Periurie and the forfeiture of all our spirituall preferment in esse and posse both present and to come What father after awhile will be so improuident to bring vp his sonne to his great charge to this necessarie beggerie What Christian will be so irreligious to bring vp his son in that course of life which by all probabilitie and necessitie Cogit ad turpia inforcing to sinne will intangle him in Simonie and Periurie whereas the Poet saith Inuitatus ad haec aliquis de ponte negabit A beggars brat taken from the bridge where hee fits a begging if he knew the inconuenience had cause to refuse it So he Let me conclude it with the wordes of our Democritus This being thus saith he haue wee not fished faire all this while that are initiated Diuines to finde no better fruits of our labour Hoc est cur palles cur quis non prandeat hoc est Doe we macerate our selues for this If this be all the respect reward and honour we shall haue Frange leues calamos scinde Thalia libellos Let vs giue ouer our bookes and betake our selues to some other course of life To what end shall we studie Quid me literulas stulti docuere parentes What did our parents meane to make vs Schollers to be as farre to seeke for preferment after twentie yeeres studie as we were at first Why doe wee take such paines Quid tantum insanis iuvat impallescere chartis So he Honos alit Artes Honor and reward is the maintayner of Arts. But the Ministerie is the Art of Artes. And that which God and Man hath appointed for the maintenance of the Ministerie shall we call it the reward of a Minister Alas God helpe vs if this were our reward which at the most hath no correspondency to the worke of a Minister For if wee haue sowne vnto you spirituall things is it a great matter â—f wee reape your carnall things yea Non magnum sed minimum saith Anselme A very small matter But shall the worke of our Ministerie so infinitely exceede that which in no proportion can bee reputed a reward and yet can wee not haue this poore recompense of our labour though not of our function to sustaine our poore bodies and studies but we must pay as deare for it as he that neuer saw Schoole may pay for this or any temporall commoditie If so then frange leues calamos scinde Thalia libellos Away with learning and consequently away with the Ministerie yea farewell all good Ministers For euery Minister should bee an honest man and no honest man will be a corrupt Minister and consequently no honest Minister will be a Simonist and doth not Simonie tend then to the vtter abolition of the Ministerie And what other Ministerie can be expected in a Church where Simonie reigneth then such as was vnder Ieroboam to whom Abiah King of Iudah said Haue yee not driuen away the Priests of the Lord the sonnes of Aaron and the Leuites haue made you Priests like the people of other Countries whosoeuer commeth to consecrate with a young Bullocke and seuen Rammes the same may be a Priest So Simonie driueth away all good men and admitteth into the Church those that bee corrupt of the basest of the people Master Perkins that Reuerend man of God alleageth this as one of the maine reasons of the rarenesse and scarsitie of good Ministers namely want of maintenance and preferment for men that labour in this Calling And what difference is there I pray you betweene want of maintenance or preferment and the buying and purchasing of them For so preferment becomes a recompence of my mony not of my Ministerie I will relate the wordes of that good man Men saith he are flesh and bloud and in that respect must hee allured and wonne to imbrace this Vocation by some Arguments which may perswade flesh and bloud The world hath in all ages beene negligent therein and therefore God in his Law tooke such strict order for the maintenance of the Leuites but especially now vnder the Gospell this Calling is vnprouided for when it deserues best of all to be rewarded certainly if Gods Law did not binde vs it were a worthy Christian policy to propound good preferments to this Calling that thereby men of the worthiest gifts might be won vnto it and the want thereof is the cause why so many young men of speciall parts and greatest hope turne to other Vocations and especially to the Lawes wherein at this day the greatest part of the finest wits of our Kingdome are imployed And why But because they haue all the meanes to rise whereaâ— the Ministerie for the most part