notwithstanding pay them even to those Priests that had means 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 Obj. 4 4. They do Object That the Commandment for paying Tythes is not 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 Sol. To this Objection which some of our opposers think to be invincible I 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 thereoâ— 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 Many things are included that are not so clearly expressed in the ten Commandments so the Minister cannot discharge his service on the Sabbath unless he is maintained all the week And so when he bids 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 and 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 Obj. The maintenance of the Ministers may be included in those 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 Sol. or tenth part 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 compendious and short that they might not be forgotten for which cause the Ten Commandments are styled The Commandments are very short that we should not forget them decem 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 Preachers 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 Any Kingdom may take laws from other Kingdoms when they are seen good And besides the equity and morality of this precept seeing Moses was so
true religion and to suppress all Heresies and Schismes And so accordingly we finde the good Emperours and Kings have ever done The good Emperours have made Laws for the government of the Church Euseb in vita Constant l. 2. 3. for Constantine caused the idolatrous religions to be suppressed and the true knowledge of Christ to be preached and planted amongst his people and made many wholsome Lawes and godly Constitutions to restrain the sacrificing unto Idols and all other devillish and superstitious south-sayings and to cause the true service of God to be rightly administred in every place saith Eusebius And in another place he saith that the same Constantine gave injunctions to the chiefe Ministers of the Churches that they should make speciall supplication to God for him and he enjoyned all his Subjects that they should keep holy certain dayes dedicated to Christ and the Sabboth or Saturday which was then wont to be kept holy and as yet not abrogated by any Law among the Christians he gave a Law to the Ruler of every Nation that they should celebrate the Sunday or the Lords day in like sort Idem de vita Constant l. 1. 3. 4. c. 18. and so for the dayes that were dedicated to the memory of the Martyrs and other festival times and all such things were done according to the ordinance of the Emperour Nicephorus writing of the excellent virtues of Andronicus son to Immanuel Palaeologus and comparing him to Constantine the Great saith Niceph. in prafation Eccles hist thou hast restored the Catholique Church being troubled with new opinions to the old State thou hast banished all unlawfull and impure doctrine thou hast established the truth and hast made Lawes and Constitutions for the same Sozomen speaking of Constantines sons saith Sozomenus l 3. c. 17. the Princes also concurred to the increase of these things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shewing their good affections to the Churches no less then their father did and honouring the Clergy their servants with singular promotions and immunities both confirming their fathers Lawes and making also new Lawes of their own against such as went about to sacrifice and to worship Idols or by any other means fell to the Greekish or Heathenish superstitions Theodoret tells us that Valentinian at the Synod in Illirico did not onely confirme the true faith by his Royall assent but made also many godly and sharpe Lawes as well for the maintenance of the truth of Christ his doctrine as also touching many other causes Ecclesiastical and as ratifying those things that were done by the Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodor. l. c. 5 6 7. he sent abroad to them that doubted thereof Honorius at the request of Boniface the first made a Law whereby it might appear what was to be done Distinct 79. siduo when two Popes were chosen at once by the indiscretion of the Electors Martianus also made a Statute to cut off and put away all manner of contention about the true faith and Religion in the Councell of Calcedon The Emperour Justinus made a Law that the Churches of Heretiques should be consecrated to the Catholique Religion saith Martinus Poenitentiarius And who knowes not of the many Laws and Decrees that Justinian made in Ecclesiasticall causes for the furtherance of the true Religion for in the beginning of the Constitutions collected in the Code of Iustinian the first 13 titles are all filled with Laws for to rule the Church where it forbiddeth the Bishops to reiterate baptisme to paint L. 1. tit 5. L. 1. tit 7. Novel 123. c. 10. Novel 58. Novel 137. c. 6. or grave on earth the Image of our Saviour And in the Novels the Emperour ordaineth Lawes of the creation and consecration of Bishops that Synods should be annually held that the holy mysteries should not be celebrated in private houses that the Bishops should speak alond when they celebrate the Sacraments of Baptisme and the Eucharist and that the