IT is affirmed by them that haue best laboured, and euen spent their spirites to discouer the profound mysteries of the holy scriptures, that the text con­textus, the webbe of it, is so cunningly and so skilfully wouen by the holy spi­rit of God, that it is, omnibus accessibi­lis, but paucissimis penetrabilis; Aug. Epist. 5. that is to be handled & felt of any man, but few eies can pierce to the ground-worke of it. Which truth wrought this confession in Chrysologus an ancient learned and deuout Writer, so called for the golden sentences which proceeded from him, that Singu­la scripturae verba, si libris singulis mandarentur, &c. Serm. 64. which is, If there were a booke written, a particular booke of euery particular word almost, in the holy Scriptures; yet the miste­ris of them could not by that meanes bee sufficiently disco­uered to vs.

[Page 2]Wherefore (right Honourable, &c.) it is not to bee ex­pected at my handes, that in this short time, limited to the measure of my strength and your patience, I should deliuer vnto you whatsoeuer is noteable or noted alreadie by so ma­ny reuerend and learned Fathers (old and new) of the litte­rall, historicall, morall, or allegoricall sense of this scripture; nor to make application according to the variety and abun­dance of sense, which the spirit of God hath imparted to you, most reuerend Fathers and learned Diuines: for I doe not presume to speake that quod potissimum dicendum esset; which is indeed most fitte to bee spoken; seeing it is a great mat­ter, and aboue the common and ordinary reach, nihil dicere quod dicendum non est: Hug in Eccle­siast. Hom. 1. to say nothing which were not better vnsaid, than spoken.

Wherfore as Saint Luke diuided his first Sermon, [...] Act. 1. his Ghospell, which comprehended the whole life of our Sauiour Christ, into two partes, into those things, quae coepit Iesus Facere, Act. 1. & Docere; which hee did, and which hee taught, into his Dooings, and into his Sayings: so doo I diuide this Text, in Factum, & Dictum; into a Deed of his, and into a Speech of his; into an Action of his, and the Rea­son of it. The Action in these wordes, And Iesus went into the Temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the Temple, &c. The Reason; And said vnto them it is written, &c.

The Action.The Action was a reformation of certaine abuses or prophanations of the Temple of God: In which I obserue these circumstances. First the Author, vvho; secondly the Time, vvhen; thirdly the Place, vvhere; fourthly the Matter, vvhat; and fiftly the Manner, how this reformation was per­formed.

1. The author.For the first, the Author of this reformation is our Sa­uiour Christ Iesus, who performed it not as a man onely, or the true sonne of the blessed Virgin Mary, or the suppo­sed sonne of Ioseph, not as hee was factus sub lege, Galath. 4. made vnder the law; nor to suffer in the flesh; 1. Pet. 4. nor to bee crucified concerning his infirmitie 2. Cor. 13. but as the [Page 3] onely begotten of God, the chiefe Priest, and the King of Kinges, whose dominion is from sea to sea, and from the riuer to the endes of the land. Psal. 72. whose office and authority, that is his Kingdome and Priesthood was prefigured by the two crownes, the siluer and the golden crowne, which were hung vp in the Temple. Zach. 6.

Now in this Author of this reformation, Two thinges required in a reformer. I obserue for this present, two things, which are required in al good reformers. One is his authority, that hee is a King and a Priest: the other his conditions and qualities, that hee is without fault him-selfe that reformeth other. Without the first, that is au­thority, there can bee no reformation; without the second, hardly any good reformation.

That it was performed by our Sauiour who was King and 1 Priest, it argueth how conuenient the counsell and know­ledge of the Priest is, for the ciuill magistrate in reforming the Temple: for as the Priest may attempt nothing, no al­teration without the prince (and therefore Saint Paul when hee came to Athens, though hee saw Idols and Altars, Act. 27. and one ignoto Deo, to the vnkowne GOD yet hee offered no violence, but preached vnto them the GOD which they knew not; and though hee saw Idols and Idolatry in the Temple of Diana, yet hee offered no violence; Acts. 19. but preach­ed only, they were not Gods that were made with handes; and pulled not downe the signe of Castor and Pollux in the shippe of Alexandria that carryed him to Rome: Acts. 28.) so it is conuenient that the Princes and ciuill Magistrates in their reformations of the Church and Religion take counsaile and aduise of the Priestes and the Prophets: and therefore King Dauid when he would haue built the Temple, 2. Sam. 7. hee sent for the Prophet Nathan, and tooke counsaile of him. 4. Reg. 12. And Ioas did nothing amisse in the presence of God, so long as he was informed by Iehoiada the Priest. And Ezechias did the thing that pleased the Lord, and remained stedfastly in the waies of Dauid his father, Eccles. 48. while Esay the great Pro­phet, and faithfull in his vision, commanded him. And God stirred vp the spirit of Zorobabel, the Prince of Iudah, Agg. 2. [Page 6] and the spirit of Iehosua the high Priest, that they ioyntly to­gether might restore the building of the Temple; all which argue, that the wisdome and knowledge of the Priest is to be ioyned with the authoritie of the Prince in establishing or reforming the Church of God.

2. Heb, 7. 1 [...]et, 2. 2 Cor, 5. 1 Ioh, 3. 8. Iohn.Secondly, that it was performed by our Sauiour Christ, who was holy, harmelesse & vndefiled; who did noe sin, as Saint Peter saith, who knew no sinne, as Saint Paul saith; who hadde no sinne in him, as Saint Iohn saith; and therefore might safely say, which of you can rebuke me of sinne? It argueth that they which are reformers of Churches, yea and of Common­wealths, should be holy, harmelesse, vndefiled, and vncorrupt, as much as may bee, least vnder the colour of reformation they bring in a deformation, and where they bee chosen to bee Rephaims, Deut, 2. that is, Phisitions or reformers of vices, they become Zanzumins corrupters, wicked and abhominable. For although ex malis moribus bonae leges causaliter, Euill manners are the occasion of making good lawes: Yet wicked men are seldome the authors of good lawes: but Valerius Flaccus turpissimus author erit turpissimae legis. Va­lerius Flaccus, Vell. Patere. a wicked and corrupt man, will bee the author (as farre forth as hee may) of a wicked and corrupt law: or if not of a wicked law, yet of a cunning law, with a faire glosse and pretence of the common wealth, when hee is indeede intentus sibi, Pachimer. attentiue onely to his owne profite and priuate gaine; with a faire glosse and pretence of the safety of the state, when hee seeketh to satisfie his owne malice, or effect some reuenge; as the Priestes and Pharisies made a law to put our Sauiour Christ to death, leaste the Romains shoulde come, Ioh, 11. and take away both their place and their nation; with a faire glosse and pretence to maintaine the priuiledges of the people, or the authority of the Senate, as amongst the Romaines, Sal. in Cat. when pro sua quisque potentia certabat, euery man endeuoured to aduance and increase his owne honour with a faire glosse and pretence to relieue the poore, when; ex ipso remedio morbi nascuntur, pouerty is increased in some other estate. Plin. l. 2. op. 20. These and a number the like, are the is­sues [Page 7] and effects, when wicked and corrupt men do aspire to the place and authority emendandi, id est, disperdendi, as Pliny saith, of reforming that is deforming a state: whereas if they bee holy, and iust, and incorrupt, as our Sauiour Christ was, I say not in essence, but in imitation: Scuerissimar [...]i sed iustissima­rum legum author. nay but as iust as Lycurgus the heathen was, who was the maker of most seuere, but most iust lawes, the reformation would bee iust though somewhat seuere, as was this reformation of our Sauiour Christ.

For the Time if we consider it, in respect of our Sauiour Christ, as in what time of his life it was done, 2. Circum­stance. The Time. 4. Reg. 12. 4. Reg. 23. as wee consi­der and obserue in what yeare of a Princes reigne he begin­neth his reformation; as it is said, in the 23. yeare of Ioas reigne hee repaired the Temple; and Iosias in his 18. yeare reformed religion: may it please you to vnderstand that it was done towards the end of his life, when hee was euen now going to his passion. And least you should gather hereby, that the reformation of religion, or of the Church, or abuses thereof, should bee the last thing which a good Prince or Magistrate should regarde, when Aristotle could say; that with euerie good Magistrate, in euery good Com­mon wealth, [...] the first and the chiefest thing is, the regard of establishing or reforming of religion, Polit. l. 7 cap. 8 and the Church of God: you shall vnderstand, that with the like action he began his office, as it appeareth in Saint Iohns Gospell, where also with a whip of little cordes, presently after his first miracle, at his first comming to the Temple, Iohn. 2. hee cast out the sheepe, and the oxen, and the sellers of them: So that if Omnis Christi actio be nostra instructio, euery acti­on of our Sauiour Christ bee a lesson for vs, wee may learne by this that it is not onely the last office, which a good Prince or Magistrate should put in practise, to reforme the abuses in the Church of God, but the first also; and not onely the first, but also the last, the Alpha and Omega, and not the first and the last, but his continuall endeuour. And therefore where all ancient Writers agree that this was put in practise twice by our Sauiour; some learned men of [Page 6] later time say, Aret. super. 21. Matth. Ter hoc fecit Christus, Christ did it thrice. First in the beginning of his preaching; Iohn 2. Secondly, in die palmarum, that is in this place; and thirdly when hee returned out of Bethania, Mark. 11. and cursed the Fig-tree. So that if it bee demanded what is the first dutie or vertue of a Ma­gistrate; wee may answere out of this example; to re­forme the abuses and prophanations in the Church of God? And if wee demaund what the second dutie or ver­tue of a Magistrate is? wee may answer out of this place; to reforme the abuses and prophanation of the Church of God? and if we demaund what is the third dutie or vertue of a Magistrate; wee may answere; To reforme, &c? Not that the Common-wealth or ciuill affaires should be neg­lected but because if the subiects doe, 1. Pet 2. Deum timere, Feare God, that will follow naturally which lyeth orderly in the text, they will Regem honorificare, Honour their King: if they feare God, Xenoph. in Cyropaep. 8. they will honor their King: and as Cyrus could say very well, if all the subiects were [...], true ser­uants of God, they would giue the King his honor.

If wee consider the time in respect of the season of the yeare, or according to the diuision of dayes, which the wise man maketh, where some dayes are sayd to bee chosen and sanctified, Eccles. 33. as the holy-dayes and solemne feasts; and some to be numbred onely, as the first or second of such a month: both this reformation and the former Iohn. 2. was, in festo Paschatis, when hee came to Ierusalem to celebrate the feast of the Passeouer. Deut. 16. For at three feasts in the yeare, all the males were bound by the lawe to appeare before God in Ierusalem, in the feasts of Easter, Pentecost, and the Taber­nacles. Lyra super. 2. cap. Iohn. And although as Lyra noteth in two feasts of Pen­tecost and the Tabernacles, those that dwelt farre off were sometimes dispensed with; yet there was no dispensation for the feast of Easter. Now our Sauiour Christ vntill his Passion did obserue the lawe duly, and consequently at these feasts did ascend to Ierusalem.

