extreme vengible reformatiues these new metrapolitanes that haue pasports and inuestitures of the deuils good holines to Nymrodize and Iudaize their filles these that care not if heauen fall downe and earth rise vp so they haue their willes and get themselues a day and a name being now wearie of their right surnames and christian and wishing to bee their owne godfathers or nicknamers for here is their great theme and maxime of pure and purpure misrule I warrant you largely and illuminately handled here is the goale and price they runne at and long for here is that crucifige which they cried so long here is a correctiue Leiger and Factor for their new-shapen worships their humors of all sortes here is their vpright patrico or Abraham man as they tearme him at a beck at an inch with his dieu garde that can and will at a dead lift proue it good by his lawes and canons by his reasons and senses by his fathers and brothers and sisters by his angels and perhaps paredrall diuels that bare such a sway in their booke Nemith vel legum Orci Inferorum That Hazael and Ioas princes were base kings and as it were flattering dogs to call the ecclesiasticall prophet Elisaeus their lord and father 4. Kings c. 8 v. 12. c. 13. v. 14. that the third Semicenturion or captain of king Ochoziah with al his fifty men was but a swaine to fall on his knee and do the ecclesiasticall prophet Elias reuerence and cal him his good lord 4. Kings c. 1. v. 13 14. that king Benhadad Naaman the captaine and the rest in holy Chronicle did amisse to call prophets their fathers and lords themselues being noble and mightie men 4. Kings c. 5. v. 17. c. 8. v. 9. that God did not well to make Moses that was but a lawgiuer and counseller the God of Pharao a king drad soueraigne Exod. c. 7. v. 1. that al men in the earth which haue called the heads rulers of the church their lords in bookes in sermons in other meetings shall for that idle word giue account at the last day but not for calling other mē their lords that our Church is maymed vnlesse we turne 7. into 4 and yet so we mayme it more that our bishops are blasphemers and traitors vnlesse they set downe 4. sortes of churchmen by those texts where S. Paul setteth downe 7. seuerall things Prophecie Office Teachers Exhorters Distributers Rulers Mercymen Rom. c. 12. v. 6 7 8 c. where he setteth downe nine gifts of the spirite wisedome knowledge faith healing great workes prophecie discerning of spirits diuersities of tongues interpretation of tongues 1. Cor. c. 12. v. 8 9 10. where he setteth downe fiue orders with the fruits of them apostles prophets euangelists pastors teachers c. Ephes c. 4 v. 11 12. that deacons must not teach wisdome but pastors that elders must not teach knowledge but doctors that pastors must not meddle with goods but deacons that doctors must not deale with manners but elders that wisedome knowledge manners accounts these foure things belong not to euery pastor to euery doctor to euery elder to euery deacon because euery one in himself belike and in other men must not looke to the soule and bodie to the mind and māners to the inward and outward man that our confessors and martyrs of late time men as carefull of euery worde they spake as men might be and specially that most innocent and righteous preacher M. Bradford was ouerseen in being so dutifull and curteous to call the Bishops lords that these our Eliae Elisaei Moses our spirituall captaines and fathers should not be called lords nor charret strength of England any more though they euer were and wil be so that teachers must be poorer then their inferiours and schollers that the magistracies for none or least causes must bee contemned and ouerthrowne that the sheepherd must not be richer then a sheepe and Christ put from his See in the church because he is not corporally resident that laughing and reioycing vpon supposed faults betokeneth Gods spirit that the watchman in the tower must be kept of the meanest that saueth me best and al that he may in conscience be fostered that standeth stifly in a lewde cause that Philemon did not owe himselfe to Paul his spirituall father v. 19. that physicians of the bodies shall be in great account for healing an outward maladie that would cast into the graue and looking to the mortall part of man and our ghostly and heauenly physicians of the soule must be out of account for preseruing the immortall part of a man and curing the inward diseases that otherwise would cast downe to hell that the minoritie of Saul and the Iudaisme of Paul must preiudice the ones title and roialtie and the others doctrine and diuinitie that Edgars and Iustinians and the first Williams or third Edwards Henries lawes or Magna charta should set their lawiers aflote in wealth in magnificencie in all ability and Gods lawe descending from heauen vpon the holy