Selected quad for the lemma: honour_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
honour_n	day_n	holy_a	sabbath_n	2,006	5	9.7690	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A95843	The supreme povver of Christian states vindicated against the insolent pretences of Guillielmus Apollonii, or A translation of a book intituled, Grallæ, seu vere puerilis cothurnus sapientiæ, &c. Or, the stilts, or most childish chapin of knowledge upon which William Appolonius of Trever, and minister of the church of Middleburgh boasts, among such as are ignorant, in his patcht rhapsodies, which hee set forth concerning supreame power and jurisdiction in matters of religion. Against the book of the most famous Dr. Nicholaus Vedelius, intituled Of the episcopacy of Constantine the Great.; Grallæ. English.	Vedel, Nicolaus, 1596-1642,	1647 (1647)	Wing V168; Thomason E388_5; ESTC R201503	255,312	305

that justifying faith in whomsoever it is makes that man holy but so doth not Gods word all them to whom it is given because God commits the knowledge and preaching thereof to most prophane and wicked men so that the whole worship of God is not more holy then true Faith and God word For it is wholly appointed to beget faith and the Word is the originall and onely measure of the whole worship Outward workes and meanes of worship for begetting of faith in men have a lesser degree of sancti●y these are conversant about things persons time and place and other circumstances neither do they consist in a perpetuall or any inherent Perfection or internall dignity but onely in Gods setting them a part and ordination for his worship according to time and place The Bush out of which God first spake to Moses is called holy ground Exod. 3.5 not as if the nature of that Bush was changed or that there was any inherent or permanent perfection in it but consisted onely in this outward manner whereby God had manifested his presence there which afterward ceasing no doubt but the whole sanctity of that place ceased also This continued longer in mount Sinai where Moses was so many dayes in Gods presence but longest of all in the Tabernacle and in the Temple of Solomon which he had in a manner for ever set a-part for his worship for there was the Ark the Mercy-seat the Cherubims the Breast-plate Vrim and Thummim where God gave his Oracles and manifested his presence by signes so evident that he would not suffer the order prescribed by him to be perverted as we see in Miriam Corah Dathan and Abiron in the Philistines when they received the Arke in Vzza whom he struck with death for touching the Ark lastly in Vzzia whō he struck with leprosie when he offered to sacrifice How-ever this sanctity of the whole Temple was extraordinary and of long continuance yet it did not change the nature of those things for they were made up of gold silver pretious stones and other naturall things and doubtlesse they were at last fewell for the fire and booties for wicked Plunderers For Josephus writes that when Titus triumphed amongst other spoyles was carried the Law of the two Tables which with such veneration was hid in the Ark within the Holy of Holies So then this sanctity was neither inherent nor permanent but relative onely and temporall which I cannot better expresse then by comparing it to a house with its Utensils where a Prince sojournes for a while So long as he remains there because of his Majesty and pomp there is nothing in the house which derives not thence some dignity and splendor which notwithstanding is neither in the house nor utensils properly For presently it ceaseth when the Majesty of the Prince is removed from thence The same must be affirmed of personall sanctity when God admits some to the charge of his worship For if there be no inherent and perpetuall dignity in the place and things appoynted for divine worship how much lesse can this be in the persons which are ordained for handling of the things belonging to his worship This may be seen in the Levits whose whole stock God had chosen and consecrated out of all the Jewes for his worship who therefore were called and were so indeed a Holy people yet from thence there was not in them any inherent perfection or integrity as may be seen in Eli his sonnes who were wicked persons and even Samuels sonnes for their vices were removed from succession in the Priesthood So that from hence it is evident that there is no inherent and perpetuall holinesse in persons appoynted for divine worship but only of relation and ordination so much as was fit for executing of their function I grant that sometimes God is so bountifull that he hath with the holy Office conferred also gifts and vertues as when he bestowed upon Saul with the Crown the good spirit of government especially when he furnished the Prophets and Apostles with the inherent gifts of Faith Piety and Miracles But this is sure that God never so tied himselfe to man as alwayes to sanctisie those inwardly whom he calls to a holy function outwardly for he made use of an Asse to teach of Balaam the Sorcerer to prophesie and of Judas the Traytor to the honour of Apostleship The like reason is of times for as God hath consecrated things persons and places so he hath done dayes such as the Sabbath and other Festi●all dayes among the Jewes of which none was in it self more holy but by Gods ordination onely more eminent as it was appoynted for holy worship which condition ceasing the day became vulgar I have been somewhat large in explaining this externall and relative sanctity that the unwary may not be deceived by them who speak so proudly of this priviledge of Sanctity that wheresoever this word Sanctitie is used they will have us beleeve that there is meant a perpetuall and permanent firmnesse of dignity and integrity Experience hath taught us this among the Papists for Bellarmine plainly confesseth that the worship of Images dead men and reliques in the Church of Rome proceeded from the perswasion of holinesse in those men and of Gods assistance which because