Paul's Character of a lawful Minister 1 Tim. 3.2 Both able and apt to teach Secondly But besides this there is an outward calling 2. And ourward Calling which is from God for it is his Ordinance but by man The imposition of hands The Ordination of the Church as the ordinary means and instruments And though the outward calling may not compare with the inward either in peint of excellency or necessity yet in a constituted and a setled Church and in an ordinary way this outward calling is of simple and absolute necessity No men taketh this honour unto himself but he that is called of God as was Aarou Heb. 5.4 and that is by mans Ministery And not to wave the comparison of my Text As in Metal there is both the Bullion as it lies in the mass and bulk And there is the Coin after it hath once passed the mould and Mint and received the stamp and impress and supersoription of the Prince Even so the inward calling is as the Bullion of Gold and Silver which shews the intrinsick worth and value and is the very nature and substance of it But the outward calling is as the coining and minting of this Bullion in ordination which sets upon it the stamp of Church autharits and makes it currant and passable among men Secondly Secondly in respect of the End These spirits are said to be of God in respect of the End For as in nature the efficient and final cause is one and the same so is it every way as true in Divinity God is alpha and Omega the beginning and the end of all For of him and through him and to him are all things Rom. 11.36 And those Spirits are of God that are for God that intend God that tend to God as to their ultimate and lastend When us Luther first began to appear in Germany and his Doctrine passed sundry censures and constructions according to the variety of mens apprehensions and their particular interests and engagements Dr. Stanpitius professed for his part that he was the better satisfied with it and the more throughly confirmed in the belief of it (g) Hoc mihi placet quod haec doctrina quam praedicat gloriam omnia soli Den tribuit hominibus nihil Lut her loc Com. Quar. Glas cap. 30. Quod omnia in solidum Deo ascribebat That it did intirely ascribe all to the praise of Gods grace glory And certainly those Spirits are of God that do most abase and depress the aspiring pride and haughtiness of mans heart That do vilifie yea nullifie the spiritual impotency and disability of mans decaied wounded and dead nature that do extol and magnifie the free grace of God in Christ that inhance and advance his glory These these are the Spirits who as they are for God so they likewise are of God 2. The Touchstone and that double The false or counterfeit which is five fold The second thing considerable in the trial next after the metal is the Touchstone and that is either 1. I alse and counter suit 2. On I se right and true The false and counterfeit Touchstones are these five in member 1. Preten ed Revelation 2. Lying Ntiâ—â—aeles 3. Rucollancy of Burts and Abrtitues 4. Flâ—â—â—â—ess of Life 5. Succes or truth of Eveuts The first false and counterfeit Touchstone is Pretended Revelations The first pretended Bevelations These our (h) Dicunt paracsetum plura in Montano dixisse quam Christum in Evan lium protulisse Nec tantum plura sed etiam meliora atque majora Tertul. Prescr adv Haeret. c. 152. Fanatici spiritus hodie quicquid somniant volunt esse spiritum sanctum Luther Tom. 4. fol. 5 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basilius Inth â—srast and Anahaptists the Dreanters if our lanentimes as Saint Jade fitly styles them boast and brag of and prattle much to little purpose of their secret inllincts and inspirations So did Suenck feildius a whelp of that litter who as if he had been a Prophet dropt from Heaven or fullen out of the Clouds did amaze and inoltant mens minds with those high flown terms Illumination Revelation Deification of the interior and spiritual men words misapplied and perverted by him and grosly understood by the common multitude And that I may extricate and wind my self out of ambiguities all at once True it is that God doth enlighten the minds of his children in the knowledge of spiritual and saving mysteries and inwardly reveal unto them the sense and feeling of Gods love in Christ so that they taste and see how gractous the Loed is as the Psalnist has it Psal 34.8 abounding more and more in Knowledge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in all judgement as Saint Paul prayes for the the Philippians Phil. 1.19 yet this affords no ground or sooting for any new Bevelation by way of Supplement or Addition to the written word either against or besides the Seripturea Though we or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel unto you than that we have preached unto you let him be accursed Gal. 1.8 Though we Saint Paul himself who was rapt into the third Heaven or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non solum contrarium sed diversum Not onely that which is directly contrary but any way different Let him be accounted execrable and abominable that is Saint Pauls doom upon himself and others For the Doctrine of Salvation touching faith and manners whatsoever is necessary to be believed or observed is revealed from Heaven already and they that expect and look for any new revelations may go out and seek for them as the children of the Prophets did for Elias body after it was taken up into Heaven 2 King 2.17 but shall be sure to return without it 1. Optat. lib. 5. Si fuerit inter fratres contentio orta non itur ad tumulum sed quaeritur Testamentumâ— sit qui 〈◊〉 lo quiescit tacitis de tabulis loquitur ibidem Nobis curiositate opus non est post christum nec inquisitione post Evangelium Cum credimus nihil desideramus ultra credere Hoc enim prius credimus non esse quod ultra credere debeamus Tert. Presc cap. 8. Quid pulsamus ad coelum cum habeamus in Evangelio Testamentum saith Optatus excellently To what end should we knock at Heaven gates for Revelations when as we have Christs last Will and Testament in the Gospel There may be indeed a Codicill or Schedule annexed to the Will of a dying man as long as he is alive And the same may be as authentick and forcible as the original Will if it hath his hand and seal to speak for it and be ratified by the testimony of others But Christ is deceased long ago his Will is consigned and sealed up and proved in the High Court of Heaven and in that regard there can be no Codicil or Schedule of new Revelation affixed or added
the wicked that the Canaanite may become an Israelite Thorns turned into lillies and Tares made good corn We may then observe from hence a double Corollarie or conclusion A Double Corollarie or conclusion The First Corollarie First the condition of God's people in this present world Secondly the grievous misery and calamity of this their condition First we may take notice of the condition of the people of God in this present world To be promiscuously blended with wicked men unequally yoaked with Infidels Much like unto the state of the Church of France because of the dinersity of religion the dispersion of Papists and Hugonites throughout the whole Kingdom is fitly compared to A Panthers or Leopards skin which is full of all kind of spots Such a speckled Beast is the visible Church upon Earth For though there be no communion betwixt light and darkness in theniselves yet is the light of saving truth and the darkness of errour and superstition confounded in the firmament of the Church as light and darkness are mixed in the Air. Though no fellowship be betwixt righteousness and unrighteousness in their nature yet is there a society in place we may and must separate from the fornicators of the world covetous extortioners and Idolaters both in affection action yet can we not separate and quit our selves of the place unless we should follow Saint Pauls direction and go out of the world 1 Cor. 5 10. Let then the giddy Separatists who first run out of their wits and then out of the Church let these I say travel into the remotest parts of the world and beyond the course of the Sun ultra Garamantas Indos to find out such a Church as is without spot or wrinkle wrinkle in doctrine spot in manners which Christ indeed purchased with his death (e) August lib. 1. Retract ca. 19. lib. 2. cap. 18. non quod jam sit talis sed quod praeparetur ut sit talis As Austin