Magistrate and so many other restrictions were made as Rules against such as could not otherwise well rule themselves and observe the just rules of Reason and moderation And thereupon the Church it self and those godly Bishops that desired no mans wealth but what made for the glory of God and the furtherance of the Gospel of Christ made Canons and cautions against such catching Covetousness as would too greedily incroach upon their neighbours estates Decret part 2. Caus 12. q. 2. Can 49. and too unreasonably hedge it in unto the Church as that Canon which beginneth Ecclesia rapacitatis ardore The Church with too much greediness must not snatch and pluck unto her self the Lands and Possessions of her Children The Reason of those Statutes and Canons two fold And the Reason of these Inhibitions and Statute of Mortmain and Canons of the Church seems to be two fold 1. Because as I said before the zeal of those Christians was so fervent Reason 1 and their desire to promote the service of God was so eager and vehement that they cared not how much they gave but thought all that they gave too little for that service So great was the difference betwixt their mind and the minds of our Souldiers and others Gentlemen of no mean rank and some generated and degenerated from the Church whose Covetousness and greedy hearts desire nothing more then to pull down our Cathedrals and other Churches and as it were Romana lege agraria by an Irresragable Law to pluck away their Lands and Possessions until they be left as bare as in the day wherein they were first brought forth into the World 2. Because that whatsoever Lands Houses or Possessions were once Reason 2 dedicated and offered unto God and for Gods service could not without committing the horrible sin of Sacriledge be taken away by any man or by any pretence from God or indeed because the Lands and Houses that were given unto the Church were freed in those times of Popery from all Taxes and Escheats so that neither the King nor Common-Wealth could have any help or assistance from them towards the defraying of the publick and most necessary charges of the State And therefore Henry the third and Edward the first his son and Richard the second seeing how many men not out of any love to Religion or zeale to Gods service but craftily to couzen the King and other chief Lords and the Common-Wealth did thus fraudulently convey their Lands unto the Church and then took Leases of them again from the Church meerly to be freed from the Publick Taxes made those Statutes Cap 36. against the giving of their Lands in Mort-main or in a dead hand that is the Church and it is enacted in the great Charter that it should not be lawful to any man from thence-forth to give his Lands to any Religious House and then to take the same again from the same H use the which thing being a meer Collusion and an apparent wrong to the King to the chief Lord of the Fee and the Common-Wealth no Bishop ever justified the same or held it lawful for the Church to hold such Lands as were so given contrary to those Acts of Parliament and those Canons that were made against such deceitful dealings But for those Lands and Houses that were truly Religiously and without any manner of deceit or wrong to any man given to the Church for the service of God and to promote the Gospel of Jesus Christ I think them so sacred and so properly Gods right that as the Author of the Church Lands not to be sold hath Truly Religiously and most Learnedly proved so I assure my self that none but the Limbs of the Great Anti-Christ will think otherwise For Before these holy men have made the Donations of their lands or houses unto God and to his Church it was in their own power and they might without offence either give them unto the Lord or retain them still unto themselves and their posterity for so S. Peter tells Ananiâ— Whiles it remained that is un-sold was it not thine own And after it was sold was it not in thine own power that is either to offer it and give it to God and his Service Acts 5.4 or not to give it But now after thou hast sold it and dedicated the whole price of thy land for Gods Service To keep back some part of the price which formerly thou hadst given to God's Church is such a Sacriledge and so transcendent a sin as to lye unto the Holy Ghost and to rob God of that which now doth most properly belong to God and is no wayes in thy power to dispose of it And so it is in any other mans case Before thou givest thy land house or utensil unto the Church and for the Service of God it is thine own and thou mayst lawfully do what thou wilt with thine own either give it unto God or not give it but after thou hast once given it and consecrated it for God's Service it is none of thine and neither thou nor any man else can make an alienation or impropriation thereof without lying unto the Holy Ghost and a robbing of God of his right For so the Law saith Jastinian lib. 2. Tit. 1 Nullius sunt res Sacrae nam quod Divini juris est nullius in bonis est The Sacred and Dedicated things that are of Divine property are of no private mans right but God being the sole owner of them none but such as are his servants and assignes can have any thing to do with them So Charles the Great that was as good as he was great saith Bona Ecclesiae Deo sacrata sunt Capit. Car. l. 6. c. 28. Whatsoever we give unto the Church we offer and dedicate unto the Lord our God And so the style of all the Graunts in our Magna Charta runneth Magna Charta c. 1. We have given such and such lands or things unto God both for us and for our heires for ever And again the same Magna Chartae saith Privilegium Ecclesiae debet esse immune And so the Law of God saith The field when it goeth out in the year of Jubile shall be holy unto the Lord as a field devoted the possession thereof shall be the Priests because Levit. 27.21 28. as the Lord saith verse 28. No devoted thing that a man shall devote or give unto the Lord of all that he hath both of man and beast and of the field of his possession shall be sold or redeemed because every devoted dedicated or consecrated thing is most holy unto the Lord and the Lord hath given the same unto the Priests verse 21. And so the ancient Style of all Grants and Charters for these matters was Domino Deo nostro offâ—rimus dicamus cetera We give such and such things unto our Lord God And under the Law as God instituted the Tythes and lands
God of their bellies to cause all the other guests to leath their meat that they alone might devour all the dainties did use Narium mucum in catinis emungere so do these men spit all their poyson against the Revenues of the Bishops and that little maintenance that is left unto the Ministers and are as greedy to devour the same themselves as the dogs that gape after every bit they see us put into our mouths for so I heard a whelp of that litter making a bitter invective in the House of Commons against Bishops Deans and Chapters and the greatness of their Revenue Doctor Burges and concluding that all they should be degraded their means should be sequestred and distributed all without any diminution of what they now possessed but with the restitution of all Impropriations unto himselfe and the rest of his factious fellow Preachers which speech as it pleased but few in the latter clause so no doubt it had fauters enough in the former part when we see this little remnant of our fore-fathers bounty this testimony of our Princes piety is the onely mote that sticks in their eye the undigested morsell in their stomacks and the onely bait that they gape after for did our King yeild this garment of Christ to be parted among their Souldiers and this revenue of the Church to be disposed of by the Parliament I doubt not but all quarrels about the Church would soon end and all oâ—her strife about Religion would be soon composed What many men would willingly undergo to procure peace But would this end all our civil Wars would the unbishoping of our Prelates bring rest unto our Prince and the taking away of their estates settle the State of the Common-wealth and bring peace and tranquillity unto this Kingdom If so we could be well contented for our own parts to be sacrificed for the safety of the people for though we dare not say with Saint Paul that we could wish our selves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or separated from Christ for our Country-men yet I can say with a syncere heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 9.6 that I believe many of us could be well contented our fortunes should be confiscated and our lives ended so that could procure the peace of the Church which is infinitely troubled redeeme His Majesties honour which is so deeply wounded and preserve this our native Country from that destruction The abolishing of Episcopacy would not satisfie the Factious which this unparallel'd Rebellion doth so infallibly threaten but the truth is that the abolishing of Episcopacy root and branch the reducing of the best to the lowest rank and the bringing of the Clergy to the basest condition of servility to be such as should not be worthy to eate with the dogs of their flock as Job speaketh will not do the deed because as the Satyrist saith nemo repentè fit turpissimus but as virtues so vices have their encrease by use and progression Juven Sat. 2. primum quodque flagitium gradus est ad proximum and every heynous offence is as iron chain to draw on another For as Seneca saith nunquam usque adeò temperatae cupiditates sunt Seneca de Clem lib. 1. ut in eo quod contigit desinant sed gradus à magnis ad majora fit spes improbissimas complectuntur insperata assecuti our desires are never so far temperated that they end in that which is obtained but the gaining of one thing is a step to seek another And therefore cùm publicum jus omne positum sit in sacris as Plato saith how can it be that they which have prophaned all sacred things Plato de legibus lib. 12. and have degraded their Ministers should not also proceed to depose their Magistrates if you be diffident to believe the same let the Annals of France Germany England and Scotland be revised and you shall find that Charles the fifth was then troubled with War when the Bishops were turmoyled and tumbled out of their Seas Scoti uno eodémque momento numinis principis jugum excusserunt nec justum magistratum agnoverunt ullum ex quo primùm tempore sacris sacerdotibus bellum indixerunt and the Scots at one and the self-same moment did shake off the yoke of their obedience both unto their God and to their King neither did they acknowledg any for their just Magistrate after they had once warred against Religion and religious men Blacvod Apolog pro regibus pag. â—3 which were their Priests and Bishops saith Blacvodaeus and in Fran e saith he the same men were enemies unto the King that were adversaries unto the Priests quia politicam dominationem nunquam ferent qui principatum Ecclesiae sustulerunt nec mirum si Regibus obloquantur qui sacerdotes flammâ ferro persequuntur because as I have shewed at large in my Grand Rebellion they will never endure the Political Magistrate to have any rule The haters of the Bishops ever enemies unto kings when they have shaken off the Ecclesiastical government neither is it any wonder that they should slander rage against and reject their King when they persecute their Bishops with fire and sword And I think the sad aspect of this distracted Kingdom at this time makes this point so clear that I need not add any more proof to beget faith in any sober man for doth not all the World see that as soon as the seditious and trayterous faction in this unhappy Parliament had cast most of the Bishops How soon the Faction fell upon the King after they had cast off their Bishops the gravest and the greatest of all with Joseph into the dungeon a thing that no story can shew the like president in any age and had voted them all contrary to all right out of their indubitable right to sit in the House of Peers an act indeed so full of incivility as hath no small affinity with that of the Gergesites who for love of their swine drave not out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 8.34 but desired Christ to depart out of their coasts they presently began to pluck the sword out of the Kings hand and endeâ—voured to make their Soveraign in many things more servile then any of his own Subjects so that he should be gloriosissimè servilis as Saint Augustine saith that Homer was suavissimè vanus and to effect this you see how they have torn in peices all his Rights they have trampled his Prerogatives under foot they have as much as they could laid his honour in the dust and they have with violent warr and virulent malice sought to vanquish and subdue their own most gracious Soveraign which cannot chuse but make any Christian heart to bleed to see such unchristian and such horrid unheard of things attempted to be done by any that would take upon him the name of a Christian Therefore to manifest my duty to
their actions are able to justifie the proceedings of these Princes in their assistance which perhaps they did not so much simply in respect of their Religion as of some other State Policy which we that are so far from the helme have no reason to prie unto Besides you may know that neither King Charles nor Queen Elizabeth were Subjects to the other Kings but were every way their equall if not more and independent Princes And to bring the actions of such absolute Monarchs How wickedly they deceive the simple the one against the other to justifie the actions of Subjects against their Soveraigne is such Logick as the other example was Divinity Queen Elizabeth did so against the King of Spain ergo any Subject may do so against his king or rather Queen Elizabeth did that which for ought we know was most lawfull to be done against the king of Spain ergo the Earl of Essex may do that which we do know to be most unlawfull against King Charles This is the doctrine that they teach their Proselytes but that they give this poyson in a golden cup and hide their falsehood under a shew of truth but I hope ere long you shall have these things more fully manifested unto you CHAP. XX. Sheweth how the Rebellious Faction forswore themselves what trust is to be given to them how we may recover our peace and prosperity how they have unking'd the Lords anointed and for whom they have exchanged him and the conclusion of the whole AND now having committed all these things and much more wickednesse then I though I had the tongue of Angels can expresse I am perswaded many of them seeing the miraculous mercies of our God in protecting and assisting His Majesty far beyond their thoughts and imaginations do begin to think on peace and accommodation which they presuming on the Kings lenity made sure to themselves whensoever they pleased and indeed dulce nomen pacis Esay 52.7 and the feet of them that bring tydings of peace are more specious then the fairest countenance of Aurora then the sweet face of Helen Psal 85.10 Rom. 1.7 1 Cor. 3. 2 Cor. 2. c. But seeing righteousnesse and peace have kissed each other and the Apostle joyneth grace and peace alwayes together as two deare friends saith S. Aug. so deare that si amicam pacis non amaveris neque te amabit pax ipsa and these men are filled with all unrighteousnesse and have trampled the grace of God and their King under feet and having sworne and forsworne themselves over and over as at their baptisme that they would keep Gods Commandments whereof this is one Rom. 13.1 1 Pet. 2.13 How the Rebels swore and forswore themselves to be obedient unto our Kings at their admittance to any office to beare faith and true alleagiance to His Majesty at the beginning of this last Parliament to maintain the Kings just rights and all the priviledges of Parliament together with the liberty and property of the Subjects and yet immediately to forget their faith to break all these oathes and to make ship-wrack of their conscience to drive the Bishops out of their House which is one of the first and most fundamentall priviledges of the Parliament they being the first of the three Estates of this Kingdome to take away not some but all the Kings rights out of his hands and to make him no King indeed to take away all our goods our liberties and our lives at their pleasure Holland and Bedford shew'd what trust is to be given them and then to assure the Divel they would be faithfull unto him which were thus faithlesse unto God to sweare again and make a solemne Covenant with Hell they would never repent them of their wickednesse but continue constant in his service till they have rooted out whom they deemed to be Malignants though the King who is wise as the Angel of God that hath the Kings heart in his hand Proverb 21. and turneth it like the Rivers of waters where he pleaseth knoweth best what to do as God directeth him yet for mine own part either in Peace or War No trust to be given to lyars and perjurers 2 Sam. 20.20.16 I I would never trust such faithlesse perjured creatures for a straw and seeing that to spare transcendent wickedness is to encrease wickednesse and to incourage others to the like Rebellion upon the like hope of pardon if they failed of their intention if our great Metropolis of London partake not rather of the wise spirit of the men of Abel then of the obstinacy of the men of Gibeah and delivered not unto the King the chiefe of those Rebells that rose up against him I feare that Gods wrath will not be turned away but his hand will be stretched out still Judg. 20. until he hath fullfilled his determined visitation upon this Land and consummated all with their deplorable destruction even as he did those obstinate men of Gibeah and Benjamin How the King desired the good of the Rebels for though the King beyond the clemency of a man and the expectation of any Rebell hath most Christianly laboured that they would accept of their pardon and save themselves and their posterity yet their wickednesse being so exceedingly great beyond all that I can finde in any history Rebellion it selfe being like the sin of witchcraft the Rebellion of Christians far worse and a Rebellion against a most Christian pious Prince worst of all and such a Rebellion ingendered by pride fostered by lyes augmented by perjury continued by cruelty The unspeakable greatness of their sins refusing all clemency despisâ—â—g all piety and contemning God their Saviour when they make him with reverence be it spoken which is so irreverently done by them the very pack-horse to beare all their wickedness being a degree beyond all degrees of comparison hath so provoked the wrath of God against this Nation that I feare his justice will not suffer their hearts that can not repent accept and imbrace their own happiness till they be purged with the floods of repentant teares or destroyed with the steames of Gods fearefull vengeance which I heartily beseech Almighty God may by the grace of Christ working true repentance in them for themselves and reducing them to the right way be averted from them And the best way that I conceive to avert it to appease Gods wrath and to turne away his judgements from us is to returne back the same way as we proceeded hitherto to make up the breaches of the Church How we may recover the peace and prosperity of this Land to restore the Liturgie and the service of our God to its former purity to repeale that Act which is made to the prejudice of the Bishops and Servants of God that they may be reduced to their pristine dignity to recall all Ordinances that are made contrary to Law and derogatory to the Kings right and to
Imprimatur Ex Aed Sab. 30. Jun. 1662. Geo Stradling S. Th. P. Rev. in Christo Patri D no GILBERT Episc Lond. Ã Sac. Domest TRUTH VINDICATED AGAINST Sacriledge Atheism and Prophaneness And likewise against the Common Invaders OF THE RIGHTS of KINGS AND DEMONSTRATING THE VANITY of MAN in General By GRYFFITH WILLIAMS now Lord Bishop of OSSORY LONDON Printed for Randall Taylor at the Three Crowns in Little-Britain and in Westminster-Hall M.DC.LXVI TO THE KINGS Most Excellent MAJESTY Most Gracious Sovereign I Do most humbly beseech your Majesty to give leave unto your Father's most faithful servant and Your most Loyal Subject to tell you of what you cannot choose but know and what I assure thy self you do most thankfully remember that besides the many-many great blessings which the great and good God hath often shewed unto your Majesty He hath conferred and fastened two Extraordinary signal Favours upon you 1. To preserve your life after Worster-fight from those Vulturs that did so greedily thirst after your blood 2. To render unto Caesar what was Caesar's that is by taking away from those many potent and tenacious Tyrants and Vsurpers what they unjustly held and restoring your Kingdoms and setting your Crown upon your Majestie 's head where our daily prayers are that it may long and long flourish And as the Prophet David that had received the like blessings and favours from God saith Quid retribuam Domino So let me as the Embassador of God most humbly supplicate your Majesty To render unto God what is God's And as your Majesty beyond example to the exceeding comfort of us all hath most graciously and Religiously like the Son of your most pious and now most glorious Father so freely and so bountifully rendered the Revenues of Jesus Christ vested in your Majesty to his Church So by your Royal Edicts to do what in you lieth to cause all others to do the like that is To render unto God what is Gods which is but the duty of all and is now neglected almost of all for besides the other things which we owe and render not to God Manus auferendi the Sacrilegious hands have laid fast hold upon Gods right And not only so but the great Leviathan maketh it his pastime to cause his whelps to swallow up whole Churches and as it were Lege agraria to take away the Lands and Houses of the Lord into their possessions and to make the poor Levite that serveth at Gods Altar to lye in the streets or to lodge in an Irish Cabbin like the Israelites in the Wilderness when they dwelt in booths covered over with a few boughs I know your Majesty knoweth what the Prophet saith of many that speak friendly unto their neighbours but imagine mischief in their hearts so many Gentlemen Souldiers and others will speak very fair and say to your Majesty and to us God forbid that they should wrong the Church of God or take any thing from the Church and yet the mischief that they will do if they may have their minds is more than I can divine For their Covetousness and greedy desire of the Ecclesiastical Revenues projecteth no less then that this your Kingdom of Ireland should be full of darkness and that the poor people should cry for bread even the Bread of Life and there should be none as now we have but few or few able to give it them when they that should give it them have scarce bread enough to put into their own mouths and less shall have if the nefarious Violators of Holy things shall have the least countenance from your Majesty to effect their Sacrilegious wils But to let your Majesty see how earnestly and eagerly your Commissioned-Officers in 49. do strive to take away the Houses and Lands of the Church and Prebends I thought good to insert their Letters in this place To our very good Friends the Commissioners appointed for Setting the forfeited-Houses c. in the City of KILKENNY Gentlemen YOurs of the 16 th Instant we have Received acquainting us that the Corporations in your Commission mentioned do persist to Claim more then their right And propounding that for better distinguishing our Interest therein you may be by us Impowered to set the same to such a number of your selves as you shall think fittest in order to the due Trial and Ascertaining our said Interest and as are best able to manage that Affair As also signifying that the Clergy in the said Corporations do equally refuse and disappear and therefore desiring our Resolves and like Order concerning both which having duely considered We do hereby acquaint you that it is our Vnanimous Resolve and Direction both for the Corporation and Clergy-part wherein you are Concerned That you forthwith give notice to the Inhabitants and Tenants respectively That if they will not Treat with you and take out Leases of their several Holdings at moderate Rents to be by you imposed within two daies after such your notice that then you have And we do hereby give and grant unto you or such a fitting number of you as shall be amongst your selves agreed upon full power to become Tenants to such Holdings and to enter upon and possess the same or otherwise dispose thereof agreeable to your Instructions and as may be for our best advantage And as to the Clergy-part refusing or opposing as aforesaid you are to Sett and Lett all Fee-farms And we must believe them what Houses were set in Fee-farm by the Church formerly granted of any the premises or to Impose a Considerable Rent as you see fittest reserving to the Church the chief Rents payable thereout respectively And of the Rents by you reserved and other particulars relating to the premises you are to give an exact and speedy Account unto Your very loving Friends Hen. Tichburn Joh. Stephens Hans Hamilton Ran. Clayton Alex. Piggot According to the purport of the above Letter We do hereby give notice unto all persons Concerned that Fryday next being the 30 th of this Instant May We do intend to sett and dispose of all such Houses c. Which Letter we have thought fit to publish that so none might plead Ignorance Dated the 26 th of May. 1662. Tho. Evans Rob. Lloyd Ol. Wheeler Will. Hamilton Hen. Brenn. Whereby all men may see how the Church and poor Bishop of Ossory do seem to stand in the hands of Scyron and Procrustes The Souldiers of the Vsurpers that fought against their King and do still detain the Church-land from the Bishop And now like that in the Canticles wounded in the house of our friends the Souldiers in 49. that were most faithful unto your Majesty do still seek to take away our Houses from the Church And if we lose both House and Land we may go to live in the Church and lie with the Levite in the Streets But as your Majesty hath been most Gracious to the Bishops and to all the Clergy so bountifull as to grant
the occasion of this Treatise and what the Author doth therein Page 1. Chap. II. Of Sacriledge what it is how manifold it is and how it hath been alwayes punished and never escaped the Hand of the Divine Vengeance p. 4. Chap. III. The divers sorts and kinds of Sacrilegious persons And first of those that do it under colour of Law and upon the pretence of Reformation whereby they suppose their Sacriledge to be no Sacriledge at all p. 15. Chap. IV. Of two sorts of Sacrilegious persons that rob the Church of Christ without any colour or pretence of Law but indeed contrary to all Law p. 21. Chap. V. The words of King David in the 2 Sam. 7.1 2. and their divisions When they were spoken And how or in what sense Sitting and Standing are commonly taken in the Scriptures And of the two Persons that are here conferring together p. 27. Chap. VI. What the Rest and peaceable times of King David wrought The Prince's authority in causes Ecclesiastical and how they should be zealous to see that God should be justly and religiously served p. 31. Chap. VII The Objections of the Divines of Lovain and other Jesuites against the former Doctrine of the Prince his Authority over the Bishops and Priests in Causes Ecclesiastical answered And the foresaid truth sufficiently proved by the clear testimony of the Fathers and Councils and divers of the Popes and Papists themselves p. 37. Chap. VIII That it is the Office and Duty of Kings and Princes though not to execute the Function and to do the Office of the Bishops and Priests yet to have a special care of Religion and the true Worship of God and to cause both the Priests and Bishops and all others to discharge the duties of God's Service And how the good and godly Emperours and Kings have formerly done the same from time to time p. 41. Chap. IX Of the â—â—iefest Parts and Duties of Kings and Princes which they are to discharge for the maintenance of Gods Service and the True Religion and the necessity of Cathedral-Churches and Chappels for the people of God to meet in for the Worship and Service of God p. 46. Chap. X. The Answer to the Two Objections that the Fanatick-Sectaries do make 1. Against the necessity And 2ly against the Sanctity or Holiness of our Material Churches which in derision and contemptuously they call Steeple-houses p. 53. Chap. XI The Answer to another Objection that our Fanatick-Sectaries do make against the Beauty and Glorious Adorning of our Churches which we say should be done with such decent Ornaments and Implements as are befitting the House and Service of God The Reasons why we should Honour God with our goods and how liberal and bountiful both the Fathers of the Old Testament and the Christians of the New Testament were to the Church of God p. 58. Chap. XII The Answer to another Objection that our brain-sick Sectaries do make for the utter overthrow of our Cathedrals and Churches as being so fowly stained and profaned with Popish Superstitions and therefore being no better than the Temples of Baal they should rather be quite demolished than any wayes adorned and beautified p. 63. Chap. XIII That it is a part of the Office and Duty of Pious Kings and Princes as they are God's Substitutes to have a care of his Church to see that when such Cathedrals and Churches are built and beautified as is fitting for his Service there be Able Religious and Honest painful and faithful Bishops placed in those Cathedrals that should likewise see Able and Religious Ministers placed in all Parochial Churches and all negligent unworthy and dissolute men Bishops or Priests reproved corrected and amended or removed and excluded from their places and dignities if they amend not p. 67. Chap. XIV Of the maintenance due to the Bishops and Ministers of God's Church how large and liberal it ought to be p. 75. Chap. XV. That the payment of Tythes unto the Church is not a case of Custom but of Conscience Whenas the tenth by a Divine right is the Teacher's tribute and the very first part of the wages that God appointed to be paid unto his Workmen and therefore that it is as heynous a sin and as foul an offence to defraud the Ministers of this due as it is to detain the meat or money of the labouring-man which is one of the four Crying-sins p. 82. Chap. XVI The Answer to the choisest and chiefest Objections that the School of Anabaptists have made and do urge against the payment of Tythes now in the time of the Gospel p. 91. Chap. XVII What the ancient Fathers of the Church and the Councils collected of most Learned and Pious Bishops have left written concerning Tythes And of the three-fold cause that detains them from the Church p. 98. Chap. XVIII Of the second part of the Stipend Wages and Maintenance of the Ministers of the Gospel which is the Oblation Donation or Free-wil-offering of the people for to uphold and continue the true service of God and to obtain the blessings of God upon themselves and upon their labours which Donations ought not to be impropriated and alienated from the Church by any means p. 105. Chap. XIX That it is the duty of all Christian Kings and Princes to do their best endevours to have all the Impropriations restored to their former Institution to hinder the taking away and the alienation of the Lands Houses and other the Religious Donations of our Ancestors from the Church of Christ and to suppress and root out all the Vnjust and Covetous suttle customs and frauds that are so generally used and are so derogatory to the service of God from amongst the people and especially from this Kingdom of Ireland where most corruption is used and most need of Instruction unto the people p. 114. Chap. XX. The Authour's supplication to Jesus Christ that he would arise and maintain his own cause which we his weak servants cannot do against so many rich powerful and many-friended adversaries of his Church p. 117. A DECLARATION Against SACRILEDGE CHAP. I. The Declaration of the Bishop of Ossory exhibited to the High Court of Justice before Jesus Christ the righteous Judge against the most horrible sin of Sacriledge and all sacrilegious persons that detain the Tythes rob the Church and take the Lands and Houses of God into their own possessions Together with his most humble Petition to the Eternall and Almighty God his most gratious Redeemer and his most loving Master Jesus Christ that he would arise and maintain his own cause and smite all his Enemies upon their cheek-bone and put them to perpetual shame and root out their memorial from off the earth Sheweth THAT by Your most glorious Martyr the strenuous defender of the true Christian Faith and his most gratious Master Charles the I. of ever blessed memory he was called and appointed to be the Bishop of Ossory and to inable him the better to discharge his
that it was fit it should be so in respect of a double comparison 1. Of himself with God 2. Of his Court with God's Ark. Reason 1 1. I that am but a poor creature have an house to dwell in and God that is the Creator of all the World hath not an House to put his Ark in and for his servants to meet in to hear his Laws and to ' do him service Reason 2 2. My Court is stately covered over with Cedars but the Ark of God is but very meanly and basely covered over with a Canopie of skins to shelter it from the wind and the weather And therefore conceiving this to be very preposterous and a far unbeseeming thing for him to be better provided for than his God he conferreth with the Prophet and tells him he intends to rectifie this obliquity and to build God an House more agreeable to his Majesty These are the parts and parcels of the Kings deliberation and conference with the Prophet and his Bishop Nathan And 1. The time of this deliberation How Sitting Standing are commonly interpreted 1. For the time It is said when the King sate in his house and the Lord had given him rest round about from all his enemies So you see 1. It was when the King sate in his house and these relative words sitting and standing are noted by Divines to have some difference of sense and acceptation As standing being commonly taken in good part and sitting in the evil and worser sense as in these places where standing is well spoken of Ezech. 3.24 1 Cor. 10.12 2 Cor. 1.24 Ephes 6.14 1 Pet. 5.12 Ps 135.1 2. Ps 122.2 2 Reg. 3.14 The Spirit entred into me and set me upon my feet and he that thinketh he standeth let him take heed lest he fall and stand in the Lord as dear children and by faith ye stand and stand having your loynes girt about with truth and this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand and praise the Lord all ye his servants ye that stand in the courts of the Lords House and our feet shall stand in thy gates O Hierusalem and the Lord of Hosts liveth before whom I stand In all which quotations and the like the word standing hath reference unto good and is taken in the better sense and so to be interpreted And in these places and the like where the name of sitting runneth into obloquie and is attributed to iniquity Iniquity sitteth on a talent of lead Zach 5.7 Ps 119. Ps 1. and Princes sit and speak against me and Blessed is the man that hath not sate in the seat of the scornful and the ungodly person sitteth lurking in the theevish corners of the streets and so in may other places it is interpreted in the worse sense How the word sate is here takeâ— But here the word sate in his house is of a milder meaning and of indifferent acceptation and rather to be interpreted in the better sense as betokening the government of the King for so the King sate in his house signifieth that he sate in his Seat of Government and this sense hath been ancient and obvious in our reading as where the Poet saith Celsa sedet Aeolus arce King Aeolus fitteth in his high Tower and manageth his State-matters and in the Germane speech they say that to sit signifieth to reign as the Emperour sate that is reigned so many years And this is the moderne meaning of this phrase even amongst us for when we would shew how long any one hath exercised the Office and discharged the Place of a Bishop Judge or Prefect amongst us we are wont to say he sate in that place so long And to sit commonly signifieth to be in rest and quiet and is opposite to affairs and businesse As where it is said Shall your brethren go to battle and you sit still And where the Poet saith Sedeant spectentque Latini Let the Latines sit still and look on And in both these sences King David may be said to sit in his house without any great matter in which sense we understand the word though I rather take it in the later way because that 2. The next adjunct of the time is 2. When waâ— the time that David had rest from all his enemies when the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies for this varieth little or nothing from the former when he sate in his house And therefore we may very well compose them and confound them together and put than to signifie the same thing But about this rest that is here spoken of the Expositors cannot all agree when it was whilest they do consider the many Battels that he fought after this conference that he had with Nathan and therefore though some take it for the peace he had at this present time yet others of a quicker sight do assign it after the second Victory he had against the Philistines when he was such an hammer so terrible to all the neighbour-Nations as that the very name of David and his doings made them afraid and glad to sue unto him for peace and to take bands of resolution with themselves to be of good behaviour towards him and never to provoke him any more And of this we read in 1 Chron. 14.11 when the Philistines came up to Baal-Perazim and David smote them and said God hath broken in upon mine enemies by mine hand like the breaking forth of waters and afterward when they spread themselves abroad in the valley 1 Chron. 14. v. 16 17. and David smote them from Gibeon even to Gazer and the fame of David went out into all Lands and the Lord brought the fear of him upon all Nations 2. For the persons that are here conferring together 2. The persons deliberating and conferring together they are said to be David and Nathan the King and the Prophet two great Persons and high Offices that formerly were contained in one Person as Melchisedech was the Priest of the Most High GOD and King of Salem And as the Poet saith Rex Anius Rex idem hominum Phoebique Sacerdos Virgil. l. 3. And when God divided and distributed these several Offices to several persons he conferred them upon two brothers that is Moses and Aaron that so the King and the Priest might live and love one another like brethren as I have more amply shewed in my Treatise of The Grand Rebellion And so King David here dischargeth that his duty accordingly And so likewise not only the Heathen Kings but also the Jewish Kings the Kings of Israel and all good Christian Kings disdained not the friendly familiarity and conference with their Bishops and Priests The greatest Kâ—ngs and Pâ—inces were most familiar with the Priests Oâ—â—tors and Philosophers especially when they consult and deliberate of Religion or any point that concerns the Worship and Service of God For as King Croesus conferred with Solon the Philosopher and
Alexander King of Macedon consulted often with Aristotle and sometimes with Diogenes the Cynick and King Pyrrhus with his dear friend Cineas So Pharaoh King of Egypt called and consulted with his Priests that were the Magicians and deemed the wise men of Egypt when Moses came to treat of God's Service And though Moses appointed 70. men of the choicest gravest and wisest men that could be found of all the Elders of Israel to be the Sanhedrim and as it were a standing Parliament to end all controversies and all the civil affairs of the Kingdom Yet when the Case of Religion came in question and the differences about God's Worship came to be decided neither the Kings of Israel nor the Kings of Juda to whom the principal care and custody of God's Laws and Service was committed did ever commend the same unto the Sanhedrim to be concluded and setled But as King David here calleth and consulteth with Nathan the Prophet about the building of God's House so when Religion was corrupted and the Service of the True God neglected in the time of King Ahab he calleth not the Sanhedrim to rectifie and redress the same but he leaves the same to be determined and adjudged betwixt the Priests of Baal 1. Reg. 18.17 18.19 20. 2 Chron. 15.2 8 c. and Elias the true Prophet of the Lord And so did King Asa Jehosaphat and Ezechias consulted not with their lay Lords or the Sanhedrim but with Azariah the son of Oded the Prophet and with Esay and the rest of God's Prophets Nay when the Wise-men came to inquire for Christ Mâ—th 2.4 Herod that sought to destroy Him and his Religion inquireth not of any but of the Chief Priests and Scribes Where Christ should be born And so all the Wise and Christian Emperours Constantine Theodosius Justinian and the rest as you may find it in Eusebius Socrates Zozomen and other Ecclesiastical Historians had always some special Bishops with whom they conferred and consulted about matters of Religion as Charles the Fifth did with Cassander and Henry the Eighth with Bishop Crammer For they conceived that their Crowns had the greater Lustre when it was in conjunction with the Miter And therefore in no great Councel was the Man of God ever baulked but that they might be sure to serve God before themselves and he assured that while the Church prospered the Bishops directed and they had God and his Messengers amongst them all would go right and be safe and therefore in all or most Courts of Conscience where the Law reached not they thought none so fit as these men of conscience to decide all differences Neither could I ever find that the Church of God was so much pestered with miseries and poisoned with Errors Heresies and Sects or Divisions until the lay Lords and Gentlemen like the Long Parliament neglected their proper Offices to look into the affairs of the Common-wealth and to see Justice and Judgement truly executed among the people and began immittere falcem in alienam messem to thrust their sickles into other mens harvest Esay 1.12 The Church of God never became more miserable then when the lay-people undertook to conclude and determine points of Religion and to intermeddle with that which concerns them not as to chop and change Articles of Religion and to set down and compose points of faith when the Lord saith Quis requisivit haec Who hath required these things at your hands It is your duty to come into the Temple and to perform the service that David and Nathan the King and the Bishops shall prescribe unto you and to confirm those Articles of Religion and cause them in all things to be observed as the Parliament did in Queen Elizabeth's dayes the 39. Articles of our Religion when they are as those were setled and concluded by the Bishops and the rest of the Clergy in their Convocation for the Lord tells us plainly That the Priests lips should keep knowledge and they that is the people be they what and whom you will Sanhedrim of the Jews or Parliament of any other Nation should seek the Law that is the Law of God at his mouth because he is the Mâ—ssenger of the Lâ—rd of Hosts that is to declare his will and to expound his Laws unto the people But what saith the Lord in this Case when the people be they what you will shall usurpe the Priests Office and begin to make new Orders and Ordinances for the Service of God that never required such things at their hands He tells them plainly You are departed out of the way and you have caused many to stumble at the Law that is by your false glosses and injoyned observations thereof and you have corrupted the Covenant of Levi saith the Lord of Hosts that is you have wronged and quite thrown out the Bishops and Priests from their Offices which is to consult with the King to see God rightly worshipped And therefore saith the Lord Malach. 2.7 8 9. I have also made you contemptible and base before all the people according as you have not kept my wayes but have been partial in the Law that is by making Religion and my Service like a nose of wax to turn which way you please when as every one should do the duties that belong unto him Curabit praelia Conon CHAP. VI. What the Rest and peaceable times of King David wrought The Prince's authority in causes Ecclesiastical and how they should be zealous to see that God should be justly and religiously served THirdly having seen the times and the persons 3. The matter about which they consulted that consulted and conferred together we are now to consider the fruits and effects that this quiet sitting at rest and peaceable times wrought in David and what was the matter that these two grave and great Persons do so seriously deliberate and consult about And most commonly we find What peace prosperity usually produce that rest and peace have been the bane and surfeit of the mind to puff it up with pride and prosperity hath often choaked piety and plenty hath made Religion to pine away and to be cast upon a bed of security as Jezabel was cast upon a bed of fornication For so Moses saith of the Israelites Dilectus meus impinguatus recalcitravit My beloved fed fatted and inlarged Deut. 32.15 kicked with their heels or Jesurun waxed fat and kicked and then he forsook God that made him and lightly esteemed the Rock of his Salvation And as the Poet saith Luxuriant animi rebus plerumque secundis Ovid de arte Am. l. 2. Nec facile est aequâ commoda mente pati Our hearts do swell and our minds grow luxurious and riotous when our affairs do prosper and all things succeed as our hearts desire Our peace and plenty made us wanton and our wantonness brought our wars upon us and have rest and peace as now David had round
noctem Homer Il. 〈◊〉 It beseems not a Prince to take a sound sleep all night long Quint. Curt. as Alexander did on that night when he was on the next very day to fight with Darius Which might have lost him the field Ezech. 2.9 had not his fortune been better then his fore-sight For God puts a Scroule into every Prince his hand semblable to that schedule of Ezechiel wherein all their charge and duties are set down at large with this inscription Gesta illos in sinu Bear all these alwaies in thy bosome and let them never depart one of thy mind and as the Egyptians Hieroglyphic painted Oculum cum Sceptro an Eye with the Crown or Scepter to betoken a prudent Prince so should every King have an eye in his head as well as a Scepter in his hand or a Crown upon his head and to use Vigilance as well as Authority over his people And so Augustus Caesar that found Rome of brick and left it of Marble The great care of August Caesar for the good of the Common-weâ—lth is made famous by the Historians for his great and extraordinary care and vigilancy which he alwaies used for the good of his Empire when as he gave himself no rest nor suffered any one day to pass over his head in quo non aliquid legeret aut scriberet aut declamaret but he either read or writ or made some speech unto the people and when he heard of a certain Gentleman of Rome that was very deeply indebted and yet slept most securely without care to pay his debts and without fear of any danger he desired that he might buy the bed A careless Gentleman whereupon he rested because the debts that he stood bound for both to God and to the Common-wealth would never suffer him to sleep so secure when as it is ars artium the chiefest of all arts and the heardest of all things to Rule and Govern an unruly people so difficult that the Prophet David compares it to the appeasing of the raging Seas saying Thou stillest the rage of the Sea and the noise of his waves and the madness of his people because as Seneca saith Nullum morosius animal nec majori arte tractandum quà m subtilis homo There is not any living creature so froward and so hard to be tamed and ruled as a suttle and crafty man Reges fatui quibus similes But those Kings and Princes that think the Common-wealth to be made for them and not themselves for the Common-wealth and do spend their time not much better then that Romans Emperour who when he was in his privy Chamber sported himself in catching flies and to pull out their eyes with a pin for which he became so ridiculous that oâ—tentimes when any demanded Who was with the Emperour his servants would answer ne musca quidem truely not a flie they are said to be tanquam simiae in tecto like Apes on the top of a house that delight themselves to spoil and to untile the house And God made them Kings and appointed them for other ends and not to destroy his people as many Tirants do which we deserved for being so unthankfull to God and so undutifull to our King that was so pious and so gentle like King David and so good as the best that ever England had Lesson 2 2. As King David spent not his time like Domitian in catching of flies nor like Heliogabalus in following after his pleasures That king Davids chiefest care was for Religion and to promote the service of God but like Scipio and Augustus for the good of his Kingdom So here you may see the chiefest good he aimed at was to erect an House and a House of Beauty and Majesty for the Majesty of the God of Heaven for his thoughts conceived it not a sufficient discharge of his duty to provide for the peace of his Kingdom and the happiness of the Civill State unless he did also take a speciall care for the honor and service of God and see the works of Piety performed as well and rather then the duties of equity and civility for he understood it full well that God ordained Kings to be not only Reges murorum for the preservation and defence of walls and Cities and the outward prosperity of their people but also Reges sacrorum to see the holy duties of Religion and Gods worship duly performed And therefore as God had made him a Monarch over men and had given him an House of Cedars so he was desirous to become the Priest of God and to build him an House for his service What all kings and Princes ought to do And this should be a good lesson for all other Kings and Princes to imitate this good and godly King in the like sweet harmony of pollicy and piety and to have a greater care to provide for the Ark of God then for the Kings Court because Religion is the basis and pillar that must bear up their Kingdoms And therefore all good Kings ought not only with Moses to rescue their people and to set them at liberty from the Egyptian bondage and out of the hands of Vsurping Tyrants as our gratious King hath now done or with Sampson to fight for them against the forces of the Philistines Judges 15. or with Augustus to make their Cities abound with all kind of prosperity or with Ezechias to set up an exchequer for silver and gold and pretious stones 2 Chron. 32.27 and for shields and store-houses for to keep Wheat and Wine and Oyl and stables for Horses and all Beasts of service that is to strengthen their Kingdoms with Meat Money and Ammunition and all other necessaries both for War and Peace but they ought also with David to bring home the Ark of the Lord into the House of God 2 Sam. 6.17 and to set Levites to do the servâ—ce of the Tabernacle that is good and godly Ministers and Bishop 〈◊〉 attend the Church and to teach the people 1 Chron. 16.4 and 37 c. and with King Asa to overthrow the Idols and Altars and all other monuments of Idolatry and false worship of God 1 Reg. 15.12 and with Jehu to slaughter all the Priests of Baal and to root out all Heretical Schismatical and false teachers from the Church of Christ 2 Reg. 10.25 And to make this more apparant and clear That all good kings Princes ought to preserve and to promote Gods true Religion that all good Kings and Princes ought to take care of Religion and to see that Gods service should be duly exercised within their Dominions you shall find that when through the profaneness and negligence of King Saul to discharge his duty and the desidiousness and carelesseness of the Priests and Levites many abuses crept into the Church as the Tabernacle was broken and lost the Ark of God was out of the Temple out of
the proper place of it and was obscured and hemmed and as it were imprisoned in private houses so that the people had no publique place of Assembly to here the law and to offer Sacrifice unto God but every one had his Chappell of ease and his private Oratory by himself to serve God as he listed as now of late it hath been with us David assoon as ever he was chosen to be King in Hebron the first work he did was to consult with his Captains and all the Congregations of Israel to cite and summon the Priests and Levites and all the Clergy that were for the service of the Tabernacle to appear before him 1 Chron. 13.1 3. and to cause the Ark of God to be brought again unto them that they might inquire at it which they did not nor could do in the daies of Saul and when he had assembled the Children of Aaron and the Levites 1 Chron. 15.4 12. Vers 11. he shewed them the abuses that Religion had sustained in the daies of Saul and he caused the Ark to be carried upon the shoulders of the Levites unto the place that he had prepared for it and when he had called for Zaedok and Abiathar the Priests and for the Levites for Vriel Asaiah and Joel Shemaiah and Eliol and Aminidab he did set down which of the Levites should serve and in what order they should Minister before the Ark 1 Chron. 16.39.41 42. and he injoyned the sons of Aaron that were Priests how they should go forward every one in their course And so according to this Practice of King David King Solomon his son and all the succeeding Kings that were good and godly did the like for of Sâ—lomon it is recorded that he appointed according to the order of David his father the courses of the Priests to their service and the Levites to their charges to praise and Minister before the Priests 2 Chron. 8.14 as the duty of every day required the Porters also by their courses at every gate for so David the man of God commanded And it is further Chronicled of King Solomon that what his father here projected and consulted about the building of an House to the Lord he really performed 2 Chron c. 5. c. 6. c. 7. and when he had built it he made a very godly speech and a most excellent Oration unto the people touching the Worship of God and his Religion and he deposed Abiathar and set up Sadoc in his place and Sanctified the Temple and placed the Ark of God therein and offered burnt offerings and Sacrifices and directed the Priests and Levites in all their proceedings even as his father David had done before him and that which is very observeable it is said that the Priests and Levites left nothing unobserved but did all things according as they had received in commandment from the King So likewise King Jehosophat is highly commended for his piety and Religious care of Gods Worship for it is recorded of him that he appointed and disposed the Priests and Levites to do the service of the Tabernacle and that by order of his Authority the Woods and Groves and High places which were the lets and hinderances of the true Religion were quite removed and taken away because the people by their private Meetings and Conventicles in those places to serve God as they now adayes do with us wholly neglected the Cathedral and Mother-Church which â—as at Hierusalem 2 Chron. 17.7 8 9. and to which they were from every corner of the Kingdom yearly to repair And when the Service of God was corrupted and the Temple most filthily defiled through the negligence and sinfulness of the Priests King Ezechias commanded it to be purged 2 Chron. 29. per totum and he caused lights to be set up incense to be burned Sacrifices to be performed and the Brazen Serpent that was become an Idol and worshipped by the people to be broken down and consumed to ashes So King Joas reproved the Priests of his time for their excessive abuses and the insolent behaviour that was seen in them for he sequestred the oblations of the people which the Priests had unjustly and wantonly taken and appropriated to themselves 2 Reg. 12.7 and by his Royal Authority caused them to be converted for the reparation of the Temple And King Josias to his everlasting praise shewed himself most careful to suppresse the Idolatrous Priests to purge the Church from all Idolatry and Superstition and to put the Priests and Levites in mind of their duties as you may see in 2 Reg. 23. 2 Reg. 23. Obj. per totum And if our adversaries of the Roman Church do object and say Quid Imperatori cum Ecclesia What hath the Emperour or any lay-Prince to do with the Church let him rule the Common wealth and leave Religion and what belongs to God's Worship to be ordered and observed by the Pope Bishops and Priests whose Office and Calling is to take care and to see the Church of God should be sufficiently served and all holy duties holily performed And the examples alleaged infringe not the force of this Objection because David was a Prophet even as Moses was and his ordering the affairs of the Temple and setling the Service of the Church was done by vertue of his Prophetical and not of his Princely-Office And Solomon was Divinely inspired by God's holy Spirit both for the building of the Temple and the ordering of the Priests and Levites for the Service of the Temple And as Jehu had the direction of the Prophet Elisha for the suppression of the Priests of Baal so had Ezechias the prophet Esay to direct him in the purging of the Temple and Reformation of those abuses that had crept in into the Service of God Sol. To this we answer That as Joshua the Prince was required to go in and out at the word of Eleazar the Priest so we yield that the King ought to hearken to the counsel and direction of his Bishop and Priest as David here did consult with Nathan and Ezechias with the Prophet Esay And while Religion is purely maintained the people truly instructed and the Church rightly and orderly governed by the Bishops and the rest of the Ecclesiastical Governours the Prince needs not to trouble himself with any Reformation or to meddle with the matters of Religion But the King Prince and Supreme Magistrate ought to see that all the aforesaid things are so and if they be not to correct the Priest when he is careless and to cause all the abuses that he seeth in the Church and in Religion to be Reformed Augustin contra Cresconium l. 3 c. 51. Because as S. Augustine saith In hoc reges Deo serviunt sicut iis divinitùs praecipitur in quantum sunt reges si in suis regnis bonae jubeant mala prohibeant non solum quae pertinent ad humanam
King And as Theodosius and Valentinian very Christian like called themselves the â—assâ—ls of Christ so Constantine was wont to say That he gloried more to be the servant of Christ than in being the Emperour of the World And as those pious Kings and godly Emperours were thus zealous to maintain the Christian Religion which bare up the Pillars of their Dominions and makes their names now to live glorious though they are dead So the Throne of this Empire and Kingdom of Great Britaine That this our kingdom had many zealous and most godly Kings hath not wanted devout Princes and most worthy Kings that have trod in the steps of King David to provide Houses for God's Service and to imitate the examples of the best of the aforesaid pious Princes to see the Religion of Christ and the True Faith purely maintained within their Kingdoms as you may find it in our Chronicles and the Statutes of King Inas King Alfred King Edward that for his devotion and zeal to the Christian Religion was rightly called Saint Edward King Ethelstane Vide Speed lib. 8. c. 3. and King Canutus the Dane that laid the foundation of his Building to compose the differences of Religion and to rectifie whatsoever he found amisse therein before he entred upon the causes of the Common-wealth For I read it Registred that after sundry Laws inacted touching our Religion and the Faith of Christ as the celebration of certain Holy-dayes the right form of Baptism the duty of Fasting the teaching of the Lords Prayer unto the people the administration of the Câ—mmon-prayer and the celebration of the blessed Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ thrice every year and some other Duties of our Religion this Title followeth Jam sequitur institutio legum saecularium which as Speed sheweth Speed quo supra pag. 384. are most excellent for the execution of Justice And it is Recorded that William the Conqueror in one of his Parliaments said That he being Vice-gerent to the King of kings holdeth his Kingdom to this end to defend his people and especially the people of God and his holy Church that is the Bishops and Priests to teach the people and to performe the Worship and Service of God in his Church And even in our own dayes the Holy Name of God be for ever blessed and praised for it we have had such pious Kings as I believe I may justly say The Christian World for Piety and Religion for love to God's Ministers and the care of God's Worship could shew but very few like them and none to precede them therein and that is King James and King Charles the First whose glorious name above all other Kings since Christ The rare and just commendation of King Charles the First I shall ever honour and extoll as the most constant Defender of the Christian Faith the most loving Patron of God's Ministers the Bishops and Preachers of his Word and the most faithful Witness and Martyr that lost his life for the preservation of God's Church and the Religion of Jesus Christ with whom I do alwayes when I think of him behold and see him Crowned with Eternal Glory The most Blessed of all our Kings and the Best of all our Saints CHAP. IX Of the chiefest Parts and Duties of Kings and Princes which they are to discharge for the maintenance of God's Service and the True Religion and the necessity of Cathedral-Churches and Chappels for the people of God to meet in for the Worship and Service of God YOu have heard how that God hath given the Power and Authority unto Kings and Princes to be the Supervisors Directors and Reprovers of things amiss as well in the Church as in the Common-wealth And how he requireth and commandeth them to discharge those Duties accordingly and to have a care to preserve his Religion as they do regard their own Salvation You have likewise heard how all Kings both Heathens Jews and Christians did execute that power and according to their ability discharged their Duties as well in the Spiritual jurisdiction of Ecclesiastical causes as in the decision of Civil causes It resteth that I should shew unto you the chiefest Parts and Duties that they owe to God and are to discharge for the promoting of his Service and the Religion of Jesus Christ And I conceive them principally to consist in these Four Points The four chiefest things that Kings Princes ought to do for the upholding of God's Religion and the Service of Jesus Christ which may be like the four Rivers of Paradise to water the Garden of God's Church to make it to bring forth plenty of fruits to the glory of God and the salvation of mens souls And they are 1. To take care and to cause that there should be Cathedral-Churches and Chappels fairly built and decently trimmed and adorned as befits the Houses of God for his people to meet in for the Worship and Service of God 2. To see that able honest and religious Bishops be placed in those Cathedrals and others the like pious and painful Ministers be appointed in all the Parochial Churches and Chappels to perform the true Service of God as they ought to do and to see those Drones that neglect it and those factious Sectaries and Hereticks that defile and corrupt it and those scandalous livers that do much prejudice unto their holy Calling to be punished and removed if they amend not for their negligence and transgressions 3. To provide by their good Laws such maintenance revenues and means for the Reverend and godly Bishops and the rest of the worthy Clergy whereby they may be inabled with joy and comfort to discharge their duties in God's Service to his glory and the good of his people 4. To put a bar and to hinder by their Regal power and authority all the sacrilegious violaters of holy things to rob the Church of Christ and his servants and to commit the horrible sin of Sacriledge which is so transcendently abominable in the sight of God and so infinitely destructive to the souls of men 1. The necessity of Cathedral-Churches and other Parochial Chappels for the Sâ—rvice of God These things ought to be done as I conceive by all good and godly Kings and Princes and whoso doth these things shall never fail And. 1. In defence of Cathedral-Churches we have to alleadge that till the time of Euaristus and Dionysius Popes of Rome no other kind of ministerial Church was ever heard of from the beginning of the World for from Adam unto Moses men did call upon the Name of the Lord and offered Sacrifices but without any ministerial Church at all And in Moses time Platina de vitis Pontif. Carrion annal Monarch Exod. 25.46 Acts 7.44 2 Sam. 7.6 Acts 7.47 God commanded him to erect a Tabernacle which stood instead of a Church for all the Land of Judea and that was Templum portatile as Josephus calls it to be carried up and
also outwardly with all the other parts of our bodies Quia per exteriora cognoscuntur interiora and our zeal to Gods Honour must shew it self by our zeal to God's House for so King David said and so Christ said Psal 69.9 John 2.17 The zeal of thine House hath eaten me up And therefore not only the Jews but the Christians also were most liberal and bountiful in their gifts and contributions for the erecting of Oratories and the adorning of Gods Church And although that while they were under the Sword of persecuting Tyrants their state and condition permitted them not to have stately Churches yet when their persecution ceased and they became into a better case and had rest their Churches became sumptuous and no cost was spared to make them both fair and beautiful And we find that before the time of Constantine in the reign of Severus Euseb l. 8. c. 1. 2. Idem l. 9. c. 1. Gordian Philip and Galienus there were many goodly and spatious Churches builded which Dioclesian by a publick Proclamation caused to be thrown down but Mâ—ximinus hypocritically permitteth them to be reedified and made up in a greater heighth and more beautiful than they were before as they were indeed exceedingly bettered immediately after the death of Maximinus as it appeareth by that Solemn Sermon that was made in praise of the building of Churches Idem l. 10. c. â— and expressely directed to Paulinus Bishop of Tyrus And Theodoret saith That the Emperours Constantine and his son Constantius bestowed many rich and precious vessels upon the Church And when S. Basil had converted Valens to become a Christian he bestowed certain lands and possessions unto the Church And Nicephorus saith That Theodosius and his Wife Eudoche sent monies very bountifully to the Bishop and Church of Rome And Valentinian and Gratian are exceedingly praised in the Chronicles of the Church for their care and the provision that they made for the Churches of Christ And Sozomen relates how Constantius bestowed upon the holy Church great summes of monies that did arise to him out of the Images that were molten and otherwise by way of Taxes and Tributes And divers of the Christian Emperours provided that the lands houses and possessions of the Church and the goods of other Christians that had been taken from them in the times of persecution should be restored and re-delivered unto the Bishops and Church again And I hope our most gracious and religious King will do the like that as he is not inferiour to them in piety so he will be no lesse in the Rules of Equity and as blessed be God for it he hath most graciously restored very much and more than any other hath done already And what shall I say more It is most apparant to any one that will read Eusebius Socrates Theodoret Sozomen and other Ecclesiastical Writers how the first and best Christians as they grew in strength wealth and power so they studied and strived to exceed both Jews and Gentiles in their care and zeal to promote the Honour of God and to manifest the same unto the World by all the possible wayes they could devise And because that as nature teacheth us to provide good things so wisdom and policy sheweth how we should do our best to procure the permanent state and perpetuity of those good things And so Religion likewise teacheth us to follow the same course to perpetuate the Service and the Honour we yield unto our God and the Saints and servants of God conceiving no Donation of honour to be more permanent and lasting than Churches and Temples magnificently erected and sumptuously maintained therefore they were no niggards and spared no cost to build their Oratories and Churches that the Worship and Honour of God might be perpetually continued Reasons to prove that we sh uld honour God with our riches And very many Reasons might be produced to shew that they should to the uttermost of their power honour God with their riches and to make the benefits they bestow for his Honour to be permanent and durable For Reason 1 1. Where any true Religion resteth in the heart it requireth the uttermost extent that unfaigned love and affections can afford and shew towards God And as S. Gregory saith Probatio dilectionis exhibitio est operis Our inward love and affections are to be opened and manifested by the outward effects And therefore wheresoever the true Religion swayeth in the hearts of men as it ought the outward devotion and zeal towards God's Church and the Service of God in his Church will be shewed so far forth as they are inabled to do Reason 2 2. As Religion requireth so Nature teacheth us to honour God with our goods which is not only honestly and inoffensively to use them but also to alienate separate and set apart some portion of them from our own occasions Quia â—fferimus Deo bona nostra ut signa gratitudinis pro illis donis quaed Deo recepimus Irenaeus l. 4. c. 34. to the use and service of God not as gifts or supplies of his wants that is the Lord of all things but as the signs of our thankfulness and acknowledgement that he is the Donor and Giver of them all to us and as the means to set up and to shew forth his Honour by the erecting and beautifying his Churches and the maintenance of his Worship and Ministery in those Churches For why should any man think that God hath given us such variety of all good things as Gold Silver Cattel Wine Oil and abundance of most excellent beauty to be imployed only upon our selves and for our pleasures and it may be in meer vanities without any regard or reservation of any of them to be bestowed for the upholding of his Honour Prov. 3.9 Malach. 3.20 and the Duties of his Service When as Solomon saith That he will be served with the chief of thine increase And the Lord himself bids thee to bring all the Tythes or Tythes of all kinds into his House And therefore Origen the greatest Clerk that lived in his dayes saith Qui colit Deum Origen in Numb c. 18. Hom. 11. debet donis oblationibus agnoscere eum esse Deum omnium He that worshippeth God must by his gifts and oblations unto God acknowledge him to be the God and Giver of all things Reason 3 3. Seeing God requireth to be honoured with thy substance and with the first fruites of all thine increase Prov. 3.9 and to testifie thine inward love by thine outward gifts and oblations to him you know then that the greatness and goodness of our gifts doth set forth and shew the greatness of our love and the sincerity of our affection towards God For Juxta mensuram honoris erit mensura donationis According to the quality and condition of the person whom we honour so should our gifts and our presents that we offer him be as the greater
Wolves against them but only for the name that they are said to be built by Roman Catholicks and that Popish Priests have served in them but it is nothing to us who built them or who served in them so we serve God aright in them this is all that we are to look unto For so we find that our Saviour Christ and his Apostles in their time frequented the Temple not that which Solomon built nor that which Zorobabel erected â—â—â—â—ph Antiq. l. 15. c. 14. but that which Herod that sought our Saviours life build d and beautifiâ—d and that which the Scribes and Pharisees had as much as in them lay defiled with their false-glâ—sses and the other Jews had made it a den of Thieves Matth 21.13 and though Castor and Pollux were become Idols and worshipped as gods among the Heathens yet Saint Paul refused not to sail in a Ship whose badge was Castor and Pollux and Saint Luke is not affraid to set down those â—itles of the Paganish Idols â—ocrat Eccles Hist l. 2. c. 33. And therefore as Eunomius was most foolish for refusing to enter into the Temples of thâ— Martyrs lest he should be thought to worship the dead and Eâ—stathius was most fantastical for detesting all publick Churches and leading his Schollers to private Conventicles in ordinary houses for fear they should be defiled with the memorial of the Saints that were mentioned in the Churches so these our brethren of the Separation are most simple for disclaiming our Churches Prayers and Ministry and like the Elder brother in the Parable hearing afar off the melody of our prayers and understanding of our intertainment into our Fathers House are very angry and will not come into Gods House for fear of infection but will convene in private houses and run abroad into the fields like Esan to hunt there for the blessing which with Jaâ—â—b they might get nearer home in their Fathers House and when we would according to our injâ—nction seek to compel them to come out of the High-waies and Hedges to the marriage of the Kings son they will waste their wealth leave their mansions and like Heliodorus the fool of Athens sail beyond the Straights of Gibraltar and make Ship-rack before the Tempest rather then they will come into Gods House whereby they might fit still under their own Vâ—nes injoy the food of their Fathers House the safe-gard of their wealth and the safety of their soules which they do hazard by their own simplicity in being like the Jews zealous but not according to knowledge CHAP. XIII That it is a part of the Office and Duty of Pious Kings and Princes as they are God's Substitutes to have a care of his Church to see that when such Cathedralls and Churches are built and beautified as is fitting for his service there be Able Religious and Honest painful and faithful Bishops placed in those Cathedrals that should likewise see able and Religious Ministers placed in all Parochiall Churches and all negligent unworthy and dissolute men Bishops or Priests reproved corrected and amended or removed and excluded from their places and dignities if they amend not IT is well and truly observed as the holy Scripture sheweth That although the wise God hath most mercifully decreed and accordingly exhibited and gave a Saviour in himself altogether sufficient for the saying of all Man-kind and all the lost sons of Adam and he hath most wisely and graciously taken a course on his own part and in it self also fully sufficient and appointed a course and order on mans part that being duly observed might make the same sufficiently effectuall unto all yet it so fals out Mens destruction that very many men attain not to that end for which God did send his Son to save them but are seized on by Gods Justice and cast to eternal condemnation And that chiefly by mans own default and partly in some respects through the default of his Rulers and Teachers yet so that he dies and suffers only for his own sins 1. Through their own default when Kings and Princes 1. By their own fault whom God hath appointed and set to be their Governors and Rulers do by their under-Magistrates and their just laws prohibite them from all evil and wickedness and require them to imbrace all virtues and godliness of life and to this end do appoint their substitutes the Bish ps and other Teachers to guide them and to instruct them to let them know what is good and what is evil and so what they ought to believe and what not and these do faithfully discharge these Offices as Moses and Aaron David and Nathan and many other godly Kings and Bishops did yet men will not obey their Governors but Rebel like Corah Dathan and Abiram and as of late we have done Jer. 11.21 they will not hearken to the voyce of their Teachers but say to the Prophets Prophesy not unto us and say to God himself Depart from us Job 21.14 for we desire not the knowledge of thy Laws or they relye upon their own wisdom and account the Preaching of the Gospel of the cross of Christ foolishness 1 Cor. 1.18 or they follow the ill examples of their Fathers and do worse than their Fathers Jer. 18.12 c. 16.12 or they do addict themselves to the pleasures and vanities of this World that do choak the seed of Gods Word in them or when crosses afflictions and persecution come they are offended Matth. 13. â—2 and start aside like a broken bow Then God seeing these courses that they take contrary to the course that he had set down for their Salvation he complaineth of them that His people would not hear his voyce and Israel would not obey him therefore He gave them up unto their own hearts lusts Ps 81.12 15. and let them follow their own imaginations 2. Mens destruction much furthered by the default of their Governours 2. Though all wicked men do thus chiefly work their own destruction yet many times their fall and ruine is much furthered by the default and apostasie of their Prime-Governours or at least through their neglect and the neglect of their subordinate Magistrates and Ministers the Bishops and Preachers that are under the Kings and Princes the Governours of God's Church For God having set these Rulers the Supreme and subordinate to be the Watchmen and Shepherds over his people to govern them and teach them how to live justly and holily that they might attain to eternal life if by their default their misleading of them out of the way or neglect to shew them the right way the people do miscarry the men so misguided and not instructed Ezech. 33.8 shall die in their iniquity and God will require their blood at the Shepherds and Watchmens bands And yet Cain a principal Ruler of and over his Posterity misleading and not teaching them the right Worship of God perished himself and
most generally found that the Children of the precedent Bishops that have most wronged the Church and their Successors Why the sons of Bishops are most spitefull unto the Succeeding Bishops are in all things most contrariant and opposites I will not say spiteful or envious to the succeeding Bishops because as I conceive their hearts tell them what injuries their Fathers did them for their sakes and themselves continue therein and therefore do conceive that the present Bishops cannot think well nor love them that have so much wronged both them and the Church of God and to requite them according to their own thoughts with hate for hate they are of all others most spiteful crossing and prejudiciall unto them or else because they do imagine that the present and succeeding Bishops will be as wicked and as unjust as their Fathers and their predecessors were and therefore deserve neither love nor favour from them As Alexander the Copper-smith withstood S. Paul So the last Bishops son withstandeth me to recover the rights of the Church And I heard many Parliament men say that in the Long Anti-Christian Parliament none were more violent against the Bishops then the sons and posterity of Precedent Bishops I found it so And I have espied another fault in some of our former Bishops not a little prejudiciall to the Honor of God and the good of the Church of Christ and that is not only to give Orders to unworthy men but also to bestow livings upon unworthy Priests for as the old saying was Rector eris praesto de sanguine praesulis esto Or as another saith Quatuor ecclesias portis intratur in omnes Prima patet magnis nummatis altera tertia charis Sed paucis solet quarta patere Dei So it was their practice to bestow Livings Rectories Prebends and other Preferments not on them that best deserved them but either upon their Children friends or servants or on them that could as the story goeth tell them And so to the lessor and to the lessee of the Church-Lands to the prejudice of the Church the like curse and Anathema is due who was Melchisedecks Father that is to say St. Peters lesson Aurum argentum non est mihi in the affirmative way which is a fault worthy to be punished by the Judges For as it is most truely said Qâ—icunque sacra vel sacros ordines vendunt aut emunt sacerdotes esse non possunt whosoever do buy or sell holy orders or any holy things cannot be Priests Vnde scriptum est Anathema danti Anathema accipienti whence it is written Let Gods curse be to the buyer and the curse of God to the receiver because this buying and selling of Holy things and things dedicated for the service of God is the Simoniacal Heresie or Heresie of Simon Mâ—gus Qâ—omodo ergo si Anathematizati sunt sancti non sunt sanctificare alios possunt Habetur 1. q. 1. Can. Quicunque How then if they be accursed and no Saints can they make others Saints or sanctify them Et cum in corpore Christi non sint quomodo Christi corpus tradere vel accipere possunt Et qui maledictus est benedicere quomodo potest And seeing such men are not in the body of Christ how can they deliver or receive the body of Christ and how can he that is accursed himself bless any other And therefore seeing the Word of God requireth the Bishops and Ministers of Christ should be so Holy in their lives and so qualified with knowledge and learning for the instruction of the people as I shewed to you before and is typified by those Golden Bels and the Pomegranats that were to be set in the skirts of Aarons robes round about the Bels signifying the teaching of the people and the Pomegranats the sweet smelling fruits of a good and godly life It behoves the Kings and Princes to whom God hath given the prime Soveraignty and commandeth them to have a care of his Honor and the service of his Church to see so far as they can that the Bishops and Prelates which they place over Gods people be so qualified as God requireth and to injoyn these their prime Substitutes to look that those Priests and Deacons which they make and place in the Church be likewise such as I have fore-shewed for this God requireth at their hands and this David Jehosaphat Ezechias Josias and all the good and godly Kings of Israel and Juda and all the pious Christian Kings and Emperors did and I do know how zealously and carefully our late most gracious King Charles the I. was to place Able Religious and Godly Bishops over Gods Church which is a special duty of every King And because also the Prelates and Bishops are not all or may not all be no more then the Apostles were all such as they should be but some of them may be such as I have shewed to you before either like Simon Magus selling what they should freely give or like Demas imbracing this present World or like Baalam loving the wages of unrighteousness or perhaps doing worse then those Apostatizing like Julian and starting aside like Ecebolius or devising wicked Heresies like Arius or renting the unity of the Church like Donatus then as Solomon deposed Abiathar and divers of the good Emperours deposed wicked Popes and the godly Kings have pull'd down ungodly Bishops as our late Queen Elizabeth did degrade Bishop Bonner and divers other Popish Prelates so should all good and godly Kings reprove and correct and if they amend not expel and remove all scandalous and ungodly Bishops and the Bishops do the like to all deboyst and dissolute Ministers that so the old and sowre leaven may be purged out of Gods Church and the builders of Gods Tabernacle be like Bezaliel and Aholiab such as can and will do the work of the Lord carefully and Religiously CHAP. XIV Of the maintenance due to the Bishops and Ministers of Gods Church how large and liberal it ought to be THirdly When the Kings and Princes 3. To provide sufficient means for the Church-men which are the Supreme Magistrates and as Tertullian saith Homines à Deo secundi solo Deo minores are the men that are next to God in power and Authority and therefore ought to have the prime and chiefest care of Gods Honour and his worship in the Church of Christ have as I have formerly shewed with King David and Solomon Colimus imperatorem ut hominem à Deo secundum so lo Deâ— minorem Tertul. ad Scapulam provided that Temples and Churches be erected and beautified as fit houses of God for his people and servants to convene and meet in them to Worship God and have likewise taken care in the next place to see that good men and godly Bishops be appointed over those Churches as their substitutes to Rule Govern and Teach the people of God how to live and
and many Acts to pass to justify and to make good and Lawful the Taking away Leasing Selling and Alienating the Tythes Lands Houses and Possessions of the Church and of our High Priest Jesus Christ from his servants to be inherited by lay persons and many other Acts of Parliaments have been made since that time to the same purpose which very thing we conceive as I have shewed to be very High Sacriledge and a robbing of Jesus Christ and the obstructing of his service and we fear the cause of the perishing of many souls And therefore how the Shield of the Pope's Authority that was the first Foster-Father of this execrable and accursed title of Impropriation or the power of King Henry the 8th that would expunge the Pope's Sacriledge with a greater Sacriledge and be the second Patron of this Bastard brood or all the pretences of the now detainers of the Tythes and portion of Christ and the Lands Houses and Possessions of the Church by these Humane Laws can bear off the blow of Gods wrath and turn aside the fierceness of his vengeance when in the day of his fury he shall powre out the full vial of his indignation upon the head of all Sacrilegious persons and upon the children and posterity of them that have devoured the Lords inheritance and laid wast his dwelling place I can no waies understand neither do I know how to give them any comfort or counsel but to advise them to a full and timely Restitution of that which otherwise will be their utter destruction Quia non remittitur peccatum August ad Maced Epist 54. donec restituatur oblatum cum restitui potest The sin shall never be remitted and blotted out of Gods book until the Tythes and goods of Gods Church be restored when men can restore them and will not do it CHAP. XVIII Of the second part of the Stipend Wages and Maintenance of the Ministers of the Gospel which is the Oblation Donation or Free-wil-offering of the people for to uphold and continue the true service of God and to obtain the blessings of God upon themselves and upon their labours which Donations ought not to be impropriated and alienated from the Church by any means YOu have heard of the first part of the Ministers maintenance the second part consisteth in the voluntary Oblations or Free-wil-offerings of the people which the Lord requireth should be done according as every one in his own heart thought good to bestow upon the service of God and what they did offer in this kind was most acceptable in the sight of God For this is a Principal Branch of that Honor which we yield unto God by and with our substance which we are injoyned to do Prov. 3.9 Because what we relieve the poor with is not so much our alms as their exigence which as necessity exacts it so it is soon passed and as quickly perisheth but those Donations that were given for the service of God as they savour of a more inward and deeper piety so they are of a more lasting substance and besides the eternal Treasures which men do thereby lay up for themselves they do provide for the perpetuity of Religion unto the after-ages of men and may be justly said to Honour God not only in themselves but in all those likewise which they gain by their Donations to Honor him And it is strange and marvellous to consider how liberal and how free the people of old time were in their Donations and Free-wil-offerings to maintain the Worship of God and to do any thing that did any wayes appertain to his service for if you look into the 36. Chapt. of Exod. vers 5. you shall find how Bezaleel and Aholiab spake unto Moses saying The people bring much more then enough for the service of the work which the Lord hath commanded to be made Exod. 36.5 6 7. and Moses gave commandment and caused it to be Proclaimed through the Camp that they should bring no more for that they had already brought enough and too much So they that returned out of Babylon were as ready and as willing to offer up their gifts and free-wil-offerings for the service of the Temple as their Forefathers were for the erecting of the Tabernacle Neh 7.70 c. 10.33 as you may see it in the books of Ezra and of Nehemiah But the Christians of the Primitive Church were so zealous herein that they exceeded all that went before them in their Donations and Free-wil-offerings for the service of God and the increase of the Christian Religion for they sold their Lands and Possessions and laid the prizes thereof at the Apostles feet and had all things in common among themselves And Pope Vrban the I. Platin. in Vrban instituted Vt ecclesias praedia ac fundos fidelibus oblatos episcopus reciperet partireturque proventus clericis omnibus viritim nihilque cujuspiam privatum esset sed in commune bonum That the Bishops should receive the Churches Possessions and grounds offered to the Faithful and that the profits thereof should be divided by the Clergy man by man and that nothing should be of private propriety to any one but in common amongst them all And Gratian tels us that by a decretal Epistle unto all the Bishops he decreed that none should presume to alienate ought of the Church Revenues under the pain of Excommunication And Pope Lucius the I. about twenty years after Vrban directed an Epistle to the Bishops of Spain and France to the same purpose And though the malice of Dr. Burges towards the Bishops will not suffer him to yield Vide Flor. hist ad an 186. Matth. Westm that King Lucius gave the Lands of the Idol-Priests unto the Christian Bishops yet is it clear enough out of Antiquit. Brit. and Armachanus that Lucius endowed the Christian Church with more Lands and Revenues then the Idol-Priests injoyed And afterwards while it was permitted by the Imperial Laws for every one to Collate upon the Church whatsoever he would without exception Cod. l. 1. titulo 5. l. 1. their Donations were so great that the Kings and Emperours conceived it fit with Moses to grant a prohibition that they should not offer any more nor bestow any Lands or Goods upon the Church without some special licence and toleration from the Civil Magistrate for fear that the Church if this freedome of Donations should still continue would have sucked out all the blood from the veins and the marrow out of the bones of the politick body and so leave the Common-Wealth deprived of their Lands like Pharaohs lean and evil-favoured Cows and the Church like those that were fat and wel-liked And therefore they enacted the Statute of Mortmain that was a supersedeas against these too-liberal contributions and the Emperour Justinian enacted that no Legacy bequeathed unto the Church exceeding the value of five hundred Crowns should be good in Law without a special licence from the
