that very station or dejection rather 3. I know again that this Anonymous Author or any Advocate of Clergie-Revenues and Dignity will be impeached by the common Genius of this Age as guilty either of some discontent and dissatisfaction with his own estate and condition or else of the Idolatry of Mammon that is Covetousness Can the Author make any Bar against that common Plea of Clergyadversaries In the aforesaid simplicity and sincerity of a Christian Priest he can and will say if his own heart be not his own Jacob that is his own Supplanter and Deceiver according to that Hebrew Elegancy of Scripture Jer. 17.9 and he doth say W. C. Bishop of â—nton in the words of a late godly Prelate who lost the best Bishoprick in all England a few dayes before his death I thank God I never knew that night in which I lost one quarter of an hours rest or sleep for all my own personal losses and deprivations Yea the Author is so far from all paroxysmes of discontent in either state that he hath imbibed this principle or dogma with the very milk of his Mother the University That there is very small or no difference excepting the extremity of poverty and cleanness of Teeth 'twixt high or low estates of any person Temporal or Ecclesiastick His ground is unmoveable and his reason invincible from Gods own mouth When God himself was Lord Almoner to his own people of both Orders Lay and Clergy and gave them a daily allowance of Manna from his own immediate hand it is expresly said He that gathered much had nothing over and he that gathered little had no lack Exod. 16.18 Nothing over and no lack are plainly and literally terms equivalent and equipollent even Levelling terms And thus far the Author is a professed Leveller in his practick judgement past and present a very Lazarus that gathereth little yet by Some other benediction of Autarkie and Self-sufficiency a very Dives He hath no lack And if by the rule of Reason Perfectum est cui nihil deest then even a sequestered person hath and enjoyeth a perfect happiness of estate This is no more then another Greek Copy in another mount that of Sion under the Gospel as well as that of Sinai under the Law rendreth thus When without purse and scrip and shoes lacked ye any thing Luk. 22.35 It is the gallant and daring Quaere of our Great Rabbi to his own Disciples Though then the Anonymous Author might probably and justly say for a double Apprentiship of years Epist 7.131 with Luther Ego pro annuo stipendio tantùm novem antiquas sexagenas habeo praeter has nè obolus quidem aut mihi aut fratribus è civitate accedit that is onely sixty pounds for his annual stipend yet he then was and he hopeth ever shall be so far from a querulous temper that when he gathered much he had nothing over and when little he had no lack of sufficient contentment and satisfaction I would now heartily wish and pray for my Brethren that there were no one son of Eli the Priest among them not one that may make the offerings of the Lord stink 1 Sam. 1.17 even under the Gospel by their foul and sordid humour of Covetousness in any State Ephes 5.3 Covetousness should not be once named among them as becometh Saints much less should it be acted and practiced amongst them as becometh Priests especially But it is much to be bewailed that even some Spiritual persons are so much flesh and blood and so obnoxious to that foul and mechanick office of lading themselves with thick clay Hab. 2.6 that they also cry out with profane Esau Da mihi de rufo rufo illo Gen. 25.30 Give me that red that red Clay whereas even the chief Apostle was neither ashamed nor discontented to say Silver and Gold have I none Act. 3.6 Both Lay and Clergy-order may and must know that it is with the Revenues of Priests as with the Phylacteries of the Pharisees God himself allowed yea injoyned Exod. 13.16 Deut. 6.8 they were jure Divino the use of these Phylacteries yet when there was an enlargement and ampliation of them though they were conservatoria pietatis as their name importeth it was condemned by the Bishop of Souls in the very Pharisees Matth. 23.5 Thus even just 〈◊〉 with Church-Revenues God doth not only allow and approve but also enjoyneth a large and liberal income to Church-men especially in times of affluence peace and plenty in the Christian State And these Revenues also are conservatoria pietatis great conservatories and encouragements of Piety and Religion But when there is an enlargement or a dilatation of them to Pride Covetousness Luxury or Laziness such Grandees are but Pharisaical Rabbies and will be sadly obnoxious to the severe censure and judgement of the great Bishop of Soules at his last and Oecumenical Visitation And I and each true Son of the Church do heartily wish that our Vicarius Dei in suo Regno as Pope Eleutherius entitleth the King and all his Senate or Councel would