grant preserve and defend the Rights of the Church 1. FOR first If you consider the King but as a Man in his meer Moral Capacity were it not an unnatural act to betray his best Friends those that to phrase it in e 1 Kings ii 26. King Solomons words have really been afflicted in all wherein the King hath been afflicted And yet this Salomon spake of such a Priest Abiathar who though Loyal in Absalom's Rebellion 2 Sam. xv 24. yet as here too many of our Tribe proved an errand Traitor in Adonijah's second Rebellion 1 Kings i. 7. But our constancy God be thanked makes our case the better For should the King deal worse with his Innocent with his Loyal Priests Nay could the King save the whole Kingdome from ruine by giving but his Consent to take away the Life or but Livelihood of but one Innocent man that we say not a Bishop or a Priest we may safely say by the rules of bare Moral Honesty the King might not do it in Point of Honour as the King is a man 2. But secondly consider the King in his Political Capacity as a Magistrate and of all other Estates or Corporations whatsoever by your own rules the King is bound in Conscience and Law both to defend and provide for the Church as his perpetual Ward in Law since as you say your selves and your own f Sir Edward Coke upon Magna Charta page 3. See the several Records to this purpose quoted by him there Records say no less Ecclesia semper est infrà aetatem in Custodia Domini Regis qui tenetur Jura haereditates suas manu tenere defendere in point of Justice as he is a Magistrate that we say nothing of the INTEREST OF STATE for no State in the whole Realm is more beneficial unto the Princes Exchequer then the Clergy if it be kept flourishing not only because they are deepest in Subsidies but because from the Clergy and so from no other Estate in the Land the King hath a considerable continual standing Revenue of Tenths besides First-fruits c. so that the King will be a loser by the bargain when all is done and * Ezra vi 22. Why should damage grow to the hurt of the King and we hold our Peace 3. But to wave that Temporal respect Thirdly and lastly how much more is the King ingag'd to the Defence of the Church besides his Royal Title of DEFENDER OF THE FAITH which is preserved in and by the Church in point of Conscience or Spiritual Interest if you consider the King in his Spiritual Capacity as a Christian man for that relation trebbles the Kings Obligation to all the premised Acts of Justice and Honesty 4. Especially if in the fourth place you adde to all these Bonds the Solemn Supervention of his Royal Oath Personally taken by the King at his Coronation and to declare his Majesties sincere and plain dealing and his Real Intention to keep his said Oath His Majesty hath therefore graciously been pleased himself thus to publish it 5. In that Oath the King Swears in a manner thrice for the Clergy particularly and so for no other Estate of the Realm besides to intimate that as your Law †8 Esiz c. 1. In the Preamble styles The Clergy a High State and one of the greatest States of this Realm so it deserves a special care and high regard proportionable Therefore as in the first Paragraph g At the Kings Coronation the Sermon being done the Arch-Bishop administreth these Questions to the King and the King Answers them severally §. 1. Episcopus Sir will you grant and keep and by Your Oath confirm to the People of England the Laws and Customs to them granted by the Kings of England Your Lawful and Religious Predecessors and namely THE LAWS CUSTOMS AND FRANCHISES GRANTED TO THE CLERGY by the glorious King Saint Edward Your Predecessor according to the Laws of God the true profession of the Gospel established in this Kingdom and agreeable to the Prerogative of the Kings thereof and the ancient Customs of this Realm Rex I grant and promise to keep them §. 2. Episcopus Sir will You keep Peace and Godly agreement entirely according to Your Power both to God the Holy Church the Clergy and the People Rex I will keep it §. 3. Episcopus Sir will You to your Power cause Law Justice and Discretion in Mercy and Truth to be executed in all Your Judgments Rex I will §. 4. Episcopus Sir will you grant to hold and keep the Laws and rightful Customs which the Commonalty of this Your Kingdom have and will You defend and uphold them to the Honour of God so much as in you lieth Rex I grant and promise so to do Then one of the Bishops reads this Admonition to the King before the people with a loud voice §. 5. Our Lord the King we beseech You to pardon and to grant and to preserve unto us and to the Churches committed to our charge ALL CANONICAL PRIVILEDGES and due Law and Justice and that you will protect and defend us as every good King ought TO BE PROTECTOR AND DEFENDER OF THE BISHOPS and the Churches under their Government The King Answereth With a willing and devout heart I promise and grant my Pardon and that I will preserve and maintain to you and the Churches committed to your Charge all Canonical Priviledges and due Law and Justice and that I will be your Protector and Defender to my Power by the assistance of God as every good King in his Kingdom in right ought to Protect and defend the Bishops and the Churches under their Government Then the King ariseth and it led to the Communion Table where he makes a Solemn Oath in sight of all the people to observe the Premisses and laying his hand upon the Book saith The Oath The things that I have here Promised I shall perform and keep so help me God and the Contents of this Book This Oath is to be found in the Records of the Exchequer and is published in his Majesties Answer to a Remonstrance c. of the 26. of May 1642. The same Oath for matter you may read in an old Manuscript Book containing the Form of Coronation c. in the Publick Library at Oxon. of that Oath the King Swears in general to do Justice and Right with Mercy and Truth unto all the whole body of the People and the Clergy joyntly so afterwards more particularly in the second and fifth Paragraphs the King Swears in special for the Clergy and that He will be the Protector and Defender of the Bishops in their Priviledges that is not only or their Persons but of their Possessions also that is of their Persons in such a Condition so qualified in sensu composito with such Rights and Liberties and those Rights must needs pre-suppose their Essence and Office too and that as it was then in being according to
contradict their Cause Always they do it by perverting the Scope which is the Soul of the Text. 10. I could abound with Instances in this kind both old and new but that there is nothing more obvious in the old Records of the Fathers and Councels and the late Pamphlets of our new Hereticks and Schismaticks against all which to forewarn you once for all now if ever take this Apostolical counsel (i) John 4.1 Beloved believe not every spirit nor every Scripture neither If once in the Devil's mouth for thence it comes out with the Devil's breath I mean the Devil 's false sense which to know from the true sense of God's word you need no more but by way of Antidote to remember to make good use of the three premised good Cautions 1. Ware their false glosses 2. Turn over the Key I mean the Coherence of the Text. 3. Mark the scope the soul of the Text according to the Analogie of Faith the Creed or the Rule of a good life the Decalogue The which if you cannot well find out Judicio discretionis of your own selves for that is all is allowed unto your lay-form then for Judicium directionis take God's own Counsel Go and (l) Hag. 2.11 12. ask the Priests concerning the Law they can best tell what is holy what is unholy Will you have God's promise and precept for it implied both in one Text (m) Malac. 