as all were not Law-makers yet all of them preserved Religion as the onely preservation of their Lawes and the happinesse of their Kingdomes which they saw could not continue without Religion But 2. The wisedom of our grave Prelates and the learning of our religioâ—s Clergie having stopped the course of this violent stream and hindred the translation 2. In the Parliament of this right of Kings unto their new-born Presbytery and late erected Synods There sprang up another generation out of the dregs of the former that because they would be sure to be bad enough out of their envy unto Kings and malice unto the Church that the one doth not advance then unworthyness and the other doth not bear with undutifullness will needs transfer this right of ruling God's Church unto a Parliament of Lay-men the King shall be denuded of what God hath given him and the people shall be endued with what God and all good men have ever denyed them I deny not but the Parliament men as they are most noble and worthy Gentlemen so many of them may be very learned and not a few of them most religious and I honour the Parliament rightly discharging their duties as much as their modesty can desire or their merit deserve neither do I gain say but as they are pious men and the greatest Council of our King so they may propose things and request such and such Lawes to be enacted such abuses to be redressed and such a reformation to be effected as they think befitting for Gods Church but for Aaron's seed and the Tribe of Levi to be directed and commanded out of the Parliament Hugo de Sancto Vict. lâ—b 2. de sacr â—id par 2. cap 3. Laicis Christianis fidelibus terrena â—ossidere conceditur clericis verò tantùm spiritualia commiâ—tuntur quae a tem illa spiritualia sunt subjiciâ— c 5. diâ—eâ—s omnis ecclesiastica â—dministratio in trâ—bus consislit in sacramentis in ordinibus iâ— praeceptis Ergo Laâ—ci nihâ—l juris habent in leâ—ibus prâ—ceptis condendit ecclesiastâ—cis chair how to perform the service of the Tabernacle and for Lay men to determine the Articles of faith to make Canons for Church men to condemn heresies and define verities and to have the chief power for the government of Gods Church as our Faction now challengeth and their Preachers ascribe unto them is such a violation of the right of Kings such a derogation to the Clergy and so prejudicial to the Church of Christ as I never â—ound the like usurpation of this right to the eradication of the true Religion in any age for seeing that as the Proverb goeth Quod medâ—corum est promittunt medici tractant fabrilia fabri what Papist or Atheist will be ever converted to profess that religion which shall be truly what now they alleadge falsly unto us a Parliamentary religion or a religion made by Lay-men with the advice of a few that they choose â— faece Cleri I must seriously profess what I have often bewayled to see Nadab and Abihu offering strange fires upon God's Altar to see the sacred offices of the Priests so presumptuously usurped by the Laity and to see the children of the Church nay the servants of the Church to prescribe Lawes unto their Masters and â— did ever fear it to be an argument not onely of a corrupted but also of a decaying State when Moses chaire should be set in the Parliament House and the Doctours of the Church should never sit thereon therefore I wish that the Ark may be brought back from the Philistines and restored to the Priests to be placed in Shilo where it should be and that the care of the Ark which king David undertook may not be taken out of his hands by his people but that he may have the honour of that service which God hath imposed upon him For 3. As nothing is dearer to understanding righteous and religious Kings 3. Opinion Of the Orthodox Quia religio est ex potioribus reipublicae parlibus ut ait Aristoâ— Polit. l. 7 c. 8. ipsa soâ—â— custodit hominum inter se socieâ—ates ut ait Lactant. de ira Dei cap. 12. Peritura Troja perdidit primâ—m Deos. Therefore the Tyrians chayned their gods lest iâ— they fled they should be destroyed then the encrease and maintenance of true religion and the inlargement of the Church of Christ throughout all their Dominions so they have at all times imployed their studies to this end because it is an infallible maxime even among the Politicians that the prâ—sperity of any Kingdome flourisheth for no longer time then the care of Religion and the prâ—sperity of the Church is maintained by them among their people as we see Troy was soon lost when they lost their Palladium so it is the truest sâ—gn of a declining and a decaying State to see the Clergy despised and religion disgraced and therefore the provisiâ—n for the safety of the Church the publick injoying of the word of God the form of Service the manner of Government and the honour and maintenance of the Clergy are all the duties of a most Christian King which the King of Heaven hath imposed upon him for the happiness and prâ—sperity of his Kingdom and whosoever derive the authority of this charge either in a blinde obedience to the See of Rome as the Jesâ—ites do or out of their too much zeal and affection to a new Consistory as the late Presbyterians did oâ— to a Lay Parliament as our upstart Anabaptists aad Brownists do are most unjust usurpers of the Kings Right which is not onely ascribed unto him and warranted by the Word of God but is also confirmed to the Princes of this Land by several Acts of Parliament to have the supremacy in all causes and over all persons as well in the Ecclesiastical as in the Civil government which being so they â—â—â—xempted thereby from all inforcement of any domestical or forraign power and freed from the penalties of all those Laws both Ecclesiastical and civil whereunto all their Subjects Clergy and Laity and all inferiour Q Curtius de rebus Alexand. Joh. Bedâ— p. 22 23. persons and the superiour Nobility within their Kingdomes are obliged by our Laws and Statutes as hereafter I shall more fully declare Therefore it behoveth all Kings and especially our King at this time seriously to consider what prejudice they shall create unto themselves and their just authority if they should yeild themselves inferiour to their Subjects aggregativè or reprasentativè or how you will or liable to the penal Laws for so they may be soon dethroned by the unstable affection and weak judgment of discontented people or subject to the jurisdiction of Lay Elders and the excommunication of a tyrannous Consistory who denouncing him tanquam Ethnicum Matth. 18. 17. may soon add a stranger shall not raign over thee and so depose him Deut. 17. 15. from all
valley and David 1 Chron. 14. v. 1â— 17. smote them from Gibeon even to Gazer and the fame of David went out into all Lands and the Lord brought the fear of him upon all Nations 2. For the persons that are here conferring together they are said to be 2. The persons deliberating and conferring together David and Nathan the King and the Prophet two great Persons and high Offices that formerly were contained in one Person as Melchisedech was the Priest of the Mâ—st High GOD and King of Salem And as the Poet saith Virgil. l. 3. Rex Anius Rex idem hominum Phoebique Sacerdos And when God divided and distributed these several Offices to several persons he conferred them upon two brothers that is Moses and Aaron that so the King and the Priest might live and love one another like brethren as I have more amply shewed in my Treatise of The Grand Rebellion And so King David here dischargeth that his duty accordingly And so likewise not only the Heathen Kings but also the Jewish Kings the Kings of Israel and all good Christian Kings disdained not the friendly familiarity and The greatest Kings and Princes were most familiar with the Priests Orators and Philosophers conference with their Bishops and Priests especially when they consult and deliberate of Religion or any point that concerns the Worship and Service of God For as King Croesus conferred with Solon the Philosopher and Alexander King of Macedon consulted often with Aristotle and sometimes with Diogenes the Cynick and King Pyrrhus with his dear friend Cineas So Pharaoh King of Egypt called and consulted with his Priests that were the Magicians and deemed the wise men of Egypt when Moses came to treat of God's Service And though Moses appointed 70 men of the choicest gravest and wisest men that could be found of all the Elders of Israel to be the Sanhedrim and as it were a standing Parliament to end all controversies and all the civil affairs of the Kingdom Yet when the Case of Religion came in question and the differences about God's Worship came to be decided neither the Kings of Israel nor the Kings of Juda to whom the principal care and custody of God's Laws and Service was committed did ever commend the same unto the Sanhedrim to be concluded and setled But as King David here calleth and consulteth with Nathan the Prophet about the building of God's House so when Religion was corrupted and the Service of the True God neglected in the time of King Ahab he calleth not the Sanhedrim to rectifie and redress the same but he leaves the same to be determined and adjudged betwixt the Priests of Baal and Elias the true Prophet of the Lord And so did King Asa Jehosaphat 1 Reg. 18. 17 18. 19 20. 2 Chron. 15. 2. 8 c. Mâ—tâ— 2. 