was so tender over poor Pagan Gibeonites be wholly neglective of our own Christian Godly and Learned Priests and High-Priests one and all O rather let that Canon of the Council of Nice prevail 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let old English Oaths Customs Usages Lawes Concessions Execrations prevail SECT IV. Jus Israeliticum Mosaicum The Israelitish account under the Law of Moses IF neither the signal and personal Merit of our old English Clergy nor the fair practice and precedents of our own Ancestors will oblige there are yet many Cords of love as the Prophet phraseth it twisted from the joynt practice of the most Generous Noble and Heroick Israelites in whom no guile who lived also in a pure and mere Theocratie as Gods peculiar Portion and Appropriation Begin we with Moses Whose own word as Gods great Legislator might determine this Controversie for our more glorious Ministery under the Gospel Moses the man Moses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the meekest man in all the earth Num. 12.3 Moses was of generous Extraction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fair and handsom person in the eyes of God Acts 7.20 Moses was deeply learned in all the wisdom of the Aegyptians Acts 7.22 Moses was valiant and couragious 〈…〉 â—ampion fourty years in the 〈…〉 ness against all Zamzummims 〈…〉 the sons of Anak Moses also 〈…〉 friend 〈…〉 the appellative of him onely and of Abraham in all the Old Testament This even this Moses was the noble and singular friend of Aaron and of the Tribe of Levi by a specialty of favour and endearment This meekest person in all the earth giveth a large benediction on them and a double execration and imprecation on all Malignants to that despised Tribe Deut. 33.11 Bless Lord not him only but his substance and accept the work of his hands And then he shifteth his foot from Mount Gerizzim to Mount Ebal Smite through the loins of them that rise against him and of them that hate him that they rise not again This mirrour of Gentility and Lenity upon Gods own record first falleth on cursing of such Edomites next giveth an extensive and entailed curse upon the loyns of their enemies then the fatal doom of a final and irrevocable destruction praying to the God of mercies that such may never rise again Go on now ye profane world ride on prosperously ye Edomites and Zamzummims Can these words be only airy and windy Are these curses but bruta fulmina Sure I am that if it be deeply considered that the holy Apostle fetcheth our Gospel-Ministry from Aaron Hebr. 5.4 No man taketh this honour unto himself but he that is called of God as was Aaron and Gospel-maintenance from Moses Law 2 Cor. 9. and Saint Jude maketh the gain-saying of Core a sin committed under the Gospel and Jude 11. Jer. 33.20 21. If ye can break my Covenant of the day and my Covenant of the night and that there should not be day and night in their season even such is my Covenant with the Levites and Priests my Ministers and lastly if the Gospel-Ministry be more glorious then that of the Law whereof Saint Paul giveth most elaborate proof and argumentation 2 Cor. 3. per totum I say if all or any of these are demonstrable then it is more then a probability that the influence of Levi's benediction or the influence of that imprecation against his enemies is not expired or exstinct even under the Meridian of our Gospel-age Let any generous and Christian Soul first read the patern of Moses in the Mount and lay it close to his Reins and flat and plain to his Heart 2. Next I dare arraign and convent all the Tribes not of the Gentility only but of the vulgar Laity also in our own Israel and give them another specialty and patern of honour and favour in the Theocratie the Government of Gods choice and administration Is it not generous Sirs highly observable by you and by each called Christian that the Lord of Hosts was so tender and indulgent to the Militia togata Num. 2.2 Ainsworth that by his special order and instruction the twelve Tribes were each and all of them of the Life-guard to the Sanctuary and to the Ministers of the Sanctuary Iudah Issachar and Zebulun on the East Dan Asher and Naphtali on the North Reuben Simeon and Gad on the South Ephraim Manasseh and Benjamin on the West and the Sanctuary in the midst of them all or in meditullio and Aaron with the Priests and Levites immediately