church of Christ wil you deny me your help which yet againe and againe in the name of the eternal God I require for the precious deth passions sake of Iesus Christ I earnestly desire at your handes My Ll. and whosoeuer are parlament men as you would haue the Lord to entertaine your souls in the life to come as you would haue him shewe you any mercy as you loue her Maiesty and her life as you would haue the continuance of her peaceable raign over vs which the Lord vndoutedly threatneth to shorten because he woulde bring destruction vpon you and vs al for the contempt of his truth as you would not haue your names razed from vnder heauen as you would not haue the Lord to bring vpon vs and our land the Spanish Italian Romish or Guisian forces as you would not haue these who shal liue to see the desolation and desperat sorrow which the Lord is likely to bring vpon this land not abide to see you or your childrē ride or go in the strets as you would not haue the most contemtible to stretch forth his hand vpon the derest things you posses and offer violence vnto the frute of your bodies So entertaine this cause grant this suite and be careful of the Lords true seruice in wales Otherwise the vengeance of God I feare me will neuer leaue you and your posterities as long as there is a man of your houses left vnder heauen Ezekiel in deed is not nowe liuing to put you in mind of the necessity of redressing the things amis by laying open the corruptions of all estates vnder your gouernment as he doth cap. 22. of his prophesie His words I wil set downe that you may wey our estate with the time wherin the prophet liued and see whether the Lorde wil spare you vs if we stil prouoke him to smite There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the middest thereof saith the prophet like a roring lyon rauening the pray they haue deuoured soules they haue taken the riches and the precious thinges they haue made her many widdows in the middest thereof her priests haue broken my law and haue defiled my holy things they haue put no difference betweene the holy profane neither discerned between the vncleane and the cleane and haue hid their eies from my sabboth and I am profaned among them Her princes in the middest thereof are like wolues rauening the pray to shed blood and to destroy soules for their owne couetous lucre And her prophets haue daubed her with vntempered morter seeing vanities and deuininge lyes vnto them sayihg thus saith the Lord Iehouah when Iehouah had not spoken The people of the land haue violently oppressed by robbing and spoiling and haue vexed the poor and needy yea they haue opressed the stranger against right Thus far Ezechiel Be the sinns of our prophets of our princes and of our people the same that here he speketh against be they greater or be the lesse yet without controuersie if the Lord may say I haue sought for a man in the parliament of England that should make vp the hedge stand in the gapp before me for the land that I should not destroy it but I found none then woe be vnto vs for that shal follow which is set downe in the prophete Therefore haue I powred out mine indignation vppon them and consumed them with the fier of my wrath their own waies haue I rendered vpon their heads saith the Lord Iehouah And vnlesse there were just cause to thinke that this Lorde had either already or shortly ment to pronounce this sentence against vs we might cōtemne and scorn at the broken assalts of the Spaniards or any other the enemies of the Gospel and her Maiesties whosoeuer But as long as we giue not the right hand to the Lord by entering into his sanctuarye we haue just cause to feare a nation that is no nation much more a people in number as the sand which is by the seashore Our leagues and most stable couenants with the enemies the Lord will soone disanul standing thus at the staffes end with his Maiestie as we doe Let it not be sayd in this pIace that the Lord would not haue so wonderfully wrought our late deliueraunce out of the hand of the Spaniarde if he ment at al to haue called the land to reckoning for the great ignorance and wicked ecclesiasticall constitutions which are truly sayd to be maintained therein For this both Moses and Saloman Deut. 29.18.49.20 note to be the man of all those that shall not prolong their dayes Moses warneth al states in any case to take heed that there should not be among them man woman family nor tribe which should turne his hart away from the Lord God so that when he heareth the wordes of the curse he blesse him selfe in his hart saying I shall haue peace though I walked after the stubbornenes of mine owne hart thus adding drunkennes vnto thirst For saith he the Lord wil not be mercifull vnto that man but then the wrath of the Lorde shall smoke against that man and euery curse that is written in this booke shal light vpon him and the Lord shall put out his name from vnder heauen the Lord shal seperate him vnto euil according vnto all the curses that is writen in the booke of the lawe Eccles 8.11.13 And Soloman knowing the corruptions of men to be such as their harts are fully set in them to doe euil because sentence against their euil works is not spedely executed openly testifieth that although a sinner doe euill an hundreth times the Lord prolong his days yet it shal only be well with them that feare the Lord