4. and Ezechias consulted not with their lay Lords or the Sanhedrim but with Azariah the son of Oded the Prophet and with Esay and the rest of God's Prophets Nay when the Wise men came to inquire for Christ Herod that sought to destroy Him and his Religion inquireth not of any but of the Chief Priests and Scribes Where Christ shâ—uld be born And so all the Wise and Christian Emperours Constantine Theodosius Justinian and the rest as you may find it in Bâ—sebius Socrates Zozomen and other Ecclesiastical Historians had always some special Bishops with whom they conferred and consulted about matters of Religion as Charles the Fifth did with Cassander and Henry the Eighth with Bishop Crammer For they conceived that their Crowns had the greater Lustre when it was in conjunction with the Miter And therefore in no great Councel was the Man of God ever baulked but that they might be sure to serve God before themselves and be assured that while the Church prospered the Bishops directed and they had God and his Messengers amongst them all would go right and be safe and therefore in all or most Courts of Conscience where the Law reached not they thought none so fit as these men of conscience to decide all differences Neither could I ever find that the Church of God was so much pestered with miseries and poisoned with Errors Heresies and Sects or Divisions until the lay Lords and Gentlemen like the Long Parliament neglected their proper Offices to look into the affairs of the Common-wealth and to see Justice and Judgement truly executed among the people and began immittere falcem in alienam messem to thrust their sickles into other mens harvest and to intermeddle with that which concerns them not as Esay 1. 12. The Church of God never became more miserable then when the lay-people undertook to conclude and determine points of Religion to chop and change Articles of Religion and to set down and compose points of faith when the Lord saith Quis requisivit haec Who hath required these things at your hands It is your duty to come into the Temple and to perform the service that David and Nathan the King and the Bishops shall prescribe unto you and to confirm those Articles of Religion and cause them in all things to be observed as the Parliament did in Queen Elizabeth's dayes the 39. Articles of our Religion when they are as those were setled and concluded by the Bishops and the rest of the Clergy in their Convocation for the Lord tells us plainly That the Priests lips should keep knowledge and they that is the people be they what and whom you will Sanâ—edrim of the Jews or Parliament of any other Nation should seek the Law that is the Law of God at his mouth because he is the Messenger of the Lord of Hosts that is to declare his will and to expound his Laws unto the people But what saith the Lord in this Case when the people be they what you will shall usurpe the Priests Office and begin to make new Orders and Ordinances for the Service of God that never required such things at their hands He tells them plainly You are departed out of the way and you have caused many to stumble at the Law that is by your false glosses and injoyned observations thereof and you have corrupted the Covenant of Levi saith the Lord of Hosts that is you have wronged and quite thrown out the Bishops and Priests from their Offices which is to consult with the King to see God rightly worshipped And therefore saith the Lord I have Malach. 2. 7 8 9. also made you contemptible and base before all the people according as you have not kept my wayes but have been partial in the Law that is by making Religion and my Service like a nose of wax to turn which way you please when as every one should do the duties that belong unto him Curabit praelia Conon CHAP. VI. What the Rest and peaceable times of King David wrought The Prince's authority in causes Ecclesiastical and how they should be zealous to see that
gold and pretious stones and for shields and store-houses for to keep Wheat and 2 Chron. 32. 27. Wine and Oyl and stables for Horses and all Beasts of service that is to strengthen their Kingdoms with Meat Money and Ammunition and all other necessaries both for War and Peace but they ought also with David to bring home the Ark of the Lord into the House of God and to set Levites 2 Sam. 6 17. to do the service of the Tabernacle that is good and godly Ministers 1 Chron. 16. 4. and 37 c. and Bishops to attend the Church and to teach the people and with King Asa to overthrow the Idols and Altars and all other monuments of Idolatry and false worship of God and with Jehu to slaughter all the Priests of 1 Reg. 15. 12. Baal and to root out all Heretical Schismatical and false teachers from the Church of Christ 2 Reg. 10. 25. And to make this more apparant and clear that all good Kings and That all good kings Princes ought to preserve and to promote Gods true Religion Princes ought to take care of Religion and to see that Gods service should be duly exercised within their Dominions you shall find that when through the profaneness and negligence of King Saul to discharge his duty and the desidiousness and carelesseness of the Priests and Levites many abuses crept into the Church as the Tabernacle was broken and lost the Ark of God was out of the Temple out of the proper place of it and was obscured and hemmed and as it were imprisoned in private houses so that the people had no publique place of Assembly to here the law and to offer Sacrifice unto God but every one had his Chappell of ease and his private Oratory by himself to serve God as he listed as now of late it hath been with us David assoon as ever he was chosen to be King in Hebron the first work he did was to consult with his Captains and all the Congregations of Israel to cite and summon the Priests and Levites and all the 1 Chron. 13. 1. 3. Clergy that were for the service of the Tabernacle to appear before him and to cause the Ark of God to be brought again unto them that they might inquire at it which they did not nor could do in the daies of Saul and when he had assembled the Children of Aaron and the Levites he shewed 1 Chron. 15. 4â— 12. Vers 11. them the abuses that Religion had sustained in the daies of Saul and he caused the Aâ—k to be carried upon the shoulders of the Levites unto the place that he had prepared for it and when he had called for Zadok and Abiathar the Priests and for the Levites for Vriel Asaiah and Joel Shemaiah and Eliol and Aminidab he did set down which of the Levites should serve and in what order they should Minister before the Ark and he injoyned 1 Chron. 16. 39. 41. 42. the sons of Aaron that were Priests how they should go forward every one in their course And so according to this Practice of King David King Solomon his son and all the succeeding Kings that were good and godly did the like for of Solomon it is recorded that he appointed according to the order of David his father the courses of the Priests to their service and the Levites to their charges to praise and Minister before the Priests as the duty of every 2 Chron. 8. 14. day required the Porters also by their courses at every gate for so David the man of God commanded And it is further Chronicled of King Solomon that what his father here projected and consulted about the building of an House to the Lord he really performed and when he 2 Chron c. 5. c. 6. c. 7. had built it he made a very godly speech and a most excellent Oration unto the people touching the Worship of God and his Religion and he deposed Abiathar and set up Sadoc in his place and Sanctified the Temple and placed the Ark of God therein and offered burnt offerings and Sacrifices and directed the Priests and Levites in all their proceedings even as his father David had done before him and that which is very observeable it is said that the Priests and Levites left nothing unobserved but did all things according as they had received in commandment from the King So likewise King Jehosophat is highly commended for his piety and Religious care of Gods Worship for it is recorded of him that he appointed and disposed the Priests and Levites to do the service of the Tabernacle and that by order of his Authority the Woods and Groves and High places which were the lets and hinderances of the true Religion were quite removed and taken away because the people by their private Meetings and Conventicles in those places to serve God as they now adayes do with us wholly neglected the Cathedral and Mother-Church which was at Hierusalem and to which they were from every corner of the Kingdom yearly 2 Chron. 17. 7 8 9. to repair And when the Service of God was corrupted and the Temple most filthily defiled through the negligence and sinfulness of the Priests King Ezechias commanded it to be purged and he caused lights to be set up incense 2 Chron. 29. per totum to be burned Sacrifices to be performed and the Brazen Serpent that was become an Idol and worshipped by the people to be broken down and consumed to ashes So King Joas reproved the Priests of his time for their excessive abuses and the insolent behaviour that was seen in them for he sequestred the oblations of the people which the Priests had unjustly and wantonly taken and appropriated to themselves and by his Royal Authority caused 2 Reg. 12. 7. them to be converted for the reparation of the Temple And King Josias to his everlasting praise shewed himself most careful to suppresse the Idolatrous Priests to purge the Church from all Idolatry and Superstition and to put the Priests and Levites in mind of their duties as you may see in 2 Reg. 23. per totum 2 Reg. 23. Obj. And if our adversaries of the Roman Church do object and say Quid Imperatori cum Ecclesia What hath the Emperour or any lay-Prince to do with the Church let him rule the Common wealth and leave Religion and what belongs to God's Worship to be ordered and observed by the Pope Bishops and Priests whose Office and Calling is to take care and to see the Church of God should be sufficiently served and all holy duties holily performed And the examples alleaged infringe not the force of this Objection because David was a Prophet even as Moses was and his ordering the affairs of the Temple and setling the Service of the Church was done by vertue of his Prophetical and not of his Princely Office And Solomon was Divinely inspired
