or roote them out And this S. Paul had respect vnto when he said I would to God they were cut off that trouble you and where bee would haue the incestuous Corinthian committed to Sathan 3. The last was that which the Iewes call Sammatha or Sammatizatio of Shamam that signifies desolare ad stuporem vastare atta tu q. d. let such a curse fall vpon thee as is vltima execratio or maledictio the vttermost execration or accursednesse Or as some thinke of shem for hashem which is the name of God and atha venit or to come to expresse the euerlasting curse â—il the comming of the Lord which Paul elswhere alludeth to This word we finde in Ieremie his lamentations Sion is laid desolate which lamentable estate of the Church in that booke is fully deplored Ier. 12. 11. This S. Paul as I said before did expresse in that imprecation or denuntiation of a most zealous heart Who so loues not that is hateth and persecuteth the Lord Iesus let him be anathema maranatha euerlastingly accursed q. d. till the comming of the Lord to iudgement and a day after And these were the Church censures Now are we to examine for as much as it is vndeniable but this of Ananias is such which of all these three it is that is here inflicted First of a certaine not the first for that was but a depriuation of the spirituall estate for a time concerning the companie and comforts of the Church with condition annexed of reconciliation and repentance now this here was corporall as well as spirituall and eternall with a barre against repentance therefore not that Secondly nor the second which as some thinke either was not corporall such as the ciuill sword could inflict but a permission or emancipation onelie to the power and regiment of Satan who hath his kingdom out of the Church to whoÌ„ such sinners were deliuered ouer to the end that the flesh that is the old man might be mortified and the new renewed or as Augustine speaketh vt moriatur error viuat homo that the sinne might be killed and the sinner saued Or if a corporall also as we must confesse of Achan the Cananites and other vpon whom that curse was corporally executed on earth vpon their bodies which was pronounced and enacted in heauen yet but corporall hauing time and meanes of grace offered for repentance Therefore it must be the last partaking of both but exceeding both so far as extreame doth goe beyond partiall and eternall sutmounts temporall 1. a temporall and extemporall cutting off the bodie from the grace of life and a spirituall and eternall cutting off the soule from the life of grace the sorest seuerest extreamest vengeance that can be afflicted on a man in this world forsaking and forsaken of God A sudden and vnrepentant dissolution of bodie and soule a present and immediate manumission from God and grace to the place and torments of the damned a iust guerdon for him that gaue himselfe ouer to the full sway of the Prince of death to mocke that God of heauen defeat his spouse on earth blaspheme the spirit of sanctification I tremble to thinke that any child of man specially a child of the Church an auditor of the Apostles a professor of Christ a benefactor of the Church no apparant professed enemy or atheist or persecutor or apostata should be liable to so execrable a sentence to be excommunicated anathematized sammatized for grudging a few pence or pownds to God and his Church But leauing secret iudgements vnto God wee must needs acknowledge that God seeth not as man seeth for that which mans eie could not perceiue the eies of God that peirce the heart did see in his carriage a malâ—tio us and obstinate a presumptuous and desperate hypocriticall persecutor and enuious Apostata the essentiall marks of a certaine reprobate and forlorne sinner If any yet beside the exigence of the fault will needes require more reason for so great seueritie for their further satisfaction may lift off their eies from looking vpon S. Peter as if he either of his owne power or his priuate humour had slaine the partie and remember it was the holy spirit that in defect of temporall magistracie not yet Christian did moderate the whole matter whose wisedome so far as we either may or can looke into might commend these reasons 1. the Church was to be kept in awe and feare of God 2. as in a newe established polity or gouernement as there must bee examples of reward for the righteous so also of punishments for delinquents 3. that vnder the colour of religion and new conuersion one should not defeat or defraud another 4. it was requisite that the authoritie of the Church should be wrought among them without and they prepared by such exemplarie iustice to like and loue her gouernement These and such like which Calvin and expositors doe alleadge may serue to stoppe any curious mouth that will haue God to giue account of his iudgements Here then are we taught first of all of the wonderfull effect and supereminent power of the word of God in the mouth of his holy Apostles and faithfull ministers not onely and alwaies seruing in cases of edification but sometimes