haue done Of all the Doctours of Antiquity Ierome is most sought to by the Presbyterians The Councell of Sardica cap. 10. 13. hath decreed that if a rich man by meanes of Court come to bee a Bishop hee shall first performe the office of a Reader Deacon and Presbyter that by degrees hee may ascend to the height of a Bishopricke Nazianzene giueth testimony of Athanasius and Basil that they ascended into Episcopall dignity by the spiritual Law through all the degrees of Ecclesiasticall offices The Councell of Antioch that whatsoeuer things appertaine vnto the Church are to bee gouerned by the authority of the Bishop by whom say they people are instructed The Councell of Calcedon decreed that none should build a Cloyster or Monastery without the consent of the Bishop of the City and that all Monasticall persons should bee subiect to the Bishop And if we should search all the Doctours Fathers and Councells wee should finde that Episcopall policy accompanied with a cleere consent of all Catholike antiquitie to applaud it So farre that for the first thousand yeeres of the Church no man hath beene knowen to denie or decline it but onely Aereus who was therefore compted an Heretike by Augustine in his Catalogue of heresies and by Epiphanius also which hath not beene rashly nor with repentance affirmed by Augustine as some hold for it was written after his retractation and after his writing of 230 Bookes besides his Epistles and Homilies He saith in his preface that it is hard to giue an accurate definition of an Hereticke he reckoneth vp 53. heresies which after Christs ascenscion were contrary to his doctrine giuing the last place to that of Aereus And concluding in the end of all Omnis it aque Christianus Catholicus ista non debet credere Euery Christian Catholike ought not therfore to beleeue them The Coūcell of Nice hauing decreed that the Catharists or Nauatians or a sort of sublimitated Puritans of these daies returned to penitence vnto the Church those who had brooked any dignity of before should be repossessed of any office whatsoeuer in the Church except it were to displace a Bishop which should not bee lawfull to him who hath beene a Nouatian Bishop But hee should content himselfe to be a Priest vnlesse the Bishop would receiue him to be a Coadiutor or communicate to him the honour of the name or if hee like him not to finde him a Choro-Episcopat or Presbyterat To the end as Ruffinus sayes Ne in ◅na Ciuitate duo sint Episcopi that there should not be two Bishops in one City Augustine being ignorant of this when he was drawen from Nauationisme to bee Bishop of Hippona while yet Ualerius liued because of his great woorth when Augustine himselfe became old and nominated Euodius to be his Successour and had chosen him himselfe to be his Coadiutor yet hee held it vnlawfull during his owne life to ordinate him Bishop when Ualerius ordained me Bishop said he we were both ignorant of the decree of the Connsell of Nice but what was reprehended in me shall not be blamed in my Successour as Possidon hath it Quod sibi factum esse doluit alijs fieri noluit So did this holy man reuerence that ordinance of Nice in fauours of orthodoxall Bishops neither shall we find through all ancient Counsels or Fathers one who hath not done the like reposing still the glory of the Church vpon the authority of Bishops according to that which Dauid did foresee in his Propheticall spirit saying in his 45. Psalme Insteed of Fathers children shall be borne vnto thee whom thou shalt make Princes in all the earth which word Augustine doth interprete insteed of Apostolos who were thy fathers O Catholike Church sonnes who are Bishops are created vnto thee therefore thinke not thy selfe forsaken because thou seest not Peter nor Paul who begat thee Agnoscant quiprecisi sunt veniant ad vnitatem Let them saith hee who are Opiniators and Schismatiks acknowledge those sonnes who be borne to the Church to be her Princes ouer all the Earth The like exposition Ierom the pretended Patron of Presbyters maketh vpon the words of Esay in the 17. verse of the 60. chapter according to the Septuagint speaking to the future estate of the Church through a Reuelation I will giue thy Princes in peace and thy Bishops in righteousnesse whereon Ierome Heerein saith hee the Maiesty of the holy Scripture is to be admired who calleth futuros Ecclesia Episcopos The Princes and Rulers that were to be of the Church Bishops whose visitation is all in peace and the name of their dignity all in righteousnesse saith he So that we finde an excesse of honor and dignity which from Primitiue and ancient times hath beene yeelded to this vertuous Prelacie in the