up houses for their Habitations and Rooms they use properly but suffer Churches to fall down or abuse some of them to other uses then they were designed for How much was Dioclesian discommended who contested for the priviledges of his Palace but cared not what became of the places dedicated to God And Nero who as much as in him lay butchered Christianity decried not only the Ordinances but the Feasts and Solemnities of the Religion yet then institutes his Juvenalia Feasts in memory of his beard then first cut and to make the folly more pompous the hairs of it forfooth must be put into a case of gold and be consecrated to Jupiter Aelia Catula an old noble Matron aged 80 years dances for triumph and those that do least make merry by singing and dancing It is no sign of great piety when men are bold onely upon the things of God When the World was under the power of Arians Church-plate and Treasure was seized upon and no place will serve the Tyrant Julian to piss against but the Communion Table nay when the bounty of a Constantine and Constantius shall be scoffed at by an Apostate Foelix in these words See how sumptuously the son of Mary is served And no less impiety is it to rifle from the Church-man his maintenance which some of late endeavoured but God brought their counsels to nought and their devices to none effect And just it was with God to scatter and disappoint them qui quaerunt mercedem Phineae sed operantur opera Zimri that is who cry up Christ and cry down his Servitors who ought to live upon his Patrimony and who are to receive maintenance from the Altar which they tend yea and exclame against Magistrates who ought and do defend them There is no need to dispute the right of Tythes qua Maintenance The Christian Church in her purer times ever held Ministers worthy of maintenance and of double honour for their Calling sake and feared much to detain or curtail their dues or to alter the species and manner of conveying it to them Those Christians were ever carefull to give the labourer his hyre and to minister temporals to such as to them imparted spirituals And therefore till the time of H. 8. I finde no Act of Parliament in this Nation that prescribes punishment for non-payment of Tythes the people held it so right a due to the Church-man that they made no scruple of it but if they failed the Law-spirituall punished them by pennance which they dreaded so much that they did seldom incurre it After that H. 8. had broke with the Pope and brought the Church-man under his lash then every one trampled upon the conquer'd worm The Parliament of the 27 th of his Raign seeing the inconvenience declared by Statute their judgment of such as refuse payment of Tythes And so they hold to this day and I hope ever will for Caesar ought to be a sonne of the Church Christ only is Lord and Master of it And let carnall and worldly spirits sleight the Church and her servitors yet they will in conclusion finde that whensoever the Churches last day shall be at hand the evening thereof will bring in the States ruin and dissolution So true is that of the Wiseman He that robbeth his father and mother and saith it is no transgression the same is the companion of a destroyer I know there are many who think sacriledg no sinne and the absorption of Tythes no sacriledg the Clergyman amongst those supernumeraries that ought to be disbanded and they would laugh to see Powers as dreadfull to the Clergy as was King John who accounted all spirituall mâ—n his enemies and was himself an enemy to them Or such times as that after when the Lord Chief-Justice declared openly Yee sirs that be Attorneys of my Lords the Archbishops Bishops c. and all other the Clergy declare unto your Masters and tell them that from henceforth there shall no Justice be done them in the Kings Courts for any manner of thing although never so heynous wrong be done to them but Justice shall be had against them to every one that will complain and require to have it There are some I fear who would make the portion of God not Benjamins a worthy portion but an Ishmaels an Issacars porton a mean and worthless trifle so good Patriots they are that they would dare God to curse the Nation as he did the Jews in Mal. 3. for exceeding the deeds of the wicked in robbing their God by taking away Tythes and Offerings ver 8 and 9. On which words Calvin presents God speaking thus to the Jews Compass ye the whole world go into the most barbarous nests of the Heathens ye shall finde no such gross licentiousness as is amongst you For those Nations barely by the light of nature give reverence to their gods and abhor to take sacrilegiously what is devoted to them But ye make no matter of defrauding me of what is mine own Am I inferiour to Idols is my prerogative less dear to you then that of false gods to those Nations Such it is plain there are but blessed be God I hope they will never prevail For if Pharaohs divinity and Josephs true piety abhorred to sell the Priests Lands God forbid that either their Lands or Tythes should be alienated in days that give themselves the name of Reformation And it ought seriously to be weighed by men in Power that besides the comeliness and piety of supporting those that are Gods messengers whose errand is to save our souls and the gratitude that ought to be expressed towards them that are our instructors in good letters as generally Clergy-men are and the greatest Masters of Art there is much worldly wisdom evidenced in countenancing the Clergy Magistrates are in nothing more self-preserving then while they make the Ministry of their party and by protection of them conjure them their humble servants in all wayes of honour and honesty And I think that if search be made in stories the Clergy one time with another have been as faithfull and forward in all worthy enterprises both of counsell and action as any which made Charls the Great no mean politician take their counsell and consent in all his warres and expeditions I do not say but that the spirituality may sometimes oppose the civil authority and employ their interests as they did in Henry the second of France his time for the Pope against him Prudence in that case may hinder such unkindness and punish it by preventing addition of what is combustible State Injunctious ought to repress causes of disturbance in any for Magistrates must not bear the sword in vain but when the Church-man is quiet and minds his ministration when he meddles with no secular things any further then they entrench upon Gods peculiar and exalt themselves against what is called God then to be narrow towards him is no argument of
not so changeable as the French nor so austere as the Spaniard but between both the dresse of wise men being ordinarily such as hath least of prodigality in the matter and affectation in the manner of setting it forth I know it was an old itch of this Nation to affect the guises of other people Andrew Bord an English Priest going about to paint an English man drew divers designs of him at last was fain to draw him a naked man with a pair of Sheers in one hand and cloth in another as who should say Fashion your Garment to your own minde for none can please you And upon this reason were there divers Acts of Parliament in Ed. 3. Ed. 5. H. 8. P. Mary Q. Elizabeth reigns made against excesse of apparel but by the 1 Jacob all were repealed so that now I thin◠no act is in force for apparell yet 't is pity we of this Nation are not of our selves more regular then we are the best cure for excesse herein is Governours Presidents how are things altered since H. 6. time when that renowned Prince did wear his Gown of lesse value then 40 s but we take a greater swinge forma vestium deformitatis mentium morum est indicium saith the Father Further This Nation hath ever been observant of Leagues with Forrain Princes Promissa sunt servanda is a maxime in every Nation that is just And they that herein deserve the stigma of falshood need no additional infamy For Articles of peace and war ought to have audience above all Pleas of private profit and advantage and therefore the ancient honour of us is very great abroad Our Princes did not like Julius Caesar more eye greatnesse then veracity but precisely kept them to the conditions agreed upon and from them varied not for as they who have fortunes will take heed to enter into bonds because they have solvent estates so Princes of honour will not break the confederacies they make upon slieght grounds because their reputation is built upon their fidelity The faithfulnesse of God is one of his glorious Attributes and the truth of a Prince one of the prime Ornaments in his Crown For the Throne is established by righteousnesse But above all our Loyalty to our Princes for the most part hath been notorious and imitable We have recognized their Crowns supported their estate obeyed their Laws defended their persons affronted their enemies praied for their lives and not rejoyced in their deaths or ruines and that not only when they have been Octavius's perpetuò sani so benign that they might deservingly be called Patrons of generall peace and such as by the change they brought occasioned not the people