General Reasons Against the Defalcation of a Fifth of Ministers Maintenance, Dedication 2
To the Honourable Humphrey Mackworth Eſquire, ONE OF THE Council of his Highneſs the Lord PROTECTOR.
Honourable Sir,
THough you were not at leiſure (when I waited on you about the beginning of May laſt) to receive a true and full Information betwixt D. H. and me: I was not diſmiſsed from you, with ſuch diſcouragement, that I ſhould not have hope of abetter opportunity, both for Audience and Acceptance of any just motion, I had to make unto you: which (at that time) was, that you would be pleaſed, to caſt your eye upon thoſe Papers, then Manuſcripts, which now I humbly offer in Print to your Peruſal. They are the ſame in ſubstance which then I ſhewed to my Reverend Brethren M. T. G. and M. T. P. two worthy Miniſters of your County, and both before and ſince (viz. the laſt Act at Oxford) to my highly honoured Friend, D. P. F. Prebendary of Chriſt-Church: which I note as a circumſtance of time, to clear me from all ſuſpition of, or ſpirit of Preſumption or contradiction, againſt the Proviſo of the late Ordinance of his Highneſs the Lord Protector, and you of his Council of the 29. of Auguſt. 1654. in the behalf of the outed Miniſters Wife and Children: For I could not then divine what your Wiſdomes would Order or Ordain for that particular.
For the Ordinance it ſelf, entirely taken, it is the Judgement of many wiſe and godly men, that it will much promote the Reformation of corrupt manners (which from ſcandalous Miniſters, like a peſtilent contagion, have ſpread abroad among the people, as the Prophet complained of old, From the Prophets of Hieruſalem is prophaneneſſe gone into all the Land, Jer. 23.15.) and it will prove the more effectual to that purpoſe, becauſe it is committed to their execution, whoſe Zeal will not cool into careleſſe Negligence, or partial connivance: that was it which made the Government of the City of Geneva, to be ſo much commended (even by Bodine a Papiſt) to which he applieth the ſaying ofaRidiculum eſt ad legem eſſe bonum, ita fit ut quae legibus nuſquam vindicantur, illio i. Genevae coerceantur ab ils cenſoribus, qui ſummam virtutis opinionem, de ſeipſis excitarunt. Igitur nulla meretricia, nullae ebrietates, nullae ſaltationes, nulli mendici, nulli otioſi, in ea civitate reperiuntur. Bodin. Method. hiſt. c. 6. p. 246. Seneca, It is a ridiculous thing (ſaith he) there to be good onelyonly by ordaining righteous things, their manner is, to be practically as well as legally juſt, as ſtrict in execution, as wiſe in conſtitution of good Laws, thence it is that thoſe exceſſes, which no where elſe are duly puniſhed, are there reſtrained; ſo that no whoredome, no drunkenneſſe, no dancings, no beggars, no idle perſons, are to be found in that City.
And for that Proviſo (of the fifth Part) his Highneſse, and you of his Council had to induce you to it, 1. An Ordinance of Parliament. 2. Examples of Practice in ſeveral Committees anſwerable to it. 3. An Opinion of Charity as the ground of both: which I humbly conceive, might make you leſse willing to debate the Point, and more ready to paſſe it, then otherwiſe you would have been, if it had been (as a new thing) to be caſt into the mould of your own judgements. The leſſe cauſe is there for ſuch as ſuffer by it, to be offended at the Ordinance (as it is yours) and the leſse offence I hope will be taken at the reaſons or deprecations of the preſsure of it (by thoſe who feel it heavy upon them) as it is theirs, who have urged it to their prejudice: requiring a fifth part for the Wife and Children of the offending Party, but awarding nothing for him nor his, who offended not, when he is (without any Pretence of inſufficiency or miſcarriage) put out by the Patron, upon the death of the former Incumbent; which if it ſhould be ratified (as a Law of the Medes and Perſians, without any alteration, Daniel 6.8.) may not ſinne ſeem to have a perpetuall priviledge, which to innocence ſhall never be permitted.
But I am perſwaded better things of you, for I am confident, you never thought to make any of your Ordinances (in ſuch matters to be received (as the Pope obtrudeth his Dictates) for infallible Decrees: Nor did our Biſhops (though ſome of later time were forward enough, to take too much upon them) aſſume any ſuch Authority, to the Canons of their Synods, as if they could not erre: for they all ſubſcribed, to the 21th Article of the 39. Articles made in the year 1562. not onelyonly of the Fallibilitie of Generall Councils, but of their actuall failing in things pertaining unto God.
