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 in the Platina's story of the Guelphs and Gibelines City of Papia were at civil discord and the Gibiliues 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 you may a little view the 2. The punishment of these rebels 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 mâ—ckest man on earth and the Bishops as holy as Aaron the Saint of the Tirinus in â— Psal Lord yet such disobedience and rebellion would anger Saints for so Tirinus saith 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 quâ—d Basilius hom 9. 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 hâ—avily 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 old man or him that stoopeth for age or rather 2 Chron. 36 17. 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. Now to Apply all in brief if God shall say to any Nation I will send The application of all 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 protect 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 whiâ—h 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
Imprimatur Ex Aed Sab. 30. Jun. 1662. Geo Stradling S. Th. P. Rev. in Christo Patri Dno GILBERT Episc Lond. Ã Sac. Domest THE CHARIOT OF TRUTH VVherein are Contained I. A Declaration against Sacriledge shewing 1. The heynousness of this sin 2. How fearlesly it is generally committed 3. How severely and indispensably God punisheth the same II. The Grand Rebellion or a Looking-glass for Rebels Whereby they may see how by ten several degrees they may ascend to the height of their design throughly rebel and so utterly destroy themselves thereby III. The discovery of Mysteries or the Plots of the Long-Parliament to over throw both Church and State IV. The Rights of Kings And the wickednesses of the Long pretended Parliament 1. Granted by God 2. Violated by the Rebels 3. Vindicated by the Truth And the Wickednesses of the Long pretended Parliament 1. Manifested by their Actions 1. Perjury 2. Rebellion 3. Oppression 4. Robbery 5. Murder 6. Sacriledge and the like 2. Proved by their Ordinances 1. Against Law 2. Against Equity 3. Against Conscience V. The great Vanity of every Man All but the First and Last Printed at Oxford and Dedicated to that blessed King and Glorious Martyr CHARLES the 1. While his Garrison was there And now with the other two Treatises reprinted and published The 1. To uphold Religion and to teach Piety to all Christians The next three to prevent Rebellion and to teach Obedience to all Subjects The last to shun Vanity and to teach Humility and Sobriety to all men By GRYFFITH WILLIAMS Lord Bishop of Ossory London Printed by E. Tyler for Phil. Stephens the younger and are to be sold at his shop at the Kings Arms over against the Middle Temple-Gate in Fleet-street Anno Dom. 1663. 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 my 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 16th 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 by the Church formerly granted of any the And we must believe them what Houses were set in Fee-farm premises or to Impose a Considerable Rent as you see fittest reserving to the Church the chief Rents payable thereout respectively And of the
the building of his Temple by Solomon was to be Hierusalem and no where else to perform the commanded Publick Service of God under the punishment of cutting off that soul from his people that should do otherwise Yet the hour cometh and now is that is coming or beginning to come that the partition-Wall betwixt the Jews and the Gentiles shall be broken down and the bounds and borders of Gods Church and the true worshippers of God shall be inlarged and they may lawfully without offence worship God not only in Jury where God was only formerly known aright but also in all the Nations and in any Kingdom of the World so they worship him in spirit and in truth as they ought to do But here is not one syllable intimating that they should not or needed not to meet to serve God in the Publick Church but that whensoever and wheresoever in any Kingdom of the Earth they should gather themselves together in the Publick Church to worship God they should worship him in spirit and in truth otherwise their worship is to no purpose and will avail them nothing though they should do iâ— publickly in the Church This is the true meaning of our Saviours words 2. We have another sort of Sectaries that yield it requisite and convenient Obj. 2 for the Saints and servants of God to meet and gather themselves together for the Service of God and do acknowledg the great benefits that may accrew and be obtained in a Congregation rather than by any single person but they think there is no necessity of their meeting in a Material Church or a Steeple-house as they call it rather than in a house or a chamber or a barn or any other place where they shall appoint to meet because God hath made all places and there is no reall Sanctity in any one place more than in any other but the sanctity or holiness must be in the hearts of the men and not in the place which is not capable of any sanctity and therefore it is rather our superstition than Gods injunction to require and command men to come to such Material Churches as to the more sanctified places rather than to such private houses where these Saints do publickly meet to serve God To make a full Answer to this their Objection you must understand Sol. that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 holy is derived from the privative particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth the Earth as if to be holy were nothing else but to be pure and clean and separated from all earthly touch And it is taken two wayes 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Simply Holiness taken two wayes 1. Way 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In some respects And 1. Way God only is Holy and the Author of all Holiness and as the Blessed Virgin saith Holy is his Name And therefore those Seraphims which Esaias saw and those wonderous creatures which S. John saw did Esay 6. 3. Apoc. 4. 