by God's holy Spirit both for the building of the Temple and the ordering of the Priests and Levites for the Service of the Temple And as Jehu had the direction of the Prophet Elisha for the suppression of the Priests of Baal so had Ezechias the Prophet Esay to direct him in the puâ—ging of the Temple and Râ—formation of those abuses that had crepâ—â—â— into the Service of God To this we answer That as Joshua the Prince was required to go in Sol. and out at the word of Eleazar the Priest so we yield that the King ought to hearken to the counsel and direction of his Bishop and Priest as David here did consult with Nathan and Ezechias with the Prophet Esay And while Religion is purely maintained the people truly instructed and the Church rightly and orderly governed by the Bishops and the rest of the Ecclesiastical Governours the Prince needs not to trouble himself with any Reformation or to meddle with the matters of Religion But the King Prince and Supreme Magistrate ought to see that all the aforesaid things are so and if they be not to correct the Priest when he is careless and to cause all the abuses that he seeth in the Church and in Religion to be Reformed Because as S. Augustine saith In hoc reges Deo serviunt sicut Augustin contra Cresconium l. 3. c. 51. iis divinâ—tùs praecipitur in quantum sunt reges si in suis regnis bona jubeant mala prohibeant non solum quae pertinent ad humanam societatem verumetiam quae ad Divinam religionem In this Kings and Princes do serve God as they are commanded by God if they do command as they are Kings in their Kingdoms those things that are good and honest and prohibit the things that are evil noâ— only in causes that do properly appertain to civil society but also in such thâ—ngs as belong and have referâ—nce to Religion and Piety And when they do so the Bishops and Priests be they whom you will should observe their Commands and submitt themselves in all obedience That the Bishops Priests ought to submit themselves to the lawful commands directions of their Kings civil Governours to their Determinations and censures For Moses was the civil Magistrate and the Governour of the people and as he received them from God so he delivered unto the people all the Laws Statutes and Ordinances that appertained to Religion and to the Service of God And when Aaron erected and set up the golden Calf to be worshipped and so violated the true Religion and Service of God Moses reproved and censured him and Aaron though he was the High Priest of God and the Bishop of the people yet as a good example for all other Priests and Bishops he submitted himself most submissively unto Moses the chief Magistrate and said Let not the anger of my Lord wax hot And I would the Pope would Exod 32. 22. do so likewise And therefore though we say the Judge is to be preferred before the Prince in the knowledge of the Laws and the Doctor of Physick in prescribing potions for our health and the Pilot in guiding his Ship which the King perhaps cannot do Yet it cannot be denied but the King hath the commanding power to cause all these to do their duâ—ies and to punish them if they neglect it So though the King cannot preach and may not administer the holy Sacraments nor intrude himself with Saul and Vzzia to execute the Office of the Priest or Bishop yet he may and ought to require and command both Priests and Bishops to do their duties and to uphold the true Religion and the Service of God as they ought to do and both to censure them as Moses did Aaron and also to punish them as Solomon did Abiathar if their offence so deserve when they neglect to do it and both Priests and Bishops ought like Aaron and Abiathar to submit themselves unto their censures CHAP. VII The Objections of the Divines of Lovaine and other Jesuites against the former Doctrine of the Prince his authority over the Bishops and Priests in causes Ecclesiastical answered And the foresaid truth sufficiently proved by the clear testimony of the Fathers and Councils and divers of the Popes and Papists themselves BUt against this Doctrine of the Prince his authority to rectifie the Obj. things that are amisse and out of order in the Church of God the Jesuites and their followers tell us Spirituales dignitâ—tes praestantiores â—sse secularibus seu mundanis dignitatibus That the Spiritual Dignities are more excellent than those that are worldly When as these two Governments Gen. 1. 16. Rom. 13 12. And though thâ— light of the Church be the greater yet that proves not but that the King should be the prime and chief Governoâ— of the Church the one of the Church and the other of the Common-wealth are like the two great Lights that God hath made the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night and the Government of the Church must needs be acknowledged to be the Day and to have the greater light to guide and to direct it The Apostle telling us plainly that now the Gospel being come and the Church of Christ established the night is past or far spent and the day is at hand and come amongst us And the Government of the Secâ—lar State is like the Moon that ruleth the Night and receiveth her cleerest light from the Sun as all Christian Kingdoms do receive their best light and surest Rules of Government from the Church of God which is the pâ—llar and the ground of truth But To these that thus make the Civil Government subordinate to that which is Spiritual as both the Papists and our Fanatick-Sectaries here amongst us like the old doting Donatists would do and so abridge and deprive the Christian Prince of his just right and jurisdiction over the affairs and persons of the Church I answer 1. That Symbolical propositions examples parables comparisons and Sol. similitudes can prove nothing they may serve for some illustrations but for no infallible demonstrations of truth 2. I say that Isidorus a popish Doctor preferreth the Government of the Isidorus in â—lâ—ssa in Gen. ut citatur In the Scourge of Sacriledge Kingdom before the Priesthood by comparing the Kingdom unto the Sun and the Priesthood unto the Moon 3. I say that Theodore Balsamon a good School-man saith Nota Canonem Dicit Spirituales dignitates esse praestantiores secularibus sed ne hoc eò traxeris ut Ecclesiastiâ—ae dignitates praeferantur Imperatâ—riis quia illis subjiciuntur You must note that when the Canon saith the Spiritual dignities are more excellent than the Secular you must not so understand it Balsamon in Sextâ— Synodo Canonâ— 7. as to prefer the Ecclesiastical Rule or Dignities before the Imperial State because they are subject unto it and so to be
ruled by it 4. And lastly I say that the Regal Government or Temporal State and civil Government of the Common-wealth is not meerly secular and worldly as if Kings and Princes and other civil Magistrates were to take no care of mens souls and future happiness which they are bound to do and not to say with Cain Nunquid ego custos fratris Am I obliged to look what shall become of their souls But they are called Secular States and civil Government because the greatest though not the chiefest part of their time and imployment is spent about Civil affairs and the outward happiness of the Kingdom even as the Ecclesiastical persons are bound to provide for the poor and to procure peace and compose differenâ—es among neighbours and the like civil offices though the most and chiefest part of their time and labour is to be spent in the Service of God and for the good of the souls of their people And so Johannes de Parisiis another man of Johannes de Parisiis Can. 18. the Roman Church doth very honestly say Falluntur qui supponunt quod potestas regalis sit Corporalis non Spiritualis quod habeat curam corporum non animarum quod est falsissimum They are deceived which suppose that the Regal power is only coâ—poral and not spiritual and that it hath but the care and charge over the bodies of his Subjects and not of their souls Wâ—ich is most false 2. They say as I have said even now that similitudes and examples Obj. nihil ponunt in esse and are no apodictical proofs for any weighty matters especially the examples of the old Testament to confirm the doing of the like things under the new Testament because that for us to be guided and directed by the examples of the old Law is the high-way to lead us to infinite inconveniences Therefore it followeth not that because the Kings of Israel and Juda did such things as are fore shewed unto the Priests and Levites and the setling of the Service in the Temple therefore our Moderne Princes should have the like Authority to do the like things unto the Bishops and Priests of the new Testament about the Worship of God and the Government of his Church and especially in the censuring of them that are appointed by Christ to be the Prime Governours of the same To this I answer 1. That this is as the Schooles say Petitio principii and Sol. a begging of the Question for we say that although for the pâ—rfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministery for the edifying or building up of Ephes 4. 12. the body of Christ that is the Church God hath set in his Church first Apostles secondarily Prophets thirdly Teachers and so Bishops and Priests 1 Cor. 12. 28. primarily and principally to discharge the aforesaid Offices and Duties yet this proveth not that they are simply and absolutely the Prime Governours and Chief Rulers of the Church but that the Kings and Princes in the In what sense the Bishops Priests and in what sense Kings Princes may be said to be the prime Governours of the Church Esay 49. 23. other respects aforenamed may be justly said to be the Prime and Supreme Goverâ—ours as well in all causes Ecclesiastical as Temporal for the Prophet Esay speaking of the Church of the Gospel saith That Kings should be her nursing fathers and Qâ—eens her nursing mothers And I hope you will yield that the fathers and mothers are the Prime and Supremest Governours of their children rather than their School-masters and Teachers But though the progeny of the Pope and our frantick Sectaries would fain thrust out the eyes of the politick Prince and make him just like Polyphemus that had a body of vast dimensions but of a single fight scarce able to see his wayes and to govern himself yet I shall by God's assistance make it most apparent unto you by the testimony of the Fathers Councils and some Popish Authors that the Soveraign Prince hath and ought to have alwayes a peremptory Supreme power as well over the Ecclesiastical persons and causes of the Church as over the Civil persons and causes of the Temporal State and Common-wealth For 1. S. Augustine writing against Parmenian the Donatist that would with 1. The testimony of the Fathers Aug. p. 1. Cont. Epistâ—lam Parmon our Disciplinarians that are the very brood of those Donatists unarme the King of his Spiritual Sword saith An forte de Religione fas non est ut dicat Imperator vel quos miserit Imperator Cur ergo ad Imperatorem vestri venerunt legati Cur eum fecerunt causae suâ— judicem Is it not lawful for the Emperour and so the Prince or whomsoever he shall send to treat and determine matters of Religion If you think it is not Why did your Messengers then come unto the Emperour And why did they make him the Judge of their cause Whereby you see S. Augustine judgeth the Emperour or any other Supreme Prince to have a lawful power to hear and to determine the points and matters controverted among the Bishops and so to have a Spiritual jurisdiction as well as a Temporal Nicephorus also in his Preface to the Emperour Immanuel saith Tues Nicephorus in praefatione ad Immanuel Imperat Dux professionis fidei nostrae tu restituisti Catholiâ—am Ecclesiam reformasti Ecclesiam Dei à mercatoribus coelestis Doctrinae ab hâ—reticis per verbum veritatis Thou art the Captain of our Profession and of the Christian Faith and thou hast Restored or Reformed the Catholick Church and cleansed it from those Merchants of the heavenly Doctrine and from all the Hereticks by the word of Truth And I think nothing can be said fuâ—â—er and clearer than this to justifie the Spiritual jurisdiction of the Prince and Supreme Magistrate in causes Ecclesiastical Yet Theodoret and Eusebius say as much Theodoretus l. 1 c. 7. of Constantine the Great 2. You may read in the Council of Chalcedon That all the Bishops and 2. The testimony of the Councils Clergy that were gathered together to that place as the Members of our Parliament use to do were wont to lay down the Canons they had agreed upon in the Council until the Emperour should come to confirm them with his Royal assent and when the Emperour came they said These Decrees seem good unto us if they seem so to your Sacred Mâ—jesty And the Bishops of the Council of Constantinople that was after the first Council of Ephesâ—s Concil Chalcedon Artic. 1. pag. 831. wrote thus submissively unto the Emperour Theodosius We humbly beseech your Clemency that as you have honoured the Church with your Letters by which you have called us together Ita finalem conclusionem decretorum nostrorum corrobores sententia tua sigillo So you would be pleased to strengthen and confirm the last conclusion of our Decrees by your Royal