Church Doth not Tertullian who liued in the first 200 yeeres write this of Bishops not onely yeelding vnto them poynts of preeminence and iurisdiction but speaking of the celebration of the Sacrament The Bishop saith hee hath the right to minister Baptisme and then the Presbyters and Deacons but not without the authoritie of the Bishop for the honour of the Church which being safe peace is safe In regard of which Catholike and constant testimonies from time to time what shall wee say shall we not for once thinke it impossible that the successours of the Apostles all the holy Fathers so many Martyrs and Saints would haue abolished that gouernment whatsoeuer which Christ and his Apostles left vnto the Church for the next shall we not hold it impossible to fall out that any policie which was not receiued from the Apostles could be at one time embraced of the whole Christian world and approoued of all generall counsels in the Primitiue Church For the last shall we not thinke it a scorne beyond all scornes that all those antiquities and Apostolicall traditions witnessed by Apostolicall men generall counsels Fathers Doctours Catholike consent without interruption must bee condemned for follies schismes corruptions by some pure and Heteroclite braines who haue start vp more then 1500. yeeres after to impugne the credit of the Church Gouernment qualified by so many diuine men whose faith was tried in the fire of affliction and who sealed their profession with glorious Martyrdome Certainely if it must be so we may say that the true light hath endured a miraculous ecclipse and that great knowledge hath beene long reserued to bee at length vouchsafed to the Allobrogicall Doctours CHAP. XI The opinion of the Archi-Reformatours concerning Church-Policie FInally to conclude this point of the Church-Policy I come to shew what haue beene the opinions of Protoreformatours concerning the same In the Augustine confession which is the first publike Protestant act wherin wee can obserue it this Article is contained wee haue oft say they out of our great desires protested to obserue the Ecclesiasticall policie in all degrees as it is canonicall in the Chruch and to reuerence the authority of
he shal trauell through strange Countries where he may try the good and euill among men and when the great God will he shall be filled with the spirit of vnderstanding that he may poure out wise sententences which is the reason why in men who haue trauelled we doe looke commonly for some accession of knowledge for that cause it is that I who also among others haue brought the eyes of people vpon me in this kind of expectation doe find my selfe bound by some vertuous discharge to iustifie my peregrination beyond Seas esteemed by many in that season of my age and in so meane a state as I doe possesse to haue beene vntimemous temerary perillous and vnprofitable And which hath beene most vildely calumniated by diuers of your Lordships profession among whom a certaine one of good worth did as I was enformed giue this iudgement of me that I had gone abroad the voyage of King Saul to bring home my Fathers Asses which bitter insectation with many such like tempests of mens tongues I haue sithence like a true and vpright Asse borne foorth with no other armour then patience vntill now being curious in what sort I might best pay this expectation of good men and best emancipate my selfe from this persecution of malignant mouthes I haue chosen to assay if I can inspire into erroneous mindes specially into your Lordship some disposition to better opinions in this time of your so great exigence and necessitie you stand in to resolue First the vniuersall and seruent desires of our Countrey euen from his Maiestie our most gracious Soueraigne to the beggar to see your Lo reduced to a saithfull sympathy and communion with the rest being otherwaies so noble a member of this kingdome as you are tam grauis constans tamque bonarum partium in Rempublicam this doth make it a good seruice to God and to the common wealth secondly the great honour and dutie which I owe to your Lordship for the great honour which I haue by you to be sprung from that ancient and famous bloud of your house doth infinitely tye mee to this endeauour who if I were a meere stranger to your Lordship must yet thinke it my honour to be sufficient for your seruice thirdly the opportunity which I haue by this publike discharge to render vnto the world an ingenious accompt of my selfe it doth conioyne with these a priuate respect of mine owne So it is that the Prelates and Preachers of Gods word who bring in their mouthes the medicine of Christian soules they cannot moue your Lo nor