not many Noble are called which was indeed a good way to suppress the danger of malignity that looks not so much after poor estates and a good way to increase their number and propagate their design with more safety And as by this means the Church began to take root and to grow stronger and the wealthier nobler and wiser men began to be in love with the Christian Religion So then they loved nothing more than to build Churches answerable for their beauty How zealously the fi st Christians were affected how bountifully they contributed towards the building of their Churches to the dignity of their Religion and for their greatness to the number of their Professors And the devotion of these Christians was so large and did so liberally contribute towards the erecting of their Churches as the Israelites in the dayes of Bezaliel did chearfully present their Gifts and Free-will-offerings towards the setting up of the Tabernacle no man was backward and no man a niggard in this work which they conceived to be so profitable and so necessary for them to do and that in two special respects 1. The good that is effected 2. The evils that are prevented by the publick meeting of the people in these Churches The double benefit that we reap by our coming to the Publick meeting in the Church 1. The meeting of the Congregation publickly in a lawful place and a consecrated Church assures them they offend not the Laws either of God or man and so secures them from all blame and prevents the occasion to traduce and to suspect the lawfulnesse of the holy Duties that we perform when as Veritas non quaerit angulos Truth and the performance of just things and holy actions need not run and hide themselves in private hidden 1. Benefit and unlawful places but may shew themselves and appear so publickly as they might not be subject to any the least unjust imputation 2. Benefit 2. The meeting in a publick consecrated Church and not in a private Conventicle escapes those dangerous plots and machinations that are very often invented and contrived in those Conventicles that are vailed for that purpose under the mantle and pretence of Religion And it freeth the comers unto the Church from those seditious Doctrines and damnable Divinity which the Sectaries and Hereticks do scatter and broach in those unlawful Conventicles which are the fittest places for them to effect their wicked purpose and must needs be sinful and offend both God and man because they are contrary to the Laws both of God and man Whenas the coming unto the Church quits my conscience from all fear of offending because that herein I do obey and do agreeable to the Laws both of God and man And who then that hath any dram of wit would not avoid private and forbidden meetings and go to serve God unto the publick Church which is the House of God erected and dedicated for his Service CHAP. X. The Answer to the Two Objections that the Fanatick-Sectaries do make 1. Against the Necessity And 2ly against the Sanctity or Holiness of our Material Churches which in derision and contemptuously they call Steeple-houses ANd yet for all this and all that we can say for the Church of God I find Four sorts of Objections 4 Sorts of Objections against our Material Churches that are made by our Fanaticks and Skenimastices against our Material Churches As 1. Against the Necessity 2. Against the Sanctity 3. Against the Beauty Glory 4. Against the impurity Impiety of them 1. They do object 1. Objection against the necessity that we have no need of Churches there is no Necessity of any Material House or Church of God for his servants to meet in to serve God because the woman of Samaria discoursing with Christ about the place where God would be worshipped Whether in that Mountain where the Fathers worshipped or in Hierusalem which as the Jews said was the place where men ought to worship Our Saviour tells her plainly They worshipped they knew not what for the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this Mountain nor yet in Hierusalem worship the Father but the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth because God is a Spirit John 4.20 23. and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth and such worshippers the Father seeks and such he loves And therefore so we have clean hearts and pure consciences and worship God with our souls and spirits faithfully to pray unto him and to praise his Name it is no matter for the place where we do it in a Church or in a Barn because God looks rather to the inward heart than to the outward place where we stand To this I answer Maledicta glossa quae corrumpit textum Sol. and our Saviours words gives them no colour to extort such consequences and to draw such conclusions from them for the words are plain enough that although formerly before Moses his time Jacob had a Well near Sichar and he with the other Fathers worshipped God in that Mountain and afterwards God required them to worship him in the place that he should chuse to put his Name there which after the time of David and the building of his Temple by Solomon was to be Hierusalem and no where else to perform the commanded Publick Service of God under the punishment of cutting off that soul from his people that should do otherwise Yet the hour cometh and now is that is coming or beginning to come that the partition-Wall betwixt the Jews and the Gentiles shall be broken down and the bounds and borders of Gods Church and the true worshippers of God shall be inlarged and they may lawfully without offence worship God not only in Jury where God was only formerly known aright but also in all the Nations and in any Kingdom of the World so they worship him in spirit and in truth as they ought to do But here is not one syllable intimating that they should not or needed not to meet to serve God in the Publick Church but that whensoever and wheresoever in any Kingdom of the Earth they should gather themselves together in the Publick Church to worship God they should worship him in spirit and in truth otherwise their worship is to no purpose and will avail them nothing though they should do it publickly in the Church This is the true meaning of our Saviours words Obj. 2 2. We have another sort of Sectaries that yield it requisite and convenient for the Saints and servants of God to meet and gather themselves together for the Service of God and do acknowledg the great benefits that may accrew and be obtained in a Congregation rather than by any single person but they think there is no necessity of their meeting in a Material Church or a Steeple-house as they call it rather than in a house or a chamber or a
for all this lift up his hand against the Lords annointed but refused their gold Jâ—h Servinus pro libertat Ecclesiae statu Regni tom 3. Monarchia Rom. p 202. rejected their conditions and dismissed the Embassadours as witnesses of his faith to God his fidelity and allegiance to his King and peaceable mind towards his Country Where you see this prudent and good Prince had rather patiently suffer these intolerable injuries that were offered both to himself to the inferiour Magistrates and to many other good Christians for his sake then any wayes undutifully resist the Ordinance of God And surely this Example is most acceptable unto God most wholesome for any Common-wealth and most honourable for any subordinate Prince for I am certain this is the faith of Christ and the religion of the true Protestants Not to offer but suffer all kind of injuries and to render good for evill and rather with patience love and obedience to study to gain the favour of their Persecutors then any ways with force and arms to withstand those that God hath placed in authority which must needs be not onely offensive unto God whose Ordinance they do resist but also destructive to the Common-wealth which can never receive any benefit by any insurrection against the Prince 3. Not for any tyranny that shall be offered unto us 3. Though the King should prove to be Nerone Neronior worse then Phalaris and degenerating from all humanity should prove a Tyrant to all his people yet his subjects may not rebell against him upon this pretence for if any cause should be admitted for which subjects might rebell that cause would be allwayes alledged by the Rebels whensoever they did rebell and whom I and many others should deem a good Prince and most pious the Rebels would proclaim him tyrannical and idolatrous And therefore in such a case The difference betwixt king and people to be determined onely by God when some men think their King most gracious and others think him vitious some believe him to be good others believe him to be evil shall we think it fit that the disaffected party shall presently with arms decide the controversie and not rather have the accused the accuser and the witnesses before a competent Judge to determine the truth of this question Surely this seems more reasonable and more agreeable unto the rules of justice when as The Law condemneth no man much lesse the King before his