drive them more headlong into Sin; bearing them in hand in the mean time, that though his favour, (which also is to be procured by Money) though they commit all these abominations, they are notwithstanding in a fair way to Heaven.  
By which Catholic Cheat of his, he destroys innumerable Souls of those whom God in his just Judgement, because they received not the Truth of the Gospel in the love of it, hath given up to his strong delusions, to believe his Lies.  
By these Three Means, besides others, things are brought to that pass, that Popery is become the only safe and thriving way; and thousands of People whose Names are not Written in the Book of Life, seeing safety, favour and preferments attend it, run headlong to it, and greedily take Antichrists Mark in their Forehead and in their right hand, for the sake of present security and profit, not considering their latter end. Yea, they are become so thorough and hearty in this their new Undertaking for the Catholic Cause, that through the help they have received by Money and Arms, together with their strong Encouragements from Rome, (which is the chief Wheel in this Motion) they are now ready at a Day and an Hour, when the Watchword shall be given, (that I may use their own word of Mystery) To begin their Heats, that is, to rise up and destroy all that are, or are called Protestants, of what Degree, Condition, or Sex soever, by Fire and Sword, and other Methods of Destruction; and not to leave any of their Persons, or so much as their Names, if it may be, to survive in this Nation. This is like to be their first attempt, and had been put in Execution before this, if the Lord himself, whose Eyes behold the Nations, had not most graciously disappointed them. And their second Design, which stands behind the Curtain, is like the first, to wit, if that succeed, than afterwards to destroy all the English Blood, against which they have the greatest Antipathy, and to plant this Land with French and other Foreigners, that so they may throughly restore it to its former Popish Splendour, to the great Satisfaction of all Popish Christendom:  
Wherefore (if it be possible) and if it be the good Pleasure of the Lord to put a Stop, (and Oh that it might be a full Point and Period!) to these Bold Intrusions of Popery, and to all the Cruel Designs in the Breast of it; it was thought meet for the common utility of all Protestants and Englishmen, to represent afresh unto them the Memorable Acts of Henry the VIII. King of England, for the extirpating the Pope and his Cursed Religion, out of his Dominion. And what He saw so great cause to reject and cast out as Abominable and Intolerable, upon such unanswerable grounds as He expresseth; sure no man that is in his right Wits, and of a sound Judgement, hath any just ground to endeavour to bring in again. And this thou thyself, whoever thou art, that art either in the right Faith of a Christian, or in the right Wits of a Man, wilt judge, if thou shalt wisely and impartially r●ad, and observe what followeth.   

King Henry VIII. his Proclamation for the Abolishing the Usurped Power of the Pope; as it is recorded in Fox his Book of Martyrs, Fol. 335. Vol. 2.  
TRusty and Wellbeloved, We greet you well. 
The King's Proclamation against the Pope.  And whereas not only upon good, and just, and virtuous grounds and respects, edified upon the Laws of holy Scripture, die due consultation, deliberation, advisement, and consent, as well of all other our Nobles and Commons Temporal, as also Spiritual, assembled in our high Court of Parliament, and by Authority of the same, we have by good and wholesome Laws and Statutes made for this purpose, extirped, abolished, separated, and secluded out of this our Realm, the Abuses of the Bishop of Rome, his Authority and jurisdiction of long time usurped, as well upon us and our Realm, as upon all other Kings and Princes and their Realms, (like as they themselves have confessed and affirmed;) but also for as much as our said Nobles and Commons, both Spiritual and Temporal, assembled in our high Court of Parliament, have upon good, lawful, and virtuous grounds, and for the public weal of this our Realm, by one whole Assent granted, annexed, knit, and united to the Crown Imperial of the same, the Title, Dignity, 
The Style of Supreme Head annexed to the Crown of England.  and Style of Supreme Head or Governor in earth, immediately under God, of the Church of England, as we be and undoubtedly have hitherto been. Which Title and Style both the Bishops and Elergy of this our Realm have not only in Convocation assembled, consented, recognized, and approved lawfully and justly to appertain unto us, but also by Word, Oath, Profession, and Writing under their Signs and Seals, have confessed, ratified, corroborated, and confirmed the same, utterly renouncing all other Oaths and Obedience to any other foreign Potentates, and all foreign jurisdictions and Powers, as well of the said Bishop of Rome, as of all other whatsoever they be, as by their said Professions and Writings corroborated with the Subscription of their Names, and Appension of their Seals more plainly appeareth. We let you to wit, that calling to our remembrance the Power, Charge, and Commission given unto us of Almighty God, and upon a vehment love and affection toward our loving and faithful Subjects, perceiving right well what great rest, quietness, and tranquillity of Conscience, and manifold other commodities might insurge and arise unto them, if that the said Bishops and other of the Clergy of this our Realm should set forth, declare, and preach to them the true and sincere Word of God, and without all manner colour, dissimulation, and hypocrisy, manifest and publish the great and innumerable Enormities and Abuses which the said Bishop of Rome, as well in the Title and Style, as also in Authority and jurisdiction, of long time unlawfully and unjustly hath usurped upon us and our Progenitors, and also other Christian Princes; have therefore addressed our Letters unto the Bishop of the Diocefe, straight charging and commanding him in the same, that not only he in his own proper person shall declare, teach, and preach unto the People, forthwith upon the receipt of our said Letters unto him directed, every Sunday and other high Feasts through the year, the true, mere, and sincere Word of God; and that the same Title, Style, and jurisdiction of Supreme Head appertaineth only to our Crown and Dignity Royal. Likewise as the said Bishop, and all other the Bishops of our Realm, have by Oath affirmed, and confirmed by Subscription of their Names, and setting to their Seals, but also give warning, monition, and charge, to all manner Abbats, Priors, Deans, Archdeacon's, Provosts, Parsons, Vicars, Curates, and all other Ecclesiastical Persons within his said Diocese, as well to teach, preach, publish, and declare, in all manner Churches our aforesaid just Title, Style, and jurisdiction, every Sunday and high Feast through the year, and further to monish and command all other Schoolmasters within his said Diocese, to instruct and teach the same unto the Children committed unto them; as also to cause allmanner Prayers, Orisons, Rubrics, Canons of Mass-books, and all other Books in the Churches, wherein the said Bishop of Rome is named, or his presumptuous and proud Pomp and Authority preferred, utterly to be abolished, eradicate, and razed out, and his Name and Memory to be never more (except to his contumely and reproach) remembered, 
The Pope's Name and Memory abolished.  but perpetually suppressed and obscured. And finally to desist and leave out all such Articles as be in the general Sentence, which is usually accustomed to be read, four times in the year, and do tend to the glory and advancement of the Bishop of Rome, his Name, Title and jurisdiction.  
Whereupon we esteeming and reputing you to be of such singular and vehment zeal and affection toward the glory of Almighty God, and of so faithful, loving, and obedient heart towards us, as you will not only do and accomplish with all power, wisdom, diligence, and labour, whatsoever should or might be to the preferment and setting forward of God's Word, but also practise, study, and endeavour yourself, with all your policy, wit, power, and good will, to amplify, defend, and maintain all such Interest, Right, Title, Style, jurisdiction, and Authority, as is in any wise appertaining unto us, our Dignity, and Prerogative, and Crown Imperial of this our Realm; have thought good and expedient not only to signify unto you by these our Letters the particularities of the Charge, Monition, and Commandment given by us unto the said Bishop, as before is specified, but also to require and straight charge and command you, upon pain of your Allegiance, and as you shall avoid our high Indignation and Displeasure at your utmost peril, laying apart all vain affections, respects, or other carnal considerations, and setting only before your eyes the mirror of truth, the glory of God, the dignity of your Sovereign Lord and King, and the great concord and unity, and inestimable profit and utility, that sha●l by the due execution of the premises ensue to yourself, and all other faithful and loving Subjects, ye make or cause to be made diligent search and wait, and especially in every place of your Shirewick, whether the said Bishop do truly and sincerely, and without all manner cloak, colour, or dissimulation, execute, and accomplish our will and commandment, as is aforesaid. And in case ye shall hear, perceive, and approvably understand and know, that the said Bishop, or any other Ecclesiastical Person within his Diocese, do omit and leave undone any part or parcel of the premises, or else in the execution and setting forth of the same, do coldly and feignedly use any manner sinister addition, wrong interpretation, or painted colour; then we straight charge and command you, that forthwith upon any such default, negligence, or dissimulation of the said Bishop, or any other Ecclesiastical Person of his Diocese, contrary to the true tenor, meaning, and effect of the said Charge by us to him appointed aforesaid, ye do make indelayedly, and with all speed and diligence, declaration, and advertisement, to us and our Council, of the said default, and of the behaviour, manner, and fashion of the same.  
And forasmuch as we upon singular trust and assured confidence which we have in you, and for the special love and zeal we suppose and think ye bear toward us and the public and common Wealth, Unity, and Tranquillity of this our Realm, have specially elected and chosen you among so many for this purpose, and have reputed you such men, as unto whose wisdom, discretion, truth, and fidelity, we might commit a matter of such great weight, moment, and importance, as whereupon the Unity and Tranquillity of our Realm doth consist. If ye should contrary to our expectation and trust which we have in you, and against your duty and Allegiance towards us, neglect or omit to do with all your diligence and wisdom, whatsoever shall be in your power, for the due performance of our mind and pleasure to you before declared in this behalf, or halt or stumble at any part or specialty of the same; be ye assured that we like a Prince of justice will so extremely punish you for the same, that all the World besides shall take by you example and beware, contrary to their Aliegeance, to disobey the lawful Commandment of their Sovereign Lord and Prince in such things, as by the faithful execution whereof, ye shall not only advance the Honour of Almighty God, and set forth the Majesty and Imperial Dignity of your Sovereign Lord, but also bring an inestimable weal, profit, and commodity, unity and tranquillity to all the common State of this our Realm, whereunto both by the Laws of God, Nature, and Man, ye be utterly bound.  
Given under our Signet at our Palace of Westminster, the 9 day of June.  
Furthermore, that no man shall cavil or surmise this fatal fall and ruin of the Pope to have come rashly upon the Kings own partial affection, or by any sensual temerity of a few, and not by the grave and advised judgement, Approbation, and Consent, generally and publicly, as well of the Nobles and Commons Temporal, as also upon substantial grounds, and the very strength of truth by the discussion and consultation of the Spiritual and most Learned Persons in this Realm. It shall be requisite moreover to these premises, to adjoin the words and testimonies also of the Bishops own oaths and profession made to the King, yielding and rendering unto him only the Style of Supreme Head next under Christ of the Church of England; all other Service, Subjection, and Obedience to be given to any other foreign Potentate, which should be prejudicial to the King's Highness in this behalf being excluded, and that both frankly and freely of their own voluntary motion, and also upon the faith and fidelity of their Priesthood, as by their own words and handwriting may appear, in form as hereunder followeth.   

The Oath of Stephen Gardener Bishop of Winchester, made to King Henry VIII.  

EGO Stephanus Wintoniensis Episcopus, pure, sponte, 
The Oath of Stephen Gardener to the King.  & absolute, in verbo Pontificio, profiteor ac spondeo illustrissimae vestrae Regiae Majestati, singulari ac summo Domino meo & Patrono, Henrico Dei gratia Angliae & Franciae Regi, Fidei Defensori, Domino Hiberniae, atque in terris Ecclesiae Anglicanae Supremo immediate sub Christo Capiti, quod posthac nulli externo Imperatori, Regi, Principi, aut Praelato, nec Romano Pontifiei (quem Papam vocant) fidelitatem & obedientiam, etc.   

Translated into English thus.  
I Stephen Bishop of Winchester, do purely of mine own voluntary accord, and absolutely in the word of a Bishop, profess and promise to your Princely Majesty, my singular and chief Lord and Patron, Henry the Eighth, by the grace of God King of England and of France, Defender of the Faith, Lord of Ireland, and in earth of the Church of England Supreme Head immediately under Christ; That from this day forward I shall swear, promise, give, or cause to be given, to no foreign Potentate, Emperor, King, Prince, or Prelate, nor yet to the Bishop of Rome, whom they call Pope, any Oath or Fealty directly or indirectly, either by word or writing; but at all times, and in every case and condition, I shall observe, hold, and maintain, to all effects and intents, the quarrel and cause of your Royal Majesty and your Successors, and to the uttermost of my power shall defend the same against all manner of persons, whomsoever I shall know or suspect to be Adversaries to your Majesty, or to your Successors; and shall give my faith, truth, and obedience, sincerely and with my very heart, only to your Royal Majesty as to my Supreme Prince. I profess the Papacy of Rome not to be ordained of God by holy Scripture, 
Stephen Gardener abrenounceth the Pope.  but constantly do affirm and openly declare, and shall declare it, to be set up only by Man, and shall cause diligently other men likewise to publish the same. Neither shall I enter any Treaty with any person or persons, either privily or apertly, or shall consent thereto, that the Bishop of Rome shall have or exercise here any Authority or jurisdiction, or is to be restored to any jurisdiction hereafter.  
Furthermore, that the said Bishop of Rome now being, or any that shall succeed him hereafter in the said See, is not to be called Pope, nor Supreme Bishop, or Universal Bishop, nor most holy Lord, but only ought to be called Bishop of Rome, and Fellow Brother, (as the old manner of the most ancient Bishops hath been.) This I shall to my power openly maintain and defend.  
And I shall firmly observe, and cause to be observed of other, to the uttermost of my cunning, wit, and power, all such Laws and Acts of this Realm, how and whatsoever, as have been enacted and established for the extirpation and suppression of the Papacy, and of the Authority and jurisdiction of the said Bishop of Rome. Neither shall I appeal hereafter to the said Bishop of Rome, nor ever consent to any person that shall appeal to him; neither shall I attempt, prosecute, or follow any Suit in the Court of Rome, for any cause of right or justice to be had, or shall make answer to any Plea or Action, nor shall take upon me the person and office either of the Plaintiff or Defendant in the said Court. And if the said Bishop by his Messenger, or by his Letters, shall make any means or signification unto me, of any matter whatsoever it be, I shall with all speed and diligence make declaration and advertisement thereof, or cause the same to be signified either to your Princely Majesty, or to some of your secret Council, or to your Successors, or any of their privy Council. Neither shall I send or cause to be sent at any time any writing or messenger to the said Bishop or to his Court, without the knowledge or consent of your Majesty or your Successors, willing me to send writing or messenger unto him. Neither shall I procure or give counsel to any person to procure Bulls, Briefs, or Rescripts whatsoever, either for me or for any other, from the said Bishop of Rome or his Court. And if any such shall be procured against my will and knowledge, either in general or in special, or else howsoever they shall be granted unto them, I shall utter and disclose the same, and not consent thereunto, nor use them in any case, and shall cause them to be brought to your Majesty or your Successors.  
Furthermore, for the confirmation hereof I give my faith and truth by firm promise, and in the faith of a Bishop, that against this my foresaid Profession and Promise made I shall defend myself by no Dispensation, Exception, nor any remedy or cautel of Law or Example, during this my natural life. And if heretofore I have done or made any Protestation in prejudice of this my Profession and Promise here made, the same I do revoke at this present, and for ever hereafter, and here utterly do renounce by these presents. Whereunto I have subscribed and underwritten the name both of myself and of my Bishopric with my proper hand, and thereto also have put to my Seal, in perpetual and undoubted testimony of the premises.  
Given the tenth day of February, Anno 1534, and of our Sovereign Lord King Henry the eight twenty six. Stephanus Wintoniensis.    