compendious and short that they might not be forgotten for which cause the Ten Commandments are styled decem The Commandments are very short that we should not forget them verba ten words and these ten words are contracted into one word which is but one syllable and all the Commandments of God are comprehended in that one syllable Love For love is the fulfilling of the Law There is no reason we should look that all the inclusive particulars contained in that one word or in those few short precepts should or could be particularly expressed therein But they are alwaies left to be understood and explained by the Pâ—eachers and Commentators As when he saith Thou shalt love the Lord thy God the Sanctifying of the Sabbath you must confess is therein concluded and yet that the Sabbath shall be the seventh day is not therein mentioned So when he saith Thou shalt have none other gods but me the Tythes that are a special means to uphold and further his outward service must of necessity be understood to be therein comprehended though in direct terms the tenth part is not expressed And Further I answer to their fourth Objection That although a Judicial and a Ceremonial consideration may be rendred for the payment of Tythes among the Jews As that equality might be preserved among the tribes of this people that because in the Division of the Land of Canaan the Levites had no part of the Land Moses thought it fit the Tythes which were to be paid to God should be given to them out of every tribe and that would make their estate and maintenance proportionable to the other tribes yet this judicial consideration of paying the Tythes unto the Levites doth no waies infringe or weaken the equity and morality of this precept for the perpetual payment of the Tythes to Christ and his Ministers to further and uphold the service of God And besides the equity and morality of this precept seeing Moses was Any Kinâ—dom may take laws from other Kingdoms when they are seen good so just and so excellent a Law-giver far beyond and much better then all the Law-givers of the Gentiles Greek or Latin there is no reason why other Kingdoms or Nations should not use the same judicial Laws as were used among the Jews for the politick powers of any Kingdom may take Laws from any other Kingdom where they see the best Laws made as the Romans took their Law of the twelve Tables from the Athenians and the Cities of Germany from the Venetians and then Sicut leges quas Athenis Romani transtulerunt cum ab ipsis comprobatae confirmatae fuissent eas nihilominus Jus Civile Romanorum nominarunt As the Laws which the Romans took from Athens when they were received and confirmed by the Senate of Rome they were styled The Civil Laws of the Romans saith the Câ—â—us de jâ—re Râ—gis Ecclesiast Lord Cook so when any Kingdom or Common-wealth takes those Laws of the Jews that were meerly Judicial and not any waies Moral precepts or the like politick Laws of any other Nation and confirm them for Laws to be observed in their Territories they have the force of binding-Laws and may not with a safe Conscience of any of the Subjects of those Dominions where they have their Sanction be voyded or violated CHAP. XVII What the ancient Fathers of the Church and the Councils collected of most Learned and pious Bishops have left written concerning Tythes And of the three-fold cause that detains them from the Church ANd now having seen by the Testimony of the Holy Scripture and by What the Fathers say of Tythes and Oblarions Iren. l. 4. c. 34. many Reasons that the Tythes are by a Divine right due to Christ and his Ministers Let us hear what the Fathers and Councils and the Canons of the Church have said of this point concerning Tythes and I do find that Irenaeus who was Scholler to Polycarpus that was the disciple of S. John the Evangelist saith Offerimus Deo bona nostra ut signa gratitudinis pro illis donis quae à Deo recepimus We offer to God our goods that is our Tythes and Oblations to God as the signs and tokens of our thankfulness unto God for those gifts which we receive from God And Origen saith Origen in num Hom. 11. Qui colit Deum debet donis oblationibus agnoscere cum Deum datorem omnium He that Worshippeth God must by his gifts and oblations that is his Tythes and Offerings acknowledge God to be the Lord and giver of all things And Innocentius saith Deus speciali titulo decimas sibi-ipsi reservavit Extra de deâ—â—mâ—c Cum non sit in signum dominationis jurisdictionis super omnia God hath by a special title reserved and kept unto himself the Tythes of all things to shew and put us in mind of that Vniversal power right and Dominion that he hath over all things Itaque Judaei decimas persolvendo testabantur quod omnia sua seque ad cò ipsos Deo autori omnium bonorum largitori deberent And so the Jews by the payment of their Tythes testified that they owed all that they had and themselves also to God the Author and the giver of all good And what God hath reserved to himself he hath resigned and given to his Ministers that do serve at his Altar because the Lord requireth none other reward from us but what tendeth to his Worship to Praise him and magnify him for ever And it is an argument of his Infinite loving kindness that for all the fruits and profits that he bestoweth upon us he requireth by way of precept as a Rent-charge to maintain his publick Worship but the tenth part to be restored back to him again and that only to this end that his people might not forget him to be their God and the giver of all the good that they have And in that respect S. Gregory saith Cum non ab hominibus sed à Deo ipso decimae sunt institutae quasi debitum exigi possunt Seeing the commandment of paying Tythes is not from men but from God himself they may be required by Gods Ministers as due debts that do belong unto them But to let pass what I might collect from all the rest Saint Augustine Decret Greg. l. â— tit 30. c. 34. that in my judgment is the most learned and most judicious of all the Fathers is most plain and plentiful in this point saying Haec est Domini justissima consuetudo Si tu illi decimam non dederis tu ad decimam revocaberis id est daemonibus quae est decima pars angelorum associaberis This is the just proceeding of the Righteous Lord that if thou wilt not pay thy Tythes to him thou shalt be reduced unto the tenth and associated unto the Devils which is the tenth part of the Angels and in the interim the mean while Dabis
of Parliament made by powerful Commands and either through fear or errour can make that which is against the Will and contrary to the Law of God to be no sin or free the sinner from God's wrath Or do you think that I stand against so many well-deserving Gentlemen of such means and friends and power as you are only for covetousness to gain the Rent of a few houses and no longer than the remainder of a poor old man's life Surely not any one that had but the least inch of worldly wisdom would do so For besides my pains and labour I have spent already and shall spend yet before the Church shall lose them perhaps ten times more than my span-long life shall gain by them And what of that I have done my best when I have lost them Et liberavi animam meam and shall leave to God Causam suam Let him arise and defend his own Cause but let men take heed how they strive against God or seek to obstruct his Service and cause the diminution of his Worship which I hope your Piety will never suffer any one of you to do And I shall pray for you all and assuredly remain Your affectionate friend and servant Gryffith Ossory THE CONTENTS of the Chapters Chap. I. AN Introduction shewing the occasion of this Treatise and what the Author doth therein Page 1. Chap. II. Of Sacriledge what it is how manifold it is and how it hath been alwayes punished and never escaped the Hand of the Divine Vengeance p. 4. Chap. III. The divers sorts and kinds of Sacrilegious persons And first of those that do it under colour of Law and upon the pretence of Reformation whereby they suppose their Sacriledge to be no Sacriledge at all p. 15. Chap. IV. Of two sorts of Sacrilegious persons that rob the Church of Christ without any colour or pretence of Law but indeed contrary to all Law p. 21. Chap. V. The words of King David in the 2 Sam 7. 1 2. and their divisions When they were spoken And how or in what sense Sitting and Standing are commonly taken in the Scriptures And of the two Persons that are here conferring together p. 27. Chap. VI. What the Rest and peaceable times of King David wrought The Prince's authority in causes Ecclesiastical and how they should be zealous to see that God should be justly and religiously served p. 31. Chap. VII The Objections of the Divines of Lovain and other Jesuites against the former Doctrine of the Prince his Authority â—ver the Bishops and Priests in Causes Ecclesiastical answered And the foresaid truth sufficiently proved by the clear testimony of the Fathers and Councils and divers of the Popes and Papists themselves p. 37. Chap. VIII That it is the Office and Duty of Kings and Princes though not to execute the Function and to do the Office of the Bishops and Priests yet to have a special care of Religion and the true Worship of God and to cause-both the Priests and Bishops and all others to discharge the duties of God's Service And how the good and godly Emperours and Kings have formerly done the same from time to time p. 41. Chap. IX Of the chiefest Parts and Duties of Kings and Princes which they are to discharge for the maintenance of God s Service and the True Religion and the necessity of Uathedral-Churches and Chappels for the people of God to meet in for the Worship and Service of God p. 46. Chap. X. The Answer to the Two Objections that the Fanatick-Sectaries do make 1. Against the necessity And 2ly against the Sanctity or Holiness of our Material Churches which in derision and contemptuously they call Steeple-houses p. 53. Chap. XI The Answer to another Objection that our Fanatick-Sectaries do make against the Beauty and Glorious Adorning of our Churches which we say should be done with such decent Ornaments and Implements as are besitting the House and Service of God The Reasons why we should Honour God with our goods and how liberal and bountiful both the Fathers of â—â—â— Old Testament and the Christians of the New Testament were to the Church of God p. 58. Chap. XII The Answer to another Objection that our brain-sick Sectaries do make for the utter overthrow of our Cathedrals and Churches as being so sowly stained and profaned with Popish Superstitions and therefore being no better than the Temples of Baal they should rather be quite demolished than any wayeâ— adorned and beautified p. 63. Chap. XIII That it is a part of the Office and Duty of Pious Kings and Princes as they are God's Substitutes to have a care of his Church to see that when such Cathedrals and Churches are builâ— and beautified as is fitting for his Service there be Able Religious and Honest painful and faithful Bishops placed in those Cathedrals that should likewise see Able and Religious Ministers placed in all Parochial Churches and all negligent unworthy and dissolute men Bishops or Priests reproved corrected and amended or removed and excluded from their places and dignities if they amend not p. 67. Chap. XIV Of the maintenance due to the Bishops and Ministers of God's Church how large and liberal it ought to be p. 75. Chap. XV. That the payment of Tythes unto the Church is not a case of Custom but of Conscience Whenas the tenth by a Divine right is the Teacher's tribute and the very first part of the wages that God appointed to be paid unto his Workmen and therefore that it is as heynous a sin and as foul an offence to defraud the Ministers of this due as it is to detain the meat or money of the labouring-man which is one of the four Crying-sins p. 82. Chap. XVI The Answer to the Choisest and Chiefest Objections that the School of Anabaptists have made and do urge against the payment of Tythes now in the time of the Gospel p. 91. Chap. XVII What the ancient Fathers of the Church and the Councils collected of most Learned and Pious Bishops have left written concerning Tythes And of the three-fold cause that detains them from the Church p. 98. Chap. XVIII Of the second part of the Stipend Wages and Maintenance of the Ministers of the Gospel which is the Oblation Donation or Free-wil-offering of the people for to uphold and continue the true service of God and to obtain the blessings of God upon themselves and upon their labours which Donations ought not to be impropriated and alienated from the Church by any means p. 105. Chap. XIX That it is the duty of all Christian Kings and Princes to do their best endevours to have all the Impropriatioâ—s restored to their former Institution to hinder the taking away and the alienation of the Lands Houses and other the Religious Donations of our Ancestors from the Church of Christ and to suppress and 〈◊〉 all the Vnjust and Covetous sâ—ttle customs and frauds that are so generally used and are so derogatory to the service of God from
