societatem verumetiam quae ad Divinam religionem In this Kings and Princes do serve God as they are commanded by God if they do command as they are Kings in their Kingdoms those things that are good and honest and prohibit the things that are evil not only in causes that do properly appertain to civil society but also in such thâ—ngs as belong and have reference to Religion and Piety And when they do so the Bishops and Priests be they whom you will should observe their Commands That the Bishops Priests ought to submit themselves to the lawful commands diâ—ections of their Kings civil Governours and submitt themselves in all obedience to their Determinations and censures For Moses was the civil Magistrate and the Governour of the people and as he received them from God so he delivered unto the people all the Laws Statutes and Ordinances that appertained to Religion and to the Service of God And when Aaron erected and set up the golden Calf to be worshipped and so violated the true Religion and Service of God Moses reproved and censured him and Aaron though he was the High Priest of God and the Bishop of the people yet as a good example for all other Priests and Bishops he submitted himself most submissively unto Moses the chief Magistrate and said Let not the anger of my Lord wax hot Exod. 32.22 And I would the Pope would do so likewise And therefore though we say the Judge is to be preferred before the Prince in the knowledge of the Laws and the Doctor of Physick in prescribing potions for our health and the Pilot in guiding his Ship which the King perhaps cannot do Yet it cannot be denied but the King hath the commanding power to cause all these to do their duties and to punish them if they neglect it So though the King cannot preach and may not administer the holy Sacraments nor intrude himself with Saul and Vzzia to execute the Office of the Priest or Bishop yet he may and ought to require and command both Priests and Bishops to do their duties and to uphold the true Religion and the Service of God as they ought to do and both to censure them as Moses did Aaron and also to punish them as Solomon did Abiathar if their offence so deserve when they neglect to do it and both Priests and Bishops ought like Aaron and Abiathar to submit themselves unto their censures CHAP. VII The Objections of the Divines of Lovaine and other Jesuites against the former Doctrine of the Prince his authority over the Bishops and Priests in causes Ecclesiastical answered And the foresaid truth sufficiently proved by the clear testimony of the Fathers and Councils and divers of the Popes and Papists themselves BUt against this Doctrine of the Prince his authority to rectifie the things that are amisse and out of order in the Church of God Obj. the Jesuites and their followers tell us Spirituales dignitates praestantiores essâ— secularibus seu mundanis dignitatibus That the Spiritual Dignities are more excellent than those that are worldly When as these two Governments Gen. 1.16 Rom. 13 1â— And though the light of the Church be the greater yet that proves nor but that the King should be the prime and chief Governor of the Church the one of the Church and the other of the Common-wealth are like the two great Lights that God hath made the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night and the Government of the Church must needs be acknowledged to be the Day and to have the greater light to guide and to direct it The Apostle telling us plainly that now the Gospel being come and the Church of Christ established the night is past or far spent and the day is at hand and come amongst us And the Government of the Secular State is like the Moon that ruleth the Night and receiveth her cleerest light from the Sun as all Christian Kingdoms do receive their best light and surest Rules of Government from the Church of God which is the pillar and the ground of truth But To these that thus make the Civil Government subordinate to that which is Spiritual as both the Papists and our Fanatick-Sectaries here amongst us like the old doting Donatists would do and so abridge and deprive the Christian Prince of his just right and jurisdiction over the affairs and persons of the Church I answer Sol. 1. That Symbolical propositions examples parables comparisons and similitudes can prove nothing they may serve for some illustrations but for no infallible demonstrations of truth Isidorus in Glossa in Gen. ut citatur In the Scourge of Sacriledge 2. I say that Isidorus a popish Doctor preferreth the Government of the Kingdom before the Priesthood by comparing the Kingdom unto the Sun and the Priesthood unto the Moon 3. I say that Theodore Balsamon a good School-man saith Nota Canonem Dicit Spirituales dignitates esse praestantiores secularibus sed ne hoc eò traxeris ut Ecclesiasticae dignitates praeferantur Imperatâ—riis quia illis subjiciuntur You must note that when the Canon saith the Spiritual dignities are more excellent than the Secular Balsamon in Sexta Synodo Canone 7. you must not so understand it as to prefer the Ecclesiastical Rule or Dignities before the Imperial State because they are subject unto it and so to be ruled by it 4. And lastly I say that the Regal Government or Temporal State and civil Government of the Common-wealth is not meerly secular and worldly as if Kings and Princes and other civil Magistrates were to take no care of mens souls and future happiness which they are bound to do and not to say with Cain Nunquid ego custos fratris Am I obliged to look what shall become of their souls But they are called Secular States and civil Government because the greatest though not the chiefest part of their time and imployment is spent about Civil affairs and the outward happiness of the Kingdom even as the Ecclesiastical persons are bound to provide for the poor and to procure peace and compose differences among neighbours and the like civil offices though the most and chiefest part of their time and labour is to be spent in the Service of God and for the good of the souls of their people And so Johannes de Parisiis another man of the Roman Church Johannes de Parisiis Can. 18. doth very honestly say Falluntur qui supponunt quod potestas regalis sit Corporalis non Spiritualis quod habeat curam corporum non animarum quod est falsissimum They are deceived which suppose that the Regaâ— power is only corporal and not spiritual and that it hath but the care and charge over the bodies of his Subjects and not of their souls Which is most false Obj. 2. They say as I have said even now that similitudes and examples nihil
would collect the testimonies of our best Writers I will adde but one of a most excellent King our late King James of ever blessed memory for he saith The improbity or fault of the Governour ought not to subject the King to them over whom he is appointed Judge by God for if it be not lawful for a private man to prosecute the injury that is offered unto him against his private adversary when God hath committed the sword of vengeance onely to the Magistrate how much lesse lawful is it think you either for all the people or for some of them to usurp the sword whereof they have no right against the publique Magistrate to whom alone it is committed by God This hath been the Doctrine of all the Learned The obedient example of the Martyrs in the time of Queen Mary of all the Saints of God of all the Martyrs of Jesus Christ and therefore not onely they that suffered in the first Persecutions under Heathen Tyrants but also they that of late lived under Queen Mary and were compelled to undergoe most exquisite torments without number and beyond measure yet none of them either in his former life or when he was brought to his execution did either despise her cruell Majesty or yet curse this Tyrant-Queen that made such havock of the Church of Christ and causelesly spilt so much innocent blood but being true Saints they feared God and honoured her and in all obedience to her authority they yielded their estates and goods to be spoyled their liberties to be infringed and their bodies to be imprisoned abused and burned as oblations unto God rather then contrary to the command of their Master Christ they would give so much allowance unto their consciences as for the preservation of their lives to