Imprimatur, Tho. Tomkyns Reverendissimo in Christo Patri ac Domino Domino Gilberto, Divinâ Providentiâ Archi-Episcopo Cantuariensi à Sacris domesticis. Deo & Ecclesiae Sacrum. SACRILEGE Arraigned and Condemned BY SAINT PAUL, ROM II. 22. PROSECUTED By ISAAC BASIRE, D.D. and Archdeacon of Northumberland, Chaplain in Ordinary to HIS MAJESTY. Published first in the Year 1646. by Special Command of His late Majesty of Glorious Memory, The Second Edition Corrected, and Enlarged. I COR. IX. 13, 14. Do ye not know that they which Minister about Holy things, Live of the things of the Temple? and they which wait at the Altar, are Partakers with the Altar? EVEN SO HATH THE LORD ORDAINED, that they which Preach the Gospel, should Live of the Gospel. Plato Lib. 10. de Legib. in principio, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Lucan. L. 3. Quis enim Laesos impunè putaret esse Deos? LONDON, Printed by W. G. for W. Wells, and R. Scot, at the Sign of the Prince's-Arms in Little-Britain. 1668. TO HIS Most Excellent Majesty King CHARLES II. Most Gracious SOVEREIGN, IT is now Two and twenty Years since first this PIECE was Rough-cast, Inter Tubam & Tympanum (during the SIEGE at Oxford) being then Commanded upon that Service by that late Incomparable Prince Your Royal Father, and my Most Gracious Master, KING CHARLES the I. of Glorious Memory (a most zealous Enemy to all kind of Sacrilege) Since that time, whilst I lived abroad Fifteen Years (a full Fourth Part of my whole Life) in a voluntary Exile, only for my Constancy in the True Religion, and for my faithful Allegiance to Your Crown: This young Benoni was soon Over-laid, and so did, in a manner, lie long Buried in the Graves of Schism and Rebellion: Till now, being called upon, I have stretched myself over it, Endeavouring, through God's Blessing, to Resuscitate it. Assoon as the Child gins now to Breath again, it softly Creeps towards Your MAJESTY, and humbly Craves to be called Yours by Right of Inheritance. In this Necessary Work, as I do most justly Condemn Sacrilege, (that fatal Blazing Star to whole Nations) so, if I did not in all Humility, lay down the WORK (such as it is) with the Author, at Your Sacred Feet, I should then Commit Sacrilege indeed, and so both contradict the Work & condemn myself. The whole Design of this Plea is nothing else, but a Just Defence of some old honest Truths, which are never the worse for being now a-days so much spoken against by the Many. Though the IX Chapter of this Book doth chief Concern Your Majesty in Point of Conscience, yet (all being well Considered) the whole Cause may Concern You no less in Point of Justice, as well as in Point of Honour; And so this WORK becomes Yours again by another Title, by Right of Purchase; since, as by Your late Gracious Restoring both of the Church and Church-Lands, Dedicated to the Service of God (in thankfulness to that Great God for Your own marvellous Royal Restauration) You have strongly Confuted the late Sacrilegious Usurpations; so, by Your Constant Care to Preserve the Church Committed to Your Charge, in the Laws, Customs, Franchises, Canonical Privileges, and Episcopal Government (according to the Tenor of Your Royal Oath) You will not only Invincibly secure all these from future Sacrilege, but also put Your own Great Seal to Your Father's Royal Deed, * I pray God neither I nor mine may be Accessary to the Ruins of the Church, etc. The King's Portraiture, Sect. 19 upon the Covenant. and turn that King's Prayer into a Prophecy, who (to speak out this His Prerogative-Paramount, in His own Heroical words) Esteemed it His Greatest Title to be called, and His Chiefest Glory to be the Defender of the Church both in its true Faith, and its just Fruitions, equally abhorring Sacrilege and Apostasy: Thus the KING being dead yet speaketh, of whom it may be almost said, Never King spoke like this King, except the King of Kings! The Church of God is by another King (Solomon) described Terrible as an Army with Banners (Acies Ordinata, Cantic. vi. 10. for Power, Authority, and Order) in Allusion to the Camp of Israel, in whose Tactics (the Martial Style) we may, to our Admiration, if not Imitation, Observe the Mysterious Manner how they Pitched about the Tabernacle, (that Curious Emblem of the Church;) First than they Pitched with their Faces towards the Tabernacle, to intimate the singular Regard all the Tribes had to the Tribe of Levi, because that Tribe had the Charge of God's Tabernacle, (therefore the other Tribes did not turn their Backs upon it, much less stretch forth their Hands, or lift up their Heels against Levi. Num two. 2. ) Secondly, they pitched round about the Tabernacle, (three Tribes on each side of the four quarters of it) as a Guard to defend it, as a Magazine to Maintain it: To which goodly Order of the Camp of Israel, King David seems to allude in his Royal Religious Proclamation, Psal. lxxvi. 11. All ye that are round about him, bring Presents unto him that ought to be feared; that is, unto God, (because always Resident and Precedent in the Church) and thus Israel pitched their Camp. But when they marched, Juda, Num. x. 17. Issachar, and Zabulon led the Van on the East, and then the Gersonites and Merarites, (Levites) went next bearing the Tabernacle, whereby the Priests were not, like so many Enfants perdus, put upon the Forelorn hope; but Juda the Royal Tribe always stood betwixt Levi and the Enemy (and they prospered accordingly) as very well knowing that the Ark of God was indeed the Glory of Israel, which, 1 Sam. iv. 21. Nunquam prosperè cedunt Res humanae ubi negliguntur Divinae. when once departed, the Crown would not stay long after it. Lastly, The LORD as their General, dwelled in the midst of their Camp, to go in and out before them, who, (as some have Observed it) is therefore in holy Scripture styled The Lord of Hosts above 200 times. Thus Israel having God for their Invincible General, having the Ark of God for their Sacred Arsenal; no wonder if (as the Author to the Hebrews Blazons their Martial Achievements) They through faith subdued Kingdoms, Heb. xi. 3●, 34. waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the Armies of the Aliens: Nothing but Trophies, nothing but Triumphs, so long as God's People keeps God's Order. SIR, You are as well by Theory, as by Practice, (both ways) so eminently Experienced in Martial Discipline, that to make Application of this Platform were a Presumption, much more impertinent than that of Phormio before Hannibal: I know to whom I speak, to a Prince, as great in Understanding, as in Power: Indeed, Your Times, in so short a Period, have been as full of strange Revolutions, of rare Accidents, as any Prince, which wonderful Passages of the Divine Providence over You, may appear so many strong Arguments, that hitherto the King of Heaven, hath had a special Regard to Your Royal Person here on Earth, and may also hereafter be so many sure Pledges, that the same Great God, who hath, so Marvellously (I might truly say Miraculously) Rescued, and Restored You, will, no doubt, both preserve and prosper you still, whilst you (in a Gracious Return) constantly bear a Reciprocal Regard unto God the King of Kings, Observing his Laws, unto the House of God, the Church, preserving her Rights, unto God's Service, and Servants, whose daily Office therefore is to Offer up unto God the Spiritual Sacrifices of Prayers for you, especially that the Sons of Zerviah be not too hard for you: (for the Sons of Zerviah are Men of blood, 1 Sam. xxvi. 8. 11 Sam. two. 19 11 Sam. iij. 27. upon God's own Record:) And although Zerviah be dead, albeit by your Royal Power and Prudence, that Great Beldame Rebellion (pardon the word, for we cannot odiously enough term the late violent Usurpation) be now utterly quelled, and abolished (God be thanked) yet it is to be feared, the Sons of Zerviah are alive still; nay, which is worse, they dare appear very lively and stirring, very Comprehensive to contrive Mischief, very Active also to bring forth again Confusion both in Church and State, (which God avert.) That, under God, my Lord the King, 11 Sam. xiv. 20. according to the wisdom of an Angel of God, may Discern the Good, and the Bad, as it is, in Duty, my daily Devotion for Your Majesty, so is it the best New-Years-Gift I am able to afford: In which honest Vow persevering unto my Lives end, I do, in all lowliness, crave your Majesty's Gracious Pardon, and Patronage, and in hope of your Royal Favour, and Acceptance of both the Work and the Workman, Humbly Remain, Most Dread Sovereign, Your MAJESTY'S Loyal, very Constant, and most Humble Subject, and Hereditary Servant, Isaac Basire. Westminster, on New-years-Day, 1668. TO The High and Mighty MONARCH King CHARLES I. DREAD SOVEREIGN, BUT that, in Obedience to Your Royal Command, (reiterated) I must now Practise as well as Preach Allegiance; This present ARGUMENT, (now laid down at Your MAjESTY's Sacred Feet) had never presumed further than Your Royal Eare. What was then Spoken, and by You Accepted, and is now Published, and also by some good Men's Occasional Desire, and by other bad Men's malicious Opposition Enlarged, is (all of it) the Verdict of an Impartial Conscience, convinced of both the Antiquity and the Verity resident, (If any any where upon Earth) within the Bosom of this Persecuted Church, the Envy therefore, and the Butt of all Opposites at Home and abroad: And yet for all that, to this day, the Admiration in Chief, (a) Florentissima Anglia Ocellus ille Ecclesiarum, Peculium Christi singular, Perfugium Afflictorum, Imbellium Armamentarium, Inopum promptuarium, Spei melioris Vexillum,— Splendidae domini Caulae— Horrore toti concutimur ad Versam hanc Pulcherrimam Ecclesiae inter vos Faciem: Corrupit Spes nostras Turbo ille Coitionum apud vos Popularium, quae Regis Serenissimi Discessioni à suo Parliamento causam praebuere.— Deus reponat IN ALTO ILLO Sanctae gloriae ECCLESIAS VESTRAS, quae hactenus in Terris, & Ecclesiae Theatro emicuere. D. Deodat. Genev. Responso ad Conventum Ecclesiasticum Londini. This is the voluntary Attestation of GENEVA, sent then to the Assembly-men, concerning the Flourishing Estate of the Church of England, before that RAGING TEMPEST OF POPULAR CONSPIRACIES AND TUMULTS, which have FORCED AWAY THE KING FROM HIS PARLIAMENT: (These are the GENEVA-Men's own Expressions.) So far are mere Strangers from Approving of that Rebellious War, or Judging this Church Corrupt, or Antichristian in Doctrine or Discipline, as it is blasphemed by her own Rebellious Children, against whom these free Witnesses may one day rise up in Judgement. of the best men in other Reformed Churches, though now made the very Off-scouring of all by her own Ungracious Domestics. God, Alto Judicio, may (for a while) suffer The (b) Dan. 8.12. Truth to be cast down to the ground, yet Oppressed Truth, is Truth still, and in God's good time, may up again, for all this Eclipse. (c) Blessed be the God of Truth whose gracious Providence hath made good this Prophecy, full fifteen years after, for an Encouragement and Reward of Loyal Perseverance.] As by your Royal Obligation, so by your Just and very (d) 'Tis a gross Error to think that the Kings of England's Title of Defender of the Church is no older than King Henry VIII. For 300 years ago in the old Writs of K. Rich. II. to the Sheriffs, the old style runs, Ecclesia, cujus nos Defensor sumus, & esse volumus. Ancient Title, and constant Profession too, God be thanked, your Majesty (in Fact, as well in Right, DEFENDER OF THE FAITH) hath more than a general Interest, in this, and in all right Catholic Truth: And therefore, (whatever others do in an Injurious Age) I cannot but Render to (e) Matth. 22.21. Caesar the things that are Caesar's. And herein, So God be Served, the Church Defended, Your MAjESTY Obeyed, Your People Warned, and Conscience Discharged, he hath his Ends, who, though compassed about with many Imperfections, yet, in this Service, lies not much under the Command of any worldly Hope, or Fear. May the King of Kings at last, Remember You, and Yours, and all your Troubles, and by the Merit and Virtue of his own Glorious ASCENSION, (the Mystery of this good Day for a good Omen) work out at last also Your ROyAL ASCENSION every way: And meanwhile in this, and in all Truth else, the God of Truth, with his own Right Hand, support and establish You more and more, (f) K. David's Prayer, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly, Uphold me with the Spirit of a Prince; so the Original Emphatically bears it. with his free Spirit; so daily Prayeth Your MAJESTY'S Very Loyal, and most Humble Subject, and Servant, Isaac Basire. Oxford, May VII. Ascension-Day, 1646. The EPISTLE TO THE READER, IN THE FIRST EDITION. Good Reader: TAke heed of stumbling in Limine, 'tis held (a) Tertull, Panciroll. Ominous: Because this Argument lies now for a while, under the Axe of Contradiction, and worse (as once (b) Luk. 22.53. Christ himself, during their Hour, and the power of Darkness,) therefore to think no more, nor no better of the whole Matter than Calumny gives it out: for by that time thou hast taken the pains to read this out, (and the last may be the best) as I hope thou wilt be, at least, convinced, that non sic fuit ab initio, as most men would have it now; so thou shalt clearly see, that this our Impeachment of the Sin of Sacrilege, is neither singular, nor affected, nor new, nor unjust, nor unnecessary. And, once for all, to give an Ingenuous Account to the World of our Undertaking it: Indeed, but for mere Duty to GOD, Obedience to the King, Faithfulness to the Church, and due Respect to this Nation also; (any of all which are to Public Spirits, when fairly Called to it, evermore far dearer than their own private Ease or Safety:) we are not so weary of ourselves, but (especially in these Censorious, yea, Cruel times, wherein, whatever be the Arguments, the longest Weapon carries the Conclusion;) we could have reserved to ourselves so much Discretion, as either to have sat still, or else to have chosen a Theme somewhat more indifferent, or more plausible, than the World we live in, gives us cause to think this will prove unto the Major part, that through the Witchcraft of gain, or guilt, are commonly obdurate enough against such kind of Arguments. But yet this one Comfort for our share, we are already sensible of, that as now, to God, to our own Conscience, and to the present Age, this acquits us from the base humour of Temporising; (Surely he were of a very weak apprehension, that as times are now, especially with us here, (c) This Treatise was published by Royal Command in the Siege of Oxford, Anno 1646. should suspect us of it:) So likewise hereafter this will clear us unto Posterity, from a stupid, nay, sinful (d) Negligere quid de se, suaque causa quamvis falso & calumniose dicatur, praesertim cùm id ejusmodi sit, ut in eo DEI MAJESTAS & RELIGIONIS NEGOTIUM violetur, hominum est dissolutorum, & ad Injurias divini Nominis securè atque Imp●è conniventium. Juell. Apolog. Disregard of that Cause, wherein already so much of God's Honour, and of the Good Speed of Religion (and consequently, the Security of the whole State and Nation, chief upheld by Religion) is so visibly engaged. If for all this, any (e) What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they Sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they Revive the stones out of the Heaps of the Rubbish which are burnt? Nehem. iv. 2. base Sanballat the Horonite, or Tobiah the Ammonite, or Geshem the Arabian, shall mock at our Pains, or think it too late, or to small purpose now, to plead God's Cause, he is ignorant of our End, which is but to do our Duty, in order to God's Acceptance, and in hope of his Blessing: To use the Means unto the very last gasp, that is our part, The Success is God's part: To him therefore we still humbly Offer up the one, and wholly leave the other. And who knows but for all that, through God's Grace, this Poor Piece may yet do the Church some Service; at least with some, to Restrain, if not to Reclaim; if not here, elsewhere; if not just now, some other time hereafter, when God may send again Molliora fandi tempora? Nay, who knows, (as once Luther stoutly,) but God may still help us even now, for all their Scoffs? for Potens est Deus Mortuòs Resuscitare, Potens est etiam Causam suam, Labentem sustentare, lapsam erigere, stantem promovere, si nos non digni erimus, fiat per alios; (f) At prosternetur bona causa per Iram Dei, prosternamur simul & nos, SED NON PER NOS: Luther Ep. ad ad Melancht. God is able to raise the Dead, God is likewise able to uphold his own Cause, when it is falling, yea, to lift it up, when it is quite down; yea, to advance it more than ever, when it is once up again; if we be not worthy of it, let him do it by others. But if any should be so desperate, as, forsaking his own mercy, to say still, what neither you, nor any man can, nor indeed aught to say, that for all that, Certainly Gods own Cause must down, than I say, (as Luther still,) Let us also down with it ourselves, but NOT BY OURSELVES, AND THROUGH OURSELVES: Let not us any longer, by a cowardly Silence, or wilful Negligence, be accessary to the utter undoing of ourselves, and of God's Cause, with ourselves; but resigning both to God, let us all every one, within his own Sphere, orderly move to the utmost of his Power, Policy, and Persuasion: For our parts, to the very last, we shall do what we must do, what we can, as long as we can: and let the Unbelieving World think, or say what it will: whether we Ruin, or Recover, as long as we are but doing our Duty, (g) Luke xii. 43. Blessed is that Servant, whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing. However for our Sins, or Gods own secret Ends, God be pleased to dispose of us, or of his own Cause; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear; for they are a Rebellious House, (h) Ezek. two. 5. saith the Lord, yet they shall know, that there hath been a Prophet among them. And when they have done all they can against the Truth, yet again, in the end, the Event may force them to confess, that (i) 1 Esdr. iv. 21. MAGNA EST VERITAS, & praevalebit. Meanwhile, maugré Men and Devils, (k) Luk. seven. 35. Wisdom will be justified of all her Children. As for other Petty Exceptions to Matter, or Form, as we hope every favourable Judge may easily digest them, so for Instance, If they say the Pleader doth here extend his Attainder of Sacrilege too far upon all Church Lands whatsoever, and therefore this Work will be unwelcome to all Quorum Interest in general, and may be durus Sermo too to some weak Consciences in particular: His Answer is, that as here he walks not alone who is supported of either side with Scripture and Reason for what he saith, and backed beside with such a Cloud of Witnesses of all sorts, both Primitive and Modern: So for weak Consciences, he cannot be so uncharitable to them, as to suspect they will be wilfully weak still, after competent Information, and Satisfaction given them from clear Scripture, and sound Reason, and from the Universal Current of Purest Antiquity, yea, for the main of it, of all Christendom to boot, Take in Geneva, Edinborough, and all. But some may think this Tract too long, (and we may partly thank the malicious Adversaries for it) or too Confuse, or too Marginal, etc. If we may be but thus much longer, we can answer all these: for the Truth is, It was not written for them that say so, (not for them only or chief:) but for all Capacities, that may be concerned in this Matter: mainly for those, who through Ignorance or Wilfulness, or a mixture of both, (in an Argument especially so much against the Hair, and because of men's Temporal Interest in it, as subject to Obscurity and Elusion, as Craft and Covetousness together can make it,) have need of (l) Isa. 28.10. Precept upon Precept, Line upon Line, over and over, as saith the Prophet. But again, it may be we could not mend it neither, who were so far from having time enough to Contract, that (the Printer can witness,) really we had not so much time as to Copy it, so as we hope our unwilling Precipitancy shall be nothing prejudicial to the Cause: For 'tis true, we had not the leisure to cut it into such shorter Stages, as might haply have rendered the Passages in the way more clear and easy, and the whole Journey more pleasant: But could we have had the space to put it into a fit Form than this way, wherein the Matter of it was at first delivered, yet we would scarce have been shorter, in the behalf of the most, with whom, as the old (m) Horat. de arte poetica. saying is, whilst — Brevis esse laboro, Obscurus fio— Touching the Load of Marginals; say some, give us Reasons, what need Authorities? but as both does well, so it should be rather an Evidence of our fair Dealing, that in this Controversy, we will not altogether speak our own sense: but, especially in a matter of Fact, which calls in question the Practice of the whole Church, the Margin may be as necessary, as the Text, and (if you'll try it,) it will sometimes prove as material too, especially ad hominem: for with some kind of men, as some of those we are to Cope with, If they be ingenuous men, one round Testimony of Calvin, or of Knox, may prevail more than many Reasons, or bare Scriptures either without them. This for the length. Now some quite contrary, will think us (in another sense) sometimes too brief with some of them: But against this Censure, we have learned out one good Lesson, Namely, now so to speak unto men, (n) Aug. Non quae volunt audire, sed quae volent audisse, upon a Deathbed, or at Doomsday, when the (o) Tunc tacebunt linguae, silebunt Argumenta, solae loquentur Conscientiae. Gerson. voice of Conscience, and of Truth shall sound loudest: especially, quando agitur de salute Reip. Nay, de salute ECCLESIAE, In such a Case as we cannot be too plain with men: So likewise we have our Warrant to show, as sometimes in a good sense, (p) Prov. 26.5. For answering a Fool according to his Folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit: So in the other good Sense too, we are resolved already, we will not answer a Fool according to his Folly neither: to wit, not with that Unreasonableness, Absurdity, and Uncharitableness usual with some kind of men, who in their way of Arguing, aim not so much ad Rem, as ad Personam; as if directly they intended not to persuade, but to provoke their Adversary, which is all the Sophisters good Logic, whose Verbal, or Personal Cavils, shall therefore never trouble us, nor we them, any further than they shall pedem pedi figere, about the Main Matter: And now they cannot say, but they know our mind aforehand. As for thee, good Reader, we bespeak no other Conditions of thee, save that one good one which honest Hierocles (q) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Hierocl. in Carm. Pythag. 8. requires of a wise man, and a true friend, only the Favour of so much Patience, as to wink at small Faults. But as for greater Matters, assure thyself thou hast met with one as willing to retract an Error, as thou, or any man to refute it. For if any where we have slipped any thing contrary to the true sense of any of the HOLY SCRIPTURES, or to any of the general Tenants of the PRIMITIVE CATHOLIC CHURCH, or to any of the Sound Articles, or good Orders of our Holy Mother THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, (none of all which we trust will here easily be found:) Behold, antecedenter, a man most ready to recant it. And now, Good Reader, God speed. THE PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION OF THIS BOOK. 1. SACRILEGE being such a Public Sin, and, in its Complication, a Sin of as heinous a Nature, and of as dangerous a Consequence (both to Church and State) as any, it gives us sufficient ground as to Undertake again, so to Justify our constant Prosecution of it: Certainly, in such a Grand Case as this will appear to be here, Neutrality were no better than open Hostility. For, if Highway-Robbers by Land, and Pirates by Sea, are indeed, and so ought to be accounted The common Enemies of Mankind, and therefore no ways to be protected, but always to be prosecuted by the Law of Nations, we dare be bold to say, and prove it also, and that à majori, all wilful Church-Robbers are no better than so, Hosts humani generis, open Enemies to the best Society of Mankind, (the Church) who dare attempt to rob God of his own Demesnes. 2. Must we not therefore, in our own Defence, be not only mindful, but also fearful of our share in that Curse thundered out against Meroz, Because they came not to the help of the Lord, Judg. v. 13. to the help of the Lord against the mighty? What, have we so soon forgotten the old Proverb, Amyclas silentium perdidit? must we therefore be Dumb still, because others will need remain both Blind and Deaf? God forbidden: Isa. lxii. 1. Nay rather, For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace. For (to speak it out in time) do not all honest knowing men, (that are yet true to God, the King, and the Church) plainly perceive the old Cabales a foot again? Do not they hear again the confused Noise of Gebal, and Ammon, Psal. lxxxiij. 7.12. and Amaleck, of the Presbyterian, the Independent, and the Fanatic within the Land (left still, as the Canaanites in Israel, to be Thorns on our sides, Judg. xi. 22. to tempt, and to try us;) And of the Philistines also over Seas, all of them (though each of them, for their own several ends) as it were, mutually encouraging one another in the old style, Psal. lxxiij. 12. Let us take to ourselves again the houses of God in possession? Jugulent Homines surgunt de nocte Latrones. Horat. lib. Epist. 1. teipsum serves, non expergisceris?— 3. Though, in this New Project of Sacrilege, the old Devil may seem to be grown a dull Devil, for using still the same Method which he did practise in the old Plot; as Venomous Tongues, set on fire of Hell, Jam. iij. 6. base seditious Libels penned with the Devil's own Quill, Impudent Lies, Calumniare audacter, aliquid haerehit: The Devil's old Maxim. like Firebrands, scattered up and down among the giddy Multitude, to set them on again all in a flame: and all these boldly staring in the very face of Authority, and Truth: And all these flying furiously not upon the rascal-Deer, but upon the Fairest, nay upon the Shepherds, the Chief Pastors of God's Flock, that they being first smitten, the Sheep may the sooner be scattered abroad. Thus the Nimrod of Hell appears coming out again, to hunt out the Church-game with the same old Pack of Hounds, that at the first did but Bark to give the onset, but being suffered to go on Unmuzzled, and Untied, did both backbite and by't sore, and in the end, did worry also both the Royal Shepherd, and the scattered Sheep: Heu Probatum est! Therefore, may those, to whom it belongeth, have the Grace to look to it in time; and let all those that will still want that Grace, at the least, learn more Wit from past Experience, the Mistress of Fools. 4. That we may not add to their Number, we that durst in that time of Open Rebellion, Anno 1646. Charge on with Courage in the Tyrant's very Face, (because then under the Command of a Gracious King, now Reigning glorious in Heaven) we should justly deserve, after the old Roman Discipline, to be let blood for Cowards, if we should flee off, or faint now, Teucro Deuce, we Marching on, as yet, under the Royal Standard of so Great, and so Gracious a Prince, willing and able, by God's Assistance, to Defend the Truth against all the Herds of Heretics and Schismatics, be their Malice as endless, as it is causeless against the Truth: The worst I wish them all is, that they were able to taste and see, at least in this their day, those Royal Favours which the King, both Father and Son, hath so graciously served up unto them in his multiplied Pardons, and not wilfully go on still (in a Diabolical Antiperistasis) to turn into wantonness the Grace of both the King of Heaven, Judas iv. and the King on Earth, to their own Destruction. 5. For my part, I have now faithfully served Two KINGS these Eight and twenty years, always resolute, and resolved with old S. Hierom, Epist. That melius est mendicare panem, quàm perdere fidem; (Though, through God's favour, 'tis well known, I was never brought so low yet) and after all the strange Revolutions of both Kings, I thank God, I do, with inward comfort, find myself to be where I was full Forty years ago, when first (not out of constraint, but out of choice, because out of Judgement) I gave my Name to the Church of England: and where (whether by doing, or by suffering, either way, God's will be done) I do fully purpose to be still, that is, In the Bosom of (a) Quod si me conjectura non fallit, totius Reformationis pars integerrima est in Anglia. Ubi cum studio Veritatis viget studium Antiquitatis: quam certi homines dum spernunt, in laqueos se induunt, unde nisi mendacio postea exuere se nequeunt. Ita hostibus veritatis non solum risus praebetur, sed etiam partes illorum mirificè confirmantur. Nemo seriò versatus in Antiquitate, hoc verum esse negaverit: Sed multos amor partium cogit mentiri. Isaacus Casaubonus Epistola XL. ad Claudium Salmas. A full testimony of the Eminency of the Church of England above all other Reformed Churches! But this was written Anno 1612. (above Fifty years ago.) the best Church in Christendom, both for Verity, and for Antiquity, both for Christian Doctrine, as also for Catholic Discipline; (If a most Learned Forreiner, great Isaac Causabon may be Judge, (a man of Geneva for Birth, Education, and once a Professor there.) 6. But alas, our Vices are so great, for want of sincere practice of the holy Doctrine, our Divisions so many, for want of sufficient Power for the due Execution of godly Discipline, That this Eminent Church is now in a far worse State than when I first had the Happiness and Honour to know it: Hei mihi, qualis erat! Like Haggai's second Temple, Hag. two. 3. & Ezra iij. 12. in glory nothing like the first. God in mercy restore it, and preserve it, chief from the furious Invasion of those barbarous Zamzummins, those Legions of Atheists that now bid open Defiance to Heaven: Atheists of all sorts, of all sizes. First, Dogmatical Atheists, worse than the Devils in Hell (for the Devils themselves believe and tremble) But these Incarnate Devils (Monsters of Men) do openly deny God, Jam. two. 19 and so, as much as in them lies, rob God of his Essence, of his Providence (which is Real Sacrilege indeed) For to deny there be any such Dogmatical Atheists, when they publish it themselves, were either a very stupid Charity, or a very gross Connivance, and indeed a sin of participation with them.) Secondly, Practical Atheists, that rob God of his Attributes, of his Holiness, and of his Justice, Tit. i. 16. when they profess that they know God, but in works they deny him, being abominable and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate: (which is rotten, and reigning Hypocrisy.) This present evil World is full of such practical Atheists. Thirldy, Atheists Pragmatical, (worst of all) Doctors of Atheism, that set themselves in the Chair of Pestilence, Psal. i. 1. according to the Septuagint, Aethiopick, and Vulgar Latin Translations. (as it were with Authority, Ease, and Delight,) set up Schools of Atheism, where in their damnable Rage against God that made them, against the Lord that bought them, * II. Pet. two. they Train up Novices in the Black Art of Atheism, (the highest kind of Sacrilege:) Unworthy therefore to live (both Masters and Scholars) worthy to die, for by the Judicial Law of God, the Blasphemer was to be stoned to death by the whole Congregation. Levit. xxiv. 16. Next to whom march on those Brutish Sadduces, that basely degrading themselves to the low form of brute Beasts, do deny or dispute the Immortality of the Soul of Man, which is another kind of damnable Sacrilege against all Mankind: Beastly Epicures bring up the Rear of the Hellish Regiment, polluting their own Bodies that should be God's Temples, (which is heinous Sacrilege again) with the Vomit of Drunkenness, and all manner of Excess, wallowing in the Mire of Uncleanness (open Adulteries) whose God is their belly, Phil. iij. 19 and whose glory is in their shame, and whose end will be destruction, (whatever they be, for God hath no respect of persons) except they Repent and amend their lives. Meanwhile, God help his Church (that Lily among Thorns) so compassed about of all sides with thus many Capital Enemies, Cantic. two. 2. that except Deus in monte vouchsafe to come down with Power, to interpose his Infinite Wisdom and Mercy (only for his Names sake, for we are far gone) to Correct our Disorders, to Compose our Divisions and Distractions, all sober and godly men do justly fear that a just God may so dash us one against another, Zach. xi. 7. till both the Staves of Beauty and Bands (Doctrine and Discipline) being quite broken asunder, the Common Enemy break in upon us all, to fill up the Period of our Judgements; because Impudent and Incorrigible, and Impenitent as we are, and that also with as much Ingratitude as Impunity, (the four fatal Prognostics of the final destruction of any Church or Nation) we will go on still desperately to fill up the measure of our sins. For hath not God tried all the ways of unparallelled Mercies and Judgements upon this Nation, above all other Nations on the face of the Earth, to save us yet, if it be possible? Hath not God visited us in fury, speaking to us in flaming Fire, both by Sea and Land, devouring us both by Plagues, without example, (for their Rage and Ruin) and also by the bloody Sword both at home and abroad: Hath not God almost spent all his Arrows to warn and to reclaim us from our wickednesses? when his Vocal word did not prevail, because we still neglecting, or abusing it: Hath not God added his Real Word; for God's Judgements have a Voice, If we had the grace to hear it; Hear ye the Rod (saith the Prophet, Micha vi. 9) and who hath appointed it: And are we grown better for all God's Mercies and Judgements? What remains then but a fearful expectation of the final Judgement of God, to utter destruction? of which sad Catastrophe, (by very wise men's more than bare Conjecture) Sacrilege may be thought though not the only Sin, yet the most demeriting sin, if not also the efficient sin of most of our other sins, and sorrows, of our National Miseries: So that when ever that terrible Destiny comes upon us (which God, in mercy, prevent still) mark it who will, Sacrilege will prove the Leader, which therefore to stop in its furious March, and to encounter valiantly, we have now again mustered up our Forces, but with a considerable Recruit in this our New Muster-Roll. 7. For though we purposely have retained much of the old Levy, which may therefore represent here some passages as unseasonable, albeit not at all impertinent, and which we could not well leave out without some Sacrilege against the Truth itself; yet we have done so, partly to show to the World, we were then the same men we are now both for Judgement, and also Resolution, so that though Tempora mutantur, nos non mutamur in illis: Partly, that by a wise comparison of the times past, and present, if they prove better now, or hereafter, then heretofore, we may entertain them with all thankfulness to God and the King: But if they should prove as bad, or worse (if worse may be) as our Sins and Errors make us fear, worse and worse: Then Experience of the time past, 1 Pet. iv. 4. as well as S. Peter's Caveat, for the time to come, having sufficiently warned us, in these last and worst days especially, not to think any think strange concerning the fiery Trial; we may then, like true Christians, arm ourselves aforehand with Faith and Patience, backed with an assured hope of a better World, the only Armour of Proof. 8. Yet, to the Considerate Reader, this Book will appear most-what a New Book, both for Matter and Form. For first, as to the Matter of it, it is in a great measure augmented, as by our Experience abroad, so by our Inquiry, and discovery at home of such Books as since the first Edition have been published for, or against this Subject; Two whereof especially (as to the main) we have taken in here, namely, that of Doctor Cornelius Burges (b) No Sacrilege, nor Sin to alien or purchase the Lands of Bishops, etc. By Cornelius Burges, An. 1659. [If such a Book for Sacrilege had the licentiousness of a Second Edition, for filthy lucre's sake, can any justly blame us for fairly taking the licence of a Second Edition against Sacrilege for God's sake?] and another of Mr. William Prynne, (c) A seasonable Vindication of the Jurisdiction of Christian Kings, etc. as well over the Possessions, as Persons of Delinquent Prelates, etc. By William Prynne Esquire, Anno 1660. which latter came not to our hands till this Book was already a good way in the Press. By which several oppositions this Work is increased with many Additions, so that from a transient (d) That SERMON was Preached in LENT, at CHRIST's- CHURCH in OXFORD, Anno 1646. Before KING CHARLES the I. Of Glorious Memory. Sermon at first, afterwards, by Royal Command, Printed into a short Treatise (for (e) S. Austin gives this Reason of writing Books for reading, Ut sic bonae Notiones quasi virgulis limatis figantur, ne ut aves evolent: That so good Notions may be held, as it were, with Lime-twigs, and not like skipping Birds fly away, as they often do, when a man only hears them, especially if he hear them with prejudice. permanency) it is now become a full Book: Thus to phrase it with the Poet, — Amphora coepit Institui, currente Rota cur Vrceus exit? Horat. So that I have found, by little and little, though with no little labour, that (as the Wiseman saith, Eccles. xxiv. 31.) My Book is become a River, and my River become a Sea. This to the Matter, and also for the Length of it. 9 As to the Form of it, whereas it was before Composed in a continued Discourse, and therefore more tedious, and probably less profitable to the common Reader; It is now disposed into Chapters and Sections, as it were so many short Stages, a better Method, to give both Light and Ease to the Reader, learned and unlearned. 10. As for the Delay of this Second Edition hitherto (for which yet we must thank Providence, which hath thereby occasioned those necessary Additions) 'Tis true, we were divers times summoned to appear again, against this Common Enemy of the Church, by the multiplied desires not only of many of the Clergy, and some of them, the Right Reverend Fathers of the Church, but even also by some of the Noble and generous Sons of the Church, men of the Laity: For that sour Leaven of Sacrilege, though now very far spread, yet hath it not (through God's Providence) so utterly leavened the whole lump, God be thanked for it: But as before the King's Restauration, to have followed this Truth, too near at the heels, it might (and that without success) have dinged out our Teeth, if not our Head (after so many more of our betters:) So, since the Restauration, I could not, though I did both intent, and also endeavour it, overtake the opportunity; Being in the year 1661. honourably engaged (and that still with the Royal leave) in the Service of that valiant Achilles of Christendom, George Ragotzi the II. Prince of Transylvania, my late gracious Master, who, for the space of seven years had honoured me with the Divinity-Chair in his University of Alba-Julia, the Metropolis of that Noble Country, and endowed me (a mere stranger to him) with a very ample Honorary; till in that very Year, that Prince dying of his Wounds, received in his last Memorable Battle with the Turks at Gyalu, the care of his Solemn Obsequies was committed to my Charge by his Relict, Princess Sophia, whereby I was kept a year longer out of England, (my most desired Haven, that other being but my Bay, pro tempore;) That Function I did perform, at least in part, to discharge my duty of Gratitude towards the Dead, for the Benefits received from him when living; whose Memory shall ever live precious in my Breast, and to whose Sacred Manes (abhorring Ingratitude) I could not but Dedicate this grateful Digression, if it be one. Being recalled thence by a gracious Letter from his Majesty to that Prince then living, I did, Anno 1661. in due Obedience, return safe, though Per varios casus, per tot discrimina rerum: In all which, Acts xxvi. 22. having obtained help of God, I continue unto this day. 11. Ever since my Return into England, to this very year, I have had my hands full, as of my many public Functions in my scattered Stations, so of sundry very tedious, and most expensive Suits at Law, (being engaged to fight, as well as to write against Sacrilege) in the practical Defence of the Church from sacrilegious Invasion, and Usurpations, to vindicate and establish (though with my own personal loss) the Rights of Succession: In none of all which, that I never yet did miscarry, as I humbly bless that God who helpeth them to Right that suffer wrong, so, under God, Psal. cxlvi. 7. I must thankfully acknowledge the Impartial Justice of the Reverend Judges. O that I might now but close up in Peace, this last Period of my troublesome Life! 12. And I would to God that this Work now come out at last, were utterly unnecessary, or unseasonable, even at this time: I wish from my heart, that we of this Nation were so free from the old, and so secured from new Sacrilege, that there should be no need at all of this Plea against Sacrilege: 1 Sam. xv. 14. But what meaneth then the bleating of the Sheep (the People) and the lowing of the Oxen (the Partisans) in our Ears? which even tingle with, not flying Reports, but loud and lewd Out-cries and Attempts of the havoc intended again against this one poor Church, and that also by such unworthy Instruments (to describe them in the late King's own words) Whose fortunes can hardly be worse, but who would therefore make them better by Sacrilege: were it not for a just King, and for an honest Parliament, that do still ponere obicem (whom God bless with Constancy, and with Success accordingly) to whom in this great Crisis of Affairs, to be humbly subservient (only in our own way) I have thought myself obliged many ways; 1. As a dutiful Son of this Church. 2ly, As a faithful Priest of the same: And 3ly, I might further add (modestly) ex officio also, by virtue of that Dignity, which by our Law, (f) Provideant Archidiaconi de Possessionibus, ut ita singulis annis proficiant, ne Ecclesia suo Jure defraudetur. Lindw. l. 1. Tet. 9 de Offic. Archidiac. pag. 42. Edit. 1664. & gloss. ibid. Roberti Sharrock LL. D. Vide insuper ad idem, Constit. Othonis, Tit. 19 De Archidiaconis. in special, binds every Archdeacon expressly, To defend the Possessions of the Church, that the Church be not defrauded of its Right (a threefold Cord, one would think, should not easily be broken, Eccles. iv. 12.) This we mention, that none may trouble us with an impertinent Quis requisivit: or give it out, that we take up Arms without Commission in this Public Service for God, (whom we chief eye in this Cause) for the Church of God, in the Defence of the Just Power, Primitive Prelacy, and due Patrimony thereof: Though this Work is not intended, nor prosecuted neither for the Church only; For who ever shall take the pains to read all, shall find that (according to our Oath) 1. The Sacred State, and inviolable MAJESTY of the King's Person: The King's Preeminence, and his just Prerogative, His Supreme Negative Voice, in the Legislative Power (a chief Jewel of his Crown.) 2ly, The Parliament's Legal Authority, Prudence, and Piety. 3ly, The Vniversitie's Colleges, and Revenues, (the Pillars of Church and State, as that great King James, that Miracle of Learning wisely (g) Studia bonarum Artium Ornamenta Regnorum ducimus, & Firmamenta. Rectissimè Seneca, & ad nos; Etsi nostra magis refert fortiores fieri quàm doctiores, tamen alterum sine altero non fit: non enim aliundo venit animo rohur quàm à bonis artibus, & à Contemplatione Naturae. Ignoscimus Philosopho, quod non adjecerit Studia Pietatis, quae nos tamen ante omnia semper poscinus & meritissimè. Regum doctissimus Jacobus Epist. ad Isaacum Casaubonum. determines it, like himself.) 4ly, The true Liberties, and Property of the Subject; all these, and much more, as occasion is given, are both inserted, and also asserted in this Book: All these being, as in a political Concameration, mutually, though not equally, supporting and supported one by another, and so linked together in the Golden Chain of a mutual Interest, that they consequently, and that also commonly, stand or fall together. 13. As for us, * Quamvis nesciamus an in Extremis aliquid tentare Medicina sit, certè nihil tentare Flagitium. Salvian. we must do our part, what ever becomes of this Work (for we may not divine) we have learned from the wise Arabes (among whom I do not repent, that I did live) some time) to trust in the truth of that Proverb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is, Vnicuique operae praemium: There is a Reward belongs to every work; Nay every good Work will be a kind of Reward to itself: And if that fail us, yet still we will fix our trust upon a far surer Oracle, Isa. xlix. 4, 5. that, Though Israel be not gathered, yet our Judgement is with the Lord, and our Works with our God. 14. But indeed we should think it a sufficient Reward if this poor Work might prove but a Warning-piece to all whom it may concern, to Persuade them, that they may not wilfully venture still upon the Plague of Sacrilege: O trust not in Wrong and Robbery! Psal. lxii. 10. which usually ends in fatal Beggary: For, even in this World, God visits it in fury, that we say nothing of the World to come, where all Church-Robbers may be sure God will meet with them, and there they shall not escape. Meanwhile, God, alto Judicio, either takes away Posterity from their Estates, or withdraws Prosperity from their Posterity: 'Tis very usual; As St. Luke in another sense, Luke xvii. 32. Remember Lot's wife, so may one say, Remember Cornelius Burges, (h) This terrible Example of the Judgement of God for Sacrilege upon the Person of Cornelius Burges, such a notorious Doctor, and also Practitioner of Sacrilege, we may observe, without Temerity: It is the more memorable because so domestical, so visible, and yet so fresh in our Memories, therefore we could not well omit it, without some kind of Sacrilege, both against God's Justice, and Man's Posterity. Take it thus as upon my inquiry, it hath been attested both by that true Convert, the valiant, and zealous Sir Richard Brown himself, Alderman, and Major General of the City of London, (I had it from his own mouth, the Letter itself having been consumed in that fatal Deluge of Fire) as also from his faithful Referendary, the Reverend Mr. John Durel, that judicious and laborious Advocate for the Church of England, both in word, and deed, by his learned Books, and by his labour of love to this Church, under the King, being the Founder, and, by procured Benevolences, the Maintainer of the French Church at the Savoy, a goodly Pattern, and Precedent, for Imitation, of the best Reformation, Secundùm Usum Ecclesiae Anglicanae: we cannot deliver it in better terms than it is expressed in his Letter to me (bearing date the 7th of January 1662.) Give me leave, saith this worthy Author, to furnish you with such an Argumentum ad Hominem, as will not only confute that Party, but is able to make all, who have any fear of God, to keep their hands from meddling with any of those Lands, which the Piety of Christians hath Consecrated for the Maintenance of Christ's Ministers. About four years since, being with the worthy Major General of the City of London, Sir Richard Brown, and remembering that Doctor Britain of Detford had told me he had seen in the hands of the said Major General a Letter of D. Cornelius Burges, wherein he acquainted him, that he was brought to great want and poverty, and that he was eaten up with a Cancer in his Neck, and Cheek: I desired Sir Richard to do me the Favour to show me D. Burges his Letter, which was presently granted me; And there I read these very words to the best of my remembrance, I am reduced to want a piece of bread, and am eaten up with a Cancer in my Neck, and Cheek, as this Bearer my Son may better Inform you. Yet the man was not so humbled by that heavy, and exemplary Judgement of God, but that he added, Sir, mistake me not, I do not beg, I only acquaint you with my condition, and do you what is fit. 'Tis known this man had a great yearly Income; He was besides a Purchaser of a considerable Estate of the I. Bishop of Bath and Wells' Lands, which he enjoyed long enough to reimburse himself, and much more than so: and how he could be reduced to that extreme poverty, is not easily to be guessed at, unless his Sacrilegious Purchase proved as a Cancer to his other Estate to devour it up. And who knows but God, in his Mercy, to make him sensible of his sin, sent that other [Cancer] on his body, and set him up for an Example to this Impious Age, as it were with this Inscription: Discite Justitiam Moniti, & non temnere Divos. I must not omit that I am told, Dr. Burges died a very penitent man, frequenting with great Zeal and Devotion the Divine Service of the Church of England till his death, which happened about two years ago. Thus far Mr. Durel's words: I must add my hearty wish, that D. Burges had himself, before his death, by some authentic Instrument (as public as his Book for Sacrilege) Retracted, since he could not Restore, and declared to the World, this his Repentance, to put all good men's Charity out of doubt. Meanwhile, let all that hear, or read this Singular Example, give God his Due (as did the Emperor Mauritius) Justus es, Domine, & Rectum Judicium tuum (Psal. cxix. 137.) And Observe God's wonderful wisdom, that commonly Punishment is the Anagram of Sin, wherein, as in Capitals, every one may read, That Beggary in that man's Estate was the Reward of Robbery; the Sore there answerable to the Sin of Sacrilege, and also the Cancer in his Body answerable to the Cancer of his Schism; For their word doth eat as doth a Canker, or Gangrene) saith the Apostle, 11 Tim. two. 17. As if God had written upon his Forehead Sennacherib's Epitaph, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Let every one that looks upon me learn to be godly. and a thousand more, that in the Balance of their final account have found this sad propoposition too true a Prophecy, That the Interest of Sacrilege hath devoured the Principal: As if all their Gains that way had been put into the Prophet's Bag with holes: Hagg. i. 6. yet for all this men will not become wise. 14. But we are loath to let our Sun set in a Cloud, rather therefore to end all in Prayer, I beseech God that this honest Work may prove a Graft of that good Tree, Psalm i 3. which bringeth forth his fruit in due season: That all, from the King to the Subject, may find Relish in it, and reap Benefit by it; That all the King's true Servants, and loyal Subjects may never fail to give him (as they are most bounden) honest and faithful Counsels, hearty and ready Obedience, constant and courageous Defence, to the Glory of God, and the Peace, Power, Plenty, and Prosperity of this great Nation: and (in order to all these Blessings) That God forgiving our Sins, amending our Lives, uniting all our hearts and Hands, will yet, in Mercy, hear the daily Prayer of his Church, Da pacem, Domine, in diebus nostris! Amen. ERRATA. I. In the Text. PAge 19 Line 4. for closely, read close: p. 20. l. 16. for the, r. their: p. 27. l. 8. for remaing, r. remaining: p. 28. l. 14. for live, r. have lived: p. 31. l. 28. for observers, r. observes: p. 34. l. 18. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: p. 55. l. 21. from the word Cathedraticum to & seq. p. 56. l. 5. all this should have been in the Margin, which being put into the Text obscures the sense. p. 57 l. 11. for Ministers, r. Ministry: p. 116. l. 14. (b) for ordes, r. order: p. 133. l. 20. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: p. 135. l. 29. These words, and really punished also, are to be within a Parenthesis thus (): p. 155. l. 14. after all, add is. II. In the Margin. PAge 49. Line 12. for Aleppo, read Aleppo: p. 132.— after page, add 120. 123. p. 133. after pig, add 69. ibid. l. 12. r. wesembec: p. 165. l. 1. add Genes. xlvii. 22.26. p. 171. l. 32. before majesty's, add late: p. 192. l. 4. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: p. 199. l. ult. after 1626. add above: p. 209. l. 14. for Ecclica, r. Ecclesiae: ibid. l. 16. for Lundonicae, r. Lundoniae: ibid. l. 27. after example of, add William the Conqueror: p. 228. l. 32. add Ezek. 1.16. A Wheel in the middle of a wheel. ¶ Note, That through a mistake, from Page 113, to 120. the Pages have the same Number twice, which to distinguish, we have added the letter (a) to the first Number, and the letter (b) to the second. A TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS. The INTRODUCTION, Page 1. CHAP. I. OF the Sacrilegious Malefactor, Page 5 CHAP. II. The Description of Sacrilege, Page 12 CHAP. III. The Distribution of Sacrilege, Page 27 CHAP. iv Of the Parties against whom the sin of Sacrilege is committed, and here first of the Priest, as God's Usufructuary only. Page 44 CHAP. V That the Sin of Sacrilege is an offence against God himself, who is the great Proprietary of the Revenues of the Clergy, Page 58 CHAP. VI Of God's heavy Curses against Sacrilegious, both Persons, & Nations. Page 68 CHAP. VII. The Confutation of the fair Colours of Religion, brought in to Varnish over the foul sin of Sacrilege, Page 113 CHAP. VIII. A full Confutation of Three Reasons of State, or Pretences of Policy, for the Practice of Sacrilege, namely, 1. Justice upon Delinquents. 2. Public Peace. 3. State-Necessity. Page 130 CHAP. IX. Of the King's solemn Oath at his Coronation, whereby the King is Obliged, as in Point of Honour, as he is a Man, so in Point of Justice, as he is a Magistrate, and likewise in Point of Conscience, as he is a Christian, constantly to Grant, Preserve, and Defend the Rights of the Church, Page 168 CHAP. X. The Confutation of the fourth Politic Pretence of a Legislative Power, Page 174 CHAP. XI. That the sin of Sacrilege is a great SNARE, and also Condemned as by the Divine, so by the Canon, Civil, Saxon, and by the Common, and Statute-Laws of the Realm, Page 188 CHAP. XII. A Cloud of Domestical, and also a Triumvirate of foreign Witnesses, Luther for Germany, Calvin for France, and Knox for Scotland, all deposing against Sacrilege, Page 198 The Recapitulation of all, Page 212 Sacrilege ARRAIGNED By SAINT PAUL. ROM. 2.22. Thou, that abhorrest Idols, dost thou commit Sacrilege? INTRODUCTION. Sect. 1. IN the Primitive Church, there was a Godly Discipline, That in Lent, notorious Offenders were put to Open Penance; that, by this Temporal Punishment, they might be reclaimed, and so escape God's Eternal Doom. This wholesome Course, our holy Mother the Church doth wish (a) At the beginning of the Commination. might be reform again; till when, (in some degree at least) to comply with our Mother's Godly Intentions, it might prove very good Service to the Church, and to men's Souls too, if at such a time and occasion as this, we also would keep our Spiritual Lenten Assizes, (as I may say) If every one of us that is called up to this great Place and Duty, would, for his Task, lay hold of some such one notorious Offender, and Arraign him by Preaching down the sin, (which to a guilty Conscience may prove a kind of Penance also.) But if then every man's Conscience would join with the Preacher, to prosecute the Indictment, and pass sentence upon it, and accordingly submit it to due Execution: Ah, how soon might such a National Penitent course, rid this miserable Land of all those National Sins that have pulled down these National Judgements, which now are Incumbent upon us, till we all, King, Priest, and People, sink under the heavy weight of them! 2. However, to contribute my service towards so good a Work, as the Removal of God's Judgements from this Nation, I have singled out one notorious Offender, that deserves the open Penance as much as any; 'Tis Sacrilege, a reigning Sin, that seems to want nothing now but the Ceremony of Coronation, I mean, the Consent of the Crown: The want whereof (under God's admirable prevention) is, as yet, the only Bar in Law, that hinders this Tyrant-Sin from becoming an absolute Conqueror over this whole Church and Nation, and then from triumphing over, and leading away Captive this Eldest Daughter of the Catholic Church. For, to omit at this time our other National sins, of all other sins, this sin of Sacrilege, hath proved the fatal Passing-Bell to whole Nations, whole Empires. Very Paynims, by the dim light of Nature, could see this truth: would you think that a Virgil, or an Horace, (b) Horat. Carm. l. Ode 6. Ad Romanos, [Britannos] De moribus sui seculi corruptis. would impute their National Changes, Revolutions, and public Calamities, as to sin in general, so to this very sin of Sacrilege in particular? yet is this their own Observation. Take it in a Natural Sorites; The sin of Sacrilege is in the Consequences of it, Delicta majorum immeritus lues Roman: donec templa refeceris Aedesque labentes Deorum, & Foeda nigro Simulachra fumo, Diis te minorem quod geris, imperas. Hinc omne principium huc refer exitum. Dî multa neglecti dederunt Hesperiae mala luctuosae. Virgil. 