Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
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A17294
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A censure of simonie, or a most important case of conscience concerning simonie briefly discussed not altogether perhaps vnparallell for the meridian of these times. By H. Burton rector of little Saint-Matthewes in Friday-street London.
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Burton, Henry, 1578-1648.
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1624
(1624)
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STC 4139; ESTC S107062
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105,164
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152
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fuerit notatus quis iure miretur Vt enim Totus componitur orbis Regis ad exemplum sic qualis Pastor talis grex In Sacerdotio Simoniae corruptela vitiato frustra quaeris pium probumque populum Et si Simoniacus Sanctus esse possit etiam furi competet nomen sanctitatis Qui enim non per ostium intrat sed alià in ouile scandit fur est ac latro inquit Pastor ille Magnus Vnde Lyra Atque hoc faciunt omnes infideles etiam mali fideles hoc est qui fidem profitentur statum Praelatione indebitè assequentes But saith he he that entreth in by the doore that is by the faith and humilitie of Christ and by his other vertues to him the Porter openeth that is the Holy Ghost reuealeth his truth that he may feed his sheepe but the thiefe commeth not but to kill So Lyra. Damianus tels of a certaine Simoniacall Bishop who by no meanes could name the holy Ghost although he could name the Father and the Sonne but when hee came to name the holy Ghost his tongue did stammer and became stiffe Merito enim Spiritum Sanctum dum emit amisit Vt qui exclusus erat ab anima procul etiam esset consequenter à lingua Hac igitur difficultate conuictus Episcopale decarcâ—raeuit Officium qui per Simoniacam haeresin ad Episcopatus culmen irrepserat For buying the Holy Ghost he deseruedly lost it that it being shut out of his soule should bee also farre off from his tongue So that being by this impediment conuicted hee abandoâ—ed his Episcopall Function hauing cropt to that top of his Episcopalitie by Simoniacall heresie So hee Gratian also relates a saying of Gregory to this purpose Vulnerato Pastore quiâ— curandis ouibus adhibet medicinam Aut quomodo populum orationis clypeo tucatur qui iaculis hostium sese feriendum exponit aut qualem fructum de se producturus est cui graui peste radix infecta est Maior ergo metuenda est locis illis calamitas vbi tales intercessores ad locum regimines adducuntur qui Dei magis in se iracundiam prâ—uocant quam per semetipsâ—s placare debuerant To this purpose Bernard saith to such Soli non potestiâ— perire qui praire debetis docendo operando Mulâ—i sunt Catholici praedicando qui Haeretici sunt operando Quod Haeretici faciunt per praua dogmata hoc faciunt plures hodie per mala exempla Et tanto grauiores sunt Haereticis quanto praeualent opera verbis So Bernard Simoniaci autem haeretici sunt in quibus quid impedit quo minus omne genus peccatâ— dominetur For as Senectus est omnis Morbus So Simonia est omne malum It is the Mare Mortuum wherein are buried yea bred more then all the sinnes of Sodome and her confederate Cities From whence come all those sinnes of Bribery in the Common-wealth but from this stinking lake from whence all that Lay-Simonie in buying and selling all sort of Offices great and small of publike Iustice and priuate seruice but from the authenticke precedent yea the spawne and sperme of Simonie Thus the Virgin Dinah the Virgin Church being rauished what followeth but that these two Simeon and Leui the Simoniacall Patron and Parson brethren in euill will be the Instruments of crueltie to destroy the whole Citie or Parish where they dwell and so make the whole profession of true religion to stinke in the nostrills euen of the enemies of the truth These two being like the two maine pillars whereon the whole house leaned if Simonie like Sampson shake these downe tell mee how the whole Parish cannot but perish with them Wee haue a memorable and deplored example hereof in Herod and Caiphas the one the Patron selling the other the Priest purchasing For it is well obserued by Ferus that Annas and Caiphas did purchase to themselues the yeerely vicissitude of succession in the Office of the High-Priest which is noted by the Euangelist saying That Caiphas was the High-Priest for that yeere So that Annas and Caiphas the father and sonne in law had their yeerely turnes in the High-Priests