to be paid vnto God also as well as to Caesar as a testimony of our loyall subiection to his diuine Maiestie And is not the reason also as great for our heauenly King as an earthly Caesar Solomon in his Prouerbs among many other religious precepts hath giuen vs this Honour the Lord in thy riches and in the first fruits of all thy increase and thy barnes shal be filled with aboundaunce and thy wine presses shall burst themselues with new wine For no doubt we owe a tribute to the Lord as vnto the great King no otherwise then to an earthly Prince vnto whom wee may pay tribute for two respects both that hee may be able for those charges he vndertaketh for the common-wealth also that we may testifie vnto him our fealty and subiection as to our lawfull King the first being for our vse the second for his honour But now the first of these hath no place in God neither doth hee require any thing of vs in that behalfe but the latter is so much the more due to God by how much the more God is greater than man and the profession of subiectiō is necessary in euery faithful christian Wherfore after the Lord had appointed Israel a peculiar people to himselfe forthwith as Prince and chiefe Lord ouer his people he demanded the tenth of all their increase with orher rites and royalties of his supreame power And wheras it was alwaies an heinous matter among the Esterne Monarks to appear before the King without a present God required the like honor of his people namely for that hee was both king and Lord ouer his people For which cause in the law where all the males are commanded to appeare before the Lord they are forbidden to come neere without an offring Moreouer is there not yet extant in Malachy a shamfull rebuke against the Iewes which practised deceit in their first fruits and in their tythes That sacrilege the Lorde iustlie punished in them with the dire of a contagious dearth the which notwithstanding hee promiseth if they will amend that fault that hee would open the windowes of heauen and powre out vppon them a gracious plentye of all thinges The wordes of the Prophet are these VVill a man spoyle his Iudges but yee haue spoyled mee and say in what what things haue we spoiled thee in tythes and first fruits Yee are cursed with cursing it selfe for ye the whole nation haue spoiled me Bring ye all the tithes into the store-house and let there bee meat in mine house and proue me now saith the Lord of hosts if I wil not open vnto you the windowes of heauen that I may poure vpon you a blessing that their may be no end of aboundance c. Among the people of God it was alwais reputed an special exercise of gods religion to pay tithes truly of all that they possessed which they knew to be giuen not so much to a mortall priest as to the immortall God Doth not the Pharisie in the gospel glory in his fidelitie of true tything as in a rare virtue CHAP. X. An answere to certaine obiections the which it is confirmed by that the ministers of the gospel are worthy no lesse honor then were the priests of old among the people of God BVt it is excepted that the times are altered that at this day vnder the gospel the Priesthood is trāslated into Christ whose shadow it was that hee hath imposed an end to all outward rites by which means the right of tything is also antiquated with the Priest-hoode and all that outward glorie which made the antique Priests more honorable is therwithall ecclipsed Neither is there any man at this day which can arrogate to himselfe without impiety those auncient honours of the former priest-hood Is it not regestred among the chiefe errors of Antichrist that he vaunteth and aduanceth himselfe for Hic-priest Because that honour at this day is proper and peculiar to Christ alone In place of the auncient Priest-hood which was accompanied with an externall and a religious maiestie our Sauiour hath substituted the Ecclesiastical ministery base and abiect in great disgrace and cleane out of countenance And hath hee not giuen them their christning also according to their calling For therefore he gaue them the seruile names of Apostles and Ministers and Deacons and Bishops and Pastors setting aside all titles of Honor and dignity as are the names of Fathers and Doctors and Lords and such like that they might knowe what they were to conceyue of them selues their Ministery and that the people might likewise learne what reckoning to make of theyr paines and theyr persons Here is a faire tale surely and well soothed But what of all this that the Pastors and Bishops of Christ his Church are worthy lesse Honor in a christian common wealth then were of yore the Elder Priests Why then let vs conclude with al a lya or too that the leuitical priesthood is more honorable thē Christs that the ministery of the law is more glorious then that of the Gospell then the which if there can be any assertion more absurd this conclusion of theirs shall goe for no bad confection For if the Honor due to the Minister be to be measured according to the outward shew we may well conclude that Aaron was worthy double reuerence and our Sauiour the high Priest thrise sacred none at all For why he was inuestured with no mitre no labels nor did he glister with gold and precious stones But let vs first take that they giue vs in good worth namely that the Priests of olde were to be honored with no small obsequy then let vs examine the case what is to be deducted therof from the Euangelique Minister You are to vnderstand therefore that in most parts of the old ceremonies many times two things did meete in one which notwithstanding were diuerse and distinct in them selues of which the one did containe the shadow and promise of that which was to be exhibited in Christ the other did pertayn to some proper and especiall duety in the Church the shadowes are ceased those things being performed which in Christ were promised but the bond of especial duty remaineth as yet not cancelled For example sake the commaundement of keeping the Sabaoth hath a promise of eternall rest and a shadow of the rest of our bodies the seuenth day and besides that it includeth a morall dutie of seruing of God and ceasing from our labours The other precepts also do cōtain that duety of external worship which is due vnto God together with the rites of that time the rites being relinguished the worship of God to be retained The like we may say of the Priesthood in the which ther were sundry respects Whatsoeuer was typical was determined in Christ but of the other partes which were morall namely such as concerned the instructiō of the people the ministery of the Sacraments the regiment of the church the
thousand Of the which foure and twenty were appointed to bee ouerseers of the workes for the house of the Lord and sixe thousand were ordayned Rulers and Iudges in all Israell And least any man shoulde thinke that they were Iudges onely in Ecclesiasticall causes as some now a dayes would hold men in hād forcing the Scriptures to that forme of gouernement they see in some Churches let the six and twenty Chapter of the same Booke be wel read and aduisedly perused and he shal find that the Isharites Chenanas and his brethren men of might were deputed officers and Iudges for the businesse without ouer Israell Of the Hebronits Hesabias and his brethren men of might a thousand and seuen hundred were appointed Officers for Israell beyond Iordan westward in all the businesse of the Lord and for the seruice of the King And in the same Chapter it is sayd that Dauid appoynted the kinse-men of Iedijas men of might two thousand seuen hundred Princes of families ouer the Rubenites and the Gadites and the halfe tribe of Manasses for euery matter pertaining to God and the King To these I may adde that which I read in the nineteenth of the 2. of the Chronicles of king Iehosophat who intending the restauration of Gods worship and the reformation of the common wealth appointed Iudges Leuits and Priests and Princes of the families of Israell for the iudgement and cause of the Lord. And where as some thinke by that in the last verse of this Chapter That the Priests and Leuites were onely deputed ouer Ecclesiasticall causes because it is there written Behold Amarias the Priest shall be the chiefe ouer you in all matters of the Lord and Zebadias the sonne of Ismaell a ruler of the house of Iuda shall be for all the Kings affaires c. As if he had there put some difference betweene matters ciuill and Ecclesiastitall It is an errour growen as I haue sayde of a certaine fore-seasoned opinion of that gouernment which we see now in the Church or Rome and some other reformed churches For who seeth not that in this place the kings affaires and in the sixe and twenty of the former booke the seruice of the King doth not signify al one with ciuil matters and politique affaires but what so euer pertayned to the Kings right Such as were first described by Samuel and afterwards eyther imitated or augmented by the consent of the people as it often commeth to passe of the which ther was nothing prescribed by Moyses But what the businesse of the Lord was the tenth verse going before declareth by particulars For the Priests were interpreters of the law as well ciuill as ceremoniall and the King so appointing they were also the ordinary Iudges thereof These things I doe therfore remember that all men may know what is lawfull for the Ministers of the Gospell who succeede the Leuiticall Ministery in ciuill causes vnder a christian Magistrate not that I would wishe them intangled therewith any otherwise then the necessity of time and causes may require and that we may also know that those precepts of our Sauiour were giuen to no other end then that as I haue sayd that misconceite of his kingdom should not be strengthned in the mindes of his Disciples Least they should thinke the power which was giuen them were annexed with such autority as that they might alter at their pleasure and innouate publique estates by theyr peculiar power Chap. XXV Theyr error confuted that thinke no ciuill affaires of the common wealth ought to be committed to the Bishops and Pastors of