Donatists possessed were not destroyd but they were taken from them as we took ours from the Roman-Priests and were given to the Catholick Bishops And therefore why should not we use those Churches that were Religiously dedicated and Holily Consecrated for Gods service and could not themselves commit any offence nor be so Prophaned as the accursed things of Jericho or the Bullock and groves of Baal or the Churches of the Arians and Donatists to be the Temples and Sanctified Houses wherein our people should meet to hear Gods Word to pray unto him and to receive his Holy Sacrament But I remember Plutarch and Titus Livius tell us how that the Romans Plutarch in viâ— Publicolae pag. 113. Tit. Livius l. 2. pag. 57. after they had expelled Tarquinius Superbus when his son Sextus Tarquinius had most shamefully ravished Lucretia they all took a Solemn oath they would never suffer any King to Reign over them and because this was not sufficient to free them from the fear of a Regal Government the Consul Brutus in the behalf of the people makes a solemn Oration to his fellow Consul Tarquinius Collatinus to give over his Consul-ship and to depart the City to free the people from that fear because that although â—â— was a very honest man and was a principal actor in expelling Tarquinius Superbus and they could lay nothing to his charge that ever he did or said against the liberty of the people or for the Government of Kings yet seeing his name was Tarquinius the freedom of the City could not be fully secured nor the men free from the fear of Tyranny so long as a person of that name how just and innocent so ever he were continued within the City So I believe it is not for any evil that these men can or could ever espy in our Churches they cry so much and yell like Wolves against them but only for the name that they are said to be built by Roman Catholicks and that Popish Priests have served in them but it is nothing to us who built them or who served in them so we serve God aright in them this is all that we are to look unto For so we find that our Saviour Christ and his Apostles in their time frequented the Temple not that which Solomon built nor that which Zorobabel erected but that which Herod that sought our Saviours life builded Joseph Antiq. l. 15. c. 14. and beautified and that which the Scribes and Pharisees had as much as in them lay defiled with their false-glosses and the other Jews had made it a den of Thieves and though Castor and Pollux were become Idols and Matth. 21. 13. worshipped as gods among the Heathens yet Saint Paul refused not to sail in a Ship whose badge was Castor and Pollux and Saint Luke is not affraid to set down those Titles of the Paganish Idols And therefore as Eunomius was most foolish for refusing to enter into Socrat. Eccles Hist l. 2. c. 33. the Temples of the Martyrs lest he should be thought to worship the dead and Eustathius was most fantastical for detesting all publick Churches and leading his Schollers to private Conventicles in ordinary houses for fear they should be defiled with the memorial of the Saints that were mentioned in the Churches so these our brethren of the Separation are most simple for disclaiming our Churches Prayers and Ministry and like the Elder brother in the Parable hearing afar off the melody of our prayers and understanding of our intertainment into our Fathers House are very angry and will not come into Gods House for fear of infection but will convene in private houses and run abroad into the fields like Esau to hunt there for the blessing which with Jacob they might get nearer home in their Fathers House and when we would according to our injunction seek to compel them to come out of the High-waies and Hedges to the marriage of the Kings son they will waste their wealth leave their mansions and like Heliodorus the fool of Athens sail beyond the Straights of Gibraltar and make Ship-rack before the Tempest rather then they will come into Gods House whereby they might sit still under their own Vines injoy the food of their Fathers House the safe-gard of their wealth and the safety of their soules which they do hazard by their own simplicity in being like the Jews zealous but not according to knowledge CHAP. XIII That it is a part of the Office and Duty of Pious Kings and Princes as they are God's Substitutes to have a care of his Church to see that when such Cathedralls and Churches are built and beautified as is fitting for his service there be Able Religious and Honest painful and faithful Bishops placed in those Cathedrals that should likewise see able and Religious Ministers placed in all Parochiall Churches and all negligent unworthy and dissolute men Bishops or Priests reproved corrected and amended or removed and excluded from their places and dignities if they amend not IT is well and truly observed as the holy Scripture sheweth That although the wise God hath most mercifully decreed and accordingly exhibited and gave a Saviour in himself altogether sufficient for the saving of all Man-kind and all the lost sons of Adam and he hath most wisely and graciously taken a course on his own part and in it self also fully sufficient and appointed a course and order on mans part that being duly observed might make the same sufficiently effectuall unto all yet it so fals out that Mens destruction very many men attain not to that end for which God did send his Son to save them but are seized on by Gods Justice and cast to eternal condemnation And that chiefly by mans own default and partly in some respects through the default of his Rulers and Teachers yet so that he dies and suffers only for his own sins 1. Through their own default when Kings and Princes whom God hath 1. By their own fault appointed and set to be their Governors and Rulers do by their under-Magistrates and their just laws prohibite them from all evil and wickedness and require them to imbrace all virtues and godliness of life and to this end do appoint their substitutes the Bishops and other Teachers to guide them and to instruct them to let them know what is good and what is evil and so what they ought to believe and what not and these do faithfully discharge these Offices as Moses and Aaron David and Nathan and many other godly Kings and Bishops did yet men will not obey their Governors but Rebel like Corah Dathan and Abiram and as of late we have done Jer. 11. 21. they will not hearken to the voyce of their Teachers but say to the Prophets Prophesy not unto us and say to God himself Depart from us for we Job 21. 14. desire not the knowledge of thy Laws or they relye upon their own wisdom and
saluberrimi timoris infunderet cum ipse etiam qui labi non posset perfectae vitae gratiam non nisi perfecta aetate praedicaret And our Redeemer that is the Creator of the Heavens and Teacher of Angels would not be made the Teacher of men here on Earth before he was thirty years of age that so he might powre forth the force and fruit of wholesome fear to them that are fallen when as he also that could not fall did not preach the grace and waies of a perfect life but in a perfect age and to see likewise that they should be no waies unworthy of so high a calling but every way qualified both for life and doctrine so as the Word of God doth require have notwithstanding either by the solicitation of friends or for some other respects and perhaps worser Corruption many times made young novices illiterate men and which is far worse men of corrupt minds and of bad lives of loose dissolute carriage the Priests of the most High God to wait at his Altar that were not worthy to wait on our Table And therefore as those Bishops that did thus did herein falsify their Faith to God and betrayed his service to these unworthy men So the just God hath most justly suffered these perfidious men to betray their makers to spit in their Fathers faces and to combine themselves with the enemies of Christ to destroy the Bishops of Gods Church and so as the Poet saith in another kind Ignavum fucos pecus à praesepibus arcent This wicked brood that we our selves begat and made would drive their Sires from their hives and from our offices And I know not by what fatality unless it be by the just wrath of God to intail the wickedness of the Fathers like the Leprosy of Gehezi unto the Children for the sins and injustice of the Fathers that are so well known and ingraven in the consciences of the Children yet so it is most generally found that the Children of the precedent Bishops that have most wronged the Church and their Successors are in all things most contrariant Why the sons of Bishops are most spitefulâ— unto the Succeeding Bishops and opposites I will not say spiteful or envious to the succeeding Bishops because as I conceive their hearts tell them what injuries their Fathers did them for their sakes and themselves continue therein and therefore do conceive that the present Bishops cannot think well nor love them that have so much wronged both them and the Church of God and to requite them according to their own thoughts with hate for hate they are of all others most spiteful crossing and prejudiciall unto them or else because they do imagine that the present and succeeding Bishops will be as wicked and as unjust as their Fathers and their predecessors were and therefore deserve neither love nor favour from them And I heard many As Alexander the Copper-smith with stood S. Paul So the last Bishops son withstandeth me to recover the rights of the Church Parliament men say that in the Long Anti-Christian Parliament none were more violent against the Bishops then the sons and posterity of Precedent Bishops I found it so And I have espied another fault in some of our former Bishops not a little prejudiciall to the Honor of God and the good of the Church of Christ and that is not only to give Orders to unworthy men but also to bestow livings upon unworthy Priests for as the old saying was Rector eris praesto de sanguine praesulis esto Or as another saith Quatuor ecclesias portis intratur in omnes Prima patet magnis nummatis altera tertia charis Sed paucis solet quarta patere Dei So it was their practice