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A65239 An humble apologie for learning and learned men by Edward Waterhous, Esq. Waterhouse, Edward, 1619-1670. 1653 (1653) Wing W1048; ESTC R826 172,346 272

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this world be delivered of her child that he may devour it Revel 12. but God will preserve it and cast out the Divell which deceiveth the whole world as it there followeth ver 9. I know there are some which count our reformation perfect because they take liberty to say and do their pleasures to call Learning a mark of the beast order forms an encroachment upon their Christian liberty methods of devotion readings of Scripture singing o●… Psa●…mes Conventions in Churches Commemorations of deliverances confessions of faith beggerly rudiments pieces of wil-worship and carnall Gospelling nay accuse the holy Scriptures not to be the word of God and to have no better proofe then the traditions of the Church which are errable and full of improbabilities These are the men whom former ages found as Irenaeus expresseth it crying up themselves for perfect and the seed of election having grace from above as their due by virtue of that Syzygia which is seraphicall and not to be described and insulting over other men as ideots formalists unversed in heavenly things having no better evidence of their sanctity and interest in Christ then the common calculate of being in the Church and of using ordinances and submitting to Church-fellowship To these if God forgive we forgive their pride and will repay them in prayers using the words of the forenamed Irenaeus That they may come out of the snare of Satan and not be drowned in that pit which they have digged but decline that vain shadow which hath deceived them and return to the Church which is the Spouse of Christ and so have Christ formed in them which if they refuse to do and continue despisers of Gods holy things we must not bid them good speed but obtest against them as against such as God and his Church cannot be at peace with for as Optatus says What manner of building can that be which is formed of Ruine and what good Religion can that be which is cryed up against to the dishonor of Scripture Give me O my God to make thy Word my delight in this house of my Pilgrimage and not to forsake it though death and danger were threatned those who owned it let me never be further in love with any knowledge then as it may advance the knowledg of Christ and make me humble as he was this is the glory of a Christian to be humble in Greatnesse poor in Riches patient in Troubles milde in Wrath and every thing which may call him in a sober sense Partaker of the Divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust Sure I am all the godly learned will hate and explode all Tenents which impair Scripture credit or disparage Learning the ordinary Key to those Mysteries they dare not cut off Samsons Locks in which the Churches strength consists lest the Church complain she is robbed of her jewels and without them she be left in the dark cursed be he that removes these ancient Marks and therefore S. Ierom expounds that place Amos 8. 13. In that day shall the young men and faire Virgines faint for thirst to be the beautifull Synagogues wherein the knowledg of God was taught and the learned Rabbies who taught in them adding that when learned teaching ceaseth in the Church all modesty of minde and chastity of soul will determine yea Virtues flie away by flocks like Turtles from their Cotes infested by Polecats In truth Learning is that great buckler which the Church uses to her defence against Atheists Papists Hereticks Schismaticks out of whose snares she cannot Extricate her self but by such helps It is the Cherubim as it were set to guard the Paradise of God against those that would Ruine her Order and supplant her Nursery could the Divel but steal away these Roses and Violets these flowers of use as well as variety he would make a strong party against Truth S. Cyril of Alexandria tells us the use of learned men in the Church while he says they stand against Sects like bulwarks and are the Rescuers of Truth from the captivity of Hereticks and the bold intrusions of their Sophistries The knowledge of this makes Satan as I before observed busie to gain many Proselytes of the learned Race and them to chain fast to him and keep ready by him upon all occasions and by them to lay load of scorn contempt upon those devout and precious souls whom he findes big with the hony of holy affection to God but not trimmed and rigged to a learned Argumentation or Artly Contest in this case he brands holy men with the terms of Ignorant Peevish Litterlesse as if the Conquest were got when Cham could see the nakednesse of Noah or the Kingdom secured to Absolom when he enjoyed his Fathers Concubines upon the house top Thus suffered Truth when the poor Waldenses and others gave it owning thus did the Pharisees deal by Christ. What we the great masters of knowledge skilled usque ad apices literarum who are as naturally versed in the Law as fishes in Water or birds in Air we be taught by a Carpenters son telling the world by that how improbable it was that he should be learned who had so mean an origen and illiterate a breeding as they thought he had The Mouths of wicked men are never wider open then when the Israelites must to Philistines for edge-tools when they must flie to the fig-leaves of an adversaries ingenuity for Apologie the Champions of the Church being liker Moses for Zeal then knowledge when they say we can dye for Christ not dispute for him as the Woman-Martyr did in Queen Maries days O then quoth they a goodly Religion a creditable Truth propped up by twiggs and rods of tender perswasions or holy motions and meanings reeling upon the rencounter of every blast O say they shew us a man of might a Seraphick Dr. an illuminated Schoolman of your way a Scotus a Hales a Thomas a Bradwardine an Ockham this Reproach makes Rachel mourn and importune Iacob for children but when God remembred the Church in her low estate and sent forth Scholastick Champions to defie these defiers of Truth and to invade those Dominions of the Intellect Affection and Practice which Satan had prepossessed and now claimed as his own then was the Church like the Tower of David builded for an Armory whereon there hang a thousand bucklers all shields of mighty men Cant. 4. 4. And here to the praise of God and the Renown of our late English Prelacy I doe aver that our Religion the Protestant Religion hath received more Right and Justification from the Clergy of that judgement and Ordination then from any Protestants besides I undervalue no Church no Government whatsoever that keeps Christ in it no gifts in any man who takes not out a Bill of Divorce to Humility I honour the least of Christ in any man what ever sprig lodges the smallest
of Zion and rejoyce in the Lord your God for that he hath given you the former Rain moderately So our English reads it but he reads it after the Hebrew dedit vobis Doctorem Iustitiae he hath given you the Doctor of Righteousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It seems that the Ancients ever delighted in shady places and seated themselves upon places of plenty and security woods and places of retirement are very contributive to Piety and Study popular frequentations divert the minds of youth from what they should intend therefore the holy Patriarch chuseth his aboad and schoole in Querc●…to Nemore and so did the Druyds Our Ancient masters of Learning in this Nation who herefore have their names from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Oak because they judg'd nothing more sacred then an Oak After Abraham I find Iob numbred amongst the Learned Teachers who lived about the latter end of the Patriarch Iacob as Cor. a Lapide saies and in Learning was profound and for acquaintance with God singular as appears by Gods Speech Ezek. 14. 16. Though these three men Noah Daniel and JOB were in it c. God expressing that though three of his high favourites were in Ierusalem yet he would not be intreated by them to spare it After Iob Moyses is mentioned a Man after Gods own heart to whom God appeared Face to Face whom Eupolemus in Eusebius saies to be the first Instructor of the Iewish Nation in Letters this Man was so mighty in honour amongst the Iews for his converse with God and the miraculous power that he expressed in their Conduct out of Egypt and Wander in the Wilderness that God concealed the place of his Death least the People should commit Idolatry to his Sepulchre Thus all were Doctors who first seminated Learning in the world by special instinct and direction of God who would not have his Church and people letterlesse and unarted but according to their receptivity and capacity conformable to their head Christ Iesus who being the Wisedome and Word of the Father is Lord and Doctor of all Arts and Sciences as St. Gregory truly noteth Afterwards when the Jewish Polity came to be fixed and they were in a succession of Government then they Erected publique Schools of learning and appointed Cities which to those ends they priviledged In the 15. Chapter of Ioshua we read of Debir the City of Letters or the Oracle or Loquutory whence the secrets of God were learned and given for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies here after Moses did O●…hniel teach as Mosius from the Talmudists instructs us Adricomius also tels us of Cariatsepher which was the Debir before spoken of as appears 15 Chap. Ioshua 15. an Academy and University of Palestina and that in it arts were taught and that it was abundantly furnished with Schools and Masters to teach them To conclude this head It appears out of the holy story that there was a grand Colledge at Ierusalem in which the Masters of the Law resided and those that were inspired as by name Hulda the Prophetesse for so we read 2 Kings c. 22. v. 14. from which as the fountain all the other Schools grew the institution of which as judicious Calvin observes was that there should ever be a succession of learning and learned men in the Church of God that no age of the Church should be without Doctors learned and pious every way accomplish'd to the Ministry And therefore saith he when God extraordinarily called any to promulgate his illimited and absolute power whom he would send out as Prophets then did he qualifie them accordingly and gave them an humble ingenuity to put all their authority and enablement upon a miracle thus did Amos whom God called from a herdsman to be Prophet c. 7 v. 14. openly professe he was no Prophet nor the son of a Prophet that is not a Prophet ordinarily instructed from his youth in the Schools to be an