repeat the so many several complaints of your own Gildâ—sses of old nor of late of your Gilpins Ridleys Latimers Tindals Jewels Hookers Andrewsses and of so many more nor their several sad Considerations Prophecies and humble Petitions put as it were up in their Sermons and Epistles yet extant and directed to their several Kings and Queens even then when this Serpent was but a Scorpion in the Egge what then would all those Å¿ Bern. Gilpin in a Serm. at Greenwich An. 1552. before Edw. 6. B. Ridley in his Le ter to Mr. Cheek July 23. 1551. from Fulham among the Letters of the Martyrs by Miles Coverdail p. 683. Lond. 1564. Latimers Serm. of Covetousness Grindals Manuscript Letter to Q. Elizabeth 1580. Jewel's Sermons on Hag. 1. v. 2 3 4. and on Psal 69.9 Hooker B. 5. of Eccles Polit. B. Andrews did much finde fault and reprove three sins too common and raigning in this latter age 1. One was Usury c. 2. Another was Simony c. The third and greatest was Sacriledge which he did abhor as one principal Cause among many of the Forreign and Civil Wars in Christendom and Invasion of the Turks wherein even the Reformed and otherwise the true Professors and Servants of Christ because they took GODS PORTION turned away it to publick prophane uses or to private advancements dâ—d suffer just Chastisement and Correction at Gods hand And at home it had been observed and he wished some man would take the pains to collect how many Families that were raised by the Spoils of the Church were now vanished and the place thereof knows them no more See the Sermon Preached at the Funeral of the Lord Bishop Andrews by the then Lord Bishop of R chester Anno 1626. forty years ago good men have said think you had they been so unhappy as to live to our Sacrilegious dayes to see this sin grown to the stature of a full Dragon indeed 4. But lest these being but Domestici testes should seem partial in their own cause therefore we intend to cite none but the Masters of the Reformation abroad whom you shall hear crying aloud against the Sacriledge of the Reformers in their several times and places charging them with deep Hypocrisie damnable Avarice and what not and that under pretence of Reformation they did but intend nay practice Robbery in the Usurpation of those Church Revenues that were Dedicated to God for the maintenance of his Ministers of such free and full strains their Writings are top full 5. And yet to prove all this we will only single out one eminent Triumvirat of such witnesses as we are confident even with these men we are pleading against will be most free from all exception They be Luther Calvin and Knox as it were so many Delegates for Germany France and Scotland the Three great Foreign Stages of the Reformation 6. According to their Seniority the first main Witness we produce in the behalf of our Cause is Luther who preaching on that ample Text of S. Paul to the Galathians t Quoties lego Pauli Adhortationes c. This Testimony being prolixe we will only extract the most Emphatical points in it and refer the Reader to the Author at large Summa homines videntur degenerare in Bestias Satan horrendissimum malum hoc vehementer urget per Impios Magistratus in Civitatib Nobiles in Rure qui BONA ECCLESIARUM ex quibus Ministri debebant vivere rapiunt c. Tangit autem acu mores Nostratium qui securissimè nostrum Ministerium contemnunt Praecipuè Nobiles qui pastores suos sibi tanquam viles Servos obnoxios faciunt nisi haberemus tam pium amâ—ntem veritatâ—s Principem Jam dudum ex his terris èxturbassent nos Exclamant quando pastores postulant aut queruntur Sacerdotes avarisunt Insatiabiles Tyranni subsannatores Dei videri tamen volunt Evangelici Puniet Deus acerrimum odium vestrum in Ministroâ— Ferox Nobilitas Cives Rustici cum periculum moâ—â—is Instabit sentient Comminationem quam rident Deus enim non irrideâ—ur Sint illa PAPAE BONA per meram Imposturam coacervata tamen Deus Spolians Aegyptios hoc est Papistas suis Bonis tranfert ea in locis nostris in pium usum Non quando Nobiles rapiunt transferunt in abusum sed quando ij qui gloriam Dei annunciant inde aluntur Sciamus igitur nos bonâ Conscientià posse fruâ— BONIS ECCLESIASTICIS See at large Luther himself on Galat. 