Periurie and the forfeiture of all our spirituall preferment in esse and posse both present and to come What father after awhile will be so improuident to bring vp his sonne to his great charge to this necessarie beggerie What Christian will be so irreligious to bring vp his son in that course of life which by all probabilitie and necessitie Cogit ad turpia inforcing to sinne will intangle him in Simonie and Periurie whereas the Poet saith Inuitatus ad haec aliquis de ponte negabit A beggars brat taken from the bridge where hee fits a begging if he knew the inconuenience had cause to refuse it So he Let me conclude it with the wordes of our Democritus This being thus saith he haue wee not fished faire all this while that are initiated Diuines to finde no better fruits of our labour Hoc est cur palles cur quis non prandeat hoc est Doe we macerate our selues for this If this be all the respect reward and honour we shall haue Frange leues calamos scinde Thalia libellos Let vs giue ouer our bookes and betake our selues to some other course of life To what end shall we studie Quid me literulas stulti docuere parentes What did our parents meane to make vs Schollers to be as farre to seeke for preferment after twentie yeeres studie as we were at first Why doe wee take such paines Quid tantum insanis iuvat impallescere chartis So he Honos alit Artes Honor and reward is the maintayner of Arts. But the Ministerie is the Art of Artes. And that which God and Man hath appointed for the maintenance of the Ministerie shall we call it the reward of a Minister Alas God helpe vs if this were our reward which at the most hath no correspondency to the worke of a Minister For if wee haue sowne vnto you spirituall things is it a great matter â—f wee reape your carnall things yea Non magnum sed minimum saith Anselme A very small matter But shall the worke of our Ministerie so infinitely exceede that which in no proportion can bee reputed a reward and yet can wee not haue this poore recompense of our labour though not of our function to sustaine our poore bodies and studies but we must pay as deare for it as he that neuer saw Schoole may pay for this or any temporall commoditie If so then frange leues calamos scinde Thalia libellos Away with learning and consequently away with the Ministerie yea farewell all good Ministers For euery Minister should bee an honest man and no honest man will be a corrupt Minister and consequently no honest Minister will be a Simonist and doth not Simonie tend then to the vtter abolition of the Ministerie And what other Ministerie can be expected in a Church where Simonie reigneth then such as was vnder Ieroboam to whom Abiah King of Iudah said Haue yee not driuen away the Priests of the Lord the sonnes of Aaron and the Leuites haue made you Priests like the people of other Countries whosoeuer commeth to consecrate with a young Bullocke and seuen Rammes the same may be a Priest So Simonie driueth away all good men and admitteth into the Church those that bee corrupt of the basest of the people Master Perkins that Reuerend man of God alleageth this as one of the maine reasons of the rarenesse and scarsitie of good Ministers namely want of maintenance and preferment for men that labour in this Calling And what difference is there I pray you betweene want of maintenance or preferment and the buying and purchasing of them For so preferment becomes a recompence of my mony not of my Ministerie I will relate the wordes of that good man Men saith he are flesh and bloud and in that respect must hee allured and wonne to imbrace this Vocation by some Arguments which may perswade flesh and bloud The world hath in all ages beene negligent therein and therefore God in his Law tooke such strict order for the maintenance of the Leuites but especially now vnder the Gospell this Calling is vnprouided for when it deserues best of all to be rewarded certainly if Gods Law did not binde vs it were a worthy Christian policy to propound good preferments to this Calling that thereby men of the worthiest gifts might be won vnto it and the want thereof is the cause why so many young men of speciall parts and greatest hope turne to other Vocations and especially to the Lawes wherein at this day the greatest part of the finest wits of our Kingdome are imployed And why But because they haue all the meanes to rise whereaâ— the Ministerie for the most part yeeldeth nothing but a plaine way to beggerie This is a great blemish in our Church and surely I wish the Papists those children of this world were not wiser in their kinde in this point then the Church of God the reformation hereof is a worke worthy the labour of a Prince and people and speciall care is to be had in it else it will not be reformed For doubtlesse had not God himselfe in the Old Testament taken such strickt Orders for the liuings of the Leuites they had beene put to no lesse extremities then is the Ministerie of this age And this reason added to the other makes them perfect and all put together makes a reason infallible For who will vndergoe so vâ—le contempt and so great a charge for no reward And where there is so great contempt and so meane a reward what maruell if a good Minister be one of