in these times may behold as in a glasse the vilenesse of their sinne and the great displeasure of God against them for it If they look into the Scripture or later Histories and daily experience We read 2 Chron 36. 14 15. And the Lord God of their Fathers sent unto them by his Messengers rising up betimes and sending them because he had compassion on his house and on his dwelling place But they mocked the Messengers of God and despised his words and misused his Prophets untill the wrath of God arose against his people till there was no remedy Therefore he brought upon them the King of the Chaldees who slow their young men with the sword in the house of their Sanctuary c. And Ahab and Jezabel persecuted the Prophets of God but dogs licked up the bloud of Ahab after he was slain and dogs did eat persecuting Jezabel The children which did mock and miscall Elisha the Prophet and Minister of God were two and fourty of them torn in pieces by wilde Bears 2 Kings 2. They were the children of Persecutors of Gods Ministers and spake their parents language The Persecutors of the Prophet Jeremiah said Come let us devise devices against Jeremiah let us smite him with the tongue Jer. 18. 18. Therefore God delivered up their children to the famine and their bloud was poured out by force of the sword Those that persecuted our Saviour the great Shepherd and did perswade people not to hear him preach saying He is mad and hath a Devil why hear ye him Joh. 10. 20. and would stone him though he spake as never man spake and did works which never man did yet they having begun to persecute him did sinne against the light of their own conscience and against the holy Ghost to make good their begun acts and hold up their reputation and did persecute him to the death What became of those persecutors Is not their judgement eternal in hell for their unpardonable sinne Alexender the Coppersmith and other Persecutors of the Apostles have their woful reward though they clamoured and articled against St Paul as a pestilent fellow a mover of sedition c. These things are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come and teach Ministers now for their comfort what Christ spake Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you for so persecuted they the Prophets that were before you And if they have persecuted me they will also persecute you But some men will not be warned by other mens harms and examples therefore they are made examples to others Our late Bishops and their Adherents are a rare and remarkable president of Gods Judgments on Persecutors of faithfull Ministers which sin made them ripe for their deserved downfall But their Persecutions ended at the beginning of the long Parliament Then the iron teeth of those beasts were knockt out and the iron yoaks which they had put on Ministers necks were all pull'd off But when the Ecclesiastical Courts were taken away the people took lawlesse liberty to themselves to put as it were a hogs yoak on Ministers necks and did persecute faithful Ministers sent unto them as sheep among wolves Oh what woorying and wearying out most precious Ministers by word and deed by tearing and tugging lyings and slanderings revilings and defraudings and withholding their maintenance by confederacy And these Persecutions especially in point of maintenance continue very great at this day all the Nation over people being encouraged hereunto for want of better Laws for Tything and of more speedy execution of justice according to the Laws that are in force Many hundreds of faithfull Ministers in England may justly write such books against their Persecutors to awaken the Christian Magistrate and warn Persecutors against whom their cries are gone up to Heaven and have brought down vengeance upon very many And their complaints and moans by words are daily heard and may be read some in print and in their Bils against thousands in the Court of Exchequer where relief is certain but so long waited for that in the mean time the poor Ministers and their families perish And oft-times the parties or witnesses or both die or the Tyth-robber breaks and runs the Countrey which is usuall before the Cause come to hearing I could shew Persecutors many very fresh examples of their sinne and of punishments on people that have lately persecuted faithfull Ministers in several Parishes as that of Mr E. K. of Dover in 1644. who came out of his seat and joyned in the hurliburly made in St James Church against Mr Vincent a godly able Minister who was sent thither by the Parliament and persecuted him otherwise But the Persecutor persecuted himself a little after by laying violent hands on himself and was a self-executioner by hanging himself This and many such bleeding examples may be produced touching the hand of God against such Persecutors enough to fill volumes But I shall now only instance in the Persecutors of Mr Richard Culmer heretofore of Magdalen Colledge in Cambridge Master of Arts and now Minister of Mynster in the Isle of Thanet