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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45328	An apologie for the ministry and its maintenance wherein is set forth the necessity, dignity and efficacy of a gospel-ministry against the Socinians, Swenckfieldians, Weigelians, Anabaptists, Enthusiasts, Familists, Seekers, Quakers, Levellers, Libertines and the rest of that rout ... / by Tho. Hall.	Hall, Thomas, 1610-1665.; Shaw, Samuel, 1635-1696.	1660 (1660)	Wing H425A; ESTC R28055	88,780	120

erroneous state of our English Church a stranger hath set a black mark England saith he in four years is become a Lerna and sink of all errors and sectaries No Countrey from the foundation of the world hath brought forth and brought up so many monstrous births as it hath done Nay in a word take away the Ministry and you take away faith in in God prayer to God and Salvation given by him Rom. 10. 15. 1 Tim. 4. 16. By this men are turned from darknesse to light and from the power of Sathan to God Ier. 23. 22. Luk 1. 16 17. By this Christ hath propagated his Church overthrown the Kingdom of Sathan and the powers of darknesse viz. paganisme idolatry superstition and ignorance Luk 10. 18 19. This stops the blasphemous mouths and cuts out the very tongues of that pestilent generation of Iesuites and Romish agents Therefore when God will hasten the downfall of Anti-Christ he will not doe it by a secular power but by the spirit of his mouth 2. Thes. 2. 8. that is By the power of the Gospell preacht by Ministers not Magistrates by whom also he hath founded true religion kept it upon its Legs when it was founded and restored it when it was fallen To these he hath given that which he hath denyed to the greatest Monarchs of the world the Keys of the Kingdom of heaven Mat. 16. 19. Ioh. 20. 23. So that what they bind on earth is said to be bound in heaven and what they loose to be loosed also Hence some one not amisse inferrs that a Minister rightly discharging his office hath not only preheminence above all other private persons but even Kings and Princes to which Chrysostome gives his suffrage That the very Angells of God in heaven in this may give place to the Angells of God which are upon earth who although they be themselves in heaven yet have no Keys to open to others Take away this Palladium i. e. come who will and take away our place and nation Behold the disasters and disorders and the omnifarious calamitousnesse of those times wherein Israel was without the knowledg of the true God without a teaching priest and without law 2. Chron. 15. 3. 5. Take away this light ye have nothing but stumbling Ioh. 11. 10. Take away Pastours and ye have men like sheep wandring Take away these guides and ye have all ditches every where filled with the carcasses of the blind that are fallen there Take away this light and let us see what solid comfort innumerable gold uninterrupted prosperity and friendly society will afford Take away this Arke and then shew me the glory of Israel Ignorance and impiety goe together in the Gospell texture Eph. 4. 18 and there is but a letter between Ignorants and Covenant-breakers Rom. 1. 31. If ye would find cruelty search the dark places of the earth for they are full of it Ps. 74. 20. Come see and heare the wise man's whoremonger bewayling himself at last Prov. 5. 13 14. I have not obeyed the voyce of my teachers Behold the root of bitternesse the fountain of his sin Nor inclined mine eare to them that instructed me Hin● illae lacl●ymae her 's the ground of the complaint Wherefore the Lord promiseth faithfull pastors as a great blessing and singular kindnesse I● 30. 20 21. The Lord will give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction Behold the ●ore But thy teachers shall not be removed into Corners any more thine eys shall see thy teachers Behold the salve Although we suffer hunger and thirst and adversity for tryall and purgation yet if God will be present with us in our teachers who may strengthen the weak cheare the sad refresh the faint and teach us the ways of the Lord our hunger will be as good as plenty our adversity will ou●-shine prosperity and our thirst as waged by the waters of the Sanctuary And on the other hand as hunger and thirst are blessings with the word so is a famine of the word the greatest curse on this side hell though in the midst of plenty and prosperity so is it represented Am. 8. 11. Is. 29. 9. 10. what is the body to the soul no more comparable in value then the cloaths are to the body And so consequently what is the sust●ntation and nourishment of the body to that of the soul Wheat is but chaffe to the bread of life Wine is but water to the droppings of the Sanctuary Honey is but Waxe nay very bitternesse to the word of God Ps. 19. 