also for destruction albeit that very destruction also of his enemies tends to the edification of his children And these are those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 works of power mentioned by the Apostle and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sword of the spirit to hack and hewe the vngodly in peices and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 weapons not carnall but mightie in operation and as Dauid cherev pipijoth two mouthed or edged sword with this did Moses strike Corah and his complices God himselfe Nadab and Abihu Er and Onan Iezabel and Athalia Iosua Achan and them of Canaan Elizeus the 42. children and this did Peter drawe out here against Ananias and Sapphira Whereby we see the Church censures are no bruta fulmina little childrens pot-guns beadles and boltles artilleries but tearing and roaring Cannons nor left to the swaying of Peter alone much lesse to that man of Rome to brandish not so much against sinnes as Soueraignes but left in trust to all the true Ministers of the Gospel Neither is it without neede that there should be such rods and swords in the Church of God for such as are so audaciously insolent bad by selfe impietie but much worse by our impunitie To the end therfore that the wicked may be corrected the exorbitant â—euoked the timerous affrighted the sound secured and the iudgements of God that hang ouer our heads and the land auerted let Moses and Aaron the Cherubios of the Lord that are set to keepe the way to the forbidden tree waue their fierie blade against all blasphemous disturbers pertinacious resisters impious atheists perfidious heretikes wayward schismatikes erroneous idolaters and incroaching sacrilegers It is true we haue a
and laid downe the prices at the Apostles feete and distribution was made according as euery one did need So did other so did Ioses a Leuite and for that cause was happily of the Apostles surnamed Barnabas or the sonne of consolation for comforting the hearts of the Church who as yet were but barely prouided for persecution being feared without and penurie felt within her doores But as he and other did beautifie the religion with their deuotion so there want not that blemish the same with their deep dissimulation Therefore S. Luke to illustrate the fact of the one opposeth ex diametro the fault of the other as Chrysostome obserueth to the ende the dissimulation of Ananias may giue a lustre to the sinceritie of Ioses and shewe the world that there is a consolation in Christ a comfort of loue a fellowship of the Spirit and bowels of mercie though profane men neither praise it nor practise it This the occasion Now here is set downe a wicked combination of a man and his wife in a matter of Dedication by themselues done to God and his Church how to delude and frustrate both which counterfeit carriage the great and holy Apostle doth both descrie and discouer first to their conuiction secondly to their confusion Where first we may reade the sinne and then the censure The sinne is Sacriledge that is compilation or cousenage of things now consecrated to God and holy vses The censure is Excommunication or distriction of the spiritual sword and that in the heauiest of all heauie curses The sinne is set downe first barely by Luke by way of historicall narration the censure inflicted by Peter by Apostolicall iurisdiction the historie is couched in the two first verses and comprise the efficients materiall and formall causes Ananias and his wife sold a possession and kept backe part of the price and brought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a certaine quillet or quidditie a thing of nothing in comparison of the maine a niggardly share whereas they had promised the whole as Barnabas had done before and they made shewe to imitate The censure followes first in reprehension secondly in castigation The reproofe containes 1. an accusation v. 3. 2. a confutation The accusation is in the appellation of the offender Ananias and enumeration of the parts of the offence which are three 1. The author by whose suggestion Why hath Sathan filled thine heart where is also touched part of the forme of the offence 2. The obiect against whom the sinne was committed including also the other part of the forme That thou shouldst lie to the holy Ghost 3. The subiect wherein the matter of the sinne consisted And keep backe part of the price of the possession The Confutation followes and that is of three secret obiections answerable to the heads of the accusation but inuerting the order as the manner of Scripture is to doe to the last first Obiect 1. A man may doe with his owne what he will but this was mine ergo To this the Apostle answereth by letting passe the maior as beeing impertinent and denying the minor with distinguishing vpon the time first for time of possession granting it when it remained vnsold remained it not to thee namely the land secondly and for time of alienation yeelding it and when it was sold was it not in thine owne power namely the price thirdly