in the County of Kent whose Persecutors are now very few living in that Parish but mighty and numerous elswhere even those of the Popish Prelatical and Cavalier Party that never saw him because of his activenesse against their Cause They have printed two libellous Books against him and often articled against him and raised Persecution against him to the shedding of his bloud c. as the ensuing History shews And to have their wils against him if it be possible to ruine him they have lately petitioned against him to his Highnesse himself and since publickly boasted against him in their confidence now to prevail against him which hath caused this Apology to be published in his just defence and for vindication of the truth This man after he left the free Grammer-school at Canterbury being senior of all that School then consisting of above two hundred Scholars in the time of Mr Roger Raven the King of Schoolmasters as he was deservedly styled at his Funeral an eminent godly learned yet persecuted and silenced Minister lived about eight years a Student in Magdalen-Colledge in Cambridge And being afterwards Minister of Goodnestone in East-Kent was persecuted from thence by Arch-bishop Laud only for refusing to publish the Kings Book for Sabbath-recreations See the History of that Arch-bishops Tryal in the Index letter C. Culmer And he continued three years and seven moneths silenced before the first Parliament was called In all which time he got not one farthing by his Ministry having seven children so little that he could and did carry them all at once on his back And to adde to his Persecutions by the Prelate he was persecuted by the Patronesse Mrs P. whose Posterity hath felt some reward of Persecution who immediately upon his silencing gave his Living away to Mr A. H. who for lucre of that
Culmer entred in upon him alone and he yielded and put up his Rapier whereupon Mr. Culmer promised him gentle carriage which was performed For he went as he desired with his 〈◊〉 by his side and with Mr. Culmer alone and the rabble not near him and was brough a back way privately to the Justice and there delivered to the Constable but he proved no Lord Digby but c. And that Mr. Culmer was no protector of Malignants his recited Cathedral History and the Records of the Committee for Examinations and of the Councel of State can testifie One of Canterbury that said He would fain go like himself to Westminster to witnesse against M. Culmer had about five pounds towards his charges when he went up to witnesse where Mr. Culmer made water in a dusty corner behinde old boards and rubbage in the body of the Cathedral where afterwards the Ammunition-wagons stood as in Pauls London and where afterwards the Dutch prisoners were kept which Mr. Culmer was necessitated unto at the time of the demolishing the Idols there when all the doors were shut and those without ready to knock out his brains if he had gone forth to make water And a Gentlewoman then of Mynster now of Canterbury being asked by the Chair man of that Committee What she could witness against Mr Culmer answered That she heard Mr. Culmer say That if her husband William Goldfinch Would not agree to pay his small Tythes at a rate in money he expected his Tythes in kinde of T 〈…〉 Pigs And she said further Sir I told Mr. Culmer at our house that I wondered that he would not go away from Mynster and that it did not move his patience to be so hated and houted at And Sir his answer to me was That he was a cholerick man by nature and soon moved but he did wear a hat with broad brims Which did keep the rain from his collar This was all she did or could accuse Mr. Culmer of as appears in the Records of that Committee which Committee said They found nothing against Mr. Culmer fit for their Cognizance to eject a Minister And the worthy Chair-man gave them good counsel and in conclusion bid them Go home and live quietly Whereupon the faction to have their wils against Mr. Culmer then offered a Petition to the Committee wherein they freely offered to give Mr. Culmer during his life the whole revenue of the Vicarage and to provide a Minister at their own charge upon condition that Mr. Culmer might be removed from them And in that Petition it is propounded as an argument to have him cast out That they had spent in prosecuting him two hundred and fifty pounds and clamoured by word of mouth That they had spent about three hundred pound But the answer to that was very unpleasing and Mr. Culmer said Beneficium propter officium and Officium propter beneficium But Flictere si nequeo superos Acheronta movebo Presently after that the Prosecutors being returned home two of them stirred up others to confederate to carry away all Mr. Culmers Tythe-corn that harvest which they did almost all accordingly One that paid him a little was reproved for it by one of the Confederates who said to him You wrong all the Parish in paying your Tythes seeing we are all agreed to pay none One when the Tythes were demanded answered