or some part of the Tythes of an impropriate Church for the inlarging of their Larder-house And that you need not doubt of this I must here set down what you may find in Mr. Crashaws Epistle to Mr. Pâ—rkins second Treatise of the Duties of the Ministry that in one County of the Kingdom of England the East riding of the County of York there are contained one hundred and five Parishes whereof nigh an hundred or the full number of an hundred are of this hateful name and bastardly title of Impropriations and some of them are of yearly value of four hundred pounds others worth three hundred pounds per annum others two hundred pounds and almost all worth one hundred pound a year and yet the Minister's part is ten pound stipend yea some have but eight pounds and some but six pounds and some but four pounds to live upon for the whole year and out of the Great Benefice of four hundred pounds a year the Minister had but eight pound per annum until of late with much labour ten pounds yearly for a Dr. Gardiner in his Scourge of Sacriledge Preacher And saith mine Author the most of the Churches in the properest Market-Towns of this Kingdom are thus held and retained by our Nobility and Gentry And so I found it in my Diocess of Ossory in the Kingdom of Ireland that the Impropriations had so swallowed up the Tythes and the Revenues of the Churches that as I shewed it in my Remonstrance to his Majesty six or seven Vicaridges united together will scarce make twenty pound a year for the Preacher Et durus est hic sermo for hereby the people perish and as the Prophet saith The poor Children cry for Bread and for want of means to maintain the Ministers there is none that is able to give it them I know King Henry the 8th that could cause his Parliaments as I ever understood from the old Parliament men of those times to make what Laws and to conclude what Acts of Parliament he pleased got many Laws to be made and many Acts to pass to justify and to make good and Lawful the Taking away Leasing Selling and Alienating the Tythes Lands Houses and Possessions of the Church and of our High Priest Jesus Christ from his servants to be inherited by lay persons and many other Acts of Parliaments have been made since that time to the same purpose which very thing we conceive as I have shewed to be very High Sacriledge and a robbing of Jesus Christ and the obstructing of his service and we fear the cause of the perishing of many souls And therefore how the Shield of the Pope's Authority that was the first foster-Foster-Father of this execrable and accursed title of Impropriation or the power of King Henry the 8th that would expunge the Pope's Sacriledge with a greater Sacriledge and be the second Patron of this Bastard brood or all the pretences of the now detainers of the Tythes and portion of Christ and the Lands Houses and Possessions of the Church by these Humane Laws can bear off the blow of Gods wrath and turn aside the fierceness of his vengeance when in the day of his fury he shall powre out the full vial of his indignation upon the head of all Sacrilegious persons and upon the children and posterity of them that have devoured the Lords inheritance and laid wast his dwelling place I can no waies understand neither do I know how to give them any comfort or counsel but to advise them to a full and timely Restitution of that which otherwise will be their utter destruction Quia non remittitur peccatum donec restituatur August ad Maced Epist 54. oblatum cum restitui potest The sin shall never be remitted and blotted out of Gods book until the Tythes and goods of Gods Church be restored when men can restore them and will not do it CHAP. XVIII Of the second part of the Stipend Wages and Maintenance of the Ministers of the Gospel which is the Oblation Donation or Free-wil-offering of the people for to uphold and continue the true service of God and to obtain the blessings of God upon themselves and upon their labours which Donations ought not to be impropriated and alienated from the Church by any means YOu have heard of the first part of the Ministers maintenance the second part consisteth in the voluntary Oblations or Free-wil-offerings of the people which the Lord requireth should be done according as every one in his own heart thought good to bestow upon the service of God and what they did offer in this kind was most acceptable in the sight of God For this is a Principal Branch of that Honor which we yield unto God by and with our substance which we are injoyned to do Prov. 3. 9. Because what we relieve the poor with is not so much our alms as their exigence which as necessity exacts it so it is soon passed and as quickly perisheth but those Donations that were given for the service of God as they savour of a more inward and deeper piety so they are of a more lasting substance and besides the eternal Treasures which men do thereby lay up for themselves they do provide for the perpetuity of Religion unto the after-ages of men and may be justly said to Honour God not only in themselves but in all those likewise which they gain by their Donations to Honor him And it is strange and marvellous to consider how liberal and how free the people of old time were in their Donations and Free-wil-offerings to maintain the Worship of God and to do any thing that did any wayes appertain to his service for if you look into the 36. Chapt. of Exod. vers 5. you shall find how Bezaleel and Aholiab spake unto Moses saying The people bring much more then enough for the service of the work which the Lord hath commanded to be made and Moses gave commandment and caused Exod. 36. 5 6 7. it to be Proclaimed through the Camp that they should bring no more for that they had already brought enough and too much So they that returned out of Babylon were as ready and as willing to offer up their gifts and free-wil-offerings for the service of the Temple as their Forefathers were for the erecting of the Tabernacle as you may see it in the books of Ezra and of Neh 7. 70. c. 10. 33. Nehemiah But the Christians of the Primitive Church were so zealous herein that they exceeded all that went before them in their Donations and Free-wil-offerings for the service of God and the increase of the Christian Religion for they sold their Lands and Possessions and laid the prizes thereof at the Apostles feet and had all things in common among themselves And Pope Vrban the I. instituted Vt eâ—clesias praedia ac fundos fidelibus oblatos Platin. in Vrban â—piscopus recipereâ— partireturque proventus clericis omnibus viritim
Religion should be revenged with humane fire or that it should grieve us to suffer wherein we are commended for suffering Nazianzen that for his soundnesse of judgement and profoundnesse of Nazian Orat. 1. knowledge was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 termed Theologus the Divine saith that the fury of Julian that great Apostata was repressed onely with the tears of the Christians which many of them did most plentifully powre forth to God when they had no other remedy against their Persecutor because Mark that they ay it is unlawful to resist they knew it unlawful for them to use any other means then sufferance or else they might having so much strength as they had have repelled their wrongs with violence Saint Ambrose saith as much and Prosper in like manner saith The present Ambros ep 33. evils should be suffered untill the promised happinesse doth come the Infidels should be permitted among the faithful and the plucking of the tares should be deferred and let the wicked rage against the godly as much as they will yet the case of the righteous is far better because that Quantò acriâ—s impeâ—untùr tantò gloriosiâ—s coronantur by how much the Prosper in sent 99. more sharply they are tormented by so much the more gloriously they shall be crowned And Saint Bernard saith If all the world should conspire against me and conjure me that I should plot any thing against the royal Majesty yet I would fear God and would not dare to offend the King that is appointed Bernard Ep. 170. of him over me because I am not ignorant of the place where I read Whosoever resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God And yet he speaketh this of King Lodovicus that offered a monstrous wrong to all the Clergy when he robbed them and took away all their goods without cause and which is worse would hear of no perswasions to make restitution or to give them any satisfaction as Gaguinus Gaguin lib 6 testifieth Thus the Fathers whereof I could heap many more do testifie of this The Schoolmen of the same judgement truth and the School-men tread in the same steps and differ not a nails breadth from them herein For Alexander Hales saith wicked and evill men ought to suffer for the fault of their irrationability and good men ought to suffer Propter debitum divinae ordination is for the duty that they owe to the divine ordinance and the benefit of their own purgation Whereupon Saint Ambrose saith Ambrosius in Rom. 13. If the Prince be good he doth not punish the well-doer but loveth him because he doth well but if the Prince be evill and punisheth the well-doer he hurteth him not but purgeth him and therefore he is not a terrour to him Alex. Hales p. 3. q. 48. memb 2. art 1. de offic subd erga Princ. that doth well but the wicked ought to fear because Princes are appointed that they should punish evill Aquinas saith The faith of Christ is the beginning and the cause of righteousnesse and therefore by the faith of Christ the order of Justice is not taken away but rather setled and strengthened because as our Saviour saith It became him to fulfill all righteousnesse But the order of justice doth require that all inferiours should obey their superiours otherwise the estate of humane affairs could no ways be preserved and therefore by the Tham. secunda secundae q. 104. art 6. faith of Christ the godly and the faithful Christians are neither exempted nor excused but that they are tyed and bound by the Law of Christ to obey their secular Princes Where you see the Christian faith doth not submit the superiour to the inferiour contrary to the rule of justice neither doth it any wayes for any cause permit the power of the sword to any subject to be used against his Prince because this inordinate power would turn to the ruine of man-kind and the destruction of all humane affairs which can no otherwise be preserved but through the preservation of the order of justice Indeed many times there may happen some just causes for which we are Wherein we may disobey and how not bound to obey the commands of our Magistrates as when they command any thing contrary to the commandements of God and yet then there can be no cause why we should withstand him