above the Congregation of the Lord which is another slander as false as the Father of lyes could lay upon them for I shewed unto you before how truly they were called and how justly they behaved themselves in their places but as Absolon knew well enough that to traduce his Father's Government was the readiest way to insinuate and to winde himselfe into a good opinion among the people and to make the King odious unto his subjects so these and all other Rebels will be sure to lay load enough of lyes and slanders upon their Governours and so the namelesse Authour of the Soveraign Antidote Goodwin Goodwin in his Anti-Caval Buâ—roughs in his Sermon upon The glorious name of the Lord of Hosts Burroughs and abundance more such scandalous impudent lying libels have not blushed which a man would think the brazen face of Satan could not chuse but do so maliciously and reproachfully to lay to his Majesty's charge the things which as the Prophet saith he never knew and which all they that know the King do know to be apparent lyes and most abominable slanders against the Lord's Vicegerent but Quid domini facient audent cum talia fures You know the meaning of the Poet and you may know the reason why these grand Lyars these impudent slanderers do so impudently bely so good a King so pious and so gracious a Majesty for Lay on enough Et aliquid adhaerebit and throw dust enough in their faces and let the Governours be never so good the King as milde and as unreproveable as Moses and the Bishops like Aaron the Saints of the Lord yet some thing will stick in the opinion of the simple that are not able to discern the subtilty of those distractors And as they diminish and undermine the credit and reputation of the best Governours by no other engine then a lying tongue and a false pen so with the same instruments they do magnifie their own repute and further their unjust proceedings by deceiving the most simple with such equivocal lyes as any sensible man might well wonder A strange equivocation that they should be so insensibly swallowed down as when they say They fight for him whom they shoot at and they are for the King when with all their might and main they strive to take away his power to pull the sword out of his hand and to throw his Crown down to the dust which is so strange a kind of equivocation as might well move men with Pilate to ask What is truth which we can never understand if any of these things can be true which as one saith most truly is one of the absurdest gulleries that ever was put upon any Nation much like that Anabaptist which I knew that beat his wife almost to death The tale of an Anabaptist and said He beat not her but that evill spirit that was in her Therefore the Lord hateth this abominable sinne because it is unpossible the people should be so soon drawn into rebellion if they did not credit these defamations But the wise man tells us that Stultus credit omni verbo therefore no wise man will believe those false and wicked slanders that such malicious Rebels do spread abroad against their King Prince or Priest or any other Governour of Gods people 8. Rayling 8. After they had thus slandered these good men they fell to open rayling against them as you may see Num. 16.13 14. For now they had eaten shame and drunk after it and therefore they cared not what they said and so now we find how the Rebels deal with our King and with our Bishops too with our Moses and with our Aaron for here in Ireland they rebell against their Soveraign because he is no Papist and will not countenance the Papists as they desire And in England they rayle at him and rebell against him because they say He is a Papist and doth connive at Popery and hath a design to bring in Popery into the Kingdome which is as flat a lye as the father of lyes hath ever invented So the Bishops here are driven out of all as my self am expelled aedibus sedibus and left destitute of all relief because we are no Papists but do both preach and write against their errours as much as any and more learnedly then many others And in England we are persecuted and driven to flee from place to place or to take our place in a hard prison as my self have been often forced to flee and to wander in the cold and dark long nights because we are Papists and Popishly given Good God! what shall we do whither shall we go or what shall we say for Nusquam tuta fides nec hospes ab hospite tutus We cannot confide in the confiders to whom we are become malignant enemies for speaking truth neither dare we trust in the followers of the publique faith nor in the professors of the Catholique faith whereof men maliciously rejecting their godly Bishops rebelliously fighting against their lawful King and mortally wounding their own souls have made a shipwrack But If they called the Master of the house Beelzebub if they said he was a glutton and a drunkard what wonder if they say these things of us and if Christ the King of Kings was crucified between two Thieves what marvel if this servant of Christ our King be thus pressed opposed and abused betwixt two rebellious factions And when we see our Saviour and our King thus handled it is lesse strange to find the Bishops and the Priests persecuted and crucified betwixt two heretical and tyrannical parties Well Jerusalem Jerusalem that killest the Prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee take heed lest the King of peace shall say unto thee Verily thou shalt see me no more till thou sayest Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. 9 Disobedience 9. When they were grown thus impudent from bad to worse both over shooes and over boots then Disobedience must needs follow and therefore now putting on their brazen foreheads they tell Moses plainly We will not come to thee we will do nothing that thou willest but will crosse thee in all that thou intendest this is our most peremptory resolution And so we see that Nemo repentè fit pessimus but the wicked grow worse and worse first you must lend then you must give if not we will take or if you deny your goods we will have your bodies so at first what soever we do it is for the King and because this is so palpable a mockery that as every man knoweth they that fight against the Earl of Essex and his Army do warre against the Parliament so they that fight against the Kings Army do as certainly war against the King then we grow so impudent as to justifie any rebellion against our King as in England Goodwin and that seditious Pamphleter in opening The glorious name of the Lord of Host do
our selves and our families we shall be in the power of these men at their pleasure under the pretence of Religion contrary to all justice to be deprived of any part of our freehold when we shall have not one man of our own Calling to speak a word in our behalf on no Seat of Justice throughout the whole Kingdom O terque quaterque beati Queis ante or a patrum contigit oppetere O most miserable and lamentable condition of Gods Ministers I must needs speak it though I should die for it and if some did not speak it I think the stones would cry against it and proclaim it Better for the Clergy were their hope only in this world never to have been born or at least never to have seen a Book then to fall into the hands and to be put under the censure of these men that do thus love Christ by hating his Ministers This Act more prejudiciall to the future times than now who as I said before by this one Act are made liable to undergo all kind of evils which shall not only fall upon the present Clergy for were it so our patience should teach us to be silent but also to the increase of all prejudices to the Gospel more than my fore-sight can expresse in all succeeding Ages And therefore I may well say with Jeremy Jer. 5.9 29. Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this And we need not wonder that such plagues calamities and distresses have so much increased in this Kingdom ever since the passing of this Act and yet the anger of the Lord is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still and I fear his wrath will not be appeased till we have blotted this and wiped away all other our great sins and transgressions with the truest tears of unfained repentance These are like to be the consequences of this Act And yet our good King who we know loved our Nation and built us a Synagogue and was as I assure my self most unwilling to passe it was notwithstanding over-perswaded considering where thirteen of the Bishops were even in prison and in what condition all the rest of them stood in question whether all they should stand or be cut down root and branch to yield His assent unto the Act though if the case in truth were rightly weighed not much lesse prejudicial to his Majesty than injurious to us to be thus deprived of our right and exposed to all miseries by excluding us from all Civil Judicature And I would to God the King and all the Kingdom did continually consider how his Majesty was used ever since the confirmation of this Act How the King hath been used ever since this Act passed for they no sooner had excluded the Bishops and Clergy out of their right but presently they proceeded and prosecuted the Design ever since to thrust out the King from all those just Rights and Prerogatives which God and Nature and the Laws of our Land have put into his hands for the Government of this Kingdom neither was it likely to succeed any otherwise as I have fully shewed and I would all Kings would read it in the Grand Rebellion That the Act should be annulled But I see no reason why it may not and why it should not be retracted and annulled when the Houses shall be purged of that Anabaptistical and Rebellious Faction that contrived and procured the same to Passe for these three special Reasons Reason 1 1. Because that contrary to all former Precedents that Bill for their exclusion was as it is reported at the first refused and after a full hearing among the Lords it was by most Votes by more than a dozen voices rejected And yet to shew unto the World that the Faction's malice against the Bishops had no end and their rage was still implacable at the same Session and which is very considerable immediately assoon as ever they understood it was rejected the House of Commons revived it and so pressed it unto the Lords that if I may have leave to speak the truth contrary to all right * For I conceive this to be an approved Maxim That no Right not proved forfited by some offence can be taken away without wrong it must be again received and while the Bishops were in prison it was with what honour I know not strangely confirmed 2. Because this Bill had the Royall assent after that a most riotous tumult and many thousands of men with all sorts of Warlike weapons both on land and water most disloyally had driven His Majesty to flie from London that most Rebellious City not without fear for his own safety even for the safety of his life as himself professeth And when they had so cunningly Reason 2 contrived their Plot as to get some of the Kings servants and friends that were about him In his Majesties answer to the Petition of the Lords and Commons 16. of July p. 8. and imployed in the Queens affairs to perswade Her Majesty to use all her power with the King for the passing of this Bill or else Her journey should be stayed as formerly they had altered Her resolution for the Spaw and at Rochester she should understand the sense of the House to stop Her passage unto Holland whereas the passing of this Bill might make way for Her passage over And many other such frights and fears they put both upon the King and Queen to inforce Him full sore against his will as we believe to passe this harsh Bill for the exclusion of the spiritual Lords out of the House of Peers and of all the Clergy from all Secular Judicature But Master Pym will tell us as he did that it was the opinion of both Houses There was no occasion given by any tumults that might justly cause His Majesties departure To whom I answer with the words of Alderman Garraway Ald. Gar. speech at Guild-hall If the Houses had declared that it had been lawful to beat the King out of Town I must have sate still with wonder though I should never believe it but when they declare matters of Fact which is equally within our own knowledge and wherein we cannot be deceived as in the things we have seen with our eyes if they dissent from truth they must give me leave to differ from them As if they should declare They have paid all the money that they owe unto the City or that there * For now I understand it is pulled down was no Crosse standing in Cheapside we shall hardly believe them And therefore seeing we all remember when the Alarm was given that there was an attempt from Whitehall upon the City how hardly it was appeased and how no Babies thought the Design of those subtile heads that gave that false Alarm was no lesse than to have caused Whitehall to be pulled down and they that loved the King and saw the Army both by land and
all these points are taught by every one of their Teachers but that all these and many more are taught and maintained by some one or other of them as I could easily expresse it if it were not too tedious for my Reader but the bulk of my Book swells too big and their fancies are but Dreams fit for laughter and I brought these onely as Vinegar to be tasted and then to be spit out again CHAP. X. Sheweth the great Bug-bears that affrighted this Faction the four speciall means they used to secure themselves the manifold lyes they raised against the King and the two speciall Questions that are discussed about Papists 5. The setling of the Militia 5. FOr the setling of the Militia and putting the whole Kingdom in a posture of Defence as they termed it 1. They dreamed of a desperate Disease 2. They devised an Emperical way to cure it and 1. The disease 1. The Disease was a monstrous fear of Popery and the re-establishment of abolished superstitions in our Church to invade their consciences and of the Papists with fire and sword to waste their estates and to take away their lives and liberties and through that groundlesse fear they looked on the innocent Ceremonies that were established in the Church as dangerous Innovations and introductions to Idolatry And in the State they feared the practised wayes and endeavours to produce an arbitrary government by our advancing of a boundlesse Prerogative even to the dispoyling of the Subject of his property and robbing him of the benefit of the laws these were their fears And the grounds of these fears were lying fictions and most scandalous detractions and defamations for their invented Letters that should come from Holland and from Denmark and some other places beyond the Seas where we were better believe them then go try whether they were true which informed them sometimes of a Fleet of Danes sometimes of another Nation that should come to assist the King for the setting up of Popery and the securing of himself in a tyrannical and arbitrary government over them What terrible things frighted them and every day almost produced a discovery of new treacheries against the Parliament what terrible things frighted them as the stable of Horses under ground for indeed they were invisible Horses such as Elisha's servant saw terrifying their guilty consciences and that of the Taylors in Moor-fields and the like horrid machinations that were to come against them I know not from whom and God knowes from whence which things how false they were time which is the mother of truth hath long agone made manifest and ridiculous to any man that is not bewitched with these lying fancies therefore lest these dreams of their distempered brains should be too soon descryed and so prove defective to produce their intended project they alledge The Queen is a Papist and I would to God they were so truly religious and void of hypocrisie in their profession as she most gracious Queen is in her religion then they say The Bishops are all Papists Deans and Prebends are of the same stamp and all the Kings Chapleins that were preferred by the Arch-Bishop were either close Papists or profest Arminians which are but Cosen-germans unto the other Arminianism being but a Bridge to passe over unto Popery And with these and the like false slanders against the King Queen and Clergy they so bewitched most of their well meaning brethren of the same house and amazed all the simpler sort of people of this Kingdom with these fears and filled them with such jealousies with those Pamphlets that they caused to be printed and dispersed every where that they were at their wits end for fear of this lamentable alteration of their religion and deprivation of their liberties 2. The disease being thus spread like a Gangrene 2. The Cure over all the parts of the body of this Kingdom they like skilful Physitians devise the cure and that is the preparation of a Militia and this Militia they would have put into such hands as they pleased such as they might confide in and I wish the whole Kingdom knew who those men were and who they are that they do confide in for I know 1. Some of them are poor men of most desperate fortunes if Bank-rupters may be termed such 2. Others to be most factious and schismatical men addicted to Anabaptism and Brownism and other worser Sects as amongst the London Commanders Ven Manwaring Fowke Nâ—rington Bradly Best and the rest whereof there are twice as many schismatical and as it is conceived beggarly Sectaries as are right honest men among them and if we looked among their Lords and all the rest of their nomination throughout the Kingdom I doubt we shall find some of them to be just of the same condition And because the King to whose care and trust God had committed all the people of this Kingdom and not to them that are called by the King and chosen onely by men and that onely for this time and of whom he will require an account of the laws and religion whereof he made him keeper and defender and not of them thought most rightly that this Militia should be committed rather to such men as he might confide in as it was in the raign of Queen Elizabeth and His Father of ever blessed memory rather than to any that they should name which was to dis-robe himself of all his regal power of the chiefest garland of his royal Prerogatives without which he could hold his Crown by no better a tenure then durante beneplacito and to put the sword out of his own hand into the hands of them that could not love him because they could not trust him as they alledged and what reason had he to trust them that were causelesly so distrustful of him they startled at this deniall And because the King of heaven had by this time opened the Kings eys God openeth the Kings eyes to let him see what hitherto he could hardly imagine that these men to whom he had granted for the good of his kingdom so many Acts of grace and favour as never any King of England did before and had very graciously offered to commit to the hands of their own choosing so large a share of the Militia as might have rendred the whole kingdom most secure if security in a just and legall way had been all that they sought for had their intentions far otherwise then they pretended and that not onely the government of the Church was intended to be altered and the Governours thereof destroyed but himself also was hereby dis-robed of those rights which God and the Lawes of the Land had put into his hands and the Kingdom brought either into a base Tyranny or confused Anarchy when all things shall be done according to the arbitrary power of these factious and schismatical men therefore he utterly refused to grant their desires and most wisely withstood their
in Publick throughout the whole Kingdom and they are not a little punished that neglect it and whatsoever Message Answer Declaration or Proclamation cometh from the King to inform his Subjects of the Truth of things and to undeceive his much seduced people they streightly forbid those to be Printed and imprison if they can catch them all that publish them as they did many worthy Ministers in the City of London and in many other places of this Kingdom 6. They have publickly voted in their House 6. Wrong and accordingly indeavoured by Messages to perswade our brethren of Scotland to joyn in their assistance with these grand Rebels to rebel against their Soveraign but I perswade my self as I said before that the Nobility and Gentry of Scotland are more Religious in themselves more Loyal to their liege Lord and indeed wiser in all their actions then while they may live quietly at home in a happy peace to undertake upon the perswasions of Rebellious Subjects such an unhappy war abroad 7. It is remonstrated and related publickly that 7. Wrong as if they had shaken off all subjection and were become already a State Independent they have Treated by their agents with forraign States and do still proceed in that course which if true is such an usurpation upon Soveraignty as was never before attempted in this Kingdom and such a Presumption as few men know the secret mischiefs that may lurk therein 8. They suffer and licence their Pamphleters Pryn Goodwin Burges 8. Wrong Marshal Sedgwick and other emissaries of wickedness to publish such Treasons and Blasphemies and abominable Aphorisms As that the negative vote of the King is no more then the dissent of one man the Affirmative vote of the King makes not a Law ergo the Negative cannot destroy it and the like absurd and sensless things that are in those Aphorisms and in Prins book of the Soveraign power of Parliament whereby they would deny the Kings power to hinder any Act that both the Houses shall conclude and so taking away those just prerogatives from him that are as Hereditary to him as his Kingdom compell him to assent to their conclusions for which things our Histories tell us that other Parliaments have banished and upon their returns they were hanged both the Spencers the Father and the Son for the like presumption Why the two Spencers died as among other Articles Per asperte vid. Elismere post-nati p. 99. for denying this Prerogative unto their King and affirming that if he neglected his duty and would not do what he ought for the good of the Kingdom he might be compelled by force to perform it which very thing divesteth the King of all Soveraignty overthroweth Monarchy and maketh our government a meer Aristocracy contrary to the constitution of our first Kings and the judgment of all ages for we know full well Pag. 48. from the Practise of all former Parliaments that seeing the three States are subordinate unto the King in making Laws wherein the chiefest power consisteth they may propound and consent but it is still in the Kings power to refuse or ratify and I never read that any Parliament man till now did ever say the contrary but that if there be no concurrence of the King in whom formally the power of making of any Law resideth ut in subjecto to make the Law the two Houses whose consent is but a requisite condition to compleat the Kings power are but a liveless convention like two Cyphers without a figure that of themselves are of no value or power but joyned unto their figures have the full strength of their places which is confirmed by the Viewer of the Observations out of 11. Pag. 19 20 21. Hen. 7.23 per Davers Polydore 185. Cowel inter verbo Praerog Sir Thomas Smyth de republ Angl. l. 2. c. 3. Bodin l. 1. c. 8. For if the Kings consent were not necessary for the perfecting of every Act The Letter to a Gentleman in Gloucestershire p. 3. then certainly as another saith all those Bils that heretofore have passed both Houses and for want of the Royal assent have slept and been buried all this while would now rise up as so many Laws and Statutes and would make as great confusion as these new orders and ordinances have done And as the Lawyers tell us that the necessity of the assent of all three States in Parliament is such as without any one of them the rest do but lose their labour Lamberts Archeion 271. Vid. the Viewer p. 21. so Le Roy est assentus ceo faict un Act de Parliament and as another saith Nihil ratum habetur nisi quod Rex comprobarit Nothing is perfected but what the King confirmeth But here in the naming of the three States I must tell you that I find in most of our Writers about this new-born question of the Kings power a very great omission that they are not particularly set down that the whole Kingdom might know which is every one of them and upon this omission I conceive as great mistake in them that say the three States are Which be the three States of England 1. The King 2. The House of Peers 3. The House of Commons For I am informed by no mean Lawyer that you may find it upon the Rowls of Henry the fifth Speed l. 9. c. 19. p. 712. Anno. 1 Ric. 3. as I remember and I am sure you may find it in the first year of Richard the third where the three States are particularly named and the King is none of them For it is said That at the request and by the assent of the three Estates of this Realm that is to say the Lords Spiritual the Lords Temporal and Commons of the Land Assembled it is declared that our said Soveraign Lord the King is the very undoubted King of this Realm Wherein you may plainly see the King that is acknowledged their Soveraign by all three can be none of the three but is the head of all three as the Dean is none of the Chapter but is Caput capituli and as in France and Spain so in England I conceive the three Estates to be 1. The Lords Spiritual that are if not representing yet in loco in the behalf of all the Clergy of England that till these Anabaptistical tares have almost choaked all the Wheat in Gods field were thought so considerable a party as might deserve as well a representation in Parliament as old Sarum or the like Borough of scarce twenty Houses 2. The Lords Temporal in the right of their Honor and their Posterity And to make the World believe how justly and sufficiently legal they could do this they made another Ordinance for the inhabitants of the Counties of Northampton Rutland Derby c. to pay the twentieth part and to be assessed by the Assessors that they name in imitation of the Statute lately made for the four hundred
her everlasting praise to assist her most dear and Royal Husband their own Liege Lord and Soveraign King in his greatest extremities against a virulent mighty Faction of most malicious Traytors The strangest Treason that ever the World heard of 2. They made an Ordinance for the composing and convocating of such a Synod whereof I said somewhat before of Lay-men ignorant men factious men trayterous men and such concretion of heterogeneall parts like Nebuchadnezzars Image Gold Brass and Clay all mixed together and all so ordered limited and bridled as it is expressed in the 5. and 6. page of their Ordinance by the power of both Houses where there are such abundance of Schismaticall and seditious Members that I should scarce put the worst sensitive soul to professe that erratical faith or any brute beast to be guided by that Ecclesiastical Discipline that such factious Traytors as some of them are like to be proved should compose or cause to be composed 3. They composed a form of a sacred Vow or Covenant as they term it or as it is indeed the Covenant of Hell a Covenant against God to overthrow the Gospel of Christ under the name of Christ which Covenant is the oil that swimmeth uppermost upon the waters that is the oil of Scorpions or as Moses saith The poison of Dragons so lately wringed and diffused far and near to defile and destroy millions of souls when forgetting their faith to God and the oathes of their allegeance so often and so solemnly taken by many or most of them to be faithful unto their King they shall be compelled which is one degree worse than the vow of them that bound themselves with a curse neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul so hypocritically so perjuredly so rebelliously so horribly and so bloodily to make such a fearful Vow and such an abominable Covenant so wickedly contrived that without great and serious repentance spitteth forth nothing but fire and brimstone and can produce nothing else but Hell and Damnation to all that take it especially to them that will compell men to be thus transcendently wicked as if they would send them with Corah quick to Hell All which triplicity of evil I shall leave to some abler and more eloquent Pen to be set forth more fully in the right colours that being sufficiently displayed they may be throughly detested of all good men Amen O Lord have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep thy Laws THE CONTENTS Of the severall Chapters in the Plots of the Parliament Chap. I. SHeweth the Introduction the greatness of this Rebellion the originall thereof the secret plots of the Brownisticall Faction and the two cheifest things they aimed at to effect their plot Page 251. Chap. II. Sheweth the eager prosecution of our Sectaries to take off the Earl of Strafford's head How he answered for himself The Bishops right of voting in his cause His excellent virtues and his death p. 254. Chap. III. Sheweth how they stopped the free judgement of the Judges procured the perpetuity of the Parliament the consequences thereof And the subtile device of Semiramis p. 259. Chap. IV. Sheweth the abilities of the Bishops the threefold practice of the Faction to exclude them out of the House of Peers and all the Clergy out of all Civil Judicature p. 262. Chap. V. Sheweth the evil consequences of this Act How former times respected the Clergy How the King hath been used ever since this Act passed and how for three speciall Reasons it ought to be annulled p. 265. Chap. VI. Sheweth the plots of the Faction to gain unto themselves the friendship and assistance of the Scots To what end they framed their new Protestation How they provoked the Irish to rebell And what other things they gained thereby p. 270. Chap. VII Sheweth how the Faction was inraged against our last Canons What manner of men they chose in their new Synod And of six speciall Acts of great prejudice unto the Church of Christ which under false pretences they have already done p. 274. Chap. VIII Sheweth what Discipline or Church-government our factious Schismaticks like best Twelve Principal points of their Doctrines which they hold as 12. Articles of their faith and we must all believe the same or suffer if this Faction should prevail p. 270. Chap. IX Sheweth three other speciall points of Doctrine which the Brownists and Anabaptists of this Kingdom do teach p. 274 Chap. X. Sheweth the great Bug-bears that affrighted this Faction The four speciall means they used to secure themselves The manifold lyes they raised against the King And the two special Questions that are discussed about Papists p. 278. Chap. XI Sheweth the unjust proceedings of these factious Sectaries against the King Eight special wrongs and injuries that they have offered him Which are the three States And that our Kings are not Kings by Election or Covenants with the people p. 283. Chap. XII Sheweth the unjust proceedings of this Faction against their fellow Subjects set down in four particular things p. 289. Chap. XIII Sheweth the proceedings of this Faction against the Laws of the Land The Priviledges of Parliament transgressed eleven special wayes p. 292. Chap. XIV Sheweth how they have transgressed the publike Laws of the Land three wayes and of four miserable Consequences of their wicked doings p. 295. Chap. XV. Sheweth a particular recapitulation of the Reasons whereby their Design to alter the Government both of Church and State is evinced And a pathetical disswasion from Rebellion p. 301. TO THE KING'S most Excellent MAJESTY Most gracious Soveraign WITH no smal paines and the more for want of my books and of any setled place being multum terris jactatus alto frighted out of mine house and tost betwixt two distracted Kingdoms I have collected out of the sacred Scripture explained by the ancient Fathers and the best Writers of God's Church these few Rights out of many that God and Nature and Nations and the Lawes of this Land have fully and undeniably granted unto our Soveraign Kings My witness is in Heaven that as my conscience directed me without any squint aspect so I have with all sincerity and freely traced and expressed the truth as I shall answer to the contrary at the dreadful judgement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore with all fervency I humbly supplicate the divine Majesty still to assist Your Highness that as in Your lowest ebb You have put on Righteousness as a breast plate and with an heroick Resolution withstood the proudest waves of the raging Seas and the violent Attempts of so many imaginary Kings so now in Your acquired strength You may still ride on with Your honour and for the glory of God the preservation of Christ his Church and the happiness of this Kingdom not for the greatest storm that can be threatned suffer these Rights to be snatched away nor Your Crown to be thrown to the dust nor the Sword that God hath given
tyrannicall King 2. The same Spirit saith Thou shalt not revile the Gods that is 2. To say no ill of the King Exod. 22.28 Act 23.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. To do no hurt to the King Psal 10â— 15 1 Sam. 24 4 5. the Judges of the Land nor curse that is in Saint Pauls phrase speak evill of the Ruler of the people and what can be more evill then to bely his Religion to traduce his Government and to make so faithfull a Christian King as faithless as a Cretan which is commonly broached by the Rebels and Preached by their seditious Teachers 3. The great Jehovah gives this peremptory charge to all Subjects saying Touch not mine Anointed which is the least indignity that may be and therefore Davids heart smote him when he did but cut off the lap of Sauls garment What then can be said for them that draw their swords and shoot their Cannons to take away the life of Gods Anointed which is the greatest mischiefe they can do I beleive no distinction can blinde the judgment of Almighty God but his revengefull hand will finde them out 2. What we should do to honour the King Eccles 8.2 1. To observe the kings commands that so maliâ—iously transgress his precepts and think by their subtilty to escape his punishments 2. The Scriptures do positively and plainly command us to shew all honour unto our King For 1. Solomon saith I counsell thee to keep the Kings commandment or as the phrase imports to observe the mouth of the King that is not onely his written law but also his verball commands and that in regard of the oath of God that is in respect of thy Religion or the solemne vow which thou madest at thine initiation and incorporation into Gods Church to obey all the precepts of God Et si religio tollitur nulla no bis cum coelo ratio est Lactant Iust l. 3. c. 10. whereof this is one to honour and obey the King or else that oath of allegiance and fidelity which thou hast sworn unto thy King in the presence and with the approbation of thy God which certainly will plague all perjurers and take revenge on them that take his name in vain which is the infallible and therefore most miserable condition of all the perjured Rebels of this Kingdom For if moral honesty teacheth us to keep our promises yea though it were to our own hindrance then much more should Christianity teach us to observe our deliberate and solemn oathes whose violation can bear none other fruit then the heavy censure of God's fearful indignation But when the prevalent faction took a solemn Oath and Protestation to defend all the Privileges of Parliament and the Rights of the Subjects and then presently forgetting their oath and forsaking their faith by throwing the Bishops out of the House of Peers which all men knew to be a singular Priviledge How the prevalent Faction of the Parliament forswore themselves 2. To obey the kings commandements Josh 1.18 and the House of Lords acknowledged to be the indubitable right of the Bishops and their doctrine being to dispence with all oaths for the furtherance of the cause it is no wonder they falsifie all oaths that they have made unto the King 2. The people said unto Joshua Whosoever rebelleth against thy commandment and will not hearken to the words of thy mouth in all that thou commandest he shall be put to death surely this was an absolute government and though martial yet most excellent to keep the people within the bounds of their obedience for they knew that where rebellion is permitted there can be no good performance of any duty and it may be a good lesson for all the higher powers not to be too clement which is the incouragement of Rebels to most obstinate trayterous and rebellious Subjects who daring not to stir under rigid Tyrants do kick with their heeles against the most pious Princes and therefore my soul wisheth not out of any desire of bloud but from my love to peace that this rule were well observed Whosoever rebelleth against thy commandment he shall be put to death * Quia in talibus non obedientes mortaliter peccant nisi foret illud quod praecipitur contra praeceptum Dei vel in salutis dispendiâ—m Angel summa verb. obedientia 3 To give the king no just cause of anger Prov. 2.2 The Rebels have given him cause enough to be provoked 4. To speak reverently to the king and of the king Eccles 8.4 3. The wisest of all Kings but the King of Kings saith The fear of a King is as the roaring of a Lion who so provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul And I believe that the taking up of Armes by the Subjects against their own King that never wronged them and the seeking to take away his life and the life of his most faithful servants is cause enough to provoke any King to anger if he be not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too Stoically given to abandon all passions and that anger should be like the roaring of a Lion to them that would pull out the Lions eyes and take away the Lions life 4. The King of Heaven saith of these earthly Kings That where the word of a King is there is power and who may say unto him what dost thou And Elihu demands Is it fit to say to a King thou art wicked or to Princes you are ungodly Truely if Elihu were now here he might hear many unfitter things said to our King by his own people and which is more strange by some Preachers for some of them have said but most maliciously and more falsely that he is a Papist he is the Traytor unworthy to reign unfit to live good God! do these men think God saith truth Where the word of a King is there is power that is to blast the conspiracies and to confound the spirits of all Rebels who shall one day finde it because the wrath of God at last will be awaked against their treachery Jerem. 27.8 and to revenge their perjury by inabling the King to accomplish the same upon all that resist him as he promised to doe in the like case 5. To pray for the king Ezra 6.10 1 Tim. 2.1 2. 5. The Israelites being in captivity under the King of Babylon were commanded to pray for the life of that Heathen King and for the life of his sons And Saint Paul exhorteth Timothy to make supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks for Kings and for all that are in authority and how do our men pray for our King in many Pulpits not at all and in some places for his overthrow for the shortning of his life and the finishing of his dayes nullum sit in omine pondus and they give thanks indeed not for his good but for their own supposed good success against him thus they praevaricate and pervert the words of the
if they do offend he will binde Kings in fetters Rom. 2.11 Psal 149.8 and their Nobles with linkes of iron and we dare not flatter you to give you the least liberty to neglect the strict service of the great God 2. As they are Christian king and that is twofold In the second respect the service of all Christian kings and princes hath as I told you before these two parts 1. To protect the true religion and to govern the Church of Christ 2. To preserve peace and to govern the Common-wealth For 1. To protect the Church Aug. cont lit petil l. 2. Optat. Milivit lib. 3. 1. It is true indeed that the Donatists of old the grand fathers of our new Sectaries were wont to say Quid Imperatori cum Ecclesia What have we to do with the Emperour or what hath the Emperour to do with the Church but to this Optatus answereth that Ille solito furore acceusus in haec verba prorupit Donatus out of his accustomed madness burst forth into these mad termes Prima omnium in republ functionum est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist l. 7. c. 8. Arist Polit. l. 3. c. 10. for it is a duty that lyeth upon all Princes because all both Christians and Pagans ought to be religious as I shewed to you before not onely to be devout but also to be the means to make all their Subjects so far as they can to become devoted to Gods service as the practice of those Heathens that had no other guide of their actions then the light of nature doth make it plain for Aristotle saith that Quâ—â— ad Deorum cultum pertinent commissa sunt regibus magistratibus those things that pertain unto the worship of the Gods are committed to the care of Kings and civil Magistrates and whatsoever their religion was as indeed it was but meere superstition yet because Superstition and Religion hoc habent commune do this in common Vt faciant animos humiles formidine divûm Therefore to make men better the more humble and more dutiful the transgression thereof was deemed worthy to receive punishment among the Pagans and that punishment was appointed by them that had the principal authority to govern the Common-wealth as the Athenian Magistrates condemned Socrates though he was a man wiser then themselves yet as they conceived very faulty for his irreligion and derision of their adored gods The chief Magistrates of the Heathens had the charge of Religion And Tiberius would set up Christ among the Romane gods though the act added no honour unto Christ without the authority and against the will of the Senate to shew that the care of religion belonged unto the Emperour or chief Magistrate and therefore as the Lord commanded the kings of Israel to write a copy of his Law in a booke and to take heed to all the words of that Law for to do them that is not onely as a private person for so every man was not to write it Deut. 17.18 19. but as King to reduce others to the obedience thereof so the examples of the best kings both of Israel and Juda and of the best Christian Emperours do make this plain unto us for Joshua caused all Israel to put away the strange gods that were among them Josh 24.23 The care of the good kings of the Jews to preserve the true religion and to incline their hearts unto the Lord God of Israel Manasses after his return from Babylon tooke away the strange Gods and the Idols out of the house of the Lord and cast them all out of the City and repaired the Altar of the Lord and commanded Juda to serve the Lord God of Israel And what shall I say of David whose whole study was to further the service of God and of Jehosaphat Asa Josias Ezechias and others that were rare patternes for other kings for the well government of Gods Church and in the time of the Gospel Quod non tollit praecepta legis sed perficit which takes not away the rules of nature nor the precepts of the Law but rather establisheth the one and perfecteth the other because Christ came into the world non ut tolleret jura saeculi sed ut deâ—eret peccata mundi not to take away the rights of the Nations but to satisfie for the sins of the World the best Christian Emperours discharged the same duty reformed the Church abolished Idolatry punished Heresy and maintained Piety The care of the good Emperours to preserve the true religion Esay 49.23 especially Constantine and Theodosius that were most pious Princes and of much virtues and became as the Prophet foretold us nursing fathers unto Gods Church for though they are most religious and best in their religion that are religious for conscience sake yet there is a fear from the hand of the Magistrate that is able to restrain those men from many outward evils whom neither conscience nor religion could make honest therefore God committed the principal care of his Church to the Prince and principal Magistrate And this is confirmed and throughly maintained by sundry notable men who defended this truth The Papists unawares confess this truth Osorius de relig p. 21. as Brentius against Asoto Bishop Horne against Fekenham Jewel against Harding and many other learned men that have written against such other Papists and Puritans Anabaptists and Brownists that have taken upon them to impugne it yea many of the Papists themselves at unawares do confess as much for Osorius saith Omne regis officium in religionis sanctissimae rationem conferendum munus ejus est beare rempubl religione pietate all the office of a King is to be conferred or imployed for the regard of the most holy Religion and his whole duty is to bless or make happy the Common-wealth with Religion and piety Quod enim est aliud reipublicae principi munus assignatum quà m ut rempubl florentem atque beatam faciat quod quidem nullo modo sine egregia pietatis religionis sanctitate perficitur For though we confess with Ignatius that no man is equall to the Bishop in causes Ecclesiasticall no not the King himselfe that is in such things as belong to his office Whit. resp Camp p. 302. as Whitaker saith because he onely ought to see to holy things that is the instruction of the people the administration of the Sacraments the use of the keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven and the like The Kings authority over Bishops 1 Chron. 28.13 2 Chron. 29. 1 Reg. 2.26 matters of great weight and exceeding the Kings authority yet Kings are above Bishops in wealth honour power government and majesty and though they may not do any of the Episcopall duties yet they may and ought lawfully to admonish them of their duties and restrain them from evill and command them diligently to execute their office and if they neglect the same they
ought to reprove and punish them as we read the good Kings of the Jewish Church and the godly Emperours * As Martian apud Binium l. 2. p. 178. Iustinian novel 10. tit 6. Theodos jun. Evagr. l. 1. c. 12. Basil in Council Constant 8. act 1. Binius tom 8. p. 880. Reason confirmeth that Kings should take care of religion of the Christian Church have ever done and the Bishops themselves in sundry Councils have acknowledged the same power and Authority to be due and of right belonging unto them as at Mentz Anno 814. and Anno 847. apud Binium tom 3. p. 462. 631. At Emerita in Portugall Anno 705. Bin. tom 2. p. 1183. and therefore it is an ill consequent to say Princes have no Authority to preach Ergo they have no authority to punish those that will not preach or that do preach false Doctrine This truth is likewise apparent not only by the the testimony of Scripture and Fathers but also by the evidence of plain reason because the prosperity of that Land which any King doth govern without a principal care of Religion decayeth and degenerateth into Wars Dearths Plagues and Pestilence and abundance of other miseries that are the lamentable effects and consequences of the neglect of Religion and contempt of the Ministers of Gods Church which I beleive is no small cause of these great troubles which we now suffer because our God Psal 35.27 that taketh pleasure in the prosperity of his servants cannot endure that either his service should be neglected or his servants abused CHAP VII Sheweth the three things necessary for all Kings that would preserve true Religion how the King may attain to the knowledge of things that pertain to Religion by his Bishops and Chaplains and the calling of Synods the unlawfulness of the new Synod the Kings power and authority to govern the Church and how both the old and new Disciplinarians and Sectaries rob the King of this power THerefore seeing this should be the greatest care that brings the greatest honour to a Christian Prince to promote the true Religion it is requisite that we should consider those things that are most necessary to a Christian King for the Religious performance of this duty And they are Three things necessary for a king to preferre the Church and the Religion 1. A will to performe it 2. An understanding to go about it 3. A power to effect it And these three must be inseperable in the Prince that maintaineth true Religion For 1. Our knowledge and our power without a willing minde doth want motion 2. Our will and power without knowledge shall never be able to move right And 3. Our will and knowledge without ability can never prevaile to produce any effect Therefore Kings and Princes ought to labour to be furnished with these three special graces The first is a good will to preserve the purity of Gods service 1. A willing minde to do it not onely in his House but also througout all his Kingdom and this as all other graces are must be acquired by our faithfull prayers and that in a more speciall manner for Kings and Princes then for any other and it is wrought in them by outward instruction and the often predication of God's Word and the inward inspiration of Gods Spirit The second is knowledge which is not much less necessaâ—y then the former 2. Understanding to know what is to be reformed and what to be retained because not to run right is no better then not to run at all and men were as good to do nothing as to do amiss and therefore true knowledge is most requisite for that King that will maintain true religion and this should be not onely in generall and by others but as much as possible he can in particulars and of himselfe that himselfe might be assured what were fit to be reformed and what warranted to be maintained in Gods service for so Moses commandeth the chiefe Princes to be exercised in Gods Law day and night because this would be a special means to beatifie or make happy both the Church and Common-Wealth As the neglect thereof brought ignorance unto the Church The kings neglect of religion and the Church is the destruction of the Common-wealth and ruine to the Romane Empire for as in Augustus time learning flourished and in Constantines time piety was much embraced because these Emperours were such themselves so when the Kings whose examples most men are apt to follow either busied with secular affairs or neglecting to understand the truth of things and the state of the Church do leave this care unto others then others imitating their neglect do rule all things with great corruption and as little truth whereby errours and blindness will over-spread the Church and pride covetousness and ambition will replenish the Common-Wealth and these vices like the tares that grow up in Gods field to suffocate the pure Wheat will at last choake up all virtue and piety both in Church and State Therefore to prevent this mischiefe the King on whom God hath laid the care of these things ought himselfe what he can to learn and finde out the true state of things and because it is far unbefitting the honour and inconsistent with the charge of great Princes whose other affairs will not permit them to be alwayes poring at their books as if they were such critiques How kings may attaine unto the knowledge of religion and understand the state of the Church and how to govern the same 1. To call able Clergy-men about them as intended to exceed all others in the theâ—rick learning like Archimedes that was in his study drawing forth his Mathematicall figures when the City was sackt and his enemies pulling down the house about his eares therefore it is wisdome in them to imitate the discreet examples of other wise Kings and religious Emperours in following the means that God hath left and using the power and authority that he hath given them to attain unto more knowledge and to be better instructed in any religious matter then themselves could possibly attaine unto by their own greatest study and that is 1. As Alexander had his Aristotle ready to inform him in any Philosophicall doubt and Augustus his prime Orators Poets and Historians to instruct him in all affairs so God hath granted this power unto his Kings to call those Bishops and command such Chaplaines to reside about them as shall be able to informe them in any truth of Divinity and so direct them in the best forme of Government of Gods Church and these Chaplains should be well approved both for their learning and their honesty for to be learned without honesty as many are is to be witty to do evill which is most pernitious and doth often times make a private gaine by a publique loss How they should be qualified or an advantage to themselves by the detriment of the Church
not simply Subjects unto their king but deny civil obedience unto their Prince where canonical obedience commands the contrary and you see how the Presbytery not only deny their just allegeance but incite the people to unjust Rebellion but the Bishops and their Clergy renounce all obedience to any other Potentate and anathematize as utterly unlawful all resistance against our lawful Soveraigne and in this hearty adherence to His Majesty as they are wholly his so they do exspect favour from none but onely from His Highness and yet Philip the second of Spaine notwithstanding he had but half the obedience of his Clergy advised his son Philip the third to stick fast unto his Bishops even as he had done before him therefore our king that hath his Bishops so totally faithful unto him hath more reason to succour them that they be not no◠the object of contempt unto the vulgar Reason 3 3. The state of the Clergy is constantly and most really to their power the most beneficial state to the Crown both in ordinary and extraordinary revenues of all others for though their meanes is much impaired and their charges encreased in many things yet if you consider their first fruits the first year their Tenths every year Subsidies most years and all other due and necessary payments to the king I may boldly say that computatis computandis no state in England of double their revenue scarce renders half their payments and now in the kings necessity for the defence of Church and Crown Or else they are much to blame and far unworthy to be Bishops I hope my Brethren the Bishops and all the rest of the loyal Clergy will rather empty themselves of all they have and put it to His Majesties hands then suffer him to want what lyeth in them during all the time of these occasions Reason 4 4. They bestow all their labours in Gods service continually praying for blessings upon the head of His Majesty and his posterity and next under god relying onely upon His favour and protection Reason 5 5. God hath laid this charge upon all Christian kings to be our nursing fathers and to defend the faith that we preach Esay 49.33 which cannot be done when the Bishops and Prelates are not protected and God hath promised to bless them so long as they discharge this duty and hath threatned to forsake them when they forsake his Church and leave the same as a prey to the adversaries of the Gospel Reason 6 6. Our king hath like a pious and a gracious King at his Coronation promised and engaged himself to do all this that is desired of him And as for these and other reasons His Majesty should so we do acknowledge with all thankefulness that he hath and doth His best endeavour to discharge this whole duty Quia non plus valet ad dejiciendumterrena mala◠quà m ad erigendum divina tutela Cypr. and do beleive with all confidence that maugre all open opposition and all secret insinuation against us He will in like manner continue his grace and favour unto the Church and Church governours unto the end And if any whosoever they be how great or how powerful soever either in kingdome or in Court shall seeke to alienate the Kings heart or diminish His affection and furtherance to protect and promote the publishers of the Gospel which we are confident all their malice cannot do because the God of Heaven that hath built his Church upon a rock and will not turn away his face from his Anointed will so bless our King that it shall never be with him as it was with Zedechia when it was not in his power to save Gods Prophet but said unto his Princes Jerem. 28.5 Behold he is in your hand for the King is not he that can do any thing against you yet as Mordecai said to Hester God will send enlargement and deliverance unto his Church Hester 4.14 and they and their fathers houses that are against it shall be destroyed because as Saint Peter saith we have forsaken all to become his servants that otherwise might have served Kings with the like honour that they do and we have lest the world to build up his Church we put our trust under the shadow of his wings and being in trouble we do cry unto the Lord and therefore he will hear our cry and will helpe us and we shall never be confounded Amen CHAP. X. Sheweth that it is the Kings right to grant Dispensatious for Pluralities and Non-residency what Dispensation is reasons for it to tolerate divers Sects or sorts of Religions the foure special sorts of false professors S. Augustines reasons for the toleration of the Jewes toleration of Papists and of Puritans and which of them deserve best to be tolerated among the Protestants and how any Sect is to be tolerated 2. That the King may lawfully grant his dispensation for Pluralities and Non-residency 2. WHereas the Anabaptists and Brownists of our time with what conscience I know not cry out that our Kings by their Lawes do unreasonably and unconscionably grant dispensations both for Pluralities and Non-residency onely to further the corrupt desire of some few aspiring Prelates to the infinite wrong of the whole Clergy the intolerable dishonour of our Religion the exceeding prejudice of Gods Church and the lamentable hazard of many thousand soules I say that the Pluralities and Non-residency granted by the King and warranted by the Lawes of this Land In Anno 112. may finde sufficient reasons to justifie them for In Anno 636. if you consider the first limitation of Benefices that either Euaristus Bishop of Rome or Dionysius as others thinke did first assigne the precincts of Parishes The first distribution of Parishes and appointed a certain compass to every Presbyter and in this Kingdome Honorius Arch-bishop of Canterbury was the first that did the like appointed the Pastorall charge and the portion of meanes accrewing from that compass to this or that particular person whereas before for many years they had no particular charge assigned nor any Benefice allotted them but had their Canonicall pensions and dividents given them by the Bishop out of the common stock of the Church according as the Bishop saw their severall deserts for at first the greater Cities onely had their standing Pastors and then the Countrey Villages imitating the Cities to allow maintenance according to the abilities of the inhabitants had men of lesser learning appointed for those places Pluralities and Non-residency no transgression of Gods Law Therefore this limitation of particular Parishes being meerly positive and an humane constitution it cannot be the transgression of a divine ordinance to have more Parishes then one or to be absent from that one which is allotted to him when he is dispenced with by the Law-maker to do the same for as it is not lawfull without a dispensation to do either because we are to obey
may change the condition of things they may do as by their counsel they shall be advised either the one or the other to receive them or reject them without offence because we finde no special precept or direction in Gods Word either to banish or to cherish them in any kingdome 2. For the Turks the reasons are not much unlike 2 Turkes though something different and in my judgement no less tolerable then the other because somewhat nearer to the Christian faith therefore I leave them to the Laws of each kingdome to do as the wisedome of the Prince shall think fit 3 Papists 3. For the Papists the case is far otherwise with them then either with the Turks or Jews because 1. They profess the same faith quoad essentialia the same Creeds the same Gospel and the same Christ as we do 2. It is not denyed by the best of our Divines but that they together with us do constitute the same Catholick Church of Christ though they be sick and corrupted yet not dead and we strong and sound yet not unspotted members of the same as I have more fully shewed in my book of the true Church 3. It is not agreed upon by all our Divines that they are Idolaters though they be in great errours and implunged in many superstitions because every Church in errour though never so dangerous is not so desperate as that Church which is Idolatrous or be it granted which some of our Protestants will not admit that they were Idolaters Carol. Sigon l. 5. c. 11. p. 274. yet seeing not onely seaven speciall sorts of heresies as 1. the Sadducees 2. the Scribes 3. the Pharisees The Hemero-baptists such as baptized themselves every day 5. The Esseni which Josephus calleth Essaei 6. The Nazarites And 7. the Herodians whereof some denied the resurrection and the being of Angels and spirits but also Idolaters and heathens that knew not God but worshipped the Devill instead of God were not inhibited to dwell and inhabit among the Jewes of whose Religion notwithstanding God was as carefull to preserve the purity of it and as jealous to keep them from Idolatry as of any Nation that then or ever after lived upon the earth it is no question but if it please the King permission may be granted them to exercise their own Religion not publickely and authoritativè equally with the Protestant Grand Rebell c. 1. p. 5. 6. but quietly and so as I have shewed in my Grand Rebellion for I am not of their faith which hold it more safe and less dangerous to be conversant with the Turkes or Jewes and to have more neerness with them then with an Idolatrous Church that professeth Christ because that where the greater distance is from the true Religion there the lesser familiarity and neerenesse should be in conversation and the greater distance in communion therefore as the wrath of God was kindled against the Israelites because they had the Jewes their own brethren in greater detestation then the Idumeans or the Egyptians The least familiarity in conversation where there is greatest distance from truth whose idolatry must needs be far greater and their Religion far worse in their own judgement then that of the Jewes so we may feare the like anger from God if we will be so partiall in our judgement and so transported with disaffection as to prefer a blasphemous Turke or an impious Jew before those men though ignorantly idolatrous that do with all feare and reverence worship the same God and adore the name of Christ as we doe And we read that the Emperour Justinus a right Catholique Prince as Bishop Horne calleth him Bishop Horne against Fâ—kenham Justinus gave a toleration to the Arians at the request of Theodoricke King of Italy granted licence that the Arians which denied the Deity of our Saviour Christ and were the worst of Heretiques and therefore worse then any Papist should be restored and suffered to live after their own orders and Pope John for the peace and quietness of the Catholique Church requested him most humbly so to do which he did for feare of Theodoricke that otherwise threatned the Catholiques should not live Ob. But you will say the fatall success that befell to King Davids house for Solomons permission of divers religions to be divided into two parts and the best ten Tribes for two to be given unto a stranger Deut. 17 17 19. and the principall care of a pious Prince being to preserve pure Religion which is soon infected by Idolatrous neighbours do rather disprove all toleration then any wayes connive with them that are of a different Religion and if we read the Oration of the league to the King of France wherein that Orator numbereth their victories and innumerable successes whilest they had but one Religion and their miseries and ill fortunes when they fostered two Religions it will appeare how far they were from allowing a toleration of any more then one Religion in one Kingdome Sol. The true cause of renting Solomons Kingdome Ps 106.35 Yet to this it may be easily answered that Solomons Kingdom was not rent from his posterity for his permission of idolaters to dwell in his Kingdome which the Law of God did not forbid but for that fault which his father taxed the Jewes with they were mingled among the heathen and learned their works for his commixtion of alliances with strangers and the corruption of true Religion by his marrying of so many idolatrous wives and so becomming idolatrous himself and thereby inducing his subjects the Israelites to be the like and for the Oration of the league there is in that brave Orator want of Logick ignoratio â—lenchi non causae ùt causae for you know what the Poêt saith Careat successibus opto Quisquis ab eventu facta notanda putaet and we must not judge of true causes by the various success of things and I may say it was not the professing of one religion but the sincere serving of God in that true religion which brought to them and will bring to others prosperous success against the infidels neither was it the permitting of two religions or to speak more properly the diversity of opinions in the same religion but their emulation and hatred one against another their pride and ambition and many other consequences of private discords might be the just causes of their misfortunes 4. For the Puritans Brownists Anabaptists Heretiques and Schismatiques that are deemed neither Infidels nor Idolaters 4. Puritans but do obstinately erre in some points of faith as the Arians that denyed the Divinity of Christ and the Nestorians to them which sinned after baptisme and the like pernicious heresies though not all alike dangerous or do make a Schisme or a rent in the Church of Christ as the Donatists did in Saint Augustin's time and the Anabaptists and Puritans do in our dayes I say these are not to be
grace 2. By fraud 3. Through fear For 1. The King that hath his full right either by conquest or succession over his people 1. All grants of grace ought to be observed to govern them as a most absolute Monarch and out of his meer grace and favour to sweeten the subjection of his people and to binde them with the greater love and affection to his obedience doth minuere sua jura restrain his absolute right bestow liberties upon his people and take his oath for their security that he will observe them is bound in all conscience to perform them and can never be freed from injustice before God and man if he transgresse them The true Law of free Monarchs p. 203. Quia volenti fit non injuria because they do him no injury when he doth voluntarily either totally resign or in some particularity diminish his own right but after he hath thus firmely done it he can never iustly go from it and therefore King James saith that a King which governeth not by his Lawes can neither be accountable to God for his administration nor have a happy and established Raign because it cannot be but that the people seeing their King failing of his duty will be always murmuring and defective in their fidelity And Yet the King's breach of oath doth neither forfeit his right nor warrant their distoyalty because another mans sin doth no way lessen mine offence and neither God nor the King granted this priviledge unto Subjects to rebel and take Armes against their Soveraign when they pretend he hath broken his promise 2. Grants obtained through fraud which to be observed 2. When the King through the subtile perswasions of his people that pretend one thing and intend another shall be seduced to grant those things that are full of inconveniencies as our King was over-reached and no better then meerly cheated by the faction of this Parliament to grant the continuance of it till it should be dissolved with the consent of both Houses and the like Lawes that are procured by meer fraud that soonest over-reacheth the best meaning Kings I answer with the old Proverb Caveat emptor he ought to have been as wise to prevent them as they were subtile to circumvent him and therefore as Joshua being deceived by the Gibeonites could not alter his promise Josh 9.20 nor break his league with them lest wrath should fall upon him so no more should any other King break promise in the like case But you must observe that the Psalmist saith Psal 15.5 The good man which shall dwell in the Tabernacle of the Lord is he that sweareth unto his neighbour and disappointeth him not though it were to his own hinderance mark Quicquid fit dolo malo annullat factum imponit poenam summa Angel though it were to his own hinderance never so much he must perform it but what if he hath promised and sworn that which will be to the great dishonour of God to the hinderance of thousands of others and it may be to the ruine of a whole Kingdom which is a great deal more then his own hinderance is a King bound or is any man else obliged to perform such a promise or to keep such an oath to tell you mine own judgement I think he ought not to perform it and our own Law tels us what grants soever are obtained from the King under the broad Seal by fraud and deceit those grants are void in Law therefore seeing the Act for the perpetuity of this Parliament was obtained dolo pessimo to the great dishonour of God and the ruine both of Church and State when their pretence was very good though the goodness of his Majesty in the tenderness of his conscience was still loath to allow himself the liberty to dissolve it until he had other justeâ— and more clear causes to pronounce it no Parliament as the abusing of his grant to the raising of an Army and the upholding of a Rebellion against their Soveraign yet I believe he might safely have done it long agone without the least violation of God's Law when their evil intentions were openly discovered by those Armies which they raised For I doubt not to affirm it with the Authour of The sacred Prerogative of Christian Kings p. 144. if any good Prince or his royal Ancestors have been cheated out of their sacred right by fraud oâ— force he may at the fittest opportunity when God in his wise providence offereth the occasion resume it especially when the Subjects do abuse the King's concessions to the dammage of Soveraignty so that it redounds also to the prejudice either of the Church or Common-wealth 3. When the King through fear not such as the Parliaments fear is 3. Grants gotten by force not to be observed who were afraid where no fear was and were frighted with dreames and causelesse jealousies but that fear which is real and not little but such as may fall in fortem constantem virum doth passe any Law especially that is prejudicial to the Church and injurious to many of his Subjects I say that when he shall be freed from that fear he is not onely freed from the obligation of that Law but he is also obliged to do his uttermost endeavour to annul the same it is true that his fear may justly free him from all blame at the passing of it as the fear of the thief may clear me from all fault in delivering my purse unto him because these are no voluntary acts and all acts are adjudged good or evil according to the disposition of the will the same being like the golden bridle that Minerva was said to put upon Pegasus to guide him and to turn him as she pleased but when his fear is past The will must never consent to forced acts that are unlawful His Majesties answer to the Petition of the Lords and Commons 16. Julii p. 8. and God hath delivered him from the insurrection of wicked doers if his will gives consent to what before he did unwilling who can free the greatest Monarch from this fault Therefore His Majesty confessing which we that saw the whole proceedings of those tumultuous routs that affrighted all the good Protestants and the Loyal Subjects do know that it could not be otherwise that he was driven out of London for fear of his life I conclude that the act of excluding the Bishops out of Parliament being past after his flight out of London can be no free nor just nor lawful act and the King when he is more fully informed of many particulars about this act that is so prejudicial to the Church of Christ and so injurious to all his servants the Clergy whose rights and priviledges the King promised and sware at His Coronation to maintain cannot continue it in my judgement and be innocent But this is answered by the answerer to Doctour Ferne Ob. Pag. 31. that he is no more bound
to defend the rights of the Clergy by his oath then the rest of the Lawes formerly enacted whereof any may be abrogated without perjury when they are desired to be annulled by the Kingdome Sol. His Majesties answer to the remonstrance or declaration of the Lords and Commons 26. of May 1642. To which I say that as His Majesty confesseth there are two speciall questions demanded of the king at His Coronation 1. Sir Will you grant and keep and by your oath confirm to the people of England the Lawes and Customes to them granted by the Kings of England your lawfull and religious predecessors And the king answereth I grant and promise to keep them 2. After such questions as concerne all the commonalty of this kingdome both Clergy and Laity as they are his Subjects one of the Bishops reads this admonition to the king before the people with a loud voice Our Lord and King we beseech you to pardon and to grant and to preserve unto us and to the Churches committed to our charge all Canonicall priviledges and due law and justice and that you would protect and defend us as every good King in His Kingdome ought to be the protector and defender of the Bishops and the Churches under their Government And the king answereth With a willing and devout heart I promise and grant my pardon and that I will preserve and maintaine to you and the Churches committed to your charge all Canonicall Priviledges and due law and Justice and that I will be your Protector and defender to my power by the assistance of God as every good king in His kingdome in right ought to protect and defend the Bishops and Churches under their Government The Kings Oath at His Coronation two-fold Then the king laying his hand upon the book saith the things which I have before promised I shall performe and keep so helpe me God and the contents of this Book Where I beseech all men to observe that here is a two-fold promise and so a two-fold oath The first part of the Oath Populo Anglicano Vide D. p. 165. 1. The one to all the Commonalty and people of England Clergy and Laity and so whatsoever he promiseth may by the consent of the parties to whom the right was transferred be remitted and altered by the representative body in Parliament quia volenti non fit injuria and the rule holds good quibus medis contrahitur contractus iisdem dissolvitur and therefore as any compact or contract is made good and binding so it may be made void and dissolved mutuo contrahentium assensu by the mutuall assent of both parties that is any compact where God hath not a speciall interest in the contract as he hath in the conjugall contract betwixt man and wife and the politicke covenant betwixt the King and His Subjects Contracts wherein God is interessed cannot be dissolved without God which therefore cannot be dissolved by the consent of the parties untill God who hath the cheifest hand in the contract gives his assent to the dissolution and so when things are dedicated for the service of God or Priviledges granted for his honour neither donor nor receiver can alienate the gift or annull that Priviledge without the leave and consent of God that was the principal party in the concession as it appeareth in the example of Ananias and is confirmed by all Casuists The second part of the oath Clericls Ecclesiasticis D. p. 165. 2. The other part of the oath is made to the Clergy in particular and so also with their consent some things I confess may perhaps be revoked but without their consent not any thing can be altered in my understanding without injustice for with what equity can the Laity vote away the rights of the Clergy when the Clergy do absolutely deny their assent just as if the Clergy should give away the lands of the Laity or as if I had lent the king ten thousand pounds upon the publique assurance of King and both Houses to be repaid again and they without mine assent shall vote the remission of this debt for some great benefit The party to whom the bond is made must release the bonds that they conceive redounding to the Common-Wealth by which vote I should beleive my selfe to be no better then meerely cheated or as if the Parliament without the assent of the Londoners should pass an act that all the money which they lent should be remitted for the releiving of the State I doubt not but they would conclude that act very unjust and so is this act against the Bishops because the Kings obligation to a particular body personall or politique cannot be dispensed with by the representative Kingdome without the releasement of that body to whom the King is obliged For I find that all the Casuists will tell you that juramentum promissorium ita obligat ut invito creditore non potest in melius commutari quia aliter justitia veritas non servarentur inter homines and it is their common tenet Suarez de juramento promiss l. 2. c. 12. n. 14. that it cannot be dispensed with quia per promissum acquiritur jus ei cui fit promissio utilitas unius non sufficit ut alter suo jure privetur the benefit of others must not deprive me of my right This point is so cleare that neither Scholer nor any man of reason or conscience will deny it Therefore to perswade the king that is bound by his oath to preserve the Rights and Priviledges of the Church and Clergy to cast out the Bishops out of their rights or to take away their Lands without their own consent whom the king by his oath hath obliged himself to protect I cannot see how they can do it without great iniquity or His Majesty consent to it and be innocent when he is fully informed of the Rights of his Clergy whereas otherwise the most religious Prince may be subject to mistakings and so nesciently admit that which willingly he would never have granted And if they can not perswade him to do this without iniquity how dare they goe about to force and compell him against conscience to commit this and such other horrible impiety but I assure my self that God who hath blessed our king and preserved him hitherto without blame as being forced to what he did or not throughly understanding what was our right the Bishops being imprisoned and not suffered to informe him nor to answer for themselves will still arme His Majesty with that resolution as shall never yeild to their impetuousnesse to transcend the limits of his own most upright conscience Yet still it is urged they were excluded by act of Parliament Ob. therefore their exclusion cannot be unjust as being done by the wisdome of the whole State and the king should not desire it to be altered I answer that all Parliaments are not alwayes guided by an unerring spirit Sol. but
were many times swayed by the heads of the most powerfull faction The case of our affairs p. 17. How powerfull factions have procured Parliaments to doe most unjust things Turba tremens sequitur fortunam ut semper odit damnatos Juven Satyra 10. When Kings were most powerfull they could get the Parliaments to yeeld to what Statutes they thought best when the Lords or faction were most powerful they forced their Kings to make what Statutes they liked best which are instances rather of their unsteady weaknesse then of their just power when forsaking the guidance of their lawfull head they suffered themselves to be led by popular pretenders as when Canutus prevailed by his armes he could have a Parliament to resolve that his title to the Crown was the best when Hen. 4. had an army of 60000 men he could have a Parliament to depose Rich. 2. and confer the Crown upon himself when Edw. Duke of Yorke grew powerfull he could have a Parliament to determine the reigne of Hen. 6. and leave him only the name of king for his life but give the very Kingdome unto the Duke under the names of Protector and Regent and then he could procure the Parliament to declare that Hen. 4. Hen. 5. and Hen. 6 were but kings de facto non de jure so Rich. the 3. as meere an Usurper as any could notwithstanding procure a Parliament to declare him a lawfull king and Hen. 7. could procure the forementioned acts that were made in favour of Edw. 4. and Rich. 3. to be annulled and Hen. 8. could have a Parliament to justifie and authorize his divorces and Queen Elizab. could have a Parliament to make it high treason for any man to say that the Queen could not by Act of Parliament bind and dispose the rights and titles which any person whatsoever might have unto the Crown when as we know it was adjudged in Hen. 7. that no Act of Parliament nor yet an Attainder by Parliament can disable the right heire to the Crown because the descent of the Crown upon him purges all disabilityes whatsoever and makes him every way capable thereof Thus as the Parliaments when they were most prevalent caused their kings unwillingly to yeeld many things against right so the kings growing most powerfull prevailed to work the Parliament to consent to very unjust conclusions and therefore it is inconsequent to say this exclusion must be just because it is past by an Act of Parliament The case of our affaires p. 20. And therefore as in the 15 yeare of Edw. 3. the king being unwillingly drawn to consent to certain Articles prejudiciall to the Crown and to promise to seale the Statute thereupon made lest otherwise his affairs in hand might have been ruinated which we conceive to be just in like manner now the king very unwillingly drawn to passe this Act for the exclusion of the Clergy which is most prejudiciall both to the Crown and the Church and a mighty dishonour unto God himself lest otherwise more mischiefe might have followed when he hoped that this would have appeased the fury of that prevalent faction which now the kingdome seeth it did not Another Statute was made the same year reciting the former matter Statutes unwillingly procured from the king repealed that was enacted in these words It seemed to the said Earls Barons and otherwise men that since the Statute did not of our free will proceed the same to be void and ought not to have the name nor strength of a Statute and therefore by their counsell and assent we have decreed the said Statute to be void c. So I hope our Earles and Baron and the rest will be so wise and so just both to the king and to the Church that seeing this Statute proceeded not of the kings free will as I beleeve their own conscience knoweth and do presume His Majesty will acknowledge they likewise will consent that the king may make it void again §. Certaine Quaeres discussed but not resolved the end for which God ordained Kings the prayse of a just rule Kings ought to be more just then all others in three respects and what should most especially move them to rule their people justly AND here I must further craue leave to be resolved in certain Quaeres and doubts wherein I would very gladly be satisfied for seeing as I told you before there are some rights of royalty which are inseperabilia à majestate which the king ought not and which indeed he cannot grant away as there be some things which he may forgoe though he need not I demand Quaere 1 1. Whether any positive Act Statute or Law that is either ex diametro or ex obliquo either directly or by consequent or any other way contradictory or transgressive to the Law of God ought to be kept and observed wherein I beleive and constantly maintain that it ought not and I say further that by the Word of God not any Lay men be they never so noble never so learned and never so many but the Clergy be they never so poore and never so much dis-esteemed ought to be the resolvers of this point what is repugnant and what consonant to the Law of God Malach. 2.7 because the Priests lips must preserve knowledge and the people must seek the Law at his month therefore it may be conceived no Statute can be rightly made that is not assented to and approved as all our former Statutes were by the Bishops that are the chiefest of the Clergy to be no wayes contrary to the Law of God Quaere 2 2. Whether the king that is an absolute Monarch to whom God hath committed the charge and government of his people can without offence to God change this forme of government from a Monarchicall to an Aristocraticall or a Democraticall forme of government which may be beleived he cannot because though as I shewed out of Saint Augustine the worser forme invented by man may lawfully be changed into a better yet the best which is onely and primarily ordained by God cannot be changed into a worser without offence Quaere 3 3. Whether the king can passe away that power authority and right which God hath given him and without which he cannot govern and protect his people that God hath committed under his charge wherein it may be conceived he cannot because God must discharge him from the charge that he imposed upon him before he can be freed and excused from it but as the Bishop on whom the Lord hath laid the charge of soules cannot lay aside this charge when he pleaseth so no more can the King lay aside the charge of the Government nor paâ—t with that power and right * Otherwise then by substitution Rege absente durante beneplacito or quamdiu se benè gesserint substituti whereby he is inabled to govern them and without which he cannot governe them untill God that laid this charge
Parliament who condemned and executed him for his thought Philip the first of Spain seeing a Falcon killing an Eagle commanded his head to be wrung off saying let none presume above their Soveraigne and in the Raigne of Henry the fourth of England one was hanged drawn and quartered in Cheapside London for jesting with his son that if he did learne well he would make him heire of the Crowne meaning his owne house that had the Signe of the Crowne to prove the Proverbe true non est bonum ludere cum sanctis it is not safe jesting with Kings and Crowns and it is lesse safe to resist them if you will believe wise Solomon And I have read of another King that passing over a river his Crowne fell into the water one of his water-men lept in and dived to the bottome and taking up the Crown put it upon his head that it might not hinder his swimming and so brought it to the King again who rewarded him well for his pains but caused his head to be chopt off for presuming to weare his Crown And all this is but an inanswerable argument to condemne our Rebels that neither reverence the Majesty of their King nor respect the commandment of their God 3. 3. Obedience Obedience is another principall part of that honour which we owe unto the king and this obedience of the inferiours joyned with the direction of the superiors doe make any state most successefull but when these are divorced The marriage of obedience and authority and the issue Aeschylus All must be obedient then nothing goeth right in that Common-wealth for so the Sages of Greece exprest it by the marriage that Jupiter made between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose child brought forth betwixt them was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to shew unto us that when authority is married to obedience and obedience proves a dutifull and good wife to authority the fruit of that match will be happinesse to the whole Kingdome And therefore if we would be happy we must be obedient and our obedience must be universall in all things in the Lord. Jussa sequi tam velle mihi quà m posse necesse est Lucan l. 1. So the people say unto Joshua all that thou commandest us we will do Josh 1.16 and all must do it the greater aswell as the lesser the noble man as well as the meane man yea rather then the meane man for though Rebellion in any one is as the sin of witchcraft yet in a vulgar man it may admit of vulgar apologies but in a man of quality in noble men in Courtiers bred in the Kings house Noble mens Rebellion more abominable to God and man then any other in the Kings service and raised by the Kings favour it is Morbus complicatus a decompound sin a transcendent ingratitude and unexpressable iniquity the example more spreading and the infection more contagious because more conspicuous and the giddy attempts of an unguided multitude are but as Cardinal Farnesius saith like the Beech tree without his top soon withered and vanishing into nothing without leaders when they become a burthen unto themselves and a prey unto others therefore the contradiction of Corah Dathan and Abiram that were so eminent in the congregation was a sin so odious unto God that he would have destroyed all Israel for their sake as now he punisheth all England for the sins of those noble men that have rebelled against their King Rom. 13.1 and were alwayes like Sejanus as wayward pleased as opposed And therefore St. Paul saith that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every soul must be subject to the higher power and he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you must needs be subject or be obedient Rom. 13.5 Obedience pressed by a three fold argument and he presseth this obedience with many arguments as 1. From Gods ordinance because God hath set them over us and commanded us to be obedient unto them and therefore whosoever resisteth them warreth against God 2. From mans Conscience which telleth us Rom. 13 4. that he is the minister of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for good and therefore virtutis amore if we have any love to goodnesse we ought to obey our King 3. For feare of vengeance because he beareth not the sword in vain but is v. 4. How we ought to behave our selves towards wicked Kings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evill therefore this obedience to our King is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thing of indifferency but of necessity for be our King for his Religion Impious for his government unjust and for life licentious as cruell as Nero as prophane as Julian and as wicked as Heliogabalus yet the Subjects must obey him the Bishops must admonish him the counsell must advise him and all must pray for him but no mortall man that is his Subject hath either leave to resist him or license to reject him unless they reject the ordinance of God and so fight against God and you know 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is hard to vanquish God It is truly said by a learned Bishop si bonus est Princeps nutritor est tuus Ardua res homini est mortali vincere numen Why God sendeth evil kings if thy King be good he is thy nursing Father and it is a great happinesse to his Subjects sin malus est tentator est tuus but if he be evill he is either for the punishment of thy sins or for the triall of thy faith and therefore receive thy punishment with patience or thy triall without resistance and Aquin saith tollenda est culpa cessabit tyrannorum plaga do thou take away thy sins and God will soon take away thy punishment otherwise as for our sins we do often suffer droughts floods unseasonable weather sicknesses plagues and many other evills of nature ita luxum avaritiam deminantium tolerare debemus so when God setteth up hypocrites or tyrants to reigne over us to be the scourges of his wrath and the rods of his fury we must not struggle against God but rest contented to indure the vices of our rulers as a just punishment of our wickednesses saith Cornelius Tacitus * Et Michael Palatinus Hungariae dicebat rege coro nato etiamsi bos esses nobis obtemperandum est Bonfin dec 4. lib. 3. Foure kindes of obedience 1. Forced obedience Rom. 12.1 1 Sam. 15.22 But here you must observe that there are diverse kindes of obedience especially 1. Coacta 2. Caca. 3. Simulata 4. Ordinata 1. Forced 2. Foolish 3. Faigned 4. Well ordered 1. The first is a forced and compelled obedience meerly for feare of wrath as Children learne or Slaves do their duty for fear of the rod and this is better then resâ—stance though nothing like to that obedience which S. Paul calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because this
