THE CURSE OF SACRILEGE. PREACHED IN A PRIVATE PArish Church, the Sunday before Michaelmas last. TO WHICH ARE ANNEXED some certain Quaere's, which are pertinent to the unmasking of our homebred Church-Robbers. ACTS 4. 20. & 21. Whether it be right, in the sight of God, to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye; for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. D. E. B. AT OXFORD, Printed by JOHN LICHFIELD, Printer to that famous University. 1630. READER, I CALL heaven to witness, the prime mark I aim at by this my declamation against Sacrilege, is the flourishing estate of this Church and Commonwealth, and that by diversion of those judgements which by the perspective of the word, I descry approaching towards us, unless a non plus ultra be set to this still spreading Leprosy. Marvel not how I dare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thus freely speak in a point that trenches so fare on the utile and iucundum of thousands, and some of those too Grandees, For I am confident he is no Legitimate Priest, who is afraid to thwart any sin, though never so much backed and upheld by an arm of flesh; If sinners have brows of brass, God's Ambassadors must not have hearts captivated with fear & bashfulness. If the Laities hands be fraudulently busied in snatching and filching, our tongues must not be locked up from sharp and zealous reproving. It is the Character of a wise man to be free in Rebukes, when vice is bold and daring. For mine own part I desire no longer to live than I dare resolutly say with Gregory the great, In causa in qua Deo placere cupio, homines non formido, As I acknowledge mine own inabilities, so withal I remember that one of the Infantry may do acceptable service in the field, as well as one of the Cavagliery. An ordinary Pursivamt deliver the command of a King, as well as a Herald at Arms; That a musket may set a Cannon a roaring. That their pains was as requisite for the Temple who brought but stones and Cement, as theirs Who brought Gold and rich ornaments It is the Lords method to bring great things to pass by small beginnings, to ordain strength out of the mouths of babes and sucklings. And if like little despised David I shall not conquer this vast Goliath, yet if I shall put the worthies of Israel into Arms who are likely to win the day, I shall deem myself so happy, as to cry out with him, ite triumphales circum mea tempora lauri. Nor mayest thou deem this overmuch presumption, when as victory is never wholly ascribed to him who strikes the last stroke, but they who gave the first or second onset, may claim a leaf or two in the triumphant Laurel, And all be it I subscribe to him who says he sees no reason that so high a Princes as Divinity should be presented to the people in the sordid rags of the tongue; Nor that he who speaks from the father of languages should deliver his Embassage in an ill one, Yet have I in this my Sermon followed both the counsel of blessed Austin when he says, Lib. 4. de doctrina Christi cap. 10. qui docet, vitabit omnia verba quae non docent, He who teacheth must balk all those words which teach not. His reason is, quid enim prodest locutionis integritas, quam non sequitur intellectus audientis. As also that of learned Tostatus, tenetur Doctor illo modo docere, quo sentiat discipulis utile esse, A Teacher must use that method by which he may most profit those who are learners And that because (saith he) docere non est propter docentem, sed propter eos qui Comment: in 3. prolog. Hieron: Qu. 17. tom. 1 in Mattheum. docentur. Teaching hath for its object the hearers and not the speaker himself. If thou ask me why I crave not the protection of some powerful Moecenae, know first, that as it is held a folly to have recourse by our prayers to the Saints in heaven when the way lies open to Christ himself, so I take it to be needless to petition for man's countenancing of that which I am well assured the Almighty God accepts of as a sweet-smelling Sacrifice offered up from the Altar of a well-disposed heart. As also I am of opinion, I may, as fitly as ever Diogenes, light a Candle at noon day, and go up and down with a hominem quaero as being ignorant where to meet with a man, which some way or other falls not under the curse of my text, who either by enjoying impropriated tithes, or by pleading unjust Customs, makes not a sheep of this or that shepherd by withdrawing from him part of his annual accrueing fleece. Now for a farewell, let me entreat thee to weigh and examine these ensuing lines without prejudice, so shall I hope at length to reap some part of the large crop of my desire. Thine in the rough and craggy way to bliss E. B. MALACHI 3. 9 Ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have rob me even this whole Nation. IN this Chapter we meet with an Assize held, wherein God is the judge, the parties arraigned are the men of judah and Benjamin, the offence Sacrilege or theft of holy things, the witnesses both their own consciences though strumpet like, they deny it with their tongues, as also the too too visible neglect of the Lords service in the Priests and Levites, and that through want of maintenance, and lastly the sentence of condemnation which lies in the words of the text, Ye are cursed with a curse. In which sentence you may fitly take notice of these distinct parts; First of a Curse inflicted, maledicendo maledicti, ye are cursed with a curse. Secondly of the parties on whom the curse lights, and these lie in the vos, Ye, and these ye, are the tribe of judah. Thirdly of the reason of this curse, quia spoliastis me, for ye have rob me. Lastly of the universality of this sin, gens omnis ipsa, even the whole Nation, of each of which, in its order, as God shall enable and the time permit. Before we can well know the quid, what it is to be cursed, we must first find out the quis, who it is that curseth. Now both God and man are said to curse, Man curses when he prays or wishes for any ill to befall him with whom he is offended, whose curses have no necessitating power of causing and induceing the evil which he wishes and prays for, but may fall out to be but as Arrows shoot against a stone wall which sends them back upon him that shot them. As for God, he curses other wise, his curse is an actual inflicting of some smarting punishment the force of which none can resist, it hits and misses not, as soon as it is decreed, As God's benedicere his blessing of a man is no verbal thing, no contingent future act, but a present conferring of some good; So this maledicere, his cursing, is not a bare speaking ill of a man, though it sounds no more in grammar, but it is a true real inflicting of something ill to flesh and blood; So that here when the Prophet tells judath they are cursed, we are to understand some present calamity laid on them by the Lord, Namely, that of pale-cheeked and cleane-teetht famine, for so the vulgar renders the original, in penuriâ maledicti estis, ye are cursed with penury and want, The reason of which translation is because as blessing imports multiplication and increase, so malidiction implies diminution and defect, to which as a further Commentary, may be added, that curse which God laid on Cain, maledictus es a terrâ, thou art cursed from the earth, even by feeling a want of that fruit, which otherwise the earth would have yielded thee; Where, by the way, you may take notice of this Conclusion, A want of necessaries, especially those prime necessaries, food and raiment is a heavy curse. But I pass this, and come to the examining of the reason why God tells the men of judah, they are cursed, A man would think the present want under which the groaned, was sufficient to make them apprehensive of a Curse; why then doth God in direct words tell them they are cursed? Two reasons may be rendered of it, One is that thereby they might be put in mind that he had a hand in their misery, that it came not by uncertain chance and peradventure, but by his settled determinate will and pleasure, that it came so from him, as without him they had still swom in a full sea of plenty, without feeling the least ebb of scarcity: The other, and it is the chiefest, is, that they being infallibly assured they were punished by him for their Sacrilege, they might be stirred up so to hate that sin, as to abandon it for the time to come, yea so to detest it as to deal