of Creation the memorie of the first is obscured by the last and so the one is to give place unto the other as in a case not much unlike it the Prophet Ieremâ—e hath declared Ier. 16.14 15. Nor againe doth this last impose a like commemoration with the former in regard of Rest because our Saviour did not so much rest upon that day whereon he arose as valiantly overcome the powers of death It may be rather said that he rested before whil'st he lay in the Grave and so they who are dead bee sayd to rest from their labours but to rise againe implyes a breaking off from rest and a beginning of labour which even in this cannot but be granted if the consideration be taken up with relation to that rest which went before it whil'st the bodie lay in the quiet Grave till the time appointed Nor doe I thinke it strange to say that on our Day of the Lord the memorie of the Redemption be come in place of that of Creation For tho we have the proper solemnitie of Christ's Resurrection upon that day which is called Easter yet this weekely day of publique worship being as Saint Austine speaketh consecrated to us by our Lords Resurrection doth not onely deserve to be made choice of for the peculiar day of our solemne Assemblies but to be judged also to relate in some sort to the benefit of Redemption Secondly their strict resting was a memoriall of their deliverance from the hard labours which they had lately suffered in the Land of Aegypt as is expressely mentioned in Deut. 5.15 Now this was a thing peculiarly belonging unto them and not to us Therefore they and we are not both bound to one and the same strictnesse unlesse their condition and ours were both alike Thirdly Ezek. 20 12. this their Sabbath was given them for a signe Psal 147.20 that God had then chosen them from among all the Nations of the earth to be his people For the Heathen had no knowledge of his Lawes but they had the partition wall was then unbroken In token of which favour they had the Sabbath which they were strictly to observe not doing their owne will nor speaking so much as their owne words as in these Scriptures is declared Exod. 31.13 Ezek. 20.12 and Esa 58.13 And albeit all Christians now be likewise the people of God yet because they are of more Nations then one and live in times of more maturitie they are not tyed to such a strict yoake as if they were still in the dayes of the Law but differenced from that Heire who whil'st he is a Child must live as a servant as the Apostle speaketh Gala. 4.1 For when the fulnesse of time was come the condition of God's people was altered as at the fift verse of the foresayd Chapter is declared And at the seventh verse thus Thou art no more a servant but a Sonne And therefore though bound to bee obedient yet freed from those hard taskes which of old were strictly required from the Jewish people Last of all their Sabbath was a type whereby was prefigured that Rest Heb. 9.4 which as the Apostle speaketh and of which their Canaaen likewise was a figure remained for the people of God to be purchased for them by Christ who being come and gone into his Fathers house Ioh. 14.2 wherein are many mansion places went to prepare them as was prefigured in the foresaid Rest of the Jewish Sabbath And therefore seeing Christ hath actually purchased that which was then prefigured it were injurious to Christ to lay the same yoake still upon our neckes Yea in a word by what hath beene said it cannot but appeare that although our Lord's Day or Sunday hath of late yeares beene vulgarly knowne and called by the name of the Sabbath yet of right neither the name nor manner of keeping it appertaines thereunto For there is so great a difference betweene the old Sabbath and our Sunday that it is a manifest mistake to urge those Scriptures upon us which peculiarly belonged to them in the observation of their Day But if the Sunday be no Sabbath Quest why then doth the Church in her Liturgie retaine still the fourth Commandement and say Remember that thou keepe holy the Sabbath day c. yea and why are the people bound to pray at the end thereof Lord have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keepe this Law For answer whereunto Sol. this is first that although all the other Commandements are to be kept ut sonant according to the letter as St Austin speaketh yet this of the Sabbath is of another kinde being partly morall partly ceremoniall And if so then in part it is abolished and in part retained And being but in part abolished it must upon necessity have still a place among the other precepts For so farre as 't is morall 't is still of force and is therefore put among the Precepts of the Decalogue for that which is morall in it For as I said formerly it proceedeth from the Law of Nature that some time be set apart for