holy Bible should be translated into the vulgar tongue and the like And not onely these and the rest of the godly Emperours that succeeded them but also Ariamirus Wambanus Richaredus and divers other Kings of Spaine did in like manner And Charlemaigne who approved not the decisions of the Greekish Synod wrote a book against the same * Intituled A Treatise of Charlemaigne against the Greekish Synod touching Images whereby the King maintained himself in possession to make Lawes for the Church saith Johannes Beda of which Lawes there are many in a book called The capitulary Decrees of Charles the Great who as Popin his predecessour had done in the City of Bourges so did he also assemble many Councils in divers places of his Kingdoms as at Mayns at Tours at Reines at Chaalons at Arles and the sixt most famous of all at Francfort where himself was present in person and condemned the errour of Felician and so other Kings of France and the Kings of our own Kingdom of England both before and after the Conquest as Master Fox plentifully recordeth did make many Lawes and Constitutions for the government of God's Church The saying of Dioclesian But as Dioclesian that was neither the best nor the happiest governour said most truly of the civil government that there was nothing haraer th n to rule well * That is to rule the Common-wealth so it is much harder to govern the Church of Christ therefore as there cannot be an argument of greater wisdome in a Prince nor any thing of greater safety and felicity to the Common-wealth then for him to make choice of a wise Council to assist him in his most weighty affaires Tacitus Annal. lib. 12. saith Cornelius Tacitus So all religious Kings must do the like in the government of the Church and the making of their Lawes for that government for God out of his great mercy to them and no less desire to have his people religiously governed left such men to be their supporters their helpers and advisers in the performance of these duties and I pray you whom did Kings chuse for this business but whom God had ordained for that purpose for you may observe that although those Christian Kings and Emperours made their Lawes as having the supremacy and the chieâ—est câ—re of God's religion committed by God into their hands yet they did never make them that ever I could read with the advice counsel or direction of any of their Peers or Lay Subjects but as David had Nathan and God The good Kings Emperours made their Lawes for the government of the Church onely by the adv ce of their Clergy A good Law of Instinian Constit 123. Nâ—buâ—hadnezzar had Daniel and the rest of the Jewish Kings and Heathens had their Prophets onely and Priests to direct them in all matters of religion so those Chr stian Kings and Princes took their Bishops and their Clergie onely to be their counsellors and
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 House of Achan The punishment of Sacrilegious persons Josh 7. and the Axe that hath cut down both him and all his posterity in one day So the Sacriledge of Gebeâ—i that must needs have Silver and Rayment from Naaman for the favour that his Master had done unto him 2 Reg. 5. was the Porter that brought the incurable loathsome scab 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 recompensed by the Thracians that invaded subdued 1 Reg. 14.25 26. and harrased all his Dominions So likewise the Sacriledge of Johash King of Israel that drew a great booty out of Gods Temple 2 Reg. 14.14 brought such a vengeance upon him as ended his accursed life with deadly poison And Sennaâ—herib that came with a full 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 2 Reg. 19.37 slew him in the Temple of his god Nisroch And 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 Pallaâ— they lost all their hope and never thrived any more For so Virgil saith Corripuere sacram Effigiem Virgil. l. 2. manibusque cruentis 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 Justin trist l. 4. And so Justin 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 Lactant. de origine error c. 4. c. 8. Lactantius also reporteth how Fulvius the Censor for taking away Marmoreas tegulas Marble-tiles from the Temple of Juno Lacinia as the long-Parliament men took away the Tiles of the Cathedrall Church of St. Keney And Appius Claudius 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 Aulus Gell. noct Artic. l. 3. c. 9. what Aulus Gellius setteth down how that when Quintus Cepio 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 Pyrrhus 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 Val. Max. l. 1. c. 2. Or of the Scythians that were most miserably plagued with many and most grievous diseases called Enareas that is execrable and accursed for their Sacriledge in sacking the Temple of Venus Vrania Vide Theat judicii divini p. 439. Or of Alexander the great that for abusing the consecrated vessels 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 Herodotus l. 1. p 51. Agl. fol. 33. 2. p. was so suddenly stricken in the midst of his banquet even as he was drinking that he groaned and cried out so as if he had been shot with a most deadly dart Or of Antiochus Epiphanes that died most miserably and at his death confessed it was for his sin of Sacriledge because he had taken away the vessels of gold and the vessels of silver Dan. 5.2 3 4. that were in the Church and House of God in Jerusalem Q. Curtius l. 10. p 415. 