¶ A Sermon upon part of the prophesy of Obadiah: Touching the destruction, as of Idumaeans, so of Papists; and means whereby it must be wrought: Preached at Saint Maries in Oxford by john Rainoldes, on the 28. of October last. 1584. Dan. 9 17. Hear (O our God) the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications; and cause thy face to shine upon thy Sanctuary that lieth waste: for the lords sake. Printed. 1584. ❧ john Rainoldes wisheth grace and peace in jesus Christ to the Christian Reader. We are commanded by a wise Pro. 3. 27. Prince, or rather by the Prince of Princes, not to withhold good from the owners thereof, when it is in the power of our hand to do it. The owners of any good are they called, who stand in need of it. For God hath made men stewards of his graces, not all to serve themselves, but each to help others in whatsoever they may. Wherefore, having taken in hand the exposition of Obadiah the Prophet, and preached so on part of him, as I thought meetest for the place and time, since the Parliament was summoned: being requested to pen and publish that Sermon, by some, who thought it needful for more than were present, I could not withhold my simple help therein from the owners of it, my leisure & notes serving me to do it. And I pray God that they for whose sakes it is chief done, withhold not goods neither from the owners of them. Sure, unless the world do blind than, they will not: & what shall it avail them to win the whole world, & lose their own souls? When 2. Chr. 25. Amasias king of juda had hired an army of Israel for an * A talon is about 18. hundred sickles. A sickle is half an ounce or somewhat more. So a hundred talents amount to above twenty thousand pounds. hundred talents of silver, to go with him against Edom: a man of God warned him not to let the army of Israel go with him; for the Lord is not with Israel. How shall we do then for the hundred talents (said Amasias) which I have given them? The man of God answered: the Lord is able to give thee more than that. The Lord is the same now, that he was ever: as highly offended with unlawful helps which we seek to gain by; as able to give us more than they cost us, even whom they cost most. But if he would not: yet in his love is life. And better is a little with a good conscience, than the richest state of the wicked and mighty. The time will come when men shall feel it. Farewell good Christian Reader: and commend the cause of the Church (I beseech thee) to God, by thy prayers; to God's Lieutenants, by such means as he shall bless thee with: that it may find favour in the eyes of the Parliament, and her gracious Majesty; to the glory of the highest, the salvation of the chosen, and the security of the State. From Corpus Christi College in Oxford. novemb. 22. 1584. It is written in the prophesy of OBADIAH, the fifth and sixth verses. 5 If thieves had come unto thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou destroyed?) Would they not have stolen that which were enough for them? If grape-gathers had come unto thee, would they not have left some grapes? 6 How are the things of Esau sought out, his secret things are searched? THE ruin and destruction of the Idumaeans is set forth by the spirit of God in this prophecy, for the instruction and comfort of the Israelites: to assure them, that God will execute justice, and judgement on their enemies, in the day of his visitation, when he will save them. In the former verses (as I have showed already) the Prophet declared a Vers. 1. & 2. the sentence of the Lord against the Idumaeans, that they should be destroyed; the witnesses thereof, himself, & other Prophets, who heard it from the Lord; the means, that he would work by, the warriors rising up against them S. Peter, advertising the jews & the Proselytes, that e Acts. 2. 38 they should receive the gift of the holy ghost, if they repented, & turned to Christ: for to you (saith he) is the promise made, and to your children, and to all them that shall be long hereafter, even to as many as the Lord our God shall call: the same in like sort may I say unto you (fathers and brethren) touching this promise of bringing your enemies to utter ruin and destruction. For, f Gen. 12. 3 God said to Abraham, I will bless than that bless thee, & I will curse them that curse thee: meaning, that he would make a perfect league with him, & be at peace with his friends, at war with his enemies. But the league and covenant which God made with Abraham, g Goe 17. 7 he made with Abraham & his seed. And h Gal. 3. 