cause be heard And seeing such a competent Judge as can justly determine this controversie betwixt the King and his People or rather betwixt one part of his people and the other cannot be found under Heaven therefore to avoid civil warres and the effusion of humane and Christian blood and the prevention of abundance of other mischiefs both the Scripture teacheth That we ought not by any means to resist our kings Proved and the Church believeth and Reason it self sheweth and the publique safety requireth that we should transmit this question to be decided onely by him which is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and will when he seeth good bind evil Kings in fetters and their Nobles with links of iron CHAP. V. Sheweth by Scripture the Doctrine of the Church humane Reason and the Welfare of the weale publique that we ought by no means to rebell A threefold power of every Tyrant Three kinds of tyrannies The doubtful and dangerous events of Warre Why many men rebell Jehu's example not to be followed 1. THe Scripture saith I counsell thee to keep the Kings commandement 1 By the Scriptures and that in regard of the oath of God that is the oath whereby thou hast sworn before God and by God to obey him Be not hasty to go out of his sight that is not out of his presence but out of his rule and government and stand not in an evill thing that is in opposition or rebellion against thy King which must needs be evill and the worst of all evils to thy King for He doth whatsoever pleaseth him that is Ecclesiast 8.2 3 4. he hath power and authority to do what he pleaseth Where the Word of a King is there is power and who may say unto him What dost thou or Why dost thou so And Solomon saith A Grey-hound an Hee-Goat and a King Prov. 30.31 against whom there is no rising up there ought not to be indeed I will not set down what Samuel saith but desire you to read the place 1 Sam. chapter 8. verse 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18. where you shall see what the King will doe and what remedy the Prophet prescribeth against him Not to rebell and take up arms but to cry unto the Lord that he would help them And Saint Paul saith Whosoever resisteth the power Rom. 13.1 resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation And S. Peter saith that they which despise government 2 Pet. 2.10.12 and are not afraid to speak evil of dignities are presumptuous and do walk after the flesh in the lusts of uncleannesse and as natural brute beasts that are made to be taken and destroyed they speak evil of the things they understand not and therefore they shall utterly perish in their own corruption And Saint Jude in like manner calleth those that despise Dominion and speak evil of Dignities the very phrase of Saint Peter filthy dreamers Jude 8.10 11. that defile the flesh and therefore shall perish in the gainsaying of Corah This is the doctrine of God therefore Saint Paul exhorteth us not to rebell nor to speak evil of our Kings be they what they will but first of all 1 Tim 2.2 or before all things to make prayers and supplications for our Kings and for all that are in authority And I wonder what spirit except it were the spirit of hell it self durst ever presume to answer and evade such plain and pregnant places of Scripture to countenance disobedience and to justifie their rebellion And therefore 2. By the Doctrine of the Church 2. The Church of Christ believeth this Doctrine to be the truth of God for no man saith Saint Cyril without punishment resisteth the Laws of Kings but Kings themselves in whom the fault of prevarication hath no place because it is wisely said It is impiety therefore against the will of God to say unto the King Cyrill in Jâ—han l. 14. c 56 Iniquè agis Thou dost amisse for as God is the supream Lord of all which judgeth all and is judged of none so the Kings and Princes of the earth which do correct and judge others are to be corrected and judged of none but onely of God to whose power and authority they are onely subject and therefore King David understanding his own station well enough when he was both an adulterer and a murderer and prayeth to God for mercy saith Against thee onely have I sinned because
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 creditur Take away the reward and learning perisheth 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. The buying and selling of Church livings will be the decay of all hospitality 3. I say that this buying and selling of spiritual promotions in the Church 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 Aug. de verbis Domini sermone 25. Foecundus 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 gâ—od 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 m sericordiae non commendat the Word of God Preached doth not pierce the heart of a needy man If they take away our lands and sell our livings how can we relieve the poor unless 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 The poor are not able to relieve the poor he shall not be able to recover 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 fettered for want of means and that they Ministers in some places and at some times relieved out of the poor mens box which should have plenty that they might be inabled to relieve 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 sâ—lling of Church livings is the presage of some great evil unto thâ— Church I say that this buying and selling of Church-livings doth portend and fore-signify some great and imminent evil both to the Church and state for Socrates in his Eccles Hist tell 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 the Church or to take away the lands or houses of the Church which is a sin so dangerous to themselves so prejudiciall to the Church and so ominous 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 Gen. 47. made such provision for the Priests 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 richly 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 things that are none of his own Hab. 2.6 and especially those things that are
that it might be admired for the beauty and majesty of it Josephus Antiq. l. 15. c. ult especially after that Herod sirnamed the Great had repaired inlarged and so magnificently beautified the same Mark 13.1 so that one of his disciples in admiration of the work saith to Christ Master See what manner of stones and what buildings are here Matth. 24.1 And the Jews tell him that it was forty six years in building Joh. 2.20 before it was brought to that perfection which Zorobabel did unto it Joseph Antiq. l. 11. c. 4. Cum inchoatum erat in secundo anno Cyri qui regnavit annis 30. Et post eum Cambyses regnavit annis 8. Et absolutum erat Darii Histaspis anno 9. Et sic dempto primo anno Cyri remanent anni sicut Judaei dicunt 46. For of this Temple the Jewes here do speak as Theophlact Tolet and Calvin do observe Exod. 23.17 34.23 24. To this Temple and Metropolitan-Church the Jews were all required to meet and to appear before the Lord to do him service three times every year and because these times were too seldom and the waies too far for them to come from all the parts of Jury any oftner they had from time to time many Synagogues and Chappels Act. 13.27 c. 15.21 like our Parochiall Churches wherein they might publickly meet as they did every Sabbath to serve the Lord and because this Cathedrall Church the Temple of the High Priest though very large and spacious Origo earum tempore captivitatis Babylonicae cepit Sigon de rep l. â— c. 8. yet was not sufficient to contain the many thousands of people that were in the great City of Jerusalem they had very many Synagogues set up in this City and Paulus Phagius recounteth no less then 400 of them And Sigonius saith there were 480. And out of Jerusalem they had many Synagogues in other Cities and Provinces as there were Synagogues in Galilee Matth. 4.23 Synagogues in Damascus Sigon de repuh Heb l. 2. c. 8. Maimon in Typhil c. 11. Sect. 1. ex Goodw. Act. 9.2 Synagogues at Salamis Act. 13.5 Synagogues at Antioch Act. 13.14 And their Tradition is saith Maimonides that wheresoever ten men of Israel were there ought to be built a Synagogue and the Jews acknowledged it a great favour and were very thankfull to any man that built them any of these Synagogues as the Elders of the Jews besought Christ to heal the servant of the Centurion Luk. 7.5 because He loved their Nation and had built them a Synagogue And I would our men would be as glad and as desirous to have our decayed Churches built and not to make such havock to destroy them as they do and that without any cause in the World For You may see how Christ himself and his Apostles came and taught very often not only in the Temple but also in these lâ—sser Synagogues of the Jews and it is admirable to consider how the primitive Christians Euseb l. 10. c. 3. 