mountaine Sinai in all maiestie and honorable reuerēce the prophets words writtē by the wisest spirit of the whole world euē Gods own holy Ghost the gospell of Christ that hath by Gods prouidence conquered heauen and earth as I coulde easily shewe vnto you if puritanisme were not and the spirituall true decretals of the Apostles which keepe all men from follies and lawmen from iniuries these 4. chartae maximae of God himself that hold vp euen the foure corners or quarters of heauen ouer our heads that else for our sin would contrarie to all philosophicall quintessences fall vpon vs shall set their students their barresters their counsellers and iudges at an eb or in a drought in more penury in greater want and contemptible estate Such reasons and conclusions which either must be vpholden with many other like inconueniences and mischiefes or else these nouelties and quarrels must be cast downe are more fit for the oration of Catiline with the coniuration of Lentulus Cethegus once in Rome then for reformation of our English church which is not of the same manner of spirit that Elias was for so our Sauiour teacheth his Apostles in the gospell of S. Luke c. 9. v. 55. euen as this commonwelth is not in such distresse by Gods fauourable goodnesse wherein it liueth for according to the times God raiseth vp diuerse graces in the world as those regions were at that day vnder persecution when notwithstanding the prophet was thus highly honoured and reuerenced of princes which if it were otherwise in deede then it was yet in right what argument call you this by your reformatiō what consequence is this in your witcraft your new logicke which desire to seeme so logical and sensible wittie men To set worldly magistrates vp on height for good seruice done to their prince and countrie duly and iustly to thrust downe these magistrates of magistrates as
owne kingdome by striuing to pull downe the kingdome of Christ he wanteth no diuelish angels no ministers no instruments to serue his turne such as those leopards souldiers which troubled and garded Ignatius and the better he vsed them in wordes the worse and more insolent they were as it is recorded in his epistle to the Romans he hath kings and kaysers counsellers and nobles secretaries and writers lawiers and diuines physicians and many hirelings at commaundement the diuelish world is too full of the diuell would to Christ he had lesse stroke among the professors of Christ O generation of vipers how can yee speake good things when ye yourselues are euill for out of the aboundance of the hart the mouth speaketh Matth. c. 12. v. 34. How can you once thinke that you haue a true spirit when neither Moses nor Paul can make you not to rayle vpon the fathers and iudges of the land nor to curse the rulers of the people Exod. c. 22. v. 28. Acts c. 23. v. 5. Yet you that be true Christians lift vp your heads as Stoflerinus saith in the yeare 1524. after that he foresaw the chaunges which were then like to come creeping or rushing into the world I had thought not to haue proceeded any further in the rehearsall of more examples but yet behold more wicked enemies of the lambe of God the men are too notorious and their writings are too famous Italy in old times the true mirrour of vertue and manhood of late yeares hath beene noted to breed vp infinite Atheists such as Caesar Borgia was that vsing or abusing himselfe in his life to contemne religion despised it on his deathbed as Sanazarius writeth l. 2. epigr. or as Alexander the sixt or as Leo the tenth either of the two as irreligious as beastly Neronious as Nero him selfe as the same excellent poet and knight surnamed Sincerus for his honesty Actius for his industrie hath written but of chiefest name those three notable pernitious fellowes Pomponatius a great philosopher Aretine a great courtier or rather courtisan the grandsire of all false and martinish courtiership and Machiauel a great politicke Pomponatius embracing the poisonous doctrine of Aristotle and Plinie openly disputed before the Pope and writ a Booke against the immortalitie of the soule with such force of subtle reasons and philosophicall persuasions that he was thought to bring Leo the tenth then raigning into his profane and diabolicall opinion as Iouius an humanitian bishop saith a good vicar of Christ no doubt and well grounded in the doctrine of resurrection which is able alone to confute euen annihilate all such bookes and libels whatsoeuer both for the diuine and most soueraigne authoritie of the makers and authors therof and for the necessitie of the word it self to maintaine Gods promisse and mans dominion ouer brute beasts Aretinus a man or rather by morall metamorphose a beast of a most viperous hellish spirit in all kinde of diuelishe impiety Vnicus and otherwise not so in which respecte like enough