the Church or to take away the lands or houses of the Church which â—s a sin so daâ—â—â—rous to themselves so prejudicâ—all to the Church and so â—minous to the Common-wealth And let them remember what I said before that if Pharaoh in the time of that great famine which was in Aegypt made such provision for the Priests Gen. 47. that although all the other his subjects were constrained to sell their lands for sustenance yet the lands of the Priests were not sold neither had any of them any need to sell them and if Popish Priests that either preached not at all or preached their own traditions or some fabulous narrations and fictions out of their legends were so riâ—hly kept and still are in France Spaine and Italy on Saint Peters patrimony Why should they deal so hardly and so niggardly with the Ministers of the Gospel that do sincerely Preach the truth of Jesus Christ unto their people as to sell unto them or take away from them that little which is left and is most due unto them Or if all this will not serve to withdraw them from this sin let them take heed of the Prophets woe that crieth out against all such dealers saying Vae accumulanti non sua Woe be to him that heapeth together those Hab. 2. 6. things that are none of his own and especially those things that are the Churches goods for he shall find that this gain doth ever bring a rod at its back When as Zophar saith God shall cause him to vomit up that which he hath devoured and shall cast them out of his belly and render vengeance to Job 20. 15. him for the detriment and injury that he hath done to his Church and servants And this vengeance Saint Augustine noteth to be more grievous than the The punishment of Sacrilodge greater then the punishment of Idolatry Exod. 20. 2 Reg. 5. 27. punishment of Idolatry for whereas God threateneth to punish Idolaters but to the third and fourth Generation we find that the Sacriledge of Jeroboam in selling the Priests Office provoked God to root out his house and all his posterity from off the earth and the simony of Gehezi was punished with such a Leprosy as stuck both upon himself and upon all his whole seed for ever And no marvell that this sin of Sacriledge should be so odious unto God Why Sacriledge is so odious to God and so prejudiciall and infestuous to man and so infestuous and pernitious unto man because that although other sins as Idolatry Murder Adultery Theft and the like may be said to be but as it were private and particular sins that infect none or but few besides the doers of them yet this sin of Sacriledge is a publick and a far-spreading sin not only against some particular persons but against a multitude of men and against the whole body of Religion when by defrauding and taking away the maintenance of the Ministers the whole Ministry of Gods service is impaired and suffered nay caused to be neglected and decayed whereby not only Idolatry and false worship hath an open gap and How Sacriledge bringeth forth Atheism Idolatry and all Wickedness a broad way of entrance into Gods Church but also Atheism and no worship of God but all corruption and lewdness must be the chiefest fruit that can grow upon this accursed tree of Sacriledge when either the Souldiers or any others of the Lords or Gentry take the lands and houses of God into their possessions or the covetous Patrons do sell and make Merchandize of any Ecclesiastical preferment 2. As the irreligious Patrons do offend in selling the Ministers living 2. The Sacriledge of the people that he should freely bestow upon him so the Parishioners are as ready and as greedy to detain and keep back that right which is due to the Priest by Gods law and the Minister hath also bought from his Patron as the Patron was to sell what he should give And it is strange to think how witty they are to go to Hell if God be not the more mercifull unto them to hold them from it What shifts and tricks they have to hold back their hands from paying their Tythes and how loath they are to set out their Tythes and think all that lost that is laid out for the Priest But alas they should know that herein they deceive not us alone that are the Priests but their own souls also that are more damnified by this their Sacriledge then the Priests can be by the loss of their Tythes because that hereby they rob not men but God himself for that the Priests are but the Lords Receivers and his Rent gatherers of that small acknowledgment The Ministers are Gods Rent gatherers which he requires from us his Tenants at will for all the great things he gives to us to be repaid to him again as the testimony of our duty and thankfulness and the stipend that he hath allotted to them that are to serve him at his Altar And therefore when the Israelites gave unto their Levites as our people in many places do give unto their Preachers the blind the lame and the maymed the leanest Lamb and the leightest Sheave the Lord complaineth that they robbed and spoiled him in Tythes and Offerings Mal. 3. 8 10. Lev. 27. 30. because the Lord saith directly that all the Tythe of the Land is the Lords and all that is Holy unto the Lord. But seeing that this Sacrilegious Age hath produced and brought forth tot manus auferendi so many hands to take away the rights of the Church and so many tongues to speak against and adversaries to oppose the truth of the Doctrine of Tythes and to take away the Lands Houses and Possessions of the Church I shall leave it to be more fully handled towards the latter end of this discourse and Declaration against Sacriledge CHAP. V. The words of King David in the 2 Sam. 7. 1 2. and their division 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 IF you look into the 2 of Sam. 7. 1 2. verses you shall find it thus written Alterward When the King sate in his House and the Lord had given him rest round about from all his enemies The King said unto Nathan the Prophet Behold now I dwell in a house of Cedar trees and the Ark of God remaineth in the Curtains and so forth For the better understanding of which words you may observe that the sum of this whole Chapter is 3. fold and containeth these 3. parts 1. Davids deliberation The summ of the Chapter 3. fold 2. Nathans replication 3. Davids gratulation 1. The Deliberation is about an Oratory and Temple or House to 1. The Deliberation be Erected and Dedicated to God for his servants to meet in to worship him and this is delivered
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 requiâ—te 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 beatisie or make happy both the Church and Common-Wealth As the neglect thereof brought ignorance unto the Church and ruine The kings neglect of religion and the Church is the destruction of the Common-wealth 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 â—ar 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 as inteâ—ded 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 to exceed all others in the theorick learning like Archimedes that was in his study drawing soâ—th his Mathemaâ—icall 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 disâ—reâ—t examples of other wise Kings and religious Emperours in following the mâ—ans 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 pâ—ime 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 or an advantage to themselves by the detriment How they should be qualified of the Church and to be honest without knowledge or to have knowledge without experience especially in such places of eminency and for the affaires of importance may be as dangerous when their want of skill may counsel to do matters of much hurt but when both are met together in one person that man is a fit Subject to do good service both to God and the King and the King may be assured there cannot be a better furtherance to assist him for the well ordering of God's Church then the grave advice and directions of such instruments as it appeareth by that memoâ—able example of King Ioas left to be remembred by all Kings who whilst the wise and religious Priest Jehoiada assisted and directed him had all things successefull and happy to his whole Kingdome but after Jehoiada's death the King destitute of such a Chaplain 2 Reg. 12. 2. to attend and such a Priest to counsel him all things came speedily to great ruine Therefore I dare boldly avouch it they are enemies unto Kings and the underminers of God's Church and such instruments as I am not able to express their wickedness that would exclude such Jehoiada's from the Kings counsel for was not Saul a wicked King and Ahab little better yet Saul would have Samuel to direct him though he followed not his direction and Ahab would ask counsel of Micaiah though he rejected the same to his own destruction and King David though never so wise and so great a Prophet and Josias and Ezechias 1 Reg. 22. 16. and all the rest of the gooâ— Kings had always the Priests and the men of God to be their Counsellors 〈◊〉 followed their directions especially in Church causes as the oracles of God so wicked Herod disdained not to hear Mar. 6 20. John the Baptist and to be reformed by him in many things and happy had he been had he done it in all things And if you read Eusâ—bius which is called Pamphilus for the great love he bare to that his noble Patronâ— and Sâ—crates and the rest of the Ecclesiastical â—istorians or the Histories of our own Land you shall finde that the best Kings and greatest Empeâ—ours had the best Divinâ—s and the most reverend Bishops to be their chiefest Counsellors and to be imployed by them in their weightiest affairs How then hath the Devil now prevailed to exclude them fâ—om all Counsels and as much as in him lyeth fâ—om the sight of Princes when he makes it a suspicion of much evil if they do but talk â—ogethe How hath he bewitched the Nobility to yield to be deprived of their Chaplains Is it not to keep them that have not time to study and to finde out truth themselves still in the ignorance of things and to none other end then to overthrow the true religion and to bring Kings and Princes to confusion â— When the King seeth cause God hath given him power and authority to 2 To call Synods to discuss and conclude the harder things call Synodâ— and Councils and to assemble the best men the most moderate and most learned to determine of those things together which a fewer number could not so well or at least not so authoritatively conclude upon for so Constantine the Great called the great Council of Nice to suppress the Heresâ—e of Arius Theodosius called the Council of Ephesus in the case of Nâ—storius Valentinian and Martian called the Council of Calcedon against Eâ—tyches Justinian called the Council of Constantinople against Severus that renewed the Heresie