by every the least thought of committing it hereafter, what God commanded to be done to the Children of the Canaanites, even to destroy all not to spear an infant, the least tempting thought unto it. O altitudinem misericordiarum Dei, O the fathomless depth of the mercies of God to sinful man! what Rhetoric doth he use to call him back from sinning, that so he may cease from smiting? what inexpressable art doth he show to make him sensible of the danger he is in, how he is environed with troops of curses, Curses for his body curses for his estate, and curses (which is worst of all) for his soul, and those too, not to be shunned or avoided, by any other means (which can possibly fall, within the sphere of his activity) but only by a heart breaking and renting amendment. Why then are we the Ambassedors' of Christ jesus, men sent for the salvation of your souls, if you will practically hear and receive our errands, why (I say) are we blamed, why thought hardly of, yea blasphemed, as if we speak from private spirits, when we tell you, that as your sins be the same with judah's, so your punishments in all likelihood will be the same, That as you stik not to rob God an his Priests with them, and that with a like impudent brow of denial, so you are already, & will hereafter more be cursed, if you continue that your theft; For shame make not good that proverb Plain dealing is a jewel, but he that useth it shall die a beggar. I have often dealt plainly with you in many things which are amiss amongst you. but chief in that wherein you are grown old and rooted, I mean your theft by pleading unjust customs in satisfaction of tithes; O do not (I beseech you) make me to die a beggar, by gaining few or none of your souls, to the embracing and kissing of these fair Lady's Truth and Equity I say Beggar, For truly the winning of your hearts from that bewitching Siren of Sacrilege is the riches I most desire, full bags and large yard lands shall not so much glad me, as your growth in grace; Until the time than I shall gather from you, (who are now almost dead trees, the lively sweet fruits of amendment: be not displeased at my lopping & pruning of you by sharp and keen reproofs, as long as your mouths are accustomed to plead for customs, and your hearts secretly to say, O blessed Customs because fillers of our purses, so long expect: I follow the never-erring steps of my Maker in proclaiming judgements against you for so doing, saying unto you in the words of my text, ye are cursed with a curse, Even ye; which is my second circumstance. ye; who are a chosen generation, a Royal Priesthood, a peculiar people, from whence this observation will naturally arise. No outward temporal favour or prerogative can privilege or protect a Sinner from the punishing hand of God. you see the (ye) in the Text lie open to a curse, though they were of the noble stock of Abraham, though Lords of a land flowed with milk and honey, a land which was as the diamond in the ring, as the Apple in the eye, and as the heart in the body of the world, A land so full of goodly men, as if the clouds had showered them down; It is a true saying, Noxa caput sequitur, punishments are to sinners what shadows are to bodies, As there is no body without its shadow, so is there no unrepentant sinner without some punishment or other waiting on him. The Carthaginians hate to Rome was not so surely entailed on their Children, as whips are on transgressors; These are twins, on following the other at the heels, yea two main links in the sure chain of God's providence; The Poet could say, Rarò antecedentem scelestum Deservit pede paena claudo: Which I English in these words of God to Cain in the 4th of Genesis, if thou dost not well, sin lieth at the door; whereby sin is by the figure Metalepsin, meant the punishment of sin, Vbi peccatum ibi procella where sin is, there will be a punishing storm, a Sea of Iniquity will surely draw after it a hell of torments; Vengeance is a dog, which lies ever ready when leave shallbe given him, to take a Sinner by the throat, and though this dog be for a time muzzled and laid asleep, through Gods long suffering patience yet shall this Cerberus at length be let lose upon wilful sinners; Punishments are as bailiffs, or as Sergeants, ever ready at Gods command to seize on his Debtors, Sinners; And though some bad Livers do for many years together, through the long-long conniving mercy of God, escape their Arrests, yet questionless they will at length lay hands on them, yea at last there shall be no place of sanctuary, no privilege or protection to be obtained, God's revengeful hand will not be kept out of a castle of brass, the sea is not so deep but vengeance can fathom it, nor the world so wide but judgement can quickly surround and compass it. Quod differtur non aufertur, Delays are not exemptions, a Reprivall and a Pardon are two things, Gods merciful expectation is not a perpetual protection; Though God created the Angels with so great care and love, as to make them almost Gods, by the manifold perfections they were endued withal, yet when they sinned against him, there was nothing could save them from the heavy stroke of his wrath: Though God crowned had Adam with many rare blessings, as namely, First with a happy place of abode, Paradise. Secondly with a sweet Companion and ready helper Eve; thirdly with princely power and authority over all other Creatures, yet lo when he neglects his Maker's Command, nothing is of force to protect him from the curse of a mortem morieris, thou shalt die the death, what did ever either beauty, wit, or policy, or large and full barns, or the loud wide applause of the people, save a Sinner from the wihp of Divine justice; The unnaturally ambitious Absalon the treacherousse politic Achitophel, the ungrateful perplexed rich man, together with the vainglorious self Deifying Herod the king, can and will tell you, Nay; Tremble then, O thou man whosoever thou art, though a darling of fortune, if thy conscience once tells thee thou hast any sin lying hid in thy heart, as that Babilonish garment and wedg of gold did in achan's tent, tremble I say, for fear of some judgement which may speedily seize on thee for it. Know there is a hand-writing gone out against thee, as there was against Baltasar, to blot out which, thou hast no other way or means: then to shed the bitter sharp tears of a repentant heart; These indeed, though thy judgement were written in steel or brass, may eat and wear it out. Know thou hast several curses following, and dogging thee at the heels, from which thou canst not be delivered but by delivering thyself from thy sin, renounce that, and all curses shall forsake thee. As when the body dies, the shadow vanishes so when the cause is removed, the effect ceases. what did not Israells' sin take from her those titles of high honour, Ammi and Ruhama, my people, and the object of mercy, and left her instead thereof, only those of disgrace fear and horror, Loammi and Loruhama, not my people, and not worthy of a look of mercy; Did not sin christon her a new, as it were by these names of misery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 forsaken and desolate, who formerly was called Hephzebah God's delight, and Beulah his wedded land, Esay the 62. vers. 4th yea might she not otherwise have still been a Crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of her God, as it is in the former verse of that Chapter. Did not sin (notwithstanding all her privileges and prerogatives,) twice carry judah into Captivity, twice destroy her temples; shall we then (beloved) look to escape the like fatal judgements, if we run on still in a resolution of living as we list, of putting the Almighty's mercy as it were on the tenter hooks; Surely it will at length break forth into fury, The date of it will ere long be expired, justice will another while rule & sway the Sceptre, if we will not with Nineveh repent whilst our 40 day's last, then shall we feel the truth of what many a jonas have preached unto us, even a flood of curses falling on our heads, and that which is worst of all, we may feel them when least we dream of them; So was the case of Nadab and Abihu, so of Dathan, Corah, and Abiram, so of Lot's wife, so of Herod, of Ananias, and Zaphirah, so of Zimri, and of Cosbi, and so likewise of a thousand others; And what likelihood is there, ours