The same Bishop of Winchester's Reasons against the Pope's Supremacy.  
MOreover the said Gardener in the forenamed Book De vera Obedientia, what Constancy he pretendeth, 
Steph. Wint. a Lutheran in his Book De vera obedientia.  what Arguments he inferreth, how earnestly and pithily he disputeth on the King's side against the Usurped State of the Bishop of Rome's Authority, by the words of his Book it may appear; whereof a brief Collection here followeth.  
IN the process of his foresaid Book, 
The Sword of the Church how far it extendeth.  he alleging the old distinction of the Papists, wherein they give to the Prince the Regiment of things Temporal, and to the Church of things Spiritual; comparing the one to the greater Light, the other to the lesser Light, he confuteth and derideth the same distinction, declaring the Sword of the Church to extend no further, than to Teaching and Excommunication, and referreth all pre-eminence to the Sword of the Prince; alleging for this the second Psalm, And now you Kings be wise, 
Psal 2.  and be learned ye that judge the earth, etc.  
Also the example of Solomon, who being a King, 
2 Par. 28.  according to his Father's appointment ordained the Offices of the Priests in their Ministeries, and Levites in their Order, 
Exod. 32.  that they might give thanks and minister before the Priests, after the order of every day, and Porters in their divisions gate by gate.  
And speaking more of the said Solomon he saith, 
1 Reg. 22.  For so commanded the Man of God, neither did the Priests nor Levites omit any thing of all that he had commanded, etc.  
Besides this, he allegeth also the example of King Ezechias, 2 Paralyp. 28. He allegeth moreover the example and fact of Justinian, which made Laws touching the Faith, Bishops, Clerks, Heretics, and such other.  
Aaron (saith he) obeyed Moses, Solomon gave sentence upon Abiathar the High Priest.  

1 Macch. 10. 1 Macch. 14.  Alexander the King (in the first of Macchabees) writeth thus to Jonathas, Now have we made thee this day the High Priest of thy people, etc. So did Demetrius to Simon.  
Then coming to the words of Christ spoken to Peter, Matthew 16. 
Matth. 16.  upon which words the Pope pretendeth to build all his Authority, to this he answereth, That if Christ by those words had limited to Peter any such special state or pre-eminence above all Princes, than were it not true that is written, Coepit Jesus docere & facere; forasmuch as the words of Christ should then be contrary to his own facts and example, who in all his life never usurped either in himself any such domination above Princes, showing himself rather subject unto Princes; nor yet did ever permit to his Apostles any such example of ambition to be seen, but rather rebuked them for seeking any manner of Majority amongst them.  

The King's Style and Title approved by Steph. Wint.  And where he reasoneth of the King's Style and Title, being called the King of England and of France, Defender of the Faith, Lord of Ireland, and Supreme Head in earth of the Church of England immediately under Christ, etc. thus he addeth his mind and censure, saying, That he seethe no cause in this Title why any man should be offended, that the King is called the Head of the Church of England, rather than of the Realm of England; and addeth his reason thereunto, saying, If the Prince and King of England be the Head of his Kingdom, that is, of all Englishmen that be his Subjects, is there any cause why the same English Subjects should not be subject to the same Head likewise, in this respect because they are Christians, that is to say, for the title of Godliness, as though that God, which is the cause of all Obedience, should now be the cause of Rebellion?  
At length thus he concludeth with an Exclamation saying, To say (saith he) that a King is the Head of a Kingdom, and not of the Church, what an absurd and a foolish saying is this?  

The King is as well the Head of the Church as of his Kingdom.  And further, adding for example the subjection of the Servant and Wife. If the Servant (saith he) be subject to his Master, or Wife to her Husband, being Infidels, doth their Conversion afterward, or name of Christians, make them less Subjects than they were before? As Religion therefore doth not alter the Authority of the Master over the Servant, nor of the Husband over the Wife; no more (saith he) doth it between the Prince and Subjects.  
Paul making no exception nor distinction of Subjection, save only of that which belongeth to God, willeth all men to obey their Princes; and what Princes? Those Princes which bear the sword. And although we are bound by the Scripture to obey our Bishops and Spiritual Pastors of the Church, yet that obedience diminisheth nothing the chief and head Authority that ought to be given to the Prince, no more than the obedience of the Servant to his Master, or of the Wife to her Husband, exempteth them from Subjection due to their Superior Powers.  
And herewithal he inferreth a principle of the Law; 
A Rule of the Law.  Divers jurisdictions (saith he) proceeding from one person do not marry nor hinder themselves, but rather do confirm and fortify one another.  
Again, whereas the Bishop of Rome under the name of Peter doth appropriate to himself the highest place in the Church, for that he is the Successor of Peter. Thereunto he answereth in one word, but in that one word he answereth enough and to the full; I would (saith he) he were, 
Wenchesters' with that the Pope were Peter's Successor.  for so in very deed he might well exceed and pass all Kings and Princes▪ if not in preeminency of Dignity, yet in admiration and excellency of Virtue; in which kind of superiority the Lord Christ would his Apostles and Ministers to go before all Kings and Emperors in the whole world.  
After this, in prosecuting the Argument of Peter's Confession, he argueth thus and saith; 
Argument: The Prerogative was given to him which confessed. Flesh and Blood in Peter did not confess Christ. Ergo the Prerogative was not given to the Flesh and Blood of Pet●r.  that as flesh and blood did not reveal to Peter that Confession, so neither was that Prerogative given to the flesh and blood of Peter, but to the better part, that is, to the spirit of Peter, which is to mean, in respect of the spiritual Confession of Peter, and not in respect of any carnal place or person, etc.  
Item, If the Scholar ought not to be above the Master, how then could either Peter take that upon him, which Christ his Master so constantly did refuse? Or how can the Bishop of Rome now claim that by Succession, whereof no example is to be found either in the Head, or his Predecessor before him? For so we read in Eusebius, both of Peter, James, and John, that they did arrogate no such Primacy unto them, but were content that James surnamed Justus should be the Bishop of the Apostles.  
And as for the name and signification of the word Primatus, i. Primacy, 
Pr●matus or Primacy what it signifieth.  if it be taken for the first nomination, or the first place given, so he granteth that Peter had the preferment of the first name and place in the order of the Apostles; but it followeth not, that with this Primacy he had also a Kingdom given. 
He saith, Confirm thy Brethren, but not thy Subjects.  And though he were bid of the Lord to confirm his Brethren, yet was he not bid to exercise an Empery upon his Brethren, for so were they not his Brethren but his Subjects.  

Primus Primatus, i. Primacy meaneth as much as the first standing in Vocation, and is the name of Virtue and not of Power.  That Peter was Primus, that is, first or chief in the number of them which confessed Christ, it is not to be denied; for first he confessed, first he taught the jews, first he stood in defence of the Verity, and was the first and chief Prolocutor among them; but yet that maketh not that he should therefore vindicate a general Primacy and Rule over all other States and Potentates of the world, no more than Apelles, because he is noted the first and chief of all Painters, therefore aught to bear rule over all Painters; or because the University of Paris is nominate for the first and chief of other Universities, shall therefore the French King and all other Princes, in their public Administration wherein they are set of God, become Subjects and Underlings to that University?  
Thus after many other reasons and persuasions contained in the said Book De obedientia, (for I do but superficially skim over the top only of his Probations and Arguments) finally in the end of his Peroration he concludeth the whole sum of his mind in this effect; first denying that the Bishop of Rome had ever any such extern jurisdiction assigned to him absolutely from God, to reign over Kings and Princes; for the probation whereof he hath alleged sufficiently (as he saith) the examples and do of Christ himself, which ought to be to us all a sufficient Document.  
And as concerning the term of Primacy, albeit it be used sometimes of the Fathers, yet the matter being well considered and rightly expounded, maketh nothing for the large Dominion of the Bishop of Rome, which now he doth usurp.  
Also as for the Prerogatives granted unto Peter, by the which Prerogatives our Saviour would crown his own Gifts given unto him, crowning not the flesh and blood of Peter, but the marvellous testimony of his Confession, all this maketh nothing for the Pope's purpose.  
Likewise as concerning the Local Succession of Peter, 
Succession of Peter.  the Pope hath nothing thereby to claim. If he will be Successor of Peter, he must succeed him in Faith, Doctrine, and Conditions; and in so doing he neither will, neither yet shall need to seek for Honour, but shall be honoured of all good men, according as a good man should be, and that much more than he being a good man would require.  

Steph. Wint. takes his Vale of the Pope, but not his Vltimum Valerius  And thus Stephen Winchester taking his leave, and bidding the Pope farewell, endeth with a friendly Exhortation, willing him to be wise and circumspect, and not to strive stubbornly against the truth. The light of the Gospel (saith he) so spreadeth his beams in all men's eyes, that the works of the Gospel be known, the Mysteries of Christ's Doctrine are opened, both learned and unlearned Men and Women, being English born, do see and perceive that they have nothing to do with Rome, nor with the Bishop of Rome, but that every Prince in his own Dominion is to be taken and accepted as a Vicar of God, and Vicegerent of Christ in his own bounds. And therefore seeing this Order is taken of God, and one in the Church should bear the Office of Teaching, 
The Office of Teaching.  another should bear the Office of Ruling, 
The Office of Ruling.  (which Office is only limited to Princes) he exhorteth him to consider the truth, and to follow the fame, wherein consisteth our true and special Obedience, etc.   

A Letter of the University of Cambridge against the Usurped Power of the Bishop of Rome.  

UNiversis Sanctae Matris Ecclesiae filiis, ad quos praesentes Literae perventurae sunt, coetus omnis regentium & non regentium Academiae Cantabrigiensis, salutem, in omnium salvatore Jesu Christo.  
Cum de Romani Pontificis potestate, etc.   

Translated into English thus.  
TO all and singular Children of the holy Mother Church, to whose hands these presents shall come, 
A Letter of the University of Cambridge.  the whole Society of Regent's and not Regent's of the University of Cambridge, sendeth greeting in our Saviour jesus Christ.  
Whereas now of late it hath risen up in question among us concerning the Power of the Bishop of Rome, which he doth both claim to himself by the holy Scripture, over all Provinces and Nations in Christendom, and hath now of long time exercised in this Realm of England: And forasmuch as our Censure concerning the cause is required, to wit, Whether the Bishop of Rome hath any Power or Authority in this Kingdom of England allotted to him by God in the Scripture, more than any other foreign Bishop, or no? We thought it therefore good reason, and our duty for the searching out of the verity of the said Question, that we should employ therein our whole endeavour and study, whereby we might tender and publish to the world what our reason and censure is touching the premises. For therefore we suppose that Universities were first provided and instituted of Princes, to the end that doth the people of Christ might in the Law of God be instructed, and also that false Errors (if any did rise) might through the vigilant care and industry of learned Divines be discussed, extinguished and utterly rooted out. For the which cause we in our Assemblies and Convocations (after our accustomed manner) resorting▪ and conferring together upon the Question aforesaid, and studiously debating and deliberating with ourselves, how and by what order we might best proceed for the finding out of the truth of the matter; and at length choosing out certain of the best learned Doctors and Bachelors of Divinity, and other Masters, have committed to them in charge, studiously to insearch and peruse the places of holy Scripture, by the viewing and conferring of which places together, they might certify us what is to be said to the Question propounded.  

The Censure of the University of Cambridge against the Pope's Supremacy.  Forasmuch therefore as we having heard and well advised, and throughly discussed in open Disputations, what may be said on both parts of the foresaid Question, those Reasons and Arguments do appear to us more probable, stronger, truer, and more certain, and sounding much more near to the pure and native sense of Scripture, which do deny the Bishop of Rome to have any such power given him of God in the Scripture. By reason and force of which Arguments we being persuaded, and conjoining together in one Opinion, have with ourselves thus decreed to answer unto the Question aforesaid, and in these writings thus resolutely do answer in the name of the whole University, and for a Conclusion undoubted do affirm, approve, and pronounce, 
The Bishop of Rome hath no more State in England than hath any other Bishop.  That the Bishop of Rome hath no more State, Authority, and jurisdiction given him of God in the Scriptures over this Realm of England, than any other extern Bishop hath. And in testimony and credence of this our Answer and Affirmation, we have caused our common Seal to be put to these our foresaid Letters accordingly.  
At Cambridge in our Regent House, Anno Dom. 1534.    

