now in the time of grace more intolerable then they were in the time of nature therefore Tythes ought not to be required as a duty To this I answer 1. That although in those Primitive times the Tythes Sol. 1 were not demanded nor by any Positive Law commanded by God and therefore not paid until Abraham and Jacob had paid them yet this proveth not that it was not due because it was not paid as it is no consequent that because God commanded not Gain and Abel to offer Sacrifice nor the sons of Sheth To call upon the name of the Lord therefore it was not their duty to do it for it is our duty to do many things that we do not And so I have proved It was their duty to pay Tythes though they paid them not 2. I say that before the Law was given the Fathers of the first age Sol. 2 had many things in use which were not answerable to that Perfection which Christ requireth in his followers and therefore he in joyned us to do many things that they did not and so did the Law it self both inhibite them to do some things that they did amiss and commanded many things to be observed which they neglected and therefore that first age of the World being but the Infancy of Gods Church and the daies of Initiation they are not to be alleadged as examples for our imitation For whâ—n I was a Child I did as a Child but when I was a man I put away childish things saith the Apostle 3. I say there was no such need nor reason for the payment of Tythes Sol. 3 then though they were due to maintain the Priests and Ministers of God as afterwards and especially as now in our times because then the first born of every family was the Priest and he by the prerogative of his Birth-right was to have a double part and portion of inheritance and therefore 4. And lastly I say that if the Patriarchs in those times when there Sol. 4 was no Positive commandment to pay Tythes did notwithstanding pay them even to those Priâ—sts that had meant enough of their own to live by it and had no need of Tythes to sustain them then much rather should we now pay them to those Ministers of Christ that have no other maintenance and therefore can not labour in Gods Vine-yard and discharge the duties of their calling without them especially considering how often and how earnestly Christ and his Apostles do command us and exhort us to do it and with such promises of Blessings if we do it and Cursings if we refuse it 4. They do Object That the Commandment for paying Tythes is not Obj. 4 Moral but either Judicial or Ceremonial and we that are Christians are not obliged to observe either the Ceremonial or the Judicial Laws of the Jews because all the Ceremonial Laws were but shadows types and predictions shewing the coming doings and sufferings of Jesus Christ and when the true light and substance of those shadows the Sun of Righteousness was come all those shadows were at an end and vanished away and the Judicial Laws of the Jews were only proper and peculiar to that people and do not oblige other Nations to observe them And therefore the Christians are no wayes obliged to the payment of Tythes To this Objection which some of our opposers think to be invincible I Sol. answer and it may be contrary to the opinion of many Divines of no mean or usual Learning and I say for Tythes 1. That they are due to Christ as he is a Priest for ever by a Divine Natural and Moral right as I hope I have sufficiently proved to you before And if they do Object and say that if the precept of paying Tythes be of a Natural right and a Moral precept then the payment thereof is or ought to be commanded within one of the ten Commandments of the Moral Law because all Moral precepts are comprehended within those ten Commandments but the precept of paying Tythes is not in any one of the ten Commandments of the Moral Law and therefore it is no Moral precept I answer That the payment of Tythes is commanded in four special Commandments of the Moral Law as in the first the fourth the sixth the eighth For as the Prophet David saith Thy Commandments O Lord are exceeding broad and do comprehend abundance of things more then you see prima facie in the outward letter of the Commandment as when the Commandment sayeth Honor thy Father and thy Mother it injoyneth thee to feed him and to maintain him as Joseph did his Father Jacob when he wants and is not able to maintain himself and when it saith Thou shalt do no murder it forbids us to hate or to be angry with our neighbour So when the Lord saith Thou shalt have none other gods but me he commands us to render unto God what is God's as well to maintain his outward service by tythes and offerings unto his Priests and alms unto his poor members as by serving him with our inward service of faith hope love fear and the like So when he commands us To keep Holy the Sabbath day he commands us to do all things that do further and do appertain to the Sanctifying of the Sabbath and Who can deny but that the payment of our Tythes to the Preacher and Minister of Christ is one of the most principal means to further and cause the Sanctifying of the Lords day When as the Artist cannot work without his tools so the Minister cannot discharge Many things are included that are not so clearly expressed in the ten Commandments his service on the Sabbath unless he is maintained all the week And so when he bidâ— us to Honor our Father and Mother he means that we should as well or rather in the first place Reverence and with our Tythes anâ— Offerings relieve and maintain our spiritual Fathers the Ministers of Christ and the Church our Mother as our natural Father and Mother and so likewise when he saith Thou shalt not steal he commands us not to detain and keep back the Tythes and Offerings from Gods Ministers Whereby you may see that this commandment of paying our Tythes is a Moral precept and implicitely contained and comprehended in the Moral Law And if you say The maintenance of the Ministers may be included in those Obj. Moral commandments to be commanded for the performance of Gods outward service and to uphold and further the Sanctifying of his Sabbath yet there is no proof that that maintenance which is implied in those precepts must be the Tenth part rather then the eleventh fifteenth or the twentyeth part of our goods I answer That I have proved already That the very Tythe or tenth part Sol. is the continual due that belongs to Christ as he is a continual Priest for ever and all the precepts of Christ and commandments of God being Brevia levia utilia very
Sacraments and causeth him to be Consecrated by prayers and imposition of hands for that purpose as he called Simon Peter before Simon Magus then there is a great deal of difference betwixt them and much relative and additionall Holiness in the one more then in the other insomuch that our Saviour saith of these men which he saith not of all other men He that Luk. 10. 16. receiveth you receiveth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and the Lord saith of them which he saith not of all other men He that toucheth Zach. 2. 8. you toucheth the apple of mine eye And you may see this dâ—fference in the Embassadours and other Officers of Kings Princes and Potentates whom we Honor and Reverence more then others because they are deputed and Authorized to be our Judges Sheriffes or other Officers of the Kingdom where they are designed so to be And so likewise what difference or what Holiness is there in one place more then in another In a Stone-Church ground more than in a Thatchbarn floor Surely not any at all originally in respect of themselves simply considered but when such a piece of ground is designed and dedicated for the Worship of God and Consecrated by prayers for that purpose and God promiseth his presence and favour to be more especially shewed there for our Instruction and Consolation than in any other ordinary place whatsoever Then certainly there is a great deal of difference and a great deal of Holiness in that place and much more Reverence ought to be shewed to it and in it than in any other place or common ground though it were the Kings Pallace And I say this is but a sign and a point of true Religion and no branch of Superstition Therefore Jacob that was no waies Superstitious said of that place where God shewed his presence to him This is Gods House and the gate of Heaven Gen. 28. 17. and the Lord said unto Moses Put off thy shooes from thy feet for the place where thou standest is Holy ground and why was that ground more Holy Exod. 3. 5. than any other ground Not in respect of any innate holiness but because the Lord reveiled himself there to Moses more visibly and more graciously than in any other place And I pray you look what the Spirit of God adviseth and injoyneth us to do when we come into the House of God To keep thy foot and much Eccl 5. 1. For this phrase is a Synechdoche of the part for the whole of the foot for all the members of the body which in the Chuch of God ought to be framed to a Religious decency as to bend the knee lift up our eyes uncover the head and the like more thy heart and thy head as thou oughtest to do decently and Reverently when thou goest to the House of God and therefore much more Reverently when thou art and standest in Gods House And be more ready to hear then to give the Sacrifice of Fools which they do that despise this House of God which none but fools will do for if we make no difference of these things but that every man that will may intrude himself to do the service which God requireth to be done by another and he may do that service any whâ—re in any one place as well as in another in a common barn as well as in an Holy Church then surely we need not observe any time when any one day is as good and as Holy as another the Munday as well as the Lords day and so confounding persons times and places we shall confound all Religion and we shall suddenly bring Atheism and all Prophaneness among the people CHAP. XI The answer to another Objection that our Fanatick-Sectaries do make against the Beauty and Glorious Adorning of our Churches which we say should be done with such decent Ornaments and Implements as are besitting the House and Service of God The reasons why we should Honor God with our goods and how liberal and bountiful both the Fathers of the Old Testament and the Christians of the New Testament were to the Church of God THirdly There be another sort of close-handed and covetous-hearted Obj. 3 Against the beautifying of our Churches Fanatick Sectaries that are much offended at our Beautifying and Adorning our Churches so as is fitting and meet for the Houses of God And they do Object that God is a Spirit and will be served in spirit and in truth and therefore he requireth not our goods our gold and our silver Psal 50 10. which he hath no need of or our Cattle when as all the beasts of the Forrest are his and so are the Cattle upon a 1000. hills and he delighteth not in burnt offering and so the Prophet sheweth when he demandeth Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or with ten thousands of Rivers of Oyl No no the Lord careth for no such things we may keep them all to our selves for he hath Shewed thee O man what is good and what the Mlch. 6. 7. Lord doth require of thee and that is To do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God And therefore the Lord saith not Give me your gold to make me Palaces or your silver to adorn my house wherein I dwell not but give me your hearts wherein I delight to dwell if they be pure and clean and void of the filthiness of sin and corruption Quia deliciae meae cum filiis hominum because my delights are to be with the sons of men and I desire no more of them but To fear the Lord their God to Deut. 10. 12. walk in all his waies and to love him and to serve the Lord their God withall their heart and withall their soul And from these and the like premises our Fanaticks do conclude that as God was never better served then when his Churches and Oratories were no better then poor mens Cottages and when the Christians answered their persecuters in the time of Julian who said their service was not so Solemn nor their Temples answerable to the Majesty of God that the best Temples which they could dedicate unto God wer their Sanctified souls and clean hearts so they would have our times to be the like and our Churches to be no fairer nor any otherwise beautified then they were in those times of poverty and persecution To this I answer and confess that God delighteth more in the Holiness Sol. of the hearts of them that serve him then in the honor and beauty of the place where he is served But though Moses in the mountain Job on the In the time of necessity God accepteth our service any where dunghill Jeremy in the mire Daniel in the Lions den Ezechias in his bed and the Apostles in the stocks called upon the name of the Lord and he heard them and so Christ preached on the Mount and in the Valley on the
