ALL the vessels of the Kings House are not gold, or silver, or for uses of Honour. Some be common stuffe, and for meane services, yet profitable. Of the first sort, I am sure this Tract is not. Whe­ther of the other or no, I leave that to thy judgement. To deale plainely; my selfe have no great opinion of it; as finding mine owne imperfections, and writing it onely upon a private occasion to a pri­vate freind, without curious observation of matter or method. But having also written a greater worke (much of the same Argument) and intending to publish, or suppresse it, as I see cause: I thought it not unfit (upon some encouragement) to send this forth (like a Pinnesse or Post of Advice) to make a discovery of the Coast, be­fore I adventure my greater Ship. If I receive good advertisement, I shall grow the bolder. Howsoever, take this I pray thee, as it is: and let my zeale to the cause, excuse me in medling with matters beyond my strength.

REader, this small Treatise was 30 yeares since written and published by my Father now deceased; his in­tent was to disswade a prophanation of Church­es, and to perswade a restitution of Tithes and im­propriations to the Church; Wherein although he was not so happy as with Saint Peter at once to convert thousands, yet was he not with him so insuccessefull, as to fish all might and catch nothing; for some were perswaded with what is written, nor can I say that others beleeved not; but rather thinke, that like the young man in the Gospell, they went heavy away, because they had too great possessions to restore.

Mischeifes are with more ease prevented then cured, men sooner disswaded from a reception, then perswaded to a restitution. While therefore the great dissolution of Bishopricks and Deanaries is onely threatned not acted, I have caused a reimpression of this Tract, hopeing that (as at first) it will finde some beleevers, and the rather because written long since, by one, no Levite, himselfe and children as his Ancestours meere Lay-men, not having nor hopeing for any Ecclesiasticall preferrement, and therefore I am confident he tooke his motives solely from the dictates of religion and consci­ence, himselfe practising what he would perswade thee. I know thy argument for retaining impropriations, Abbeys &c. is, the Law hath made them lay-fees, thou didst legally buy them, and therefore mayest lawfully keepe them.

I confesse our Statutes of Dissolution have changed the course of the fee, from a politicke succession to a naturall descent; and un­happily put a lay man in to the Preists place. But tell me if any Sta­tute or humane Law doth or can take away the Dedication or the Consecration of Abbeys, Monasteries &c. discharge or annull the interest which God and his Church hath in them, and for which they were founded, as that hospitality, sicke and feeble men may be maintained, Almes given, and other Charitable deedes be done, [Page]and prayers be there said, as is declared in the Statute. 35. Edw. 1. 35: Edw: 1. ca: 1. or can any Statute divert, and dispence with the many and heavy curses of the Church, upon the violators of Church liberties, to which the whole Kingdome hath not onely cried Amen, but by Act of Parliament hath enjoyned the Bishops to curse the violaters. If these be not removed, then remaine they still dedicated, still con­secrated to God; and then seeke and satisfie thy selfe, whether thou having the appropriation and Tithes but as the Abbot had them, and receiving the profit as the Abbot did, art not as the Abbot, tyed in Law and Conscience or one of them to performe the duties: for that he was, appeares by the opinion of all Judges 18. Eliz: Plow. fol. 496. where it is said by the Judges, that none is capable of an appropria­tion (for so the Law calls them) but onely bodies politicke not na­turall, and the reason is because he that hath the appropriation is to be perpetuall incumbent, which a naturall body that must dy could not be. And that body politicke (to have the rectory, the glebe, and tithes) must be Spirituall not Lay. For in that he is made Parson (saith the booke) he hath the cure of the soules of the parishioners, and therefore must be Spirituall, for by the same reason that a patron cannot present a Lay­man to his Church, by the same reason a Lay-man cannot be an Appropriator; For they are both Parsons of the Church, the presented Parson for life, the Appropriator for ever. And there­fore Plowden saith, that the Appropriator, be he Abbot or Prior &c. is as fully incumbent Parson, as if he had beene presented, instituted and inducted: and as Parson shall have his Actions, and that he that is duely made Parson is thereby made possessor of the Parsonage for the spirituall Office, plow. fo. 500. attracts the possessions of the things belonging to the Office, and in that he is Parson, he receives the Tithes not as granted to him, but as things annexed to the Office of a Parson. And Tithes are frequently in our Common Law termed spirituall things because annext to the spirituall Office. By these Bookes and resolutions of the Judges it is cleare that the appropriatour was the incumbent Parson, and had the cure of the soules of the Parishioners, Fol. 33, 35. and that upon the presentation of the appropriatour or upon the dissolution of the Abbey, the Church became voide, and presenta­tive, as other Churches upon resignation or death of the incumbent.

For appropriations (as thou now seest) were but Parsonages [Page]with cures of soules, annext and appropriated to a particular Abbey or Religious house. For when their Fraternities became numerous, & their annuall charge greater then their yearely revenue; providence to provide for their family made them thinke how to increase their income; And themselves being patrons of many rich parsonages, obtained severally (as occasion served) licence from the King, and consent from the ordinary to annex or appropriate that parsonage to their Abbot and his successours for ever, whereby they became perpetuall incumbent parson, and anciently did duely officiate the Cure by one of their Fraternity untill the Statute of Rich. 2. pro­hibited the appropriating any Church, 15. Ric. 2. ca. 6. unlesse a Vicar be conveni­ently indowed by the discretion of the Ordinary to doe divine ser­vice, and keepe hospitality; 4 H. 4. ca. 12. and the Statute of 4 Hen. 4. ordained that no Religious (as Monkes and Fryers were) should be made Vi­cars to any Church appropriated, but Seculars (as our Ministers now be) canonically instituted and inducted. Upon these Statutes it will concerne the owners of Churches appropriated since 15 Rich. 2. to see, that out of the profits of the Church a convenient summe of money be yearly paid to the poore parishioners, 15 Ric. 2. ca 6.4. H. 4. ca 12. and a Vicar indow­ed as the Statute of the 15. of R. 2. appoints, or else the Stat. 4 H. 4. avoids the appropriation, and then the Church becomes againe presentative.

But some will object, that impropriate Churches with their ob­lations and Tythes (the fat of impropriations) are made Lay and Tem­porall, and as Lay and Temporall things disposable at the will of the owner: a doctrine which so nearly concernes the estates and lively-hood of so many men in this kingdome as I shall not averre the contrary, least some Demetrius with his fellowes tumuit about it; yet give me leave to offer thee some opposite considerations, but leave them, and their result to thy judgement and conscience.

Consider first that while God saith, that ye have robbed me of my Tithes and offerings, God claimes the title and interest of them to be in him, not in the Preist nor in the Levite, they being but the usu-fructuarii, God the owner.

Remember too, 27. H. 8. ca: 20. 32 H. 8. cap: 7. that our Statutes have declared Tithes to be due to God and holy Church, and thy with-drawing thy Tythes a neg­lecting thy duty to Allmighty God, and then consider that if the Tithes be Gods, it matters not whether his title be by Divine right [Page](as our Dier. 28. H. 8. so 43. tithes are due by the Law of God. ex debito. Co. 2. Wiochest. case. so. 45. b. tithes are due by Divine Right. Law and Lawyers) not to presse that with the resolution of Councells and opinions of Canonists, Fathers, and Divines, quoted by the Author) have taken them to be, or by humane Constitution; for what Statute, what Law, can conclude God, or bind his right? Then weigh how the King (from whom thou claimest) had the Tithes, thou hast, and to what intent he had them.