they had whilst they lived therefore they think the same to be perpetually fastened to their Karkasses graves reliques and very Images so that they suppose they are bound to honour them or God being in that place I will not say how often these deceivers abuse and delude superstitious people by presenting oftentimes the reliques of Knaves Theeves Dogges and Apes in stead of Saints only this I 'le say that they are deceived in subjecting Gods presence to their pleasures whilst they feigne his power to be tyed to these things and persons in all places in which it hath been sometimes for so in all things and persons there must be an inherent and perpetuall vertue and perfection as often as he consecrates them once for some holy use The falshood of which appeares in the overthrow of the Jewish Temple and spoyle of all its utensils for who but a superstitious man wil now search for holines in that place where God first spake with Moses or in the top of Mount Sinai where he proclaimed the Law with such a miracle Who will seek for holinesse in the rubbish of the Jewish Temple which Christ so cursed that when to his dishonour Julian endevoured to re-build it he was forced to desist from his work Mat. 24. because of flames breaking out of the earth and the element it self making resistance if the Arke or Propitiatorie if the Cherubim and Tables of the Law if the holy Breast-plate and what else was venerable in the Jewes Sanctuarie were now present there were no more holines to be placed in them then in any other ordinary utensils which we know have yeelded to the fire or the Plunderer I confesse this

Ecclesiastick Chaire but some also have leapt out of the Bakers Weavers and Shoo-makers shops into the Pulpit and some of Mechanicall Tylers or Brick-layers have become grave Ministers I confesse that this is no other thing then what Christ did shew in the Aposties when he chose Disciples out of Fisher-men Publicans Tent-makers and all sort of Mechanickes onely this I say that if the Modern Church-discipline be ordered according to the Leviticall as Apolonius prates then Christ shewed a bad example and the Walach ian Novalist hath preposterously followed in excluding other stockes doth not tye the hope of Ministerial Church-sanctity to one stock alone But now I will deale bountifully with the Walachrans and will permit them to defend their cause with the old peculiar Levitical Rites But by what Art can they evince that to be of speciall right and sanctitie in the Christian Church which among the Levites was not of peculiar but of common right with the Magistrates and people Indeed all Levites were born with this priviledge to handle and touch the things of the Temple to offer Sacrifice to put on holy Vestiments to eat the holy Bread and other things which God expressly declared in his Law The High Priest had a peculiar priviledge to enter into the Holy of Holies to put on the holy Miter and Breast-plate which not onely was unlawfull for the people to doe but even for the Prophets themselves except in some extraordinary case but which of the high Priests upon this pretence durst exclude out of the whole Temple all other Priests which not onely of the Magistrates but even of the people themselves would have endured this If under pretext of Templebusinesse● and sacrificing these Levits durst have excluded all other Tribes and the whole people of Israel as uncleane and prophane from all other businesse of divine worship they had done no lesse absurdly then if they had cast out of their Tents and separated from all holy men the whole people as leprous Therefore the Levits were to contain themselves within the prescript of Gods Lawes nor were they to extend the pretext of Sanctity further then God had cōmanded I will not for certainty affirm that they have not been somtimes so immoderate in enlarging the prerogatives of their holinesse as that they have not chalenged somewhat never expresly granted by God for ambition seemes to be an innate evill in Church-men yet this I dare say that the old Levits were never so bold as to deny to Kings and the whole people many things which belonged to the worship and exercise of Religion such were in the Temple private and publick preaching and praying celebrating of the Sacraments making Lawes and Statutes of Ecclesiastick businesse judging and determining of Ecclesiastick causes curbing and punishing Priests even the high Priests when they failed in their Functions Lastly bestowing power upon Clergy-men to exercise their holy Function and taking the same away again 〈◊〉 all which I will make cleare hereafter by examples If this Wallachrian Iugler had weighed this well he had not so boldly obtruded upon the unwary the example of the ancient Leviticall worship for maintenance of his Church-discipline For he deales no otherwise then if some contentious Fellow should breake into ones House and should by certain Deeds shew that his Parents and Ancestors had right to some Benches or Stooles in that House by covenant or bargain whereas by the same Deeds it appeareth that either the Benches were worn or demolished or else that the right of possessing them was long since lost He notwithstanding violently seizeth not onely on the Benches but likewise driving out the inhabitants upon the whole House Surely whatsoever by speciall right heretofore belonged to the Levits and Clergy in the old Law is now known to be abolished and whatsoever holy Functions at this day remaine are not now peculiar to the Levits but common to all So that if now the Stilt-walker would plead his cause among the Levits they would shut him out of their Synagogue But because I am to speake more at large of this hereafter I will say no more at present of the acceptions and conditions of Sanctity till after I have touched one errour Lastly we must observe that the right of ordination of holy things belongs onely to God If we goe beyond his prescript with what specious pretext soever things or rites bee honoured they are not to be accounted