neither Gesner nor Simler iudged him worthie to come into their libraries amōg other writers although some Italians his vngracious disciples haue called him diuine Peter Aretine porter of Plutoes diuinitie or much like Tullies diuine wit of L. Lucullus or Ouids God is in vs and Romish diuinity which may euer haue a new stampe from his holines and other such Rhethoricall and poëticall lauish hyperbolees he I say of all other was the arrogantest rakehell and rankest villen sauing your reuerence that euer set penne to paper like cursed Sodomites iesting and sporting at that which good men in naturall modestie are ashamed to speake of Gen. cap. 19. vers 4 5. His horrible most damnable booke of three impostors his impudent infamous Capricio or Apologie of Paedarastice prooue him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a very incarnat deuill you may call it and one Martin-marprelate of late hath done such a kinde of worke for very 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and nothing els But Aretine spake ill of that heauenly God he knew not and perished through his owne carnall corruption as Peter the true Apostle hath deuined as it were of this outcast 1. Epist c. 2. v. 12. whose delight venerie was his death as the tribe of Beniamites not only the citie of Gomorrheans gonorreans was destroied for this sin Iudges c. 19. when God had giuē him vp vnto vile affections whereby hee left the naturall vse of women he burned in lust toward men and wrought filthines with men Rom. ca. 1. ver 24 27. a shame it is to name those things which are done of such men in secrete Ephes c. 5. v. 12. Now God for his Christes sake keepe all students and all Christians from any such desperate minde from such monstruous and vnprofitable singularitie and out vpon al such Satanish bookes that are printed I thinke in the deuils name and goe about euen like hungrie beares seeking whom they may deuour as it were in very extreme contempt of the lambe of God of the grace of God of euerlasting trueth of that most blessed vnion and singularity of true faith Aegyptians are a vaine generation and fitter to innouate matters then to gouerne present things saith Q Curtius l. 4. the pictures and patterns of our friuolous Atheists and Reformers both in this point very Gypsies Yet Machiauel not so ill as Aretine yet Machiauel too ill God knoweth this vnchristian master of policie raysing vp Nicolaites now of his stampe as Nicholas an Apostata did among the seuen Deacons is not afraid in a heathenish tyrannical spirit l. 2. of warly art in the person of Fabricio to accuse the gospel of Christ and the humilitie of the lamb of God for the decay of the most flourishing and prosperous estate of the Roman Empire which fell by the owne idlenes and follie as himselfe confesseth l. 7. and as other estates are ouerturned by it the mother and nurce and wife of all euil saith my honourable Lord of Essex to his Souldiers a mother that beareth none but bondemen a nurce that feedeth none but dulpates a wife that marieth none but vnthrifts His discoursiue accusatiō is in many mens hands I would to God the intended effect of the discourse were not in some mens harts howbeit the same is learnedly cōfuted not only by a religious french protestant whose commentaries are extant written ex professo against Machiauel and his antichristian groundes of gouernment but also by no vile Papist much named and read among students I meane Osorius in his Nobilitate Christiana l. 3. where it is notably proued by many worthy diuine and humane histories that christian humilitie and the profession of the lambe of God is not any hinderance to the right fortitude beseeming the people of God but rather a very great and principall furtherance of their valiant and inuincible acts in fighting Gods owne battels and seeking not their owne glorie but the kingdome
and a sodaine vtter destructiō and ouerthrow menaced against Babylon for a time the Lady Empresse of the world that is Rome A notable caueat for Antichrist that is the Pope and his adherents if they would be so graciously wise to foresee and conceiue their owne miserie and destruction but it is said in the very same chapter v. 10. Thou hast trusted in thy wickednes and hast said no man seeth me but thine owne wisdome cunning hath deceiued thee and so forth And no doubt euen so it goeth with all the mēbers and impes of Antichrist in what degree soeuer that any way oppose themselues against Christ or any way blaspheme and deface the lamb of God they may seem wise and cunning in their owne eyes in their owne stubburne wilfull conceite but extreme ruine and miserie and perdition is the finall reward of all such wisdome and cunning euen in the mightiest Lordes and Princes and Emperors and Popes of the worlde For euery one that heareth my word and doeth it not saith Christ himselfe Math. c. 7. v. 26. shall bee likened vnto a foolish man that buylt his house vpon the sand and the rayne descended and the floods came and the windes blew and bet vpon that house and it fell and great was the fall of it Euery one saith Christ how great so euer he otherwise seemeth to the worlde euen the great Turke euen the great Pope euen the greatest of all amongst the greatest of all A foolish man a foolish end a proud man a proud end a wicked man wicked end an vngodly and godlesse man a wretched and horrible end full of all woe and vtter destruction both of body and soule Men cannot gather grapes of thornes nor figs of thistles saith S Luke c. 6. v. 44. Good brethren let vs actually and particularly apply this generall doctrine vnto our selues whereof otherwise we haue no proper vse but a common wandering thought voyde of that singular fruite and effect which the word of God is to worke personally in euery one that hath his name registred in the lambs booke of life Let vs geue diligent eare vnto Christes worde and follow the same accordingly least we be truely cōpared to that foolish buylder Let vs harken vnto him with the house of Iacob and the remaynder of the house of Israël who hath borne vs from our mothers wombe and brought vs vp from our natiuitie who hath nourished vs defended vs saued vs taken away our sinnes and made vs blessed for blessed is the man vnto whom no sinne is imputed Let vs vnfaynedly faithfully imbrace our redeemer the Lord of hosts the holy one of Israel who hath reuealed and shall reueale the filthy fornication of Babylon as he hath confounded and shall confound the outragious pride of that citie and aduaunce his mount Sion aboue the mount of Esau or the tower of Babell Vpon mount Sion shall be deliuerance and it shal be holy and the house of Iacob shall possesse their possessions and the house of Iacob shall be a fire and the house of Ioseph a flame and the house of Esau as stubble and they shal kindle in thē and deuour them there shal be no remnāt of the house of Esau for the Lord hath spoken it saith Abdias v. 17. Let vs remember what S. Iohn writeth in his Reuelation c. 17. v. 14. c. Ten kings shall giue their strength and power vnto the beast which ten kings shall fight with the lambe and the lambe shall ouercome them al for he is the Lord of Lords and King of Kings they that are on his side are called and chosen and faithfull Let vs assure our selues that he it is and none but he that can and will mightily deliuer vs from the forenamed mischiefe and perdition threatned by the prophet Esay and all the rest of the holy prophets Let vs continually call to minde that godly and heauenly counsell of S. Paul Coloss c. 3. v. 8. put ye of al wrath all fiercenes maliciousnes blasphemy filthy communication out of your mouth lie not one to another seeing ye haue put of the old man with his workes and haue put on the new man which is renewed into knowledge after the image of him that made him where is neither Greeke nor Iewe circumcision nor vncircumcision barbarian Scythian bond free but Christ is all in all O let vs euer and euer meditate vpon this and such Christian instructions ô let vs euer and euer practise them and performe them to the vttermost of our indeuour power in Christ in whom onely we are powerable to doe his gracious pleasure and to make our selues ready for our inheritance in his most blessed kingdome Let vs daily and howrely looke to our selues pray for our selues and pray for one another that we be not led into temtation but deliuered from euill and namely from the forenamed horrible euill of blasphemie idolatrie infidelitie Paganisme Atheisme and all such like diuelish abhomination the very worst and most damnable effect of Antichrist himselfe of Belzebub himselfe Let vs humbly and zealously pray vnto Christ to make vs like that wise man in the gospell after S. Matth. c. 7. v. 24. which built his house vpon a rocke and the raine descended and the flouds came and the winds blew and beat vpon that house and it fell not because it was grounded vpon a rocke euen the word of Christ the voice of the lambe the gospell of saluation true faith with true charitie good beliefe with the effect of good workes as the good fruit of a good tree according to Christs owne preaching in his gospel in the same chapter v. 17 18. Let vs studie not to be seruants and schollers of infidels but the sonnes of the prophets euen such sonnes and disciples of the prophets as Samuel taught at his schoole or vniuersitie at Naioth in Rama 1. Kings c. 19. v. 20. and as the two most wonderfull prophets Elias and Elisaeus taught in their cities and vniuersities at Bethel and at Iericho 4. Kings c. 2. v. 3 5. and as such other godly prophets taught in their seuerall schooles townes and namely the most noble euangelicall prophet Esay who