Lacrymae Ecclesiae ANGLICANAE OR A serious and Passionate ADDRESS of the Church of England To her SONS especially those of the CLERGY Printed in the Year 1689. TO THE READER THe Church of England ever since its Recovery from the Darkness of Popish ignorance and Superstition has been no less the envy of Rome then the Honour and Glory of all other Reformed Churches for its Constitutions are Holy and Primitive its Liturgy pious and devout all her Doctrines consonant and agreeable to the word of God. She retains the Ancient Creeds She Rejects all novel and superstitious Doctrines that are neither to be found in nor warranted by the Word of God She retains the two Sacraments instituted by our Saviour and rightly and duely administers them and that whole and entire according to Primitive Institution and that too neither Superstitiously advancing them above the nature of Sacraments nor yet prophanely or irreverently detracting from the Greatness and Holiness of their Mystical and invisible significance Marvel not therefore Brethren if the World hate you for even our dear Redeemer was hated and scorned and shamefully put to Death and shall the Disciple be above his Master 'T is what our Saviour himself foretold they hate me they will hate you also Now altho' it may be objected that there are several scandalous and loose Livers among the Clergy of the Church of England what then does not the Church reprove such Does it not correct such And if they prove obstinate and incorrigible does she not disown such And 't is no wonder that among such a numerous Clergy there should be some ill persons Our Saviour when present upon Earth in his humanity was not withcut a Judas among twelve and no doubt it will be so in all numerous Assemblies while the world endures But this is matter of Compassion not of scorn they are Personal Blots but does not injure the Constitutions or Doctrines of the Church All these things are more amply and fully handled in the following Book which was first Printed in 1663. and then humbly Dedicated to the King and his great Council the Parliament of England and it having fallen into my hands of late after a careful and delightful perusal of it I thought it not improper to Reprint in these times and therefore recommended it to the Bookseller as a useful piece and so I do to thee Reader Farewel Lacrymae Ecclesiae ANGLICANAE CHAP. I. O All you that pass by me stand and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow if it hath been done to any Reformed or Protestant Church under Heaven as it is done unto me O now my wounds were ready to be closed my Ruines to be repaired my Desolations and Wastes to be finished when the Barbarous was checked the Licentious was restrained the usurpers were removed the professed Enemies of different Interests and Religion which persecuted me were subdued and I ready to settle upon the Eternal Foundations of sound Doctrine of Primitive Government of an holy and pure Worship of a decent and comely order to the amazement of the World to the honour of Religion to the glory of God to the peace of the whole Earth and for good will among men behold my Children are discontent my Government is complained of my Ordinances are neglected my Ministers are despised my peace is disturbed and my safety endangered Hear O Heavens and give ear O Earth What could I have done that I have not done Have I not taught the truth of God sincerelie giving Milk to babes and stronger meat to them that were able to bear it and the Oracles of God to all in a Language they best understood Have I concealed any part of Gods sacred Counsel from you Have I not set forth with all plainness and freedom the blessed fulness and excellencies of my Lord Jesus Christ in such a manner and measure as I received from the Word and Spirit Have I not administred all the Ordinances of God faithfully have I not enjoyned and taught all vertue and all grace carefully recommending to my Children whatsoever things are good whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report every holy Duty every necessary Rule and every imitable Example with all the Advantages of sound Knowledge powerful Preaching which at once was able to inform the weak to reclaim the most erroneous to reform the most debauched to satisfie the most curious and to silence the most refractory Have I not prepared with much study and industry with many prayers and tears with long education and diligent care Reverend Bishops Orderly Presbyters able Ministers workmen that need not be ashamed duly ordained and called after an uninterrupted and Catholick succession through all Ages agreeable to that original institution which was from Jesus Christ the great High Priest the true Prophet the soveraign King of the Church the chief preacher of righteousnesse and Bishop of our Souls Have I not I say taken an holy care of a succession of Ministers about holy things who might divide the Word aright by solid preaching might wait upon God solemnly by a devout and discreet Praying might convince