Interpreter of the Scripture but one extra propositum by Divine call and speciall inspiration which had he not made appear he might saith Calvin have been exofficed for not having a call Thus and by these worthies prenominated hath Learning been handed downe from heaven to the Iews from them to the Celts Gauls or Britans for they are upon the point all one in Antiquity Our Samothes one of Iaphets posterity being about the age of the world 1910. a Teacher of learning and Erector of Schools as I shal hereafter shew God willing about which time also the Phoenicians Egyptians grew learned and had Tandos Memphaeos their Academies to which afterwards many ages as to that of Ierusalem the Greek Philosophers and Poets Orpheus Musaeus Melampodus Pythagorus Plato Socrates repaired and from whence imbibed those grounds upon which the Learning of this day and all times since is and hath been founded By this the Antiquity of Learning and the Nobility of its parentage is evinced It now follows that I should shew its qualities congenerous and proportionate to its birth Saint Iames hath fully defined it when he saith The wisedome that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be intreated T is a Cornucopia the generall Alms-giver It hath reduced natures tyranny into order and bounds by this Terpander played the Lacedemonians out of a sedition into a calmnesse by this the Town-Clark in the Acts cooled the people out of their uproar by this Pysistratus gain'd power over the Athenians the most jealous people of their liberties that the world had by this Cardinall Bessarion perswaded the Christians in the East to arme themselves against the Turke composed the differences between the Easterne and Westerne Churches quieted that disturbance which threatned the City of Bononia's utter ruine excited the Germane Princes against the Turks By this did Hubert Gualter our Countryman worke on the Nobles and People of this land after the death of Rich. the First to settle the Crowne contrary to their purposes upon King Iohn gaining him not only authority but favour in the exulcerated minds of the people By this in fine eloquently uttered have all great designes either of conquest or compact been effected and without this neither Hegesias his discourse of the miseries of life or Plato his immortality of the soul and the Elisium to be enjoyed after life would have been so operative upon men who gave their lives as it were in tribute to their eloquence and incomparable discoveries Look and read over the Journals of Antiquity view the Diaries of time and you shall find learned men usefull in their places and ages noble advantages to their Countries their Chieftains to defend them their Oracles to advise them their Orators to plead for them their Physicians to cure them nay their Musicians to recreate them though popular charity hath often been so cold and affections so inconstant that want and misery have usually
men but also by his preservation of it from those injuries which the malice of Satan and his instruments both secretly hatched and as far as they could expressed against it yea above all that ought to confirm Christian men in a high veneration of Scripture that our Lord Jesus owned the then written part of it quoted it and gave us charge to search the Scriptures for they do testifie of me saith he Ioh. 5. 39. This made the Apostles and their Successors in all ages to give notable testimonies of their zeal to the Scriptures Reverence Tertullian saies I adore the fulnesse of the Scriptures which shew me clearly both the Creator and the Creature And Origen as plainly We must in all doubts take Scripture evidences for without that our senses and enarrations will have no credit 't would be endlesse to summon in the cloud of witnesses which to this purpose are produceable let the Reader peruse learned Zanchy in his Tract de sacra Scriptura and thence he will be abundantly satisfied Now let no man wonder that the Book of God should be so precious in the Churches eyes since God has appointed it to be what ever is useful and comfortable to her in her militant state in this world it hath comfort against her dejection Resolution of her Doubts Arguments against her Opponents 'T is eyes to her when in the dark Counsel to her when in the wildernesse Courage to her when in straights 'T is in a word the via lactea out of which Christ the Sun of righteousnesse is discovered to arise to the soul with healing under his wings Mal. 4. 2. This buckler this Compasse this Pillar of fire this Star the Church is forced to use and follow in its conduct against all those her pestilent enemies that exercise her Graces of Faith Patience and Constancy and did not her Champions take up this sword of the Spirit they could not chase away those beasts of error that they are forced to encounter with in the course of their Ministry after the manner of men They they alas who are the Messengers of God are not ever to meet with hearers ingenuous milde like S. Peter's prick'd at their hearts crying Men and brethren what shall we do but often with Elimasses with the Disputers of this world with Turtullusses subtile and intricate mysteriously couching their deceits which by art the Minister of Christ must detect and from the holy Text arraign and condemn if not there will be great opposition and violent endeavours to hold what Satan has gained Moses could not prevail upon Pharaoh till he had out-feated his Magicians till the patnesse of the Conviction assured them God must be in that Rod which could effect such a Miracle yea had not our Lord Jesus made way for his entertainment by signs and Miracles transcending the power of created being and pointing at a Divine cause which produced such inexpected effects his Ministry had been much eclipsed through the stiffe and deliberated Morosity of the envious Jewes to whom he came and by whom he was refused And if it were so when hee was in Flesh Who spake as never man spake what shall become of the Ministers in his Church now If they take not to them the whole Armour of God if they be not throughly furnished to all good works if they come not as it were in the spirit and power of Elijah if they like Apollos be not mighty in word and in deed they will not onely fall short of their work but also of their Crown For To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden Mannah and a white stone and a new name saith Christ Rev. 2. 17. O the wisdom of God who has so well suted his word to the purpose he designed it It is a Net fitted to catch fishes of all sorts and stations Jews Gentiles bond free high low young old There is not more variety in Art and Nature then there is with unspeakable art adumbrated in the holy Scriptures that God might reprove the vanity of all relyances on and all adunations with any thing which seems to stand in competition with his word for our belief and delight There is no Art no Figures no choice of those Rhetoricall Flowers which surprise mortall curiosity into a pleasing vassallage and make it Felo de se but is here amply matched if we were not deaf when this voice of the Charmer approacheth us If we would not shut our eyes against the light that would enlighten us and make us see the mercy of God conducting his Church to heaven by those waters of the Sanctuary which are pleasant and satiating and which make the soul never to thirst after the wisdome of the world because it is enmity against God Tell mee thou who art the most Critick and curious Wit who deeply sinkest down thy plummet to sound the Coast of Knowledg with greatest care and sollidest scruple Where have thine elixerated Brains been more nobly satiated in Plato Tully Seneca Plutarch Aristotle then they might have been in Histories Philosophy Morals Ethicks Logicks Politicks Rhetoricks and Poesies of the Prophets Apostles and holy Pen-men What more Variety Verity Eloquence rare Extasies of Devotion and holy Language in all that vast Continent of Books which men have in all Ages and Arts written then in that little Spot and Jewell of divine Writ It is beyond any mans power to instance any one Directory that may or hath conveyed that light to the Church by which we may infallibly walk and by it be conducted to the light that is eternall as the Book of God doth If then the Text of the Preacher be so various sublime copious it becomes the Preacher to be and shew himself A workman that needeth not to be ashamed Yea well might Saint Paul cry out Who is sufficient for these things without more then ordinary assistance of God The Minister then must be learned that the Golden Censer may not shame the woodden Priest The Word of God that two-edged Sword must not be dispensed by one who cannot distinguish betwixt the Birth-right and a Mess of Pottage yea so knowing ought and must the man of God be so carefully watch that Leah be not put into Iacob's bed in stead of Rachel that false glosses and corrupt Traditions be not obtruded on Beleevers and the verities of God hidden under the bushell of politick designes and carnall conveniences This the Ministers of God must watch against lest the Scriptures be made the objects of every Sophisters cavil and like deserted wayes buryed in the weeds of overgrown Atheism then will the wayes of Zion mourn while Heathens and Hereticks play to the Harp and the Viol then will her adversaries be the chief and her enemies prosper as the mournfull Prophet hath it Lam. 1. 4 5. And as the ruine of Learning will bring ruine on the Church so on the State no