yeeldeth nothing but a plaine way to beggerie This is a great blemish in our Church and surely I wish the Papists those children of this world were not wiser in their kinde in this point then the Church of God the reformation hereof is a worke worthy the labour of a Prince and people and speciall care is to be had in it else it will not be reformed For doubtlesse had not God himselfe in the Old Testament taken such strickt Orders for the liuings of the Leuites they had beene put to no lesse extremities then is the Ministerie of this age And this reason added to the other makes them perfect and all put together makes a reason infallible For who will vndergoe so vâ—le contempt and so great a charge for no reward And where there is so great contempt and so meane a reward what maruell if a good Minister be one of a thousand So this holy man By all which we may both see the miserie of the Ministerie of a Church where not onely the one moitie of Church-maintenance is impropriate But the other for the most part is in Hucksters handling the propertie of it as of a prâ—ferment and reward of a faithfull Minister being altered by Simonie and as it were made impropriate too and consequently we cannot but feele and more yet feare the ruefull effects thereof both in Church and Common-wealth Againe for asmuch as Simonists are the most doughtie Non-residents making vse of their Benefices as Fishers doe of their lesser fishes as baits to catch the greater fish and so leaue the sweet fresh Riuers at home to goe fish abroad in the mayne Sea because No fishing to the Sea nor seruice to a King whereas they might wisely with the Vine and Fig-tree and Oliue-tree enioy their sweet priuate life in Gods Vineyard feeding their harmelesse flocke and not with the Bramble Abimelech aspire to become as Saint Peter saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not examples to the flocke Doing so what else can come of it but ruthfull ruine as to themselues so to the flocke of God For Simonie doth necessarily imply Non-residency For first a Simonist after the payment of his first purchase is commonly inforced to liue priuately to let out his Parsonage to farme defrauding the poore of
all particular both flockes and Pastors in his peculiar Diocesse Or else euery inferiour and subordinate Minister in his seuerall Parish placed as an Ouerseer or Watch-man ouer his flocke as Lyra also vnderstandeth This is the gift of the Holy Ghost Now then to buy this gift to be made a Bishop ouer such a See or a Pastor or Rector of such a flocke doth it not iumpe with this definition of Simony For Simony is a trucking of the gifts of the holy Ghost but such an Ouerseership is a gift of the Holy Ghost Therefore to buy this gift is Simony CHAP. II. Wherein the former definitions are cleered from certaine obiections and nice distinctions BVt for answere to our former Argument The sophisticall Simonist or simoniacall Sophister distinguisheth Inter Beneficium beneficium betweene the Benefice and the benefit Or more distinctly Beneficium emâ—t non officium He buyeth the profit not the office Non Curam Sed curam not the Cure of others soules but the Cure and prouision for his owne body Paschalis P. answereth this obiection Si quis obiecerit non consecrationes emi Sed res qua ex consecratione proueniunt penituâ— desiperâ— probatur Nam cum corporalis Ecclesia aut Episcopus c. If any shall obiect that hee buyeth not the Consecrations but those things which follow and attend the Consecration hee is a manifest Doâ—ard For seeing a Corps of a Church or a Bishop or such cannot subsist or be maintained without things Corporall no more then the soule can liue corporally without the body whosoâ—â—er selleth the one of these without which the other cannot goe alone hee leaues neither vnsold Whereupon Gratian saith Quando quis promouendus est ad Ecclesiam vel ordinem fructus proueniunt iure ordinis ideo non licitè emit When a man is to be promoted to a Church or Bishopricke or to the order and office of it the fruits doe follow by right of order and therefore the purchase it not lawfull Both Pascals comparison and Gratians reason are apt and good For there is such a mutuall and immediate relation yea combination and vnion betweene the Ministery and the Maintenance as one cannot Subsist without the Support of the other no more theâ— the soule can exercise sundry faculties especially those