but for time of dedication denying it strongly by interrogation and passing it ouer by a crypsis of method as if all law and logicke all rule and reason did disavow it for thou hadst no more right to the monie now giuen then to the land now sold Obiect 2. As to the author he might say if it were an offence yet was it not mine but Satans as your selfe auouch To this he answers with a non sequitur though Sathans by temptation yet yours also by approbation he might haue as one noteth suadendi astuâ—iam not cogendi potentiam he might suggest hee could not enforce he was the founder the woer the father thy heart was the worker the spouse the mother why hast thou conceiued this thing in thy heart Obiect 3. Well then though a fault and in some sort my fault also yet no such great fault as needed so sharpe and publike reproofe at the worst being but to a few simple men that could challenge nothing of a free donation and might haue receiued other satisfaction Answ Yes your sinne is not so much to men who are but the Assignes to whom the benefit of your donation should haue acrued as vnto God who is the donor who by such fraud is frustrated and by your dodging dishonoured not onely the father that foundeth his Church in his Sonne and the Sonne that collecteth it by his Spirit but the holy Spirit that sequestreth it by his power sanctifieth it with his grace beautifieth it with his gifts combineth it with his loue preserueth it by his prouidence and honoureth it with his truth Thou hast not lied vnto man but vnto God euen God the holy Ghost This is the reprehension the Castigation follows when Ananias found himselfe first thus deprehended in the darkenesse of his owne deceit like the fish Sepia that misteth her selfe in her owne mud and reprehended for the blacknesse of his sinne by the wisedome of the Spirit and peircing words of the Apostle and lastly confuted in the simple Labyrinth of his owne Logicke it remaines that hee is confounded by the inward remorse of his couetous conscience and as at the hearing of his owne funerall sermon falls downe dead in the place by the fulmination of the fearfullest anathema anathema maran-atha a temporall consternation of the bodie cut off from the grace of life and eternall malediction of the soule depriued of the life of grace an exemplarie vengeance to other a fearfull iudgement to himselfe by a sad a sudden and vnrepentant death not so much in forme of words as in the effect of deeds When Ananias heard these words he fell downe and gaue vp the ghost Lastly the vse of this curse annexed what effect it should and did produce to other trepidation and feare illustrated by the extent or quantitie both of the affection and the subiect or auditors Great feare came vpon all them that heard these things And thus much for the Context and analysis or logicall resolution CHAP. II. The Theologicall tractation First of his sinne in generall how great it was and what COncerning his sinne that it should be proportionate to his punishment all do not agree the most auouch that it was Sacriledge none say it was lesse but some say more as namely that sinne vnto death the sinne against the holy Ghost I thinke it was both First that his sinne was Sacriledge it is too apparent to be gainesaid as I am of opinion although the learned Fulke vpon the Rhemish notes seemeth to denie it as I take in heate of dispute For the detaining or detracting
that he heard the mice cry for this bloodie Paganisme God sent such armies of rats and mice vpon him that he built a tower in the midst of the Rhine to saue himselfe from them but all would not serue for mightie shoals of them tooke the water and destroied him most miserably where he trusted for securitie So to say no more Ananias meddles with the execrable thing as Achan had done before and is thereby himselfe made execrable and this is that retaliation which Moses mentioneth an eie for an eie and a tooth for a tooth I end this point with a speach of Augustine fitting both Ananias and vs Dum altenum rapis à diabolo raperis dum alienum detines à diabolo detineris retines aurum perdis animam iniustum lucrum sed iustum damnum lucrum in arca sed damnum in conscientia pereat ergo mundâ— lucrum per quod fit animae tuae damnum While thou preiest vpon another the deuill preieth vpon thee and while thou withholdest that which pertaineth to another he lâ—ieth hold vpon thee hee takes thy soule while thou takest away thy neighbours siluer thy lucre is vniust but thy losse is most iust the lucre is in thy cofer but thy losse in thy conscience defie therefore such gaine of this world whereby thou loosest thy soule in the other And so I come more particularly to note the seueritie of God against sacriledge for in the extermination of these two we are plainely giuen to vnderstand what guerdon they are euer to expect that violate the sacred reuenues of God a feareful expectation of extreamest vengeance both of bodie and soule a consideration able to strike vs through with horrour and amazement if our hearts were not harder