again Some other he diuerteth from the Gospel with too much abundance for when the word of God is plentifully taught many fall a loathing and neglecting of it and fewe will set their sonnes to schoole or to diuinitie but apply them rather to more gainfull trades It is not then without need that Paul warnes all Auditors to communicate with their Pastors in all their goods it being sit and equal to requite spiritual things with temporall But both Court and country towne and citie doth abuse this doctrine at this day vnder colour thereof to inrich themselues In Poperie great summes were giuen vnto the Priests for masses dirges trentals and such trash begging Friers had likewise their shares besides that which pardons indulgences and other Antichristian merchandize carried away from these and a number more the like extortions we are freed by the Gospell but we are so farre from thankefulnesse to God that of prodigall giuers we are become sacrilegious takers and grow lame-handed for bestowing any thing vpon the religion and Saints of God which is an infallible token that men haue lost both the word and saith and all goodnesse together for it is impossible for such as are religious indeede to see their Pastors liue in want and necessitie For as much then as they ioy to see their ministers bare and poore keeping their liuings from them or not paying them so sincerely as they should it is more then manifest that they are worse then the very heathen But they shall feele ere long what will followe vpon this in gratitude by the losse both of temporall and spirituall blessings for it is impossible but this sinne must bee both speedily and heauily auenged and I am perswaded that the Churches of Galatia Corinth and the rest were so pestered with false Apostles for no other cause but the small account they made of their true teachers for it is a iust reward that they that wil not giue a penie to God the author of all blessings and goodnesse should giue pounds to the deuill the author of all euill and euerlasting miserie and that hee that will not serue God with a little to his owne eternall renumeration should serue the deuil with much to his vtter and ineuitable confusion Neuerthelesse it is not the Apostles meaning that men should giue away all that they haue but onely such liberall maintenance that their Ministers may liue in honest and decent fashion And this he prosecuteth further adding a fearefull commination to his former reproofe and exhortation saying God is not mocked where he toucheth to the quicke the peruersenesse of men who proudly and profanely despise their ministers and make themselues sport with their miseries as great men for the most part doe that make their Pastors their very abiects and vassals so that if we had not a godly Prince we had long ere this been driuen out of the Country For when the Pastors demaund their dues or complaine of their wants the fashion of men is to exclaime that Priests are couetous and would haue they know not what no man is able to satisfie their asking if they were true Gospellers indeede they should possesse nothing but in great perfection follow their master Christ Therefore the Apostle grieuously threatneth such mockers and blasphemers so despitefully and inhumanely scorning and insulting on their poore ministers yet forsooth will seem great gospellers as if hee should say Beware you despisers although God deferre his punishment for a season yen in his good time he will finde you out and punish you for this profanenesse and hate against his ministers you deceiue not him but your selues and your wrong will not pertaine to him but returne into your bosome And yet our proud Gentlemen and Citizens are little mooued with these dreadfull threats who at their death shall well vnderstand that they haue not mocked vs but themselues in the mean time howsoeuer superciliously they laugh at our present admonitions we will speake this to our owne comfort knowing it is better to receiue then to infer wrong for patience is euer ioyned with innocence and God will not suffer vs to want but when the Lions shall lacke we shall haue enough Thus far that great and worthie man of God D. Luther whose pen and paines God did so powerfully vse and blesse in the worke of the restauration of the world Vnto whom I will adioyne another great instrument of Gods glorie and the light of his Church Iohn Caluin whose name hath terror attending on it in the Kingdome of Poperie to this day Where let me obserue one thing very remarkeable that these great Saints so mightie in word and deed yet hauing done what was in men to doe against false doctrine yet could neuer put out this inbred irreligion as if this sinne were in the Church as it is written of the heart in the bodie primum viuens vltimum moriens or like death