give what severe Orders or Acts they please against any such Spiritual Dilapidations which the Luxury Covetousness or Laziness of any of that Order may bring upon the Church of God For though I shall ever honour the linen Ephod upon any Gospel-Priest yet when I see a carking covetous Priest I cannot but point with the finger as the Israelites of old Weemse on Priests vestments and say Behold the Priest with the rough and rugged Garment i. e. one of a rugged and rigid temper or of a secular and covetous disposition And yet I doubt not but the holy and harmless Priest and great Bishop of Souls oft permitteth and vouchsafeth room in his own Zech. 13 4 Society and Church to such or such a Judas that carrieth the bag and yet betrayeth his Master and his Spouse the Church That I may conclude this Subject I have sometimes smiled at the Romish either Wit or seeming Piety that giveth this Reason for the Rasura capitis the shaving of Priests heads in their Church That there may be Nil medium inter Coelum Sacerdotem Durant de ritibus not so much as an hair intervenient 'twixt Heaven and their Priests But I heartily wish that both our heads and hearts would prove us to be such true Nazarites to God as not to grieve to be shaved when we are sequestred and deprived by the sharpness of a malicious age and to be so far from lading our selves with thick Clay as to lay up little or no treasure upon earth but a good foundation against the time to come 1 Tim. 6.19 ut nihil sit medium inter Coelum Sacerdotem 4. A third Article or impeachment in the Common Pleas of this Age will be Is not this Author and Advocate of the Clergy guilty of envy malice or malignity to the Laity It is answered As that
of the word Deut. 2.20 21. Zamzummim notes in the Hebrew dialect High and mighty ones for strength of Body and Mind to do mischief or horrid machinations These have looked upon the English Church-men of the first and best Edition in this Century as upon so many inconsiderable and despicable Grashoppers of the Earth Num. 13.33 And while the Sacred Scripture calls them indeed Earthen Vessels 2 Cor. 4.7 they have made them all in their new account no better then Terrae filii i. e. Sons of the Earth men of base and vile Allay in respect of their Generous Order And yet by the dispensation of Divine Providence both these sons of Anak to complete the Parallel have been themselves odious and despicable in the eyes of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and that menace and commination is almost verified Psa 73.20 Thou shalt make their Image to vanish out of the City These men have had a gallant Levelling Project in reference to the Church while Self-interest hath forbade any such design in relation to the State and Commonwealth It 's very true that the God of Order and Father of Lights hath made and constituted a double Aequinoctial in the compass of the Year the one Vernal the other Autumnal in which the brightest Day cannot brag of a Minutes length beyond the soulest and darkest Night But these sons of Disorder and Confusion have often and often voted and designed a third and new Ecclesiastick Aequinoctial in the Church in which the Lights of the first second and third Magnitude must be equallized with the most obscure ignorant and illiterate Teachers Neither would they have any regret or aversion if all such Lights had been whelmed sub modio under a Bushel or like Achans accursed thing buried under ground and not one of them set up in a Candlestick especially if it be a Golden one a place of value and eminence It seems the sond Fancy of some sons of false Light in old Tertullians dayes by a Platonick Revolution hath lighted upon our modern Age Tertul. de Monogamia c. 12. Quum extollimur inflamur adversus Clerum tunc Unum Omnes sumus tunc Omnes Sacerdotes c. i.e. When we are extolled and swollen big with a Tympany of spiritual pride then we are all One and all Priests and that not without a Sacred Text to justifie it a very Jus divinum for contempt of Ministery Sacerdotes nos Deo Patri fecit Apo. 5.10 i. e. We are all Kings all Priests to God Jude 11. Just all Corahs Company for the gainsaying of Corah is a sin under the Gospel All the Congregation are Sancti eveâ—y one of them Saints and Holy as holy Orders can make them These grand Agitators and Pragmaticks in Church-affairs have possibly another fair or foul Precedent from some of their modern Progenitors even in Queen Elizabeths dayes Sir Henry Spelmâ—ns Preface to his Councils The Plot was this That while in our Royal English Armes there is the Cross and the Lily in a fair conjunction their Envious eyes would have wholly rased out the Cross the Embleme of the Church that so the Lily the Embleme and Cognisance of the State might singly and solely flourish exceeding Salomon in all his Glory If these men had gone one step