be heartily sorry that these unjust Acts and Ordinances were ever done and more sorry that they were not sooner undone and then God will turne his face towards us he will heale the bleeding wounds of our Land and he will powre down his benefits upon us but till we do these things I do assure my selfe and I beleive you shall finde it that his wrath shall not be turned away but his hand will be stretched out still and still untill we either do these things or be destroyed for not doing them King James his speech made true by the Rebells Thus it is manifest to all the World that as it was often spoken by our sharpe and eagle-sighted Soveraigne King James of ever blessed memory no Bishop no King so now I hope the dull-ey'd owle that lodgeth in the desart seeth it verifyed by this Parliament for they had no sooner got out the Bishops but presently they laid violent hands upon the Crowne seized upon the Kings Castles How the Rebells have unking'd our King shut him out of all his Townes dispossest him of his owne houses took away all his sâ—ips detained all his revenues vilified all his Declarations nullified his Proclamations hindered his Commissions imprisoned his faithfull Subjects killed his servants and at Edge-hill and Newbury did all that ever they could to take away his life and now by their last great ordinance for their counterfeit Seale they pronounce all honours pardons grants commissions and whatsoever else His Majesty passeth under his Seale to be invalid void and of none effect and if this be not to make King Charles no King I know not what it is to be a King Hos 8.4 so they have unking'd him sine strepitu and as the Prophet saith they have set up Kings but not by me they have made Princes and I knew it not What kings they would have to rule us but whom have they made Kings even themselves who in one word do and have now exercised all or most of the regall power and their Ordinances shall be as firm as any Statutes and what are they that have thus dis-robed King Charles and exalted themselves like the Pope as if they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great Antichrist above all that are called Gods truly none other then king Pym king Say king Faction or to say the truth most truly and to call a spade a spade king perjurers king murderers king traytors * Whâ—ch S. Peter never bade us honour The Rebells brave exchange Psal 146.20 and I am sorry that I should joyne so high an office so sacred a thing as King to such wicked persons as I have shewed them to be And what a royal exchange would the Rebels of this Kingdome make just such as the Israelites made when they turned their glory into the similitude of a Calfe that cateth hay and said these be thy Gods Psal 146.20 O Israel which brought thee out of the Land of Aegypt for now after they have changed their lawful King for unlawful Tyrants and taken Jothams bramble for the cedar of Lebanon the Devils instruments for Gods Anointed Judg. 9.15 they may justly say these be thy Kings O Londoners O Rebels that brought thee out of a Land that flowed with milke and hony out of those houses that were filled with all manner of store into a land of misery into houses of sorrow that are filled with wailings lamentations and woes when we see the faithful City is become an harlot our gold drosse and our happinesse turned to continual heavinesse But as the Rutilians considering what fruit they should reape by that miserable war wherein they were so far ingaged cried out at last Virgil Aeneid l. 12. Scilicet ut Turno contingat regiae conjux Nos animae viles inhumata infletáque turba Sternamur campis We undo our selves our wives and our children to gain a wife for Turnus so our seduced men may say we ingage our selves to dye like doggs that these rebels may live like Kings who themselves sit at ease while others endure all woes and do grow rich by making all the Kingdome poore and therefore O England quae tanta est licentia ferri lugebit patria multos when as the Apostle saith evill men and seducers wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived for God is not mocked but whatsoever a man soweth 2 Tim. 3.13 Gal. 6.7 that shall he also reape for though we for our sins may justly suffer these and many other more miseries we do confesse it yet the whole world may be assured that these Rebels the generation of vipers being but the Rod of Gods fury The Rebels sure to be destroyed Contemptrix superûm sevaeque avidissima caedis violenta fuit scires è sanguine natam 2 Sam. 7.1 to correct the offences of his children such seeds of wickedness as they sow can produce none other harvest then ruine and destruction to all these usurping Kings and Traytors who thinke to please God by doing good service unto the Devil and to go to Heaven for their good intention after they are carried into Hell for their horrid Rebellion God Almighty grant them more grace and our King more care to beware of them and when God doth grant him rest with David on every side round about him to restore his Bishops and Clergy to their pristine station that when these bramble rods are burnt and these rebels fallen the King and the Bishops may still stand like Moses and Aaron to guide and gouerne Gods people committed to their charge And thus I have shewed thee O man some of the sacred rights of royal Majesty granted by God in his holy Scriptures practised by Kings from the beginning of the world yeilded by all nations that had none other guide but the light of nature to direct them I have also shewed thee how the people greedy of liberty and licentiousnesse have like the true children of old Adam that could not long endure the sweet yoke of his Creator strived and strugled to withdraw their necks from that subjection which their condition required and their frowardnesse necessitated to be imposed upon them and thereby have either graciously gained such love and fauour from many pious and most clement Princes as for the sweetning of their well merited subjection to grant them many immunities and priviledges or have most rebelliously incroached upon these rights of Kings wresting many liberties out of the hands of Government and forcibly retaining them to their own advantage sometimes to the overthrow of the royal government as Junius Brutus and his associates did the Kings of Rome sometimes to the diminution of the dimidium if not more then halfe his right as the Ephori did to the kings of Lacedemon but alwayes to the great prejudice of the king and the greater mischief to the Common-wealth because both reason and experience hath found it alwayes true that the regal
duty in the service of God the instructing of his people and the governing of that Diocess commended to his care he was invested and admitted to have and to injoy all the rights interests priviledges and prerogatives of that Bishoprick But the Irish Rebells through the perswasions of their Popish Priests and suggestions of Satan have expelled him and detained all his dues and rights from him about 19 years together And when the goodness of God was pleased to restore the gratious Son of that glorious Martyr unto his Crown and Dignity his Majestie imitating the pious steps of his most Religious Father restored all the Reverend Bishops and the rest of the Learned and Loyall Clergy unto their ancient rights and pristine dignities the malicious enemy of all goodness Satan now deals with the Church of Christ as he did with the Church of the Jews after their captivity Ezra 4.7 Neh. 6.1 the Devill and Satanas still envying the Honour of God and by all means striving to obscure the Glory of his Church and the happy Restauration of his service As formerly after the captivity of the children of Israel the Jews in Babylon when they were happily returned unto their own Land which the God of their Fathers had bestowed upon them and their posterities for ever and were now beginning to re-edify their Temple for the honour of their God and the place of his Worship for his people he stirred up Bishlam Mithredath Tabeel Samballat Tobiah Geshem and the rest of their companions the enemies of Gods people to hinder all their proceedings in setting forwards the true service of their God by writing false Letters unto the King and upon their unjust informations procuring letters from the King to obstruct the building and working of Gods House to the great prejudice and grief of those Holy men that aimed at nothing more then to promote the glory of God and the good of his people So now he stirred up many Armed men or men of Arms and Commanders of men men of Renown that in the year 49 shewed themselves very active and serviceable for their and our undubitable King his now gratious Majesty and whom his Majesty for that their faithfulness and service did most gratiously and justly according as they had deserved most Royally and like a King reward them with Cities Lands Houses Gardens and the like evidences of his Royall bounty under the pretence of this his Majesties grant and gift to labour and strive to swallow down the Lands and Houses which I am sure do of right belong unto the Church of God and am confident his Majesty is so pious that he never intended to reward his servants with any of those goods Why Lands dedicated for the service of God should not be alienated Rom. 2.22 of what nature soever they are that were dedicated and set apart for the service of God because the alienating of any things set apart and consecrated for Gods service and dedicated to that end is no less then sacriledge and Sacriledge is a sin of such a transcendent nature as is far more odious and abominable in the sight of God then most of all other sins for St. Paul demandeth If thou that abhorrest Idols wilt commit sacriledge And you all know what a horrible sin Idolatry is and how highly the Lord God was offended and how grievously he punished and plagued the Israelites for the same Exod. 32.28 as when he slue 3000 men for their Idolatry in worshipping the golden Calfe Why sacriledge is more abominable and a greater sin then idolatry And yet St. Paul sheweth herein that sacriledge is far more odious and a more abominable sin in the sight of God because by Idolatry we do but give the honour of God to that which is no god but by our sacriledge we rob the true God of that honour which is due unto him and we deprive him of that worship and service and thanks that he should have from many men if they were not deprived and robbed of their estates by that sacriledge which makes them unable to do that service and to bring others to do that service unto God which they ought to do And therefore most justly hath that sacriledge which is the diminution of the revenues of the Church been ever accounted the highest the boldest and the most damnable sin in the World For our Religion is the very ground of all our happiness and the chiefest of all our comforts and the riches honours and Revenues of the Church the Tythes Oblations and Donations of Religious men are as I shall fully shew unto you in this Treatise the very main outward props of our Religion and if with Sampson you take away the pillars you overthrow the House sublatis studiorum praemiis ipsa studia pereunt saith Seneca so take away the props of Religion and your Religion like a tottering wall will soon fall unto the ground and when you have supplanted our Religion yoâ— have dissolved all the tyes and associations betwixt God and men and left us all as aliens and strangers and which is worse enemies unto God And therefore when other mischiefes have their limits and so hurt but one or other and there is an end yet this sin of Sacriledge strikes at Goodness and Godliness it self it sets the world besides its hindges and sweeps away our peace and all our happiness from off the earth when as God and the King and all of us are thereby unexpressibly damnified And therefore he is no better then a savage beast and hath a heart of iron and Cyclopick breasts quae genuere ferae that can invade heaven and rob God and put down the Prerogatives of his King and spoil mankind of all safety which made the very Heathens themselves to have alwaies an exceeding great reverence of the things that were dedicated unto their gods and to violate the Religion of other Countries which they thought much more vain then their own they conceived to be so monstrous that it was alwaies accounted inauspicious and the wrongs done to a false deity carried an horror with it and was usually revenged by the true God Yet these men being many rich and powerfull both in wealth wit What the men of the year 49 do say and Friends would perswade our good King and all others but not aright that they are most zealous for the Church of Christ and the service of God and what lands and houses they seek to take from us belong not to us nor to the Church of God and therefore that it is no sacriledge nor any waies unjust in them to take from us what the King hath justly bestowed on them but it is a soul imputation most uncharitably cast upon them by me to blemish their sincerity in the service and for the honour of God And therefore seeing that in foro poli I am like Troylus What the Author doth in this c nflict about the ights of the
Church 1. Thing impar congressus A hilli Infoelix puer too weak every way to contest with so many magnanimous men of Arms that are incompassed with so many heroick friends I must 1. Appeal to thee O my God and sweet Saviour Jesus Christ and desire thee with the words of the Psalmist Arise O God maintain thine own cause or as our last Translation hath it plead thine own cause Psal 74.23 for I am not able to maintain it unless thou wilt arise to plead the cause of the helpless and pluck thy right hand out of thy bosom to consume the enemy and let not man have the upper hand but do thou to them as thou didst unto the Midianites unto Sisera and unto Jabin at the brook of Kison which perished at Endor and became as the dung of the earth which say Let us take to our selves the houses of God in possession and especially to them that not only say but also do violently and sacrilegiously mis-inform good and pious Princes and take both the houses of God and the lands of the Church into their possessions O my God make them like a wheel that is alwaies tottering and turning and as the stubble before the wind Psal 83.12 that is ever shaking and never at rest and like as the fire that burneth up the wood and as the flame that consumeth the mountains persecute them even so with thy tempest and make them affraid with thy storms that they may understand what a heynous sin it is to commit Sacriledge and to rob the living God by hindering and disinabling his servants to do him service and to ascribe the honour due unto his name 2 I must and will to the uttermost of mine ability 2. Thing demonstrate unto all Church-robbers the heynousness of this sin and the fearfull punishment thereof and to that end 1. I will here set down what I have written above 45 years agone concerning sacriledge and what you may find in the True Church l. 3. c. 2. pag. 429. with some amplification and explication thereof 2d Thing 2. I will upon the resolution and religious intention of the good and godly King David to build God an House for his servants to meet in it to worship him shew unto you the necessity and use of Cathedrals and Churches for Gods Worship and the duty of all Christian Kings and Princes therein and the full description and detestation of this horrible and most odious sin of Sacriledge And I will do my best to enlarge this point unto the full that so my Reader may reap the full benefit of this my Discourse and the easier retain in his memory what he readeth in it and that the same good Doctrines and Instructions the oftner and the more usually they are published and in the more large Volums they are printed may the more likely have their fate to continue when as small Treatises especially not methodically digested are the sooner neglected and do suffer through the iniquity of time to be buried in oblivion CHAP. II. Of Sacriledge what it is How manifold it is and how it hath been alwayes punished and never escaped the Hand of the Divine Vengeance Sacriledge what it is Râ—i sacrae violatio aut usurpatio 1. SAcriledge which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the sacrilegious person 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the usurpation or the violation of any sacred thing and this violation of it is to be understood for any kind of irreverence or dishonouring of it Sacrilegium dicitur qua si sacrilaedium saith Innocentius Thom. primae secundae q 99. Prov. 20.25 and as Aquinas saith All that is sacriledge which is done to the irreverence of any sacred thing And Solomon saith It is an abomination to the Lord to devour things that are sanctified Et non omne quod displicet dicitur abominatio And not all things that displease God are said to be abominations sed quod valde dâ—splicet but the things which do most highly and exceedingly displease the Lord Peraldus Summa Vitiorum is said to be an abomination saith Peraldus 2. You may observe that this high displeasing sin of Sacriledge is manifold Sacriledge threefold and committed 3. wayes 1. Way against sacred persons but especially it consisteth in these three things 1. The violation and abuse offered to Sacred persons such as are Kings and Queens that are called and appointed by God to be nursing Fathers and nursing Mothers unto the Church of Christ and the Bishops Priests and other Ministers that are consecrated to serve God at his Altar Whosoever doth irreverently abuse any of them either in word or deed committeth sacriledge because they are sacred persons And so Agesilaus was wont to say That he did greatly wonder why any man should think that they are not worthily accounted in the number of sacrilegious persons qui laederent eos qui diis supplicarent vel Deos venerarentur which did any wayes hurt or wrong those which did supplicate or intercede for us and worshipped God whereby that most prudent Prince signified Eos non tantum sacrilegos esse Aemilius Probus qui Deos ipsos aut Templorum ornatum spoliarent sed eos maxime qui Deorum miniâ—tros praeâ—ones contumeliis affiâ—erent saith Aeâ—iliâ—â— Probus Luke 10.16 because that as our Saviour saith He that despiseth you despiseth me and be that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me 2. Way against sacred places 2. The prophaning of the Church or the abuse of any places consecrated for to be the places of Gods service is no lesse than sacriledge 3. That is sacriledge and he is a sacrilegious person 3. Way against sacred things 1. Sacraments 2. Vessels 3 Ornaments 4. Goods 1 Lands Houses c. which not only disâ—onoureth and irreverently useth the sacred persons or prophaneth the holy places but doth take away any sacred thing or any other thing feloniously by way of stealth from any sacred place Quia tale furtum Sacrilegium est Because such a theft is termed sacriledge which every other stealth or unjust taking or detaining of our neighbours goods is not so Nam undecunque tollere non est Sacrilegium committere for all stealth and every unjust taking away of goods is not sacriledge but he that taketh away any thing that is sacred or consecrated and dedicated for the service of God is a robber of God and a sacrilegious person saith S. Augustine and so S. Hierom saith Amico rapere furtum est Augustine super Johan habetur 23. q. 4. Sacriledge how different from Theft Hierom. Ep. 34. sed Ecclesiam fraudare Sacrilegium est To steal and take away the goods of our friend or neighbour is theft but to take away the goods or to defraud or cheat the Church of Christ of any thing that belongs unto the Church is Sacriledge Yea voluntas sola quoad ecclesiam punitur As he that
hath very often and very much spoken against this sin of Sacriledge So the Lords hand hath neither a little nor seldom strucken it and that very few men have fostered Sacriledge in their heart and laid hold of it with their hands but they have also born and felt heavy judgements upon their backs either in this life or in that which is to come As the Sacriledge of Achan was the Beesom that swept away the whole House of Achan The punishment of Sacrilegious persons Josh 7. and the Axe that hath cut down both him and all his posterity in one day So the Sacriledge of Gebeâ—i that must needs have Silver and Rayment from Naaman for the favour that his Master had done unto him 2 Reg. 5. was the Porter that brought the incurable loathsome scab of Leprosie upon him and upon all his seed for ever And so the Sacriledge of Shishak King of Egypt that came up against Hierusalem and took away the Treasures of the House of the Lord and the Treasures of the Kings House and the Shields of Gold that Solomon had made was sufficiently recompensed by the Thracians that invaded subdued 1 Reg. 14.25 26. and harrased all his Dominions So likewise the Sacriledge of Johash King of Israel that drew a great booty out of Gods Temple 2 Reg. 14.14 brought such a vengeance upon him as ended his accursed life with deadly poison And Sennaâ—herib that came with a full intent to rob and plunder the Lords House in the dayes of Hezechias was sent home with a hook in his nose and a bridle in his lips by the same way that he came And as if this was not punishment enough for emptying the Lords Exchequer and his purpose to take away all the Treasure of the Temple not long after his arrival home his own sons Adramelec and Sharezzar 2 Reg. 19.37 slew him in the Temple of his god Nisroch And Belshazzars Sacriledge in abusing the holy vessels of Gods House that his father had taken away from the Temple was well enough recompensed Dan. 5.23 25 31. as you find in Dan. 5.31 These things are Registred in the Holy Scriptures And it is recorded in the Gentile-Writers how that the Grecians which of all others formerly were most Victorious yet after they had once become sacrilegious and offered violence to the Temple of Pallaâ— they lost all their hope and never thrived any more For so Virgil saith Corripuere sacram Effigiem Virgil. l. 2. manibusque cruentis Virgineas ausi divae contingere vittas And thereupon he inferreth what I do now inforce and what Carulus setteth down more generally Ex illo fluere ac retro dilapsa referri Spes Danaûm They ever slid and slipt and failed after that impious Tydides scelerumque inventor Vlysses and Vlysses the inventor of mischiefs had taken away the Palladium and killed the Ministers of the Temple Justin trist l. 4. And so Justin saith That Philomenes a most brave and valiant Captain after he became Sacrilegious Primus inter confertissimos dâ—micans cecidit Fighting first amongst the most excellent souldiers he was killed and so saith mine Author Sacrilegii poenas impio sanguine luâ—t he paid for his Sacriledge with his ungodly blood and let other Sacrilegious Captains and Souldiers fear the like fate Lactant. de origine error c. 4. c. 8. Lactantius also reporteth how Fulvius the Censor for taking away Marmoreas tegulas Marble-tiles from the Temple of Juno Lacinia as the long-Parliament men took away the Tiles of the Cathedrall Church of St. Keney And Appius Claudius for alienating things dedicated to Hercules were most miserably plagued by the gods the one lost both his ears and the other was distracted of his wits a heavy punishment therefore for no leight sin you may be sure But the time would be too long and my papers too short for me to declare at large unto you Aulus Gell. noct Artic. l. 3. c. 9. what Aulus Gellius setteth down how that when Quintus Cepio the Consul had taken and spoiled the Town of Tolouse in France and found there very much gold in the Churches and Temples of that City it so fell out by the just judgment of God that whosoever laid hands or lightly touched the gold that was taken in that spoil misero cruciabilique exitu periit saith mine Author he perished most miserably so that it grew to be a proverb among all Nations when any generall plague and grievous destruction happened for any sin it was Sicut aurum Tolosanum like the gold of Tolouse that destroyed all that medled with it Or to shew unto you how Pyrrhus and all his men were drowned for robbing the Treasury of Proserpina Or of the 400 souldiers of King Xerxes that were burnt with thunder and lightning just as they were spoyling the Temple of Delphos Or of Brennius that ever before was most victorious and had sacked Rome but had his whole Army most miserably spoiled after the ransacking of the same Temple Et Dei voluntate in se manus vertit as Valerius Max. saith Val. Max. l. 1. c. 2. Or of the Scythians that were most miserably plagued with many and most grievous diseases called Enareas that is execrable and accursed for their Sacriledge in sacking the Temple of Venus Vrania Vide Theat judicii divini p. 439. Or of Alexander the great that for abusing the consecrated vessels of Hercules in the very same City and in the self same manner as Belshezzar had abused the vessels of Gods Temple in Jerusalem before him Herodotus l. 1. p 51. Agl. fol. 33. 2. p. was so suddenly stricken in the midst of his banquet even as he was drinking that he groaned and cried out so as if he had been shot with a most deadly dart Or of Antiochus Epiphanes that died most miserably and at his death confessed it was for his sin of Sacriledge because he had taken away the vessels of gold and the vessels of silver Dan. 5.2 3 4. that were in the Church and House of God in Jerusalem Q. Curtius l. 10. p 415. 1 Mach. 6. Or of Heliodorus that being sent to rob the Temple there appeared unto him two men sent from Heaven which whipped him continually so long and so much that he fell down in the Temple and there lay groveling and destitute of all help untill at the request of his souldiers the Priests of God prayed for him Or of Pompeius Magnus Mach. 2.3 who is noted by Titus Livius and Cicero to be one of the most fortunate and most successfull Souldiers in the World yet after he had robbed the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem and spoiled those sacred things that belonged unto the Church he never prospered but sicut unda supervenit undam as one wave followeth after another so ill successes losses and misfortunes followed and succeeded one after another to him untill at last he made
because he would not restore it unto the Church excommunicated him for the same and he went to the King and complained but before the Bishop could come to his answer he died and was buried in that Excommunicated estate yet his son entreated the King to cause the Bishop to absolve him which he did conditionally that his son would restore those lands unto the Church which the son denying God denied his blessing to his posterity that there is not one heir Male of him left upon the face of the earth to injoy those lands that he Sacrilegiously took away from the Church Neither do I see how it can be otherwise for the very Heathens that had not the knowledge of Gods laws nor of Jesus Christ could say that vulgò creditum est it was generally by all men believed some fatall and fearfull punishment must needs be imminent to that man qui sacris rebus ac Deo dicatis manus injiceret aut qui pios homines aut certè fungentes sacris ministeriis oppugnaret which should lay his hands to take away any sacred thing or offer any injury to any godly man or oppose and wrong them especially that administer holy things and to that end to confirm this truth they did proverbially recite that Homerical distich 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer Il. ◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which in effect signifieth thus much that Cùm divo tertare viro simul atque câ—pit quis Cuâ—que deus bene vult damnum certè huic imminet ingens Pro mensura delicti erit plagarum modus although God wisheth well to every man and takes no pleasure in the destruction of his Creatures which he made that they might have their being and be happy if they did not offend yet if any man will be so wicked as by his Sacrilegious doings to strive with God to despise his maker and to spoil his servants whom God wisheth well unto then certainly damnum huic imminet ingens a mighty mischief and some fearfull evil doth hang over such a mans head and he shall not escape it And therefore let all men take heed and beware of Sacriledge for though it may seem a sweet spoil yet Josh 7.25 it will prove at last to be as pernitious as Achan's wedge or as fatall as Turnus his luckless belt that bereaved him of his life which otherwise he might have injoyed and have received pardon when Christ beholding the stollen cognizance of his beloved spouse shall take away his mercy and shut up his loving kindness in displeasure which otherwise he would have gratiously shewed Infoelix humero cum apparuit ingens Balteus notis fulserunt cingula bullit Pallanti â—puert Virgil. l. 12. and shall adde some further vengeance saying as Aeneas did to Turnus when he beheld the belt Pallas te hoc vulnere pallas Immolat poenam scelerato ex sanguine sumit This is laid on thee for thy Sacriledge one torture more for that for I would heartily wish that all Sacrilegious persons Lords Souldiers Knights or Gentlemen would diligently mark and weigh and never forget the manner of Christ his behaviour when he came into the Temple Joh. 2.14 how different it was from his usual carriage at all other times for he that was the Instrument of Mercy and descended from Heaven cum amore non flagello and came to pardon and not to punish yet he that was so ready and so willing and well-pleased to pardon Theeves Adulterers and other wicked nefarious fellows and called all such as were weary and heavy laden with the burden of their sins and promised that he would ease them When he saw how his Sanctuary was abused Matth. 11.28 by those sacrilegious Merchants that bought and sold therein He puts on Justice and Severity and as it appears more angerly than ever he seemed to be while he walked here on earth tumbled down the tables of those Money-changers and the violators of holy things and chaced them with a whip-cord both from Himself and from his Temple And he tells them the reason why he was so exceedingly angry which was because they had so highly and so vildly transgressed in making his House which was the House of prayer to become by their sacriledge a den of Theeves O consider this all ye that commit Sacriledge and forget God lest he tear you in pieces while there is none to help you And you that are brave Souldiers and commit Sacriledge consider also what Charles the Great that was as great and as brave a Souldier as any that was in the World in his dayes saith to you all Verba Caroli Magni in capital Catul. tit 7. c. 104. Novimus multa regna reges eorum propterea cecidisse quia Ecclesias spoliaverunt resque earum vastaverunt alienaverunt vel diripuerunt Episcopisque Sacerdotibus atque quod majus est Ecclesiis eorum abstulerunt pugnantibus dederunt quapropter nec fortes in bello nec in fide stabiles fuerunt nec victores extiterunt sed terga multi vulnerati plures interfecti verterunt regnaque regiones quod pejus est regna coelestia perdiderunt atque propriis haereditatibus caruerunt hactenus carent And it will be worth your labour to remember what commands that wise and strenuous Earl of Strafford delivered for his children The Earl of Straffords speech at his death i. e. to his son William Wentworth commends himself Gives him charge to serve his God to submit to his King with all faith and alleagiance in things temporal to the Church in things spiritual Gives him charge as he will answer it to him in Heaven never to meddle with the Patrimony of the Church for it will be the canker that will eat up the rest of his estate Again chargeth him as he will answer him in Heaven never to meddle with it And yet notwithstanding all the sayings and perswasions of wise men and the severe punishments threatned against all and executed upon so many sacrilegious persons as we read of in all Histories we find as S. Bernard saith Bernard Epist â—2â— The houses of the Bishops and the Revenues of Gods servants have against all Law and Right been heretofore given to Souldiers and others Vict. Vticen de Hist. Vandalerum l. 1. that were Rebels to be inhabited And as Victor Vticensis saith The richest Robes and Furnitures of the Church and Church-ministers were taken to make shirts and breeches for wicked and most bloody men And the Church it self which is Domus orationis the House of prayer the House of God Psal Polycrat l. 7. c. 21. Stipendium militum dispendium innocentium and the place where his Honour dwelleth to be made Stabulum opilionis a store-house for the wool and a stable for the horses of the Church-robbers as Johannes Sarisbur saith And have we not seen all this and much more done now of late during the
that evil which the Good abused had produced forth but how this should be done the Physitians either through ignorance knew not or through envy and malice to the Church and Church-men would not know what was best for the good of the Church or the Glory of God and the propagation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ but what through Pride Ambition and Covetousness they thought best and most available for themselves Vâ—strum oculâ—m malevolus error insulam pâ—leum inducit nam â—â—â—â—cum ibi cito videretur si esse veletis Aug. contra Faust Man l. 5. c. 22. And therefore as the Manichees condemned all Christianity because there were some evil men that went under the name of Christians to whom Saint Augustine answereth that if their malice did not blind them they might have seen wheat as well as chaffe upon the floor of Gods Church so might the Reformers have seen many pious Bishops and other famous Clergy-men that had done very many good deeds erecting Colledges building Churches and Hospitals and relieving many of the members of Christ with the revenues of the Church as well as some few proud and ambitious Prelates Or else as the Donatists refused the blessed Sacraments because some of the Priests that administred them were wicked Hom contr lit Petiliani l. 2. c. 30. to whom also the same Saint Augustine answereth that they must needs erre when they will violate the Sacraments of God for the sins of men or refuse his gifts because they like not the bearers for who would reject a pretious Jewel sent him from his Majesty What the Reformers did in the Usurpers time because he liked not the messenger that brought it Or rather as Lycargus rooted up all the Vines in his Countrey because he saw many men were made drunk and mad with wine to whom Plutarch answereth that he might have seen many more good men without any offence cherished and refreshed with wine and therefore he should have rather digged some wells neer unto the Vines to mix the wine with some water and so to take away the abuse of the wine and to prevent drunkenness and not to root up the Vines to deprive the good and sober men from the use and benefit thereof Even so did the pretended Reformers of the Church imitate Lycurgus to a hair rob the Church and left her a beggar Paupertatem sâ—mâ—â—is ingeniis obesse ne provehantur to take away as they said her pride they did not wash away the stains of her garment but took her cloathes quite away and left her naked unto the World in steed of pride for her former glory to be now ashamed for her present misery when she is rather scorned then respected or reverenced by all worldlings and the enemies of the Church as are also both her Ministers and her Children Alciat Embl. 120. And as Juvenal saith Nil habet infoelix paupertas durius in se Quà m quod ridiculos homines facit Neither 1. G d nor 2. Christ nor 3. Reason teach us to reform abuses as Sacrilegious persons do whereby they might say with Alciat Dextra tenet lapidem manus altera sustinet alas Vt me pluma levat sic grave mergit onus Ingenio poteram superas volitare per arces Me nisi paupertas invida deprimeret But to this we do answer that neither God which is the God of justice nor Christ which left his actions for our instructions nor ratio sana Reason it self which should guide all wise men in all their doings have ever taught us this preposterous course and most impious lesson For the abuse of good things especially in Gods service to take away the things themselves that should preserve and uphold the service of God For 1. When Saul abused his state and his whole Kingdom Samuel saith not 1 Sam. 15. the Lord will annihilate and bring to nought the Kingdom of Israel but he saith 1 Sam. 31.35 He hath rent thy Kingdom from thee and he hath given it to thy neighbour which is better then thou And when Eli the Priest abused his place and neglected his office and the service of God 1. How God dealeth with things that are abused the Lord saith not I will cut off the Priest-hood from Israel or I will deface the glory and beauty of it but I will out off thine arm and the arm of thy Fathers house and I will raise me up a faithfull Priest that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind and I will build him a sure house and he shall walk before mine Anointed for ever And I would to God the reformers of abuses in Religion would have imitated the doings of God herein when they can never have a better pattern that is to remove those Bishops of Priests that do indeed neglect their duties or abuse their Offices and not take away the means and maintenances of their places and put other better and more carefull men in their rooms for here you see we are taught that God doth not as the Romans did alter the whole state of their Government for the wickedness of Tarquinius and the rest of their tyrannous Kings Titus Livius l. 1. I say God doth not for the sins either of Prince or Priest change the manner of Government or abrogate the Priviledges or lessen the demaines of either Office but he Translateth the Office with all the dignities and appurtenances to a worthier person that should bring forth more and better fruits to the glory of God and I wish King Henry the 8th had done and all other Kings and Princes would do the like 2. When our Saviour found such gross abuses in the Temple 2 How Christ dealt with the Temple when it was prophaned Matth. 21.12.13 so that they had made the House of God a den of thieves yea Sacrilegious thieves yet he doth not offer to pull down the Temple and to turn it to Prophane uses though they had prophaned it or transfer it to build them houses as our men do with the ruines of Gods House or to take away the lands tythes and revenues of those Priests by whose neglect and default the Holy Temple became thus grossly abused either to maintain their lawfull Wars or to continue their unlawfull delights but he dealeth better and taketh away the abuse by driving away the buyers and sellers out of the Temple and out of the Courts of the Lords House and overthrowing the tables of the money changers and the seats of them that sold Doves and so he restored the House of Prayer to its old use and Pristine Dignity to be a fit House for Gods service and so should we restore things abused to their old and good former use and not take them to our selves or give them away to others 3. Reason it self teacheth us to take this course 3. What Reason teacheth us in this case of good
Clergy man from the letter of the law doth pervert the end and abuse the meaning of the law I make it a case of Conscience and demand Whether such men as do let out the lands and houses of the Church for their own private gain and not for the benefit of Gods Church and the advancement of Gods service do not commit this horrible sin of Sacriledge For my part I conceive them to be the worst and most Sacrilegious persons of all others that should know the truth and not give such ill examples both of Covetousness and Sacriledge unto their neighbours How the Bishops and other Clergy-men may lease their Lands without Sacriledge but let them lease what they will for the benefit of Gods Church the furtherance of Religion and the no-prejudice of their successors and they shall never find me to oppose them But otherwise to lease the lands of the Church that is better worth then a 100 l. per annum for less then a 100 s. for to make our children great and the Church poor to benefit our selves and to prejudice Gods service and to say We have a law that warrants us to do it We have Acts of Parliament that allow it and have the practice and presidents of other Bishops Deans and Chapters that have done it is but to say as the Jews said to Pilate We have a law and by our law he ought to die And ought he therefore to die think you because these Jews had such a law I verily think not so and I think likewise that though you have or should have a law to take away and alienate the rights of the Church yet you should not do it if you love the Church or do any waies fear God And for the practice of some other Bishops Deans and Chapters I confess heretofore many of them have done bad enough and worse in my mind then the worst of lay men for them to sell the rights of the Church and so with Judas to betray their Master Christ but Vivitur praeceptis non exemplis if the practice and presidents of others would or could excuse our faults then Drunkards Whore-masters and Murderers might easily find presidents enough to excuse their wickedness and so I know the Sacrilegious persons may as easily find the like But I shall hereafter shew you how and by whose power and by what means these our Laws and Acts of Parliament for the alienating By whose power the laws for leasing and passing away the Church-lands came to be made Consider that leasing and selling of the revenues of the Church came to be made and leave it to any pious mind and conscientious man to consider Whether they ought in the strictness thereof to be observed or not and not rather commend the care and great piety of our late most gratious King and now glorious Martyr Charles the I. Who a little to curb the extravagancies and large extent of our laws by his regall Authority wrote his letters to all Bishops Deans and Chapters that they should lease out their lands for no longer term then 21 years as it appeareth by this his most gratious and pious Letter directed unto my self the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedrall Church of Bangor which for the honour and praise and our thankfulness to so pious and so Religious a King for his care and love to the Church and service of God I thought it my duty to insert it in this place To our Trusty and wel-beloved the Dean of Bangor Charles Rex TRusty and welbeloved We greet you well We have lately taken the State of our Cathedral and Collegiat Churches into our Princely Consideration that We may be the better able to preserve that livelyhood which as yet is left unto them Vpon this deliberation We find that of later times there hath not risen a greater inconvenience then by turning Leases of one and twenty years into Lives for by that means the present Dean and Chapter put great Fines into their Purses to enrich themselves their wives and children and leave their Successors of what deserts soever to Vs and the Church destitute of that growing means which else would come in to help them By which course should it continue scarce any of them could be able to live and keep house according to their Place and Callings We know the Statute makes it alike lawful for a Dean and Chapter to let their Leases for the Term of one and twenty years or three Lives but time and experience have made it apparent that there is a great deal of difference between them especially in Church-Leases where men are commonly in years before they come to those Places These are therefore to will and command you upon peril of Our utmost displeasure and what shall follow thereon that notwithstanding any Statute or any other pretence whatsoever you presume not to let and Lease belonging to your Church into Lives that is not in Lives already And further where any fair opportunity is offered you if any such be you fail not to reduce such as are in Lives into Years And We do likewise will and require that these our Letters may remain upon Record in your own Register-Books and in the Register of the Lord Bishop of that Dioces that he may take notice of these our Commands unto you and give Vs and our Royal Successors knowledge if you presume in any sort to disobey them O that the mind and piety of this most godly King expressed in this Letter had bin observed by all our Predecessors Bishops Deanes and Chapters the which I will do and punctually observe it by the grace of God And further whereas in Our late Instructions We have commanded all our Bishops respectively not to lett any Lease after We have named any of them to a better Bishoprick but did not in those Instructions name the Deans who yet were intended by Vs These are therefore to declare unto you that no Dean shall presume to renew any Lease either into Lives or Years after such time as We have nominated him either to a better Denary or a Bishoprick having observed that at such times of remove many men care not what or how they lett to the prejudice of the Church and their Successors And this is Our expresse Command to you your Chapter and your Successors which in any case We require both you and them strictly to observe upon pain of Our high displeasure and as you and they will answer the contrary at your and their utmost perils Given under Our Signet at Our Mannor of Greenwich the Two and Twentieth day of June in the Tenth year of our Reign Whereby you may perceive that the same holy Spirit that led this blessed King to be of this mind doth now likewise lead me to be of the same mind that no Bishop Dean or Chapter ought to Lease ouâ— the Lands and Revenues of the Church for any longer Term than 21. years For
the Churches goods for he shall find that this gain doth ever bring a rod at its back When as Zophar saith God shall cause him to vomit up that which he hath devoured Job 20.15 and shall cast them out of his belly and render vengeance to him for the detriment and injury that he hath done to his Church and servants The punishment of Sacriledge greater then the punishment of Idolatry Exod 20. 2 Reg. 5.27 And this vengeance Saint Augustine noteth to be more grievous than the punishment of Idolatry for whereas God threateneth to punish Idolaters but to the third and fourth Generation we find that the Sacriledge of Jeroboam in selling the Priests Office provoked God to root out his house and all his posterity from off the earth and the simony of Gehezi was punished with such a Leprosy as stuck both upon himself and upon all his whole seed for ever Why Sacriledge is so odious to God and so prejudiciall and infestuous to man And no marvell that this sin of Sacriledge should be so odious unto God and so infestuous and pernitious unto man because that although other sins as Idolatry Murder Adultery Theft and the like may be be said to be but as it were private and particular sins that infect none or but few besides the doers of them yet this sin of Sacriledge is a publick and a far-spreading sin not only against some particular persons but against a multitude of men and against the whole body of Religion when by defrauding and taking away the maintenance of the Ministers the whole Ministry of Gods service is impaired and suffered nay caused to be neglected and decayed How Sacriledge bringeth forth â—theism Idolatry and all Wickedness whereby not only Idolatry and false worship hath an open gap and a broad way of entrance into Gods Church but also Atheism and no worship of God but all corruption and lewdness must be the chiefest fruit that can grow upon this accursed tree of Sacriledge when either the Souldiers or any others of the Lords or Gentry take the lands and houses of God into their possessions or the covetous Patrons do sell and make Merchandize of any Ecclesiastical preferment 2. The Sacriledge of the people 2. As the irreligious Patrons do offend in selling the Ministers living that he should freely bestow upon him so the Parishioners are as ready and as greedy to detain and keep back that right which is due to the Priest by Gods law and the Minister hath also bought from his Patron as the Patron was to sell what he should give And it is strange to think how witty they are to go to Hell if God be not the more mercifull unto them to hold them from it What shifts and tricks they have to hold back their hands from paying their Tythes and how loath they are to set out their Tythes and think all that lost that is laid out for the Priest But alas they should know that herein they deceive not us alone that are the Priests but their own souls also that are more damnified by this their Sacriledge then the Priests can be by the loss of their Tythes because that hereby they rob not men but God himself for that the Priests 〈◊〉 but the Lords Receivers and his Rent gatherers The Ministers are Gods Rent gatherers of that small acknowlâ—dgment which he requires from us his Tenants at will for all the great things he gives to us to be repaid to him again as the testimony of our duty and thankfulness and the stipend that he hath allotted to them that are to serve him at his Altar And therefore when the Israelites gave unto their Levites as our people in many places do give unto their Preachers the blind the lame and the maymed the leanest Lamb and the leightest Sheave the Lord complaineth Mal. 3.8 10. Lev. 27.30 that they robbed and spoiled him in Tythes and Offerings because the Lord saith directly that all the Tythe of the Land is the Lâ—rds and all that is Holy unto the Lord. But seeing that this Sacrilegious Age hath produced and brought forth tot manus auferendi so many hands to take away the rights of the Church and so many tongues to speak against and adversaries to oppose the truth of the Doctrine of Tythes and to take away the Lands Houses and Possessions of the Church I shall leave it to be more fully handled towards the latter end of this discourse and Declaration against Sacriledge CHAP. V. The words of King David in the 2 Sam. 7.1 2. and their division when they were spoken And how or in what sense Sitting and Standing are commonly taken in the Scriptures And of the two persons that are here conferring together IF you look into the 2 of Sam. 7.1 2. verses you shall find it thus written Afterward When the King sate in his House and the Lord had given him rest round about from all his enemies The King said unto Nathan the Prophet Behold now I dwell in a house of Cedar trees and the Ark of God remaeineth in the Curtains and so forth For the better understanding of which words you may observe that the sum of this whole Chapter is 3. fold and containeth these 3. parts 1. Davids deliberation The summ of the Chapter 3. fold 2. Nathans replication 3. Davids gratulation 1. The Deliberation is about an Oratory and Temple 1. The Deliberation or House to be Erected and Dedicaâ—â—d to God for his servants to meet in to worship him and this is delivered unto us in the two first verses here set down 2. The Replication of the Prophet is two fold 1. Affirmative and erronious or mistaken vers 3. 2. The Replication 2. Negative and right from the 3. vers to the 18. 3. The gratulation is in an humble acknowledgement 3. The Gratulation and a grateful remembrance of the fore-passed benefits of God with an earnest and hearty prayer put up to God for the continuance of his favour unto him from the 18. verse to the end of the Chapter And I shall here treat of no more than of the deliberation or the Pâ—â—phets consideration what he intended to do touching which we are to observe these three things The 3. things observable in the deliberation 1. The time which hath a twofold manifestation of it 1. When he sate in his house 2. When he was safe from his enemies 2. The Persons deliberating and they are 2. 1. David the King 2. Nathan the Prophet 3. The matter deliberated and considered of betwixt the Prince and the Prophet and that was the meanness and baseness of the then House of God and therefore he would be at the cost and charges to make it beautiful and to erect him an House befitting the Majesty and greatness of God And this his good intention he justifieth and confirmeth the same to be both honest and good by the consequent of Congruity
about us And so indeed it fell out with our selves in these Kingdoms now of late our peace and our plenty hath undone us by making us too wanton to rebell against our King to provoke our God to scourge us for that our Wantonness and Rebellion And therefore S. Augustine saith most truly Magnae virtutis est cum faelicitate luctari ne illiciat ne corrumpat ne ipsa subvertat foelicitas it is a point of great virtue to strive with felicity lest it inticeth us corrupteth us and overthroweth us and so it is a great felicity and happiness not to be overcome with felicity or not to be undone with prosperity as many Men Towns and Kingdoms have been many times for as the said Poet saith Tum cum tristis erat defensa est Ilion armis Troy in her adversity was well defended but alas Militibus gravidum laeta recepit equum Quam facile tadunt splendidae fortunae But sitting and jocond she was destroyed And so it is with many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Their fair fortunes makes them to fall How king Davids peace and plenty increased his Piety But it was not thus now with King David for his Rest begat Religion in him and his peace plenty and prosperity increased his Piety and as he delighteth to recount Gods benefits so he considereth how he may show his thankfulness for them and therefore he thus museth and meditateth on the matter Thâ— summ and substance of Davids deliberation God hath given me a Kingdom and a Royall stately House built of Cedars in that Kingdom Therefore I will build an House for him and he hath given me rest round about therefore I will prepare a place for his Ark which he ordained to be the sign and symbole of his presence and which hitherto hath had no resting place but many a sad and wearisome perambulations that now at last it may rest and be more forced to be transported and carried from place to place For though Enter praesenter Deus est ubique potenter God himself hath an ubiquity of presence being essentially full and filling all places Supra coelos non elatus subter terram non depressus non exclusus nec circumscriptus yet because his gratious and his powerfull presence is promised to be 2 Chron. 6.41 and to be shewed and extended in a speciall manner in some places more and rather then in other places and that place specially is Exod. 30.26 where his Ark resideth and which is called the Ark of his strength and the Ark of his Covenant and the Ark of the Testimony because he Covenanted and promised by the tables of that Covenant Hebr. 9.4 and the other symbols of his presence that were kept in that Ark to be present and assistant and most powerfully to bless and protect all those that kept the Covenant and observed those Testimonies that were preserved in that Ark therefore saith David In requital of Gods favours shewed unto me I will build a House for Gods Ark that so the tables of the Covenant betwixt God and his people and the Manna and the rod of Aaron which were to be kept in the Ark might be the more safely preserved and rest in one place without any more wandering and the people and servants of God which are obliged and commanded to come to serve God and to bring their offerings and oblations to offer unto God before the Ark where it should be might be the more certain of the place of its residence and might with the more conveniency and in a far better manner perform their duties and discharge their service unto God then while the Ark wandered from place to place And this was the result and summ of Davids deliberation and conference with the Prophet Nathan The excellency of Religion which is the preserver of all happiness And it is no wounder that King David was so Religious and so punctual in all particulars appertaining to Religion and the service of God because Religion as one truly saith is as the Poles of the World the Arctick and Antarctick or that Mount Atlas which the Poets say holds up Heaven for it stands on earth and it reacheth to God in Heaven and it is that which poyseth all Societies and all states here below for without the faith and belief of Gods Providence to oversee our actions and then to reckon for our transgressions and to punish the delinquents might craft and falshood would sway in the World alike with men as it is with the Beasts of the field and the Fishes of the Sea and the Conscience of good and evil would be all one and Religion is that which enâ—bleth the noblest man erects his affections and estates him in a state of happiness far above nature and in a word this procures all blessings to light upon us So that whether you aime at the spiritual true and eternal felicity or the civill-Weale and temporall happiness only yet Religion is and ought mainly to be magnified and preserved and therfore the King did most wisely and Religiously call the Prophet to consult about the building of an House for the Ark and for the service of God What Davids example should teach all other Princes And this practice of King David is a pattern and a looking-glass for all Kings and Princes whereby they may see how to spend the times of peace and prosperity to their best profit and advantage and that is 1. Not to spend their whole time either in idleness or vain pastimes because as Hesiod saith Illi pariter indignantur dii homines quisquis otiosus Lesson 1 est both the gods and men detest him that is idle Matth. 20.6 and therefore Christ demandeth of them that did nothing Why stand ye here all day idle and for pastimes and recreations Ludendi modus retinendus est a mean or measure and certain ends and rules ought to be observed therein Quos ultra citraque nequit consistere virtus Horat. For so do we read of the Roman Scevola he used to recreate his spirits Valer. Max. l. 8. c. 8. after he had wearied himself in the weighty Affairs of the Common-wealth but as it is said of Scipio Africanus that he was Not to spend all their time in pleasures Non minus otiosus quà m cum otiosus never less idle then when he was idle Quia semper in otio de negotio cogitavit because that when he had nothing to do he was stil thinking and considering what he should do even as King David here When he sate in his house and was at rest and took his ease and was quiet from all Wars he bethinks himself of building Gods House So should all other Kinâ—s and Princes do to give unto the very times of tranquillity their proner task and share of their Affairs because as Homer bringeth in God telling Agamemnon that Non decet principem solidam dormire
societatem verumetiam quae ad Divinam religionem In this Kings and Princes do serve God as they are commanded by God if they do command as they are Kings in their Kingdoms those things that are good and honest and prohibit the things that are evil not only in causes that do properly appertain to civil society but also in such thâ—ngs as belong and have reference to Religion and Piety And when they do so the Bishops and Priests be they whom you will should observe their Commands That the Bishops Priests ought to submit themselves to the lawful commands diâ—ections of their Kings civil Governours and submitt themselves in all obedience to their Determinations and censures For Moses was the civil Magistrate and the Governour of the people and as he received them from God so he delivered unto the people all the Laws Statutes and Ordinances that appertained to Religion and to the Service of God And when Aaron erected and set up the golden Calf to be worshipped and so violated the true Religion and Service of God Moses reproved and censured him and Aaron though he was the High Priest of God and the Bishop of the people yet as a good example for all other Priests and Bishops he submitted himself most submissively unto Moses the chief Magistrate and said Let not the anger of my Lord wax hot Exod. 32.22 And I would the Pope would do so likewise And therefore though we say the Judge is to be preferred before the Prince in the knowledge of the Laws and the Doctor of Physick in prescribing potions for our health and the Pilot in guiding his Ship which the King perhaps cannot do Yet it cannot be denied but the King hath the commanding power to cause all these to do their duties and to punish them if they neglect it So though the King cannot preach and may not administer the holy Sacraments nor intrude himself with Saul and Vzzia to execute the Office of the Priest or Bishop yet he may and ought to require and command both Priests and Bishops to do their duties and to uphold the true Religion and the Service of God as they ought to do and both to censure them as Moses did Aaron and also to punish them as Solomon did Abiathar if their offence so deserve when they neglect to do it and both Priests and Bishops ought like Aaron and Abiathar to submit themselves unto their censures CHAP. VII The Objections of the Divines of Lovaine and other Jesuites against the former Doctrine of the Prince his authority over the Bishops and Priests in causes Ecclesiastical answered And the foresaid truth sufficiently proved by the clear testimony of the Fathers and Councils and divers of the Popes and Papists themselves BUt against this Doctrine of the Prince his authority to rectifie the things that are amisse and out of order in the Church of God Obj. the Jesuites and their followers tell us Spirituales dignitates praestantiores essâ— secularibus seu mundanis dignitatibus That the Spiritual Dignities are more excellent than those that are worldly When as these two Governments Gen. 1.16 Rom. 13 1â— And though the light of the Church be the greater yet that proves nor but that the King should be the prime and chief Governor of the Church the one of the Church and the other of the Common-wealth are like the two great Lights that God hath made the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night and the Government of the Church must needs be acknowledged to be the Day and to have the greater light to guide and to direct it The Apostle telling us plainly that now the Gospel being come and the Church of Christ established the night is past or far spent and the day is at hand and come amongst us And the Government of the Secular State is like the Moon that ruleth the Night and receiveth her cleerest light from the Sun as all Christian Kingdoms do receive their best light and surest Rules of Government from the Church of God which is the pillar and the ground of truth But To these that thus make the Civil Government subordinate to that which is Spiritual as both the Papists and our Fanatick-Sectaries here amongst us like the old doting Donatists would do and so abridge and deprive the Christian Prince of his just right and jurisdiction over the affairs and persons of the Church I answer Sol. 1. That Symbolical propositions examples parables comparisons and similitudes can prove nothing they may serve for some illustrations but for no infallible demonstrations of truth Isidorus in Glossa in Gen. ut citatur In the Scourge of Sacriledge 2. I say that Isidorus a popish Doctor preferreth the Government of the Kingdom before the Priesthood by comparing the Kingdom unto the Sun and the Priesthood unto the Moon 3. I say that Theodore Balsamon a good School-man saith Nota Canonem Dicit Spirituales dignitates esse praestantiores secularibus sed ne hoc eò traxeris ut Ecclesiasticae dignitates praeferantur Imperatâ—riis quia illis subjiciuntur You must note that when the Canon saith the Spiritual dignities are more excellent than the Secular Balsamon in Sexta Synodo Canone 7. you must not so understand it as to prefer the Ecclesiastical Rule or Dignities before the Imperial State because they are subject unto it and so to be ruled by it 4. And lastly I say that the Regal Government or Temporal State and civil Government of the Common-wealth is not meerly secular and worldly as if Kings and Princes and other civil Magistrates were to take no care of mens souls and future happiness which they are bound to do and not to say with Cain Nunquid ego custos fratris Am I obliged to look what shall become of their souls But they are called Secular States and civil Government because the greatest though not the chiefest part of their time and imployment is spent about Civil affairs and the outward happiness of the Kingdom even as the Ecclesiastical persons are bound to provide for the poor and to procure peace and compose differences among neighbours and the like civil offices though the most and chiefest part of their time and labour is to be spent in the Service of God and for the good of the souls of their people And so Johannes de Parisiis another man of the Roman Church Johannes de Parisiis Can. 18. doth very honestly say Falluntur qui supponunt quod potestas regalis sit Corporalis non Spiritualis quod habeat curam corporum non animarum quod est falsissimum They are deceived which suppose that the Regaâ— power is only corporal and not spiritual and that it hath but the care and charge over the bodies of his Subjects and not of their souls Which is most false Obj. 2. They say as I have said even now that similitudes and examples nihil
ponunt in esse and are no apodictical proofs for any weighty matters especially the examples of the oâ—d Testament to confirm the doing of the like things under the new Testament because that for us to be guided and directed by the examples of the old Law is the high-way to lead us to infinite inconveniences Therefore it followeth not that because the Kings of Israel and Juda did such things as are fore-shewed unto the Priests and Levites and the setling of the Service in the Temple therefore our Moderne Princes should have the like Authority to do the like things unto the Bishops and Priests of the new Testament about the Worship of God and the Government of his Church and especially in the censuring of them that are appointed by Christ to be the Prime Governours of the same Sol. To this I answer 1. That this is as the Schooles say Petitio principii and a begging of the Question for we say that although for the perfecting of the Saints Ephes 4.12 for the work of the Ministery for the edifying or building up of the body of Christ that is the Church God hath set in his Church first Apostles 1 Cor. 12.28 secondarily Prophets thirdly Teachers and so Bishops and Priests primarily and principally to discharge the aforesaid Offices and Duties yet this proveth not that they are simply and absolutely the Prime Governours and Chief Rulers of the Church but that the Kings and Princes In what sense the Bishops Priests and in what sense Kings Princes may be said to be the prime Governours of the Church Esay 49.23 in the other respect aforenamed may be justly said to be the Prime and Supreme Governours as well in all causes Ecclesiastical as Temporal for the Prophet Esay speaking of the Church of the Gospel saith That Kings should be her nursing fathers and Queens her nursing mothers And I hope you will yield that the fathers and mothers are the Prime and Supremest Governours of their children rather than their School-masters and Teachers But though the progeny of the Pope and our frantick Sectaries would fain thrust out the eyes of the politick Prince and make him just like Polyphemus that had a body of vast dimensions but of a single sight scarce able to see his wayes and to govern himself yet I shall by God's assistance make it most apparent unto you by the testimony of the Fathers Councils and some Popish Authors that the Soveraign Prince hath and ought to have alwayes a peremptory Supreme power as well over the Ecclesiastical persons and causes of the Church as over the Civil persons and causes of the Temporal State and Common-wealth For 1. S. Augustine writing against Parmenian the Donatist that would 1. The testimony of the Fathers Aug. p. 1. Cont. Epistolam Parmon with our Disciplinarians that are the very brood of those Donatists unarme the King of his Spiritual Sword saith An forte de Religione fas non est ut dicat Imperator vel quos miserit Imperator Cur ergo ad Imperatorem vestri venerunt legati Cur eum fecerunt causae suae judicem Is it not lawful for the Emperour and so the Prince or whomsoever he shall send to treat and determine matters of Religion If you think it is not Why did your Messengers then come unto the Emperour And why did they make him thy Judge of their cause Whereby you see S. Augustine judgeth the Emperour or any other Supreme Prince to have a lawful power to hear and to determine the points and matters controverted among the Bishops and so to have a Spiritual jurisdiction as well as a Temporal Nicephorus also in his Preface to the Emperour Immanuel saith Nicephorus in praefatione ad Immanuel Imperat Tu es Dux professionis fidei nostrae tu restituisti Catholicam Ecclesiam reformasti Ecclesiam Dei à mercatoribus coelestis Doctrinae ab haereticis per verbum veritatis Thou art the Captain of our Profession and of the Christian Faith and thou hast Restored or Reformed the Catholick Church and cleansed it from those Merchants of the heavenly Doctrine and from all the Hereticks by the word of Truth And I think nothing can be said fuller and clearer than this to justifie the Spiritual jurisdiction of the Prince and Supreme Magistrate in causes Ecclesiastical Theodoretus l. 1 c. 7. Yet Theodoret and Eusebius say as much of Constantine the Great 2. You may read in the Council of Chalcedon 2. The testimony of the Councils That all the Bishops and Clergy that were gathered together to that place as the Members of our Parliament use to do were wont to lay down the Canons they had agreed upon in the Council until the Emperour should come to confirm them with his Royal assent and when the Emperour came they said These Decrees seem good unto us if they seem so to your Sacred Majesty And the Bishops of the Council of Constantinople that was after the first Council of Ephesus Concil Chalcedon Artic. 1. pag. 831. wrote thus submissively unto the Emperour Theodosius We humbly beseech your Clemency that as you have honoured the Church with your Letters by which you have called us together Ita finalem conclusionem decretorum nostrorum corrobores sententia tua sigillo So you would be pleased to strengthen and confirm the last conclusion of our Decrees by your Royal Sentence and Seal 3. 3. The testimony of Popes and Papists As the Fathers and Councils do thus acknowledge the Emperours right in the Spiritual jurisdiction So many of the Popes and Papists themselves have confest the same truth and yielded the same right unto the Emperour and other Soveraign Magistrate in the Church and Church-matters and over all the parsoâ—s belonâ—ing unto the Church for Platina that was Library-keeper unto the Pope Iâ—aira in severino papa saith that Without the Letters pattents of the Emperour to confirm him the Pope is no lawfull Pope and Zabarel a great Scholar saith The Pope may be accused before the Emperour of and for any notorious crime Zâ—barella de Schismate Concilus and publick scandalous offence Imperator potest à papa requirere rationem fidei and the Emperour may inquire and call the Pope to yield an account of his faith and Religion And so many of the better Popes were not ashamed to confess the same for Saint Gregory who for his great learning and piety was sirnamed the Great writing unto Mauritius the Emperour saith Imperatori obedientiam praebui Theodoret l. 2. c. 16. pro Deo quod sensi minimè tacui I have yielded all obedience unto the Emperour and what I conceived to be truth and for God I concealed it not 2 q. 4. Mandastis and before Saint Gregories time Pope Liberius being convented to appear before Constantius denied not most readily to obey his summons So did Pope Sixtus upon the like complaint appear
to purge himself before Valentinian 2. q. 7. Nos si and Pope Leo the third before Charles the Great And it is registred that Pope Leo the 4th wrote unto the Emperour Lodouick saying Epist Eleuth inter leges Edovard Si incompetenter aliquid egimus justae legis tramitem non conservavimus admissorum nostrorum cuncta vestro judicio volumus emendare If we have done any thing unseemly and amiss and have not observed and walked in the right path of the just law we are most ready and willing to amend all our admissions or whatsoever we have done amiss according to your judgment Theodoretus l. 2. c. 1. and Pope Eleutherius saith to Edward the I. of England V s est is Vicarius Dei in Regno vestro that he and so every other King is Gods Vicar in his Kingdom This was the mind and sense of these Popes and many other Popes in former ages were of the same mind until pride avarice and ambition corrupted them to be as now they are How the Emperour and Kâ—nâ—â— executed the power that God had given thâ—m And as God hath given this power and required this duty of Kings and Princes to have a care of his Church and to reform Religion and the Fathers and Councels have confirmed this truth and divers of the very Popes themselves and Pâ—pists have yielded and submitted themselves unto their spiritual jurisdiction even in the Ecclesiastical causes so the Emperours and Kings omitted not to execute the same from time to time especially those that had the master power and ability to discharge their duties Idâ—m l. 1. c 7. for Theodoret writes that Constantine was wont to say Si episcopus tâ—rbas det mea manu coercebitur If any Bishop shall be turbulent and troublesome he shall be refrained and censured by my hands and both Theodoret and Eusebius tels us how he came in his own person unto the Councell of Nice Sozâ—m l. 4. c. 16. Et omnibus exsurgentibus ipse ingressus est medius tanquam aliquis Dei coelestis Angelus the whole company of the Bishops and all the rest arising he came into the midst amongst them as it were an Heavenly Angel of God And Sozomen writeth how that ten Bishops of the East and ten others of the West Conciliorum Tom 2. In vita Sylvani vigila were required by Constantine to be chosen out by the Convocation and to be sent to his Court to declare unto him the decrees and canons of the Councell that he might examine them and consider whether they were consonant to the Holy Scriptures And the Emperour Constantius deposed Pope Liberius of his Bishoprick and then again he deprived Pope Foelix and restored Liberius unto the Popedom and in the third Councell at Costantinople he did not only sit among the Bishops but also subscribed Concil Boni 3. c. 2. with the Bishops to such bills as passed in that Councell saying Vidimus Subscripsimus we have seen these canons and have subscribed our approbation of them And King Odoacer touching the Affairs of the Church saith Miramur quicquam tentatum fuisse sine nobis We do admire that you should attempt to do any thing without us for while our Bishop lived that is the Pope sine Nobis nihil tentari oportuit Nothing ought to be done without us much less ought it to be done now when he is dead And the Emperour Justinian doth very often in Ecclesiastical causes Authent Coliat 1 tit 6. use to say Definimus jubemus We determine and command and we will and require that none of the Bishops be absent from his Church Quomodo oportet Episcop above the space of a year and he saith further Nullum genus rerum est quod non sit penitus quaerendum Authoritate Imperatoris there is no kind of matter that may not or is not to be inquired into by the Authority of the Emperour Authent Collat. Tit. 133. because he hath received from the hands of God the common government and principality over all men And the same Emperour as Balsamon saith Balsamon de Peccat Tit. 9. Idem in Calced Concil c. 12. Idem de fide Tit. 1. gave power to the Bishop to absolve a Priest from pennance and to restore him to his Church And the same Author saith that the Emperours disposed of Patriarchal seats and that this power was given them from above and he saith further that the Emperour Michael that ruled in the East made a law against the order of the Church that no Monk should serve in the Ministry in any Church whatsoever And we read further how that divers of the Emperours have put down and deposed divers Popes as Otho deposed John 13. Evodius inter decreta Bonifacâ—â— Vâ—sâ—ergen anno 1045. Honorius deposed Boniface Theodoricus deposed Symmaâ—hus and Henry removed three Popes that had been all unlawfully chosen and in the Councel of Chalcedon the Supreme Civil Magistrate adjudged Dioscorus Juvenalis and Thalassus three Bishops of Heresie and therefore to be degraded and to be thrust out of the Church And so you see how the Emperours â—ings and Civil Magistrates behaved themselves in the Church of God and used their power and the Authority that God had given them as well in the Spiritual and Ecclesiastical Affairs of the Church and points of Faith as in the Civil Government of the Common-wealth CHAP. VIII That it is the Office and Duty of Kings and Princes though not to execute the function and to do the Offices of the Bishops and Priests yet to have a speciall care of Religion and the true Worship of God and to cause both the Priests and Bishops and all others to discharge their duties of Gods service And how the good and godly Emperours and Kings have formerly done the same from time to time BUt as God hath given unto the Kings and Princes of this world a Power and Authority as well over his Church and Church-men be they Prophets Apostles Bishops Priests or what you will as over the Common wealth and all the lay persons of their Dominions So they ought and are bound to have a special care of Religion and to discharge their duties for the glory of God the good of his Church the promoting of the Christian Faith and the rooting up of all Sects and Heresies that defile and corrupt the same for as Saint Augustine saith and I shewed you before In hoc Reges Deo serviunt herein Kings and Princes do serve God if Aug. contra Crescon l. 3. c. 51. as they are Kings they injoyn the things that are good and inhibit those things that are evil and that Non solum in iis quae pertinent ad humanam Societatem sed etiam ad divinam Religionem and again he saith Idem Epist 48. that Kings do serve Christ here on earth when they do make good laws for Christ and
Athanasius said unto the Emperour Jovinian Conveniens est pro principe studium amor rerum divinarum It is meet and convenient for a good Prince to study and love Heavenly things because that in so doing his heart shall be alwaies Theodoret l. 4. c. 3. as Solomon saith in manu Dei in the hand of God and Saint Cyrill tells the Emperours Theodosius and Valentinian that Ab ea quae erga Deum est pietate Prov. 21.1 reipublicae vestrae status pendet the state and condition of their Common-wealth doth wholly depend according to that piety and Religion which they bear towards God Cardanus de sapientia lib. 3. Because as Cardan truely saith Summum praesidium Regni est justitia ob apertos tumultus Religio ob occultos Justice is the best defence of a Kingdom and the suppressor of open tumults because righteousness exalteth a Nation and Religion is the only Protector and safely against all secret and privy Machinations Minut. Fael in Oâ—tav because as Minutius Foelix saith What the Civil Magistrate doth with the sword of justice to suppress the nefarious doers and actours of wickedness Religion rooteth out and suppresseth the very thought of evil The want of the fear of God the only thing that maketh Rebells which a Godly and a Religious man feareth as much and more then a wicked and prophane man doth dread the punishment of his offence and so Religion Piety and the fear of God keepeth the very hearts and souls of the subjects from swelling against their Soveraign and from the least evil thought of Rebellion and it is the want of the fear of God and true Religion whatsoever men pretend that makes Rebels and Traytors in every place because the true Religion tels us plainly Rom. 13.1 that every soul that is every man unfainedly from his heart should be subject to the â—â—gher Powers And the true Religion teacheth us as Tertull Tertul. ad Scapul saith Colere Imperatorem ut hominem à Deo secundum solo Deo minorem To acknowledge and to serve the Emperour and so our King and our Prince as the next person to God and inferior to none but to God When as he is Omnibus major solo Deo minor above all men and below none but only God How requisite it is for Kings to have a care to preserve Religion And therefore it is most requisite that all Kings and Princes should have care of the true Religion and the service of God and with the Prophet David to build Temples and Churches for him that hath given their Crowns and Thrones unto them and to provide maintenance for those servants of God that serve at his Temple as they do for those that serve themselves and so both to be Religious themselves and to see that their subjects so far as it lieth in them should be so likewise and this their own piety and goodness in the service of God will make them famous amongst all posterities and their names to shine as the Sun when as Saint Ambrose saith Ambrosius Epist 32. Nihil honorificentius quà m ut Imperator filius Dei dicatur nothing can be more honorable then that the Emperour or King should be named and called the Son of God The fruits and benefits of maintaining true Religion in a kingdom which is a more glorious Eulogie then Homer could give to the best Heroes of all Greece or that Alexander Julius Caesar or the like could atchieve by all their military exploits or the best domestick actions that they have done and their making provision for the Teachers of the true Religion and the promoters of Gods service the Bishops and Ministers of Christ his Church which makes their subjects both Loyall and obedient unto them and also Religious towards God will preserve the peace and procure the happiness of their Kingdoms How many former kings were very zealous to uphold Religion And according as God hath given this Authority and laid this charge upon all Kings and Princes to have a care of his Religion and the Ministers of his Church so we find very very many both in former times and also of latter years and so both of Gentiles Jews and Christians that were exceeding zealous for the Honor of God and the upholding of them that served at his Altar 1. Gentile kings as 1. The Gentile Kings as Pharaoh King of Egypt that in the extremity of that dearth which swallowed the whole Land he made provision for Gods Priests The great bounty of king Croesus to the god Apollo and to his Priests so that they neither wanted means nor were driven to sell their Lands And so Croesus King of Lydia was so wounderfull zealous of the Honor and the worship of the god of Delphos and so bountifull to Apollo's Priests that Herodotus saith that he made oblation of three thousand choice Cattel such as might lawfully be offered and caused a great stack of wood to be made wherein he burnt Bedsteads of Silver and Gold and Golden Maysors with purple rayment and Coats of exceeding value and he laid the like charge upon the Lydians that every man should consecrate those Jewels which he possessed most costly and pretious from which their Sacrifice when as the streams of liquid and molten Gold distrained in great abundance he caused thereof to be framed half flates or sheards the longer sort as he intituled them of six handfull the shorter of three and a hand breadth in thickness amounting to the number of an hundred and seventeen Whereof four were of fined Gold weighing two Talents and a half and the rest of whiter Gold that weighed two Talents likewise he gave also the similitude of a Lion in tried and purged Gold and two Books very fair and stately to see to the one framed of Gold weighing eight Talents and a half with the additionall of twenty four pounds and the other of Silver And he presented likewise four silver Tunns two drinking Cups the one of Gold and the other of Silver and silver Rings with the shape and form of a woman three Cubits high and withall he offered the Chains Girdles and Wastbands of the Queen his wife and to the Priests of Amphiaraus he gave a shield and a speare of solid Gold and a quiver of the same metall all which saith mine Author he offered in hope to purchase thereby unto himself the gracious favour and good-will of that god and Herodotus l. 1 clio if he was so magnificent and bountifull to the Priests and Temple of that god which was no god how Royall think you would he have been if he had known the true God and our Saviour Jesus Christ So Cyrus and Darius KingS of Persia and of Babylon made such royall decrees for the re-edifying of the Temple at Jerusalem Ezra 1.7 c. 6.5 c. 8.9 and the Worshipping of the God of Daniel and his three
companions Sidrac Misach and Abednego which was the true God that they are registred in the Book for their perpetuall honour and praise to this very day and shall continue longer then the stately Piramides of Egypt even to the end of the World when as most others of their laws and actions are shut up in silence and buried in the grave of forgetfulness So Artaxerxes Mnemon the son of Darius Nothus formerly called Ochus or Achus that in the Persian language signifieth a Prince was very zealous for the building of Gods House and the inabling of the builders thereof with all things necessary for the work and as his father Darius said Let the work of this House of God alone and let the Governour of the Jews and the elders of them build this House of God in his place Moreover I make a decree and it was a most Royall decree what you shall do to the Elders of these Jews for the building of this House of God that of the Kings goods even of the tribute beyond the River forthwith expences be given to these men that they be not hindered and that which they have need of both young Bullocks and Rams and Lambs for the burnt offerings of the God of Heaven Wheat Here is a glorious zeal and a brave Resolution for the honour and service of God Salt Wine and Oyl according to the appointment of the Priests let it be given them day by day without faile that they may offer Sacrifices of sweet savours unto the God of Heaven and pray for the life of the King and of his Sons that were four 1. Artaxerxes 2. Cyrus the younger 3. Atossa called also Arsacas 4. Oxendra And I have also made a decree that Whosoever shall alter this word Ezra 6.7 8 9 10 11. let Timber be pulled down from his house and being set up let him be hanged thereon and his house be made a dunghill for this So the son following the steps of his father as our Most gracious King doth in like manner made a Decree to all the Treasurers that were beyond the River That whatsoever Ezra the Priest shall require of you it be done speedily Also we certifie you that touching any of the Priests and Levites Singers Porters Nethinims or Ministers of the House of God Ezra c. 7. 21.24 it shall not be lawful to impose Tolle Tribute or Custom upon them a thing clean contrary to the practice of our times when the greatest Tolle Tax and Imposition is usually laid upon the Ministers of the Gospel of Christ to shew unto you how far short our Christians now are in piety and zeal of Gods Worship to these Heathens that knew not Christ and therefore no doubt but that they shall shall rise in judgement against us that profess to honour Christ and yet think we can never take enough from his Church nor lay Taxes and Loads enough upon his Ministers And how this will be answered before Christ at the last Day let the sacrilegious persons that labour so much and strive so eagerly to take our houses from us consider it for I know not how to do it 2. The Kings of Israel and Juda. 2. As these Heathen Kings and Monarchs were thus zealously affected to the House Service of God and thus religiously given to provide maintenance for the Priests and Ministers of the Temple So the Kings of Israel and Juda were no whit inferiour unto them but in a far righter way and to a truer God than most of the Heathens did For here you see King David adjudged it to be as needful to build a Temple for God as to erect an house for himself And so the Books of the Kings and the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel and Juda do sufficiently set down how Solomon did most religâ—ously build God's House and offered Royal Sacrifices in that House and most orderly setled the Priests and Levites to do the Service of God in this Temple that he had built And so Jehosophat Ezechias Josias and all the rest of the good Kings of Juda did execute the power that God had given them in the setling and establishing of His Religion and the True Worship of God as you may most amply read in their lives And those Kings that did not care for the preservation of the True Religion and Gods Service and his Houses as Jeroboam Baasha Ahab and the like the wrath of the Lord was kindled against them that he rooted them and their posterity out of their own house because they neglected the Service and the House of God And so he will do to all those Kings and Princes that will imitate them in prophaning his House neglecting his Service and abusing his servants because that with Him there is no respect of persons but He will bind Kings in fetters Psalm 148. and their Nobles with links of iron 3. The Christian Kings 3. The Christian Emperours and Kings are not left un-Chronicled for their great zeal extraordinary care and Royal bounty towards the Bishops and Ministers of Christ to propagate and uphold the Christian Religion For it is Registred in the Writings of those times that Constantius the father of Constantine the Great was wont to say That he respected the Preachers of the Gospel more than the Treasures of his Exchequer And his son Constantine was called Great as well for his Piety that made him like John Baptist to be Magnus coram Domino Great in the sight of the Lord as for his Potency that made him Great among men And Eusebius that wrote the Life of Constantine and sets down his Piety saith The Court of the Emperour Valerian was so replenished with godly men and religious Christians that it seemed to be the Church of God rather than the Kings Court So great a care had he of Religion and the Service of God that as the Prophet David saith Psal 101.9 saith none should be his servants that served not God but whoso leadeth a godly life he shall be my servant said this good Emperour as good King David said before him And the Emperour Jovinian that succeeded Julian the Apostate who withdrew very many from the Christian Religion to imbrace the idolatrous service and superstitions of the Heathens when he attained unto the Empire said to the people That he would be a King of Christians or he would be no King at all And Alphonsus King of Arragon is made Famous in all Chronicles for the great love he bare to Learning and especially for the great zeal he had to the Christian Religion and the great care he took to promote the Gospel of Christ and to provide for his servants and when some other King said unto him That it was too base an office for a King to trouble himself with such affairs Alphonsus answered Vox â—ovis ista est potius quam regis That voice seemed to him to be the voice of an Oxe rather than of a