then the neather mill-stone If any shall doubt of that I say and mocke at my words as speaking for our owne particular and pleading for our owne profit let him turne backe a few leaues and consider the true reasons hereof both in the second chapter where in generall we did explicate his sin and in the fourth chap. where in particular we handled the members and branches of his sacriledge Wherefore I proceede and say that there was neuer any rob-God that imbarked themselues in this impietie but he ran a course of endles infamie and vtmost extreamitie To beginne with the verie beginning Caine the Generall of this damned crewe if his world of miserie was not solie for this yet I dare avouch it was from this that he liued a proiected runnagate and died a reiected reprobate of whom the fathers obserue this that hee offended if not in the quantitie of his oblation yet in the qualitie thereof declaring by the coursnesse of that hee offered the abiectnes of his esteeme of him to whom he offered the refuse of his crop and linings of his corne Which impietie of his vnto his Creator was first punished with vnnaturall inhumanitie to his brother and that againe with obdurate impenitencie vnto God till altogether they brewed him a loathsome extraction of a hatefull life and a desperate procuration of a cursed death The fact of Achan is so obseruantly set downe that I may well passe it in the Catalogue of these Catiues and see some other The sinne of Hophni and Phineas consisteth of triplicities 1. it was sacriledge 2. heynous sacriledge 3. blasphemous sacriledge 1. Sacriledge for not contented with the priests portions they vsurped also vpon the Lords part which was to be burnt to him in sacrifice 2. Heynous for the sinne of the young men is said to haue bin great before the Lord. 3. Blasphemous they were not onely rake-hellish extortioners but abominable miscreants causing the sacrifices of the Lord to be abhorred Such was their sinne Their punishment also had triplicities 1. Fearfull comminations there came a man of God to expostulate with Elie and to denunciate his cruel iudgement 2. Dismall exterminations the Arke taken of the vncircumcised the sonnes slaine in battel in their priestly pontificals the father breaks his necke at the news the wife dies in abortiue deliuerance the Priesthood remooued to an other familie and their issue depriued both of honour and honest meanes of life 3. Odious commemorations in after ages to deterre both Priests and people from their predecessors prophanenesse God alludes to them Goe to my place at Silo and see what I did to it for the wickednesse of my people Israel and because you haue done the same workes I will doe to this house as I did to Silo and cast you out of my sight as I cast them Note how extirpation still is the reward of Sacriledge I passe ouer Saul as I did Achan the same sinne the deuoted thing the like cutting off if not of life present yet of Gods fauour which is true life by vtter dereliction and finall extirpation of life and linage when God sawe time Nebuchadnezar because when the Lord was angry with his owne people and had made him the rod of his wrath he went beyond his commission defiling himselfe with sacred compilations was metamorphosed for a time as Sedulius hath described him Nam quod ab humana vecors pietate recessit Agrestes pecorum consors fuit ille per herbas Aulica depasto mutans conuiuia faeno Pronus ab amne bibit septenaque tempora lustrans Omnibus hirsutus syluis montibus errans with which punishment God seemed contented for his time but when God came againe in visitation and found his grand-child carowzing and profaning those verie bowles and sacred vtensils in the midst of his courtiers and concubines and breaking iests vpon Cyrus and his army that then had surrounded his citie with a strait siege in all securitie and confidence and scoffing among at the feeblenesse of the Iewes God that could not keepe that much and massie plate he saw his fate pourtraied before his face vpon the wall how that he was numbred ballanced and reiected which that instant was accomplished his city surprised his life bereaued his Empire that had been aboue a thousand yeeres intailed to his auncestors in a moment translated not to another family onely but to an other countrie Now let them that intaile their sacriledge vnto their posteritie as they doe their substance remarkablely consider but this example and see if such prescription may preuaile any more with God then to hasten and accelerate their fathers iudgements on them and theirs for euer I hasten to Iudas who least hee should lack any damned sinne was also a Sacrileger for saith the Gospel he was a theefe and kept the bagge which Saint Augustine doth thus illustrate Iudas fur sacrilegus non qualiscunque fur sed fur loculorum sed dominicorum loculorum sed diuinorum Iudas was a sacrilegious theefe no common theefe I tell you but a theefe that stole monie nor common monie but his masters monie euen Gods monie Well then did he improoue it he bought
