neede knowen to euery man and with what face can they of the familye goe doore by doore to gather things necessary verily their credite is indangered and theyr modesty But did you euer heare that the Ministers of the Church were brought to such an exigent as that of force they must gather their relief from dore to dore among their own people In deed there was such a custome in the time of Popery for mendicant Friers brought vp among them of a certayne superstition without any precedent president of the auncient Fathers But is there no other way to gather christian oblations but so and are they not eyther brought by the faithfull of theyr own voluntary or collected by some of the honest neighbours appointed for that purpose But of the other side by the certaine stipends which depend vppon the vncertaine pleasures of the Magistrates it is very badly prouided both for the necessity of the family and the modesty of the Ministers where either so small wages are allowed or their allowance so slenderly paied that the poor Pastors pittifull complayning for meere pouerty are constrained to giue ouer theyr trade and to forsake theyr Ministery Where the people are perswaded that they owe nothing to theyr Pastors and that it pertaineth to the Magistrate onely to prouide for the Ministers alâcke poore Pastors I am ashamed to report how both people and Magistrate beare themselues towards them But furthermore they dispute that in these stipends the Ministers can vse no deceite when it shal be sufficiently knowen how much they receiue when as otherwise a couetous Minister may pretend that eyther he receiueth lesse then he receiueth or not so much as sufficeth To this I aunswere that the oblations of the which we argue the case are not so secretly giuen or so closely kept but that it is commonly knowen how much they are and what the Minister receiueth But to what purpose is al this or to what end should al know how much the minister either receyueth or hath or who can prescribe a meane for that matter The Pastor layeth out as well as he taketh in must that also needs be knowen That which they adde of the coueteous Minister who may pretend that he receyueth lesse then either he receiueth or may well suffice it proceedeth of the same errour I haue knowen many Ministers in my time among whome there is not one whose wealth is not commonly knowen and what he ordinarily receyueth euery year so that there is no other means for them to lie here then there vnlesse you would lie for them But to what end are these reasons or how thinke they did the ancient Bishops of the Church liue Ignatius Ireneus Cornelius Cyprian and such like whose memorial wil continue with their glory to the worlds end A man shall neuer preuent the cauels of malitious men whether the Ministers liue of tithes and oblations or whether they stick to theyr certain allowance both here and there whatsoeuer is receiued wil be thought too much of some A Flemishe florence or gilderne is 2. shillings sterling I haue often times heard the Boores groyn and grunt to this effect that a stipend of two three or foure hundred Flemish Florences was great wages I sayd they can keepe my family for lesse Neyther do I receyue so much of all the gayne that I can make thus vnequally comparing not them selues with them selues but theyr styes with the state of they Ministers As if ther were no difference betweene a priuate man of the basest rout a publique Minister at the hie Altar And yet two or three years wages wil scarce serue to buy him books bsides of duty he ought to be boūtifull intertainable to the needy But now they say that by this means it is well prouided for the subiects who for the most part are but poore liue hardly in theyr Villages For how should they maintain the Minister who are themselues to be maintained Here in deed is the error of our age to be noted which in some places giue to the ciuill Magistrate the goods of the Church and permitteth them to gather vp tithes which are due to the Minister But to the purpose In villages the poor which haue nothing giue nothing if it be litle which a man hath he giueth litle euery man payeth his tith according to his wealth and according to the greatnes of his increase whether the commodity lie in tillage or in herbage And in deed the poore could no waies better be prouided for that they should not relieue theyr Pastors themselues being to be relieued then thus for by this means the Pastors are mainetayned by them which haue much they maintaine them which haue nothing The increase of theyr fields for the most part keepe a certain scantline euermore the number of them is greater which receiue then of the poore which want the same But these their reasons are too blame that both poore Pastors are so badly prouided for as they are for by thē the goods which are consecrate to holy vses are betraied to prophane wretches of whom themselues must now goe beg their allowance and be glad to serue and flatter in most slauish sort for their iust reward But yet again they argue that men will seek occasion to discharge their Minister when they shal see that they must giue often shal hear their vices inueighed against so wil fain causes with greater autority contentiō to thrust him out But who seeth not here how weakely this argument is grounded euen vppon an euil grounded gouernment of the Church who leaue in the peoples hands to place displace their Pastors at their pleasure yet if it so falleth out at any time as it falleth out so often as they fall out the christian Magistrat must be but an idle auditor in this iniury haue no autority at all to compell the wicked in this case to theyr duty But let Cornelius Bishop of Rome an holy Martyr aunswere this who being destitute of the ayde of the christian Magistrate and being infested by Nouatus his faction so far forth as that he was not far from giuing vp his hold and yeelding to the wicked yet did he euer want of those his ordinary oblations euen in the midst of so much euil will and so many dissentions so that he could not maintain therewith his 500. and 50. clerkes and a 1000. 500. poore people Neither were any of the Fathers which liued of oblations euer fearefull of the wicked but were euer fearfull to the wicked and were feared Of no greater force is that which they say that euil men being reprehended wil giue nothing but will rather suffer their Minister to famish for hunger As if that were not rather to be feared least it should be done as we haue experience of the doing by the Magistrat which payeth them wages when so euer a good Minister shal displease a bad
reserued yet notwithstanding when they beholde on euery side the most partes rotted and ruinated and those good partes to hang togeather by putrified and imperfect ioyntes they are in dispaire that the house can not bee well turguised except the whole frame should be ouerturned Euen so the reformers of gods house albeit they did see to their greife manye excellent things which might well and well worthie bee reserued yet perceiuing them to be either vtterly disteined with superstition or doubtfullie entangled therewith and consequentlie dispairing that they could not roote out the grounded superstition and tyrrany of the pope vnlesse they plucked vp by the roots many singular ornaments of the church in the anguishe of their zeale they cried at once downe with it downe with it euen to the ground And so is it come to pas that togeather with impietie and Idolatrie if not before them both such and so many instruments are taken away as might haue beene verie great helpes to the Church both for the preseruing of Discipline and also for the retaining of that dignitie to the Ministerie which is decent and requisite in a ciuill societie But to the purpose although in materiall thinges that which we haue exemplified before many times must be so of necessitie yet in morall causes there is no such necessity The state therefore of this question friend reader is not of thy faith in Christ or of thy souls health but by what guides especiallye and gouernours thou maist bee best lead in the way of truth and kept in the path of eternall life And vpon this point is all this variaunce For there are some of opinion that all discipline of maners is to be referred to the Magistrate and that the Minister is to be restrained to the bare Preaching of the worde and ministring of the Sacraments The which fancie of men seeing it hath neither the word of God to confirme it nor any president of our Elders to giue countenance to it I can but wonder howe so friuelous an opinion could once either creepe in or peepe out of the heads of Diuines But there are other which yeild as they ought to doe the power of Ecclesiasticall censures to those Bishoppes and Elders which are such both in name and indeede vnto whome they deny not that authoritie which God gaue vnto his Apostles and their successours the Bishops And last of all there is a third kinde of them which reiecting the order of Bishops ioyne with the Pastor certain annuall Elders vnto whome they commit the regiment or the Church and the ordering of Ecclesiasticall Discipline Thus did the Philosophers of old when it came in question what kinde of Gouernment was best Of whome some preferred the Monarchie of one and that as it is indeed they iudged the best yet others maintained that an Oligarchy or ioynt gouernment of a few was as good as the best again there were others who for a Democratie or state popular would yeeld to none of the rest And last of all there were some who to the former three added a fourth which they indifferently not equally mixed of all three and that they would make good to be as good as they al and better then any of the rest But in the meane while they considered not this that any kind of gouernment as it is in it selfe is not so much to bee considered in gouernance as is the nature and condition of them who are to be gouerned and for whose good that kind of gouernment is ordained So that nowe that forme of pollicie is to bee accounted best not which is such in his owne nature but that which is most necessary for the people the time and the place For which cause as I conceaue GOD himselfe in the secrecie of his wisedome hath not set downe vnto any nation any perpetual forme of gouernment the which it was not lawful to alter according to the incidencie of time place and persons But in the gouernment of the which we dispute the case is far otherwise for in that it proceedeth immediatly from God men maye not alter the same according to their fancies neither is it necessary For the wisedome of God hath so tempered the same that it repugneth no form of ciuil gouernment In deede where any one whole state is become Christian the gouernment happelie may receiue some kind of alteration but not such as shal alter the nature of it Were they before in gouernment diuerse and in no one thing alike nowe they consort in one and lend each other their mutuall aide Wherefore whatsoeuer other men thinke in this matter doubtlesse the Christian Magistrate in a well ordered state ought not to bee held as a priuate person either in Church or common-wealth The which distinction beeing not sufficientlie looked into hath distracted vs into diuerse errors in Church Discipline For my part and the best wil take my part I hold that the state of Bishops is necessary in the Church that Discipline is best and from aboue in the which godly Bishoppes with the not nick-named Elders do sit at the helme And yet when I consider with my selfe the badnes of these times and the badde condition of some places in the which it hath pleased God by the hands of learned and religious men to gather togeather his dispersed flocke out of the captiuity of Babilon I doe not see indeed how the true Bishops could haue bene restored In the Churches of Flanders and Holland my selfe haue susteined the office of a Pastor but shall I tell you I cannot easily tell how many impediments I there found in this busines But shal that which was done extraordinarily and partly of necessity and that but in a certaine fewe places and that but in our age onely prescribe a law to the world besides This diuorce of minds and opinions had neuer bene were it not for the tyrrany of some misrulie Bishops a nouell opinion is crept vp opposing it selfe against all antiquitie which holdeth all Bishops generally in iealousie and yet the like and no lesse suspicion is raised of our newe consistories also wheather rightlye or wrongfully I will not say Wherefore he that will vndoubtedly attaine to the certaine knowledge of these thinges indeed must bee sure that he examine and try the cause him selfe deuoyd of all passion or preoccupation of affection Many times within these sixe and twentie yeares haue I deliuered my minde vnto my friends in familiar conference though not at all times nor to all concerning the gouernment of Bishops What they would conceiue of mee for so doing I might easily coniect by others who had in like maner reueiled themselues vnto their brethren For as it happened a certaine disputation fel out between certaine Ministers concerning the same position in the which M. Doctor Villerius whose name I cannot remember without due reuerence assumed that the authority of Bishops was not so rashly to haue bin reiected But Lord how they were netled and
the finest fashion and with the best side outward and yet how many absurd things and absonant from the mind and meaning of our Lord and Sauiour do follow out of these and fall vppon heapes Chap. V. An aunswere to the arguments of the former chapter BVt that the truth of the controuersie may appeare to al al must learne to know that those Gospell precepts of contemning riches were not giuen to a certain few Apostles but to all euen as many as woulde follow Christ Wherefore first that distinction of counsells and precepes ouerturneth it selfe euen in those very wordes which goe for counsels For God hath sette downe one lawe for all one rule to liue well and hee hath layd out one path to eternal life as well in the olde as the new Testament Notwiâ—â—standing if any man of any priuate purpose sette doâ—â—â— with himself that he will needs liue in pouerty God forbid I should be his hindrance But they which thinke that the forsaking of all thinges and the profession of pouerty is a thing not commaunded to all but giuen in counsaile to some as a more perfect course of a godly life I say they are in a false beliefe Luke 14.33 The wordes of our Sauiour are these So likewise who so euer he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath can not be my Disciple Where you shall vnderstand that what so euer is commaunded as necessarily to bee obserued of the Disciple of Christ may not by any meanes be omitted and therefore it is manifest that there is no such counsell giuen in that place by the Lord our Sauiour as that it is left in our owne free power to omit the same but the precept there is set downe more absolute vnder the paine of damnation if it be omitted The cause of this error was the mis-conceyuing of that place in Mathew the nineteenth and Luke the eighteenth Marke the tenth where there seem to be two distinct things set down namely an ordinary way to eternall life by the obseruance of Gods commaundements and another more perfect and ready way by the alienation of all our goods the dispensation of them towards the poore In Mathew we read how our Sauiour aunswered one If thou wilt enter into life keepe the commaundements Who when he had very insolently boasted that he had kept them all from his youth vp how far he was from that perfection he boasted of our Sauiour proueth when he brought to light the secret corruption of a couetous heart which lay hid within and made knowen to him how far he was from the intire loue of his neighbour when he commaunded him to sell his possessions and giue to the poore In the which notwithstanding our Sauiour required of him no new thing no thing extraordinary nothing that hee was not bound to doe by that same law which he presumed he had performed seing ther it is commaunded that we should loue our neighbour as our selues For the force of the precept is this that we owe not onely all outward thinges to God and our neyghbour but eueÌ„ our life also if need doth require Of the which perfection how much this stripling wanted he then bewraied when as Christ commaunding him to giue but his goods to the poore he seemed to be touched so neare And yet vnles we be at that point with our selues as that we could willingly depart froÌ„ al that we haue for the meere loue of God and our neighbour we can not enter into the kingdome of God And therefore Christ did not propound vnto the Pharasie a free thing the neglect whereof did not exclude from the kingdome of heauen but a thing