and do reuerence before him But it shall not be wel with the wicked saith he for he shal be like a shadow because he feareth not before God And therefore although at this time the Lords anger hath not visited nor caled the sinnes of our land to account with gret extremity by the hand of the Spanyard yet let vs be assured that it shall not goe wel with vs vnlesse you of the high court of parliament shew that you feare your God and doe reuerence before him in purging out of his holy seruice what soeuer is superfluous therein and in adding whatsoeuer is wanting therevnto The Lord by that deliuerance gaue vs warning that he passed by vs but so as vnlesse the corruptions of his seruice be clean don away with speed by her Maiesty and the parliament meaneth to passe by vs no more but to suffer his whol displeasure to fall vppon vs at his next comming And in deed as often as I consider our late defence from the Spanish invasion together with our deserts I am induced to think that the Lord then was affected towards vs as somtimes he was towards Israel his owne people concerning whom he speaketh Deut. 32.26 I haue sayd I would scatter them abrod I wold
a readie way to bring a final destruction vpon the land is for the parliament to giue our ministers leaue to joyn the magistracie the ministery together And here it woulde be knowne whether they whoe in their bookes haue whotly and egerly pursued this example of Ely to defend the ciuill jurisdiction of ministers haue not therein some secret meaning if opportunitie woulde serue to aspire vnto the crowne For they may be suspected to hope if euer an inâ—erregium should fall as I trust in God it shall neuer be in their dayes that the estate would think â—t most convenient to commit the soueraigntie vnto som conscionable Churchman vntill it may be otherwise disposed off And therefore it may be justly suspected that in disputing from the example of Ely they had one eye vnto this wherof I speak For they may procue far better by the example of Ely who was the chiefe magistrate in his dayes that a minister may joyne a whol kingdome vnto his ministerie rather then any other â—nferiour office To conclude this point Seeing First to make that which belongeth to the outwarde worship of God to haue no more ground out of the worde then that which appertaineth vnto the ciuil magistracie Secondly to allowe of the popes superioritie as lawful And thirdly to holde that a minister may be both a king and a minister are wicked and absurd assertions and as we see directly against the word Therefore it is wicked in like maner to make the ecclesiastical gouerment to be an humane constitution and not vnlikely by little and little to paue the way for the vndermining of the ciuil gouernement as the reasons which our Bb. do bring for the maintenaunce of their superioritie and experience vnder poperie do giue vs just cause to suspect For why may not a forged donation of Constantine or Lodouicus pius in time joyne the crowne of England to the sea of Davids or Bangor especially whiche from Ioseph of Aramathea can be prooued to haue a little better continuance of personall succession then Rome can from Peter as well as it joyned the kingdome of Sicilia the Dukedome of Naples the Ilandes Corsica Sardinia c vnto the popes Miter The thirde reason is thus framed and I will be briefe That forme of Church gouernement and that booke or bookes which teacheth that there is something to be obserued besides that which was included in the commission giuen by our sauiour Christ vnto his Apostles Math. 28.19 wherin they were enjoyned to teache men to obserue whatsoeuer he commanded is a gouernement execrable and accursed by the spirite of God in plaine wordes Gal. 1.9 and so are the bookes And being such far beit that eyther the gouerment or the books shoulde be maintained by the authoritie of this high court of parliament Such a curse being pronounced against the maintaining of execrable things as we finde Deuter. 7.15 But our forme of church gouernement in Wales and this booke with many others published by authoritie teach the same For where is it included much lesse prescribed in the word that our Sauiour Christ abolished an outward gouernment of the Church in the Leuitical pollicy being in no sort an humane ordinance but altogether prescribed by the lord himselfe to the end that vnder the Gospel there should be no gouernement of the Church but an humane ordinance that might lawfully be changed at the pleasure of man Or where is it reuealed that the Apostles gaue the ciuill magistrate when any should be in the Churche the commission to abolishe the Presbytery by them established because there was no christian magistrate in the Churche as our aduersaries themselues confesse but as the worde sayth a 1. Cor. 13.5 11. ephe 4.4 rom 12.6 1. pet 4.10 math 21 25. established by the Lorde and therefore not to be abrogated by the magistrate vntill his pleasure in that poynte be farther knowne therefore this gouernment this book or books are execrable accursed Lastly that forme of Church gouernement that booke or books which affirme the kingdom of Christe in the outwarde gouernement to be a kingdome that cann be shaken that is altered or remooued as the ceremoniall gouernement was affirme that which is contrarye to the expresse written word of God Heb. 12.28 and therfore are not