1 Mach. 6. Or of Heliodorus that being sent to rob the Temple there appeared unto him two men sent from Heaven which whipped him continually so long and so much that he fell down in the Temple and there lay groveling and destitute of all help untill at the request of his souldiers the Priests of God prayed for him Or of Pompeius Magnus Mach. 2.3 who is noted by Titus Livius and Cicero to be one of the most fortunate and most successfull Souldiers in the World yet after he had robbed the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem and spoiled those sacred things that belonged unto the Church he never prospered but sicut unda supervenit undam as one wave followeth after another so ill successes losses and misfortunes followed and succeeded one after another to him untill at last he made
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 1. Reg. 18.17 18.19 20. 2 Chron. 15.2 8 c. and Elias the true Prophet of the Lord And so did King Asa Jehosaphat 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 Mâ—th 2.4 Herod that sought to destroy Him and his Religion inquireth not of any but of the Chief Priests and Scribes Where Christ should be born And so all the Wise and Christian Emperours Constantine Theodosius Justinian and the rest as you may find it in Eusebius 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 he 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 Esay 1.12 The Church of God never became more miserable then when the lay-people undertook to conclude and determine points of Religion and to intermeddle with that which concerns them not as 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 Sanhedrim 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 Mâ—ssenger of the Lâ—rd 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 Malach. 2.7 8 9. I have 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 God should be justly and religiously served THirdly having seen the times and the persons 3. The matter about which they consulted that consulted and conferred together we are now to consider the fruits and effects that this quiet sitting at rest and peaceable times wrought in David and what was the matter that these two grave and great Persons do so seriously deliberate and consult about And most commonly we find What peace prosperity usually produce that rest and peace have been the bane and surfeit of the mind to puff it up with pride and prosperity hath often choaked piety and plenty hath made Religion to pine away and to be cast upon a bed of security as Jezabel was cast upon a bed of fornication For so Moses saith of the Israelites Dilectus meus impinguatus recalcitravit My beloved fed fatted and inlarged Deut. 32.15 kicked with their heels or Jesurun waxed fat and kicked and then he forsook God that made him and lightly esteemed the Rock of his Salvation And as the Poet saith Luxuriant animi rebus plerumque secundis Ovid de arte Am. l. 2. Nec facile est aequâ commoda mente pati Our hearts do swell and our minds grow luxurious and riotous when our affairs do prosper and all things succeed as our hearts desire Our peace and plenty made us wanton and our wantonness brought our wars upon us and have rest and peace as now David had round
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 Clergy that were for the service of the Tabernacle to appear before him 1 Chron. 13.1 3. 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 1 Chron. 15.4 12. Vers 11. he shewed them the abuses that Religion had sustained in the daies of Saul and he caused the Ark to be carried upon the shoulders of the Levites unto the place that he had prepared for it and when he had called for Zaedok 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 1 Chron. 16.39.41 42. and he injoyned 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 Sâ—lomon 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 2 Chron. 8.14 as the duty of every 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 2 Chron c. 5. c. 6. c. 7. and when he 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 â—as at Hierusalem 2 Chron. 17.7 8 9. and to which they were from every corner of the Kingdom yearly 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 2 Chron. 29. per totum and he caused lights to be set up incense 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 2 Reg. 12.7 and by his Royal Authority caused 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. 2 Reg. 23. Obj. per totum 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 by God's holy Spirit both for the building of the Temple and the ordering of the Priests and Levites for the Service of the Temple And as Jehu had the direction of the Prophet Elisha for the suppression of the Priests of Baal so had Ezechias the prophet Esay to direct him in the purging of the Temple and Reformation of those abuses that had crept in into the Service of God Sol. To this we answer That as Joshua the Prince was required to go in and out at the word of Eleazar the Priest so we yield that the King ought to hearken to the counsel and direction of his Bishop and Priest as David here did consult with Nathan and Ezechias with the Prophet Esay And while Religion is purely maintained the people truly instructed and the Church rightly and orderly governed by the Bishops and the rest of the Ecclesiastical Governours the Prince needs not to trouble himself with any Reformation or to meddle with the matters of Religion But the King Prince and Supreme Magistrate ought to see that all the aforesaid things are so and if they be not to correct the Priest when he is careless and to cause all the abuses that he seeth in the Church and in Religion to be Reformed Augustin contra Cresconium l. 3 c. 51. Because as S. Augustine saith In hoc reges Deo serviunt sicut iis divinitùs praecipitur in quantum sunt reges si in suis regnis bonae jubeant mala prohibeant non solum quae pertinent ad humanam