the first and last enemie we should encounter But what saith M. Caluin we must needs confesse that our bowels are of iron and our hearts of brasse that are no more touched with the reading of this story where the faithfull giue so bountifully that which they had whereas we at this day cannot be content to hold our owne hands from giuing any thing onely but most iniuriously take away also that which is giuen by other they did simply and honestly dedicate their owne we deuise a thousand euill shifts to hooke and catch that which other haue bestowed they laid downe theirs at the Apostles feete we take from thence that which is giuen to God there men sold their possessions to giue to godly vses here wee buy and purchase all we can then euerie one gaue somewhat to the Church and the poore now men are so inhumane that they enuie the poore the commonest things of this life the very Elements of nature this must shame vs and teach vs another lesson c. so M. Caluin Last of all that famous man of worthie memorie M. William Perkins whom I may terme in some sort the Father of the Prophets or at lest a learned man that finished that worke of his but out of his notes as I take it complaineth in this manner We may hence collect saith he the great want of deuotion in the most men of these dayes for as the câ—ie of the poore in the streetes is an argument of the lacke of mercie among vs so the number of the needie and wandering Leuites which offer themselues to serue for a morsell of bread and a sute of apparell is a pregnant proofe there is no deuotion for the maintenance of religion especially in those that are so straight laced in bestowing any thing for the good of Gods Ministers and yet in keeping of hounds and hawks and worse matters players and iesters yea fooles and flatterers are lauish and profuse This hath bin the practise of the world and the condition of the Ministers in all times
and laid downe the prices at the Apostles feete and distribution was made according as euery one did need So did other so did Ioses a Leuite and for that cause was happily of the Apostles surnamed Barnabas or the sonne of consolation for comforting the hearts of the Church who as yet were but barely prouided for persecution being feared without and penurie felt within her doores But as he and other did beautifie the religion with their deuotion so there want not that blemish the same with their deep dissimulation Therefore S. Luke to illustrate the fact of the one opposeth ex diametro the fault of the other as Chrysostome obserueth to the ende the dissimulation of Ananias may giue a lustre to the sinceritie of Ioses and shewe the world that there is a consolation in Christ a comfort of loue a fellowship of the Spirit and bowels of mercie though profane men neither praise it nor practise it This the occasion Now here is set downe a wicked combination of a man and his wife in a matter of Dedication by themselues done to God and his Church how to delude and frustrate both which counterfeit carriage the great and holy Apostle doth both descrie and discouer first to their conuiction secondly to their confusion Where first we may reade the sinne and then the censure The sinne is Sacriledge that is compilation or cousenage of things now consecrated to God and holy vses The censure is Excommunication or distriction of the spiritual sword and that in the heauiest of all heauie curses The sinne is set downe first barely by Luke by way of historicall narration the censure inflicted by Peter by Apostolicall iurisdiction the historie is couched in the two first verses and comprise the efficients materiall and formall causes Ananias and his wife sold a possession and kept backe part of the price and brought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a certaine quillet or quidditie a thing of nothing in comparison of the maine a niggardly share whereas they had promised the whole as Barnabas had done before and they made shewe to imitate The censure followes first in reprehension secondly in castigation The reproofe containes 1. an accusation v. 3. 