the evidence of things not seen yet Segniùs irritant animos c. as the Poet speaketh a man will give more credit to his eyes then to his ears Saint Thomas would not go by hear-say except he might see he resolved not to believe But the chief Priests were so perverse that they would not believe their own eyes for they conspired against our Saviour though they saw him though they knew him though they knew him to be the Messiah and could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the Heire From whence we may observe that as there is a zeale without knowledg so there is a knowledg without faith The very Devils knew our Saviour they knew him to be the Son of God Mat. 3.29 Jesus I know said the evill Spirit to those Exorcists Act. 19.15 But their knowledge was meerly historicall like their faith And just after this manner did the chief Priests know Christ There are indeed some places of Scripture that seem to contradict our Text and to say that the chief Priests knew not Jesus to be Christ knew not that he was the Heire For Saint John saith plainly that the world knew him not Joh. 1.10 And Saint Peter upbraiding the Jewes for killing the Prince of life useth these very words I wot that through ignorance ye did it as did also your Rulers Act. 3.17 And Saint Paul speaking of the wisdome of God which I take to be his Son telleth us in expresse words that none of the Princes of this world knew it for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory 1 Cor. 2.8 But I answer First to that of Saint John the world knew not Christ that is the greatest part of it to that of Saint Paul none of the Princes of this world knew him that is few of them to that of Saint Peter the Jewes and their Rulers slew him ignorantly that is some of them did so thus the ordinary glosse would have those places construed Secondly I answer that the ignorance of the chief Priests was not purae negationis but pravae dispositionis if they were ignorant of Christ it was because they would be ignorant as the people used to say to their Seers see not so these Seers seem to have stopped their eares and shut their eyes for otherwise they could not chuse but acknowledge Jesus to be the Messiah because all the Prophecies of his comming were fulfilled First that Prophecy Gen. 49.10 pointing at the time of his Birth the Scepter was then departed from Judah the Jewes paid contribution they were tributaries to the Romans Secondly that Prophecy Micah 5.2 pointing out the place of his Nativity he was borne in Bethleem of Judea which was the place assigned for Christs Birth as these very chief Priests or their Predecessours told King Herod But if neither the time nor place of his Birth yet his Miracles might perfectly assure them that he was the Messiah And therefore when Saint John Baptist sent two of his Disciples to aske him if he were Christ all the answer he would returne by them was this Go and shew John again those things ye doe heare and see the blind receive their sight the deafe hear the lame walk the lepers are cleansed the dead are raised up c. Mat. 11.4 5. And when Christ commeth some asked the question Shall he doe more Miracles then these which this man doth Joh. 7.31 Though the chief Priests then would not believe his words yet they might have believed him for his works sake But neither of these would prevaile with them they had eares yet would not heare they had eyes yet would not see Which was a most notorious aggravation of their treason for had they been stark blind their sin haply might have been remitted but because seeing they would not see therefore their sin remaineth And this sin of theirs seemeth to be no better then the very sin against the Holy Ghost for against conscience out of meer malice they conspired to put this Heire to death And I pray God the Ring-leaders of our rebellious Reformation be not guilty of the self-same sin for it seemeth to be out of a desperate inveterate malice that notwithstanding the present Treaty some of them persist in their conspiracy against the best of Kings But these Levellers shall bring up the rear of my discourse I passe therefore from the second part of the Text the Person that the chief Priests conspired against which was the Heire to the third which is the manner of their conspiracy They reasoned among themselves saying come let us kill him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they reasoned they argued the case Treason is a sin of deliberation a studied sin All sins are not cognita known sins there are sins of ignorance as well as sins of knowledge But there is neither ignorantia facti nor ignorantia juris in treason it is wilfully contrived and complotted it is a premeditated sin And herein appeareth the hainousnesse of it above other sins To sin out of infirmity or ignorance to be overtaken in a fault this is but as it were chance medley pardonable by the law of God and men But to sin with a full career of set purpose to consult about it this is no lesse then wilfull murder a sin that never must