8. cry Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts three times together which we do not read of any other Attribute of God And the Lord himself in that golden Plaâ—e that was to be on Aarons forehead caused these words to be ingraven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Holiness is of the Lord as Tremellius reads it or Sanctum Domino Holiness belongeth to the Lord as the Vulgar hath it 2. Way Many other things are stiled holy by communication of holiness 2. Way and receiving their holiness from this Fountain of Holiness And so 1. The Man Christ Jesus 2. The faithful Members of Christ 3. The Outward Professors of the Christian Religion 4. All things Dedicated and that have relation to God Service as Times Persons Places and Things are termed holy sanctitate relativa 1. The Man Christ is perfectly and singularly Holy as Beda saith And that 1. By reason of his Hypostatical union with the Godhead 2. By reason of the most perfect qualâ—ity of Holiness impressed by the Holy Ghost into his Humanity 2. The true Members of Christ are truly styled holy by reason of that holiness which the Holy Spirit of God worketh in them and they practise in their lives and conversations 3. All those that do outwardly profess the holy Religion of Jesus Christ are called Saints by the holy Apostles and so they are in respect of all Rom. 1. others that either do prophane abuse or neglect the same 4. All the things that are Consecrated by the prayers of the Bishop for the Service of God and those things that are Dedicated and given for the furtherance and maintenance of God's Worship as Lands Houses and the like are by a relative sanctity rightly termed holy things because they are separated and set apart as S. Paul saith of himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for holy uses to bring men to holiness to honour serve and worship God that is Holiness it self And in this respect we say that the very ground walls windows and timber of the Material Church that are set forth Dedicated and Consecrated for God's Service are holy things not by any inherent reall sanctity infused into them but by a relative holiness ascribed and appropriated unto them by their Dedication and Consecration for God's Worship which makes them more holy and so to be deemed than all other earthly things whatsoever And though I will not lose my time and waste my paper to shew the folly and vanity of that ridiculous deduction of the Confuter of Will. Apollonius Grallae pag 29. in the 29. page of his Grallae against secondary or dependent holiness yet I will justifie the holiness and religious reverence that we owe and should render unto all the Material Churches that are Consecrated for Divine-Service against all prophaners of them Independents and Fanaticks whatsoever And for the satisfaction of every good and sober man that is not drunk with a prejudicate conceit against God's House I shall desire him to look into 2 Chron. 3. 1. and chap. 6. where he may find the Consecration of God's House and the prayer that Solomon made at the Consecration of it and the benefits the manifold benefits that they should reap which served God in that House And if he reads over that Chapter at his leisure and read it often and then seriously consider it and withal remember that of this House and the like Consecrated places that are Dedicated for God's Worship the Lord himself saith My House shall be Esay 56. 7. Matth. 21. 1â— Jerem. 7. 10. Psal 132. 15. called the House of prayer for all people and our Saviour Christ confirmeth the same that the Church which is the Publick place or place of Publick Prayers is rightly called the House of God and the House which is called by his Name and of which he saith This shall be my rest for ever here will I dwell for I have a delight therein Will he not confess that Gods House
and could do it thrown down many of our Churches and brake in pieces the Fonts wherein they were Baptized and threw down the Tombs and Monuments of their Fore-fathers and made such havock of Gods Houses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stroyed all Holy places so as is lamentable to consider it And 〈◊〉 â—ell us most impudently that to hold up such places to serve God thâ—â—ein is nothing else but with King Saul to reserve the execrable and accursed things for Gods Worship which is abominable in the sight of God To this I Answer 1. That it is better to serve God in those places that Sol. 1 have been superstitiously abused as formerly all places were Idolatrously defiled by the Heathens than not to serve him in any place for as when certain Christians found a vacant and a voyd place in the City of Rome where they thought they might conveniently build a Church and certain loose companions that were Victuallers made claim and pretended a Title unto it and told Alexander Severus it was not so fit to make a House to serve God in as it was for them to sell and vent their commodities the Emperour led by the light of nature being no Christian answered most The discreet answer of Alexander Severus Christian-like that he thought it better God should be Worshipped any way and in any place rather then that they should have their way to make it a place for their shambles so say I that it is a great deal fitter to serve God in these Houses that were so Zealously erected and so Religiously Consecrated for Gods service howsoever they were afterwards soyled with some vanities and perhaps defiled with some Idolatries then that they should be thrown down or be made a Stable for their Horses or a Kitchin to dress meat for their tables as some of these Sectaries have made these Houses of God to be 2. I say that there is no more affinity or likeness between those times of the Israelites and our times and betwixt that people who were Jews and us that are Christians then is betwixt Simon Peter and Simon Magus or Philip the Apostle and Philip King of Macedon for we are not commanded to do against Idolaters as they were commanded to do against the Canaanites as they were forbidden to make Covenants of peace or to have any commerce with the inhabitants of that place and they were commanded to root out and to destroy all that people and we have no such injunction to prohibite us to trade and traffick either with Papists Jews or Gentiles neither may the Reformed Churches and Protestants put others their neighbours to the sword only because they are Idolaters or of a contrary Religion but they are rather to labour for their Conversion as St. Paul did the Idolaters of Athens and not to work their destruction 3. I say that the examples of Jehosaphat and Hezechias are no commanding precepts and have not the force of laws and you know that Vivitur praeceptis non exemplis men are to live by laws and not by examples whereof we have more bad then good but were they never so good and so godly yet are they no Commanders but Councellors and no laws to injoyn us but lessâ—ns to direct us and that in the like cases for where the proportion and the equality betwixt the example and the following of it faileth there we must likewise fail to follow it and we find a great deal of disproportion and inequality betwixt the groves and high places of the Jews and our Cathedrals and Churches that