time here how their dayes do pass away like a Weavers shuttle or like a Post that â—arrieth noâ— will alwaies be such a corrasive to their Souls as will put an end to all their earthly Comforts whenas nothing in the world is left us to rejoyce in but in that thing only which is perpetual and remaineth ours for ever But then here you must understand that besides the prime Eternity which is God there is a twofold perpetuity of men 1. The one by our Unition with God which is perfect felicity That all men both good and bad shall remain and be perpâ—tually 2. The other in our Separation from God which is the Extreamest Misery And Seeing the Souls of men are immortal and do naturally affect Eternity as not only Divinity sheweth but also the soundest Philosophers have sufficiently attested and every mans Conscience in the expectation of his reward for his Actions be they good or bad perswadeth him to believe it is most certain that those wicked worldlings which desire nothing but the Honours and the Prosperity of this present Life and those incredulous Hereticks both of the former times and of this present Age which against their Consciences do withstand this Truth shall notwithstanding be perpetuâ—l either in their Union with God or in their Separation from God and as it is the greatest Comfort of a Christian man to believe that he shall be everlastingly with God in all happiness so it is not the least torment unto a damned soul to consider that he shall be for ever and ever in Torments separated from God And therefore the Errour is not that men do seek for perpetuity which they shall be sure to have but that they seek the same amiss Either not that which is with their Union and Fruition of God or if that then either not as they should or not where they should seek it that is either not in The twofold erroâ— of men in seeking perpetuity 1. Seeking it too late the due time or not in the right place where it may be found as 1. For the time many seek it but too late and so they miss it because that now is the time acceptable ex hoc momento pendet aeternitas and our perpetuity either with God or without God either in Joy or in Torments dependeth upon our demeanour in this present and little short time that we have here to live 2. For the Place you may see how most men purchase Lands build Castles gather Riches heap up Treasures and so lay down such Foundations of perpetuity 2. Seeking it in the wrong place here on earth as if they were to live here for ever and they do so rely upon these transient things and mortal men as if they were immortal Gods and so they seek for their perpetuâ—â—y in the Regions of Vanity and they would find perfect Felicity in this Valley of Misery but as the Israelites by joyning themselves to Baal-peor separated themselves from El shadai the Almighty God so these men by seeking Eternity in these vanities shall never be able to find it and to be united with it because Eternity and Felicity are not to be found here on earth For as the Apostle saith we have here no continuing City and we are but as Pilgrims and strangers here in this world and our perpetuity is to be expected not in this life but in the life to come And so by this large Introduction that I have made you see that these words of the Prophet are not to be understood of man simply considered but of man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in respect of his State and Condition in this life for though man be to abide for ever yet as he is in this life verily every man And to prove this unto you you shall find the wisest King and the most learned Preacher that ever Israel had assuring you that there is nothing here in this world but vanity and veâ—ation of Spirit and that you might the sooner believe this Truth he doubleth and trebleth his words saying Vanity of Vanitiâ—s all is Vanity that is nothing else but meer vanity And lest proud man should think that this is meant of Gold and Silver and the like inanimate things of this world or of the irrational Creatures whose Souls do perish with their bodies and not of man which is the Prince and Lord of all Gods Creatures the Glory of all Gods works and the Image of God himself the Prophet David that was both a great King and a great Prophet tels you plaiâ—ly that you need not doubt of it Verily every man living is altogether Vanity Sela. Touching which words I beseech you to consider of this Text. 1. The vaâ—ious Lections Two things to be considered about these words 2. The chiefest Observations 1. For the diversity of Reading it 1. The diversity of reading them 1 Word The first word according to the Septuagint is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which S. Hierons translateth â—nim For as the Cause of the brevity and shortness of mans life that it should be but a span long as the phrase signifieth palâ—ares fecisti dies meos because every man is vanity therefore my life is so short Others as Tremelius do render it profecto or certe surely or verily that we might assure out selves and make no doubt of the truth and certainty of this point that every man be he what he will never so strong never so wise and never so wealthy yet is he but vanity But others would have both the Hebrew word and the Greek Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signifie solum sive tantum duntaxat only as if the Prophet meant that of all Gods Creatures only man or man alone is the receptacle of all vanity and besides man there is nothing else wherein the signs of all vanity are to be found so evidently as they are in man because nothing in the world hath so far deviated and started away from the end for which it was appointed as man hath done whenas all other creatures stand according to Gods Ordinance the Stars keep their mâ—tions the Moon observeth her Seasons and the Sun knoweth his going down only man knoweth not his duty and so Esayas testifieth The Oxe knoweth his Owner and the Ass his Masters Crib but Israel hath not known my people doth not consider Es 1. 3. and therefore only man deservâ—dly and signally is vanity The second word which is used in the Original is Chol and it is a word of both Numbers and of all Genders and the Septâ—agint read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which S. Jerâ—me 2 Word translateth omnia all the vulgar Latine renders it universa and Tremelius reads it omnimodâ— and if I rightly understand them they all mean that man is all 〈◊〉 of vanity and that there is no vanity in the world and no foolery in the world but you shall find the same in man The third
service Sol. 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 â—â— 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 and our Saviour tels us The workman is worthy of his hire and therefore Luk. 10. 17. Matth. 10. 10. 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 The reward of learning is the best means to increase and to continue learning joyfully 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 sight of other mens honour as Alcibiades with the glory and honour given to Miltiades was spurred forward to the like atchievements that he might attain unto the like glory whereas otherwise as it is a Maxime in warlike Affairs that exprobrata militia Take away the reward and learning perisheth creditur quae irremunerata transitur that service is thought base and that warfare not worth the following which is unworthy of any reward so it is true in Academical sciences and all other Arts whatsoever that Inhonorata virtus languescit Virtue despised and left unrewarded will soon faint and languish and all good Arts even of themselves without pressure will speedily decay which was the only course and the most spitefull that Julian took to root out Christianity to take away the maintenance of the Ministers for he knew that as both Seneca and Tacitus saith Sublatis studiorum praemiis ipsa studia pereunt 3. I say that this buying and selling of spiritual promotions in the Church 3. The buying and selling of Church livings will be the decay of all hospitality of God will be as it is indeed and hath been of a long time ever since the birth of this bastard brat the extirpation of all hospitality among the Clergy The Apostle tells us that a Bishop should be given to hospitality and Saint Augustine to inforce this duty the sooner to be observed saith Foecundus Aug. de verbis Dominâ— sermone 25. est ager pauperum citò reddit dominantibus fructum Dei est pro parvis magna pensare the field of the poor is very profitable and yieldeth his fruit very quickly and that plentifully because it is the property of God How our good works do further Faith in others to render great things to us for the small things that we give to him And Saint Gregory saith