2. Aeneid. Excessere omnes adytis, arisque relictis, Dî quibus imperium steterat.— first a Decay, and then at last by degrees, an utter overthrow of the Service of God: The overthrow of God's Service, provokes God to a Departure: (There needs no other Evocation from without: V. de la Cerda ibid. Plin. Histor. l. 28. c. 2. Macrob. Saturnal. l. 3. c. 9 The footsteps of all which Evocations, and Departures you have Ezek. 10.4.18, 19 Then the glory of the Lord departed from over the threshold of the House, etc. ) God's departure from a Nation, is always the forerunner of final destruction: So did Joshua and Caleb conclude the period of the Canaanites, (c) See Ainsw. on Num. 14.9. & Num. 22.6. Neptunus' in Trod, apud Euripid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Their shadow (that is God) is departed from them, and the Lord is with us, therefore they are bread for us, etc. It were easy to accumulate National Instances: witness the whole Jewish Church and Nation, translated by the (d) 2 Chron. 36.4.17.21. Chaldees into utter Captivity, for this very sin of Sacrilege expressly; and particularly for the Sacrilegious profanation of God's House, and of the Seventh or Sabbatical year; and for the other Natural Branch thereof, the contempt of the Priest, the greater Sacrilege of the two, saith the (e) Gravius contra personam quam contra locum, Aquin. 22ae q. 99 School: witness once more, the Great Babylonian Monarchy, for this very particular sin of Sacrilege, saith God himself, (f) Dan. 5.23. translated within less than the space of an hundred years, (g) The Sacred Vessels were carried by Nabuchadnezzar, Anno Mundi 3360. and the Assyrian Monarchy expired, Anno 3430. according to some men's computation. from those very Chaldees to the Medes and Persians. I pray God that in these sad Stories, I do not read out unto you your own Destiny: To avert it for our part, behold a direct Bill of Indictment preferred against that fatal sin of Sacrilege, by one of God's chief Apostles, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; Thou that sayest a man should not commit Adultery, dost thou commit Adultery? Thou that abhorrest Idols, dost thou commit Sacrilege? 3. In this Indictment you have these two plain natural Parts, the Malefactor, and the Crime. 1. The Malefactor is described by his Religion, he is a Professor, yea, a Zealot, one that abhors Idols. 2. The Crime laid to his Charge is Sacrilege: Touching which we shall deliver, 1. Matter of Declaration. 2. Matter of Aggravation. 3. Matter of Probation. And by that time the Case is thus argued out; we shall desire no more favour than shall be due to the fairness of our Evidence from clear Scripture, and sound Reason, the two Master-Pillars of a Just Cause, the only ground of our good hope that the Sentence will go of our Client's side: for 'tis Causa Dei, that is to be pleaded before you this day, and 'tis God is the Client; pardon the word, for so it is God, although, the Jure, the great Patron-Paramount of you, and of us all, that yet, as the matter is used now adays, is, de facto, turned Client, and makes you now his Judges, who one day must judge you all, high and low: Then, as at that day you look for Mercy at his hands, do him this Justice, I beseech you, give Audience without prejudice or partiality, with Reverence and Conscience, harken to God's Charge, Thou that abhorrest Idols, dost then commit Sacrilege? CHAP. I. Of the Sacrilegious Malefactor. TO begin with the first, The Malefactor, he is described here, first in general, by his Titles of Religion, secondly, in particular, by his Titles of Office; for to all these in the Context, the Text hath a plain Reference. Sect. 1. First, in general he is described, by his Titles of Religion, for 'tis a Religious Malefactor; he is a Professor, nay, a forward one, a Zealot, described first positively, Behold thou art called a Jew, (verse 17.) and restest in the Law, (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, is the word, a full word) thou so wholly reliest upon thy bare profession of the Law, as thou art utterly careless (h) Aret. in loc. Securè legi indormiens, de reliquo nil solicitus. meanwhile of the practice of, or obedience to the Law, (as appears by the Text and Context, v. 23.) Thou that gloriest in, or makest thy boast of God, (you may please to save me the labour of application, change but the Names and you may have here a full Character of too too many men in our Generation) Thou pretendest to know the will of God (v. 18.) thou approvest the things that are more excellent, or (as the Margin reads it, (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. and the Original bears it.) Thou that presumest to take upon thee the Office of a Tryer, that canst try the things that differ, that canst try Religions, and in pretence choose out the best: Here is a forward one indeed, and that not only thus, positively a Zealot of the Law in his own Religion, (as he is termed, Acts 20.21.) But negatively too, a Zealot against the contrary Religion, one, that not only abstains from, but (which may seem the very Quintessence of Repentance of, and conversion from a sin) one that abhors Idolatry, that stops his Nose at the smell of an Idol, (so the Greek) (k) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which signifies an utmost stink, or the extremity of an ill savour. Vorst. q. d. propter foetotorem aversaris: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, execror, Budaeus: unde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Apoc. 21.27. Omnis generis atrocia peccata. that can startle or shake with horror at but the very sight of an Idol, so the Germane renders it, (l) Der du einen gruel hast, an den gotzen raubest heilige dinge? a Zealot indeed, and yet behold this is the man Indicted here by the Apostle, as a Malefactor, Thou that abhorrest, etc. as if Saint Paul arguing ab absurdo, had said thus, How canst thou pretend to be indeed an Enemy to Idolatry, as long as thou art a friend to Sacrilege, a sin in the appurtenances of it, as directly destructive of the first whole Table, nay more, of both Tables, (in the nature of Theft also) and therefore full out as bad as Idolatry? 2. But this is one of Satan's Deepest (m) Rev. 2.24. Depths: when the Devil can hold men no longer in an old sin, he is then wont thus to ring Changes, or to shift his Weapon, when he perceives men through Constitution, Education, or Profession, converted and averse from an old Error, he persuades them to some other new sinful course, full out as bad as the old; causing them to mistake, such an * The Devil's converts. Hypocritical Commutation of a new sin for and old, instead of a sound Conversion: as when men grow weary of Prodigality, he converts them to Covetousness; instead of an old carnal Lust, he persuades them to entertain a new one, as spiritual Pride, or Singularity, or Envy, and in time, to exchange this too, for Schism, or Sedition, or Rebellion; To avoid Superstition, he persuades them to utter Profaneness, the quite other extreme, as (n) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Basil. instead of Idolatry to give over themselves to Sacrilege: And as thus in the case of particular men's Conversions, so through God's just permission, yea, Judgement against National Hypocrisy, in the case of National changes too, or Reformation of Religion, Satan doth sometimes enlarge this his Depth, and as easily as single men, misleads into it whole Nations, whole Churches; when they are grown weary of a stolen Error, he presents them with a fresh, full out as rank as the former, only sweetened over with some plausible pretence of Zeal, or of the Purity of Religion. 3. This was here the very Case of some of the preciser sort, in the Nation of the Jews, for the Parties here Indicted are not Heathen, or Barbarians, or Scythians, but Jews, (which is a name (p) Verse. 28, 29. He is not a Jew which is one outwardly, etc. of profession) Professors of the then supposed old true Religion: or if you will (as (q) So the French, and the Italian of Diodati. some) enlarge it to the Roman Converts also, the Professors of the then Reformed Christian Religion: The observation will be still the same either way, That Zealous Professors may be deeply guilty of foul sins in general, of this foul sin of Sacrilege in particular. 4. But ex abundanti, to reconcile both these Expositions into one, why may not the Jews and Romans here be both one? such as were those strangers of Rome, (or stranger- Romans) (r) Acts 2.5. expressly called Jews and Proselytes, some of the old Jewish Dispersions (mentioned by St. (s) Jam. 1.1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. V Orationem Agrippae in Josepho. James) then converted by St. Peter's Preaching, and now confirmed by St. Paul's Epistle: for that those Roman Jews mentioned in the Acts, were but Sojourners at Jerusalem, and not Dwellers there, is plain from that Text well examined: so that those Roman Jews might by this time be returned Converts from Jerusalem to Rome, and be the men in part, to whom Saint Paul here directs this his Epistle: This is very probable, but whether they were or were not Jews unconverted, against whom St. Paul directs his Charge, it matters not. Dato, nedum concesso, that they were mere Jews, here lies the issue, Sacrilege is here made a plain parallel sin, and of the same nature with Adultery and Idolatry, Ergo, Sacrilege is a sin still under the Gospel, as much as Adultery or Idolatry, or else St. Paul says as good as nothing to his main drift and purpose in this whole Chapter, which is, to convince both Jew and Gentile of damnable hypocrisy, in doing as bad as others, whom yet they did condemn. Ergo, from the scope of the Text, it must needs follow in ordinary Logic, that as Adultery and Idolatry are breaches of the Moral Law, which Law concerns us christian's as much as it did the Jews; even so is Sacrilege too a breach of the same Moral Law, and in some respects, as you shall hear it proved anon, a greater sin under the Gospel, than under the Law. 5. Then what ever the Malefactor be, the Crime is the same: so that for all their outward profession of being God's own People, neither the Law, nor Circumcision, neither God's Word, nor his Sacraments, nor all the External advantages of Religion (otherwise excellent and glorious, if well used) shall avail them any further, than to (t) Verse 25.27. aggravate their just condemnation: Their pretence of Detestation of Idolatry will not serve the turn, as long as they continue in Sacrilege: what ever they be, Jews, or Christians, Laity, or Clergy; (God's own express distinction, as old as Moses) (u) Exod. 19.13. etc. Where the people are set down their bounds: 'Tis S. Greg. Nazianz. observation, etc. God hath no respect of persons, for if you mark it, the Malefactor is here Indicted, not only by his Titles of Religion; But, which is our second point of Examination, by his Titles of Office too, as he is a Doctor, or a Preacher; so runs the style in the Context. 6. Behold, saith the Apostle, (x) Verse 19.20, 21. thou art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness (an illuminate Generation) an Instructor of the Foolish, a teacher of Babes, which hast the form of Knowledge, and of the truth in the Law. Thou therefore which teachest another (y) Bene docere & malè vivere, quid aliud est quàm se suâ voce damnare? Prosper. teachest thou not thyself? Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit Adultery, dost thou commit Adultery? Thou that abhorrest Idols, dost thou commit Sacrilege? 7. It seems they that should have been the Guardians, were the Robbers, yea, Ringleaders in the spoil of God's House, turned Bethel into Bethaven, the House of God into a Den of Thiefs: Thiefs indeed, who to buy the High-Priesthood itself (z) Joseph: & Beza ex eo. not out of any love to the Office, (for Sectaries and Heretics, Pharises and Sadduces as they were, almost all of them, witness Annas the then Highpriest, a Sadducee himself, what cared they for the Office, so they had the Benecice) they did not spare to sell the Offerings, corrade the Sacrifices, rob God's Exchequer, to pay the Roman-Chapman, by whom all sacred things were then exposed to sale. I suppose you so apprehensive as not to expect an application of this, to our late Lay-Bishops, or Lay-Deans, in this one respect, still worse than the old Church-Thieves, that those did not abolish the Office, as keen as they were of the Benefice, but still had some care to preserve their Church in the old form, though very corrupt for the matter thereof. 8. The fair warning deducible from this History, may concern you all, that you may not be seduced by the smooth pretences, or false Principles of men, be their Titles never so specious, be they Doctors or Pastors, discontented Teachers, or popular Preachers; say they be of the Tribe of Levi, or of the Family of Chorah: yea should any of ourselves for our own particular advantage, go about to mince the matter, to persuade you that Sacrilege is no Sacrilege, believe us not: for, as one hath too truly observed it; I know not how, nor by what Destiny, (but by the Devil's co-operation) in the spoil of God's Demesnes, usually all of all sorts, join heads and hands: these three Avaritia Magnatum, Ambitio Sacerdotum & Superbia Populorum, both of old and of late, go hand in hand about it, commonly the Avarice of the Grandees, is still the Beldame; the ambition (a) Num. 16. of some greedy male-contented, and perhaps undeserving Priests, is the Midwife; and the Pride of the overweening vulgar (for (b) Quum excellimur, & instamur adversus Clerum, tum sumus omnes sacerdotes, quia Sacerdotes nos Deo & Patri fecit: quum ad per aequationem Disciplinae Sacerdotalis provocamur deponibus Insulas, & Impares sumus. Tertul. de Monogamia, c. 12. every man, the simplest man would be his own Priest, his own Bishop:) hath proved the unhappy Nurse to breed and bring forth all Church-Mischief. These three are never wanting, but always ready to help one another, and the Devil above all to rob God Almighty, which is the Crime charged here by the Apostle upon this Malefactor, and the second main part of our Discourse, to wit, the examination of the sin of Sacrilege, and that, as you may remember, the division three manner of ways, to wit, 1. By way of Declaration. 2. By way of Aggravation; and 3. By way of Probation. CHAP. II. The Description of Sacrilege. 1. TOuching the matter of Declaration, we shall deliver it first by way of Description, secondly by way of Distribution, of the sin of Sacrilege according to its several kinds and degrees. In the Description we may consider the sin of Sacrilege, as it is set down in the Text. 1. Absolutely, in its own nature. 2. Comparatively with those other parallel-sins expressed in the Text, and Context, to wit, Adultery, a most heinous sin against the second Table. Idolatry a most grievous Crime against the first Table. We begin with the first, the Consideration of the sin of Sacrilege absolutely, and in its own nature. Not to trouble you with any (c) Heins. ad loc. uncouth Exposition, but following the Father's (d) Deligendus est sensus è materiâ dicti: Regula Tertulliani, & Hilarii. Where the matter and the Context will bear it, we are to choose the most proper and literal sense. Aug. de Doctr. Christiana. sound Rule, in finding out the right sense of a Text: By Sacrilege here, is meant properly, the Abuse of (e) Aquin. in loc. things sacred, or belonging to the service of God, whether the Abuse be committed by way of (f) Violatione, vel surreptione. violation, through profaneness, or usurpation, through fraud, or covetousness (of which latter kind of real Sacrilege, you shall hear more anon, when we come to the matter of Aggravation:) but whether by Profanation, or Usurpation, either way, 'tis Sacrilege; so saith Calvin upon the place, and so Contzen the Jesuit, (witness enough we may have of all sorts, of all sides:) That this is the full extent or value of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to commit Sacrilege, is plain from the constant Etymology thereof, in the general (g) Phavorini, Lexicon, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. So Hesych. Suidas. Budaeus. Roberti Steph. Thesaurus. The great Greek Concordance given by Sir Henry Savile, to the public Library at Oxford. See there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 2 Mac. 13.6. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 2 Mac. 4.42. So Acts 19.37. Sacrilegium est propriè rerum sacrarum furtum, Papias. Nay, so the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Old Testament, (Gen. 49 27.) from whence directly the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek of the New Testament is derived, being applied to things Sacred, is properly to spoil, to pillage, or (for the capacity of those who are better versed in the new way of Robbing) to Plunder holy things? so the Germane of Rackaw renders this Text, Raubest heilige dinge: Rauben and Plundern, in that Language being full Synonymes. Current of Authors, Ecclesiastical, or Classical, Greek or Latin (for the word Sacrilegium:) And now, God be-thanked, it is clear by the letter of this Text, that there is still such a thing as Sacrilege, and that Sacrilege is a sin under the Gospel, as much as under the Law, a sin of as heinous a nature, and of as heavy a Consequence, as either Adultery or Idolatry; either of which, I hope, no Christian will deny to be sins under the Gospel, as well as under the Law. Here is a plain literal Text for both; a fair Foundation to build the rest of our discourse upon. This for the Grammatical Exposition of the Text. 2. As for the particular occasion thereof: 1. Some are of opinion, that the Apostle might, by the Holy Ghost, foresee this Error, that some Zelots (whether Jews or Romans, it matters not) under pretence of hating Idols, might presume to rob the Idol's Temples: and from this take their Hint most Expositors ancient and modern, (h) Chrysostom. Theoph. Calv. Estius ad loc. Greek and Latin, to paraphrase the Text thus; Thou that abhorrest Idols, dost thou (through sacrilegious Avarice) steal away the things sacrificed to Idols? From which general Exposition we may thus argue the Case: If the Apostle, and the holy Fathers did think the Robbing of an Idol, a false God, (i) As no Casuist doubts of it that a Turk may be guilty of Perjury, and for it be punished by the True God, If he forswear himself, though he swear but by Mahomet a false Prophet. to be Sacrilege, (and in Dionysius, and others, though but mere Heathen, the true God hath revenged it for such) then à majori, it must needs be high Sacrilege to steal away that which belongs to the true God indeed, unless they will make h●m a tamer Deity in his own Right, than in the Right of an Idol. 3. But secondly, the Syriack Expositor is yet more literal, and renders these words thus, Dost thou commit Sacrilege directly by those? dost thou spoil the house of the Sanctuary? (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) that is the word: (k) And that God Almighty hath still under the Gospel his Domum Sanctuarii, as well as under the Law, needs no other Text, than that plain Evangelical one, (Marc. 11.17. out of Isa. 56.7.) My house shall be called of (or to) all Nations the house of Prayer. Where 1. Even under the Gospel God doth still claim a house to himself? My house, by a plain right of appropriation. 2. That it must be so called, and so used too, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to, or of all Nations, which till the calling in of the Gentiles by the Gospel, could not be under the Law. either Exposition will serve the turn, That in the Apostle's judgement, 'tis Sacrilege to take away that which belongs to God, and to turn it into a profane or common use. 4. You may easily take an Estimate of the heinousness of the sin of Sacrilege in its own nature, by the worth of its opposite, the highest Virtue, the virtue of Religion, which Sacrilege (l) Aquin. directly overthrows: and therefore vi contrariorum, Sacrilege must needs be the basest Vice. A Thief, any ordinary Thief is a Person infamous by the Law, (m) I C. & Stat. concern. Ridesdale-men, etc. who yet robs but a man like himself; how base a Thief is he then that robs God, that robs his own God? for so God Indicts him expressly, (n) Malach. 3.8. and so both the Greek and the (o) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Suid. Bud. Gotts-Dieb. In Classical Authors 'tis an Epithet of highest aggravation, when a thing is called Sacrilegious, as Vipera & Sacrilega sunt convicia comica & apta in Ancillas & mulieres improbas, &c Chabot in 5. Epod. Horat. Bellum Sacrilegum Cic. 7. in Verr. Sacrilegi furores Martial. Germane, and the Saxon, your old Language term him, God's Thief, that is his Brand. Nay, one degree worse yet, for Sacrilege is a Vice opposite to the virtue of Religion, not simply, or in any inferior degree, but in its heroical degree of Excellency; It particularly opposeth Devotion, which is Religion in its Zenith, in its height; It being an holy promptitude to honour God with our substance, as well as with our service, one of the highest Expressions of our duty to our Maker, and of the homage we can perform to God Almighty, whilst we are upon Earth: which doth as near as may be at this distance fasten us (to use the phrase of that Divine Heathen) (p) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Hierocl. Knit us together with God. unto God heart and hand, and all: Then sure the quite contrary disservice can be no Gnat, which very Pagan's themselves out of mere common Notions, have ever strained at; to say nothing of all Christendom besides. And as Sacrilege is thus heinous in its own nature, so it will appear more horrible still, being compared with the Parallel-sins it is matched withal in the Context: Noscitur ex socio, is an old Say; And this is our second Point in order, to make up the full description of this sin, to wit, by way of Comparison. 5. The sins near of kin to Sacrilege, are here set down to be, 1. Adultery, and 2. Idolatry; damnable sins both of them in whomsoever, in the Christian, as well as in the Jew: so that with as much Reason may any man affirm the sins of Adultery or of Idolatry, to concern only the Jews, and not us Christians, because St. Paul seems here to speak to the Jews, as to say so of Sacrilege, or with as much reason may any man deny Adultery or Idolatry, to be sins now under the Gospel, as deny Sacrilege to be a sin still, for the ground in this Text is the same for both; and therefore by a plain Argument, à pari at least, Sacrilege must needs be a sin of the same nature, that is as damnable in a Christian, as in a Jew, under the Gospel, as under the Law. As for the first Adultery, that can be no Peccadillo, no sin in jest, that in earnest was died in the blood of 25000 (q) Num. 25.9. all at once: and for which millions lie now frying in Hell. But yet, as heinous as Adultery is, 'tis the observation of some learned Interpreters (r) Mendoca. in 1 Reg. 2.17. upon the Text; that 1. Whereas God stayed patiently a twelvemonth, before he did reprove King David for his Adultery: but for the sin of Sacrilege, God did arraign and condemn too King Uzziah, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. (s) 2 Chron. 26.20, 21. In the very act, as we say, which, Caeteris paribus, is more severe. 2. God did not deprive King David of his Royal Office for his Adultery, but for his Sacrilege, God degraded from the Throne King Uzziah. 3. God did set no personal, visible mark of his Justice upon King David himself for his Adultery; but for his Sacrilege, God did fix the mark of his wrath upon King Uzziah's Forehead, as the most visible place, for a fair warning: and so God does still generally punish sacrilegious persons, even here upon Earth temporally, yea, visibly: One memorable Instance for the Aggravation of the sin of Sacrilege above Adultery, our Lord and Master hath left us upon Record: for when the great Bishop and Shepherd of our Souls came to visit his Metropolis Jerusalem, and found sacrilegious Chapmen trading there: Though our Lord had waved to give any Sentence or Judgement, (t) Luc. 12.14. John 8.11. as in the case of Inheritance, so in the case of Adultery, yet he passeth sentence and judgement, and himself executeth present penalty, in the very Act, against the Sacrilegious Abusers of his House. His Whip of small Cords, as St. Hierom amplifies it, (u) Matth. 21. wrought a greater Miracle than any in the whole Gospel: Quòd unus homo, & illo tempore contemptibilis, etc. potuerit ad unius flagolli verbera tantam ejicere multitudinem. Such was our supreme Visitor's divine zeal and fiery indignation against Sacrilege, that he himself is both Accuser, Witness, Judge, and Executioner, which is very singular, and only in the case of Sacrilege: And which is yet more, this penal Miracle is also redoubled (as Pharaoh's Dream for certainty) and acted twice over by our Lord, for the full confirmation and ratifying of the Penalty to all ensuing Ages and Generations: As both learned Grotius on John 11.14. and judicious Mr. Mede very well observe: Christ made the Correction of Sacrilege both the Alpha and the Omega of his Episcopal Care. And yet let no profane Esau (t) Heb. 2.16. wrest this Parallel to an Extenuation of that sin of Adultery, which, of all others, God hath threatened to reserve unto his own Judicatory; because the close Adulterer presuming to do that work of darkness in the presence of the Immortal God, which he durst not do in the presence of a mortal man, highly defies the Omni-science and Omni-presence of God: Therefore in the matter of Vriah's Wife, God, who hath no respect of persons, threatens David, though a King, That because he did it secretly, God would punish him openly before all Israel, and before the Sun, (2 Sam. 12.2.) and the Apostle confirms the Commination, saying, That Whoremongers and Aulterers God will judge: (u) Heb. 13.4. And if so, where shall then the Church-Robber, or sacrilegious person appear? 6. Secondly, as for the other Parallel-sin, the sin of Idolatry, to which Sacrilege is here compared. 'Tis true, Idolatry is a heinous sin, whether in Pagan Impiety, or Popish Superstition, or simplicity; for a (x) Isa. 44.19. rational Creature, to fall down to the stock of a Tree, is able to provoke the jealousy of a patiented God, (and jealousy is anger in the height of fury) which therefore in the proportion of God's Justice, must needs presuppose a very high Offence: And so the Jews conceived of it, acknowledging to this day (at their solemn Feast of Expiation) their Idolatry about the Calf, (y) Moses Gerundensis. and that an Ounce of it, is still an Ingredient to all their National punishments: and in this, the ancient Christian Church was even with the Jew for detestation of Idolatry; witness against the Religious use of Images in Churches, that rigid Fact of Epiphanius, and the rigour of the Council of Eliberis, as also the prudent wariness of the old Catholics in their slow admission of them: for 'tis very well known to the Learned, that Images were not received into the Church but t'other day in comparison, and that not without very great opposition neither; all this ado about Images, was, as to avoid all appearance of evil, in those Pagan times and places especially, so to express their devout fear of slipping into that occasional Error, into which some Western Churches first, and, after the seducing example, some of the Eastern-Churches also are foully fallen at last by little and little: yet as bad as, by all this, Idolatty may appear, Sacrilege must needs be at least, full out as damnable a sin as Idolatry, If (y) Calvin may be Judge, (s) Scitè Apostolus opponit Idololatriae Sacrilegium, tanquam rem ejusdem generis. Calv. ad loc. who therefore expressly observes on the Text, the fitness of the Apostle's Comparison, in parallelling Idolatry with Sacrilege, as being sins ejusdem generis, of the same kind; and if of the same kind, then sure Sacrilege is still a sin as damnable now under the Gospel, as Idolatry itself. 7. And I would to God we had no cause to fear, that under the very same pretence of avoiding Idolatry and Superstition, some men have Reform the Worship of God, the quite contrary way, and run so far towards the other two extremes of Sacrilege and Profaneness, as that they may seem full out as liable to the Apostle's Indictment here, as any: Thou that abhorrest Idols, dost thou commit Sacrilege? A sin which in some respects, may prove somewhat worse than Idolatry, to wit, if considered in its Complication, with those other grievous Crimes, that of all other sins, do usually attend upon the sin of Sacrilege, as forerunners or followers: (for Sacrilege is one of those sins, which they call * As Calvin very well notes of the Sacrilege of Ananias, on Act. 5.1. In hac ficta oblatione plura mala suberant. 1. Contemptus Dei quem suae pravitatis conscium non reveretur. 2. Sacrilega fraudatio, quia partem ex eo subducit quod sacrum esse Deo profitebatur. 3. Perversa vanitas & ambitio, quia, posthabito Dei judicio hominibus se venditat. 4. Infidelitas quia hanc viam, illicitam non aggressus esset, nisi Deo diffisus. 5. Pii, sanctique instituti corruptio. 6. Ipsa quoque hypocrisis magnum per se erat malum. 7. Accessit huc quoque obstinata mentiendi audacia. Behold, out of one single Root of Sacrilege, seven deadly sins, as so many cursed branches spreading out themselves over a Church of the Apostles own Plantation. Diodati adds one sin more expressed in the 9th Verse, to wit, Tempting of God: Di tentare, c. di fare un prophano Saggio, se egli conoscerebbe, etc. That is to make a profane Trial, or assay, whether God could know their fraud, or knowing it, would or could punish it. Peccata aggregata.) For instance, Idolaters, as bad as they are, yet they will suffer Bishops, (and so far the Papists are right) but the late Patrons of Sacrilege in flat opposition to Christ and his Apostles, ever begin their work with the bloody Persecution of God's chief Servants, the Bisheps and Pastors of Christ's Flock, because they are, and ever were the men, down from the Apostle's days, entrusted by the Catholic Church, as Feoffees and Guardians of the sacred Patrimony: 'Tis the Devil's stolen Stratagem this, still to begin at the (z) Matth. 26.31. Shepherds, that the Sheep may the easier be scattered: The Devil in this, dealing with the Church, as Aelian reports, Anytus, one of the thirty Tyrants, to have done with Athens. The Persecutor intending usurpation upon the State of Athens, and finding good honest Socrates to stand in his way, as being able to confute his Conclusions, never left, till first by underhand traducing, and then by open false Accusation, he, through the hands of the Hair-brained multitude, forced the good man to drink off the Cup of Hemlock: Thus Socrates once voted out of the way, Anytus soon after became the Head-Master of the Athenian Crew, State and all. 8. Add to all this, that some Idolaters may be Loyal, but as for Sacrilege, you may observe, that the most usual Medium to compass it, is Rebellion and Treason still: As Anytus dealt with Socrates, so they will deal still with the Prince, if he prove a Constantine to God, and his own Soul, and therefore refuse his consent, because it is not in his own power, for the King's (a) Prov. 21.1. heart is, and should he still in the hand of the Lord, as I may say, under God's own Lock and Key, but then, rather than miss of their sacrilegious ends, they will burst, or force open the Wards, the more need hath He then again of all good Subject's Prayers, Lord (b) Psal. 51.12. 'tis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SPIRITU PRINCIPIS fulcito, velut manibus. establish him with thy free spirit. For I know not how, but still these two, Sacrilege and Rebellion, do usually meet in eodem subjecto: witness Judas, as a sacrilegious Thief, so a base Traitor, set down therefore in the old Forms of the (c) Quisquis autem hujus meae munificentiae Testamentum quovis deinceps tempore, aliquâ occasione, cujus libet etiam dignitatis, vel professionis, vel gradus pervertere vel in irritum deducere tentaverit, sciat se cum proditore Juda aeternâ confusione, edacibus ineffabilium tormentorum flammis periturum. K. Ina, Anno Dom. 725. Sir Henry Spelman. Concil. tom. 1. passim. Curses against Sacrilege, as the fittest precedent to curse by: and I would be very loath to have my part with Judas, where he is now, for all the Church-Lands in Christendom. And so Charles Martell of France, another errand Traitor against his Liege Lord, upon pretence of mere necessity to pay his Army for the Holy War against the Turk, did, under the Title of borrowing, seize upon the Church Revenues, with promise (as some (d) So they say, that above a hundred years ago, a King of this Land did pretend and promise too, to restore, etc. but once gone, aye gone, for that good work is to do yet, and who knows, but this is it we all smart for now? The Parallels are strange for Time, Place, and Person; but that we keep within the Rule, Parcere, Personis, etc. others) of Restitution; for lack of which Charles Martell is (in good History) branded with the Imputation of being the first Founder of Sacrilege in Christendom, and for it reported also by the † Du Tillet, Fauchet, and other French Historians. Historians of those times, to be damned Body and Soul, more than in a bare Vision: Fides penes Authores esto. But what need we cross over-Seas for examples of this kind? since to our woe, he that runs may in Capitals, read this sad Truth in the Rubric of this Island, where those that were deepest in the Sacrilege, were deepest in the Rebellion. 9 Let none therefore think that this Discourse doth nothing at all concern the men of our Generation: for no doubt it doth, full as much as it did those in St. Paul's days: for is not this the very Plea of our Zelots now adays, that to avoid Idolatry, they must needs do as they do, commit Sacrilege? They abhor Popery forsooth, and the Church-lands, and Revenues, smell rank of that Weed, (and yet this only in the clergy's hands) therefore they must be converted into their own Lay-hands, there to be sweetened, yea, sanctified, though their hands be full of blood: But as the Apostle, so may we justly bespeak these Religious men, Thou that abhorrest Popery, wilt thou commit Sacrilege? a sin, for the Original of it, no less Popish than the other: for search and examine, who first began the sacrilegious Invention of Appropriations; did not the Pope to gratify the Monkey? so that one of your own (e) Camden. Historians bears Record, that in this one Country alone of 9284 Parishes, the Pope hath Impropriated no less than 3845, that is almost t'one half, and you may well suppose (for 'tis true) that the fattest Benefices might be the first that went to the Pot: yet these sound Protestants, thus directly treading in the Pope's sacrilegious steps, would make you, and all the blind World believe, they do it all this while, to avoid the Pope's Company: But indeed, to say truth, the Pope was in comparison, but a Novice in the gainful Trade of Sacrilege, Antichrist as he is, in their own opinion, he never, as these, had either the wit to think of, or the boldness then to strike at Root and Branch, from the higest Prelate, to the meanest Chorister. But in this case, the Servant may not be greater than his Master, the Priest may not far better than the King: for do not the self same men too, Rebel against the King, (for mark it again, still Sacrilege and Rebellion are Twins) still to prevent Popery? Yea, and blame the King very much, if, when they themselves force him to it, he do presume to use a Sword of his own, if it chance to be found in a Popish hand, whilst themselves, good men are blameless, though, for Rebellion against their own Protestant-King, point blank to the Doctrine of Christ, * Lex nova non se vindi ultore gladio Tertul. and the constant practice of the old Catholic Church, (for the compass of almost a thousand years) they, out of a zeal against Popery, for Rebellion (f) Bucha nan. Junius. Brutus, compared with Bellarm. Suarez, etc. use all the chief Popish spiritual Swords (I am able to make good the charge) the Popish Arguments, I mean, Swords so much the more dangerous, than can be a Papist's material Sword (whilst under Command) because this can only wound the body, but that t'other Sword, a poisoned Weapon, may kill the Soul itself. Those that know me, know I am no friend to Popery, I was bred and born in a Religion opposite unto it, I thank God for it, and in this Religion, as it is established, and professed in the Church of England, for which (25 years at home, and 15 years abroad) I have both done, and suffered my share: I hope, and my trust in God is, that I shall live and die: I do hate real Popery, as much as any, I mean what Doctrine is by that Church Canonised as de fide, contrary to the old Catholic Faith, for the first five hundred years after Christ. But I must needs confess I cannot, without just indignation, think of the deep hypocrisy of the men of our Generation, that under the odious false imputation of Popery, spit at the face of all sound and venerable Antiquity, yea, and that under pretence of Zeal against Popery, maintain and do the same things that the hottest Papists do, and that in such points as of all others (for destructiveness) are the very Gunpowder, to blow up Church and State. 10. But you see, 'tis just so as we told you, rather than two such old Acquaintances as Sacrilege and Rebellion should part, opposites in show will shake hands indeed, and as the Zodiac (that in some places seems further distant) they'll cross the line, and meet at both ends, when (standing the Terms, as now they do) Papists and we, that to some purblind Brains, may seem nearer, yet, like Parallel-lines, can never meet, but must still keep out Aequal-distance. And this discourse may suffice to make up the full Description of the sin of Sacrilege, according to the Apostles own method, considering it first absolutely in its own Nature: next comparatively by way of parallel, with the sins of Adultery and Idolatry; we might have added, and of Theft too, in the foregoing Verse; all which sins of Theft, Adultery, and Idolatry, remaining sins under the Gospel, as much as under the Law, it must needs follow, Vi Inductionis, that this Text and Indictment in it, concerns us christian's, as much as it did the Jews; Sacrilege and those other sins being res ejusdem generis, as Calvin hath plainly told you before; sins of the same kind. Pass we now from the Description to the Distribution of the Sin of Sacrilege in its full extent, according to the several parts and degrees thereof. CHAP. III. The Distribution of Sacrilege. 1. ANd they are just as many as there be subjects capable of holiness inherent, or relative, all which at the most, the School reduces to these five; 1. Times. 2. Places. 3. Persons. 4. Actions. And 5. Things, which may be said to be holy, as being set apart, and belonging unto God in a more peculiar and appropriate manner, and therefore to be used cum discrimine, that is, with a choice and singular respect from other common things of the same kind: If otherwise used, than they are really profaned: And that they may be so abused, 〈◊〉 facto, our own woeful Experience in all these particulars, saves me a labour, o●● Eyes and Ears are passionate Witnesses o● a sudden, stupendious, National Confusion of all that is called Divine; and but tha● this sad Truth will from us descend to o●● Posterity, sealed up with the constancy o● our sufferings for it, after Ages might mistrust our Report. As the good old Father, so may we, ●o● truly cry out, Bone Deus in quae nos tempora reservasti! We live to see generally (g) Yet in the most cruel Wars of the most barbarous Nations, Goths, etc. The Temples, and the Priests were by the Law of Nations, always held Sacred, and therefore secured from the general violence; St. Augustine, l. 1. de civet Dei. See at large divers memorable examples of Religious Civility in this kind, in Grotius de Jure Belli, l. 3. cap. 6. Sect. 6. & 7. first, God's own Feasts unhallowed God's Houses demolished, God's Servants degraded, God's Service disgraced, God's Portion invaded: And to plain the Highway to this horrid Chaos, Sacred Majesty itself violated, (for by all the Laws of Nations, Divine and Humane; the Persons of Kings, as well as their Offices were ever held sacred.) No doubt, all this through God's just anger against this Nation in general, because of their former unthankefulness for, and wilful Abuse of all those eminent Blessings, so in particular, because too too many of our side, have been and are still too grossly guilty of a manifold profanation, and visible abuse of all those sacred Favours even among ourselves, unto this day. 2. To point at, and if it may be, to cut of some of the heads of this Hydra, this many-headed Monster of sins. Sacrilege is a sin of a large extent: for, to instance in personal Sacrilege, as I may term it. First of all, every Christian, by solemn Dedication at his Baptism, is or should be morally holy, suo gradu, not in Korah's (g) Num. 6.3. rebellious sense, holy all alike, in Grace, and Office, and all, hand over head: but in the Apostle's sober sense, secundùm mensuram, (h) Rom. 12.3. holy in all manner of (i) 2 Pet. 3.11. conversation, else (l) Quaelibet species luxuriae secundùm quod violat aliquid pertinens ad cultum Dei, est Sacrilegium. Aquin. 22ae. q. 154. 10. o. Luxury is, and any wilful sin committed by a Christian, may be, in a large sense, termed Sacrilege: because every Christian, he or she, that in this or any other sin abuses his body, directly profanes a Temple of the Holy Ghost, and, if any man (m) 1 Cor. 3.17. Ambr. ad virginem lapsam. defile the Temple of God, (material, or moral; nay, this of the two may, in some respects, appear the greater sin) him will God destroy: look to it, Wantoness, and Epicures, fear, and amend, for 'tis no less than spiritual Sacrilege this, and a perfidious violation of your great Vow in Baptism; whereby you have really dedicated yourselves Body and Soul unto God in the face of Holy Church, that may one day bear witness pro, or con, for, or against you, as you stand to, or fall away from your Vow, and by it condemn you at Doomsday. 3. Thus every Christian is a sacred person, and aught thus far to reverence himself, as not, by committing acts contrary to, or unworthy of his Consecrated condition, to unhallow himself: Mere Pagans out of a natural self-respect to a reasonable Nature, and no more, could give this excellent Reason why men ought neither in company, nor alone, to commit any Turpitude, because of all others (next to God) every man ought to reverence himself, so the (n) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Carm. 11. & 12. Pythag. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 possim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Iscr. ad Demonic. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Xenoph. Paed. 1. Greek word bears it:) And if so, then what strong obligation lies upon us Christians, (o) 1 Thes. 4.4. To possess our Vessels in holiness and honour, that have the addition of such a solemn positive Dedication? Doubtless to abuse a Nature so many ways sacred, and so highly exalted, as is our Humane Nature by its intimate conjunction with the Divine Nature of Christ our Head, by its sacred unction with the Holy Ghost at our Baptism, must needs be fearful Apostasy, and in a manner with Julian, to wash off again our Christendom: The only consideration whereof how should it sublimate our minds, our manners, and raise up our Spirits to an holy Dedignation of all base Actions? Should such a man as I flee? said Noble (p) Neh. 6.11. Nehemiah? So should every gallant Christian stand upon his spiritual Point of Honour and holily scorn to do acts undercoming so sacred a Person; If not, he shall one day find it to amount to more than a Metaphorical Sacrilege: This by the way, may concern every Christian in general. 4. But secondly in particular, every King what ever he be is holy too by virtue of his Unction, yea, though he were a mere Heathen, yea, though he want the Ceremony; yet, Cyrus' mine Anointed, (q) Isa. 45.1. is God's own style: Jus Regnandi, that is, God's Power from above is, for the Reality, Unction sufficient to make the King's Person sacred, and therefore the (r) Cod. de Crim. Sacril. Civilians both Greek and Roman, do extend the Attaindor of Sacrilege even to them also that do but violate the Imperial Constitutions of the Prince. — Ubi nunc lex Julia dormis? Every Rebel then that dares lift up but a (s) Eccles. 10.20. thought against God's Anointed, violates a Person sacred, and adds to his Rebellion, Sacrilege, when either of these sins by itself is enough to damn a Soul, for, when all Rebels and Traitors (with all their specious pretences) shall be dead and rotten, still for all their Machavellian distinctions, the Thirteenth of the (t) Verse 2. Romans will be Scripture, Whosoever resisteth the Power, resisteth the Ordinance of God, and they that resist shall RECEIVE TO THEMSELVES DAMNATION: Acquirent sibi, as the Vulgar reads it, shall purchase to themselves, That will prove the only purchase in the upshot of all their Projects: nay, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as (u) Bezae major. Not. in loc. renders it, not sibi ipsis damnationem acquirent, as are the ordinary versions, but ipsi sibi damnationem acquirent. Beza well observes it, they shall not only be damned simply so, in a passive sense, but they shall damn themselves in the active signification, become spiritual Felo's de se, in a spiritual sense, wilfully accessary to their own Damnation: whether by their wilful perjury, express or implicit in the breach of their Allegiance natural or positive, (the dismal Prologue of all Rebellions) or whether by their wilful Impenitency, the fatal Epilogue or Conclusion of all Rebels at their end, Rebellion of all other sins, being a sin of (x) 1 Sam. 15.23. This Text is absolutely the only best reason of the usual Devilish obstinacy of Rebels: who are in this also Machiavel's true Disciples, who bids him that hath once presumed to draw out his Sword against his Superior, fling away the Scabbard, and never think of putting up again. Witchcraft, either way will serve one day to convince Rebels, that they, of all others, would needs damn themselves, and therefore they, of all others, must needs be damned, a sad Criticism this, the ground whereof in God's own heavy sentence, I pray God the Rebels may yet have the grace to lay to their hearts, that they may escape so great a Damnation, the express Doom of this second kind of Sacrilege against the sacred Person of the Prince. 5. Thirdly, every Priest in his degree, is by his Vocation a Person sacred too, and therefore in some sense, inviolable by the Law of Nations, as well as by the Law of God, or of Holy Church, whose ancient Canons were therefore so strict to preserve the respect due to the Priest, that if a man did but in disdain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, (that is the word in one of them) look big or scornfully upon the Priest, he was for the affront severely punishable, as an Offender sacrilegious in this sense. And for the same reason, because the Priest is a Person sacred; therefore on the other side, as strict, and as great was the Primitive severity of the known Ecclesiastical Canons to regulate, and to (y) Quid prodest si Canonicè eligantur, & non Canonicè vivant? Bern. confine the Priest in his manner of Life and Conversation, as one that, all over, aught to carry and deport himself more holily than other ordinary Christians, for that which, in things sacred, is their use, in Persons sacred is their Conversation. 'Twas figurative that under the Law, in the curious frame of God's Tabernacle; The nearer things were unto God, in relation of service, the more precious they were to be both for * Exod. 26. and 28. stuff and workmanship, Gold and embroidered work: so much more under the Gospel, ought those Persons that belong to God be precious, for holy life and sacred conversation? Every Priest therefore that instead of teaching the People knowledge, opens his lips wide to folly, or vanity, is linguâ Sacrilegus, pollutes his Priesthood, and if a Pair of holy (z) Nugae in ore Sacerdotis sunt Blasphemiae. Hieron. In aliis vitia, in Sacerdotibus sunt Sacrilegia. Chrysol. de Ebrietate. Consecrâsti os tuum Evangelio, nugis igitur aperire illicitum, assuescere sacrilegium. Bern. Fathers may be his Judges, is guilty both at once, of Blasphemy and Sacrilege, a fearful sin this, more or less: (for you all know, what became of the Sons of Eli, for their personal Sacrilege, in polluting their Priesthood) since that Omne peccatum personae sacrae est Sacrilegium, materialiter at least, according to the Determination of the (a) Aquin. 22ae. q. 99 3. 3 m. School: because the Person is sacred. 6. And as thus many ways Sacrilege may be committed against Persons sacred, so against sacred Things, or Actions too, which are the Circumstances of God's service, wherein to abuse or not devoutly to use (b) Psal. 119.8. old Translation. God's Ceremonies, hath by the Ancients been termed Sacrilege, whose full Definition (c) oquin quo suprá. Aquinas extends to any Irreverence in Sacris: about which, under the Law, even those that did sin through Ignorance in the holy things of the Lord, were yet to (d) Levit. 5.15. offer for their Trespass; and under the Gospel, the Christian Church was no less precise in all points of Reverence, witness their frequent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, so strictly enjoined, and reiterated in their sacred (e) Chrysost. Liturg. etc. Liturgies, full of those holy * And all this too without Popish superstition, for this was the Catholic practice long before the birth of Popery. low Congees, devout Kisses, and religious Venerations, every time they did put on, or off, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the holy Vestments, every time they did handle, or but touch, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the holy Utensils, the holy Table, Vessels, Books, etc. The Reading and observation of which primitive Devotions, I know not whether it would more ravish the godly Reader's mind with admiration, or strike it with astonishment, at the comparison of those good old devout Primitive Christians, with our lose and profane Generation: Ah, holy Fathers, should you now come down again, and be but once present with the most of our ordinary Congregations, I doubt much, whether you would own us for your Successors, or our people for Christians! I pray God this Item may in us all, Priest and People, amend this kind of Sacrilege, and teach us all better manners in, and about the Service of our God. For indeed by such a respective usage, and sanctification of things Sacred, (still terminatiuè, in a reflection to the Owner) the Name of God himself, to whom they belong, is sanctified, 'tis the thing we all daily pretend to in our Prayer, but seldom remember to make good in our practice, which made me acquaint you with but thus much of the contrary Example of Devout Antiquity, only in a glance. There is also another kind of Sacrilege which may be committed about the sacred Revenues of the Church, namely, If those be abused, or Dilapidated by excess, luxury, * Multi Canonici vivunt ut Domini, moriuntur ut servi. Baldus apud Tympium in speculo magno: signo 18. or a lavish vanity, under pretence of Hospitality; a Christian, yea, Episcopal virtue indeed, if it be rightly applied, if wisely regulated after the Pattern of Primitive Antiquity: not as though a Clergyman must give over his Studies, and either become a common Host to all Comers, what ever they be, or else forfeit the Reputation of Hospitality: But that Ecclesiastical Persons must have a primary regard to the true poor; such as those are not, that wilfully make themselves poor, by being Unthrifts, riotous Spenders, idle Strumpets, vagabond Loiterers, Drolls, and Buffoons; for such, Correction and Labour is the best Alms, Houses of Correction are fit to entertain such Guests, than clergymen's Houses: To Relieve such, remaining such, is so far from true Charity, that it is rather a kind of Impiety, a sin of Participation, because by a preposterous Relief, it encourageth such disorderly Persons in their lewd or lose courses. But, on the contrary, 'tis high Charity to entertain, or relieve such, as by the Law are termed Miserabiles personae, those that are true poor indeed: whether * See in Speed's Chronicle, at the Reign of K. Edw. 6, about the end, a List of the Poor. 1. By Impotency, as the stranger, the fatherless, and the Widow, the poor Clergy-men's Widows in special, desolate Creatures, where no public care is taken for them: † The Memory of Dr. Warner late Lord Bishop of Rochester, is precious for his Piety, in settling by his last Will and Testament, for perpetuity, 400 li. per annum, for the maintenance of 20 poor Minister's Widows (if they be Widows indeed, of S. Paul's Character, 1 Tim. v. 5. Trusting in God, and continuing in supplications and prayers) with an house for each of them, and 50 li. per annum for a Chaplain. the aged, the blind, the lame, and the diseased, especially the incurable. Or 2ly, By casualty, through the hand of God, as overcharged, or decayed Householders, (whereof no small number now since the fatal Fire of the Metropolis of London) Persons sick, or visited, Captives (in whose Redemption the Clergy of this Land have not been wanting) poor Scholars especially, are a very proper object of the Charity of Prelates and Churchmen. * The Munificence of that famous William Wickham Bishop of Winchester, in K. Edw. 3. time (who both founded Winchester College for Grammar-Scholars, and also New College in Oxford, for Students there) is fragrant to this day for his magnificent Provision for no less than an hundred Scholars maintained by it, (now 300 years after) to the eminent obligation of both Church and State, furnished still out of these noble Nurseries: T. de Walsingham Hypodigm. Neustriae. Had Churchmen been Stipendiaries, or the People's Beadsmen (as some would have them) could they, out of their stinted Pittance, have raised such Monuments of Charity? To Relieve any such is true Charity, to Entertain such (especially where no public Provision is made for them) is right Christian Hospitality, so much practised of old by the Primitive Bishops, (who then out of their far larger Revenues could far better do it, than the present Bishops) and even at this day, in mine own experience, this Hospitality is practised also by the Eastern Bishops, according to their poor proportion, living for the most part under Persecution. And God be thanked, this kind of Hospitality to the poor, is not so neglected by the godly Prelates of our Church, as to deserve the slander of some men in our Generation, who being troubled with that foul disease, Matth. 20.15. called by our Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the evil eye, do odiously insinuate, that our Prelates do spend their Estates in pompous worldly splendour; or treasure up their Revenues in their own Purses, to enrich themselves, their Wives, Children, Kindred, and Servants: etc. * A Seasonable Vindication, etc. by William Prynne, Esq 1660. 