to repent their power But when with Bassiaenus they proved Princes of fury and extraordinary frailty then even then we honoured them as Gods Vicegerents and were so far from derogating from their dignities that we paid indisputable and legall obedience to them The daily praiers of our Church were for deliverance against all sedition and evil conspiracy as well as false doctrine and heresie hardnesse of heart and contempt of Gods Word and Commandments And therefore I pray that all men in power may ever rule justly and men under power obey readily For jealousies in States do but provoke Governours to get and preserve high power and nourish thoughts in Subjects how to dissipate and scatter it Nor have we deceived the expectations of our following the good patern of Elder times in education of Youth for although the vanity of some is so great and unreasonable that they think no condition of life honourable and ingenious but that of idlenesse and violence yet the sober Englishman hath a very friendly eye on callings that employ younger Children and augment families to a very conspicuous magnitude and if we view the great Families of Nobility and Gentry in this Nation who now for the most part have the great estates and most prosperous fortunes many of them will be found within less then 200 years to have been the products of men of laborious professions by which chiefly if not altogether their Ancestors accumulated that fortune upon the tiptoe of which they overlook others of greater antiquity though now lesse conspicuous And though I know many would tugg much to have their pedigrees rifled and the top of their descent to be from the City and the Innes of Court yet I will not doubt to assert that as many of the new great ones have come thence as from Court or Camp or Schools or all God hath commanded men to labour and condemned him to toyl as the punishment of his sin and the Apostle saies He that will not labour let him not eat There is no bread so sowr and innutritive as that of idlenesse no labour so uncomfortable as that of being illaborious for besides that it brings nought home and clothes a man with rags yea makes him uselesse in his generation it is accompanied with many dangerous vices and prostituting debaucheries the minde◠of man like places constagnated contract filth for lack of motion As vessels decay more by disuse then by age This makes the thrifty Father dispose his Son to a profession which will both advance his preferment and secure his vertue there is no course of life but if in it God blesseth honest endeavours will yield a livelihood though some by a secret hand of God to shew his power that the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong nor bread to the wise nor riches to men of understanding miscarry and bring their noble of wit to a nine-pence of wealth But yet Callings are not to be neglected for they have fruitfull wombs and nourish men to a very great growth of eminency Let every Artist then be encouraged but in some cases there is a great lamentation to be taken up the differences amongst us have anticipated a great part of the Nation who by precended disaffection or real disgust are either forcibly excluded or voluntarily withdraw themselves from publick view and service so that multitudes of them will be exposed to want or to what 's second to it obscurity and be forced to retreat out of fight that no body see their reduced penury to contemn them rather then pity it And some I doubt will be tempted to courses of desperation to the dishonour of their Families and Parts To prevent which it were well worthy Governours to give all the liberty of life and lustre they with security to their own power may that so hopes of subsistence may bayle indigent men if of parts from impatience and ingaging in vilanous actions and encourage them to be civil and orderly in expectation of the good Angel that may stir the healing waters into which for cure they desire to be cast For surely there is no labour base which relieves nature and answers need no calling but comports with honour where
A Modest DISCOURSE OF THE Piety Charity Policy OF ELDER TIMES AND CHRISTIANS Together With those their Vertues Paralleled by Christians Members OF THE Church of ENGLAND By EDWARD WATERHOUSE Esq Conscientiae satis faciamus nihil in famam laboremus sequatur vel mala dum bene moerearis LONDON Printed by A. M. for Simon Miller and are to be sold at his Shop at the Star in S t Pauls Church-yard 1655. TO MY Most Dear and Indulgent Father FRANCIS WATERHOUSE of Grenford in the County of Middlesex Esq SIR I Would fain testifie my reall duty and observance of you by some action that most speaks me grateful to God and you for your extraordinary affection to me And since it is not my happinesse to command an opportunity wherein I might expresse the honest ambition I have to shew to that degree I know becomes me my sense of your favours yet my confidence is that you will accept the humble tender of him who now and ever craves your blessing and subscribes himself Sir Your dutifull and obedient Son E. WATERHOUSE A Short View OF ANTIQUITY AND ELDER TIMES AND CHRISTIANS IT was an old and true complaint that Truth hath ever been crucified between two Thieves those I count Superstition and Innovation the Churches Scylla and Carybdis at which in all her voyages thorow-the severall Centuries of the world she hath been bulged and sometimes neer to a fatall miscarriage while she is threatned by the two rigid adhaesion of her professors who as the Jews of old prefer Abraham before Christ antiquity before verity and had rather have no Religion then not that they have been bred in and accustomed to though it be like the Gibeonites bread dry and mouldy and clouted with unnecessary and vain Ceremonies Another while she is in a storm from those wanderers who will seek abroad when there is bread enough in their Fathers house being discontented at any thing which is not new and desirous of every thing but what is old The vanity of these excesses the utmost angles beyond which mans pride and petulancy cannot go God hath in mercy to his Church and in right to his own glory passive under their Tyrannies discovered in all ages setting notable brands of his displeasure on the ringleaders and impudent chieftains in this wickedness some of them he hath suffered so to be swollen with pride that the earth hath not been able to bear their burden Others he hath so flatted by detecting that brazen face that to cover its effrontery had the veyl of virgin verity Jacobs voice but Esau's rough hands that like decryed actors and bankrupt Mountebanks they departed the stage with a stink and lost their course in that fog by which they designed to annoy the Church As the best state of Man Innocency and the best place Paradise was chosen by Satan to act his first and greatest craft in so ever since hath he taken the purest times of the Church as his harvest and gainfullest season of temptation vitiating and annoying them most dangerously with suppurated Opinions and ulcerous Doctrines He thought that the way to overcome Adam was by Eve the weaker vessell and the Tyrociny and nonage of the Church he took for the fittest time to sowe his tares in because he expected less resistance from Infancy then from further Growth Even in our Lords time the devils Chappel goes up by Gods Church Simon Magus peepâ— forth and no sooner our Lord ascended but his Disciples have beasts to contend with after the manner of men then came in damnable Haeresies such as that of Elymas in Claudius his time of Menander under Titus and other following Emperours of Ebion Cerinthus and others in which Ecclesiasticall Writers are copious Notwithstanding which torrent of Evil it pleased God to raise up many valiant and pregnant assertors of truth who with great courage confronted these affronters of faith and rendred them so despicable that no man who would be thought any body consorted with them but avoided them as the first-born of Satan sent abroad to pervert souls and subvert Christianity It hath been observed that the authours of errours and scismes in the Church have been Church-men either grosly weak or proudly wilfull whose Ignorance or pertinacy hath wooed them to forsake the wholsome form of words and to take up new Methods both of language and Doctrine under which canting drolleryes they utter the devices of their own brains gain credulous proselytes and dishonour all who differ from them where they themselves disagree with truth and order That as Agrippinus of old perswaded those which he condemned that it was best for them to be condemned For said he I do not give sentence against them as an enemy or one that would ruin them but as a good guardian who dispatcheth them out of that life which they cannot live but in misery so do these seduce and lead away silly souls and yet possess them that the only way to finde heaven above is to lose the Church below and that Christ is not in his Word but in their fictitious dreams where he hath not appointed men to seek for nor promised men to finde him Thus as C. Curio the Plebeian Tribune is charged by Paterculus to be the firebrand of Romes Civil Wars bold prodigal of his own and others modesties and Fortunes ingeniously wicked and able to publique mischiess so may these most justly be stigmatiz'd for the infamous lewd Boutefeues of the Churches peace and purity and therefore praied against in the Prophets words Let them be as chaffe before the winde and let the Angel of the Lord chase them let their waies be dark and slippery and let the Angel of the Lord persecute them Psa 35. 