truly sacred or holy For as all inherent sanctity and perfection is in God and flowes from him so likewise by his sole ordination things are called Relatively sacred or holy in divine worship From this Rule the Pope hath much deviated 2 Thess 2. who by his sole priviledge by which he is lawlesse and Pauls Antichrist extolling himselfe c. takes upon him liberty to sanctifie or as they call it Canonize as he pleaseth Men Places Dayes and things so that his subjects verily beleeve that what hee declares to be holy is holy indeed Hence it is that not being content with Jewish Rites and Ceremonies of the ancient Church doth daily devise new ones which hee thinkes may conduce to his honour and profit so that for a long time he hath opppressed Christians with the insupportable yoak of Ceremonies neither doth he this without some pretext of equity Bellarmine in some places stoutly affirmes that the Pope never yet introduced any Rite or sacred Ceremony into the Church which is not contained in holy Scripture But here hee useth a three-fold caution First that whatsoever frivolous interpretation the Pope giveth must be held consonant to Scripture which custome Philip Marnixius deriding in his Bee-hive shews out of Lindanus whom he calls Blind●sinus that there is no Rite so ridiculous in the Popes Histrionical Church-dressing for which they shall not find out some place of Scripture out of which it is coyned when the Popes Alchimisticall power of interpretation is added which can convert the frivolous drosse of his trifles into the pure gold of Sanctity But when he findes this way troublesome he useth this as a generall Maxime in the second place That that must bee counted a holy Rite and ceremony which is done with a good intention and for a holy use And as if this were not sufficient to refute Lutherans hee addes in the third place That these things may bee held for sacred Rites and Ceremonies which the Church judgeth to depend and in a manner to flow from those prime mysteries contained in Scripture by which trick the Pope doth wonderfully cheat the whole world that whensoever he produceth any Novelty to oppresse Christian Liberty which cannot be found in Scripture hee will have it to flow thence by way of consequence or by some connexion to depend from it Now because the Scripture defines no where how this dependency may be deduced from it hence it came to passe that there was no end of sacred dependences For each Pope took upon him this

so require But I would not have men think with these new Papists that there is such necessity in this worke as if Gods worship could not subsist without it or that there is such an inward sanctity in it that pious Magistrates must not meddle therewith It is commonly objected that civill Magistrates could not be present at Ecclesiastick meetings because in the Apostles times there were none such among Christians but besides that this is doubtfull this is at least certaine that the Apostles did so govern the Church that they admitted the whole body in managing Church-affaires which because it consisted of many Lay-men it is apparent they were not so precise as to think any man unworthy because of his secular calling or unfit to manage all Church-businesse as I will hereafter shew more at large But let pious Magistrates know that of old under Christ and his Apostles the coactive and principall power of the Church resided miraculously in those governours and because this miraculous power is now ceased in the Church-rulers and resideth ordinarily in pious Princes that it is their part to be chiefe and to be Presidents in all Church-Assemblies not as if they were to doe what they please against Law which is the direct practice of the old Papists and indirectly intended by the new under the vizard of Ecclesiastick Jurisdiction But that being furnished with the gifts of piety and prudence they may be at this day the Churches Eyes Eares and Hands and may every way benefit her chiefly in such places where the Apolonians that can turn themselves into all shapes hunt after command and worldly honour and by their seditious pens and tongues teach Christians to be sawcy and rebellious to pious Secular governours whom if they keep under according to their just and divine authority they will case Christians of many inconveniences and shall exceedingly benefit them The Scripture speakes of many other things which belong to the Ministery which are To assist the poore with their prayers and comforts to help poore widowes with their counsell and with such things as they want to visit the sick and to cure them if they can These works God exceedingly commends but because they are servile therefore Apolonius leaves them for holy Lay-men whom commonly they call Visiters of the sick he reserves for himselfe whatsoever hath in it superlative spirituality and jurisdiction to which he hath lately transferred the right of collecting and distributing almes to the use of the poore For although hitherto all good men have thought it a benefit that Magistrates have out of their own purses helped the poore members of the Church and taken care for them Yet the Stils-walker by his seraphicall acute wit finding out some inconveniences that may redound to him and his colleagues if this power should be in the Magistrate he sharply contends for this holy priviledge as being a part of Ecclesiastick Jurisdiction and therefore is sayd publickly in writing to have in an imperious way signified to his Magistrates that they have no right to collect and distribute and that it is unlawfull for them hereafter to thrust their prophane Secular sickle into this sacred corn He is sayd also to become so untoward that with his Walachrian Classiaries he hath forbid the Deacons of all the Walachrian Churches that they should upon any order from the Magistrate gather almes for the Irish I confesse that I cannot being so far off fish out every thing exactly yet because the rumor of this Paradox and summe of his reasons are come hither to us such ridiculous