were the Papists because their groves and high places were very dangerous to be left for the just fear of a secret access and coming unto them by the superstitious Jews that were alwaies so apt and so ready to fall into Idolatry and our Cathedralls and Churches are freed from this fear when as they are throughly cleansed and purged from all the former superstitions by the pure Preaching of the Word of God and no Idolatrous Papist comes unto them nor any other but only those that professe themselves to be of the pure Religion And therefore learned Zanchius saith that Vbique locorum in omnibus ferè Hieron Zanch. de operibus redemptionis l. 1â— c. 12. Regnis Provinciis quae amplexae sunt evangelium Templa ipsa in quibus Idolatria admissa fuit tot annos retenta sunt In every place and in all Kingdoms and Provinces wel-nigh which have imbraced the Gospel the Churches themselves where Idolatry hath been committed have been retained so many years together And why should they not be still used For what evil have the Churches committed that they which were dedicated to such an Holy use as is the true service of God should be now so severely handled as to be either quite demolished or diverted and turned to any other purpose For the senseless creatures cannot be said to be sinful and so not to be censured and therefore the Leprous mans house was rather to be purged then to be pulled down and where the malady is uncurable there as the Poet saith immedicabile vulnus Ense recidendum ne pars syncera trahatur The part only infected and putrified is to be cut off and not to cast away the whole and so the wiser Divines threw down the Altars of those Churches where Idolatry and superstition were most used but they thought good to keep the Churches still to their former uses And so when the two hundred and fifty men offered incense unto the Lord in the Rebellion of Kora God himself bade Eleazar the High Priest not to throw away those brasen Censers which those men offered but to imploy them for his service and to make of them Broad plates for a covering Numb 16. 38. of the Altar And when Jericho was taken by the Israelites Joshua caused the Gold Silver Brass and Iron that were execrable goods not to be thrown away but to be brought into the House of the Lord and put into the Treasury of Gods House And it is very well worth your observation to Josh 6. 26. consider what the Lord himself commandeth Gedeon to do namely to take his Fathers young Bullock even the second Bullock of seven years old that was fed to be offered unto Baal and throw down the Altar of Baal and cut down the grove that is by it and Build an Altar unto the Lord Judg. 6. 26. thy God upon the top of this rock and Take the second Bullock and offer a burnt Sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down And according to these Presidents the Law provided that the houses Cod. l. 1. tit 8. Valent. Mart. tit 12. leg 11. Honor. wherein the Hereticks did meet and broached their damnable Divinity should be adjudged to be united to the Orthodoxal Churches as were also the houses and habitations of the Caelicoles that were Hereticks so called and in Saint Augustines time the Churches that the
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 nâ—vice or a young new Divine lest being lifted up with pride as young men commonly are he fall into the 1 Tim 2. 1. 2. 2 4 5 6 7. condemnation of the Devil Moreover he must have a good report of them that are without lest he 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 which are the Vrim and the Thummim Levit. 8. 8. 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 1. Vertue 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 teach Jacob the judgements of God and Israel his Laws to put 2. Vertue incense before the Lord and whole burnt-Sacrifices upon his Altar which Verse 10. is the second duty of every Bishop and every faithful Minister of Christ to teach the people of God and to administer his holy Sacraments For his first care and chiefest duty should be to look to himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to 1 Tim. 3. 2. be blameless And his second care is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be apt and able to teach the people And so S. Paul tells and adviseth all the Clergy of Ephesus that they should first look and take heed unto themselves and then to all the flock whereof the Holy Ghost hath made them Overseers to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood And Acts 20. 28. therefore 1. A Bishop and a Minister of Christ must have a special care to carry 1. How blameless Bishops and Ministers should be Luke 1. 6. and behave himself so as that his life and conversatiou may seem blameless in the World like unto Zacharias the father of John Baptist that walked in all the Commandments of God without reproof And S. Hierom saith That talis tanta debet esse conversatio eruditio Pontificis ut omnes motus egressus universa ejus opera notabilia sint veritatem mente concipiat eam toto habitu resonet ornatu ut quicquid agit quicquid loquitur doctrina Hierom. in Epist 43. sit populorum The life and conversation of a Bishop and so likewise of every Minister of the Gospel should be such so grave and so holy that all his motions and progressions and all other his works should be notable and worthy to be observed he should conceive the truth in his mind and sound out the same by his habit and ornament that whatsoever he doth and whatsoever he saith may be a lesson of instruction unto the people The mischief that the evil examples of Bishops and Ministers do produce who do look more unto the examples that we give them and the actions that we do than to the Precepts that we preach or the Doctrine that we declare unto them And another Father saith that Nemo plus in Ecclesia nocet quà m qui perversè agens nomen vel ordinem sanctitatis habet delinquentem namque hunc redarguere nullus praesumit in exemplum vehementer culpa extenditur cum pro reverentia ordinis peccator honoratur No man doth or indeed can do more hurt in the Church of God than he that doth wickedly and lives dissolutely and hath the name or order of holiness that is holy Orders because no man presumeth or dares to reprove such an one when he offendeth and his fault exceedingly reacheth to the example of others to do the like when for the reverence of his Order they see such a wicked man so honoured And therefore I may say to such a one as Claudian saith to Honorius changing only but one word Hoc te praeterea crebro sermone monebo Vt te totius medio telluris in orbe Claâ—dian de 4. Câ—nsolat Honorii Vivere cognoscas cunctis tua gentibus esse Facta palam nec posse