into his party were enough to prepare and purchase our beliefs of its necessity the old Serpent fears nothing more then the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God brandished by a Master of the assembly he cannot away with one brought up at the feet of Gamaleel who discovers his falshoods and methods and can decorticate him for a Devil of darkness while he hath the garb of an Angel of light his engines are ever on work to keep men in ignorance but if not that to make them his pensioners he knows Fame and admiration to be wise as an Oracle and consulted with upon all arduous affairs answers the pride of Achitophel and he adapts a snare suitable to this enterprise he puts in hard for every purchase that 's worth ought he has so many Mercuries abroad that no sooner is any thing out of the thought and will pass'd into the fancy but he knows it and accordingly lyes in Ambush here he met with Tertullian a sharp Wit and stole away his heart from the truth making him become a Montanist corrupting the faith by many things which he delivered not onely besides but against that form of Doctrine which was delivered by Christ and his Apostles so also did he distort St. Cyprian though God recovered him by his grace and as I believe gave him the sight of and sorrow for his errors which he accepted of and put a Spirit into him fit for Martyrdome which he couragiously underwent the like danger since befel St. Augustine St. Ambrose and others of the ancient Fathers But chiefly Origen one whose light of intellect was like that of the Sun matchless a great Wit and as it proved a great temptation to the Church as Vincentius notes for he was grown to such veneration that no man of his age bore any breadth but he he encouraged his Father to Martyrdome he converted thousands to Christ wrote Infinite Books with noble art and upon noble subjects yet at length the Church gained nothing by this Lucifer but scandal and detriment for his authority being great and God permitting Satan to traduce and tempt him for his greater good I hope he having much after-sorrow every humour and conceit of his grew Dogmatical and was taken up as an article of faith as if he had not been a man subject to passions follies delusions seducements but a person immaculate and unerring such as could neither deceive nor be deceived But poor man he met with a Sophister of more subtilty and experience then hee was and his own weakness beguiled him of that grace on which onely he ought to have rested and now he starts aside and grows like Salt that has no savor fit to be cast out as execrable S. Ierom against Ruffinus calls him his beloved for the rarity of his wit not truth of his opinions and anon I admire Origen as an Interpreter not an Oracle as witty not Orthodox a as Philosopher not an Apostle yea this made that common saying of him Where he did well no man better where ill no man worse But what became of this titubating this touring mountain of snow did he outstand the warm beams of Divine grace could he by his wit and Satans to help steel himself into an obduration impenetrable nothing less God recovered him and brought him to notable remorse and the better to humble him and abase the pride of his Spirit reduced him to great poverty and want as Nicephorus relates it and in that he dyed in the 69. year of his age Nor rests Satan here his work is never at an end so long as there are good men to polish and bad men to pervert hence yet does he pursue his trade of chaffering for souls in the Christian Church how has he tampered with the profoundest Clerks with such as St. Thomas Bellarmine Cajetan Baronius Suarez and thousand others men of all hours and sciences like Saul higher by head and shoulders then all the people what choice wits culls he out and bribes to his services what a train of clients hath he of the curious frye who trifle out their time in science falsly so called as the Apostle saith in curious and vaine enquiries after things uncertain and diabolicall such as are magick and judiciall Astrology studies which holy Lactantius calls Inventions of the Divel I cannot I do not depretiate naturall Astrology as it is a piece of Astronomick Philosophy for so Aristotl●… reckons it and divides it into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 referring 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to Astronomy Analyt Poster lib. 1. c. 13. And so Cornelius Agrippa considers them as one c. 30. de Astronomi●… I grant it a knowledge ancient and laudably looked into so our end be to honour God in a modest observing the language of the Stars and Heavens The Psalmist tells us That the Heavens declare the glory of God and the Firmament shew his handy Work yet I find the ancient Patriarchs and Prophets skilled this something like Learning as Abraham Moyses Daniel c. My only aim is to decry Astrology judicial which I find stigmatized with brands of Infamy and dishonour in all good ages and all good authors Platina notes of Richard father to Pope Marcellus the second that he was a most noble Astrologer but a profest hater of that which is judicial And I desire to be pardoned if I use more liberty of speech and fulness of reproofe then ordinary yea sharpen mine arrowes that they may stick in the hearts of the King of heavens enemies and make them confess their wages doings not to be good while they prefer a cunning mans cōsult beyond the advice either of God in his Word or his Ministers according to his word being in this in a kind heathens for Lactantius tells us that they averred That Philosophy was the true wisdom and to be preferred above the holy Scriptures As for judiciall Astrology and all other prestigiations they have been condemned in all ages God defies them 47 Esay vers 13. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy Counsels let now the Astrologers the Star-gazers the monthly Prognosticators stand up and save thee from these things that shall come upon upon thee vers 14. Behold they shall be as stubble the fire shall burn them they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame c. And the converted Ephesians Acts c. 19. brought in all their Magick Books and burnt them as unworthy to be kept by Christians The ancient Philosophers decryed this while they obtested against any perfect conclusive necessary Science in us Plato will allow man but barely opinion God onely has science Ptolomy saies that judgement of futurities is a kind of Medium between necessary and contingent nor ought any thing to be affirmed certainely and exactly which is future Avicen denies any credit to Astrologers because neither do they comprehend the latitude
of heavenly things nor so much of the nature of inferiour things as are necessary to judgments nor is their Art demonstrable but they deal upon experience and Vaticinie and back their deceit with Oratorick and Poetick fables and proofs And without doubt could Astrologers foretell any thing certainly there would not have been such follies committed by them as to their dishonour hath been by the just hand of God Nor would that famous Paulus Florentinus have been in the dark who openly professed that he calculated his Nativity and could finde nothing of longaevity in it yet 't is known he lived till 85 years of age which was five yeers above wondrous old in Davids account The Fathers of the Church have been marvellously clamorous against them and their fascinations Tertullian is very sharp and notably perstringes the Simonian Hereticks and Marcionites who both used these Arts adding As for Astrologers they deserve not once to be named they think God not to be consulted with but that we are ordered by the immutable influences of the Stars And in his Book of Idolatry he is so zealous against them that he saith That after the Gospel was received we cannot finde either Sophisters or Caldeans or Inchanters or Conjecturers or Magicians but they were ever severely punished Origen is not behind others in giving them the lash of his pen and he smites once for all he calls Enchanters the Divels Seducings the Divels pastime the dregs of Idolatry the infatuation of souls the scandal of Orders adding that those who follow them are forsaken of God and the holy Angels possessed by the Divell who not onely infatuates them but hardeneth their hearts against the Truth and maks them reprobate to every good word and work Saint Augustine is very smart against them as instrumentall to beguile men of Truth and to betray them to all evils of Atheism Idolatry profanenesse and what not lib. 5. de Civit. Dei So Saint Cyril lib. 10. cont Iulianum Theod. quaest 15. on Genesis Esychius upon the 7. chapter of Leviticus and chap. 19. So Alchymus Olympiodore and Cassiodore as I finde them quoted Hist. Magd. Cent. 6. c. 6. with infinite others which to mention would be needlesse The ancient Councels not onely abroad but at home decree against this or any thing like it in any degree as heathenish So I finde in the Synod of Saint Patrick here about the yeer 456. art 14. A Christian which commits Murder or Adultery or after the manner of the Heathen goeth to a Witch for every such fault let him be enjoyned and accordingly undergo a whole years penance Yea the Law of our Land punisheth a Witch or any one who converseth with an evill spirit with death See Sir Ed. Cook 3. part Instit. p. 44 45. And some of the Learned say That as Augurie Aruspicine and all Sorceries so Astrologick predictions are made by familiarity of evill spirits and that no particular events can be foreknown by any but by that unlawfull compact And for this besides strong Reasons they produce the Authorities of ingenuous Masters in that skil as Gauricus who saith Fieri nequit ut qui tantum sciens est particulares rerum formas praenunciet soli autem Numine afflati praedicunt particularia And therefore though there be difference in the Manner and Kinds of Witchcraft Divination Southsaying Fortune-telling and Astrologie as to exact definition yet they all agree in the end which is by vain impious means to know the future events of Men and Things for which cause the Scripture ranks them together Dan 2. 2. Magicians Astrologers Sorcerers and Caldeans and Tully condemns them together as parts of one and the same pack whereby the Divell seduceth mans curiosity to dishonour God and his Truth by adhering to signes of future events good and evill which not warranted in the Word of God ought not to be rested on by Christians For as the School-men well say Omnes hujusmodi observationes superstitiosae sunt illici●…ae videntur esse quaedam reliquiae Idololatriae See more of this in King Iames his Daemonologie cap. 3 4 5. c. and therefore 't was a good rule of Mariana while commending the study of Religion to a Prince he forbids resting on specious forms of mysterious superstition and on the Art of Divination if it be an Art and not rather a delusion of vain men as things which do misbecome the Majestie of a Governour and imbase the glory of Religion And therefore Cornelius Agrippa after he hath with great severity oppugned this Knowledg and asserted both Picus and Firmianus in their Arguments against it sayes Dignissima profectò Ars quam olim etiam Daemones profiterentur in fallaciam hominum in injuriam Divinitatis And as Religion is by these heathenish and indemonstrable Arts dishonoured so is the Civill Polity and Authority of the Magistrate hereby endammaged and imperill'd For such is the policy of Satan and the corruption of our nature that we give more heed usually to Doctrines of Divels then to the rules and dictates of true Religion And though the Scriptures be precise that obedience be given in all things according to the will of God to those that are placed over us or permitted by providence to have power amongst us and it rests a duty on us to give honour to whom honour and fear to whom fear is due yet how easily will those bonds be broken and that awe upon the conscience be discharged if mens recumbencies be on Prognosticators and their Charmes and mentitious Presages Many sad villanies may by the midwifry of this Impostor be perpetrated Which is confirmed by Tiberius of whom the Historian sayes That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Calculating the day and hour of their Nativities if he found in them any thing excellent or any good fortune or likelinesse to attaine the Empire he slew them Therefore Tacitus calls them Genus hominum Principibus infidum credentibus fallax à Civitate nostra semper prohibentur Which the wise Counsellor Agrippa forewarns Octavian hereof while he sayes Magicians are not to be endured for admit they speak some things true yet oftner do they by lying fool men into attempts dangerous and innovating I the rather enlarge on these hints because I see a notorious mischief coming in at this door the insolencies of the Astrologers and their Appendices being not onely great and bold like the sin of Sodom but also scandalous to Our Religion and much detractfull from the honour and successe of it For so bold are they grown that they court men from the Ordinances of Christ in the Church to their Dens of speculation and fascinating Vaults and with Simon Magus Acts 8. bewitch men with their sorceries perting themselves up and priding over the sacred Order of the Ministry under the disfavoured name of Presbytery as if