7. the seed of Abraham are all faithful Christians. To us all therefore is that promise made, that God will bless our friends, and will curse our enemies. Moreover, his particular curse & plague ensuing it, upon the Idumaeans, is a pattern of that which shall fall on such as tread in their steps. For i 1. Cor. 10 6. the punishment of the jews, who lusted after evil things▪ is threatened to the Gentiles if they lust as the jews did: and k Re. 18. 4. if ye be partakers of the sins of Babylon, ye shall receive of her plagues. Now, amongst the enemies of the faithful Christians, others do more resemble the Philistines, or Ammonites, or Moabites, or Amalekites, or Canaanites, or Assyrians: there are none liker to the Idumaeans, then are the Papists, as it hath been showed. The Idumaeans borne according to the flesh of the seed of Abraham: the Papists by of spring come of Christian parents. The Idumaeans circumcised as children of the covenant: the Papists baptized in the same that we be. The Idumaeans served not the God of their father's according to the law: neither do the Papists in spirit & truth after the Gospel. The Idumaeans persecuted the Israelites to death, & vexed them with all cruelty: the Papists have butchered the godly with massacres, and made themselves drunken with the blood of saints. Wherefore the spirit of the Lord assureth us that the Papists shallbe consumed in his wrath, when it shall burn suddenly: and as they have followed the facts of the Idumaeans, so they shall feel their punishments. I speak not herein of all that are Papists: as neither did the Prophet of all Idumaeans▪ For the l Amos. 9 12. remnant of Edom shall inherit with Israel, and Papists with us: as many as shall m Act, 15. 17. 8. seek him, whose name is called upon them. which God grant they may do by faith in his mercy, that Papists may live, and papistry may die. But I speak of all who flubbornly per sister in the Popish heresies. In whom shall be fulfilled the Apostles prophesy touching the man of sin: n 2. Thes. 2. 8. the Lord shall consume him with the breath of his mouth. And so, that which is written of Edom by the Prophet, may be said by us to the Romish An tichrist: If thieves had come unto thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou destroyed?) would they not have stolen that which were enough for them? If Grape gatherers had come unto thee, would they not have left some grapes? How are the things of Antichrist sought out, his secret things are searched? Howbeit, as S. Paul▪ though o Act.. 27. 24. he were assured that all who sailed with him sheuld escape alive: yet p Ver. 31. said, that they could not escape except the mariners abode in the ship: so, though it be certain that Antichrist and his members shallbe consumed, yet cannot that be, except they be set upon by warriors. For god doth work by means ordinarily. And this is the means that he hath ordained for the achieving of that conquest, as we saw before in q Obad. 1. the ambassadors message, Arise & let us rise up against her to battle. The warriors, whose service the Lord doth use thereto, are all his servants in a sort; r Psal. 110. 3. his people most willing in the day of his army: but specially Preachers and Ministers of his word. For his word is s Esa. 11. 4. the rod of his▪ mouth, t 2. Thes. 2. 8. the breath, u reve. 19 15. Agge. 1. 1. the sword, whereby he doth destroy his enemies: & ministers are soldiers, by whose hand he weeldeth it. For which cause their function is compared to warfare, in that it is written by S. Paul, x 1▪ Cor. 9 7. Who goeth to warfare any time at his y. 2. Tim. 2▪ .4 own cost? And, No man that warreth entangleth himself with affairs of life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier, And God saith of them by the Prophet Esay: z Esay. 62. 6. I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O jerusalem, which all the day, and all the night continually shall not cease. The watchmen and warriors therefore of the Lord, the keepers of his Church, the conquerors of his enemies▪ the spoilers of the Idumaeans, the consumers of Antichrist, and Antichristian imps▪ are ministers of his word, Pastors & Teachers, who to please him by whom they are chosen soldiers, should not be entangled with affairs of life; to discharge their duty, should be sent forth and kept on public cost; to preserve their flock, should watch day and▪ night continually over it. The less marvel is it, if in our English Churches Antichrist and Edom be not consumed yet; nay, if they attempt to consume us; if by Popish policies, by superstitious tokens, by blasphemous writings, by traitorous libels and conspiracies, they undermine our state; if a Psal. 83. 