The Statute of 27. H. 8. gives the King the smaller Abbyes and houses of Religion with their Appropriations and Tithes. To the greater, H. 8. makes his title by grant and surrender of the Abbots, Priors: which between the 27 and 31. H. 8. had been laboured by Cromwell; with some he prevailed by intreaty and good Annuities; with others by the Kings Power & Sword for the Abbots of R. Whiting. Glas­senbury, Hugh Far­ring [...]on. Reading, and Iohn Bech. Goodw. 167. Colchester, whose innocency had made them regardlesse of Threats, and their piety abhorre rewards to betray their Churches; were therefore (saith Goodwin) tenderd the There was no Oath of Supremacy, untill 1. Eliz. but these that denyed H. 8. to be supream Head of the Church, were indicted upon the Statute 26. H. 8, c 12. since repealed, for that they malitiose op­tantes deside­rantes & vo­lentes depri­vare Domin: Regem de dignitate titu­lo & nominee status s [...] regal. Said that the King was not Supreame Head of the Church. And upon this were Fisher Bishop of Rochester, Sir Thomas More, Exmew, and divers others indicted, con­victed, and executed, by vertue of a Commission of Oyer and Terminer, directed to Audley Lord Chancellour, the Duke of Suffolke, and other Lords, and all the Judges, as appeares by the Reports under the hand of Sir Iohn Spelman, who was then a Judge of the Kings bench. Oath of Supremacy, which they refusing, are, as enemies to the State, con­demned and hanged, others terrified by their examples, leaves all to the dispose of the King, who not resting on that title, procures the Statute of 31. H. 8. c. 13. which reciting (how truly doe thou judge) the Grants, Surrenders, &c. to have been made freely, voluntarily, and without compulsion, gives all the Religious houses, with their ap­purtenances and Tithes, to the King his Heires and Successors (as the Statute 27. of H. 8. did) in as large a manner as the Abbot had the same to dispose thereof at his will and pleasure (but) to the ho­nour and pleasure of Almighty God: nor is there any one word ei­ther in this Statute of the 31. or that of 27. H. 8. to alter or change the primative nature and use of Tithes. And therefore the Statute of the 32. H. 8. calls the withdrawing of thy Tithes, whether pro­priate or impropriate, a neglecting of thy duty to Almighty God, thereby inferring, that the Tithes are still due to God.

Consider that thy impropriate Tithes are yet even in Law called Ecclesiastick, and solely recoverable in the Ecclesiasticall Courts; and [Page]that the Statute of Ed. 6. [...]. Edw. 6. gives one and the same remedy both for the presentative and impropriate Tithe, and therefore must make both, or neither, Lay and Temporall.

Inquire too, whether the Impropriater hath the Cure of Soules, the Abbot had, (especially where no Vicar is endewed) if thou dost find he hath not, know who hath, for the Sheep must not be without a Shepheard, nor he without the milke of the Flock.

Learne by what Statute, what Law, the Impropriator, if freed of the Cure, is yet tyed to repaire the Chancell, as the Abbot did, and as the Abbot (where no Vicar is endew'd) tyed to provide one to officiate divine Service and Sacraments. If impropriate Tithes be temporall things, why doth the impropriator in all Courts make his title in the Churches right? if lay and temporall, why weare they these Ecclesiastique badges?

I cannot for my part think that Statutes which declares Tithes to be due to God and holy Church, which directs (among other things, even impropriate Tithes) to be disposed to the pleasure and honour of Almighty God, which calls the withdrawing thy impropriate Tithes, a neglecting of thy duty to Almighty God. I cannot think that these Statutes did either alter, or intended to alter the Ecclesiastique primative nature and use of Tithes, and the rather because I find that the Lawyers, who likely had the penning of them did hold Tithes due by divine Right, and annext to the spirituall office of the Parson, & consequently not alterable. And then thou that justly condemnest this Parson, or that Vicar, for sometimes neglecting his duty, think with thy selfe what account will be exacted of thee that receiveth the same Salery and wages with the Parson and Vicar; yet dost totally neglect the duty and mispendest all the Church Revenue up­on thy owne private occasions, 39. Canon. while the Canon of the Apostles would not permit the Bishop to challenge ought to himselfe, or to dispose among his kindred or friends, but to administer them, Tanquam Deo intuente, to the poore and Fatherlesse. And consonant to that is that in Cook. 5. Re­port. fol. 11. Caudris case in the 5th Report, where the Abbot might not dispend the Free almes were the rents and revenues, as appeares by the Sta­tutes. E. 1.24.14. E. 3.17. free almes of the Abbey (much lesse thou Tithes) upon his secular friend, but in hospitality upon the poore, the Fatherlesse, the Stranger, &c. and if so, then the Abbots were but Gods trustees, and as his Almners dispenced them to Gods Pentioners, the poore, the Fatherlesse and Widdow. And doe thou inquire how thou havest [Page]them and Sir Edward Cook, in his Mag. Charta. f. 649. in his Comment up­on 2. Edw. 6. touching tithes, quotes the Text in Deut. 14. And the Levite shall come, & the stranger, the fatherles, and widdow, within thy Gates shall eate thereof. Here is (saith he) the right use whereto tithes should be imployed; & surely had they been lay or temporall, then they, no more then other tempo­rall things are tyed to Eccle­siastique uses. And he wrote long after our Statutes, and best knew the power & operation of them. oughtest to dispose them. For I feare that at the last and generall Audit, thou wilt find them great Cloggs to thy accompt, and in the interim, ruines to thy Family; yet I doubt not but thou wilt find probable reasons as well as Law for reteining of Impro­priations and Abbies which thou hast bought, or thy Friends left thee: yet read this ensuing Treatise, the reasons may perswade thee, if not, with me view the insuccesse of Sacrilegious persons.

But before thou canst judge of Sacrilegious persons, thou must know, what is Sacriledge, for such there is, else the Apostle erred, who whilst thou sayest, that thou shalt not commit Idolatry, upbraides thee with, and committest thou Sacriledge.

Sacriledge is the diversion of holy and Ecclesiastique things to prophane and secular use: as Simeon and Levi; Theft and Sacriledge, be evill Brethren, Theft robs thy Neighbour, Sacriledge thy God. Tithes are so undoubtedly Gods inheritance, as though some have curiously disputed his title to them, as how due; yet none but the Im­propriator denies his right to them, as not due: but Tithes and Impro­priations are the subject of the ensuing Discourse, therefore I will offer thee my Conceipt, how Abbies and Monasteries are consecra­ted to God, and ought not to be prophaned by secular use.

It is noted that in all Ages, in all Religions, the Temples of their Gods were accounted holy, and not to be prophaned by secular ser­vice: and this being so universally observed in severall Ages, in differing Empires, contrary Religions, it must needs be by the Com­mand of the universall Monarch God.

Reason taught a Heathen to conclude, Quod ab omnibus gentibus observatum est, id non nisi a Deo sancitum est. Did God by the Law of Nations teach Heathens to keep the Temples of their false Gods as sacred; And doth he not by the same Law Command thee a Christi­an to preserve his owne holy and unviolated?

The Divell, that (to his greater Condemnation) best knowes God, and is therefore his best Counter-fait, gets himselfe among the Hea­then Temples, Priests, Oblations, and to these the Attributes of holy, and sacred; he knew them to belong to God and his Church, and therefore, to be like the most high, usurpes them to him and his.

The Divell knew that the Temple of God which sanctifies the gold that is upon it, must needs be holy it selfe, and sanctifie the ground on which it stands, and therefore the Divell taught his Disciples that [Page]doctrine, Plin. Epist. l. 10. f. 615. Licet aedes sacra Claudij Caesaris collepsa sit, religio tamen occupat solum. Profit could not tempt Trajan to permit publique bathes to be made where once Caesars Temple stood, the holy ground must not be prophaned by secular imployment. Yet thou a Christi­an dost not spare the very Temple of God himselfe. Shall it not (in this point) be easier at the last day for Trajan, then for thee, for if he a Heathen thus esteemed a false God, that must come to be judged, how would he have reverenced, the true and ever living God (had he, as thou) knowne him? but this only argues, and doth not prove a sanctity in Temples.

But God himselfe hath told us in Leviticus, Levit. 27. that Lands and houses may be sanctified to the Lord, but they are redeemable at the value estimated by the Priest, and a fifth part more. But God there tells us that things devoted are most holy to the Lord, Vers. 28. and not redeemable, the reason given by Divines is, because it was given with a Curse, & if that be the reason; doe thou then peruse the Charters of Foun­dations of Monasteries and Abbies, and tell me if they be not devoted and most holy to the Lord. And then, if not redeemable, much lesse I thinke to be taken from the Church; without any satisfaction, or consent of the Triests.

The Charters were usually in these words, Concessi Deo & Ec­clesiae &c. offero Deo &c. confirmavi Deo & Ecclesiae, and these Grants have in our Common Law been adjudged good and valid; our much reverenced Magna Charta, so oft confirmed by Parliament, begin­neth with Concessimus deo quod Ecclesia Anglicana libera sit &c. and Sir Edward Cook in his Comment upon it, saith, What is granted for God, Cook. Magna Charta. fol. 2. quod datum Eccltsiae da­tum deo. Lib. 6. f. 176. cap. 285. is in Law deemed to be granted to God, what is granted for his honour, what for maintenance of his service of his Religion, is granted to and for God, and that antiently these Grants were good in Law.