shall not likewise so be? whatsoever befalls one, may befall all, judgements may be fruitful as well as sins; For conclusion of the point, I can say but this, Let one suddenness beget another, the suddenness of God's judgements work in each of us sudden and speedy determination of amending his own ways, of harkening to the checks and controls of his own Conscience, by which course we shall avoid the like accusation, which here is laid to judah's charge, namely of being Robbers which is my third general. Ye have rob me: So reads our last English translation, which comes nearer to the original then either the vulgars' Configitis ye crucify or fasten, or the Septuagints supplantatis ye supplant, or Sumachus his defraudatis ye defraud, or our former English translation, ye spoil, Though each of those may well stand and bring a man with in compass of robbery; from which accusation there is offered unto your thoughts this plain note or conclusion. In God's account he is a thief and a Robber, who any ways withholds Tithes or offerings from the Priest the right owner; I say any way, because he not only offends against the eight Commandment thou shalt not steal, who violently takes from a man, either the whole or any part of his goods, as highway thiefs and open oppressors use to do, but he likewise who by any close under hand dealing or cunning taking of advantage possesses himself of what beelongs to another, yea though it be but in thought wish or desire, At quid ad nos? But what's this to us, you'll ask? yea you'll say, though it cannot be denied, but that the non payment of Tithes First-fruits, and other offerings, was theft in grain amongst the jews and that by virtue either of their Ceremonial or judicial Law, yet follows it not the case should be the same with us, who are only bound to the observation of the Moral law; As for the ceremonial and judicial they now tie no farther than Civil humane authority, revives and ratifies them, For Answer, It is confessed, it hath heretosore and still is questioned by some, whether the paiements of tithes fall under the moral Law, though I must tell you, that some hath been made up partly by such as have studied more the defence of the Pope's unjust actions, than truths oracles, and partly by others, who out of ignorance or malice, or both together, have taken every thing almost which is related, either in the book of Exodus or Leviticus, to belong only to the ceremonial or judicial laws; But however, I shall (God willing) make it appear unto you, and that by away, which as yet was never questioned by any of the learned, That those lay-men are grand thiefs, who at any time withhold or take unto themselves, Decimam Sacram, tithes once given for maintenance of any holy or Religious work, which that I may the more fully make good unto you, Let me lay down two Theorems or propositions, the one this, Tithes are in the number of those things which are sacred; By tithes I understand the tenth part of whatsoever increase comes to a man in his temporal estate, and by Sacred is meant such things as are devoted, dedicated, given, and consecrated to the worship and service of the Lord, the consecration being a holying of them, when before they were of profane, civil, and ordinary use; Thus both Gramarians, as also Divines. The other proposition this, Whatsoever is once dedicated and freely bestowed to a holy use, can never, with out the guilt of sin, be taken a way or employed to any other use then what is holy. To prove the first, I shall offer unto you four reasons; The first is taken from the parties to whom tithes from the infant cradle-age of the world have still bnee paid, namely to men consecrated and set apart from others, I say cradle-age of the world, For albeit we hear of some though not of a sacred function who have enjoyed tithes, yet you are to know that Histories the best Interpreters of the actions of forepast times tell us, they possessed, but either as wages from houses of Religion, for some care and pains taken in securing unto them their peace and safety, or as Sacrifices from affrighted and perplexed men, who fearing they should not be able to defend their right against tyrannical Princes and other great ones sacrificed unto them part of their estates, which was also Saying Lib. 9 Cap. 12. n. 4. the very case of the Abbeys and Monasteries here in England, at the dissolution, the Possessors of which places were enforced to resign up all their right title and interest in them into the King's hands: for fear they should otherwise have lost all, even their future livelihood. A second is drawn from the name which is given to the tithes which Lay men possess, they are called Impropriations, signifying thereby, they are improperly placed, that they are to speak in the phrase of old, tanquam pissis in arido, vel monachus in oppido, As much out of their place, as a fish is on dry land, or a monk in a fair or market, yea I may add, as a Crown would be richer on a jack Cades, or a Wat Tilers head, nay more, as a Saint would be in Hell, or a Devil in Heaven; A third reason is fetched from that Act of the 32. of Hen. 8. which was made Cap. 7. to enable laymen to sue for tithes, when as before, (saith the preface to that statute) they could have no proceed either in the Ecclesiastical or Common Law for the recovery of them from those who refused to pay them; Whereby it evidently appears, the State (till then) took laymen to be no fit possessors of such consecrated endowments, yea doth not laymen's suing for them at this day in spiritual Courts, publish to the understanding of any ordinary man, that tithes are a Spiritual Income and appertain to none but such as are of a spiritual function. The fourth an last lies in that welknowne rule or Canon of Vincentius Lirinensis in the third Chapter of his book contra haerices We are greatly to take care, saith he, we hold that for a truth which in all places at all times, and by all persons hath been received and entertained, which is all one almost with that of Cicero the Roman orator, in omnire consensio omnium gentium lex naturae putanda est & instar mille demonstrationum talis consensio apud bonos esse debet; The Consent of all nations about any one thing is to be taken (saith he) for the law of nature, and to be of more authority with the good and virtuous, than a thousand demonstrations. Now to bring home these rules to the Business in hand, Let me ask, was there ever Nation, if once it had but the outward face of Religion, which hath not consecrated her tithes to some God Did not Abraham long before the law was given dedicated his tithes to the true God in Malchisidech the Priest? Did not likewise jacob strongly bind himself to the performance of the same duty by a solemn vow? Did not our forefathers in this kingdom many hundreds of years since, freely resign them up to the propagation of God's worship and service; And read we not of tithes vowed to Hercules, to jupiter, to Apollo and to several other of the heathen Deities? The learned Antiquary Mr Seldon acknowledgeth thus much; May I not, yea must I not, then draw this conclusion out of such premises, Ergo tithes have in all ages been in the Inventory of consecrated goods, and accounted of as a sacred tribute to the King of heaven, And so I hasten to my second theorem or proposition; Namely this. Whatsoever is once dedicated, and freely bestowed to a holy use, can never without the guilt of sin, be taken away and employed to any use which is not holy. The truth of which is proved by three arguments, the first stands in some texts of Scripture, the second in the deffinition of Sacrilege, And the third in the opinion of those very men who have declared themselves against the ius divinum the divine right of tithes. The Texts be chiefly six, Four in the old testament, and two in the new; The first is that of Leviticus the last, where there is an express Act of heaven's Parliament, That whatsoever is once devoted or made holy by gift unto the Lord, cannot be recalled or resumed, but upon terms of disadvantage to him who recalls it. The second, that of Genesis the 47. where we read how joseph would not meddle with the gleabes of the Egyptian Priests, and that for no other reason but because they were consecrated lands, the property of which was not to be changed, The third is that of Proverbs the 20. and 25. where the holy