A42767:93
A sermon preached before the right honourable the House of Lords in the Abbey…
A sermon preached before the right honourable the House of Lords in the Abbey Church at Westminster, upon the 27th of August, 1645 being the day appointed for solemn and public humiliation : whereunto is added a brotherly examination of some passages of Mr. Colemans late printed sermon upon Job 11.20, in which he hath endeavoured to strike at the root of all church-government / by George Gillespie, minister at Edinburgh.A sermon preached before the right honourable the House of Lords in the Abbey Church at Westminster, upon the 27th of August, 1645 being the day appointed for solemne and publique humiliation : whereunto is added a brotherly examination of some passages of Mr. Colemans late printed sermon upon Job 11.20, in which he hath endeavoured to strike at the root of all church-government / by George Gillespie, minister at Edenburgh.
London: printed by F. Neile for Robert Bostock, 1646
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.
Well, the Reverend Brother hath not done, but he proceedeth thus; I•n as the King of Sodom's speech to Abraham, Give me the persons, ta•eth • the goods; So say I, Give us Doctrine, take you the Government as […] said: Right Honourab. c, give me leave to make this request in the behalf of the Ministry, give us two things and we shall do well; 1 Give us earning; And 2 Give us a competency.
Well, the Reverend Brother hath not done, but he proceedeth thus; I•n as the King of Sodomes speech to Abraham, Give me the persons, ta•eth • the goods; So say I, Give us Doctrine, take you the Government as 〈…〉 said: Right Honourab. c, give me leave to make this request in the behalf of the Ministery, give us two things and we shall do well; 1 Give us earning; And 2 Give us a competency.
This calls to •inde a Story which Clemens Alexandrinus tells us;1 When one had painted Helena with much gold, Apelles looking ⟨p. 36⟩upon it, Friend, (saith he) when you could not make her fair, you have made her rich; Learning and competency do enrich: The Jesuits have enough of both, but that which maketh a visible Ministerial Church to be beautiful as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem: That which maketh fair the outward face of a Church, is Government and Discipline, the removing of scandals, the preserving of the Ordinances from pollution. He had spoken more for the honour of God, and for the power of godliness, if he had said this in the behalf of the Ministry, It were better for us to want competency and helps to learning, then to partake with other mens sins, by admitting the scandalous and profane to the Lords Table; his way which he adviseth, will perhaps get s an able Ministry, and procure us honour enough, as he speaketh, but (sure) it can neither preserve the purity, nor advance the power of Religion, because it putteth no black mark upon profaneness and scandal in Church Members, more then in any others: The King of Sodoms Speech cannot serve his turn, except it be turned over, and then it will serve him as just as any thing, thus, Give us the goods, take you the persons, (or the souls, as the Hebrew and the Chaldee hath it) Give us a competency, saith he, here he asketh the goods, Take you the Government, here he quitteth the persons or souls to be governed only by the civill power; however, as at that time Abraham would take nothing that was not his own, insomuch as he answered the King of Sodom,