the Church NOw a dayes this common error hath inuaded the mindes not onely of the common sort but of some part of the learned also so that there are manye of that side very strongly opinionate that the ciuill affaires of the common wealth doe nothing at all appertaine to Bishops and Ministers no more then if they were neyther cittizens nor any suppliment of the common wealth Curriers Diers Weauers Beere-brewers Smithes Fullers Marchauntes and Pedlers furnish the common house and giue their voyce in things concerning the common wealth neyther can I dissalow the same in a common wealth but that the Pastors of Churches shoulde stande excommunicate out of their generall assemblies it is a thing vtterly against the equal right of al Cittizens Seeing they liue vnder the same lawes obey the same Magistrate beare the same burdens of the common wealth Seeing in such publique assemblies they doe consult as wel of theyr liues and goods and what so euer else vpon the which not onely theyr owne estate but the publique good of theyr Churches also doth depend seeing I say they doe consult of these no lesse then of cloth and wooll and fish and felles importing and transporting any other commodities is ther any light of reason or light reason why godly Ministers ought to haue lesse care of the common wealth then common Burgomaisters If they can alledge no reason what colour can they set vppon theyr mishapen ground Why they aboue all others should be excluded the ciuill assemblies or Parliaments prouincial whom it chiefely concerneth to see least the flocke committed to theyr charge be layd open to Wolues In those things which concerne the safety of theyr soules nay but in those things also which touch the security of theyr bodies Are they not appointed of God watchmen and ouerseers as it were in a hie tower or heedeful centrenel as they which are to see from far what mischiefes are like to insue that they may admonish as well the people as the Magistrats themselues of such things as are to be auoided The which in deed they cannot doe so long as they are kept fasting from the conscience and conference of such thinges as are done in the common wealth If the Church could stand safe though the cōmon wealth fell to decay or if the one might rise by the ruines of the other I had the lesse to say but when as Church and common wealth are imbarked in the same vessell saile together in the same danger how should the deuout minister be lesse solicited for the safety of the common state then are the common Burgesses who for the most part iudge one thing cōmodious for the Church an other for the common wealth another for themselues and their own estate These are in office but for a year they neuer forsake theyr charges These may prouide many waies for themselues theyr own estate with the detriment of the Church danger of the commō wealth they can by no means preserue themselues or theirs vnlesse both Church common wealth together be preserued These consult that the common wealth sustaine no domage in corne and cattell in wares and marchaundise least themselues at any time should want their sweet return They doe not a little regard these things but besides these theyr especial care is that iustice faith godlines and true religion decay not in the
simplicity of the Euangelike ministery IF any man obiect that these tenures in fee are accompanied with certaine Royalties ciuill iurisdictions secular titles honors and retinewes in which thinges the auncient Nobilitie are an ornament vnto the King and the Countrey and therefore not agreeable vnto the simplicitie of the ministerie which thing the Lord him selfe taught as well by expresse doctrine as especiall example Because indeede such thinges they doe but intangle a man in extearne vanities and solicite their heartes with the cares of this world in the which it becommeth a Bishop to be secure And furthermore for that the Lord himselfe beeing requested to sit but as arbiter betweene two brethren denied the same And againe when the Apostles made the question which of them should bee the greatest hee made aunswere and sayd The Kings of the Gentils raigne ouer them and they which beare rule ouer them are called gracious Lordes but yee shall not be so but he that is greatest amongst you let him be as the least and he which is Prince as he which ministreth By which the wordes and examples of our Sauiour wee are taught that the Ministery of the Gospell hath nothing common with the Common-wealth It may suffice for an answere vnto this obiection which wee haue before noted namely that all this they talke of hath his place in that estate in the which our Sauiour and his Apostles liued not in that common-wealth in the which the chiefe Magistrates acknowledge Christ Iesus their chiefe Lord and soueraigne King For as the Magistrate is of an other calling now in the Church then before he had so is it reason also that the seruaunts of the Lorde should bee of better estate in the Common-wealth then before they were The Magistrate which before was an enemie and a persecutour