that is also a Christian and consequently ruleth and laboureth not onely in the Common-wealth but also in the Church of his kingdome by protection of her spirituall and direction of her temporall estate euen that he is worthy of a double maintenance especially of such a Prince as detesteth nothing so much as the oppression of the poore and the destruction of the needy Amos. 4 1 Prou. 31 4 5. and delighteth in nothing so much as in bountie and beneficence Eccles 10.16 17 Amos 6.1.4.5.6 Deut. 17.17 A Prince that abhorreth all voluptuous intemperate and delicious liuing and that hath not taken to himselfe many wiues or many Concubines thereby to be chargeable vnto his people but such a one that as he loueth vnitie and vnion both of Britannes and of all other Christians so that hee made choyce of one to loue and shee a happie mother of most hopefull children the honorable maintenance of whom ought to bee deere and precious in our eyes A Prince I say renowned for his singular temperance continence and sobriety ouer the whole world And such a one as according to that which our Lord himselfe requireth of a Prince doth not giue himselfe to gather together in heaps much siluer and gold being borne to giue and not to gather who like vnto the Sunne hath no sooner drawne vp vapours and waters into the aire that is customes taxations and subsidies into his treasurie but as soone powreth the same downe againe vpon the earth by distributing that which he receiueth amongst his seruants English as well as Scottish as he seeth either their necessity or yet their desert doth require So that all the riuers of his reuenues rents and riches do returne into the sea of the common-wealth whence they came Finally a Prince all made of bountie and beneficence to whom God hath giuen as vnto Salomon a large heart 1 King 4.29 1 Chron. 9. both for learning and liberality euen as the sand that is on the sea shore and who deserueth no lesse at his subiects hands then as Salomon like a purueiance as their ability can reach vnto for the honorable maintenance and sustenance of himselfe and his free-parted family And this much shall it suffice to haue spoken of the maintenance of the Lords chiefe Minister to wit the Prince In the next place it followeth that we speake of the maintenance of his other Ministers to wit the Priests which rule or serue in the Church either in keeping of vniformity and good order amongst the Cleargie themselues or in reading publickly and expounding the word and ministring the sacraments vnto the people All the tithe of the land Leuit 27.30 31 32. both of the seed of the ground and of the fruit of the trees is the Lords it is holy to the Lord saith the Lord by Moses and euery tithe of bullocke and of sheep and of all that goeth vnder the rod the tenth shall be holy vnto the Lord. Deut. 14.22.23.27.29 Thou shalt giue the tithe of all the increase of thy seede that commeth forth of the field yeare by yeare the tithe of thy corne of thy wine and of thine oyle and the first borne of thy kine and of thy sheepe that thou maiest learne to feare the Lord thy God alwaies and that the Lord thy God may blesse thee in all the works of thine hands which thou doest Deut. 12.17.18.19 Thou maiest not eate within thy gates the tithe of thy corne nor of thy wine nor the first borne of thy kine nor of thy sheepe neither any of thy vowes which thou vowest nor thy free offerings nor the offering of thine hands Beware that thou forsake not the Leuite as long as thou liuest vpon the earth For behold I haue giuen the children of Leui all the tenth of Israel for an inheritance for their seruice which they serue in the congregation Deut. 26. Numb 18.12.13.17 18 19.20.21.22.23.24 euen the tithes of the children of Israel haue I giuen them Also the fat of the oyle of the wine of the wheate which they shall offer vnto the Lord for their first fruits I haue giuen them vnto thee saith the Lord to Aaron And the first ripe of all that is in their land which they shall bring vnto the Lord shall be thine as also the first borne of kine sheep and goats Nehem. 10.35.36.37.38 39. And therefore Nehemiah and Ezra doe mention how that the people after their captiuity being restored to liberty and to the enioying of their owne land amongst other duties resolued and protested before God that they would bring the first fruites of their land and of their fruit-bearing-trees yeare by yeare into the house of the Lord and the first borne of their flockes of their cattell bullockes and sheepe of their trees wine wheate and oyle vnto the Priests to the chambers of the house of our God for there the Ministers of God dwelt and the tithes of their land vnto the Leuites that they might haue the tithes in all the Cities of their trauell 2 Chron. 