Nor can I fear from you or any of your Honourable rank, the tart entertainment of Amos by Amaziah, for being too bold at Bethel, Amos 7.13. in preſenting my Conceptions to your Cognizance (though as yet it may be ſomewhat different from ſome of yours, who ſit and act in ſo high a Sphere) ſince you are not more eminent for Dignity or Authority, then for the Profeſsion of the purest kinde and degree of Reformed Religion, which if it be ſincere (and I dare not think otherwiſe) is founded in Humility, and Humility will diſpoſe you to receive (without diſdain) any conſiderable Advertiſement, though from a Servant: You have read it ſaid of Job, by God Himſelf, That he had not his like for Goodneſſe in the Earth, Job 2.3. and for Greatneſſe, he was the greateſt of all the men of the Eaſt, Job 1.3. and yet was he ſo low in his own Eyes, that he did not deſpiſe the Cauſe of his man-ſervant, or maid-ſervant, when they contended with him, Job 31.13. And of Moſes, as well the worthieſt as the meekeſt man that was upon the face of the Earth, Numbers 12.3. (for he was Captain Generall under the Lord of Heaſts, and over his own peculiar People, a miraculous Deliverer of them out of the hand of a most Potent and Obſtinate Tyrant) that he ſlighted not the Counſell ofbJethro was a Prieſt of Midian, rather then a Prince (though the Original word be taken ſometimes for a Prince or chief Ruler, becauſe his Daughters were ſo meanly imployed, and ſo little reſpected by the Shepherds, Exod. 2.16. Jethro, Exodus 18. though in Gifts, in Graces, in all Authority, Divine and Humane, Eccleſiaſticall and Civill, by many degrees inferiour to him.
I have been thus farre drawn on in an ingenuous freedome of Speech unto you (Worthy Sir) by the Remembrance of my firſt Acquaintance with you (many years agoe) occaſioned by that rarely Religious Gentle-woman, then my gracious Pariſhioner, and ſince your worthily and ſingularly beloved Yoke fellow: who was not more Honoured for her Piety, by the Godly, then loved for her Charity and Humility, by all that knew Her: in which Graces my conceit hath hitherto been, that you were both ſutably and happily matched.
But now it may be it will not become me to look ſo farre backward (to what is past) but rather to look upward to what you are at preſent, by your high Preheminence: and from you, and for you, I must raiſe my thoughts farre above you, even as high as God himſelf, bleſsing him for you, and for your Honourable Colleagues (though principally for his Highneſſe the Lord Protector) in that you have all concurred in a pious as well as a charitable Providence, for the Miniſters certain and comfortable Maintenance (for you conſidered them as by Office the Servants of God, ſo by Nature, Nation, and Religion, Brethren to your ſelves) manifeſted many wayes, particularly by the Instrument of Government ofcArt. 35. December 16th, 1653. and the Ordinances ofdPag. 633. Auguſt 29. and September 2. both of the year current, 1654. which we cannot but account not onelyonly as a gracious Beneficence of yours unto us, but as a mercifull Deliverance of us, out of their hands, who think us worthy of no better cheriſhing (for the best Service we can do to God or man,) then ſuch as Ahab appointed for Micaiah, Put this fellow in priſon, and feed him with the bread of Affliction, and with the water of Affliction, 1 Kings 21.27. whoſe principles ſince we know them to be ſuch as are as repugnant to the Right and Propriety of Civill Authority as to the Right and Propriety of Sacred Miniſtrations, we ſhall hold it our Duty by all warrantable wayes of oppoſition, (within the compaſſe of our Faculty and Function) to appear and act againſt them, as well for your ſakes, as for our own; I ſpeak in the Plurall Number (though in my preſent Addreſſe I be alone) becauſe I am well aſſured that the moſt, and worthieſt of my Brethren of the Ministry (with whom I have converſed) are wholly of my minde, in this matter: Though our Conditions in ſome reſpects be ſo different, as may put ſome of us to Petition to your Honours, for an Additionall or Supplementall Ordinance or Declaration, that may ſuccour us againſt injury, and ſecure us againſt miſery, which (without our own faults) may befall us, if by a ſeaſonable, and ſufficient Remedy from your Wiſdome, Power and Goodneſſe, they be not prevented. Mine own preſent caſe, may be an Inſtance in one particular; which I have here drawn up with more Care and Scruple, leſt I ſhould offend againſt Truth and Conſcience, in the leaſt point, then deſire to obtain any ſelf end, or worldly intereſt of mine own: as having my moſt intentive Thoughts ſet upon mine Account, and Hope of a better World, whither I can have now but a very ſhort Journey, mine Age being already arrived at Davids periodeThe dayes of our years are threeſcore and ten. Pſalm 90.10. Yet, while I am here, I ſhall heartily pray, That God will both perpetually direct and aſsiſt you, in all your Conſultations and Reſolves for the Publique Welfare of Church and State, and graciouſly Requite all your good Offices, to his Houſe and Houſe-hold, and ſhall faithfully profeſſe, and ſeriouſly endeavour to approve my ſelf,
Your Honours humble and faithfull Servant JOHN LEY▪ Brightwell in Berks Octob. 17. 1654.