The Capituler of Charles the great saith, that the Dedications were on this sort, the Founder mentioning in a writing all he inten­ded to give, and holding it over the Altar, spake thus to the Priest: I here give unto God all things conteined in this writing, for the remis­sion of my sinnes &c. and for them for whose good God will accept them, and by these to promote Gods service in sacrifice in Lights, in Susten­tation of the Clergy, the Poore, and in all things honourable to God, and profitable to his Church, and if any man shall take these away (which [Page]God forbid) let him for his Sacriledge give a most strict account to God, to whom they are now dedicated, now devoted.

The Founders of Religious houses, in the conclusion of their Deed, following the example of [...]ra. 6.12. And the God that caused his name to dwell there, destroy all Kings & peo­ple that put to their hands to alter or destroy this house of God. Darius, imprecates a most heavy Curse on them that violate or withdraw their guift Apostolatus Benedictin. in Angl: Apend. secund. f. 60.13. E. 1. ca. 6. Venientibus contra haee & distruentibus ea occurrat Deus in gladio irae & furoris & vindictae & maledictionis aeternae.

And here is to be remembred that Abbies and Monasteries had in them Churches and Chappells which had from the Bishops and Clergy a more particular dedication and consecration, then from their Founders, the Bishop using therein much Almes, many Prayers, and some decent Ceremonies, and after, even to the Dissolution, the Sa­craments, were there constantly administred, and our Ancestors had so reverent an esteeme of Churches, as following the example of Christ, would not permit buying and selling in the Church-yard, but by Parliament prohibites it.

Now consider, that if under the Leviticall Law, which in this was morall and not taken away, the single act of devoting thy house to the Lord, conferred such a Sanctity, such a Holinesse upon it, that it could never be redeemed, but at a fifth part more then the worth, and that valued by the Priest, shall the Founders guift, (which was the dedication in the Leviticall Law) the fervent Prayers and Inter­cessions of the Clergy and Church, the long and frequen administra­tion of Service and Sacraments under the Gospell, shall these adde nothing of Sanctity, nothing of Reverence to it; But even where thy Fathers and Grandfathers for many hundreds of yeares reverently on their knees received mystically the Body and Bloud of Christ, there thou (to avoyd superstition) dost sacrilegiously feed thy Oxe, and thy Asse, and not permitting Christ, as at first, to lye between them, but more uncivill then the Jewish host, turnest him out to make roome for them.

But thou wilt say these Abbies, these Monasteries were Founded and dedicated by Idolatrous Persons, Consecrated by Popish Bishops, and for superstitious uses, and therefore not sacred, nor acceptable to God.

For the unworthinesse of their Persons, and their act, consider Corah and his company, who as God himselfe saith, were sinners against their owne Soules, nor canst thou thinke the sinne small, where [Page]thou findest their punishment so great; for God smites them not as Ʋzziha with leprosie, nor with withered hands as Jeroboam, nor with death like Ʋzza, but to make their punishment answerable with their offence, God doth a new thing in Israel, fire from above con­sumes these, and the earth from beneath, swallowes up those men; and although Moses be commanded to scatter the fire (for Civill Magistrates may quench the fire of Rebellion) yet Aaron the Ecclesi­astique hand must first gather up the Censers, for they were holy, and God gives there the reason why holy, for saith he, they offered them to the Lord. And if so bad men by a single, and so bad an act, did con­secrate their Censers to the Lord, needs must the Pious guift and cha­rity of the Founders, with the often Prayers and Sacraments of the Church dayly used for many yeares, needs must they sanctifie the Church or Chappell where used.

While God spake once from the Bush to Moses, Exod. 3. he Commands him not to draw nigh, and yet at that distance bids him put off his shooes, Joshua. 5.15. for the ground was holy. And Joshua must be barefoot while he spake with the Captaine of the Lords Host, because the ground was holy.

Consider then that if the places be holy, where God spake once to Moses, once to the Captaine of the Lords Host, needs must the Church or Chappell be holy, where God hath so often spoken to thy Fathers in Sacraments and Sermons, and where they to him so often in Prayers and Thankesgiving.

If publique holy actions doe not sanctifie the place where acted, David (though he would not offer to God that which cost him nought) needed not to buy that which he did not offer, the Threshing-floore of Araugna, it had been sufficient for David to pay for the Ox­en and threshing instruments, that must be burnt not restored. The floore remained, but not for Araughnas use, (saith a Learned Divine) for by Davids Sacrifice, the floore was devoted and sanctified to the Lord, and might not return to worldly imployment, which David knew, and therefore bought it.

But thou wilt say, these are Dedications and Sanctions under the Law, not under the Gospell. 'Tis true these were Sanctions under the Law, and were Morall, not Cerimoniall, and therefore remaine un­der the Gospell. Christ that sends thee from the Altar, to be recon­ciled to thy Brother, commands thee to leave thy Guift behind thee at the Altar, and the reason given by Divines is, because thou hast de­voted [Page]it to the Lord, the guift remaines holy, and might not return to the world, for though thy person be not accepted, yet thy guift by thy devoting, is holy to the Lord, as were the Censers, in the case of Corah.

Thou seest that Christ, who would not Peter should strike to re­scue him, his Maister from violence, yet he himselfe strikes to free the Temple from Sacrolege, and thou canst not think that Christ stroke this day to preserve, what he would abolish the next day, the Sancti­on of the Temple.

Dee but consider that of Ananias and Saphirah, and thou wilt conclude, that the Devoting any thing to God, is under the Gospell, a sanctifying it to the Lord, and the withdrawing it, must then be Sa­criledge, which was Ananias sinne, agreed by all Diviner, and Ju­nius in his notes upon it saith, predium Consecrâssent Ecclesiae, they had Consecrated it to the Lord; to conclude, thou canst not violate or irreverently use a Church or Temple, but thou must disrationate S ^t. Pauls argument, who diswades the pollution of thy Body, because it is the Temple of the holy Ghost.

Thou mayst observe our Law books to have held Tythes due by divine right, our Parliaments in their Statutes too, have acknowled­ged Tythes due to God and holy Church and this both before & after the Statutes of Dissolution; & that at this day the Law reckons tythes of impropriate, as well as of presentative Churches to be Ecclesiast­ique things, and if this will not perswade a restitution of such as thou hast, yet let it disswade a reception of more: For I know thou would'st not buy a Title litigious between thee and thy neighbour; and why wilt thou that which (at best) is questionable between thee and thy God, that must judge the Title, and in a Court where thou canst have no advocate but his Sonne, whom thou would'st disin­herit.

But the destruction of Corah perswades more with the Isralites, then the soft voyee of Moses, and such Oratory may take thee, Hell hath frighted some to Heaven; view then the insuccesse of Sacrile­gious persons in all ages, that will prevaile with thee, for had Corah and his Complices been visited after the visitation of other men, thou and I, nay perhaps the whole Congregation of Israell, would have beleived what they said is truth, it sounded so like reason, and appro­ved what they did as pious, it looked so like Religion, but their end [Page]otherwise inform'd them, and better instructed us: I will not trou­ble thee with presidents of forraign Nations, as Bohemia, the Pala­tinat, and Germany, where under colour of Reformation, the ruine of Monasteries, and Religious Houses, mightily inriched for the present both publique and private Coffers, and now the Ravenous War hath both exhausted the wealth, and almost unpeopled the Country; hoc o­men Deus avertat. I will therefore tye my selfe to our owne Coun­try, and story, unhappily plentifull in miserable examples.

