slaughter of the people Theo. The Leuites were not all Priestes though they were to attend on the Arke and the rest of the seruice of God Aaron and his sonnes had the Priesthood and not the whole Tribe of Leui. The Scripture it selfe will giue you that distinction The Leuites were appointed vnto all the seruice of the Tabâ—rnacle of the house of God But Aaron and his sonnes burnt incense vpon the Altar of burnt offering And what shoulde let the Leuites to beare armes at Moses commaundement who afterward in defence of king Ioash at his coronation in the Temple did compasse him Euerie man with his weapon in his hand Against the Magistrate they did not bend their swords as you do but rather for obedience to the Magistrate and therefore their example wil not warrant your displaying of banners against your Prince Phi. Was Moses a Magistrate Theo. Howe thinke you was he not Phi. The Scripture sayeth hee was a Priest and a Prophet not a Prince Theo. Those bee no reasons to exclude him from bearing the sword Melchizedec was a Priest of the most high God and king of Salem Ely was a Priest and Samuel a Prophet and yet both were Soueraigne Rulers ouer Israell Moses might annoynt Aaron at the first erection of the Priesthoode and deliuer the lawe of God vnto the people and yet keepe the Ciuil regiment Phi. Why then doth Dauid number Moses and Aaron among the Priests of God Theo. The worde which Dauid vseth doeth signifie those that be chiefe in any seruice as well as Priestes as in the second of Samuel the eight chapter where it is saide that Zadoc and Abimelec the Sonnes of Phinees were the Priests it is presently added and the sonnes of Dauid câ—hanìm haìu were no Priestes but chiefe Princes or Rulers And yet the worde is the very same that was vsed before to Zadoc and Abimelec the sonnes of Aaron So in the 20. of the same booke Zadoc and Abiathar were Pristes and Ira the Iairite was cohen ledauid not a Priest to Dauid for that had beene wickednesse against the law of God to make a mere straÌ„ger that was no Leuite a priest but a chiefe Prince about Dauid And so Dauid ioyneth Moses and Aaron as the Principall seruitours about God and chiefe Rulers of the people Moses for regiment Aaron for sacrifices And did the worde exactly signifie Priestes the letter beth which goeth before it importeth either in the number of the Priests or togither with the Priests so that Moses and Aaron with the Priests called on the name of the Lorde But that Moses was a Priest after Aaron and his sonnes were annointed is a manifest vntrueth against the Scriptures God sayde to Moses Thou shalt put vppon Aaron the holie garmentes and shalt annoynt him And sanctifie him that hee may serue mee in the Priestes office Thou shalt also bring his sonnes and cloath them with garmentes And shalt annoynt them as thou diddest annoynt their Father that they may serue me in the Priests office so shall this their annoynting bee to them for an euerlasting Priest-hoode in their generations And againe Thou shalt appoynt Aaron and his sonnes to execute the Priestes office and the straunger that commeth neere shall die Which precept excluded not onelie the rest of the Tribes but euen the Leuites them-selues that were not the sonnes of Aaron from being Prestes or medling with the sacrifices that shoulde be offered vnto God To Aaron God sayde Thou and thy sonnes with thee shall beare the iniquitie or burden of the Priestes office Thy brethren of the Tribe of Leui shalt thou take to minister vnto thee but thou and thy sonnes with thee shall minister before the Tabernacle of the Testimonie They shall keepe the charge of all the Tabernacle but they shall not come neere the instrumentes of the Sanctuarie nor to the Altar least they die both they you Where you see the Priestes office so tied vnto Aaron and his sonnes that the Leuites his brethren and of his fathers familie might watch and ward about the Tabernacle and minister vnto him and his sonnes that were priests but not come neere the Altar nor any instruments of the Sanctuarie How then could Moses be a Priest after Aaron was annointed when the Priesthood was deliuered and confirmed to Aaron onely and his sonnes Phi. Moses was a Leuite Theo. Hee was Aarons brother but the Priesthood was giuen to Aaron and his sonnes Phi. He annointed Aaron and his sonnes Theo. Not by his ordinarie function as a Priest but by speciall direction from God as a Prophet For Aaron was called to that office not by Moses but by God himselfe as the Apostle testifieth though hee were annointed by Moses handes Phi. Moses might bee a Priest before Aaron was called Theo. If Moses were a Priest what needed an other to bee chosen Why shoulde Moses bee depriued of his Priesthoode hee no way displeasing nor offending God Reason you shewe both his calling and his annoynting before you chalenge the Priesthood for him Phi. Dauid sayeth hee was Theo. What Dauid sayeth wee sawe before The worde by Sainct Hieroms owne obseruation signifieth a Master or Ruler Ira Iairites erat sacerdos Dauid id est magister sicut alibi scriptum est filij autem Dauid erant sacerdotes id est magistri fratrum suorum Ira the Iairite was a Priest of Dauids that is a Ruler as it is elswhere written the sonnes of Dauid were Priestes that is Rulers of their brethren