make any shew of resistance against their most bloody Persecutors whom they knew to have their authority from that bloody yet their lawful Queen And therefore I hope it is apparent unto all men that have their eyes open and will not with Balaam most wilfully deceive themselves Numb 24.15 Gen. 19.11 or with the Sodomites grope for the wall at noon-day that by the Law of God by the example of all Saints by the rule of honesty and by all other equitable considerations it is not lawfull for any man or any degree or sort of men Magistrates Peers Parliaments Popes The conclusion of the whole or whatsoever you please to call them to give so much liberty unto their misguided consciences and so farre to follow the desires of their unruly affections as for any cause or under any pretence to withstand Gods Vice-gerent and with violence to make warre against their lawful King or indeed in the least degree and lowest manner to offer any indignity either in thought word or deed either to Moses our King or to Aaron our High Priest that hath the care and charge of our souls or to any other of those subordinate callings that are lawfully sent by them to discharge those offices wherewith they are intrusted This is the truth of God and so acknowledged by all good men And what Preachers teach the contrary I dare boldly affirm it in the name of God that they are the incendiaries of Hell and deserve rather with Corah to be consumed with fire from Heaven then to be believed by any man on Earth CHAP. X. Sheweth the impudencie of the Anti-Cavalier How the Rebels deny they warre against the King An unanswerable Argument to presse obedience A further discussion whether for our Liberty Religion or Laws we may resist our Kings and a pathetical disswasion from Rebellion I Could insert here abundant more both of the Ancient and Modern Writers that do with invincible Arguments confirm this truth But the Anti Cavalier would perswade the world Anti-Cavalier p. 17 18 c. that all those learned Fathers and those constant Martyrs that spent their purest blood to preserve the purity of religion unto us did either belye their own strength * Yet Tertul. Cypr. whom I quoted before and R ssiâ— hist Eccles l. 2. c. 1. and S. August in Psal 124. and others avouch the Christians were far stronger then their enemies and the greatest part of Julians army were Christians or befool themselves with the undue desire of over-valued Martyrdome but now they are instructed by a better spirit they have clearer illuminations to inform them to resist if they have strength the best and most lawful authority that shall either oppose or not consent unto them thus they throw dirt in the Fathers face and dishonour that glorious company and noble army of Martyrs which our Church confesseth praiseth God and therefore no wonder that they will warre against Gods annointed here on Earth when they dare thus dishonour and abuse his Saints that raign in Heaven but I hope the world will believe that those holy Saints were as honest men and those worthy Martyrs that so willingly sacrificed their lives in defence of truth could as well testifie the truth and be as well informed of the truth as these seditious spirits that spend all their breath to raise arms against their Prince and to spill so much blood of the most faithful subjects But though the authority of the best Authours is of no authority with them that will believe none but themselves yet I would wish all other men to read that Homily of the Church of England where it is said that God did never long prosper rebellious subjects against their Prince were they never so great in authority or so many in number yea were they never so noble so many so stout so witty and politique but alwayes they came by the overthrow and to a shameful end Yea though they pretend the redresse of the Common-wealth which rebellion of all other mischiefs doth most destroy The Homily against rebellion p. 390. 301. or reformation of religion whereas rebellion is most against all true religion yet the speedy overthrow of all Rebels sheweth that God alloweth neither the dignity of any person nor the multitude of any people nor the weight of any cause as sufficient for the which the subjects may move rebellion against their Princes and I would to God that every subject would read over all the six parts of that Homily against wilful rebellion for there are many excellent passages in it which being diligently read and seriously weighed would work upon every honest heart never to rebell against their lawful Prince And therefore the Lawes of all Lands being so plain to pronounce them Traytors that take arms against their Kings as you may see in the Statutes of England 25 Edw. 3. c. 2. And as you know it was one of the greatest Articles for which the Earl of Strafford was beheaded that he had actually leavied warre against the King The Nobles and Gentry Lords and Commons of both Houses of Parliament in all Kingdomes being convicted in their consciences with the
the occasion of this Treatise and what the Author doth therein Page 1. Chap. II. Of Sacriledge what it is how manifold it is and how it hath been alwayes punished and never escaped the Hand of the Divine Vengeance p. 4. Chap. III. The divers sorts and kinds of Sacrilegious persons And first of those that do it under colour of Law and upon the pretence of Reformation whereby they suppose their Sacriledge to be no Sacriledge at all p. 15. Chap. IV. Of two sorts of Sacrilegious persons that rob the Church of Christ without any colour or pretence of Law but indeed contrary to all Law p. 21. Chap. V. The words of King David in the 2 Sam. 7.1 2. and their divisions When they were spoken And how or in what sense Sitting and Standing are commonly taken in the Scriptures And of the two Persons that are here conferring together p. 27. Chap. VI. What the Rest and peaceable times of King David wrought The Prince's authority in causes Ecclesiastical and how they should be zealous to see that God should be justly and religiously served p. 31. Chap. VII The Objections of the Divines of Lovain and other Jesuites against the former Doctrine of the Prince his Authority over the Bishops and Priests in Causes Ecclesiastical answered And the foresaid truth sufficiently proved by the clear testimony of the Fathers and Councils and divers of the Popes and Papists themselves p. 37. Chap. VIII That it is the Office and Duty of Kings and Princes though not to execute the Function and to do the Office of the Bishops and Priests yet to have a special care of Religion and the true Worship of God and to cause both the Priests and Bishops and all others to discharge the duties of God's Service And how the good and godly Emperours and Kings have formerly done the same from time to time p. 41. Chap. IX Of the â—â—iefest Parts and Duties of Kings and Princes which they are to discharge for the maintenance of Gods Service and the True Religion and the necessity of Cathedral-Churches and Chappels for the people of God to meet in for the Worship and Service of God p. 46. Chap. X. The Answer to the Two Objections that the Fanatick-Sectaries do make 1. Against the necessity And 2ly against the Sanctity or Holiness of our Material Churches which in derision and contemptuously they call Steeple-houses p. 53. Chap. XI The Answer to another Objection that our Fanatick-Sectaries do make against the Beauty and Glorious Adorning of our Churches which we say should be done with such decent Ornaments and Implements as are befitting the House and Service of God The Reasons why we should Honour God with our goods and how liberal and bountiful both the Fathers of the Old Testament and the Christians of the New Testament were to the Church of God p. 58. Chap. XII The Answer to another Objection that our brain-sick Sectaries do make for the utter overthrow of our Cathedrals and Churches as being so fowly stained and profaned with Popish Superstitions and therefore being no better than the Temples of Baal they should rather be quite demolished than any wayes adorned and beautified p. 63. Chap. XIII That it is a part of the Office and Duty of Pious Kings and Princes as they are God's Substitutes to have a care of his Church to see that when such Cathedrals and Churches are built and beautified as is fitting