enter vpon your minde so haue you intrenched the same within the common subterfuges of vniuersality Antiquitie and succession of the Church of insufficiency of the holy Scripture of authority of humane supplement and traditions and while you are brought to the Fathers now quarelling the edition of bookes and now againe betaking your selfe to your Implieita fides like vnto that Marriner who hauing lost his loadestarre in a darke night he wandereth but knoweth not his course The Israelites had no other guid through the deserts then the pillar of fire which was in the cloude who once looseth the cleere light of the Euangel which is a bright starre placed to conduct vs through the wildernesse of humane wisdome he shall neuer finde out his right course into the land of holinesse And whiles your Lordship remaines thus inflexible against so many learned and graue Diuines It would like enough be thought presumption and arrogancie in me to deale with you if the spirit of God did not testifie that in great workes the helpe of weake instruments is not to be despised When Mosci builded the Tabernacle of God there came vnto him not onely all the wise men to whom the Lord gaue wisdome saith the text Sed quemcunque etiam extulerat animus vt adid opus accederet but euen euery man whose heart did encourage him to furder that businesse The voice of a goose did once preserue the Capitol of Rome I confesse I haue gotten no more of Theologie then serueth for my owne prouision yet who knowes but by my dealing it may fall foorth to your Lordship which hath happened to numbers of diseased persons who hauing spent much time and much money among the Physicians and neuer a whit recouered they haue in end by good fortune attained vnto their health by hearing some trauelling beggar relate that which hath been done to himselfe or to some other man in such a case euen so I being no Physitian but bringing some Empiricall medicine to your Lordship who haue renounced your physitians I may possibly as God grant it proue so doe some good to you by a faithfull narration of that which in the like disease hath befallen vnto my selfe and of the chiefe things which hath bread to mee distaste of the Church of Rome after I had so diligently and painefully considered the same But before I will enter into this discourse Empiricall or of exeperience my conscience doth moue me to say this by the way of the authority and power of Gods blessed word that as it would be reputed a strange dulnesse and ignorance in nature not to preferre those physitians who knowing the right simples vse no medicaments vnto those others who flying the simples and practising by filthy and composed drugges doe more often prooue murtherers then Physitians Euen so in spirituall eures what a pitie is it that your Lo should thinke the Preachers of Gods word who minister no other food of the soule but the pure and simple Scripture to be insufficient to helpe you that this liuely and incorruptible Word should be reiected of you to embrace in place thereof a word composed and mixed with humane inuentions that nourishing word whereof it is said Nor in solo pane vinit home sed in omni verbe quod procedit de ore Dei And which in effect did feed Moses fortie daies in the mountaine That pure and simple word whereof it is said Comedetis panes azymos non firmâ—…tes You shal eat simple bread and not that which is leauened to shew that it cannot endure the drosse and mixture of humane wisdome That word of true life Verba quâ—…â—…go loquor spiritus vita sunt the words which I speake are Spirit and life saith our Sauiour in Saint Iohn That word of healing and curing whereof Dauid saith Miâ—… verbum suum sâ—…it 〈◊〉 That word which restoreth to life againe those who be already dead Ossa arida ossa arida audite verbum Domini and presently life entred into them as the Prophet doth testifie That word of finall safety whereof Saint Iames saith Suspicâ—… 〈◊〉 quod potest saâ—…re animas vestras That word which is so entire so plaine and like vnto it selfe in old and new Testament that they bee no other then a perfect harmony of spirituall musike The former the prophesie of our Sauiour and the latter his exhibition the one
