has Stone whipt Stones cries I might have called my Lord of Salisbury Fool often enough before he would have had me whipt 3. Speak not ill of a great Enemy but rather give him good Words that he may use you the better if you chance to fall into his Hands the Spaniard did this when he was dying his Confessor told him to work him to Repentance how the Devil tormented the wicked that went to Hell the Spaniard replying called the Devil my Lord. I hope my Lord the Devil is not so cruel his Confessor reproved him Excuse me said the Don for calling him so I know not into what Hands I may fall and if I happen into his I hope he will use me the better for giving him good words Excommunication 1. THat place they bring for Excommunication put away from among your selves that wicked Person 1 Cor. 5. Cha. 13. Verse is corrupted in the Greek for it should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 put away that Evil from among you not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Evil Person besides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the Devil in Scripture and it may be so taken there and there is a new Edition of Theodoret come out that has it right 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 'T is true the Christians before the Civil State became Christian did by Covenant and Agreement set down how they should live and he that did not observe what they agreed upon should come no more amongst them that is be Excommunicated Such Men are spoken of by the Apostle Romans 1. 31. whom he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Vulgar has it Incomposit sine faedre the last Word is pretty well but the first not at all Origen in his Book against Celsus speaks of the Christians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Translation renders it Conventus as it signifies a Meeting when it is plain it signifies a Covenant and the English Bible turned the other Word well Covenant-breakers Pliny tells us the Christians took an Oath amongst themselves to live thus and thus 2. The other place Dic Ecclesiae tell the Church is but a weak Ground to raise Excommunication upon especially from the Sacrament the lesser Excommunication since when that was spoken the Sacrament was instituted The Jews Ecclesia was their Sanhedrim their Court so that the meaning is if after once or twice Admonition this Brother will not be reclaim'd bring him thither 3. The first Excommunication was 180 Years after Christ and that by Victor Bishop of Rome But that was no more than this that they should Communicate and receive the Sacrament amongst themselves not with those of the other Opinion The Controversie as I take it being about the Feast of Easter Men do not care for Excommunication because they are shut out of the Church or delivered up to Satan but because the Law of the Kingdom takes hold of them after so many Days a Man cannot Sue no not for his Wife if you take her from him and there may be as much reason to grant it for a small Fault if there be contumacy as for a great one In Wectminster-Hall you may Out-law a Man for forty Shillings which is their Excommunication and you can do no more for Forty Thousand Pound 4. When Constantine became Christian he so fell in love with the Clergy that he let them be Judges of all things but that continued not above three or four Years by reason they were to be Judges of Matters they understood not and then they were allowed to meddle with nothing but Religion all Jurisdiction belonged to him and he scanted them out as much as he pleas'd and so things have since continued They Excommunicate for three or four Things Matters concerning Adultery Tythes Wills c. which is the civil Punishment the State allows for such Faults If a Bishop Excommunicate a Man for what he ought not the Judge has Power to absolve and punish the Bishop if they had that Jurisdiction from God why does not the Church Excommunicate for Murder for Theft If the Civil Power might take away all but three Things why may they not take them away too If this Excommunication were taken away the Presbyters would be quiet 't is that they have a mind to 't is that they would fain be at Like the Wench that was to be Married she ask'd her Mother when 't was done if she should go to Bed presently no says her Mother you must dine first and then to Bed Mother no you must dance after Dinner and then to Bed Mother no you must go to Supper and then to Bed Mother c. Faith and Works 1. T Was an unhappy Division that has been made between Faith and Works tho' in my Intellect I may divide them just as in the Candle I know there is both Light and Heat But yet put out the Candle and they are both gone one remains not without the other So 't is betwixt Faith and Works nay in a right Conception Fides est opus if I believe a thing because I am commanded that is Opus Fasting-Days 1. WHat the Church debars us