dari praesulibus unquam Secretum vitiis nam lux altissama fati Occultum nil esse sinit latebrasque per omnes Intrat abstrusos implorat fama recessus For such men are like a City that is set upon a Hill and all mens eyes are upon them and therefore their lives and their actions cannot be concealed but their doings are more conspicuous and their danger far greater than any other men And that as Aquinas saith in a threefold respect First because the Dispensers of the holy Sacraments and the holy Word of God which ought not to be handled but by holy men in which respect a holy Father saith Mallem sustinere poenam Caiphae Pilati Herodis quà m Sacerdotis indignè celebrantis That he would rather chuse to suffer the punishment of Caiphas and of Pilate and of Herod than of a wicked Bishop or Priest that doth unworthily administer the Blessed Sacrament Secondly because these men are to render their account more strictly being looked into more narrowly than other men because as S. Bernard saith Those faults and transgressions quae in aliis nugae sunt in Sacerdotibus Cujus vita despicitur restat ut ejus praedicatio contemnatur Gregor super Evangel l. 1. Hom. 6. sunt blasphemiae And those sins that in others seem to be but slips and triffles veniâ digna and may easily be pardoned yet in Bishops and the Ministers of God's word they are heynous offences and worthy to be punished heavily with many stripes seeing they knew their Masters will and did it not And thirdly because that by their Places and Offices they are to teach other men not to offend and to answer for their sins if through their neglect they do offend and yet by their ill lives and
lay the prices of their lands at their Preachers feet I know they will answer That this extraordinary Devotion is not of necessity to be drawn into imitation and I confess it But in the Apostles time there were no Vniversities no Schools of Learning no Hospitals nor Alms-houses no Book of the Holy Scriptures divided into Chapters nor Chapters into Verses no distinction of Parishes and many other good things were not then in being And shall we now cast them all away because the Apostles and the first Christians had them not Or will not the giddy-heads understand that as the Sun in the firmament goeth higher and higher unto the noon and perfect day so the truth and knowledge of the Sun of Righteousness and the perfection of his Service groweth more and more unto the fulness of the knowledge of Christ and even as Christ himself increased in wisdom and knowledge and in favour with Luke 2. 52. God and men so doth the Church of Christ And so to return and to apply our selves to the case of Tythes though some places as it may be in the Low-Countries and the Reformed Churches in France have their immunities by themselves and are not charged with the payment of Tythes their state and condition not admitting it yet in lien of their Tythes their Ministers are maintained with as sufficient supplies and necessity excuseth even in greater matters as in not praying and not receiving the Sacraments as well as in not paying Tythes when the case cannot be otherwise As S. Paul for some special exigency took no stipend of some Churches for his labours in the preaching of the Gospel Yet he tells them that by right he might have claimed it and therefore inferreth that what he did for some special causes should not be drawn into an example to prejudice and defraud others of that which was their due So we say That in those Churches which pay not their Tythes in kind there is an allowance equivalent to the Tythes given to those Ministers that The Ministers of the Reformed Churches in the other Countrys have no cause to complain have no Tythes And as the Kings of Persia imposed no Tribute upon those subjects that brought in their voluntary contributions that increased their Exchequer more than their Tribute So their Preachers have no cause to complain for not receiving their Tythes when they have as much or more than their Tythes are worth And the example of these that live by their set and certain stipend ought not to be alleadged and pleaded to the hurt and prejudice of them that are sustained by their Tythes And though all this that I have said be very true yet because as I conceive it taketh not away the strength of the foresaid Argument which is That if it be a Moral Precept that doth oblige us to observe it semper ad semper then it obligeth all men and in all places to pay their Tythes and they sin that pay them not though they do pay some other stipend be it more or less in lieu of them because it lieth not in man to alter or change the Commandment of God but to do what he commandeth them Therefore 2. I say and yield That the Precept of paying Tythes for the Service of 2. Answer more fully God being a Moral perpetual and universal Precept it obligeth all men in all places and at all times as well before the Law as after the Law and as well after the incarnation of Christ as before his incarnation to observe and to obey the same and that they sinned which did it not for as God hath imprinted it in the heart of man and the light of nature teacheth him that God must be served and a set time must be appointed for that Service What all the generations of men are bound to do and a standing proportion of our goods allotted for them that do him service and teach others so to do and God hath shewed unto us that the ser time for his Service should be every seventh day which we should Sanctifie and keep Holy for that end and the standing quantity and proportion of our goods that we ought to set forth for his Service should be our Tythes So accordingly every man among all the generations of men ought to do to sanctifie the Seventh day to serve God and to pay their Tythes for the performance and continuance of his Service And if man by his transgression hath obscured this light of nature and obliterated that impression which God had imprinted in his heart and through his own negligence or forgetfulness remembreth neither the day that he should keep holy nor that part that he should pay for his Service Shall that make the Commandment of God of none â—ffect or acqult man for the not performance of his duty By no means for you know what the Prophet saith of the children of Israel when God had done his wonderful Psal 78. 11. Psal 106. 