delight there is in this inquisition that although I make haste yet I cannot but a little touch upon these trifling conceits which he hath divulged He doth not think almes in it selfe to be properly holy that is the gift exhibited by Christians which in Scripture is called properly spiritual sacrifice For he seeth this to be common to all Lay-men and of the Dative case which case the Pope exceedingly abhors For Bellarmine feignes that he is poore and that he hath nothing but what is given to him by Christians for the use of the poore Whence one sayd of old not unpleasantly that the Pope was a Participle of the Ablative case From whence doubtlesse the Stilt-Walker learned as he hath other things to contend for the spirituality of almes not that he exceeds in giving but onely in receiving and in the right of distributing that which is none of his the quality whereof I wil briefly discusse First in a juggling way he supposeth that the sanctity of Churcha●mes doth wonderfully exceed that of Lay-mens so that these are prophane and worldly not appertaining properly to Christs Kingdome but the others are most holy Whence hee concludes that they are to be handled onely by holy men that is Church-men and not Lay-men Now he placeth the ground of sanctity of these Church-almes in this that they are given by the holy or faithfull men of the Church and for the use of holy men in another Church that is of the faithfull so that here ariseth a heavenly sanctity of Church-almes from the terminus à quo to wit the faithfull givers and from the terminus ad quem to wit the faithfull receivers whence necessarily must proceed the sanctity of the terminus per quem to wit that this holy thing must not be medled with but by holy men Now ordinary sanctity wil not suffice for this such as is found in all believers and therefore in pious Magistrates although this be accounted most holy in Scripture yet such is the Stilt-walkers Philosophy that he reckoneth this for none or at least only for a privative sanctity which is unfit to handle those holy almes but he admits here onely Ecclesiastick or positive sanctity of Deacons or comparative of Elders or at last superlative This is the whole Eleemosynary dreame which the Walachrian dreamed in the Vatican or in the Popes Castle of S. Angelo I will not spend much time in dispelling these smoakes yet I will shew the absurdity of this foolery that honest men may laugh at it For I ask if the civill Magistrate doe bestow as much money for the use of the poore as the Church can bestow whether this mony shall be holier if it come out of the Churches treasure then if out of the Magistrates If he denies this then the fiction of Church-monies sanctity will faile If he affirmes it then it will necessarily follow that in the Churches treasure there lurketh some mystery of holines which can make that the same money which is given by Lay men is prophane but by the Church sacred and holy which is a meere Jewish and Popish fiction Again if the sanctity of Church-money ariseth from the terminus à quo that is of the faithfull giver then necessarily it ceaseth if he be not holy who gives it Whence Apolonius and his Deacons must be very carefull that nothing come into their treasure that is not holy

errour is that rashly and most falsly they assume to themselves the title of Christs Legate no other wayes then the Jewes of old bragged of the Temple and the Papists now of the Church That one may be the Kings Embassadour two things are required that he may carrie his badge and may shew his Letters of credence that he is the Kings Embassadour The other that he may have his instructions concerning the Kings will and command so that when he wills he may shew all things ready for his Embassie For if either of these be wanting the whole honour of his Embassie failes so that if one take upon him to be an Embassadour and having the badges yet go beyond his commission either out of ignorance or malice he shall not be a true Legate Againe if one do faithfully deliver the Kings will as a Legate and yet have no right or any thing to shew for his Embassie he also is not to be accounted the Kings Embassadour and it hath oftentimes been seen that such Legates have been punished by Princes as Impostors If according to this rule the Pope be examined he will be found to be Antichrist If you ask for his Letters Patents of Embassie he will tell you that he sits in Peters chaire and that from person to person from Peter to himselfe this right was derived to wit by true election and many other things with which he belyeth his Letters of credence If you make inquirie into his instructions though many Popes were nothing but Monsters despisers of divine and humane Lawes yet they say that he is infallible by the vertue of his Chaire that he hath all Lawes within the cabinet of his brest This fiction is thrust upon men under many ambiguities and now for many hundred yeares hath so prevailed in Popery that he who doubts to yeeld to thus shall be compelled to yeeld to arguments taken from excommunication prison faggots and death This is the old Popery The new Walachrian Papist brags much more unseemingly of his Embassie because he is forced to confesse that he hath no Letters to shew for his employment nor any wayes so instructed as to deserve the name of Christs Embassadour for I will aske him what certaine badges hath he to shew that he is Christs Legate he will doubtiesse say he hath badges or markes in that he was chosen by the Church that is elected and ordained to preach by an outward company of men professing Christ but this is to prove the same by the same for then the question will be where did Christ say that he would account him for his Legate who is chosen and ordained at this day to preach by an Assembly of Christians If there were now such a King who should acknowledge for his Embassadours such as should take upon them this function by some evill and sinistrous wayes he should be held an inconsiderate Prince and little carefull of his honour