Phi. Sainct Hierom and Sainct Augustine writing vppon this Psalme of Dauid affirme that Moses was a Priest Theo. All that Sainct Hierom sayth is this that Moses had the rule of the Lawe and Aaron of the Priest-hoode and that either of them did fore-shewe the comming of Christ with a Priestlie kinde of proclamation Moses with the sounde of the lawe and Aaron with the belles of his garmentes Where S. Hierom calleth the Propheticall function of Moses to teach the people the Lawes of God a Priestly kinde of proclaiming and foreshewing that the Sonne of God should come in flesh to teach vs the will of his Father Saint Augustine vseth the worde in like sense for that sacred seruice which Moses yeelded vnto God in reporting his Lawes and preceptes to the people And therefore in the same place hee sayeth of Samuel hee was made high Priest which is expreslie against the Scriptures if you take the worde Priest for him that was annoynted to offer sacrifices vnto God For Samuel was but a Leuite and no Priest much lesse high Priest The sonnes of Samuel are reckened in the Scripture it selfe among the Leuites apart from the Priestes office and linage and the high Priesthoode was long before giuen to Phinees and his house by couenant from Gods owne mouth and in the dayes of Samuel was helde by Abiah the sonne of Abicub who was directly of the
molten Images And they brake downe in his sight the Altars of Baalim and hee caused to cut downe the images that were on them he brake also the groues and the karued molten images and stampt them to powder and strewed it vpō the graues of them that had sacrificed on them Also hee burnt the bones of the Priestes vpon their Altars and purged Iudah and Ierusalem And when hee had destroyed the Altars and cut downe all the idols throughout the lande of Israell he returned to Ierusalem Then the king sent and gathered all the Elders of Iudah and Ierusalem And the king went vp to the house of the Lord and all the men of Iudah and inhabitantes of Ierusalem and the Priestes and the Leuites and all the people from the greatest to the smallest and hee read in their eares all the wordes of the booke of the couenant that was found in the house of the Lord. And the king stood by his Piller and made a couenant before the Lord to walke after the Lord and to keepe his commandementes and his statutes with all his heart with all his soule that hee would accomplish the wordes of the couenant written in that booke And hee caused al that were found in Ierusalem and Beniamin to stand to the couenant So Iosias tooke awaie all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israell and compelled all that were founde in Israell to serue the Lord their God al his dayes they turned not backe from the Lord God of their fathers Moreouer Iosiah kept a Passouer vnto the Lord in Ierusalem and hee appointed the Priestes to their charges and said to the Leuites Serue now the Lord your God and his people Israell prepare your selues by the houses of your fathers according to your courses as Dauid the king of Israell hath written and according to the writing of Salomon his sonne And stand in the sanctuarie according to the diuision of the families of your brethren Kill the Passouer and sanctifie your selues and prepare your brethren that they may doe according to the word of the Lord by the hande of Moses Thus the seruice was prepared and the Priestes stood in their places also the Leuites in their orders according to the kinges commaundement So all the seruice of the Lord was prepared the same day to keepe the Passouer to offer burnt offeringes vpon the Altar of the Lord according to the commaundement of king Iosiah Nehemias though he were no king but a captaine sent frō king Artaxerxes yet he discerned resisted the Prophetes that would haue put him in feare was the first that sealed the couenant between God the people with an oth to walke in the law of God and to obserue all the commaundementes of the Lord. And he displaced Tobiah an Ammonite whom Eliashib the high Priest had receiued and lodged within the court of the house of God and cast out all the vessels of the house of Tobiah and commaunded them to clense the chambers for the vessels of the house of God And reproued the rulers for that the house of God was forsaken the Sabbaoth day broken assembling the Leuites singers setting them their places charging the Leuites to clense themselues and to sanctifie the Sabbaoth daie And when he saw Iewes that maried strange wiues he rebuked them and cursed them and smote certain of them tooke an oth of them by God that they should not mary with strangers And one of the sonnes of Ioiadah the sonne of Eliashib the high Priest maried the daughter of Sanballat the Horonite but Nehemiah chased him awaie and clensed the Priestes and Leuites from all strangers and appointed them their courses euerie one in his office There needeth no great skill to set this togither To remoue idols all abominations out of the land to enter a couenāt with God to walke in his waies to proclaime fastes an d make publike praiers to sanctifie the Temple and celebrate the Passouer to seeke and serue God according to his law bee matters ecclesiasticall not temporall and yet in the same cases the godly kinges of Iudah commaunded and compelled