§. XXX.

Reas. 4.Fourthly, If a forced and stinted Maintenance were to be supposed, it would make the Ministers of Christ just one with those No Hireling fitting the Gospel of Christ.Hirelings whom the Prophets cried out against. For certainly if a Man make a Bargain to preach to People for so much a Year, so as to refuse to preach unless he have it, and seek to force the People to give it by Violence, it cannot be denied that such a one preacheth for Hire, and so looks for his Gain from his Quarter, yea and [96]prepares War against such as put not into his Mouth; but this is the particular special Mark of a false Prophet and an Hireling, and therefore can no Ways belong to a true Minister of Christ.

[96] Mic. 3. 5.

Moderate Protestants and Papists exclaim against the Excess of the Clergy’s Revenues.Next, that a superfluous Maintenance, that is, more than in Reason is needful, ought not to be received by Christian Ministers, will not need much Proof, seeing the more Moderate and Sober, both among Papists and Protestants, readily confess it, who with one Voice exclaim against the excessive Revenues of the Clergy; and that it may not want a Proof from Scripture, what can be more plain than that of the Apostle to Timothy? 1 Tim. vi. 7, 8, 9, 10. where he both shews wherewith we ought to be content, and also the Hazard of such as look after more; and indeed, since that very Obligation of giving Maintenance to a Minister is founded upon their Need, and such as have Opportunity to work are commended rather in not receiving than in receiving, it can no Ways be supposed lawful for them to receive more than is sufficient. And indeed, were they truly pious and right, though necessitous, they would rather incline to take too little, than be gaping after too much.

§. XXXI.

II. The Excess of the Priests and Bishops Revenues. Now that there is great Excess and Abuse hereof among Christians, the vast Revenues which the Bishops and Priests have, both Papists and Protestants, do declare; since I judge it may be said without any Hyperbole, that some particular Persons have more paid them yearly than Christ and his Apostles made use of in their whole Life-time, who yet wanted not what was needful as to the outward Man, and no Doubt deserved it far better than those that enjoy that Fulness. But it is manifest these Bishops and Priests love their fat Benefices, and the Pleasure and Honour that attends them, so well, that they purpose neither to follow Christ nor his Apostles Example or Advice in this Matter.

Object.But it is usually objected, That Christians are become so hard-hearted, and generally so little heed Spiritual Things, that if Ministers had not a settled and stinted Maintenance secured them by Law, they and their Families might starve for Want of Bread.

Answ.I answer, This Objection might have some Weight as to a Carnal Ministry, made up of natural Men, who have no Life, Power, nor Virtue with them, and so may insinuate some Need of such a Maintenance for such a Ministry; They wanted nothing whom God sent; they laboured with their Hands.but it saith nothing as to such as are called and sent of God, who sends no Man a Wayfaring upon his own Charges; and so go forth in the Authority and Power of God, to turn People from Darkness to Light; for such can trust to him that sendeth them, and do believe that he will provide for them, knowing that he requireth nothing of any but what he giveth Power to perform; and so when they return, if he enquire, can say they wanted nothing. And such also when they stay in a Place, being immediately furnished by God, and not needing to borrow and steal what they preach from Books, and take up their Time that Way, fall a working at their lawful Employments, and labour with their Hands, as Paul did when he gathered the Church at Corinth. And indeed if this Objection had any Weight, the Apostles and Primitive Pastors should never have gone forth to convert the Nations, for fear of Want. Doth not the Doctrine of Christ teach us to venture all, and part with all, to serve God? Can they then be accounted Ministers of Christ who are afraid to preach him lest they get not Money for it, or will not do it until they be sure of their Payment? What serves the Ministry for but to perfect the Saints, and so to convert them from that Hard-heartedness?

Object.But thou wilt say, I have laboured and preached to them, and they are hard-hearted still, and will not give me any Thing:

Answ.Then surely thou hast either not been sent to them of God, and so thy Ministry and Preaching hath not been among them in the Power, Virtue, and Life of Christ, and so thou deservest nothing; or else they have rejected thy Testimony, and so are not worthy, and from such thou oughtest not to expect, yea nor yet receive any Thing, if they would give thee, but thou oughtest to shake off the Dust from thy Feet, and leave them. Mat. 10. 14. If they reject the Testimony, shake the Dust from off thy Feet.And how frivolous this Objection is, appears, in that in the darkest and most superstitious Times the Priests Revenues increased most, and they were most richly rewarded, though they deserved least. So that he that is truly sent of God, as he needs not, so neither will he, be afraid of Want, so long as he serves so good a Master; neither will he ever forbear to do his Work for that Cause. And indeed such as make this Objection shew truly that they serve not the Lord Christ, but their own Belly, and that makes them so anxious for want of Food to it.