further in their furious Zâ—al unâ eâdem liturâ by one and the same motion had blotted out and expung'd the Cross from their own Foreheads had they not made themselves and the whole State very Gallant and Triumphant Christians And whereas it was once the pious Vote of a King of Israel and one learned in all the Wisdom of the Aegyptians and the man of Visions and Miracles beyond all others Num. 11.29 Would to God all the Lords people were Prophets that Vote would have been by these wholly inverted or perverted Would to God all the Lords Prophets were no other then one of the people and so the Cross it self the Embleme of the Church and Church-men wholly have been crucified to all intents and purposes I am now ashamed and blush Gentle and Honoured Sirs that I should tell you such true stories of our own Zamzummims sons of false Light and Fanatick Agitators before whom the whole Body or Carkass of our English Church bled afresh at the presence of such Monsters of men God grant there be no Spawn or Issue left of such Levelling Edomites that still cry Down with it down with it even to the ground The Authors grand Design by these small Papers is to make our own English Statute more authentick and unrepealable in all English generous and Christian hearts 8 Elâ—z cap. â— in Preamble namely that of 8 Elizabeth cap. 1. That the Clergy is a High State one of the greatest States of the Realm And this shall be asserted against all our new Edomites 1. Jure Antiquâ—-Anglicanâ— by the old English account 2. Jure Naturae Patriarchali by the Law of Nature and Patriarchs before the Law 3. Jure Mosaico Israelitico under the Law of Moses 4. Jure Evangelico by the Evangelical account 5. Jure Ecclesiastico by Primitive Ecclesiastick account 6. Jure Ethnico even by the account of Heathens themselves But before all or any of those I am constrained from the urgency of the present Posture of Ecclesiastick Affairs to give my Reader a double Essay or Exercitation One touching the Merit and just Value of the true Old English Clergy The other touching the Demerits and depreciating the New English Clergy and of all Sectaries of what division subdivision and of what denomination soever Though possibly upon Second thoughts the grand Defects and huge and gross Enormities of all such Factious spirits like the Faces or Dregs are most fit and proper for the Bottom and Sediment of this Discourse unto which I shall defer them SECT II. Of the grand Merit of the Old English Clergy LEt not I pray Generous and Courteous Sirs this one word seem the effect of Clergy-Pride if we dare venture to tell you That there are no less then eight or nine signal and eminent Honours and Favours which the Great and Catholick Bishop of Souls hath vouchsafed to our Ecclesiastick Order equal to which the Divine Benediction hath hardly deign'd to any Age or any Kingdom besides 1. Speeds Hist l. 9. c. 19. pag. 9 â—7 The Union of the Houses of York and Lancaster was effected by the Counsels of Bishop Morton A rare Accommodation and Expedient for the joynt united welfare of the Church and State 2. Idem c. 20. pag 989. The Union of England and Scotland was wrought by the treaty of Bishop Foxe That great Wall of Partition was beaten down by a blessed Episcopal Hand 3. The Conversion of the Kingdom from Paganism was by Saint Augustine Archbishop of Canterbury 4. Dr. Taylor Epistle to Episc asserted The Reformation was begun and promoted by Bishops These were
Patrimony Luther on Gal. 6.6 not to be deprived by the Laiety upon Scruples of Conscience because Popish c. and sayes he the Devils own high-way to destroy Religion is either by Errours of Hereticks or else by depriving or defrauding Gods Ministers and this is the Devils Master-plot This is a German Witness serving indifferently for our English Horizon Calvin for France does not befriend our English Zamzummims who complains That the Patrimony of Christ and the Patrimony of the Church are not employed to the Sacred Honour of the Clergy is my grief and all good men lament this case with me So Calvin de Necessit Reform Lastly Knox for Scotland gave this death-bed Doctrine against our English false Teachers Brethren saith he we have fought against Hereticks and God hath blessed us we must now have a strong fight against the Sacrilegious And accordingly at St. Andrews Anno 1582. there was a general Fast throughout the Realm for appeasing Gods wrath for the sin of Sacrilege Let our Novel Teachers in England either defie this Quaternion of Gospel-Souldiers Diodati for Geneva Luther for Germany Calvin for France Knox for Scotland or else down on their knees and aske Pardon and Blessing from their old Mother the Church or their Fathers the Bishops of that Church In the ninth and last place the Honour of the old Clergy might be demonstrated and made visible and conspicuous from