sensitiue offices without the instrument of the body or the body can doe her Dutie without her ordinarie Diet. And as Boaz tendered to his kinsman the purchase of Elâ—â—â—lechs Lands which at first offer he was willing to buy but told him withall that hee must purchase it of Naomi by marrying Ruth both must goe together So he that will buy the lands or inheritance of the Church and of the Ministry hee must make account to buy Ruth with it The maintenance the ruthful and carefull office of the Ministery goe hand in hand together buy the one and buy the other too Therefore anciently Ordination did vse to carry the title with it as Concil Chal. Can. 6. So that hee who would buy the Maintenance must buy also the Ordinance And is not as well the Maintenance as the ordinance of the Ministery a gift of the Holy Ghost Doth not the Lord say I haue giuen the tithes to the Leuites and are not these tythes holy And who can giue a holy gift or make a gift holy but the Holy Ghost Whence I inferre this Conclusion Simony is a Desire or Act of buying or selling the gifts of the Holy Ghost but tythes holy tythes are a gift of the Holy Ghost Therefore the Desire or Act of buying or selling holy tythes by which I vnderstand all Church Maintenance is Simony So that the Simonists former distinction serueth onely to distinguish betweene right reason â—nd his owne fond imagination which are no way compatible but must needs make him vt cum ratione insaniâ—t And truely I very easily beleeue that hee speakes as hee thinkes For few such Merchants would bee at that cost to purchase such a Cure were it not for the Commodity as Chrysostome saith I suppose no man though neuer so thirstie of glory would euer be made a Bishop vnlesse necessitie called him thereunto For who is sufficient for these things And Cardinall Poole being charged by a Cardinall of the aduerse faction with ambion in ouer-hasty seeking after the Popedome answered That he thought not the burthen of that great office to be so light but that he was of the minde that it was rather to be feared then desired But later times are so pregnant producing such sky-soaring spirits as now who is not sufficient for these things And what reason hath any man of reason to thinke that these sufficient men should haue such leaden heads as once to vouchsafe to reach out their golden hands to the end to purchase and pull vpon themselues the burthen of such a Cure no more then he would thinke that such would euer bee content if it were possible to become ioynt-purchasers with Christ whose Bishopricke cost him the shedding of his most precious bloud no nor euer imitate Saint Pauls example Phil. 2.17 or obey Saint Iohns precept 1. Ioh. 3.16 CHAP. III. Wherein other shifts and euasions are met withall BVt what is become of my Simonist I thought I had catched him fast euen now with my Sillogisme But Quo teneam vultus mutantem Protea nodâ— How shall I hold this shifting Proteus with what Cords or Wyths shall I bind this Sampson-like Simon Emit non Emit beneficium non Beneficium curam non Curam But at the last hee must confesse and therein hee mockes not that hee hath certaine Lockâ— whereon neuer 〈◊〉 Razor that is certaine Flockes or â—leeces neuer yet polled from the Church or not touched at least in his owne sleepie sense and apprehension with the Razor of Conuiction vnder the name of Simony The temporall benefit indeed hee hath bought to wit the Glebe the Tythe and the like proue this to bee Simony then I shall be as other men And in this his conceit hee is as strong as Sampson yea so confident that hee dare say that Tythes are meere Temporalls Lay Fees But as Sampson after his lockes were shauen neuer thought that his strength was gone till by wofull proofe he found it So our Simon here thinkes all is well with him so long as he strongly imagineth that his Tythes are but Temporalls and so long no Simonist not as other men But now Sampson the Philistins bee vpon thee yea stronger then the Philistins A Troope of Truths doth beset thee What Tythes temporall In what Grammer haue you learned to ioyne this Substantiue and Adiectiue together I am sure not in Gods Booke There is no such incongruitie no Solecisme no false construction there There he deserues the Feruia the Rod a vae that incongruously calls sower Sweet and Sweet Sower Good Euill and Euill Good And shall hee escape that calls Sacred Secular Tythes
