A Censure of Simony, Chapter 15
CHAP. XV.
Of the miserable fruits and effects of Simonie.
THe effects and fruits of Simonie are no lesse miserable, then the Censures are grieuous, and the punishments thereof intollerable. For as Simon is the Father of all Simonists: So Simonie is the Mother of all Mischiefes in the Church. For Simonie doth vsually poyson and corrupt two Well-heads, whence the streames of good life doe generally flow vntounto all the people; that is, the Parson, and the Patron. These be, as the two great Lights in the Firmament of the Church, from whom the sublunary and subordinate people receiue the direction and conduct of their life.
Now for the Parson or Minister, hee is the Salt of the earth, the Light of the world, the Guide of the simple. But whom Simonie maketh vnsauoury, darkneth, blindeth: Wherefore as Saint Chrysostome saith, When the Candle is extinguished, when the Pilot is drowned, when the *Chrys. in Matt. ca. 6. Hom. 21.Captaine is captiued, what remaines for the remnant? Let no man despise thy youth, said the Apostle to Timothy. Why? Because nothing doth more impeach and disaduantage a Ministers labours, and frustrate all the fruit of his calling, then contempt iustly contracted vponupon his person. And nothing makes him more contemptible, then Simonie. And what so captiuates their spirituall Captaines, what makes them so mute in Gods cause? what doth so euirate their masculine profession, that they dare not doe their dutie, when necessitie commands it? If not Simonie? For as Saint Cyril saith, A good Pastor, entring into the Fold, Cyril. in Iob. li 7. ca. 1. per Iob. Clicht.by the Authoritie of the Holy Ghost, as of the Porter, the Sheepe heare his voyce, and willingly obey him, as knowing and acknowledging the goodnesse and integritie of their Shepheard: But when they finde that their Pastor came not in by the doore, but climbed vp another way: Neither doe they so much esteeme of his exhortations to vertue, nor so readily obey his precepts, because his violent intrusion into the Sheepefold diminisheth much of his Reuerence and Dignitie, and causeth them lesse to louelove him, and more lightly to set by him. So hee. And Gregory, Epist. 113. Ad Brunichildam: Hinc igitur agitur, vt Sacerdotij dignitas in despectu, & Sanctus sit honor in crimine. Perit vti que reuerentia, ad…mitur disciplina; quia qui culpas debuit em…ndare, committit: & nefaria ambitione honorabilis Sacerdotij ducitur in deprauatione censura. Nam quis denuò veneretur, quod venditur? aut quis non vile putet esse, quod emitur? So that Simonie is as the dead Flye corrupting the boxe of oyntment: it marreth not onelyonly the good nature, but the good name of a Minister, which should bee as a precious oyntment powred forth, perfuming the whole house of God, and causing others to *Post te Curremus inodorem vnguenterum t…rum. Cant. 1.3. vulg. Ambro. de dignitat. Sacerd. cap. 5.run after the sweete smell of it. Saint Ambrose compareth the Minister to the head, saying, Sicut validioribus morbis capite vitiato, reliquum necesse est corpus inundatione superioris morbi let aliter irrigari: ita & ij, qui caput videntur Ecclesiae, morb… pestifero frateruum vitiant corpus, vt nihil ex totius corporis compage insanciatum possit euadere, quod negligentium Sacerdotum vitiositatis mortale infecerit virus, ita vt videas in Ecclesia passim, quos non merita, sed pecuniae ad Episcopatus Ordinem prouexerunt: nugacem populum & indoctum, qui talem sibi asciuerunt Sacerdotem: quos si percontari fideliter velis, quis eos praefecerit Sacerdotes, respondent mex, & dicunt, ab Archiepiscope sum nuper Episcopus ordinatus: *He saith not, Mille libras, or Duo vel tria librarum millia.centum que ei solidos dedi, vt Episcopa…em gratiam consequi meruissem: quos si minime dedissem, hodie Episcopus non