the Antithesis of all Novel Teachers Opposita juxta se posita magis elucescunt Their Disobedience and Rebellion their Sacrilege their Perjury their Excommunicating of Creed ten Commandments and blessed Sacraments their Oppression and Robbing of Brethren against the Laws of their own Masters their Apostatizing Temporizing and Symbolizing with Papists in more then ten or twelve particulars these these are the Lees and Dregs which as before was said shall be reserved for the very Bottom and Sediment of our whole Discourse if our good Constantines Mantle i. e. our King Charles his Act of Oblivion do not palliate even wholly cover and hide them or such foul matters will not make my Papers rather sink then bear them However here I give breath to the gentle Reader by a wilful and studied and charitable Paralepsis at the present Now Generous Sirs weigh all these premised Considerations in the balances of Reason and Religion and when ye have weighed their Signal Actions 1. in Unions 2. in Conversions 3. in Reformations 4. their numerous Off-spring 5. their active and vigorous Atchievements 6. their domestick Enemies suffrages 7. their Transmarine Friends and Fautors 8. the Defects and Enormities of their Competitors c. Ye may justly pronounce Euge bone serve to the Old Order and MENE MENE TEKEL i. e. Ye are numbred weighed in the balance and found too light even to all our English Novellists SECT III. Of Jus Antiquo-Anglicanum or the old English Account IF my Reader be of true English temper and complexion then besides the aforesaid signal Honours and Favours to the Clergy-Order he may please to know That 1. the Authority of the first Christian King of Britain 2. the Bond and Obligation by Oath of English Kings 3. the gracious Concessions of some English Parliaments 4. the temper and tenour of our English Laws 5. the Devotion of our English Gentry and Souldiery 6. the sad and bitter Execrations on Malignants to the Order 7. the ancient English Usages and Customs these all these are as so many Cords i.e. invincible Inducements and Engagements to bind them and their hearts and souls both to the Service of Gods Altar and to all the Ministers that attend upon it For the First It 's a bold and a blind Errour of that grand Popish Clerk Bellarm. de Laicis c. 17. Adannos CCC nullus in Ecclesia Christianus Princeps i.e. There was no Christian King in the world for the first three Centuries of years Whiles by the signal mercy of the King of Kings Lucius the first Christian and Baptized King did found our English Episcopal Sees and Chairs by his Christian Royal and Exemplary Benevolence and both his Baptism and Royal Charity did bear at least so early a date as Anno 176. Epist ad Carolum R. So Sir H. Spelman Conâ—il Now if the first Christian King was the Patron and Maecenas and had the honour to love our Nation Luke 7.5 and build us more then a Synagogue will any Christian English Gentleman run to the Region of his Antipodes and count it a great point of honour to be the Apollyon and Abaddon the raser and subverter of such Noble Foundations and Endowments This were to verifie that ignominious English Proverb Pater noster God or our King Lucius built them and Our Father is become the Apollyon Every sober English Gentleman hath at least the Loyalty and Charity which the very Heathen Philistines had to each succession of Kings and to call his own Lucius his Abimelech Pater meus Rex Lucius aedificavit 2. For the Bond and Obligation by Oath of English Kings So liberal and indulgent in point of Honour were our English Ancestors that that sacred Order hath another peculiarity and specialty of Favour which is That all English Kings in all successions and generations to this very day give a treble Bond and Obligation for defense and protection to them even a treble Cord by the Coronation-Oath Which is a favour not vouchsafed or deigned to any other Order and Profession of men First he sweareth to preserve the Laws Customs and Franchises granted to the Clergy by the glorious Saint Edward his Predecessor Then for peace and godly agreement according to his Power to God the holy Church and Clergy Lastly to preserve to us and the Churches committed to our charge all Canonical Privileges and to be Protector and Defender of the Bishops c. This all this is to be found in the Records of the Exchequer and His Majesties Remonstrance May 26. 1641. and in an old Manuscript in the publick Library of Oxford And if this singularity of favour will seem an invidious and odious observation in some English eyes I think there is somewhat correspondent and equivalent in that Commonwealth in which there was a pure Theocraty By act and power of the King of Kings one Rod Num. 17.8 one Tribe even that of Levi had buds and blossoms and ripe Almonds a treble Benison by miraculous mercy whilest no such fructification no such florid blessing upon any or all the rest of the Tribes in Gods Israel Now let any Christian Gentleman judge whether he is not a Traytor to the Kings soul his Unica or Dearling as King David calleth it Psal 22.20 which shall persuade him that his treble Oath is but a Gypsies knot fast and loose with a breath 3. The gracious Concessions of some Parliaments so eminent and exemplary that they all disclaim and that upon Scripture-ground any Authority to dispose Clergy-estates Parl. 25. Edw. 1. Lay-men have no