altogether necessary for him that would enter into it And therefore when he did perceyue him depart away heauily after this precept he added Verily I say vnto you it is harde for him which is rich to enter into the kingdome of Heauen againe I say vnto you it is more easie for a camell to goe through the eie of a needle then for a rich man to enter into the kingdome of God By which words it is most manifest that no voluntary thing is propounded the which if a man did performe he should do wel if not he should not doe amisse as it is to liue a single life but a thing altogether necessary for him that would be saued But what then meaneth our Sauiour say they when hee sayth If thou wilt be perfect goe sell all thou hast and giue to the poore Seemeth he not to graunt that the keeping of the coÌ„mandements of God are sufficient to eternal life but not sufficing to perfection No verily For that this was not the meaning of the Lord his very wordes sufficiently declare but that in deede he spake of that perfection which is commaunded in the law of the which the young man had obserued an outward showe when as he wanted the inwarde substance For doubtlesse he which is not ready and resolued to lay down al that he hath to leaue his life bloud also for the loue of his neighbour he can not be sayd to loue his neighbour as himselfe And therfore seeing he would needs know what he wanted our Sauiour very wisely reioined him to the necessary duty of charity Wherfore this is the sense of Christ his words If thou wilt be a perfect obseruer of the law in deede and art desirous to tread that path into eternall life which is layd out in the sayd perfect and absolute performance of the law of God keepe those commaundements of the loue of God thy neighbour goe thy waies set thy things in an order that thou maist be ready at all times to giue vnto the poore Now vnlesse this precept did concern al to what purpose are these words It is more easie for a Camell to enter through the eie of a needle then for him that is rich to enter into the kingdom of God Whosoeuer therfore wil serue vnder Christ his colours is commanded to bid father mother and all farewell how deare so euer they be vnto him yea he must also not spare his own life for vnto all it is sayd Whosoeuer forsaketh not al he hath cannot be my Disciple That our Sauiour here inioyned his Disciples no new or insolent thing the example of Abraham may perswade vs whoÌ„ God of old also coÌ„manded to leaue his countrey his kindred al that was precious vnto him in Chaldea that he might goe whether it pleased the Lord to appoint him So did God exercise the father of the faithful that he might be alwaies at an howrs warning to surrender his riches al other emoluments of his life In like manner Christ wil haue al the true legitimat children of Abraham to depute all which they haue to his glory and to benefit theyr bretheren as the cause the time and the place require And this is that perfectioÌ„ which God at this day requireth vnder the Gospel
the same not that which is necessary but that which is voluntary Vppon which ground I hold this for a sure principle that that Priesthood or Bishop doth both against the honor and the honesty of the sacred ministery whosoeuer without commaund of supreme autority or constraint of extreme necessity shal take vppon him any seruice of war eyther as leader or as souldier But when such time and places betide as shall exact this at our handes we are vnwillingly to yeeld to vnwelcome necessity Theodoret in his second Booke the third chapter writeth of one Iames Bishop of the Citty of Nisib which of som is called Antioche Migdon that he was vppon occasion both Bishop and Captaine of the same his Citty the which by the helpe of God he manfully defended against Sapor King of Persia and deliuered the same as well with his prowes as his prayers The same Theodoret in his fourth booke the twelfth Chapter recordeth as much and much more of the warlike power and prowes of Eusebius Bishop of Samosis who mannaging himselfe with all manner warlike abilements ranged along throughout Syria Phenicia and Palestine wher he erected Priests and Deacons and performed such other Eccesiasticall pensions Neyther did I euer read of any that found himselfe offended with this action or thought his action offended against that Canon I doe not so thinke nor will I say so much of Theophilus and Cyrillus Bishops of Alexandria who tooke vppon them a secular principality ouer that Citty the Emperour not noting it but not commaunding it As for the Canon which Cyprian citeth I must needs confesse that I cannot attayne vnto the reason thereof onely this I am assured of that it was but a particular and a prouinciall decree seruing onely for that time and that place For no doubt to take charge of Widowes and Orphanes is an especiall worke of piety and commaunded of God in euery place of his Lawe and so that they incurre no small blame that deferre to take vppon them not the patrimony but the patrociny of such For good cause therefore was the old custome continued in the Chuch that Bishops should be the patrons of Widowes and the Fathers of Orphanes and that they especially before all others were to take charge of them without any shame to theyr calling without any breach of the Canons You shall heare how the Councell of Sardis doth allowe and recommend the same in plaine wordes For this is the speeche which Osiris then Bishop there made Much importunity and too much confluence with vnlawful sutes hath brought the matter to this passe that we haue not so much either fauor or credit committed vnto vs whiles there are some which cease not to repayr to the Court of the Bishop and especially they of Africa who as we know reiect and contemn the wholesome directions of our most holy brother and fellow Bishop Gratus Who do not only present diuers and sundry matters not materiall to the Church as many times it commeth to passe that widows orphans and the poore might be succoured but they doe further craue for certaine secular dignities and ciuill offices This bad order therefore stirreth vp not onely much muttering but many offences also Notwithstanding this is a commendable thing that Bishops should be a meanes for those which are oppressed with wrongfull violence as if so bee a widow be molested or an orphan defrauded and yet so that these parties haue some iust cause of complaint and some honest petition to praesent Wherefore if it so please you my beloued brethren let this be a decree that Bishops come not to the Court except happely they whom the Religious Emperour shall by his letters inuite But because oft times it commeth to passe that they which suffer wrong flye to the Church for succour and they also which doe wrong and are adiudged therefore to some I le or exile or in deede what sentence of iudgement soeuer they receiue they ought here to be relieued and without al doubt their pardon to be craued Therefore if it so please you as I haue sayd so let it bee decreed They all gaue a placet and let it be enacted This Canon containeth a certaine exposition of the sixt Canon of the Apostles and it teacheth vs what secular cares a Bishop or a Priest may vndertake and what not The Bishops in this point were imitators of their Fathers the Prophets which alwayes gaue their helping hand to widdowes orphanes and other afflicted people Doe we not read how fatherly and friendly the Prophet Elizeus greeteth the Sunamite after his entertainment 2. Reg. 4. VVhat wouldest thou that I should doe for thee is there any thing to he spoken for you to the King or to the Captaine of the host Nor neede this seem to any man any such a strange duety of religion that Bishops or other Ministers should repaire to Princes to intreate for the distressed Ambrose vndertaking an honorable Embassee for Valentinian the Emperour being yet a child to Maximus the tyrant spake thus in his case as himselfe reporteth to Valentinian in an Epistle VVhom sayth he ought Bishops rather to defend then orphanes For it is written Iudge the cause of the fatherlesse and defend the widow and deliuer him that suffereth wrong and in an other place Ye Iudges of widowes and fathers of fatherlesse As for that which is vrged from the example of the Apostles ther is no childe so simple so to conceiue therof as if when the Apostles had once chosen Deacons the care of the poore and the widow did no more pertayne to them I noted before how the necessity of the poore was commended to Paul and Barnabas after that and we reade how Paul also caried the beneuolence of the Corinthians and other Churches to Hierusalem Wherefore to conclude if it be lawfull as it is for bishops and Pastors and that according to the rules of charitye to imploye their labour in outward affaires and to detract some what from that time which otherwise were to be spent in reading of holy writ and other sacred trauels and that onely for our priuate necessities or our neyghbours what labour shall we thinke too much or what paines not to be performed in the commendable affaires of the King or common wealth for a publique necessity and a greater commodity Chap. XVII What a fee is and what are the conditions thereof NOw it remaineth that I make answere for those Church goods which are held in Fee of which terme before the irruption of the more barbarous nations into into the Romain Empire there was no wher any mention that phrase taking his original frō the Goths Vandals and Longobards What may be the etimology thereof and what is signified thereby the learned at large discourse discusse whose iudgements and opinions it were now too long to repeate But for our purpose this is enough and this is a cleare case that a Fee with the Lombards doth signify a priuiledge
and more-ouer he commandeth that the execution of their iudgements be done by his ciuil iudges By reason of the statute of Praemunire as they call it against the which whosoeuer offend they are punished with is a matter of verie great daunger in England for Church-men to inuade the office of the ciuill Magistrates and therefore there is kept a most circumspeact distinction betweene the affaires of the Ciuil and the Ecclesiastical Court If at anie time anie of the Bishops or anie other of the cleargie are thought meet men to vndertake any ciuill charge they doe it not by the especiall commaundement and commissiō of the King vnder the broad seale of England But those charges are alwayes accompanied with some honour so that they may be accounted rather a help then a hurt to the proceedings of the Gospell as are the offices and dignities of a priuie Counseller a Commissioner a Iustice of peace and such like Neither as I doe thinke will any man of sound iudgement say that those charges are eyther imposed vpon any Cittizen without the chiefe Magistrate or if they be so imposed that they can of any man be deposed or laide aside If any man except that this is more abhorring from the office of a Bishop then was of olde the charge of the poore from the which notwithstanding the Apostles did abdicate themselues because they could not attend vppon that and their owne charge too and therfore vrge that it is not possible for Bishops that they should discharge both charges well for which cause they ought to sequester themselues from the one I answer first that the Apostles did not so far foorth discharge themselues of the poore mans boxe that that they thought it not appertaining to them to haue any further care thereof for they alwayes continued patrons of the poore as doe the Bishops also whom we will not so intangle with ciuill causes that they forsake their owne but that as it especially concerneth their office vpright dealing and sincere charitie may bee maintained among them whose soules health is committed vnto them But how much a godly and diligent Bishop may doe in this matter Austine alone may serue for many examples who wrote so many excellent volumes when as yet he imployed no small part of his time in these troublesome affaires Whose words I will heere infer for that they inforce a sufficient confutation of this their cauill I call the Lord Iesus witnesse to my soule saith hee in whose name I boldly speake these thinges that for so much as concerneth my commoditie I had rather worke euerie day with my hand as it is vsed in wel ordered Monasteries and reserue the other houres free to read and to pray and to exercise my selfe in the Scriptures then to sustaine the tumultuous perplexities of other causes in determining secular controuersies by iudgement or in taking them vp by arbitrement To the which troubles the same Apostle hath appointed vs not of his owne will but of his that spake in him The which notwithstanding we read not that he himselfe susteined for indeed the course of his Apostleship stood not with it Neither did he say If therefore you haue any secular controuersies bring them before vs or appoint vs to giue iudgement of them but those which are least esteemed in the Church set them vp saith he And I speak to your shame is it so that there is not any wiseman among you which can iudge betweene his brother but the brother goeth to lawe with the brother that before infidels Wherfore those wise men which were resiant in some certaine place beeing faithfull and godly not those which discoursed this way and that way for the Gospel sake I say such would hee haue to bee the examiners of those matters For which cause it is no where written of him that he at any time attended vpon any such busines from the which notwithstanding we cannot bee excused albeit wee bee of the number of those which are least esteemed because he would haue those also set vp if wise men were wanting rather then that the controuersies should bee brought into the open and ordinarie Court The which labour notwithstanding we vndertake not without comfort in the Lorde for the hope of eternall life that we may bring forth fruit with patience Thus saith Augustine whose reasons in my iudgement may satisfie any reasonable man verely they satisfie mee neither can I finde anie thing to mislike in this action of his This is one generall maxime in the rules of Christianity That whatsoeuer wee reade in the word of God eyther forbidden beeing not euill of his owne nature or commaunded beeing of it selfe not good in those thinges Christian charitie dispenseth and disposeth of the matter as the time the place and the cause doth require Vnto the which whosoeuer doth refuse to subscribe he doth it of stubborne and froward hypocrisie not of any religion or deuotion he hath of the precept Neyther is the Diuines rule vnknown concerning those things which are bidden or forbidden in the word of God namely That some thinges are forbidden because they are euill and some thinges are euill because they are forbidden suppose for some especiall purpose And againe on the contrary part That there are some things commanded because they are good and some thinges therefore to bee accounted good because they are commaunded by God who requireth such thinges of men for some especiall causes Now those things which are of the first sort and section are vnder a constant and perpetual law and not to be changed by any means but there is not the like condition of the other sort neither do they bind anie man any further then the reason and occasion of the law doth require Examples of this matter wee haue in the obseruation of the Sabaoth and the vse of the Shew-bread of the which it was not lawfull for any man to eate but the Priests onely besides many other things of like nature which we read to be either commaunded or condemned In this our case it is no crime to be a King nor to be a Magistrate a capitall sinne And therfore the reason of the commandement abating the thing it selfe abideth free and it remaineth lawfull for Princes and other Magistrates to be of power to command the Bishops of the Church in a Christian common-wealth those things which would rather be an aide and an ornament then any hurt or impediment to their holy calling I speake of calling in generall not of any one mans calling which haplie may be hindred and shall haue neede of others which may helpe him but of all theirs which are in the same calling vnto whome there ariseth any honour and authoritie from the rest So that if all things be throughly examined and all commodities with all discommodities compared together which may any waies accrue vnto the Church and common wealth I doubt not but that which wanteth in one parte shall be requited