6.6 Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things you may call this the Ministers Magna Charta indeed irrevocable by any humane Authority or Municipal Laws whatsoever for I hope none of our Religion will presume herein to shake hands wth the Pope to pretend a Power to dispense Contrà Apostolum Luthers Gloss upon St. Paul doth so fit our Meridian in almost all the particulars as if it had been penned but yesterday here in England not a hundred years ago nor so far as Germany St. Basil somewhere argues that the Holy Ghost was no doubt very God because he was present at the same time with Habakkuk in the Field Jeremy in the Dungeon Daniel in the Den witness the Concordance of their Prophecies I stand not now upon the truth of the Chronology but only I do observe that sure there is somewhat more then ordinary of Gods publick Spirit in this publick Cause of the Church seeing that all these men of several Nations at that distance of times and places yet still consort in a Harmony however their Descant do vary their Ground is one and the same and all of them joyntly constant unisones against this particular kinde of Sacriledge namely the Converting of the Lands and Possessions c. formerly given to Superstitious or Popish Uses unto Lay-Uses and that also which is worth the observing after those Superstitious Officers and Offices Mass-Priests and Popish Monks c. had by lawful Authority not so here the Bishops and Deans been abolished But now * It is to me a wonder how those Declaimers against such alienations of Cathedral Lands can with any forehead produce such eminent Protestant Authors as bearing witness for them against this practice after the Offices be all at an end Cornelius Burges in the Preface to his Sacrilegious Book where like another Goliah 1 Sam. xvii 10 he bids defiance to all Fathers Canonists Schoolmen Protestants though never so eminent if they dare cross his way to his Mammon of Iniquity by Cornelius Burges his leave let the Witnesses be heard to cite them with their reasons will be enough to confute him To begin with Luther if you please but tacitly all along to apply him to Cornelius Burges his Case †A Case concerning the Buying of Bishps Lands with the Lawfulness thereof presented to his Parliament Anno 1650. as a Prodromus to his Book for Sacriledge you
soberly and ingenuously pondered doth quite alter the Case For 1. As for the Time it was when the Clergy so superabounded in their Revenues that a Law seemed necessary to interpose and restrain the Oblations by Mortmain p Stat. of Mortmain 7. of Edw. 1. When the people brought much more then enough as in Moses Case Exod. xxxvi 5. when the people were so liberal of their Oblations and Donations unto the Clergy That to phrase it with S. Luke chap. vi 38. in an higher sense they seemed as it were pressed down shaken together and running over into their bosoms But now the case is altered there is no great fear in this our Age that the people will over-do in this kinde The notable Subtractions from the Bishopricks and Deans and Chapters in the last Age the multiplied Prescriptions through Covin or Cowardise the Conversion of Lease-holds into Free-holds by incroachments the Decayes of Church-Rents the easie Pines of the Church-men in comparison of Lay-Land-lords the Aggravations by servile Taxes never heard of before now of late laid upon the Clergy such as Bridge-money Roague-money and the like These and much more could be said may sufficiently secure the State from the Clergies Exceedings therefore Distingue Tempora is a wise rule to silence the Objectors 2. As for the place John Huss Arg. 32. fixed his Assertions in the Kingdom of Bohemia whereof he affirms the Clergy had a fourth or third part from which proportion the Clergy of England though very thankful to God and the King for what they have are very far perhaps upon honest computation not the thirtieth part all Reprises duly deducted 3. The Parties against whom John Wickliffe and John Huss positions were directed were the Popish Prelates Abbots c. Shavelings as John Huss Arg. 42. out of Hildegardis Prophecy tearms them i. e. Monks The whole scope of both John Wickliffe and John Huss Positions is against such Clergy-men who did both usurp and also plead Exemption of the Clergy from the Kings Authority N. B. as over their Persons so over their Possessions Whereas the Clergy of England have better learned Christ since Rom. xiii 1. They know and acknowledge that Omnis Anima Every soul must be subject to the higher Powers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to St. Chrysostoms Loyal Gloss upon the place Though he were an Apostle though he be a Bishop yet must he be subject to the Higher Powers and therefore our Prelates and Church-men do not only profess but also swear due Subjection and Allegiance to the King as Supream in both Respects as over their Persons so in all Causes and therefore over their Possessions Bp. Andrews Tortura Torti Bp. Morton's Causa Regia c. Our Prelates do not only practice due subjection in both these but also to their Power Protect the Kings Supremacy with their Pens and Learned Writings against all Opposers on the right hand and on the