in the great Congregations and among much people and so affectionately to say Psal 35.18 One thing have I desired of the Lord which I will require Psal 27.4 even that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the daies of my life to behold the 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 Obj. But against this it may be objected that the necessity of publick meetings 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 Sol. in my second 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 his shâ—es from his feet because the place where thou standest is Holy ground Exod. 3.15 for the presence of God is either 1. Ordinary The presence of God twofold or 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 Gen. 3.8 knew the 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 Deut. 12.5 14. but they should seek the place which the Lord 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 2 Chron. 6.7 the very 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 laid nor her walls erected in blood he should not build his Temple but Solomon his son that was a Prince of Peace should erect it in the Place that he appointed and with the materialls that he had provided and so he did as you may see 2 Chron. c. 3. 4 5. And when this Temple was destroyed and the people for their sins and neglect of Gods service and prophanation of this House of God were led Captives into Babylon and when after the time of their Captivity was expired that is the full space of 70. years they were permitted to return into their own Land the Lord did put it into the heart of Cyrus King of Persia as the Prophet Esay fore-shewed he should do long before the birth of Cyrus to cause Ezra Zerubbabel Nehemiah and the rest of the Elders of the Jews to build another House and Temple unto God in the same place where Salomons Temple did stand and when the enemies of Gods people and the prophaners of Gods House like our malignants sought to hinder the building of it the Lord put it in the heart of Darius and his son Artaxerxes to cause it to be finished Ezra 6.15 according to the decree of King Cyrus And the Jews were so zealous to do it that they made an end of the work in five years and so by reason of their enemies and their haste it was far disproportionable and different from the former which made the old men that had seen the glory and beauty of the first to weep and lament at the mean aspect of the second And yet it was not so mean but
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 〈◊〉 for the service of God And because That material house was erected and set a part from 〈◊〉 Prophane uses for to pray to God to Preach unto the people and to do all other exercises of Religion as Administring the Sacraments Catecâ—ising the Youths Collecting the Alms for the Poor and the like services of the Lord and was hallowed and Santified by the prayers and Consecration of the Bishop â— Chron. 6 to be used only for that end and that God hath promised his more speciall presence for our help and assistance in a most speciall manner in that House Matth 18.10 more and rather then in any other place as you may 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 sal 93.6 Holiness becometh thy House for ever For Though as I said before originally and in respect of their own nature there is no inherent or innate Sanctity in one place more then in another In what sense all things are aâ—ike Holy 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 Gen. 1.31 they being all alike created Holily by God who beheld All the things that he made and behold they were all exceeding good In what sense some things are more Holy then other things Yet if we consider Gods designation of any of these things and the Sanctification 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 And for the further 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 what difference will you make betwixt the common bread that we ear 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 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 Luk. 10.16 He that 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 Zach. 2.8 He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye And you may see this d 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