Egentis mentem doctrinae sermo non penetrat si hunc vel illum sermonem apud ejus animum manus mâ—sericordiae non commendat the Word of God Preached doth not piâ—rce the heart of a needy man unless If they take away â—ur lands and sell our livings how can we relieve the poor the hand of mercy doth commend that Word and reach it home unto him which is a very excellent true and most worthy saying worthy to be remembred and to be practised of all Divines And yet now in these times and amongst us that I fear is true which the poor complain of That there is but small hospitality among the Clergy But they ought to consider what the Philosopher saith Nihil dat quod non habet he that hath but scarce enough to maintain himself can spare but very little to relieve others and therefore seeing a Minister must not get his living by any other means then by the means of his Ministry and that by his calling to be a Minister and all his pains and diligence in his calling he can get no means unless he buyes his living and when he buyes it he is commonly set so far in debt that in haste he shall not be able to recover The poor are not able to relieve the poor himself out of his creditors books How is it possible that a Minister Parson or Vicar should be able to be hospitable unto others when as the Popish Priests were wont to say dirge's for their dinners So these poor Preachers must read Lectures for their maintenance which is many times as I have seen it in some places made up out of the poor mens box and the Lecturer must preach placentia lest his voluntary benefactors if he be too bold in their reproofs should substract the pittance of their contribution A most lamentable thing that a Preacher of Gods Word that ought freely to speak the truth must be thus fortered for want of means and that they which should have plenty that they might be inabled to relieve Ministers in some places and at some times relieved out of the poor mens box lieve the poor should be brought to that scantling and penury as to be forced to be relieved themselves out of the portion of the poor O consider this all ye Sacrilegious patrons that sell your livings and forget God lest he remember you and tear you to pieces while there is none to help you 4. If the observation of precedent things may presage any future thing 4. The buying and selling of Church livings is the presage of some great evil unto the Church I say that this buying and selling of Church livings doth portend and foresignify some great and imminent evil both to the Church and state for Socrates in his Eccless Hist tels us that when some wicked Souldiers had prophaned the Church and had Sacrilegiously robbed her Priests as now our souldiers strive and study how to do the like one standing by said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This abuse of Gods house fore-sheweth no good thing to come and Socrates saith he was not deceived because that in a very short time after it happened according as he feared and Alphonsus de castro saith as he is cited by the Bishop of Oxford that the flourishing Churches of Greece and Armenia were forsaken of God and had their Candle-sticks that upheld the light of the Gospel removed when they began to maintain that it was lawfull to buy and sell the lands goods and revenues of the Church And therefore I advise and wish all that hunger and thirst after the Church lands houses and goods and all covetous Patrons to take heed of this sin of buying and selling what belongs unto
Sentence and Seal 3. As the Fathers and Councils do thus acknowledge the Emperours 3. The testimony of Popes and Papists right in the Spiritual jurisdiction So many of the Popes and Papists themselves have confest the same truth and yielded the same right unto the Empâ—rour and other Soveraign Magistrate in the Church and Church-matters and over all the parsons belonging unto the Church for Platina that 〈◊〉 Plâ—tina in sâ—verino papa Library-keeper unto the Pope saith that Without the Letters 〈◊〉 the Emperour to confirm him the Pope is no lawfull Pope and 〈◊〉 great Scholar saith The Pope may be accused before the Emperour of and Zabarella de Schismaie Conciliis for any notorious crime and publick scandalous offence Imperator potest à papa requirere rationem fidei and the Emperour may inquire and call the Pope to yield an account of his faith and Religion And so many of the better Popes were not ashamed to confess the same for Saint Gregory who for his great learning and piety was sirnamed the Great writing unto Mauritius the Emperour saith Imperatori obedientiam Theodoret l. 2. c. 16. praebui pro Deo quod sensi minimè tacui I have yielded all obedience unto the Emperour and what I conceived to be truth and for God I concealed it not and before Saint Gregâ—ries time Pope Liberius being convented 2 q. 4. Mandastis to appear before Constantius denied not most readily to obey his summons So did Pope Sixtus upon the like complaint appear to purge himself before Valentinian and Pope Leo the third before Charles the Great And 2. q. 7. Nos si it is registred that Pope Leo the 4th wrote unto the Emperour Lodouick saying Si incompetenter aliquid egimus justae legis tramitem non conservavimus Epist Eleâ—th inter leges Edovard admissorum nostrorum cuncta vestro judicio volumus emendare If we have done any thing unseemly and amiss and have not observed and walked in the right path of the just law we are most ready and willing to amend all our admissions or whatsoever we have done amiss according to your judgment and Pope Eleutherius saith to Edward the â— of England Theodoretus l. 2. c. 1. Vos est is Vicarius Dei in Regno vestro that he and so every other King is Gods Vicar in his Kingdom This was the mind and sense of these Popes and many other Popes in former ages were of the same mind until pride avarice and ambition corrupted them to be as now they are And as God hath given this power and required this duty of Kings and How the Emperour and Kings executed the power that God had given them Princes to have a care of his Church and to reform Religion and the Fathers and Councels have confirmed this truth and divers of the very Popes themselves and Papists have yielded and submitted themselves unto their spiritual jurisdiction even in the Ecclesiastical causes so the Emperours and Kings omitted not to execute the same from time to time especially those that had the master power and ability to discharge their duties for Theodoret writes that Constantine was wont to say Si episcopus Idem l. 1. c. 7. turbas det mea manu coercebitur If any Bishop shall be turbulent and troublesome he shall be refrained and censured by my hands and both Theodoret and Eusebius tels us how he came in his own person unto the Councell of Sozom. l. 4. c. 16. Nice Et omnibus exsurgentibus ipse ingressus est medius tanquam aliquis Dei coelestis Angelus the whole company of the Bishops and all the rest arising he came into the midst amongst them as it were an Heavenly Angel of God And Sozomen writeth how that ten Bishops of the East and ten others of the West were required by Constantine to be chosen out by the Convocation Conciliorum Tom 2. In vita Sylvani vigâ—â—i and to be sent to his Court to declare unto him the decrees and canons of the Councell that he might examine them and consider whether they were consonant to the Holy Scriptures And the Emperour Constantius deposed Pope Liberius of his Bishoprick and then again he deprived Pope Foelix and restored Liberius unto the Popedom and in the third Councell at Costantinople he did not only sit among the Bishops but also subscribed Concil Bonâ— 3. c. 2. with the Bishops to such bills as passed in that Councell saying Vidimus Subscripsimus we have seen these canons and have subscribed our approbation of them And King Odoacer touching the Affairs of the Church saith Miramur quicquam tentatum fuisse sine nobis We do admire that you should attempt to do any thing without us for while our Bishop lived that is the Pope sine Nobis nihil tentari oportuit Nothing ought to be done without us much less ought it to be done now when he is dead And the Emperour Justinian doth very often in Ecclesiastical causes use Authent Collat. â—â—it 6. to say Definimus jâ—bemus We determine and command and we will and require that none of the Bishops be absent from his Church above the Quomodo oportet Episcop space of a year and he saith further Nullum genus rerum est quod non sit penitus quaerendum Authoritate Imperatoris there is no kind of matter that may Authent Collat. Tit. 133. not or is not to be inquired into by the Authority of the Emperour because he hath received from the hands of God the common government and principality over all men And the same Emperour as Balsamon saith Balsamon de Peccat Tit. 9. Idem in Calced Concil c. 12. Idem de fide Tit. 1. gave power to the Bishop to absolve a Priest from pennance and to restore him to his Church And the same Author saith that the Emperours disposed of Patriarchal seats and that this power was given them from above and he saith further that the Emperour Michael that ruled in the East made a law against the order of the Church that no Monk should serve in the Ministry in any Church whatsoever And we read further how that divers of the Emperours have put down Evodius inter decreta Bonifacii 1. Vâ—sbergen anno 1045. and deposed divers Popes as Otho deposed John 13. Honorius deposed Boniface Theodoricus deposed Symma hus and Henry removed three Popes that had been all unlawfully chosen and in the Councel of Chalcedon the Supreme Civil Magistrate adjudged Dioscorus Juvenalis and Thalassus three Bishops of Heresie and therefore to be degraded and to be thrust out of the Church And so you see how the Emperours Kings and Civil Magistrates behaved themselves in the Church of God and used their power and the Authority that God had given them as well in the Spiritual and Ecclesiastical Affairs of the Church and points of Faith as in the Civil