Now it is probable that to the imitation of this, it was prouided in former and ancient times of Christianitie, as [Page 7] appeareth in Concilio Agathensi Can. 18. Concil. Agathē. sub. Xisto. 3. circa. anū. 440. That all Chri­stians of lawfull age should ioyntly together at their parish Churches receiue the Sacrament of the Lords supper, at three speciall feasts in the yeare, at the feast of the Natiui­tie, Easter, and Pentecost: and although a dispensation were admitted sometimes at two of these feasts, yet at Easter (no remedie) all should receiue. Which kinde of imitati­on of some ceremonies of the old law, obserued by anti­quity, I cannot condemne: For although old thinges are pas­sed away, yet behold new thinges are come in their place. 2. Cor. 5. And although all things are not to be made and ordered, as Moyses was commaunded to make the Tabernacle, Heb. 8. [...], according to the example or patterne that was shew­ed him in the mount; that is according to the example of the old law: (for we refuse the carnall obseruations of the law, and such types and figures as represent our Sauiours comming in the flesh, or those benefits and blessings which were proper and peculiar vnto the Iewes) yet as the Iewes had a King, though their kingdome be now abolished; so we haue a new King, Vbi est qui natus est rex Iudaeorum? Math. 2. a King which is borne both to Iewes and Gentiles. And as they haue an old Testament, so wee haue a new Testament: 2. Cor. 3. and as they had the spirit, so we haue a new Spirit; I will giue vnto you a new heart and a new Spirit: Ezech. 36. and as they had Commaundements, so wee haue a new Commaundement; A new Commaundement Giue I vnto you: Iohn. 13. and as they had an inheritance promised them, the land of Canaan; so wee haue a new inheritance promised vs; Apoc. 21. I saw a new hea­uen and a new earth: and as they had their Temple, so we haue our Churches: and as they had their Sacraments, so we haue our Sacraments: and as they had their Sabboth, so wee haue our Sunday: And as they had their Feastes, so wee haue our Feastes and new Holydaies, to put vs in minde of those blessings we haue receiued of the bounty of God: one feast to remember his Natiuity, another to put vs in minde of his Passion, another of his Resurrection, an­other of his Ascention, another of other spirituall bles­singes, [Page 8] either performed to vs by our Sauiour Christ or his blessed Apostles.

And no doubt if some ceremonies were necessary to bee obserued among Gods people to retaine the memory of blessinges receiued, and maintaine the hope and expecta­tion of the Messias to come, seeing wee that are Christians are as vnthankfull and forgetfull of the manifold blessings of God as they were, & it is as hard a matter & as miracu­lous to vs, to beleeue that which is past 1600. yeres since, as for thē to beleeue that which was to come, seeing neither they, nor wee, are eye-witnesses of it, but giue credit to other; they to their Prophets whom in things to come they firmely beleeued; we to our Euangelists & Apostles whome we cannot deny, or suspect in things that are past; wee haue as good vse of our rites and ceremonies as they had of theirs. I giue this breefe note the rather because as S. Basil complained of his time, Basil. ep 70. it is reckoned a great fault and euen superstition amongst vs. Si quis paternas traditiones di­ligenter obseruet, if a man obserue dilligently the rites and ceremonies commānded by the Church and receiued from all antiquity.

And yet heere wee finde that our Sauiour Christ according to the ancient custome of the Iewes goeth vp yearely to Ierusalem to celebrate the Passeouer, and satisfie the lawe and the ceremonies of the lawe, that rea­ched not to him: and suffered him-selfe to bee circumci­sed, which needed not euen by the reason of the lawe, be­cause he was intacta matre natus; and his mother fulfilled the ceremony of purification, which was not necessary, be­cause she was not comprehended vnder the lawe, for non suscepto semine conceperat; shee conceiued not as other wo­men did, Luke, 1. but was ouershadowed by the holy Ghost: and he was subiect to his parents, which was not subiectio necessi­tatis, Lyra. but pietatis, not matter of necessity, but rather exam­ple of piety and obedience: and here we find him not onely obseruing the sabboth, but other sollemne feasts, to teach vs, Super. Ioh. 2. saith Marlorat, to come to Church on holidaies, as well [Page 9] as on Sundaies. A great negligence or rather contempt by little and little crept in amongst vs, I meane not them that are irreligious, and little regard any seruice of GOD, but euen of such who haue euen in their mouthes, though not templum Domini the temple of the Lord (for they re­gard not the place,) yet [...]abbatum Domini, the Lords Sab­both; but thinke no day holy, or lawfull to be deuoted to the seruice of God, but the seauenth day onely.

But as the Iewes beeing too much affected to the letter of the law, or misled by the Pharisies the interpreters of it, thought the fift Commaundement to be violated onely by murther and slaughter of a man, and the 6, cōmaundement broken onely by actuall adultery; but our Sauiour playing the interpreter, telleth them, Verely, verely I say vnto you, that hee that is vnaduisedly angry doth murther, and hee that looketh after a woman to lust after her doth commit adultery, Math. 5. though there be difference in the sins: so we say vnto you who thinke the violating of the seauenth day, to bee onely against the fourth commandement, we say that the breach and prophanation not only of the greater sollemnities, viz. Christmas, Easter, Whitsontide, &c. are the breach of the Sabboth, but also the prophanation of the smaller feastes, which are appointed for the seruice of God, and the me­mory of those blessings we haue receiued by the meanes of his seruants, is the breach of the Sabboth. And therefore in the holy Scriptures we finde, not only the seauenth day called the Sabboth, but al other feasts & holy daies, either appointed by God, or the lawfull Magistrate, as in the 23. of Leuit. where the first day of the seuenth moneth, Leuit. 13. and ma­ny other feasts are called the Sabboth: And least you shoulde thinke that these feastes had the name onely of a Sabboth, and not the sollemnization; you may reade that Hester & Mardocheus in remembrance of the deliuerance of the Iewes, proclaimed a feast or holydaie to be obserued yearely, and added this law, Nulli liceat hos duos dies abs (que) solemnitate transigere: that it should be lawfull for no man to passe ouer those daies, but in great sollemnity; and the [Page 10] new feast instituted by Iudas Machabaeus, Eneauia. Ioh. 10. our Sauiour ob­serued, as wee read in the Gospell; and walked not in the streetes, but came In porticum Solomonis, into the house of God, into that place where in all probability, hee did vse to teach, when it is said he came into the Temple: and thus far by occasion of the second circumstance.

The third cir­cumstance. Chrysost in ope­re imperfecto.The third circumstance is the place where he began this reformation; and that was in the Temple of God, and Iesus went into the Temple of GOD. S. Chrisosotome, in opere im­perfecto, or the author whosoeuer, noteth it to bee the pro­perty of a good sonne, first to visit his fathers house when hee commeth to towne, and performe that duety and ho­nour which is due vnto him: And here wee see, our Saui­our Christ when he commeth to Ierusalem, first to visit his fathers house Templum Dei, the Temple of God, though now for the abuse thereof it might bee called Templum Iu­daeorum, the Temple of the Iewes, as Saint Iohn calleth the feast of the Passouer, Ioh 2. Pascha Iudaeorum, not Pascha Dei, be­cause the Iewes abused it by their inuentions, as Saint Ori­gen noteth vpon that place; Origen. Ibid. but considering the first institu­tion, he calleth it the Temple of God, though by abuse it was become a den of theeues. And wherein should a good sonne rather busie himselfe, than in reforming the abuses of his fa­thers house, the gouernment whereof is committed to him, as our Sauiour tolde Ioseph and his blessed mother; Luke, 2. must I not goe about my fathers businesse?

Now although the people were called the people of GOD; and the Cittie, the Cittie of God, as wee read euery where in the Psalmes and Prophets, though as it is in the prophesie of Esay, Esay, 1. The faithfull Cittie was become an harlot, and had neither Iudgement, nor Iustice in it, and the people of God become, a sinful nation, and a people laden with iniquity; yet he beginneth not his reformation there, but in the tem­ple of God.

Giuing this as a lesson by his example to all Princes, and Magistrates to whome it may appertaine, that as a Phisiti­on when hee comes vnto a sicke man, first demaundeth the [Page 11] state of his stomacke, and laboureth especially to order it, (because if the stomacke bee sounde, the body is strong, if the stomacke be sicke, the whole body is weakned;) so the Magistrate when hee findeth the bodie of the com­mon wealth diseased, or distempered, let him first inquyre after the stomacke how that is affected, that is, what is amisse in Church and Church-men; for from thence as from the roote, or from the heart, or from the fountaine, or from the stomacke, proceedeth the health, or the disea­ses, the sinnes or the vertues, of the Prince and the people: Chrisost. in ope­re imperfecto. as S. Chrysostome obserueth, De templo omne bonum egredi­tur, de templo omne malum procedit, From the Temple com­meth all good, and from the Temple proceedeth all euill: For the vertues of the Priest are like the oyntment, which being powred vpon Aarons head runneth downe to his beard and so along to the border and skirts of his garment, that is, first affect the Magistrate, & them that are seated in higher places, and so by degrees the meanest people: and the sinne of the Clergie is like a rheume, which ascendeth out of the stomacke into the head, and from thence spreadeth it selfe, into all parts of the body: according to that of Leuiticus, Si sacerdos qui vnctus est peccauerit, faciet delinquere populū, Leuit. 4. If the Priest which is the annointed of the Lord, shall hap to sin, he shal cause the people to sin also. So that if the peo­ple be good and vertuous, the Priest may say as Saint Paul said to the Corinth. Nonne opus meum vos estis in Domino? 1. Cor. 9. are not you my workemanship in the Lord? If the people be ill, they may say to the Priest, Hug. Card. Nonne destructio nostra vos es­tis? are not you our destruction? yea, no question, you are our destruction. Wherefore though many other thinges were amisse amongst the people of the Iewes, yet because they proceeded from the disorder of the Temple, as the ef­fect from the cause, according to the counsaile of God by the prohet Ezechiell, à sanctuario meo incipite, Ezech. 9. Begin at my sanctuary; and the rule which his Apostle Saint Peter lear­ned of him, that iudgement must begin at the house of God, 1. Pet. 4. he beginneth his reformation at the Temple of God.