§. XXXII.

II. The many Abuses Priests Maintenance brings. But lastly, As to the Abuses of this Kind of Maintenance, indeed he that would go through them all, though he did it passingly, might make of it alone a huge Volume, they are so great and numerous. For this Abuse, as others, crept in with the Apostasy, there being nothing of this in the Primitive Times: Then the Ministers claimed no Tithes, neither sought they a stinted or forced Maintenance; but such as wanted had their Necessity supplied by the Church, and others wrought with their Hands. But the Persecutions being over, and the Emperors and Princes coming under the Name of Christians, the Zeal of those great Men was quickly abused by the Covetousness of the Clergy, who soon learned to change their Cottages with the Palaces of Princes, and rested not until by Degrees some of them came to be Princes themselves, nothing inferior to them in Splendor, Luxury, and Magnificence; a Method of living that honest Peter and John the Fisherman, and Paul the Tent-maker never coveted; and perhaps as little imagined that Men pretending to be their Successors should have arrived to these Things. And so soon as the Bishops were thus seated and constituted, forgetting the Life and Work of a Christian, they went usually by the Ears together about the Precedency and Revenues, each coveting the chiefest and fattest Benefice. The Protestants having forsaken the Pope, yet would not forsake the rich Popish Revenues.It is also to be regretted to think how soon this Mischief crept in among Protestants, who had scarce well appeared when the Clergy among them began to speak at the old Rate, and shew that though they had forsaken the Bishop of Rome, they were not resolved to part with their old Benefices; and therefore so soon as any Princes or States shook off the Pope’s Authority, and so demolished the Abbies, Nunneries, and other Monuments of Superstition, the reformed Clergy began presently to cry out to the Magistrates to beware of meddling with the Church’s Patrimony, severely exclaiming against making a lawful Use of those vast Revenues that had been superstitiously bestowed upon the Church, so called, to the Good and Benefit of the Commonwealth, as no less than Sacrilege.

1. The Clergy’s Covetousness.But by keeping up of this Kind of Maintenance for the Ministry and Clergymen, so called, there is first a Bait laid for Covetousness, which is Idolatry, and of all Things most hurtful; so that for Covetousness Sake, many, being led by the Desire of filthy Lucre, do apply themselves to be Ministers, that they may get a Livelihood by it. If a Man have several Children, he will allot one of them to be a Minister; which if he can get it to be, he reckons it as good as a Patrimony: So that a fat Benefice hath always many Expectants; and then what Bribing, what Courting, what Industry, and shameful Actions are used to acquire these Things, is too openly known, and needs not to be proved.

The greedy Kirk, a Proverb.The Scandal that by these Means is raised among Christians is so manifest, that it is become a Proverb, that the Kirk is always greedy. Whereby the Gift and Grace of God being neglected, they have for the most Part no other Motive or Rule in applying themselves to one Church more than another but the greater Benefice. For though they hypocritically pretend, at their accepting of and entering into their Church, that they have nothing before them but the Glory of God and the Salvation of Souls; yet if a richer Benefice offer itself, they presently find it more for God’s Glory to remove from the first, and go thither. And thus they make no Difficulty often to change, while notwithstanding they accuse us that we allow Ministers to go from Place to Place, and not to be tied to one Place; but we allow this not for the gaining of Money, but as moved of God. For if a Minister be called to minister in a particular Place, he ought not to leave it, except God call him from it, and then he ought to obey: For we make the Will of God inwardly revealed, and not the Love of Money and more Gain, the Ground of removing.

2. The Clergy’s Luxury.Secondly, From this Abuse hath proceeded that Luxury and Idleness that most of the Clergy live in, even among Protestants as well as Papists, to the great Scandal of Christianity. For not having lawful Trades to work with their Hands, and being so superfluously and sumptuously provided for, they live in Idleness and Luxury; and there doth more Pride, Vanity, and worldly Glory appear in their Wives and Children than in most others, which is open and evident to all.