but when the mask is pulled off there is nothing more vglie and despisefull for euen as it is a monstrous deformitie that an Ape being a beast should resemble a mans face so superstition well considered the more it is like to true Religion the more it is deformed and because the summe of this discourse shall stand into a consideration of such superstitious abuses and impietie as by experience I did remarke in the Church of Rome Therefore that your Lo minde may be the better prepared to ponder iustly my relation and to discerne what is superstitious and what is not so I would first lay down two grounds which if you finde reason to admit they may possibly helpe greatly to cleere your Lo iudgement The first whereof shall be this As the World was neuer in any time without a God to gouerne it so neuer was it in any age without some diuine law felt by the conscience of man to render him inexcusable as a great Deuine saith cum sit Deus ab humana intelligentia procul absconditus tamen suae Maiestatis not as adeo claras illustres singulis suis operibus impressit vt sublata sit quamlibet coecis stupidis omnis ignorantiae excusatio for if man had beene confirmed in that grace wherein he was created he needed no law iusto non est lex posita saith the Apostle But because as God himselfe doth testifie proni sunt sensus hominum ad malum ab adolescentia therefore hath God bridled vs by a law and first by the law of nature which he hath so surely stamped in our soules that it is enough to conuict vs before God whereof Saint Iohu saith in his Gospell haec est lux vera illuminans omnem hominem venientem in mundum The Apostle doth stand for this light saying the inuisible things of him that is his eternall power and godhead are seene by the creation of the world being considered in his worker to the intent they should be without excuse saith he Of this Light the Prophet Dauid hath said multi dicunt quis ostendet nobis bona signatum est super nos lumen vultus tui Dominâ—… which ground being conferd with that other of ignorance maintained in the Popes Church to be the mother of pietie and of implicita fides sufficient for a mans saluation I know not what harmonie they make And Bellarmine in his booke of controuersies speaking of iustification and free will doth reason farthest of any man for this force and light of our conscience neither hath any wise Ethnicke euer refused it Cicero in his booke De natura Deorum nulla est etiam tam barbara natio nulla geâ—…tam efferata cui non inâ—…idate haec persuasio Deum Esse But to the purpose because of the fall of Adam the Deuill did weaken the power of this light and law naturall that the olde world by euill custome and by the streame of iniquitie became blinde esteeming things good and lawfull in nature which were notso therefore God in his mercie made it more cleere the second time by giuing vnto Moses the written Law that our knowledge might be again made more inexcuseable as Saint Paul saith peccatum non cognouinisipor legem peccatum sine lege mortuum erat delitescebat And to the end that the world might know what a fearefull thing it was to transgresse this law it was pronounced in a terrible sort as I haue said till the astonished people were forced to cry Ne loquatur Dominus ne forte moriâ—… which was done to breede vnto your hearts a horror of sinne and faith in Gods promises of the Messias as Moses testifies vt terror esset in vobis non peccetis The yoak of this law was so heauy on the one part the corruption of our rebellious nature so violent on the other part that euen as great inundations by their impetuous force carry away the ramparts bulwarkes which men haue digged to restrain them and ouer flowes their ordinarie bankes euen so those obstinate Iewes by the vehement course of their wicked nature did transgresse and dooborde ouer all the limits of this law that it had no vse among them but for their conuiction which hath made the Apostle to say Lex propter transgressionem posita est till God out of his pitie did prouide a third law and doctrine which was the help againe of this and the finall fulfilling of all Lawes the law Euangelicall and of Grace The Lord Iesus Christ beside whom no mortall man hath beene or shal be able to fulsill a law or to please God So that we see these three lawes euery one of them written and as it were indented one in the other the naturall first written in the heart of Adam but written ouer againe by fairer letters in the Mosaicall Tables And that againe more cleerely written in the Euangell by exhibition of him who was the perfection of all Lawes The second doth expound the first and the third doth both expounde and accomplish the other two like vnto these wheeles seene by Ezechiell in a vision hauing the one incorporate in the other euery sinne committed against the law of Nature is also against the Mosaicall law because the Mosaicall is included in the Naturall what is against the Mosaical is also against the law of the Euangel which is the perfection of both the former It is this way and reciprocally there is no excuse the Iew saith he will follow the Mosaicall and not be a Christian the