to bestow Livings Rectories Prebends and other Preferments not on them that best deserved them but either upon their Children friends or servants or on them that could as the story goeth tell them who was Melchisedeckâ— Faâ—her that is to say St. Peters lesson And so to the lessoâ— and to the lessâ—â— of the Church-Lands to the prejâ—dice of the Church the â—ike curse and Anathema is duâ— Aâ—rum argentum non est mihi in the affirmative way which is a fault worthy to be punished by the Judges For as it is most truely said Quicunque sacra vel sacros ordines vendant aâ—t emunt sacerdotes esse non possunt whosoever do buy or sell holy orders or any holy things cannot be Priests Vnde scriptum est Anathema danti Anathema accipienti whence it is written Let Gods curse be to the buyer and the curse of God to the receiver because this buying and selling of Holy things and things dedicated for the service of God is the Simoniâ—cal Heresie or Heresie of Simon Magus Qâ—omodo ergo si Aâ—athematizati sunt sancti non sunt sanctificare alios possunt How then if they be accursed and no Saints can they make others Habetur 1. q. 1. Can. Qâ—â—cunque Saints or sanctify them Et cum in corpore Christi non sint quomodo Christi corpus tradeâ—e vel accipere possunt Et qui maledictus est benedicere quomodo potest And seeing such men are not in the body of Christ how can they deliver or receive the body of Christ and how can he that is accursed himself bless any other And therefore seeing the Word of God requireth the Bishops and Ministers of Christ should be so Holy in their lives and so qualified with knowledge and learning for the instruction of the people as I shewed to you before and is typified by those Golden Bâ—ls and the Pomegranats that were to be set in the skirts of Aarons robes round about the Bels signifying the teaching of the people and the Pomegranats the sweet smelling fruits of a good and godly life It behoves the Kings and Princes to whom God hath given the prime Soveraignty and commandeth them to have a care of his Honor and the service of his Church to see so far as they can that the Bishops and Prelates which they place over Gods people be so qualified as God requireth and to injoyn these their prime Substitutes to look that those Priests and Deacons which they make and place in the Church be likewise such as I have fore-shewed for this God requireth at their hands and this David Jehosaphat Ezeâ—hias Josias and all the good and godly Kings of Israel and Juda and all the pâ—ous Christian Kings and Emperors did and I do know how zealously and carefully our late most gracious King Charles the I was to place Able Religious and Godly Bishops over Godâ— Church which is a special duty of every King And because also the Prelates and Bishops are not all or may not all be no more then the Apostles were all such as they should be but some of them may be such as I have shewed to you before either like Simon Magus selling what they should freely give or
made him a man made him Emperour and he that gave him his spirit gave him his power And Irenaeus saith God ordained earthly Kingdomes for the benefit of the Gentiles Et cujus jussu homines nascuntur illius jussu reges constituuntur And by whose command That God is the ordainer of all kings Aug de Civit. Dei l. 4. c 33. men are born by his command Kings are made And S. Augustine more plainly and more fully saith God alone is the giver of all earthly Kingdomes which he giveth both to the good and to the bad neither doth he the same rashly and as it were by chance because he is God but as he seeth good Pro rerum ordine ac tempore in respect of the order of things and times which are hid from us but best known unto himself and whosoever looketh back to the original of all governments he shall find that God was the immediate authour of the Regal power and but the allower God the immediate authour of Monarchy and confirmer of the Aristocratical and all other forms of government which the people erected and the Lord permitted lest the execution of judgement should become a transgression of justice for as Homer saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. Odyss â— And Aristotle tells us that the Regal power belonged to the father of the Aristot Polit. l. 1. c. 8. family who in the infancy of the world was so grandevous and long-liv'd that he begat such a numerous posterity as might well people a whole Nation as Cain for his own Colony built a City and was as well the King as the father of all the Inhabitants and therefore Justin saith very well that Principiâ— rerum Gentium nationumque impâ—rium penes reges erat The rule of Justin l. 1. Nations was in the hands of Kings from the beginning and the Kingly right pertaining to the father of the family the people had no more possibility in right to choose their Kings then to choose their Fathers and to make it appear unto all Nations that not onely the Kings of Israel but all other Heathen Kings are acknowledged by God himself to be of divine institution he calleth Nebuchadnezzar his servant and Cyrus Jerem. 43. 10 Esay 45. 1. his annointed And therefore though I do not wonder that ignorant fellows should be so impudent as to affirm The King or kingly government to be the Ordinance Jo. Goodwin in his Pamphlet of Anti-Gavalierism p. 5. or Creation or creature of man and to say that the Apostle supposeth the same because he saith Submit your selves to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be unto the King c. whereas he might well understand that the same act is oftentimes ascribed aswel to the mediate as to the immediate agent as Samuel's annointing of Saul and David Kings denieth not but that God was the immediate giver of their Kingdomes and the Authour of that regal power for God annointed Saul Captain 1 Sam. 1â— over his inheritance and by the mouth of Nathan he telleth David that he annointed him King over Israel and Solomon acknowledgeth 2 Sam. 12. 1 Reg. 2. 1 Reg. 11. 1 Sam. 11. 15. that the Lord had set him on the Seat of his Father David and Abijah in the person of God saith unto Jeroboam I will give the Kingdome unto thee and yet it is said that all the people went to Gilgal and made Saul King before the Lord and the men of Juda annointed David King of Juda and Zadock the Priest and Nathan the Prophet 2 Sam. 5. annointed Solomon King that is God annointed them as Master of the substance and gave unto them regal power in whom is all power primariò per se and the Prophets a â—ointed them as Masters of the Ceremony and declared that God had given them that power And therefore the power and authority of Kings is originally and primarily Constituere regem est facere ut regiam potestatem exerceret Pinedaâ— de reb Solom c. 2. as Saint Paul saith the Ordinance of God and secondarily or demonstratively it is as Saint Peter calleth it the ordinance of man when the people whose power is onely derivatively makes them Kings not by giving unto them the right of their Kingdomes but by receiving them into the possession of their right and admitting them to exercise their royal authority over them which is given them of God and therefore ought not to be withstood by any man And this Anti-Cavalier might further see that Saint Peter meaneth not that the King is the creature of man or his Office of mans Creation but that the Lawes and Commands of Kings though they be but the Commands and Ordinances of man yet are we to â—bey the same for the Lords sake because the Lord commandeth that Every soul should be subject to the higher powers Or if this will not satisfie him because the Greeks word is not so plain for this as the English yet let him look into Pareus that was no friend to Monarchy and he shall find that he doth by seven speciall reasons prove that the authority of Pareâ—s in Rom. c. 13. p. 13. 27. Kings is primarily the Ordinance of God and he quoteth these places of Scripture to confirm it Proverbs 8. 15. 2 Chron. 19. 6. Psalm 81. 6. Joh. 10. 34. Genes 9. 6. 1 Sam. 15. 1 Kings 12. 2 Kings 9. Dan. 2. 21. Job 34. 30. Eccles 10. 8. And to this very objection he answereth that the Apostle calleth the Magistrate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an humane Ordination or Creation not causally because it is invented by man and brought up onely by the will of men but subjectively because it is born and executed by men and objectively because it is used about the government of humane society and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in respect of the end because it is ordained of God for the good and conservation of humane kind and he saith further that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appellatio the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad Deum primum autorem nos revocat sheweth plainly that God is the first author of it for though the Magistrate in some sense as I shewed may be said to be created that is ordained by men yet God alone is the first Creatour of them as Aaron though he was ordained the high-Priest by Moses yet the Apostle tells us None taketh this office upon him but he that in called of God as Aaron was Yet I do admire that Buchanan or any other man of learning to satisfie the people or his own peevish opinion will so absurdly deny so divine and so well known a verity and say that any Kings have their Kingdomes and not from God so flatly contrary to all Scripture CHAP. VII Sheweth the Reasons and Examples that are alledged to justifie Rebellion and a full answer to each of them God the immediate Authour of Monarchy