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 August ad Maced Epist 54. donec restituatur 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 Exod. 36.5 6 7. and Moses gave commandment and caused 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 Neh 7.70 c. 10.33 as you may see it in the books of Ezra and of 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. Platin. in Vrban instituted Vt ecclesias praedia ac fundos fidelibus oblatos episcopus reciperet partireturque proventus clericis omnibus viritim nihilque cujuspiam 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 Vide Flor. hist ad an 186. Matth. Westm that King Lucius gave the Lands of the Idol-Priests unto 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 Cod. l. 1. titulo 5. l. 1. their Donations were so great that the Kings and Emperours conceived 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 politick 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 supersedeas against these too-liberal contributions and the Emperour Justinian enacted that no Legacy bequeathed unto the Church exceeding the value of five hundred Crowns should be good in Law without a special licence from the
evil advice of the Arrians whom the Empress Faustina did very much favour the Emperor Valentinian sent certain Officers unto S. Ambrose to require him to yield up and surrender his Church of Millane and all the possessions thereof into their hands the holy Bishop in a letter that he sent to his Sister Marcellina telleth her what he did saying When we were commanded to deliver up the Church and all the vessels and possessions thereof into the Officers hands I made this answer unto them If you had demanded mine estate and goods lands houses or any other thing that I had Gold Silver or the like I would very readily yield them to you But it is not in my power to yield up any thing that is the Churches and is but only committed to my trust and custody and therefore herein because the things of the Church are the goods of God Ambros l. 1. Epistol Epist 33. I have a special respect to the saving of the Emperours soul because it neither becometh me the Bishop to give up the vessels and the goods of the Church nor him the Emperour to ask them And therefore I besought his Majesty to take my words in good part and if he loved himself to desist from offering such an injury unto Christ And the same Father in concione de Basilicis non tradendis haereticis saith Solvimus quae sunt Caesaris Caesari We give to Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things that are God's For if Caesar demands his Subsidy or Tribute we do not refuse to pay it but if he would have the Church and Church-goods they must not be delivered up to Caesar Quia Templum Dei est Idem de Basilicis non tâ—adendis haereticis Tomo 5. non jus Caesaris Because the Temple and what belongs unto the Temple is Gods right and not the right of Caesar And this we say for the honour of Caesar because nothing can be more honourable for the Emperour than that he should be called the son of God And the same may I say of every King Prince or Potentate And here I must crave leave to insert a Story How that in the time of Pope Xistus a cunning persecuting Tyrant came to the Treasurer of the Church The Story of a crafty Tyrant and a faithful Pastour related by Doctor Gardiner and said unto him You Christians do complâ—â—â— that you are cruelly dealt withal and perhaps you have some just câ—â—â—e to complain and therefore I am far from any bloody purpose being as unwilling to proceed in any capital Sentence against you as your selves are willing to live but I understand that your Bishops are very rich and have store of vessels of Goâ—d and Silver and many men do give their lands and livings unto your Churches whereby you must needs become exceeding rich and yet your God is no Mammonist but hath left many wholesome Precepts against covetousness and hath advised you to give unto Caesar what is due to Caesar 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 Prudent Peristoph That he desired three dayes liberty 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 Caus 16. qu. 7. c. 3. Oreg 7. Si quis à modo Episcopus or other possessions of the Church 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 Heb. 9.17 or a mans last 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 we offer and give to God for the maintenance of his Service from whom Capit. Car. l. 6. cap. 285. 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
profoundnesse of knowledge Nazian Orat. 1. 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 Mark that they say It is unlawful to resist because 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 Ambros ep 33. The present 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 acriùs impetuntur tantò gloriosiùs coronantur Prosper in sent 99. by how much the 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 Bernard Ep. 170. that is appointed 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 Gaguin lib 6. as Gaguinus testifieth Thus the Fathers whereof I could heap many more do testifie of this truth and the School-men tread in the same steps The School-men of the same judgement 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 ordinationis 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 Alex. Hales p. 3. q. 48. memb 2. art 1. de offic subd erga Princ. and therefore he is not a terrour to him 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 Tham. secunda secundae q. 104. art 6. and therefore