that there had beene no other kingdome to bee expected No doubt the calling and state of the Apostolike function was for iust cause great and honourable and their authoritie in the spirituall kingdome autentike and inpregnable and yet all that did not aduaunce them aboue the state of priuate men in the common-wealth and being priuate hee would not haue them president therein And verely these thinges were thus ordained of GOD in a verie prudent manner and vppon a verie especiall purpose For why should anie occasion bee giuen for the heathen to cauill at the doctrine of the Gospell as a thing seditious to the gouernement and pernitious to the common-wealth The Lord without doubt did in great wisedome foresee that the wicked would bee ready to picke many quarrels at the doctrine of the Gospell when as notwithstanding all this there is no politike Philosophie no imperiall constitution that doth more strictly binde the consciences of men vnto subiection and obedience then the doctrine of the Gospell doth The principles of Philosophie and the lawes of Nations doe permit many thinges against Tyrants which the Religion of Christ doth flatly inhibite But the prudent aduise of this precept of Christ wil more manifestly appeare if wee shall for a time but imagine the contrarie namely that the Apostles had followed that errour in the which they were found and then let vs admit that the whole worlde had beene wonne and wasted by them with warre and robberie for they must of force haue followed that forcible course which that renowmed theefe Mahomet kept a course farre differing from the means and manners of our Sauiour Christ But should not thus the Iewes haue bene confirmed in their errour And should not by these meanes iust cause haue beene giuen to the Kings of the earth to haue armed themselues against Christ and his Gospel After the subuersion of Hierusalem there was a diligent inquisition made by the especiall commandement of Vespasian if anie could bee found that were of the stocke of Dauid For the Iewes notwithstanding their ouerthrowe gaue not ouer their hope still expecting their Messias They did see that the times which Dauid had foretold were then fulfilled and thereupon they did argue that the Messias was borne and that the time was now at hande in the which the Romane Empire should impaire and themselues preuaile The which thing gaue the occasion that so great and cruell a persecution was afterwardes raysed against the same Nation The like we reade of Domitian who had the posteritie of Dauid in no small iealousie For casting the worst and fearing least some new Messias should arise and break the scepter of their Romane Empire he caused inquirie to be made after all that were of that kindred Wherupon one Iocatus by name brought before him the nephews of Iudas who was the Lord his brother according to the flesh who did not only draw their pedegree from Dauid but were thought to be very nearely allyed to the Lord himself But when they were examined what possessions they had and of what wealth they were were found to be of very mean estate the hardnes of their skinnes warranting the labour of their hands and when they further vnderstood howe they beleeued that the kingdome of Christ should not bee an earthly Monarchie but an heauenly Hierarchie neither yet that he should come before the consummation of the worlde to iudge the quicke and the dead They were foorth-with reiected base and simple men and were without suspicion set at libertie In like maner no question the priuate estate of the first Apostles was both a testimonie vnto them of their innocency and a safe conduct among the nations for their security But what would not the Romaine Caesars and other like Magistrates haue doone if the Ministers of the Gospell had bene sent and set forth with power of warre and other abiliments of like power These the precepts of our Sauiour may therefore worthely be alledged against the tyrannique Bishoppe of Rome who chalengeth the right of all Empires and holdeth the Romaine Empire as his proper fee but they cannot be alledged against those Bishops which liue subiect vnto lawes and Magistrates and keepe themselues in a proportionable order with other Cittizens Wherefore where the Gospell of Iesus Christ is honorablie receaued by publique authority how should this abatement of our Sauiour be wrested against all Bishops that they should not be in that reuerend account vnder a Christian Magistrate which the lawes of all nations and euen the very lawe of nature it selfe and the written lawe of God also doth expresly award them As for those places of scripture about the which we now contend this only may be gathered That the Pastors of churches in respect of their ministerie haue no power ouer the bodies or goods of Christians Neither that they can chalenge vnto themselues those rights which God hath placed in the power of the Magistrate onely But that the same Magistrate in no place at no time for no cause may commit no portion of the Common-wealth vnto the Bishoppes of the Church it is not as yet prooued neither can be if I bee not deceiued Chap. XXII That the Pastors of the Church for the necessitie of the Common-wealth may attend some times vpon worldlie affairs IF it bee allowable to detract some part of that time which otherwise were to be imployed in the studie of the Scriptures that the Minister of the Church may the better prouide for the priuate good of his owne familie much more may the same bee conuerted to the good of the Common-wealth the man beeing able to assist the same either by his aid or his aduice Where either the want or the vnwillingnesse of anye Church is such that either it cannot or wil not afforde the Minister his due honour it is lawfull for him to haue recourse vnto the labour of his hands Where-vpon the Elibertine councell often-times pretermitted Bishops Priestes and Deacons to trafficke for their better maintenance The which thing is also allowed by diuerse other Canons which I suppose superfluous to rehearse seeing that one instaunce of Paule may suffice for all But nowe if so bee that priuate necessitie may priuelege the detenee of the Ministerie what may publique necessitie doe And yet if at any time the Minister bee exercised for his priuate commodity in base and wretched busines thereis no man greatly offended with it But if hee bee imployed in any honest and honourable affairs of the Common-wealth now a daies there is no man that dooth not inuie it and inuey against it And whence for Gods-sake is this of deuotion from loue or from enuie I say not these things as if I thought that Bishops or other Pastors were rashly to bee incombred in their holie course But where the necessitie or greater commoditie of the Church or Common-wealth dooth require the same there is nor reason nor religion against it Are not Bishops Cittizens also and
D. SARAVIA 1. Of the diuerse degrees of the Ministers of the Gospell 2. Of the honor vvhich is due vnto the Priestes and Prelates of the Church 3. Of Sacrilege and the punishment thereof The particular Contents of the aforesaide Treatises to be seene in the next Pages Iob. 8. 8. Inquire I pray thee of the former age and prepare thy selfe to learne of the Fathers 9. For we are but of yesterday and are ignorant 10. Shall not they teach thee LONDON Printed by Iohn VVolfe and are to be sold by Iohn Perin at the signe of the Angell in Paules Church-yard 1591. The Contents The first Booke 1 WHat the Ministery of the Gospell is and what be the parts thereof 2 Of ordinary and extraordinary calling to the Ministery 3 Of the twelue Apostles 4 Of the seuenty Disciples 5 Of Prophetes 6 That the names and titles of Apostles Euangelists Prophets were giuen also vnto other Pastors and Doctors of the Church 7 Of Deacons 8 That the Churches in their beginnings had no other Bishops and Elders besides the Apostles them selues their fellow-laborers 9 Of Priests or Pastors and Bishops 10 Of two degrees of Pastors 11 That the doctrine of the Apostles acknowledgeth no annuary Elders to rule onely and not to teach in the Church 12 The place of Ambrose expounded 13 The place of Paul expounded in his first to Timothy the fift Chapter what it is to labour in the word and doctrine 14 That that order is of God which appointeth superior Elders Bishops and that but of man where all Pastors Elders are alike 15 That our Sauiour by no statute repealed the supereminent authority of Pastors among them selues 16 That the forme of the Apostles gouernement did not end with the death of the Apostles 17 That the commaundement To preach the Gospell to all nations the Apostles being now receyued vp into Heauen doth in like manner bind the Church to the which the authority Apostolique is also requisite 18 That the Apostolique authority is as necessary for the conseruing and confirming as for the founding first planting of Churches 19 By testimony of Eusebius his Ecclesiasticall history the former Chapter is confirmed 20 That the authority of Bishops ouer Priestes or Elders is approued by the consort of all Churches throughout the whole world 21 That Bishops are ordained by a diuine institution and Apostolique tradition 22 That it was the opinion of Aerius That there is no difference betweene a Bishop and a Priest which opinion was condemned for an Heresie by the Fathers 23 Hierome his opinion confuted 24 Of one Bishop in one Diocesse 25 Of the names of Patriarches Archbishops and Metropolitanes 26 Of Doctors The second Booke 1 THat by a certaine Law of nature among all nations the Presidentes of Religion were esteemed worthy great honor 2 How great the reuerence of Priestes hath beene in all nations 3 What the honour of the Priesthood was among the people of God 4 Of that double honor which is due vnto those Elders which rule well and the argumentes of those which thinke the contrary 5 An answere to the arguments of the former Chapter 6 That the honour which is giuen to the Pastors of the Church is ioyned with a certaine Religion towardes God 7 Certayne other reasons confuted and the truth confirmed by many testimonies of Scripture 8 That the good examples of our fore-Fathers prescribe a Law to theyr successors 9 That the oblations of Christians are part of Gods worship 10 An aunswere to certaine obiections with the which it is confirmed that the Ministers of the Gospel are worthy no lesse honor then were the Priests of old among the people of God 11 The iudgement of the Fathers concerning the oblations of the faithfull 12 That the Church had no small reuenewes and certayn places in the which they did celebrate theyr assemblies before the time of Constantine 13 A distinction of Church goods 14 That the Prelates of Churches are not maintayned of almes but of the due reward of theyr labours 15 Of those landes which are held in fee and haue annexed with them any ciuill authority or iurisdiction 16 That Bishops and other Pastors are not forbidden to be Lordes of Fees and sometimes to vndertake secular and ciuill charges 17 What a Fee is and what are the lawes and conditions thereof 18 A distinction of Fees 19 An aunswere to the obiection that ciuill iurisdiction outward pompe and honors which are annexed with these Fees doe not agree with the simplicity of the Euangelique Ministery 20 That it is lawfull for Bishops to heare ciuill causes and to determine vppon them 21 An exposition of that place of Luke the two and twenty Chapter 22 That the Pastors of the Church for the necessity of the common wealth may attend some times vppon worldly affaires 23 That diuerse functions are not confounded albeit vndertaken of one man 24 That Dauid and Solomon vsed the aide of Priests and Leuites in ciuill affaires 25 Theyr error confuted that think no ciuill affaires of the common wealth ought to be committed to the Bishops and Pastors of the Church 26 That wher the Church is the common wealth the same man as Bishop may take charge of the Church for the Lord Iesus and render fealty and obeisance to the king as one that holdeth by faith and homage 27 An other argument against the endowment of Fees confuted 28 Of the honorable titles which are giuen vnto Bishops 29 Of the Bishops family and retinue 30 Whether it be better for Ministers to liue of the stipends of the Magistrate or rather of the oblations of the faithfull 31 The Stipendaries cald to account and confuted 32 Certain reasons why Stipendaries are disproued The third Booke 1 OF Sacrilege the punishment therof 2 What Sacrilege is 3 The reasons with the which they commonly excuse theyr Sacrilege 4 An aunswere to the reasons of the former Chapter 5 A distinction of those Church goods which the Church of Rome possesseth at this day 6 That the goods of Monasteries are not al of one kind 7 That it is another thing to come from Paganisme to Christianity then to come from Popery or some other Heresie 8 How greeuous and incurable the sin of Sacrilege is 9 Certaine examples of Gods vengeance against Sacrilegious persons FINIS To the Reader YOu will say what neede all this wast this labour might haue beene well spared For seing the same argument hath ben handled long since and of late learnedly and at large by men of our ownes what neede this foraine ayde In such aboundance of wits and writings to transport Sarauia out of Latine into English is to bring owles to Athens and to carry stickes to the wood as it is in the Prouerbe True it is the cause hath ben vndertaken long since but it was late first and of late but it was long first And the same hath ben maintayned learnedly enough if not with learning too much
and it hath ben handled at large also yet all little enough Such is the female misconceit of the lasciuious malecontent and the male miscontent of the learned ignoraunt of this age euer learning and neuer able to come to the knowledge of the truth Notwithstanding seeing in the iudgement of the most wise and best learned this Germane Booke seemed for sound iudgement inferiour to none and for graue discourse equall to any it was therfore thought by them an action no lesse commodious to the people then commendable to the Author that he who in the causes of present controuersie hath propounded his iudgement vnto all shoulde haue his iudgement expounded vnto vs. The which although it hath beene curstly censured by a certaine suspicious and suspected Criticke emulous of his betters credite who in his professed lectures hath vsed the remembraunce of his name in disdaine with Sarauia nescio quis Yet his best auditors there and others his betters elsewhere haue found this difference betweene Sarauia and him that besides his great learning and no lesse experience of the which this great Censor neuer had the one neuer will haue the other Sarauia hath made knowen to him and the whole world by this his resolute definitiue who he is whereas the other in one whole tearme hath so behaued himselfe in the same cause that albeit wee all know who he is yet we could neuer tell where to finde him So hoppeth he betweene the stone and the Altar that as a man distract betweene feare and flattery he maketh vp his doubtfull resolution with this harmelesse confession Sentio quod sentio quod nescio I know what I know what I doe not know I but now we see the aduerse part partly by theyr lawlesse outrage and partly by theyr lawfull restraint to be nowe as impotent in their faction as they are odious in their opinion to be at this time as vnable as they were at all times vnworthy to preuaile and then what neede we any longer striue when the ennemy can no longer stand I aunswer that their increase was seene long since to be at the full and their credite appeareth euen now to be in the Waine For the which as we are to giue God thankes who in taking Iustice vpon some of them hath taken pitty vpon the whole Church so likewise are we to pray for the rest that in good time we may see eyther theyr speedy amendement or their present preferment For it is time O Lord that thou haue mercy vppon Sion yea the time is come Notwithstanding in the meane time wee haue entertained this profered aide not so much to inuade the seditious brethren or to bring home the resolued recreant as to strengthen the godly Subiect and to bring forward the well affected Protestant With the which if any man finde himselfe agreeued let him shew for it but so that Sarauia may vnderstand what he saith For my part if I haue conceiued him right the fruite is yours if I haue deliuered him not right the fault is mine Sure I am the Author meant you well and my Authors And so doe I. The Translator TO THE MOST REuerend father in Christ John by the prouidence of God Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Primate of al England and Metrapolitane To the renovvmed and most honored Heroicke Sir Christopher Hatton Knight of the most noble order of the Garter and high Chauncellour of England As also to the noble and right honorable Sir William Cecill Baron of Burghley Knight of the most noble order of the Garter and high Treasurer of England of her Maiesties most Honorable priuy Counsell my very good Lordes true