and Godmothers should be prescribed in Scripture the receiving of persons by Baptism there being upon their own actual Faith and before there was any National Church wherein this order could be observed and it was sufficient that the Children were then admitted to Baptism as they were in the Covenant that is by the Faith of the Parents I answer In these words there seems to me to be a plain contradiction in themselves but nothing of reason why Godfathers and Godmothers are not mentioned in Scripture for the baptizing of Infants There is a contradiction in them for you say Persons in those times were received upon their own actual Faith and yet you presently add further that Children were then admitted to Baptism by the Faith of their Parents There is nothing of reason in them for what they are propounded for though Parents were received by their own actual Faith and Children by the Faith of such Parents what is this of bar and impediment to Godfathers and Godmothers at the baptizing of Infants or why they should not be mentioned and appointed in Scripture Surely in my weak apprehension nothing at all But the Adult as you truly speak in Scripture-times were admitted into the Church by Baptism through their own actual Faith and their Children were invested with the same Priviledge by virtue of the Covenant as being there declared in that Royal Charter and Patent Fellow-Inheritors of the same Promise together with their Parents And are not Children in our days received by Baptism in the same way and upon the same terms and conditions as from the beginning Since therefore according to your own Concession their Children then had no Sureties when they were baptized neither need ours in the like Circumstances You would confute me and you confute your self But you say Abundans cautela should not be scrupled but rather commended I answer Let us not pretend to be more careful than God in the receiving of those into his Family whom he commands us to receive but leave him wholly to his own most Sapient Providence and admit of all such upon his own conditions and consult no better Secondly I objected that the Father of the Child is left out not mentioned nor at all taken notice of at the baptizing For the vacating of this Objection you say The receiving the Child supposes the Father concerned in it because it is through his Faith he is in Covenant I answer You speak so much in the Clouds that I am utterly at a loss what Arrow you let fly at me or what you intend Every Child I know supposeth a Father and every baptized Child a believing Parent yet this believing Parent is left out who notwithstanding is and ought to be the main Susceptor and Surety for his Child 's good abearing on him I say it is incumbent to promise and vow to bring up his Child in the knowledge and obedience of the Christian Faith much rather than upon Godfathers and Godmothers But you say As to the particular ingaging of the Father for the Childs Education he must be worse than an Infidel if he do not take care for those of his own House I answer Though I will not yet some would be ready to reply And therefore the Minister is worse than an Infidel if he do not mind him of his duty especially at such a proper and peculiar season when this Parent may well be supposed to bring his Babe to the Minister desiring him to receive it and make it a visible Church-Member But in the whole Office of Baptism the Father is not considered nor any thing of his duty signified unto him But you say Not to admit Godfathers and Godmothers might in some cases be totally to debar the Child of Baptism because it may so fall out that the Father may be dead before the Child is born and then how shall he be offered to Baptism I answer Though the Father of the Child be dead yet some one or other at all times either by Nature as being next of Kin or by Deputation from the Person deceased or some other way will appear as a Propater a second Father to the Child to offer him to Baptism but put the case that none should appear yet for want of such a Sponsor the Babe must not be debarred of its right but ought by the care of the Church both to be baptized and edoctrinated in the Christian Faith Thirdly I objected that Godfathers and Godmothers are generally brought to the Font to a vouch a great untruth and make themselves obnoxious of lying and Perjury in the Face of God and the Church You say If they be guilty of this this is their abuse of what is well intended I answer Whatsoever is found by along Quotidian experience to be the occasion of much sin if it be not in it self absolutely necessary to be done and continued in prudence and piety also it ought to be disused But say you The Child also may not answer the intents and purposes of that solemn Vow in Baptism neither the Father make good his promise on the behalf of him and therefore if Godfathers and Godmothers shall be detained from ingaging for fear and danger of falsifying their promises and ingagements with parity of reason the Child also upon the same account may be detained from being baptized and the Father likewise from being a Surety for him I answer What God commands is one thing and what Man commands is another Whatsoever God commands to be observed must be observed without regarding Consequences and such I hope you apprehend at least the Ordinance of Infant-baptism if not also of the Father his then being chief Sponsor but in all humane commands and appointments consequences are much to be weighed and considered either as a Motive for them or a Bar against them and therefore such humane commands should not be imposed which are never likely to be performed much less those which as such and such circumstances may and often do arise and occur are tantum non next to an impossibility now of this nature are those duties required of Godfathers and Godmothers with reference to their God-children and of this kind is the task imposed upon them which yet rashly and inconsiderately enough they undertake to make good and fulfil You know the charge then given them by the Minister and have given it your self I suppose many and many a time in these words Forasmuch as this Child hath promised by you his Sureties to renounce the Devil and all his works to believe in God and to serve him Ye must remember that is your parts and duties to see that this Infant be taught so soon as he shall be able to learn what a solemn promise and profession he hath here made by you And that he may know these things the better ye shall call upon him to hear Sermons and chiefly ye shall provide that he may learn the Creed the Lords