surrounding and encompassing the Sanctuary So that the Sanctuary and the Ministers of it were encircled and guarded about by the auxiliary Forces of all the twelve Tribes and of all the men in the Camp It is now offered to the option and vote of all ingenuous persons whether they had rather chuse to make a breach and violation of that order by carrying weapons not defensive but offensive to the Ministers of the Sanctuary or else become Angeli castrametantes Angels even guardian Angels pitching their Tents round about them 3. The same Divine Wisdom in his own peculiar Common-wealth to enforce a happy association and blessed fraternity 'twixt Gentry and Clergy took and selected some eminent person of the State and another eminent person of the Church and united and sorted them together Just as the same Piety and Prudence under the New Testament consorted the very Apostles two and two for the ferment and perpetuity of love and respect among themselves and to consummate a very equipage of honour from each mutually and reciprocally Exod. 17.12 Thus was Moses consorted with Aaron in the very first field that ever his people fought and the Lord caused it to be recorded ad perpetuam rei memoriam v. 14. Write this for a memorial in a Book that the same course might for ever after be holden in all The like union and conjugation was of Barak with Deborah Judg. 4.9 Isa 37. 2 Chron. 20.14 2 Kings 13.14 of Hezekiah the King with Isaiah the Royal Prophet of Iehoshaphat with Iabaziel of Ioash with Elisha Thus both the Lily and the Cross were very consistent in Gods Heraldry And their mutual and reciprocal honour and respects to each maketh them both as the Church in the Canticles terribilis sicut acies ordinata i. e. terrible to others and amiable 'twixt themselves as an Army with Banners Thus 1. the signal vote and prayer of the King of Israel Gods great Legislator 2. the posture of the twelve Tribes of Israel 3. the fraternity of Sacred and Secular Order make up King Salomons treble cord to bind and unite their affections reciprocally to each other 4. It is highly observable by the proud contemners of the Clergy and singly and solely is an argument demonstrative and invincible for Priestly honour and dignity against all gain-sayers of Corahs order That cùm in omni natione certum aliquod nobilitatis argumentum Joseph in vita
that very station or dejection rather 3. I know again that this Anonymous Author or any Advocate of Clergie-Revenues and Dignity will be impeached by the common Genius of this Age as guilty either of some discontent and dissatisfaction with his own estate and condition or else of the Idolatry of Mammon that is Covetousness Can the Author make any Bar against that common Plea of Clergyadversaries In the aforesaid simplicity and sincerity of a Christian Priest he can and will say if his own heart be not his own Jacob that is his own Supplanter and Deceiver according to that Hebrew Elegancy of Scripture Jer. 17.9 and he doth say W. C. Bishop of â—nton in the words of a late godly Prelate who lost the best Bishoprick in all England a few dayes before his death I thank God I never knew that night in which I lost one quarter of an hours rest or sleep for all my own personal losses and deprivations Yea the Author is so far from all paroxysmes of discontent in either state that he hath imbibed this principle or dogma with the very milk of his Mother the University That there is very small or no difference excepting the extremity of poverty and cleanness of Teeth 'twixt high or low estates of any person Temporal or Ecclesiastick His ground is unmoveable and his reason invincible from Gods own mouth When God himself was Lord Almoner to his own people of both Orders Lay and Clergy and gave them a daily allowance of Manna from his own immediate hand it is expresly said He that gathered much had nothing over and he that gathered little had no lack Exod. 16.18 Nothing over and no lack are plainly and literally terms equivalent and equipollent even Levelling terms And thus far the Author is a professed Leveller in his practick judgement past and present a very Lazarus that gathereth little yet by Some other benediction of Autarkie and Self-sufficiency a very Dives He hath no lack And if by the rule of Reason Perfectum est cui nihil deest then even a sequestered person hath and enjoyeth a perfect happiness