world and although as Tertul. saith that Christs kingdom is not conteined in any bounds as the Germans Britons others are but whither soeuer you go his name is beleeued on his power stretched out that although ye go to the Indians to the Moores or whither soeuer els euery where you shall find In the beginning was the word and the word was with God that word was God yet notwithstanding of al these although thus far distant yet while they obserue the vnitie of the spirit in the bōd of peace as of the 5000. in the Acts of the Apostles there is Cor vnum anima vna one heart one soule This is the prerogatiue of the Church to make that they who are in bodies many and diuers yet being vnited in spirit make all one mysticall body vnder their head Iesus Christ This is that catholike Church which we beleue this is that communion of Saints which not flesh blood but our father which is in heauen hath gathered together This is that body whereof our Apostle here speaketh whose head is Christ whose mēbers we are wherin the Apostle laboureth for agreement confort and that therefore Least there should be any diuision in the body Dissention diuision is a most miserable thing whether ye respect the Church common welth or priuate families The contention of the Apostles of our Sauiour sauoured of those things which are of the world and not of God The dissentions betweene Paul and Barnabas although the Lord turned all to his greatest glory yet gaue the Church a shrewd blow euen in her swadling clothes The strife betweene the East and West Churches about the feast of Easter armed the enemies of both against both The quarels betweene Theophilus and Epiphanius Chrysost Augustine Ierome Ruffinus caused Christ and his kingdom to be ill spoken of Clem. Alexandrinus Strom. li. 7. saieth the Heathens were wont to obiect on this maner Ye Christians dissent among your selues and maintaine so many sectes which although euery one doe chalenge to it selfe the title of Christianitie yet euery one doeth hate condemne another For this cause said Chrysostome wee are become ridiculous both to Iewes and Gentiles while the Church is rent into a thousand pieces The familie of Loue in reproch in their writings call vs the deuided people Chrysostome on the Actes noteth that some were woont in his time to say I would be a Christian but I know not to which side to cleaue The one saieth I say true the other saieth I say true Which if euer it were true in any age in this of ours is most true By this wee see many obstinate confirmed in their errour many weake to be kept backe and many wicked to take occasion hence to say in their hearts Non est Deus There is no God For albeit our contention be not so bitter as it was in Poperie among the Dominicans and Franciscans and that whole vnholy rable euery one striuing pro aris focis one crying out Loe here is Christ another loe here is Christ which euery one hath seene in euery angle of euery great temple at euery sacring of euery masse all which controuersies Iesuitisme hath almost swalowed vp yet as long as we with the Corinthians hold one of Paul another of Apollos another of Cephas are we not carnall doe we not make a rent in the body I am sory that these things and greater then these may be spoken of vs. Paul Apollos Cephas were excellent men in the church of God adorned with most excellent rare gifts yet did the apostle reprehend the Corinthiās for depending on them for diuiding the church for them If the Apostle might in these our dayes reuiue see our strife what itching eares we haue how we heap vp teachers to our owne liking how that is holy that wee will and as long as we like how like straying sheepe we forsake our owne sheepfold and like foolish chickens flie frō vnder the hens wings how in this citie sundry assemblies in diuers places are thought far more holy then this daies assemblie or any other at this place or the like what may we thinke he would doe or say Be it that they are which God knoweth they are not as Paul Apollos Cephas yet as long as for them or by them the church is rent vntill Paul Apollos Cephas if any such be take away the scandall the stumbling blocke is there not dissention in the body So long as euery one draweth disciples after him seeking our owne and not Christes glory So long as in giuing honour we go not one before another So long as we giue not due food in due season but as crowes feed on carrion so we fill our auditors eares with the supposed faults of other men So long as we see not the beame in our own eie but are euer hagling at the mote in our brothers eie So long as we put our faults into the hinder part of the wallet and lie prying into our brethrens which we hang before vs So long as we doe nothing but with cursed Cham lay open our fathers nakednes while we speake not to the heart of Hierusalē So long we make a schisme a dissention in the body so long Christ dwelleth not in our hearts by faith So long we may seeme zelous but not for good So long we grieue the good spirit of God wherwith we are sealed against the day of redemption and heape wrath vnto our selues against the day of wrath As oft as I consider a notable fruit of this contention which is in deed