for his Service there be Able Religious and Honest painful and faithful Bishops placed in those Cathedrals that should likewise see Able and Religious Ministers placed in all Parochial Churches and all negligent unworthy and dissolute men Bishops or Priests reproved corrected and amended or removed and excluded from their places and dignities if they amend not p. 67. Chap. XIV Of the maintenance due to the Bishops and Ministers of God's Church how large and liberal it ought to be p. 75. Chap. XV. That the payment of Tythes unto the Church is not a case of Custom but of Conscience Whenas the tenth by a Divine right is the Teacher's tribute and the very first part of the wages that God appointed to be paid unto his Workmen and therefore that it is as heynous a sin and as foul an offence to defraud the Ministers of this due as it is to detain the meat or money of the labouring-man which is one of the four Crying-sins p. 82. Chap. XVI The Answer to the choisest and chiefest Objections that the School of Anabaptists have made and do urge against the payment of Tythes now in the time of the Gospel p. 91. Chap. XVII What the ancient Fathers of the Church and the Councils collected of most Learned and Pious Bishops have left written concerning Tythes And of the three-fold cause that detains them from the Church p. 98. Chap. XVIII Of the second part of the Stipend Wages and Maintenance of the Ministers of the Gospel which is the Oblation Donation or Free-wil-offering of the people for to uphold and continue the true service of God and to obtain the blessings of God upon themselves and upon their labours which Donations ought not to be impropriated and alienated from the Church by any means p. 105. Chap. XIX That it is the duty of all Christian Kings and Princes to do their best endevours to have all the Impropriations restored to their former Institution to hinder the taking away and the alienation of the Lands Houses and other the Religious Donations of our Ancestors from the Church of Christ and to suppress and root out all the Vnjust and Covetous suttle customs and frauds that are so generally used and are so derogatory to the service of God from amongst the people and especially from this Kingdom of Ireland where most corruption is used and most need of Instruction unto the people p. 114. Chap. XX. The Authour's supplication to Jesus Christ that he would arise and maintain his own cause which we his weak servants cannot do against so many rich powerful and many-friended adversaries of his Church p. 117. A DECLARATION Against SACRILEDGE CHAP. I. The Declaration of the Bishop of Ossory exhibited to the High Court of Justice before Jesus Christ the righteous Judge against the most horrible sin of Sacriledge and all sacrilegious persons that detain the Tythes rob the Church and take the Lands and Houses of God into their own possessions Together with his most humble Petition to the Eternall and Almighty God his most gratious Redeemer and his most loving Master Jesus Christ that he would arise and maintain his own cause and smite all his Enemies upon their cheek-bone and put them to perpetual shame and root out their memorial from off the earth Sheweth THAT by Your most glorious Martyr the strenuous defender of the true Christian Faith and his most gratious Master Charles the I. of ever blessed memory he was called and appointed to be the Bishop of Ossory and to inable him the better to discharge his
the servant of the Father and of the Son Bern. in Convers Pauli Sermone 1. because they make the Holy Ghost to become their servant as Terasius saith to Pope Adrian Yet S. Bernard that saw much but not all saith Sacri gradus dati sunt in occasionem turpis lucri quaestum aestimant pietatem Holy Orders are now become the occasion of filthy lucre and gain is counted godliness And this Simonie is Sacriledge indeed and not only Musculus citeth these Verses that were made of Pope Alexander Musculus in cap. 6. Johan Vendit Alexander claves altaria Christum Vendere jure potest emerat ille prius but Durandus also saith That Simonie doth so reign in the Church of Rome Durand de modo celebrandi Concilii Extra de officio judicis delegati ex parte N. in Glossâ as if it were no sin at all And their Canonists as Bartolus Felinus Theodoricus and some others of the Pope's parasites are so impudent as to averr that the selling of these things and taking monie for Ecclesiastical promotions can be neither Sacriledge nor Simonie in the Pope because he is the Lord of them all and accounteth them all his own But since we have bidden Adieu to him and his corruptions his Simonie and his Sacriledge blessed be God for it doth not so much prejudice us and therefore letting him to do what he will with his own and either to stand or fall to his own Master I will address my self to shew the manifold evils and wickednesse of our own Sacrilegious and Simonaical Patrons that sell those Benefices which they should freely bestow And I say 1. The selling of Ecclesiastical-Livings against all Laws 1. Of Moses Gen. 47.22 That this buying and selling of Church-goods for both these acts are relatives and to be put in the same predicament when as nothing is sold that is not bought è contra is a thing contrary to all Laws and to the judgement of all good men for 1. The Laws of Moses provided so liberally for the Priests and Levites that the buying and selling of Priests places was never known nor heard of among the Jews until Jeroboam's time who as he sold them so he sold himself to do evil and to commit wickedness 2. Pharaoh was so religious that when in the great Dearth 2. Of the Gentiles all the land of Aegypt was sold the Priests had such a portion of Corn allotted them that they needed not to sell one foot of their land and therefore I doubt not but Pharaoh will rise in judgement against all those that take away the lands of the Priests as our Gentlemen and Souldiers strive to do or do sell the Spiritual promotions unto the Priests as our Simonaical Patrons do 3. The Law of Grace saith Freely have you received that is 3 Of grace all the graces and gifts of God therefore freely give Math. 10.8 especially what you give to God and for the Service of God and sell it not 4. The Civil and Ecclesiastical Laws forbid nothing more 4. Of the Civil and Canon-Law and with greater care than the buying and selling Of Spiritual Offices And the ancient Fathers learned Schoolmen and all the later Classes of Casuists Jesuites and of our zealous purest Protestant Writers together with the wisest Princes and Statesmen that have established many Statute-Laws against this sin are all infinitely deceived if this buying and selling of Ecclesiastical preferments be not infinitely prejudicial to the Church of God and therefore a most heynous and a horrible sin against the Law of God 2. I say that this buying and selling of Church-Livings 2. This selling and buying of Church-Livings will be the decay of Learning and Religion will be the diminution of all Learning and the lessening of the number of Learned men for when the world seeth that after a man hath spent his time first in School where he suffereth a great deal of sorrows and thinks no creature more miserable than himself when he seeth all others free and himself only as he supposeth bound under the rod then in the Vniversity where most of the Schollers are as Phalaris saith to Leontides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 needy of all things but of hunger and fear How difficult it is to become a Scholar or else if they escape these rocks the better part do with continuall watching and studying wear their bodies and tyre their spirits and spend all the means they can procure from their friends for many years together and in the end after all this cannot get a poor Parsonage or Vicarage unless they pay for the lease of their wearied and almost worn out life to the hazarding of their soules and all other Preferments when the truth of their buying is made known What Fathers will be so â—â—provident I had almost said so irreligious I may truly say so unworldly wise or so little prudent in managing of their estates as to cast away their means and their sons upon such sourges I think I may say with the Poet Invitatus ad haec aliquis de ponte negabit A beggars brat knowing these inconveniencies would scarce accept these Offices and discharge those duties they do owe upon these conditions Obj. But you will say that we must not and ought not to respect our own gain and look after our own profit but as the Apostles and servants of Christ our chiefest care should be for the peoples good because our reward shall be great in Heaven Sol. I answer that as in the Common-wealth we owe our selves and our service wholly unto our Prince and to our Countrey yet some convenient reward will make us the more willing to serve So in the Church of God though I must preach willingly and wo is me being called to that office if I preach not so and discharge all other Priestly offices cheerfully rather for the gain of Souls then for any other the greatest gain in the World yet necessary maintenance will inable me or any other to do my duty the more cheerfully and with the more incouragement no man can deny the same Luk. 10.17 Matth. 