left against all whether Anabaptists or Papists so that to confound our Prelates and Church-men with those Prelates and Church-men in John Wickliffe's and John Huss times is a malicious Plot. Certainly here if any where Comparisons are odious To argue thus from the left to the Right what is it but Crassa ignoratio Elenchi a fallacy exploded in the very Schools 4. The matter about which both John Wickliffe and John Huss frame their Arguments is the Clergy offending habitualiter that is as Wickliffe explains it which continue in the custom of sin and will not amend and John Huss Argument 2. instances in Rebellion against the King and Arg. 24. Treason as in the case of Bishop Judas Iscariot as he terms him Heresie as Pope Leo Rapos and other such grievous Crimes enumerated also by the Author in the title of his Appendix to John Wickliffe's Articles c. with which hainous Matters Impudence it self cannot charge our Prelates and other Canonical Church-men who when tried in the fiery furnace of the late Rebellious and Sacrilegious Persecution absit verbo invidia proved generally the most loyal and most constant Subjects of all so as neither Sequestration nor Deprivation nor Banishment nor Torment nor Death it self could prevail upon them to make them renounce their due Allegiance to the King Therefore to tell the King that to take away their Temporalties is neither Sacriledge nor Injustice is such a bad office such an high offence against the Kings Justice as would deserve some Exemplary Correction to deter others from the like presumption against my Lord the King whose Royal Generosity so Hereditary to him from his unparallel'd Father q No Prince in the whole world did ever both in word and deed more abhor the Sin of Sacriledge than the late godly King Charles the First Witness those Divine Lines in his Portraicture especially Sect. 14. Vpon the Covenant No man saith that King can be more forward than my self to carry on all due Reformations with mature Judgment and a good Conscience in what things I shall after impartial advice be by Gods word and right Reason convinced to be amiss I have offered more than ever the fullest freest and wisest Parliaments did desire But the sequel of some mens actions makes it evident that the main Reformation intended is the abasing of Episcopacy into Presbytery and the Robbing the Church of its Lands and Revenues for no men have been more injuriously used as to their Loyal Rights than the Bishops and Church-men These as the fattest Deer must be destroyed the other Rascal-herd of Schisms Heresies c. being lean may enjoy the benefit of a Toleration Thus Naboth's Vineyard made him the only blasphemer of his City and fit to dye Still I see while the breath of Religion fills the Sails Profit is the Compass by which factious men steer their course in all seditious Commotions Whereupon the King protests his detestation of such sacrilegious Reformation in these words I have alwayes had such a perfect abhorrence of it in my soul that I never found the least Inclination to such sacrilegious Reformings yet no man hath a greater dâ—sire to have Bishops and all Church-men so reformed that they may best deserve and use not only what the pious munificence of my Predecessors hath given to God and the Church but all other additions of Christian Bounty Thus that incomparable Prince of Glorious Memory doth scorn such unworthy Counsel and Councellors as would perswade the King against his gracious Genius to do an Act whereby that Estate I mean the Clergy which suffered most for the King should now also suffer again by the King 5. As for the manner how far both John Wickliffe and John Huss extend or limit their Assertions 'T is to be observed first that as they both still pre-suppose as a ground of just deprivation 1. The notorious abuse of those Revenues or Temporalties of the Clergy 2. The Clergies Contumacy or continuance therein and all this not pretended but proved so secondly
another Haman also in the Destiny had not the courage as well as the Prudence of that noble Bishop restrained the zealous Londoners Walsingham and Daniel quo suprà who did then so love their Bishop that but for him they had burned John of Gaunts house the Savoy and made an end of him also had he not fled This is the very truth of Wickliffe's story concerning which as we will not affirm that all the errors imputed to him by the aforesaid Waldensis and Harpsfield were Wickliffe's Opinions Christian Charity forbids us to believe that of him Jer. xv 19. Because taking forth the precious from the vile his positions against the Popes Supremacy Purgatory superstitious Pilgrimages and the like were good Corn and so far God might make good