felicity THe auncient receiued custome of dedicating books to men of name and authority is growne and grounded vppon many reasons great waighty all which it shal be needelesse for me to reuise in this place But for my part there are chiefly three causes mouing me to consecrat this my small trauell to you the most Honorable and honored of me my good Lordes First that thereby I might testifye vnto you the duety and deuotion of a loyall and gratefull minde towards you that find my selfe seuerally and singularly bound vnto you all and euery one of you For first one of you vppon my repaire into England disdained not to entertaine me a stranger with no straunge countenance and straunge courtesie The other also dained to accept me vnworthy into his owne family And the other of his especiall fauour brought to passe that by her Maiesties priuiledge and preferment I might be made of a forreiner a freeman of an alien a Cittizen And seeing I haue receiued all these fauours without any deede or desert of mine God thou knowest mine vnworthines I were but too ingrate and vnkinde if I should bury in darke and deepe silence your so rare and religious demerites But whereas I haue no other thing to render or repay vnto your Honors but a mine of thanks and a thankfull minde that mind wil I alwaies beare and that duety in minde so that I will not cease to worship the sacred memory of your religious loue towardes me Another cause is the very nature of the argumente I vndertake the which I could not well prosecute without some particular mention of the Church of England In the which seeing I haue now my part and portion of a pastoral prouince and praised be the Lord my lotte is fallen vnto me in a faire ground might I not seeme vnmindfull of my good neglecting my duty if when I vndertake the cause of those Churches which are alien and outlandish I should ouerslip the state of mine own Church now gremiall to me and mere English But when mine hearts desire and praier to God is that I may some waies benefite my countreymen if I forget thee O Ierusalem And yet if I should forget my duety herein the meere alliance and relation of the matters them selues is such and so great as that by ordinary course of necessary consequence I must be inforced to inferre and praefer the mention thereof in my bookes But because I am but new made of Flemish sterling that is of Outlandish English it may be happely that they which are home-bred will thinke I deale not wel with them to deale with them and that I meddle too farre when I come so neare For which cause I thought it necessarye for mee to commend and commit my selfe vnto your Honorable patrocinie that this stranger book might freely passe vnder your safe conduct Neither shall it grieue me much though it be vniustly cast by most voices if it may iustly passe your accoumpt neither shall it hurt me much though the inraged multitude in disordered throngs cast stones at mee only if your Honors vouchsafe to giue me the white stone But the last cause is for that I am in some doubt how this discourse will be taken of them for whose sakes especially it was vndertaken For it is to be feared that they
nestled with this as if with that one word he had vtterly ouerthowen that equality which they expected in the French churches and which they thought requisite in all Ministers O griefe to me they made knowen their griefe and pittifull complaining they complained to me thereof But what should I heere do defend him I dared not and yet I liked well the cause of his opinion least I should incur the like suspicion of aspiring thoughts But from that time forwarde that conference gaue mee occasion to search and sift out more narrowlye those matters by my selfe And that which then happened to me I doubt not but is incident to many others with me who in wisedome see also and consider that the authority of Bishops is greatly wanting in ours and al Churches There are some which can indure nor equall nor superiour I giue God thanks I can see my superiour without enuy and sustaine my inferior without contempt But now seeing I am heere in England no man can chalenge my affection as guiltie of a Bishoppricke or as if I seeke dominion ouer my brethren the calling I affect but not to be called And therefore now I dare more boldly and will more freely speake what I thinke then before I thought it requisite neither was it conuenient when I conuersed among brethren neuer-a better Yea but I may seeme in this action to sooth vp the Byshops and seeke their countenance countenance nay then must I seeke further and neuer look the Bishops in the face whose condition in this thankles age is more subiect to the enuie and obliquie of men then my selfe am And indeed if that were all and all but so little it were the part of a warie child and him that would husband his credite to make the most of it rather with safetie and silence to say nothing and with patience and pollicy to expect the issue of these things The which I dare saye I also could haue doone as well as others without displeasure to my selfe or disfauour to anie But what moued me God knoweth men may construe my fact as themselues affect but it is the Lord that iudgeth my soule Notwithstanding let the curteous Reader conceiue my meaning in few words I desire to benefite the churches alreadie and to be reformed to extirpate Scisme where it is rooted and to preuent it where it is rising He that thinketh this cannot be done by these meanes shall haue his own saying for me but yet the euent of things mother of fooles will one day make it plaine howe good and profitable my meaning was and in the meane while the Church if it beware not maye receiue that detriment which it cannot repaire The ground of our saluation is to know God whom hee hath sent Iesus Christ our Lorde and Sauiour the Bishop of of our soules But as in euerie thing which men goe about whether weauing caruing or any other craft of the which either the Citie or the ciuill Magistrate hath any care that it should bee well done there must bee a decent order kept and a diligent ouer-sight had of the works the which by how much the more curious it is by so much the things themselues doe flowrish the better and continue the longer So likewise in Religion the same order and ouer-sight ought to be had if we wil haue the same to flowrish amongst vs or to continue pure and intemerate for euer But that al men doe not agree about the maner of ordering and gouerning the Church why should that trouble the quiet of anie peace-able man Doe yee not know that the more profitable and necessarie a thing is to bee vsed the more lets and delaies are made by the enemy either to infect or els to interrupt the vse thereof Was there euer at any time anie thing so cleare and manifest among men that was out of all controuersie How then knowest thou this that thou knowest nothing Or how commeth it in question among men whether a man seeth or doth that which in very deede hee both seeth and doth Without controuersie there is no part of Philosphie or precept of Diuinitie no point of Religion which hath not bene called into controuersie This sore traueile hath God giuen to the sonnes of men that they might be exercised therein But the vanitie of mans will detracteth nothing from the veritie of anie thing And therefore goe to gentle Reader be doing with the sequell and doe well by it THE PRAEAMBLE THe surprising of the Bishop of Rome his tyrannie to whose scepter a croisier all churches and kingdomes and empires were enthralled is now of late growen so hotte that now a daies all Primacie and the name of Primacie is found guiltie not guiltie and thought worthie to bee exiled the Church of Christ wisely For by that meanes all the tyrranie of Prelates may be subdued But they are farre wide in my iudgement The Tarquines once exiled Rome the very name of King becam odious amōg them as if for-sooth with the name of those tyrants tyrannie had ceased But were they not afterwardes and then iustlie thralled and threshed as men thresh corne with more more kinds of tyranny then if they had retained still the soueraine name of Kings and their princely authoritie Neither indeed is there any tyrāny at all in the name of a King but in the nature of a Tarquine And the like wee may iustlie say in this action that the pride and tyranny with the which the Church of Christ was wearied and wasted was not in the Primacie of Bishops and Archbishoppes but in the persons which did abuse their authoritie and going beyond their commission extended the bounds of their Prouince further then might lawfully stand with the modestie and moderation of christian Religion by which meanes indeede the power of Rome is become excessiue and insupportable But shall I now vppon this bare presumption indite of tyranny the more auncient forme of Church pollicie and so many godly men or rather Gods amongst men of rare learning sincere liues and sound Religion Or shall I condemne of error those sacred and religious Synodes in the which holy men of God did ratifie that auncient pollicie of the Church which with reuerence as they ought they receiued of their godlie predecessors Farre bee that sinne from my thoughts as far as is this impure age from their perfections For albeit I am not ignorant that both Fathers and Councels may erre if they enact against the will and word of God notwithstanding it followeth not that therefore they erred in this But if so be we were thus equally affected towards others and our selues that as we know a natural infirmitie to be vniuersallie infused in the natures of all men so with all we wold acknowledge the same to be particularlie imprised in our selues also we would then more diligently search and prie into the reprehension of our selues rather then of others But now it is far otherwise with vs. Is
there anye thing in the Fathers for some especiall cause moouing vs misliked of vs By and by we haue this theoreme at our fingers end We must remember they were but men and because men may easilie erre we muster whatsoeuer we mis-conceiue of them among the errors of that age In the meane while wee neuer remember our selues that we also are but men and therfore may erre with them yea we are such men neither are we exempt from the common infirmitie of men who may then er when we thinke amisse of them and in that verie thing may wee erre for the which we condemne them This is once that against the constant and consonant conclusions of the ancient church we ought not to attempt or admit anie innouation without a plaine commission from Gods holie writ and this also I dare boldly say that whosoeuer taketh away al authoritie from the Fathers he leaueth none for himselfe Indeed it must bee confessed that the Fathers were men and that they had their wrinckles yet can it not be denied that to haue our Fathers to bee our Patrons in the principal points of faith and externe pollicy of our church things controuerted betweene the Popelings and vs is a matter of no small moment and of especiall account And albeit the vniforme consent of Gods children from the Apostles times vnto this day may not be compared with the eternall word of God Notwithstanding of right it may come in and stand for the second place The custome of gods people receiued of all Churches thorow out the whole world is in maner of a lawe sacred and inuiolable Neither is there any likelihood that there could euer haue beene an vniuersall consort of all Churches and ages without either the authoritie of gods word or the tradition of the Apostles Notwithstanding for as much as no consent no custome no auncient prescription can or ought to preuaile in the Church of Christ against the word of God Therefore those reasons are to be weighed and those Scriptures to bee examined which mooued the Fathers to intertaine and continue that Church gouernment which our newe reformers will in no case agree vpon that we may certainelie know whose is the error theirs or ours The time hath bene when no good men disallowed of Bishops and Archbishops but now in despite of the Popes tyranny his complices it is come to this passe that their very names are called into question and that of diuerse men for diuerse causes Some because they are as they suppose the deuises of Antichrist or his fore-runners thinke them vnworthie thee Church and worthie to be cast ouer-boorde Others yet more modest in some reuerence of antiquitie thinke they may be borne with all for a time although in the mean time they allow not of them vntill such time as commodiouslie the names may bee antiquate with the thinges themselues In the meane while for that they know neither can they be ignorant to what singular effect the Church of God hath bin gouerned by graue and godlye Bishops they haue not the face to condemne them openly yet because they see certaine reformed Churches of this age to be gouerned without Bishops It is enugh they haue not the power any longer to tollerat the more auncient gouernment O the regiment of Pastors and Elders passing all antiquitie our soules haue longed for thee and we haue a desire vnto thee for that thou alone art grounded vppon the Lord Iesus his institution and thou if any art wholy purified of all tyranny and ambition O but by your leaue good brethren the shadowe you imbrace is no substance neither is the plot you conceaue a priueledged place Are you so far in loue with your liuelesse Pigmalion the worke of your owne hands I know who is not hee hath reason for his why not For neither is your newe draught of straunge gouernement sufficientlye prooued by the word of God neither is it yet or can at any time bee confirmed by the example of our Elders And how should it if we should iudge aright of it seeing it was partly vnknowen vnto them as a thing insolent and not heard of and partlie condemned of them as a thing Heriticall and not approoued of Wherefore to speake the plaine truth without flatterie or partialitie I thinke of this new forme of Church gouernment as some thinke of our Bishops regiment Namely that it is but a deuise of mans conceit and there to be tollerated where a better cannot bee obtained And contrariwise that which is disallowed of some as deuised by man seemeth vnto me to bee the verie ordinance of God and the onely true gouernment of the Church as that which hath his institution from God not only in the old but in the new Testament But because it is defiled with the manifolde abuses of men that which were to be layd vppon the person is imputed to the function as if forsooth no such miscariage might befall this their nouell kinde of gouernement The Romish Antichrist with his Bishops Archbishops Patriarches and Metropolitanes hath so troubled and intangled the Church of Christ that tyranny it selfe is thought to bee masked vnder those honest and honorable titles It is most true He that is once stong of a Serpent suspecteth euery stone and once bitten of a dog is affraid of euery cur Some therefore that they might apply some remedy to this maladie haue reuersed those names and yet retained the same things and for Bishops haue anoynted Superintendents and for Archbishops generall or prouinciall Superintendents as if the controuersie were not for the thing it selfe but for names sake But wise as we are seeing the signification of wordes is variable and voluntarie when we agree in truth what neede these garboyles about termes If the formes of gouernment which are signified by those termes are contained in gods worde Is there anie reason or sense that in disgrace of those names these formes should not be retained of vs If any man obiect that in the gouernment of Bishops there are many corruptions I make no question of that So wee might cauill with the gouernment of the ciuill Magistrate hath it not his corruptions Haue they not their infirmities Yet was there neuer anye that had his fiue wits who thought that a sufficient reason to remooue those from their place that are president in the state Wherefore our question is not how the Bishops haue abused their authoritye but whether the Lorde hath so forbidden this their Primacy that there may bee nor Pastor ouer Pastor nor Bishop ouer Bishop in the outward pollicie of the Church As for the rest if any will accuse the Bishops or their Consistories either of neglect dutie or corrupt dealing no man will be their hinderance why they may not prosecute that and persecute them before the chiefe Magistrate I take not vppon mee the apologie of anie Bishop I am not so worthie they are not so weake as that they need my Patrocinie