I will begin with William the Conquerer; In the first year of his raigne, he fires by his Normaines, S ^t Holl. fol. 7. Peters Church in Yorke. In the 4th, he rifles the Holl. fol. 8. Monasteries, and about the Speed. f. 429 Camb. But. 259. 18th year of his raigne destroyed 36 Mother Churches in Hampshire, to make his New-Forrest, takes all their Plate, all their Treasure, even the Chalices. In the Holl. 12. Speed. 428. Matt. Par. fol. 10. 13 ^th year of his raign, the Sonne out of his own loynes (Ro­bert of Normandy) Rebels against him, and in Battaile beates his Fa­ther from his Horse, wounds his Person, and (which to him is worse) his honour. About the 19 ^th year, Richard his second (but first beloved) Sonne, sporting in his Fathers New-Forrest, is there strangely killed by the goaring of a Stagge, saith Speed. 429. Speed, Camb. 259. Camden, by a pestilent Ayre. In the 20 ^th of his raigne, he burnt the City of Holl. 14. Speed. 431. Matth. Par. fol. 13. Mannts, & Church of S. Maries, with to Anchorites; and comming too nigh the flame, the heat of the fire and his Armes attracts a dissease, and his Horse leap­ing with him, breaks his Riders belly, whereof he dies, and his Body (forsaken of his Nobles and Servants) lyes three dayes neglected, af­ter by the courtesy of a Country gentleman, his Corps is brought to S ^t Speed. 434. Stephens Church in Cane in Normandy, but in the passage the Town Fires and his bearers leave him, and run to quench that, so that dead he goes not quietly to his Grave, whither brought at last is there de­nyed Buriall by one who claimed the ground as his inheritance, for­ced from him by the Duke, all Ceremonies stay untill a composition was made, and an Annuall rent (saith Daniel. 48. Daniell) paid for his Grave, in which before he could be laid, his body swelling, burst to the great annoyance of the Company, he is offensive dead and living, after­wards the towne being taken by an Enemy, his Bones, as unworthy to be inshrined in a Church, are digged up and scatrered like Chaffe before the winde, death denies him rest.

His Speed. 429. Grand-child Henry the sonne of Robert, hunting in the New-Forrest, is strucke throw the Jawes with a bough of a Tree, and like [Page] Absalom, found hanging in the thicket of an Oake. His Grandchild William (second Sonne to Robert Dake of Normandy) was made Earle of Flanders, and in a Warre against his Vncle Henry the first, received a small Speed. 462. Mat. Par. 71. Milles lat. 77. wound in his hand, and thereof dyed the last of the Conquerors Grand-children by his eldest Sonne.

Robert of Normandy, the Conquerors eldest sonne, disinherited by his Father, is taken Stow. prisoner by his brother Henry the first, who puts out both his Eyes, and after 26 yeares imprisonment, Robert Ma. Par. 73. Speed. 467. dyes starved in the Goale at Cardaffe.

William Rufus succeeded his Father in his Crowne and Curse, in his first yeare his Nobles Speed 440. Mat. Par. 14. Rebell, in his sixth, a great Famine rageth, and such a mortality, as the quick can scarce bury the dead. About the Holl. 22. Speed. 445. 19 ^th yeare of his Raigne, his Treasury is stored by sale of Cha­lices and Church-Jewells. In his 13 ^th yeare, while Sir Speed. 448. Mat. Par. 54. Cervus mag­nus cum ante eum (regem) transiret dis Rex cuidem mi liti. Wal. Tirrel. trahe Diabole. Ex­ijt ergo telum volatile, & obstante ar­bore in obli­quum reflex­um saciens per medium cordis saucia­vit qui subitò mortuus cor­ruit. Walter Tir­ret shoots at a Deare in the New-Forrest, he kills the King, (in the same place where a Church stood) who dyes ( beast like) not spea­king a word.

Mills saith, the Arrow glanced from the Deare, Speed, and Mat­thew Paris, from a Tree, and killed the King, but both agree his death to be (as his Fathers) by accident. He dead, his followers (as did his Father's) leave his body and fled; his Funeralls are as his Fa­thers interrupted, for his Mat. Par. ib. Speed 449. Corps were laid in a Colyers Court drawne by one silly leane Beast, (saith the Book) in his passage the Cart brake in foule and filthy wayes, leaving his body a miserable spectacle, pitti­fully goared, and filthily bemired, so, as his Father, he passeth not qui­etly to his Grave, yet at last he is brought bleeding to Winchester, and there buryed unlamented. Speed saith his Speed, ibid. bones were after ta­ken up and laid in a Coffer with Canutus his bones; but there they rest not, for in December 1642. Winchester being entered by the Parliament forces, the Organes, Windows, and Chests, wherein the bones of many our ancient Kings were preserved, were by the fury of the souldiers broken, and among others his, and as his Fathers, scat­tered upon the face of the Earth, as not worthy buriall. And this was the third of the Conquerours Issue that was murdered in the New Forrest, where the Doggs licked the blood of Naboth, there they must licke the blood of Ahab, where the sacriledge was com­mitted, must be the place of the punishment.

Hugh Earle of Shrewsbery 11 ^th. Wil. Rusin commanding against [Page] [...] [Page] [...] [Page]the Welchmen in Anglesey, kenneled his Doggs in the Church of S. Frydance, where in the morning they were found madd, the Earle shortly after fighting with the enemy, was with an Arrow shot Holl. 23. dead in the eye, the rest of his body being strangely armed.

Henry the first, the Conquerours fourth Sonne, is his brothers Suc­cessor, he had severall Children, whereof his eldest William, with his brother Richard and Sister Mary, in a calme day are M. Pa f 69. Speed 459. Holl. 41. drowned by the English shore, himselfe eating Lampreis dies on a surfet, and being opened, the stinck of his body and braines M Par. 73. Speed 467. poyson his Physitions, one other of his Daughters mournes her virginity in a Nunnery, and dyes Childlesse, and in the next Generation is his name forgot, Plantagi­net takes the Crowne.

It is observable, that the Conqueror, all his Sonnes and all their Sonnes, dyed untimely deaths, (unlesse thou reckonest the Lamprey Surfet of H. 2. to be naturall) & what the Fol. 20. in margine. Author notes of Nabuc. and H. 8. is also true of William the Conqueror (for in the 68. after his destroying S ^t Peters Church at Yorke, which was in his second yeare) his Name is extinct, and his Kingdome is devolved to ano­ther Nation, Speed. f. 46. that the Nor­man time, held 69 year. Plantaginet takes his Crowne, & upon search (I feare) thou shalt find very few Families (among the many thousands) in England, who enjoy their Sacrilegious possessions of Abbies and Impropriations beyond the 68 yeare, and very many that hold them not halfe the time, and none almost but with some notable misfor­tune.

I cannot omit the Sacriledge and punishment of King John, who in the 17 ^th yeare of his Raigne, among other Churches, rifled the Abbies of Hol. 194. Par. f. 287. Peterborough and Croyland; and after attempts to carry his sacrilegious wealth from Lynne to Lincolne, but passing the Wash­es, the Earth in the midst of the waters opens her mouth (as for Korah and his company) and at once swallowes up both Carts, Car­riage, and Horses, all his Treasure, all his Regalities, all his Church­spoyle, and all the Church-spoylers, not one Matt. Par fo. 287. nec pes unas eva­sit qui regi­casam nunti­aret. escapes to bring the King word; the King himselfe passes the Washe at another place, and lodges that night in Swinsteed Abbey, where the newes and sick­nesse (whereof he dyed) together met him, some say he was poysoned by a Munke of Swinsteed.

William Math Par. fo. 687. Marshall Earle of Pembrooke, the great Protecter both of King and Kingdome, having in the Irish warre forceably taken [Page]from the Bishop of Furnes two Mannors belonging to his Church, was by him much solicited to restore them; but the Earle refusing, was by the Bishop excommunicate, and so dying, was buried in the Temple Church at London. The Bishop sues to the King to returne the Lands, the King requires the Bishop to absolve the Earle, and both King and Bishop goes to the Earles grave; where the Bishop in the Kings presence used these words, Oh William, which lyes here snared in the bonds of Excommunication, if what thou hast injuriously taken from my Church, be with cempetent satisfaction restored either by the King, thy heires, or friend; I then absolve thee otherwise, I ratifie my sentence, Ʋt tuis semper peccatis involutus in inferno ma­neas condemnatus.

The King blames the Bishops rigour, and perswades the Sonnes to a restitution, but the Eldest William answered, He did not beleeve his Father to have got them unjustly, because possessions got in Warre, becomes a lawfull inheritance, and therefore if the doting old Bishop hath judged falsely, upon his owne head be the curse, my Father dyed, seized of them, and I lawfull inherit them, nor will I lessen my estate.