glosses upon the place Ephes 5.27 yet unless they can fly from themselves as well as they abandon the company of others they shall never be free of sinners And they must have a special heed lest while they mutter any thing secretly with themselves they talk not with a wicked person And if there be any like unto Saint Paul's Marriners who in a tempestuous storm go about to fly out of the ship of the Church and let down a Boat into the Sea under a colourable pretence of casting Anchor whereby the Ship should be more stedfast and so sayl into forrein parts I will only advise them in Saint Paul's words to the centurion and the souldiers Except these abide in the Ship ye cannot be safe Acts 27.30 31. Yet let no man think I limit salvation to any Topical or particular Church or have any oblique glance or gird at any of our Brethren who out of a religious intention of enlargement and propagation of the Gospel and conversion of poor pagan Insidels have changed their Church and Climate I rather accompany them with my most affectionate and hearty prayers yea with David's wishes for Jerusalem Psal 122.7 8 9. Peace be within thy walls and prosperity within thy palaces For my Brethren and companions sake I will now say pence be within thee because of the House of the Lord our God I will procure thy wealth My speech onely aims and drives at new fangled Separatists who out of a dislike if not a detestation of the present Church as if the case thereof was not onely deplorate but desperate casting away the whole apple with the Hermits friend for some few specks of rottenness Or out of an ungrounded hope of devising or finding ready moulded to their hand such a Church as is free from errours and enormities schismatically divide and cut themselves off from the unity of that Body whereof they were late members These are the men to whom I recommend more Christian charity and Spiritual wisedom And turn them over to the preposition â—â— in the words of the Text for information and conviction both at once Suffer them both to grow tegether Secondly The Second Corollary we may from hence collect the matchless miseries of God's people in this present world whose souls are among it Lyons as the Psalmist sometimes complained Psal 57.4 Like unto Daniel in the Lyons Den who are necessitated to converse and to have at least a civil commerce and intercourse with the Sons of Belial And have just cause to bewail and bemoan their case in the words of David Psal 120.5 Woe is me that I remain in Meshech and dwel in the Tents of Kedar A double woe of God's people in this world And there is a double woe that attends and waits upon God's Servants here beneath First The inward corruption of their own nature being as a Rose that grows up with sharp prickles That there were Roses without prickles in Paradise was the conceit of great St. Basil Sure I am there is no Rose of grace without the prickles of corruption Secondly The outward and concomitant wickedness of others in that they are as a Lilly among Thorns The Prophet Isaiah displays them both and so may every child of God lament them after his Example Woe is me for I am undone because I am a man of polluted lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of polluted lips Isa 6.5 They are not only polluted in their own persons but are circled and incompassed with pollution on every side And who is there that can refrain from breaking forth into that pathetical and melting speech in this respect Woe is me for I am undone Needs must it be as a deep taint and a fretting corrosive to the hearts and spirits of God's people that there should be so many outside Hypocrites in the Church no better then Stage-players in religion and like unto that silly Stage-player who pronounced 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with his tongue and pointed unto the Earth with his finger And so did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 commit a kind of Solaecisme and absurdity with his hand And as it was said of one that painted his Hair with a false colour that he wore a lye in his head and was guilty of Sophistery in his locks So are there too too many of such deceitful Sophisters even in the profession of godliness it self who by their painting and false colours carry a lye not in their head but in their heart being inwardly nothing less then what they outwardly appear Thereby starting and staggering the judgments of those that are wavering and unstable who are ready hereupon to passe a peremptory and downright censure (m) Linacre on the 5.6 â— cap. of Matth. Aut hoc non est Evangelium aut isti non sunt Evangelici Either this is not the Gospel or these are not true Gospellers And opening the mouths of other to speak evil of the way of the Lord to jest and
way either opening when they should shut or shutting when they should open absolving the wicked and excommunicating and condemning the righteous both which saith Solomon are an abomination unto the Lord and should be likewise unto his faithful Deputies And it is an useful caveat and profitable direction for spiritual Governors which is given by Gerson and Erasmus Ne teutere vibrent fulmen excommunication is That they throw not about the thunder-bolt of their censures rashly and at random Wherein if they would weed out Tares aright A threefold error to be avoided in Church censures they must take heed of a threefold errour and extremity 1. Frequency and too much commonness 2. Immoderate and undue rigor 3. Temporal and by respects First Frequency too much commonness There must not be frequency and too much commonness in Church censures lest they thereby forfeit their estimation and abate their force and efficacy For even as purging Physick if ordinarily and familiarly received hath little or no operation upon the body whereunto it is accustomed and loosing both name and nature it becomes nonrishment in stead of physick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Philosopher for the constant and continual use In like manner this Spiritnal Physick I mean the censures Ecclesiastical which is Saint Cyprians resemblance Non deest censura quae increper nec medecina quae sanet I say these censures if threatned and urged upon all occasions they lose their power and strength they are neglected and slighted at all hands and work not at all unless it be contempt and at length are as it were east out into the draught Secondly Immoderate and undue rigour There must not be immoderate and undue rigour in Church censures A course much like the practice of unskilful Physicians who for the most part purge Vsque ad habitum corporis the utmost strength and ability of the body and thereby endanger the life of the patient The Tent must not be made too big for the Wound nor the Plaister too broad for the Sore For every petty and small offence in comparison an eight penny matter default of payment a Proctors fee want of appearance or the like to be threatned excommunicatione majori It is all one saith Parisiensis as if a man that perceives a fly in his neighbours forehead should forthwith club him to death killing the man that he may kill the fly and dash out his brains And though it be not so much the quality of the offence as the contumacy of the offender that necessitates them thereunto which they usually alledge yet whether this contumacy is of so high a nature as to promerit the most dreadful censure under Heaven yea the losse of Heaven it selfe I submit unto better judgements Thirdly There must be no temporal Temporal and by respects nor by respects in the exercise of Church cexsures That power which is purely spiritual in the nature must not be made temporal in the end These keys are not tempered of gold or silver nor must they be used or abused rather to the unlocking of mens chests or cossers The enriching of a corrupt Judge or a sharking and a prouling Officer what is this but to imitate the lothsoni wickednes of Elie's sonss and to make the sentence of exdommunication like unto their three toothed flesh hook which they thrust into the kettle cauldron or pot and whatsoever it brought up they took it to themselves 1 Sam. 2.13 But that I may not seem to inveigh and complain without cause or without countenance of just authority give me leave to express what I intend to deliver in the point in the strain of a late Reverend Bishop of our own and that Andrewes by name They are the words of