2. a confutation The accusation is in the appellation of the offender Ananias and enumeration of the parts of the offence which are three 1. The author by whose suggestion Why hath Sathan filled thine heart where is also touched part of the forme of the offence 2. The obiect against whom the sinne was committed including also the other part of the forme That thou shouldst lie to the holy Ghost 3. The subiect wherein the matter of the sinne consisted And keep backe part of the price of the possession The Confutation followes and that is of three secret obiections answerable to the heads of the accusation but inuerting the order as the manner of Scripture is to doe to the last first Obiect 1. A man may doe with his owne what he will but this was mine ergo To this the Apostle answereth by letting passe the maior as beeing impertinent and denying the minor with distinguishing vpon the time first for time of possession granting it when it remained vnsold remained it not to thee namely the land secondly and for time of alienation yeelding it and when it was sold was it not in thine owne power namely the price thirdly but for time of dedication denying it strongly by interrogation and passing it ouer by a crypsis of method as if all law and logicke all rule and reason did disavow it for thou hadst no more right to the monie now giuen then to the land now sold Obiect 2. As to the author he might say if it were an offence yet was it not mine but Satans as your selfe auouch To this he answers with a non sequitur though Sathans by temptation yet yours also by approbation he might haue as one noteth suadendi astuâ—iam not cogendi potentiam he might suggest hee could not enforce he was the founder the woer the father thy heart was the worker the spouse the mother why hast thou conceiued this thing in thy heart Obiect 3. Well then though a fault and in some sort my fault also yet no such great fault as needed so sharpe and publike reproofe at the worst being but to a few simple men that could challenge nothing of a free donation and might haue receiued other satisfaction Answ Yes your sinne is not so much to men who are but the Assignes to whom the benefit of your donation should haue acrued as vnto God who is the donor who by such fraud is frustrated and by your dodging dishonoured not onely the father that foundeth his Church in his Sonne and the Sonne that collecteth it by his Spirit but the holy Spirit that sequestreth it by his power sanctifieth it with his grace beautifieth it with his gifts combineth it with his loue preserueth it by his prouidence and honoureth it with his truth Thou hast not lied vnto man but vnto God euen God the holy Ghost This is the reprehension the Castigation follows when Ananias found himselfe first thus deprehended in the darkenesse of his owne deceit like the fish Sepia that misteth her selfe in her owne mud and reprehended for the blacknesse of his sinne by the wisedome of the Spirit and peircing words of the Apostle and lastly confuted in the simple Labyrinth of his owne Logicke it remaines that hee is confounded by the inward remorse of his couetous conscience and as at the hearing of his owne funerall sermon falls downe dead in the place by the fulmination of the fearfullest anathema anathema maran-atha a temporall consternation of the bodie cut off from the grace of life and eternall malediction of the soule depriued of the life of grace an exemplarie vengeance to other a fearfull iudgement to himselfe by a sad a sudden and vnrepentant death not so much in forme of words as in the effect of deeds When Ananias heard these words he fell downe and gaue vp the ghost Lastly the vse of this curse annexed what effect it should and did produce to other trepidation and feare illustrated by the extent or quantitie both of the affection and the subiect or auditors Great feare came vpon all them that heard these things And thus much for the Context and analysis or logicall resolution CHAP. II. The Theologicall tractation First of his sinne in generall how great it was and what COncerning his sinne that it should be proportionate to his punishment all do not agree the most auouch that it was Sacriledge none say it was lesse but some say more as namely that sinne vnto death the sinne against the holy Ghost I thinke it was both First that his sinne was Sacriledge it is too apparent to be gainesaid as I am of opinion although the learned Fulke vpon the Rhemish notes seemeth to denie it as I take in heate of dispute For the detaining or detracting
or roote them out And this S. Paul had respect vnto when he said I would to God they were cut off that trouble you and where bee would haue the incestuous Corinthian committed to Sathan 3. The last was that which the Iewes call Sammatha or Sammatizatio of Shamam that signifies desolare ad stuporem vastare atta tu q. d. let such a curse fall vpon thee as is vltima execratio or maledictio the vttermost execration or accursednesse Or as some thinke of shem for hashem which is the name of God and atha venit or to come to expresse the euerlasting curse â—il the comming of the Lord which Paul elswhere alludeth to This word we finde in Ieremie his lamentations Sion is laid desolate which lamentable estate of the Church in that booke is fully deplored Ier. 12. 