according vnto the prophesie of Esaias is become a Foster-father of the Church and a religious worshipper of the Lorde Christ vnder whome were it not an absurd thing that the seruaunts of Christ should haue no more honour then vnder a persecutor But because it is not set downe expreslie in the Scripture what of what sort and how great the same ought to bee many mens mindes are heere at a maze and some are of mind so to leaue it as at a dead losse and yet notwitstanding the thing it selfe is not so hard to find out and it is in his owne nature wel enough knowen and that both by the written lawe of God and the vniuersall censure of all nations were it not for the awkewarde interpretation of those scriptures which I haue nowe cited Out of the which notwithstanding there is nothing els directie concluded but that it is not any part of the Ecclesiasticall function to intermedle in ciuil affaires the which indeed is out of all controuersie Neither is that the question but whether the same man that is a Pastor may not togeather with the ministery of the Gospell bee lawfully imployed in politique affaires for the benefite of the Church and good of the Common-wealth For when as the Minister of the church is cittizen also of the common-wealth he ought not thinke any thing not pertaining to him that pertaineth to the Common-wealth so that beeing lawfully called hee may not vndertake some part of the ciuill estate As for that which I lately cited concerning our Sauiour who refused to be an arbiter it is nothing to this question For the spirite of Christ in the mouth of Paul doth plainly teach vs that the meanest of the church are good enough to iudge of earthlie causes for that one day they shall iudge the worlde yea the Angels themselues a iudgement farre greater then this The which seeing the Apostle affirmeth of any Christian is it to bee thought that onely Christ alone was no fit man to take vp a small matter betweene two brethren if they both had bene content to stand vnto his iudgement Wee cannot therefore imagine that our Sauiour Christ simplye refused the office of an arbiter but that hee denied himselfe to bee that iudge which might command both parties to stand vnto his arbiterment And is not this then a slight testimonie for to proue it not lawfull for a Bishop who is both a Cittizen and a subiect to exercise anye ciuill iurisdiction the Magistrate so commaunding him or to execute some other pension of the Common-wealth not abhorring altogeather from his profession beeing furnished with sufficient authority to discharge it That the foure-score and second Canon commandeth him to be disordered who vndertaketh both Prouinces the Ecclesiasticall power and the secular principality for my part I say not against it if so be that it bring no inconuenience vnto the Bishoppes of the Church and that it may bee done with the good leaue of the Prince and without anie great hurt to the Church and Common wealth And thereupon we are also bolde to say that Theophilus and Cyrill Byshops of Alexandria transgressed that Canon of whome Socrates reporteth that of themselues they tooke vnto themselues the principality of that citty In like manner doe the Bishops of Rome when as they improoue vnto themselues those things which are Caesars For when as they are the vassals and subiectes of the Emperour they haue notwithstanding extolled themselues aboue their Lords and aduanced the sheepheardes croysier aboue the royall scepter But for those Bishops which vaile their bonnet to their Soueraigne and obey their Princes in honest and godly things there is not the like reason And many things many times are done in the Common-wealth extraordinarilye so that there can no lawe bee published or made which it is not lawfull for to gain-say at some time or other for the good of the Common-wealth Neither is the other example that they vrge of anye force For had our Sauiour meant to haue inthronized himselfe in that earthly kingdome which he neuer ment yet would hee haue refused that tumultuous course For what power had that part of the people to annoint him King CHAP. XX That it is lawfull for Bishops to heare ciuil causes and to determine vpon them THat Bishops had to deale in ciuill causes when as the parties submitted themselues to their iudgement it is sufficiently known by the writings of the Fathers the works of Iustinian The which although it were a matter of no smal trouble vnto the godlie Bishops yet the iniquitie many times of secular Iudges their delayes demurs and cauils in lawe were such as that the Bishops of meere charity were moued vnto this labour Neither are they therein to be so censured as if they vsurped the place of the ciuill Magistrate for he did it by the consent of the chiefe Magistrate as it appeareth in the writings of Iustinian in his first booke de Episcopali audientia the fourth title where hee commaundeth that there should be that reuerence giuen vnto their iudgement which is due vnto the hiest powers from whome it is not lawfull to appeale