the wise which are as goads and nailes fastened by one of the Masters of our Assemblies (h) Omnium abusuum medecira abusus ipsa est censura scilicet Ecclesiastica Opuscul Posth pag. 41. Quae ad scelera profliganda data sâ—â—t flagellum Christi clavis Petri solum jam crumenam pulsant Our Saviours scourge strung with small cords and Saint Peters keyes which were first ordained for the exterminating of sin they now only vex the purse It is commonly said that it is but lost labour to present offenders to your Commissaries or Officials who when they have had their Fee is forthwith dismist unpunished and then revels as insolently as securely as before but if they have no mony at hand to satisfie the Court the sword of authority is then brandished against them and no more adoe but with one stroak are cut off from the Church given over unto Satan and denounced publick Ethnicks and Anathemaes Add because they see these censures fly abroad in light matters and that against the best of men no less frequently than unadvisedly Quasi bruta fulmina soli metuenda crumenae contemnere didicerunt They have learned to contemn them as empty Thunder-bolts torrible only to the purse And there is a groat deal of Analogy and agreement in the terms of the comparison For as the thunder and lightning that comes down from above melts the money in the purse but consumes not or any way burts the purse it selfe Even so this spiritual lightning seizes onely upon the substance and wastes the hard Metal that makes resistance but passes through passes over the person who is more yeilding and leaves him untoucht This is not the orderly use of the spiritual keyes nor this the direct way for the Ecclesiastical Judge to weed Tares out of the Church 3. Thirdly the publick Ministry The publick Minister must put to his helping hand to gather out Tares by the religious ministration of the Word and Sacraments Behold this day have I set thee over the Nations and over the Kingdoms to pluck up and to root out and to destroy and throw down and to build to plant saith God to the Prophet Jer. 1.10 This speech the Bishop of Rome ingrosses and appropriates as personal to himself grounding thereupon his unlimited Jurisdiction and Oecumenical power in Temporalities to depose Kings and dispose of their Kingdoms whereas the Text equally and indifferently concerns all even the meanest Ministers of the Gospel The Spirit of God therein assimilating the pains of their profession to the toil and sweat of the natural Husbandman (i) Disce sarculo non seepâ—â—o epus est ut sacias opus prophetae Bernard ad Engenium De consideraâ—â—one Lib. â— Rusticani sudoris schemate quodam spiritualis iste labor expressus est as devout Bernard expounds and applies the place to Pope Eugenius whose office and duty it is to pluck up and root out these Tares in the publick Ministry And if there be any Tare of wickedness that pesters the field of the Lord spreads the roots far and near advances the head higher and grows more rank and rife than the rest be it grosse idolatry customary swearing
prodigious blasphemie open profanation of the Sabbath the filthiness of whoredom or any other these are the Tares which they principally endeavour with all their might not only to top or crop as the Heathen King stroke off the tops of the Poppies but pluck them up by th roots What though they meet with difficulties and discouragements of all sorts and reap no other guerdon of assiduity and faithfulness in their calling but enmity and opposition yet must they make their face hard against their faces and their forehead hard against their foreheads Cry aloud and spare not lift up their voice like a Trumpet Preach the word be instant in season and out of season improve rebuke exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine I will close up the Point with a story of Luther who when he began first to appear in publick against Popish indulgences a friend of his rounded him in the ear with more safe then sound advise As good hold your tongue the custome is so strong you will do no good go into your study and pray Domine miserere nostri And get you no anger This is the distressed and intangled condition of poor Ministers in the Gospel If they plead for their due maintenance they are bar'd with legal customes and prescriptions If they preach in the Name of the Lord against the crying abominations of the time they are affronted in the same manner with customary and common practices So that one way or other the custome is always too hard for us And though it be a matter of as great difficulty and slender hopes to cry down the customes of sin as of Tythes and payments in the vulgar being armed and fenced with prescription in both Yet this must not daunt or damp our spirits nor quell or quail our courage no more then it dismayed the Heroical resolution of stout-spirited Luther much less must it move us to grow feeble and faint-hearted and utterly to desist with disconsolate Jeremiah Then I said I will not make mention of him nor speak any more in his name Jer. 20.9 But notwithstanding the strength of custome the publick Minister must do his best to weed out these Tares of wickedness by the religious ministration of the Word and Sacraments Fourthly The private Christian must bend his strength Fourthly the private Christian and bâ—ckle to the task of gathering out of Tares by devout prayers and Tears Acts of authority and jurisdiction are confined and limited to publick offices But duties of common piety pity fall within the verge compass of the meanest Christian It were presumption and usurpation for every one to lay hands upon the civil sword To arrogate and assume the power of the keys to sit in Moses chair and teach authoritatively in the Church yet is there none no not of the lowest rank but may pour forth his soul unto God in prayer and pour out his inward grief in sad and mournful tears Arma ecclesiae sunt preces lachrymae Prayers and tears are the spiritual weapons of the Church and the offensive defensive arms of the private Christian How much better do these become them then to repine and whine in a malecontented humour which is the natural language of the multitude to defame the persons censure the actions of superiours to look upon Government with an oblique eye and cast dirt in the face of authority How may we solace and recreate our selves in the most exulcerate and calamitous times even in a holy Soliloquy with God and a pathetical lamentation of our own miseries And memorable is that example of Gerson in this kind that famous Chancellour of Paris who being exulsed the university by the Sorbonists and in his old age deprived of all his dignities he betook himself to the profession of a School-Master and caused all his Schollers being but little children to joyn with him daily in this short prayer (k) Illyric Cat. Test Tom. 2. pag. 805. My God my Maker have mercy upon thy miserable servant Gerson Thus may every Christian address himself unto God in sending up a pithy ejaculation unto Heaven My God my Maker have mercy upon thy miserable Servant for the redress of particular grievances the pardon of Epidemical evils and the prevention of universal vengeance when as impiety and iniquity domineers and overrules with an high hand the judgements of God hang over our heads and threaten us with destruction when as the times are most intricate and perplexed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and there are fightings without and fears within This this is the fittest season for each private Christian to call upon the Name of God and to stir up themselves to take hold on him The supine neglect whereof God severely faults and taxes Isa 64.7 This necessity should be their opportunity that when they are at their wits end driven to the straitest pinch and exigent and find neither hope nor help in the sons of men To appeal unto God for succour and after holy David's example to excite and awaken him by their prayers up Lord let not man prevail Psal 9.19 Help Lord for there is not a godly man left Psal 12.1 Tunc votorum locus praecipuus quum spei nullus Then is the chiefest place for request up Lord and help Lord when there is no place left for hope but if ever Christians mourned and cryed in the bitterness of their spirits for the abominations of the Time If ever they cryed mightily unto the Lord now now is the time to pluck up and root out