use of John Wickliffe But on the contrary Christian Prudence forbids us to allow of Wickliffe's Chaffe for the good Corn mixt with it or to say hand over head that all his Doctrines were Gospel as his over-forward Advocate seems to Christen them Fuller We have learned a better Rule of Judgment from a better Doctor the Apostle of the Gentiles Let no man glory in men 1 Cor. iii. 21 And again from another Apostle Jude 16 not to have mens persons in admiration because of advantage To shut up this Period concerning Wickliffe's Positions in the words of his own Advocate Fuller John Wickliffe was but a man and so subject to error as much as other men especially all the premises considered to wit 1. Wickliffe's Deprivation as the cause antecedent 2. John of Gauâ—ts Instigation as the cause evident of Wickliffe's distemper against the Prelates and Church-men of his time Foelix qui potuit Rerum Cognoscere Causas And thus much may suffice both in point of Reason for the matter of Right and also in point of History for the Matter of Fact to non-suit every way that unseasonable Å¿ A seasonable Vindication of the Supream Authority and Jurisdiction of Christian Kings Lords and Parliaments as well over the Poss ssions as persons of Delinquent Prelates and Church men c. bâ— Vâ—illiam Pryâ—ne Esquire 1660. Book that we say no worse of it intituled An ancient Plea in Justification of the late taking away and sales of Cathedral Lands c. and let this close up our full confutation of that first Politick Pretence for Sacriledge namely Justice upon Delinquents 11. Followeth now the second Politick Pretence which is as specious as the first 'T is the Pretence of Peace to the whole Kingdom A precious blessing indeed well worth the praying yea the paying for is the Blessing of Peace If it be consistent with true Honour with Moral Honesty with Christian Piety if compatible with the Peace of God and with the Peace of a good Conscience else without these it were no Peace call it what you will but a meer Conspiracy against God which Christians of all men ought not to venture upon no not to save a World Except Peace come hand in hand with Honesty Justice and Truth if it be purchased with the counterfeit Coin of Baseness Falshood and Wrong with Robbery yea Sacriledge it can prove no other but an Imaginary Peace a very Mock-Peace such a Peace as more then once we have already been gulled withal and still Si populus vult decipi decipiatur a Peace in Jest but the very Preparative of a bloody War in earnest or rather indeed and in truth a very sorry base sneaking temporary shift that in the end through Gods just Judgment may prove but the Exchange of one Civil War for another and in the Conclusion of all the Malum Omen of a Forraign for a Civil War to boot the late case you know 12. A strange way of Cure this For can any endowed with any spark of Right Reason for this time bate Religion imagine to Purge a Land already sick to Death with the Surfeit of the old Sacriledge by Repletion by a new kinde of Sacriledge and worse as if the Iniquity of t Josh xxii 27. Peor were too little for us from which we are not cleansed until this day If Sacriledge began the War on their part who as falsly as odiously termed it the Church-War can they hope to end it by Sacriledge otherwise then in the Peoples slavery for the oppression of the Priest the event you know proved no better then so can we ever hope to recover our Peace or if recovered to retain that long which is so ill gotten they say that those sick folks that are recovered by the help of such as they call White Witches fall again into the same or worse disease It needs no application Martial Hic rogo non furor est ne moriare mori Is this a likely way to save the Church by destroying it Is it not time now or never to deal plainly and faithfully with you for say do we thrive of the Sacriledge committed in Scotland attempted in England In such a case to hold our Peace what were it but cruel Vncharitableness towards your own Souls damnable Vnfaithfulness towards our God our Church our King and the whole Nation 13. Think not therefore within your selves that whensoever we thus speak we are but Pleading our own private Cause all this while for once for all to satisfie you all about it the Cause is as Important and as Publick as any Cause in the World and therefore saith Calvin The Preacher may nay ought to be the freer with you all And the unworthy Advocate that now pleads this u Nemo mirari debet si toties Apostolus verbi Auditores ad Officium praestandum Exhortari voluit In quo fuit liberior quia non agebâ—t causam suam Privatam sed communi Ecclesiae Utilitati consulebat Aretius Calvin in Gal. 6.6 in baec verba Communicet