one Day she gives us leave to take out in another First we fast and then we feast first there is a Carnival and then a Lent 2. Whether do Humane Laws bind the Conscience If they do 't is a way to ensnare If we say they do not we open the Door to Disobedience Answ. In this Case we must look to the Justice of the Law and intention of the Law-giver if there be no Justice in the Law 't is not to be obey'd if the intention of the Law-giver be absolute our Obedience must be so too If the intention of the Law-giver enjoyn a Penalty as a Compensation for the Breach of the Law I sin not if I submit to the Penalty if it enjoyn a Penalty as a future enforcement of Obedience to the Law then ought I to observe it which may be known by the often repetition of the Law The way of fasting is enjoyn'd unto them who yet do not observe it The Law enjoyns a Penalty as an enforcement to Obedience which intention appears by the often calling upon us to keep that Law by the King and the Dispensation of the Church to such as are not able to keep it as young Children old Folks diseas'd Men c. Fathers and Sons 1. IT hath ever been the way for Fathers to bind their Sons to strengthen this by the Law of the Land every one at Twelve Years of Age is to take the Oath of Allegiance in Court-Leets whereby he swears Obedience to the King Fines 1. THe old Law was that when a Man was Fin'd he was to be Fin'd Salvo Conteneniento so as his Countenance might be safe taking Countenance in the same sense as your Country-Man does when he says if you will come unto my House I will shew you the best Countenance I can that is not the best Face but the best Entertainment
settled and then you may flourish upon your various Lections 14. The Apocrypha is bound with the Bibles of all Churches that have been hitherto Why should we leave it out The Church of Rome has her Apocrypha viz. Susanna and Bell and the Dragon which she does not esteem equally with the rest of those Books that we call Apocrypha Bishops before the Parliament 1. A Bishop as a Bishop had never any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction For as soon as he was Electus Confirmatus that is after the three Proclamations in bow-Bow-Church he might exercise Jurisdiction before he was consecrated not till then he was no Bishop neither could he give Orders Besides Suffragans were Bishops and they never claim'd any Jurisdiction 2. Anciently the Noble-Men lay within the City for Safety and Security The Bishops Houses were by the Water-side because they were held sacred Persons which no body would hurt 3. There was some Sense for Commendams at first when there was a Living void and never a Clerk to serve it the Bishops were to keep it till they found a fit Man but now 't is a Trick for the Bishop to keep it for himself 4. For a Bishop to preach 't is to do other Folks Office as if the Steward of the House should execute the Porter's or the Cook 's Place 'T is his Business to see that they and all other about the House perform their Duties 5. That which is thought to have done the Bishops hurt is their going about to bring Men to a blind Obedience imposing things upon them though perhaps small and well enough without preparing them and insinuating into their Reasons and Fancies every Man loves to know his Commander I wear those Gloves but perhaps if an Alderman should command me I should think much to do it What has he to do with me Or if he has peradventure I do not know it This jumping upon things at first Dash will destroy all To keep up Friendship there must be little Addresses and Applications whereas Bluntness spoils it quickly To keep up the Hierarchy there must be little Applications made to Men they must be brought on by little and little So in the Primitive Times the Power was gain'd and so it must be continued Scaliger said of Erasmus Si minor esse voluit major fuisset So we may say of the Bishops Si minores esse voluerint majores fuissent 6. The Bishops were too hasty else with a discreet Slowness they might have had what they aim'd at The old Story of the Fellow that told the Gentleman he might get to such a Place if he did not ride too fast would have fitted their turn 7. For a Bishop to cite an old Canon to strengthen his new Articles is as if a Lawyer should plead an old Statute that has been repeal'd God knows how long Bishops in the Parliament 1. BIshops have the same Right to sit in Parliament as the best Earls and Barons that is those that were made by Writ If you ask one of them Arundel Oxford Northumberland why they sit in the House they can only say their Fathers sate there before them and their Grandfather before him c. And so say the Bishops he that was a Bishop of this Place before me sate in the House and he that was a Bishop before him c. Indeed your latter Earls and Barons have it express'd in their Patents that they shall be called to the Parliament