5 6. And as all things produced are of the nature of their Producers as is the Artists skill such ordinarily is the Artifice so happens it with errours and disorders mostly they resemble their Patrons Crafty heads look before they leap and design their march by steps and grand paws setting up as it were with pinns and points the little baubles of their aymes and as those vent so marshall they out greater and more They know forbidden wares must not be sold in market overt therefore skulk they into bye-streets and lodg they in the suburbs out of the freedom where the lewd varlets of wander lye there and to those they put their tinsil follies and with those cheap and new do they outbrave the truth which covets no greater honour then the touch Some mens eyes fail them they beleeve every thing gold that glisters because they are moon-blind and rather dark then clear with such these crafty Merchants bartar freely taking Souls in exchange for their cheats These principled to purposes of seduction like blind stallions accost all comers hit or miss and most an end succeed best with the multitude for the blind must lead the blind how else will they
them enough Nor will it be usefull to tell the number of their names the times of their regency the severalties of their poysonous tenents these are at large contained in the Church-Stories elder and later My drift only is to be Antiquities Samaritan and to give Bail to that Action brought against her by ignorance which indites her of many guilts which I hope will be easily expiated for and she appear to these later times tanquam inter stellas luna minores And here with the curious Painter I must borrow colours from flints and pibbles and so work them into a compliance as that they may answer the requiries of what I intend a lovely portraiture which when the utmost Art of my pensill is evidenced will be but imperfect and complain that it hath not to its lively depiction a Saint Ierome who might raise a blush in their faces that disparadge and a confidence in their countenances that dare own it I am not ambitious to make this as he did the buckler of Minerva which he made and in which he so cunningly inserted his own name that it could not thence be taken but with injury to the sculpture of that incomparable shield no it is the least part of my thoughts to evidence any thing in this beyond an honest heart which I hope God will give me ever grace to shew towards the Church and State wherein I live and in which I hope to die a true and Christian man This only I to all the world publish that if as 't was said by the Orator of Phydias He was an excellent Artist at any Statue but chiefly about the gods mine Excellency were in any thing I would have it more exact and signall when 't is exercised about ought which concerns the Church for true is that of a great Preacher Our hands if skilful to write should be employed as Sacretaries to the Church our feet as Messengers of the Church our tongues as Advocates for the Church our wisedom and learning as Councellors for the Church our wealth as Stewards and Almoners for the Church And well fare those excellent Christians who made Church-work the labour of their lives and Church-charity their heirs at death and that upon grounds of faith and holy love not merit or hope of supererrogating by them I do not here mean to collect all those severall virtues that those glorious golden ages of the Church excelled in as their diligent reading the Scriptures and hearing the word preached their devout prayers for those in authority their loving and forgiving enemies their modesty and calmness of conversation their fidelity to their relations their ministring to the necessities of the Saints in wants and visitings of such in prison their exact continence their care lest in Habits they gave scandal their courage for the truth their serious observation of Oathes their industry in their callings and those many other excellencies in them though by degrees allayed with much frailty least I should swell my design into an unwelcome greatness my scope is to cull out such of them as most seem to rebuke those bravadoes of men in this age who with Hyper-Pharisaicall pride commend their own piety from the dishonour cast upon elder times and elder Christians who were in no instance of true devotion behind them I know there were blemishes in Antiquity the ancient Fathers tell us of many ridiculous follies in use as vanity in clothing and habit in baths in observation of the nativity of their children in being present at sports and interludes their accompanying with pertinacious Haereticks and sundry other such follies which here I defend not for their virtues I appear against those that mistake Antiquity misnaming it for a pedlars pack in which to one pure Venice glass there are wooden kanns horn cupps trifling rattles and many such ignoble trashes as if it were a Mint of forgeries the womb of Monsters and Sier of Legends terming its Religion policie its charity meritmonging its unity combination its Government a trap to catch men in who were not one with it and it s All a wilderness in which were more beasts of prey then birds of Paradise S t Jerom spake of such long since The world saith he produceth many Monsters Centaurs Syrens Owls Stymphalidae birds whose nature is to darken the Sunne rayes the Eremanthean Boar Nemaean Lyon the Chimaera and many headed Hydra and he tells us Spain produceth some of them only Gallia hath no Monsters but abounds with most eloquent and warlike men and happy had it been if Vigilantius had been Dormitantius and never been born rather then prove a scar in that face which before it produced him was lovely It was the fault of that Pern Vigilantius to turn every way and at last to break out against the inoffensive honour of Church reliques then in account and not abused to superstition as since they have shamefully been And it shall be mine endeavour with Gods blessing to bespeak due veneration of such things as are fit to be respected and retained in Gospel times and to be defended by Christian Magistrates I mean not herein to revive that Interim of Charls the fift by making a medley of differences nor will I take upon me to deal with men of all sides least that befalls me which usually trips up the heels of such endeavours all agree to oppugne and every one rests more obstinate in defending his own party Nor will I approve nay I do sadly lament the preposterous folly of those who make men hereticks and blazon them enemies to Christ for every difference almost though not in Points essentiall but circumstantiall and rituall as if they picked quarrels with their brethren out of choice The ancient Church in England did not so for Bede tells us Sese invicem venerabantur licet dissimiles caeremoniaes observarunt sic Aidam Episcopus quamvis more Scotorum Pascha celebraret tamen ab Hâ—norio Cantuariensi Felice Orientalium Anglorum Episcopis in honore est habitus Cent. 7. c. 7. p. 119. This Cachexie hath been the Churches trouble and pest too long thanks to those hot heads who cry out Curse ye Meroz against all that crow not to the same tune with them these have made more hereticks and disloyall sonnes to the Church then ever gained sober and submiss children to these that of Baro the Dalmatian to the Emperour Tyberius is applicable when having asked Why his Countrytrymen had been long and so desperate enemies to the Romans he replied Ye your selves are in fault who send to your flocks not Sheepheards and Doggs to keep them but Wolves I wish it were well weighed by some for as Albergatus that great Polititian wrote to the Cardinal Nephew to Pope Greg. 13. Sometimes the heat and precipitances of men exasperate small and composeable breaches into great and uncloseable gapps by which ill offices of simplicity if not design hoped and prayed for Peace and