these Tares of wickedness by their devout Prayers and Tears The End of the first Sermon Lapis Lydius OR THE TRYAL OF SPIRITS A SERMON Preached at the Cathedral in the City of Norwich Prove all things hold fast that which is good 1 Thess cap. 5. ver 21. LONDON Printed by T. C. for Will. Rands at Fleet-bridge 1659. THE TRIALL OF SPIRITS 1 JOHN 4.1 Dearly Beloved believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God for many false Prophets are gone out into the World THis Text is the Watch-word The Preface or Warn-word of the great Apostle Saint John and that not bound up with any particularities of time place or person but of universal extent and concernment applyable and applyed by him to all ages and may well be conceived as the Prophesie of the latter times This was the peculiar priviledge and preheminence of Saint John that he was an Evangelist Prophet and Apostle An Evangelist in the penning of his Gospel A Prophet in his revelation A. Apostle in his Epistles A Divine Trismegistus or thrice excellent yea he shews himself a Prophet in his Epistles and that in these words of the Text wherein he foretels the Epidemical disease of the latter times and withal prescribes and applies the remedy We This Sermon was preached during the distraction of the late Civil Wars are now fallen upon times of war and bloodshed haec fundi
besprinkles another with scurrilous and scandalous reports what is now become of hristianity Is not Christ well neer lost among us O how are we fallen from the Primitive piety purity and charity of the ancient Christians for which they were so renowned in the eves of God and Men insomuch that it was taken up as an usual by-word of commendation and that from the mouths of the Heathen (q) Tertul. Apolog Vide ut invicem se diligunt See how these Christians love one another And may not the contrary be charged home upon us See how these Christians hate and spleen yea see see not without a just passion of shame and grief how they malice and malign each other Fifthly A Touch of Humility in respect of themselves There must be a Touch of humility in respect of themselves God is the high and losty that dwels in the high and holy place with him also that is of an humble and contrite spirit So he speaks of himself Isa 57.15 There are but two places where God dwels The High and the Low The highest Heaven And the lowest heart There is nothing more opposite to the nature of God then humility as being the most high And yet nothing more suitable to his affection and desire The spirits that are of God must be spirits of humility Two manner of waies And yet both 1. In their inward Temper and constitution 2. In their outward carriage and behaviour First they must be spirits of humility in their inward temper and constitution 1. In their inward temper and constitution Such a one was St. Paul reporting himself the least of Saints and yet the greatest of all sinners Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners whereof I am chief 1 Tim. 1.15 There St. Paul was the chief of sinners Vnto me who am less then the least of all Samts is the grace given Ephes 3.8 Here we find him the least of all Saints 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 less then the least which if it were Emphatically and throughly translated should be rendred minimissimo a degree above the superlative wherein St. Paul dstracts as much from himself as he adds unto the word Even so the spirits that are of God must have a mean conceit of their own excellency a weak apprehension of their own strength a low prised opinion of the sublimity of their gifts and graces Secondly 2. In their outward carriaye and behaviour the spirits that are of God must be spirits of hvmility in their outward carriage and behaviour The Kings of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them and they that exercise authority upon them are called Benefactors Vos autem non sic But it shall not be so among you Luke 22.25 26. where our Saviour laies down a direct and a Diametral opposition betwixt the rule of the Gentiles and the power and authority of his Disciples And if it be excepted that Christ onely forbids a Tyrannical Government Let them consult with the Original in St. Luke and they shall not find it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which notes the orderly Exercise and Administration of it And in case our Saviour cashiers not the jurisdiction and Lordship of the Clergy yet doubtless he condemns the Domineering and Lording of the Clergy And Saint Peter is most express and punctual in the point Not as Lords over God's Heritage 1 Pet. 5.3 Away with the Domineering and Lording over mens consciences or persons away with that supercilious and stately carriage to others or those of their own rank and order bearing thunder and lightning in their countenances Brow beating and looking a skue upon men as if they were unworthy of a full eyed glance or a fair aspect These these are not the things that honour them though never so honourable and reverend in themselves But casiuess of access affability meekness and gentleness and in the height of dignity the lowliness of humility And it was soveraign councel of a holy and wise man to the Brittish Bishops and Monks of Bangor summoned by Austin the Monk to convene him in a Synod That if he were humble and lowly in his carriage They should then give him the right hand of fellowship and agree with him as the servant of God The spirits that are of God must be spirtis of humility Fourthly the fourth and last thing observable in this trial is the Metalists lapidaries The Metalists or Lapidaries of two sorts or the parties that must make this Triall And they are of two sorts 1. Private Christians 2. Publique Officers 1. Private Christians The first sort of Metalists that must have a hand in the Trial of spirits are private Christians The Church of Rome doth many ways usurp over the rights and liberties of the common people denying them the knowledge of the Scriptures thereby to blindfold and hoodwink them in ignorance that so being hooded like unto Hawks they may fist them as they list and carry them about at pleasure And as they bereave them of the reading of the Scriptures in a known tongue so do they abridge them of all power of trial and examination And yet this is a duty which St. Paul presses with a great deal of earnestness (q) Botrum carpe spinam cave Cathedra Mosis vitis erat Phariseorum mores spinae erant Botrum inter spinas caute lege ne dum quaeris fructum laceres manum Et cum audis bona dicentem ne imiteris mala sacientem Quae dicunt facite legite uvas quae autem faciunt facere nosite cavete spinas August Tract 46. in Evang. secund Johan Grandis est prudentiae aurum in lvto quae eye Hiero. Epist ad Laetam Try all things 1 Thess 5.21 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very self same word that is used in the Text. And the Exhortation is directed not to the Pastor alone but to the Common people And it is recorded to the perpetual commendation of the noble Beraeans Acts 17.11 That they searched the Scriptures with all readiness whether those things were so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They discerned and judged of them And what is it that debarrs the people from or hinders them in the doing of it who are rational men as well as others indued with the faculty and use of reason I speak as to wise men judge ye what Isay so Paul to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 10.15 And many of them are not onely rational but spiritual inwardly enlightned with the spirit And he that is spiritual judgeth all things saith the same Apostle 1 Cor. 2.15 not indisinitely and simply all things not all the mysteries of Art or Nature not all the secrets of Reason and Religion but all things that fall within the latitude and compasse of the proper object As the Eye seeth all things that is all sorts of colours and the Ear heareth all things that is the differences of all sounds even so