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
Oderunt peccare boni virtutis amore Good men will not wrong the Church for the love of God So many times Oderunt peccare mali formidine poenae Many evil men at least not very good will forbear to rob and destroy the Church for fear of the punishment of Church-robbers And therefore as Absolom when he could not by promises and perswasions win Joah to be of 2 Sam. 10. his side by firing his barly-fields he forced him to do what he pleased So when the still and sweet voice of God can do no good to make Jonah to obey the Lord's command a tempestuous whirl-wind tumbling him to the bottom of the Sea will bring him back to his obedience So it may be when the promising of Gods blessings can work no Reformation nor get any satisfaction for wrongs done unto the Church Gods coming to visit them with the Rod and to whip their sacriledge with scourges to fill their faces with shame and confusion and to give them fire and brimstone storms and tempest to be their portion to drink may a little frighten the sacrilegious Souldiers from laying an insupportable weight of miseries or committing a most intolerable Sacriledge against the Church of Christ Therefore I thought good to shew unto all sacrilegious persons That as the Lords mouth hath very often and very much spoken against this sin of Sacriledge So the Lords hand hath neither a little nor seldom strucken it and that very few men have fostered Sacriledge in their heart and laid hold of it with their hands but they have also born and felt heavy judgements upon their backs either in this life or in that which is to come As the Sacriledge of Achan was the Beesom that swept away the whole The punishment of Sacrilegious persons Josh 7. House of Achan and the Axe that hath cut down both him and all his posterity in one day So the Sacriledge of Gehezi that must needs have Silver and Rayment from Naaman for the favour that his Master had done unto him was the Porter that brought the incurable loathsome scab 2 Reg. 5. of Leprosie upon him and upon all his seed for ever And so the Sacriledge of Shishak King of Egypt that came up against Hierusalem and took away the Treasures of the House of the Lord and the Treasures of the Kings House and the Shields of Gold that Solomon had made was sufficiently 1 Reg. 14. 25 26. recompensed by the Thracians that invaded subdued and harrased all his Dominions So likewise the Sacriledge of Johash King of Israel that drew a great booty out of Gods Temple brought such a vengeance 2 Reg. 14. 14. upon him as ended his accursed life with deadly poison And Sennacherib that came with a fall intent to rob and plunder the Lords House in the dayes of Hezechias was sent home with a hook in his nose and a bridle in his lips by the same way that he came And as if this was not punishment enough for emptying the Lords Exchequer and his purpose to take away all the Treasure of the Temple not long after his arrival home his own sons Adramelec and Sharezzar slew him in the Temple of his god Nisroch And 2 Reg. 19. 37. Belshazzars Sacriledge in abusing the holy vessels of Gods House that his father had taken away from the Temple was well enough recompensed Dan. 5. 23 25 31. as you find in Dan. 5. 31. These things are Registred in the Holy Scriptures And it is recorded in the Gentile-Writers how that the Grecians which of all others formerly were most Victorious yet after they had once become sacrilegious and offered violence to the Temple of Pallas they lost all their hope and never thrived any more For so Virgil saith Corripuere sacram Effigiem manibusque cruentis Virgil. l. 2. â— Virgineas ausi divae contingere vittas And thereupon he inferreth what I do now inforce and what Carulus setteth down more generally Ex illo fluere ac retro dilapsa referri Spes Danaûm They ever slid and slipt and failed after that impious Tydides scelerumque inventor Vlysses and Vlysses the inventor of mischiefs had taken away the Palladium and killed the Ministers of the Temple And so Justin Justin trist l. 4. saith That Philomenes a most brave and valiant Captain after he became Sacrilegious Primus inter confertissimos dâ—micans cecidit Fighting first amongst the most excellent souldiers he was killed and so saith mine Author Sacrilegii poenas impio sanguine luâ—t he paid for his Sacriledge with his ungodly blood and let other Sacrilegious Captains and Souldiers fear the like fate Lactantius also reporteth how Fulvius the Censor for taking Lactant. de origine error c. 4. c. 8. away Marmoreas tegulas Marble-tiles from the Temple of Juno Lacinâ—a as the long-Parliament men took away the Tiles of the Cathedrall Church of St. Keney And Appius Clandius for alienating things dedicated to Hercules were most miserably plagued by the gods the one lost both his ears and the other was distracted of his wits a heavy punishment therefore for no leight sin you may be sure But the time would be too long and my papers too short for me to declare at large unto you what Aulus Gellius setteth down how that when Aulus Gell. noct Attic. l. 3. c. 9. Quintus Cepâ—o the Consul had taken and spoiled the Town of Tolouse in France and found there very much gold in the Churches and Temples of that City it so fell out by the just judgment of God that whosoever laid hands or lightly touched the gold that was taken in that spoil misero cruciabilique exitu periit saith mine Author he perished most miserably so that it grew to be a proverb among all Nations when any generall plague and grievous destruction happened for any sin it was Sicut aurum Tolosanum like the gold of Tolouse that destroyed all that medled with it Or to shew unto you how Pâ—rrhus and all his men were drowned for robbing the Treasury of Proserpina Or of the 400 souldiers of King Xerxes that were burnt with thunder and lightning just as they were spoyling the Temple of Delphos Or of Brennius that ever before was most victorious and had sacked Rome but had his whole Army most miserably spoiled after the ransacking of the same Temple Et Dei voluntate in se manus vertit as Valerius Max. saith Or of the Scythians that were most miserably plagued Val. Max. l. 1. c. 2. with many and most grievous diseases called Enareas that is execrable and accursed for their Sacriledge in sacking the Temple of Venus Vrania Or of Alexander the great that for abusing the consecrated vessels Vide Theat judicii divini p. 439. of Hercules in the very same City and in the self same manner as Belshezzar had abused the vessels of Gods Temple in Jerusalem before him was so suddenly stricken in the midst of his
valley and David 1 Chron. 14. v. 1â— 17. smote them from Gibeon even to Gazer and the fame of David went out into all Lands and the Lord brought the fear of him upon all Nations 2. For the persons that are here conferring together they are said to be 2. The persons deliberating and conferring together David and Nathan the King and the Prophet two great Persons and high Offices that formerly were contained in one Person as Melchisedech was the Priest of the Mâ—st High GOD and King of Salem And as the Poet saith Virgil. l. 3. Rex Anius Rex idem hominum Phoebique Sacerdos And when God divided and distributed these several Offices to several persons he conferred them upon two brothers that is Moses and Aaron that so the King and the Priest might live and love one another like brethren as I have more amply shewed in my Treatise of The Grand Rebellion And so King David here dischargeth that his duty accordingly And so likewise not only the Heathen Kings but also the Jewish Kings the Kings of Israel and all good Christian Kings disdained not the friendly familiarity and The greatest Kings and Princes were most familiar with the Priests Orators and Philosophers conference with their Bishops and Priests especially when they consult and deliberate of Religion or any point that concerns the Worship and Service of God For as King Croesus conferred with Solon the Philosopher and Alexander King of Macedon consulted often with Aristotle and sometimes with Diogenes the Cynick and King Pyrrhus with his dear friend Cineas So Pharaoh King of Egypt called and consulted with his Priests that were the Magicians and deemed the wise men of Egypt when Moses came to treat of God's Service And though Moses appointed 70 men of the choicest gravest and wisest men that could be found of all the Elders of Israel to be the Sanhedrim and as it were a standing Parliament to end all controversies and all the civil affairs of the Kingdom Yet when the Case of Religion came in question and the differences about God's Worship came to be decided neither the Kings of Israel nor the Kings of Juda to whom the principal care and custody of God's Laws and Service was committed did ever commend the same unto the Sanhedrim to be concluded and setled But as King David here calleth and consulteth with Nathan the Prophet about the building of God's House so when Religion was corrupted and the Service of the True God neglected in the time of King Ahab he calleth not the Sanhedrim to rectifie and redress the same but he leaves the same to be determined and adjudged betwixt the Priests of Baal and Elias the true Prophet of the Lord And so did King Asa Jehosaphat 1 Reg. 18. 17 18. 19 20. 2 Chron. 15. 2. 8 c. Mâ—tâ— 2. 