Eruditione seculi an scientia Scripturarum and S t Cyrill says Humane learning est catechismus ad fidem I will not deny but that great parts are often hinderances to the work of grace in the soul men will not come off to Christ without great ado who are wedged to the wisedom of this world which contradicts the wisedom of God in the foolishness of preaching learned Pharisees are apt to reproach Saint Paul's with the titles of bablers Ministers like him in Erasmus who being 80 yeers of age knew nothing higher in their calling quam in scholis Dialecticam ac Philosophicam vel docere vel decertare palestram hîc sine fine garrire ad predicandum Christi Evangelium elinquem c. are in a kinde monsters these set the ass upon Christi not Christ upon the ass this to tolerate is as Campanella well notes to measure Christs rights by our straight and narrow model to hide as heathens do the light of Scripture under an Aristotelique bushel for surely the work of a Minister of Jesus Christ is to preach the Word in and out of season to treat of the mysteries of faith not to trade in frivolous questions and nice subtilties to acquaint the soul with what is Gods command and mans duty by prayers to move God to mercy and by tears to prevoke men to pity themselves to raise a holy flame in the heart to God and to every thing that bears his likeness This as Erasmus appositely notes is the work of a Minister And if some Ministers would consider this and more endeavour to be what God requires them their success would be greater then now it is for when people see such Ministers catching at this and hunting after that advantage instead of being crucified to the world and dead to the desires of it crucifying the world by their discourses which preface it to bonds and blood when they see them Chemarims whose fiery zeal and devout outsides serve onely to palliate covetuousness and pride they are much offended at and less resolute for the honour and estimation of the Ministry And alas it is no new thing to see Religion passive under politick projects in coyning which to the Churches dishonour as well as Christs his pretended Vicar is not behinde hand for since pride and state hath bin incathedrated the Priest is so confounded in the Prince the Christian simplicity so over-winged by politick craft that they not onely forget to be humble which Erasmus notes Nostri temporis Episcopi quidem suos habent pro servis Emptitiis imò pro pecudibus but also charge the Church with the burden of their spurious productions and deny her the Ordinances which Christ hath indulged her A learned Father of our Church in his notable Treatise of Scisme lately come forth hath furnished me with a very pat and pregnant instance to this point The Pope as head of the Church to use their words is to supply the Church with all necessaries to Doctrine and Discipline and to the preservation of a succssion in the Church to do which he is to propagate the Episcopal Order in all places under subjection to him upon the revolt of Portugall he refused to admit any new Bishops there and the reason he gave was Lest by that he should acknowledge or approve the Title of the present King against his Catholique Son of Spain by which neglect of his the Episcopal Order in Portugal and the Dominions annexed to that Crown was well neer extinguished and scarce so many Bishops were left alive or could be drawn together as to make a Canonical Ordination the three Orders of Portugal did represent to the Pope that in the Kingdom of Portugall and the Algarbians wherein ought to have been three Metrapolitans and Suffragans there was but one left and he by the Popes Dispensation non-resident and in all the Astatique Provinces but one other and he both sickly and decrepit and in all the Aphrican and American Provinces and the Island not one surviving so that as zealous as his Holiness is for successions maintenance he can be contented to endanger it to take a revenge or to shew a displeasure Thus between those who deny Ordination and others who for private ends disuse it the Church suffers and Christs holy Ordinance hath not its due reverence which the elder Christians provided against this made them nourish up young plants to supply the decay of old Standard they knew that dangerous men and errors would come in when Apostolique men departed and as old Ely nursed up young Samuel so did they cherish the youth of after hopes 'T was a good note of S t Cyprian that the Devil has no greater envie against any then men in place and eminency in the Church ut Gubernatore sublato atrocius atque violentius circa Ecclesiae naufragia grassetur In the Emperour Adrians time when men were giddy and had more itching ears and inquisitive heads then before Egesippus notes a crowd of errors forced the Church and he assigns this for reason Men of Apostolique abilities being dead and those who succeeded them being not so qualified to resist them by argument and the sacred force of reason and Scripture they broke in tanquam in vacuam domum custode suo privatam An Argument perswasive enough to Christians that a learned Ministry and Schools of Institution are necessary and usefull since nothing more disorders then Error nothing sooner discovers it then Art rightly used and carried on by the blessing of God Alas error comes with a top-sail charged with the colours of Truth and so dexterously is the craft of this pyracy couched that none but an exact Artist can discover it The Arians and Orthodox differed but in one letter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet upon that depended the honour of Christs coaequality and coessency with the Father how easily might zealous ignorance have dispensed with an Iota upon which so great a point of faith depended and so have given way to Christs dishonour had not the Fathers learnedly and with Athanasian mettle withstood it O Christians there is more goes to make up the Churches and Religions prosperity then good meanings there needs sound heads as well as honest hearts to make her terrible as an army with banners Satan hath more sophistry then a sigh or an elevation of the eye both good both beseeming will enodate His craft winds it self into company with the sons of God and ought he not be a notable craftsman who can cull the scabbed sheep out of the flock of faithful ones Lord what baits has he to beguile us with an Apple for Eve a look-back for Lots wife a Bathsheba for David a witch of Endor for Saul self-love for Joâ—as and fear for Peter's temptation And when he is most swollen with malice then his masque is holiness Servetus that blasphemous Spaniard burnt at Geneva
called his errors the restitution of Christianity And others that are wanderers hope to steal upon truth undiscerned by the conduct of new words and unused phrases and ever when men in their nomination of things do vary from the Law which is the quintessence of reason they do it in a humour which is the quintessence of fancy and when men suppress their opinions till they see a fit season 't is a sign they are more factors for fame then Lovers of truth and have a design of self to which the night of this or that policy not the Sun-light of an honest and open ingenuity must give furtherance The Right Reverend and Learned deceased Bishop of Salisbury tels us that in the Synod of Dort when the fourteen Divines that had subscribed their opinions in affirmance of Arminius his Doctrine first were demanded by the Synod severally whether they now acknowledged for their Doctsine that which formerly they had set down in collatione Hagiensi and published in print not one of those fourteen could be drawn to say in plain and expresst terms that he either held that Doctrine for true or he held it not but as S t Jerome wrote to Pammachi us concerning John Bishop of Jerusalem I cannot brook ambiguous words and sentences that bear two senses truths are best in their open dress what he accounts simplicity I call the malice of his stile loc that beleeves aright ought not to speak in a phrase unusual unapproved by true beleevers and Orthodox Christians Alas words are cheap when Boner was Elect of London he said he blamed Stokesly Bishop of London his Predecessor for troubling those who had the Bible in English saying God willing he did not so much hinder but I will as much further it yet he proved a most bloudy wretch and he can do little to his advantage that hath not his quiver full of them and disperses them not about to the credulous vulgar who are in some tempers and on some occasions so devoted to charity that they give themselves up to beleeve whatever is communicated to them in a serious manner with invocation of God and seeming self-denial When Nestorius after Sisinrius became Bishop of Constantinople he made an Oration to the Emperour in which he blasphemously said O Emperour clear the world of Heresie meaning the Orthodox belief and I will give thee heaven for thy reward yet when this man had his preferment he proved as great a plague to those Cacodox Christians who were not of his minde as to the Orthodox for within five daies after he was setled in his See he decreed demolition of the Arians Church and soon after vexed the Novatians because Paul their Bishop had a good name and was thought a pious man when once men swerve from Catholique Tenents and Phrases they run into a Cyclops den both of infernal pride and confusion and without great mercy never return thence by repentance but perish in their gainsaying for true is that of Tertullian Quod apud multos unum invenitur non est erratum sed irradiatum And therefore as the Sceptiques of old by their upstart Pedantism endeavoured abolition of all good learning turning all into utrum's and questionary debates and for that reason were opposed by the Ancients and their followers with great mordacity 〈◊〉 ought these in their new Systems 〈◊〉 Divinity to be treated as persons that have somewhat to vent contrary to the received faith who word it contrary to the received phrase And those saith a learned Bishop that will arrogate to themselves a new Church or new