Office yeelding to Herod a yeerely returne for the same to keepe his fingers in vse and vre Vnde facile conijci potest quà m nihil pietatis habuerint multum autem arrogantiae vanae gloriae Whence it may easily bee coniectured how little or no pietie they had and how much pride and vaine-glory saith Ferus And who so fit as these grand Simoniackes to be the betrayers and murtherers of the Lord Iesus Christ whereupon insued the fatall ruine of that most ancient and renowned Church and Nation of the Iewes So when the Lord had denounced that fatâ—ll and finall destruction to Hierusalem and that Church doth he not immediately thereupon goe into the Temple and purge it from those profane Merchants Intimating that such like profanation of the Church by buyers and sellers should be one principall cause of the ruine thereof Luke 19.44.45 Saint Augustine reported that the holy fire of the Sacrifice which during the seuentie yeeres captiuitie in Babylon liued vnder water was extinguished when Antiochus sold the Priesthood to Iason And what maruell then if the fire of godly zeale and the very life and light of religion bee in danger to bee wholly extinguished in that Church where Simonie is predominantâ— In Pope Gregory the ninths time a Grecian Archbishop elect comming to Rome to bee confirmed and not speeding without a large summe thereupon returned re infecta which gaue the first occasion to the Greeke Church to reuolt and rent it selfe from the Latin as Matthew Paris saith But this by the way to shew how odious and how pernicious Simonie is Cyprian de Lapsis saith Non in Sacerdotibus religio deuota non in Ministris fides integra non in operibus misericordia non in moribus disciplina Episcopi plurimi quos hortamento esse oportet cateris exemplo diuina procuratione contempta Procuratores rerum saecularium fieri derelicta Cathedra plebe deserta negotiationis quastuosa nundinas ancupari esurientibus in Ecclesia fratribus non subuenire habere argentum largiter velle c. Quid non perpeti tales pro peccatis eiusmodi mereremur Adeo traditam nobis diuinitus Disciplinam pax longa corrupit c. And de ieiunio tent 6. Simon Apostolorum temporibus vaenalem putans Spiritum Sanctum Petrum donis aggreditur tentat emere potestatem per quam plura lucretur Haec sacrilegij forma per omnia Officia gradusque discurrit nihil intentatum ambitio praetermittit Nec dubitet quisquam Diaboli esse negotia nundinatores eius quicunque haec exercent commercia nec quicquam huâ—usmodi abeo nisi praemissa Apostasia donari So that Simonie and Apostacie goe together What should I speake here of the
Fort of vice shall withstand her baâ—terie What force or fraude of foes shall dare to affront her or be able to board her What Port of friends will not open its amplissimum sinum to intertaine free Trafficke with her What Impropriator will not freely come in and returne a liberall share into Gods Sanctuarie What Simonist shall dare to shew his head much lesse his golden hands where once his MAIESTIE and that Honourable Court of Parliament haue concluded the contrarie Yea what not What so happie that we may not hope Or what so iust which the grand Aduersarie euen Satan himselfe may not feare if these hopefull beginnings may but attaine to a faire conclusion And Satans malice shall neuer be able to preuent it if our sinnes doe not The Lord blesse his MAIESTIE with many happie halcyon-dayes blesse your HIGHNES in a daily growth of Grace and loue of the Truth that the estate of this Church Common-wealth may flourish vnder the King and his Royall off-spring in all peace and truth vntill the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ. AMEN Your Highnesse most humble seruant Henry Burton THE PREFACE TO the Reader CHristian Reader as this small Treatise is generally intended for the good of Gods Church so in particular there is no man of what degree or estate soeuer whom it may not in some sort or other neerely concerne to entertaine it into his most serious consideration There is nothing amongst men more common then to to buy and sell. And lightly sinne is the Stickler or Broker betweene both It is naught saith the buyer It îs pure good saith the seller when both the simulation of the one and the dissimulation of the other is the worst part of the commoditie Yet I speake of such commodities as are a lawfull Mart and Market-able as we say I speake not of stollen goods whereof the very actuall buying and selling is vniust and proues euen dangerous to the Parties often Fellonious If therefore euery man should bee carefull not onely in regard of Gods law how but also of mans Law what he buy or sell in the open Markets