is reported to succeede Elisaeus in that most worthy propheticall function Let vs not beleeue euery spirit but prooue and discerne the spirits whether they be of God or not for many false prophets are gone out into the world hereby shall yee know the spirit of God euery spirit that confesseth that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God and euery spirit which confesseth not that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God and this is the spirit of Antichrist of whom ye haue heard how that he should come and euen now already is he in the world saith S. Iohn 1. c. 4. v. 1 2 3. where he also addeth this ioyfull comparison v. 4. Little children ye are of God and haue ouercome them that are not
of the deuill then a prophet of God as themselues confesse vnawares in their vaine Alcoran and doltish bible His more then triple Dodecamechany to the finall ruine of that tyrannicall kingdome and satanicall iurisdiction in Turky and to the building vp of Gods house in new Sion to the benefit of his housholders his children and seruaunts if they could once be so christianly wise to forgiue their owne quarrels and forget that is past and euer hereafter serue God please him by fighting his battels with a perfit loue and vnanimity among themselues with a perpetuall hatred and magnanimity against such enemies the souldiers of the flesh the sonnes of transgression now more then halfe wearied with their religion and euer remayning in suspition and ielousie one of another Now God for his owne sake make them euer like Oreb and Zeb and like to the princes of Zeba and Salmana the God of our fathers confound their huge armies and militar powers that they may fall vpon their owne swordes that their armes of flesh may be broken that all their beastly cruelties practised against good christians from Mahound to this present day may returne vpon themselues that they goe hence and be no more seene that their name may perish from among the children of men that we and all our posteritie may sing with the seuenth Angel mentioned in the Reuelation and with those great voices in heauen the kingdomes of this world are our Lords and his Christes and he shal reigne for euermore c. 11. v. 15. but the Saracens shall not ouerrule him the Paganisme of Sergius shal not deuour the Christianisme of the Apostles seeing the gospell is dispensed in all parts of the earth as much more then the Alcoran howsoeuer Luter in a furious imitation of Micheas hath rapt out the contrarie as if hee desired rather the name of a Prophet among the infidels then of a frend to Christians Then I meane the blasphemous high-minded swelling Greekes both Iulianists and Lucianists both Emperors and Schollers both mighty and learned men whose naughty ende hath prooued their beginning naught whos 's owne words of euident treason against God haue iudged and condemned them who are in account among godly wise men as the poysonous flyes or as dead dogs who haue vanished like a vapor and beene consumed like a smoke to nothing euen as it pleased the Lord so are these thinges infallibly come to passe by whom is reserued for their last sentence for their vngracious schollers for their frendes and fauourites a lake of brimstone a gnawing worme a consuming fire mingled with percing cold for euermore for thus were the Iewes cursed for their malicious blasphemie against Christ in the time of his earthly and corporall humiliation neither can these and other like them be in better estate which crie out and rayle against him in these dayes of his eternall heauenly exaltation as S. Augustine reasoneth truely vpon a text of S. Matthew And what is become of those wicked Romans which I thē named but shame and discredit reproach and confusion among all vertuous well disposed christians they might for their stile and phrase haue purchased our lyking for their graue and politike gnomes haue beene in good account among good men whereas now their malcontentship against Christianitie and their hauty and scornfull attemptes against Gods annoynted together with their disdainfull termes against our Christian profession and professors haue cast their works into great contempt that might els haue been in greatest price because no honest man will in confcience approue false famous libels or any graue man can scarcely euen in reason beleeue a lyer when he speaketh trueth much lesse when he telles his owne tales or any man shall not measure but like for like and vpon compulsion compare themselues with their enemies these sodaine slidinges with the others wilfull fallinges these suborned reproches with the others iudiciall penalties true conuictions vnchangeable executions If they had beene of so vpright a nature or of so ciuill nurture to report all well of them which did nothing ill or hurtfull to any but were innocent lambs of