of estate This is no more then another Greek Copy in another mount that of Sion under the Gospel as well as that of Sinai under the Law rendreth thus When without purse and scrip and shoes lacked ye any thing Luk. 22.35 It is the gallant and daring Quaere of our Great Rabbi to his own Disciples Though then the Anonymous Author might probably and justly say for a double Apprentiship of years Epist 7.131 with Luther Ego pro annuo stipendio tantùm novem antiquas sexagenas habeo praeter has nè obolus quidem aut mihi aut fratribus è civitate accedit that is onely sixty pounds for his annual stipend yet he then was and he hopeth ever shall be so far from a querulous temper that when he gathered much he had nothing over and when little he had no lack of sufficient contentment and satisfaction I would now heartily wish and pray for my Brethren that there were no one son of Eli the Priest among them not one that may make the offerings of the Lord stink 1 Sam. 1.17 even under the Gospel by their foul and sordid humour of Covetousness in any State Ephes 5.3 Covetousness should not be once named among them as becometh Saints much less should it be acted and practiced amongst them as becometh Priests especially But it is much to be bewailed that even some Spiritual persons are so much flesh and blood and so obnoxious to that foul and mechanick office of lading themselves with thick clay Hab. 2.6 that they also cry out with profane Esau Da mihi de rufo rufo illo Gen. 25.30 Give me that red that red Clay whereas even the chief Apostle was neither ashamed nor discontented to say Silver and Gold have I none Act. 3.6 Both Lay and Clergy-order may and must know that it is with the Revenues of Priests as with the Phylacteries of the Pharisees God himself allowed yea injoyned Exod. 13.16 Deut. 6.8 they were jure Divino the use of these Phylacteries yet when there was an enlargement and ampliation of them though they were conservatoria pietatis as their name importeth it was condemned by the Bishop of Souls in the very Pharisees Matth. 23.5 Thus even just 〈◊〉 with Church-Revenues God doth not only allow and approve but also enjoyneth a large and liberal income to Church-men especially in times of affluence peace and plenty in the Christian State And these Revenues also are conservatoria pietatis great conservatories and encouragements of Piety and Religion But when there is an enlargement or a dilatation of them to Pride Covetousness Luxury or Laziness such Grandees are but Pharisaical Rabbies and will be sadly obnoxious to the severe censure and judgement of the great Bishop of Soules at his last and Oecumenical Visitation And I and each true Son of the Church do heartily wish that our Vicarius Dei in suo Regno as Pope Eleutherius entitleth the King and all his Senate or Councel would give what severe Orders or Acts they please against any such Spiritual Dilapidations which the Luxury Covetousness or Laziness of any of that Order may bring upon the Church of God For though I shall ever honour the linen Ephod upon any Gospel-Priest yet when I see a carking covetous Priest I cannot but point with the finger as the Israelites of old Weemse on Priests vestments and say Behold the Priest with the rough and rugged Garment i. e. one of a rugged and rigid temper or of a secular and covetous disposition And yet I doubt not but the holy and harmless Priest and great Bishop of Souls oft permitteth and vouchsafeth room in his own Zech. 13 4 Society and Church to such or such a Judas that carrieth the bag and yet betrayeth his Master and his Spouse the Church That I may conclude this Subject I have sometimes smiled at the Romish either Wit or seeming Piety that giveth this Reason for the Rasura capitis the shaving of Priests heads in their Church That there may be Nil medium inter Coelum Sacerdotem Durant de ritibus not so much as an hair intervenient 'twixt Heaven and their Priests But I heartily wish that both our heads and hearts would prove us to be such true Nazarites to God as not to grieve to be shaved when we are sequestred and deprived by the sharpness of a malicious age and to be so far from lading our selves with thick Clay as to lay up little or no treasure upon earth but a good foundation against the time to come 1 Tim. 6.19 ut nihil sit medium inter Coelum Sacerdotem 4. A third Article or impeachment in the Common Pleas of this Age will be Is not this Author and Advocate of the Clergy guilty of envy malice or malignity to the Laity It is answered As that