Temporalls Or he who saith Giue vnto Caesar the things that are Gods Let mee but a little shake Aarons Rod and Christs many-corded Whip at our indisciplined Simon to make him at least attentiue to what the Scripture saith Tythes I am sure were once Sacred and what God hath once Sacred call not thou Common But when Sacred When Why not when Adam was first Created When hee was endued with the ten Moralls of the Law And is it not more then probable that among the ten the Lord allotted a Tythe for the maintenance of his seruice Seeing among the ten hee appointed a time for his seruice euen the Sabbath Day the Sanctification whereof Tythes were properly to attend vpon Tythes then no doubt were sacred from the beginning of Adams creation For else when did Abraham learne to pay tythe of All to Melchisedech the Priest of the most high God Or what moued Iacob to vow the paying of Tythes Was it onely from the Example of his grandfather Or were his Tythes onely voluntary and arbitrary till by vow made necessary Why not then his other seruice which he then vowed which he was bound to performe though hee had not vowed it at all His vow was but a stronger Bond to hold and helpe him to the better performance of that dutie which notwithstanding was due without a vow As our solemne vow in Baptisme is but a stronger Bond to tye vs to that obedience to God which wee ought most carefully to performe no lesse then if wee had not vowed at all But if as yet you deny Tythes to bee Consecrate and Sacred by diuine instinct or institution as wanting expresse precept yet at least you your selfe cannot but confesse they began then to be sacred when God said Leuit. 27.30 All the Tythe of the Land both of the Seed of the ground and the fruit of the Trees is the Lords it is holy to the Lord. Yea so holy so sacred that as in the next Verse If any man shall redeeme any of his Tythe he shall adde the fifth part thereto And euery Tythe of Bullocke and of Sheep and of all that goeth vnder the Rod The tenth shall be holy vnto the Lord v. 32. Yea so holy as v. 33. He shall not looke if it be good or bad neither shall he change it else if he change it both it and that it was changed with all shall be holy and it shall not be redeemed Loe then how sacred Tythes bee ratified by a double Tense They are holy and They shall bee holy to the Lord As Iacob confirmed his sonnes blessing I haue blessed him and hee shall bee blessed And where it is said That the Tenth Is holy to the Lord a Learned and Reuerend Prelate of our Church in his Booke of Tythes hath out of the Present Tense drawne this obseruation That the Tenth began not now to bee sacred or consecrated but onely to bee appropriathe for the time to the Leuites concluding the Ordinance to be morally perpetuall from the Creation CHAP. IIII. Tythes in the New Testament proued to be equally Sacred with those in the Old against the Simonists obiection and consequently the definition of Simony concluded according to the former definitions of it by the Schooles and Canons YEa saith our Simon I deny not but that the tenth was holy and sacred during the time of the Old Testament but it ceaseth to be so now in the New O Heresie worthy of Simon himselfe O Folly well beseeming the Aramites who being alreadie ouercome in the Mountaines promised to themselues the Victorie in the Vally Saying The Lord is the God of the Mountaines and not God of the Vallyes And is the Lord the God of the Old Testament and not God of the New Yes euen of the New also For Marke The Tythes were not said to bee holy to the Leuites but to the Lord Nor that they were the Leuites but the Lords The Tythes is the Lords it is holy to the Lord Leuit 27.30 Therefore the Lord rebuking the Iewes for neglecting the payment of their Tythes hee takes the wrong as done to himselfe saying Yee haue robbed Mee Mal. 3.8 Hee saith not Yee haue spoyled the Leuite and the Priest but yee haue spoyled Mee Yf then the Lord himselfe and not the Leuite bee intitled and interessed in the proper right of Tythes then certainely they are as sacred now in the New Testament as euer they were in the Old The Tythes are holy to the Lord. Leuit. 