Turke saith he will doe neither but obey the law of nature They are deceiued for they differ only in this that the first two serues to shew vs our sinnes and make vs inexcusable the last saues vs from our sinnes and makes vs righteous before God they be all but one law proceeding from lesse perfect to more and most perfect heere it is said Crede viues there it was said fac viues The seed sowen in the ground it groweth first into the blade next it shootes vp into the stalke and thirdly it comes vp into the graine of corne the seede of God which is his word it was sowen in the heart of Adam where it grew to the blade and then being in danger to wither the Lord did refresh it by the Mosaicall law where it brought out the stalke and againe into the Gospell it produced the perfect corne and fruit of life so that he who is not a good Christian he is neither a perfect Iew nor a perfect Philosopher and by the contrarie he who is a right Iew he must become a right Christian they are necessarily complicat The Iew was bound to fulfill the Law but he could not we performe it in and by Christ so that he can neuer performe a Iewish obligation vnlesse he be a follower of Christ omnia possum in Christo saith the Apostle This is no paradox if God
Romulus their King they did secretly murther him making the people to beleeue that he was rauished to the Heauens and relatus inter Diuâ—…s and the Iesuites this day who be the first Senators and Counsellors of the Court of Rome fearing the superintendencie of Christian Princes ouer her pride who are deputed by God to be Fathers of his Church they haue vented a pernitious Doctrine through out the World authorising the slaughter of Kings making people belieue that it is a Doctrine from Heauen and an act meritorious before God In Ethnick Rome Numa by his pretended secresie with the goddesse Aegoria procured the popular acceptation of his fond and foolish superstitions and the Iesuites this day by their pretended priuity with the blessed Virgine they haue bewitched multitudes of people with false beliefe in points of Doctrine neuer heard of before Ethnicke Rome in her beginning being resolued for her grandure and encrease to transplant the Town of Alba to be incorporated with her selfe because the fortune had fallen so in the combat betwixt the brethren Horatij and Curiatij The Albans did withstand it from a religious reuerence vnto their Gods vntill a craftie Romane demanding their chiefe Idoll vis venire Romam ' did answere quod annuit Dea that she did becken with her head in token of her consent And the honest Albans did beleeue it holding it for a Diuine oracle for their coniunction with Rome And I did see at nostra Donna de Regge in Lumbardie where there is a portract of our Lady lately found olde and defaced but esteemed myraculous a gentleman who in my presence did affirme that in time of the Masse the image did moue her countenance albeit I who also looked on could perceiue no such thing and many Images in Italie are said to haue spoken at diuers times Ethnicke Rome in their conquests they did still obserue this trick to transport to their Pantheon the Gods of euery conquered Countrey what else doth Rome now neither altering the forme of that Temple Pantheon nor in effect the name calling it Omnium Sanctorum of all Saints of olde the receptacle of all Gentile Gods and now the station of all forged Gods in Christianitie Briefely it semes to me the Gentiles did no other then they doe to take Idols in Gods place wil we say the Gentiles embraced many Gods for the true God all is one if it were so but contrarily there was neuer Philosopher nor wise man among the Gentiles who did not acknowledge that one only great God and the immortallity of Soules suppose he knew not how were for opinions of state the arch-pillers of good pollicie and good manners That pluralitie of Gods was but craftily obtruded vpon the popular to illude them for misteries of gouernment Let any man reade Cicero in that which he writes de natura Deorum Let vs consider how Socrates gaue his life for that opinion that there was but one God How Plato doth establish the vnity of one God with admirable conceptions of the blessed Trinity how the Poet Iunenal doth mock that base and senselesse ignorance of the pluralitie of Gods among the Egyptians and how the yong Lucan speaketh Diuinely of the â—…mortalitie of the soule in the death of Pompâ—…y In all which things one shall see preferment of happinesse after this life granted to good and virtuous soules by those Poets and Philosophers So that in the point of Images we are as guiltie at the Gentiles and equally idolatrous they did acknowledge as we doe