How unworthy a thing is it then to suspect this of Christ so great a Monarch that he would so prostitute the glorious right of his Embassie in holy things that he should presently acknowledge for his Vicars and Legates who can shew onely the externall pomp of Vocation This fiction was long since exploded among the old Papists yet wee deny not but they had some kind of calling but because it was not justly performed and according to Christs prescript it is therefore accounted as none Though I will not ascribe the same degree of impudencie to those Walachrians yet if Apollonius will confesse what he knoweth there is nothing more certaine then that the whole manner of Vocation there is humane and oftentimes carnall so that I thinke it a most unworthy thing that Christ should be so loose and profuse in bestowing the honour of this Embassie whereas it is as easie in a Brokers shop of old cloaths to find a sute for a noble man as it is there by force or favour to acquire through Apollonian spirituall Arts the title of Christs Legate Now for matter of instruction If it be demanded I have shewed before that there is no man at this day who dare say he is infallible For as soon as the Scribes in their preaching departed from the chaire or reading of Moses in Christs time they did easily admit the leaven of their owne traditions in their doctrine of which Christ will have us take heed though neverthelesse he will have us hearken to them so long as they sit in Moses his chaire that is continue in the simple reading So this writing of Apollonius shewes what is done in the Walachrian Classis who placing the authority of his Embassie not in reading but in declamatory preaching hath been divers times convicted by me of errour and found to have departed from the instructions of his King whence he seems to me to be no lesse sottish when he obtrudes a corrupt calling and fallible preaching for Christs true Embassie then if he would pay his debts by painting on a piece of board the figures and colours of divers coynes and so give them to his creditor instead of paiment Here is no obscure report that the Ecclesiastick spirituality of Apollonius is so ruinous there that not onely out of the positive sanctity of Deacons the comparative of Elders but which is a wonder from the superlative of Preachers this shamefull disgrace hath proceeded Versuram facere fore cedere that some there out of a base intent to defraud men tooke up money upon use to pay their creditors and plaid bankerupts If it please Apollonius to help his Colleague with such a paiment that he may bestow upon him a large sum of painted money on a board I will give him leave to use his bounty yet he shall no more satisfie his creditors there by paying painted money for true then by obtruding upon us here the shadowes and pictures of his calling and preaching when he would shew us the uncorrupt honour of his Embassie Paul indeed and the Apostles might glory that they were Christs Embassadours because they were sent immediately neither from men nor by men whence they were furnished with the badges of their vocation with piety of life infallibility of doctrine and power of miracles This Embassie of Christ as being an Apostolicall function was onely in them and ended in them The dignity of Evangelists was somewhat lesse who wrote from their mouths as Luke or taught Act. 1.1 as Timothie whom Paul confesseth to have heard the doctrine of salvation from his mouth among many witnesses and warnes him that he should commit it to faithfull men 2 Tim. 2.2 and apt to teach such was Titus These were not Christs immediate Legats but the Apostles to whom notwithstanding it belonged to speak with authority as Calvin translates it or with command as Beza For although their Embassie was much different from that of the Apostles yet so long as they lived they could have recourse to them They

also shewed a great measure of spirituall gifts in themselves so that not without cause their authority was great in the Church yet not as Christs proper and immediate Legates but of the Apostles yet they were divine and excelled in the gifts of the Spirit Since their departure that glorious way of calling and conferring of gifts by imposition of hands ceased that scarce three hundred yeares after Christ did there any whit of this rare vocation remaine yea Antichrist breaking out in the place of gifts all sorts of corruption and vices succeeded And yet if we look upon the lights of ancient times namely Austin yea Bernard in the yeare 1300. shining as a light in Cimmerian darknesse we must confesse that this Walachrian Jugler is but ice to compare to those fires of whom I think none durst venture to proclaime himselfe Christs immediate Legate as this trifler every where doth He is like those Painters Luke 2. which picture the Virgin Mary in Princely robes and with rich hangings because she was descended of the royall blood of King David of whose riches she had nothing when Christ was born but was destitute of all riches The titles that remaine are as blasphemous as fallacious 9. Pontisicis the Apostle in that notable place to the Hebrewes willing to exalt above all humane reach Christs incommunicable and ever to be adored vocation Heb. 5.4 to his eternall Priesthood and Mediatorship for the whole race of mankinde doth chiefly illustrate it by the excellency of the manner which he declared by the typicall calling of Aaron in glory exceeding the inauguration of all the Leviticall High Priests that succeeded him which notwithstanding the manner of Christs eternall Priesthood did infinitely excell in that he received his inauguration not from any earthly man but from heaven for to none of the Angels was it said Thou art my sonne this day have I begotten thee of which the Apostle speaks plainly when he saith Heb. 1.5 no man takes unto himselfe this honour but he who is called of God as Aaron was and Christ whence it is apparent that it is temeritie for any man after Christ to take upon him the priviledge of this title yet