[Page 12] The fourth circumstance.But let vs consider the fourth circumstance what it was that he reformed there: Hee cast out all those that sold, and bought in the Temple, and ouerthrew the tables of money-changers, and the seates of them that sold doues. Now be­cause these abuses, buying and selling, of sheepe, and ox­en, and doues, and money-changers, and that in the Tem­ple of God, may seeme somewhat strange vnto you, may it please you to vnderstand, that according to the comman­dement of God, all sorts of people from all the regions of Iurie, came vp to this most royall and ample Temple, espe­cially on festiuall daies, to offer sacrifice vnto the Lord. The richer sort offered oxen, goates, sheepe, &c. the poo­rer sort, pigeons, and turtle doues, &c. But it hapned of­tentimes, that they which came far off, brought no sacrifi­ces with them; wherefore the Priests to make a prey of the people, as Saint Ierome noteth, sold them-selues, or caused to be sold by others, sheepe, and oxen, and doues, & what­soeuer was necessary for the sacrifice: and for this mer­chandizing in the Temple, had their pretence out of the letter of the law; Deut. 14. where they that dwelt farre off, were com­maunded to sell their offerings at home, and with that mo­ney buy oxen and sheepe, &c. when they came to Ierusa­lem. Now the Priests seemed to prouide for this law, that none that came farre off might want sacrifices; but indeed vnder pretence of that, studied their owne prophane profit and gaine.

Now because it happened that some came thither that were so poore, that they had no mony to buy thē offerings, they placed there money-changers, who vppon securitie would lend them the mony: but because vsury was forbid­den by the law, & yet they would make some gaine of their money they were contented to take smaller trifles, which would yeeld them money, as raysons and apples, and such kinde of stuffe, as they call [...], thinking by this meanes to auoid the law; whereas the Prophet Ezechiel saith vsu­ra a & superabundantiam non accipietis; Ezech. 22. you shall not take either vsury or increase.

[Page 13]Others that are learned are of opinion, that these mo­ney-changers, these [...] as they be called in the text, were placed there to change their monies that came to that place to buy their sacrifices, as to change greater money for smaller, or good for siluer; or forraine money for currant money; and were called [...] of [...], which signified an halfepenny, which was giuen for the change, which may be gathered to be more probable, because Saint Iohn calleth them [...] of [...], Ioh. 2. which signifieth small money, and serueth for change; so that it shoulde seeme these money-changers, were such as Caietane noteth to bee in Rome for such purposes, in gradibus Diui Petri, vppon S. Peters staires.

Moreouer may it please you also to vnderstand for your better instruction in this story, and that you may perceiue what these abuses were, that the name of the Temple is sometimes taken properly and strictly pro domo templi, for the body of the temple, which was diuided into two parts, as our churches are, one was called Sanctum, the holy place, where there was the Altar of incense, the Table, and the Candelsticke; and the other was Sanctum sanctorum, the holy of holyest, where was the Arke of the Testament, and the two Cherubins: into that part that was called San­ctum, the Priests onely entred to offer incense, and none o­ther; into the Sanctum sanctorum the high Priest entred on­ly, and that but once a yeare.

Sometimes the Temple is taken more largely, and sig­nifieth a certaine quadrangle compassed in with a wall, be­fore the Temple; and it was called Atrium Sacerdotum, the Priestes Court, where there was an altar for burnt offe­rings; and into this not onely the Priests did enter, but the Leuites also, who did helpe them to flea and wash the sa­crifices: now at the gate of this Court the common peo­ple stood, and offered their sacrifices to the Priestes. In­to none of these places came our Sauiour; not into the Sanctum sanctorum, because he was not high Priest; not in­to the Sanctum, because he was no Priest; not into the [Page 14] Priests Court, because he was neither Priest nor Leuite.

But beside these, there were two other places to pray in, sub diuo, abroad in the aire; in one the men praid, in the o­ther the women praid: and these Atria or Courts were called by the name of the Temple; as in the Actes it is said, that Peter and Iohn went into the Temple about the ninth hower to pray. Act. 3. And this is the place which is noted heere by the name of the Temple, Lyra super. 21. Matt. and to be thus grossely abused by the meanes of the Priests. Now our Sauiour, to shew his zeale to his Fathers house, and his authority togither with his power, as also to informe vs, that no temporall or base gaine ought to be exercised in Gods house, but to bee reckoned foule and vnhonest, whatsoeuer faire pretence it may carry with it: finally, to shew that nothing was fitte for that place, but holynes and prayers and deuotion he cast out the buyers and sellers, and the money-changers, and the seates of them that sold doues, out of the Temple.

Now out of this fourth circumstance among many things worthy the obseruation, they that haue to doo with the reformation of the Church or Common-wealth, may learn not to take away the vse of good things, because they be abused, but to remoue the abuse, and restore the thing to his proper nature and first institution: For our Sauiour fin­ding these grosse abuses in the Temple, doth not offer to pul downe the Temple, or perswade the Magistrates to turne it to prophane vses, or to build them goodly pallaces or courts of the ruines of it; Erasm. to conuert the vessels of gold and siluer to their owne pleasures, as Baltasar did; or to the maintenance of their lawfull warres, or vnlawfull delights: but he taketh away the abuses of it, he driueth out the buyers, and the sel­lers, and the money-changers; and that which was appoin­ted for a house of prayer and seruice of God, hee restoreth a­gaine to the first institution.

For seeing all the estates of the world, the estate of Prin­ces, the estate of Priestes, and the estate of the Nobility, yea and the estate of the people, where they haue any estate, à paruis initijs ad maiora proficiunt, doe by degrees enlarge [Page 15] their authorities, and of small beginnings grow into great­nes, donec in vitium vs (que) luxurient, and at last run, ryot and a­buse their authority when it is at the highest. If in our refor­mations we should not follow this patterne of our Sauiour, but remoue good thinges for the abuse of them; many strange, many dangerous, and vnnaturall alterations would ensue both in the Church and Common-wealth. And wee finde by experience, that this argument Ab abusu, ad non vsum, From the abuse of good things to the abolishing of them, as it hath bred heresies and schismes in the Church; so also rebellions and treasons in the Commonwealth.

The Manichees altogether condemned Christianity, because there were found many ill Christians: to whome Saint Austen answered, Contra Faus­tum. lib. 5. cap. 11. Vestrum oculum maleuolus error in solam paleam nostrae segetis ducet, nam & triticum ibi citò in­deretur, si & esse velletis. Your malicious errour carrieth your eye to the chaffe onely of our corne: you might as easily perceiue the wheat, if you were so disposed. The Donatists refused the Sacraments, because the Priests were wicked which administred them: to whom Saint Austen said, Ne­cesse est vt semper erretis, quamdiu propter hominum vitia Dei sacramenta violatis. Contra litt. Petil. lib. 2. cap. 30. You can neuer possibly be free from errour, so long as you violate the sacraments of God for the faults of men. The Anabaptists would remooue Prin­ces and Magistrates, because many haue abused their autho­rity and gouernment: to whome we answere, though Ma­li abutuntur rebus bonis, Euill men abuse good ordinances; yet, if a kingdome were not a lawfull state and calling, ho­ly Dauid, Iosias and the like, would not haue bin Kings: for Boni non vtuntur rebus malis, those that are good meddle not with bad matters: And wee finde that the rent in the kingdome of Israel, was because, 3. Reg. 12. Rehoboam abused his go­uernement: and the alteration of the state of the Romans vnder the Kings, was because, Quae honestè habere licebat, Salust in Cat. per turpitudinem abuti properabant. For the common peo­ple by reason of their ignorance, inuincible ignorance, bee­ing not able to discerne between the true vse of that which [Page 16] is good, and the abuse of it; nor between that fault that proceedeth ex natura facti, Th. 1. ques. 41. art. 6. out of the nature of the fact it selfe, because it is malum simpliciter, simply euill, and that which proceedeth ex abusu boni, from the abuse of that which is good, which is malum per accidens, euill but by an accident; will allow of a tyranny, as Saint Austin noteth, which is the woorst state of Gouernement, De bono coniu­gals cap. 14. si regia clemen­tia subditos tractet, If hee handle the subiects with the cle­mency of a King; and condemne a Monarchy, the best kinde of gouernement, Si rex crudelitate tyrannica saeuiat, if being a King he shew the cruelty of a tyrant, beeing not able to discerne betweene the iust vse of an vniust authori­tie, and the vniust vse of a iust authority. They will with Lycurgus roote out all the Vines in a Countrey, because men will be drunke, and euen mad with wine; whereas Plu­tarch saith, they should rather digge welles and fountaines neere vnto them; and as Plato counselleth, Insanum Deum alio sobrio repressum, castigare; that is take away the abuse by mixing some quantity of water with it. They will with Cotta, Viues de Con­cord. lib. 4. as Cicero reporteth, condemne reason & knowledge in men, because oftentimes it is the cheefest instrument of sin and iniquity, and beeing giuen vnto man as an excellen­cie aboue other creatures, doth make him much woorse than any brute beast. De interiori domo Cap. 50. They will forbid reading and diuer­sity of study, because as S. Bernard noteth, Prolixa lectio memoriam legentis obliterat, Ouer much reading hurteth the memory of the reader; not considering with S. Bernard that often times Crimen non est in rebus, Ibid. sed in vsu agentis, the fault is not in the things, but in him that vseth them: nor with S. Aug. de doct. ch [...]. lib. 3. cap. 12. Austin, that In multis non vsus rerum, sed libido vtentis in culpa est, In many things not their vse, but the dis­order of him that vseth them must be blamed: nor that the rule is not, Arist. topic, 1. Cuius abusus malus est, ipsum quoque malum est; but Cuius vsus malus est, id est, per se malus est, ipsum quoque malum est, that which may bee abused is euill, but that which cannot be well vsed; which is the same which the Canonists haue, Nauarus en­chir, cap, 14. Si vsus principalis alicuius rei sit mortifer, [Page 17] mortiferam quoque rem ipsam efficiet: that is, if the principall vse of any thing be deadly, it shall make the thing it selfe of like nature.