inquiring after peace So may it be said to the Advocates and Proctors of the Church of Rome that thus vehemently plead for it What peace while the whoredoms of thy mother Jezabel The Spiritual whoredomes of the mother of fornications and her witchcrafts are yet in great number 2 Kings 9.22 And as long as these continue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let us continue where we are yea let us not stick to maintain and wage that same holy (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazianz. Virgilius War wherein whosoever dies Fighting the good fight of faith shall undoubtedly obtain saith Gregory Nazianzen of the chiefest Bishop of our Soules a plenary indulgence for his sins And as in scituation and site of place this nation is divided from the main continent so let it for ever continue divided in opinion and affection to their heresies from the whole Antichristian world that so it may be said of it in this respect as well as in the other Et penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos As therefore the heathen man promised to ful fil the law of friendship (k) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pericles apud Gellium l. 1. c. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So let us profess our selves unfained welwillers to the Church of Rome and heartily desirous of a solid union 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 till we come to the Altars But if they seek to bring over their Altars unto us or us unto their Altars then let us stand at staves end and stifly endeavour to prove as opposite unto them as is the purity of Divine worship to humane superstition the true Church and Temple of God to the congregation of Idolaters and what agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols Thirdly If the Church be Gods Temple we may from hence conclude the Churches danger as being liable to a threefold injury and calamity The third Corollary The Churches danger And that threefold 1. Impropriation 2. Dilapidations 3. Sacriledge After the manner of the material Temple 1. The first danger of this Temple is the impropriation and the betraying of it into the hands of sinners Impropriation This hazard hath it run in every age never was there wanting an adulterous generation yet never more rife rank then in these days of ours whereof David complained in his Psal 83.12 Who said let us take to our selves the Houses of God in possession And which they barely projected and resolved on they have now effected and brought to passe The Ark of God is long since taken prisoner and detained as forcibly as unjustly I say not by the Philistines but profane and lay hands And the house of God wheron Christs sets a special accent and emphasis and imprints as it were his own marks my House is now by prescription become a Den of theeves Thus doth it fall out with the Church the spiritual house and Temple of God which is openly exposed as a naked prey to the greedy desire and malicious designes of a double impropriator A double Impropriator 1. The Divel 2. And the Pope I join them both together 1. The Divel The first and the chiefest impropriator of the Church is the Divel who being fallen irrecoverably from the state of happiness (e) Solatium perditionis suae perdendis hominibus operatur Lactant. l. 2.15 he solaces his own misery by drawing and booking others into the same pitfal of destruction Laboring nothing more then to make of a Saint a sinner and a firebrand of Hell of an Heire of Heaven and as this is Gods royalty to rule in the midst of his enemies maugre their most furious rage and fierce opposition raising up unto himself a holy seed even where Satans throne is such was the seat of the Church of Pergamus Rev. 2.13 The Divel who is the God of this world and the Ape of God as well in this as in other matters affects and studies a resemblance That subtile serpent who slyly crept into the terrestrial Paradise and there seduced our first Parents who were then the Representative Bodie of the Universal Church doth still insinuate and cunningly convey himself into the spiritual Paradise the visible society of the faithful some whereof he sollicits and effectually drawes unto his own party and would if it were possible deceive the elect So that it hath been commonly and truly said where God hath his Church there the Divel hath his Chappel This is the first and great Impropriator 2. The second Impropriatour and next unto the Divel is the Pope and Bishop of Rome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Pope That man of sin As if his intire frame and composition were nothing else 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That professed Adversary that sits as God in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God 2 Thess 2.4 yet is he not a forrain or open Adversary for his trade is the mystery of iniquity ver 7. And though he speak like the Dragon he hath two horns like the lamb Rev. 13.11 But an intestine and home-bred Enemy that sits in the Temple Not in Solomon's Temple at Hierusalem as Bellarmin trifles for that is not his Sea and Seat And yet St. Augustin moves an (m) Vtrum in illa ruina Templi quod à Solomone constructum est an vera in Ecclesia ut Deus sessurus sit incertum est August de Civit. Dei lib. 20. cap. 19. utrum concerning it and passes it over as uncertain but in the mystical Temple of the visible Church yea in the invisible Temple of the heart and conscience as some expound it In this inward Temple doth he sit and that not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is in the original Not so much in as upon the Temple treading and trampling upon it as his footstool riding as it were in respect of his Tyrannical government upon mens consciences as he is usually mounted and carried in publick upon mens shoulders Sic volo sic jubeo is his known Motto And his imperious slile the same with the Ancient Donatists (n) Augustinus verba illa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non in Templo sed adversus Templum interpretatus est De Civit. Dei lib. 20. cap. 19. Epist 48. ad Vincentium Quod volumus sanctum est His lust must be observed as a Law and that de necessitate salutis as having all Laws both divine and humane cooped up in his own Brest unwritten and unjust Traditions Ecclesiastical definitions and constitutions pari pietatis affectu reverentia to use the words of the Councel of Trent ought to be entertained with no lesse reverent affection and devotion then the written Word of God and by their own force and vertue directly and immediately oblige and fetter the conscience And whilst the (o) Ista 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 uti appellat Basilius Epist 10. adeo ei dis â—licuit ut de Rom. Ecclesia dixerit odi
they be they are wandring stars and planets now ascending then descending and forthwith retrograde whose perfection as they account it doth not onely consist in motion as that of the Heavens but in moving without their circles forgetting that sure rule of the heathen (o) Id unumquemque decet maxime quod unius cujusque est maxime that chiefly concerns every man that most properly belongs to him A Ministers charity must begin at home and to speak in the words of Luther he should be nailed to his own Pulpit 2. A second sort of wanderers there are The second sort have neither center nor circumference I cannot call them star or lights as Christ testifies of John the Baptist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That he was a burning and a shining light placed in the Jewish Church as in a candlestick But as if they were light without a socket lights in the abstract 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that of the world in general as Apostolical men whose commission is as large as the whole earth they have neither center nor circumference These are our vagrant curriers itinerant and erroncous Clergy men who never leave compassing the earth to and fro and yet not to make a Proselyte with the Pharisees travelling from place to place with a little pocket learning as with a lawfull passe and seldome out of their way though as seldome in it after the manner of common beggars Begging it may be on the Sabbath day for a gratuity and free benevolence in the pulpit and lashing out most licentiously the week following in an Alchouse St. Paul earnestly the requests the prayers of the Thessalonians in his own behalf and fellow-labourers That we may be delivered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from unreasonable evil men 2 Thess 3.2 this he specifies as the end of his desire And they if any other are not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that in the proper sense and signification men without mansion or dwelling place and we have great cause to second Saint Paul's