Gain-sayers by acute Disputing might instruct the world by exact Writing might maintain peace and order by wise Governing might reform the world by holy living Hath it not been my care and endeavour to keep up the soundness power and life of Christian Religion Have not I laboured that my good people might every where have what is necessary and wholesome for their souls good in devout Prayers in holy Sacraments in powerful Sermons whereby I desired God knoweth to preserve wholsome and saving truth to promote true holiness to set up an holy decency to maintain the wholsome form and power of godliness in truth peace order and unity Have not I held forth an holy Light Rule and Life in the plain parts of Scripture every where read in the Articles every where acknowledged in the Creeds and Catechism every year explained in the Liturgy constantly used whereby poor souls had a plain easie and sure way to Heaven through an unfeigned Faith sincere Repentance a Catholick Charity a devout humility a good conscience and an holy obedience to God and man according to the will of God unto all well pleasing Do not I take care to instruct the ignorant diligently to comfort the weak hearted tenderly to raise up them that fall compassionately to visit those that are sick charitably to relieve those that want mercifully to bury my dead that sleep in Jesus solemnly to punish those that do amisse severely to restore them that have gone astray pitifully to instruct them that oppose themselves meekly to frame a way of Peace Order and Cummunion in which Brethren might happily dwell together in unity prudently rationally and discreetly O what failings of mine then have occasioned these impatient
whole Christian World which either is or would be governed by Bishops as the most Apostolick Primitive and Universal Way Would you have me disown the right succession of the power Ministerial conferred by Episcopal hands unto this day Shall the Jewish Church have the Heads of their Tribes as Bishops and Rulers over their Brethren the Priests and Levites and the Christian Church in imitation of them as in other particulars so in this have their Apostles Evangelists their Pastors and Teachers without reproach and may not I O it is certain that what is once well done in a regular publick way is ever after done as to the permanency of that vertue that is always in a great and good example Shall I lay aside Primitive and right Episcopacy which hath such grounds from Scripture both as to the divine wisdom so ordering his Church among the Jews as also by the example Precept and Direction evident from our Lord Jesus Christ and the holy Apostles in the New Testament who preferred worthy persons for their Piety Zeal and holy Gravity to exercise a Christian authority over Ministers and people for their souls good which might consist with charity and humility for the preservation of the Churches peace and purity in the best and primitive times such grave persons as for their Age were Fathers for their innocency Saints for their industry Labourers for constancy Confessors for zeal Martyrs for charity Brethren for their light Angels and venerable for all Excellencies And I own no other Bishops but such in whom are remarkable the vertues of the most ancient and imitable Bishops the Industry of St. Austin the Courage of St. Ambrose the Devotion of St. Gregory the Learning of Nazianzen the Eloquence of St. Chrysostome the Mildness of St. Cyprian the Love of St. Ignatius the Constancy of St. Polycarp the Nobleness of St. Basil and those come nearest the Apostolical pattern and resemble the most of any Christians or Ministers the Grace and Glory of our Lord Jesus Christ I endeavour that my Bishops may be among Christians the most faithful among Men the most civil among Preachers the most painful among Orators the most perswasive among Governours the most moderate among pious Men the most fervent among Professors the most forward among severe Men the most exact among Sufferers the most patient among Perseverants the most constant the most compleat every way and perfect unto every good work These I take care should be duely chosen should be esteemed with honour and reverenced with love My Rule to them is That they should over-rule with vigilance should rule with joynt counsel neither levelled with younger Preachers and Novices nor exalted too much above the grave and Elder I allow these men an honourable competencie with eminency wherewith they may exercise a large heart and liberal hand which may conciliate a general respect and deserve the common Love. My direction to them is that their vertue and piety may preserve the Authority of their places and this is the order peace and dignity of the Church that they may be the Touchstone of Truth the Loadstone of Love the Standard of Faith the Pattern of Holiness the Pillars of Stability and the Centres of Vnity such as the Erroneous may hate the Factious envy good men may love and bad men may Fear 2. Can ye blame my Doctrine approved by the Reformed and agreeable