Gods publicke service And therefore this being revived in the Law of the fourth Commandement ought to be remembred and kept upon one day in seven which last though unknowne till Nature was informed is now to be reckoned as that principal portion of time which God requireth And so last of all being bound to the morality of the precept there is good reason that we pray to have the Lord incline our hearts to the keeping of it for being strengthned by his assistance there will be care had that we decline not away from the observation thereof And whereas I formerly gave notice that it is the very chiefe of Dayes or as I then expressed it Gods chiefe Schoole-day I had reason for it because there is no Holy Day which the Church hath appointed to be kept of such eminency and excellency as is this Day of the Lord according to that of St. Austin in his 251 Sermon De tempore at the very beginning therof in these words saying Sciendum est Fratres charissimi quod ideo à sanctis patribus nostris constitutum est christianis mandatum ut in solennitatibus Sanctorum maxime in Dominicis diebus otium haberent à terreno negotio vacarent ut paratiores promptiores essent ad divinum cultum In which words appeareth not only the excellency of this Day above other Festivalls but the necessity also of such a Rest as may be no hindrance but a furtherance to Gods publicke worship For such a Rest as this is as a means requisite for that end for which the Day is set apart The ancient Sabbath had as hath beene shewed other ends which here in this Day can take no place because the Day it selfe is now abolished and gone and the armes of the Church extended further then to one only Nation All that can be added more is this
edition 1613 although in his edition 1610 hee mentions them by the name of Pecunia Ecclesialis which is no great advantage neither but may bee well interpreted by the word Decimae as a generall by a speciall But howsoever what is one Authour against more and yet this one in his last thoughts is nothing differing but speakes just like those other already mentioned Well then without further question here was the originall of Infeodations and first beginning of lamentable Sacriledge in the alienation of Tythes from the Ministers or Churches to the which they were payd And in the summe of the whole answere note that at the first they that had possessions sold them and brought the money to the Apostles this was about Ierusalem And in other Churches collections were made both for the necessities of the Saints and of the Ministers Then after this it was thought more convenient rather that such as were minded to give should give the Lands themselves rather I say than the price of them that thereby they might remaine as a perpetuall helpe to the Church Here began the endowment of the Church with Gleab and this is commonly attributed out of Polidore Virgil Polid. De invent lib. 6. c. 10. and others to the dayes of Urban the first who was in the * Calvis in Chron. yeare 224 about which time Origen spake of Tythes as of things then payd I have alreadie shewed it And before Parishes were divided these were at the disposing of the Bishop and payd unto him for the use of the Clergie within the Diocesse But Parishes being divided which was in the dayes of Dennis the first about * See Folid Virg lib. 4. c. 6. the yeare 266 they were annexed to the Priests of particular Cures For the defence of whom that they might not bee wronged in their dues there were certaine temporall men appointed either by godly Kings or by such as gave Lands to the Church to bee Patrons of Churches or Defensores Ecclesiarum who might be readie to defend the Churches rights And yet perhaps some particular parishes which were by reason of such Churches as were of Lay foundations were not knowne till some while after and yet not so long after as some have thought For by the fourth Canon of the Councell of Arausicanum held in the yeare 441. it appeareth that Parish Oratories and Churches of Lay-foundations were even then to beseene But what need I loose my selfe in this argument for let a man take these things which way hee pleaseth yet still hee may see that tythes as well as other Church goods belonged and were generally paid to the Clergy either in their own Cures or to the Bishops for them before the dayes of Charles Martell who was the first that brought in the most manifest corruption concerning their alienation for albeit Iulian robbed the Church yet hee did it as a Persecutor from whom no lesse could be expected And although the successors of Martel were more honest and restored somewhat backe againe taking in Lease from the Churches in regard of the imminent warres and many invasions of the enemy such parts as were retained and doing all this with great