[1] For he tooke from the crowne (as Iohn Ma|ior wryteth in his Chronicles) lx. thouſand poũd Scottiſh of yearely reuenues,Io. Maior. Lx.M. pounds in lands giuen to the church. which he endowed thoſe Abbayes with. But if king Dauid had conſidered the maner how to nouriſh true religi|on, he had neyther endowed Churches with ſuch riches, nor buylt them with ſuch royall magni|ficence:Superfluous poſſeſsions of the Church. for the ſuperfluous poſſeſſions of the Church (as they are now vſed) are not only oc|caſion to euill Prelates to liue in moſte inſolent pompe and corruption of life, but alſo an aſſured net to drawe all maner of gold and ſiluer out of [page 265] the realme: howbeit leſſe domage would follow if the Abbays were at the prouiſion of their ordi|naries without any diſpenſation from theyr ha|bite and religion, and the ordinaries to be placed and admitted by their prymate without exemp|tion, and the prymate by the councel prouincial: For within theſe .lxx. yeares ſayth the tranſlator of Hector Boetius his Chronacles (meaning from the time that he wrote, [...]. whiche was aboute the yeare of our redemption .1530.) no benefices at all were fetched from Rome, [...]fices fet|ched from Rome. ſaue onely Bi|ſhoprickes.