Ghost tells us plainly, It is a snare to the man, Who devoureth that which is holy. The fourth, that of Daniel the 5. where we read, God dislikes of Baltasars' drinking in the sacred vessels of the temple, written in the capital red Letters of his destruction. The fifth is that of john the 2. where we meet with our Saviour whipping and scourging men out of the Temple, his father's house, and that for no other reason, but because sometimes they fold such cattles & doves there, as were of use for sacrifice; which our Saviour's zeal in behalf of that consecrated place stops the months of all those who shall say that that Decree in the last of Leviticus was but ceremonial, for though so much be granted, yet cannot he be excused, who in those days of the gospel shall convert to a common and profane use, either a holy place or a holy revenue, And that for as much as it is a rule approved of by the suffrage of the best Divines, that whatsoever branch either of the ceremonial or judicial law we find put in practice by our Saviour or his Apostles, even that strait way became moral and ties for ever. The last text is that of Acts the 5. where Ananias and Zaphira his wife are both stricken with sudden and unexpected death, for committing sacrilege though in the least degree, I say least degree, because they did but with draw under hand part of that money which in show they had formerly devoted and consecrated to a pious and religious use, even the rescuing of the Apostles from the arrest of beggary, And so much for the first argument to prove, that whatsoever is once consecrated to any religious use, cannot quite be taken away from that or the like use. The second lies in the deffinition of Sacrilege, which is this Sacrilegium est rei sacrae violatio, It is an a busing and perverting of the right use of holy things: so Aquinas, where by holy things he understands 22 Q. Act. any thing which is set apart to a holy use, and by abuse, he means the employment of such things to any civil common and profane use. whence also that derivation. Sacrilegium quasi sacrilaedium; so called because it profanes holy things, To which let me add that full description made of it by that Protestant Schooleman Hieronymus Zanchius, It is in his first book de externo cultu and 17. Chapter, he commits sacrilege (saith he) who any way gets into his possession holy things such as have been consecrated and given to any religious and holy use whatsoever, Neither find I any other definition, description, or Etymology which in effect is not the same; It follows therefore of necessity, that He is a thief who meddles with holy things, being no consecrated person; Now my third and last argument stands in the opinion of those men, who though enemies to the ius morale divinum, the divine moral right of tithes, yet allow they not any converting of things consecrated to ordinary and profane use. In the first place I shall produce him, whose memory I know is to all those who are Canaanites to the Church, like the composition of the perfume that is made by the art of the Apothecary, I mean M. Cartwright, who in his Commentary on those words of the Proverbs the 20. and 25. (It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy) will tell you at large: First how that may be called holy which either by God's appointment, or by man's voluntary gift, is addicted & devoted to holy uses: 2ly, that by holy uses is meant whatsoever is bestowed towards the maintenance either of the Ministers of the Gospel, or of Schools, or Hospitals: 3ly, that however tithes and offerings be not now due by virtue of God's immediate constitution, yet are they due by virtue of humane constitutions, and gifts of men, yea so due, as that he makes himself a Robber of God, who withdraws them from those uses for which they were given. Lastly he'll there show you, that the transferring and converting of consecrated things to a man's private ordinary use, is like that book in the 10. of the Revelation, which was sweet in the mouth but bitter in the belly, for though Sacrilege be sweet and pleasant in the mouth, that is at the beginning, yet will it be bitter in the belly, that is at the latter end, as also, that it falls out to such carnal men, as it doth to fish and birds, who with one bit of the desired bait, lose their lives, yea with Esau they forfeit their birthright heaven for a trifle, a mess as it were of pottage. In a second place I might send you to one who is likewise near you both in affection and place of abode, but I hold it needless seeing he is but the former's Echo, turned into English. In a third let M. Cleaver. him speak, whom the tithe Cormorants of this land hoped should have proved ere this, such an one, as of whom they might have triumphantly said: Behold the man who is set up for the throwing down of a rich and learned Church, that a beggarly ignorant pentionary one, may come in the steed of it. It is M. Seldon who so far frustrates their expectation, as in the sixth Chapter of his Reviewe to say, It is a gross error to think that therefore tithes may now be possessed by lay-men with a good conscience, because it is questioned whether the Minister can demand them iure divino morali by divine moral right. For albeit (saith he) they be not so due, yet are they due by the free and now irrevocable consecration of those who were once Lords of them; In a fourth place, take Peter Marti●s judgement, which is that notwithstanding it was in the power of the supreme Magistrate to dissolve and break up the societies of Abbeys and Monasteries, yet should he then have converted their houses and revenues to some other holy and religious uses, A thing indeed, which Hen: the 8. solemnly promised to do, upon which condition that vast grant of all religious houses was made him, yea, a Fox▪ thing which other places that emdraced reformation as well as we, carefully did perform, for so I read of the state of Wittenbergh, in one Christopherus Binderus quoted by M. Selden, in his Reviewe of the 9 and 10. Chapters of his history, as also of other parts of Germany, if we may believe M. Brightman, either on the 2d of the Revelation, or the 11h h; In a fift room let judicious Calvin be, who is in the same note, when on the first of Hose, and 3d verse, he styles Hen: the 8h h Homo belluinus, a beastly man, because as jehu he converted to his own private profane use, those things which formerly had been consecrated to holy ones. In the 7. take in the opinion of those Divines who wrote those Scolia and compendious notes we have in our English Bibles, which they fully declare on several texts, but chief in that one the 6. of josuah and the 19 as also that of Proverbs the 20. and the 25. To those I might add great Abulensis in several places of his works, together with several others, who though no friends to the ius divinum of tithes, because the Pope's vassals do yet with one consent dogmatise them for robbers who in any degree profane holy things. But I forbear, fearing the time will outrun my tongue; yet forasmuch as I have in my Catalogue of authority mentioned but one of the Laity, to wit M. Selden, whereupon you may peradventure imagine there is no more of that feather and so no summer of advantage thence to be expected, let me succenturiate and add another, yea and he too a man of the sword, by name Sr Henry Spelman who hath written fully to the same purpose in that his most learned, acute and zealous tract entitled de non temerandis ecclesiis, an Enchiridion written of purpose to persuade an Uncle of his to the abandoning of an Appropriation; And thus as briesly as I could, have I made good both the propositions I laid down. Now in the next place let me clear such quaeres as are proposed for the better vailing and pulliating of the Laities detaining of consecrated goods. The one is made by the Lay Appropriator, and that thus, seeing I have nothing but what at first I bought and now hold under the protection of an Act of Parliament, tell me, may I not with a quiet conscience possess what is so backed and warranted, To whom I readily answer, No, For wouldst thou think thyself free from adultery, though an Act of Parliament should allow thee four or five wives at once, or from the breach of the Lords day, though it should licence thee to work or sport thyself, as much on that as on any other of the week, or from theft, though it should