in the other with aduauntage Chap. XXI An exposition of that place of Luke in the two and twentith chapter NOw I come to that place of Luke the two and twentith chapter where it is recorded that there was some question made amongst the Apostles which of them should seeme the greater the which for that it arose of a certaine perswasion of honor and rule our Lord Sauiour the great Maister of humility repressed the same and confuted their misconceite when as hee forbad them to imitate the proceedings of heathen Princes and made himselfe an example of his manner of gouernment For albeit he had called them indeed to a singular kind of dignitie notwithstanding he would haue them vnderstand that the same differed heauen and earth from that which is vsuall in imperiall kingdomes For as the kingdome of God is diuers from the kingdomes of the earth euen so it becommeth the Ministers of that his kingdome to be of diuers conditions also Indeed it is the fashion of the Court to sewe pillowes vnder the elbowes euen of most vile men and commonly they which grind the faces of the people with bloud-thirstie tyrannie and practise vpon them all kind of crueltie are notwithstanding called most mercifull and most gratious Lords Wherefore our Sauiour especially here taxed the manifest misdemeanors of them which then did domineer ouer the people of God noting withall the manifold abuses of other vngratious Tyrants which by force and armes had inthralled mightie kingdomes vnder their dominion vnto whome the grace of Gratiousnes was giuen euen by them whom they oppressed most vngratiously Moreouer there was setled in the mindes of the Apostles a certain conceit that the kingdom of the Lord should be earthly as they did see that of the Romanes to bee and as they had heard that of Dauid and Salomon to haue beene Higher then this could not they aduance their conceits for alâs they were as yet but meere infants in Christ and did but learne as then to goe by ground Whereuppon it came to passe that they imagined very strongly that they could be made no other by the Lord then Lords Lieutenantes at the least from the which their childish ouer-weening our Sauiour doth in this place take them downe a little But that it may be made yet more apparant vnto all what might bee the Lord his very meaning in that his saying I wil yet sound into the cause a little deeper The Apostles seeme to make a verie plaine question demaunding no more but this Who should be the greatest among them but in what things he should be the greatest that is not there expressed No doubt a man may be accounted greatest for sundry causes as greatest in age in experience greatest greatest in learning in eloquence greatest greatest in wisedome in wealth in nobilitie of birth in authoritie and power and such like But now the Apostles were priuate men in nothing singular which commonly maketh mens minds ambitious and causeth mens thoughtes to ouer-reach As for age experience wealth wisedome nobility such like they openly bewray themselues in whom soeuer they are the greatest so that there is seldom any question about those things It remaineth therefore that the question betwene them was for honour and authoritie the which also may seeme a ridiculous thing among the poore fraternitie of the twelue Apostles vnlesse haplie a man would iudge them ambitious rather for their desire then for their honour But farre be it from mee that I should rashly condemne those good men of any sacrilegious ambition seeing the Lord himselfe did not so much correct them as direct them in their demaund It appeareth rather by that the Lord answered thē by any thing the Apostles propounded that they did not regard the present state of thinges as they were then but that they had an eye to that rather which they hoped to see shortly vnder Christ They knewe that the kingdome of GOD was now at hande about the proclaiming whereof they chiefly were sent neyther were they ignorant how honorably the Prophets had written thereof namely that it should be as a most mightie so a most ample kingdome not to bee bordered but with the compasse of the whole earth that all nations should come and acknowledge their fealtie and doe due homage thereunto and that albeit they expected many enemies and aduersaries both tyrants and traytors yet notwithstanding the rebellious of the people should be appeased at the last Wherefore when as they were of beleefe that this kingdome should be restored vnto Israell out of hand their question is who should be next vnto Christ in that kingdome For as the Israelites had borne a long time the heauie yoke of some tyrannous Empires so they were perswaded that all Nations should nowe yeelde to the iust consequence of their renued title And they did see indeed that their present number did well agree with the twelue Princes of the twelue Tribes of Israel and that the seuentie two Disciples did as well resemble the graund Senate of Gods people Whereby as they knewe that amongst them of olde there were diuerse degrees of dignitie vnder King Dauid and other Princes so they perswaded themselues