11. This S. Paul as I said before did expresse in that imprecation or denuntiation of a most zealous heart Who so loues not that is hateth and persecuteth the Lord Iesus let him be anathema maranatha euerlastingly accursed q. d. till the comming of the Lord to iudgement and a day after And these were the Church censures Now are we to examine for as much as it is vndeniable but this of Ananias is such which of all these three it is that is here inflicted First of a certaine not the first for that was but a depriuation of the spirituall estate for a time concerning the companie and comforts of the Church with condition annexed of reconciliation and repentance now this here was corporall as well as spirituall and eternall with a barre against repentance therefore not that Secondly nor the second which as some thinke either was not corporall such as the ciuill sword could inflict but a permission or emancipation onelie to the power and regiment of Satan who hath his kingdom out of the Church to whoÌ„ such sinners were deliuered ouer to the end that the flesh that is the old man might be mortified and the new renewed or as Augustine speaketh vt moriatur error viuat homo that the sinne might be killed and the sinner saued Or if a corporall also as we must confesse of Achan the Cananites and other vpon whom that curse was corporally executed on earth vpon their bodies which was pronounced and enacted in heauen yet but corporall hauing time and meanes of grace offered for repentance Therefore it must be the last partaking of both but exceeding both so far as extreame doth goe beyond partiall and eternall sutmounts temporall 1. a temporall and extemporall cutting off the bodie from the grace of life and a spirituall and eternall cutting off the soule from the life of grace the sorest seuerest extreamest vengeance that can be afflicted on a man in this world forsaking and forsaken of God A sudden and vnrepentant dissolution of bodie and soule a present and immediate manumission from God and grace to the place and torments of the damned a iust guerdon for him that gaue himselfe ouer to the full sway of the Prince of death to mocke that God of heauen defeat his spouse on earth blaspheme the spirit of sanctification I tremble to thinke that any child of man specially a child of the Church an auditor of the Apostles a professor of Christ a benefactor of the Church no apparant professed enemy or atheist or persecutor or apostata should be liable to so execrable a sentence to be excommunicated anathematized sammatized for grudging a few pence or pownds to God and his Church But leauing secret iudgements vnto God wee must needs acknowledge that God seeth not as man seeth for that which mans eie could not perceiue the eies of God that peirce the heart did see in his carriage a malâ—tio us and obstinate a presumptuous and desperate hypocriticall persecutor and enuious Apostata the essentiall marks of a certaine reprobate and forlorne sinner If any yet beside the exigence of the fault will needes require more reason for so great seueritie for their further satisfaction may lift off their eies from looking vpon S. Peter as if he either of his owne power or his priuate humour had slaine the partie and remember it was the holy spirit that in defect of temporall magistracie not yet Christian did moderate the whole matter whose wisedome so far as we either may or can looke into might commend these reasons 1. the Church was to be kept in awe and feare of God 2. as in a newe established polity or gouernement as there must bee examples of reward for the righteous so also of punishments for delinquents 3. that vnder the colour of religion and new conuersion one should not defeat or defraud another 4. it was requisite that the authoritie of the Church should be wrought among them without and they prepared by such exemplarie iustice to like and loue her gouernement These and such like which Calvin and expositors doe alleadge may serue to stoppe any curious mouth that will haue God to giue account of his iudgements Here then are we taught first of all of the wonderfull effect and supereminent power of the word of God in the mouth of his holy Apostles and faithfull ministers not onely and alwaies seruing in cases of edification but sometimes also for destruction albeit that very destruction also of his enemies tends to the edification of his children And these are those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 works of power mentioned by the Apostle and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sword of the spirit to hack and hewe the vngodly in peices and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 weapons not carnall but mightie in operation and as Dauid cherev pipijoth two mouthed or edged sword with this did Moses strike Corah and his complices God himselfe Nadab and Abihu Er and Onan Iezabel and Athalia Iosua Achan and them of Canaan Elizeus the 42. children and this did Peter drawe out here against Ananias and Sapphira Whereby we