in thy Lot at the end of days IN SORTE TUA i. e. in sorte Prophetarum that is the most noble and gallant portion and station as Mr. Mede interpreteth it Our great Rabbi then signeth and sealeth a warrant Teste meipso Matth. 10.41 That any Patron Fautor or Gaius to a Priest or Prophet shall have a glorious in-come or revenue for his expences For he that receiveth a Prophet i. e. relieveth and maintaineth supporteth and fomenteth a Prophet shall be partaker of a Prophets reward The ground and reason is evident Because each Fautour and Fomenter of a Prophet hath an interest in and influence upon the work and consequently hath a kind of title and entail upon the reward that appertaineth unto it 2. The great Bishop of Soules though he himself were a Priest holy harmless undefiled and separated from sinners yet vouchsafeth a Benjamins portion of respect and honour to the Function and Order even then when it was debased and almost desecrated by the enormous crimes and personal unworthiness of those that were invested and inaugurated in the Priesthood And this singular zeal should be highly observable and made exemplary to Zealots of a quite contrary temper and disposition His indulgence and condescension to the worst Priests is very legible Mark 1.44 Vade ostende te Sacerdoti offerto Is our holy Lord and Master a Macenas and Patron even to such Priests Saint Cyprian giveth the Doctrine upon that Text Lib. 1. Epist 65. Dominus Pâ—ntificibus Sacerdotibus honorem servavit quamvis illi nec timorem Dei nec agnitionem Christi servassent i. e. That pure holy and undefiled Priest hath a fair reserve of honour even to those that reserved no fear of God nor honour of Christ himself Sure it is strange that the pretended zealous Disciples of Christ should in this point or matter become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wholly opposite both to Christ and such unworthy Priests at once Epist 55. And the same Father doth both heighten and strengthen that observation by St. Pauls example Act. 22.5 Nosciebam quia Pontifex est scriptum est enim Principem populi tui non maledices That quamvis impii sacrilegi cruenti though impious sacrilegious bloudy Priests nil praeter inane nomen umbram no real Sacerdotal honour and authority yet Vade ostende offerto Go shew to the Priest and offer to him Neither did our Lord only reserve respect and honour to the external and Judaical Priests but which is far more even to his own menial and domestick Apostle Judas quamvis malus pecuniam dominicam dispensavit non malam nec inutilem bene accipientibus fecit Contra Petilian 3. as Saint Augustine voteth it i. e. Though Judas had the honour of being Steward or Treasurer of Christs house his foul hands did not corrupt or embase his Masters charity to the poor Another Father speaketh for veneration of the Order even in the most unworthy persons Ephr. Syrus de Sacerdotio p. 20. As Gold or a Jewel is still Gold and pretious when it falleth into the very Mire or Dirt fic nec Sacerdotium sordidum redditur quamvis indignus sit qui illud recipit i. e. so the Priesthood is not base though the Priest be unworthy The like Doctrine with that of the great Bishop of Souls and our Lord and Master is taught by Isidore of Pelusium Lib. 2. Epist 3. and by St. Bernâ—rd Serm. 3. de Adventu Dom. 3. While Sacrilege i. e. the violation of Persons Things Places sacred is esteemed in this last and worst age a venial sin or no sin at all I find no one Sin whatsoever hath such an exemplary and miraculous hatred declared from God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost as that peccadillo in the eyes of flesh and blood It is a sin against which Gods vengeance hath smoaked by special and signal judgments and penalties no less then four or five times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. in the very moment or instant of its commission even flagrante crimine as they say And let the best Patron of that sin even 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 search and dig from the superficies or surface of the Scripture to the very bottom of it and he shall not find a parallel vengeance upon any species or sort of sins Doth Uzziah intrude into and violate the sacred Order 2 Chron. 