2.7 The Priests lips if any should keep knowledge and the People should seek the Law at his Mouth for he is the Messenger of the Lord of Hosts However this Rule may fail in this or that particular Priest yet for the general it holds in the publick Ordinance animated by the publick spirit of the Church especially if the doubt be about matters fundamental and necessary to salvation about which God will never suffer an honest and humble (n) Joh. Parisiens mind seeking for the truth it self unto God by Prayer unto God's Church by obedience to erre finally Enough to discover this dangerous delusion unto you and to free you from the Epidemical contagion in this kind of Scripture-Sacriledge The last head of this Monster that concludes our Distribution of the sin of Sacriledge and our first main part of this Indictment containing matter of Declaration CHAP. IV. Of the Parties against whom the Sin of Sacriledge is committed and first of the Priest as God's Usufructuary only FOllows now the second part in order which contains Matter of Aggravation 1. And it is deduced from the consideration of the Parties against whom the offence of Sacriledge is committed and those ordine Analytico shall be first the Clergy who is God's Vsufructuary invested in God's Name as an holy Corporation in such a Right And therefore secondly God Almighty himself who is the direct Proprietary of all holy Portions 2. First as for the Clergy properly God's * Lexicon Juridic Calvin Ususfructus est jus alienis rebus utendi fruendi salvi rerum substantiâ l. 1. ff de usufr Hot. v. eodem Calv. ad vocem proprietas Usufructuary and no more to it belongeth onely the personal right use or profits for life no longer the real right or property being wholly as I may say resident in God the chief Lord to whom they are dedicated or due so that whatever Conclusions may be pretended to the contrary from the several examples of absolute Alienation publick or private through the iniquity of the Times or Persons are all of them well examined but so many meer Inconsequences à facto ad Jus concluding no more against God's usurped Property then for instance so many examples of popular and it may be for a while as of late through God's permission prosperous Rebellion can justly prescribe for lawfulness of Title against oppressed Monarchy 3. But yet say the Clergy were indeed the very Proprietaries so that the wrong done by Sacriledge did reach no further then the Clergy it self yet were the offence hainous enough seeing that of all other Estates of men the Persons and Possessions too of the Priests have always been Priviledged by all Nations by your own Nation especially till of late witness not to name particular (o) As the Charter of the Church of Carlile wherein King Henry the sixth frees all the Members of that Church from all Taxes Subsidies and Services in and towards the Wars against the Scots their next Neighbours though even then ready upon the Borders to Invade this Kingdom and all this that the Clergy there might the better attend God's Service and pray for the King c. Yet the Laiety of those Times might easily have objected That since the Church of Carlile injoyed a considerable portion of the Lands bordering upon the Enemy they ought to bear a full proportion of the Burdens with the Laity But the truth is in those days your more godly Ancestors did put more trust under God in the Prayers of the Church than in the Purses of the Church and they prospered accordingly Charters your own great Charter (p) Imprimis Concessimus Deo hac praesenti Chartâ nostrâ confirmavimus pro nobis haeredibus nostris in perpetuum quod Ecclesia Anglicana libera sit habeat omnia Jura sua Integra libertates suas Illaesas c. These be the words of King Henry the third Anno 9o. Ch. 1. grounded upon an ancient Law found Inter leges seu Institutiones Regis H. 1. c. 1. whose Tenour is here inserted and made a part of Magna Charta in these words Sanctam Dei Imprimis Ecclesiam liberam facio ita quod nec vendam nec ad firmam ponam c. Magna Charta a fundamental Law and one of the main Bulwarks of all your several Properties and Liberties and for that Reason Confirmed no less then Two and thirty times by your several Parliaments and therefore beware lest if you go on still to Undermine this National Foundation only to oppress one main State of the Nation the Clergy you do not unawares by such Sacrilegious Precedents open a Gap into your own temporal Estates or Lay-Inheritances in after-times for God is just Observe therefore how your Magna Charta begins with an Imprimis A Grant unto God that the Church of England shall be free and have all its Rights entire words of largest extent and all its Liberties inviolable By vertue of which general words the Church hath as good ground even in Law to demand and to defend her Ecclesiastical Rights and Liberties as any of you for your Temporal Rights or Intails whatsoever 4. Sir Edward * The second part of the Institutes pag. 2. Coke's gloss upon it is well worth the notice Concessimus Deo we have granted to God when any thing saith he is granted for God it is deemed in Law to be granted to God and WHATSOEVER IS GRANTED TO HIS CHURCH FOR HIS HONOUR AND THE MAINTENANCE OF HIS RELIGION AND SERVICE
one Being recalled thence by a gracious Letter from his Majesty to that Prince then living I did Anno 1661. in due Obedience return safe though Per varios casus per tot discrimina rerum In all which Acts xxvi 22. having obtained help of God I continue unto this day 11. Ever since my Return into England to this very year I have had my hands full as of my many publick Functions in my scattered Stations so of sundry very tedious and most expensive Suits at Law being engaged to fight as well as to write against Sacriledge in the practical Defence of the Church from sacrilegious Invasion and Vsurpations to vindicate and establish though with my own personal loss the Rights of Succession In none of all which that I never yet did miscarry as I humbly bless that God who helpeth them to Right that suffer wrong so under God Psal cxlvi 7. I must thankfully acknowledge the Impartial Justice of the Reverend Judges O that I might now but close up in Peace this last Period of my troublesome Life 12. And I would to God that this Work now come out at last were utterly unnecessary or unseasonable even at this time I wish from my heart that we of this Nation were so free from the old and so secured from new Sacriledge that there should be no need at all of this Plea against Sacriledge 1 Sam. xv 14. But what meaneth then the bleating of the Sheep the People and the lowing of the Oxen the Partisans in our Ears which even tingle with not flying Reports but loud and lewd Out-cries and Attempts of the havock intended again against this one poor Church and that also by such unworthy Instruments to describe them in the late King 's own words Whose fortunes can hardly be worse but who would therefore make them better by Sacriledge were it not for a just King and for an honest Parliament that do still ponere obicem whom God bless with Constancy and with Success accordingly to whom in this great Crisis of Affairs to be humbly subservient only in our own way I have thought my self obliged many ways 1. As a dutiful Son of this Church 2ly As a faithful Priest of the same And 3ly I might further add modestly ex officio also by vertue of that Dignity which by our Law (f) Provideant Archidiaconi de Possessionibus ut ita singulis annis proficiant ne Ecclesia suo Jure defraudetur Lindw l. 1. Tet. 9. de Offic. Archidiac pag. 42. Edit 1664. gloss ibid. Roberti Sharrock LL. D. Vide insuper ad idem Constit Othonis Tit. 19. De Archidiaconis in special binds every Arch-Deacon expresly To defend the Possessions of the Church that the Church be not defrauded of its Right a threefold Cord one would think should not easily be broken Eccles iv 12. This we mention that none may trouble us with an impertinent Quis requisivit or give it out that we take up Arms without Commission in this Publick Service for God whom we chiefly eye in this Cause for the Church of God in the Defence of the Just Power Primitive Prelacy and due Patrimony thereof Though this Work is not intended nor prosecuted neither for the Church onely For who ever shall take the pains to read all shall find that according to our Oath 1. The Sacred State and inviolable MAJESTY of the King's Person The King's Preeminence and his just Prerogative His Supream Negative Voice in the Legislative Power a chief Jewel of his Crown 2ly The Parliament's Legal Authority Prudence and Piety 3ly The Vniversitie's Colledges and Revenues the Pillars of Church and State as that great King James that Miracle of Learning wisely (g) Studia bonarum Artium Ornamenta Regnorum ducimus Firmamenta Rectissimè Seneca ad nos Etsi nostra magis refert fortiores fieri quà m doctiores tamen alterum sine altero non fit non enim aliundo venit animo rohur quà m à bonis artibus à Contemplatione Naturae Ignoscimus Philosopho quod non adjecerit Studia Pietatis quae nos tamen ante omnia semper poscinus meritissimè Regum doctissimus Jacobus Epist ad Isaacum Casaubonum determines it like himself 4ly The true Liberties and Property of the Subject all these and much more as occasion is given are both inserted and also asserted in this Book All these being as in a political Concameration mutually though not equally supporting and supported one by another and so linked together in the Golden Chain of a mutual Interest that they consequently and that also commonly stand or fall together 13. As for us * Quamvis nesciamus an in Extremis aliquid tentare Medicina sit certè nihil tentare Flagitium Salvian we must do our part what ever becomes of this Work for we may not divine we have learned from the wise Arabes among whom I do not repent that I did live some time to trust in the truth of that