4. as Eusebius recordeth erected such Oratories and Basilicaes that is Royall-houses and Churches as stately as any Kings Palace and beautified the same with excessive charges to make them fit places for the publick meetings of the Christians to serve their God and so the Church of Saint Paul in London and of Saint Peter in Westminster and the rest of the Cathedrall Churches throughout England and Ireland to pass no further can bear sufficient witness of the zeal and devotion of our Christian predecessors to erect such Great and adorn such Beautifull Houses unto God Magnos magna decent as became so great and so glorious a God as our God is to have And as the number of the Christians waxed daily beyond number and increased more and more as you may conceive by the increase which a few weeks time hath wrought after the ascention of Christ when St. Peter's sermon converted 3000. souls in one day so it caused the distinction of Assemblies and the number of Churches to be increased and multiplied in all Countreys and Cities more and more So that in Rome about a hundred year after Christ the Congregation of the Christians became so huge great that Evaristus then Bishop of Rome for the avoiding of confusion and the easier and better instruction of them caused them to be distributed and parted into fifteen particular Parishes and assigned fifteen severall Presbyters to instruct and govern them the Presbyters then being honest men and no waies contradicting Evaristus And to prove that the first Christians who lived under persecutions The fiâ—st Christians had some kind of Churches even from the Apostles time had some kind of Churches though as then not so magnificent you may see in 1 Cor. 12.18 22. c. 14.19 23. And so the most ancient of the Fathers do bear witness as Clemens Tertullian Socrates and Eusebius proves the same out of the book of Philo Judaeus lib. 2. cap. 17. And Lactantius In carminibus de passione Domini saith Quisquis ades mediusque subis in limina Templi Siste parum Whosoever thou art that comest to the House of God stay a white that is to consider whither thou goest and as Salomon saith To keep and look to thy foot when thou goest to the House of God which is as God himself expoundeth the meaning thereof unto Moses saying Exod. 3. Put off thy shooes from thy feet that is to make clean thy waies and bring no filth nor any carnall affections nor worldly desires into the House of God because The place whereon thou standest is Holy ground that is by reason of Gods gracious and speciall presence in that place where Moses stood and where God is prayed unto and praised by the Minister and Worshipped by the rest of his faithfull servants And if any man desires fuller proofs of this truth I refer him to Cardinall Bellarmin and to that excellent and Learned Sermon of Master Mede upon the 1 Cor. 11.22 Yet I deny not but the prime Primitive Christians The prime primitive Christians had no stately Churches and why and the Church which was at Jerusalem and received that Religion that is the Faith of Christ which the Scribes and Pharisees and their laws did not allow of were constrained many times to hide their heads in desolate places and were inforced by stealth to exercise and discharge the duties of their profession in vaults and private houses where they might be most safe though the places were not sutable to their service the swords of their enemies were so sore against them But at length between times by sufferance and connivency and sometimes through favour and protection they began to be imboldened and to reare up Oratories and Churches though but simple and of mean aspect because the estates of most of them were but mean and very low as S. Paul sheweth 1 Cor. 1.26 Not many Rich
brought all them that followed him and his wayes to the like perdition And so Nimrod Esau and Ismael falling away from God and Jeroboam setting up his golden gods and many other Kings and Princes neglecting their duties apostatizing from God and misleading their people brought them in like manner to their utter ruine And as many times the people are brought to their ruine by the evil example Scilicet in vulgus manant exemplaregentum utque ducum lituos sic mores castra sequuntur Claud. 1. Stilic and wicked Government of their Prime-Leaders when as the Poet saith Regis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis And the Souldiers would imitate Alexander in his stoopings and in his vices as well and sooner than in his vertues So many times and oftner too they are brought to the same pass the same pathes of perdition through the lewd examples and neglect of the subordinate Magistrates of the Common-wealth and the Governours and Ministers of the Church of God As when the Princes Esay 1.23 Zephant 3.3 or Nobility are rebellious and companions of Thieves or as Zephany saith like Lions and the Judges are evening-Wolves that judge not the fatherless neither doth the cause of the widdow come unto them And when the Prophets are leight and treacherous persons and the Priests have polluted the Sanctuary and have done violence to the Law either by corrupting it Prov. 29.18 with their false glosses or locking it up in prison and not publishing the same unto the people for where there is no vision the people perish saith the Wise-man And so by their false teaching or no teaching they thrust forward the poor people into perdition And therefore Kings and Princes to whom God in the first place hath committed the Soveraignty and Charge both of Church and Common-wealth Exod. 18.21 ought not only to chuse such Judges and Magistrates as Jethro described unto Moses Able men fearing God men of truth and hating covetousness But when the Cathedrals and Parochial-Churches are built and beautified for God's Worship and for the people of God to meet in them to serve God What manner of Judges and Bishops Kings ought to chuse as they ought to be they should also take care and see that such Bishops and Priests as S. Paul describeth in 1 Tim. 3.2 c. be setled in those Churches to worship God and to bring the people to do their duties that they may attain to eternal life Lest that which S. Hierom complained of in his time should be true in our time That the Altars shined with Gold and pretious Stones Bernard ad Abbat Cluniacen Sed ministrorum nulla erat electio There was no good choice made of good Ministers whereby it was said That they had golden Chalices but woodden Priests as S. Bernard saith it was not much better in his dayes there was not such care taken for good Ministers as they should do For as in Nature we see every thing for its Creation requires a Divine hand and a Miraculous power to produce it but the same being once produced God's hand is not so conspicuous but he leaves it to the soyl as it were to stand and grow by the innate vertue planted in it So it seems to fare with Religion it self which is such a superstructure above Nature that although it be planted by God as both the Jewish and Christian Religion were with signs and wonders and a strong miraculous hand yet men must now conserve it by those ordinary means that God appointed the Church of Christ being like the Garden of God in Eden which the Lord made and then set it to our Parents to keep it and to dress it And though this Religion which at first is thus powerfully planted by God and is the principal Pillar that upholdeth States and makes all Kingdoms happy yet after the inward vertue of the Doctrine of Christ the Bishops and Priests are the main props and the ordinary means that God hath appointed to uphold his Religion and to continue his Service in his Church because Religion can neither plant it self nor sustain it self alone and what support soever it hath from the Prince or the Laws of any Nation yet the Bishâ—ps and Priests are as it were the soul of that power in the execution thereof when as all the substance circumstance and ceremonies have their life from them and our consent and belief in their holy Calling is that which doth and should keep us from the singularity of our own misguided imaginations And therefore that Prince that is truly religious Kings ought to have a special care to chuse good Bishops and hath a special care of God's Service must likewise with King David and as good King Charles ever had have a special care to see that godly and learned Bishops and Priests be appointed in God's Church to instruct his people And you know what S. Paul saith That a Bishop must be blameless the husband of one wife vigilant sober of good behaviour given to hospitality apt to teach not given to wine no striker not greedy of filthy lucre but patient not a brawler not covetous one that ruleth well his own house having his children in subjection with all gravity not a novice or a young new Divine lest being lifted up with pride as young men commonly are he fall into the condemnation of the Devil Moreover 1 Tim 2.1.2.2 4 5 6 7. he must have a good report of them that are without lest be fall into reproach and the snare of the Devil All which large description of those parts and vertues that every Bishop and faithful Minister of God's Church ought to have may for order and method sake be reduced into these two Heads Levit. 8.8 which are the Vrim and the Thummim that Moses put upon the Breast-plate of Aaron and for which he did so earnestly pray that God would grant them unto all the Tribe of Levi saying Let thine Vrim and thy Thummim be with thy holy one or with the man of thy mercy And they signifie The two special vertues that ought to be in every Bishop and Priest 1. The uprightness of his life and conversation 2. The sincerity of his doctrine teaching of his people For so Moses sheweth that Levi did as every Bishop and Priest should do 1. Carry himself most dutifully and obedient in his life and all his actions Vertue 1 towards God as when God proved him at Massa and strove with him at the waters of Meriba he said unto his father and to his mother I have not seen him neither did he acknowledge his brethren nor knew his own children Verse 9. but he observed Gods word and kept his Covenant and preferred the keeping of God's Laws and walking dutifully according to his will before father or mother wife or children which every Christian and especially every Christian Bishop and true Levite ought to do 2. To teâ—ch Jacob the