the contempt of the ministerie I thinke of it oftentimes so oft I cannot but tremble at the heauie iudgements which haue befallen so godlesse people What befell Mary Moises sister for her murmuring Chora Dathan and Abiram that set themselues against Moises the boyes that mocked olde Elizeus what became of the holy citie Hierusalem Niniue Corinth Galatia Ephesus Colossa Laodicea and others now heapes of stones now dens and cages for vncleane birdes and beastes now of Churches planted by the Apostle become slaues and bound to Mahomet and infidelitie are things to all the world manifest and need not any further explication As oft as I heare men for their age reuerend for their learning excellent for their conuersation without iust reprehension examples of the flocke elders that rule well worthie of double honor to be reprochfully traduced to be made laughing stocks to men and angels and being such as haue left all for Christ yet to be termed Antichrists sometime in the pulpit sometime at your tables sometime in lewde and shamelesse libels and euery where to be handled vnworthily to be enuied at that kings haue bene their nursing fathers and queenes their nursing mothers As oft as I behold his platforme whome I am lothe to name that personatus histrio Martine who thirsteth at the ouerthrowe of Bishoprickes and Cathedrall Churches like vnto him that reapeth
bow in some others there were itching eares and desire of nouelties In their liues singular iniquitie and wickednesse in their sacraments intollerable corruption and prophanation in euery thing studie of partes and contention so as one held of Paul another of Apollos another of Cephas and that which in this place did of all other most miserablie vexe the Church and threatned as it were an vtter ruine the greater and men of more excellent gifts cōtemned them of meaner gifts insulting ouer them pleasing themselues aboue measure in loue and liking with their owne excellencie on the other side they on whom God had bestowed gifts in smaller measure enuied their superiors repined to liue vnder their subiection nay they found fault with God himselfe as though hee had not in due portion distributed his blessings The Apostle in this similitude of the members of the body goeth about as a good Phisition to heale this disease shewing that no member no not the least not the meanest is to be contemned nay proouing that the meanest members and of least accompt are most to be honoured Euery man must walke in his calling contentedly Non omnes possumus esse Caesares saieth hee They that brought not golde nor siluer nor precious stones to the building of the temple yet did good offices if they brought but wood or stone If we cannot attaine to be in primis to haue the first gole yet is it praise woorthy if we may haue the second or the third In the building of the temple they that laid the foundations nay that digged places to lay the first stone in that hewed and squared the stone and timber were of lesse reputation and account then those that carued gilded the temple yet was the others worke and labour far more necessarie They that till the land and sow the seed that thresh and grind the corne are of lesse reckoning and estimation then those that liue in princes courts yet is their labour and seruice farre more needfull In mans body the soueraigntie is the heads the eies and eares as in place so in dignitie excell the handes and feete yet cannot the eye say to the hand I haue no need of thee nor the head agayne to the feete I haue no need of you Yea much rather those members of the body which seeme to be more feeble are more necessarie And vpon those members of the body which we thinke most vnhonest put wee more honestie on and our vncomely partes haue more comelines on For our comely partes need it not but God hath tempered the body together and hath giuen the more honour to that part which lacked And that as it is in my text least there should be any diuision in the body c. This is then the Apostles scope drift that as there is great difference betwene the members of the bodie whether we respect the placing of them in the body or their force or dignitie yet none can lacke anothers helpe and ministerie so in the church they who are as heads or eies that is the chief may not contemne the hands feete that is the meanest but must giue them the more honour and on the other side they that are the handes and feete that is the lowest and meanest must not take vnto them the honour of the head neither must murmure against it and that therefore least there should bee any diuision in the body but that as members they ought to haue the same care one for an other Great was the occasion that mooued the Apostle to vse this similitude whereby he laid open their vaine fruitlesse contention so as that if they were not blind they might see their owne folly and waxe wise euery man esteeme iudge of himself according to his place conditiō whereunto the lord hath called him And I would to god we had not now a greater cause might not make a more iust complaint then S. Paul might As in a cōmon fire euery mā bringeth somwhat with him either water to quench or somewhat els to helpe no man at