demonstrated out of Gods Word in the true sense and meaning of it or by any certain and necessary Inâ—erence and Reason from it and our business is at an end This therefore you attempt as it were Syllogistically If those who are regularly admitted into the Church of Christ have a right to the blessings of the Covenant then they have a Title to Salvation I answer There is no such word in the Rubrick as regularly admitted which makes me wonder at your confidence to add what you please from time to time to serve your turn 'T is an hard question whether all Children in England be regularly admitted as you may expound the words by Baptism into the Church yea or not I cannot divine what are your thoughts in the case nor what an Avenue and Start-hole you would find from regularly admitted rather than be set up and Mated There is a great ambiguity in the word regularly admitted which must be ascertained wherefore we must suppose all Infants baptized in the Church of England according to the Liturgy are regularly admitted into the Church of Christ for the Rubrick intends at least all of them yea it speaks of Children indefinitely wherefore if these being regularly admitted as we suppose they are into the Church of Christ have a right unto the blessings of the Covenant then they have a Title to Salvation I answer If by having a right to the blessings of the Covenant you mean all the blessings of the Covenant even to the ultimate and great blessing of all viz. Salvation then there is Petitio Principii not to be granted until it be proved as being the Bone of Contention But if by having a right to the blessings of the Covenant you mean some blessings of the Covenant I shall readily concede for even their admission into the Church as visible Church-Members is a great Covenant-blessing immediately investing them with the actual priviledge of having God for their God in a more peculiar manner than those without the Pale besides with a foundation right of enjoying the Oracles Ordinances Communion of Saints c. Their admission into the Church by Baptism gives them from that time forward jus in re though not jus ad rem by reason of their present incapacity But you further argue If they have not a right to the blessings of the Covenant through a regular admission into the Church by Baptism then Baptism is an insignificant Ceremony and not the Seal of the Covenant I answer They have many blessings of the Covenant as I have now shown though yet they may fall short of the greatest of all and therefore Baptism notwithstanding is not an insignificant Ceremony but a Seal of the Covenant Shortly Baptism supplied the room of Circumcision which was a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith yet we cannot avouch that all who were regularly circumcised should have been undoubtedly saved had they died in their Infancy for Esau was Circumcised as well as Jacob concerning whom without all respect either of their doing good or evil that the Purpose of God might stand according to Election it is written Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated Esau was hated both before and after Circumcision which therefore could never have been his sure Convoy to happiness had he immediately expired upon the receiving of this Seal Salvation depends upon Election and not at all upon our sooner or later dying after we are baptized These are your Arguments unto which I will not say with a just return in your own Dialect The man is mad and raving but his Logick is weak and will not do the work Yet it may be from your civility and good nature thus to mollifie and lenefie your hard speeches with soft arguments In the interim we are now still under the same doubt about the undoubted Salvation of Christned Infants dying before actual sin as we were in the beginning and so shall continue until we see better reasons to the contrary and therefore cannot assent and consent My following Queries are neither captious nor impertinent but natural and apposite if we look upon the words of the Rubrick as considered in themselves viz. It is certain by Gods Word that Children which are baptized dying before they commit actual sin are undoubtedly saved for here is the Opus Operatum Children baptized and dying before actual sin here is the effect at least the sure consequent of it such are undoubtedly saved here is nothing mentioned concerning the Modus how and in what manner the work is or ought to be done to produce such an effect or fore-signifie such a Consequent Now therefore if such a Consequent do necessarily follow after such a Cause then if it be in the power of Man to be such a Cause as to kill a poor Infant presently after Baptism it will be in his power also to bring about such an effect viz. the Salvation of such an Infant But you say Regularly admitted by Baptism which the Church of England supposes answers most of my captious Queries I answer Let me have liberty to put in and out and suppose what I please in all cases as you do from time to time and I will nullo negotio untye every Gordion Knot I will affirm or deny any Proposition be it in it self true or false right or wrong without any scruple or hesitation no Priest