desires and Pastor and people to join in prayer with the Thessalonians that we may be delivered from them 3. The busie Intruder The third species of this disordered and outlawed company is the busie encroacher and intruder and that either by 1. Speculative curiosity 2. Or Actual usurpation 1. By speculative curiosity There is a stickling and a stingling generation of quicksilver spirits and pragmatical dispositions (p) Curiosi ad inquirendam vitam alienam incuriosi ad corrigendam suam August Not more curious in another mans matters then incurious in their own 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Peter rightly characters them 1 Pet. 4.15 most diligent and uncessant Visitours in a strange diocess thrusting their sharp sickles into the hearvest of each mans affairs and stirring their restless Oar in every Boat that passes as if they were Inquisitors General and had the priviledge and faculty of that house to examine and make search at pleasure or were retained as private confessours that might plumb and sound the bottom of mens hearts and dive into the secrets of all estates by their prying curiosity these of all other are the most lazy Droans and the greatest enemies to all honest labour as appears by St. Pauls opposition 2 Thess 3.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They worke not at all but are busie bodies so that busie bodies work not all and their business causes them to omit and neglect their business (q) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Agatho◠apud Athicaum li. 5. their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their affected and idle medlings prove their most painful exercise and while with Martha they are troubled about many things they attend not that one thing which is necessary 2. By actual usurpation But besides the busie intruder there is an actual and unjust usurper of anothers place and sunction far more dangerous then the former who cast off their ordinary trade of life as familiarly as a wast garment shift themselves out of one calling into another as a Mariner shifts his sayls as the flickering wind turnes and chops out of one quarter into another the wind of necessity advantage and advancement ubicunque flat ventus exin velum vortitur By what right and warranty Civilians now turn Divines and own their livings whose livery they scorn to wear I list not to dispute And yet me thinks they seem to intrench upon the Apostles Canon 1 Cor. 7.24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let him therein abide with God this above all other seems to me a strange wonder in this our Israel Is Saul also among the Prophets and lay men in holy orders as if every blew Apron might turn professor of Divinity and each unlearned tradseman accustomed only to his yardward toss Theological questions in the Pulpit which he understands not as if they were to be measured by the Ell O confidence shall I call it or insolent presumption not onely to touch the tottering Ark with unhallowed hands as Vzzah did who was stricken with sudden death but to make the living Ark the Church of God to reel and stagger by laying hands upon it The heathen Philosopher shall confute them who hath laid down this for a grounded Maxime in the school of natural Religion (r) Aristot 7. Polit. cap. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let no Husbandman or handicraft person be a Priest for it greatly importeth the good of all men that God be reverenced with whose honour it standeth not that they who live of base and manuary trades should be publickly imployed in his service Nor doth it suit with the decent order or benefit of Gods Church and people 4. The licentions Libertine The fourth and last sort of disordered persons is the licentious libertine these are the parties I cannot call them men that St. Paul fought with at Ephesus Here only lies the difference they were Beasts after the manner of men these men after the manner of beasts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he speaks whose life is a continual pampering and fatting for the day of slaughter And as Saint Peter describes them to the life 2 Pet. 2.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Brute beasts led with sensuality made to be taken destroied 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and shall perish through their own corruption Such are the common swearer and sacrilegious Sa bath-breaker men utterly void of all inward sense of God and reverent observation of his religious worship I speak this to your shame Such are the lascivious and unclean livers in what kind soever the sottish and more then swinish drunkards who thus revive and cheer up their drenched and drowned spirits sauced as it were in their liquor in the Epicures song or sonnet Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die As if (ſ) Ebrii ructantes intrarent in Paradisum Hieronym reeling and
fault For as it is better to give then to receive in the Act of liberality so is it worse to receive then give in the exercise of injustice by how much it is more voluntary And to judge impartially betwixt them without giving the right hand of preheminence to either they are both devouring Harpies the one hath a long time preyed upon the Church and the other still feeds upon the garbage of the Commonwealth I subscribe to Aquinas judgement touching both alike who being demanded by the Dutchess of Lorraine whether it was lawful to sell offices positively returned this Negative Answer That poor men who were most fit were least able to pay the price the Rich who were most able less fit and did it only for ambition and oppression And those that were fit and able rich and good neither needed nor respected such advancement And therefore neither the sale of Benefices or Offices Symony or Bribery is in any case to be tolerated For this God threatens to restore the Iudges in the Text yet not for this alone their Bribery in Action was seconded with Partiality in Affection They judge not the fatherless nor doth the widows cause come before them Partiality in affection Verse 23. who wanting the importunate intercession of powerful Friends and being no way able to oblige them by any respects and courtesies of their own whatsoever the innocency of their cause was it was utterly prejudiced and impeached by the neglected and despised condition of their persons so that Truth was fallen in the streets as God complains by the Prophet Isa 59.14 Not in the desolate wilderness there it had been no matter of astonishment but amidst the concourse of the people where none would interpose to lift it up and equity could not enter There is nothing more erroneous or corrupt then a forestalled judgement and an inclining and a propending will That first brought Heresie in Doctrine into the Church and this gave being to injustice in the State The Heresie of life They that will deliberate and conclude rightly though private men must quit themselves of the command of affections especially such as are in place of Judicature whereof some of the Heathen were not ignorant who upon their first investiture in the place of Government disclaimed all special intimation and inward amity with their entirest Friends as a thing incompatible with their charge And the Emperor Adrian meeting with his deadly enemy in former times gave him a Go-by with an Evasisti refusing to condescend and stoop so low as to revive and revenge the quarrel of his private life being then in the Throne of Soveraignty It is both scandalous and pernicious for Magistrates to become Partiaries inserting interlacing their personal interests and relations in the discharge of their publick Duty (b) Sic faclitando probatis vos plenitudinem habere potestatis sed non justitiae Bern. ad Eugenium Making no other use of their Authority then as an advantage or commanding ground for discouraging their opposites and crushing their adversaries in pieces or else for the lawless protection of known offenders and the high advancing of the creatures of their own breeding their worthless and undeserving Favourites Four ways there are and that in the judgement of a Lawyer whereby Iudgement may be turned into Wormwood and lose its sweet relish (c) Alexand. nb Alexand. Genial Dier 1. Odio 2. Gratia 3. Timore 4. Pretio 1. Hatred 2. Favour 3. Fear 4. Reward The former as well as the latter quite blind the eyes of the Wise and pervert the