God they might haue otherwise then now they are beene reckened with the best sort of best writers and gotten our subscriptions as well as their owne friends commendations but seeing their venim was so great and aboundant to thrust out their stinges and spyt out their ranknes at godly and heauenly minded Christians they bewray the stocke and broode they came frō euen the spawne of that old serpent and seede of Satan and make vs al in good consciences freely to denounce and proclayme them enuyers deceyuers falsifiers to brand them with the marke of strong theeues for robbing Gods church to set them in the blacke booke of damned soules for defying and diffaming Gods owne militant teachers and messengers which preach the trueth which spend their liues in defence of the word which offer themselues a dayly sacrifice vnto him that gaue himselfe once a pure and perfect oblation for thē and all which honour both spirituall and temporall fathers without any grudging because of Gods ordinance and for conscience sake which studie and pray continually for the perpetuall glory honour of Gods Church Gods house Gods visible throne which perswade some and exhort all men to vertue to deuotion to loue of God and loue of man which drie vp their harts and braines day and night euen to the decay of their owne health and strength to heale the wounded and afflicted conscience to confirme and stablishe the faith of their countrey to abandon vncharitable disobedient opinions to bid men take heede of furious tedious self-will to remember they are as Gods small sheepefold in the midst of a Wolues forrest to bee as doues among themselues without harme and subtile serpents when the aduersarie commeth to magnifie God for his manifold benefites and to holde out the hand when he geueth his blessings and euer to behold and worship the blessed lamb of God that washeth away the sinnes of the earth But alas there are many strange errors abroad in the earth and there are too many headstrong mainteyners of old paradoxes and newfangled nouelties which either renew those antiquated trifles or giue them a colour a deuise and glosse of the makers which are their craftes maisters and bondslaues such men are girded and wrapped in with splene and brought vp cheefly in the chapters De contradicentibus and so wedded and giuen to alter all statutes and turkisse all states that they are become plaine turkish and rebellious vnnaturall countrimen and vnkind neighbours they doe not behold and follow the harmeles lambe of God that euer most gratiously helpeth offenders and bringeth them from deadly traines I haue hitherto tolde of open knowne and professed enemies I haue already confuted those notorious and famous antichristians such as with a wild and wide throate or infamous tongue and pen haue without al manner of colourable or
if they were aboue them they speake of peace and make continuall warre they thinke them selues Nathans and good finders out of errors correctors of abuses when as in very deede the parable of Nathan 2. Kings cap. 12. v. 1 2 3 4. is verified by them in the fifth commaundement Honour spirituall and corporall fathers as it was true in Dauid by the tenth thou shalt not couet thy neighbours wife and they are in minde as their works proue thē very Mathans of some one Baals groue or other if all were knowne to vs that is knowne to thee to bring his vilest indignities to passe to make a wofull Democraty without order honour or seemely estate and a right cyclopical and giantlike church and consequently such a commonalty where euery bold one may be a controller of his betters and powre out his fancies like water that runneth apace their arrowes are shot when shall they be rooted out where the stipendiary man may esteeme of his reuerend Lord as the vast rudes by Polyphemus coūteth of superior powers poëtically termed Iupiter and the gods and saith that he is but a cyclops with halfe his eyes yet will do what he list and aske them no leaue though at last he lost his one eye like enough for his blasphemous treason Lord God what a desperate state is this how shall duties be regarded how shall offices bee performed how can thy great name be honored in thy rulers how can the gouernment of ciuill and godly nations endure if the chiefe piller and ankerhold of all feare and obedience be once broken and taken away from thy sanctuary holy church if their hearts be thus set against thy glorie who shall safely trust them in mens affaires if their Deleatur begin at thy house where shall the vngodly and sinners appeare if one lamb and sheepe thus rend another what rendings and tearings shall the woolues make if they behold thy lambe ô God with so cruell and enuious eyes how can they be louing and mercifull toward thy children O how truely haue the Prophets and Apostles compared such men to vnreasonable