31.4.5.6.7.8 And of Hezekiah that godly king it is written that hee commanded the people that dwelt in Ierusalem to giue a part to the Priests and Leuites that they might be encouraged in the law of the Lord. And when the commandement was spred the children of Israel brought aboundance of first fruits of corne wine and oyle and hony and of all the increase of the field and the tithes of all things brought they aboundantly so that when Ezekiah and the Princes saw the heapes which they had brought for the space of 4. whole monethes they blessed the Lord and his people Israel Euery where the Lord doth claime first fruits and tythes as his proper possession and inheritance the which he hath allotted vnto his Priests for their perpetuall wages and peculiar patrimonie saying vnto them or rather resigning vnto them his whole title right and claime thereunto Numb 18.20 21. Deut. 10.9 18.2 Iosh 13.14.33 Ezek. 44.28.29.30 I am your inheritance part possession among the children of Israell yea the Lord is so iealous of this their right that he doth repute himselfe as spoyled and robbed with a violent and strong hand when his Ministers are defrauded of their due cursing such as with-hold from them what is theirs and blessing those that giue them their owne And as the Lord expostulating with his people for their idolatry saith vnto them Ierem. 2.11 Hath any Nation changed their Gods which yet are no Gods but my people haue changed their glory euen their God for that which doth them no good So likewise expostulating with them for their sacrilege hee saith vnto them Molach 3 8 9.10 11 12. Will a man spoyle his Gods yet haue yee spoyled mee but yee say Wherein haue wee spoyled thee in tythes offerings Ye are cursed with a curse for yee haue spoyled me euen this whole nation Bring ye all the
base Inne yea a stinking stable The cradle wherein he was laid was a cratch a place more fit for beasts to eate in then for the Sonne of God to lie in His mother that bare him though descended of noble linage yea of royall blood was also abiect and poore both in her owne person and in her fortune For shee was betroathed to a poore Carpenter Ioseph a trades-man though descended of the noble house and linage of King Dauid Hence it was that the Iewes called our Sauiour Christ in contempt the Carpenter and the Carpenters sonne In his life hee was so poore Matth. 8.20 Luk. 9.58 that hee had not a hole to hide his head in or a bed to rest his bodie on whereas the Foxes of the field had their holes and the birds of the heauen had their nests Matth. 27.55 So that it behooued certaine godly women of Galile to minister of their substance for the releeuing of his necessitie Luk. 8.2.3 Finally in his death hee was so poore that he had not so much money as to buy himselfe a winding sheet or to defraie the charges of his buriall till there came a rich man of Arimathea Matth. 27.57.58 59 60. named Ioseph who tooke the naked body of poore Iesus and wrapped it in a cleane linnen cloath and put it in the selfe same newe tombe which he had hewen out in a rocke for himselfe A happie rich man in so doing and therefore such a rich man as all rich men that desire to be happie ought to imitate and doe imitate when as vpon their owne charges as godly Tobias did they do burie the bodies of the poore members of Iesus who shall one day Tobit 1. Matth. 25.34.35.36.37.38.39.40 euen in that great day acknowledge all the good good rich men haue done to good poore men as if they had done it vnto himselfe and withall recompence their charity with an inestimable reward And as for the Apostles how poore indigent they were Mat. 4 18 29.20 21 22. Marke 1 16 17.18 19 20. Luke 5 8 9 10 11 28 Math. 10.2 19 24 27 28.29 Mark 10 28 29 30 Luke 18 28. no man doth know poore Fishermen they were for the most part who yet forsooke their nets and all that they had to embrace Christs pouerty who was yet poorer then they and followed him Likewise Mathew the Customer as soone as Christ said vnto him follow me left all rose vp and followed him Whereupon the prime of the Apostles in the name of the rest said vnto our Sauiour on a time when as hee had discoursed of the difficultie of rich mens saluation Behold we haue forsaken all and followed thee what shall we haue And Iesus answered Verily I say vnto you that when the Sonne of man shal sit in the throne of his Maiesty ye which followed mee in the regeneration shall sit also vpon twelue Tribes of Israel And whosoeuer shall forsake houses or lands for my names sake and the Gospels he shall receiue more in this world yea an hundreth fold more and shall inherite euerlasting life Wherby Christians are taught to be ready and willing to forsake all their goods bee they neuer so precious and copious rather then to forsake God and a good conscience to leaue their inheritance on earth rather then their inheritance in heauen and to loose the life temporall rather then the eternall Math 