or elsewhere though it bee a thing of common prise How much more then in such things as are not of a common nature and the very act of buying and selling thereof is questionable for the lawfulnesse of it or rather out of question vnlawfull Of such things onely I would heere warne all buyers and sellers no lesse then if a man proscribing his house to sale should cause to be proclaimed Domum pestilentem vendo I would sell a house infected with the Plague Yet such a house may come to bee purged again But if a man should proclaime I sell a House or Land hauing a crackt Title the sale whereof I cannot warrant to bee good which too many can make sale of without proclaiming any such thing where would he finde a Chapman to giue him his prise vnlesse such whose braines were as crackt as his Title is Or if a man wittingly sell and another ignorantly buy a crackt Title it is but so much dammage to the one but how great damnation to the other But loe I warne you here of a House the condition and title whereof is worth the inquiring after before wee goe about to buy it This house is Gods house Which if it be infected with the Pestilence consider if the Title of it and of the Demaines be crackt for matter of sale consult It is a speciall case of conscience for resolution wherof I intreate thy paines and patience in the perusing of this small Treatise Reade it as I haue writ it for conscience and not for curiositie Wherin I take not vpon me to determine but onely haue impanelled a graund Iurie of ancient and learned Doctors whose ioynt Verdict is here deliuered Nor haue I hookt in all the out branches that the Learned haue obserued to grow from the same Tree of Simonie I haue gathered onely the maine leauing the remaines for Gleanings Ob. But many one will say what is this to me This is a subiect out of the common Road-way of my Reading I am no Minister saith one I am no Patron saith another c. and therefore what is Simonie to me I answere as I said before I know no man of what condition soeuer whether hee be high or low rich yea or yet poore whom this Treatise doth not either directly and immediately or else indirectly and by way of necessarie consequence concerne As for all Patrons it concernes them directly it concernes all Ministers directly whither actually Ministers or such as deuote their minds that way It concernes all other persons such as are neither Patrons nor yet capable of the Ministerie if any haue but children and portions to bestow on them that he would consult with this little Booke whither it be Lawfull for him or no as the too common fashion of the world is to lay out his money for a Benefice for his Sonne Yea it may concerne all such Courtiers or Noblemens Stewards or great Officers Clerkes or Secretaries who though they be no Patrons themselues yet perhaps haue some facultie to deale as Patrons If any Reade and reape any profit hereby either by preuenting what may bee misdone or by repenting of what is done I haue my desire and reward And for this Censure of Simonie if it must needes procure the Simonists censure let him turne the edge the right way vpon himselfe not vpon me except he had rather in malice cut me then in mercie cure himselfe Farewell The Contents of the seuerall Chapters of this Treatise CHAP. I. SImonie defined first generally and largely then more strictly pag. 1. CHAP. II. The definitions cleered from certaine obiections and nice distinctions pag. 4. CHAP. III. Other shifts and euasions met withall pag. 6. CHAP. IIII. Tithes in the New Testament proued to bee equally sacred with those in the Old against the Simonists obiection and consequently the definition of Simonie concluded according to the former by the Schooles and Canons pag. 9. CHAP. V. Other starting holes stopped Obiections answered pag. 14. CHAP. VI. Simonists conuicted by the vniuersall voice of common fame pag. 16. CHAP. VII A demonstration of Simonie by our Positiue Lawes and by Ecclesiasticall Canons and 〈◊〉 by the 〈◊〉 and confession of the Simonist himselfe pag. 20. CHAP. VIII Of sixe euasions of the Simonist whereby hee thinkes to elude the Oath pag. 26. CHAP. IX Of the kindes of the Simonists in generall pag. 29. CHAP. X. Of the sundrie wayes and wiles of committing Simonie pag. 37. CHAP. XI Of the highest degree of Simonie committed in Ordination pag. 47. CHAP. XII Reasons shewing the vnreasonablenesse of Simonie in generall pag. 59. CHAP. XIII Of the vnreasonablenesse of Simonie particularly in regard of the Office and Function of a Bishop or Minister of the Gospell pag. 66. CHAP. XIIII Of the Censures and Penalties of Simonie and Simonists pag. 79. CHAP. XV. Of