saying Others do not pay I am loath to foul the Vicarage-barn with our little Tythe-corn Another said We have possession which is eleven points of the Law The first point in Hawking is hold-fast Another said I will pay no Tythes but go along with my Neighbours as dogs go to Church and take Neighbours fare come what will come But he a little after riding in a Cart it overthrew and killed the childe that was with him in it and crushed his own Leg so that it cannot be cured but remains with wounds and bruises that he continuing lame cannot go along with his Neighbours A little before that he hearing Mr. Culmer say in his prayer Lord thy mercy is great to us there be many in Hell that never sinned as we have done and yet are out of it it is thy mercy we have time to call for mercy thereupon vowed never to come to Church more if M. Culmer preached And being disabled to go elswhere remains obstinate to this day and glorieth in keeping his vows He is called Will Wounds because of his usual oaths by Wounds c. but now he others may read his sin in his punishment Another a Sectary Leveller of another Parish denied his Tythes and gave this reason of it saying I desire the ruine of all the Ministers in England and know no way better to effect it than by starving them out by keeping their maintenance from them and if it were in my power I would sheath my sword in the bowels of all the Ministers in England Another refusing to pay his Tythes said If the Parliament set Mr. Culmer on work if they provide us servants let them provide them wages The Tythe robbers servants would cry out in the field when the Tythe was gone Ha! the Bird is flown the Bird is flown and would hollow and hoop like mad men Come said a Sectary Don't the Priests men want boughs to mark out their Tythes c Some did threaten his servants from off their ground saying We know the Law forty thing By Law you have nothing to do to meddle about setting out the Tythe we by Law can tythe when we list whether you be present or absent His tything servant was knockt down and beaten and bruised and was after stripped before the Justice who with others saw the bruises They would not Tythe in his servants presence but some left a little Tythe-corn in their absence to colour the matter If his servants waited all day they would let the corn lie unheaped and go home at night and after arise at midnight and leave what Tythe they pleased and change the Tythe and bring bad corn from elswhere and trash out of the Barn to put in the room of good Tythe Come Ned arise we must go and do righteous things No Knave to the pretended Religious Knave No enemy to the pretended yet false friend As he that overtook the honest Traveller over night and supped and lay with him but next day morning when thieves assaulted and robbed the true man the pretended friend joyned with them And many other Tythe-robbing tricks were used against which tricks there is no-remedy provided in the Law Whereupon Mr. Culmer printed two Books touching the frauds in Tything hoping that upon such Discoveries of the Defects of Law and Justice about Tythes either Ministers should have been left wholly to the charity of people or that better Laws would be made for their enjoyment of Tythes which are esteemed as their Livelihood and in consideration of them they pay Taxes Fifths c. Yet the frauds of the lawlesse Tythe-robber
are such that upon the matter though not intended by the makers of former Laws Tythes in kinde are but a State-cheat or mock-maintenance those good Laws being now outplodded by malicious and covetous people I pray God that those Books especially that called The Lawless Tythe-robber discovered may never rise up in judgement against the Higher Powers or against any other that have read them But those confederated Tyth-robbers acted so against M. Culmer that for two years together he had not half so much Tythe-revenue one way or other as would pay his Fifths and Tenths and Taxes which were severely exacted of him when almost all his Tythes were in the peoples hands He had ten Troopers at a time quartered upon him horse and man and was constrained to borrow money of the next Justices Mr. Thomas Paramor and Major Foach to pay his Taxes which Taxes have been assessed and exacted to the utmost farthing of his Living and more when all the Parish was eased a fifth part some a full half The Persecutions and oppressions that way have been unparallel'd and yet he never complained of it untill they made that injury a rule of other assessements wherein they ease themselves and burden him There was then little or no relief for Ministers in Sequestred Livings though he made many journeys for relief about his Tythes And the Sesse-book was denied him that he might see who occupied Marshland and the Order of the Deputy-Lieutenants slighted by the Persecutors who answered them at Canterbury That Mr. Culmer should not see it but by Law and so matters rested And to adde to his oppressions besides the scoffs formerly rehearsed it was