The public and general Agreement of the whole Clergy of England, confirmed and ratified in their own public Book called The Bishop's Book, Anno 1534. with the Names of the Witnesses.  
WE think it convenient, 
Testimonies out o●●he Bishop's Book against the Pope's Supremacy.  that all Bishops and Preachers shall instruct and teach the People committed unto their spiritual charge, that whereas certain men do imagine and affirm, that Christ should give unto the Bishop of Rome power and authority, not only to be Head and Governor of all Priests and Bishops in Christ's Church, but also to have and occupy the whole Monarchy of the World in his hands, and that he may thereby lawfully depose Kings and Princes from their Realms, Dominions, and Signories, and so transfer and give the same to such persons as him liketh, that is utterly false and untrue; for Christ never gave unto S. Peter, or unto any of the Apostles or their Successors, any such Authority. And the Apostles S. Peter and S. Paul do teach and command, that all Christian People, as well Priests and Bishops, as others, should be obedient and subject unto the Princes and Potentates of the World, although they were Infidels.  
And as for the Bishop of Rome, it was many hundred years after Christ before he could acquire or get any Primacy or Governance above any other Bishops out of his Province in Italy; since the which time he hath ever usurped more and more. And though some part of his power was given to him by the consent of the Emperors, Kings and Princes, and by the consent also of the Clergy in General Councils assembled; yet surely he attained the most part thereof by marvellous subtlety and craft, 
How the Bishop of Rome risen by ambition.  and especially by colluding with great Kings and Princes, sometime training them into his Devotion by pretence and colour of Holiness and Sanctimony, and sometime constraining them by force and tyranny. Whereby the said Bishops of Rome aspired and risen at length unto such greatness in Strength and Authority, that they presumed and took upon them to be Heads, 
Concilium tertium Cartha inense cap. 6.  and to put Laws by their own Authority, not only unto all other Bishops within Christendom, but also unto the Emperors, Kings, and other the Princes and Lords of the world, and that under the pretence of the Authority committed unto them by the Gospel; 

First, the General Council of Nice decreed, that the Patriarches of Alexandria and Antiochia should have like power over the Countries about those Cities, as the Bishops of Rome had over the Countries about Rome.  
In the Council of Milevitan it was decreed, that if a Clerk of afric would appeal out of afric un●o any Bishop beyond the Sea, he should be taken as a person Excommunicate.  
In the General Council of Constantinople the first it was likewise decreed, that every Cause between any persons should be determined within the Provinces where the matters did lie; and that no Bishop should exercise any power out of his own Diocese or Province. And this was also the mind of holy S. Cyprian, and of other holy men of Africa.  
To conclude, therefore the Pope hath no so h Primacy given him, either by the words of Scripture, or by any General Council, or by common consent of the holy Catholic Church.   ●●●rein the said Bishops of Rome do no● nely abuse and pervert the true sense and meaning of Christ's Word, but they do also clean contrary to the use and custom of the Primitive Church, and so do manifestly violate as well the holy Canons made in the Church immediately after the time of the Apostles, as also the Decrees and Constitutions made in that behalf by the holy Fathers of the Catholic Church assembled in the first General Councils. And finally, they do transgress their own profession made in their Creation. For all the Bishops of Rome always, when they be consecrated and made Bishops of that See, do make a solemn profession and vow, that they shall inviolably observe and keep all the Ordinances made in the first eight General Councils; among the which it is specially provided and enacted, that all Causes shall be finished and determined within the Province where the same begun, and that by the Bishops of the same Province, and that no Bishop shall exercise any jurisdiction out of his own Province: 
Gregorius l. 4. Epistolarum indictione 13. Epist 13.  and divers such other Canons were then made and confirmed by the said Councils to repress and take away out of the Church all such Primacy and jurisdiction over Kings and Bishops, as the Bishops of Rome pretend now to have over the same. And we find that divers good Fathers, Bishops of Rome, did greatly reprove, yea and abhor (as a thing clean contrary to the Gospel, and the Decrees of the Church) that any Bishop of Rome, or elsewhere, should presume, usurp, or take upon him the Title and Name of Universal Bishop, or of the Head of all Priests, or of the Highest Priest, or any such like Title. For confirmation whereof it is out of all doubt, that there is no mention made neither in Scripture, nor in the Writings of any authentical Doctor or Author of the Church, being within the time of the Apostles, that Christ did ever make or institute any distinction or difference to be in the pre-eminence of Power, Order, or jurisdiction, between the Apostles themselves, or between the Bishops themselves, but that they were all equal in Power, Order, Authority, and jurisdiction. And that there is now, and since the time of the Apostles, any such diversity or difference among the Bishops, it was devised by the ancient Fathers of the Primitive Church, for the conservation of good order and unity of the Catholic Church, and that either by the consent and authority, or else at the least by the permission and sufferance of the Princes and Civil Powers for the time ruling, etc.  
And shortly after followeth, And for the better confirmation of this part, we think it also convenient that all Bishops and Preachers shall instruct and teach the people committed unto their spiritual charge, that Christ did by express words prohibit, that none of his Apostles, nor any of their Successors, should, under the pretence of the Authority given unto them by Christ, take upon them the Authority of the Sword; that is to say, the Authority of Kings, or of any Civil Power in this world, yea or any Authority to make Laws or Ordinances in causes appertaining unto Civil Powers. Truth it is, the Priests and Bishops may execute all such Temporal Power and jurisdion, as is committed unto them by the Ordinance and Authority of Kings, or other Civil Powers, and by the consent of the people, (as Officers and Ministers under the said Kings and Powers) so long as it shall please the said Kings and People to permit and suffer them so to use and execute the same. Notwithstanding if any Bishop, of what estate or dignity soever he be, be he Bishop of Rome, or of any other City, Province, or Diocese, do presume to take upon him Authority or jurisdiction in causes or matters which appertain unto Kings, and the civil powers and their Courts, and will maintain or think that he may so do by the Authority of Christ and his Gospel, although the Kings and Princes would not permit and suffer him so to do; no doubt that Bishop is not worthy to be called a Bishop, but rather a Tyrant, 
The Bishop os Rone judged to be a Tyrant and Usurper.  and as Usurper of other men's rights contrary to the Law of God, and is worthy to be reputed none otherwise than he that goeth about to subvert the Kingdom of Christ. For the Kingdom of Christ in his Church is a spiritual, and not a carnal Kingdom of the world; that is to say, the very Kingdom that Christ by himself or by his Apostles and Disciples sought here in this world, was to bring all Nations from the carnal Kingdom of the Prince of darkness unto the light of his spiritual Kingdom, and so himself to reign in the hearts of the people by grace, faith, hope, and charity. And therefore ●ith Christ did never seek nor exercise any worldly Kingdom or Dominion in this world, but rather refusing and flying from the same, did leave the said worldly Governance of Kingdoms, Realms, and Nations, to be governed by Princes and Potentates, (in like manner as he did find them) and commanded also his Apostles and Disciples to do the semblable, as it was said before; whatsoever Priest or Bishop will arrogate or presume to take upon him any such Authority, and will pretend the Authority of the Gospel for his defence therein, he doth nothing else but (in a manner as you would say) crowneth Christ again with a Crown of Thorn, and traduceth and bringeth him forth again with his Mantle of Purple upon his back, to be mocked and scorned of the world, as the jews did to their own damnation.  
This Doctrine was subscribed and allowed by the witness and testimony of these Bishops and other Learned Men, whose Names hereunder follow, as appeareth in the Bishop's Book before named.  

TESTES.  

Testimonies of Bishops and Doctors of England against the Pope.  Thomas Cantuariensis  
Edovardus Eboracensis  
Johannes Londonensis  
Cuthbertus Dunelmensis  
Stephanus W●ntonlensis  
Robertus Carliolensis  
Johannes Exoniensis  
Johannes Lincolniensis  
Johannes Bathoniensis  
Rolandus Coventr. & Lichfield.  
Thomas Eliensis  
Nicolaus Sarum  
Johannes Bangor.  
Edovardus Herefordiensis  
Hugo Wigorniensis  
Johannes Roffensis  
Richardus Cicestrensis  
Gulielmus Menevensis  
Robertus Assavensis  
Robertus Landavensis  
Guilielmus Norwicensis  
Richardus Wolman Archidiacon. Sudbur.  
Guilielmus Knight Archidiacon. Richmond.  
Johannes Bell Archidiacon. Gloucester.  
Edmundus Bonner Archidiacon. Leicester.  
Gulielmus Skippe Archidiacon. Dorset.  
Nicolaus Heth Archidiacon. Stafford.  
Cuthbertus' Marshal Archidiacon. Nottingham.  
Richardus Curtain Archidiacon. Oxon.  
Guilielmus Glife  
Galfridus Dounes  
Robertus Oking  
Radulphus Bradford  
Richardus Smith  
Simon Matthew  
Johannes P●in  
Guilielmus Buckmaster  
Guilielmus May  
Nicolaus Wotton  
Richardus Cox  
Johannes Edmund's  
Thomas Robertson  
Johannes Baker  
Thomas Barret  
Johannes Hase  
Johannes Tyson.   
These were Doctors of Divinity and both Laws.   

A Protestation in the name of the King, and the whole Council and Clergy of England, why they refuse to come to the Pope's Council at his call.  
SEeing that the Bishop of Rome calleth Learned Men from all parts, conducting them by great rewards, 
The King's Protestation why he sends not to the Pope's Council.  making as many of them Cardinals as he thinketh most m●et, and most ready to defend Frauds and Untruths; we could not but with much anxiety cast with ourselves, what so great a preparance of Wits should mean. As chance was we guessed even as it followed. We have been so long acquainted with Romish Subtleties and Popish Deceits, 
The Pope's craft espied.  that we well and easily judged the Bishop of Rome to intent an Assembly of his Adherents, and men sworn to think all his Lusts to be Laws; we were not deceived. Paul the Bishop of Rome hath called a Council, to the which he knew well either few or none of the Christian Princes could come; both the time that he indicted it, and also the place where he appointed it to be, might assure him of this. But whither wander not these Popish Bulls? whither wander they not astray? What King is not cited and summoned by a proud Minister and Servant of Kings, to come to bolster up Errors, Frauds, Deceits, and Untruths, and to set forth this feigned General Council? For who will not think that Paul the Bishop of Rome goeth sooner about to make men believe that he pretendeth a General Council, than that he desireth one indeed? No, who can less desire it, than they that do despair of their Cause, except they be judges and give sentence themselves against their Adversaries? 
The King not bound to come at the Popes call▪  We which very sore against our will at any time leave off the procurement of the Realm any common weal, need neither to come ourselves, nor yet to send any Procurators thither, no nor yet to make our Excuse for either of both. For who can accuse us that we come not at his call, which hath no Authority to call us?  
But for a season let us (as a sort of Blindling do) grant that he may call us, and that he hath Authority so to do; yet (we pray you) may not all men see, what availeth it to come to this Council, 
Who be they that have place in the Pope's Council.  where ye shall have no place except y● be known both willing to oppress truth, and also ready t● confirm and establish Errors? Do not all men perceive 〈◊〉 as we, with what integrity, fidelity, and religion, these men go about to discuss matters in controversy, that take them in hand in so troublesome a time as this is? Is it not plain what fruit the Commonweal of Christendom may look for there, 
The place of the Council not indifferent.  whereas Mantua is chosen the place to keep his Council in? Is there any Prince not being of Italy, yea is there any of Italy, Prince or other dissenting from the Pope, that dareth come to this Assembly and to this place? If there come none that dare speak for trodden truth, none that will venture his life, is it marvel if the Bishop of Rome being judge, 
No reason that the Pope should be Judge in his own cause.  no man repining, no man gainsaying, the Defenders of the Papacy obtain that Popish Authority, now quailling and almost fasten, to be set up again.  
Is this the way to help things afflict? to redress troubled Religion? to lift up oppressed truth? Shall men this way know whether the Roman Bishops (which in very deed are, 
The Bishop of Rom in learning and life far under other Bishops.  if ye look upon either their Doctrine or Life, far under other Bishops) ought to be made like their Fellows, that is, to be Pastors in their own Diocese, and so to use no other power; or else whether they may make Laws, not only unto other Bishops, but also to Kings and Emperors? O boldness, meet to be beaten down with force and not not to be convinced with Arguments. Can either Paul that now Lordeth, or any of his, earnestly go about (if they alone, or at the least without any Adversary, be th●● in a corner assembled together) to heal the Sicknesses, to take away the Errors, to pluck down the Abuses that now are crept into the Church, and there be bolstered up by such Councils as now is like to be at Mantua?  

Paul the Pope proleth for his own profit.  Is it very like that these, which prole for nothing but profit, will right gladly pull down all such things as th●●● Forefathers made, only for the increase of Money? Wh●●● as their Forefathers, when their Honour, Power, an●●macy was called into question, would either in despigh●●f God's Law maintain their Dignity, or (to say better) their intolerable Pride? Is it like that these will not tread in their steps, and make naughty new Canons, whereby they may defend old evil Decrees? Howbeit, what need we to care either what they have done, or what they intent to do hereafter, 
England taketh her leave of the Pope for ever.  forasmuch as England hath taken her leave of Popish Crafts for ever, never to be deluded with them hereafter? Roman Bishops have nothing to do with English People; the one doth not traffic with the other, at least though they will have to do with us, yet we will none of their merchandise, none of their stuff, we will receive them of our council no more. 
England refuseth the Pope's Merchandise.  We have sought our hurt, and bought our loss a great while too long. Surely their Decrees, either touching things set up or put down, shall have none other place with us than all Bishop's Decrees have, that is, if we like them we admit them, if we do not we refuse them. But lest peradventure men shall think us to follow our senses too much, and that we moved by small or no just causes, forsake the Authority, Censures, Decrees, and Popish Counsels, we thought it best here to show our mind to the whole world. Wherefore we protest before God and all men, that we embrace, profess, and will ever so do, the right and holy Doctrine of Christ. All the Articles of his Faith, no jot omitted, be all so dear unto us, that we should much sooner stand in jeopardy of our Realm, than to see any point of Christ's Religion in jeopardy with us. 
England goeth not from the unity of Faith although it goeth from the Pope.  We protest that we never went from the unity of his Faith, neither that we will departed an inch from it. No, we will much sooner lose our Lives, than any Article of our Belief shall decay in England. We, which in all this cause seek nothing but the glory of God, the profit and quietness of the World, 
The Faith of England Catholic. England ready to send to any General Council where truth may be advanced.  protest that we can suffer Deceivers no longer. We never refused to come to a General Council; no, we promise all our labour, study, and fidelity, to the setting up of trodden Truth and troubled Religion in their place again, and to do all that shall lie in us to finish such Controversies as have a great while too long vexed Christendom. Only we will all Christian men be admonished, that we can suffer no longer that they be esteemed willing to take away Errors, which indeed by all the ways their Wits will serve them go about this alone, that no man under pain of Death may speak against any Error or Abuse.  
We would have a Council, we desire it, yea and crave nothing so oft of God as that we may have one. But yet we will that it be such as Christian men ought to have, that is, frank and free, where every man without fear may say his mind. We desire that it be an holy Council, 
What a true General Council ought to be.  where every man may go about to set up Godliness, and not apply all their study to oppressing of Truth. We will it be General, that is to say, kept at such time and in such place, that every man which seeketh the glory of God may be present, and there frankly utter his mind. 
Conditions of a true General Council.  For when it shall seem General, either when no man that dissenteth from the Bishop of Rome is compelled to be from it, or when they that be present are not letted by any just terror to say boldly what they truly think; for who would not gladly come to such a Council, except it be the Pope, his Cardinals, and Popish Rishops? On the other side, who is so foolish, whereas the chief point that is to be handled in this Council is the Popes own Cause, Power, and Primacy, to grant that the Pope should reign, should be judge, should be Precedent of the Council? If he which indeed can never think himself able to defend his Cause before any other judge, 
The Pope would be Judge in his own cause.  be evermore made his own judge, and so Controversies not decided, but Errors set up, what can be devised in the Commonwealth of Christendom more hurtful to the truth than General Councils?  