not simply of either of the two formeâ— 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 then they Obj. 1 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 Sol. 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 truly That many things are of such Nature though I think Tythes are not 1. Answer so as will not be fitting to every place or all places alike but may in some places be well performed and in some other places be prohibited because Cicero in Orat. pro Balbo as Cicero saith the different state of Cities inforceth a necessity of different Laws for as all meats are not alike pleasant to all Palats and every air agreeth not with all Constitutions so all manners belong not to all men but some Laws are sutable to some people and some other Laws are more convenient for some other and all or the same are not expedient for all And as every shooe will not be drawn on every foot and one kind of Medicine We may alter the Ceremonies of the Church as the times and state of the Church do require is not to be Administred to every Stomack but that Physick which may fit the younger age may be unkind for the same disease when old age hath seised upon us So one discipline may be fitting for a City which may not be so fitting either for another City or especially for a Kingdom and one Ceremony may sort with the Church in times of peace and prosperity which holdeth no correspondency with the seasons of War and Persecution Neither should we look that the same uniform regiment is to be observed In ecclesia Constituta as in Ecclesia Constituenda as well in an infant-Church as in a Church of riper age or in a Church persecuted when she flyeth with the woman into the Wilderness or is faign to lie desolate in the caves of the earth and a Church in peace when she sitteth as a Queen in her Throne or in a Church under Heathen Emperous and a Church under Christian Governours when she sojourneth as a captive in Babylon and when she dwelleth at liberty in Jerusalem for as no one garment can fit It is hard to make a fit coat for the Moon the Moon which is subject by nature to an often-change and is sometimes in the Full and afterward in the Wayn and never continuing in one stay So the Church of Christ being like the Moon sometimes high and sometime low often in the Full and as often in the Wayn it cannot be that the same uniform Government should fit the Church in all places and at all times And therefore the Prophet speaking of the Kings Daughter that signifieth the Church of Christ saith That although her chiefest glory is within yet her outward Attire is likewise glorious and it is of divers colours and so are the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of divers sorts as the times and places do admit them And Musculus to the same purpose saith Si illorum temporum mores revocas tum conditiones statum quoque illorum temporum primum revoca If thou wilt call back again the manners customes and practise of those times wherein the Apostles and primitive Christians lived then first call back again the state and conditions of those times that both the times and the manner may agree when as I told you before many things may serve at one time that will not serve at another time Vt musica in luctu est importuna narratio As Musick is unseasonable in the time of mourning saith the Wise-man And indeed what Tertullian saith is beyond all contradiction Regula fidei immobilis irreformabilis est The Rule and Canon of our Faith is and must alwayes be unmoveable and unreformable not to be altered at caetera disciplinae conversationis novâ—tatem correctionis admittunt but Tertull. in l. De veland Virgin all other things that appertain to discipline and government and conversation may admit the newness and change of a Reformation And so the Eucharist the holy Communion being to succeed for our Sacrament in the room of the Passeover it was most convenient that it should be celebrated by Christ at Supper-time in the evening because the Passeover was commanded by the Law to be eaten between the two evenings And The first Christians did many things that we are not bound to do and we do many good thinâ—s that they did not yet the Church thought it more convenient to alter that fashion and to take it in the morning So likewise Christ was baptized in Jordan and the Apostles baptized men in Rivers and Fountains of waters and would you have us to imitate their example to forsake the Christian Assembly in the holy Church and to carry our Infants with the fanatick Anabaptists to be baptized in the Rivers But seeing that in the Apostles time the good Christians sold their lands and possessions and laid down the prices and monies that they received for them at the Apostles feet I demand Why do not our Anabaptists that would have all things reduced to the Primitive time imitate them in this their Devotion and
made confederacies and conspiracies against the truth and thereby they have at all times drawn after them many mulâ—itudes of ignorant soules unto perdition This is no new thing but a true saying and therefore our Saviour biddeth us to Take heed of false Prophets and of rebellions spirits that as Saint John saith went from us but were not of us but are indeed the poyson and Incediaries both of Church and Common-wealth 4. These Rebels had received many favours and great benâ—fits from 4. Much obliged for many favours unto their Governours their Governours for they were delivered è lutulentis manâ—um operibus as Saint Augustine speaketh and as the Prophet saith They had â—ased their shoulders from their burthens and their hands from making of pots they had broken the Rod of their opprâ—ssâ—rs and as Moses tells them they haâ— separated them from the rest of thâ— multitude of Israel and set them near to God Numb 16. 9. himself to do the service of the Tabernacle of the Lord and therefore the light of nature tells us that they were most ungrateful and as inhumane as the brood of Serpents that would sting him to death which to preserve his life would bring him home in his bosome And it seems this was the transcendencie of Judas his sin and that which grieved our Saviour most of all that he whom he had called to be one of his twelve Apostles whom he had made his Steward and Treasurer of all his wealth and for whom he had done more then for thousands of others should betray him into the hands of sinners for if it had been another saith the Psalmist that had done me this dishonour I could well have born it but seeing it was thou my familiar friend which didst eat and drink at my table it must needs trouble me for thought in others it might be pardonable yet in thee it is intolerable and therefore of all others he saith of Judas Vâ— illi homini woe be unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed it had been better for him he had never been born as if his sin were greater then the sin of Annas Caâ—aphas or Pâ—late But the old saying is most true Improbus à nullo flâ—ctitur obsequio no service can satisfie a froward soul no favour no benefit no preferment can appease the rebellious thoughts of diâ—contented spirits And therefore notwithstanding Mâ—ses had done all this for Corah yet Corah must rebell against Moses So many times though Kings have given great honours unto their subjects made them their Peers their Chamberlains their Treasurers and their servants of nearest place and greatest trust And though Aaron the High-Priest or Bishop doth impose his hands on others and aâ—miâ— them into Sacred Orders above their brethren to be near the Lord and bestow all the pâ—â—ferment they can upon them yet with Corah these unquiet and ungratefull spirits must rebell against their Governours For I think I may well demand Which of all them that now rebell against their King have not had either Grand-fathers Fathers or themselves promoted to all or most of their fortunes and honours from that Crown which now they would trample under their feet Who more against their King then those that received most from their King Just like Judas or here like Corah Dathan and Abiram I could instance the particulars but I passe So you see who were the Rebels most ungrateful most unworthy men CHAP. II. Sheweth against whom these men rebelled that God is the giver of our Governours the severall offices of Kings and Priests how they should assist each other and how the people laboureth to destroy them both SEcondly we are to consider against whom they rebelled and the Text 2. Part against whom they rebelled 2. â—oints discussed saith Moses and Aaron and therefore We must discusse 1. Qui fuére who they were in regard of their places 2. Qâ—ales fuére what they were in regard of their qualities 1. In regard of their places we find that these men were 1. The chief Governours of Gods people 2. Governours both in temporal and in spiritual things 3. Agreeing and consenting together in all their Government 1. They were the prime Governours of the people Moses the King or Prince to rule the people and Aaron the High-Priest to instruct and offer Sacrifice to make attonement unto God for the sins of the people and these have their authority from God for though it sometimes happeneth that Potens the Ruler is not of God as the Prophet saith They have reigned Hos 8. 