go unpardoned and yet this was the sin of these chief Priests in our Text they reasoned among themselves saying come let us kill him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Come Wicked men use to call and invite one another to commit sin they are a sociable sort of people that are unwilling to go to Hell alone they entise and engage as many as they can to be partakers with them they are in league and covenant there is a combination among them especially among Traytours such as these chief Priests were who conspired against Christ just as Joseph's Brethren against him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 come let us kill him Joseph indeed scaped with life thanks to his eldest Brother but Jesus had not one Reuben to speak for him none but a Woman and she could not prevaile the Kings of the earth standing up and the Rulers taking counsell together against the Lord and against his Christ for against the holy Child Jesus both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of the Jewes were gathered together they gathered them together against the soule of the righteous that they might condemn the innocent bloud they reasoned among themselves saying come let us kill him Kill him As the Devil is a murtherer so all those that are of his party thirst after bloud Shimei did a great deal of wrong to David in calling him so but otherwise Bloudy man and man of Belial may well go together for there is no man desperately wicked but he is a bloud-thirsty man It hath been thus from the beginning of the world and will be so to the end Caine was of that wicked one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
A LOOKING-GLASSE FOR LEVELLERS Held out in a SERMON Preached at St. Peters Pauls-Wharfe upon Sunday in the After-noone Sept. 24. 1648. BY PAUL KNELL Master in Arts of Clare-Hall in Cambridge Sometime Chaplain to a Regiment of Curasiers in His Majesties Army LUKE 20.19 And the chief Priests and Scribes the same houre sought to lay hands on him but they feared the people for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them LONDON Printed in the Year 1648. A LOOKING-GLASSE For LEVELLERS c. St. LUKE 20. ver 14. But when the Husbandmen saw him they reasoned among themselves saying This is the Heire come let us kill him that the Inheritance may be ours THe first particle is discretive and severeth the Text from the fore-going Verses wherein our Saviour holdeth forth as it were a Dark-Lanthorne to the chief Priests That seeing they might see and not perceive and that hearing they might heare and yet not understand Or rather he sheweth them their faces in a Glasse wherein they might see plainly what manner of men they were The Looking-glasse is this present Parable of the Vineyard wherein he insisteth chiefly on three things First he sheweth the descent and pedegree of the Priesthood A certain man planted a Vineyard and let it forth to Husband-men Secondly he upbraideth the ingratitude of these Husband-men in abusing their Land-lords servants they beat them they intreated them shamefully they wounded them they killed them Thirdly he threatneth a punishment for their ingratitude which is no lesse then a re-enter the Lord shall destroy these Husband-men and shall give the Vineyard to others But more punctually to survey and view this parable By this certain man the Planter of this Vineyard we are to understand the worlds Creator God himself By the Vineyard we are to understand his Church confined for a long time to Judea Isa 5.7 By the Husband-men to whom the Vineyard was let out we are to understand the chief Priests who by their doctrine and example were as it were to prune and dresse Gods Vineyard that so it might be fruitfull in good works By the Servants sent to demand some of the fruit of this Vineyard we are to understand the inspired Prophets who were sent by God to call the chief Priests to repentance to bring forth fruits worthy of amendment of life Trium autem mentio fit c. saith Aretius God is said to have sent severally three Servants to the Husbandmen because three is a perfect number and is therefore used to shew Gods uncessant desire of their Conversion Uncessant I say it was for though it knew a little intermission yet it knew no termination though the word of the Lord were pretious in the daies of Eli yet even then God raised up Samuel to reprove the lewdnesse of the Priests there was no time there was no place but the Jewish Priests had Prophets sent among them Before their Captivity in Babylon they had Isaiah Jeremy Amos Micah Zephany and others In time of their Captivity they had Ezekiel and Daniel After their Captivity they had Haggai Zechary Malachy And the last was not the least for among those that were borne of Women there was not a greater Prophet then John the Baptist But what entertainment found these Servants amongst their Masters Tenants why just such as we that will not Preach treason meet with in these days just such as the Messengers of truth have alway found convitia verba vulnera