and idolatrous Governours but also commanded all his followers to do the like and so we see they did for the Christians which were at Hierusalem when Saint James was martyred were more in number and greater in power then were the persecutors of that Apostle and yet for the reverence they bare to the Law of God and the example of their Master Christ interimi se à paucioribus quà m interimere patiebantur they rather suffered themselves to be killed then they would kill their Persecutors saith St. Clement And so the other Apostles under Caligula Claudius Nero Clement recognit lib. 1. f. 9. and Domitian that were bloody Tyrants cruell Persecutors and most wicked Idolaters and those holy Fathers of the Church Liberius Hosius Athanasius Nazianzen Hilary Ambrose Augustine Hierom Chrysostom and the rest for a thousand years together followed the example of Patience without resistance yea Quamvis nimius copiosus noster sit numerus though their power was great and their number greater then their adversaries yet none of them strugled when he was apprehended saith St. Cyprian Cyprian ad Demetrium Tertul. in Apolog He that would see more plenty of proof let him read the Treatise A perswasion to Loyalty Where the Authour bringeth the Fathers of all ages to confirm this point And the reason is rendred by Tertullian because among the Christians Occidi licet occidere non licet It was lawfull for them to suffer themselves to be killed but not to kill for our Saviour had pronounced them blessed that would suffer for righteousnesse sake and what more righteous then to suffer death for not being an Idolater to die rather then to deny their God Therefore they are not to be blessed which refuse to suffer because that in not suffering but in rising up and rebelling against their Persecutors they are as the Apostle saith convinced of sin and in sinning they acquire unto themselves damnation Rom. 13. Besides if it were lawfull to maintain this Doctrine then the Papists that believe our Religion to be false and that we perswading men unto it do seduce them from the true service of God may lawfully rebell against their Prince and justifie all their trayterous plots and every heretical Sect that believeth we are Idolaters as they do all which oppose the crosse in Baptism may without offence fall into Rebellion against all those Magistrates that maintain that Idoll as they term it And this false pretext might be a dissembled cloak for all Rebels to say They do it in defence of their Religion because they are afraid to be compelled unto Idolatry And therefore the truth is if any Tyrant like Julian should endeavour to compell me unto the Idols Temple or to worship my true God with false service I will rather die then do it but I may not resist when I am compelled by any means for so I find that Shadrac Meshao and Abeduego Elias the Prophets and the Apostles and all the Christians of the Primitive Church did use to do in the like case And I had rather imitate the obedience of those good Saints to those wicked Kings that would have compelled them to Idolatry then the insolencie of those proud Rebels that under these false pretences wiâ—l rebell against their lawful Princes 2. Not for any injury that is done unto us 2. If we may not rebell when we are compelled to Idolatry much lesse may we do it for any other injury for what injury can be greater then to be forced to Idolatry when as to be robbed of my faith and religion is more intolerable then to be spoyled of all my goods and possessions No injury greater then compulsion to Idolatry And therefore when Christ suffered as great an injury as could be offered unto his person when the souldiers came with Swords and Staves to take him as if he had been a thief and a murderer and Saint Peter then like a hot-headed Puritane was very desirous to revenge this indignity our Saviour reprehended his rashnesse because he knew what the other as yet knew not that he ought not to resist when the Magistrate doth send to apprehend and so the Christians of the Primitive Church were extreamly injured by their Persecutors And the Catholique faith it self suffered no small oppression under Constantius the Arian Emperour and yet that purer age wherein the better Christians lived did not so much as once think of any revenge or resistance When and who did first resist and what moved them Baron ad annum Christi 350. saith Baronius But about the year of Christ 350. then first saith he alas the Christian Souldiers being swell'd with pride and taken up with a cruell desire of bearing rule have conspired against the Christian Emperours when as before ne gregarius quidem miles inveniri quidem posset qui adversus Imperatores licet Ethnicos Christianorum quoque persecutores à partibus aliquando steterit insurgentium tyrannorum not a Christian could be found that stood up against the Heathen Emperours that were the persecutors of the Christians But to make it yet more plain that no grievance should move good Christians to make resistance no injury should cause them to rebell against their Magistrates our saviour saith authoritativè with authority enough I say unto you Matth. 5.39 that ye resist not evill but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek turn to him the other also and if by our Saviour's rule we may not resist any one what think you that we may resist our King our Priest or any other Magistrate that correcteth or reproveth us 1 Pet. 2.19 And Saint Peter saith This is thank-worthy if a man for conscience toward God endure grief suffering wrongfully for what glory is it if when ye suffer for your faults ye take it patiently but if when ye do well and suffer for it ye take it patiently this is acceptable with God where you see still the rule of piety is none other but suffering though it be never so unjustly How pathetically the Fathers perswade us to suffer not to resist And therefore the Fathers are most plentifull in the explanation and confirmation of this point for Tertullian that was no babe in the School of Divinity nor any coward in the Army of Christ speaking of those faithful Christians that suffered no small measure of miseries in his time saith that one short night with a few little torches might have wrought their deliverance and revenged all their wrongs if it had been lawful for them to blot out or expell evill with evill but God forbid saith he ut aut igne humano vindicetur divina secta Tertul. in Apologeâ— aut doleat pati in quo probatur that either the divine sect that is the Christian Religion should be revenged with humane fire or that it should grieve us to suffer wherein we are commended for suffering Nazianzen that for his soundnesse of judgement and
