as one of your great b LE LEY ADGRAND POLICIE EN CEO Car c. Sir Edw. Coke en L'evesque de Winchester Clerks well observes it of your own good old Law out of a wise Conjunction of the Temporal with the Spiritual Policy as to preserve Religion so by their good usage of their Clergy to procure their Prayers Gods own Ordinance to preserve both Princes and Provinces c That which the PRIESTS have need of let it be given them day by day without fail THAT THEY MAY OFFER SACRIFICES OF SWEET SAVOURS UNTO GOD AND PRAY FOR THE LIFE OF THE KING AND OF HIS SONS Ezra 6.9 10. and by them to derive the influence of the Divine Blessing upon all the other secular Estates 29. Nay in a case of such base Notorious partiality the Jews even in their worst Estate may rise up in judgment against this Generation For 't is recorded as highly commendable of the Jews in their greatest Hard-heartedness Madness and Sedition during that horrible siege straitness and famine of Jerusalem under Titus Vespasian That yet * Vsserii Annal Chronol as long as they had any Priests they were not awanting to furnish still the Temple The PRIESTS and the Altar of God with that Juge Sacrificium That daily Sacrifice of the Lamb morning and evening which God had once required Exod. xxx 38 39. till the great Sacrifice of the Messias had finished all by his own Oblation of himself once offered Heb. x. 11 12. which their blindness and unbelief would not understand But yet even in those times of utmost extremity very Jews durst not pretend necessity against duty Nay beyond all this yet Pagan Aegypt it self would out of the bottom of the Red Sea rise up in judgment against Baptized England if so Sacrilegious 'T is the Applicative note of David Pareus and of the late Assembly-men to boot upon d Rex demensum praebebat Sacerdotibus ne agros suos vendere Inopiâ â—digerentur Laudabilis Piétas Regis etsi enim isti erant falsorum Deorum Cultores ostendit tamen JUS NATURAE ET GENTIVM postulare haec duo 1. Ut publicis Dei Ministris ex publico salaria honesta tribuantur quod ex Jure Divino Veteri Novo c. 1 Cor. ix 13 14. 2. Ut iidem Immunitatibus ab oneribus gravaminibus Publicis beneficio piorum Regum donentur atque fruantur ut Officio vacent c. Sed proh dolor quantum hic peccatur pauci sunt bodie Regeâ— Josephi tam in Ecclesiam Benefici Sacerdotes ita LXX Onkeli Josephi Philonis omniumque Interpretum testatur consensus David Pareus in Genesis x. vii 22 26. This example condemnes the Irreligion of many Christians who shew little Reverence or respect if not much uncharitableness or contempt towards the Ministers of the Gospel against whom the men of Aegypt in the day of Judgment shall rise up and condemn them as Matth. xii 41 42. Annotations c. London 1645. in Genesis c. By these Notes of theirs you may see once for all that in these mens judgment those examples out of the Old Testament are in point of Equity pertinent enough to the Ministry under the New Testament the Place For in a time of as publick as general as tedious and as extream a necessity as ever did lie upon a Nation seven years unparalell'd Famine and that also from the immediate hand of God expresly so as to put bread in their Mouths all other men else were fain to sell their Cattel their Lands and all and themselves too in the end yet all this while saith the express Text and that twice for failing to inforce the Observation Only the Land of the Priests Joseph bought not for the Priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them therefore they sold not their Lands 30. In which Record you may first of all observe that the Aegyptian Priests had Lands for their standing maintenance and yet were these but Idolatrous Priests the Priests of a false God and can you be Christians and think the Priests of the true God worthy of less or of a worse kinde of Maintenance then were the Priests of Aegypt Secondly special care was taken for all the straits of publick and general necessity that whatever became of the Lay-mens Lands yet the Priests Lands should be preserved from Sale or Alienation belike because the Priests standing maintenance once gone the Priests themselves could not subsist long after it and then the God of both Priest and People would be unserved therefore as the Current of Interpreters notes upon the place N. B. there all the other Lands were morgaged only or chiefly the Priests Lands were free Thus amongst Aegyptians and must it go quite contrary amongst you Christians must all your Estates pass scot-free and only your Clergy become the sole Sacrifice 31. Must those men that for ought we know have by their Loyal constancy in well doing and suffering been the Instruments under God to preserve us a Remnant and unto this day to keep this handful of people in their Religion and Allegiance Must these men I say for this their good service unto God and the King become the whole Nations only Victime Would not such a National Injustice nay impiety provoke God Almighty the God of the Priests to burst open all the Sluces of Christendom and without Hyperbole to let in upon you all that whole Deluge of Turks or Scythians your other sins call for to revenge Gods quarrel upon the whole Land by overflowing such an unworthy Nation for ever rather than such a National Injustice should go away unpunished even in this world Ah remember the fate of the seven Famous Churches of Asia and fear and amend 32. Thirdly and lastly In that Aegyptian History 't is most observable that it was principally by Pharaoh's Royal Care that the Priests Lands were kept unsold for the Priests had a Portion assigned them of Pharaoh saith the Text and would they allow a Christian King less Power or Authority to provide for Christs Ministers than was allowed to the Egyptian King or would they make My Lord the King worse than the Egyptian Tyrant worse than t'other Pharaoh the worst Pharaoh to sell and betray his own Priests to whose special defence and protection the King in his Religious respect to the Laws of God and Man knows and in Royal Duty thinks himself bound by so many multiplied Tyes as it were so many Divine Chains in all his Capacities Moral Political and Spiritual as the King is a Man as the King is a Magistrate as the King is a Christian CHAP. IX Of the Kings Solemn Oath at his Coronation which obliges the King as well in Point of Honour as he is a man as in Point of Justice as he is a Magistrate and likewise in Point of Conscience as he is a Christian constantly to