that the like distinction of orders and honours ought to bee continued amongst them Neither could they so soone forget that honorable speach of their Lord when he promised them that one day they should sit vpon twelue thrones and iudge the twelue tribes of Israell These conceites I should conceiue the Apostles had then in their heades being made as yet and not throughly exercised in the censure of heauenly things these I think rather to haue proceeded in them of a certaine weake ignorance and erroneous misconceiuing then of any sacrilegious pride or ambitious ouer-weening But the Lord perceiuing their thoughts correcteth their misconceite teacheth them That he had not called them to sway an earthly scepter but to seeke a spirituall Empire in the which notwithstanding the power they should receiue of him they should still continue and content themselues not Princes but priuate men Wherfore albeit they should be the chiefe and principall of the new people of God yet their principalitie should not bee any thing more magnificent then the estate of other priuate men and therefore in the forme of that gouernment he had appointed for his Church the first and principall ought to imitate his example who liued among them as a seruant and a Minister when as yet they called him as indeede hee was both Lord and Maister And this is the plainest exposition of Christ his words Where we see that our Sauiour because hee would not stirre vp any headstrong innouation in the common welths and kingdomes vnto whom he sent his Apostles of especial purpose he sent them priuate and impotent without either warlike complement or ciuil regiment namely to conuert soules not to inuert states least if hee should haue erected heere any earthlie kingdome they might haue supposed
subiect to Lawes and Magistrates as well as other men Or may they not bee commaunded if they cannot be entreated by them vnto whome they are subiect to doe good to the Church or Common-wealth Neither is that of Paule to Timothie any thing at all against this assertion No man that warreth intangleth himselfe in the affaires of this life For the affaires of this life are those with the which we get thinges needfull for this present life not those things which appertaine to the publique estate of the Prince or Common-wealth War-fare it selfe is one of the publike affaires of the Common-wealth vnto the which whosoeuer is leuied must leaue his domesticall affaires so that if a man would vrge the similitude thorowly Hee which warreth vnto God must leaue all his domestical affairs against that example of Paule of whom no man wil doubt but that he discharged his Pastorall duty faithfully yet notwithstanding intangled himselfe in the affaires of this life when necessity constrained him to get his liuing with his handie labor and to spend that time in the affaires of this life which other-wise he might better haue imployed either in praier or in Preaching Beeing ready no doubt to haue done the like in publique affairs which he did in priuate had the Magistrates commanded and the good of the people required the same Wherefore the sense of the similitude is this that we must abstaine from those things which do so hinder the VVarre to the which wee are called as that they force vs to for-sake the same That the vse of certaine things which doe perteine vnto the Common-wealth as to haue a Ciuill iurisdiction in certaine Citties or townes which a man may discharge by another to be of the Kings councel in certain causes to be present at the publik assemblies of the kingdome to deliuer his iudgement in thinges concerning the state to vndertake and discharge a royall Embassee at certaine times of the yeare to be present at sessions and assises and to vndertake all these by the Kings especiall commaundement or generall commission that these things I say and such like are of that wicked nature that whosoeuer vseth them cannot be a Bishop or a Minister this I say should haue bene prooued and this also that the Minister which intermedleth in any of these things for a publique commoditie beeing there-vnto called and commanded by the Magistrate dooth commit a wicked thing and vnworthy his calling CHAP. XXIII That diuerse functions are not confounded albeit vndertaken of one man THAT which is commonly said of the state Ecclesiastique that it is distinct from the Ciuil estate is altogeather impertinent to this question seing both callings become not one though one man be called to them both Are not the parts of of a Lawyer diuerse and the partes of a Physicion diuerse yet the same party may play both partes and prooue as good a Lawyer as a Physicion In like manner the same man may be both Physicion and Diuine and cure the body as a leach and comfort the soule as a spirituall Father Spiridion was a husband man and got his liuing by graizing yet was hee a Bishop of the Church and a Pastor of soules shall we thinke that he confounded both these functions I but a Bishop requireth the whole man neither yet is one man sufficing for more charges I but this