4. and not by me and likewise modus assumendi the manner of getting authority is not alwayes of God but sometimes by usurpation cruelty subtlety or some other sinful means yet Potestas the power it self whosoever hath it is ever from God for the Philosopher saith Magistraâ—ûs originem esse Aristoâ— Pâ—lit lib 1. c 1. Ambros Ser. 7. à natura ipsa And Saint Aâ—brâ—sâ— saith Dâ—tus à Deo Magistratus nâ—n modo malorum coercendorum causâ sâ—d etiam honorum sovâ—â—dorum in vera animi pieâ—atâ— honestate gratiâ And others say the Sun is not more necessary in Heaven then the Magistrate is on Earth for alas how is it possible for any Society to live on earth cùm vivitur ex rapto when men live by rapine and shall say Let our strength be to us the law of justice therefore God is the giver of our Governours and he professeth Per me regnant Reges And Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar That the most high ruleth in the Kingdome of Vide etiam â— 2. v. 37. men and he giveth it to whomsoever he will Dan 4. 25. 2. These two men were Governours both in all temporal and in all spiritual things as Mosâ—s in the things that pertained to the Common-wealth and Aaron in things pertaining unto God And these two sorts of Government are in some sort subordinate each to other and yet each one intire in it self so that the one may not usurp the office of the other for 1. The spiritual Priest is to instruct the Magistrates and to reprove them 2 Governours both in temporal and spirituall things too if they do amisse as they are members of their charge and the sheep of their sheep-fold And so we have the examples of David reproved by Nathan Achab by Elias Herod by John Baptist and in the Primitive Church of Philip the Emperour repenting at the perswasion of Fabian Euseb l 6. c. 34. Sozomen lib. 7. and Theodosius senior by the writings of S. Ambrose 2. The temporal Magistrate is to command and if they offend to correct and condemn the Priests as they are members of their Common-wealth for Saint Paul saith Let every soul be subject to the higher powers Rom. 13. Bernard ad Archiepis Senonensem and if every soul then the soul of the Priest as well as the souls of the People or otherwise Quis eum excepit ab
Sheweth the unjust proceedings of this Faction against their fellow-Subjects set down in four particular things p. 2â—9 Chap. XIII Sheweth the proceedings of this Faction against the Laws of the Land The Priviledges of Parliament transgressed eleven special wayes p. 292. Chap. XIV Sheweth how they have transgressed the publike Laws of the Land three wayes and of four miserable Consequences of their wicked doings p. 295. Chap. XV. Sheweth a particular recapitulation of the Reasons whereby their Design to alter the Government both of Church and State is evinced And a pathetical disswasion from Rebellion p. 301. JVRA MAJESTATIS THE RIGHTS OF KINGS BOTH IN CHURCH and STATE 1. Granted by God 2. Violated by the Rebels 3. Vindicated by the Truth AND The Wickednesses of the Faction of this pretended PARLIAMENT at Westminster 1. Manifested by their Actions 1. Perjury 2. Rebellion 3. Oppression 4. Murder 5. Robbery 6. Sacriledge and the like 2. Proved by their Ordinances 1. Against Law 2. Against Equity 3. Against Conscience PUBLISHED 1. To the eternal honour of our just God 2. The indeleble shame of the wicked Rebels And 3. To procure the happy peace of this distressed Land Which many fear we shall never obtain until 1. The Rebels be destroyed or reduced to the obedience of our King And 2. The breaches of the Church be repaired 1. By the restauration of God's now much prophaned service And 2. The reparation of the many injuries done to Christ his now dis-esteemed servants By GRYFFITH WILLIAMS Lord Bishop of OSSORY Impii homines qui dum volunt esse mali nolunt esse veritatem quâ condemnantur mali Augustinus Printed at LONDON Ann. Dom. 1662. TO THE KING'S most Excellent MAJESTY Most gracious Soveraign WITH no smal paines and the more for want of my books and of any setled place being multum terris jactatus alto frighted out of mine house and tost betwixt two distracted Kingdoms I have collected out of the sacred Scripture explained by the ancient Fathers and the best Writers of God's Church these few Rights out of many that God and Nature and Nations and the Lawes of this Land have fully and undeniably granted unto our Soveraign Kings My witness is in Heaven that as my conscience directed me without any squint aspect so I have with all sincerity and freely traced and expressed the truth as I shall answer to the contrary at the dreadful judgement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore with all fervency I humbly supplicate the divine Majesty still to assist Your Highness that as in Your lowest ebb You have put on Righteousness as a breast plate and with an heroick Resolution withstood the proudest waves of the raging Seas and the violent Attempts of so many imaginary Kings so now in Your acquired strength You may still ride on with Your honour and for the glory of God the preservation of Christ his Church and the happiness of this Kingdom not for the greatest storm that can be threatned suffer these Rights to be snatched away nor Your Crown to be thrown to the dust nor the Sword that God hath given You to be wrested out of Your hand by these uncircumcised Philistines these ungracious Rebels and the Vessels of God's wrath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unlesse they do most speedily repent for if the unrighteous will be unrighteous still and our wickednesse provoke God to bring our Land to Desolation Your Majesty standing in the truth and for the right for the honour of God and the Church of his Son is absolved from all blame and all the bloud that shall be spilt and the oppressions insolencies and abhominations that are perpetrated shall be required at the hands and revenged upon the heads of these detested Rebels You are and ought in the truth of cases of conscience to be informed by Your Divines and I am confident that herein they will all subscribe that God will undoubtedly assist You and arise in his good time to maintain his own cause and by this war that is so undutifully so unjustly made against Your Majesty so Giant-like fought against Heaven to overthrow the true Church You shall be glorious like King David that was a man of War whose dear son raised a dangerous rebellion against him and in whose reign so much bloud was spilt and yet notwithstanding these distempers in his Dominion he was a man according to God's own heart especially because that from α to ω * As in the beginning by reducing the Ark from the Philistins throughout the midst by setling the service of the Tabernacle in the ending by his resolution to build leaving such a treasure for the erecting of the Temple the beginning of his reign to the end of his life his chiefest endeavour was to promote the service and protect the servants of the Tabernacle the Ministers of God's Church God Almighty so continue Your Majesty bless You and protect You in all Your wayes Your vertuous pious Queen and all Your royal Progeny Which is the dayly prayer of The most faithful to Your Majesty GRYFFITH OSSORY THE RIGHTS OF KINGS Both in CHURCH STATE And The Wickednesses of this Pretended PARLIAMENT Manifested and Proved CHAP. I. Sheweth who are the fittest to set down the Rights which God granted unto Kings what causeth men to rebell the parts considerable in S. Peters words 1 Pet. ii 17. in fine How Kings honoured the Clergie the â—aâ— but most false pretences of the refractary Faction what they chiefly aâ—me at and their malice to Episcopacie and Royaltie IT was not unwisely said by Ocham that great Scholeman Guliel Ocham Ludov. 4. to a great Emperour which M. Luther said also to the Duke of Saxâ—nie Tu protege me gladio ego defendam tâ— calamo do you defend me with your Sword and I will maintain your Right with my Pen for God hath committed the Sword into the hand of the King Rom. 13. v. 4 and His hand which beareth not the Sword in vain knoweth how to use the Sword better than the Preacher and the King may better make good His Rights by the Sword then by the Pen which having once 〈◊〉 His papers with mistakes and concessions more then due though they should be never so small if granted further than the truth would 〈◊〉 as I fear some have done in some particulars yet they cannot so easily be scraped away by the sharpest sword and God ordered the divine tongue and learned Scribe to be the pens of a ready Writer and thereby to display the duties and to justifie the Rights of Kings and if they fail in either part the King needeth neither to performe what undue Offices they impose The Divine best to set down the Rights of Kings upon him nor to let pass those just honours they omit to yield unto him but he may justly claime his due Rights and either retain them or regain them by his Sword which the Scribe either wilfully omitted