4. and Ezechias consulted not with their lay Lords or the Sanhedrim but with Azariah the son of Oded the Prophet and with Esay and the rest of God's Prophets Nay when the Wise men came to inquire for Christ Herod that sought to destroy Him and his Religion inquireth not of any but of the Chief Priests and Scribes Where Christ shâ—uld be born And so all the Wise and Christian Emperours Constantine Theodosius Justinian and the rest as you may find it in Bâ—sebius Socrates Zozomen and other Ecclesiastical Historians had always some special Bishops with whom they conferred and consulted about matters of Religion as Charles the Fifth did with Cassander and Henry the Eighth with Bishop Crammer For they conceived that their Crowns had the greater Lustre when it was in conjunction with the Miter And therefore in no great Councel was the Man of God ever baulked but that they might be sure to serve God before themselves and be assured that while the Church prospered the Bishops directed and they had God and his Messengers amongst them all would go right and be safe and therefore in all or most Courts of Conscience where the Law reached not they thought none so fit as these men of conscience to decide all differences Neither could I ever find that the Church of God was so much pestered with miseries and poisoned with Errors Heresies and Sects or Divisions until the lay Lords and Gentlemen like the Long Parliament neglected their proper Offices to look into the affairs of the Common-wealth and to see Justice and Judgement truly executed among the people and began immittere falcem in alienam messem to thrust their sickles into other mens harvest and to intermeddle with that which concerns them not as Esay 1. 12. The Church of God never became more miserable then when the lay-people undertook to conclude and determine points of Religion to chop and change Articles of Religion and to set down and compose points of faith when the Lord saith Quis requisivit haec Who hath required these things at your hands It is your duty to come into the Temple and to perform the service that David and Nathan the King and the Bishops shall prescribe unto you and to confirm those Articles of Religion and cause them in all things to be observed as the Parliament did in Queen Elizabeth's dayes the 39. Articles of our Religion when they are as those were setled and concluded by the Bishops and the rest of the Clergy in their Convocation for the Lord tells us plainly That the Priests lips should keep knowledge and they that is the people be they what and whom you will Sanâ—edrim of the Jews or Parliament of any other Nation should seek the Law that is the Law of God at his mouth because he is the Messenger of the Lord of Hosts that is to declare his will and to expound his Laws unto the people But what saith the Lord in this Case when the people be they what you will shall usurpe the Priests Office and begin to make new Orders and Ordinances for the Service of God that never required such things at their hands He tells them plainly You are departed out of the way and you have caused many to stumble at the Law that is by your false glosses and injoyned observations thereof and you have corrupted the Covenant of Levi saith the Lord of Hosts that is you have wronged and quite thrown out the Bishops and Priests from their Offices which is to consult with the King to see God rightly worshipped And therefore saith the Lord I have Malach. 2. 7 8 9. also made you contemptible and base before all the people according as you have not kept my wayes but have been partial in the Law that is by making Religion and my Service like a nose of wax to turn which way you please when as every one should do the duties that belong unto him Curabit praelia Conon CHAP. VI. What the Rest and peaceable times of King David wrought The Prince's authority in causes Ecclesiastical and how they should be zealous to see that
gold and pretious stones and for shields and store-houses for to keep Wheat and 2 Chron. 32. 27. Wine and Oyl and stables for Horses and all Beasts of service that is to strengthen their Kingdoms with Meat Money and Ammunition and all other necessaries both for War and Peace but they ought also with David to bring home the Ark of the Lord into the House of God and to set Levites 2 Sam. 6 17. to do the service of the Tabernacle that is good and godly Ministers 1 Chron. 16. 4. and 37 c. and Bishops to attend the Church and to teach the people and with King Asa to overthrow the Idols and Altars and all other monuments of Idolatry and false worship of God and with Jehu to slaughter all the Priests of 1 Reg. 15. 12. Baal and to root out all Heretical Schismatical and false teachers from the Church of Christ 2 Reg. 10. 25. And to make this more apparant and clear that all good Kings and That all good kings Princes ought to preserve and to promote Gods true Religion Princes ought to take care of Religion and to see that Gods service should be duly exercised within their Dominions you shall find that when through the profaneness and negligence of King Saul to discharge his duty and the desidiousness and carelesseness of the Priests and Levites many abuses crept into the Church as the Tabernacle was broken and lost the Ark of God was out of the Temple out of the proper place of it and was obscured and hemmed and as it were imprisoned in private houses so that the people had no publique place of Assembly to here the law and to offer Sacrifice unto God but every one had his Chappell of ease and his private Oratory by himself to serve God as he listed as now of late it hath been with us David assoon as ever he was chosen to be King in Hebron the first work he did was to consult with his Captains and all the Congregations of Israel to cite and summon the Priests and Levites and all the 1 Chron. 13. 1. 3. Clergy that were for the service of the Tabernacle to appear before him and to cause the Ark of God to be brought again unto them that they might inquire at it which they did not nor could do in the daies of Saul and when he had assembled the Children of Aaron and the Levites he shewed 1 Chron. 15. 4â— 12. Vers 11. them the abuses that Religion had sustained in the daies of Saul and he caused the Aâ—k to be carried upon the shoulders of the Levites unto the place that he had prepared for it and when he had called for Zadok and Abiathar the Priests and for the Levites for Vriel Asaiah and Joel Shemaiah and Eliol and Aminidab he did set down which of the Levites should serve and in what order they should Minister before the Ark and he injoyned 1 Chron. 16. 39. 41. 42. the sons of Aaron that were Priests how they should go forward every one in their course And so according to this Practice of King David King Solomon his son and all the succeeding Kings that were good and godly did the like for of Solomon it is recorded that he appointed according to the order of David his father the courses of the Priests to their service and the Levites to their charges to praise and Minister before the Priests as the duty of every 2 Chron. 8. 14. day required the Porters also by their courses at every gate for so David the man of God commanded And it is further Chronicled of King Solomon that what his father here projected and consulted about the building of an House to the Lord he really performed and when he 2 Chron c. 5. c. 6. c. 7. had built it he made a very godly speech and a most excellent Oration unto the people touching the Worship of God and his Religion and he deposed Abiathar and set up Sadoc in his place and Sanctified the Temple and placed the Ark of God therein and offered burnt offerings and Sacrifices and directed the Priests and Levites in all their proceedings even as his father David had done before him and that which is very observeable it is said that the Priests and Levites left nothing unobserved but did all things according as they had received in commandment from the King So likewise King Jehosophat is highly commended for his piety and Religious care of Gods Worship for it is recorded of him that he appointed and disposed the Priests and Levites to do the service of the Tabernacle and that by order of his Authority the Woods and Groves and High places which were the lets and hinderances of the true Religion were quite removed and taken away because the people by their private Meetings and Conventicles in those places to serve God as they now adayes do with us wholly neglected the Cathedral and Mother-Church which was at Hierusalem and to which they were from every corner of the Kingdom yearly 2 Chron. 17. 7 8 9. to repair And when the Service of God was corrupted and the Temple most filthily defiled through the negligence and sinfulness of the Priests King Ezechias commanded it to be purged and he caused lights to be set up incense 2 Chron. 29. per totum to be burned Sacrifices to be performed and the Brazen Serpent that was become an Idol and worshipped by the people to be broken down and consumed to ashes So King Joas reproved the Priests of his time for their excessive abuses and the insolent behaviour that was seen in them for he sequestred the oblations of the people which the Priests had unjustly and wantonly taken and appropriated to themselves and by his Royal Authority caused 2 Reg. 12. 7. them to be converted for the reparation of the Temple And King Josias to his everlasting praise shewed himself most careful to suppresse the Idolatrous Priests to purge the Church from all Idolatry and Superstition and to put the Priests and Levites in mind of their duties as you may see in 2 Reg. 23. per totum 2 Reg. 23. Obj. And if our adversaries of the Roman Church do object and say Quid Imperatori cum Ecclesia What hath the Emperour or any lay-Prince to do with the Church let him rule the Common wealth and leave Religion and what belongs to God's Worship to be ordered and observed by the Pope Bishops and Priests whose Office and Calling is to take care and to see the Church of God should be sufficiently served and all holy duties holily performed And the examples alleaged infringe not the force of this Objection because David was a Prophet even as Moses was and his ordering the affairs of the Temple and setling the Service of the Church was done by vertue of his Prophetical and not of his Princely Office And Solomon was Divinely inspired
