The Calling of the Ministry, Title page – Dedication
OF THE CALling of the Ministerie two Treatises, discribing The Duties and Dignities of that Calling.
DELIVERED PVBlickly in the Vniuersitie of Cambridge, by Maister Perkins.
Taken then from his mouth, and now dilligently perused and published, by a Preacher of the word
With a preface prefixed touching the publishing of Maister Perkins his works, & a Catalogue of all such particulars thereof, as are to bee expected.
1 Cor. 4.1.
Let a man so thinke of vsus as of the Ministers of Christ, and disposers of the secrets of God.
Imprinted at London by I. R. for Willliam Welby, and are to be sold at his shop in Paules-Churchyard, at the signe of the Grayhound. 1605.
To the Right Worshipfull Sir Edward Cooke Knight, his Maiesties Attorney Generall, and Sir Thomas Heskith Knight, Attorney of his Highnes Court of Wardes & liueries, and one of his Maiesties Honourable Counsell in the North, two of Gods principall Attorneyes in the Cause of true Religion. Grace and peace from Iesus Christ.
RIght Worshipfull, giuegive mee leaue to put you both in one Epistle, whō one seruice, one place, one profession, one order, & one Religion hauehave so neerely combined: As you are Brethren many waies, and especially in the profession & practise of one Religion: so vouchsafe to be ioynt Patrons of this little afterbirth, this faetus posthumus, of that vvorthy man Ma. Perkins, now deceased. I send you heere one of the shortest, and one of the sweetest of his Treatises: had it been as well brought foorth by me, as it ws begot by him, it had beene a child not vnwoorthy of so great a father: but seeing it is now as a fatherles child, be you the Tutors to this Orphane, at whose hands Orphanes and Wards hauehave euer been well vsed. The father whilst he liued was a shining light in this our Church, and beeing dead, is a shining starre in heauen, for he turned manie to righteousnes, Dan. 12, 3.and his doctrine will shine in Christian Churches vvhilst the sunne shineth vppon the earth. The subiect of this Treatise is the Ministerie, whereof are layde downe the duties & dignities. And well dooth he couple these two together: for some can challenge the dignities of the Ministerie, and cunningly cast the duties frō theyr shoulders: others performe the duties but are kept from the dignities dulle belonging to that calling: but as hee that will doe the duties, may iustly challenge the dignities, so he that will expect the dignities, must doe the duties of a Minister: therefore in this building, these two beames are in great wisdome well set together by this wise Maister builder, and so closelie coupled, as the idle or ambitious man cannot looke at the dignities, but he must withal behold the duties, nor the painful & laborious man see his dutie, but withal shal see the dignitie thereto belonging.
And surely (Right Worshipfull) none might better hauehave written of this subiect then he: for who may more worthily describe the dignities of the Ministerie then he, who neither by doctrine nor conuersation, was euer the least disgrace vntounto his Ministerie? or who may better challenge the honour of his calling, then he who was euer an honour to his calling; And vvho might better teach the duties of the Ministerie, then hee who so discharged them, as Enuie it selfe cannot iustly reproue, and the enemies thēselues cannot but (a)Answer to Perkins his reformed Catholick, by B. a priest.commend: and who may better teach them to others, then he that carefully practised thē in his owne person? And as none could be a fitter Author of this discourse then he, so not many fitter Patrons then your selues: not many in your profession better schollers, nor any that better louelove schollers then your selues: & you are some of those few in this wicked age, who willingly yield all dignities and due reuerence to such Ministers as you see willingly to discharge the duties of good Ministers. Well would it be with the Ministerie of England, (and the better with it, the better with England) if all as great as you, vvere as great friends to it as you. And if the Papists except, and say how can this be, for that you hauehave beene persecuters of their Priests, let me answere once for you, who often aunswere for many distressed men: they persecute you with slander, that say you persecuted thē, (but be content to beare your part in popish slanders, with our Prince and state, our Counsellers & Clergie, our Parliaments and Lawes, for none of these hauehave escaped these viperous tongues) for though you hauehave executed the lawes vponupon some of them in your seuerall places, yet not with sharpnes nor seueritie, but with mercifull iustice, and that also not as they were Priests, but Plotters, Practisers, subuerters, and seducers: and as they vvere Priests, you sought their reformation, not their ruine. And if they, who can hardlie discharge themselues from beeing Priests of Baal, hauehave had but iustice, and that also tempered with mercy, it shewes how good regard you hauehave, and howe much you esteeme all good and faithfull Ministers, which are Gods Interpreters. In a word, if all our Ministers were such as this Treatise describeth, or came but as neere it as the Author hereof did, & if all our great ones did vse & esteeme good Ministers as you do, we should then soone pull the Ministerie frō vnderunder that foote of contempt, with which this prophane age doth daily tread vponupon it. The Church of Rome, who are farre wiser in theyr kinde then the children of light, hauehave taken other & strange courses to magnifie the Clergie. They teach, that the state Ecclesiasticall, is so far more excellent then the Ciuile, as the sunne is then the moone, & that not in spirituall onelyonly, (for that we deny not) but in temporall power, pompe, & estate: and that therefore the Chiefe of their Clergie, is as farre aboue the mightiest Emperour, as the sunne is aboue the moone; and as the moone borroweth her light from the sunne, so doth the Emperour his state and power from the Pope.