see the Church censures are no bruta fulmina little childrens pot-guns beadles and boltles artilleries but tearing and roaring Cannons nor left to the swaying of Peter alone much lesse to that man of Rome to brandish not so much against sinnes as Soueraignes but left in trust to all the true Ministers of the Gospel Neither is it without neede that there should be such rods and swords in the Church of God for such as are so audaciously insolent bad by selfe impietie but much worse by our impunitie To the end therfore that the wicked may be corrected the exorbitant â—euoked the timerous affrighted the sound secured and the iudgements of God that hang ouer our heads and the land auerted let Moses and Aaron the Cherubios of the Lord that are set to keepe the way to the forbidden tree waue their fierie blade against all blasphemous disturbers pertinacious resisters impious atheists perfidious heretikes wayward schismatikes erroneous idolaters and incroaching sacrilegers It is true we haue a
sword and that doth not iust in the scabbard but as Petrus de Aliaco did sometime complaine in the Council of Constance it is subiect to much abuses vulgaritie partialitie triuialiâ—ie which make it almost a wooden dagger Gladius saith he qui in primitiua ecclesia veneranda raritate erat formidabilis iam propter abusum contrarium contemptibilis factus est the Ecclesiasticall sword which in the Primitiue Church was seldome vsed and greatly reuerenced is now become by daily distriction of small account and little esteeme The like complaint doth Scotus make so as wee may truely say with the Poet at te genitor cum fulminatorques Nequicquam horremus coecique in nubibus ignes Terrificant animos inania murmura miscent Now concerning the vsurped proprietie which the Bishop of Rome doth claime to himselfe as Peters successor that is the sole temporall and spirituall monarch whose yron must beare downe all swords whose keies must open all locks whose ledde must blunt all steele and crosier put downe all scepters albeit between these two propositions Peter for sacriledge stroke Ananias dead and the present Paulus 5. may excommunicate King Iames of great Brittaine for non conformitie there be many gulfes to fill and casmaes to make vp I leaue to be further confuted by the learned pens that at this time fight the Lords battels against that man of sinne Sure I am of one thing this is not Peters petra rocke of saluation but Neroes Tarpeius the break-necke of destruction nor eloquium Dei but laqueus diaboli nor ignis spiritus but ignis fatuus I come to some other point more neere our matter and obserue the wisedome and omniscience of the mightie Spirit discerning the hearts and peircing the reines of the most reserued hypocrites for albeit here are many things of more then ordinarie practise the immediate gubernation of the Church in generall at this time and this action in particular the immediate reuelation of this part in proper and the immediate emancipation of the party to his place of perdition yet this no way hinders the information of our knowledge concerning his nature and power that all things are naked to his eyes and that there is no creature that is not manifest in his sight and confirmes those doctrines of the Prophets I the Lord search the heart and try the reines and of the Apostles Thou that knowest the hearts of all men shewe whome thou hast chosen Such a God is it that we serue that can discerne himselfe and disclose to other the secretest malefactors Ionas in the shrowds Nathaniel vnder the figtree Ieroboams wife vnder her maske the Assyrians plotting in his priuie chamber the iugling of Gehezi the blanching of Iehoram the bloodinesse of Hazael the blending of Dauid the idolizing of the Iewes For which the heathen in their hieroglyphicks disciphered Iupiter by an eie and an eagle to insinuate that such a nature beseemed the highest maiestie as was not deceiueable by any obscuritie The consideration of which point may serue to disrobe vs of all Adams fig-leaues and bereaue vs of all hope of impunitie in our secretest villanies and most inveloped treacheries Erasmus brings in a paire of amorous pigeons looking for some very retired roome where they might renew their lewd acquaintance but neuer could so be couered in any corner that the eies of God should not descrie them Therefore in that description of him in the vision his eies are said to be as a flaming fire that is eies for obseruing sire for reuenging according to the Poet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This one perswasion if well concocted would strangle our wicked proiects much better then those simple supposalls of the heathen of Cato or Scipioes ouer-seeing what we doe Lastly obserue we in this censure the exact retribution and geometricall proportion