Antichrist the old Romish Pope durst doe it priding himselfe in this as in many other things that he hath succeeded Christ as his Vicar and high Priest in the Militant Church Our Stilt-walker following the foot-steps of his Predecessor doth not indeed as yet brag that he is high Priest but desirous to make an impression of the excellency of his preaching function upon unskilfull and superstitious people he is so often commending it that he would have all men believe what the Apostle speakes of Christ alone and Aaron to be meant of himselfe and such as he for he takes this for a generall rule that no man is called to a sacred function except also this belong to him that he hath not assumed this honour but hath received it of God This indeed did appeare in Aaron typically in Christ truly But he that will search for this in the Popes naughty vocation or in that vicious and humane calling of Apollonius as I have described it will wrong Christ 10. Tit●●● spousi quad sit maritus Ecclesiae and will make us believe that to be true which we see and know to be contrary Apollonius thinks it also no meane title for a Bishop to be called the Bridegroome and Husband of the Church if this be true they will suppose that the Church whose lesser and meaner part is the Magistrate must bee subject to the Minister as a wife to the husband because it is plainely said to the woman thy will shall bee subject to thy husband But these parabolicall allusions are of little weight among wise men if in Scripture sometimes the title of Husband or Bridegroome were given to Ministers but it is so farre from this that in it we find the Baptist conferring this honour on Christ alone that he is the Bridegroome because he hath the Bride reserving to himselfe the title of friend onely which modesty is farre different from the pride of moderne Papists who boldly prate that they are the Bridegroomes and therefore have the Bride I think that it is more injurious to Christs incommunicable honour for one to call himselfe a Vicar Bridegroom or Husband then the Ministeriall head of the Church Concerning the indignity of this last many books have been written against the Pope whereas notwithstanding it is evident that this involves no dishonour to Christ if he have under him a Ministeriall held but it containes obscoenity for one to be called Vicar Bridegroome or secondary Husband of Christs Church upon earth But I will not spend time about this as any great matter I will only drive this Walachrian Papist to quotlibetary fooleries by which he may with his old friends delight or vex himselfe For first I will aske if a Pastor or Preacher be the Bridegroom or Husband of the Church what kind of Husbands were the Apostles who had no particular Church but had the care of all If he say they were not Husbands or Bridegroomes which they themselves would have easily acknowledged he will make them lesse worthy then the Walachrian night-birds but if on the contrary he doe confesse it he will bring upon them the suspition of bawdrie as though they had power every where to lie with other mens wives Which monster Mahomet in his Alcoran did challenge to himselfe that according to his propheticall majesty he might have power to leap into every womans bed Againe if he saith that the Church is married to ordinary Pastors I aske whether it be not an unseemly thing for one woman to have many husbands which no Law doth allow and yet in this spirituall marriage there is nothing more common for many Churches have two three foure Pastors and perhaps the Church of Middleburg hath many more and consequently husbands which if he shall make use of as his Vicars to lie with his wife Apollonius himselfe will make her to be suspected of adultery except he be assured that she will be loyall to him as the cheif husband yet he shall carrie the hornes when he gives way to his colleagues as his underlings to make use of her But if one Church be duly married to one husbands I aske again if any thing can be more proper for marriage then indissolubility but in this holy and spirituall wedding there is nothing more absurd for no sooner doe young men leave the Schoole but out of the heat of their youth they begin to be suiters neither is there any Church so meane and poor to which they will not make suite as if shee were the fairest Bride in the World if so be shee will confer upon them a pastorall Cloak and a stipend but this is not with any intention to stay alwayes with this wife but like insects they gather company till they can

Magistrates cannot rule the Church This argument also is made up of divers lies for it is false that the Civill Government is alwayes Monarchicall the Government of our Country is Aristocraticall such also is that of the Venetians Helvetians and others another lye is that the Church-Government is alwayes Aristocraticall because under Heli Samuel Macchabees and others it was Monarchicall yea in the New Testament it was not still Aristocratical but oftentimes Monarchicall For I ask when Christ lived upon the earth and ruled the Church whether the Church-government was not then Monarchicall Doubtlesse it was if ever it was Again when Paul alone was at Antioch and in Syria was not then the government of that Church Monarchicall For who was to be compared with so great an Apostle Lastly when John the Apostle was alone in the world for he lived longest had not then the Church on earth a notable Monarch Surely if such a Doctor at this day could be found in the world he should be as it were the Monarch of the Church and worthy to whom the whole Christian world should rise and give honour Whence the Pope makes no bad consequence in calling himself the head and Monarch of the whole Church and not Kings and Princes because they rise and give honour to him if it be true what he brags that hee is Peters successor and endowed with the gifts of infallibility as well as Peter But because experience teacheth that he wants all Peters gifts chiefly that of infallibility and on the contrary to be