such a time standeth idle so I at this time and in this place doe bring to you this saying of the Apostle Least there should be diuision in the body let the members haue the same care one for another If one member suffer all suffer with it if one member be had in honor al reioice with it In handing whereof I purpose by Gods assistance and your patience to followe the diuision that Chrysost in his 31. homilie on this epistle on these words maketh Tria igitur hîc flagitauit Apostolus Ne scindantur sed penitissimè copulentur ex aequo sibi prospiciant quicquid incidat commune putent The Apostle hath required saith he three things first that they be not rent or diuided among themselues but most firmely coupled together and that in these wordes lest there should be any diuision in the body Secondly that the members should haue a mutuall care one for another and that in these wordes that the members should haue the same care one for another Thirdly that they should accompt that all things that happened to one were common to all and that in these wordes Therefore if one member suffer all the members suffer with it if one be had in honour all reioyce with it First here is a prohibition Let there be no faction or diuision among you then a mutual care Let the members haue not onely a care but the same care one for another thirdly not onely a care is commanded but a commiseration If one member suffer al the rest suffer with it c. And lastly if the time will suffer shall be added the explication and application of the Apostles similitude in the wordes following Ye are the bodie of Christ and members in part The first part Lest there should be any diuision in the body c. Nature the common parent of vs all who as Philosophie teacheth doth nothing in vaine albeit that all her motions be by contraries and that in this great and wide world wherein there is wonderful and strange variety yet hath she so tempered and mingled all things that there is not onely not any diuision and discord but if we beleeue some Philosophers such and so sweete a harmony that as he saith of vertue if it might be seene with bodily eies it would stirre vp incredible loue thereof so if this harmonie might be heard with our outward senses it would not only rauish vs more then the sweete Syrene songs but woulde replenish vs with an vnspeakeable kind of pleasure fitter for the heauenly gods as they thinke then for earthly men In this litle world this tabernacle of our bodies this microcosmos albeit it consist altogether of contrarie elements and of those whereof euery one seeketh to destroy another and that by most contrarie qualities as the extremities of heate colde moisture and drought and albeit there be neuer any peace or
no man thinke his brothers matters not to appertaine vnto him Let the members not only haue a care but the same care let the members haue the same care let there be no distraction or separation of mindes This place requireth that they who are in the Church and common wealth the chiefe should haue good respect to them ouer whome they are placed euen of the meanest and that they whom the Lord hath not exalted to so high place should in the Lorde obey their rulers that as the bodie then prospereth when all the members agree together so they all shall prosper when they growe vp as one man in Christ Iesus which is the head ouer all in all and through all It is a great mischiefe and present danger to the bodie if the members care not one for another but it is farre greater if they rise one against another if they fight one with another There is a notable historie in Esdras of them that builded the Temple Wee say they will builde and we alone will builde and wee will builde together as if they would say Wee all couet we all care for wee all as one desire the speedie building of the Lordes house Apocal. 12. Michael and his Angels al fight against the Dragon all as one all desire the same victorie all set vpon the same enemie Virtus vnita fortior force vnited is the more forcible This teacheth vs thus much that all must concurre together that all must labour together that all must care together Art thou a member care for the bodie carest thou not thou bringest the bodie into danger and shewest thy selfe an euill member All the souldiers of Iesus Christ must prepare them selues to fight vnder the banner of Christ to fight the Lordes fight to put on the whole armour of God that they may resist in the euill day For as none is crowned but he that striueth and as none obteineth the goale but he that runneth and as no man receaueth the pennie but he that laboureth in the vineyard neither doth any raigne with Christ but such as suffer with him so except the members care and haue the same care they shewe themselues not sound members of that bodie whereof Iesus Christ is the heade God hath so mixed all things in this worlde that nothing that no estate can stand by it selfe Tum tua res agitur paries cùm proximus ardet Then is thy matter in hande when thy neighbours house is on fire The husbandman ploweth not soweth not for him selfe alone the seafaring man saileth not for himselfe the souldier fighteth for his king and countrey not for his owne