The Pope hath no power to summon Councils.  And here to touch somewhat their impudent Arrogancy; By what Law, Power, or honest Title take they upon them to call Kings, to summon Princes to appear, where their Bulls command them? In time past all Councils were appointed by the Authority, Consent, and Commandment of the Emperor, Kings, and Princes; why now taketh the Bishop of Rome this upon him? Some will say, It is more likely that Bishops will more tender the cause of Religion, gladlier have Errors taken away, than Emperors, Kings, and Princes. The world hath good experience of them, and every man seethe how faithfully they have handled religious matters. Is there any man that doth not see how virtuously Paul now goeth about by this occasion to set up his Tyranny again? 
The Pope how he can watch his time.  Is it not like that he that chooseth such a time as this is to keep a Council, much intendeth the redress of things that now are amiss, that he seeketh the restoring of Religion, that now calleth a Council, the Emperor and the French King, two Princes of great power, so bend to Wars that neither they, nor any other Christian Prince can, in a manner do any thing but look for the end of this long War? Go too, go t o, Bishop of Rome, occasion long wished for offereth herself unto you; take her, she openeth a Window for your Frauds to creep in at: call, your Cardinals, your own Creatures, show them that this is a jolly time to deceive Princes in.  
O Fools! O wicked men! may we not justly so call you? Are ye not Fools, which being long suspected not only of Princes, but of all Christian People in a manner, that in no case you could be brought to a General Council, plainly show the whole world, that by these your Conciliables, your Hutter-mutter in corners, you take away all hope of lawful Catholic and General Council? Are you not wicked which so hate Truth, 
Truth m●y be pressed ●● cannot be oppressed.  that except she be utterly banished ye will never cease to vex her? The living God is alive, neither Truth his Darling (he being alive) can be called to so great shame, contumely, and injury; or if it may be called to all these, yet can it come to none of them. Who is he that grievously lamenteth not men to be of such shameful boldness, 
The Pope Enemy to Christ.  to show apertly that they be Enemies unto Christ himself? On the other side, who will not be glad to see such men as foolish as they be wicked? The World is not now in a light suspicion, as it hath been hitherto, that you intent no reformation of Errors, but every man seethe before his eyes your deceits, your wicked minds, 
The Pope's hatred against the truth.  your immortal hatred that ye bear against the Truth. Every man seethe how many miserable Tragedies your pretence of an Unity and Concord hath brought into Christendom. They see your fair face of Peace hath served Sedition, and troubled almost all Christian Realms. 
The Pope troubler of all Christian Realms.  They see ye never oppugn Religion more, than when ye will seem most to defend it. They be sorry to see that great Wits a long season have spent their whole strength in defence of Deceits, Reason to put his whole power to the promoting of Pride and Ungodliness, Virtues to serve Vices, Holiness to be slave to Hypocrisy, Prudence to Subtlety, justice to Tyranny. They be glad that Scripture now fighteth for itself, and not against itself. They be glad that God is not compelled to be against God, Christ against Christ. They be glad that Subtilty hath done no more hurt to Religion in time past, than now Constancy doth do good to Truth. 
The Pope's marks whereat he shooteth.  They see the Marks that ye have shot at in all your Councils past, to be Lucre, Money, Gains; they see you sought your Profit, yea though it were joined with the Slaughter of Truth. They see ye would ever that sooner injury should be done to the Gospel, than that your Authority, that is to say, arrogant Impudence should in any point be diminished.  
And we pray you, 
The Pope's craft in stealing a General Council.  what may Paul the Bishop of Rome seem now to go about, which seeing all Princes occupied in great affairs, would steal (as he calleth it) a General Council? What other thing, than hereby to have some excuse to refuse a General Council hereafter, when time and place much better for the handling of matters of Religion shall be given unto Princes of Christendom? He will think he may then do as Princes now do; he will think it lawful not to come then, because Princes now come not. We pray God that we ever brawl not one with another in Religion; and whereas Dissension is amongst us, yet for our parts we do say, that we as much as men may, defend the better part, and be in the right way. We pray God that the world may enjoy peace and tranquillity, and that then we may have both time and place to settle Religion. For except first Princes agree, and so (War laid aside) seek peace, he loseth his labour that seeketh a General Council. If the Bishop of Rome may keep his Council while they thus be together, will not there be made many pretty Decrees? If they which would come if they had leisure be absent, and we which (though we safely might come) will not lose any part of our right, trow you in all our absence that the Bishop of Rome will not handle his Profit and Primacy well?  

The time and pl●ce presently picked of the Pope.  Paul, how can any of ours not refuse to come to Mantua, through so many perils, a City so far set from England, so nigh your Friends, Kinsmen, and Adherents? Is he not unworthy of Life, that where he may tarry at home, will pass through so many jeopardies of Life? Can he which cometh to Cremona, a City not far from Mantua, be safe if he be taken not to be the Bishop of Rome's Friend, 
What an Heretic is among the Papists.  that is, (as the common sort of deceived people doth interpret) an Heretic? And if there come to Mantua such a number as would furnish a General Council, may not Mantua seem too little to receive so many Guests? Put these two together, all the way from England to Mantua is full of just perils, and yet if ye escape all those, the very place w●ere the Council is kept is more to be suspected than all the way. Do ye not know all Civil Laws to compel no man to come to any place, where he shall be in jeopardy of his Life all the way? We have no safe conduct to pass and return by the Dominions of other Princes. And if we had a safe conduct, yet should not we be charged with rashness, that where just terror might have dissuaded us from such a journey, 
The way to Mantua long and dangerous.  we committed ourselves to such perils? Surely he that (the time being as it is, things standing as they do) will go from England to Mantua, may be careless if he lack not wit; sure of his arrival or return from thence he cannot be. For who doth not know how oft the Bishops of Rome have played false parts with them that in such matters have trusted to their safe conduct? How oft have they caused by their Perfidy such men to be slain, 
The falsehood of Popes no new thing.  as they have promised by their Faith before, that they should both come safe and go safe? These be no news, Popes to be false, Popes to keep no promise neither with God nor Man; Popes contrary to their oaths, to defile their cruel hands with honest men's blood. But we tarry too long in things that as well touch all men as us.  
We will (these now laid apart) turn our Oration unto such things, as privately touch both us King Henry the Eighth, and all Englishmen. Is it unknown to any man what mind Paul the Bishop of Rome beareth to us King Henry the Eighth, to us his Nobility, to us his Grace's Bishops, and to us all his Grace's Subjects▪ for the pulling down of his usurped Power and proud Primacy, for expelling of his usurped jurisdiction, and for delivering of our Realm from his grievous bondage and pollage? Who seethe not him even inflamed with hatred against us, 
The hatred of the P●pe against England.  and the flames to be much greater than he can now keep them in? He is an open Enemy, he dissembleth no longer, provoking all men by all the means that he can, to endamage us and our Country. These three years he hath been occupied in no one thing so much, as how he might stir up the Commons of England, and corrupting some with Money, some with Dignities. We let pass what Letters he hath written to Christian Princes; with how great fervent study he hath exhorted them to set upon us. The good Vicar of Christ by his doing showeth how he understands the words of Christ; he thinketh he playeth Christ's part well, when he may say as Christ did, Non veni pacem mittere in terram, 
The Pope bringeth not peace but the sword to the earth, otherwise than Christ did.  sed gladium; I come not to make peace in earth, but to send swords about: and not such swords as Christ would his to be armed withal, but such as cruel Manquellers abuse in the slaughter of their Neighbours. We marvel little though they vexed other Princes oft, seeing they recompense our favour showed to them with contumelies, our benefits with injuries.  
We will not rehearse here how many our Benefits bestowed upon Roman Bishops be lost; 
Benefits cast away upon the Pope.  God be with such ungrate Carls, unworthy to be numbered amongst men; Certes such that a man may well doubt whether God or Man hath better cause to hate them. But that we have learned to owe good will even to them that immortally hate us, what could we wish them so evil but they have deserved much worse? We wish them this hurt alone, that God send them a better mind. God be thanked we have made all their seditious intents sooner to show their great malice towards us, than to do us much hurt; yea, they have well taught us evermore to take good heed to our Enemies. Undoubtedly it were good going to Mantua, and to leave their Whelps among the Lambs of our Flock. When we be weary of our Wealth, we will even do then as they would have us now do. No, no, as long as we shall see his heart so good towards us, we trust upon his warning we shall well provide to withstand his cruel malice. No let him now spend his deceits, when they can hurt none but such as would deceive and are deceived.  
They have by sundry ways made us privy how much we be bound to them. It went nigh their hearts to see the judgement of July, of Clement the seventh, of Paul the third, nothing to be regarded with us. They be afraid if we should sustain no hurt, because we justly rejected their Primacy, that other Princes would begin to do likewise, 
The Pope's Curses not feared in England.  and to shake from their shoulders the heavy burdens that they so long have born, against Scripture, all right and reason. They be sorry to see the way stopped, that now their Tyranny, Avarice, and Pride can have no passage into England, which was wont to walk, to triumph, to toss; to trouble all men. They can scarce suffer Privileges, that is to say, Licence to spoil our Citizens, given them by our Forefathers, and brought in by errorfull Custom, to be taken from them. They think it unlawful, that we require things lawful of them that will be under no Laws. They think we do them wrong because we will not suffer them to do us wrong any longer. They see their Merchandise to be banished, 
The Pope's Trumpery dispa●●ned out of England.  to be forbidden; they see that we will buy no longer Chalk for Cheese. They see that they have lost a fair fleece, vengeable sorry that they can dispatch no more Pardons, Dispensations, Totquots, with the rest of their baggage and trumpery. England is no more a Babe; there is no man here but now he knoweth that they do foolishly that give Gold for Lead, 
Gold given for Lead.  more weight of that than they receive of this; they pass not, though Peter and Paul's Faces be graven in the Lead to make Fools fain. No, we be sorry that they should abuse holy Saints Visages to the beguiling of the world.  
Surely, except God take away our right wits, not only his Authority shall be driven out for ever, but his Name also shall be forgotten in England. 
God grant.  We will from henceforth ask counsel from him and his when we list to be deceived, when we covet to be in error, when we desire to offend God, Truth and Honesty. If a man may guests the whole work by the foundation, 
The Pope's foundation to all deceits.  where Deceits beginneth the work, can any other than Deceits be builded upon this foundation? What can you look for in this Mantuan Council, other than the oppression of Truth and true Religion? If there be any thing well done, think as every man doth, Bishops of Rome to be accustomed to do a few things well, that many evil may the better be taken at their hands. 
The Pope doth a few things well, that many evils may the bet ere proceed.  They when they list can yield some part of their right; they are content that some of their Decrees, some of their Errors and Abuses be reprehended, but they are never more to be feared than when they show themselves most gentle. For if they grant a few they ask many, if they leave a little they will be sure of a great deal. Scarce a man may know how to handle himself, that he take no hurt at their hands, yea when they bless him; which seldom do good but for an intent to do evil. Certainly, come who so will to these Shops of Deceits, to these Fairs of Frauds, we will lose no part of our right in coming at his call, 
The Pope ought to be called, and not to call.  that aught to be called and not to call. We will neither come at Mantua, nor send thither for this matter, etc.  
And so the King proceeding in the said his Protestation declareth moreover, how the Pope after he had summoned his Council first to be kept at Mantua, 
The Pope again prodigies his Council.  the three and twentieth day of May, An. 1537, shortly after directed out another Bull to prorogate the same Council to the month of November, pretending for his excuse that the Duke of Mantua would not suffer him to keep any Council there, unless he maintained a number of Warriors for defence of the Town. And therefore in his later Bu●l he prorogueth this Assembly, commanding Patriarches, Archbishops, Bishos, Abbats, and other of the Spiritualty, by the virtue of Obedience, and under pain of Cursing, to be present, but showeth no place at all where he would be, nor whither they should come. And in very deed no great matter though no place were named; for as good a Council no where to be called, as where it could not be; and as well no place served him that intended no Council, as all places. And to say truth, much better no place to be named, than to name such as he purposed not to come to; for so should he break no promise which maketh none. And so going forward in his Oration, toward the later end he thus inferreth by his words of Protestation, saying:  
No, 
Princes as the● gave the Pope Primacy, so they take it from him again.  we will the Pope and his Adherents to understand that which we have oft said, and now say, and ever will say, He nor his hath no Authority nor jurisdiction in England; we give him no more than he hath, that is never a deal. That which he hath usurped against God's Law, and extorteth by violence, we by good right take from him again. But he and his will say, we gave them a Primacy. We bear them well, we gave it you indeed; if you have Authority upon us as long as our Consent giveth it you, and you evermore will make your plea upon our Consent, then let it have even an end where it began; we consent no longer, your Authority must needs be gone. If we being deceived by false pretence of evil-alledged Scriptures, gave to you that ye ought to have refused, why may we not, our Error now perceived, and your Deceit espied, take it again? We Princes wrote ourselves to be inferior to Popes; as long as we thought so we obeyed them as our Superiors. Now we writ not as we did, and therefore they have no great cause to marvel, if we hereafter do not as we did; both the Laws Civil, and also the Laws of God, be on our side. For a Fraeman born doth not lose his Liberty, no nor hurt the plea of his Liberty, though he writ himself a Bondman.  
Again, if they lean to Custom, 
Custom.  we send them to S. Cyprian, which saith, That Custom, if Truth be not joined with it, is nothing but Erroris vetustas, that is, an old Error. Christ said, Ego sum via, veritas, & vita; I am the way, the truth, and the life: he never said, Ego sum consuetudo, I am the Custom. Wherefore seeing Custom serveth you on the one side, and Scripture us on the other, are ye able to match us? In how many places doth Christ monish you to seek no Primacy, to prefer yourselves before nobody, no to be obedient unto all Creatures? Your old Title Servus Servorum evil agreeth your new forged Dignity. 
The Pope's Title and his Dignity agree not together.  But we will not tarry in matters so plain; we only desire God, that Caesar, and other Christian Princes, would agree upon some holy Council, where truth may be tried, and Religion set up, which hath been hurt by nothing so sore, as by general not General Councils. Errors and Abuses grow too fast; Erudimini qui judicatis terram, Get you Learning you that judge the earth; and excogitate some Remedy for these so many Diseases of the sick Church. They that be wisest do despair of a General Council; 
Best that every Prince reform his own Realm, and tarry not for General Councils.  wherefore we think it now best that every Prince call a Council Provincial, and every Prince to redress his own Realm. We make all men privy what we think best to be done for the redress of Religion: if they like it, we doubt not but they will follow it, or some other better. Our trust is, that all Princes will so handle themselves in this behalf, that Princes may enjoy their own, and Priests of Rome content themselves with that they ought to have. Princes as we trust will no longer nourish Wolves Whelps, they will subscribe no more to Popish Pride, to the Papacy, etc.  
Favour our do, O Christian Princes, your Honour and ancient Majesty is restored. Remember there is nothing peetaining so much to a Prince's Honour, as to set forth Truth, and to help Religion. Take you heed that their Deceits work not more mischief than your Virtue can do good, and everlasting War we would all Princes had with this Papacy. As for their Decrees, so harken to them, that if in this Mantuan Assembly things be well done ye take them, but not as authorized by them, but that Truth, and things that maintain Religion, are to be taken at all men's hands. And even as we will admit things well made, so if there be any thing determined in prejudice of Truth, for the maintenance of their evil grounded Primacy, or that may hurt the Authority of Kings, we protest unto the whole world, that we neither allow it, nor will at any time allow it.  
Ye have, Christian Readers, our mind concerning the General Council; we think you all see that Paul and his Cardinals, Bishops, Abbats, Monks, Friars, with the rest of the Rabblement, do nothing less intent, than the Knowledge of Truth. Ye see this is no time meet, Mantua no place meet for a General Council; and though they were both meet, yet except some other call this Council, you see that we neither need to come nor to send. You have heard how every Prince in his own Realm may quiet things amiss. If there be any of you that can show us a better way, we promise with all our hearty desire to do that that shall be thought best for the settling of Religion, and that we will leave our own Advices if any man show us better. Which mind of ours we most hearty pray God that gave it us, not only to increase in us, but also to send it unto all Christian Princes, all Christian Prelates, and all Christian People.   