publick places to 3 Our devotion and zeal are more and more strengthned in the publick Congregation serve God doth sharpen the edge and as it were give life and strength to every particular mans devotion for when through the frailty of our flesh our spirit waxeth dull and our zeal beginneth to grow slâ—ggish to perform these Holy duties the fervor that we see in the rest of the Congregation will mightily serve to stir up our thoughts and to quicken our devotion to sail along with our brethren to the conclusion of those godly exercises 4. As every particular man is bettered and much furthered in his devotion 4. They are helped by the good examples of others and service of God by the good examples that all the Congregation doth shew unto him so the whole company that considereth it is not a litle damnified and offended at the way wardness and neglect of those particular persons that come not unto the publick service of God and so whereas the neglect of our private devotion is only hurtfull to our selves our refusall or remissness to come to the publick exercises of our Religion doth prejudice many and gives offence to the whole Church and you know what our Saviour saith Woe to that man by whom offence cometh and therefore Matth 18. 7. woe to him that despiseth the publick exercises of Gods Church and refuseth to come unto them And for the preventing of this woe and the rest of the reasons formerly shewed the Prophet David did so earnestly desire to praise the Lord in the Psal 26. 12. Congregations yea in the great Congregations and among much people and so affectionately to say One thing have I desired of the Lord which I Psal 3â— 18. will require even that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the Psal 27. 4. daies of my life to behold 〈◊〉 fair beauty of the Lord and to visite his Temple And therefore seeing it is so necessary that the people of God should publickly meet and be gathered together to serve God it is most requisite and necessary there should be Cathedralls and Parochiall Churches for them to meet in for to do the publick service of God But against this it may be objected that the necessity of publick meetings Obj. and the benefits that may be reaped from those Assemblies rather then from any private serving of God doth no waies prove the necessity of having Cathedralls and materiall Churches because the presence of a company of Christian people wheresoever Assembled and the offices of Religion as Preaching Prayer and Administring the Sacraments performed makes the meeting publick and the peoples exercising these duties makes them to be a Church of God As the presence of the Prince and his followers maketh any mans private house to be the Kings Court. To this Objection I have fully and very largely answered in my second Sol. book of the Great Anti-Christ revealed pag. 84. deinceps And therefore I shall referr my Reader thither to be fully satisfied yet here I say that it is not the Assembly or the popular conflux of a multitude of men or the duties that they do though they be the very duties of Religion that makes the meeting lawfully publick or the place of Gods publick service but it must be a Convention and a gathering together of the people into such a place that is assigned and Consecrated for Gods publick service which makes the publick meeting justifiable and lawfull otherwise it is but a private conventicle altogether unlawfull though it should consist of never so great a company of men unless it be as it was in the Apostles time in the daies of persecution or that the people have such lawfull lets and hinderances to come to the Consecrated place of Gods service as I have set down in the book afore-cited At all other times the publick service of God must be performed in a publick Consecrated place as it is meet the Holy service should be done in a Holy place and you must know that the ubiquity of Gods presence in every place makes not all places alike sacred even as the Lord sheweth unto Moses when he bids him to pull off Exod. 3. 15. his shoes from his feet because the place where thou standest is Holy ground for the presence of God is either 1. Ordinary or The presence of God twofold 2. Extraordinary And as the extraordinary works of God have distinguished the times to make some times more Holy then other so the extraordinary presence of God hath sanctified some places more then others and the place that he Sanctifieth with his most speciall presence is the place which he appointeth to his servants for their publick meeting to do his service and he hath not left it in the liberty of every man to run at random to serve the Lord where he pleased but as he designed the time when they should serve him so he appointed the place where they should come to serve him And so Adam in that short time which he had in Paradise wanted not a place appointed no doubt and usuall to stand before the Lord and to Communicate with him and the sons of Adam being out of Paradise knew the Gen. 3. 8. place where God appointed and expected they should repair to offer their Sacrifices and oblations unto him and so the Lord tells the Children of Israel that they should not discharge their duties and perform his service in any place that they pleased but they should seek the place which the Lord Deut. 12. 5. 14. their God should choose out of all their Tribes to put his name there to dwell and there they should come with their oblations and offerings to serve him And so when the Israelites had quite vanquished the Canaanites and subdued the Philistines and the other their enemies round about and as the Text saith given rest unto his people the time was come that the Lord God thought fit to choose the place to put his name there and where all the people should publickly meet to do him service and the Lord marked out Jerusalem for himself and in Jerusalem he chose Mount Moriah the very 2 Chron. 6. 7. place where Abraham was to sacrifice his son Isaac to be a standing and a permanent place for his name saying This shall be my rest for ever here will I dwell for I have a delight therein and there David now resolveth to build his Temple to be a Cathedrall and the Metropolitan Church for the High Priest to offer Sacrifice and burnt Offerings unto God and for the rest of the people there publickly to meet to serve the Lord and his heart was mightily inflamed with zeal and desire to do it but the Lord accepted of his resolution and by Nathan his Prophet told him that because he was a man of War and had shed much blood and his Church must not have her foundation
and the Place where he dwelleth is Holy The Confuter of Apollonius confesseth That so long as a Prince is and remaineth Grallae pag. 20. in his house because of his Majesty and pompe there is nothing in the house which derives not thence some dignitie and splendor and will you deny that priviledge to Gods House which you will yield to the Palace of an earthly Prince No certainly it is an holy place Vide the Great Antichrist Revealed l. 2. c. 5. pag. 88. Therefore as God will be served in the time that he appointeth and by the persons that he chuseth and after the manner that himself prescribeth so he will be worshipped not where every one pleaseth but in the place which is Consecrated and Sanctified for our Holy God to come and to be present with us as you may see in Levit. 17 8. Exod. 23. 19. and chap. 25. 8. where the Lord chargeth his people to make him a Sanctuarie or a Tabernacle that is an holy House or Temple that he might dwell among Exod. 25. 8. them And therefore the Prophet David desired that he might dwell in Gods Tabernacle and was glad when the people said We will go into the House Psal 27 4. Psal 122. 1. Joh. 18. 20. of the Lord. And Christ saith I ever taught in the Synagogue and in the Temple that is for the most part and ordinarily and alwayes when he came to the Temple and opportunitie offered him occasion so to do And S. Matthew saith The blind and the lame came unto him in the Temple and Matth. 21. 14. he healed them And so must we come unto him into his Temple if we desire to be healed of our infirmities And so the Apostles and Disciples of Christ after his Ascension into Heaven met and worshipped God in the Temple And when the Christians began to be multâ—plied they presently erected Oratories and Churches and consecrated them as Solomon did the Temple for God's Service as you may see in 1 Cor. 11. 22. and from the 14. Chapter of the said Epistle where the Apostle bids the women to be silent in the Church for that must not be understood of any other private house or meetings of men where the women may as lawfully speak as men or the Apostle had laid too great a burden upon them and such as they neither could nor would have born but his meaning is that the women should be silent in the Congregation that publickly meeteth in Gods House for the service of God And because That material house was erected and set a part from all Prophane uses for to pray to God to Preach unto the people and to do all other exercises of Religion as Administring the Sacraments Catechising the Youths Collecting the Alms for the Poor and the like services of the Lord and was hallowed and Sanctified by the prayers and Consecration of the Bishop to be used only for that end and that God hath promised 2 Chron. 6. his more speciall presence for our help and assistance in a most speciall manner in that House more and rather then in any other place as you may Matth 18. 20. see by Solomons prayer and by the words of Christ therefore the true Saints and servants of God that understood the difference betwixt Holy and Prophane things did ever Honor and shew a great deal of respect and Reverence to this very place of Gods Worship more then to any Chamber of presence of the greatest Monarch of the World And why not For if we must be Bare-headed in the Kings Chamber or the Lord Lieftenants Chamber of Presence why should not Gods Chamber of Presence have the like Reverence Surely none but prophane Atheists wicked Hereticks and the members of the beast that is the Great Anti-Christ that are worse then the worst of worldlings have ever denied it or abused prophaned or blasphemed these or any of these material Churches whereof the Prophet saith Holiness becometh thy House for ever For sal 93. 6. Though as I said before originally and in respect of their own naturâ— In what sense all things are alike Holy there is no inberent or innate Sanctity in one place more then in another but all places are alike Holy and so are all daies and all meats and all other things that are ejusdem speciei of the same kind they are all alike Holy and there is no difference nor any more Sanctity in any one than in the other they being all alike created Holily by God who beheld All the things Gen. 1. 31. that he made and behold they were all exceeding good Yet if we consider Gods designation of any of these things and the Sanctification In what sense some things are more Holy then other things of the same by Gods own appointment for such and such ends and uses in the service of God then you shall find a great deal of difference betwixt the one and the other and a great deal of a relative and accidental Holiness in and belonging to the one more then to the other otherwise what difference will you make betwixt the common bread that we And for the fuâ—ther clearing of this point you may look into Mr. Medes learned discourse De Sanctitate relativa and his answer to Dr. Twisse p. 660. and in Levit. 19. 30. eat of the finest Wheat-flower and the most Holy and blessed bread of the Holy Eucharist or the Lords Supper But the Sanctifying of this bread by our prayers to this end and for this use to be the body and blood of Christ makes all the difference so that now after the words of Consecration of it which are the words of Christ Hoc est corpus meum this is my body we cannot without prophaneness and a mighty offence give the same to dogs or unbelieving Jews or to any other whom we do know to be altogether unworthy of it as we can give the other bread that is made of the same lump to either of these without any fault or offence at all Or what difference is there betwixt one day and another but because the Lord hath designed the seventh day to be set apart for his service and hallowed it for that end therefore it is more Holy then the other six daies and so are the daies and feasts that are appointed by the Church to Honor God in them as the commemoration of Christ's Nativity Circumcision Resurrection Ascention and other daies of Thanks-giving for some speciall blessings and extraordinary favours which as on those daies we have received from God which daies none will prophane but the neglecters of Gods Honor and the prophaneners of his service So what difference or what holiness is there naturally in one man more then in another none or little at all but when the Lord calleth and chooseth one man before another to be his servant and to be sent and his Embassadour to Preach his Word to Administer his