portion is fit for every one and what service is required from him I answer that the voice of equity and justice tells us that a generall Law Sol. doth never deâ—ogate from a speciall priviledge or that a priviledge is not opposite to the pâ—inciples of common right and where the Law it selfe gives this priviledge as our Law doth it yet enâ—y it selfe can never deny this right unto the King to grant his dispensation whensoever he seeth occasion and where the Law is tacite and saith nothing of any priviledge yet seeing in all Lawes The end of every Law is chiefly to be respected as in all other actions the end is the marke that is aimed at and this end is no oâ—her then the publique good of any society for which the Law is made if the King which is the sole Law-maker so as I shewed in my Discovery of Mysteries seeth this publique good better procured by granting dispensations to some particular men doth he not performe thereby what the Law intendeth and no wayes breake the Law of common right as if a mans absence from his proper Cure should be more beneficiall to the whole Church then his residence Reasons of dispensations upon his Charge could possibly be as when his absence may be either for the recoveâ—y of his health or to discharge the Kings Embassage or to do his best to consute Heretiques or to pacific Schismes or to consult about the Church affaires or some other urgent cause that the Law never dreamt of when it was in making shall not the King whom the Lawes have intrusted with the examination of these things and to whom the principal care of Religion and the charge of all the People is committed by God himselfe and the power of executing his own Lawes have power to grant his dispensations for the same Certainly they that would perswade the world that all Lawes must have such force that all dispensations are transgressions of them as if generall rules should have no exceptions would manacle the Kings hands and binde his power in the chaines of their crooked wills that he should not be able to do that good which God and Right and Law it selfe do give him leave and their envy towards other mens grace is a great deale more then either the grace of humility How God doth diversly bestow his gifts Matth. 25. 15. Gen. 43. 34. or the love of truth in them for doth not God give five talents to some of his servants when he gives but one to some others and did not Joseph make Benjamins messe five times so much as any of his brethren's and have not some Lords six or eight or ten thousand pounds a year and some very good men in the Common-wealth and perhaps higher in God's favour not ten pounds a year and shall not the King double the reward of them that deserve it in the Church of God or shall he be so curbed and manacled that he shall neither alter nor dispense with his own Law though it be for the greater glory unto God and the greater benefit both to the Church and Common-wealth Besides who can deny but that some mens merits virtue paines and learning are more worthy of two Benefices then many others are of one and when in his younger time he is possessed of a small Benefice he may perchance afterwards when his years deserve better far easier obtain another little one to keep with it then get what I dare assure you he would desire much rather * For who would not rather chuse one Living of an 100 l. a year then two of 50 l. a peice one Living of equall value to them both and shall the unlearned zeal of an envious minde so far prejudice a worthy man that the King 's lawful right shall be censured and his power questioned and clipped or traduced by this ignorant Zelot I will blesse my self from them and maintain it before all the world that the King's dispensations for Pluralities Non-residency and the like Priviledges not repugnant to common right are not against Law nor the giving or taking of them upon just causes against conscience but what the violence of this viperous brood proclaimeth an intolerable offence we dare warrant both with good reason and true Divinity to be no sin no fault at all but an undoubted portion of the King 's right for the greater benefit both of the Church and State and the greater glory unto God himself And therefore most gracious King we humbly desire your Majesty suffer The Author's Petition to His Majesty not these children of Apollyon to pull this flower out of your Royal Crown to abridge you of your just right of granting dispensations for Pluralities and Non-residency which the Lawes of your Land do yet allow you and which they labour to annul to darken the glory of God's Church and to bring your Clergy by depriving them of their meanes and honour into contempt lest that when by one and one they have robbed you of all your rights they will fairly salute you as the Jews did Christ Haile King of the Jewes when God knows they hated him and stript him of all power I speak not of his Divinity either to govern them or to save himself 3. As the King hath right and power to grant his dispensations both of grace 3. The toleration of divers Sects and sorts of religions and of justice of grace when it is merely of the King ' Princely favour as in legitimations and the like and of justice when the King findeth a just cause to grant it so likewise it is in the King's power and right to remit any offence that is the mulct or penalty and to absolve the offender from any or all the transgressions of his own Lawes from the transgression of God's Law neither King nor Pope nor Priest nor any other can formally remit the fault and absolve transgressors but as God is the Law-giver so God alone must be the forgiver of the offence so the Jewes say who can forgive sins but God onely Yet as Mar. 2. 7. God which gives the Law can lawfully remit the sin and forgive the breach of the Law so the King which makes these positive Lawes cannot be denyed this As David pardoned Absolon and Solomon Abiathar power to pardon when he seeth cause or is so pleased the offenders of his Lawes as you see they do many times grant their pardons for the most haynous faults and capital crimes as treasons murders felonies and the like and if they may grant their pardons for the breach of the Law and remit the mulâ—â— imposed for the transgression thereof it is strange if they should not have right to dispense with whom they please when they see cause from the bond of the Law and therefore we are to discuss how far the King in these Lawes of the Church may give exemptions and tolerations unto them whose consciences cannot submit
5. de dist dupl jurisdict saith that Kings are the highest and most paramount secular power and authority that ever God appointed on earth and denies that either the old or the new Testament makes any mention of an Emperour juris utriusque testimonia manifestè declarant imperialem dignitatem potestatem immediatè à filio Dei ab antiquo processisse said Philip King of France in Constit de potest elect Imperat. Irvin p. 33 34 35. â— quoteth many authors to confirme the same truth Lombard Gratian Melancthon Cranmer Tyndall and abundance more without number do likewise most peremptorily affirme that the Kings Power is the supreme power on earth and as the mirror of our time the Bishop of Winchester observeth the Scripture testifieth that their Throne their Crowne their Sword their Scepter their Judgement their Royalty their Power their Charge their Person and all in them are of God from God and by God to shew how sacred they are and ought to be unto us all and so the very Heathens teaching sounder Divinity then our Sectaries thought and said Homer Plutarch Ovid. Fast l. 5. Quia à jove nutriti ab eo regnum adeâ—ti sunt Scapula in verbo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Kings were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ministers of God and not the servants of the people Good God! what shall we say then to those children of Adam that will not onely with Adam be content to be like God but with Antichrist this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Many-headed beast 2. The difficulty of Government 2. Things shewing the difficulty of Government as Plato calleth them wil exalt themselves above all that is called God they will devest the King and invest themselves with his right and therefore 2. This sheweth how difficult a thing it is to rule and govern this unruly aspiring and ambitious multitude for the fuller understanding of which difficult duty Osorius saith that two things are to be considered 1. Suscepti muneris amplitudo the greatness of the charge which is of that weight that we can scarce think of a greater in all our life the care of Church and Common-wealth and to rule millions of men far and neare 2. Gubernandorum qualitas the quality and conditions of those men that are to be governed which if there were nothing else to prove it will sufficiently shew the difficulty of their government for if it be a very hard thing to govern a mans selfe how much harder is it to govern such a multitude of mad men for Cicero saith the multitude is the greatest teacher of errour the unjustest judge of dignity being without counsell without reason without Cicero Tusc 3. de finibus lib. 2. Plutarch in Alcibiad judgement and Plutarch calleth them pessimam veritatis interpretem whereunto agreeth the answer of that Pope who being demanded what was furthest from truth answered populi sententia the opinion of the People and as they are the weakest for judgement so they are most instable in their resolutions to day crying Hosanna and to morrow Crucifige this is the nature of the People of whom these our Sectaries are the very dregs the worst and the basest Osorius his description of the factious Puritans most plainly seen verified in our Rebels of all I must crave leave to set down what Osorius saith of them long ago and you may finde that this rebellion proves his words most true for he saith the desire and end of this faction is too much liberty then which nothing can be more averse to the office and government of Kings for it is the duty of a King to cut off all haynous offences with just punishments the unbridled people desires to be free from all fear of punishment the King is the Minister of the Law the Keeper of it and the auenger of the transgression thereof the people as much as possibly they can with an impetuous temerity pulleth down all Laws the King laboureth to preserve peace and quietness the people with an untameable lust turmoileth and troubleth the peace of all men lastly the King thinkes not fit to distribute rewards and compensations indifferently to all men alike but the people desire to have all difference of worth and dignity taken away infima summis permisceri and to make the basest equal with the best whence it happeneth so that they hate all Princes and especially all Kings quos immani odio persequuntur whom they persecute with a deadly hate for they cannot endure any excellency or dignity and to that end they use all endeavour ut principes interimant vel saltem in turbam conjiciant either utterly to take away and destroy their Princes or to implunge them into a World of troubles which thing at first doth not appeare but when the multitude of furious men hath gathered strength then at last their impudent boldness being confirmed by daily impunity breaketh forth to the Osoriu in ep Reginae Elizabethae praefix l. de relig destruction of the royal Majesty And a little after he saith add to these things the abolition of Laws the contempt of Rule the hatred of royal Majesty and the cruel lying in wait which they most impiously and nefariously do endeavour for their Princes add also their clandestine and secret discourses where their confederacies are made for the extirpation of their Kings and to plot with unspeakable mischief the death of them whose health and safety they ought most heartily to pray to God for and then he addeth cum immodica libertatis cupiditate Pagina 24. 