10. And so consequently what is a famine of bread or of water to a famine of the word of God which is the most exce●lent food of the most excellent substance in this world even our precious souls 2. This acquaints us with our miserable condition by nature It gives us to understand that we are altogether destitute of the salt of Mortification and Repentance If we were sound and could so preserve our selves what needed we this salt what unsavory filthy stinking corrupt carcases are men till they be seasoned with this heavenly salt Let us therefore bless God for this Seasoner and that he hath caused us to be brought forth and brought within the sound of the glorious Gospell and pray with all earnestness that as God hath out of his mere goodness ordained a Ministry for us that he would preserve it amongst us as he hath set it up so that he would keep it standing whilest the world it self shall stand 3. This acquaints us with the dignity and efficacy of the sacred Ministry of all that serve and minister to Christ his Ambassadours are his chiefest servants and choisest ministers Their ministry is most excellent because they minister to God Heb. 5. 1. and that not in the things pertaining to this life but in the things that respect the Kingdome of God and the everlasting Salvation of men this ministry is called a thing not small Numb 16. 19. ●ay it is called an honour Heb. 5. 4. nay the Prophet puts a beauty with an admiration upon the very feet of the Gospell-ministers Isa. 52. 7. How beautifull are the feet of them that bring good tydings of good that publish salvation how could the beauty of them be exprest more fully than by such an elegant particle of admiration and yet if the beauty of their feet must have an admiration borrowed to express them by what shall we express the beauty of their faces Learn hence what a glorious treasure the Gospell is what a glorious Office the Preaching of it is what glorious and honourable servants the preachers of it they have been a delight to the very Kings of the earth who in token of honour and reverence have called them fathers 2 Kings 6. 21. nay they have not onely spoken reve●●ntly of them but also comfortably to them 2 Chron. 30. 22. and 35. 2. wicked Saul himself could not but reverence holy Samuel 1 Sam. 15. and graceless Herod

Philistines were subdued before Israel And if Moses let God alone the people will be consumed with his wrath Exod. 32. 10 Gods Ministers are not only Souldiers and Captains but they are all the army they are the horsemen and the Charriots of the Church they are for defence unto it And if one Elijah carryed and protected the people and defended them more by his zeal and prayers then thousands of Charriots and horsemen what strength and might shall there be found in many Elijahs These are the Churches walls the bullwarks of the land and the best fortifications for any City They kill the enemyes of God with the sword of Gods word whereby they sharply wound in reproving and kill in threatning death If furious Iehu should chance to let any escape the sword of Elisha shall be sure to slay him 1. Kin 19. 17. And you may see Elija sitting upon a hill and s●aying an hundred of Ahaziahs Souldyers to death and burning them up with the words of his mouth 2. Kin. 1 The same is the power of Gods witnesses out of whose mouths fire doth proceed devour their enemyes Rev. 11. 5. Let England then take heed of pulling down nay so much as loosening these pillars lest the whole structure of Church and state fall together with them 21. They are called Bishops A generall title and given to all the Ministers of the Gospell all whose it is to oversee the flock committed to their trust and to have a diligent care of it Act. 20. 28. And therefore whom the Apostle calls Elders Tit 1. 5 these he calls also Bishops V. 7. Neither doth this title conferre dignity only it inferrs duty also The office of a Bishop has employment as well as preferment in it It is a work in the Apostles judgment 1. Tim. 3. 1. He that desireth the office of a Bishop desireth a good work 22. They are called Teachers this being the great businesse of Ministers to preach and teach the word of God This title primarily belongs to Christ who is the teacher of his people But it is applyed secundarily to his Ministers who are ush●rs to him the Head ● master Eph. 4. 11. 1. Tim. 2. 17. 23. They are called Clouds spirituall Clouds watering refreshing fructifying the vineyard of the Lord with the former and the latter rain of ordinances I● 5. 6. Hence they are sayd to drop their doctrine upon men by a word fetcht from the Clouds Deut. 32. 2. Ezech. 21. 2. Am 7. 16. But Heretiques and deceivers are emp●y bottles waterlesse Clouds ●ossed to and fro with the winds Iude. 12. They make an ostentation and specious pretence of knowledg when as indeed their sounds are but the sounds of empty bottles and they are specious white Clouds that seem to promise the earth a belly full of water but when they should come to distill it they are gone with a blast of wind and so gull the thirsty expectation of the silly spectators 24. They are called Nurses 1. Th●s 2. 