Proverb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is Vnicuique operae praemium There is a Reward belongs to every work Nay every good Work will be a kind of Reward to it self And if that fail us yet still we will fix our trust upon a far surer Oracle Isa xlix 4 5. that Though Israel be not gathered yet our Judgment is with the Lord and our Works with our God 14. But indeed we should think it a sufficient Reward if this poor Work might prove but a Warning-piece to all whom it may concern to Perswade them that they may not wilfully venture still upon the Plague of Sacriledge O trust not in Wrong and Robbery Psal lxii 10. which usually ends in fatal Beggary For even in this World God visits it in fury that we say nothing of the World to come where all Church-Robbers may be sure God will meet with them and there they shall not escape Mean-while God alto Judicio either takes away Posterity from their Estates or withdraws Prosperity from their Posterity 'T is very usual As St. Luke in another sense Luke xvii 32. Remember Lot's wife so may one say Remember Cornelius Burges (h) This terrible Example of the Judgment of God for Sacriledge upon the Person of Cornelius Burges such a notorious Doctor and also Practitioner of Sacriledge we may observe without Temerity It is the more memorable because so domestical so visible and yet so fresh in our Memories therefore we could not well omit it without some kind of Sacriledge both against God's Justice and Man's Posterity Take it thus as upon my inquiry it hath been attested both by that true Convert the valiant and zealous Sir Richard Brown himself Alderman and Major General of the City of London I had it from his own mouth the Letter it self having been consumed in that fatal Deluge of Fire as also from his faithful Referendary the Reverend Mr. John Durel that judicious and laborious
purpose in this whole Chapter which is to convince both Jew and Gentile of damnable hypocrisie in doing as bad as others whom yet rhey did condemn Ergo from the scope of the Text it must needs follow in ordinary Logick that as Adultery and Idolatry are breaches of the Moral Law which Law concerns us Christians as much as it did the Jews even so is Sacriledge too a breach of the same Moral Law and in some respects as you shall hear it proved anon a greater sin under the Gospel than under the Law 5. Then what ever the Malefactor be the Crime is the same so that for all their outward profession of being God's own People neither the Law nor Circumcision neither God's Word nor his Sacraments nor all the External advantages of Religion otherwise excellent and glorious if well used shall avail them any further than to (t) Verse 25.27 aggravate their just condemnation Their pretence of Detestation of Idolatry will not serve the turn as long as they continue in Sacriledge what ever they be Jews or Christians Laity or Clergy God's own express distinction as old as Moses (u) Exod. 19.13 c. Where the people are set down their bounds 'T is S. Greg. Nazianz observation c. God hath no respect of persons for if you mark it the Malefactor is here Indicted not only by his Titles of Religion But which is our second point of Examination by his Titles of Office too as he is a Doctor or a Preacher so runs the style in the Context 6. Behold saith the Apostle (x) Verse 19.20 21. thou art confident that thou thy self art a guide of the blind a light of them which are in darkness an illuminate Generation an Instructer of the Foolish a teacher of Babes which hast the form of Knowledge and of the truth in the Law Thou therefore which teachest another (y) Bene docere malè vivere quid aliud est quà m se suâ voce damnare Prosper teachest thou not thy self Thou that preachest a man should not steal doest thou steal Thou that sayest a man should not commit Adultery doest thou commit Adultery Thou that abhorrest Idols doest thou commit Sacriledge 7. It seems they that should have been the Guardians were the Robbers yea Ring-leaders in the spoyl of God's House turned Bethel into Bethaven the House of God into a Den of Thieves Thieves indeed who to buy the High-Priesthood it self (z) Joseph Beza ex eo not out of any love to the Office for Sectaries and Hereticks Pharises and Sadduces as they were almost all of them witness Annas the then High-Priest a Sadducee himself what cared they for the Office so they had the Benecice they did not spare to sell the Offerings corrade the Sacrifices rob God's Exchequer to pay the Roman-Chapman by whom all sacred things were then exposed to sale I suppose you so apprehensive as not to expect an application of this to our late Lay-Bishops or Lay-Deans in this one respect still worse than the old Church-Thieves that those did not abolish the Office as keen as they were of the Benefice but still had some care to preserve their Church in the old form though very corrupt for the matter thereof 8. The fair warning deducible from this History may concern you all that you may not be seduced by the smooth pretences or false Principles of men be their Titles never so specious be they Doctors or Pastors discontented Teachers or popular Preachers say they be of the Tribe of Levi or of the Family of Chorah yea should any of our selves for our own particular advantage go about to mince the matter to perswade you that Sacriledge is no Sacriledge believe us not for as one hath too truly observed it I know not how nor by what Destiny but by the Devils co-operation in the spoyl of God's Demesnes usually all of all sorts joyn heads and hands these three Avaritia Magnatum Ambitio Sacerdotum Superbia Populorum both of old and of late go hand in hand about it commonly the Avarice of the Grandees is still the Beldam the ambition (a) Num. 16. of some greedy male-contented and perhaps undeserving Priests is the Midwife and the Pride of the over-weening vulgar for (b) Quum excellimur instamur adversus Clerum tum sumus omnes sacerdotes quia Sacerdotes nos Deo Patri fecit quum ad per aequationem Disciplinae Sacerdotalis provocamur deponibus Insulas Impares sumus Tertul. de Monogamia c. 12. every man the simplest man would be his own Priest his own Bishop hath proved the unhappy Nurse to breed and bring forth all Church-Mischief These three are never awanting but always ready to help one another and the Devil above all to rob God Almighty which is the Crime charged here by the Apostle upon this Malefactor and the second main part of our Discourse to wit the examination of the sin of Sacriledge and that as you may remember the division three manner of ways to wit 1. By way of Declaration 2. By way of Aggravation and 3. By way of Probation CHAP. II. The Description of Sacriledge 1. TOuching the matter of Declaration we shall deliver it first by way of Description secondly by way of Distribution of the sin of Sacriledge according to its several kinds and degrees In the Description we may consider the sin of Sacriledge as it is set down in the Text. 1. Absolutely in its own nature 2. Comparatively with those other parallel-sins expressed in the Text and Context to wit Adultery a most hainous sin against the second Table Idolatry a most grievous Crime against the first Table We begin with the first the Consideration of the sin of Sacriledge absolutely and in its own nature Not to trouble you with any (c) Heins ad loc uncouth Exposition but following the Father 's (d) Deligendus est sensus è materiâ dicti Regula Tertulliani Hilarii Where the matter and the Context will bear it we are to choose the most proper and literal sense Aug. de Doctr. Christiana sound Rule in finding out the right sense of a Text By Sacriledge here is meant properly the Abuse of (e) Aquin. in loc things sacred or belonging to the service of God whether the Abuse be committed by way of (f) Violatione vel surreptione violation through prophaneness or usurpation through fraud or covetousness of which latter kind of real Sacriledge you shall hear more anon when we come to the matter of Aggravation but whether by Prophanation or Vsurpation either way 't is Sacriledge so saith Calvin upon the place and so Contzen the Jesuite witnesses enough we may have of all sorts of all sides That this is the full extent or value of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to commit Sacriledge is plain from the constant Etymology thereof in the general (g) Phavorini Lexicon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