and they that saw day at a little hole haue said more then enough which yet was nothing to that which followed S. Hierome in his 2. Epist ad Nepotianum saith thus Nonnulli sunt ditiores monachi quam fuerant saeculares clerici possident opes sub Christo paupere quas locuplete diabolo non habuerant c. Bern. ad Cler. in Synod Remmensi How should not men follow the vanities and fooleries of this world be proud and haughtie idle and apish when they see such pride and surquedry in the very Church-men De patrimonio crucis Christi non paratis codices in ecclesijs sedpascitis pellices in thalamis with the patrimonie of the crosse of Christ you doe not purchase books in the Church but pamper baggages in your chambers Hence is your brauerie of curtezans gesture of stage plaiers apparell like Princes plus nitent calcaria quà m altaria your spurres shine brighter then your altars hence are your tables so neat your presses so full so goes on hoc non est ornare sponsam sed spoliare instituere sedprostituere pascere gregem sed mactare this is not to adorne the spouse but to vndo her to instruct her with holy but infect her with whoorish conditions nor to feed the flocke but to kill it More did that good man speake to Eugenius himselfe of their pompe and pride to Gulielmus Abbas of their luxurious and lauish diet and not onely he but other also Sanctus ager scurris venerabilis ara Cynedis Seruit honorate divum Ganymedibus aedes but I leaue this kennell 2. To the ende the spring might neuer be drie that fed their prodigalitie they deuised the gulfe of incorporations and cesternes of additions driuing away the oxen that laboured and eating vp the while their fodder by keeping the fattest both tithes and glebe in their owne hands and staruing vp the poore masse-priests and impouerishing the Churches to maintaine but fowre or fiue where so many decads should be maintained By which deuise the silly staruelings to get some husks to stanch their hungry stomachs taught obseruation of daies pompaticall funerals costly commemorations to build Churches set vp chappels erect altars keep wakes mumble masses say collects make offrings heare confessions purchase redemptions and a number more of like superstitions for liue they must and meanes they had none left but such as they could raise by making themselues necessarie As for their compilations where shall I begin or where shall I make an ende Boniface the 7. beeing driuen out of Rome for his symoniacall intrusion robbed S. Peters of all the wealth and iewels it had and went to Constantinople where so soon as he could stampe his purchase a mightie masse he returnes to Rome and bribes the cheife men oppresses his opposites and puts out the eies of Iohn the Decan Card. and recouers his chaire againe Behold saith Platina a high Priest a holy father a Vicar of Christ robs the holy Church and he that should haue punished other sacrilegers is himselfe the greatest Gregorie the 7. to appease the Romanes for setting vp Rodulfus against Henry the fourth diuided among them 100000. pound in gold which he had corraded out of diuerse Churches Clemens the 6. residing at Auinion gaue leaue to them that kept Naples against the Duke of Aniou to sell the Church plate to pay the souldiers Vrbanus the 6. to assist Charles King of Hungarie whom he had crowned King of Sicil robbed all the Churches of Rome of their Chalices images and mettall to turne into monie for the armie For the expedition of Charles 5. against the Turke it was graunted in the Conclaue at Rome that all the Clergie should pay fiue tenths whereby many religious houses were hardly driuen many beneficed men forsooke their liuings many Churches sold their plate and many Colledges pawned their lands yet went the L. Cardinals free that had many fat benefices as those that were to support the glorie of the sea of Rome What heapes what masses of money haue gone to the Popes chamber by Annales vacations preuentions commendations dispensations for age for order for irregularitie for deformitie Expectatiue graces deuolutions future vacations priuiledges exemptions not to visit at all or to visit by proxie transactions permutations mandates expeditions creations new foundations immutations permutations reductions of religious into secular reductions of secular into religious procurations perceptions of profits in absence legittimations non obstantes indulgences reuocations restitutions tollerations for keeping concubines persolutions for not keeping concubines rescripts and a thousand other Chimeraes of names without moment of nature and all to be meere nets to catch money deuised in the kitchin Which I would haue all those well to consider which thinke all the geese of Rome to be swans and whatsoeuer beares the Popes stamp to be perfit siluer perswading vs backe againe to the Babylonian bondage not knowing God wot what they desire not a Saul but a Sisera with nine hundred chariots of iron to bruise and crush both bodie and soule in sunder 4. Lastly the appropriating the Tithes and church reuennews to vpstart