Religion or new holy orders must produce new miracles new revelations and new cloven tongues for their justification Till when I shall joyn with the Church of Christ in the belief that the spirit of the Prophets is subject to the Prophets and that the Schools of the Prophets are most probable to acquaint men with truth and peace and to disseminate it amongst the people as that which will at once make happy both Church and State And though as the Jews in Christ's case and the Heathens in Christians cases bitterly inveighed sharpening powers against them as stirrers up of the people to mutinies and rebellions so it be common now also to possess Governours with ill principles in distrust of pious and regular Ministers and Professors yet will it be found upon search that nothing laies so strong a ground of just Government as true Religion for besides that Gods restraint is upon them and they dare not do that in his eye which will be rebuked by his word and punished by his hand of Justice they cannot be ill subjects upon the account of retaliation for where they receive protection they ex debito owe subjection and are injurious and ingrateful if they pay it not And no Magistrate is so merciless to his own fame as he who neglects to be a nursing Father to the Church and a Patron to her Schools of learning Digna certe res in qua totum occupetnr Parliamentum nisi enim haec semina dostrinae teneris animis tempestivè sparsa fuerint quaenam in Republica vel exoriatur spes vel adolescat virtus vel effloreseat pura Religio vera faelicitas As the University of Oxford phraseth it in their Letter to the Marquess of Northampton temp Edw. 6. For take away the encouragements of learning what despicable combinations of men will Common-wealths be what shall we do for learned Politicians skilful Physicians subtil Lawyers reverend Antiquaries polite Orators acurate Logicians and Schoolmen and facetious Poets Non omnis fert omnia tellus God and Nature by his leave makes us men but 't is Learning and Art renders us wise and worthy Houses of Learning are the Palaces in which these royal wits are educated and the world is as the field in which they scatter their seeds of renown and the stock on which they graft their noble Cyons and therefore as S t Jerome after he had writ that Summary of Ecclesiastical Writers from Christ's to his time breaks out Discant ergo Celsus Porphyrius Julianus rapidi adversus Christum canes c. Let them know quoth he who think the Church of Christ produces no eloquent Writers that they are deceived for there hath ever been a number of such who in all times have â—lourished in her and her have vindicated from that imputation of rustical simplicity that those Ethniques have charged on her So must I brand these enemies of Schools and learning as underminers of order civility and all good institution and endeavourers to surprise the Capitol of our Faith when learned men as the watch thereof are drawn off and discharged and therefore I appeal to such as prosecute Learning with contempt in S t Jerom's words to Jovinian when rehearsing that of the Apostle They are clouds without water he says Nonne tibi videtur pinxisse sermo Apostolicus Novam imperitiae factionem
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Zeno the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Heraclius the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Constance the Interim of Charls the fift as of no better import to the Church then those Imperiall Constitutious And with leave of God and wise men I think I may add Reformation as sometimes it hath been managed for no less a damager to the State Ecclesiasiasticall then any open violence whatsoever Let the times of H. 8. be considered What vast Possessions lost the Church by his opposition to the Pope and the effects of it And in Ed. 6 th his Raign more went from the Church yea there is who tells us That one of the Visitirs of Oxford in Ed. 6. time did so cleerly purge the Vniversity Library of all Monuments of superstition that he left not one book init of all those goodly Manuscripts with which by the manificence of several Benefactors that place was amply furnished So true is that of Trully No injustice so gross as that which they do who will be accounted good that they may by that means be more evil While I forget not Paulus Cremensis a Legat sent hither from Pope Honorius the second to redress the vices of the Clergy and chiefly their lechery whenas he himself next day after he had bitterly inveighed against them was found abed with a common strumpet I shall fear there may b◠errors in the greatest pretenders and look upon remedies as possible to exceed diseases in their ill consequence For in publike outrages not only Constantinus Pontius Confessor to Charls the fift in his retyred life a brave and holy man is commanded to prison immediatly upon his Lords death and that upon suspition of heresie but when dead his statue is demolished and disfigured by K. Philip of Spains Mandate Rutilius the Roman Consul destroys the Temple of Lucina because his daughter while she was there worshipping brings forth a dead child Numa must be without a monument of his piety and Lucina without a Temple for her worship but is was noted an ill time in Rome when status cujusque Dei in Senatus aestimatione pendebat All men naturally love themselves and few scruple any thing that answers their ends Satan is an industrious droll cogging us into designs of evil upon pretences fair but not altogether warrantable Consuetudinis est saecularium hominum ut cum honorem adipisci desiderant caeteros fibi prius per amorem acquirunt cum vero adepti fuerint elati potestate eos ipsos per timorem sibi postmodum subjiciunt quibus prius privati non terrorem sed amorem exhibuerant If Timotheus Aelurus have desire to be Bishop of Alexandria and Proterius stood in his way he will so order the matter that before the See be void the Monks shall each of them be visited in the night by one in grave habit and of angelique speech calling them by their respective Names and in the Name and by the Spirit of God as is pretended admonishing them to decline adhaesion to Proterius and to joyn themselves to Timotheus Henry the eight cleared the Point That power would command any thing Even Papists such were the Parliament for their ease to avoid Citations and charges from Rome divest the Pope of his headship to place it on their Prince Revenge is a great spur to bad actions as well as is ambition There is a notable vilany fathered on the Franciscans at Orleance discovered in Anno 1534. after this manner The chief Judg of Orleance his wife dying requested of her husband that she might be buried in the Church belonging to the Franciscans this was done and the Franciscans presented by the Praetor the deceaseds husband with six Pistols a bribe farre beneath their avarice but they resolved to have a better gratification from a fall of wood of the Praetors out of which they desired some trees which he denied them that defeat so inflamed the Franciscans that they plotted to bruit it abroad that his wife was damned for ever To carry on this villany undiscern'd they suborn a young man to act his part so notoriously that by hideous noyses at time of publike devotions he should cause disturbance and be prologue to the Tragedy a Doctor of that order and an exorcist whose plot this was for he daily used these cheats so designed the scene that no answer was to be made by the young man if any question were asked of him but only by signs which the exorcist only understood having preappointed them and so could report to the auditory when the young man had amused the people with dismall and ununderstood notes the exorcist boldly asked him Whether he were a spirit or not if a spirit whose spirit relating the Names of all such as had been buried there And when he named the Praetors wife the young man gave sign that he was the spirit of that Lady Then the exorcist asked if she were damned or no and for what offence Whether for covetousness or lust or pride or for want of practicall charity or for the upstart heresie of Lutheranism and what he meant by those clamours and unquietnesses whether the body there buried should be digged up and carried elsewhere or not To all which he by signs answered affirmatively which they prayed the Congregation there present to take knowledg of yet upon the Praetors complaint to the French King and Parliament of Paris and Commission issued forth to report the truth hereof the wickedness of this contrivance came to light and the parties actors in it were severely sentenced according to their deserts I finde another story of the Dominicans as vild as this acted at Bern in Switzerland There being a great heat between them and the Franciscans about the Virgin Marys being conceived in Original sinne one affirmiug and the other denying it the Dominicans to determine the controversie purposed to evidence the truth of their opinion by Miracle four of the prime of their Order were privy to the contrivance one of which was Subprior a Magician who called up an evil spirit to assist them in the more effectuall conduct of this undertaking The spirit appeared to them in the shape of a Moor and promised his assistance provided they gave him an Instrument signed with their own hands and Names written in their own bloods in testimony of their compact with him which done the evil spirit appeared an assertor of the Dominicans Doctrine threatning Purgatory to their opponents and overthrow to the City unless they cast out the Franciscans thence much more of like trumpery there was discovered to the shame of the Dominicans that were privy to it And therefore 't is good to search the spirits whether they be of God or no. There is no action so vild but hath a fair mask on it There was a famous cheat plotted by Romish Priests in Staffordshire much of kin to this and discovered by the grave Bishop