compendious and short that they might not be forgotten for which cause the Ten Commandments are styled decem The Commandments are very short that we should not forget them verba ten words and these ten words are contracted into one word which is but one syllable and all the Commandments of God are comprehended in that one syllable Love For love is the fulfilling of the Law There is no reason we should look that all the inclusive particulars contained in that one word or in those few short precepts should or could be particularly expressed therein But they are alwaies left to be understood and explained by the Pâ—eachers and Commentators As when he saith Thou shalt love the Lord thy God the Sanctifying of the Sabbath you must confess is therein concluded and yet that the Sabbath shall be the seventh day is not therein mentioned So when he saith Thou shalt have none other gods but me the Tythes that are a special means to uphold and further his outward service must of necessity be understood to be therein comprehended though in direct terms the tenth part is not expressed And Further I answer to their fourth Objection That although a Judicial and a Ceremonial consideration may be rendred for the payment of Tythes among the Jews As that equality might be preserved among the tribes of this people that because in the Division of the Land of Canaan the Levites had no part of the Land Moses thought it fit the Tythes which were to be paid to God should be given to them out of every tribe and that would make their estate and maintenance proportionable to the other tribes yet this judicial consideration of paying the Tythes unto the Levites doth no waies infringe or weaken the equity and morality of this precept for the perpetual payment of the Tythes to Christ and his Ministers to further and uphold the service of God And besides the equity and morality of this precept seeing Moses was Any Kinâ—dom may take laws from other Kingdoms when they are seen good so just and so excellent a Law-giver far beyond and much better then all the Law-givers of the Gentiles Greek or Latin there is no reason why other Kingdoms or Nations should not use the same judicial Laws as were used among the Jews for the politick powers of any Kingdom may take Laws from any other Kingdom where they see the best Laws made as the Romans took their Law of the twelve Tables from the Athenians and the Cities of Germany from the Venetians and then Sicut leges quas Athenis Romani transtulerunt cum ab ipsis comprobatae confirmatae fuissent eas nihilominus Jus Civile Romanorum nominarunt As the Laws which the Romans took from Athens when they were received and confirmed by the Senate of Rome they were styled The Civil Laws of the Romans saith the Câ—â—us de jâ—re Râ—gis Ecclesiast Lord Cook so when any Kingdom or Common-wealth takes those Laws of the Jews that were meerly Judicial and not any waies Moral precepts or the like politick Laws of any other Nation and confirm them for Laws to be observed in their Territories they have the force of binding-Laws and may not with a safe Conscience of any of the Subjects of those Dominions where they have their Sanction be voyded or violated CHAP. XVII What the ancient Fathers of the Church and the Councils collected of most Learned and pious Bishops have left written concerning Tythes And of the three-fold cause that detains them from the Church ANd now having seen by the Testimony of the Holy Scripture and by What the Fathers say of Tythes and Oblarions Iren. l. 4. c. 34. many Reasons that the Tythes are by a Divine right due to Christ and his Ministers Let us hear what the Fathers and Councils and the Canons of the Church have said of this point concerning Tythes and I do find that Irenaeus who was Scholler to Polycarpus that was the disciple of S. John the Evangelist saith Offerimus Deo bona nostra ut signa gratitudinis pro illis donis quae à Deo recepimus We offer to God our goods that is our Tythes and Oblations to God as the signs and tokens of our thankfulness unto God for those gifts which we receive from God And Origen saith Origen in num Hom. 11. Qui colit Deum debet donis oblationibus agnoscere cum Deum datorem omnium He that Worshippeth God must by his gifts and oblations that is his Tythes and Offerings acknowledge God to be the Lord and giver of all things And Innocentius saith Deus speciali titulo decimas sibi-ipsi reservavit Extra de deâ—â—mâ—c Cum non sit in signum dominationis jurisdictionis super omnia God hath by a special title reserved and kept unto himself the Tythes of all things to shew and put us in mind of that Vniversal power right and Dominion that he hath over all things Itaque Judaei decimas persolvendo testabantur quod omnia sua seque ad cò ipsos Deo autori omnium bonorum largitori deberent And so the Jews by the payment of their Tythes testified that they owed all that they had and themselves also to God the Author and the giver of all good And what God hath reserved to himself he hath resigned and given to his Ministers that do serve at his Altar because the Lord requireth none other reward from us but what tendeth to his Worship to Praise him and magnify him for ever And it is an argument of his Infinite loving kindness that for all the fruits and profits that he bestoweth upon us he requireth by way of precept as a Rent-charge to maintain his publick Worship but the tenth part to be restored back to him again and that only to this end that his people might not forget him to be their God and the giver of all the good that they have And in that respect S. Gregory saith Cum non ab hominibus sed à Deo ipso decimae sunt institutae quasi debitum exigi possunt Seeing the commandment of paying Tythes is not from men but from God himself they may be required by Gods Ministers as due debts that do belong unto them But to let pass what I might collect from all the rest Saint Augustine Decret Greg. l. â— tit 30. c. 34. that in my judgment is the most learned and most judicious of all the Fathers is most plain and plentiful in this point saying Haec est Domini justissima consuetudo Si tu illi decimam non dederis tu ad decimam revocaberis id est daemonibus quae est decima pars angelorum associaberis This is the just proceeding of the Righteous Lord that if thou wilt not pay thy Tythes to him thou shalt be reduced unto the tenth and associated unto the Devils which is the tenth part of the Angels and in the interim the mean while Dabis
or some part of the Tythes of an impropriate Church for the inlarging of their Larder-house And that you need not doubt of this I must here set down what you may find in Mr. Crashaws Epistle to Mr. Pâ—rkins second Treatise of the Duties of the Ministry that in one County of the Kingdom of England the East riding of the County of York there are contained one hundred and five Parishes whereof nigh an hundred or the full number of an hundred are of this hateful name and bastardly title of Impropriations and some of them are of yearly value of four hundred pounds others worth three hundred pounds per annum others two hundred pounds and almost all worth one hundred pound a year and yet the Minister's part is ten pound stipend yea some have but eight pounds and some but six pounds and some but four pounds to live upon for the whole year and out of the Great Benefice of four hundred pounds a year the Minister had but eight pound per annum until of late with much labour ten pounds yearly for a Dr. Gardiner in his Scourge of Sacriledge Preacher And saith mine Author the most of the Churches in the properest Market-Towns of this Kingdom are thus held and retained by our Nobility and Gentry And so I found it in my Diocess of Ossory in the Kingdom of Ireland that the Impropriations had so swallowed up the Tythes and the Revenues of the Churches that as I shewed it in my Remonstrance to his Majesty six or seven Vicaridges united together will scarce make twenty pound a year for the Preacher Et durus est hic sermo for hereby the people perish and as the Prophet saith The poor Children cry for Bread and for want of means to maintain the Ministers there is none that is able to give it them I know King Henry the 8th that could cause his Parliaments as I ever understood from the old Parliament men of those times to make what Laws and to conclude what Acts of Parliament he pleased got many Laws to be made and many Acts to pass to justify and to make good and Lawful the Taking away Leasing Selling and Alienating the Tythes Lands Houses and Possessions of the Church and of our High Priest Jesus Christ from his servants to be inherited by lay persons and many other Acts of Parliaments have been made since that time to the same purpose which very thing we conceive as I have shewed to be very High Sacriledge and a robbing of Jesus Christ and the obstructing of his service and we fear the cause of the perishing of many souls And therefore how the Shield of the Pope's Authority that was the first Foster-Father of this execrable and accursed title of Impropriation or the power of King Henry the 8th that would expunge the Pope's Sacriledge with a greater Sacriledge and be the second Patron of this Bastard brood or all the pretences of the now detainers of the Tythes and portion of Christ and the Lands Houses and Possessions of the Church by these Humane Laws can bear off the blow of Gods wrath and turn aside the fierceness of his vengeance when in the day of his fury he shall powre out the full vial of his indignation upon the head of all Sacrilegious persons and upon the children and posterity of them that have devoured the Lords inheritance and laid wast his dwelling place I can no waies understand neither do I know how to give them any comfort or counsel but to advise them to a full and timely Restitution of that which otherwise will be their utter destruction Quia non remittitur peccatum donec restituatur August ad Maced Epist 54. oblatum cum restitui potest The sin shall never be remitted and blotted out of Gods book until the Tythes and goods of Gods Church be restored when men can restore them and will not do it CHAP. XVIII Of the second part of the Stipend Wages and Maintenance of the Ministers of the Gospel which is the Oblation Donation or Free-wil-offering of the people for to uphold and continue the true service of God and to obtain the blessings of God upon themselves and upon their labours which Donations ought not to be impropriated and alienated from the Church by any means YOu have heard of the first part of the Ministers maintenance the second part consisteth in the voluntary Oblations or Free-wil-offerings of the people which the Lord requireth should be done according as every one in his own heart thought good to bestow upon the service of God and what they did offer in this kind was most acceptable in the sight of God For this is a Principal Branch of that Honor which we yield unto God by and with our substance which we are injoyned to do Prov. 3. 9. Because what we relieve the poor with is not so much our alms as their exigence which as necessity exacts it so it is soon passed and as quickly perisheth but those Donations that were given for the service of God as they savour of a more inward and deeper piety so they are of a more lasting substance and besides the eternal Treasures which men do thereby lay up for themselves they do provide for the perpetuity of Religion unto the after-ages of men and may be justly said to Honour God not only in themselves but in all those likewise which they gain by their Donations to Honor him And it is strange and marvellous to consider how liberal and how free the people of old time were in their Donations and Free-wil-offerings to maintain the Worship of God and to do any thing that did any wayes appertain to his service for if you look into the 36. Chapt. of Exod. vers 5. you shall find how Bezaleel and Aholiab spake unto Moses saying The people bring much more then enough for the service of the work which the Lord hath commanded to be made and Moses gave commandment and caused Exod. 36. 5 6 7. it to be Proclaimed through the Camp that they should bring no more for that they had already brought enough and too much So they that returned out of Babylon were as ready and as willing to offer up their gifts and free-wil-offerings for the service of the Temple as their Forefathers were for the erecting of the Tabernacle as you may see it in the books of Ezra and of Neh 7. 70. c. 10. 33. Nehemiah But the Christians of the Primitive Church were so zealous herein that they exceeded all that went before them in their Donations and Free-wil-offerings for the service of God and the increase of the Christian Religion for they sold their Lands and Possessions and laid the prizes thereof at the Apostles feet and had all things in common among themselves And Pope Vrban the I. instituted Vt eâ—clesias praedia ac fundos fidelibus oblatos Platin. in Vrban â—piscopus recipereâ— partireturque proventus clericis omnibus viritim