of the Revenues of the Clergy Page 58 CHAP. VI. Of God's heavy Curses against Sacrilegious both Persons Nations Page 68 CHAP. VII The Confutation of the fair Colours of Religion brought in to Varnish over the foul sin of Sacriledge Page 113 CHAP. VIII A full Confutation of Three Reasons of State or Pretenses of Policy for the Practice of Sacriledge namely 1. Justice upon Delinquents 2. Publick Peace 3. State-Necessity Page 130 CHAP. IX Of the King's solemn Oath at his Coronation whereby the King is Obliged as in Point of Honour as he is a Man so in Point of Justice as he is a Magistrate and likewise in Point of Conscience as he is a Christian constantly to Grant Preserve and Defend the Rights of the Church Page 168 CHAP. X. The Confutation of the fourth Politick Pretense of a Legislative Power Page 174 CHAP. XI That the sin of Sacriledge is a great SNARE and also Condemned as by the Divine so by the Canon Civil Saxon and by the Common and Statute-Laws of the Realm Page 188 CHAP. XII A Cloud of Domestical and also a Triumvirat of forreigne Witnesses Luther for Germany Calvin for France and Knox for Scotland all deposing against Sacriledge Page 198 The Recapitulation of all Page 212 Sacriledge ARRAIGNED By SAINT PAVL ROM 2.22 Thou that abhorrest Idols doest thou commit Sacriledge INTRODUCTION Sect. 1. IN the Primitive Church there was a Godly Discipline That in Lent notorious Offendors were put to Open Penance that by this Temporal Punishment they might be reclaimed and so escape God's Eternal Doom This wholsome Course our holy Mother the Church doth wish (a) At the beginning of the Commination might be reformed again till when in some degree at least to comply with our Mother's Godly Intentions it might prove very good Service to the Church and to men's Souls too if at such a time and occasion as this we also would keep our Spiritual Lenten Assizes as I may say If every one of us that is called up to this great Place and Duty would for his Task lay hold of some such one notorious Offender and Arraign him by Preaching down the sin which to a guilty Conscience may prove a kind of Penance also But if then every man's Conscience would joyn with the Preacher to prosecute the Indictment and pass sentence upon it and accordingly submit it to due Execution Ah how soon might such a National Penitent course rid this miserable Land of all those National Sins that have pull'd down these National Judgments which now are Incumbent upon us till we all King Priest and People sink under the heavy weight of them 2. However to contribute my service towards so good a Work as the Removal of God's Judgments from this Nation I have singled out one notorious Offendor that deserves the open Penance as much as any 'T is Sacriledge a raigning Sin that seems to want nothing now but the Ceremony of Coronation I mean the Consent of the Crown The want whereof under God's admirable prevention is as yet the onely Bar in Law that hinders this Tyrant-Sin from becoming an absolute Conquerour over this whole Church and Nation and then from triumphing over and leading away Captive this Eldest Daughter of the Catholick Church For to omit at this time our other National sins of all other sins this sin of Sacriledge hath proved the fatal Passing-Bell to whole Nations whole Empires Very Paynims by the dim light of Nature could see this truth would you think that a Virgil or an Horace (b) Horat. Carm. l. Ode 6. Ad Romanos Britannos De moribus sui seculi corruptis would impute their National Changes Revolutions and publick Calamities as to sin in general so to this very sin of Sacriledge in particular yet is this their own Observation Take it in a Natural Sorites The sin of Sacriledge is in the Consequences of it Delicta majorum immeritus lues Romane donec templa refeceris Aedesque labentes Deorum Foeda nigro Simulachra fumo Diis te minorem quod geris imperas Hinc omne principium huc refer exitum Dî multa neglecti dederunt Hesperiae mala luctuosae Virgil. 2. Aeneid Excessere omnes adytis arisque relictis Dî quibus imperium steterat first a Decay and then at last by degrees an utter overthrow of the Service of God The overthrow of God's Service provokes God to a Departure There needs no other Evocation from without V. de la Cerda ibid. Plin. Histor l. 28. c. 2. Macrob. Saturnal l. 3. c. 9. The footsteps of all which Evocations and Departures you have Ezek. 10.4.18 19. Then the glory of the Lord departed from over the threshold of the House c. God's departure from a Nation is alwaies the forerunner of final destruction So did Joshua and Caleb conclude the period of the Canaanites (c) See Ainsw on Num. 14.9 Num. 22.6 Neptunus in Troade apud Euripid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Their shadow that is God is departed from them and the Lord is with us therefore they are bread for us c. It were easie to accumulate National Instances witness the whole Jewish Church and Nation translated by the (d) 2 Chron. 36.4.17.21 Chaldees into utter Captivity for this very sin of Sacriledge expresly and particularly for the Sacrilegious prophanation of God's House and of the Seventh or Sabbatical year and for the other Natural Branch thereof the contempt of the Priest the greater Sacriledge of the two saith the (e) Gravius contra personam quam contra locum Aquin. 22 ae q. 99. School witness once more the Great Babylonian Monarchy for this very particular sin of Sacriledge saith God himself (f) Dan. 5.23 translated within less than the space of an hundred years (g) The Sacred Vessels were carried by Nebuchadnezzar Anno Mundi 3360. and the Assyrian Monarchy expired Anno 3430. according to some men's computation from those very Chaldees to the Medes and Persians I pray God that in these sad Stories I do not read out unto you your own Destiny To avert it for our part behold a direct Bill of Indictment preferred against that fatal sin of Sacriledge by one of God's chief Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou that sayest a man should not commit Adultery doest thou commit Adultery Thou that abhorrest Idols doest thou commit Sacriledge 3. In this Indictment you have these two plain natural Parts the Malefactor and the Crime 1. The Malefactor is described by his Religion he is a Professor yea a Zelot one that abhors Idols 2. The Crime laid to his Charge is Sacriledge Touching which we shall deliver 1. Matter of Declaration 2. Matter of Aggravation 3. Matter of Probation And by that time the Case is thus argued out we shall desire no more favour than shall be due to the fairness of our Evidence from clear Scripture and sound Reason the two Master-Pillars of a Just Cause the