3 they take crafty counsel against the people of God, and say, b ver. 12. Let us possess his habitations by inheritance; if they look for a day when they may cry once again, c Psal. 137. 7. raze it, raze it to the foundation thereof; in a word, if they range through the land like wolves, & suck the blood of sheep and lambs: sith the shepherds fail, the watchmen are a sleep, the warriors do not fight, through want, somewhere of will, somewhere of ability. Of will, where they entangle themselves with such affairs as draw them from their warfare, and are not content to be watchmen in jerusalem, but they must have a watchmanship in Caesarea too; or, if they have one flock alone, yet do not fee●… it, but take their ease in Zion. Of ability, where there is not sufficient provision for training of men to make them good soldiers; nor maintenance sufficient to find them being trained: that, setting all other cares of life apart▪ they may attend their charge wholly. To them here amongst us, who, through want of will are backward in this service of the Lord God of Hosts, so much hath been spoken, so often, so earnestly, both out of this and other places: that I am half ashamed again to solicit them with d Esay. 28. 10. Precept upon precept, Precept upon Precept. Notwithstanding, as I have read, that when we had gotten Calais from the Frenchmen, there was one appointed to put them in remembrance from time to time of Calais, in all their solemn meetings for State-consultations, till they had regained it: so▪ I am persuaded, that, till the amendment of this fault be won, it is most convenient for the lords remembrancers in all our Church-assemblies to wish it to be thought of. Wherefore, to put you in mind even now also of our Spiritual Calais▪ I beseech you fathers and brethren (whom it toucheth) now at length to regard the state of the Souls, the precious Souls of men committed to your charge: whose blood, if they perish for lack of that attendance, which you ought to give them, will cry for sharper vengeance than did e Goe 4. 10, the blood of Abel. Or, if my persuasion cannot prevail with you: yet let his prevail, whose prayer hath prevailed for you; who died himself that you might live; who said, and all things were created; whose word the winds and seas obey. Consider the function that he hath called you to, the duty laid upon you, the reward, if you do it; the punishment, if you do it not. f Luk. 12. 24. Who is (saith he) a faithful and wise Steward, whom his master maketh ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his master when he cometh shall find so doing: verily, I say unto you, he shall make him ruler over all his goods▪ But if that servant say in his heart, my master doth defer his coming, and begin to smite the servants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken: that servants master will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not ware of, and will cut him in pieces, and give him his portion with the unbelievers. Our Saviour the son of God, the king of kings, & Lord of Lords, having entertained men and women of all degrees to be his household servants, is careful to feed them with convenient food, that they may serve him in their vocation fruitfully. This food is the doctrine of his holy word, which must be divided in divers sorts unto his servants, according to their divers states: some to be▪ fed with milk▪ some with strong meat; some humbled with the law, some raised with the gospel; each to have his portion of meat most wholesome for him. Nor only must they have it, but have it too, in due season, as often as they need it: which is so often, that the holy Ghost (to show the continual necessity thereof) doth will it to be given them g 2. Tim. 4 2. in season and out of season. For, as men's bodies should lose their temporal life, unless, as they decay still, so they were repaired with sustenance of meat and drink: in like sort men's souls are fainting still also, to their Amos. 8. 11. hazard of life eternal, unless they be refreshed with the food of God's word. Wherefore that his servants and maidens he not famished: the master of the household hath made you his stewards to minister meat unto them. If you behave yourselves, as wise stewards, & faithful; wise, in discerning what portion of meat they need each, and when; faithful in giving it to them in due season: your master shall come, who now is absent as it were and h Luke. 19 ●…. gone into a far country, but he shall come again and fill you with blessedness; he shall make you rulers over all his goods and honour you as highly as i Gen. 41. ●…0. Pharaoh did joseph;, yea, he shall reward you with k 1. Pet. 5. 