connive at thy pilfering, as some states of old have done, If not then how can a state justly countenance thee in thy doing that, by which thou committest spiritual adultery, causest the day of sanctified rest to be profaned, and those who through the preaching of the word, might become Gods faithful servants, still through ignorance to remain Satan's slaves; O, let no man hoodwink himself with a conceit of the infallibility of a state met in a Parliament, as if their decrees were Sybillae folia mere oracles, especially when fear and covetousness are the speakers, as they usually were in Henry the 8. his Parliaments: For if general counsels have erred, and may again in matters of faith, doubtless the state representative hath, and may again in matters of fact, And to put this out of all doubt, let me give you a list of what fowl errors I have observed to have been committed by the public meetings of this kingdom, and that since the days of William the Conqueror, wherein Religion hath most flourished. First I find that William Rufus was admitted to the Imperial Crown of this Land, though Robert his elder Brother was living, and claimed his right. Secondly I find, that Rufus being dead, the sceptre was put into the hand of Henry the youngest Son of the Conqueror, though Robert the eldest was not yet departed this life, thereby adding one wrong to another, a new to an old; Thirdly I find that when Henry deceased, the state received Stephen, and put by the Son of Henry the right heir. Fourthly, it appears there was a joint consent of both houses for the deposing of Richard the second, their true Sovereign, and for the choosing into his room Henry Duke of Lancaster. Fiftly we read how Richard Duke of Lancaster, was Crowned supreme of this Land, with the free consent and applause of both houses, though he were a Murderer of his Nepheves, and so a plain usurper, yea the Parliament did entail the Crown on the son of that Murderer, though the two Daughters of Edward the fourth were living. Sixtly it is manifest, that Henry the eights divorce from Queen Katherine was allowed and ratified by Parliament as being an incestuous marriage; and yet afterwards we see the daughter of that Queen Katherine preferred to the royal throne before blessed Elizabeth, the daughter of his lawful wife. Lastly as a Parliament under Edward the sixth banished Popery, so a Parliament within 6 years after, under Q. Mary, brought it in again with triumph. To which I might annex many the like, if these were not abundantly sufficient to make good my assertion, that Parliamentary decrees are many times lame and defective. O let then no lay person hereafter fly to that vain figleaf excuse, the statute of the 31. of Hen. 8. whereby Abbey lands and all tithes belonging unto them Chap. 13. where conferred on the King, when for certain, there was never yet any learned Divine, whether Papist, Protestant or Nonconformitant, who de industria held it in the power of a state to alienate and convert that to a temporal use, which was before devoted and made over to a religious! Nay more I never yet heard of a judicious layman who upon mature consideration of the point, thought otherwise, Sure I am, Sir Thomas Smith, who wrote the Common wealth of England, says, a Parliament hath only power to change the right and possession of private men; Upon the hearing of which, if any Appropriator shall say unto me, together with other Pastors, as those jews did to S. Peter and the rest of the Aposttles, when reproved for their sins, men and brethren what shall I and others who are in the same case do? Acts 2. how shall we escape the curse you say attends on us? Would you have us render up our tithes, and so set our gates wide open to beggary? Surely not as yet until all other means of redress fail, I should advise you to another course which is fare easier, It is, that you and others who hold tithes would imitate those Philistines of Ashdod after they became sensible of their unjust detaining the Ark of the God of Israel, for as they said to the Princes of the Philistines, what shall we do with the Ark of God? the first of Samuel the 5. So would I have you to repair to the Princes of this Land, when ever met together about the Kingdom's weighty affairs, and say unto them, what shall we do with the maintenance of God's Ark the Church? As by an Act of this great Assembly we possess tithes, so let us be quit of them by an act of yours also, and yet let your wisdoms so provide for God's glory, as not utterly to impoverish our families; I but what if the ears of both houses be shut up against our iterated importunate petitions, what shall we then do? Truly, rather than to keep Gods curse still with you. I would advise you to do by your grants and patents, as judas did by the thirty pieces of silver he received of the chief Priests and elders for betraying of Christ, even to cast them down in these Churches and Oratories from whence they were first taken; Nor want I a pattern for this my counsel. In the second of Chronicles and the 25. you may read, that when Amaziah king of judah had hired a hundred thousand men of Israel to increase his Army, there came a man of God unto him saying, O King let not the Army of Israel go with thee, for the Lord is not with Israel, as having been unjustly rend from the house of David, So say I from the Lord, unto all that have purchased tithes for the increase of their estates, O Brethren let not these tithes abide with you, for the Lord is not with them, because misplaced, because rend from the true Proprietaries the Lords Priests, and when the king said unto the Prorhet upon the hearing of this message, what shall I do for the hundred talents I have given to the Army of Israel? the Prophet replied, the Lord is able to give thee much more than this. So if any Impropriator shall say unto me in his own and his fellows behalf, But what I pray shall we do for the money we have paid for our patents? My Answer must be as the Prophets was Let not the loss of your money be a remora a hold-back unto you For the Lord is able to give you much more than those sums. And thus much in answer unto the first Quaere made in defence of those laymen who possess sacred tithes such as were at first consecrated to God's glory in the reward of the Church's Pastors. A second now follows, & it is framed by those who are felonious unjust detainers of tithes by customs; What (say they) do you stamp the letter R. on our foreheads aswell as on the Impropriators? Do you make us thiefs and robbers too? Yes verily, you likewise fall within the verge of the same censure, As for your allegation, that you pay something in lieu of your tithes, two pence peradventure for two shilling, it is no better an excuse then his might be, who having stolen a Goose, should say, I brought back the wings and feathers, or his, who after he hath conveyed away the body of a fat Weather, should plead, O but I left the skin behind for the right owner; Nay it would be a worse excuse than that of Dionysius of Syracuse, when he took from the statue of jupiter Olympus a Cloak of gold, and left one of Cloth, saying that of gold was too heavy for summer, and cold for winter; it is an axiom, Gradus non variant species, though one theft be greater than another, yet the least is still theft. I must confess if two things were once well proved, neither of which is possible to be done, no not by the help of those cunning Tutors of Sacrilege, the Devils of Hell, than Custom-pleaders and Enjoyers, might go free from the guilt of Church-robbery, the one, that tithes are not due to the Priesthood of the Gospel iure divino morali, the other that Patrons who at first endowed the Churches with tithes, appointed less to be paid then the tenth of all increase; As for the last, if you consult our supposed adversary, M. Selden in the 8. Chapter of his History, you shall find there a congeries, and heap of Donations and Grants of all tithes in kind in this kingdom, as also edicts of state for due performance, according to those consecrations and Grants; And yet lest you might imagine I go too much alone in this path, let me here acquaint you with what the whole current of Casuists & Canonists say concerning this point of customs; In briese when the question is made whether custom may justly carry with it the force and strength of a law; I find they distinguish of