3. The Clergy’s Cruelty.Thirdly, They become hereby so glued to the Love of Money, that there is none like them in Malice, Rage, and Cruelty. If they be denied their Hire, they rage like drunken Men, fret, fume, and as it were go mad. A Man may sooner satisfy the severest Creditor than them; the general Voice of the Poor doth confirm this. For indeed they are far more exact in taking up the Tithes of Sheep, Geese, Swine, and Eggs, &c. and look more narrowly to it than to the Members of their Flock: They will not miss the least Mite; and the poorest Widow cannot escape their avaricious Hands. Poor Widow’s Mite cannot escape the Priest’s greedy Hands.Twenty Lies they will hear unreproved; and as many Oaths a Man may swear in their Hearing without offending them; and greater Evils than all this they can overlook. But if thou owest them aught, and refusest to pay it, then nothing but War will they thunder against thee, and they will stigmatize thee with the horrible Title of Sacrilege, and send thee to Hell without Mercy, as if thou hadst committed the Sin against the Holy Ghost. Of all People we can best bear Witness to this; The Work of Antichrist is Fury, Envy, Malice.for God having shewn us this corrupt and Antichristian Ministry, and called us out from it, and gathered us unto his own Power and Life, to be a separate People, so that we dare not join with, nor hear these Antichristian Hirelings, neither yet put into their Mouths, or feed them. Oh! what Malice, Envy, and Fury hath this raised in their Hearts against us! That though we get none of their Wares, neither will buy them, as knowing them to be naught, yet will they force us to give them Money: And because we cannot for Conscience Sake do it, our Sufferings have upon that Account been unutterable. Yea, to give Account of their Cruelty, and several Sorts of Inhumanity used against us, would make no small History. These avaricious Hirelings have come to that Degree of Malice and Rage, that several poor labouring Men have been carried hundreds of Miles from their own Dwellings, and shut up in Prison, some two, some three, yea, some seven Years together, for the Value of one Pound Sterling, and less. A Widow for the Tithe of Geese about four Years in Prison.I know myself a poor Widow, that for the Tithes of her Geese, which amounted not to five Shillings, was about four Years kept in Prison, thirty Miles from her House. Yea, they by Violence for this Cause have plundered of Men’s Goods the Hundred-fold, and prejudiced much more; yea, Hundreds have hereby spilt their innocent Blood; by dying in the filthy noisome Holes and Prisons. Some lost their Lives in nasty Holes, some wounded by the Priests, &c.And some of the Priests have been so enraged, that Goods thus ravished could not satisfy them; but they must also satisfy their Fury by beating, knocking, and wounding with their Hands innocent Men and Women, for refusing (for Conscience Sake) to put into their Mouths.

The only Way then soundly to reform and remove all these Abuses, and take away the Ground and Occasion of them, is, to take away all stinted and forced Maintenance and Stipends. Whoso heap Teachers to themselves, let them provide their Stipend.As whoever call or appoint Teachers to themselves, let them accordingly entertain them: And for such as are called and moved to the Ministry by the Spirit of God, those that receive them, and taste of the Good of their Ministry, will no Doubt provide Things needful for them, and there will be no Need of a Law to force a Hire for them: For he that sends them, will take care for them; and they also, having Food and Raiment, will therewith be content.

§. XXXIII.

The Difference between the Ministry of the Quakers and their Adversaries.The Sum then of what is said is, That the Ministry that we have pleaded for, and which also the Lord hath raised up among us is, in all its Parts, like the true Ministry of the Apostles and primitive Church. Whereas the Ministry our Adversaries seek to uphold and plead for, as it doth in all in Parts differ from them, so, on the other Hand, it is very like the false Prophets and Teachers testified against and condemned in the Scripture, as may be thus briefly illustrated.

The true Ministers Call.I. The Ministry and Ministers we plead for, are such as are immediately called and sent forth by Christ and his Spirit unto the Work of the Ministry: So were the holy Apostles and Prophets, as appears by these Places, Matt. x. 1. 5. Ephes. iv. 11. Heb. v. 4.

1. But the Ministry and Ministers our Opposers plead for, are such as have no immediate Call from Christ; to whom the Leading and Motion of the Spirit is not reckoned necessary; but who are called, sent forth, and ordained by wicked and ungodly Men: Such were of old the false Prophets and Teachers, as appears by these Places, Jer. xiv. 14, 15. item. Chap. xxiii. 21. and xxvii. 15.

True Ministers Guide.II. The Ministers we plead for, are such as are actuated and led by God’s Spirit, and by the Power and Operation of his Grace in their Hearts, are in some Measure converted and regenerate, and so are good, holy, and gracious Men: Such were the holy Prophets and Apostles, as appears from 1 Tim. iii. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Tit. i. 7, 8, 9.