or Jesuite shall be able to out-do me How know you that the Church supposeth these words Regularly admitted by Baptism Why should you presume to set such limits to put such a close Hedge about the Rubrick when it lies open and in common But if you will thus incroach presumptuously from your own head and heart why am I bound to give credit unto you or govern my Faith and Practice by your private Sentiments Yet I wish these words Regularly admitted by Baptism had been expressed in the Rubrick which perhaps might have saved me the trouble of objecting and so you of confuting But granting the truth of the Rubrick in its latitude I said That a Minister would be very cruel and unmerciful to deny any Children their Christendom though their Parents out of weakness or tenderness of Conscience scrupled Godfathers and Godmothers and the Sign of the Cross and durst not upon that score bring their Children to be baptized yet as I added if he were a true Son of the Church and punctually observed his prescribed Rule he must not baptize any Infant without Godfathers and Godmothers without signing of it with the Sign of the Cross whether it be saved or damned Here you say I am a man of Conscience that is of no Conscience at all of a tender Conscience that is cauteriz'd But why for bringing in such a false and unjust Charge against the practice of the Church of England which as plainly appeareth in the form of private Baptism has expresly ordered her Ministers to baptize Children without Godfathers and Godmothers or
be reputed the most sapient and judicious amongst men It appears by the woful event that more than a thousand Non-conforming Ministers could not thus construe the words of the Declaration when it was first put unto them and required of them which with some other things commanded made them to turn out and lose all rather than lose their Souls in doing what was clearly against their Consciences So that it is not perverseness and folly what-ever you say or think to stick at the words assent and consent but rather from the dictates of a sound mind influenced and awed by the fear of the Lord. Sir Far beyond my desert by the good Providence of God I have had the favour and countenance of several great Persons of Quality who have received me very lovingly and familiarly This I speak my Witness is in Heaven neither to vaunt my self with the glory of it nor yet to put you under any disarray again by the vanity of my pretension but to acquaint you with something to our purpose in the matter before us A little before the black Bartholomew one of the foresaid in discourse enquired of me what mine intentions were and whither I would conform yea or not I answered his Lordship such things were required and enjoyned as I could not swallow and therefore should be necessitated to march off and sound a Retreat His Lordship seemed to be much concerned for me using many Arguments as good as ever I have heard or read from any to reconcile me to a compliance but perceiving me not to be overcome by them while I urged some of these things now mentioned as a just cause of my refusing at last he said with a sigh I wish it had been otherwise but they were resolved either to reproach you or undo you Of which wise and weighty Apothegm I leave you to be the Interpreter Was not Conformity contrived in such a way and manner on purpose either to expose us to common Infamy as Persons who would say and swear and do any thing rather than lose our Livings or else to ruine and undo us by turning us out a grazing in the woful wild of extreme poverty and want About a year after another great Peer ordered me to wait on his Lordship and proposed something to be done by me with reference to the Liturgy which as I thought in my then present circumstances having neither call nor necessity to do I humbly craved leave of his Lordship to be excused therein and speaking yet further about the strict and hard terms of Conformity his Lordship replied I confess I should scarcely do so much for the Bible as they require for the Common-Prayer Both these I assure you are great and learned Noble-men and as far from being Presbyterians as your self yet you may see their Resentments as to what was commanded how little they were pleased with such high and rigorous proceedings and how in the bottom of their hearts they were rather the Advocates than the Accusers of the Non-consenters Yea I perswade my self that many among your selves had scruples more than a few or easie and would then with all their hearts have declined the Test of assent and consent if by any other means they could have escaped the danger it is well for them if they tentured not their Consciences while they tendered their worldly interests and necessities but to chuse to do it from any free act of their own option and will as what was desired and delighted in by them setting aside some high Prelatical Church-men who returned in anger and meditated retaliation was not to be found in the Bosom of many yet even these are called forth to declare their unfeigned assent and consent c. than which words I know none more significant of heart and good will of love and choice as to all and every thing contained in and prescribed by the Book of Common-Prayer For I pray Sir were you to express your judgment and affection in any matter and how your whole soul and mind is fully pleased satisfied and gratified therein and this beyond all demur and exception how could you more clearly discover your 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 than by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of an unfeigned assent and consent unto it for mine own part I profess I know not Therefore it is well remarked by you that assent and consent and approve are words synonymous But you say Cannot we approve of the use of a Book or approve of a Book as lawful to be used as well as assent and consent