his dear Relations in England so long defrauded and oppressed by the predominant Rebellious party But Psal cxv 1. Non nobis Domine c. Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give the praise or if that were not if no room on Earth yet y John xiiii 2. in my Fathers house there are many Mansions room enough there for all Gods persecuted Servants but no room at all there for the z 1 Cor vi 9 10. Persecutor for the Thief the Sacrilegious Thief especially so far is such an one from the hope of an Eternal Mansion above in Heaven that he shall not so much as to the third Generation enjoy a settled room here on earth for as you have heard of all other sins Sacriledge can turn whole Families yea except prevented will turn this whole Kingdom and Nation into a perpetual Floating Island till at last it be quite swallowed up in a Red Sea of her own blood or worse Deus avertat omen You have seen it already overflow all the Banks and shall we with Pharaoh wilfully march on still into it and pursue till we utterly perish in it Know ye not that in such a case the Righteous Judge of all the Earth hath his a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pindar Magazines and varieties of Plagues besides the Plague of Civil War or Pestilence or Famine Yes God hath a thousand invisible wayes unknown unto us and all the World as to recover so to ruine an Empire and when wicked men shall cry Peace peace even then to fulfil upon them his infallible Prophecy b 1 Thess v. 3. Even then to send upon them all swift destruction as the Throes upon a woman in Travel so that they shall not escape it 'T is Gods own comparison to note the sudden the painful the unavoidable destruction of such FALSE PEACE-MAKERS 14. Say then were it wisdom for an overhasty desire of the shadow of Peace to lose the substance for a little base Carnal Ease Christened over with the name of Peace for that 's it most of your vulgar sort of men or mindes calls Peace for such men are most men that desire Peace any Peace not Peace in the right way to wit in order to the Glory of God the Honour of the Church of the King and Nation and the publick good but only to satisfie again their own private Lusts and no doubt this very Corruption visible in Gods sight maybe a great Remora to our Peace which even in mercy God may still keep away from us till he see us fitter for it and make us more thankful for it when recovered Will you for a moment to retire per fas nefas from the edge of Mans material Sword rush your selves for ever and ever directly upon the sharp point of Gods spiritual Sword the heavy Curse of God Almighty upon you and yours If you dare go on for all this plain this fair warning even therefore God may retard yea utterly reverse that Peace you so eagerly press for so as you shall run your selves quite out of breath in your own wayes pursuing after Peace and never overtake it yet however alto consilio God may dispose of us if we should lose all we may preserve and carry away within our own Bosom this comfort worth all That by this plain dealing Liberavimus animas nostras 15. But we have cause to hope better things of you of the chief of you at least and therefore we rather pray for you that God will be pleased to bless you and if the Decree be not yet gone forth all the men of this Generation from leaving upon Record as a National stain of poor spiritedness that base Character of Cowardise whose nature it is through impatiency to shift off a present evil though with the unavoidable danger of a far greater yea of a final Misery to come in the end For as the wise man defines it this base carnal fear is nothing else but the betraying of the succours which reason offereth Wisd xvii 12. 16. Once be pleased to take this as a sound Maxime of State as well as of Religion which a great Master of Reason a wise man of c Dieu se courrouce quand nous ne luy voulons pas permettre de disposer de son Eglise comme il voult ains le voulons prevenir par nostre sagesse par injustes moyons par un Zele Impatient Il pourtoit donc bien advenir que si nous changeons de train Dieu en changera aussy Et comme les moyens par lesquels nous avons pensê avancer nostre Religion l'ont reculee Ainsy Dieu par les mesmes moyens per lesquels nous craignons estre en Empeschement a nostre Religion l'auancera Car les grandes oeuvres de Dieu sont toâ—siours coâ—tre l'attente des honmes C'est á Dieu de le faire non pat a nous Dieu ne benit iamâ—is les Actionâ— de ceux qui le veulent prevenir par Impatiente Examen Pacifique de la Doctrine des Huguenots Epistre au lecteur France hath delivered touching the Determination of the Civil Wars in France Wars for Religion too God is very angry saith he when men will not permit him to dispose of his own Church his own way but devise to prevent him by their own worldly wisdoms by unjust means and by an impatient zeal once for all God never blesses those mens courses which think to anticipate his Counsels but rather gives over such Infidels to unjustifiable practices for their impatiency Thus he 15. Then a Gods name stay Gods good leasure a little while longer Repent Reform Restore every one all at once and then put your Life in your hands God can work great matters by small means contrary to means without means If not yet with the d Dan. iii. 18. three children in the fiery furnace let us put on the Resolution of men never to be so base as to serve the Vulgar's Gods or fall down and worship the mad Peoples golden Imâ—ge or trudge after the Calves of Rebellious Jeroboam Rather then such a Peace rather than so far better suffer Christianly and dye gallantly then do of lâ—ve basely O do not buy a short base Peace in show at the rate of a sin indeed of such a sin as Sacriledge Make no more haste than good speed and you shall soon or late finde by comfortable Experience that God is faithful who therefore as long as you continue in well-doing e 1 Cor. 10.13 will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it Say we should be at the last cast yet who dares say that God cannot help us or who is of Gods Privy-Councel to know he will not help us Is it not usual with God when the Enemies are at the highest