a thousand So this holy man By all which we may both see the miserie of the Ministerie of a Church where not onely the one moitie of Church-maintenance is impropriate But the other for the most part is in Hucksters handling the propertie of it as of a prâ—ferment and reward of a faithfull Minister being altered by Simonie and as it were made impropriate too and consequently we cannot but feele and more yet feare the ruefull effects thereof both in Church and Common-wealth Againe for asmuch as Simonists are the most doughtie Non-residents making vse of their Benefices as Fishers doe of their lesser fishes as baits to catch the greater fish and so leaue the sweet fresh Riuers at home to goe fish abroad in the mayne Sea because No fishing to the Sea nor seruice to a King whereas they might wisely with the Vine and Fig-tree and Oliue-tree enioy their sweet priuate life in Gods Vineyard feeding their harmelesse flocke and not with the Bramble Abimelech aspire to become as Saint Peter saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not examples to the flocke Doing so what else can come of it but ruthfull ruine as to themselues so to the flocke of God For Simonie doth necessarily imply Non-residency For first a Simonist after the payment of his first purchase is commonly inforced to liue priuately to let out his Parsonage to farme defrauding the poore of
A CENSVRE OF SIMONIE OR A most important case of Conscience concerning Simonie Briefly discussed not altogether perhaps vnparallel for the Meridian of these Times By H. BVRTON Rector of little Saint Matthewes in Friday-street London Caueat Mercator MAR. 8.36 For what shall it profit a man if he shall gaine the whole world and lose his owne soule LONDON Printed by William Stansby for Edmund Weauer and Iohn Smethwicke 1624. TO THE HIGH AND MIGHTIE PRINCE CHARLES PRINCE OF WALES DVKE of CORNWALL and YORKE Earle of Chester c. My gracious LORD and MASTER IF greatest vessels and the most storme proofe yet require the strongest guard when they carrie such a fraight as Pyrates seeke to make their Prey and Prize then let mee craue your HIGHNESSE pardon for putting this my small Barke vnder your Castle Wall as fearing both storme and shot such Merchandise being imbarkt therein as may prouoke the whole Fleete of Spirituall and Ecclesiasticall Merchants Pirates rather floating euery where vpon the Catholicke yea Narrow Seas and not suffering any bound for the Holy-land to passe but such as will Trucke and Trade with them to surprise and prey vpon me I know the Cause is good though I acknowledge the Actor weake And although this be a kind of fruit naturally sharpe and tarte especially to aguish palates and queasie stomackes as also accidentally for want of a good season to giue it a competent ripenesse hauing since first it began to bud growne slowly by succisiue and intermissiue howers borrowed from my Court-seruice and my Church Cure and till now lyen close couered vnder the late Frostie barren Winter now reuiued as the Plants with the vernall Sunne it cannot chuse but receiue a great addition of ripenesse and rellish if besides the vniuersall influence of this comfortable season it inioy but a speciall reflection of your HIGHNESSE gracious Countenance vpon it The rather it being a Subiect not vnworthy the knowledge of godly Christian Princes who account the care of Religion as the richest gemme in all their Diademe A care which hath made the Diademe of your Noble Father his sacred MAIESTIE more glorious then all the Kings in Christendome and which J trust shall propagate his glorie to perpetuitie vnto the which eare also as vnto a Crowne Gods good grace and the myrrour of his MAIESTIES example wherein you dayly looke haue already intitled you as the most hopefull heire apparent And heere giue mee leaue most Gracious PRINCE to relate a pithie and pious exhortation of that learned and godly Bishop Iewell to Queene ELIZABETH of blessed memorie vpon the like occasion A speech which because it doth immediately and primarily reflect vpon his MAIESTIE her happie Successor I canot wish a worthier Iewell then your HIGHNESSE to recommend it O that your Grace did behold the miserable disorder of Gods Church or that you might foresee the calamities which will follow It is a part of your Kingdome and such a part as is the principall proppe and stay of the rest I will say to your Maiestie as Cyrillus sometimes said to the godly Emperors Theodosius and Valentinian Ab ea quae erga Deum est pietate reipublicae vestrae status pendet You are our Gouernour you are the Nurse of Gods Church We must open this griefe before you God knoweth if it may bee redressed it is run so farre But if it may be redressed there is no other besides your Highnesse that can redresse it God hath indued your Grace with many graces and fauours O turne and imploy these to the glorie of God that God may confirme in your Grace the thing which he hath begun To this end hath God placed Kings and Princes in their State as Dauid saith That they serue the Lord that they may see and cause others to see to the furniture of the Church The good Emperour Iustinian cared for this as much as for his life Constantine Theodosius and Valentinian and other