by the 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 Wherein we may disobey and how for which we are 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 abuse 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 Barcl l. 3. c. 10. as Barclay saith These testimonies are clear enough and yet to all these I will adde this one memorable example Berchetus in explicat controvers Galli cana cap. 7. which you may read in Berchetus and Joh. Servinus which tells us that in France after the great Massacre ut 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 An example of a faithful and excellent subject but all 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 for his sake for the dislike the King bare towards him the King had banished many Protestants from his Country and had killed many faithful Pastours yet would not he
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 câ—me to passe that Henry the seventh succeeded I answer briefly that Richard 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 a 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 plague it whensoever it is attempted After I had answered these Objections I lighted upon one more Object Goodwin in his Anti-Cavalierisme p. 8 which 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 open 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 Sol. The Ministers of Christ should not be the incendiaries of war I could wish he were none oâ— 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 The first mistake in the front of his Speech 2 Kings 6.32 If any thing more when as Ahab was 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 wâ—rd 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 resist 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 power of the King to call a Parliament to deny what he will and to dissolve it when he will Why our King suffereth BUt when all that hath been spoken cannot satisfie their indignation against true obedience and allay the heat of their rebellious spirits they come to their ultimum refugium best strength
in the blood of so many faithful Christians do sing with the Psalmist Psal 58 9. The righteous rejoyce when they see this vengeance they shall wash their feet in the blood of the ungodly for as Solomon saith The tender mercies of the wicked are meer cruelty Prov. 12.10 And I believe the first inventers of that Design to root out all 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. Col. 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 State 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 power 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. 6.11 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. They think sacriledge to be no sin Acts 20.34 1 Thes 2.9 1 Cor. 1.12 14. Because Saint Paul saith These hands have ministred to my necessities 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
now alive to dispose of their beneficence 2. They are most injurious to the King who is wise as an Angel of God and therefore holdeth this sacriledge odious to his Princely heart that would seek to enrich his Crown with that which will shake it on his head and endanger all his Posterity to such 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 Deut. 33.11 Smite through the loines of them that rise aginst him 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 Pierius in Hier glyph or the Eagles feathers pernitiosa potentia that 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 Aelian lib. 5. cap 15. Var. Hist and the enimies of all Christian Religion 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 plebis scarce worthy to be compared with the Grooms of their stable or such humi serpentes poor abjects as Job speaks of Job 30.8 The sonnes of villains and 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 What prayers and Sermons please these men is thought by these to be very 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 Saviour 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 ceremonious 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 Tertullian calleth Hermogenes primogenitum diaboli most falsely 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 Arguist and railing Rabsheka 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 Organe-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 Churches Pag. 14. 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-residence and so usefull are dumb dogges when they are willing to snarle and bark against Government and Religion but it is strange to me that such a divine harmony Musick how useful Theodoric Epist l. 2. Plutarch de Musica which 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 montis fervorem temperandum to cool and allay the heat and distempers of their minds as Achilles was appeased in Homer and Theodosius was drawn to commiseration luctuoso carmine by a sad Poem sung to him at supper Niceph. lib. 12 cap. 43. 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 Pag. 15.18 he most ignorantly denieth any place to 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 differnce 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
