since it was reformed we know no other differēce from that which it was before then such as wee see in the Vineyard and Church of Iudah which in the dayes of Manasses was full of superstition in the dayes of Iosiah had her abominations cast out and the purity of Gods seruice restored according to his owne law There were crept into our Church grauen Images the likenesses of things in heauen and things in earth and men did bow downe and worshippe them contrary to the law and contrary to antiquity for as yet appeareth euen by the buildings and walles of our most ancient Churches there was no place within the Church prouided for them To these Images of dead men they did light candles and burned Incense and offered gifts after the custome of the heathen the light of the Church was remoued out of the candlesticks and the word of God which is the true light of the world and lanterne to our feet was hidden vnder an vnknowne tongue as vnder a bushell that which the Apostle calleth both our milke and our meate was taken away and nothing was read to the peoples vnderstanding but the lies of their Legend the author therof had a leaden head a brazen forehead as Viues a lerned Papist cēsureth them The holy Sacraments of the church were prophaned to the sanctified water in baptisme cream was added salt spittle by the people receiued as parts of the sacramēt the Lords Supper was mangled the cup of blessing which is the Cōmunion of the bloud of Christ was sacrile giously remoued the communion of the bread was turned into a priuate masse of dead ceremonies These and infinite other abominations were growne vp so high that they did both draw all the fatnes from the roote and ouerdrop and ouershadow the true vine and euen called for the fickle to cut them downe for there was not any learned deuout man amongst themselues in those ages who did not both bewayle the corruptions of the Church as appeareth by them that wrote and in particular acknowledge some one error of theirs or other though now authority stoppeth their mouthes and clippeth such tongues and the Indices expungatorij do rase those confessions out of their writings Now the indisposition therefore eyther of the Church of Rome or any other neighbor Church to reform themselus can be no iust excuse for our Church and her ouerseers not to reforme her selfe then it had beene for Israel to sinne because Iudah sinned or for Iudah because of the sinne of Israel In these cases of Gods seruice and honor the expectation of neighbours and desire of vnity is no allowed answere but that of Iosuah belongeth to all gouernors which he spake to all Israel Iosu 15. If it seeme euill in your eyes to serue the Lord chuse you this day whom you will serue but I and my house will serue the Lord and that rule of Hosea If Ephraim be ioyned vnto Idols let him alone and if Israel play the harlot yet let not Iudah sinne Only our hearty prayer vnto God is that as we do communicate in the general grounds and foundations of Christianity and ioyntly professe the same Creede so the Lord would giue them hearts to remoue these abominations which blocke vp the way of peace and communion between Church and Church or if eyther for pride or couetousnes they will acknowledge no error yet hee would giue them contented minds to keep to themselues their owne corruptions which now being cast off by vs would be so much the more loathsome to put on againe The third doubt which the vineyard of the house of Israel answereth is the vnity of the Church seeing the deuided houses of Ephraim and Iudah not so much seuered in state as in religion are yet by our Prophet accepted as one vineyard for though one read of many seuerall Churches in the new Testament also Psal 64. yet that of Saint Augustine is most true there be many Churches yet but one Church and in such sort many yet they are all but one Nay in the vnity of the Church wee must yet goe further and acknowledge with the same father the Church is the body of Christ not that which is here or there but that which is euery where throughout the world Psalme 90. neither that which is at this time but euen from Abel vnto those which shall hereafter bee borne and belieue in Christ vnto the end the whole company of saints belonging to one City which is the body of Christ and whereof he is head for this is that which the Apostle affirmeth of all beleeuers Bee they Iew or Gentile bond or free they are al incorporate into one Company they all make one body But this vnity is properly meant of Christs mysticall body and Church which is inuisible of which church these men are no part who are onely in Sacrament is Ecclesiae as Saint Augustine expoundeth himselfe that is of the whole body of the faithfull from Adam to the end of the world yet notwithstanding these outward visible societies of professed christians in which the militant members of Christ mingled with the bad are yet in framing for eternity these also haue a bond of vnity also and though they bee many yet are they but as one Now the outward bonds of these visible Churches are diuers for 1. they all spring by propagation from one originall mother Church Ierusalem which is beneath is the mother of vs all and from Sion came the Gospell by propagation vnto all Nations But this bond is not so strong as to tie them in one that are sprung from one beginning There is a stronger which this Parable of a Vine doth lay before vs for the Vine or tree which is diuided into so many seuerall branches some dying some springing vp and one bough perhaps bearing seuerall fruits from another what is it that maketh them all one but their owne stocke and roote on which they all vifibly grow this is the visible bond of the seuerall armes and parts of the visible Church they all outwardly ioyne in that one roote Christ in whom they are all visiblie ingrafted on whom they all make outward shew that they doe stand and grow The Apostle Ephes 4.5 exhorting Christians to vnity setteth downe this bond and to it addeth two other kinds the vniformity of our faith and articles of beliefe There is one kinde of ingrafting one badge of their incorporation Baptisme One Lord one Faith one Baptism i. One King vnder which they liue one Law by which they are guided one common badge of their incorporation which they all publikely receiue so that seeing the Iewes howsoeuer dispersed amongst al the Nations of the earth and liuing without dependance vpon any one common gouernour and yet accounted but as one Nation because of the bond of their vnity in the publike profession of the Law of Moses and seeing they that hang on Mahomet as their