all that were found in Iudah Priest and Prophet man and woman to stand to that order which they tooke for the better accomplishing of those their interprises Acknowledge that right and power in Christian Princes at this day to medle with matters of Religion which the Scriptures report and commend in kinges of religious and famous memorie we presse you no farther If you sticke to graunt so much others will not stick to distrust the soundnesse of your doctrine notwithstanding the smoothnesse of your tongues and loftynesse of your spirites wherewith you thinke to compasse and quaile kingdomes Phi. The kinges of Iudah did that which they did at the motion of the Prophetes and direction of the Priestes Theo. You shun that which you shal not auoide Wee reason not who moued and aduised but who decreed and commaunded these thinges to be done Priestes or Princes The Scriptures in plaine termes saie that Princes DECREED APPOINTED COMMANDED them to be done Contradict the wordes if you dare Take from Asa Iehosaphat Ezechias Iosias the king of Niniueth and others the Princely power which they shewed due praise which they merited in medling with these matters impugne the words whereby God expresseth approueth their doings see whether the consciēces of all good men will not detest abhor your wilfull impietie Phi. The Scripture saith in deede they commaunded appointed decreed these thinges but no doubt they were directed by Prophetes and other spirituall Pastours what they should do Theo. What if they were Doth that hinder their authoritie Princes in ciuill affaires are guided and directed by learned and wise Counsellers doe they therefore not commaund in temporall matters neither Or finde you no difference betweene counselling and commaunding Phi. Againe these Princes were before the comming of Christ when as yet there was no supreme Pastour ouer the whole Church Theo. There was an high Priest ouer the twelue Tribes with surer and better authoritie than your holy father can shewe for him-selfe All Israell by Gods owne mouth were referred to the iudgement of the Priestes and Leuites and not to decline from the thing which they speake The man saith God that will do presumptuouslie not harkning vnto the Priest that standeth before the Lord to minister that man shall die This was their commission yet this notwithstanding the kings of Iudah commaunded both Prist and people for matters of religion And so did the Christian Emperours after the comming of Christ for eight hundred yeares that wee shewe commaund both Bishoppes and others yea the Bishoppe of Rome no lesse than others in causes as well Ecclesiasticall as Temporall The particulars I noted before The Lawes were publike
all the wordes of the lawe keeping and obseruing are not there referred to his priuate actions as a man but to his publike function as a king and therefore the king in these wordes receiued the charge and ouersight of the whole lawe that is an expresse commaundement from God to see the lawe kept and euerie part thereof obserued of all men within his Dominions and the breakers of it Prophetes Priestes and People to bee duely punished Nowe the Lawe contained all thinges that any way touched the true seruice and worshippe of God ergo the king had one and the selfe-same power and charge to commaund and punish as well for the preceptes of pietie as other pointes of policie neither did God fauour or prosper any of the kinges of Israell or Iudah but such as chiefly respected and carefully maintained the ordinances of Religion prescribed vnto them in Moses lawe In the times of the Prophetes saith S. Augustine all the kinges which in the people of God did not forbid and ouerthrow those thinges which were brought in against the commandementes of God are blamed and they that did prohibite and subuert such thinges are praysed aboue the rest God blessed Salomon with wisedome honour riches and peace so long as hee walked in the steppes of Dauid his father during the which time Salomon did dedicate the Temple in his owne person and cast out Abiathar from being Priest vnto the Lord and set Zadocke in his roome but when his heart once turned from God to builde places also for Idols and to suffer his outlandish wiues to burne incense and offeringes to their Gods then the Lorde was angrie with Salomon and stirred vppe aduersaries against him and threatned to rent his kingdom from him and to giue it to his seruant Asa tooke awaie the Altars of the strange Gods and the high places and brake downe the images and cut downe the groues and commaunded Iudah to seeke the Lord God of their fathers and tooke awaie out of all the cities of Iudah the high places and images therefore the kingdome was quiet before him And hee tooke an oth of all Iudah and Beniamin that Whosoeuer woulde not seeke the Lorde God of Israell shoulde be slaine whether hee were small or great man or woman and hee deposed Maachah his mother from her regencie because she had made an idoll Asa brake downe her idol and stamped it and burnt it and the Lord gaue him rest round about Iehosaphat his sonne walked in the first waies of Dauid and sought the Lord God of his father and walked in his commaundementes and therefore the Lord established the kingdome in his handes so that hee had riches and honour