13. works for them in Egypt and fearful things by the Red Sea they soon forgat what he had done and were not mindful of his Covenant So did all the sons of Adam forget not only these but also all other the Commandments of God especially in many if not the chief points thereof and nâ—ither their negligence nor forgetfulness can excuse them herein from sin in the breach of his Commandment But you will say This Commandment of keeping the Seventh day and eplicatio giving the tenth part of our goods for his Service was never directly and precisely or expresly given in terminâ— until Moses time and where there is no Law there is no transgression therefore they did not sin when they had no Commandment I answer That when Cain and Abel brought their Oblation unto the Responsio Gen. 4. 3. Chap. 4. 26. Chap. 8. 20. Lord and when children were born unto Sheth and men began to call upon the Name of the Lord and when Noah built an Altar unto the Lord and offered burnt-offering upon the Altar And so likewise when Abraham did the like and called on the Name of the Lord the everlasting Else these Services had been but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Will-worship and no wayes acceptable unto God God we read of no Command in terminis that they had to do these things but God had written these Commandments in their hearts with the Pen of Nature And so as the Apostle saith having no Law they were a law unto themselves and having no Commandment they were commandments unto themselves and whosoever transgresse the same transgresse the Commandments of God And therefore these things being imprinted in mans heart by the Pen of Nature I say that what Nation soever and what Church soever have not or do not serve God and pay their Tythes to Christ and his servants for the Service of God and the continuance of his Service they do transgresse the Commandment of God But I do
not say it must be precisely the tenth part of our goods and no more for as we may keep holy some other day besides the Seventh day so we miss not to keep the Seventh day So we may give more than the tenth for the Service of God if we please so we neglect not to give the tenth And as the Jews having a Commandment that they should not punish any Offender with any more than 40. stripes did not transgresse when for fear of misreckoning they never gave but 39 So when God commandeth us to give the tenth we do not break his Commandment when for fear of giving too little we give more than the tenth But 2. They do object That what neither Christ nor his Apostles have commanded Obj. 2 us to do we are no wayes obliged to do but neither Christ nor his Apostles have commanded us to pay Tythes for Christ biddeth his Apostles to teach the Nations and people to oâ—serve all things that he commanded Matth 28. 20. Act. 20. 27. them And S. Paul saith That he had shewed unto the people the whole counsel of God and yet in all Sermons of Christ and in all the Writings of the Apostles there is not any Precept given for the Christians to pay Tythes Therefore the Christians ought not to be compelled to pay Tythes To this I answer 1. That the payment of Tythes is a Prâ—cept imprinted Sol. 1 in our hearts by the Law of Nature and afterwards confirmed and expldined unto us by the Law of Moses and practised by many Nations of the Matth. 5. 17. Gentiles as I shewd to you before And our Saviour saith Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets that is to give liberty and to free men from the obedience and performance of either of these Laws that is the Law of Nature and the Moral Law as the 19. and 20. verses do shew the same most plainâ—y And when John Baptist would have hindred him to be baptizâ—d he telleth John That it behoved them not only himself but John also and so all others as well as John to fulfil all righteousnesse And how shall we fulfil all righteousnesse unless we render to Caesar what is Caesars and to God what is God's And as S. Paul saith To owe nothing to any man but to yield Honour to whom Honour belongeth Tribute to whom Tribute and so Tythes to whom the Tythes do belong 2. I say That Christ and his Apostles do plainly enough enjoyn us to Sol. 2 pay our Tythes for Christ reproving the preciseness of the Scribes and Pharisees in paying Tythes of Mint Anise and Cummin and neglecting the greater matters of the Law saith These things ye ought to have done and Matth. 23. 23. not to leave the other undone And if you say These words are to be restrained to that time wherein the Ceremonâ—al Law was in force and not to the times of the Christians I answer Not so but they are rather to be referred to the Christians than to the Jews for all Tyâ—hes being 〈◊〉 to Christ as he is our Eternal Priest as I have fully proved to you before Who should now have most right unto the Tythes the Preachers that are followers of Christ or the Scribes and Pharisees that rejected him But now when Christ and his Apostles preached the Scribes land Pharisees had all the Tythes in their own hands and would not suffer Christ and his Apostles to take them from them and therefore seeing they would neither believe and follow Christ nor yield the Tythes to them that preached the Gospel of 〈◊〉 it fell out by the just judgement of God that when Nero sent Fâ—lix to be the Governour of 〈◊〉 the Priests were deprived of their Tythes Josephus l. 20. c 13. and many of them perished with Familie as Josephâ—â— withesseth 3. I say That Christ by these words teaching them to observe â—ll things Sol. 3. And it was he thaâ— commanded all that they commanded whatsoever I commanded meaneth nor that they should only observe what he commanded and no more but that they should likewise observe what Moses and David and the rest of the Prophets yea and what the Scribes and Pharisees commanded them to do while they sate in Moses 〈◊〉 and whatsoever he commanded them to do besides all that was formerly commanded because he commanded a great deal more to make his people more perfect then ever was commanded before his 〈◊〉 for you heard it was said of old Thou shalâ— not commit Adultery but I say unto you Whosoever looketh oâ—â— women to lust 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath committed Adultery â— And Matth 5. 27. c. you heard it was said of old Thou shalt not forswear thy self but I say unto you Swear not at all So you heard it was said of old An eye for an â—â—◠〈◊〉 a tooth for a tooth â— but I say unto you 〈◊〉 evil And so you heard it was said of old Thou shall love thy neighbour and hate 〈◊〉 enemy but I say unto you Love your enemies and so forth And therefore the meaning of Christ's words in the 28th of S. Matthew and the â—oth verse is as I said That they should observe and do not only what was commanded them before but also whatsoever he and his Apostles by his Spirit commanded them besides as to believe in him and to follow him and so forth 4. I say That S. Paul in saying that as they which minister about holy things live of the things of the Temple and they that wait at the Alter are 1 Cor. 9. 