godly Princes called themselues Vasallos the subiects and bond seruants of God They remembred that God furnished them in their houses and were not vnmindfull to furnish his house Thus and much more this good Bishop to the same purpose And turning himselfe to the Assembly hauing also reproued Sacriledge and Symonie immediately before he addeth those words Haue patience if any such bee here as I well know there are whom these things touch Suffer me to speake the truth it is Gods cause The liuings of such as are in the Ministerie are not in their hands to whom they are due All other Labourers and Artificers haue their hire increased double as much as it was wont to be onely the poore man that laboureth and sweateth in the Vinyard of the Lord of Hostes hath his hyre abridged and abated I speake not of the Curates but of the Parsonages and Vicaridges that is of the places which are the Castles and Towres of fence for the Lords Temple They seldome passe now a dayes from the Patron if he be no better then a Gentleman but either for the Lease or for present money Such merchants are broken into the Church of God a great deale more intollerable then were they whom Christ whipped and chased out of the Temple Thus they that should bee carefull for Gods Church that should be Patrons to prouide for the Consciences of the People and to place among them a learned Minister who might be able to Preach the word vnto them out of season and in season and to fulfill his ministerie seeke their owne and not that which is Iesus Christs They serue not Iesus Christ but their belly And this is done not in one place nor in one Citie but throughout England A Gentleman cannot keepe his house vnlesse he haue a Parsonage or two in Farme for his prouision O mercifull God! whereto will this grow at last If the misery which this plague worketh would reach but to our age it were the more tollerable but it will be a plague to the posteritie it will bee the decay and desolation of Gods Church and it So this good Bishop It needes no application Onely let mee craue leaue to Petition your HIGHNESSE that you would be pleased to sollicite his sacred MAIESTIE for two things The first is that a competent proportion may bee allotted out of euerie Impropriation especially where the Vicaridge indowed is incompetent or none at all for the maintenance of a sufficient Minister The second is that some remedie may be vsed for the more exact preuention of Simonie These are two things well beseeming our great Defender of the Faith His wisedom can best giue direction and his authoritie life to Acts of such difficultie The great Ship of Good hope hauing those two goodly Deckes the Vpper and the Lower so well Man'd so well Rigg'd hauing such a wise experienced Pilot as his MAIESTIE to command such a Masters Mate as your HIGHNESSE to perswade such vnanimous Mariners to obey the becke of their Gouernour what
of this example as Belshazzar was with the hand-writing And hee must needes bee culpable of this sinne that setteth any terrene price vpon a spirituall thing A third reason why Simonie is vnreasonable is because it makes the Simonist besides himselfe For hee comes as a Minister to buy but buying hee professeth and prooueth himselfe to bee no Minister of God For as God gaue the Tithes anciently to the Leuites he gaue them freely and a free gift ought not to bee bought So hee hath giuen the same to his Ministers of the new Testament as freely whatsoeuer Minister therefore shall offer to buy these Tithes must either confesse that they are not the free gift of God or that he himselfe hath no interest in them as the Minister of God and so no Minister of God If therefore holy Tithes belong properly and of right to Ministers why doe they buy them And if they buy them what right had they vnto them Fourthly it is against reason to commit treason but Simonie is treason For as Iudas conspiring with the Iewes by buying and selling betraied the person of Christ So Simonists conspiring together through buying and selling betray the Church of Christ yea betray the body of Christ the members of Christ as shall appeare more at large when we come to shew the effects of Simonie But the Simonist obiecteth I am faine to buy because All or Most are set a buying So that if I buy not I am like to haue nothing This is as good a reason as if hee said I must sinne because it is the fashion of All or Most so to doe This man will goe to the Deuill for companie But let mee tell thee if it were not for such as thou art wee should shortly haue no Simonists at all For thou buyest because others buy Well Doe but thou and all such as thou art who thus sinne by others example hold your hand a while and in short time defluet 〈◊〉 the Brooke at last of such examples will be quite dried vp when it ceaseth to be fed and supplied with such headie Currents For else by following such examples thou and such as thou art become examples to draw others after thee and so each for his part both maintayneth and increaseth that wicked Trade each striuing who can runne fastest to the Deuill Another saith he buyeth of force that he may haue a place in the Church to exercise those gifts God hath bestowed vpon him for the good of his Church And if