16 25 26 10 39 Mark 8 35 36 37. Luke 9 23 24 25 26 For whosoeuer will saue his life saith our Sauiour shall loose it and whosoeuer shall loose his life for my sake shall finde it For what shall it profit a man though hee should win a whole world if hee loose his owne soule or what shall a man giue for recompence of his soule And if the man that loueth father or mother or yet his owne life more then Christ Math. 10 37 38 39. Luke 14 26 is not worthy of Christ as himselfe saith How shall that man bee worthy of the eternall inheritance that loueth the temporall inheritance better then it And truly whosoeuer will be loath to leaue and loose his worldly wealth for to follow Christ and to saue his owne soule by embracing the Gospell will bee much more loath to lay downe his life for Christs sake and the Gospels in the time of persecution And with what face can such a man claime or craue at Gods hands the life eternall that will not for his sake leaue or lay downe his life temporall Thus we see that rich men must be so farre from louing their riches too much Math 13 20 21 Mark 4 16.17 Luk. 8 13 1 Tim 1 29 and trusting vnto them that they should resolue with themselues rather to leaue and loose their gold then God and godlines rather to forsake their whole goods then to fall from the faith or to make shipwracke of a good conscience to exempt themselues from persecution and to the end they may possesse in peace their worldly commodities Ephes 5 â— Colos 3 5 Godlesse rich men they are who will prefer earthly trash before heauenly treasure goods before goodnes and gold before God whose God is their belly 1 Tim 6 5 Philip 3.19 and all their godlines is gaine and their religion golden idolatry goldisme or belly-godisme for so may their irreligious religion bee well called whose glorie is to their shame and whose end is damnation saith the Apostle Exod. 32.31 Oh said Moses vnto the Lord this people haue sinned a great sinne and haue made them Gods of gold And may not the like be well said of godlesse rich men that make gold their God yea make a God of their belly which is yet a more base stuffe and are guilty of a kinde of idolatry which is the basest of all other And therfore the holy Apostle biddeth the godly Bishop of Ephesus Timothie 1 Tim. 6.17 Charge them that be rich in this world that they bee not high minded and that they trust not in vncertaine riches but in the liuing God which giueth vs aboundantly all things to enioy And it is to such godlesse rich men that the holy Apostle and first Bishop of Ierusalem S. Iames crieth out saying Iam. 5.2.3 Go to now ye rich men weepe and howle for the miseries that shall come vpon you your riches are corrupt and your garments are moath-eaten your gold and siluer is cankered and the rust of them shall be a witnesse against you and shall eate your flesh as it were fire yee haue heaped vp treasures for the last daies And in another place hee speaketh of such godlesse rich men in this manner 1.10.11 For as when the Sunne riseth with heate then the grasse withereth and his floure falleth away and the beauty of the fashion of it perisheth Euen so shall the rich man fade away in all his waies Luke 16.13 No man saith our Sauiour
to dwell in and sow the fields and plant vineyards which bring forth fruitfull increase for hee blesseth them and they multiply exceedingly and hee diminisheth not their cattell Hee powreth contempt vpon princes and turneth the springs of water into drinesse a fruitful land into barrennesse for the wickednes of them that dwel therin Yet he raiseth vp the poore out of misery and maketh him families like a flocke of sheep The righteous shall see it and reioyce and all iniquity shall stop her mouth And this is that which the holy Psalmist singeth of godly Ioseph more particularly Psal 105.17 18 19 20 21 22 Ioseph was sold for a slaue they held his feete in the stockes and hee was laid in yrons vntill his appointed time came and the counsell of the Lord tried him The King sent and loosed him he made him Lord of his house euen the ruler of the people deliuered him and made him ruler of his substance yea of his Princes and rulers that hee should bind them vnto his will and teach his ancient and wise men wisdome Gen. 45.16.17.18 19.20.21.22.23 And the Lord that thus gaue Ioseph fauour in the eyes of Pharaoh enclined likewise the heart of the King to fauour and loue Iacob the father of Ioseph and his brethren for his sake so that when the tidings came vnto Pharaohs house that Iosephs brethren were come it pleased Pharaoh well and his seruants Moreouer Pharaoh said vnto Ioseph say to thy brethren This doe yee lade your beasts and depart go to the land of Canaan and take your father and your housholds and come to me and I will giue you the best of the land of Aegypt and yee shall eate of the fat of the land And I command