7. For as a Nurse dandles and husheth and suckleth and ●lattereth the little infant so the Ministers of the Gospel should even hugg in their bosomes speak pleasantly unto feed with the sincere milk of the word Christs new born-babes accommodating their language behaviour and way of feeding to their infant state And as a nurse with admirable patience doth digest the wranglings endure the frowardnesses of her nu●seling not grudging it her own blood to feed upon So a faithfull Minister should be patient in his pains indefatigable in his diligence and not count his life dear unto him if by it the Church of Christ may be advantaged nor think much at his own destruction if by it his people may be edisyed 25. They are called the Ministers of Christ. 1. Cor. 4. 1. Which word in the Greek bespeaks sorrow and calls for ●ains as the office of a rower doth require They sit at the oares where if the wind of Gods spirit do not exceedingly help they will find intolerable pains and if it do help yet they must use an indefatigable diligence And if they be the Ministers of God administring faithfully the word and ●●●●ments they must be approved in much patience in afflictions in necessi●yes in distresses c. 2. Cor 6 4. They are not prese●'d to 〈◊〉 and imperiall dignity but an Ecclesiasticall Ministry in which they may promise themselves whatever pains the meanest of servants in rowing running or what else do find and more 26. They are called Starrs and that not wandring but fixed For Christ who sits at the right hand of God holds them in his right hand Rev. 1. 20 1. Starrs shine so ought they by clearnesse of doctrine and integrity of life to shine before others 2 Starrs shine in the night so let a Minister of the Gospell shine more glorio●sly and illustriously when the Church of Christ is be●louded with heresyes and benighted in persecutions 3. Starrs shine with a borrowed light so the Ministers of Christ receive their calling gifts and doctrine from him the Sun of righteousnesse Nay they excell either fun or starrs for these shall be turned into darknesse the sun shall be totally eclipsed the starrs sink down into their sockets and be put out at the dissolution of the world but they shall shine for ever and ever Dan. 12. 3. Oh that they were also as the starrs of heaven for number the Lord of the harvest sending out plenty of labourers to reap his yet plentifull ha●vest and more fixed in the firmament of our Church then the stars in heaven that sometimes tumble head-long 27. They are called Angells of the Church Rev. 1. 20. 14. 6. For 1. like Angells they are messengers sent by God to declare his will to men 2. They ought to imitate an Angelicall purity chastity zeal and celerity that they may be as Angells amongst men Masters amongst boyes and shepheards amongst sheep So that this name also brings duty with it as well as dignity Many would be content to be Angells to dwell in heaven but loath to be Angells to doe Gods errands upon earth but he that would enjoy the honour must first be imployed in the office and execute that office too with carefullnesse cherefullnesse and speedinesse as the Angells doe Now if Timothy as being a man of God must flee covetousnesse how much rather ought he to doe it as being an Angell of God And if the Angels of God by pride fell from the presence and glory of God it concerns these Angels that yet they be humble as men What matters now though the world call us blind guides God counts us starrs and will set us in heaven when the starrs themselves shall be misplaced What though they call us devills it is honour enough that God counts us Angels Let us doe the work of Angels and God will not stick to own us and honour us as such before all men and Angels 28. They are called Presbiters and

could not but respect the gracious Baptist Marl 6. 20. the Apostle Paul was of so much worth to the Galattan that they received him as an Angel of God even as Chr●st ●esus 〈◊〉 his Ambassadour he was Gal. 4. 14. Behold Corn●lius the Ce●turion falling down before Peter the Apostle and worshipping him Act. 10. 25. Oh stupendious humanity and humility a Roman Captain a Gentleman Souldier stooping to a poor Apostle and offering him honour not onely more than could be exspected but than durst be accepted Lo Alexander the grand Tenant of the Universe whose ranging soul knew no confines whose stately spirit scorn'd to own any Monarch stooping before and doing reverence unto Iaddus the Iewish High-priest Iosephus Antiquit. l. 11. c. 8. It is not much that Aqutla and Priscilla should expose their lives to danger for Paul's sake Rom. 16. 3 4. but yet it spoke their great affection to and estimation of him Observe the reverend carriage of the noble Obadiah Governour of the Kings houshould towards Elijah a poor persecuted Prophet 1 Kings 18. 7. He fell on this face and said Art thou that my Lord Elisah and not only him did he reverence but manifested his great affections towards an hundred of the Lords Prophets even with the danger of his life ver 13. such was the honour sometimes thought due to the men of God Ministers are gifts not carnall and temporall but spirituall they are part of Christs purchase and a singular fruit of his ascension who went up into heaven that they might come down upon the earth Eph. 4. 10. 