Now our Sauiour here teacheth them another lesson, not to pull downe Churches for the abuse of them, or the abuse of the Priest; but reforme the abuse and retaine the good vse. And although our Sauior when the Iewes were incorrigible, and would not be reformed, nor repent them of that sinne of sinnes, the putting to death, to shamefull death, that innocent Lambe, the very Sonne of God, our Sauior Christ Iesus, threatned the destruction of the Tem­ple and the miserable captiuity of the whole Nation, and perfourmed it: So that Ierusalem became as Iericho was an execrable thing; for although Iulian, Iosua 6. and the Greacians and the Iewes, endeuoured to repaire it and build it a­gaine, yet it was impossible, by reason of earthquakes and fires from heauen, which consumed the stuffe, and troubled the workmen, as Theoderet reporteth: yet this was but a re­moouing of their candlesticke, as I may call it, Theod lib. 5. ca. 10. not the put­ting out of the Candle; a remoouing of the Temple of God and the Priesthood to another Nation, that is, to the Gentiles; not an vtter subuersiō of Churches & ecclesiasti­call State; or to vse our Sauiors words in this same Chap. Ver. 43. A taking away of the Kingdome of God from them and giuing it to a Nation that should bring foorth the fruites thereof; as when Saul became incorrigible, and abused his State, Sa­muel said not, the Lord hath rent away the kingdome from Israel this day, and will haue no more Kings but Iudges, &c. but, The Lord hath rent the kingdome of Israel from thee this day, and hath giuen it to thy neighbour, 1. Sam. 15. who is better than thou: that is, hath remooued the insufficient from the place of gouernment, and put in his roome one more sufficient. To teach vs, that as for the sinnes of Princes and abuse of their State, the manner of gouernment is not altered by God, nor their priueledges abrogated, but the Office trans­lated to a fitter person; so, for the abuse of Churches and Church-men, neither the Churches ought to bee defaced [Page 18] and ruined, nor the state of the Cleargie to bee disgraced and villified; but those that are disordered must bee displa­ced, and their honours bestowed vpon better men. For this is a lesson set downe in the rules of the law, as an axiome or maxime in nature, & not in a law positiue or humaine con­stitution, 6. decr [...]t. de [...]eg. iuris. that, Semel Deo dedicatum, non est ad vsus humanos vlterius transferendū; That which hath beene once dedica­ted to God, is not any more to bee transferred to the vses of men. And it seemeth to bee so euident by the light of Na­ture, that children acknowledge it as Plato confesseth; who speaking of a truth as euident as he tooke it, as that two and two make foure, Nos dicimus (saith he) quod pueri solent; Quae rectè data sunt, Plat. Phileb. eripi non licet; We say as children vse to doo: Thinges well giuen, must not be taken backe againe: and therfore no meruaile if it were a case ouer-ruled by the more ancient sort of heathen Phylosophers in their Courts of iustice, Plin. 2. Epist. lib. 10 Epist. 74. and 75. Si facta aedes sit, licèt collapsa sit iam, religio tamen eius occupauit solum: If an house hath bene once dedicated to God, though it be fallen down and vtterly decayed, yet the soyle is holy, and the ground religious, and not to bee im­ployed to ciuill or prophane vses.

The fift cir­cumstance.The fifth circumstance in the Fact, is the manner how our Sauiour performed this reformation, Hee cast out them that sold and bought, &c. An extraordinary course is vsed by our Sauiour, and therefore the more obseruable. For whereas in all other places and against all other sinnes hee vseth wordes, and reproofes and reprehensions; and those al­so tempered with humility, mildnes and gentlenes: Heere he vseth force and execution, and externall discipline, and present correction, by casting them out of the Temple, by making a whippe of small cordes, Iohn. 2. and so whipping thē out; by ouerthrowing the tables of the money-changers, and the seates and chaires of them that sold doues: and whereas he saith of himselfe, that hee was sent into the world, not to iudge the vvorld, but that the worlde might bee saued by him; Iohn, 3. yet in this case, in this sinne, in this abuse, and prophanation of the Temple, as it were forgetting his [Page 19] accustomed gentlenesse, and the end of his comming, hee exerciseth punishment, striketh with a whippe, ouer­throweth the tables, casteth abroad the money, and to con­clude, casteth them out of the Temple; and that by himselfe alone, and with his owne hands.

If her excellent Maiestie, beeing famous and renowned for her singular clemency, shoulde come to this Citty and with her own hands, punish a fault or misdemeanor, it were a good argument that, that kind of sinne were most odious vnto her; here our Sauior the Prince of peace and fountaine of mercy commeth to Ierusalem, and with his owne hands doth punish the abuses, and the prophanations of the tem­ple of GOD. Adam sinned, Gen. 3. and hee sent his Angels or Cherubins to cast him out of Paradise. The wicked So­domites sinned, and hee sent his Angels, Gen. 19. and it rayned fire from heauen and consumed them. The whold world cor­rupted their way vpon earth, Gen 7. and hee sent raine from hea­uen and destroyed them with a flood. Pharaoh would not harken to his voyce to let the people goe, Exod 8. and he sent Frogs and Grashopers &c. and wasted his country. 2. Sam. 24. Dauid sin­ned by numbring his people, and hee sent an Angell and smote them with pestilence. Dan. 13. The Elders sinned against Susanna, and God sent the Child Daniel to doe iudgement on them. Onely this sinne of prophaning and abusing his Temple, he correcteth and chasteneth with his owne hands, he sendeth not his Angels, hee sendeth not fire, hee sendeth not water, hee sendeth not his Prophets, but hee commeth himselfe and taketh punishment of them.

But you will say; How could this bee, that our Sauiour Christ, being one man, and vnarmed, without a guard or souldiers after him, without any humane authority or ex­ternall calling, in the presence of the Priests and the Scribes, who hated him with deadly hatred, and at that present time sought after his life, who made profit of those buiers and sellers, who also were many in number, and most attentiue and greedy after their gaine, and had (as I said before) an honest pretence out of the law for this their marchandi­zing; [Page 20] notwithstanding all these circumstances, without tumult, without noise, without contradiction or resistance, hee should bee able to cast them all together out of the Temple?

Hierom super 21. Math,But the answere is plaine, That it was done by a miracle, as the ancient Fathers do iointly testifie: & S. Ierome saith, that this was the greatest of all his miracles. Some thinke saith he, y ^t the grea­test miracle he wrought, was y ^e raising of Lazarus frō the dead; & some thinke that the giuing of sight to y ^e blind was the grea­test miracle; some the voice that was heard at Iordane when he was baptized; some his transfiguration in the mountaine, where he shewed his triumphant glory & maiesty: but saith he, of al the signes y ^t euer he wrought, this seemeth most miraculous in mine eie, that one man at that time contemptible, so far foorth vile & base in their eies, that he was afterwards crucified; in despight of Scribes & Priests, could cast out with whips such a multitude of men and cattle, which a pretty army of men could haue hardly performed: but (saith he) Igneum quiddam & sidereum radiabat in oculis eius; There was some fiery and starry brightnes that glis­tered in his eies; and the maiesty of his Diuinity did shine in his face: so that neither Scribes, nor Pharisies, nor Priests, nor buiers, nor sellers, Ori. supe 2, Iob. durst resist & withstand him. And S. Origen saith, that this was a greater miracle then the turning of water into wine, because their inanimata materia subsistit; a matter without life & soule doth yeeld vnto him: but in this, tot millium hominum do­mantur ingenia; hee daunteth the hearts and courages of thou­sands of men. For you shall vnderstand, that some miracles were wrought vpon y ^e bodies of men, which we most admire, because they are subiect to the sight of our eies: & some vpon the mindes of men, quantùm ad immutandas inferiores vires, concerning the change of their inferiour faculties, as the Schoolemen say; which though they were more miraculous, yet to vs they seeme not so. And this distinction may bee gathered out of the Hebrews, where he saith; Heb. 2. that God bare witnes to Christ, [...], by signes and wonders, [...], by diuers powers, which wrought vpon the mindes and soules of men. The mira­cles which he wrought vpon bodies are obserued by you al, but the miracle which he wrought vpon their minds & soules were [Page 21] these & the like: first, the informing of his Disciples with know­ledge & vnderstanding, Luk. 21. I wil giue you a mouth & wisdome where against all your aduersaries shall not be able to speake or resist. And therfore it is said in y ^e Actes, Act, 4. that when the Iewes saw the constan­cie of Peter and Iohn, & vnderstood that they were vnlearned men, and without knowledge, admirabanter, they thought it a miracle. Math 9. The second is the calling of Mathew; for as soone as he said, fol­low me, though he sate at the receipt of costome, yet presently he rose vp and followed him: Fulgur diuinae Maiestatis videntem ad se traxit; The lightning of his diuine Maiesty drew him vnto him so soone as he did but see him. The 3. is in y ^e Gospel of Iohn, Ioh. 18. wher as soone as he said to the band of men & officers that came with Iudas to apprehend him, I am he; they went backward, & fel to the ground: S. Austin writing vpon that place, saith it was a miracle. The forth is in S. Lukes Gospel, Trae. 112. supe. Iob. Luk. 4. where they of the Sinagogue led him to the edge of an hill, to thrust him downe headlong, but Iesus passed through the midst of them, and went his way: where S. Chrisostom saith; Stare in medio insidiantium & non apprehendi, To stand in the midst of those that way-laid him & not to be ta­ken, shewed his Diuinity, and was a miracle. Finally, as I haue shewed you before, with this facility to cast out the buiers, and sellers, &c. and not to be resisted, argued the power of his Diuinity, and was a miracle. And this of the fifth circumstance.

I amplifie this poynt, and vrge all these circumstances of our Sauiours force, and extraordinary violence vsed in this place, and the miraculous perfourming of it; to shew vnto you how odious this sinne is, of prophaning the Church of GOD with buying and selling. And no question, if this merchandi­zing (which had so faire a pretence for it as the letter of the law, & the ease and benifit of y ^e whole nation) was so odious to our Sauiour Christ; our merchandizing, and buying & selling in the Church of God, cannot be lesse odious and offensiue to him.

For our buying and selling in the Church of GOD, our Symonie, as wee call it, hath no pretence for it in the lawe of Moyses, nor in the lawe of the Gospell, nor in Ecclesiasticall or Canon lawes, nor in the Ciuill and Nationall lawes of any Countrey. The law of Moyses prouided so liberally [Page 22] for the Priests and the whole family of the Leuites, by the free citties, and the demaines which were allowed them in euery Tribe, that there was neither vse nor abuse of buying and selling till Ieroboams time, 3. Reg. 13. who erected an altar against the altar of GOD, and made of the lowest of the people (that would fill his hand) idolatrous priests. In the new law of the new Testament there was gratis accepistis, gratis date; the Apostles receiued their gifts freely, and gaue them free­ly; the people receiued the word freely, and freely of their owne accord they laid downe the price of their land at the Apostles feete. The Ecclesiasticall and Ciuill lawes forbid nothing with greater regard, since the Church was endow­ed with peculiar maintenance, than the buying and sel­ling of Spirituall offices, and Ecclesiasticall perferments: and I know none, either ancient Father, or Schoole-man, or late Writer, which applieth not this Scripture, and this Action of our Sauiour Christ, to our Simoniacall buying and selling of orders and offices in Christian Churches. So that if all councels and ancient reuerend Bishoppes, which had the constituting or confirming of Ecclesiasticall lawes be not deceiued, this Simonie is a wrong to the state of the Church: if all good Princes and Statesmen, and Parliaments bee not deceiued, who haue the making and establishing of Statute Lawes, this Simonie is preiudiciall to a Common­weale: if all interpreters be not deceiued, it is a sinne against the law of God, and seuerely chastised in this place by our Sauiour Christ, either mistically and figuratiuely, or by necessary consequence. For if those things which by na­ture were vendible, as sheepe and oxen, and to that purpose, to offer them in sacrifice to God, might not be bought and sould in the house of GOD or the precincts of it; much lesse may offices Ecclesiasticall, or Tythes, or the mainte­nance of Gods Ministers, which by nature are not saleable, be bought or sold in the Church of God.