cause the marchant aduentureth for forreine commodities but not for himselfe alone but for others also Nemo sibi nascitur no man is borne to himselfe no man may liue to himselfe The king ruleth not for his owne but for others cōmodities The preacher preacheth not for his owne but for others edifyings It was a lawe among the Lacedemonians as I take it that if any thing were stollen from any man his next neighbour should make it good and that because he had not greater care of his neighbours safetie The time suffereth me not to shewe how farre off all estats almost are from this regard one of another If we consider how that many that are the heads and greatest eate vp the poore as bread grinding their faces howe some ioyne house to house as though they would dwell alone vpon the lande howe they nestle themselues as high as Eagles as the Prophet saith call their houses by their owne names how you of this citie haue with vsurie eaten vp many ancient families the fat of the lande and by your Monopolie haue almost ouerthrowen all your sister cities turning the common wealth to your owne priuate commoditie what may we say thinke you that there is a mutuall care nay rather neither faith nor trueth nor loue left among men All which duely weied we shall appeare first scant to be members or if wee be members scarce caring members or if we care we care not idem we haue not the same care It was notably said of Agesilaus that citie that hath this care although it haue no walles yet hath it stronger walles then walles of brasse and where this regard is not although the walles be of brasse yet are they as weake as paper Magistrates ministers the highest the learnedest in the church cōmon wealths cause must all concurre The cutting off of the least part in the bodie doeth not onely bring a deformitie but a detriment to the whole bodie Chrysost hom 30. in 1. Cor. 12. Those members of the body which are but meane and seeme to haue litle vse yet being taken away disgrace the whole bodie quid enim capillis vilius what is more vile then the haires yet shaue them either from thy eie lids or frō thy brovves thou shalt not onely disfigure thy face but hinder the sharpnes of thy sight Cut off the nose let but one foote be lame the vvhole bodie is maimed though it be but the vvant of one member Cut off one finger nay but the litle fingers naile thou shalt finde the rest lesse able to doe their vvorke There is a notable treatise of S. Augustine in his 50. homilies homil 15. of the maner how we should loue one another Consider saieth hee and marke what is done among vs euen naturally how euery member careth one for another Ecce spinam calcat pes Behold the foot striketh against a thorne What is so farre off from the eie as the foote farre distant in place yet neere in affection the thorne pricketh but in one and that a litle place and yet see the backe bone boweth it selfe the eyes search the eares hearken if any can giue help the hands handle most tenderly and although the eies the eares the heart the head the hands and all be wel yea the foote it selfe euery where sauing where it is pricked yet heart eyes eares hands and all although they be not hurt yet haue a mutuall care to cure and comfort the part grieued though it be but the litle toe Mutuis auxilijs stant omnia All things are maintained by mutuall helpes Gen. 13. When Abraham heard that his nephew Loth was taken and caried away of the fiue kings that made warre against Sodome he prepared himself with 318. borne and bred vp in his house and pursueth the enemies slaieth the kings and recouereth and reskueth Loth and all his substance In the 10. of Iosue when Adonizedek king of Hierusalē Hoham king of Hebron Piraking of Iarmuth Iaphia king of Lachis Dabir king of Eglon make war against the Gibeonites for that they had ioined themselues to Iosue who had deuoted himselfe vnto the Lord then ought Iosue as a feeling member to send succour to them of Gibeon to pursue the enemies the Lord will shut them vp in a caue Iosues souldiers shall set their feete vpon their necks
not to care for the members not to haue the same care hath brought confusion to most mightie nations If it make vs a laughing stocke to our enemies if it shewe vs not to be the sonnes of God if he be not onely hated but accursed that setteth debate betweene brethren If euery kingdome or house deuided within it selfe shall come to destruction If when we bite one another we shall be consumed one of another let vs haue brotherly loue among vs brotherly care one for another Salomon saith that a brother that is holpen of his brother is as a strong or well fenced citie Ecce quà m bonum quà m iucundum est habitare fratres in vnum First Ecce beholde with an admiration and then howe good and howe pleasant a thing it is brethren to dwel together in vnitie not contented as you see to say It is good or it is pleasant but beholde how good and howe pleasant it is Many thinges are good that are not pleasant as affliction and the like and many things pleasant that are not good as the bread of wickednes but brethren to dwell together in vnitie is Beholde how good and how pleasant c. S. Austen on this Psalme saith Ita dulcis