in the great Congregations and among much people and so affectionately to say Psal 35.18 One thing have I desired of the Lord which I will require Psal 27.4 even that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the daies of my life to behold the fair beauty of the Lord and to visite his Temple And therefore seeing it is so necessary that the people of God should publickly meet and be gathered together to serve God it is most requisite and necessary there should be Cathedralls and Parochiall Churches for them to meet in for to do the publick service of God Obj. But against this it may be objected that the necessity of publick meetings and the benefits that may be reaped from those Assemblies rather then from any private serving of God doth no waies prove the necessity of having Cathedralls and materiall Churches because the presence of a company of Christian people wheresoever Assembled and the offices of Religion as Preaching Prayer and Administring the Sacraments performed makes the meeting publick and the peoples exercising these duties makes them to be a Church of God As the presence of the Prince and his followers maketh any mans private house to be the Kings Court. To this Objection I have fully and very largely answered Sol. in my second book of the Great Anti-Christ revealed pag. 84. deinceps And therefore I shall referr my Reader thither to be fully satisfied yet here I say that it is not the Assembly or the popular conflux of a multitude of men or the duties that they do though they be the very duties of Religion that makes the meeting lawfully publick or the place of Gods publick service but it must be a Convention and a gathering together of the people into such a place that is assigned and Consecrated for Gods publick service which makes the publick meeting justifiable and lawfull otherwise it is but a private conventicle altogether unlawfull though it should consist of never so great a company of men unless it be as it was in the Apostles time in the daies of persecution or that the people have such lawfull lets and hinderances to come to the Consecrated place of Gods service as I have set down in the book afore-cited At all other times the publick service of God must be performed in a publick Consecrated place as it is meet the Holy service should be done in a Holy place and you must know that the ubiquity of Gods presence in every place makes not all places alike sacred even as the Lord sheweth unto Moses when he bids him to pull off his shâ—es from his feet because the place where thou standest is Holy ground Exod. 3.15 for the presence of God is either 1. Ordinary The presence of God twofold or 2. Extraordinary And as the extraordinary works of God have distinguished the times to make some times more Holy then other so the extraordinary presence of God hath sanctified some places more then others and the place that he Sanctifieth with his most speciall presence is the place which he appointeth to his servants for their publick meeting to do his service and he hath not left it in the liberty of every man to run at random to serve the Lord where he pleased but as he designed the time when they should serve him so he appointed the place where they should come to serve him And so Adam in that short time which he had in Paradise wanted not a place appointed no doubt and usuall to stand before the Lord and to Communicate with him and the sons of Adam being out of Paradise Gen. 3.8 knew the place where God appointed and expected they should repair to offer their Sacrifices and oblations unto him and so the Lord tells the Children of Israel that they should not discharge their duties and perform his service in any place that they pleased Deut. 12.5 14. but they should seek the place which the Lord their God should choose out of all their Tribes to put his name there to dwell and there they should come with their oblations and offerings to serve him And so when the Israelites had quite vanquished the Canaanites and subdued the Philistines and the other their enemies round about and as the Text saith given rest unto his people the time was come that the Lord God thought fit to choose the place to put his name there and where all the people should publickly meet to do him service and the Lord marked out Jerusalem for himself and in Jerusalem he chose Mount Moriah 2 Chron. 6.7 the very place where Abraham was to sacrifice his son Isaac to be a standing and a permanent place for his name saying This shall be my rest for ever here will I dwell for I have a delight therein and there David now resolveth to build his Temple to be a Cathedrall and the Metropolitan Church for the High Priest to offer Sacrifice and burnt Offerings unto God and for the rest of the people there publickly to meet to serve the Lord and his heart was mightily inflamed with zeal and desire to do it but the Lord accepted of his resolution and by Nathan his Prophet told him that because he was a man of War and had shed much blood and his Church must not have her foundation laid nor her walls erected in blood he should not build his Temple but Solomon his son that was a Prince of Peace should erect it in the Place that he appointed and with the materialls that he had provided and so he did as you may see 2 Chron. c. 3. 4 5. And when this Temple was destroyed and the people for their sins and neglect of Gods service and prophanation of this House of God were led Captives into Babylon and when after the time of their Captivity was expired that is the full space of 70. years they were permitted to return into their own Land the Lord did put it into the heart of Cyrus King of Persia as the Prophet Esay fore-shewed he should do long before the birth of Cyrus to cause Ezra Zerubbabel Nehemiah and the rest of the Elders of the Jews to build another House and Temple unto God in the same place where Salomons Temple did stand and when the enemies of Gods people and the prophaners of Gods House like our malignants sought to hinder the building of it the Lord put it in the heart of Darius and his son Artaxerxes to cause it to be finished Ezra 6.15 according to the decree of King Cyrus And the Jews were so zealous to do it that they made an end of the work in five years and so by reason of their enemies and their haste it was far disproportionable and different from the former which made the old men that had seen the glory and beauty of the first to weep and lament at the mean aspect of the second And yet it was not so mean but
Superstitious said of that place where God shewed his presence to him This is Gods House and the gate of Heaven Gen. 28.17 and the Lord said unto Moses Put off thy shooes from thy feet for the place where thou standest is Holy ground Exod. 3.5 and why was that ground more Holy than any other ground Not in respect of any innate holiness but because the Lord reveiled himself there to Moses more visibly and more graciously than in any other place And I pray you look what the Spirit of God adviseth and injoyneth us to do when we come into the House of God To keep thy foot Eccl 5.1 For this phrase is a Synechdoche of the part for the whole of the foot for all the members of the body which in the Church of God ought to be framed to a Religious decency as to bend the knee lift up our eyes uncover the head and the like and much more thy heart and thy head as thou oughtest to do decently and Reverently when thou goest to the House of God and therefore much more Reverently when thou art and standest in Gods House And be more ready to hear then to give the Sacrifice of Fools which they do that despise this House of God which none but fools will do for if we make no difference of these things but that every man that will may intrude himself to do the service which God requireth to be done by another and he may do that service any where in any one place as well as in another in a common barn as well as in an Holy Church then surely we need not observe any time when any one day is as good and as Holy as another the Munday as well as the Lords-day and so confounding persons times and places we shall confound all Religion and we shall suddenly bring Atheism and all Prophaneness among the people CHAP. XI The answer to another Objection that our Fanatick-Sectaries do make against the Beauty and Glorious Adorning of our Churches which we say should be done with such decent Ornaments and Implements as are besitting the House and Service of God The reasons why we should Honor God with our goods and how liberal and bountiful both the Fathers of the Old Testament and the Christians of the New Testament were to the Church of God Obj. 3 Against the beautifying of our Churches THirdly There be another sort of close-handed and covetous-hearted Fanatick Sectaries that are much offended at our Beautifying and Adorning our Churches so as is fitting and meet for the Houses of God And they do Object that God is a Spirit and will be served in spirit and in truth and therefore he requireth not our goods our gold and our silver which he hath no need of Psal 50.10 or our Cattle when as all the beasts of the Forrest are his and so are the Cattle upon a 1000. hills and he delighteth not in burnt offering and so the Prophet sheweth when he demandeth Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or with ten thousands of Rivers of Oyl No no the Lord careth for no such things we may keep them all to our selves Mich. 6.7 for he hath Shewed thee O man what is good and what the Lord doth require of thee and that is To do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God And therefore the Lord saith not Give me your gold to make me Palaces or your silver to adorn my house wherein I dwell not but give me your hearts wherein I delight to dwell if they be pure and clean and void of the filthiness of sin and corruption Quia deliciae meae cum filiis hominum because my delights are to be with the sons of men and I desire no more of them but To fear the Lord their God to walk in all his waies Deut. 10.12 and to love him and to serve the Lord their God withall their heart and withall their soul And from these and the like premises our Fanaticks do conclude that as God was never better served then when his Churches and Oratories were no better then poor mens Cottages and when the Christians answered their persecuters in the time of Julian who said their service was not so Solemn nor their Temples answerable to the Majesty of God that the best Temples which they could dedicate unto God wer their Sanctified souls and clean hearts so they would have our times to be the like and our Churches to be no fairer nor any otherwise beautified then they were in those times of poverty and persecution Sol. To this I answer and confess that God delighteth more in the Holiness of the hearts of them that serve him then in the honor and beauty of the place where he is served In the time of necessity God accepteth our service any where But though Moses in the mountain Job on the dunghill Jeremy in the mire Daniel in the Lions den Ezechias in his bed and the Apostles in the stocks called upon the name of the Lord and he heard them and so Christ preached on the Mount and in the Valley on the Sea-shore and in the Ship and Saint Paul did the like in an upper Chamber and the people heard them as well then as in the Temple and God accepted of their service Yet as Saint Paul demands of the Corinthians whether they thought it seemly that a woman should be bare-headed in the Church so I demand of these men as the Prophet Haggai demandeth of the Jews Is it fit that you should dwell in sieled houses and let the House of God lye wast or is it meet and Religious that the Church of Christ should be no better beautified then a husband-mans barn And I may ask of any rational man if the Sanctity and Celebrity of the place where God is usually and publickly served doth not animate the devotion and stir up pious thoughts in all good Christians Psal 56.9 when they come there to Worship their Saviour in that beauty of Holiness as the Prophet speaketh Therefore the good and godly King David when he intended to build God an House saith That because the Palace was not for man but for the Lord God I prepared with all my might for the House of my God 1 Chron. 29.1 2 3. the Gold for the things that were to be made of Gold the Silver for things of Silver and the Brass for things of Brass the Iron for things of Iron and Wood for things of Wood Onyx stones and stones to be set How liberally King David gave to build and beautify Gods House glistering stones and of divers colours and all manner of Pretious-stones and Marble-stones in abundance moreover because I have set my affection to the House of my God I have of mine own proper goods of Gold and Silver which I have given to the House of my God over and above all that I have prepared for the holy
House even three thousand Talents of Gold of the Gold of Ophir and seven thousand Talents of refined Silver to over-lay the walls of the house withall The Gold for things of Gold and the Silver for things of Silver and for all manner of work to be made by the hands of the Artificers And so the chief of the Fathers and Princes of the tribes and Captains also offered most willingly and gave for the service the building and beautifying of the House of God of Gold five thousand Talents and ten thousand drams and of Silver ten thousand Talents 1 Chron. 39 7 and of Brass eighteen thousand Talents and one hundred Talents of Iron And not only this good Kings heart and his people The Fathers before Davids time did the like were thus inlarged so freely to offer their goods for the building beautifying and adorning of Gods House but also all other faithfull servants of God that were zealous of Gods Worship both afore and after Davids time did the like for if you consider the building of the Tabernacle and the furniture that belong'd unto it in the time of Moses you shall find that although the people were but wanderers in the wilderness and therefore could not be very wealthy nor have any more riches but only what they brought out of Egypt yet this was the free and voluntary dedication of the Altar in the day when it was anointed by the Princes of Israel Twelve Chargers of silver twelve silver Bouls twelve Spoons of Gold each Charger of silver weighing one hundred and thirty shekels each Boul seventy cicles or shekels all the silver vessels weighed two thousand and four hundred shekels after the shekel of the Sanctuary the golden Spoons were twelve full of incense weighing ten shekels a piece after the shekel of the Sanctuary Numb 7.84 85 86. All the Gold of the Spoons was one hundred and twenty shekels every shekel weighing half an ounce Whereby you may perceive what care they took in that infancy of the Church to have all the appurtenances of the House of God so fair and so specious as they could possibly make it even to the uttermost of their abilities And so after Davids time besides the foresaid moneys that David left for the use of Gods House which came to the rate of eight thousand Talents of Gold and of Silver seventeen thousand chikars and every chikar containing one thousand and eight hundred cicles and weighing nine hundred ounces King Solomon was so bountifull and his donation so exceeding large that it can very hardly be valued for besides the stuffes that he laid in of Timber Marble Stone Brass Iron Copes and Pretious-stones he overlayed the greater House which he sieled with Firr-trees with fine Gold and the garnishing of the House with Pretious-stones for beauty and the Gold was the Gold of Parvaim and he overlayed the House the beams the posts and the walls thereof and the doors thereof with Gold and graved Cherubims on the walls and he over-laid the most hoâ—y House with fine Gold amounting to six hundred Talents and the weight of the nailes was fifty Shekels of Gold and he over-laid the upper Chambers with Gold and the two Cherubims he over-laid with Gold and he made ten Candlesticks of Gold and a hundred Basins of Gold and the Flowers and the Lamps 2 Chron. 3. 4. and the Tongs made he of Gold and that perfect Gold and the Snâ—ffâ—rs and the Censers of pure Gold and the Entry of the House the Inner-doors and the doors of the House of the Temple were of Gold And when all these unvaluable Treasures and Furnitures of this House of God were ransacked and carried away by Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon and Cyrus after their 70. years Captivity gave the Jews leave to Return and gave them power and licence to re-edifie and to build the House of God again these captive Jews newly returned out of bondage beyond their ability were most bountiful in their contributions for the setting up of another Temple which though for Beauty and Majesty it was not correspondent to the former Temple yet was it very glorious and finished most readily and the free Donations of the people were so large that when all the work was finished the surplusage of their Gifts that remained to beautifie the same and provide ornaments for it and to defray other future reckonings amounted to 650. Chichars of Silver and a 100. Chichars of Gold And to this Nehemias the Tyrshatha gave to the Treasure a thousand drams of Gold Nehem. 7.70 fifty Basins and five hundred and thirty Priests Garments And so likewise some of the chief of the Fathers and Heads of houses were not behind Verse 71.72 to build and beautifie this House of God but gave to the Treasure of the work twentie thousand drams of God and two thousand and two hundred pound of Silver and that which the rest of the people gave was twentie thousand drams of Gold and two thousand pound of Silver and sixty seven Priests Garments Thus you see how the Jews both in the time of David and before David and after David and both in their prosperitie and in their adversitie when they were full in the dayes of Solomon and when they were emptie and weak after their return from Captivity were most zealously affected to build and beautifie the House of God and to spare neither Gold nor Silver to adorne the same as it ought to be And what do we Surely change the case instead of giving to build and beautifie the Church and the maintenance of the Service of God's House we take away the states and timber and all the Furniture of the Church and as the Psalmist prophesied of our times all the carved works thereof and the goodly Monuments of our pious forefathers we break down with axes and hammers and instead of providing the Priests Vestures for the Church-service we are more ready to take their garments from their backs and their bread out of their mouths Obj. But you will say they were Jews which so adorned their Temple as you shewed before and their Religion consisted in outward pomp and carnal Service whereas we are Christians and the Kings Daughter which is the Church of Christ is all glorious within and her service to God consisteth not either in carnal Ceremonies or external Glory but as Christ faith in spirit and in truth Sol. I answer That I confess the chiefest Glory of the Kings Daughter is within in a pure heart and a sanctified soul but her clothing is of wrought Gold and her outward rayment is of needle work and her vesture is of pure Gold wrought about with divers colours very fair and glorious to behold So our Religion and our zeal to God's Worship must not only rest and reside in the heart but it must bud forth and appear in all our outward actions and God will be served not only inwardly with our hearts but
brought all them that followed him and his wayes to the like perdition And so Nimrod Esau and Ismael falling away from God and Jeroboam setting up his golden gods and many other Kings and Princes neglecting their duties apostatizing from God and misleading their people brought them in like manner to their utter ruine And as many times the people are brought to their ruine by the evil example Scilicet in vulgus manant exemplaregentum utque ducum lituos sic mores castra sequuntur Claud. 1. Stilic and wicked Government of their Prime-Leaders when as the Poet saith Regis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis And the Souldiers would imitate Alexander in his stoopings and in his vices as well and sooner than in his vertues So many times and oftner too they are brought to the same pass the same pathes of perdition through the lewd examples and neglect of the subordinate Magistrates of the Common-wealth and the Governours and Ministers of the Church of God As when the Princes Esay 1.23 Zephant 3.3 or Nobility are rebellious and companions of Thieves or as Zephany saith like Lions and the Judges are evening-Wolves that judge not the fatherless neither doth the cause of the widdow come unto them And when the Prophets are leight and treacherous persons and the Priests have polluted the Sanctuary and have done violence to the Law either by corrupting it Prov. 29.18 with their false glosses or locking it up in prison and not publishing the same unto the people for where there is no vision the people perish saith the Wise-man And so by their false teaching or no teaching they thrust forward the poor people into perdition And therefore Kings and Princes to whom God in the first place hath committed the Soveraignty and Charge both of Church and Common-wealth Exod. 18.21 ought not only to chuse such Judges and Magistrates as Jethro described unto Moses Able men fearing God men of truth and hating covetousness But when the Cathedrals and Parochial-Churches are built and beautified for God's Worship and for the people of God to meet in them to serve God What manner of Judges and Bishops Kings ought to chuse as they ought to be they should also take care and see that such Bishops and Priests as S. Paul describeth in 1 Tim. 3.2 c. be setled in those Churches to worship God and to bring the people to do their duties that they may attain to eternal life Lest that which S. Hierom complained of in his time should be true in our time That the Altars shined with Gold and pretious Stones Bernard ad Abbat Cluniacen Sed ministrorum nulla erat electio There was no good choice made of good Ministers whereby it was said That they had golden Chalices but woodden Priests as S. Bernard saith it was not much better in his dayes there was not such care taken for good Ministers as they should do For as in Nature we see every thing for its Creation requires a Divine hand and a Miraculous power to produce it but the same being once produced God's hand is not so conspicuous but he leaves it to the soyl as it were to stand and grow by the innate vertue planted in it So it seems to fare with Religion it self which is such a superstructure above Nature that although it be planted by God as both the Jewish and Christian Religion were with signs and wonders and a strong miraculous hand yet men must now conserve it by those ordinary means that God appointed the Church of Christ being like the Garden of God in Eden which the Lord made and then set it to our Parents to keep it and to dress it And though this Religion which at first is thus powerfully planted by God and is the principal Pillar that upholdeth States and makes all Kingdoms happy yet after the inward vertue of the Doctrine of Christ the Bishops and Priests are the main props and the ordinary means that God hath appointed to uphold his Religion and to continue his Service in his Church because Religion can neither plant it self nor sustain it self alone and what support soever it hath from the Prince or the Laws of any Nation yet the Bishâ—ps and Priests are as it were the soul of that power in the execution thereof when as all the substance circumstance and ceremonies have their life from them and our consent and belief in their holy Calling is that which doth and should keep us from the singularity of our own misguided imaginations And therefore that Prince that is truly religious Kings ought to have a special care to chuse good Bishops and hath a special care of God's Service must likewise with King David and as good King Charles ever had have a special care to see that godly and learned Bishops and Priests be appointed in God's Church to instruct his people And you know what S. Paul saith That a Bishop must be blameless the husband of one wife vigilant sober of good behaviour given to hospitality apt to teach not given to wine no striker not greedy of filthy lucre but patient not a brawler not covetous one that ruleth well his own house having his children in subjection with all gravity not a novice or a young new Divine lest being lifted up with pride as young men commonly are he fall into the condemnation of the Devil Moreover 1 Tim 2.1.2.2 4 5 6 7. he must have a good report of them that are without lest be fall into reproach and the snare of the Devil All which large description of those parts and vertues that every Bishop and faithful Minister of God's Church ought to have may for order and method sake be reduced into these two Heads Levit. 8.8 which are the Vrim and the Thummim that Moses put upon the Breast-plate of Aaron and for which he did so earnestly pray that God would grant them unto all the Tribe of Levi saying Let thine Vrim and thy Thummim be with thy holy one or with the man of thy mercy And they signifie The two special vertues that ought to be in every Bishop and Priest 1. The uprightness of his life and conversation 2. The sincerity of his doctrine teaching of his people For so Moses sheweth that Levi did as every Bishop and Priest should do 1. Carry himself most dutifully and obedient in his life and all his actions Vertue 1 towards God as when God proved him at Massa and strove with him at the waters of Meriba he said unto his father and to his mother I have not seen him neither did he acknowledge his brethren nor knew his own children Verse 9. but he observed Gods word and kept his Covenant and preferred the keeping of God's Laws and walking dutifully according to his will before father or mother wife or children which every Christian and especially every Christian Bishop and true Levite ought to do 2. To teâ—ch Jacob the
Benefices and Tythes to lay persons as the Council of Lateran held under Pope Alexander the 3d decreed That Qui decimas laico Câ—ncil Lateran part 26. c. 8. Causa 16. q. 7. c. 3. Greg. 7. Causa 19 q 7. c. 1. Periculum animae in seculo manenti concesserit deponendus est The Priest which shall passe away the Tythes to any secular lay man is to be deposed And the Canon Si quia à modo Episcopus c. saith That if any Bishop hereafter do passe away the Tythes and Oblations to lay men let them be numbred amongst the greatest Hereticks And the lay men that receive the Tythes as to be their own proper inheritance either from the Bishops or Kings do run into the danger of their souls saith another Canon Yet as if all these were but tela aranea a Spider's web nothing would avail with the Pope to make him to desist his wicked practice of making these impropriations to whom he pleased Therefore the wrath of God being exceedingly kindled against the abominations of these wicked houses that were thus maintained with the Revenues of the Church and upheld in their wickedness by the usurped power of the Pope the good God that could bring light out of darknesse could likewise punish and destroy wickedness by wicked men As he did prophane Saul by the uncircumcised Philistines and Idolatrous Manasses by the idolatrous Babylonians So now he stirreth up a King bad enough Henry the Eighth to be as Nebuchadnezzar was unto the Jews the Rod of his fury to whip and scourge these idle loose and lewd wantons for when the King began to be weary of the same dish and to satisfie his palate desired licence of the Pope to change meat and to be divorced from his old Wife and the Pope rather for fear of offending the King of Spain than any true fear of God as some conceive knew not how to yield to his unlawful lust the King to be revenged deviseth to overthrow the Pope's former wickedness by a greater wickedness even as Physitians sometimes do allay poyson with a stronger poyson And because wickedness can never want Counsellors and Abettors the King had a Cromwell at his elbow a name as fatal unto the Church as Tarquin was to Rome and many others to please their Master gave their Vote to the same purpose That the only way to be throughly revenged was not to stand triffling about small matters that might soon have an end but to give such a perpetual wound as might not be cured and that was utterly to destroy the delights of the Pope by taking away and rooting out all the Abbies Monasteries Nunries and Religious houses within his Dominions so far as he could possibly reach and it is strange If the Lord himself had not been on our side that the Cathedrals and Bishops had not been destroyed likewise And lest the Pope by the perswasions slights and eloquence of his Emissaries and Clergy should gain them to be reduced and restored either to these Houses or to the Church again the only sure way to keep out the Popes fingers from them is to bestow both their Lands and all these impropriations upon his Nobility and Gentry and so he shall not only perpetually be revenged upon the Pope but he shall also most infinitely oblige his friends and his servants who will be tenacious enough to detain them and keep them ad Graecas calendas from returning unto their proper sphere any more and this Counsel pleased the King and his Master and though Arch-Bishop Craumer did what ever he could to get these impropriations restored unto the Church The Holy Table name and thing pag. 148. by his manifold perswasions unto the King and especially by a message purposely sent to Mr. John Calvin by one Mr. Nicholas to intreat Mr. Calvin likewise most earnestly to write to King Henry the 8th and to perswade him by all means to restore these impropriations unto the Church of God And so Mr. Bucer and all the godly Protestants of that time did their best to perswade him to restore them yet all could not prevaile to have them restored For that now 3. Covetousness and the greedy desire of wealth and love unto this present World hath seized upon the hearts and filled the souls of those Lords Knights and Gentlemen and the posterity of them likewise which had taken hold of these impropriations that they cannot endure to part with them any more But as Kites and Cormorants do seize upon a Carrion so do they engross unto themselves the portion of their God and the inheritance of the Church of Christ and such a sweet savour and pleasant taste of Tythes and Church goods hath been taken ever since the birth of this monstrous Sacriledge as that now many Noble men and almost every Knight and Gentleman of any note hath got to themselves the Tythes or some part of the Tythes of an impropriate Church for the inlarging of their Larder-house And that you need not doubt of this I must here set down what you may find in Mr. Crashaws Epistle to Mr. Perkins second Treatise of the Duties of the Ministry that in one County of the Kingdom of England the East riding of the County of York there are contained one hundred and five Parishes whereof nigh an hundred or the full number of an hundred are of this hateful name and bastardly title of Impropriations and some of them are of yearly value of four hundred pounds others worth three hundred pounds per annum others two hundred pounds and almost all worth one hundred pound a year and yet the Minister's part is ten pound stipend yea some have but eight pounds and some but six pounds and some but four pounds to live upon for the whole year and out of the Great Benefice of four hundred pounds a year the Minister had but eight pound per annum Dr. Gardiner in his Scourge of Sacriledge until of late with much labour ten pounds yearly for a Preacher And saith mine Author the most of the Churches in the properest Market-Towns of this Kingdom are thus held and retained by our Nobility and Gentry And so I found it in my Diocess of Ossory in the Kingdom of Ireland that the Impropriations had so swallowed up the Tythes and the Revenues of the Churches that as I shewed it in my Remonstrance to his Majesty six or seven Vicaridges united together will scarce make twenty pound a year for the Preacher Et durus est hic sermo for hereby the people perish and as the Prophet saith The poor Children cry for Bread and for want of means to maintain the Ministers there is none that is able to give it them I know King Henry the 8th that could cause his Parliaments as I ever understood from the old Parliament men of those times to make what Laws and to conclude what Acts of Parliament he pleased got many Laws to be made
be made But though it be an Axiom infallible not liable to controulment and a truth as clear as the Sun that Impropriations of Tythes and the alienation of Lands Houses and other things that were given to God and for the service of God ought not to be done nor cannot be injoyed as their own proper goods by any lay person be he Lord Knight or what you will contrary to the mind and will of the donors without committing that horrible sin of Sacriledge yet you must not so understand me How the tythes lands and houses of the Church may be let and set to lay persons as if I conceived that Ministers might not set their Tythes or let their Lands and their Livings to any lay-person or that it must be generally understood that no commerce or bargain can be made of the goods and endowments of the Church because that as God is willing we should use those goods alwaies for our benefit so he will be as graciously pleased we shall forgoe them and exchange them when we find it for our benefit and the benefit of his Church and Service which in all our bargains and commerce we ought chiefely to regard because we are but Gods Stewards for the service of his Church and so whatsoever our Religion and our Ancestors have honoured God withal we must imploy not so much for our own best advantage as for that which maketh most for Gods honor And therefore we that are instructed with the inheritance of the Church and portion of Jesus Christ must not make such bargains for our Master as Glaucus made for himself when he changed his golden Armour for brazen furniture neither must we deal with the Church of Christ as Rehoboam did with the Temple of Solomon 1 Reg. 14.26 27. when he took away all the shields of gold and made in their steed shields of brass but what bargain or covenant soever we make without sin for the greater glory unto God and grâ—â—â—ter good unto the Church we hold it good with whomsoever the same is made CHAP. XIX That it is the duty of all Christian Kings and Princes to do their best endevours to have all the Impropriations restored to their former Institution to hinder the taking away and the alienation of the Lands Houses and other the Religious Donations of our Ancestors from the Church of Christ and to suppress and root out all the Vnjust and Covetous suttle customs and frauds that are so generally used and are so derogatory to the service of God from amongst the people and especially from this Kingdom of Ireland where most corruption is used and most need of Instruction unto the people THus you have heard how that Cathedrals and other Parochial Churches should be built and beautified for the Honor of God Godly Bishops and Preachers should be placed in them for the Service of God and then the allowance that God hath appointed should be given and yielded unto them for their maintenance And now because the Lands Houses Tythes and Hereditaments of the Church which the Lord God hath granted and the godly Emperours pious Kings and zealous Professors have given and dedicate for Gods service are in these dismal daies snatched away by the hands of Haâ—ksters and haters of Religion and alienated by the Souldiers that divide Christ his garments amongst them from the true servants and Ministers of Christ who should be very thankful unto these Souldiers as they often say that we have any thing left unto us For as the Orator telleth the grave Senators of Rome of an audacious fellow called Fimbria that stabbed Quintus Scaevola an honest man Cicero in Orat. pro Roscio Amerino at the funerals of Caius Marius and then boasted of the great favour that he shewed to him Quòd non totum telum in ejus corpore absconderat That he had not thrust his dagger wholly to the Hilt into his body but only gave him a slight stab that was sufficient to kill him So these brood of Fimbria having seized upon a great part of the Houses Lands and Patrimony of the Church and still detayning them Per fas nefas in their own hands do labour to get more and think the favour that they have done us deserveth no small thanks that they brought or left to us what we have and have not deprived us of all together Therefore Covetousness Injustice and the love of this World being so deeply grounded and setled in the hearts of our Demas's and this Epidemical disease of taking and detaining the Churches right being as one saith just like the Kings-evil which no Physitian but the King himself will serve to heal it Our address must be unto his Majesty to supplicate that he would be graciously pleased to interpose his Royal Command to stop the current of these intruders into Gods right and to cause the Restitution of the Church-goods to be made unto the Church And among the rest of the injuries done by these Military * I speak of the Souldiers because either the Souldiers of that Parliament or of Crumwel or his Majesty have almost all the Kingdom of Ireland and do fill the House of Lords and the House of Commons and are the chief men in every place So that nothing can be done either in Parliament City or Countrey but what they will have done because they are the Major Party and so can Out-vote all the rest and therefore Ireland being now Regnum Militum This my discourse cannot be Gratum opus agricolis but Ingratum militibus which is all one to me if you consider what I say in the latter end of this book and that I fear not what they say of me Quia nec melior sum si laudeverint nec deterior si vituperaverint men to the Church of God there is one great Abuse which is generally used and practised here in Ireland by the rich proprietors and possessors of Lands and Town-ships to the abundant detriment and loss of the Ministers and to the hazard and danger if not the destruction of many I know not how many souls and that is when the Gentleman proprietor that holds all or most of the Parish in his own hands if he be offended with his Minister and cannot have the Tythes as he pleaseth himself he can make the Rectory or Vicaridge that might be well worth fifty or sixty pounds per annum to be scarce worth ten pound a year or nothing for he will leave all his ground unplowed and turne it to pasture and so bring a dearth through the scarcity of Corn in the Common-Wealth and then he will buy young Bullocks and fils his Lands with dry Cattle whereof their Religious Lawyers of whom Dr. Gardiner †Dr. Gardiner in his Scourge of Sacriledge saith that he never heard yet at any hand of any good that they have Prophesied unto the Church tels them their custome will preserve them from the payment of any
Sacriledge and especially the Sacriledge of this Climate and more particularly of this Diocesse of Ossory where the Irish behind me the English before me the Citizens of the Corporation of Kilkeny and Crumwells Captains on the one hand and your Majestie 's faithful Souldiers and Subjects in Anno 1649. on the other hand do all seem to me to become faithless unto Christ and to fight against God to take away the Inheritance of his Church from us that are his weak servants And it hath imboldned me likewise most humbly to supplicate your Majesty to take notice of these wrongs done unto us which you do not know and to assist me to gain that right unto the Church which I without your Majesties assistance cannot do and to pardon me for my boldness and whatsoever else I have done amisse CHAP. XX. The Authour's supplication to Jesus Christ that he would arise and maintain his own cause which we his weak servants cannot do against so many rich powerful and many-friended adversaries of his Church ANd now sweet Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ having made mine humble addresse according to my bounden duty to thine Annointed thy Livetenant and my Sacred Soveraign to assist thy servants to maintain thy right Thy right I say as thou art a Priest and a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec and I know that his Majesty being the son of so pious and so gracious a Father as is now so glorious with thee in Heaven will stretch forth his Royal hand as thou didst unto S. Peter to preserve us from sinking I must now with fear and reverence and in all humility crave leave to return my speech unto thy Self and as thou hast commanded us to hear thy voice so thou hast promised to hear our prayers And therefore I pray thee let not my Lord be angry but suffer thy servant to speak unto thee And we confess that we are not worthy to sit with the dogs of thy flock yet thou hast called us to a most high and honourable place to be thine Embassadours to thy chosen people and unto Kings and Princes to be thy Stewards and the Dispensers of thy manifold graces And according to our places thou hast commanded us to behave and carry our selves as may be most agreeable for thine Honour to preach thy word to relieve the poor to keep hospitality to build thine House and to do other the like works of piety and charity Matth. 21 33. Matth. 25 14. Luke 19 13. And we know that thou art not like Pharaoh a cruel Master that taketh away the straw and yet will require the whole tale of bricks for thou didst deliver thy Vineyard unto the Husbandmen before thou didst expect the fruits of it and thou gavest thy Talents unto thy servants before thou didst look for any gain from them But now O Lord God our straw is kept from us our vineyard is taken away It was all taken from us and now still much is detained from us and we have scarce any one talent left unto us for O God the Heathen have come into thine Inheritance and as of old they made Hierusalem so now of late they have made the famous Church of S. Keny and many other Churches in Ireland an heap of stones the dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the air and the flesh of thy Saints unto the beasts of the field And as the Prophet David said The Tabernacles of the Edomites and Ismaelites the Moabites and the Hagareus Gebal and Ammon and Amalec the Philistines with them that dwell at Tyre Assure also is joyned with them and have holpen the children of Lot to devour Jacob and to lay waste his dwelling place So the Independents the Arminians the Brownists the Anabaptists Luther and Calvin and Cartwright the Hugonots with them that are called Quakers and the Jesuites also have joyned with them and have to the uttermost of their power holpen our Grand Opposers the Presbyterians if not to devour the seed of Jacob to destroy the Church and thy Service which they now deny to desire to do it yet I am sure to be confederate against thee and to lay waste thy dwelling place to imagin craftily against thy people the true Royalists and to take counsel against the secret ones the Bishops and Governours of the Church 1 Reg. 19.10 And as Elias said of the children of Israel They have forsaken thy Covenant they have thrown down thine Altars and they have killed thy Prophets So I may say of the children of Belial they have forsaken the true Protestant Religion they threw down thy Churches they killed many of thy servants and they said Come and let us root out the Bishops that they be no more a people and that the name of Episcopacy may be no more in remembrance and to that end at the Prophet saith They brake down all our carved and curious works with axes and hammers they have set fire upon thy holy places and have defiled the dwelling place of thy Name Psal 74.7 8. even to the ground Yea and they said in their hearts Let us make havock of them altogether And by taking away all our lands houses Psal 80.5 and possessions they fed us with the bread of tears and gave us plenteousness of tears to drink and so they made us a very strife unto our neighbours and our enemies laughed us to scorn when they saw us made as the filth of the world 1 Cor. 4.13 and as the off-scouring of all things And though thou hast brought unto us a most gracious King to our unspeakable joy and comfort yet to this very day they and their associates and that which troubles us most of all they that come in thy Name and under pretence of thy Service and for service done unto thee and thy Church do by the example of those thine enemies and the haters of thy Church either through ignorance or covetousness labour by all means and with great friends to blind the eyes of our good King that he should not understand the truth of the Churches Right that so they might the easier and the sooner carry away the lands houses and possessions of the Church from thee and from thy servants whereby they shall be made invalid and unable to discharge the duties and the works that thou requirest at their hands if thou dost not help them to their instruments and means wherewith they may do their work And therefore because we are weak and friendless and far unable to deal and to prevail against so many powerful armed men we lift up our eyes and hands to thee O Lord God and pray thee to arise and maintain thine own Cause and let not man have the upper-hand for they have rebelled against thee and have robbed thee as the Prophet testifieth and be not angry with us for ever but be gracious unto thy servants and lay not that to
Country-men should be such as rather to spend our selves to relieve them then by lewd practices to destroy them when by our dissolute debauchment we have destroyed our selves 2. Of the same Tribe 2. These Rebels were of their own Tribe of the Tribe of Levi and so knit together indissolubili vinculo with the indissoluble bond of blood and fraternity and therefore they should have remembred the saying of Abraham their Father unto his Nephew Lot Let there be no dissention betwixt thee and me for we be brethren a good Uncle that would never drive his Nephew out of his house and home And we read that affinity among the Heathens could not only keep away the force and suppresse the malice of deadly foes but also retain pignora juncti sanguinis as Julia did Caesar and Pompey and as the Poet saith Lucan Pharsal l. 1. Vt generos soceris mediae junxere Sabinae And therefore why should not consanguinity and the bond of flesh and blood suppresse the envy of friends and retain the love of brethren But these prove true the old saying that Fratrum irae inter se inimicissimae the wrath of brethren is most deadly as it appeared not only in Cain against Abel Romulus against Remus and all his brethren against Joseph but especially in Caracalla that slew his brother Geta in his mothers armes and therefore Solomon saith A brother offended is harder to winne then a strong City Prov. 28.19 and their contentions are like the barrs of a Pallace not easily broken Nam ut aqua calefacta cum ad frigiditatem reducitur frigidissima est For as water that hath been hot being cold again is colder then ever it was before and as the Adamant if it be once broken is shivered into a thousand pieces so love being turned into hatred and the bond of friendship being once dissolved there accreweth nothing but a swift increase of deadly hatred So it happened now in the Camp of Israel that the saying of Saint Bernard is found true Omnes amici Bern. in Cant. Serm. 33. omnes inimici All of a house and yet none at peace all of a kindred and yet in mortal hatred And as Corah and his companions were so nearly allyed unto Moses of the Tribe of Levâ— so Dathan and Abiram were men famous in the Congregation noble Peers and very popular men heads of their families of the Tribe of Reuben A subtle practice of that pestiferous Serpent to joyn Simeon and Levi Clergy and Laity in this wicked faction of Rebellion the one under colour of dissembled sanctity the other with their power and usurped authority to seduce the more to make the greater breach of obedience And so it hath been always that we scarse read of any Rebellion but some base Priests the Chaplains of the Devill have begot it and then the Nobles of the people arripientes ansam taking hold of this their desired opportunity do foster that which they would have willingly fathered as besides this Rebellion of Corah that of Jack Cade in the reign of Henry the sixth and that of Perkin Warbeck in the time of Henry the seventh and many more that you may find at home in the lives of our own Kings may make this point plain enough But they should have thought on what our Saviour tells us that Every Kingdom divided against it self is brought to desolation and every City or House divided against it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall not stand What a mischief then was it for these men to make such a division among their own Tribe and in their own Camp Nondum tibi defuit hostis had they not the Egyptians and the Canaanites and the Amalekites and enow besides to fight against but they must raise a civil discord in their own house Could not their thoughts be as devout as the Heathen Poet 's which saith Omnibus hostes Reddite nos populis civile avertite bellum Lucan Pharsal lib. 1. And therefore this makes the sin of home-bred Rebels the more intolerable because they bring such an Ilias malorum so many sorts of unusual calamities and grievous iniquities upon their own brethren 3. These Rebels were of their own Religion 3. Of the same Religion professing the same faith that the others did Et religio dicitur à religando saith Lactantius and therefore this bond should have tyed them together firmer then the former For if equal manners do most of all bind affections Et similitudo morum parit amicitiam as the Orator teacheth then hoc magnum est hoc mirum that men should not love those of the same Religion And if the profession of the same trades and actions is so forcible not onely to maintain peace but also to increase love and amity JACOB REX in Ep. to all Christian Monarchs as we see in all Societies and Corporations of any mechanick craft or handle work they do inviolably observe that Maxim of the Civill Law to give an interest unto those qui fovent consimilem causam so that as birds of the same feather they will cluster all in one and be zealous for the preservation of them that are of the same craft or society why then should not the profession of the same Religion if not increase affection yet at least detain men from dissention For though diversities of Religion non bene conveniunt can seldom contain themselves for any while in the same Kingdom without Civil distractions especially if each party be of a near equall power which should move all Governours to do herein as Hannibal did with his army that was a mixture of all Nations to keep the most s spected under and rank them so that they durst not kick against his Carthaginians or as Henry the fourth did with the Brittains to make such Laws that they were never able to rebell so should the discreet Magistrate not root out a people that they be no more a Nation but so subordinate the furthâ—st from truth to the best professors that they shall never be able any wayes to endanger the true Religion yet where the same Religion is universally profâ—ssâ—d excepting small differences in adiaphoral things quae non diversificant species as the Schoâ—â—s speak it is more then unnatural for any one to make a Schism and much more transcendently heynous to rebell against his Governours But indeed no sin is so unnatural no offence so heynous but that swelling pride and discontented natures will soon perpetrate no bonds nor bounds can keep them in and therefore Corah must rebell And ever since in all Societies even among the Levites and among the Priests the d sordered spirits have rebelled against their Governours fecerunt unitatem contra unitatem and erecting Altars against Altars as the Fathers speak they have made confederacies and conspiracies against the truth and thereby they have at all times drawn after them many multitudes of ignorant soules unto perdition This is no
a greater than Solomon Christ himself not refusing the censure of Pilate though for no fault Saint Paul appealing unto Caesar Caecilian judged by the Delegates of Constantine Flavianus by Theodosius and all the Martyrs and godly Bishops never pleading exemption from their persecutors do make this point beyond all question 3. Governours well agreeing in their government 3. These two Governours were not onely consanguinei two brethren for so were Cain and Abel to whom totus non sufficit orbis but they were also consentanei like the soul and body of man of the same sympathy and affection for the performance of every action For the Church and Common-wealth are like Hippocrates twins so linked together as the Ivie intwisteth it self about the Oak that the one cannot happily subsist without the other but as the Secretary of nature well observeth That the Marygold opens with the Sun and shuts with the shade even so when the Sun-beams of peace and prosperity shine upon the Common-wealth then by the reflection of those beams the Church dilates and spreads it self the better as you may see in Acts 9.31 and on the other side when any Kingdom groaneth under civill dissention the Church of Christ must needs suffer persecution And therefore to this end that the Prince and Priest might as the two feet of a man help each other to support the weight of the whole body and to bear the burthen of so great a charge God at the first severing of these offices which before were united in one person as the Poet saith of Anius Rex idem hominum Phoebique Sacerdos and as the Apostle saith of Melchisedech that he was both a King and the Priest of the most high God did chuse two natural brethren to be the Governours of his people and that quod non caret mysterio Aaron was the eldest and yet Moses was the chiefest to signifie as I take it that they should rather help and further each other then any wayes rule and domineer one over the other because that although Aaron was the eldest brother and chief Priest yet Moses was the chief Magistrate and his brother's god as God himself doth stile him and therefore this should terrorem incutere and teach him how to behave himself towards his brother and though Moses was the chief Magistrate yet Aaron was the chief Priest and his eldest brother which had not lost like Reuben the prerogative of his birth-right and this should reverentiam inducere work in Moses a respect unto his brother's age and place And truly there is great reason why these two should do their best to support and protect each other for the government of the people is as we may now see a very difficult and miraculous thing no lesse then the appeasing of the Surges of the raging Sea as the Prophet sheweth when he saith That God ruleth the rage of the Sea and the noyse of his waves and the madness of his people And the Rod of government is a miraculous Rod as well that of Aaron as that of Moses for as Moses Rod turned into a Serpent and the Serpent into a Rod again so the Rod of Aaron of a dry stick did blossome and bear ripe Almonds to shew how strange and wonderful a thing it is either for Prince or Priest to rule an unruly multitude too much for any one of them to do and therefore God doth alwayes joyn both of them together as the Psalmist sheweth Thou leddest thy people like sheep by the hand of Moses and Aaron And besides if these two do not assist and protect each other they shall be soon suppressed one after another of their own people for if the Prince which is to be our Nursing-Father be once subdued then presently the Priest shall be destroyed and when he hath lost his power our power shall never be able to do any good and if the Priest which prayeth and preacheth to direct the King be trampled under foot As soon as men have overthrown their Priests they will presently labour to destroy their king it hath been found most certain that after they have thrown away the Miter they have not long retained the Scepter And therefore King James of ever blessed memory of a sharp conception and sound judgement was wont to say No Bishop no King unlesse you mean such a King as Christ was when the Jewes crowned him with Thorns and bowing their knees said Hail King of the Jews that is Rex sine Regno a King without power like a man of straw that is onely made to fright away the birds For the people are alwayes prone to pull out their necks from the yoke of their obedience and would soon rebell if the Priests did not continually preach that Every soul should be subject to the higher powers as we see now by experience how apt they are to rebell when factious Preachers give them the least incouragement And therefore as this rebellion of Corah so every other though they begin with one yet they aym at both and strive to overthrow aswell the one as the other for so my Text saith They angred Moses in their Tents and Aaron the Saint of the Lord. And therefore these two should be as Hippocrates twins or indeed like man and wife indissolubly coupled and coherent together without distraction and cursed be they that strive to make the division for whom God hath thus united together no man should put asunder And here you may observe the method of their Rebellion The method of their Rebellion the Text saith Moses and Aaron yet Moses sheweth they began with Aaron for when their Rebellion was first discovered Moses doth not say What have I done against you but What is Aaron that you should murmure against him to shew unto us that although Moses was the first they aymed at in their intention yet he was the last they purposed to overthrow in the execution Quia progrediendum à facilioribus as the Devil began with the woman the weaker vessel that he might the easier overthrow the stronger so the enemies of God and his Church do alwayes seek first to overthrow the Priest and then presently they will set upon the Prince And therefore as Moses here Virgil. Aeneid lib. 2. so all Magistrates every where should remember that Jam tua res agitur through our sides they may smart and our wounds may prove dangerous unto them because you shall never read they began to shake us but they fully intended to root out them for if the fear of God and the honour of the King must go together as Saint Peter sheweth it must needs follow that they will but dishonour and disobey their King that have cast away the fear of God and it is most certain that when they drive God out of their hearts as the Gergezites drove Christ out of their Coasts Little fear of God in them that expell their Priests out of their societies
I acknowledge none other my superiour on earth besides thee alone and I have no Judge besides thee which can call me to examination or inflict any punishment on me for my transgression And so the Poet saith Regum timendorum in proprios greges Reges in ipsos imperium est Jovis Object But you will object against S. Cyril If it be impiety to say unto the King Thou dost amissâ— how shall we excuse Samuel that told King Saul he did foolishly and Nathan that reproved King David and Elias that said to King Achab it was he and his fathers house that made Israel to sin and John Baptist that told Herod It was not lawful for him to have his brothers wife Sol. What the Priest or Prophet may do private men may not do I answer 1. That by the mouth of these men God himself reproved them because these men were no private persons but extraordinarily inspired with the spirit of of God to perform the extraordinary messages of God 2. I say as I said before that as Moses may correct and punish Aaron if he doth amisse so Aaron the Priest in regard of his calling may reprove and admonish Moses the chief Magistrate when he doâ—h offend but so that he do it wisely and with that love and reverence which he oweth unto Moses as to his God not publiquely to disgrace and vilifie his Prince unto his people but modestly and privately to amend his fault and reconcile him to God and this is the work of his office which he ought to do as he is a Priest and not of his person which ought not to do it as he is his subject 3. By humane reason 3. Reason it self confirmeth this truth because the King is the head of the body politique and the members can neither judge the head because they are subject unto it nor cut it off because then they kill themselves and cease to be the members of that head and therefore the subjects with no reason can either judge or depose their King 4. From the welfare of every Common-wealth The event of every warre is doubtful 4. The publique safety and welfare of any Common-wealth requireth that the subjects should never rebell against their King 1. Because the event of a rebellious warre is both dubious and dangerous for who can divine in whose ruine it shall end or which party can assure themselves of victory It is true that the justest cause hath best reason to be most confident yet it succeeds not always when God for secret causes best known unto himself suffereth many times especially for a time as in the case of the Tribe of Benjamin the Rebels to prevail against the true subjects And as the event is doubtful so it must needs be mournful what side soever proveth victor for who can expresse the sorrows and sadnesse of those faithful subjects that shall see the light of their sun any wayes eclipsed the lamp of Israel and the breath of their nostrils to be darkned or extinguished and also to see the learned Clergy and the grave Fathers of the Church discountenanced and destroyed On the other side it will not be much less mournful to see so many of our illustrious Nobles ancient Gentry and others of the ablest Commonalty brought to ruine and to pay for their folly not only their dearest lives but also the desolation of their houses and decay of their posterities Quis talia sando Temperet à lachrymis When the Kings victory shall be but like that of David after the death of Absolon the Nobles victory but as the two victories of the Benjamites over their own brethren the Israelites Bella geri placuit nullos habitura triumphos Lucan l. 1. and the best triumph that can succeed on either side shall be but as the espousal of a virgin on the day of her parents funeral or as the laying of the foundation of the second Temple when the shout of joy could not be discerned from the noyse of weeping And therefore a learned Preacher of Gods Word saith most truly Mr. Warmstry in Ramo Olivae p. 23. that it is a hard matter to find out a mischief of so destructive a nature that wâ— would exchange it for this civil warre for Tyranny Slavery Penury or any thing almost may be better born with peace and unity then a civill warre with the greatest liberty and plenty seeing the comfort of such associates would quickly be swallowed up like Pharaohs fat kine by such a monster feeding with them Had we a Tyrant like Rehoboam that would whip us with Scorpions which the Devil dares not be so impudent as to alledge we have yet better it were to be under one Tyrant then many which we are sure to have in civil broyls when every wicked man becomes a Tyrant when he seeth the reines of government cut in pieces Were we under the yoke of an Aegyptian slavery to make bricks without straw yet better it were for us to be in bondage then that fury and violence should be set free and malice suffered to have her will because there is more safety in being shut up from a Tyger then to be let loose before him to be chased by him or were we wasted and oppressed in our estates yet the wisest of men tells us that Better is a little with the fear of the Lord Prov. 15.15 17. then great treasure and trouble therewith And therefore seeing civill warre is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an affliction full of all calamity and one of the greatest punishments that God useth to send upon a Nation it is apparent that the welfare of any State calleth upon every subject to be obedient unto his King yea though he were never so vile an Idolater or so cruel a Tyrant for though a King could be proved and should be condemned to be cruell and tyrannous unjust and impious towards God and men yet hereby that King will not yield what he doth hold from God but though the confederate conspirators should have a thousand times more men and strength then he yet he will call his servants and friends his kinsmen allies and other circumjacent Kings and Princes unto his aid and he would hire mercenary Souldiers to revenge the injury offered unto him and to suppress the Rebels both with fire and sword and if he should happen to have the worse and to lose both his Crown and Kingdom and his life and all yet all this would be but a miserable comfort and a lamentable victory a to ruined Common-wealth whose winnings can no ways countervail her losses The miseries that follow the disturbance or deposing of any king are unspeakable for we never read of any King that either was disturbed expelled or killed but there succeeded infinite losses to that Kingdom and therefore Writers say that the death of Caesar was no benefit unto the Romans because it brought upon them farre greater calamities then ever they
whom he bestowes it and this made Shemaiah the man of God to warn Rehoboam not to fight against his brethren for as when God commanded Abraham to kill his sonne it was a laudable obedience and no murther to have done it and when he commanded the Israelites to rob the Aegyptians it was no breach of the eighth Commandement so this revolt of these Tribes if done in obedience unto God could be no offence against the Law of God but because they regarded not so much the fulfilling of Gods will as their not being eased of their grievances and the fear of the weight of Rehoboam's finger which moved them to this Rebellion I can no ways justifie their action and though God by this Rent did most justly revenge the sinne of Solomon and paid for the folly of Rehoboam yet this doth no wayes excuse them for this rebellion because they revolted not with any right aspect and therefore it is worth our observation that the consequences which attended this defection was a present falling away from the true God into Idolatry and not long after to be led into an endlesse Captivity Which is a fearful example to see how suddenly men do fall away from God and from their true religion after they have rebelled against their lawful King and how to avoid imaginary grievance they do often fall into a real bondage and so leap out of the Frying-pan into the fire And for the Edomites they were not Israelites that led their lives by the law of God neither can any man excuse the conspirators against Amazia from the transgression of the Law of God 6. For Vzziah that was taken with a grievous sicknesse so that he Example answered 6 could not be present at the publique affaires of the Kingdom I say that according to the law by reason of the contagion of his disease he was rightly removed from the Court and concourse of people and his sonne in the mean time placed in his fathers stead to administer and dispose the Common-wealth but he in all that while like a good sonne did neither affect the name nor assume the title of a King 7. For the deposing of Athalia I see nothing contrary to equity because Example answered 7 she was not the right Prince but an unjust Vsurper of the Crown and therefore Jehoida the chief Priest having gathered together the principal Peers of the Kingdome and the Centurions and the rest of the people shewed them the Kings sonne whom for six yeares space he had preserved alive from the rage and fury of Athalia which had slain all the rest of the Kings seed and when they saw him they did all acknowledge him for the Kings sonne they crowned him King and he being crowned they joyfully cryed God save the King and then by the authority of the new crowned King that was the right heir unto the Kingdom they put to death the cruel Queen that had so tyrannically slain the Kings children and so unjustly usurped the Crown all that while And therefore to alledge this example so justly done to justifie an insurrection contrary to justice doth carry but a little shew of reason And I say the like of the Macchabees and Antiochus that neither he nor any other Macedonian Tyrant had any right over them but they were unjust Vsurpers that held the Jewes under them in ore gladii with the edge of their swords and were not their lawful Kings whom they ought to obey and therefore no reason but that they might justly free themselves with their swords that were kept in bondage by no other right then the strength of the sword Example answered 8 8. For the example of Thrasibulus Juniuâ— Brutus and other Romans or whosoever that for their faults have deposed their Kings I answer with Saint Augustine Examples not to be imitated that Exempla paucorum non sunt trahenda in legem universorum we have no warrant to imitate these examples for though these things were done yet we say they were done by Heathens that knew not God and unjustly done contrary to the law of God and therefore with no blessing from God with no good successe unto themselves and with lesse happinesse unto others but it happened to them as to all others that do the like to expell a mischief and to admit a greater as besides what I have shewed you before this one most memorable example out of our own Histories doth make it plain The ill successâ— of resisting our superiours In the time of Richard the second the Nobility and Gentry murmured much against his government in brief they deposed him and set the Crown upon the head of the Duke of Lancaster whom they created King Henry the fourth The good Bishop of Carlile made a bold and excellent Speech to prove that they could not by any law of God or man depose and dispossesse their lawful King or if they deposed him that they had no right to make the Duke of Lancaster to succeed him but he good man for his pains was served as Saint Paul and others were many times for speaking the truth committed to prison and there was an end of him but not an end of the story for the many battels and blood-shed the miseries and mischiefs that this one unjust and unfaithful act produced had never any period never an end till that well nigh a hundred thousand English men were slain in civil warres whereof two were Kings one Prince ten Dukes two Marquesses 21. Trussel in his supplement to Daniel's History Earles 27. Lords two Viscounts one Lord Prior one Judge 139. Knights 421. Esquires and Gentlemen of great and ancient Families a farre greater number a just revenge for an unjust extrusion of their lawful King whose greatest misery came from his great mildnesse And therefore these things being well weighed in the ballance of the Sanctuary All the pressures that we have suffered since the first year of our king are not comparable to the miseries that one years civil warre hath brought upon us in the scales of true wisdom it had been better for them as it will be for us and all others patiently to suffer the crosse that shall be laid upon us untill that by our prayers we can prevail with God that for our sinnes hath sent it in mercy to remove it then for our selves to pluck our necks out of the coller and in a froward disobedience to pull the house as Sampson did upon our own heads and like impatient fishes to leap out of the Frying-pan into the fire from hard usage that we impatiently conceived to most base cruel bondage that we have deservedly merited or at the best to bring many men to many miseries before we can attain unto any happinesse and so as the Poet saith in this very case among the Romans when for their liberty and priviledges as they termed it in Pompey's time Excessit medicina modum The remedy that they procured hath proved
farre worse then the disease they suffered And I doubt not but ere long the Rebels in this Kingdom will feelingly confesse this to be too true when they shall more deeply taste of the like miseries as they have brought as well upon many of their own friends as others If you alledge the time of Richard the third how soon he was removed and how happily it câ—me to passe that Henry the seventh succeeded I answer briefly that Richard the third was not onely a cruel bloody Tyrant but he was also an unjust Usurper of the Crown and not the right King of England and that there is a great deal of difference betwixt rebelling against our lawful Kings which God hath justly placed over us and expelling an usurping Tyrant which hath unjustly intruded himself into the royal Throne This God often hath blessed as in the case of Eglon Athalia Henry the seventh and many more which you may obviously find both in the Greek and Roman stories and the other he alwayes cursed and will plague it whensoever it is attempted After I had answered these Objections I lighted upon one more Object Goodwin in his Anti-Cavalierisme p. 8 which is taken out of 2 Kings 6.32 where the Objector saith When Ahab sent a Cavalier a man of blood to take away the Prophet Elisha's head as he sate in his house among the Elders did Elisha open his dore for him and sit still till he took off his head in obedience to the King No he bestirred himself for the safeguard of his life and called upon others to stand by him to assist him And a little after he saith Surely he that went thus farre for the safety of his life when he was but in danger to be assaulted would have gone further if occasion had been and in case the Kings Butcher had got in to him before the dore had been shut if he had been able and had had no other means to have saved his own head but by taking away the others there is little question to be made but he would rather have taken then given a head in this case I answer that who this Goodwin is I know not Sol. The Ministers of Christ should not be the incendiaries of war I could wish he were none oâ— the Tribe of Levi 1. Because I find him such an incendiary of warre and an enemy unto peace whereas the messengers of Christ have this Elogie given them Qâ—Ã m speciosi pedes Evangelizantium pacem And the Scripture saith Blessed are the Peace-makers and we continually pray Give peace in our dayes O Lord and therefore I can hardly believe these incendiaries of warre to be the sonnes of the God of peace 2. Because his objection is full of falshoods and false grounds as 1. He saith that Ahab sent to take Elisha's head The first mistake in the front of his Speech 2 Kings 6.32 If any thing more when as Ahab was dead long before it was his ghost therefore and not he But it was his son and what then what did the Prophet he shut the dore and desired the Elders to handle the messenger roughly or hold him fast at the dore Thus saith the Text and the Prophet in my judgement doth herein but little more then what God and nature alloweth every man to do not to lay down his life if he can lawfully preserve it but as the Prophet did to shut the dore or as our Saviour saith When we are persecuted in one City to flye into another to save our lives as long as we can and in all this I find no violent resistance But 2. the Objector tells us Surely if the messenger had got in Elisha had taken off his head rather then given his own I demand What inspiration he hath from God to be sure of this for I am sure John Baptist would not do so nor Saint Paul nor any other of Gods Saints that I have read of but these men are sure of every thing even of Gods secret Counsel and that is more then the thoughts of mens hearts or if this be sure which I am not sure of I answer that Elisha was a great Prophet that had the spirit of Eliah doubled upon him and those actions which he did or might have done through the inspiration of Gods spirit this man may not do except he be sure of the like inspiration for God who is justice it self can command by wâ—rd as he did to Abraham to kill his son or by inspiration as he did to Elias to call fire from Heaven and it is a sin to disobey it whereas without this it were an horrible sin to do it And we must distinguish betwixt rare and extraordinary cases that were managed by special commission from God and those patterns that are confirmed by known and general Rules which passe through the whole course of Scripture and take heed that we make not obscure Commentaries of humane wisdom upon the clear Text of holy Writ Quia maledicta glossa quae corrumpit textum Cursed be the gloss that corrupts the Text. But indeed the place is plain that Elisha made no other resistance but what every man may lawfully do to keep the messenger out of dores so long as he could and yet this man would inferre hence that we may lawfully with a strong hand and open warre resist the authority of our lawful Kings a Doctrine I am sure that was never taught in the School of Christ He makes some other Objections which I have already answered in this Treatise and then he spends almost two leaves in six several answers that he maketh to an objection against the examining the equity or iniquity of the Kings commands but to no purpose because we never deny but that in some cases though not in all for there must be Arcana Imperii and there must be Privie Counsellours and every Peasant must not examine all the Edicts of his Prince The commands of Kings may not onely be examined but also disobeyed as the three Children did the commands of Nebuchadnezzar and the Apostles the commands of the High-Priests but though we may examine their commands and disobey them too when they are contrary to the commands of God yet I would fain know where we have leave to resist them and to take arms against them I would he understood There is a great deal of difference betwixt examining their commands and resisting their authority the one in some cases we may the other by no means we may do CHAP. VIII Sheweth that our Parliament hath no power to make warre against our King Two main Objections answered The original of Parliaments The power of the King to call a Parliament to deny what he will and to dissolve it when he will Why our King suffereth BUt when all that hath been spoken cannot satisfie their indignation against true obedience and allay the heat of their rebellious spirits they come to their ultimum refugium best strength
and strongest fort that although all others should want sufficient right to crosse the commands and resist the violence of an unjust and tyrannical Prince yet the Parliament that is the representative body of all his Kingdom and are intrusted with the goods estates and lives of all his people may lawfully resist and when necessity requireth take arms and subdue their most lawful King and this they labour to confirm by many arguments I answer that for the Parliament of England it is beyond my sphere and I being a transmarine member of this Parliament of Ireland And whatsoever I â—pâ—ak of Parliaments in all this Discourse I mean of Parliaments disjâ—yned from their King and understand only the prevalent faction that ingrosseth and captivateth the Votes of many of the plain honest minded party which hath been often seen both in general Councels and the greatest Parl aments I will only direct my speech to that whereof I am a Peer and I hope I may the more boldly speak my mind to them whereof I am a member and I dare maintain it that it shall be a benefit and no prejudice both to King and Kingdome that the Spiritual Lords have their Votes in this our Parliament For besides the equity of our sitting in Parliament and our indubitable right to vote therein and his Majesty as I conceive under favour be it spoken is obliged by the very first act in Magna Charta to preserve that right unto us when as in the Summons of Edw. 1. it is inserted in the Writ that * Claus 7. m. 3. dors Quod omnes tangit ab omnibus approbari or tractari debet whatsoever affair is of publique concernment ought to receive publique approbation and therefore with what equity can so considerable a party of this Kingdom as are the Clergy who certainly cannot deserve to forfeit the priviledge of the meanest subjects and of Common men because they are more immediately the servants of the living God be denied the benefit of that which in all mens judgements is so reasonable a law and they onely be excluded from that interest which is common unto all I cannot see yet I say that besides this our right while we sit in Parliament this fruit shall alwayes follow that our knowledge and conscience shall never suffer us to vote such things against the truth as to allow that power or priviledge to our Parliament as to make Orders and Ordinances without the consent and contrary to the will of our King much lesse to leavie moneys and raise armes against our King Priviledges of Parliament what they are for I conceive the Priviledges of Parliament to be Privatae leges Parliamenti a proceeding according to certain rules and private customes and lawes of Parliament which no member of the Houses ought to transcend whereas the other is Privatio legum a proceeding without Law contrary to all rules as if our Parliament had an omnipotent power and were more infallible than the Pope to make all their Votes just and their sayings truth I but to make this assertion good that the Parliament in some cases may justly take arms and make warre upon their justest King if they conceive him to be unjust it is alledged that although the King be Singulis major greater then any one yet he is Vniversis minor lesse then all therefore all may oppose him if he refuse to consent unto them I answer that the weaknesse of this argument Pag. 11. 38 39 40. is singularly well shewed in the Answer to the Observations upon some of his Majesties late Answers and Expresses and I will briefly contract the Answer to say the King is better than any one doth not prove him to be better then two and if his Supremacy be no more then many others may challenge as much for the Prince is Singulis major a Lord above all Knights and a Knight above all Esquires he is singulis major though universis minor And if the King be universis minor then the people have placed a King not over but under them And Saint Peter doth much mistake in calling the King Supreme 2 Pet. 2.13 and they do ill to petition when they might command and I am confident that no records except of such Parliaments as have most unjustly deposed their Kings can shew us one example that the Parliament should have a power As Edw. Carnarvan and Richard the second which must of necessity over-rule the King or make their Votes Law without and against the will of the King for if their Votes be Law without his consent what need they seek and sollicit his consent But the clause in the Law made 2. Hen 5. cited by his Majesty that it is of the Kings regality to grant or deny such of their Petitions as pleaseth himself That the King is universis major greater then all proved and the power which the Law gives the King to dissolve the Parliament and especially the words in the Preface of cap. 12. Vices to Hen. 8. where the Kings Supremacy not over single persons but over all the body politique is clearly delivered doth sufficiently shew the simplicity of this Sophistry God having given and the people having yielded their power to th it King they can never challenge any power but what they have derived from their king 2. Reason Sol. and prove that the King being invested with all the powâ—â— of the people which is due to him as their King he is the onely fountain of all power and justice so that now they can justly claim no power but what is derived from him and therefore it is the more intolerable that any man should usurp the power of the King to destroy the King 2. They will say that Salus populi est suprema a lex The good of the people is the chiefest thing that is aymed at in all government and the Parliament is the representative body of all the people therefore if any thing be intended contrary to the good of the people they may and ought lawfully to resist the same I answer and confesse that there is no wise King but will carefully provide for the safety of his people because his honour is included therein and his ruine is involved in their destruction but it is certain that this principle hath been used as one of our Irish mantles to hide the rebellion of many Traytors and so abused to the confusion of many Nations for there is not scarce any thing more facile 2 Sam. 15.4 then to perswade a people that they are not well governed as you may see in the example of Absolon who by abusing this very Axiome hath stollen away the hearts of many of his fathers subj cts How easie it is to perswade the people to rebell for as Lipsius saith Proprium est aegri nihil diu pati It is incident to sick men and so to distempered minds to indure nothing long but foolishly to
Romanus Alexander Felinus Albericus and others doth inferre Principem ex certâ scientiâ supra jus extra jus contra jus omnia posse Principem solum legem constituere universalem Princeps soli Deo rationem debet Princeps solutus est legibus temerarium est velle Majestatem Regiam ullis terminis limitare which things if I should English seditious heads would think my head not suffiâ—ient to pay for this but I only repeat their words and not justifie their sayings and therefore to proceed to more familiar things Pasquerius writeth that Lewis the eleventh did urge his Senators and Counsellors to set forth a certain Edict which they refused to do Pasquer de Antiquit Gallican l. 1. Sicut olim Lacedaemonii victoribus responderunt Si duriora morte Imperetis potius moriemur because it seemed to them very unjust and the King being very angry threatned death unto them all whereupon Vacarius President of the Councel and all the Senate in their purple robes came unto the King and the King astonished therewith demanded whence they came and what they would have Vacarius answered for all We come to undergoe that death which you have threatned unto us for you must know O King that we will rather suffer death then do any thing against our câ—nscience towards God or our duty towards you Whererein we see the Nobility of this King like Noble Christians do more willingly offer to lay down their lives at the command of their Liege Lord then unchristian like rebell and take Arms against their delinquent Soveraign And so Colmannus a godly Bishop did hinder the Scottish Nobility to rise against Fercardus that was their most wicked King Tertul. ad Scapul Tertullian writing unto Scapula the President of Carthage saith We are defamed when the Christian is found to be the enemy of no man no not of the Emperour whom because he knoweth him to be appointed by God he must needs love and reverence and wish him safe with all the Roman Empire for we honour and worship the Emperour as a man second from God Tertul in Apooget solo Deo minorem and inferiour onely to God And in his Apologetico he saith Deus est solus in cujus solius potestate sunt reges à quo sunt secundi post quem primi super omnes homines ante omnes deos it is God alone in whose power Kings are kept which are second from him first after him above all men and before all gods that is all other Magistrates that are called gods Athanasius de summo regum imperio q. 55. Athanasius saith that As God is the King and Emperour in all the world that doth exercise his power and authority over all things that are in Heaven and in Earth So the Prince and King is appointed by God over all earthly things Et ille liberâ suâ voluntate facit quod vult sicut ipse Deus and the King by his own free-will doth whatsoever he pleaseth even as God himself And the Civilians could say but little more Simulach um à similitudine dictum Isidor Saint Augustine saith Videtis simulachrorum templa you see the temples of our Images partly fallen for want of reparation partly destroyed partly shut up partly changed to some other uses ipsaque Simulachra and those Images either broken to pieces or burned and destroyed and those Powers and Potentates of this world which sometimes persecuted the Christians Aug. ad frat Madaur ep 42. See the duty of Subjects oâ— a perswasion to Loyalty which is a full collection of the Fathers to this purpose pro istis simulachris for those Images to be overcome and tamed non à repugnantibus sed à morientibus Christianis not of resisting but of dying Christians and the rest of the Fathers are most plentiful in this Theam and therefore to the later Writers Cardinal Alan saith but herein most untruly that the Protestants are desperate men and most factious for as long as they have their Princes and Lawes indulgent to their own wills they know well enough how to use the prosperous blasts of fortune but if the Princes should withstand their desires or the Laws should be contrary to their minds then presently Card. Alan in resp ad Instit B itannicam c. 4. they break asunder the bonds of their fidelity they despise Majesty and with fire and sword slaughters and destructions they rage in every place and do run headlong into the contempt of all divine and humane things which accusation if it were true then I confesse the Protestants were to be blamed more then all the people in the world But howsoever some factious seditious anabaptistical and rebellious spirits amongst us not deserving the name of Protestants may be justly taxed for this intolerable vice yet to let you see how falsely he doth accuse us that are true Protestants and how fully we do agree with the Scriptures and the Fathers of the purest age of the Church in the Doctrine of our obedience to our Kings and Princes I will onely give you a taste of what we teach And to begin with the first reformer Luther saith no man which stirreth up the multitude to any tumult can be excused from his fault though he should have never so just a cause but he must go to the Magistrate and attempt nothing privately because all sedition and insurrection is against the Commandement of God Sleidan commentar l 5. which forbiddeth and detesteth the same Philip Melancthon saith though it be the Law of Nature to expell force with force yet it is no wayes lawful for us to withstand the wrong done us by the Magistrate with any force yea though we seem to promise our obedience upon this condition Melancthon apud Luther tom 1. p. 463. if the Magistrate should command lawful things yet it is not therfore lawful for us to withstand his unjust force with force for though their Empires should be gotten and possest by wicked men yet the work of their government is from God and it is the good creature of God and therefore whatsoever the Magistrate doth no force ought to be taken up against the Magistrate Brentius saith that the rule and government of a Prince The rule of a Prince may be evil two ways may be evill two wayes 1. When he commandeth any thing against the faith of Christ as to deny our God to worship Idols and the like and herein we must give place to the saying of the Apostle It is better to obey God then men but in this case the subject must in no way rage or rise against his Magistrate but he should rather patiently suffer any evil then any way strike again and rather endure any inconveniences and discommodities then any ways obey those ungodly commands 2. The Prince his government may be evil when he doth or commandeth any thing against the publique justice of which kind are