1 Tim. 5.8. As if contrary to the Apostle's Rule to Bishop Timothy, our Bishops must be the only men (that must cast off all just care of providing honestly for their own Households, and (at least so far) to Deny the faith, and become worse than Infidels, unless they will incur the guilt of Real sacrilege: (a heavy Censure, but the Charge is no less than so:) As though (bating Inheritance) the Bishop's and Clergy-men's Estates were not by the Law of the Land, their Freeholds, as much their own, as any Lay-Lords or Gentlemen; and consequently, as if Clergymen in their Prudence and Piety, might not do with their own what seemeth them good: But because they will not let their left hand know what their right hand doth: They desire not, as some, with a Noverint universi, every time they do a good work, to blow a Trumpet to proclaim their works of Piety and Charity to all the World: Therefore the World must needs believe Clergymen have no Charity, Clergymen keep no Hospitality. And yet again on the contrary, if Prelates and Churchmen do in imitation of their noble Predecessors, the ancient Bishops of † William Wickham Bishop of Winton, in Edw. 3d's time, was so famous for Episcopal Hospitality, that upon his Monument in his Cathedral Church there, 'tis part of his Epitaph; Largus erat Dapifer, Probat hoc cum divite Pauper. England, keep decent Hospitality, as they are obliged according to their Degree, to satisfy the Bounty of Princes, and the Magnificence of their Donors, or the last Will and Testament of their godly Predecessors (many of * S. William, so called, was Nephew to Henry Bishop of Winchester, who was King Stephen's Brother: Hugh Pudsey Bishop of Duresme, King Stephen's Nephew; William Courtney (Son to Hugh Earl of Devonsh●re) Archbishop of Canterbury, and many more such, Natalium splendore illustres, in Bishop Godwin's excellent Book, de Praesulibus Angliae (which it would be an honour to the Church and Nation to continue, since for above threescore years, he wants a worthy Successor.) them of Noble blood) the lawful † 'Tis a vulgar Error confuted by History, That every bit of the Clergy's Revenues, and every parcel of their Church-lands is held in Frank-almoigne. (To say nothing now of Tithes, which the Clergy must hold of God in Capite) had no Clergymen, trow we (many of them as appears above, of so Noble, and some of them of Royal blood) ever any temporal Estate of his own Patrimony, or Purchase? though much of it may be consumed aforehand in their Education, and long Studies in the Schools, to make themselves able and sufficient for that high and sacred Office: For instance, first, Walter Grey Archbishop of York (in H. 3d's time) did purchase the Manor of Bishopthorp near York, and gave the same to his Church, specietenus (for a very good reason) but, re ipsâ, to his Archiepiscopal See, (which to this day enjoys it successively, as the Archbishop's Mansion-house.) See Bishop Godwin, quo suprá. 2ly, Laurence Boothe Archbishop of York also (in Edw. 4th's time) did purchase the Manor of Battersey near London, built the House there, and gave it to his See. Ibid. 3ly, Hugh Pudsey who built the House and Church of Darlington, and founded the Priory of Fenkelo near Durham. [And now I mention Durham, I may not omit to commend to Posterity, the Magnificence of John Cousin, the present Lord Bishop of that See (our venerable Dioecesan) who, since the happy Restauration of the King and Prelates) hath repaired, and notably adorned the Episcopal Castles both of Duresme, and of Bishops-Aukland, where he hath erected a goodly Chapel, (Two other Chapels formerly belonging to that Castle, being by the late Sacrilegious Rebellion, blown up and destroyed.) The same Bishop hath also founded two Hospitals, or Almshouses, one at Duresme, and another at Auckland.] Purchasers of some of the Lands, and Founders of the Houses of Bishops, Deans, and Chapters: then straightway our Prelates must incur the Imputation of Riot, and Excess, and be blasted with the Pride of pompous worldly splendour. Thus are our Bishops traduced on both sides: An hard Dilemma! but easily dissolved, as long as our Christian Bishops have a godly Care, in the sight of God, as to satisfy their own Consciences, so to answer the Expectation of honest and sober men; as long as their civil Hospitality to their good Neighbours (as the Prelates are men, and great men) doth not hinder, much less exclude their Sacred Hospitality towards the Poor, to which also, and that chief, Bishops are obliged, as by the Apostle's Rule (Tit. 1.8.) to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is, Lovers of Hospitality in general; and, as the Original bears it, Lovers of strangers in special: So by the Canons of the Church, and their solemn Vow at their Consecration? according to which our Prelates and Churchmen doing their duty, they need not much care for the talk of the Vulgus, or fear the pretended charge of this kind of Real Sacrilege, namely, The abuse of the Revenues of the Church. 7. One kind of Sacrilege more the holy Fathers have observed out unto us, too too seasonable, nay necessary for you in these days to take notice of; 'tis Sacrilege committed against this Sacred Book of God, to wit, when the holy Senses, Words, and Phrases thereof, appropriated to the Expressions of Divine and Sacred Mysteries, are abused either in a profane and scurrilous application of them (the humour now a-la-mode with the Court, or Camp-Atheist,) or in a sacrilegious Detortion of Holy Writ to the Patronage of Heresy, or Schism, Rebellion, or Sedition, or Sacrilege, Errors in Life or Doctrine, or both. 8. This kind of Scripture Sacrilege is as old as Adam's fall, and the Devils own early Invention, or ever the word was written, he did snatch it (with reverence be it spoken) out of God's own mouth, (f) Gen. 3.1. yea, hath God said ye shall not eat of every tree of the Garden? etc. This was his first Temptation, before he used a second, thereby to persuade the Woman that either God never said so, or else that God never meant so: Thus the first founder of all Sacrilege began berimes to tempt our first Parents, by a verbal Sacrilege, to a real Sacrilege, (for the first sin of mankind, for the particular species of the Fact, was Direct Sacrilege, in profaning and usurping that which God had made holy:) This you may call Original Sacrilege, as well as Original sin: The hereditary sin of Sacrilege we all smart for ever since, from Generation to Generation. To this first grand Sacrilege, the Devil did persuade Mankind by this other kind of Sacrilege, by stealing out the Sacred Letter of God's Word, and abusing it against God's own sense, to his own Devilish ends; therefore you may do well to take special notice of it, as of a main cause of Apostasy in the end. 9 With the guilt of this kind of Sacrilege, were charged of old the Heretics, termed therefore by the holy Father's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as Cyril of Alexandria terms them; or Literae Sacrilegi, as Arnobius translates them, Thieves of the Sacred Letter, The very Patriarches of our new Scripturists; that unstable and unlearned too (g) 2 Pet. 3.16. as they are, yet to this day go on still treading in their Father's black steps, by wresting the holy Scriptures unto their own destruction. In this the Devil's good Scholars, for you know the Devil (h) Matth. 4. had his Scriptum est, even against the Son of God himself, and so have his Disciples still their Scriptum est too, for Rebellion, Sacrilege, any thing: stealing away the meaning of the Text, in a new way of Sacrilegious Appropriation thereof to their own Errors: And this they do by quoting it amiss, (which is worth your notice for a warning) one of these three byways: 1. Either foisting in their own false glosses, and blending these with God's own true word, to the attraction of the undiscerning hearer. 2. Or else by a plain omission of some of the most material words, which soon alter the true sense. 3. Or lastly, By a cunning concealment of some such main circumstances in the Context (which is Clavis Textus, the Key that opens the passage into a Text;) which citcumstances well examined, would plainly contradict their Cause: Always they do it by perverting the Scope (which is the Soul of the Text.) 10. I could abound with Instances in this kind both old and new, but that there is nothing more obvious in the old Records of the Fathers and Counsels, and the late Pamphlets of our new Heretics and Schismatics, against all which to forewarn you, once for all, now if ever, take this Apostolical counsel, (i) John 4.1. Beloved, believe not every spirit, nor every Scripture neither, If once in the Devil's mouth, for thence it comes out with the Devil's breath, I mean, the Devil's false sense, which to know from the true sense of God's word, you need no more, but by way of Antidote, to remember to make good use of the three premised good Cautions: 1. Ware their false glosses. 2. Turn over the Key, I mean, the Coherence of the Text. 3. Mark the scope, the soul of the Text, according to the Analogy of Faith, the Creed, or the Rule of a good life, the Decalogue: The which, if you cannot well find out Judicio discretionis, of your own selves, for that is all is allowed unto your lay-form, then for Judicium directionis, take God's own Counsel, Go, and (l) Hag. 2.11, 12. ask the Priests concerning the Law, they can best tell what is holy, what is unholy. Will you have God's promise and precept for it, implied both in one Text? (m) Malac. 2.7. The Priest's lips (if any) should keep knowledge, and the People should seek the Law at his Mouth, for he is the Messenger of the Lord of Hosts. However this Rule may fail in this or that particular Priest, yet for the general, it holds in the public Ordinance, animated by the public spirit of the Church: especially if the doubt be about matters fundamental and necessary to salvation, about which God will never suffer an honest, and humble (n) Joh. parisians. mind, seeking for the truth itself, unto God by Prayer, unto God's Church by obedience, to err finally: Enough to discover this dangerous delusion unto you, and to free you from the Epidemical contagion in this kind of Scripture-Sacriledge: The last head of this Monster, that concludes our Distribution of the sin of Sacrilege, and our first main part of this Indictment, containing matter of Declaration. CHAP. IU. Of the Parties against whom the Sin of Sacrilege is committed: and first of the Priest as God's Usufructuary only. FOllows now the second part in order, which contains Matter of Aggravation. 1. And it is deduced from the consideration of the Parties against whom the offence of Sacrilege is committed, and those ordine Analytico, shall be first the Clergy, (who is God's usufructuary) invested in God's Name, as an holy Corporation, in such a Right: And therefore secondly, God Almighty himself (who is the direct Proprietary of all holy Portions.) 2. First, as for the Clergy, properly God's * Lexicon. Juridic. Calvin. Ususfructus est jus alienis rebus utendi fruendi salvi rerum substantiâ, l. 1. ff. de usufr. Hot. v. eodem Calv. ad vocem, proprietas. Usufructuary and no more, to it belongeth only the personal right, use, or profits for life, no longer, the real right or property being wholly (as I may say) resident in God the chief Lord, to whom they are dedicated, or due; so that whatever Conclusions may be pretended to the contrary, from the several examples of absolute Alienation public or private, through the iniquity of the Times or Persons, are all of them (well examined) but so many mere Inconsequences à facto ad Jus, concluding no more against God's usurped Property, then for instance, so many examples of popular (and it may be for a while, (as of late through God's permission, prosperous) Rebellion, can justly prescribe for lawfulness of Title against oppressed Monarchy. 3. But yet, say the Clergy were indeed the very Proprietaries, so that the wrong done by Sacrilege did reach no further than the Clergy itself, yet were the offence heinous enough, seeing that of all other Estates of men the Persons and Possessions too of the Priests have always been Privileged by all Nations, by your own Nation especially, (till of late) witness (not to name particular (o) As the Charter of the Church of Carlisle, wherein King Henry the sixth, frees all the Members of that Church from all Taxes, Subsidies, and Services in, and towards the Wars against the Scots, their next Neighbours, though even then ready upon the Borders, to Invade this Kingdom: and all this, that the Clergy there might the better attend God's Service, and pray for the King, etc. Yet the Laiety of those Times might easily have objected, That since the Church of Carlisle enjoyed a considerable portion of the Lands, bordering upon the Enemy, they ought to bear a full proportion of the Burdens with the Laity: But the truth is, in those days your more godly Ancestors did put more trust, under God, in the Prayers of the Church, than in the Purses of the Church, and they prospered accordingly. Charters) your own great Charter, (p) Imprimis Concessimus Deo, & hac praesenti Chartâ nostrâ confirmavimus pro nobis & haeredibus nostris in perpetuum, quod Ecclesia Anglicana libera sit, & habeat omnia Jura sua Integra, & libertates suas Illaesas, etc. These be the words of King Henry the third, Anno 9o. Ch. 1. grounded upon an ancient Law found Inter leges, seu Institutiones Regis, H. 1. c. 1. whose Tenor is here inserted, and made a part of Magna Charta, in these words, Sanctam Dei Imprimis Ecclesiam liberam facio, ita quod nec vendam, nec ad firmam ponam, etc. Magna Charta, a fundamental Law, and one of the main Bulwarks of all your several Properties and Liberties, and for that Reason Confirmed no less than Two and thirty times by your several Parliaments; and therefore beware, lest if you go on still to Undermine this National Foundation, only to oppress one main State of the Nation, the Clergy, you do not unawares, by such Sacrilegious Precedents, open a Gap into your own temporal Estates, or Lay-Inheritances in aftertimes, for God is just: Observe therefore how your Magna Charta gins, with an Imprimis: A Grant unto God that the Church of England shall be free, and have all its Rights entire, (words of largest extent) and all its Liberties inviolable: By virtue of which general words, the Church hath as good ground, even in Law, to demand and to defend her Ecclesiastical Rights and Liberties, as any of you for your Temporal Rights, or Intails whatsoever. 4. Sir Edward * The second part of the Institutes, pag. 2. Coke's gloss upon it is well worth the notice: [Concessimus Deo;] we have granted to God: when any thing, (saith he) is granted for God, it is deemed in Law to be granted to God, and WHATSOEVER IS GRANTED TO HIS CHURCH FOR HIS HONOUR, AND THE MAINTENANCE OF HIS RELIGION AND SERVICE, IS GRANTED TO AND FOR GOD: QUOD DATUM EST ECCLESIAE, DATUM EST DEO: Ergo, God himself is a Party in the Grant, and the Proprietary: Here is God's Title in Law, your own Law for it: except therefore men can produce the Counter-Title, that is, God's express consent for Alienation, it cannot be in the power of any man, or men, Lay, or Clergy, single or assembled, of no Civitas, or Societas, to take that from God, which is once given to God. 5. This and the like were the Forms of ancient Acts and Grants, saith your Glossator, and those ancient Acts and Grants must be construed and taken as the Law was holden at that time, when they were made; not as the Law may be now. [Quod Ecclesia Anglicana libera sit:] That is, That all Ecclesiastical Persons within the Realm, their Possessions and Goods shall be freed from all unjust Exactions and Oppressions, etc. And purposely and materially the Charter saith Ecclesia, because Ecclesia non moritur, but moriuntur Ecclesiastici. [So that this Law is not restrained to the Persons, or Possessions, of those Times only, but that fundamental Disposition must extend to succeeding Ages, as long as there remains an Ecclesia Anglicana, which (except our Sins, and Sacrilege by name, Remove the Candlestick) we may still hope, Revel. 11.5. and will pray shall still remain a Church unto the end of the World. That eminent Lawyer goes on, Et habeat omnia sua Jura Integra:] That is, that all Ecclesiastical Persons shall enjoy all their lawful Jurisdictions, and other their Rights wholly, without any Diminution, or Subtraction whatsoever, and great were their Rights, when they had the third part of the Possessions of the Realm, as it is affirmed in a Parliament Roll (Rot. Parliam. 4. Rich. 2. Num. 13.) And true it is, saith he, that Ecclesiastical Persons have more and greater liberties than other of the King's Subjects; all which to set down, would take up a whole Volume of itself: He instances in some, as freedom from sundry temporal Burdens, from personal Services in the War, from Distresses, from sundry Writs, as from Levarî facias, and from Capias, etc. from some Appearances, etc. and expressly then from Pontagium, * Pontagium: Pontage est un Parol mention en divers Statutes come en Westm. 2. c. 25. 1 H. 8. c. 9 39 Eliz. c. 24. & signify ascun foits le contribution collect pur le Reparation dun pont, ascun foits le tolle que est pay per Passengers a cea purpose, Terms of Art, Pontagium,] Tributum quod exolvitur ob transitum Pontis, vel ob Pontium restaurationem, Stat. West. cap. 26. Transmarinis Pontaticum dicitur: Indiculus Regalis inter formul. vett. Bignon. 45. Gallis pontage: & sic in legibus Penearnensium ut notat Bignon. H. Spelm. glossar. or Bridge-money, as they now term it, Contribution for Reparation of Bridges: (a majori, from those other Servile-Taxes, such as Rogue-mony, and the like, now pressed upon some of the oppressed Clergy:) Thus that great Lawyer, who was otherwise no great friend to the Church. 5. To say that those were times of Blindness and Popery, and that therefore whatever your Ancestors did, could be no better than Popish all over, hath as little of true Logic, as of Religion to God, or Charity to man, yea, to all Christendom besides, yea, to all Mankind, that by the Common Instinct of Nature, did ever Honour and Reverence, and Privilege their Priests: By the same Argument we shall forfeit our Creed, nay, our whole Religion: Nay, by the same Argument, the Opposers must forfeit the Law too, which to some men in our Generation is of more value than the Gospel, that either Creed or Religion; I mean, so much of their temporal Privileges and Liberties, as was visibly extorted by mere force in times of Licentiousness and Rebellion, the far greater Popery of the two: (yet they can take advantage of such times, as bad as they may be, they never examine nor dispute the times, in such a case.) 6. It may be it was in imitation of that your ancient Charter, that just so many honest (q) As the Parliament held 3. of H. 5. c. 1. Parliaments since (as it were, for an Omen of good speed in the rest of their proceed towards the preservation of their own temporal Liberties) usually begin them still with the Confirmation of the Rights and Liberties of the Church first of all. 7. This tender Respect of the People towards the Clergy, was not confined within this Island, or Christendom either, but was (as it were by the Law of Nations) observed all the World over, even amongst the worst men, Heathen men, (a Turk even at this day shows respect to a Christian * I know this by Experience, having lived three years of my voluntary Banishment amongst the 〈◊〉: as at Aelepo in Syria, and in Mesopotamia, and at Constantinople, etc. And (that I may not seem to arrogate this thing to myself) This Respect of the Turks towards me, was not personal, but general to any Christian Priest; for when in the year 1652. I was at Jerusalem, and (without Superstition) had an honest desire to enter into the Temple of Christ's Sepulchre; whereas the Turks (who receive the Tribute for that liberty) take from every Layman 24 Dollars, or Pieces of Eight, (about six pounds English) They did demand from me but 12 Dollars, (t'one half only) because they understood that I was a Christian Priest: neither did the Pope's Vicar there (to whom I had ingenuously declared my Communion with the Church of England) oppose that Privilege, or interpose himself to hinder it. Priest:) even in the worst times of Famine and War, very Egyptians in time of Famine, did exempt their (r) Gen. 47.22.26. Priests Lands from Sale, or so much as a Mortgage, when they would not spare their own Lands: and very (s) 1 Sam. 10.5.10. Cretenses, narrat. Plutarch quaest. gr. cum bellis intestinis colliderentur, omnem noxam abstinuisse à Sacerdotibus. Grot. de Jure belli. Philistines in time of War, even where they kept an hostile Garrison, would allow the enemy's Prophets free pass and repass, without molestation: of which their Civility therefore the Holy Ghost is pleased to take express notice upon Record, and I wish our uncivil Generation may do so too, lest civil Paynims rise up in judgement against barbarous Christians, and condemn them for their misusage of their own Clergy, though the Party, of all the three Estates, so strongly fenced about by the double Hedge of the Law of God and Man: of the Law of Nature, of Nations, of the old Laws, (t) If any man shall offer any injury to a Priest, let all take it as an injury done unto all, and help him to redress, etc. Canone 5o. Sub Edgaro Rege in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. v. Capitulare Caroli Magni lib. 6 cap. 285. w●ere the People do in their Petition to the Prince for the Clergy, express a most tender affection towards their Priests in times of War, or public dangers, etc. Roman, Saxon, English, Gallican, all jointly supporting the Clergy with all mannnr of favourable Exemptions, honourable Privileges, ample Possessions of all kinds, predial as well as personal; far beyond the necessity of a Modern Pension, (the gallant Plot, in the end, of our new Founders) for they had Estates even ad Pompam Ministerii, as the ancient Title of the old Church bears it; even to an honourable Magnificency, or as (u) De honoribus Sacerdotii, circâ fin. Philo terms it expressly, even to a Royal Exchequer. 8. This truth of Fact is so clear in the Primitive Volumes of Church and State, the old Counsels and Records, that it seems as it were (to Phrase it with Lactantius) written with Sun beams upon a Wall of Crystal. So that it were needless to prove it, but for the gross Ignorance, or wilful Impudence of some, who to make way for their Sacrilege; do wrist, and urge the Examples of the (x) Acts 20.34. 1 Cor. 4.12. Apostolical, Temporary, Occasional, and sometimes Arbitrary Poverty, to enforce a beggarly, or at the most a stipendiary Ministry, against all sense, or reason, as well as Religion, and point-blank to the Context: (y) Acts 4.22. would these Apostolical men be content to sell their Lands, and freely to lay down the prices of them at the Apostle's Feet? (for that story concerns the Laity to follow, more than the Clergy:) If they say the Church was then unsettled, and Ambulatory, and so could not, during Persecution, carry their Lands up and down with them, but now in a settled Church and State the case is altered: In so saying they plead for us, and answer themselves. 9 For indeed this is an universal truth beyond all contradiction; That since the beginning of the World, God never had a settled Church upon Earth, but therein more or less, proportionably to the Opulency of the Temporal State thereof, he would always have his Service and Servants honourably maintained. 10. Let no prejudicated person therefore think the Analogy of the Levitical Priesthood utterly Impertinent to the Evangelical Ministry; for Scripture, the holy Fathers, Natural Equity itself would prove the contrary. Since Ubi par Ratio, par Lex, and we may not imagine our good God worse, or more niggardly to his Servants now under the Gospel, than under the Law, or more bountiful to the Ministry of the Letter (in comparison) than to the Ministry of the Spirit. 11 Cor. 3.6. 11. One plain Text for all, (z) 1 Cor. 9.13, 14. may serve to convince any Impartial Spirit, Do ye not know (saith St. Paul) that they which Minister about holy things, Live of the things of the Temple? And they which wait at the Altar, are partakers with the Altar. EVEN SO hath the Lord ordained, that they which Preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel. EVEN SO, infers more than a bare comparison, Even a good consequence of the Equity, (saith Calvin on the place) and that à majori saith Bucer on * Bucer, on Gal. 6.6. In veteri Testamento alebantur Ministri verbi ex Docimis & sacrificiis, & sic ex optimis bonis, QUANTO MAGIS Ministri Evangelii ex optimis aleudi sunt? another place. Now the nature of Equity requires, ut aequalia aequalibus, Inaequalia inaequalibus reddantur: To give less to those that deserve more, were far from Equity, but that the Ministry under the Gospel, in sundry respects, is both far more painful, and also far more excellent than the Levitical Priesthood, is clear from (a) 2 Tim. 4.2. 2 Cor. 3.6. to 12. Scripture, Reason, and Experience; and therefore must needs deserve a Maintenance every way as ample, and as honourable at least, as the Legal Priesthood, which yet as may appear by God's own Book of Rates, was exceeding Opulent, yea, Magnificent both for the Maintenance and the Conveyance of it. 12. As for the Maintenance, besides the Natural standing Portion of Tithes of all, with how large an Addition doth God enrich the Priesthood? Indowing it with all the firstborn of all Cattle, the firstborn of Men, after the Rate of five Shackles (that is five Half-Crowns) a piece which may amount to much in that numerous Nation; 11 Sam. 24.9. That could at one Muster, reckon up thirteen hundred thousand Men at Arms. 3. The First-fruits of all. 4. Add to all this, their share in the Meat-Offerings, Sin-Offerings, Wave-Offerings, Thank-Offerings, besides their Vows or Offerings. 5. Their Shewbread. 6. Their three terms of solemn Appearance, for all the Males, with a strict charge that none do appear Empty-handed. 7. They had, over and above all this, a large Glebe, consisting of Eight and forty whole Cities, with large Suburbs of two thousand Cubits in measure every way round about, (and each Cubit was a full Yard) a great proportion of Land, for little Jury to afford unto one single Tribe, especially if we consider, (for this also is very observable) that the Tribe of Levi, though the thirteenth Tribe, yet was, for number of persons, in God's own Muster-Roll far from being the (b) Num. 1.46. All the Males of the twelve Tribes were six hundred thousand, three thousand five hundred and fifty: All the Males of the Tribe of Levi, were but two and twenty thousand, Num. 3.39. Yet in the numbering of the twelve Tribes, the little Ones are not reckoned, but only the Males from twenty years old and upward: whereas in the Muster of Levi, the little Ones are reckoned from a Month old and upward, which makes the odds still greater and greater. thirteenth part, (as some Ignorant that we say not, Impudent, Arithmeticians, do grossly mistake it) scarce the sixtieth part. 13. And if survey were taken of the Clergy in the Church of England, and of their Families, I suppose, it would not come much short of that proportion of Persons, albeit much shorter in the proportion of Revenues, and yet the Levitical Priesthood was hereditary also, not so the Evangelical, which must still increase the odds very much: our Children and Widows find it so, too too oft, by sad experience. 14. Now it is plain, by Joshuah's (c) Joshuah 16, & 17.21. Judah was seventy six thousand and five hundred in number, thrice as many as Levi; except this Tribe, for any thing we read, Levi had half in half more than any Tribe else, and four times as much as some Tribes, and that by God's own wise appointment: [and surely the Sages of our Generation (that not only think, but cry cut still, the Clergy hath too much) dare not presume themselves wiser than God himself.] As for example, Num. 1.31. Zebulun was seven and fifty thousand and four hundred (almost thrice as many in number as Levi) and yet had but twelve Cities, when Levi had eight and forty, four times as much, and, for aught we know, as good as theirs. Terrier, that all the several Tribes, but Judah, the Royal Tribe, were in proportion of Lands far inferior to the Tribe of Levi: Thus in the Jewish Church, by God's own appointment the Priest's Portion, was in respect of the Quantity, very liberal. 15. And in this, as in all other good Evidences of true Devotion, the Christian Church was nothing behind the Jewish Synagogue. The Apostolical Charter, for the maintenance of the Evangelical Ministry, is very large, (d) Gal. 6.6. Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things: This is a very general term, it may include Unmovables, as well as Movables, above, or under ground, Mines as well as Manors: It may extend to Houses, Lands, any good thing; for I hope, those that are so greedy of the Church-Lands, will not exclude them from the Number of good things: and here is as good as a Command about it, in the Minister's behalf. 16. In this sense the Primitive Church took it, as soon as it was settled; witness, all Christendom over, the multiplied Canons and Laws, for the early and ample Dotations of Churches at their very first Dedication, honoured by Constantine, and his fellow Emperors, with large Bounties; that I say nothing of those so many Magnificent Monuments of that old (but now superannuated) Christian Devotion, allowing their Bishops those Rich Cathedratica, Cathedraticum est Tributum, quod Episcopus per Dioecesim ambulans, in honorem Ecclesiae suae, ab ecelesiis colligebat. Concilio autem, Bracarensi 2. circiter Annum Dom. 672. (vel ut alii perhibent 610.) Ca 2. & Council. Toletano 7. Ca 4. circà An. 684. Statutum est ut 2. Solid, non excederet. (A considerable Revenue in those old days.) Hispanis hodie EL Cathedratico nuncupatur. H. spelm. glossar. This Cathedraticum was paid to the Bishop by the Inferior Clergy, in argumentum subjectionis & ob honorem Cathedrae: Hostiens. ●n Sum. de Censibus, Sect. ex quibus, ver. Ca●hedraticum autem. Item Duaren. de Sacris Ecclesiae Ministeriis, & Beneficiis l. 7. c. 5. See much more of this Cathedraticum in a learned Treatise, Entitled, An Historical Discourse of Procurations, etc. by J.S. An. 1661. (P. 78. & seq.) These Cathedratica so oft mentioned in the old Counsels were to support the Episcopal State; some of their more eminent Sees, as that of Toledo in Spain, Aldenburgh in Sclavonia, (e) Hemoldus Chronic. Sclavor. without reproach or envy, surpassing in Sacred Revenues the Exchequer of some Kingdoms. The old Christians, by these Donations, testifying to all the World, the high esteem they had of their God, and of his Service, and of his Servants, and of their own Souls, all which are involved in the contempt of the Priest. 17. By this discourse 'tis plain enough that the Priest's Portion was for the Matter very abundant. As for the Manner of conveyance it was Noble, not at all Stipendiary, temporary, or dependent: (we all know by too sad experience, what some of that New kind of Clergy, as King James hath Surnamed them, (f) King James' Instruct. to Preachers. that New Body severed from the Ancient Clergy of England, as being neither Parson, Vicar, nor Curate, hath through popular supparasitation occasioned in this Church and State:) But the old way of Church-Maintenance was never so, but every way Honorary, as for Magnificence, so for continuance too: It was for Perpetuity, with Independency from the People, issuing into the Priest's hands immediately from God's hands to whom, as Philo excellently well observe it, The People directly brought all their Deuce, (the Priest needed not interrupt his sacred Office, to seek, or fetch them, much less to sue for them:) They were to his hand solemnly brought to the Temple, as being God's own first, and from thence did the Priest as solemnly receive them (such Ceremonies sometimes become Substances;) as it were from the Invisible hands of God himself immediately: for whom they hold, in chief, as their Ministers, so their Maintenance. 18. The excellent reason of this Honourable Ceremony, Philo renders to be this, (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 etc. That none of the people might have the least pretence to upbraid the Priest, as if he were any way beholding unto the People for his subsistence, Ex Charitate, no, sed ex Justitia (as the School speaks) nay, ex Religione, not out of Courtesy, but Conscience, towards God: which makes the Alienation, or but Detention of those Sacred Tributes, to reach at God himself terminatiuè, because (and that is a singular truth worth the proving, and the marking too, in the defence of this Cause) The Clergy, to speak properly, is indeed but the usufructuary of all it enjoys, God, and none but God, is really the Proprietary, which is now our second Consideration that mainly aggravates the sin of Sacrilege, The Offence is immediately against God himself, * Sacrilegium est quod propriè in Deum committitur. Hieron. in Text. Rom. 2.22. as will plainly appear, first, by the Light of Nature: secondly, by the Light of Scripture; these two ways of Revelation being sufficient Mediums to assure us both of God's Acceptance for our encouragement in the Case of Vows, and of God's Vengeance too, for our warning, in case of Violations. CHAP. V. That the Sin of Sacrilege is an Offence against God himself, who is the Great Proprietary of the Revenues of the Clergy. Sect. 1. TO begin with the first, the Light of Nature: those Jura nata, as the Heathen (g) Jurae negans sibi nata, Horat. term them, those Natural Rights, or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, inbred Principles: The Natural Dictates of right Reason suggest unto all Mankind; 1. That there is a God. 2. That to this God is due all Sovereign honour and service, in thought, word, and deed. 3. That therefore he cannot but be well pleased with our purpose and real intention thus to honour him, much more with our serious promise, or vow so to do, most of all with our faithful and effectual performance in so doing: All this is not Scripta, but nata Lex; The sum whereof is, That God must be served in chief: For which Maxim of Nature, there is all the Reason in the World, for God is the Sovereign Being in himself, and the Fountain of all Being to others. 2. Now this Service must be both personal, with the Powers and Faculties of our Souls, and the Members of our Bodies; and real too, with our Goods, or Substance: * Honour the Lord with thy substance, Prov. 3.9. Religion to be complete, requires the Contribution of all these. As for the latter of these especially, though we might in reason, take that for granted, which the Practice of the Church of God in all Ages, yea, the general Consent of all Mankind from the beginning of the World, beareth witness unto, to wit, that God Almighty ever hath had such a special Homage, and such proper Sacred Tributes duly paid him, and that * Lirin. Vbique, and that semper, and that ab omnibus; (The genuine Marks of what is truly Catholic) yet since 'tis our hard hap to live in an Age that puts us to the Necessity of proving Principles: we will be at the cost to prove all, God willing. 1. That to our Substance, God himself is Entitled two manner of ways, not only by his General Title of Creation, as he is Lord Paramount of the whole World, but by a more peculiar Title, and proper Right to some Parcels of the whole, and for the whole. 3. These two Titles, as they are distinct, (for the first universal Right is in and from God himself. The second particular Right is our own Act of Donation, in acknowledgement of God's universal Right:) So may these two Titles very well stand together, so far are they, as some cavil about it, from being incompatible, or excluding one the other, that the one is naturally founded upon the other, to wit, the special Title upon the universal; for, because, Jure Creationis, God is Lord of all, therefore very fit it is, (since that Title is perpetual under the Gospel, as well as before, and under the Law) that, Jure Religionis too, we and all Mankind, should still acknowledge him to be such, and testify this our acknowledgement, by a thankful Return of some part for the whole, as it were our Pepper-corn-Rent, In signum universalis Dominii (as the Schools phrase it) in token of our Homage to the great Landlord of Heaven and Earth, and for the support, with Honour and Credit, of his own public Service. 4. And that Retribution God expects at our hands still proportionable to his bounty, and our ability; be it more, be it less, in Movables or Vnmoveables, in Rents or * In some parts of Europe the Priest's Maintenance lieth wholly in Lands. Selden. in Lands: For instance, when God allowed his People but Tents for themselves, himself also was content to dwell in a Tent or a Tabernacle, but when he was pleased to allow them Houses of Cedars, then common sense made up the Argument (h) 1 Chron. 17.1. in David's Heart, and Mouth, and Hand, and all: It was no longer fit the Ark of the Lord should remain under Curtains: and thereupon (unbidden) devout David (i) 1 Chron. 29.11. O Lord, all that is in the Heaven and in the Earth is thine. (14.) All things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee: (16.) O Lord our God, all this store that we have prepared to build thee an House for thy holy Name, cometh of thine hands, and is all thine own: (17.) I know also my God, that thou triest the Heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness (Uprightness is assurance enough of God's Acceptance:) In the Uprightness of my Heart, I have willingly offered all these things, and now have I seen with Joy, thy People which are present here, to offer willingly unto thee. expressly upon the premised grounds of, 1. Homage. 2. In thankfulness. 3. For the service of his Maker, prepares that solemn Royal-Offering recorded in the Chronicles for our Imitation; (for David's fact in this particular, was no part of the Levitical Service:) And so far was God from rejecting David's Offering, as a piece of Will-worship, because not expressly commanded, that contrariwise (for our encouragement) God directly commends (k) Go and tell David my servant, thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not build me an house, 1 Chron. 17.4. Nevertheless whereas it was in thine heart, to build an house unto my Name, THOU DIDST WELL THAT IT WAS IN THINE HEART: 1 Kings 8.18. And therefore I will build thee an house, 1 Chron. 17.10. The purpose could not be unlawful so long as it was not expressly forbidden, for where no Law is there is no Transgression, Rom. 4.15. As there was no command for it, so there was no command against it, and that is enough to clear the Offerer from Will-worship. David's devout purpose, even then, when, for some personal causes, he forbids the performance. 5. And except they will say, that we under the Gospel are less obliged to God than they were under the Law, then sure this example, as far as it is Moral, and not Typical, concerns us as much, nay more than it did them, or any, the Privileges of our Christendom, as far surpassing the bare natural, or legal Advantages, as our Redemption excels our Creation. 6. Behold in the Root of this discourse, the very first Original of Tithes and Offerings, the two main branches to which the whole Portion of Religion, God's special Demesnes, and man's Devotions in this kind are reducible. 7. By the first of these, Tithes, God Almighty himself seems to have pointed out unto us, and to all Mankind, that for the general, he well approves of, and accepts too this very way of divine Homage, or Appropriation: witness, 1. His own Original Reservation of a Part, and for the Quota itself, of a tenth part, accordingly paid unto God in his Priest Melchizedech under the Law of Nature, (an example if Typical, yet all over full of reference to the State under the Gospel, as some (l) Heb. 7. See Sacrilege sacredly handled by Sir James Sempill. have at large made it good:) for this was long before the Levitical Law, by above (m) Gen. 14. Abraham paid Tithes to Melchizedeck, An. M. 2030. and the Law positive about Tithes and Offerings, (Num. 18.) was not enacted till the year 2454. 400 years: and about 150 years after Jacob, (n) Gen. 28.22. in his Vow pitcheth again upon the very same Quota, no doubt induced by the same Precedent, and upon the same grounds: which (and 'tis very strange, unless it were founded upon something more universal, yea, and perpetual too than the Jew's Ceremonial Law) was the Practice not only then of an Abraham, or a Jacob men within the Pale of the Church, but long after this above 1300 years after, of a Roman (o) Plutarch in Camillo: Tuo ductu, Pythice Apollo, pergo ad delendam Urbem Veios tibique hinc Decimam partem praedae voveo: B. Brissonius, de formulis l. 1. p. 95. 96. Camillus, etc. mere Heathen themselves happen upon the self same Quota, witness those old Inscriptions in Brissonius, where just as Abraham to Melchizedeck, so the Pagan Votary devotes the Tenth of his spoils of the Hetrurian City, unto his Apollo: just as the Israelite, so the Heathen agrees upon the matter of the Vow; as well as upon the form to do it thus voluntarily, by way of Vow: which supervenient Tie, is so far from being superfluous, that it rather adds very much to our natural obligation, we being naturally so dull and backward to perform what the Law requires, and so fickle too, and frail to persevere in our duty: we had need of all these Moral bonds, to deter us from the violation, and to * Duplex vinculum fortiùs ligat. strengthen, and to stir us up unto Devotion. 8. Such holy Vows, Promises, or Pacts, are as the addition of a Seal to the hand in a Bond, and in practice usual with the Saints, who, (to say nothing of the Christian's Vow in Baptism) are therefore, for our example, recorded to have, ex abundanti, bound themselves with Vows and Oaths * Gen. 28.20. Job 31.1. Psal. 119.106. to the observance of that which otherwise they were morally obliged unto before their Vow by the Law of Nature, and by the express Law of God: Besides by the Law of Nature we are bound only to maintain God's service in genere, but by Vow we may bind ourselves to it in specie, namely to maintain it in this, or that particular way. Thus (for the general part of it) you see how God himself is entitled to our substance by the light of Nature, which of itself is (p) Rom. 1.19, 20, 21.28. enough without any further Revelation, to discover many things, and this truth amongst the rest. 9 As for the Divine light, the light of Revelation, the light of Scripture. No sooner do you read of a positive Law of God, but behold God's express Resumption of his own Right, both for the (q) Num. 18.21. Quota of Tithes, as also for those ample additions of Offerings Inventaried (r) See above pag. 29. above, calling them all expressly (s) Deut. 18.1. Dei possessio, Selden ad Eadmer. p. 155. the Lord's Inheritance, and himself the Proprietary, yet sure God Almighty was then as much Lord of the whole World, as now, and no less now, than he was then. How far in point of Analogy, and natural Equity this Title doth concern the Ministers under the Gospel, you have heard before, (t) See above p. 28. 29. out of St. Paul's own mouth. 10. This second sort of Devotions, Offerings, I mean, become God's due (under the Gospel, as well as under the Law, by a twofold Act: 1. By a voluntary Dedication on the Offerers part, by whom as they are separated from all profane and common use, so are they appropriated to a Divine and Sacred use, which act, ipso facto, altars the Property, and actually transfers the full Right from the Owner, the Donor, unto God the Creator, that deigns to become the Donee, or Receiver from his Creature, and this Divine Condescension * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Nazian. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Hierocl. in carm. Pythag. holy men, yea, very Heathen have accounted no small favour, in that it renders us, in a manner, worthy to receive from him again. As for the Acceptance of all this, (of which more hereafter) 'tis testified by a second Act on the Officer's part, the Priest, I mean, who by an Invocative sanctification or Benediction, usually called Consecration, as God's Vicegerent, allows of the Oblations, and receives them in God's Name and stead, for God's use and service. This latter Act of Consecration, though it may seem but an Ecclesiastical Ceremony, yet is it as the public Solemnity of Marriage, de benè esse, to legitimate the substance. 11. And thus, Times, Places, Persons, and Things of common become holy, relatively; and so proper unto God that ever after God expressly calls all such holy things his, and by his Name, in the perpetual language of the (u) Exod. 13. 1 King. 8.43. Jerem. 7.10. Matth. 21.13. Scripture, to intimate that he claims as full, and as real a Propriety in those things, as he doth in Die Dominicâ, the (x) Rev. 1.10. On which day therefore Theodoric in his Edict make it Sacrilege to sue or convent a man before a Judge. Lord's Day, or in Domo Dominicâ, the Lord's House: for so of old in the Primitive Records of Christian Councils, were all sacred things termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, no less, the Lord's things: Nay, so your own Law, and (y) H. de Bract. de legibus & consuetudin. Angliae. Sir Edw. Coke above p. 46. Lawyers too, call them, Divinum Tenementum, God's own Tenure, (and they say, your Law keeps as precisely close to the Letter as any.) Till therefore it be proved either that they were things so relinquished, as none owned them before, or had never been in any one's rightful possession, and so fell to those who first could seize on them, by the Rule, Quae nullius sunt, fiunt occupantis: or that God himself, the Proprietary, hath derelinquished his own Right, or demised it to another, it can neither revert to the Donor, nor be converted to any other profane or common use, without high Sacrilege. Excellently well to our purpose doth * Ecclesiae Anglicanae Suspiria, B. 4. ch. 26. Dr. Gauden, late Lord bishop of Worcester, Reason this Case thus; God's mind must be known, that he is willing to be deprived either of that Service and Honour, he and his Son Jesus Christ had, or of those means for the Maintenance of it, which were Devoted to him: Nor can any Power (that I know) but only God's Omnipotence, absolve the living, and Survivors from that Right which the Donors had, when yet living, and that Bond which from them, though dead, yet still lies on the Consciences of those Survivors, who for ever stand bound to discharge their trust, by observing, as sacred, the Will of the Dead, which, if once lawful, is not to be made void wilfully and presumptuously. If at any time, public Necessities do drive men to some temporary dispensations and seizures, yet these must be so recompensed afterward in quiet times, as may keep them from being made, beyond inconveniences, intentional and eternal Injuries to God, and his Church, that it may be but a Borrowing, and not a Robbing of God and his Church, but must remain for ever the Lord's proper Demesne, and as I may say, his Sacred Enclosure, fenced about therefore with the double Hedge of a solemn Consecration, and of a severe Commination too. 12. Both which are the Offsprings of one and the same original (z) Mr. Mede's Diatrib. on Matth. 6.9. Root, to wit, INCOMMUNICABLENESS, which derives a Shadow and Resemblance upon all those Things, Places, Times Persons, or Actions, which have God's Name stamped upon them, and renders them Incommunicable, exalting them into a State of Appropriateness and singularity, because Divine: so that still all this Respect and Reverence exhibited to all sacred things, terminates finally in God himself; so far is outward Devotion (if rightly pitched for the Object) from becoming a Bridge unto Idolatry or Superstition, that to a Considerative Soul, it rather prompts the clean contrary, if we would but take the pains to understand, or to heed the right Reason of our Reverence towards sacred things, namely, their Relation unto God, which Derives unto all such, whether persons or things, though not an inherent, yet a relative Holiness. CHAP. VI Of God's Heavy Curses against Sacrilegious, both Persons, and Nations. Sect. 1 THis Divine respect is the more observable, because it is the fandamental ground of all those heavy Curses temporal and Eternal, (without Repentance, unavoidable) usually annexed, all the Christian World over, as a deadly Seal unto all Religious Donations: The black forms whereof you have yet extant in your own (a) See above, pag. 23. See the form of those Imprecations set down in a Manuscript, compiled by the command of the great King Edgar, apud Joh. Selden. in Not. ad Eadmerum, p. 155, 156. Where they are doomed to the same damned end with the lapsed Angels, or Devils, with Cain, with Judas, etc. I once saw in the hands of a most Reverend Prelate, an old Manuscript of Alcuinus (Tutor to Charles the Great) containing an Extract of all the most rigorous Curses scattered all over the Imprecatory Psalms, (such as the 69. 83. 139. etc.) and other direful Passages in holy Scripture, (as Levit. 26. Deuteron. 28 etc.) and all, as I may say, compounded into one terrible Clap of Thunder, darted out against this very sin of Sacrilege, the Report whereof would make the hardest Ear to Tingle, (Read but seriously so much as we have quoted of it:) The Sum of them all was, A sad Denunciation of an U●ter, Total, Final, Eternal Separation from God, and his Blessing, Body, Soul, and Estate, Posterity and all. Saxon Records, of your old Kings, Ina, and Edgar, &c, 2. These Curses though uttered by particular men, (who yet if Parents or Superiors have a power from, and under God, to ( ) See a learned Tract of this in Ludovici Cappelli Spicilegio, Diatrib. de voto Jepthae. Curse as well as to Bless) yet were they ratified by the whole Church, as well as by this whole Nation, and therefore every way lawful, as well as powerful. 3. For although it might be once in the power of the King and Parliament, or Nation, by the Law of the Land, to disallow of those Curses, or of the Donations themselves, before they were uttered and confirmed; as, by the Law of God, it was in the power of the Superior, Father or Husband, to disallow the Vow of the Daughter or Wife, Numb. 30. antecedenter, before his Assent, yet, consequenter, (as anon more at large, yet after they have once given way to them, or allowed of them, * See in the Book of Statutes the Sentence of Curse, An. 51. Hen. tertii. than the Jure, and that by the express Law of God too, as well as by their own Act, 'tis past their Power, or the Power of their Successors after them, to reverse or to repeal either the Curses, or the Donations, because God himself is then become a Party in the case, and his holy Name engaged and interessed in both, which Specialty gives the Clergie's spiritual Estates one ground of Privilege in Law, beyond and above all other Lay-fees, and affords the Reason why Church-Lands may not be equally disposeable, or alienable as by the Law of the Land other temporal Estates may be. 4. This is a Ruled Case in God's Court of Justice: One memorable Instance for all you have Recorded in the Ninth Chapter of the Book of Joshuah, and this it was, The * Deuter. 7.1. Joshua 9.3. Gibeonites (a part of the seven Devoted Pagan Nations) by fraud obtain the Privilege of Exemption, confirmed by a rash Oath of the Princes of the Congregation. About four hundred years after, King (c) 1 Sam. 21. Saul, in his zeal too, (saith the Text) to please the humour of the People, sought to slay the Gibeonites: Hereupon God Almighty sends three whole years Famine, and God expressly renders the cause to be a breach of the Promise made unto the Gibeonites so many years before, and no way of Expiation, but by hanging up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, seven of Saul's Sons, to satisfy for their Father's violation. In this History, besides the remarkable Circumstances of the Divine Talio, both in the Place and Persons, and the hereditariness of the Curse: 'Tis worth the observing, the several differences betwixt that Case and ours, as so many degrees of advantage in our behalf: As that, 1. Before the Oath, and but for the Oath, God's express (d) Deut. 7.1.2. Ob spreta septem Praecepta Noachi. Petr. Cunaeus de Repub. Hebr. lib. 2. c. 19 Command was to destroy these Gibeonites, as being within the compass of God's Interdictum. 2ly, The Oath was rash, for (v. 14.) the Princes would not so much as stay to ask counsel of the Lord. 3ly, It was extorted by fraud, and that upon a false ground too, that they came from a very far Country, whereas they dwelled hard by. 4ly, There seemed a kind of public necessity to repeal such a rash Oath, for (v. 19) because of it all the Congregation murmured against the Princes: yet for all that, the Princes dare not, to please, or appease the People, venture to displease God: But (v. 19) All the Princes said unto all the Congregation, we have sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel, now therefore we may not touch them. Sure they will not say, that this example also is but Levitical, or Oaths but Ceremonial, (unless they will shake hands with the Anabaptists, and other fanatics.) 5. It needs no further Application, for if in the case of a Promise made to mere Heathen, to cursed Heathen, God was so strict a Revenger of the Violation, then à majori, betwixt Christian and Christian, yea, between God and Man, (venture who dare:) Eurip. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, though man cannot, God can, (e) Leu. 25.21. Command as the Blessing, so the Curse to take effect: for it will appear soon or late that it was God's own Curse, and therefore impossible it should be either causeless, or powerless. 6. Causeless it is not, but most just in the Nature, in the Motives, in the end thereof. First, in the Nature of it, for what can be more just, then to separate those Persons from God, (the nature of the Curse) who made no Conscience of separating those holy things from God, which belong unto God by the Donor's godly will? Secondly, in the Ends and Motives, the Curses were just also, for why might not those good men have in them, an Eye to the glory of (f) Sanctus, i. e. honoratus sit Deus eo ipso, quod punit Sacrilegos, scilicet de divino honore tantúm sacrilegi de trahunt, ut necesse sit per eorum punitionem resarciri honorem pristinum. Caiet. in Levit. 10.3. God, (their Protestations are so, and Charity bids believe the best) and to the good of his Church, namely, that God's Justice might appear in the punishment of Sacrilegious Usurpers or Violators: and so the Church might be edified, and all men warned by their Exemplary punishment? 7. And as those Curses were not causeless, so neither were they powerless, how ever the Irreligious Scoffers of these latter days may blaspheme God, and slight them, and all God's ways of Justice, or Mercy either: Yet, by the general woeful experience of so many Men, Families, yea Nations, as have ventured upon them, it will appear they were more than bare Bug-bear-words, even Fatal Predictions of God's real and visible Judgements, which without Repentance and Restitution, the Offenders could never claw off: for indeed the more immediate the offence is against God himself, the sorer and the closer the Curse sticks to the Offender: (g) 1 Sam. 2.25. if one man sin against another, the Judge shall judge him, but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him? for finiti ad infinitum nulla proportio. 8. Enough to make it appear that the Curse rightly applied is more than a mere humane Curse, that it is, for Authority, Divine, and therefore indeed rather an Approbation, or but applicative Declaration in particular, of God's own Curse already denounced in the general against all sacrilegious Offenders, than a new Curse of their own, being Copied, as I may say, into their several Books of particular Donations out of the Original in God's own Book, wherein you may read those Curses written on both sides, I mean in the New, as well as in the Old Testament. 