that executeth the unjust sentence of our condemnation or requireth the punishment that an unjust malitious Magistrate under the colour of his power and authority hath most unjustly laid upon us because he hath as our Saviour saith unto Pilate this ordinary power from God which if he doth abusâ— he is to be refrained not by the preparation of arms and the insurrection of his subjects to make impressions upon their Soveraign but by those lawful means which are appointed for them that is Petitions unto him and prayers and tears unto God for him because nothing else remaineth to him that is guilty or condemned as guilty for any fault but to commit his cause to the knowledge of the omnipotent God and to expect the judgement of him which is the King of Kings and the Judge of all Judges and will undoubtedly chastize and correct the iniquity of any unjust sentence with the severity of eternal justice as Barclay saith Barcl l. 3. c. 10. These testimonies are clear enough and yet to all these I will adde this one memorable example which you may read in Berchetus and Joh. Servinus Berchetus in explicat controvers Galli cana cap. 7. which tells us that in France after the great Massacre at Paris when the reformed Religion did seem as it were forsaken and almost extinguished a certain King powerful in strength rich in wealth and terrible for his Ships and navall Force which was at enmity and hatred with the King of France dispatched a solemn Embassie and Message unto Henry King of Navarre and other Protestant Lords and commanded his Embassadors to do their best to set the Protestants against the Papists and to arm Henry the Prince of Navarre which then lived at Bearn under the Dominion of the most Christian King against his Soveraign the French King which thing the Embassadours endeavoured to do with all their art and skill but all An example of a faithful and excellent subject in vain for Henry being a good subject as it were another David to become a most excellent King would not prevent the day of his Lord yet the Embassadours offered him many ample fair and magnificent conditions among the rest abundance of money the summe of three hundred thousand Aureorum Scutatorum French Crowns which were ready to be told for the preparation of the warre and for the continuation of the same there should be paid every moneth so much as was necessary but Henry being a faithful Christian a good Prince a Widower and though he was displaced from the publique government of the Common wealth and
Silks and Scarlet but with the extorted moneys and the plundered goods of the loyal subjects I hope it is not so in England Yet as Platina tells us that when the Guelphes and the Gibilines in the Platina's story of the Guelphs and Gibelines City of Papia were at civil discord and the Gibiliues promised to one Facinus Caius all the goods of the Guelphes if he assisted them to get the victory which he did and after he had subdued the Guelphes he seized upon the goods of both and when the Gibilines complained that he brake his Covenant to pillage their goods Caius answered that Themselves were Gibilines but their goods were Guelphs and so belonged unto him So both in England and Ireland I see the Parliament Forces and the Rebels I hope contrary to the will of the Parliament make little difference betwixt Papist and Protestant the well-affected and disaffected for they cannot judge of their affections but they can discern their estates and that is the thing which they thirst after Haud ignota cano But you will say These are miseries unavoidable accidents common to all warre when neither side can excuse all their followers I answer Woe be to them therefore that were the first suggesters and procurers of this warre and cursed be they that are still the incendiaries and blow the coales for the continuance of these miserable distractions I am sure his Majesty was neither the cause nor doth he desire the prolonging thereof for the least moment but as his royal Father was a most peaceable Prince so hath he shewed himself in all his life to follow him passibus aequis and to be a Prince of peace though as the God of peace is likewise a man of warre and the Lord of Hosts so this peaceable Prince when his patience is too much provoked can as you see change his pen for a sword and turn the mildnesse of a Lamb into the stoutnesse of a Lyon and you know what Solomon saith that The wrath of a King is the messenger of death especially when he is so justly moved to wrath And so much for the particulars of this Text. 2. Having fully seen the uglinesse of this sin you may a little view the 2. The punishment of these rebels greatnesse of the punishment for Although I must confesse we should be slow to anger slow to wrath yet when the Magistrate is disobeyed the Minister despised and God himself disclaimed it makes our hearts to bleed and our spirits angry within us yea though the King were as gentle and as meek as Moses the mâ—ckest man on earth and the Bishops as holy as Aaron the Saint of the Tirinus in â— Psal Lord yet such disobedience and rebellion would anger Saints for so Tirinus saith Irritaverunt They angred Moses in their Tents and Aaron the Saint of the Lord Nay more then this they angred God himself so farre that fire was kindled in his wrath and it burned to the bottom of hell And as these rebels were Lords and Levites Clergy and Laity so God did proportion their punishments according to their sinnes for the Levites that were to kindle fire upon Gods Altar and should have been more heavenly and those two hundred and fifty men which usurped the Office of the Priests He sent fire from heaven to devour them and the Nobility that were Lay-Lords the Prophet tells you The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan and covered the Congregation of Abiram A most fearful example of a just judgement for to have seen them dead upon the earth as the Aegyptians upon the shore had been very lamentable but to see the earth opening and the graves devouring them quick was most lamentable and so strange that we never read of such revenge taken of Israel never any better deserved and which is more Saint Basil saith quâ—d Basilius hom 9. descenderunt in infernum damnatorum they fell into the very pit of the damned which doleful judgement though they well deserved it yet I will leave that undetermined And if these rebels proceeding not so farre whatsoever they intended as to offer violence and to make an open warre against Moses were so hâ—avily plagued for the Embrio of their rebellion what tongue shall be able to expresse the detestation of that sin and the deserts of those Rebels that by their subtilty and cruelty would bring a greater persecution upon the Church then any that we read since the time of Christ and by a desperate disobedience to a most Gracious King would utterly overthrow a most flourishing State A rebellion and persecution the one against the King the other against the Church that in all respects can scarce be parallel'd from the beginning of the world to this very day And therefore except they do speedily repent with that measure of repentance as shall be in some sort proportionable to the measure of their transgression I fear God in justice will deal with them as he did with the Jews deliver them into the hand of their Enemies that will have no compassion upon young man or maiden old man or him that stoopeth for age or rather 2 Chron. 36 17. as he did with Pharaoh King of Aegypt deliver them up to a reprobate sense and harden their hearts that they cannot repent but in their folly and obstinacy still to fight against Heaven untill the God of heaven shall overthrow them with a most fearful destruction the which I pray God they may foresee in time and repent that they may prevent it that God may be still merciful unto us as he useth to be to those that love his Name And so much for the words of this Text. Now to Apply all in brief if God shall say to any Nation I will send The application of all them a King in my wrath and give them Lawes not good let them take heed they say not We will take him away by our strength for we have read that He hath authority to give us a King in his displeasure but you shall never read that we have authority to disobey him at our pleasure and to say Nolumus hunc regnare super nos or if any do let them know that he which set him up and setled him over them is able to protect him against them and they that struggle against him do but strive against God and therefore they have no better remedy then to pray to God whiâ—h hath the hearts of all Kings in his hand that he would as the Psalmist saith Give the King his judgements and his righteousnesse unto the King's Son that he would either guide his heart aright and direct his feet to the way of peace or as he hath sent him in his fury so he would take him away in his mercy But for our selves of these Islands we have a King and I speak it here in the sight of God and as I shall answer for what I say at the dreadful judgement
one can neither stand nor fall without the other as it is fully and truly shewed in the Grand Rebellion therefore as Caligula wished that the people of Rome had but one neck that so he might dispatch them all uno iâ—tu with one stroke So these men would overthrow both Government and destroy both King and Priest both Church and State at one time with one clap with one thunder-bolt And so they should be famous indeed though it were but like the â—ame of Herostratus that burnt the Temple of Diana or of Raviliac that killed the King of France of Nero that destroyed his nâ—other or Oedipus that murdered his own father for a man may be as notoriously famous for transcendent villanies and nefarious impieties as another is for his rare vertues and super-eminent deeds of piety As in History Thersites is as well known for his base Cowardice as Achilles for his heroick Valour And in the Scripture Judas for his Treachâ—ry is as notoriously known as Saint Peter for his Fidelity Therefore these men go on with this great Design and to effect the same I find that they aimed at these two special things 1. To take away all the lets and impediments that might hinder them They aimed at two things 2. To secure unto themselves all the helps and furtherances that might advantage them For 1. As a Vineyard that is well hedged or a City strongly senced with walls 1. To remove the impediments of 〈◊〉 design and bulwarks cannot easily be laid wast and spoiled before these defences be destroyed so the wilde Boars cannot devour the grapes of God's Church and swallow down the Revenues of her Governours and the Rebels cannot pull the Sword out of their Soveraigns hand and lay his Crown down in the dust so long as the means of their preservations are intire and not removed Therefore these men endeavour to eradicate all the impediments of their Design And they saw four great Blocks that were as four mighty Mountains which their great Faith their publick faith being not yet conceived must remove before they could plant their new Church and subvert the old Government of this Kingdom and those were 1. The Earl of Straffords Head 2. The free judgement of the Judges Four impediments of their Design 3. The power of dissolving the Parliament 4. The Bishops votes in the House of the Lords For as the heavenly Angels could do nothing against Sodom while righteous Lot was in it so these earthly angels the messengers of Abaddon can never effect their ends to overthrow the Church and State to make them as Sodom full of all impurity and villany until these four main stops be taken away And therefore CHAP. II. Sheweth the eager prosecution of our Sectaries to take off the Earl of Straffords head How he answered for himself The Bishops right of voting in his cause His excellent vertues and his death 1. THey get Master Pym the grand father of all the purer sort and a 1. Impediment fit instrument for this Design in the name of the House of Commons and thereby of all the Commonalâ—y of England to charge Thomas Earl The Earl his Charge of Strafford of High-Treason A high charge indeed and yet no lesse a crime could serve the turn to turn him out of their way because nothing else could subdue that spirit by which he was so well able to discover the plots and to frustrate the practices of all the faction of Sectaries for as the Jews were no