circumspection hoping that under the favour of God in this necessity they might thus and not otherwise without prejudice doe it yet the former example of Charles Martel was the more powerfull and in succeeding times proved but as a dangerous Load-starre to direct divers other countries to imitate his practise and to prophane their greedy hands with the Priests maintenance while on the other side the Pope did as fast appropriate Parsonages to Abbies and Nunneries which in those blind times was thought to bee no wrong it being commonly conceited that preaching bred nothing but heresies schismes and contentions and that therefore there was no better way to save soules then by the devotions of Monkes and Friars Which also was a cause as superstition more and more increased to get no small portions fraudulently from the hands of the deceived Laity it being a constant practise to give and give evermore to those idle Droanes and fat-bellied Houses that thereby they might have the more speedy passage out of feigned Purgatory To which likewise adde how the Popes againe although they would have somewhat restrained the covetousnes of the Monkes when they saw the greatnesse of it fixed upon another project For that they might enrich their Favourites friends and kindred they would not seldome convert the tythes to their uses And now to countenance and helpe forward these practises with a colour of warrantable proceedings Alexander de Hales began to broach a new Doctrine concerning the right of tythes never knowne nor heard of among the ancient Fathers For this was the Doctrine of the Fathers both Greek and Latine that tythes are due to the Ministers of the Gospel by the word of God secundum literam literally and precisely as they were in the old Testament to the Priests of the Law whereas this Hales who was about the yeare 1230 taught otherwise namely that it was a part of the Morall Law naturally written in the heart that something should be paied but as for the Quota pars it had its dependance meerly upon the Iudiciall Law and so the Tenth was onely positively due and no otherwise due according as the Lawes positively should determine In which Doctrine was inferred that they who might make the Lawes indetermination of the Quotitie which was to be paid might alienate to severall uses as much out of that portion as they pleased The Schoole-men went after him in the same steps to the utmost of their power strained their wits for the upholding of such a politike opinion Howbeit the event proved afterwards extreamely pernicious First in occasioning that heresie which held them as Almes And secondly in giving occasion also to the civil power to take from the Church not only the jurisdiction of tythes but to alienate them in the end from the Church Church-men to a meere civill use Wherein yet one thing is observeable that although the times were darke there was alwayes some or other beside the Canonists who opposed the abbettours of this new doctrine and taught this point of tything not after the corrupt tenets of the School-men but as the Fathers had done before them of which you may reade more in Dr. Carletous history of tythes Chap. 5. And for the doctrine of the Fathers see Doctor Tillesley in his Catalogue of 72. testimonies cleane contrary to what was taught by Hales Aquinas and the rest And last of all why and how they are within the compasse of the Morall and not Ceremoniall or Iudicial Lawes no not for their Quotitie I have already shewed And therefore as known by paid in the name and portion of a Tenth part before the Law unlesse a man could find somewhere in Gods word an expresse command to the contrary For looke but unto the time of the Law it selfe which was the middle time between the time of Nature and of Grace and you shall find I grant that the worship of God in regard of the manner thereof is ceased since the Passion of Christ but God hath caused the ceasing of so much as is ceased Ephes 2.15 Colos 2.14 And looke what was not abrogated by Christ that still remaineth as being the substance which is perpetual Mr. Rob. revenue of the Gosp pag. 10. So also of Gods right or portion which he had in the time of the Law some parts are ceased viz. those fragments of the Sacrifices which were the shares of the Priests for even the Sacrifices themselves being types of Christ to come are fulfilled and abolished in and by Christ being come But tythes as hath beene proved were no types of Christ neither in their substance nor in their circumstance but were only the maintenance of Gods publike worship which being perpetuall they also are perpetual In a word they did belong to the worship of God before there was a Leviticall worship and when they were paid to the Levites they did but follow Gods worship as being