Objection but the Lords sit there by Blood the Bishops not Answer 'T is true they sit not there both the same way yet that takes not away the Bishops Right If I am a Parson of a Parish I have as much Right to my Gleab and Tithe as you have to your Land which your Ancestors have had in that Parish Eight Hundred Years 2. The Bishops were not Barons because they had Baronies annex'd to their Bishopricks for few of them had so unless the old ones Canterbury Winchester Durham c. the new erected we are sure had none as Glocester Peterborough c. besides few of the Temporal Lords had any Baronies But they are Barons because they are called by Writ to the Parliament and Bishops were in the Parliament ever since there was any mention or sign of a Parliament in England 3. Bishops may be judged by the Peers tho' in time of Popery it never hapned because they pretended they were not obnoxious to a secular Court but their way was to cry Ego sum Frater Domini Papae I am Brother to my Lord the Pope and therefore take not my self to be judged by you in this Case they impanell'd a Middlesex Jury and dispatch'd the Business 4. Whether may Bishops be present in Cases of Blood Answ. That they had a Right to give Votes appears by this always when they did go out they left a Proxy and in the time of the Abbots one Man had 10 20 or 30 Voices In Richard the Second's time there was a Protestation against the Canons by which they were forbidden to be present in Case of Blood The Statute of 25th of Henry the Eighth may go a great way in this Business The Clergy were forbidden to use or cite any Canon c. but in the latter End of the Statute there was a Clause that such Canons that were in usage in this Kingdom should be in force till the thirty two Commissioners appointed should make others provided they were not contrary to the King's Supremacy Now the Question will be whether these Canons for Blood were in use in this Kingdom or no the contrary whereof may appear by many Presidents in R. 3. and H. 7. and the beginning of H. 8. in which time there were more attainted than since or scarce before The Canons of Irregularity of Blood were never receiv'd in England but upon pleasure If a Lay-Lord was attainted the Bishops assented to his Condemning and were always present at the passing of the Bill of Attainder But if a Spiritual Lord they went out as if they car'd not whose Head was cut off so none of their own In those Days the Bishops being of great Houses were often entangled with the Lords in Matters of Treason But when d' ye hear of Bishop a Traytor now 5. You would not have Bishops meddle with Temporal Affairs think who you are that say it If a Papist they do in your Church if an English Protestant they do among you if a Presbyterian where you have no Bishops you mean your Presbyterian Lay-Elders should meddle with temporal Affairs as well as Spiritual Besides all Jurisdiction is Temporal and in no Church but they have some Jurisdiction or other The Question then will be reduced to Magis and Minus They meddle more in one Church than in another 6. Objection Bishops give not their Votes by Blood in Parliament but by an Office annext to them which being taken away they cease to vote therefore there is not the same Reason for them as for
Table-Talk BEING THE DISCOURSES OF John Selden Esq OR HIS SENSE of various MATTERS of Weight and high Consequence Relating especially to Religion and State Distingue Tempora The Second Edition LONDON Printed for Jacob Tonson at the Judge's Head near the Inner-Temple Gate in Fleetstreet and Awnsham and John Churchill at the Black Swan in Pater-Noster-Row 1696. To the Honourable Mr. Justice Hales One of the JUDGES OF THE Common-Pleas And to the much Honoured Edward Heywood John Vaughan AND Rowland Jewks Esquiers Most worthy Gentlemen WEre you not Executors to that Person who while he liv'd was the Glory of the Nation yet I am Confident any thing of his would find Acceptance with you and truly the Sense and Notion here is wholly his and most of the Words I had the opportunity to hear his Discourse twenty Years together and lest all those Excellent things that usually fell from him might be lost some of them from time to time I faithfully committed to Writing which here digested into this Method I humbly present to your Hands you will quickly perceive them to be his by the familiar Illustrations wherewith they are set off and in which way you know he was so happy that with a marvelous delight to those that heard him he would presently convey the highest Points of Religion and the most important Affairs of State to an ordinary apprehension In reading be pleas'd to distinguish Times and in your Fancy carry along with you the When and the Why many of these things were spoken this will give them the more Life and the smarter Relish 'T is possible the Entertainment you find in them may render you the more