with the Primitive Church a doctrine according to godliness teaching all men that denying all ungodliness and worldly lust they should live righteously soberly and godly in this present world 3. Do you find fault with my Devotion in the publick worship of God by Confession prayers praises Psalms and other holy Oblations of a Rational and Evangelical service offered up to our God by the joint piety of all my children the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Communi Oratio where nothing is expressed as my mind which I thought not agreeable with the mind of Gods spirit in the Scripture nor do I know any part of it to which a judicious Christian might not in Faith say Amen taking the expressions of it in that pious and benign sense which the Church intended and the words may well bear Indeed the whole composure of my Liturgy is in my judgement so wholesome so holy so compleat so discreet so devout so useful so savoury so well-advised that I find nothing in the eighteen Liturgies composed in the Eastern and Western Church that is excellent but is in this of mine and many things which are less clear or necessary in them are better expressed or wisely omitted here the whole being so ordered as might best inform all peoples understandings stir up their affections and quicken their devotions in a wholesome form of sound words such as Moses David the Prophets and the Lord Jesus left behind them solemnly recorded in the Scriptures So that according to the primitive care I first laid down Scripture grounds in the Creeds and Confessions and then I enlarged and fixed my Liturgies and devotions as near as I could to the majesty solemnity and exactness unanimity and fulness of publick Prayers upon all holy publick occasions so plainly that the devout soul knows well what it should desire of God and so affectionately that it earnestly desires in it what it knoweth God alloweth and so uniformly that it peaceably goeth along with the Congregation with one mind and one heart in the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace 4. Is it the Rites and Ceremonies I impose that displease you Alas I find the God of Heaven which we worship in England enjoyning more Ceremonies on his own people and forbidding no holy custom to any Christians in order to advance the decency and order of his service or Christians mutual edification and joint devotion under the Gospel Our blessed Saviour hath by his spirit guiding the pens and practises of the Apostles sufficiently manifested the Power and Liberty given the Church and the Governours of it for the choice and use of such decent customs Rites and Ceremonies not as divine institutions upon the consciences butashumane injunctions upon the practises as agree with godly manners and the truth of the Gospel and may best serve for order decency peace solemnity and mutual edification of Christians agreed upon by publick consent in which every ones vote is personally or vertually included It 's true as the Liturgy so the Ceremonies have something of Rome in them for to deal plainly I did freely and justly assert to my own use and Gods glory whatever upon due tryal I found to have the stamp of Gods truth and grace or the Churches wisdom and charity upon it I would not refuse any good I found amongst them because it was mixed with some evil but trying all things I held fast that which was good being intent upon the great ends of piety devotion and charity It 's true I enjoyn my
to heart alledging that they saw no more Religion in the world then Interest and Gain they knew not what to do to be saved Alas you are not sensible that there may be hundreds in Hell that you looked not after cursing the day that ever you were born that ever you were sent into the World that there should be so many Wretches that lived only to damn men If it be a Charge you desire why do you not attend unto that flock over which the holy Ghost made you overseers Why do you not in that calling wherein you are called abide with God Is it possible for you to serve two Cures you will hold to the one and despise or neglect the other and is it possible for you to be saved Lord what if you gained the World at the rate of undoing souls Do you consider that the bread you eat is the price of souls How can you eat with comfort and think Oh some of my charge may be now going to Eternity and I prepared them not How can you sleep securely and think Some of my charge may awake to morrow in another World whether of Wo or Well I know not How can you die peaceably and think Where shall we meet the many souls that have gone before us out of our Congregations Oh where are ye O immortal souls with God or for ever departed from the presence of the Lord Oh did you ever read that of St. Bernard Qui non unus sed plures in beneficiis non unus sed plures in suppliâ—iis If you pity not me once again by these courses decaying if you pity not poor souls by this means perishing Oh pity your selves and have mercy upon your own fouls Alas that men should be educated chargeably