daies did euer either so think or write The Fathers haue testified in their writinges what they receiued of their fore-fathers that Iames an Apostle was ordained of the rest Bishoppe of Ierusalem The which thing also seemeth to haue bene done vpon iust and necessarie occasion namely for the necessary good of the Church For when as that was the mother of all other churches that the Iews resorted thither out of al the parts of the world it ought not but to haue an Apostle resiant among thē so long as might be who might resolue the brethren in such doubtes as were likely to arise among them Although indeede to pilgrime through diuers regions to preach the gospel is most properly appertaining to the office of an Apostle so that they may not abide in one place but where necessitie requireth As therefore the Apostles discharged the duty of a Bishop when as they took vpon them the particuler charge of some on special church namely when the necessity of the church vniuersall did so require neither did thinke they did anye thing therin contrarie to their Apostolik calling so likewse if that which wholy pertaineth to the Apostles be cōmitted to the Bishops it need not seme a thing either vnreasonable or not profitable when the good order of church gouernement doth require the same But whereas the Canon sayth that we should keepe the old custome not the Lords institution it may seme that the power of Patriarks crept into the church of a contrarie custome rather then of any diuine institution I answere that the canon doth not gaine-say that the power Apostolique in church-gouernment was not left vnto the church of the Apostles but that besides or aboue the rest these or they shuld inioy it as namely he of Antioch Alexandria Ierusalem Rome that indeed was of the mere custome and at the sole disposition of the church For those particular Bishops did not receiue their Apostolique power immediatly from GOD as did the Apostles but from the church and by the church the which as it is not restrained to any certaine situate places or persons citties or Bishops so neither is the autority Apostolik Who doubteth but that the Nicen coūcell or any other like to that might haue translated the Patriarkie of the Romain BB. to some other place haue giuen it to the BB. of Rauenna or of Aquiline for good cause if their had bene any The like I say of the Patriarks of Antioch and Alexandria But that the councels of Bishops had this authority they declared then sufficiently when as they made him of Constantinople com-peer in all things with him of Rome By the which also it may euidently apeare that the prerogatiue of the power Apostolique was not giuen by succession but as it was best befitting the commodity of the church by those especial cities And therfore in that the Canon giueth that to custome it doth not therby take from it the diuine institution But that I may return to the next successors of the Apostles and Euangelists Titus and Timothy and the rest whom sacred writ recordeth were ioyned with the Apostles as assistants that they were Bishops had charge of many churches the most ancient and authentike tradition approoueth the same neither are those thinges so far at variance betweene themselues as some would haue them to be a Bishop to do the worke of an Apostle or an Euangelist For this is the common consent of all the fathers that the office of a Bishop and an Apostle or Euangelist are all one onely that the office of the one is more ample and augustious Cyprian in his 10. epistle writeth thus The Deacons ought to remember the Lord himself did chuse Apostles that is Bishops Prelats but the Apostles themselues ordeined them Deacons after hee was receiued vp into heauen Thus saith Cyprian out of whose words we may learne that a Bishoprick is an Apostleship as also an Apostleship is a kind of bishopricke Herevpon the Apostle Peter in the Acts calleth the Apostleship of Iudas a bishopricke And in like maner speaketh Augustine For no man is ignorant saith he that our Sauior ordeined bishops in the church For before he ascended into heuen he layd his hands vpon his Apostles made them bisheps And Ambrose vpon that in the 4. to the Ephesians some were giuen to the church Apostles writeth thus The Apostles are BB. but the Prophets are expounders of the scriptures which may now be called Priests For in a BB all the orders are contained becaus he is first a priest who is chiefe of ths priests and a Prophet an Euangelist to the furnishing of the rest of the offices of the church Theodoret also vpō the 1. to Tim. cap. 3. saith thus Of old they called the same men Priests and BB. but those that are now called BB. they then called Apostles but long since they left the name of Apostles to thē which were indeed apostles but the additiō of BB. they imposed vpon such as of old were called Apostles so was Epaphroditus the Apostle of the Philip so Titus of the Cretensians Timothy of Asia All the fathers which succeeded the Apostles were not of opinion that the forme of gouernement they had receiued of the Apostles should euer haue bene altered or exauterate the which verelye they could neuer haue perswaded themselues had they knowen that the gouernement of Titus and Timothie had bene but Temporarie and Extraordinarie But is it credible nay is it possible that Timothie Titus and others vnto whome the like prouince was demised should be ignoraunt of this themselues Augustine expounding that in the 44. Psalme Instead of thy Fathers thou shalt haue children sheweth that our Bishoppes inherited the Apostles as children their fathers And were it not a point of frontles and vngracious in solencie to deny that our fathers had their Bishops and Prelats euen from the Apostles times and a part of needles and superfluous diligence to proue a thing so manifest I might easilie and would willingly staie vpon the citing summoning of many more fathers vntil we were fully compassed with a cloud of witnesses But this is not the question but rather it is nowe doubted whether the ordinance of Bishops bee of God or of men as an order that slipt into the church rather of humaine custome then diuine cōstitution Wherfore of things confessed granted let vs decide and determin things doubted and in question That Bishops are ordained by a diuine institution and Apolique tradition Chap. XXI THere is nothing more certaine then this That the Apostles ordained nothing in the Church which they receiued not of the Lord. But they created Bishops as Titus and Timothie wheresoeuer need was in the Church And indeed had not the Apostles created Bishops as they dispersed themselues thorough out the whole worlde how could euer the calling of Bishoppes haue bene so vniuersallie approoued by so general an assent of all
there euer Nation so barbarous nor was there euer people so sauage which could liue without Religion take away Religion and take away all ciuilitie from men all seueritie from lawes There are many partes in a common-wealth vnto the which for great cause there are great honours giuen especially to prowesse Martiall of the which albeit the vse bee great yet is it for no great time But the vse of Religion is eternall There may bee a state without a Soldiour not without a Minister The vse of a Soldiour is farre from perpetuall the lesse the better the more seldome the more welcome but Religion is euerlasting and can neuer bee casseered But what should I compare the Ministerie of Religion with other mysteries in the common-wealth which all haue their deserued honours They all must vnuaile to Religion whether you respect the excellencie or the necessitie or the commoditie of that mysterie Wherefore that so notable and necessarie a function to the state should want honour in the common-wealth it wanteth common reason All Nations were euer of this minde and opinion that they thought the Presidents of Religion were alwayes to bee chosen from among the chiefe Nobilitie or if haplie they were not by byrth Noble then they were to bee innobled by the common-wealth But that the consent of all Nations in anie one thing is the verie lawe of Nature it was verie well defined by that excellent learned Orator Tullie who could very well define against the which now at the last to striue and storme vnder the colour of reformation is rather an outrage then an errour to be conuicted of frenzie rather then to be suspected of follie Did euer precept of our Sauiour crosse and incounter either the law which himself gaue vnto the Fathers or the Edict which nature God I meane hath giuen and ingrafted in the secret penitralles of al their successors Chap. II. How great the reuerence of Priests hath beene among all Nations I Will therefore remember vnto you in how great honour the worshippers of false Religions haue alwaies had their Priests in all places that their follie may the rather appeare who I know not with what religion would detract due honour from true religion For albeit the Caldees Persians Aegyptians Greekes Latines French Britons and all other Nations haue by diuerse errors and most detestable superstitions declined from that first and sincere religion which our first parentes left to their posteritie yet notwithstanding there alwayes remained many impressions as yet vncancelled and they not concealed as are these That the world is gouerned by the diuine prouidence of the eternall Godhead and that the same ruleth ouer all earthly thinges that whatsoeuer is good proceedeth from him and whatsoeuer is euill is declined by him and therefore that he is to be religiously worshipped and therefore the sacred symysts of his religion are especially to bee honoured And thus it came to passe that among the Assyrians and Babilonians their Caldies among the Medes and Persians their diuines were alwaies of singular account and supereminent authority for why They were the gouernors of religion and the expositors of the law both sacred prophane To which ende they were exercised from their youth in all learned and liberall sciences they did comprehend the motions of the heauens and deuined by the errours of the stars they read and learned and taught Religion rites and lawes they were compeers with kings in their gouernment so that nothing was done without their councel and consent Finally of so great esteeme was the discipline of the Wise-men among the Medes and Persians as that hee was not thought worthy the Empire that was not found skilfull in theyr Artes and Emblemes Theseus was the first that put a difference betweene Nobles whom he called Patritians and husband men and Artificers to the Nobles hee gaue power and preheminence to professe religion to chuse Magistrates of their own companie and also to moderate and interprete in matters sacred and diuine This law their posteritie as they receiued it of their ancestors so they obserued it very religiously By which meanes it came to passe that great reuerence was alwaies giuen both to the sacrifices and to all other their religious actions Neither could their Priests want their due parts of that diuine reuerence whom they alwayes selected out of the noblest families and who were euer one in their publique Councels For as if God himselfe was present vnto whom we ought not to thinke that there is any thing vnknowne euen so in the presence of the sacred Priestes did they propound all their more serious actions namely the diuines among the Athenians and the south-sayers sitting in counsell with the King among the Lacedemonians Strabo in his twelfth booke writeth of two Temples sacred to Bellona which were called Comana of whom the one was in Capadocia the other in Pontus both alike in all partes for that indeede they were one made by the other and had altogether the same rites and ceremonies common to them both In those places either of the Priestes were in greatest regard of honour next vnto the King himselfe and albeit they were subiect to the prince yet where the people suppliant them They had either of them six thousand seruants which were called Hierodulists or Church seruants besides no small quantitie of land ouer the which they were free Lords Twise euery yeare did the Prelate were a diademe the Prince and Priests for the most part being of the same family Plato in his booke deregno confirmeth these thinges and sayth that it becommeth all men to conceiue honourably of the Priests and Prophets and that they ought of right to be had in great estimation as wel for the greatnes of their actions as the honour of their office Wherefore saith he in Aegypt it is not lawfull for that King to sway the scepter that holds not of the Crosyer Insomuch that if any either by prowesse or by policie haue inuaded the kingdom who is not of that holy kind notwithstanding afterwards there is no remedie he must be initiated into that mystery And not there only but in many places amongst the Graecians also a man may find where the chiefe sacrifices are committed to the chiefe Magistrates Neither is this which I maintaine lesse manifest among your selues for you also aduance the most magnificent rites especially the auncient sacrifices to him that by lotte is chosen your King The same Philosopher in his twelfth Dialogue de legibus speaketh much of that honour which then and of old was giuen vnto Priestes both deade and liuing as well in their publike assemblies as at their solemne funerals The Romans and Latins were no whit inferiour eyther to the Greeks or to the Aegyptians in this behalfe for they also ioyned the sacred Priesthood with the royall Maiestie All the first Kings of the Latins Romans were Priests The Emperors also which afterwards succeeded them would themselues be the
well pleased Howsoeuer therefore prophane men make small account of that honour which is due vnto the Elders notwithstanding that the same is sacred and to bee compared with the sacrifices which were offered of olde in the Lords Temple it is apparantly manifest by the manifold testimonies of Scripture CHAP. VII Certaine other reasons confuted and the truth confirmed by manie testimonies of Scripture BVt it shall not bee amisse for vs to see in this place how farre out of all order the frenzie of certaine vngodly men will hurrie it selfe who will not onely not deigne to contribute of their owne to the Ministers but they hardly vouchsafe them those honest stipends which they pay vnto them out of the robberies of their owne Churches Out of that one example of Paule they thinke they may set the Minister to plough and harrow or whatsoeuer mannuarie drudgerie that by this meanes all sacred studie might languish and the little flocke of Christ being left desolate of learned Pastors might lie open to the rapine torture of foxes and cater-pillers and wolues of all sortes There is no great neede say they of any great store of Learning in a Minister it is enough if with a little zeale and a few good wordes they can exhort the people to a certaine kind of verbal deuotion and for this the Bible is extant in the mother toong as for the deepe-sprung-brestes of the learned Muses it sufficeth diuines if they may get but a smacke of them by the way or sucke them as through an hardle O diuine wisedome Christ in thy Fathers bosome is not this with that recreant Iulian to enuy thy Christian people the liberall Artes And that which not And thou seest it But let vs returne to Paule who in an Epistle to the Corinthians recounteth of the labour of his handes by the which hee got his owne liuing as a prayse to himselfe and a reproch to the Corinthians shall it followe of this that all Ministers of the Gospell ought to doe the like for so they thinke But now can not I tell whether I shal rather disclaim the impudencie or disdaine the ignorance of these men seeing the Apostle himselfe doth plainely resolue that hee did more in that case then he needed and lesse then hee might For had he not as great right to put them to as great charges as did the other Apostles But for certaine causes hee would not and therefore spared them But who seeth not heere that this the commemoration of the Apostle is a certaine exprobation vnto the people of that dutie they neglected So long as that Epistle shall bee read among men that shame will sticke fast to the Corinthians that they suffered so excellent an Apostle to want in so plentifull a Cittie Doubtlesse therefore it is but too too bad dealing both with Paule and with vs to vrge that which the Apostle was vrged to doe once or twise vpon occasion of necessitie that he might offend no man or least any being offended should say or thinke he preached the Gospell not so much for the loue of religion as for the hope of reward and to passe ouer as neuer seene the more autentike examples of other Apostles and of Paule also himselfe who else where openly testifieth that the Churches had abundantly ministred vnto him all thinges necessary that hee also freely exacted the same thing of them and that of dutie as in the fourth to the Philippians from the tenth verse to the twentie and to Philemon from the eight verse to the nineteene But what is the