Example answered it is most impertinently alledged for Ezechias was the lawful King of Juda and the King of Assyria had no right at all in his Dominions An impertinent example but being greedily desirous to enlarge his territories he incroached upon the others right and for his injustice was overcome by the sword in a just battell and therefore to conclude from hence that because the King of Juda refused to obey the King of Assyria therefore the inferiour Magistrates or Peers of any Kingdome may resist and remove their lawful Prince for his tyranny or impiety surely this deserves rather fustibus retundi quà m rationibus refelli to be beaten with rods then confuted with reasons as Saint Bernard speaketh of the like Argument And whereas they reply that it skilleth not whether the Tyrant be forreign as Eglon and the King of Assyria were or domestique as Saul Achab and Manasses were The ubsurdity of their replication because the domestique is worse then the forreign and therefore the rather to be suppressed I will shew you the validity of this argument by the like The seditious Preachers are the generation of vipers nay farre worse then vipers because they hurt but the body onely and these are pernicious both to body and soul therefore as a man may lawfully kill a viper so he may more lawfully kill any seditious Preacher Quia Dare absurdum non est solvere argumentum But to omit their absurdity let us look into the comparison betwixt domestique and extranean Tyrants and we shall find that domestique Tyrants are lawfully placed over us by God who commandeth us to obey them and forbiddeth us to resist them in every place for the Scripture makes no distinction betwixt a good Prince and a Tyrant in respect of the honour reverence and obedience that we owe unto our superiours as you see the Lord doth not say Touch not a good King and Obey righteous Princes but as God saith Honour thy father and thy mother be they good or bad so he saith Touch not the King resist not your Governours speak not evil of the Rulers be they good or be they bad and therefore Saint Paul when he was strict y charged for reviling the wicked high-Priest answered wisely I wist not brethren that he was Gods High-Priest for if I had known him to be the true High-Priest I would not have spoken what I did because I know the Law of God obligeth me to be obedient to him that God hath placed over me Bad kings to be obeyed as well as the good be he good or bad for it is Gods institution and not the Governours condition that tyeth me to mine obedience So you see the mind of the Apostle he knew the Priest-hood was abolished and that he was not the lawful High-Priest therefore he saith God shall smite thee thou whited wall But if he had known and believed him to be the true and lawful High-Priest which God had placed over him he would never have said so had the Priest been never so wicked because the Law saith Thou shalt not revile thy Ruler But for private robbers or forreign Tyrants God hath not placed them over us nor commanded us to obey them neither have they any right by any Law but the Law of strength to exact any thing from us and therefore we are obliged by no law to yield obedience unto them neither are we hindred by any necessity either of rule or subjection but that we may lawfully repell all the injuries that they offer unto us Example answered 3 3. For the peoples hindring of King Saul to put his son Jonathan to death I say that they freed him from his fathers vow non armis sed precibus not with their weapons Saul was contented to be perswaded to spare his son but by their prayers when they appealed unto himself and his own conscience before the living God and perswaded him that setting aside his rash vow he would have regard unto justice and consider whether it was right that he should suffer the least damage who following God had wrought so great a deliverance unto the peohle as Tremelius and Junius in their Annotations do observe Gregor in 1 Reg. 4. And Saint Gregory saith The people freed Jonathan that he should not die when the King overcome by the instance of the people spared his life which no doubt he was not very earnest to take away from so good a son Example answered 4 4. Touching Ahikam that was a prime Magistrate under King Jehoiakim I say that he defended the Prophet not from the Tyranny of the King but from the fury of the people for so the Text saith The hand of Ahikam Jerem. 26.24 that is saith Tremelius the authority and the help of Ahikam was with Jeremy that They that is his enemies should not give him into the hands of the people which sought his life to put him to death because Ahikam had been a long while Counsellour unto the King and was therefore very powerful in credit and authority with him The act of Ahikam no colour for Rebellion And you know there is a great deal of difference betwixt the refraining of a tumultuous people by the authority of the King and a tumultuous insurrection against the King That was the part of a good man and a faithful Magistrate as Ahâ—kam did this of an enemy and a false Traytor as the opposer of Kings use to do 5. For the defection and revolting of the ten Tribes from Rehoboam Example answered 5 their own natural lawful King unto a fugitive and a man of a servile condition and for the Edomites Lybnites and others that revolted against King Joram 2 Chron. 21. 2 Reg. 14.19 and that Conspiracy which was made in Jerusalem against Amazia I answer briefly That the Scriptures do herein as they do in many other places set down rei gestae veritatem non facti aequitem the truth of things how they were done not the equity of the things that they were rightly done and therefore Actions commanded to be done are not to be imitated by us unl sse we be suâ—e of the like commandement Non ideò quia factum legimus faciendum credamus ne violemus praeceptum dum sectamur exemplum We must not believe it ought to be done because we read that it was done lest we violate the Commandement of God by following the example of men as Saint Augustine speaketh for though Joseph sware by the life of Pharaoh the Midwives lyed unto the King and the Israelites robbed the Aegyptians and sinned not therein yet we have no warrant without sinne to follow their examples Besides God himself had foretold the defection of the ten Tribes for the sinne of Solomon and he being Lord proprietary of all his donation transferreth a full right to him God is the right owner of all things and therefore may justly dispose any Kingdom on
sinne being thus conceived in the womb of the heart Private meetings do often produce mischief at last it commeth forth to birth at the mouth for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh and they begin to murmure and mutter among themselves and as Rebels use to have they have many private meetings and conventicles among themselves where they say We are all good we are all holy 2 Sam. 15.3 4. and They are no better then we and as Absolon depraved his fathers government and promised justice and judgement and golden mountains unto the people if he were King so do they traduce the present government with all scandalous imputations and professe such a reformation as would make all people happy if they were but in Moses place or made over him or with him the Guardians and Protectors of Common-wealth And so now you see this ugly monster the son of Pride and Discontentment is born into the world and spreads it self from the inward thought to open words Then Moses hears the voyce of this infant which was not like the voyce of Jacob but of the Serpent which spitteth fire and poyson out of his mouth And therefore lest this fire should consume them and these mutterers prove their murderers Moses now begins to look unto himself and to answer for his brother he calleth these rebels and he telleth them that neither he nor his brother had ambitiously usurped but were lawfully called into those places and to make this apparent to all Israel he bad these rebels come out of their Castles to some other place where he might safely treat and conferre with them and that was to the Tabernacle of the Lord that is to the place where wisdom and truth resided and was from thence published and spread to all the people and there the Lord should shew them whom he had chosen The wisdom of Moses And here I do observe the care and wisdom of the Prophet that at the first appearance of their design would presently begin to protect his brother before their rebellion had increased to any strength for had he then delivered Aaron into their hands his hands had been so weakened that he had never been able afterwards to defend himself to teach all Kings to beware that they yield not their Bishops and Priests unto the desires of the people which is the fore-runner of rebellion against themselves for as King Philip told the Athenians that he had no dislike to them The witty tale of Demosthenes to save the Oratâ—urs and to assure all Kings that if Aarons tongue and the Prophets pen perswade not the conscience to yield obedience Moses's power and Joshua's sword may subdue the people to subjection but never retain them long without rebellion Evil men grow worse worse Vers 12. Vers 13. but would admit them into his protection so they would deliver to him their Orators which were the fomenters of all mischief and the people were mad to do it till Demosthenes told them how the Wolf made the same Proposition unto the Sheep to become their friends and protectors so they would deliver their Dogs which were the cause of all discontent betwixt them and the Shee being already weary of their Dogs delivered them all unto the Wolves and then immediately the Wolves sparâ—d neither Sheep nor Lambs but tore them in pieces without resistance even so when any King yieldeth his Bishops unto the peoples Votes he may fear ere long to feel the smart of this great mistake Therefore Moses wisely delivereth not his brother but stoutly defendeth him who he knew had no wayes offended them and offered if they came to a convenient place to make this plain to all the people But as evil weeds grow apace and lewd sons will not be kept under so the more Moses sought to suppresse this sinne the faster it grew and spread it