it in God's Name and stead 29. And this Office being none of the extraordinary Apostolical Prerogatives such as some reckon these to have been their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Infallibility their power of Miracles and their Oecumenical Jurisdiction is not therefore Incommunicable or Intransitive but as successive and permanent and pertinent to their Successors in ordinary the Bishops and Pastors of God's Flock who as well as the Priests under the Law or the Apostles under the Gospel are God's visible Vicegerents unto the end of the World (i) Heb. 5.1 in all things pertaining unto God as to accept the Peoples Offerings in God's Name and stead so to present (k) The Clause in the Prayer for the Church Militant to accept our Alms and Oblations them unto God as well as to pray to God for the People or to bless the People in God's Name 30. And as to Bless so to Curse in God's Name also for Ejusdem est ligare cujus est solvere and this is in that History the Apostle's second Act to assure us and all the World of the Continuance of God's own heavy Curse and Exemplary Vengeance too even under the New Testament in case of Fraud or Sacriledge And this Ecclesiastical Censure doth here consist of two express parts a Spiritual and Eternal Excommunication as I may say (l) See Ghostwyke's Anatomy of Ananias and Sapphira's Sacriledge chap. 6. from all the means yea from the Life of Grace it self the sorest severest extreamest Vengeance that can be inflicted on a man in this World forsaking and forsaken of God Secondly a Corporal and that too a sudden and utter Deprivation of the Life of Nature also both of them making up that fearful total Extermination which the Jews term (m) Drus qu. l. 1. qu. 9. Sammatha or Sammathizatio of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that signifies desolare ad stuporem vastare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tu as much to say as let such a Curse fall upon thee as is Ultima Execratio or God's utmost Malediction Saint Paul from another Root Maran atha seems to allude to this very Curse 1 Cor. 16.22 Cursing them ad magnum diem as the old Councels phrase it till Dooms-day and a day after A Curse so terrible that in the Book of (n) Eum Ananiae Sapphirae †una stix porrigi ne †ejulantem crucians complectatur Selden ad Eadmerum quo suprà p. 156. Curses formerly quoted against Sacriledge Ananias and Sapphira aâ—e become the Proverbial as I may say the Standard to Curse by 31. Surely such a Curse so terrible take in all the circumstances we read not of in all the Old Testament as if God hereby would intimate as the hainousness of the sin of Sacriledge above all sins in general so the aggravation of it in particular as it being a greater sin now under the Gospel than under the Law both respectu Personae and also respectu Status because as our Oblations to all Acts of Devotion are more so is our knowledge and our hope likewise this is (o) Allus ad Decimas Hilariter libenter danda ea non quae sunt minora utpote majorem Spem habentes Iren. l. iv c. 34. Irenaeus his Argument far greater now than it was then 32. And because this Fact of Ananias was the first Notorious Act of Sacriledge that ever was committed under the Gospel therefore least any after them should presume upon their Impunity as they gave ill example to their Generation and to Posterity to boot 't is P. Martyr's note themselves became a sad example to both They were confounded Body and Soul 33. And that too with a suddain Destruction in an Instant the usual Destiny of Sacriledge witness * Dan. v. 30. 2 King xi 16. Belshazzar Athaliah and so many more slain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we say In the very Act of Sacriledge 34. This is an History brim-full of horrour in all the grievous circumstances of it To see a Man and his Wife Children of the Church Auditors of the Apostles Professors of Christ's true Religion outwardly conformable to the Apostolical Discipline Benefactors to the Church no apparent professed Enemies or Atheists no Persecutors or Apostates or notorious evil livers for any thing we read of them Ah! I tremble to think it that such persons so qualified should yet be liable to so Execrable an end as say * Gostwick's Anatomy of Ananias Sacril ch 6. some in a moment to be damned Body and Soul dying without repentance should as they were man and wife in the sin upon Earth be still man and wife in the Torment of Hell and all this damnable rigour for grudging a few Pence or Pounds at the most to God and Holy Church But (p) Deut. xxix 29. Secret things belong unto the Lord our God and God's judgments are past finding out Rom. xi 33. Our best course therefore is to adore them with admiration To lay them to heart with fear and trembling and to acknowledge with all humility that God seeth not as man seeth however Sacriledge may be extenuated in the World 's deceitful Scales yet in the Just Ballance of the Sanctuary you see the heavy doom of it weighs down to the bottom of Hell 35. And now although this latter part of the Censure the Corporal part was miraculous and so extraordinary yet let none harden himself in Sacriledge upon the presumption that St. Peter and his fellows that could kill with a breath are now dead and gone As long as the Lord liveth and Ecclesia nunquam moritur in your own sense and in our sense I am sure the Church lives too and the Spiritual Ordinance of God and of his Church the heavy Censure of Excommunication is permanent in the Church unto the World's end and is and ever will be clave non errante still as quick and powerful to plague and to destroy no less now than in those days if not always with visible external Judgments from which we are not yet free yet with far worse with invisible inward Judgments as Blindness of Mind not to see our Disease nor Danger our Duty nor Remedy and Hardness of heart not to repent and return and restore for this Impenitent State may still provoke God to punish one sin with another in his just Permission a Judgment which is of all others the most grievous the very next step to Hell it self and therefore not inferiour for the matter though not so visible for the manner to that dreadful Curse which befel Ananias and Sapphira in whose fatal Example God did purposely express such a Terrible Severity to countenance the just Censures of the Church and to bring into credit Church-Authority a maine Nerve or Sinew in Christ's Body Mystical the Mortification whereof in this latter Age hath occasioned the Gangrene of the whole Body of this Christian Church and State for we may not flatter now but now
custom and Antiquity are wont to procure unto all things and thus by little and little the very FOUNDATION of Government will undermine it self so as in time all the whole FRAME OF STATE we may say the same of the Church will insensibly down to the ground being justled out by the ambition of a few great ones or by the licentiousness of the many the People who having once forgotten the reverence they owed unto the old Laws will soon make Insurrection against all manner of Laws whatsoever The truth of all this is clear in the Case betwixt the State of Rome and Marius the Peoples Favourite against the old Laws c. Thus far the Italian States-man 19. And this Forraign VVisdom upon this very Case too was as I may say naturalized here by a Royal p See the Proclamation for the Uniformity of Common prayer before the Book of Common Prayer Act for the Authorizing an Vniformity of the Book of Common-Prayer c. Established by Act of Parliament wherein to prevent the Temptation to and Imputation of FICKLENESS that GREAT SCANDAL OF STATE the Royal Admonition runs thus We do admonish all men that hereafter they shall not expect nor attempt any further ALTERATION in the Common and Publick Form of Gods Service from this which is now established for that neither will we give way to any to presume that our own Judgment having determined in a matter of this weight shall be swayed to alteration by the frivolous suggestions of any light Spirit neither are we ignorant of the Inconveniences that do arise in GOVERNMENT by admitting INNOVATION in things once setled by mature deliberation And how necessary it is to use Constancy in the upholding of publick Determinations of State for that such is the unquietness and unstedfastness of some dispositions affecting every year new forms of things as if they should be followed in their unconstancy would make all Actions of States ridiculous and contemptible whereas the stedfast maintaining of things by good advice established is the weal of all Common-wealths Behold a Fort-Royal strong enough against all such Changes if but well manned and maintained 20. And indeed the Platform of it was borrowed from the wisest mortal King that ever was Solomon it is who gives us all fair warning saying q Prov. 24.21 22 23. My Son fear thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change The Precept is backed with an ominous Prophecy For their Calamity shall rise suddenly and who knoweth the ruine of them both both Changers and Medlers These things also belong unto the wise as wise as some men may think themselves were they as