Church of Saint Pancras See Ethelwerdi Hist. c. 2. About the year 700 great was the company of learned men of the English race yea so numberfull that they upon the point excelled all Nations in learning piety and zeal and within a century grew so holily ambitious that their own Countrey could not limit their Zeal but they must out of a Divine charity visite Germany with the Faith that they did they made not more hast then good speed God wonderfully co-operating with them so that in short time they converted almost all Germany founded many Monasteries there and sundry Cathedral Churches setting Arch-Bishops and Bishops in these their new erected Diocesses The like in France did holy Alcuinus about the year 790 when being employed by Offa King of Mercia Embassadour to Charles the great upon composing differences between the two Crowns and setling things for their mutuall good and peace for the future he grew into such request with the French King That he was taken for the most beloved Tutor of Caesar who from him took the Institution and Method of Learning and not contented with the narrow fame of Tutor to that Noblesse and Eminentissimo addicted his study and time to the ordering and regulation of publick Civil affaires in which he gained so great love with the People and esteem with the Prince that no request was denied him that his modesty could make or merit promise him to obtain His mind more fixed on Art then Air called on him to write his memorial on the Marble of some Monument sacrated to Learning First he moves the King to Found the Schooles at Paris which he ordered after the manner of ours here and placed Scotus and others his Scholars whom he sent for out of England students there and so Transplanted the Flowers of England into France The same did he exhort the Emperor to do at Pavia in Italy where he placed an Academy Iohan Scotus being the first Professor there So that we may cry out with the Poet Quae regio in terris nostri non plena laboris What Nation of this earth hath not by us been made A Learned Nursery of Wits and seat of Trade Now grows Our Nation to its Zenith Fame is no friend to continuance the Verticle is near when Admiration from abroad and Luxury at home threaten our Change Riches and Returns carry Assailants beyond Fear and Friendship to Hope their Anchor No sooner are we the Pearl but the Saxon Merchants lay all at stake to purchase us They Arm and Transfreight and about the year six hundred eighty nine obtain the Rule over us A deboyst and fierce Nation they were Naturally given to Ingurgitation and Venery to spoyl and blood yet God so overawed them that their Kings were very pious and perswadable by the holy men of these times by whose advice many Religious works and equitable Lawes were from time to time made yea and old Laws preserved and refined as is evident in the Memoriall of their Laws collected by Master Lambard and revived by my Noble friend Sir R. Twisden What they did to the shame of after times is worthy honourable mention their end being godly though perhaps in time without their privity their charity was abused King Inas one of them built the famous Monastery at Glassenbury and the Cathedral Church at Wells Another Kenred is commended to be devout towards God and good to his Countrey He builded the Abbey of Evisham though Egwin after Bishop of Worcester have the name Offa King of Merica a third of them granted the tenth part of all his goods unto Church-men and to the poor He builded the Abby of Bath and placed Benedictine Monks in it and after the Church at Hereford with great Revenues I pass by Ethelbert and his Charity and Religion because I have mentioned them before and intend no repetition but an addition of one most Christian speech of his Son Ethelbert who lived but a little while and dyed by treachery The more great quoth he men are the more humble ought they to bear themselves for the Lord putteth proud and haughty men from their Seats aud exalteth the Humble and Meek Ethelred King of Mercia a fourth of them gave large possessions to the Abby of Croyland Pro amore coelestis patriae for the love he bore to heaven They are the words of the Charter confirmed by Kenulph an 806. A fifth of them Kedulph built a great Church at Winchcomb in Kent and founded an Abbey also there highly honouring the Church and Churchmen Adde to these Alfred who is said to Found at least to repair the Universities of Oxford and sundry others who were so devout that they left off their Crowns and abjured the world thinking nothing too good for him that had layd down his life for them Nor did they do less honour to the Reverend Bishops and Churchmen of their times then became them to do to Fathers who carry an Invaluable Treasure in earthen vessels and are good Ambassadors to wooe us to be reconciled to God For all their actions and judicial administrations were by their counsel and consent We read of Dustane Ethelwold Osward Swithune Adelstone and many others sole Favorites in their times Nay we read not in all these times of Rule and misrule both changes falling out under the Saxons that any persons were impowred to meddle with Church men or Church matters but only Church Governours but rather that the Clergy and all their Priviledges were kept inviolable No secular power to enter upon them nor no Taxes to be levied on them or their Tenants unless says the words of a Charter to the building of Castles and Bridges which are for common defence and cannot be remitted to any but that they shal rest in their houses as in a Sanctuary or in mine own chamber and if any of his Ministers of Justice shall disturb them he does it at the peril of the loss of his right foot these are the words of the Charter So good in short were these times that I think the Learned may truely say as our Lord did of Nathanael Behold true Israelites in whom there was no guile and as the Iews did of the Centurion Luke 7. 5. They loved our Nation and built us Churches But God purposed to give us over to be spoiled by strangers and therefore sent the Danes like the plagues of Egypt to blast and encumber us They quaffed down the wealth and plenty of the Nation accounting this spot of earth but a despicable nothing to satisfie their voracity like the locusts in Egypt they overspread the whole land 't was an ill wind brought them hither and a most severe judgement of God continued them here they are needy and numerous and must be in action their work is to ruine every thing of beauty and order No place no condition no Sex prescribed against their fury They came by command of no
of Humane or Civil constitution but of Divine and Supream Ordination flowing not from Aarons Priesthood but the Eternal Law made by the Majesty of Heaven and wrote in the Tables of mans heart from the beginning God the great Maker of all things not onely ordering the whole world of mankind to attendance at large on him but also the best and choicest of them to be his special train to whom he gave his own portion for Maintenance this appears in Melchisedeck who hundreds of years before the Levitical Priesthood was setled received Tythes of Abraham as he was Priest of the most high God and this not as many of the Ancients to whom I do reverence and in opposition to whom I would not be understood say as a requital of that honour which Melchisedeck had done him in giving him bread and wine but as instructed by God and specially required to take that as the Res Dominica substantia Dei census or Lords Rent which Abraham was to pay in in ackowledgement to him who was the supream Majesty and by whose power and permission he was then a Conquerour over those Kings and Armies which disturbed the holy seed Now because God knew that in time devotion would flag and Ieshurun spurn with the heel against his Maker when he was fat therefore God in probability conjoyned the Kingly and Priestly Office in the same persons to wit the Patriarchs and Heads of Familie that both might seem to accomplish the end of God the Priesthood sanctifie the Kingly Office and the Kingly Office secure the Priesthood that as the one hath right to receive so the other should have might to compel what is due to be paid from the greatest contrarient Mistake me not I intend no controversie I am to offer my thoughts as an Orator not to dispute as a School-man I shall leave debates to Theologues It becomes me onely to evince the reasonableness and necessity of a Ministry from what is obvious to me in Reason and Authors So ancient is the Office of Priesthood that a Learned man of our own saies That as Melchisedeck Priest of the most high God in Gen. 14. is said to have neither Father nor Mother neither begining nor end of days so may it fall out in search after the Antiquity and dignity of Priesthood that we shall not find out its Original and first Rise it being Primaeval and beyond mention of Record yet in the holy story I read that before the Law there was a Priesthood the Patriarchs were of this In the Law there was a Priesthood Levi and his Posterity in their Families were of that thus amongst the Jews And to this for a long time was appended ths Office of Government and Civil distribution So careful was God to intrust power in pious hands that he took away all fear of their abusing it out of the peoples mindes and gave them a lesson by what they saw in the Temporary Priest to expect with admiration the