self to many branches from secret muttering to open rayling from inward discontent to outward disobedience They tell them plainly to their faces they will not come è Castris from their strong holds they accuse them falsely that Moses their Prince aymed at nothing but their destruction and to that end had brought them out of a good land to be killed in the wildernesse and contemning them most scornfully in the face of all the people whatsoever Moses bids them do they resolve to do the contrary So now Moses well might say with the Poet Moses is in a strait Fluctibus hic tumidus nubi b bus ille minax Quocunque aspicio nihil est nisi pontus aether And therefore it was high time this evil Weed should be rooted out or else the good corn shall be choaked these Rebels must be destroyed or they will destroy the Governours of Gods people and Moses now must wax angry Nam debet amor laesus irasci otherwise his meeknesse had been stupidnesse and his mercy had proved little better then cruelty when as to spare the Wolfe is to spoile the Sheep and because these great Rebels had with Absolon by their false accusations of their Governours and their subtle insinuations into the affections of the people stole away the hearts of many men therefore Moses must call for aid from Heaven and say Exsurgat Deus And let him that hath sent me now defend me So God must be the decider of this dissention as you may see he was in the next verse And by this you find Quid fecerunt what these Rebels did and how their sin was not Simplex peccatum but Morbus cumulatus a very Chaos and an heap of confused iniquity for here is 1. Pride 2. Discontent 3. Envy 4. Murmuring 5. Hypocrisie 6. Lying 7. Slandering The ten fold sin of rebels 8. Rayling 9. Disobedience 10. Rebellion A Monster indeed that is a ten-headed or ten-horned beast 1. Pride which bred the distraction in the Primitive Church 1. Pride and will be the destruction of any Church of any Common-wealth was the first seed of their rebelllion for the humble man will easily be governed but the proud heart like a sturdy Oak will rather break then bend 2. Discontent was the second step and that is a most vexatious vice 2. Discontent for though contentation is a rare blessing because it ariseth either from a fruition of all comforts as it is in the glorious in Heaven The poyson of discontent or a not desiring of that which they have not as it is in the Saints on earth yet discontent is that which annointeth all our joyes with Aloes for though life be naturally sweet yet a little discontent makes its weary of our lives as the Israelites that loved their lives as well as any yet for want of a little water say O that we had dyed in Aegypt And Haman tells his wife Hester 5.13 that all the honour which the King and Queen shewed unto him availed him nothing so long as Mordecai refused to
Champions to enlarge his Kingdom would fain have our Souls to remain among Lions and all the means or defence to be taken from us our enemies to be our Judges and our selves to be murdered with our own weapons In the time of Popery there were many Laws de immunitate Clericorum whereby we were so protected that the greatest Prince could not oppress us as you may find in the Reign of King John and almost in all our Histories and when we renounced the Pope God made Kings our nursing Fathers and Queens our nursing Mothers and we putting our selves under their protection have been hitherto most graciously protected but now by this Act we are left naked of all defence and set under the very sword of our Adversaries and as the Psalmist saith They that hated us are made Lords over us to call us to assess us to undo us 3. Debarred of that right that none else are 3. Hereby they are made more slavish than the meanest Subject and deprived of that benefit and priviledge which the poorest Shoomaker Tailer or any other Tradesman or yeoman hath most justly left unto him for to be excluded debarred and altogether made uncapable of any benefit is such an insupportable burden that it is set upon no mans shoulders but upon the Clergy alone as if they alone were either unworthy to receive or unable to do any good 4. Made more contemptible than all others 4. Hereby they are made the unparalleled spectacle of all neglect and scorn to all forraign people for I can hardly believe the like Precedent can be shewed in any Age or any other Nation of the World no not among the very Infidels or Indians for in former times the Bishops and Clergy-men were thought the fittest instruments to be imployed in the best places of greatest truth and highest importance in the Common-Wealth and Kings made them their Embassadours as the Emperour Valentinian did Saint Ambrose And our own Chronicles relate how former times respected the Clergy and how our Kings made them both their Counsellours and their Treasurers Chancellours Keepers of the Great Seal and the like Officers of the chiefest concernment as Ethelbert in the year of Christ 605. Vt refert in tractatu suo de Episcopatu p. 61 62. M. Theyer Sir Henry Spelman p. 118. Idem p. 403. Idem p. 219. saith I Ethelbert King of Kent with the consent of the Reverend Arch Bishop Augustine and of my Princes do give and grant c. And the said Ethelbert with the Queen and his Son Eadbald and the most Reverend Prelate Augustine and with the rest of the Nobility of the Land solemnly kept his Christmass at Canterbury and there assembled a Common Councel tam cleri quà m populi as well of the Clergy as of the People And King Adelstan saith I Adelstan the King do signify unto all the Officers in my Kingdom that by the advice of Wolfelm my Arch-Bishop and of all my Bishops c. In the great Councel of King Ina An. 712. The Edicts were Enacted by the Common Councel and consent omnium Episcoporum Principum Procorum Câ—mitum omnium sapientum seniorum populorum totius regni per praeceptum regis Inae And in the second Charter of King Edward the Confessour How former times respected the Clergy granted to the Church of Saint Peter in Westminster it is said to be Cum concilio decreto Archiepiscoporum Episcoporum Comitum aliorumque suorum Optimatum With the Counsel and Decree of the Arch-Bishops Bishops Earls and other Potentates And so not only the Saxon Kings but the Norman also ever since the Conquest had the Bishops in the like or greater esteem that they never held Parliament or Councel without them And surely these Princes were no Babes that made this choice of them neither was the Common-Wealth neglected nor justice prejudiced by these Governours And whosoever shall read Mores gentium or the pilgrimage of Master Purchas Livy Plutarch Appian and the rest of the Greek and Latin Histories I dare assure him he shall find greater honour given and far less contempt cast upon the Priests and Flamins the Prophets of the Sybils than we find of this Faction left to the Servants of the Living God who are now dâ—it withall worse than Pharaoh dealt with the Israelites that took away their straw and yet required their full tale of Bricks For these men would rob us of all our means and take away all our Lands and all our Rights and yet require not only the full tale of Sermons and Services as was used by our Predecessours but to double our files to multiply our pains How the Clergy are now used and to treble the Sermons and Services that they used to have of our forefathers more than ever was done in any Age since the first Plantation of the Gospel And when we have done with John Baptist the utmost of our endeavours like a shining and a burning lamp that doth waste and consume it self to nothing while it giveth light to others they only deal with us as Carriers use to do with their pack-horses hang bels at their ears to make a melodious noise but with little provender lay heavy loads upon their backs and when they can bear no more burdens take away their Bells withdraw their praises call them Jades exclaim against their laziness and then at last turn them out to feed upon the Commons and to die in a ditch And thus we have now made the Ministers of Christ to be the Emblems of all misery and in pretending to make them more glorious in the sight of God we have made them most base in the eyes of all men And therefore the consequence of this Act is like to prove most lamentable when the people considering how that hereby we are left naked of all comfort and subject to all kind of scorn and distresse and how that this being effected is but the Praeludium of a far greater mischief they will rather with no great cost make their children of some good Trade and their children will chuse so to be than with such great cost and more care and yet little hope to bring them up to worse condition than the meanest of all Trades or the lowest degree of all rusticks When as they can challenge and it shall not be denied them to have the priviledges of the Law The Clergy alone are deprived of Magna Charta and a property in their goods which without their own consent yielded in their persons or their representours cannot be taken from them And the Clergy only of all the people in this Kingdom shall be deprived of the right and benefit of our great Charter which so many famous Kings and pious Princes have confirmed unto us and when we have laboured all the dayes of our lives with great pains and more diligence to instruct our people and to attain to some competency of means to maintain