10.10 and our Saviour tels us The workman is worthy of his hire and therefore as the Ministers of Christ do give unto you spirituall things so reason sheweth what the Apostle setteth down that you should give unto them and not sell unto them these temporall things that so not only we which are already entred into this calling may discharge our duties the more joyfully The reward of learning is the best means to increase and to continue learning but also others which as yet are not of this calling may by the reward of learning be induced to undertake the Ministry that otherwise is despicable enough in the world the more willingly because as Symmachus saith Virtus aemula alitur exemplo honoris alieni virtue is cherished and set forward with the example and
not many Noble are called which was indeed a good way to suppress the danger of malignity that looks not so much after poor estates and a good way to increase their number and propagate their design with more safety And as by this means the Church began to take root and to grow stronger and the wealthier nobler and wiser men began to be in love with the Christian Religion So then they loved nothing more than to build Churches answerable for their beauty How zealously the fi st Christians were affected how bountifully they contributed towards the building of their Churches to the dignity of their Religion and for their greatness to the number of their Professors And the devotion of these Christians was so large and did so liberally contribute towards the erecting of their Churches as the Israelites in the dayes of Bezaliel did chearfully present their Gifts and Free-will-offerings towards the setting up of the Tabernacle no man was backward and no man a niggard in this work which they conceived to be so profitable and so necessary for them to do and that in two special respects 1. The good that is effected 2. The evils that are prevented by the publick meeting of the people in these Churches The double benefit that we reap by our coming to the Publick meeting in the Church 1. The meeting of the Congregation publickly in a lawful place and a consecrated Church assures them they offend not the Laws either of God or man and so secures them from all blame and prevents the occasion to traduce and to suspect the lawfulnesse of the holy Duties that we perform when as Veritas non quaerit angulos Truth and the performance of just things and holy actions need not run and hide themselves in private hidden 1. Benefit and unlawful places but may shew themselves and appear so publickly as they might not be subject to any the least unjust imputation 2. Benefit 2. The meeting in a publick consecrated Church and not in a private Conventicle escapes those dangerous plots and machinations that are very often invented and contrived in those Conventicles that are vailed for that purpose under the mantle and pretence of Religion And it freeth the comers unto the Church from those seditious Doctrines and damnable Divinity which the Sectaries and Hereticks do scatter and broach in those unlawful Conventicles which are the fittest places for them to effect their wicked purpose and must needs be sinful and offend both God and man because they are contrary to the Laws both of God and man Whenas the coming unto the Church quits my conscience from all fear of offending because that herein I do obey and do agreeable to the Laws both of God and man And who then that hath any dram of wit would not avoid private and forbidden meetings and go to serve God unto the publick Church which is the House of God erected and dedicated for his Service CHAP. X. The Answer to the Two Objections that the Fanatick-Sectaries do make 1. Against the Necessity And 2ly against the Sanctity or Holiness of our Material Churches which in derision and contemptuously they call Steeple-houses ANd yet for all this and all that we can say for the Church of God I find Four sorts of Objections 4 Sorts of Objections against our Material Churches that are made by our Fanaticks and Skenimastices against our Material Churches As 1. Against the Necessity 2. Against the Sanctity 3. Against the Beauty Glory 4. Against the impurity Impiety of them 1. They do object 1. Objection against the necessity that we have no need of Churches there is no Necessity of any Material House or Church of God for his servants to meet in to serve God because the woman of Samaria discoursing with Christ about the place where God would be worshipped Whether in that Mountain where the Fathers worshipped or in Hierusalem which as the Jews said was the place where men ought to worship Our Saviour tells her plainly They worshipped they knew not what for the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this Mountain nor yet in Hierusalem worship the Father but the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth because God is a Spirit John 4.20 23. and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth and such worshippers the Father seeks and such he loves And therefore so we have clean hearts and pure consciences and worship God with our souls and spirits faithfully to pray unto him and to praise his Name it is no matter for the place where we do it in a Church or in a Barn because God looks rather to the inward heart than to the outward place where we stand To this I answer Maledicta glossa quae corrumpit textum Sol. and our Saviours words gives them no colour to extort such consequences and to draw such conclusions from them for the words are plain enough that although formerly before Moses his time Jacob had a Well near Sichar and he with the other Fathers worshipped God in that Mountain and afterwards God required them to worship him in the place that he should chuse to put his Name there which after the time of David and the building of his Temple by Solomon was to be Hierusalem and no where else to perform the commanded Publick Service of God under the punishment of cutting off that soul from his people that should do otherwise Yet the hour cometh and now is that is coming or beginning to come that the partition-Wall betwixt the Jews and the Gentiles shall be broken down and the bounds and borders of Gods Church and the true worshippers of God shall be inlarged and they may lawfully without offence worship God not only in Jury where God was only formerly known aright but also in all the Nations and in any Kingdom of the World so they worship him in spirit and in truth as they ought to do But here is not one syllable intimating that they should not or needed not to meet to serve God in the Publick Church but that whensoever and wheresoever in any Kingdom of the Earth they should gather themselves together in the Publick Church to worship God they should worship him in spirit and in truth otherwise their worship is to no purpose and will avail them nothing though they should do it publickly in the Church This is the true meaning of our Saviours words Obj. 2 2. We have another sort of Sectaries that yield it requisite and convenient for the Saints and servants of God to meet and gather themselves together for the Service of God and do acknowledg the great benefits that may accrew and be obtained in a Congregation rather than by any single person but they think there is no necessity of their meeting in a Material Church or a Steeple-house as they call it rather than in a house or a chamber or a