essem. Vnde mihi melius est aurum de saccello inuehere, quàm tantum Sacerdotium perdere. Aurum dedi, & Episcopatum comparaui. Quos tamen solidos, si vino, recepturum me illico non diffido. Ordino Presbyteros, consecro Diaconos, & accipio aurum. Nam & de alijs nihilominus Ordinibus pecuniae quaestum profligare confido. Ecce & aurum, quod dedi in meo saccello recepi & Episcopatum gratis accepi. Et nescij homines & indocti in Ordinationibus eorum clamant & dicunt, Dignus es, & iustus es: & conscientia misera, Indignus es, & iniustus es, dicit. Pronunciat enim Episcopus huiusmodi ad p…pulum, dic…s: Pax vobis▪ Oculis quidem carnalibus videtur quasi Episcopus magnus, & diuin…s obt…tibus, inspicitur lepresus magnus. Per pecuniam acquisiuit indebitum Ordinem, &, Deum perdidit in interiore homine. Caro suscepit dignitatem, & anima perdidit honestatem. Caro ancilla Domina facta est animae; & anima, quae erat Domina, facta est famula carni. Caro dominatur populis, & anima seruit Daemoni. Carni Sacerdotium comparauit, & animae detrimentum parauit. Quod dedit, cum ordinaretur, aurum fuit: & quod perdidit, anima fuit. Cum alium Ordinaret, quod accepit, pecunia fuit, & quod dedit, lepra fuit. Haec sunt mercimonia iniquorum, in pernitiem corum. And the same holy Father, in his sixt Chapter of the same Booke, prosecutes this argument thus: Ecce ad quae mala voluitur Deificus Ordo! Ecce ad quae probra sunt prolapsi Sacerdotes, qui audire meruerunt à Iudice Mundi, Vos estis sal terrae. Ergo si lux est Ecclesiae Episcopus à Domino Ordinatus, ita vt imperitiae tenebras praedicationis suae eloquio rutilante, conscientiarum latebras illuminet: cur ipse palpabilibus tenebris tenetur obstrictus? Et non solum, quiae ipse, dum male agit, dignè perit, in super & alios secum indignè perdit. Si enim meruisti salis possidere saporem, vt insipientium possis arua condire: cur infatuatus tali vitio, immundis te porcorum conculcandum pedibus praebuisti, ita vt nec alios, nec teipsum possis condire? Oculorum etiam in corpore officium, id est, in Ecelesia, voluntarius appetisti, vt reliquum per te corpus ducatum lucis haberet: & nunc quadam lippitudine, & caligine vitiorum obtenebratu…, nec teipsum luci idoneum praebes, & alijs adimis lumen. De quibus oculis in Euangelio dicitur: fi oculus tuus simplex fuerit, totum corpus tuum lucidum erit: id est, si Episcopus, qui lumen promeruit praeesse in corpore, simplicitate est Sancta, & innocentia decoratus, omnis Ecclesia splendore luminis radiatur. Si autem oculus tuus nequam est, totum corpus tuum tenebrosum est, id est, si Episcopus, qui videbatur corpori subdito lucem praebere, obnubiletur nequitiae c…citate, quid caetera facient membra, quibus lux adempta est oculorum? Id est, quid secularis factura est multitudo, cum voluptatibus illicitis, & actionibus vetitis, ad similem facinorum voraginem Episcopus multitudinem populi prouocauerit, vt nulli iam iam que illicitum esse videatur, quod ab Episcopo quasi licitum perpetratur. Sed ipsum magis credunt homines esse laudabile, quicquid Episcopus habuerit delectabile. Nec quisquam, quod agere Pontifex non dubitat, se indubitanter agere dicat. Episcopus enim à cunctis indubitanter vocaris, presertim cum ipso nomine censeris, si tamen actio concordet nomini, & nomen se societ actioni. Nam quid aliud interpretatur Episcopus, nisi superinspector? Maximè cum solio in Ecclesia editiore resideat, & ita cunctos respiciat, vt & cunctorum oculi in ipsum respiciant. Ergo quia ita est, cur te velut tetrum speculum vniuersorum oculis demonstras, ita vt non possint obscuritate tua se comptius exornare? So this holy Bishop. Quid referam plura? Si Rex Ieroboam, veris exclusis Leuitis, ex intima plebe vnumquemque iuuenculam suam, & septem arietes secum afferentem, sibi in Sacerdotem consecret: quid mirum si solus vniuersam gentem