11. Surely the gift of the Sun and salt are a mere nothing if compared with this heavenly Largess By this Ministry the glory of God is manifested faith is begotten and nourished charity kindled and enflamed by this the Ignorant are instructed the idle are provoked the unconstant are fastened to the truth as it were nailes Eccles 12. 11. the wicked are convinced the weak are confirmed the root of wickedness cast up and the branches cut off This Gospell-ministry in the Apostles minde farre ou●-goes the Ministry of the Law 2 Cor. 3. 7 8 9. and Iohn Baptist who himself was scarce a Gospell-preacher had yet because of his more then ordinary nearness thereunto his preheminence not onely of the silken Courtiers in our Saviours account but of all the Prophets his p●edecessors Matth. 11. 7 8 9 10. And yet the meanest of the faithfull Ministers of Christ in regard of the clearness of the Doctrine taught by him is greater then he The great excellency and dignity of the Sacred Ministry will easily appear if we consider 1. The Authour of it not man but God The commendation of the Scriptures is that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 3. 16. The commendation of Believers is that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isa. 54 13. The same authority commends the Ministry of the Word Eph. 4. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ gave some Apostles c. He put● his Ministers into Commission Matth. 28. 19 20. And Iesus came and spake unto them saying All power is given to me in heaven and in earth Go ye therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them And S. Paul magnifies his Ministry by this authority 1 Cor. 1. 1. 2 Cor. 1. 1. and Gal 1. 1. Paul an Apostle not of men nor by man but by Iesus Christ and God the father It is not mans appointment but an Ordinance of God not a humane fiction but a Divine Institution 2. The Antiquity of it which also commends the goodness of a good thing The Ministry of the Church is no new Invention but an ancient Ordination for it had been even from the beginning which the Churches of God have not wanted in any age neither before nor under nor since the Law Before the Law were the Patriarchs who instructed their Families in the Worship of God and propagated Religion to their Posterity Under the Law God had his Priests and Levites and Prophets who had their unctions missions and Commissions from him And since the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ hath given Apostles Pastors Evangelists Teachers 3. The Ministers of it the Patriarchs the Prophets Christ himself and his Apostles Isaiah was of the blood oyal and yet a Minister of this ministry King Solomon commends himself to the Church of God under the name of Koheleth and amongst other his Titles seems to glory first and most in that of The Preacher Eccles. 1. 1 The words of the Preacher and then it follows the son of David King in Ierusal●m Noah the Monarch of the whole world was a Preacher of righteousness 2 Pet. 2. 5. Nay Christ Iesus himself God blessed for evermore came to minister Mark 10. 45. and to be the Masterpreacher of the Gospel Heb. 1. 2. The Apostles and Teachers that have succeeded him being set up by him 1 Cor. 12. 28. are also honourable For what greater honour can there be in Court then to succeed in that place and employment in which the King's son himself deigned sometime to be 4. The Object about which it is conversant not the body but the soul not humane Laws secular concernments but spirituall things relating to the worship service and glory of God and the salvation of soules Physicians binde up bruised bodies Lawyers patch up broken Estates whilest Christ Ministers bind up broken hearts and salve wounded consciences If therefore the body he unworthier then the soul the earth be content to be below the heavens externalls give place to eternalls parity of reason will prefer this sacred function before and set it above all others 5. The Supernaturall Effects thereof such as the Conversion Sanctification and Salvation of man In all which the dignity of the sacred Ministry does admirably appear and in the dignity of the ministry doth also appear the dignity of the Ministers Neither let any one say they are servants they are but Ministers and therefore not to be honoured for that derogates not awhit from their honour If they be servants they are the servants of the Church of God If they be Ministers they are Ministers of Christ the Lord of heaven earth and hell They are not the servants of Kings but of the King of Kings to whom the glorious Angells do gladly Minister neither are they of the meanest of Christ's servants put in some low place of service but they serve him in the distribution of the most precious treasure even Gospell-grace 2 Cor. 4. 7. now to be the Treasurer of the Lord is a greater honour then to be Lord-Treasurer And if there be honour in the meanest Office performed for God as he wing wood and drawing water for the Sanctuary and keeping the door of the house of God Psal. 84. 10. surely the highest Offices cannot be dishonourable All the things that render any service honourable do concurre to make this great employment truly honourable 1. VVe serve an honourable Master the Lord