25. rapiantur leges oderunt judiciâ— detestantur regum majestatem extinctam cupiunt ut licentiùs impuniùs queant per omnia libidinum genera vagari and this is most manifest saith he all their endeavours ayme at this end that Princes being taken away they may have an uncontroulabâ—e leave and liberty to commit all kinde of villanies and to that purpose they have poysoned some kings Revera mihi videtur esse ars artium ho minem regere qui certè est inter omnes animantes maximè moribus varius voluntate diversus Nazian in Apol. and killed others with the sword and to root out all rule Consilia plena sccleris inierunt they are full of all wicked counsels And therefore this being the condition of the people as the Scripture sheweth plainly in the Jews by their continual Rebellions and murmurings against Moses and Aaron and we see it as plainly in our own time when our people hath confirmed all that this Bishop said it is not an easie matter to govern such an unruly people But we finde that the rod of Government is a miraculous rod that being in Moses hand was a fair wand but cast unto the ground turned to be an ungly and a poysonous Serpent to shew that the people being subject to the hand of Government is a goodly thing
true Protestant Religion that is established by our Laws and for the rights of the Church and the just liberties and property of all his loyal Subjects this he testifieth in all his Declarations and this we know in our own consciences to be true and therefore 2. As his Majesty professeth so we beleive him that he never intended otherwise by this war but to protect us and our Religion and to maintain his own just and unquestionable rights which these Rebels would most unjustly wrest out of his hands and under the shew of humble Petitioners to become at last proud Commanders for as one saith They whom no denial can withstand Seeme but to aske while they indeed command For the persons that war with him they are the chiefest of the Nobility 3 His assistants learned honest and religious 〈◊〉 best Gentry that hazard their lives not for filthy lucre for the Kings 〈◊〉 being so unjustly detained from him they are fain to supply his neces 〈…〉 〈◊〉 to bear their own charges and the poor common Soldiers are no 〈…〉 〈◊〉 to do their best endeavours neither need they to fear any 〈◊〉 because 4. The King hath a just right to give them full power and authority to do 4 His authority sacred and unquestionable What the pretended Parliament is execution upon these Rebels as I have proved unto you before And therefore the result of all is that the Parliament side under the pretence of Religion fighting if not for the Crown yet certainly for the full power and authority of the King who shall have the ordering of the Militia that is who shall have the government of this Kingdome which is all one as who shall be the King they or King CHARLES and which is the very question that they would now decide by the sword in taking away our goods are theeves and robbers in killing their brethren are bloudy murderers and in resisting their King are rebellious traytors that as the Apostle saith purchase to themselves damnation when as the Prophet Esay speaketh of the like Rebels Esay 8. 21 22. being hardly bestead and hungry as I believe thousands of them are in London and other Rebellious Cities they shall fret themselves and curse their King and their God and looke upward as I fear many of them do curse the King with thâ—ir tongues and God in their hearts and they shall looke unto the Matth. 8. 12. earth and behold trouble and darknesse dimnesse and anguish and they shall be driven to darknesse even to utter darknesse where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth if by a true repentance they do not betimes rent their hearts and forsake their fearful sinns And the Kings side in this war doing no further then the king gives Commission do no more then what God commandeth and therefore living they shall be accounted loyal Subjects worthy of honour and dying they shall be sure to be everlastingly rewarded CHAP. XIII Sheweth how the first Government of Kings was arbitrary the places of Moses Deu. 17. and of Samuel 1 Sam. 8. discussed whether Ahab offended in desiring Naboths Vineyard and wherein why absolute power was granted unto Kings and how the diversities of Government came up 2. HAving thus shewed you potestatem ducendi the Kings right and power of 2 part of the regal government in the time of peace Master Selden in his titles of Honour p. 15. That the first government of Kings was arbitrary making War it resteth that I should speake De potestate judicandi of his power and right of judging and governing his people in the time of peace touching which we finde none denying his right but all the difference is about the manner where 1. I finde Master Sâ—lden rejecting as ridiculous the testimony of Justiâ—â— which saith Populus nullis legibus tenebatur sed arbitria regum pro legibus crant the people were kept under by no Lawes but the will of their Kings was all the Law they had but as oportet mendacem esse memorem so it behoves him that opposeth the truth to be very subtile and very mindful of his own discourse otherwise a meaner Scholler having such advantage as the truth to assist him may easily get the victory for though he goeth about to confute the reason that some alleadge for the denyal of those times to be governed by any Law because the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not to be found in all Homer but wheresoeuer he Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in hymnis ad Apoll. speakes of Justice he expresseth the same by the word Themis and saith that this is false which he proveth from Homers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sheweth that there were Lawes before Homers time from Talus his Lawes that were written in brasse in the Isle of Crâ—te yet all this may be answered and Justines opinion prove most true for Talus his time must needs be uncertain Joseph advers Appion l. 5â— Plutarch in lib. de Hero and by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer means the just measure of riming but never useth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the set Law of living besides there were many ages and many Kings before Homers time and before Talus Minos Radamanthus or any other Law-maker that you read of Moses was the first that I finde either giving Lawes or inventing Letters and yet there were many Kings before Moses nine Kings named in one Chapter and what Lawes had they to govern Gen. 14. 1 â— their people besides their own wils and therefore Master Selden vi veritatis victus confesseth that in the first times in the beginning of States there were no Pompon de origine juris sf l. 1. sect 2. Josephus regnuÌ„ appellaâ— imperium summum unius hominis non ex lege sed ex arbitrio imperantis Antiquit l. 4. Saravia de imperand autor l. 2. c. 3. Barclaâ—us l. 3. c. 16. Arnis l. 1. c. 3 p. 49 50. Irvinus cap. 4. p. 64 65. Lawes but the arbitrements of Princes as Pomponius speaketh and pag. 4. he saith the people seeing the inconveniences of popular rule chose one Monarch under whose arbitrary rule their happy quiet should be preserved where also you may observe his great mistake in making the Monarchy to spring out of the Democracy when as I have proved before the Monarchicall government was many hundred of years before we heare mention of any other forme of government but in any government Doctor Saravia saith and he saith most truly Quisquis summum obtinâ—t impâ—rium sive is sit unus rex sive pauci nobiles vel ipse populus universus supra omnes leges sunt ratio haec est quòd nemo sibi ferat legem sed subditis suis se legibus nâ—mo aâ—stringit huc accedit illa ratio quòd neque suis legibus teneri possit scil rex cum nemo sit sâ—ipso superior nemo