Which the Bishop hearing, was more grieved at the sonnes contu­macy, then the Fathers injury, and going to the King, told him, Sir, what I have said, stands immutable; the punishment of Malefactors is from the Lord. And the curse written in the Psalmes, will fall heavy upon Earle William, in the next Generation shall his name be forgot, and his sonnes shall not share the blessing of increase and multiply, and some of them shall dye miserable deaths, and the inheritance of all be dispersed and scattered, and all this my Lord, O King, you shall see even in your dayes.

With what spirit the Bishop spake it, doe thou judge, for in the space of 25 yeares, all the five Sonnes of the Earle successively, according to their Birth, inherits his Earldome, and Lands, and all dye Childlesse, the name and Family is extinct, and the Lands scat­tered and dispersed; and that nothing might faile of what the Bishop foretold Matth. Par. 400. & 403. Richard his second sonne is sore wounded, and taken Pri­soner in Ireland, and there dyes of his hurts.

Matt. Par. f. 565. Aune Dom. 1241. Gilbert the third sonne justing at Hertford breaks the Reynes of his Bridle, and falling from his Horse one foot hangs in the stirrop, and he thereby dragged about the field, till rent and torne, and so by a miserable death satisfied the Curse.

But these examples are at too great a distance and not to be dis­cerned, but through the perspective of Antient History, I will therefore come nigher and view Cardinall Woolsey, who from a m ane and obscure root grew to over shaddow all the subjects of England, eminent for Wit as Learning, great in the esteeme and favour of his Prince, laden with home and Forraigne dignities, full of wealth as yeares; in briefe he was, while free from Sacriledge, the great and successefull Counsellor of his Prince, and indeed the Ca­talogue of humane blessings: but about the 17 ^th yeare of Henry the 8 ^th, Woolsey by consent and licence of the King and Pope Clement the 7 ^th, Holl. f. 891. Stow. Good. f. 67. dissolves forty small Monasteries in England, to erect two Colledges, the one in Oxford, the other in Ipswich, thou and I may think this a work of Piety, to destroy the poor Idolatrous Cells of la­sie and ignorant Monkes, to erect stately Cottages for learned and in­dustrious Divines, this God must accept, and prosper both the Act and Acter. No, thou art deceived, he that would not that thou shoul­dest doe evill, that good may come thereof, will not accept an of­fering commenced by Sacriledge in the ruine of 40 Religious Hou­ses, Woolsey layes the foundation of his Colledges, but never sets up their Gates.

About three yeares after the King possesseth his Pallace at Good f. 104. Holl. 909. West­minster, (Whitehall,) the Great Seale is taken from him, his great wealth seised, and himselfe confined to a poore house at Assure, where he remained a time (saith God. f. 106. Godwin) without necessaries dri­ven to borrow furniture for his house, money for his expences, so as in his speech to the judges he complained, that he was driven as it were to begge his bread, from doore to doore: 21. Hen. 8. he is convi­cted in a Premunire, all his Lands and Estate seised by the Holl. 909. Good. f. 67. Good. 108. King, his Colledge at Ipswich, destroyed before built, that at Oxford receives some indowment and a new name from the King, but is never to be finished. In the 22. H. 8. at his Castle at Caywood, he is by the Earle of Holl. 915. Northumberland arrested of High Treason, and fent towards London, at Lecester the Lievtenant of the Tower met him, at whose sight he was much affrighted, and to prevent a pub­lique and ignominious death which he feared, he gave himselfe (saith Mart. 304.306. Martin) a Purge, Hist. Pont. Rom. & Card. f. 1408. Venenum recepisse, (say they that write the lives, of the Popes & Cardinalls) whereof he dyed, and was ob­scurely buried in Lecester Abby without other memory then his Sa­criledge.

The Cardinall in dissolving his forty Monasteries had used the help of five men (besides Cromwell) whereof two afterwards Good. f 67. fought a Duell, in which one is slaine, and the survivor hanged for the murther, so each dyed guilty of his own and the others blood; a third becomes Judas-like his own executioner, for throwing him­selfe into a well, he is there drowned; the fourth a great Richman (to whom nothing is so terrible as poverty) lives to begge his bread from doore to doore; the fift, a Bishop, cruelly murthered in Ireland, by Stow. a­bridg. f. 498. Thomas Fitz. Garret, sonne to the Earle of Kildare.

I might here remember how Tope Clement the 7 ^th, after his vo­luntary consent to destroy poore Religious Houses, is himselfe for­ced out of his Speed. fol. 996. Hist. Pont. Rom. & Card. stately Pallace at Rome, and being besieged at his Ca­stle of S ^t Angelo, is there constrained to eate Asses Flesh, and taking such conditions as a Victorious Enemy would give, is driven to plun­der his own Church to pay his Enemies Army, and at last dyes wret­chedly of a miserable disease: but this is Forraign, and I tyed to home examples.

Thomas Lord Audley, received the first fruits of H. 8 his Sacri­ledge, for in the 24 ^th of his Raigne, the King dissolved (by what meanes I finde not) the Priory of Christ. Church in London, and gave, saith Stow. 24. H. 8. Stow, the Church Plate & Lands to Sir Thomas Audley, who upon the dissolution of Monasteries, got that of S. James in lit­tle Walden in Essex, and made it both his Seate, and Place of his Ba­rony, and after left it to Margaret his Daughter and Heire, first mar­ried to Henry Dudley, Sonne to the Duke of Northumberland, slaine at S ^t Quintynes, and dyed without Issue, and after she was second Wife to Thomas Duke of Norfolke who had issue, Thomas Howard, created Lord Walden, being his Grandfathers Title, and to credit his Mothers Inheritance upon the Scite of the Monastery, he began a goodly Audly Inne. Structure (but attended with the fate of sacrilegious foun­dations) for that much impaires him, and he never perfects that, he met also with other misfortunes, which betiding so Noble a Family, and not yet published to the World, are fitter for thy inquiry, then my Penn.

Cardinall Woolsey being dead, his servant Cromwell succeeds him in his Court, Favour, and Fate, as their birthes were alike obsure, their rise, alike eminent, so alike miserable were their downefall, wonder not at the first part of their fortune, but contemplate the [Page]later; Policy in Kings, preferres able men to high places and honour, for authority, power, and esteeme of the Persons, advantages their actions; of which wise Princes reap the Harvest, the Actors get but gleanings, while the King makes Cromwell a Baron, his Seere­tary, Lord Privy Seale, his Vicegerent in Ecclesiasticis, he doth but faciliate his owne great work of dissolving Speed. 10.6. Monasteries, a businesse wherein Cromwell was too much versed, and unhappily too suc­cessefull. Report spake him a great Stickler for the Protestant Re­ligion, and that although the Gospell had lost a Pillar in Queene Anne Bullen, yet was another raised in Speed 1016.92. Cromwell, for he had caused the Bible to be read, the Creed, Pater Noster, and Ten Commande­ments, to be learned in English, and expounded in every Good. f. 146. Church, some thought that Cromwell hoped to bury Popery in the ruines of the Abbyes, and thereby give the better growth to the more pure Protestant Religion; how pious soever his intents were in reforming Religion, yet was not the manner of effecting them, it seemes, ac­ceptable to Heaven, for by Parliament in the 31 of H. 8. he per­fected his Dissolutions, and in April, in the 32 of H. 8. he is made Holl. 950. Earle of Essex, and Lord Great Chamberlaine of England, high in the Kings favour and esteeme, yet instantly, while sitting at the Councell-Table, he is suddainly apprehended and sent to the Tower, whence he comes not forth, untill to his Goodw. fol. 174. Execution, for in Parlia­ment he is presently accused of Treason and Heresie, and unheard, is attainted. Some do observe that he Sir Edward Cook, in his Iurisdiction of Courts, f. 37. saith, that Sir Tho. Gaudy, then a grave Judge of the Kings Bench, after told him, that Crom­vvell was com­manded to attend the Chiefe Iustices, to know whether a man that was forth comming (as being in Prison) might be attainted of high Treason by Parliament, and not called to answer. The Judges ansvvered, It was a dangerous question, and they thought a Parliament would never doe it. But being by the expresse command [...]ment of the King and they pressed by the said Earle (Crom­well Earle of Essex) to ansvver directly, said, That if he was attainted by Parliament, it could not be questioned, whether the Party was called to answer or not; but the Party, against whom this was intended, (said he) was never questioned, but that the first man that suffered by that procee­ding, was the said Cromvvell himselfe. procured that Law of Attaint­ing by Parliament, without hearing the Party, and that himselfe was the first, that by that Law dyed unheard, for in July following, he was thereupon beheaded.