Iehorah the Monarch of heaven and earth 2. Our service is in it self excellent and honourable 3. Our wages and reward is the highest of all others viz. a Crown of glory God does not onely honour his faithfull ministers that honour him in this life but he has reserved a more exceeding weight of glory for them against the time to come Oh what admirable honour will be given of God at the last day to his faithfull Ministers Then shall stand forth before God and his Angels and all men Andrew bringing with him his Achaians whom by his ministry he gained to Christ Iohn with his Asians Thomas with his Indians Peter with his Iews Paul with his Gentiles and all the pious and painfull Ministers of Christ with the children that God hath given them in their respective Ages and Generations and these shall be their crown of glorying in the presence of Iesus Christ at his coming 1 Thes. 2. 19. What remains therefore but that we give such honour to our Teachers as is due to the Ambassadours and Ministers of the most high God For although they be servants yet are they his servants whom to serve is to raign Look not upon them as slaves but as such servants to whom honour reverence and obedience is due even by the command of God 1 Tim. 5. 57. Tit. 2. 15. Heb. 13. 17. 1 Cor. 16. 15 16. The Apostle Paul desires the Thessalonians 1 Thes. 5. 12 13. not onely to know but to acknowledg their Teachers nay to love them with a high strain of affection even to an Hyperbole to esteem them highly in love which Translation yet comes short of the expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us imitate the Galatians whose very eyes were not so dear in their heads as the Apostle Paul was in their eyes Gal 4. 15. But here a double Caution is needfull 1. Let us take heed lest these Encomiums and commendations of the Ministry lay in us the grounds of pride lest we be puffed up with the dignity of our Office And to this purpose 't will not be amiss to consider that the operation and efficacy of our Ministry is not from our selves but from God Act. 3. 12 13. 3 Cor. 3. 5 6 7. We are onely Ministers not Lords of mens faith but Ministers by whom they believe Our planting and watering avail nothing unless God give encrease The Preacher beats the ears but God alone breaks the heart The Preacher teacheth but God gives knowledg the Preacher perswades but God inclines Iohn baptiseth with water but Christ onely with the Holy Ghost and with fire Matth. 3. 11. 2. Let us take need of dishonouring this honourable calling by unsuiteable lives lives led in drunkenness idleness ignorance profaneness heresie pride covetousness uncleanness sports and pastimes let us take need of being unsavory salt of speaking silken words and things to please mens fancies and so proving rather honey then salt to the sinners as they were Ezech. 13. 10 11. They that are such teach others the things which themselves contemn They that reprove others had themselves need to be irreprovable For VVho can abide the traitrous Gracchi when They make complaints against seditious men Shall Clodius condemn Adulterie Or Catiline Cethegus worse then hee Certainly he must needs strike faintly upon the Consciences of sinners who has his own Conscience polluted with gross sinnes and how shall he inveigh against the vices of others who fears shame for his own How shall be teach well that lives ill or season others who is himself altogether unsavoury How can the covetous Minister press his people to heavenly mindedness or with what face can the drunken Doctor commend to another a sober course of life Or if he do 't is seldome with good success A wicked man may indeed preach against wickedness but will hardly preach it down except he preach in deed He that attempts to take a mote out of his brothers eyes must either cast the beam out of his own first or else he will certainly be entertained with the Proverb Physician heal thy self He is a Pharisaicall Teacher that saies and does nothing Mat. 23. 3. such take away all authority from their Preachings plucking down with their life what they build with their language For who will obey when the Preachers teach disobedience Of all creatures upon earth degenerate men are the worst of all men wicked Christians and of all Christians wicked Ministers They are the shame of the Clergy the worst of Varlets not Pastors but impostors not Doctors but Seducers not Dispensers but Dispersers the increment and Instruments of Sathan and the very picture of that wicked one they are like the Statue of Mercury that shew others the way which themselves walk not like bells that call men to hear the word and will of God but themselves want ears like spunges that cleanse other things but remain unclean themselves like a musicall Instrument that creates delight to others but it self is sensless of any or like the Shipwrights that made an Ark to save Noah and his Family in but themselves were drowned No wonder saies a learned Authour if that polity be made a prey and brought to naught whose VVatchmen are blinde whose Preachers dumb whose Champions lame whose Physicians sick whose Teachers untaught and whose Guides are ignorant of the way Hence springs the ruine of the Church the corruption of manners a sink of sinne a deluge of Prophaneness the sterving of Charity the hazarding of Faith the debasement of Religion the poyson of pestilent Schisms the contempt of the Ministry and all Ecclesiasticall Orders and Ordinances Hence it is that the people are so wicked for how should there choose but be whoredome in Ephraim and defilement in Israel when the Priests commit lewdness Hos. 6. 