imposed lawes to his owne mother drawing all power into his hands and making himselfe as the Sunne from which all others both Moone and Stars do receiue their light Thus hath Lucifer inuaded Christs poore Family and hath made choyce of a person of humility by whom vnder the colour of piety and religion hee might bring into the Church of Christ the highest degree of pride that euer the world saw in any worldly state or the weakenesse of man is capable of whom hee setting vp on the foundation not of a rocke but of imagination and opinion only and crowning with a triple crowne hath perswaded both him to take and perswaded men to giue more then humane honours as high as to the titles of Optimus maximus our Lord God the Pope and as our Countryman Stapleton writeth to him Supremum in terris Numen forcing the Emperors sometimes acknowledged for his gracious Lords and Soueraignes to yeeld their neckes for him to trample on and the Kings and Princes of the earth to licke the dust of his feet and all the people for their saluation to fall downe before him as hauing all keyes and powers of heauen and earth and hell and purgatory as blasting with the breath of his mouth like lightning whatsoeuer hee curseth as hauing the oracles of God in his breast and that neuer ordinary priuiledge that he cannot erre This was the punishment of the Church after that thorow abundance and wealth and ease she became wanton and loued not the truth that as it was prophesied 2. Thess 2. God should send strong delusions and men should belieue lies to the astonishment of all other churches both Easterne and Southerne who wonder that wee can belieue such fancies As for the necessity of one visible Monarch to make the visible church one seeing the Apostles writings in their so often mention of the church and the pastors of the same neuer intimate this doctrine of this Monarchie seeing Eph. 4. the Apostle of purpose laieth the grounds of vnity alledgeth those other bonds One Lord one Faith one Baptisme and omitteth this seeing after reckoning vpon the seuerall degrees of Ministers both ordinary and inordinary giuen to his church after his affection for the building of it in truth and loue hee setteth downe Apostles Euangelists Prophets Pastors Teachers this one Monarch is not once named to the church seeing before Christs comming God had a visible Church in Iob his house not depending vpon the Church of Iudah and is also granted by Bellarmine and yet the Church of God was alwayes one seeing since Christ the Primitiue Church had no such head but as Aeneas Siluius acknowledgeth Ante Nicenum Concilium sibi quisque viuebat ad Romanam Ecclesiam paruus ad modum respectus habebat and yet in the long time of that little regard of Rome the Church of Christ was one seeing to this day all Churches in the three partes of the world haue so anciently renounced this one head who notwithstanding may not be accounted castawayes and no partes of Christs Church seeing whatsoeuer reason is vrged of necessity one Bishoppe doth as necessarily proue the necessity of one King ouer all the Christian world truely we are so farre from thinking the necessity of one visible head to be an article of our faith that contrariwise wee agree in iudgement with Gregory the Great concerning the danger of the same who disputing against the very name and title of an vniuersal Bishoppe bringeth this reason against the thing Ecclesiae vniuersa corruit si ille vniuersus cadit if that vniuersall Bishoppe should fall his fall be the ruine of the whole Church This our lamentable experience hath made good not onely in the gouernment of the Western Churches in which he hath been like a wilde Bore in the Lords Vineyard but also in their faith which by reason of their generall subiection to that one head was as generally tainted with the same errors for as when one foot slippeth the other may stand and vphold the body vnlesse it bee carried with the sway of that which slipped so when one Church faileth in any point of truth an other may stand vphold the same vnles they be dependant one vpon an other respect not that only vncorruptible head Christ and his vnchangeable lawes 2 Now that we haue found out the Lords Vineyard and considered the nature and state of the same wee are in the next place to consider the husbandry which the Lord of this Vineyard vseth the labour the cost the skill and care hee bestoweth on it to make it prosper for since that vniuersall curse pronounced by the mouth of God Cursed be the earth for mans sake thornes and thistles shall it bring forth Gen. 3. good things do hardly thriue without skilfull and Industrious planting and cherishing their impediments are many their helpes must be so many that the Vineyard which is neglected and left to it selfe may seem in a manner blamelesse though it proue not fruitfull for these duties therefore of the husbandman the Lord conscious to himselfe of his own goodnesse towards it doubteth not to make the Vineyard and Church it selfe and euery plant thereof euen all the inhabitants of Iudah his Iudges what one thing hee hath omitted which might haue smothered it What could I haue done to my Vineyard saieth God which I haue not done The particulars were set downe before 1. The choice of the seat of Canaan My beloued had a Vineyard on a verie fruitfull hill 2. His fencing it from spoyles He hedged it about with his mighty protection 3. The choyce of the plants Hee planted it with the best plants the roote the true Vine that came downe from heauen the branches the sonnes of Abraham 4. The preparing of the Soile he gathered vp the stones that might hinder the growth the Cananites and Hittites 5. For a further defence hee built a Towre in the middest of it his glorious Temple 6. He set vp a Vinepresse in it an Altar vpon which they might offer the fruits of their free will offerings to those hee added continuall pruning and dressing watring of it from the cloudes of heauen It appeareth after Ver. 6. For the proofe of these particulars reade the old Testament What is the whole history of the Bible but the narration of Gods blessings vpon his owne people as if hee minded no other nation no part of his creation but onely them What is Genesis but the miraculous preseruation of them in their first spring and tender beginnings till they were growne into a great people now a plant able to bee remoued and to stand by it selfe What are Exodus and Numbers but a powerfull translating of this Vine by a mighty hand out of the Garden of Egypt where it was borne downe and the gracious ordering and preseruing of it as it were aboue ground in a wildernesse where it had nothing to liue on for forty yeares till it