principally due to the service and not to the men but for the service sake and so also still such must be their end of Assignation For Levi should have had as little portion in them as any of the other Tribes if God had not chosen him from the rest to the Ministery Num. 18.21 And as for Lay-men besides this that they doe no service the very name of Impropriation pleads against them I shall stil therefore urge that what the Patriarkes and old people of the Iewes practised by the Law of nature or the rule of right reason or by inspiration of Gods spirit many hundred yeers before the Ceremoniall or Leviticall Law was given are not to be ranked among Iudaicall Ceremonies which were fulfilled in our Saviour Christ and were by him taken away nailed to his Crosse This is all for I know nothing else of moment which can bee objected And therefore here an end of this Discourse which may be to the faulty a Correction of their errours if they will if not they have just cause to feare it as a witnesse one day to bee brought forth against them For what have I done but declared such truths as the Scriptures Fathers Councils and other Histories of good authority have recorded Soli Deo gloria FINIS
Achan by the name of son Iosh 7.19 Now sonne by way of relation implyes a Father as even in the termes of Logick is apparent where both the relative and correlative answer to one another David also in the first booke of Samuel spake thus unto the King and said 1 Sam. 24.11 My father see yea see the skirt of thy robe in my hand So also in the second booke of the Chronicles the cheife rulers are called the chiefe fathers of Israel 2 Chron. 23.2 Neither doe the scriptures but affirme that king Hezekiah was a father over the fathers of his people even over the Priests and therfore much more over the rest of his subjects as it is in 2 Chron. 29.11 And againe Kings and Queenes are stiled by the prophet Esay Esay 49.23 nursing fathers and nursing mothers of the Church and are therefore the nursing fathers and mothers of the Common-weale these two societies having such a mutuall dependance that the welfare of the one is the prosperity of the other For as mine authour speaketh tam arcto inter se nenu colligatae funt Dâ—â—s et Reâ— pag 〈◊〉 ut altera ab alterius salute et incolumitate pendere quodammodo videatur Whereto agreeth that exquisite saying of Gulielmus Occam to the Emperour Lewis the fift Domine Imperator defende me gladio et ego te defendam calamo Protect thou mee with thy sword Lord Emperour and I will defend thee with my Pen. So also when the government was in the hands of awoman The inhabitants of the villages ceased they ceased saith shee in Israel untill that I deborah arose that I arose a Mother in Israel Iudg. 5.7 And of Ioseph it is againe recorded that God made him a father with Pharaoh as Iunius readeth it Gen. 45.8 A father with him although not above him for in this both he and all the other governours must be inferiour A King is the primum mobile and from him it is that the other moove A King is like the sun in the firmament from whom the other starres receiue their light He may have many fathers with him but none at all above him for this is that one of which Sr. Peter speaketh 1 Pet. 2.13 who is supereminent and high aboue the rest to which even all the rest either as they are powers subordinate Rom. 13.1.5 or as they are men and so members of some society must out of dutie and for conscience sake be subject and obedient Here then the fierce frenzie of Anabaptisticall Doctrine knowes not how to abolish Magistiacie as abhominable Nor may the Consistorian tenets of dangerous puritans be granted as authenticall Kings hold their crownes of God and are not to bee limited at the peoples pleasure they erre who thinke they may correct or punish them Nor may the bloody practise of Pope and Puritane-papists be allowed The Miter may not trample on the neckes of Princes and dispose of kingdomes when and where it pleaseth no not in ordine ad spiritualia Not in defence of Christs spouse the Church because there is no firme warrant for such a practise as by degrees shall bee further shewed both out of the Scriptures and the Fathers But before I make myful encounter with these adversaries severally and apart I have to tell them in the generall that they are mischievous miscreants and doe but give their right hands of fellowship to that wicked generation here mentioned who curse their father and doe not blesse their Mother If it were otherwise the scriptures would not teach that we may not curse the King no not in our thoughts Eccles 10.20 Nor that it were unlawfull to revile or curse the ruler of the people Mat. 15.4 Prov. 20.20 30.11 Exod. 22.28 Nor that we should honour our fathers and blesse our mothers Deut. 27.16 Nor