deny what Reason a voucheth But the law of Nature and Reason teacheth that no pension which is indifferent and tolerable ought to be denied and detained from the Common use and the good of publick weale for so Plato and Cicero and many more that knew no more but what the light of nature shewed them do say We are born on that condition not only to provide for our selves and our off-spring but also for our private friends That every man is to do his best for the publick good and especially for the publick good of our Countrey which is the common parent of us all and the examples of Theseus the Athenian Demaratus the Lacedemonian Epaminondas the Theban Curtius Decius and Coriolanus the Romans and among the Jews Moses Aaron Gideon Sampson David Zorobabel and abundance more in all Nations that underwent all charge and exposed themselves to endure all adventures for the furtherance of the common good do sufficiently confirm this truth unto us But the tenth part or portion The tenth the most indifferent part that we have from the Fruits and commodities that we receive from the earth is of the most indifferent condition competent for the receiver and tolerable for the giver as being of a middle size neither too little for the one to take nor too much for the other to pay for the publick service of God And this will easily be confirmed if we compare this tenth part with the taxes and impositions that are of other nature and are required and payable in very many Nations for the men of Cholchi beside their subsidy of money were forced to deliver a hundred male Children and as many maidens by way of task or tribute unto their Princes And Heredotus writeth of very strange distributions that do arise from the waters of Nilus to the proper use of the Inhabitants about that River and of the mighty subsidies that do grow from thence unto the Kings And the Egyptians have been forced to pay the fift part of their estate unto their Kings The tenth compared with the taxes imposed upon the people in divers Nations and Diodorus Siculus saith that a certain King of Egypt gave the yearly custome of the fishes which were taken out of the pooles of his subjects to find rayment and other Ornaments for his Queen and that the same amounted to a Talent of silver for every day in the year And Dion in the life of Augustus relateth how he levied the twentieth part of every mans estate and of such Donations Legacies and Gifts as were bequeathed at the time of their death and said that he found some Records of that custome formerly used in the Registers of Caesar and it is written that the Thuringi exceeded this payment in the taxes that were imposed upon them For they were forced to pay yearly to the Kings of Hungary not only the tenth part of their goods but also the tenth number of their children and yet they that are under the Tyranny of the Turks must indâ—re a Heavier yoke and a far greater slavery for they pay the fourth part of all their fruits and increase of the earth and of their labours in their several trades and they pay tole-money for every servant that they keep the which if their estates be not able to do yet must they make it good or sell themselves for slaves to do it And now judge you what rational man comparing the tythes with these tributes and the taxes of other Nations will not conclude that the tenth part is the most equal just and indifferent portion that can be allotted and adjudged fit to be given and paid for such a publick good as is the service of God and the Ministry of the Gospel without pressing too heavy upon the giver or paying too slight a portion to the receiver 2. Whatsoever things have their foundation and introduction What natural Reason sheweth 1. That publick Ministers should be by the publick State mainâ—ained in the Reason 2 Law of Nature the same things ought still to be observed and continued but natural Reason suggesteth and telleth every man that is not voyd of Reason 1. That as they which serve the Common-wealth Kings Magistrates and Governours should live upon the taxes and Contributions of the Common-wealth so they that serve the Church of God as Bishops and Priests should be maintained by the Church and the Histories of the Gentiles do bear witness that all the Nations of the World have alwayes fully and sufficiently provided maintenance for their Priests Judg. 17.5 For so Mâ—â—ha having set up his Temple and made an Ephod and his Teraphim consecravit ministerium unius è filtis suis he made one of his sons to be his Priest and implevit manum ejus which consecravit ministerium signifieth saith Tremellius in his notes upon that place that is to give him an estate and the maintenance of a Priest and so he did to the Levite that succeeded him consecravit ministerium ejus id est implevit manum ejus He filled his hand and satisfied him with a certainty of maintenance And Pharaoh and the rest of the Egyptians allowed lands and possessions and other sufficient maintenance unto their Priests and Magicians And the Babylonians were very bountiful to their Wise-men and the Professors of the Mysteries of their religion And so was Jezabel also to the Priests of Baal making them to sit at her own Table 2. That the Tythes are the fittest part to maintain these publick Ministers and were so given by Jews and Gentiles before Moses time 2. That the Tythes or tenth part of our goods and fruits of the earth is the fittest part and the most ind fferent proportion that we can assign and lay out for the maintenanâ—e and allowance of the Priests and Ministers of Religion for not only Moses by the instinct and inspiration of God's Spirit appointed and commanded the tenth part to be paid unto the Priests but also many good and godly men before Moses time were by the secret instigaâ—ion of the same Spirit and the innate light of their natural reason directed before God commanded the same to give the Tythes of their whole Estate unto God and to deliver it into the hands of his Receivers the Priests Veteres ex unaquaque re deci mam â—fferâ—e diis solebant Fran. Sylvius Insul And Plautus saith Uâ— decimam solveret Herculi As among the people of God Abraham and Jacob paid Tythes of all and that long before Moses time And among the Gentiles Plutarch recordeth that when Hercules had vanquished Geryâ—n King of Spain and by a strong hand had taken away his Oxen from him he made an oblation of every tenth Bullock unto God And it is said that Cartalus was sent by the Carthaginians unto Tyrus to offer unto Hercules the tenth part of the spoils that he had gotten in the Isle of Sicâ—ly And the Histories do relate further That the Tythes of
gracious King and I believe the best Protestant King that ever England or Ireland saw neither Popishly affected nor Schismatically led to disaffect but most constantly resolved to be a true Defender of that true Protestant Faith which is established by Law in the Church of England and he is such a King of so unblameable a life so spotlesse in all his actions so clement and so meek towards all men and so merciful towards his very enemies that the mouth of Envy cannot truly taxe him nor malice it self disprove him in any thing Yet we know that as Moses the meekest among men and David the best of Kings were sore afflicted slandered and persecuted not a little by many of their own obliged subjects yea and the best Kings have had the greatest troubles so this good King hath had for his trial a great part of the like usage I know not by whom neither do I intend here to accuse others but to instruct you and by what I shewed out of this Text to teach you above all to take heed of disobedience and Rebellion towards your King and to let you understand that what priviledges in the New Testament are acknowledged to be due to Heathen Princes and what prerogatives the spirit of God hath in the Old Testament warranted unto the Jewish Kings and what the universal Law of Nature hath established upon all the supreme Governours do all of them appertain by unquestionable right unto his most sacred Majesty and yet His Majesty out of His incomparable goodnesse insisteth not to challenge all these but vouchsafeth to accept of those Rights and Prerogatives which are undoubtedly afforded him by the Lawes of His own Lands and these