13 14 partakers with the Altar even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel doth herein fully and plainly prove that the Tythes should be as duly and justly paid to the Ministers of the Gospel as they were to the Priests and Levites under the Law For by the Altar and they that wait at it the Priesthood is understood and by the fruits and profits of the Altar the Tythes and Oblations are plainly meant and then adding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Even so that is in like manner or by the like means which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth the Lord hath ordained that the Ministers of the Gospel should have all the fruits profits and benefits of the Altar which are the Tythes and Oblations as well and in like manner as the Priests of the Law have had them 3. They do object if we compel the Christians to pay Tythes we make Obj. 3 their yokes more grievous and their burden more intolerable than the burden of those Fathers that lived before the Law was given for that in the time of the first Patriarchâ— the Tythes were never demanded as a duty but Aoraham freely and not forcedly gave them to Mischisedec and Jacob conditionally and not absolutely made his vow to pay them unto God but we ought not to make the yoke and burden of our people
made confederacies and conspiracies against the truth and thereby they have at all times drawn after them many mulâ—itudes of ignorant soules unto perdition This is no new thing but a true saying and therefore our Saviour biddeth us to Take heed of false Prophets and of rebellions spirits that as Saint John saith went from us but were not of us but are indeed the poyson and Incediaries both of Church and Common-wealth 4. These Rebels had received many favours and great benâ—fits from 4. Much obliged for many favours unto their Governours their Governours for they were delivered è lutulentis manâ—um operibus as Saint Augustine speaketh and as the Prophet saith They had â—ased their shoulders from their burthens and their hands from making of pots they had broken the Rod of their opprâ—ssâ—rs and as Moses tells them they haâ— separated them from the rest of thâ— multitude of Israel and set them near to God Numb 16. 9. himself to do the service of the Tabernacle of the Lord and therefore the light of nature tells us that they were most ungrateful and as inhumane as the brood of Serpents that would sting him to death which to preserve his life would bring him home in his bosome And it seems this was the transcendencie of Judas his sin and that which grieved our Saviour most of all that he whom he had called to be one of his twelve Apostles whom he had made his Steward and Treasurer of all his wealth and for whom he had done more then for thousands of others should betray him into the hands of sinners for if it had been another saith the Psalmist that had done me this dishonour I could well have born it but seeing it was thou my familiar friend which didst eat and drink at my table it must needs trouble me for thought in others it might be pardonable yet in thee it is intolerable and therefore of all others he saith of Judas Vâ— illi homini woe be unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed it had been better for him he had never been born as if his sin were greater then the sin of Annas Caâ—aphas or Pâ—late But the old saying is most true Improbus à nullo flâ—ctitur obsequio no service can satisfie a froward soul no favour no benefit no preferment can appease the rebellious thoughts of diâ—contented spirits And therefore notwithstanding Mâ—ses had done all this for Corah yet Corah must rebell against Moses So many times though Kings have given great honours unto their subjects made them their Peers their Chamberlains their Treasurers and their servants of nearest place and greatest trust And though Aaron the High-Priest or Bishop doth impose his hands on others and aâ—miâ— them into Sacred Orders above their brethren to be near the Lord and bestow all the pâ—â—ferment they can upon them yet with Corah these unquiet and ungratefull spirits must rebell against their Governours For I think I may well demand Which of all them that now rebell against their King have not had either Grand-fathers Fathers or themselves promoted to all or most of their fortunes and honours from that Crown which now they would trample under their feet Who more against their King then those that received most from their King Just like Judas or here like Corah Dathan and Abiram I could instance the particulars but I passe So you see who were the Rebels most ungrateful most unworthy men CHAP. II. Sheweth against whom these men rebelled that God is the giver of our Governours the severall offices of Kings and Priests how they should assist each other and how the people laboureth to destroy them both SEcondly we are to consider against whom they rebelled and the Text 2. Part against whom they rebelled 2. â—oints discussed saith Moses and Aaron and therefore We must discusse 1. Qui fuére who they were in regard of their places 2. Qâ—ales fuére what they were in regard of their qualities 1. In regard of their places we find that these men were 1. The chief Governours of Gods people 2. Governours both in temporal and in spiritual things 3. Agreeing and consenting together in all their Government 1. They were the prime Governours of the people Moses the King or Prince to rule the people and Aaron the High-Priest to instruct and offer Sacrifice to make attonement unto God for the sins of the people and these have their authority from God for though it sometimes happeneth that Potens the Ruler is not of God as the Prophet saith They have reigned Hos 8. 4. and not by me and likewise modus assumendi the manner of getting authority is not alwayes of God but sometimes by usurpation cruelty subtlety or some other sinful means yet Potestas the power it self whosoever hath it is ever from God for the Philosopher saith Magistraâ—ûs originem esse Aristoâ— Pâ—lit lib 1. c 1. Ambros Ser. 7. à natura ipsa And Saint Aâ—brâ—sâ— saith Dâ—tus à Deo Magistratus nâ—n modo malorum coercendorum causâ sâ—d etiam honorum sovâ—â—dorum in vera animi pieâ—atâ— honestate gratiâ And others say the Sun is not more necessary in Heaven then the Magistrate is on Earth for alas how is it possible for any Society to live on earth cùm vivitur ex rapto when men live by rapine and shall say Let our strength be to us the law of justice therefore God is the giver of our Governours and he professeth Per me regnant Reges And Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar That the most high ruleth in the Kingdome of Vide etiam â— 2. v. 37. men and he giveth it to whomsoever he will Dan 4. 