Eternal Priest and Law-giver Christ Jesus who should be compleatly furnished to all purposes of power and purity that he might perfume their Sacrifices and prostrate the enemies of his Church and this onely in a Spirituall way for his Kingdom is not of this world But a Ministry he has ever had since his departure and I am sure ever will so long as his Word abides which saies The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church Nor did the Jews and Christians onely set apart persons for holy employments giving them Priviledges Tyths and Honour but the very Heathens did thus perhaps from the instinct of Nature The Egyptians chose their Priests and Kings from amongst Philosophers Alex. ab Alex lib. 2. cap. 8. The Greeks Kings and Priests were both one And we read of Iethro Priest of Midian and of the Priests of the Philistims of Baal Molech Ashtaroth and other mentioned in holy Writ and prophane stories In our Nation while the Samothei Sarronites or Druydes continued they had great Priviledges their persons and all that repaired to them were exempted from all secular Services and Taxes all Laws made and Judgements stood to which they declared the best of every thing offered to them Plutarch saies That the Laws did enjoyn reverence and Honour to Priests and holy men because they impart the holy things of the Gods not onely to themselves their children friends and families but to all men indifferently And Plato brings in Socrates affirming That amongst the Egyptians no man could be a King 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unless he were a Priest and if any man got Rule or by Usurpation obtained the Kingdom he was compelled after such obtainment to be Priested that he might be what the Law required both King and Priest Romulus the Founder of the City of Rome Empress of the world set apart Priests and highly priviledged them So did after him Numa his Successor and so did all times downward that were orderly observing the Maxim of Plato which surely he had by Tradition from the Jews as well as by dictate of Nature Not to remove or change those Priesthoods which were ancient and preserved by our Progenitors From the times of the Apostles Christianity held the Order of Priesthood or Ministry sacred And those Emperors and Princes who were good and virtuous did their Duty to them as their Spiritual Fathers Socrates tells us That the Emperour Constantine the Great would not sit down in the Council of Nice with the holy Bishops there convened before they besought him to sit and Sozomen affirms That he refused to give Judgement against the Clergy and when the Arrians brought Accusations against the Orthodox Bishops he took and burned them not permitting their publication saying These Accusations will have proper hearing at the last day of Iudgement Yea Eusebius testifies that he would make great Feasts for the Fathers of the Church set them down with him at the Table largely reward them when they departed command observation of their Canons kiss the wounds of those Bishops and Presbyters that had been tortured and lost their eyes in times of Persecution and would often say If he saw any sin committed by a Priest he would c●…ver it with his Imperial Robe So writes Theodoret What Honour has been done the Church since appears in stories Emperors Kings and Princes did take their Crowns from the hands of the Clergie for such Bishops were receive Institution from them pertook of the Sacraments of the Church from their hands made them of their Council and Closet employed them on Embassies and other high affairs of State out of pure love and zeal and out of experience of their fidelitie and fitness and not from that pusillanimity and manless subjugation which by many in our Age scornfully is called Priest-riddenness as I may so say their term being Priest-ridden when they express a man addicted to the
Minds who cry out How beautifull are the feet of those that bring the glad tidings of peace which none can effectually and authoritatively do but those that are sent and set apart to the Ministry as the Apostle shews Rom. 10. 14 15. And if it be so why are we thus thus removed from our ancient stability and commendable Christian curiosity that in stead of adoring God in his gifts of Arts and Languages to Men we cry up only those men who like Egyptian Temples fair without but within full of Cats Serpents Crocodiles and other inglorious Creatures are full of scorns superciliousness and what not which may conclude them to be such as our Saviour approves not though they seem in his Name to prophecie but not cast out Divels no not that of Division by which the Church is spoyled of her Unity Order and External comelinesse yea many discouraged to continue in that Communion in which there is a kind of necessity to be alwaies in dispute or else to be captive to vulgar Errors And VVho in S. Ieroms words can sleep secure that bordereth so upon the Viper who if he sting not surely solicites and endangereth our seduction I know not what the Reason is but both the Church and her Ministry are unnaturally disowned by many who if they live Christian lives here and ever come to heaven may next to the mercy of God thank the Church and her Administrations for their direction and instruction She as the Father saies well carried them long in her womb nourished them bore the Petulancies of their infancie cleansed them from their filth and yet they now cast dirt in that face which hath often kissed them with kisses of love and hugged them in the arms of holy discipline It is a great unnaturalnesse for Christians to disown their spiritual Fathers who have begotten them to God by the Gospel 1 Cor. 4. 15. Whence O whence is this blindnesse fallen upon many of Israel that they prefer Garlick and Onions before Manna Beads and Glassie bables above Gold and Pearls rather will they hear the chatterings of Cranes and clamours of Owls then the sweet notes of Nightingals and birds of Paradise which in their Musick keep time and touch sweetly which speak not words more acceptable then upright words of truth as the Preacher hath it Eccles. the last v. 10. I hear these cracklings of thorns every day bold to perswade men from hearing Ministers to hear men of the Spirit as they call them these say they are taught of God not Heathenishly learned after the rudiments of the world Our Lord Jesus feedeth amongst the Lilies he converses with the poor and humble he despises not the day of small things he hath looked upon the low estate of his servants there is a holy Teaching and Unction say they which the Learned and great ones of the World know not the god of this world hath blinded their eyes that they cannot see Christ through the thickets of prophane Learning and unprofitable speculation thus do they with the Pharisee condemn wisedom which is justified of her children and justifie themselves to be vain deceivers of themselves and others For suppose Christ feeds among the Lilies yet 't is the Lilies of the vallies Cant. 2. 1. What is that to the proud and haughty who cry stand off I am more holy then thou Isai. 65. 5. whose mouthes drop not sweet smelling Myrrh Cant. 5. 13. but utter proud swelling words speaking evil of those dignities which they ought not to think upon without honour Are these the Lilies of the vallies the poor and humble whose hearts are so lifted up in them that they despise their Mother and smite their brethren and fellow servants with reproaches and injurious falshoods boasting of an holy Unction while they prove themselves without natural affection truce-breakers ashamed of the Baptisme and Covenant which was made betwixt God and their Souls by the Ministry which brought as it were God and them together If this be the way of God if this be the path of holinesse which the redeemed of the Lord should walk in then is the learned and holy Ministry of the Church at a losse then is Christ and his glorious manifestations hid from them then are they yet to seek what the good and acceptable will of God is then may they sit down in sackcloth and ashes mourning to God in the Prophets words Thou hast deceived us O Lord and we were deceived But if to preach the words of Truth and sobernesse and not to speak things of nought the deceit of mens hearts be to honour Christ and not to betray him with the Courtship of Hail Master and the civility of a kisse then are the faithful Ministers of Christ secure then may they comfort themselves that their witnesse and reward is in heaven and their labour not in vain what ever their usage here be for as the Father said well Gratias Deo lingua Petiliani non est ventilabrum Dei O my soul mistake not thou thy way by leaning in the least degree on these dangerous though specious fallacies which are strong temptations to those who have no foundation of God in them but stand thou fast in the Truth revealed to thee and listen not to any voice besides the word which saies to thee Lo here is Christ Lo there is Christ for many false Christs shall arise with lying wonders and strong seducements which thou art not to believe or follow be thou studious of thine own duty and thy Makers will according to the discovery of which do thou walk Look unto the rock whence thou art hewn to the hands that instrumentally polished thee to be a stone in Gods spiritual building the Church blesse the womb that bare thee and the paps that gave thee suck and set thou thy seal to the Truth of that Ministry by which thou wer't first admitted into and since confirmed in the Church Look not upon the wandrings of men whom thou lovest and from whom thou hopest to have received assistance in thy Christian course to heaven those that forsake thee while thou keepest close to God are happily parted with Comfort thy self O my soul That greater is he that is in thee then he that is in the world that thy companions the glorious company of the Prophets and Apostles the noble army of Martyrs the holy Church Ministers and Professors who continued steadfast and would not be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ transcends these trifles which are but children of a day and as the Orator saies Ficta omnia celeriter tanquam flosculi decidunt Cicer. 2. Offic. that are ever learning and never come to the knowledge of the truth that will not endure sound doctrine but after their own lusts heap to themselves teachers having itching ears that turn away their ears from the Truth and are turned to fables and