Romane Religion to depart from thence whethersoever they would or else to sell their estates or to receive the profits of them whereever they were And not many years after he gave liberty to the Mahumetan Moors of Spain amounting to divers thousands to depars freely thence into any province of Africa there to enjoy freedom from the bloody Inquisitors and with his own shipping conveyed many of them safe into France thorow which by the gracious permiffion of H. the Great they had safe and free passage Charls the ninth of France did by his Agents earnestly solicit Lewes de Clermont Prince of Conde and Jasper de Coligni Earl of Castilion Admiral of France being chief directors and commanders of the Protestants affairs to depart France with the rest of the Religion and that they might begin a Plantation in the Island of Florida in America he not only gave leave to the first Expedition which was undertaken by In o Ribald in Ann o 1562. but also at the Admirals intreaty did very largely contribute to the second Navigation which was entred upon by Landover and other Protestants And were there no other motive to moderation then that of the Apostle The Lord is at hand it were enough a cogent argument to Christians As if the Apostle had thus said Manage power wisely use advantages warily be thrifty Stewards of your talents while ye are in office the audit day is neer God is entring on his circuit to enquire how his Miuisters have discharged their trust He will have no pity on that servant who when he had his fellow-servant on his knee beging pardon for his sake refused him It is a shrewd brand of ignobleness in the Counsel of H. 8. who when they had as they thought the good Archbishop Cranmer on the hip and that he was accused of demerit against the State suffered him to stand without doors among the Lacquies and serving-men for the space of half an hour Brave spirits pity not rejoyce over the ruins of their betters 't is good for every one to remember the measure we mete to others will be measured to us again therefore let your moderation be known unto all men This also calls upon men in Rule to remember Posterity by imitating elder Christians in raising supporting and adding to things of publike and lasting piety and unquestioned charity In this sense that of the Apostle is very pressing To do good and distribute forget not for with such sacrifices God is well pleased In this methinks 't is good to begin with God and to remember what he increpates Hag. 1. 4. Is it time for you to dwell in your seiled houses and to let this house â—ye waste M r Caâ—vin notes well upon these words That much time had pass'd and now God had given them peace he expected that they should not lye still but build his house but saith he the Jews were so indulgent to their private advantages to their ease and delight that they thought the worship of God not worth looking after so they had sacrifices and an Altar it mattered not where or what the place be in which they serv'd God This was the cause that the Prophet had command from God so tartly to reprove them And truly the good man comes home to us Nuuc saith he quis gratis accendit Dei altare c. Who amongst us takes care of Gods Altar every one looks after his advantage in the mean time the Interest of God suffers no zeal for no care of God yea what 's worst of all multi lucrum captant ex evangelio perinde ac si ars esset quaestuosa that is Many drive a subtle and gainfull way of Religion making it serve their turns and speak their language Thus he Much more pure and daefecated was Christianity in those ages which many amongst us called blind but their deeds shew otherwise Then Churches and Chappels Houses in their intent for Religion and the honour of God were erected and liberally provided for by their care and charity to the worlds end For my part I must judg faith by works and if living charity appear I will not judg that a dead faith which moved it they must have somewhat to say in extenuation of other mens charities who never mean to be renowned by any of their own Famous Wickliff magnifies the bounty of Princes to the Church but he blames highly the rapines and damages done to them by unworthy Popes and particular Interests Farre is it from any sober mind to censure those who not only appropriated the Tenth to God but endowed him with all in a kinde tbat they did possesse who cloathed naked Christ with reverence be it written in their best vests and never thought themselves richer then when they had expended all they had to puchase him a rich seat and prepare for him a goodly retinue at whose Tables he in his Members fed and by whose bounty their necessities were supplied It is a sure fign of devout times when Churches have their reverence and decent attire as well as Courts of State and Law when the Rights of God and Religion are inviolate as well as those of men For as a Right Reverend Father of our Church long ago published The two Estates Civil and Ecclesiastical make the main angle in every Government God himselfe hath severed them and made these two to meet in one not one to malign and consume the other And the happy combining of these two is the strength of the head and of the whole building If it bear but upon one of them it will certainly decay It did so in Sauls time he little regarded the Ark and lesse the Priests David saw Sauls error and in this Psal 75. 3. where he sings ne perdas to a Commonwealth promiseth to have equal care of both Piliars and to uphold them both Thus the Bishop It was reckoned also a sign of calm times and to the praise of Government when publike buildings were raised and decayes provided against Vespasian is commended for a brave Prince in that he gave liberty encouragement to build in those wast places of Rome which fire and sword had deformed and at his own charge repaired the Capitoll the Temple of Peace and the Monument of Claudius yea in all places of the Roman Dominion erected some Trophie of publique use and Ornament and Paulus Diaconus tels us that as Emperours have been good or bad so have publique buildings been either preserved or neglected And Guevaera asserts it the duty of good Governours not only to exterminate vices their Countreys but also to adorn them with famous structures a token that they are good Fathers of their people who by their liberality to posterity declare the duty of a noble Prince to extend to the weal of Government first and next to his own preservation by it Octavius might well justifie himself no unprofitable Shepherd When in his Reign Rome had changed
learned men in all Sciences as their Tutors and Conductors For as the best built Vessels will miscarry if they have not good Pilots and able Steers-men and the gainfullest Ports are lost if the seasons of making them be not observed so are the greatest wits confounded by want of method and all their promised usefulness immerged in their misconduction Charls the Great was a Prince of prudence and Royal Grandeur aiming to raise pyramids of Renown to his Memory and to be called the Patron of Learning of him Mutius reports That he endowed men of Science and eminent Artists with honorable pensions and gave them personal respect And in the Imperial Laws there are numerous Constitutions to this purpose Yea Lupoidus de Babenberg tells us that the old Germune Princes and those Potestates of the Roman Empire held themselves in honour most bound next the immediate service of God to encourage and disperse Learning thorowout their territories And though I doubt not but mercy hath rewarded that Charity which is from them accepted and there can be no addition to them by our Eulogium's yet that their examples may animate others to do worthily and rest renowned as they I shall enumerate such instances of charity as I judge pertinent to my purpose For I hold it very uncomely that such worth as was in a brave soul the Jewel of his time An Aurelian who made the world Roman learned and civil should be concealed It seems to be a monstrous ingratitude that such a fautor of Learning as Maecenas should have no Writer of his praise If the Jews presented the Builder of a Synagogue amongst them as worthy Christs compassion I will be bold to tender noble Emperours Christian Kings Learned Popes Puissant Princes charitable Subjects Founders of Schools of Learning in all quarters of Christendome as worthy of due honour and mention I mean not to mention those Asian Schools