station but would fain be promoted to higher dignity and because Moses and Aaron were setled in the government befâ—re them and they knew not how either to be adjoyned with them or advanced above them therefore discontent begat Envy and they began to pine away at their felicity and so our last English reads it They envied Moses Private meetings do often produce mischief 2. This sinne being thus conceived in the womb of the heart at last it commeth forth to birth at the mouth for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh and they begin to murmure and mâ—tter among themselves and as Rebels use to have they have many private meetings and conventicles among themselves where they say We are all good we 2 Sam. 15. 3 4 are all holy and They are no better then we and as Absolon depraved his fathers government and promised justice and judgement and golden mountains unto the people if he were King so do they traduce the present government with all scandalous imputations and professe such a reformation as would make all people happy if they were but in Moses place or made over him or with him the Guardians and Protectors of Common-wealth And so now you see this ugly monster the son of Pride and Discontentment is born into the world and spreads it self from the inward thought to open words Then Moses hears the voyce of this infant which was not like the voyce of Jacob but of the Serpent which spitteth fire and poyson out of his mouth And therefore lest this fire should consume them and these mutterers prove their murderers Moses now begins to look unto himself and to answer for his brother he calleth these rebels and he telleth them that neither he nor his brother had ambitiously usurped but were lawfully called into those places and to make this apparent to all Israel he bad these rebels come out of their Castles to some other place where he might safely treat and conferre with them and that was to the Tabernacle of the Lord that is to the place where wisdom and truth resided and was from thence published and spread to all the people and there the Lord should shew them whom he had chosen And here I do observe the care and wisdom of the Prophet that at The wisdom of Moses the first appearance of their design would presently begin to protect his brother before their rebellion had increased to any strength for had he then delivered Aaron into their hands his hands had been so weakened that he had never been â—ble afterwards to defend himself to teach all Kings to beware that they yield not their Bishops and Priests unto the desires of the people which is the fore-runner of rebellion against themselves for as King Philip told the Athenians that he had no dislike to The witty tale of Demosthenes to save the Oratours and to assure all Kings that if Aarons tongue and the Prophets pen perswade not the conscience to yield obedience Moses's power and Joshua's sword may subdue the people to subjection but never retain them long without rebellion Evil men grow worse worse Vers 12. Vers 13. them but would admit them into his protection so they would deliver to him their Orators which were the fomenters of all mischief and the people were mad to do it till Demosthenes told them how the Wolf made the same Proposition unto the Sheep to become their friends and protectors so they would deliver their Dogs which were the cause of all discontent betwixt them and the Shee being already weary of their Dogs delivered them all unto the Wolves and then immediately the Wolves spared neither Sheep nor Lambs but tore them in pieces without resistance even so when any King yieldeth his Bishops unto the peoples Votes he may fear ere long to feel the smart of this great mistake Therefore Moses wisely delivereth not his brother but stoutly defendeth him who he knew had no wayes offended them and offered if they came to a convenient place to make this plain to all the people But as evil weeds grow apace and lewd sons will not be kept under so the more Moses sought to suppresse this sinne the faster it grew and spread it self to many branches from secret muttering to open rayling from inward discontent to outward disobedience They tell them plainly to their faces they will not come è Castris from their strong holds they accuse them falsely that Moses their Prince aymed at nothing but their destruction and to that end had brought them out of a good land to be killed in the wildernesse and contemning them most scornfully in the face of all the people whatsoever Moses bids them do they resolve to do the contrary So now Moses well might say with the Poet Moses is in a strait Fluctibus hic tumidus â—ubibâ—bus ille minax Quocunque aspicio nihil est nisi pontus aether And therefore it was high time this evil Weed should be rooted out or else the good corn shall be choaked these Rebels must be destroyed or they will destroy the Governours of Gods people and Moses now must wax angry Nam debet amor laesus irasci otherwise his meeknesse had been stupidnesse and his mercy had proved little better then cruelty when as to spare the Wolfe is to spoile the Sheep and because these great Rebels had with Absolon by their false accusations of their Governours and their subtle insinuations into the affections of the people stole away the hearts of many men therefore Moses must call for aid from Heaven and say Exsurgat Deus And let him that hath sent me now defend me So God must be the decider of this dissention as you may see he was in the next verse And by this you find Quid fecerunt what these Rebels did and how their sin was not Simplex peccatum but Morbus cumulatus a very Chaoâ— and an heap of confused iniquity for here is 1. Pride 2. Discontent 3. Envy 4. Murmuring 5. Hypocrisie 6. Lying 7. Slandering The ten fold sin of rebels 8. Rayling 9. Disobedience 10. Rebellion A Monster indeed that is a ten-headed or ten-horned beast 1. Pride which bred the distraction in the Primitive Church and will 1. Pride be the destruction of any Church of any Common-wealth was the first seed of their rebellion for the humble man will easily be governed but the proud heart like a sturdy Oak will rather break then bend 2. Discontent was the second step and that is a most vexatious vice for 2. Discontent though contentation is a rare blessing because it ariseth either from a frâ—ition of all comforts as it is in the glorious in Heaven or a not desiring of The poyson â—f discontent that which they have not as it is in the Saints on earth yet discontent is that which annointeth all our joyes with Aloes for though life be naturally sweet yet a little
that fight against the Earl of Essex and his Army do warre against the Parliament so they that fight against the Kings Army do as certainly war against the King then we grow so impudent as to justifie any rebellion against our King as in England Goodwin and that seditious Pamphleter in opening The glorious name of the Lord of Host do but a little lesse For which application of Gods glorious name and abusing the holy Scriptures to such abominable transgression of Gods holy Precepts to instigate the subjects to warre against their goveraign and to involve a whole Kingdom into a detestable distraction I do much admire that they are not apprehended and transferred to the Kings Bench Barre to be there arraigned and condemned to be punished according to their deserts 10. When these Rebels had proceeded thus far then contrary to the 10. Rebellion See the place Jâ—shua 1. 16 17 18. loyal obedience which they owed unto their Prince and which the people promise unto Joshua they ascended to the height of that odious rebellion which may not unfitly be called Monstrum horrendum informe ingens câ—i lumen ademptum and is as Thuâ—ydides saith All kind of evill Et qui facit peccatum non facit sed ipse totus est peccatum and therefore Samuel saith that Rebellion is as the sinne of Witchcraft when men do confederate to give their souls unto the Devill for now these Rebels are ready to take arms against Moses and they had reduced all civill order to a confused paritie deposed and destroyed their Governours if the Governour of all the world by whom Kings do reign and who hath promised to defend them had not prevented the same from Heaven And the reason why they did all this and proceeded thus farre against The reason of their rebellion Moses and Aaron is intimated in the words of my Text Aemulati sunt because they would emulate or imitate Moses that is to play the Moses or play the King and play the part of the chief Priest themselves for this is certain that none will envy murmure at slander and disobey his King so farre as to make an open rebellion against him but they that in some sort would rule and be Kings themselves especially when they shall seek so farre to debilitate their Prince as that he shall be no wayes able to make resistance for they think If Treason prosper 't is no Treason what 's the reason if it prosper who dares call it Treason and none would disobey their Bishops or chief Priests but they that would and cannot be Bishops themselves because pride and ambition are the two sides of that bellowes which blowes up disobedience and rebellion But they that are bad servants will prove worse Masters they that will not learn how to obey can never tell how to rule and if Moses were as these Rebels suggested a Tyrant yet the Philosopher tells us we had better endure one Tyrant then as they were 250. Tyrants And the Homily of the Church tells us that contrary to their hopes God never suffers the greatest treasons or rebellions for any long time to prosper Therefore when under loyal pretences we see nothing but studied mischiefs and most crafty endeavours to innovate our government or to imbroyle the Kingdom in a civil warre that so they may fish in a troubled water let us never be so stupid as to secure them in these actions to produce our discredit for our simplicity and destruction for our disloyalty but rather let us leave them as Delinquents to the justice of our Lawes and the mercy of the King and this will be the readiest way to effect peace and happinesse to our Nation CHAP. XII Sheweth where the Rebels do hatch their Rebellion The heavy and just deserved punishments of Rebels The application and conclusion of the whole 4. WE are to confider Vbi fecerunt where they did all this in castris 4. Part. Where they