wayes sufficient to answer Saint Stephen's arguments but only with stones so these men saw themselves unable to confute his reasons and to subdue his power but only by putting him to death and cutting off his head for that fault which Pym alleadged he had committed But then I demand How this great charge of High Treason shall be made good against him It is answered That England Scotland and Ireland and every corner How sought to be proved of these three Kingdoms must be searched and all discontented persons that had at any time any Sentence though never so justly pronounced against them by him that was so great a Judge yet conceited to be otherwise by themselves must now be incouraged countenanced by the faction and most likely by this grand Accuser to say all that they know and perhaps more than was true against him for what will not envy and malice say or what beast will not trample upon the Lion when they see him grovelling and gasping for life in an unevitable pit and it may be compassed with so many mastiff dogs I mean his enemies and discontented witnesses as were able to tear more than one Lion all to pieces So by this means they are enabled to frame near thirty Articles against him ut cum non prosiâ—t singula multa juvent that the number might amazâ— the people and think him a strange creature that was so full of heynous offences and so compassed with transgressions But Si satis accusasse quis innocens If accusations were sufficient to create offenders not a righteous man could escape on earth therefore the Law condemneth no man before he be heard what he can answer for himself And The Earl his Answer the Earl of Strafford coming to his Answer made all things so clear in the Judgement of the common-hearers and answered to every Article so wâ—ll that his enemies being Judges they much applauded his abilities and admired at his Dexterity whereby he had so finely united those Gordian knots that were so fouly contrived against him and as his friends conceived had fairly escaped all those iron-nets which his adversaries had so cunningly laid and my popular country-man with the rest of the more learned Lawyers had so vehemently prosecuted to insnare him in the links and traps of guiltiness and in brief the Lords who as yet were unpoisoned by the leavened subtilty of this bitter Faction could find not any one of all those Articles to be Treason by any Law that was yet established in this Land sic te servavit Apollo So God delivered him as he thought and his friends hoped out of all these troubles Yet as a rivulet stopped will at last prove the more violent viresque acquirit The nature of malice ibidem and recollect a greater strength in the same place so rage and malice hindered of their revengeful desires will turn to be the more implacable Quia malitia eorum excâ—cavit eos Because the malice of men bewitcheth them and hath no end till it makes an end of its hated foe therefore those men that hated and maligned the Earl like the Jews that because their tongues could make no reply to the just defence of the holy Martyr gnashed upon him with their teeth and stopping their ears ran upon Acts 7. 51. him with one accord all at once because they had no Law nor learning to make those Articles Treason they say with the Poet Hac
they are the Advocates of mercy the procurers of Ob. pardon the Preachers of repentance and men that are made to save life and not to put any one to death or to bring any man unto his end I answer That they are therefore the fittest men to be the Judges both Sol. of life and death For who can better and more justly judge me to death than he that doth most love my life it is certain he will not condemn me without just cause even as God that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Father of mercies and even mercy it self is the fittest and most righteous Judge that can be found both of death and damnation because his mercy and goodness Clergy how fit to be Judges towards his creatures will not permit his severity against sin though never so detestable to his purity to do the least injustice to their persons so our love of mercy and pity will not suffer us to do any thing that shall transcend the Rules of justice and equity And as our inclination to mercy prohibites us to condemn the innocent so our love to justice and our charge to preserve it will not permit us to justifie the wicked for the Scripture teacheth us That he which justifieth the wicked and be that condemneth the innocent that calleth the evil good and the good evil that spareth Agag and killeth Naboth are both alike abominable unto the Lord. And therefore notwithstanding this unjust Canon I never find in any of our Histories that the Bishops did ever withdraw themselves and quit their Votes in this case either before or after save only from the 10th year of Richard the 2d unto the 21th year of the raign of the same unfortunate King which they did not because they could not justly be present but because they had just reasons to be absent as you may find it in the Annals of his time Therefore I know not how to palliate their facility Non-Canonicall Lords of yielding way to those Non-Canonical Lords to produce those non-obliging Canons which they abhorred in all that made not for the furtherance of their design to exclude them from doing this which was one of their chiefest duties for who knoweth not the Lord Say and Lord Brook and others of the Lords to hate all Canons even the old Canons of the Apostles as inconsistent with their new Rules of Independent Government and yet herein to exclude the Bishops Votes in the judgement of this man and the passing of this Bill which being admitted might perhaps have turned the scales they will take hold of the unjustest Law and alleadge one of the worst of Canons a Canon against reason and most repugnant to the best of God's Properties which though they be all equall in themselves summè perfectissimè yet are they not so perceived by us but hiw mercy is over all his works But you will say Was this man so just that he was unjustly condemned to death Did all men so untruly complain against him And was he good notwithstanding all the evill that was proved against him I answer That I dare not and I do not say that he was unjustly adjudged to death or that the Bill it self was unjust But this I assure my self that he was a very wise and understanding man and indued with may rar◠Heroick-vertues and most excellent graces as among the rest with those The Earle'◠Vertues two incomparable indowments that cannot easily be found among many of the Nobles of this World 1. Faithfulness to his Prince to whom as I conceive he shewed himself a true servant and most Trusty in his greatest imployments save in what was and I know not that justly proved against him and I believe he would never have taken Arms as some others of the Lords do now against his Soveraign 2. Love unto the Church and Church-men to whom though others think it their glory to oppresse them and a vertue to contemn them yet he was a true Friend a most Noble Benefactor and most just unto his death as his very last speech unto his dearest Son doth sufficiently testifie unto all posterity which speech was to this effect and I would to God it were indelibly imprinted in the memory of all our Nobility That as he regarded his father's blessing or expected a blessing from God upon what his father left him so he would be careful never to take away or in any wise to diminish any part or parcell of the goods or Patrimony of the Church which if he did would prove a Canker to waste and consume all that he had Yet it may be he was which in truth I cannot imagin as the Philosopher saith of Marcus Antonius a man of that composition that his vices did equalize if not exceed his vertues and his offences cloud all his graces and obscure all his glory And as the saving of one mans life cannot save him from suffering that doth unjustly put another man to death so the rarest Vertues cannot justifie the man that committeth so many horrible How a Malefactor may be unjustly condemned offences as his accusers conceived this man did to which it may be well replyed That a notorious Malefactor though I apply not this to him may be unjustly condemned and so he may be justly condemned and unjustly executed as when he is not condemned for the fault committed or condemned not according to the Law which condemneth that Fact For though a Murderer deserveth death yet any one may not presently be the death of that Murderer nor the Judge condemn him for robbery And though I should commit many offences worthy of death yet if the Law doth not condemn me I ought not to die for any of them For as the Apostle saith Where there is no Law there is no sin because sin is the transgression of the Law Therefore the Earl of Strafford might be an evill man and do many things that in the sight of God and good men were worthy of death Yet if our Law made not those crimes Capital or if the Law made them Capital and not Treason we ought not for Treason to adjudge him unto death So in sum the result is this That he might justly deserve death and yet be very unjustly condemned to death And it seemed to some of his friends that so he was especially because they had no plain unquestionable Law but were fain in some kind to make a Law to take off his head and when his head was off this new manner of proceeding should end and be no Law for any other that came after And a Declaration must be made That the course prosecuted for his punishment shall not afterward be drawn into an Example it must be produced for no Pattern but for him alone and none other lest perhaps if the same course should be still practised the contrivers of this Plot might have the like payment to fall ere long upon their own Complaint to the
the Papists in Ireland and to get that Act to purchase all the Lands of the Rebels had tasted too much of this bitter root of such destructive Doctrine whereby you see how the Religion of these men robbes us of our Estates keeps no faith with us and takes away our lives 7. Though among the works of God every flower cannot be a Lilly 7. They would have a party among all men both in Church and Common-wealth Gal. 5 6. Câ—l 3. 11. every beast cannot be a Lyon every bird cannot be an Eagle and every Planet cannot be a Phoebus yet in the School of these men this is the doctrine of their to be new erected Church that with God there is no respect of persons and neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but whether they be bond or free masters or servants Jew or Gentile Barbarian Scythian a country-Clown or a Court Gallant rich or poor it is all one with God because these Titles of Honour Kings Lords Knights and Gentlemen are no entities of Gods making but the creatures of mans invention to puffe him up with pride and not to bring him unto God and therefore though for the bringing of their great good work to passe they are yet contented to make the Earl of Essex their General and Warwick their Admiral and so Pym and Hampden great Officers of Stateâ— yet when the work is done their Plot perfected and their Government established then you shall find that As now they will eradicate Episcopacie and make all our Clergie equall as if all had equally but one talent and no no man worthier than another so then there should be neither King Lord Knight nor Gentleman but a parity of degrees among all these holy brethren And to give us a taste of what they mean as the Lords concurrence with them inabled them to devour the Kings poweâ— so they have since with great justice prevailed with the House of Commons to swallow up the Lords power and have most fairly invaded their priviledge when they questioned particular Members * As my Lord Duke and my Lord Digbie 8. They would have no man to pray for temporal things Matth. 33 34. Matth 6. 1â— 9. Not to say the Lords Prayer 10. Not to say God Speed you 2 John 10. 11 12 Not to pray for the Malignants 1 John 5. 