9 Take one or two proofs of each: The first Curse we read of in this kind, is as old as Moses, (h) Deut. 33.11. whom we may observe in the very Act of blessing the Tribe of Levy, suddenly to shift his foot from Mount Gerizzim, to Mount Ebal, where he falls a cursing all those that shall attempt to hinder Levi in his substance; or to impeach him in the Work of his hands, saying, Bless, O Lord, the Substance of Levi, and accept the Work of his hands; but smite through the LOINS of them that rise against Levi, and of them that hate him, that they rise not again: A full and fatal Curse this, wherein you may clearly observe: 10. First of all that in the Enumeration of all the other Tribes, there is no mention of Enemies to any but to these two, (i) Verse 7. Be thou an help to Judah from his Enemies. to the Royal Tribe of Judah, and to the sacred Tribe of Levi: It seems Moses and Aaron, the King and the Priest must still be (k) Lam. 3.6. Fellow Patients, (pardon the word) for so God himself joins them in the Lamentation, and so the Devil and his Agents too match them in the Persecution also; It was against Moses and against Aaron, that seditious * Num. 16.3. Corah and his Company gathered themselves together, not against Moses alone, nor against Aaron alone, but against both at once: He very well knew what belonged to his Kingcraft, that said it, (l) King James in the Confer. at H. C. NO BISHOP, NO KING: for the self same in effect was the Oracle of another wise Emperor, above a thousand years afore King James spoke it, (m) Maxima quidem in omnibus sunt Dona Dei superna collata Clementia, SACERDOTIUM ET IMPERIUM, & illud quidem Divinis Ministrans, hoc autem humanis praesidens. Inter haec duo Consonantia omne quicquid est utile humano confert generi, etc. Authent. Coll. 1. Tit. 6. Novel. 6. in praef. ad Epiphan. Archiep. & Patriarch. Constantinop. It seems those ancient Sages did conceive, That the Influence of good Success upon a Nation, Prince, and People, mainly depends upon the good Correspondence and bappy conjunction of all the Estates with the Priesthood: A Maxim very memorable, as full of Policy as of Religion, and in experience, as full of Truth, as of both those: That Harmony being indeed the only ordinary way to maintain Correspondence with God himself, namely, to correspond with God's Priest, because God's immediate Agent in spiritualibus, in all matters 'twixt God and man. Did this Nation ever thrive, since it began to strive with the Priest? Hosee iv. 4. Justinian I mean: These two the King and the Priest, as they were of old Twins of Oil, as the Rabbins style them, so are they still Twins of Destiny too, they stand or fall together: Therefore, and it were but in Policy, in point of Mutual Interest, they had need support and assist each other against the common Enemy. 11. But although Judah and Levi, the King and the Priest have both their Enemies, yet doth not Moses curse the Enemies of Judah, neither so directly, nor so vehemently as he doth the Enemies of Levi, as if they were more, or more full of Animosity against the Tribe of Levi, than against any other Tribe whatsoever. That we may all prepare, my Brethren, for Nil novum sub sole, whether it be for Aaron's Rod, the Priest's Power, or for the flourishing of that Rod, the Priest's Portion, it seems 'tis an old Grudge, the mad World hath still to the (n) Laici semper sunt Infesti Clericis, Covarruvias. Clergy; 'Tis strange, that of (o) 1. Thrice for water, Exod. 15.24. and 17.2. Num. 20.2. 2. Twice for the way, Num. 11.1. (Sol Jarchi:) and 21.4. 3. Once for bread, Exod. 16.2. 4. Once for flesh, Num. 11.4. 5. Once at the News, Num. 14.2. 6. Twice at the Priest especially, Num. 16.11.41. ten several popular Mutinies in that stiffnecked Jewish Nation, (upon six several occasions) of the Persecution, the Priest had more than his share twice over, far above his Tenth of that, to be sure, that none will grudge him. 12. Secondly, Sacrilege (whether personal or real, 'tis no matter, either way 'tis the sin cursed here) must needs be an heinous Offence that moves meek (p) Num. 12.3. The man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. Moses, that Mirror of Lenity upon God's own Record; 1. To fall a Cursing: 2ly, To extend his Curse through the very Loins of the Enemies of Levi, that is, as it were, to Entail the Curse upon their Posterity. 3ly, To aggravate this Curse with the Doom of a final Destruction, praying unto God, that such of all others may never rise again. 13. And, as if the Curse upon Sacrilege were always so fatal and final, so runs King Darius his Curse also annexed to his Charter of Donation to the Temple, (q) Esdr. 6.12 & 1 Esdr. 6.33 The God that hath caused his Name to dwell there, destroy, (utterly destroy) all Kings and People that shall put to their hands to alter, and to destroy the house of God: Here is utter destruction again, and that to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To all Kings, saith our Translation, To all Kingdoms, saith the Vulgar: No respect of persons, for Magnitude, or Multitude, all is one with God: To whom in point of Revenge, The Nations are but as a drop of a Bucket, Isa. 40.15.17. and are counted as the small dust of the Balance: behold, he taketh up the Isles as a very little thing, (Hear this Isle of Great Britain) All Nations before him are as nothing, and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity. 14. Go to profane World, and mock on, think as slightly of the Priest's Curse as you usually do of his Blessing; (To which most profanely the Vulgar use to turn their Backs; though they should know that Judas for departing before all was done, met the Devil at the Door, John 13.27.) Yet know you must at last, that God is not mocked: Though the Priest overawed by the general Vogue, should not dare to complain against the Encroachments upon his Person, Office, Provision, or Privileges, but is forced as the Prudent man (Amos v. 13.) to keep silence in such a time, because it is an evil time: Yet our God shall come, and shall not keep silence; And then there shall go before him a consuming fire, and a mighty tempest shall be stirred up round about him, (Psalms 50.3.) Will you hear God himself speak this out unto you in Thunder and Lightning? Then behold in (r) Malachy iii. 7. ad fin. Malachy, God himself draws up the full Indictment, and himself also pronounces the heavy Sentence upon it, against all sacrilegious Pretenders, or Purchasers. 1. God gins with an Emphatical Interrogation, Will a man rob God? (intimating the Unnaturalness of this sin:) will a man, any man, Jew or Christian, or Heathen: (were not this a sin against the Law of Nature, God would not have used such a general term as this, that includes all Mankind; for were this a sin only against the Law Levitical, it would have concerned none but the Jew.) 2ly, Will a man rob, or kick against his own God? so the (s) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Septuagint do render it, Will a man Supplant, or cast his own God under feet, as it were? To intimate what an Oracle of your (t) LE DECAY DES REVENUES DE HOMES DE SAINT ESGLISE EN LE FINE SERRA SUBVERSION DEL SERVICE DE DIEU, ET DE SON RELIGION: Sir Edw. Coke, L'evesque de Winchester's Case: where he gives an irrefragable Reason by way of instance, in the two most grievous Persecutions, the one under Diocletian, who yet did only by his cruelty, occidere Presbyteros, so that notwithstanding Religion did flourish: The other under Julian the Apostate, who by his Sacrilege and subtlety did Occidere Presbyterium: and this was the far more grievous Persecution of the two, because in a little time, there did ensue such neglect of God's Service, and such gross Ignorance of God's true Religion, as greatly decayed the Christian Profession. The Reason is plain, For God cannot be served without Men, nor Men be maintained without Means. Law, sadly presageth, that Sacrilege if not prevented or remedied, will be the downfall in the end of God's Church, and of God's whole Worship and Service: A Sacrilegious, or but slovenly Religion ends commonly so in downright Atheism. † Dr. Gauden above. Consequently all the Parts of the State itself Noble and Ignoble, will in the end, be enfeebled, abased, and mortified, when the Ministers of the Church of Christ are obstructed, or exhausted: They being as the Arteries of the Body Politic in any Nation, State, or Kingdom, which is Christian, as they who, Ex officio, are to derive and carry from the Head, which is Jesus Christ, the vital, and best (that is the Religious) Spirits to all the Parts of the Body. 3ly, Will a man rob God? his own God? this still aggravates the Offence, and the imputation thereof appears so odious to the guilty Jews, that they straight-ways seem to deny it, even then when God directly charges them with it, yet ye have rob me? They would plead not guilty, saying, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherein have we rob thee? 4ly, All along you may please to apply all this, and to observe the Impudeney of this sin, and how of all other sins 'tis hard to convince of, much more to convert a Church-Robber from his Sacrilege, he is so entrenched in it, with so many Shifts and Evasions, Distinctions, and Extenuations, why, and wherein, to outface if possible, even the Charge of God himself: Yes, saith God, ye have rob me, and if you will know wherein, In Tithes and Offerings: well, and fully the learned Italian * Nelle Decime: c. Ritenendo a voi quello che à di questi miei diritti, è del fornimento del mio servigio, è del sostentamento dè miei Ministri, etc. Diodati on this place, Ye have rob me, in Detaining those my Rights, which should support my Service, and maintain my Servants: In as much as you have done it to one of those that belongs to me, you have done it to me, (so Saint (u) Si enim per alios visitatur in Carcere, & aegrotus suscipitur, & esuriens sitiensque cibum accipit atque potatur, cur non in Ministris suis ipse Decimas accipiat, & si non dentur, parte suâ ipse privetur?— Subtrahendo Decimas & Primitias non dico Sacerdotibus meis & Levitis, sed mihi— fraudastis me parte meâ, etc. Hieron. in 3. Malach. Hierom on this very place, alluding to God's irrevocable Sentence at * Mat. 25. Doomsday:) This will be as true in malam, as in bonam partem: For even as God interprets our ordinary Acts of Charity, as done to himself, because done to his Servants at large: so on the contrary, and that à majori too, will God take those Acts of Irreligious Injustice, or Sacrilege against his immediate Servants, as committed against himself: whether he be Jew or Christian that commits it, whether the Fact be committed under the Law, or under the Gospel, the Sentence you see, is one and the same for both. In which Sentence by the way, may be worth the observing the full value of the word GIVING, I was an hungered, and you GAVE me Meat, I was thirsty, and you GAVE me Drink, etc. where giving in its native sense and full signification, is a word of Relation, that naturally implieth Receiving, as its Correlatum: And this must needs exclude Rejection; so that here Men's Devotion, and God's Acceptance kiss each other. For else, unless God did accept those Pious works, he could not properly have said, you gave me, but you (x) Isa. 66.3. He that offereth an oblation, is as if he offered Swins blood. offered me, as in some other places wherein he rejects the Offering: This in a glance by occasion of Saint Hierom's parallel of that place of Saint Matthew, with this of Malachy. 5. I, but haply those Jews might plead hereditary Prescription, for what they did now detain from the Priests, they came honestly to it, by Descent from their Ancestors; yet all that is nothing, for God Non-suits that Plea also, (v. 7.) Even from the days of your Fathers, you are gone away from mine Ordinances; to wit, by continuing in your Father's Sacrilegious steps; (so Saint (y) In quo reverti Jubentur, in eo recesserant, etc. Hieron. quo suprá. Hierom expounds it still) so far is Age then, or Continuance in sin or injury, from acquiring a just Title, either by the Law of Man, * Quod initio vitiosum est, non potest fractu temporis convalescere: Paulus lib. 8. ad Sabinum. ff. de divers. R. J. L. quod Initio, 29. (alias 30. Sic enim Digesto Novo tit. 17. l. 50.) Ratio Regulae est, quia sicut Tempus non est modus Inducendae, vel tollendae obligationis, (L. obligationum Sect. Placet. De Action. & obligation.) Ita solum Tempus actum ab initio invalidum confirmare non potest. Hujus Regulae (saith a good Civilian, and my old Acquaintance) Exemplum in contractibus extat in Sect. 1. Instit. de Inutil●b. stipulat. Si rem SACRAM, vel publicam stipuler, non valet stipulatio, licet postea efficiatur profana, aut privata, & in hominum Commercium perveniat. Everard. Bronchorst. in hanc legem, p. 80. If this be Law, if Jus, and aequum, then let all men judge, whether they Decree righteous Decrees, who f●rst rob God of his Demesnes, and then vote it a Lay-fee, as if such a Vote were Operative to command a second Transubstantiation of Natures. The truth is, but for Club-law: The Church hath all the just Law and Equity in the World of her side. or by the Law of God, that it rather aggravates the Offence by turning it through Custom into a state of final Impenitency: Else Belshazzar might have had as good a Plea for his Sacrilege, as some in our days, that he for his part came lawfully by the Sacred Vessels, for he had them by Inheritance from his Grandfather: Where notwithstanding ('tis very observable) it did not reach * De malè quaesitis non gaudet tertius haeres. the third Generation, but in a moment translated away with it, an Empire that had lasted above a thousand years. This we note the rather, once for all, to warn all men never to think the better of an Error, or of a sin, as of the sin of Sacrilege or Rebellion, because hereditary: for God Alto Judicio, may suffer a sin in a kind of Lineal succession, to descend from the Father to the Child, yea, to seem as it were entailed upon a Family, upon a whole Nation for a while, till at last when he sees his time, Tarditatem supplicii gravitate compensat: and by his National, final Curse, cuts off for ever the Entail, and the Intailers too, Root and Branch indeed: For thus the Son is still under the Curse, and justly punishable, though not for the first Sacrilegious Act committed by his Father, yet for the impenitent continuance of that Sacrilegious Act of his Fathers; which brings us to the consideration of the next particular, namely, God's Curse. For sixthly, the Indictment being both repeated, and proved, God proceeds to Sentence, saying, Ye are cursed with a Curse, Verse 9 because ye have rob me, even this whole Nation: Where observe, that as the Sin, so the Curse is for the extent National, for the kind very equal, for they did by Sacrilege famish the Priests of God, and the God of the Priests did famish them by Scarcity, for ordinarily Punishment is the Anagram of Sin: So God's Justice commonly runs in a Talio, observes as it were, an exact Geometrical proportion, rendering par pari, (as S. Hierom again) If men will walk contrary unto him, (a) Levit. xxvi. 27, 28. he will also walk contrary unto them, and enlarge his Plagues seven times more for their sins: The whole Nation was deep in the Sacrilege, the meaner sort following herein, the bad examples of the great ones, which with the base ignoble multitude, usually goes for Law, and so the whole Nation undergoes the Judgement too, a miserable National Famine, so extreme, that (some record) they were fain to sell their own Children to buy bread abroad: Their own Heaven at home being become Iron, Levit. xxvi. 19 and their own Earth brass, (for Offenso Creatore, omnis offenditur Creatura) our own Destiny in the end of another National War, except we repent; for, whether this fundamental sin of Sacrilege, be not become as National here among us, as possibly it might be amongst the Jews, judge ye: If a sin should be once decreed lawful by the Representative Body of a Nation, that is, with Authority, if it be practised generally by the Diffusive Body of a Nation with Impunity, either of these two ways is enough to denominate a sin National, à Majori then, where both these do concur. This I press, that by the present National punishment, we may apprehend the vastness of our sin to have been no less than so, National also; and that the Plaster may be as broad as the Sore, so must be the Repentance and Reformation too by way of Restitution, National also, that's the next. For behold and admire Clementiam Domini, Hieron. ibid. (saith the Father) that thus patiently bears with whole Generations of sin in Father and Child, and yet still invites them to repentance, Return unto me, V 7. and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of Hosts: Nay, as if he would meet them more than halfway, he points out unto them the only way, they may not think of Peace, or of Plenty again, or of a Pardon, If they come still empty or close-handed, no, that is not the way God marks out here, but the quite contrary way, V 10. Bring in all the Tithes into the Storehouse, and prove me now herewith, if I will not open you the Windows of Heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. 15. From whence you may first of all observe for your own direction, that the only National Remedy left us is National Restitution: so far, if you intent to prosper, must you be from venturing to add new Sacrilege to the old (as some would have you) that all your care must be rather, to contrive how to make Restitution for what is past. 'Tis a duty will still lie heavy upon you, and the whole Nation else, till you resolve to discharge it; take it in the words of one of your own wise men, (b) Sir Francis Bacon in his Consider. etc. and a Lawyer also, who observing very well how Church-Lands pass in valuation between man and man at a lower rate than other Temporalties, thinks therefore (with all reverence be it repeated) that all PARLIAMENTS since the 27, and 31 of H. the VIII.) STAND OBNOXIOUS (they are his own words) AND OBLIGED TO GOD IN CONSCIENCE, to do somewhat for the Church, to reduce the Patrimony thereof; And adds, That since they have debarred Christ's Wife of a great part of her DOWRY, it were reason they made her a competent JOINTURE. 16. Touching the matter, out of which to make the Restitution, as it concerns mainly the Consciences and Estates of the Usurpers, (for Caveat emptor, and the old Rule will be for ever true, Aug. Non remittetur peccatum, donec restituatur ablatum, at least (c) 2 Cor. 8.11. according to what a man hath:) If this seem durus Sermo, then think, that for lack of Restitution, Ite Maledicti, will sound far harsher: So it were a gallant opportunity to the charity of public Spirits, whom God hath blessed with abundance both of Grace and Wealth, to redeem the Lord's Inheritance: Less than half an Age of Peace and Plenty might do it; and who knows but such a Project as this in the Heart of this Nation, might through God's acceptance, purchase again that well-grounded Peace, which all the other fair and foul means we have already used, have miss of as yet? As for the Medium how to effect that Resumption or Redemption, that in all modesty, we must wholly leave to the Justice and Authority of the Higher Powers, whose Immortal Glory it would be once for all, to have freed this Church and State from the Plague of Sacrilege for ever. Secondly, In that this Prophet here, and others (d) Nehem. 10.35.37. elsewhere, make mention of the Priest's Storehouses, their Magazines, or as S. Hierom calls them, (e) Inferte in horrea, i. e. in Thesauros Templi. Hieron. their Treasuries: It is from hence evident, it was never God's meaning, that his Priests should live basely, or poorly from hand to mouth, (as they say.) Thirdly, In that God to this duty of Restitution, promiseth so many Blessings of all kinds, Blessings privative, Deliverance from Incumbent Judgements, from the Devourer, etc. (verse 11.) Blessings positive, plenty and credit again, at home and abroad, (verse 10.12.) Since, I say, all these Blessings are assured upon the observation of this one Precept of all others: (as if in it God had summed up his whole Law:) We may thence infer two things. 1. That he that makes no Conscience of the sin of Sacrilege, will make Conscience of no sin at all. The Jews have a Proverb, That * Drus. Idolatra totam Legem abnegat, Sacrilege therefore being in St. Paul's judgement, of the same size and latitude with Idolatry, it must needs renounce the whole Law, Rom. 2.22. not only in St. James' general sense, Jam. 2.10. but more particularly, because all the Second Table depends upon the first, and all the Commandments upon the foremost. Secondly, When ever we miss of God ' Blessings, as now, let us then remember the Cause, why all this evil is come upon us, and amend it: * See the Exhortation appointed for the Fast against the Plague of Pestilence, An. 1665. Deutr. 28.21. The public voice of the Church tells us plainly, That because the Portion of God is invaded, his Altars rob of Tithes and Offerings, and holy things of all sorts profanely and sacrilegiously devoured; Therefore God in his just Judgement, will cause the Pestilence to cleave unto us, until he hath consumed us from the Land: Have we felt it already, and yet will not we believe it? nor use the Remedy, Repentance and Restitution? Men may toil and moil, as they say, plot and project, and purchase too, and yet all this while put all their gains into the Prophet's bag with holes, (f) Hag. 1.6. If God do but blow upon it: When all is done, 'tis the (g) Prov. 0.22. blessing of the Lord that maketh rich: Decima & ditesces, saith the Rabbin from this Text, & contrá. Let the Modern Projectors than build their Babel's never so high, if they be reared upon the Ruins of Zion, they will find at last that Foundation, Fabric and all, will down all at once, and sink both the Founder and his Posterity into worse than their first nothing. Finally, for a close of this large Sermon of the Prophet Malachy against Sacrilege, let us observe the Success, (for it may be, I am preaching mine own Destiny) so far were some from relenting, much less restoring, that they were rather hardened at it, and scoffed at both the Prophet, and his God too, so God complains directly, (h) Verse 13, 14, 15. Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. And yet on the other side, to the comfort of the Preacher, and the Honour of his God, some became of a better mind, took the Matter into their serious Consideration, They feared God, saith the Text, (verse 16.) and God himself takes special notice of it, Registers up their mutual good motions in his great Book of Remembrance, against the great day of Reckoning and Reward, (verse 17.) on which day, at furthest, shall clearly appear saith God, (verse 18.) The wide difference betwixt the righteous and the wicked, between him that serves God, and him that serves him not: And thus endeth the Prophet's Sermon against Sacrilege, and (for the most of it) the Father's Descant upon it, who there expressly enlarges the Application of all this, (both in respect of the Minister's Maintenance, and the Usurper's Offence too) unto all Nations under the New Testament. And this also the Father urges fully, in a direct and express Opposition to Martion, Valentinus, and the rest, Qui vetus non recipiunt Testamentum, saith the Father there, that, as the men of our Generation, (especially if the case be concerning Rebellion, or Sacrilege, or any such Cross-Theam) they'll at one dash, recuse the whole Old Testament, (as if one and the same good God were not the Author of both Testaments, New and Old, but some evil Spirit had been the Author of the Old) point-blank to the sound (i) The old Testament is not contrary to the New, Article 7. Doctrine of this Church, their own Mother: from which, in this, as in so many good things else, whilst they Apostatise, you see they become ex Ass, the Heirs and Successors of the old Heretics. 17. But to leave them and all others without Excuse, and that you, and all men may clearly see we want not in the New Testament also, as full, and as memorable a Text against Sacrilege, as any we have yet produced besides our own Text; what will they say to the Famous History of Ananias and Sapphira? 18. For, that they were guilty of Sacrilege 'tis plain, not only by the verdict of the Holy Fathers, both Greek and Latin, as (k) In locum. St. Chrysostom, (l) Serm. 9 St. Ambrose, (m) De verbis Apostoli. St. Austin; and to name no other Writers, by a full Jury of Protestants upon the place, amongst the rest, Calvin, (n) Erat Sacrilega fraudatio, quia partem ex eo subducit, quod Sacrum esse Deo profitebatur. Calv. ad locum, and more largely above pag. 21. See the rest in Marlorati Ecclesiasticâ Expos. ad locum Beza, whose Testimony (o) See at large Beza on Acts 5.2. amounts to these five Concessions; 1. That there may still be a Consecration of things under the Gospel. 2. That this Consecration may be of Lands. 3. That this Consecration because it was offered Ecclesiae, to the Church, therefore it was construed to be offered Domino too, to the Lord, as Irenaeus by and by, in Vsus Dominicos, so that the Lord is still a Party in this Cause. 4. That this Consecration is done Spiritus sancti impulsu, and so (p) Per mentire allo spirito Santo: c. In quanto quella CONSECRATIONE potera essere Stata un movimento desso, à cui egli non havea sincerament ubbidito. Diodati in v. 3. c. 5. Diodati too upon the place, by the good motion of the Holy Ghost, (so far are this kind of Devotions from being unlawful, or unacceptable) which good Motion because they had not sincerely obeyed, therefore, saith that Italian Doctor, they did abuse the Holy Ghost. 5. and lastly, They all agree, that to alienate this from a Consecrated use, is Sacrilege. Sure these Reverend men of Geneva, when they writ thus, must needs believe that there was still such a thing as Consecration, or Sacrilege under the Gospel. And just so Peter Martyr, Brentius, Aretius, and they all directly conclude, 'twas Sacrilege. 19 And should we want all these, the Context would prove itself; for clearly there, the Materiale, or circà quod, of Ananias' sin, was a thing Devoted to God, the Author of Holiness, to be a help or means to propagate holiness, and therefore the thing was holy: and as for the Formale, the sacrilegious Detention, that is clearer still by S. Peter's Charge, and by the express Text, Thou hast kept back part of the price (v. 4.) and in so doing, Thou hast cheated God himself, (so your Margin, verse 3.) But all this will appear most evident in the more particular Examination of the whole History, out of which we will draw so many Deductions or Conclusions, which well weighed, will amount to so many Declarations, and Confirmations too from the New Testament, of all that which we have formerly delivered out of the Old Testament. 20. First then, Super totâ materiâ, we may from the Premises fairly deduce still under the Gospel, the Continuance or Lawfulness of such Consecrations, or voluntary Devotions, witness God's Acceptance of them at the hands of those good men mentioned in the foregoing (q) Acts 4.34. to the end. Chapter, and God's visible Vengeance, on the Violators in this Chapter: To run over these in order. 21. Touching the Continuance of Consecrations in the New Testament, 'tis plain the old Primitive Christians understood the Apostle's practice, Praxis Sanctorum, Interpres Praeceptorum. and this History no otherwise, which made them even therefore, as careful ever after, to honour God with their (r) Prov. 3.9. Substance, as ever were the Jews before them: They did not, under pretence of confining their Religion within the Spirit, renounce with Judaisme, all manner of real, or corporal Offerings; They were wise men (s) Matt. 2.11. who not content with bare falling down and worshipping, (and yet many a zealous Professor's Modern Religion extends not so far now adays) would also Offer their Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh, such as they had: and this their Religion they, and the whole Catholic Church for above fifteen hundred years, hath transmitted uncontrolled, unquestioned down to our own Sacrilegious Age, the great Climacterical of all Ancient Devotion. 22. And now, for an upstart Generation, to strive against such an Universal Stream, as the godly Judgement and Practice too of the whole Church, what can it be, but (in the (t) Aug. Extremae Insaniae, etc. Father's Judgement) Extreme Madness indeed. 23. Apostolical (u) Non genus Oblationum reprobatum est, Oblationes enim & illîc, (scil. in V T. Oblationes autem & bîc, etc. (scil. in N. T.)— Species tantùm immutata est, quip cùm jam non à servis, sed à liberis offeratur. l. 4. c. 34. Edit. Colon. & vet. Cod. S. Irenaeus (who was St. John's Scholar, but once removed, and therefore far more likely to give us the right ground, and meaning of the Apostle's Godly Practice, than these men of yesterday) assures us at large in a whole Chapter, that, As there were Oblations under the old Testament, so there were still Oblations under the New. 2ly. That those Oblations the Lord did teach, Dominus docuit.. 3ly, That this was not a thing of private or particular observance, but Catholic or Universal, a Service which the whole World was to perform: Dominus docuit offerri in universo mundo. 4ly, That it was grateful and acceptable to God, Purum reputatum est apud Deum & acceptum: what can be more plain? I, but was not this meant only of the spiritual Oblations of Prayers and Praises? Expressly no. For, 5ly, For the matter first, they must be Primitiae Creaturarum, the first Fruits, or the best of God's Creatures. And 2ly, For the ends, they must be in Usus Dominicos, (a large word) for the Lord's uses, as towards the Sacrament, or for the Maintenance of God's Ministers; and therefore Irenaeus expressly instanceth there in Tithes, arguing directly à Majori, that we may not give Minora, but must be more liberal under the Gospel, because Majorem spem habentes, because we have greater hopes of greater rewards. 6ly, They must be offered to God as the Maker of all, not for any need, or Indigency he hath, but for the need ourselves have to offer unto God, saith the Father, namely, that we may not be unfaithful, but thankful, and acceptable, and capable too of his Rewards, according to that of S. Matth. 25. I was hungry, and you fed me: Thus that Apostolical Father excellently all over. 24. And that in point of obligatory Imitation, that Apostolical Practice concerns us now adays as much as it did them; Take Calvin's (x) Plusquam serrea nobis viscera esse oportet, quòd non aliter hujus historiae lectione afficimur▪ Illi simpliciter & bona fide suum proferebant, nos mille excogitamus obliquas Artes, quibus omnia hinc inde fraudulenter ad nos trahamus. ILLI AD PEDES APOSTOLORUM OFFEREBANT, NOS SACRILEGA AUDACIA QUOD DEO OBLATUM ERAT PRAEDARI NON VEREMUR: Vendebant olim suas possessiones, nunc Insatiabilis regnat emendi Cupiditas, etc. Quare haec in pudorem, & dedecus nostrum Scripta sunt.— Testatum hac historiâ voluit Deus quantopere illi probitas Sancta, puraque Ecclesiae suae Politia probetur. Calvin. in Act. 4.35. & cap. 5.1. own words (passionate enough) as near as I can translate them; Sure our Bowels are made of Steel (saith he) that we are no more affected with the Reading of this History, Those good old Christians honestly, and bona fide, did offer what was their own; we contrariwise study out a thousand crooked ways, by fraud to snatch of all sides what is none of our own: THEY THAN WILLINGLY OFFERED AT THE APOSTLE'S FEET, AND WE NOW IN A SACRILEGIOUS AUDACIOUSNESS ARE NOT AFRAID OF PLUNDERING THAT WHICH WAS OFFERED UNTO GOD. Of old, they sold their own Possessions; but now quite contrary, there reigns an Unsatiable desire of buying and heaping up, etc. wherefore these things are written to our shame and disgrace. This from Calvin's Mouth is somewhat plain and home: So as we were fain to name Calvin for it in our own Defence, else we might, by some of our Modern hard Judges have been impeached of Popery or Malignancy at least, even for this one very strain of plainness. But his Conclusion is no better, God saith he, in this History would, as it were, leave upon Record, how much he is pleased with the sincere Honesty and Godly Polity of his Church. Thus far Calvin: full enough, to prove the lawful Continuance of such Consecrations in the New Testament. 25. In the second place, we may observe the Alteration of the property after Consecration, first in that the Object of the Deceit and Injury is here set down to be God the Holy Ghost: (For his must needs be the Right directly, whose the Injury is:) now the Apostle says not here thou hast cheated me, or the Church, or the poor Saints, though all these were concerned in it too, as God's Assigns, but God was the Principal, and therefore the Apostle says directly, Thou hast deceived the Holy Ghost: so the Greek may bear it; and some (y) Phavorinus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. Scapul. Lexicographers do allow it, and Beza seconds it, saying, That they had to do with God himself, whose Title it was Consecrationis Obligamento, as Tertullian terms it, and the 4th verse puts it out of all doubt, saying, Whilst it remained was it not thine own, and after it was sold was it not in thine own power? As if the Apostle had said, as sure as before Consecration you might have called it your own; so sure after Consecration, it is no more your own, the Property is altered: whose is it then, or whose should it be, but his whom thou hast Cheated, so Diodati again, (z) Ma dopo la Consecratione, non era tua, tu non V'havevi pinu ragione alcuna: era di Dio, è percio tu hai commesso Sacrilegio: Diodati, in c. 5. 4. After Consecration thou hast no right in the world to it, it is now God's own, and even therefore thou hast committed Sacrilege: So he; where you may see in plain terms again, Consecration, and God's Title, and Sacrilege; all these avouched. And so much the late (a) Annotat. London 1645. on Acts 5.3. Assembly-men gloss upon the Text (on these words, To lie to the Holy Ghost, or to deceive:) This is their Comment. When they had DEDICATED the possession TO GOD, for the relief of his Servants, the fraud and falsehood concerned his INTEREST, etc. Here you have first, Their Vote for Dedicating Possessions to God under the Gospel. 2ly, That such an Act gives God an Interest in things Dedicated: Do not you therefore dream that the Presbyterian Party will allow your Lay-Sacriledge, for you shall hear the quite contrary from themselves by and by, when their Testimony comes in. 3ly, Here you may plainly observe God's own Ratification, as I may say, of the Church's Act in all such matters, both for the Acceptance of the Devotion, and the Censure and Curse also for the Detention, or violation. And that the Apostles, the Church Representative, were God's Vicegerents for both, as Calvin expressly observes upon the place, that Deus illis vices suas mandaverat; and he gives the ground of their Commission to be this, because though they were homines, they were but men, yet they were not privati homines, private men, but public persons, and so God's Assigns for the whole matter. 26. For the first Act, the Acceptance of the Devotions, it may admit of a twofold Consideration, in a twofold Respect; 1. Of the persons that may Vow. 2ly, Of the matter of the Vow. Concerning the first, 'Tis a ruled Case, (b) Num. 30.5.8. That none have power to Vow irrevocably, but such as are sui Juris, if any under age, or Covert Baron, or Command, do make Vows, the Superior in the Church, or in the State, or in the Family, within his several Sphere, private or public, as God's Vicegerent, hath power under God, to * Exod. 36.6. restrain, or to reverse, to disallow the Vows when he hears them: burr if the Superior hold his peace at the hearing of them, and disallows not the Vows of his Inferior, then says God, (c) Num. 30.11.14. he confirms them, ipso facto, and cannot afterwards make them void, having passed away his right: If he do, after he hath heard them, any ways make them void, he shall bear the Iniquity of them all; If bare silence imply such a Consent, and so bind the Superior to make good the Vows of the Inferior, how much more then, (as in the clear case betwixt the Parliament and the People in their Devotions to the Church) will it bind, when the Superior hath given his express consent, yea passed it away by his own Act: This as a second Instance, added unto that mentioned above concerning the Gibeonites fortifies still more and more the clergy's Title, and renders it past Revocation. 27. Secondly, Touching the Matter of the Vow, because (e) Rom. 14.23. whatsoever is not of faith is sin; Therefore it is very fit in case of Doubting, to ask the (f) Hag. 2.11. Priests concerning the Law: But where the Case is clear, and out of all doubt, and the Vow both for Person and Matter lawful, and only of private concernment; In such a case we may not lay a snare upon men's Consciences, there seems no necessity of any Vicegerent or Substitute at all, but God the Principal, being Omnipresent to every man's heart, the matter may safely be concluded betwixt God and a man's self; Actu interno, or V●to cordis: To vow with the heart is sufficient, and we may quiet our mind in this Assurance, that God is willing to accept all such our Just and prudent Vows, without any more ado. This is clear in so many Vows recorded in Holy Writ, for our Imitation and Confirmation too, such as was (g) Gen. 28.20. Judg. 11.30. 1 Sam. 1.11.13. Jacob's Vow, and Jephtha's Vow, and devout Hannah's Vow, which was not so much as expressed, Actu ullo externo oris, and yet have they all the express Seal of God's Acceptance, in his gracious grant of the Condition of their several Vows: Though we read not in any of them of any Deputy, or Vicegerent at all. 28. But Thirdly, if the Matter of the Vow be of more public concernment, and other circumstances so require, then behold God's Vicegerents at hand, God's Apostles I mean, to whom God himself hath given both the (h) Mat. 16.19. Keys, that of Knowledge, and this of Authority, therewith to open and to shut, to bind and to lose men's Consciences, as in the case of Absolution, so in the case of Resolution too, that if any, may judge both of the Power and of the Matter of the Vow, and determine the Conscience of the Votary either way, according to God's Word, whether the Vow will be acceptable, that is lawful, yea or no; and if it be lawful, they may Accept it in God's Name and stead. 29. And this Office being none of the extraordinary Apostolical Prerogatives, (such as some reckon these to have been their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or Infallibility, their power of Miracles, and their Ecumenical Jurisdiction:) is not therefore Incommunicable, or Intransitive, but as successive, and permanent, and pertinent to their Successors in ordinary the Bishops and Pastors of God's Flock, (who, as well as the Priests under the Law, or the Apostles under the Gospel, are God's visible Vicegerents unto the end of the World, (i) Heb. 5.1. in all things pertaining unto God) as to accept the People's Offerings in God's Name and stead, so to present (k) The Clause in the Prayer for the Church Militant [to accept our Alms and Oblations. them unto God, as well as to pray to God for the People, or to bless the People in God's Name. 30. And as to Bless, so to Curse in God's Name also (for Ejusdem est ligare cujus est solvere:) and this is in that History, the Apostle's second Act, to assure us and all the World of the Continuance of God's own heavy Curse, and Exemplary Vengeance too, even under the New Testament, in case of Fraud or Sacrilege: And this Ecclesiastical Censure, doth here consist of two express parts, a Spiritual and Eternal Excommunication, as I may say, (l) See Ghostwyke's Anatomy of Ananias and Sapphira's Sacrilege, chap. 6. from all the means, yea from the Life of Grace itself, the sorest, severest, extremest Vengeance that can be inflicted on a man in this World, forsaking and forsaken of God. Secondly, a Corporal, and that too a sudden and utter Deprivation of the Life of Nature also, both of them making up that fearful, total Extermination, which the Jews term (m) Drus. qu. l. 1. qu. 9 Sammatha, or Sammathizatio, of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that signifies desolare, & ad stuporem vastare, & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tu: as much to say, as let such a Curse fall upon thee, as is Ultima Execratio, or God's utmost Malediction: Saint Paul from another Root (Maran atha) seems to allude to this very Curse, 1 Cor. 16.22.) Cursing them add magnum diem, as the old Counsels phrase it, till Doomsday, and a day after. A Curse so terrible, that in the Book of (n) Eum Ananiae & Sapphirae † una stix porrigi ne † ejulantem crucians complectatur. Selden ad Eadmerum quo suprà, p. 156. Curses formerly quoted against Sacrilege, Ananias and Sapphira, a●e become the Proverbial, as I may say, the Standard to Curse by. 31. Surely such a Curse, so terrible (take in all the circumstances) we read not of in all the Old Testament, as if God hereby would intimate as the heinousness of the sin of Sacrilege above all sins in general, so the aggravation of it in particular, as it being a greater sin now under the Gospel, than under the Law, both respectu Personae, and also respectu Status: because as our Oblations to all Acts of Devotion, are more, so is our knowledge, and our hope likewise, (this is (o) Allus. ad Decimas. Hilariter & libenter danda ea, non quae sunt minora, utpote majorem Spem habentes, Iren. l. iv. c. 34. Irenaeus his Argument;) far greater now than it was then. 32. And because this Fact of Ananias was the first Notorious Act of Sacrilege, that ever was committed under the Gospel; therefore lest any after them should presume upon their Impunity, as they gave ill example to their Generation, and to Posterity to boot, ('tis P. Martyr's note) themselves became a sad example to both; They were confounded Body and Soul. 33. And that too with a sudden Destruction, in an Instant, the usual Destiny of Sacrilege: witness * Dan. v. 30. 2 King. xi. 16. Belshazzar, Athaliah, and so many more slain, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as we say, In the very Act of Sacrilege. 34. This is an History brimful of horror, in all the grievous circumstances of it: To see a Man and his Wife, Children of the Church, Auditors of the Apostles, Professors of Christ's true Religion outwardly, conformable to the Apostolical Discipline, Benefactors to the Church, no apparent professed Enemies or Atheists, no Persecutors or Apostates, or notorious evil livers, (for any thing we read of them.) Ah! I tremble to think it, that such persons, so qualified, should yet be liable to so Execrable an end, as (say * Gostwick's Anatomy of Ananias Sacril. ch. 6. some) in a moment to be damned Body and Soul, (dying without repentance) should, as they were man and wife in the sin upon Earth, be still man and wife in the Torment of Hell, and all this damnable rigour, for grudging a few Pence, or Pounds at the most, to God and Holy Church. But (p) Deut. xxix. 29. Secret things belong unto the Lord our God: and God's judgements are past finding out: Rom. xi. 33. Our best course therefore is, to adore them with admiration! To lay them to heart with fear and trembling, and to acknowledge with all humility, that God seethe not as man seethe, however Sacrilege may be extenuated in the World's deceitful Scales, yet in the Just Balance of the Sanctuary, you see the heavy doom of it, weighs down to the bottom of Hell. 35. And now although this latter part of the Censure, the Corporal part, was miraculous, and so extraordinary, yet let none harden himself in Sacrilege, upon the presumption that St. Peter and his fellows, that could kill with a breath, are now dead and gone: As long as the Lord liveth, and Ecclesia nunquam moritur, in your own sense, and in our sense, I am sure, the Church lives too, and the Spiritual Ordinance of God, and of his Church the heavy Censure of Excommunication, is permanent in the Church unto the World's end, and is, and ever will be, (clavae non errante) still as quick, and powerful to plague, and to destroy no less now, than in those days, if not always with visible external Judgements (from which we are not yet free) yet with far worse, with invisible inward Judgements, as Blindness of Mind, not to see our Disease nor Danger, our Duty nor Remedy; and Hardness of heart, not to repent, and return, and restore: for this Impenitent State may still provoke God to punish one sin with another (in his just Permission) a Judgement which is of all others the most grievous, the very next step to Hell itself, and therefore not inferior for the matter, (though not so visible for the manner) to that dreadful Curse which befell Ananias and Sapphira, in whose fatal Example God did purposely express such a Terrible Severity to countenance the just Censures of the Church, and to bring into credit Church-Authority, a main Nerve or Sinew, in Christ's Body Mystical; the Mortification whereof in this latter Age, hath occasioned the Gangrene of the whole Body of this Christian Church and State: for we may not flatter now, but now or never, must strike at the Root of all our Mischiefs, and tell you a sad truth, that of all our swarms of Heresies and Schisms, of all our Divisions and Distractions, of all our Seditions and Rebellions too, of all our Sacrileges and Prophanenesses: of all these cursed branches the Mother Root hath been the Contempt of the Church, for these four Buttresses, or Master-pillars of the Church, The Churches Apostolical Truth, Holy Peace, Just Power, and Due Patrimony, stand or fall together, and like * Plutarch. Scylurus his Arrows, whilst kept tied in the bundle, do render that Church and State impregnable, invincible, but one of them once sundered from the other, break but any one, and you may easily knap all the rest in sunder: This is the sad story of all our former National miseries, and till the Restitution of this Church Right also; and that cum effectu, Excommunication, (so dreaded in other Churches, the Greek especially) being now become with the many in England, but a mere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or , unless that Brachium Seculare do corroborate it, by some coercive way, as shall seem to their wisdom most suitable unto the symptoms and dispositions of this Nation, yet very much out of joint: Till then, we may in vain hope for a Respite, but never obtain the effectual Remedy, much less the real Recovery of this Church and Nation. 36. And to bring in all this, here is a fair Hint given us by the Holy Ghost, from this very Text and History of Ananias, wherein you may for an Epilogue from Calvin, observe yet this one Item more, That one main Aggravation, and always a deadly Ingredient of this sin of Sacrilege, was and is the Contempt of a general Godly Practice of the whole Christian Church, whose bare Custom in those honest and simple Apostolical days, St. Paul thought an Argument strong enough to confute any Irregular Schismatic, saying, upon occasion of a Church-Difference, (q) 1 Cor. 11.16. If any man seem to be contentious, we have no such Custom, neither the Churches of God. Of such force in those days of Discipline was the general Practice of the Church: How much more forcible than would have been the Precept of the Church, not only, or chief of the Church Diffusive, the whole Body at large, (for that in the matter of Exercise or Execution, was never, could never be Subjectum capax, of that Power or Jurisdiction) but, principally of the Church Representative, the Apostles and Ministers, who as you have heard, and Calvin very well observes still upon the place; Though they were but men, yet they were no mere private men, because God's Vicegerents, in which sense, the Contempt of the Church is, by a plain consequence, a Contempt of Christ himself, who according to his gracious (r) Matth. 28.20. Promise, for a Farewell to his Apostles, hath engaged himself by his Spirit of Power and Counsel, to be present with, and in his Church unto the end of the world. In reference to which Divine Promise, That Primitive Catholic Ceremony, of placing the Sacred Book of the Gospel on a Throne, in the midst of the Counsels sitting, was till of late, Solemn, and full of Divine Mystery, namely, among the rest, to intimate that in regard of Christ's Spiritual, and Invisible, but undoubted Presence, in the midst of his * Reputare debuerat, ubi duo aut tres congregati sunt in Christi nomine, illic eum adesse Praesidem, nec secùs in eo coetu se gerere, quàm si Deum oculis cerneret. Calv. in Act. v. 4. Church, all men ought to behave themselves in, and toward the Church with as much Obedience, as if there they saw with their Eyes, Christ himself visibly present. 37. To draw up all our several Observations upon this Apostolical History, into a narrow compass; By this time you see, That the Contempt of the Godly Precept, or but General Practice of the Church, (such as ever was this of Consecrations, or Dedications) is, first of all, Injurious to Jesus Christ himself, the invisible Guide, and perpetual Precedent of the Church. 2ly, Derogatory to Venerable Antiquity, and to all those that have gone before us in this devout way of well-doing. 3ly, Scandalous, yea, (in its contagious Nature, and bad Example) pernicious too, to the present Age, and unto Posterity to boot. 4ly, Dangerous, yea, without timely Repentance, Damnable unto the Contemners, what ever they be. 38. And now after all this said and proved too, yea, ex abundanti, sealed also both ways with God's own actual Curse or Benediction, as it were his visible Image and Superscription, yet still to ask the question, whether we shall Render this Sacred Tribute (s) Matth. 22.20, 21. unto our Maker, or no? still for all this, to pretend a fear of God's Refusal of our Devotions, or to say we want still a particular Revelation of God's Acceptance, or to quarrel about the Authority of the Vicegerent, to assure us of all these (The Sacrilegious Cavils of some in our days.) What were all this, but plainly to declare we have no more mind to this Religious Errand, than he in the (t) Prov. xxvi. 13. Proverbs, when instead of running, he tells you of a Lion in the way, a Lion in the streets. 39 For, as touching the main of all these, Assurance of Acceptance, since that is now adays called in question, I beseech you, have we not as much Revelation for God's Acceptance of this, as for any other good work, as for our Prayers, or for our Alms, or for any? To affirm the contrary, were it not besides the sin of Infidelity, a Tangle of Deep Hypocrisy, yea the very Cutthroat of all good works of Mercy or Piety whatsoever, private as well as public? would not this Doctrine also bid very fair for Enthusiasm? 40. Say we had no more but some one of (u) 1 Cor. 15. ult. God's general Promises, would not that serve? Nay, may not the Nature of the work itself be instead of all Revelations, if it have all the four Essential usually requisite Conditions of a good work: I mean if it be done, 1. Upon God's Warrant, or according to his Word, (x) As under the old Testament. Prov. iij. 19 So under the New, Gal. vi. 5. See above p. 65. 2ly, If the general intent in it, be to please and serve God. (y) Rom. 14.6. He that eateth not, eateth not to the Lord, etc. 3ly, If the work be done in love to God, for no self-respects, or by-ends of our own, but chief, (as the Church praiseth him) propter magnam gloriam suam, for his own Glory, because we know that God is (z) To do good, and to distribute forget not, for with such Sacrifices God is well pleased, Heb. xiii. 16. honoured by this our Acknowledgement. 4ly, and lastly, If that our Devotion be offered in (a) Luk. seven. 47. Faith, out of a persuasion of God's love to us in Christ, and of his general (b) Ephes. 1.6. Acceptance both of our Persons and Performances through Christ: Upon such grounds as these, S. Paul doubts not, but bids the Devout (c) Phil. iv. 18. Philippians, be confident that their Offerings sent unto him, their Apostle, were an Odour of a sweet smell, a Sacrifice ACCEPTABLE, and well-sing unto God. 41. This general Discourse you may extend to all the particulars in this kind, except they will say, (for they will, and may say any thing) that God will indeed Accept the good works done to any Disciples at large, to the meanest, but to the Seventy, or to the Twelve, his own Servants in Ordinary, his Disciples in chief: In whose behalf yet (that they may see we have God's Revelation, yea, Assurance of Acceptance, yea, special Promise of Reward also: all these as particularly set down in the clergy's behalf as may be) in the very first rank of that noted ancient (d) Grot. in Matth. 10.40, 41, 42. Tres discipulorum gradus, supremus prophetarum, secundus Justorum, infimus parvulorum: ex Textu, & ex Clem Alexandr. & Origen. Gradation of Disciples, God placeth his Prophet's foremost of all, saying, He that receiveth a Prophet in the name of a Prophet: That is, as we use to say, in the quality of a Prophet, shall receive a Prophet's reward: and if you will know what kind of Prophets he there means, they were his Apostles, the then MINISTERS, pro tempore, of whom, in the Verse immediately before, he had expressly said, He that receiveth you, receiveth me: and of whom also, in the very next Verse, he says, and in a manner swears it too, that if the Offering should amount to no more but a Cup of cold water, yet it should not go rewardless. As once the (e) Tertullian. Father upon another occasion, so may I say, Happy we, my Brethren, for whose sakes Christ swears, but then, Unhappy they all that will not believe Christ, no not when he swears on our behalf. 42. And now, will any sober man, Heathen, or Christian, expect a surer, or more express Revelation of God's Acceptance, than his own Promise of actual Reward, sealed too with such a Solemn Asseveration, (verily, verily, I say unto you, etc.) to put us out of all doubt, as if Christ had here in this place directly foreseen these latter days of Indevotion and Infidelity? 43. And again, are we here assured, that God both doth Accept, and will Reward the meanest transitory Oblation, a Meals-meat, as we say, bestowed on his Ministers, and shall we raise a doubt whether he will accept these Devotions, which are more Permanent, which are intended and dedicated for Perpetuity? Sure God Almighty, now under the Gospel, as well as under the Law, will have Persons, and Places too, as well as Times, consecrated to his Honour and Service, and those not Planetary neither, nor mutable every third year, but fixed and settled too for perpetuity, as we have already in part demonstrated, and these Rational men cannot deny with Reason: with what reason then can they deny the Lawfulness, yea Necessity of such sacred permanent Portions, to maintain those Sacred Persons and Places, for Perpetuity? 44. And can they, with all their Serpentine subtlety find out a better Expedient for such a kind of standing Provision, than standing Revenues, or Lands? Here in the Apostle's Deed we read of Lands sold, and the Prices, the Lands-worth given; Sure had the unsettled condition of those tumultuary Times borne it, we might, (as soon as in after times) have read of Lands directly given (for Lands, or Lands-worth, is it not all one?) that would have saved the labour of a Sale: however, there was in it an express Consecration of Lands, for so Beza very well notes upon the place, that Praedium Domino consecraverant. 