The most gallant Character of a Souldier in the fury and rage of war is thus made even by a Pagan Poet Optimus ille Sil. Ital. Militiae cui primum postremumque tueri Inter bella fidem Our modern Fanaticks though they brag that since the times have been upon their Tropicks they have been least Tropical yet how slippery perfidious and temporizing they have been I leave to a far better Pen and Pencil Perfidious to Articles Th. Pierce against Mr. Barlee c. 4. sect 11. p. 12. to their Ordinaries and to the supremus Ordinarius totius Angliae Pudet haec opprobria vobis Et dici potuisse non potuisse refelli For modesties sake I forbear any new Century of their scandalous Crimes 6. Amongst the Pagans the sacred Mystae Flamins and Officers in Divine things were not required or permitted to swear at all out of their devout and reverential respects both to Priests and Oaths The judicious Historian giveth this account of it Plutarch Qu. Rom. Qu. 28. Either because an Oath is tormentum liberorum and therefore incongruous for so free and ingenuous an Office as the Priest-hood Or else quia non convenit de rebus parvis non ei fidem habere cui sacrae manimae creditae it was judged most improper not to give credence to the Priest in small and civil occurrences when Divine and Sacred matters were committed to his charge and fidelity Or because execrations which are still annexed to Oaths are illegal and improper for a Priests mouth Idem Qu. 44. p. 470. Or lastly because publicum periculum si perjurus sacris operetur there might fall publick vengeance on all if the Priest were perjured And it is an honour to that stout Champion Hercules that non nisi semel duntaxat juravit he never swore but once Our Fanatick Teachers have not been so nice tender and scrupulous as the very Pagan Priests and Flamins For how many of them have six or seven times in the Universities at Ordinations Inductions c. took the Nationall Oaths and yet after all have swallowed Protestations Covenants Negative Oaths and Engagements not so abstemious not so full of fidelity as Hercules and the Roman Flamines Sure they are leves nauci i. e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to old Varro's derivation and contrary to St. Pauls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 1.18 19. Whereas the Romans had one Temple consecrated to the Goddess Fides I fear few of our English Fanatick Teachers would make competent Priests and Officers in that Temple 7. Philo. Josephus Plutarchus Isocrates in Panathenaico The Pagans had a most affectionate and constant gratitude to their Kings and Priests Our Lord and Master seemeth to commend them for styling them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 22.25 That honourable Title was given to the Roman Emperors For the Pontifices * Cic. in Orat. pro domo suâ— ad Pontis Omnis Reip. dignitas omnium civium salus vita libertas arae foci fortunae domicilia vestrae sapientiae fidei potestatique commissa credita esse videantur All the dignity all the security of all subjects yea their lives houses and goods were committed to the Priests as the best Guardians and Patrons of all Our Fanatick Teachers were never yet guilty of that publick and universal gratitude to Prince or Priest King James as above said calleth them High-landers and Border-thieves for lyes perjuries and ingratitude For their constant murmuring and ingratitude to our Moses and our Aarons they have Judaicum opprobrium S. Bernard Sâ—rm 11. in Cant. as the Holy Father calleth it the very stigma of the Jewish Nation who made no less then ten mutinies and insurrections against the meekest and yet the stoutest Moses and against Aaron the Saint of the Lord thrice for Water Exod. 15.24 17.2 Numb 20.2 thrice for Bread Exod. 16.2 Num. 11.4 21.5 twice about the way Numb 11.1 21.4 and twice against the Priest Numb 16.11 41. The Fanaticks in all ages have had more of the Jewish murmuring against Governors then of the Pagan gratitude to Benefactors 8. The prudent Pagans were of such integrity to the publick Interest and concernments of State Ecclesiastical and Civil that they abhorred and abjured all scurrilous and seditious Pamphlets and Pasquils of Innovators Plato maketh this Canon or