filled thy heart Pride and Envy Fraud and Oppression Avarice and Ambition are all but the hand-maids that wait in ordinary on this great Beldam-sin of Sacriledge This for the Original Cause of Sacriledge 13. As for the Fruits of such a Cursed Stock no wise man can expect they should be blessed It being as you have heard at large a sin Destructive of all Religion and Policy of Church and State Introductive of all Irreligion Atheism and Anarchy The very new Gun-Powder-Plot or White-Powder-Mine under holy pretences and therefore without noise to blow up Priest Priesthood and all that is called Holy Balaams or Julian's Plot was but a Puny to this Would I turn Traytor in grain against God and man I would only counsel Sacriledge That will do it that will speed any Church or Nation to sudden and total and final Destruction Reason enough therefore to adde no more why all good Christians should abhor this sin for ever 14. And therefore in the third place you may take notice that in all Nations all wise Law givers in conformity to Gods Law have been careful yea severe as by wholesome Laws to prevent so by rigorous and generally Capital Execution to punish the crime of Sacriledge as heavily as any this is clear in the Records of all the Laws Canon Civil Saxon French 15. For by the Canon Law whosoever takes away or alienates to other persons or uses goods or things Chattels your Lawyers call them nay Facultates at large is the word p Sacrilegi judicantur qui ECCLESIAE FACULTATES alienant Tit. Omnes ECCLESIAE RAPTORES Alque FACULTATUM suarum ALIENATORES Sacrilegos esse Judicamus non solùm eos sed omnes consentientes eis â—uia non solum qui faciunt rei Judicantur sed etiam qui consentiunt facientibus PAR ENIM Poeâ—a AGENTES ET CONSENTIENTES COMPREHENDIT Decret part 2. c. 17. l. 4. c. 5. both in the Title and in the Body of the Law all manner of Church-wealth or Estate that must needs comprehend all Moveables and Immoveables or whosoever shall consent to any such Alienation shall be all alike guilty of Sacriledge and as the Canonists phrase it shall incur ipso facto crimen laesae Majestatis divinae which by comparison with the other crime of High-Treason against the King on Earth whatever Sacrilegious Thieves or Rebellious Subjects may think of it must needs be by proportion a Crime of the highest degree and so 't is punished with the highest spiritual extremity that Law can inflict the heavy sentence of Excommunication and to note farther the hainousness of the offence as Ivo Burchardus Gratian and the rest agree the Canonists allot unto it seven years Penance where so many dayes might suffice for other ordinary sins but because q Aquin. 22. q. 99. 4. saith Aquinas as heavy as the just sentence of Excommunication may seem to a right Christian yet it is by the Sacrilegious offender commonly no more regarded then a bug-bear word therefore pro qualitate delicti it is by the Secular Power punished sometimes with pecuniary Censure heavier to the offender that commonly fears more the loss of his Money then the loss of his soul sometimes with outright Decapitation 16. Or as by the Civil Law r Sacrilegii poena de Jure communi regulariter est Capitalis ita ut prâ— qualitate personae conditione rei Sacrilegi aliquando damnentur ad Bestias aliquando ad Ignem aliquando ad Furcam l. Sacâ—ilegii 6. ff ad L. Jul. peculatus in §. Item l. Julia peculatus 9. Wesembec paratit ff l. xlix Tit. 13. ad l. Jul. peculatus de Sacrilegis Infrà de publ Iud. Jure Saxonieo rotâ concutiendos esse Sacrilegos statuitur Art 13. l. 2. Schneid ad lib. 4. Instit Tit. 2. de vi bonorum raptorum proportionably to the quality of the Offender and condition of the Offence they were condemned sometimes to the Wilde Beasts or to the Fire to the Gallows or as now Jure Saxonico to the wheel and of old by your own r Leges Aluredi Regis cap. 1. l. 6. in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Saxon Law to Mutilation at least or cutting off the Sacrilegious hand In France I remember I have seen Sacriledge punished with Hanging and Burning both at once according to the Civil Law 17. As for your own Common-Law I have heard some of your great Clerks say that it is somewhat defective about the Case of Sacriledge as taking no Cognisance of it nor affording any Action for it under that Notion but yet that in such cases it allows no Clergy to the Thief * See above Chap. IV. Sect 3. seq Magna Charta Item Ch. VII Sect. 9. seq Statutes Anno 28. H. 8. c. 1. 32. H. 8. Persons guilty of Robbing Churches Chappels or other Holy Places shall not be admitted to the Benefit of their Clergy such as be admitted to Holy Orders i. e. of the Order of Subdeacon or above only excepted and this Statute to be in force for ever It seems by this Statute that in the eye of the Law Clergy-mens persons are privilegiate even in Delinquency not that their sin is less but rather as we said above greater then the sin of the Laity But that the favour of the Law is greater to Clergy-men in regard of their Office One degree more of aggravation we may observe from the Act of Indemnity An. 12. Car. II. cap XI where out of the General Pardon Sacriledge is excepted expresly no less then Rapes and other monstrous Sins against Nature as if the Law-â—iver would hereby intimate that Sacriledge is a sin parallel to those crimes for hainousness grounding the sentence on that common principle received almost in all Laws to wit That frustrà Legis auxilium invocat qui in Legem committit And this singularity addes one grain of aggravation to the hainousness of this sin even in the ballance of your own Law CHAP. XII A Cloud of Domestical and also a Triumvirate of Forreign Witnesses 1. Luther for Germany 2. Calvin for France And 3. Knox for Scotland all of them expresly deposing against the Sin of Sacriledge 1. AND now as your free Merchants use to give somewhat into the Bargain for an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for good Measure or down-weight so for a close of this our Pleading take ex alundanti so many Testimonies of all sorts of men in their generations that you may not think this our Action against Sacriledge geazon or uncouth or meerly litigâ—ous on our part 2. Amongst those so many Testes veritatis we forbear to accumulate the Holy Fathers of whose Declamations against this sin we have given you sundry hansels already and could afford you many more full Pieces but that ad hominem the more shame some more Modern Witnesses will be far more Authentical 3. And yet amongst these too we will not so much as