to the use of it Yes surely But you mistake me for I neither can assent nor consent nor approve of the Book or the use of the Book so as hereby to witness mine own will or desire for the same yet I can use it in submission to Command if I shall judge it not simply unlawful and sinful to do it I can as I have said silently and patiently swallow down some Gnats if my Superiours will have it so but if I shall be required to say I assent and consent and approve of swallowing down Gnats this alters the case and now I can no more swallow them down than if they were Camels Wherefore eo nomine upon the very same account as you ingenuously confess you would be a Non-conformist to any Church in the World I am at this present to the Church of England And upon the same score I think present Conformity harder than formerly the now Declaration being much more comprehensive in its own nature and taking in much more of our mind will and approbation as to all and every thing recounted and specified therein than any foregoing subscription especially than that mentioned by your self in the time of Queen Elizabeth wherein the Clergy were only required to subscribe this promise I shall read the Service appointed plainly distinctly and audibly that all people may hear and understand As for the Articles published by the Authority of King Edward the VI. and particularly that concerning the Book of Common-Prayer with subscription thereunto I have not seen them except in your Quotation and therefore can say nothing in the case one way or other but I have two Books of Common-Prayer printed in his days the first about the middle the second in the last year of his Reign in neither of which is to be found any Rubrick asserting the certainty of Childrens undoubted Salvation out of Gods Word though they are baptized and die before actual sins there is not I say one syllable to the said purpose in either of them Even this very particular would have rendred Subscription more facile and passable to me had I lived in those days As for the subscription of the three Articles in the time of King James I acknowledge this was one Quod Liber Publicae Liturgiae c. That the Book of Common-Prayer contains in it nothing contrary to the Word of God c. Unto
faithfully be paid and discharged shall not this Chief and indeed sole Debtor be called upon and that too in the first place to pay his Debt In right reason he should and you your self would be of the same mind were you in some great Bond only Collateral Security to a Friend and this too in little more than a Complement Now therefore that the Principal and sole Debtor is not once mentioned or called upon for the payment of the Debt but only the Collaterals this is my Exception and I think not without cause But you say Nature and Religion call upon the Principal Debtor viz. the Father of the Child and that is sufficient without any further Call from the Minister I know what you would reply in the case but I am not so spirited Nature and Religion call upon us to keep the Moral Law or ten Commandments and therefore the Ministers Call to keep them is needless and out of doors This is to make composita to be opposita The more Obligations are upon us from Religion and Nature to fulfill any duty the more we are to be called upon by Arguments out of those Topicks to perform the same and all little enough If not always Nature yet always Religion does bind Godfathers and Godmothers quae tales to perform the promise made on the behalf of the Child baptized for if it be not from Religion there can be no tye in the case yet the Church thinks not Religion enough to bind them without the further help of additional Exhortation why therefore should not the same be thought necessary to the Father himself to bind him also to his duty notwithstanding any preceding Obligation of Nature I approve not of the Sign of the Cross nor that Sacramental mystical way of signing with this Sign as if baptizing with Water in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost were not sufficient but moreover the Sign of the Cross needful to bind the Conscience and confer the Blessing You say The sum of my Argument against signing with the Cross is because lest by a perverse interpretation it may seem to the vulgar people what it is not and what I my self dare not affirm it to be but herein you are either wilfully blind or grosly in the dark for though I mentioned my fear lest the action then done by the Minister for then the Priest shall make a Cross upon the Childs Forehead and the words then uttered by him We receive this Child into the Congregation of Christs Flock and do sign him with the sign of the Cross in token that hereafter he shall not be ashamed to confess the Faith of Christ crucified and manfully to fight under his Banner against Sin the World and the Devil and to continue Christs faithful Souldier unto his lives end might be taken in a wrong sense and mistaken by the generality and do fear it still yet the presumptuous addition of the Cross to Baptism and this too after the manner of another Sacrament the devised Sacrament of man to the instituted Sacrament of God was the grand cause of my exception against it for if we may add at our pleasure the Sign of the Cross why not also with some others Cream Salt and Spittle yea whatsoever else the daring invention of man shall think meet to devise and conjoyn Who in this case shall set the limits and say Ne plus ultra As for mine own part I would sooner yield to have my Child baptized with Cream Salt and Spittle yea though Snow and Sope also were put into the Laver than to have it signed with the Sign of the Cross in such a mystical manner We are neither to add nor diminish in the matter of Gods Worship and particularly this holds good in the Sacraments of the Gospel which in their own nature are Signs and Ceremonies wherefore if we shall arrogate to our