parte rex praeesset So Master Harding saith that the office of a King in it self is all one every where not onley among the Christian Princes but also among the Heathen so that a Christian King hath no more to do in deciding Church matters or medling with any point of Religion then a Heathen And so Fekenham and all the brood of Jesuites do with all violence and virulency labour to disprove the Prince's authority and supremacy in Ecclesiastical causes and the points of our Religion and to transfer the same wholly unto the Pope and his Cardinals Neither do I wonder so much that the Pope having so universally gained and so long continued this power and retained this government from the right owners should imploy all his Hierarchy to maintain that usurped authority which he held with so much advantage to his Episcopal See though with no small prejudice to the Church of Christ when the Emperours being busied with other affairs and leaving this care of religion and government of the Church to the Pope the Pope to the Bishops the Bishops to their Suffragans and the Suffragans to the Monkes whose authority being little their knowledg less and their honesty least of all all things were ruled with greater corruption and less truth then they ought to be so long as possibly he should be able to possesse it But at last when the light of the Gospel shined and Christian Princes had the leisure to look and the heart to take hold upon their right the learned men opposing themselves against the Pope's usurped jurisdiction have soundly proved the Soveraign authority of Christian Kings in the government of the Church that not onely in other Kingdoms but also here in England this power was annexed by divers Laws unto the interest of the Crown and the lawful right of the King and I am perswaded saith that Reverend ArchBishop Bancroft had it not been that new adversaries did arise Survey of Discip c. 22. p. 251. and opposed themselves in this matter the Papists before this time had been utterly subdued for the Devil seeing himself so like to lose the field stirred up in the bosom of Reformation a flock of violent and seditious men How the Devil raised instruments to hinder the reformation that pretending a great deal of hate to Popery have notwithstanding joined themselves like Sampson's Foxes with the worst of Papists in the worst and most pernicious Doctrines that ever Papist taught to rob Kings of their sacred and divine right and to deprive the Church of Christ of the truth of all those points that do most specially concern her government and governours and though in the fury of their wilde zeal they do no less maliciously then falsly cast upon the soundest Protestants the aspersion of Popery and Malignancy yet I hope to make it plain unto my reader that themselves are the Papists indeed or worse then Papists both to the Church and State For Opinion 2 2. As the whole Colledge of Cardinals and all the Scholes of the Jesuites do most stâ—fly defend this usurped authority of the Pope which as I said Of the Anabaptists and Puritans may be with the less admiration because of the Princes concession and their own long possesion of it so on the other side there are sprung up of late a certain generation of Vipers the brood of Anabaptists and Brownists that do most violently strive not to detain what they have unjustly obtained but a degree far worse to pull the sword out of their Prince his hand and to place authority on them which have neither right to own it nor discretion to use it and that is Where the Puritans place the authority to maintain religion 1 In the Presbytery either 1. A Consistory of Presbyters 2. A Parliament of Lay men For 1. These new Adversaries of this Truth that would most impudently take away from Christian Princes the supreame and immediate authority under Christ in all Ecclesiastical Callings and Causes will needs place the same in themselves and a Consistorian company of their own Faction a whole Volume would not contain their absurdities falsities and blasphemies that they have uttered about this point I will onely give you a taste of what some of the chief of them have belched forth against the Divine Truth of God's Word and the sacred Majesty of Kings Master Calvin a man otherwise of much worth Calvin in Amos cap. 7. and worthy to be honoured yet in this point transported with his own passion calleth those Blasphemers that did call King Henry the eight the supreme Head of this Church of England and Stapleton saith that he handled the King himself with such villany and with so spiteful words Stapl. cont Horn. l. 1. p. 22. as he never handled the Pope more spitefully and all for this Title of Supremacy in Church causes and in his fifty fourth Epistle to Myconius he termed them prophane spirits and mad men that perswaded the Magistrates of Geneva not to deprive themselves of that authority which God hath given them Viretus is more virulent How Viretus would prove the temporal Pope as he calleth the King worse then the spiritual Pope for he resembleth them not to mad men as Calvin did but to white Devils because they stand in defence of the Kings authority and he saith they are false Christians though they cover themselves with the cloke of the Gospel affirming that the putting of all authority and power into the Civil Magistrates hands and making them masters of the Church is nothing else but the changing of the Popedome from the Spiritual Pope into a Temporal Pope who as it is to be feared will prove worss and more tyrannous then the Spirituall Pope which he laboureth to confirme by these three reasons Reason 1 1. Because the Spiritual Pope had not the Sword in his own hand to punish men with death but was fain to crave the aid of the Secular power which the Temporal Pope needs not do Reason 2 2. Because the old spiritual Popes had some regard in their dealings of Councils Synods and ancient Canons but the new Secular Popes will do what they list without respect of any Ecclesiastical Order be it right or wrong Reason 3 3. Because the Romish Popes were most commonly very learned but it happeneth oftentimes that the Regal Popes have neither learning nor knowledg in divine matters and yet these shall be they that shall command Ministers and and Preachers what they list and to make this assertion good he affirmeth that he saw in some places some Christian Princes under the title of Reformation to have in ten or twenty years usurped more tyranny over the Churches in their Dominions then ever the Pope and his adherents did in six hundred years All which reasons are but meere fopperies blown up by the black Devil to blast the beauty of this truth for we speak not of the abuse of any Prince
whom the choice of inferiour Magistrates belongeth the power of the subordinate officers neither Peeres nor Parliament can have Supremacy the Sectaries chiefest argument out of Bracton answered our Lawes prove all Soveraignty to be in the King Pag. 70 § The two chiefest parts of the Regall Government the foure properties of a just war and how the Parliamentary Faction transgress in every property Pag. 74 CHAP. XIII Sheweth how the first Gouernment of Kings was arbitrary the places of Moses Deut. 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 Gouernment came up Pag. 78 § The extent of the grants of Kings what they may and what they may not grant what our Kings have not granted in seven speciall prerogatives and what they have granted unto their people Pag. 83 CHAP. XIV Sheweth the Kings grants unto His People to be of three sorts Which ought to be observed the Act of excluding the Bishops out of Parliament discussed the Kings Oath at His Coronation how it obligeth him and how Statutes have been procured and repealed Pag. 88 § Certain quaeries discussed but not resolved the end for which God ordained Kings the praise of a just rule Kings ought to be more just then all others in three respects and what should most especially move them to rule their people justly Pag. 92 CHAP. XV. Sheweth the honour due to the king 1. Feare 2. An high esteem of our king how highly the Heathens esteemed of their kings the Marriage of obedience and authority the Rebellion of the Nobility how haynous 3. Obedience foure-fold divers kindes of Monarchs and how an absolute Monarch may limit himselfe Pag. 98 CHAP. XVI Sheweth the answer to some objections against the obeying of our Soveraigne Magistrate all actions of three kindes how our consciences may be reformed of our passive obedience to the Magistrates and of the kings concessions how to be taken CHAP. XVII Sheweth how tribute is due to the king for six speciall reasons to be paid the condition of a lawfull tribute that we should not be niggards to assist the king that we should defend the Kings Person the wealth and pride of London the cause of all the miseries of this Kingdome and how we ought to pray for our king Pag. 116 CHAP. XVIII The persons that ought to honour the king and the recapitulation of 21 wickednesses of the Rebells and the faction of the pretended Parliament Pag. 121 CHAP. XIX Sheweth how the Rebellious faction have transgressed all the ten Commandments of the Law and the new Commandement of the Gospell how they have committed the seaven deadly sins and the foure crying sins and the three most destructive sins to the soul of man and how their Ordinances are made against all Lawes equity and conscience Pag. 213 CHAP. XX. Sheweth how the rebellious Faction forswore themselves what trust is to be given to them how we may recover our peace and prosperity how they have un-king'd the Lords Annointed and for whom they have exchanged him and the conclusion of the whole Pag. 127 PSAL. 39.