clamoured to him as he rid in Mynster-street Look how the Priests horse ears loll he goes so oft to London and can get nothing Yet these men paid their Tythes in corn to the full to the Non-resident Doctor who had 1s 6d per Acre for the Marshland and Mr. Culmer was contented with 1s yet could not nor cannot enjoy that as the Minister of W. H. in Kent abated 2d of 1s due by custome for the Acre hoping they would pay that freely but I heard him say That if he had abated 10d and took 2d he findes they would have been as backward to pay that And although Mr Culmer have forborn many for five seven ten years and hath not sued them yet he findes it to redound to his greater losse and to their and others hardning only to avoid contention least thereby they should prejudice the Gospel but they now finde by experience wofull experience that their forbearance hath hardened men to be more unrighteous as soft fires harden some things By bearing one injury wicked men are invited to do more injury A Minister in Essex Mr Willet for peace-sake remitted 20lb due to him for Tythes taken from him in Harvest 1652. and the same Tythe-robber carried away all his Tythe-corn in Harvest 1653. And Mr. Culmer had the same experience in Mynster because he sued not those that carried away all his Tythe-corn in Harvest 1646. they carried away all also in Harvest 1647. But before Harvest 1648. The Sword of the Lord and of Gideon made them pay their dues Oh blessed Law and Sword of Magistracy thou prevailest more with wicked men than the Law of Nature of Conscience of Reason or the Law in judgements of God himself But this is observable that there is not one of the wilfull Tythe-robbers then or now but are confounded as to their estates one and all to admiration One being a prisoner at the suit of others had thirty pound forgiven him by Mr Culmer yet within two dayes after the first Parliaments dissolution he clapt two Actions on Mr. Culmer who afterwards had eight pound costs in those Suites Now their own ears loll in other Parishes while they make their houses their prison for fear of Lawyers and have no revenue out of which they may pay Tythes unlesse it be Tythe lice And it is to be considered that these oppressors of Mr. Culmer did not only pay their dues fully and quietly to the Non-resident but were exceeding bountifull to their beloved Curates and paid a kinde of Tythe or Contribution of Hay and Pease c. to him for horse-meat besides continual gifts and entertainment of him and his wife And to oppresse Mr. Culmer the more they regard not the Limits of their Parish that he may know his maintenance utterly refusing to go the Bounds of it though he have often privately and publickly intreated them And besides all these oppressions one thing more in point of livelihood I thought fit to mention That Mr Culmer having laid out about 5lb in demolishing the Monuments of Idolatry at Mynster by special Order according to the Act of Parliament for their demolishing cannot get his money so laid out At his first coming thither he often desired the Churchwardens to do that work according to that Act But the 500lb man being Churchwarden refused to act and said He could not get a Sailor at Sandwich to climb up to the Crosses on the Spire of the Steeple under 15lb So that that work was left undone about a whole year after Mr Culmers coming thither But then Mr. Culmer was jeered by a Sequestred Malignant Priest who said to him Physician heal thy self telling him of his actings at Canterbury These words took such deep impression on him that he would no longer wait the Churchwardens leisure But a day or two after being the 5th of Novem. he got up into the Steeple before day and by Moon-light got up to the top of the Spire seven roods or poles from the ground and did sit on the round Globe there and did with a rope affix ladders so that it was then little danger to go up down from the flat Steeple to the top of the Spire And then he came down and hired Peter Wotton and Thomas Austin to go up the Ladder and demolish the two crosses there The huge wooden Cross covered with lead under the Vane and the iron cross above that And many other Idolatrous Monuments were demolished and the Chancel ground levelled c. by the Workmen and Masons whom Mr. Culmer satisfied but to this day he cannot get one farthing of those charges repayed him though the Justices have ordered it according to that Act And although he never demanded any thing for his own actings about that work of Reformation And all this oppression did not quench the burning malice of the 500lb man and his faction They said The greatest crosse the Priest was yet remaining And they suffered the Churchyard to be without a gate that the pasture there might be common and so it continued at last they put a Wattle or Hurdle in stead of a Gate which continued so for divers years to the laughter and derision of all that passed by And they handled the matter so that none durst help the Sexton to ring the great Sermon-bell on the