selves the license of adding Sign to Sign and Ceremony to Ceremony in so doing we boldly set Threshold against Threshold and proudly usurp no less than the place and Dictatorship of God himself This likewise more than faintly and covertly speaks the Baptism of Water to be lame and wanting of it self alone which I have the courage to speak out in the hearing of all according to your command yea I promise you if you will be at the charge to procure me one of Sir Samuel Moreland's Stentorean Tubes I will take the pains to go up to the Monument and at the top of it I will trumpet it out as a truth all over the City and if I could I would cause it to ring and eccho from one end of the Nation to another Why else is this dedicating sign of the Cross at the time of the Infants Dedication by washing in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost thought so necessary and constantly co-applied But you have a Church-Canon by you mounted and bent on purpose to discharge upon me prim'd with the Rubrick and ready to give fire upon all occasions with a loud contrary report Well be it so yet after all it is but brutum fulmen I mean only protestatio contra factum and therefore ipso facto void and of none effect As if you should vow and protest you were no Idolater and yet at the same time worship a Crucifix adore the Host or bow your knee to the Image of Baal You indeed baptize the Child with Water in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost and you say the Child so baptized is lawfully and sufficiently baptized yet notwithstanding at the same time you sign him with the sign of the Cross in token hereafter he shall not be ashamed to confess the Faith of Christ crucified and manfully fight under his Banner against Sin the World and the Devil c. Now this is the answer of a good Conscience and the main End and Obligation of Baptism as to the party baptized which the Cross and the signing him with that sign and not washing alone must at least mind him of if not spirit him in and ingage him to with the greatest manhood and courage else signing with the sign of the Cross is a meer insignificancy and a ridiculous nothing Entia non sunt multiplicanda sine necessitate What need the Cross if washing with water could sufficiently bring about its own ends The Cross therefore as it is there used loudly proclaims washing of and by it self incompleat and imperfect Something was spoken further by me about laying aside the use and custom of signing with the sign of the Cross to distinguish our selves from the Idolatrous Papists who superstitiously adore the Cross foolishly fondly and wickedly signing themselves with it upon every occasion putting no little confidence in it to free them from evil and to furnish them with all good But upon this score to leave off Crossing you call it vanity and affectation which is peculiar to
of every wicked and profligate Wretch buried by the Liturgy Truth saith concerning such persons 2 Tim. 2.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that while they were alive as the word imports they were taken captive by the Devil Who therefore can believe that they made an escape from him and got out of his Clutches by death and not rather then fell under his power in a more fearful manner The Devil had and has still the power of Death in respect of all impenitent sinners as the Carnifex or Executioner has power over those who are condemned to die and accordingly put into his hands that the Sentence may be actually fulfilled But now are the Condemned ever known to escape from the Hangman after he has Noosed them in the Halter and actually trussed them up I think not So again who can believe that abominable wicked workers against whom I make the objection go immediately after death into the hands of the great God to be disposed of by him according to the promises of the Gospel-Covenant when the said persons had never the least qualification of Grace and Holiness to entitle them to the Covenant of Grace or the promise of the Gospel but utterly the contrary What therefore is this Harangue and flourish of words were they not only uttered by Mr. Falkner but also by an Angel to satisfie my scruple or give me a Licence when I am to bury the worst and most vile amongst men to say Forasmuch as it hath pleased God of his great mercy to take unto himself the Soul of our dear Brother Neither is there then place or season to mention any thing of a sure and certain hope of the Resurrection unto eternal life unless to imbolden wicked livers to continue stilâ— in their sins much less to use any such expression in prayer That when we shall depart this life we may rest in him Christ as our hope is this our Brother doth Alas what well-grounded hopes can either Minister or people have and hâ—rbour of Drunkards Whoremongers Adulterers cursed Swearers and the like their resting in Christ who every day are brought unto the ground and buried by the Liturgy You say There are various degrees of hopes and some of them so little that we can hardly deny them to any person though never so wicked I confess in this particular your Charity and Hope is much beyond mine and yet I think mine is regulated according to the Gospel But your fullest justification of your Church in this matter is by supposing this Office of Burial to be performed only to persons dying in Communion with the Church I look upon it as the best Apology and I have heard it again and again yet it is not equal nor satisfactory because it supposeth if not an impossibility yet the greatest improbability For it is known upon matter of fact that Excommunication was never duly exercised nor Church-Discipline ever duly administred nor indeed likely to be for the future while in the interim multitudes multitudes of ungodly men are brought to the ground and there the last Office done unto them as if they were the most Godly and approved