4 a crown of glory, an incorruptible crown, and ye shall l Dan. 12. ●…. shine as stars for ever and ever. But if ye think his coming to be far of, and so begin to smite the servants and the maidens; nay, I would to God ye did smite them only, so that ye taught them too, for that were a benefit; but if ye famish them, and play the good fellows yourselves with the world, & eat, & drink, & be drunken: your master will come in a day when ye look not for him, & in an hour that ye are not ware of, & will m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. cut you in pieces, & give you your portion with the unbelievers. By the Roman n Tit. de re ●…dicata. laws of the 12. tables, if a man owed money unto sundry creditors, & after judgement given, did not agree with them himself, or others for him: his creditors might (after certain days respite) cut his body in pieces, & take them each a part thereof. o ●…gol. Noct. ●…ttic. li. 20. ●…ap. 1. Phavorinus the Philosopher reproved this law as cruel & barbarous. But Caecilius the Lawyer replied well upon him, that so great a punishment was appointed of purpose, that they might never come unto it. For now we see many (said he) laid up fast, & cast into fetters, because the pain of fetters is contemned by lewd persons. But I never read nor heard that of old time any was cut in pieces: because they could not set light by that punishment. Metius Fufetius, the Prince of the Albans, having promised the Roman king Tullus Hostilius to secure him against his enemies, did treacherously deceive him: by whom he was therefore tied to two carts, his hands to the one, his feet to the other, & so (the horses being driven contrary ways) he was torn in pieces. p Hist. ab V Cond. lib. 1 Livy misliketh this punishment as over sharp, & saith that there was small regard of human laws had in it. But q Aeneid. lib. 8. Virgil weighing better the greatness of the fault, alloweth it with grave censure, * But thou, O Alban Prince, thy promise shouldest have kept. At tu dictis Albane manners. Traitors in our days, though they be not torn with horses as Metius, yet are they rend in pieces, as Metius was, & quartered. r Epist. de persecut. Anglic. The Papists complain thereof to foreign nations as of outrageous tyranny, when they are put unto it for traitorous facts against our prince. But it is usual and lawful for the Pope (as Leo the tenths practice in s Hist. Ital.▪ 13. Guicc●…ardin doth witness) to quarter men for treason wrought against him. Now, this severe punishment, which hath been thought fit by mortal judges to be laid upon unfaithful debtor, upon treacherous persons, upon rebellious Traitors, is the same that Christ the immortal judge denounceth unto you, if ye be disloyal to God, your sovereign Lord, if ye break promise with him and his servants, if ye pay them not the debt which ye own them, and give them their portion of meat in due season. A very grievous punishment: yet nothing to that, which Christ importeth by it. For he doth import (as the words following show) that ye shall have your portion with the unbelievers. And t ●…u. 21. 8. the unbelievers shall have their portion in the lake that burneth with fire & brimstone, which is the second death. Of Damocles a Heathen man it is recorded, that when Dionysius the Tyrant entertained him magnificently & princely, although at the first be thought himself happy, respecting the train of men, attendant on him, the place of gold and silver, the gorgeous clothes, the sweet perfumes, the Uiands most delicate, all furniture rich and royal: yet after, seeing a sword hanging by a thread let down over his head, he could take no joy of his entertainment, nay he took grief, and desired earnestly to be dismissed from it. How much less joy should you take in your eating, your drinking, your pleasures, with which, as worldly baits, the Prince of this world doth pamper your flesh against the day of slaughter: sith there hangeth over your necks an axe of vengeance, not that may perhaps, but that will assuredly; not kill your bodies only, but both bodies and souls; not with temporal death, but with everlasting into hell fit ●…; u Matt. 24 51. there shallbe weeping and gnashing of teeth. O consider this, ye that forget God lest he tear you in pieces, and there be none that can deliver you. The warrior that spoileth the Idumaeans, shall honour him: and he, that watcheth over the Israelites to save them shall see the salvation of God. And thus much to them, who through want of will, search not the secret things of Esau. As for