For what? If the sinne of Simon Magus (of whom this fault hath denomination) consisted in buying onely, and not in selling of that which was spiritual; seeing buying and [Page 23] selling are both in a predicament (for nothing is bought but that which is sold, & contrà) and the Apostles had sin­ned as greeuously in selling, as Simon did in buying: and the Schoole-men say well, Th. 22. quest. 100. art. 1. that Vendentes conformantur Simoni in intentione si non in actu; Sellers are conformed to Simon Magus in purpose, though not in action; because he would haue bought the holy Ghost, to sell his miracles. May not the Church impose one name to both these sinnes, which are cousin germaines, nay brother germanes, as well as buying and selling should bee comprehended vnder the word of merchandizing? or that, seruus, vas, ager, arbor, pecus, should be contained vnder the name of pecunia, as S. Austin noteth in his Bookes of Christian Learning?

Againe; If the sinne of Simon Magus properly consist­ed in the buying of a spirituall thing, of the working of mi­racles, which is meerely spirituall; as the gift of preaching or the gift of prophecying; and the gift of preaching and the maintenance allotted for it, by what name or title so-euer you call it, concurre to the making of a perfect Preacher, as the soule and body to the making of a perfect man; so that as the soule seperated from the body, though it liueth, 1 q. 3. Si quis obiecerit. yet it liueth not corporaliter, bodily; so Preaching separa­ted from the maintenance, though it liueth, yet it liueth not ciuiliter or humaniter, as ciuilitie and humanitie would it should, as GOD hath appointed it to liue in this world: may not the buying and selling of a Bishopricke or Benefice, which is annexum quiddam spiritualibus, some­what annexed to spirituall affaires, bee accompted Simonie; when not onely the soule of man is said to liue, but the bo­die also which is annexum quiddam, is said to liue ex vnione animae, by the vnion of the soule: when, not hee onely that killeth the soule is said to doo murther, but hee also that kil­leth the body which hath no life but by meanes of the soule; when not hee onely is said to sinne against the Maiestie of a Prince, who offereth iniurie to his person, or crowne, but hee also that doth violence to those things which are annexed to his crowne and dignitie?

[Page 32]This selling and buying in the Church of God, which by the generall consent of interpreters, Fathers and School­men, is here punished by our Sauiour Christ, and is iustly called Simonie, and a true branch of the sinne of Simon Ma­gus is so common and vsuall in the Church of England, that I must needs say, that either you esteeme it not as a sinne, or if you take it for a sinne, since our Sauiour is ascended into Heauen, you thinke there is no GOD to punish you for it.

To hold it no sinne, is to hold the heresie of Simon Ma­gus (for so it is called) that is, Caiet. in 8. Act. to thinke that the holy Ghost may be bought and sould; for when Officium curae animarū praecipuum ac spiritualissimum Dei donum sit; The office of the charge of soules is an especiall and most spirituall gift of God: to buy or to sell the office of the charge of soules in generall, that is, to buy or sell Orders, or to buy and sell the office of the charge of these or those soules; that is, to buy or sell a Presentation, is Simonie, and that in his owne nature, and not because it is forbidden by Ecclesiasticall or Ciuill Law. And it is not onely vulnus cancrosum, as Saint Ambrose calleth it, a wound that hath a canker in it, and therefore will creepe along through euery ioynt of the bo­dy of a Common-wealth, as wee finde by our miserable ex­perience, 1. q, 1. reperi­untur. and so requireth ignitum ferrum, a hot coulter or sharpe sword, that is, the extremity of ciuill punishment; nor execrabile flagitium onely, a detestable sinne, and there­fore anathematis opprobrio condemnandum, to be condemned & cursed with Excommunication, the highest censure of the Church; Act. 8. but it is that [...], that wickednesse or sinfulnesse that Saint Peter speaketh of, and that [...], that bond or bundle of iniquity, that containeth many sinnes fast chained together: which argue, that the hart is not right, and from which wee may pray to bee deliuered, not simply as from other sinnes, but if it be possible, as Saint Peter coun­selled Simon Magus pray vnto God, that if it bee possible this thought of thy hart may be forgiuen thee.

But forasmuch as since the time, that good Christians [Page 33] are degenerated into cunning politicians, it is not so much regarded, what is good for the state of the Church, as what is fitting and behoofefull for a Common-wealth; nor such reckoning made of eternall reward, or eternall punishment, as of present pleasure & of punishment inflicted on our body, or goods: and we say with the Policitians, Aug. de ciuit. Dei li. 2 cap. 2. Pace secura sit resp. floreat copijs referta, victorijs gloriosa, & quid ad nos? If there be peace & plenty and prosperity, what care we for the state of the Church? I will giue you some reasons amongst many, why this selling and buying in the Church, which is the vt­ter vndooing of the state of the Clergy, as it is not lawfull by the word of God; so not tolerable in regard of the policy of a Christian Common-wealth.

First, as much as in it lyeth, it taketh away the society 1 and fellowshippe of mankinde, wherein consisteth a Com­men-wealth. For if wee shall bee so affected, that euery man for his owne commodity, will rob and spoyle another man, the society of mankind, which of all things is most naturall, must needes bee dissolued: and if wee shall bee so affected, that one state in a Common-wealth will by all meanes endeuour to eate vp another, that deformity will grow in the Common-wealth, that would happen in the body of a man in the like case; for if the legs should challenge and enioy all that nourishment which should goe to the armes, the one part would be vnweldy by his greatnes, and the o­ther vnprofitable by his weakenes.

It is well knowen and confessed, that the state of the Clergy in euery good Christian Common-wealth, hath had his lot and portion, not onely spirituall in the Lord, but also temporall in the Common-wealth, being an estate of men, as of the best desert, if they do their duties; so not to be fed by the ayre, as the Cameleons are, but by the fruits and increase which proceede from the earth: and therefore they haue had allotted them by the law of nature, as Mel­chisedech had; by the law of Moyses as the Priests had; and by the confirmation of our Sauiour Christ, haec oportet fieri, these things must bee done; and by ciuill and prouinciall [Page 26] lawes in Christianity, not onely the Tythes of the fruite of the earth; because they haue bellies to be fed, and backs to bee clothed, Num. 35. and families to bee maintained: but they had their Citties and their lands belonging to them among the Iewes, and their parts in the sacrifice and offerings: and a­mongst the Christians their demaines, and temporalties; because that state was not anarchicall, or without authoritie and iurisdiction. Lastly, they had their speciall priuiledges, namely not to serue in the tabernacle before 25. Num. 8. yeare old, not after 50. their Cities of refuge and Sanctuaries, &c. In the famine of Aegipt they had an ordinarie allowance of Pharaoh; Num. 35. so that when hee bought all the land of the sub­iects in Aegipt, Gen. 47. yet the Priests land was not solde: so great were their priuiledges among the Heathen.

Now if their Christian priuiledges which haue beene many, shall be made voide, against the rule of the 12. Tables, Priuilegia ne irroganto, Lud. Charend. ad Leg. antiq. Rom. let them not infringe the Priuiled­ges: Cassiod lib 2. epist. 20. and against all reason when Theodoricus said, Intra regulas constituti iuris non debet munificentia principum ar­ctari, the bounty of Princes ought not to bee straightned within the bounds of the lawe; if where aequalitas is not aequitas, that is equity ioined with equalitie, the maintenance of all dignitie, and superiority and authority be taken away, which will breede contempt; for as vertue is discouraged without rewarde, so authoritie is disarmed without iust maintenance; finally, if those necessaries which should maintaine nature, which is contented with a little course cloath for the back, and course bread for the belly, bee retai­ned by force or fine sleight from that state, or a great part of it, which is ordained as the Sunne is, ad continuos cursus, to continuall labour and trauaile in the house of God; and not onely taken from them, but giuen to a nation which bring­eth forth worse fruite: it is out of all doubt, that as when one serpent eateth another [...], a dragon is engendred which deuoureth all; so when one State eateth vp another, it bringeth foorth a monstrous and vnnaturall state in the common-wealth, and so by consequent a dangerous change. [Page 27] So that wee are much to feare, that as before the comming of our Sauiour in the flesh, the Romane Common-wealth being changed by little and little, ex pulcherrimâ & optimâ, Aug. de ciuit. Dei. li. 2. ca. 19. pessima ac flagitiosissima facta est; so the Common-wealth of England and of Christianitie, by this foule sinne of Si­monie and Sacriledge, before the second comming of our Sauiour, of a most religious and well ordered Common-wealth, will become irreligious and simoniacall.

Secondly, this buying and selling in the Church of God, 2 will make barren and like desolate and forsaken Widowes the two Vniuersities, the two fruitfull Mothers and full of Children, though now readie to giue vp the ghost, and powre out their soules in their Mothers bosomes. For if we that bee bred vp in learning, suffer in our childhood in the Grammar schooles magnum & graue malum, Aug. confes. lib. 1. cap. 9. a great and greeuous affliction (Saint Austin compareth it to the tor­ments of martyrdome) and when wee come to the Vniuersi­tie, if wee liue of the Colledges allowance, are, as Phalaris obiected to the Leontines, [...], Epist. 53. needy of all things but hunger and feare; or if we be maintained but partly by our parents cost, doo expend in necessarie main­tenance, bookes, and degrees, before wee come to any per­fection, fiue hundred pounds, or a thousand markes. If by this price of the expence of our time, our bodies and spi­rites, our substance and patrimonies, wee cannot purchase those small rewardes which are ours by law, and the right of inheritance, a poore Parsonage or a poore Vicarage, of fortie or fiftie pound a yeare; but wee must pay to the Pa­tron for the lease of a life (a spent and out-worne life) ei­ther in annuall pension, or aboue the rate of a Copy-hold, and that with the hazard of the losse of our soules, by simo­nie and periurie, and the forfeiture of all our spirituall pre­ferments in esse and in posse, both present and to come: what father after a while will bee so improuident, to bring vp his sonne to his great charge, to this necessarie beggerie? What Christian will bee so irreligious, as to bring vp his sonne in that course of life, which by probabilitie of ne­cessitie [Page 36] ( quae cogit ad turpia, Iuuenal. enforcing to sinne) will entan­gle him in simonie and periurie? When as the Poet saith; Inuitatus ad haec, aliquis de ponte negabit. A beggars brat ta­ken from a bridge where hee sitteth in begging, if hee knew the inconuenience, had cause to refuse it.

2. Obiections answered.But you will say, that learning is to be desired, and will be desired for it selfe; because as the Stoicks say, Doctrina est pretium sibi, Learning is her owne recompence: and the Minister must consider fructum, Phil. 4. non datum, the good that he doth, not the reward hee must haue: and therefore though this be a fault, yet no danger thereby of decay of learning. For the former, it is most true, that Learning is Lux animi, & oblectatio vitae, the light of the minde, and delight of the life, and for it selfe to bee desired; but of Gentlemen, who can liue without it; and of Stoickes and Philosophers, which had no passions, which liued as soules without bodies, so farre in loue with the food of the one, that they tooke no regarde what became of the other. But if Gentlemen one­ly should bee learned, a competent measure would serue their turne, the dephts of professions are aboue their en­deuours, they are so painefull: and you shall finde as few Schollers that doo reach to that height of Philosophie, as to feed their mindes and to starue their bodies, as you shall finde Gentlemen that are come to that height of Christia­nity, to forsake all and follow Christ, or to loue their enemies and studie their good.