16. for words spoken in that House and then the whole House when they brought up and countenanced a mutinous and seditious Petition which demanded the Names of those Lords that consented not with the House of Commons in those things which that House had twice denied 8. Because our Saviour saith Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven and the righteousnesse thereof and all these things that is meat drink and cloathes and all other earthly things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be cast unto you and again Be not carefull for to morrow they teach their Proselytes that they ought not to pray by any means for any of these things whereas Christ biddeth us to say Give us this day our daily Bread 9. They cannot endure to say the Lords Prayer for that 's a Popish superstition but their Prayers must be all tautologies and a circular repetition of their own indigested inventions 10. You must not say God speed you to any neighbour or any traveller lest he intends some evill work and then you shall be partaker of his sin 11. They will not allow any of their Disciples to pray for any of the Reprobates and therefore they do exceedingly blame us and tear our Liturgie because we say That it may please thee to have mercy upon all men 12. Because Christ saith Call no man father on earth for one is your Father which is in Heaven the child must not call him that begat him and nurseth him his father nor kneel unto him to ask him blessing nor perform many other such duties which the Lord requireth and the Church instructeth her children to do to this very day and this foolish Doctrine of calling no man Father no man master or Lord and the like in their sense because they understand not the divine meaning of our Saviour's words hath been the cause of such undutifulnesse and untowardnesse such contempts of superiours and such rebellions to Authority as is beyond expression when as by their disloyalty being thus bred up in them from their cradle they first despise their father then their Teachers then their King and then God himself CHAP. IX Sheweth three other speciall points of Doctrine which the Brownists and Anabaptists of this Kingdom do teach 13. BEcause they can find no Text in Scripture when as the Alcoran is not so impudently hellish as to justifie the action for to warrant men to absolve our consciences from any Oaths that we have voluntarily taken for the performance of any businesse I cannot say that they do professedly teach but I do hear they do usually practise this most damnable sin as that Master Marshall and Master Case did absolve the Souldiers taken at Brainceford from their Oath which they took never to bear Arms against his Majesty which is a sin destructive both to body and soul when their Perjury added to their Treason makes them two-fold more the children of hell than they were before and if they be taken again they can expect nothing but their just deserved death and therefore I do admire that any man can challenge the name of a Divine which doth either preach or practise a point so devilish 14. Because Saint Paul saith These hands have ministred to my necessities 14. They think sacriledge to be no sin Acts 20. 34. 1 Thes 2. 9. 1 Cor. 1. 12. and to them that were with me and again Labouring night and day because we would not be chargeable to any of you we preached unto you the Gospel of God and because the rest of the Apostles and Disciples were Fishermen Tradesmen or professours of some Science either liberal or mechanick as Saint Luke was a Physician Joseph a Carpenter and the like who did live by their manual crafts and were chargeable to none of their people but sought them and not theirs to win their souls to God and not their monies unto themselves therefore they think it no robbery to take away all the revenues of the Church nor sacriledge to rob the Clergy of all the means they have because they should either labour for their livings as the Apostles did or live upon the peoples Almes as many poor Ministers do to the utter undoing of many souls in many distressed and most miserable Churches But because this revenue of the Church and the Lands of the Bishops is that golden Wedge and the brave Babylonish garment which the Anabaptistical Achans of our time do most of all thirst after in this their pretended holy Reformation I must here sistere gradum stay awhile and let you know 1. That the taking away of any Lands or goods given and
the Law gives me not leave I have truly paid all duties and humbly submitted my self to all penalties and yet I know not why I am thus used and abused by my neighbours I am driven from my house by force of Arms and I have no place to breathe but under your Majesties wings and the shelter of your power therefore I beseech you as you are my King and are obliged to do your best for the safety of your true Subjects let me have your protection and you shall have my service unto death I would fain know what the King should do in such a case deny his protection or refuse his service The one is injustice the other not the best wisdom especially if he needed service for as the Law of nature and of nations requireth all Subjects to obey their Kings and faithfully to serve them of what Religion soever their Kings shall be so Lege relationis every King is bound to protect every faithfull Subject that observeth his Laws or submitteth to their penalties without corrupting of his fellow Subjects of what Religion soever he is because they are his Subjects not as they are faithfull Christians but as obedient men and he is to rule not over the faith of their souls but the actions of their bodies and it is an Axiom in Divinity that Fides non est cogenda and if Kings cannot perswade their subjects to embrace the true Faith they ought not to cut them off so long as they are true Subjects And therefore with what reason can any man blame the King either for protecting them in their distresses or accepting their service in his own extremities I cannot understand And yet for the goodly company of Papists which his Majesty entertaineth in all his Armies they cannot all make up so much as one good Regiment as an Officer in his Majesties Army confidently affirmeth but it will serve their turn to taxe the King to lay imputations upon him even the very things that belong unto themselves as the whole summe of those things that are expressed in Englands Petition to their King mutatis mutandis might truly be presented to the two Houses that have now almost destroyed us all and to make them mighty faults in him which are no faults at all in themselves because there is no fear of their favouring Popery though as they have very many so they should have never so many more in their Army 3. Another Slander they not onely whispered but also dispersed the same 3. Lye that he caused the Rebellion in Ireland farre and near among the people to make the King still the more odious unto his Subjects that he was the cause of the Rebellion in Ireland and that the Rebels there had his Commission under the Broad Seal to plunder the Protestants and to expell them thence that so the Gospel being rooted out of Ireland Popery might the easier be transported and planted here in England whereas themselves in very deed were the sole causers of this Rebellion as I have shewed unto you before and the colour of this slander was that the Rebellion being raised the Ring leaders of those The cause of this slander Rebels the sooner to gain the simple to adhere unto them perswaded them to believe that they had the Kings command to do the same and to that purpose shewed them the Broad Seal which they had taken from Ministers and Clerks of the Peace and others whom formerly they had plundered and taken their Seales from them which they cunningly affixed to certain Commissions of their own framing as M. Sherman assured me he saw the Broad Seal that was taken from one M. Hart that was Clerk of the Peace in the County of Tumond and was found in the pocket of one of the chief Leaders of the Rebels when he was killed by the Kings Souldiers yet this false and lewd practice of these Rebels in Ireland was a most welcom news to this Faction in England to lay this imputation upon the King that he was the cause of this Rebellion which themselves had kindled and were glad to find such a colour to impute it unto him that it might not be suspected to be raised by them Many other such falsehoods Lyes and impudent slanders hath the father of lyes caused these his Children most impudently to father upon the King but as the Philosopher saith Nâ—n quia affirmatur aut negatur res erit aut How things are indeed non erit Things are not so and so because they are said to be so neither can they be no such things onely because they are denied to be such as Gold is not Copper because ignorant men affirm it to be so nor a drunken man sober or a vitious man vertuous because they deny him to be good and blazon him abroad for one of the sonnes of Belâ—al but as Gold is Gold and Brasse is Brasse so godly men are good wicked men are evill and Rebels are none other then Rebels let men call them what they will and so our King is not such a man as they say because they affirm it but he is indeed a most just vertuous and most pious Prince let them say what they will Their tongues are their own and we cannot rule them and so all his followers are better Protestants indeed and less Papists in all points of faith than the best of them that term us so by false names God forgive them these slanderous accusations CHAP. XI Sheweth the unjust proceedings of these factious Sectaries against the King eight special wrongs and injuries that they have offered him Which are the three States And that our Kings are not Kings by election or Covenants with the People ANd yet for all these strange courses contrary to all humane thoughts Psâ—l 118. 23. Esay 46. 10. which is marvellous in our eyes the Lord of Heaven whose counsell shall stand and whose will shall be done hâ—th them all in derision dissipates all these devices and turns all the counsell of Achitophel against his own head when he opened the eyes of many millions of the Kings true Subjects to behold and detes these unfaithful dealings and dis loyall proceedings against so gracious a King and therefore petitioned and subscribed that his Majesty standing upon his Guard and defending himself from such indignities as might follow they would hazard their lives and fortunes to assist him to repell those more than barbarous injuries that were offered unto Him Therefore now Memoriae proditum est I find it written that without fear of God without regard of Majesty without justice without honesty they are resolved rather than to repent of their former wickednesse to involve the whole Kingdome in an unnatural civill War and to maintain the same against the will and contrary to the desires both of the King and Kingdom and it is almost incredible what wicked courses and how unjust and insufferable Orders and Ordinances you shall find recorded that