orders of superstitious or more truely sacrilegious hypocrites vntill all was taken away from the true owners and a miserable pittance left to such as performed diuine seruice hardly able to hold life and soule together as if all religion had beene wearie of the Church and taken vp her lodging in a cloister as my learned and worthie Master hath shewed in his view of both lawes most learnedly For at what time that learning was almost cleane extinguished partly by the inundation of barbarous Colonies who plucked downe churches faster then euer their fathers built them partly by the distraction of vpstart heresies amazing the eies of most men with the flourish of formall hypocrisie then came Friar Benedict the founder of regulars with his discontented deuotion like a new Saint lately dropt out of heauen enuying himselfe and his followers not onely the delights of life but the necessaries of meate drinke apparell proprietie of any thing and flie-blow'd the world with the heards of hornets Praemonstratensis Cluniacenses Templariās Hospitallers Cystertians Ioannites and the rest So that all the world especially Popes and Princes were wholly rauished with the wonderment of their singularitie and vied each with other who should most demerit their deuotions some enriching them with lands other enfranchizing them with priuiledges all zealing them to the vttermost of their power Among many other ill aduised prerogatiues there were two superlatiues very pernicious to the Church of God 1. The appropriation of presentatiue benefices 2. The exemptions of Abbey lands from paying tythes I will but touch the first When that hedge of appropriating was once by these wild boars broke downe then all the beasts of the forrest ranne thorough and made it wider Then Charles Martell father to King Pepin of Fraunce vnder
decrees of the first Popes and Statutes of Emperors were all too little to curbe their couetousnes or restraine the harpies from deuouring all while the holy and heauenly minded Clergie were loth to intangle themselues with secular incumbrances or giuing ouer their bookes follow worldly profits Whereupon to salue this sore it was decreed in the Councill Melevitanum that a petition should be drawn and presented to the Emperours Arcadius and Honorius that they would be pleased to appoint the Church certen delegates or Aduocates to defend their rights the like was done at other times who at the first did not bestow the liuings but onely defend their lands And founders of new erections reserued no other power in themselues but the bare Aduocation and presentment to the place It were too long and intricate to follow the mutations of the times while sometime the Donors sometime the Donees sometime the Patrons and lastly the Bishops did manage all the busines that way till in the ende deuotion had surrendered all right into the hands of new erections out of their zeale vnto the regular order of Friers and so when the religious houses were put downe these went also with the other lands into the fowlers net and became euery mans purchase as I said before Now what affinitie haue the moderne with the former patrons if these be our defenders who shall defend vs from our verie defenders the Abuse is euident I need not open it the Presentor and presentee haue changed offices the scholler must present the patron with Church angels or he shall not bee presented to be an angel of the Church qui primi debent esse ad subsidium primi sunt ad sacrilegium her prime succours are become her principall suckers and cheifest pillars the cheifest powlers Our song of Venite exultemus is turned to super flumina Babylonis Simon Magus hath succeeded Simon Peter the buyers and sellers whom Christ whipped out of the temple are let in againe at the posterne doore Which sinne although in proprietie of speach it notes but the buyer yet now the whole transaction of that market is commonly so called because Simon Magus profered monie not for any infusion of grace vpon himselfe but for the multiplication of his coine to the best improouement as diuines haue noted And herein the Canonists haue obserued many enormities as Atheisme idolatrie theft and murder 1. For making the Church non domum oratioonis sed negotiationis not a house of prayer but a hole for prey 2. For turning God into gold and making not godlines their gaine but ganie their godlines 3. For robbing their parishes of the bread of life 4. Staruing the incumbent with vnrecouerable penurie of bodie and periurie of soule and the whole Parrish with him both of bodily releefe and Ghostly life So that we may renew the old rime of such kind of Clearks that was once of the Pope in euerie mans mouth Tales regunt Petri nauem ligandi potentiam Tales gerunt Petri clauem Hi nos docent sed indocti indicat scientiam Hi nos ducent nox nocti Such men S. Peters shippe doe steare and power to bind and lose Such men S. Peters keyes doe beare These teach vs and themselues lacke light her knowledge doth disclose These lead vs and so night to night And therfore as I