did lal this non in templis that is in their own houses not in the house of God for in Gods house we teach obedience to our Kings and beat down rebellion in every Kingdom this is the Doctrine of the Church But in our houses in our cabins and corners in private Coventicles they teach rebellion which is the doctrine of those Schools And these Schools Our houses are our Castles are called Castra Tents or Castles because indeed every man's house is his Castle or his Fort where he thinks himselfe sure enough so did these Rebels and they would not come out of them neither Moses the King could compell them nor Aaron the Priest could perswade them to come out of their Castles and forsake their strong holds which their guilty consciences would not permit them to do and so all other rebels will never be perswaded to forsake their places of strength untill God pulleth them as he did these Rebels out of their holes for were it not for these Castra the Cities and Castles that they possesse they could not so like subtle Foxes run out and in to nullifie the property and to captivate the liberty of the Kings faithful subjects as they do for though they do all this under those fair pretences for the defence of the true religion the maintenance of our liberties and the property of our estates yet for our Religion it is now amongst us as it was in the days of Saint Basil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every one is a Divine and then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basilius de Spiritu Sancto cap. ulâ— c. All the bounds of our forefathers are transgressed foundation of doctrine and fortification of discipline is rooted up and the innovators which never had any other imposition of hands but what they laid upon themselves have matter enough to set forward their sedition And for the other pretences I dare procaim it to all the world that mine own experience believeth the liberty of the subjects and the property of our goods and the true Protestant Religion could not possibly be more abused then it hath been by them that came in the name and for the service of the Parliament and therefore I would to God that all the oppressions injustice and imprisonments that have been made since the beginning of this Parliament were collected and recorded in a Book of remembrance that all the world might see and read the justice and equity of our Parliament and the iniquity oppression and rapine of them that to enrich themselves deprive us of our estates and liberties and that under the How the Parliament Rebels have inriched themselves in Ireland Parliaments name For I hear that as many have been impoverished so many both the Lords and Commons in this Kingdom of Ireland that before the conjunction of these malevolent martial Planets were very low at an ebbe and their names very deep in many Citizens books have now wiped off all scores paid all their debts and clad themselves in
Idolatry nor any other injury or tyranny should move us to rebell 196 CHAP. V. Sheweth by Scripture the Doctrine of the Church humane reason and the welfare of the Weale publique that we ought by no means to rebell A three fold power of every Tyrant Three kinds of Tyrannies The doubtful and dangerous events of Warre Why many men rebell Jehu's example not to be followed 201 CHAP. VI. Sheweth that neither private men nor the subordinate Magistrates nor the greatest Peers of the Kingdom may take arms and make War against their King Buchanan's Mistake discovered and the Anti-Cavalier confuted 207 CHAP. VII Sheweth the reasons and the examples that are alledged to justifie Rebellion and a full Answer to each of them God the immediate Authour of Monarchy inferiour Magistrates have no power but what is derived from the superrour and the ill successe of all rebellious resisting of our Kings 214 CHAP. VIII Sheweth that the Parliament hath no power to make War against our King Two main Objections answered The original of Parliaments The power of the King to call a Parliament to deny what he will and to dissolve it when he will Why our King suffereth 220 CHAP. IX Sheweth the unanimous consent and testimonies of many famous learned men and Martyrs both ancient and modern that have confirmed and justified the truth of the former Doctrine 225 CHAP. X. Sheweth the impudency of the Anti-Cavalier How the Rebels deny they war against the King An unanswerable Argument to presse obedience A further discussion whether for our Liberty Religion or Laws we may resist our Kings and a pathetical Disswasion from Rebellion 230 CHAP. XI Sheweth what these Rebels did How by ten several steps and degrees 1. Pride 2. Discontent 3. Envying 4. Murmuring 5. Hypocrisie 6. Lying 7. Slandering 8. Rayling 9. Disobedience 10. Resistance they ascended to the height of their Rebellion and how these are the steps and the ways to all Râ—bellion and the reasons which move them to rebell 235 CHAP. XII Sheweth where the Rebels do batch their Rebellion The heavy and just deserved punishments of Rebels The application and conclusion of the whole 242 The particular Books that the Authour hath formerly Published and are sold by Phil. Stephens the elder and Phil. Stephens the younger at their Shops in Saint Pauls Church-yard and Fleet-street 1. A Large Book in Folio Intituled The best Religion Comprehending 1. The Resolution of Pilate touching the Super-scription on Christ his Crosse 2. The delights of the Saints which are Grace and Peace 3. The 7. golden Candlesticks holding the 7. greatest lights of Christian Religion videlicet 1. The miseries of man 2. The knowledg of God 3. The Incarnation 4. The Passion 5. The Resurrection 6. The Ascension 7. The duty of Christians of Christ And the Donation or Mission of the holy Ghost 15. Sermons preached before King James and King Charles and at Pauls Crosse and upon several occasions 2. Another large book in Folio Intituled The true Church and divided into six Books 1. Treating of the visibility quality and unity of the Church 2. and 3. Expounding the ten Commandements 4. Shewing the Intention of the Prophets to expound the Law to prophesy of the Gospeâ— 2. The summe of the Gospel which is 1. Justification 2. Sanctification 5. Shewing the sincerity of the Scriptures the uncertainty of Traditions the fruits of Christianity good works the calling of the Gentiles and the gathering of the Jewes 6. Shewing 1. the Governours of Gods Church the Magistrates and Ministers 2. the task of Church-governours and 3. the quality of Christians 3. The great Antichrist revealed never till now discovered and proved to be neither Pope nor Turk but a multitude of most wicked men that have killed the two witnesses of Jesus Christ Moses and Aaron Magistrate and Minister King and Priest 4. Seven Treatises to prevent the seven last Vials of Gods wrath that are to be powred down upon the earth 1. The monstrous murder of the most righteous King 2. The Tragedy of Zimri that slew his King and his Master 3. Gods warre with the wicked Traytors Rebels c. 4. The lively picture of these lewd times 5. The properties and Prerogatives of Gods Saints 6. The chiefest duties of every Christian man 7. The true cause why we should love God THE DISCOVERY OF MYSTERIES OR The Plots and Practices of a prevalent Faction in the Long PARLIAMENT To overthrow the established Religion and the well-setled Government of this glorious Church and to introduce a new framed Discipline not yet agreed upon by themselves what it shall be to set up a new-invented Religion patched together of Anabaptistical and Brownistical Tenets and many other new and old Errors And also To subvert the fundamental Laws of this famous Kingdom by devesting our King of His just Rights and unquestionable Royall Prerogatives and depriving the Subjects of the propriety of their goods and the Liberty of their persons and under the name of the Priviledge of Parliament to exchange that excellent Monarchial Government of this Nation into the Tyrannical Government of a Faction prevailing over the major part of their well-meaning Brethren to Vote and Order things full of all injustice oppression and cruelty as may appear out of many by these few subsequent collections of their Proceedings By GRYFFITH WILLIAMS Lord Bishop of Ossory London Printed for Phil. Stephens the younger 1663. TO THE KINGS Most Excellent MAJESTY Most Gracious Sovereign THough the wisest man in all the Kingdom of Persia saith Great is the truth and stronger then all things Yeâ— the father of lies hath now plaid his part so well that as the Prophet saith Truth is fallen in the Street and Equity cannot enter in And your Majesty whom the God of Truth hath anointed his sole Vicegerent to be the Supreme Protector of them both in all your Dominions hath accordingly lifted up your Standard against their Enemies and I may truly say of you as Menevensis saith of that most Noble King Alfred Si modò victor erat ad crastina bella pavebat Si modò victus erat ad crastina bella parabat Neither do I believe that Lucan's Verse can be applied to any man better than to your Majesty Non te vidère superbum Prospera fatorum nec fractum adversa videbunt As the height of your glory and prosperity never swelled your Pious heart so your greatest crosses and adversities never dejected your Royal spirit But as the Prophet saith of the Captain of the hoast of the Lord so I say to you that are his Lieftenant Ride on with your honor or ride prosperously Because of the word of truth of meekness and righteousness the people shall be subdued unto you and because the King putteth his trust in the Lord and in the mercy of the most Highest he shall not miscarry especially while he fighteth as he doth the battail of the Lord in defence of the Church of Christ who hath promised to be his