which we reade of in Eusebius and others because I have elsewhere touched on them Nor can it be expected those voâ—illating times could afford such liberall Charities as since Peace and settlement hath blessed the world with those Academies were rude because the times were barbarous but when Christianity became Epidemical and Power was baptized into the Name of Christ then Charity displayed her self this way No Nation but has her Academies and Schools publick besides their private Gramman-Schools I fâ—â—de about 20. Academies in Germany one of which is that of Vienna founded in An. 1239. by the Emperor Frederick the second to the end that he might leave to his son and successor Contrade an orderly Empire abounding with learned men and being environed wiâ—â— heir counsels bâ—â—ght be invincible In Italy twelve of which Bononia is most ancient founded by Theodo sius Junior in Anno 420. In the Charter whereof is this passage If any one be so bold and haughty injuriously to offend any Student going to or coming from this Vniversity he shall be punished with death In France 16. In the Netherlands 6. In Denmark and Poland 5. In Spain Arragon Casteele and Portuagall aboâ—t 16. All which owne for their Founders men of Piety Bounty and Blood Nor have our worthy Ancestors been remiss in this kinde for the two Sisters whose milky breasts have nourished such multitudes of learned children leave testimony from a learned man and a Forraigner To have in them more commodities to encourage is 〈◊〉 men then all the world besides He that considers their great Revenues august Struâ—â—ures ample Priviledges prudent Statutes orderly Government frequent Exercises will confess that their Founders were wise and noble that their improvement ought to be suteable and so blessed be God it hath What brave Princes they have educated what noble Statesmen they have compleated what renowned Church-men they have instructed what able Countrey-Gentlemen they have accomplish'd yea what Catholick-Artists have there studied the Nation the World knows and to the Nations honor owns Do not the foundations there perennate the name of their Founders are they not lasting Pedegrees of honor to their Families surely yes We that are living ought to praise God for their bounty and to mention them with gratitude I will not repeat what elsewhere I mentioned onely know all men that the Clergie have not been sparing in their bounty to our Universities no nor have the Nobility and Gentry withdrawn their helping hand By the noble Kings Edward the second and third was Kings College began and finished Elizabeth Queen to Edw. the 4 th and Henry the 6 th founded and inlarged Queens College Elizabeâ—h Countess of Clare founded Clare Hall Margaret Countess of Richmond and Darby stipended a Professor of Divinity and added much to Christs and S t Johns College John Keyes founded Keyes College King Hen the 8 th and his daughter Queen Mary founded Trinity College and Frances Sydney Countesse of Sussex founded Sidney College and the last but not the least is Emanuel College founded by Sir Walter Mildmay K t Chancellor of the Exchequer and one of the Privie Councel to Queen Elizabeth of late and famous memory whose zeal to God in that glorious Work hath been rewarded in the success of mens Studies there and their usefulness after in the Church and State in the number of which the grave and pious Bâ— of Norwich yet living deservedly is reckoned and it â—â—â—ely had one though not bred in it yet Head of it O mihi locum suavem ubi incipit occasio sio memorandi nomâ—â—andi suavissimi odor is virum Dr Richard Holdisworth a man of holy life pure belief matchless industry profound speculation fitted both for the Ghaire and Pulpit But alas he is dead and it also must decay and come to a period But O Lord cause the sun that threatens its ruine never to arise may that day never come wherein good men say We have no pleasure in it let it ever yield faithfull and usefull persons both to Church and State let no son of violence come neer it peace be within its walls and prosperity be to all its Members and Bâ—â—ne factors for it hath been a fruitfull Mother of many beauteous and admirable virtuous and learned Children Quid faciam vocem pectori negare non valeo amor ordinem nescit Nor hath Oxford been without her number of Noble Benefactors Of the Clergy I say here nothing because they are otherwhere remembred Amongst the Laity Baleol King of Scots whilehe was prsoner here founder of Baleol College S r William Peter Secretary to Edw. 6 th augmenter of Exeter College S r Thomas White Alderman of London restorer and augmenter of S t Johns D r Hugh Price Founder of Alban Hall and M r Wadham Founder of Wadham College are with all due veneration to be remembred Nay I could wish our emulation were to excell them in this or some such kind of bounty Men live in a
be loyall and loving to their Husbands to be houswisly to keep home to clothe themseves with the scarlet and purple of sweetnesse piety modesty more becoming them then gold and persumes concluding so set out Even God will be in love with you And this they did not only in order to God whom Christians ought not to displease no not by appearance of evil but to avoid the scandal of contrary doing and to signifie that this world and the vanities of it were no further usefull to them nor valued by them when it fitted them for running their race with patience that so they might reach the reward with certainty A good lesson for sober Ladies to learn for Certes that of the Civilians is most true No action of inquiry lies in soro saeculi for attempting the chastity of a woman if she be habited as a lewd person and not as a grave and civilly fashioned woman Nor are we to think habits of light and impertinent consequence since Antiquity eyed them as suspiciously dangerous to steal in vices by their excess and to import more then they seem upon the first examen of them to do The Romans honoured Cato for his grave habit And the Satyrist upbraid one that was vian that way Non pudet ad morem discincti vivere nattae And Sulla in Suetonius counsels the Senate to beware of Julius Caesar as one that was ominously clad Yea Maecenas the favourite of Augustus is by the Poet blamed as is believed under the name of Malchinus Malchinus tunicis demessis ambulat And nothing had like to have ruined Alexander so much as that mutiny in his army about change of his Macedonian habit and manners for the Persian I know God is no respecter of persons and habits he views the heart and if that be upright all is well towards him but man who judgeth by the judgement of discretion and visibility cannot but conclude a weighty mind concerned to express it self in an unantique habit for cloathes and company tell tales in a mute but significant language As to the stating of fashions I pretend nothing nor think I there is any precise rule to be observed it is one of those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and arbitrary things which prudence and custom justly may be dictator of Only the restraint is against vanity and affectation of what is not sutable to our station and condition to our sex and age Vests of youth ill beseem backs of age and as badly suit as Esaus rough hands with Jacobs smooth voice or as Instruments which by their discordant notes unadapted to answer each other are wide from making up a consort Observation and conversation are the best conductors herein Religion hath no rule to prescribe in lesser things where conveniency and a due proportion to our condition is studied and offence not vainly given Only methinks it is not fit that persons whose Ancestors were as it were anonymous should arrogate Paragaudae's which became only those whose families were supream and whose commands were soveraign I wish Christians to study the adorning of their souls and to look that they abound in faith and good works Hic est habitus victoriae nostrae haec palmata vestis as Tertullian said alluding to the garments of Triumph used by the Heathens And after that not to despise things of civil distinction but advance them For order and honorary differences are morall and universally owned by mankinde and not cancelled by Christianity which corroborates and to all worthy ends improves them Next the Ancients were full of ingenuity disdaining to molest neighbours and inferre violence upon no grounds of provocation they thought nationall compacts too sacred to be violated upon reasons unreasonable in the judgement of honour and conscience The Historian tels us the Romans alwaies took arms upon weighty and just grounds Force is ill imployed when injuries may be recompensed upon the demands of the sufferer and as harsh doth it seem to generous ears to buy victory rather then win it I know the common rule is that which Livy reports of the Grecians who held it more glorious to outwit then out fight an enemy And this Adgandestricus a Prince of the Catti knew well which made him profer his service to the Romans to poyson Ariminus their enemy which they bravely refused saying the Romans did not use private means to dispatch enemies but to reduce them by force in the field And truly it befitted Roman