25. 2. These two men were Governours both in all temporal and in all spiritual things as Mosâ—s in the things that pertained to the Common-wealth and Aaron in things pertaining unto God And these two sorts of Government are in some sort subordinate each to other and yet each one intire in it self so that the one may not usurp the office of the other for 1. The spiritual Priest is to instruct the Magistrates and to reprove them 2 Governours both in temporal and spirituall things too if they do amisse as they are members of their charge and the sheep of their sheep-fold And so we have the examples of David reproved by Nathan Achab by Elias Herod by John Baptist and in the Primitive Church of Philip the Emperour repenting at the perswasion of Fabian Euseb l 6. c. 34. Sozomen lib. 7. and Theodosius senior by the writings of S. Ambrose 2. The temporal Magistrate is to command and if they offend to correct and condemn the Priests as they are members of their Common-wealth for Saint Paul saith Let every soul be subject to the higher powers Rom. 13. Bernard ad Archiepis Senonensem and if every soul then the soul of the Priest as well as the souls of the People or otherwise Quis eum excepit ab
universitate as Saint Bernard saith and so Theodoret Theoâ—hylact and Oecumenius are of the same mind And the examples of Abiathar deposed by Solomon and a greater than Solomon Christ himself not refusing the censure of Pilate though for not fault Saint Paul appealing unto Caesar Caecilian judged by the Desegates of Constantine Flavianus by Theodosâ—us and all the Martyrs and godly Bishops never pleading exemption from their persecutors do make this point beyond all question 3. These two Governours were not onely consanguinâ—i two brethren 3 Governours well agreâ—ing in their government 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 diâ—lates 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 Psalâ—nist 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 â—e destrayed and when he hath lost his power pur power shall never be able to do any good and if the Priest which prayeth and preachâ—th to direct the King be trampled under foot it hath been found most As soon as men have oâ—â—thrown â—â—ein Priests they will presently labour to destroy their king 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 Thoâ—ns 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 as well 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 coâ—erent 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 Text The method of their Rebellion 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 Qâ—ia 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 so all Magistrates every where should remember Virgil Aeneidâ— lib. 2. that Jam tua res agitâ—r through our sidâ—s 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 Peâ—en 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
the Congregation is holy and that is a lye when there can be no holinesse in the Rebels and The Lord is among them which is another lye for he will forsake all those that forsake him then they say Moses and Aaron take too much upon them which is an apparent slander and they adde that they lifted up themselves 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 Bâ—rroughs Goodwin in his Anti Caval Buâ—roughs in his Sermon upon The glorious name of the Lord of Hosts 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 magniâ—â—e their own repute and further their unjust proceedings by deceiving the most simple with A strange equivâ—cation such equivocal lyes as any sensible man might well wonder 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 and said He beat not her but that evill The tale of an Anabaptist 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. After they had thus slandered these good men they fell to open rayling 8. 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 â—dibus 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. When they were grown thus impudent from bad to worse both over 9 Disobedience 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 giveâ— 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
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 Smite through the loines of them that rise against him Deut. 33. 11. 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 or the Eagles feathers pernitiosa potentia that Pierius in Hieroglyph 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 and the enimies of all Christian Religion Aelian lib. 5. cap 15. Var Hist 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 plebiâ— scarce worthy to be compared with the Grooms of their stable or such humi serpentes poor abjects as Job speaks of The sonnes of villains and Job 30 8. 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 is thought by these to be very What prayers and Sâ—â—mons please these men 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 Savâ—our 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 ceremonâ—ous 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 Tertulâ—ian calâ—eth Hermogenâ—s primogenitum dâ—aboli most fasely 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 A guist and railing Rabshâ—ka 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 Organo-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 Pag. 14. Churches 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-residenâ—e and so usefuâ— I are dumb dogges when they are willing to sâ—arle and bark against Government and Religion but it is strange to me that such a divine harmony which Musick hoâ— useful Theodoric Epist l. 2. Pluâ—aâ—ch de Musica 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 mentis fervorem temperandum to cool and allay the heat and distempers of their minds as Achilles was appeased in Homer and Theodosius was drawn to Niceph. lib. 12 cap. 43. commiseration luctuoso carmine by a sad Poem sung to him at supper 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 he most ignorantly denieth any place to Pag. 15. 18. 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 difference 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 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 tediâ—us for my Reader but the bulk of my Book swells too
