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
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
the prey that was taken in the Platean Wars were dedicated and offered up unto the â—ods And Socrates in his Ecclesiastical Histories saith That the Famous Writer Xenophon both in the sixth Book of Cyrus his Expedition and in the first Book of the Acts of the Grecians Socrates Scholast l. 7. c. 25. Titus Livius l. 5. pag. 159. maketh mention of a Town called Chysophle which Alcibiades walled about and assigned a place therein for the payment of Tythes and Tribute and so all that loose out of the main Sea and sail from Pontus and do arrive at that place did use there to pay their Tythes saith mine Author And Titus Livius writeth That when the rich City of the Veii was besieged by Furius Camillus he spake these words and said By thy conduct and the instinct of thy divine power O Pythius Apollo I set forward to the winning of the Town of Veii and now to thee I vow the tenth part of the spoils thereof and after the Veii were captivated and peace concluded with the Volscianâ— and the spoils of the City brought to Rome Camillus said There was one thing that his conscience would not suffer him to hold his peace That out of that booty only which was of moveable things the tenth part was appointed to be levyed but as for the City and ground that was won which also was comprised within the vow there were no words at all made of them whereupon the debating of this matter which to the Senate seemed doubtful and hard was put over to the Priests and Prelates and their Colledge calling to them Camillus thought good that whatsoever the Veâ—entians had before the vow was made and whatsoever after the vow was made came into the hands of the people of Rome the tenth part thereof should be consecrated to Apollo and so both the City and the lands were valued and money taken out of the City-Chamber for the payment of this tenth and because there was not â—ore enough to do it the Dames of the City consulted thereabouts and by a common Decree made promise unto the Tribunes Military to supply their want and to that end they brought into the Exchequer their own Gold and all the Ornaments and Jewels that they had for the payment of this tenth unto the god Apollo And this was as acceptable a thing and as well taken of the Senate as ever any thing had been saith Titus Livius And it is reported by Plinius Plinius l. 12. c. 14. That the Arabians worshipped a god whom they sirnamed Sabis and that they used to pay the Tythes of all their goods unto that imaginary god And what is the cause that these Heathens which knew not the True God did these things but that the light of reason which the God of Nature imprinted in their minds informed them that the tenth part of their fruits and increase should appertain to the provision of those Priests that served their god And the reason Why the 10th is the most proper number that belongeth to God why they conceived the tenth part to be more properly due to their gods rather than the eighth ninth eleventh twelfth or thirteenth or any other number more or less was because the tenth number is the perfectest and the greatest number that is beyond which there is no other number but by the addition and re-iteration of the same former numbers thereunto which you may observe in all Languages and in the Arithmetical explanation thereof you have no figures as Aquinas well observeth that reach any further than 9. to which you add the cypher 0 to make up 10. and that cypher 0 being circular and round is the Hieroglyphic expressing the Eternal God which like unto this cypher 0 hath neither beginning nor ending and doth therefore challenge this number that is like himself unto himself And the highest reach of mans natural reason could not any better way acknowledge the Power and Eternity of the God of Nature than by assigning that quantity of their goods which they offered to him by this number 10. which is the highest and the most perfect number that is and containeth all other numbers within it when as after 9. you have no more figures but adding this cypher 0. And the re-iteration of the same figures from 1. to 9. with the cyphers unto them it makes up all numbers from 10. to 10. thousand thousands And therefore this payment of the Tythes unto the Priests being a truth which Nature teacheth and which I believe was the proportion of the offering and oblation that Cain and Abel brought to God it must needs be the truth of God that the Tythes are due unto the Priests by a Natural and Divine Right and so never to be altered nor repealed 3. That the Priests of God which serve at his Altar and the Ministers Reason 3 of the Gospel that publish the glad tydings of Salvation unto the people Of what things the hire of the Priests should be paid none will seem so unjust as to deny but that they ought to have their Reward and be sufficiently maintained The Scripture is plain enough for that the labourer is worthy of his hire But the question is What that hire should be And I say 1. That the fittest course the most agreeable to reason and the most acceptable Answer 1 to God is that his hire and pension should be paid him of that which is justly and honestly gotten and with the least stain of unlawful procurement for as the Lord