They teach, that the Clergie is a state so distinct, & so absolute of it selfe, as it hath not to do with the Ciuile state, yea they exempt their Clergie, from beeing any vvay subiect to the temporall Magistrate. And though their crimes, be neuer so many or monstrous, yet the Prince, or ciuile authoritie, hath nothing to do to take notice thereof, much lesse to punnish them: & herevpon great volumes are written, and many Acts and decrees are made in theyr Cannon Law, De exemptione Clericorum. They extoll their Clergie aboue the Temporaltie, allowing the Priests both Breade and Wine in the Sacrament, but leauing the Laitie bread alone. They make them in their Masse Mediators betwixt Christ & God the Father, & Creators of their Creator and Redeemer, when and as often as themselues list. And finally, they send for the most part, all their Clergie immediatly to heauen without let, wheras all the Temporalty (except Martyrs) must passe by Purgatory. Here are great buildings, but on a sandy foundation, goodly Castles, but built in the ayre; if these deuises vvere of God, they would certainly stand, but their long tottring threatens a suddaine fall.
Contrariwise, our Church, or rather the corruption of our Church, by auoyding this Scilla, hauehave falne into Charibdis, by auoyding one extremitie, hauehave falne into the other, by taking too much dignity & authority frō our Ministerie, & by laying too much pouerty, contempt, and basenes vppon it. It were a worke worth the labour of the wisest heads, to put downe the true meane betwixt both extreames, & vvorth the labour of our Noble King, to take order that that meane be kept, without rising to the right hand, or falling to the left. This short Treatise may hap to giuegive som light & directions therein, or at least may encourage & stir vp their harts in vvhose hands it is to doe it: VnderUnder your woorthy names would I hauehave it see the world, not so much for that I am bound to you both in many priuate and particuler respects, (though that be much) as for that I know you both to be of so right and reformed a iudgement in this case, as you would hauehave none Ministers but of sufficient gifts, and vnblameable liues, nor those Ministers put to their pensions, or vncertaine salaries, but to hauehave certaine & sufficient maintenance proportionable to theyr charge, and beseeming the honour of a christian Church: God continue you still in that minde, and make many more of the same with you, so should we hauehave as florishing a Church as any Christendome hath seene. Goe forward in that, & other your religious resolutions, it is the true way to honour both heere and in a better world: stand firmly for the truth, and boldly against the popish enemies thereof, as hetherto you hauehave done: Religion had neuer more cause to thanke you, and all that doe so then now it hath, for her enemies were neuer so insolent since they were our enemies: but if you and others holde on, as in your seuerall places you hauehave wel begun, and others take the like course, there is hope their insolencies will bee easilie (if timely) repressed, and themselues neerest the fall, when they imagine they are in the full. The Lorde blesse and assist you in your painfull places, and make you on earth Instruments of his glorie, to the good of his Church, so shall you be vessels of glory in the kingdome of Heauen: And thus commending this little treatise to your reading, and my selfe to your fauour, I take leaue, and will euer rest
Your Worships in the Lord, W. Crashawe.