27.28 and they shall bee holy to the Lord v. 32. They are holy it was said then to the Lord of the Old Testament and they shall bee holy to the Lord of the New Testament And to vs there is but one Lord. And tell mee foolish selfe deceiuing Simonist whosoeuer thou art tell me when and where Tythes ceased to be sacred and if thou canst not tell how darest thou call them Temporalls But let me tell thee by the Word of the Lord that Tythes are perpetually sacred Search the Scriptures Goe learne what that meaneth Abraham gaue Melchisedech Tythe of all If thou vnderstandest it not aske the Apostle and it is worth the consideration For Consider saith hee how great this man was vnto whom euen the Patriark Abraham gaue Tythe of the Spoyles Abraham the Father of all the Faithfull not of the Iewes onely but of vs Gentiles also payd Tythe of All. To whom To Melchisedeck And what was this Melchisedeck Priest of the most high God King of Righteousnesse King of Salem in all a perfect Type of Christ our eternall high Priest the Lord our righteousnesse Prince of Peace Did Abraham then the Father of the Faithfull yea the Type of Gods fathfull Church in the Loynes of whose faith as I may say were all the faithfull giue the Tythe of all to Melchisedeck the true Type of Christ our eternall high Priest and the Minister of a better Testament and shall wee doubt to tread in the steps of faithfull Abraham except wee will be Bastards and not Sonnes And if the Apostle vse it as an Argument to proue Christs Priesthood more excellent then Aarons inasmuch as euen Leui in the Loynes of Abraham paid Tythes to Melchisedeck How doe wee then vphold and maintaine this Prerogatiue of Christs Priesthood while wee either deny or diminish his right of Tythes in the Ministry of the New Testament Sith Aaron who was farre inferiour receiued Tythes in the Old yea rather if the Leuiticall Priesthood being inferiour receiued Tythes then the Euangelicall being superiour much more And why is Leui said in the Loynes of Abraham to haue paid Tythes to Melchisedeck but plainely to giue vs to vnderstand that this payment implied an acknowledgement of Christ their Souereigne Lord and true high Priest as in whose onely title and right they also receiued Tythes Hence is it that all the Leuites paid the tenth of their Tenths to Aaron the high Priest and to his Successors Hee being
also a Type of Christ. Leâ— euen the spirit of contradiction it selfe but note how frequently and how effectually the Apostle presseth the right of Tythes resident in Christ as a notable proofe of the eternitie of his Priesthood For in the seuenth Chapter to the Hebrewes the Apostle mentioneth this argument of Tythes no lesse then six or seuen times as Verse 2.4.5 6 8 9. Hee therefore that denieth Tythes to bee due to Christ in the Ministery of the New Testament what doth he else but deny the eternitie of Christs Priesthood the ministration wherof must continue til time shall be no more Yea he must also deny that Melchisedeck was a true type of Christ by vertue of receiuing tythes if now Tythes bee not really due to Christ in the New Testament as they were typically prefigured in the Old Againe when began Tythes first to be paid Was it not so long before the Law was giuen or the Leuites borne Could the Leuiticall Law then disannull the nature of Tythes that they should not for euer continue sacred being before the Law consecrated in Act by our Father Abraham the Type of Christs Church vnto Melchisedech the Type of our eternall high Priest Christ Iesus Decimas Deo Sacerdotibus Dei dandas Abraham factis Iacob promissis insinuat omnes Sancti Doctores commemorant That Tythes are to bee giuen to God and to the Priests of God both Abraham by fact and Iacob by vow doth insinuate and all holy Doctors doe auouch it Admonemus vel praecipimus vt Decima de omnibus Dari non negligatur quia Deus ipse sibi Dari constituit c. Wee admonish and command that the tenth of all things be not neglected to bee paid because God himselfe hath ordained it to bee giuen to himselfe And the perpetuitie of Christs Ppiesthood is proued by Tything as Heb. 7.8 There hee receiueth Tythes of whom it is witnessed that hee liueth Or let the Simonist goe learne what that meaneth Euen so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the Gospel should liue of the Gospel Who seeth not that the Apostle there doth paralell the Leuiticall maintenance and the Lords Ordinance the Altar and the Gospel together And doth not the Apostle there challenge to himselfe a power in such maintenance as well as others Marke a power And whence but from the Lords Ordinance And where appeareth the generall practise of