fearful judgements as his Progenitours have denounced and God hath executed upon many Kings and Princes for the like sinnes for as Moses prayeth against the sacrilegious enemies of Levi Smite through the loines of them that rise against him Deut. 33. 11. and of them that hate him that they rise not again so we find that many ancient families having by the Statute of Dissolution taken some of the Lands and Tithes of the Church into their possessions have found the same like the Gold of Tholous or the Eagles feathers pernitiosa potentia that Pierius in Hieroglyph will consume all the feathers where they shall be mingled Who so is wise will consider these things and will not to satisfie these Anabaptistical dregges of the people and the enimies of all Christian Religion Aelian lib. 5. cap 15. Var Hist sacrilegiously take away with Aelian's boy the golden plate from Diana's Crown the Lands and Revenues of the Church but having not so learned Christ they will do that which becommeth Saints and suffer the dead to enjoy their own will in that wherein they put them to to no charge and if they do intend to promote Gods service they will not rob Saint Peter to pay Saint Paul but will rather say with holy David God forbid that I should offer sacrifice to God of that which cost me nothing 15. As any wooden Preachers like Jeroboam's Priests de foece plebiâ— scarce worthy to be compared with the Grooms of their stable or such humi serpentes poor abjects as Job speaks of The sonnes of villains and Job 30 8. bond-men more vile than the earth they crawle upon are fit enough to be their teachers and beggarly pensioners so any place a thatched Barn a littered Stable or an ample Cow house is thought by these to be very What prayers and Sâ—â—mons please these men fair and fit to be the House of Him that was born in a Stable and laid in a Manger and any service prayers without sense such as our Savâ—our blames and preaching without learning without truth such as their Enthusiasts conceive in illa horâ quicquid in buccam venerit without any further study or meditation is justified to be most acceptable to God witnesse the Authour of One argument more against the Cavaliers where that great Schollar in his own opinion rails against our grave Bishops and most impudently reproacheth a very reverend man of known worth and great learning by the scandalous Epithete of The ceremonâ—ous Master of Balliol Colledge Doctor Laurence whom for a most learned and pious Sermon preached before the King upon these words of Exodus Put off thy shooes from thy feet for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground he doth just like the eldest son of his dear father the devill as Tertulâ—ian calâ—eth Hermogenâ—s primogenitum dâ—aboli most fasely and shamelesly charge him with the wearing of consecrated slippers which was never done but is one of those scurrilous invented imputations of this malicious Accuser of his brethren now thrown at him whose shooes either for learning or piety I am sure this rambling A guist and railing Rabshâ—ka is not worthy to bear and for the service of God in our Churches though the holy Prophet which was a man according to Gods own heart Musick ever used in the Church Psal 147. 1. 149. 3. Ps 150. 3 4 5. praised God in the beauty of holinesse upon all the best instruments of musick and commanded us as well in the grammatical sense as in the mystical sense to sing praises unto our God with Tabret and Harp to praise him in the sound of the Trumpet in the Cymbals and dances upon the well-tuned Cymbals and upon the loud Cymbals yet this zealous Organo-mastix gives us none other Title than Cathedral Roarers and Squeakers and good reason it is he should be very angry with roaring and squeaking in Pag. 14. Churches for that having been possest of a very competent Living with cure of soules these four or five years together if I am not mistaken in the Authour he never yet either read or preached in that or any other Church so necessary is Non-residenâ—e and so usefuâ— I are dumb dogges when they are willing to sâ—arle and bark against Government and Religion but it is strange to me that such a divine harmony which Musick hoâ— useful Theodoric Epist l. 2. Pluâ—aâ—ch de Musica hath made others sober should make this spawn of the red Dragon mad for we know some Law-givers commanded children to be taught 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the grave composed tones of the Dorick way ad corda fera demulcenda to soften the fiercenesse of their dispositions and ad mentis fervorem temperandum to cool and allay the heat and distempers of their minds as Achilles was appeased in Homer and Theodosius was drawn to Niceph. lib. 12 cap. 43. commiseration luctuoso carmine by a sad Poem sung to him at supper when he intended the utter destruction of Antioch and the Scripture testifieth the like effect of Davids harp in King Saul yet all this sweet and hallowed air which ravisheth devout souls hath onely filled this envious malignant with nasty winds and stinking expressions So contrary to the words of God himself Exod. 3. 5. and against the judgement of all Divines and the practice of all Saints à primordiis Ecclesiae from the first birth of Gods Church he most ignorantly denieth any place to Pag. 15. 18. be holier than another which makes me afraid that Heaven with this man and his faction is deemed no holier than Hell or the Lords day no holier than Monday no more than they hold the Church holier than their Bâ—rns or the holiest Priest though he were Aaron himself the Saint of the Lord holier than the prophanest worldling for I find no difference that they make either of persons times or places but such a commixtion of all things as if they intended to reduce and bring the whole world into that confused Chaos which God first created before he disposed the parts thereof into their several stations But I am loth to spend any more time about this ignorant Argument that is as all the rest of their Writings are as full of railing and unsavoury speeches as any mortall pen can diffuse therefore I leave him to do with his heart and mouth as that Morussian Cabares whereof he speaketh did with those Churches which the Goths and Vandals had defiled Thus you have some and I might adde here abundance more of their absurd and impious Doctrines which their ignorant simplicity produced and their furious zeal published out of mis-interpreted Scriptures not that all these points are taught by every one of their Teachers but that all these and many more are taught and maintained by some one or other of them as I could easily expresse it if it were not too tediâ—us for my Reader but the bulk of my Book swells too
5. voice of the charmer charme be never so wisely or let them answer as our Saviour answered their grand instructor Vade Satana non tentabis for it is most Matth. 4. 10. true that Qui deliberat jam desivit he that listens to them is halfe corrupted by them and so they may prove destructive both to themselves and to their posterity for as nothing establisheth the Throne of Kings surer then obedience to God so nothing is more dangerous then rebellion against God with whom there is no respect of persons for he expecteth that as he made Kings his Vicegerents Rom. 2. 11. so they should feare him preserve the right of his Church uphold his service defend his servants and do all that he commands them intirely without taking the least liberty for feare of the people to dispense with any omission of his honour or suffering the hedges of his Vineyard the Governours of his Church to be trodden down and torne in pieces that the beasts of the field may destroy the grapes and defile the service of our God Therefore to conclude this point let all Kings do their best to hinder their People to corrupt the Covenant of Levi which is a Covenant of Salt that is to Malach. 2. 8. Deut. 33. 11. indure for ever let them remember Moses prayer Blesse Lord his substance and accept the worke of his hands smite through the loynes of them that rise against him and of them that hate him that they rise not again and let them alwayes consider that God taketh pleasure in the prosperity of his servants Psal 35. 27. CHAP. XI Sheweth where the Protestants Papists and Puritans do place Soveraignty who first taught the deposing of Kings the Puritans tenet worse then the Jesuites Kings authority immediately from God the twofold royalty in a King the words of the Apostle vindicated from false glosses the testimony of the Fathers and Romanists for the Soveraignty of Kings the two things that shew the difficulty of government what a miraculous thing it is and that God himself is the governour of the people HAving set down some particulars of the Kings right in the Government 2 The duty of the King in the government of the Common-wealth of Gods Church it resteth that I should shew some part of his right and duty to serve God as he is a King in the government of the Common-wealth touching which for our more orderly proceeding I will distribute my whole discourse into these five heads 1. To justifie his right to govern the people Five points handled 2. To shew the difficulty of this government 3. To set down the assistants that are to helpe him in the performance of this duty 4. To distinguish the chiefest parts of this Government 5. To declare the end for which this Government is ordained of God 1. We say that the Kings Soveraignty or royal power to govern the people 1. Point 1. Where the Protestants place Soveraignty is independent from all creatures solely from God who hath immediately conferred the same upon him and this we are able to make good with abundance both of divine and humane proofes and yet we finde the same adversaries of this truth though with a far less shew of reason that we met withall about Government of Gods Church For 2 They that are infatuated with the cup of Babylon the Canâ—nists and some 2. In whom the Papists do place Soveraignty The Pope's sad Message to Hen. 3. Imp. Quem meritum investivimus quare immeritum non devestiamus quia ad quem pertinet institutio adâ—eundem pertinet destitutio Jesuites