9 10. The actions of publick persons are influentiall and this gave occasion to that witty conjecture of Charles the fifth who guest at the state of a City or Commonwealth by three things by considering their Pastor their Pedagogue their Pretor The Church depends upon the Pastor the School upon the Master the Court upon the Pretor who are the salt of their respective places Such therefore as is the Preacher is the Church as is the Pedagogue so are the children as is the Pretor so are the citizens Good reason therefore why God requires holiness in those especially that come thus nigh unto him Lev. 10. 2 3. Neither does it mitigate to say that these Ministers are learned but rather aggravate Learning dwells ill in an evill man it is like wine in a poysoned cup or a sword in a mad mans hand Dexterity of wit the liberall Arts the knowledge of the Tongues and humane Learning are indeed excellent gifts from God but they are all miserably prophaned in such a man A Religious dunce is better then he And it comes to pass by the just Iudgment of God that the devill works more powerfully in none then in wicked

and Apostate Ministers insomuch that they are called Devills Iohn 6. 70 71. the worst name in the world Such do not onely invite but even compell by their example The examples of Minnisters are cogent Gal. 2. 14. Christ therefore threatens these unsavoury salts with sad Iudgment Luke 14. 34. 35. which judgment that we may the better understand let us consider it in these following particulars 1. Vnsavoury salt hath this inconvenience that its lost nature cannot be repayred There is no further salt wherewith this unsavoury salt can be seasoned The unhappinesse of it is therefore very unhappy The best things in their corruption become the worst The best nourishment becomes the worst excrement the best wine is corrupted into the sharpest vinegar Degenerate Ministers are hardly cured for what remains with which they may be restored and seasoned If the people be unsavory God hath given Ministers to ●eason them But if themselves be corrupt and unsavory what cure shall we find for them These vines if they be fruitfull are the best trees in Gods garden and the worst if barren Ezech. 15. 2. Unsavoury salt is unprofitable It is not fit for the earth for it will not suffer it to be fruitfull not for the dunghill for it will not suffer it to ●ructify So unprofitable are unsavoury Ministers who are therefore deposed from their Ministry and discarded by the Churches censure other things in their corrupt state are good for something as degenerate wine generates vinegar and the excrement of nourishment nourishes land But infatuated salt is so unprofitable as that it is also hurtfull so hurtfull as that it makes the very dunghills themselves unprofitable Such vile unprofitable hurtfull creatures are Apostate Ministers and corrupt to whom God therefore threatneth rejection deposition and contempt Hos. 4. 6. Mall 2. 8 9 Ezr. 2. 62. 3. Vnsavoury salt is troden under foot of men which is the height of ignominy and shame So Ecebolius the apostate cryed out tread upon me unsavory salt The just judgment of God causes their Ministry to be contemned whose lives are contaminated Thus the sacrifices of the Lord were abhorred because of the vilenes●e of the sacrificers 1. Sam. 2. 17. Nay as though the treadings under feet of men were not enough miserable the proverb hath layd prophaned Ministers lawer then the earth which sayth that Hell is paved with the helmets of princes and the shavings of priests Woe be to that Pastor that is not true but treacherous not lively and diligent but dull and sloathfull who is rather the counterfe●t of a Pastor than indeed such who seeds not his people but his purse and his paunch wo to these idol shepheards the sword shall be upon their arme and upon their right eye their arm shall be clean dryed up and their right eye utterly darkned Zach. 11. 