But the Romanes, who made Aedes honori & virtuti ge­mellas, that is, ioyned the Churches of Honour and Vertue the one close to the other; and those wise men who vpon sepulchres and monuments engraued these titles, Virtuti & Honori, Symmac. lib. 1. epist. 37. to Vertue and Honour; and our Founders and Benefactors, who appointed opulenta praemia literarum professoribus, plentifull rewardes to the professing of learn­ing: Symmac. lib. 10. Epist. 25. they knew well enough, that Non deficit studium, quod praemium largius habet; and that Virtus aemula, aelitur exem­plo honoris alieni; Studie is neuer scant, where the recom­pence is large; and vertue which is euermore in aemulation, [Page 37] is fed by the example of honor in other men. And againe on the other side, that learning would bee much discoura­ged, A. Gel. petijt si­bi aes dari [...] Cassiod. if Schollers should come to Gentlemen as the Philo­sopher came to Herode to begge a penny to buy him bread; because Probata virtus inhonora cessat, Vertue though it be commended, yet if it bee not honored and rewarded will soone be discouraged.

For the latter, that we must not seeke datum but fructum, 2 it is most true: But that law or reason that bindeth vs to la­bour for your good, bindeth you to prouide sufficiently for vs: Dignus est operarius mercede sua, The workman is wor­thy of his hire. That law that bindeth him that laboureth to minister vnto you spirituall things, bindeth you to admi­nister vnto him corporall things, and not sell them to him: si spiritualium eorum participes facti sunt gentiles: if Gen­tlemen bee partakers of their spirituall things, they must ad­minister vnto them worldly things: for as Saint Paul said, Rom. 15. hee was debitor illis, a debter vnto all; so on the other side, Ibid. debi­tores eorum sunt, they are debters to the Apostles. And this is the diuision spoken of by the Sonne of Sirach; In diuisi­one sortis da & accipe, giue and take, not sell and take. Eccles. 14. And Saint Paul calleth it [...]. Phil. 4. to communicate one with another after the manner of giuing and receiuing: to signifie (saith Caietan vppon that place) that the maintenance of the Cleargie is due secundùm rati­ones dati & accepti; which therefore should be Communica­tiones & Commutationes, not Venditiones. And as in a Com­mon-wealth, though wee owe our selues and all our ende­uours to our Prince and Countrey, Seruitia tamen per mo­derata compendia prouocantur; yet some reasonable conside­ration pulleth on our seruice; so also, though wee owe our selues and our labours to your saluation and aedification, and not to preach is a woe vnto vs, 1. Cor. 9. and if I doo it willingly I haue my reward, the encrease of grace, the encrease of knowledge, and euerlasting life, Euge bone serue, Matth. 25. Well done good seruant, that is, a reward spirituall, a reward at Gods hands; yet for all that seruitia, &c. our endeuours are stirred [Page 30] vp with temporall rewards, Cass. 2, 11. and necessary maintenance: and not only ours but other mens, who by our preferments, or at least iust maintenance, may bee encouraged to this kind of calling. For as Mariage is honoured, why? be­cause by that, reparatio posteritatis acquiritur posterity is kept in reparation: so our labours and callings must be honoured and regarded; because not out of our loynes (as in Moyses law proceedeth the seed of the Priesthood) but out of our honours and preferments.

Another Ob­iection answ.But you will say; This complaint needeth not, for many of the Cleargy are rich enough; and what estate is there in the world, but some of that calling doo liue in pouertie? To which I answere; That in what estate soeuer prodigali­tie or supine negligence is found, there pouerty will follow, and no remedie for it. But there is no calling within this Common-wealth wherein a painfull and industrious man may not liue decently and plentifully in that kinde of func­tion, except only in the Ministery: where, if they haue not money to buy them a Benefice, or preferment as we call it▪ they must liue of the almes of the poore of the parish, for reading some Lecture, as the Popish priests did of Dirrges and Masses; and haue their collection together with the old and the lame, and the blinde, and such as are a burthen to the common-wealth. Oh (saith Saint Bernard) what a per­uerse order is this, coelestibus terrena mercari, to buy earthly with heauenly things? How much better were it, and more a­greeable to reason, vt pro carnali victu carnalia opera exerce­rent; nec fierent inuersores rerum, aut inhonorarent spiritua­le ministerium; that they should vse bodily labour for bodily food without either changing the nature of things, or discredi­ting their spirituall calling.

As for those that are rich in the Clergy, the number (God knoweth) is very scant; and those either ‘Antiqui Heroës nati melioribus annis,’ which began with the beginning of her Maiesties reigne, when Benefices went a begging as Ministers doe now; or those whose best reuenew is parsimony and miserable [Page 31] diet, without hospitality; or els those, who are enriched by land or other patrimony left vnto them by their parents or friends. And yet the greatest part of these, who by their titles of dignity and outward appearance seeme rich vnto you, they haue [...], a needy kinde of wealth, and estate vnestablished; Consess. 12. or as Saint Austin calleth it copiosam inopiam, & ignominiosam gloriam, a plentifull penu­rie, and inglorious glorie. Their dignities and honors for the most part are titular, like the Archdeaconrie of London in King Henry the seconds daies: Epist. 151. which Petrus Blesensis reported to Innocentius then Bishop of Rome, to bee Draco non habens vnde possit viuere nisi vento, A Dragon (a state­ly name or title, the Archdeacon of London) not hauing wher­of to liue, except of winde: for saith he, Ille honos est in so­lis, & nndis, & puris intellectibus, That preferment standeth in onely, and naked, and pure supposals. So that if the Cleargie may take denomination of the greater part, of an hundred for one, it is a poore Cleargy; and hereafter when the Prince or the State shall haue need of their purses, they must answere with Saint Peter; Argentum & aurum non est mihi, Siluer and gold haue we none, but that which wee haue, we will readily afford; a praier or a blessing, a lecture or a sermon.

Wherefore to conclude this point, though learning of it selfe be neuer so precious, yet if students after they haue spent their time, their spirits, their liues, their patrymonies for the good of the Church or common-wealth, Cass 2, 28. shall bee thus neglected, nay skorned and despised (for exprobrata militia creditur, quae irremunerata transitur, his seruice in the Warres, his seruice in the Church, his seruice in the com­mon-wealth is despised, as base, which is passed ouer with­out a reward) we shall not neede Iulians Edict, or Domitians law, good arts of themselues will go into banishment.

Thirdly, this buying and selling in the Church of GOD, will procure an vnsufficient and an vnlearned Ministerie; for 3 by this meanes Strenuus & segnis fato potiuntur eodem, the learned and the vnlearned are in like possibility to haue the [Page 32] presentation at the patrons hands. Balaams Asse if hee can but speake, if he come laden with coyne, shall bee preferred before Balaam his maister, In laudibus Basil [...]. if hee were as honest as hee was wise. And wee finde it already by experience, that as Greg. Naz. said, if there bee a Samuel amongst our Prophets, [...], who is a seer as they called him, or a learned man; there is a Saul also [...], a base and an ig­norant Prophet: by which meanes that order and calling which is in toto Christianismo [...], Ibid. the most reuerend and holy calling in all Christianity, is become in toto Christia­nismo [...], the most base and ridiculous calling in all Christianity. Wherefore though the Romans thought it stood with their Common-wealth, Patere. manere rudem Corin­thiorum intellectum, that the Corinthians should continue in rudenesse and ignorance; and though the Papists thought it good, and to stand with the policie of their Church, to keepe the people in blind simplicity: yet it cannot stand ey­ther with the policie of any Christian Church or Com­mon-wealth, to haue ignorant teachers, ignorant Priests, ignorant Preachers; but seeing it is a curse which God threatneth in his displeasure to disordered Common-wealths, & erit sicut populus, sic & sacerdos, that the Priests should be either as wicked or as ignorant as the people are, and this buying and selling effecteth this curse, it seemeth most inconuenient for a Common-wealth.

4 Fourthly, this buying and selling in the Church of God, this Simony, doth remoue all hospitality, and all meanes of hospitality from the state of the Clergie, which doth not onely hinder and hold backe the fruites of our preaching, because as Saint Gregorie noteth, Egentis mentem doctrinae sermo non penetrat, Greg. Pastor. si hunc apud eius animum manus miseri­cordiae non commendat; The word of instruction dooth not pearce the minde of the needie, vnlesse the hand of mercie doo further commend it vnto him: and secondly hinder vs from that great blessing & commodity that Cassiodore spea­keth of, Cassiod. 1.9. Nonnulla pauperibus largiendi, Of giuing some­what to the poore: but thirdly, it is also iniurious to the [Page 33] Common-wealth; for as Tacitus noteth, there commonly followeth dissolutio imperii si fructus quibus Resp. sustinetur, Annal. 13. diminuuntur; a dissolution of the State, when the fruites and reuenewes are diminished, which maintaine the Common-wealth. Now, seeing hospitalitie is the best reuenew which is left to comfort and relieue the poorer sort, which abound at this time in this Common-wealth; they are very iniuri­ous to this State, who make not onely the superfluitie of the wealth of the Cleargie, which are bona pauperum, the goods of the poore, but the very necessary maintenance of the Preachers themselues, which are bona Christi, the goods of Christ; the goods of Gentlemen or Nobilitie.

Fiftly. This buying and selling in the Church of God, 5 this Simonie, if it doe not effect a dissolution of this State; yet it doth foreshew and portend some great euill to ensue. For wee read in the Ecclesiasticall Historie, Socrat. lib. 7. cap. 33. that when cer­taine fugitiue slaues prophaned the Church by murthe­ring one Priest, and wounding another; one that stood by suddainly vttered these words, [...], that the prophanation of the Church did foreshew no good to ensue; and hee alleadged for the confirmation of it two verses out of a Greeke Poet,

Nam saepè signa talia dari solent, cùm sacra foedum templa polluit scelus. And saith Socrates, Hee that said thus was not deceiued; for it foreshewed troubles and diuisions among the people, and the banishment of him that was authour of them. And we finde, that not long after this prophanation of the Temple, this buying and selling of oxen, and sheepe, &c. and the buying and selling of the Priest-hood which for mo­ney was now become annuall; the destruction of Ierusalem ensued, and the dispersion of the whole Nation: And the flourishing Kingdomes and Churches of Graecia and Ar­menia were forsaken of God, and became subiect to the Turkes, when they began to maintaine this heresie, Alph. de Cast. Licere res Ecclesiasticas vendere; that it was lawful to sell the goods [Page 34] of the Church. And it is a receiued obseruation among our Writers, that Ecclesia & Imperium pariter defecerunt, when the Church began to bee prophaned by Simonie and Sacri­ledge, the Empire began to bee greatly eclipsed. And what else can we looke for after this prophanation of buying and selling in the Church of God, but some curse to ensue; when Ecclesiastica possident Laici, Bernard. epist. 224. holy places & holy things are possessed by prophane men, as Saint Barnard saith, who insteed of Prayers which the Priest should offer, doo send vp into heauen daily sacrifices, quotidianas hostias, not peace offerings, sed clamores pauperum, lachrymas viduarum, plan­ctus orphanorum; The cryes of the poore, the teares of the widowes, and the miserable complaints of children and or­phanes?