one omnipotent God And for the like good endes as be propounded in the Popish Church for Images had they the pluralitie of Gods that is to say to be the Bookes of the people to be the instruments of deuotion order and obedience if we will say the common people among the Gentiles esteemed a Deitie in the Idoll I replie that Christians now a daies do it much more because I haue proued it to be so a hundred times first how can we say it is abuse or ignorance popular that causeth Idolatrie for it is not only the multitude that holdeth the reall presence in the Sacrament of the Alter and whether it be idolatrous to doe so and to affirme that a peece of bread is that blessed body of whom the holy Scripture saith in quo habit at corporaliter omnis plenitudo Dictatis Secondly we cannot say that by vulgar abuse but by expresse authoritie the Virgine is in all their prayers encalled in the proper termes of God Sauiouresso Goddesse fons misericordiae sons salutis gratia salus omnium in Te sperantium which no doubt is to wrong that holy virgine to vsurpe her name to derogate from the worship of God thirdly touching Images I know your Lo will say howsoeuer there be abuses in them yet the Popish Church doth not approue it and if it were so the strong abuses which be are reason enough why to condemne them but it is other waies the Doctrine of Rome doth authorise in matter of Images both falsehood and abuse I shew it thus Our prayers are heard and regarded of God not for the qualitie of our words which are but a sounding and as imbassadors to carry our suplications but they are heard for the disposition of our heart as God himselfe hath said this people is full of babling but their heart is farre from me therefore I will not heare them Now God himselfe hath said of himselfe that he is only Cardiognostes only searcher of the raines and vnderstander of the heart whereupon I ground my argument That which may lawfully be prayed vnto doth know the secrets of the heart But the Church of Rome teacheth I may pray to the Image of our Lady in Loretto Ergo The Church of Rome teacheth that an Image knoweth the secrets of the heart And that againe is meere falsehood because it is only propper to God to know the heart heere againe I know it will be answered that it is not the image sed quod numen ibi est praesentius and I reply if it were so is not that truely to put a Deitie into the person of our Lady to make her know the secret hearts of milions of people who at one time be prostrate before her in diuers clymats of the world and for diuers causes which in like manner is both false and impossible But I say that the people holdeth that the image it selfe in Loret doth heare more grant more worke more then any other whatsoeuer and than the operatiue vertue is in the image because the person of our Lady is but one thing like to it selfe at all times and not diuers I tell this to your Lo out of experience which is most sure of any thing and I appeale to the Diuine light of your Lo conscience whether you do not thinke that Plato Socrates Cicero Iunenal Lucan would not haue esteemed this to be idolatry which is ordinarily practised there with such strange
authoritie doth make the highest iurisdiction which cannot be denyed when all the authorities on earth are conioyned there can be nothing aboue that So we reade that Constantius did determine the processe of Saint Athanasius as his father Constantine had designed to doe before for he sent his will touching it vnto the Bishops assembled in the counsell of Tyre with the gouernour Archilaus who did sit and preside in the counsell yet in the ende the Empreour would needes banish that good father into Trâ—…ues After that againe Honoratus the gouernour with some other senatours assisted the counsell conueened in the cause of Aetius and in the counsell of Calcedon the Senatours brought thither by Ualentinian the third and Marcian did coniunctlie with the fathers iudge a great number of Bishops whose requests presented to the Empreour for that effect are yet to be read in the histories and if any man will say that these were but priuate Bishopes who were censured of the Emperours let him remember that Constantius did iudge and condemne to exile Pope Liberius at least he gaue Commission to do the same vnto Bishop Ursatius that Sextus the third did vnderly a criminall iudgement of Valentinian the third assisted with numbers of Ciuill Magistrates fortie eight Priests sixe Deacons That Iustinian made the processe of Pope Siluerius and banished him and of his successor Pope Vigilius accused of treason that Theodoricke King of Gothes did erercise the same iustice against Pope Symmachus