thee Thus doe ye Take you chariots out of the land of Aegypt for your children and for your wiues and bring your father and come also regard not your stuffe for the best of all the land of Aegypt is yours And the children of Israel did so and Ioseph gaue them Chariots according to the commandement of Pharaoh he gaue them victuals also for the iourney he gaue them all none excepted change of raiment and vnto Beniamin he gaue three hundreth peeces of siluer and fiue suites of raiment And vnto his father likewise he sent ten hee Asses laden with the best things of Egypt and ten shee Asses laden with wheat and bread and meate for his father by the way And when as Iosephs father and his brethren were come into Aegypt the good King knowing thereof Gen. 46.33 3â— 47.3 4.5 6.11 12. and vnderstanding that their trade for they liued not idle was to be occupied about cattell and sheepe as Sheepheards after that he had admitted them to his presence spake to Ioseph saying Thy father and thy brethren are come vnto thee the land of Egypt is before thee in the best place of the land make thy father and thy brethren dwell let them dwell in the land of Goshen and if thou knowest that there be men of actiuity among them make them rulers ouer my cattell And godly and happy Ioseph placed his father and his brethren and gaue them possession in the land of Egypt in the best of the land euen in the land of Rameses as good bountifull Pharaoh had commanded And the blessed son nourished his blessed father and his brethren and all his fathers houshold with bread euen to the yong children Dauid attained to great riches and honour by practising the rules of this Art 1 Sam. 16 17 2 Sam 2 5 7 8 22. 1 Chron 17 29. 1 King 3 6 Psal 78 70 71.72 hee feared God exceedingly called vpon him continally walking before him in truth in righteousnes and in purenes of his spirit yea he was a man after the Lords owne heart and he that was in his heart was with his heart and in his hand also and blessed him aboundantly Hee chose Dauid his seruant and tooke him from the sheepe-folds euen from behind the ewes with young brought hee him to feed his people in Iacob and his inheritance in Israel So he fed them according to the simplicitie of his heart 1 Sam. 18 18 23. Psal 113.7 and guided them by the discretion of his hands He was as hee saith of himselfe a poore man and of small reputation but God who taketh pleasure in raising vp the poore out of the dust and in lifting vp the beggar from the dongue-hil changed his pouertie into riches his despisednesse into honour his shepheards crooke into a princely scepter his countrey cap into a kingly crowne his base sheep-cote into a stately court and his pasture of small compasse into an ample kingdome In one word God that doth great things tooke him from following the sheep that he might rule ouer his people Israel 1 King 3 11 12 13. 10.21.23.25.27 28. 2 Chron. 1. 8. 13. Eccles 2.4.5.6.7 8.9 Salomon Dauids sonne did attaine to his great riches by practising these rules and namely because he did ask of the Lord vnderstanding to do iudgment and not riches nor honor nor long life nor yet the life of his enemies therfore the Lord gaue him not onely that which he asked but also those things he asked not euen riches and honor more then any in Israel had before him or yet after him So that hee builded houses planted vineyards pleasant gardens and orchards replenished with fruitfull trees purchased great possessions of Beeues and sheep gathered aboundance of siluer and gold yea hee made siluer as plenteous as stones in Ierusalem and exceeded all the Kings of the earth both in riches and in wisdome Iehosophat did attaine to great prosperitie by practising these Rules 2. Chro. 17. He sought the god of his fathers deuoutly and walked in his commandements diligently euen in the waies of his forefather Dauid and therefore the Lord was with him stablished the kingdom in his hand and all Iudah brought presents vnto him so that hee had of riches and honor in aboundance Esther and Mordecai attained to riches and honor by these Rules Esth 2. 6. 8. 10. The vncle the neece both of them feared God and therfore he raised them from low degree vnto princely dignitie from pouertie aduanced them to great riches So that Esther of a poore despised maid became a famous and an honourable queene euen the wife of king Ashuerus the mightie Monarke of the Medes and Persians and Mordecai of a poore despised man was preferred to great riches and honour so that he was made second vnto the king Daniel and his three fellowes Dan. 1 3 6. commonly called the three children practised the Rules of this art They excelled in the feare of the Lord and in wisdom which floweth therefro so that of poore captiues and prisoners hee made them Princes companions they were promoted in the Prouince of Babel to high honours