Injunctions given by King Henry VIII. to the Clergy of his Realm.  
IN the Name of God, Amen. In the Year of our Lord God 1536, and of the most Noble Reign of our Sovereign Lord Henry VIII. King of England and of France, Defender of the Faith, Lord of Ireland, and in the earth Supreme Head of the Church of England, the twenty eighth, etc.  
I Thomas Cromwell Knight, Lord Cromwell, Keeper of the Privy Seal of our said Sovereign Lord the King, and Vicegerent to the same; for and concerning all his jurisdiction Ecclesiastical within this Realm, to the glory of Almighty God, to the King's Highness Honour, the public weal of this Realm, and increase of Virtue in the same, have appointed and assigned these Injunctions ensuing, to be kept and observed of the Dean, Parsons, Vicars, Curates, and Stipendaries, resident or having Cure of Souls, or any other Spiritual Administration within this Deanery, under the Pains hereafter limited and appointed.  
THE first is, that the Dean, Parsons, Vicars, and other having Cure of Souls any where within this Deanery, shall faithfully keep and observe, and as far as in them may lie, shall cause to be kept and observed of all other, all and singular Laws and Statutes of this Realm, made for the abolishing and extirpation of the Bishop of Rome's pretended and usurped Power and jurisdiction within this Realm, 
Confirmation of the King's Supremacy.  and for the establishment and confirmation of the King's Authority and jurisdiction within the same, as of the Supreme Head of the Church of England, and shall to the uttermost of their Wit, Knowledge, and Learning, purely, sincerely, and without any colour or dissimulation, declare, manifest, and open, by the space of one quarter of a year now next ensuing, once every Sunday, and after at the least twice every quarter of a year, in their Sermons and other Collations, that the Bishop of Rome's Usurped Power and jurisdiction, 
Against the Pope's Primacy.  having no establishment nor ground by the Law of God, was for most just causes taken away and a bolished, and that therefore they own unto him no manner of Obedience or Subjection, and that the King's Power is within his Dominion the highest Potentate and Power under God, to whom all men within the same Dominion, by Gods, commandment own most Loyalty and Obedience, afore and above all other Potentates in earth.  
Item, Whereas certain Articles were lately devised and put forth by the King's Highness Authority, and condescended unto by the Prelates and Clergy of this his Realm in Convocation, (whereof part were necessary to be holden and believed for our Salvation, and the other part do concern and touch certain laudable Ceremonies, Rights, and Usages of the Church, meet and convenient to be kept and used for a decent and politic order in the same) the said Dean, Parsons, Vicars, and other Curates, shall so open and declare, in their Sermons and other Collations, the said Articles unto them that be under their Cure, that they may plainly know and discern which of them be necessary to be believed and observed for their Salvation, and which be not necessary, but only do concern the decent and politic order of the said Church, according to such commandment and admonition as hath been given unto them heretofore by the Authority of the King's Highness in that behalf.  

The King's Articles to be read to the people.  Moreover, that they shall declare unto all such as be under their Cure, the Articles likewise devised, put forth, and authorized of late, for and concerning the abrogating of certain superstitious Holydays, according to the effect and purport of the same Articles, and persuade their Parishioners to keep and observe the same inviolably, as things wholesome, provided, decreed, and established by the common Consent and public Authority, for the Commonweals commodity and profit of all this Realm.  

Images abolished.  Besides this, to the intent that all Superstition and Hypocrisy crept into divers men's hearts may vanish away, they shall not set forth or extol any Images, Relics, or Miracles, for any superstition or lucre, nor allure the people by any intreatments to Pilgrimages 
Pilgrimages Forbidden.  of any Saints, otherwise than is permitted in the Articles lately put forth by the Authority of the King's Majesty, and condescended unto by the Prelates and Clergy of this his Realm in Convocation, as though it were proper or peculiar to that Saint to give this Commodity or that; seeing all Goodness, Health, and Grace, aught to be both looked and asked for only of God, as of the very Author of the same, and of none other, for without him it cannot be given; but they shall exhort as well their Parishioners as other Pilgrims, that they do rather apply themselves to the keeping of God's Commandments, and the fulfilling of his works of Charity; persuading them that they shall please God more by the true exercise of their bodily Labour, Travel, or Occupation, and providing for their Families, than if they went about to the said Pilgrimages; and it shall profit more their Souls health, if they do bestow that on the poor and needy, which they would have bestowed upon the said Images or Relics.  
Also in the same their Sermons and other Collations, 
Prayers in the Mother Tongue.  the Parsons, Vicars, and other Curate's aforesaid, shall diligently admonish the Fathers and Mothers, Masters and Governors of Youth, being within their Cure, to teach or cause to be taught their Children and Servants, even from their Infancy, the Pater noster, the Articles of our Faith, and the Ten Commandments in their Mother Tongue, and the same so taught shall cause the said Youth oft to repeat and understand. And to the intent this may be the more easily done, the said Curates shall in their Sermons deliberately and plainly recite of the said Pater noster, Articles, or Commandments, one Clause or Article one day, and another another day, till the whole be taught and learned by little and little, and shall deliver the same in writing, or show where printed Books containing the same be to be sold to them that can read, or will desire the same; and thereto that the said Fathers and Mothers, Masters and Governors, do bestow their Children and Servants, even from their Childhood, either to Learning or to some honest Exercise, Occupation, or Husbandry; exhorting, counselling, and by all the ways and means they may, as well in their said Sermons and Collations, as otherwise, the said Fathers, Mothers, Masters, and other Governors, being under their cure and charge, diligently to provide and foresee, 
For bringing up of Youth in some Art or Occupation.  that the said Youth be in no manner wise kept or brought up in idleness, lest at any time afterward they be driven, for lack of some Mystery or Occupation to live by, to fall to begging, stealing, or some other unthriftiness; forasmuch as we may daily see, through sloth and idleness divers valiant men fall, some to begging, some to theft and murder, which after brought to calamity and misery, impute a great part thereof to their Friends and Governors, which suffered them to be brought up so idly in their Youth; where if they had been brought up and educated in some good Literature, Occupation or Mystery, they should (being Rulers of their own Families) have profited as well themselves as divers other persons, to the great commodity and ornament of the Commonweal.  

Placing of good Vicars and Curates.  Also that the said Parsons, Vicars, and other Curates, shall diligently provide, that the Sacraments and Sacramentals be duly and reverently ministered in their Parishes. And if at any time it happen them, either in any of the cases expressed in the Statutes of this Realm, or of special Licence given by the King's Majesty, to be absent from their Benefices, they shall leave their Cure not to a rude and unlearned person, but to an honest, well learned, and expert Curate, that may teach the rude and unlearned of their Cure wholesome Doctrine, and reduce them to the right way, that they do not err; and always let them see, that neither they nor their Vicars do seek more their own profit, promotion, or advantage, than the profit of the Souls that they have under their Cure, or the glory of God.  

Every Parish to provide a Bible in English.  Item, that every Parson or Proprietary of any Parish Church within this Realm, shall on this side the Feast of S. Peter ad vincula next coming, provide a Book of the whole Bible both in Latin and also in English, and lay the same in the Choir, for every man that will to look and read thereon, and shall discourage no man from the reading of any part of the Bible, either in Latin or English, but rather to comfort, exhort, and monish every man to read the same as the very Word of God, and the spiritual food of man's Soul, whereby they may the better know their Duties to God, to their Sovereign Lord the King, and their Neighbour; ever gently and charitably exhorting them, that using a sober and modest behaviour in the reading and inquisition of the true sense of the same, they do in no wise stiffly or eagerly contend or strive one with another about the same, but refer the declaration of those places that be in controversy, to the judgement of them that be better learned.  

Priests not to haunt Alehouses.  Also the said Dean, Parsons, Vicars, Curates, and other Priests, shall in no wise at any unlawful time, nor for any other cause than for their honest necessity, haunt or resort to any Taverns or Alehouses, and after their Dinner and Supper they shall not give themselves to drinking or riot, spending their time idly by day or by night, at Tables or Cards playing, or any other unlawful Game; but at such times as they shall have such leisure, they shall read or hear somewhat of holy Scripture, or shall occupy themselves with some honest Exercise, and that they always do those things that appertain to good congruence and honesty, with profit of the Commonweal, having always in mind that they ought to excel all other in purity of life, and should be example to all other to live well and Christianly.  
Furthermore, 
Parsons not resident to pay the 40th. part to their Parishes.  because the goods of the Church are called the goods of the Poor, and in these days nothing is less seen than the Poor to be sustained with the same, all Parsons, Vicars, Prebendaries, and other beneficed men within this Deanery, not being resident upon their Benefices, which may dispend yearly twenty pounds or above, either within this Deanery, or elsewhere, shall distribute hereafter yearly amongst their poor Parishioners or other Inhabitants there, in the presence of the Churchwardens, or some other honest men of the Parish, the fortieth part of the Fruits and Revenues of their said Benefices, lest they be worthily noted of Ingratitude, which reserving so many parts to themselves, cannot vouchsafe to impart the fortieth portion thereof amongst the poor people of that Parish that is so fruitful and profitable unto them.  
And to the intent that learned men may hereafter spring the more, for the executing of the said premises, 
Every beneficed man worth 100 l. to find a Scholar at the University.  every Parson, Vicar, Clerk, or beneficed man within this Deanery, yearly to spend in Benefices or other Promotions of the Church, an hundred pounds, shall give competent Exhibition to one Scholar; and for as many hundred pounds more as he may dispend, to so many Scholars more shall give like Exhibition in the University of Oxford or Cambridge, or some Grammar School; which after they have profited in good Learning, may be Partners of their Patron's Cure and Charge, as well in Preaching, as otherwise in the execution of their Offices, or may when need shall be otherwise profit the Commonwealth with their counsel and wisdom.  
Also that all Parsons, Vicars, and Clerks, 
Beneficed men to maintain their Mansions.  having Churches, Chapels, or Mansions within this Deanery, shall bestow yearly hereafter upon the same Mansions or Chancels of their Churches being in decay, the fifth part of those their Benefices, till they shall be fully repaired, and the same so repaired they shall always keep and maintain in good estate.  
All which and singular Injunctions shall be inviolably observed of the said Dean, Parsons, Vicars, Curates, Stipendaries, and other Clerks, and beneficed men under pain of Suspension, and Sequestration of the Fruits of their Benefices, until they have done their duties according to these Injunctions.   