much leisure that they were wont to judge of the quarrels of Christians yet they did not so spend their time in judging their contentions that they neglected their Preaching and Episcopal function and now that they do judge in civil causes consuetudine Ecclesiae introdâ—ctum est ut peccata caverentur And Bellarmine saith Non pâ—gnat cum verbo Dei ut unus Bellar. de Rom. Pont. l. 5. c. 9. homo sit Princeps Ecclesiasticus politicus simul it is not against the Word of God that the same man should be an Ecclesiastical and a Secular Prince together when as the same man may both govern his Episcopacy and his Principality And therefore we read of divers men that were both the Princes and the Bishops of Theod. l. 2. c. 30 the same Cities as the Archbishop of Collen Mentz Triers and other German Princes that are both Ecclesiastical Pastours and great secular Princes Henr. of Huntingson Hist Angl. And Hâ—bert Archbishop of Canterbury was for a long while Vicerâ—y of this Kingdom And so Leo. 9. Julius 2. Philip Archbishop of York Adelboldus Innocent 2. Collenutius and Blâ—ndus and many others famous and most worthy Bishops both of this â—sland and of other Kingdoms have undertaken and exercised both the Functions And Saint Paul recommendeth secular businesses and judgements unto the Pastours of the Church as S. Augustine testifieth Aug. tom 3. de operib Monach c. 29. at large where he saith I call the â—ord Jesus a witness to my soul that for so much as concerneth my commodity I had rather work every day with my hands and to reserve the other houres free to read pray and exercise my self in Scriptures then to sustain the tumultuous perplexities of other mens causes in determining secular Controveâ—sies by â—udgement or taking them up by arbitrement to which troubles the Apostle hath appointed us not of his own will but of his that spake in him And as this excellent Father that wrote so many worthy volumes did notwithstanding imploy no small part of his time in these troublesome affairs so S. Ambrose twice undertook an honourable Embassie for Valentinian the Emperour unto the Tyrant Maximus And Marutha Soâ—rat â—ccl hist lib 7. Bishop of Mesopotamia was sent by the Romane Emperour an Ambassadour to the King of Persia in which imployment he hath abundantly benefitted both the Church and the Emperour and we read of divers famous men that undertook divers Functions and yet neither confounded their offices nor neglected their duties for Spiridion was an husbandman and a Bishop of the Church a Pastouâ— of sheep and a feedeâ— of soules and yet none of the ancient Fathers that we read of either envyed his Farm or blamed his neglect in his Bishoprick but they admired his simplicity and commended his sanctity they were not of the spirit of our hypocritical Saints And Theodoret writeth Theodor. lib. 4. c. 13. that one James Bishop of Nisib was both a Bishop and a Captain of the same City which by the help of his God he manfully preserved against Sapor King of Persia And Eâ—sâ—bius Bishop of Samosis managing himself with all warlike habiliments ranged along throughout all Syria Phaenicia and Paâ—â—stina and as he passed erected Churches and ordained Priests and Deacons and performed such other Ecclesiastical pensions as pertained to hiâ— office in all places and I â—ear me the iniquity of our time will now call upon all Bishops that are able to do the like to preach unto our people and to sight against God's enemies that have long laboured to overthow his Church as we read of some Bishops of this Kingdom that have been driven to do the like and if these men might do these things without blame as they did why may not the same man be both a Bishop and the Kings Counsellour both a Preacher in the pulpit and a Justice of the peace on the Bench and yet the callings not confounded though the same man be called to both offices for you know the office of a Lawyer is different from the office of a Physitian and the office of a Phyâ—tian as different from the duty of a Divine and yet as Saint Luke was an exâ—ellent Physitian and a heavenly Evangelist and S. Paul as good a Lawyer as he was a Preacher â—or he was bred at the feet of Gamaliâ—l as was 〈◊〉 Calvin too as good a Civilian as he was a Divine for that was his first profession so the same man may as in many places they do and that without blame both play the part of a Physitian to cure the body and of a Divine to instruct the soul and therefore why not of a Lawyer when as the Preachers duty next to the teaching of the faith in Christ is to perswade men to live according to the rules of Justice and Justice we cannot understand without the knowledge of the Laws both of God and men and if he be obliged to know the Law why should he be thought an unfit man to judge according to the Law But. CHAP. IX Sheweth a full answer to four special Objections that are made against the Civil jurisdâ—ctions of Ecclesiastical persons their abilities to discharge these offices and desire to benefit the Common-wealth why some Councils inhibited these offices unto Bishops that the King may give titles of honour unto his Clergy of this title LORD not unfitly given to the Bishops proved the objections against it answered â—â—x special reasons why the King should confer honours and favours upon his Bishops and Clergy 1. IF you say the office of a Preacher requireth the whole man and where Ob. 1. 2 Cor. 2. 16. the whole man is not sufficient to one duty for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then certainly one man is never able to supply two charges I answer that this indefinite censure is uncertainly true and most certainly Sol. false as I have proved unto you before by many examples of most holy men that discharged two offices with great applause and no very great difficulty to themselves for though Saint Matthew could not return to his trade of Publican because that a continued attendance on a secular business would have taken him from his Apostâ—late and prove an impediment to his Evangelick ministration yet Saint Peter might return to his nets as he did without blame because that a temporary imployment and no constant secession can be no hinderance to our Clericall office when there is no man that can so wholly addict No man is alwayes able to do the same thing himselfe to any kinde of art trade or faculty but that he must sometimes interchangeably afford himselfe leisure either for his recreation Vt qâ—â—mvis animo possit sufferre laborem or the recollection of strength and abilities to discharge his office by the undertaking of some other exercise which is to many men their chiefest recreation as you see the husband-mans change of labour doth still inable him to
transported with disaffection as to prefer a blasphemous Turke or an impious Jâ—w before those men though ignorantly idolatrous that do with all feare and reverence worship the same God and adore the name of Christ as we doe And we read that the Emperour Justinus a right Catholique Prince as Bishop Horne calleth him at the request of Theodoricke King of Italy granted Bishop Horne against Fekenham Justinus gave a toleration to the Arians licence that the Arians which denied the Deity of our Saviour Christ and were the worst of Heretiques and therefore worse then any Papist should be restored and suffered to live after their own orders and Pope John for the peace and quietness of the Catholique Church requested him most humbly so to do which he did for foare of Theodoricke that otherwise threatned the Catholiques should not live But you will say the fatall success that befell to King Davids house for Solomons Ob. permission of divers religions to be divided into two parts and the best ten Tribes for two to be given unto a stranger and the principall care of a Deut. 17 17 19. pious Prince being to preserve pure Religion which is soon infected by Idolatrous neighbours do rather disprove all toleration then any wayes connive with them that are of a different Religion and if we read the Oration of the league to the King of France wherein that Orator numbereth their victories and innumerable successes whilest they had but one Religion and their miseries and ill fortunes when they fostered two Religions it will appeare how far they were from allowing a toleration of any more then one Religion in one Kingdome Yet to this it may be easily answered that Solomons Kingdom was not rent Sol. The true cause of renting Solomons Kingdome Ps 106. 35. from his posterity for his permission of idolaters to dwell in his Kingdome which the Law of God did not forbid but for that fault which his father taxed the Jewes with they were mingled among the heathen and learned their works for his commixtion of alliances with strangers and the corruption of true Religion by his marrying of so many idolatrous wives and so becomming idolatrous himself and thereby inducing his subjects the Israëlites to be the like and for the Oration of the league there is in that brave Orator want of Logick ignoratio elenchi non causae ùt causae for you know what the Poët saith Careat successibus opto Quisquis ab eventu facta notanda putat and we must not judge of true causes by the various success of things and I may say it was not the professing of one religion but the sincere serving of God in that true religion which brought to them and will bring to others prosperous success against the infidels neither was it the permitting of two religions or to speak more properly the diversity of opinions in the same religion but their emulation and hatred one against another their pride and ambition and many other consequences of private discoâ—ds might be the just causes of their misfortunes 4. For the Puritans Brownists Anabaptists Heretiques and Schismatiques that are deemed neither Infidels nor Idolaters but do obstinately erre 4. Puâ—itans in some points of faith as the Arians that denyed the Divinity of Christ and the Nestorians to them which sinned after baptisme and the like pernicious heresies though not all alike dangerous or do make a Schisme or a rent in the Church of Christ as the Donatists did in Saint Augustin's time and the Anaebaptists and Puritans do in our dayes I say these are not to be esteemed and expelled as deadly enemies but to be suffered and respected as weake friends if they proceed not to be turbulent and malicious who then may prove to be more dangerous both to Church and State then any of the former sort that profess their religion with Peace and quietness for it is not the Profession of What wrong Professors are chiefly to be suffered this or that religion but the malice and wickedness of the professor that is the bane and poyson of the Church wherein it resteth for what is diversity of opinions in the Church of God but tares among the wheat and our Saviour sheweth that the tares should not be plucked up but suffered to grow with the Matth. 13. 29. wheat to teach us that in respect of external communion and civil conversation all sorts of Professors may live together though in respect of our spiritual Why to be suffered either for the exercise of the godly or in hope to convert the ungodly communion and exercise of our religion the Heretique shall be cast forth and be unto me tanquam Ethnicus Publicanus with whom notwithstanding I may converse as our Saviour did with hope that I may convert them unto him which could never be done if they should be quite excluded our company and banished from all holy society And therefore as the prudent Prince seeth the disposition and observeth the conversation of any Faction and the turbulency of any Sect so he knoweth best how to advise with his Council to grant his toleration to them that best deserve it not so much in respect of the meliority of their religion as their peaceable and harmless habitation among their neighbours without railing against their faith or rebelling against their Prince And thus as the case now standeth I see not any Sect or any sort of Professors that for turbulency of spirit madness of zeal and violency of hatred and persecution to the true Protestants are more dangerous to the true religion and deserve less favour from their pious Prince then these Anabaptists Brownists and Puritans that have so maliciously plotted and so rebelliously prosecuted their damnable designs to the utter ruine both of Church and State Doctor Doctor Covell cap. 15. p. 212. His description of the Puritans Covell long ago when they were not half so bad as they be now saith they pretend gravity reprehend severely speak gloriously and all in hypocrisie they daily invent new opinions and run from errour to errour their wilfulnesse they account constancy their deserved punishment persecution their mouthes are ever open to speak evil they give neither reverence nor titles to any in place above them in one word the Church cannot fear a more dangerous and And to confirme this description read what King JAMES writeth of them in his Basilicon Doron p. 160. 161. and in the History of the conference at Hampton-Court in annâ— 603. p. 81 82. fatal enemy to her peace and happinesse a greater cloud to the light of the Gospel a stronger hand to pull in barbarisme and poverty into all our Land a more furious monster to breed contempt and disobedience in all estates a more fretting canker to the very marrow and sinewes of this Church and kingdome then this beast who is proud without learning presumptuous without authority zealous without knowledge holy