would collect the testimonies of our best Writers I will adde but one of a most excellent King our late King James of ever blessed memory for he saith The improbity or fault of the Governour ought not to subject the King to them over whom he is appointed Judge by God for if it be not lawful for a private man to prosecute the injury that is offered unto him against his private adversary when God hath committed the sword of vengeance onely to the Magistrate how much lesse lawful is it think you either for all the people or for some of them to usurp the sword whereof they have no right against the publique Magistrate to whom alone it is committed by God This hath been the Doctrine of all the Learned The obedient example of the Martyrs in the time of Queen Mary of all the Saints of God of all the Martyrs of Jesus Christ and therefore not onely they that suffered in the first Persecutions under Heathen Tyrants but also they that of late lived under Queen Mary and were compelled to undergoe most exquisite torments without number and beyond measure yet none of them either in his former life or when he was brought to his execution did either despise her cruell Majesty or yet curse this Tyrant-Queen that made such havock of the Church of Christ and causelesly spilt so much innocent blood but being true Saints they feared God and honoured her and in all obedience to her authority they yielded their estates and goods to be spoyled their liberties to be infringed and their bodies to be imprisoned abused and burned as oblations unto God rather then contrary to the command of their Master Christ they would give so much allowance unto their consciences as for the preservation of their lives to make any shew of resistance against their most bloody Persecutors whom they knew to have their authority from that bloody yet their lawful Queen And therefore I hope it is apparent unto all men that have their eyes open and will not with Balaam most wilfully deceive themselves Numb 24.15 Gen. 19.11 or with the Sodomites grope for the wall at noon-day that by the Law of God by the example of all Saints by the rule of honesty and by all other equitable considerations it is not lawfull for any man or any degree or sort of men Magistrates Peers Parliaments Popes The conclusion of the whole or whatsoever you please to call them to give so much liberty unto their misguided consciences and so farre to follow the desires of their unruly affections as for any cause or under any pretence to withstand Gods Vice-gerent and with violence to make warre against their lawful King or indeed in the least degree and lowest manner to offer any indignity either in thought word or deed either to Moses our King or to Aaron our High Priest that hath the care and charge of our souls or to any other of those subordinate callings that are lawfully sent by them to discharge those offices wherewith they are intrusted This is the truth of God and so acknowledged by all good men And what Preachers teach the contrary I dare boldly affirm it in the name of God that they are the incendiaries of Hell and deserve rather with Corah to be consumed with fire from Heaven then to be believed by any man on Earth CHAP. X. Sheweth the impudencie of the Anti-Cavalier How the Rebels deny they warre against the King An unanswerable Argument to presse obedience A further discussion whether for our Liberty Religion or Laws we may resist our Kings and a pathetical disswasion from Rebellion I Could insert here abundant more both of the Ancient and Modern Writers that do with invincible Arguments confirm this truth But the Anti Cavalier would perswade the world Anti-Cavalier p. 17 18 c. that all those learned Fathers and those constant Martyrs that spent their purest blood to preserve the purity of religion unto us did either belye their own strength * Yet Tertul. Cypr. whom I quoted before and R ssiâ— hist Eccles l. 2. c. 1. and S. August in Psal 124. and others avouch the Christians were far stronger then their enemies and the greatest part of Julians army were Christians or befool themselves with the undue desire of over-valued Martyrdome but now they are instructed by a better spirit they have clearer illuminations to inform them to resist if they have strength the best and most lawful authority that shall either oppose or not consent unto them thus they throw dirt in the Fathers face and dishonour that glorious company and noble army of Martyrs which our Church confesseth praiseth God and therefore no wonder that they will warre against Gods annointed here on Earth when they dare thus dishonour and abuse his Saints that raign in Heaven but I hope the world will believe that those holy Saints were as honest men and those worthy Martyrs that so willingly sacrificed their lives in defence of truth could as well testifie the truth and be as well informed of the truth as these seditious spirits that spend all their breath to raise arms against their Prince and to spill so much blood of the most faithful subjects But though the authority of the best Authours is of no authority with them that will believe none but themselves yet I would wish all other men to read that Homily of the Church of England where it is said that God did never long prosper rebellious subjects against their Prince were they never so great in authority or so many in number yea were they never so noble so many so stout so witty and politique but alwayes they came by the overthrow and to a shameful end Yea though they pretend the redresse of the Common-wealth which rebellion of all other mischiefs doth most destroy The Homily against rebellion p. 390. 301. or reformation of religion whereas rebellion is most against all true religion yet the speedy overthrow of all Rebels sheweth that God alloweth neither the dignity of any person nor the multitude of any people nor the weight of any cause as sufficient for the which the subjects may move rebellion against their Princes and I would to God that every subject would read over all the six parts of that Homily against wilful rebellion for there are many excellent passages in it which being diligently read and seriously weighed would work upon every honest heart never to rebell against their lawful Prince And therefore the Lawes of all Lands being so plain to pronounce them Traytors that take arms against their Kings as you may see in the Statutes of England 25 Edw. 3. c. 2. And as you know it was one of the greatest Articles for which the Earl of Strafford was beheaded that he had actually leavied warre against the King The Nobles and Gentry Lords and Commons of both Houses of Parliament in all Kingdomes being convicted in their consciences with the
Rites which were such a burthen that neither we nor our fathers could undergo and also from the curse and malediction of the moral law would under this pretence of Christian liberty be freed from the obligation of all lawes and give themselves the freedom to do what they pleased for this would prove to be not the liberty but the bondage and the base slavery of a people that are not governed by lawes but suffered to do what they please because that neither God nor good lawes confine us but for our own good and he that forbids us to obey impious commands bids us to obey all righteous lawes and rather to suffer then to resist the most unrighteous Governours But I fear that under the name of the liberty of the subjects What is often aimed at under the name of theâ— liberty of the â—ubjects the licentiousnesse of the flesh is aymed at because you may see by what is already come to passe our civil dissention hath procured to many men such a liberty that few men are sure either of their life or estate and God blesse me from such a liberty and send me rather to be the slave of Christ then such a libertine of the world Whether for the preservation of our Religion we can be warranted to rebell And if religion be the cause that moveth you here hereunto I confesse this should be dearer to us then our lives but this title is like a velvet mask that is often used to cover a deformed face decipimur specie recti for as that worthy and learned Knight Sir John Cheek that was Tutor to King Edward the sixth saith If you were offered Persecution for Religion you ought to flye and yet you intend to fight if you would stand in the truth ye ought to suffer like Martyrs and you would slay like Tyrants Thus for Religion you keep no Religion and neither will follow the Counsel of Christ nor the constancie of Martyrs And a little after he demands why the people should not like that Religion which Gods Word established the Primitive Church hath authorized the greatest learned men of this Realm and the whole consent of the Parliament have confirmed and the Kings Majesty hath set forth is it not truly set out Sir John Cheek in The true subject to the rebell p. 4 6. Dare you Commons take upon you more learning then the chosen Bishops and Clerks of this Realm have This was the judgement of that judicious man And I must tell you that Religion never taught Rebellion neither was it the will of Christ that Faith should be compelled by fighting but perswaded by preaching for the Lord sharply reproveth them that built up Sion with blood Micah 3.18 and Hierusalem with iniquitie and the practice of Christ and his Apostles was to reform the Church by prayers and preaching and not with fire and sword and they presse obedience unto our Governours yea though they were impious infidels and idolatrous True religion never rebelleth with arguments fetched from Gods ordinance from mans conscience from wrath and vengeance and from the terrible sentence of damnation And this truth is so solid that it hath the clear testimony of holy Writ the perpetual practice of all the Primitive Saints and Martyrs and I dare boldly say it the unanimous consent of all the orthodox Bishops and Catholick Writers both in England and Ireland and in all the world That Christian Religion teacheth us never with any violence to resist or with arms to withstand the authority of our lawful Kings If you say The Laws of our Land Whether the Laws of our Land do warrant us to rebell and the Constitutions of this our Kingdom give us leave to stand upon our libertie and to withstand all tyrannie that shall be offered unto us especially when our estates lives and religion are in danger to be destroyed To this I say with Laelius that Nulla lex valeat contra jus divinum Laelâ—â—s de privileg Eccles 112. Mans lawes can exact no further obedience then may stand with the observance of the divine precepts and therefore we must not so preferre them or relye upon them so much as to prejudice the other and for our fear of the losse of estate life or religion I wish it may not be setled upon groundlesse suspitions for I know and all the world may believe that our King is a most clement and religious Prince that never did give cause unto any of his subjects to foster such feares and jealousies within his breast and you know what the Psalmist saith of many men They were afraid where no fear was And Job tells you whom terrours shall make afraid on every side Job 18.11 12. and shall drive him to his feet that is to runne away as you see the Rebels do from the Kings Army in every place and in whose Tabernacle shall dwell the King of fear for though the ungodly fleeth when no man pursueth him yet they that trust in God are confident as Lyons without fear they know that the heart of the King is not in his own hand but in the hand of the Lord Prov 21.1 Bonav ad secundam dist 35. art 2. qu. 1. as the rivers of waters and he turneth it whithersoever it pleaseth him either to save them or destroy them even as it pleaseth God He ordereth the King how to rule the people And therefore in the name of God and for Christ Jesus sake let me perswade you to put away all causelesse fears and groundlesse jealousies and trust your King if not trust your God and let your will which is so unhappy in it self become right and equall by receiving direction from the will of God and remember what Vlpian the great Civilian saith that Rebellion and disobedience unto your King is proximum sacrilegio crimen and that it is in Samuel's judgement as the sinne of witchcraft whereby men forsake God and cleave unto the Devil and above all The remembrance of his Oath should be a terrour to the conscience of every Rebel remember the oath that many of you have taken to be true and faithful unto your King and to reveal whatsoever evils or plots that you shall know or hear to be contrived against his Person Crown or Dignity and defend him from them Pro posse tuo to the uttermost of your power So help you God Which Oath how they that are any wayes assistant in a warre against their King can dispence with I cannot with all my wit and learning understand and therefore return O Shulamite 〈◊〉 lay down thine arms submit thy self unto thy Soveraign and know that as the Kings of Israel were merciful Kings 1 Kings 20.31 so is the King of England thou shalt find grace in the time of need but delay not this duty â—est as Demades saith the Athenians never sate upon treaties of peace but in mourning weeds when by the losse of
sinne being thus conceived in the womb of the heart Private meetings do often produce mischief at last it commeth forth to birth at the mouth for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh and they begin to murmure and mutter among themselves and as Rebels use to have they have many private meetings and conventicles among themselves where they say We are all good we are all holy 2 Sam. 15.3 4. and They are no better then we and as Absolon depraved his fathers government and promised justice and judgement and golden mountains unto the people if he were King so do they traduce the present government with all scandalous imputations and professe such a reformation as would make all people happy if they were but in Moses place or made over him or with him the Guardians and Protectors of Common-wealth And so now you see this ugly monster the son of Pride and Discontentment is born into the world and spreads it self from the inward thought to open words Then Moses hears the voyce of this infant which was not like the voyce of Jacob but of the Serpent which spitteth fire and poyson out of his mouth And therefore lest this fire should consume them and these mutterers prove their murderers Moses now begins to look unto himself and to answer for his brother he calleth these rebels and he telleth them that neither he nor his brother had ambitiously usurped but were lawfully called into those places and to make this apparent to all Israel he bad these rebels come out of their Castles to some other place where he might safely treat and conferre with them and that was to the Tabernacle of the Lord that is to the place where wisdom and truth resided and was from thence published and spread to all the people and there the Lord should shew them whom he had chosen The wisdom of Moses And here I do observe the care and wisdom of the Prophet that at the first appearance of their design would presently begin to protect his brother before their rebellion had increased to any strength for had he then delivered Aaron into their hands his hands had been so weakened that he had never been able afterwards to defend himself to teach all Kings to beware that they yield not their Bishops and Priests unto the desires of the people which is the fore-runner of rebellion against themselves for as King Philip told the Athenians that he had no dislike to them The witty tale of Demosthenes to save the Oratâ—urs and to assure all Kings that if Aarons tongue and the Prophets pen perswade not the conscience to yield obedience Moses's power and Joshua's sword may subdue the people to subjection but never retain them long without rebellion Evil men grow worse worse Vers 12. Vers 13. but would admit them into his protection so they would deliver to him their Orators which were the fomenters of all mischief and the people were mad to do it till Demosthenes told them how the Wolf made the same Proposition unto the Sheep to become their friends and protectors so they would deliver their Dogs which were the cause of all discontent betwixt them and the Shee being already weary of their Dogs delivered them all unto the Wolves and then immediately the Wolves sparâ—d neither Sheep nor Lambs but tore them in pieces without resistance even so when any King yieldeth his Bishops unto the peoples Votes he may fear ere long to feel the smart of this great mistake Therefore Moses wisely delivereth not his brother but stoutly defendeth him who he knew had no wayes offended them and offered if they came to a convenient place to make this plain to all the people But as evil weeds grow apace and lewd sons will not be kept under so the more Moses sought to suppresse this sinne the faster it grew and spread it self to many branches from secret muttering to open rayling from inward discontent to outward disobedience They tell them plainly to their faces they will not come è Castris from their strong holds they accuse them falsely that Moses their Prince aymed at nothing but their destruction and to that end had brought them out of a good land to be killed in the wildernesse and contemning them most scornfully in the face of all the people whatsoever Moses bids them do they resolve to do the contrary So now Moses well might say with the Poet Moses is in a strait Fluctibus hic tumidus nubi b bus ille minax Quocunque aspicio nihil est nisi pontus aether And therefore it was high time this evil Weed should be rooted out or else the good corn shall be choaked these Rebels must be destroyed or they will destroy the Governours of Gods people and Moses now must wax angry Nam debet amor laesus irasci otherwise his meeknesse had been stupidnesse and his mercy had proved little better then cruelty when as to spare the Wolfe is to spoile the Sheep and because these great Rebels had with Absolon by their false accusations of their Governours and their subtle insinuations into the affections of the people stole away the hearts of many men therefore Moses must call for aid from Heaven and say Exsurgat Deus And let him that hath sent me now defend me So God must be the decider of this dissention as you may see he was in the next verse And by this you find Quid fecerunt what these Rebels did and how their sin was not Simplex peccatum but Morbus cumulatus a very Chaos and an heap of confused iniquity for here is 1. Pride 2. Discontent 3. Envy 4. Murmuring 5. Hypocrisie 6. Lying 7. Slandering The ten fold sin of rebels 8. Rayling 9. Disobedience 10. Rebellion A Monster indeed that is a ten-headed or ten-horned beast 1. Pride which bred the distraction in the Primitive Church 1. Pride and will be the destruction of any Church of any Common-wealth was the first seed of their rebelllion for the humble man will easily be governed but the proud heart like a sturdy Oak will rather break then bend 2. Discontent was the second step and that is a most vexatious vice 2. Discontent for though contentation is a rare blessing because it ariseth either from a fruition of all comforts as it is in the glorious in Heaven The poyson of discontent or a not desiring of that which they have not as it is in the Saints on earth yet discontent is that which annointeth all our joyes with Aloes for though life be naturally sweet yet a little discontent makes its weary of our lives as the Israelites that loved their lives as well as any yet for want of a little water say O that we had dyed in Aegypt And Haman tells his wife Hester 5.13 that all the honour which the King and Queen shewed unto him availed him nothing so long as Mordecai refused to
but a little lesse For which application of Gods glorious name and abusing the holy Scriptures to such abominable transgression of Gods holy Precepts to instigate the subjects to warre against their Soveraign and to involve a whole Kingdom into a detestable distraction I do much admire that they are not apprehended and transferred to the Kings Bench Barre to be there arraigned and condemned to be punished according to their deserts 10. When these Rebels had proceeded thus far 10. Rebellion See the place Jâ—shua 1.16 17 18. then contrary to the loyal obedience which they owed unto their Prince and which the people promise unto Joshua they ascended to the height of that odious rebellion which may not unfitly be called Monstrum horrendum informe ingens cui lumen ademptum and is as Thucydides saith All kind of evill Et qui facit peccatum non facit sed ipse totus est peccatum and therefore Samuel saith that Rebellion is as the sinne of Witchcraft when men do confederate to give their souls unto the Devill for now these Rebels are ready to take arms against Moses and they had reduced all civill order to a confused paritie deposed and destroyed their Governours if the Governour of all the world by whom Kings do reign and who hath promised to defend them had not prevented the same from Heaven And the reason why they did all this The reason of their rebellion and proceeded thus farre against Moses and Aaron is intimated in the words of my Text Aemulati sunt because they would emulate or imitate Moses that is to play the Moses or play the King and play the part of the chief Priest themselves for this is certain that none will envy murmure at slander and disobey his King so farre as to make an open rebellion against him but they that in some sort would rule and be Kings themselves especially when they shall seek so farre to debilitate their Prince as that he shall be no wayes able to make resistance for they think If Treason prosper 't is no Treason what 's the reason if it prosper who dares call it Treason and none would disobey their Bishops or chief Priests but they that would and cannot be Bishops themselves because pride and ambition are the two sides of that bellowes which blowes up disobedience and rebellion But they that are bad servants will prove worse Masters they that will not learn how to obey can never tell how to rule and if Moses were as these Rebels suggested a Tyrant yet the Philosopher tells us we had better endure one Tyrant then as they were 250. Tyrants And the Homily of the Church tells us that contrary to their hopes God never suffers the greatest treasons or rebellions for any long time to prosper Therefore when under loyal pretences we see nothing but studied mischiefs and most crafty endeavours to innovate our government or to imbroyle the Kingdom in a civil warre that so they may fish in a troubled water let us never be so stupid as to secure them in these actions to produce our discredit for our simplicity and destruction for our disloyalty but rather let us leave them as Delinquents to the justice of our Lawes and the mercy of the King and this will be the readiest way to effect peace and happinesse to our Nation CHAP. XII Sheweth where the Rebels do hatch their Rebellion The heavy and just deserved punishments of Rebels The application and conclusion of the whole 4. Part. Where they did laâ— this 4. WE are to consider Vbi fecerunt where they did all this in castris non in templis that is in their own houses not in the house of God for in Gods house we teach obedience to our Kings and beat down rebellion in every Kingdom this is the Doctrine of the Church But in our houses in our cabins and corners in private Coventicles they teach rebellion Our houses are our Castles which is the doctrine of those Schools And these Schools are called Castra Tents or Castles because indeed every man's house is his Castle or his Fort where he thinks himselfe sure enough so did these Rebels and they would not come out of them neither Moses the King could compell them nor Aaron the Priest could perswade them to come out of their Castles and forsake their strong holds which their guilty consciences would not permit them to do and so all other rebels will never be perswaded to forsake their places of strength untill God pulleth them as he did these Rebels out of their holes for were it not for these Castra the Cities and Castles that they possesse they could not so like subtle Foxes run out and in to nullifie the property and to captivate the liberty of the Kings faithful subjects as they do for though they do all this under those fair pretences for the defence of the true religion the maintenance of our liberties and the property of our estates yet for our Religion it is now amongst us as it was in the days of Saint Basil Basilius de Spiritu Sancto cap. ult 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every one is a Divine and then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. All the bounds of our forefathers are transgressed foundation of doctrine and fortification of discipline is rooted up and the innovators which never had any other imposition of hands but what they laid upon themselves have matter enough to set forward their sedition And for the other pretences I dare procaim it to all the world that mine own experience believeth the liberty of the subjects and the property of our goods and the true Protestant Religion could not possibly be more abused then it hath been by them that came in the name and for the service of the Parliament and therefore I would to God that all the oppressions injustice and imprisonments that have been made since the beginning of this Parliament were collected and recorded in a Book of remembrance that all the world might see and read the justice and equity of our Parliament and the iniquity oppression and rapine of them that to enrich themselves How the Parliament Rebeâ—s have inriched themselves in Ireland deprive us of our estates and liberties and that under the Parliaments name For I hear that as many have been impoverished so many both the Lords and Commons in this Kingdom of Ireland that before the conjunction of these malevolent martial Planets were very low at an ebbe and their names very deep in many Citizens books have now wiped off all scores paid all their debts and clad themselves in Silks and Scarlet but with the extorted moneys and the plundered goods of the loyal subjects I hope it is not so in England Yet as Platina tells us that when the Guelphes and the Gibilines Platina's story of the Guelphs and Gibelines in the City of Papia were at civil discord and the Gibilines promised to one Facinus Caius all
the goods of the Guelphes if he assisted them to get the victory which he did and after he had subdued the Guelphes he seized upon the goods of both and when the Gibilines complained that he brake his Covenant to pillage their goods Caius answered that Themselves were Gibilines but their goods were Guelphs and so belonged unto him So both in England and Ireland I see the Parliament Forces and the Rebels I hope contrary to the will of the Parliament make little difference betwixt Papist and Protestant the well-affected and disaffected for they cannot judge of their affections but they can discern their estates and that is the thing which they thirst after Haud ignota cano But you will say These are miseries unavoidable accidents common to all warre when neither side can excuse all their followers I answer Woe be to them therefore that were the first suggesters and procurers of this warre and cursed be they that are still the incendiaries and blow the coales for the continuance of these miserable distractions I am sure his Majesty was neither the cause nor doth he desire the prolonging thereof for the least moment but as his royal Father was a most peaceable Prince so hath he shewed himself in all his life to follow him passibus aequis and to be a Prince of peace though as the God of peace is likewise a man of warre and the Lord of Hosts so this peaceable Prince when his patience is too much provoked can as you see change his pen for a sword and turn the mildnesse of a Lamb into the stoutnesse of a Lyon and you know what Solomon saith that The wrath of a King is the messenger of death especially when he is so justly moved to wrath And so much for the particulars of this Text. 2. Having fully seen the uglinesse of this sin 2. The punishment of these rebels you may a little view the greatnesse of the punishment for Although I must confesse we should be slow to anger slow to wrath yet when the Magistrate is disobeyed the Minister despised and God himself disclaimed it makes our hearts to bleed and our spirits angry within us yea though the King were as gentle and as meek as Moses the meekest man on earth and the Bishops as holy as Aaron Tirinus in ◠Psal the Saint of the Lord yet such disobedience and rebellion would anger Saints for so Tirinus faith Irritaverunt They angred Moses in their Tents and Aaron the Saint of the Lord Nay more then this they angred God himself so farre that fire was kindled in his wrath and it burned to the bottom of hell And as these rebels were Lords and Levites Clergy and Laity so God did proportion their punishments according to their sinnes for the Levites that were to kindle fire upon Gods Altar and should have been more heavenly and those two hundred and fifty men which usurped the Office of the Priests He sent fire from heaven to devour them and the Nobility that were Lay-Lords the Prophet tells you The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan and covered the Congregation of Abiram A most fearful example of a just judgement for to have seen them dead upon the earth as the Aegyptians upon the shore had been very lamentable but to see the earth opening and the graves devouring them quick was most lamentable and so strange that we never read of such revenge taken of Israel never any better deserved and which is more Saint Basil saith Basilius hom 9. quòd descenderunt in infernum damnatorum they fell into the very pit of the damned which doleful judgement though they well deserved it yet I will leave that undetermined And if these rebels proceeding not so farre whatsoever they intended as to offer violence and to make an open warre against Moses were so heavily plagued for the Embrio of their rebellion what tongue shall be able to expresse the detestation of that sin and the deserts of those Rebels that by their subtilty and cruelty would bring a greater persecution upon the Church then any that we read since the time of Christ and by a desperate disobedience to a most Gracious King would utterly overthrow a most flourishing State A rebellion and persecution the one against the King the other against the Church that in all respects can scarce be parallel'd from the beginning of the world to this very day And therefore except they do speedily repent with that measure of repentance as shall be in some sort proportionable to the measure of their transgression I fear God in justice will deal with them as he did with the Jews deliver them into the hand of their Enemies that will have no compassion upon young man or maiden 2 Chron. 36 17. old man or him that stoopeth for age or rather as he did with Pharaoh King of Aegypt deliver them up to a reprobate sense and harden their hearts that they cannot repent but in their folly and obstinacy still to fight against Heaven untill the God of heaven shall overthrow them with a most fearful destruction the which I pray God they may foresee in time and repent that they may prevent it that God may be still merciful unto us as he useth to be to those that love his Name And so much for the words of this Text. The application of all Now to Apply all in brief if God shall say to any Nation I will send them a King in my wrath and give them Lawes not good let them take heed they say not We will take him away by our strength for we have read that He hath authority to give us a King in his displeasure but you shall never read that we have authority to disobey him at our pleasure and to say Nolumus hunc regnare super nos or if any do let them know that he which set him up and setled him over them is able to protec◠him against them and they that struggle against him do but strive against God and therefore they have no better remedy then to pray to God which hath the hearts of all Kings in his hand that he would as the Psalmist saith Give the King his judgements and his righteousnesse unto the King's Son that he would either guide his heart aright and direct his feet to the way of peace or as he hath sent him in his fury so he would take him away in his mercy But for our selves of these Islands we have a King and I speak it here in the sight of God and as I shall answer for what I say at the dreadful judgement not to flatter him that hears me not but to inform those of you that know him not so well as I that had the happinesse to live with my ever honoured Lord the Noble Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery 16 or 17. years in the Kings house and of them 6 or 7. years in the Kings service He is a most just pious and
alone that purged the corruption of the Royal Government but meddled not with the Religion of their Bishops and Prophets and beyond the undertaking of Martin Luther that pulled down the pride of the Pope and all that Romish Hierarchy but ventured not to trample upon the Sâ—epter of Kings and the Imperial Government which he held Sacred and inviolably to be obeyed For these men perceiving how God had so wisely ordered these Governments among his people to assist each other that the one can neither stand nor fall without the other as it is fully and truly shewed in the Grand Rebellion therefore as Caligula wished that the people of Rome had but one neck that so he might dispatch them all uno ictu with one stroke So these men would overthrow both Government and destroy both King and Priest both Church and State at one time with one clap with one thunder-bolt And so they should be famous indeed though it were but like the fame of Herostratus that burnt the Temple of Diana or of Raviliac that killed the King of France of Nero that destroyed his mother or Oedipus that murdered his own father for a man may be as notoriously famous for transcendent villanies and nefarious impieties as another is for his rare vertues and super-eminent deeds of piety As in History Thersites is as well known for his base Cowardice as Achilles for his heroick Valour And in the Scripture Judas for his Treachery is as notoriously known as Saint Peter for his Fidelity Therefore these men go on with this great Design and to effect the same I find that they aimed at these two special things 1. To take away all the lets and impediments that might hinder them They aimed at two things 2. To secure unto themselves all the helps and furtherances that might advantage them For 1. As a Vineyard that is well hedged 1. To remove the impediments of their design or a City strongly fenced with walls and bulwarks cannot easily be laid wast and spoiled before these defences be destroyed so the wilde Boars cannot devour the grapes of God's Church and swallow down the Revenues of her Governours and the Rebels cannot pull the Sword out of their Soveraigns hand and lay his Crown down in the dust so long as the means of their preservations are intire and not removed Therefore these men endeavour to eradicate all the impediments of their Design And they saw four great Blocks that were as four mighty Mountains which their great Faith their publick faith being not yet conceived must remove before they could plant their new Church and subvert the old Government of this Kingdom and those were 1. The Earl of Straffords Head Four impediments of their Design 2. The free judgement of the Judges 3. The power of dissolving the Parliament 4. The Bishops votes in the House of the Lords For as the heavenly Angels could do nothing against Sodom while righteous Lot was in it so these earthly angels the messengers of Abaddon can never effect their ends to overthrow the Church and State to make them as Sodom full of all impurity and villany until these four main stops be taken away And therefore CHAP. II. Sheweth the eager prosecution of our Sectaries to take off the Earl of Straffords head How he answered for himself The Bishops right of voting in his cause His excellent vertues and his death 1. Impediment 1. THey get Master Pym the grand father of all the purer sort and a fit instrument for this Design in the name of the House of Commons The Earl his Charge and thereby of all the Commonalâ—y of England to charge Thomas Earl of Strafford of High-Treason A high charge indeed and yet no lesse a crime could serve the turn to turn him out of their way because nothing else could subdue that spirit by which he was so well able to discover the plots and to frustrate the practices of all the faction of Sectaries for as the Jews were no wayes sufficient to answer Saint Stephen's arguments but only with stones so these men saw themselves unable to confute his reasons and to subdue his power but only by putting him to death and cutting off his head for that fault which Pym alleadged he had committed But then I demand How this great charge of High Treason shall be made good against him How sought to be proved It is answered That England Scotland and Ireland and every corner of these three Kingdoms must be searched and all discontented persons that had at any time any Sentence though never so justly pronounced against them by him that was so great a Judge yet conceited to be otherwise by themselves must now be incouraged and countenanced by the faction and most likely by this grand Accuser to say all that they know and perhaps more than was true against him for what will not envy and malice say or what beast will not trample upon the Lion when they see him grovelling and gasping for life in an unevitable pit and it may be compassed with so many mastiff dogs I mean his enemies and discontented witnesses as were able to tear more than one Lion all to pieces So by this means they are enabled to frame near thirty Articles against him ut cum non prosint singula multa juvent that the number might amazâ— the people and think him a strange creature that was so full of heynous offences and so compassed with transgressions But Si satis accusâsse quis innocens If accusations were sufficient to create offenders not a righteous man could escape on earth therefore the Law condemneth no man before he be heard The Earl his Answer what he can answer for himself And the Earl of Strafford coming to his Answer made all things so clear in the Judgement of the common-hearers and answered to every Article so well that his enemies being Judges they much applauded his abilities and admired at his Dexterity whereby he had so finely untied those Gordian knots that were so fouly contrived against him and as his friends conceived had fairly escaped all those iron-nets which his adversaries had so cunningly laid and my popular country-man with the rest of the more learned Lawyers had so vehemently prosecuted to insnare him in the links and traps of guiltiness and in brief the Lords who as yet were unpoisoned by the leavened subtilty of this bitter Faction could find not any one of all those Articles to be Treason by any Law that was yet established in this Land sic te servavit Apollo So God delivered him as he thought and his friends hoped out of all these troubles Yet as a rivulet stopped will at last prove the more violent The nature of malice viresque acquirit ibidem and recollect a greater strength in the same place so rage and malice hindered of their revengeful desires will turn to be the more implacable Quia malitia corum excaecavit eos
Because the malice of men bewitcheth them and hath no end till it makes an end of its hated foe therefore those men that hated and maligned the Earl like the Jews that because their tongues could make no reply to the just defence of the holy Martyr gnashed upon him with their teeth and stopping their ears Acts 7.51 ran upon him with one accord all at once because they had no Law nor learning to make those Articles Treason they say with the Poet Hac non successit aliâ aggrediemur viâ Seeing we failed herein we will attempt another way And to that end they frame a Bill of Attainder against him and this if it passe by the major part of both Houses and have the Royal assent will bring him to his just deserved death And herein I will not say they shewed themselves worse than the Jews because that when their malice was at the highest pitch against Christ they said We have a Law and by our Law he ought to die and these haters of the Earl seeing they had no Law will have a Law to be made that shall bring him unto his death because the House might have reasons which my sense cannot conceive Yet some of his friends have said that after a former prosecution according to Law to make a new Law where there was none before to take away a mans life is almost as bad as the Romancy-Law that I read of The rubs of the Bill how taken away to hang him first and then judge him afterward to which I assent not and not many lesse than 60. worthy Members of the House of Commons would never yield to passe that Bill and it had a greater rub among the Lords where it is thought not upon any slight conjectures it had never passed but that this rub must be taken away by a new device for that the Faction judging some of them might be more timorous than malicious and remembring that primus in orbe deos fecit timor Fear is a powerful passion that produceth many strange effects the Apprentices and Porters Water-men and Car-men and all the rascal rout of the ragged Regiment were gathered together by some Chedorlaomer and came as they did against Christ with swords and staves without order with great impudency to awe them and to cry for Justice against him and this was done and done again and again until the business that they came for was done A course not prevented that may undo all Justice and bring us all to be undone And yet all this will not do this deed until the King passeth His assent for as yet the new Law of Orders and Ordinances without the King The Kings great pains to search out the truth was not hatched And the good King having so graciously so indefatigably taken such care and such pains in his own Person every day to hear and see all that could be laid unto his charge and how he had answered each particular was so just and of such tender and religious conscience that he was not satisfied as men conceived with the weight of those reasons that were produced to passe the same Therefore here I find another Stratagem used such as Hannibal could not invent to effect this hard task What To perswade mildness to become severe or to cause a just and most clement Prince so full of mercy so proue to pardon where there is a fault and so loth to punish but where he must by the Law of Justice the greatest fault to yield to put him to death that was in many things so excellent in his life The task was to procure his assent to passe this Bill and how shall this be done As the Man of God could not be perswaded by any man but by a Man of God a Prophet by a Prophet so now the Bishops that were good men men of conscience and set apart by God to resolve and satisfie weak and tender consciences are thought fit to be sent unto this good King to perswade him as men supposed that to prevent a greater mischief he might justly passe this Bill and either 6. or 4. of the prime Prelates are requested by the Lords to go unto the King to assay how far they can prevail with him herein And so they went and how they dealt with His Majesty I do not fully understand but am informed by some that went that they assured Him he ought to satisfie himself in point of Law by his Judges and of State by his Council And how they did any otherwise in any other thing rectifie his Conscience in point of Divinity which belonged unto themselves I cannot tell But though I think no man can justly lay the least tittle of blame upon the just King no not the Earl himself as himself professed for yielding to such and so earnest perswasions of I know not how many reverend Bishops wise Counsellours grave Judges and the flower of all his people to passe that Bill whatsoever it was The Bishops right to vote in any cause Yet to say what I conceive with their favour of my Brethren the Bishops in the prosecution of this cause I am perswaded that they had no reason to withdraw themselves from the House and to desert their own Right when the Bill or the Judgement was to passe against the Earl upon this slight pretence alledged against them by the haters of the Earl and no lovers of the Bishops That a Clergy-man ought not to have any Vote or to be present at the handling of the cause of blood or death for they might know full well when my Lords grace of York did most cleerly manifest this truth that the first inhibition of the Clergy to be present and assistant in causa sanguinis or judicio mortis in the Canon of Innocent the third as I remember for I am driven to fly without my Books was most unjust only to tie the Bishops to his blind obedience to the apparent prejudice of all Christian Princes by denying this their service unto them and it is no wayes obligatory to bind us that are by the Laws of our Land not only freed but also injoyned to abandon all the unjust Canons that are repugnant to our Laws and derogatory to our Kings and to renounce all the usurped authority of the Pope For I would fain know what Scripture or what reason Pope Innocent can alleadge to exclude them from doing that good service both to God and their King which in all reason they can or should be better able to do than most others And I am sure that neither in the old nor in the new Testament nor yet in the Primitive Church until these subtile Popes began thus to incroach upon the Rights of Princes to take away the Prerogatives of Kings and to domineer over the consciences of men this exclusion of them from the highest act of Justice was never found For The Prophets and Apostles judged in the case of life
and death did not Moses Joshua Samuel Eliah Elizaeus Jehoida and others of the Priests and Prophets of the old Testament and S. Peter also the Prince of the Apostles in the new Testament judge in the case of blood and pronounced the sentence of death against Malefactors As when Ananias and Sapphira were suddenly brought unto their end by the judgement of the Apostle and if they be able and fit to judge of any thing then why not of this If you say because they are the Advocates of mercy Ob. the procurers of pardon the Preachers of repentance and men that are made to save life and not to put any one to death or to bring any man unto his end I answer Sol. That they are therefore the fittest men to be the Judges both of life and death For who can better and more justly judge me to death than he that doth most love my life it is certain he will not condemn me without just cause even as God that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Father of mercies and even mercy it self is the fittest and most righteous Judge that can be found both of death and damnation Clergy how fit to be Judges because his mercy and goodness towards his creatures will not permit his severity against sin though never so detestable to his purity to do the least injustice to their persons so our love of mercy and pity will not suffer us to do any thing that shall transcend the Rules of justice and equity And as our inclination to mercy prohibites us to condemn the innocent so our love to justice and our charge to preserve it will not permit us to justifie the wicked for the Scripture teacheth us That he which justifieth the wicked and he that condemneth the innocent that calleth the evil good and the good evil that spareth Agag and killeth Naboth are both alike abominable unto the Lord. And therefore notwithstanding this unjust Canon I never find in any of our Histories that the Bishops did ever withdraw themselves and quit their Votes in this case either before or after save only from the 10th year of Richard the 2d unto the 21th year of the raign of the same unfortunate King which they did not because they could not justly be present but because they had just reasons to be absent as you may find it in the Annals of his time Therefore I know nor how to palliate their facility of yielding way to those Nâ—n-Canonical Lords Non-Canonicall Lords to produce those non-obliging Canons which they abhorred in all that made not for the furtherance of their design to exclude them from doing this which was one of their chiefest duties for who knoweth not the Lord Say and Lord Brook and others of the Lords to hate all Canons even the old Canons of the Apostles as inconsistent with their new Rules of Independent Government and yet herein to exclude the Bishops Votes in the judgement of this man and the passing of this Bill which being admitted might perhaps have turned the scales they will take hold of the unjustest Law and alleadge one of the worst of Canons a Canon against reason and most repugnant to the best of God's Properties which though they be all equall in themselves fummè perfectissimè yet are they not so perceived by us but his mercy is over all his works But you will say Was this man so just that he was unjustly condemned to death Did all men so untruly complain against him And was he good notwithstanding all the evill that was proved against him I answer That I dare not and I do not say that he was unjustly adjudged to death or that the Bill it self was unjust But this I assure my self that he was a very wise and understanding man and indued with may rare Heroick vertues and most excellent graces as among the rest The Earle's Vertues with those two incomparable indowments that cannot easily be found among many of the Nobles of this World 1. Faithfulness to his Prince to whom as I conceive he shewed himself a true servant and most Trusty in his greatest imployments save in what was and I know not that justly proved against him and I believe he would never have taken Arms as some others of the Lords do now against his Soveraign 2. Love unto the Church and Church-men to whom though others think it their glory to oppresse them and a vertue to contemn them yet he was a true Friend a most Noble Benefactor and most just unto his death as his very last speech unto his dearest Son doth sufficiently testifie unto all posterity which speech was to this effect and I would to God it were indelibly imprinted in the memory of all our Nobility That as he regarded his father's blessing or expected a blessing from God upon what his father left him so he would be careful never to take away or in any wise to diminish any part or parcell of the goods or Patrimony of the Church which if he did would prove a Canker to waste and consume all that he had Yet it may be he was which in truth I cannot imagin as the Philosopher saith of Marcus Antonius a man of that composition that his vices did equalize if not exceed his vertues and his offences cloud all his graces and obscure all his glory And as the saving of one mans life cannot save him from suffering that doth unjustly put another man to death so the rarest Vertues cannot justifie the man that committeth so many horrible offences How a Malefactor may be unjustly condemned as his accusers conceived this man did to which it may be well replyed That a notorious Malefactor though I apply not this to him may be unjustly condemned and so he may be justly condemned and unjustly executed as when he is not condemned for the fault committed or condemned not according to the Law which condemneth that Fact For though a Murderer deserveth death yet any one may not presently be the death of that Murderer nor the Judge condemn him for robbery And though I should commit many offences worthy of death yet if the Law doth not condemn me I ought not to die for any of them For as the Apostle saith Where there is no Law there is no sin because sin is the transgression of the Law Therefore the Earl of Strafford might be an evill man and do many things that in the sight of God and good men were worthy of death Yet if our Law made not those crimes Capital or if the Law made them Capital and not Treason we ought not for Treason to adjudge him unto death So in sum the result is this That he might justly deserve death and yet be very unjustly condemned to death And it seemed to some of his friends that so he was especially because they had no plain unquestionable Law but were fain in some kind to make a Law to take off his head and when
any otherwise then they said or looked any further then they shewed Him He never dream'd that they intended to have an everlasting Parliament and so perfidiously to over-reach both the King and the Kingdom But though our gracious King being not so much versed with the dissembling subtilty and serpentine windings of wicked hypocrites that are to be removed from the King and expelled out of his House supposed all them to mean sincerely and to deal fairly as they seemed to do yet I do admire that the wisdom of the Kings Counsel but that they which as the Apostle saith are not ignorant of the devices of Satan are not permitted by these men to be of His Councel could not espy what mischief might lurk under this fair shade or what might be the Consequences of such a Parliament that is inconsistent with a Monarchy and therefore must in a convenient time be ended or else will make an end of all Monarchical Government Why then might not a year or two or three or more so the years were limited suffice to determine all businesses but that the life of this Parliament should be endless and the continuance thereof undetermined This is beyond the age of the Counsel of Trent What the faction could be contented with Complaint p. 19. that they say lasted above forty years for I presume if some of the contrivers of this Design might have their desires the youngest of us should hardly see the Dissolution of this Parliament Til the earthly Houses of our Tabernacles be dissolved for it is likely they could be well contented as one saith to make an Ordinance that both Houses should be a Corporation to take our Lands and Goods to themselves and their successours and when any of that Corporation dieth toties quoties the surviver and none else should choose a successour to perpetuity so they should be Masters of our Estates and disposers of all we have as they are now for ever And therefore this was a Plot beyond the Powder-plot and beyond the device of Semiramis The plot of Semiramis that with a lovely face desired her husband she might rule but three daies to see how well she could mannage the State and obtaining her request in the first thereof she removed all the Kings Officers in the second she placed her own minions in all the places of Power and Authority as now the saction would do such as they confide in in all places of strength and in the third day she cut off the Kings head and assumed the Government of all the Kings Dominions into her own hands for not three daies nor three years will serve their turn for fear they shall not have ability in so short a space to finish all their strange intended projects and therefore that they might not be hindered their request is unlimited that the Parliament should not be dissolved till both Houses gave consent which they were contented should be ad Graecas Calendas Yet God that knew best what punishments were due to be inflicted for their former Actions and for all the subtle Devices of their hard hearts gave way for this also that this third Impediment of their projects might be removed that so at last their sins like the sins of the Amorites by little and little growing unto the full might undergo the fulness of Gods vengeance which as yet I fear was not fully come to pass for till the Parliament was made perpetual the things that they have done since were absolutely unimaginable How the faction hath strengthened it self because that while it was a dissolvable body they durst not so palpably invade the known rights either of King or Subjects whereas now their Body being made indissoluble they need not have the same apprehension of either having strengthened themselves by a Bill against the one and by an Army against the other and therefore all the dissolutions of Parliaments from the beginning of them to this time have not done half that mischief as the continuance of this one hath done hitherto and God only knowes what is to succeed hereafter But seeing themselves have publickly acknowledged in their Declarations that they were too blame if they undertook any thing now which they would not undertake if it were in His Majesties power to dissolve them the next day and they have since used this means which was given them to disburthen the Common-Wealth of that debt which was thought insupportable What many wise men do say to plunge it irrevocably into a far greater debt to the ruine of the whole Kingdom to change the whole frame of our Government and subjecting us to so unlimited an arbitrary power that no man knows at the sitting of the House what he shall be worth at the rising or whether he shall have his liberty the next day or imprisonment Many wise men do say they see no Reason that this trust being forfeited and the faith reposed in them betrayed the King may not immediatly re-assume that power of dissolving them into his own hands again and both our unjustly abused King and our much injured people declare this Act to be voyd when as contrary to their own Faith and the trust of the King they abuse it to overthrow the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom though I could heartily wish that because it still carrieth the Countenance of a Law the faction would be so Wise to yield it to be presently dissolved by a Law CHAP. IV. Sheweth the abilities of the Bishops the threefold practice of the Faction to exclude them out of the House of Peers and all the Clergy out of all Civil Judicature The fourth impediment of their design 4. THere was one stop more that might hinder or at least hardly suffer their plots to succeed according to their hearts desire and that is the Bishops Votes in the Vpper House nay they cannot endure to call it so but in the House of the Lords for they rightly considered therein these two special things 1. Their Number 2. Their Abilities Which are two main things to stop and hinder many evils For 1. They had Twenty six Voyces which was a very considerable number and might stop a great gap and stay the stream or at least moderate the violence of any unjust prosecution 2. They were men of great Learning men of Profound knowledge both in Divine and Humane Affairs and men well educated à cunabulis that spent all their time in Books and were Conversant with the dead that feared not to speak the truth and have wearied themselves in reading Histories The abilities of the Bishops comparing Laws and considering the Affairs of all Common-wealths and so were able if their modesty did not silence them to discourse de quolibet ente to untie every knot and to explain every riddle and being the immediate servants of the living God set apart as the Apostle speaketh to offer Sacrifice and to administer the Sacraments of God to prepare
and staves and other unfashionable though not inconsiderable weapons to cry No Papists no Bishops and if they had added No God no Devil no Heaven no Hell then surely these men had obtained if the Parliament could have granted their requests the summ of their desires and they would have thought themselves better than either King or Bishop but as yet they go no farther than No Papist no Bishop and by this they put the good Bishops in great fear and well they might be possest of that fear qui cadit in fortem constantem virum for mine eyes did see them and mine ears did hear it said What Bishop soever they met they would be his death and I thanked God they knew not me to be a Bishop Their furious assault upon Saint Peters Church in Westminster Then they set upon Saint Peters Church of Westminster burst part of the door to pieces and had they not been most manfully withstood by the Arch-Bishop of York his Gentlemen and the Prebends Servants together with the Officers of the Church they had entred and likely ransacked spoyled and defaced all the Monuments of the Ancient Kings broken down the Organs and committed such Sacriledge and prophanation of that Holy place as their fellow Rebels have done since in Canterbury Winchester Worcester and other places whereof I shall speak hereafter the like was never seen among the Turks and Pagans and after these things what rage cruelty and barbarity they would have shewed to the Dean and Prebends we might well fear but not easily judge I am sure the Dean was forced to hire Armed Souldiers to preserve the Church for many daies after for seeing these riotous Tumults could not as yet obtain their ends they came nay they were brought again and again and they justled and offered some violence unto the Arch-Bishop's Grace as he went with the Earl of Dover into the Parliament House which made him and the rest of his brethren justly to fear what might be the issue of these sad beginnings which they conceived must needs be very lamentable if timely remedy were not applied to prevent these untimely frights and unchristian tumults Therefore when no Complaints either to the House of Lords or Commons could produce any safe effects but rather a frivolous excuse than a serious redress that they came to petition against the Government and not to seek the destruction of the Governours the Bishops were inforced and in my judgment flesh and blood could take no better course in such a case in such distress and I believe it will be found wisdom hereafter to make their Petition for their security and Protestation against all Acts as null they might have added to them and whom they represented that should be enacted in their unwilling absence while they were so violently hindered from the House and it may be some word might pass in this Protestation that might be bettered or explained by another word yet on such a suddain in such a fright when they scarce had time to take Counsel of their pillows or to advise with their second thoughts quae semper sunt saniores To watch for iniquity Esay 29.20 21. to turn aside the just for a thing of nought to take advantage of a word or to catch men for one syllable to charge them with High Treason to bring them unto death so many Reverend Bishops to such a shameful end was more heavy than ever I find the Jews were to the old Prophets or the Pagan Tyrants unto the Primitive Fathers nor do I believe you can Parallel the same charge in any History yet 3. For this one necessitated Act of the Bishops 3. How they were committed to Prison the House of Commons do suddainly upon the first sight thereof charge twelv of them with High Treason they were not so long in Condemning it as the Bishops in Composing it and accordingly the Lords commit them unto Prison And if this was Treason I demand why could they not prove it so to be Or if it was not why should such an House Flos Medulla regni the greatest and the Highest Court of Justice from which the King consenting with them there lieth none appeal but only to the Court of Heaven accuse them of High Treason I would not have that Court to charge a man with any thing that were not most true for certainly whosoever unjustly compasseth my death is justly guilty of death himself when as the Poet saith Lex non justior ulla Quà m necis artifices arte perire suâ It may be they would have us to believe this Treason was not proved nor the charge so fully followed as they intended out of some mercy to save their lives but I could sooner believe they rejoyced to see them fear and were glad of their mistake that they might charge them and by such a charge cast them into prison that so they might the more easily work their Design to cast them out of the Parliament which now they have soon effected and procured an Act for their exclusion And you must know that to cast out from doing good or serving God is a work of the Divel and not of God so the wicked Husbandmen did cast out the right Heir of the Vine-yard out of his own inheritance The consequences of this Act. so the Jews did cast out the blind man and all that professed Christ out of their Synagogue But you may better judge of this good Act by these consequences which are like to be the fruits thereof 1. Hereby they are all made incapable to do any good 1. Made incapable of doing any good either for Gods honour or their neighbours benefit by executing justice or pronouncing judgment in any cause in any temporal Court and justice which long agon hath fled to Heaven and wanders as a stranger here on earth must be countenanced and entertained only by the sons of men by secular Lords and Gentlemen and the Spiritual Lords the Servants of God and messengers of Heaven must have nothing to do with her not because they are not as well able as any other to do justice but because the others cannot endure to let them see it for fear they should hinder their injustice and therefore justice and judgment are like to speed well on earth when their chiefest friends are banished from them and it may be worldlings oppressours or most ignorant youths rather than any just understanders of their natures must be their Judges 2. 2. Made unable to defend themselves Hereby they are made unable to defend themselves or their calling from any wrong their respect was little enough before and their indignities were great enough and yet now we are exposed to far greater miseries and to unresistable injuries when a Bishop hath not so much Authority as a Constable to withstand his greatest affronts But hoc Iâ—hacus est this is that which the Devil and his great Atreides's his prime
Champions to enlarge his Kingdom would fain have our Souls to remain among Lions and all the means or defence to be taken from us our enemies to be our Judges and our selves to be murdered with our own weapons In the time of Popery there were many Laws de immunitate Clericorum whereby we were so protected that the greatest Prince could not oppress us as you may find in the Reign of King John and almost in all our Histories and when we renounced the Pope God made Kings our nursing Fathers and Queens our nursing Mothers and we putting our selves under their protection have been hitherto most graciously protected but now by this Act we are left naked of all defence and set under the very sword of our Adversaries and as the Psalmist saith They that hated us are made Lords over us to call us to assess us to undo us 3. Debarred of that right that none else are 3. Hereby they are made more slavish than the meanest Subject and deprived of that benefit and priviledge which the poorest Shoomaker Tailer or any other Tradesman or yeoman hath most justly left unto him for to be excluded debarred and altogether made uncapable of any benefit is such an insupportable burden that it is set upon no mans shoulders but upon the Clergy alone as if they alone were either unworthy to receive or unable to do any good 4. Made more contemptible than all others 4. Hereby they are made the unparalleled spectacle of all neglect and scorn to all forraign people for I can hardly believe the like Precedent can be shewed in any Age or any other Nation of the World no not among the very Infidels or Indians for in former times the Bishops and Clergy-men were thought the fittest instruments to be imployed in the best places of greatest truth and highest importance in the Common-Wealth and Kings made them their Embassadours as the Emperour Valentinian did Saint Ambrose And our own Chronicles relate how former times respected the Clergy and how our Kings made them both their Counsellours and their Treasurers Chancellours Keepers of the Great Seal and the like Officers of the chiefest concernment as Ethelbert in the year of Christ 605. Vt refert in tractatu suo de Episcopatu p. 61 62. M. Theyer Sir Henry Spelman p. 118. Idem p. 403. Idem p. 219. saith I Ethelbert King of Kent with the consent of the Reverend Arch Bishop Augustine and of my Princes do give and grant c. And the said Ethelbert with the Queen and his Son Eadbald and the most Reverend Prelate Augustine and with the rest of the Nobility of the Land solemnly kept his Christmass at Canterbury and there assembled a Common Councel tam cleri quà m populi as well of the Clergy as of the People And King Adelstan saith I Adelstan the King do signify unto all the Officers in my Kingdom that by the advice of Wolfelm my Arch-Bishop and of all my Bishops c. In the great Councel of King Ina An. 712. The Edicts were Enacted by the Common Councel and consent omnium Episcoporum Principum Procorum Câ—mitum omnium sapientum seniorum populorum totius regni per praeceptum regis Inae And in the second Charter of King Edward the Confessour How former times respected the Clergy granted to the Church of Saint Peter in Westminster it is said to be Cum concilio decreto Archiepiscoporum Episcoporum Comitum aliorumque suorum Optimatum With the Counsel and Decree of the arch-Arch-Bishops Bishops Earls and other Potentates And so not only the Saxon Kings but the Norman also ever since the Conquest had the Bishops in the like or greater esteem that they never held Parliament or Councel without them And surely these Princes were no Babes that made this choice of them neither was the Common-Wealth neglected nor justice prejudiced by these Governours And whosoever shall read Mores gentium or the pilgrimage of Master Purchas Livy Plutarch Appian and the rest of the Greek and Latin Histories I dare assure him he shall find greater honour given and far less contempt cast upon the Priests and Flamins the Prophets of the Sybils than we find of this Faction left to the Servants of the Living God who are now dâ—it withall worse than Pharaoh dealt with the Israelites that took away their straw and yet required their full tale of Bricks For these men would rob us of all our means and take away all our Lands and all our Rights and yet require not only the full tale of Sermons and Services as was used by our Predecessours but to double our files to multiply our pains How the Clergy are now used and to treble the Sermons and Services that they used to have of our forefathers more than ever was done in any Age since the first Plantation of the Gospel And when we have done with John Baptist the utmost of our endeavours like a shining and a burning lamp that doth waste and consume it self to nothing while it giveth light to others they only deal with us as Carriers use to do with their pack-horses hang bels at their ears to make a melodious noise but with little provender lay heavy loads upon their backs and when they can bear no more burdens take away their Bells withdraw their praises call them Jades exclaim against their laziness and then at last turn them out to feed upon the Commons and to die in a ditch And thus we have now made the Ministers of Christ to be the Emblems of all misery and in pretending to make them more glorious in the sight of God we have made them most base in the eyes of all men And therefore the consequence of this Act is like to prove most lamentable when the people considering how that hereby we are left naked of all comfort and subject to all kind of scorn and distresse and how that this being effected is but the Praeludium of a far greater mischief they will rather with no great cost make their children of some good Trade and their children will chuse so to be than with such great cost and more care and yet little hope to bring them up to worse condition than the meanest of all Trades or the lowest degree of all rusticks When as they can challenge and it shall not be denied them to have the priviledges of the Law The Clergy alone are deprived of Magna Charta and a property in their goods which without their own consent yielded in their persons or their representours cannot be taken from them And the Clergy only of all the people in this Kingdom shall be deprived of the right and benefit of our great Charter which so many famous Kings and pious Princes have confirmed unto us and when we have laboured all the dayes of our lives with great pains and more diligence to instruct our people and to attain to some competency of means to maintain
water which accompanied the persons accused to Westminster the next day after His Majesties departure as if they had passed in a Roman Triumph conceived the danger to be so great that I call Heaven to witness they blessed God that so graciously put it in the Kings heart rather to passe away over-night though very late than hazard the danger that might have ensued the day following The meaning therefore of both Houses may be That there was nothing done which they confessed to be a tumult And no marvel Because they received incouragement as we believed from their defence and no reproof that we found was made for this indignity offered unto the King But if I be constrained and in danger it is not enough for me that I am voted free and safe For if that which looks as like a tumult as that did or as the representation of my face in the truest Glasse is like my face doth come against me and incompasse me about though I may be perhaps in more safety yet I shall think my self in great fear and in no more security than His Majesty was at Edge-hill 3. Because as the viewer of the Observat hath very well exprest it Reason 3 p. 7. No Act of Parliament can prevail to deprive the King of His Right and Authority as an Attainder by Parliament could not bar the Title to the Crown from descending on King Hen. 7. Nor was an Act of Parliament disabling King Hen. 6. to re-assume the Government of his people of any force but without any repeal in it self frustrate and void 7. Rep. 14. Calvins case an Act of Parliament cannot take away the protection or the Subjects service which is due by the Law of Nature 11. rep Sur de la Wares case William de la Ware although disabled by Act of Parliament was neverthelesse called by Queen Elizabeth to sit as a Peer in Parliament for that it seems the Queen could not be barred of the service and counsel of any of Her Subjects 2. H. 7. 6. a Statute that the King by no non obstante shall dispence with it is void because it would take a necessary part of Government out of the Kings hand And therefore I see not how this Act can deprive the King of the service and counsel of all his Bishops and Clergy but that it is void of it self and needeth no repeal or if otherwise yet seeing that besides all this 13. of the Bishops were shut in prison when this Act passed and their protestation was made long before this time and it was so unduly framed so illegally prosecuted and with such compulsive threats and terrours procured to be passed I hope the wisdom of the next Parliament together with their love and respect to the Church and Church-men will nullifie the same CHAP. VI. Sheweth the Plots of the Faction to gain unto themselves the friendship and assistance of the Scots And to what end they framed their new Protestation How they provoked the Irish to rebell and what other things they gained thereby ANd thus the Sectaries of this Kingdom and the Faction in this Parliament have by their craft and subtilty prevailed to have all the chiefest impediments of their Design to be removed So now the hedge is broken down and all the Boars of the Forrest may now come into the vineyard to destroy the vine and to undermine the City of God But into their counsels let not my soul come 2. When they had taken away these stops and hinderances of their projects 2. The furtherances of their Design were five they were to recollect and make up the furtherances that might help to advance their Cause for the founding of their new Church and the establishing of their famous Democratical Government and popular Common-wealth And these I find to be principally five 1. The gaining of their Brethren of Scotland to become their fast and faithful friends 2. The framing of a Protestation to frighten the Papists and to insnare the simple to be led as they listed to prosecute their Design 3. The condemning of our late Canons as abominable in their judgement and inconsistent with their Religion 4. The appointing of a new Synod the like whereof was never heard in the Church since Adam to compose such Articles as they liked and to frame such Discipline as should be most agreeable to their own dispositions 5. The setling of a Militia a word that the vulgar knew not what it was for to secure the Kingdom as they pretended from those dangers that they feared that is from those Jacks of Lent and men of Clouts which themselves set up as deadly enemies unto the Church and State but indeed insensibly to get all the strength of the Realm into their own hands and their Confederates that so they might like the Ephori bridle the King and bring him as they pleased to abolish and establish what Laws and Government they should propose whereby perhaps he might continue King in Name but they in Deed. These were the things they aimed at and they effected the first three before they could be discryed and their Plots discovered but in the other two they were prevented when God said unto them as he doth unto the Sea Hitherto shalt thou go and no further here shalt thou stay thy proud waves And therefore I am confident and I wish all good Christians were so that their purposes shall never succeed nor themselves prosper therein while the World lasteth because God hath so mercifully revealed so much so graciously assisted our King and so miraculously not only delivered him from them but also strengthened him against them contrary to all appearing likely-hood to this very day which is a sufficient argument to secure our faith that we shall by the help of our God escape all the rest of their destructive Designs But to display their Banners to discover their Projects and to let the World see what they are and how closely and yet cunningly they went about to effect their work I will in a plain manner set down what I know and what I have collected from other Writings and from men that are fide digâ—i for one mans eyes cannot see all things nor infallibly perceive the Mysteries of all particulars for to confirm the faithful Subjects in their due obedience both to God and their King and to undeceive the poor seduced people that they perish not in the contradiction of Corah 1. It is believed not without cause 1 The indeering of themselves unto the Scots Our Sectaries the inviters of the Scots to England with far greater probabilities than a bare suspicion that our own Anabaptistical Sectaries and this Faction were the first inviters of those angry spirits that conceived some cause to be discontented and were glad of secret entertainers to enter into the bosom of this Kingdom Whatsoever those our Brethren of Scotland did I will bury it according to their Act in oblivion neither approving nor
yet blameing them for any thing But for any Subject of England to enterchange Messages and to keep private intelligence with any that seem to be in Arms against their King and the invaders of his Dominions to animate them to come and advance forward to refuse their Soveraigns Service and the Oath of their fidelity which was tendered unto them and to hinder the Kings Souldiers to do their duties either by denying to go with him or refusing to fight for him when they went which if some men were brought to their Legal tryal I believe would be more than sufficiently proved against them can be no lesse than heynous Crimes perhaps within the compasse of high Treason Or were these things but our jealousies and fears which do wear the garments of Truth yet their proceedings in Parliament do add more fuell unto the fire of our suspicion as for our men whom we have chosen to plead for us and to treat with them to respect them more than us to enrich them by impoverishing us How they behaved themselves towards the Scots giving them no lesse than 300000. l. who had entered into our Land and brought upon us such fears of I know not how many mischiefs that might succeed and not only so but also to shew what love they bare to them and how little regard they had of us their Native Brethren that put such trust and confidence in their fidelity as to commit all our fortunes and liberties into their hands paying weekly such a Pension for their provision besides the maintenance of our own Army which were forced to carry them their monies when themselves were unpaid as in a short time was able to exhaust all the wealth of this Kingdom and yet for all his Majesties continual calling upon them to dispatch their discharge and to finish the Treaty for the good of both Kingdoms keeping them here so exceeding long and making so very much of them which in truth we envyed not but admired what it meant when we saw with what continual feastings they were entertained in London and their lodgings frequented as the Kings Court till all the people began to murmur and to wax weary of so great a charge and such a burden as they knew must at last light upon their shoulders which must needs be matters worthy of our best examinations But as yet the common people that seeth no further than the present tense Why they detained them here so long and the outside of things did little know what many wise men did then foresee that these men aimed further than they seemed to do and delayed the businesse purposely till they had attained many of their desires and had fully endeared themselves into the affections of the Scots that if need required that they could not effect all the residue of their design as they intended which now could not so suddenly be brought unto perfection they might recall them here again to assist them to do that by force which by their craft and subtilty they should fail to do as now by their sending for them going unto them and alleadging the Act of Pacification for their assistance to withstand their King and to overthrow our Church it is apparent to all the World how perfidiously they dealt with God and man and how treacherous their thoughts were from the beginning both to the King and Kingdom Yet As we found our Brethren of Scotland howsoever these men behaved themselves in their secret intentions to have carried themselves none otherwise than as wise rational and religious men in all the Treaty So I assure my self they will hereafter still continue both faithful unto God and loyal unto their King and as they perceived not their intentions at the first so they will not now joyn with them in any Association of Rebellion to withstand their own Liege Lord and to change the established Laws and Religion of our Kingdom but will rather live in peace and happiness in their own Land than by forsaking their enjoyed quietness to involve themselves in the unhappiness of a desperate War in another Country 2. The compelling of all people to take their new framed Protestation 2. After they had thus endeared themselves unto their Brethren of Scotland they framed a Protestation to maintain and defend as far as lawfully they might with their lives powers and estates the True Reformed Protestant Religion his Majesties Royal Person Honour and Estate the power and priviledge of Parliament the lawful Rights and Liberties of the Subjects and every person that should make the Protestation in whatsoever he should do in the lawful pursuance of the same and to their power and as far as lawfully they might to oppose and by all good means endeavour to bring to condign punishment all such as shall either by force practice counsels plots conspiracies or otherwise * Which word is like the c. in the Canonical Oath do any thing to the contrary of any thing in the said Protestation contained and neither for fear hope nor other respect to relinquish this Promise Vow and Protestation In which Protestation though no man can espy the least shadow of ill prima facie at the first reading thereof yet if you look further and search narrowly into the intentions of the composers the frame of the Protestation and the practice of these Protestors ever since the framing of it you shall find that Desinit in piscem mulier formosa supernè these men are no Changelings but as like themselves as ever they were For 1. To terrifie the Papists to raise a Rebellion in Ireland 1. As it was intended so it succeeded it terrified the Papists and made them so desperate as almost to despair of their very Being as concerning the place where or the manner how they should live Which thing together with many other harsh and hard proceedings against many of them and the small countenance which they shewed unto a very moderate Petition that the Papists exhibited unto them hath driven abundance of them into Ireland whom I saw my self and there consulting with the Irish which were then also threatened by the Agents of this Faction there that ere long they should be severely handled and brought to the Church whether they would or no or pay such a Mulct as should make them poor what course they should take in such a desperate condition wherein they were all like to be ruined or to be rooted out of all the Kings Dominions they concluded what they would do To defend themselves by a plain Rebellion So this course against them hath been the leading-card as some of them confessed of that great Rebellion which being kindled as some Sectaries in England expected they thought they would so much the more weaken the King by how much the more combustion should be raised in each one of his Dominions And therefore notwithstanding all the Kings gracious Messages and wishes unto the House of
to passe them and though not for any offence that we saw in them yet for the scandall that might be taken at them we heartily wished they had never been so zealously propounded at that time But the Sectaries of London and the prevalent Faction in Parliament did with open mouth spend much time to the no small prejudice of the whole Kingdom and made many long Speeches to exclaim against them as against a Bundle of superstitions that obscured the purity of our Religion an introduction unto Popery and an intolerable unheard of the like invasion upon the liberty of the Subjects that revived again the Papal Tyranny which contrary to our Fundamental Laws have incroached to make Canons and Constitutions to bind our Consciences whereupon they canvas them and condemn them out of their house and the House of God out of the Church and Common-wealth and not only so but also the Contrivers of them and Consenters to them they terrifie and threaten to adjudge them sometimes with a praemunire to have forfeited all their goods and possessions and sometimes to be fin'd as we were at last with such a heavy Mulct as in all other mens judgement did far exceed the pretended offence especially of us that never consented to them And yet we find not only in Lindwood and others of our Canonists but also in the book of Martyrs and the rest of our English Histories that the Arch-Bishops within their Provinces have at several times made Canons and Constitutions for the Regulating of all the people committed to their charge without any suspicion of the least violation of our laws but the Faction say Sic volumus and the Houses of Parliament understand what is Law better then I do and therefore accordingly before the makers of them were called to make their answers by what Authority they made them or by what Law they could justify them they reject the Canons and censure their makers Yet notwithstanding their distast of them it is conceived by some that the Clergy having His Majesties writ to be convocated and leave to compose such Canons as they thought fit to be observed for the Honor of God the discharge of their duty and the good of the Church and having the Royal assent and approbation to all that they concluded which is all that I find the Statute provided in this case requireth though they should be defective or perhaps offensive in some circumstances yet if they be not legally abrogated after a full hearing of all parties and the Kings consent to reject them as it was to approve them they are still as binding and in as full force as ever they were though for mine own part I will not undertake the task to make that good when as both the Houses have condemned them but I say 4. This Scandal taken against these Canons 4. The appointing of a new framed Synod made way for the faction to call for a new Synod or Assembly of Divines for the rectifying of things amiss as well in Discipline as in Doctrine And in this new intended Synod the Divines are nominated not according to the rules and Canons of the Church and the Customs of all Nations Lay-men choosers of the Clergy as if a shepheard did choose pretious stones since the first Synod or Council of the Apostles by Divines that can best judg of their own abilities as when the spirit of the Prophets is subject to the Prophets but fearing the Clergy would have sent men that were too Orthodoxal for their faith they deprived them of their rights and forgetting their Protestation to defend the right of the Subject the choice is made by themselves that are Lay men and Young men and many of them perhaps Prophane men or at least not so religious nor so judicious as they ought to be for a business of this nature of so great concernment as the direction of our souls to their eternal bliss And now they being nominated we know most of them what they are men not only justly suspected to be ill disposed to the peace of our Church and too much addicted to innovation to alter the Government What manner of men they have chosen to reject and cast away the Book of Common-Prayer to oppose Episcopacy and to displcae the grave and godly Governours of Gods Church but also apparently fashioned to the humours of these their own Disciples who are to be the only judges of their determinations that although some few Canonical men and most Reverend Learned and Religious Bishops and others for fashion sake to blind the World are named amongst them yet when as in a Parliament so in a Synod the most desperate faction if they prove prevalent to be the major part will carry any thing in despite of the better part they shall stand but as Cyphers able to do nothing they might abolish our old established Government erect their own new invented Discipline and propagate their well affected Doctrine in all Churches for you may judge of them by their compeers Goodwin Burrows Arrow-Smith and the rest of their ignorant factious and schismatical Ministers that together with those intruding Mechanicks who without any calling either from God or man do step from the Botchers boord or their Horses stable into the Preachers Pulpit are the bellows which blow up this fire that threateneth the destruction of our Land like Shebah's trumpet to summon the people unto Rebellion and like the red Dragon in the Revelation which gave them all his poyson and made them eloquent to disgorge their malice and to cast forth floods of slanders after those that keep Loyalty to their Soveraign and to belch forth their unsavory reproaches against those that discover their affected ignorance and Seditious wickedness in defence of truth and are the Instruments of this faction to seduce the poor people to the desolation of the whole Kingdom if not timely prevented by their repentance and assistance to enable him whom God hath made our Protector to defend us against all such transcendent wickedness And these are the main ends for which they summoned such a new Synod of their furious and Fanatick teachers upon whose temper and fidelity I believe no wise man that knows them would lay the least weight of his souls felicity Whar Synod they should have chosen Whereas if they desired a Reformation of things amiss and not rather an alteration of our Religion and the abolition of our now setled Government they would have called for such a Synod as was in Queen Elizabeths time when the 39 Articles of our Religion were composed and such as they needed not to be ashamed to own in future times nor the best refuse to associate the rest for the illegality of their election for if there be any scandalous Governours as we deny not but there may be a Cham in the Ark a Judas amongst the Apostles and perhaps an unjustifiable Prelate among the Bishops as there was a proud