the defect which this exploit suffereth through want of ability, because such as should do it, are either not trained or not maintained to it in sufficient sort: that is so much hurtfuller to us then the former, by how much the contagion of it spreadeth farther. For soldiers ought to learn and practise feats of war (as Veget. de milit. lib. cap. 1. expert men have noted) before they deal in martial affayeres with their enemies: and as Lib. 2. ca 9 Lib. 3. ca they should employ themselves to no business, but to their service only, so should they be allowed victuals, & other necessaries, that they need not to do it. Whereupon the Lord appointing Priests and Levites to serve him in this Nu. 4. 23. Num. 18. warfare (as Moses termeth it) & ministry, allotted them b offerings, first fruits, and tithes of all the land to live by, with Num. 35. ●… Cities to dwell in, and grounds annexed thereunto. And, beside the conventence of their abode together in jerusalem and other Cities that they might the better betrained from their infancy to skill of the priestly and Levitical duties, to teach the law of Deut. 33. ●…. God, and offer incense, and Sacrifice: there were also 1. San. 10. 5. 19 10. Kin. 2. 3. 6. 1. Colleges and companies of Prophets, wherein the younger learned under the elder (as children under fathers) to be men of God, to praise his name, and teach his wil These orders, received by the Church of Israel, should be followed by ours: though not in all particulars, yet in the general equity. For f 1. Cor. 19▪ 13. as they who served about the holy things, did eat of the temple; they, who waited at the Altar, were partakers with the Altar: so the Lord ordained too, that they who preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel. And Timothee, who was chosen to serve in this g 1. Ti. 1. 1●… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 warfare, as a h 2. Tim. 2. soldier of Christ, did not only i 2. Tim. 3. 15. know the Scriptures from his infancy: but also was k Act. 16. 3●… brought up to the ministery by S. Paul, whose l 2. Ti. 3. 1●… doctrine & behaviour framed him unto it. In which consideration our Ancestors provided houses, Glebeland, Tithes, & other profits, for the commodious dwelling and maintenance of Pastors: and endowed bishoprics, Cathedral and Collegiate Churches (as we call them) with lands and revenues, * As appea●…reth by the grounds thereof in 〈◊〉 Cyprian, Eusebius, Grogor●… the Councel●… of Toledo, with othe●… Counsels▪ Fathers, and Stories Ecclesiastical: an M. Bu●…r showeth in his book, entitled, De reformatione Collegii C●… 〈◊〉. that learned godly Teachers being placed there, might instruct others by their doctrine and behaviour, as S. Paul did Timothe. For the fuller perfecting & finishing of whom to all the lords work, they founded Universities and Colleges therein also. But I would to God these nurseries of Pastors & Teachers of the Church, were husbanded in such sort to the lords advantage, that we need not fear his sentence of that vineyard, Mat. 21. that he will let it out to other husbandmen. Then should not so many raw untrained soldiers receive the Lords pay, who do him small service in the day of battle. And yet there were less cause to complain hereof, if they, who be trained, were procured to serve him. But the impressed money & wages due to them, the livings (I mean) appointed for their maintenance, are so impaired & minished: that, being not able therewith to find themselves in souldiourlike state, they refuse the calling; or if they undertake it, they are distracted from it, with cares how to supply their need. Whereby it cometh to pass that, Ieh. 13. that levites flying each into his land for lack of their portions, the house of God is forsaken. And to fill their rooms, others are taken, who will be hired for least: not according to the Proverb, Best is best cheap; but to the common practice, Best cheap is best. Who though not to serve the calves of Dan and Bethel, yet are made Priests, as those by jeroboam king. 12 of pieces of the people, not of the sons of Levi. Who, if they had the grace, 〈◊〉. 13. 5 should say, I am no Prophet, I am a husbandman: and return to that trade which their friends have taught them. Who are not endued with necessary gifts for the prophet's duty: and therefore, howsoever men have called them to it, God hath not called them. For, whom God calleth unto any function, them endueth he with gifts to perform it: as q Exod. 31. 2. Bezaleel, to make his tabernacle: r jer. 1. 9, jeremy, to do his message; s Act. 2. 