come farre short scarce the moity of the other because we know if our Historians have not deceived me how many of them were obtained by little better then by force and violence compelling Kings to consent unto them whereas Lawes should be of a freer nature And therefore of all the Nations round about us besides that God hath intrusted Him with us all we have most reason to intrust him and to give credit unto his Majesties many Protestations too high to be forgotten by him or misdoubted by us for his resolution to maintain the Liberty of his Subjects the just Priviledges of Parliaments and the true established Religion in the Kingdome of England and likewise to rule over us according to our Laws in this Realm of Ireland And we have least reason to rebell and take arms against him and therefore let us not be perswaded by any means by any man to do it because God will preserve his annointed and will as you see plague the Rebels but let us pray for our King and praise God night and day that he which might have given us a bramble not only to tear our flesh but also to set us all on fire hath given us such a Cedar such a gracious and a pious King and if either forreign foes or domestique Rebels do presse him so that he hath need of us let us adde our help and hazard our lives to defend and protect him that protecteth us and suffereth all for the protection of Gods service as it was established in the purest time of Reformation and for the preservation of our Laws from any corrupt interpretation or arbitrary invasion upon them by those factious men that under fair yet false pretences have with wondrous subtilty and with most subtle hypocrisie seduced so many simple men to partake with them not onely to overthrow the true Religion to imbase the Church of Christ that hitherto hath continued glorious in this Nation and by trampling the most learned under feet to reduce Popery into this Kingdom and to bring in Atheism or Barbarism into our Pulpits when they make their Coach-men and Trades-men like Jeroboam's Priests the basest of the people to become their Trencher-Chaplains and the teachers of those poor sheep for whom the Son of God hath shed his precious blood but also to change the well-setled government and to subvert the whole fabrick of this famous Common-wealth either by their tyranny or bringing all into an Anarchie for if we have any regard of any of these things either true Religion or ancient Government a gracious King and a learned Clergy a glorious Church and a flourishing Kingdom we ought not to spare our goods or be niggards in our contributions to help his Majesty yea as Debora saith To help the Lord against the mighty Or if we be cold and carelesse herein penurious and tenacious of our worldly pelfe preferring our gold before our God or fearing gracelesse Rebels more then we love our gracious King It may fall out as Saint Augustine saith Quod non capit Christus rapit fiscus or as it did with the Carthaginians who because they would not assist Hanniball with some reasonable proportion of their estates they lost all unto the Romans and with the Constantinopolitans that for denying a little to Paleologus lost all unto the Turkes so we may be robbed and pillaged of all because we would not part with some and I had rather the King should have all I have then that the Rebels should have any part thereof Therefore I hope I shall perswade all good men to honour God with their riches and to assist His Majesty to the uttermost of their powers even to the hazard and to the losse both of liberty and life And doing this our God which is the King of Kings will blesse us and defend us from all evill and make us Kings and Priests to live with him for ever and ever through Jesus Christ our Lord To whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be all praise and glory and dominion from henceforth for evermore Amen Amen Hester 4.16 If I perish I perish Yet Esdras 4.41 The truth is great and will prevail Jehovae Liberatori TO THE KINGS Most Excellent MAJESTY Most Gracious Sovereign THough the wisest man in all the Kingdom of Persia saith Great is the truth and stronger then all things Yet the father of lies hath now plaid his part so well that as the Prophet saith Truth is fallen in the Street and Equity cannot enter in And your Majesty whom the God of Truth hath anointed his sole Vicegerent to be the Supreme Protector of them both in all your Dominions hath accordingly lifted up your Standard against their Enemies and I may truly say of you as Menevensis saith of that most Noble King Alfred Si modò victor erat ad crastina bella pavebat Si modò victus erat ad crastina bella parabat Neither do I believe that Lucan's Verse can be applied to any man better than to your Majesty Non te videre superbum Prospera fatorum nec fractum adversa videbunt As the height of your glory and prosperity never swelled your Pious heart so your greatest crosses and adversities never dejected your Royal spirit But as the Prophet saith of
ought to reprove and punish them as we read the good Kings of the Jewish Church and the godly Emperours * As Martian apud Binium l. 2. p. 178. Iustinian novel 10. tit 6. Theodos jun. Evagr. l. 1. c. 12. Basil in Council Constant 8. act 1. Binius tom 8. p. 880. Reason confirmeth that Kings should take care of religion of the Christian Church have ever done and the Bishops themselves in sundry Councils have acknowledged the same power and Authority to be due and of right belonging unto them as at Mentz Anno 814. and Anno 847. apud Binium tom 3. p. 462. 631. At Emerita in Portugall Anno 705. Bin. tom 2. p. 1183. and therefore it is an ill consequent to say Princes have no Authority to preach Ergo they have no authority to punish those that will not preach or that do preach false Doctrine This truth is likewise apparent not only by the the testimony of Scripture and Fathers but also by the evidence of plain reason because the prosperity of that Land which any King doth govern without a principal care of Religion decayeth and degenerateth into Wars Dearths Plagues and Pestilence and abundance of other miseries that are the lamentable effects and consequences of the neglect of Religion and contempt of the Ministers of Gods Church which I beleive is no small cause of these great troubles which we now suffer because our God Psal 35.27 that taketh pleasure in the prosperity of his servants cannot endure that either his service should be neglected or his servants abused CHAP VII Sheweth the three things necessary for all Kings that would preserve true Religion how the King may attain to the knowledge of things that pertain to Religion by his Bishops and Chaplains and the calling of Synods the unlawfulness of the new Synod the Kings power and authority to govern the Church and how both the old and new Disciplinarians and Sectaries rob the King of this power THerefore seeing this should be the greatest care that brings the greatest honour to a Christian Prince to promote the true Religion it is requisite that we should consider those things that are most necessary to a Christian King for the Religious performance of this duty And they are Three things necessary for a king to preferre the Church and the Religion 1. A will to performe it 2. An understanding to go about it 3. A power to effect it And these three must be inseperable in the Prince that maintaineth true Religion For 1. Our knowledge and our power without a willing minde doth want motion 2. Our will and power without knowledge shall never be able to move right And 3. Our will and knowledge without ability can never prevaile to produce any effect Therefore Kings and Princes ought to labour to be furnished with these three special graces The first is a good will to preserve the purity of Gods service 1. A willing minde to do it not onely in his House but also througout all his Kingdom and this as all other graces are must be acquired by our faithfull prayers and that in a more speciall manner for Kings and Princes then for any other and it is wrought in them by outward instruction and the often predication of God's Word and the inward inspiration of Gods Spirit The second is knowledge which is not much less necessaâ—y then the former 2. Understanding to know what is to be reformed and what to be retained because