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verily every man living or in his best estate is altogether Vanity Sela. OUR Blessed Lord and Saviour saith the night cometh John 9.4 when no man can work therefore I must work the Works of him that sent me whilst it is day and S. Paul tels us the time will come when men will not endure sound Doctrine but after their own lusts they shall heap to themselves Teachers that is 2 Tim. 4.3 Teachers enough in every place and every time so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth but what kind of Teachers shall they heap unto themselves the Apostle tels you they shall be teachers after their own lusts that is such Tub-teachers of the new Order as will study rather to satisfie their lusts and to preach what they please best than to edifie their soules And I believe all wise men see that time is now and not till now fully come therefore it behoves all the true Teachers to bestir themselves to work the works of him that sent them while it is day while they have any time and while there is any true Light yet remaining before the sad night and darksom clouds of Errours and Heresies be grown so far and to prevail so much against the Truth that you shall scarce find any place or person where or by whom the new lights may be confronted and the old Truth confirmed unto us So it behoveth me and it is my duty to employ my Talent to the uttermost of my power against these false Prophets of the Great Antichrist that is now come into the world and by these heaps of his Emissaries laboureth quite to overthrow the Church of Christ And as Clement recordeth that when Barnabas came to Rome to preach the Gospel of Christ and divers rejected it he briefly said In vestra potestate est vel recipere quae annuntiamus vel speruere It is in your choice either to receive what we teach or to reject it but we may not be silent and not speak quod vobis expedire novimus what we know to be expedient and necessary for you quia nobis si taceamus damnum est vobis quae dicimus si non recipiatis pernicies est Ciem Recog l. 1. p. 6. so say I. And therefore that you may be somthing and so happy I beseech you listen to these words that testifie that in your selves you are nothing but Vanity For verily every man And the nearest way to exchange this Vanity for Eternity and so to make us happy that are in misery is to know our own vanity and to understand our own misery For Knowledge saith Hugo Card. is the way to God and understanding saith the Prophet David Psal 49.12 20. is that which distinguisheth and differenceth man from beast for man though he be never so great in honour never so powerful in place and never so rich in wealth yet if he hath no understanding he is compared to the beasts that perish And the two chiefest parts which are like the Body and Soul of all the Knowledge that makes us happy are these two Precepts so much commended and so often urged unto us even by the Heathens themselves that yet notwithstanding were destitute of all true Knowledge that could make them happy because they knew rightly neither of those two things that they so much commended which were 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Know God 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Know thy self For John 17.3.1 to know God the only way to make us happy 1. Our Saviour tels us this is eternal Life to know God i.e. to know the Father to be the only true God and whom he hath sent Jesus Christ For the Heathens knew that God alone is the summum bonum and the only true
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 Eccl. 12.7 his 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 Luke 16.22 for his Body was not carried up into his 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 Mat. 10.28 and all the 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 continuance 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 Sap. 3.1 2 3. in the sight of the unwise 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 Sap. 1.14 And what madness is it therefore that men will not believe this Truth especially considering it is most certain that the remembrance of their end and the shortness of their time here how their dayes do pass away like a Weavers shuttle or like a Post that tarrieth not 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 That all men both good and bad shall remain and be perpetually 1. The one by our Unition with God which is perfect felicity 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 perpetual 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 The twofold error of men in seeking perpetuity 1. Seecking it too late 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 due time or nor 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 2. Seeking it in the wrong place heap up Treasures and so lay down such Foundations of perpetuity 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 perpetuity 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 aver Israel had assuring you that there is nothing here in this world but vanity and vexation of Spirit and that you might the sooner believe this Truth he doubleth and trebleth his words saying Vanity of Vanities 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
into the depth of misery The time would be too short for me to tell you of Craesus the rich King of Lydia Darius the great Monarch of Persia Manius Acilius the proud Consul of Rome holy Job the richest in the Land of Hus and warlike Caius Marius when he had hid himself in the Fens or Bogs of Mynturnes and of many thousands more that were exceeding rich and most honourable and in a moment of time became extream poor and miserable But you may see it every day that as the Poet saith Rich Cresus may suddenly become as poor as Irus Irus est subito qui modo Croesus erat And there is none of us but he may consider how many great and honourable persons have been suddenly disgraced and how many well left Heirs and wealthy men have in an instant consumed all their wealth and wasted their Patrimony like a Snow-bal and then came to be pitied by their Friends and scorned by some others whom formerly they despised and thought them not worthy to eat with the dogs of their Flocks such is the nature of wealth and so great is the vanity of all worldly riches that the wise man saith They betake them unto their wings and flee away like an Eagle i.e. very swiftly Prov. 23.5 And yet for all this it is a wonder to see the folly of most men shewed in the pursuit of this idle vanity Plutarch in vita Phyrri p. 404. for it is reported how Cyneas a most excellent Orator endeavouring to disswade King Pyrrhus a brave Souldier from his expedition against the Romans asked him what he would do when he had subdued them and he answered that he would bring Cicily into his subjection and what will your grace do then said the Orator the King replied then we have a fair passage to go to bring in Carthage and to conquer Africa And when you have conquered them what will you do said Cynaeas We will then said the King bring all Macedon under the yoke of our Obedience And when both Rome and Cicily and Carthage and all Macedon have felt the stroke of your Majesties Sword what will you do then I pray you said the Orator then the King perceiving what he meant smilingly answered we will then take our ease and begin to make Feasts and continue so every day and be as merry together as possibly we can be And what letteth us now my good Lord said Cyneas but that we may be now as merry and more quiet sith we enjoy enough to effect all that presently without any further travel or more trouble which 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 Sonns 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 expend 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 arid 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 out 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 and therefore a great Vanity For 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