nihilque cujuspiaâ— privatum esset sed in commune bonum That the Bishops should receive the Churches Possessions and grounds offered to the Faithful and that the profits thereof should be divided by the Clergy man by man and that nothing should be of private propriety to any one but in common amongst them all And Gratian tels us that by a decretal Epistle unto all the Bishops he decreed that none should presume to alienate ought of the Church Revenues under the pain of Excommunication And Pope Lucius the I. about twenty years after Vrban directed an Epistle to the Bishops of Spain and France to the same purpose And though the malice of Dr. Burges towards the Bishops will not suffer him to yield that King Lucius gave the Lands of the Idol-Priests unto â—ide Flor. hist ad an 186. Matth. Westm the Christian Bishops yet is it clear enough out of Antiquit. Brit. and Armachanus that Lucius endowed the Christian Church with more Lands and Revenues then the Idol-Priests injoyed And afterwards while it was permitted by the Imperial Laws for every one to Collate upon the Church whatsoever he would without exception their Donations were so great that the Kings and Emperours conceived Cod. l. 1. titulo 5. l. 1. it fit with Moses to grant a prohibition that they should not offer any more nor bestow any Lands or Goods upon the Church without some special licence and toleration from the Civil Magistrate for fear that the Church if this freedome of Donations should still continue would have sucked out all the blood from the veins and the marrow out of the bones of the poliâ—ick body and so leave the Common-Wealth deprived of their Lands like Pharaohs lean and evil-favoured Cows and the Church like those that were fat and wel-liked And therefore they enacted the Statute of Mortmain that was a sâ—persedeas against these too-liberal contributions and the Emperour Justinian enacted that no Legacy bequeathed unto the Church exceeding the value covetousness and hath advised you to give unto Caesar what is due to Caesâ—r and you know that his Wars and the affairs of the Common-wealth are very chargeable unto him and we know that your profession is not to hoord up wealth and to make account of transitory things And therefore if you be pleased to forgo those lands and riches and vessels of Gold and Silver which you have and care not for I will warrant you both safety of life and freedom to use your Religion according to your Conscience To whom the godly man answered That he desired three dayes liberty Pâ—udent Peâ—istâ—ph to return his resolution and by the third day he had gathered together a multitude of poor lame blind impotent men and women whose names he delivered up in a Schedule into the Tyrant's hands and said These are the goods of the Church for whom I am but the Steward of those goods that you desire and my Master commanded me to keep for them and for his Service A blessed man that herein shewed he feared God more than man And I would all our Bishops that have alienated and past away the lands houses and pâ—ssessions of the Church in long Leases and Fee-ferms unto their children and friends for a trifling rent only reserved unto their successors had had some part of this good mans spirit for then the Church of Christ had not been left so naked as it is But you may remember the Canon that I quoted to you before which saith If any Bishop do grant the Tythes or other possessions of the Church Caus 16. qu. 7. c. 3. Greg. 7. Si quis à modâ— Episcopus to any lay man let him be numbred among the greatest Hereticks and let his name be like Demas a lover of this world more than a lover of God And I hope that by this which I have already shewed it is apparent unto you and to all men that will not be blind having their eyes open and grope with the Sodomites for the wall at noon-day The Donations of good and holy men whether houses lands or goods which they have freely dedicated and given to God to perpetuate the Service and to promote the Religion of Jesus Christ ought not by any means to be either by the Bishop alienated or by his children or any other person received and taken away from the Church contrary to the will and intention of the Donor And I say here in the name of God That no Bishop can passe it away nor any lay person can receive it and detain it from the Church without sin and committing a most horrible Sacriledge in the sight of God And if men did but remember what the Apostle saith That a Testament or a mans last Heb. 9. 17. Will is of force and inviolable after men are dead and that the very Gentiles and Heathens thought it a Piaculum and a heynous offence to infringe and alter a mans last Will and Testament I wonder why these mens Wills that gave their own goods and it was lawful for them to do what they would with their own to God and to maintain Gods Service should not be of force and stand unalterable but that men will so fearlesly break them and so presumptuously take away the things that they bequeathed unto God especially if men considered the form and style of their Donation which I find thus expressed in sundrie Copies These things being lawfully our own Capit. Car. â— 6. cap. 285. we offer and give to God for the maintenance of his Service from whom if any man presume to take them away which we hope no man will attempt to do but if any man shall do Let his account be without favour and his judgement without mercy in the last Day when he cometh to receive his doom which is due for his Sacriledge which he hath committed against that our Lord and God unto whom we have given and dedicated the same For this form and manner of their Dedication should in my judgement make their hairs to stand on end and their hearts to tremble for fear of this judgement when they go about to take away the lands houses and possessions of the Church which were offered for the service of God and which I would not do for all the World and which I think none durst do but such as have their hearts heardened above Pharaohs heart But here I must tell you How that after I came to London to put this Treatise into the Press I lighted upon a Pamphlet not only foolish but most wicked defending the most horrible sin of Sacriledge to be no sin at all and the selling and taking away of the Church-Lands to be no offence at all which Pamphlet had I met it at Kilkenny I would have done as our Saviour did at Jerusalem made a scourge to Whip the publisher of it C. Burges out of the Church of Christ and after the detecting of his lies and errors condemn
Religion should be revenged with humane fire or that it should grieve us to suffer wherein we are commended for suffering Nazianzen that for his soundnesse of judgement and profoundnesse of Nazian Orat. 1. knowledge was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 termed Theologus the Divine saith that the fury of Julian that great Apostata was repressed onely with the tears of the Christians which many of them did most plentifully powre forth to God when they had no other remedy against their Persecutor because Mark that they ay it is unlawful to resist they knew it unlawful for them to use any other means then sufferance or else they might having so much strength as they had have repelled their wrongs with violence Saint Ambrose saith as much and Prosper in like manner saith The present Ambros ep 33. evils should be suffered untill the promised happinesse doth come the Infidels should be permitted among the faithful and the plucking of the tares should be deferred and let the wicked rage against the godly as much as they will yet the case of the righteous is far better because that Quantò acriâ—s impeâ—untùr tantò gloriosiâ—s coronantur by how much the Prosper in sent 99. more sharply they are tormented by so much the more gloriously they shall be crowned And Saint Bernard saith If all the world should conspire against me and conjure me that I should plot any thing against the royal Majesty yet I would fear God and would not dare to offend the King that is appointed Bernard Ep. 170. of him over me because I am not ignorant of the place where I read Whosoever resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God And yet he speaketh this of King Lodovicus that offered a monstrous wrong to all the Clergy when he robbed them and took away all their goods without cause and which is worse would hear of no perswasions to make restitution or to give them any satisfaction as Gaguinus Gaguin lib 6 testifieth Thus the Fathers whereof I could heap many more do testifie of this The Schoolmen of the same judgement truth and the School-men tread in the same steps and differ not a nails breadth from them herein For Alexander Hales saith wicked and evill men ought to suffer for the fault of their irrationability and good men ought to suffer Propter debitum divinae ordination is for the duty that they owe to the divine ordinance and the benefit of their own purgation Whereupon Saint Ambrose saith Ambrosius in Rom. 13. If the Prince be good he doth not punish the well-doer but loveth him because he doth well but if the Prince be evill and punisheth the well-doer he hurteth him not but purgeth him and therefore he is not a terrour to him Alex. Hales p. 3. q. 48. memb 2. art 1. de offic subd erga Princ. that doth well but the wicked ought to fear because Princes are appointed that they should punish evill Aquinas saith The faith of Christ is the beginning and the cause of righteousnesse and therefore by the faith of Christ the order of Justice is not taken away but rather setled and strengthened because as our Saviour saith It became him to fulfill all righteousnesse But the order of justice doth require that all inferiours should obey their superiours otherwise the estate of humane affairs could no ways be preserved and therefore by the Tham. secunda secundae q. 104. art 6. faith of Christ the godly and the faithful Christians are neither exempted nor excused but that