Customs, and tell the Readers there is one which is vicious and naught, as being contrary to reason, which though unconsionable men will plead, yet doth it not excuse, much less obtain the force of a law which is according to that no less true than common saying, multitudo errantium nonfacit patrocinium, the multitude of those who err is no patronage of the error nisi consuetudo ratione munita sit, non est consuetudo, sed corruptela unless Custom be backed by reason it is not custom, but a crept in abuse or corruption; Agreeable to which, is likewise that of S. Cyprian, they do in vain cry Custom Custom who are overcome & convinced by reason, otherwise saith he Custom would be greater than truth. Another Custom there is (say they) which is laudable and no way repugnant to the rectitude of Reason, and such an on they allow to be of as much force and virtue as a law, if not repealed by the supreme Magistrate, yea to differ from a law only in modo in the manner of its being A law being delivered by writing, but Custom only by use, And in this sense is that of julianus the Ciulian to be taken, inveterata consuetudo pro lege non immerito custoditur, Now to apply this distinction to the business in hand, tell me, can any one of you who hears me this day, say, without giving the lie to his Conscience, that a Custom of paying a penny for a shilling falls under the head of a good and laudable on? you heard even now, that custom is only good, which is reasonable; Answer me then, doth it stand with reason, any man should enforce his brother, nay more his father) for so each Pastor is to his flocck) to take either nothing, or but a penny in lieu of that which is well worth a shilling? Is this (I pray) a reasonable & an honest satisfaction? Nor can any man without putting on the vizard of impudency, produce here the Statute either of the 27. or the 32. of Hcn. the 8. or the 2. of Edward the 6. For albeit those at the first blush may seem to ratify and make good all customs in payment of tithes, yet for certain they say no more than what I have already told you from an unanimous consent of Classic Authors. Namely that no other Customs are to be allowed in discharge of tithes, then what are laudable and lawful, which Epithets you shallbe sure to meet withal, in those Statutes, whereby it evidently appears, they approve not of all those Customs, which in case of tithes the desperate corruption of this Mammon-seruing age, calls and cries for, Blessed then is the Council of Isiodor (he was a father of the Church in his time) consuetudo authoritati cedat, prawm usum lex et ratio vincat. Let custom (saith he) give place to authority, and let law and reason conquer a bad use, where by law he means (saith Aquinas) that of nature, that which preacheth to every son of Adam, do as thou wouldst be done by; That which in substance is all on with the Decalogue, that lastly the transgression whereof God complains of in the verse before the text, and that with a kind of admiration. Will a man rob his God? this being a fact almost incredible because it slatly goes against the very light of nature. And so much in answer to the Second Quaere. A third apologizing on is this; What is it not a sufficient reason for a state to alienate tithes and offerings because consecrated under superstition and Idolatry? Surely no, nor will the Appropriator, (I know) upon due balanceing of the business be of another opinion; For if the donations of tithes, may de iure of right be disannulled by a State, because made under Superstition, then why may not the same power by the same right now make void all their grants and patents of Tithes and other Church revenues, because conveyed unto them when superstition no less ruled & reigned, yea to lay such a foundation for Hen: the 8. his confiscation of Tithes, glebes and the like sacred Incomes, were to bring into question at this day the right of most men's possessions, and so by consequent turn the Common wealth into a woeful Chaos of confusion: And yet lest this pretext against Tithes should for all this, receive a glad welcome amongst many, let me further give you to understand, that to suppose tithes as consecrated under Romish superstition in this Kingdom, is to build an Utopia, to lay a foundation in ipso vacuo; For tithes were generally dedicated to the worship of God when first the glorious uncorrupted light of the Gospel did shine amongst us, before ever true popery was in rerum natura, before those times came, which lost the primitive faith of Rome. Mr Selden may serve as a spectacle to help the dim ignorance of most men in this point, Nor is yet the Impropriator quiet, he hath on objection more, by which he hopes to set the broad seal of the world's wide applause, to that of their patents from Hen. the 8. It is thus proposed. But may not those things be justly confiscated which were given as supporting pillars to superstition, might not those tithes be ad placitum Senatus at the disposition of a Parliament, which were found to have been employed to superstition, even to the maintenance of Masses for the quick and dead? I say confidently No, And that for two reasons chiefly; The one is drawn from that precept which God gave concerning the Censers of those 250. Rebels in the 16. of Numbers, which was, they should be beaten into Plates for the Altar, though they had lately been abused to his dishonour. If then the alwise God thought it fit that those Censers should be employed to a holy use which now had been devoted to rebellion, shall our ignorance be so proud as to invent a new plat form of disposing abused tithes? shall we deem it fit to alienate them for ever from all holy and pious uses? Doubtless a slander by, on not engaged in the quarrel will call this by no better name than a misshapen brat, framed partly of cove. tousnesse, and partly fond self conceit; The other lies in that reason which transcendently judicious Austin gave in this very point, It is in his 15. Epistle to Publicula, where speaking of the eversion of Idols, and their Groves and Temples, judged they were not to be converted to private uses, but to public, and that (saith he) lest it should seem to have been done rather by avarice then devotion; Nor doth that Imperial decree any way make good a Kingdom's transposing of holy places and Revenues, The words of it be these. Omnia loca etc. We command that all places Lib. 1. de Pagan & sacrifis 'tis 14. which the error of the Ancients assigned to Sacrifices to be appropriated to our estate, which assertion of mine will easily be received for a truth by all those who will be pleased to consider what places the Emperors willed to be appropriated, namely such only as were assigned to the Idolatrous sacrifices of Heathens and Pagans. Now who is there so bat-sighted, as not to discern what difference there is between houses and lands dedicated to Pagan superstition, and tithes which were at first devoted as a salary of the spiritual Pastor's pains, and afterwards only through the boundless authority of the Pope to superstition. And what more evident demonstration can there be, that those very Emperors Honorius and Theodosius, put a great Chasm of difference between things dedicated unto paganism, & those which had been amiss consecrated unro Christianisme, then that they are so fare from confiscating both kinds, as to decree the converting of the on to holy uses though not the other. In the Code of Theodotius it is thus enacted. Let Lib. 16. tit. 44. Contra Donatistas'. those possessions where direful superstition hath hitherto reigned be annexed to the venerable Catholic Church, and in the same place we find a Decree of those Emperors against the Montanists in these words If there be any of their edifices standing which are rather to be termed the dens of wild beasts than Churches let them with their revenues be appropriated to the sacred Churches of the orthodox faith: And for ampler proof that godly Emperors when they expelld the heretical party did not spoil their Churches of their possessions, but restored them to the true Professors, I call S. Austin to witness in his 50. Epistle to Bonifacius a Soldier; his words be these; Quicquid ergo nomine ecclesiarum partis donati posside batur, Christiani Imperatores legibus religiosis cum ipsis Fcclesiis, ad Catholicam transire iusserunt. And who needs spectacles to see how it was only