inclinable to pardon the Presumption of Your most Obliged and most Humble Servant RI. MILWARD THE TABLE ABbies Priories page 1 Articles 3 Baptism 4 Bastard 5 Bible Scripture 6 Bishops before the Parliament 11 Bishops in the Parliament 13 Bishops out of the Parliament 19 Books Authors 25 Canon-Law Ceremony 27 Chancellour 28 Changing Sides 29 Chrismas 30 Christians 31 Church 32 Church of Rome 34 Churches City 35 Clergy 36 High Commission House of Commons 38 Confession 39 Competency 40 Great Conjunction Conscience 41 Consecrated Places 43 Contracts 44 Council 45 Convocation Creed 46 Damnation 47 Devils 48 Self-Denial 51 Duel 52 Epitaph 53 Equity 54 Evil Speaking 55 Excommunication 56 Faith and Works 59 Fasting-Days 60 Fathers and Sons Fines 61 Free-will Fryers 62 Friends Genealogy of Christ 63 Gentlemen 64 Gold Hall 65 Hell 66 Holy-Days 67 Humility 68 Idolatry Jews 69 Invincible Ignorance Images 70 Imperial Constitutions Imprisonment 72 Incendiaries Independency 73 Things Indifferent Publick Interest 75 Humane Invention Judgments 76 Judge 77 Juggling Jurisdiction 78 Jus Divinum King 79 King of England 81 The King 84 Knights Service 86 Land Language 87 Law 88 Law of Nature 90 Learning 91 Lecturers Libels 93 Liturgy Lords in the Parliament 94 Lords before the Parliament 95 Marriage 97 Marriage of Cosin Germans 98 Measure of things 99 Difference of Men Minister Divine 100 Money 107 Moral Honesty 108 Mortage Number 109 Oaths 110 Oracles 113 Opinion 114 Parity Parliament 116 Parson 119 Patience Peace 120 Penance People 121 Pleasure 122 Philosophy 124 Poetry 125 Pope 127 Popery 130 Power State 131 Prayer 134 Preaching 137 Predestination 144 Preferment 145 Praemunire Prerogative 148 Presbytery 149 Priest of Rome 151 Prophecies 152 Proverbs Question 153 Reason 154 Retaliation Reverence 155 Non Residency 156 Religion 157 Sabboth 163 Sacrament Salvation 164 State 165 Superstition Subsidies 166 Simony Ship-Money 167 Synod Assembly 158 Thanksgiving Tythes 171 Trade 174 Tradition Transubstantiation 175 Traitor Trinity 176 Truth 177 Trial 178 University 179 Vows 180 Usury Pious Uses 181 War 182 Witches Wife 186 Wisdom 187 Wit 188 Women 189 Year 190 Zelots 192 THE DISCOURSES OF John Selden Esq Abbies Priories c. 1. THE unwillingness of the Monks to part with their Land will fall out to be just nothing because they were yielded up to the King by a Supream Hand viz. a Parliament If a King conquer another Country the People are loath to lose their Lands yet no Divine will deny but the King may give them to whom he please If a Parliament make a Law concerning Leather or any other Commodity you and I for Example are Parliament-Men perhaps in respect to our own private Interest we are against it yet the major Part conclude it we are then in volv'd and the Law is good 2. When the Founder of Abbies laid a Curse upon those that should take away those Lands I would fain know what Power they had to curse me 'T is not the Curses that come from the Poor or from any Body that hurt me because they come from them but because I do something ill against them that deserves God should curse me for it On the other side 't is not a Man's blessing me that makes me blessed he only declares me to be so and if I do well I shall be blessed whether any bless me or not 3. At the time of Dissolution they were tender in taking from the Abbots and Priors their Lands and their Houses till they surrendred them as most of them did indeed the Prior of St. John's Sir Richard Weston being a stout Man got into France and stood out a whole Year at last submitted and the King took in that Priory also to which the Temple belonged and many other Houses in England they did not then cry no Abbots no Priors as we do now no Bishops no Bishops 4. Henry the Fifth put away the Friars Aliens and seized to himself 100000 l. a Year and therefore they were not the Protestants only that took away Church Lands 5. In Queen Elizabeths time when all the Abbies were pulled down all good Works defaced then the Preachers must cry up Justification by Faith not by good Works Articles 1. THE nine and thirty Articles are much another thing in Latin in which Tongue they were made than they are translated into English they were made at three several Convocations and confirmed by Act of Parliament six or seven Times after There is a Secret concerning them Of late Ministers have subscribed to all of them but by Act of Parliament that confirm'd them they ought only to subscribe to those Articles which contain matter of Faith and the Doctrine of the Sacraments as appears by the first Subscriptions But Bishoâ— Bancroft in the Convocation held in King Jame's days he began it that Ministers should subscribe to three Things to the King's Supremacy to the Common-Prayer and to the Thirty Nine Articles many of them do not contain matter of Faith Is it matter of Faith how the Church should be govern'd Whether Infants should be baptized Whether we have any Property in our Goods c. Baptism 1. 'T Was a good way to persuade Men to be christned to tell them that they had a Foulness about them viz. Original Sin that could not be washed away but by