4. the Apostles, to preach the Gospel. So the flock of Christ, is desolate of shepherds; and his camp, of soldiers: while such have the places, as cannot t Ezech. 34 4. strengthen the weak, heal the sick, bind up the broken; nor destroy his enemies with the u Heb. 4. 12. two edged sword, & defend his subjects. A great cause here-of are patrons of benefices. For whereas the interest of choosing the Pastor belonging of old time to the Congregation, is now conveyed to them, because their predecessors did benefit the Church some way, and therefore were put in trust as patrons of it: they, a number of them, do deal with the matter as Polymestor did with Polydore, that is, as evil guardians do with their wards, and turn their patronage into pillage. The lust of their hearts hath defiled their hands with the sacrilege of Acan: to x jos. 7. 21. take gold & silver, and Babylonish garments, of the spoils of jericho y Io. 6. 19 consecrated to God. Or, if not with so foul sacrilege as his was, because their Predecessors gave some of it perhaps: yet which z Acts. 5. 2. the sacrilege of Ananias & Sapphira; yea, though themselves had given it. If they think to cover their profane dealing with a jos. 7. 22. Acans conveyance by hiding the prey, or to b Mat. 27. ●…4. wash their hands with pilate's pretence, that they are guiltless of it, they gave the advowsons freely to friends or servants: they deceive themselves. For c Gal. 6. 7. God is not mocked. And he will find them out in a day, when they look not for him, and in an hour that they are not ware of, d jos. 7. 25. & bring them to shame with more dreadful punishment, then either he did Acan, or e Acts. 5. 5. Ananias, & Sapphira. Wherefore I heartily beseech the young Gentlemen that be here present, & all that are or shallbe patrons hereafter, in a religious reverence and fear of the Lord, to keep themselves pure from this abomination. At least, to remember the miserable end of Richard the usurper: who being made Protector of the King and Realm, got the realm himself, & rob the King of it. That, if they deem their patronage to be merely civil, & the goods of benefices to be as common men's, not sacred to the Lord: yet being made Protectors thereof, & of the Pastor's, they follow not his fault whose end they detest. Though, the very truth is, (which I wish they weigh too,) that the Church's goods, allotted to the maintenance of Pastors & teachers, are not profane but sacred: and therefore the sin of them who purloin them is sacrilege, not theft: wherein God is spoiled, as himself pronounceth, f Mal. 3. 8. Will a man spoil God▪ that ye do spoil me? And ye say, wherein do we spoil thee? in tithes & offerings. Howbeit, if church-livings were impoverished by none but by patrons: the case were not so evil, because it is against the law. But they are distressed also (beside other pensions & encumbrances) by Appropriations, as the lawyers term them; or, as they are named commonly, impropriations. Whereof the condition is the more grievous, for that in many parishes there is not a Vicar well & sufficiently endowed to do divine service, & instruct the people, and keep hospitality: which yet g Ann. 4. Henr. 4. cap. 12. the law commandeth, if it were obeyed. josias, h 2. Chr. 34. 3. in them eighth year of his reign, began to seek the God of his father David; & in the twelfth year he began to purge juda and jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the graven images, and the molten; and in i Vers. 8. the eighteenth year he sent Saphan and others, to repair the house of the Lord his God. Reformations of disorders cannot be made all at once: chief, when the Church hath of long time been overgrown with them, as than it had under idolatry, and hath with us under Popery. King Henry the eight, a Prince of noble memory, began to set forth the holy word of God. And his son, (another josias, had he lived) began to purge England from Images, and Masses, and Massing-altars, and superstitions. I doubt not but our gracious Queen and sovereign Lady desireth in the steps of her father and brother, to add this unto them, that workmen be maintained for repairing of the Church. But it lieth not in her Highness alone to bring it to effect▪ the Lords and the Commons have a stroke in it. Wherefore, seeing now a Parliament is summoned to be held shortly: let us desire God in humbleness of spirit to incline their hearts, that, although it be with loss of some part of their own commodities, yet they will follow ●…. Exo. 35. 