that every soule should bee subject to the higher powers Rom. 13.1 Nor that the birds of prey should be our punishers For as hath been said The eye that mocketh at his Father Prov. 30.17 and dispiseth to obey his Mother the Ravens of the vallie shall picke it out and the young Eagles shall eate it Where againe observe that the blessing or duty which is pertinent to the Mother who is the weaker vessell may in this place stand to signifie that not the meanest officer which the King our supreame governour here on earth shall constitute may bee cursed or despised For know that such honour and dutie as is proportionable to the places wherein they are must be conferred nay rather must be rendred as a thing which of right belongeth to them For this in some sort is that exequation formerly mentioned wherein the mother is blessed as well as the Father and wherein the children are taught the full extent of their duties not finding all to bee fully done untill the Mother and the Father bee proportionably honoured The Mother then as herein doth well appeare stands not for a meere cypher and therefore secondly shee also must see that shee bee more then a cypher to fill up roome in the place wherein shee is Scar-crowes and no more are to little purpose They be but as David speaketh of the heathen Images who have eyes and see not mouths and speake not eares and heare not and therefore such as are unfit to beare an office For the life of the law is the execution thereof whilst on the contrary through ignorance floth briberie feare or favour it is either dead or lives a languishing life to all offenders I hold it therefore requisite that an officer be endued chiefly with two things Knowledge and Practice The Knowledge requires Cor sapiens a wise heart Kin. 3.9 such a one as Solomon prayed for shadowes will not serve the turne where substance is required Nor scarre-crowes frey but where the birds are foolish perhaps at the first they may affright but afterwards being knowne to be what they are vices grow impudent and like unto the fearelesse birds boldly take their swindg without any regard at all to those who are set to looke at what is done And next for the execution of this knowledg there must be Cor magnanimum a magnanimous heart Not an heart of waxe which will meltinto feare nor an heart of lead which will bend into favour but a coutagious stout and valiant heart Kin. 10 20. To which purpose let Solomons throne be looked on view well the manner or fashion thereof and it will so one appeare that it was not for nothing that every of those stept unto his throue of judgement were supported by Lyons because it fitly served to teach Kings and all Magistrates that a Lyon-like courage and resolution was to be of no meane importance or regard among them Beside which that the execution may be just as well as fearelesse there must be also Cor honestum An honest upright and religious heart Such an heart as will not suffer envie or malicious
hatred to satisfie spleen under the colour of executing good and honest lawes For without this justice may beturned into wormewood and Physick be made as bad as poyson no good at all being found in that which otherwise in it selfe is as hath beene said the very life of the Law yea in a word such an heart is here requisite as will abandon all favour and by respect even as the first will be free from ignorance and the second from feare It was well done therefore of that honest Roman who being knowne sufficient to exercise the place of a Iudge was chosen by the Senate as one fit for that office and at the first was much unwilling to meddle with it but at the last though with much adoe undertaking it he made a great feast to which he caled all his kinsfolkes friends and best acquaintance and in solemne manner tooke his leave of them all pretending that he was to travell farre way from them into a strange countrey at which they waxed sorrowfull whereupon he related to them the whole matter namely that now being called to execute the office of a Iudge he must be a stranger to them all and bee as if indeed hee were travelled farre away from them for looke what hee did must bee without respect of persons leaning to one no more then to another but doing justice and judgment with an even hand punishing even friends as well as others if they fall within the compasse of careles offenders And indeed there was good reason for all this for when men bee put in place of authoritie and bee either ignorant envious partiall or regardlesse they must needs do harme in the stead of good not onely in giving cause of scandall to their callings but in hindring also the increase of Religion which by the meanes of them who both know and uprightly do their offices is the better both upholden and increased But leaving