to be tollerated But our Church gouernment in Wales by L. Bb. archdea dumb ministers commiss c in their making of ministers excommunication c is such and suche is this vnlearned heape and sophisticall booke with the rest written on this argument And therefore both the booke or bookes affirme things contrarie to the worde and so are not to be tollerated vnlesse we would haue the Lorde to bring speedie shame and confusion vppon vs for mayntaining sinne by lawe The proposition is apparant Because that by the word kingdome that cannot be shaken in the afoersaid place Heb. 12.28 must needes be ment perticularly whatsoeuer significatioÌ„ els thei haue as more generall the outward gouernment established vnder the Gospel since the abolishing of the ceremoniall lawe which being compared in regard of continuance and remouing or doing awaie with Moses his gouernment is saide to be a kingdome that cannot be shaken that is such as the Lorde neuer meaneth to alter again vnto the worlds end as to haue any other gouernment placed in stead thereof by himselfe much lesse by man wheras that vnder Moses is affirmed by the prophet Haggaie Haggai 2.7 and heare by the apostle to be a kingdom or gouernment that could be shaken that is altered And this is the proper meaning of the place Heb. 12.28 For by the kingdome that cannot be shaken must needes be meant either the assurance of saluation which we haue vnder the Gospel or our inioying and professing of externall life or else the outwarde gouernement not only in the preaching of the word and administration of the sacraments but in the Church officers the manner of their choise their subâ—ects wherin they are to be occupied But as concerning assurance of saluation in this life the profession of eternal life in heauen which the faâ—hers enioyed vnder the lawe it was no more to be shaken then ours the meanes thervnto by the word preached they want no more then we doe And so in these respectes they had a kingdome â—hat could no more be shaken then ours It remaineth therefore that theirs was to be shaken â—n regarde of their outward gouernment which was abolished by the comming of Christ And â—herefore ours immooueable in this respect vnâ—il his second comming which were senslesse to be affirmed if Christ in his kingdome wherevnto we are subiect had instituted no externall regiment of his Churche Can that be vnmooueable which is not at all More senseles it were to think â—his kingdom to be immutual in regard of the sacraments and not of the persons and officers who are to deale with those misteries To come againe vnto you of
the one to haue writen the verie same thing for the Aâ—ch that the other hath for the pope Into which booke he hath crammed as plaine poperie for the defence of our Bb. as euer Harding Saunders Turrian Bellarmine or any other the firebrands and ensigne bearers of Romish treason against her Maiesties crowne haue brought for the Popes supremacie And for as much as he in that booke hath both vndertaken the defence of those corruptions for the tollerating wherof the anger of God hangeth ouer the whole land and also shewed himselfe to be Ammonitish Tobiah against the buylding of Ierusalem in Wales by defending the very breaches ruins of the Babylonish ouerthrow which by the just judgements of God vnder poperie we sustained to be the perfectest building that Sion can be brought vnto and so by this slander withstandeth the saluation which I doubt not her Maiestie and the parliament wishe vnto my country I haue so framed the reasons following as they ouerthrow the very foundation and whole frame of that wicked book of al others writteÌ„ for the defence of our established Church gouernment Now that our dumbe ministers nonresidents L. bishops archdea c. are nothing els but an encrease of sinnefull men Num. 22.14 risen vp in steed of their fathers the idolatrous Monkes and Fryars stil to augment the fierce wrath of God against this land and our gouernors that this booke of D. Bridges and whatsoeuer els hath bin written for their defence are nothing els but edicts trayterous against God and slanderous to your sacred gouernment to defend the sale and exchange of Church goods the very destruction of souls to speak al in a word that both these corruptions their defences are coÌ„demned by the Lords own reuealed wil as things directly against the same and the lawes of her Maiestie expressed in his written word and therefore not to be tollerated by your authoritie vnlesse you thinke that you may tollerate sinne by your lawes nor yet once to be spoken for or countenaunced vnlesse you would plead for Baal I prooue by these reasons That forme of Church gouernement whiche maketh our Sauiour Christ inferior vnto Moses Iudg. 6.38 is an impious vngodly and vnlawfull gouerment flat contrarye to the worde Heb 3 6. Nom. 12.7 and therefore in no case to be tollerated by any lawes or authoritie and the booke or bookes defending the same are vngodly and impious bookes But our Churche gouernment in Wales by L. bishops archd dumb ministers and other ecclesiastical officers as for nonresidents let this one reason for all serue against them they as much as in them lieth bereaue the people ouer whome they thrust themselues of the onely ordinarie means of saluation which is the word preached is such gouerment as maketh the Lord of life Iesus Christ inferiour to Moses and this booke of D. Bridges with all other bookes of the like arguments doe the same Therfore this gouernment is a gouernment not to be tollerated by law in any state vnlesse men woulde feele Gods heauie judgementes for the same and therefore also it is a gouernment most pernicious and dangerous euen in pollicie vnto the ciuil gouernment where it is established and this booke or books defending the same are vngody wicked and pernicious bookes trayterous against the Maiestie of Iesus Christe crying for vnsufferable vengeance vpoÌ„ such as tolerate theÌ„ The proposition is not to be doubted off For is that Church gouernment or bookes to be tollerated which make Christ Iesus the sonne of the aeternall God yea God himselfe inferiour vnto Moses The assumption is thus prooued That gouernement and that booke or bookes whiche holdeth Iesus Christ God and man to haue prescribed no externall forme of the gouernment oâ— his Churche but such as at the pleasure of the magistrate when time and place requireth may be altered without sinne preferreth Moses before Iesus Christe This is manifest out of the expresse wordes of the text Heb. 3.2.6 Because the Lord Iesus being the sonne is in that place compared with Moses a faithfull seruant in deed and preferred before Moses in regard of the external gouernment which Moses had so faythfully prescribed vnder the law as it was not to be chaunged at the pleasure of any magistrate vntill a Dan. 9.27 the Messiah should cause the oblations to cease For what king was there euer in Iudah who without the breach of Gods law 1 Chron. 23.24 could alter the external regiment of the Iewish Church in the Leuitical priesthood and officers Dauid I grant ordained some things not mentioned in the bookes of Moses but that whiche he did proceeded from the spirit of God and he had the worde for his warrant The same is to be saide of whatsoeuer was done by any other of the godly kings in Iudah Nowe that the former comparison Heb. 3.2.6 betweene the sonne and the seruant Christe and Moses is concerning the externall regiment of the church and not the spiritual gouernment of the inner man as D. Bridges affirmeth pag. 51. lin 30. it is plaine Because Moses had nothing to do with the gouerning of the inner man and therefore it were no prerogatiue for the Lorde to be preferred in faithfulnes before Moses in that dispensation wherein Moses neuer dealt Hence theÌ„ I assume that our forme of Church gouernment in Wales and this wicked booke holdeth Iesus Christ to haue ordained such an externall forme of gouernment in his Churche at his departure from earth to heauen as at the pleasure of the magistrate might be altered without the breach of Gods institution which thing D. Bridges affirmeth pag. 55. And all our prelates grant that this high court of parliament may lawfully alter the forme of Church gouernement now established Therefore this gouernment and this booke preferreth Moses before Iesus Christ And I cannot see how far this differeth from blasphemie Now if Christ should be saide to ordaine no externall regiment at all then Moses is far before him and the thirst of superioritie in our prelates and their accomplisses is turned into extreame drunkennes of impietie by this assertion I beseech the Lord in mercy to open your eies that are of this assemblie that you may see how he and his people haue been dealt with by retaining such laws in force as justle ouerthrow the 〈◊〉 prerogatiue of his sonn And the Lord make you to see whether those men that defend the interest of the sonn of God in this point against the tiranicall vsurpation of Bb. and haue brought for his title vnanswerable euideÌ„ce out of the sacred records of Gods owne writings offending eyther in matter or circumstance in no one thing but that they haue not dealt more earnestlie with your Hh. and more roundly with the aduersaries in the right of their master haue deserued to be imprisoned thruste out of their liuinges reuiled railed vpon by vngodly and wicked prelats vnto the state as
shall reape the same Beleeue them not who tell you that all is well within Wales that they are a sort of clamorous and vndiscreet men who affirme the contrary Beleue them not who tell you that it belongeth not vnto your duties to be carefull of the estate of the Church and that the Lorde requireth no more at your hands but the mayntenance of outwarde peace As though men committed to your gouernement were but droues of bruite beastes onely to be foddered Ie. 17.13.14 and kept from external invasions and inroods Giue eare rather vnto the words of the Prophet who with a loude voyce crieth vnto you Why will you die you your families people by the sword by the famine and by the pestilence And why will you be damned I may alude without injurie vnto the word as the Lord hath spoken against all those gouernours that wil not see their people prouided a Ezra 7.17.23 psa 2.10 101. 2. chr 29 10. 30.9 34.27 ex 20.10 gen 18.19 2. chr 15.12.13 17.7 for of the meanes of saluation Therefore heare not the words of the prophets who tell you that you shall neyther see sword nor famine though you be still as careles of your people as hitherto you haue bene Looke the punnishments both of flattering prophetes and of those that are deceiued by their flatterie Ierem. 