The apology of the Church of England, and an epistle to one Seignior Scipio…

and that if now ⟨p. 160⟩they should fall to the Exercise of Justice, all these must be restored to the right owners, which they possessed so unjustly; and so they should be reduced to their Shepherds Cottages, and poor cold Sheds, which was all they had at first. And so now these, if they should lay aside their Dissimulation, and act sincerely, and do their Duty, and give every one what was truly their own, they must then return to the Staff and Scrip again, to Sobriety and Modesty, to the Labours and Duty of a Bishop; for they have heard what St. Augustin said, Bishop, is a Name of Labour, and not of Honour: and that they were no Bishops who sought more to be over the People, than to do them good, and therefore they see that the spreading of the Gospel is of less advantage to them than to any other men in the World; for if ever they should entertain a thought of reforming, they are undone, and therefore now they fill the World with Tumults and Disorders; as Demetrius the Silver-Smith heretofore did, when he saw his Trade was going down. And this is the true cause why Councils are now called, and the Bishops and Abbots are assembled; for this seems now the cunningest way, to prolong the time for some few years, by suspending the minds of men with Expectation: and in the interim, many things (as is usual) may happen, a War may break out, some of the Princes may dye, and the strange Inclinations of Men towards the Reformation, may be blunted by delays, and languish by degrees, and in the mean time (as one said) I hope something will be done.

and that if now ⟨p. 160⟩they should fall to the Exercise of Justice, all these must be restored to the right owners, which they possess'd so unjustly; and so they should be reduced to their Shepherds Cottages, and poor cold Sheds, which was all they had at first. And so now these, if they should lay aside their Dissimulation, and act sincerely, and do their Duty, and give every one what was truly their own, they must then return to the Staff and Scrip again, to Sobriety and Modesty, to the Labours and Duty of a Bishop; for they have heard what St. Augustin said, Bishop, is a Name of Labour, and not of Honour: and that they were no Bishops who sought more to be over the People, than to do them good, and therefore they see that the spreading of the Gospel is of less advantage to them than to any other men in the World; for if ever they should entertain a thought of reforming, they are undone, and therefore now they fill the World with Tumults and Disorders; as Demetrius the Silver-Smith heretofore did, when he saw his Trade was going down. And this is the true cause why Councils are now call'd, and the Bishops and Abbots are assembled; for this seems now the cunningest way, to prolong the time for some few years, by suspending the minds of men with Expectation: and in the interim, many things (as is usual) may happen, a War may break out, some of the Princes may dye, and the strange Inclinations of Men towards the Reformation, may be blunted by delays, and languish by degrees, and in the mean time (as one said) I hope something will be done.