A09445:12
Of the calling of the ministry two treatises, describing the duties and dignities of…Of the calling of the ministerie two treatises, discribing the duties and dignities of…
Of the calling of the ministry two treatises, describing the duties and dignities of that calling. Delivered publicly in the University of Cambridge, by Master Perkins. Taken then from his mouth, and now diligently perused and published, by a preacher of the word with a preface prefixed touching the publishing of Master Perkins his works, & a catalogue of all such particulars thereof, as are to be expected.Of the calling of the ministerie two treatises, discribing the duties and dignities of that calling. Delivered publickly 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 workes, & a catalogue of all such particulars thereof, as are to bee expected.
London: printed by I. Roberts for William Welby, 1605
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
In a word, if all our Ministers were such as this Treatise describeth, or came but as near it as the Author hereof did, & if all our great ones did use & esteem good Ministers as you do, we should then soon pull the Ministry from under that foot of contempt, with ⟨image 4⟩which this profane age doth daily tread upon it. The Church of Rome, who are far wiser in their kind then the children of light, have taken other & strange courses to magnify the Clergy. They teach, that the state Ecclesiastical, is so far more excellent then the Civil, as the sun is then the moon, & that not in spiritual only, (for that we deny not) but in temporal power, pomp, & estate: and that therefore the Chief of their Clergy, is as far above the mightiest Emperor, as the sun is above the moon; and as the moon borroweth her light from the sun, so doth the Emperor his state and power from the Pope.
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 vnder that foote of contempt, with ⟨image 4⟩which this prophane age doth daily tread vpon it. The Church of Rome, who are farre wiser in theyr kinde then the children of light, haue 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 onely, (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 Clergy is a state so distinct, & so absolute of it self, as it hath not to do with the Civil state, yea they exempt their Clergy, from being any way subject to the temporal Magistrate. And though their crimes, be never so many or monstrous, yet the Prince, or civil authority, hath nothing to do to take notice thereof, much less to punish them: & hereupon great volumes are written, and many Acts and decrees are made in their Cannon Law, De exemptione Clericorum. They extol their Clergy above the Temporality,