saith Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore or the price of a dog into the House of the Lord thy God and the reason is Deut 33.28 Eccles 34.18 21. because these are an abomination unto him And the son of Sirach saith Whoso bringeth an offering of unrighteous goods or of the goods of the poor doth as one that sacrificeth the son before the fathers eyes So he that out of his monies gotten by usury extortion or any fraudulent wayes would pay for God's Service must needs be an abomination to the Lord because that as the very Heathens were wont to say Nothing ought to be given and consecrated for the Service and Worship of God quod prophanum quod non purum aut quod non suum est which is not purâ— and hâ—nâ—st anâ— which is noâ— justly his own that gives it But the fruits and increase of the earth that ariseth to the honest Husbandman that tills his ground fenceth his fields and dressâ—th his Vineyard and looks for Gods blessing upon his labours for all his pains are free from those corruptions and therefore fittest to be given to God and for the Service of God Answer 2 2. I say That because the value and prices of all other commodities do vary and change either according as they are esteemed or as they are plentiful or rare but the increase and fruits of the earth being alwayes of the same nature the portion of
those their shadows are perfectly shewed unto us be any waies excused if we refuse and deny to pay our Tythes to him and to his Ministers that gather them Because it is an uncontroulable Maxim To whom much is given of them much shall be required And God having given us far better and far more perfect things then he gave unto the Jews he looks that we should be more thankful and more ready to pay our Tythes and to do him service then they were and therefore Christ saith That except our righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees Matth. 5. we shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven And yet you know what they did fast twice every week and pay Tythes of all that they had even of the smallest things mint and annise and the least herbs they had and How doth our righteousness exceed their righteousness if we deny our Tythes to Gods Ministers I would we were as righteous as they were And as the Consideration of the Persons paying their Tythes so the consideration of the Persons to whom they were paid as to the substitutes of Christ as well before as after the coming of Christ doth sufficiently prove that we Christians have more reasâ—n to pay our Tythes now under the Gospel then the Jews had to pay them under the law for if the Tythes were payable and to be given to those servants of Christ that were of the lower degree and did the meaner offices and brought least benefit unto the people of Christ then certainly they should be much rather payable to those Ministers of Christ that are of a far higher degree and do the more honorable offices and bring the rarest and the greatest benefits unto the people but the Ministers of the Gospel in all the foresaid respects do far exceed and excel the Priest-hood of the law because as Saint Paul sheweth the Levitical Priests were but Lecturers of the letter which killeth but the Mininisters of the Gospel are the Interpreters of the Spirit which giveth life 2 Cor. 3 6 7 8 9 10 11. they expounded the shadows these the substance of Religion and they had committed unto them the Ministration of Condemnation and these have the Ministration of Righteousness and Glorification delivered unto their charge Therefore seeing the Ministers of the Gospel do thus far and in these repects excel the Priests of the Law there is no reason their hire and maintenance should be less then the hire and maintenance of the Levitical Priests but that the Tythes should be as well paid to these as the other §. 1. de decimis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est portio una ex decem Extra de decimis Cum non sit Augustinus de doctrina Christiana And the Civilians tell you that Decima est omnium bonorum mobilium licite quaesitorum pars decima Deo data Divinae constitutione debita The Tythe is the tenth part of all moveable goods lawfully gotten given unto God and due to be paid unto the Priests by the Ordinance of God And Innocentius saith that God by a special title hath reserved the Tythes unto himself in token of his Vniversal Dominion Power and Right that he hath over all And therefore Saint Augustine saith that the Tythes being thus due to God Ii qui dare nolunt alienas res invadunt They that will not pay their Tythes do take away others right and hold that which is none of their own And therefore Cum decimas dando coelestia terrena possis promereri pro avaritia tua denegando The dammage of detayning our Tythes duplici benedictione fraudaris When by paying thy Tythes to Gods Ministers thou mayst gain both Celestial and Terrestrial blessings according as the Prophet sheweth thou by thy Covetousness in denying thy Tythes doest deprive thy self of this double benefit because this is the most usual proceeding of the just God That Qui decimam non dederit ad decimam reducetur that many times the man that will not pay his Tythes shall be reduced unto the Tythe when either the fire or canker-worm and Caterpiller shall consume thy store or the wicked Souldier