filthy avarice which made this state to do otherwise at that great day of dissolution of religious houses? For if it had been sanctified zeal, why did they not at the same time pull down an dispose of the very stones and timber of their Churches, whenas they had been as fully dedicated and more abused to superstition then ever the tithes which belonged unto them? But in promtu ratio, the reason is plain, because than their purses must have provided new ones without a dispensation from Amsterdam freely to use their Barns or other rooms in their private houses instead of temples, To sum up then my answer to this quaere, We ought not so much to loocke to the prophanition of tithes as to their first donation, which was to a pious end, even to the reward of the sacred ministry of the Church. So that when the superstitious & idolatrous use was abolished, they ought to have been returned to their primitive and lawful use. A leading pattern to which discreet Act, we have in the practice of the jews, First towards the Ark, which though it had been taken and abused by the Philistines did not, after it was sent home, imagine the former consecration to be expired and lost, but honoured and reverenced it as much as ever they did before; And secondly towards the vessels and ornaments of the Temple, which though they had been carried by Nabuchadnezzar to Babylon and there abused by being put into the Temple of his Gods, yet were they afterwards admitted to the same holy use as they were before in the service of their true God; Nor as yet have I done with this Accusation of God, the pronoun (me) ye have rob me, offers on note more worthy your attentive observation, and that's this, God reckons of all as of thiefs and Robbers of himself, who any way rob and spoil his Priests, the word Priest I rather use then any other, both because it is a name which properly belongs to none but those who serve at God's Altar, when as that of Minister without some addition is common to us with Cobblers, Tinkers, or men of any other inferior office, As also, because it is that name whose very sound works as strange an effect on the Sacrilegist his guilty conscience, as that which stories tell us the sound of a drum covered with a wolves skin doth on silly sheep, even the distemper of fear and horror. The note cannot be though less than legitinate as long as the (me) stands in the Text. Neither wants there pressing and urgent reason to believe that the Lord is so tender of the wrongs which are done to us the Pastors of souls, First we are his Ambassadors, and therefore he takes whatsoever positive disgraces, or but privative neglects are shown unto us, to reflect and redound directly on his sacred Magiestie. Secondly seeing tithes & offerings are all the wages he hath allotted us for the pains we take in his vineyard, how can he account it less than an affront to himself, when we are robed of those his pensions. Thirdly seeing he by the clear perspective of his omniscient wisdom looks into men's hearts, and there finds the chief cause of their hard measure to us to arise from our faithful execution of his royal Commissions, how can so just a judge but take those injuries to heart? Many parallels to this zeal of Gods, we meet withal in the Scriptures, witness that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 why persecutest thou me? Acts the 9 where our Saviour accounts himself as persecuted, though in Heaven, when his Church is so on earth. Again witness that his bill of indictment against the wicked at the last day Matthew the 25. I was hungry, and ye gave me not to eat, I was thirsty and ye gave me not to drink, To which when the wicked shall tremblingly reply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when Lord did we see thee so? he shall plainly tell them, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, In as much as ye have not done it to my poor members, ye have not done it unto me. Witness lastly that of judges the 5. Where the Angel of the Lord commands the City of Merosh to be cursed bitterly, and that because they came not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 jehovah, to the help of the Lord where the Lord takes their flinty hard heartedness towards their brethren as shown to himself, Tell me then, O thou who makest thyself an emblem of wretchedness by defrauding any Pastor through Customs or otherwise, Are not thy thoughts troubled? Are not the joints of thy loins loosened? And do not thy knees smite on against another at the hearing of this. The Prophet Daniel sets before us Baltaser in that woeful plight inflicted as a due reward of his profaning the consecrated vessels of the temple, how then canst thou be free from an earthquake of fear and dread, who daily devourest that which is holy, who daily converts that to thine own use, which thy blessed forefathers freely devoted to God in the perpetual maintenance of his service? And so I hasten to my last general circumstance, which is the universality of the sin, Gens tota, even the whole Nation, That is saith Ribera, your Princes and rich men are Robbers, of me aswell as your poor & private on's, yea it is as much as if he had said in more words thus, It is true O ye men of judah the Lord blames you by me for many sins, for adultery sorcery, false swearing, & diverse others yet not so, as if all these were committed by you all, but for the sin of sacrilege he condemns you all, being generally the Act of you all; So Vatablas, whence I may well infer this conclusion. It is possible that a whole Nation may at once make a defection from God by some one transgression, that that sin which heretofore hath been but personal or at most but common to few, may at length become Nationall, Experience prompts unto us that the son which now is ecclepsed but in part, may at another time be wholly, That a sound member of the true Church of God may ere long become a synagogue of Satan; May not Conspiracy and treason at length possess the breasts of those who are now most faithful and loyal subjects? May it not befall a Kingdom in respect of spiritual fruitfulness, as it did Sodom and Gomorrah in respect of earthly? For as that tract of ground became from on of the world's paradises, the Centre as it were of desolate barrenness, so may not a Kingdom which now is another Alcinous garden full of herbs of grace, and fruits of pleasure, become a wilderness of nothing but stinking weeds, and hurtful briers and brambles? If the old world did wholly fall from God, may not one little territory of the new? And if the whole Christian universe did once lie grovelling under the cursed apostasy of Arianisme, & thereby did seem (as Reverend Hooker speaks) to have given up the very ghost of true belief, then why may not one part of it lie bedridden (as it were) with the Cramp of Sacrilege? Surely the defection of one Kingdom in point of fact, is fare more easy than a Christian worlds in point of tenant and belief. But here some one may demand of me was there none in the populous tribe of judah who made a conscience of following the very dictate of nature in paying God tithes and offerings in his Priests? Did each wilfully put out that light of Knowledge the seeds whereof they brought into the world with them? Surely no, Charity teaches me to interpret this Gens tota the whole Nation by that distinction of the Schools, made by reason of the word omnes all. This all (say they) is put sometimes to signify singula generum. each of every Kind: and sometimes genera tantum singulorum only the several Kind's and species, and so, though this gens tota make some of every Kind and state of judah guilty, yet doth it not each in every kind. Such phrases are but hyperboles, involuing the most and not all; It is sufficient the denomination is after the greater part, He that makes Italy the Nursery of villains, drunkenness the badge of a Dutchman, and pride the shadow of a Spaniard, says not each in these places is so qualified, at the most, his words can be screwed no higher than that the greater part is so. Or yet if you will you may take this gens tota to be meant as it sounds, even to includ each particular in judah, and to infer that the leaven of Sacrilege was found under every one's roof, and that thus, The most of them might be delinquents in Act, the remainder in desire and wish, the most by the theft of the hand and heart, the