these and returning againe to amplifie this point concerning the chiefe head It is not as the Anabaptist would have it for then there should bee none at all neither head nor Bodie all should be equall nothing proper all common But what ground for this It is a tenet which hath neither good nor ground witnesse the very frame of the world the Hierarchy of Angels the degrees of that glory which is Celestiall and the parts of mans naturall body For in the frame and order of nature all creatures are subordinate unto their superiours even untill they come to the highest supreame power beyond which there is no transcending And among the Elements the Earth is under the water the water under the ayre the ayre under the fire and among the starres one starre is higher bigger and brighter then another For one starre differeth from another starre in glory In which order the superiour bodies by their influences the elements by their alterations not onely bring perfection to the whole but is even the preservation of the whole without which it would fall and that instantly run into ruine and meet with that first Chaos from out of which within the space of one bare week of daies it was orderly produced beautifully builded Nay go a little higher and in the heavens are Archangels Angels Principalities Powers Dominions Thrones Cherubins and Seraphins There are also diversities of degrees in glorie For in my fathers house saith Christ are many mansion places Iohn 14.2 if it were not so I would have told you Ioh. 14.2 And how are they many They are many First in respect of the object because they be not ordained for Christ onely or for the Angels or for the blessed and holy Apostles but for all the Saints Martyrs and Confessours Even for as many in every ranke as shall continue faithfull untill the death for they are sure of the crowne of life Revel 2.10 Many also secondly in respect of the subject or largenesse of the place which is able to containe those many soules which from time to time have wrought out their salvation with feare and trembling and walked in the holy wayes of Gods Commandements And many last of all in respect of the diversitie of the adjoyned glory even as in hell Luke 12.47 be degrees of torment For if there bee a difference in torment then also a difference in glory according to that of Saint Paul who by a comparison taken from the starres proveth a difference in such as are raysed to eternall happinesse And of this opinion is Saint Austin and many other of the holy fathers together with the greatest streame of our moderne Divines and they prove it cheifly out of Math. 10.41 Luk. 12.47 Luke 16.23 1 Cor. 15.41 and 2 Cor. 9.6 namely that the Saints in heaven have divers degrees of glory some more some lesse according to their measure of faith and charity zeale and godlines in this present life And in the body naturall there bee likewise many parts severall members and ligaments of which some are more honourable than other the head above the foote the eye above the legge and so of the rest The one part cannot say to the other I have no need of thee nor thou of mee For in their functions each one serves to helpe anothers need and are all necessary to the mutuall succour and defence of one another So in the body politicke there must be an head eyes and hands as well as feete The wise the noble the noble the mighty must governe the foolish ignorant and weake suppresse the stubborne and bridle the obstinate For thus doth order maintaine the brittle fabricke of the world from ruine inlarge heavens happinesse and take away from man the shape of monster in stead whereof he standeth as the best most exquisite harmonious and perfect peice of Gods building for in the visible world there is nought excells him And shall then the body politicke be all feet and no head it cannot it may not it must not be For beside all this we have heard the Scripture mentioning subjection to the higher powers And wee have heard of a power superiour to the rest In which regard the adverse tenets are nothing worth Nor is it secondly as the consistorian or dangerous Puritane would have it for By me Kings reigne saith the Lord Prov. 8.15 which the King of Babylon was taught not onely in a dreame but by a voice sent downe from heaven namely that the most high ruleth in the kingdomes of men and to whomsoever hee will hee giveth it Dan 4.25.32 And so also else-where Kings are plainly said to hold their crownes of God For I and not the people saith the Lord have said yee are Gods Psal 82.6 Yee are Gods See some other proofes in 2 Sam. 11.7 1 Kin. 2.24 1 Kin. 11.31 Iob 36.7 and t is I that have advanced you to that high honour Ye are Gods in title though not equall in power I have given yee my name although not my nature I have said yee