Postscript.  
CHristian Reader, Who hast perused and well weighed this Protestation, thou dost see therein the Frauds, Pride, Avarice, Treacheries, Cruelties, Enmity to God and Christ, and his Truth and People, with many other notorious Enormities of the Pope and his Shaveling Priests and Clergy, clearly and openly discovered, detected, detested and renounced, by so great a King. He pronounces them to be open Enemies to Christ himself, and to carry in their Breasts an immortal Hatred to his Truth. He Proclaimeth to all Christian Princes and Peoble the miserable Tragedies, which under pretence of Unity and Concord, they have brought into Christendom, and that they have troubled all Christian Realms with Seditions, under plausible pretences of Peace. That in all their Councils and Actings touching Religion, the only Marks they have shot at, was Lucre, Money and Gains; yea that they sought their own Profit, with the Slaughter of the Truth, and were infinitely more willing that the greatest Injury should be done to the Gospel, than that their Authority, that is to say, their Arrogant Impudence, should suffer the least Diminution. That their usual practice is, to defile their cruel Hands with honest men's Blood, and that contrary to their Oaths. He further declares, That this holy Vicar was so inflamed with Hatred against the King and Kingdom, for pulling down his Usurped Power, and Proud Primacy, for expelling his Usurped Jurisdiction, for rejecting his False and Heretical Doctrine, and delivering this Realm from his grievous Bondage and Polage; that He sought by all ways to endamage both King and People; and by Enemies at Home and Princes Abroad, to stir up Troubles and Commotions. Upon which sufficient Grounds, and for which just Causes, he thus resolves, saying, Surely except God take away our right Wits, not only his Authority, to wit the Popes, shall be driven out for Ever, but his Name also shall shortly be forgotten in England. And again, We will ha' the Pope and his Adherents to understand that which we have oft said, and now say, and ever will say, He nor His hath no Authority or Jurisdiction in England. That which he hath usurped against God's Law, and extorted by Violence, We by good right take from him again. And He exhorts all Christian Princes to favour and follow his Godly and Just Proceed.  
Thus did God of his Infinite Goodness raise up this Great and Wise King to root out the Pope's Usurped Authority, and False Religion also, in a great measure, out of England; and the Lord grant that these Intolerable and Unsupportable Evils may be kept out of it for ever. For without doubt, that Curse of God which Joshua pronounced against him that should Rebuild Jericho, which was destroyed by the Word and Power of God, according as it is written, Joshua 6.26. And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the Man before the Lord that riseth up and Buildeth this City Jericho, which was accordingly fulfilled in Hiel the Bethelite in the days of Ahab. I am very well assured, that that, and a greater Curse will be the Portion of that Man from the Lord, that shall rise up and Rebuild this Spiritual Babylon again in England, to wit, the Antichristian Church, which the Word and Power of God hath destroyed, and now for several happy Years kept out of this Nation. Et nunc Reges intelligite, erudimini qui Judicatis terram. Be wise now therefore O Ye Kings, be instructed Ye that judge the Earth.  
And Oh ye People, be not as the Horse and Mule that have no Understanding, but as Men at least, and (if it may be) as Christians: consider and weigh well with yourselves the great and inexplicable Evils that the poor Nation now groans under, none can tell for how long; some of which are these that follow, and greater cannot be told.  
1. The Suppressing the Glorious Light of the Gospel, and Banishing it out of Public View; the silencing the Grace of Christ's own Lips, and causing the Joyful Sound that Proclaims the Acceptable Year of the Lord, to cease out of our Borders. And this is the Evil of Evils, and the Misery of Miseries which brings all other Evils and Miseries along with it; yea this shuts up the Kingdom of Heaven from the World, and sets Hell wide open, for all men to run headlong into it, as we see it done this day. This excludes the Love, Mercy and Goodness of God from the World, as much as possibly it can, and brings in his Wrath and heavy Displeasure to waste and consume it; of which we have had the sad and most exquisite Experience, now alas! for several years together. For since the Gospel, under several Mulcts and Penalties, hath been forbidden to be Preached, how many Manifestations of Gods Just Anger have we seen in many strange and unusual Prodigies, in the Heavens, in the Earth, in the Waters, etc. being loud Warnings of the Wrath to come. What a grievous and desolating Plague, the Scourge of the Almighty, hath destroyed Thousands and Ten Thousands in that late great C●● and in many other parts of the Nation, the like whereunto hath not been heretofore? What a dreadful Conflagration hath devoured that Famous and Incomparable City, the Head and Glory of these Nations, and laid it in Ashes and Ruins like Sodom and Gomorrah? which Cities were set on Fire from Heaven, but this from Hell, by the Locusts of the Bottomless Pit, the Emissaries of the Pope and his Clergy, which Vermin have swarmed in this Nation, since the removal of the Gospel.  
And this provoking Sin, is not so much the Sin of the People, as of the Powers of the Nation, who as it were, of very Malice, have openly renounced Christ, and desired Barrabas to be given to them in his stead; they have rejected the Sweet and Meek Gospel of Christ, and have desired to be given to then the Cruel and Murderous Religion of Antichrist; a Religion written in Red Letters, even in Letters of Blood; for it hath shed the blood of innumerable Saints and Martyrs in the several Ages, since Antichrist first lift up his Head out of Hell into this World; seduceing the Powers of the World to take part with him in this bloody Work. This Religion, or rather this Iniquity in the Suburbs of it, we see Erected already, and now the great City thereof, is ready to be built again; and this Kingdom of Darkness could never have been founded but in the absence of the Light, which they have violently chased away. And this one thing carries weight in it, that they who tolerate Popery to take its ease among us, and to lengthen its Cords, and to strengthen its Stakes, though it be directly against Christ; and they who tolerate the open exercise of the Jewish Religion, which denies and blasphemes Christ, will by no means suffer nor endure the true and sincere Gospel of Christ's Kingdom to be published by any, but under great Penalties. Whereby they declare, that they are of one Council and Work with Satan, who hath with all his Subtlety and Cruelty fought against Christ and his Gospel, from the first day of their Heavenly Birth hitherto.  
This is the first and greatest Evil the Nation mourns and groans under, but this is not all.  
For Secondly, From hence follows the greatest and deepest ignorance of God and Christ that can be, and of all their unsearchable Riches which the Gospel hath discovered to the World. The greatest ignorance of the Law and of the Gospel, of Sin and of Righteousness, of Salvation and Damnation, of Heaven and Hell; in a word, the grossest ignorance of all the Revealed Truths of God, which concern us either to obtain Eternal Life, or to avoid Endless Death. So that in India and Ethiopia, in Calno and Carchemish, in Pathros and Cush, in Mesech and the Tents of Kedar, there is not greater ignorance of Christ and his Gospel, and of the way of Salvation, to be found than in many places, and among many People in England; the true report that may be given of it is even incredible. And would it not grievously affect any Christian Man's heart to behold so many thousands of Children in this Nation, brought up without any right instruction in the Christian Religion? Oh consider, what a Profane and Heathenish Nation this must necessarily become in a few years! for, what the Children and Youths now are, the Commonwealth will be in twenty or thirty Years. And what a brutish and beastlike Generation will then People be in this Land, if the Lord take not care of this matter in the mean time. When few will be found who shall know any more of Christ's Name than what they capacitate them to blaspheme it, or of his most Precious Death and Crucifying, more than to serve them to Swear by his Blood and Wounds. For the glorious Sun of Divine Knowledge, is three quarters Eclipsed already: the Good Lord prevent the Total Eclipse thereof, by sending forth again Ministers of his own choosing and anointing, to feed his People with true Knowledge and Understanding.  
Thirdly, The third Misery we sigh under, is the overflowing of Iniquity like the mighty Waves of the Sea. Never was there such a Deluge of Sin seen upon Earth, as now covers the Face of the Nation; this is even become the covering of all Flesh. All sorts of People, of High and Low Degree, whether Secular or Ecelesiastical, are all drenched and died in it; in such sort, that Men live in this World in the manifest likeness of the Devil, and if Satan himself were Incarnate, you could not easily discern one from the other. They set their Faces against Heaven, and call out upon God to Damn them, Soul and Body. So Devilish they are, that they would fain be tormented before their time, and do often provoke Hell to swallow them up; for because they can be no liker to the Devil in this World, they would hasten to Hell that there they may be fully like him. Oh Monsters of Mankind! Oh the true Seed of the Serpent! the right Generation of Vipers! Ye have been forewarned by God to flee from the Wrath to come, but who hath warned you to flee unto it? Who among the remote Nations would believe the report of all your Villainies? The very rehearsal of them would put them into Pangs, and the bare hearing of them into Tremble: their Say and Do are such, as are not fit to be mentioned or recited among Men, but only in the midst of Devils. For who without horrible fear, could either repeat or hear their desperate Blasphemies against God himself, glorious in Holiness, and against our Lord Jesus Christ, (whom God hath made his Firstborn, Higher than the Kings of the Earth; and when he brought him into the World, he said, Let all the Angels Worship Him) and against the Holy Spirit (against whom whoever speaks a word, it shall nev●r be forgiven him) against the blessed Gospel the great and only Power of God to Salvation) against the Kingdom of God on Earth, and against them that dwell in Heaven. Therefore, O Lord, forgive them not.  
For their Vine is as the Vine of Sodom, and of the Fields of Gomorrah, their Grapes are Grapes of Gall, their Clusters are bitter, their Wine is the Poison of Dragons, and the cruel Venom of Asps. The show of their Countenance doth witness against them, and they declare their Sin more than Sodom, they hid it not, they boast of it, and every Man is famous as he can do most wickedly. woe unto their Souls, for they have rewarded evil against themselves.  
For therefore H●ll hath enlarged herself, and opened her Mouth without measure, and their Glory, and their Multitude, and their Pomp, and he that rejoiceth shall soon descend into it. This their Day approacheth, it comes, it makes haste, when they shall perish for ever like their own Dung, and they that have s●en them shall say, where are they?  
And therefore howl ye Profane Ones, for the Day of the Lord is at hand, it shall come as a Destruction from the Almighty: then shall your Wicked Hands fall down, and your Proud Hearts melt, and you shall be sorely afraid; Pangs and Sorrow shall take hold on you, even Pangs as of a Woman in Travel: and when ye shall look to one another ye shall he amazed at one another, and your faces shall alter and change colour as Flames. For behold the Day of the Lord cometh cruel, both with Wrath and fierce Anger, to lay the Land desolate for your sakes, and he shall destroy the Sinners thereof out of it. And he will punish the World for th●ir evil, and the Wicked for their wickedness, he will make the Arrogancy of the Proud Ones to cease, and will lay low the Haughtiness of the Terrible Ones. In that day Sodom and Gomorrah shall rise up in Judgement against you, and it shall be more tolerable for them than for you, O Ye Profane Ones of England!  
These Spiritual Evils press us sore; As for our Outward Evils, they are well known and felt by All, of all sorts; and though I should be silent in the rehearsing them, they speak forth themselves. They are a sore not to be touched; yet if no hand should touch them, how should they he healed? Wherefore I will in the Name and Fear of God make mention of one of them, and of such an one as briefly compreheds all the rest.  
And this is, The strange and dismal Withering, Wasting, Languishing and Dying Condition of Poor England, whose common Welfare no Man now looks after or regards. Oh England! where are now thy Wise Men? where are thy Pilots? where are thy Physicians? where are thy Counsellors? where are thy Helpers? where are they that pity thee, and say, Alas, Alas Poor England! thy Husband hath rejected thee, as a Wife of Whoredoms, and thou art become a Widow of Sorrows: thou art left as a Cottage in a Vineyard; as a Lodge in a Garden of Cucumbers, as a Besieged City. Thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous. There is none left to plead thy Cause, that thou mightest be bound up: thou hast no healing Medicines left thee; Fear and a Snare and the Pit are upon thee, and to whom wilt thou stretch forth thy hands, to whom wilt thou lift up thy Voice for help?  
Thou wast lately Rich and Flourishing Kingdom, and for thy Plenty, Wealth and Glory waste both the Wonder and Envy of the World. Whilst thou didst enjoy the Presence of God, through his Word and Ordinances; whilst Iniquity was banished out of Public View; whilst Holiness and Righteousness, Justice and Judgement, Truth and Equity had their chief place in thee, Thou wast a People saved by the Lord, Honoured by the Lord, Exalted, Magnified, Protected by the lord Thou wast the H●ad and not the Tail, even the Glory of Kingdoms and Nations. Our Land then, was blessed with the precious things of Heaven, with the dew and the deep that coutcheth beneath, with the precious fruits brought forth by the Sun, and with the precious things put forth by the Moon, with the precious things of the Earth, and the Fullness thereof. We had plenty of Gold, and of Jewels of fine Gold; and our Houses were stored with Silver; our Barns and Storehouses were replenished, and we were plenteous in Goods; in the fruit of our , and in the fruit of our Ground. Our Sons were as Plants grown up in their Youth, our Daughters as polished Pillars; our Oxen were strong to labour, and our Sheep brought forth Thousands: we did eat our Bread with joy, and drank our Wine with a merry heart, because God accepted our Works. Yea than the Firstborn of the Poor did feed, and the Needy did lie down in Safety; for there was no breaking in nor going out, nor complaining in our Streets. We were a happy People that were in such a case, yea much more happy, because God was our Lord.  
And thou O London, (for my heart is towards thee, and I am distressed for thee O London, and pained at the very heart) Thou wast a Joyous City, whose Antiquity was of Ancient Days; thou wast the Crowning City, whose Merchants were Princes, whose Traffiquers were the Honourable of the Earth: by thy great Wisdom, and by thy Traffic thou didst get thee Riches, and thou didst get Gold and Silver into thy Treasuries. The Harvest of the River was thy Revenue, and thou wast the Mart of Nations. All Nations emptied their Delicacies into thy Bosom, and poured forth their pleasant things into thy Lap. And when thy Wares went forth out of thy Seas, thou filledst many People, thou didst enrich the Kings of the Earth with the multitude of thy Riches, and of thy Merchandise. Thou wast also the Mountain of God, thou hadst, in the midst of thee, the stones of Fire. Thou wast the chief High-Place; the Ministers of Jesus were dear to thee, and thy Arms were always open to embrace them; thou didst frequent the Solemn Assemblies of the Saints, with the Multitude of them that kept right Holiday. The Outcasts of Christ were wont to dwell with thee, and thou wast a Covert to them from the face of the Spoiler. Many Fatherless Children had harbour and secure in thee, and thou wast a Husband to the Widows. It was thy Meat and Drink to feed the hungry, and to  the naked, and to visit the Prisoners of Jesus Christ. Thou wast as the Vine-tree amongst the Trees of the Forest, Verily a Noble Vine; But why hast thou so suddenly turned into the Degenerate Plant of a Strange Vine? Why of a right Seed did you so easily become strange Children, whose Mouth talketh Vanity, and your Right Hand is a Right Hand of Falsehood? Why didst thou join thyself with the Wicked, and help the Ungodly? Why didst thou love them that hate the Lord, and didst turn thy heart and hand against them that love the Lord? Thou didst reject his Ministers: thou didst persecute his People; thou didst hunt the steps of the Righteous that they could not go in thy Streets; thou didst hawll to Prison the Assemblies of the Saints; and didst make havoc of the Church of Christ till there was no remedy.  
For when the Lord saw this he was angry, for he looked for Grapes from you, and you brought forth wild Grapes; he looked for Judgement from you, but behold Oppression! for Righteousness, but behold a Cry! Wherefore he bent his Bow against thee like an Enemy, He stood with his Right Hand like an Adversary. He sent a Fire into the midst of thee that could not be quenched, and it hath devoured thee, and brought thee to Ashes on the Earth, in the sight of all them that beheld thee. He hath swallowed up thy Habitations, he hath thrown down in his Wrath your pleasant Dwellings, your stately and beautiful Buildings. He sent into thee treacherous Dealers to deal treacherously with thee, and Spoilers to spoil thee; whilst thou wast become a silly Dove without heart. He hath brought upon thee the days that have not come on thee since thou wast a City; He hath stained the Pride of thy Glory, and brought into contempt all thy Honourable Persons: they that did feed delicately were left desolate in the Streets; they that were brought up in Silks and Scarlet embraced Dunghills: they that dwelled in well built Houses were glad to shelter themselves in Booths, and to crowd their heads in desolate places; they are come down from their Glory to sit in Dust. For thy filthiness was found in thy Skirts, therefore thou wast brought down wonderfully. How are thy Merchandise of Gold and Silver, and Precious Stones, and of Pearl, and of fine Linen, and Purple and Silk, thy broidered Works, thy Chests of rich Apparel, thy Spices and Odours, thy Vessels of precious Wood, of Brass and Iron, and Marble; thy Wine and Oil, thy stately Buildings and beautiful Structures of many Generations, how in three or four days are they all brought to nothing? London, the Glory of the Kingdom, the Beauty of England's Excellency, is become as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah: and is now at present, a place for doleful Creatures, for Owls to dwell in, and for Satyrs to dance in, and for Wild Beasts to cry among the desolate Houses, and Dragons in their Dwellings. For thou art swept with the Besom of Destruction, and the Line of Emptiness is stretched out upon thee; because thou didst reject the Word of the Lord, and knewest not the day of thy Visitation.  
How art thou brought down, which wast inhabited by Seafaring Men? the renowned City which waste strong at Sea? and thy Inhabitants did cause terror to all Nations. All that knew thee formerly are astonished at thee; thou art become a Terror to them that see thee, and they that hear of thee are pained for thee. I was bowed down at the hearing of it, I was dismayed at the seeing of it. O Lord behold my affliction, for the Enemy hath magnified himself: see and consider, for I am become Vile. Our Enemies say, This, this is the Day we have looked for; we have found it, we have seen it. This Day shall do that which the Fifth of November could not do; now shall we see our desire upon them; for the Strength of the Protestant Interest is broken; we have broken the Head of it, and now shall we raze it, to the very foundation of it. But O Lord thou hast seen my wrong, judge thou my Cause. Thou hast seen all their Vengeance, and all their imaginations against me; thou knowest the Contrivers, the Abettors, the Incouragers, the Actors, the Favourers of this Hellish Mischief; and all those that rejoice in it: Give unto them All Sorrow of Heart, thy Curse unto them. Persecute and destroy them in Anger, from under the Heavens of the Lord. And let all the People say Amen.  
But now I must shake hands with thee O London in thy Dust and Ashes, for there is hope in this thy End. And I must turn myself back again to England, the Land of my Nativity, and take up a Lamentation for it. O England, what Nation was like unto thee from the Rising of the Sun to the Setting thereof? thou wast a People satisfied with favour, and full with the Blessings of the Lord, but art now suddenly become a poor and peeled People, meeted out and trodden down. Thou art smitten with a perpetual stroke in anger, by a heavy hand: thou art oppressed, spoilt and crushed in pieces evermore, and there is no man to save thee. For God hath remembered our Iniquities against us, and set our sins in the light of his Countenance. For by Lying, and Swearing, and Oppressing, and Slaying, and Drinking, and Whoring and Blaspheming, etc. the Land is defiled, under the Inhabitants thereof. We have forsaken the Laws of God, changed the Ordinances of Christ, and broken the Everlasting Covenant, and therefore hath the Curse devoured us. Our Labours yield us no Profit: our Ploughing, Sowing and Reaping eats up the Husbandman: our Trade is every where decayed: our Gold and Silver are exhausted and drained away: our Estates are impoverished and wasted: the Abundance we had gotten and laid up, is departed: our Exactions and Taxes are heavy upon us, so that we eat our Bread with sorrow, and drink with sighing; for they have found out our Riches as a Nest, and as one gathereth Eggs that are left, so have they gathered the Substance of the Nation, and there was none that durst move the Wing, or open the Mouth to the People. We are brought so low that we have forgotten Prosperity; but we daily mourn and fade away; for we are filled with bitterness, and made drunk with Wormwood. For our Wise Counsellors are become Fools, Understanding is perished from them: our Princes are rebellious, and Companions of Thiefs; they are Riotous Persons that eat not for Strength but for Drunkenness. Our Counsellors take Counsel, but not of God, but against him: our Judges abhor true Judgement, and pervert all Equity; they turn Judgement into Gall, and the fruit of Righteousness into Hemlock: they justify the Wicked for a Reward, and take away the righteousness of the Righteous from him. Our Priests, of all Titles and Degrees, are like roaring Lions in the midst of us, ravening the Prey; they rob the Purses of Men; they imprison their Bodies; they devour their Souls: they live in Rioting and Drunkenness, they commit Adultery, and speak Lies: they strengthen the hands of Evil Doers, that none doth return from his Wickedness. Our People are foolish and unwise, a company of treacherous Men, that lie in wait for precious Souls; they are perverse Children, who have forsaken the Law of the Lord, and have said to the Holy One of Israel, Depart from us. Wherefore we are become a base Kingdom, because we have rejected all righteousness; yea, the basest of Kingdoms, because we have Apostatised from the Truth. Of a Pleasant and Joyful Land, we are become a Land of Trouble and Anguish; where is the Young and Old Lion, the Viper and fiery flying Serpent. We are become a Mingled People, Strangers devour us in our presence; they devour our Strength, they swallow up our Riches, they eat up our Bread; yea they destroy us, our Cities and Towns, and there is none to reprove them. We who were the chief of Nations, the Princess of Provinces, who when we spoke there was trembling to the ends of the Earth, are now become weak and contemptible; because our Rock hath sold us, and the Lord hath shut us up, Therefore the Pomp of our Strength hath ceased, and our Spirit fails in the midst of us. So that we are shamefully brought down, by the least and lowest of the Nations: who have subdued our Naval Power; taken, burnt and spoiled our Royal Ships, the Wall and Bulwark of our Nation: fought us in our own Bowels; triumphed over us in our own River; blocked up the Passage of our chief City; stopped all intercourse of Trade; made a Spoil of our Riches, and a Prey of our Merchandise; hindered and deprived us of all our pleasant things; bereft us of several of our Rich and Advantageous Plantations; brought us down to their feet, humbly to beg their favour, and have made us a Reproach, a Proverb and a Hissing to all Nations. O England who shall bewail thee? What Lamentations shall we take up for thee? Oh that thou wert sensible of thy Stroke and couldst bewail thyself, for thou hast sinned grievously, therefore art thou cast out of the Mountain of the Lord, thou art cast to the ground, and laid before Kings and Nations, that they may behold thee. This is the end of the Children of Pride; for they that exalt themselves shall be made Low. And therefore talk no more so exceeding proudly, let not Arrogance come out of your Mouth again, for God is a God of Judgement, and by him actions are weighed. The Adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces: out of Heaven shall he thunder upon them, and therefore let not the Rebellious exalt themselves,  