will Plunder and take from thee what thou wouldst not give to Gods Minister Therefore it is apparant that no wise man which loveth his own good will deny the payment of his Tythes unto the Ministers of Jesus Christ and that you may rightly understand this case concerning Tythes you must observe that they are of three sorts That all tythâ—s are of three sorts 1. Predial 2. Personal 3. Neutral 1. They are called Predial which do naturally arise out of the fruits and increase of the Earth 2. They are styled Personal which do accrew out of the fruits gain and labour of the person that getteth them either by Traffick Warfare Hunting or any other exercise of his hands 3. They are termed Neutral that are not simply of either of the two former kinds but do partly accrew from the increase and fruits of the Earth or the Cattle that are increased by their feeding thereon or otherwise are brought up under the care of mens hands And all these are the Tythes that are due and properly due to our High Priest Jesus Christ and ought to be justly paid to the Ministers of Christ for the Worship and Service of God CHAP. XVI The Answer to the choicest and chiefest Objection that the Schoole of Anabaptists have made and do urge against the payment of Tythes now in the time of the Gospel BUt though the truth of this point that all Tythes as well in the time of the Gospel as under the Law and before the law are continually due to Christ our eternal Priest and so at all times payable and to be given to his Substitutes and under-Priests is as clear as the Sun yet such hath been and is the malice of Satan against Christ and his Church that he hath raised up and stirred a whole Army of Sectaries Anabaptists and Worldlings that with might and main do fight against this Truth and labour with all their wits to suppress the same and to drive it quite out of the World And to that end they do Object 1. If all Tythes be thus due as you say by the Law of God Obj. 1 then they are every where due and all they do sin and grievously offend that do detain them But many Countreys and some Christian Common-wealthes no doubt pay no Tythes at all and are not acquainted with this fashion of paying Tythes and yet do sufficiently and honorably maintain their Ministers for the service of God Therefore questionless the payment of Tythes is not due by the Divine Law To this Objection I conceive Dr. Gardiner doth reasonably well answer Soâ— though I think not fully sufficient to take away the strength of this Argument in his large and rational discourse which he makes in answer to this their Objection for he saith and that
men Calv. Inst l. 4. c. 20. Sect. 31. Beza Confess c. 5. p. 171. J. Brutus q. 3. pag. 203. Dan. de Polit. Christ l. 6. c. 3. Bucan loc com 49. Sect. 76. The examples of obedience to kings and make Warre against their King Buchanan's mistake discovered and the Anti-Cavalier confuted 2. AS it is not lawful for any cause so no more is it lawful for any one or for any degree calling or kind of men to rebell against their lawful Governours For 1. Touching private men we find that Calvin Beza Jun. Brutus Danaeus Bucanus and most others yield that meer private men ought not to rebell at any hand and no wonder for the Scriptures forbid it flatly as Exod. 22.28 Revile not the Gods curse not the Ruler 1 Chron. 16.22 Touch not mine annoynted Prov. 30.31 Rise not up against the King that is to resist him Eccles 8.3 Let no man say to the King Why doest thou so Eccles 10.17 Curse not the King in thy thought And the examples of obedience in this kind are innumerable and most remarkable for David when he had Saul a wicked King guilty of all impiety and cruelty in his own hand yet would he not lay his hand upon the Lords annointed but was troubled in conscience when he did but cut the lap of his garment Elias could call for fire from Heaven to burn the two Captains and their men a hundred in number onely for desiring him to come down unto the King as you may see 2 Reg. 1.10 12. and yet he would not resist Achab his King that sought his life and was an enemy to all religion but he rather fled than desired any revenge or perswaded any man to rebell against him Esaias was sawed in pieces by Manasses Jeremy was cast into the dungeon Daniel exposed to the Lyons the Three Children thrown into the fiery Furnace Amos thrust thorough the temples Zacharias slain in the porch of the Temple James killed with the sword Peter fastened to the Crosse with his head downward Bartholomew beaten to death with clubs Matthew beheaded Paul slain with the sword and all the glorious company of the Martyrs which have ennobled the Church with their innocent life and inlarged the same by their precious death never resisted any of their Persecutors never perswaded any man to rebell against them Why the holy Saints obeyed the unjust Tyrant never cursed the Tyrants never implored the aid of the inferiour Magistrates or superiour Nobility either by force to escape their hands or by violence to resist their power for they thought it more honour unto God and farre better to themselves that the just should unjustly suffer for righteousnesse sake than under the colour of justice undutifully to resist and unjustly to rebell against these unjust Persecutors A strange Position And yet some men are not