said while ere the Church is little beholden to such patrons for these resemble the beutiful gate of the Temple or faire porches of the poole of Bethesda where lie a great number of Lazars expecting the waters next motion the Churches next promotion wherein they haue faire occasion to demerite both of God and men for God who sees not how much he might be glorified if that care were taken in the choise of a worthy preacher that ought to be and as for men it is equally apparant what profit would redound to the world for instruction and edification But in my poore vnderstanding in the neglect of this so pious seruice to God and to his Church as they are faultie and defectiue to both them so no way more preiudicious then to themselues not onelie in the account that they shall one day giue of that stewardship but in depriuing themselues in the meane time of a learned friend a godly associate and a ghostly aduocate for who is so fit to conuerse familiarly with a gentle or noble man then such a minister who both for his honest birth and liberall breeding sweete learning and wise counselling may be both an adiuvant for his soules health as an ornament to his worldly state For if it be true that scientia be vitae sol and amicitia vitae sal knowledge the light and freindship the delight of this life how darke and vnsauorie must his life needes be that depriues himselfe in the place where he doth or should liue of a learned counsellour and friendly comforter But how euer their owne occasions may be to be called to higher places in their owne persons yet euery noble minded Moses should labour to remooue this stone which the enuyous Madianites haue rowled vpon the wells mouth that the Lords flockes may be seasonably watered least that both for the present the world be pestered with idol-shepheards that haue eies and see not eares and heare not tongues and speake not of which the Prophet speaketh They that make them are like vnto them and in the next age the world be ouergrowne with barbarousnes rousnes to the vtter preiudice both of Church and commonwealth All which as me seemes were not hard to be helped if either the oath of Simonie were equally tendered to Patron and petitioner or all presentations to Churches were in the hands of Colledges and Vniuersities where no such corruption for the multitude of the suffrages were to be feared Whereupon further conueniences would likewise accrew both the making roome for younger schollers and ridding the springs of old students which lie there in great number some 20 30 40. yeares to their own greife and the Churches losse but to vpbraid the world of the times iniquitie and learnings miserie And so much concerning the abuses The second part of the Appli cation which is Instructiue CHAP. I. Of the seuerall vses of this doctrine AS they that haue been present at some dolefull tragedie or solemne exequie of some of their dearest friends executed for causes criminall especially if they themselues haue been any way accessarie to the same cannot but be much affected both sleeping affrighted with melancholie visions and waking astarted with dumpish passions which leaue the impressions of verie sad remembrance long time after in their minds so we that here haue had not the dismall storie related but the deadly spectacle of Ananias and Sapphiraes suffering as if it were euen acted before our eies neere friends of ours I am assured associats and copartners in wicked sacriledge if we be not void of all humanitie it must of
remediles not because there is no balme in Gilead or physitian there but for that when they would haue healed Babylon she would not be healed yet I must speake it if not ad correctionem yet at least ad conuictionem we shall shortly bring things to that passe as sometimes Tully spake of the commonwealth not to make it the question qualem ecclesiam sumus habituri sed an habituri sumus vllam not what Church we shall haue but whether we shall haue a Church or no nec iam de terminis sed de totapossessione erit contentio the sute will not be about the land-marks but the very lands We are alreadie come to Fimbrias quarrell to bite and whine to stab and complaine that the dagger went in but halfe way we are driuen to craue some small pittances of our owne possessions and cannot bee heard or if we be we are braued with bountie and vpbraided with benefits they may indeed bee benefitia but as Tullie calls them latronum theeues benefits to whom we are therfore beholden that they do not kill vs when they rob vs. Most of the lands and mannors of old erection are beg'd for fooles a fewe Prelacies remaine though not vnpluckt yet not wholly deuoured some dignities and Ecclesiastical liuings haue escaped the common wracke yet narrowly lookt into and vigilantly viewed to be scored vp for the next seazure men beeing ouer-busie and officious to light candles and sweepe corners as a reuerend Prelate not long since complained not to finde and restore the lost 3. pence but to search and seeke the left pennie But let them beware it prooue not