Israeliticam fecerit peccatricem? Ecqu… aut…m isti infimi plebei, ex faece populi in sacrum Ordinem cooptat…? Nempe quos Dauid viles appellat, quippe timore Domini destitutos. Psal. 15.In tali igitur Sacerdotio Israelitico, si nemo inueniatur Sanctus ac probus, si inter tot Reges ne vnus quidem faedissimae idololatriae, adeoque omnium vitiorum lab… non fuerit notatus: Ioh. 10.quis iure miretur? Vt enim Totus componitur orbis Regis ad exemplum: sic qualis Pastor, talis grex. In Sacerdotio Simoniae corruptela vitiato, frustra quaeris pium probum que populum. Et si Simoniacus Sanctus esse possit, etiam furi competet nomen sanctitatis. Qui enim non per ostium intrat, sed alià in ouile scandit, fur est ac latro, inquit Pastor ille Magnus. Vnde Lyra: Atque hoc faciunt omnes infideles, & etiam mali fideles (hoc est, qui fidem profitentur) statum Praelatione indebitè assequentes. Lyra. in Ioh. 10.But (saith he) he that entreth in by the doore, that is, by the faith and humilitie of Christ, and by his other vertues, to him the Porter openeth, that is, the Holy Ghost reuealeth his truth, that he may feed his sheepe: but the thiefe commeth not, but to kill. So Lyra. *P. Damian l. 1. Epist ad Summ…s Pontifices. Epist 9. ad Nicol. 2. Ro. Pontificem.Damianus tels of a certaine Simoniacall Bishop, who by no meanes could name the holy Ghost; although he could name the Father, and the Sonne; but when hee came to name the holy Ghost, his tongue did stammer, and became stiffe. Merito enim, Spiritum Sanctum, dum emit, amisit: Vt qui exclusus erat ab anima, procul etiam esset consequenter à lingua. Hac igitur difficultate conuictus, Episcopale decarc…raeuit Officium, qui per Simoniacam haeresin ad Episcopatus culmen irrepserat. For buying the Holy Ghost, he deseruedly lost it; that it being shut out of his soule, should bee also farre off from his tongue. So that being by this impediment conuicted, hee abando…ed his Episcopall Function, hauing cropt to that top of his Episcopalitie by Simoniacall heresie. So hee.
Gratian also relates a saying of *Greg. Epist. 114. Theodorico & Theoberto Regibus Francorum.Gregory to this purpose: Vulnerato Pastore, qui… curandis ouibus adhibet medicinam? Aut quomodo populum orationis clypeo tucatur, qui iaculis hostium sese feriendum exponit? aut qualem fructum de se producturus est, cui graui peste radix infecta est? Maior ergo metuenda est locis illis calamitas, vbi tales intercessores ad locum regimines adducuntur, qui Dei magis in se iracundiam pr…uocant, quam per semetips…s placare debuerant. To this purpose *Bernard Ser. ad Pastores in Synodo.Bernard saith to such, Soli non potesti… perire, qui praire debetis docendo & operando. Mul…i sunt Catholici praedicando, qui Haeretici sunt operando. Quod Haeretici faciunt per praua dogmata, hoc faciunt plures hodie per mala exempla: Et tanto grauiores sunt Haereticis, quanto praeualent opera verbis. So Bernard. Simoniaci autem haeretici sunt, in quibus quid impedit, quo minus omne genus peccat… dominetur. Cic. de Senect.For as Senectus est omnis Morbus; So Simonia est omne malum. It is the Mare Mortuum, wherein are buried, yea bred more then all the sinnes of Sodome, and her confederate Cities. From whence come all those sinnes of Bribery in the Common-wealth, but from this stinking lake? from whence, all that *Sir …. C.Lay-Simonie in buying and selling all sort of Offices, great and small, of publike Iustice, and priuate seruice, but from the authenticke precedent, yea the spawne and sperme of Simonie? Thus the Virgin Dinah, the Virgin Church being rauished, what followeth, but that these two, Simeon and Leui, the Simoniacall Patron and Parson, brethren in euill, will be the Instruments of crueltie to destroy the whole Citie, or Parish where they dwell; and so make the whole profession of true religion to