45. And the Lawfulness of it must needs stand with all the reason in the World: for, shall it be lawful to give Lands to maintain a Bridge, or a Highway for perpetuity, (To which against the ancient Law, * See above, pag. 48. the Clergy are now angariated) and shall it be unlawful to give the like to maintain a Churchman, or a Church? Shall Lay Donations made to secular men ex mero motu, or ex Intuitu Charitatis, be valid, and those be decreed invalid that are made to a Clergyman ex intuitu Religionis? we may justly be afraid of offending, in doing such Monsters of men, the honour to confute them with so much reason, that deserve no other Confutation then that of the (f) Isa. 5.20. Prophet, Woe be to them that call evil good, and good evil: that call good works sins, and sins good works: For unless such men were strangely possessed with a Spirit of Atheism, would they reason the matter thus? Or use such Arguments as in the Consequence, must needs blaspheme God? for what (with God's Reverence and their reproach be it spoken) would they make God worse than an Infidel, * 1 Tim. 5.8. in purposely providing worst of all other sorts of men, for those of his own Household? Belike, all other men, Lawyers, Physicians, and all may have a command, or at least a permission lawfully to possess Lands, only the Divine may not? But Ubi scriptum est? quomodo legis? where is the Clergy excluded? had such kind of Law, or Reason, been in force of old, then how could the Bishops have conquered by fair purchase much of their own, and of the Church's Lands? Turn over the Records, and see, and you may yet read their munificent Erections, and ample Endowments too, not only of most of the Colleges, but also of so many (g) See the L. Bishop Godwin's Catalogue of the Bishops, and in it, for instance, the magnificent Foundations of Hugo de Puteaco, or Hugh Pudsey Bishop of Duresme, K. Stephen's Nephew, etc. An. 1153. Sir H. Spelm. Council. Cathedrals in England, besides all their other large Religious Donations: This we must needs note, that the simple people may not proudly as well as ignorantly, think that the clergy's Lands are all of the Laitie's bestowings, but could the Clergy have done all those great matters without Lands, trow we? 46. And if the Clergy may as lawfully, nay in some of the premised respects, may more deservedly, and more irrevocably too, than any of the other Estates, possess their Lands, then sure, by the Rule of Proportion, the Deprivation, or taking away of the Church Lands, must needs be an Injury far more heinous in the sight of God and Man, than to take away the Lands of Barons, of Knights, or Lawyers, or Physicians, or any: So far were such an Act from being either no Sacrilege, or no sin at all, that 'tis a wonder any man, that pretends to reason, should affirm any such thing Impunè, especially in a Christian Commonwealth, (for even in Plato's Commonwealth, (h) Plato 10. de Legib. we know such a man hath his doom.) 47. But more strange it is (if in these African days any thing may seem strange;) that any should dare to offer unto Masters of Reason no better Arguments, for such a high attempt against God and Man, and all the just Laws of both, than such as very Boys are hissed for in the School, or worse, a Pedantical Etymology, or so; Forsooth, the word Theft was more properly of things movable belike, because things movable are more portative than Lands or Houses, and so that kind of Theft was more easy, and so more likely, and so usually more in the notice, and care, and censure of the Law to provide against, therefore to take away a Penny from a rich man, is a sin indeed, and a sin of Theft too, but underhand by false witness, or close forgery, or a packed Jury, or with an high hand, by oppression and open violence, to rob an Orphan, or a Widow, or a School, or an Hospital, or all these, of all their Lands, that is no sin at all, much less all at once to take away for ever from a whole National Church, all their Lands and whole Livelihoods, (as lately.) 48. Good God, how ill art thou requited for endowing such men with Reason, that abuse it thus! Sure such a Spirit of Delusion in the Patrons of Sacrilege, must needs be a just judgement of God, because they will not receive the Truth, therefore God gives them over to such a Reprobate mind in the Active sense, that is to a (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, i. e. In mentem Judicii expertem, sensu activo. Beza in Rom. 1.28. mind unable to prove or taste Truth from Falsehood, Reason from Caption, Consequence from Inconsequence: God gives them over to such a senseless stupefied judgement, thus to reason themselves, and others, not only out of all Religion, and common Honesty, but even out of all common sense and reason too: so dangerous it is once to go astray in Judgement or Practice from the Common Road of the Catholic Church. 49. For, not to Grammaticate it about the exact value of the word Furtum, or Sacrilegium, (wherein yet out of Lexicons, or Vocabularies, they may possibly be convinced of falsehood:) For (k) Isidor. Orig. l. 5. c. 26. Sacrilegium est Sacri violatio, vel ejusdem usurpatio, committitur quandoque ratione rei, quum res sacrata usurpatur: quandoque ratione loci, ut quum Ecclesia violatur, etc. v. Lexicon Martinii more at large. Manifestum Furtum est, ut ait Massurius, quod deprehenditur dum fit. Quod autem sit Oblatum, quod Conceptum, & pleráque alia ad eam rem, ex egregiis veterum moribus accepta, qui legere volet, inveniet Sabini Librum, cui titulus est, de Furtis, in quo id quoque Scriptum est, non tantum rerum Moventium, quae efferri occulté & surripi possunt, sed Fundi quoque & Aedium fieri Furtum: Condemnatum quoque Furti Colonum, qui Fundo quem conduxerat, vendito, possessione ejus Dominum intervertisset, etc. A. Gellii Noct. Attic. lib. XI. Cap. 18. Sabinus the Lawyer, in A. Gellius, expressly extends the word Furtum, or Theft, to things movable, to Houses or Lands, and instanceth in a Farmer condemned of Theft, for selling away his Farm ground, to the prejudice of his Earthly Landlord: (The more it concerns us of the Clergy, as much as lies in us, not to be Accessary by our Silence, much less Consent to the Alienation of those Lands, whose right of property in Solidum, belongs unto our Heavenly Landlord.) Which weighty Consideration of our Conscience and Duty to God and his Church, may not only justify but magnify to God and the World, the Care and the Courage, the Cost and the Pains of those valiant Priests (as the Scripture Epithets them in another case, 11 Chron. xxvi. 17.) that do by due course of Justice, vindicate and recover the Church's Patrimony from those late Sacrilegious Invasions, that by a monstrous kind of Transubstantiation had turned Lease-holds for years, into Freeholds of Inheritance, and Tenants into Landlords (Thanks be to a good God, a good King, and a good Parliament that by an happy Restauration hath broken the Dam, which formerly obstructed the course of Justice, that now (according to God's Command, Amos v. 24.) Judgement may run down as waters, and Righteousness as a mighty stream.) 50. But to return to our Grammar-Boys: Posito, that the word Furtum were properly no more but so, Contrectatio rei alienae Mobilis, (l. furtum de obligat, quae ex delicto:) That's only for the word, but what is all this to the matter? Will it therefore follow, that Robbing Nabo●h of his * 1 King. xxi. Vineyard, was well done of Ahab, and no sin at all against the eighth Commandment, Thou shalt not steal? Because Naboth's Vineyard was not res Mobilis? By as good Reason may they affirm Incest or Sodomy, or Bestiality; or any villainy, to be no sin, or at lest no sin of Lust against the seventh Commandment, because not properly Adulterium, according to the Grammaticality of the word. 51. It is a Sin, and Theft, and Sacrilege, and all these, to steal but a Chalice. (Thanks yet for granting so much) or to take away a Church-Book, (for these and no better are their own Instances) and shall it be no sin at all to take away those Lands, that should maintain the Service or Servants that must serve God with all these? what is this, if it be not to strain at a Gnat, and swallow a Camel? Ridiculous Pharisaisme, as well as Devilish hypocrisy! 52. To commit Sacrilege is a Crime which alone is damnable per se, but to teach men so to do, that is the Superlative of all wickedness; Sure, such men do scarce believe there is an Hell; or a Kingdom of Heaven; or if they believe it, and yet break the greatest, yea all God's Commandments in one, do not they fear God? when he swears, that whosoever shall break one of but the least of these his Commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven: which (as (l) Grot. in Matth. v. 18, 19 Grotius well observes) is not meant of the Place of Heaven, for such men, except they repent, shall never come there, but of the Time when the Kingdom of Heaven shall be fulfilled at the end of the World, in the great Ecumenical Parliament of Heaven and Earth, after the general Resurrection, they shall be nothing esteemed of there in that World, however they may be cried up here, for wise men among the Fools of this World. 53. Whom yet to teach more wit at least, since they have no more grace: Behold, ad hominem, one Argument more for those kind of men, whom neither Scripture nor Reason can do good upon, 'tis Experience, the Mistress of Fools, and yet full out as good, and as great a Dame, as Mistress Necessity, is this Mistress Experience, especially if the Experience be Universal, such as the Experience of all Ages, in all Places, of all Persons, single and multiplied too; I mean, not only of so many several men, but of whole Families, yea of whole Nations. 54. For did you ever read, or hear of any that did Rob God, and indeed thrive of the Bargain in the end? Then what mean all those fatal Examples of God's heavy Curse upon so many as have ventured 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as Plato phrases it, to shave this Lion? whose dismal ends recorded in all History, as well sacred as profane represent them, as it were, hanged up in Chains, for a terrible warning unto all Posterity, like so many black Monuments of God's deadly Curse Personal, Domestical, National, all these. 1. That the Curse will be Personal, besides the achan's, the Shishak's, the Belshazzars, etc. of the Old Testament, and the Ananiasses of the New: most memorable is that fatal Curse that found out all those Persons that meddled with the Temple, after it was repaired by Darius (whose Consecration and Curse too, were both of them valid, though he but a Heathen:) It was a Curse in the Form of it, of the largest extent, upon whomsoever they should but * Plaut. Manum admoliri Sacro, as the phrase is, or but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, (so (m) 1 Esdr. 6.33. Esdras) not only upon those that shall actually destroy or alter God's Possessions: but also upon all that shall but go about to stretch forth their hand, (Jeroboam (n) 1 King. 13.5. did no more but so, stretch forth his hand against one single Prophet, and yet, for it, did his hand whither in the very Act:) that is, that shall Intent, or Plot, or endeavour the Alienation, (so a good Interpreter (o) Joh. Wolph. l. 2. Comment. in Esram. on the place) or if he do not do it himself, if he do but help others by Counsel, or Consent, or Countenance; as that Curse of Darius, so this very Text of S. Paul will reach him home what ever he be, for it comprehends all manner of Accessaries, Preparatories, Contrivances, and therefore the Spanish Translation renders it by as large a word as any is in the Spanish Tongue, El que abominas los Ydolos, hazez Sacrilegio? Thou that abhorrest Idols, dost thou commit Sacrilege? The word Hazer, which is used for committing, being in that Language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, multisignificant, as to deal about any way, to cause any way, or to follow others evil example, also to bear, or bring forth, a full word that fits the men of our Generation, for now adays every Addle Brain is turned Church Projector, and is with child, yea Teeming with his own Sacrilegious Bastard-Brat, or false Conception, how to rob God most colourably: but God sees Hearts as we see Faces, and ha●h store of Curses of all sizes, able to adequate this sin in all its Dimensions; Zachary (p) Zach. v. 2.3. tells you of one single flying Rowl of such Curses, twenty Cubits long, ten Cubits broad, expressly sent after the Thief to apprehend him where ever it find him at home or abroad. It were enough to verify all this, if we had no more but that one memorable Instance of Darius his Curse, that, at the long run, overtook all those Antiochusses, and Nicanors, and H●liodorusses, Maccab. and Crassusses, etc. that durst venture upon it. 55. And indeed (for this Sea of Examples hath no bottom) the time would fail me to tell you out of Ecclesiastical and Secular History, of the fatal ends of a Sacrilegious Julian, Blond. both Uncle and Nephew, of a Leo of Constantinople, of an Isaacius Angelus, and of so many more in the Empire of the East, of a Theodebert and his Partners (out of Aimoinus) in the West: That I say nothing of your own old Rufus, and his fatal Posterity, nor of your late Allens, and your Wolsey's, and your Cromwell's, and of your— I had almost spoken it out, but that, as your own several Chronicles (q) Stow. ad An. 1536. and Godwin Lord Bishop of Hereford, ad An. 1540 save me that labour, so I remember, that Lex in sermone tenenda, especially when it concerns Princes that are dead and gone: (what ever Saul was, yet because once the Lord's Anointed, therefore David's Epitaph of (r) 11 Sam. 1. etc. Saul is a gallant piece.) But assuredly as the Apostle speaks (s) 1 Cor. x. 11. All these things happened unto them for ensamples, and they are written for our Admonition, that all men, high and low, one with another, may dread to meddle (of all other sins) with the sin of Sacrilege, at least because of the Curse, which is not only so, Personal and no more, but commonly Domestical also; dilating itself from the Sacrilegious person to his whole Sacrilegious Family, root and branch, because all of them are usually Accessaries more or less: nay, it becomes Epidemical, as in the Sin, so in the Judgement, it spreads itself from Persons to Families, and from Families to whole Nations, if they legitimate the sin: 1. Cor. v. 6.7. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump. 'Tis Apostolical Counsel, worth the taking in time by all, whether Persons, Families, or Nations, be they otherwise never so wise; For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, God fulfils all his Works, as I may say, by a kind of exact Geometry, Wisd. xi. 20. In Pondere, Numero, & Mensura, Commensurating his Judgements to the sins: Amos vi. 11. He can smite the Great House with Breaches, and the little House with Clefts, and proportion National Sins with National Judgements. Dr. Gauden above. Some are so Superstitious (saith a Reverend Author upon this Argument) as to imagine that Bishop's, and all Church-lands, or Revenues, properly such, (as pertaining to the support of that Order, Government, Authority, Ministry, Charity and Hospitality, which ought to be in Clergymen, are like Irishwood to Spiders and venomous Beasts, prone to burst them, so that vix gaudet tertius hares; nay, though they possess them, yet they do not enjoy them, for nothing temporal can be enjoyed without a serene mind, an unspotted Fame, and an unscrupulous Conscience; which cannot be the Lot of Sacrilegious persons. 56. We need not remember you that not Ananias alone, but Ananias and Sapphira together were Man and Wife in the Curse: For Zachary is plain for it, the flying Rowl of God's Curse will with all its Dimensions find passage into the house of the Thief; nay more, it shall remain there in the midst of his house, saith the Lord, and (t) Zach. v. 4 at last Consume it, with the Timber thereof, and the Stones thenceof: This for God's Curse upon his Material house. As for the Moral house, his Sacrilegious Posterity: Can any of you point out but any one notorious Church-Pirate, whose Family is absolutely free from its share in that sad Hereditary Curse, which (though upon another occasion) was pronounced against the house of Joab, so as (u) 11 Sam. iij. 29. there never fails from the house of GOD'S THIEF, one that hath either an Issue, it may be of Blood, (it may be by Duel, or by Murder) or else an Issue of Uncleanness, as God is wont to punish the sin of Sacrilege, with giving such men over to some other Hereditary sin, (the sorest Scourge next Hell) or one that is a Leper, that hath some Hereditary Disease; or one that leaneth on a Staff, that is, a Cripple, or a misshapen, deformed thing, marked like Cain, as it were, with Gods own immediate hand: or that falleth on the Sword, that comes to an untimely End, or dies an unnatural Death; or lastly, one that lacketh Bread, that lives or dies a Beggar: This for the Curse of God upon the Sacrilegious Person's Moral house, as much as upon his Material house. 57 You of this Island, need not Sail over for Instances in all these several kinds of (x) Virum magnum, & summâ familiarum Anglicarum, historiaeque antîquae notitiâ praeditum citare testem possumus, quem coràm aliquot viris Intelligentibus & Nobilibus, Religione Protestantibus, ipsum etiam professione Protestantem narrantem audivimus, quo tempore Rex Henricus viij. opima illa Coenobiorum latifundia, ducentis Sexaginta & amplius nobilibus viris, vel gratis, vel permutatione factâ distribuisset, etiam Thomam Norfolciae Ducem, viginti Clientibus suis, qui ei diu fideliter, liberaliterque serviissent, reditum perpetuum quadringentarum librarum Sterlingarum ex aequo repartivisse: ex horum viginti nobilium stirpe superesse adhuc haeredes singulorum, in ipsis haereditatibus quas à Deuce, patribusque suis acceperunt florentes: Ex toto autem eorum numero, qui Coenobiorum opibus fuerunt ditati, non superesse Sexaginta familias, quae in bonis perseverant avitis, omnes reliquas familias penitùs eis rebus, quas sic à R. Henrico possederant hodie excidisse: Idque sibi ita notum dixit vir ille Nobilissimus, ut si opus foret, singulos illos posset enumerare— Adeò verissimum est quod vir Ingeniosissimus Bosenus in politicis dixit, Reditus Ecclesiae & Monasteriorum esse velut Aquilarum Plumas, quae, sialiarum avium plumis misceantur easdem velut Igne contractas destruunt, usuique prorsùs Ineptas reddunt.— Ita si Deo dicata misceantur Laicalibus feudis. & ad temporales applicentur causas, adeò non apportant ipsis quicq●am Incrementi, ut etiam temporales Reditus, quibus augendis addebantur non minuant tantùm, verùm & ad nihilum perducant. V Apostolatum Benedictinorum in Anglia per Clem Reyner, etc. Tract. 1. Sect. 6. p. 227. Infausta laicis bonorum Coenobialium possessio. God's Curse upon both the Houses; He that runs may read them in the Capitals of so many Ruinated Families among yourselves, who (if I misapprehend not my Author) can within the compass of one single County, point out the bare Names, (for that is almost all is left of them, with much ado) of above 200. quondam Noble Families, amongst whom King Henry the Eighth did distribute the Abbey-lands by way of Sale, or Exchange, all of them, as we may say, disinherited at this day; whereas within the same County, of twenty other Families, whose Ancestors were of the Retinue of Thomas Duke of Norfolk, and therefore rewarded by him with the Annuity of 400 li. a year equally divided amongst them, there is not one of those, but to this day, he enjoys his Father's well-gotten Goods by way of Inheritance, with improvement, whilst those other Sacrilegious Estates, as if full of Quicksilver, could never yet settle, since the first Usurpation, but in less than three Generations, have changed and ruined too their several Owners over and over: as if that fearful Curse of God denounced by the Prophet (y) Ezek 21, 27. Ezekiel, against the great City Jerusalem, for their breach of the Oath of Allegiance, and further Rebellion (to the King of Babylon, though a Pagan King, though an Usurper) were for ever entailed also of all other Estates, upon the Sacrilegious Family, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I WILL OVERTURN, OVERTURN, OVERTURN IT, AND IT SHALL BE NO MORE, UNTIL HE COME WHOSE RIGHT IT IS, AND I WILL GIVE IT HIM: A sad Item this, for a triple Curse upon all Sacrilegious Rebels. 58. By this you see experimentally, how God's Curse upon Sacrilege is not only Personal, but diffusive too, over the whole Family, yea Nation that's tainted therewith. 59 Not to accumulate any more Instances out of that confounded heap of National Examples, (Pagan and Christian) who knows (we have reason to ask the question) whether the Continuance here of the old National Sacrilege, and the palpable Contrivance of some to add New Sacrilege to the Old, be not the Principal sad Ingredient in this National Cup of God's wrath, which (do what we can) must, you see, go round all over, as that deadly Cup of God*s' fury, put into the hand of the Prophet (z) Jer, xxv. 27 Jeremy, by way of Emblem, with a command to cause every one, even the holy City, and all, to drink it off; and a sad Commination too, you shall drink, saith the Lord of Hosts, and be drunken, (and so we were God knows Drunken indeed, A DEMENTATED NATION, Dead drunk with God's Poculum stuporis, * Psal. lx. 3. God's Deadly Cup, till we did stagger, and too too many fell down with it, yea tumble one upon another,) and ye shall spew, and fall, and rise no more, (Lord have mercy upon us,) and wherefore all this? because of the Sword which I will send among you; That is, the deadly Cup, the Sword, wherewith we are cursed, even this whole NATION (remember ye (a) Mai. iij. 8. etc. See above. Malachy) because we have ROB GOD. We have, if you mark all, too too just cause to suspect, that this is not one of the least of all our National Transgressions, the Divine Majesty doth almost Vocally admonish us of, in this his so long, so bloody a Visitation. We were lately rob of our Estates, of our Peace, of our Truth, of our Religion, of all, because we have rob God: For this is that Retaliation mentioned by (b) Ex. xxi. 24. Moses, An Eye for an Eye, and a Tooth for a Tooth: So God's Punishments are still the Anagrams of our sins: In the Analogy of his Judgements, we may visily read our sins in kind; it was so of old, (c) See and compare the Histories in Dan. viij. 12. with the two, iij, & iv Chap. of the Book of Maccab. and also 11 Maccab xiij. 6.8. and whether the National overthrow of God's true Religion, and Primitive service in this whole Land, were not a sad Memento to us all, of our gross abuse of the very same by National Sacrilege and profaneness; I leave it to judge, unto those Consciences that are not yet utterly past feeling. 60. And if so, then to march on still, yea to give fire in the very face of God himself, as it were, to charge on still in despite of God's destroying Angel in our way, were worse than Scythian Barbarousness, even desperate Brutishness below (d) Num. 22.27. Balam's Ass, that could stop, nay, stoop down at but the sight of that Sword, that hath been so deeply sheathed into our very Bowels, yea, drunk with our own best blood; spent and spilt in that Sacrilegious War. 61. For we can never find out a fit Title for that late Unnatural War, than that of the (e) Cic. in Virrem. Orator, Bellum Sacrilegum, (the Superlative of aggravation) a Sacrilegious War, in all the Dimensions of Sacrilege, a Sin you see, as of a heinous nature, so of as heavy a consequence: The Demonstration whereof was the second main part of our Pleading, The matter of Aggravation. May we now, Christian Reader, in God's behalf, crave but the Favour of thy Religious patience, whilst we pass thorough the third and last part, which contains the Matter of Probation, and then we have done. CHAP. VII. The Confutation of the fair Colours of Religion, brought in to varnish over the foul Sin of Sacrilege. 1. IT consists of these two principal School-heads, to wit, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; The first contains matter of Confutation, or Non-sute of the Adversaries Plea: The second concludes with matter of Confirmation of our own cause. 2. Touching the first, the matter of Confutation, the Adversaries Plea for Sacrilege is a Compound of Pretences, drawn chief from the two main Heads, or Common Places of Religion, and Policy. For the first of these, The pretence of Religion, 'tis not unusual with the Devil, to transform himself into an Angel of Light, in both Religions: for in the case of Alienation, the Papist pretends Plenitudinem potestatis, Canonical Dispensation, etc. and the like. 3. But seriously and in reason (to go upon their own Principles) will a man think that in this particular, the High Priest of the West, can the Jure, pretend to a higher Power under the Gospel, than was allowed under the Law, to the Highpriest of the East? But however in some kind of vows, (as the vow (f) Leu. 27.11.13.27, 28, etc. Ludovic. Capel. Diatribe de voto Jephta. called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 votum simplex) the votary might be allowed the liberty of Redemption, in case the thing were not fit for Oblation, (for else if it were fit, it might not at all be changed:) and the Highpriest might have the power of dispensation, as it were, in the estimation of it, yea, and commutation too, but still with the Addition of a fifth: yet, in that other kind of Compound-vows, called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conceived by way of Anathema with Malediction, such as are generally all our Dedications, Compounded of two distinct Acts, the one of Consecration in their use and end, the other of Execration in their Nature and Effect. In this kind of Devotions therefore, neither were the Votary, nor the Highpriest himself allowed any the least Liberty, either of Estimation, or Redemption, or Commutation, or Dispensation any ways: but the thing so devoted, was concluded under the Law of an Irrevocable Devotion. 4. What was thus given to the Church, was of old said to be consigned in Manus Mortuas, the Law, by this Style, may have supposed that the Clergy had no more power to alienate them the Jure, than a dead man can de facto: otherwise, they should be no longer manus mortuae, but manus mortiferae, no longer dead hands, but deadly, and as subject to God's deadly Curse too, as any Layman's, nay more, the quality of the person augments the gradation, and doubles the Sacrilege. This on the Popes, or the Ordinaries part. 5. On the Votaries part, the sin and danger is parallel; for as the Pope cannot lawfully grant me such a Dispensation, so neither may I lawfully take it: for, say the Pope could dispense with my promise made to the Church, (that's the most he could do) how can he dispense with my promise made to God himself? being but God's Assignee, or witness, he can no more free me, really, from my Obligation to God, than a Witness to a Bond can free a Debtor from the payment of the Debt. 'Tis the Creditor alone that can dispense with the Debt, not all the Witnesses in the World without him: that I am bound by my Vow, I know it from clear Scripture: That I am loosed from my Vow, let any make it appear unto me from as clear evidence, or else I may not trust to Man's dispensation against God's right. Thus much to the Papist, a far off; and God grant we may never have any more to do with him but so, afar off indeed, God in Mercy, prevent the Prophecy, which by their ingratitude to God, and this Church, some men deserve, and provoke, Ne veniant Romani, Amen. 6. But now to lay the Axe to the root of the Tree; the Puritan (in point of Religion) pretends Zeal. 1. Against Idolatry, and is for utter Abolition. 2. Against an Idle Ministry, and is, (at least pretends to be) only for Commutation. 7. Touching the first, the Zealot against Idolatry: admit, what we deny, and they can never prove, that the Church Revenues, as they now stand by Law established, are still abused indeed to Idolatry or Superstition, must we therefore utterly down with them all Root and Branch? Can the Church Lands be worse abused, than the Censers of Corah? or will you make your Ancestors, the pious Founders, worse than Dathan and Abiram, and their Rebellious Company? And yet behold (after the severe personal Execution of the Abusers) God expressly gives order, what? That those Censers because abused, should therefore be presently beaten into Kettles, or Brass pots for the use of the Kitchen? No, but quite contrary, Ta●● the Censers of those sinners against their own souls, saith the Lord, g Numb. 16.37, 38. and let, them ma●e them broad plates for a covering of the Altar? whatever Man's Ordinance may be to the Contrary, God's infallible Ordinance is directly, they must be kept still, In genere Sa●●o, for the use of the Sanctuary: And this command God fortifies with a Reason of perpetual Consequence, as forcible now as then, For, saith he, they offered them unto the Lord, therefore they are hallowed: Behold Gods express Acceptance of the Act, even then when he rejects both the Actors, and their Intentions. 8. Can we expect a clearer Precedent, than is this full Determination of God Almighty upon the Case? for what, in the substance of that whole History, can they say was Typical or Levitical? Sure the Equity, yea Religion of that Divine sentence, the old Lawmakers, the wise Founders both of the Civil and Satute-Law, were sensible of. For Jure Institutorum, saith h Instit. l. 2. Tit. 1. § 8. Schneidwin for one) Things once given to Religious uses, which cannot now upon some emergent occasions be still so employed, (as to maintain Masses for the Dead, or so, etc.) yet they may not revert to the Donor, or to his Heir, nor be employed to profane or common uses, his Reason is, because Quod semel Deo dicatum est amplius ad prophanos usus transferri non debet, sed talia oblata & relicta ad alium pium usum converti debent. I well know, ad hominem, of how little authority this Law is like to be, or indeed, all the good Laws of God and man, if cross to the humour of the men I am now dealing withal. The ground therefore why I quote this Law, and other such like Laws is for the Reason of those Laws, because, Semel Deo dicatum, etc. What was once given to God, must be Gods for ever. And this Reason is expressly grounded upon i Num 16.38. See above, page 126. Scripture too. 9 And therefore the Wisdom and Religion both of your better Ancestors, had a special respect unto it, as may appear by two notable Acts of Parliament: the first k Among the Statutes at large in the public Library at Oxon. Sta●utum de Terris Templariorum. Coke l. 11. fol. 25. passed almost 400 years ago, in the 17th, of Edward the Second, at the Dissolution of the Templars, which was become Ordo impietatis, and therefore voted down, not by a Private Close-Committee of one single City, or Nation either, but by a general Act of all Christendom. But than what became of all their Lands? you shall find in that EXCELLENT Statute, that for their part your godly Ancestors, made a Conscience of turning those Lands into Lay-fees, and therefore did then, and there, upon sundry Reasons of Religion and Honesty both, in that Statute excellently well delivered, to the praise of the Piety and Christian Wisdom of that Age, restore all those Lands to the Church by Act of Parliament. Some of those reasons may be worth your notice, because they may concern you now at least as much as them: The first is, because however those Lands were now abused, yet originally they were given to the Augmentation of the Honour of God. 2. For the good of Universal Holy Church. Therefore 3. Those honest Commonwealths-men thought themselves bound in Conscience for the Health of their own Souls to preserve them still to godly uses: That so 4. The godly and worthy will of the Givers might be observed in genere, though it could not then in specie. 10. And this fourth Reason is in that one Statute repeated twice for failing: May their good Example be a warning to you all, that it may not rise upon in judgement against you, as against all the rest of this Generation. For the good will of the Dead, the Pious Founders of Holy Places and Portions, is another Sacred thing, and therefore ungodly to alter and to frustrate it, was always amongst all good men held a heinous Crime, as being 1. Impious to the Dead. 2. Injurious to your godly Ancestors: and 3. To your own Posterity It will prove no better than fatal Sacrilege. Therefore the Determination of that wise Assembly was this, That neither our Lord the King, nor any other chief Lords of the Eees, nor any Persons whatsoever should by Escheat, or by any other means have or enjoy any of those Lands, but they should be still converted, and charitably disposed of to godly uses; and therefore they were given to the Prior of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, as it were, in eodem genere, though changed in specie. And yet those Templars, to whose Lands your Ancestors shown so much Religious respect, were no Churchmen neither, but Soldiers: How much greater than ought your Care and Conscience to be, for the preserving of those Lands which belong to the Church directly? 11. The second Act of Parliament you may have amongst your private Statutes, 2. of H. 5. upon the Dissolution of Prior's Aliens: The Reason expressed in the Preamble, was ad Intentionem, quod divina Servitia in locis praedictis possent plus debitè fieri per gentes Anglicanas, etc. so that still divina Servitia, was their main care: Therefore 'tis observable, that upon the same premised grounds, immediately at the dissolution of those Prior's Aliens, the King kept them not in his own hands, but gave them to other religious uses: as for instance, To the Monastery of Shene, (which he Founded) to the Dean and Canons of St. Stephen, etc. 12. Say again, that those were Times of Ignorance and Blindness, and that therefore in those times the Impulsive Cause might be merely Superstitious in the particulars, yet for all that, the final Cause was right still in the general, namely, to honour God, to maintain his Service, etc. as may be seen in all their Evidences and Donations, which ever bear this Clause, Deo & Ecclesiae; To God and the Church, before there be any mention of any Saint, or other supposed Superstitious use. Now in all Reason, although the Impulsive Cause may cease, yet the Final Cause ceaseth not, nor the good effect flowing from it. So that far safer it were to mind that, in a reverend respect unto, and imitation of those wise men your godly Ancestors, who took hold of the general Intent of the Pious Founders, however after abused by the particular Successors. 13. And that you may once for all, know directly what that general intent was, Take it in the very words of the old Form of Dedication, yet extant in the Capitular of l Scimus res Ecclesiae Deo esse Sacratas, qua propter si quis eas ab Ecclesiis aufert proculdubio Sacrilegium comittit. Caecus. enim est qui ista non videt. Quisquis ergo nostrûm suas res Ecclesiae tradit, Domino Deo illas offered, atque dedicat, suisque Sanctis & non alteri dicendo talia & agendo Ita, Facit enim Scripturam de ipsis rebus quas Deo dare desiderat, & ipsam Scripturam coram Altari, aut suprà tenet in manu, dicens ejusdem loci Sacerdotibus atque Custodibus, Offero Deo atque dedico omnes res, quae in hac Chartula tenentur insertae [pro remissione peccatorum meorum, ac parentum & filiorum] aut pro quocunque illas Deo deliberare voluerit ad Serviendum ex his Deo in Sacrificiis, Missarumque Solemniis, Orationibus, Luminariis, Pauperum, ac Clericorum Alimoniis, & caeteris divinis cultibus, atque illius Ecclesiae Utilitatibus, Si quis autem eas inde, quod fieri nullatenus credo, abstulerit, sub poena Sacrilegii ex hoc Domino Deo, cui eas offero atque dedico, districtissimas reddat rationes. Ponit etiam in ea alias Conjurationes, quas Enumerare longum est.— Absit ut rerum Ecclesiarum cupiditate, vel oblatione Sacrilegi, aut Anathema Efficiamur, aut talibus Laqueis unquam devinciamur: quoniam scimus Anathematos homines, vel Sacrilegos, non solùm infames, & à Consortio fidelium alienos esse, sed etiam à Regno Dei extorres fieri, non dubitamus. Ut ergo omnis suspicio à nobis auferatur, profitemur omnes stipulas dextris manibus tenentes easque propriis è manibus ejicientes, coram Deo & Angelis suis, ac vobis cunctisque Sacerdotibus, nec talia facere, nec facere volentibus consentire, sed magis Deo auxiliante resistere:— nec cum iis cibum Sumere, nec ad Ecclesiam, vel ad Palatium, aut in itinere pergere, nec nostros Caballos, vel reliqua pecora nostra cum eorum peccoribus, aut ad pastum ire, aut simul habitare, vel manere— ne pro eorum Iniquitatibus unâ cum eyes, nos & nostri, quod absit, pereamus; Scimus enim quia perit Justus pro impio, etc. Ut ergo haec omnia à vobis, & à nobis, sive à successoribus vestris, & nostris futuris temporibus absque ulla dissimulatione conserventur, Inter vestra Capitula inserere Jubete, Capitul, Caroli Magni Wormatiae, lib. 6. cap. 285. Charles the Great, (a man equally as far from Idolatry as he was from Sacrilege; witness against it that severe passage of his in his book of * Lib. 3. cap. 17. de Imag. Images.) In the Preamble of that Form, the whole generality of the people, doth first of all acknowledge, that whatsoever is given to the Church, is consecrated to God. 2. That whosoever takes away such things from the Church, doth undoubtedly commit Sacrilege: and that he must needs be stark blind that doth not see all this to be so indeed: This is therefore a far greater blindness in any now adays, to doubt either of Consecrations, or of Sacrilege, or of the Effect of the Curses, etc. than was that blindness they impute unto their devout Ancestors. 14. Then follows the Form; and here first of all, The Founder or Donor lays upon the Altar the Schedule, which contains an Inventory of all his Gifts, or holds it over it in his hand, saying to the Priests and Guardians of that place, I do offer unto God, and dedicate all those things that are contained in this Paper: And these their Donations they do seal up with many a heavy Curse, and second it with the significant Ceremonies of those times, as by scattering of Straw to and fro, the old Rite of Excommunication in allusion to the Destiny of the ungodly, Psalm 1.4. who are compared to the Chaff, which the wind driveth to and fro and the like: and those Curses they do lay upon themselves, and upon all those that shall go about to alter or alienate, or but consent to the Alienation, vowing that they will be so far from that, that they will, by God's help, resist all such to the utmost of their power, and renounce their company man and beast: Their reason is, lest being partakers of their sin, they should for company perish with them for ever. 15. But that which is most observable in the Form, is that after the Repetition of their own particular Intentions, (some of them it may be Superstitious, and some others right enough, the Corn may easily be winnowed from the Chaff) than they sum up all in these general terms, thus, That they Offer it all, for whatsoever shall be pleasing unto God, towards the maintenance of his Divine Service, for the sustentation of the Clergy, and all other things that may be honourable to God, and profitable to Holy Church: Which express general words, with charitable Judges, may well bear the sense of an Implicit Renounciation of all contrary Idolatry or Superstition, or abuse in the particulars, which in them, living then under no better light, may be presumed to be repent of, among their sins of Ignorance. And this with the Premises may serve in Confutation of the first pretence of Zeal against Idolatry for utter Abolition. 16. Follows now the second Religious pretence of Zeal against an Idle Ministry, which pleads for, (at least pretends to no more but) Commutation only. For so, this Church-Patrimony which now maintains but an idle Company of Apostolical Bishops and Pastors, shall be far better employed to maintain a powerful preaching Ministry, forsooth, that shall restore the Purity of the Gospel. This is the Plea. To which, by the way, (to say no worse) 1. Is not this against all Reason and Equity, that the Adversary should take upon him to be both Party and Judge, both of the Charge and of the Change too. 17. But to the Change itself, either they intent to Change for the better, or for the worse; if they say for the better, than first the Amelioration must be made appear to be clearly such, that in it at the least, finis legis, shall be kept, and God's Service will be better supported. 2. To do it by way of Addition to it, was once m Levit. 27.10.33. Gods own express Direction upon the Case, not by way of Alteration, or downright Commutation; God in his Wisdom so ordained it, as suspecting men might change for the worse, even then when they pretend to change for the better, lest therefore a gap might thereby be opened to men's Frailty, or Fraudulency, God would not suffer a man to change at all, no not a good for a bad, but rather to double his offering, if he would needs be changing. 3. They may not only pretend, but intent too to change for the better, and yet through God's just Judgement upon Changelings, it may prove the worse for the Constitution of this Commonwealth, or other emergent causes; and if they be not sure to change for the better, as 'tis very much to be feared they cannot, than we had as good keep us as we are. 10. But say, Pretences were become very Truths, and that they wiser men than all the whole Catholic Church besides, down from Christ's days, and upwards too, might haply change for the betrer indeed: yet in a very wise n Le leggi nuove, anchorche in qualche parte fussero migliori, mancano di quel Rispetto, e di quella Sforza, che L'antichita, e la consuetudine sogliono apportare a tutte le cose e cosi a poco a poco, debilitando si ipiu veri fondamenti del governo, conviene facilment cadere, urtato dall' Ambitione de pochi potenti, O dalla Licenzà del popolo, il quale, perduta una volta la Riverenza verso le leggi, suole spesso insurgere contrà di loro, con nuove e perverse Usanze; come auv enne in Roma, etc. Mario Favorito dal Popolo contro le leggi, etc. Paruta della vita Politica libro. Terzo. Italian Statesman, I find an old Rule of State, (consonant to the Rules of Religion too) which before we change, would be vary seriously pondered. And this is it: Upon CHANGES, especially of Government, follow NEW LAWS which though in part, possibly better than the Old, yet will want much of that respect and force or Authority, which custom and Antiquity are wont to procure unto all things and thus by little and little, the very FOUNDATION of Government will undermine itself: so as in time all the whole FRAME OF STATE (we may say the same of the Church) will insensibly down to the ground, being justled out by the ambition of a few great ones, or by the licentiousness of the many, the People, who having once forgotten the reverence they owed unto the old Laws, will soon make Insurrection against all manner of Laws whatsoever: The truth of all this is clear, in the Case betwixt the State of Rome, and Marius the People's Favourite against the old Laws, etc. Thus far the Italian Statesman. 19 And this Foreign Wisdom upon this very Case too, was as I may say, naturalised here by a Royal p See the Proclamation for the Uniformity of Common prayer before the Book of Common Prayer. Act, for the Authorising an Uniformity of the Book of Common-Prayer, etc. Established by Act of Parliament, wherein to prevent the Temptation to, and Imputation of FICKLENESS, that GREAT SCANDAL OF STATE, the Royal Admonition runs thus, We do admonish all men, that hereafter they shall not expect, nor attempt any further ALTERATION in the Common and Public Form of God's Service, from this, which is now established, for that neither will we give way to any to presume, that our own Judgement having determined in a matter of this weight, shall be swayed to alteration by the frivolous suggestions of any light Spirit: neither are we ignorant of the Inconveniences that do arise in GOVERNMENT, by admitting INNOVATION in things once settled by mature deliberation: And how necessary it is to use Constancy in the upholding of public Determinations of State, for that such is the unquietness and unstedfastness of some dispositions, affecting every year new forms of things, as if they should be followed in their unconstancy, would make all Actions of States ridiculous and contemptible: whereas the steadfast maintaining of things by good advice established, is the weal of all Commonwealths. Behold a Fort-Royal, strong enough against all such Changes, if but well manned, and maintained, 20. And indeed the Platform of it was borrowed from the wisest mortal King that ever was, Solomon it is, who gives us all fair warning, saying, q Prov. 24.21, 22, 23. My Son, fear thou the Lord and the King, and meddle not with them that are given to change: The Precept is backed with an ominous Prophecy, For their Calamity shall rise suddenly, and who knoweth the ruin of them both, (both Changers and Meddlers: These things also belong unto the wise: as wise as some men may think themselves, were they as wise as Achitophel, they may need; and they should take this wise counsel betimes, lest they prove Achitophel's at their latter end. 21. But if Solomon had not given us this fair warning, we may know those men's good meaning in the Change, by their Intentions and Endeavours too, ad ultimum Potentiae, expressed in the Bill for Abolition offered at Uxbridge: r A full Relation of the passages concerning the Treaty at Uxbrige, etc. p. 160. Exchange is no Robbery, was once your Proverb, but our late sad Experience of those Reformers good Intentions in the change, may have taught us more wit, than still to believe words: As once the Orator, so may we now justly cry out, Quid verba audio cùm facta videam? let their Actions speak, and they'll speak loud, and tell you what goodly Change they mean to make. Behold, Testimonia rerum, & loquentia signa: In two late flourishing Kingdoms at once, as in a two leaved broad Glass, you may clearly see, that, under pretence of Commutation, they have at last, compassed their great Project of utter Confusion, in the utter abolition of the chief Offices, and Sacrilegious Conversion of the Church Lands, and Revenues, to their own proper Lay Uses: Except it may be Offam Cerbero, here and there a bone cast, to stop the mouths of such as otherwise would bark out against their crying sin of Sacrilege. For as an s Non alio censendi Elogio sunt, quos Templorum & Sacerdotiorum Opulentia ad fidei dogmata novanda illexit, qui suos Pseudopastorculos aliqua divitiarum particulâ asperserunt totum ut ipsi devorarent Impetuè. Contzen ad Rom. cap. 2.22: Author upon our Text saith too truly; They deserve no other Epithet, whom Covetousness hath alured to Innovate all in Church and Religion, and all out of a hope thereby to enrich themselves with the rich spoils of the old Church and Religion, under pretence of sprinkling their false petty Shepherds with a few drops, that so themselves without control, may swallow up all. Of some of our Reformers, Pudet haec, & dici potuisse, & non potuisse refelli. 22. But in such a case, should they, or we all hold our peace, very Heathens would open their mouth, and plead God's Cause for us against them: would you think a t 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Plato de legib. lib. 10 principio, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, De Sacrilegio. Plato, by the mere light of nature could charge such a kind of Sacrilege with flat Atheism? Whosoever (saith he, speaking there expressly of Sacrilege) wrongs the Gods any of those ways, he must of necessity be guilty of one of these three crimes, either he absolutely thinks there is no God at all: or secondly, that if there be a God, that he is a God careless of what is done here below: or thirdly, That this God is nothing so just or so terrible to offenders at the world is made believe, but either corrupt, one that will be bribed in his own Cause, or a very tame facile God (with all profound reverence, be this but repeated to the Conversion or Confusion of the Authors of such Atheistical Opinions and practices:) a flexible God, whom you may offend at pleasure, and re-appease as you please with a few good words, for many bad deeds. God deliver us from such a Childish ridiculous Religion, nay, from such damnable Atheism, in thought, word, or deed: for as the x Vel Deos non esse, etc.— vel illos praeter aequum & bonum Muneribus & precibus conciliari: Illa enim absurda Deo attribuere, est negare Deum: Joh. Serran. in Platon. Glossator of this Text in Plato well comments by such carriage towards God, in attributing such absurdities unto God, what is any one, the least, of all these three ways, but utterly to raze down the Foundation of all Religion, and even then, when in words we profess a GOD, in WORKS to deny HIM, as the y Tit. 1. ult. Apostle argues the Case? 23. And as for the other part of the pretence, the powerfulness of their Ministry and the Purity of their Gospel, etc. will you take our Lord's Advice? Then judge of the Tree by his Fruit, for z Mat. 7.16. by their Fruits ye shall know them, saith the great Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls; and there he speaks directly of Teachers too, and bids us judge of the Doctrine by the Fruits it brings forth, be they good or bad; and who sees not that since those powerful Preachers came up, (we speak of the generality of them) we had more Christian Blood shed, we had more Spirits of Error, conjured up within the Circle of this one Island, (to the credit of the Cause be it spoken) and within the compass of one Triennium, the span of one three years of Schism and Rebellion, than was raised in the whole Christian world besides (all circumstances considered) in thrice three hundred years. And now having confuted their holy pretences drawn from colours of Religion, we pass on to examine their State-Wisdom, consisting of four points of Policy, as it were the four Elements that make up the whole compound of their Plea for Sacrilege. CHAP. VIII. A full CONFUTATION of three Reasons of State, or Pretences of Policy, for the Practice of Sacrilege: namely, 1. Justice upon Delinquents. 2. Public Peace. 3. State-Necessity. 1. THe first is a pretence of Justice upon a Delinquent Party. The second a pretence of Peace to the whole Kingdom. The third, a pretence of State-necessity. The fourth, a pretence of power Legislative to dispose of the Church Revenues, as they see cause. These be the Ragioni di stato of our English Machiavels. To all which first in general, Super totâ Materiâ, we may well preface with the honest Observation (you may call it an Oracle) of that Noble Venetian Knight, Paulo Paruta, In questo corrotto seculo con certo vavo nome di RAGION DI STATO, si vanno spesso perturbando, e confondendo tutte le cose humane e divine: That is, In this Corrupt Age, N. B. under pretence of a certain vain thing, called REASON OF STATE, men too too oft go on so far, till have troubled, yea confounded all humane and divine matters: Thus he. But e'er we encounter them, we had need to pray, from such Statesmen, and from such reasons of State, as will make true Religion but a stalking Horse to false Policy: Good Lord deliver us. Once you may be sure of this, that one day you shall not be Judged by your vain Reason of State, but by your True Religion to God, and Real Reverence to Holy Church under God. 2. To the particulars: One doth well define Sacrilege a coloured Theft, under pretence of Law: To begin therefore with the first Pretence, 'Tis the Pretence of Justice upon a Delinquent Party, accused of two Crimes. 1. Of old Collusion and fraud at the first original Purchase of those Church Revenues. 2. Of another great new Crime, since, called Malignancy, which is in plain English, a compound of Religion to God, Duty to the Church, Loyalty to the King, This is that terrible Chimaera, Malignancy; the fear whereof, far more than the fear of God, or of the King, hath already Conquered, and now possesseth the Hearts of the People, the Heads of some Peers, and the Tail of the Priests. 3. To prove the first the Collusion, they'll tell you that of old the Priests took advantage of the simplicity of the times and of the men, when both were at the worst: and men ●awned upon, or frighted, upon their deathbed were fraudulently persuaded to do they knew not well what: and clearly to prove all this, they produce strong evidences, such as, for instance, the merry Case of Naples, etc. and the like. This is the Plea, coloured with the odious imputation of Covin, Covetousness, and Ambition in the Priest, Blindeness, and Superstition in the People. 4. I am confident men are too rational, to expect we should confute this seriously: But yet how do they evidence the Collusion? for first, a wise man would think it hard for a third Person, to tell what passes betwixt a Penitent and his Confessor; especially the Penitent dying upon it. But 2. Admit there had been fraud indeed in some one odd case or other, (for to affirm this universally of all Church-Donations, were both very untrue, very Immodest, that we say not impudent and very uncharitable) although the particular intent might be bad in the deceiver, yet at least for the general of it, the Intent might be good, and Religion in the party deceived, viz. To further the Service of God, and the salvation of his Soul, as we have * See above page proved before. 3. Why may not we in such a case, for God's Interest, and the Right of the Church, say as you say in your own Law, for the Right of your Client, or the Interest of the Commonwealth, BETTER A MISCHIEF, THAN AN INCONVENIENCE: Better suffer some such one private injury, than open a public gap to Sacrilege: as it was better for the Princes of b Joshua 9 See above page Israel, though circumvented by fraud on the Gibeonites part, yet to keep promise with the Deceiver, than to open a gap unto Perjury, and the penalty attending upon perjury. But Ex abundanti in one respect more, the ground of both those cases may be one and the same, namely, because, * Semel Sacrata vero numini, per veram Ecclesiam, prophanari rursus, aut in fiscum redigi non possunt. Wesebec. paratit. c l. 1. T. xi. § 4. Semel Deo dicatum, what is once given to God, must be Gods for ever: For was not this the very case of the Gibeonites, where, besides the Interposition of an Oath, à parte antè, there was also the addition of a Dedication, à parte post; they were given to God, and even therefore afterwards c Ezra 2.43. those Gibeonites were called Nethinims, from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to give, because they were given for the service of the Temple, To be hewers of wood, d Josh. 9.27. and drawers of water for the Congregation, and for the Altar of the Lord. 'Tis true, their Office was for the matter, but vile and base, as may appear by that proverbial speech among the Jews, f Deut. 29.11. From the hewer of thy wood, unto the drawer of thy water: yet bebold so many hundred years after, how severe an avenger God was of the injury done, though by a King unto his Nethinims: and if God be so tender over his water-bearers, will he not much more avenge the blood of his High-Priests? This by the way, upon occasion of the parallel of the Gibeonites fraud with the supposed deceit of the old Priests in the obtention of those Testamentary Donations. 5. But fifthly and lastly, admit the charge of Collusion be false, and the case not so indeed, (as for the general, the contrary is most apparent;) then under pretence of Justice, what an extreme Injustice is this, Invito donatore, Who being dead, yet liveth, in his last Will and Testament: for if an Apostle may be Judge upon the Case, a Testament is of force after men are dead, (Heb. ix. 17.) Invito donatore, I say, and Invito possessore too, and both bona fidei, in despite of God and man, feloniously, to take away the Churches Right, yea, Gods own Inheritance? g Deut. xviii. 1, 2. Inter pares, so to do, were high Injustice, though but a violation of a civil contract, or stipulation; how much more heinous than must the usurpation be against our Superior, yea, against the Supreme Lord, the God of Heaven and Earth, whose Right, by all Laws is absolute, Irrespective, Independent. This is the very Argument of King Withered, in his h Scimus & veraciter extat, ut si quid s●mel acceperit homo de manu alterius in propriam potestatem, nullatenus sine Ira & ultione illud dimiserit impunitus. Ideò horrendum est hominibus expoliare Deum vivum, & scindere Tunicam ejus, & haereditatem ejus, quotquot ex aliquo concessum ei fuerat de terrenis substantiis. S. H. Spelman in Concilio Magno Becanqueldensi, sub Withredo Rege Cantii, A. C. 694. Council of Becanceld, almost a thousand years ago. And thus much in answer to the Imputation of Collusion, and the first pretence of Justice against it. 6. As for the second point of Delinquency, the charge of Malignancy: God forbidden but offenders indeed, such as have really violated the known Laws of God or man, should have condign punishment, and Imprimis Churchmen. So the Trial be Legal, and the Triers (according to your own Law) k Magna Charta, 9 H. 3. S. 29. Juries ought to be persons considerable and knowing, they anciently used to be twelve Knights. So says Sir Edward Coke in his Comment upon Littleton's Tenors, citing Mr. Lambert— The meaning of Legalis Homo, to qualify him of a Jury, is not, nor formerly was, meant to be only a man of 40 s. per annum, but to be at least in some good measure, In Legibus peritus, as some are of opinion, and so as it were a kind of assistant to the Judge. This is the observation of a wise man, Nomine & re. Sir Robert Wiseman in his learned Book of the Law of Laws. Edit. 1664. Notes touching the alteration of some Law●, p. 116, 117. homines legales & pares, and therefore not parties, or enemies, against such Jurors the Law will allow of a principal challenge: Lastly, so they be tried not ad placitum, but by the old standing Rule, The known Law of England; which, to define out of that known Author, (Doctor and Student, Chap. 4.) must be grounded, 1. On the Law of Reason. 2. On the Law of God. 3. On the general Customs of the Realm. 4. On the Principles, or Maxims of the Law. 5. On particular Customs. 