we are about to go to seek with such shedding of humane blood of others with so much manifest danger unto our selves Yet notwithstanding all this the Learned Orator could not disswade that ambitious Prince from this his high attempt he could no waies prevail to make him desist from that uncertain Enterprize but he would rather hazard all that happy estate which he did now enjoy than leave off the deceitful hope of those things which he did so much desire And indeed such is the condition of all the sons of men most dangerously sick of the same desperate disease for though as the Poet saith and he saith the truth that man is but Somnus Bulla Vitrum Glacies Flos Fabula Foenum Umbra Cinis Punctum Vox Sonus Aura Nihil That is in few words a dream a shadow a thought a nothing yet all or most of this little time that we do enjoy we expand in following after the vain wealth and deceitful riches of this world that we shall find to be but empty clouds without water or like the Apples of Sodom that being greedily grasped will soon turn to smoak and then speedily vanish into nothing and we shall find our selves at last just like the Mill-wheel that turneth still and turneth round from day to day and yet at the years end is in the same place where it was at the beginning So we tumble and tosse and turn to gather wealth and to grow great in this world and yet in the end we shall find our selves just in the same condition as we were at the beginning for naked we came into the world and naked we shall return again What need we then be so unjust and shame our selves either unduly to seek what we ought not to have or unhonestly to deny what we ought to pay Truly I am ashamed that should be verified among Christians which was complained of by the heathens Terras Astraea reliquit that Justice could not be found in any Court on earth or what Solomon said of the Jews should be found amongst us I saw the place of Judgment the highest Court he meant and wickedness was there and the place of Righteousness and iniquity was there Eccl. 3. 16. But though neither shame of men nor fear of God can make us leave this iniquity but that we will continue still like Jews and Pagans yet the truth is that man in this rich estate that is yet so palpably vain when it is so unjustly procured can be nothing else but meer vanity 3. Honour Glory and a high esteem to be famous among men are accounted great in this world and so they are indeed but I mean great vanities and the greatest of all vanities For health is a happiness especially while it lasteth and Riches have some substance in them and we may do good with them as others do much evil with them but honour and fame are nothing else but a vain blast of a poor mans breath or a little bending of a Beggars knee an idle Ceremony fruitless I am sure therefore a great vanity and it may be but some fair shew of some outward reverence when perhaps there is indeed much inward hate because the Tongue oftentimes praiseth those most highly whom the heart detesteth most deadly Or were it not so yet all honour is accounted but 1. Of a short continuance 2. Of a small Extent And therefore a great Vanity For 1. Behold how great was the honour of Haman and how suddenly was he hanged Look upon Nebuchadnezzar how he is to day saluted with Haile Glory of the world and to morrow scorned like a Beast and consider how glorious were Pharaoh Senacherib Alexander Cyrus and others and yet behold how speedily they were vanished into nothing and how many great men and most honourable Personages have you lately seen so highly honoured and magnified both in Court and Countrey as the only Emblemes of all honour and how suddenly have they been either killed or headed and their Glory buried in the dust if not turned into worse For the Scourge of Envy from below and the Twigs of Ambition from above do hunt and whip all honour unto death And we know that many men while they lived have been so unhappy as to see their own honour buried Or if some have left a glorious Name behind them as Josias did when they left the world yet we find that many famous men while they lived have been quite forgotten for want of Writers when they were dead For how should we have known the valour of Hector and Achilles and the wisdom of Nestor and Ulisses if Homer had not recorded the same unto posterity Or how should we have understood the Piety of Constantine and the Clemency of Theodosius if Eusebius and other Ecclesiastical Writers had not declared the same unto us And of those that have been as happy in the Trumpeters of their Fame as themselves have been Famous in the Actions of their Lives we see that as Death took away the Authors so time hath wasted away their Writings and as the Poet saith What wonder we that Writings fail When stately Tombes do wear The very Stones consume to nought With Titles they did bear Or be it granted that a man might truly say I shall live when I am dead and as Ovid saith Nomenqueâ—rit indelebile nostrum Peâ—que omnia secula Fama Si quid habent veri vatum prae sagia vivam Ovid. Metamorph l. 12. in fine My name shall remain indelible among the Posterities yet if you do attentively weigh the most infinite spaces of Eternity you shall find that the prolonging of our Names on earth can yield us no great Felicity for if we compare the stay of one moment with ten thousand years they have some proportion though it be but very small but this number of years how oft soever it be multiplied yet it is no way comparable to Eternity because limited things may in some sort be compared among themselves but that which is infinite admitteth no comparison at all saith Boetius And therefore the longest Fame be it as long as you can imagine Bâ—â—tius de consol Phil. l. 2. c. 8 yet it is but of a very short continuance And 2. It is of a very small Extent For you may learn by Astronomical Demonstrations that the compass of the whole earth in comparison of the Heaven is no bigger than a Pins Point and of this earth not above the fourth part is known to be inhabited saith Ptolâ—m and that which is inhabited is distinguished by many Nations of different Languages Fashions and Conversations whereby it happeneth that the same Fact which in some Countrey is laudable in another place is punishable therefore our Fame and Glory must be penned up in a very narrow bound commonly within the compass of one Nation For if it should go further yet the difficulty of travel over many Seas the diversity of Speeches so hard to be understood
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 mâ—n 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 noâ— 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 thâ—â— 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 1. Moses tells you that when God had framed and made man of the dust of Arguments proving the immortâ—lity of the Soul and the life to come 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 à corpore And when God threaâ—ned Adam that if he did eat of the forbidden fruit he should dye the death that death signifieth Or surely dye Gen. 2. 17. not the death of the soul or the aâ—nihilation of the body but the dissolution or separation of the soul from the body that as iâ— 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 disjoynted 2 Cor. 5. 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 the body returneth to the dust from whence it was Gen. 3. 19. taken 2. It is said that Abâ—l being unnaturally murdered by his blood-thirsty Brother vox sanguinum clamabat ad deum and the Hebrew word saith Collerâ—s signiâ—ieth ex ingenti animi dolore exelamare 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 slaâ—ghtered 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 and Jacob Exod. 3. 15. 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 â—ver against Beth-peor and yet S. Matth. saith that when Jesus was transfigured Deut. 34. 5 6. Mat. 17. 3. 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 â—aid to be Moses and Elias did then appear unto the Apostles 5. David saith I will not die but live and declare the works of the Lord and yet David is dead and was buried therefore it is his Soul that liveth 6. The wise man saith that when a man dieth then shall the dust that is his Eccl. 12. 7. body return to the Earth and the Spirit shall return to God that gave it and being with God it cannot be dead but remain immortal for ever 7. When Lazarus died he is said to be carried up by the Angels into Abrahams bosom i. e. in respect of his Soul for his Body was not carried up into his Luke 16. 22. Bosom And so Dives being in torments must be understood in respect of his Soul for it is said that being dead he was buried in respect of his Body and therefore the Souls both of the good and of the bad do still remain immortal 8. Our Saviour saith Fear not them which kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul therefore the Soul is immortal whenas all the strength of man and all the Mat. 10. 28. power of Hell is not able to kill it 9. The hope of Glory and Reputation and the desire that every man hath of the continâ—ance and perpetuity thereof how vain soever it be yet doth it carry a great evidence of the Immortality of our Soules 10. The impression of that vice which robbeth a man of the knowledge of humane Justice and is alwaies opposite to the Justice of God and indelibly imprinted in every mans Conscience doth infallibly conclude that the Justice of God requireth the same should be chastised after death and therefore that our Soules must needs be immortal 11. In the Book of Wisdom it is most plainly said the souls of the righteous are in the hands of God and there shall no torment touch them in the sight of the unwise Sap. 3. 1 2 3. they seemed to die but they are in peace A place so plain that sense can desire no plainer And many more Reasons might be produced to confirm this Truth but these are sufficient demonstrations to shew unto you that although man in respect of his being in this life is altogether Vanity yet simply considered he is to be eternal and to have a perpetual Being because God never made man to have an end and to be reduced to nothing but as the wise man saith he created all things and much rather man that they might have their being And what madness is it therefore that men will not believe this Truth especially Sap. 1. 14. considering it is most certain that the remembrance of their end and the shortness of their