wise as Achitophel they may need and they should take this wise counsel betimes lest they prove Achitophels at their latter end 21. But if Solomon had not given us this fair warning we may know those mens good meaning in the Change by their Intentions and Endeavors too ad ultimum Potentiae expressed in the Bill for Abolition offered at Uxbridge r A full Relation of the passages concerning the Treaty at Uxbrige c. p. 160. Exchange is no Robbery was once your Proverb but our late sad Experience of those Reformers good Intentions in the change may have taught us more wit then still to believe words As once the Orator so may we now justly cry out Quid verba audio cùm facta videam let their Actions speak and they 'l speak loud and tell you what goodly Change they mean to make Behold Testimonia rerum loquentia signa In two late flourishing Kingdoms at once as in a two leaved broad Glass you may clearly see that under pretence of Commutation they have at last compassed their great Project of utter Confusion in the utter abolition of the chief Offices and Sacrilegious Conversion of the Church Lands and Revenues to their own proper Lay Vses Except it may be Offam Cerbero here and there a bone cast to stop the mouths of such as otherwise would bark out against their crying sin of Sacriledge For as an ſ Non alio censendi Elogio sunt quos Templorum Sacerdotiorum Opulentia ad fidei dogmata novanda illexit qui suos Pseudopastorculos aliqua divitiarum particulâ asperserunt totum ut ipsi devorarent Impetuè Contzen ad Rom. cap. 2.22 Author upon our Text saith too truly They deserve no other Epithet whom Covetousness hath allured to Innovate all in Church and Religion and all out of a hope thereby to inrich themselves with the rich spoils of the old Church and Religion under pretence of sprinkling their false petty Shepherds with a few drops that so themselves without controul may swallow up all Of some of our Reformers Pudet haec dici potuisse non potuisse refelli 22. But in such a case should they or we all hold our peace very Heathens would open their mouth and plead Gods Cause for us against them would you think a t 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato de legib lib. 10 principio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De Sacrilegio Plato by the meer light of nature could charge such a kinde of Sacriledge with flat Atheism Whosoever saith he speaking there expresly of Sacriledge wrongs the Gods any of those waies he must of necessity be guilty of one of these three crimes either he absolutely thinks there is no God at all or secondly that if there be a God that he is a God careless of what is done here below or thirdly That this God is nothing so just or so terrible to offenders at the world is made believe but either corrupt one that will be bribed in his own Cause or a very tame facile God with all profound reverence be this but repeated to the Conversion or Confusion of the Authors of such Atheistical Opinions and practices a flexible God whom you may offend at pleasure and re-appease as you please with a few good words for many bad deeds God deliver us from such a Childish ridiculous Religion nay from such damnable Atheism in thought word or deed for as the x Vel Deos non esse c. vel illos praeter aequum bonum Muneribus precibus conciliari Illa enim absurda Deo attribuere est negare Deum Joh. Serran in Platon Glossator of this Text in Plato well comments by such carriage towards God in attributing such absurdities unto God what is any one the least of all these three wayes but utterly to raze down the Foundation of all Religion and even then when in words we profess a GOD in WORKS to deny HIM as the y Tit. 1. ult Apostle argues the Case 23. And as for t' other part of the pretence the powerfulness of their Ministry and the Purity of their Gospel c. will you take our Lords Advice Then judge of the Tree by his Fruit for z Mat. 7.16 by their Fruits ye shall know
17. Invito donatore I say and Invito possessore too and both bona fidei in despight of God and man feloniously to take away the Churches Right yea Gods own Inheritance g Deut. xviii 1 2. Inter pares so to do were high Injustice though but a violation of a civil contract or stipulation how much more heinous then must the usurpation be against our Superiour yea against the Supream Lord the God of Heaven and Earth whose Right by all Laws is absolute Irrespective Independent This is the very Argument of King Withred in his h Scimus veraciter extat ut si quid sâ—mel acceperit homo de manu alterius in propriam potestatem nullatenus sine Ira ultione illud dimiserit impunitus Ideò horrendum est hominibus expoliare Deum vivum scindere Tunicam ejus haereditatem ejus quotquot ex aliquo concessum ei fuerat de terrenis substantiis S. H. Spelman in Concilio Magno Becanqueldensi sub Withredo Rege Cantii A. C. 694. Council of Becanceld almost a thousand years ago And thus much in answer to the Imputation of Collusion and the first pretence of Justice against it 6. As for the second point of Delinquency the charge of Malignancy God forbid but offenders indeed such as have really violated the known Laws of God or man should have condigne punishment and Imprimis Church-men So the Trial be Legal and the Triers according to your own Law k Magna Charta 9 H. 3. S. 29. Juries ought to be persons considerable and knowing they anciently used to be twelve Knights So sayes Sir Edward Coke in his Comment upon Littleton's Tenures citing Mr. Lambert The meaning of Legalis Homo to qualifie him of a Jury is not nor formerly was meant to be only a man of 40 s. per annum but to be at least in some good measure In Legibus peritus as some are of opinion and so as it were a kinde of assistant to the Judge This is the observation of a wise man Nomine re Sir Robert Wiseman in his learned Book of the Law of Laws Edit 1664. Notes touching the alteration of some Lawâ— p. 116 117. homines legales pares and therefore not parties or enemies against such Jurors the Law will allow of a principal challenge Lastly so they be tried not ad placitum but by the old standing Rule The known Law of England which to define out of that known Author Doctor and Student Chap. 4. must be grounded 1. On the Law of Reason 2. On the Law of God 3. On the general Customs of the Realm 4. On the Principles or Maxims of the Law 5. On particular Customs 6. On the Statutes or Acts of Parliament All which above have put in their Plea for the Church But secondly if bare Accusation may serve the turn who can be Innocent especially if by the Faction or Malice of a prevailing party stilo Novo he be called an Offender who is most Faithful to God most Dutiful to the Church and most Loyal to the King The pretended crime hath been published and really punished also any time these seven and twenty years and 't is to prove yet Thirdly If some of the Clergy were guilty yet sure not all all are not such and by what Law of God or Man must the Righteous suffer meerly for the wicked The l Ipsa Communitas non potest Excommunicari Aquin. Suppl 22 5â—0 School determines it unlawful to Excommunicate an whole University or Corporation because of the possible mixture of some good with the bad how much less to Excommunicate a whole Community to all Generations and can it then be lawful hand over head to deprive a whole Tribe Gods own Tribe with their Wives and Children and all for ever and aye without hope of redress or recovery Fourthly Say all this whole present Generation of Clergy-men were really guilty of all the Crimes laid to their charge and guilty every man of them what is this to future Succession out of all doubt innocent as yet Personal Delinquency may forfeit the Personal Right of the present Incumbent the Offender but it cannot forfeit anothers Right By the Laws of other Nations and as I am assured by your m The Law is clear if a Clergy-man commit Treason or any other capital offence he forfeits not the Right of his Church but only the present profit during his own life or Incumbency See Stamford's Pleas of the Crown 187. own Law too the forfeiture can extend no farther than the Title Now whatsoever a Clergy-man possesseth is all in Jure Ecclesiae and Jure Dei is all in the Right of the Church and in the Right of God 7. As for the first Jus Ecclesiae the Personal Delinquency of a Clergy-man can no more forfeit or impeach that than the Guardians personal offence can prejudice his Ward under age for in this sense you say the Church is alwayes under age alwayes a Minor in the World God's the Kings and the States Ward God the Supream Guardian of the Church can and will defend his Ward let the under-Guardians look to it as they will answer the Supream 'T is both the comparison and conclusion too of your own n Ecclesia semper est infrà aetatem fungitur semper vice