qui Catechizatur Sermone ei qui se Catechizat in omnibus bonis Publick Cause before you all dares in the name of all his Brethren clear their Priestly Magnanimity and avouch their Christian Confidence in Gods all-sufficient Providence assured as the Holy Father St. Chrysostome being once threatned as we are Psal xxiv 1. with a Sacrilegious Deprivation that still Domini Terra plenitudo ejus For our parts doing our duty we have all manner of Cause to be secure that God will never want an Ark for his Noahs for his Preachers of Righteousness nor a Zoar for his Lots nor a Goshen for his true Israelites We know the worst of it If God disperse us he hath ingaged his Power and his Truth both that x Ezek. xi 16. He will be a little sanctuary unto us in all places where we shall be scattered * This truth the unworthy Author hath to the praise of God found by fifteen years experience having so long subsisted abroad without any supply out of England and yet with honour credit and competency yea sometimes plenty even to the relief of
upon scruples of Conscience because they were Popish or so for say they were gotten and heaped up together by MEER IMPOSTURES yet saith he since God hath been pleased all these are his own words still to spoil the Egyptians I mean the Papists and to give them unto us why should not we enjoy our own Can they be converted to a more pious use than to maintain the Ministers of God or will any affirm that use to be better which they are put unto by the Nobility and Gentry that Rob us of them Then he concludes all saying Let us therefore once for all know that with a very good Conscience we both may take and keep too those Church Revenues to our selves And thus far our first ample Witness Luther for Germany 18. In the second place the next Witness we produce in the behalf of our Cause will be far more brief and yet very pithy too and 't is Calvin for France who even there were u Ecclesiae facultates in alienos usus convertere sacrilegium esse dicunt Assentior Si nihil hic apud nos peccari dixero Mentiar non Excuso Principes nostros accusant quòd Patrimonium Christi Ecclesiae Deo consecratum rapuerint in profanos usus dilapident Quod in eos tantùm usus non impendantur Ecclesia reditus quibus sunt dedicati mihi displicere profiteor Mecum etiam id gemunt omnes boni ECCLESIAE BONA ex Sacerdotum Monach rum Erepta manibus ad se receperunt Principes nostri Fateor grave Judicium pronuntiari adversùs eos qui Ecclesiam spoliaverunt ut sibi raperent quod illius erat quia veros Ministros fraudant suo victu Jam ante Triennium testati sunt nostri principes moram se nullam in Restitutione facturos modo in eundem se ordinem cogi patiantur c. Habet igitur tua Majestas Invictissime Caesar principes suá promissione obstrictos c. Extat etiam in manibus hominum Libellus ut ad Doctrinae consensionem ea res non debeat esse impedimento Calvin Tractatu de Necessitate Reformandae Ecclesiae in vol. Opuscul Ex professo he does his utmost in writing unto the Emperor Charles the Fifth and to the rest of the Princes then assembled at Spira to excuse at large the Sacriledge objected to the Reformers yet even then I say is he forced to let fall thus many Truths at once 19. First he truly States the Objection thus They say that to convert the Church Revenues unto other uses is Sacriledge I grant it 2. That at the Reformation those Church Revenues were not so well disposed of I should lye if I should deny it And again it cannot be free from blame and again I cannot excuse it Though the pretence was then as now and so is his Plea that part of it was employed in Stipends to the Maintenance of the Ministers yet for all that he ingenuously confesses and complains too that those Church Revenues which he there calls expresly the Patrimony of Christ and the Patrimony of the Church consecrated to God were not employed only to those uses to which they were dedicated I speak all this while in Calvins own words and that they are not so imployed is my grief and all good men lament this case with me If you now make a question what Church Revenues he means he tells you plainly he means no other but those Church means that by the Princes of the Reformation were taken away from THE POPISH PRIESTS AND FRIARS so that he must needs make THE FRIARS Means part of the Churches Patrimony Nay Calvin goes farther to denounce Gods grievous Judgment against all those that had thus robbed the Church to inrich themselves and last of all for a conclusion of all he seems to point out no other Remedy for it but * For this kinde of pious Restitution of the Church-Lands and other Sacred Revenues formerly usurped we need not go beyond Seas to seek Precedents This Island so