17. God will weaken their strength and infatuate their judgments Such are the punishments of these wicked unsavou●y unprofitable Ministers 2. Another sort of unsavory salt and gifted Brethren as they call themselves though how barren of 〈◊〉 good gift all may see These like the Pa●●rioges Chickens run with the shells upon their heads T●us the little ducklings fall a swimming as soon as they are well hatcht and the Lyons whelps teare their own passage into the world But such hasty burths are lightly blind There is an incurable itch of teaching which possesses many wild heads in these days who think they know that which indeed they are ignorant of nay are ignorant of their ignorance In all other arts and sciences men use first to learn and after to teach But in divinity we have many that teach what they never learn'd and become the Masters of fools before they have been the Schollars of wise men And hence it is that this waxen divinity of theirs receives any impression and they themselves are metamorphosed into many shapes These do not season souls but poyson them not edifye but destroy them not communicate instruction but convey infection These are plants without sap wells without water starrs without light bubbles broken with a blast and waves of the sea soming out their own shame quorum prophetia non est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these prophets are fools these spirituall men are mad This liberty of prophesying this root of mani●old heresyes is to be rooted out as that which hath eaten as a Gangrene and infected many Oh that some Hercules will oppose himself to this many headed Monster many complain of this evill but few put to their hand for the reforming of it So that it may justly be feared that whilst the infectors are spared more will be infected The true shepheards are an abomination to these Egyptians Egyptians Nay they are worse then Egyptians For the Egyptians tempered their clay with straw to make bricke of But these have neither straw nor stubble neither wit nor learning nor any other materialls to build with but dawbe with untempered mortar These like Iereboam one of the worst men in the world make priests of the meanest of the people Nay as Caligula made his horse Consul so these make their asses preachers who if they can do nothing else yet like Balaams asse can reprove the madnesse of the prophets These are the men that give mouldy bread instead of Ambrosia vinegar instead of Nectar and poysons instead of preservatives they mixe tares with their wheat and dregs with their wine preach without pains and are heard without profit They dream dreams and then tell them they cause the people to erre by their lyes and by their lightnesse when God sent them not nor commanded them therefore they doe not profit the people at all Ier. 23. 32. Away ye unsavory crew of senselesse saplesse saltlesse dunees Anabaptists Collyers Saltmarshes Haggards c. In all this tribe this crew what will you call 't There is not to be found one corn of salt This brood of vipers have come forth in a numerous multitude in this decrepit old age of the world doting upon opinions and under the pretext of piety going about to overthrow Scriptures Sacraments universityes all order and ordinances to confound heaven and hell with more than a Gigantick confidence and whorish impudence Let the heavens tremble and the earth be amazed and both be ashamed that this our Brittain should bring forth and bring up such monsters Are these the returns of so many incomes from above Are these the fruits of so much patience and love Do we thus require the Lord a people foolish and unwise There hath been a famous Church and a renowned Ministry in these parts of the world Nay and there is still a Church and a Ministry although it appear to be clouded or rather can not appear because it is clouded But let us lift up our hearts and eyes to Christ Iesus whose Ministry it is for although it be clouded yet he will at length cause those clouds to vanish

comparatively to ours wherein men and minds are of all equall number Oh memorable wish of that famous preacher Dr. Stoughton So that brotherly unity may be preserved quoth he Let me below even in the dust rather than exalted in a tryumphant Chariot by a Cadmean conquest Let others affect the great title of Ptolomaeus I am more pleased with the pleasant name of Irenaeus This peaceable frame concerns all but more especially the Ministers of Christ who are sent to preach to and to pray for not to prey upon others to build up the Church of Christ not to demolish it to worke and not to wrangle The harmony and joynt consent of the builders promotes the building Neh. 4. 76. Solomons temple was built without noyse 1 King 6 7. which by a profitable type doth shadow out the peaceableness of the builders and quietness of Christ's Church in which the noyse of contentions schismes ought not to be heard The builders of the Church of Christ should not be divided as Nehemiah's servants were halfe to the worke and halfe to the warre neither must these spirituall builders have swords girded upon their sides when they build as his builders had Neh. 4. 18. If we will revenge our selves upon the bitternesse and malice of base spirits the best way of revenging is by forgetting and the onely way to vex them is to be more zealous and servent in the study practise and pursuit of opposed Godlinesse If we will contend with their murmurings and malice let it be by faith and patience and meeknesse of spirit as knowing it better to neglect them than to stand to confute them to pass them by in silence than to take notice of them Neither do we want motives to this peaceableness 1 Our God is the God of peace Rom. 15. 