6. On the Statutes, or Acts of Parliament. All which above, have put in their Plea for the Church. But secondly, if bare Accusation may serve the turn, who can be Innocent? especially, if by the Faction or Malice of a prevailing party, stilo Novo, he be called an Offender, who is most Faithful to God, most Dutiful to the Church, and most Loyal to the King. The pretended crime hath been published, and really punished also, any time these seven and twenty years, and 'tis to prove yet. Thirdly, If some of the Clergy were guilty, yet sure not all; all are not such, and by what Law of God or Man, must the Righteous suffer merely for the wicked. The l Ipsa Communitas non potest Excommunicari. Aquin. Suppl. 22, 5●0. School determines it unlawful to Excommunicate an whole University, or Corporation, because of the possible mixture of some good with the bad, how much less to Excommunicate a whole Community to all Generations, and can it then be lawful hand over head, to deprive a whole Tribe, Gods own Tribe, with their Wives and Children, and all for ever and aye, without hope of redress, or recovery. Fourthly. Say all this whole present Generation of Clergymen were really guilty of all the Crimes laid to their charge, and guilty every man of them, what is this to future Succession, out of all doubt innocent as yet? Personal Delinquency may forfeit the Personal Right of the present Incumbent, the Offender; but it cannot forfeit another's Right: By the Laws of other Nations, (and as I am assured by your m The Law is clear, if a Clergyman commit Treason or any other capital offence, he forfeits not the Right of his Church, but only the present profit during his own life, or Incumbency. See Stamford's Pleas of the Crown, 187. own Law too) the forfeiture can extend no farther than the Title: Now whatsoever a Clergyman possesseth, is all in Jure Ecclesiae, and Jure Dei: is all in the Right of the Church, and in the Right of God. 7. As for the first, Jus Ecclesiae, the Personal Delinquency of a Clergyman can no more forfeit, or impeach that, than the Guardians personal offence can prejudice his Ward under age: for in this sense you say, the Church is always under age, always a Minor in the World: God's, the Kings, and the State's Ward: God, the Supreme Guardian of the Church can and will defend his Ward, let the under-Guardians look to it, as they will answer the Supreme. 'Tis both the comparison and conclusion too of your own n Ecclesia semper est infrà aetatem, & fungitur semper vice minoris, nec est juri consonum quòd infrá aetatem existentes per negligentiam custodum suorum, exharedationem patiantur seu ab actione repellantur. Sir Edw. Coke, super Magna Charta, page 3. Lawyers upon the case, grounded upon divers Records▪ best known to your own selves. 8. And as thus in respect of the Church, no Clergyman can forfeit the Lands and Revenues which he enjoyeth only in Jure Ecclesiae: So fifthly and lastly, much less in respect of God: for a Tenant for Life or Years, can but forfeit his own Lease, for his own time; he cannot forfeit the right or property of his Tenement, that belongs to his Landlord: How then can any man's fault forfeit Gods Right? for we have proved it before by God's Law, and (as we are given to understand it from some of your own sages) by your own Law too, that of all Church Revenues God is really the Proprietary, the Clergy but the Vsufractuary. This is enough to tear off from the painted face of Sacrilege this first Vizard, the Pretence of Justice upon Delinquents. 9 From the premises may clearly appear, how impertinent, and unjust some men are, who maliciously misapply against our Prelates and Church men. Some vehement declamations, and disputes of John Wickliff in the 17th. of his 45. Articles, and John Huss 43. Arguments against the Temporalties of the Church: without any due or just Consideration, either 1. of the Time when, or 2. Place where, or 3. the Parties against whom, or 4. the Matter about which, or 5. the manner how far, either John Wickliff, or John Huss delivered those Positions: Any one of which single Circumstances soberly, and ingenuously pondered, doth quite alter the Case. For 1. As for the Time, it was when the Clergy so superabounded in their Revenues, that a Law seemed necessary to interpose, and restrain the Oblations, by Mortmain, p Stat. of Mortmain, 7. of Edw. 1. When the people brought much more then enough, as in Moses Case, Exod. xxxvi. 5. when the people were so liberal of their Oblations, and Donations unto the Clergy, That, to phrase it with S. Luke, chap. vi. 38. in an higher sense, they seemed as it were, pressed down, shaken together, and running over into their bosoms. But now the case is altered, there is no great fear, in this our Age, that the people will in this kind. The notable Subtractions from the Bishoprics, and Deans, and Chapters in the last Age, the multiplied Prescriptions through Covin, or Cowardice, the Conversion of Lease-holds into Free-holds, by encroachments, the Decays of Church-Rents, the easy Pines of the Churchmen (in comparison of Lay-Land-lords) the Aggravations by servile Taxes, never heard of before, now of late laid upon the Clergy, such as Bridge-money, Roague-money, and the like. These (and much more could be said) may sufficiently secure the State from the Clergies Exceed: therefore, Distingue Tempora, is a wise rule to silence the Objectors. 2. As for the place, John Huss, (Arg. 32.) fixed his Assertions in the Kingdom of Bohemia; whereof he affirms the Clergy had a fourth, or third part; from which proportion the Clergy of England (though very thankful to God and the King for what they have) are very far, perhaps upon honest computation, not the thirtieth part, all Reprises duly deducted. 3. The Parties, against whom John Wickliff, and John Huss positions were directed, were the Popish Prelates, Abbots, etc. Shavelings, as John Huss, Arg. 42. out of Hildegardis Prophecy terms them, (i. e.) Monks. The whole scope of both John Wickliff, and John Huss Positions is against such Clergymen, who did both usurp, and also plead Exemption of the Clergy from the King's Authority, N. B. as over their Persons, so over their Possessions: Whereas the Clergy of England have better learned Christ since, (Rom. xiii. 1.) They know, and acknowledge, that Omnis Anima, Every soul must be subject to the higher Powers. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, according to St. Chrysostoms' Loyal Gloss upon the place, Though he were an Apostle, though he be a Bishop, yet must he be subject to the Higher Powers: and therefore our Prelates and Churchmen, do not only profess, but also swear due Subjection and Allegiance to the King, as Supreme in both Respects as over their Persons, so in all Causes, and therefore over their Possessions: Bp. Andrews, Tortura Torti. Bp. Morton's Causa Regia, etc. Our Prelates do not only practise due subjection in both these, but also to their Power, Protect the King's Supremacy, with their Pens and Learned Writings against all Opposers on the right hand and on the left, against all, whether Anabaptists or Papists; so that to confound our Prelates and Churchmen, with those Prelates and Churchmen in John Wickliffe's and John Huss times, is a malicious Plot. Certainly, here, if any where, Comparisons are odious: To argue thus, from the left to the Right, what is it but Crassa ignoratio Elenchi: a fallacy exploded in the very Schools. 4. The matter about which both John Wickliff and John Huss frame their Arguments, is the Clergy offending habitualiter, that is, as (Wickliff explains it) which continue in the custom of sin, and will not amend; and John Huss (Argument 2.) instances in Rebellion against the King, and (Arg. 24.) Treason, as in the case of Bishop Judas Iscariot (as he terms him) Heresy, as Pope Leo; Rapos and other such grievous Crimes (enumerated also by the Author, in the title of his Appendix to John Wickliffe's Articles, etc. with which heinous Matters, Impudence itself cannot charge our Prelates and other Canonical Churchmen, who, when tried in the fiery furnace of the late Rebellious, and Sacrilegious Persecution, (absit verbo invidia) proved generally the most loyal, and most constant Subjects of all, so as neither Sequestration, nor Deprivation, nor Banishment, nor Torment, nor Death itself could prevail upon them, to make them renounce their due Allegiance to the King: Therefore to tell the King, that to take away their Temporalties is neither Sacrilege nor Injustice, is such a bad office, such an high offence against the King's Justice, as would deserve some Exemplary Correction, to deter others from the like presumption against my Lord the King, whose Royal Generosity (so Hereditary to him, from his unparallelled Father q No Prince in the whole world did ever both in word and deed more abhor the Sin of Sacrilege than the late godly King Charles the First: Witness those Divine Lines in his Portraiture, especially Sect. 14. Upon the Covenant. No man (saith that King) can be more forward than myself to carry on all due Reformations with mature Judgement, and a good Conscience, in what things I shall (after impartial advice) be by God's word, and right Reason, convinced to be amiss, I have offered more than ever the fullest, freest, and wisest Parliaments did desire. But the sequel of some men's actions makes it evident, that the main Reformation intended is the abasing of Episcopacy into Presbytery, and the Robbing the Church of its Lands, and Revenues: for no men have been more injuriously used, as to their Loyal Rights, than the Bishops, and Churchmen. These as the fattest Deer must be destroyed; the other Rascal-herd of Schisms, Heresies, etc. being lean, may enjoy the benefit of a Toleration. Thus Naboth's Vineyard made him the only blasphemer of his City, and fit to die. Still I see while the breath of Religion fills the Sails, Profit is the Compass, by which factious men steer their course in all seditious Commotions.— Whereupon the King protests his detestation of such sacrilegious Reformation, in these words:" I have always had such a perfect abhorrence of it in my soul, that I never found the least Inclination to such sacrilegious Reforming: yet no man hath a greater desire to have Bishops and all Churchmen so reform, that they may best deserve, and use not only what the pious munificence of my Predecessors hath given to God, and the Church, but all other additions of Christian Bounty. Thus that incomparable Prince. of Glorious Memory) doth scorn such unworthy Counsel, and Councillors as would persuade the King, against his gracious Genius, to do an Act whereby that Estate, I mean, the Clergy, which suffered most for the King, should now also suffer again by the King. 5. As for the manner, how far both John Wickliff and John Huss extend, or limit their Assertions: 'Tis to be observed, first, that as they both still pre-suppose, as a ground of just deprivation. 1. The notorious abuse of those Revenues, or Temporalties of the Clergy. 2. The Clergies Contumacy, or continuance therein, and all this not pretended, but proved: so secondly, do they expressly limit those, who have Authority to deprive such offenders, when, and how, and how far they may proceed, and enter their Protestation against all Arbitrary Deprivation: for so runs the Preamble before John Huss Arguments: N. B. I do profess, saith he, That it is not my intent, like as it is not the meaning of the University (he means Prague) to persuade, That Princes, or secular Lords should take away the goods from the Clergy, when they would, or how they would, and convert them to what use they list. Certainly John Huss, (thus protesting) would never have been of Council to turn the Church-Lands into Lay-fees; and therefore to make his or John Wickliffe's case a parallel with this, and to detort their Arguments, as An Ancient plea in justification of the late taking away, and sales of Cathedral Lands, etc. (which Act was not passed by the King, God be thanked, but by a Parliament sitting against the King) is a prevarication as bold, as it is strange: tending mainly to vilify the just owners, and to gratify some unwary Purchasers, (to say no worse of them, in reverence to the Law) who, before their hasty bargain, might have minded the Rule of the Law, Caveat Emptor. 10. And now that by way of Ratiocination, we have sufficiently confuted those pretended Arguments, wrested from the say of John Wickliff, and John Huss, for the matter of Right, it will be very pertinent for the matter of Fact, to make some Reflections upon the History of those times, by way of inquiry, what might be the motive, which set on John Wickliff to broach that controversy against the Temporalties of the Prelates and Churchmen of his time. Somewhat therefore must be observed. 1. Concerning John Wickliffe's Person, and profession. 2. Somewhat concerning his Positions, as they relate to this matter of the Temporalties of Prelates and Churchmen, the point in question. And 3. Somewhat also of his chief Patron who set him on to maintain those Positions, and, as it were, did licence and authorise both the Author, and his Opinions. First then, concerning John Wickliff's Person and profession, the History tells us, he was a Secular Priest, Graduate, and Professor in Oxford about the year 1375. and that, for want of a just Title, he was by Simon Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury, deprived r daniel's Hist. of England in Edw. the 3. Fuller's Eccles. Hist. B. 4. Cent. 14. of the Headship of Canterbury-Colledge (now incorporated into Christ's Church.) This Deprivation bred Discontent (saith your Daniel) The humour that commonly breeds opposition, and many times hurries discontented men into Schism (as that Historian wisely observes, and experience both of old, and of late, abundantly confirms.) This Censure therefore did sharpen Wickliffe's Pen, Contrà Religiosos possessionates (as Walsingham phrases it) against Churchmen, who had Temporal Possessions. Hereupon Wickliff vexed with opposition, Fuller. which makes men reel into violence (as his own zealous Advocate would excuse him in this) transported with a Polemical heat, when chafed with Disputation, became active in his Sermons, and acts in the Schools, where that 17. Article (so much pressed on by the Church's Adversary) was first coined. Here Wickliff did mainly inveigh against Churchmen endowed with Temporalties, especially the Monks (than not free from scandal, and no doubt, worthy to be taxed, when found Delinquents.) Moreover Wickliff stayed not there, but, becoming popular, did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, drew Disciples after him of the populace, to be taken notice of, and discerned by a new livery, long Russet Coats, and going barefooted, and professing Poverty, with that kind of Novelty, the more to catch the people, who rather believe then judge: Thus much concerning John Wickliffe's Person and Profession. Secondly, Concerning Wickliffe's Positions, whereof the occasion, you see, was Deprivation. Fuller adds also his Ambition, because he did miss of the Bishopric of Worcester, which he aimed at. (The old quarrel in Church History of some male-contented Priests against their Bishops) we purposely wave to charge Wickliff with those Centuries of Articles exhibited against him by Thomas Waldensis, Harpsfield, and others, who might be excepted against for partiality: we will therefore confine our discourse chief to two of your own Historians, Daniel, and Fuller, . Wickliffe's Positions (placed by Walsingham at the year 1377.) Daniel delivers thus. Wickliff maintained, That neither the King, nor Temporal Lords could give any thing to Churchmen in perpetuity: which certainly was an error as full of Injustice, as of untruth: as being opposite to the whole current of Holy Scriptures, both in the Old, and New Testament, contrary to so many Counsels, Fathers, Laws of all sorts, Canon, Civil, and to the Laws of the Land, and to the practice of the whole Catholic Church in all Ages, as well as to right Reason, the ground of both Precept and Practice for it (as is at large demonstrated throughout this whole Treatise especially, Chap. 11.) Secondly, he maintained, saith the same Historian, That Temporal Lords, in their necessity, might lawfully take away the Goods of Religious Persons. This, if true, (as he is charged by Historians) is as contrary to Justice, as to right Reason, to deprive men, whether they be Delinquents or no: But this Doctrine, as it was popular, so it proved very pleasing to great men, Walsingham and Daniel. especially, who commonly embrace Sects, either for Ambition to get, or for Jealousy not to lose, or for Hatred to revenge (as your own Historian judiciously observes it) which fell out to be John of Gaunts Case, and brings us to the third consideration of John Wickliff's namesake, and chief Patron, John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster, fallen out with that eminent Prelate. Godwin, de praesul bus Angliae, Gulielmus Wickham. William Wickham, Bishop of Winchester, Ob causam mihi non ignotam (saith another good Author) for a cause not unknown to me, which haply will not be so expedient to record. Episcopum implacabili odio prosequebatur, did thereupon prosecute the Bishop with implacable hatred, and did instigate King Edward the Third (then decayed through Age) both to take away all this Bishop's Temporalties, and also to except him out of the general Pardon. This quarrel was aggravated by another accident, when John Wickliff, being cited, came to appear before the Archbishop of Canterbury, (aforenamed) at a Synod in St. Paul's Church: there John of Gaunt blew up the Coals (saith Fuller) and both by Word and Deed, animated Wickliff, bidding him not to fear the Bishops saying, They were all unlearned in respect of him. Whereupon there happened a fierce contest between Courtney, Bishop of London, and John of Gaunt, threatening the Bishop, that he would bring down the pride, not of that Bishop alone, but of all the Prelates in England: Like another Haman, Esther iii. 6. who scorned to be revenged only on the person of Mordecai; and therefore did plot the destruction of the whole Nation: Though for this, John of Gaunt was like to have proved another Haman also in the Destiny, had not the courage, as well as the Prudence of that noble Bishop restrained the zealous Londoners, Walsingham and Daniel, quo suprà. who did then so love their Bishop, that, but for him, they had burned John of Gaunts house, the Savoy, and made an end of him also, had he not fled: This is the very truth of Wickliffe's story, concerning which, as we will not affirm, that all the errors imputed to him by the aforesaid Waldensis and Harpsfield, were Wickliffe's Opinions: Christian Charity forbids us to believe that of him: Jer. xv. 19 Because taking forth the precious from the vile, his positions against the Pope's Supremacy, Purgatory, superstitious Pilgrimages, and the like, were good Corn, and so far God might make good use of John Wickliff. But on the contrary, Christian Prudence forbids us to allow of Wickliffe's Chaff, for the good Corn mixed with it, or to say, hand over head, that all his Doctrines were Gospel, (as his overforward Advocate seems to christian them. Fuller. ) We have learned a better Rule of Judgement from a better Doctor, the Apostle of the Gentiles, Let no man glory in men, (1 Cor. three 21) And again, from another Apostle, (Judas 16,) not to have men's persons in admiration, because of advantage. To shut up this Period concerning Wickliffe's Positions in the words of his own Advocate, Fuller. John Wickliff was but a man, and so subject to error, as much as other men; especially all the premises considered, to wit, 1. Wickliffe's Deprivation as the cause antecedent. 2. John of Gau●ts Instigation, as the cause evident of Wickliffe's distemper, against the Prelates and Churchmen of his time: Foelix qui potuit Rerum Cognoscere Causas. And thus much may suffice, both in point of Reason, for the matter of Right, and also in point of History, for the Matter of Fact to nonsuit every way that unseasonable s A seasonable Vindication of the Supreme Authority and Jurisdiction of Christian Kings, Lords, and Parliaments, as well over the Poss ssions, as persons of Delinquent Prelates, and Church men, etc. b● V●illiam Pry●ne, Esquire. 1660. Book (that we say no worse of it) entitled, An ancient Plea in Justification of the late taking away, and sales of Cathedral Lands, etc. and let this close up our full confutation of that first Politic Pretence for Sacrilege; namely, Justice upon Delinquents. 11. Followeth now the second Politic Pretence, which is as specious as the first. 'Tis the Pretence of Peace to the whole Kingdom: A precious blessing indeed, well worth the praying, yea the paying for, is the Blessing of Peace: If it be consistent with true Honour, with Moral Honesty, with Christian Piety, if compatible with the Peace of God, and with the Peace of a good Conscience; else without these, it were no Peace, (call it what you will) but a mere Conspiracy against God, which Christians, of all men, ought not to venture upon, no not to save a World: Except Peace come hand in hand with Honesty, Justice, and Truth, if it be purchased with the counterfeit Coin of Baseness, Falsehood, and Wrong, with Robbery, yea, Sacrilege, it can prove no other but an Imaginary Peace, a very Mock-Peace, such a Peace, as more than once we have already been gulled withal, (and still, Si populus vult decipi, decipiatur) a Peace in Jest, but the very Preparative of a bloody War in earnest: or rather indeed and in truth, a very sorry, base, sneaking temporary shift, that in the end, through God's just Judgement, may prove but the Exchange of one Civil War for another, and in the Conclusion of all, the Malum Omen of a Foreign, for a Civil War to boot (the late case you know.) 12. A strange way of Cure this! For can any endowed with any spark of Right Reason (for this time, bate Religion) imagine to Purge a Land already sick to Death, with the Surfeit of the old Sacrilege, by Repletion, by a new kind of Sacrilege, and worse? as if the Iniquity of t Josh xxii. 27. Peor were too little for us, from which we are not cleansed until this day? If Sacrilege began the War on their part, (who, as falsely, as odiously, termed it the Church-War) can they hope to end it by Sacrilege, otherwise then in the People's slavery for the oppression of the Priest? (the event you know, proved no better than so) can we ever hope to recover our Peace, or if recovered, to retain that long, which is so ill gotten? they say that those sick folks that are recovered by the help of such as they call White Witches, fall again into the same, or worse disease: It needs no application: Martial. Hic rogo non furor est ne moriare mori? Is this a likely way to save the Church by destroying it? Is it not time now or never, to deal plainly and faithfully with you? for say, do we thrive of the Sacrilege committed in Scotland, attempted in England? In such a case to hold our Peace, what were it but cruel uncharitableness towards your own Souls; damnable Unfaithfulness towards our God, our Church, our King, and the whole Nation. 13. Think not therefore within yourselves, that whensoever we thus speak, we are but Pleading our own private Cause all this while: for (once for all) to satisfy you all about it, the Cause is as Important, and as Public as any Cause in the World; and therefore, saith Calvin, The Preacher may, nay, aught to be the freer with you all. And the unworthy Advocate that now pleads this u Nemo mirari debet si toties Apostolus verbi Auditores ad Officium praestandum Exhortari voluit. In quo fuit liberior, quia non ageb●t causam suam Privatam, sed communi Ecclesiae Utilitati consulebat. Aretius & Calvin, in Gal. 6.6. in baec verba, Communicet qui Catechizatur Sermone, ei qui se Catechizat in omnibus bonis. Public Cause, before you all, dares in the name of all his Brethren, clear their Priestly Magnanimity, and avouch their Christian Confidence in Gods all-sufficient Providence, assured, (as the Holy Father St. chrysostom being once threatened, as we are, Psal. xxiv. 1. with a Sacrilegious Deprivation) that still, Domini Terra & plenitudo ejus: For our parts, doing our duty, we have all manner of Cause to be secure, that God will never want an Ark for his Noah's, for his Preachers of Righteousness, nor a Zoar for his Lots, nor a Goshen for his true Israelites. We know the worst of it: If God disperse us, he hath engaged his Power, and his Truth both, that x Ezek. xi. 16. He will be a little sanctuary unto us in all places, where we shall be scattered: * This truth the unworthy Author hath to the praise of God, found by fifteen years' experience, having so long subsisted abroad, without any supply out of England, and yet with honour, credit, and competency, yea, sometimes plenty, even to the relief of his dear Relations in England, so long defrauded and oppressed by the predominant Rebellious party. But Psal: cxv. 1. Non nobis Domine, etc. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy Name give the praise. or if that were not, if no room on Earth, yet y John xiiii. 2. in my Father's house there are many Mansions; room enough there for all Gods persecuted Servants, but no room at all there for the z 1 Cor vi. 9, 10. Persecutor, for the Thief, the Sacrilegious Thief especially, so far is such an one from the hope of an Eternal Mansion above in Heaven, that he shall not so much as to the third Generation enjoy a settled room here on earth: for as you have heard, of all other sins, Sacrilege can turn whole Families, yea, except prevented, will turn this whole Kingdom and Nation into a perpetual Floating Island, till at last it be quite swallowed up in a Red Sea of her own blood, or worse, (Deus avertat omen.) You have seen it already overflow all the Banks, and shall we with Pharaoh, wilfully march on still into it, and pursue till we utterly perish in it? Know ye not, that in such a case the Righteous Judge of all the Earth hath his a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Pindar. Magazines and varieties of Plagues, besides the Plague of Civil War, or Pestilence, or Famine? Yes God hath a thousand invisible ways unknown unto us, and all the World, as to recover, so to ruin an Empire: and when wicked men shall cry, Peace, peace, even then to fulfil upon them his infallible Prophecy. b 1 Thess. v. 3. Even then to send upon them all swift destruction, as the Throes upon a woman in Travel, so that they shall not escape it. 'Tis God's own comparison, to note the sudden, the painful, the unavoidable destruction of such FALSE PEACEMAKERS. 14. Say then, were it wisdom for an overhasty desire of the shadow of Peace to lose the substance: for a little base Carnal Ease, Christened over with the name of Peace, for that's it most of your vulgar sort of men, or minds, calls Peace; for such men are most men, that desire Peace, any Peace, not Peace in the right way, to wit, in order to the Glory of God, the Honour of the Church, of the King, and Nation, and the public good, but only to satisfy again their own private Lusts: and no doubt, this very Corruption visible in God's sight, maybe a great Remora to our Peace, which, even in mercy, God may still keep away from us, till he see us fit for it, and make us more thankful for it, when recovered. Will you for a moment, to retire per fas nefas, from the edge of Man's material Sword, rush yourselves for ever and ever directly upon the sharp point of God's spiritual Sword, the heavy Curse of God Almighty upon you and yours? If you dare go on, for all this plain, this fair warning, even therefore God may retard, yea utterly reverse that Peace, you so eagerly press for, so as you shall run yourselves quite out of breath, in your own ways, pursuing after Peace, and never overtake it; yet however alto consilio, God may dispose of us, if we should lose all, we may preserve, and carry away within our own Bosom, this comfort worth all, That by this plain dealing, Liberavimus animas nostras. 15. But we have cause to hope better things of you (of the chief of you at least) and therefore we rather pray for you, that God will be pleased to bless you, and (if the Decree be not yet gone forth) all the men of this Generation, from leaving upon Record, as a National slain of poor spiritedness, that base Character of Cowardice, whose nature it is through impatiency, to shift off a present evil, though with the unavoidable danger of a far greater, yea of a final Misery to come in the end: For, as the wise man defines it, this (base, carnal) fear is nothing else, but the betraying of the succours which reason offereth (Wisd. xvii. 12.) 16. Once, be pleased to take this as a sound Maxim of State, as well as of Religion, which a great Master of Reason, a wise man of c Dieu se courrouce quand nous ne luy voulons pas permettre de disposer de son Eglise comme il voult, ains le voulons prevenir par nostre sagesse:— par injustes moyons & par un Zele Impatient.— Il pourtoit donc bien advenir, que si nous changeons de train Dieu en changera aussy Et comme les moyens par lesquels nous avons pensê avancer nostre Religion l'ont reculee: Ainsy Dieu par les mesmes moyens per lesquels nous craignons estre en Empeschement a nostre Religion l'auancera. Car les grandes oevures de Dieu sont to●siours co●tre l'attente des honmes— C'est á Dieu de le fair & none pat a nous. Dieu ne benit iam●is les Action● de ceux qui le veulent prevenir par Impatiente. Examen Pacifique de lafoy Doctrine des Huguenots. Epistre au lecteur. France) hath delivered touching the Determination of the Civil Wars in France; (Wars for Religion too:) God is very angry, saith he, when men will not permit him to dispose of his own Church his own way, but devise to prevent him by their own worldly wisdoms, (by unjust means, and by an impatient zeal) once for all, God never blesses those men's courses, which think to anticipate his Counsels, but rather gives over such Infidels to unjustifiable practices for their impatiency: Thus he. 15. Then, a God's name, stay Gods good leisure a little while longer, Repent, Reform, Restore every one, all at once, and then put your Life in your hands, God can work great matters by small means, contrary to means, without means: If not, yet with the d Dan. iii. 18. three children in the fiery furnace, let us put on the Resolution of men, never to be so base as to serve the Vulgar's Gods, or fall down and worship the mad People's golden Image, or trudge after the Calves of Rebellious Jeroboam: Rather than such a Peace, rather than so, far better suffer Christianly, and die gallantly, then do, of l●ve basely. O do not buy a short, base Peace in show, at the rate of a sin indeed, of such a sin as Sacrilege: Make no more haste than good speed, and you shall soon or late find by comfortable Experience, that God is faithful, who therefore, (as long as you continue in well-doing) e 1 Cor. 10.13. will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it. Say we should be at the last cast, yet who dares say that God cannot help us? or who is of God's Privy-Councel to know he will not help us? Is it not usual with God, when the Enemies are at the highest, and confident all their own, then to step in, and to interpose, and in an instant to quell their rage, with a Hucusque, f Job 38.11. Hither shall thy proud waves come, and no further: 18. Behold, (what ourselves with all our own Inventions, could never yet hit on:) God can yet Command a SURE, AND AN HONEST PEACE, thus many ways. 1. Either by Constraint of the Enemies unto Peace, contrary to their nature, Amen: So he turned g Gen. 33.10. Esau's heart towards Jacob. Or 2. By Diversion, finding the Enemy's work enough elsewhere, so by the h 1 Sam. 23.27, 28. Philistines, he diverted Saul from pursuing after David. Or 3. By Division, among themselves at last, so he sent an evil Spirit between i Judg. 9.23. Judg. 7.22. Abimelech and the men of Shechem, and made them to destroy one another. Or 4. By the self destruction of the Ringleaders of them, as k 2 Sam. 17. Achitophel hanged himself. Or 5. By arming the Creatures, (wind and weather, and waters) l Exod. 15.9. against them, or pleading the King's Cause with raging Pestilence, or cruel Famine. Or 6. By infatuating their Counsels, and making the m Isa. 19.11. Princes of Zoan fools to their own Ruin. Or 7. By panic fears, by a Rumour, a mere Imagination, as the n 2 Kings 3.23. Moabites were overthrown by occasion of a colour of Blood, caused on the waters by the reflection of the Sun. Or 8. and Lastly, Should all these ways fail, God can yet command Peace a thousand other ways, by o Jer. 31.22. Creating a new thing in the Earth, as the Prophet phrases it: for of all other Blessings God expressly doth challenge the Blessing of Peace to be his own proper work, saying, p Isa. 57.19. 'Tis I the Lord that CREATE the fruit of the Lips, PEACE, PEACE, to him that is far off, and to him that is near: If you do really intent to have a sure Peace indeed, then to God you should turn, not from God: By good, honest, and just ways, you should apply yourselves to God every one of you; for 'tis God, and none but God can create Peace, as he did this world, out of nothing in sight, or out of a Chaos, (such as this our present Confusion) worse than nothing. Though Miracles in ordinary, be now ceased, yet still in extraordinary cases, God can work Marvails, so we for our part, and in the Clergies own behalf too, say still in our q Almighty and Everlasting God, which alone workest GREAT MARVAILS, etc. The Collect for the Clergy. daily Prayers. 19 There being therefore yet so many ways to Peace, why should any short spirited soul, out of despair, or doubting, rush headlong into the way of Sinners? That (if we keep ourselves from the accursed thing) one of these ways God will send us an honest Peace at last, we have great Cause to hope, considering not only the justness of our Cause, which God is concerned in to uphold: but also on the contrary, as the base Treachery, so the Unparalleled Immodesty, yea, Inhuman Pride of our Enemies, in their hard hearted Rejection of all those so frequent Royal Offers of Grace and Peace; accumulated as by the Royal Father now of Glorious Memory, so in imitation, by the King, his Son, and Lawful Successor, as in his Kingdoms, so in this Virtue of Clemency (The Crown of the King's Crown) provided it be not abused, Judas 4. as the Grace of God, which ungodly men turn into wantonness. The obstinate refusal of all which Royal Acts of Grace, as it is a sad Symptom, of the Sons of Belial, so to all wise and Religious men, it is a shrewd Crisis, that seems to portend no less than their fatal end at hand: and if so, then what an unspeakable comfort, and glorious will this be to all honest men, that they have had, and held out the Grace of Perseverance, thus long to hold out patiently, and all this while to keep their hearts and hands pure, as well from Sacrilege as from Rebellion; either of which hereafter may be such a r 1 Sam. 25.30, 31. grief of mind and offence of Heart, unto the Sacrilegious Apostates as will sour, yea quite take away all the sweetness of Peace when it comes, and send them full of shame, and sorrow, mourning and pining to their Graves: I pray God all may so believe these Truths, that it may be unto you, even as you will. 20. If so you do, I have a Commission from God, to assure you, however the world goes; yet s Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings, but woe unto the wicked, it shall be il● with him, for the Reward of his hands shall be given him, Isa. 3.10, 11. that it shall be well with you, and that, if God see it good for you, one of those many ways, this Course of Patience, (with perseverance) will in Gods good time, and that with the inward Peace of Conscience too, without Sin, or Sacrilege, really procure that outward Peace indeed, which it may be you miss all this while, even because Peace is made but the Pretence to persuade unto a necessity of Sacrilege, the third Politic Pretence now to be examined. 21. 'Tis the Pretence of State Necessity, in answer to which, first of all, use would be made of a sound Rule, by way of Distinction, delivered by one of the Holy Fathers, t Bern. Ep. 7. ad Adam. monach. That some things there are purè bona, such as Faith, Hope, and Charity; so purely good, as that they are always obligatory, so as upon no case of Necessity whatsoever to be forbidden or forborn. But on the contrary, some other things there are, purè mala, the Father instanceth expressly in Adultery and Sacrilege, as being sins of the same Nature, and things so purely evil, as that upon no Case of Necessity whatsoever to be commanded, or committed. The Reason is clear, because in such a case, betwixt the two extremes, of the Necessity, and the Sin, God still leaves us a fair Medium, namely, to MAKE OF NECESSITY VIRTUE, by suffering gallantly, patiently, and Christianly, that Necessity, what ever it be: This is then upon the Case, Gods revealed will, which we ought quietly to submit unto, and to attend, till God himself point us out a lawful way of Deliverance, or of Escape; else violently, through impatiency, to Rescue ourselves out of our Maker's hands, were, as I may say, to break the Goal, which a very u Senec. Heathen would condemn as a most Capital offence, base in the Commission, dangerous in the Consequence, for we can never escape this Gaolers hands. 22. In such a case of Necessity therefore, till God himself help us out of it, we must suffer, but we may not sin to help ourselves, for we x Rom. 3.8. may not do evil, though but the least evil, that good may come thereof, though even the greatest good, to save a World: should we presume upon it, than were our own damnation as just indeed, as theirs whom we preach against. 23. For sin is an action of such a Nature, as that Non cadit sub Electionem, it can never become the object of our Election; be the the Straits of Necessity never so great: this is the plain Determination of the School, as well of Aristotle, as of Christ. 24. For else, once open the gap of Necessity unto sin or vice, and Uno dato absurdo, upon the same ground that now may necessitate us to commit Sacrilege, we may be necessitated to Rebel against our King, and then what will become of our Allegiance? or such a case may come again (we play too fair for it by our wilful divisions) as that we may be necessitated to receive the Pope's Mass again, and then what will become of our Religion? or to receive the Turks Alcoran, and then what will become of our Christendom? To avoid all which dangerous Absurdities, we must constantly stand to this sound Principle, that there never was, there never can be any Necessity to sin. So that pretend what necessity you will, in this sense, Nemo laeditur nisi à seipso. 25. Therefore in the greatest Straits or Exigences of Church or State, this must be the Rule of all whom it may concern, to put on and to keep the Christian Resolution to suffer, not to Act. Resolve to pass no Act, what ever come of it; for the Act once past, the sin is Naturalised, and by your own Law, it may then Inherit, nay it must then Inherit, the Curse of God, I mean, upon the Principals, and upon all the Accessaries too, But till then, till you pass Acts of your own, all is yet safe: you may suffer indeed, so did Christ suffer, innocently; but than you shall not sin, but in both be conformable to Christ himself; for thus when a man cannot mend the matter, 'tis not then his Crime, though it may be his Cross, which shall one day be his Crown, if he be faithful unto Death. Thus much, in thesi, touching the Case of Necessity in general. 26. Now in hypothesi, to examine our own case of Necessity in particular: first of all, notice would be taken, what Devil hath brought the Public Faith, and us all to this Pinnacle of State, to this Precipice of Necessity; and rather then rashly to yield to the Tempter, or to his Temptation, and cast ourselves down headlong, we should (as our Saviour in the like case) answer the Devil with a peremptory Scriptum est, Justificabis, y Deut. xxv. 1. Justum & condemnabis Impium, It is written, thou shalt justify the Righteous, and condemn the wicked: If therefore Schism and Sedition, Rebellion and Sacrilege be the great Malignants indeed, that have brought us all into these National Distresses, and Public Debts; what Justice or Equity, or Reason that Religion and Loyalty, or that the Church should pay for it? will you have a Royal Determination upon this very case of State-Necessity? Then hark how our late gracious King, being dead, yet speaketh. * The King's Portraiture, Sect. 14. Upon the Covenant. No NECESSITY saith that glorious Martyr) shall ever, I hope, drive me, or mine, to invade or sell the Priests Lands, which both Pharaohs Divinity, and joseph's true Piety abhorred to do: So unjust, I think it both in the eye of Reason and Religion, to deprive the most Sacred employment of all due encouragements, and like that other hardhearted Pharaoh, to withdraw the straw, and increase the Task: So pursuing the oppressed Church, as some have done, to the Red Sea of a Civil War, where nothing but a Miracle can save either it or him, who esteems it his greatest Title to be called, and his chiefest glory to be the Defender of the Church, both in its true Faith, and its just Fruitions; equally abhorring Sacrilege, and Apostasy. I had rather live, as my Predecessor Henry 3. sometime did, on the Church's Alms, than violently to take the bread out of Bishops, and Ministers mouths. Thus far that great Prince's determination upon the case of a State-Necessity: In which case, (were it really such) to steer a course so contrary to the Judgement of such a Pilot, what could it portend but a just shipwreck both of Church and State. For if those who should be the Guardians of the Church should betray the Church to the Rape of Sacrilegious Usurpers, would not such a base yieldance encourage Sheba, to blow up his Trumpet of Rebellion once every Triennial? Do we not see experimentally, that such another Bargain did once again, provoke some to a second Invasion, because they sped so well at the first? Where Poverty may extenuate the Crime of theft, certainly there Plenty cannot but aggravate it, (as in nathan's parable of the Ewe-Lamb, King David himself doth pass his Sentence, 2 Sam. xii. 5.) 'Tis again * If the Poverty of Scotland might, yet the Plenty of England cannot excuse the envy, and Rapine of the Church's Rights and Revenues.— There are ways enough to repair the Breaches of the State, without the Ruins of the Church: as I would be a Restorer of the one, so I would not be an oppressor of the other Under the pretence of Public Debts. The occasions contracting them were bad enough, but such a discharging of them would be much worse: I pray God neither I nor mine may be accessary to either. K. Charles the I. in the same place above. our Royal Martyr's Argument against this Sacrilege, under pretence of a State-necessity, to discharge public Debts. 27. But secondly, say that all the three Estates of the Kingdom, Clergy and all have contributed their equal share, to that Mass of public sin and guilt, that hath drawn down upon us, all these public necessities and miseries, yet again, I ask, what Necessity or Conscience, or but Reason imaginable that God's special Demesne alone must pay for all, must be alienated, sold, or mortgaged, or as good as utterly annihilated to clear general or common engagements? Why should Bishops Lands, or the Revenues of Deans and Chapters make the National Expiation of a National Offence, more than the Lands of Barons, or of Knights, or of Lawyers, or of Physicians, or of Tradesmen, or of any. (An 〈◊〉 in Adamo peccavit Clerus?) There is far less Reason for the one, and (as anon you sha●l see) more Scripture for the other. 28. For say, are not the possessions of the Clergy, as Public as any? or is it not a Rule (or somewhat like it) in your z Sir Edward Coke, Super Mag. Charta. own Law, that Jura Ecclesiae Publicis aequiparantur? or will you have England alone, to walk quite Antipode unto the Religious steps of all Christendom besides, that (as hath a See above, page 50. and below, p. 165. been above clearly evidenced unto you) in all common Calamities, would rather, of all others, always exempt their Clergy. No doubt (as one of your great b LE LEY ADGRAND POLICY EN CEO, Car, etc. Sir Edw. Coke, en L'evesque de Winchester. Clerks well observes it of your own good old Law) out of a wise Conjunction of the Temporal with the Spiritual Policy, as to preserve Religion, so by their good usage of their Clergy, to procure their Prayers, (Gods own Ordinance to preserve both Princes, and Provinces) c That which the PRIESTS have need of, let it be given them day by day, without fail, THAT THEY MAY OFFER SACRIFICES OF SWEET SAVOURS UNTO GOD, AND PRAY FOR THE LIFE OF THE KING, AND OF HIS SONS, Ezra. 6.9, 10. and by them to derive the influence of the Divine Blessing upon all the other secular Estates. 29. Nay, in a case of such base Notorious partiality, the Jews, even in their worst Estate, may rise up in judgement against this Generation: For, 'tis recorded, as highly commendable of the Jews in their greatest Hardheartedness, Madness, and Sedition, during that horrible siege, straitness, and famine of Jerusalem, under Titus Vespasian, That yet, * Vsserii Annal. Chronol. as long as they had any Priests, they were not wanting to furnish still the Temple, The PRIESTS, and the Altar of God with that (Juge Sacrificium) That daily Sacrifice of the Lamb, morning and evening, which God had once required (Exod. xxx. 38, 39) till the great Sacrifice of the Messiah had finished all by his own Oblation of himself once offered (Heb. x. 11, 12.) which their blindness, and unbelief would not understand: But yet, even in those times of utmost extremity very Jews durst not pretend necessity against duty. Nay, beyond all this yet, Pagan Egypt it self, would out of the bottom of the Red Sea, rise up in judgement against Baptised England, if so Sacrilegious. ('Tis the Applicative note of David Pareus, and of the late Assembly-men to boot, upon d Rex demensum praebebat Sacerdotibus, ne agros suos vendere Inopiâ ●digerentur. Laudabilis Piétas Regis, etsi enim isti erant falsorum Deorum Cultores ostendit tamen JUS NATURAE ET GENTIUM, postulare haec duo: 1. Ut publicis Dei Ministris ex publico salaria honesta tribuantur, quod ex Jure Divino Veteri & Novo, etc. 1 Cor. ix. 13, 14.— 2. Ut iidem, Immunitatibus ab oneribus & gravaminibus Publicis beneficio piorum Regum donentur, atque fruantur, ut Officio vacent, etc.— Sed proh dolour, quantum hic peccatur, pauci sunt body Rege● & Josephi tam in Ecclesiam Benefici— Sacerdotes:] ita. LXX. & Onkeli, Josephi, Philonis, omniumque Interpretum testatur consensus. David Pareus in Genesis x. seven. 22, 26. This example condemns the Irreligion of many Christians who show little Reverence or respect, if not much uncharitableness or contempt towards the Ministers of the Gospel, against whom the men of Egypt in the day of Judgement shall rise up and condemn them, as Matth. xii. 41, 42. Annotations, etc. London, 1645. in Genesis, etc. By these Notes of theirs you may see, once for all, that in these men's judgement, those examples out of the Old Testament are, in point of Equity, pertinent enough to the Ministry under the New Testament. the Place.) For in a time of as public, as general, as tedious, and as extreme a necessity as ever did lie upon a Nation (seven years unparalleled Famine) and that also from the immediate hand of God expressly, so as to put bread in their Mouths, all other men else were fain to sell their , their Lands and all, and themselves too in the end: yet all this while, saith the express Text, and that twice for failing to enforce the Observation: Only the Land of the Priests Joseph bought not, for the Priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them; therefore they sold not their Lands. 30. In which Record, you may first of all observe, that the Egyptian Priests had Lands, for their standing maintenance; and yet were these but Idolatrous Priests, the Priests of a false God: and can you be Christians and think the Priests of the true God worthy of less, or of a worse kind of Maintenance than were the Priests of Egypt? Secondly, special care was taken, for all the straits of public and general necessity, that whatever became of the laymen's Lands, yet the Priests Lands should be preserved from Sale, or Alienation, belike because the Priests standing maintenance once gone, the Priests themselves could not subsist long after it, and then the God of both Priest and People, would be unserved; therefore as the Current of Interpreters notes upon the place, N. B. there all the other Lands were mortgaged, only or chief the Priest's Lands were free: Thus amongst Egyptians; and must it go quite contrary amongst you Christians, must all your Estates pass , and only your Clergy become the sole Sacrifice? 31. Must those men, that for aught we know, have by their Loyal constancy in well doing and suffering, been the Instruments under God, to preserve us a Remnant, and unto this day, to keep this handful of people in their Religion and Allegiance: Must these men, I say, for this their good service unto God and the King, become the whole Nations only Victim? Would not such a National Injustice, nay impiety, provoke God Almighty, the God of the Priests, to burst open all the Sluices of Christendom, and, without Hyperbole, to let in upon you all that whole Deluge of Turks or Scythians, your other sins call for, to revenge God's quarrel upon the whole Land, by overflowing such an unworthy Nation for ever, rather than such a National Injustice should go away unpunished even in this world? Ah, remember the fate of the seven Famous Churches of Asia, and fear, and amend. 32. Thirdly, and lastly. In that Egyptian History, 'tis most observable, that it was principally by Pharaoh's Royal Care, that the Priests Lands were kept unsold, for the Priests had a Portion assigned them of Pharaoh, saith the Text, and would they allow a Christian King less Power or Authority to provide for Christ's Ministers, than was allowed to the Egyptian King? or would they make My Lord the King, worse than the Egyptian Tyrant, worse than t'other Pharaoh, the worst Pharaoh, to sell and betray his own Priests, to whose special defence and protection, the King in his Religious respect to the Laws of God and Man, knows, and, in Royal Duty, thinks himself bound by so many multiplied Ties, as it were so many Divine Chains, in all his Capacities, Moral, Political, and Spiritual: as the King is a Man, as the King is a Magistrate, as the King is a Christian. CHAP. IX. Of the King's Solemn Oath at his Coronation, which obliges the King as well in Point of Honour, as he is a man; as in Point of Justice, as he is a Magistrate: and likewise in Point of Conscience, as he is a Christian, constantly to grant, preserve, and defend the Rights of the Church. 1. FOR first; If you consider the King but as a Man, in his mere Moral Capacity, were it not an unnatural act to betray his best Friends? those that, to phrase it in e 1 Kings two. 26. King Solomon's words, have really been afflicted in all wherein the King hath been afflicted? (And yet this Solomon spoke of such a Priest, Abiathar; who, though Loyal in Absalom's Rebellion, (2 Sam. xv. 24.) yet (as here, too many of our Tribe) proved an errand Traitor, in Adonijahs second Rebellion (1 Kings i 7.) But our constancy, God be thanked, makes our case the better: For, should the King deal worse with his Innocent, with his Loyal Priests? Nay, could the King save the whole Kingdom from ruin, by giving but his Consent to take away the Life, or but Livelihood of but one Innocent man, (that we say not a Bishop, or a Priest) we may safely say, by the rules of bare Moral Honesty, the King might not do it, in Point of Honour, as the King is a man. 2. But secondly, consider the King in his Political Capacity,, as a Magistrate, and of all other Estates or Corporations whatsoever, by your own rules, the King is bound in Conscience and Law both, to defend and provide for the Church, as his perpetual Ward in Law: since as you say yourselves, and your own f Sir Edward Coke upon Magna Charta, page 3. See the several Records (to this purpose) quoted by him there. Records say no less, Ecclesia semper est infrà aetatem, & in Custodia Domini Regis, qui tenetur Jura & haereditates suas manu tenere & defendere, in point of Justice, as he is a Magistrate, that we say nothing of the INTEREST OF STATE, for no State in the whole Realm is more beneficial unto the Prince's Exchequer, than the Clergy, (if it be kept flourishing) not only because they are deepest in Subsidies, but because from the Clergy, and so from no other Estate in the Land, the King hath a considerable continual standing Revenue of Tenths, besides First-fruits, etc. so that the King will be a loser by the bargain when all is done, and * Ezra vi. 22. Why should damage grow to the hurt of the King? and we hold our Peace? 3. But to wave that Temporal respect, Thirdly, and lastly, how much more is the King engaged to the Defence of the Church, (besides his Royal Title of DEFENDER OF THE FAITH, which is preserved in, and by the Church) in point of Conscience, or Spiritual Interest, if you consider the King in his Spiritual Capacity, as a Christian man, for that relation trebles the King's Obligation to all the premised Acts of Justice and Honesty. 4. Especially if, in the fourth place you add to all these Bonds the Solemn Supervention of his Royal Oath, Personally taken by the King at his Coronation, and to declare his Majesty's sincere and plain dealing, and his Real Intention to keep his said Oath; His Majesty hath therefore graciously been pleased himself thus to publish it. 5. In that Oath the King Swears in a manner, thrice for the Clergy particularly, and so for no other Estate of the Realm besides, to intimate that as your Law † 8 Esiz c. 1. In the Preamble. styles The Clergy a High State, and one of the greatest States of this Realm; so it deserves a special care, and high regard proportionable. Therefore as in the first Paragraph g At the King's Coronation, the Sermon being done, the Archbishop administereth these Questions to the King, and the King Answers them severally. §. 1. Episcopus. Sir, will you grant, and keep, and by Your Oath confirm to the People of England, the Laws and Customs to them granted by the Kings of England, Your Lawful and Religious Predecessors, and namely THE LAWS, CUSTOMS, AND FRANCHISES GRANTED TO THE CLERGY by the glorious King Saint Edward Your Predecessor, according to the Laws of God, the true profession of the Gospel established in this Kingdom, and agreeable to the Prerogative of the Kings thereof, and the ancient Customs of this Realm. Rex. I grant and promise to keep them. §. 2. Episcopus. Sir, will You keep Peace, and Godly agreement entirely, (according to Your Power) both to God, the Holy Church, the Clergy, and the People? Rex. I will keep it. §. 3. Episcopus. Sir, will You (to your Power) cause Law, Justice, and Discretion, in Mercy and Truth, to be executed in all Your Judgements? Rex. I will. §. 4. Episcopus. Sir, will you grant to hold and keep the Laws and rightful Customs, which the Commonalty of this Your Kingdom have; and will You defend and uphold them to the Honour of God, so much as in you lieth? Rex. I grant and promise so to do. Then one of the Bishops reads this Admonition to the King, before the people with a loud voice. §. 