not to run right is no better then not to run at all and men were as good to do nothing as to do amiss and therefore true knowledge is most requisite for that King that will maintain true religion and this should be not onely in generall and by others but as much as possible he can in particulars and of himselfe that himselfe might be assured what were fit to be reformed and what warranted to be maintained in Gods service for so Moses commandeth the chiefe Princes to be exercised in Gods Law day and night because this would be a special means to beatifie or make happy both the Church and Common-Wealth As the neglect thereof brought ignorance unto the Church The kings neglect of religion and the Church is the destruction of the Common-wealth and ruine to the Romane Empire for as in Augustus time learning flourished and in Constantines time piety was much embraced because these Emperours were such themselves so when the Kings whose examples most men are apt to follow either busied with secular affairs or neglecting to understand the truth of things and the state of the Church do leave this care unto others then others imitating their neglect do rule all things with great corruption and as little truth whereby errours and blindness will over-spread the Church and pride covetousness and ambition will replenish the Common-Wealth and these vices like the tares that grow up in Gods field to suffocate the pure Wheat will at last choake up all virtue and piety both in Church and State Therefore to prevent this mischiefe the King on whom God hath laid the care of these things ought himselfe what he can to learn and finde out the true state of things and because it is far unbefitting the honour and inconsistent with the charge of great Princes whose other affairs will not permit them to be alwayes poring at their books as if they were such critiques How kings may attaine unto the knowledge of religion and understand the state of the Church and how to govern the same 1. To call able Clergy-men about them as intended to exceed all others in the theâ—rick learning like Archimedes that was in his study drawing forth his Mathematicall figures when the City was sackt and his enemies pulling down the house about his eares therefore it is wisdome in them to imitate the discreet examples of other wise Kings and religious Emperours in following the means that God hath left and using the power and authority that he hath given them to attain unto more knowledge and to be better instructed in any religious matter then themselves could possibly attaine unto by their own greatest study and that is 1. As Alexander had his Aristotle ready to inform him in any Philosophicall doubt and Augustus his prime Orators Poets and Historians to instruct him in all affairs so God hath granted this power unto his Kings to call those Bishops and command such Chaplaines to reside about them as shall be able to informe them in any truth of Divinity and so direct them in the best forme of Government of Gods Church and these Chaplains should be well approved both for their learning and their honesty for to be learned without honesty as many are is to be witty to do evill which is most pernitious and doth often times make a private gaine by a publique loss How they should be qualified or an advantage to themselves by the detriment of the Church
true religion and to suppress all Heresies and Schismes And so accordingly we finde the good Emperours and Kings have ever done The good Emperours have made Laws for the government of the Church Euseb in vita Constant l. 2. 3. for Constantine caused the idolatrous religions to be suppressed and the true knowledge of Christ to be preached and planted amongst his people and made many wholsome Lawes and godly Constitutions to restrain the sacrificing unto Idols and all other devillish and superstitious south-sayings and to cause the true service of God to be rightly administred in every place saith Eusebius And in another place he saith that the same Constantine gave injunctions to the chiefe Ministers of the Churches that they should make speciall supplication to God for him and he enjoyned all his Subjects that they should keep holy certain dayes dedicated to Christ and the Sabboth or Saturday which was then wont to be kept holy and as yet not abrogated by any Law among the Christians he gave a Law to the Ruler of every Nation that they should celebrate the Sunday or the Lords day in like sort Idem de vita Constant l. 1. 3. 4. c. 18. and so for the dayes that were dedicated to the memory of the Martyrs and other festival times and all such things were done according to the ordinance of the Emperour Nicephorus writing of the excellent virtues of Andronicus son to Immanuel Palaeologus and comparing him to Constantine the Great saith Niceph. in prafation Eccles hist thou hast restored the Catholique Church being troubled with new opinions to the old State thou hast banished all unlawfull and impure doctrine thou hast established the truth and hast made Lawes and Constitutions for the same Sozomen speaking of Constantines sons saith Sozomenus l 3. c. 17. the Princes also concurred to the increase of these things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shewing their good affections to the Churches no less then their father did and honouring the Clergy their servants with singular promotions and immunities both confirming their fathers Lawes and making also new Lawes of their own against such as went about to sacrifice and to worship Idols or by any other means fell to the Greekish or Heathenish superstitions Theodoret tells us that Valentinian at the Synod in Illirico did not onely confirme the true faith by his Royall assent but made also many godly and sharpe Lawes as well for the maintenance of the truth of Christ his doctrine as also touching many other causes Ecclesiastical and as ratifying those things that were done by the Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodor. l. c. 5 6 7. he sent abroad to them that doubted thereof Honorius at the request of Boniface the first made a Law whereby it might appear what was to be done Distinct 79. siduo when two Popes were chosen at once by the indiscretion of the Electors Martianus also made a Statute to cut off and put away all manner of contention about the true faith and Religion in the Councell of Calcedon The Emperour Justinus made a Law that the Churches of Heretiques should be consecrated to the Catholique Religion saith Martinus Poenitentiarius And who knowes not of the many Laws and Decrees that Justinian made in Ecclesiasticall causes for the furtherance of the true Religion for in the beginning of the Constitutions collected in the Code of Iustinian the first 13 titles are all filled with Laws for to rule the Church where it forbiddeth the Bishops to reiterate baptisme to paint L. 1. tit 5. L. 1. tit 7. Novel 123. c. 10. Novel 58. Novel 137. c. 6. or grave on earth the Image of our Saviour And in the Novels the Emperour ordaineth Lawes of the creation and consecration of Bishops that Synods should be annually held that the holy mysteries should not be celebrated in private houses that the Bishops should speak alond when they celebrate the Sacraments of Baptisme and the Eucharist and that the holy Bible should be translated into the vulgar tongue and the like And not onely these and the rest of the godly Emperours that succeeded them but also Ariamirus Wambanus Richaredus and divers other Kings of Spaine did in like manner And Charlemaigne who approved not the decisions of the Greekish Synod wrote a book against the same * Intituled A Treatise of Charlemaigne against the Greekish Synod touching Images whereby the King maintained himself in possession to make Lawes for the Church saith Johannes Beda of which Lawes there are many in a book called The capitulary Decrees of Charles the Great who as Popin his predecessour had done in the City of Bourges so did he also assemble many Councils in divers places of his Kingdoms as at Mayns at Tours at Reines at Chaalons at Arles and the sixt most famous of all at Francfort where himself was present in person and condemned the errour of Felician and so other Kings of France and the Kings of our own Kingdom of England both before and after the Conquest