Imprimatur Tho. Tomkyns Reverendissimo in Christo Patri ac Domino Domino Gilberto Divinâ Providentiâ Archi-Episcopo Cantuariensi à Sacris domesticis Deo Ecclesiae Sacrum SACRILEDGE Arraigned and Condemned BY SAINT PAVL ROM II. 22. PROSECUTED By ISAAC BASIRE D.D. and Arch-Deacon of Northumberland Chaplain in Ordinary to HIS MAJESTY Published first in the Year 1646. by Special Command of His late Majesty of Glorious Memory The Second Edition Corrected and Enlarged I COR. IX 13 14. Do ye not know that they which Minister about Holy things Live of the things of the Temple and they which wait at the Altar are Partakers with the Altar EVEN SO HATH THE LORD ORDAINED that they which Preach the Gospel should Live of the Gospel Plato Lib. 10. de Legib. in principio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lucan L. 3. Quis enim Laesos impunè putaret esse Deos LONDON Printed by W. G. for W. Wells and R. Scot at the Signe of the Prince's-Arms in Little-Britain 1668. TO HIS Most Excellent Majesty King CHARLES II. Most Gracious SOVERAIGNE IT is now Two and twenty Years since first this PIECE was Rough-cast Inter Tubam Tympanum during the SIEGE at Oxford being then Commanded upon that Service by that late Incomparable Prince Your Royal Father and my Most Gracious Master KING CHARLES the I. of Glorious Memory a most zealous Enemy to all kind of Sacriledge Since that time whilest I lived abroad Fifteen Years a full Fourth Part of my whole Life in a voluntary Exile only for my Constancy in the True Religion and for my faithful Allegiance to Your Crown This young Benoni was soon Over-laid and so did in a manner lie long Buried in the Graves of Schisme and Rebellion Till now being called upon I have stretched my selfe over it Endeavouring through God's Blessing to Resuscitate it Assoon as the Child begins now to Breath again it softly Creeps towards Your MAJESTY and humbly Craves to be called Yours by Right of Inheritance In this Necessary Work as I do most justly Condemn Sacriledge that fatal Blazing Star to whole Nations so if I did not in all Humility lay down the WORK such as it is with the Author at Your Sacred Feet I should then Commit Sacriledge indeed and so both contradict the Work condemn my self The whole Designe of this Plea is nothing else but a Just Defence of some old honest Truths which are never the worse for being now a-days so much spoken against by the Many Though the IX Chapter of this Book doth chiefly Concern Your Majesty in Point of Conscience yet all being well Considered the whole Cause may Concern You no less in Point of Justice as well as in Point of Honour And so this WORK becomes Yours again by another Title by Right of Purchase since as by Your late Gracious Restoring both of the Church and Church-Lands Dedicated to the Service of God in thankfulness to that Great God for Your own marvellous Royal Restauration You have strongly Confuted the late Sacrilegious Vsurpations so by Your Constant Care to Preserve the Church Committed to Your Charge in the Laws Customs Franchises Canonical Priviledges and Episcopal Government according to the Tenour of Your Royal Oath You will not only Invincibly secure all these from future Sacriledge but also put Your own Great Seal to Your Father's Royal Deed * I pray God neither I nor mine may be Accessary to the Ruines of the Church c. The King's Portraicture Sect. 19. upon the Covenant and turn that King's Prayer into a Prophecy who to speak out this His Prerogative-Paramount in His own Heroical words Esteemed it His Greatest Title to be called and His Chiefest Glory to be the Defender of the Church both in its true Faith and its just Fruitions equally abhorring Sacriledge and Apostacy Thus the KING being dead yet speaketh of whom it may be almost said Never King spake like this King except the King of Kings The Church of God is by another King Solomon described Terrible as an Army with Banners Acies Ordinata Cantic vi 10. for Power Authority and Order in Allusion to the Camp of Israel in whose Tacticks the Martial Style we may to our Admiration if not Imitation Observe the Mysterious Manner how they Pitch'd about the Tabernacle that Curious Emblem of the Church First then they Pitched with their Faces towards the Tabernacle to intimate the singular Regard all the Tribes had to the Tribe of Levi because that Tribe had the Charge of God's Tabernacle therefore the other Tribes did not turn their Backs upon it much less stretch forth their Hands or lift up their Heels against Levi. Num ii 2. Secondly they pitched round about the Tabernacle three Tribes on each side of the four quarters of it as a Guard to defend it as a Magazine to Maintain it To which goodly Order of the Camp of Israel King David seems to allude in his Royal Religious Proclamation Psal lxxvi 11. All ye that are round about him bring Presents unto him that ought to be feared that is unto God because always Resident and President in the Church and thus Israel pitch'd their Camp But when they marched Juda Num. x. 17. Issachar and Zabulon led the Van on the East and then the Gersonites and Merarites Levites went next bearing the Tabernacle whereby the Priests were not like so many Enfants perdus put upon the Forelorn hope but Juda the Royal Tribe always stood betwixt Levi and the Enemy and they prospered accordingly as very well knowing that the Ark of God was indeed the Glory of Israel which 1 Sam. iv 21. Nunquam prosperè cedunt Res humanae ubi negliguntur Divinae when once departed the Crown would not stay long after it Lastly The LORD as their General dwelt in the midst of their Camp to go in and out before them who as some have Observed it is therefore in holy Scripture styled The Lord of Hosts above 200 times Thus Israel having God for their Invincible General having the Ark of God for their Sacred Arsenal no wonder if as the Author to the Hebrews Blazons their Martial Atchievements They through faith subdued Kingdoms Heb. xi 3◠34. waxed valiant in fight turned to flight the Armies of the Aliens Nothing but Trophies nothing but Triumphs so long as God's People keeps God's Order SIR You are as well by Theory as by Practice both ways so eminently Experienced in Martial Discipline that to make Application of this Plat-form were a Presumption much more impertinent than that of Phormio before Hannibal I know to whom I speak to a Prince as great in Vnderstanding as in Power Indeed Your Times in so short a Period have been as full of strange Revolutions of rare Accidents as any Prince which wonderful Passages of the Divine Providence over You may appear so many strong Arguments that hitherto the King of Heaven hath had a special Regard to