therefore conceiued no need of repentance and redemption by an other Sauiour Thus he generally affirmeth of the Iewes whose eares and hearts were by custome growne more then as all men naturally are so obstinately hardned in contempt against the word of truth that Mat. 11.21 had the signes and wonders that were done amongst them beene done in Tyre and Sydon nay in Sodom they would haue repented in Sackcloth and Ashes as the Nineuites did at the preaching of Ionas onely And this is that obstinate opposition of some against the ordinary meanes of mans saluation that caused not onely the Prophets to mourn but our Sauiour Christ to sit down and to weepe ouer Ierusalem when he saw that shee would not bee gathered to her Redeemet as if Christ should haue said as God by our Prophet What could I haue done more for my Vineyard which I haue not done 3 After the consideration of this so exceeding great cost and care bestowed vpon the Lords Vineyard wee are in the third place to looke vnto the end of these his labours and husbandry bestowed on his Church that is the same which euery man which plāteth a vineyard doth expect of his plants fruits I looked for grapes fruites naturall and proper to a Vine proper to a Christian that receiueth the nature the sappe the spirit of the roote Christ Why the good workes and fruites of Christians are compared to grapes and themselues to vines I partly shewed before For as nothing is created for it selfe so the poorest creature that GOD hath made is inabled with some gift to imitate the bounty and goodnesse of the Creator and to yeeld somthing from it selfe to the vse and benefit of others and this is their naturall worke thus the Sun and Moone and Starres as they are indued with light vertue so they restlesly moue to impart their light and influence to the inlightning and quickning of the inferiour world Thus doe the cloudes flie vp and downe emptying themselues to inrich the earth of which notwithstanding they reape no haruest Thus doth the earth without respect of her priuate profit liberally yeelde her riches and fatnes to the innumerable armies of creatures which all sucke her brests and hang on her for maintenance as on their common mother and not to depart frō our Parable thus doe all fruit-bearing trees spend themselues and the principall part of their sappe and moisture not on the increase of themselues but in making some pleasant fruit or berry of which neyther they nor their young springs shall taste and this when it is ripe perfect they voluntarily let fall at their masters feet thus neither doth the Vine make her selfe drunke with her owne grapes nor the Oliue annoint her selfe with her own oyle and yet they striue to abound with fruites For the more euery thing furthereth the common good of the world the higher is the excellency of the nature thereof and the greater resemblance it hath to the Creators goodnesse Now when heauen and earth are fruitfull in their kinde when neyther beast nor tree are idle but are alwaies bringing forth something to the good of others when not onely the creatures vnder man but the blessed Angels of heauen are ministring spirites perpetually and willinglie seruing for our good when God the father himselfe with the Lord our King are yet working and diuiding the streames of their goodnesse to the best behoofe of the world how can it bee allowable that when all the Armies of heauen and earth the Creator with the creatures are thus busied in bringing forth fruit onely man should remaine vnfruitfull his faculties and graces idle himselfe a burthen to the earth It cannot be for not onely the Church of God for the gathering of her children the propagation of truth and piety amongst them but the world it selfe for the vpholding of her estate doth necessarily require mans fruits for seeing we grow together as members in a body and branches in a tree the life and sappe strength and helpe of the root and head cannot be deriued to vs vnlesse it be conuaied by ioynts and by sinewes by armes and by boughes by the mutuall ministery of man by the works of iustice and mercy from one to another and therefore vnlesse the Pastor yeelde the fruit of his light and knowledge vnlesse the Magistrate do yeelde the fruit of his iustice and authority vnlesse euery priuate man doe yeeld forth the fruite of those faculties graces which they receiue not for themselues but for the good of the body they are no parts of Christs body neyther haue they the spirit of the head the spirite of loue in them but they are theeues and murtherers enemies to Christ and to his Church they starue his body and purloine from their fellow members those good things which the mercifull head hath so intended by them to vs that the benefite might be ours and the thanks theirs and al might grow by the naturall fruits of loue But here ordinarily ariseth in the mind of man a vaine shift which much hindreth his fruitfulnes and maketh him draw in all to himselfe and recall his sappe from the fruits into the roote againe and that is a false reasoning with himselfe that because doe he the best he can yet his fruits will bee earthly and sowre and neuer perfect and kindely ripened because were they neuer so perfect and abundant yet they cannot merite lifes eternity to him that beareth them and because that which is wanting is fully supplied in the all-sufficient fulnesse and superrogatiue merits of the head and therefore it is but lost labour to spend himselfe in bringing forth such vnperfect fruites so helpeles in the worke of his owne saluation thus doth iniquity lie vnto her selfe and turneth the truth of God into a lie for though those three promises are all true yet the conclusion we inferre vpon them is altogether vncoherent True it is that though wee bee ingrafted into the eternall Vine Christ yet wee retaine something of the nature of the olde stocke whence wee were taken which giueth to our best fruites an earthly taste and some relish of the olde man True it is that though we are planted with the best heauenly plants of piety yet they grow in a forraine soile and in a colde clime farre from the Sun and our fruites are not concocted and perfect euen our most spirituall fruits our prayers haue not a pleasing taste vnlesse they haue some sweetning But this defect is supplyed by the great Angell of the couenant who when he presenteth these our fruits to God the great husbandman addeth to them of his owne precious incense which helpeth their infirmity and harshnes and maketh them acceptable Renel 8.4 Again true it is that these our fruits were they neuer so abundant and as excellent as mans perfectly restored perfection can afforde yet can they not merite those crownes and kingdomes and the eternity of that glory but