minoris nec est juri consonum quòd infrá aetatem existentes per negligentiam custodum suorum exharedationem patiantur seu ab actione repellantur Sir Edw. Coke super Magna Charta page 3. Lawyers upon the case grounded upon divers Records best known to your own selves 8. And as thus in respect of the Church no Clergy-man can forfeit the Lands and Revenues which he enjoyeth only in Jure Ecclesiae So fifthly and lastly much less in respect of God for a Tenant for Life or Years can but forfeit his own Lease for his own time he cannot forfeit the right or property of his Tenement that belongs to his Land-lord How then can any mans fault forfeit Gods Right for we have proved it before by Gods Law and as we are given to understand it from some of your own sages by your own Law too that of all Church Revenues God is really the Proprietary the Clergy but the Vsufractuary This is enough to tear off from the painted face of Sacriledge this first Vizard the Pretence of Justice upon Delinquents 9. From the premises may clearly appear how impertinent and unjust some men are who maliciously mis-apply against our Prelates and Church men Some vehement declamations and disputes of John Wickliffe in the 17th of his 45. Articles and John Huss 43. Arguments against the Temporalties of the Church without any due or just Consideration either 1. of the Time when or 2. Place where or 3. the Parties against whom or 4. the Matter about which or 5. the manner how far either John Wickliffe or John Huss delivered those Positions Any one of which single Circumstances
soberly and ingenuously pondered doth quite alter the Case For 1. As for the Time it was when the Clergy so superabounded in their Revenues that a Law seemed necessary to interpose and restrain the Oblations by Mortmain p Stat. of Mortmain 7. of Edw. 1. When the people brought much more then enough as in Moses Case Exod. xxxvi 5. when the people were so liberal of their Oblations and Donations unto the Clergy That to phrase it with S. Luke chap. vi 38. in an higher sense they seemed as it were pressed down shaken together and running over into their bosoms But now the case is altered there is no great fear in this our Age that the people will over-do in this kinde The notable Subtractions from the Bishopricks and Deans and Chapters in the last Age the multiplied Prescriptions through Covin or Cowardise the Conversion of Lease-holds into Free-holds by incroachments the Decayes of Church-Rents the easie Pines of the Church-men in comparison of Lay-Land-lords the Aggravations by servile Taxes never heard of before now of late laid upon the Clergy such as Bridge-money Roague-money and the like These and much more could be said may sufficiently secure the State from the Clergies Exceedings therefore Distingue Tempora is a wise rule to silence the Objectors 2. As for the place John Huss Arg. 32. fixed his Assertions in the Kingdom of Bohemia whereof he affirms the Clergy had a fourth or third part from which proportion the Clergy of England though very thankful to God and the King for what they have are very far perhaps upon honest computation not the thirtieth part all Reprises duly deducted 3. The Parties against whom John Wickliffe and John Huss positions were directed were the Popish Prelates Abbots c. Shavelings as John Huss Arg. 42. out of Hildegardis Prophecy tearms them i. e. Monks The whole scope of both John Wickliffe and John Huss Positions is against such Clergy-men who did both usurp and also plead Exemption of the Clergy from the Kings Authority N. B. as over their Persons so over their Possessions Whereas the Clergy of England have better learned Christ since Rom. xiii 1. They know and acknowledge that Omnis Anima Every soul must be subject to the higher Powers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to St. Chrysostoms Loyal Gloss upon the place Though he were an Apostle though he be a Bishop yet must he be subject to the Higher Powers and therefore our Prelates and Church-men do not only profess but also swear due Subjection and Allegiance to the King as Supream in both Respects as over their Persons so in all Causes and therefore over their Possessions Bp. Andrews Tortura Torti Bp. Morton's Causa Regia c. Our Prelates do not only practice due subjection in both these but also to their Power Protect the Kings Supremacy with their Pens and Learned Writings against all Opposers on the right hand and on the left against all whether Anabaptists or Papists so that to confound our Prelates and Church-men with those Prelates and Church-men in John Wickliffe's and John Huss times is a malicious Plot. Certainly here if any where Comparisons are odious To argue thus from the left to the Right what is it but Crassa ignoratio Elenchi a fallacy exploded in the very Schools 4. The matter about which both John Wickliffe and John Huss frame their Arguments is the Clergy offending habitualiter that is as Wickliffe explains it which continue in the custom of sin and will not amend and John Huss Argument 2. instances in Rebellion against the King and Arg. 24. Treason as in the case of Bishop Judas Iscariot as he terms him Heresie as Pope Leo Rapos and other such grievous Crimes enumerated also by the Author in the title of his Appendix to John Wickliffe's Articles c. with which hainous Matters Impudence it self cannot charge our Prelates and other Canonical Church-men who when tried in the fiery furnace of the late Rebellious and Sacrilegious Persecution absit verbo invidia proved generally the most loyal and most constant Subjects of all so as neither Sequestration nor Deprivation nor Banishment nor Torment nor Death it self could prevail upon them to make them renounce their due Allegiance to the King Therefore to tell the King that to take away their Temporalties is neither Sacriledge nor Injustice is such a bad office such an high offence against the Kings Justice as would deserve some Exemplary Correction to deter others from the like presumption against my Lord the King whose Royal Generosity so Hereditary to him from his unparallel'd Father q No Prince in the whole world did ever both in word and deed more abhor the Sin of Sacriledge than the late godly King Charles the First Witness those Divine Lines in his Portraicture especially Sect. 14. Vpon the Covenant No man saith that King can be more forward than my self to carry on all due Reformations with mature Judgment and a good Conscience in what things I shall after impartial advice be by Gods word and right Reason convinced to be amiss I have offered more than ever the fullest freest and wisest Parliaments did desire But the sequel of some mens actions makes it evident that the main Reformation intended is the abasing of Episcopacy into Presbytery and the Robbing the Church of its Lands and Revenues for no men have been more injuriously used as to their Loyal Rights than the Bishops and Church-men These as the fattest Deer must be destroyed the other Rascal-herd of Schisms Heresies c. being lean may enjoy the benefit of a Toleration Thus Naboth's Vineyard made him the only blasphemer of his City and fit to dye Still I see while the breath of Religion fills the Sails Profit is the Compass by which factious men steer their course in all seditious Commotions Whereupon the King protests his detestation of such sacrilegious Reformation in these words I have alwayes had such a perfect abhorrence of it in my soul that I never found the least Inclination to such sacrilegious Reformings yet no man hath a greater dâ—sire to have Bishops and all Church-men so reformed that they may best deserve and use not only what the pious munificence of my Predecessors hath given to God and the Church but all other additions of Christian Bounty Thus that incomparable Prince of Glorious Memory doth scorn such unworthy Counsel and Councellors as would perswade the King against his gracious Genius to do an Act whereby that Estate I mean the Clergy which suffered most for the King should now also suffer again by the King 5. As for the manner how far both John Wickliffe and John Huss extend or limit their Assertions 'T is to be observed first that as they both still pre-suppose as a ground of just deprivation 1. The notorious abuse of those Revenues or Temporalties of the Clergy 2. The Clergies Contumacy or continuance therein and all this not pretended but proved so secondly