that those men who have some gifts and think they are rich in them having need of nothing when alas they are blind and naked Rev. 3. 17. make Calves of those gifts they have and by them tempt the people to Idolize them and their gifts yea and to contemn the Ministry and Ordinances of the Church crying up themselves as the instruments that brought men from Superstition into the glorious light of Truth and liberty of the Gospel Thus they thrust their sickle into anothers Harvest and reap where they sowed not Alas every man is not a lawfull Labourer in the Vineyard that breaks through the hedge and toyles therein without and against the leave of the lawful Master of the Vine-yard No man in the Church is to do any thing but he that is a Church-man upon penalty of presumption Good intents do not warrant bad actions nor do ready Wills alwayes argue just Calls The Priests onely were to touch the Ark What had Uzza the Levite to do with it 'T was enough for him to touch the barres of it●… though the Ark was agitated to and fro yet had he not warrant to take hold on it He should have minded the Ministration he was appointed to but his care out-runing his Call his life was taken away God struck him with death who first assaulted him by a bold presumption 'T is a wonder to me that any man should think his own Arrogancie warrant for his actions especially in matters of the highest and most important consequence whereas in secular and civil affairs not a mans own word but his Superiours authority and qualification enables him Who dares take upon him to raise Forces lay Taxes levy Contributions punish offenders or negotiate with Forraign States but those who are the designed Officers thereto and yet in the matters of God in the dispensation of his holy mysteries every man will be a Priest and a Prophet as if it were pardonable onely to be disorderly in Religion and as if God had connived at lawlesse Liberty where the danger of miscarrying is most fatal The Apostle speaking of the Priesthood saies No man taketh this honour upon him but he that is called of God as was Aaron asserting thereby that Aarons Priest-hood was not by his own assumption he was not a Priest because he would be so but he was so because God called him thereto and honoured him thereby yea our Lord Christs Priest-hood and the glory of it was from his Father who said unto him Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee which Priest-hood of Christ continuing in the Churches Succession by virtue of that of our Lord to his disciples As my Father hath sent me so send I you is also to exclude all men from Lawful officiating who are not Called thereto in a Church Order and by Church hands And if Uzziah a great King and a good man in the sight of God 2 Chron. 26. transgressed against God in taking the Office of the Priests on him Why shall we think they of a meaner degree may And therefore let not the people say of the Ministry of this once glorious Church which some men would rejoyce to see with Christ Jesus on the Crosse exposed to shame and torment as the Rebellious and Idolatrous Israelites did of Moses when he was in the Mount with God Exod. 32. 1. As for this man Moses we know not what is become of him crying out for gifted men as they call them in opposition to their learned Ministers as they did for their molten Calfe let them not venture Eternity upon the Prescripts of blind Guides who have no better warrant no other Credentials to entitle them to Church labour then their own impudence having a yearly and a monthly faith a faith of times not Gospel as Turtullian elegantly on such to trust is to build on stubble and straw and lean on Egyptian reeds which will falter and deceive us in our greatest need being like those Flores horae which I have seen very pleasant but dead and withdrawn in a trice for this to do were to provoke God to remove our true Teachers into corners and to make the word of Life a dead letter to us To make the Gospel hidden to us as to those that are lost For my part my repair shall be to God and his holy Ministers in all spiritual doubts and disconsolacies and from them I shall never be ashamed to receive correction and instruction I am of his mind who had rather be a Member of the Church then head of the heathen Empire I admire those Ages most which had greatest devotion to the Church and condemn that wherein the Clergy is decried I love to see Solomons throne guarded with learned worthies smile who will at the decay of Schools and scorn of Presbyters mine eye shall pity my tongue shall speak my pen shall write for them yea were I as happy as Solomon was for wealth I would make their tables be full and their cups to run over This were indeed to help the Lord against the mighty the mighty Goliahs of Rome who by this way of vilipendency hope to give our Clergies flesh to be food for the birds of the Air whose triumphs rife from the Churches viduation from her learnings contempt and prosternation Hence are thy Jubilies O Church once beloved but not now beloved hence your Ovations O children of the Papacy to see the Protestant Clergy miserable and poor and blind and naked to see them hopelesse to out live the wildernesse of hardship and probable to dye issuelesse if no after-springs should grow to disquiet you is much your interest This evil to deprecate and as far as in us lies to prevent were indeed to help the Lord against the mighty hoasts of Atheists which are come forth to revile the armies of the living God these no less mischievous then the former subject faith to reason and proclaim the Ministry and all Church administrations secular deceits and subtile frauds invented upon rules and designs of state policy What Calderinus said of the Masse that say they of Churches Sermons Sacraments Let us go to the common errors these dispute heaven hel Scripture conscience severity of life into meer nullities giving them no better footing then civil symbolizing with people amongst whom we live and with whom converse and making them obligatory and restrictive to us as we understand them or as others may to whom by contrary living we are to give no offence not allowing them that power and Energy which God hath imprinted on them and which are experienced to be in them by the attestation of the Saints Martyrs who have found these working on them to a grand provocation of holy caution and circumspection checking them when they were ready as it were to engage in actions displeasing to God and detractful from the honour of their holy profession It is a sad and inglorious note of ingratitude
if there be any sorrow like my sorrow We pity the fond zeal of carnal men and giddy professors who begin well but are hindred in their way by wiles of men crafty and by their own lusts regnant in them who have a clamorous Magnificat for Diana and an Hosanna for Christ who are contented with nothing but discontents changes and every thing that fights against the power of godlinesse and proclaim a Treaty with all the infernal Furies the Divel the world and the flesh And in fine we pray for Charity which the Apostle calls the bond of perfection and terms greater then faith or hope because more durable the grace that only accompanies us to heaven there stays with us and the grace that makes us live heavenly upon earth without which all grace is but as sounding brasse or a tinkling cymball yea without which the gifts of Prophecying understanding mysteries and all knowledge faith able to remove mountains distribution of all we have to the poor yea martyrdom it self is nothing 1. Cor. 13. These and other things we professe to concur in with all sound Protestants and if this to believe and thus to do be to be scandalous Popish disaffected we would not be of good report nay we pray we may carry this Crosse of Christ to our graves and account this Reproach great Glory We can comfort our selves in these buffetings revilings contempts as in the sufferings of Christ which are to be fulfilled by us as by the holy men of all ages foregoing members of his body the Church Col. 1. 24. For as S. Ierom saies 'T is a great glory to reach from earth to heaven from dust and ashes to a being of immortality of Servants to be made Sons and of beggars heirs heirs of a Kingdom and that of heaven too the most durable and supream dignity our nature is capable of For we can through the power of Christ wish our selves accursed for his sake and resolve to be and suffer his rebuke without smiting again though we had power and command thereto since thus God hath allowed Religion to be defended●… non saevitiâ sed patientiâ non scelere sed fide and we hope while we thus walk to Sion with our faces thitherward we shall be suffered to passe safe and if we fall with the good man in the Gospel into the hands of men cruel and inhumane shall have Powers like good Samaritans to restore what is unjustly taken from us and pour oyle and wine into our wounds yea we pray though not for preferment not for gain by wording godlinesse yet for permission to worship the God of our Fathers though after the way which some men mis-nāme Superstition Formality Will-worship not thereby intending Rivalry with any other way of worship but desiring to attend upon Gods discovery in the use of that means which we are perswaded is according to the word of God written in the Law and in the Prophets and to which the judgments of many holy Martyrs and men have given testimony and this we trust your favour will permit since to others no more nor no truer Protetestants then we this liberty is indulged as a means to propagate the Gospel and since that of Casiodore ought to be in the mindes of Governours Neminem gravare debet Imperium quod ad utilitatem debet respicere singulorum This O Powers is the sense of those who are well-willers to learning who would not have troubled the world with any taste of their fears and sufferings or defence of their innocency did not their silence amidst the many provocations of bold and defamatory challengers in some sense and in easie peoples opinions though not in Truth confesse them guilty impunitatem consequuntur mali dum modesti tacent yea did not they fear Crowns of thorns preparing if some may have their wills for their captive heads for which Crowns of gold and silver for a memorial in the Temple of the Lord are I hope appointed as the Phrase is Zach. 6. 11. 