hand and by arte Non exsanguinibus nec ex voluntate carnis sed ex Deo saith Saint Iohn of the Church Both Vine Church grow vp the meanest of all plants they cannot beare vp themselues without props and stayes euen as the Elme is to the Vine so is the ciuill state vnto the Church Both in regard of their naturall weakenes are taught to twine their armes and their branches one within an other embrace sustaine and strengthen one another as it were growing in one by loue when they flourish and are suffered to spread nothing so enlargeth it selfe As Plinie speaketh of Vines Sine modo crescunt So the Church spreadeth forth her armes from the sea vnto the riuer from one end of the world vnto the other In the time of their flourishing estate and their summer no plant is so pleasant euery thing harboreth vnder their shadow but when winter commeth and the persecutions of stormes take away their beauty no plant standeth so poore so deformed so contemptible to the outward eye the rich the noble the worldly wise like their greene leaues doe commonly fall away Both Vineyard and Church both must bee strongly fenced els they lie open to the prey of many kinds of spoiles both must bee pruned and kept vnder with continuall cutting els they grow out luxuriously and become wilde and as for their fruits when they proue fruitfull how are their weake branches laden with grapes how doe their fruites exceed their strength how doe they bring forth their grapes in bunches and clusters vnited in loue as the Apostle Saint Iames speaketh of the fruits of righteousnes that they are brought forth in peace of them that loue peace And as for the kinds of their fruits all other fruits in comparison are as nothing It is the fruit of these two vines which ministreth mirth and comfort to all the world and as the vine speaketh Iudg. 9. cherisheth the heart both of God and man Fruits of mercy and loue how doe they warme and cheare vp the weake hearts fruits of Iustice and Equity how doe they ease and relieue the oppressed soule God Angels and men reioyce when these Vines are laden with these fruits For when they are vnfruitfull both sorts of Vines are of all trees most vnprofitable seruing for no vse but for the fire This is then the nature of Gods Church It is a spirituall Vineyard the roote whereof is but one Christ Iesus the second Adam Other foundation sayeth the Apostle can no man lay Other Plants shal be rooted out Into him the multitude of beleeuers are planted into him they grow for all the branches of it are of their own nature wilde taken from the old stocke the first Adam euen as many as the Lord our God shall call and they are set into that eternall Vine the second Adam by ingrafting Now as in Grafts though all in like manner stand in stockes and are fastned to them with outward bonds yet all doe not incorporate themselues by drawing sappe from the root therby growing in it and bringing forth fruite so there is an outward ingrafting into Christ by outward visible bonds of vnion the outward profession of the faith of Christ and the outward Sacrament of Incorporations the society and company of which outward professions so visibly ingrafted doe make the visible Church and Vineyard of God on earth And with this visible and outward ingrafting and by meanes thereof there is wrought an inward ingrafting and incorporating through the inuisible bonds of the spirit also in which some doe grow into the stocke and receiue sappe and life from the roote euen the participation of the spirit of life from Christ and doe bring forth fruit in him the company of which onely doe make vp that mysticall body of Christ which is to man inuisible because the bond is inuisible These two sorts of grafts howsoeuer to our eyes they stand alike in the stocke and do somtimes seem to grow alike yet the Apostle distinguisheth most plainely with their seuerall bonds also Rom. 2.28 Hee is not a Iew who is a Iew outward neither that circumcision which is in the flesh but hee is a Iew who is a Iew within whose circumcision is of the heart in the spirit not in the letter whose prayse is not of men but of God Notwithstanding both these sorts as they communicate together in the outward bonds of one profession as they visibly cōtinue together like one visible body vpon that one roote Christ Iesus on whom they al outwardly professe that they depend as on the fountaine of their sappe and life so they both together make this one visible Vineyard and visible Church on earth to which God speaketh by his Prophets that Vineyard which is sometimes fruitfull and somtimes bringeth forth wilde grapes And of this visible kind of Vineyard we are now to intreat Our next question therefore is where that Vineyarde may bee seene For in Esayes dayes Surely saith God the Vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel the men of Iudah are his pleasant plants All the world besides was as a wildernes and a forrest the habitation of wild beasts this onely was the Lords Paradice placed in the middest of the world and fenced in from all the world the subiect of our present Parable But the circumstances of this Church doc minister occasion of 3. doubts concerning the generall nature and state of Gods Church on earth which are necessary to be vnfolded first seeing the whole church of Israel and Iudah was at these times so generally corrupted as well in idolatry and superstition as in life manners that as it is Esay 1. From the crowne of the head to the soale of the foot there was nothing sound but wounds swellings and sores full of cerruption A doubt ariseth how it might be called Gods Church and Vineyard vnles an Idolatrous and erring Church notwithstanding may bee accounted Gods Church an adulterous wife Gods Spouse 2. Seeing the house of Israel at this day was diuided and Ephram separated from Iudah not onely in ciuil sort but in the forme of Religion also our next doubt is then how these two Churches are notwithstanding by the Prophet counted as one The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel though the men of Iudah be his pleasant plants And seeing both Iudah and Samaria are now laid waste and the Church and Vineyard there is vtterly destroyed our last doubt is where the Vineyard and Church of God may now be found on earth I will lightly touch them all speaking first of the place where the Church is secondly of her variable state her purity and corruption thirdly of her vnity how many particular Churches are notwithstanding one Now for the first where the Vineyard of the Lord of hosts is Vnhappy Israel thou hadst an eternall promise Psal 132. ver 14. This said God is my rest for euer here will I