Matth. vii 26. is the sandy Foundation upon which this foolish Builder like a down-right Sophister wilfully declining the Question of Right doth build his house of Sacriledge Subrue fulturam patitur structura Ruinam To batter which we could say more both ad Hominem and also ad Rem but that as for the Man we purposely blunt our Pen because we hear he is dead and gone and so past his Accounts here and for a terror to all surviving Usurpers except he did Repent and Restore also he hath already received his sentence according to his works God knows where he is now and there we leave him But as to the matter it self That pretended Legislative Power of his counterfeit Parliament is sufficiently abolished mark the Divine Talio of Abolition for Abolition by the Legal Power of that Loyal Parliament * 13 Car. 2. cap. 1. for Repeal of the Parliament begun 3. Nov. 1640. See Sir Robert Wiseman's notes touching the Long Parliament that had declared all such Orders and Ordinances made by that disloyal Parliament to be null and void and further determined That there is no Legislative Power in either or both Houses of Parliament without the King This being the main Fundamental Law of this Realm might suffice for a full Confutation of what ever hath been said in his whole Book by that infamous Patron of Sacriledge But admitting an impossibility that such an unlawful Assembly had been a lawful Parliament yet can that prove it therefore to be infallible but that it may do wrong may not one be Tyrannus Exercitio though not Titulo if his Decrees or Ordinances fall upon indebitam materiam what else can such a manner of proceeding be to enact a total deprivation of a whole community of men many of them innocent as hath been shewed above in the case of pretended Delinquency and afterwards to argue à facto ad jus †It is the complaint of a wise man of the Law that the meaning of that Axiome Ex facto jus oritur hath been extreamly rack'd Sir Robert Wiseman 's Note touching the alteration of some Laws our Sophisters chief Medium all over This way of arguing must needs prove of a monstrous of a dangerous consequence for say a man should thus Syllogize Whatsoever the two Houses or but one of the Houses of Parliament do enact or ordain is lawful that must be his Major But the two Houses or at least one of them hath abolished and also deprived all Bishops Deans and Chapters this Minor proved too true Ergo That Abolition and Deprivation was lawful and consequently No Sacriledge nor Sin the presumptuous Title of the Book of this Church-Pyrate Now should the sharp point of this two-edged Argument which we have felt sufficiently through and through be retorted and turned upon the breast of either of those two Estates of the Kingdom what would then become of the Lords Temporal or of the Commons themselves trow we for if they grant the Major they cannot avoid the Conclusion and so they may be turned out of all by the Votes of a Predominant Party and then farewel the Property of the Subject Beware of such Precedents you that are wise for 't is an old say Cras tibi hodie mihi Enough for the Demolition of such an absurd Power that is attended by such palpable injustice But yet ex abundanti upon this occasion of C. B.'s Book for a fuller Conviction and if possible Conversion of which though we have but small hope yet is it both our wish and our main design in this troublesome work it will be worth the pains soberly to examine the full extent of all humane Legislative Power granting the Hypothesis that the Power is lawful In prosecution whereof first of all let this our Protestation be entered That we intend not to question the Justice of the Law or to examine the Power or the Wisdom of the Law-makers or to meddle at all with the Constitution of the State or to discuss this point further then in a direct and necessary Reference to the Vniversal Law the Law of Nature the Law of Nations and the Law of God to which all particular Laws if they be Laws indeed and not Lawless Libertinism or barbarous Tyranny must needs vail and yield their due Subordination If not then by all mens leave the Divine may nay must without any busie-bodiness at all in States-matters taking the Law interminis according to the common sense it bears or should bear carry it l TO THE LAW AND TO THE TESTIMONY If they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them Isa viii 20. Ad Legem ad Testimonium and there wisely warily and impartially weigh the matter of the Law in the Ballance of the Sanctuary or in the Scales of clear Scripture and sound Reason at whose Bar both all the Laws and all the Law-Makers too must one day be tryed at last in Ultimo districtu And if upon Aequilibration as we may say the Humane Law shall prove light then that men may not stumble at it and fall and perish by obeying any unjust Law of man contrary to the just Law of God 't is then the proper work and direct Profession of the Divine as he will answer Soul for Soul to take forth the m Jer. xv 19. Precious from the vile and as becomes him who is to the people as Gods mouth to n Ezek. iii. 17 18. warn other mens Consciences from it and so free his own For thus though the Law of the Land be matter of Policy yet the Peace of Conscience about the lawfulness or unlawfulness of that Law immediately belongs to Divinity the Senior-Law of all from which as we may say all mens Junior-Laws if just must be derived Divinity being indeed no other than the Original Law of God which may suffice once for all to pre-occupate an ignorant or malicious and yet a very ordinary Objection of some that whilst themselves take upon them at every turn to Confront Divinity with Colours of Law yet blame the Divine very much if se defendendo he dare offer to prefer Gods Law to mans Law in case those two Laws should justle as if the Divine in doing but his own proper duty were ipso facto a medlar in another mans Calling 2. Thus much premised the justness of such a pretended Legislative Power will be soon tryed if but compared 1. With some Undeniable Principles it destroyes 2. With some Right Conditions of a just power which it should have and doth want 3. With some gross Absurdities it involves 3. First then such a Legislative Power at pleasure as they call it to vote men Innocent men out of their whole Estates and Livelihoods their Lives may be next is too absolute to be communicable to any Creature and doth trench upon Gods own Prerogative whose will is therefore a Law and Idea Justitiae as they say in
sarciatur vulnus redintegretur amor D. Deodat quo suprà when all Humane Helps fail this is a Divine Ordinance never misses but may soon effect what from Civil or rather Rebellious War could never be hoped for that by a voluntary Inclination of Hearts the National wounds may be closed up again and that National Love and Peace and Prosperity which was once as the Envy and Terror so the chief Glory and Honour of this Noble Nation may be fully recovered at last To that happy end let us all humbly beseech God the God of Peace that of his infinite mercy he will open the eyes of the People of England * Luke 19.42 that now in this their day they may yet see those things that belong to their Peace that he will turn the Hearts of our Enemies and keep all Ours from every evil work especially from this evil work this Damnable Sin of Sacriledge from Robbing God our own God of his own Inheritance that so in the end none of us all and if it be possible none of all our even deadliest Enemies may forfeit his part with us in the Inheritance of Gods Heavenly Kingdom who for us all both Priest and People hath purchased it hy his own Precious Blood through Jesus Christ our Lord and only Saviour To whom therefore with the Father and the Holy Ghost be ascribed all Praise Power Majesty and Dominion from this time forth and for evermore Amen Matth. xxii .. 21. Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and unto God the things that are Gods FINIS A Table of some Principal Texts of Holy Scripture explained and cleared in this BOOK BOOK CHAP. VERSE PAGE GEnesis iii. 1. 40.  xxviii 22. 62. 192.  xlvii 22.26 50 165. 166 Exodus xix 13. 10.  xxvi   xxviii  33. Leviticus x. 3. 71.  xxvii 11. 114. 124. Numbers i. 46. 53.  xiv 9. 3.  xvi 3. 29. 73.   37.38 116. 117.  xxii 6. 3.  xxx 5.8 69. 95. Deuteronomy vii 1. 69. 70.  xxxiii 11. 73. Joshua ix 3. 69. I Samuel xv 23. 32. II Samuel iii. 29. 117. a I Chronicles xxix 11. 60. 61. II Chron. xxvi 20.21 17. Ezra vi 12. 75. Psalms i. 4. 122.  Li. 12. 22. Proverbs xx 25. â—89 Isaiah xlv 1. 31. Zachariah v. 2.3 115. a Malachy iii. 7. 76. Matthew v. 18.19 â—13 a  vi 9. 67.  vii 16. 1â—9  x. 40.41.42 100.  xvi 19. â—7  xxi 12. 18. Mark vi 26. 227. Acts ii 5. â— Â v. 1. 21. 88.   3. 194.  xx 34. 5â— Romans ii 22. 6. 213.  xiii 2. 31. I Corinth ix 13.14 52. II Corinth iv 3. 190. Galatians vi 6. 52 54. 200. I Thess v. 3. 152. Hebrews xii 16. 