Maxime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 7 De Legib. It was not permitted or tolerated to private phansies to publish any writing before it were transmitted to and approved by the Judges and Lawyers D. Lâ—ert in Protagora When Protagoras had divulged some impious Tenets and Opinions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Athenians burnt his Books in the Market-place having by a publick Cryer collected all the Copies And Valerius telleth us V. Max. l. 1. c. 1. sect 12. that L. Petilius Prator ex authoritate Senatus igne facto in conspectu populi cremavit by the authority of the Senate burnt certain dangerous Books before the eyes of the people But our fiery Fanaticks have neither the spirit of moderation nor of prudence nor of submissive obedience as the Heathen Plato and others Disputare malunt omnes quam vivere Epist 1. as Seneca saith The Pamphlets divulged in spite of the Statute 23 Eliz. c. 3. and others of later date of Mr. John Corbet Douglas c. are more worthy ut in ignem mittantur quam ut in lucem emittantur I could easily multiply these Parallels if I did not spare my Reader and my self He that vieweth the actions of both impartially will be ready to think that though it be a curse in the Gospel touching some Christians Math. 18.17 Sit tibi tanquam Ethnicus yet it may look like a blessing for some wild Christians if they were in many points of Morality even tanquam Ethnici The Conclusion Gentle Reader I Have impartially represented the Genius and Character both of the Old and of the New sort of our English Clergy And I cannot easily suspect but that thy own determination and conclusion will be that in the Gospel touching Old Wine and New The Old is better Luk. 5.39 If thou lovest Religion and Learning Loyalty and Charity Reason and common Honesty thou wilt not be so far imposed upon as to impose the right hand of favour and fellowship upon the younger Brother as once he did Gen. 48.14 Or if thou dost thus impose thy hands thou art likely to say as the Bishop Marcianus did after he had ordained one Sabbatius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Socrat. l. 5. c. 21. Better to lay hands upon Thorns or Brambles then upon those who of late would have had the Bramble reign over all the Cedars in State and Church also And few or none even of their Classical and Cardinal Leaders but have crimes and not only spots of Sons Deut. 32.5 Sozom. l. 3. c. 14. I have read a story of one Pachomius a devout Abbot who having under him four and twenty sorts of Monks according to the number and nature of the Letters of the Greek Alphabet placed those that were simple plain and upright in the Letter Iota which consisteth unâ lineolâ rectâ of one straight and small line but such as were of a more involved and perplexed genius and full of anfractus he set under Z ζ Zeta or Ξ ξ Xi by reason of the various winding and turning of those Letters I know many and I heartily wish even all Old English Clergy justly placed as Pachomius his honest Monks under the Greek Iota But I much fear another sort which have exceeding much of the winding turning and involved nature of the Letter ξ Xi To all the people of our English Church I wish the Prophet Malachi's benediction that God would open unto them the windows of Heaven Mal. 3.10 and pour them out a blessing that there may not be room enough to receive it To all true hearted Ministers I wish the Prophet Jeremiah's benediction Jer. 31.14 that God would satiate their souls with fatness Amen Syllabus Sectionum I. SEction Introductorie concerning modern Zamzummims and mischievous Agitatâ—rs against the Clergy p. 1 II. Of the grand Merit of the Old English Clergy p. 8 III. Of the old English Law and Courtesie to the Clergy p. 21 IV. Of the Mosaical and Israelitish account p. 33 V. Of the Evangelical account or under the Gospel p. 46 VI. Of the Ecclesiastick or Primitive account p. 66 VII Of the Natural Account i. e. Patriarchal and Ethnick p. 73 VIII Of the grand Demerits and Extravagancies of the new Clergy A Parallel of our new Fanaticks with the old Pharisees p. 85 IX A second Parallel of our Fanatick Teachers with old Primitive Fanaticks in ten Particulars p. 99 X. A Third Parallel of our Fanatick Teachers with Papists in twelve particulars p. 119 XI A Fourth Parallel of our Fanatick Teachers with the Pagan Mystae or Doctors p. 133 The Conclusion p. 147 FINIS