Wherefore, seeing this buying and selling in the Church is so heinous in the sight of God, and so inconuenient for a Common-wealth; giue mee leaue (honorable Lords, and reuerent Fathers of the Cleargie) who haue your places of state and dignitie, both in the Church and Common-wealth; giue me leaue in all humilitie I beseech you, not to exhort you to that, which I hope you doo already; nor to dehort you from that fault, from which I am perswaded that some of you are as free and innocent as Saint Peter was; but to counsell him that standeth, to take heed least he fall into this sinne: which is by so much the more hainous in you, than in an inferiour Minister, as it had beene in Saint Peter to haue exacted money of Simon, for the imposition of hands, than in Simon Magus for offering it. For the sinnes and offences of the Shepheards are greater than the sinnes and offences of the Sheepe: First, because they cannot ex­cuse themselues by simplicitie or pretence of ignorance, as the sheepe may: secondly, because they are placed to cor­rect them that goe astray; not to lead them amisse by ill ex­ample: thirdly, because while the sheepheard wandereth by the steepe and dangerous places of sinne, the whole flocke who are taught to follow the Shepheard, doe fall downe head-long into the gulph of iniquitie. And by this reason, [Page 35] the sinnes of Gouernours are not onely personall, but doe oftentimes engender heresies in the mindes of the igno­rant and inferiour people; euery one thinking that lawfull to bee done, which his Superiour, his Gouernour, 1. q. 1. quisquis. and his Pastour doth; which is a kinde of heresie. And for this cause (peraduenture) in the Canon law, Simonie is called heresie; because when the inferiours buy their orders, or their institutions, or their presentations of their Superiors, whose steps and examples they thinke they should follow, they are perswaded they may doo the like when occasion serueth, without any offence, both by the example of their Superiours, as also by y ^e law of all nations; for as Seneca saith Quae emeris vendere gentium ius est, It is the law of nations, that a man may sell what hee hath bought: De benef. lib. 1. cap. 9. Wherefore you that doe stand, take heed least you fall, and become Authors of this damnable sinne, and pernicious heresie.

Secondly. You that are my Brethren of the Cleargie, forasmuch as consensere mores peccatis, this sinne is become customable in this land; & videtur licitum quia publicum, and it is thought lawfull because it is so common; and there is no Simonie wherein you are not one partie, if not both; I will be bolder with you: and yet that my words may car­rie more credit, I will vse S. Bernards exhortation; Epist. 42. Longè à vobis remouete malum tempori vetus, sed cupiditati nouum, si moniam, &c. Remooue, remooue farre from you this Simo­nie, for age an old sinne (being the first heresie that sprang vp in christianitie after the ascension of our Sauiour Christ) though fresh and new in dayly practise. Remooue I say this Simonie, and couetousnesse, and ambition the authour of it; for these are not sinnes where-vnto spirituall men are sub­iect, but these are the temptations of meere carnall men. The first temptation wherewith the diuell assaulted our Sa­uiour Christ, was for the necessarie sustenance of nature by food, when hee said; Si filius Dei es, Math. 4. If thou bee the sonne of God, make these stones bread: to want necessaries to main­taine nature, bread for the belly, and cloath for the backe, is a great temptation, and may fall vpon a spirituall man; and [Page 36] therefore hee saith, Si filius Dei es, If thou bee the sonne of God; as though this temptation might mooue the very sonne of God: but yet for all that, let not this temptation force you to Simonie, Eccles. 11. but after the counsell of the Wise­man, Stand still in thy state, and trust in the Lord; for it is an easie thing for the Lord, subito honestare pauperem, suddain­ly to make a poore man an honest man, as our phrase is; that is, a rich man, or an honourable man. The second temp­tation wherewith the diuell assaulted our Sauiour, was vain-glorie; wherevnto also a spirituall man is very subiect: for when we haue auoided all sinnes of omission and commissi­on, if it were possible to auoide them all, vincenda superbia restat, pride and vain-glorie they will assault vs; and there­fore to this temptation hee also saith, Si filius Dei es. But the third temptation was a grosse and a carnall temptation, when hee shewed him all the riches and kingdomes of the world; that is, the temptation of ambition, and couetous­nesse, the proper and naturall temptations of carnall men: and therefore in the two first he said, Si filius Dei es, but not in the third; which cannot agree to spirituall men, such as you should be in life and profession.

This third temptation, which is the temptation of coue­tousnesse and ambition, the authors of simonie, hath made the Church of England as the Temple of Ierusalem was, a denne of theeues: Lud. Charond. Leg. antiq. Rom. therefore aboue all things remooue these sinnes from you. It was a law of Romulus at the first foun­dation of Rome, Nequis nisi per portam vrbem ingreditor, that no man should enter the citie, but by the gates there­of; and therefore when Remus went ouer the wall, hee was slaine as an enemie; Ioh. 10. and our Sauiour made a law at the ve­rie foundation of Christianitie, that hee that commeth not in by the doore, Qui non intrat per ostium, fur est: What then is hee but a theefe and a robber, that commeth into the offices and honours of the Church, per ruinas Ecclesiae, per desolatas macerias, by the ruines of the Lordships, reue­newes and demaines of the Church, that so hee may spoyle others, and enrich himselfe? The Merchant buyeth not his [Page 37] wares, but with hope to sell them at a better price; and can wee hope that any man should buy a Bishopricke, and not sell the prebends, the dignities, and benefices belonging to it? No, no, saith S. Bernard, Qui non fideliter introiuit, Bernard. de bo­nis deferendis. neque per Christum; quid ni infideliter agat, & contra Chri­stum? He that hath not faithfully entred, neither by Christ; how is it possible that hee should not deale vnfaithfully and against Christ?

Wherefore, longè a vobis remouete, &c. Remooue farre from you that olde euill, old in time, but newe and fresh in dayly practise, simonie, and ambition and couetousnesse, the authors of it; In vita Nazi­anzeni. and say with Greg. Naizanzen when hee re­signed his Bishoprick, non à Deo excluduntur qui priuantur throno; not to bee a Bishop or a Deane, &c. is not to bee ba­nished from heauen, or from Paradice as Adam was; but, to compasse an office or dignitie by simonie, is as Leo said, accipere spiritum mendacii, to receiue the spirit of lying; as S. Gregorie writeth, to haue non subsistens sacerdotium, a Priest-hood not subsisting; according to S. Ambrose, Ana­thematis opprobrio condemnari, to be held an Anathema; in Elizeus h [...]s iudgement, to deserue a leprosie; in Saint Peters sentence, to merit damnation; and in our Sauiours practise, to be whipt and scourged out of the Church of God: wher­fore, Longè à vobis remouete, &c. Remooue farre from you this euill, old in time, but fresh in practise; this simonie, and couetousnesse and ambition, the authors of it.

And you that are Gentlemen and patrons of Benefices, thinke not your selues free from this sinne of Simony, be­cause Simon Magus offered to buy and not sell the spirit of God, or that which was not lawfull to be sold; for as I said before, it had beene a greater sinne in Saint Peter, Nic. de Cle­mang. epist. ad Gerson. à Si­mone pecunias exigere, quam in Simone offerre, To require money of Simon, than in Simon to offer it: heere wee finde that our Sauiour Christ cast out of the Temple, not onely buyers but sellers also, eiecit vendentes & ementes; and Ge­lasius affirmeth that dantem & accipientem damnatio Simo­nis inuoluit, Epist 1. cap. 23 the sinne of Simon Magus wrappeth vp togither [Page 38] both the buyer and the seller: and therefore if you be pares culpa, equall in fault, you shall bee pares poena, equall in pu­nishment in Gods iustice, though you bee vnequall by your Statute law. And so S. Greg. saith, Anathema danti, anathema accipienti, 1. q. 1. quicun (que) Cursed be he that buyeth, and cursed bee hee that selleth, cursed be he that giueth, and cursed be he that taketh; & he that saith Simony in the giuer is heresie, saith that simo­ny in the taker is Infidelity, & subiect to the punishment of Infidelity; Greg. lib 9. ep. 53. Auaritia in dandis ecclesiasticis honoribus infidelita­tis perditioni subijcitur, etiamsi tenere fidem, quam negligit vide­atur, Couetousnesse in giuing Ecclesiasticall preferments is subiect to the same destructiō whervnto Infidelity, although it seeme to hold y ^e same faith which indeed it regardeth not.

And no doubt if you were not infected with the spice of infidelitie, so that you neither beleeue the Scriptures them­selues, nor the generall and vniuersall consent of the most holy Fathers, the interpreters of them, in the hainousnesse of this sinne, and the certaintie and grauitie of the punish­ment of it, you would not touch the hallowed thing, nor sell that which is not yours; or that which is worse, dare sanctum canibus, giue that to your dogs, to your hawkes or your hor­ses, &c. which is the portion allotted to Christ and his Mi­nisters: you would not make that priuate which belongeth to the Church or the Common-wealth, and in that respect is consecrated pietati & fidei, Policrac. lib. 7. cap. 17. to godlinesse and faith, and on­ly committed to you vpon trust; you would not reape that which you haue not sowen, nor take away that which you haue not giuen; you would not make the monuments of your fore-fathers liberalities, the eternall testimonies of your couetousnesse; you would not muzzell the mouth of the oxe that treadeth out the corne, either by taking money as a fine for a Benefice, or retaining your Tithes, as an an­nuall rent. Cic. nat. deor. 2. In the times of your ancestours. Tanta vtilitas putabatur percipi ex bobus, vt eorum visceribus vesci scelus haberetur; That regard was had of the oxen that trode out the corne, that to rob them of their portion, was accomp­ted sacriledge: they tooke that saying of our Sauiour Christ [Page 39] for Gospell, Beatius est dare quàm accipere, Act, 20. A happier thing to giue vnto them, then to take from them. If the Priests of Moyses law were thus reckoned of, why not wee? Wee are not inferiour to them: Si quod euacuatur per gloriam est, mul­tò magis quod permanet in gloria est; 2 Cor, 3. If that which should be abolished were glorious, much more should that which remaineth bee glorious. If the Priests in poperie, who ey­ther taught you not, or if they taught you, they taught you but vanities, were thus reckoned of, so that they could liue like Princes on S. Peters patrimonie; why should wee, which in your consciences preach vnto you the Gospell of Christ sincerely, bee spoiled and robbed of that very little that is left vnto vs?