at first were juggled out of their Estates yet they are rightly their Successors If my Father cheat a Man and he consent to it the Inheritance is rightly mine 11. If there be no Bishops there must be something else which has the Power of Bishops though it be in many and then had you not as good keep them If you will have no half Crowns but only single Pence yet Thirty single Pence are half a Crown and then had you not as good keep both But the Bishops have done ill 't was the Men not the Function As if you should say you would have no more Half-Crowns because they were stolen when the Truth is they were not stolen because they were Half Crowns but because they were Mony and light in a Thieves hand 12. They that would pull down the Bishops and erect a new way of Government do as he that pulls down an old House and builds another in another Fashion there 's a great deal of Do and a great deal of Trouble the old Rubbish must be carried away and new Materials must be brought Workmen must be provided and perhaps the old one would have serv'd as well 13. If the Parliament and Presbyterian Party should dispute who should be Judge Indeed in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth there was such a Difference between the Protestants and Papists and Sir Nicholas Bacon Lord Chancellor was appointed to be Judge but the Conclusion was the stronger Party carried it For so Religion was brought into Kingdoms so it has been continued and so it may be cast out when the State pleases 14. 'T will be great Discouragement to Scholars that Bishops should be put down For now the Father can say to his Son and the Tutor to his Pupil Study hard and you shall have Vocem Sedem in Parliamento then it must be Study hard and you shall have a Hundred a Tear if you please your Parish Object But they that enter into the Ministry for Preferment are like Judas that look'd after the Bag. Answ. It may be so if they turn Scholars at Judas's Age but what Arguments will they use to persuade them to follow their Books while they are young Books Authors 1. THE giving a Bookseller his Price for his Books has this Advantage he that will do so shall have the Refusal of whatsoever comes to his Hand and so by that means get many things which otherwise he never should have seen So 't is in giving a Bawd her Price 2. In buying Books or other Commodities 't is not always the best way to bid half so much as the Seller asks witness the Country Fellow that went to buy two groat Shillings they ask'd him three Shillings and he bad them eighteen Pence 3. They counted the Price of the Books Acts 19. 19. and found Fifty Thousand Pieces of Silver that is so many Sextertii or so many Three-half-pence of our Money about Three Hundred Pound Sterling 4. Popish Books teach and inform what we know we know much out of them The Fathers Church Story Schoolmen all may pass for Popish Books and if you take away them what Learning will you leave Besides who must be Judge The Customer or the Writer If he disallows a Book it must not be brought into the Kingdom then Lord have Mercy upon all Scholars These Puritan Preachers if they have any things good they have it out of Popish Books tho' they will not acknowledge it for fear of displeasing the People he is a poor Divine that cannot severe the Good from the Bad. 5. 'T is good to have Translations because they serve as a Comment so far as the Judgment of the Man goes 6. In answering a Book 't is best to be short otherwise he that I write against will suspect I intend to weary him not to satisfie him Besides in being long I shall give my Adversary a huge Advantage somewhere or other he will pick a Hole 7. In quoting of Books quote such Authors as are usually read others you may read for your own Satisfaction but not name them 8. Quoting of Authors is most for matter of Fact and then I write them as I would produce a Witness sometimes for a free Expression and then I give the Author his Due and gain my self Praise by reading him 9. To quote a Modern Dutch Man where I may use a Clasic Author is as if I were to justifie my Reputation and I neglect all Persons of Note and Quality that know me and bring the Testimonial of the Scullion in the Kitchen Canon-Law IF I would study the Canon-Law as it is used in England I must study the Heads here in use then go to the Practisers in those Courts where that Law is practised and know their Customs so for all the Study in the World Ceremony 1. CEremony keeps up all things 'T is like a Penny-Glass to a rich Spirit or some excellent Water without it the Water were spilt the Spirit lost 2. Of all People Ladies have no reason to cry