this Ordinance but in the Leuiticall Maintenance And where hath this Maintenance the first foundation and institution besides the Creation but in Christ figured in Melchisedech who receiued Tythes of Abraham the father and figure of all the faithfull the Church of God And shall not Tythes then be for euer sacred And if sacred is not hee a prophane Simonist that offereth to buy them Yea moreouer are not the Ministers of the Gospel called the sonnes of Leui Mal. 3.3 The text is pregnant and plaine and Interpreters subscribe to the truth of it Christ was to fine the sonnes of Leui that they might offer to the Lord in righteousnesse that is his Apostles and Disciples of the Gospel These are called the sonnes of Leui because they succeed Leui in the Ministry And if we be Leuies sonnes who shall deny vs Leuies inheritance seeing wee are Leuites to the same Lord the perpetuitie of whose Priesthood the paiment of Tithes to his Leuites are a pregnant argument of And if yee deny him Tithes you must of necessity deny him the Priesthood too so with the Iewes conspire to kill him that the inheritance may be yours Yea we are Leuies sonnes fined and purged from the refuse of Legal Types and Ceremonies shal our Tythes be lesse sacred Obiect But some will say Wee haue no expresse Precept in the Gospel for paying of Tythes I answere There are demonstrations enow and those most strong But what needs any expresse Precept The Precept is expresse enough in the Law He that is more seene in the Law then in the Gospel and stands more vpon Antiquities then Verities If the God of this world had not blinded his eyes might acknowledge the antiquitie of this Precept in the Law to be so plaine as it needs no further explication or reestabliment in the Gospel The Tythe is the Lords saith the Law And doth not the Gospel ratifie the same saying Giue vnto God those things that are Gods Is not this an expresse Precept Indeed Christ and his Apostles being busie in founding a new Church suspended the practice of receiuing Tythes vntill the decrepite Synogogue of the Leuiticall Ordinance expired and the finall obsequies thereof were fully ended But they left abundant euidence in their Gospels to euict the right of Tithes to Christs Ministers in the succeeding ages of the Church To conclude this point That Tythes and all Church maintenance call it what you will benefit or Benefice profits or corporall goods they are holy and of a spirituall nature because they are consecrate to a holy vse I doe not say that Res decimarum the things whereof Tythes consist are in their owne nature spirituall but quà Decima as they are Tythes consecrate to a holy end and vse they put on a spirituall nature For euen as the bread in the Sacrament before it bee consecrate and sanctified by the Word it is common but after the consecration it becomes Sacramentall and spirituall bread which is that change the ancient Fathers so vsually speake of not that bastard substantiall change which the Pontificians would falsly father vpon them in which respect the Apostle calleth the Manna and the water of the Rocke in regard of their typicall signification spirituall meate and spirituall drinke So those things whereof Tythes and all Church maintenance consist in their owne nature are temporall and common but being dedicated to God to a holy vse and end they are not to be holden any longer for temporall but spirituall I say in regard of their spirituall end and vse for which they are consecrated And what is the end and vse of such consecrate things Is it not for the maintenance of Christs Ministers and are not they in their persons in their profession by calling spirituall and of what nature then can their maintenance be but Spirituall For Omne nutritur à Simili Spirituall men and spirituall â—eate both of a like nature both a like consecrated to God So then Tythes or Church liuings comming within the Verge of the definition of Simony as being not onely annexed vnto spirituall things but spirituall things themselues it followeth necessarily that to buy or sell such spirituall things is Simonie The definition then of the Schoole-men and Canonists formerly cited stands firme and good hauing all the termes and parts of a perfect definition accoding to the rules of Logicke which in briefe may be reduced to a syllogisme thus Emptio vel venditio rei spiritualis est simonia sed decimae sunt res spirituales â—rgâ—