est sonus vt qui psalterium nesciunt ipsum tamen versum cantent The sound saith he of Ecce quà m bonum quà m iucundum est habitare fratres in vnum is so sweete that they who knowe not the psalter yet sing the verse The summe and conclusion of this point is that we loue one another Thereby shall all men knowe saith our Sauiour that you are my disciples if ye loue one another as I haue loued you Owe nothing to any man but this that ye loue one another For in Christ Iesu neither circumcision auaileth any thing neither vncircumcision but faith that worketh by loue The ende and fulfilling of the lawe is loue Let vs therefore not loue in worde or tongue but in deede and trueth with a loue without dissimulation with such a loue swill couer the multitude of offences It was the Apostles ioye which he by many obtestations besought them to fulfil to be like minded and as here is required the same care so there the selfe same loue Phil. 2. Let vs therefore as the Apostle saith to the Hebrues consider one another to prouoke to loue and to good workes I might speake and so had purposed much more to this sence but the time hath so ouertaken me that I must referre that as also the third part of mutuall compassion and the application Yee are the bodie of Christ and members for your part to your Christian consideration Onely this I wish you all consider that as in the griefe of the bodie the very heart sigheth the cies shead teares the head aketh the stomacke refuseth foode the whole bodie is made feeble though it be but the griefe of a finger or of a toe so in the church there ought to be a sympathie and fellowe feeling to weepe with them that weepe to reioyce with them that reioyce Who is weake saith the Apostle and I am not weake to remember them that are bound as bounde with them It is most aptly saide of Chrysostome to this sence hom 35. in Matth. Doeth thy brother suffer trouble or losse if thou be sorie for him thou art placed as a mēber in the bodie of the Church if thou sorow not if thou suffer not thou art cut off and peraduenture thou therefore sorowest not because thou art cut off Tamdiu dolet membrum quamdiu in corpore continetur si autem abscissum fuerit nec dolere poterit nec sentire The member so long grieueth as it is conteined in the body but being cut off it hath neither sorowe nor sence and so euery Christian that contemneth his brother Quia iam est alienus à corpore ideò affectum charitatis non tenet in corde Because he is nowe a stranger from the Church therefore he holdeth not the affection of charitie in his heart This your Sympathie and commiseration should shewe it selfe in releeuing your needie brethren in helping and succouring the poore maimed souldiers in aiding and assisting your afflicted brethren in Fraunce and Flaunders for the Gospels sake Nowe is the time when Pharaoh of Rome Senacherib of Spaine Rabsace of Flaunders in their pride set themselues against the Lorde and his Christ seeke to displace your dread Soueraigne whome let vs beseech God euer mightily to maintaine to conquere subdue this nation to a forraine yoke to spoile man woman and childe and to make vs all slaues to their Romish and Spanish crueltie A heathen man could say Qui non propulsat cùm potest iniuriam c. He that doth not put away force or violence when he may is as much in fault as if he should forsake his parents or his countrey Our Sauiour saith Quod vni existis c. What you haue done to one of these for my name sake you haue done it vnto me is it true in reliefe of the bodie with foode and raiment and not in preseruing the body and soule from idolatrie and superstition In the 9. of the Actes Christ saith to Saule Saule Saule why persecutest thou me Saule persecuted the Christians not Christ that was in heauen yet saith Christ because he had a compassion with his members his Church that that might be verified which the Apostle here saith If one member suffer all suffer with it Quando minimos meos persequeris me persequeris Whē thou persecutest the least of mine for my name sake thou persecutest me It is saide by our Sauiour what you haue giuen to one of these ye haue giuen it to me for he that giueth to the poore lendeth to the Lorde and truely in this case he that assisteth them that fight the Lordes fight lendeth vnto the Lord it shall be paied him againe and the Lorde shall deliuer him in the day of trouble In which respects in these daies of the Spanish intended inuasions of the seeking to supplant Christ and his members in our neighbours of Fraunce ye should not only not murmure at any helpe sent them or looke to be pressed thereunto by power or authoritie but freely and chearefully to offer to make a free will offering to serue the Lord. The cause is Christes the enemie ours as well as theirs and therefore we aswell as they should suffer with them The king is the Lordes annointed he is our neighbour a good neighbour such a one as feareth God that hath from his youth borne the Lordes yoke the danger great for that through his sides he shooteth at vs and by his ouerthrow making as it were a bridge on his backe the enemie hopeth for an entrance to vs. Let vs all therefore in this case for asmuch as the danger