down Ceremonies for they take themselves slighted without it And were they not used with Ceremony with Complements and Addresses with Legs and Kissing of Hands they were the pitifulest Creatures in the World but yet methinks to kiss their Hands after their Lips as some do is like little Boys that after they eat the Apple fall to the Paring out of a Love they have to the Apple Chancellour 1. THE Bishop is not to sit with a Chancellor in his Court as being a thing either beneath him or beside him no more than the King is to sit in the King's-Bench when he has made a Lord-Chief-Justice 2. The Chancellour govern'd in the Church who was a Lay-man And therefore 't is false which they charge the Bishops with that they challenge sole Jurisdiction For the Bishop can no more put out the Chancellor than the Chancellor the Bishop They were many of them made Chancellors for their Lives and he is the fittest Man to govern because Divinity so overwhelms the rest Changing Sides 1. 'T IS the Tryal of a Man to see if he will change his side and if he be so weak as to change once he will change again Your Country Fellows have a way to try if a Man be weak in the Hams by coming behind him and giving him a Blow unawares if he bend once he will bend again 2. The Lords that fall from the King after they have got Estates by base Flattery at Court and now pretend Conscience do as a Vintner that when he first sets up you may bring your Wench to his House and do your things there But when he grows Rich he turns conscientious and will sell no Wine upon the Sabbath-day 3. Colonel Goring serving first the one side and then the other did like a good Miller that knows how to grind which way soever the Wind sits 4. After Luther had made a Combustion in Germany about Religion he was sent to by the Pope
't is not the eating nor 't is not the drinking that is to be blam'd but the Excess So in Pride Idolatry 1. IDolatry is in a Man 's own Thought not in the Opinion of another Put Case I bow to the Altar why am I guilty of Idolatry because a stander by thinks so I am sure I do not believe the Altar to be God and the God I worship may be bow'd to in all Places and at all times Jews 1. GOD at the first gave Laws to all Manking but afterwards he gave peculiar Laws to the Jews which they were only to observe Just as we have the Common Law for all England and yet you have some Corporations that besides that have peculiar Laws and Priviledges to themselves 2. Talk what you will of the Jews that they are cursed they thrive where e'er they come they are able to oblige the Prince of their Country by lending him Money none of them beg they keep together and for their being hated my Life for yours Christians hate one another as much Invincible Ignorance 1. 'T IS all one to me if I am told of Christ or some Mystery of Christianity if I am not capable of understanding as if I am not told at all my Ignorance is as invincible and therefore 't is vain to call their Ignorance only invincible who never were told of Christ. The trick of it is to advance the Priest whilst the Church of Rome says a Man must be told of Christ by one thus and thus ordain'd Images 1. THE Papists taking away the second Commandment is not haply so horrid a thing nor so unreasonable amongst Christians as we make it For the Jews could make no figure of God but they must commit Idolatry because he had taken no shape but since the Assumption of our Flesh we know what shape to picture God in Nor do I know why we may not make his Image provided we be sure what it is as we say St. Luke took the picture of the Virgin Mary and St. Veronica of our Saviour Otherwise it would be no honour to the King to make a Picture and call it the King's Picture when 't is nothing like him 2. Though the learned Papists pray not to Images yet 't is to be fear'd the ignorant do as appears by that Story of St. Nicholas in Spain A Country-Man us'd to offer daily to St. Nicholas's Image at length by mischance the Image was broken and a new one made of his own Plum-Tree after that the Man forbore being complain'd of to his Ordinary he answer'd 't is true he us'd to offer to the old Image but to the new he could not find in his heart because he knew 't was a piece of his own Plum-Tree You see what Opinion this Man had of the Image and to this tended the bowing of their Images the twinkling of their Eyes the Virgin 's Milk c. Had they only meant Representations a Picture would have done as well as these Tricks It may be with us in England they do not worship Images because living amongst Protestants they are either laugh'd out of it or beaten out of it by shock of Argument 3. 