ashamed to averre that meer private men and inferiour subjects if their King as a Tyrant should invade them like a robber or ravisher may defend themselves and oppose the Tyrant as well and as violently as they may resist a private thief or a high-way robber But how untruly they do avouch this thing will plainly appear if you consider how disjunctive these things are and how unjustly they are alledged for this purpose Confuted for a Chirurgion launceth a man and draweth his blood and so doth the thief or a robber but he deserveth a reward this a rope The Tyrant hath a just power though he useth the same unjustly so hath not the thief or the robber So the Prince sometimes doth in some sort the same thing and it may be after the like manner as a thief or a robber doth as often as with a strong hand he taketh the goods of his subjects and forceth the rebellious unto obedience But will you say that both of them do it by the same right I hope not for God gave the power and the sword unto the Prince and he as the Judge of our actions useth the same ad vindictam for the punishment of our offence but the thief or the robber usurpeth the sword and abuseth the same ad rapinam to our destruction and therefore whosoever saith that a subject hath the same reason to rise against his Prince that punisheth him as a traveller hath against a robber that stealeth from him may well be ashamed of such doctrine that carrieth so little shew of any truth Object But you will say the Prince that is a Tyrant punisheth for no fault without any just cause nay altogether unjustly and against all truth as Saul persecuted David and put to death the harmlesse Priests and David did the like to Vrias Achab to Naboth Joash to Zachary Manasses to Esay Pilate to Christ Nero to Peter and perhaps Theodosius to the Thessalonians may they not resist in such a case when they are thus punished and persecuted without cause Sol. I answer that under Saul David Achab Joash and Manasses there lived many faithful Priests and Prophets that were both upright for life and excellent for knowledge How the Saints at all times suffered and never resisted their kings and in the days of Christ Zacheus Nicodemus and Gamaliel were inferiour Magistrates and were also pious men and skilful in the understanding as well of Politique as of Divine affairs and we are sure that no age brought forth either more learned Bishops or holyer Saints than the Apostles and Disciples of Christ that lived under Nero and those excellent Fathers that were in the time of Theodosius and yet never any of these not one of them all shewed us this resisting way to escape the force of tyranny but it hath been alwayes the doctrine of Christ and his Church that Kings and Princes offending the Lawes and transcending the bounds of their duties have onely God for their revenger and ought not to be resisted by any man or any kind of men though they should never so much abuse that power which they have received from God Christ and his Apostles perswade all men obediently to suffer And therefore Christ himself and all his Saints not onely suffered their greatest rage but also exhibited all honour and shewed all reverence unto their most cruel Persecutors and they perswaded all others both by their precepts and examples to do the like and that not onely for fear of wrath but also for conscience sake because the King is Gods Steward which Christ hath set over his whole family and if the Steward like the evil servant in the Gospel shall begin to despise his Master neglect his duty smite his fellows and dissolutely go on to eat and drink and be drunken yet not all the whole family not the Priests not the Nobles not the Commons nor yet all together have any power or right to displace that Steward which their Lord hath appointed over them but they with patience must expect and wait for the coming of their Master which onely hath
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 testimony and the practice of many godly Bishops and Fathers of the Church of Christ under the New Testament to justifie this truth For 1. Not onely Moses and Aaron that were both the Priests of the most high God and the chiefe Judges in all secular causes but also Joseph had his jurisdiction over the Aegyptians Daniel had his Lieutenancie over the Babylonians and Nehemias was a great Courtier among the Persians and yet these secular imployments were no hinderance to them in the divine worship and service of God So Ely and Samuel both were both Judges and Priests together and the most religious Princes David Solomon Jehosaephat and others used the Priests and Levites at their command in the civill government of their Dominions for when David caused all the Levites to be numbered from 30 years old and upward and that they were found to be 38 thousand he appointed 24 thousand of them to he over-seers of the works of the house of the Lord and he ordained the other six thousand to be Judges and Rulers in all Israel 1 Chron. 23.4 and so did Jehosaphat likewise * 2 Chron. 19.11 The place explained for though the last verse of the said chapter seems to put a difference betwixt the Civil matters and the Ecclesiastical affaires yet it is rightly answered by Saravia that this errour riseth from a misconceived opinion of their government as if it were the same with the government of some of our reformed Churches which was nothing less for if you compare this place with the 26. chap. Sigonius legit super opera quae ad regis officia pertinent l. 6. p. 315. 