18. An Alphabetical Table of the Principal Matters contained in this BOOK A. UTter Abolition of the chief Offices and Revenues of the Church declared at Uxbridge page 127 Acceptance of Offerings under the Gospel proved page 79 91 94 95 104 105 Adultery a very hainous sin page 7 19 Amelioration by way of Addition not utter Alienation page 78 124 Bishop Andrew's Censure of Sacriledge page 199 Anania's and Saphira's Sacriledge page 88 Appropriations and Impropriations Popish Inventions page 24 191 Apostolical prerogatives page 97 B. To depart before the Ministerial Blessing great prophaneness page 76 Times of Blindeness do not frustrate Donations page 48 120 Cornel. Burges foul and false plea for Sacriledge confuted page 174 C. Calvin against Sacriledge page 207 Capitular of Charles the Great page 121 b Cathedral Lands possessed by as good right and title as Parochial Glebes page 218 Cathedraticum what page 55 We must plead the publick Cause what ever men say or do page 150 â—05 Ceremonies sacred page 34 Change of Government very dangerous page 125 221 The Character of Cowardise page 153 K. Charles the I. his abhorrency of Sacriledge page 141 A Martyr for the people as well as for the Church page 228 Charles Martel's doom for Sacriledge page 23 The Charter of the Church of Carlisle page 45 Christians are persons Sacred page 29 The Church is alwayes a Minor page 136 Four Pillars of the Church page 101 102 The Church of Britain Christian above 16â— years page 232 Her late deplorable case page 231 Church Authority a main Pillar and preserâ—ative of Truth and Peace and Order page â—8 Gods Providence over the Church of England page 227 228 Herper sâ—â—ted speech to all her Children page 230 Church-Rites are to be vindicated page 112 The Custom of the Church to be observed page 102 103 The Clergy is one of the highest States of the Realm by Act of Parliament page 170 Priviledged by all Laws page 45 49 50 Freed from Taxes for Bridges page 48 Their Maintenance magnificent page 50-57 Philâ—'s excellent passage about it page 57 Their decay the ruine of Religion page 77 Their deprivation a damnable injury page 109 136 184 Exemption of the Clergy from the Civil Magistrate confuted page â—39 Clergy-mens Hospitality page â—35 The Loyalty of the Clergy of England page 140 141 Comfort to the Clergy when persecuted page 15â— Collusions in Donations confuted page 1â—1 Commutation of one sin for another no Conversion page â—7 The obtruded Covenant contrary to the 〈◊〉 National Covenants in holy Scripture page 225 Curses inserted in Donations page 68 75. 114 b 122 220 Waranted under the Gospel page 99 Neither Causless page 71 Nor Powerless page 7â— 98 Personal page 114 a 116 a Domestical page 115 117 1â—8 a National page 4 8â— 119 a D. Dedications what page 64 94 Their continuance under the Gospel ibid. St. Irenâ—eus clear for it page 91 Trial of Delinquents what legal page 135 Devotion what page 16 New Discipline inconsistent with this Monarchy page â—22 Humane Dispensations â—ull about Sacriledge page 115 b Deprecation of final Destruction page 235 The fâ—rm 1 of Donations page 120 12â— Doâ—ations of Churches page 55 E. Egyptians regard of their Priests page 50 165 Enemies to Juda and Levi deeply cursed page 73 234 Equity for the Clergy under the Gospel greater then under the Law page 52 Excommunication still of force visibly or invisibly page 100 101 F. A general Fasâ— for National Sacriledge injoyned by the whole Assembly at St. Andrews in Scotland page 211 Furtum what page 111 G. John of Gaunt's malice against Bishops page 146 147 The Fraud of the Giâ—eonites page 69 133 The general and ancient notion of Glebes page 217 Gods special Demesnes Tithes and Offerings page 61 God is the great Proprietary of all Church Revenues page â—8 137 H. Relative Holiness page 65 67 Real Homage due to God as well as personal page 58 John Huss wrested against the Temporaltiâ—â— of Prelates examined and â—â—swered page 139 I. Idolatry a most hainous sin page â—6 â—7 â—â— The Jews daily offerring the Lamb morning and evening not neglected in the straitness of their
Siege page 164 Gods Judgments parallel to mens sins page â—â—6 K. Kings Persons are saâ—â—ed page â—â— 31 The Kings manifold Obligations to preserve and protect the Clergy 1. As the King is a moral Man page 1â—8 2. As he is the Supreâ—m Magistrate page â—69 3. As he is a Christian page 169 4. By his particular Oath thrice for the Clergy page 170 Knox against Sacriledg page â—10 L. Church-Lands belong to the Clergy by as good right as any page 46 107 Lands have been both lawfully purchased and piously given by Church-men for perpetuity to the Church page 107 109 Right Reason is the soul of the Law page 182 Penance in Leut. page 1 The analogy of the Levitical Priesthood with the Evangelical Ministry for the Substance in respect of the sacred Offices page 52 64 Luthers full Testimony against Sacriledge page 202 Legislative power discussed and determined page 177 c. M. Magna Charta a fundamental Law for the Rights of the Church page 46 The sacrilegious Malefactor page 6 Malignancy a new found Crime page 135 Manus Mortua why so called page 114 b Israels ten Mutinies page 75 Ministers of God not the Peoples Servants page 190 N. Necessity of State no plea at all for Sacriledge page 160 The Determination of K Charles the First upon the Case page 161 Gods Nethinims inviolable page 133 O. Unlawful Oaths ill taken worse kept 227 Obduration in Rebellion a shrewd omen of fatal destruction page 157 Offerings asserted by the law of Nature page 63 King Davids offerings voluntary yet no will-worship page 61 Voluntary oblations accepted under the Gospel page 91 P. The Parliament 25. Edw. 1. disclaims the Power of disposing the Estates of the Clergy page 185 The Long Parliament of 1640. annulled by the Loâ—al Parliament of page 166â— â—77 Plato's Testimony against Sacriledge page 128 Popery what properly page 26 Prescription no plea against God or the Church page 80 81 Two Religious pretences for Sacriledge namely Zeal 1. Against Idolatry page 116 2. Against an idle Ministry page 123 For a powerful Ministry page 129 Four politick Pretences page 1â—0 1. Of Justice upon Delinquents page 131 135 2. Of publick peace page 148 Eight wayes besides opened to an honest Peace without Sacriledge page 155 3. A third pretence of a State-Necessity to rob the Church page 158 The determination of King Charles the I. upon this Case 161 4. The fourth pretence of a Legislative Power page 177 to 187 Poor true and poor false page 35 Prelates vindicated from Sacriledge page 35 The Priests person is sacred page 32 The dissolution of Priors aliens page 119 b Publick daily Prayers now the Christians Juge Sacrificium or continual Sacrifice page 218 Preaching what ibid. R. Reason of State no Rule of Faith or Life page 131 224 Rebellion of all sins guilty of self-damnation page 31 Rebellion and Sacriledge inseparable twins page 22 25 26 174 The Rebels penal prosperity 229 The Recapitulation of the whole Book page 112 Religion what page 217 National Restitution the only National Remedy page 83 The Nations obligation to it page 84 Gods Benediction upon Restitution page 85 Gods malediction for want of Restitution page 86 Memorable examples of Restitution to the Church page 209 Sacriledge about the Revenues of the Church what and what not page 35 Outward Reverence no superstition page 34 67 The ground of it excellent ibid. The Right of the Church is the Right of God page 137 S. Sacriledge is a sin under the Gospel as much nay more then under the Law page 213 Proved so by way of Syllogisme page 212 The description of it page 12 131 A complication of sins page 21 85 Condemned by all Laws page 195 The Etymology of Sacriledge page 13 The hainous Nature thereof page 18 19 The kindes of it page 27 111 The plague of Nations page 3 4 Three roots of it page 11 Sacriledge excepted out of the Act of Indemnity page 176 Sacriledge is a great Snare and how page 188 Jacobs multiplied Snares till he performed his Vow page 193 Plagued with sudden Death page 99 Scripture-Sacriledge what page 40 41 3. Wayes thereof and 3. Antidotes against it page 42 Sin when National page 82 Stipendiaries usually popular page 56 T. Dissolution of the Templars and the excellent Statute about it page 118 119 Temporalties of Prelates asserted and vindicated page 13â— Wickliffe's positions about the same examined and answered page 144 Hereticks Recusers of the Old Testament page 87 Testaments not to be disanulled page 66 Testimonies against Sacriledge page 198 Theft may be of things unmoveable page 111 112 Tithes a moral Debt page 62 Turk's Respect to Christian Priests page 49 V. Who are now under the Gospel Gods Vice-gerents to accept our Offerings page 97 103 The nature and lawfulness of Vows under the Gospel page 63 94 Vows of two sorts page 114 All to be paid page 192 Uniformity of Divine Servicâ— most necessary page 126 The Universities in danger by Sacriledge page 222 Usufructuary what page 44 W. Wickliffe's Articles wrested against our Prelates examined and answered page 137 His History page 143 The will of the Dead inviolable page 66 134 FINIS