by the Church The Church supposeth or maketh a Foundation which is not and then buildeth her practice upon it against all right and seemliness It is as if I certainly knowing such and such persons to be really mad and out of their wits by a long Quotidian experience and yet from time to time would treat and converse with them as persons most sober and discreet because being men it must be supposed that they have exercise of reason and understanding But rather than not justifie the Office for the Dead and not to help out the defect of due Excommunication you say I doubt not but whosoever shall leave out that sentence as our hope is this our Brother doth at the burial of some notorious profligate sinners complies with the intention of the Church and may justifie himself to his Superiours for doing so I answer Antiquum obtines you are semper idem beginning and ending with the same mind and in the same way You can put in and leave out to serve a turn according to your pleasure and yet not be a Transgressor but comply with the intention of the Church Surely there is no such matter for the Church hath expresly ordered concerning the last prayers for the Office whereof these words as our hope is this our Brother doth are a part in this manner Then the Priest shall say shall say that is he must and ought to say them and never omit them Here the Minister is expresly commanded and much more than to baptize without the Sign of the Cross as you could urge in the case of private Baptism though most illogically and most remotely from true reason as far as a privative is from a positive and a Non-entity from a Being To conclude if you do not when you bury the dead though known beyond all peradventure to die in their sins use these very words as our hope is this our Brother doth you are a Transgressor against the Church inasmuch as you directly disobey her express order and rule and you contradict your own Declaration and little less than give the Lye to your own solemn Oath and Asseveration for then and there you declared your unfeigned assent and consent to all and every thing contained and prescribed in and by the Book entituled the Book of Common-Prayer and therefore to all and every thing contained in and prescribed by the said Book for the Burial of the Dead which yet you like not nor approve in such and such cases that too often occur as to such and such persons which are every day upon the Biere but rather you think it right and meet to omit and skip them over as not proper to be applied not good to be mentioned On the other side if you use these words as our hope is this our Brother doth viz. rest in Christ at the Sepultures of the Sons of Belial while you obey the Churches order you are a transgressor against your own Conscience in uttering what you believe not and a transgressor against God in mentioning this your hope before him in your prayers as if you had good ground and authority for it out of his holy Word concerning the persons deceased when as in reality there is nothing in the Scriptures of Truth to intimate or countenance such an hope but altogether on the contrary to strike a fear in our hearts of their most miserable restless state under eternal death and damnation Sir What in your Conclusion you are pleased to stile the only piece of ingenuity in me is still my mind and judgment and I do not retract from it in the least let it displease whom it shall displease as I believe it will do many And what you say I acknowledge to be a great truth whether properly and directly inferred from my Concession yea or not
well as Non-conformists or rather let this be the little question Whether persons may not be guilty of Sacriledge that are stampt with a Sacerdotal Character as well as any other Sacriledge in the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which properly signifies a prey or a making of a prey of holy things The Latine word Saecrilegium signifies a stealing of sacred things Sacrilegium say some is quasi sacrilaedium the violation the abuse the hurt of what is hallowed and devoted From all this may be a discription of it viz. Sacriledge is the alienating and wresting of things devoted and set apart to holy and sacred uses and ends unto other and contrary purposes Here therefore we must enquire to what uses and ends the wealth riches and the great revenues of the Church were given and granted primarily and principally from God himself and secondarily from the piety and charity of bountiful benefactours and then we must search again whether they are piously and punctually appropriated to those uses and expended upon those ends and not misused any other way Church riches I take it pro confesso were given and granted to carry on Church work Now what is Church work I mean eminently such but animarum cura a looking diligently to the Souls of men that they may not miscarry and perish eternally Church work is to instruct the people shewing them the way they are to walk in and the thing they are to do Church work is by a sedulous study and endeavour in Word Doctrine Example Prayer and often renewed Exhortation to turn people from darkness to light from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those that are sanctified by the faith of Christ Church work is to bring people to the knowledg and obedience of the truth to make them a people fitted for the Lord to put them in a due capacity to serve him in this world and to enjoy him in the world to come Church men therefore who reap the harvest of these donations who possess this wealth and divide these Revenues among themselves ought wholly to give themselves unto this service and make the saving of precious Souls and gaining them to Christ their main work and business But now is this their chief study and intendment is this their constant imploy and negotiation do they look upon themselves as intrusted and honoured with