in aboundance In the thirde yeare of his raigne he sent his Princes that they should teach in the cities of Iudah and with them Leuites and Pristes and him selfe went through the people from Beer-sheba to Mount-Ephraim and brought them againe to the Lord God of their fathers In Ierusalem he sent of the Leuites and of the Priests and of the chiefe of the families of Israell for the iudgement and cause of the Lord. And he charged them saying Thus shal ye do in the feare of the Lord faithfully and with a perfect heart Thus shall ye do and trespasse not And behold Amariah the Priest shall be the chiefe among you for al the matters of the Lord and Zebadiah for all the kinges affaires and the Leuites shall be helpers vnto you Be strong and doe it And when the Moabites and Ammonites came against him he proclaimed a fast throughout all Iudah and stood in the congregation of Iudah and Ierusalem in the house of the Lord prayed in his owne person for all the people Ezechiah did vprightly in the sight of the Lord according to all that Dauid his father had done Hee opened the doores of the house of the Lorde and brought in the Priestes and the Leuites and saide vnto them heare mee yee Leuites sanctifie your selues and sanctifie the house of the Lord God of your fathers I purpose to make a couenant with the Lord God of Israell And they sanctified themselues according to the commaundement of the king And the king rose early and gathered the Princes of the citie and went vppe to the house of the Lord. And they brought sinne-offeringes and Ezechiah commaunded to offer the burnt offering vppon the Altar yea hee commaunded the Priestes the sonnes of Aaron to offer them And when they had made an end of offering Ezechiah the king the Princes commaunded the Leuites to praise the Lord with the wordes of Dauid and Asaph the Seer And Ezechiah sent to all Israell and Iudah also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasses that they should come to the house of the Lord at Ierusalem to keepe the Passouer So the Postes went with letters by the commission of the king and his Princes throughout all Israel and Iudah and with the commandement of the king saying Yee children of Israell turne againe vnto the Lord God of Abraham Isaac and Israell And the hand of God was in Iudah so that he gaue them one heart to doe the commaundement of the King And Ezechiah appointed the courses of the Priestes and Leuites by their turnes euerie man according to his office for the burnt offeringes and peace offeringes to minister and giue thankes to praise in the gates of the tentes of the Lord. And in all the workes that hee beganne for the seruice of the house of God hee did it with all his heart and prospered Hee tooke away the high places and brake the Images and cutte downe the groues and brake in peeces the brasen Serpent which Moses had made for in those dayes the children of Israell did burne incense to it Manasses at the first wēt back built the high places which Ezechiah his father had broken down and set vp altars for Baalim made groues worshipped all the host of heauen serued them but after hee was taken by the king of Babylon put in fetters bound in chaines he hūbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers God was intreated of him and heard his prayer and brought him againe to Ierusalem into his kingdom Then hee tooke awaie the strange Gods and the image out of the house of the Lord and all the Altars that hee had built in the mount of the Lordes house and in Ierusalem and cast them out of the citie Also he repaired the Altar of the Lord and sacrificed thereon peace-offeringes and of thankes and commaunded Iudah to serue the Lord God of Israell Iosiah in the eight yeare of his raigne when he was yet a childe of sixeteene yeares began to seeke after the God of Dauid his father and in the twelfth yeare he began to purge Iudah Ierusalem from the high places the groues and the carued and
catholike church that heretikes shoulde bee put to death And therefore the ancient Fathers did not extend these preceptes to heresie as you doe or else they thought them-selues and the church of Christ not bounde to the iudiciall part of Moses lawe which properly concerned the Iewes Common-wealth and expired at the comming of our Sauiour But admit this place were ment of heresie which is not so when God saith that Prophetes shal be slaine and thou shalt slea the inhabitants of that citie with the edge of the sworde and destroie it vtterly doeth he speake to priuate or publike persons To priuate men he saide thou shalt not kill ergo this precept hee shall bee slaine is directed to the Magistrate to whome God gaue the sworde for this purpose that hee should take vengeance of the wicked in his name and according to his law Phi. What if the Magistrate him-selfe bee the partie that so sinneth and should be put to death shall he escape Theo. That is the case which you take in hande to proue that the people may punish the Prince offending as wel as the Prince may the people Phi. Either the people or none must do it Theo. And since the people may not doe it it is euident that God hath reserued the magistrate to be punished by himselfe and not giuen the people power ouer their Prince Dauid committed adulterie Salomon eâ—ected Idolatrie