So Hesych Suidas Budaeus Roberti Steph. Thesaurus The great Greek Concordance given by Sir Henry Savile to the publick Library at Oxford See there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Mac. 13.6 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Mac. 4.42 So Acts 19.37 Sacrilegium est propriè rerum sacrarum furtum Papias Nay so the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Old Testament Gen. 49 27. from whence directly the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek of the New Testament is derived being applied to things Sacred is properly to spoyl to pillage or for the capacity of those who are better versed in the new way of Robbing to Plunder holy things so the German of Rackaw renders this Text Raubest heilige dinge Rauben and Plundern in that Language being full Synonymes Current of Authors Ecclesiastical or Classical Greek or Latine for the word Sacrilegium And now God be-thanked it is clear by the letter of this Text that there is still such a thing as Sacriledge and that Sacriledge is a sin under the Gospel as much as under the Law a sin of as hainous a nature and of as heavy a Consequence as either Adultery or Idolatry either of which I hope no Christian will deny to be sins under the Gospel as well as under the Law Here is a plain literal Text for both a fair Foundation to build the rest of our discourse upon This for the Grammatical Exposition of the Text. 2. As for the particular occasion thereof 1. Some are of opinion that the Apostle might by the Holy Ghost foresee this Error that some Zelots whether Jews or Romans it matters not under pretence of hating Idols might presume to rob the Idol's Temples and from this take their Hint most Expositers ancient and modern (h) Chrysostom Theoph. Calv. Estius ad loc Greek and Latine to paraphrase the Text thus Thou that abhorrest Idols doest thou through sacrilegious Avarice steal away the things sacrificed to Idols From which general Exposition we may thus argue the Case If the Apostle and the holy Fathers did think the Robbing of an Idol a false God (i) As no Casuist doubts of it that a Turk may be guilty of Perjury and for it be punished by the True God If he forswear himself though he swear but by Mahomet a false Prophet to be Sacriledge and in Dionysius and others though but meer Heathen the true God hath revenged it for such then à majori it must needs be high Sacriledge to steal away that which belongs to the true God indeed unless they will make hâ—m a tamer Deity in his own Right than in the Right of an Idol 3. But secondly the Syriack Expositor is yet more literal and renders these words thus Doest thou commit Sacriledge directly by those doest thou spoyl the house of the Sanctuary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the word (k) And that God Almighty hath still under the Gospel his Domum Sanctuarii as well as under the Law needs no other Text than that plain Evangelical one Marc. 11.17 out of Isa 56.7 My house shall be called of or to all Nations the house of Prayer Where 1. Even under the Gospel God doth still claim a house to himself My house by a plain right of appropriation 2. That it must be so called and so used too 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to or of all Nations which till the calling in of the Gentiles by the Gospel could not be under the Law either Exposition will serve the turn That in the Apostle's judgment 't is Sacriledge to take away that which belongs to God and to turn it into a prophane or common use 4. You may easily take an Estimate of the hainousness of the sin of Sacriledge in its own nature by the worth of its opposite the highest Vertue the vertue of Religion which Sacriledge (l) Aquin. directly overthrows and therefore vi contrariorum Sacriledge must needs be the basest Vice A Thief any ordinary Thief is a Person infamous by the Law (m) I C. Stat. concern Ridesdale-men c. who yet robs but a man like himself how base a Thief is he then that robs God that robs his own God for so God Indicts him expresly (n) Malach. 3.8 and so both the Greek and the (o) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suid. Bud. Gotts-Dieb In Classical Authors 't is an Epithet of highest aggravation when a thing is called Sacrilegious as Vipera Sacrilega sunt convicia comica apta in Ancillas mulieres improbas c Chabot in 5. Epod. Horat Bellum Sacrilegum Cic. 7. in Verr. Sacrilegi furores Martial German and the Saxon your old Language term him Gods Thief that is his Brand. Nay one degree worse yet for Sacriledge is a Vice opposite to the vertue of Religion not simply or in any inferiour degree but in its heroical degree of Excellency It particularly opposeth Devotion which is Religion in its Zenith in its height It being an holy promptitude to honour God with our substance as well as with our service one of the highest Expressions of our duty to our Maker and of the homage we can perform to God Almighty whilest we are upon Earth which doth as near as may be at this distance fasten us to use the phrase of that Divine Heathen (p) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hierocl Knit us together with God unto God heart and hand and all Then sure the quite contrary disservice can be no Gnat which very Pagans themselves out of meer common Notions have ever strained at to say nothing of all Christendom besides And as Sacriledge is thus hainous in its own nature so it will appear more horrible still being compared with the Parallel-sins it is matched withal in the Context Noscitur ex socio is an old Say And this is our second Point in order to make up the full description of this sin to wit by way of Comparison 5. The sins near of kin to Sacriledge are here set down to be 1. Adultery and 2. Idolatry damnable sins both of them in whomsoever in the Christian as well as in the Jew so that with as much Reason may any man affirm the sins of Adultery or of Idolatry to concern onely the Jews and not us Christians because St. Paul seems here to speak to the Jews as to say so of Sacriledge or with as much reason may any man deny Adultery or Idolatry to be sins now under the Gospel as deny Sacriledge to be a sin still for the ground in this Text is the same for both and therefore by a plain Argument à pari at least Sacriledge must needs be a sin of the same nature that is as damnable in a Christian as in a Jew under the Gospel as under the Law As for the first Adultery that can be no Peccadillo no sin in jest that in earnest was dyed in the blood of 25000 (q) Num. 25.9 all at once and for