5. Our Lord the King, we beseech You to pardon, and to grant, and to preserve unto us, and to the Churches committed to our charge, ALL CANONICAL PRIVILEGES, and due Law and Justice, and that you will protect and defend us as every good King ought TO BE PROTECTOR AND DEFENDER OF THE BISHOPS, and the Churches under their Government. The King Answereth. With a willing and devout heart I promise and grant my Pardon, and that I will preserve and maintain to you, and the Churches committed to your Charge, all Canonical Privileges, and due Law and Justice, and that I will be your Protector and Defender to my Power, by the assistance of God, as every good King in his Kingdom, in right aught to Protect and defend the Bishops and the Churches under their Government. Then the King ariseth, and it led to the Communion Table, where he makes a Solemn Oath in sight of all the people, to observe the Premises; and laying his hand upon the Book, saith: The Oath. The things that I have here Promised, I shall perform and keep, so help me God, and the Contents of this Book. This Oath is to be found in the Records of the Exchequer, and is published in his Majesty's Answer to a Remonstrance, etc. of the 26. of May, 1642. The same Oath, for matter, you may read in an old Manuscript Book, containing the Form of Coronation, etc. in the Public Library at Oxon. of that Oath the King Swears in general, to do Justice and Right, with Mercy and Truth unto all the whole body of the People, and the Clergy jointly; so afterwards more particularly (in the second and fifth Paragraphs) the King Swears in special for the Clergy and that He will be the Protector, and Defender of the Bishops in their Privileges, that is, not only or their Persons, but of their Possessions also, that is of their Persons in such a Condition, so qualified, in sensu composito, with such Rights and Liberties: and those Rights must needs pre-suppose their Essence and Office too: and that as it was then in being, according to the Law, when the King took that Oath. This may be one Golden Nail more to fasten the Clergies Title, and to Rivet it more and more into your own Law. 6. For by this Juratory Obligation of the King's special Promissory Oath unto God for the Clergy in particular, some of your own good Lawyers teach us to say, That the Clergies (supposed) Consent in a general Act is not remissory at all of the King's Conscience from this particular Clause of his Oath, without the Clergies particular Consent first obtained, and clearly expressed by a particular Body Representative of their own, (of the Clergy, quatenus Clergy (and not involved with the general Body of the People: Their Act to free the King's Conscience, must in Reason and Equity be proportionable, and adequate to the King's Act, or Bond, that is, full out as particular. 7. For else this bundle of Absurdities would follow that the Clergy obtains no more by the King's Special Oath in their particular behalf, then if the King had Sworn only in general; which is as much to say, that in this little short draught, Oaths (that should be spared) are multiplied without Necessity, or so much as Signification, or that they must pass for mere Tautologies. 8. If therefore the case be so, that the King after such a solemn particular Oath, may not consent to the Bishop's Deprivation, etc. without Injustice, nay Impiety, then sure I am, that no man ought to counsel the King so to do: for that Subject, whoever he be, that will go about to persuade the King to so impious an Act, persuades the King to do that which were most palpable Injury to his fellow Subjects, and most damnable wickedness against the Soul of the King himself: for whom contrariwise every Loyal Subject is bound in Conscience to pray, that rather than His Royal Soul should be so lose, it may for ever be h 1 Sam. xxv. 29. bound in the bundle of Life, with the Lord his God, but that the souls of His, and the Church's Enemies, may for ever and ever be slung out, as out of the middle of a sling. This must be their Destiny at last, for Malum consilium consultori pessimum: you never knew it prove otherwise in the end. We say no more, but conceive this enough to confute one necessity with a greater, the pretended Necessity of State, with the real Necessity of Conscience so many ways engaged in this public Cause of God, and the Church: which Church (as it rationally, and clearly appears from the premises) the King is obliged to defend, in point of Conscience, as the King is a Christian. CHAP. X. The Confutation of the fourth Politic Pretence of a Legislative Power. FOllows now the Fourth and last Politic Pretence of a Legislative Power, to dispose of the Clergies Revenues (and consequently, of all men's Estates) as they see Cause. 1. This pretended Plea of a Legislative Power is mainly pressed by the chief Advocates both for Sacrilege and Rebellion, (for those Diabolical twins are still bred, and born, and grow up together) and the same is also made the very Basis, and Foundation of all the late Sacrilegious Usurpations by that notorious i No Sacrilege, nor Sin to alien, or purchase the Lands of Bishops, etc. by Cornelius Burges, D. D. This Sacrilegious Book, in those Rebellious times had the licentiousness of a second Edition, Anno 1659. Doctor of Sacrilege CORNELIUS BURGES, who, not content to * Matth. v. 19 break one of the greatest Commandments of God, by practising Sacrilege in his own person, (Usurping, for many years, both the Manor, and Demesnes of the Bishopric of Wells, from the just owner, that Learned, and Venerable, and most ancient Bishop, Dr. William Pierce) but had also the impudence to teach men so, by Preaching and Printing the lawfulness of Sacrilege, which, at first, was but only intended, or pretended by his Rebellious Complices, but (as it was, ex signis, & causis, in a manner, foretold by us three years before the event, in the first Edition of this very Book) it was afterwards acted in earnest k This Torrent broke out first against the Prelates, the Lords Spiritual, whom having once buried out of the way, it soon overtook also the Lords Temporal, and never stopped till at last it swallowed up▪ the King himself: Therefore, principiis obsta, is good counsel, and very seasonable. and also legitimated by that Sacrilegious Act of their pretended Parliament, and, which is worst of all, aggravated by immediate Sacrilege against God himself, blasphemously making God the principal Author of their Sin; and with a complication of Blasphemies, making the late Gracious King (now a Glorious Martyr) the Instrumental Cause of it: for he (worse than cursed Cham) having begun his Libel with downright railing at the Bishops and Pastors of God's Flock (to whom this ungrateful wight owed his Ordination) over whose unjust persecution, and illegal Abolition, (drawing out his arrow from the Popish or Mahometan Bow. that is, arguing from their Cross against their Cause) he there doth most barbarously insult, telling the world of the sad Providence on the Cathedral Prelacy of England, * C. B. ch. 1. (though since, another happy providence hath most visibly confuted him by a gracious and almost miraculous Restauration both of King, and Bishop:) than he dares affirm expressly, that it was God who did put it into the hearts of the late Long Parliament, by an Ordinance of both Houses, dated Octob. 9 1646. (after the King, (saith that Shimei) had deserted his Parliament, Corn. Burges, chap. 1. raised his Standard against them, whereby he put both them and the whole Kingdom out of his Protection, and none but those two Houses of Parliament remained to take care of the Public Interest in a Legal Way) wholly to abolish the Name, Title, Style, Dignity, and Offices of all Arch-Bishops, and Bishops, within the Kingdom of England, Dominion of Wales, and to vest and settle their Lands and Possessions in trusties, to the use of the Commonwealth, etc. and soon after he proceeds farther, avowing, that on the 13. of April, 1649. the Commons of England (being then the only persons remaining) [having then, after the Bishops, thrusted also the Temporal Lords out of doors] in Parliament Assembled were necessitated (forsooth) to sell the Lands of Deans and Chapters, whom he rails at, with a full mouth, as at the former) and so to enact an utter abolition of these also (reserved for the last to satisfy the Bulimia of those cruel and unsatiable Polyplemus', and so to make good their so long designed extirpation of both Root and Branch.) It were a Crime of Participation to be patiented or silent in this cause, which is Causa Dei, Religionis, Ecclesiae, Regis, all these at once, and Sacrilege in special being expressly excepted in the Act of Oblivion: We must therefore be mindful to proceed against it. This pretended Legislative Power of that illegal Assembly, and their Sacrilegious Act, Matth. seven. 26. is the sandy Foundation, upon which this foolish Builder (like a downright Sophister wilfully declining the Question of Right) doth build his house of Sacrilege. (Subrue fulturam, patitur structura Ruinam.) To batter which, we could say more both ad Hominem, and also ad Rem: but that, as for the Man, we purposely blunt our Pen, because, we hear, he is dead and gone, and so past his Accounts here; and, for a terror to all surviving Usurpers (except he did Repent, and Restore also) he hath already received his sentence according to his works: God knows where he is now, and there we leave him. But, as to the matter itself, That pretended Legislative Power, of his counterfeit Parliament, is sufficiently abolished (mark the Divine Talio of Abolition for Abolition) by the Legal Power of that Loyal Parliament * 13 Car. 2. cap. 1. for Repeal of the Parliament, begun 3. Nou. 1640. See Sir Robert Wiseman's notes touching the Long Parliament. that had declared all such Orders and Ordinances made by that disloyal Parliament, to be null and void; and further determined, That there is no Legislative Power in either, or both Houses of Parliament without the King? This being the main Fundamental Law of this Realm, might suffice for a full Confutation of what ever hath been said in his whole Book, by that infamous Patron of Sacrilege. But admitting an impossibility, that such an unlawful Assembly had been a lawful Parliament, yet can that prove it therefore to be infallible, but that it may do wrong? may not one be Tyrannus Exercitio, though not Titulo, if his Decrees or Ordinances fall upon indebitam materiam: what else can such a manner of proceeding be, to enact a total deprivation of a whole community of men (many of them innocent, as hath been showed above in the case of pretended Delinquency) and afterwards to argue à facto ad jus † It is the complaint of a wise man of the Law, that the meaning of that Axiom, Ex facto jus oritur, hath been extremely racked: Sir Robert Wiseman 's Note touching the alteration of some Laws. our Sophisters chief Medium all over: This way of arguing must needs prove of a monstrous, of a dangerous consequence: for say a man should thus Syllogise. Whatsoever the two Houses, or but one of the Houses of Parliament do enact or ordain is lawful (that must be his Major.) But the two Houses; or at least one of them, hath abolished, and also deprived all Bishops, Deans, and Chapters: (this Minor proved too true.) Ergo, That Abolition and Deprivation was lawful, and consequently, No Sacrilege, nor Sin (the presumptuous Title of the Book of this Church-Pyrate.) Now, should the sharp point of this twoedged Argument (which we have felt sufficiently through, and through) be retorted, and turned upon the breast of either of those two Estates of the Kingdom, what would then become of the Lords Temporal, or of the Commons themselves, trow we? for if they grant the Major, they cannot avoid the Conclusion, and so they may be turned out of all, by the Votes of a Predominant Party, and then farewell the Property of the Subject: Beware of such Precedents, you that are wise; for 'tis an old say, Cras tibi, hodie mihi. Enough for the Demolition of such an absurd Power that is attended by such palpable injustice: But yet, ex abundanti, upon this occasion of C. B.'s Book, for a fuller Conviction, and if possible, Conversion (of which though we have but small hope, yet is it both our wish, and our main design in this troublesome work) it will be worth the pains, soberly to examine the full extent of all humane Legislative Power, granting the Hypothesis that the Power is lawful. In prosecution whereof, first of all let this our Protestation be entered, That we intent not to question the Justice of the Law, or to examine the Power or the Wisdom of the Lawmakers, or to meddle at all with the Constitution of the State, or to discuss this point further than in a direct, and necessary Reference to the Universal Law, the Law of Nature, the Law of Nations, and the Law of God; to which all particular Laws, (if they be Laws indeed, and not Lawless Libertinism, or barbarous Tyranny) must needs veil, and yield their due Subordination. If not, then, by all men's leave, the Divine may, nay must, without any busiebodiness at all in States-matters, taking the Law interminis, according to the common sense it bears, or should bear, carry it, l TO THE LAW, AND TO THE TESTIMONY; If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them, Isa. viij. 20. Ad Legem, & ad Testimonium, and there wisely, warily, and impartially weigh the matter of the Law, in the Balance of the Sanctuary, or in the Scales of clear Scripture, and sound Reason, at whose Bar both all the Laws, and all the Lawmakers' too, must one day be tried at last, in Ultimo districtu: And if upon Aequilibration, as we may say, the Humane Law shall prove light, than that men may not stumble at it, and fall, and perish, by obeying any unjust Law of man, contrary to the just Law of God, 'tis then the proper work and direct Profession of the Divine, (as he will answer Soul for Soul) to take forth the m Jer. xv. 19 Precious from the vile, and as becomes him, who is to the people as God's mouth, to n Ezek. iii. 17, 18. warn other men's Consciences from it, and so free his own. For thus, though the Law of the Land be matter of Policy, yet the Peace of Conscience about the lawfulness, or unlawfulness of that Law, immediately belongs to Divinity, the Senior-Law of all, from which as we may say, all men's Junior-Laws, if just, must be derived; Divinity being indeed no other than the Original Law of God: which may suffice once for all, to preoccupate an ignorant, or malicious, and yet a very ordinary Objection of some, that whilst themselves take upon them at every turn to Confront Divinity with Colours of Law, yet blame the Divine very much, if, se defendendo, he dare offer to prefer God's Law to man's Law, in case those two Laws should justle, as if the Divine in doing but his own proper duty, were ipso facto, a medlar in another man's Calling. 2. Thus much premised, the justness of such a pretended Legislative Power will be soon tried, if but compared. 1. With some Undeniable Principles it destroys. 2. With some Right Conditions of a just power, which it should have, and doth want. 3. With some gross Absurdities it involves. 3. First then, such a Legislative Power at pleasure, as they call it, to vote men, Innocent men, out of their whole Estates, and Livelihoods, (their Lives may be next) is too absolute to be communicable to any Creature, and doth trench upon Gods own Prerogative, whose will is therefore a Law, and Idea Justitiae (as they say in the Schools) so that whatever is just with God, is just à priori, because 'tis God's will, but contrariwise with man, this or that must be Man's will, only à posteriori, because it is just. And the Reason of all this, is founded upon a common Principle undeniable, because God, and God alone is Essentially Just, so as God's Justice is his very Essence: 'Tis not, it cannot be so with any man, or men, single, or collective, whose justice at the most is but an Accident separable, that may abesse, as soon as adesse, go and come, as men may be well or ill affected: so that 'tis as vain a Point of Popery as any, for mere Creatures to challenge an Absoluteness or Infallibility in the Distribution of Justice, as to pretend it in the Determination of Truth. This is a Divine Privilege, reserved to the Creator, and beyond the Sphere of any Creature. By these two plain Principles, such a Legislative Power, ad placitum, is quite gone; so far from being lawful, that it is made the very o Prov. i. 11: Character of Sinners in grain to challenge a power, to deprive the Innocent without cause: and therefore an Act, whose Authors are accursed upon Gods own Record, and p Deut. xxvii. 25. to which Curse all God's people are commanded to say, Amen. 4. Secondly, as such a Legislative Power is utterly incompatible with those prima Principia, so with those other Right Conditions required to the good Constitution of a just Law: whose very q Ratio est anima legis. Soul is or should be Right Reason: without which any humane Law is dead, nay deadly as well to those that enact it, as to those whose unhappiness it is to live, or to suffer under such an Unreasonable Law, or Lawmakers: so Essential is Reason to Law, that therefore the Law is generally defined by it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: r Clem. Alex. Strom. l. 1. who there calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a good opinion, etc. Lex est recta Ratio: But how point blank to all right Reason such an Act of Deprivation would be, we have at large demonstrated before: This for the Form of the Law, as we may say. 5. As for the Matter, the Law should be an t 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Clem. ibid. Suarez. de legib. l. 1. c. 1. § 1. ex Aquin. 1. 2. q. 90. Art. 1: Vnbended Rule equally fit and able to render to every one their Right, and to redress their wrongs; so that an Injurious Law, though (if not directly contrary to God's Law) de facto, it must and doth bind the Inferior unto Obedience, quoad effectum civilem: yet de Jure, it is no Law at all, because not just. So that in such Cases, it is no Presumption at all to say, the Law cannot do this, or the Law cannot do that; If the thing be unlawful, because as the Law is, u DD. in L. Impossibilium 185. ff. de R. J. Calv. Lexi c. Jurid. impossibile. S●hneid. in Instit lib. 3. de verbor. obligat. tit. 17. Sect. sub▪ c●nd. num. 4. Impossibile est quod de Jure non licet: as it is impossible by Nature, for a man upon earth to touch the Sky with his Finger: (Thus the Doctors compare the two Impossibilities, natural and moral) so whatsoever is contrà bonos mores, is as impossible, de Jure, quia id demùm possumus quod honestè possumus: x Lex est Honestum legitimae potestatis Decretum, ad tuendam Reip. Pac. Wesemb. paratit. Digest. l. 11. Tit. 3. de legibus. Since therefore such a Law of Deprivation, were unto so considerable a Party in the Commonwealth, as the Clergy is in Law, such an extreme injury we may safely say, and that without any just offence to God or Man, that the Law cannot do such an act. Nay, so far is such a Restraint from being any real disparagement to Princes, or Parliaments, to the Lawmakers themselves, that if rightly apprehended, it rather doth greatly redound to their Honour, because it doth in a degree assimilate them unto God himself, of whom the Apostle saith to his praise, that * Tit. i. ult. 2 Tim. two. 13. God cannot lie, that God cannot deny himself, and the like. 6. But thirdly, all this will be yet plainer, and I hope passed all just Exception, yea, or but Contradiction, when we have impartially considered the poisoned Cluster of gross Absurdities growing upon it. 7. As first, The utter destruction of the property of the Subject, the great Diana so much cried up, at the beginning, by those very men, that did Vote it down in the end. Sure, one would think that the people, if they were but once again in their right mind, would not thank such Doctors, nor such Doctrines neither, as directly take away the property of the Subject (for it will follow by the Rule, à quatenus ad omne:) Yet some Servile Lay men stick not to acknowledge their own Lay-Estates, as liable as ours, to this v●st Law. It may be they do it only out of an intent, or colour, to open a gap into Sacrilege, and then out of a hope to make up that gap again, if they can. 8. But secondly, as such an Act of absolute deprivation, were the very All renunciation of all manner of Justice Universal, Commutative, Distributive, all at once: So in the fatal consequences of it, it would prove the Utter subversion too of all the other known Laws, and Fundamental Constitutions of this Kingdom, yea of the very Law of Nations. For what Nation once well settled, did ever yet claim a power de Jure, (for in this case to quote Matters of Fact (their usual, I may yet say, their chief argument) were but Petitio Principii) to deprive a man Innocent, or Untried, and Uncondemned (Lay, or Clergy) of those Rights, which by the standing y Magna Charta, See above, page 45. Laws of that Land, he is, at least, as legally Vested in, for matter of Title, as any Baron, or Knight, or any other Subject whatsoever? what were this, but datâ portâ, to introduce a mere Arbitrary Government? and indeed, by such a notorious Precedent, (if once past in rem Judicatam) had you but eyes to see it, to open a wide gap into your own Lay Estates, till they had reduced you all also, to a tame politic Parity. So true you will then find to your own woe, that old Maxim of Reason, Uno absurdo dato mille Sequuntur: Beware of your Levellers. 9 For deceive not yourselves any longer, John xv. 20. the Servant is not greater than his Master; if they dare fall upon God Almighty himself, whom we have proved before to be the great Proprietary of those Church Revenues, whom think you, will these doughty men spare in the end? Did ever, or can ever (we speak still de Jure) any Earthly or Humane Power, take away that from God and his Church, which is theirs, which God did justly receive from those that had just power to give? yet these stout men say, they can do it, and also they are ready to justify it, if not by the Word (for here you see they are gone) yet by the Sword (Mahomet's Argument, far from Christ his Rule.) If you will try it once more, Da illis posse, & velle videbis. 10. Time was, when your more just Ancestors were so far from challenging such a Legislative Power above God Almighty, that in open z At a Parliament held 25. of Edw. 1. Parliament, they utterly disclaim it, and they ground their Disclaim too upon Scripturè, saying That Lay men, (and there they speak of themselves as a Parliament) have no Authority to dispose of the goods of the Church, but (as the Holy Scriptures do testify) they are committed only to the Priests to be disposed of. Thus they: but the case is altered now, our great Masters (though mere Laymen) may dispose not only of Church Goods, but of Church Lands too, nay of Church men, nay of the whole Church itself, as if per omnes Casus, the Church were no more indeed, but as all other Lay Incorporations, a mere Civil Corporation all over, that had in them nothing Spirituale, immediately held of God himself: however in all other Secular, yea and Ecclesiastical matters too, for Order as, well for Conscience sake, the Church, as all other Lay Corporations in the Commonwealth, must and doth notwithstanding all this, acknowledge itself still subject to the Sovereign Jurisdiction, and ARCHITECKTONICK Power-Paramount of the Prince under God. 11. By this time, all may perceive that this fourth and last Pretence, by such a vast Legislative Power, ad Placitum, to claim a kind of Omnipotency (which is high Sacrilege indeed) to dispose of men's Estates, and to deprive men, nay whole Successions of men, how innocent soever, of their whole Livelihoods, is so far of itself from deserving an Answer, that upon due Examination, it rather becomes an Aggravation of the Injustice, when men will thus a Psal, xciv. 20. frame mischief by a Law, without, nay, against all manner of just Precedent for it in all Christendom, yea in all the whole world besides. The worst we wish them is, that they would speedily lay their hand upon their Consciences, and before their term be quite expired, seriously Comment on that sad Text of the Prophet, b Isa. x. 1, 2, 3. Woe unto them that Decree Unrighteous Decrees, and that writ grievousness which they have prescribed: To turn aside the needy from Judgement, and to take away the Right from the poor of my People, that Widows may be their Prey, and that they may rob the Fatherless: (for if they should go on, at that rate, as they did once begin, some Clergymen (a good many) may leave behind them their Wife's Widows, and their Children Fatherless, and both of them poor enough, God knows!) But then, (mark the end of such men) what will you do in the day of Visitation, saith the Lord, and in the Desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye then flee for help, and where will ye leave your glory? and there we leave them also. May all those who find or feel themselves concerned in this Arraignment of Sacrilege lay to heart this sad Item, for an upshot of a full Answer to all their pretences: And thus much for Matter of Confutation sufficient again to Non-sute the Adversaries whole Plea: This is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or first main part in the Matter of Probation. CHAP. XI. That the Sin of Sacrilege is a great SNARE, and also condemned, as by the Divine, so the Canon, Civil, Saxon, Common, and Statute-Laws. FOllows now the second and last part of all, the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or Matter of Confirmation of our own Cause. 1. Upon which we shall be the briefer, because as occasion was offered, and Necessity required, we have already by a kind of Prolepsis, prevented the greatest part of it in the preceding passages, all along, as we were delivering Matters of Declaration, and of Aggravation. 2. But yet the better to distribute the Remainder of our Evidence, be pleased to take notice that of our Client's side (which you must remember is God himself) we have yet so much Clear Scripture, so much strong Reason, so much Law of all sorts founded on both the former, and so much Testimony of all Parties beyond Exception, such a Cloud of Witnesses of all ranks, from all quarters, as may leave them past all Excuse, and jointly rise up in Judgement against them, that after all these fair Evidences brought forth against this Camel (the sin of Sacrilege) will yet resolve to Implead, or to Impeach God, and the Church in their Rights and Liberties. 3. As for the first kind of proof by Scripture, one notable Text more against Sacrilege, we may not omit to acquaint you with, and thus it runs, c Prov. xx. 25. It is a snare for a man to devour that which is Holy, and after Vows to make Enquiry: In which words you have both the Nature of the sin, and the Danger of it. 4. The Nature of it consists of two Acts, 1. To devour that which is Holy: That's the matter of Fact as it were: and then 2. After Vows to make Enquiry, that's the Plea, or the pretended Matter of Right. 5. Touching the first, the Matter of Fact: The Act is to devour, the Object, is that which is Holy. As for the Act, 'tis expressed in the d From 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The same word which is used, Psal. cxxiv. 3. They had swallowed us up quick, etc. Original by such a Metaphorical word, as is borrowed from Ravenous Beasts that will not admit of so much Deliberation in Eating, as to choose, or to chew their meat, but for very greediness do swallow it up all raw, yea, quick, and whole too, as they light on it: (A fit Emblem, by the way, of our late ROOT AND BRANCH-MEN.) 6. 2ly. As for the Object, Translations vary, (only about the word, for they all agree upon the matter:) 1. Some as ours read it, to devour that which is Holy: That is, saith Cajetan on the place, to appropriate Holy Things, such as the Holy Tithes and Offerings, and other Sacred Tributes due to God's Priests, (and Cajetan is counted one of the best of them, ad Literam;) 2. Some, as the Original, (by an usual Hebraisme, putting the Abstract for the Concrete) reads it to devour Holiness itself, to note again, as 1. The decay of holiness itself upon the Decay of holy means: so 2. That those who make no Conscience of violating holy things, they may pretend what they will, but really they make no Conscience indeed of holiness itself, but miscere Sacra profanis, is all one with them. 3. Some as the Vulgar reads it altogether in Concreto, it is a snare to devour Sanctos, that is, saith an Interpreter on the place, * Salazar. To deprive of their Livelihoods good and godly men (the Act in hand) and sure, of all such men, the holy men of God: for so of old in all Reverence, the Primitive e Nos Sanctos vocant, & Dei servoss etc. Aug. Christian People did esteem, and as usually call the Priests of God, by this Religious Title, of the Saints of God, not, as now, hand over head, the profane, or at least ignorant People, call God's Priests, their Ministers: when no where in all the whole Bible, are they so called by their great Master, God himself, the servants of men, in that general sense: And if * 2 Cor. iv. 5. but once in all the Bible, they do, (in a special, and voluntary case of Condescension, as St. Paul for Preaching gratis to the Corinthians) call themselves your Servants: yet, mark well what follows, 'tis for Jesus sake they do it: But else all over, God's Ministers are styled men's Guides, men's Rulers, and other such like terms of Superiority, and then God's Ambassadors, Gods Ministers, or God's Saints, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, because they are, or should be so, and so accounted of by you. This in a glance only: and thus much for the Fact, and the two main Species of Sacrilege both Personal, and Real. 7. Secondly, The Plea, or the pretended Matter of Right, is after Vows to make Enquiry: That is as the same f Retractare, revocare, refellere, etc. Salazar. interpreter glosses it aright, first to commit Sacrilege, and then to study and find out Reasons and Colours to defend it, The Black Art of too many in our Generation: and who knows, but they may have learned this good Lesson also of the Popes themselves, who first would Impropriate, that is, devour that which is holy: and than what themselves had thus wrongfully done de facto, they made their Friars (the receivers of the Sacrilege) use all their wits to maintain it de jure? As to name no more, your Countryman Alexander Hales did, who was the first that ever directly maintained that Tithes were de Jure Ecclesiastico, not Divino, which Popish conceit hath yet since by divers of your own g D. Ridley, D. Carleton, D. Downh●m. Sir James Sempel, etc. and so many more as yet unanswered, etc. Champions been learnedly confuted. 8. But secondly, some of the Hebrews read it thus, It is a snare for a man to Consecrate, and after vows to change for the worse: If so, then let our Changelings look to it, any of these ways they will light on a Snare. Thirdly, and lastly, the h 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. LXX. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Laqueus est homini qui devovit Sanctuario, & postea tangit eum anima ipsius. Targum. Septuagint out of the Chaldee, are yet more strict, and read the Text thus, It is a snare for a man to consecrate a thing rashly, and afterwards to repent it. From whence observe. 1. That if Vota temerè nuncupata, Rash Vows be obligatory, and must stand, then à majori, out of all doubt, Deliberate Consecrations. 2. If it be a Snare for a man after Consecration to grudge, or but to Repent it, then à majori again, what a Snare must it needs be utterly to reverse it, and to resume it? and if but to resume, à majori, still to rob? And thus for the Nature of the sin, 'tis heinous enough. 9 Secondly, as for the Danger, it is expressed here by the Metaphor of a Snare, or of a Trap, that is, Destruction, as several Translations read it: and that Snare, a double Snare too, as Cajetan well observes it, for first by his vow he is caught to one side in the Snare of God's Law, for that bids him i Psal. lxxvi. 11. Deut. xxii. 21, 24. Vow, and pay, because though vovere voluntatis, yet reddere necessitatis, else the Law will be a perpetual Snare to attach the Votary, till he pay it. Take one notable Instance of this in the old Patriarch k Gen. xxviii. 20, 22. Jacob, who, in his extremity, fleeing from his Brother Esau, vowed to build an Altar unto God at Bethel: but it seems afterwards he did for the space of thirty years, either altogether forget, or at least foreslow the payment of his Vow: All this while he is no sooner quit of one mischief, as it were one Snare, but he lights on another: such as Esau's Ambushment, (Gen. xxxiii.) The Deflourement of his Daughter Dinah. (Gen. xxxiiii.) The furious Massacre committed by his Sons upon the Sichemites, to the provocation of all the Nations round about him: till God at last, in mercy, plainly puts him in mind of his Vow, saying, * Gen. xxxv. 1. Arise go up to Bethel, and make there an Altar unto God that appeared unto thee, etc. And then did he pay his Vow, and so slipped his foot out of the snare: And as thus he that vows, is caught in the Snare of the Law, till he pay it, So 2. If he do not pay it, he is trapped on the other side with the Snare of his own Sin of Sacrilege; so that till he repent, and reform, and restore also, turn which way he will, he will light on a snare, or fall headlong into Jeremy's Labyrinth, † Jer. xlviii. 43, 44. Fear, and the Pit, and the Snare will be upon him, so as when he fleeth from the fear, he shall fall into the Pit, and when he getteth up out of the Pit, he shall be taken in the Snare. 10. Now, if you will further know what that Snare is, it is no other but that which before the Prophet Malachy did directly call God's Curse: of which enough l See above, page before, and therefore no more of it at this Time. 'Tis such a Noli tangere, in the Nature of it, witness Jeremy's Metaphor, m Jer. two. 3. Israel is as an hallowed thing unto the Lord, and as the first fruits of his Increase, all that devour him shall offend, evil shall come upon them: They shall be sure to light on a Snare: And get the Bird once in the Snare, and you need no Fortune-teller to tell you her destiny: so is the Case, so is the Fate of every Sacrilegious Person, Family, Nation, it needs no other Clog. And you of this Nation may well suspect such a Clog hangs about you, for your n Exod xiv. 25. Chariot Wheels, have, for some years last passed, driven very heavily, To any Nation than this one sin will be ILLAQUEATION sufficient, because of all others it hath in it as much of the Devil's Power and Policy, as any. 12. And that, in short, is the strong Reason of the heinousness of this sin, because 'tis a sin so Fundamental and Radical of almost all other sins, that where it is entertained, it presently fills the Heart with the Devil and all his works: So doth God charge Sacrilegious o Acts v. 3. Ananias at his Arraignment, why hath Satan filled thy heart? Pride, and Envy, Fraud, and Oppression, Avarice, and Ambition, are all but the handmaids, that wait, in ordinary, on this great Beldam-sin of Sacrilege: This for the Original Cause of Sacrilege. 13. As for the Fruits of such a Cursed Stock, no wise man can expect they should be blessed: It being (as you have heard at large) a sin Destructive of all Religion and Policy, of Church and State, Introductive of all Irreligion, Atheism, and Anarchy: The very new Gun-Powder-Plot, or White-Powder-Mine, under holy pretences, and therefore without noise, to blow up Priest, Priesthood, and all that is called Holy: Balaams, or Julian's Plot was but a Puny to this: Would I turn Traitor in grain against God and man, I would only counsel Sacrilege: That will do it, that will speed any Church or Nation to sudden, and total, and final Destruction. Reason enough therefore, to add no more, why all good Christians should abhor this sin for ever. 14. And therefore in the third place, you may take notice, that in all Nations, all wise Law givers in conformity to God's Law, have been careful, yea severe, as by wholesome Laws to prevent, so by rigorous, and generally Capital, Execution to punish the crime of Sacrilege as heavily as any: this is clear in the Records of all the Laws, Canon, Civil, Saxon, French. 15. For by the Canon Law, whosoever takes away, or alienates to other persons or uses, goods or things (Chattels your Lawyers call them) nay, Facultates at large is the word p Sacrilegi judicantur qui ECCLESIAE FACULTATES alienant. Tit. Omnes ECCLESIAE RAPTORES, Alque FACULTATUM suarum ALIENATORES Sacrilegos esse Judicamus: & non solùm eos, sed omnes consentientes eyes, ●uia non solum qui faciunt, rei Judicantur, sed etiam qui consentiunt facientibus: PAR ENIM Poe●a & AGENTES ET CONSENTIENTES COMPREHENDIT. Decret. part. 2. c. 17. l. 4. c. 5. both in the Title and in the Body of the Law, all manner of Church-wealth or Estate, (that must needs comprehend all Movables and Immovables) or whosoever shall consent to any such Alienation, shall be all alike guilty of Sacrilege: and as the Canonists phrase it, shall incur ipso facto crimen laesae Majestatis divinae, which by comparison with the other crime of High-Treason against the King on Earth, (whatever Sacrilegious Thiefs, or Rebellious Subjects may think of it) must needs be by proportion, a Crime of the highest degree: and so 'tis punished with the highest spiritual extremity that Law can inflict, the heavy sentence of Excommunication, and to note farther the heinousness of the offence, as Ivo, Burchardus, Gratian and the rest agree, the Canonists allot unto it seven years' Penance, where so many days might suffice for other ordinary sins: but because q Aquin. 22. q. 99 4. saith Aquinas, as heavy as the just sentence of Excommunication may seem to a right Christian, yet it is by the Sacrilegious offender, commonly no more regarded than a bugbear word; therefore pro qualitate delicti, it is by the Secular Power punished sometimes with pecuniary Censure, (heavier to the offender that commonly fears more the loss of his Money, than the loss of his soul) sometimes with outright Decapitation. 16. Or, as by the Civil Law, r Sacrilegii poena de Jure communi regulariter est Capitalis, ita ut pr● qualitate personae & conditione rei Sacrilegi aliquando damnentur ad Bestias, aliquando ad Ignem, aliquando ad Furcam. l. Sac●ilegii 6. ff. ad L. Jul. peculatus; & in §. Item. l. Julia peculatus 9 Wesembec paratit. ff. l. xlix. Tit. 13. ad l. Jul. peculatus, & de Sacrilegis. Infrà de publs. jud. Jure Saxonieo rotâ concutiendos esse Sacrilegos statuitur Art. 13. l. 2. Schneid. ad lib. 4. Instit. Tit. 2. de vi bonorum raptorum. proportionably to the quality of the Offender, and condition of the Offence, they were condemned sometimes to the Wild Beasts, or to the Fire, to the Gallows, or as now, Jure Saxonico, to the wheel: and of old by your own r Leges Aluredi Regis cap. 1. l. 6. in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. Saxon Law to Mutilation at least, or cutting off the Sacrilegious hand. In France I remember I have seen Sacrilege punished with Hanging and Burning (both at once) according to the Civil Law. 17. As for your own Common-Law, I have heard some of your great Clerks say, that it is somewhat defective about the Case of Sacrilege, as taking no Cognisance of it, nor affording any Action for it under that Notion, but yet that in such cases it allows no Clergy to the Thief, * See above, Chap. IU. Sect 3. & seq. Magna Charta. Item, Ch. VII. Sect. 9 & seq. & Statutes. Anno 28. H. 8. c. 1. & 32. H. 8. Persons guilty of Robbing Churches, Chapels, or other Holy Places, shall not be admitted to the Benefit of their Clergy, (such as be admitted to Holy Orders, i. e. of the Order of Subdeacon, or above, only excepted: and this Statute to be in force for ever. [It seems by this Statute, that in the eye of the Law, clergymen's persons are privilegiate, even in Delinquency; not that their sin is less, but rather, as we said above, greater than the sin of the Laity: But that the favour of the Law is greater to Clergymen, in regard of their Office.] One degree more of aggravation we may observe from the Act of Indemnity, (An. 12. Car. II. cap XI.) where, out of the General Pardon, Sacrilege is excepted expressly, no less than Rapes, and other monstrous Sins against Nature: as if the Lawgiver would hereby intimate, that Sacrilege is a sin parallel to those crimes, for heinousness. grounding the sentence on that common principle, received almost in all Laws, to wit, That frustrà Legis auxilium invocat, qui in Legem committit: And this singularity adds one grain of aggravation to the heinousness of this sin, even in the balance of your own Law. CHAP. XII. A Cloud of Domestical, and also a Triumvirate of Foreign Witnesses. 1. Luther for Germany. 2. Calvin for France. And 3. Knox for Scotland, all of them expressly deposing against the Sin of Sacrilege. 1. AND now as your free Merchants use to give somewhat into the Bargain, for an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, for good Measure, or down-weight, so for a close of this our Pleading, take ex alundanti, so many Testimonies of all sorts of men, in their generations, that you may not think this our Action against Sacrilege geazon, or uncouth, or merely litigious on our part. 2. Amongst those so many Testes veritatis, we forbear to accumulate the Holy Fathers, of whose Declamations against this sin, we have given you sundry hansels already, and could afford you many more full Pieces, but that, ad hominem, (the more shame) some more Modern Witnesses will be far more Authentical. 3. And yet amongst these too, we will not so much as repeat the so many several complaints of your own Gild●sses of old, nor of late, of your Gilpins, Ridleys, Latimers, Tindals, Jewels, hooker's, Andrewsses, and of so many more, nor their several sad Considerations, Prophecies, and humble Petitions, put as it were up in their Sermons and Epistles yet extant, and directed to their several Kings and Queens, even then when this Serpent was but a Scorpion in the Egg: what then would all those s Bern. Gilpin. in a Serm. at Greenwich, An. 1552. before Edw. 6. B. Ridley in his Letter to Mr. Cheek, July 23. 1551. from Fulham, among the Letters of the Martyrs, by Miles Coverdail, p. 683. Lond. 1564. Latimers' Serm. of Covetousness▪ Grindals Manuscript Letter to Q. Elizabeth, 1580. Jewel's Sermons on Hag. 1. v. 2, 3, 4. and on Psal. 69.9. Hooker B. 5. of Eccles. Polit. B. Andrews did much find fault, and reprove three sins too common, and reigning in this latter age. 1. One was Usury, etc. 2. Another was Simony, etc. The third and greatest was Sacrilege, which he did abhor as one principal Cause among many, of the Foreign and Civil Wars in Christendom and Invasion of the Turks: wherein even the Reformed, and otherwise the true Professors and Servants of Christ, because they took GOD'S PORTION, & turned away it to public profane uses, or to private advancements, d●d suffer just Chastisement and Correction at God's hand: And at home it had been observed, and he wished some man would take the pains to collect how many Families that were raised by the Spoils of the Church, were now vanished, and the place thereof knows them no more: See the Sermon Preached at the Funeral of the Lord Bishop Andrews, by the then Lord Bishop of R chester, Anno 1626. (forty years ago.) good men have said think you, had they been so unhappy as to live to our Sacrilegious days, to see this sin grown to the stature of a full Dragon indeed? 4. But lest these, being but Domestici testes, should seem partial in their own cause; therefore we intent to cite none but the Masters of the Reformation abroad; whom you shall hear crying aloud against the Sacrilege of the Reformers, in their several times and places, charging them with deep Hypocrisy, damnable Avarice, and what not? and that under pretence of Reformation, they did but intent, nay practice Robbery in the Usurpation of those Church Revenues that were Dedicated to God, for the maintenance of his Ministers: of such free, and full strains their Writings are top full. 5. And yet to prove all this, we will only single out one eminent Triumvirate of such witnesses as we are confident even with these men we are pleading against, will be most free from all exception: They be Luther, Calvin, and Knox, as it were so many Delegates for Germany, France, and Scotland, the Three great Foreign Stages of the Reformation: 6. According to their Seniority, the first main Witness we produce in the behalf of our Cause, is Luther, who (preaching on that ample Text of S. Paul to the Galathians, t Quoties lego Pauli Adhortationes, etc. [This Testimony being prolix, we will only extract the most Emphatical points in it, and refer the Reader to the Author at large.]— Summa, homines videntur degenerare in Bestias.— Satan horrendissimum malum hoc vehementer urget per Impios Magistratus in Civitatib & Nobiles in Rure qui BONA ECCLESIARUM ex quibus Ministri debebant vivere, rapiunt, etc.— Tangit autem acu mores Nostratium, qui securissimè nostrum Ministerium contemnunt— Praecipuè Nobiles qui pastores suos sibi tanquam viles Servos obnoxios faciunt: & nisi haberemus tam pium & am●ntem veritat●s Principem; Jam dudum ex his terris èxturbassent nos. Exclamant, (quando pastores postulant— aut queruntur—) Sacerdotes avarisunt, Insatiabiles— Tyranni & subsannatores Dei, videri tamen volunt Evangelici.— Puniet Deus acerrimum odium vestrum in Ministro●.— Ferox Nobilitas, Cives & Rustici, cum periculum mo●●is Instabit, sentient Comminationem quam rident: Deus enim non irride●ur.— Sint illa PAPAE BONA per meram Imposturam coacervata. tamen Deus Spolians Aegyptios, hoc est, Papistas suis Bonis, tranfert ea in locis nostris in pium usum. Non quando Nobiles rapiunt, & transferunt in abusum, sed quando ij qui gloriam Dei annunciant inde aluntur. Sciamus igitur nos bonâ Conscientià posse fru● BONIS ECCLESIASTICIS. See at large Luther himself, on Galat. 6.6. Let him that is taught in the word, communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things: (you may call this the Ministers Magna Charta indeed, irrevocable by any humane Authority, or Municipal Laws whatsoever:) for I hope none of our Religion will presume herein to shake hands with the Pope to pretend a Power to dispense Contrà Apostolum. Luther's Gloss upon St. Paul doth so fit our Meridian in almost all the particulars, as if it had been penned but yesterday here in England, not a hundred years ago, nor so far as Germany, St. Basil somewhere argues, that the Holy Ghost was no doubt very God, because he was present at the same time with Habakkuk in the Field, Jeremy in the Dungeon, Daniel in the Den: witness the Concordance of their Prophecies, (I stand not now upon the truth of the Chronology;) but only I do observe, that sure there is somewhat more than ordinary of God's public Spirit in this public Cause of the Church, seeing that all these men of several Nations, at that distance of times and places, yet still consort in a Harmony: however their Descant do vary, their Ground is one and the same; and all of them jointly, constant unisones against this particular kind of Sacrilege, namely, the Converting of the Lands and Possessions, etc. formerly given to Superstitious, or Popish Uses unto Lay-Uses; and that also (which is worth the observing) after those Superstitious Officers, and Offices, (Mass-Priests, and Popish Monks, etc.) had, by lawful Authority, (not so here the Bishops and Deans) been abolished. But now * It is to me a wonder, how those Declaimers against such alienations of Cathedral Lands, can with any forehead produce such eminent Protestant Authors, as bearing witness for them against this practice, after the Offices be all at an end: Cornelius Burges in the Preface to his Sacrilegious Book, where like another Goliath, (1 Sam. xvii. 10) he bids defiance to all Fathers, Canonists, Schoolmen, Protestants, though never so eminent, if they dare cross his way to his Mammon of Iniquity by Cornelius Burges his leave, let the Witnesses be heard) to cite them, with their reasons, will be enough to confute him. To begin with Luther, if you please but tacitly, all along, to apply him to Cornelius Burges his Case, † A Case concerning the Buying of Bishps Lands, with the Lawfulness thereof [presented to his Parliament, Anno 1650. as a Prodromus to his Book for Sacrilege] you will save yourselves, and me some labour. 7. First then, Luther gins his Sermon with Astonishment, and blushes to think that so great an Apostle as Saint Paul should be forced to use so many words, nay, so many full Sermons to persuade the People to maintain God's Ministers: so as to spend about it, two whole Chapters to the Corinthians, in an earnest kind of Beggary: I would be very loath (saith Luther to his Audience,) to diffame my Wittenberg, as St. Paul doth his Corinth: But this is the ill fortune of the Gospel, that so far are most men from giving any thing for it, or to it, that all men will rather use all the base tricks they can to circumvent, to snatch, to steal away the means that should maintain the Ministers of it. The short and the long is this, men are degenerated into Beasts. (This is Luther right.) 8. So that hence from, we may learn (I speak in Luther's very words all this while:) how necessary this Doctrine of Saint Paul, touching the Maintenance of God's Ministers is to be Preached unto the People: for the * It seems the Germane and British Devils are near of Kin. Devil hath but two highways to destroy Religion; The one is by the Errors of Heretics, and the Terrors of Tyrants, or Persecutors: But the other way is by starving, or depriving Gods Ministers, thereby forcing them to desert their Ministry, upon the Failer whereof, in time, the miserable People, for want of God's Words, are turned into so many brute Beasts. 9 This horrible Mischief, the better to bring about, the Devil stirs up the Impious Magistrate in the City, and some ungodly ones of the Nobility and Gentry in the Country, violently to take away, and to convert to their own impious use, those Church Revenues, which are the maintenance of God's Ministers: whereby it will soon come to pass, that none (that's worldly wise) will put his Children to the Divinity-School, of all others, but rather apply them all to the other more gainful Trades and Sciences. (That you may the better heed this, Luther goes over it again, discovering the Devils deep drift in this mystery of Iniquity, saying) This is the Devils own Master-Plot to banish Christ's Religion out of our Land, without either the visible violence of the Tyrants, or the under hand work of the Heretics. 10. Ah! then, how much more likely is the Apostasy, and miserable must needs be that poor people's Case, in whose Land all these three may seem to have conspired in a joint Concurrence to the Destruction of that Church and Nation? Heresy, Tyranny, and Robbery, all these at once; Lord have mercy upon us!) But Luther goes on sadly still, and you must hear him out, for you must give Witnesses leave to speak out, and to tell out their own Tale, their own way too. 11. Will you know the Calamities attending upon such horrible Ingratitude? Then behold, because an ungracious Nation thinks much to part with their Carnal things, for our Spiritual things; therefore saith he, by a just Judgement of God they shall forfeit, and utterly lose both their own Carnal things, and our Spiritual things too. 12. And indeed I am verily persuaded, that these Churches of Galatia, and of Corinth, etc. were for no other cause thus infested, and troubled with so many false Apostles, but because they did so notoriously neglect their own true Doctors: For most just it is with God, that those that deny him their Pence, when He affords them all their own good things, and offers them eternal life to boot, should be given over to such frenzy, as freely to bestow whole pounds on the Devil and his Apostles: (and then you may say, penny wise, and pound foolish indeed!) Then commenting further on the next words following, Be not deceived, God is not mocked: The Apostle, saith he, is so earnest in urging this Text for the liberal Maintenance of God's Ministers, that he is fain to back his Exhortation with Increpation, downright chiding, yea to fortify both these with a severe Commination, saying, Be not deceived, God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 13. And even here, as we say, he hits the nail on the head, and meets full in the face, with the good manners of the men of our Generation, that most securely contemn our Ministry— Chief the great ones, that keep their Chaplains at such distance, as if they were not their Pastors, but their basest Slaves: So that were it not for God's mercy that hath blessed us with a Prince so pious, and such a fast Friend to Religion, some of them had long ago made us weary of this Land. (Do not imagine, 'tis I speak this, for these are still Luther's own words all of them.) 14. Such are they that when the Preacher offers to defend, or to demand but his own, or but fairly to complain of his wrongs, they cry out strait, These Parsons are ever Covetous, and insatiable men; they never have enough, and the like; yet for all that, saith Luther, we must not give over pleading God's Cause, when the Scripture itself pleads it thus for us: But these hard Lessons men must be taught, and told oft, though they Scoff at us for our labour. 15. Yet these latterdayes-scoffers of God himself (in his Servants) would seem as good Gospelers as any of the best: But for all that know ye, saith he, that however God, for awhile, delays his Vengeance, yet in his due time, he will find you out, and plague your Dogged hatred against God's Ministers. 16. Methinks, some are tired already with reading thus much against the hair: will Luther never have done? but the main is behind yet: for now Luther may seem to thunder and lighten indeed, saying: That for all this Patience of God, yet the time will come, when the proudest of the Gentry, the Covetousest of the City, and the rudest Clowns in the Country, shall all at the very approach of Death, [find the Curses of God to be no words] they shall then at furthest, find, [yea feel too] the Truth of this Curse of God upon them, that in the end God will not be mocked indeed, but that as they have sown, so now they must go reap for ever. 17. And lest any should misconceive that Luther speaks only this at large of the Ministers Maintenance in genere: and so not to our particular purpose: therefore for a Conclusion, take notice, that Luther speaks there expressly of BONA PAPAE, as there he calls them, of such Popish Church Revenues, as some miscall the Lands of your Bishops, Deans, and Chapters: (Luther himself would have said no less of the Abby-Lands: for were not these also inter Bona Papae?) which Luther is so far from condemning to Lay-uses, because of the abuses, that he rather earnestly warns all Ministers to take special notice, That those Church Revenues are their own Maintenance, and therefore they should not suffer themselves to be deprived of them by the Laity upon scruples of Conscience, because they were Popish, or so; for say, they were gotten, and heaped up together by MERE IMPOSTURES, yet, saith he, since God hath been pleased, (all these are his own words still) to spoil the Egyptians, (I mean the Papists) and to give them unto us, why should not we enjoy our own? Can they be converted to a more pious use, than to maintain the Ministers of God? or will any affirm that use to be better, which they are put unto, by the Nobility and Gentry, that Rob us of them? Then he concludes all, saying, Let us therefore once for all know, that with a very good Conscience we both may take, and keep too those Church Revenues to ourselves. And thus far our first ample Witness, Luther for Germany. 18. In the second place, the next Witness we produce in the behalf of our Cause, will be far more brief, and yet very pithy too: and 'tis Calvin for France, who even there were u Ecclesiae facultates in alienos usus convertere sacrilegium esse dicunt, Assentior. Si nihil hic apud nos peccari dixero, Mentiar— non Excuso, Principes nostros accusant quòd Patrimonium Christi, & Ecclesiae Deo consecratum rapuerint, & in profanos usus dilapident:— Quod in eos tantùm usus non impendantur Ecclesia reditus quibus sunt dedicati, mihi displicere profiteor. Mecum etiam id gemunt omnes boni:— ECCLESIAE BONA ex Sacerdotum & Monach rum Erepta manibus ad se receperunt Principes nostri.— Fateor grave Judicium pronuntiari adversùs eos, qui Ecclesiam spoliaverunt, ut sibi raperent quod illius erat, quia veros Ministros fraudant suo victu.