1 Sam. c. 8. of the 1. Chron vers the 29 30 and 32. you may easily finde that the Kings service or the affairs of the King doth not signifie the civil matters or the politique affairs of the Kingdom over which Amarias here and Hashabia and his brethren there 1 Chron. 26.30 were appointed the chief Rulers but it signifieth those things which pertained to the King 's right betwixt him and his subjects as those things that were described by Samuel and were retained and perhaps augmented either by the consent of the people or the incroachment of the succeeding Kings as the special rights of the Kings over which Zebadias the son of Ismael was appointed by Jehosaphat to be the Ruler and the business of the Lord is fully set down vers 10. to be not onely the Church affairs but all the affairs of the Kingdom between bloud and bloud Versu 10. between Law and Commandment Statutes and Judgements over which the Priests and Levites were appointed the ordinary Judges and the Interpreters of the Law as well Civil as Ecclesiastical for the Lord saith plainly Ezech 44 23. Vide locum Sigon ait circa judicium sanguinis ipsi insistent 2. In the Primitive Church Salmer tract 18. in parabol hominis divitis lo. 16. num 1. that every question and controversie shall be determined according to the censure of the Priests which certainly he would never have so prescribed nor these holy men have thus executed them if these two Functions had been so averse and contrary the one to the other that they could never be exercised together by the same man 2. In the Primitive times under the Gospel Salmeron saith that in the time of S. Augustine as himself teacheth Episcopi litibus Christianorum vacare solebant the Bishops had so much leisure that they were wont to judge of the quarrels of Christians yet they did not so spend their time in judging their contentions that they neglected their Preaching and Episcopal function and now that they do judge in civil causes consuetudine Ecclesiae introductum est ut peccata caverentur Bellar. de Rom. Pont. l. 5. c. 9. And Bellarmine saith Non pugnat cum verbo Dei ut unus homo sit Princeps Ecclesiasticus politicus simul it is not against the Word of God that the same man should be an Ecclesiastical and a Secular Prince together when as the same man may both govern his Episcopacy and his Principality And therefore we read of divers men Theod. l. 2. c. 30. that were both the Princes and the Bishops of the same Cities as the Archbishop of Collen Mentz Triers and other German Princes Henr. of Huntingson Hist Angl. that are both Ecclesiastical Pastours and great secular Princes And Hubert Archbishop of Canterbury was for a long while Viceroy of this Kingdom And so Leo. 9. Julius 2. Philip Archbishop of York Adelboldus Innocâ—nt 2. Collenutius and Blondus and many others famous and most worthy Bishops both of this Island and of other Kingdoms have undertaken and exercised both the Functions And Saint Paul recommendeth secular businesses and judgements unto the Pastours of the Church Aug. tom 3. de aâ—erib Menach c. 29. as S. Augustine testifieth at large where he saith I call the Lord Jesus a witness to my soul that for so much as concerneth my commodity I had rather work every day with my hands and to reserve the other houres free to read pray and exercise my self in Scriptures then to sustain the tumultuous perplexities of other mens causes in determining secular Controveâ—sies by judgement or taking them up by arbitrement to which troubles the Apostle hath appointed us not of his own will but of his that spake in him And as this excellent Father that wrote so many worthy volumes did notwithstanding imploy no small part of his time in these troublesome affairs so S. Ambrose twice undertook an honourable Embassie so Valentinian the Emperour unto the Tyrant Maximus Socrat. Eccl hist lib 7. And Marutha Bishop of Mesopotamia was sent by the Romane Emperour an Ambassadour to the King of Persia in which imployment he hath abundantly benefitted both the Church and the Emperour and we read of divers famous men that undertook divers Functions and yet neither confounded their offices nor neglected their duties for Spiridion was an husbandman and a Bishop of the Church a Pastour of sheep and a feeder of soules and yet none of the ancient Fathers that we read of either envyed his Farm or blamed his neglect in his Bishoprick but they admired his simplicity and commended his sanctity they were not of the spirit of our hypocritical Saints And Theodoret writeth Theodor. lib. 4. c. 13. that one James Bishop of Nisib was both a Bishop and a Captain of the same City which by the help of his God he manfully preserved against Sapor King of Persia And Ensebius Bishop of Samosis managing himself with all warlike habiliments ranged along throughout all Syria Phaenicia and Palaestina and as he passed erected Churches and ordained Priests and Deacons and peâ—formed such other Ecclesiastical pensions as pertained to his office in all places and I fear me the iniquity of our time will now call upon all Bishops that are able to do the like to preach unto