14. so true is that of the Orator Nihil est tam sanctum quod non aliquando violetaudacia For mine own part I professe before God Angels and men I am moved to this service to the Muses not out of Passion not out of Vain-glory not to gratifie any party I Love or displease any party with whom in principle I cōply not these would be uningenious motives and receive their defeat and brand to be unproper foundations for so Christian a work that which rouses me up is that glory of God peace on earth and good will to men all which are propagated by Learning and the promise of God to own those that in a right and pious way own him I look upon the primitive Fathers and Christians who thought not so meanly of their faith and art as to forbear owning them for fear they might be lost with their party or lie too open to the worlds knowledge of them I love a sober freedom in a cause that concerns whatever is dear to man his soul his eternity his fame all which are in hazard if Learning and Learned men grow obsolete Our Lord says If the blind lead the blind both shall fall into the ditch There is nothing so great a spur to me next the glory of God as the Presidents of former times and the courage of holy men who were more ready to suffer then deserve so ill requitall of their integrity Synesius tells us nothing is more rhetoricall then sufferings the blood of Martyrs was seed to the Church and made their persecutors turn admirers yea sometimes sufferers it is surely a great distrust of God which makes men faint in a good cause how much more Evangelical and Christian were the minds of Polycarpus Athanasius Cyril Cyprian Iustin Martyr Arnobius Epiphanius Luther Melancthon and all the holy Fathers and Reverend Bishops of the Church who dealt with men like Solinus his Agriophagi who fed upon Panthers and Lions and breathed out nothing but bloud and wounds then are ours while we are to deale with Christian Magistrates well disciplned souldiers and common people who have heard of Christ and seem to cry a daily Hosannah to him Why should we not believe that God will protect and men pardon if not be perswaded to love those who call to them as Ionas did almost out of the Whales belly in the language of the Disciples to their Lord and Master Carest thou not that we perish Who O who knowes the mind of God perhaps God is now dealing with our Governours as with Artaxerxes to contribute to the restoring of the destroyed places of religion and learning It may be not by might nor by power but by his Spirit by a jawbone by rams horns all the rampiers raised against learning may with Iericho's wals fall down and therefore it concerns us all to wait the good pleasure of God and to cast our bread upon the waters to do
be the immortal Herald of its subject and shall erect an Altar to memory even in the minds of enemies of whom it shall be had in true honour and those shall be ashamed who look upon learned men as decayed Temples which neglects have defaced and time will hastily incinerate And therefore the Poet sang well Nascentem extinguite flammam Ne serae redeant post aucta pericula curae For as the Orator said Plus proderit demonstrasse rectā protinus viam quàm revocare ab errore jam lapsos Me thinks I hear our Neighbours from beyond the Sea cry out to us in behalfe of learning and learned men O England is this thy kindnesse to thy friend Dost thou thus repay thy Teachers and Statetists for their pains care study indefatigablenesse Do ye thus reward the Lord O foolish people and unwise The Lord who hath kept you upon Eagles wings who hath set you as a beacon upon an hill who hath fed you with the finest of the flower who cast the net of his Gospel in your British seas taking into his Church you who were barbarous in the shadow of death bringing you into the glorious liberty of the sons of God giving you a noble succession of godly learned zealous Bishops Doctors and Presbyters who have preached the word in season and out of season and lived lives of holinesse and exemplary charity amongst you Can ye without sorrow consider your misery and leannesse if your Teachers should be removed into corners and your scholers grow like the Mountains of Gilboa upon which the dew of greatnesse and support fals not Come hither and help us Our fields are white unto harvest our Schools Churches Purses are yours only be called by our name Forget your fathers house and we shall delight in your beauty This O this may come to passe if God do not prevent it but he can command deliverance for Iacob and bid our Governours as of old Be ye a covert to the out-casts from the face of the spoiler and he will do it for they shall be a willing people in the day of his power and they cannot more glorifie God in any thing then in keeping learning The King of Heavens daughter in salva arcta custodia then in treating her houourably and putting a Ne exeat regnum upon her I hope God will put a Spirit into and continue it in them to resolve for learning and learned men as the people did for Ionathan 1 Sam. 14. 45. Shall Ionathan dye who hath wrought this great salvation in Israel God forbid As the Lord liveth there shal not one hair of his head fall to the ground yea to offer their power and protection to her and hers I never was like Bulas in Dion who was so crafty that he was seen and not seen taken and not held such an one as no body could tell what to make of him I blesse God my aim was never to be more politick then honest Times evil like those of old in which freedom of speech and opinion was criminall would perswade to silence then perhaps it would be prudent I say not pious to hearken to Peters counsels save thy selfe If I had lived in Rome when Appius Claudius did I should have used his words and bemoaned the age as he did Wo is me the piety of our Ancestors is not seen in our manners gravity is censured pride justice folly valour madnesse temperance and modesty restivenesse and those things onely admired which are of ill report and which have ruined many powerfull Common-wealths thus he then not without cause And since I live in a time 〈◊〉 to be tree ●…pray God keep it so if it be or make it so if it be not Free not to fury not to uncharitableness but to love and good works free to men pious and peaceable free to Learning and Religion I may minde men of what Isocrates wrote That freedom of discovery what mens thoughts are so they do it submistively and without bitterness is the greatest signe of affection Men are most bold with friends because to them most welcome Time is Gods creature and so are Men who make times good or bad and therefore I publish to all men my censure that so far I love the age as it is pious and learned and the men of it so far as they will suffer it so to be or reform it to be so if it be not While this Land is as was Goshen a comfort to Iacobs it shall be the subject of my prayses when it becomes as God I hope will never suffer it so to be a Moriah whereon Isaac the child of Promise Religion and Learning must be slain it shall be the object of my tears I am of his mind who preferred to be a disciple of wise Philosophers above rule over Nations rud●… and irreligious The Lord deliver us from his Candlesticks remove from a famine of his word from pride vain-glory and hypocrisie from envy hatred malice and ignorance these will discourage Vertues from coming to unlade at our Ports these will force the trade of Arts from our havens If Philosophers be poor and prophets not esteemed in their own countries they will take the boldnesse to be gone without Letters of Licence and to 〈◊〉 their for●…es Every Countrey welcomes Wise men and every winde carries them to their own Plantation Quaelibet Patria ingenioso Patria Moors and Affrican Savages will give Sardinius entertainment when his Country-men will not endure him Christ refused by his own to whom in love he came hath sanctified misusage to all his for if it were so in the root it must be in the branches If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub how much more shall they call them of his houshould saith our Lord Matt. 10. 25. My prayers shall ever be that the glory of true Religion and Learning may never depart from this Isle till Shiloh come to Judgement Let those inherite the wind they hunt after who are taken with houses and vineyards oxen asses and houshould trash not remembring the Afflictions of Ioseph I will think how to live profitably in my generation and die comfortably when God shall appoint my change While I live it would be pain and greif to me to say of Learning as Peter did of his Master I know it not Much less will it become mee to curse it as that ground which brings forth briars and thorns Gebal Ammon and Amaleck the dreggs of men and abjects of the people will doe that if they dare I shall say alluding to that of Tully Ne immortalitatem contra Doctrinam et Doctos acciperem He who hath his eyes open must cry out with Balaam How goodly are thy Tents O Iacob and thy Tabernacles O Israel The Lord spread thy gardens by the rivers side as the Trees of Lign-Aloes which the Lord hath planted and as Cedar Trees besides the
wandring Flocks the impoverished Clergie and to mourn for the false doctrine and heresie hardnesse of heart and contempt of Gods Word and Commandments which every day increaseth amongst us that so God may in mercy restore us to our wonted beauty and that promise be fulfilled to us In stead of the Thorn shall come up the Fir tree and in stead of the Brier shall come up the Mirtle tree and it shall be to the Lord for a Name for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off I have now little to do but to apologize for this Apologie Isocrates prepates me to endure Censures and various opinions of men I write for Truth and Learning not for error and ignorance and in Saint Ieroms words Sicuti pedem offendimus sapienti Lectori frivolum esse videatur quod scripsimus culpam in Authorem refert I know the Argument would require a Chrysostome a Tully nay a Bacon's second thoughts yea a combination of Wits to do it to the life but wo is us the antique spirits of Christians and learned men is lost Our fathers have eaten sowr grapes and their childrens teeth are set on edg This once glorious Church of England may say in the Prophets words There is none to guide her of all the sons she hath brought forth neither is there any one that taketh her by the hand of all the sons shee hath brought up Amara prius in nece Martyrum amarior post in conflictu Haereticorum amarissima nunc in moribus domesticorum as Saint Bernard of his time Fear hath so possess'd us that we flye from the shadows of men and desert our Colours as if the Muses were Gibeonited and to stand for them were a ready way to ruine I am not more bound to beleeve times are bad then that men are fondly fearfull Did Athanasius forbear owning Truth because the Arians accused him and had the Emperors ear to suggest their pleasures against him Or did the three children desist from worshipping of God because a decree way past by Nebuchadnezzar to worship the golden Image And why should we pretend fear to displease by using a sober freedom not to cloak malice but own Truth when no law forbids No Governors for ought we know frown upon freedom of this nature where it is not grossely abusive and scandalous If men that rave and rage like him in Lactantius Qui lucem vivis terram mortuis denegabat take liberty to speak and write