fractu temporis convalescere Paulus lib. 8. ad Sabinum ff de divers R. J. L. quod Initio 29. alias 30. Sic enim Digesto Novo tit 17. l. 50. Ratio Regulae est quia sicut Tempus non est modus Inducendae vel tollendae obligationis L. obligationum Sect. Placet De Action obligation Ita solum Tempus actum ab initio invalidum confirmare non potest Hujus Regulae saith a good Civilian and my old Acquaintance Exemplum in contractibus extat in Sect. 1. Instit de Inutilâ—b stipulat Si rem SACRAM vel publicam stipuler non valet stipulatio licet postea efficiatur profana aut privata in hominum Commercium perveniat Everard Bronchorst in hanc legem p. 80. If this be Law if Jus and aequum then let all men judge whether they Decree righteous Decrees who fâ—rst rob God of his Demesnes and then vote it a Lay-fee as if such a Vote were Operative to command a second Transubstantiation of Natures The truth is but for Club-law The Church hath all the just Law and Equity in the World of her side or by the Law of God that it rather aggravates the Offence by turning it through Custom into a state of final Impenitency Else Belshazzar might have had as good a Plea for his Sacriledge as some in our days that he for his part came lawfully by the Sacred Vessels for he had them by Inheritance from his Grandfather Where notwithstanding 't is very observable it did not reach * De malè quaesitis non gaudet tertius haeres the third Generation but in a moment translated away with it an Empire that had lasted above a thousand years This we note the rather once for all to warn all men never to think the better of an Error or of a sin as of the sin of Sacriledge or Rebellion because hereditary for God Alto Judicio may suffer a sin in a kind of Lineal succession to descend from the Father to the Child yea to seem as it were intailed upon a Family upon a whole Nation for a while till at last when he sees his time Tarditatem supplicii gravitate compensat and by his National final Curse cuts off for ever the Intail and the Intailers too Root and Branch indeed For thus the Son is still under the Curse and justly punishable though not for the first Sacrilegious Act committed by his Father yet for the impenitent continuance of that Sacrilegious Act of his Fathers which brings us to the consideration of the next particular namely God's Curse For sixthly the Indictment being both repeated and proved God proceeds to Sentence saying Ye are cursed with a Curse Verse 9. because ye have robbed me even this whole Nation Where observe that as the Sin so the Curse is for the extent National for the kind very equal for they did by Sacriledge famish the Priests of God and the God of the Priests did famish them by Scarcity for ordinarily Punishment is the Anagram of Sin So God's Justice commonly runs in a Talio observes as it were an exact Geometrical proportion rendring par pari as S. Hierom again If men will walk contrary unto him (a) Levit. xxvi 27 28. he will also walk contrary unto them and inlarge his Plagues seven times more for their sins The whole Nation was deep in the Sacriledge the meaner sort following herein the bad examples of the great ones which with the baser ignoble multitude usually goes for Law and so the whole Nation undergoes the Judgment too a miserable National Famine so extream that some record they were fain to sell their own Children to buy bread abroad Their own Heaven at home being become Iron Levit. xxvi 19. and their own Earth brass for Offenso Creatore omnis offenditur Creatura our own Destiny in the end of another National War except we repent for whether this fundamental sin of Sacriledge be not become as National here among us as possibly it might be amongst the Jews judge ye If a sin should be once decreed lawful by the Representative Body of a Nation that is with Authority if it be practised generally by the Diffusive Body of a Nation with Impunity either of these two ways is enough to denominate a sin National à Majori then where both these do concur This I press that by the present National punishment we may apprehend the vastness of our sin to have been no less than so National also and that the Plaister may be as broad as the Sore so must be the Repentance and Reformation too by way of Restitution National also that 's the next For behold and admire Clementiam Domini Hieron ibid. saith the Father that thus patiently bears with whole Generations of sin in Father and Child and yet still invites them to repentance Return unto me V. 7. and I will return unto you saith the Lord of Hosts Nay as if he would meet them more than half-way he points out unto them the onely way they may not think of Peace or of Plenty again or of a Pardon If they come still empty or close-handed no that is not the way God marks out here but the quite contrary way V. 10. Bring in all the Tythes into the Store-house and prove me now herewith if I will not open you the Windows of Heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it 15. From whence you may first of all observe for your own direction that the onely National Remedy left us is National Restitution so far if you intend to prosper must you be from venturing to add new Sacriledge to the old as some would have you that all your care must be rather to contrive how to make Restitution for what is past 'T is a duty will still lie heavy upon you and the whole Nation else 'till you resolve to discharge it take it in the words of one of your own wise men (b) Sir Francis Bacon in his Consider c. and a Lawyer also who observing very well how Church-Lands pass in valuation between man and man at a lower rate than other Temporalties thinks therefore with all reverence be it repeated that all PARLIAMENTS since the 27 and 31 of H. the VIII STAND OBNOXIOUS they are his own words AND OBLIGED TO GOD IN CONSCIENCE to do somewhat for the Church to reduce the Patrimony thereof And adds That since they have debarred Christ's Wife of a great part of her DOWRY it were reason they made her a competent JOYNTVRE 16. Touching the matter out of which to make the Restitution as it concerns mainly the Consciences and Estates of the Usurpers for Caveat emptor and the old Rule will be for ever true Aug. Non remittetur peccatum donec restituatur ablatum at least (c) 2 Cor. 8.11 according to what a man hath If this seem durus Sermo then think that for