which God obserueth in his iudgements Those saith Gregorie Nyssene are the purest stones and finest chrystals that do most truely represent the faces of the inspectors yeelding backe to merrie visages merrie reflexions but to sad and sowre lookes the like againe such are Gods doings which represent to vs our iust deseruings so that it is easie to reade our owne deeds in his very doomes As for example The old world was plagued with inundations of waters because of their great inundations of sinnes the fiue cities were consumed with sulphurous flames of fire against nature because they boiled with sulphurous flames of lust against nature Pharaoh that had been as a staffe of protection to the people of God so soone as he turned serpent to hisse and sting his benefactors to death is showne himselfe in a reall embleme by the staffe in the hand of Moses and his vnnaturall subiects had their waters turned into blood for defiling their riuers with the innocent blood of the Israelites children and in the end were drowned in the red sea for drowning others children in their Nilus Saul no sooner reiected the word of the Lord in the spoyle of the Amalakites but he heard himselfe reiected from being King and as the sword of that Agag whom he so spared had made many women childlesse so was his mother also by the hand of Samuel made childles herselfe among other women Adonibesec that had cut off the thumbs and toes of 70. Kings and set them to picke crumbs vnder his table was by Ioshua serued with that same sawce in the end himselfe This sea of examples hath no bottome Dauids adulterie was repaied him by his sonne Ioabs blood Ahabs field Diues almes and a number more Heraclius the Emperour following incestuous lust had such distension in that part of nature that he could not let his vrine but in his owne face Brunechildis a wicked Queen of France that ioyed in nothing but the discord of her children was in the end taken after she had made away 10. Princes and infinite other and was torne in peices with wilde horses Boleslaus King of Cracow who put Staniflaus his Bishop to a cruell death for his honest admonitions and carued his flesh among his dogges being driuen out of his Kingdom and wandring in Hungarie was torne in peices of his owne dogges But to insist in this verie sinne Leo Emperour of Constantinople taking a rich Coronet out of a Church set with diamonds and other verie rich stones and setting it on his own head had instantly his head so pearled with boiles and crowned with carbuncles that for extremitie of torment he instantly died There was one Addo Archbishop of Mentz that hauing a number of verie poore people in his countrie that craued his reliefe he caused them all to be collected into a barn vnder a colour of almes so set it on fire and when with their extreame yelling and howling they had with their noise peirced vnto him where he sate in his Pallace he vsed this sarcasme while they were dying
that he heard the mice cry for this bloodie Paganisme God sent such armies of rats and mice vpon him that he built a tower in the midst of the Rhine to saue himselfe from them but all would not serue for mightie shoals of them tooke the water and destroied him most miserably where he trusted for securitie So to say no more Ananias meddles with the execrable thing as Achan had done before and is thereby himselfe made execrable and this is that retaliation which Moses mentioneth an eie for an eie and a tooth for a tooth I end this point with a speach of Augustine fitting both Ananias and vs Dum altenum rapis à diabolo raperis dum alienum detines à diabolo detineris retines aurum perdis animam iniustum lucrum sed iustum damnum lucrum in arca sed damnum in conscientia pereat ergo mundâ— lucrum per quod fit animae tuae damnum While thou preiest vpon another the deuill preieth vpon thee and while thou withholdest that which pertaineth to another he lâ—ieth hold vpon thee hee takes thy soule while thou takest away thy neighbours siluer thy lucre is vniust but thy losse is most iust the lucre is in thy cofer but thy losse in thy conscience defie therefore such gaine of this world whereby thou loosest thy soule in the other And so I come more particularly to note the seueritie of God against sacriledge for in the extermination of these two we are plainely giuen to vnderstand what guerdon they are euer to expect that violate the sacred reuenues of God a feareful expectation of extreamest vengeance both of bodie and soule a consideration able to strike vs through with horrour and amazement if our hearts were not harder then the neather mill-stone If any shall doubt of that I say and mocke at my words as speaking for our owne particular and pleading for our owne profit let him turne backe a few leaues and consider the true reasons hereof both