stinke in the nostrills euen of the enemies of the truth. These two being like the two maine pillars, whereon the *Iudg. 16.26.whole house leaned: if Simonie like Sampson shake these downe, tell mee how the whole Parish cannot but perish with them? Wee hauehave a memorable and deplored example hereof in Herod and Caiphas, the one, the Patron selling, the other, the Priest purchasing. For it is well obserued by Ferus, Ferus in pass p. 2that Annas and Caiphas did purchase to themselues the yeerely vicissitude of succession in the Office of the High-Priest, which is noted by the Euangelist, saying, That Caiphas was the High-Priest for that yeere. So that Annas and Caiphas, the father and sonne in law, had their yeerely turnes in the High-Priests Office, yeelding to Herod a yeerely returne for the same, to keepe his fingers in vse and vre. Vnde facile conijci potest quàm nihil pietatis habuerint, multum autem arrogantiae & vanae gloriae: Whence it may easily bee coniectured, how little or no pietie they had, and how much pride and vaine-glory; saith Ferus. And who so fit as these grand Simoniackes, to be the betrayers and murtherers of the Lord Iesus Christ? whereupon insued the fatall ruine of that most ancient and renowned Church and Nation of the Iewes. So when the Lord had denounced that fat…ll and finall destruction to Hierusalem, and that Church; doth he not immediately thereupon goe into the Temple and purge it from those profane Merchants? Intimating, that such like profanation of the Church by buyers and sellers, should be one principall cause of the ruine thereof, Luke 19.44.45. *Gratian pars. 2. causa 1. Sicut Eunuchu….Saint Augustine reported, that the holy fire of the Sacrifice, which during the seuentie yeeres captiuitie in Babylon liued vnderunder water, was extinguished, when Antiochus sold the Priesthood to Iason. And what maruell then, if the fire of godly zeale, and the very life and light of religion bee in danger to bee wholly extinguished in that Church, where Simonie is predominant…? In Pope Gregory the ninths time, a Grecian Archbishop elect, comming to Rome to bee confirmed, and not speeding without a large summe, thereupon returned, re infecta, which gaue the first occasion to the Greeke Church to reuolt and rent it selfe from the Latin, as Matthew Paris saith. But this by the way, to shew how odious, and how pernicious Simonie is.
Cyprian de Lapsis, saith. Non in Sacerdotibus religio deuota, non in Ministris fides integra, non in operibus misericordia, non in moribus disciplina. Episcopi plurimi, quos & hortamento esse oportet cateris & exemplo, diuina procuratione contempta. Procuratores rerum saecularium fieri, derelicta Cathedra, plebe deserta, negotiationis quastuosa nundinas ancupari; esurientibus in Ecclesia fratribus non subuenire, habere argentum largiter velle, &c. Quid non perpeti tales pro peccatis eiusmodi mereremur? Adeo traditam nobis diuinitus Disciplinam pax longa corrupit &c. And de ieiunio & tent. 6. Simon Apostolorum temporibus vaenalem putans Spiritum Sanctum, Petrum donis aggreditur, & tentat emere potestatem, per quam plura lucretur. Haec sacrilegij forma per omnia Officia, gradus que discurrit, & nihil intentatum ambitio praetermittit. Nec dubitet quisquam Diaboli esse negotia, & nundinatores eius, quicun que haec exercent commercia nec quicquam hu…usmodi abeo, nisi praemissa Apostasia, donari. So that Simonie and Apostacie goe together.
What should I speake here of the infinite and insupportable discouragements, which both learning and honestie ioyntly suffer by reason of Simonie? when as an honest Schollar seeth before his eyes, an impossibilitie of comming to any place in the Church, his honestie being in this respect so lame, as it cannot stirre either hand or foot to climbe, or clamber to any such place by by-paths.