Tyrant and it is one of the gracious apâ—thâ—gmes of King James his golden apothegme Basilicon doron l. 2. p. 99. our late noble and never to be forgotten Soveraigne worthy to be written in in letters of gold where speaking to his son he saith inrich not your self with exactions from your Subjects but think the riches of your Subjects your best Treasures and Artaxerxes said it was a great deale more seemlier for the Majesty of a King to give then to take by polling to cloath then to uncloath which belongeth to Theeves not to Princes unlesse they will stain their names for as Apollonius saith that gold which is taken by Tyranny is far baser then any iron because it is wetted with the teares of the poor Subjects and therefore Peter de la Primauday saith they are unworthy of the title of Prince that lending their eares to such as invent new wayes to get monyes from their Subjects and having against all humanity spoyled them of their goods do either miserably Pet. de la Primauday cap. 60. p. 670. consume them upon their pleasures or prodigally bestow them upon undeserving flatterers that fat themselves by the overthrow of others And therefore it behoveth all kings to consider that all mens goods are theirs only quoad tuitionem defensionem and their Subjects quoad possessionem proprietatem as you may see where Joseph bought all the Land of the Egyptians for king Pharaoh and then let it them againe in Fee-sarme to give the King Gen. 47. 46. the fifth part of the fruit of it and as you may conclude it from the eighth Commandment which saith as well to the King as to the Subject thou shalt not steale for if all be his he cannot be said to steale it and if this precept concerns not kings then have they but nine Commandments and therefore be wise O ye Kings and remember what Saint Augustine saith remotâ justitiâ quid sunt Regna nisi Latrocinia for though you may justly demand Tribute and Taxes yet you must have just occasions to use them and you must take but a just proportion or else they may come unjustly unto you But who shall be the Judges of the Kings just occasions in many kingdomes his conscience as the Roman Consuls imposed what taxes they thought meet upon the Provinces they subdued so Marcus Antonius being in Asia doubled their Tax and laid a second charge upon the People which was very unreasonable as Hebreas told him saying if thou wilt have power to lay The saying of Hebreas to M. Antonius upon us two taxes in one year thou must have also power to give us two summers and Autumns two Harvests and two Vintages and yet if our king do thus unreasonably tax us with more then we are able to beare we may reason with him as Hebreas did with Marke Antony refel his arguments and repel Kings herein not to be resisted 1. Reason his oppressions according to the course of Law but we may not in any case with the Sword make any resistance either actual or habitual against him 1 Because God hath not made us Judges of the Kings occasions and we know not his necessities and therefore we cannot determine what is just and unjust 2. Were it granted that the superior demanded without right yet the inferior 2. Reasan not onely may rightly render it without offence unto his conscience but also ought to pay it without resistance unto the Magistrate for if the Jews were not free and the Romans had no right to demand Tribute of them yet by our Saviours question unto Saint Peter and his replication unto the Apostles answer it is apparent that our Saviour was most free and was no way bound to pay any Hesselius in Matth. 18. Barrad to 2. l. 19. c. 32. thing unto the Romans not onely quâ— Deus as Hesselius saith but also as he was a man â—as Barradius more truely proveth yet lest he should offend them as he saith tributum solvit quia voluit he doth most willingly discharge it to teach us that we may and ought justly and without any scruple of conscience pay that which may be unjustly demanded and the best Authors that I have read are of the same judgement we have no other remedy but to cry to God who can judge them for their injustice non caret modis quibus Greg. Tholos l. 26. de repub c. 5. n. 25. possit quando voluerit hujusmodi principes tollere vel emendare But though in most of the Eastern Countries the Kings imposed upon their Subjects what taxes and tributes pleased themselves as Augustus taxed all the world as much as he would at his own pleasure and Charles the fifth saith Osorius prâ—ter pecunias quibus illum Hispani juverant immania tributa populis imperavit besides those monyes wherewith the Spaniard assisted him laid Osor de rebus Emanuel l. 12. p. 386. What the Kings of England promised to their Subjects most heavy taxes upon the people which is indeed a branch of the absolute right of Kings and was originally practised by most of them yet here with us our Kings out of grace and favour unto their people granted such a priviledge unto their Subjects and devested themselves of this right to lay no impositions or taxes upon their Subjects without the consent of their three States convened in the two Houses of Parliament and this Princely concession being truely observed may procure a great deale of love and peace unto the king and as much tranquility and happinesse unto the people Neither do I thinke that he loves his King but am sure that he hates his Country that would perswade him That we should not be niggards to assist our king for all the wealth of the kingdome to violate his own grant and faith herein but as our king granted this savour to impose no taxes without the consent of his Parliament so his parliament in all duty ought alwayes with all thankfulness to acknowledge this special grace and in requital thereof most fully to supply his wants and support his necessities whensoever he acquaints them therewith And therefore we ought not to be like those hide-bound Sectaries and close-fisted Puritans and Brownists that are so miserably covetous and extream niggards that when the king makes known his wants and demands his due for it is still his due though he granted not to cesse it without their consent for his royal supportation and the safety of his kingdome they will finde a hundred excuses to deny him but never a penny to give him out of all their wealth and this is the cause of our misery and may prove as fatal to us as it hath been to the Constantinopolitans whose churlishnesse and niggâ—rdlinesse towards their Emperour was the chiefest cause of the losse of that great Empire and to make the Turk sit in Christ his Chaire to have Mahâ—met adored where
the Gospel was formerly published by as many famous Fathers as now England How Constant was lost and what the Turk then said hath Preachers for the Emperour foreseeing the Siege made many motions for contributions towards the repairing of the Walls and continue the military charge but the Subjects drew back and pleaded want until it was too late and the City lost for though the enemy having a long time besieged it was intended to give over the Siege and to be gone yet tydings and intelligence being given him that the Souldiers within the Town were grown very thin and discontented for want of â—heir pay the enemy returned and in a short space took the City and there found in private mens hands such infinite store of gold and all manner of treasure the hundred part whereof would have paid all the Souldiers kept out the enemy and preserved them all that the Turk seeing the basenesse of the Citizens so foolishly hiding their wealth and denying just aid unto their Emperour stood amazed and lifting up his hands to heaven lamented their folly and asked what they meant that having such a store of wealth they would suffer themselves to be thus destroyed onely for want of wit or of grace to use it and thence grew the Proverb among the Turkes unto this day when one becommeth very rich you have been at the Siege of Constantinople And I pray God it may not so fall out with us for our covetousnesse that we prove not Lucans speech to be true omnia dat qui iusta negat to lose all unjustly unto strangers unto rebels because we deny what is just unto our King But I will conclude this point with the Poët Astra Deo nil majus habent nil Caesare terra Sic Caesar terras ùt Deus astra regit Imperium regis Caesar Deus astra gubernat Caesar honore suo dignus amore Deus Dignus amore Deus dignus quoque Caesar honore est Alter enim terras alter astra regit Cum Deus in caelis Caesar regat omnia terris Censum Caesaribus solvite vota Deo 5. Defence of his Person is another princâ—pal part of that honour which we 5. Defence of the kings person owe unto our King And the very heathens did think their lives well bestowed for their Gods their family and the father of the Country how much more willing should the Christians be to hazard their lives in defence of their King which is quasi unus è decem millibus worth ten thousands of us being as the Scripture termes him the Light of Israel and the breath of our nostrils 2 Sam. 21. 17 Lâ—ment 2 4. Ps 78. 71. 72. vide Hos 3. 4. c. 10. 3 and Lament 2. 9. the head of his Subjects the shepheard and Pastor of the people and as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 importeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the foundation of the people without which they must all fall unto the ground for where there is no governour all must perish and there will be no Priest no Prince no Religion no Nobility no gâ—â—d but anarchy and confusion and the destruction of all things And if we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren as S. John saith how much rather 1 Joh 3. 16. ought we to do it for our King it is recorded in our annals to his eternal praise that Sir Hubert Syncler at the Seige of Bridge-north seeing an arrow that Nulla gens â—tà sollicita est â—ir ca regem suum sicut apes unde rege incolumi omnibus mens â— na est quando nequit vola re fert ipsum turba apum si moritur moriuntur ipsae was shot at his Master King Henry the second stepped betwixt the shaft and his Soveraign and receiving the arrow into his body was therewith shot through to death that he might preserve the life of his King which otherwise had been slain in his stead So Turnbull had his name for killing a Bull that had otherwise slain one of the Kings of Scotland and we read that when David was assailed by a mighty Giant named Ishibibenob which was of the sons of Rapha the head of whose speare weighed three hundred shekels of brass Abishai the son of Zervia with the danger of his owne life runs in succouâ—s the king and kills the Philistim 2 Sam. 21. 17. and so all other good Subjects have had a speciall care to preserve the lives of their Kings whom they loved better then their own Parents yea then their wives or children or their own lives as it appeareth by the foresaid examples and abundance of the like that you may find in the Histories of the Heathens for they had not learnt the new divinity of our time to destroy the King for the good of his Subjects but they thought as it is most true that salus regis est salâ—s populi and they beleeved as all good Christians do that Vna salus nobis nullam sperare salut em Principe calcato sublato jure coronae because as S. Chrysostome saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their safety is our Chrysost in 1 â—im 2. 2. Aug. to 9. tract 6. in Johan security and as S. August saith si tollis jura Imperatorum quis audet dicere mea â—st illa villa if you take away the government of Kings who dares say haec mea sunt this or that is mine as now God knowes since these Rebels have abused our King we can say nothing is our own our houses goods lives and liberties are at the disposing of them that are strongest what then shall we say of those Subjects that strive with all their wit wealth and strength to destroy their King and if you ask me why I must answer as Aristides was banished out of Athens justus quia justus so must our King be killed if these men could do it with their Cannâ—n Bullets because he is too good to reigne over them who deserved not a pious David nor a wise Solomon to rule over them but a foolish Rehoboam that Ps 2. 9. would whip them with Scorpions or such a one as would rule them with a rod of iron and breake them in pieces like a potters vessel for had our King been not Caesar Augustus but Augustus Sevâ—rus so severe as Henry 8. or some other more unmercifull Princes these Rebels durst as well eate their own flesh as thus to devoure the flesh and bones of the Kings loyall Subjects and seek the death of the King himself For it is most certaine of the vulgar people and of ill bred natures that ungentes pungunt pungentes molliter ungunt and therefore though the manifold offers of Peace and the unparallel'd promising of Pardons to most obstinate Rebels do insinitely commend the piety and declare the mildness of a most clement Prince and the refusall thereof betray the ingratefull stubbornnesse of graceless Subjects to all posterity yet