understanding of the Prudent For as in nature (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristot de Anima l. 3. c. 1. the Receiver must be denuded and freed of the nature of the thing received and having once taken possession it hinders the admission and entrance of another The Aguish Palate savours the most pleasant meat in the taste of the vitious humour And the Eye that is ill affected with the laundice or looks through the coloured medium of blew or green glasse hath all manner of objects though never so different in appearance represented under that species or similitude So is it likewise in Civil Government and Administration The Iudge that is prepossessed and taken up with a strong affection either of love or hatred apprehends and orders matters according to their impression and instigation and is wholly overruled by them both in judgement and action the information of Councel deposition of Witnesses construction of Evidence and pressing of Circumstances whatsoever he conceives or hears all seem to comply and suit with his affection and sound either in favour or opposition of the party God in himself is free from the nature of affections and if he inclines to any in special they are those that were most vilified by the Iudges in my Text (e) Oculi Domini in tauperē respiciunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Palpebrae autē ejus interrogant filies hominum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazianz. Orat. 16. de Pauperum amore The poor and the fatherless Thou hast heard the desire of the poor saith the Psalmist Psal 10.17 And in thee the fatherless find mercy It is the confession of the faithful Hos 14.6 and it is likewise requisite in his Vice-Gerents Affections in God should they properly be ascribed would imply imperfections But in them whom he hath honoured with his own name they are arguments of injustice The Poets fiction had a grave moral Astraea the Goddess of Iustice unto them had her head wrapt within the clouds and her eyes turned upwards so was she pourtrayed and deciphered And so should Iustice and Iustices reflect only upon God on High whose image and pourtraicture they bear without respect of persons The silent Statues of Magistrates among the Thebans spake so much by their want of hands and eyes The Areopagites never decided causes either Criminal or Capital but in the gloomy night that they might not judge after the sight of their eyes And it was precisely forbidden by the Attick Law to use any insinuatiue proaemium or praeludium thereby to stir or steal affection nor repose a greater considence in their perswasive Oratory and compassion of the Iudge then in the equity of their Plea Honourable is that commendation which Gregory Nazianzen hath left recorded of Great Athanasius (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz. in Laud. Ath. Orat. 21. That he was as the Loadstone in Prosperity and an Adamant in Adversity And it ought to agree to those whose high calling stiles them Honourable In the plausible integrity of their carriage and composed gravity of their behaviour they should be Loadstones winning yea drawing by a magnetick and attractive vertue not the substance but the hearts and affections of the people but in the stiff maintaining the Royalty of their Soveraign the resolute asserting the fundamental Laws of the Nation the entire preserving the Rights of their Place the unswayed and
Greek Root 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Scaligers Etymology And thus spake the Tribunes to their souldiers hitherto you shaladvance your march there make a stand and begin a retrait this is the order of martial discipline sure I am that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the original is a military word and bred in the war implying and noting out the several ranks and places that are allotted to every private souldier and it is figuratively applied to represent and shadow forth the comely order of the Church which as our Saviour renders the similitude Cant. 6.3 is terrible as an army with banners That which a peculiar office in the service of war is to each common souldier the same is a particular calling to private Christians whereunto they stand limited and confined and as in an army such loose companions as want a station or straggle or wander from it or encroach upon anothers liberty or are notoriously debosht and riotous are all arranged upon the File 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and annumbred amongst disordered So are there four sorts of men in the Church Four sorts of disordered persons in the the Church 1. The lawless loyterer 2. The careless rover 3. The busie intruder 4. The licentious libertine Upon all which St. Paul sets his mark 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as God did a mark upon Cain indigitating and pointing them out to be the self same persons that must be admonished 1. The lawless loyterer The first of these and the ring-leader of the rest is the lawless loyterer men priviledged and as it were protected from all other calling then that which is so falsely called and a strain of their own invention to whom it is as great a punishment to be condemned to a setled course of life and bounded within the compass of an honest and laudable vocation as for Evil spirits to be conjured into a circle beyond which they must not pass As if the first man was justly exiled and banished out of Paradise and yet his posterity might take liberty to make themselves another Paradise thorough pleasure and delight and live without imployment The peevish Anabaptists have sweat hard to fetch up our Ministers within that number for that they labour not with their hands and they that work not must not eat That is St. Pauls order touching those that are inordinate 2 Thess 3.10 But had these men braines to discern and judge of others they would soon find in themselves that the ever working and contriving brains of our painful Ministers drop more then their fat Browes and might have learned this difference in the schools of the Heathen (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Ethic. lib. 1. c. 1. That there are inward and immanent operations of the mind wholly terminated within itself as well as transient actions and manuary works that leave an impression in the outward matter yea had they plowed with St. Pauls Heyfer they might then find out this riddle it may be they can plow indeed and do nothing else yet know not what belongs to the spiritual tillage to Gods Husbandry as St. Paul terms the Corinthians and as our famous Bishop Grosthead sometimes answered an undeserving suitor for a benifice That if their plow was broken it were great pity but they should have a new one but as for a cure of souls they are unfit and altogether unworthy (k) Ne edentium dentibus edentult invideant Nec ocâ—los caprarum Talpae contemnant Hieron Epist ad Rom. let not them then that want teeth envy those that eat therewith nor contemn the eyes of goats if themselves be Wants and Moles as Hierom admonisht Calphurnius How much better might these curious and prying spies that come to oversee the weakness of the Land have spent their busie search elsewhere and found fit matter for their observation And least it should be thought that this lawless loyterer were as rare among us as a needy begger in Israel and that our Countrey were as well cleansed of these wild creatures as long since freed of Wolves two kinds of men here cross my way which I cannot but take notice of and these as different in their profession as near a kin in their condition both which may be justly challenged 1. The lazy Monk Two sorts of lawless Loyterers 2. The sensual Gallant The Papists must needs own the one and I know not well how the Protestant should wash their hand of the other 1. I begin with the lazy Monk and sluggish Friar The lazy Monk into whom the souls of the antient Cretians seem to have re-entred having left their first habitation as if St. Paul had prophesied of the one in the discription of the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it being very difficult to conceive how he should pencil and draw a picture in every joint and limb so like themselves and yet never mind the pattern Their bellies indeed may be thought nimble at their meat and are alone exercised with labour when the rest of the members take their ease and be they