That reuerend and learned Bishop Iewell, in one of his Sermons before the late Queene Elizabeth of famous memory:Serm. in Psal. 69.9. The zeale of thy house hath eaten me vp. among many other excellent obseruations to the like purpose, saith thus: Loth I am to speake, quoth hee, yet the case so requireth. Maintenance of Learning, whereby an able and sufficient Ministry may grow and bee established in all the Churches of this Realme, is to bee wished for. The good estate of this noble Kingdome, the comfort of posteritie, the stay of religion, the continuing of the Gospel, the remouing of darkenesse, hangeth vponupon it. One asked sometimes how it was, that in Athens, so goodly and great a Citie, there were no Physitians. To whom this answere was made, because there are no rewards appointed for them that practice physicke. The same answere may be made for our times; the cause why the Church of God is so forsaken, is the want of zeale to them, that should either for their courtesie, or for their habilitie, bee fosterers of learning, and increase the liuings, where occasion is, and giuegive hope and comfort to learned men. What said I? Increase? Nay the liuings and prouision, which heretofore were giuen to this vse, are taken away. HaueHave patience, if any such bee here (as I well know there are) whom these things touch. Suffer me to speake the truth, it is Gods cause. The liuings of such, as are in the Ministry, are not in their hands, to whom they are due. All other Laborers and Artificers hauehave their hyer increased double as much, as it was wont to bee: onelyonly the poore man that laboureth and sweateth in the Vineyard of the Lord of hosts, hath his hire abridged and abated. I speake not of the Curates, but of the Parsonages and Vicarages, that is of the places, which are the Castles and Towers of fence for the Lords Temple. They seldome passe now adayes from the Patron, if hee bee no better then a Gentleman, but either for the Lease, or for present money. Such Merchants are broken into the Church of God, a great deale more intollerable, then were they, whom Christ whipped and chased out of the Temple. Thus they that should be carefull for Gods Church, that should be Patrons to prouide for the consciences of the people, and to place among them a learned Minister, who might bee able to preach the Word vntounto them out of season, and in season, and to fulfill his Ministry, seeke their owne, and not that which is Iesus Christs. They serue not Iesus Christ, but their belly. And this is done not in one place, or in one Countrey, but throughout England. A Gentleman cannot keepe his house, vnlesse he hauehave a Parsonage or two in farme for his prouision.
O mercifull God, whereto will this grow at last? If the miserie, which this plague worketh, would reach but to one age, it were the more tolerable. But it will be a plague to the posteritie, it will be the decay and desolation of Gods Church. Young men, which are toward, and learned, se… this. They see, that hee which feedeth the flocke, hath least part of the milke: hee which goeth a warfare, hath not halfe his wages. Therefore they are wearie and discouraged, they change their studies, some become Prentises, some turne to Physicke, some to Law: all shun and flee the Ministerie. And besides the hinderance that thus groweth by wicked dealing of Patrons, by reason of the Impropriations, the Vicarages in many places, and in the properest Market townes, are so simple, that no man can liue vponupon them, and therefore no man will take them. They were wont to say, Beneficia sine Cura, Benefices without charge: but now may bee said, Cura sine Beneficio, Charge or Cure without Benefice. Thus and much more to this purpose said that peerlesse Iewell. And he concludes with a graue Exhortation to her Maiestie, as followeth: O that your Grace did behold the miserable disorder of Gods Church, or that you might foresee the calamities, which will follow. It is a part of your Kingdome and such a part, as is the principall prop and stay of the rest. I will say to your Maiestie, as Cyrillus sometimes said to the godly Emperours, Theodosius, and Valentinian, Ab ea, quae erga Deum est, Epist. ad Theod.pietate, reipub. vestrae status pendet: The good estate and welfare of your Common-weale hangeth vponupon true godlinesse. You are our Gouernour, you are the Nurse of Gods Church. We must open this griefe before you. God knoweth if it may bee redressed, it is runne so farre. But if it may bee redressed, there is no other besides your Highnesse, that can redresse it. I hope I speake truly, that which I speake without flatterie, that God hath indued your Grace with such measure of learning and knowledge, as no other Christian Prince. He hath giuen you peace, happinesse, the louelove, and the hearts of your Subiects. Oh, turne and imploy these to the glorie of God: that God may confirme in your Grace the thing, which he hath begun. To this end hath God placed Kings and Princes in their state, as Dauid saith, that they serue the Lord, that they may see, and cause others to see to the furniture of the Church. The good Emperour Iustinian cared for this as much, as for his life. Constantine, Theodosius, and Valentinian, and other godly Princes, called themselues Vassallos, the Subiects and Bond-seruants of God. They remembred that God furnished them in their houses, and were not vnmindfull to furnish his House.