Is it not sufficient to haue taken from the body of this one state, the superfluous rancke blood of so many Mona­steries, and by their abuse irreligious houses, and to haue abated that [...], fulnesse of blood in our Bishopricks; and so farre to haue opened the vaines of the Priests for feare of a Pleurisie by impropriations, customes and compositions, that for very weaknesse they are ready to faint in the streets, but you must draw out that little life-blood which is left by selling your Vicarages, or retaining your Tithes?

Peraduenture you are of opinion (as I vnderstand some are now adayes) that either there is no Priesthood in Chri­stianity; or if there be any, wee be all alike Priests, because S. Peter saith, you are a royall Priesthood, regale sacerdotium; 1 Pet. 2. and hereof inferre, that seeing Tythes are due to the Priest onely, and either there are no Priests, or if there be any, wee are all alike Priests, either Tythes are not due, or if they bee due, they belong to vs all. But, beloued Christians, that text of S. Peter is borrowed out of the 19. of Exodus, where God speaketh it of the Iewes, as S. Peter doth of the Chri­stians: wherefore if all the Iewes in one respect were a Priesthood, and yet neuerthelesse had the order of Priest­hood distinguished from them; the like may holde in Chri­stianitie, that all may be Priests, & yet haue a distinct order of Priesthood and Ministery. But by that text you may as well [Page 40] prooue your selues Kinges as Priestes, and challenge vnto you the offices and priuiledges of Princes; but as the vertue of that text will not defend you from Treason, or the pu­nishment of Treason wheresoeuer you bee subiectes, if euer you challenge the preheminence or priuiledges of Kinges; no more will it defend you from sacriledge, and the punish­ment of it, if you challenge the title or priuiledges of the Priesthood.

Abac, 2.But you shall find that Vae, that Curse which the Pro­phet Abacuck pronounced against Nabuchodonosor, who enriched him-selfe with the spoyles of the East, Vae accumu­lanti non sua, Woe vnto him, that heapeth vp those thinges which are not his owne: Thesauros quos deuorauit euomet (saith Iob) & de ventre eius extrahet eos Deus, Hee shall cast vp the treasures which he hath deuoured, and the Lord shall draw them out of his belly: you shall finde that this wicked gaine according to the Greeke prouerbe, [...]. bringeth a rod at his backe; you shall finde as it is in Eccles. that hee hath tou­ched a Scorpion, which no man toucheth without euident danger, by reason of the poyson which he hath in his tayle, which Galen saith is mole minimum, but facultate maximum; like the sin of Simony & Sacriledge, where it is in quantitie small, it is in quality haynous; you shall find a more grieuous punishment, 1 q. 1. Cito. ex. Ambros. as S. Ambrose noteth, than the punishment of Idolatry, which God putteth downe as very grieuous in the second Commandement, which is to be punished not onely on him-selfe, but on his seed also to the third and fourth ge­ration; whereas Ieroboams selling of the Priesthood, turned to sin vnto his house euen to roote it out & destroy it from the face of the earth, 3 Reg, 1 [...]. & the sin of Gehezi who sinned in Simony and coueteousnes, was punished with a leprosie vpon himself and his seed for euer.

And although you haue liued long in this sinne, and in flourishing state, and not felt the hand of GOD vpon you, ye are not therefore to thinke it no sinne, or that God cannot or will not punish it; for although as the Poet saith, Mars vltor galeam quoque perdidit, Iuuen. Sat. 4. & res Non potuit seruare suas, [Page 41] Mars a false and counterfeit Idol might leese his helmet &c. and could not help it; yet our GOD by the strength of his arme can doe it, with strange raine or with strange haile, or with terrible tempest, or with consuming fire, Wis, 16. or by scarsitie and famine, or with plague and sicknes &c. for he hath mille nocendi artes, a thousand waies to punish you: and as he said to Senacherib, can put a hooke in your nostrils and a bridle in your lips, and make you bring it backe againe the same way that you carried it out, 4 Reg, 19. as the Philistins did the Arke of God.

Or doe you not doubt of his power and abilitie to doe it, but of his truth, and because, as you imagine, hee doth not, therefore will not returne this euill on your heades? Adam might as well haue argued against Gods truth who sayd, what day thou shalt eat of that apple thou shalt surely dye, for he died not that day, but became mortall and was sure to die, and as I may say, fell into a consumption, which left him not vntill the houre of his death. And I doubt not to affirme that Gods punishments are already begun vpon vs, and al­though as yet they are but medicinae, non poenae; medicines, not punishments; and God like a good Phisition giueth vs sometimes sharpe potions to recouer our health; that is suffereth vs to haue detrimentū in minori bono, Thom. 22 q. 87. art. 7. vt augeamur in maiori, losse in a lesser good, that wee may gaine in a grea­ter; suffereth vs to haue detrimentum pecuniae, & sanitatis, propter bonum animae, losse of money and health for the good of our soule; yet if these medicines wil not cure vs, he wil cut off that part of the Church or Common-wealth, which is dis­eased and incurable, though to the hazard and destruction of the whole body.

And I tell you true, it is no good signe or argument of Gods loue to vs, that hee suffereth such sinnes, such capitall sinnes to raigne amongst vs without their due punishment; 2. Mach, 6. For those whom he loueth not (as the Author of the Machabees saith) hee forbeareth vntil they come to the fulnes of their sinne; but it is a token of his goodnesse and loue (saith hee) to a nation, not to suffer sins long to continue, but straight way to punish [Page 42] them; as we finde in the children of Israell his elect people, who suffered more temporall punishments for their sinnes than the most Idolatrous nations, whom hee reserued to a finall destruction.

And therefore triumph not in your sinnes, nor comfort your selues in this impunity; for it is an argument that you are out of Gods fauour, and that when hee striketh hee will strike you home; when his anger is lenta, slowe, thenit is magna, Valer lib. 1. c. 1. great, & tarditatem supplicij grauitate compensat, and requiteth the slacknesse of the punishment with the waight thereof. And it is most true and very obseruable that Iulius Caesar said to the Embassadours of the Switzers, That it is a common custome with God to suffer those whom hee lo­ueth not, but intendeth to punish, to enioy peace and rest, and wealth, and pleasure, and aboundance for a long time, Quo grauius ex commutatione rerum doleant, Commēt, lib. 1. that the change when it commeth may grieue them the more.

Wherefore to conclude, seeing this buying and selling of sheepe and oxen, which were for sacrifice, and was a farre lesse sinne then our buying and selling of spirituall things, was so odious to our Sauiour Christ, that first of all other things he reformed that, and that diuers times, and by force and violence, and by miracle; seeing by the opinion of the Fathers, interpreters and schoolemen this Simonie is a sinne and an heresie in Christianitie intollerable; seeing it can­not stand with a common-wealth, but thereby one state will eate vp another; learning and the Vniuersities will bee decayed; the Church bee supplied with ignorant pastours; hospitalitie remooued from the state of the Cleargie; and to conclude, it is a signe and fore-runner of some euill to in­sue to the common-wealth: giue me leaue I beseech you ho­norable, worshipfull, &c. who are called, if not inplenitudi­nem potestatis, vnto the fulnesse of power; yet to some good measure of habilitie and power, Peter Blesens. Epist, 151. vt auferantur scandala de regno Dei, To remooue scandalls from the kingdome of God, and from this Church, from this kingdome and com­mon-wealth; giue mee leaue I say, to exhort you, to beseech [Page 43] you, and euen to adiure you, by this example of our Sauiour Christ, that you would vse your best endeuours to remooue this euill, to cut off this scandall, this Simonie, this buying and selling, and reduce this disorder ad honestatis gloriam, to the glory of this Church and common-wealth. You ho­norable, &c. according to the power and wisedome that is giuen you from aboue, may be a meanes to amend it, non est meae humilitatis dictare vobis, vel sic, vel sic faciendum, De cōsider. l. 2. as Saint Bernard said to Eugenius Bishop of Rome, it will not stand with the meannesse of my place and knowledge, to say that thus, or thus it may bee done, but no doubt it would greatly bee eased, if the rich patrones who are pares culpa, nay superiores, equall, nay superiour in offending, and sinne onely through couetousnesse, might be pares poena, with the poore Priest, who is tempted to Simonie by extreame ne­cessitie.

I haue beene somewhat earnest and zealous against this sinne, but maruell not at it, Gregor. for I haue read that partem habe­bit cum Simone qui contra Simoniacos pro officij sui loco vehe­menter non exarserit, 1. q. 1. quisqis. Hee shall haue his portion with Simon Magus, who according to the place he beareth, is not very earnest against the committers of Simony. All that wee can doe is to speake vnto you out of these places, and that will be the lesse regarded, because we shall be thought to speake for our selues; but I haue giuen you reasons why it cannot stand with a common-wealth, and protest I speake it not so much in commiseration of our owne selues, who by our co­uetousnesse and ambition haue brought this euill vpon vs, and hauing guiltie consciences haue blusht to reprooue it, as in compassion of our successors who shall suffer for our sinnes, and liue in an age when the finger of the sonnes will be heauier on them, then the loynes of the fathers, are now vpon vs; because commonly wicked parents bring forth progeniem vitiosiorem, An off spring or progeny worse then themselues; when if the ministers shall bee liberally bred as we haue beene, nescient fodere, They will haue no skill to digge for their liuings, and if they know themselues and the [Page 44] worth and dignities of their calling, erubescent egere, They will blush and be ashamed to liue in misery, and yet of ne­cessitie will be compelled turpiter mendicare, Iudge, 17. To go vp and down as the Leuit did to find them places to dwel in, and be houshold Leuites to some meane Micha, for a sute of appar­rel and meat and drinke.

But the time is past, so that I cannot stand vppon the se­cond part of my text, which is the reason why our Sauiour vseth this chastisement vppon the prophaners of the Tem­ple, which containeth matter of very great and necessary obseruation, and offereth a larger discourse then this for­mer; this that hath beene spoken is sufficient to trie maiste­ries both with my strength and your patience: wherefore because in this one speech I cannot performe that which I first intended, as S. Bernard said in the like case, facio finem vbi non est finis, Serm. 36. I make an end where there is no ende; and end my Sermon, but end not my text: beseeching God in the merits of our Sauiour Christ Iesus, who at the feast of the Passeouer entred into the Temple of Ierusalem, and cast out the buyers and the sellers there, to purifie this Church of England, and all the Prelates Ministers and mem­bers of it, from all Simonie, Coueteousnes, Sa­criledge and impious merchandizing to giue grace to the Shepheards, which care to feede their flockes, and to the people with all humani­ty to entertaine their Pastors &c.