is common make the care common let vs not seeke to lay all on her Maiesties backe whose care and cost is onely for vs and our safetie who for Christ and his Gospell sake for the freedome and libertie of her loyall and louing subiects to serue the Lorde her God hath aduentured the wrath and indignation of most mightie and malicious enemies and hath suffered the most detestable and damnable practises of most vile and wicked wretches But the Lorde her God whome she serueth hath stoode by her and deliuered her and they are fallen into the pitte they prepared for others and haue inherited the reward of blood There was a time when our swordes were turned into plowe shares but the case is nowe altered we must turne our shares into swordes and he that hath no sworde must sell his coate and buy asworde Surely as Gods cause against whome they fight is the principall motiue that stirreth vp those our enemies thus to maligne vs so a second adiuuant cause is that abundance and plentie vvherevvith the Lord our God in his mercie hath so richly blessed vs. Novve as our Sauiour saith he that vvill saue his life shall lose it so vvhen Gods cause and our Countries requireth it he that vvill spare then shall lose all I may say of this kind of men that hoord vp their filuer and gold that are rich in plate and iewels and the like which these men thirst after as Aiax once did to Vlisses when they stroue for Achilles armour Cur spolieris erit non cur metuaris ab hoste So this abundance nay rather this close keeping of it when our prince and country may require it where it rusteth and profiteth not Cur spolieris erit It shall be a cause why wee shall be spoiled not why wee shall be feared But I see I forget my selfe and abuse your patience I must therefore the time being spent without repetition end humbly beseeching the almightie God for his great mercy sake so to softē our hard hearts that there be no strife or contention among vs but that all bitternesse may be laid aside and that as members we may all haue a care and the same care that if one suffer all may suffer with it if one be honoured all may reioyce with it that as we are the body of Christ and members for our part so we may with one mind and one mouth glorifie God the father of our Lord Iesus Christ To whom with the holy ghost three persons in one most glorious Trinitie one God in Vnitie might and maiestie be yeelded all honour prayse and glory for euer and euer Amen
A SERMON PREACHED AT PAVLES CROSSE THE IX OF NOVEMBER 1589. By WILLIAM IAMES D. of Diuinitie and Deane of Christes-church in Oxford 1. Ioan. 4. Ne cuiuis spiritui credatis sed probate spiritus an ex Deo sint Queniam multi pseudoprophetae exierunt in mundum Beleeue not euery spirit but prooue the spirits whether they are of God or not For many false prophets are gone out into the world Iacob 1. Si quis videtur religiosus esse inter vos qui non frenat linguam suam sed aberrare sinit cor suum huius vana est religio If any man among you seemeth religious and refraineth not his tongue but deceiueth his owne heart this mans religion is in vayne Hieron ad Pammachium Foelices inquit Faebius essent artes side ijs soli artifices iudicarent Happy saith Fabius were the Arts if they onely who are skilfull in them might iudge of them IMPRINTED AT LONDON by GEORGE BISHOP and RALPH NEWBERIE 1590. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE MY ESPECIALL GOOD LORD AND MASTER Sir CHRISTOPHER HATTON lord Chancellour of England Knight of the most noble Order of the Garter and Chancellour of the Vniuersitie of Oxford c. IT pleased your good Lordship to require a Copie of my sermon which I preached lately at Paules crosse which albeit I had denied to my lord of London diuers others before yet seeing it pleased your good lordship at your leasure to vouchsafe the reading of it I haue now at my returne hither put it downe as neere as I could and I thinke almost verbatim as I vttred it VVherein as my chief purpose was to asswage if it might bee and for my small measure I endeuoured it the contentions stirred vp amongst vs so haue I not kept backe my opinion nay my conscience touching the man that troubleth vs and the matter by him entended VVherein I protest before God that as I flattered not the Church gouernment of I owe to no bishop therein for any benefite receiued any thing farther then dutie and good will so if it had bene my last speach that euer I should haue had euen for the dutie I owe to Gods Church either this or what so euer God should haue giuen to this sence should haue bene sayd I am sory and it grieueth mee to see the heapes of Nouelties that in her Maiesties most gracious raigne and in so plentifull a light of the Gospell our inconstant Islanders haue brought into the world It argueth that the enuious man sleepeth not but hath sowed tares and that they fructifie and laboureth by all meanes by sea and land to make Proselites There was a time when a learned ministerie a thing much to be desired as also your Lordships great care in bestowing the liuings in your gift and the regard which they haue whom your Lordship putteth in trust by preferring learned men and Graduates of the Vniuersities doeth