be named the Lords Vineyard Surely to vse Gods owne similitude where there hath publikely passed a solemne contract of marriage visibly confirmed by Couenants and pledges mutually deliuered and receiued though the wife keepe not the truth of her first faith but euen openly and shamelesly turneth away her heart after other louers yet til there passeth a publike renouncing one of the other and a bill of diuorcement giuen and separation passed she is accounted his wife whose name she beareth whose wife shee publikely professeth her selfe to be So is betweene God and his visible Church both Israel and Iudah notwithstanding their fornications still kept the publike profession of the name of the God of Israel they retained circumcision the outward seale and pledge both of his Couenant both offered sacrifices to him that brought thē out of Egypt euen by that stile though in a superstitious maner both had the law of God publikely amongst them his Prophets also And therefore this outward foundation of the old league and couenant continueth stil the Lord accounteth them both as his and notwithstanding their knowne adulteries and their children of fornication by other gods whom they also serued hee intreateth them though in anger and displeasure and in threates and sometimes in chasticements yet as his owne for they were neuer denounced till they were destroyed and by the benefite of that same outward society coniunctiō which in the midst of their other abominations still remayned between God and them of the word and Sacrament many spirituall children also were borne by them to the Lord such as those 7000. were in Elias dayes who liuing in house together with their illegitimate brethren feared their father the God of Israel and secretly mourned at the abominations of their mother howsoeuer by liuing in so corrupt a house they might be tainted with some of the corruptions of their mother and carnall brethren And this is the nature of the Christian Church wherof that was a figure it is here on earth subiect to alterations and to that like generall defection and ouerrunning with weeds which both Christ and the Apostles prophesie should happen in the outward and visible face thereof which we see did happen in the figuratiue Church of Israel before Christ though the roote and foundation of Christianity shal neuer faile in it and the booke of God the seed of immortality shall remaine in it vncorrupted and the publike profession of Christ shall neuer be vtterly choaked for the Elects sake that shall bee from age to age of this world being borne in it yea though one part of the Church whose preseruation of the trueth shall be lesse corrupted then an other as Iudah was in comparison of Israel For the particular Churches are like Vineyards some flourishing for a time some barren and according to their husbandmen some cleaner kept some ouergrowne with thornes some become wilde for want of pruning yea they are like our bodies some sound and orthodox some more diseased some sicke vnto death and some vncleane and leprous and with whom there can bee no communion Thus the Church of Corinth in the Apostle Saint Paules time was not so sound as the Churches of Rome Ephesus the Church of Galatia was infected with a most dangerous error After when S. Iohn wrote the church of Ephesus had her imperfections the other sixe Churches were more infected and amongst them Laodicea was in farre worse estate then either Pergamus or Thyatira and yet all these remained the Lords Churches and Vineyards in the middest of their errors corruptions because they helde that foundation of Christianity vpon which the Church is builded Thou art Christ the Sonne of the liuing God For although as euery sinne is opposite to theloue of God so euery error also is opposite to his truth and doe not agree together yet by reason of our weake eyes and iudgements not discerning the disagreement of truth and error as of righteousnes and sinne the best men doe receiue some probable errors into the society of truth without reiecting and ouerturning their faith of those grounds which they truly hold and therefore though euery little error in matter of faith be dangerous and causeth some defect and mayme in our practise of piety eyther in our inuocations of faith or in our works of loue and the more deadly the nearer they touch the principall grounds yet they doe not all make wounds vnto death and kill our faith and piety till they come to be knowne and wilfull errors that is to be heresies and sinnes of the will for then the least error is deadly because it is wilfull and directly opposite to the loue of the truth of Christ Finally as one Church is more or lesse pure and Orthodoxe then another so wee see how the selfe same Churches continue not alwayes in one and the selfe same state for the Church of Iudah was sometime religious sometimes idolatrous sometimes purged in part the groues and high places still remaining so hath euery Church in the world since Christs time vndergone great alterations and changes the Church of Rome in her first ages was very sound and pure the Easterne Churches were more ouergrowne with errors in these latter ages since as Platina obserueth Iohn 10. The people were cleane departed from Saint Peters steps the west Churches haue more declined and the Easterne Churches except that one error of the proceeding of the holy Ghost in all other parts of faith remaine much more pure then the Church of Rome and her adherents yea Rome it selfe began a little changing of her selfe when Pius the fift acknowledging that their bookes of publike diuine seruice in all places were stuffed with vaine errors of superstitions did cast out some corruptions and no doubt besides the priuate reformations both in the iudgements and practise of numbers of her followers who will not embrace all her abominations she would haue proceeded further in publike reformation had not besides the loue of her priuate gaines a respect of her publike credit hindred her for by confessing any one error shee seeth that shee should giue preiudice against her self for other her opinions in acknowledging that shee might erre in them also Which ministreth an answere to their vaine obiections who demand of vs where our Church was for so many ages till Martin Luthers dayes in what caue of the earth it lurked for our Church is one and the same which it was at the first planting of Christianity amongst vs It hath alwayes had one and the same roote and foundation one and the same Christ publikely professed though at the first more purely afterwards more corruptly and not by Gods mercy the same Christ more purely againe For as the new dressing and weeding of a Vineyard is not a new planting and as the often repairing the decayes and purging of the vncleannes of the Temple was not the new founding and building of another Temple so in our Church
