The Pulpits Patronage Against Unordained Usurpation, Part 1 · Chapter 20
CHAP. XX. The fourteenth Argument.
THat ought to be in every ſetled, well-ordered Arg. 14 Church, which it hath been duly ſeized and poſſeſſed of theſe fifteen hundred years and upwards; for that's a ſign it ſuits well with her; had it been forraign and heterogeneal, it would have been removed in all that time, by ſome means. When an healthful ſound man lies long in the morning, its a ſign he lies well, benè dormit qui non ſentit ſe malè dormire, he alwayes ſleeps well, that cannot tell you in the morning how he ſlept, as Alexander ſlept ſo long the morning before he fought Darius Army, that Parmenio was forced to awaken him, and call him up: this queſtion could not have ſlept ſecurely ſo many hundred years, if it had been pinched and diſeaſed with any clear compelling Argument; if it had layn in any bodies way, or troubled them, they would have raiſed it by ſome means: thoſe are and may be reckoned uſeful and well-writ books, that live long, as Homer, and Plutarch, and Ariſtotle, and Virgil, whereas many others in the ſpace have been devoured and eaten up of time, that edax rerum. Its true, what's ill layd, cannot lie well, though it have layn long, (g)Mat. 15. 13every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted, ſhall be rooted up: the Canaanites poſſeſſion in a ſinful wicked way, was no good plea againſt the Iſraelites, when they marched armed to invade it by Gods Commiſſion and expreſs Command. Yet time doth many times legitimate and reconcile a very craſie Title, foreign; there are many things ill done, that cannot be well undone, fieri non debuit, factum valet. Jacob (no doubt) did it, to get the bleſſing from his Brother, by unlawful means (h)Gen. 27. 35., thy Brother (ſayes Iſaack) came with ſubtlety, and hath taken away thy bleſſing, yet being done, it could not afterwards be undone; for Eſau found no place of repentance, though he ſought it carefully with teares (i)Heb. 1…. 17; the Jews (no doubt) did very ill, to aske a King (k)1 Sam. 12. 19., yet God would not revoke the grant when it was done (l)1 Sam. 8. 22.; a ſettlement, though not ſo well as it ſhould be, is like unto a ſleeping dog, that is not for to be awakened; its hard in ſettlements to keep that order and decorum that were to be deſired: in common Halls and entertainments, its hard to ſet down every man according to his worth and dignity; Solomon exceeded all men then alive, in the exactneſſe of his houſhold Government, as is acknowledged (m)1 King. 10. 5., yet when he looked abroad, he ſaw many things miſplaced (n)Eccleſ. 10. 6, 7., ſervants on Horſes, and Princes walking as ſervants upon the earth, yet being ſetled, he would not have us meddle in the mending and alteration of it, as it follows in the next words (o)Eccleſ. 10. 8.: there is in Yorkſhire about Whitby, a very hard Rock, that is not eaſily broken by any tools, whilſt it remains upon the bed and quarry where it growes; but if it be removed into another place, the ſtones do moulder into duſt; only in the midſt of every ſtone, there remains a little lump, in the ſhape and figure of a wreathed Serpent; and that is ſo hard, that it cannot be diſſolved nor broken by any means. How much more careful ſhould we be, when a thing is duly ſetled, upon a righteous and juſt foundation? (p)Deut. 19: 14.Thou ſhalt not remove thy Neighbours Land-mark, which they of old time have ſet, and becauſe ſome did notwithſtanding ſometimes adventure for to do it, God did appoint a ſolemn curſe to be pronounced by common and joynt conſent upon the doers of it (q)Deut. 27. 17.; the danger of unravelling and rumpling things well layed up, hath been obſerved to be ſo great, that many laws have paſſed to prevent it. It was wont to be acknowledged, that nullum tempus occurrit regi, yet threeſcore years now cuts off his claim, and poſſeſſion undiſturbed twenty years, a ſubjects, a book-debt is diſcharged in ſix years, by time; and poſſeſſion upon a fine in five years.
But the Church hath been duly ſeized and poſſeſſed of ſome to attend and act in holy things, far above theſe fifteen hundred years; for we appeal to all the Catalogues of Hereticks in former ages, and if there be found any one that queſtioned this, we will give up the cauſe: we have looked carefully upon all the writings of our adverſaries, and the firſt we finde, were Storke and Stubner in upper Germany, about the year 1521. and that was above fifteen hundred years after the ſettlement of theſe Church-Officers, by Chriſt and his Apoſtles, as we have ſhewed before. There hath been of late among us, great talk of new lights, but we have found but very few that were not raked out of thoſe rotten dunghils of the ancient Hereticks or Schiſmaticks, and may ſay with Solomon (r)Eccleſ. 1. 10., is there any thing, whereof it may be ſaid, ſee, this is new; but this of annulling and extinguiſhing a Goſpel-Miniſtry, we muſt acknowledge to be new, never ſo much as doubted of, or called in queſtion, till after Luthers time; and for this only cauſe, may be ſuſpected, there were ſome Jews among the Captives, that returned out of Babylon, that pleaded they were Prieſts, and would have been received and accounted among the Sons of Aaron, but they were put upon this triall, to finde their Regiſter among thoſe that were reckoned by genealogie, and when they could not prove their lineal deſcent, they were put as polluted from the Prieſthood (s)Neh. 7. 63, 64, 65.: we crave the benefit of this Law, that it may be ſhewed us, in any warranted and good antiquity, that any were accounted and allowed, to attend and act in holy things, that were not ſet apart to that imployment.