reason may we thinke that that one place of the Corinthes should bee so much noted which maketh mention of the labour of the Apostle his handes and that notable place of the Actes should bee so little spoken of where it is reported that the faithfull layde the price of their possessions at the Apostles feete and that they left all their substance in their handes And why is not that example of Ananias and Saphira as well quoted who for detracting somewhat of the price of their owne landes were seuerely punished by present death Ingrating couetousnes no doubt and irreligious ingratitude hath made them there as quicke sighted as Argus but here as bleare-eyed as Oules so that thereat they stare herein they are starke blind But that the intoxicate frenzie of these men may appeare the more outragious it shall well requite our paines if in this place we make regarde to the Euangelike precepts of Christ in this cause In the tenth of Mathew and the tenth of Luke wee reade and wee may remember how the Lorde when hee had sent his Apostles to preach the Gospell gaue them authoritie to feede vpon those things that they found amongst the faythfull The labourer saith hee is worthie of his reward And Paule in his first Epistle to Timothie the fift chapter The Elders which rule well sayth he are worthie of double honour especially they which labour in the worde and doctrine For the Scripture saith Thou shalt not mussle the mouth of the Oxe which treadeth out the corne And in his first Epistle to the Corinthians the ninth chapter from the fift verse to the fifteene he maketh a plaine and a plentifull demonstration by seuen seuerall argumentes that they which preach the Gospell ought to liue of the Gospell His first reason is taken from the Soldiour That no man goeth to warre-fare of his owne costes and charges The second is drawne from the husbandmen Who if they plant a vine it is reason that they should eate of the fruite of the vine The third is borrowed of the shepheard Who feed their flockes and are fedde by their flockes And that no man should thinke the Apostle spake of affection he addeth Say I these thinges according to man Namely as a man moued with auarice or carryed away with couetousnesse Nay then he prouoketh of his side the law it selfe which alwayes inioyned vs a certaine ciuilitie and semblable kindnes euen vnto brute beastes if they doe vs any seruice that wee may well knowe how much rather wee ought to performe the same towards men I say towardes men which aboue all men deserue well of all men And this is the fourth argument in that place which he amplifieth by the similitude of him which ploweth and thresheth out the corne for the commoditie thereof It is written in the law of Moses sayth he Thou shalt not mussle the mouth of the Oxe that treadeth out the corne Doth God take care for Oxen eyther sayth hee not this altogether for our sakes for our sakes no doubt it is written that hee which eareth should eare in hope and that he which thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope The fift argument is drawne from them which sowe corne in hope to make a good haruest If we haue sowne to you sayth he spirituall thinges is it a great thing if wee reape your carnall thinges There is no proportion at
manner is changed but the kinde remaineth ther is not the like order in circumstance but the same ordinance in substance of the office The chiefe parts of the Priests function were these to teach religion to interprete the law to gouerne the Church to administer the Sacraments to stande between God and the people to make sacrifice to purge sins All which parts albeit our Lord and Sauiour hath only wholly discharged and some of them also so peculiarly improued to himselfe as that they cannot be imparted with any mortall thing besides him selfe yet notwithstanding he hath made many of them of that nature as that without any disparagement to his person they might be left in common to others In deede no sinner can bee made a sufficient mediator between God and man Neyther can he which is not pure from the guilt of sinne him selfe expiat with bloud the sinnes of man or auert by death the wrath of God The auncient Priests bare the figure onely of those more then diuine functions but the thing it selfe was in Christ alone And therfore whosoeuer at this day shal challenge to himself the one of these committeth blasphemy against Christ But as the Lord did nothing in derogation of his heauenly dignity when he gaue power vnto all christians to offer spirituall sacrifice namely the sacrifice of praise and praier c. For al they which in a true faith worship God are made Kings and Priests euen so likewise without any prophanation of his peculiar Priesthood hath he committed the other parts thereof which I touched before namely the teaching of religion the expounding of the law the ministring of the Sacraments the gouerning of the Church and such like I say he hath graunted and demised these and such like parts of his diuine Priesthood to his Apostles Chuch ministers who in this respect may participat the honor of the old Priesthood without impiety may also be called Priests without gealosie The which name although in the first age of the Church we doe not read that it was giuen to the Ministers of the Church least happely the Ministers of the olde Synagogue the new Church might be confounded For as yet the old Priesthood remayned or the flesh memory thereof continued yet afterwards the Fathers did not amis when they renewed the same againe in themselues the Prophet Esay being their author the spirit of God their warrant who diuined long before that God should raise to him selfe Priests Leuits out of the Gentiles Neyther is there any daunger at all in the name at this day were it not for the sacrilege of the Bishop of Rome who hath set vp Altar against Altar Priesthood against Priesthood the sacrifice of the Masse against the sacrifice of Christ inuading by all meanes those partes of the Priesthood which are peculiar to Christ alone of which matter we are not to speake in many words at this time Briefly this we desire may be made knowen to all that we detest the impiety of the Romaine Antichrist for so much as pertaineth to this part of the Priesthood we acknowledge no other Priest but the Lord Iesus In the other parts which we haue noted wee hold that the Apostles other Pastors of the church haue lawfully vndertaken the dignity as of their legacy so of the Priesthood also Now then I ioyne more chosely with them for the issue of their whole argument answere That whatsoeuer in the leuiticall Priestood did fore-shadow the office of Christ is vtterly abolished by the bloudshed of Christ of the which no part may be vsurped by any mortall man Againe that the rites ceremonies outward pomp of the Priesthood as wel in the ornature of the body as the ordinaunce of tithes as they were then challēged are togither deceased by the same meanes but yet that honor which was due to thē in regard of the worthines of theyr holy ministery is by no means impaired perished much lesse The Priesthood of Aaron being abrogated the rights of that Priesthood after their seuerall manner are also abrogated and with them the ministery of the Church is translated from the Tribe of Leuy to the company of Apostles and their successors In whom seeing all things which merit any Honor are greater then they which were in the Leuiticall Priests doth it not necessarily follow that a christiā doth owe no lesse honor to his Pastor then the Iew did perform to his Priest I confesse the duty of tithes oblations after that manner and order they were offered vnder Moyses are ceased vnder Christ Not that christiā people should be lesse bounteous towardes their Pastors then were the Iewish nation towards their Priests but rather that the free people should exceede the seruile and that a christian should doe that of his owne accord which the Iew did by constraint For where as christians haue receyued of the Lord not onely the like graces but farre greater blessings then the Iewes and seeing the Ministery of them whom the Lord hath set ouer his church is in nothing inferior or lesse necessary then the Ministery of the law of force if not rather of duety there remaineth as great a necessity of due honor for this as for that at the least no lesse seeing that what soeuer was ceremonious in the olde oblations of tithes and offerings is so diminished as that what so euer was morall therein reteyneth his force still Had there been no proportion between both these Ministeries the necessary duties of them both the Scripture would neuer haue sayd that As they which minister about holy thinges eate of those thinges whicb are of the Temple and they which waite at the Altar are partakers with the Altar So the Lord hath ordained that they which preach the Gospell should liue of the Gospell That our Sauiour ordayned the Ministery of the Gospell with no ornature of outward beauty no magnificence of worldly statelines as he did of old the Mosaicall ministery it was not to this end that Christians should doe lesse Honor to theyr Pastors then did of old the Israelites but for that the worthines thereof is such that it needeth no outward ornaments The which notwithstāding if it may haue it is not magnified therin if it may not haue it is not diminished therefore But where the ministery of the Gospell is receyued in a triumph as it were of publique authority there al worldly goods ought to supply to the Honor of our Sauiour and the health of his seruants so that they may be denied where they are proffered and requested where they they are denied according as the cause the time the place the people doe require As for the seruants of Christ they ought to be ready for all assayes for honor and dishonor good report and euill report plenty and pouerty life and death for that they are to vse this world as not vsing it the fashion whereof passeth away God vnder
the old Testament framed to him selfe a peculiar cōmon wealth the which although afterwards it might receiue diuerse formes of gouernement yet he did alwaies so prouide for the honour of the Priesthood that they alwaies retained that degree of dignity which the Lord would haue them maintain among the people of God God vnder the Gospell hath impropriated no peculiar people neyther hath he planted any certaine forme of gouernment He sent vnto all nations preachers of the Gospell priuate men without any warlike accutrements Them he appointed not to alter any form of gouernment least they might seeme to be sent rather for the subuersion then for the conuersion of the Gentiles And yet this hindereth not but that they may take vppon them a greater state and better beseeming the worthines of theyr calling where Religion it self is aduaunced by publique authority and in wisedome is made the ground-work both of the lawes and the common wealth In the old lawe the Priests Honor was especially set downe what how great after what sort in what things it should consist In the new Testament that limitation coulde not bee layd forth because it could not would they neuer so faine be like it selfe or the same among all people in all places at all times But as good christians doe take vnto them selues many other imitable examples out of the old Testament and the law of nature and the orders of nations by the which they may the better be brought vnto a ciuill conformity and a conformable ciuility of life so likewise ought we to doe in this case The minority vnder-reckoning of the ministery is not so held in the iudgements of those christians that haue their cōsciences acquainted with diuine causes but in the sight of carnall professors and the censure of the Churches enemies All indifferent harts eies may see and conceiue that how much greater Christ is then Moyses and the Gospel more excellēt then the law so much more honorable is the Euangelike ministery then the Aaronicall Priesthood the which we are abundantly taught by the manifest arguments of the Apostle Paul we may very well learne by the manifold Sermons of our Sauiour Christ Of old among the people of God it was for good cause held a great matter for any man to be like vnto Moyses or Elias For after the receite of the law and his familiar conference with God in the mount the face of Moyses is sayd to haue ben so radiant with passing all wonderous bright some rayes that the eyes of the amased Israelites by no means might indure the Sun bright lustre of his resplendent countenaunce After him was Elias no lesse honored and renowmed as well for his wonderfull acts atchieued in the zeale of God his law as also for his miraculous end translated aliue into the Paradise of Heauen Notwithstanding all this the Apostle in his latter to the Corinthians doth learnedly maintaine that the Ministery of Moyses was of the letter and of death but the Ministery of the Gospell of the spirite and of life and so much the more glorious As for the rest our Sauiour himselfe preferreth Iohn Baptist alone before all the Prophets whom he affirmeth to be more then a Prophet and yet he resolueth that the least Minister of the Church is greater then hee And therefore if Christ may be Iudge the least Minister of the lowest degree in the Church is more honorable to be honored more in his office then are any or al the Priests of the old Testamēt As for the low titles the Lord gaue to his Ministers for bidding the glorious insignes of honor as of Lord Father and Doctor I aunswere that it was not done that the Ministers should be of lesse honor among the people then were of old the Priests Leuits or that they should be debased beneath all estates be of no esteem in a christian common wealth but rather that they might retain a lowly an humble conceit in so lofty so honorable an estate For vnlesse the Lord in wisdome should temper keep vnder the ouer-weaning waiwardnes of mans nature euen in his dearest seruantes Such is the excellency of the Ecclesiasticall calling that the conceit thereof might easely ouercharge light mindes with lofty thoughts sodenly ouerturne rash heads into ruined estates But as humility is taught them in their inglorious titles so is their excellency taught vs by their magnificall statues For are not these they which are called the Salt of the earth the Light of the world Stars in the firmamēt Angels and Legats Stewards dispensers of the mysteries of God Ministers of the spirit of life what and how great is that honor and power they haue receiued of the Lord that they can binde and lose in earth what things are bound and losed in Heauen that they can remit and retaine sins that they can open and shut the highest Heauen Can there be any thing giuen to men more Honorable in this mortality As for the vse of those names Doctor Lord Father we will speake therof hereafter Now that I may determine this disputation of those things we haue here set downe I conclude That christian people are no lesse deuoted to their Pastors in al duty then were of old the Israelites to their Priests and Leuits And Where christian religion is publikely authorised that there the same degree of honor is to be giuen to the Ministers in the common welth which was vsed to the Priests Prophets among the people of God But if so be it so fall out that among vngodly people vngracious Magistrats there be no reuerend regard had of this honor due to the Minister that there the professors be not offended therewith seeing the worthines of ther Ministery is such as that no iniury of man can any waies diminish it For it becommeth them to be at this point with themselues that if so be the honor due to their ministery be giuen them they may reioyce in the religious godlines of the faithfull towards God but if it be denied them they may not grieue thereat as if them selues had lost any thing Neyther are they greatly to contend with the Magistrate for their right especially at any intempestiue season but they are to commit their causes vnto God and with Paul to expect a more conuenient time to expostulate In the mean while let them pray vnto God that he would vouchsafe thē better mindes that would be accounted for good christians The chief care of a faithfull Pastor must be this to gaine many soules vnto Christ not much riches or many honors First let them seek the kingdome of God and al these things shal be cast vppon them Wherefore seeing there are many parts of that honor which is due to the Minister I will chiefely prosecute those which the ciuil society of life doth require in a christian cōmon wealth and that aboue all others which consisteth in the maintenance of