Thus have I rehearsed the Evils we lie under; and now I shall represent some of the Great and Deadly Dangers that we are in.  
And one is, to have the Nation quite overrun with Popery, and to have the Pope's Throne of Iniquity new erected amongst us. And are there not swarms of Priests and Jesuits earnestly at work to bring this to pass? they having emptied their Popish Cloisters and Monasteries from beyond Sea into England, to promote their Catholic Design here. And they knowing who stands at their right hand, have done it with great boldness, and with too great success, For they have perverted not only very many of the Common People, but some Nobility also, and many Gentry. And they have two great Engines to advance their design, to wit, on the one hand Safety, on the other Danger; on the one hand Promotion, on the other Destruction; on the one hand Life, on the other Death; with the one of them they allure, with the other they terrify; with the one they draw whom they can with the other they drive whom they cannot draw. And these Engines are of that force, that thereby they have conquered many weak, sinful and unstable Souls, yea and have prevailed with some Persons of Honour and Quality, to send their Sons to Monasteries, and their Daughters to Nunneries beyond Sea, to be trained up in their Damnable Religion there, till better provision can be made for them here; of which they now are in full hopes.  
And now think with yourselves, and consider well, O my Dear Protestant Countrymen, how could you endure to see the Pope Worshipped here again in England, for a God on Earth? to see him set his proud Foot on the Neck of your King? to see your King a Tributary to the Pope, and to stand or fall at his base pleasure? how could you endure to be forced to acknowledge his sinful and foolish Decrees to be equal to the Holy Word of God? and to own his little Wafer, or piece of Bread, for the very Natural Body and Blood of Christ which was crucified and shed on the Cross? how could you endure to have your throats stretched so wide, as to swallow down only this one Abomination of his, which is more vast and rude than the first Chaos? how could you endure to see new Roods erected in every Parish Church? and to bow yourselves down and worship Stocks and Stones, Crucifixes and Images, instead of the True and Living God? how could you frame yourselves to Auricular Confession, and to rehearse or enumerate all your sins in a Priest's Ear, who himself stands in need of Forgiveness more than you, being a greater Sinner? how could you endure that their lusty Priests should defile your Wives and Daughters, they being prohibited Wives of their own; and so should drive again a General Trade of Whoredom in the Nation, as they have been wont to do formerly? how could you submit yourselves to their Popish Penance, and to travel their Popish Pilgrimages, to their feigned Saints and ridiculous Relics? how could you bear the severity of their Ecclesiastical Courts and Censures, and to be pronounced Heretics by those who are themselves the greatest Heretics in the World? how could You Noblemen and Gentlemen, who have your Estates, or part of them, in Abbey and Church-Lands, as they were called, be content to have them taken away from You and your Posterity, and given back again to maintain Abbots, Monks, Friars, Nuns and such kind of Popish Vermin and Locusts, which, if once admitted, will eat up again every green thing in the Land? And let me tell you, that all these Estates of yours, they do not only promise to themselves, but verily expect them. Yea farther, how could you endure to have your loving Husbands taken from your Heads, and your dear Wives torn out of your Bosoms, your sweet Children dragged out of your Houses, your near Relations and friendly Neighbours hawlled and hurried into Prisons and Dungeons, and there to be wracked, starved, tormented, and at last (if they live to it) to be put alive into the flames of Fire, there to be burnt and consumed to Ashes? and that only because they sincerely cleave to Christ and his Gospel, and will not adhere to Antichrist, nor receive his Mark, nor do his Hellish Drudgery? how could you endure to see this cruel Beast of Rome to play Rex here in England again; and though he be the Firstborn of the Devil, yet to set himself up above all that is called God, and Worshipped? And yet you are now in more danger to see all these things come to pass (because you received not the truth in the love of it, whilst you enjoyed it) than your Predecessors have been this Hundred Years, they having now gotten both Wind and Tide with them, even Opportunity and Encouragement. Wherefore a Great Man concluded, That now certainly the Papists would do their Work, they were in so fair a way. But he reckoned without his Host. And lest my Protestant Countrymen should be too much discouraged in this apparent and approaching Danger, I will furnish you with one Rich Cordial, out of the Words of Henry the VIII. which he directed to the Papists in his days, in his foregoing Declaration against them: where he saith, Are you not wicked which so hate the Truth, that except she be utterly banished, ye will never cease to vex her? The Living God is alive, neither can Truth his Darling, He being alive, be called to so great shame, contumely and injury as you would have her; and if she may be called to all these, yet can she come to none of them. Who is he that grievously lamenteth not! Men to be come to such Shameless Boldness, to show apertly that they be Enemies to Christ himself? on the other side, who would not be glad to see such Men, as foolish as they be Wicked? For they work a deceitful Work, and by all their cunning Craftiness, Mysterious, and Industrious Actings, they only dig the Pit, into which they must fall themselves, and contrive the ruin that must be their own Portion.  
Your Second Danger, is to have the most Cruel and Inhuman Massacre executed upon you, that ever yet was committed in the World, by the Consecrated Hands and Weapons of the Papists. And this Glorious Service of theirs is designed upon the English Protestants, for the singular Promotion of the Catholic Cause, which hath its way usually prepared into all Nations, by Fire and Sword. The Wrath of the Papists is so kindled against you, and they are so thoroughly set on fire from Hell, that they are ready to break forth into their greatest flames, and to endeavour the Destruction of All at Once. It is well known, how well they are Horsed and Armed, and how they train their Troops against the Bloody Day intended. It is well known, how well they are furnished with Money, intended for other purposes. It is well known what numbers of French Men are brought into the bowels of the English; and many Noblemen and Gentlemen are so pleased with the Children of those Strangers, that they have French Servants, Papists, to attend them, whom they have well Mounted and Armed, enough to make a little Army of themselves. And this they do that their strength may be hidden till opportunity shall serve to make it appear. It is well known that the chief Places of Strength, and many Chief Commands are in the hands of Papists. And now they become so numerous, and having such power, what is there wanting but a convenient Opportunity to fulfil all that is in their Hearts, upon Secure, Unarmed, Unprepared People, and to dispatch their work in few days, and especially upon thee O London, who art their chiefest Eyesore. O England, (except the Lord prevent it) thy Calamity is near, at the very Door: and thou mayst expect every day, now Peace is made Abroad, when these will unsheathe and draw their Swords upon you here at Home: and you must be charged in the King's Name (for so they will abuse it) to stand still, and to hold forth your Throats to Murderers. You cannot forget the dreadful Massacre at Paris, nor that late more dreadful and bloody Massacre of the English Protestants in Ireland, when more than a Hundred Thousand Innocent Persons, Men, Women and Children were in a very short time, with the greatest Cruelties and Torments that ever were heard of, murdered by them; and what Authority they pretended for it. But they have treasured up in their minds the fullness of all Cruelties, for you Englishmen. They have discovered something of their Kindness and good Pleasure to you in their firing the City of London, which they have left as an Everlasting Monument of their Treachery and Villainy to England, and of their hatred to English Protestant's; and let this most notorious fact of theirs be engraven in great Characters on the Gates and Walls, and Chief Places of your City, when it shall be built again; that all Posterity when they shall see New London, may know and consider what Persons, and what Religion burned the Old. They have also often attempted the firing of Southwark, and of the remaining parts of the City; for nothing but the utter ruin of it will satisfy them. And when the kindling of some of these later flames, was related to a Great Person, they laughing said, Now the Game is begun again: for they make but a May game of consuming all. And yet Fire only will not satisfy them, it is blood must follow, or they are never the near. It is you O English Protestants, whose lives they thirst after, and they can neither eat nor drink comfortably, nor sleep quietly, till they be filled with this Venison. And therefore of you it may be truly said, Your lives are in jeopardy every hour.  
Yet for all this let us not despond nor cast away our Confidence, saying, Our hope is cut off, and we are perished; for he that sits in Heaven laughs them to scorn, even the Lord hath them in Derision: and though we hold our peace, he will speak to them in his Wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. He will make his Arrows drunk with their blood, and his Sword shall devour their flesh, from the beginning of Revenges upon the Enemy. Rejoice O ye Nations, with his Paople, for he will avenge the Blood of his Servants, and will render V●ng ance to his Adversaries, and will be merciful to his Land, and to his People.  
Thirdly, Another of your Dangers, which also is one of the greatest, is your own Heedlessness and strange Security, in the midst of such thick Clouds and Storms which have encompassed us round, able to awaken even dead Men. How stupid and sottish were you at the burning of your City, when you saw with your own eyes, your House●, your Substance, your Riches, all consuming together in those furious flames before your faces; yet how insensible were you of your deplorable condition? how regardless of that heavy hand of God? how insensible of the Treachery and Cruelty of Men? who did not only begin those ●●●mes, but also continue them in the Progress they had appointed for t●em. Had you the Brains or Hearts of Men, to suffer those Incendiaries who were taken in the very Act, to be rescued from Justice, and released to carry on their Villainy again? surely you were so Sottish, that had not the Lord been the more merciful to you, your Lives and Houses had perished together, as it was designed. Moreover, how insensible have you been of the Popish Plot, and intended Massacre; as if those good Men had been but in Jest, when a Regiment of Papists was brought up to secure the Protestant's, and a company of Wolves to guard the Flock; and when some of their own Pens and Lips reveal their minds, why should you yet be so ignorant of it, who are wholly concerned in it? Wherefore as your Lives hitherto have been dear to God, so let them now also be dear to yourselves, and do not you say, P●ace, Peace, when the Papists intent and prepare Destruction, Destruction; but let that be verified of you, which Henry VIII. saith of his time; to wit, The World is not now in so light a suspicion of you (Papists) as it hath been hitherto; but every Man seethe before his Eyes, your deceits, your Wicked Minds, your Immortal Hatred against the Truth, and the Professors of it, every Man sees how many miserable Tragedies your pretence of an Unity and Concord hath brought into Christendom. They see your fair face of Peace hath served Sedition, and troubled almost all Christian Realms. And therefore seeing they were so quicksighted who lived above an hundred and thirty years ago, to see and foresee the Treacheries and Cruelties of the Papists, let not us who live so many years after, and have had far greater experience of them, be altogether blind, and see nothing at all, in the clear Noon-shine of their Do.  
Wherefore let all be admonished, that after the desired Tidings of Peace they be not so eagerly addicted to the rebuilding their Houses, and regaining their Trade, and prosecuting their Worldly Affairs and Concernments (whilst yet they are uncertain of the enjoyment of any thing) that they become careless and regardless how it fares with the Church of Christ and his Gospel (which is the very light and life of our Souls, as well as the foundation of all our outward comforts) or how active and watchful the Brood of Antichrist, which lurks amongst us, becomes, that they may deprive us of our Religion and Lives; and so, be as greedy Birds that are scratching for food, whilst the Net is spreading over them to catch them at unawares, for what will it profit you to win Estates, and to lose your Lives? your Lives are better than your Estates; and your Estates are but for the comfort of your Lives. And if the Enemy take away your Lives, whose shall your Estates be? they shall even become a reward to the Murderers.  
Awaken therefore O Protestant's and English Men out of your deep and dangerous Security! and stand upon your feet like Men: Ye dead men live again, and I will humbly and faithfully advise you (as I am able) out of very love, in a few things.  
1. My First Advice is, that you believe none of their pretended fairness and kindness to you, seeing their hearts are wholly against you, and their hatred to you is immortal; even the hatred of the Devil in the Hearts of Men, which is a certain fire of Hell which goes not out by Day or by Night. But know for certain, when they promise fair, they are not to perform any thing, but the quite contrary: when they seem to kiss you, they intent to kill you; when they suffer you to be quite, 'tis that they may bring the greater Trouble upon you; when they retreat from the exercise of their fierceness, 'tis that they return upon you with the greater Fury, when you shall less think of it; for their whole Trade is Deceit and Violence. Though Satan transform himself into an Angel of Light, yet still is he is the Prince of Darkness; and these his Followers are exactly like him, both to deceive and to destroy: they will change their Colours, like Proteus, to deceive you, but they will never change their cruel Minds; but they that will be deceived, let them be deceived.  
2. My Second Advice is, that none either Plot or Attempt any thing against the present Power, but that all stand still in their Place and Calling, like Wisemen with their Eyes in their Head, quietly waiting for the Salvation of God. For no Man's Hands can help him in this Matter, but our strength is to sit still. We can no more change Kingdoms and Governments in the World, than we can alter the Course of the Sun or Moon in the Heavens; but it is the Great God that must do these great things. It is the most High God that reigns in the Kingdom of Men, and gives them to whomsoever he will. And when his time is come, the set and full time, and the most High shall utter his Voice, his instruments shall be at his foot, ready to do his work, even to execute the Vengeance written; and all his mighty Providences shall concur, to bring about the Council of his Will. Wherefore remember that Man's rashness carries ruin in it, but Patience perfects both God's Works and Mans. In Patience possess your Souls.  
Wherefore all that we would do, if we might be heard by those that are instructed to help, at this needful Time is, only to desire for the Glory of God, and the Nations good, and their own, these three things.  
1. That the dear and precious Gospel of our Lord and Saviour may be permitted publicly to be Preached again, in the Purity and Power of it, and that the faithful Teachers may be restored to their Ministry throughout the whole Nation. For when Jesus Christ who hath all Power in Heaven and Earth given into his hands, hath commanded his Ministers to go and teach in all Nations. How can you Worldly Powers, who have but a little Power in this Nation, answer it to him, when you forbidden that to be done which he hath so solemnly commanded? He that hath all Power in Heaven and Earth hath commanded his Ministers to teach his Gospel, and dare you who have but a little power on Earth, and none at all in Heaven forbidden them? If you do not repent of and amend this our Evils, it had been better for you, that you had never been born.  
2. Our second desire is, That all Popish Commanders may be Disbanded, and put out of all Office and Trust in a Protestant Nation; and that all Papists through England may be disarmed; seeing they are not armed for us, but against us.  
3. That all French and Outlandish Men may be banished; for they are but Moths in our English Garment, to fret it by degrees, all to pieces; as they have fretted a great deal of it already.  
And what Englishman or Protestant is there, that wi● not s● with us in these necessary Desires, which if they be not granted, farewel all Good Days from England for our time.  
And now to conclude all, I shall only leave two or three Sovereign Antidotes with my dear Countrymen to preserve them from the noisome Contagion and Plague of Popery.  
1. Consider with Trembling, that none are given up to this Damnable Delusion but those whose Names are not Written in the Lamb's Book of Life, as the Spirit of God affirms Rev. 13.8. saying, And all that dwell upon Earth shall worship him (i. e. the Beast or Antichrist of Rome) whose Names are not written in the Book of Life, of the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World, And what Person would carry such a Worm in his Conscience continually, for the whole World, and all the Kingdoms and Gl●●y of it, as to know and certainly to understand, that his Name is not written in the Book of Life, nor can ever be put in; for all the Writings in that Book are from Eternity, and no new thing can be inserted in it. And therefore let Men say what they will, they are none of God's Elect, who close in with this False and H●●●tical Religion, after the Gospel hath been Preached to them, and they have been instructed in it. For to departed from the known Truth to known Error, is not a Sin of Ignorance, but of Malice; and this is the Sin unto Death, for which there is no Remission. Wherefore let every one that would attain to any comfortable Assurance that his Name is Written in the Book of Life, flee from Popery.  
2. They that Apostatise to this False Religion, are a surely to be Damned as if they were in Hell already, This is a hard saying, but a True One: as it is evident in that of Paul, 2 Thes. 2. where speaking of Antichrist, that Wicked One, whose coming is after the working of Satan. with all Pow●r and Signs, and Lying Wonders, and with all deceiveableness of Unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received not the love of the Truth, that they might be saved. He adds, And for this cause God shall send th●m strong Delusions that they should believe a Lie, that they All may be Damned that believe not the Truth, but have pleasure in Unrighteousness. This sort of People God gives them up to believe a Lie, the Grand Lie of Popery (for this whole Religion is nothing else but one continued Lie, from the beginning to the end of it) to the intent, that they should all Perish and be Damned. This is the Word of God, against all wilful Papists, and it cannot be made void. John also testifies Rev. 14.9. that an Angel Proclaimed with a loud voice, saying, If any Man Worship the Beast and his Image, and receive his Mark in his Forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the Wine of the Wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the Cup of his Indignation. and he shall be tormented with Fire and Brimstone, in the presence of the holy Angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and the Smoke of their Torment asc●ndeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest Day nor Night, which Worship the Beast and his Image, and whosoever receiveth the Mark of his Name. In which Scripture you may see with open face, the sad end of all the Popish Generation: which is to be tormented for ever and ever. Wherefore out of very Malice, they have been, are, and will be our Tormentors here, when they get opportunity, because the Devil is to be their Tormentor in Hell for ever. Wherefore who ever would avoid the Torments of Hell let him fly from Popery.  
3. Lastly Antichrist is now in his Old Age, and draws near his End, yea is drawing his last breath. He is very shortly to be utterly destroyed with the Spirit of Christ's Mouth, and the Brightness of his coming. And what Wiseman, yea what Man of common reason would join himself to Antichrist, for one hour, yea for one quarter or minute of his hour? If Men might have reigned with him many years, and have enjoyed his Delicacies for a long Season, then might it have been a strong inducement to a carnal heart, who seeks his Portion only in this life, to have closed in with him; but now to do it when his Destruction draws near, what extreme Folly and Madness must it needs be? Who would venture a Board that Ship which is just a sinking? or become a Subject in that Kingdom which is just ready to be rooted up? and confident I am through God, that after Antichrist and his Brood of Serpents, have played a few more of their old cruel Pranks anew in England, both He and They will become so utterly odious to All, that their Name shall be no more remembered among us, but with highest Contempt and Indignation, and that for ever. And let the Lord say Amen, and all his People.   