famous for ancient Christianity affords us memorable Examples To cite but one for all Willelmus Rex Anglorum Reddidit Ecclesiae omnes fère terras antiquis modernis temporibus à jure ipsius Ecclesiae ablatas quarum terrarum Nomina haec sunt In Cantia Raculf Sandwic Rateburch Widecun Monasterium de Limminge cum terris Consuetudinibus ad ipsum Monasterium pertinentibus Saltwude cum Burgo heche ad saltwude pertinente Langport Niwendene Rokinge Detlinge Prestentune non longè à fluvio Medeweie sitam Sunderhersté Iarbeche Orpentun Amesford Denintun Stocke Quatuor Praebendas de Mwentune praeter haec omnia multas alias modicas terras tam in insulis quam extrà insulas in Cantia sitas Stocke verò Denentum Lanfrancus Archiep's Reddidit Ecclesiae Sancti Andreae quia de jure ipsius Ecclicae Antiquitùs fuerunt In sutrege Murtelac Lundoniae Monasterium Sanctae Mariae cum terris Domibus quas Livingus Presbiter uxor illius Lundonice habuerunt In Middlesexum Hergam in Buckingham-scire Risbergam healtun In Oxenaford-scire Niwentun In Suchfolke Frakenham hanc Villam Lanfrancus Archep's Reddidit Ecclesiae Sancti Andreae quia antiquitûs ad ipsam Ecclesiam pertinebat In East Sexum scistede Stanbgrigge haec omnia Reddidit pro Deo pro salute animae suae gratis sine ullo Precio This Record is to be seen in the Rare Library of that late Famous Antiquary Sir Robert Cotton in a Manuscript Entitled Canones Burcardi Lanfranci Constitutiones Fol. 165. B. In which Notable evidence are very observable 1. The Royal Example of Restitution to the Church 2. The godly Concurrence of Lanfrancus the Arch-Bishop 3. That this Restitution tends to God Pro Deo pro salute Animae suae 4. That this was done gratis sine ullo precio It was neither by way of Commutation on the Restorers part nor by way of Redemption on the Churche's part 5. But this only obiter we may also hereby take notice of the Marriage of Priests in those ancient dayes 600 years ago for Arch-Bishop Lanfranc was promoted to the Sea of Canterbury Anno 1070. That such Restitutions were procured by Arch-Bishop Lanfranc may further appear Nam maneria 25. per Odâ—nem Epùm Baiocensem fratrem Regis uterinum erepta Ecclica Restituenda Curavit Mannerium de Râ—dburne per injuriam ereptum illius Operâ redditum est Godwin de Praesulibus in Lanfranc Restitution which he therefore mentions twice for failing Telling the Emperor that some three years before the Princes had made a Promise to restore them all without delay but upon Condition namely Provided the Friars and the Priests and the Bishops too who did also abuse Church-means to maintain Vice and Luxury would part with them also Conditions unlikely enough and therefore to this day that Restitution is yet to make In conclusion Calvin seems as it were to put up for it his Petition to the Emperor himself
saying Caesar you have the Princes bound by their own promise to restore as if he would say you may sue out their Bond. Calvin addes moreover that there was a Book written on purpose touching the Restitution to give satisfaction about it so that this particular should be no hinderance to Consent in Doctrine Thus far Calvin for France 20. And so in the third and last place Knox for Scotland In the first Book of Discipline Anno 1560. he and all his fellow Ministers are very vehement in pressing the Lords of the Privy Council to Restitution of all the Church Revenues their words are to this effect We dare not flatter your Lordships but for fear of the loss of your souls and ours we desire to have all the Church Lands of the Friars and all other Mortifications restored back again unto the Church 21. And in particular Knox himself about the year 1572. in which year he died x Knox his History in a general Epistle of his from Edinborough where he was Minister unto the General Assembly then sitting at Striveling he there exhorts them all to joyn in Preaching against the sin of Sacriledge in words to this purpose Brethren we have had a fight against the Hereticks and God hath blessed us we have now a strong fight against the Sacrilegious and therefore be you couragious and God will give us an happy end This Doctrine from Knox you may the rather take notice of and believe too because it seems it was his DEATH-BED DOCTRINE 22. We omit to dilate farther in quoting their whole express Sermons such as was that of Mr. John Cragge Preached at Lyth Anno 1571. directly against the Sin of Sacriledge by all which you may clearly see that all those Reformers were as earnest as any of us can be in inveighing against but the beginning of that Sacriledge against whose progress nay almost conquest some Left hearted men now adayes think it strange that we dare open our Mouths 23. But