rest by the theft of the heart only. you well know all the Commandments are as well broken by secret wishes and purposes, as by visible and open Acts, fear of incurring some temporal punishment might hold back some from doing of that which conscience could not; yea the hope of some advantage which might arise, might make those just in payment of their tithes, who otherwise would have had as deep a hand in robbery as the worst, God the maker, and therefore searcher of the heart condemns or justifies by the works of the heart, Abishai is joined with his brother in killing of Abner though we find joab only struck him, and that because his heart struck him aswell as joabs' hand; Cain (saith Philo judaeus) was not only cursed afrer he had murdered his brother but before, even as soon as ever he had hatched such a thought he gives the reason voluntate profacto aestimata his will and purpose being taken for the deed, It was a gross error of josephus the jew, when he reprehended Polybius the heathen, for saying Antiocus died miserably because he had resolved with himself to have spoiled the temple of Diana; Excellent to this purpose is that of Austin, nemo invitus benefacit, etiamsi bonum est quod facit. No man who is unwilling doth good though the thing be good which he doth; To which let me add that of Seneca to Serenus, Potest aliquis nocens fieri, quamuis non nocuerit, A man may be a nocent when he hurts not; he proves it by instances, A man saith he though he lies with his own wife commits adultery, if he take her to be another, and he is guilty of murder who runs a sword against his breast, who by chance hath a coat of Male on, so doubtless may they be well styled Robbers, who in heart contrive and plot how to embeazell those tithes and offerings which yet peradventure they still miss of compassing And thus have I jonas-like passed through the streets and quarters of the text, and yet have I not finished my intended task; I should now parallel this our judah of England with that of the jews, and show you that as we have been made like to them in enjoying showers of favours beyond other Nations, so have we already with them, and shall hereafter fare more be cursed, if we like them continue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 greedy devourers & cunning Substractors of spiritual goods; Say I but like them, yea far more than ever they, and that in that gens tota diminisheth our tithes by unlawful (because unconscionable) customs, a thing never dreamt of amongst the jews, much less made good by setting false and counterfeit glosses on the laws just intents, But I perceive your patience is so fare spent, that the work of my tongue must prove a lame Giles by falling short of the intention of my heart, only let me add one word of exhortation, and so an end. I beseech all you beloved who have heard me this day, and that in the name of jesus Christ that you deal not by what you have heard as you use to do by your old apparel when worn to rags, that is not to lay it aside with a purpose never more to think of it, but meditate and ponder on it with resolution of preferring heavens everlasting joys before this world's vanishing trifles, And thou O Omnipotent Lord who gavest such power and efficacy to one Sermon of St Peter, as thereby to add about three thousand souls to the visible number of the faithful, add (I most humbly beseech thee) by my this day's ministry, at least one soul to thy invisible flock, and that for thy son jesus Christ his sake etc. FINIS. A POSTSCRIPT READER I judge it requisite to acquaint you with two things thereby to prevent the injury thou may'st otherwise do thyself and me, The on is That I am fare from doubting of the ius divinum of Tithes, though I say little of it in this Sermon; yea so far, as my belief of it is but one degree short of his, who made the Tenent of the Pope's being Antichrist part of his Creed, I have of purpose forborn that Tract, because I find it already made smooth and plain by the happy industry of many a The late R. B. of Winchester Mountegue Nettles Perrot Sr james Simplo & others. learned pen, when as this other on which I shall set footing, is touched by few, and those to obiter rather then de industria. The other particular of which I am to inform thee is, That I quarrel not Bishops and Prebendaries enjoying of Tithes, so that two things may pass for currant truth, the one that those Bishops and Prebendaries are to be thought to have the chief charge of those men's souls from whom they receive Tithes, and not the Vicars who indeed are but their Curates. The other that it were fit they were interdicted from letting, and setting their Tithes (especially to Laics) for longer space than their own lives And thus friendly Reader thou hast my inside turned outward in the point of consecrated dews. The censure of which I only submit to that holy Sanedrim the house of Convocation as taking that body to be the only competent and fit decisive judge in business of this nature. Farewell. D. E. B. A CATALOGVE OF SUCH QVAERES as are submitted by the Author in all due respect to the judgement of the wisest sons of his mother the Church. 1 Whether Sacrilege may not be called the worshipping of Mammon? 2. Whether the Sacriledgïst his love to tithes be not worse Idolatry, than a Papist his praying either to Saint or Angel? 3. Whether our forefathers, who lived before Hen. the 8. days, might not have been more assured of their salvation, though dying Papists, than any Puritan Church-robber now can be if so dying? 4. Whether those who labour for a pensionary Clergy are not therein secret underminers of Caesar's throne? Or thus, whether the touching of God's Priests by enforced beggary, lead not directly to the touching of the King by a minoration of his just Prerogative? 5. Whether the 'scapes and errors of whatsoever faulty ones there be in the Clergy, may not in part be justly laid to the charge of Church-robbers, and not only to the tinder-like corruption of humane nature, or the sudden blasts of Satan's cunning temptations? 6. Whether a Patron hath the least colour of reason to expect that his Clerk should consionably perform the office of a Pastor after he hath enforced him to add perjury to Simony, and that in a breath? 7. Whether it stands not with the rule of equal proportion, the Patron should take an oath he neither hath or will take any thing, directly or indirectly for his Praesentation, as well as the Clerk, he neither hath or will give any thing? Herein only the supreme Majesty being excepted, because such a transcendent as cannot (being once crowned,) be put to an oath, without great derogation? 8. Whether he may not be accounted hypocritically partial who having several town ships and manors, holds it lawful to discharge his duty in those places by his Bailiffs and Rend gatherers, & yet will by no means allow that Divine to teach a Flock, by the substitution of an able Curate whom the pinching tyranny of Sacrilege hath enforced to accept of a second Benefice. 9 Whether it be not apparent by that of the second to the Corinthians the 11. and the 8. That S. Paul took Maintenance from on place whilst he was resident in another? 10. Whether it may not truly be said the laypuritan makes up a religion of his own, whilst he is not content to allow his teacher more than the poor pittance of Fifty pounds per annum, though cloggd with a long heavy chain of domestic expenses, besides the want of books, when as not only all sound Protestants and Papists, but likewise Mr Cartwright, with all the judicious of that stamp do claim a liberal & plentiful entertainment, such a one as whereby they may be able to answer the Apostles Injunction of being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lovers of Hospitality? 11. Whether in probability the Knowledge of Christ which is the foundation may not sooner be lost through their means, who run the next way to the bannishing of all solid learning, then by them who labour by learning to uphold their errors. 12. What's the reason why they who are most sacrilegious in withholding tithes from the Priest, do most cry-out against universality of grace, and man's freedom to goodness? 13. May it not be imagined, they intent hereby to 〈◊〉 there profanation of holy things to the charge of God, because he gives them not wills to a bandon so sweet a Darling Ganymeded sin. FINIS.