Prophet onely howsoeuer diuided both in sects and kingdomes amongst themselues are yet in regard of their common profession of Mahumetisme accounted but as one body of Mahumetans How much more truely doe these 3. bonds of professing one and the same Lord and King of receyuing his one and the same law and word of incorporating themselues into one body by Baptisme in which 3. the essence of Christianity consisteth make al the professed christians of the world of one incorporation howsoeuer they are scattered in the earth and scattered in place and in knowledge one of another yea and in som priuat opinions also differ for they all visibly meete in their one roote Christ and in professing of faith in him To these 4. common bonds the Primitiue Church added as they might a fift bond of communion and mutuall society euery new created Bishoppe and ouerseer of any particular Church sending his synodicall letters of the profession of his faith to his neighbour brethren and they accordingly receiuing one another into the communion and fellowshippe of loue as appeareth by the Ecclesiasticall story Lastly when the Emperor himself became a christian and the bonds of the Empire and of the church were in a maner all one they added a 6. bond the common assemblies of all the ouerseers of the particular Vineyards within the Empire in common counsell to make peace and set down orders for the peaceable and vniform gouernment of the whole But the church of Rome which in the greatnes shee is growne to sayeth of her selfe as Babylon Reuel 18. I am a Queene and am no widow and shall see no mourning that is I cannot faile would teach the world a new lesson or article of christian faith not read in the Scripture not thought of in the Primitiue church not acknowledged by any ancient Father not dremed of by any anciēt Bishop of that See that notwithstanding God thundered and was angry when the Israelites asked a King as therein reiecting God to raigne ouer them yet now the Church cannot be vnder Christ and his Iudges as Israel was vnlesse she haue a King an absolute Monarch ouer her and that is the Bishoppe of Rome that all who acknowledge not this doctrine are heretiques all that yeelde not that obedience are schismatiques none of the Church and body of Christ all as Publicans and Infidels and in the state of damnation A fearefull sentence like that of the Bramble Iugd. 9. If you put not your trust vnder my shadow fire shall come out from me and consume the Cedars of Libanon For if all bee schismatiques and cut off from the Church like branches from the Vine that acknowledged not the Bishop of Rome for their King then was Saint Cyprian in a damnable estate who not onely reiected Stephanus the Bishoppe of Rome in a matter of faith but in matter and cases of iurisdiction also forced appeales to Rome and aduised the Bishops of Spaine to repeale him whom Stephanus had restored to his Bishoprick Then was Saint Augustine in a damnable estate who with 216. Bishops in the 6. Councell of Carthage not onely wrote to Innocentius not to receiue appeales out of Africa nor to send his Legats a letter nor to bring in the smoaky pride of the world into the Church of God but also made a decree purposely against his challenged authority that what Priest or Deacon soeuer should appeale to any beyond the sea he should be excommunicated throughout all Africa But what doe I speake of particular Bishoppes that a canonicall Councell of Calcedon of 630. Catholique Bishoppes was in a damnable state which made a decree that the Archbishoppe of Constantinople should haue equall priuiledges with the Archbishop of Rome and that he hauing the next place of honour should in causes Ecclesiastical be aduanced as farre as the See of Rome And although the Popes Legates did by all meanes labour to stay the decree as being repugnant to a former decree of the Nicene Councell for the church of Antioch yet it passed with generall consent and was pronounced by the Iudge as the decree of the Councell neither is this it selfe so much to be regarded as the reason they gaue for that their decree that as their Father had not giuen without good aduice to the See of elder Rome the first place of honor because that City was the seat of the Empire so with a former councell of 150. Bishops at Constantinople vnder Theodosius the elder moued with like consideration had giuen equall priuiledges to the most holy See of new Rome and they insisting in the steppes of sacred Fathers did againe decree the same thing This was in those dayes the opinion of the Bishops of the whole world concerning the ground reason of the Bishoppe of Romes Primacy neither was that the opinion of the Church for a time but three partes of the Christian world vnder the three Patriarkes of Constantinople of Antioch and of Alexandria haue alwayes since receiued him as hereticall for his claime insomuch that they denied their Emperor Michael Palaeologus christian burial for yeelding to the Church in the councell at Lions euen at this day though their miserable slauery vnder the Turke might force them to yeeld a shew of subiection to any christian of whom they might hope of any comfort yet they cannot in their consciences frame themselues to this grosse and lying flattery Wretched men if vndergoing such miseries vnder the hands of their enemies for Christs name neglecting such liberties and worldly preferments as are proposed to reuolters they are notwithstanding in the damnable estate of the Turkes and Infidels and Aliens from CHRIST for that default though they thus liue as Confessors and many of them die as Martyrs But to conclude the vniuersall Church and Spouse of Christ for many ages after her Lords ascension kept herselfe free from these domesticall yoakes neither could shee bee induced that any decree or cannon should be imposed ouer her by any one of her Bishops but that which her self in the free and common Councel of her elder children concluded to bee good for her selfe and hers for execution of which orders and Canons though shee appointed her elder sonnes to ouersee her younger first some as Bishoppes to ouersee her Presbyters and after some as Primates to ouersee her Bishops and lastly some as Archbishoppes and Patriarks to ouersee her Primates yet all the orders which they exacted of particular persons were the common decrees of their Synods Now wonderfull it is to consider how one of her owne children by getting the elder brothers place hath in the absence of the Lord vsurped and claimed ouer the necks first of all his brethren in particular and lastly ouer the necke of his mother also creeping vp by the Emperour like Iuie by the Oke till he had ouertopped him also from a primacy to a supremacy and after to an absolute and visible Monarchie and Kingdome of Romans and as Lord of all
was to be planted in Canaan What are Leuiticus and Deuternomy but the heauenly rules and orders of husbandring disposing and pruning and dressing this vine to preserue it in state And lastly what are the histories of Iosua and Iudges and Kings but the mighty planting of it in the land of Canaan the casting out of the Cananits like stones thorns the weeding out of those mighty Nations which might hinder the growth of the Vine There the heauens and the earth the sunne the fire the cloudes and the sea together with the Angels host of heauen all were commanded in their seuerall callings to attend vpon this Vine for they were the people which the Lord called to be a holy generation his royall Priesthood and that was the place of which he prophesieth Psal 132. The Lord hath chosen Sion and loueth to dwell in it saying here is my rest for euer here will I dwell for I haue delighted therin I will surely blesse her victuals satisfie her poore with bread I will cloath her Priests with saluation and her Saints shall shout for ioy Now those temporall blessings of peace and abundance those temporary deliuerances from al enemies those miracles and those wonders and that sensible presence of God himselfe in the middest of them though they seeme strange in our eyes and at the reading of them doe make vs Christians to say Hee hath not dealte so with any Nation Hee hath not dealt so with any Christian Church yet wee are deceiued for the gracious kindnes of God died not with Israel but rather those visible mercies towards Iudah were the visible seales of his inuisible and perpetual graces towards his Church and euery part therof for where he hath an outward Church there he hath also some elect to bee placed in it for eternity and where any of his elect are there are all things necessary to their accomplishment his Ministers his Word his Sacraments his Graces his Protection his exceeding loue For seeing those outward visible Churches bee as it were the Lords Worke-houses wherein hee frameth the inuisible members of Christs body by grace and proportioneth them to glory that etern all wisdome and loue will so prouide order and proportion also those means one to another and all vnto the end that it may iustly challenge the whole world what should I say What could I haue done for my Vineyard which I haue not done And here though occasion is offered It were a good thing to prayse the Lord and to sing vnto the name of the most high to declare this his louing kindnes in the morning and his truth all the day vntill night season for so much of our life is Angelicall as is spent in songs of thankefulnes vnto our God yet I must leaue this work to be the sacrifice of your priuate deuotion In which that one onelie benefit vpon the Christian Church is more then wee shall be able to comprehend that this Vineyard this Paradice whereof himselfe vouchsafeth to be the husbandman hee hath purchased to himselfe by the price of bloud not as Ahab purchased Naboth his Vineyard by the cruell shedding of the right owners bloud and vniust robbing the possessor of it but by giuing an infinit price for it the bloud of his onely beloued sonne to redeeme it where it lay ingaged in the hand of iustice and the Apostle concludeth necessarily Rom. 9. Hee who spared not his owne sonne but gaue him for his Church how shall hee not with him giue all things to her he that hath yeelded vp the person of his infinitly beloued to be a sacrifice for her sins and doth giue his flesh to feede his Church and his bloud to bee her drinke how iustly may hee demaund What could he doe more for his Vineyard which hee hath not done But here though it be with the consent of all tongues acknowledged that the blessings of God vpon his Church and euery part thereof are exceeding great yet this challenging as it were of his own omnipotency What could I haue done more which I haue not done rayseth a doubt not to bee ouerpassed For might not this house of Iudah the inhabitants of Ierusalem haue replyed in the wordes of the Leper Math. 8.2 Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me cleane the ordinarie obiection which many godles persons in our times doe frame both against God and themselues attributing their impenitency not to their owne obstinacy and corruptions but to Gods vnresistable will for if hee would say they he could sanctifie vs and make vs cleane also Wherein first that is vndoubtedly true that God who made Iron to swimme and rockes of stone to yeelde forth streames of water who made Aaron his dried staffe to bud and bring forth Almonds in a night he who could of stones raise vp children vnto Abraham if hee would by miracle could mollifie these obstinate sinners also and make their rockie hearts gush forth with teares hee could make them of stones children and of withered stickes fruitfull trees and that in a moment by the might of his omnipotent power but as in the gouernement of the world hee hath set downe an ordinary course according to the nature of his creatures which he doth not alter but vpon speciall occasion as our Sauiour noteth in the cure of Naaman and in the feeding of the widdow of Sarepththa Luke 4.27 so in the ordering of his Church also conuersion of the soules of men he hath set down an ordinary course of secondary spiritual causes agreeable to their end and fitted to perswade the mind of man as principally the word of truth and light in the mouth of his messengers accompanied with a measure of his spirit Thus by Moses and the Prophets hee conuerteth sinners if men will not heare them no though a man should rise from the dead saith our Sauiour they will not belieue for these are so forceable and so proportionated in his wisdom to the heart of man so seconded with the graces of his powerfull spirit both for the instructing of the mind and thereby the inclining of the will that vnlesse a man hath more then ordinarily corrupted himselfe in sin vnlesse he be like these trees in Iude his Epistle Twice dead and plucked vp by the rootes vnles hee bee like Lazarus not onely dead but stinking also in his graue habitually corrupted and that with such kinds of particular vices as are opposite to the receiuing of the life of grace it could not but draw him vnto God Of this sort are those obdurate sinners which haue hearts and cannot repent Rom. 2.5 for though all inherent sinne be contrary to God and his truth yet some sinnes and vices are more opposite to Christ then others which maketh some sinners conuersion more difficult then others Thus our Sauiour affirmeth that Publicans and Harlots shal sooner come to Gods Kingdome then proud Pharisies that stand vpon their owne righteousnes according to the Law and