as Stella speaketh revilings blowes wounds nay very death it selfe Isaiah was sawn asunder Jeremy and Zechary were stoned Amos had his braines beaten out with a Club Micah was thrown down headlong from a rock and all the rest did the Jewes either kill or at least hunt after them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Steven asked them which of the Prophets did not their Fathers persecute Act. 7. yet see the never-wearied goodnesse of Almighty God though the chief Priests had killed his Prophets and had stoned those that were sent unto them yet he did so long to doe them good that nullum non movebit lapidem he will leave no stone unrolled no not the corner-stone he had but one bosome-Son and he sendeth him to them for his rent presuming that for shame they would not send him away empty They wil reverence saith he their young Land-lord when they see him But when the Husband-men saw him they reasoned among themselves saying this is the Heire come let us kill him that the inheritance may be ours The Text ye see is a conspiracy against Christ wherein we meet together the foure causes of it First here is the Efficient cause or the Conspiratours the Husband-men Secondly the Materiall cause or person conspired against the Heire when they saw him Thirdly the Formall cause or manner of their conspiracy they reasoned among themselves saying come let us kill him Fourthly and lastly the Finall cause or end of their conspiracy which was that they might be Lords of the Mannour that the inheritance may be ours These are the parts of which in order briefly and very plainly I begin with the first part the Conspiratours which are Coloni the Husband-men If the first man had been a good Husband there had been no Husband-man the Earth need have had no Mid-wife she would have brought forth of her self But Haec maledictio Adae c. saith Saint Bernard this was a curse entailed on Adams sin that for his sake the ground it selfe was cursed his barrennesse in obedience made the very Earth grow barren Which may therefore serve to mind us sinners of repentance the husbandry of the hand may teach us the husbandry of the heart even to breake up our fallow ground and sow in teares But I must not insist upon these Georgicks I must lead you from corporall to spirituall husband-men And these are the painfull Preachers of Gods word For as the Earth must be plowed and harrowed by the Country-man before she will ever bring forth her increase So the men of the earth must be directed and corrected by the Church-man before they will bring forth the fruits of righteousnesse The Clergy like the Prophet Elisha are a kind of Plow-men They that doe as it were drive the Plow are ordinary Ministers they that hold the Plow are the reverend Bishops the Plow would not go so well should Episcopacy be abolished Let these Labourers therefore have their due they are worthy of their hire And let them likewise have a respectfull estimation set upon them For the Courtier cannot live without the Country-man the King himselfe is served by the Field Neither doth man live by Bread only but by every word of God As then where no Hushandmen are the people sterve So likewise where no Ministers where no vision is the people perish Which admonisheth Gods husbandmen the Clergy to be industrious There is no profession more laborious then that of Husbandmen who in the sweat of their face most
title of Vniversall Bishop he challengeth as it were the Wardship nay the Lordship of the Church whatsoever he saith must go for Gospel meerly because he saith it he taketh upon him more then Apostolicall authority even that which is Gods peculiar To forgive sins for which cause fall the silly people unto him and thereout he sucketh no small advantage it is a masse of money that his Pardons annually bring in to him And other stratagems he hath but all to enrich himselfe He will release men out of Purgatory if they will give him money enough he will warrant they shal be heires of Heaven though herein he contradict himself for sometimes he telleth them that they can never be sure of Heaven till they come thither yet thus he befooleth the people he will warrant them an inheritance in Heaven if they will make him their Heire on earth His whole Religion indeed is nothing else but a politick project to get money he feedeth not the flock of Christ but feedeth upon it he keepeth the people in ignorance seeking not them but theirs He and all his Cardinals Monks and Abbots they seek their own profit and preferment their own gain and greatnesse like these chief Priests in our Text whose aime was to get the inheritance Come say they let us kill him that the inheritance may be ours And so I have gone thorow the severall parts of the Text. A few words of application and I have done Our Text is a plain conspiracy against our Saviour and the conspiracy of Levellers against our Soveraigne wil match it right Our Saviour let out his Vineyard to Husbandmen so our Soveraigne did as it were let out His Kingdome to States-men