Church-Offices maintained and enriched with Church-goods to prosecute and expedite this high design and most important affair with a most watchful and unwearied solicitude O Vtinam would to God there were such an heart in them but I am afraid it is far otherwise Do we not see great names in the Church accumulating living upon living even the fattest benefices and some of them Dean's and Prebend's places besides to the value of three four five Six hundred pounds per annum and more and yet are never satisfied They run greedily after the errour of Balaam for a reward O sordid Covetousness utterly beneath the height and sublimity of raised winds but how much abhorrent is it from the rare and heavenly philosophy of the Gospel which saith love not the World nor the things of this World feed the flock of God not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind and when the chief Shepherd shall appear ye shall receive a Crown of glory which fadeth not away True and good Church-men should be better versed in these and in the like Golden sayings of the Spirit than basely to covet such an evil covetousness which casteth no little shame and reproach upon their persons and profession What shall all your generous studies and great acquirements of learning for which ye are renowned and dignified teach you no other lesson but inhiare pecuniae to quest after mony quarry upon the dross and dung of this world and load your selves with thick clay Surely you understand higher matters The Sons of the earth who never knew more than the cart and plough can attain to this excellency almost as well as your selves conformity therefore here is a most debasing deformity which ye ought to reject with an holy haughtiness of disdain And the rather because herein also ye are very injurious and grievous Oppressours Of whom Even of your fellow brethren the Tribe of Levi not suffering them to have any lot share and portion with you in the good things of the Church against all right and equity Ye grasp and run away with all and they can get nothing to their great discouragement How many sad complaints have these ears of mine heard against Pluralities from the mouths of those that are as conforming and some of them as meriting as your selves They wait and wait till their hearts ake even as the impotent and lame at the Pool of Bethesda for the stirring of the waters I mean for an opportunity of preferment but in vain for no sooner can the blessed Angel appear any such place known to be vacant but another instantly steppeth in before them and bereaves them of their hope Some famed Doctor or Court-favourite like the sharp eyed Eagle seeth the prey afar of trusseth it in his talons and swiftly hurries it away to his former heap while these poor wretches lie languishing with vexing dispair in their continual disappointments The heart of man is deceitful yet surely if I can know any thing by my self were I in your stead I would have so much goodness and kindness for those of mine own coat and function as to be willing they should live by me yea and live comfortably upon the altar as well as my self according to the mind and appointment of the first Donour in the case I would not be an Oppressour but a comforter unto them seeking by all good ways and means to keep them up in heart and countenance and strengthen their hands in the work before them But to return to our purpose What signal service do such great Doctors and Pluralists perform unto God and his Church what use do they make of their vast incomes and salaries how do they answer the trust reposed in them how good and faithful are they in their Steward-ship we see them rem facere purchasing estates we see them riding up and down with coach and horses in great pomp and glory But is nothing more expected from them is this the end of the Church's bounty and liberality their wages plainly point out to another work as most necessary incumbent upon them without dispensation which yet they can easily obtain to their great ease and content As for teaching the people the good knowledg of God and a constant conscientious instructing them in the way of Salvation they can do it by a Proxy It is enough for some of them to eat of the fat and drink of the sweet while others labour in the word and doctrine to fleece the flock while others feed them But now who are their under-shepherds who their
substitutes and under-feeders many of them sorry feeders God wot pitiful hirelings whose salaries are so smal as utterly to discourage and disenable them from any chearful and vigorous attending upon sacred things Alas several of them are necessitated to turn petty scriveners writing bills and bonds and stoop to such servile offices to patch up a livelihood What reverence and honour can be paid to such persons by the people which is most absolutely necessary for the success of their Ministry Hobb and John the meanest plowman in the Parish is ready to behave himself insolently against them and thinks himself as good a man as he who talks to him out of the Pulpit why he is but the poor Curate and not the principal man he is but the Usher and the School-boys regard him not for the Master whom they only fear and reverence is absent and elsewhere A noble Lord then lately returned from his long travail among other things told me that the French did wonderfully vilifie and set at naught such substitutes sent amongst them to officiate from the Lord Abbots and great Clergy-men styling them commonly Poures Diables Poor Devils in scorn and derision But now shall these be thought worthy to be the Embassadours of God and the Representatives of Christ can these rule over the house of God can these be supposed to have a throne in the hearts of the people and to speak unto them with all authority and power Alas their persons are vile their preaching vaine and their oratory contemptible Oh what disservice instead