AND now O Lord, to whom should we look? our Eyes are only unto thee. And we beseech thee to look down from Heaven, the Habitation of thy Holiness, and of thy Glory, upon us, and upon our present Sad, and almost Desperate Condition: and stretch forth thy Holy Arm to maintain Thine Own Good Cause, (which thine Enemy's scorn and deride, and laugh at among themselves) and to help afflicted Righteousness, and thine own poor People, who are brought very low, so that their belly cleaveth, even to the dust. Indeed, Vain is the Help of Man, and our Enemies say, There is no help for us in God: But yet we know there is help in thee, and that thy help is never in vain. For thou canst do the greatest Things by the smallest Means, yea thou canst do the greatest Things, without all Means. For thou spakest and the World was made, thou didst command, and it stood fast. Therefore our Eyes are unto thee, O Lord, and we do believe that thou canst do all things; and can so do them, that none can resist thee. Is any thing too hard for the Lord? shall we call thy Power in Question, who didst prepare a safe passage for thy People through the mighty Waters, and didst cause them to walk on dry ground through the depths of the Sea? Take therefore thy great Power and come and Reign in the midst of these thy greatest Enemies, till thou make them All thy Footstool, and till thou hast put down all Rule, Authority and Power which lifts up its Head, and stretcheth forth its Arm against thee, O Lord, and thy Holy and Blessed Gospel, and thine Anointed. Oh cause Iniquity to stop its Mouth, and Wickedness to hid its face again. Let Violence no more be heard in our Land, nor Wasting and Destruction within our Borders; let the cause of the Fatherless and of the Widows be justly judged, Let thy Prisoners be loosed, and thine oppressed be eased; let them be helped, who have no helper. Make way with thy strong Arm for thy own Labourers to continue to come to thy Harvest-Work; for thy Harvest (we trust) is very great in England. And therefore O Thou into whose hands all Things are delivered of the Father, and all Power in Heaven and Earth is given; and who by this Greatest and Highest Authority of Thine, hast commanded thy Ministers, to go and teach all Nations, after thou didst send them: Oh do thou make way for them to teach this Unworthy Nation, before the Coming of the Son of Man; that through their ministering thy Word, thy Church may awake and rouse up itself, and put off its filthy Raiment, and may be restored to the Brightness of its first rising, when it was full of faith and love, and all Graces and Gifts of the Holy Ghost, without any mixture of Antichristian Errors, that all thy People may strive together for the Faith of the Gospel, and not quarrel any longer about empty Forms; but may with One Mind, and with One Mouth confess the Truth as it is in Jesus: and then shall all Kings bow down before thee, and all Nations that serve Thee, they shall sing forth the Honour of thy Name and make thy Praise Glorious. Amen.  
FINIS.