what need I trouble you with any more single Testimonies If whole Assemblies as it were Agmine facto marching in a full Body against it have charged this sin through and through For behold as Leah said at the Birth of Gad a Troop cometh Genes xxx 11. To name no more The whole Assembly at St. Andrews we are in Scotland still which did Anno 1582. expresly injoyn a General Fast throughout the Realm for appeasing Gods wrath upon the Land directly again for the crying sin of Sacriledge And surely we of this Kingdom have much more cause to arraign our selves for this sin now then they had then So that even before I knew this example such a thing has been often times in my thoughts and wishes with humble submission to Authority Behold instances enough of all sorts as to Justifie our Charge to the full so to finish our matter of Probation and indeed our whole Pleading against the Sin of Sacriledge arraigned here by Saint Paul in these words THOU THAT ABHORREST IDOLS DOEST THOU COMMIT SACRILEDGE THE RECAPITULATION OF ALL. 1. AND now to contract this whole Mass of Matter and to binde up all our evidence into one plain Syllogism the most convincing way of Argumentation WHATEVER is of the same nature with Idolatry and Adultery that must needs be a Sin now under the Gospel as much as under the Law BVT Sacriledge is of the same Nature with Idolatry and Adultery ERGO SACRILEDGE IS A SIN NOW UNDER THE GOSPEL AS MUCH AS UNDER THE LAW Quod erat Demonstrandum The MAJOR is extra controversiam being founded upon a Maxime of Reason for Eorundem eadem est ratio The MINOR is expressed in the words of the Text and grounded besides upon the clear Scope of the Apostle in the whole Context which is all along by Induction at least à pari if not a Majori to convince both Jew and Gentile of gross Hypocrisie for y Therefore thou art Inexcusable O man whosoever thou art that Judgest for wherein thou judgest another thou condemnest thy self for thou that judgest doest the same things And thinkest thou O man that judgest them which do such things and doest the same that thou shalt escape the Judgment of God Rom. 2.1.3 and so ver 21.22 committing those very sins of Idolatry or Adultery or as bad as those which they did condemn in others And if both the Major and the Minor also be true none but made men will deny the CONCLUSION This evidence in the behalf of Gods Cause is both so strong and so clear That the professed Adversaries of it are forced to confess it For the chief of them that Doctor of Sacriledge cited and confuted above in the X Chapt. in that very Book which he wrote ex professo in defence of Sacriledge spends an whole Chapter * C.B. Chap. 3 to prove it the Title whereof is That there is or may be Sacriledge committed now under the Gospel Albeit the same Author playing still the Prevaricator his best part in the very next Chapter before goes about to undermine this very Text Thou that abhorrest Idols doest thou commit Sacriledge as if meant only of the Idolothytes the meats sacrificed to Idols which Cavil à male divisis c. hath been already confuted above Chap. II. p. 14 15 whereas by the Current of Interpreters z As 1. The Syriack renders it Dost thou spoil the Holy House 2. The Aethiopick Doest thou rob the House of God 3. The Arabick Doest thou steal the Vessels of the Temple 4. Bucerus upon the place Fieri potest c. It may be St. Paul here by Sacriledge did not mean the stealing of the money dedicated to Idols but the Rapine which the Jews did commit about their Sacred Things partly by Selling and Buying the Priesthood partly by intercepting the Sacred Offerings and the Money dedicated by the people to Religious Uses For which cause our Lord did cast out of the Temple those that bought and sold therein These things the Jews most impuden ly had long before begun to practise as also Jesephus himself doth witness Thus Bucerus 5. Ad verbum Templum Despolias Doest thou plunder or rob the Temple 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Contemptus divinae Majestati◠per synecdochen speciei Pisc in loc To the same pu pose P. Martyr and others the sense is much more inlarged and this Text expounded directly of Robbing the true God by intercepting and interverting Religious Oblations and setting the same to sale The good work which C. B. in that Book undertakes to maintain thereby to justifie his own Sacrilegious Purchase But if it be Sacriledge as himself there doth confess to sell or purchase such transient oblations Then certainly by his leave with very good Logick any man indued with right Reason must needs conclude That by the Rule of Proportion it is much more and much greater Sacriledge to sell or to purchase the Permanent Oblations