of service is hereby done unto Christ and his Church Oh how are the people hereby prompted to atheism and impenitency and so sent thronging to Hell rather than awfully awakened with fear and repentance and so brought home unto God! I wonder conscience flies not in the face of some persons concerned who cannot but be sensible that what I now write in great measure is according to truth I would not bring such guilt of the blood of Souls upon mine own Soul to reap the whole profit now in the hands of all the Church-men of England put together But in the interim are not they guilty of Sacriledge I think if any other these may be arraigned for it with a witness and stand charged with it in a most notorious manner Suppose a Knight or Gentleman has a Parsonage or Living in his gift of two or three hundred pounds per annum he puts in a Parson or Minister but yet by some clancular pact and condition reserves a third of the profits to himself the Clerk presented is of most approved abilities for the place and carries himself worthily in it Notwithstanding if this thing be known the Patron shall be sharply and severely censured as one that hath unpardonably violated the rights of the Church and bainous Sacriledge shall be imputed to him the poor Minister shall be outed for Simony and another will quickly force in upon the Premises But who is the man perhaps some great Doctor who has several Church-promotions already but he must and will have another since it falls so luckily in his way Well he comes and according to Law takes full and quiet possession but then he being elsewhere richly accommodated and pleasantly seated cannot think of removing but sends his Curate to do the work for him and for his Salary allows him not half so much as the true Patron did the former Incumbent he has found out a Ten pound Levite and that shall suffice all the rest must come to his own purse to keep up his port and for other certain uses best known to himself nevertheless here is nothing of Sacriledge in the case who dares to think or speak such a word No here is nothing but what is right and praise-worthy in the whole procedure Fye upon it How does covetousness blind our eyes How does evil custom impose upon our reason and judgment is it odious and detestable Sacriledge in one person and not in another can meerly taking holy Orders take away the name and thing of what we call Sacriledge can the putting on a canonical habit put off all guilt and demerit in that kind then let the aforesaid Knight or Gentleman be made a Clergy-man and immediately he is rectus in Curia and no longer Sacrilegious Be not deceived God is not mocked To conclude the Curate or person substituted who ever he be that actually performs the office and does the duty of the Minister either he is worthy or else he is unworthy of the place If he be unworthy then much more unworthy you to thrust such an unable and unmeet man upon the people to their apparent ruin and destruction He said haughtily like himself Viderit utilitas hang gain I will look to mine honour and you say in your actions not only sordidly but impiously Viderint animae let Souls be damn'd if they will I must and will look to my gain and to have a good income But if he be worthy then the dues and profits arising from the said place both by the Law of God and of the Land if pure justice and right might not be wrested from its direct and first intention do ipso facto belong unto the said Minister or Curate as in the reward of his service and I think it both oppression and sacriledge by any plea or pretext though of being legally the Rector or Parson of the parish to detain them from him Thus much in requital for your charge of Sacriledge and my swallowing down a Steeple when time was with the Spire upward or downward whether you please Farewell FINIS Page 1. p. 2 l. 16. p. 2 l. 7 10 11. p. 2. l. 17. 2. l. anpenult â— 10.23 p. 2. l. 21. p. 9. l. 10 p. 7. l. 18. p. 7. l. 23.24 p. 7. l. 2â— Act. 24.9 Gen. 34.23 Ro. 7.16 p. 17. l. 33. p. 8. l. 21. p.o.l. 3. p. 9. l. 5 6 7. p. 3. l. 20. p. 5. l. 2. 1549. 1552. p. 9. l. 30. p. 11. l. 2. l. 15. p. 13. l. 11. p. 10. l. 23. p. 10. l. 33. p. 9. l. 29. p. 9. l. penult â— 13.22 23. â— 14. l. 20. l. 22. l. 23. l. 25. p. 15. l. 1 2. â— 14. â—â— 4 5. p. 14. l. 8. p. 14. l. 13. p. 16. l. 23. p. 16. l. 10. p. 16. l. 16. l. 17. p. 16. l. 19. p. 17. l. 21. p. 17. l. 18. l. 19. l. â—0 p. 17. l. 27. l. ult p. 18. l â— 17. â— 29 30 â— p. 17. l. 30. p. 18. l. 8. p. 18 l. 13. p. 18. l. 15. p. 19. l. 14. l. 23. p. 18. l. 20. p. 20. l. 6. p. 20. l. 11. p. 2. l. 19. p. 20. l. 14. p. 20. l. 15. p. 21. l. 14. â— 21. â— 19. â— 21. â— 21. â— 21. â— 22. p. 22. l. â—â— p. 23. l. 14 15. p. 23. l. 20. p. 2. l. 54. p. 2. l. penult p. 3. l. 5. l. p. 3. l. 1. p. 3. l. 10. p. 3. l. 11. p. 3. l. 16. â— 3. l. 40. Rom. 14.1 p. 3. l. 55. p. 3 l. 43. p. 4. l. 2. p. 4. l. 18. p. 4. l. 59. p. 5. l. 9. p. 5. l. 16. p. 5. l. 37. p. 5. l. 41. p. 5. l. 45. p. 5. l. 47. p. 5. l. 5 p. 5 l. 51. p. 5. l. 54. Deut. 6.6 p. 5. l. 48. p. 5. l. 63. p. 6. l. 11. Col. 1.24 p. 6. l. 23. p. 6. l 44 p. 6. l. 51. p. 6. l. 46. Mark 1.4 p. 61.48 p. 6. l. 50. p. 19.26 p. 7. l. 9. â— 7. l. 15. p. 7. l. 17. p. 7. l. 17. p. 3. l. 7. p. 7. l. 23. l. 27. p. 4. l. 38. p. 7 1 22. p. 2. l. 22. p. 10. l. 16. 〈…〉 p. 7. l. 13. C. 12.15 C. 5. v. 12. * Hoc autem mendacium est quo neque deus neque veriipsius Angeli in Canonicis libris leguntur usi quodmendacium ut excusemus non magnopere puâ—amus esse laborandum quiâ—â—â—ut multae rationes â—inc inde comportentur mendacium est mendacium a deo ab Electis ejus Angelis alienissimum So a true Expositor upon the place C. 2. v. 4.10 * Plinie in his natural history having spoken of the Crocodile saith further Major altitudine in eodem Nilo Bellua hippopotamus editur caudâ dentibus aprorum tergorisad scuta galeasque impenetrabilis C.p. 3. v. 3. 6.7 V. â— â— 12.15 Job 39. â—9