1. The Body which we tread upon Saccus stercorum saith S. Bernard a sack full of dust to say no worse and a Magazine of all Diseases Coughes Agues Feavers Gouts and what not and when these have satisfied and feasted themselves upon our bodies what are our bodies but a feast for Worms And the Soul though it be a pure Spirit as it proceeded from God yet as it is now 2. The Soul traduced from our Parents as many Divines think it is or as it is infused into our flesh as others do believe and remaineth in our bodies all the Faculties thereof are corrupted the Understanding is darkned with ignorance the Memory dulled with forgetfulness and the Will defiled with Misse-affections And so as Earth is good and Water is good yet being mingled together they do make a dirty Puddle and neither of them can be said to be then a pure Element so the body and soul of man though both were good in their Originals and good in their own kind yet now being both coupled together as Mezentius coupled the dead bodies to the living they are both marred and become so deformed by corrupting one another and associating themselves in their desires that now the eyes are the burning-glasses of Concupiscence and lusting after our neighbours Wives Lands and Goods the Tongue is a Razor of detraction to defame and slander our own Mothers Sons the Throat is an open Sepulchre the Hands Engines of violence to rob wound and kill the Heart a Mint of all Villanies the Feet swift to shed bloud and the whole man is become a Beast saith the Psalmist and a Devil Psal 74. John 6.70 saith our Saviour for one of you is a Devil And so you see that all the whole man if he be but meer man as he is begotten of flesh and bloud in his best is but vanity in his next inquity and in his worst consideration a meer misery and so miserable that being but meer man he hath little cause with the Philosopher to thank God that he was made a man when it had been better for him as out Saviour saith of Judas that he had never been made and never born Mark 14.21 And therefore if we labour not to become more than men that is to be like Bacchus That we should labour to become more than meer men bis genitus as the Poets faign of him to be born again of another Mother the spouse of Christ and so to become double men and to consist of the old man begotten of mortal Seed and of the new man that is begotten by the immortal Seed of Gods Spirit we shall never be happy and never otherwise than as I said vanity and misery for though the old man be never so Glorious and never so honourable the Off-spring of Kings and Princes and though outwardly it appears never so beautiful without blemish yet if the Inner man of the heart that is begotten by Gods Spirit be not found out 1 Cor. 3.3 the other is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 flesh as the Apostle termeth it and flesh is an Epithere given to Beasts by the Prophet and that by way of disparagement too where he saith their horses are but flesh and which is viler Esa 31.3 all flesh is grass that soon withereth and rotteth and becometh the Dung of the earth 1 Cor. 15. and the Apostle saith that flesh and bloud shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven because that as I shewed you before flesh and bloud being but meer vanity which is the most opposite to Eternity they can inherit nothing but eternal misery 3 Point 3. As totus homo so omnis homo vanitas every man is vanity that is not only the Fool but also the wise man for there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever but as the fool dieth so dieth the wise man therefore the wise man concluded Eccl. 2.15 16. that this also is vanity And so likewise the young man as well as the old man the rich as well as the poor and the strong as well as the weak the heroick Achilles as well as base Thersites may soon die and vanish away to nothing How all the world is round and all things in the world in a perpetual motion And to be brief you see how the gallant Courtier and the Royal Majesty are no more exempted from vanity than the poorest Clown and meanest Subject for as Eternity is said to be an intelligible sphaere whose Center is every where and his circumference no where but in it self as I shewed to you before out of Trismegistus so the form of the whole world is sphaerical and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or little world which is man in state and condition is also sphaerical and round even as round as a hoop or rather indeed a meer circular-center without any circumference at all and as the primum mobile the first wheel of all the Sphaeres of this whole frame is ever in motion and by that motion we see that part which is now the highest within a dozen hours to become the lowermost so suddenly is the change of the highest things even so it is in all things than are under the Sun there is a perpetual motion and that motion changeth all things which made holy Job to say a Saying worthy to be remembred that although man is but of few dayes few indeed God knoweth and those few dayes are full of troubles and that we all know yet in those few dayes he cometh forth like a Flower that is by little and little and he is cut down that is in a moment he flieth also as a shadow that is very swiftly and never continueth in one stay but is still divolved from one condition to another For our blessed Lord God and loving Father Job 14.1 2. out of his wise Providence and secret