Next consider, that King Henry the eight, who ingrossed Sa­criledge, and retailed it to Posterity, what the Pope permitted Wool­sey (saith Cambden) H. 8. with the assent of his Parliament, per­mits himselfe; the first to catch the Pope, pretends charity, and good [Page]workes ( Colledges shall be built) the later to winne the Layety in Parliament was offered with the revenue of religious houses to main­tain 40 M. Howes his Preface to Stowes An­nals. Sir Ed Cooks Jurisdiction of Courts. fol. 44. Earles, 60 Barons, 300 Knights, 40000 Souldiers, and for ever ease the Subject of Taxes, and Subsidies, both obtained their de­sires in dissolving, neither perform the ends promised. H. 8 ^th had first furthered Woolsey in his dissolution, and thereby found the way to ruine all the rest.

In the Vid. the se­verall Acts. 27. H. 8.31. 27 ^th year of his raign, by Parliament he dissolves the lesser houses & in the H. 8. 31 ^th the great ones, in the 37. H. 8. c. 4. 37 ^th all the Colledges, Hospitalls, and Free-chappells, except some few, and possesseth all their lands, goods, and treasure. For the first halfe of his Raigne, (while free from Sacriledge) he was honoured of his Allies abroad, loved of his subjects at home, successefull in his actions, and at peace, as it were, with God and Man; but after his Sacriledge (as in disfa­vour with both) his Subjects Rebell, first in Suffolke, after in Lin­colne, Somerset, Yorkeshire, and the Northerne parts, as also in Ire­land, such dearth of Bread and Corne in England (the Grainery of Christendome) that many dye starved, which hath not been since the 40 of H. 3. And now (like Saul forsaken of God) he falls from one sinne to another. Queen Katherine (the Wise of his Bosome for 20 years) must now be put away, the marriage declared voyd, and he desirous of sonnes, rather then Pillars to bear his name, marryes the Lady Speed. fol. 1040. Anne Bullen, and by her had the Lady Elizabeth, & in the 27 ^th of his Raigne, a sonne borne dead (to his great affliction) the 19 of May, 1536. The 28 ^th of his Raigne she is beheaded, and the next day he Speed. 1039. marryes the Lady Jane Seymore, who being with Child by him, she (nature unwilling to give birth to the sonne of such a Fa­ther) wants strength to bring forth▪ the Father Commands Speed. 1040. her in­seition, and the Mother the 12 of Octob. dyes to give a short life to her sonne, and the fixt of Ianuary, in the 31 ^th year, the King weds the Lady Anne Speed. 1039. Ibid. of Cleve, and in July after is divorced: and in Au­gust following he marries the Lady Katherine Howard, and in De­cember in the 33 of his Raign she is attainted, and dyes on the block; and in July in the 35 ^th of his Raigne, he marryes the Lady Kathe­rine Parre. Here's Wives enough to have peopled another Canaan, Ibid. had he had Jacobs blessing; but his three last are childlesse, and the Children of the two first are by Statute declared 28. H. 8. c. [...] illegitimate, and not inheritable to the Crowne.

But himselfe growing aged and infirme, hopelesse of more Chil­dren, and not willing to venture the support of his Crowne and Fa­mily, upon a single and so weake a propt, as was his Sonne Prince Edward. In the 35. H. 8. c. 1. 35 year of his Raign he intailes the Crowne upon his Children, after his death they all successively sway his Scepter, and all dye Childlesse, and his Family is extinct, and like Herostratus his name not mentioned, but with his Crimes. His Crowne happily descends to the issue of his eldest Sister, and a Forraign Nation (like Cyrus his) fill his Throne.

Among the many great and active men ayding H. 8. in his disso­lution of Monasteries, & receiving great reward out of his Church­spoyle, Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolke was the cheife, he had four wives, his first the daughter of Nevile, Marqueste Mounteagle, who dyed without issue. By His second wife he had one Daughter, mar­ryed to Stanly, Lord Mountague, but dyed without issue. His third wife was Mary Queen Dowager of France, and Sister to Henry 8 ^th. by her he had one sonne, Henry, and two Daughters, Francis and E­lianor. His sonne was created Earle of Lincolne, but dyed a Child; his Daughter Francis marryed Gray, Marquesse Dorset, and after Duke of Suffolke, who had one sonne Henry who dyed young, Jane Gray his eldest Daughter marryed to Speed. 1111. Holl. 1099. Guilford Dudley, and was with him Beheaded about 5 Mary. Katharine his second Daugh­ter was marryed to Edward Lord Seymore, Eldest Sonne to the Duke of Somerset, Mary his third Daughter marryed to Martin Keyes, and dyed without Issue. God. f. 244. Ellenor, second Daughter to Charles Brandon, marryed to Clifford Earle of Cumberland a gal­lant Family, lately extinct.

The Queen Dowager dying, Charles Brandon Marryed the Daughter and Heire of the Lord Willoughby of Eresby, who inrich­ed him with two sonnes, Henry and Charles: but the Duke dying a­bout the 36. of H. 8. left his Title and Estate to his sonne Henry, who enjoyed it untill 5. E. 6. then dying of the Sweating sicknesse, left them to his brother Holl. f. 1066. God. f. 244 Speed. 1100. Charles, who only lived to be his brothers Heire, and Duke of Suffolke; and the same day, and of the same Di­sease which his brother dyed, and with him the Title, Name, and Family of Brandon.

The Statute of H. 8. c. 13. gives the Monastery of Sibeton in Suffolke, to the Duke of Norfolke, and the Chauntry of Cobham in [Page] Kent, to the Lord Cobham, since which time how heavy the hand of Justice hath fallen upon these Noble Families, informe thy selfe from our Annalls.

Consider next the Duke of Somerset, Protector to Edward the sixth, Godwin in his Annalls saith, Godwin. fo. 252. He was a just and pious man, a zealous Reformer of Religion, a faithfull preserver of the King and Common-wealth, save that with the common Error of the time, his hands were deep in sacriledge. In the first yeare of Stat. 1. E. 6. c. 14. Edward the 6 ^th, he procured the Dissolution of some Chantryes, Free-Chappells, and Hospitalls, left undissolved by H. 8. In the third yeare, he permits (if not procures) his Brother Thomas Lord Seymore, untri­ed, (saith Godwin. fo. 227. Goodwin) to be attainted by Parliament, and shortly after, (not unblamed) signed a Warrant for his Execution, where­upon his Brother lost his Head, and he a friend.

The same yeare his zeale to Reformation, addes new sacriledge to his former; for he defaces some part of S ^t Pauls Stowes Au­nalls. Church, con­verts the Charnell-house, and a Chappell by it, into dwelling Hou­ses, and demolishing some Monuments there, he turnes out the old bones to seek new Sepulchers in the Fields: next he destroyes the Steeple, and part of the Church of S ^t Johns of Jerusalem, by Smith­field, Ibid. and with the stone beginneth to build his house in the Somerset House. Strand, but as the leprosie with the Jewes, with us the curse of Sacriledge, cleaves to the Consecrated stone, and they become insuccessefull, so as the Builder doth not finish his House, nor doth his Sonne inherit it. In the fifth yeare of Edward the 6 ^th, the Duke was indicted, and found guilty of Felony, which was (saith Hollinshead) upon a Sta­tute made the third and fourth of Edward the 6 ^th, and since repea­led, whereby to attempt the death of a Privy Councellour, is Fe­lony, ( Godwin saith) upon the Statute of 3. H. 7. but erroniously that not extending to Barons; it is observable that this Law was but the yeare before passed by himselfe, and himselfe the only man that ever suffered by it. The Statute being since repealed; Godwin. fo. 247. Godwin observes and wonders that he omitted to pray the benefit of his Booke, as if Heavens would not that he that had spoyled his Church, should be saved by his Clergy; and it is observable that in the Raigne of Edw. 6 ^th, none of the Nobility dyes under the Rod of Justice, but the Duke of Somerset and his Brother the Lord Admirall, all the Ʋncles the King had, and their Crimes comparatively were not haynous.

Did these men dye the common death of all men, or are they [Page]visited after the manner of all men? if not, beleeve they provoked the Lord, and consider, that if they sinned in the first prophanation, thou that continuest their act, can'st not be innocent.