never so slow they are most sure and fail not to do their work And to those four devouring creatures rehearsed by Solomon Prov. 30.16 The Grave and the barren womb the earth that is not filled with water and the fire that saith not it is enough A fifth may be added as insatiable a cormorant as any of the former and that is the belly of the Monk and this above all other is quick of hearing and cannot endure to be spoken against or have the copy once questioned which was one of the grand and capital faults committed by Luther at the first Dresserus An. â—al Scul pag. 45. that he presumed to lift at the Popes triple Crown and to pinch the Monks belly as Erasmus some what pleasantly answered the Duke of Saxony These these are the abby lubbers and stalled bulls of Bashan that live mued up in their private cells and cloisters as Beares in a frank and sit hooded all the day as so many birds of prey And all this they do under the foulded coule of piety and devotion and the most sad pretence of stern mortification observing fat fasts and lean prayers as Ientilet complained of old pining themselves into lard and beating down their Bodies till their girdle crack And in the midst of their gourmandising they thus cry out Heu quanta patimur pro amore Christi O what great matters do we suffer for the name of Christ And were they such as they fondly profess themselves men wholly sequestred from the world by an over rigorous austere course of life and utterly devoted to religious contemplation they were no way justifiable or excusable for who hath required them at your hands nor can they be warranted in this kind whose thoughts are so swallowed up in the general consideration of Christianity and profession that in
the mean time they quite forget their personal relations of Husbands Parents Mlasters and Members of the Commonwealth spending their whole time in continual Pilgrimage from one Church and Saint to another and that with the extreme neglect of their private calling and a total impoverishing of their estate But as the civil Courts of Justice must not clash or justle no more must the exercises of religion strike and enterfere the care of the general and particular charge must meet together Holiness and Righteousness must kisse each other The Jewes have an excellent parable to this purpose whereof Gamaliel was the Author (e) Pulchium est studium legis cum via terrae opificio aliquo conjunctum Drus Apot. pag. 15. The study of the Law is rare and commendable so that it be cum via Terrae and we joyn therewith some profitable imployment Such was the Monkery of antient times and the original institution of their order who were not so enamoured of their delightful and self-pleasing contemplation which though like Rachel it be exceeding fair and beautiful yet is it for the most part barren as to set at nought industrious labour Nor did they so content themselves with an Avery life soaring and mounting aloft upon the wings of their meditations as the Fouls of the Firmament but they descended downwards to the ground and got their living upon the Earth as the birds of the Air do and by their ordinary craft and trade procured some benefit to society This was the wonted custome of the (m) Aegyptio rum monasteria hunc morem habent ut nem inem absque opereis labore su scipiant Hieron Epist Egyptian monasteries who received none into their covents that did not busie themselves in labour And the primitve Church hath not only condemned the lazy monk as an unprofitable burden but manacled and chained him with a (n) Monach us qui non laborat manibus similis est pradoni Socrat. Hist Thief that Monk which laboureth not with his hands is no better then a thief St. Paul implies and intimates as much in his Apostolical Canons touching the idle and inordinate 2 Thess 3.11 12. We command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ that they work with quietness and eat their own bread as if it were not their own but the bread of deceit and thieft unless they earned it with the sweat of their Brows and purchased it with their lawful labour Let then the Monkish crew who receive honour one of another style themselves by the name of Regulars and call their covents and fraternities after them several orders St. Francis Dominick and the rest yet doth my Text indict them for irregular and disordered persons and that in a high degree as being lawless loyterers 2. The sensual Gallant Next unto these is the sensual gallant whose frolick spirit is so heated over warmed with a plethory of generous and high born Blood that fils and swels his veins or else are so cherished flesh't with an overweening opinion and unshaken confidence in their ample possessions and revenues that they think it a kind of disparagement and abasement to stoop to any office and imployment though never so honourable in the cause of God or their country and cannot endure to be inclosed within the Boundaries of a calling albeit they themselves joyn House to House and lay Field to Field and so would inclose all these are the men that squander and lavish out their pretious time in Eating Drinking Snorting Sporting to say no worse And with the wanton Israelites of old they sit down to eat and rise up to play Whose life is a perpetual Holiday a prophane Sabbath dedicate to the Divel An exchange of pleasures and recreations a garment patched together and yet woven with a kind of Curiosity of several threds of vanity the warp and ground-work being luxury and lasciviousness and the woof loose pastimes and delights As if they were born into the world to no other end then with the wild Ass colt to snuffe up the wind in the wilderness or with the great Leviathan to take the pastime in the waters and though they be spruce and trim as the Lillies of the field Solomon in all his royalty was not clothed like unto one of them yet they neither sow nor reap nor carry into their Barns they neither labour nor spin nor do any work of merit beneficial to themselves or others And are no other then Lawlesse loyterers 2. The careless Rover. A second sort of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in my Text is the careless Rover and unlimited stragler professed Peripateticks and meer Vbiquitaries not in opinion but action that are every where and yet no where resident who like unto unruly beasts overtop the highest hedge and break down the strongest fence or if tied up they will stray beyond the tedder too many I find herein faulty and that in our own tribe And I must not forfeit the truth by concealing it from any nor you think much if I point out some spots and plots as St. Peter stiles them and these in our Priestly garments The substance of the cloth is exceeding fine our calling pure and pretious but the black colour is not so in grain that it cannot change nor prove subject unto stain I will instance onely in two Particulars Two sorts of Bovers 1. The first have a center but no circumference 2. The second neither center nor circumference and both as you shall hear Disordered 1. The first have a center without a circumference Some Ministers there be that have a center but no circumference that want not a charge or cure but are wanting in their care and presence like unto moist bodies that are easily contained within anothers bounds but hardly in the terms of their own substance And as if no Prophet could be sufficiently honoured in his own Countrey they range abroad at large with Noah's Raven it may be to seize upon the prey whilest the innocent Dove contains it self within the Ark of his own Parish Who out of an itching humour or an aspiring desire to climb higher with the spider or to publish their good parts unto the world for the most part hover and dance attendance at the court or else put themselves into commons at Gentlemens Tables and there live as their Domestick Chaplaines yea as some of their houshould servants of whom it may be demanded in the mean time as Eliab inquired of David 1 Sam. 17.28 Why art thou come down hither and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness which for the most part are as sheep scattered without a shepheard St. Jude sitly stiles them wandring stars v. 13. Stars they are indeed fixed in a Church as in an Orb and many of them shine as stars in the Firmament with an inbred and proper lustre and have not only a borrowed light from the brightness of others labours but yet stars though