love to man hath so tempered all the Accidents and the whole course of mans life with such proportion and equal counterpoyze of occurrents that ever and anon Joyes and Sorrows are mixt together good haps and sad tidings succeed one another as for example David as it were to day is a poor Shepherd The vicissitude of King Davids condition keeping his Fathers Flock and pulling away his sheep out of the Lions Claws and as it were to morrow he is magnified in the Court of Saul he is matched with the Kings Daughter and saluted for the Kings Son in Law and his epithalamium is Saul killed his thousands and David his ten thousands yet presently he fleeth as a banished man and he is prosecuted and persecuted as a Partridge is hunted upon the Mountains but within a while he is crowned King and reigneth in a short space over all Israel even from Dan to Beersheba and as a gallant Conqueror overcometh all his enemies round about him yet that Glory must not last long but his own not only
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 Plutarch in vita Phyrri p. 404. for it is reported how Cyneas a most excellent Orator 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 Cynaeas 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 we are about to go to seek with such shedding of humane blood of others with so much manifest danger unto our selves Yet notwithstanding all this the Learned Orator could not disswade that ambitious Prince from this his high attempt he could no waies prevail to make him desist from that uncertain Enterprize but he would rather hazard all that happy estate which he did now enjoy than leave off the deceitful hope of those things which he did so much desire And indeed such is the condition of all the sons of men most dangerously sick of the same desperate disease for though as the Poet saith and he saith the truth that man is but Somnus Bulla Vitrum Glacies Flos Fabula Foenum Umbra Cinis Punctum Vox Sonns Aura Nihil That is in few words a dream a shadow a thought a nothing yet all or most of this little time that we do enjoy we expend in following after the vain wealth and deceitful riches of this world that we shall find to be but empty clouds without water or like the Apples of Sodom that being greedily grasped will soon turn to smoak and then speedily vanish into nothing and we shall find our selves at last just like the Mill-wheel that turneth still and turneth round from day to day and yet at the years end is in the same place where it was at the beginning So we tumble and tosse and turn to gather wealth and to grow great in this world and yet in the end we shall find our selves just in the same condition as we were at the beginning for naked we came into the world and naked we shall return again What need we then be so unjust and shame our selves either unduly to seek what we ought not to have or unhonestly to deny what we ought to pay Truly I am ashamed that should be verified among Christians which was complained of by the heathens Terras Astraea reliquit that Justice could not be found in any Court on earth or what Solomon said of the Jews should be found amongst us I saw the place of Judgment the highest Court he meant and wickedness was there and the place of Righteousness and iniquity was there Eccl. 3.16 But though neither shame of men nor fear of God can make us leave this iniquity but that we will continue still like Jews and Pagans yet the truth is that man in this rich estate that is yet so palpably vain when it is so unjustly procured can be nothing else but meer vanity 3. Honour Glory and a high esteem to be famous among men are accounted great in this world and so they are indeed but I mean great vanities and the greatest of all vanities For health is a happiness especially while it lasteth and Riches have some substance in them and we may do good with them as others do much evil with them but honour arid fame are nothing else but a vain blast of a poor mans breath or a little bending of a Beggars knee an idle Ceremony fruitless I am sure therefore a great vanity and it may be out some fair shew of some outward reverence when perhaps there is indeed much inward hate because the Tongue oftentimes praiseth those most highly whom the heart detesteth most deadly Or were it not so yet all honour is accounted but 1. Of a short continuance and therefore a great Vanity For 2. Of a small Extent and therefore a great Vanity For 1. Behold how great was the honour of Haman and how suddenly was he hanged Look upon Nebuchadnezzar how he is to day saluted with Haile Glory of the world and to morrow scorned like a Beast and consider how glorious were Pharaoh Senacherib Alexander Cyrus and others and yet behold how speedily they were vanished into nothing and how many great men and most honourable Personages have you lately seen so highly honoured and magnified both in Court and Countrey as the only Emblemes of all honour and how suddenly have they been either killed or headed and their Glory buried in the dust if not turned into worse For the Scourge of Envy from below and the Twigs of Ambition from above do hunt and whip all honour unto death And we know that many men while they lived have been so unhappy as to see their own honour buried Or if some have left a glorious Name behind