should study diligently should be ordained solemnly to delude souls to mock God to deceive the world and undoe men for two or three or four hundred pounds yearly during a short life that you should appear in a Pulpit if yet you do appear in a Pulpit for a little Maintenance that you should appear very solemnly every Sunday only to put a trick upon God and men I hope better things of you and things that accompany salvation though thus I speak In the Primitive times every Church of so many souls as are of your Parishes had many Ministers whereof the ablest speakers did most in publick and the rest did the more of the less publick work which some mistake for ruling Elders but now one of you takes the care of many Churches The Popish times I mean years 632. could divide England into Parishes for the better discharging of the cure of souls our times unite those Parishes again for the better maintenance of pride and vanity Is it for this that we are reformed is it for this we are Protestants then each Parish had their Ministers to pray with them ferventlie to teach them faithfully to comfort them seasonablie to converse with them usefully Ah! in quae nos reservamur tempora Now now my people are neglected my buildings are ruined my hospitality is lost my authority is shrunk and faln and the Church of England is thought to be nothing else but the interest of a few crafty Clergymen ordering all things to their best advantage Though Envy may know and Prejudice it self may consider I am a Church made up of godly and religious men Princes Nobles Gentry Bishops Ministers and people maintaing an Orthodox Doctrine a Primitive Government a pure and orderly Worship a severe Discipline and a Christian Communion in Word and Sacrament who have forbid these extravagancies by wholsome Laws checked them by severe Canons and disallowed them by fair and just means imaginable In the darkest and most superstitious times I ordered That no Monks i. e. idle persons should take Livings of Bishops or appropriate the Revenues of them to themselves but that the Priests serving those Cures and the Churches might be provided with necessaries Do you know why Monks were pulled down in H. 8. time Lay it to heart I beseech you for many look for your fall too 1. They were accused for engrossing Wealth and trade and do you hear what the world saith of you 2. They were accused for impoverishing Parish-Priests and decrying Preaching as ministring Matter of Schism and Disputes and magnifying their own performances of Prayer and Devotion by which and other Artifices they undermined the poor Priests and procured that many Churches presentative with their Glebes and Tyths were appropriated to their Covents leaving but a poor pittance for the Parish-Vicar This was the occasion of the first Impropriations I pray God your carelesness doth not occasion another Oh remember Robert Whitgifts the Abbot of Wellow's speech who was wont to say That they and their Religion could not long continue because said he I have read the whole Scripture over and over and never found that Monasteries and I may add pluralities were founded by God for said the honest Abbot every planting which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up Do you remember that Lay-parliament in King H. 8. his time wherein the Nobles and Commons assembled signified to the King that the Temporal profession of Abbots Priors c. vainly spent would suffice to find 150 Earls 1500 Knights 6200 Esquires 100 Hospitals do you remember those Mock-Parliaments that often considered how many 1000 men your Tythes ill bestowed upon you as they thought would maintain You were once undone now are you made whole I beseech you my sons sin no more lest a worse thing come unto you Bishop Jewel on 1 Thes p. 71. Forasmuch brethren as we were kept from you for a season concerning sight but not in heart we are enforced the more to see your face with great desire Therefore we would have come unto you I Paul at least once or twice but Satan hindred us Such a zeal and care had he over the people of God. Oh in what case then are they that are careless and have no regard of the people of God! which hunt after Livings and bend not themselves to do good which serve their own belly and seek to be rich and eat up the people of God as if they were bread they cannot say they have a desire to see the face of their flock and that their heart is with them howsoever they find time for other matters they can never take time to know their sheep and they do the work of the Ministry among them they care not for them they think not of them they plant not they water not they watch not they give no warning of the dangers at hand they teach them not to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world It were happy if all such were removed out of the Church of God they destroy the souls and lead them to destruction by their negligence What account shall they give unto God for the souls