nothing els but a monster and load of all vices hence it is that he is a meere Impostor and a mocker of Christianity and Princes are miserably deluded in yeelding so much to so unworthy and wicked a man All then that the Stilt-walker babbles for Oracles are meere lies But this I will add that though Christ and his Apostles were by right Monarchs of the Church yet they still ruled the Church with that moderation that their government seemed rather Aristocraticall then monarchicall so that hence it appeares there is no necessity that he should alwayes rule monarchically who hath the right of Monarchie for he may use it aristocratically If this be true of Ecclesiasticks why should it not also hold in civill Princes that though they be Monarchs yet they may handle Church-matters in an Aristocraticall way as oftentimes Kings do And so the Kingdome of the Church shall not be monarchicall though a Monarch live in it ruling Aristocratically He ascribes much strength to this Ram which he is still shewing as if it had exceeding great Hornes whereas indeed it is a horn-lesse calfe The power formally Ecclesiastick depends immediately from Christ the Mediator the Churches husband who gave Apostles Prophets Teachers par 1. p. 37. and Pastors to his Church but not Magistrates Ephes 4. And hath placed this power in the Church Mat. 18. But Magistrates are not the Church whence he gathers that the Magistrates office is neither requisite nor belonging to the Church and consequently that it appertaineth no wayes to them to use the Churches power He parted this one Argument into divers I have gathered his fooleries together in one bundle that I may fling them downe together First wee must note that this is an old and oftentimes refuted device of his in perswading us that Ecclesiastick power hath for its author Christ the Mediator and Spouse of his Church but not the Civill Power I have shewed before and now will more at large demonstrate that this is a most notorious lye His principall Argument is par 1. p 37 that while Christ lived on the earth he did all Church functions either by himselfe or by his Apostles but did not meddle with the Magistrates office but refused it and prohibited it to his Apostles whence Anabaptist-like he concludes that Magistracie hath neither Christ for its Author not belongs to the Church all which are a meere heape of lyes For first I aske whence learned he that no Function is required for the Church till the end of the world but what Christ must discharge either by himselfe or by his Disciples living upon the earth The Scripture saith no such thing but is the meere fiction of Apollonius otherwise let him tell me when did Christ or his Apostles performe the Precentors part in the Church because Martyr doubts whether in the Apostolicall Church there was any use of publique singing which wee borrowed at best from the Jewish Church many offices ceased in the Churches upon the Apostles departure to supply which Necessity hath gathered together many things mans industry hath found out without any sin or blemish if Antichrist had not corrupted all with multitudes His other lye is that Christ and his Apostles did not here discharge the Magistrates office that Fiction I have already refelled for they used a co-active externall power equivalent to the sword Christ with a whip purged the Temple Mat. 21. John 8. he suffered the judgement concerning the Adulteresse to be referred to him with his word he cast to the ground the Souldiers that came to apprehend him and chiefly when on the day of Palms sitting upon an Asse he rid to Jerusalem in a Princely but humble pompe suffering the acclamations of the People and their garments to be spread in his way Mat. 21. as if he had been a King which is so manifest that Mathew adds Zacharies Prophesie to be fulfilled Behold thy King cometh to thee meeke c. So the Apostles inflicted in the Church corporall punishments as death blindnes c. All which evince that however they despised and avoided the pride and earthly pompe of Civill government yet the office it selfe they discharged in the Church when necessity required But saith he Christ being exalted gave to the Church gifts and offices necessary for it among which the office of the Magistrate is not mentioned whence he concludes that this is not requisite fore difying of the Church I answer among these offices mention is made of Governours 1 Cor. 12. and of Rulers Rom. 12. which Calvin and Aretius on those places shew to have been censures of life and manners supplying the Magistrates office Lastly suppose that in those places no mention is made of Magistracie did he therefore not ordain it Yea Peter did plainly institute this and chiefly Paul Rom. 13. and 1 Tim. 2. as I have at large shewed before neither needs he tell us that Christ himselfe gave these offices by himselfe but Magistracie he commended onely by the Apostles this is but a frivolous cavill for he sent the Apostles onely immediately then the Apostles instituted the other functions and after them Timothy Titus and others whence it appeares that Christ the Mediator being exalted is no lesse the author of Magistracy then of Church offices because that by a most famous Elogy of the same Apostle is ratifyed in the name and authority of Christ exalted by whose government alone