testifie to all the world that your Lordship doeth seeke the like was by the wisest and most zealous thought sufficient But if our brethren in zeale thinke that this can not be done but by extinguishing the ancient names and functions of Bishops in the Church a calling begunne and continued from the Apostles time vnto this day and ouerturning the estate established I will say with the Apostle zelum habent sed non secundùm scientiam It is no way to bread a learned ministerie either to pull downe the reward that should encourage them or the meanes to maintaine them when they are bred If any Bishops haue transgressed in their callings especially in admitting of insufficient Ministers as it must be confessed they haue done be it that he were an eie though blind in this that is a chiefe one or but a hand or a foote that is of a lower place surely it is ill physicke for this bleard eye or for this sore hand or foote to choppe off the head or kill the body It is hard that nothing can please these men vnlesse the Church possessions in deede their mothers bowels be pulled out and the cause why they begin with vs is this they must first haue a footing somewhere and here they see the hedge is lowest It is pitifull to see howe to this purpose in many places of this land he is thought the onely zealous learned and godly preacher that can finde most faults pretend most wants neuer giuing God once thankes for the aboundance of his blessings vpon this Church and nation which for these 32. yeeres hath bene yea euen at this day is a nurse nay rather a mother to all the Churches almost in all Christendome And whereas we ought to teach repentance amendement of life faith to God obedience to superiors and charitie one to another to rebuke pride couetousnes wantonnes newfanglednes slaunderings backbitings and the like if none of these be once named but our spirituall Pastors torne and traduced our owne vices not once touched but the Church and Church-men paid home then is he in many mens iudgements a zealous man a childe of God neuer man spake on this wise In this simple sermon I did cast in my mite if it perswaded I haue my hearts desire and God I trust hath the glory if it but a litle staied any but to make a pause some Apollos may water it and some others may build vpon it If it offended I knowe the trueth doth not alwaies purchase friendes and that nulla medicamenta tam faciunt dolorem quà m quę sunt salutaria Surely as my meaning was not to sowe pillowes vnder any mans elbowes so was it not to grieue any or to be contentious For my owne part Liberaui animam meam This I here haue sent submitting it and my selfe wholly to your Lordships good pleasure humbly beseeching Almightie God to guide your Lordship to the glory of his name the good of his Church and Common wealth and of this Vniuersitie not the meanest member thereof From Christes-Church in Oxford the 17. of December 1589. Your Lordships Chaplaine humbly in the Lord to be commanded W. IAMES 1. Cor. 12. 25 Least there should be any diuision in the body but that the members should haue the same care one for another 26 Therefore if one member suffer all suffer with it if one member be had in honour all the members reioyce with it 27 Now yee are the body of Christ and members for your part THe Apostle S. Paul hauing planted a church at Corinth and now labouring with the glad tidings of the Gospel to lightē the hearts of the Philippians or as some thinke the Ephesians who sate in darkenesse and shadow of death absent from Corinth in bodie though present in spirite in the meane time it is not credible what tares the enuious man sowed in the Lordes field among the Lordes wheate neither how many rauening wolues entred not sparing the flocke Hence there arose in their religion in some Apostasie and falling from God starting a side like a broken
rest vntill as Aristotle teacheth there be elementum praedominans a prÄ™dominant element that ruleth all the rest yet al the rest so serue and obey it so consent all to the good of the bodie the water asswaging the extremitie of the fire the fire warming the coldnes of the water and so of the rest euery one abating others exceedings euery one supplying others wants that albeit as is in the prouerbe nothing be more contrarie then fire and water heate and colde yet as Physitions of diuers deadly poisons make one wholesome medicine and as Bees of diuers noisome flowers make one sweete honie so nature the best scholemistres of many contraries hath made one the most sweete and pleasant mixture in the bodie And that therefore lest there should be any diuision in the bodie In this similitude of the Apostle albeit the head be placed as the watch-tower the eies eares as watchmen the handes as champions the shoulders and sides as walles or bulwarkes the feete as proppes to support or as quicke postes to dispatche the tongue as an Interpretor or Ambassador yet they all head eies eares hands and feete so consent and agree euery one lending helpe to another that that which toucheth one is regarded and cared for of all Barnarde in his meditations to shewe howe easily euery man might be directed and amended by himselfe saith that euery one hath in