'T is a discreet way concerning Pictures in Churches to set up no new nor to pull down no old Imperial Constitutions 1. THey say Imperial Constitutions did only confirm the Canons of the Church but that is not so for they inflicted Punishment when the Canons never did viz. If a Man converted a Christian to be a Jew he was to forfeit his Estate and lose his Life In Valentines Novels 't is said Constat Episcopus Forum Legibus non habere Judicant tantum de Religione Imprisonment 1. SIR Kenelme Digby was several times taken and let go again at last imprison'd in Winchester House I can compare him to nothing but a great Fish that we catch and let go again but still he will come to the Bait at last therefore we put him into some great Pond for Store Incendiaries 1. FAncy to your self a Man sets the City on Fire at Cripplegate and that Fire continues by means of others 'till it come to White-Fryers and then he that began it would fain quench it does not he deserve to be punish'd most that first set the City on Fire So 't is with the Incendiaries of the State They that first set it on Fire by Monopolizing Forrest Business Imprisoning Parliament Men tertio Coroli c. are now become regenerate and would fain quench the Fire certainly they deserv'd most to be punish'd for being the first Cause of our Destractions Independency 1. INdependency is in use at Amsterdam where forty Churches or Congregations have nothing to do one with another And 't is no question agreeable to the Primitive times before the Emperour became Christian For either we must say every Church govern'd it self or else we must fall upon that old foolish Rock that St. Peter and his Successours govern'd all but when the Civil State became Christian they appointed who should govern them before they govern'd by agreement and consent if you will not do this you shall come no more amongst us but both the Independant Man and the Presbyterian Man do equally exclude the Civil Power tho' after a different manner 2. The Independant may as well plead they should not be subject to Temporal Things not come before a Constable or a Justice of Peace as they plead they should not be subject in spiritual things because St. Paul says It is so that there is not a wise Man amongst you 3. The Pope challenges all Churches to be under him the King and the two arch-Arch-Bishops challenge all the Church of England to be under them The Presbyterian Man divides the Kingdom into as many Churches as there be Presbyteries and your Independant would have every Congregation a Church by it self Things Indifferent 1. IN time of a Parliament when things are under debate they are indifferent but in a Church or State settled there 's nothing left indifferent Publick Interest 1. ALL might go well in the Common-Wealth if every one in the Parliament would lay down his own Interest and aim at the general good If a man were sick and the whole Colledge of Physicians should come to him and administer severally haply so long as they observ'd the Rules of Art he might recover but if one of them had a great deal of Scamony by him he must put off that therefore he prescribes Scamony Another had a great deal of Rubarb and he must put off that and therefore he prescribes Rubarb c. then would certainly kill the Man We destroy the Common-Wealth while we preserve our own private Interests and neglect the publick Humane Invention 1. YOU say there must be no Humane Invention in the Church nothing but the pure Word Answer If I give any Exposition but what is express'd in the Text that is my Invention if you give another Exposition that is your invention
be first of the Temporal He was a kind of an Otter a Knight half Spiritual and half Temporal 3. Quest. Whether is every Baron a Baron of some Place Answ. 'T is according to his Patent of late Years they have been made Baron of some Place but antiently not call'd only by their Sir-Name or the Sir-Name of some Family into which they have been married 4. The making of new Lords lessens all the rest 'T is in the business of Lords as it 't was with St. Nicolas's Image The Country-Man you know could not find in his Heart to adore the new Image made of his own Plum-Tree though he had formerly worship'd the old one The Lords that are antient we honour because we know not whence they come but the new ones we slight because we know their beginning 5. For the Irish Lords to take upon them here in England is as if the Cook in the Fair should come to my Lady Kent's Kitchen and take upon him to roast the Meat there because he is a Cook in another place Marriage 1. OF all Actions of a Man's Life his Marriage does least concern other people yet of all Actions of our Life 't is most medled with by other People 2. Marriage is nothing but a civil Contract 't is true 't is an Ordinance of God so is every other Contract God commands me to keep it when I have made it 3. Marriage is a desperate thing the Frogs in Aesop were extream wise they had a great mind to some Water but they would not leap into the Well because they could not get out again 4. We single out particulars and apply God's Providence to them thus