as (u) 11 Sam. iij. 29. there never fails from the house of GOD'S THIEF one that hath either an Issue it may be of Blood it may be by Duel or by Murder or else an Issue of Uncleanness as God is wont to punish the sin of Sacriledge with giving such men over to some other Hereditary sin the sorest Scourge next Hell or one that is a Leper that hath some Hereditary Disease or one that leaneth on a Staff that is a Cripple or a mishapen deformed thing marked like Cain as it were with Gods own immediate hand or that falleth on the Sword that comes to an untimely End or dies an unnatural Death or lastly one that lacketh Bread that lives or dies a Beggar This for the Curse of God upon the Sacrilegious Person 's Moral house as much as upon his Material house 57. You of this Island need not Saile over for Instances in all these severall kinds of (x) Virum magnum summâ familiarum Anglicarum historiaeque antîquae notitiâ praeditum citare testem possumus quem corà m aliquot viris Intelligentibus Nobilibus Religione Protestantibus ipsum etiam professione Protestantem narrantem audivimus quo tempore Rex Henricus viij opima illa Coenobiorum latifundia ducentis Sexaginta amplius nobilibus viris vel gratis vel permutatione factâ distribuisset etiam Thomam Norfolciae Ducem viginti Clientibus suis qui ei diu fideliter liberaliterque serviissent reditum perpetuum quadringentarum librarum Sterlingarum ex aequo repartivisse ex horum viginti nobilium stirpe superesse adhuc haeredes singulorum in ipsis haereditatibus quas à Duce patribusque suis acceperunt florentes Ex toto autem eorum numero qui Coenobiorum opibus fuerunt ditati non superesse Sexaginta familias quae in bonis perseverant avitis omnes reliquas familias penitùs eis rebus quas sic à R. Henrico possederant hodie excidisse Idque sibi ita notum dixit vir ille Nobilissimus ut si opus foret singulos illos posset enumerare Adeò verissimum est quod vir Ingeniosissimus Bosenus in politicis dixit Reditus Ecclesiae Monasteriorum esse velut Aquilarum Plumas quae sialiarum avium plumis misceantur easdem velut Igne contractas destruunt usuique prorsùs Ineptas reddunt Ita si Deo dicata misceantur Laicalibus feudis ad temporales applicentur causas adeò non apportant ipsis quicqâ—am Incrementi ut etiam temporales Reditus quibus augendis addebantur non minuant tantùm verùm ad nihilum perducant V. Apostolatum Benedictinorum in Anglia per Clem. Reyner c. Tract 1. Sect. 6. p. 227. Infausta laicis bonorum Coenobialium possessio God's Curse upon both the Houses He that runs may read them in the Capitals of so many Ruinated Families among your selves who if I misapprehend not my Author can within the compass of one single County point out the bare Names for that is almost all is left of them with much ado of above 200. quondam Noble Families amongst whom King Henry the Eighth did distribute the Abbey-lands by way of Sale or Exchange all of them as we may say disinherited at this day whereas within the same County of twenty other Families whose Ancestors were of the Retinue of Thomas Duke of Norfolk and therefore rewarded by him with the Annuity of 400 li. a year equally divided amongst them there is not one of those but to this day he injoys his Father's well-gotten Goods by way of Inheritance with improvement whilest those other Sacrilegious Estates as if full of Quick-silver could never yet settle since the first Usurpation but in less than three Generations have changed and ruined too their several Owners over and over as if that fearful Curse of God denounced by the Prophet (y) Ezek 21 27. Ezekiel against the great City Jerusalem for their breach of the Oath of Allegiance and further Rebellion to the King of Babylon though a Pagan King though an Usurper were for ever entailed also of all other Estates upon the Sacrilegious Family 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I WILL OVERTVRN OVERTVRN OVERTVRN IT AND IT SHALL BE NO MORE VNTIL HE COME WHOSE RIGHT IT IS AND I WILL GIVE IT HIM A sad Item this for a treble Curse upon all Sacrilegious Rebels 58. By this you see experimentally how God's Curse upon Sacriledge is not only Personal but diffusive too over the whole Family yea Nation tha't 's tainted therewith 59. Not to accumulate any more Instances out of that confounded heap of National Examples Pagan and Christian who knows we have reason to ask the question whether the Continuance here of the old National Sacriledge and the palpable Contrivance of some to add New Sacriledge to the Old be not the Principal sad Ingredient in this National Cup of God's wrath which do what we can must you see go round all over as that deadly Cup of God*s fury put into the hand of the Prophet (z) Jer xxv 27 Jeremy by way of Embleme with a command to cause every one even the holy City and all to drink it off and a sad Commination too you shall drink saith the Lord of Hosts and be drunken and so we were God knows Drunken indeed A DEMENTATED NATION Dead drunk with God's Poculum stuporis * Psal lx 3. God's Deadly Cup till we did stagger and too too many fell down with it yea tumble one upon another and ye shall spew and fall and rise no more Lord have mercy upon us and wherefore all this because of the Sword which I will send among you That is the deadly Cup the Sword wherewith we are cursed even this whole NATION remember ye (a) Mai. iij. 8. c. See above Malachy because we have ROBBED GOD. We have if you mark all too too just cause to suspect that this is not one of the least of all our National Trangressions the Divine Majesty doth almost Vocally admonish us of in this his so long so bloudy a Visitation We were lately robbed of our Estates of our Peace of our Truth of our Religion of all because we have robbed God For this is that Retaliation mentioned by (b) Ex. xxi 24. Moses An Eye for an Eye and a Tooth for a Tooth So Gods Punishments are still the Anagrams of our sins In the Analoâ—y of his Judgments we may visily read our sins in kind it was so of old (c) See and compare the Histories in Dan. viij 12. with the ii iij iv Chap. of the Book of Maccab. and also 11 Maccab xiij 6.8 and whether the National overthrow of God's true Religion and Primitive service in this whole Land were not a sad Memento to us all of our gross abuse of the very same by National Sacriledge and prophaneness I leave it to judge unto those Consciences that are not yet utterly past feeling 60. And if so then to