33. 2 Cor. 13. 11. 2 Christ Ie●us is the Prince of Peace Isa. 9. 6. 3. The sons of God are the sons of Peace Luke 10. 6. 4. The Gospel which we preach is the Gospel of peace Eph 6. 15. In a word we are called unto peace 1 Cor. 7. 15. Therefore follow peace pursue it with the greatest vehemency nay although it flye from you and men will not suffer themselves to be reconciled yet pursue it with indefatigable pains Psal. 34. 15. H●b 12. 14. love Truth Peace Zach. 8. 19. for otherwise Truth is better with Discord than a sinfull Concord But if it be possible as much as in us lyes let us follow peace with all men Rom. 12. 18. For we are one body we are governed by one Spirit we have one hope one Lord one Faith one Baptism Eph. 4. 2 3 4 5 6. Moreover this is just honest good pleasant as Sibelius out of Ps. 1 33. 1. Tom. 1. pag. 576. proves by many strong and savory Arguments CHAP. VIII Asserts and vindicates the Maintenance of Ministers Fifth use is for the reprehension and correction of Anabaptists Levellers c. who deny those stipends to the Ministers of Christ which are due by a right both divine and humane by the Law both of heaven and earth for grant a Ministry and you must needs grant stipends by which it may be maintained This is almost as clear as a Demonstration can make it For VVho goeth to warre at his own charges even the Law of Nature dictates this that the workman is worthy of his wages Hence Moses gave unto the Levites by divine appointment the Ten●● the first-Fruits the best of the Sacrifices the yearly pension of a ●hekel the mony for the redemption of the first-born the mony for vows as appears Exod. 34. 26. Lev. 27. 3● c. Numb 18. In that universal famine in Aegypt when Ioseph the Kings Steward bought all the Land for Pharaoh he bought not the Priests land but allowed them Corn out of the Kings Granaries Gen. 47. 22. Even Pharaoh himself although an Idolater had yet a singular care of the worship of his Gods and maintined their Priests at his own proper cost and charges And if Pharaoh was so carefull for his Priests as to mantain them for the ruine and destruction of himself and his people that he might not be thought to be wicked and ungratefull to his ●eigned Deities What an ingratitude what a sacriledge is it that the true Ministers of the true God should be neglected by Princes and Powers that call themselves Christians whose pains they know to be of Gods approbation and for their salva●ion Hezekiah that Father of the Priests did not only give a good part of his own substance to them but commanded the people to maintain the Priests and Levites that being freed from secular cares they might wholly give themselves to the Law of the Lord and lay out themselves in their sacred function in the service of the Temple 2 Chron 31 4 12. c. It was not the least was it not the greatest of Alexander's Commendations that he loved and honoured Learning and larned men which made his times be so fruitfull of great wits and witty Inventions He so well know how to esteem Learning and to treat the learned that it afterwards became a Proverb If thou hadst lived in Alexander's times he would have given thee a Cyprus or a Phoenice for every Verse For as a good refined disposition of the ayr begets plenty of fruits so the benign and ingenious disposition and constitution of Kings and Powers produces a great encrease of Arts and Ingenuities But on the contrary the envy ignorance and baseness of Princes blasts the fruit and makes the birth of the brain abortive Therefore we have Nehemiah contending even with the Rulers because they had denyed the Levites their tythes and salaries Neh 13. 10 11 12. and he accounts this contention a subject fit for divine Remembrance ver 14. 1. Then let all Christian Magistrates take care that the Ministers of the Church who are ignorant of manual employments be not driven to wrestle with want and hunger and by this meanes be turned aside from the diligent execution of their weighty calling to the care of providing inecessities for nature All know that the Ministry is a very weighty Calling great enough for the shoulders of Angels and such as may justly take up and challenge the whole man neither can the Preachers of the Gospel nor ought they to ex●●cise any manuall Art whereby to provide sufficient supplies or maintenance for themselves and theirs who must either therefore live upon their people or dye amongst them for want of a livelyhood 2. Let them take heed they do not diminish or suffer to be diminisht or withheld the gifts given to God by pious Ancestors For God is the revenger of all such who will send upon the unthankfull world a famine of his Word for the famishing of his Messengers but rather let them imitate Constantine the Great who took care that the Clergy should receive liberall and honourable stipends and confirm'd it by a Law Euseb de vita