2. But the Ministers our Adversaries plead for, are such to whom the Grace of God is no needful Qualification; and so may be true Ministers, according to them, though they be ungodly, unholy, and profligate Men: Such were the false Prophets and Apostles, as appears from Mic. iii. 5. 11. 1 Tim. vi. 5, 6, 7, 8, &c. 2 Tim. iii. 2. 2. Pet. ii. 1, 2, 3.

True Ministers Work.III. The Ministers we plead for, are such as act, move, and labour in the Work of the Ministry, not from their own mere natural Strength and Ability, but as they are actuated, moved, supported, assisted and influenced by the Spirit of God, and minister according to the Gift received, as good Stewards of the manifold Grace of God: Such were the holy Prophets and Apostles, 1 Pet. iv. 10, 11. 1 Cor. i. 17. ii. 3, 4, 5. 13. Acts ii. 4. Matt. x. 20. Mark xiii. 11. Luke xii. 12. 1 Cor. xiii. 2.

3. But the Ministers our Adversaries plead for, are such as wait not for, nor expect, nor need the Spirit of God to actuate and move them in the Work of the Ministry; but what they do they do from their own mere natural Strength and Ability, and what they have gathered and stolen from the Letter of the Scripture, and other Books, and so speak it forth in the Strength of their own Wisdom and Eloquence, and not in the Evidence and Demonstration of the Spirit and Power: Such were the false Prophets and Apostles, as appears, Jer. xxiii. 30, 31, 32, 34, &c. 1 Cor. iv. 18. Jude 16.

True Ministers Humility.IV. The Ministers we plead for, are such as, being holy and humble, contend not for Precedency and Priority, but rather strive to prefer one another, and serve one another in Love; neither desire to be distinguished from the rest by their Garments and large Phylacteries, nor seek the Greetings in the Market-places, nor uppermost Places at Feasts, nor the chief Seats in the Synagogues; nor yet to be called of Men Master, &c. Such were the holy Prophets and Apostles, as appears from Matt. xxiii. 8, 9, 10. and xx. 25, 26, 27.

4. But the Ministers our Adversaries plead for, are such as strive and contend for Superiority, and claim Precedency over one another; affecting and ambitiously seeking after the fore-mentioned Things: Such were the false Prophets and Apostles in Time past, Matt. xxiii. 5, 6, 7.

True Ministers Free Gift.V. The Ministers we plead for, are such as having freely received, freely give; who covet no Man’s Silver, Gold, or Garments; who seek no Man’s Goods, but seek them, and the Salvation of their Souls: Whose Hands supply their own Necessities, working honestly for Bread to themselves and their Families. And if at any Time they be called of God, so as the Work of the Lord hinder them from the use of their Trades, take what is freely given them by such to whom they have communicated Spirituals; and having Food and Raiment, are therewith content: Such were the holy Prophets and Apostles, as appears from Matt. x. 8. Acts xx. 33, 34, 35. 1 Tim. vi. 8.

5. But the Ministers our Adversaries plead for, are such as not having freely received, will not freely give; but are covetous, doing that which they ought not, for filthy Lucre’s Sake; as to preach for Hire, and divine for Money, and look for their Gain from their Quarter, and prepare War against such as put not into their Mouths, &c. Greedy Dogs, which can never have enough. Shepherds who feed themselves, and not the Flock; eating the Fat, and clothing themselves with the Wool; making Merchandize of Souls; and following the Way of Balaam, that loved the Wages of Unrighteousness: Such were the false Prophets and Apostles, Isa. lvi. 11. Ezek. xxxiv. 2, 3. 8. Mic. iii. 5. 11. Tit. i. 10, 11. 2 Pet. ii. 1, 2, 3. 14, 15.

The Ministers Life and Qualification.And in a Word, We are for a holy, spiritual, pure and living Ministry, where the Ministers are both called, qualified and ordered, actuated and influenced in all the Steps of their Ministry by the Spirit of God; which being wanting, we judge they cease to be the Ministers of Christ.

But they, judging this Life, Grace, and Spirit no essential Part of their Ministry, are therefore for the upholding of an human, carnal, dry, barren, fruitless and dead Ministry; of which, alas! we have seen the Fruits in the most Part of their Churches: Of whom that Saying of the Lord is certainly verified, Jer. xxiii. 32.—I sent them not, nor commanded them, therefore they shall not profit this People at all, saith the LORD.