in the blood of so many faithful Christians do sing with the Psalmist Psal 58 9. The righteous rejoyce when they see this vengeance they shall wash their feet in the blood of the ungodly for as Solomon saith The tender mercies of the wicked are meer cruelty Prov. 12.10 And I believe the first inventers of that Design to root out all the Papists in Ireland and to get that Act to purchase all the Lands of the Rebels had tasted too much of this bitter root of such destructive Doctrine whereby you see how the Religion of these men robbes us of our Estates keeps no faith with us and takes away our lives 7. Though among the works of God every flower cannot be a Lilly 7. They would have a party among all men both in Church and Common-wealth Gal. 5 6. Col. 3.11 every beast cannot be a Lyon every bird cannot be an Eagle and every Planet cannot be a Phoebus yet in the School of these men this is the doctrine of their to be new erected Church that with God there is no respect of persons and neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but whether they be bond or free masters or servants Jew or Gentile Barbarian Scythian a country-Clown or a Court Gallant rich or poor it is all one with God because these Titles of Honour Kings Lords Knights and Gentlemen are no entities of Gods making but the creatures of mans invention to puffe him up with pride and not to bring him unto God and therefore though for the bringing of their great good work to passe they are yet contented to make the Earl of Essex their General and Warwick their Admiral and so Pym and Hampden great Officers of State yet when the work is done their Plot perfected and their Government established then you shall find that As now they will eradicate Episcopacie and make all our Clergie equall as if all had equally but one talent and no no man worthier than another so then there should be neither King Lord Knight nor Gentleman but a parity of degrees among all these holy brethren And to give us a taste of what they mean as the Lords concurrence with them inabled them to devour the Kings power so they have since with great justice prevailed with the House of Commons to swallow up the Lords power and have most fairly invaded their priviledge when they questioned particular Members * As my Lord Duke and my Lord Digbie 8. They would have no man to pray for temporal things Matth. 33 34. Matth. 6.11 9. Not to say the Lords Prayer 10. Not to say God Speed you 2 John 10.11 12 Not to pray for the Malignants 1 John 5.16 for words spoken in that House and then the whole House when they brought up and countenanced a mutinous and seditious Petition which demanded the Names of those Lords that consented not with the House of Commons in those things which that House had twice denied 8. Because our Saviour saith Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven and the righteousnesse thereof and all these things that is meat drink and cloathes and all other earthly things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be cast unto you and again Be not carefull for to morrow they teach their Proselytes that they ought not to pray by any means for any of these things whereas Christ biddeth us to say Give us this day our daily Bread 9. They cannot endure to say the Lords Prayer for that 's a Popish superstition but their Prayers must be all tautologies and a circular repetition of their own indigested inventions 10. You must not say God speed you to any neighbour or any traveller lest he intends some evill work and then you shall be partaker of his sin 11. They will not allow any of their Disciples to pray for any of the Reprobates and therefore they do exceedingly blame us and tear our Liturgie because we say That it may please thee to have mercy upon all men 12. Because Christ saith Call no man father on earth for one is your Father which is in Heaven the child must not call him that begat him and nurseth him his father nor kneel unto him to ask him blessing nor perform many other such duties which the Lord requireth and the Church instructeth her children to do to this very day and this foolish Doctrine of calling no man Father no man master or Lord and the like in their sense because they understand not the divine meaning of our Saviour's words hath been the cause of such undutifulnesse and untowardnesse such contempts of superiours and such rebellions to Authority as is beyond expression when as by their disloyalty being thus bred up in them from their cradle they first despise their father then their Teachers then their King and then God himself CHAP. IX Sheweth three other speciall points of Doctrine which the Brownists and Anabaptists of this Kingdom do teach 13. BEcause they can find no Text in Scripture when as the Alcoran is not so impudently hellish as to justifie the action for to warrant men to absolve our consciences from any Oaths that we have voluntarily taken for the performance of any businesse I cannot say that they do professedly teach but I do hear they do usually practise this most damnable sin as that Master Marshall and Master Case did absolve the Souldiers taken at Brainceford from their Oath which they took never to bear Arms against his Majesty which is a sin destructive both to body and soul when their Perjury added to their Treason makes them two-fold more the children of hell than they were before and if they be taken again they can expect nothing but their just deserved death and therefore I do admire that any man can challenge the name of a Divine which doth either preach or practise a point so devilish 14. They think sacriledge to be no sin Acts 20.34 1 Thes 2.9 1 Cor. 1.12 14. Because Saint Paul saith These hands have ministred to my necessities and to them that were with me and again Labouring night and day because we would not be chargeable to any of you we preached unto you the Gospel of God and because the rest of the Apostles and Disciples were Fishermen Tradesmen or professours of some Science either liberal or mechanick as Saint Luke was a Physician Joseph a Carpenter and the like who did live by their manual crafts and were chargeable to none of their people but sought them and not theirs to win their souls to God and not their monies unto themselves therefore they think it no robbery to take away all the revenues of the Church nor sacriledge to rob the Clergy of all the means they have because they should either labour for their livings as the Apostles did or live upon the peoples Almes as many poor Ministers do to the utter undoing of many souls in many distressed and most miserable Churches But because this revenue of
the Church and the Lands of the Bishops is that golden Wedge and the brave Babylonish garment which the Anabaptistical Achans of our time do most of all thirst after in this their pretended holy Reformation I must here sistere gradum stay awhile and let you know 1. Sacriledge what it is 1. That the taking away of any Lands or goods given and consecrated to holy uses and to convert the same to any other purpose than which they were dedicated is termed sacriledge that is the stealing of holy goods from the right owners to our selves and others to whom we leave them 2. That this sacriledge is a sin for it is a snare to the man 4. That it is a sinne who devoureth that which is holy and after vowes to make inquiry that is whether such a service be needful or such a taking away be a sin 3. That this sinne is a very great sinne for Saint Paul saith 3. A great sin Thou that abhorrest Idols committest thou sacriledge And Idolatry is the giving of our goods and service to false gods Sacriledge the taking away of goods dedicated to the service of any God especially of the true God And this seemeth by the Apostles words to be a greater sinne than the other because the devill laboureth more to take away the service of the true God than to establish his own service for he knoweth that as light taken away darknesse must needs follow so the true Religion being destroyed Hosea 2.8 Ezech. 16. 1 Reg. 18.19 Gen. 22. Idolatry must needs succeed and he knoweth that Idolatry hath been bountiful enough to the service of Idols that he needeth not so much to fear the taking away of their goods as to care that the goods dedicated to Gods service be taken away 4. That this sin is a very dangerous sinne both to 1. The Persons that commit it 2. 4 A most dangerous sin Joshua 7. Act. 5.4 1. To the sacrilegers To the Common-wealth that suffers it for 1. Not onely Achan Ananias and Sapphira and other private men perished for this sinne but the proudest Kings and greatest Peers that became sacrilegious were plagued and destroyed by God as Belshazzar the great Monarch of Assyria William Rufus and abundance more that you may find in our Histories for the curse of God like Damocles sword by a slender thred hangs over their heads and makes them like those that perished at Endor and became as the dung of the earth And I beseech you mark it Make them like a wheel and as the stubble before the wind persecute them with thy tempest let them be confounded and be put to shame and perish which say Let us take to our selves the houses of God in possession and if this be the guerdon of them that say it I wonder what shall be the plague of them that do it and I wonder more that the very thought of this Curse doth not make their hearts to tremble if their consciences were not seared to be senselesse of all fear 2. The sin of sacriledge extendeth it selfe not onely to the persons committing it but also to the whole Nation that suffereth it 2. To whole Nations as the sin of Achan was not onely a snare to catch him to be destroyed but it troubled all Israel so that they were still discomfited and never prospered till the sacrileger was punished and the Lord appeased If you say The sinne is taken away when the Parliament takes these things away I answer that we must not idolize the Parliament as if it were a kind of omnipotent Creature and like the Pope such an infallible Lord God upon earth as that their Votes and Sanctions were the supremest rule of justice that cannot be unjust because they are enacted by the whole State because as no conclusions are therefore truths because determined by a whole Councell so no Lawes are therefore just because done by a whole Parliament but when they do agree with the common rules of truth and justice which God hath given unto men and shewed the same in his holy Word which he hath left to be the right rule of our actions And therefore if the greatest Assemblies Parliament or Councell make not the will of God the rule to guide their proceedings thereby their Sanctions are so farre from taking away the nature of the sin that they do increase the evill and make it the more out of measure sinfull and to become a national sin that before was but personal and the more exceedingly sinful when the same is confirmed by a Law so that none dares speak against it and the sinners are become senselesse in their sinnes and therefore the Prophet demandeth how any man that feareth God dares meddle with such a people that will thus justifie their sinnes saying Shall the throne of iniquity that is any unjust course have fellowship with thee which framest mischief by a Law And the Lord doth extremely threaten them that walk after unrighteous ordinances as that they should sow much Mich. 6.15 16. but not reap tread the Olives but not annoint themselves therewith and sweet wine but not drink it because the Statutes of Omri are kept and all the works of the house of Achab and they walked in their counsels Hos 5.10 11. and the Prophet Hosea doth more fully set down the wrath of God both against the makers and the observers of all unrighteous Laws Object If you say The Lands and Lordships of the Bishops were not the patrimony of the Church but were onely in superstitious times given by our Kings and others unto the Church-men and therefore now the King being in want they may be restored to the Crown again Sol. I confesse the Lands of the Church are the free bequests of godly Kings and of other pious men dead long agoe with most fearful imprecations made against all those that should seek to alter their Wills and Testaments Gal. 3.15 and the Apostle saith If it be but a mans Testament no man altereth it that is no honest man ought to alter it though perhaps his Will might have been made wiser and his goods bestowed to better use for our Saviours Maxim when he gave a Penny to him that laboured but one hour and but a Penny to him that had endured the heat of the day is unanswerable Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own And therefore 1. As others daily leave their estates of great Amount to whom they please many times to strangers and perhaps to idiots or debauched persons of wicked lives and noxious manners and yet no man grudgeth or endeavoureth to take away those just Legacies which their good Benefactours had bestowed upon these unjust men so there is no reason that any mans eyes should be evill for the goodnesse of their Ancestours unto the Clergie but that their Wills should stand to those uses after their death as intemerate as if they were
now alive to dispose of their beneficence 2. They are most injurious to the King who is wise as an Angel of God and therefore holdeth this sacriledge odious to his Princely heart that would seek to enrich his Crown with that which will shake it on his head and endanger all his Posterity to such fearful judgements as his Progenitours have denounced and God hath executed upon many Kings and Princes for the like sinnes for as Moses prayeth against the sacrilegious enemies of Levi Deut. 33.11 Smite through the loines of them that rise aginst him and of them that hate him that they rise not again so we find that many ancient families having by the Statute of Dissolution taken some of the Lands and Tithes of the Church into their possessions have found the same like the Gold of Tholous Pierius in Hier glyph or the Eagles feathers pernitiosa potentia that will consume all the feathers where they shall be mingled Who so is wise will consider these things and will not to satisfie these Anabaptistical dregges of the people Aelian lib. 5. cap 15. Var. Hist and the enimies of all Christian Religion sacrilegiously take away with Aelian's boy the golden plate from Diana's Crown the Lands and Revenues of the Church but having not so learned Christ they will do that which becommeth Saints and suffer the dead to enjoy their own will in that wherein they put them to to no charge and if they do intend to promote Gods service they will not rob Saint Peter to pay Saint Paul but will rather say with holy David God forbid that I should offer sacrifice to God of that which cost me nothing 15. As any wooden Preachers like Jeroboam's Priests de foece plebis scarce worthy to be compared with the Grooms of their stable or such humi serpentes poor abjects as Job speaks of Job 30.8 The sonnes of villains and bond-men more vile than the earth they crawle upon are fit enough to be their teachers and beggarly pensioners so any place a thatched Barn a littered Stable or an ample Cow-house What prayers and Sermons please these men is thought by these to be very fair and fit to be the House of Him that was born in a Stable and laid in a Manger and any service prayers without sense such as our Saviour blames and preaching without learning without truth such as their Enthusiasts conceive in illa horâ quicquid in buccam venerit without any further study or meditation is justified to be most acceptable to God witnesse the Authour of One argument more against the Cavaliers where that great Schollar in his own opinion rails against our grave Bishops and most impudently reproacheth a very reverend man of known worth and great learning by the scandalous Epithete of The ceremonious Master of Balliol Colledge Doctor Laurence whom for a most learned and pious Sermon preached before the King upon these words of Exodus Put off thy shooes from thy feet for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground he doth just like the eldest son of his dear father the devill as Tertullian calleth Hermogenes primogenitum diaboli most falsely and shamelesly charge him with the wearing of consecrated slippers which was never done but is one of those scurrilous invented imputations of this malicious Accuser of his brethren now thrown at him whose shooes either for learning or piety I am sure this rambling Arguist and railing Rabsheka is not worthy to bear and for the service of God in our Churches though the holy Prophet which was a man according to Gods own heart Musick ever used in the Church Psal 147.1 149.3 Ps 150.3 4 5. praised God in the beauty of holinesse upon all the best instruments of musick and commanded us as well in the grammatical sense as in the mystical sense to sing praises unto our God with Tabret and Harp to praise him in the sound of the Trumpet in the Cymbals and dances upon the well-tuned Cymbals and upon the loud Cymbals yet this zealous Organe-mastix gives us none other Title than Cathedral Roarers and Squeakers and good reason it is he should be very angry with roaring and squeaking in Churches Pag. 14. for that having been possest of a very competent Living with cure of soules these four or five years together if I am not mistaken in the Authour he never yet either read or preached in that or any other Church so necessary is Non-residence and so usefull are dumb dogges when they are willing to snarle and bark against Government and Religion but it is strange to me that such a divine harmony Musick how useful Theodoric Epist l. 2. Plutarch de Musica which hath made others sober should make this spawn of the red Dragon mad for we know some Law-givers commanded children to be taught 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the grave composed tones of the Dorick way ad corda fera demulcenda to soften the fiercenesse of their dispositions and ad montis fervorem temperandum to cool and allay the heat and distempers of their minds as Achilles was appeased in Homer and Theodosius was drawn to commiseration luctuoso carmine by a sad Poem sung to him at supper Niceph. lib. 12 cap. 43. when he intended the utter destruction of Antioch and the Scripture testifieth the like effect of Davids harp in King Saul yet all this sweet and hallowed air which ravisheth devout souls hath onely filled this envious malignant with nasty winds and stinking expressions So contrary to the words of God himself Exod. 3.5 and against the judgement of all Divines and the practice of all Saints à primordiis Ecclesiae from the first birth of Gods Church Pag. 15.18 he most ignorantly denieth any place to be holier than another which makes me afraid that Heaven with this man and his faction is deemed no holier than Hell or the Lords day no holier than Monday no more than they hold the Church holier than their Bâ—rns or the holiest Priest though he were Aaron himself the Saint of the Lord holier than the prophanest worldling for I find no differnce that they make either of persons times or places but such a commixtion of all things as if they intended to reduce and bring the whole world into that confused Chaos which God first created before he disposed the parts thereof into their several stations But I am loth to spend any more time about this ignorant Argument that is as all the rest of their Writings are as full of railing and unsavoury speeches as any mortall pen can diffuse therefore I leave him to do with his heart and mouth as that Morussian Cabares whereof he speaketh did with those Churches which the Goths and Vandals had defiled Thus you have some and I might adde here abundance more of their absurd and impious Doctrines which their ignorant simplicity produced and their furious zeal published out of mis-interpreted Scriptures not that
design How they strengthened themselves to make their orders fi m without the King Whereupon these men put their heads together to consult how they might strengthen themselves and make their ordinances firm and binding without the King and to that purpose having by their former doings gotten too great an interest as well in the faith as in the affections of the people in confidence of their own strength they came roundly to the businesse and what they knew was not their right as their former Petitions can sufficiently witnesse they resolve to effect the same by force but as insensibly as they can devise as 1. To seize upon the Kings Navie to secure the Seas 2. To lay hold upon all the Kings Magazine Forts Towns and Castles 3. To with-hold his moneys and revenues and all other means from the King 4. To withdraw the affections and to poyson the loyalty of all his Majesties Subjects from him And hereby they thought and it must have been so indeed except the Lord had been on his side they had made their hill so strong that it could not be moved and the King so weak and destitute of all means that he could no wayes subsist or relieve himself as a member of their own House did tell me for 1. Earl of Warwick made Vice-Admiral 1. They get the Earl of Warwick to be appointed Vice-Admiral of the Sea and to commit all the Kings Navie into his hand and to take away that charge from Sir John Pennington whom most men believed to be far the better Sea-man but more faithful to his King and the other purer to the Parliament 2. Sir John Hotham put into Hull for the Magazine 2. They send Sir John Hotham a most insolent man that most uncivilly contemned the King to his face to seize upon the Kings Magazine that he bought with his own money when they might as well take away my horse that I paid for and to keep the King out of Hull which was his own proper Town and therefore might as well have kept him out of White-Hall and was an Act so full of injustice as that I scarce know a greater 3. They detained the Kings moneys Esay 1.23 3. Because moneys are great means to effect any worldly affaire and the sinews of every warre when as men and arms and all other necessaries may be had for money some of them and their followers shew themselves to be just as the Peers of Israel companions of thieves meer robbers which forcibly take away a mans mony from him they take all the Kings treasure they intercept detain and convert all the Kings revenues and customes to strengthen themselves against the King 4. They labour to render the King odious by lyes 4. Because their former Remonstrances framed by this faction of the ill government of this kingdom though in some things true which the King ingenuously acknowledgeth and most graciously promiseth to redresse them yet in all things full of gall and bitternesse against the King could not so fully poyson the love and loyalty of the Kings Subjects as they desired especially the love of those that knew his Majesty who the better they knew him did the more affectionately love him and the more faithfully serve him they thought to do it another and a surer way with apparent lyes palpable slanders and abominable accusations invented printed and scattered over all the parts of this kingdom by their Trencher Chaplains and parasitical Preachers and other Pamphleters some busie Lawyers and Pettifoggers to bring the King into an odium disliked and deserted of all his loving Subjects And what created power under heaven was able to dissolve that wickednesse which subtilty and malice had thus treacherously combined to bring to passe Hereupon after many threatning votes 1. Lye that he intended to war against the Parliament and actual hostility exercised against his Royall person the King is forced to raise a guard for the defence of himself and those his good Subjects that attended him then presently that small guard that consisted but of the chief gentry of the Countrey was declared to be an Army raised for the subversion of the Parliament and the destruction of our native liberties an invincible Army is voted to be raised the Earl of Essex is chosen to be their Generall with whom they promise both to live and die the Earl of Bedford General of the Horse moneys are provided and all things are prepared to fetch the King and all delinquents or to be the death of all withstanders and that nothing might hinder this design though the King in many gracious Messages attested by the subscription of many noble Lords that were upon the place assured them he never intended any warre against his Parliament yet they proceed with all eagernesse and declare all those that shall assist the King either with Horse money or men to be malignants and enemies unto the King and Kingdome and such delinquents as shall be sure to receive condigne punishment by the Parliament Hoc mirum est hoc magnum And among the rest of their impudent slanders this was their Master-piece which they ever harped upon that he countenanced Papists and intended to bring Popery into this Kingdgm and to that end had an Army of Papists to assist him But to satisfie any sensible man in this point I would crave the resolution of these two Questions 1. Whether every Papist that is subject to his Majesty Two questions to be resolved is not bound to assist and defend his King in all his dangers 2. Whether the King should not protect his Subjects that are Papists in all their dangers so far as by the Law he ought to do it and accept of their service when he himself is invironed with dangers For first 1. All Papists bound to assist their King I believe there is no Law that inhibiteth a Papist to serve his King against a Rebellion or to ride Post to tell the King of a Design to murder Him or any other intended Treason against Him or being present to take away a weapon from that man that attempted to kill the King because his not coming to Church doth not exempt him from his Allegiance or discharge him of his duty and service unto the King and therefore if a Fleet from France or Spain or any other forreign part should invade us or any Rebellion at home should rise against his Soveraign and seek to destroy those Lawes and Liberties whereof himself and his Posterity hath as good an interest to as any other Subject I say he is bound by all Laws to assist his King and to do his best endeavour both with his purse and in his person not only to oppose that external Invasion but also to subdue as well that home-bred Rebellion as the forreign Invasion 2. If a Papist should be injured his estate seized upon 2. The King bound to protect dutiful Papists his house
plundered and his person if taken imprisoned not because he transgressed any other Law but that he dispenceth not with the Law of his conscience to be no Papist and being thus injured should come unto his King and say I am your Subject and have lived dutifully I did nothing which the Law gives me not leave I have truly paid all duties and humbly submitted my self to all penalties and yet I know not why I am thus used and abused by my neighbours I am driven from my house by force of Arms and I have no place to breathe but under your Majesties wings and the shelter of your power therefore I beseech you as you are my King and are obliged to do your best for the safety of your true Subjects let me have your protection and you shall have my service unto death I would fain know what the King should do in such a case deny his protection or refuse his service The one is injustice the other not the best wisdom especially if he needed service for as the Law of nature and of nations requireth all Subjects to obey their Kings and faithfully to serve them of what Religion soever their Kings shall be so Lege relationis every King is bound to protect every faithfull Subject that observeth his Laws or submitteth to their penalties without corrupting of his fellow Subjects of what Religion soever he is because they are his Subjects not as they are faithfull Christians but as obedient men and he is to rule not over the faith of their souls but the actions of their bodies and it is an Axiom in Divinity that Fides non est cogenda and if Kings cannot perswade their subjects to embrace the true Faith they ought not to cut them off so long as they are true Subjects And therefore with what reason can any man blame the King either for protecting them in their distresses or accepting their service in his own extremities I cannot understand And yet for the goodly company of Papists which his Majesty entertaineth in all his Armies they cannot all make up so much as one good Regiment as an Officer in his Majesties Army confidently affirmeth but it will serve their turn to taxe the King to lay imputations upon him even the very things that belong unto themselves as the whole summe of those things that are expressed in Englands Petition to their King mutaetis mutandis might truly be presented to the two Houses that have now almost destroyed us all and to make them mighty faults in him which are no faults at all in themselves because there is no fear of their favouring Popery though as they have very many so they should have never so many more in their Army 3. Lye that he caused the Rebellion in Ireland 3. Another Slander they not onely whispered but also dispersed the same farre and near among the people to make the King still the more odious unto his Subjects that he was the cause of the Rebellion in Ireland and that the Rebels there had his Commission under the Broad Seal to plunder the Protestants and to expell them thence that so the Gospel being rooted out of Ireland Popery might the easier be transported and planted here in England whereas themselves in very deed were the sole causers of this Rebellion as I have shewed unto you before and the colour of this slander was The cause of this slander that the Rebellion being raised the Ring leaders of those Rebels the sooner to gain the simple to adhere unto them perswaded them to believe that they had the Kings command to do the same and to that purpose shewed them the Broad Seal which they had taken from Ministers and Clerks of the Peace and others whom formerly they had plundered and taken their Seales from them which they cunningly affixed to certain Commissions of their own framing as M. Sherman assured me he saw the Broad Seal that was taken from one M. Hart that was Clerk of the Peace in the County of Tumond and was found in the pocket of one of the chief Leaders of the Rebels when he was killed by the Kings Souldiers yet this false and lewd practice of these Rebels in Ireland was a most welcom news to this Faction in England to lay this imputation upon the King that he was the cause of this Rebellion which themselves had kindled and were glad to find such a colour to impute it unto him that it might not be suspected to be raised by them Many other such falsehoods Lyes and impudent slanders hath the father of lyes caused these his Children most impudently to father upon the King but as the Philosopher saith Non quia affirmatur aut negatur res erit How things are indeed aut non erit Things are not so and so because they are said to be so neither can they be no such things onely because they are denied to be such as Gold is not Copper because ignorant men affirm it to be so nor a drunken man sober or a vitious man vertuous because they deny him to be good and blazon him abroad for one of the sonnes of Belial but as Gold is Gold and Brasse is Brasse so godly men are good wicked men are evill and Rebels are none other then Rebels let men call them what they will and so our King is not such a man as they say because they affirm it but he is indeed a most just vertuous and most pious Prince let them say what they will Their tongues are their own and we cannot rule them and so all his followers are better Protestants indeed and less Papists in all points of faith than the best of them that term us so by false names God forgive them these slanderous accusations CHAP. XI Sheweth the unjust proceedings of these factious Sectaries against the King eight special wrongs and injuries that they have offered him Which are the three States And that our Kings are not Kings by election or Covenants with the People ANd yet for all these strange courses contrary to all humane thoughts Psal 118.23 Esay 46.10 which is marvellous in our eyes the Lord of Heaven whose counsell shall stand and whose will shall be done hath them all in derision dissipates all these devices and turns all the counsell of Achitophel against his own head when he opened the eyes of many millions of the Kings true Subjects to behold and detest these unfaithful dealings and dis-loyall proceedings against so gracious a King and therefore petitioned and subscribed that his Majesty standing upon his Guard and defending himself from such indignities as might follow they would hazard their lives and fortunes to assist him to repell those more than barbarous injuries that were offered unto Him Therefore now Memoriae proditum est I find it written that without fear of God without regard of Majesty without justice without honesty they are resolved rather than to repent of their former wickednesse to involve
the whole Kingdome in an unnatural civill War and to maintain the same against the will and contrary to the desires both of the King and Kingdom and it is almost incredible what wicked courses and how unjust and insufferable Orders and Ordinances you shall find recorded that they have made 1. Against the King 2. Against the Subjects 3. Against the Law Which are all said to be exceedingly abused by them for 1. Against the King it is registred to Posterity that they have proceeded besides many other things in all these particulars 1. They possesse all the Kings Houses Towns and Castles 1. Their proceedings against the King 1. Wrong Matth. 8 20. but what he gets by the strength of his sword and detain them from him so that we may say with our Saviour The Foxes have holes and the fowles of the air have nests but the King of England hath not an house allowed him by the Houses of Parliament wherein to put his head and they take not onely his Houses but also his rents and revenues and as I understood when I was in Oxford his very clothes and provision for his Table that seeing they could not take away his life by the sword they might murder him with cold or famin when he should not have the subsistence if they could hinder him to maintain life and soul together which is the shame of all shame and able to make any other men odious to all the world The complaint to the House of Commons Pag. 19. thus maliciously and barbarously to deal with their own most gracious King neither doth their malice here end but they with-hold the Rents of the Queen and seize upon the Revenues of our Prince which I assure them my Countrey-men takes in great scorn and I believe will right it with their lives or this Parliament-Faction shall redeem their errours with no small repentance when as we find no Prince of Wales was ever suffered by his Subjects to have such indignities offered him by the greatest Peers of England And here I cannot omit what Alderman Garraway saith of the reproach of Master Pym touching the maintaining of the Kings other Children which he professeth made his heart to rise and hoped it did so to many more Alderman Garraway his Speech Is our good King fallen so low that his Children must be kept for him It is worth our inquiry Who brought him to that condition We hear him complain that all his own Revenue is seized and taken from him Is not his Exchequer Court of Wards and Mint here his Customes too are worth somewhat and are his Children kept upon Alms How shall We and our Children prosper if this be not remedied And I pray God these things rise not up in judgement against them and this Nation but hereby they intended to verifie that disloyal Speech which One of them uttered in a Tavern and God will avert it from his Servant Sober Sadnesse pag. 22. 2. Wrong That they would make the King as poor as Job unlesse he did comply with them 2. If any man which they like not attends the Kings Person though he be his sworn servant or assist him in his just defence which he is bound to do by the Law of God and man yet he is presently voted and condemned for a Malignant Popish dis-affected evill Counsellour and an enemy to the State and that is enough if he be catched to have him spoyled and imprisoned at their pleasure nay my self was told by some of that Faction that because I went to see the King I should be plundered and imprisoned if I were taken 3 Wrong 3. Though they do solemnly professe that his Majesties personal safety and his royal honour and greatnesse are much dearer unto them then their own lives and fortunes The Petition to his Majesty the 16. of July 1642. which they do most heartily dedicate and shall most willingly imploy for the support and maintenance thereof yet for all this hearty Protestation they had at that very time as the King most accurately observeth in his Answer directed the Earl of Warwick to assist Sir John Hotham against him Non turpe est ab eo vinci quem vincere est nefas neque ei inhonestè aliquem submitti quem Deus super omnes extulit Dictum Armenii Pompeii appointed their Generals and as Alderman Garraway testifieth raised ten thousand armed men out of London and the Neighbour-Countries before the King had seven hundred and afterwards though the King sent from Nottingham a gracious Message and sollicitation for Peace yet they supposing this proceeded from a diffidence of his own strength or being too confident of their own force sleighted the Kings Grace and most barbarously proceeded in the most hostile manner waged warre and gave battail against the Kings Army where they knew he was in his own Person and as one of their Preachers taught the Sunday before the Battail that they might with a good conscience as well kill the King horresco dicere as any other man so according to Captain Blagues directions as Judas taught the High-Priests servants we know what Troops and Regiments were most aimed at whereas they do most ridiculously say they have for the defence of his person sent many a Cannon-bullet about his eares which he did with that Kingly courage and Heroick magnanimity yea and that Christian resolution and dependance on Gods assistance pass through that it shall be recorded to his everlasting honour and their indelible shame and reproach so long as the world endureth 4. 4 Wrong They have most Disloyally and Traiterously spoken both privately and publickly such things against his Majesty as would make the very Heathens tear them in pieces that should say the like of their Tyrannous Kings and such as I could not believe they proceeded from the mouth of a Christian against so Christian a King but that I find most of them were publickly uttered made known unto his Majesty and related by himself and those that were Ear-witnesses thereof Sober sadness p. 3. The Viewer p. 4. His Majesties Declaration Trussel in the supplement to Daniels History as Horresco referens that he was not worthy to be our King not fit to live that he was The Traitor that the Prince would govern better and that they dealt fairly with him they did not depose him as their fore-fathers had deposed Richard the second whom all the World knoweth to be most Traiterously Murdered and the whole progress of that Act whereby he was deposed is nothing else but the Scandal of that Parliament and an horrid treason upon the fairest relation of any Chronicle and the good Bishop of Carlile was not then affraid in open house to tell the Lords so to their faces and I would our Parliament men would read his Speech 5. They command their own Orders Ordinances 5. Wrong and Declarations to be Printed Cum privilegio and to be published
contrary to the practice of all former Parliaments and contrary to the Honour of any Parliament things were herein debated and carried not by strength of argument but by the most voices and the greater number were so far from understanding the validity of the alleadged Reasons that after the Votes passed they scarce conceived the state of the Question but thought it enough to be Clerks to Master Pym and to say Amen to Master Hampden by an implicite faith 3. When they deny the Members of their House or any other imployed by them in this horrid Rebellion should be questioned for Felony Treason 3. Denying their Members to be legally tried for any capital Crime Vide Dyer p. 59. 60. Crompton 8. b. 9 10 11. Elism post-nati 20 21. The viewer p. 43. Murder or the like capital Crimes but only in Parliament or at least by the leave of that House whereof they are Members or which doth imploy them for by this means any Member of their House may be a Traitor or a Murderer or a Robber whensoever he please and may easily escape before the party wronged or complainant can obtain this leave of the House of Commons and therefore this is as unreasonable and as sensless a Priviledge as ever was challenged and was never heard of till this Parliament For why should any man refuse his Tryal or the House deny their Members to the justice of the Law when as the deniall of them to be tryed by the Law implyeth a doubt in us of the innocency of those whom we will not submit to justice and their Tryal would make them live gloriously hereafter if they were found innocent and move the King to deliver those men that had so wickedly conspired their destruction to the like censure of the Law But for them to cry out The King is mis-informed and we dare not trust our selves upon a Tryal may be a way to preserve their safety but with the losse of their reputation and perhaps the destruction of many thousands of people If they say They are contented to be tried but by their own House which in the time of Parliament is the highest Court of justice It may be answered said a plain Rustick with the old Proverb Ask my fellow if I be a Thief For mine own part I reverence the justice of a Parliament in all other judgements betwixt party and party yea betwixt the King and any other Subject yet when the party accused shall be judged by his own Society his Brethren and his own Faction I believe any indifferent Judge would see this to be too great partiality against the King that he shall not have those whom he accuseth to be tried by the Laws already established and the ordinary course of Justice and if the Judges offend in their Sentence the Parliament hath full power undenied them by his Majesty to question and to punish those Judges as they did for that too palpable in justice as they conceived in the case of the Ship money but they will be judged by themselves and all that dissent from them must be at their mercy or destruction And yet it is said to be evident That no Priviledge can have its ground or commencement unlesse it be by Statute Grant or Prescription And by the Stat. 26. Hen. 8. cap. 13. it is enacted That no offender in any kind of high Treason shall have the priviledge of any manner of Sanctuary So all the Grants of such a priviledge if any such should be made are meerly void 1 Hen. 7. Staffords case and not one Instance could hitherto be produced whereby such a Priviledge was either allowed or claimed but the contrary most clearly proved by his Majesty out of Wentworths case And therefore seeing your own Law-books tell us That the Priviledge of Parliament doth not extend to Treason the breach of the Peace and as some think against the Kings debt it is apparent how grossely they do abuse the People by this claim of the Priviledge of Parliament 4. 4. Conniving with their Faction for any fault When they connive with their own compeers for any breach of priviledge as with Master Whitakers for searching Master Hampdens pockets and taking away his papers immediately after the abrupt breaking up of the last unhappy Parliament and those that discovered the names of them that differed in opinion from the rest of the Faction in the business of the Earl of Straffords and specially with that rabble of Brownists and Anabaptists which with unheard-of impudency durst ask that question publickly at the Bar Who they were that opposed the well-affected party in that House as if they meant to be eeven with them whosoever they were And likewise that unruly multitude of zealous Sectaries that were sent as I find it by Captain Ven and Isaac Pennington to cry Justice Justice Justice and No Bishops no Bishops and this to terrifie some of the Lords from the House and to awe the rest that should remain in the House as they had formerly done in the case of the Earl of Strafford and when others that they like not are for the least breach of pretended Priviledge either imprisoned or expelled for I assure my self there cannot be higher breaches of Priviledges than these be nor greater stains to obscure the Honour and vilifie the repute of this Parliament 5. The ingaging one another in civil causes 5. When there is such siding and ingaging one another in civil causes that they may be conglutinated together for their great Design to do things not according unto Justice but for their own ends contrary to all right and their favour is scarce worth the charge of attendance to them that speed best by their Ordinances but the complaint is that m n have the greatest injuries done them in this that themselves call the highest Court of Justice which others say hath now justified all other inferiour Courts and made all unrighteous Judges most just 6. The surreptitious carrying of businesses 6. When as we have been informed a matter of the greatest importance hath been debated and put unto the question and upon the question determined and the Bill once and again rejected yet at another time even the third time when the Faction had prepared the House for their own purpose and knew they could carry it by most voices the same question hath been resumed and determined quite contrary to the former determination when the House was more orderly convened as it is said they did to passe the Ordinance for the Militia which many men dare avouch to their faces to be no Priviledge of Parliament but a great abuse of their fellow-Members and a greater injury unto all their fellow-Subjects 7. Their partiall questioning of some men and no questioning of some others 7. When the elections of some of their Members have been questioned and others have been accused for no lesse than capital Crimes as Master Griffith was yet if these men
incline and conspire with this Faction to confirm those Positions which they proposed to themselves to overthrow the Church and State and to uphold their usurped Government and tyrannical Ordinances they will pretend twenty excuses as The great Affairs of the State The multiplicity of their businesses The necessity of procuring monies The shortnesse of their time though they sate almost three years already that they have no leisure to determine these questions which in truth they do purposely put off lest they should leese such a friend unto their party but when any other which dissenteth from their humours doth but any thing contrary to the straitest Rules of the House they do presently notwithstanding all their greatest affairs call that matter into question The L Digby in his Apolog. and it must be examined and followed with that eagernesse as in my Lord Digby's case that he must be forthwith condemned and excluded for we say This cannot be any just Priuiledge but an unjust proceeding of this Parliament 8. The delegating of their power to particular men 8. When they delegate their power to some men to do some things of themselves without the rest as it seems they did unto Master Pym when an Order passed under his sole test for taking away the Rails from the Communion Table for this is a course we never heard of in former time 9. The multiplying of their Priviledges 9. When their Priviledges are so infinitely grown and inlarged more than ever they were in former Parliaments and so swelled that they have now swallowed up almost all the Priviledges of other men so that they alone must do what they please and where they will in all Cities and in all Courts because they have the Priviledge of Parliament 10. When according to the great liberty of language 10. Their speaking and sitting in other Courts which we deny them not within their own wall they take the Priviledge to speak what they list in other places and to govern other Courts as they please where as they did in Dublin and do commonly in London they sit as Assistants with them that are priviledged by their Charters to be freed from such Controllers 11. When above all that hath been or can be spoken 11. Their close Committee they have made a close Committee of Safety as they call it which in the apprehension of all wise and honest men is not only a course most absurd and illegall but also most destructive to all true Priviledges and contrary to the equitable practice of all publick meetings that any one should be excluded from that which concerneth him as well as any of the rest And this Committee only which consisteth of a very few of the most pragmatical Members of their House must have all intelligences and privy counsels received and reserved among themselves and what they conclude upon must be reported to the House which must take all that they deliver upon trust and with an implicite Roman faith believe all that they say and assent to all that they do only because these forsooth are men to be confided in upon their bare word The greatnesse of this abuse when their House hath no power to administer an Oath unto any man in the greatest affairs happiness or destruction of the whole Kingdom for this is in a manner to make these men Kings more than the Roman Consuls and so as great a breach of Priviledge and abuse of Parliament as derogatory to his Majesty that called them to consult together and as injurious to all the people as can be named or imagined CHAP. XIV Sheweth how they have transgressed the publike Laws of the Land three wayes and of four miserable Consequences of their wicked doings 2. FOr those publike written and better known Laws of this Land 2. Against the publick laws of the Land they have no lesse violated and transgressed the same than the other and that as well in their execution and exposition as in their composition For 1. When they had caused the Archbishop of Canterbury to be committed to the Tower Judge Berkeley to the Sheriff of London 1. In the execution of the old Laws Sir George Ratcliffe to the Gate-house for no lesse crimes than high Treason and many other men to some other prisons for some other faults yet all the World seeth how long most of them have been kept in prison some a year some two some almost three and God only knoweth when these men intend to bring them to their legal tryal which delay of justice is not only an intolerable abuse to the present Subjects of this Kingdom to be so long deprived of their liberty upon a bare surmise but also a far greater injury to all posterity when this President shall be produced to be imitated by the succeeding Parliaments and to justifie the delayes of all inferiour Judges 2. Whereas we believe what Judge Bracton saith and Judge Britton likewise which lived in the time of Edward the first 2. In expounding the Laws Si disputatio oriatur justiciarii non possunt eam interpretari sed in dubiis obscuris Domini regis erit expectanda interpretatio voluntas Citatur à Domino Elism in post-nati p. 108. cùm ejus sit interpretari cujus est condere If any Dispute doth arise the Judges canot interpret the same but in all obscure and doubtful questions the interpretation and the will of the King is to be expected when as he that makes the Law is to be the expounder and interpreter of the Law Yet they have challenged and assumed to themselves such a power that their bare Vote without any Act of Parliament may expound or alter a known Law which if it were so they might make the Law as Pighius saith of the Scripture hke a nose of wax that may be fashioned and bended as they pleased but we do constantly maintain That the House of Commons hath no power to adjudge of any point or matter but to inform the Lords what they conceive and the House of Peers hath the power of Judicature which they are bound to do according to the Rules of the known established Laws and to that end they have the Judges to inform them of those cases and to explain those Laws wherein themselves are not so well experienced though now they sit in the House for cyphers even as some Clergy did many times in the Convocation and if any former Statute be so intricate and obscure that the Judges cannot well agree upon the right interpretation thereof then as in explaining Poynings Act and the like either in England or Ireland the makers of the Act that is the King and the major part of both Houses must explain the same 3. In composeing and setting forth new laws 3. Whereas we never knew that the House had any power to make Orders and Ordinances to bind any besides their own Members to observe them as Laws
yet they compell us to obey their Orders in a stricter manner than usually we are injoyned by Law and this course to make such binding Ordinances as they do to carry the force though not the name of an Act of Parliament or a Law is a mighty abuse of our Laws and Liberties for Sir Edward Cook tells us plainly That as the constitution of our Government now standeth neither the House of Commons and King L. Cook in the Preface of the Stat. of Westminster the second Lamberts Archeion 271. can make any binding Law when the Peers dissent nor the Lords and King when the Commonalty dissenteth nor yet both Houses without the Kings consent but all three King Peers and Commons must agree before any coactive Law can be composed Nay more it is sufficiently proved that Dare jus populo or the legislative power being one principall end of Regall Authority was in Kings by the Law of Nature while they governed the people by naturall equity long before municipall Laws or Parliaments had any beeing For as the Poet saith Remo cum fratre Quirinus Jura dabat populo Hoc Priami gestamen erat cum jura vocatis More daret populis Because this was the custom of the Kings of Scythia Assyria Aegypt c. long before Moses and Pharonaeus when Municipall Laws first began to give Laws unto their people according to the Rules of Naturall equity which by the Law of Nature they were all bound to observe And though some Kings did graciously yield and by their voluntary oathes for themselves and their successors bind themselves may times to stricter limits than were absolutely requisite as William Rufus King Stephen Henry the fourth Richard the third and the like granted many Priviledges perhaps to gain the favour of their Subjects against those which likely had a better Title to the Crown than themselves or it may be to satisfie their people as the guerdon or compensation for the sufferance of some fore-passed grievances as Henry the first Edward the second Richard the second and the like yet these limitations being agreeable to equity and consistent with Royalty and not forcibly extracted ought in all truth and reason to be observed by them And hence it is that the Kings of this Realm according to the oathes and promises which they made at their Coronation can never give nor repeal any Law but with the assent of the Peers and People But though they have thus yielded to make no Laws nor to repeal any Laws without them yet this voluntary concession of so much grace unto the people doth no waies translate the legislative power from the King unto his assistants but that it is formaliter and subjectivè still in the King and not in them else would the government of this Kingdom be an Aristocracy or Democracy and not a Monarchy because the Supreme power of making and repealing Laws and Governing or judging decisively according to those Laws are two of those three things that give being to each one of these three sorts of Government Therefore the King of England Cassan in cata◠gloria mundi 2 2 Ed. 3. 3. pl. 25. Vid. The view of a Printed book intituled Observations c. Where this point is proved at large p. 18 19 21 22. being an absolute Monarch in his own Kingdom as Cassaneus saith and no man can deny it the Legislative power must needs reside solely in the King ut in subjecto proprio and the consent of the Lords and Commons is no sharing of that power but only a condition yielded to be observed by the King in the use of that power and so both the Oath of Supremacy and the form of all our ancient Statutes wherein the King speaks as the Law-maker do most evidently prove the same unto us Le Roy voit Neither durst any Subjects in former times either assume such a power unto themselves or deny the same unto their King for you may find how the House of Commons denying to pass the Bill for the Pardon of the Clergy which Henry the 8th granted them when they were all charged to be in a Premunire unless themselves also might be included within the pardon received this answer from the King that He was their Soveraign Lord and would not be compelled to shew his mercy nor indeed could they compel him to any thing else but seeing they went about to restrain him of his Liberty he would grant a pardon unto his Clergy by his great Seal without them though afterwards of his own accord he signed their pardon also which brought great commendation to his judgment Sir Rich. Baker in vita Hen. 8. to deny it at first when it was demanded as a right and to grant it afterward when it was received as of grace And yet the denyal of their assent unto the King is more equitable to them and less derogatory to him then to make orders without him And this manner of compulsion to shew grace unto themselves is more tolerable than to force him to disgrace and displace his most faithful servants only because others cannot confide in them when no criminal charge is laid against them And therefore for the Lords and Commons to make Orders and Ordinances without the King and in opposition to the King is a meer usurpation of the Regal power a nullifying of the Kings power and a making of the Royal assent which heretofore gave life to every Law to be an empty piece of formality which is indeed an intolerable arrogancy in the contrivers of these Orders and the makers of these Ordinances a monstrous abuse of the Subjects and a plain making of our good King to be somewhat like him in the Comedy A King and no King And whereas no Subject yea under favour be it spoken nor the King himself after he hath taken his Oath at his Coronation is free from the observation of the established Laws yet they make themselves so far above the reach of Law that they freed him which the Lord chief Justice Bramston had committed to Newgate for felony in stealing the Countess of Rivers goods they hindered all men as we found in their journal from proceeding against Sir Thomas Dawes they injoyned the Judges by their Orders to forbear to proceed in their ordinary courses in the Courts of Justice contrary to the Oathes of those Judges and some Parliament-men came to the Bench to forbid the Judges to grant Habeas Corpus's which is as great an iniquity and as apparent an injustice as ever was done by any Parliament The most abominable wickedness of these factious Rebels And that which is a Note above Ela above all that could be spoken whereas the Law of God and man the bonds and obligations of Civility and Christianity tye us all to be dutiful and obedient unto our King in all things either Actively or Passively and no wayes for no cause violently to resist him under the greatest penalties that can be
devised here and damnation hereafter yet these men contrary to all Laws do injoyn us and compell us as much against our Consciences as if they should compell us with the Pagan Tyrants to offer sacrifice unto Idols to war against our most gracious Soveraign whom we from our hearts do both love and honour and they proscribe us as malignants and as enemies to the Common-Wealth Ps 50.22 Augu. contra Faust l. 22. c. 75. 76. if we contribute not Money Horse and Arms to maintain this ungodly War and so become deadly enemies unto our own souls O consider this yee that forget God lest for tearing us He tear you in pieces while there is none to help you for considering what the Apostle saith Rom. 13.1 2. and what Saint Augustine saith Ordo naturalis mortalium paci accommodatus hoc poscit ut suscipiendi belli Autoritas atque consilium penes principem sit and lest men should think they ought by force of Armes to resist their King for Religion he answereth that objection by the example of the Apostles Isti non resistendo interfecti sunt ut potiorem esse docerent victoriam pro fide veritatis occidi We conceive this to be so execrable an Act and so odious to God and man that we are made thus miserable and abused beyond measure to have our Religion which is most glorious our Laws The miserable consequences of their wicked doings that in their own nature are most excellent and our Liberties that make us as free as any Subjects in the World under false pretences and the shadows of Religion Laws and Liberties to be eradicated and fundamentally destroyed whereby Mischief 1 1. We are made a spectacle of scorn and the object of derision to our neighbour-Nations that formerly have envied at our happiness and we are become the Subject of all pitty and lamentation to all them that love us Mischief 2 2. As in the Roman Civil-Wars in the time of Metellus the Son did kill his own Father so now by the subtilty of this faction we are cast into such a War as is 1. A most unnatural War the Son against the Father and the Father against the Son The Earl of Warwick fighteth for the Parliament and my Lord Rich his Son with the King The Earl of Dover is with the King and my Lord Rochford his Son with the Parliament So one brother against another as the Earl of Northumberland with the Parliament and his brother with the King The Earl of Bedford with the Parliament and his brother with the King Master Perpoint with the Parliament and the Earl of Newark with the King Devoreux Farmer with the Parliament and his bâ—other Richard Farmer together with his brother in law my Lord Cokain with the King and the like and of Cosens without number the one part with the King and the other with the Parliament And if they do this in subtilty to preserve their Estates I say it is a wicked policy to undo the Kingdom which all wise men should consider 2. A most irreligious War when one Christian of the same professed Religion shall bathe his Sword and wash his Hands in the blood of his fellow Christian and his fellow Protestant that shall be coheir with him of the same Kingdom 3. A most unnatural irreligious and barbarous War when the Subject shall take Arms to destroy or unthrone their own Liege a Religious and most gracious King 3. The Service of God in most Churches is neglected when almost all Mischief 3 the ablest gravest and most Orthodox Divines and Preachers are persecuted plundered imprisoned and driven to flie as in the time of the Arian or Donatist which was worse than the Heathen perfection from City to City and to wander in Desarts from place to place to save themselves from the hands of these Rebels against the King and Persecuters of Gods Church which is a most grievous and a most cruel persecution far more general than that of the Anabaptists in Germany or of Queen Mary here in England The Lord of Heaven make us constant and give us patience to indure it 4. The whole Kingdom is and shall be yet more by the continuance Mischief 4 hereof unspeakably impoverished and plunged into all kind of miseries when the travailer cannot pass without fear nec hospes ab hospite tutus the Carrier cannot transport his commodity but it shall be intercepted the Husbandman cannot till his ground but his Horses as my self saw it shall be taken from the Plough and his Corn shall be destroyed when it is ready for the Sickle which must be the fore-runner of a Famine that is ever the Usher to introduce the Plague and Pestilence and all other kind of grievous diseases and these things put together do set wide our Gates and open our Ports to bring forraign foes into our Coasts to possess that good Land whereof we are unworthy because with the Israelites we loathed Manna we were weary of our peace and happiness we would buy Arms and be Voluntiers and every Town being too wanton would needs train and put themselves into a posture of defence as they termed it to be secured from their own shadows and though the King told them often there was no cause of their Jealousies and therefore forbade these disloyalties yet just like the Jews they were willing to be deceived by this miserable faction that contrived that Act whereby they have perfidiously over-reached both our good King and the rest of our wel-meaning brethren either to perfect their Design or else to make themselves perpetual Dictators and to betray the felicity of all our people under the name of Parliament which though as I said before I honour and love as much as any of the truest Patriots of either House both in the institution and the right prosecution thereof that is as it was constituted to be the great Council of the Kingdom graciously called by his Majesties-writ confidently to present the grievances of the people and humbly to offer their advice and counsels for their Reformation yet I do abhor those men that would abuse the word Parliament only as a Stalking-Horse to destroy all Acts of Parliament and I hate to see men calling the Fanatick actions of a few desperate seditious persons the proceedings of Parliament and others making an Idol of it as if their power were omnipotent or unlimitted and more than any Regal Power their judgment infallible their Orders irreprehensible and themselves unaccountable for their proceedings to be so besotted with the name of it that this bare shadow without the substance for it is no Parliament without the King and the Major part of both Houses is either banished or imprisoned or compelled to reside with his Majesty should so bewitch us as Master Smyth blushed not to say Nothing could free us from our dangers but the Divinity of a Parliament out of our own happiness to become more miserable Ingeniosus ad
blasphemiam then heretofore this Kingdom hath ever been by any Civil War for if you will consider the Treasons and Rebellions the Injustice Cruelty and Inhumanity the Subtilty Hypocrisie Lying Swearing Blasphemy Prophaneness and Sacriledge in the highest pitch and many other the like fearful sins that have been committed since the beginning of this Parliament by the sole means of this Faction and observe the ill Acts that have been used by them to compass things lawful the wicked Acts that have been daily practised to procure things unlawful when by blood and rapine and the curses of many Fatherless and Widdows they have gotten the Treasure of the Kingdom and the Wealth of the Kings loyal Subjects into their hands and wasted it so that their wants are still as notorious as their crimes we may admire the miracles of Gods mercy and the bottomless depth of his goodness that the stones in the streets have not risen against them or the fire from Heaven had not consumed these Rebels that thus far and thus insolently had tempted Gods patience and provoked him to anger with such horrible abominations Mischief 5 5. As Jerusalem justified Samaria so this Faction hath justified all the Romanists and shewed themselves worse Christians less Subjects and viler Traytors than all the Papists are for these factious Rebels justify their Rebellion and to the indelible shame of their Profession they maintain that it is not only lawful but that it is their duty to bear Arms and to wage War against their King when the King doth abuse his Power whereas the Doctrine of the Church of Rome * Christopherson tract contr rebell Rhemist in Nov. Test p. â—01 Goldastus de Monarchia S. Imp. Rom. tom 3. Dr. Kellison in his Survey Aquin. de Regim Princip c. 6. Concil Constan Sess 15. Stephan Cantuar anno 8. H. 3. Tolet. in summa l 5. c 6. Gr. Valentia p. 2. q 64. Bellar. Apol. c. 13 Lessiâ—â— l. 2 c. 9. Serrarius Azorius c. utterly denieth the same and concludes them no Children of the Church that do it and Doctor Kellison giveth this reason for it because Faith is not necessarily required to Jurisdiction or Government neither is Authority lost by the loss of Faith therefore it is not lawful for any Subjects to Rebel against their King though their King should prove a Tyrant or should Apostate from the Faith of Christ so that now the Papists boast they are better Subjects than these Rebellious Protestants and thefore I fear that this Faction Defendens Christum verso mucrone cecidit by their unjust Design to propagate the Gospel have most grievously wounded the Faith of Christ and given a more deadly blow to the Protestant Religion than ever it had since the Reformation when it is impossible that the true Religion should produce Rebellion And therefore seeing we are free-born Subjects and persons interessed in the good and safety of this Kingdom as well as any of them we must crave liberty to express our grievances and to crave redresses and seeing my self am called to be a Preacher of Gods Word and a Bishop over many of the souls of my Brethren for which I must render an account to my God both for my silence when I should speak and speaking any thing that should not be spoken I resolved to fear my God and neither out of flattery to the King and his party nor out of hatred or malice to those factious men but as I am perswaded in my Conscience fully satisfied and guided by Gods Truth to set forth this Discovery of these Mysteries what danger soever I shall undergo and if I shall become their Enemy for speaking Truth I shall fare no worse than Saint Paul did and it shall be with them if they do not repent as it was with the Israelites When their destruction cometh Ezech. 7.25 27. they shall seek peace and shall not have it but calamity shall come upon calamity CHAP. XV. Sheweth a particular recapitulation of the Reasons whereby their Design to alter the Government of the Church and State is evinced And a pathetical disswasion from Rebellion ANd thus I have set down not any thing to render these men more odious than they are or to abuse my Reader with falshood If I have been misinformed of any thing that shall appear false I shall not blush to retract it by an ingenuous confession or uncertainties but to report what I knew and what I collected out of the present writings of best credit and attested by men of known truth and integrity whereby it is most apparent to any discerning eye That the Faction of Anabaptists and Brownists and some other of the subtilest heads in the House of Commons had from the first Convention of this Parliament secretly projected this Design and insensible to the rest of their well-meaning Brethren prosecuted the same to alter and change the ancient Government both of the Church and Kingdom Sober Sadnesse p. 44 45 46. which the Author of Sober-Sadness proveth by these subsequent Reasons as for the first 1. By suspending all Ecelesiasticall Laws and Censures Their Design to change the Church Government proved 4. wayes which indulgence of all Vices hath drawn all Offenders to comply with them 2. By setting the people on work to petition against the present Government and the Service of the Church 3. By the Bill concluded for the abolishing of our Government 4. By the chief persons countenanced and imployed by them in that businesse who are Anabaptists and Brownists and all sorts of Sectaries he evinceth their Design to change our Church-Government and to convert the Patrimony of the Church which our religious Ancestors dedicated for the advancement of God's Worship not to establish Learning and a preaching Ministery as they pretended but to dis-ingage their Publick-faith which otherwise would never prove a saving faith And I wish there might be none about His Majesty that pretending great loyalty unto him do comply with them herein and either to raise or to secure their own Fortunes would perswade Saint Paul to part with Saint Peters keyes so he may still hold the sword in his hand or to speak more plainly to purchase the peace of the Common-wealth with the ruine of God's Church But for this let me be bold 1. To crave leave to tell His Majesty It was not His sword that hath brought him from a flying Prince out of Westminster and as yet unsecured at Nottingham to be a victorious King at Edge hill and immediately to be the terrour of all the Rebels in London But it was God whose Church and Church Service he defended that protected him hitherto and gave him the Victory in Battel And let him be assured that He which is Yea and Amen will be his Shield and Buckler still to defend him from the strivings of his people and to subdue them that rise against him while he defendeth them whose eyes next under God are only
because the Scripture in all morall and perpetual precepts that are not meerly judicialia Judaica or secundae classis which the Royal Government was not because this was ordained from the beginning of the world to be observed among all Nations and to be continued to the end of the world nor the types and shadows that were to vanish when the true substance approached was left as a perfect patern and platforme for all Kings and People Pastours and Flocks Churches and Kingdoms throughout the whole world to be directed how to live to govern and to be governed thereby Such was the love and care of God for the Government of them that love and care as little to be governed by his government And therefore the dim and dusky light of bleare-ey'd Nature Every Government the better by how much nearer it is to the Government of the Scripture kings and the dark distracted inventions of the subtillest politicks must stoop and yield place in all things wherein they swerve from that strict rule of justice and the right order of government which is expressed necessarily to be observed in the holy Scripture either of the Kings part towards his People or of the Peoples duty towards their King And though each one of these faculties or the understanding of each one of these three Laws requireth more than the whole man our life being too short to make us perfect in any one yet seeing that of all three the Law of God is abyssus magna like the bottomless sea and the supreme Lady to whom all other Laws and Sciences are but as Penelopes handmaids to attend her service the Divine may far better and much sooner understand what is naturall right and what ought to be a just nationall Law and thereby what is the Right of Kings The Divine is better able to understand Law then the Lawyer to understand Divinity Psal 1.2 and what the duty of Subjects than any either Philosopher or Lawyer can finde the same by any other art especially to understand the same so fully by the Law of God as the Divine that exerciseth himselfe therein day and night may do it unless you think as our Enthusiasts dream that every illiterate Tradesman or at least a Lawyers Latine I speak of the generality when I know many of them of much worth in all learning may easily wade with the reading of our English Bibles into the depth of all Divinty and that the greatest Doctour that spent all his days in studies can hardly understand the mysteries of these Camelion-like Laws which may change sense as often as the Case shall be changed either by the subtlety of the Pleader or the ignorance or corruption of the Judges But we know their deepest Laws discreetest Statutes and subtillest Cases cannot exceed the reach of sound reason and therefore no Reason can be shewed but that a rational man meanly understanding Languages may sooner understand them and with less danger mistake them than that Law which as the Psalmist saith is exceeding broad and exceedeth all humane sense Psal 119.96 1 Cor. 2.14 and the most exquisite natural understanding when as the Apostle saith The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned and being not discerned or misunderstood they make all such mistakers liable to no small punishment if God should be extreme to marke what is done amiss and this not understanding of God's Law is the errour of other Laws and the cause of much mischief for if men understood not the Law of God What causeth many men to rebell The Scriptures say more for the right of kings then any book in the world Downing in his discourse of the Ecclesiasticall State p. 91. or would beleive us that do understand it I assure my self many of the Rebels such as rebell not out of pride disobedience or discontent are so conscientious that they would not so rebell as they do being seduced through their ignorance by the subtletie of the most crafty children of disobedience And therefore letting the usuall impatience of the furious fire-brands of sedition and the malicious incendiaries of Rebellion together with those treaecherous Judasses that insensibly lurke in the King's Court and are more dangerous both to the Church and State than those open Rebels that are in the Parliament House to lay on me what reproach they please as some of them being galled and now gone have already done Ego in bona conscientia teneo quisquis volens detrahit famae meae nolens addit mercedi meae August I shall beleive it in a good conscience that whosoever shall wittingly detract from my repute and unjustly load me with undue disgrace shall unwillingly add to my reward neither shall I ever think Plus ponderis esse in alieno convicio Ambrose quà m in testimonio meo that there is more account to be had in the foule slander of another mans malice then in the spotless testimony of mine own conscience but considering as Saint Hierome saith that Apud Christianos non qui patitur sed qui facit contumeliam miser est among Christians not he that suffereth but he that offereth injuries and reproaches is wretched Osor in Epist Reginae Eliz. pag. 7. though as Osorius faith Multae insidiae principibus à suis domesticis intenduntur multae fraudes in aula Regia quaestus compendii gratiâ suscipiuntur multa partim adulatione perfidiâ partim offensionis periculosà formidine dissimulantur ità ut rarò inveniantur qui Regibus liberè loqui audeant many snares are laid for Princes by their own domestique servants many deceitfull tricks and cunning plots are undertaken in the King's Court for gain and honours sake and many things partly for fear of offending How kings are deluded by their own Courtiers and the truth concealed from them The Authours Resolution with God's Assistance and partly through a persidious and false flattery are dissembled and the truth of things is imprisoned from the sight of the King so that he that seeth with these Courtiers eyes and heareth with their ears can hardly know the certain state of his own affairs especially when their flattering Parasites shall bear so heavy a hand over the faithfull servants that few of them shall dare freely to declare the Truth yet I am resolved to set down the plain face of Truth without either flattering of my Royal Master or fear either of the Court flatterers hatred or the Parliamentary Factions cruelty And though my eldest Brethren that are abler than my self should reprove me 1 Sam. 17.28 and say unto me as Eliab said unto David yet I will take my staff in my hand mine own integrity to uphold me and my fidelity to my King and to the King of kings to protect me and I will gather a few stones out of the Brook of living
and the first king that I find by that name in the Scripture was Amraephel king of Shinar with whom we find eight other Kings named in the same chapter Gen. 14.1 But we are not to contest about words or to strive about the winde when the Scripture doth first give this name unto them the plain truth is that which we are to enquire after and so it is manifest there were Kings ever since Adam and so named ever since Noahs flood for Melchizedech which in the judgment of Master Selden Broughton and others was Sem the eldest son of Noah though mine own minde is set down otherwise was King of Salem and Justin tells us that long before Ninus which was the son of Nimrod there were many other Kings as Vexores King of Aegypt and Tanais King of Scythia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euripides de Cyclop Gen. 14.14 and the like and as reason sheweth us that eveâ—y one qui regit alios Rex est so every master of a family that ruleth his own houshould is a petty King as we commonly say to this very day every man is a King in his own house and as their families were the greater so were they the greater Kings so Abraham hand three hundred and eighteen servants that were able men for the War in his own house and therefore the inhabitants of the Land tell him Princeps Dei es inter nos thou art a Prince of God that is a great ruler amongst us and yet the greatest of these rulers were rather reguli then reges Kings of some Cities or small Territories and of no large dominion as those thirty and one Kings which Joshua vanquished doth make it plain Josh 12.14 Selden in his Titles of honour cap. 1. But Master Selden confesseth that civil societies beginning in particular families the heads thereof ruled as kings and as the World encreased or these kings incroached upon their neighbours so their Kingdoms were enlarged Kings therefore they were and they were kings from the beginning But how they came to be kings or what right they had to regal power from whence their authority is derived 1. Whether God ordained it or 2. Themselves assumed it 3. The people conferred it upon them herein lyeth all the question To which I must briefly answer The chiefest rights to kingdoms either of three ways that the right of all kings which have any right unto their kingdoms is principally either 1. By birth or 2. By the sword or 3. By choice whereof The last is and may be just and good The second is so without question but The first is most just and so best of all For 1. The best right whereby the Patriarchs and all the rest of the posterity of Adam injoyed their royalty was that which God hath appointed that is 1. The best right without contradiction is by inheritance Gen. 4.7 Gen. 25.31 the right of primogeniture whereby the elder was by the law of nature to reign and rule over the younger as God saith unto Cain though he was never so wicked an hypocrite unto thee shall be the desire of thy brother and thou shalt rule over him though he was never so godly and syncere a server of God which made Jacob so earnestly desirous to purchase the birth-right or the right of primogeniture from his brother And 2. When the rightful kings became with Nimrod to be unjust Tyrants 2. The right by conquest is a just and a good right then God that is not tyed to his Vicegerent any longer then he pleaseth but hath right and power Paramount to translate the rule and transfer the dominion of his People to whom he will Psal 89.44 So the Israelites enjoyed the kingdome of Canaan and David the territories of them that he subdued c. Esdras 1.2 Esay 45.1 2. Dan. 2. c 4. hath oftentimes thrown down the mighty from their seat and given away their crownes and kingdomes unto others that were more humble and meek or some other way fitter to effect his divine purpose as he did the kingdom of Saul unto David and Belshazzar's unto Cyrus and this he doth most commonly by the power of the sword when the Conquerour shall make his strength to become the Law of justice and his ability to hold it to become his right of enjoying it for so he gave the Kingdoms of the earth to Cyrus Alexander Augustus and the like Kings and Emperours that had no other right to their Dominions but what they purchased with the edg of their swords which notwithstanding must needs be a very good right as the same cometh from God which is the God of war and giveth the victory unto Kings Psal 144.10 when as the Poet saith Victrix causa Deo placuit And he deposeth his Vicegerents and translateth the government of their Kingdomes as he seeth cause and to whom he pleaseth 3. The right of elective kings and how they came to be elected 3. When either the Kings neglected their duty and omitted the care of their People so far as that the People knew not that they had any Kings or who had any right to be their Kings or upon the incursion of invading Foes the Nations being exceedingly multiplied and having no Prince to protect them did change the orderly course of right belonging unto the first-born which their rude and salvage course of life had obliterated from their minds unto the election and choice of whom they thought the better and the abler men to expel their enemies and to maintain justice among themselves so the Medes being oppressed with the insolencies and rapines of enemies and the greater man said it cannot be that in this corruption and lewdness of manners we shall long enjoy our Countrey and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herodot lib. 1. Let us appoint over us a King that our Land may be governed by good Lawes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And we turning our selves to our own affairs need not be oppressed by the rage and violence of the lawless and finding by their former experience of him that Deioces was the justest man amongst them they chose him for his equity to be their King which is the first elective King that I do read of and Cicero saith Cicero in Offic. pag. 322. Mihi quidem non apud Medos solùm sed etiam apud majores nostros justitiae fruendae causâ videntur olim benè morati reges constituti even as Justin said before And when the People do thus make choice of their King it is most true which Roffensis Roffensis de potestate Papae fol. 283. and our most learned Divines do say that Licet communicatio potestatis quandoque sit per consensum hominum potestas tamen ipsa immediatè est à Deo cujus est potestas though the power be sometimes conferred by the consent of men yet it is immediately given from God whose power it is
sole power of ordering and disposing all the Castles Forts and strong Holds and all the Ports Havens and all other parts of the Militia of this kingdom or otherwise it would follow that the king had power to proclaime war but not to be able to maintain it and that he is bound to defend his subjects but is denied the meanes to protect them which is such an absurdity as cannot be answered by all the House of Commons 6. The kings of Israel were unto their people their honour their Soveraigns their life and the very breath of their nostrils as themselves acknowledge and so the kings of England are the life the head and the authority of all things that be done in the Realm of England supremam potestatem merum imperium apud nos habentes Smith de Repub l. 2. Cambden Britan p. 132. nec in Imperii clientela sunt nec investituram ab alio accipientes nec praeter Deum superiorem agnoscentes and their Subjects are bound by Oath to maintain the kings Soveraignty in all causes and over all persons as well Ecclesiastical as Civil and that not onely as they are singularly considered but overall collectively represented in the body politick for by sundry divers old authentick Histories and Chronicles it is manifestly declared and expressed that this Realm of England is an Empire and so hath been accepted in the world In the Preface to a Stat. 24. Hen. 8. cap. 12 governed by one supream head and king having the dignity and royal estate of the Imperial Crown of the same unto whom a body politick compact of all sorts and degrees of people divided in terms and by names of spiritualty and temporalty have been bounden and owen to bear next to God a natural and humble obedience Respect 3 3. As the duty of every one of the kings of Israel was to be custos utriusque tabulae to keep the Law of God and to have a special care of his Religion and then to do justice and judgment according to the Law of nature and to observe all the judicial Laws of that kingdom so are the kings of England obliged to discharge the same duties The duty of the kings of England 1. To have the chiefest care to defend the faith of Christ and to preserve the honour of Gods Church as I shewed before 2. To maintain common right according to the rules and dictates of Nature And. 3. To see the particular Laws and Statutes of his own kingdom well observed amongst his people To all which the king is bound not onely virtute officii in respect of his office but also vinculo juramenti in respect of his Oath which enjoyneth him to guide his actions not according to the desires of an unbridled will but according to the tyes of these estabâ—ished Laws neither do our Divines give any further liberty to any king but if he failes in these he doth offend in his duty Respect 4 4. As the kings of Israel were accountable for their actions unto none but onely unto God Psal 51.4 and therefore king David after he had committed both murder and adultery saith unto God Tibi soli peccavi as if he had said none can call me to any account for what I have done but thou alone and we never read that either the people did call or the Prophets perswaded them to call any of their most idolatrous The kings of England accountable for their actions only to God tyrannical or wicked kings to any account for their idolatry tyranny or wickedness even so the kings of England are accountable to none but to God Reason 1 1. Because they have their Crown immediately from God who first gave it to the Conquerour through his sword and since to the succeeding kings by the ordinary means of hereditary succession Smith de repub l. 1. c. 9. Reason 2 2. Because the Oath which he takes at his Coronation binds him onely before God who alone can both judge him and punish him if he forgets it Reason 3 3. Because there is neither condition promise or limitation either in that Oath or in any other Covenant or compact that the king makes with the people either at his Coronation or at any other time that he should be accomptable or that they should question and censure him for any thing that he should do Reason 4 4. Because the Testimony of many famous Lawyers justify the same truth for Bracton saith if the king refuse to do what is just satis erit ei ad poenam quòd Dominum expectet ultorem The Lord will be his avenger which will be punishment enough for him but of the kings grants and actions nec privatae personae nec justiciarii debent disputare And Walsingham maketh mention of a Letter written from the Parliament to the Bishop of Rome wherein they say Bracton fol. 34. 2. b. apud Lincol anno 1301. that certum directum Dominium à prima institutione regni Angliae ad Regem pertinuit the certain and direct Dominion of this Kingdom from the very first institution thereof hath belonged unto the King who by reason of the arbitrary or free preeminence of the royal dignity and custome observed in all ages ought not to answer before any Judge either Ecclesiastical or Secular Ex libera praeeminentia Ergo neither before the Pope nor Parliament nor Presbytery Reason 5 5. Because the constant custome and practice of this kingdom was ever such that no Parliament at any time sought to censure their king and either to depose him or to punish him for any of all his actions save onely those that were called in the troublesome and irregular times of our unfortunate Princes No legitimate and just Parliment did ever question the kings of England for their actions and were swayed by those that were the heads of the most powerful Faction to conclude most horrid and unjustifiable Acts to the very shame of their Judicial authorities as those factious Parliaments in the times of Hen. 3. king John Rich. 2. and Hen. 4. and others whose acts in the judgment of all good authors are not to be drawn into examples when as they deposed their king for those pretended faults whereof not the worst of them but is fairly answered and all thirty three of them proved to be no way sufficient to depose him Heningus c. 4. p. 93. by that excellent Civilian Heningus Arnisaeus And therefore seeing the Institution of our kings is not onely by Gods Law but also by our own Laws Customs and practice thus agreeable to the Scripture kings they ought to be as sacred and as inviolable to us as the kings of Israel were to the Jews and as reverently honoured and obeyed by us as both the Apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul advise us to honour and obey the king CHAP. V. Sheweth how the Heathens honoured their Kings how Christ exhibited all due honour unto