To this purpose also a graue and learned now Prelate of this Church in his sermon at Paules Crosse, thus said: Wee that are bred vp in learning, Ioh. Howson. 4. Nouemb. 1597. Related by Democritus …unior in his bookes of the causes of Melancholy p. 177.and destinated by our Parents to this end. We suffer our child-hood in the Grammar Schoole, which Augustine calls, Magnam tyrannidem, & graue malum, and compares it to the torments of Martyrdome; when wee come to the Vniuersitie, if we liue of the Colledge allowance▪ as Phalaris obiected to the Leontines, foreign, needy of all things, but hunger and feare; or if wee bee maintayned but partly by our Parents cost, doe expend in Vniuersitie maintenance, books 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 spirits, our substance and patrimonies, wee cannot purchase those small rewards, which are ours by Law, and the right of inheritance, a poore Parsonage or a Vicarage of fiftie pounds, per annum, but we 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 and losse of our soules, by Simonie and Periurie, and the forfeiture of all our spirituall preferment in esse and posse, both present and to come: What father after awhile will be so improuident, to bring vp his sonne, to his great charge, to this necessarie beggerie? What Christian will be so irreligious, to bring vp his son in that course of life, which by all probabilitie and necessitie, Cogit ad turpia, inforcing to sinne, will intangle him in Simonie and Periurie? whereas the Poet saith, Inuitatus ad haec aliquis de ponte negabit; A beggars brat taken from the bridge, where hee fits a begging, if he knew the inconuenience, had cause to refuse it. So he. Let me conclude it with the wordes of our Democritus: This being thus, saith he, hauehave wee not fished faire all this while, that are initiated Diuines to finde no better fruits of our labour? Hoc est cur palles?Pers. Sat. 3. cur quis non prandeat, hoc est? Doe we macerate our selues for this? If this be all the respect, reward, and honour we shall hauehave, Martiall.Frange leues calamos, & scinde Thalia libellos; Let vsus giuegive ouer our bookes, and betake our selues to some other course of life. To what end shall we studie? Quid me literulas stulti docuere parentes? What did our parents meane, to make vsus Schollers? to be as farre to seeke for preferment, after twentie yeeres studie, as we were at first? Why doe wee take such paines? Quid tantum insanis iuvat impallescere chartis? So he. Honos alit Artes, Honor and reward is the maintayner of Arts. But the Ministerie is the Art of Artes. And that which God and Man hath appointed for the maintenance of the Ministerie, shall we call it the reward of a Minister? Alas: God helpe vsus, if this were our reward, which at the most hath no correspondency to the worke of a Minister. For if wee hauehave sowne vntounto you spirituall things, is it a great matter …f wee reape your carnall things? yea, Non magnum, sed minimum, saith Anselme, A very small matter. But shall the worke of our Ministerie so infinitely exceede that, which in no proportion can bee reputed a reward: and yet can wee not hauehave this poore recompense of our labour, though not of our function, to sustaine our poore bodies and studies, but we must pay as deare for it, as he that neuer saw Schoole may pay for this, or any temporall commoditie? If so, then frange leues calamos, & scinde Thalia libellos. Away with learning, and consequently away with the Ministerie, yea farewell all good Ministers. For eueryevery Minister should bee an honest man, and no honest man will be a corrupt Minister: and consequently, no honest Minister will be a Simonist: and doth not Simonie tend then to the vtter abolition of the Ministerie? And what other Ministerie can be expected in a Church, where Simonie reigneth, then such as was vnderunder Ieroboam? to whom Abiah King of Iudah said, HaueHave yee not driuen away the Priests of the Lord, 2. Chron. 