26.20 Num. 16. His Leprosie is Gods-token sent him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Do Corah and his Complices equalize and level themselves with the sacred Priests Aaron and his Sons The vengeance of the God of Heaven openeth the earth and giveth a double miracle of wrath and those sudden and contemporary with the sin Doth Belshazzar with his thousand Princes though heathen only violate and abuse the sacred cups and utensils He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 smitten with trembling which was Gods-token on Cain also for the same enormity Thus God the Father is at the expence of more fatal and mortal miracles against this sin then any other of the first or second magnitude Our Lord and Master Luk. 12.14 Joh. 8.11 the second Person waveth giving any sentence or judgement in the case of Inheritance and in the case of Adultery but he passeth sentence and judgment and penalty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against the violaters of his House and abusers and murtherers of his Zechariah and his Successors His whip of small Cords In Mat. 21 as Saint Hierom believeth wrought a greater miracle then any in the whole Gospel Quòd unuâ—homo illo tempore contemtibilis c. potuerit ad unius flagelli verbera tantam ejicere multitudinem c. Such is our great Bishops fiery zele and indignation that he himself is both Accuser Witness Judge and Executioner which is very singular in that case alone Mat. 21. Joh. 2. And this miracle also is doubled as Pharaohs Dream and acted twice over for the certainty and confirmation and ratifying of it to all ensuing Ages and Generations as Grotius in Joh. 2.14 and Mr. Mede observe So that Christ made it both the Alpha and Omega of his Episcopal care and inspection Lastly the Spirit of Christ the third Person by the mouth of Saint Peter punisheth the fraudulent surreption of things Sacred from the hâ—nds and feet of the Apostles Acts 5. in Ananias's and Saphira's case While now Generous and Courteous Sirs the blessed Trinity hath vouchsafed a double Trinity of Miracles pardon the Phrase as so many Pillars of Salt to season the memories of all posterity what Christian can sooth and flatter himself in the innocent nature of such sins Though no such miraculous productions of Divine Providence did yesterday or to day appear from the hands of Father Son or Holy Ghost yet these were written for our example 1 Cor. 10.11 and are for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come 4. After
the great Bishop of Souls let the great Apostle Saint Paul produce his strongest zele for the honourable support and sustentation of the sacred Order to the worlds end He useth a double Argument A Minori first à Jumentis The Ox not to be muzzled 1 Cor. 9.9 Yet higher from men that labour in carnal works If we sow unto you spiritual things is it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great matter if we reap your carnal things ver 11. I observe that the same St. Paul giveth out an Injunction Let him that is taught communicate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all good things Gal. 6.6 And if the Compensation be onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet in his liberal eye those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are but a small recompence for our Pastoral pains 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Is it a great matter if we reap c. In Gods own Law the inferiour office and function of a Levite that was Plebs vulgus Cleri was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no small thing Is it a small thing that God hath separated you even Levi from the congregation Num. 16.9 But in the liberality and magnificence of the Gospel-Spirit if ye give 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all your carnal things it must not be written down and put into accompt as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great matter And yet the discharge of that little debt is a sore burden to break some mens sleeps and backs and hearts also though an Apostle instructeth them that for us to reap their carnal things is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no great matter By a just and true and modest collation of both Texts Num. 16.9 with Gal. 6.6 it is an evident conclusion That the lowest Office of Ministery is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 great in Gods account whilest the greatest honorary by carnal and temporal things is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any great matter in Gods own eys Let not then thine eye be evil because Gods is good 5. The great Saint Paul again who one while is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 3.8 less then the least of Saints in his own Heraldry and account yet elsewhere useth a word of pregnancy an Hyperbole and supersoetation of honour and respects to the sacred Order of