simplicity of the Euangelike ministery IF any man obiect that these tenures in fee are accompanied with certaine Royalties ciuill iurisdictions secular titles honors and retinewes in which thinges the auncient Nobilitie are an ornament vnto the King and the Countrey and therefore not agreeable vnto the simplicitie of the ministerie which thing the Lord him selfe taught as well by expresse doctrine as especiall example Because indeede such thinges they doe but intangle a man in extearne vanities and solicite their heartes with the cares of this world in the which it becommeth a Bishop to be secure And furthermore for that the Lord himselfe beeing requested to sit but as arbiter betweene two brethren denied the same And againe when the Apostles made the question which of them should bee the greatest hee made aunswere and sayd The Kings of the Gentils raigne ouer them and they which beare rule ouer them are called gracious Lordes but yee shall not be so but he that is greatest amongst you let him be as the least and he which is Prince as he which ministreth By which the wordes and examples of our Sauiour wee are taught that the Ministery of the Gospell hath nothing common with the Common-wealth It may suffice for an answere vnto this obiection which wee haue before noted namely that all this they talke of hath his place in that estate in the which our Sauiour and his Apostles liued not in that common-wealth in the which the chiefe Magistrates acknowledge Christ Iesus their chiefe Lord and soueraigne King For as the Magistrate is of an other calling now in the Church then before he had so is it reason also that the seruaunts of the Lorde should bee of better estate in the Common-wealth then before they were The Magistrate which before was an enemie and a persecutour according vnto the prophesie of Esaias is become a Foster-father of the Church and a religious worshipper of the Lorde Christ vnder whome were it not an absurd thing that the seruaunts of Christ should haue no more honour then vnder a persecutor But because it is not set downe expreslie in the Scripture what of what sort and how great the same ought to bee many mens mindes are heere at a maze and some are of mind so to leaue it as at a dead losse and yet notwitstanding the thing it selfe is not so hard to find out and it is in his owne nature wel enough knowen and that both by the written lawe of God and the vniuersall censure of all nations were it not for the awkewarde interpretation of those scriptures which I haue nowe cited Out of the which notwithstanding there is nothing els directie concluded but that it is not any part of the Ecclesiasticall function to intermedle in ciuil affaires the which indeed is out of all controuersie Neither is that the question but whether the same man that is a Pastor may not togeather with the ministery of the Gospell bee lawfully imployed in politique affaires for the benefite of the Church and good of the Common-wealth For when as the Minister of the church is cittizen also of the common-wealth he ought not thinke any thing not pertaining to him that pertaineth to the Common-wealth so that beeing lawfully called hee may not vndertake some part of the ciuill estate As for that which I lately cited concerning our Sauiour who refused to be an arbiter it is nothing to this question For the spirite of Christ in the mouth of Paul doth plainly teach vs that the meanest of the church are good enough to iudge of earthlie causes for that one day they shall iudge the worlde yea the Angels themselues a iudgement farre greater then this The which seeing the Apostle affirmeth of any Christian is it to bee thought that onely Christ alone was no fit man to take vp a small matter betweene two brethren if they both had bene content to stand vnto his iudgement Wee cannot therefore imagine that our Sauiour Christ simplye refused the office of an arbiter but that hee denied himselfe to bee that iudge which might command both parties to stand vnto his arbiterment And is not this then a slight testimonie for to proue it not lawfull for a Bishop who is both a Cittizen and a subiect to exercise anye ciuill iurisdiction the Magistrate so commaunding him or to execute some other pension of the Common-wealth not abhorring altogeather from his profession beeing furnished with sufficient authority to discharge it That the foure-score and second Canon commandeth him to be disordered who vndertaketh both Prouinces the Ecclesiasticall power and the secular principality for my part I say not against it if so be that it bring no inconuenience vnto the Bishoppes of the Church and that it may bee done with the good leaue of the Prince and without anie great hurt to the Church and Common wealth And thereupon we are also bolde to say that Theophilus and Cyrill Byshops of Alexandria transgressed that Canon of whome Socrates reporteth that of themselues they tooke vnto themselues the principality of that citty In like manner doe the Bishops of Rome when as they improoue vnto themselues those things which are Caesars For when as they are the vassals and subiectes of the Emperour they haue notwithstanding extolled themselues aboue their Lords and aduanced the sheepheardes croysier aboue the royall scepter But for those Bishops which vaile their bonnet to their Soueraigne and obey their Princes in honest and godly things there is not the like reason And many things many times are done in the Common-wealth extraordinarilye so that there can no lawe bee published or made which it is not lawfull for to gain-say at some time or other for the good of the Common-wealth Neither is the other example that they vrge of anye force For had our Sauiour meant to haue inthronized himselfe in that earthly kingdome which he neuer ment yet would hee haue refused that tumultuous course For what power had that part of the people to annoint him King CHAP. XX That it is lawfull for Bishops to heare ciuil causes and to determine vpon them THat Bishops had to deale in ciuill causes when as the parties submitted themselues to their iudgement it is sufficiently known by the writings of the Fathers the works of Iustinian The which although it were a matter of no smal trouble vnto the godlie Bishops yet the iniquitie many times of secular Iudges their delayes demurs and cauils in lawe were such as that the Bishops of meere charity were moued vnto this labour Neither are they therein to be so censured as if they vsurped the place of the ciuill Magistrate for he did it by the consent of the chiefe Magistrate as it appeareth in the writings of Iustinian in his first booke de Episcopali audientia the fourth title where hee commaundeth that there should be that reuerence giuen vnto their iudgement which is due vnto the hiest powers from whome it is not lawfull to appeale
in the other with aduauntage Chap. XXI An exposition of that place of Luke in the two and twentith chapter NOw I come to that place of Luke the two and twentith chapter where it is recorded that there was some question made amongst the Apostles which of them should seeme the greater the which for that it arose of a certaine perswasion of honor and rule our Lord Sauiour the great Maister of humility repressed the same and confuted their misconceite when as hee forbad them to imitate the proceedings of heathen Princes and made himselfe an example of his manner of gouernment For albeit he had called them indeed to a singular kind of dignitie notwithstanding he would haue them vnderstand that the same differed heauen and earth from that which is vsuall in imperiall kingdomes For as the kingdome of God is diuers from the kingdomes of the earth euen so it becommeth the Ministers of that his kingdome to be of diuers conditions also Indeed it is the fashion of the Court to sewe pillowes vnder the elbowes euen of most vile men and commonly they which grind the faces of the people with bloud-thirstie tyrannie and practise vpon them all kind of crueltie are notwithstanding called most mercifull and most gratious Lords Wherefore our Sauiour especially here taxed the manifest misdemeanors of them which then did domineer ouer the people of God noting withall the manifold abuses of other vngratious Tyrants which by force and armes had inthralled mightie kingdomes vnder their dominion vnto whome the grace of Gratiousnes was giuen euen by them whom they oppressed most vngratiously Moreouer there was setled in the mindes of the Apostles a certain conceit that the kingdom of the Lord should be earthly as they did see that of the Romanes to bee and as they had heard that of Dauid and Salomon to haue beene Higher then this could not they aduance their conceits for alâs they were as yet but meere infants in Christ and did but learne as then to goe by ground Whereuppon it came to passe that they imagined very strongly that they could be made no other by the Lord then Lords Lieutenantes at the least from the which their childish ouer-weening our Sauiour doth in this place take them downe a little But that it may be made yet more apparant vnto all what might bee the Lord his very meaning in that his saying I wil yet sound into the cause a little deeper The Apostles seeme to make a verie plaine question demaunding no more but this Who should be the greatest among them but in what things he should be the greatest that is not there expressed No doubt a man may be accounted greatest for sundry causes as greatest in age in experience greatest greatest in learning in eloquence greatest greatest in wisedome in wealth in nobilitie of birth in authoritie and power and such like But now the Apostles were priuate men in nothing singular which commonly maketh mens minds ambitious and causeth mens thoughtes to ouer-reach As for age experience wealth wisedome nobility such like they openly bewray themselues in whom soeuer they are the greatest so that there is seldom any question about those things It remaineth therefore that the question betwene them was for honour and authoritie the which also may seeme a ridiculous thing among the poore fraternitie of the twelue Apostles vnlesse haplie a man would iudge them ambitious rather for their desire then for their honour But farre be it from mee that I should rashly condemne those good men of any sacrilegious ambition seeing the Lord himselfe did not so much correct them as direct them in their demaund It appeareth rather by that the Lord answered thē by any thing the Apostles propounded that they did not regard the present state of thinges as they were then but that they had an eye to that rather which they hoped to see shortly vnder Christ They knewe that the kingdome of GOD was now at hande about the proclaiming whereof they chiefly were sent neyther were they ignorant how honorably the Prophets had written thereof namely that it should be as a most mightie so a most ample kingdome not to bee bordered but with the compasse of the whole earth that all nations should come and acknowledge their fealtie and doe due homage thereunto and that albeit they expected many enemies and aduersaries both tyrants and traytors yet notwithstanding the rebellious of the people should be appeased at the last Wherefore when as they were of beleefe that this kingdome should be restored vnto Israell out of hand their question is who should be next vnto Christ in that kingdome For as the Israelites had borne a long time the heauie yoke of some tyrannous Empires so they were perswaded that all Nations should nowe yeelde to the iust consequence of their renued title And they did see indeed that their present number did well agree with the twelue Princes of the twelue Tribes of Israel and that the seuentie two Disciples did as well resemble the graund Senate of Gods people Whereby as they knewe that amongst them of olde there were diuerse degrees of dignitie vnder King Dauid and other Princes so they perswaded themselues that the like distinction of orders and honours ought to bee continued amongst them Neither could they so soone forget that honorable speach of their Lord when he promised them that one day they should sit vpon twelue thrones and iudge the twelue tribes of Israell These conceites I should conceiue the Apostles had then in their heades being made as yet and not throughly exercised in the censure of heauenly things these I think rather to haue proceeded in them of a certaine weake ignorance and erroneous misconceiuing then of any sacrilegious pride or ambitious ouer-weening But the Lord perceiuing their thoughts correcteth their misconceite teacheth them That he had not called them to sway an earthly scepter but to seeke a spirituall Empire in the which notwithstanding the power they should receiue of him they should still continue and content themselues not Princes but priuate men Wherfore albeit they should be the chiefe and principall of the new people of God yet their principalitie should not bee any thing more magnificent then the estate of other priuate men and therefore in the forme of that gouernment he had appointed for his Church the first and principall ought to imitate his example who liued among them as a seruant and a Minister when as yet they called him as indeede hee was both Lord and Maister And this is the plainest exposition of Christ his words Where we see that our Sauiour because hee would not stirre vp any headstrong innouation in the common welths and kingdomes vnto whom he sent his Apostles of especial purpose he sent them priuate and impotent without either warlike complement or ciuil regiment namely to conuert soules not to inuert states least if hee should haue erected heere any earthlie kingdome they might haue supposed
subiect to Lawes and Magistrates as well as other men Or may they not bee commaunded if they cannot be entreated by them vnto whome they are subiect to doe good to the Church or Common-wealth Neither is that of Paule to Timothie any thing at all against this assertion No man that warreth intangleth himselfe in the affaires of this life For the affaires of this life are those with the which we get thinges needfull for this present life not those things which appertaine to the publique estate of the Prince or Common-wealth War-fare it selfe is one of the publike affaires of the Common-wealth vnto the which whosoeuer is leuied must leaue his domesticall affaires so that if a man would vrge the similitude thorowly Hee which warreth vnto God must leaue all his domestical affairs against that example of Paule of whom no man wil doubt but that he discharged his Pastorall duty faithfully yet notwithstanding intangled himselfe in the affaires of this life when necessity constrained him to get his liuing with his handie labor and to spend that time in the affaires of this life which other-wise he might better haue imployed either in praier or in Preaching Beeing ready no doubt to haue done the like in publique affairs which he did in priuate had the Magistrates commanded and the good of the people required the same Wherefore the sense of the similitude is this that we must abstaine from those things which do so hinder the VVarre to the which wee are called as that they force vs to for-sake the same That the vse of certaine things which doe perteine vnto the Common-wealth as to haue a Ciuill iurisdiction in certaine Citties or townes which a man may discharge by another to be of the Kings councel in certain causes to be present at the publik assemblies of the kingdome to deliuer his iudgement in thinges concerning the state to vndertake and discharge a royall Embassee at certaine times of the yeare to be present at sessions and assises and to vndertake all these by the Kings especiall commaundement or generall commission that these things I say and such like are of that wicked nature that whosoeuer vseth them cannot be a Bishop or a Minister this I say should haue bene prooued and this also that the Minister which intermedleth in any of these things for a publique commoditie beeing there-vnto called and commanded by the Magistrate dooth commit a wicked thing and vnworthy his calling CHAP. XXIII That diuerse functions are not confounded albeit vndertaken of one man THAT which is commonly said of the state Ecclesiastique that it is distinct from the Ciuil estate is altogeather impertinent to this question seing both callings become not one though one man be called to them both Are not the parts of of a Lawyer diuerse and the partes of a Physicion diuerse yet the same party may play both partes and prooue as good a Lawyer as a Physicion In like manner the same man may be both Physicion and Diuine and cure the body as a leach and comfort the soule as a spirituall Father Spiridion was a husband man and got his liuing by graizing yet was hee a Bishop of the Church and a Pastor of soules shall we thinke that he confounded both these functions I but a Bishop requireth the whole man neither yet is one man sufficing for more charges I but this indefinite censure is vncertainelie