spirits to do nothing in the dark for by how much the more their craft by so much less their prowess wherein they chiefly gloried appeared according to that of Aurellius who tels us That amongst them was counted generous and gallant which was obtained by courage When men were loather to incurre the shame of an ill accomplisht victory then undergo the penance of an honest misfortune when leagues were not beleagured and victor'd by unjust sollicitings of advantage to the prejudice of right Let the Consul Pius be a warning to all men in command by Commission from Romans for he overcame the Sarmatae by wine whom he should have dealt with by battel and though he saved Roman blood yet he lost Roman glory for which he was adjudged to lose his life and the reason the Senators ordered to be epitaph'd upon him was Hoc voluere Patres Romani extare sepulchrum Vt Ducibus foret exemplum speculumque futuris Nam justis hostes precibus placare vel armis Vincere non vitiis his deliciosa decorum est Vna quibus cordi est Romanae gloriae gentis Further they were very express in asserting the honour and rights of Magistrates and defending them as the defenders of Church and State for since Government is of God Governours while such are to be reverenced by men under their subjection and well they deserve it For true Princes are as he in Stobaeus said of them Not swayed by avarice but reason favour honest freedom practise magnanimity and contemn neither the meanest friend or abjects foe But remember to take and consider Agathoâ—s counsell that They rule men Ought to rule according to law And must not ever rule This well digested will make them glorious in the Catalogues of fame and only covetous to deserve of their dominions 'T will intitle them to the blessing that attends peacemakers and peacepreservers For what argues greater policy or merit in Princes then To keep their Countries peaceable In peace the Learned thrive and the ruder are instructed In peace the Gentleman keeps hospitallity and the pesant gains wealth In peace the Merchant sends to sea roundly and the Lawyer quotes his books and presidents boldly In peace both Minister and people frequent their Churches not fearing to have their blood mingled with their sacrifice In fine Peace assures men the command of their own and gives a generall content because a generall good The Historian giving an account of blessed
passes by chance and as a spy not by license S t Augustine tels us of Imperiall Laws made against both heathen worships hereticall writings and outrages And I reade of Marcianus his Edict against nice and uselesse disputations of divine Mysteries yea Honorius and Theodosius commanded the Books of prophane men written against the honour of Religion and in defiance of the Church to be burned In S t Jeroms time Origens Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was ill resented by the Orthodox Ruffinus and Pammachius carp at the father for translating it and charge the errors therein upon him as making them legible by his Edition of them which otherwise would not have been understood And S t Jerom is forced to answer it thus What I did I did to discover Truth Do you think me an Interpreter Proditor fui prodidi haereticum ut Ecclesiam ab haereticis vindicarem Ruffinus is charged by Pope Anastâ—sius to have affixed a Martyrs Name to an hereticall Book on purpose to have it take more and spread farther The Book of the Trinity charged on Tertullian was not his no nor S t Cyprians but a Novatians It hath been ever a course in the Church of God to censure and inhibit Books and Disputations which tend to destruction and not to edification and is so farre from being an entrenchment on Christian Liberty or a burthen to tender consciences that it argues a high and holy zeal well becoming Christian polities and governors 't was good counsel Maecenas gave Augustus Vt ipse Deos moribus patriae receptos colat ad eundem cultum alios compellat nec Deorum contemptorem quâ—m permittat aut prestigiatorem tolerot haud dubium nihil magni futurum qui deos contempserit Having thus shortly given a touch upon some of the most remarkable Vertues of Antiquity and Elder Christians My conclusion aims to draw an humble parallell to these excellent presidents from the notable Christians and Christian practises of this once glorious Church the Church of England I know Comparisons are odious and it ill becomes us to vye with Fathers and Martyrs whose lives have been lights and deaths harvests to after-times yet in this case I conceive it pardonable to advance the mercy of God to us by this just and warrantable Vindication and the rather because our mothers miseries seem to be a most triumphant gratification to her enemies making them conclude her forsaken of God because smitten by men and advantageth the interest of the Papacy as Cardinall Sfondrato upon the like grounds in his Negotiations with Charles the fifth noted To give then this inflammation some lenitive and to return their insultation a gentle refutation I shall hope by Gods leave to present her as famous for order and enconragement of Learning and her professors as remarkable for their piety charity and policy as any Christians that preceded them and that not only before but also since the Reformation of this Church in the abjuration of Popery First then The Church of England since the Reformation hath had sundry pious Princes and Prelates who have with warm zeal maintained the honour of Scripture allowing it the only rule of faith both in the direct precepts and necessary divine consequences drawn from it forbidding all traditions in competition with it all adulteration in allay of it and commanding its translation purely out of not understood tongues into the mother Language that people might know and hear the will of God iâ— his Word declared to them and celebrating all Church-services so as people may be most edified by them This was no small advance from Popery that Religion grew English that care was taken that in the Lessons and Liturgies of our Service pure Scripture was read and if any of the Apocrypha which but rarely yet that only which was morally virtuous and least to be suspected or offensive In this Church not only Martyrs in the daies of Queen Mary died but also Bishops and Presbyters numberlesse ever since have preached and wrote for the honour of holy Scripture as that which contains all things necessary to salvation So declare the articles of our Church And though with grief I write it all of place and learning amongst us have not given Scripture that testimony in their lives but that a morall Epictetus or a Seneca might upbraid them yet the Church in her aggregate consideration and thousands eminent in her have personally attested their obedience to Scripture and brought all doctrines to the test of it according to that of the Prophet To the law and to the testimony if they speak not according to that 't is because there is no light in them Therefore in the Stat. 1 Eliz. c. 1. Not the Pope not partiall and factious Conventions but the Scripture is the judge of heresies and Counsels rightly convened judging according to it This the Laity declared not but upon serious consultation with the Clergy in Convocation that so every sanction might have its due weight I know there have been those that contrary to Scripture have brought in though blessed be God they had no rooting dangerous doctrines and practises threatning overthrow to our well-ordered Discipline by their innovating pragmatiqueness but these were not owned by any publique Canons or State laws but upbraided as encroachments and openly disgraced as scarres to our Religion and some of those that furthered this have accounted to God and men and therefore are to be passed over without further censure The Church hath ever been stanch and her doctrine Apostolique barked at by many but overturned by none traduced for new and worthless but upon search found to be As the apple trees among the trees of the wood shady and fruitfull comfortable in life and pleasant at the hour of death This made the L. Cromwell in H. 8. time in his last speech neer his death call to the people to bear witness that he died in the Catholique faith not doubting in any article of his faith no nor doubting in any Sacrament of the Church And all this because the articles of faith were not founded upon S t Francs S t Dominick this Pope or that Councill but upon the Scriptures upon Prophets and Apostles Jesus Christ being chief corner stone 2. This Church hath answered primitive times in care of Government Ecclesiastique No Nation in the world had a more thriving Church then we In none more purity state decency learning then we In no Church the Clergy more honestly priviledged and respected then in ours wherein Government was not at the Ordinaries pleasure but limited and confined by Laws and fettered to prevent impertinent domineering In this Government according to the pattern of elder times was avowed the Power of Rulers and Princes over all persons within and pretenders from without their Dominions though not their power in sacris yet circa sacros in sacros which every person in Orders was to subscribe