indefinite censure is vncertainelie true and certainely false and there are manye presidentes to the contrary both in the old Testament and in other antique histories First I would know whether Spiridion both Pastor of sheepe and of souls were not a man able for both these charges No man as yet so far as I can learne hath enuied him his ferme with his Bishoprick No man hath dared to condemne that holy men but all men haue worthely admired both his simplicity and his sanctimony and yet might hee haue beene more greedy of graizing then of gaining soules had his mynde ben set vppon coueteousnes But why then might not the same man haue beene both Bishop and the kings Counseller as well No doubt the greatnes of euerye charge is chiefely to be considered and then also the supply of necessary ayde which a man may haue in either charge whereby he may well discharge the same There are some Churches more great then other som som haue more busines some lesse in so much that the Pastor may haue much time sometime to spare from his ordinary charge And in a great Church where the Bishop hath many and great affayres it may be he hath many and great helps Had these two functions beene so aduerse and contrary the one to the other that they could neuer be exercised together by the same man Moyses would neuer haue beene both Prince and Priest ouer the people of God But I feare me some silly shrewd fellow wil haue his action against me for that I haue called Moyses a Priest And yet I would haue him first to vnderstand that after he had created Aaron himselfe stil continued both Prophet and Pastor as he was before But that Ely Samuel were both Iudges and Priests together it cannot be denied You will say that was a thing extraordinary and I say that I do not speak of any ordinary thing neyther of all the Pastors of the Church onely I vrge what may lawfully be done where the welfare of the Church or common wealth requireth the same and in the meane while these examples shal proue that the same thing hath beene done But if so be you would haue a view of a ciuill authority which was also ordinary may it please you consider those forty eight Citties of the Leuites and the gouernement thereof For they could not be gouerned without a Magistrate and ordinary Iudges shall we say that they chose them Magistrats out of other Tribes to determine theyr controuersies when as themselues were ordinary Lawyers and not onely present but president at ordinary Iudgements Deutronomy the one and twenty Chapter and first verse euery question and controuersie is determined according to theyr censure And is there not the like reason of those royalties which are giuen to clergy men in a christian common wealth with those Citties and suburbs the old Israelites gaue the Priests and Leuites by the commandement of God Chap. XXIIII That Dauid and Solomon vsed the aide of Priestes and Leuits in ciuill affaires ANd as the most renowmed and religious Princes Dauid Salomon others vsed the Priests and Leuites at their command as other subiects in ciuill gouernement so likewise may christian kings vse the ayde of Bishops other Pastors of the church if there be any among them which may stand either them or the common wealth in any stead In the first of the Cronicles the three and twenty Chapter at the commaundement of Dauid there is a suruey made of al the Leuites from thirty yeares of age and vpwards and ther were found eight and thirty
ought to be reuersed vnto their lawful vse for the which they first serued The Arke of the Lord was taken of the Philistines and prophaned but it did not therefore cease to be sacred to God being receiued againe from the Philistines it was no lesse to be esteemed then it was before The vessels and ornaments of Solomons temple were translated by Nabucadnezar to Babylon the which things beeing laid vp in the Temple of his Gods after his manner he vsed them religiously But Babylon beeing conquered Cyrus in the right of a conquerour might haue praied vpon them yet when he once knew that they afore-times pertained to the holy worship of the most holy in the temple of Solomon he abstained from them and cōmanded that they shuld bee restored to their former vse againe More wisely or more religiously done least hapiy hee might haue incurred the same crime of cursed sacrilege for the which the Lord had iustly punished prophane Balthasar his predecessour By the which it may appeare that what things are once destined to the vse of the Church are sacred vnto God for euer not is it lawful at any time to distract them to foraine vses CHAP. V. A distinction of those Church-goods which the Church of Rome possesseth at this day BVt when as all the goods which we see in the Church of Rome are not of the same kind we cannot giue the same iudgement of them al. There is therfore a threfold difference of them alwaies to be remembred In the first order I place those which our godly Fathers gaue to the Church for the maintenance of the Pastors and the relief of the poore In the second order I place those which were granted