both offences being death by Gods lawe Might the people therefore haue put Dauid Salomon to death In many christian common-wealthes rapes thestes murthers be capitall crimes and punished by death shall the people therefore take their Princes if they be culpable in any of these and by their owne lawes chop off their heads I think you be not so mad to put the sword in euerie mans hand that first will vse it Phi. Then Princes haue impunitie to doe what they list without feare of Lawes Theo. Princes appoint penalties for others not for themselues They beare the sworde ouer others not others ouer them Subiectes must be punished by them and they by none but by God whose place they supplie Saint Cyrill saith rightly Nemo leges Regum impunè reprobat nisi Reges ipsi in quibus praeuaricationis crimen locum non habet Prudenter enim dictum est impium esse qui regi dixerit iniquè agis No man may breake the lawes of Princes without punishment but the Princes themselues who may not be charged with the transgression of their owne Lawes For it was wisely spoken he is wicked that sayeth to a king thou art an offendour And if it bee a monster in nature and policie to suffer the children to chastise the father and the seruantes to punish the Master what a barbarous and impious deuise of yours is this to giue the Subiectes power of life and death ouer their Princes Sticke not to these thinges if you bee wise least Children and Seruauntes thinke it more neede you bee purged for Phrensie than answered by Diuinitie Phi. Neither pertaineth this to poore men onely but to the Gouernours and Leaders of the people most of all As wee see in the booke of Numbers where Moses by the commaundement of God caused all the Princes of the people to bee hanged vppon Gibbettes against the Sunne for communication in sacrifice with the Moabites and the rest of the people euerie one by the hande of his neighbour to bee put to the sworde for the same fault wherein Phinees the Priest of God by sleaing a chiefe Captaine with his owne handes deserued eternall prayse and the perpetuitie of his Priesthood By Moses also his appointment the faithfull Leuites slue 3300. of their neighbours brethren and friendes for committing idolatrie and forsaking the true God Mary in all this as you see by the examples alleadged the Prophet and Priestes must direct them for the cause and action that they erre not of phantasie partialitie pride and pretence of Religion as heretikes and rebels do but the quarrel must be for the olde faith seruice and Priesthood against innouation and directed and allowed by those which by order and function haue charge of our soules Theo. Can you see no difference betweene Nobles that bee Subiectes and the Prince that beareth the sworde Moses the chiefe Magistrate was commaunded by God to hang vp the heades and captaines of the people for committing whoordome with the daughters of Moab and bowing down to their gods and so hee did Your conclusion is ergo the people may doe the like to their Magistrates You may hang this reason on a hedge for the goodnesse of it Your antecedent hath two sufficient warrantes which your conclusion lacketh First God precisely commaunded that kinde of reuenge to bee taken and secondly the Magistrate was the reuenger Howe can you then vpon this infer that Subiectes may do the same since Subiectes be no magistrates and haue a streit commandement from God not to laie hands on his annointed Phi. Phinees the Priest of God slue Zimri the Prince of the house of Simeon with his owne hands and thereby gat the perpetuitie of his Priesthood Theo. Phinees had for his warrant afore he did the deede the voice both of God and the Magistrate For Moses had charged the Iudges of Israell before Zimri came with the woman of Midian into the tentes Euery one slaie his men that ioyned vnto Baal Peor And the Magistrate commaunding as in this case you see he did it was lawful for Phinees or any other priuate person to execute that sentence Phi. Why then was Phinees so highly commended and recompenced at Gods handes Theo. Not for attempting to kill without commission as you imagine but for his readinesse to accomplish the will of God and worde of Moses with his owne handes in the sight of them all and hastning in his own person to do that execution though he were the chiefe Prince of the tribe of Leuie and sonne to Eleazar the high Priest whose zeale for his seruice God so imbraced that he willed the office of the high Priest after his fathers death to remaine to him and his line for euer Phi. The Leuites before that slue 3300. of their neighbours brethren and friends for committing idolatrie and forsaking the true God Theo. Why shoulde they not when as God and the Magistrate appointed them so to doe Moses gaue them the charge in these words Thus saith the Lord God of Israel put euerie man his sworde by his side and goe to and fro from gate to gate through the host and slea euery man his brother and euery man his companion and euery man his neighbor And the children of Leui did as Moses had commanded and there fell of the people that day about three thowsand men What fact can be more lawfull than where God prescribeth what shall be done and he that beareth the sword authoriseth others to do it Phi. The Priestes you see made this