13.9.the sonnes of Aaron and the Leuites, & hauehave made you Priests like the people of other Countries? whosoeuer commeth to consecrate with a young Bullocke and seuen Rammes, the same may be a Priest. So Simonie driueth away all good men, and admitteth into the Church those that bee corrupt, of the basest of the people. Master Perkins that Reuerend man of God alleageth this, as one of the maine reasons of the rarenesse and scarsitie of good Ministers, namely, want of maintenance and preferment for men that labour in this Calling. And what difference is there (I pray you) betweene want of maintenance or preferment, and the buying and purchasing of them? For so, preferment becomes a recompence of my mony, not of my Ministerie. I will relate the wordes of that good man. Men (saith he) are flesh and bloud, and in that respect must hee allured and wonne to imbrace this Vocation, Perkins.by some Arguments which may perswade flesh and bloud. The world hath in all ages beene negligent therein, and therefore God in his Law, tooke such strict order for the maintenance of the Leuites: but especially now vnderunder the Gospell, this Calling is vnprouided for, when it deserues best of all to be rewarded; certainly (if Gods Law did not binde vsus) it were a worthy Christian policy to propound good preferments to this Calling, that thereby men of the worthiest gifts might be won vntounto it, and the want thereof is the cause, why so many young men, of speciall parts, and greatest hope, turne to other Vocations, and especially to the Lawes, wherein at this day the greatest part of the finest wits of our Kingdome are imployed; And why? But because they hauehave all the meanes to rise, wherea… the Ministerie for the most part yeeldeth nothing, but a plaine way to beggerie. This is a great blemish in our Church; and surely I wish, the Papists, those children of this world were not wiser in their kinde (in this point) then the Church of God: the reformation hereof is a worke worthy the labour of a Prince and people; and speciall care is to be had in it, else it will not be reformed. For doubtlesse had not God himselfe in the Old Testament taken such strickt Orders for the liuings of the Leuites, they had beene put to no lesse extremities, then is the Ministerie of this age. And this reason added to the other makes them perfect, and all put together makes a reason infallible: For who will vndergoe so v…le contempt, and so great a charge for no reward? And where there is so great contempt, and so meane a reward, what maruell if a good Minister be one of a thousand? So this holy man. By all which we may both see the miserie of the Ministerie of a Church, where not onelyonly the one moitie of Church-maintenance is impropriate. But the other for the most part is in Hucksters handling, the propertie of it, as of a pr… ferment and reward of a faithfull Minister, being altered by Simonie, and as it were made impropriate too: and consequently, we cannot but feele, and more yet feare the ruefull effects thereof, both in Church and Commonwealth.
Againe, for asmuch as Simonists are the most doughtie Non-residents, making vse of their Benefices, as Fishers doe of their lesser fishes, as baits to catch the greater fish, and so leaue the sweet fresh Riuers at home, to goe fish abroad in the mayne Sea (because, No fishing to the Sea, nor seruice to a King) whereas they might wisely with the Vine and Fig-tree, and Oliue-tree, Prouerbe.enioy their sweet priuate life in Gods Vineyard, feeding their harmelesse flocke, and not with the Bramble Abimelech, aspire to become, as Saint Peter saith, foreign: not examples to the flocke. Doing so, what else can come of it, but ruthfull ruine, as to themselues, so to the flocke of God? For Simonie doth necessarily imply Non-residency. For first, a Simonist, after the payment of his first purchase, is commonly inforced to liue priuately, to let out his Parsonage to farme, defrauding the poore of their hospitall reliefe, and goe sculke in some corner of the Citie or other, and there thrust himselfe into some Lecture: there hee gathers vp his crums againe. And after some miserable difficultie recouering himselfe, doth hee then retire home to feede his flocke? Nothing lesse: But as *Gen. 49.14. Adeo execrabilis est quorundam religiosorum ambitio, qua semper p…us ambiens, eo magis fit insatiabilis, quo sibi amplius indulge… ▪ extra…. Ioh. 22. tit. 3. Execrabilis.Issachar, hee is like a strong Asse, couching downe betweene two burthens, he seeth that rest is good, and the land pleasant, and now begins he tooth and naile to gather another stocke, to purchase another preferment: and that done, after awhile another, and so the tyde at last comes in so fast vponupon him, as it beares vp his Barke now readie rigged for any Port of preferment or Prelacy, like some