communicate to them of my children that teach in every good thing 11. Do you envy my just Power and Authority whereby with the wisdom gravity and integrity of such men as are invested with that power I may check all abuses and disorders in the Church and by a well-ordered discipline I may recover my self to my former glory and renown for which I was spoken of throughout the World 12. Do you except against the private infirmities the personal failing of my Bishops and Ministers as less strict and unblameable in their lives less painful in their calling less prudent in their undertakings or less compassionate in their Government though all the world knoweth that within me Learning flourisheth knowledge multiplyeth Grace aboundeth excellent Preaching thriveth Sacraments are duly administred the fruits of Gods spirit are mightily diffused hospitable kindness is exercised Christian Charity is maintained plain heartedness and Good works are eminent though I know the Christian world cannot shew men more eminent then some of my Clergy are for well-weighed knowledge for Christian Courage and Patience for sincere piety for indefatigable industry for Care and Vigilancy for exemplary Vertue for sound Doctrine useful Writing prudent Governing for a firm Constancy for fatherly Instructions charitable Corrrections and imitable conversations who guide the people without any allowed licentiousness in conversation any undecency in Devotion any irregularitie in Administration in all which according to the sacred direction of Gods Word according to the heavenly assistance of Gods spirit through Faith in Jesus Christ they teach them to worship the only true God who is blessed for ever as the admirable instruments of Gods glory and the good of mens souls teaching them a fruitful and effectual Faith a sound and judicious knowledge an hearty and sincere Love a discreet and prudent Zeal a severe and through Repentance fervent and devout Prayers godly and unfeigned Sorrow spiritual and unspeakable Comforts well grounded and firm Hope heavenly and holy Conversation a meek obedience and submission in the general frame of Christian mens carriage Though I have men famous for greatness of Learning soundness of Judgement gravity of Manners and Sanctity of Lives yet among my ten thousand Ministers it 's likely some may do amiss If when there was but three men in the world one was a Murtherer if among Noah's sons one of the three was disobedient If among Jacob's children of two one was prophane if of twelve Apostles one was a Devil another dissembled and a third denyed his Master if among the Asian Angels there is none but was to be reproved if among the few Primitive Preachers there was a Demas that loved the present world a Diotrephes that loved the preeminence among my so many thousand Clergy it 's not likely but that some may fall short of the severe exactness required in all Ministers who ought to be patterns in good works Oh my Clergy are not Angels but men subject to the like infirmities with other men If they should say they have no sin they would deceive themselves and the truth would not be in them but if they confess their sins he is faithful and just to forgive them their sins and to cleanse them from all unrighteousness Be Perfection the glory of other Church-members the glory of mine is Sincerity Without all peradventure the most holy and all-seeing God who walketh in the midst of the Golden Candlesticks whose pure eyes are most intent upon the Ministers of the Church hath found iniquity in his servants the Bishops and other Ministers both as to their persons and professions all things being open and naked to him with whom we have to do 1. He observes how many consecrated and set apart to the service of God and his Church in the name place power and authority of Jesus Christ and approaching his gracious presence with Aaron in the holy of holies in the glorious manifestations of God in Christ to his Church by publick Ordinances and spiritual Influences have not so sanctified the Name of the Lord God their God in their Hearts and Lives in their Doctrines and Duties 2. The great Searcher of hearts knoweth how rashly many of his Ministers undertake how carelesly they manage that great and terrible work under which Angels may swoon and great Apostles cry Who is sufficient for these things how vulgarly they converse how lazily they live how loosely they behave themselves how ambitiously they design how covetously they reach how enviously they repine how unexemplarily they walk unworthy of the favour and indulgence shewed them to the amazement of their High-calling the dishonor of their Profession to the forfeiture of their Dignity and Plenty the endangering of their Peace and Safety 3. He that is about our paths and about our dwellings hath observed how unpreparedly negligently and irreverently how partially popularly and passionately how formally and vainly without any power of godliness Life of Religion some perform the work of God the great work of Eternal concernment to our own and other mens souls 4. He whose eyes see whose eye-lids try the children