his owne house accusatorem testem iudicem an accuser a witnesse and a iudge Accusat me conscientia te stis est memoria ratio iudex My conscience is mine accuser my memorie the witnesse my reason the iudge The like hath S. Basill on these wordes attende tibijpsi so that farther then to himselfe to his owne house to his owne conscience to his owne memorie to his owne reason man needes not to seeke the most certaine censurer of himselfe In like manner the Apostle S. Paule to make manifest to the Corinthians what a mischiefe contention was in the Church sendeth them to no other place then to their owne bodies as if he should say If contention and strife can not be betweene the head eies handes and feete without the danger nay destruction of the whole bodie much lesse in the Church vvhich is the bodie of Christ Ye are the bodie of Christ and members in part This is that leauen which we with the Corinthians must purge out before we can be svveete bread These are those workes of darkenes which we with them must cast off before we can put on the armour of light This is that olde man with his deceaueable lustes which we must lay aside before vve can put on the nevv man Christ Iesus vvhich after God is shaped in righteousnes and true holines God is charitie and he that dwelleth in charitie dwelleth in God and God in him Our God is the God of peace our Christ is the prince of peace his Gospell the Gospell of peace his Apostles preachers of peace The Prophets prophecied of him that in his daies peace should flourish the Woolfe and the Lambe the Leopard and the Kid the Calfe and the Lyon should dvvell together that they should in his daies turne their svvordes into plovve shares their launces into sithes or sickles their speares into spades In his natiuitie the Angels sang peace Glorie be to God on high and in earth peace His vvhole life vvas an example of peace euery vvhere pax vobis His commission to his Apostles a commission of peace Into vvhat house soeuer ye enteter say Peace to this house In his departure hence he left peace My peace I â—â—â—e you my peace I leaue you Gregorie Nissen expounding these vvordes Pater noster qui es in coelis As oft saith he as vve say Our father which art in heauen so oft vve must remember of vvhat stocke linage we are namely sonnes of the almightie and whither wee ought to aime and direct all our thoughts and deeds namely to the highest heauens where our father dwelleth otherwise as bastard children wee shall beate the aire and shoote at an vncertaintie In like maner as oft as we consider what a God our God is what a Christ our Christ is what a Gospel our Gospell is what Apostles our Apostles were how that his birth life death and all these resounded nothing so much as peace so oft as Chrysostome noteth we must labour Vt similitudinem patris indicet actus prolis that is that we may be fatherlike that if wee will be coheires with Christ we as Cyprian saith see that we abide in the peace of Christ For seeing we haue all one and the same father redeemer comforter all one and the same milke of the word and food of the Sacraments Seeing we all inhabite here one and the same vale of miserie the valley of teares hauing all one and the same sworne enemie the olde malicious and canckred serpent Seeing there is but one God one faith one baptisme Seeing we are all branches of the same vine drawing all iuice moisture alike from the same roote all seruants of the same master children of the same father and as the Apostle saith all members of the same body why do we either contemne or contend one with another Seeing we all runne for one gole we all wrestle for one garland we all striue for one crowne a crowne immarcessible Seeing as this our Apostle saieth that by one spirit we are all baptized into one body whether we bee Iewes or Graecians whether we bee bound or free and haue bene all made to drinke of one spirite Why forsake we one another why despise we as the Prophet saieth the sonne of our mother the sonne of our heauenly father Chrysostome expounding this place of the Apostle in his 30. homilie on this epistle saith that the Apostle vsed that word To haue drunke of the same spirite in most apt and fit maner for as we see saieth he in gardens herbes and plants all although of diuers qualities yet to be all watred with one and the same raine and all to fructifie and encrease so we although of diuers nations of diuers callings yet haue all bin partakers of the same spirit haue all tasted of the same grace If therfore one spirit haue fashioned vs all and haue made vs all one body and fed vs with one the same heauenly table haue watred vs all with one heauenly deaw from aboue which all are to haue drunke of the same spirit If it haue vnited vs who were before so farre different one from another If the members then make one body when they all as it were do grow and knit theÌ„selues together why dreame we of any the least dissention the least difference And a litle after albeit the members be many and diuers yet this is the prerogatiue of the body to make all those although many and diuers yet all one In like maner albeit the ChristiaÌ„s be many scattered farre and wide throughout all the