creatures as Paul hath called the Cretians Euill beasts and Christ surnamed Herod a Fox whom other zealous and learned writers haue followed in like causes of pride and mischiefe but especially Epiphanius aboue other who by his manifold naturall similitudes seemeth to write his bookes of Poisonous beastes being made purposely against rebellious heretickes to omit our countriman Gildas surnamed Sapiens other who dealing plainly against notorious enormities told kings to their faces that they liued like outlawes lions and lions whelps and leopards and beares and dragons and dogs forsaking the rules manners of men and liuing in lust not in order in will not in skill at rouers and rangeal not within bounds and compas madly and drunkenly to let passe the surpassing stile and violent phrases of Luter in this vaine forced vpon causes Therefore from all such reforming discipline that is priuy conspiracie against all rulers from all such falfe doctrine and heresie which no magistrate can allow without periury from such hardnesse and deceitfull contempt of thy word and cōmandement good God saue vs or deliuer vs and let thy will be now done still and still in earth as it hath euer more and more bene in heauen by thy will and lead not thy princes and people into these snares and calumnies of the deuill that in his angelick sophistry goeth looketh like a reformer intending wrong and pretending right that is hony and mealemouthed to looke vnto but hath his entrals compounded of all vnhealthfull bitternesse and is in true tast a wild kinde of Coloquintida or death it selfe in the pot of the prophets children in our schooles and townes which the gatherer shredded in steed of good hearbes being too hasty and presumptuous to aske too ignorant to know of himselfe what he should haue gathered How can I but be mooued hartily to write against some such graue and some such bragging conspirators in these daies whose heresie is more dangerous then any old one being a more winding crooked mutiny then any of them And now at last it is proued no better then a spitefull sect a very mocking Ismaëliticall kindle Gen. c. 21. v. 9 10 11. a counterfet holines a proude selfe-loue an old militar obiection and barbarous paradox renued a fresh and misalledged tush man quoth he temporall and ecclesiastical are synonima it is popery to count ecclesia and ecclesiastica for coniugata cedant togae armis it is a stubburne and arrogant quarel begun vpon priuate aemulation and continued with a brasen forehead vttered first in heate and haste and then defended in earnest one great cause of corrupted artes as Viues iudgeth rightly l. 1. de disciplinis herein following the iudgement of Salomon Bion Seneca and experience it selfe a swelling and harmefull scisme sprung from a colledge mal-contentship to a common-wealth-braule a clamarous and wrangling doctrine of another brytish Sphynx a spotted linx or such not innocent harmelesse as the doctrine of Gods blessed lambe an hypocriticall imposture which hath the face of a man and the tayle of a Scorpion a shew of peace before it and fire powder following it which propoundeth conscience and concludeth iniurie pretendeth purest diuinity and is farthest from charitable necessary christian humanitie a most perfite enmitie to the lambe of God and God himselfe in defacing and supplanting the magistracies of both For seeing in Greece this day not only the doctrine and rites of christian religion but also the order and degree of Bishops and the whole ecclesiasticall regiment and iurisdiction are both tolerated and defended vnder the Turkish tyrannie as many faithfull men which liued there a long time haue witnessed in an oration of Dauid Chitreus written about twenty yeares since and as he there telleth more plentifully how can we esteme them so godly as Turkes that seek in their owne countrey to hurt the Church more than those infidels antichristians doe though they can and these cannot as God forbid they shoulde euer doe it Church goods are onely to be reserued to the churches vse saith Hadamarius in his institution of a Prince Or if these words seem any way hard to any good christian which to the well disposed and skilfull reader are no lesse allowable by good example then apparantly true and more true than he or I would they were by reason I desire some good Christian euen in christian charitie and godly brotherhode to thinke vpon to consider and examine the proofes and grounds of this assertion and then iudge thereafter accordingly in conscience as he ought specially when he remembreth that the heathen writers themselues neuer set any men but the vaynest and maddest of all the rest against their Priestes which men either liued in reproach or came to shame or for the time were generally reputed reprochefull and shamefull men as may appeare in their gigantomachies