of men hath looked down from heaven and observed the iniquity of some mens holy things their dead and unreasonable instead of a living and acceptable service he hath taken notice of that supine negligence which hath sunk some mens Ministrations below the just majesty solidity and gravity of Gospel-dispensations others by an affected height and depth for want of plain instruction and charitable condescending amuse the poor people who know not what they say nor whereof they do affirm 5. He that will reprove and set mens sins in order before them hath taken notice of some mens remiss compliance and others exact rigours according to their private tempers judgements and passions whereby they swerved too much from that just charity discretion legality and constancy which my Canons intented and my constitution health and peace required especially in the peevish touchinesse of these times when so many subtile and envious ones lie in wait to destroy me Yet my Church-mens exorbitancies are not my constitutions their failings are not my frame their infirmities are not my nature their fall is no more mine who disallows it then the Angels fall may be the Heavens that forbid it their weaknesses are humane my authority is divine that charity which thinketh no evil will not lay upon me those enormities which I forbid by a Law which I restrain by Discipline which I mourn for in mine Humiliation and discountenance in those great patterns that shew a most excellent way These sins O the Christian world are transgressions of my Law affronts to my Authority the baffles of my Cannons and Injunctions O that my Apologie were written yea printed in a book for the satisfaction of the world that the good that I would do that I cannot do and the evil that I would not do that I do I find a law of my members against the law of my mind So
the righteous sin not and he doth not sin he shall surely live because he is warned also thou hast delivered thy soul I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom Preach the Word be instant in season out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all long suffering and doctrine For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned into fables But watch thou in all things endure afflictions do the work of an Evangelist make full proof of thy ministry If you would be saved only by Curates then serve God by Curates if you may be damned only by Curates then trust your charge to Curates But how do you read Son of man prophesie against the shepherds of Israel prophesie and say unto them Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds Wo be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves should not the shepherds feed the flocks Ye eat the fat and ye cloath you with the wool ye kill them that are fed but you feed not the flock The diseased have ye not strengthned neither have ye healed that which was sick neither have ye bound up that which was broken neither have ye brought again that which was driven away neither have ye sought that which was lost but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them And they were scattered because there is no shepherd and they became meat to all the beasts of the field when they were scattered My sheep wandred through all the mountains and upon every high hill yea my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth and none did search or seek after them Therefore ye shepherds hear the word of the Lord As I live saith the Lord God surely because my flock became a prey and my flock became meat to every beast of the field because there was no shepherd neither did my shepherd search for my flock but the shepherds fed themselves and feed not my flock Therefore O ye shepherds hear the word of the Lord Thus saith the Lord God behold I am against the shepherds and I will require my flock at their hand and cause them to cease from feeding the flock neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more for I will deliver my flock from their mouth that they may not be meat for them 2. Are Curates Ministers or are they not if not why do you employ them if they are why do they not live upon that maintenance that God hath allowed Ministers You could not endure rationally in these late times to hear of Stipends yet now your Brethren must be content with Allowances and besides if they are Ministers then either they have cure of souls or not if they have cure of souls why do they not attend their own charge if they have no cure of souls how can they exercise any Ministerial act seeing they have none to exercise it upon no people being obliged to attend any but their own Minister yea all people being obliged to attend only their own Minister If you will say He is your peoples Minister then you must say You are not One people can have but one Minister at a time 3. Do you who are non resident expect tythes by mans Law only or Gods No by mans Law only for you have said and must say against the Anabaptists That they are of Divine right otherwise they will say What man hath given