to the church for superstitious vses as for Masses Dirges Monks and Nuns morow Masse-priests And in the last order I place those infinite donations pernitious to the Common-welth which were either rashly made by Kings and Emperors or wrongfully extorted from them by force or fraud of which kinde are the inuestiture of those Ecclesiasticall fees which were giuen by godly Princes to the churches the which when as by that title they do pertaine to them of right yet the BB. of Rome doth chalenge the whole right therof to himselfe But these things seeing that by the lawes both of God man they pertain to Kings alone that which is Caesars is to be giuen to Caesar The Lord hath forbidden ministers to be Kings ouer their churches therefore in the 22. of Luke he purgeth that humor in the heads of his Apostles with this Aloes The Kings of nations rule ouer them and they which haue power ouer them are called bountifull but it shall not be so with you that is you shall not be Kings with which magnificent titles of bountifull and gratious they flatter them which haue smal cause bearing the heauy yoke of their cruell dominion Wherefore in this case christian Kings may lawefully reuerse what-soeuer the Bishop of Rome hath vnlawfully raked to himselfe by fraud or by force But heere I require discretion and moderation to bee vsed that Caesar do not so reuerse those things which are Caesars that together he fal to rifle those things which are Gods Indeed the cleargy of Rome hath rauisht them both but they are not worthy whom the christian Magistrat shuld imitate neither is he a mā of worth that wil punish theft with sacrilege What things the error of our fathers gaue to superstitious vses they ar void I confesse supestition and idolatry being taken away the godly Magistrat may dispose of such goods as hee shall thinke good neither hath the church any right to chalenge in these And yet if the authority of the former law aleadged and the counsel of the learned father Augustine be of any worth those legacies which were giuen for the celebrating of masses the nourishing of Monks may be conuerted to some better vse by the which the memory of the testator may be solemnized in another a more lawful kind In the 16. of Numb the censors with the which the 250. rebels offered vp incense as Priests in sin vngodlines were notwithstanding hallowed before God and therfore that in no wise they might afterwards be imploied in any common vses he commanded them to be drawn into brode plates for a couering to the altar So were the instruments which the irreligious abused conuerted to a sacred and a religious vse The which commandement indeed althogh it be not general yet it conteineth therein an especiall instruction by the which we are taught what ought to be done in such a case Augustine in his 154. Epistle to Publicola is of opinion that the Idols Idol-temples groues which were put down were not to be diuerted to any priuate vse but to bee conuerted into publike seruices and the honor of the true God that the like thing may be done by them which is done in the men themselues who are conuerted from a sacrilegious impious people to the true religion of the liuing God Least otherwise it might seem to be done not of conscience but for couetousnes But seing the law of God prescribeth nothing in this matter and whatsoeuer Moses hath written therof concerneth the people of Israell in perticular I make it no matter of religion why the Magistrate may not determine herein as it shal seeme best to his godly wisedome Nor doe I disauow the decree of the Emperours Honorius and Theodosius but I aduise al Princes and other chiefe Magistrates who haue earst reformed Churches or shall here-after that this one thing be alwais wel considered of them namely that Churches were but robbed of their rights by Monestaries when they gleaned to themselues the duty of tythes and oblations which things christian Princes and people haue consecrated of old to the honor of their Pastors the comfort of the poore For they preposterouslie take vpon them the gouernement of Churches contrary vnto the order of the ancient Church and vnder the title of voluntary pouerty these gathered that to themselues which was giuen to the poore for necessity CHAP. VI That the goods of Monks are not all of one kind AS in those goods which the Pastors and rectors of the Church possesse I haue shewed that ther is great difference so neither are we to think that the goods of Monks are all of one sort It were to long to repeat how they came to so great wealth neither is it needfull onely this I wuld haue wel noted that whatsoeuer the Monks possessed which of right was due to the Pastors of the church that al that did pertaine to the first order of church-goods which I before noted the which indeed after the subuersion of Monasteries are not to be taken for wast so long as there is anie Church remaining Wherevpon I infer that all popish idolatrie being put down onely those things which maintained either tyranny or idolatry do deuolue by right to the Chequer the