trauailing heads, who for gayne will hazard their life in some farre and dangerous voyage: but herein vnlike: Those, goe with a minde and hope to returne home: These, seldome or neuer so much as once looke backe toward… their more homely home on the Playne, fearing belike the punishment of Lots wife, So eager they be with the wing… of Ambition to flie to the highest Mount of preferment, a… if there were no safetie but there: Those againe, lay out one to receiue three or foure at their returne: These, will giuegive *Tria Beneficia pro vno Episcopatu.three for one, if they neuer returne. Whence, what mischiefe to the Church? What decay of Religion? What coldnesse of deuotion? What contempt of the sacred Calling? What scandall to the Gospell? What ignorance, the mother of Popish deuotion, indeede of all impietie and profanenesse, of all heresie and superstition? All threatning imminent and ineuitable danger (if it bee not the sooner preuented by a happy reformation) both to Church and Common-wealth. It were endlesse to muster vp all the mischiefes, which follow this one Generall, Simonie. A worthy Minister once of this Church,M. Marb. said: A Simonist is a perpetuall eare-boared bond-slaue to his Patron. Hee hath no warrant to teach the people, and commonly lesse successe. Whereas if a man be sent of God to gouerne a people neuer so ignorant and fierce, God will put his hand betweene, and tame them. According to that of the Prophet, Ierem. 23.32. I sent not those Prophets, nor commanded them; therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord.
I will conclude therefore with two or three zealous and pithy Admonitions of Gregorie to this purpose, in his 64. Epistle to Queene Bruni…hilda; hee instantly exhorteth her to roote out of her Kingdome this heresie of Simonie, saying, Prouidete animae vestrae, &c. HaueHave a care of your soule, hauehave a care of your posteritie, to whom you wish a happy raigne, hauehave a care of your Prouinces, and before our Creator put forth his hand to smite, bethinke you most carefully of the correction of this sinne. And in his 51. Epistle to Virgilius Bishop of A…les, Constat &c. It is reported that in the prouinces of France and Germanie, *Note, that in those dayes, none were admitted into the Ministerie, but withall they were instituted and admitted into a benefice, or some spirituall preferment.none is admitted to holy Orders, without giuing a bribe; if it be so, I speake it with teares, I denounce it with griefe, that the Priestly order being decayed inwardly▪ the outward state of it cannot stand. And Epist. 54. Hee exhorteth Theodorick the French King, to assemble a Synode, V… … &c. That all euill conuersation of the Priests, and S…m…niacall heresie, which first arose in the Church by impious ambition▪ may by the definitiue Sentence of the Councell, …acked with the censure of your authoritie, bee taken away; and rent vp by the ro…es: Lest if gold be mor… set by, the… God, Hee whose gentlenesse is now dispised in his precepts, may afterwards cause …ee wrath to be felt in reuenge. And Epist. 57. to Queene Brunichilda. Synodum &c. Call a Synode, and amongst other things, carefully cause the heresie of Simonie to be abandoned out of your Kingdome. For beleeue me, as we hauehave learned by manifold experience, That is to bee reckoned among our losses, whatsoeuer is gayned by sinne. If therefore you would bee defrauded of nothing vniustly, bee carefull to possesse nothing vniustly. For in earthly things alwayes the cause of damage is originally from sinne. If therefore you would out-strip your aduerse Nations, if by Gods assistance you desire the conquest of them, intertaine with reuerence the Commandements of the same Almightie Lord, that hee may vouchsafe to fight for you against your foes, who …ath in his holy Oracle promised, saying, The Lord shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace. So this last good Bishop of Rome. Now the Almightie Lord God, giuegive grace to this Church and Common-wealth, that for the still flourishing of his glorious Gospell amongst vsus, the good of our soules, the welfare of our estates, the settling of our peace, the securing of our posteritie, and the subduing of all our enemies, there may be stirred vp in vsus all a godly care and conscience, to ioyne hearts and hands together, to the vtter extirpation (if possible) of this mother sinne of Simonie.