14.15 Heare them not I say but obeye the Lord in the execution of that dutie which he exacteth at your hands by calling your people to the knowledge of his sonne that you may liue For why should this lande be made desolate for this your carelesnes Ierem. 27.17 They prophesie vanitie and lies vnto you which saye peace peace while you dispise the Lorde and walke in this secure course or else Ieremiah is deceiued If they be prophets and if the word of the Lord be in their mouths let them intreat her Maiestie you of this parliament that the misery of helples Wales may at this time of your meeting be considered off and redressed Thus I haue set downe some part of the wants â—n the seruice of God in Wales and some part of â—hat miserie wherein my countrie is bewrapped â—nd which you are bound vnto the Lord but by â—â—e most humbly entreated to redresse And this â—s the cause wherein if you deale not you betray â—he honor of God betraye his trueth betraye the â—eligion which you professe and betraye her Maâ—estie and the whole kingdome vnto the reuenâ—ing hand of God For without controuersie the continuance of our ignorance and the defectes of Gods seruice will one day and that shortly I feare me bring the Lord in fearefull and consuming judgementes to take punnishment of you your wiues children families and the wholland because in your states consultation his honor and the blood of mens souls were not regarded But this is neyther all the miserie of the inhabitants of Wales neythet is this all that the Lorde requireth to be amended by this Parliament vnder paine of his heauie wrath In the seconde place then we are to consider the corruptions tollerated by the positiue lawes of this land and countenanced by the authority of this high court of Parliament in the seruice of God within Wales Whereby no small dishonor redoundeth vnto the Maiestie of God and wherein no small part of the spirituall miserie of that people doth consist For the remouing of which corruptions it behoueth the Parliament with speede to be very carefull euen before such time as the Lord calleth the land to an account for the wicked constitutions therein maintayned Here therefore I affirme vnlesse without delay you labour to cleanse the Churche vnder your gouernement in Wales of all L. Bb. dumbe ministers nonresidents archdeacons commissaries and all other romish officers offices there tollerated and so tollerated as by the consent authoritie of the Parliament they are mainteyned that you are both in this life and the life to come likely to be subiecte vnto the intollerable masse of Gods wrath the execution whereof is not vnlikely to fall vpon you and your houses vnlesse you preuent the fiercenes of the Lordes indignaâ—â—â—â— If Moses by a positiue lawe should haue allowed the offring of strange fire by Nadab and Abihu tollerated the ministery of blemished a Leu. 20.18 23. deformed Leuites ennacted that one not being of the line of Aaron might presse before the Altar b Num. 16.10.18.7 to offer the bread of his God if Dauid had made it lawfull for Vzzah to lay his hand vpon the Arke if Iosiah or any other the godly rulers had either giuen leaue to the cursed shepheardes in their dayes to place others in their stead to take c Ezek. 44.9 the ouersight of the Sanctuary Or permitted a consecrated priest to be a ciuill gouernour briefely had established any thing in the Churche gouerment prescribed by Moses contrary to the commandement had they not bene in danger of the Lords wrath They had without controuersie And shall you of the high court of Parliament be dispenced with being guilty except you labor to remoue the dumbe ministery nonresidence with the vsurped and Antichristian seats of L. Bb. c. of tollerating establishing greater sinnes among your people in Wales in steed of the gouernment prescribed by Iesus Christ assure your selues no. I do therefore in this point also for the discharge of my dutie and conscience towardes the Lord his Church my countrie and the whol estate of this kingdom taking my life in my hand â—estifying vnto you before the Maiestie of God â—nd before his church that our dumbe ministers â—hat the callings of our L. Bb. archdea commiss with al other remnants of the sacriledge brought â—nto the Churche by that Romishe strumpet and now remaining in Wales are intollerable before the Lorde and that it is not likely 〈◊〉 â—uer you tollerating these thinges any longer shall escape Gods fierie wrath The trueth hereof I do briefly make knowne by the reasons following and offer to prooue them more at large euen vpon the peril of my life against our 4. L. Bb. all their chaplains retainers fauorers and wel willers whether in eyther of the two vniuersities of this lande or in any place els whatsoeuer These things I offer to prooue against M. D. Bridges who lately in a large volume hath vndertaken their defence In which booke of his he hath offered her Maiestie the Parliament most vndutifull injurie by going about for the maintenance of his owne belly the belies of the rest of his coat to allien at the hears of the loyallest subiects in the lande from their most carefull prince and gouernours As though her Maiestie and this honourable court ment to turne the edge of the sword against theÌ„ who indeed deserue not to be threatned with the scabbord Compare pag. 448. of D Bridges his booke with Bellarmine cap. 10. li. 5. cont 3. and you shall finde