— Jam ante Triennium testati sunt nostri principes, moram se nullam in Restitutione facturos, modo in eundem se ordinem cogi patiantur, etc. Habet igitur tua Majestas, Invictissime Caesar, principes suá promissione obstrictos, etc. Extat etiam in manibus hominum Libellus, ut ad Doctrinae consensionem ea res non debeat esse impedimento. Calvin, Tractatu de Necessitate Reformandae Ecclesiae, in vol. Opuscul. Ex professo, he does his utmost in writing unto the Emperor, Charles the Fifth, and to the rest of the Princes then assembled at Spira, to excuse at large the Sacrilege objected to the Reformers, yet even then, I say, is he forced to let fall thus many Truths at once. 19 First, he truly States the Objection thus, They say that to convert the Church Revenues unto other uses is Sacrilege, I grant it. 2. That at the Reformation those Church Revenues were not so well disposed of, I should lie if I should deny it: And again, it cannot be free from blame: and again, I cannot excuse it: Though the pretence was then as now, and so is his Plea, that part of it was employed in Stipends to the Maintenance of the Ministers: yet for all that, he ingenuously confesses, and complains too, that those Church Revenues, (which he there calls expressly the Patrimony of Christ, and the Patrimony of the Church, consecrated to God) were not employed only to those uses to which they were dedicated, (I speak all this while in calvin's own words:) and that they are not so employed is my grief, and all good men lament this case with me. If you now make a question what Church Revenues he means, he tells you plainly, he means no other but those Church means that by the Princes of the Reformation, were taken away from THE POPISH PRIESTS AND FRIARS, so that he must needs make THE FRIARS Means part of the Church's Patrimony. Nay Calvin goes farther, to denounce Gods grievous Judgement against all those that had thus rob the Church to enrich themselves: and last of all, for a conclusion of all, he seems to point out no other Remedy for it, but * For this kind of pious Restitution of the Church-Lands, and other Sacred Revenues, formerly usurped, we need not go beyond Seas to seek Precedents: This Island (so famous for ancient Christianity) affords us memorable Examples: To cite but one for all: Willelmus Rex Anglorum Reddidit Ecclesiae omnes fère terras antiquis & modernis temporibus à jure ipsius Ecclesiae ablatas, quarum terrarum Nomina haec sunt. In Cantia Raculf. Sandwic. Rateburch. Widecun. Monasterium de Limminge cum terris & Consuetudinibus ad ipsum Monasterium pertinentibus. Saltwude cum Burgo heche ad saltwude pertinente, Langport Niwendene. Rokinge, Detlinge. Prestentune non longè à fluvio Medeweie sitam. Sunderhersté. jarbeche: Orpentun. Amesford. Denintun. Stock. Quatuor Praebendas de Mwentune & praeter haec omnia multas alias modicas terras tam in insulis quam extrà insulas in Cantia sitas. Stock verò & Denentum Lanfrancus Archiep's Reddidit Ecclesiae Sancti Andreae, quia de jure ipsius Ecclicae Antiquitùs fuerunt. In sutrege Murtelac Lundoniae Monasterium Sanctae Mariae cum terris & Domibus quas Livingus Presbyter, & uxor illius Lundonice habuerunt. In Middlesexum. Hergam. in Buckingham-scire Risbergam healtun. In Oxenaford-scire Niwentun. In Suchfolke Frakenham: hanc Villam Lanfrancus Archep's Reddidit Ecclesiae Sancti Andreae, quia antiquitûs ad ipsam Ecclesiam pertinebat. In East Sexum scistede. Stanbgrigge. haec omnia Reddidit pro Deo & pro salute animae suae, gratis & sine ullo Precio. This Record is to be seen in the Rare Library of that late Famous Antiquary, Sir Robert Cotton, in a Manuscript Entitled, Canon's Burcardi & Lanfranci Constitutiones, Fol. 165. B. In which Notable evidence are very observable 1. The Royal Example of Restitution to the Church. 2. The godly Concurrence of Lanfrancus the Archbishop. 3. That this Restitution tends to God, Pro Deo, & pro salute, Animae suae. 4. That this was done gratis & sine ullo precio: It was neither by way of Commutation on the Restorers part, nor by way of Redemption on the Church's part. 5. (But this only obiter) we may also hereby take notice of the Marriage of Priests in those ancient days, 600 years ago: for Archbishop Lanfranc was promoted to the Sea of Canterbury, Anno 1070. That such Restitutions were procured by Archbishop Lanfranc may further appear: Nam maneria 25. per Od●nem Epùm Baiocensem, fratrem Regis uterinum erepta, Ecclica Restituenda Curavit. Mannerium de R●dburne per injuriam ereptum illius Operâ redditum est. Godwin de Praesulibus in Lanfranc. Restitution, which he therefore mentions twice for failing, Telling the Emperor, that some three years before, the Princes had made a Promise to restore them all without delay, (but upon Condition, namely, Provided the Friars, and the Priests, and the Bishops too, who did also abuse Church-means, to maintain Vice and Luxury, would part with them also: Conditions unlikely enough, and therefore to this day that Restitution is yet to make:) In conclusion, Calvin seems as it were, to put up for it, his Petition to the Emperor himself, saying, Caesar, you have the Princes bound by their own promise, to restore, as if he would say, you may sue out their Bond. Calvin adds moreover, that there was a Book written on purpose touching the Restitution, to give satisfaction about it; so that this particular should be no hindrance to Consent in Doctrine. Thus far Calvin for France. 20. And so in the third and last place, Knox for Scotland, In the first Book of Discipline, Anno 1560. he and all his fellow Ministers are very vehement in pressing the Lords of the Privy Council to Restitution of all the Church Revenues; their words are to this effect, We dare not flatter your Lordships, but for fear of the loss of your souls and ours, we desire to have all the Church Lands of the Friars, and all other Mortifications restored back again unto the Church. 21. And in particular, Knox himself, about the year 1572. in which year he died, x Knox his History. in a general Epistle of his, from Edinborough, where he was Minister, unto the General Assembly then sitting at Striveling, he there exhorts them all to join in Preaching against the sin of Sacrilege, in words to this purpose, Brethren, we have had a fight against the Heretics, and God hath blessed us, we have now a strong fight against the Sacrilegious; and therefore be you courageous, and God will give us an happy end. This Doctrine from Knox, you may the rather take notice of, and believe too, because it seems it was his DEATHBED DOCTRINE. 22. We omit to dilate farther, in quoting their whole express Sermons, such as was that of Mr. John Cragge, Preached at Lyth, Anno 1571. directly against the Sin of Sacrilege: by all which, you may clearly see, that all those Reformers were as earnest as any of us can be, in inveighing against but the beginning of that Sacrilege, against whose progress, nay, almost conquest, some Left hearted men, now adays, think it strange that we dare open our Mouths. 23. But what need I trouble you with any more single Testimonies, If whole Assemblies as it were Agmine facto, marching in a full Body against it, have charged this sin through and through: For behold, as Leah said at the Birth of Gad, a Troop cometh. Genes. xxx. 11. To name no more, The whole Assembly at St. Andrews, (we are in Scotland still) which did (Anno 1582.) expressly enjoin a General Fast throughout the Realm, for appeasing God's wrath upon the Land directly again for the crying sin of Sacrilege. And surely we of this Kingdom have much more cause to arraign ourselves for this sin now, than they had then: So that (even before I knew this example) such a thing has been often times in my thoughts and wishes, with humble submission to Authority. Behold instances enough of all sorts, as to Justify our Charge to the full, so to finish our matter of Probation, and indeed our whole Pleading against the Sin of Sacrilege arraigned here by Saint Paul in these words. THOU THAT ABHORREST IDOLS, DOST THOU COMMIT SACRILEGE? THE RECAPITULATION OF ALL. 1. AND now to contract this whole Mass of Matter, and to bind up all our evidence into one plain Syllogism, (the most convincing way of Argumentation:) WHATEVER is of the same nature with Idolatry and Adultery, that must needs be a Sin now under the Gospel, as much as under the Law. BUT Sacrilege is of the same Nature with Idolatry and Adultery. ERGO, SACRILEGE IS A SIN NOW UNDER THE GOSPEL, AS MUCH AS UNDER THE LAW. Quod erat Demonstrandum. The MAJOR is extra controversiam being founded upon a Maxim of Reason, for Eorundem eadem est ratio. The MINOR is expressed in the words of the Text, and grounded besides upon the clear Scope of the Apostle in the whole Context, which is all along by Induction, at lest à pari, if not a Majori, to convince both Jew and Gentile of gross Hypocrisy, for y Therefore thou art Inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art, that Judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself, for thou that judgest, dost the same things.— And thinkest thou, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and dost the same, that thou shalt escape the Judgement of God? Rom. 2.1.3. and so, ver. 21.22. committing those very sins of Idolatry, or Adultery, (or as bad as those) which they did condemn in others. And if both the Major and the Minor also be true, none but made men will deny the CONCLUSION. This evidence in the behalf of God's Cause, is both so strong, and so clear, That the professed Adversaries of it are forced to confess it: For the chief of them, that Doctor of Sacrilege (cited, and confuted above in the X Chapt.) in that very Book, which he wrote, ex professo, in defence of Sacrilege, spends an whole Chapter, * C.B. Chap. 3, to prove it: the Title whereof is, That there is, or may be Sacrilege committed now under the Gospel. Albeit the same Author, playing still the Prevaricator, (his best part) in the very next Chapter before, goes about to undermine this very Text, Thou that abhorrest Idols, dost thou commit Sacrilege: as if meant only of the Idolothytes, the meats sacrificed to Idols, (which Cavil, à male divisis, etc. hath been already confuted above, Chap. II. p. 14, 15,) whereas, by the Current of Interpreters, z As 1. The Syriack renders it, Dost thou spoil the Holy House? 2. The , Dost thou rob the House of God? 3. The Arabic, Dost thou steal the Vessels of the Temple? 4. Bucerus upon the place, Fieri potest, etc. It may be St. Paul here, by Sacrilege, did not mean the stealing of the money dedicated to Idols, but the Rapine, which the Jews did commit about their Sacred Things, partly by Selling, and Buying the Priesthood; partly by intercepting the Sacred Offerings, and the Money dedicated by the people to Religious Uses.— For which cause our Lord did cast out of the Temple those, that bought and sold therein. These things the Jews most impuden had long before begun to practise; as also Jesephus himself doth witness. Thus Bucerus. 5. Ad verbum, Templum▪ Despolias? Dost thou plunder, or rob the Temple? 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: Contemptus divinae Majestatic, per synecdochen speciei. Pisc. in loc. To the same pu pose P. Martyr, and others. the sense is much more enlarged, and this Text expounded directly of Robbing the true God, by intercepting, and interverting Religious Oblations, and setting the same to sale. (The good work which C. B. in that Book undertakes to maintain, thereby to justify his own Sacrilegious Purchase.) But if it be Sacrilege (as himself there doth confess) to sell, or purchase such transient oblations. Then certainly, by his leave, with very good Logic, any man endued with right Reason, must needs conclude, That by the Rule of Proportion, it is much more, and much greater Sacrilege to sell, or to purchase the Permanent Oblations, the Houses and Lands dedicated for the maintenance of the Service, and Servants of the true Gods: whose Acceptance of such Oblations, and consequently God's Propriety in them, we have clearly made out above (Chap. vi. p. 64. and elsewhere.) But this is, and ever will be, the true Character of our Modern Pharisees, like the true offspring of the Old Pharisees, (Matth. xxiii. 24.) To strain at a gnat, and swallow a Camel. To leave them therefore, and by Application to turn unto you. By this time we may hope that you and all good men, not blinded with Schismatical Prejudice, or bewitched with Sacrilegious Avarice, will be really convinced of the CONCLUSION. As for us, That which was our Task to make good, we have done, God be thanked, this Text is clearly our own: a Divine, and Direct Bar against the Sin of Sacrilege. 2. And now after all this, let the Fanatical Libertines of our Times, in their Atheism, or Ignorance, say still, that Sacrilege is but a Fancy: with as good reason, they may (and rather than miss of the prey, (the Church-Lands) haply they would, if they durst) say as much of Adultery, that it is but a Fancy neither, or of Idolatry, or of Theft, or of any sin, that it is no more but so, a Fancy also: for some are grown now such proficients in the Schools of Atheism, that they dare affirm Virtues, and Vices to be but Opinions: But we hope you have better learned Christ, You see clearly, that in the natural, and full propriety of the word, Sacrilege is here by Saint Paul expressly matched with all those Crimes: As for the gainsayers, either they must admit all the premised absurdities, or else (which is far better) let them in aserious Reflection upon their own folly, and vain imaginations, and a day of reckoning for them all, speedily Repent, and Recant these their own wild Fancies; lest if they go on in their earthly, sensual, devilish Wisdom, (these are an Apostles a Jam. 3.15. own Epithets of such Wits (for so they would be called) through God's just judgement, b Rom. 1.21. they become utterly vain in their own Imaginations, and their foolish heart be for ever darkened: And let them take heed, lest by their wilful impenitency, and hardness of heart, they provoke a just God to pass upon them that terrible and final Sentence, c 2 Thess. two. 10, 11, 12. That because they would not receive the love of the Truth, that they might be saved, therefore God will send them strong delusion, that they shall believe a lie, that they all may be DAMNED. 3. As for you, whom God hath blessed with more of that true impartial wisdom which is from above, let no man, or men, deceive you with vain words: Since you have heard this truth so abundantly vouched, from such undeniable Principles of all kinds from the Law of Nature, from the Law of Moses, which is the Law of God, (his Moral Law) confirmed by the Law of Christ; for no Text in all the whole Bible more plain against Sacrilege, than this we have now treated of. 4. Since this Solemn Devotion of Religious Consecrations, whereby good Christians do bind themselves heart and hand, and all back again unto God, (which is the very Nature of Religion) d Religio à Religando: Lact. hath been unquestionably transmitted to us, down from Christ his days, by the Practice Apostolical and Primitive, by whole Juries of several Nations, and indeed by the general Verdict of the Church Catholic throughout all Ages, all over Christendom: and sure in such an Universal sense, Vox populi, vox Dei, one would think. 5. Since by all Municipal Laws, Civil and Statute Law, your own Common Law, it so clearly appears, that the Churches Claim is no Imaginary Title, but as Real as all these Laws can make it. Since by them the Church is lawfully possessed of all her Demesnes Praedial, as well as Personal, unmovables as well as moveables, Houses and Lands, as well as Tithes, or Rents; of Cathedral Lands, as well as Glebe Lands: which although now, and here usually, stylo novo, restrained more strictly to Lands belonging to Parochial Churches, and thence, by too nice a distinction, maliciously e Cornel. Burges chap. 1. and 4. of his Book for Sacrilege, to make way for his Usurpation of the Cathedral Lands, doth enter a Caution, That he doth not extend his Plea to Parochial Glebes, or appropriations of them; which Glebes, saith he, cannot be taken, (though by his pretended Parliament, these were also taken most unjustly) from able and faithful Ministers, by any humane Authority, without bordering at least, upon Sacrilege: Thus he determines it, without offering any the least solid proof for the Jus Divinum, or for the exemption of Parochial Glebes, from sale, which may not be retorted in the behalf of Cathedral Lands: as where he affirms (Chap. 4.) That the Glebes were given by men of Quality, and Piety, for the good of the Souls of the living, so far as the Founders of those Churches were able to judge: Why may not the same be said of Cathedral Lands? (He that reads the forms of Donations, formerly cited, will easily confute him:) And whereas, he there restrains our Ministry only to the Office (as he describes i●) of truly and faithfully preaching Christ to the people of those places where such Lands were given. This assertion is both a gross petitio principii, a begging of the Question, and also a Schismatical plot, with tke pretence of preaching, to justle out the public Prayers of the Church: as if the Solemn Office of the daily public Prayers, duly and daily celebrated in our Cathedrals (including also Parish-Churches) were not worth the naming: which Office is by all sorts of Christians, East, and West, (all but the Puritans) constantly practised, and which indeed (where, through decay of the Primitive Devotion, the daily use of the Eucharist is neglected) is the only Juge Sacrificium left to the Christians, instead of the Jews m rning and evening Lamb: (Ex. xxix. 39) The daily Sacrifice of Prayers and Praises intimated by the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, chap. xiii. 15. (and so understood by the Ancients) which daily public Office of Prayers, and Praises, as it is profitable not to one single Parish only (as the Office of Preaching) but, in a diffusive Charity, to the whole Catholic Church; and therefore for the good of the Souls of the Living: so is it not at all (as he maliciously would insinuate) exclusive of the other Holy Office of Preaching, that is, Soberly, and sound Expounding the Holy Word of God, and that also according to the Ancients (whose streams may run clearer, as they were nearer the fountain) and Applying the Divine Word to the right Information of the Christian Faith, and the wholesome Instruction of a Godly Life: which to do aright, is to Preach indeed, an Office frequently practised also in our Cathedral Churches. wrested to the exclusion of Cathedral Lands, thereby the more plausibly to expose them to sale, or purchase, without fear of Sacrilege: yet the f Gleba:) pro solo, & dote Ecclesiae. Passim in Jure Canonico. Provinciale Angliae, lib 3. Tu de Eccles. aedificand. §. 1. Ibi Lindewod. Gleba, id est, Terra in qua consistit Dos Ecclesiae. Theod. Cod. pro quovis saepè agro. Sic constit. Neap. l iii Tit. 3. servi Gleba. H. Spelman. Glossar. Learned know, that in the true notion thereof, Glebes were anciently, and generally taken for any Church Lands whatsoever: and that also all those premised Revenues of the Church, were not then stinted to the base, narrow bounds of a bare Necessity, as to the hire of a Labourer only, or as some ignorantly term it, to the Pittance of a fitting, and that also arbitrary, maintenance at the most, (those that by this word, mean only just as much as needs, and no more, would in their own case, scarce be content with a Just Retortion:) But 'tis plain to the contrary, that the Church hath by all those good Laws, been endowed even to an Ample, redundant, honourable maintenance, suitable to the eminent Condition of the Immediate Servants of the most High God; which to diminish, or to defraud, hath always been accounted, and accordingly abhorred as most heinous Sacrilege by the whole Catholic Church, for above a thousand years, (one only odd man excepted Aerias in Epiphanius, held even therefore by all for an errand Heretic.) Since all these Truths are attested by whole Troops of Witnesses out of all places, France, Scotland, Germany, etc. at all times, of all sorts, of all sides. 5. Since that of all this Ecclesiastical Estate, the Clergy is really but the Usufructuary, God himself, to whom by the express Letter of all those Laws, and of your own Law likewise, the Donations are entitled, being therefore the direct Proprietary: and God cannot be mocked. 6. Since this whole Church Patrimony in general, is fenced round about with so many (not Bruta fulmina, or bare bug-bearwords, as the Atheistical Scoffers of these latter-dayes nickname them) but with so many Divine Comminations, and most Just Curses, thundered out at first by the mouth of Gods own Moses, Ezras', Solomon's, Malachie's, under the old, and executed by his Peter's, his Apostles, under the New Testament, only in due Conformity repeated after them, * See this at large in the Codix Donationum Piarum, A. Auberto miraeo; (besides so many clear Precedents of your own, cited above, ch. vi.) in all the Solemn Religious Donations, not out of any private Interest, but out of a public respect, and devout zeal to God's Glory, etc. 7. Since this your own National Churches Patrimony in particular is, Ex abundanti, fortified with the double Rampart of so many Oaths, no private Oaths, but Royal Oaths: First in general, then in particular, for the special Defence and protection of the Clergy. (If it were possible for these violent men to persuade a Christian King to such wilful Perjury, could either King or People expect to prosper after so many Perjuries and Injuries of all sides?) 8. Since (only in general let it be observed without any further particular Application of God's Judgements) the Usurpation of this Sacred Patrimony, hath always proved thus Fatal to the greatest of men, to whole Families, to whole Nations and Empires, as indeed being wholly destructive of all Justice and Honesty, Law and Reason, and of Religion also, though masked under the Pretences of all these: Tending really to the Eradication ('tis their own truculent Metaphor, Root and Branch) of the whole Order of the Priesthood, in destroying the Fountains of it, (the Devils great Master-Plot) and consequently ending at last in the utter Change and subversion of all Government in Church and State: the very Down-fall of the whole Frame of both States Ecclesiastical and Civil: For flatter not yourselves, but mark it who will, even in this sense St. Paul's Maxim may pass for an Oracle of State, as well as of Religion, g Heb. 7.12. WHERE THE PRIESTHOOD IS ONCE CHANGED, THERE MUST ALSO OF NECESSITY FOLLOW A CHANGE OF THE LAW: The very h 'Tis that famous Macenas, (in Dion Cassius Histor. Rom. Lib. Lii.) who, bating only his Heathen style, gives unto Augustus the Emperor this excellent counsel concerning his Office: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. That is, If thou desirest indeed to become Immortal, [then] do thou thyself, at all times and in all places, Worship God, according to the Religion of thy Country, and also compel others to the same Worship: as for Innovators about it, those thou must both hate, and punish also, not only out of respect to the Gods, whom whosoever contemns, will certainly little regard any thing else, but because they that, in opposition, will introduce new Gods, will also entice, or seduce many to alter the Laws: From whence will arise Conspiracies, Meetings, and Conventicles, which are things inconsistent with Monarchy. Thou must not therefore TOLERATE any, either Atheist, or Conjurer. [Those two indeed are here well-matched together.] Thus it is plain from the Mouth, even of an Heathen, That 'tis necessary for Kings and Princes to be Religious, even for this solid Reason of State: Machiavelli himself (at least in sh●w) goes so far in his Princeps: To prescribe Religion, even in Policy, which Hypocrisy proves the Excellency and Necessity of Religion to preserve Policy. Heathen could see this great Truth afar off. 9 Since therefore such an Act were directly Introductive of a Discipline (to say the least of it) utterly unsuitable, yea Incompatible with the Altitude of this Royal Meridian, that we say not utterly contradictory to the Platform of the Holy Ghost, and to the express Truth of God in his Word, which shall be found true when of all others, these wilful Innovators shall be found Liars, who dare thus immodestly Control the general Wisdom, and constant Practice of all the Churches of Christ, Oriental, and Occidental, all over, for above fifteen hundred years. 10. Since this dangerous Mine of Sacrilege, if not countermined (which is our labour at this time) if it be once sprung up, would prove destructive not only to the Church, but à majori, to all Schools of good learning. (The fruitful Seminaries of both Church and Commonwealth) and so consequently would be Introductive of all Barbarism and Blindeness. For you cannot be ignorant, that this fatal Plot of Sacrilege did both of old, and also of late, play at all: was there not a time, ('tis but an Age since) when it came to catch, Henry VIII. who catch can? then the Vniversity-Lands were even attempted, and in danger: Had not some gallant Statesmen * Sir John Mason then Chancellor of Oxford. protected those Encouragements of Learning and Virtue, the two Master-Pillars of Church and State: For all would be Fish that came to the Net, on the turning of the tide, and Alteration of Religion. How easy was it then for Covetousness to quarrel the Colledge-Lands into Superstition? Sacrilege than stood ready to knock at their Gates, but the good Porter kept the door close. And again of late, did not the Sacrilegious Sects press sore upon the Universities, offering violence, ready to break the door. Had not as I may say, the Universities Provincial Angels † Dan. xi. 13, 21. Gen. nineteen. 9 protected them, and smitten those Sons of Belial (like the men of Sodom) who came to commit a Rape upon them, with blindness that they could not find the Door? for there wanted nothing but opportunity, and may they still want it: But this we may be sure of, there wants not, even at this day, whole Herds of brutish Schismatics, and furious fanatics, that still cry down all manner of learning, as superfluous, nay, as a base Badge of Antichrist. Do you believe those wild Beasts, if they had full power to their mad will, would count it Sacrilege to pull down the Colleges, or favour the Universities more than the Churches, which when they reigned, and raged, they (by the Spirit) turned into Stables? who knows but what hath been, may be, except God, and the King prevent it? 11. Since to compass this Audacious Project, you may observe that the Arguments they produce, are as groundless as their Pretences are false, drawn from Religion, from Policy; their Religious Pretences●, 1. Of Zeal, for Purity of Religion. 2. For a Powerful Ministry. Their Politic Pretences, 1. Of Justice upon Delinquents. 2. The Public Peace. 3. State-Necessity. 4. Legislative Power; which duly examined, have proved, as you have seen, either black Calumnies, or else false Colours, which once brought to the light of Truth, and Reason, do signify just nothing: for it, we dare appeal to mere rational men, that we say not Christians: Nay, I am verily persuaded, that some of them in their own Consciences cannot but sometimes Doubt at least, that their Distinctions and Extenuations may then want Christ's Approbation, when Christ himself shall charge them with Sacrilege and Rebellion at the day of Judgement: and then what will become of the miserable Authors? Since one day all of you, single, or Assembled, high and low, rich and poor, one with another must be Judged. not by your RAGION DI STATO, but by your RIGHT RELIGION TO GOD, TRUE ALLEGIANCE TO THE KING, AND DUTIFUL OBEDIENCE TO HOLY CHURCH TOO, UNDER GOD. 12. Since when these Projectors perceive the Impotency of their Arguments, yet still to bring about their Injurious Ends, their Practices are so violent, their Machinations so Mahometan, so bloody, (for the Devil was a Murderer from the beginning, John viij. 44. and therefore will still be doing his own work, his own way) nothing else but a Train of Multiplied Conspiracies and Rebellions against both Church and King, so lately overflowing all over three whole Christian Kingdoms, with such a Deluge of Sin, Schism, and Christian Blood, as a Turk would blush at to see or suffer to be thus wilfully spilt among his own Mahumetans: you may justly, and that also i Matth. seven. 20. infallibly know them by their fruits, by the baseness of their Course, judge of the goodness of their Cause, fortified with nothing else but a new Usurped Power, underpropt by a multiplication of Seditious and Schismatical Covenants, for Form, and Matter, Authority, and Ends, all of them in a●l these, point-blank to all the several National Covenants mentioned in Holy Scriptures. (Believe us not, but search and try it your k There are but SIX NATIONAL COVENANTS mentioned in all the whole Bible, and all of them, 1. Both given and taken by the King's Authority, never a Covenant of them all imposed without, much less against Sovereign Authority. 2. They were merely Religious Covenants, not Politic, no STATE-COVENANTS. 3. If as in Esra's Case, King Artaxerxes, expressly moved by Evil Councillors, such as Bishlam, Tabeel and his fellow●, did forbid the going on with it, or with the public Reformation, than they accordingly left of all, till God sent them another better King, till a Darius gives them leave to go on with it again; yet were those Kings, to whom the People of God shown so much Respect and Duty, but mere Heathen, nay, humanitûs loquendo, Usurpers also. But had it been, as is pretended, the Nations Duty to Reform Religion without, nay against the King's leave, than they ought to have suffered the utmost, rather than to have sinned by the Surcease of such a Necessary duty This is all clear Scripture, read it, and believe it accordingly: the several places are extant in Josh. 24.25. 2 Kings 11.4. 2 Chron. 15.12. and 29.10. and 34.30. and Ezra 10, 3. and 4.23, 24. selves:) Sealed with so many Execrable Counter Oaths, Positive, Ngative, enforced upon all men within their Line of Communication, as I may call it, (This is LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE indeed, when no man may buy or sell, except he have THE MARK OF THE BEAST, Rev. 13. 1●. one or other, in his right hand, or in his forehead.) Sure as it argues, that Building must needs be very weak, or else very rotten, that needs so many more than ordinary Props to keep it from falling: So likewise it declares plainly, that Scelus Pavidum est, it is a Malignant sign this, that they sore suspect the Honesty or Strength, in the end, of their own Cause; which makes them for very fear, use so many sinister means, to harden their miserable Complices in a brazen obstinacy, against God, against the King, against the Church, and against all those other good things that belong unto their Peace, that so, as much as in them lies, they may save the Devil himself the labour, and Cauterize the Consciences of their poor deluded Proselytes: for what is all this, if it be not to Seal men under utter Impenitency against all possible Touches of Remorse, lest any of those whom they have so inveigled, or engaged, or indeed directly compelled into their Inhuman Conjuration, perceiving (by the Event) God Almighty's sore displeasure at these hellish Confusions, and being at the last, it may be touched in Conscience with the horrors of so many National Mischiefs in Church and State, so much Christian Blood streaming of all sides of them, in all Quarters, and crying aloud for God's Vengeance upon themselves, and the whole Land, might, (as in Conscience they are bound, under pain of Damnation, notwithstanding all their Unjust Oaths, which being ill taken, are m In malis promissis réscinde fidem, in turpi voto, m●ta Decretum. Isidor. hispal● Illicitum praestare tenetur nemo▪ Herod's keeping of his Oath, and cutting off John Baptists head, was far worse than the taking it, Mark 6.26. far worse kept) give over at last their Damnable Rebellion, and so by their Repentance, never to be repent of, hazard the further Prosecution, and utterly prevent the Perfection of the Devils great Master-Plot, in some respects far beyond the horror of the Gun-Powder-Plot itself, or any Plot, new or old. 13. And yet since for all these Furious Attempts of men and Devils against this one poor Church: as if the Church of Britain were indeed, as of old it was called n BRITANNIA PRIMOGENITA ECCLESIAE. Sabellicus Ennead. 7. Lib. 5. The Eldest Daughter of the whole Catholic Church, you may see the gates of Hell cannot prevail against it, but as yet, it subsists, like Moses burning Bush, thus long preserved from utter Consumption in the very midst of all that great fire of Persecution: you may visibly perceive Gods Admirable Prevention, God's especial hand of Restraint over the late King of Glorious Memory; who, although tempted by all the Devils Methods, by all the Arts of Fraud, or Force, yet could never be so much as inclined to yield his Royal Consent, or but Countenance, or Connivance any ways, towards the Demolition of this Church: Because, as he told the Parricides, first and last, he could neither in Conscience, nor Honour, do such an Act: Therefore that Great Prince did rather choose, Christianly to die a Glorious Martyr, then ignominiously to live, a Perjured Prince, by wilfully betraying the Church's Rights, and the People's Laws, and Liberties: for that nothing but * Cornel Burges, No Sacrilege, etc. ch. 2. black malice can cast the Odium of that Rebellious War, or of the King's Death, upon the Churches Cause only, is evident both by the Kings own Protestations in his Declarations, and, † Numb. two. upon the 19 Propositions, etc. especially by that incomparable (we might say inspired) Book of his Royal Portraiture, and by the Rebel's own Proceed; all which abundantly testify, that the King died for the Liberties of the People, as well as for the Rights of the Church: To defend both which Church and People, (according to his Royal Oath at his Coronation) the King did use his Sword, as long as he could; and when he could do it no longer, that way (the Sword of God being by a Prodigious Rebellion, wrested out of his Sacred hand) he did seal it with his Blood: An act of Heroical Magnanimity, that hath no Parallel but that of the King of Kings, who came not to destroy, Luke nineteen. 10. but to save; and therefore gave his Life for his Sheep: a Precedent worthy the Admiration of all Christian Princes, John x. 15. if not of their Imitation! 14. But to return to God's Providence over this Church, what can such a miraculous Restraint of the Father, and no less Miraculous Restauration of the Son, Stupente orbe, to the Admiration, yea astonishment, of all the world (Pagan and Christian) what can all these Marvails, all these mysterious Wheels of the Divine Providence over this Church signify, but that as yet God hath, and (if our Sins and National Ingratitude do not reverse it) God will have still, I trust, a special hand of Providence, for the preservation of this Church. Considering how the destruction thereof, was so long since Plotted, so notoriously Proclaimed, so violently, yea so sanguinarily Prosecuted, and yet, that still for all that, the Divine Counsel hath from time to time put off as yet the Period of it: under God, (in whose only hand is, and aught to be, the King's Heart, as the rivers of water, Prov. xxi. 1. to turn it whithersoever he will: We are all bound to thank the King, both the Father, and the Son, for that Royal Faithfulness and Christian Constancy, that yet, in chief, upholds this persecuted Church: And, under God and the King, thank a Loyal Parliament also. We had need to pray to God, earnestly to confirm the King, that he may conserve the Church; for 'tis no less than the Kings own Conscience, the Assault of Sacrilege aims at to storm, and then to Conquer, that so the Rebels may once again, Reign without him: God in mercy to this Church, and Nation, avert still that final Judgement to the Rebel's Conversion, or Confusion. Amen. 15. In this good hope (all the Premises duly and sadly considered) let us all arm ourselves with Christian Patience, and Gallant Resolution, praying for Perseverance: and if Sinners puffed up with their late seeming advantages, and Penal prosperity, because God, in his unsearchable ways, to our Trial, but to their greater Dementation and Obduration, did of late curse them with good successes: If by the Representation of these Favours in show, should, (as 'tis too much to be feared, and therefore may wisely be presumed, they are plotting still to strike at the King himself, * Camb. Q. Eliz. through the Church's sides.) If they should entice you to join with them, p Prov. 1.10, 19 to swallow up Gods own precious substance, to fill your houses with the Church spoils, to cast in your lot among them: bearing you in hand that you shall be all made by it, you shall all have one purse with them: q Psal. 62.10. O trust not in wrong and robbery. Take the wise man's good Counsel, for all their goodly pretences of Religion or Policy, Consent you not, but rather refrain your foot from their Path, for their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood: Nay, in the upshot, you shall see, yea, themselves and all their partners shall find, it and feel it, that they do but all this while lay wait for their own blood, lurking privily for their own lives, posting away insensibly to their own destruction in the end; like Shimei, 1 Kings xi 44. digging their own Graves, (as so many of them have done lately) by their Relapses, even after a general Pardon. 16. If all this cannot move you, as it comes from us? Then to draw all towards an end, for a sad Farewel-Truth, Imagine, (what is but too true in the Moral) that you now see THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND itself, YOUR own Dear MOTHER grovelling here at your feet, all dishevelled, and discomposed (as she lately was) all over rent and torn with so many Fractions and Factions, with so many Thorns, and Briars of dangerous Sects, and scandalous Schisms, all over yet stained and gore with the mutual Blood of her own Unnatural Children, that like a brood of cursed Vipers did dilacerate their own Mother's Womb) (a most rueful Spectacle to a right Christian Spirit!) In this sad habit and posture, the late rueful Dress of your Mother-Church: Think you hear still your miserable Parent, thus feelingly bespeaking you all for a last warning: Ah my Sons, Ah the Sons of my Vows, let me now, if ever, once for all, beseech you all, by this Womb that bore you all, and brought you forth unto Christ: by those breasts that gave you suck, even by God's holy Word, and Sacraments: by those Arms that have so long enclosed you all, That Holy Doctrine, and Godly Discipline, that hath, as yet, kept you safe from the Fangs of so many Heresies and Schisms, that have overspread almost all the Churches of Christ, over all Christendom; by all these, and by more than all these, by your hope and share in all the mercies of God, in all the merits and sufferings of Christ my Dear Husband, the Saviour of your souls: Eph. iv. 3, 4, 5, 6. By all the Seven Unities of the Holy Ghost, one Body, one Spirit, one Hope of your Calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all: By the Holy, Blessed, and Glorious Trinity, three Persons and one God: Ah, my Sons, I adjure you by all these most Holy Ties, and Interests, Reverence my grey hairs: Do not by one (for ever fatal) Bargain, sell away for nothing, Isa. ix. 5. but Garments rolled in Blood, all that Sacred Truth, all that Solemn Devotion, Ancient Dignity, and Religious Decency, all that Beauty of Holiness, all that Christian Glory, which I, through so great Opposition of whole Legions of Heretics, and Schismatics, through so much Persecution by the old and new Tyrants, through so many Martyrdoms, have been laying up for your these full sixteen r That 'tis so long since Christian Religion (as it here now stands by Law Established, both for Matter of Doctrine, and for Form of Government also) was first planted here in Britain there need● no witness more authentical than old Gildas de Excidio Britanniae, who there expressly affirms that he knows it so to be true: placing the age of it Summo Tibe●ii Caesaris tempore, about the xxxv. year of Christ (as Baronius reckons it.) For Tiberius died in the 37. year of our Lord: So Eusebius Pamphili in Chronico, hundred years: Betray not now at last your Old Mother to the scorn, and spoil of Sacrilegious, and seditious men, (your own Consciences know they were at their best estate, no better then FORTUNATE REBELS,) that will lay yours, and the whole Nations, and all your Mother's Honour in the dust. Is this all your thanks to me for my Religious care, and holy cost in your gracious Education? Is this all the Respect you show to the Memory of your pious ANCESTORS? Is this all the Regard you have of the eternal welfare of your tender POSTERITY? will you now in a manner, Unchristen yourselves and them all? will you wilfully venture yourselves, and your Successors upon the sharp Swords-point of so many Ancient Execrations, Authentic Curses, not causeless, nor powerless, (as Sacrilegious Purchasers blinded with their great god, Mammon, may profanely fancy, but) Curses deserved, curses effectual also, just Imprecations, zealously denounced against all unjust Violators of the Wills and Testaments of the Religious Donors? Ah rather turn again, my Sons, and save the blazing Candlestick, that is even now upon going out, from Utter Removal; Except you will leave all your Successors after you for ever in utter darkness; Vindicate the Ancient glory of your slaunder-beaten s Tollite hoc Ingens Scandalum toti Orbi Christiano objectum: Eluite illam maculam aspersam Professioni purloris Evangelii, adversari illam arcano quodam odio Regnis & Potestalibus: V D. Deodati Genevens. Responsum ad Conventum Ecclesiasticum Londini. Religion, never till now guilty of such Doctrines of Devils: Redeem the Credit of your Justly Defamed-Nation, for the dire Parricides of a Rebellious party yet reaking with the Sacred Blood of your own King, the Holy Blood of your own Patriarch: Oh show yourselves once more Christians indeed, and Right Englishmen, like true Patriots, rescue your turmoiled Country from Ingruent Captivity, for else in the ordinary course of God's Judgements, that must be the next: To foretell which fatal, and final destiny, needs no new Spirit of Prophecy, the great Prophet, so long before pointed at by Moses t Deut. xviii. 18. hath told it you long ago, u Mat. xii. 25. Regnum divisum desolabitur, a Kingdom divided against itself (as yours is now, so many ways, both in Church and State) must needs come to Desolation: open your eyes therefore, and behold, if yet you can, the usual, and infallible prognostic of it DEMENTATION. Quos vult perdere Jupiter hos DEMENTAT. 17. If you wish to see once more, within this once so fortunate Island, Christ's Religion in its purity, the Church your Mother at Unity, the King your Father in his Beauty, the People your Brethren in their Duty; O do not you, any of you whom it may concerns. (through Impatiency, or Unbelief) do that one Act that at once may undo all these, and yourselves eternally. 18. If you be wise, u Acts 5.38, 39 Refrain from these men, for they are the men of God, lest you be found, in the end really, to fight even against God: Refrain from those means, they are the Demesnes of God: 'Tis a clear case, 'twill be no sin to let them alone; but it may be a sin, nay it must be a sin, sure enough, to meddle with them: for they are the Means hallowed to maintain his Service, and his Servants, and indeed to preserve your own souls in Christ's true Religion. But if in despite of Father and Mother, King, and Church, and God, and all, you should go on desperately, and touch either the men, or the means, know that it will prove an Achan, an accursed thing unto you, and to the whole Nation, and make you fall worse and worse before your Enemies, till you fall quite down never to rise up again according to the Curse of Moses, (Deut. xxxiii. 11.) how will you answer one day (for you must one day answer for all these) the Dead, and the Living, the Church and the State, the present and future age, God and your own Consciences? For to all your other National Sins (and those not a few, new and old, and those no Moats, or Gnats) can you add a greater sin than this, to fill up the full measure of your sins? What, will ye in earnest put God Almighty to it? will you try Masteries with your God, who shall carry it? Did ever any (Person, or Nation) contend with God, and prosper (saith Holy Job?) will you thus requite God, to take away his own, Job ix. 34. who hath hitherto so freely given you all that you can call your own? yea, who hath made you all, yea who hath with his own precious Blood bought you all, yea, as you regard, or disregard his Cause, even this Cause, the Cause of his Service and Servants, who (except such of you as are concerned, speedily prevent it, by Repentance, and Restitution also, to some Satisfaction) hath absolute Power, indeed, Eternally to destroy you all Body and Soul. 19 From such Total, Final, and Eternal Destruction that God Almighty may deliver this (so lately desolate) Church, King, and Kingdom, may we all now at last, turn our fierce Disputes, of all sides, into fervent Devotions each for other: for * Nunc nil nisi vota supersunt; Praesidiis omnibus terrestribus cessantibus, divina sunt aggredienda▪ quae nunquam incassum cessere. Haec ratio efficere posset, quod à bello Civili, utcunqueres cadat, neutiquam sperari possit, ut voluntariâ animorum flexione plenè sarciatur vulnus, & redintegretur amor. D. Deodat quo suprà. when all Humane Helps fail, this is a Divine Ordinance never misses: but may soon effect, what from Civil, or rather Rebellious War, could never be hoped for, that by a voluntary Inclination of Hearts, the National wounds may be closed up again, and that National Love and Peace, and Prosperity, which was once, as the Envy, and Terror, so the chief Glory, and Honour of this Noble Nation, may be fully recovered at last. To that happy end, let us all humbly beseech God, the God of Peace, that of his infinite mercy, he will open the eyes of the People of England, * Luke 19.42. that now, in this their day, they may yet see those things that belong to their Peace, that he will turn the Hearts of our Enemies, and keep all Ours from every evil work, especially from this evil work, this Damnable Sin of Sacrilege, from Robbing God, our own God, of his own Inheritance, that so in the end none of us all, and (if it be possible) none of all our, even deadliest, Enemies, may forfeit his part with us, in the Inheritance of God's Heavenly Kingdom, who, for us all, both Priest and People, hath purchased it by his own Precious Blood, through Jesus Christ our Lord and only Saviour, To whom therefore with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, be ascribed all Praise, Power, Majesty, and Dominion, from this time forth and for evermore. Amen. Matth. xxii .. 21. Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God, the things that are Gods. FINIS. A Table of some Principal Texts of Holy Scripture, explained, and cleared in this BOOK. BOOK. CHAP. VERSE. PAGE. GEnesis iii. 1. 40. xxviii. 22. 62. 192.— xlvii. 22.26. 50, 165. 166 Exodus nineteen. 13. 10. xxvi. xxviii. 33. Leviticus x. 3. 71. xxvii. 11. 114. 124. Numbers i. 46. 53. xiv. 9 3. xuj. 3. 29. 73. 37.38. 116. 117.— xxii. 6. 3. xxx. 5.8. 69. 95. Deuteronomy seven. 1. 69. 70. xxxiii. 11. 73. Joshua ix. 3. 69. I Samuel xv. 23. 32. TWO Samuel iii. 29. 117. (a) I Chronicles xxix. 11. 60. 61. TWO Chron. xxvi. 20.21. 17. Ezra vi. 12. 75. Psalms i. 4. 122. Li. 12. 22. Proverbs xx. 25. ●89.— Isaiah xlv. 1. 31. Zachariah v. 2.3. 115. (a) Malachy iii. 7.— 76.— Matthew v. 18.19. ●13. (a) vi. 9 67. seven. 16. 1●9. x. 40.41.42. 100 xuj. 19 ●7. xxi. 12. 18. Mark vi. 26. 227. Acts two. 5. ●. v. 1. 21. 88 3. 194. xx. 34. 5●. Romans two. 22. 6. 213. xiii. 2. 31. I Corinth. ix. 13.14. 52. TWO Corinth. iv. 3. 190. Galatians vi. 6. 52, 54. 200. I Thess. v. 3. 152. Hebrews xii. 16. 18. An Alphabetical Table of the Principal Matters contained in this BOOK. A. UTter Abolition of the chief Offices and Revenues of the Church declared at Uxbridge. page 127 Acceptance of Offerings under the Gospel, proved. page 79, 91, 94, 95, 104, 105 Adultery a very heinous sin, page 7, 19 Amelioration by way of Addition, not utter Alienation. page 78, 124 Bishop Andrew's Censure of Sacrilege. page 199 Anania's and Saphira's Sacrilege. page 88 Appropriations and Impropriations, Popish Inventions. page 24, 191 Apostolical prerogatives. page 97 B. To departed before the Ministerial Blessing great profaneness. page 76 Times of Blindeness do not frustrate Donations. page 48, 120 Cornel. Burges foul and false plea for Sacrilege, confuted. page 174 C. Calvin against Sacrilege, page 207 Capitular of Charles the Great. page 121 (b) Cathedral Lands possessed by as good right and title, as Parochial Glebes. page 218 Cathedraticum, what page 55 We must plead the public Cause what ever men say or do. page 150, ●05 Ceremonies sacred page 34 Change of Government very dangerous. page 125, 221 The Character of Cowardice. page 153 K. Charles the I. his abhorrency of Sacrilege▪ page 141 — A Martyr for the people as well as for the Church page 228 Charles Martel's doom for Sacrilege. page 23 The Charter of the Church of Carlisle. page 45 Christians are persons Sacred. page 29 The Church is always a Minor. page 136 Four Pillars of the Church. page 101, 102 The Church of Britain Christian above 16●. years. page 232 — Her late deplorable case. page 231 Church Authority a main Pillar and preservative of Truth, and Peace, and Order▪ page ●8 God's Providence over the Church of England. page 227, 228 — Herper's s●●ted speech to all her Children. page 230 Churchrites are to be vindicated. page 112 The Custom of the Church to be observed. page 102, 103 The Clergy is one of the highest States of the Realm by Act of Parliament. page 170 — Privileged by all Laws. page 45, 49, 50 — Freed from Taxes for Bridges. page 48 — Their Maintenance magnificent. page 50-57 — Phil●'s excellent passage about it. page 57 — Their decay the ruin of Religion. page 77 — Their deprivation a damnable injury. page 109, 136, 184 Exemption of the Clergy from the Civil Magistrate confuted. page ●39 clergymen's Hospitality page ●35 The Loyalty of the Clergy of England. page 140, 141 Comfort to the Clergy, when persecuted. page 15● Collusions in Donations confuted. page 1●1 Commutation of one sin for another no Conversion▪ page ●7 The obtruded Covenant contrary to the 〈◊〉 National Covenants in holy Scripture. page 225 Curses inserted in Donations. page 68, 75. 114 (b) 122, 220 Waranted under the Gospel. page 99 — Neither Causeless. page 71 — Nor Powerless. page 7●, 98 — Personal. page 114 (a) 116 (a) Domestical. page 115, 117, 1●8 (a) — National. page 4, 8●, 119 (a) D. Dedications what page 64, 94 — Their continuance under the Gospel. ibid. St. Iren●eus clear for it. page 91 Trial of Delinquents, what legal. page 135 Devotion what. page 16 New Discipline inconsistent with this Monarchy. page ●22 Humane Dispensations ●ull about Sacrilege. page 115 (b) Deprecation of final Destruction. page 235 The f●rm 1 of Donations. page 120, 12● Do●ations of Churches. page 55 E. Egyptians regard of their Priests. page 50, 165 Enemies to Juda and Levi, deeply cursed. page 73, 234 Equity for the Clergy under the Gospel greater than under the Law. page 52 Excommunication still of force, visibly, or invisibly. page 100, 101 F. A general Fas● for National Sacrilege enjoined by the whole Assembly at St. Andrews in Scotland. page 211 Furtum what. page 111 G. John of Gaunt's malice against Bishops. page 146, 147 The Fraud of the Gi●eonites. page 69, 133 The general and ancient notion of Glebes. page 217 Gods special Demesnes Tithes, and Offerings, page 61 God is the great Proprietary of all Church Revenues. page ●8, 137 H. Relative Holiness. page 65, 67 Real Homage due to God as well as personal. page 58 John Huss wrested against the Temporalti●● of Prelates examined, and answered. page 139 I. Idolatry a most heinous sin, page ●6, ●7, ●● The Jews daily offerring the Lamb morning and evening, not neglected in the straitness of their Siege page 164 Gods Judgements parallel to men's sins. page ●●6 K. King's Persons are sa●●ed. page ●●, 31 The Kings manifold Obligations to preserve and protect the Clergy: 1. As the King is a moral Man. page 1●8 2. As he is the Supreme Magistrate. page ●69 3. As he is a Christian. page 169 4. By his particular Oath, thrice for the Clergy. page 170 Knox against Sacrilege. page ●10 L. Church-Lands belong to the Clergy, by as good right as any. page 46, 107 — Lands have been both lawfully purchased, and piously given by Churchmen for perpetuity to the Church. page 107, 109 Right Reason is the soul of the Law. page 182 Penance in Leut. page 1 The analogy of the Levitical Priesthood, with the Evangelical Ministry, for the Substance, in respect of the sacred Offices. page 52, 64 Luther's full Testimony against Sacrilege. page 202 Legislative power discussed and determined. page 177, etc. M. Magna Charta a fundamental Law for the Rights of the Church. page 46 The sacrilegious Malefactor. page 6 Malignancy a new found Crime. page 135 Manus Mortua, why so called. page 114 (b) Israel's ten Mutinies. page 75 Ministers of God not the People's Servants. page 190 N. Necessity of State no plea at all for Sacrilege. page 160 — The Determination of K▪ Charles the First, upon the Case. page 161 Gods Nethinims inviolable. page 133 O. Unlawful Oaths ill taken, worse kept. 227 Obduration in Rebellion a shrewd omen of fatal destruction. page 157 Offerings asserted by the law of Nature. page 63 King David's offerings, voluntary, yet no will-worship. page 61 Voluntary oblations accepted under the Gospel. page 91 P. The Parliament 25. Edw. 1. disclaims the Power of disposing the Estates of the Clergy. page 185 The Long Parliament of 1640. annulled by the Lo●al Parliament of page 166●. ●77 Plato's Testimony against Sacrilege. page 128 Popery what properly. page 26 Prescription no plea against God or the Church. page 80, 81 Two Religious pretences for Sacrilege, namely, Zeal, 1. Against Idolatry. page 116 2. Against an idle Ministry: page 123 For a powerful Ministry. page 129 Four politic Pretences. page 1●0 1. Of Justice upon Delinquents. page 131, 135 2. Of public peace. page 148 — Eight ways besides, opened to an honest Peace, without Sacrilege page 155 3. A third pretence of a State-Necessity to rob the Church. page 158 The determination of King Charles the I. upon this Case. 161 4. The fourth pretence of a Legislative Power. page 177, to 187 Poor true, and poor false. page 35, Prelates vindicated from Sacrilege▪ page 35 The Priests person is sacred page 32 The dissolution of Prior's aliens. page 119 (b) Public daily Prayers, now the Christians Juge Sacrificium or continual Sacrifice. page 218 Preaching, what. ibid. R. Reason of State no Rule of Faith, or Life. page 131, 224 Rebellion of all sins guilty of self-damnation. page 31 Rebellion and Sacrilege inseparable twins. page 22, 25, 26, 174 The Rebels penal prosperity. 229 The Recapitulation of the whole Book. page 112 Religion, what. page 217 National Restitution the only National Remedy. page 83 — The Nation's obligation to it. page 84 Gods Benediction upon Restitution. page 85 Gods malediction for want of Restitution. page 86 Memorable examples of Restitution to the Church. page 209 Sacrilege about the Revenues of the Church, what, and what not. page 35 Outward Reverence no superstition. page 34, 67 — The ground of it excellent. ibid. The Right of the Church is the Right of God. page 137 S. Sacrilege is a sin under the Gospel, as much, nay more, then under the Law. page 213 — Proved so by way of Syllogism. page 212 — The description of it. page 12, 131 A complication of sins. page 21, 85 — Condemned by all Laws. page 195 — The Etymology of Sacrilege. page 13 — The heinous Nature thereof. page 18, 19 — The kinds of it. page 27, 111 — The plague of Nations. page 3, 4 — Three roots of it. page 11 Sacrilege excepted out of the Act of Indemnity. page 176 Sacrilege is a great Snare, and how. page 188 jacob's multiplied Snares till he performed his Vow. page 193 — Plagued with sudden Death. page 99 Scripture-Sacriledge, what. page 40, 41 — 3. Ways thereof, and 3. Antidotes against it. page 42 Sin, when National. page 82 Stipendiaries usually popular. page 56 T. Dissolution of the Templars, and the excellent Statute about it. page 118, 119 Temporalties of Prelates asserted, and vindicated. page 13● — Wickliffe's positions about the same examined, and answered. page 144 Heretics Recusers of the Old Testament. page 87 Testaments not to be disannulled. page 66 Testimonies against Sacrilege. page 198 Theft may be of things unmoveable. page 111, 112 Tithes a moral Debt. page 62 Turk's Respect to Christian Priests. page 49 V. Who are now, under the Gospel, God's Vice-gerents to accept our Offerings. page 97, 103 The nature, and lawfulness of Vows under the Gospel. page 63, 94 Vows of two sorts. page 114 — All to be paid. page 192 Uniformity of Divine Service most necessary. page 126 The Universities in danger by Sacrilege. page 222 Usufructuary, what. page 44 W. Wickliffe's Articles wrested against our Prelates, examined, and answered. page 137 — His History. page 143 The will of the Dead inviolable. page 66, 134 FINIS.