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 Ezeâ—h as 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 toâ—lit prâ—cepta 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 deleret 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 care of the good Emperours topreserve the true religion Esay 49. 23. the Church abolished Idolatry punished Heresy and maintained Piety 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 râ—strain 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 as who deâ—ended this truth The Papists unawares confess this truth Osorius de relig p. 21. Breâ—tius against Asoto Bishop Hâ—rne against Fâ—kenham 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 coâ—fess as much for Osorius saith Omne regis officium in religionis sanctissimae rationem conferendum mâ—nus ejus est beare rempâ—bl religione piâ—tate 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 reipublica principi munus assignatum quà m ut rempâ—bl florâ—ntem atque beatam faciat quod quidem nullo modo sine egregia piâ—tatis 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 as Whitaker saith because he onely Whit. resp Camp p. 302. 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 matters of great weight and exceeding the Kings authority yet The Kings authority over Bishops 1 Chron 28. 13. 2 Chron. 29. 1 Reg. 2. 26. 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 consequerces 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 that taketh pleasure in the prosperity of his servants cannot endure Psal 35. 27. 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 And these three must be inseperable in the Prince that maintaineth true Religion For 1. A will to performe it Three things necessary for a king to preserve the Church and the Religion 2. An understanding to go about it 3. A power to effect it 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 not onely in 1. A willing minde to do it 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 necessary then the former 2. Understanding to know what is to be reformed and what to be retained because not to run right is
government For seeing all attempts are most violent that have their beginning and strength from zeal unto Religion be the same true or false and from the false most of all and those are ever the most dangerous whose ringleaders are most base as the servile War under Spartacus was most pernicious unto How necessary it is for Kings to retain their just rights in their hands the Romans there can be nothing of greater use or more profitable either for the safety of the King the peace of the Church and the quiet state of the Kingdome then for the Prince the King to retain the Militia and to keep that power and authority which the Laws of God and of our Land have granted to and intailed upon him in his own hands unclipped and unshaken for when the multitude shall be unbridled and the rights of the Kings are brandished in their hands we shall assuredly taste and I fear in too great a measure as experience now sheweth of those miserable evils which uncontrouled ignorance furious zeal false hypocricy and the merciless cruelty of the giddy-headed people and discontented Peeres shall bring upon us and our Prince But to make it manifest unto the World what power and authority God hath granted unto Kings for the government of the Church and the preservation of his true Religion we finde them the worst men at all times and in all places that mislike their Government and reject their authority and we see those Churches most happy and those Kingdoms most flourishing which God hath The Kings that maintain true religion make their Kingdoms happy blessed with religious Kings as the State of the Church of Judaea makes it plain when David Ezechias Jâ—sias and the other virtuous Kings restored the Religion and purified that Service which the idolatry of others their predeâ—â—ssours had corrupted and we know that as Moses * Exod. 14 31. Num. 12. 7 8 Deut. 34. 5 Josh 1. 1 2. so kings are called the servants of God in a more special manner then all others are that is not onely because they serve the Lord in the Government of the Common wealth but especially because he vouchsafeth to use their service for the advancement of his Church and the honour of his Son Christ here on earth or to distribute their duties more particularly we know the Lord exspecteth and so requireth a double service from every Christian king 1. The one common with all others to serve him as they are his creatures and Christians and therefore to serve him as all other The double service of all Christian kings Christians are bound to do 2. The other proper and peculiar to them alone to serve him as they are Kings and Princes In the first respect they are no more priviledged to offend then other men 1. As they are Christians but they are tyed to the same obedience of Gods â—aws and are obliged to performe as many virtuous actions and to abstain from all vices as well as any other of their Subjects and if they fail in either point they shall be called to the same account and shall be judged with the same severity as the meanest of their people and therefore Be wise O ye Kings be learned ye that are Judges of the earth Serve the Lord in fear and rejoyce unto him with reverenâ—e Psal 2. 10. for with God there is no respect of persons but if they do offend he will binde Kings in fetters and their Nobles with linkes of irâ—n and we dare Rom. 2. 11. Psal 149. 8. not flatter you to give you the least liberty to neglecâ—â—â— 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 For 1. To protect the true religion and to govern the Church of Christ 2. To preserve peace and to govern the Common wealth 1. To protect the Church Aug cont lit petil l. 2. Opâ—at Mâ—livit lib. 3. 1. It is true indeed that the Donatists of old the grand fathers of our new Sectaries were wont to say Qâ—id 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 accensâ—s in haec verba prorupit Donatus out of his accustomed madness burst forth into these mad termes for Prima â—mnium in republ functionum est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist l. 7. c. 8. Arist Polit. l. 3. c. 10. 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 Quae 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 hoâ— habent commune do this in common Vt faciant animos humiles formidiâ—e 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 And Tiberius The chief Magistrates of the Heathens had the charge of Religion 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 boâ—ke 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 but Deut. 17. 18 19. 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 Joshâ—a caused all Israel to put away the strange gods Josh 24. 23. The care of the good kings of the Jews to preserve the true religion that were among them and to incline their hearts unto the Lord God of Israel Manasses after his return from Babylon tooke away the strange Gods