be understood warily part 1. p. 29 30. at last he concludes that it is impossible for the Magistrate to nourish Christians with the dug which is not much lesse then to upbraid the Prophet with falshood who plainly saith it shall be which this man boldly saith shall not be by Kings properly but by Churchmen so that the Prophet should rather have fore-told Church-men shall be thy nursing fathers not Kings I confesse this title is figurative and not to be drawne beyond the Prophets intention This is also true that Magistrates cannot properly nourish the Church as nurses doe infants but so neither can any Ecclesiasticks doe at this day For as I said before no man is properly a father but he that hath seed within him and generates not he who casts anothers seed so none is a nurse precisely but she that hath milk in her brests and with this nurseth the infant which honour belongs to none but to God onely Gods grace alone is the nurse properly whose two brests are the old and new Testament in which all saring 〈◊〉 is truly contained which not onely Church-men but Magistrates and all Christians ought to suck as being the quickening and saving milke so that neither Magistrate nor Church-man is properly the Churches nurse except we feigne such a nurse as transferres milk from the brests of other women to here whe and that being in a manner corrupted at last by a pipe conveighs it into the infants mouth which were a monstrous kinds of nourishing So that now there is nothing belongs either to secular me● or Church-men but to distribute to Gods children the milk drawne and sucked out of the brests of grace in the two Testaments which is not properly to nourish except we will call milk-women who sell milk from house to house which fredeth infants nurses I think the Stilt-walker will say that there is no absurdity if he transferre the milk drawne out of the brests of Stripture into his braine as into a dug and from thence imparting it to the Church he performe the nurses part But I say this is an improper way of nourishing for as often as his study transferrs the milk which he sucks and drawes out of Scripture into his braine as into a milk-paile which is rank with malice and the filth of ignorance the milk which he distributes to Christians is vitiated by the vessell of his corrupted braine which is improperly to nourish So that now properly the question is concerning the right of distributing the milk which is contained in the brests of holy Scripture The old and new Papists excluding the Magistrate say that this right belongs onely to them The old Papists boldly like thieves and pyrates have driven all Chris●ians away from the brests of Scripture forbidding the reading thereof by which cunning they have reserved alone the right of distri●uting that milk and they do it so sparingly and made so thin with waterish traditions that they starve many of Gods children The new Papists are more warie but withall more basec they commannd all Christians to suck out of the breasts of Scripture and to abound in it this also they command the Magistrates that they would flow with it and bestow it upon others or cause it to be bestowed yet they cry out that it is unlawfull for any or impossible except hee be a Church-man to distribute any drop of this nutritive milke because they alone have a power to conferre it by reason of their Vocation they confesse indeed that it is lawfull for Magistrates and all private men to bestow this milke privately but they will have us believe that whatsoever they doe there is not one drop of true nutritive milke bestowed by them for this is Stapletons perpetuall fraud that Gods Word is not truly milke but as it is preached by the Church which is as much as if you would say milke is not properly nutritive as it is milke but as it is publikely distributed so that in this they are like base Monopolists who confesse the milke to be nutritive in it self however it be drawn in or sucked out of the breast privately But they will not have it to bee accounted so except it be brought from them only I know it is an old song that this right is conferred onely up on Church-men by their vocation but I have shewed before sometimes that now there is no Vocation which is divine or which shewes any divine effects or confers any divine right but that it is meerly humane both in the manner and right thereof which though it was divine of old yet now it depends onely from the gifts requisite for that function which if they be found in any his Vocation tieth him as a hireling of necessity to performe this office but hindereth not others who are also furnished with these gifts from the free exercise thereof whence appeares the fraud and violence of Papists chiefly of the new ones who confesse that the quickning saving milk is contained in the breasts of the Scripture out of which all may suck and draw even Lay-men and may distribute it privately but publikely they must not or if they doe it is not nutritive which are meer mockeries However I have been large in discoursing of this nourishment yet this I affirme that Isaiah by this doubled and rare Prophecy did fore-tell some extraordinary matter of Magistrates when hee saith that they shall be nursing Fathers of the Church Apollonius thinks that nothing else is fore-told but onely that they shall procure bountifull stipends for Church-men to fatten themselves well and so may nourish the Church the better But this was no new or extraordinary matter God himselfe provided meat for the Levites and godly Kings had now a long time done that plentifully and it seems absurd to adscribe such a worke to Kings the chiefe perfection whereof could never bee reached by them but by Church-men onely Wherefore this seemes to agree with the said Prophet that Kings and Magistrates in the New Testament the Leviticall seperation being taken away should handle all ecclesiastick businesse by themselves or else that they should bee so diligent in them that if they did not perform all things by themselves yet at least they should bee so diligent in procuring of them that they should goe before church-men take the charge of them and prescribe to them no other wayes than if a Mother Queen who had permitted her infant to bee nursed and bred by nurses and her hand-maids afterward out of her motherly care should sit down among her nurses and maids and give her own brests to bee sucked performing her selfe all the parts of a nurse which we see many famous Princes have done in the New Testament Above other titles that of God is most illustrious with which the Psalmist honoureth Princes which title we never finde in Scripture given to church-men Aaron was an eminent man and was to bee the most worthy High-Priest yet God said