as Master Fox plentifully recordeth did make many Lawes and Constitutions for the government of God's Church The saying of Dioclesian But as Dioclesian that was neither the best nor the happiest governour said most truly of the civil government that there was nothing haraer th n to rule well * That is to rule the Common-wealth so it is much harder to govern the Church of Christ therefore as there cannot be an argument of greater wisdome in a Prince nor any thing of greater safety and felicity to the Common-wealth then for him to make choice of a wise Council to assist him in his most weighty affaires Tacitus Annal. lib. 12. saith Cornelius Tacitus So all religious Kings must do the like in the government of the Church and the making of their Lawes for that government for God out of his great mercy to them and no less desire to have his people religiously governed left such men to be their supporters their helpers and advisers in the performance of these duties and I pray you whom did Kings chuse for this business but whom God had ordained for that purpose for you may observe that although those Christian Kings and Emperours made their Lawes as having the supremacy and the chieâ—est câ—re of God's religion committed by God into their hands yet they did never make them that ever I could read with the advice counsel or direction of any of their Peers or Lay Subjects but as David had Nathan and God The good Kings Emperours made their Lawes for the government of the Church onely by the adv ce of their Clergy A good Law of Instinian Constit 123. Nâ—buâ—hadnezzar had Daniel and the rest of the Jewish Kings and Heathens had their Prophets onely and Priests to direct them in all matters of religion so those Chr stian Kings and Princes took their Bishops and their Clergie onely to be their counsellors and
mourn and go in sackcloath and ashes if after one moment of time I shall be reduced to nothing and be never more questioned and neither rewarded for my good deeds nor punished for my evil doings Therefore I think that this Atheistical conceit of the annihilation of the soul and the incredulous thought of the immortality thereof is the main cause of so much wickedness as is now raging in the world And on the other side if men did but seriously think and faithfully believe that after this short time of a few dayes pilgrimage our souls shall remain for ever and receive either everlasting joyes if they do well or eternal punishments if they do evil I do assure my self that men would have some care for the time to come and like Moses choose rather to suffer a momentary affliction with the people of God Heb. 11.25 than to enjoy the plesures of sin for a season and so engage themselves to endure the punishment of sin for ever The necessity of rooting out this incredulity And therefore to root out so pestilent an errour and to confirm so necessary a truth as is the doctrine of the Immortality of the soul for the perpetuating of man all wise men that had any love of goodness in them and all the holy men of God both in the Old and New Testament and all the Fathers of the primitive Church and their successours the Bishops and other godly Preachers to this very day have been carefull to preach this truth and have shewed themselves very punctual and plentifull in this point for to let pass what Ovid saith Morte carent animae Ovid. Metam Tibul. l. 4. Propertius Claud. Manilius l. 4. Plato in Tim. Cicero de repub somâ—o Scip. l. 1. Tusc quest and what Propertius saith Sunt aliquid manes laethum non omnia finit luridaque evictos effugit umbra rogos and what Claudian saith Haec sola manet bustoque superstes evolat and to pass over the testimony of Pherecides that was Master unto Pythagoras and of Socrates and Plato and Cicero and the rest of the Philosophers and Orators that with unanswerable arguments have maintained the souls of men to be immortal and so likewise to pass by the unanimous consent of the Fathers that were so plain and so plentifull to prove the same as you may see in S. Clement Recog l. 1. Iren. l. 2. c. 63. 64. cont Valent. Tertul. de res carnis S. Aug. dogmat Eccles c. 16. Arnobius de fide resur and the rest of them almost in every place I finde the Prophets and our Saviour himself and his Apostles be very exact and diligent to declare the same and to prove it so fully that the most incredulous heart if it were not filled with all blindness could not conceive the least thought against it Yet because the Devil is still tempting men to incredulity and to doubt of these things and is still so powerfull with these worldlings that he quite blindeth them so that they cannot see the clearest light nor understand the plainest truth Therefore to undeceive these silly souls that do so miserably deceive themselves we are still bound to defend and vindicate these truths and in that respect I likewise shall not think much to produce some few Reasons that the Devil himself cannot answer to make it manifest that although man in this life is altogether vanity and but a blast of no continuance as hereafter I shall shew unto you yet God made man to be perpetual for God made all things that they might have their being and especially man not to be reduced to nothing and he made the soul of man immortal and never to dye but to live for ever For Arguments proving the immortality of the Soul and the life to come 1. Moses tells you that when God had framed and made man of the dust of the earth He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and so man became a living soul and not a dying soul or a soul that should dye but such a soul as should live for ever because the soul is the cause of our natural spiritual and eternal life whence the Latines do call the soul Life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quia vivificat corpus dum adest seipsam cum abest á corpore And when God threatned Adam that if he did eat of the forbidden fruit Or surely dye Gen. 2.17 he should dye the death that death signifieth not the death of the soul or the annihilation of the body but the dissolution or separation of the soul from the body that as it was made out of the dust so it might return to the dust again which while the soul remained in it unseparated it could not return and this St. Paul sheweth plainly when he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If our earthly house be dissolved that is 2 Cor. 5. dis-joynted as a house that we pull down is separated one part from another but not destroyed so is the soul separated from the body and neither of them destroyed and reduced into nothing but the soul remaineth still immortal for ever and as God saith Gen. 3.19 the body returneth to the dust from whence it was taken 2. It is said that Abel being unnaturally murdered by his blood-thirsty Brother vox sanguinum clamabat ad deum and the Hebrew word saith Collerus signifieth ex ingenti animi dolore exclamare to cry out with a vehement grief of mind queritando vociferari and to complain with a most lamentable voice therefore surely his crying soul was still alive though his slaughtered body was lain dead 3. God saith unto Moses I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob and the God of your Fathers therefore Abraham Isaac Exod. 3.15 and Jacob and the rest of their Fathers were still alive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 secundum aliquid and that is in respect of their Souls because as our Saviour saith unto the Sadduces God is not the God of the dead but the God of the living and the bodies of these men that were turned to dust could not be said either to be alive or to be Abraham Isaac or Jacob therefore Abraham Isaac and Jacob were still alive in respect of their Soules 4. Moses is said to have died in the Land of Moab and to be buried in a valley over against Beth-peor and yet S. Matth. saith Deut. 34.5 6. Mat. 17.3 that when Jesus was transfigured on the Mount Moses and Elias appeared to the Apostles talking with Christ therefore Moses was dead and not dead and was buried and not buried 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. dead in respect of his body and living in respect of his Soul and so Moses and Elias were still alive and they themselves in respect of their Souls and not their shadows or phantasmes which can no waies be faid