in the second chapter where in generall we did explicate his sin and in the fourth chap. where in particular we handled the members and branches of his sacriledge Wherefore I proceede and say that there was neuer any rob-God that imbarked themselues in this impietie but he ran a course of endles infamie and vtmost extreamitie To beginne with the verie beginning Caine the Generall of this damned crewe if his world of miserie was not solie for this yet I dare avouch it was from this that he liued a proiected runnagate and died a reiected reprobate of whom the fathers obserue this that hee offended if not in the quantitie of his oblation yet in the qualitie thereof declaring by the coursnesse of that hee offered the abiectnes of his esteeme of him to whom he offered the refuse of his crop and linings of his corne Which impietie of his vnto his Creator was first punished with vnnaturall inhumanitie to his brother and that againe with obdurate impenitencie vnto God till altogether they brewed him a loathsome extraction of a hatefull life and a desperate procuration of a cursed death The fact of Achan is so obseruantly set downe that I may well passe it in the Catalogue of these Catiues and see some other The sinne of Hophni and Phineas consisteth of triplicities 1. it was sacriledge 2. heynous sacriledge 3. blasphemous sacriledge 1. Sacriledge for not contented with the priests portions they vsurped also vpon the Lords part which was to be burnt to him in sacrifice 2. Heynous for the sinne of the young men is said to haue bin great before the Lord. 3. Blasphemous they were not onely rake-hellish extortioners but abominable miscreants causing the sacrifices of the Lord to be abhorred Such was their sinne Their punishment also had triplicities 1. Fearfull comminations there came a man of God to expostulate with Elie and to denunciate his cruel iudgement 2. Dismall exterminations the Arke taken of the vncircumcised the sonnes slaine in battel in their priestly pontificals the father breaks his necke at the news the wife dies in abortiue deliuerance the Priesthood remooued to an other familie and their issue depriued both of honour and honest meanes of life 3. Odious commemorations in after ages to deterre both Priests and people from their predecessors prophanenesse God alludes to them Goe to my place at Silo and see what I did to it for the wickednesse of my people Israel and because you haue done the same workes I will doe to this house as I did to Silo and cast you out of my sight as I cast them Note how extirpation still is the reward of Sacriledge I passe ouer Saul as I did Achan the same sinne the deuoted thing the like cutting off if not of life present yet of Gods fauour which is true life by vtter dereliction and finall extirpation of life and linage when God sawe time Nebuchadnezar because when the Lord was angry with his owne people and had made him the rod of his wrath he went beyond his commission defiling himselfe with sacred compilations was metamorphosed for a time as Sedulius hath described him Nam quod ab humana vecors pietate recessit Agrestes pecorum consors fuit ille per herbas Aulica depasto mutans conuiuia faeno Pronus ab amne bibit septenaque tempora lustrans Omnibus hirsutus syluis montibus errans with which punishment God seemed contented for his time but when God came againe in visitation and found his grand-child carowzing and profaning those verie bowles and sacred vtensils in the midst of his courtiers and concubines and breaking iests vpon Cyrus and his army that then had surrounded his citie with a strait siege in all securitie and confidence and scoffing among at the feeblenesse of the Iewes God that could not keepe that much and massie plate he saw his fate pourtraied before his face vpon the wall how that he was numbred ballanced and reiected which that instant was accomplished his city surprised his life bereaued his Empire that had been aboue a thousand yeeres intailed to his auncestors in a moment translated not to another family onely but to an other countrie Now let them that intaile their sacriledge vnto their posteritie as they doe their substance remarkablely consider but this example and see if such prescription may preuaile any more with God then to hasten and accelerate their fathers iudgements on them and theirs for euer I hasten to Iudas who least hee should lack any damned sinne was also a Sacrileger for saith the Gospel he was a theefe and kept the bagge which Saint Augustine doth thus illustrate Iudas fur sacrilegus non qualiscunque fur sed fur loculorum sed dominicorum loculorum sed diuinorum Iudas was a sacrilegious theefe no common theefe I tell you but a theefe that stole monie nor common monie but his masters monie euen Gods monie Well then did he improoue it he bought