they are tyed and bound by the Law of Christ to obey their secular Princes Where you see the Christian faith doth not submit the superiour to the inferiour contrary to the rule of justice neither doth it any wayes for any cause permit the power of the sword to any subject to be used against his Prince because this inordinate power would turn to the ruine of man-kind and the destruction of all humane affairs which can no otherwise be preserved but through the preservation of the order of justice Indeed many times there may happen some just causes for which we are Wherein we may disobey and how not bound to obey the commands of our Magistrates as when they command any thing contrary to the commandements of God and yet then there can be no cause why we should withstand him that executeth the unjust sentence of our condemnation or requireth the punishment that an unjust malitious Magistrate under the colour of his power and authority hath most unjustly laid upon us because he hath as our Saviour saith unto Pilate this ordinary power from God which if he doth abusâ— he is to be refrained not by the preparation of arms and the insurrection of his subjects to make impressions upon their Soveraign but by those lawful means which are appointed for them that is Petitions unto him and prayers and tears unto God for him because nothing else remaineth to him that is guilty or condemned as guilty for any fault but to commit his cause to the knowledge of the omnipotent God and to expect the judgement of him which is the King of Kings and the Judge of all Judges and will undoubtedly chastize and correct the iniquity of any unjust sentence with the severity of eternal justice as Barclay saith Barcl l. 3. c. 10. These testimonies are clear enough and yet to all these I will adde this one memorable example which you may read in Berchetus and Joh. Servinus Berchetus in explicat controvers Galli cana cap. 7. which tells us that in France after the great Massacre at Paris when the reformed Religion did seem as it were forsaken and almost extinguished a certain King powerful in strength rich in wealth and terrible for his Ships and navall Force which was at enmity and hatred with the King of France dispatched a solemn Embassie and Message unto Henry King of Navarre and other Protestant Lords and commanded his Embassadors to do their best to set the Protestants against the Papists and to arm Henry the Prince of Navarre which then lived at Bearn under the Dominion of the most Christian King against his Soveraign the French King which thing the Embassadours endeavoured to do with all their art and skill but all An example of a faithful and excellent subject in vain for Henry being a good subject as it were another David to become a most excellent King would not prevent the day of his Lord yet the Embassadours offered him many ample fair and magnificent conditions among the rest abundance of money the summe of three hundred thousand Aureorum Scutatorum French Crowns which were ready to be told for the preparation of the warre and for the continuation of the same there should be paid every moneth so much as was necessary but Henry being a faithful Christian a good Prince a Widower and though he was displaced from the publique government of the Common wealth and
or at the best to bring many men to many miseries before we can attain unto any happinesse and so as the Poet saith in this very case among the Romans when for their liberty and priviledges as they termed it in Pompey's time Exâ—â—ssit medicina modam The remedy that they procured hath proved farre worse then the disease they suffered And I doubt not but ere long the Rebels in this Kingdom will feelingly confesse this to be too true when they shall more deeply taste of the like miseries as they have brought as well upon many of their own friends as others If you alledge the time of Richard the third how soon he was removed and how happily it came to passe that Henry the seventh succeeded I answer briefly that Râ—chard the third was not onely a cruel bloody Tyrant but he was also an unjust Usurper of the Crown and not the right King of England and that there is great deal of difference betwixt rebelling against our lawful Kings which God hath justly placed over us and expelling an usurping Tyrant which hath unjustly intruded himself into the royal Throne This God often hath blessed as in the case of Eglon Athalia Henry the seventh and many more which you may obviously find both in the Greek and Roman stories and the other he alwayes cursed and will â—plague it whensoever it is attempted After I had answered these Objections I lighted upon one more which Object Goodwin in his Anti-Cavalie rismâ— p. 8 is taken out of 2 Kings 6. 32. where the Objector saith When Ahab sent a Cavalier a man of blood to take away the Prophet Elisha's head as he sate in his house among the Elders did Elisha opeâ— his dore for him and sit still till he took off his head in obedience to the King No he bestirred himself for the safeguard of his life and called upon others to stand by him to assist him And a little after he saith Surely he that went thus farre for the safety of his life when he was but in danger to be assaulted would have gone further if occasion had been and in case the Kings Butcher had got in to him before the dore had been shut if he had been able and had had no other means to have saved his own head but by taking away the others there is little question to be made but he would rather have taken then given a head in this case I answer that who this Goodwin is I know not I could wish he were Sol. The Ministers of Christ should not be the inâ—endiaries of war none of the Tribe of Levi 1. Because I find him such an incendiary of warre and an enemy unto peace whereas the messengers of Christ have this Elogie given them Qâ—Ã m speciosi pedes Evangelizantium pacem And the Scripture saith Blessed are the Peace-makers and we continually pray Give peace in our dayes O Lord and therefore I can hardly believe these incendiaries of warre to be the sonnes of the God of peace 2. Because his objection is full of falshoods and false grounds as 1. He saith that Ahab sent to take Elisha's head when as Ahab was The first mistake in the front of his Speech 2 Kings 6. 32. If any thing more dead long before it was his ghost therefore and not he But it was his son and what then what did the Prophet he shut the dore and desired the Elders to handle the messenger roughly or hold him fast at the dore Thus saith the Text and the Prophet in my judgement doth herein but little more then what God and nature alloweth every man to do not to lay down his life if he can lawfully preserve it but as the Prophet did to shut the dore or as our Saviour saith When we are persecuted in one City to flye into another to save our lives as long as we can and in all this I find no violent resistance But 2. the Objector tells us Surely if the messenger had got in Elisha had taken off his head rather then given his own I demand What inspiration he hath from God to be sure of this for I am sure John Baptist would not do so nor Saint Paul nor any other of Gods Saints that I have read of but these men are sure of every thing even of Gods secret Counsel and that is more then the thoughts of mens hearts or if this be sure which I am not sure of I answer that Elisha was a great Prophet that had the spirit of Eliah doubled upon him and those actions which he did or might have done through the inspiration of Gods spirit this man may not do except he be sure of the like inspiration for God who is justice it self can command by word as he did to Abraham to kill his son or by inspiration as he did to Elias to call fire from Heaven and it is a sin to disobey it whereas without this it were an horrible sin to do it And we must distinguish betwixt rare and extraordinary cases that were managed by special commission from God and those patterns that are confirmed by known and general Rules which passe through the whole course of Scripture and take heed that we make not obscure Commentaries of humane wisdom upon the clear Text of holy Writ Quia maledicta glossa quae corrumpit textum Cursed be the gloss that corrupts the Text. But indeed the place is plain that Elisha made no other resistance but what every man may lawfully do to keep the messenger out of dores so long as he could and yet this man would inferre hence that we may lawfully with a strong hand and open warre resist the authority of our lawful Kings a Doctrine I am sure that was never taught in the School of Christ He makes some other Objections which I have already answered in this Treatise and then he spends almost two leaves in six several answers that he maketh to an objection against the examining the equity or iniquity of the Kings commands but to no purpose because we never deny but that in some cases though not in all for there must be Arcana Imperii and there must be Privie Counsellours and every Peasant must not examine all the Edicts of his Prince The commands of Kings may not onely be examined but also disobeyed as the three Children did the commands of Nebuchadnezzar and the Apostles the commands of the High Priests but though we may examine their commands and disobey them too when they are contrary to the commands of God yet I would fain know where we have leave to resiâ—t them and to take arms against them I would he understood There is a great deal of difference betwixt examining their commands and resisting their authority the one in some cases we may the other by no means we may do CHAP. VIII Sheweth that our Parliament hath no power to make warre against our King Two main Objections answered The original of Parliaments