subjection with a good and free will although they were Infidels Ob. Ob. But against this patience of the Saints and the wisdome of these good Christians it is objected by Goodwin and oters of his Sect that ei her they wanted strength to resist or wanted knowledge of their strength or of their priviledge and power which God granted them to defend themselves and their religion or were over-much transported with an ambitious desire of Martyrdome or by some other misguiding spirit were utterly mis-led to an unnecessary patience and therefore we having strength enough as we conceive to subdue the King and all his strength and being wiser in our generation then all the generation of those fathers as being guided by a more unerring spirit we have no reason to pray for patience but rather to render vengeance both to the King and to all his adherents Sol. Sol. This unchristian censure and this false imputation laid upon these holy Fathers by these stubborn Rebels and proud Enthusiasts are so mildly and so learnedly answered by the Author of resisting the lawfull Magistrate upon colour of Religion Where they are fully answered that more need not be said to stop the mouthes of all ignorant gain-sayers Therefore seeing that by the institution of Kings by the precept of God and by the practice of all wise men and good Christians Heathen Kings and wicked Tyrants are to be loved honoured and obeyed it is a most hatefull thing to God and man to see men professing themselves Christians but are indeed like those in the Revel which say they are Jewes Revel 2 9. and are not in stead of honouring transcendently to hate and most violently to persecute their own most Christian and most gracious King a sin so infinitely sinfull that I do not wonder to see the greatness of Gods anger to powre all the plagues that we suffer upon this Nation but I do rather admire and adore his wonted clemency and patience that he hath not all this while either sent forth his fire and lightning from heaven as he did upon Sodome and Gomorrah to consume them Gen. 19.24 Num 16.31 or cause the earth to swallow them as it did Corah Dathan and Abiram for this their rebellion against their King or that he hath not showred down far greater plagues and more miserable calamities then hitherto we have suffered because we have suffered these Antichristian Rebels to proceed so far and have with the Merozites neglected all this while to add our strength to assist the Lords Anointed to reduce his seduced Subjects to their obedience Judges 5.23 and to impose condigne punishments upon the seducers and the ringleaders of this unnaturall and most horrible Rebellion CHAP. VI. Sheweth the two chiefest duties of all Christian Kings to whom the charge and preservation of Religion is committed three severall opinions the strange speeches of the Disciplinarians against Kings are shewed and Viretus his scandalous reasons are answered the double service of all Christian Kings and how the Heathen Kings and Emperours had the charge of Religion 2. AS all Kings are to be honoured in the fore-said respects 2. Christian Kings are to have double honour in reshect of their double duty 1. Duty 2. Duty so all Christian Kings are to have a double honour in respect of the double charge and duty that is laid upon them As 1. To preserve true religion and to defend the faith of Christ against all Atheists Hereticks Schismaticks and all other adversaries of the Gospel within their Territories and Dominions 2. To preserve their Subjects from all forraigne adversaries and to prevent civill dissentions to govern them according to the rules of justice and equity which all other Kings are bound to do but neither did nor can do it so fully and so faithfully as the Christian Kings because no Law either Solons Lycurgus Pompilius or any other Greek or Latine nor any Politique Plato Aristotle Machievle or whom you will old or new can so perfectly set down and so fairly declare quid justum quid honestum as the Law of Christ hath done and theâ—efore seeing omnis honos praesupponit onus the honour is but the reward of labour and that this labour or duty of Kings to maintain true Religion well performed and faithfully discharged brings most glory unto God and the greatest honour to all Kings when it is more to be with Constantine a nursing father to Gods Church then it is to be with Alexander the sole Monarch of the known world I will first treat of their charge and care and the power that God hath given them to defend the faith and to preserve true Religion And 1. Religion saith a learned Divine without authority is no Religion for 1. Care of Kings to preserve true Religion Aug. de utilitate credendi cap. 9. as Saint Augustine saith no true Religion can can be received by any means without some weighty force of authority therefore if that Religion whereby thou hopest to be saved hath no authority to ground it self upon or if that authority whereby thy Religion is settled be mis-placed in him that hath no authority at all what hope of salvation remaining in that Religion canst thou conceive but it is concluded on all sides that the right authority of preserving true religion must reside in him and proceed from him by whose supreme power and government it is to be enacted and forced upon us and therefore now the question is To whom the charge of preserving religion is committed 3 Opinions and it is very much questioned to whom the supreme government of our Religion ought rightly to be attributed whereof I finde three several resolutions 1. Papistical which leaneth too much on the right hand 2. Anabaptistical which bendeth twice as much on the left hand 3. Orthodoxal of the Protestants that ascribe the same to him on whom God himself hath conferred it Opinion 1 1. That the Church of Rome maketh the Pope solely to have the supreme government of our Christian Religion Vnde saepe objiciunt dictum Hosii ad Constantium Tibi Deus imperium commisit nobis quae sunt ecclesiastica concredidit Sed hic intelligitur de executione officii non de gubernatione ecclesiae Sicut ibi manifestum est cùm dicitur neque fas est nobis in terris imperium tenere neque tibi thymiamatum sacrorum potestatem hâ—bere i. e. in praedicatione Evangelii administratione Sacramentorum similibus is most apparent out of all their writeings and you may see what a large book our Country-man Stapleton wâ—ote against Master Horn Bishop of Winchester to justifie the same And Sanders to disprove the right of Kings saith Fatemur personas Episcoporum qui in toto orbe fuerunt Romano Imperatori subjectas fuisse quoniam Rex praeest hominibus Christianis verùm non quia sunt Christiani sed quia sunt homines episcopis etiam ex ea
Viretus his scandalous reasons answered to justifie the same against any one but of his right that cannot be the cause of any wrong and it cannot be denyed but an illiterate Prince may prove a singular advancer of all learning as Bishop Wickham was no great Scholler yet was he a most excellent instrument to produce abundance of famous Clerks in this Church and the King ruleth his Church by those Laws which through his royal authority are made with the advice of his greatest Divines as hereafter I shall shew unto you yet these spurious and specious pretexts may serve like clouds to hide the light from the eyes of the simple T. C. l. 2. p. 411. So Cartwright also that was our English firebrand and his Disciples teach as Harding had done before that Kings and Princes do hold their Kingdoms and Dominions under Christ as he is the Son of God onely before all Worlds coequal with the Father and not as he is Mediator and Governour of the Church and therefore the Christian Kings have no more to do with the Church government then the Heathen Princes so Travers saith that the Heathen Princes being converted to the faith receive no more nor any further encrease of their power whereby they may deale in Church causes then they had before so the whole pack of the Disciplinarians are all of the same minde and do hold that all Kings as well Heathen as Christian receiving but one Commission and equal Authority immediately from God have no more to do with Church causes the one sort then the other And I am ashamed to set down the railing and the scurrilous speeches of Anthony Gilby against Hen. 8. and of Knox Gilby in his admonition p. 69 Knox in his exhortation to the Nobility of Scotland fol. 77. Whittingham and others against the truth of the King 's lawful right and authority in all Ecclesiastical causes For were it so as Cartwright Travers and the rest of that crew do avouch that Kings by being Christians receive no more authority over Christ his Church then they had before * Which is most false yet this will appear most evident to all understanding men that all Kings as well the Heathens as the Christians are in the first place to see that their people do religiously observe the worship of that God which they adore and therefore much more should Christian Princes have a care to preserve the religion of Jesus Christ The Gentilee Kings preservers of religion For it cannot be denyed but that all Kings ought to preserve their Kingdoms and all Kingdoms are preserved by the same means by which they were first established and they are established by obedience and good manners neither shall you finde any thing that can beget obedience and good manners but Lawes and Religion and Religion doth naturally beget obedience unto the Lawes therefore most of those Kings that gave Lawes were originally Priests and as Synesius saith Synes ep 126. Vide Arnis part 2. pag. 14. Ad magnas reipubl utilitates retinetur religio in civitatibus Cicero de divin l. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Priest and a Prince was all one with them when the Kings to preserve their Laws inviolable and to keep their people in obedience that they might be happy became Priests and exercised the duties of Religion offering sacrifices unto their Gods and discha ging the other offices of the Priestly Function as our factious Priests could willingly take upon them the offices of the King or if some of them were not Priests as all were not Law-makers yet all of them preserved Religion as the onely preservation of their Lawes and the happinesse of their Kingdomes which thye saw could not continue without Religion But 2. The wisedom of our grave Prelates and the learning of our religious Clergie having stopped the course of this violent stream 2. In the Parliament and hindred the translation of this right of Kings unto their new-born Presbytery and late erected Synods There sprang up another generation out of the dregs of the former that because they would be sure to be bad enough out of their envy unto Kings and malice unto the Church that the one doth not advance their unworthyness and the other doth not bear with undutifullness will needs transfer this right of ruling God's Church unto a Parliament of Lay-men the King shall be denuded of what God hath given him and the people shall be endued with what God and all good men have ever denyed them I deny not but the Parliament men as they are most noble and worthy Gentlemen so many of them may be very learned and not a few of them most religious and I honour the Parliament rightly discharging their duties as much as their modesty can desire or their merit deserve neither do I gain-say but as they are pious men and the greatest Council of our King so they may propose things and request such and such Lawes to be enacted such abuses to be redressed and such a reformation to be effected as they think befitting for Gods Church but for Aaron's feed and the Tribe of Levi Hugo de Sancto Vict. l b 2. de sacr fid par 2. cap 3. Laicis Christianis fidelibus terrena possidere conceditur clericis verò tantum spiritualia committuntur quae aâ—tem illa spiritualia sunt subjicit c. 5. dicens omnis ecclesiastica administratio in tribus consistit in sacramentis in ordinibus in praeceptis Ergo Laici nihil juris habent in legibus praeceptis condendis ecclesiastâ—cis to be directed and commanded out of the Parliament chair how to perform the service of the Tabernacle and for Lay men to determine the Articles of faith to make Canons for Church-men to condemn heresies and define verities and to have the chief power for the government of Gods Church as our Faction now challengeth and their Preachers ascribe unto them is such a violation of the right of Kings such a derogation to the Clergy and so prejudicial to the Church of Christ as I never found the like usurpation of this right to the eradication of the true Religion in any age for seeing that as the Proverb goeth Quod medicorum est promittunt medici practant fabrilia fabri what Papist or Atheist will be ever converted to profess that religion which shall be truly what now they alleadge falsly unto us a Parliamentary religion or a religion made by Lay-men with the advice of a few that they choose è faece Cleri I must seriously profess what I have often bewayled to see Nadab and Abihu offering strange fires upon God's Altar to see the sacred offices of the Priests so presumptuously usurped by the Laity and to see the children of the Church nay the servants of the Church to prescribe Lawes unto their Masters and I did ever fear it to be an argument not onely of a corrupted but also of a
finde that all Ages and all Lawes have warranted them to do the same for Solomon displaced Abiathar and placed Sadoc in his room 1. Reg. 2.27 35. Jerem. 26. How all kings and Emperors exercised this power ouer the Church Jeremy's case was heard by the King of Israel Theodosius and Valentinian made a Decree that all those should be deposed which were infected with the impiety of Nestorius and Justinian deposed Sylverius and Vigilius and many other Kings and Emperours did the like and not onely the Law of God whereof the King is the prime keeper and the keeper of both Tables but also the Statutes of our Land do give unto our King the nomination of Bishops and some other elective dignities in the Church the custody of the Bishops Temporalties during the vacation the Patronage Paramount or right to present by the last lapse and many other furtherances and preservatives of religion are in terminis terminantibus deputed by our Lawes unto the King and for his care and charge thereof they have setled upon him our first Fruits Tenths Subsidies and all other contributions of the Ecclesiastical persons which the Pope received while he usurped the government of this Church these things being due to him that had the supreme power for the government And therefore seeing the examples of all good Kings in the Old Testament and of the Christian Kings and Emperours in the New Testament and all Lawes both of God and man excepting those Lawes of the Pontificials that are made against the Law of God and all Divines Cassian de Incarn l. 1. c. 6. excepting the Jesuites and their sworn Brethren the Presbyterians do most justly ascribe this right and power unto Kings I may truly say with Cassianus that there is no place of audience left for them by whom obedience is not yielded to that which all have agreed upon nor any excuse for those Subjects that assist not their Soveraign to inable him to discharge this great charge that is laid upon him What then shall we say to them that pull this power and tear this prerogative out of the King's hand and place it in the hands of mad men as the Prophet epithets the madness of the people Psal 65.7 How the Disciplinarians rob the king of this right Knox to the Commonalty fol. 49. 50 55. For that furious Knox belched forth this unsavory Doctrine That the Commonalty may lawfully require of their King to have true Preachers and if he be negligent they themselves may justly provide them maintain them defend them against all that oppose them and detain the profits of the Church Livings from the other sort of Ministers a point fully practised by the English Scotizers of these dayes and as if this Doctrine were not seditious enough and abundantly sufficient to move Rebellion Goodman publisheth that horrible tenet unto the world that it is lawful to kill wicked Kings which most dangerous and more damnable Doctrine Dean Whittingham affirmeth to be the tenet of the best and most learned of them that were our Disciplinarians But when as true Religion doth command us to obey our Kings whatsoever their Religion is What true religion teacheth us aut agendo aut patiendo either in suffering with patience whatsoever they do impose or in doing with obedience whatsoever they do command Religion can be no warrant for those actions which must remain as the everlasting blemishes of that Religion which either commanded or approved of their doing I am sure all wise men wil detest these Doctrines of Devils and seeing it is an infallible rule that good deserveth then to be accounted evil when it ceaseth to be well done it is apparent that it is no more lawful for private and inferiour persons to usurp the princes power and violently to remove Idolatry or to cause any Reformation then it is for the Church of Rome by invasion or treason to establish the Doctrine of that See in this or any other forraign kingdome because both are performed by the like usurped authority The old Disciplinarians Yet these were the opinions and practises of former times when Buchanan Knox Cartwright Goodman Gilby Penry Fenner Martin Travers Throgmorton Philips Nichols and the rest of those introducers of Out landish and Genevian Discipline first broached these uncouth and unsufferable tenets in our Land in the Realm of England and Scotland and truely if their opinions had not dispersed themselves like poison throughout all the veines of this Kingdom and infected many of our Nobility and as many of the greatest Cities of this Kingdome as it appeareth by this late unparallel'd rebellion these and the rest of the trayterous authours of those unsavory books which they published and those damnable tenets which they most ignorantly held and maliciously taught unto the people should have slept in silence their hallowed and sanctified Treason should have remained untouched and their memorial should have perished with them But seeing as Saint Chrysostome saith of the Hereticks of his time that although in age they were younger yet in malice they were equal to the antient Hereticks Our rebellious Sectaries far worse then all the former Disciplinarians and as the brood of Serpents though they are of less stature yet in their poyson no less dangerous then their dammes so no more have our new Sectaries our upstart Anabaptists any less wickedness then their first begetters nay we finde it true that as the Poet saith Aetas parentum pejor avis Tulit nos nequiores These young cubbs prove worse then the old foxes for if you compare the Wheles with the wolves our latter Schismaticks with their former Masters I doubt not but you shall finde less learning and more villany less honesty and more subtilty hypocrisy and treachery in Doctor Burges Master Marshal Case Goodwin Burrowes Calamy Perne Hill Cheynel and the rest of our giddy-headed Incendiaries then can be found in all the seditious Pamphlets of the former Disciplinarians or of them that were hanged as Penry for their treasons for these men do not onely as Sidonius saith of the like apertè invidere S idon lib. epist abjectè fingere serviliter superbire openly envy the state of the Bishops basely forge lyes against them and servilely swel with the pride of their own conceited sanctity and apparent ignorance but they have also most impudently even in their pulpits slandered the footsteps of Gods Anointed and so brought the abomination of their transgression to stand in the holy place they haue with Achan troubled Israel and tormented the whole Land yea these three Kingdomes England Scotland and Ireland and for inciting provoking and incouraging simple ignorant poore For which their intolerable villanies If I be not deceived in my judgement they of all others above all the Rebels in the kingdom deserve the greatest and severest punishment God of Heaven give them the grace to repent discontented and seditions Sectaries to
be Rebels and Traytors against their own most gracious King they have not onely with Jerusalem justified Samaria Sodome and Gomorrah but they have justified all the Samaritanes all the Sodomites all the Schismaticks Hereticks Rebels and Traytors Papists and Atheists and all that went before them Judas himself in many circumstances not excepted and that which makes their doings the more evil and the more exceedingly wicked is that they make Religion to be the warrant for their evil doings the pack-horse to carry and the clokt to cover all their treacheries and thereby they drew the greater multitudes of poore Zelots to be their followers And therefore seeing it is not onely the honour but also the duty as of all other Kings so likewise of our King to be as the Princes of our Land are justly stiled the Defenders of the Faith and that not only in regard of enemies abroad but also in respect of those far worse enemies which desire alteration at home it behoves the King to looke to these home-bred enemies of the Church and seeing the king though never so willing for his piety and religion never so able for his knowledge and understanding What Gods faithful servants and the kings loyal Subjects must do in these times 1. To justifie the kings right yet without strength and power to effect what he desires cannot defend the faith and maintain the true Religion from the violence of Sectaries and Traytors within his kingdome it hehoves us all to do these two things 2. To justifie the kings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his authority and right to the supreme Governour and defender of the Chuch and of Gods true religion and service both in respect of Doctrine and Discipline and that none else Pope or Parliament hath any power at all herein but what they have derivately from him which I hope we have sufficiently proved 2. To submit our selves unto our king and to add our strength force 2. To assist Him against the Rebels and power to inable his power to discharge this duty against all the Innovators of our Religion and the enemies of our peace for the honour of God and the happiness of this Church and Common-wealth for that power which is called the Kings power and is granted and given to him of God is not onely that Heroick virtue of fortitude which God planteth in the hearts of most noble Princes as he hath most grasiously done it in abundant measure in our most gracious king but it is the collected and united power and strength of all his Subjects which the Lord hath commanded us to joyn and submit it for the assistance of the kings power against all those that shall oppose it and if we refuse or neglect the same then questionless whatsoever mischief idolatry barbarity or superstition shall take root in the Church and whatsoeuer oppression and wickedness shall impair the Common-wealth Heaven will free His Majesty and the wrath of God in no smal measure must undoubtedly light upon us and our posterity even as Debora saith of them that refused to assist Barac against his enemies Curse ye Meroz curse bitterly the Inhabitants thereof Jud. 5.23 because they came not forth to helpe the Lord against the mighty CHAP. VIII Sheweth it is the right of Kings to make Ecclesiastical Lawes and Canons proved by many authorities and examples that the good Kings and Emperours made such Laws by the advice of their Bishops and Clergy and not of their Lay Counsellours how our late Canons came to be annulled that it is the Kings right to admit his Bishops and Prelates to be of his Council and to delegate secular authority or civil jurisdiction unto them proved by the examples of the Heathens Jewes and Christians OUt of all this that hath been spoken it is more then manifest that the king ought to have the supreme power over Gods Church and the Government thereof and the greatest care to preserve true Religion throughout all his Dominions this is his duty and this is his honour that God hath committed not a people but his people and the members of his Son under his charge For the performance of which charge it is requisite for us to know that God hath granted unto him among other rights these two special prerogatives Two special rights and prerogatives of the King for the government of the Church 1. To make Laws and Canons 1. That he may and ought to make Lawes Orders Canons and Decrees for the well governing of Gods Church 2. That he may when he seeth cause lawfully and justly grant tolerations and dispensations of his own Laws and Decrees as he pleaseth 1. Not onely Solomon and Jehosaphat gave commandment and prescribed unto the chief Priests and Levites what form and order they should observe in their Ecclesiastical causes and methode of serving God but also Constantine Theodosius Justinian and all the Christian Emperours that were careful of Gods service did the like and therefore when the Donatists alleadged that secular Princes had nothing to do to meddle in matters of Religion and in causes Ecclesiastical Aug. l. 2. c. 26. Saint Augustine in his second Epistle against Gaudentius saith I have already proved that it appertaineth to the Kings charge that the Ninivites should pacifie Gods wrath and therefore the Kings that are of Christs Church do judge most truely that it belongeth to their charge to see that men Rebel not Idom ep 48. ep 50. ad Bonifac without punishment against the same because God doth inspire it is to the mindes of Kings that they should procure the Commandments of the Lord to be performed in al their Kingdomes for they are commanded to serve the Lord in fear and how do they serve the Lord as Kings but in making Laws for Christ So they are called the kings Ecclesiastical Lawes as man he serveth him by living faithfully but as King he serveth him in making Laws that shal command just things and forbid the contrary which they could not do if they were not kings And by the example of the king of Ninive Darius Nebuchadnezzar and others which were but figures and prophesies that foreshewed the power duty and service that Christian kings should owe and performe in like sort to the furtherance of Christs Religion in the time of the New Testament when al kings shall fall down and Worship Christ Psal 72.11 Arg. cont lit Peul l. 2. c 92 and all Nations shall do him service he proveth that the Christian kings and Princes should make Laws and Decrees for the furtherance of Gods service even as Nebuchadnezzar had done in his time And upon the words of the Apostle Idem in l. de 12. abus grad grad 2. that the king beareth not the sword in vain he proveth against Petilian that the power and authority of the Princes which the Apostle treateth of in that place is given unto them to make sharpe penall Lawes to further
true religion and to suppress all Heresies and Schismes And so accordingly we finde the good Emperours and Kings have ever done The good Emperours have made Laws for the government of the Church Euseb in vita Constant l. 2. 3. for Constantine caused the idolatrous religions to be suppressed and the true knowledge of Christ to be preached and planted amongst his people and made many wholsome Lawes and godly Constitutions to restrain the sacrificing unto Idols and all other devillish and superstitious south-sayings and to cause the true service of God to be rightly administred in every place saith Eusebius And in another place he saith that the same Constantine gave injunctions to the chiefe Ministers of the Churches that they should make speciall supplication to God for him and he enjoyned all his Subjects that they should keep holy certain dayes dedicated to Christ and the Sabboth or Saturday which was then wont to be kept holy and as yet not abrogated by any Law among the Christians he gave a Law to the Ruler of every Nation that they should celebrate the Sunday or the Lords day in like sort Idem de vita Constant l. 1. 3. 4. c. 18. and so for the dayes that were dedicated to the memory of the Martyrs and other festival times and all such things were done according to the ordinance of the Emperour Nicephorus writing of the excellent virtues of Andronicus son to Immanuel Palaeologus and comparing him to Constantine the Great saith Niceph. in prafation Eccles hist thou hast restored the Catholique Church being troubled with new opinions to the old State thou hast banished all unlawfull and impure doctrine thou hast established the truth and hast made Lawes and Constitutions for the same Sozomen speaking of Constantines sons saith Sozomenus l 3. c. 17. the Princes also concurred to the increase of these things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shewing their good affections to the Churches no less then their father did and honouring the Clergy their servants with singular promotions and immunities both confirming their fathers Lawes and making also new Lawes of their own against such as went about to sacrifice and to worship Idols or by any other means fell to the Greekish or Heathenish superstitions Theodoret tells us that Valentinian at the Synod in Illirico did not onely confirme the true faith by his Royall assent but made also many godly and sharpe Lawes as well for the maintenance of the truth of Christ his doctrine as also touching many other causes Ecclesiastical and as ratifying those things that were done by the Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodor. l. c. 5 6 7. he sent abroad to them that doubted thereof Honorius at the request of Boniface the first made a Law whereby it might appear what was to be done Distinct 79. siduo when two Popes were chosen at once by the indiscretion of the Electors Martianus also made a Statute to cut off and put away all manner of contention about the true faith and Religion in the Councell of Calcedon The Emperour Justinus made a Law that the Churches of Heretiques should be consecrated to the Catholique Religion saith Martinus Poenitentiarius And who knowes not of the many Laws and Decrees that Justinian made in Ecclesiasticall causes for the furtherance of the true Religion for in the beginning of the Constitutions collected in the Code of Iustinian the first 13 titles are all filled with Laws for to rule the Church where it forbiddeth the Bishops to reiterate baptisme to paint L. 1. tit 5. L. 1. tit 7. Novel 123. c. 10. Novel 58. Novel 137. c. 6. or grave on earth the Image of our Saviour And in the Novels the Emperour ordaineth Lawes of the creation and consecration of Bishops that Synods should be annually held that the holy mysteries should not be celebrated in private houses that the Bishops should speak alond when they celebrate the Sacraments of Baptisme and the Eucharist and that the holy Bible should be translated into the vulgar tongue and the like And not onely these and the rest of the godly Emperours that succeeded them but also Ariamirus Wambanus Richaredus and divers other Kings of Spaine did in like manner And Charlemaigne who approved not the decisions of the Greekish Synod wrote a book against the same * Intituled A Treatise of Charlemaigne against the Greekish Synod touching Images whereby the King maintained himself in possession to make Lawes for the Church saith Johannes Beda of which Lawes there are many in a book called The capitulary Decrees of Charles the Great who as Popin his predecessour had done in the City of Bourges so did he also assemble many Councils in divers places of his Kingdoms as at Mayns at Tours at Reines at Chaalons at Arles and the sixt most famous of all at Francfort where himself was present in person and condemned the errour of Felician and so other Kings of France and the Kings of our own Kingdom of England both before and after the Conquest as Master Fox plentifully recordeth did make many Lawes and Constitutions for the government of God's Church The saying of Dioclesian But as Dioclesian that was neither the best nor the happiest governour said most truly of the civil government that there was nothing haraer th n to rule well * That is to rule the Common-wealth so it is much harder to govern the Church of Christ therefore as there cannot be an argument of greater wisdome in a Prince nor any thing of greater safety and felicity to the Common-wealth then for him to make choice of a wise Council to assist him in his most weighty affaires Tacitus Annal. lib. 12. saith Cornelius Tacitus So all religious Kings must do the like in the government of the Church and the making of their Lawes for that government for God out of his great mercy to them and no less desire to have his people religiously governed left such men to be their supporters their helpers and advisers in the performance of these duties and I pray you whom did Kings chuse for this business but whom God had ordained for that purpose for you may observe that although those Christian Kings and Emperours made their Lawes as having the supremacy and the chieâ—est câ—re of God's religion committed by God into their hands yet they did never make them that ever I could read with the advice counsel or direction of any of their Peers or Lay Subjects but as David had Nathan and God The good Kings Emperours made their Lawes for the government of the Church onely by the adv ce of their Clergy A good Law of Instinian Constit 123. Nâ—buâ—hadnezzar had Daniel and the rest of the Jewish Kings and Heathens had their Prophets onely and Priests to direct them in all matters of religion so those Chr stian Kings and Princes took their Bishops and their Clergie onely to be their counsellors and
directors in all Church causes as it appeareth out of all the fore-cited Authors and all the Histories that do write thereof and Justinian published this Law that when any Ecclesiastical cause or matter was moved his Lay officers should not intermeddle with it but should suffer the Bishops to end the same according to the Canons the words are Si Ecclesiasticum negotium sit nullam communionem habento civiles magistratus cum ea disceptatione sed religiosâ—ssimi Episcopi secundum sacros canones negotio finem imp nunto For the good Emperour knew full well that the Lay Senate neither understood what to determine in the points of faith and the government of Christ's Church nor was ever willing to do any great good or any special favour unto the Shepherds of Christ's flock and the teachers of the true religion because the Son of God had fore-told it that the world should hate us that secular men and Lay Senatours should commonly oppose John 15.19 cross and shew all the spite they can unto the Clergy Matth. 10.16 of whom our Saviour saith Behold I send you forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as sheep in the midst of wolves Whence this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 great distance between their dispositions being observed it grew into a Proverb that Laici semper infesti sunt Clericis And Doctour Meriton In a Sermon before King James How the Laity love the Clergy A very memorable act Anno. â—9 Eliz. cap. 4. observed this as one of the good favours the Clergie of England found from our Parliaments since the reformation when many men first began to be translated from the seat of the scornefull to sit in Moses chaire and to prescribe Lawes for Christ his Spouse to make an Act that all wandering beggars after their correction by the Constable should be brought to the Minister of the Parish to have their names registred in a Book and the Constable used to give to the Minister 2d for his paines for every one so registred but if he refused or neglected to do it the Statute saith he should be punished five shillings for every one that should be so omitted where besides the honourable office I will not say to make the Minister of Christ a Bedle of the Beggars but a Register of the vagrants you see the punishment of one neglect amounteth to the reward of thirty labours therefore all the Christian Emperours and the wisest Kings considering this great charge that God had laid upon them to make wholesome Lawes and Constitutions for the government of his Church and seeing the inclinations of the Laity would never permit any of these Lay Elders and the Citizens of the world to usurp this authority to be the composers contrivers or assistants in concluding of any Ecclesiastical Law until the fences of God's vineyard were pulled down That the Laity should have no interest in making Laws for the Church and the wilde Boar out of the forrest the audacious presumption of the unruly Commonalty ventured either to govern the Church or to subdue their Prince since which incroachment upon the rights of Kings it hath never succeeded well with the Church of Christ and I dare boldly say it fidenter quia fideliter and the more boldly because most truly the more authority they shall gain herein the less glory shall Christ have from the service of his Church and therefore Be wise ô ye Kings And consider how any new Canons are to be made by our Statute 25 Hen. 8. Ob. But then it may be demanded if this be so Ob. that the Laity hath no right in making Lawes and Decrees for the government of God's Church but that it belongs wholly unto the King to do it with the advice of his Bishops and the rest of his Clergy then how came the Parliament to annul those Canons that were so made by the King and Clergy because they had no vote nor consent in confirming of them Sol. Truely I cannot answer to this Objection Sol. unless I should tell you what the Poet saith Dum furor incursu currenti cede furori Dâ—fficiles aditus impetus omnis habet They weâ—e furiously bent against them and you know furor arma ministrat dum regnant arma si lent leges all Lawes must sleep while Armes prevaile besides you may finde those Canons as if they had been prophetically made fore-saw the increasing strength of Anabaptisme Brownisme Puritanisme most likely to subvert true Protestantisme and therefore were as equally directed against these Sectaries of the left hand as against the Papists on the right hand and I think the whole Kingdom now findes and feels the strength of that virulent Faction and therefore what wonder that they should seek to break all those Canons to pieces and batter them down with their mighty Ordinances for seeking to subdue their invincible errours or else because as they say the Ecclesiastical State is not an independent society but a member of the whole the Parliament was not so to be excluded as that their advice and approbation should not be required to make them obligatory to the rest of the Subjects of the whole Kingdom which claim this priviledge to be tyed to the observation of no humane Lawes that themselves by their representatives have not consented unto 2. As the King is intrusted by God to make Lawes for the government of the Church of Christ so it is a rule without question 2. To grant dispensations of his own Lawes that ejus est dispensare absolvere cujus est condere he hath the like power to dispense with whom he pleaseth and to absolve him that transgresseth as he hath to oblige them therefore our Church being for reformation the most famous throughout all the parts of the Christian world and our King having so just an authority to do the same it is a most impudent scandal full of all malice and ignorance not to be endured by any well-affected Christian that the new brood of the old Anabaptists do lay upon our Church and State that they did very unreasonably and unconscionably by their Lawes grant Dispensations both for Pluralities and Non-residency The scandals of the malicious ignorants against the worthier clergy onely to further the corrupt desires of some few to the infinite wrong of the whole Clergy besides the hazard of many thousands of souls the intolerable dishonour of Gods truth and the exceeding disadvantage of Christ his Church for seeing God hath principally committed and primarily commended the care of his Church and service unto Kings who are therefore to make Laws and Orders for the well governing of the same iâ— shall make it most evident that they may as they have ever done most lawfully and more beneficially both for Gods Church and also for the Common-wealth do these three things Three special points handled 1. To grant that grace and favour unto their Bishops and other Ecclesiastical persons as to
the testimony and the practice of many godly Bishops and Fathers of the Church of Christ under the New Testament to justifie this truth For 1. Not onely Moses and Aaron that were both the Priests of the most high God and the chiefe Judges in all secular causes but also Joseph had his jurisdiction over the Aegyptians Daniel had his Lieutenancie over the Babylonians and Nehemias was a great Courtier among the Persians and yet these secular imployments were no hinderance to them in the divine worship and service of God So Ely and Samuel both were both Judges and Priests together and the most religious Princes David Solomon Jehosaephat and others used the Priests and Levites at their command in the civill government of their Dominions for when David caused all the Levites to be numbered from 30 years old and upward and that they were found to be 38 thousand he appointed 24 thousand of them to he over-seers of the works of the house of the Lord and he ordained the other six thousand to be Judges and Rulers in all Israel 1 Chron. 23.4 and so did Jehosaphat likewise * 2 Chron. 19.11 The place explained for though the last verse of the said chapter seems to put a difference betwixt the Civil matters and the Ecclesiastical affaires yet it is rightly answered by Saravia that this errour riseth from a misconceived opinion of their government as if it were the same with the government of some of our reformed Churches which was nothing less for if you compare this place with the 26. chap. Sigonius legit super opera quae ad regis officia pertinent l. 6. p. 315. 1 Sam. c. 8. of the 1. Chron vers the 29 30 and 32. you may easily finde that the Kings service or the affairs of the King doth not signifie the civil matters or the politique affairs of the Kingdom over which Amarias here and Hashabia and his brethren there 1 Chron. 26.30 were appointed the chief Rulers but it signifieth those things which pertained to the King 's right betwixt him and his subjects as those things that were described by Samuel and were retained and perhaps augmented either by the consent of the people or the incroachment of the succeeding Kings as the special rights of the Kings over which Zebadias the son of Ismael was appointed by Jehosaphat to be the Ruler and the business of the Lord is fully set down vers 10. to be not onely the Church affairs but all the affairs of the Kingdom between bloud and bloud Versu 10. between Law and Commandment Statutes and Judgements over which the Priests and Levites were appointed the ordinary Judges and the Interpreters of the Law as well Civil as Ecclesiastical for the Lord saith plainly Ezech 44 23. Vide locum Sigon ait circa judicium sanguinis ipsi insistent 2. In the Primitive Church Salmer tract 18. in parabol hominis divitis lo. 16. num 1. that every question and controversie shall be determined according to the censure of the Priests which certainly he would never have so prescribed nor these holy men have thus executed them if these two Functions had been so averse and contrary the one to the other that they could never be exercised together by the same man 2. In the Primitive times under the Gospel Salmeron saith that in the time of S. Augustine as himself teacheth Episcopi litibus Christianorum vacare solebant the Bishops had so much leisure that they were wont to judge of the quarrels of Christians yet they did not so spend their time in judging their contentions that they neglected their Preaching and Episcopal function and now that they do judge in civil causes consuetudine Ecclesiae introductum est ut peccata caverentur Bellar. de Rom. Pont. l. 5. c. 9. And Bellarmine saith Non pugnat cum verbo Dei ut unus homo sit Princeps Ecclesiasticus politicus simul it is not against the Word of God that the same man should be an Ecclesiastical and a Secular Prince together when as the same man may both govern his Episcopacy and his Principality And therefore we read of divers men Theod. l. 2. c. 30. that were both the Princes and the Bishops of the same Cities as the Archbishop of Collen Mentz Triers and other German Princes Henr. of Huntingson Hist Angl. that are both Ecclesiastical Pastours and great secular Princes And Hubert Archbishop of Canterbury was for a long while Viceroy of this Kingdom And so Leo. 9. Julius 2. Philip Archbishop of York Adelboldus Innocâ—nt 2. Collenutius and Blondus and many others famous and most worthy Bishops both of this Island and of other Kingdoms have undertaken and exercised both the Functions And Saint Paul recommendeth secular businesses and judgements unto the Pastours of the Church Aug. tom 3. de aâ—erib Menach c. 29. as S. Augustine testifieth at large where he saith I call the Lord Jesus a witness to my soul that for so much as concerneth my commodity I had rather work every day with my hands and to reserve the other houres free to read pray and exercise my self in Scriptures then to sustain the tumultuous perplexities of other mens causes in determining secular Controveâ—sies by judgement or taking them up by arbitrement to which troubles the Apostle hath appointed us not of his own will but of his that spake in him And as this excellent Father that wrote so many worthy volumes did notwithstanding imploy no small part of his time in these troublesome affairs so S. Ambrose twice undertook an honourable Embassie so Valentinian the Emperour unto the Tyrant Maximus Socrat. Eccl hist lib 7. And Marutha Bishop of Mesopotamia was sent by the Romane Emperour an Ambassadour to the King of Persia in which imployment he hath abundantly benefitted both the Church and the Emperour and we read of divers famous men that undertook divers Functions and yet neither confounded their offices nor neglected their duties for Spiridion was an husbandman and a Bishop of the Church a Pastour of sheep and a feeder of soules and yet none of the ancient Fathers that we read of either envyed his Farm or blamed his neglect in his Bishoprick but they admired his simplicity and commended his sanctity they were not of the spirit of our hypocritical Saints And Theodoret writeth Theodor. lib. 4. c. 13. that one James Bishop of Nisib was both a Bishop and a Captain of the same City which by the help of his God he manfully preserved against Sapor King of Persia And Ensebius Bishop of Samosis managing himself with all warlike habiliments ranged along throughout all Syria Phaenicia and Palaestina and as he passed erected Churches and ordained Priests and Deacons and peâ—formed such other Ecclesiastical pensions as pertained to his office in all places and I fear me the iniquity of our time will now call upon all Bishops that are able to do the like to preach unto
our people and to fight against God's enemies that have long laboured to overthow his Church as we read of some Bishops of this Kingdom that have been driven to do the like and if these men might do these things without blame as they did why may not the same man be both a Bishop and the Kings Counsellour both a Preacher in the pulpit and a Justice of the peace on the Bench and yet the callings not confounded though the same man be called to both offices for you know the office of a Lawyer is different from the office of a Physitian and the office of a Physitian as different from the duty of a Divine and yet as Saint Luke was an excellent Physitian and a heavenly Evangelist and S. Paul as good a Lawyer as he was a Preacher for he was bred at the feet of Gamaliel as was Master Calvin too as good a Civilian as he was a Divine for that was his first profession so the same man may as in many places they do and that without blame both play the part of a Physitian to cure the body and of a Divine to instruct the soul and therefore why not of a Lawyer when as the Preachers duty next to the teaching of the faith in Christ is to perswade men to live according to the rules of Justice and Justice we cannot understand without the knowledge of the Laws both of God and men and if he be obliged to know the Law why should he be thought an unfit man to judge according to the Law But. CHAP. IX Sheweth a full answer to four special Objections that are made against the Civil jurisd ctions of Ecclesiastical persons their abilities to discharge these offices and desire to benefit the Common-wealth why some Councils inhibited these offices unto Bishops that the King may give titles of honour unto his Clergy of this title LORD not unfitly given to the Bishops proved the objections against it answered six special reasons why the King should confer honours and favours upon his Bishops and Clergy 1. IF you say the office of a Preacher requireth the whole man and where the whole man is not sufficient to one duty for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ob. 1 2 Cor. 2.16 then certainly one man is never able to supply two charges I answer that this indefinite censure is uncertainly true Sol. and most certainly false as I have proved unto you before by many examples of most holy men that discharged two offices with great applause and no very great difficulty to themseves for though Saint Matthew could not return to his trade of Publican because that a continued attendance on a secular business would have taken him from his Apostolate and prove an impediment to his Evangelick ministration yet Saint Peter might return to his nets as he did without blame because that a temporary imployment and no constant secession can be no hinderance to our Clericall office No man is alwayes able to do the same thing when there is no man that can so wholly addict himselfe to any kinde of art trade or faculâ—y but that he must sometimes interchangeably afford himselfe leisure either for his recreation Vt quemvis animo possit sufferre laborem or the recollection of strength and abilities to discharge his office by the undertaking of some other exercise which is to many men their chiefest recreation as you see the husband-mans change of labour doth still inable him to continue in labour and the Courtier cannot alwayes wait in the same posture nor the Scribe alwayes write nor the Divine alwayes study Change of labour is a kinde of recreation but there must be an exchange of his actions for the better performance of his chiefest imployment and that time which either some Gentlemen Citizens or Courtiers spend in playing hawking or hunting onely for their recreation the better to inable them to discharge their offices why may not the Divine imploy it in the performance of any other duty different but not destructive or contradictory to his more special function especially considering that the discharging of those good duties to give counsell to do justice to releive the distressed and the like are more acceptable recreations unto them as it was meate and drink to Christ to do his fathers will then the other fore-named exercises are or can be to any others John 4.34 and considering also that where the Bishop or Pastor hath great affairs and much charge he may have great helpes and much aid to assist him You will allow us an hour for our recreation why will you not allow us that hour to do justice Ob. 2. 2. If you say they are spirituall men and therefore cannot have so great a care of the temporall State and Common-wealth Sol. 1. The ability of the Clergy to manage civil affaires Ignat. Epist ad Ephes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I answer that as now the Common-wealth is the Church and the Church is the Common wealth and have as good interest therein and better we hope then many of the Common-wealth have in the Church and they should be as able to unde stand what is beneficiall to the Common-wealth as any other for Ignatius saith that Kings ought to be served by wise men and by those that are of great understanding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not to be attended upon by weak and simple men and if Kings must be served by such men then certainly the service of God is not to be performed by Weavers and Taylors and others like Jeroboams Priests but it will require men of great abilities learning and understanding in all businesses whatsoever such as are indeed well able to discourse De quolibet ente And they have very unprefitably consumed themselves with their time in their head-pain vigils and heart-breaking studies in traversing over all the Common-wealths of the world if they have learned nothing The Clergy of better abilities to benefit the Common-wealth then many others that now sway it whereby they may benefit their own Common-wealth or do understand less what belongeth unto the good of their Countrey especially in matters of equity and right then illiterate Burgesses and meere Chapmen for if you read but the bookes of the Prophets you shall finde how plentifull they are in the precepts of peace in the policies of war and in the best counsels for all things which concern the good of the Common-wealth and do not the Divines read the Histories of all or most other Common-wealths how else shall they be inabled to propose unto their people the example of Gods justice upon the wicked and his bounty and favour unto the observers of his Lawes throughout all ages and in all places of this world and will you deprive the King of the assistance of such instruments for the government of his people The imployment of the Bishops in civil affaires is the good of the Common wealth that are stronger
then any one man can rule and would quickly despise Heaven and destroy the earth if their consciences were not awed with Religion or would you damme up the channels of those benefits that should flow from them to the Common-wealth for it is not the addition of any honour to the calling of a Bishop but the King's interest and the peoples good that is aimed at when we assert the capacity of the Clergy to discharge the offices of the most publique affaires Petrus Blesensis ep 84. because as Petrus Blesensis saith it is the office of the Bishops to instruct the King to righteousness to be a rule of Sanctity and sobriety unto the Court to mix the influencies of Religion with the designes of State and to restrain the malignity of the ill-disposed people and all histories do relate unto us that when pious Bishops were imployed in the King's Counsels the rigour of the Lawes was abated equity introduced the cry of the poor respected their necessities relieved the liberties of the Church preserved pride depressed religion increased the devotion of the Laity multiplied the peace of the Kingdom flourished and the tribunals were made more just and merciful then now they be And therefore the sacred histories do record of purpose how the people of God never adventured upon any action of weight and moment before they had well consulted with the Priests and Prophets as you see in the example of Ahab No Nation attempted any great matter without the advice of their Priests that was none of the best Kings yet would not omit this good duty and such was the custom of all other Countries wheresoever there was any religion or reverence of God Quae enim est respub ubi ecclesiastici primum non habeant locum in comitiis publicis de salute reipub deliberationibus for which is that Common-wealth where the Ecclesiastical persons had not the first place in all meetings and publique consultations about the welfare of the Common-wealth as in Germany the three spiritual Electours are the first in France the three Ecclesiastical persons were the first of all the Peers in England till this unhappy time the two Archbishops and in Poland as many were wont to have the chiefest place and not unworthily quia aequum est Apud Euseb Pamphilam l. 11. Strabo l. 4. Caesar de bello Gallico lib. 6. antestent in concilio qui antestant prudentiâ nec videtur novisse res humanas nisi qui divinas cognitas habet as the Indian said unto Socrates and therefore the Chaldaans the Aegyptians the Graecians the Romanes the French and the Britons thought it alwayes ominous to attempt any notable thing in the Common-wealth without the sad and sage advice of their Priests and Prophets for they knew the neglect of God was never left without due revenge and though their false gods were no gods yet the true God was found to have been a sharp revenger of the contempt of the false gods because that to them they were proposed for the true gods and they believed them so to be as Lactantius sheweth and therefore all antiquity that bare any reverence to any Deity shewed all reverence and respect unto the teachers of his religion but now men desire to throw learning over the Bar because it should not discover the ignorance of the Bench or rather piety is excluded because it should not reprove their iniquity And the Clergy must not sit on the seat of judgement that the Laity may do injustice without controul or perhaps revenge themselves upon their Ministers on the Bench for reproving their vices in the Church so the Devil gaineth whatsoever piety loseth by their depression 2. As the Clergy-men are as able 2. The desire of the Clergy to do good to the State so they are as willing and as careful to provide for the good of the State as any other for themselves are members of the Common-wealth and they are appointed by God to be watchmen and overseers to foretel what mischiefes or felicities are like to ensue and to admonish as well the Prince as the people of such things as are to be avoided and to be performed which they cannot do if they be strangers from the conscience and excluded from the conference of such things that are to be done in the Common wealth Therefore seeing the good of the Common-wealth is their own good The Church of Christ and a Christian common-wealth sail together and the good of the Church is the good of the Common-wealth when a Christian Common-wealth and the Church of Christ are imbarked in the same Vessel and do sayle together with the same successe aiming both at the same Port and God hath commanded his Ministers to be no lesse solicitous for the one then the other it is incredible to think that a godly Minister should have lesse care of the Common-wealth then the best of our common Burgo-Masters and it is impossible to conceive any true reason why the Bishops and Pastours above all others should be excommunicated out of their assemblies and excluded from their Parliaments and other civil Courts when it doth most chiefly concern them to see unto the wellfare of their flock not onely in such things as concern the safety of their souls A miserable thing that the Ministers of the Gospel should be made more slaves then the basest calling in the World but also in all other things that may pertain either to the security of their bodies or the quietness of their estates because this is a thing utterly against the equal right of all Subjects that the Ministers of the Gospel being Subjects unto the king and Citizens of the Commonwealth should have nothing to do in the Government thereof but must be governed not as strangers that may have admission but as slaves with an impossibility to be received into the civil administration af any matter and their exclusion is as prejudicial to the king and kingdome as it is injurious unto the Clergy when they must be deprived of the grave advice and faithful service of so learned and religious assistants for the government of the people as the reverend Bishops and devout Doctors have ever been Ob. 3. Act. 15. S. Cyprian punished Geminius Faustinus for undertaking the Executor ship of Geminius Victor ep 66. Sol. 3. If you say the sixth Canon of the Apostles the seventh Canon of the Council of Calcedon and Saint Cyprian in his Epistle to the Priests of Furnam do forbid these things in Ecclesiastical persons and so many Fathers have accordingly refused these civil imployments and jurisdictions I answer briefly that while the Emperours were Heathens and neither the Kings nor their Kingdoms Christian but their counsels were often held for wicked ends private gain or privy deceit for bloudy murthers or horrid treason◠the Clergy were inhibited and the godly Bishops were ashamed to sit in such ungodly assemblies that would neither be converted to
Christ nor reformed from their sins and so now when the Puritan faction prevailed in our Parliament Good to be excluded from the counsel of the wicked and our Sectaries disdained in their counsels to take the counsel of Religion and resolved to banish GOD from their assemblies to make the Church and Church-men a publick scorn unto the wicked and the Common-wealth a private gain to every broken Citizen and every needy Varlet I say happy are those Bishops that are excluded and well it is for those Ministers that are furthest off from such godless and irreligious not Parliament but Parricides even as the Psalmist testifieth Blessed is the man that hath not sate in the seat of the scornful Psal 1.1 and therefore if they had not been excluded I am sure that as the case now standeth they would have seceded themselves But when the civil Magistrates became Christians and the Christians consulted with God in all their actions then it was no indecorum for the servants of Christ to be seen in the Congregation of Saints and to sit as Judges among gods where the judgement shall pass for the glory of God neither is it any prejudice to our holy calling The giving of Caesar's due doth not hinder us to give to god his due to give unto Caesar those things that are Caesar's and that we owe unto him as our service and our counsel and whatsoever else lyeth in us to do for the good of the Common-wealth as we are his Subjects and the Tenants of the Common-wealth nor do the rendering of these things to Caesar any wayes hinder us to give unto God the things that are God's and that we owe to God as our prayers and our care over God's flock as we are Christians and Bishops over the Church of Christ but the same man if he will be faithful may justly perfoâ—m both duties without giving over or neglecting either And when our men shall return to God and take him along with them into their counsels and desire the assistance of his servants as I hope they will have grace to do I assure my self the Reverend Bishops will not refuse to do them service Ob. 4 But you will say the Emperours were good Christians when the Council of Calcedon put out their Canons Sol. I answer the Emperours were but all Kings were not besides that Canon cleares it self for it sheweth that Clergymen did at that time undertake secular imployments Propter lucra turpia ministerium Dei parvi pendentes for gaine neglecting their duty and therefore the Council forbade all Clergy-men negotiis secularibus se immiscere because the Apostle saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 2.4 no man that warreth intangleth or insnareth himself with the affairs of this life and so neither the Apostle nor the Council doth absolutely forbid all secular affairs as inconsistent with this function but as the Council of Arles saith Concil Arelai Caâ— 14. The words of the Canon explained Clericus turpis lucri gratia aliquod genus negotiationis non exerceat so they forbid all Clerks to meddle with any business for the love of gain and filthy lucre that might insnare him to neglect his duty or as the Canon of the Apostle saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Bishop should not assume unto himself or seeke after worldly cares but if either necessity or authority impose them on him I see not how he can refuse them because there is no absolute prohibition of such imployments in any place but as it might be a hinderance to discharge his office or otherwise Saint Paul's Tent-making was as much against the calling of an Apostle as the sitting in a secular tribunal is against the office of a Bishop because there is no reason we should deny that benefit to a publick necessitated community which we will yeeld to a private personal necessity And so indeed these very men that cry out against our Bishops The Presbyterians will be the directors of all affaires and other grave Prelates of the Church for the least medling in these civil affaires do not onely suffer their own Preachers to strain at a gnat but also to swallow a Camel when M. Henderson Marshal Case and the rest of their new inspired Prophets shall sit as Presidents in all their Counsels and Committees of their chiefest affaires and consultations either about War or Peace or of any other civil cognizance how these things can be answered to deny that to us which they themselves do practise I cannot understand when as the light of Nature tells us Quod tibi vis fieri mihi fac quod non mihi noli Sic potes in terris vivere jure poli * Vnde Baldus jubet ut quis in alios non aliter judicet quà m in se judicari vellet And therefore when as there is no politick Philosophy no imperial constitution nor any humane invention that doth or can so strictly binde the consciences of men unto subjection and true obedience as the Doctrine of the Gospel and no man can perswade the people so much unto it as the Preachers of Gods word as it appeareth by this Rebellion perswaded by the false Preachers because the Principles of Philosophy and the Laws of many nations do permit many things to be done against tyrants which the Religion of Christ and the true Bishops of Gods Church do flatly inhibit How requisite it is for Kings to delegate civil affaires unto their Clergie it is very requisite and necessary for all Christian Kings both for the glory of God their own safety and the happiness of the Common-wealth to defend this their own right and the right of the Clergy to call them into their Parliaments and Counsels and to demise certain civil causes and affairs to the gravest Bishops and the wisest of the Ministers and not suffer those Rebellious Anabaptists and Brownists that have so disloyally laboured to pull off the Crown from their Kings head to bury all the glory of the Church in the dust to bring the true Religion into a scorn and to deprive the King of the right which is so necessary for his safety and so useful for the Government of his people that is the service of his Clergy in all civil Courts and Councils And as it is the Kings right to call whom he pleaseth into his Parliaments and Councils That it is the Kings right to give titles of honour to whom he pleaseth and to delegate whom he will to discharge the office of a civil or Ecclesiastical magistrate or both wheresoever he appoints within his Realms and Dominions so it is primarily in his power and authority and his regal right to give titles of honour and dignity to those officers and magistrates whom he chooseth for though the Barbarians acknowledge no other distinction of Persons but of Master and Servants which was the first punishment for the first contempt of our Superiors Gen. 9.25
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Presidents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rulers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Princes as where the Psalmist saith instead of thy Fathers thou shalt have children whom thou mayest make Princes in all lands which the best interpreters do expound of the Apostles and Bishops that are called the Princes of God's Church Origen ho. 19. in Matth. Hier. in Psal 45.16 but also giveth and alloweth this very title of Lord unâ—o them as I shewed before so the fathers of the Primitive Church did usually ascribe the same one to another as Saint Hierom writing to Saint Augustine saith Domine verè sancte and the Letters sent to Julius Bishop of Rome had their superscription 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To our most blessed Lord. Sozom. lib. 3. c. 23. Nazian in ep ad gr Nyssen Theodor l. 1. c. 4. 5. l. c. 9. And Nazianzen saith Let no man speak any untruth of me nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Lords the Bishops and in all antiquity as Theodoret sheweth this title of Lord is most frequently ascribed unto the Bishops Saint Chrysostom in Psal 13. as he is cited by Baronius Anno 58. n. 2. saith that Hereticks have learned of the Devil to deny the due titles of honour unto their Bishops neither is it strange that he which would have no Bishops should deny all honour unto the Bishops but they can be contented to transfer this honour though to cover their hypocrisie in another title that shall be as Emperour instead of King from the Episcopacy to the Presbytery so that indeed it is not the honour which they hate but the Persons of the Bishops that are honoured Therefore though for mine own particular I do so much under value the vanity of all titles that we e it not the duty of the people to give it more then the desire of the Bishops to have it I should have spared all this Discourse yet seeing it is the right of Kings to bestow honours and it is an argument of their love to Christ to honour them that honour God to magnifie the order of their Religion and to account the chief Ministers of the Gospel among the chief States of the Land I could not pass it over in silence but shew you how it belongs to him to give this honour to whom he will and because this dignity cannot be given to all that are in the same order it is wisely provided by the King that the whole order or Ministry should be honoured in those few The whole order honoured in few whose learning and wisdome he hath had most use and experience of or is otherwise well informed thereof and it is no small wonder unto me that any learned man should be so blinded with this errour as any wayes to oppose this truth or that any Christian should be like the sons of Jacob so transported with envy when they see any of their brethren made more honourable then themselves for they ought to thinke themselves honoured in the honour of their brethren when the lord Bishops are down the Lords Temporal shall not continue long for as Geneva put away their Bishop their Prince so the Cantons and Switzers put away all Lords A just judgement of God that they which will have no spiritual Lords should not be any temporall Lords but should be as little regarded by their creatures as they regard the servants of their Creator Six special reasons why the King should confer his savours and honours upon the Bishops 1 Reason but that pride is such a beast that thinketh himself the most worthy and envy is such a monster that cannot endure any happiness to any other And that which makes me wonder most of all is to see those Lords whose honours scarce saw the age of a man and some pretending great loyalty to His Majesty and wishing happiness to His posterity so far yeilding to the mis-guided Faction to darken the glory of Gods Church and 10 undervalue Christs Ministers as to obliterate that dignity and rase out those titles which are inherent to the Ministry from the foundation of the Church and are ascribed unto the Bishops by the same Majesly that honoured them and for some by-respect and private ends to perswade the King to desert the Church to leave the Prelates in the suds their honour to be laied and buried in the dust and their revenues to be devoured by the enemies of all Godliness But do these men thinke that blessings come from God or that this is the way for God to bless the King or themselves or this Kingdome to vilifie those that honour God and of whom Christ directly saith He that receiveth you receiveth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me for alas who were more favoured protected and blessed by God then Constantine Theodosius and the rest of those good Emperours and Kings that gave most immunities and conferred most dignities upon the Bishops and Prelates of Gods Church because that hereby they testified their love to Christ himself and did not God withdraw his favour and protection from those kings and Potentates that neglected to protect his servants therefore they cannot wish well unto the king that wish him to give way to denude the Church and to desert the defence of the Bishops For besides many other reasons we finde six special arguments proving that our king rather then any king in Europe should uphold his Clergy and confer his favours and honours upon them I say not more then upon his nobility for that would procure hatred unto the king envy unto them and ruine unto all but as well as upon any other state in this kingdome As 1. Not onely the relation betwixt them and their Prince as they are his faithful Subjects and he their Soveraigne King but as he is the Lords Anointed and the Defender of that faith which they teach and publish unto his people for this anointing of him by God for this end superinduceth a brother-hood betwixt the king and the Bishops and makes him quasi unus ex nobis and the chief guide and guardian of the Clergy because that thereby he is mixta persona more then a meere Lay-man Rex inunctus non est merus Laicus Guimerus tit 12. sect 9.33 Edw. 3. tit Aide le Roy 2. Reason â— and hath an Ecclesiastical supreme Government as well as the civil and ùt oleo sancto uncti sunt spiritualis jurisdictionis capaces sunt and as it was said in the time of Edward the third and therefore as in relation to the temporalty the king is supremus justiciarius totius Angliae so in respect to the spiritualty he is as Constantine stiled himself in the Councel of Nice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the chief Christian Bishop among his Bishops 2. Our Bishops and Clergy are truer and faithfuller Subjects to their Prince then any other Clergy in Christendome because the Clergy of France and Spain and other Popish States and Dominions are
Church and King and in the end destroy themselves for who deceived Absolon though rightly but his own Counsellour who betrayed Ahab and that most wickedly but his lying Parasites and who overthrew Rehoboam and that foolishly but his young favourites * Which thing is purposely set down in the holy Scripture to be a caveat for all Kings not to rely too much upon young Counsellors not that wisedome and prudence are intailed to old age and inseperable from gray-haires or divorced from green heads but because commonly experience is the fruitfull mother of these faire issues and the multitude of yeares teacheth wisdom for otherwise there may be delirium senectutis the dotage of old age as well as vanitas juventutis the folly of youth and as Elihu saith Great men are not alwayes wise neither do the aged understand judgement but as Solomon saith ◠isdem even in youth is the gray haires and an undefiled life is the old age as we see young Ioseph was the wisest in all Egypt Solomon Daniel and Titus how wise how learned and how religious were they in their younger yeares So Alexander Hà nniball Scipio in the feates of war Lucan Mirandula Keckerman and abundance more in all humane learning that were but Neophyti annis yet were egregii virtutibus young in years yet very admirable for their worth And Princes do most wisely when they make such election especially when they are inforced to call men to places of labour and industry they must have some regard to the bodies as well as to the mindes of their servants and chuse men of younger yeares though not to be their favourites but their confidents according to the French distinction as His Majesty hath lately made choice of one noble servant who is a◠Nazianzen speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gray in the minde though yellow in the head and supplying in all manner of excellent parts what may be conceived wanting in years whose name so much already catched at by envy I shall ever reverence though now I purposely passe it over in silence and whom may the Church fear most of all but her dissembling friends that are in most favour with Kings and therefore seduce them soonest insensibly to wound the Care and neglect the Charge that is laid upon them because as St. Bernard saith Longè plus nocet falsus Catholicus quà m si apertus appareret haereticus those eare-wigs are most pernicious whose counsels seeme to be most specious when they are but as the spirit of darkness appearing like an Angel of light when they say God indeed must be served and the Word must be preached but whether Bishop or no Bishop whether in a sumptuous Church or private house whether by an esteemed Clergy or a poore meane Ministrie in this manner or in another fashion it skilleth not much Kings may well enough give way to spare that cost to lessen that Revenue and to pull down these Cathedrals especially to give content unto the People and to defray the expensive charge of the Common-wealth But these counsels will not excuse Kings in the day of their account therefore let them take heed of such Counsellors and when they hear them begin to speak against the Church though they be-guild their beginnings never so slily let them either stop their eares with the Cockatrice Psal 58.5 that will not heare the voice of the charmer charme he never so wisely or let them answer as our Saviour answered their grand instructor Vade Satana non tentabis Matth. 4.10 for it is most true that Qui deliberat jam desivit he that listens to them is halfe corrupted by them and so they may prove destructive both to themselves and to their posterity for as nothing establisheth the Throne of Kings surer then obedience to God so nothing is more dangerous then rebellion against God with whom there is no respect of persons for he expecteth Rom. 2.11 that as he made Kings his Vice-gerents so they should feare him preserve the right of his Church uphold his service defend his servants and do all that he commands them intirely without taking the least liberty for feare of the people to dispense with any omission of his honour or suffering the hedges of his Vineyard the Governours of his Church to be trodden down and torne in pieces that the beasts of the field may destroy the grapes and defile the service of our God Therefore to conclude this point let all Kings do their best to hinder their People to corrupt the Covenant of Levi which is a Covenant of Salt that is Malach. 2.8 Deut. 33.11 to indure for ever let them remember Moses prayer Blesse Lord his substance and accept the worke of his hands smite through the loynes of them that rise against him and of them that hate him that they rise not again and let them alwayes consider that God taketh pleasure in the prosperity of his servants Psal 35.27 CHAP. XI Sheweth where the Protestants Papists and Puritans do place Soveraignty who first taught the deposing of Kings the Puritans tenet worse then the Jesuites Kings authority immediately from God the twofold royalty in a King the words of the Apostle vindicated from false glosses the testimony of the Fathers and Romanists for the Soveraignty of Kings the two things that shew the difficulty of government what a miraculous thing it is and that God himself is the governour of the people 2 The duty of the King in the government of the Common-wealth HAving set down some particulars of the Kings right in the Government of Gods Church it resteth that I should shew some part of his right and duty to serve God as he is a King in the government of the Common-wealth touching which for our more orderly proceeding I will distribute my whole discourse into these five heads Five points handled 1. To justifie his right to govern the people 2. To shew the difficulty of this government 3. To set down the assistants that are to helpe him in the performance of this duty 4. To distinguish the chiefest parts of this Government 5. To declare the end for which this Government is ordained of God 1. Point 1. Where the Protestants place Soveraignty 1. We say that the Kings Soveraignty or royal power to govern the people is independent from all creatures solely from God who hath immediately conferred the same upon him and this we are able to make good with abundance both of divine and humane proofes and yet we finde the same adversaries of this truth though with a far less shew of reason that we met withall about Government of Gods Church For 2. In whom the Papists do place Soveraignty The Pope's sad Message to Hen. 3. Imp. Quem meritum investivimus quare immeritum non devestiamus quia ad quem pertinet institutio ad eundem pertinet destitutio 2 They that are infatuated with the cup of Babylon the
condition their Preachers are and of what worth of no faith of no learning that have already forfeited their estates if they have any and their lives unto the king and will any man that is wise hazard his estate his life and his soul to follow the perswasions of these men my life is as deare to me as the Earle of Essex his head is to him and my soul dearer and I dare ingage them both that if all the Doctors in both Vniversities and all the Divines within the kingdome of England were gathered together to give their judgement of this War there could not be found one of ten it may be as I beleive not one of twenty that durst upon his conscience say this war is lawful upon the Parliament side for though these Locusts that is the German It is contrary to the doctrine of all the Protestant Church for Subjects to resist their king Scottish and the English Puritane agreeing with the Romane Jesuite ever since the reformation harped upon this string and retained this serpentine poison within their bosome still spitting it forth against all States as you may see by their bookes Yet I must tell you plainly this doctrine of Subjects taking up armes against their lawful King is point blanck and directly against the received doctrine of the Church of England and against the tenet of all true Protestants and therefore Andreas Rivetus Professor at Leyden writing against a Jesuite Paraeus in Rom. 13. Boucher l. 2. c 2. Keckerm Syst pol. c. 32. Jun. Brut. q. 2. p. 56. Bellar. de laic c. 6. Suar. de fid cathol c. 3. Lichfield l. 4. 19. sect 19. Field l. 5. c. 30. that cast this aspersion upon the Protestants that they jumpe with them in this doctrine of warring against and deposing kings saith that no Protestant doth maintain that damnable doctrine and that rashness of Knox and Buchanan is to be ascribed praefervido Scotorum ingenio ad audendum prompto Juel and Bilson and all the Doctors of the Church are of the same minde and Lichfield saith no Orthodox father did by word or writing teach any resistance for the space of a thousand yeares and Doctor Field saith that all the worthy fathers and Bishops of the Church perswaded themselves that they owed all duty unto their kings though they were Hereticks and Infidels and the Homilies of the Church of England allowed by authority do plainly and peremptorily condemne all Subjects warring against their King for Rebels and Traytors that do resist the ordinance of God and procure unto themselves damnation and truely I beleive most of their own consciences tell them so and they that thinke otherwise I would have them to consider that if they were at a banquet where twenty should aver such a dish to be full of poyson for every one that would warrant it good would'st thou venture to eate it and hazard thy life in such a case O then consider what it is to hazard thy soule upon the like termes So you see the justness of the War on the Parliament side But. 1. On the Kings side it cannot be denied but his cause is most just for his own defence for the maintenance of the true Protestant Religion that is established by our Laws and for the rights of the Church and the just liberties and property of all his loyal Subjects this he testifieth in all his Declarations and this we know in our own consciences to be true and therefore 2. As his Majesty professeth so we beleive him that he never intended otherwise by this war but to protect us and our Religion and to maintain his own just and unquestionable rights which these Rebels would most unjustly wrest out of his hands and under the shew of humble Petitioners to become at last proud Commanders for as one saith They whom no denial can withstand Seeme but to aske while they indeed command 3. For the persons that war with him they are the chiefest of the Nobility 3 His assistants learned honest and religious all the best Gentry that hazard their lives not for filthy lucre for the Kings Revenues being so unjustly detained from him they are fain to supply his necessities and to bear their own charges and the poor common Soldiers are nothing wanting to do their best endeavours neither need they to fear any thing because 4 His authority sacred and unquestionable What the pretended Parliament is 4. The King hath a just right to give them full power and authority to do execution upon these Rebels as I have proved unto you before And therefore the result of all is that the Parliament side under the pretence of Religion fighting if not for the Crown yet certainly for the full power and authority of the King who shall have the ordering of the Militia that is who shall have the government of this Kingdome which is all one as who shall be the King they or King CHARLES and which is the very question that they would now decide by the sword in taking away our goods are theeves and robbers in killing their brethren are bloudy murderers and in resisting their King are rebellious traytors that as the Apostle saith purchase to themselves damnation when as the Prophet Esay speaketh of the like Rebels being hardly bestead and hungry Esay 8.21 22. as I believe thousands of them are in London and other Rebellious Cities they shall fret themselves and curse their King and their God and looke upward as I fear many of them do curse the King with their tongues and God in their hearts and they shall looke unto the earth Matth. 8.12 and behold trouble and darknesse dimnesse and anguish and they shall be driven to darknesse even to utter darknesse where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth if by a true repentance they do not betimes rent their hearts and forsake their fearful sinns And the Kings side in this war doing no further then the king gives Commission do no more then what God commandeth and therefore living they shall be accounted loyal Subjects worthy of honour and dying they shall be sure to be everlastingly rewarded CHAP. XIII Sheweth how the first Government of Kings was arbitrary the places of Moses Deu. 17. and of Samuel 1 Sam. 8. discussed whether Ahab offended in desiring Naboths Vineyard and wherein why absolute power was granted unto Kings and how the diversities of Government came up 2 part of the regal government in the time of peace Master Selden in his titles of Honour p. 15. That the first government of Kings was arbitrary 2. HAving thus shewed you potestatem ducendi the Kings right and power of making War it resteth that I should speake De potestate judicandi of his power and right of judging and governing his people in the time of peace touching which we finde none denying his right but all the difference is about the manner where 1. I finde Master Selden rejecting
hominis summa rerum autoritas esset futura because now all authority and all things were not in the power of the Law but in the power of one mans arbitrary will But seeing we are fallen upon the peoples desire of a king let us examine what right God saith belongeth unto him and because that place 1 Sam. 8. is contradicted by another Deut. 17. as it seemeth we will examine both places and see if Moses doth any wayes crosse Samuel Deut. 17.14 usque ad finem and truly I may say of these two places that as S. Aug. saith in the like case Alii atque alii aliud atque aliud opinati sunt for some learned men say that Moses setteth down to the king legem regendi the Law by which he should governe the people without wronging them and Samuel setteth down to the people legem parâ—â—di the Law by which they should obey the king without resisting him whatsoever he should doe to them Spalat tom 2. fol 251. And other Divines say Haec est potestas legitima non tyrannica nec violenta ideò quando rex propria negotia non possit expedire per proprias res ac servos possit pro negotiis propriis tollere res servos aliorum isto modo dicebat Deus quod pertinebat ad jus regis G. Ocham tract 2. l. 2. c. 25. this is the lawfull and just right of the king Therefore to find out the truth let us a little more narrowly discusse both places And 1. In the words of Moses there I observe two speciall things 1. The charge of the people 2. The charge of the king 1. Popular election utterly forbidden 1. The people are commanded very strictly in any wise saith the Text to make choice of no king of their own heads but to accept of him whom the Lord did chuse 2. The Kings charge 2. The king is commanded to write out the Law to study it and to practice it and he is forbidden to do foure speciall things which are 1. Not to bring the people back into Egypt nor to provide the means to bring them by multiplying his horses 2. Not to marry many wives that might intice him as they did Solomon unto Idolatry 3. Not to hoord up too much riches 4. Not to tyrannize over his Brethren Joseph Antiquit l. 4. And Josephus to the same purpose saith Si regis cupiditas vos incesserit is ex eadem gente sit curam omnino gerat justitiae aliarum virtutum caveat verò ne plus legibus aut Deo sapiat nihil autem agat sine Pontificis Senatorúmque sententia which Moses hath not neque nuptiis multis utatur nec copiam pecuniarum equorúmque sectetur quibus partis super leges superbiâ efferatur that is to be a Tyrant Rex Jacobus in his true Law of free Monarchs 2. The words of Samuel are set down 1 Sam. viii 11. to the 18. verse whereof I confesse there are severall expositions some making the same a propheticall prediction of what some of their Kings would doe contrary to what they should doe as it was expressed by Moses So King James himself takes it others take it Grammatically for the true right of a King that may do all this and yet no way contradict those precepts forecited by Moses to confirme which supposition they say 1. The phrase here used must beare it out for as the Hebrew word signifieth as Pagninus noteth Morem aut modum aut consuetudinem and many other things as the place and the matter to be expressed do require because every equivocall word of various signification is not to be taken alike in all places but is to be interpreted secundum materiam subjectam yet the Septuagint that should know both the propriety of the word and the meaning of the Holy Ghost in that place as well as any other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apparet nomen juris significare hic potestatem jure soncessam Arnisaeus c. 1. p. 216. translate the word to signifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and we know the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Septuagint useth and jus which the Latine useth is never taken in the worser sence the Scripture never using to call vices by the names of vertues or to give a right to any one to exercise tyranny which then might be better termed jus latronis because an unjust tyrant is no better then an open thiefe 2. There is nothing here set downe by Samuel that is simply forbidden by the Law of God but that any the very best Kings may do as the occasions shall requi e for being a King he must have the royalty of his house supported and the necessities of his war supplied and you may read in Herodotus how Dioces after he was chosen King had all things granted unto him that were needfull to express his royall state and magnificence and here is nothing else in the text for if you marke it the Prophet saith not he should kill their sons nor ravish their wives nor yet take their daughters to be his Concubines which are the properties of a tyrant * Instat terribilis vivis morientibus haeres Virginibus raptor thalamis obscaenus adulter Divit busque dies nox metuenda maritis Quisquis vel locuples pulchra vel conjuge notus Crimini pulsatur falso si crimina desunt Accitus conviva perit mors nulla refugit Artificem Claudian de bello Gildon Bilson diff fol. 356. but he should take them to support his State and to maintain his war which as his necessities require is lawfull for him to do so that it is not the doing of those things but the motives that cause the King to do them or the manner of doing them that do make it either an unjust tyranny or the just right of a King for as Doctor Bilson saith kings may justly command the goods and bodies of all their Subjects in the time both of war and peace for any publique necessity or utility And Hugo de Sancto Victore saith Nunquam possessiones à regia potestate ita elongari possunt quin si ratio postulaverit necessitas illis ipsa potestas debeat patrocinium illis ipsae possessiones debeant in necessitate obsequium And so most Authors say the Subjects ought to supply the kings necessities and he may justly demand what is requisite and necessary for his publique occasions and who shall judge of that necessity but his own conscience and God shall judge that conscience which doth unjustly demand what he hath no reason to require because the greatness of his authority gives him no right to transcend the rules of equity whereof both God and his conscience will be the impartiall Judges And therefore in Deut. Modus describitur res non prohibetur and in Samuel Jus ponitur ratio subintelligitur for many things may be prohibited in