he gave them power to prune and dresse it to take off superfluities to rectifie enormities he gave them their hearts desire and denied them not the request of their lips he granted that which none but a most indulgent Land-lord would ere have granted they asked a lease of him and he gave them a long lease longer then any of their Predecessours ever had he made them no Tenants for years much lesse at will but reserving his fee-simple I mean his Negative voice he gave it under his hand that he would not re-enter till they themselves consented to it O fortunatos nimium bona si sua norint Agricolas What men were ever so happy as these might have been How might the glory of their God of their King of their Countrey and even of themselves have been advanced by them But neglecting the three first they aimed chiefly at the last at their owne glory For assoone as their unlucky lease was sealed they straight way thought themselves free-holders taking Regall power upon them as if the Militia the King's inheritance had been theirs they devested their Soveraigne of it and invested themselves with it making the Heire of three Kingdomes though no Child in any thing but malice to differ nothing from a servant when he was Lord of all for without him they took upon them to un-make and to make Lawes saying we have the legislative power who is Lord over us And that they might the better enjoy the Crowne they entred into Covenant against the Miter resolved to abolish the excellent government of Bishops root and branch And because the King both against his oath and conscience would not yeild to this Come said they let us compell him to it by force of Armes they set the people awork first to mutiny then to fight against him as who should say we have no part in Charles neither have we inheritance in the Son of James every man to his tents ô England they proclaimed open War against Him and His Adherents giving out Commissions to kill and slay all persons that should oppose them their Soveraigne Lord the King was not excepted for bullets cannot distinguish between a Scepter and a shovel the sword as David said devoureth one as well as another But seeing they could not kill Him in the field they have since attempted it in the prison it is too apparent that the Ring-leaders of this Rebellion had an hand in that late Conspiracy against Him Nor is it only Carolus but even Rex that they strike at going about not onely to kill the Person but the very office of King I speak of the levelling Faction all this while Come say they let us break his bonds asunder and cast away his cords from us come let us make no more addresses to him but let us make our selves a free-State that the name of Monarch may be no more in remembrance And to effect this they have made the Kingdome not only a field but even a sea of bloud breathing out nothing but slaughter against all loyall Subjects killing and slaying butchering and murthering their Brethren whose bloud they have shed like Water on every side like that Woman in the Revelation drinking themselves drunk with the bloud of Saints and with the bloud of the Martyrs of Jesus in which noble Army those matchlesse Knights murdered at Colchester may well be listed It is no mervaile if these bloud-hounds will not have Gods Commandements read in Churches for one of these telleth them expresly they must doe no murder and as almost all the rest so most especially that sixt Commandement they count Apocryphall for murdering of men is their profession and a great part of their Religion as if Mars were their God and Mahomet their Messiah Let them usurp the name of Christians while they will I am sure their bloudy practices proclaime them arrant Turkes Christianity is for the saving of mens lives Turcisme for the destroying of them and such is the Religion of these Levellers destruction is in their way they are still opposing of Treaties the way of peace have they not known like horse-leaches they never think they have bloud enough they would have it even unto the horse-bridles as if they had a mind to swim in bloud And all this under pretence of Religion and Reformation a pretence so pitiful so thread bare that I wonder men are not ashamed to be seduced by it for Religion was ever made the stalking-horse to Rebellion and indeed this must be the pretence or else the designe will soon be dasht for should they proclaime themselves open Atheists and professe the subverting of Religion I think the world is not so bad but that it would tear them all in pieces They are bound therefore to pretend piety like Absolom and Jezebel but their actions tell the world that they ayme at other ends even at Libertinisme that they may be lawlesse that they may doe what they list that they may roare and whore yet never be questioned or controuled for there are no men living more given to the flesh then they that pretend so extreamly to the spirit but chiefly the Inheritance the Kingdomes wealth is that they ayme at they seek not the kingdom of God but the riches of this