Ministers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to esteem them very highly in love 1 Thes 5.13 a compounded decompounded and superlative honour For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 noteth Abundance yea Superfluity So Rom. 5.17 Jam. 1.21 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 maketh some addition and augmentation But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speaketh an exceeding excessive and superlative degree of honour As the same Saint Paul by his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Thes 3.10 praying exceedingly intimateth the excessive and constant and violent fervency of his Apostolick affection in begging the blessing of God on the same Thessalonians Now where the Holy Ghost addeth one Iota or tittle in the Book of God it is not to be accounted idle frustraneous or superfluous For as Saint Bernard excellently Si nec folium de arbore nec unus è passerculis cadit c. If not a leaf falleth from any tree nor a Sparrow from the house-top without the providence of our Heavenly Father sure not one apex or Iota falleth from the Spirit of Wisdom without a wise and just and provident election Saint Pauls choice word doth therefore soberly and gravely signifie according to that Rhetorical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Incrementum as Casaubon calleth it of his and our Lord and Master Luk 6.38 even good measure of honour and respects pressed down shaken together and running over 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That as in the Office and Function of a Bishop he culleth out and selecteth a word of most exquisite and accurate signification and emphasis Tit. 1.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 set in order the things that are wanting c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 singly and solely is to make straight or right 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is throughly to do it and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to do it not only exactly but over and over again As thus in the discharge and execution of the Work and Function there should be exactness and accurateness ex parte Episcopi so in the retribution and remuneration of that Office there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of honour of love of respects ex parte Laici And as the same Saint Paul saith personally of himself that he doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not onely stretch himself to the fulness of his measure 2 Cor. 10.14 but as it were tentour himself far beyond his scantling to do service to the Church of God so would he have a compounded and super-compounded love and honour from those he so serveth the Pupils of that holy tuition Yet once more the very same Apostle in the abundance of affliction dishonour and disreputation from an ingrateful world hath another high superlative 2 Cor. 7.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a superabundance of joy even in the midst of those sorrows An excellent Lecture which containeth both Doctrine and Use of Joy and Comfort to that holy Order of men in their most abject and despicable condition for Christs sake Lord give me and all of us utramvis fortunae paginam either a supereffluence of their love and honour or else a compounded and decompounded joy and comfort under their dishonour and disgraces Amen 6. Let it not seem strange or a prodigious piece of pride if the Ecclesiastick Minister claimeth even jure Divine at least a Gavel-kind of honor with or above the civil or secular Magistrate It is certainly true that the secular Magistrates even in Scripture-idiome and language are called Elders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as when we read of the Elders of Israel the Elders of Judah the Elders of the People By which way the notion of the words 1 Tim. 5.17 may justly and truly be construed by way of transit us à Thesi ad Hypothesin as Rhetoricians call it thus Cùm omnes Seniores sive Reip. sive Ecclesiae duplici honore dignandi sunt tamen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 maximè Seniores Ecclesiastici qui laborant in verbo doctrina i.e. Whilest all Elders deserve double honour specially and signally the Ecclesiastick Elders do that labour in the Word and Doctrine In the beginning of that same Chapter Elder is used in that larger and general sense Rebuke not an Elder but exhort him as a Father the elder Women as Mothers And why not here so also for a civil Elder And both the one and the other were in place of the First-born and therefore a double honour was due to each promiscuously and indefinitely because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not Alms but Tribute of honour from the inferiour to the superiour and of the same nature with honour to Princes and Magistrates If that exposition seemeth