he buy not those gifts shall lie buried in the earth That were great pitie But what gifts I doubt whether any sanctified and true Priestly gifts that will so easily be corrupted with Simonie But as the King of Gath said to Dauid counterfaiting madnesse Haue wee neede of mad men So haue wee neede of Simonists in the Church Or as Philip King of Macedon seeing his sonne Alexander by large gifts to wooe the good will of the Macedonians writ vnto him in an Epistle Quae te malùm inquit ratio in istam spem induxit vt eos tibi fideles putares fore quos pecunia corrupisses An id agis vt Macedones non te Regem suum sed Ministrum praebitorem putâ—nt quo quid Sordidius Regi So we may inuert it vpon our Simonist thus Quae te malùm ratio in istam spem induxit vt populo te fidelem putares fore Pastorem cum tuam ipse conscientiam pecunia tua corrupisses An id agis vt populus Dei non te Pastorem suum sed Depastorem non Concionatorem sed Corruptorem putent quo quid Sordidius Rectori But if thou hast such a desire to exercise thy gifts audiamus disertum bestow them there where is most neede where the people perish for want of prophecie and prophecie faileth there because the Tithes are impropriate Sed nullus ad amissas ibit Amicus opes But thou wilt say Dignus est operarius Mercede sua True But either bewray not thy Hypocrisie by seeking the richest and most eminent places preferments in the Church for scarce any else please thee to exercise thy gifts in or else make proofe of thy sinceritie by desiring so to imploy thy gifts in Gods Church as for that end thou wilt rather content thy selfe with a meane Liuing honestly attained then to aspire to a greater by corrupt meanes For it is a question which is the worst of the two for the Church to want a Minister or to be serued with a Simonist Another obiecteth I see the Church of God in great danger the chiefe places are intruded into by such as will make no conscience of their dutie as is manifest by those lesser charges and places wherein they haue beene most negligent and vnfaithfull and so the ship of the Church shall be in danger of casting away being gouerned by carelesse Pilots Therefore for the loue and care I beare to the Church being conscious of my good conscience that I ayme chiefly at the good thereof why may I not redeeme the danger of it with my money A plausible reason I confesse for our very liues are not too deare much lesse our liuings to bee spent and sacrificed for the Church of God It was the Apostles ioy and reioycing To bee offered vp vpon the sacrifice and seruice of the Philippians faith And this ought to bee the ioy of euerie faithfull Minister of Christ lawfully called and canonically placed in this or that place in the Church But in this the case is otherwise A man as yet is not called lawfully and orderly to this or that charge in the Church Well the Church wants a good Pastor Wolues seeke to enter Shall I to preuent them climbe vp another way into the Sheep-fold and not by the Doore What benefit will this be to the Flocke when the Thiefe and the Robber comes to preuent the Wolfe Yea Caueat Emptor Why was Vzza being no Priest smitten was it not for laying his hand vpon the Aâ—ke contrary to Gods Commandement Numb 4.15 They shall not touch any holy thing least they dye But the Arke was shaken with the Oxen and he did but stay it well hee had his payment for his officâ—ousnesse So thou seest at least in thy apprehension in stead of the true Leuites the Arke to be drawne by Oxen the Church to bee swayed by whom it ought not and so the state of it to be shaken and to bee in ieopardie Yet take heed thou put not forth thy hand thy Simoniacall hand to the end to saue the Church from ruine So to touch holy things is death Thy money perish with thee If Simonie be vnlawfull and so condemned of all if it be a sinne commit it not yea though thou couldest thereby procure the safetie of the whole Church of God For men to say Let vs doe euill that good may come thereof their damnation is iust Shall I destroy mine owne soule for
euery sinne slayeth the soule to saue others soules Yea saith Iob Will yee speake wickedly for Gods defence and talke deceitfully for his cause Whereupon Mercerus noteth saying Deus hac vestra Defensione non indiget neque ita se defends postulat cum alterius Detrimento vt interim proximo fiat Iniuria If God then will not haue his cause defended to any mans wrong neither will he haue his Church saued by any mans destruction It is against the order of charitie to lose my owne soule for the sauing of others Let such a man rather resolue thus If God will haue mee to helpe to preserue his Church hee will offer meanes lawfull for mee to attaine this charge Yea in such a case the meanes for vs to vse is Pray the Lord of the Haruest that hee would send forth Laborers into his Haruest And whereas a man may pretend yea and promise to himselfe if hee were promoted to such a place to become a profitable member in the Church let such a one examine himselfe by that which Gregory saith Perhaps saith he he that desireth Prelacie in the Church hath a purpose to doe good Sed cum percepti Principatus officio perfrui seculariter coepit libenter obliuiscitur quicquid religiosè cogitauit Quia