their opinions though to the scandal of Government and dishonour of our Religion why may not a sober Apologer be permitted who brings with Aspar his burthen to cool the Conflagrations of fiery Wits who love to see all in Confusion and Combustion and think nothing Eloquent or handsom but what is minted in the Bedlam of their Rages My study is to do good by gentleness and to convince men by the soft and gentle musick of Love to see whence they are fallen and to do their first works of order and piety I love that Genius of Marcus Aurelius who was in all things most moderate In deterring men from evil in exhorting them to good in rewarding virtues in forgiving wrongs making men of bad good and of good best As I approve not any Reformation which produces like that Craccvian woman in Wolphius a live Serpent and a dead Infant almost eaten a pieces by it so not any man or way which seems pleasing and pretends fair but carries the embracer into Errors and makes him eccentrick to civility and a stranger to that Church in which he was bred I shall never be wanting to pray for the usefull and united Lamps of Religion and Learning nor fear their Extinction in this Sphere till God give us over to a Reprobate sense to work iniquity with greedinesse and to hate the light because it discovers what darknesse we admire when that of Camerarius the Jesuit shall be true here which he writes after the death of Iames the 5. of Scotland That there was neither Lay nor Clergy-man that durst adventure to own the Catholick Truth Then will I account it a dangerous time and think to do God better service in suffering then in publishing mine opinion when as the Prophet saith The prudent shall keep silence in that time for it is an evil time But while Powers are in any degree moderate while they are as it were engaged by office and Education to stand for Learning it seems rather to be a matter of Honour then Hazard to contest for Learning and confront those whom we may call as he in Minutius did Lucifugam nationem latebrosam And if Antonius Caracalla in behalf of his Tutor Chilo cryed out to those that were destroying him Do not injurize my Tutor There is reason why good men should call upon Powers to see Learning have fair quarter and Religion be not passed away in the crowd of Contentions and he that loves his own ease better then general good may consider what S. Gregory says What saith he will he do at the stake or on the wrack who is afraid to own Truth for fear of evill tongues For mine own self I have this to professe That I had rather fall with Learning then survive it accounting it greater honour as did the Jews to perish with their Temple then to have a fortunate condition accompanied with brutishnesse I hope never to see the Ruine of my Country Navi fractâ multi incolumes evaserunt ex naufragio patriae nemo salvus esse potest therefore pray I for the Church as the Anchor that keeps all together as that which carries us into Gods blessings and preserves us in the warm Sun of his favour and protection if God once pick his darlings from amongst us and bid his Embassadors depart then sad will be the condition of this Nation Gods wrath is not to be opposed by Armys Navies Councels and Senates but it may be averted by humiliations and powerfull invocations of him Moses his hand lifted up makes Israel prevail against Amaleck and procures God to look down with favour on his people Let men dispute what they will and believe as they list I must not approve any thing of dishonour to the Truth Nor would I knowingly and willingly shave off the beards and curtail the garments of the heavenly Ambassadours no not for all the Ri●…hes of the Indies the withering of Ieroboams hand may be a warning to all that maliciously harm the Ministry I dread nothing more then touching Gods annoynted and doing his Prophets h●…m Their tears like Abels blood cry aloud continually successefully Nec vacui gemitus quthus è coelo misericorditer respondetur propter miseriam inopum gemitum pauperum nunc exurgam as S. Bernard sweetly Certainly he that for his Prophets sakes reproved Kings will not let passe unpunished the Reproaches and injuries done
when he is in danger who hath turned a deafe ear to the prayers of the poor since the Moralist sayes true He that when he had power to help would not destroyes Hearken to this all ye who have had opportunities to procure peace and prevent war to save effusion of Christian blood to forbid blasphemies against God and vexations of men who might have saved many mens hearts from breaking and families from itrecoverable ruine ye who have had the Sun and Moon of Greatnesse standing for a long time still in the heavens of your families ye that have had life and death weale and woe your Pensioners consider well whether you have done your duties if so 't is well You have your reward in the peace of a good conscience if not you shall have your requitals both here and hereafter for as he said well They erre who meditate on power as their way to glory and supremacy and not rather to procure the peace and welfare of others and shall onely have cause to joy in so much thereof as they have improved to the honour of God and weale of men I do not deny Christian Magistrates use of the sword as well to the punishment of wickednesse and vice as the encouragement of those that do well I know there are necessary severities which men in power do and may expresse in order to preservation and publick peace the Politicians are generally for this nay God himselfe useth this method The Lord is not lesse known by the judgements he executeth then the mercies he multiplyes on man There is also much to be said from the wisdome of this world in defence of exactnesse in this case the Orator tels us that as in bodies natural the amputation of one corrupted member saves the whole from a Gangreen and death so in the Body Politick The tye on Magistrates is not that they should not punish offenders but that they should not make men offenders who are not so nor proceed against men only for words nor punish them with death when lesser punishments may reform and not ruine them but proportion to every one such testimonies of their displeasure as may render Rulers formidable and frowning on those that break the peace and make other men hear and fear and do no more presumptuously St Augustine tels Judges their duties excellently They saith he ought to keep the high road of justice not to turn to the right hand by over-much favour nor to the left by over exact rigour To which add that of the Civilians Iudex debet habere duos sales scientiae ne sit insipidus conscientiae ne sit diabolicus These cautions admitted punishments may be and are usefull yet Saints should have a care how they are too busie with the weapons and artillery of this world If Christs Kingdom be not of this world then not theirs if Christs and theirs be one Nay so long as he would not make use of Legions of Angels which he had and said too he had upon call to defend his innocency against a lawful though an ill-used Power I see not what ground Christians have to rest on that arm which he declined or to use force in any way but what is according to godlinesse and honesty for otherwise to do were to incur Saint Bernard's censure Omnes amici omnes inimici omnes necessarii omnes adversarii omnes domestici nulli pacifici omnes proximi omnes quae sua sunt quaerunt I know 't is the mode of men to indulge themselves and their friends Acharnan Lysimachus Alexanders Master would call himself a Phoenician that is learned Alexander Achilles and King Philip Peleus disdaining other men as thimbles full of dust and the goodly braveries of his scorn It is familiar to pardon faults to Favourites while men out of their Books though never so worthy cannot find mercy This purple Robe this equipage of State follows men whom times and titles honour In mine account worthy men are not paid Chequer pay if they receive lesse then the courtesie of England honour and estimation Falshood and Flattery are no good heads in a Christians Alphabet whom it more concerns to be pious and good then politick and great The Maxims of this world are husks fit for the King of Heavens Prodigals who have expended their Patrimony of grace and interest in God on vanities to feed upon This Babel which they have built for the glory of their fancied Kingdom they may boast of the Lord give me that Wisdome that inflates not that Riches which corrupts not that Power which abuseth not it self by abusing others yea the Lord direct me more to look to his glory in this and all indeavours then to mine owne applause or to that censure which worthy actions have met with from worthless ages I confesse my expectations are to meet with few who will salute my Apologie with that fair language that Diogenes did the Harper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Persons of tender heads and sleepy constitutions are often offended at the Bell-man whom those more healthy like and cherish To these I say as our Lord to his Disciples 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The generous and virtuous people and Powers of the Nation will consider what Agrippa the noble Counsellour and Favourite of Octavian said to him Virtue onely makes men equall to the gods no humane Vote can deifie If thou beest good and rulest well the whole Land will be to thee a Temple every Citie an Altar every man a Statue erected to thy memory For those that carry things by Power and allow Right little place in their Debates and Conclusions shall by all the Trophies they erect in publick to their renowns be dishonoured and by so much shall the stench of the instances and records of their infamy and demerits be more noysome by how much more of time and continuance it shall gain and conquer And therefore if that Painter took great care in the piece he drew for eternity onely upon account of a temporall fame what warinesse ought those to expresse whose eternity of blisse as well as of fame depends upon the well managing of this moment Rulers then are highly concern'd in the Art of weldoing their opportunities are much to the gain or losse of good Fulgentius sayes Conversio Potentum saeculi multum militat acquisitionibus Christi and Cassiodore Publici decoris mater est mens Regentis If Rulers of a people cause them to err if the light that is in a Nation be darknesse how great is that darknesse Usitata vulgo sententia est juxta mores Domini Familiam esse constitutam The Lord therefore who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and hath the hearts of all men in his hand accept this humble Tender of his servant and incline those who are in place to think upon and commiserate the decaying Universities the ruined Churches the