too hotte for their handling like the monie of Delphos or the gold of Tholose which so many as touched came to disaster destinies Gods part hath euer been like Gods arke which so long as it was in the hands of vncircumcised Philistims neuer left plaguing them with sundrie vengeances till the heifers brought it home againe to the true possessours like Eagles feathers that consume and canker all other among whom they are mingled like the flesh of the altar wherein a coale was couched which burnt the neast of the bird that ceazt it Pauca male parta multa bene comparata perdiderunt saith one a few goods euill got haue wasted a great deale that hath been honestly come by Nolo quis habeat contra Deum ne non habeat Deum saith another some hauing hath the deuill and all Before the Vniuersall deuastation of the holy cittie an Angel was heard many daies together to vtâ—er these words as Iosephus a Priest hath left recorded Migremus hinc migremus hinc Let vs away let vs away as if God and all his holy Angels would take their leaue when sacrilegers are suffered to harbour in the Temple Strange hath bin the horror wherein such people haue been had among the heathen and fearefull torments haue been deuised for them as propination of Ophiusa luxation of the bodie precipitation from the rocke inhumation of the corpse intestation of the goods detestation of the memorie anathematization of the partie among vs imprecation and execration against bodie and soule as thus If any shall take away from the holy Church of God her proper inheritance or such hereditaments as by my will and Testament I here bequeath which I hope no man wileuer attempt to do let his account be without mercie at the dreadfull day of iudgement when he shall come to receiue his doome at the hands of the Iudge of heauen and earth to whom I giue and dedicate the same Whose heart doth not tremble to consider such praiers wherefore let men be well assured that the pulling downe of Ierusalem will cost deerer then did the rebuilding of Iericho whose foundation Hiel laid in the death of his elder sonne and set vp the gates in the blood of his younger Turno tempus erit cum magno optauerit emptum Intactum Pallanta It had wont to be song mons domini mons pinguis the mountaine of the Lord was fat and cruddie but now her proud flesh hath been greatly taken downe like Pharaos fat kine in the last leane yeeres that it is not seen that euer she had bin so foggy another saies Mons Sion mons sanctus mount Sion is most sacred the Church as it is most venerable so it should be most inuiolable and is now the plucking downe the seruice of God the best seruice wee can doe to God To loue the nation and build a Synogogue was once both thought and pleaded as a point of highest merit and doth all desert now stand in demolishing the same Our Fathers build not Synagogas but Basilicas no simple oratories but sumptuous pallaces and indowed them with plentifull patrimonies as depositapietatis domicilia diuinitatis the earnests of their pietie and houses of the diuinitie and shall we so far degenerate from diuinity pietie and humanitie also as to chalke vpon our Churh doore quo vitius eò melius a barne or a stable a houell or hogstie will serue the turne as well Oh far be it from Christians to thinke it from religious to doe it the blindest Sauadge in the desolatest Islands that serues his Zemes the deuill for God is not so impious The Athenians could not endure to heare Phideas any further when being asked what was the best matter to make Mineruaes statue he said Iuoâ—ie as being of longer continuance and lesser cost then any thing els It sauoured but of Atheisme which Leonides Alexanders master had wont to admonish him of that he should not be so profuse in sacrificing frankincense vnto his gods for it is noted he was euer so magnificent that way that hee neuer burnt other wood in his temple nor offered lesse sacrifices then whole hecatombies oxen by the hundreds therefore he would tell him you shall do well sir to be more sparing of your hand till you haue conquered those countries where those precious odours grow Alexander was not well content with this lesson but held his peace till he had indeede vanquished the East and then he sent his master for a token many talents of those excellent perfumes with this saluation Because thou shalt know that I haue conquered the Arabians I haue sent thee some of the gummes for a token and that the greater quantitie because thou mayst leaue to be illiberall and a niggard to the gods It hath bin obserued by the verie heathen that neuer any Barbarian or of the commoÌ„ sort of Naturalists did denie God or his power or durst offer to their dieties any of those prodigions indignities that we read of onely the fine witted fellowes the Grecians whose learning indeed had made them mad were the first if not the onely that did it Euemerus Messenius Hippo Diagoras Epicurus Dionysius who plaid his prizes with all his Gods one after another shauing the golden berd away of God Aesculapius because forsooth his