and the beame out of the timber answereth and denounceth Woe to him that buildeth a Towne by bloud and getteth a City by iniquity Hab. 2.11 Who would haue thought that when Abels mouth was stopped by death and his bloud swallowed vp by the earth that there had bin none to complain but his bloud saith God Gen. 4. which the earth had swallowed crieth to mee out of the bowels thereof What a complayning noyse then must the bloud of so many men as is dayly shed in this land make in the eares of the Lord of hoasts crying now for vengeance against them that will not reuenge it against them that helpe to smother it and do not remoue euill from Israel But I will not dwel vpon these sores of our land we see the fruits which the chosen Church of Israel and Iudah his pleasant plant brought forth wee see the fruits which our vnthankefull land so blessed of the Lord so instructed in the precepts of piety and righteousnesse doth affoorde to him for all his mercies and louing kindnesses I looked for grapes and behold wilde grapes Here iust occasion is ministred to inquire out some reason why all these blessings of God in planting watering and pruning his Church should not be of force to make it fruitful but that notwithstāding al his husbandry it shuld so degenerate bring forth the fruits not of the new but of the old stocke I wil not vndertake to set down al the particular reasōs therof but amōgst many no doubt one not the least is that first blessing of planting his Vineyard in a fruitfull soyle his temporall blessings his peace his plenty his furnishing of it with all outward necessaries that it might bee in heart and strong to bring forth goodly fruit It may seeme strange that these helpes of piety should proue the bane therof for whē straw is not ministred to Israel but that they are forced to wander ouer the land to seek stubble what maruell if they yeeld not their ful tale of bricks or if the necessities of this life doc distract Martha vnto many things how can shee with her sister intend to fitte at the foot of Christ and by the waters of the Word which should increase her fruitefulnesse But though Abraham Iob Dauid all faithfull men truly rooted and grounded in Christ the more they are increased with those outward blessings of wealth of honour of authority the more abundance of the outward fruits of righteousnesse and mercy they doe yeeld yet in men not truly regenerated and altered into the nature of the roote Christ of which sort the greater parte of outward professors alwayes are lamentable experience sheweth how that fatnes of the soyle which in the fanctified branches of the Vine Christ doth increase good fruit contrariwise in these vnreceiued Christians doth feed the corruption of their olde nature and doe helpe to the fruites thereof This corrupted the purity of the Church of Israel Deut. 32.5 Hee that should haue beene vpright when hee waxed fat spurned with his heele And Ier. 5. Though I fedde them full yet they committed adultery they assembled themselues by companies in harlots houses This corrupted the Church of Christians Religio peperit diuitias filia deuorauit matrem Piety brought forth wealth and this daughter destroyed her mother that brought her forth This corrupted the Church of Rome As soone as the Church was indued with riches saith Platina the worshippers of God were turned from seuerity to wantonnes and by the generall impunity no Prince repressing the lewdnesse of men monsters vsurped Peters seat Lastly this hath been the bane of our church our peace our plenty our rest euen the Lords blessings like plenty of showers hath brought forth this haruest of weedes and brambles which haue choaked true deuotion abundance hath increased luxuric and ministred food to the pride of life fulnesse of bread hath brought forth wantonnes of the flesh and lust of vncleannesse which in want and hunger do ordinarily wither peace hath bread security and called euery man to the building of his own house Here beganne our gathering when wee conceiued hope of inioying and the increase of our goods increaseth our loue to wards thē and by stealing our affection separateth our hearts from the roote Christ in whom wee should grow And thus when men should haue said in their hearts Let vs feare the Lord our God that giueth raine both earely and late and reserueth to vs the appointed time of haruest or when they should say with Dauid Psal 116. Enter into God thy rest O my soule for he hath beene beneficiall to thee wee say with the glutton Take thy rest O my soule for thou hast goods laid vp for many yeares eate drinke and be merry Whereby as our Sauiour obiecteth to the Iewes Math. 13.15 This peoples heart is waxen fatte and their eares are dull of hearing with their eyes haue they winked lest they should see with their eyes and heare with their eares and vnderstand with their hearts and be conuerted and I should heale them So necessary is the prayer of Salomon for the Church of God also Giue mee not abundance lest I be full and deny God and say Who is the Lord But to conclude this point howsoeuer the corruption of mē doth turn this plenty of earthly blessings to the nourishing of their earthly affections seeing as Vines cannot bring forth fair goodly fruit in a barren soile so the fruits of the Church of righteous men cannot be abundant fair without this food seeing God in his mercy also often taketh away this abundance when his Church groweth wanton by breaking the staffe of bread tryeth them with scarsity somtimes with afflictions the Lords challenge doth notwithstanding still continue firm What could I haue done to my Vineyard which I haue not done In this abundant allowance vnto our bodies if any man thinke that the abundant prouision made for the foode of our soules also this plenty of preaching and of instructions should haue kept downe the pride of the body and held vp the spirit aboue the flesh reformed the abuses of wealth peace I may adde euen this abundance of spiritual food as one of the causes of cōfirming hardning corrupt minds in their corruptions for in those fat hearts which are either wanton or sleepy the continuall plenty of the word causeth a fulnesse a lusting after Quailes and nouelties and a wearie loathing of that plaine bread of life which came from heauen Our soules said the Iewes are dried vp with this Manna Euen as water and bread and fire because they are things without which we cannot liue God made them more cōmon then things of pleasure and yet because they are so common they are of lesse price so that word without which there is no spirituall life God in his mercy maketh it cōmon in his church that according to the prophesie it may runne like waters in the