Here thou mayest see God observing a Decorum in his punish­ment of Sacriledge, the Issue of the Conqueror are strangely (al­most miraculously) slaine in the New-Forrest, where their Father committed the Sacriledge. Woolsey, that by the Kings licence and power, had destroyed 40 Monasteries, is by the Kings power rui­ned, and at last driven to seek entertainment, and an obscure grave in a Monastery; his Agents that had thrust themselves into his sacri­legious imployment, are themselves their owne Executioners, guilty of their owne Blouds.

Pope Clement the 7 ^th, that willingly permitted the spoyle of 40 poore Monasteries, to erect two Rich Colledges, is himselfe ne­cessitated to Plunder his owne rich Church, to preserve his poore decayed Person.

The Lord Cromwell, and Duke of Somerset, commit their Sa­criledge by Acts of Parliament, and by Acts of Parliament they perish every one by the Sword, wherewith he strikes.

And since in the Acts of Parliament for dissolution of Monaste­ries, the whole Kingdome was involved either by their Personall consent as Barons, or their implicite consent in the representative body in the House of Commons, we have just cause to feare and pray, least God still observing his order, and turning our Artillery upon our selves, should make use of a Parliament (whereby our Fathers robbed him) to destroy us their Children.

I have here given thee instance only of such as were the first Actors in the Violation and subversion of Monasteries, least there­fore thou shouldest thinke the crime and punishment endeth with them. Consider with me the condition and successe both of our Common-wealth in generall, and of Private Families in particular before the Dissolutions, and observe them after, and we shall find just cause to thinke there is a cursed thing amongst us; For while our Religious houses stood, they (imploying their Revenues accord­ing to their Donors direction) opened wide their Hospitable gates to all Commers, and without the charge of a Reckoning, welcom­med all Travailers, untill the Statute of 1. Edw. 1. restrained and limited them, and casting their Bread upon the Waters, they relee­ved the Neighbouring poore without the care of the two next Justi­ces [Page]of Peace, or the curse of a Penall Law; while they stood, the younger Children both of Lords and Commons were provided; for without the ruine of their Fathers Estate, or (almost) a charge to their Parents, and not left (as now) often to an unworthy, ne­cessitous, and vitious course of life: we had then no new Lawes, (the off-spring of new Vices) to erect Houses of correction for lewd and Vid. 43. E­liz. c. 3. vagrant Persons, to provide stock to bind poore Children Prentises, or to make weekly Leavyes, to maintaine the weake, lame, indigent, and impotent People, to our new charge of an An­nuall Subsidie at least, for these were provided for, those preven­ted by the charity of our Religious Houses, and then the Families and Estates of our Nobility and Gentry continued long through very many descents. But when covetous sacriledge got the upper hand of superstitious charity, and destroyed all our Monasteries, all our Religious Houses, the preservers of Learning, both Divine and Humane, by their Learned workes and laborious Manuscripts, the suppressors of Vice, by their strict, regular, and exemplar life: though some, nay many among them Sonnes of Ely, made the offerings of the Lord to stinck before the People. Then all their Houses, all their Lands, Appropriations, Tithes, and Oblations, [...] Par. Church­es 9232. Cam. Brit fo. 162. 9284. where­of impropri­ate. 3845. comming into the Kings hands, Policy (to prevent a restitution) distributes them among the Layety, some the King exchanges, some he sells, others he gives away; and by this meanes, (like the dust flung up by Moses) they presently disperse all the Kingdome over, and at once becomes curses both upon the Families and Estates of the owners; they often vitiously spending on their pri­vate occasions, what was piously intended for publique Devotion; insomuch that within Twenty yeares next after the Dissolution, more of our Nobility and their Children have been attainted, and dyed under the Sword of Justice, then did from the Conquest, to the Dissolution, being almost five hundred yeares; so as if thou examine the List of the Barons in the Parliament of the 27. H. 8. thou shalt find very few of them, whose Sonne doth at this day inherit his Fathers Title and Estate, and of these few, many to whom the Kings favour hath restored what the rigorous Law of attainder took both Dignity, Lands, and Posterity. And doublesse the Commons have drunke deep in this Cup of deadly Wine, but they being more numerous, and lesse eminent, are not so obvious to observation.

Thou hast seen the insuccesse of H. 8. and his Family, and mayest observe his sacrilegious wealth not to thrive better.

M ^r Cam [...]den. fo. 163. Cambden in his Britannia, saith, that in the time of H. 8. after the Dissolution of the lesser Houses, there were remaining 645 Monasteries, ( Monuments of our Ancestors piety) built to the honour of God, and propagation of the Christian Faith, Lear­ning, and the releefe of the Poore, as also 96 Colledges, (besides those in the Ʋniversity) 110 Hospitalls, and 2374 Chantryes and Free-Chappells. All which, except some few Colledges, Free-Chappells, and Chantryes, with all their Lands and Wealth, came to H. 8. the Annuall value of the Lands then being very Vast, their Goods and Personall Estate exceeding great, besides the Plun­der of Shrine inestimable, when the Pearle, Gold, and pretious stones of one Shrine filled two Godwin. fo. 159. Chests so as each took eight strong men (saith M ^r Cambden) to carry it.

And although the dissolving of Chantryes, Colledges, and Free-Chappels, in the 37. of H. 8. his Raigne did not yeeld him a Crop equall to the Vintage of his former Reformations; yet was his Har­vest better then the Gleanings of Ruth, though among full sheaves. Speed fol 1011. Speed saith he had 12 Barrells filled with Gold and silver, which Cardinall Woolsey provided for the Pope, Godwin remembers 118840 ^l he had of the Clergy for their Fine in a Premunire, be­sides the great benefit of Forfeitures that accrued by the attainders of many great men, and the multitude of Lones, Taxes, and Subsi­dies, he received from his Subjects, being more (saith M ^r Cambden, and M ^r Howes) then all the Kings had in 500 yeares before; yet all this accesse of wealth, added to that Masse of 5300000 ^l left him in ready mony by his Father, as appeares by the Close-Roll of 3. H. 8. (saith Sir Edw. Cook. Juris­diction of Courts. fol. 198. Cooke) could not preserve him from want, (the certaine attendant on sacrilegious wealth) wherewith he is so sore pressed, that about the 36 yeare of his Raigne, of all the Kings of England, he alone, Coynes not only base Non tantum stanneam cu­prinam (que) sed coreaceam pe­cuaiam solus omni [...] regum Ang procude­rs coactus est. Tinne and Coppar, but Lether mony.

And it is observed that since the accession of Abbies and Impro­priations to the Crowne, even the Crowne Lands (which formerly have been thought sufficient to support the ordinary charge of the Crowne,) are now so wasted (absit invidia dictis) as they will scarce defray the ordinary charge of the Kings houshold. And while such bitter streames flow from sacrilegious Wells, though digged by [Page] Kings Subjects, that fin their Cisternes from thence, cannot expect to drinke sweet Waters.

Reynerus Apostolatus Benedict. in Ang. fo. 227. & 228. tells us, and upon good credit, that at the dissolution H. 8. divided part of the Church spoyles among 260 Gent. of Fami­lies in one part of England, and at the same time Thomas Duke of Norfolke, rewards the service of Twenty of his Gentlemen, with the grant of 40 ^l a yeare out of his own Inheritance, and that while not sixty of the Kings Donees, had a Sonne owning his Fathers Estate, every one of the Dukes, hath the sonne of his own Loynes, Flouri­shing in his Fathers Inheritance, and that he could have set downe their severall names had conveniency required it.

Thou maist here expect I should observe the ill successe of parti­cular private men, possessors and owners of Impropriations and Scites of Religious Houses, but to set downe all, would make the porch much bigger then the House, a disproportion, I feare, among other Errors I am already guilty of, and to set downe but a few, would displease thee, while I discover the nakednesse only of thee, thy Pa­rents or Friends. But doe thou, and let every man observe, how of­ten Impropriations and Religious houses; in a short time change and shift their owners, like the Arke not resting, either with the men of Sam. [...]. Ashdod, Gath, nor Eckron, but wearies them out with Emrods, and Mice; curses upon their persons & Estates, but returned to Beth­shemeth and Kiriahjearim to its own place, to the Priest and Levite, not only Obed-Edom, but even all Israel is blessed.