true and certainely false and there are manye presidentes to the contrary both in the old Testament and in other antique histories First I would know whether Spiridion both Pastor of sheepe and of souls were not a man able for both these charges No man as yet so far as I can learne hath enuied him his ferme with his Bishoprick No man hath dared to condemne that holy men but all men haue worthely admired both his simplicity and his sanctimony and yet might hee haue beene more greedy of graizing then of gaining soules had his mynde ben set vppon coueteousnes But why then might not the same man haue beene both Bishop and the kings Counseller as well No doubt the greatnes of euerye charge is chiefely to be considered and then also the supply of necessary ayde which a man may haue in either charge whereby he may well discharge the same There are some Churches more great then other som som haue more busines some lesse in so much that the Pastor may haue much time sometime to spare from his ordinary charge And in a great Church where the Bishop hath many and great affayres it may be he hath many and great helps Had these two functions beene so aduerse and contrary the one to the other that they could neuer be exercised together by the same man Moyses would neuer haue beene both Prince and Priest ouer the people of God But I feare me some silly shrewd fellow wil haue his action against me for that I haue called Moyses a Priest And yet I would haue him first to vnderstand that after he had created Aaron himselfe stil continued both Prophet and Pastor as he was before But that Ely Samuel were both Iudges and Priests together it cannot be denied You will say that was a thing extraordinary and I say that I do not speak of any ordinary thing neyther of all the Pastors of the Church onely I vrge what may lawfully be done where the welfare of the Church or common wealth requireth the same and in the meane while these examples shal proue that the same thing hath beene done But if so be you would haue a view of a ciuill authority which was also ordinary may it please you consider those forty eight Citties of the Leuites and the gouernement thereof For they could not be gouerned without a Magistrate and ordinary Iudges shall we say that they chose them Magistrats out of other Tribes to determine theyr controuersies when as themselues were ordinary Lawyers and not onely present but president at ordinary Iudgements Deutronomy the one and twenty Chapter and first verse euery question and controuersie is determined according to theyr censure And is there not the like reason of those royalties which are giuen to clergy men in a christian common wealth with those Citties and suburbs the old Israelites gaue the Priests and Leuites by the commandement of God Chap. XXIIII That Dauid and Solomon vsed the aide of Priestes and Leuits in ciuill affaires ANd as the most renowmed and religious Princes Dauid Salomon others vsed the Priests and Leuites at their command as other subiects in ciuill gouernement so likewise may christian kings vse the ayde of Bishops other Pastors of the church if there be any among them which may stand either them or the common wealth in any stead In the first of the Cronicles the three and twenty Chapter at the commaundement of Dauid there is a suruey made of al the Leuites from thirty yeares of age and vpwards and ther were found eight and thirty
thousand Of the which foure and twenty were appointed to bee ouerseers of the workes for the house of the Lord and sixe thousand were ordayned Rulers and Iudges in all Israell And least any man shoulde thinke that they were Iudges onely in Ecclesiasticall causes as some now a dayes would hold men in hād forcing the Scriptures to that forme of gouernement they see in some Churches let the six and twenty Chapter of the same Booke be wel read and aduisedly perused and he shal find that the Isharites Chenanas and his brethren men of might were deputed officers and Iudges for the businesse without ouer Israell Of the Hebronits Hesabias and his brethren men of might a thousand and seuen hundred were appointed Officers for Israell beyond Iordan westward in all the businesse of the Lord and for the seruice of the King And in the same Chapter it is sayd that Dauid appoynted the kinse-men of Iedijas men of might two thousand seuen hundred Princes of families ouer the Rubenites and the Gadites and the halfe tribe of Manasses for euery matter pertaining to God and the King To these I may adde that which I read in the nineteenth of the 2. of the Chronicles of king Iehosophat who intending the restauration of Gods worship and the reformation of the common wealth appointed Iudges Leuits and Priests and Princes of the families of Israell for the iudgement and cause of the Lord. And where as some thinke by that in the last verse of this Chapter That the Priests and Leuites were onely deputed ouer Ecclesiasticall causes because it is there written Behold Amarias the Priest shall be the chiefe ouer you in all matters of the Lord and Zebadias the sonne of Ismaell a ruler of the house of Iuda shall be for all the Kings affaires c. As if he had there put some difference betweene matters ciuill and Ecclesiastitall It is an errour growen as I haue sayde of a certaine fore-seasoned opinion of that gouernment which we see now in the Church or Rome and some other reformed churches For who seeth not that in this place the kings affaires and in the sixe and twenty of the former booke the seruice of the King doth not signify al one with ciuil matters and politique affaires but what so euer pertayned to the Kings right Such as were first described by Samuel and afterwards eyther imitated or augmented by the consent of the people as it often commeth to passe of the which ther was nothing prescribed by Moyses But what the businesse of the Lord was the tenth verse going before declareth by particulars For the Priests were interpreters of the law as well ciuill as ceremoniall and the King so appointing they were also the ordinary Iudges thereof These things I doe therfore remember that all men may know what is lawfull for the Ministers of the Gospell who succeede the Leuiticall Ministery in ciuill causes vnder a christian Magistrate not that I would wishe them intangled therewith any otherwise then the necessity of time and causes may require and that we may also know that those precepts of our Sauiour were giuen to no other end then that as I haue sayd that misconceite of his kingdom should not be strengthned in the mindes of his Disciples Least they should thinke the power which was giuen them were annexed with such autority as that they might alter at their pleasure and innouate publique estates by theyr peculiar power Chap. XXV Theyr error confuted that thinke no ciuill affaires of the common wealth ought to be committed to the Bishops and Pastors of the Church NOw a dayes this common error hath inuaded the mindes not onely of the common sort but of some part of the learned also so that there are manye of that side very strongly opinionate that the ciuill affaires of the common wealth doe nothing at all appertaine to Bishops and Ministers no more then if they were neyther cittizens nor any suppliment of the common wealth Curriers Diers Weauers Beere-brewers Smithes Fullers Marchauntes and Pedlers furnish the common house and giue their voyce in things concerning the common wealth neyther can I dissalow the same in a common wealth but that the Pastors of Churches shoulde stande excommunicate out of their generall assemblies it is a thing vtterly against the equal right of al Cittizens Seeing they liue vnder the same lawes obey the same Magistrate beare the same burdens of the common wealth Seeing in such publique assemblies they doe consult as wel of theyr liues and goods and what so euer else vpon the which not onely theyr owne estate but the publique good of theyr Churches also doth depend seeing I say they doe consult of these no lesse then of cloth and wooll and fish and felles importing and transporting any other commodities is ther any light of reason or light reason why godly Ministers ought to haue lesse care of the common wealth then common Burgomaisters If they can alledge no reason what colour can they set vppon theyr mishapen ground Why they aboue all others should be excluded the ciuill assemblies or Parliaments prouincial whom it chiefely concerneth to see least the flocke committed to theyr charge be layd open to Wolues In those things which concerne the safety of theyr soules nay but in those things also which touch the security of theyr bodies Are they not appointed of God watchmen and ouerseers as it were in a hie tower or heedeful centrenel as they which are to see from far what mischiefes are like to insue that they may admonish as well the people as the Magistrats themselues of such things as are to be auoided The which in deed they cannot doe so long as they are kept fasting from the conscience and conference of such thinges as are done in the common wealth If the Church could stand safe though the cōmon wealth fell to decay or if the one might rise by the ruines of the other I had the lesse to say but when as Church and common wealth are imbarked in the same vessell saile together in the same danger how should the deuout minister be lesse solicited for the safety of the common state then are the common Burgesses who for the most part iudge one thing cōmodious for the Church an other for the common wealth another for themselues and their own estate These are in office but for a year they neuer forsake theyr charges These may prouide many waies for themselues theyr own estate with the detriment of the Church danger of the commō wealth they can by no means preserue themselues or theirs vnlesse both Church common wealth together be preserued These consult that the common wealth sustaine no domage in corne and cattell in wares and marchaundise least themselues at any time should want their sweet return They doe not a little regard these things but besides these theyr especial care is that iustice faith godlines and true religion decay not in the
Magistrate But it seldome falleth out that Pastors haue only euil men in their parishes the Lords flocke is mixt of good and bad The good doe loue that which the wicked doe hate whom to displease is a great praise among good men who will not suffer the faithful Minister to suffer losse for his wel doing but will themselues supply that which they shall see wanting on the part of the wicked But there is commonly alledged an other commodity of these stipends namely this for that the Ministers may not seeme to take any thing of them of whom they ought not as are the notorious vngodly and noted Heretiques with whom a man ought not to haue any thing to doe as also of the good and godly beeing poore and needy to whome a man ought rather to giue as are widows orphans the sick and needy whome to pill and pole is a point of cruell Religion But I pray you where doth the Magistate receaue or of whome doth he contract those things by the which the Ministers are paied their stipends Of their owne goods or out of the publique treasurie but is not that confusedly gathered of the wicked togeather with the godly of the poore together with the rich This is indeed a strange religion that it shall not be lawfull for Pastors to take of them of whome the Magistrate taketh that he giueth them All men pay subsidie and other tributes of the common-wealth without respect of person euery man according to the moity of hys substaunce Of them which haue nothing they take nothing But this their religion is like vnto that of the Franciscanes who when they make great daintie to handle anye money with their proper fingers they haue other to doe it for thē I admit it is a thing not beseeming a godly Pastor to take of all commers but as the voluntary oblations of wicked rich men are not to bee receaued so the free offerings of godlie poor men are not to be refused so that they exceed not the ability of the giuer For although it be litle which is giuen yet seeing it is the fruite of godlines it ought neither to bee contemned of the Pastor nor yet suppressed in the faithfull But bee it remembred that I said the voluntary oblations of the wicked for no doubt a Minister of the Gospel may take tythes euen of infidels also if they be due to the Minister by the law and custome of the Countrey neither is religion any more violated in so doing then when the rents of farmes are paid or receaued of husband-men our tenants that are heretiques As for the argument they drawe from the vaine ostentation of the contributors who because they could not be vnknowen contention might arise among them who should exceed the rest it is an argument none at all vnlesse by the same reason we will haue Christians to abstaine from good works to auoyd ostentation But no man is to be diswaded from bounteous beneficency least he should fal into the affectation of vaine-glory And that contention and emulation is good when one man striueth to excel another in wel-doing as for the hearts and minds of men let vs leaue them for God to iudge But their last argument is this that there is no commandement that Ministers of the Church should be maintained by the oblations of the people by the which it may be concluded that it is not necessary that the same maner of maintaining the Ministery should bee maintained alike in all places and at all times but that all things ought to be referred to good order that they may be done to edification I answere that albeit the Minister of the Church be not commanded to liue of the oblations of the people for hee may liue of his owne and for certaine causes spare the people for a time yet notwithstanding in the meane while the commaundement abideth by the which the people are bound to honour their Pastor and by the liberall participation of their goods to testifie their gratefull godly deuotion towardes God and him Neither is the question so much for the Ministers maintenaunce as for the godly regards and grateful minds of the faithful towards God who is alwaies most honored or dishonored in his seruants For my part I knowe not as yet the customes of all nations and countreys Neither am I he that will prescribe to any man in this matter In the meane while I speake of those things which I haue learned by great vse and long experience and it greueth me that in many things of like nature wee abolish olde thinges and suborne worse True it is that parishes vnder the Pope had their priuileges their glebes their rents and their tithes by which their Pastors were wel maintained now because some abuses be crept in shall the whole vse of them be taken away Me thinks these are but cold reasons I haue now confuted with the which it were to be wondered that any man should bee caried away were it not that the hatred of Poperie did hurry men headlong into vaine contrarieties in such things as are or haue bene vsed among them Chap. XXXII Certaine reasons why Stipendaries are disprooued WHere as the Apostles rule commandeth vs that all things be done in good order and to edifiyng it will be a labour worth the paines to see whether that may better bee done by paying Ministers their stipends or rather by that auncient manner deliuered by the Apostles and receaued by the Fathers which giueth to Pastors their tythes and their offerings First I doe not thinke that wisedome is growen vp with vs that we should dispose of things better then our Fathers haue done Besides there is no man that desireth to be clear from the aduersaries cautels that ought at this day to make any innouation in the Church of Christ without the approued example of former ages But this is a nouel kind of honoring the Pastors of the Church not read of in the scriptures not knowen of vnto the Fathers nor euer heard of before these our daies the common brokers of all newes that the Church had their Stipendary Ministers Notwithstanding when I say that Stipends taken out of the Exchequer or other-wise collected doe blast the fruites of religion and depriue the people of the comforts thereof I would not so bee taken as if I thought it vnlawfull for the Magistrate to contribute out of the treasury to the Church But this I say that the Christian people ought notwithstanding continually to be deuoted vnto their Pastors in the bonds of a religious affinity and religiously to honour their Ministers with the testimonies of their gratefull memory the which when it is hindred by the one part it must needs be that charity should waxe very colde on both parts Saint Paule as wee haue sayde before gaue it in commaundement that he which is taught should communicate in all his goods with him that taught him from the which duty no stipēd ought