when two are marry'd and have undone one another they cry it was God's Providence we should come together when God's Providence does equally concur to every thing Marriage of Cosin-Germans 1. SOme Men forbear to marry Cosin Germans out of this kind of scruple of Conscience because it was unlawful before the Reformation and is still in the Church of Rome And so by reason their Grand-Father or their great Grand-Father did not do it upon that old Score they think they ought not to do it as some Men forbear Flesh upon Friday not reflecting upon the Statute which with us makes it unlawful but out of an old Score because the Church of Rome forbids it and their Fore-Fathers always forbore Flesh upon that Day Others forbear it out of a Natural Consideration because it is observ'd for Example in Beasts if two couple of a near Kind the Breed proves not so good The same Observation they make in Plants and Trees which degenerate being grafted upon the same Stock And 't is also further observ'd those Matches between Cosin-Germans seldom prove Fortunate But for the lawfulness there is no Colour but Cosin-Germans in England may marry both by the Law of God and Man for with us we have reduc'd all the Degrees of Marriage to those in the Levitical-Law and 't is plain there 's nothing against it As for that that is said Cosin-Germans once remov'd may not Marry and therefore being a further degree may not 't is presum'd a nearer should not no Man can tell what it means Measure of Things 1. WE measure from our selves and as things are for our use and purpose so we approve them Bring a Pear to the Table that is rotten we cry it down 't is naught but bring a Medlar that is rotten and 't is a fine thing and yet I 'll warrant you the Pear thinks as well of it self as the Medlar does 2. We measure the Excellency of other Men by some Excellency we conceive to be in our selves Nash a Poet poor enough as Poets us'd to be seeing an Alderman with his Gold Chain upon his great Horse by way of scorn said to one of his Companions do you see yon Fellow how goodly how big he looks why that Fellow cannot make a blank Verse 3. Nay we measure the goodness of God from our selves we measure his Goodness his Justice his Wisdom by something we call Just Good or Wise in our selves and in so doing we judge proportionably to the Country Fellow in the Play who said if he were a King he would live like a Lord and have Pease and Bacon every Day and a Whip that cry'd Slash Difference of Men. 1. THE Difference of Men is very great you would scarce think them to be of the same Species and yet it consists more in the Affection than in the Intellect For as in the Strength of Body two Men shall be of an equal Strength yet one shall appear stronger than the other because he exercises and puts out his Strength the other will not stir nor strain himself So 't is in the Strength of the Brain the one endeavours and strains and labours and studies the other sits still and is idle and takes no pains and therefore he appears so much the inferiour Minister Divine 1. THE imposition of Hands upon the Minister when all is done will be nothing but a designation of a Person to this or that Office or Employment in the Church 'T is a ridiculous Phrase that of the Canonists Conferre Ordines 'T is Coaptare aliquem in Ordinem to make a Man one of us one of our Number one of our Order So Cicero would understand what I said it being a Phrase borrowed from the Latines and to be understood proportionably to what was amongst them 2. Those Words you now use in making a Minister receive the Holy Ghost were us'd amongst the Jews in making of a Lawyer from thence we have them which is a villanous Key to something as if you would have some other kind of Praefeture than a Mayoralty and yet keep the same Ceremony that was us'd in making the Mayor 3. A Priest has no such thing as an inindelible Character what difference do you find betwixt him and another Man after Ordination only he is made a Priest as I said by Designation as a Lawyer is call'd to the Bar then made a Serjeant all Men that would get Power over others make themselves as unlike them as they can upon the same Ground the Priests made themselves unlike the Laity 4. A Minister when he is made is Materia prima apt for any form the State will put upon him but of himself he can do nothing Like a Doctor of Law in the University he hath a great deal of Law in him but cannot use it till he be made some bodie 's Chancellour or like a Physician before he be receiv'd into a House he can give no body Physick indeed after the Master of the House hath given him charge of his Servants then he may Or like a Suffragan that could do nothing but give Orders and yet he was no Bishop 5. A Minister should preach according to the Articles of Religion established in the Church where he is To be a Civil Lawyer let a Man read Justinian and the Body