God and nature have conferred upon them some more some less according as their grants were unto their people §. The extent of the grants of Kings what they may and what they may not grant what our Kings have not granted in seven speciall prerogatives and what they have granted unto their people ANd here I would have you to consider these two points Two things considerable about the priviledged grants of Kings 1. The extent of the grants of kings Prov. 30.15 concerning these grants of Kings unto their Subjects 1. Of the extents of these grants 2. Of the Kings obligation to observe them for 1. It is certain that the people alwayes desirous of liberty though that liberty should produce their ruine are notwithstanding like the daughters of the Horse-leech still crying unto their Kings give give give us liberties and priviledges more and more and if they may have their wills they are never satisfied Till Kings by giving give themselves away And even that power which should deny betray For the concessions and giving away of their right to govern That it is to the prejudice of government to grant too many priviledges to the people is the weakning of their government and the more priviledges they give the less power they have to rule and then the more unruly will their Subjects be and therefore the people being herein like the horses the Poets faigne to be in Phaebus chariot proud and stomackfull Kings should remember the grave advice the Father gave unto Phaeton Parce puer stimulis sed fortiùs utere loris Sponte sua properant labor est inhibere volantes Ovid. Met. l. 1 They must be strongly bribled and restrained or they will soone destroy both horse and rider both themselves and their Governours Yet many Kings Constrained gifts not worthy of thanks either forcibly compelled by their unruly Subjects when they might think and therefore not yield that Who gives constrain'd but his own feare reviles Not thank't but scorn'd nor are they gifts but spoiles Or else as some intruding usurping Kings have done to retaine their unjustly gained crownes without opposition or as others out of their Princely clemency and facility What moved Kings to grant so many priviledges to their Subjects to gain the more love and affection and as they conceived the greater obligation from their Subjects have many times to the prejudice of themselves and their posterity to the diminution of the rights of government and often to the great damage of the Common-wealth given away and released the execution of many parts of that right which originally most justly belonged unto them and tyed themselves by promises and oaths to observe those Laws which they made for the exemption of their Subjects Majora jura inseperabilia à Majestue ne queunt indulgeri subditis ita cohaerent ossibus ab illo separari si ne illius destructione non possunt Paris de puteo Arnisaeus l. 2. c. 2. de jure ma. Blacvod c 7. pag. 75. things that the King cannot grant But there be some things which the King cannot grant as to transfer the right of succession to any other then the right heir to whom it doth justly belong quia non jam haereditas est sed proprium adeuntis patrimonium cujus ei pleno jure dominium acquiritur non à Patre non à populo sed à lege Because he hath this right unto the Crown not from his Father nor from the people but from the Law of the Land and from God himself which appointed him for the same saith the Civilian and therefore that vulgar saying is not absurd nunquam mori Regem That the King never dyeth for as soone as ever the one parteth with this life the other immediately without exspecting the consent either of Peeres or people doth by a just and plenary right succeed not onely as his fathers heir but as the lawful governour of the people and as the Lord of the whole kingdome not by any option of any men but by the condition of his birth and the donation of his God and therefore the resignation of the Crown by King John unto the Pope was but a fiction that could infer no diminution of the right of his successour because no King can give away this right from him whom God hath designed for it And there be some things which no Christian King should grant away as any of those things things that the King should not grant that being granted may prejudice the Church of God and depresse the glory of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the giving way for the diminution of the just revenues of the Church the prophanation of things consecrated to Gods service and the suppression of any of the divine callings of the Gospel which are Bishops Priests and Deacons because all kings are bound to honour God and to hinder all those things whereby he is dishonoured either in respect of things persons or places Things that kings have not granted away And there be some things which the Kings of this realm have never granted away but have still retained them in their own hands as inviolable prerogatives and characteristical Symboles and Properties of their Supremacy and the relicks of their pristine right as in the time of peace those two special parts of the gouernment of the Common-wealth which do consist 1. About the Lawes 1. About the Laws 2. About the Magistrates The first whereof saith Arnisaeus containeth these particulars that is to make Lawes to create Nobility and give titles of dignity to legitimate the ill begotten to grant Priviledges to restore Offenders to their lost repute to pardon the transgressors and the like 1. Then it is the right of the King jura dare to give Laws unto his people for though as I said before the Subjects in Parliament may treat of Lawes 1. Jus Legislativum Johan Beda Pag. 25. The power of making Lawes is in the King and intreat the King to approve of them that they propose unto him yet they are no Laws and carry with them no binding force till the King gives his consent and therefore out of Parliament you see the Kings Proclamation hath vim vigorem legis the full force and strength of a Law to shew unto us that the power of making Lawes was never yeilded out of Kings hands nor can it indeed be parted with The case of our affaires pag. 11. except he part with His Majesty and Soveraignty for the limiting of his own power by his voluntary concession of such favours unto his people not to make any Lawes without their consent doth no way diminish his Soveraignty or lessen his own right and authority Stat. West 1. 3. E. 1. 3. 6. 42. Stat. of Merch. 13. E. 1. West 3. 18. E. 1. 1. Stat. of Waste 20. E. 1. of appeale 28. E. 1. 1. E. 2. 1. and all the titles and acts
them the more odious both to God and man and their names the more infamous to all posterity that after they had filled themselves with all kind of wickednesse with incredible transgressions they should be sound contemners of so favourable a pardon But though it be the Kings right to pardon faults and to restore offenders yet herein all Princes should take great heed especially when they have power to take revenge 2. Sam. 3.39 for sometimes the sinners may be like the sons of Zervia too strong for David how they pardon those great crimes that are committed to the dishonour of God and do so far provoke him to anger as to plague both the doers and the sufferers of them because that although they be soluti legibus suis not bound to their own Lawes Arnisaeus l. 1. c. 3. pag. 69. yet they are not soluti ratione praeceptis divinis but they are bound to observe Gods Lawes and to punish the transgressors of his Commandments or if they do not when they can do it they shall render a strict account to God for all their omissions as they may see it in the example of King Saul 1 Sam. 15.9 6. Jus convocandi Synodos Parliamenta c. 6. Jus convecandi the right of calling Synods Parliaments Dyets and the like were the rights of the kings of Israel and are the just Prerogatives of the kings of England howsoever this faction of the Parliament hath sought to wrest it as they do all other rights out of the kings hands by their presumption to call their Schismaticall Synod to which they have no more colour of right then to call a Parliament 7. Jus mone tas excudendi Matth. 22.20 7. Jus excudendi the right of coyning mony to give it value to stampe his armes or his image upon it as our Saviour saith Whose Image and superscription is this and they say to him Caesars is the proper right of Caesar the prerogative of the king The second sort of the King 's right is circa Magistratus 2. About the Magistrates and containeth jurisdiction rule creation of officers appointing of circuits provinces judgements censures institution of Scholes and Colledges collation of dignities receiving of sidelities and abundance more whereof I intend not to speak at this time but refer my Reader to Arnisaeus de jure Majestatis if he desires to be informed of these particulars Arn s l. 2. c. 2. And as these and the like are jura Regalia the rights of Majesty in the time of peace so when peace cannot continue it doth properly belong unto the King and to none else but to him that hath the Sovereignty whose right it is alone to make war either to succour his allyes or to revenge great injuries or for any the like just causes and as he seeth cause to conclude Peace to send Ambassadours to negotiate with foreign States and the like are the rights of Kings and the indeleble Characters of Soveraignty which whosoever violateth and endeavoureth to purloin them from the King doth with Prometheus steal fire from Heaven which the Gods would not suffer as the Poëts feign to go unrevenged And these things so far as I can finde the King never parted with them unto his Subjects and therefore whosoever pretendeth to an inderived power to do any of these and exempteth himself from the King 's right herein resisteth the ordinance of God and is guilty of High-Treason Ioh. Beda 26. what pretext soever he brings saith the Advocate of Paris And there be some things which our Kings have granted unto their Subjects Ita itiam Reges Aegypti quibus voluntas pro lege est legum tamen instituta in cogendis pecuniis quotidianoque victu sequebantur Aubanus What things Kings have granted and restrained themselves from their full right as the use of that power which makes new Lawes or repeals the old or layeth any tax or sums of monies upon his Subjects without the consent of the Lords and Commons in Parliament and it may be some other particulars which the Lawyers know better then I. And all these Priviledges of the Subjects are but limitations and restrictions of the King 's right made by themselves unto their people and therefore where the Law cannot be produced to confirm such and such Liberties and Priviledges granted unto them I say there the King's power is absolute and the Subject ought not in such cases to determine any thing to the disadvantage of the King because all these Liberties that we have are injoyed by vertue of the King's grant as you may see in the ratification of Magna Charta where the King saith We have granted and given all these Liberties But I could never see it produced 9 Hen. 3. where the King granted unto his Subjects that they might force him and compel him with a strong hand by an Army of Souldiers to do what they will or else to take away either his Crown or his Life this Priviledge was never granted because this deprives the King of his supremacy and puts him in the condition of a Subject and would ever prove an occasion of rebellion when the people upon every discontent would take Arms against their King And therefore this present resistance is a meer usurpation of the King 's right a rebellion against his Lawes an High Treason against his Person and a resistance of the ordinance of God which heap of deadly sins can bring none other fruit then damnation saith the Apostle CHAP. XIV Sheweth the Kings grants unto his people to be of three sorts Which ought to be observed the Act of excluding the Bishops out of Parliament discussed the King's Oath at his Coronation how it obligeth him and how Statutes have been procured and repealed 2. The Kings obligation to observe his grants Peter de la Primandas saith Laws annexed to the Crown the Prince cannot so abrogate them but his Successor may disannul whatsoever he hath done in prejudice of them p. 597. 2. WE are to consider how far the King is obliged to observe his promise and to make good these Liberties and Priviledges unto his Subjects where I speak not how far the father's grant may oblige the son or the predecessor his successor who cannot be deprived of his right dominion by any act of his predecessors but for the rights of his dominion how far precedent grants and the custom of their continuance with the desuetude and non-claim of his right may strengthen them unto the Subject and oblige the successors to observe them I leave it unto the Lawyers and Civilians to dispute but I am here to discusse how far the King that hath promised and taken his oath to observe his Lawes and make good all priviledges granted to his Subjects is bound in conscience to keep and observe them Touching which you must understand that these grants of immunities and favours are of three special kindes 1. Of
upon him and gave him full power and authority to do it by some undeniable dispensation gives him his Writ of ease to discha ge him Quaere 4 4. Whether such an Act or Statute which disinableth any King to dissolve his Dyet Councill Assembly or Parliament and inableth some subtle faction of his Subjects in some sort to countermand their King be not derogatory to the inseperable right of Majesty destructive to the power of government and prejudicial to all the loyall Subjects and therefore void of it selfe and not to be observed because such an act ought not to have been concluded The Act for the indissolubility of any Parliament beleived by many to be of it selfe void wherein I leave the resolution to be dete mined by the Judges and Bishops of this Land and I will onely crave leave to set down what may be thought herein viz. that such an Act or Statute is clearly and absolutely void Reason 1 1. Because that hereby the King may be said after a sort and in some kinde to change the fundamentall constitution and Government of his Kingdome from an absolute Monarchy to another species and forme of Government either Aristocraticall or Democraticall or some other forme emergent out of all these such as we know not how to terme it and such as was never known from the beginning of the world a mixture indeed which I told you before no absolute King can be thought to do without offence unless he can prove his licence from God to do the same Reason 2 2. Because that hereby he may be said to denude himselfe of his Right and by depriving himselfe of this power to disinable himselfe to discharge that duty which God doth necessarily require at his hands that is to govern his people by protecting the innocent and punishing the wrong doer and when God shall call the King to an account why he did not thus governe his people and defend those poore Subjects that were loyal and faithful both to God and their King according to the charge that he laid upon him and the right and power which he gave him to discharge it It may be feared it will be no sufficient answer for any King to say but I have so laid away that power and parted with that right unto my Lords and Commons that I could not do it for it may be asked where doth God require him or when did he authorize him to devest himselfe of that authority wherewith he indued him how then can he do it to the undoing of many people without an assured leave from God therefore as that Act which was made unrepealable was adjudged no Act but immediately void because it was destructive to the very power of Parliament * Which may repeale their owne Acts but not destroy their just power not themselves as it seemes the Act of excluding the Bishops doth and takes away as it were the soule of the Parliament and if any act should be made to destroy common right or to hinder the publique service of God or to disinable the right heire to injoy the Crowne or the like those Acts are void of themselves so any Statute that disinableth the Kings Government must needs be void ipso facto as I have partly shewed in my Discovery of Mysteries p. 32. Reason 3 3. Because it may be beleived no King would ever grant such an act unless he were either subtilly deceived and seduced or forcibly compelled thereunto for feare of some inavoidable extremity which according to all outward appearance could not otherwise be prevented without the concessions of such unspeakable disadvantages as a man gives away his sword when he seeth his life in danger if he deliver it not Therefore the premises considered Quaere 5 5. The Quaere is whether any King should be bound and obliged to observe such grants and make good such Acts In all these Quaeries I conclude nothing whatsoever I beleive as are thus fraudulently obtained or forcibly wrested from him and are thus contradictory to Gods will thus prejudiciall to the power of Government and thus destructive to his Subjects which for the fore said reasons is by many men beleived he is not but that this right was unduly procured from him so when God inableth him he may justly acquire it and re-assume it without any offence to God or the least reluctancy to his own conscience And if this Act that hath passed in our Parliament makes it immediately to be no Parliament * As I know not whether it doth or not neither will I determine it as being now another forme of government which the Divines hold ought not to be effected then certainly all Acts that passed since are no Acts but are void and invalid of themselves Or be it granted that the Act for the perpetuity of Parliament doth not annul the Parliament yet it is doubted by many whether the Parliament may not themselves without the kings pronouncing it void or dissolved make it no Parliament Quid prodest tibi nomen usurpare alienum vocari quod non es when of Counsellors for the King they become Traytors unto the King and of Patriots that should protect the Common-wealth they become Parricides and Catilines unto the same because these duties being as the soul the life and the end of Parliaments when these are changed to be the bane and death of King and Kingdome it is doubted how it can be a Parliament any more then a dead carkase that is deprived of his soul can be said to be a man for the circumstances and ceremonies of times places and the like are not essentialia Parliamenti but as accidentia quae possunt adesse abesse sine interita subjecti and may be ad benè esse but are as Punctilio's in respect of the end and essence of a Parliament And therefore as God promiseth infallibly to do a thing for example that He will not fail David Psal 89.34 1 Sam. 2.30 his seed shall endure for ever and of Eli he said indeed that his house and the house of his father should walke before him for ever yet this unchangeable God when the change is wrought in David or his seed or in Eli his house David doth immediately say Thou hast abhorred and forsaken thine Anointed Psal 89.37 1 Sam. 2.30 and art displeased at him and of his promise to Eli God saith in the same place now be it far from me so it may be conceived that when any Parliament changeth its nature I should never acknowledge Judas after he betrayed his master and resolved to persist in his wickednesse to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ no more then I should take the Temple of Jerusalem to be the house of God so long as it continued the den of theeves faileth in its very being and of a preservative becomes a poyson both to the King and Kingdome the King and Kingdome may then without any
the commandment of God that we should obey them Whitaker contra Camp p. 258. and this saith he doth binde the conscience when as the Apostle saith he is to be obeyed for conscience sake But you will say what if the King forbids me to do what God commandeth Ob. as the high Priest did to the Apostles or commandeth me to do what God forbiddeth as Julian did unto the Christians and Nebuchadnezzar to the three children We have often answered that in such a case it is better to obey God then man Sol. Act. 5.25 for it is sometimes lawfull not to obey but it is never lawfull to resist What if he compells us by force and violence to do what God forbids us to do if he playes the Tyrant violates our Laws Ob. and corrupts the true Religion with dolatry and superstition may we not then as our fore-fathers did heretofore unto Chilperick King of France and to Richard the second of this Kingdome and others bridle them and depose them too if they will not be ruled by their Great Counsell the Parliament I answer first Non spectandum quid factum sit sed quid fieri debuerit Sol. Heningus Arnisaeus de author princi in Pop. we are not so much to regard what hath been done as what ought to have been done as Arnisaeus proveth at large and sheweth most excellently with a full answer to all the Articles that were alleadged against those Kings how unjustly they were handled and deposed contrary to all right and I wish that book were translated into English 2. I say 2. Of our passive bedience that when our active obedience cannot be yeilded our passive obedience must be used for were our King as Tyrannicall as Nero as Idolatrous as Manasses as wicked as Achab and as prophane as Julian yet we may not resist when as Arnisaeus proveth by many examples Idem cap. 3. p. 68. that the Rebellion of Subjects against their King doth overthrow the order of nature and Justinian saith quis est tantae autoritatis ut nolentem principem possit coactare but in such a case we must do as all the Saints did before us not as the Heathens which thought them worthy of divine honour Cicero pro Milone which did kill a Tyrant and said with Seneca victima haud ulla amplior Potest Seneca in Hercul sur magisque opima mactari Jovi Quà m Rex iniquus But as Christ himselfe suffered under Pontius Pilate a most wicked Magistrate Christ and his Apostles suffered but never resisted the lawfull Magistrate and registred in the breviary of our Faith that we might never forget our duty rather to suffer then to resist the authority that is from Heaven and as Saint Ambrose answered the Emperour that would have his Church delivered to the Arians I shall never be willing to leave it coactus repugnare non novi if I be compelled I have not learned to resist I can grieve and weep and sigh and against the Armes and Gotish Souldiers my teares are my weapons for those are the Bulwarkes of the Priest who in any other manner neither can neither ought he to resist so must all Christians rather by suffering death then by resisting our King to enter into the Kingdome of Heaven But 't is objected by our Sectaries that His Majesty confesseth Ob. The Author of the Treatise of Monarchy p. 31. there is a power Legally placed in the two houses more then sufficient to prevent and restrain the power of Tyranny Sol. The law provides that the king should not be circumvented and â—â—ronged I answer first when it pleased the King of His grace to restrain His own power of making Laws to the consent of Peeres and Commons that by this Regulating of the same it might be purged from all destructive exorbitanâ—es the very Law it self being tender of the legitimate rights of the King and considering the Person of the Soveraign to be single and his power counterpoysed by the opposite wisdome of the two Houses allowed him to swear unto himself a body of Council of State and Counsellors at Law and the Judges also to advise him and informe him so that as he should not do any wrong by reason of the restrayning Votes of the Houses so he might not receive any wrong by the incroachment of the Parliament upon his right The Kings concessions very large and the King being driven away from his learned Counsel and forced to make the defence of his rights by writing it is no wonder if his concessions and promises as well in this point as in other things especially in that concerning the Act of excluding the Clergy were more then was due to them or then he needed to grant or then he ought to observe being to the dishonour of God and the prejudice of his Church when as nothing in Parliament where the wrong may be perpetual should be extracted from him but what he should well consider of with the advice of his Counsel and what he should freely grant and whatsoever is otherwise done is ill done to the great disadvantage of the King and his Posterity and the unjust inlarging of their power more then is due unto them yet 2. I say if these words of His Majesties be rightly weighed they give no colour of resisting Tyranny by any forcible armes but aâ— Doctor Ferne saith most truly of a Legal D Ferne in his reply to sever treat p. 32. Moral and Parliamentary restraint for the woâ—ds are there is a power legally placed in the Houses that is the Law hath placed a power in them but you shall never find any Law that any King hath granted whereby himself might be resisted and subdued by open force and violence for as Roffensis saith Roffensis de potest Papae 291. Eâ—phanta Pythag l. De Regno apud Stobaeum fol. 335. Reges suo solius judicio reservavit Deus qui stans in Synagoga deorum dijudicat eos God hath reserved Kings to his own judgement and the Heathen man could say as Stobaeus testifieth primùm Dei deinde Regis est ut nulli subriciatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 first it is the priviledge of God next of the King to be subject unto none because the Regal power properly is unaccountable to any man as Suidas saith and Josephus saith that the holiest men that ever were among the Hebrews called essaei or esseni that is the true practisers of the Law of God maintained that soveraigne Princes whatsoever they were ought to be inviolable to their Subjects A principle tenet of the Essaei And some think that the Common-wealth is happier under a Tyrant that will keep them in awe then under too mild a Prince upon whose clemency they will presume to Rebel Jer. 27.5 6. A memorable place against resisting Tyrants for they saw there was scarce any thing more usual in holy Scripture then the prohibition of resistance
doth most willingly discharge it to teach us that we may and ought justly and without any scruple of conscience pay that which may be unjustly demanded and the best Authors that I have read are of the same judgement we have no other remedy but to cry to God who can judge them for their injustice non caret modis Greg. Tholos l. 26. de repub c. 5. n. 25. quibus possit quando voluerit hujusmodi principes tollere vel emendare But though in most of the Eastern Countries the Kings imposed upon their Subjects what taxes and tributes pleased themselves as Augustus taxed all the world as much as he would at his own pleasure and Charles the fifth saith Osorius praeter pecunias quibus illum Hispani juverant immania tributae populis imperavit besides those monyes wherewith the Spaniard assisted him Osor de rebus Emanuel l. 12. p. 386. What the Kings of England promised to their Subjects laid most heavy taxes upon the people which is indeed a branch of the absolute right of Kings and was originally practised by most of them yet here with us our Kings out of grace and favour unto their people granted such a priviledge unto their Subjects and devested themselves of this right to lay no impositions or taxes upon their Subjects without the consent of their three States convened in the two Houses of Parliament and this Princely concession being truely observed may procure a great deale of love and peace unto the king and as much tranquility and happinesse unto the people Neither do I thinke that he loves his King but am sure that he hates his Country that would perswade him for all the wealth of the kingdome to violate his own grant and faith herein That we should not be niggards to assist our king but as our king granted this favour to impose no taxes without the consent of his Parliament so his Parliament in all duty ought alwayes with all thankfulness to acknowledge this special grace and in requital thereof most fully to supply his wants and support his necessities whensoever he acquaints them therewith And therefore we ought not to be like those hide-bound Sectaries and close-fisted Puritans and Brownists that are so miserably covetous and extream niggards that when the king makes known his wants and demands his due for it is still his due though he granted not to cesse it without their consent for his royal supportation and the safety of his kingdome they will finde a hundred excuses to deny him but never a penny to give him out of all their wealth and this is the cause of our misery and may prove as fatal to us as it hath been to the Constantinopolitans whose churlishnesse and niggardlinesse towards their Emperour was the chiefest cause of the losse of that great Empire and to make the Turk sit in Christ his Chaire to have Mahomet adored where the Gospel was formerly published by as many famous Fathers as now England hath Preachers How Constant was lost and what the Turk then said for the Emperour foreseeing the Siege made many motions for contributions towards the repairing of the Walls and continue the military charge but the Subjects drew back and pleaded want until it was too late and the City lost for though the enemy having a long time besieged it was intended to give over the Siege and to be gone yet tydings and intelligence being given him that the Souldiers within the Town were grown very thin and discontented for want of their pay the enemy returned and in a short space took the City and there found in private mens hands such infinite store of gold and all manner of treasure the hundred part whereof would have paid all the Souldiers kept out the enemy and preserved them all that the Turk seeing the basenesse of the Citizens so foolishly hiding their wealth and denying just aid unto their Emperour stood amazed and lifting up his hands to heaven lamented their folly and asked what they meant that having such a store of wealth they would suffer themselves to be thus destroyed onely for want of wit or of grace to use it and thence grew the Proverb among the Turkes unto this day when one becommeth very rich you have been at the Siege of Constantinople And I p ay God it may not so fall out with us for our covetousnesse that we prove not Lucans speech to be true omnia dat qui iust a negat to lose all unjustly unto strangers unto rebels because we deny what is just unto our King But I will conclude this point with the Poët Astra Deo nâ—l majus habent nil Caesare terra Sic Caesar terras ùt Deus astra regit Imperium regis Caesar Deus astra gubernat Caesar honore suo dignus amore Deus Dignus amore Deus dignus quoque Caesar honore est Alter enim terras alter astra regit Cum Deus in caelis Caesar regat omnia terris Censum Caesaribus solvite vota Deo 5. Defence of the kings person 5. Defence of his Person is another princâ—pal part of that honour which we owe unto our King And the very heathens did think their lives well bestowed for their Gods their family and the father of the Country how much more willing should the Christians be to hazard their lives in defence of their King 2 Sam. 21.17 Lament 2.4 Ps 78.71.72 vide Hos 3.4 c. 10.3 and Lament 2.9 which is quasi unus è decem millibus worth ten thousands of us being as the Scripture termes him the Light of Israel and the breath of our nostrils the head of his Subjects the shepheard and Pastor of the people and as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 importeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the foundation of the people without which they must all fall unto the ground for where there is no governour all must perish and there will be no Priest no Prince no Religion no Nobility no good 1 Joh. 3.16 but anarchy and confusion and the destruction of all things And if we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren as S. John saith how much rather ought we to do it for our King it is recorded in our annals to his eternal praise Nulla gent ità sollicita est circa regem suum sicut apes unde rege incolumi omnibus mens una est quando nequit volare seri ipsum turba apum si moritur moriuntur ipsae that Sir Hubert Syncler at the Seige of Bridge-north seeing an arrow that was shot at his Master King Henry the second stepped betwixt the shaft and his Soveraign and receiving the arrow into his body was therewith shot through to death that he might preserve the life of his King which otherwise had been slain in his stead So Turnbull had his name for killing a Bull that had otherwise slain one of the Kings of Scotland and we
read that when David was assailed by a mighty Giant named Ishibibenob which was of the sons of Rapha the head of whose speare weighed three hundred shekels of brass Abishai the son of Zervia with the danger of his owne life runs in succours the king and kills the Philistim 2 Sam. 21.17 and so all other good Subjects have had a speciall care to preserve the lives of their Kings whom they loved better then their own Parents yea then their wives or children or their own lives as it appeareth by the foresaid examples and abundance of the like that you may find in the Histories of the Heathens for they had not learnt the new divinity of our time to destroy the King for the good of his Subjects but they thought as it is most true that salus regis est salus populi and they beleeved as all good Christians do that Vna salus nobis nullam sperare salut em Principe calcato sublato jure coronae because as S. Chrysostome saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in 1 Tim. 2.2 Aug. to 9. tract 6. in Johan their safety is our security and as S. August saith si tollis jura Imperatorum quis audet dicere mea est illa villa if you take away the government of Kings who dares say haec mea sunt this or that is mine as now God knowes since these Rebels have abused our King we can say nothing is our own our houses goods lives and liberties are at the disposing of them that are strongest what then shall we say of those Subjects that strive with all their wit wealth and strength to destroy their King and if you ask me why I must answer as Aristides was banished out of Athens justus quia justus so must our King be killed if these men could do it with their Cannon Bullets because he is too good to reigne over them who deserved not a pious David nor a wise Solomon to rule over them but a foolish Rehoboam Ps 2.9 that would whip them with Scorpions or such a one as would rule them with a rod of iron and breake them in pieces like a potters vessel for had our King been not Caesar Augustus but Augustus Severus so severe as Henry 8. or some other more unmercifull Princes these Rebels durst as well eate their own flesh as thus to devoure the flesh and bones of the Kings loyall Subjects and seek the death of the King himself For it is most certaine of the vulgar people and of ill bred natures that ungentes pungunt pungentes molliter ungunt and therefore though the manifold offers of Peace and the unparallel'd promising of Pardons to most obstinate Rebels do infinitely commend the piety and declare the mildness of a most clement Prince and the refusall thereof betray the ingratefull stubbornnesse of graceless Subjects to all posterity yet when the hairy scalpe of such as still go on in their wickedness will not so easily be rubbed off I should say to every King put your trust in Gods assistance and as the Holy Ghost saith to the King of Kings Psal 45.3 Gird thee with thy sword upon thy thigh O thou most mighty ride on with thine honour and let thy right hand teach thee terrible things and those thine enemies that would not thou shouldst reigne over them cause them to be brought and let them be slain before thee so shalt thou be a ruler in the midst of thine enemies Luke 19 27. and some think that it were but just if our King though he be never so loath should now at last turn the leafe and follow the example of God himself who when his children regard not his grace and set at naught all his counsels will laugh at their calamity and mock when their destruction cometh as a whirle-winde and should make London as Hierusalem and as other the like rebellious Cities Prov. 1.16 17. that the Lord in his just revenge of their iniquity hath suffered to be destroyed The wealth pride of the City of London have brought this misery and calamity upon all the kingdom of England and to be made an heape of stones because the Londoners have shewed themselves in many things worse then the Jews and for Rebellion have justified all the Cities of the world or if the King will not do this though I dare not say of them as Antoninus after he had heard the confession of a miserable covetous wretch said unto him Deus misereatur tui si vult condonet tibi peccata tua quod non credo perducat te in vitam eternam quod est impossibile yet seeing their sins are so intolerable among men and so abhominable in the sight of God it is much feared that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after their hard hearts Rom. 2.5 which cannot repent they will still proceed to heape upon themselves the heavy wrath of God till there be no remedy to preserve them from utter ruine and destruction though from my heart I wish them more grace and pray to Almighty God that Nullum sit in omine pondus Or if this cannot be that they may escape that damnation which the Apostle threatneth to all them that resist this ordinance of God Rom. 13.2 6. Prayers for the Kings 6. The last but not the least part of that honour which is due to our King is our prayers to God for him and as the other duty was to be performed by the practice of all good Subjects Aenisaeus c 2. p. 38 Tertul ad Scap. Ita Marius Aurelius Christianorum militum orationibus ad Deum factis imbres victoriam in expeditione Germanica impetraâ—it so is this to be observed by the precept of the Apostle who though the Kings were Ethnicks and Tyrants yet commanded us to pray for them and that you may know what manner of prayer the Christians made for their persecuting Kings Tertullian that lived under the Emperour Severus saith in behalf of the Church Omnibus Imperatoribus precamur vitam prolixam imperium securum domum tutam exercitus fortes senatum fidelem populum probum orbem quietum quaecunque hominis Caesaris vota sunt and I fear me our Rebels pray for none of these things to a most Christian King Nam orare pro aliquo in exitium ejus machinari annon haec sunt sibi contraria for to pray for ones health and long life and to do our best to worke his destruction Non benè conveniunt can never proceed from a true heart but as the uncharitable Papists prayed for the successe of the Gun-powder Plot which was a Treason sine exemplo quia crudelis sine modo saying Gentem auferto perfidam Credentium de finibus Vt Christo preces debitas Persolvamus alacriter So the practice of these Rebels makes us believe their prayer is Regem auferto perfidum Credentium de finibus c. * I am ashamed
Government or Monarchical State though it might sometimes happen to prove tyrannical is far more acceptable unto God as being his own prime and proper ordinance most agreeable unto nature and more profitable unto all men then either the Aristocratical or Popular Government either hath or possibly can be for as it is most true that praestat sub malo principe esse quà m sub nullo it is better to live under an ill Governour then where there is no Gove nment so praestat sub uno tyranno vivere quà m sub mille it is better to be under the command of one tyrant then of a thousand as we are now under these Rebels who being not faex Romuli the worst of the Nobilty but faex populi the dregs of the people indigent Mechanicks and their Wives captivated Citizens together with the rabble of seduced Sectaries have so disloyally incroached upon the rights of our King and so rebelliously usurped the same to the utter subversion both of Church and Kingdom if God himself who hath the hearts of all Kings in his hand and turneth the same wheresoever he pleaseth had not most graciously strengthned his Majesty with a most singular and heroick resolution assisted with perfect health from the beginning of their insurrection to this very day to the admiration of his enemies and the exceeding joy and comfort of his faithfull Subjects and with the best aide and furtherance of his chiefest Nobility of all his learned and religious Clergy his grave and honest Lawyers and the truly worthy Gentry of his whole Kingdom to withstand their most treacherous impious barbarous and I know not how to expresse the wickednesse of their most horrid attempts so thou hast before thee life and death fire and water good and evil And therefore I hope that this will move us which have our eyes open to behold the great blessings and the many almost miraculous deliverances and favours of God unto his Majesty and to consider the most horrible destruction that this war hath brought upon us to fear God and to honour our King to hate the Rebels and to love all loyal Subjects to do our uttermost endeavour to quench this devouring flame and to that end with hand and heart and with our fortunes and with the hazard of our lives which as our Saviour saith shall be saved if they be lost to assist his Majesty to subdue these Rebels Luk. 9.24 to reduce the Kingdom to its pristine government and the Church to her former dignity that so we may have through the mercy of God peace and plenty love and unity so we may have through the mercy of God peace and plenty love and unity faith and true religion and all other happinesse remaining with us to the comfort of our King and the glory of our God through Jesus Christ our Lord To whom with his Father and the Holy Spirit be all honour thanks prayse and dominion for ever and ever Amen Amen Jehovae liberatori FINIS Errata PAge â— lin 3.5 dele not p. 5. l. 50. for make r. made p. 9. l. 23. for hand r. had p. 27. l. 53. dele can p. 39. l. 25. r. right to be p. 51. l. 54. r. this day p. 54 l. 37. dele and p. 61. l. 21. r. that denyed repentance p. 62. l. â—â— r. the same hope p. 95. l. 18. for justice r. injustice p. 100. l. 49. for ye r. yet The Contents of the severall Chapters contained in the RIGHTS of KINGS CHAP. I. Sheweth who are the fittest to set down the Rights which God granted unto Kings what causeth men to rebell the parts considerable in S. Peter's words 1 Pet. 2.17 in fine How Kings honoured the Clergy the faire but most false pretences of the refractary Faction what they chiefly ayme at and their malice to Episcopacy and Royalty Pag. 1 CHAP. II. Sheweth what Kings are to be honoured the institution of Kings to be immediately from God the first Kings the three chiefest rights to kingdoms the best of the three Rights how Kings came to be elected and how contrary to the opinion of Master Selden Aristocracy and Democracy issued out of Monarchy Pag. 7 CHAP. III. Sheweth the Monarchicall Government to be the best forme the first Government that ever was agreeable to Nature wherein God founded it consonant to Gods own Government the most universally received throughout the world the immediate and proper Ordinance of God c. Pag. 11 CHAP. IV. Sheweth what we should not do and what we should do for the King the Rebels transgressing in all those how the Israelites honoured their persecuting King in Egypt how they behaved themseves under Artaxerxes Ahashuerus and under all their own Kings of Israel c. Pag. 17 CHAP. V. Sheweth how the Heathens honoured their Kings how Christ exhibited all due honour unto Heathen and wicked Kings how he carried himself before Pilate and how all the good Primitive Christians behaved themselves towards their Heathen Persecuting Emperours Pag. 23 CHAP. VI. Sheweth the two chiefest duties of all Christian Kings to whom the charge and preservation of Religion is committed three several opinions the strange speeches of the Disciplinarians against Kings are shewed and Viretus his scandalous reasons are answered the double service of all Christian Kings and how the Heathen Kings and Emperours had the charge of Religion Pag. 27 CHAP. VII Sheweth the three things necessary for all Kings that would preserve true Religion how the King may attain to the knowledge of this that pertain to Religion by His Bishops and Chaplains and the calling of Synods c. Pag. 34 CHAP. VIII Sheweth it is the right of Kings to make Ecclesiasticall Lawes and Canons proved by many authorities and examples that the good Kings and Emperours made such Lawes by the advice of of their Bishops and Clergy and not of their Lay-Counsellors how our late Canons came to be annulled c. Pag. 40 CHAP. IX Sheweth a full answer to four speciall Objections that are made against the Civill jurisdictions of Ecclesiasticall persons their abilities to discharge these offices and desire to benefit the Common-wealth why some Councels inhibited these Offices unto Bishops c. Pag. 47 CHAP. X. Sheweth that it is the Kings right to grant Dispensations for Pluralities and Non-residency what Dispensations is reasons for it to tolerate divers Sects or sorts of Religions the foure speciall sorts of false Professors S. Augustines reasons for the toleration of the Jewes toleration of Papists and of Puritans and which of them deserve best to be tolerated among the Protestants and how any Sect is to be tolerated CHAP. XI Sheweth where the Protestants Papists and Puritans do place Soveraignty who first taught the deposing of Kings the Puritans tenet worse then the Jesuites Kings authority immediately from God the twofold royalty in a King the words of the Apostle vindicated from false glosses c. Pag. 64 CHAP. XII Sheweth the assistants of Kings in their Government to
whom the choice of inferiour Magistrates belongeth the power of the subordinate officers neither Peeres nor Parliament can have Supremacy the Sectaries chiefest argument out of Bracton answered our Lawes prove all Soveraignty to be in the King Pag. 70 § The two chiefest parts of the Regall Government the foure properties of a just war and how the Parliamentary Faction transgress in every property Pag. 74 CHAP. XIII Sheweth how the first Gouernment of Kings was arbitrary the places of Moses Deut. 17. and of Samuel 1 Sam. 8. discussed whether Ahab offended in desiring Naboths Vineyard and wherein why absolute power was granted unto Kings and how the diversities of Gouernment came up Pag. 78 § The extent of the grants of Kings what they may and what they may not grant what our Kings have not granted in seven speciall prerogatives and what they have granted unto their people Pag. 83 CHAP. XIV Sheweth the Kings grants unto His People to be of three sorts Which ought to be observed the Act of excluding the Bishops out of Parliament discussed the Kings Oath at His Coronation how it obligeth him and how Statutes have been procured and repealed Pag. 88 § Certain quaeries discussed but not resolved the end for which God ordained Kings the praise of a just rule Kings ought to be more just then all others in three respects and what should most especially move them to rule their people justly Pag. 92 CHAP. XV. Sheweth the honour due to the king 1. Feare 2. An high esteem of our king how highly the Heathens esteemed of their kings the Marriage of obedience and authority the Rebellion of the Nobility how haynous 3. Obedience foure-fold divers kindes of Monarchs and how an absolute Monarch may limit himselfe Pag. 98 CHAP. XVI Sheweth the answer to some objections against the obeying of our Soveraigne Magistrate all actions of three kindes how our consciences may be reformed of our passive obedience to the Magistrates and of the kings concessions how to be taken CHAP. XVII Sheweth how tribute is due to the king for six speciall reasons to be paid the condition of a lawfull tribute that we should not be niggards to assist the king that we should defend the Kings Person the wealth and pride of London the cause of all the miseries of this Kingdome and how we ought to pray for our king Pag. 116 CHAP. XVIII The persons that ought to honour the king and the recapitulation of 21 wickednesses of the Rebells and the faction of the pretended Parliament Pag. 121 CHAP. XIX Sheweth how the Rebellious faction have transgressed all the ten Commandments of the Law and the new Commandement of the Gospell how they have committed the seaven deadly sins and the foure crying sins and the three most destructive sins to the soul of man and how their Ordinances are made against all Lawes equity and conscience Pag. 213 CHAP. XX. Sheweth how the rebellious Faction forswore themselves what trust is to be given to them how we may recover our peace and prosperity how they have un-king'd the Lords Annointed and for whom they have exchanged him and the conclusion of the whole Pag. 127 PSAL. 39.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verily every man living or in his best estate is altogether Vanity Sela. OUR Blessed Lord and Saviour saith the night cometh John 9.4 when no man can work therefore I must work the Works of him that sent me whilst it is day and S. Paul tels us the time will come when men will not endure sound Doctrine but after their own lusts they shall heap to themselves Teachers that is 2 Tim. 4.3 Teachers enough in every place and every time so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth but what kind of Teachers shall they heap unto themselves the Apostle tels you they shall be teachers after their own lusts that is such Tub-teachers of the new Order as will study rather to satisfie their lusts and to preach what they please best than to edifie their soules And I believe all wise men see that time is now and not till now fully come therefore it behoves all the true Teachers to bestir themselves to work the works of him that sent them while it is day while they have any time and while there is any true Light yet remaining before the sad night and darksom clouds of Errours and Heresies be grown so far and to prevail so much against the Truth that you shall scarce find any place or person where or by whom the new lights may be confronted and the old Truth confirmed unto us So it behoveth me and it is my duty to employ my Talent to the uttermost of my power against these false Prophets of the Great Antichrist that is now come into the world and by these heaps of his Emissaries laboureth quite to overthrow the Church of Christ And as Clement recordeth that when Barnabas came to Rome to preach the Gospel of Christ and divers rejected it he briefly said In vestra potestate est vel recipere quae annuntiamus vel speruere It is in your choice either to receive what we teach or to reject it but we may not be silent and not speak quod vobis expedire novimus what we know to be expedient and necessary for you quia nobis si taceamus damnum est vobis quae dicimus si non recipiatis pernicies est Ciem Recog l. 1. p. 6. so say I. And therefore that you may be somthing and so happy I beseech you listen to these words that testifie that in your selves you are nothing but Vanity For verily every man And the nearest way to exchange this Vanity for Eternity and so to make us happy that are in misery is to know our own vanity and to understand our own misery For Knowledge saith Hugo Card. is the way to God and understanding saith the Prophet David Psal 49.12 20. is that which distinguisheth and differenceth man from beast for man though he be never so great in honour never so powerful in place and never so rich in wealth yet if he hath no understanding he is compared to the beasts that perish And the two chiefest parts which are like the Body and Soul of all the Knowledge that makes us happy are these two Precepts so much commended and so often urged unto us even by the Heathens themselves that yet notwithstanding were destitute of all true Knowledge that could make them happy because they knew rightly neither of those two things that they so much commended which were 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Know God 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Know thy self For John 17.3.1 to know God the only way to make us happy 1. Our Saviour tels us this is eternal Life to know God i.e. to know the Father to be the only true God and whom he hath sent Jesus Christ For the Heathens knew that God alone is the summum bonum and the only true
thy servants may seem to prove thee very happy among thy neighbours yet we all do or may know that there is none of these things but at some time or other hath proved to be the destruction of their possessors For as when the poor Passenger may rejoyce and sing before the most ravenous Robber and in the sight of the most barbarous Plunderers so thy wealth and thy Jewels thy pockets full of Gold and thy back full of bravery may make thy heart sad and thy head full of perturbations and in every moment to be afraid to be assailed and slain in all the paths that thou shalt walk And whereas the man that hath none but himself to serve himself need not fear to be betrayed by his Servants the rich man that needeth more and the noble man that keepeth many Servants may well fear there may be a Judas among twelve and a Traytor in his own house and as Humphrey Banister betrayed his Lord and Master Henry Duke of Buckingham that had been too good a Master to him Speed l 9 c. 19. p. 927. so may one of thy chiefest Servants sell thee and betray thee too into the hands of thy greatest Enemies even as we read in Stories of many Kings that have been so likewise dealt withal And therefore Wealth and Riches can afford us no true comfort nor yield us any certain assistance even in this life when by getting them we do oftentimes lose our selves or at least hazard our safety by saving them 3. Our Saviour Christ speaking of the deceitfulness of Riches and S. Paul calling them uncertain riches Mat. 13.22 do sufficiently shew unto us that the wealth and riches of this world do but promise fulness when they intend to bring us nothing but emptiness 1 Tim 6 17. for you see all our Money is as it is called currant and all our riches transient like a torrent stream that floweth apace or as the summer snow that presently melteth somtimes before it falleth and all the wealth in the world is but contingent with one man to day and with another man to morrow as your selves may see how within these few years many men scarce worth a Groat became worth thousands and as many others that were worth thousands became not worth a Groat Aug. Confes l. 6. And therefore S. Aug. speaking of the things of this world saith Si quid arrisisset prosperum taedebat apprehendere quia priusquam pene teneretur avolabat if any worldly prosperity smiled upon me and seemed to offer some happiness unto me yet I was loath to accept it and to lay hold upon it because commonly all the pleasure of this world is fled from us before we can scarce fasten on it and as the wise man saith extrema gaudii luctus occupat Sorrow and sadness do follow both out Profits and our Pleasures hard at the very heels For as the Player appeareth upon the Stage and then presently after few words exit he is gone so the wealth prosperity of this world do but salute us and then immediatly depart from us even while we are most busie about them and when they seem to smile most of all upon us And I could make this plain unto you by more examples than I have time to express For we read of Marcus Attilius Regulus that was a Roman Consul Boetius de consol l. 2. c. 5. and had laid Fetters upon many Africans yet being unhappily taken by the Carthaginians he found himself presently environed and then miserably tied in the Conquerors Chains and it is written of Cheops King of Egypt that erected the Pyraemides which were all built of Theban Marble and were of that huge height and monstrous Magnitude that one of them was 20 years in building though it is reported there were circiter decem hominum miriades about 10 Myriades of men as Herodotus saith or 100000 men Herodoc l. 2 p. â—2 Sandys l. 2. as others write that did continually work upon it the same containing as Sands affirmeth eight Acres of ground at the bottom and ascending by 255 steps to the top and every step being of three foot in height and of a proportionable breadth and yet this great King that was of this great power before his death became so poor that he was compelled to prostitute his own Daughter to relieve his wants So Belisarius that in the dayes of Justinian 1. was one of the bravest Souldiers and of the greatest Commanders of the world to whom the Lady and Empress of the world Rome it self owed her self thrice at the least and who took two mighty Kings Gilimer King of Africa and Vitiges King of the Gothes to be his Prisoners yet within a little while this great man as some writers do report came to that poor pass as he was fain to cry Date obâ—lum Belisario quem virtus exaltavit malitia depressit fortuna caecavit O give one half-peny to Belisarius whom vertue hath honoured envy hated and fortune spoyled and made him now a poor blind Beggar And Pedro Mexia setteth down the miserable ends and other strange traverses endured by divers Kings Emperours Dukes and other great Princes Treasury of times l. 4. c. 37 Pope John whom Mart. 5. succeeded An. 1410. Pope Clement that was imprisoned by Charles 5. 1527. Archbishop of Flor. and four Cardinals butchered 1448. The Bishop of Liege Brother to the great Duke of Burgoyne and 10 Abbats massacred in his presence whereof he accounteth no less than 13. besides 2 Popes 2 Bishops 4 Cardinals and 10 Abbots that within one hundred and fifty years were thrown down from the Pinacle of Prosperity to the lowest Gulf of Adversity as George King of Bohemia Charles Duke of Burgoyne Uladislaus King of Poland Constantinus Paleolagus Emperor of the East Charles 8. King of France James 4. King of Scots John de Albret King of Navarre Lewes Sforza Duke of that rich and goodly Countrey of Millain Francis 1. King of France that was the Patron of all Learning and those three great Kings Muley Mahomet King of Fez and Morocco Abdelmelec his Unkle and Sebastian King of Portugal that came to a miserable end and died all three in one day being Monday the 4th of August 1578. and which is worthy to be remembred above all John Justinian that trayterous Villain who covenanted with Mahomet to betray Constantinople so he would make him King which the great Turk promised and accordingly performed but after three daies struck off his head as his Treason well deserved and so I wish may be the reward of all disloyal Traytors And therefore seeing not only wicked Potentates but also most famous Kings and Princes and most excellent Prelates have been reduced to such ends what wonder is it that many great Scholars and many reverend Bishops whom their worth and learning raised to some height of dignity should be thrown down as they were of late by envy and hatred
an end of an unhappy life by a miserable death when he was most perfidiously slain by Achillas Or of Ananias and Saphira who because they did secretly withhold some part of thar which they had voluntarily once resolved to dedicate for Gods service and the maintenance of his servants they were presently stricken with sudden death Or if I should speak of many more whose tragicall ends Eusebius Josephus and other writers both Ecclesiasticall and prophane have set down Aulus Gellius l 3. c 9. Sacrum sacróve commendatum qui dempserit rapueâ—itque parricida esto we shall find that whatsoever they got and pillaged from the Church and Temples of the gods it is like aurum Tolossanum the gold of Tolossa the which whosoever touched did most miserably perish as I shewed to you before for it fares with them as it did of old with the Eagle whereof the Christian Poet saith Victima sacra Deo comburitur abripit offam Hinc aquilâ— ad pullos fertque benigna suos Fatali igniculus praedae imperceptus adhaesit Sacrilegaeque sacer devorat ignis opes The which my Countrey-man thus excellently translates The sacred Offering broyles the Eagle spies Roberts in his book of tythos A gobb she lurcht and to her young she flies A spark unseen lurkt in the fatall stealth Befir'd her neast and burnt up all her wealth And so the gain of a little unjustly gotten proved to be the loss of all that she might justly have injoyed Sic metuat quicunque Dei violare ministros Et sacras audet despoliare domos So let him fear who e're he be that dare Purloyn God's tribute and the Churches share And as the best Poet in the best Verse of all his works by the testimony of Apollo his Oracle saith Discite justitiam moniti non temnere divos Virgil. Aeneid l. 6. The sacrilegious persons were best to learn to be just and not to despise the gods and spoile the goods that are dedicated to their service because as Seneca saith Sacrilegi dant poenas Seneca de benefic l. 5. c. 12. quamvis nemo usque ad Deos manus porrigat the sacrilegious persons and robbers of the Church-rights shall never escape unpunished though no man should lift up his hands and cry to the gods against them as it appeareth sufficiently by the examples before cited But it may be some will say Obj. they were no gods whose examples you forecited and their Temples were no Churches nor houses of the true God but of mortall wicked men and women whom the Gentiles that knew not God deified and adored them for gods and therefore that could be no sacriledge to take away things dedicated to Idols and consecrated for the service of Devils and not of God and their punishment for whatsoever it was was not and could not be supposed to be for sacriledge when as the robbing of those Temples and those false gods cannot be said to be sacriledge Which is rei sacrae violatio as I said before I answer That Sol. as St. Paul would not have the Christians to eat of that which is offered in Sacrifice unto Idols 1 Cor. 10.28 because it was consecrated for the Idol and so dedicated to the false god The Temples of the false gods not to be violated and why which the Apostle saith was none other then the Devil vers 20. whom notwithstanding they deemed and worshipped for the true God So Lactantius saith that the true God would not have those things that belonged any waies to any taken for a deity though they were but false gods and no gods but only supposed deities as all those aforenamed were supposed and believed to be by the Gentiles to be any waies prophaned and abused by wicked men especially by those that took those idols to be gods as all those sacrilegious persons afore-named Tydides Vlysses Philomenes Fulvius Appius Cepio and the rest took Pallas Venus Juno Jupiter Apollo and the like for their gods and goddesses to be worshipped therefore whatsoever the robbing of those Temples had been unto the Christians that knew them to be the houses of Devils and not of God yet to these men and to all others that believed them to be gods the robbing of them and their Temples could be judged no less then Sacriledge and therefore that they ought to suffer the just and severe punishment of Sacriledge And besides God would not suffer these men to escape the hands of justice for their Sacriledge and the spoiling of these false gods lest that by the like robbers his own Church and servants might be oppressed and spoiled as they are in many places under this pretence that our Churches are not the Houses of God nor we the true servants of Jesus Christ But let these men take heed lest the like judgments fall on them as have befallen on the like Sacrilegious persons for God is still the same and hath still the same care of his service and servants and I have heard his name A true story very remarkable that riding through Saint Pauls Church yard in the daies of King Henry the 8th looked up towards the top of the Church and said I hope I shall see that lead turned into silver and gold into my purse ere it be long And a poor woman said I hope I shall see thee hanged first A rash speech and a harsh hope yet it happened right for within a few years after the gentleman was executed and ended his life at Tiburn and Saint Pauls Church stands yet unbestript of her cloathing Sic pereant inimici tui Domine So let all thine enemies perish O God that say unto themselves let us take the Houses of God in possession make them O Lord like Oreb and Zeb Ps 74.10 11. and like unto the dung of the earth as the Holy Prophet speaketh In the life of St. Elzear p. 26. And I say to these Sacrilegious persons as the holy woman Delphina said to her husband Saint Elzear Count of Sabran Take heed that you attempt not to lay your hands on that which is vowed to God or dedicated to his service because God will not be mocked he cannot endure to be robbed or suffer his service to be prejudiced and abated by taking away the means that should maintain it but he will punish them and powre down vengeance upon the heads both of them and of their posterity that take away the Lands Houses and Possessions of the Church that were vowed and dedicated to Jesus Christ to relieve his members and to uphold his service as you may well understand if you do but consider it by that memorable example of * As I remember William Earl Marshall of this Kingdom of Ireland Dr. Hanmer in the History of Ireland who when he had appeased the Rebellion that then rose in his time took a great deal of the lands of the Church into his own hands and the Bishop
Ascension into Heaven met and worshipped God in the Temple And when the Christians began to be multâ—plied they presently erected Oratories and Churches and consecrated them as Solomon did the Temple for God's Service as you may see in 1 Cor. 11.22 and from the 14. Chapter of the said Epistle where the Apostle bids the women to be silent in the Church for that must not be understood of any other private house or meetings of men where the women may as lawfully speak as men or the Apostle had laid too great a burden upon them and such as they neither could nor would have born but his meaning is that the women should be silent in the Congregation that publickly meeteth in Gods 〈◊〉 for the service of God And because That material house was erected and set a part from 〈◊〉 Prophane uses for to pray to God to Preach unto the people and to do all other exercises of Religion as Administring the Sacraments Catecâ—ising the Youths Collecting the Alms for the Poor and the like services of the Lord and was hallowed and Santified by the prayers and Consecration of the Bishop â— Chron. 6 to be used only for that end and that God hath promised his more speciall presence for our help and assistance in a most speciall manner in that House Matth 18.10 more and rather then in any other place as you may see by Solomons prayer and by the words of Christ therefore the true Saints and servants of God that understood the difference betwixt Holy and Prophane things did ever Honor and shew a great deal of respect and Reverence to this very place of Gods Worship more then to any Chamber of presence of the greatest Monarch of the World And why not For if we must be Bare-headed in the Kings Chamber or the Lord Lieftenants Chamber of Presence why should not Gods Chamber of Presence have the like Reverence Surely none but prophane Atheists wicked Hereticks and the members of the beast that is the Great Anti-Christ that are worse then the worst of worldlings have ever denied it or abused prophaned or blasphemed these or any of these material Churches whereof the Prophet saith sal 93.6 Holiness becometh thy House for ever For Though as I said before originally and in respect of their own nature there is no inherent or innate Sanctity in one place more then in another In what sense all things are aâ—ike Holy but all places are alike Holy and so are all daies and all meats and all other things that are ejusdem speciei of the same kind they are all alike Holy and there is no difference nor any more Sanctity in any one than in the other Gen. 1.31 they being all alike created Holily by God who beheld All the things that he made and behold they were all exceeding good In what sense some things are more Holy then other things Yet if we consider Gods designation of any of these things and the Sanctification of the same by Gods own appointment for such and such ends and uses in the service of God then you shall find a great deal of difference betwixt the one and the other and a great deal of a relative and accidental Holiness in and belonging to the one more then to the other otherwise And for the further clearing of this point you may look into Mr. Medes learned discourse De Sanctitate relativa and his answer to Dr. Twisse p. 660. and in Levit. 19.30 what difference will you make betwixt the common bread that we ear of the finest Wheat-flower and the most Holy and blessed bread of the Holy Eucharist or the Lords Supper But the Sanctifying of this bread by our prayers to this end and for this use to be the body and blood of Christ makes all the difference so that now after the words of Consecration of it which are the words of Christ Hoc est corpus meum this is my body we cannot without prophaneness and a mighty offence give the same to dogs or unbelieving Jews or to any other whom we do know to be altogether unworthy of it as we can give the other bread that is made of the same lump to either of these without any fault or offence at all Or what difference is there betwixt one day and another but because the Lord hath designed the seventh day to be set apart for his service and hallowed it for that end therefore it is more Holy then the other six daies and so are the daies and feasts that are appointed by the Church to Honor God in them as the commemoration of Christ's Nativity Circumcision Resurrection Ascention and other daies of Thanks-giving for some speciall blessings and extraordinary favours which as on those daies we have received from God which daies none will prophane but the neglecters of Gods Honor and the prophaneners of his service So what difference or what holiness is there naturally in one man more then in another none or little at all but when the Lord calleth and chooseth one man before another to be his servant and to be sent and his Embassadour to Preach his Word to Administer his Sacraments and causeth him to be Consecrated by prayers and imposition of hands for that purpose as he called Simon Peter before Simon Magus then there is a great deal of difference betwixt them and much relative and additionall Holiness in the one more then in the other insomuch that our Saviour saith of these men which he saith not of all other men Luk. 10.16 He that receiveth you receiveth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and the Lord saith of them which he saith not of all other men Zach. 2.8 He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye And you may see this d fference in the Embassadours and other Officers of Kings Princes and Potentates whom we Honor and Reverence more then others because they are deputed and Authorized to be our Judges Sheriffes or other Officers of the Kingdom where they are designed so to be And so likewise what difference or what Holiness is there in one place more then in another In a Stone-Church ground more than in a Thatchbarn floor Surely not any at all originally in respect of themselves simply considered but when such a piece of ground is designed and dedicated for the Worship of God and Consecrated by prayers for that purpose and God promiseth his presence and favour to be more especially shewed there for our Instruction and Consolation than in any other ordinary place whatsoever Then certainly there is a great deal of difference and a great deal of Holiness in that place and much more Reverence ought to be shewed to it and in it than in any other place or common ground though it were the Kings Pallace And I say this is but a sign and a point of true Religion and no branch of Superstition Therefore Jacob that was no waies
perpetuate the War to fill our Kingdome with strangers and to make our calamities everlasting so they fell from evil to worse from discontent to schisme from schisme to open Rebellion and their Rebellion more wicked then any Rebels that we can reade of in any History which is the just judgment of God upon them that they which rebelliously run out of the Communion of Gods Church should most desperately run out of their own wits and refusing to be guarded by the Heavenly Angels should give themselves to be guided by the infernall Divels which made a merry fellow at the enumeration of their abhominable and indeed innumerable wickednesses to say Hell was never better then it is now The speech of a merry companion because he thought the Divels were all in London or otherwise it were impossible that the Citizens which have received so many gracious offers of pardons from His Majesty and promises of other favours should still continue so wicked as they are so gulled and seduced by this Parliament faction that non suadebis etiamsi persuaseris because as S. Augustine saith impia mens nolit intellectum and they love to cozen and cheat their own souls by new painting these old sins and calling their faction faith their madnesse zeale and their horrid Rebellion fighting for Religion but as the Poët saith Non tanti est civilia bella movere Whatsoever pretences move them to it this remedy will increase their miseries for if God be no more mercifull to us then their sin deserves it may end here in an universal destruction and hereafter in their eternall damnation for doth not all the world see how God scourgeth us with the rod of our own furious madnesse and like as it befell the Ammonites and Moabites 2 Chron. 20.23 that fighting against the Israelites did help to destroy one another so we striving not against Israel but as we pretend both against the Edomites against falshood doe utterly destroy our selves Exemplóque pari ruit Anglica turba suóque Marte cadunt coesi per mutua vulnera fratres And we that did keep our enemies in awe shall be now destroyed by the sons of our own mother but I confesse our Land abounds with sins and our sins have justly deserved this heavy punishment to light upon us yet I beseech our God to chastise us with his own hands and let us not fall under the swords of the uncircumcised Philistines that are a people much more wicked then our selves and if he will let our soules live we shall praise his name 21. When they had most fraudulently gotten His Majesty to passe an Act which though really intended How they intended to get all Ireland to themselves yet to many men seems a very strange Act to refer the managing of the affaires of Ireland to the Parliament of England then they took that course to root out all the Papists Irish English Brittish and indeed all the Inhabitants of Ireland except their own brotherhood for they could have soon descried the marke of the beast in all the rest which they thought would be most effectual to further their designe and to bring the whole Kingdom of Ireland to be inherited by their own faction that is to sell all the Lands of the Rebels to themselves for they knew none else would buy it at that time and in that manner as they determined and when they had thus locked the doore and stopped the way of all relief unto the distressed Protestants of that Kingdom they might sing Dimidium toti qui benè coepit habet For they had setled Scotland and they had now grasped Ireland and held it fast in Vulcans net and therefore now it might stay till they could reduce Eâ—gland to make a perfect work in all the three Kingdomes to the same forme of government both in Chu ch and State as they projected for the other and because they would have some places of entrance into Ireland and hinder the Rebels to possesse the whole Kingdome and also blind the eyes of the ignorant not to perceive their plot How they blinded the people by their proceedings but to keep them still in some hope of redresse they sent such a party over and the Scots must be the most considerable part as might keep their own design on foot and yet yield not an inch of any comfort to the spoyled and expelled Protestant for they left that party which they sent thither rather as a prey to their enemies as having neither cloathes meat nor money then inabled by these accoutrements to subdue the Rebels as it is better and more fully declared by the Letter of the State of Ireland to the House of Commons then I can relate unto you What the Author saw in Ireland And I being in Ireland seeing the deplorable state of that Kingdome the miserable distress of the mangled starved and naked Protestants the little children calling and crying for bread and none to give it them many worthy Ministe s begging or dying for want in the streets and the poore bare-footed and hunger-bitten Souldier lamenting his hard fortune to be transplanted out of Gods blessing into the warme sun from plenty and prosperity to be left as the Traveller betwixt Hierusalem and Hierico halfe dead betwixt merciless Rebells and more unmercifull friends neither wholly to be destroyed nor yet to be releived was much troubled and perplexed at these sad aspects and being intrusted by the Bishops my Brethren of that Kingdome to agitate the cause of the Church for our reliefe here in England and to that end having a Letter unto his Majesty and a Remonstrance of our distressed condition though with the great hazard of my life at Sea yet I arrived by Gods great blessing in England How used as soon as ever he came to his House and before I had been two dayes at home my house was surrounded with a Troope of Armed Souldiers they entred in seized upon my person searched every roome and every corner with a candle not leaving the bedstraw whereon my children lay unsearched they took all my papers and all the money they found in my house even my servants money to the summ of 40 and carried all with me their poor Prisoner to Northhampton and now I thought it was but an ill exchange to escape the Sea and to fall into the fire to shun the Lion How a precise Church-warden would have hindred a Bishop to preach and to meeet a Beare to eschew the Rebels in Ireland and to fall into the hands of T aytors in England and I knew not why but onely that I had often Preached at Tâ—wâ—â—ster where being requested by Master Lockwood to supply the place the precise Church-wardens very peremptorily told me I should not do it because I was a royalist and spake against the Parliament to whom I replyed that he had no such authority to hinder a Bishop to Preach and bad him look to
mend his glasse-windowes that were all full of holes where the faces of the pictures were plucked out and in other Churches thereabouts that they should so honour and obey their King as God commandeth us for which refusal to be admonished I believe they are now and perhaps will be more hereafter sufficiently punished But the Committee there finding in me no cause worthy of death or of bonds Gods providence so mercifully watching over me that it stopped their eyes that they looked not on my Grand Rebellion which they had in their hands and would no doubt have utterly undone me had they but espied the Capitall title that I was dismissed and I confesse courteously used by Sir John Norwich Then afterwards when time served I repaired to His Majesty and having delivered my Letters I spake to Him and drew a Petition and I think I was the first that petitioned in this kind I do not repent it neither am I ashamed to confesse it and got some hands unto it as that worthy and noble Gentleman Colonel Oneale can beare witnesse the sum whereof was that the Parliament having betrayed the trust that was reposed in them wholly deserted our relief and giving us none other comfort then what I expressed in my Discovery of Mysteries c. 12. p. 24. His Majesty would be pleased to consider that we were his Loyall Subjects and that the care of us was committed by God to him not to his Parliament who had left us in a worse condition then the Rebels had made us and therefore as he justly required our faith and alleageance so we humbly besought him that he would graciously vouchsafe unto us his princely care and assistance some waies to relieve us otherwise then by leaving us still in their hands till we and our families in the languishing expectation of our redresse should finally and irrecoverably perish while these crafty Merchants thus bought and sold us and under the pretence of reformation used all their endeavours to bring both Kingdomes to destruction CHAP. XIX Sheweth how the Rebellious faction have transgressed all the ten Commandments of the Law and the new Commandment of the Gospel how they have committed the seven deadly sins and the foure crying sins and the three most destructive sins to the soul of man and how their Ordinances are made against all Lawes Equity and Conscience 22. THey have in no small measure transgressed all the Commandments of God the ten Commandments of the Law 1. They adore and put their trust in that creature Ps 74. v. 4.7 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quis tibi in mentem dolorem imposuit ut haec perficias magni Dei ore relicto 2. How they have abused Gods house and the new Commandment of the Gospel For 1. The factious Rebels have other gods besides the God of Israel when they adore the creatures and ascribe the incommunicable attributes of the creator unto their Parliament by calling it omnipotent infallible invincible and most blessed Parliament as some of them have most blasphemously termed it for which blasphemies no doubt but as we by their Declarations and Ordinances know they are not infallible so God I feare me by their destruction will shew they are neither blessed nor invincible 2. They not onely make an idoll of their Parliament but are so far from making to themselues any graven image that they destroy all images and are just such as the Prophet David speaks of which have done evil in Gods Sanctuary and have broken down all the carved work thereof with axes and hammers that have set fire upon his holy places and have defiled the dwelling place of Gods name even unto the ground for it is almost incredible how barbarously worse then any Turkes or Jewes they haue broken down those rare and sweet instruments of Musick the Organs of our Churches and have defaced those excellent pieces of work that to the honour of God were made and set up in the windowes of our Churches in Canterbury Winchester Lincoln and the other Cathedrals by the best Artists in Christendom which is a most horrible fact no wayes commanded in this precept and an irreparable loss to us and our posterity and therefore the Prophet David calleth these defacers of such carved and painted works set up in his house the adversaries and enemies of God v. 4 and 5. and v. 11. foolish people vers 19 and 23. the haters of God vers 24. and the blasphemers of his name vers 11. for none but such would have done such Prophanations as is done in God's house but let them take heed lest the Prophets prayer should light upon them Ps 74. v. 4. Lift up thy feet O God that thou mayest utterly destroy every one of these enemies which hath done this evil in thy Sanctuary 3. How they forswear themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Menan l. perjurium est nequiter decipere credentem Aug 4. How they prophaned the Sabbath 3. For swearing not vainly but falsly most wickedly and forswearing themselves over and over again and again and having more dispensations and absolutions for their perjuries by their holy Prophets then ever the Popes gave for adulteries it is incredible to think and impossible to number the heads of these transgressions and therefore if you believe that God was in earnest when he gave this precept you may be assured he will not hold them guiltlesse that are such transgressors of it 4. For the day wherein we should serve our God in his Church most reverently some of them worship him more unmannerly then some of those blinde Indians that worship the Devil himself and others of them muster their men plunder their neighbours and murder their brethren which they believe to be the best way to sanctifie the Sabbath and for which resting from their work thus religiously to serve the Lord let them take heed lest God should swear in his wrath that they shall never enter into his rest 5. How they curse their Fathers and Mothers Esay 8.21 5. They curse their Father and their Mother that their dayes may be long in the Land which their pretended Parliament hath promised to give them for the King is the Prince and Principal Father of us all and the Prophet saith of such men they shall curse their King and their God and the Bishops are their Fathers too and they have cursed them long agone and I fear they will not cease to curse them till their curses fall upon their own heads and for all other bonds of duty and relations of Wives unto their Husbands Children unto their Parents Servants unto their Masters they are preached asunder to make way for the liberty of the Subject to rebel by authority against his Soveraign 6. How many they have murdered 6. Whereas God saith thou shalt do no murder they gave that first commission though they had not the least colour of any authority to give it to kill slay and destroy and
into the depth of misery The time would be too short for me to tell you of Craesus the rich King of Lydia Darius the great Monarch of Persia Manius Acilius the proud Consul of Rome holy Job the richest in the Land of Hus and warlike Caius Marius when he had hid himself in the Fens or Bogs of Mynturnes and of many thousands more that were exceeding rich and most honourable and in a moment of time became extream poor and miserable But you may see it every day that as the Poet saith Rich Cresus may suddenly become as poor as Irus Irus est subito qui modo Croesus erat And there is none of us but he may consider how many great and honourable persons have been suddenly disgraced and how many well left Heirs and wealthy men have in an instant consumed all their wealth and wasted their Patrimony like a Snow-bal and then came to be pitied by their Friends and scorned by some others whom formerly they despised and thought them not worthy to eat with the dogs of their Flocks such is the nature of wealth and so great is the vanity of all worldly riches that the wise man saith They betake them unto their wings and flee away like an Eagle i.e. very swiftly Prov. 23.5 And yet for all this it is a wonder to see the folly of most men shewed in the pursuit of this idle vanity Plutarch in vita Phyrri p. 404. for it is reported how Cyneas a most excellent Orator endeavouring to disswade King Pyrrhus a brave Souldier from his expedition against the Romans asked him what he would do when he had subdued them and he answered that he would bring Cicily into his subjection and what will your grace do then said the Orator the King replied then we have a fair passage to go to bring in Carthage and to conquer Africa And when you have conquered them what will you do said Cynaeas We will then said the King bring all Macedon under the yoke of our Obedience And when both Rome and Cicily and Carthage and all Macedon have felt the stroke of your Majesties Sword what will you do then I pray you said the Orator then the King perceiving what he meant smilingly answered we will then take our ease and begin to make Feasts and continue so every day and be as merry together as possibly we can be And what letteth us now my good Lord said Cyneas but that we may be now as merry and more quiet sith we enjoy enough to effect all that presently without any further travel or more trouble which we are about to go to seek with such shedding of humane blood of others with so much manifest danger unto our selves Yet notwithstanding all this the Learned Orator could not disswade that ambitious Prince from this his high attempt he could no waies prevail to make him desist from that uncertain Enterprize but he would rather hazard all that happy estate which he did now enjoy than leave off the deceitful hope of those things which he did so much desire And indeed such is the condition of all the sons of men most dangerously sick of the same desperate disease for though as the Poet saith and he saith the truth that man is but Somnus Bulla Vitrum Glacies Flos Fabula Foenum Umbra Cinis Punctum Vox Sonns Aura Nihil That is in few words a dream a shadow a thought a nothing yet all or most of this little time that we do enjoy we expend in following after the vain wealth and deceitful riches of this world that we shall find to be but empty clouds without water or like the Apples of Sodom that being greedily grasped will soon turn to smoak and then speedily vanish into nothing and we shall find our selves at last just like the Mill-wheel that turneth still and turneth round from day to day and yet at the years end is in the same place where it was at the beginning So we tumble and tosse and turn to gather wealth and to grow great in this world and yet in the end we shall find our selves just in the same condition as we were at the beginning for naked we came into the world and naked we shall return again What need we then be so unjust and shame our selves either unduly to seek what we ought not to have or unhonestly to deny what we ought to pay Truly I am ashamed that should be verified among Christians which was complained of by the heathens Terras Astraea reliquit that Justice could not be found in any Court on earth or what Solomon said of the Jews should be found amongst us I saw the place of Judgment the highest Court he meant and wickedness was there and the place of Righteousness and iniquity was there Eccl. 3.16 But though neither shame of men nor fear of God can make us leave this iniquity but that we will continue still like Jews and Pagans yet the truth is that man in this rich estate that is yet so palpably vain when it is so unjustly procured can be nothing else but meer vanity 3. Honour Glory and a high esteem to be famous among men are accounted great in this world and so they are indeed but I mean great vanities and the greatest of all vanities For health is a happiness especially while it lasteth and Riches have some substance in them and we may do good with them as others do much evil with them but honour arid fame are nothing else but a vain blast of a poor mans breath or a little bending of a Beggars knee an idle Ceremony fruitless I am sure therefore a great vanity and it may be out some fair shew of some outward reverence when perhaps there is indeed much inward hate because the Tongue oftentimes praiseth those most highly whom the heart detesteth most deadly Or were it not so yet all honour is accounted but 1. Of a short continuance and therefore a great Vanity For 2. Of a small Extent and therefore a great Vanity For 1. Behold how great was the honour of Haman and how suddenly was he hanged Look upon Nebuchadnezzar how he is to day saluted with Haile Glory of the world and to morrow scorned like a Beast and consider how glorious were Pharaoh Senacherib Alexander Cyrus and others and yet behold how speedily they were vanished into nothing and how many great men and most honourable Personages have you lately seen so highly honoured and magnified both in Court and Countrey as the only Emblemes of all honour and how suddenly have they been either killed or headed and their Glory buried in the dust if not turned into worse For the Scourge of Envy from below and the Twigs of Ambition from above do hunt and whip all honour unto death And we know that many men while they lived have been so unhappy as to see their own honour buried Or if some have left a glorious Name behind