And that thou maist neither doubt, nor yet wonder, at the insuc­cesse of Sacrilegious Persons, first weighing what David prayed a­gainst those that did but say, Psalm. 83. Let us take to our selves the houses of God into our possession; next remember, the many and grievous Cur­ses imprecated by Founders of Religious Houses, and those seconded by their spirituall Mother the 17. E. 1. c. 6. Church, she injoyned it by the natu­rall Parent, in severall Acts of Parliament, and canst thou hope good from their blessings, and not feare evill from their Curses? If thou thinkest the Founders Idolatrous, the Church Popish, and there­fore their curses not regardable, let that in Ezra. 6. Ezra rectify thy Er­ror, where thou shalt finde Darius finishing what Cyrus began, the second Temple at Jerusalem, then restoring what Nebuchadnezzar had taken, all the Golden and Silver Vessell, then he gives Cattell, Corne, Wine, Oyle, &c. for sacrifices, and addes this curse upon the violators, Ezra. 6. [...] And the God that hath caused his name to dwell there, destroy all, King and People, that put to their hand, to alter and de­stroy [Page]this house of God, which is at Jerusalem, there thou maist ob­serve both an Idolater giving, and a Heathen cursing, yet is his guift acceptable, and his curse prevalent, for thou shalt find Antiochus 1. Mac. 6. Epiphanes his Armies destroyed, himselfe dejected and complaining even to death, of his great tribulation and misery, acknowledgeth that they befall him for his Evill done at Jerusalem, for he took thence the Golden Altar, the Table of the Shew-bread, the vessells of Gold and silver, as thou maist read in the 1. Chap. 1. Mac. 1.1.11.12. Mac. and himselfe dying of a most loathsome disease. And shortly after his sonne Mac. 7.4. Antiochus Eupater is slaine, and in the same Chapter thou maist observe Nicanor threatning to burne up the Temple, and pre­sently he first, & after, all his Army is slain, not one escapeth, the head and right hand of Nicanor, which had been lift up against the 2. Mac. 3. Tem­ple, is cut off & hung up towards Jerusalem. Heliodorus is sent to Ieru­salem by Seleucus King of Asia, to take the Treasure out of the Tem­ple, and while in the Temple disposing the treasure, he is smitten of God, and ready to dye, untill Onias the High-Priest, at the intreaty of Friends, offers sacrifice for him, and obtaines his life, and Helio­dorus returnes to the King, and declares what befell him, the King, yet thirsting for the Money of the Temple, would send another, and demanding of Heliodorus whom; he answered, thy enemy or a 2. Mac. 5. Tray­tor, for if he escape with life, he shall be sure to be scourged, so cer­tain is the punishment of Sacriledge.

2. Ma. 8.33. Calisthenes attempting to burne the Temple, set fire on the gates, and after is himselfe burnt by the Iewes.

2. Mac. 4.39. Lysimacus, called the Church-Rober, commits many 2. Mac. 4.2. saeriledges by the instigation of Menelaus; is slain by the 2. Mac. 13.5678. treasury of the Tem­ple, and his instigator, is by Antiochus put to a strange Death. For in Berea was a Tower 50 Cubites high, full of Ashes, with a Round in­strument that went downe into the Ashes, wherein they put Sacri­legious persons, and Menelaus (saith the Text) having committed sinnes against the Altar, whose Fire and Ashes are holy, receives his Death by Ashes, not having a Buriall in the Earth.

Alcimus even in his Act of Sacriledge, while pulling downe the 1. Ma. 9.55. Temple walls, is stuck with a Palsie and dyes in torment.

Jason that burnt the Porch, Demetrius and other Sacrilegious per­sons all fall under the single Curse of one Heathen: and doest thou think to scape so many Curses of a Christian Church which twice a yeare (being so directed by Parliament) curses the violators of Churehes, and Church Liberties.

But if these judgements and examples cannot fright thy cove­tous soule from Sacriledge, but thy desires of being rich sway thee, then let thy provident good husbandry so far prevaile with thee, as not to meddle with God's and the Levites portion, the Church pa­trimony; but even out of Temporall and Wordly respects for the good of thee, thy Children, Neighbours, and posterity forbear (what pre­tences soever are made) the dissolving Bishopricks and Deaneries.

Remember that of all the specious pretences and large promises made both by Woolsey and H 8. upon their severall Dissolutions, not any one of them is performed; Woolsey neither settles his Col­ledges, nor H. 8. ease his Subjects of Loanes, Taxes and Impropria­tions, maintaines no Souldiers for defence of the Kingdome, nor disposes the Lands, as the Statute directs, to the honour and pleasure of Almighty God, nor indeed to the profit of the Kingdome; if thou weighest the profit and conveniency the Publique had before, with what they have now, the burdens and charges that we have since groaned under, and formerly not knowne; but that evill is only to be lamented, not cured, may we happily prevent the like for the future.

The Lands and Revenue of Bishopricks & Deaneries, clogg'd with long Leases under small Rents, can give but little help in Pay of the Vast Publique Debt; and that with greater damage to the Common­wealth, then the draine of private Purses can be, for this only wea­kens particulars, and for the present; that ruines generally, and for ever for the Priesthood is not with us (as with the Jewes) intayled upon Aaron and his Sonnes: but thine, mine, his, the sons of Nobles, Gentlemen, and Pesants, while all alike able, are all alike interested in the Churches preferment, which in our Nation is the sole Spure, the only reward for Learning, and happily provides for those which otherwise would be burdens to their Parent, mischiefes to the Kingdome, while Colledges, Bishopricks, and Deaneries, conti­nue, thou and thy Neighbour continuest thy Lease at small Rents, thy Sonnes and Grand-child renues it at easie Fines, and by the ac­customed charity of thy Ecclesiastick Landlord, thy continued Lease, not clogged with Liveries, Primer seisins, and Wardships (the curse of Tenures) equalls, if not betters an Inheritance.

But Colledges, Bishopricks, and Deaneries dissolved, their Lands, and Houses must be assigned (as were Monasteries and impropriati­ons) to this Lord or that Courtier, or to that or this Committee-man, and then thy rent (if thou beest continued Tenant) must be racked [Page]to the highest rate, 'till thou ruined by paying so great a Rent, thy Landlord, by receiving the Church-Revenue, and all wee, while under the rodde for the first, be guilty of a second Nationall Sacri­ledge; for shall we not believe this Nationall Warre and generall ru­ine, to be for a generall and Nationall sinne, which cannot be the acts of private and partisular men though infinitely multiplyed, but must proceed from the Acts of the universall Nation, and such I know none, but that Sacriledge of destroying some Churches, some Chap­pells, and robbing others of their Tythes and Indowments, 27. H. 8. 31. H. 8. which is not only connived at, but made lawfull by our Acts of Parliament, to which even every one in the whole Kingdome, by our own Law, is said to be privie and consenting, and thereby guilty of the subse­quent Sacriledge, and then doe thou judge, whether another Act for dissolution (which God prevent) will not be a steppe to another Na­tionall Sacriledge, and that to another Scourge; therefore if Hophny and Phineas have sinned, and Eli not reproved them, let them all three dye, yea in one day, for we have Text and president for that, but neither, that the order should perish.

To conclude, doe thou consider, that while we deteine Tithes from the Church, and forbid Aaron to counsell Moses, whether we trespasse not upon the Property and Liberty of the Church, and shall not God visit for these things, when thou with thy Sword maintainest against thy Brother (If not against thy King) thy Property of Goods, and Liberty of Subject? But that God may withdraw his Visitations, and thou sheath thy Sword, and the King receive the Allegiance and Tribute due from His Subjects, His Subjects their Protection and Liberties from the King; May King and Subject agree to returne God and his Church what is due to them, and may the first Acter, in restoring God his right, be by God first restored to his owne right.

Other things (and these more perfectly) I would have observed to thee, had not London and Oxford, the Records and I been at so great a distance. Let therefore thy goodnesse excuse, what is either omitted or mistaken by not viewing the Records, and for my other Errors, I beg thy pardon, as I would have done for medling with this subject, fitter for a Pulpit then my Pen; but I have often heard it slighted from the Levite, as Preaching his owne profit, and therefore thought it might take better (though worse delivered) from a Lay hand, no wayes concerned by it, but in the generall Calamity of our Common-wealth. Farewell.