11. the zeal of the Israelites for the tabernacle of assembly. And as the religious professors of the truth have showed that church-livings appropriated to others, should in conscience find the Pastors of the Church: so God grant that they who have the authority may see it with a single eye, and bring it to pass with an upright hand. Martin Bucer (in l De regno Christi lib. ●…. cap. 7. his godly requests and advises presented to King Edward) treating of skilful Pastors to be ordained throughout the realm, saith; that their maintenance ought to be required of them who receive the profits of the parishes by appropriation, or any other way. Bishop m Exposit. of Agg. the prophet, chapt. 1. Pilkinton (upon Aggaeus) complaining that the Pope rob parishes to feed his monks, wisheth, that the Gospel may restore that justly: which he took wrongfully away, and gave them yet a right name of impropriations, because they be taken away improperly, & properly belong to the parishes. But what should I mention Bishops and Divines (of whom there have n M. Latimer, in his 1. & 6. Serm. preached before King Edward. M. Fox●… in the Acts & mon. lib. 4. All the Bishops of England (300. years since) misliking in the monks that they had gotten benefices to be appropriated to them: as appeareth by Mat. Westm. in Florib. histor, ann. Dom. 126●…. many declared the same mind,) when as Master o The perambulat. of Kent: in Frensbury. Lambard, a gentleman and Lawyer, speaking of a Kentish Benefice converted to an appropriation, doth censure it with these words: One (amongst many) of those monstrous births of covetousness, begotten by the man of Rome in the dark night of superstition, and yet suffered to live in this day light of the gospel, to the great hindrance of learning, the impoverishment of the ministry, and the infamy of our profession. Hard may this seem to such as have the livings: & some peradventure will say of these speeches, p Amo ●…. 7. 10. The land cannot bear them. But it is harder to suffer the land to stand in those terms, in which God saith to juda: q Mal. 3. 9 Ye are cursed with a curse for that ye spoil me, even the whole nation. And if heathen men Philaeni, Codrus, Curtius, have given their lives to benefit their country with a temporal blessing, and that uncertain too: what should Christians do to draw that blessing on it, which he, who cannot lie, doth promise, r Vers. 10. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and p●…oue me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven unto you, & power you out a blessing without measure: & I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, that he shall not destroy the fruit of your ground, neither shall your vine be barren in the field, saith the Lord of hosts: & all nations shall call you blessed, for ye shallbe a pleasant land, saith the Lord of hosts. Wherefore let us (beloved) of the University, get our country this blessing, as much as lieth in us, by providing that Pastors, where we have appropriations, may be maintained with their tithes, that there may be meat in the house of God. I mean not hereby that we should give away that by which our schools and scholars be maintained. For God hath ordained Ecclesiastical goods to find, not only Priests and Levites, but their offspring; even them, who are brought up to be Priests and Levites, and them who bring them up; the children of the Prophets, & the Prophets themselves. That, if there be enough in our appropriations for the Pastors maintenance, beside that which we have for the nursery of Pastors, as commonly there is: we may with good conscience receive our own revenue. My meaning is therefore, that, the rends reserved, we should allow the rest of the livings to Pastors: which I speak not so much for those that publicly our University hath, to be let by Convocation, whereof the greater part hath showed well already themselves to be of this mind: as for those that privately belong to our Colleges, to be let by the heads thereof and the fellows. It is of an human and honest affection, that we sometimes would pleasure other men therewith, our friends, suing for them. But if job said to Sophar & his partners s job. 13. 7. Should you speak wickedly for God's defence? how much less ought we to do unrighteously for the favour of men? And may we not look for the plague that fell on Eli, if, as he did t 1. Sam. 2. 29. honour his children above God, so we do our friends▪ Levi is commended by the holy Ghost for u Deu. 33. 9 saying of his father and of his mother, I look not on him; neither doth he acknowledge his brethren, nor know his children: but they observe the word of God, and keep his covenant All Christians are bound herein to be Levites, x Mat. 10. 