man may take away nor must you look for it by Gods Law which never allowed the maintenance of a Minister to any but such as did the work of the Ministry The Labourer and he only is worthy of his hire 4. Cannot the State keep Curates as well as you If this be all may not the Commonwealth allow Salaries and Stipends as well as you add so remove the burthen of tythe O Sirs you know not what to do when the King Lords and Commons observe how much tythe goeth to maintain your pride vanity and folly and how little to maintain the service of God they say what need this waste why do ye throw away so much of the publick Revenue as amounts to two million and a half whereas half a million may maintain men to read prayers and do all the duties of Ministers A Gentleman hath a Parsonage of 200 l. a year in his gift why saith he shall I part with so much of my Estate cannot I give 20. or 30. l. to a Curate as well as a Clergy-man You will tell him Sir you Rob God. He will say no more then you you know God only hath tythes when they are employed in his service and I shall allow so much more to Gods interest then you do Obj. Why should you being a Lay-man meddle with tyths which belongs to Gods service Answ I do not meddle with any which belongs to Gods service but with what is abused to mans wantonness Obj. I am a Clergy-man Answ So are Thousands more yet none hath right to tyth but he that performs the duty enjoined them that receive tythe tythe is not so much the maintenance of Ministers persons as their wages for their work but a little of the tythe may suffice him who does the work as we may observe from what you allow and really I do not know by what Law of God or man a Clergy-man may turn his tyth to private advantage any more then a Lay-man O Sirs if you neglect your Calling when you have maintenance what will you do if you had none Oh you that condemne Sacriledge do you live by it You that say a man should not rob the Church do you rob it You that preach and write against taking away Ministers maintenance do you take away Ministers maintenance Is it for this the Nation upheld tyths against all oppositions to have a few Readers and Curates what have we saved them from the Factious to be swallowed up by the Covetous Oh you are men born to undoe your selves to ruine your calling and to tempt a greedy world to take away all your maintenance Do you read History Alas I am affraid that a spirit hath seized you Do you observe what was written in Ead. 10. ch p. 279. and Chartres de nug â—ur 7. 21. They the Priests grew scandalous they neglected their Cures they resided not upon their Livings they went to and fro for their pleasure the people arose up against them the Noblemen withdrew their tyth from them the whole kingdom cryed No service no maintenance Yea the poor people burned the tyths being loath the unworthy Ministers should have any benefit by them though loath themselves to meddle with them Thereupon it was agreed among the Thanes that there should be no maintenance given to Parsons but to Churches which might allow them to such persons as did them service and that none should live by Church-allowance but they that did Church-duties Seld. ibid. Excerpt Egbert can 100. In continuance of time the Lazy and the idle had ingrossed almost all Church-preferments then the tithes were alienated and impropriated as it is at this day whereupon the Clergy awaked a while and followed their business diligently in K. Ed. 6. and the beginning of Q. El. Reign Yet men are men still for about the 30. of Q. El. the remainder of Church-livings that had escaped the Impropriators was ingrossed by a few Pluralists and Non-residents in so much that the Commons in the Parliament of that year petitioned the Lords earnestly argued rationally concluded peremptorily against these miscarriages as they did in all Parliaments until the 12. of K. Ch. when the scandal of this usurpation was so great the odium so general the clamour so universal the juggle of the Non-residents in holding tyths under the pretence of the Ministry for nothing and in receiving a million of the National Revenue for nothing else but that they were in Orders was so apparent that the whole maintenance of Ministers was endangered all Church-preferment was threatned And you who now cannot content your selves with handsome and honest competencies were like to be brought to a morsel of Bread. O Sirs give not occasion to them that seeks occasion let the world see that duty is more your care then Maintenance that you do not work to eat but that you eat to work that to maintain the English Clergy 1. to uphold Religion 2. to advance Gods Name 3. to promote the salvation of souls to support the glory and interest of the Kingdom together with the peace civility and happiness of this Age and Posterity FINIS The Churches sense other râ—proach suffering Her care Her Apologie for Constitution She justifieth her Government She justifieth her doctrine She justifieth her Devotion Mr. H. Mr. M. Dr. J W Can. 75. Can. 40. * Bishop Jewl