nequaquam valet in culmine humilitatem discere qui in imis positus non desinit superbire Nam plerunque in occupatione regiminis ipse quoque boni operis vsus perditur qui in tranquillitate tenebatur quia quieto mari recte nauem imperitus se nauta dirigit turbato autem tempestatis fluctibus etiam peritus se nauâ—a confundit Quid namque est potestas culminis nisi tempestas mentis Inter haec itaque quid sequendum est quid tenendum nisi vt virtutibus pollens coactus ad regimen veniat virtutibus vaâ—â—us ne coactus accedat But when he hath begun worldly to inioy the office of his receiued principalitie he willingly forgets whatsoeuer â—ee religiously purposed Because hee cannot learne humilitie when hee is aloft who while hee was below ceased not to bee proud For commonly in the negotiation of Gouernment the very vse of good workes is also lost which in the tranquillitie of a priuate life was preserued Sith in a calme sea euen at vnexpert Mariner can direct and guide his ship and himselfe but in a tempestuous sea euen a skilfull Pilot confounds himselfe For what else is the power of regiment but the tempest of the minde Therefore in these cases what is to be followed what to be obserued but that hee which excelleth in vertues should come to place of gouernment by compulsion but he that is destitute of vertueâ— should vpon no termes no not by compulsion be drawne vnto 〈◊〉 And hee concludes Considerandum est ei qui curam populi electuâ— Praesul suscipit quia quasi ad aegrum medicus accedit Si ergo in eius opere passiones viuunt qua presumptione percussum mederi properat qui in facie vulnus portat Therefore saith he the elect Prelate which takes vpon him the care of the people must consider that hee comes as a Physician to a sicke Patient If therefore passions doe yet liue in his practise with what presumption doth hee hasten to heale the diseased when hee carrieth his wound in his owne face But will some say Qui Episcopatum desiderat bonum opus desiderat Ergo licet mihi Episcopatum desiderare He that desireth a Bishopricke desireth a worthy worke Therefore it is lawfull for mee to desire a Bishopricke Let the same Gregory make answere vpon the very same words in his eight Chapter of the foresaid Booke which hee intituleth thus De ijs qui praeesse concupiscunt ad vsum suae libidinis instrumentum Apostolici sermonis arripiunt Ti. 3.1 Notandum saith hee quod illo in tempore hoc dicitur quo quisquis praeerat primus ad martyrij tormenta ducebatur Tunc ergo laudabile fuit Episcopatum quaerere quando per hunc quemquam dubium non erat ad supplicia grauiora perâ—enisse Vnde ipsum quoque Episcopatus Officium boni operis expressione definitur cum dâ—citur si quis Episcopatum desiderat bonum opus desiderat Ipse ergo sibi testis est quia Episcopatum non appetit qui non per hunc boni operis Ministerium sed honoris gloriam quaerit Quiâ— repente subiungit Apostolus Opertet autem Episcopum irreprehensibilem esse Et fauet ergo ex desiderio terret ex praecepto acsi apertè dicat laudo quod quaeritis sed prius discite quid quaeratis ne dum vosmet ipsos metiri negligitis tantò foedior vestra reprehensibilitas appareat quanto à cunctis conspici in honoris arce festimatis Sacrum quippe Officium non solum non diligit omnino sed nescit qui ad culmen regiminus anhelans in occulta meditatione cogitationis coeterorum subiectione pascitur laude propria laetatur ad honorem coreleuat rerum affluentium abundantia exultat Mundi ergo lucrum quaeritur sub eius honoris specie quo mundi destrui lucra debuerant Cumque mens humilitatis culmen arripere ad elationem cogitat quod foris appetit intus immutat It is to be noted saith hee that this was spoken at that time when euery Prelate was the first that was drawne to the torments of martyrdome Then it was commendable to desire a Bishopricke when by it a man was sure to come to more grieuous torments c. But that man doth not onely not loue but not vnderstand the sacred Function at all who breathing to climbe to the top of gouernment doth in his priuate thoughts feed vpon the subiection of others flatter himselfe in his owne prayse exalt his heart vnto honour and exult in the abundandance of his wealth Therefore the lucre of the world is sought vnder the shew of that Honor by which the emoluments and gainers of the world should haue beene destroyed Another obiection doth here crosse my way on the Patrons behalfe Sir you need not bee so rigid against giuing and receiuing for a Spirituall preferment For for my part I haue a good intent to conuert such money to some charitable vse as to bestow it in Almes c. Indeed this hath beene an old shift in the Court of Rome But Gratian saith Non potest fieri Eleemosyna ex pecunia Simoniacè acquisita Almes may not bee giuen of money Simoniacally gotten And Gregor Epist. 110. to certaine BB. doth condemne this sinne thus Nimis Declinandem est dilectissimi fratres sub obtentu Eleemosynae peccata Simoniacae haereseos perpetrare Nam aliud est propter peccata Eleemosynas facere aliud propter Eleemosynas peccata committere Wee are to bee exceeding carefull beloued brethren not to commit the sinnes of Simoniacall hâ—resie vnder pretence of almes For it is one thing to doe almes for sinne sake another thing to