37. regarding neither father, nor mother, son, nor daughter, in respect of God, when his word and covenant cometh into question. Wherefore, sith this is a special point thereof, that all the tithes be brought into the storehouse, that in his house there may be meat: we should observe and keep it, though with the disfavour of friends whatsoever. And as it behoveth us to do it ourselves: so, to wish that others enjoy the blessing with us. In which case, the duty that we own to y Tim. 2. 2 Kings and all in authority, doth bind us to pray for the high court of Parliament, that by their ordinance the Church may be repaired, and we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness & honesty. When z Neh. 13. ●… Eliasibthe Priest (the high priest of the jews) had made for his kinsman Tobias a great chamber, where they afore time did lay the meat offering, the incense and the vessels and the tithes & offerings, appointed for the Levites and Priests: as soon as Nehemias (the Priuce of the people) understood thereof, it grieved him sore. Therefore he cast out the householde-vessels of Tobias out of the chamber: and brought thither again the vessels of the house of God, the meat-offering, and the incense. And perceiving further, that the portions of the Levites were not given them, who therefore were fled each into his land: he reproved the rulers, and said, Why is the house of God forsaken? and assembling them, he set them in their place again: and all the jews brought the tithes into the storehouse▪ to be divided to them. The Pope in the iniquity of his high usurped Priesthood over Christians, endowed his kinsmen the monks with tithes and livings, by which aforetime the Pastors were maintained. Whereof it hath ensued, that many a Tobias doth hold them until this day. O that it might grieve, that it might grieve sore, our Nehemias; the Parliament, that they might dispossess Tobias thereof, & again apply them to maintain Pastors. The Antichristian council assembled at Trent, took order for ●…. Conc. Trident. ●…ess. 22▪ de re●…rm. cap. 11. restoring of the goods of benefices, and b Sess. 24. de ●…eform. cap. 18. setting learned Priests in them, with c cap. 19 disannulling of advowsons, and d Sess. 5. de re●…orm. cap. 1. erecting lectures, and maintaining teachers, and e Sess. 23. de reform. cap. 1●…. seminaries of scholars in all Cathedral Churches▪ to set Popery forward, and build up the houses of Idumaean Idols. f Luk. 16. 8. The children of this world are wiser in their generation then the children of light▪ and g 1. King. ●…8. ●…9. Baalites more zealous for their superstition, than Israelites for the truth. But thou canst▪ O Lord, & will (unless our sins provoke thy wrath against us) cause the light of thy countenance so to shine upon us, that the Christian Court of our English Parliament shall be as careful to build up thy house, & advance religion: that h 2. Chr. 36. 10. the vessels of thy temple, which Nabuchodonosor took away, & i Dan. 5. 2. balthasar did drink in, be k E●…ra. 1. 7. restored by Cyrus, to whom they are befallen, that Elizabeth thy handmaid l 2. Chr. 31. 4. command the people too give the portion of the Priests and Levites, that they may be strong in the law of the Lord, as did thy ●…eruant Ezekias, that pastors may be set again in their places, and all the Tithes be brought into the storehouse to be divided to them, that none of them want, as Nehemias provided▪ and thou commandest by thy prophet. So shall they by whom this noble work is wrought, be m Neh. 13▪ 14. remembered in it, & the kindness, that they▪ show on the house of god & the offices thereof, shall not be wiped out. So shall n Mal. 3. 10. the windows of heaven be opened to us, and a blessing poured on us without measure, a temporal and eternal blessing: for o 1. Ti. ●… godliness hath promise of them both. So shall the devourer be rebuked for our sakes: & p Reu. 9 3. the Locusts (the jesuits & Seminarie-Priests) shall not destroy our fruit, neither shall our vine (our christian q Esay. 5. ●… vine) be barren. So shall we be called blessed by all nations: for we shallbe a pleasant land: a land that shall flow with the word of God, r Psal. 19 10. more to be desired then gold, more sweet than honey. Finally, so shall Israel triumph over his enemies, and the things of Esau shallbe sought out, his secret things shall be searched: that is, Christ shall reign, and Antichrist shall be confounded. Which GOD grant for his mercy sake in jesus Christ▪ through the operation of his holy spirit▪ to whom, three persons, and one God, be all praise, and honour, and glory, and power, for ever and ever. Amen. Imprinted at London by Thomas Dawson. 1584.