the Papists in Ireland and to get that Act to purchase all the Lands of the Rebels had tasted too much of this bitter root of such destructive Doctrine whereby you see how the Religion of these men robbes us of our Estates keeps no faith with us and takes away our lives 7. Though among the works of God every flower cannot be a Lilly 7. They would have a party among all men both in Church and Common-wealth Gal. 5 6. Câ—l 3. 11. every beast cannot be a Lyon every bird cannot be an Eagle and every Planet cannot be a Phoebus yet in the School of these men this is the doctrine of their to be new erected Church that with God there is no respect of persons and neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but whether they be bond or free masters or servants Jew or Gentile Barbarian Scythian a country-Clown or a Court Gallant rich or poor it is all one with God because these Titles of Honour Kings Lords Knights and Gentlemen are no entities of Gods making but the creatures of mans invention to puffe him up with pride and not to bring him unto God and therefore though for the bringing of their great good work to passe they are yet contented to make the Earl of Essex their General and Warwick their Admiral and so Pym and Hampden great Officers of Stateâ— yet when the work is done their Plot perfected and their Government established then you shall find that As now they will eradicate Episcopacie and make all our Clergie equall as if all had equally but one talent and no no man worthier than another so then there should be neither King Lord Knight nor Gentleman but a parity of degrees among all these holy brethren And to give us a taste of what they mean as the Lords concurrence with them inabled them to devour the Kings poweâ— so they have since with great justice prevailed with the House of Commons to swallow up the Lords power and have most fairly invaded their priviledge when they questioned particular Members * As my Lord Duke and my Lord Digbie 8. They would have no man to pray for temporal things Matth. 33 34. Matth 6. 1â— 9. Not to say the Lords Prayer 10. Not to say God Speed you 2 John 10. 11 12 Not to pray for the Malignants 1 John 5. 16. for words spoken in that House and then the whole House when they brought up and countenanced a mutinous and seditious Petition which demanded the Names of those Lords that consented not with the House of Commons in those things which that House had twice denied 8. Because our Saviour saith Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven and the righteousnesse thereof and all these things that is meat drink and cloathes and all other earthly things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be cast unto you and again Be not carefull for to morrow they teach their Proselytes that they ought not to pray by any means for any of these things whereas Christ biddeth us to say Give us this day our daily Bread 9. They cannot endure to say the Lords Prayer for that 's a Popish superstition but their Prayers must be all tautologies and a circular repetition of their own indigested inventions 10. You must not say God speed you to any neighbour or any traveller lest he intends some evill work and then you shall be partaker of his sin 11. They will not allow any of their Disciples to pray for any of the Reprobates and therefore they do exceedingly blame us and tear our Liturgie because we say That it may please thee to have mercy upon all men 12. Because Christ saith Call no man father on earth for one is your Father which is in Heaven the child must not call him that begat him and nurseth him his father nor kneel unto him to ask him blessing nor perform many other such duties which the Lord requireth and the Church instructeth her children to do to this very day and this foolish Doctrine of calling no man Father no man master or Lord and the like in their sense because they understand not the divine meaning of our Saviour's words hath been the cause of such undutifulnesse and untowardnesse such contempts of superiours and such rebellions to Authority as is beyond expression when as by their disloyalty being thus bred up in them from their cradle they first despise their father then their Teachers then their King and then God himself CHAP. IX Sheweth three other speciall points of Doctrine which the Brownists and Anabaptists of this Kingdom do teach 13. BEcause they can find no Text in Scripture when as the Alcoran is not so impudently hellish as to justifie the action for to warrant men to absolve our consciences from any Oaths that we have voluntarily taken for the performance of any businesse I cannot say that they do professedly teach but I do hear they do usually practise this most damnable sin as that Master Marshall and Master Case did absolve the Souldiers taken at Brainceford from their Oath which they took never to bear Arms against his Majesty which is a sin destructive both to body and soul when their Perjury added to their Treason makes them two-fold more the children of hell than they were before and if they be taken again they can expect nothing but their just deserved death and therefore I do admire that any man can challenge the name of a Divine which doth either preach or practise a point so devilish 14. Because Saint Paul saith These hands have ministred to my necessities 14. They think sacriledge to be no sin Acts 20. 34. 1 Thes 2. 9. 1 Cor. 1. 12. and to them that were with me and again Labouring night and day because we would not be chargeable to any of you we preached unto you the Gospel of God and because the rest of the Apostles and Disciples were Fishermen Tradesmen or professours of some Science either liberal or mechanick as Saint Luke was a Physician Joseph a Carpenter and the like who did live by their manual crafts and were chargeable to none of their people but sought them and not theirs to win their souls to God and not their monies unto themselves therefore they think it no robbery to take away all the revenues of the Church nor sacriledge to rob the Clergy of all the means they have because they should either labour for their livings as the Apostles did or live upon the peoples Almes as many poor Ministers do to the utter undoing of many souls in many distressed and most miserable Churches But because this revenue of the Church and the Lands of the Bishops is that golden Wedge and the brave Babylonish garment which the Anabaptistical Achans of our time do most of all thirst after in this their pretended holy Reformation I must here sistere gradum stay awhile and let you know 1. That the taking away of any Lands or goods given and
lay hold upon it because commonly all the pleasure of this world is fled from us before we can scarce fasten on it and as the wise man saith extrema gaudii luctus occupat Sorrow and sadness do follow both our Profits and our Pleasures hard at the very heels For as the Player appeareth upon the Stage and then presently after few words exit he is gone so the wealth prosperity of this world do but salute us and then immediatly depart from us even while we are most busie about them and when they seem to smile most of all upon us And I could make this plain unto you by more examples than I have time to express For we read of Marcus Aâ—tilius Regulus that was a Roman Consul and Boetius de consol l. 2. c. 5. had laid Fetters upon many Africans yet being unhappily taken by the Carthaginians he found himself presently environed and then miserably â—ied in the Conquerors Chains and it is written of Cheops King of Egypt that erected the Pyramides which were all built of Theban Marble and were of that huge height and monstrous Magnitude that one of them was 20 years in building though it is reported there were circiter decem hominum â—iriades about 10 Myriades of men as Herodotus saith or 100000 men as others write that did continually Herodot l. 2. p. 22. Sandys l. 2. work upon it the same containing as Sands affirmeth eight Acres of ground at the bottom and ascending by 255 steps to the top and every step being of three foot in height and of a proportionable breadth and yet this great King that was of this great power before his death became so poor that he was compelled to prostitute his own Daughter to relieve his wants So Belisarius that in the dayes of Justinian 1. was one of the bravest Souldiers and of the greatest Commanders of the world to whom the Lady and Empress of the world Rome it self owed her self thrice at the least and who took two mighty Kings Gilimer King of Africa and Vitiges King of the Gothes to be his Prisoners yet within a little while this great man as some writers do report came to that poor pass as he was fain to cry Date obolum Belisario quem virtus exaltavit malitia depressit fortuna caecavit O give one half-peny to Belisarius whom vertue hath honoured envy hated and fortune spoyled and made him now a poor blind Beggar And Pedro Mexia setteth down the miserable ends and other strange traverses Treasury of times l. 4. c. 37 Pope John whom Marâ— 5. succeeded An. 1410. Pope Clement that was imprisoned by Charles 5. 1527. Archbishop of Flor. and four Cardinals butchered 1448. The Bishop of Liege Brother to the great Duke of Burgoyne and 10 Abbats massacred in his presence endured by divers Kings Emperours Dukes and other great Princes whereof he accounteth no less than 13. besides 2 Popes 2 Bishops 4 Cardinals and 10 Abbors that within one hundred and fifty years were thrown down from the Pinacle of Prosperity to the lowest Gulf of Adversity as George King of Bâ—hemia Charles Duke of Burgoyne Uladislaus King of Poland Constantinus Paleolagus Emperor of the East Charles 8. King of France James 4. King of Scots John de Albret King of Navarre Lewes Sforza Duke of that rich and goodly Countrey of Millain Francis 1. King of France that was the Patron of all Learning and those three great Kings Muley Mahomet King of Fez and Morocco Abdelmelec his Unkle and Sebastian King of Portugal that came to a miserable end and died all three in one day being Monday the 4th of August 1578. and which is worthy to be remembred above all John Justinian that trayterous Villain who covenanted with Mahomet to betray Constantinople so he would make him King which the great Turk promised and accordingly performed but after three daies struck off his head as his Treason well deserved and so I wish may be the reward of all disloyal Traytors And therefore seeing not only wicked Potâ—ntates but also most famous Kings and Princes and most excellent Prelates have been reduced to such ends what wonder is it that many great Scholars and many reverend Bishops whom their worth and learning raised to some height of dignity should be thrown down as they were of late by envy and hatred into the depth of misery The time would be too short for me to tell you of Craesus the rich King of Lydia Darius the great Monarch of Persia Manius Acilius the proud Consul of Rome holy Job the richest in the Land of Hus and warlike Caius Marius when he had hid himself in the Fens or Bogs of Mynturnes and of many thousands more that were exceeding rich and most honourable and in a moment of time became extream poor and miserable But you may see it every day that as the Poet saith Rich Cresus may suddenly become as poor as Irus Irus est subito qui modo Croesus erat And there is none of us but he may consider how many great and honourable persons have been suddenly disgraced and how many well left Heirs and wealthy men have in an instant consumed all their wealth and wasted their Patrimony like a Snow-bal and then came to be pitied by their Friends and scorned by some others whom formerly they despised and thought them not worthy to eat with the dogs of their Flocks such is the nature of wealth and so great is the vanity of all worldly riches that the wise man saith They betake them unto their wings and flee away like an Eagle i. e. very swiftly Prov. 23 5. And yet for all this it is a wonder to see the folly of most men shewed in the pursuit of this idle vanity for it is reported how Cyneas a most excellent Orator Plutarch in vita Phyrri p. 404. endeavouring to disswade King Pyrrhus a brave Souldier from his expedition against the Romans asked him what he would do when he had subdued them and he answered that he would bring Cicily into his subjection and what will your grace do then said the Orator the King replied then we have a fair passage to go to bring in Carthage and to conquer Africa And when you have conquered them what will you do said Cynâ—â—s We will then said the King bring all Macedon under the yoke of our Obedience And when both Rome and Cicily and Carthage and all Macedon have felt the stroke of your Majesties Sword what will you do then I pray you said the Orator then the King perceiving what he meant smilingly answered we will then take our ease and begin to make Feasts and continue so every day and be as merry together as possibly we can be And what letteth us now my good Lord said Cyneas but that we may be now as merry and more quiet sith we enjoy enough to effect all that presently without any further travel or more trouble which