do constantly aver that summum imperium the primary supreme power of this Government is in the Pope 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 absolutely and directly as he is the Vicar of Christ who hath all power given him both in Heaven and earth from whom it is immediately deriued unto his Vicar and from him to all Kings mediately by subordination unto him so Baronius Careriâ—â— and others But Bellarmine and the rest of the more moderate Jesuists say that this imperium in reges the Popes power over all Kings and States is but indirectum dominium a power by consequent and indirectly in ordine ad bonum spirituale as the civil State hath relation to Religion and this great Cardinal lest he should seeme sine ratione insanire doth as the Hereticks did in Tertullians time Caedem Scripturarum facere ad materiam suam alleadge two and twenty places of Scripture mis-interpreted to confirmâ— his indirect Divinity and as Pâ—tiphars wife he produceth very honest apparel but to prove a very bad cause and therefore attributing to the Pope by the greatness of his learning and the excellency of his wit more then he could justifie with a good conscience he was so far from satisfying the then Pope that he was well nigh resolved to condemne all his works for this one opinion and Carerius undertooke his confutation ex professo Carerius lib. 1. cap. 5. and taxeth him so bitterly that he putteth him 〈◊〉 impiâ—â—â—â—reticos which he needed not to have done because the difference is onely in the expression when the Pope by this indirect power may take occasion to king and unking whom he pleaseth and do what he will in all Christian States 3. The Anabaptists and Puritans eitheâ— deny all government with the Fratricelli 3 Where the Puritans place the Soveraignty Majestas regia sita est magis in pâ—pulo quam in persona regis Parsons in Dolâ—an and all superiority by the title of Christianity as the Author of the Tract of Schisme and Schismaticks or do say that originally it proceedeth and habitually resideth in the people but is cumulatively and communicatively derived fâ—om them unto the King and therefore the people not denuding themselves of their first interest but still retaining the same in the collective body that is in themselves suppletivè if the King in their judgement be defective in the administration or neglect the performance of his duty may question their King for his mis-government dethrone him if they see cause and resuming the collated power into their own hands again may transfer it to any other whom they please Which opinion if it were true would make miserable the condition of all Kings and I believe they first learned it from the Sorbonists who to subject The Sorbonists first taught the deposing of Kings and why the Pope to the community of the faithful say that the chief spiritual power was first committed by Christ unto them and they to preserve the unity of the Church remitted the same communicatively unto the Pope but suppletively not privatively or habitually devesting themselves thereof retaining the same still in themselves if the Pope failed in the faith of the Church and therefore he was not onely censureable but also dâ—posable by the Council if he became an heretique or apostated from the religion of Christ and
have shewed them to be And what a royal exchange would the Rebels of this Kingdome make just such as the Israelites made when they turned their glory into the similitude of a Calfe that â—ateth hay and said these be thy Gods O Psal 146. 20. Israel which brought thee out of the Land of Aegypt for now after they have changed their lawful King for unlawful Tyrants and taken Jothams bramble for Judg. 9. 15. the cedar of Lebanon the Devils instruments for Gods Anointed they may justly say these be thy Kings O Londoners O Rebels that brought thee out of a Land that flowed with milke and hony out of those houses that were filled with all manner of store into a land of misery into houses of sorrow that are filled with wailings lamentations and woes when we see the faithful City is become an harlot our gold drosse and our happinesse turned to continual heavinesse But as the Rutilians considering what fruit they should reape by that miserable Virgil Aeneid l. 12. war wherein they were so far ingaged cried out at last Scilicet ut Turno contingat regia conjux Nos animae viles inhumata insletáque turba Sternamur campis We undo our selves our wives and our children to gain a wife for Turnus so our seduced men may say we ingage our selves to dye like doggs that these rebels may live like Kings who themselves sit at ease while others endure all woes and do grow rich by making all the Kingdome poore and therefore O England quae tanta est licentia ferri lugebit patria multos when as the Apostle saith evill men and seducers wax worse and worse deceiving 2 Tim. 3. 1 3. Gal. 6. 7. and being deceived for God is not mocked but whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reape for though we for our sins may justly suffer these and many other more miseries we do confesse it yet the whole world may be assured The Rebels sure to be destroyed Contemptrix superûm sevaeque avidissima caedis violenta fuit scires â— sanguine natam 2 Sam. 7. 1. that these Rebels the generation of vipers being but the Rod of Gods fury to correct the offences of his children such seeds of wickedness as they sow can produce none other harvest then ruine and destruction to all these usurping Kings and Traytors who thinke to please God by doing good service unto the Devil and to go to Heaven for their good intention after they are carried into Hell for their horrid Rebellion God Almighty grant them more grace and our King more care to beware of them and when God doth grant him rest with David on every side round about him to restore his Bishops and Clergy to their pristine station that when these bramble rods are burnt and these rebels fallen the King and the Bishops may still stand like Moses and Aaron to guide and gouerne Gods people committed to their charge And thus I have shewed thee O man some of the sacred rights of royal Majesty granted by God in his holy Scriptures practised by Kings from the beginning of the world yeilded by all nations that had none other guide but the light of nature to direct them I have also shewed thee how the people greedy of liberty and licentiousnesse have like the true children of old Adam that could not long endure the sweet yoke of his Creator strived and strugled to withdraw their necks from that subjection which their condition required and their frowardnesse necessitated to be imposed upon them and thereby have either graciously gained such love and fauour from many pious and most clement Princes as for the sweetning of their well merited subjection to grant them many immunities and priviledges or have most rebelliously incroached upon these rights of Kings wresting many liberties out of the hands of Government and forcibly retaining them to their own advantage sometimes to the overthrow of the royal government as Junius Brutus and his associates did the Kings of Rome sometimes to the diminution of the dimidium if not more then halfe his right as the Ephori did to the kings of Lacedemon but alwayes to the great prejudice of the king and the greater mischief to the Common-wealth because both reason and experience hath found it alwayes true that the regal Government or Monarchical State though it might sometimes happen to prove tyrannical is far more acceptable unto God as being his own prime and proper ordinance most agreeable unto nature and more profitable unto all men then either the Aristocratical or Popular Government either hath or possibly can be for as it is most true that praestat sub malâ— principe esse quà m sub nullo it is better to live under an ill Governour then where there is no Goveâ—nment so praestat sub â—no tyranno vivere qâ—à m sub mille it is better to be under the command of one tyrant then of a thousand as we are now under these Rebels who being not fex Romuli the worst of the Nobilty but faex populi the dregs of the people indigent Mechanicks and their Wives captivated Citizens together with the rabble of seduced Sectaries have so disloyally incroached upon the rights of our King and so rebelliously usurped the same to the utter subversion both of Church and Kingdom if God himself who hath the hearts of all Kings in his hand and turneth the same wheresoever he pleaseth had not most graciously strengthned his Majesty with a most singular and heroick resolution assisted with perfect health from the beginning of their insurrection to this very day to the admiration of his enemies and the exceeding joy and comfort of his faithfull Subjects and with the best aide and furtherance of his chiefest Nobility of all his learned and religious Clergy his grave and honest Lawyers and the truly worthy Gentry of his whole Kingdom to withstand their most treacherous impious barbarous and I know not how to expresse the wickednesse of their most horrid attempts so thou hast before thee life and death fire and water good and evil And therefore I hope that this will move us which have our eyes open to behold the great blessings and the many almost miraculous deliverances and favours of God unto his Majesty and to consider the most horrible destruction that this war hath brought upon us to fear God and to honour our King to hate the Rebels and to love all loyal Subjects to do our uttermost endeavour to quench this devouring flame and to that end with hand and heart and with our fortunes and with the hazard of our lives which as our Saviour saith shall be saved if they be lost to assist his Majesty to subdue these Rebels to reduce the Luk. 9. 24. Kingdom to its pristine government and the Church to her former dignity that so we may have through the mercy of God peace and plenty love and unity faith and true religion and all other happinesse remaining