assembling a Counsell where the whole Bishops did remit themselues vnto the wisedome of the Emperour And Gregorie the great behooued he not to purge himselfe to Mauricius the Emperor of a disorder fallen out at Rome and of the death of Bishop Malcus did he not in his ordinary letters to the Emperours stile them his Signiors and Masters how like to that is it that Rome is now become Naufragium Principum the rocke vpon the which Kings make shipwracke and the bloodie stage whereupon they act their Tragedies And this touching the forme of Ecclesiasticall iudicatorie in the Primatiue Church As for the power of Conuocation that it was granted to Princes as Soueraigns in the exterior policie of the Church it is as manifest we haue the testimonie of Ruffinus vpon the first Counsell of Nice hee saith it was assembled by Constantine the great with the aduise of the Fathers And Eusebius in the life of this Emperour for calling of this Counsell he doth not so much as mention any letter of the Pope Siluester solliciting the same contenting himselfe to say this Counsell was assembled by the honourable letters of the Emperour as a puissant armie of Christ Iesus in the which he did praeside glorying to call himselfe a common Bishop among them As for the Counsell of Laâ—…dicea Sard Selâ—… Arimini Millane and Rome which were not vniuersall Socrates and Sozemen doe testifie that they were conuocate by the onely commaundement of the Emperour Constant hereticke Arrian the same Authors beare witnesse that the second Counsell of Constantinople generall was assembled by the authoritie of Theodose the great and that of Ephesus by Theodose the yonger and that of Calcedon consisting of 630. Fathers by Valentinian the third and Martian of the fift Counsell was not the honour due to Iustinian and of the sixt to Constantine Wherein were excommunicate Pope Honorio Theodore Bishop of Phare Syrus Bishop of Alexandria heretickes monothelites these two preceeding Counsels are onely comprehended in one called Quinta Sexta Synodus because their decrees were not ample and seuerally particularised Alwayes we reade that the Emperour Constantine sent his letters to Pope Donus requiring him to direct his Legates vnto this Counsell and after his death Pope Agathâ—… his successor when he sent to haue the confirmation of his pontificat from him hee promised that his Legate should come to that Counsell conuocate by the Emperour As for the sixt Counsell Oecumenicke holden at Constantinople in Trullo was it not assembled by Iustinian the second The seuenth concerning the impugnation of images was conuocate by the authoritie of Constantine the sonne of Irene and so foorth through all the rest vntill the Empire became feeble and dismembred which power those Emperours did so absolutely keepe and vse ouer the externall policie of the Church that Theodose the great had once intended to conuocate an vniuersall Counsell of all nations and all sects of Religion to purge the Church from all sorts of schismes and heresies And this is the reason why Socrates in the entrie of the fift booke of his Historie saith he is constrained to introduce the Emperors because after their being Christians they did conuocate the generall Counsels and carrie the sway of Ecclesiasticall gouernement And this is the cause why Augustine in his ninth Epistle De correctione Donatistarum saith when it begun to be fulfilled which is written Et adorabunt eum omnes Reges Terrâ—… when Emperours and Kings became Christians then saith he what man can be so absurd as to say vnto Kings haue no rule of Gods Church within your kingdomes This it is which made Pope Leo to write to Leo Augustus wishing him deepely to consider that Royall power was not onely giuen to him Ad mundi Regimen sed praecipue ad Ecclesia not onely for the rule of the world but more of the Church as Isodâ—…re saith That whither the policie or peace of the Church bee diminished or aduanced vnder Princes they are to render count unto the Lord Qui ab ijs exiget rationem Ecclesiae sua quam corum potestati tradiderat who shall demaund from them an accompt of his Church which he hath committed to their power In Nouellis Constitutionibus 124. The truth thereof is so cleerely verified in the whole practise of this Primitiue Church that the Epistles Synodals of the first Counsell of Nice those holy Bishops did write them in this stile For as much say they as by the grace of God and by the commandement of the most sacred Emperour Constantine the great this holy Counsell hath beene assembled without any mention at all of Pope Siluester his letters the same tenor is obserued in the Synodall Epistle of the Counsell of Trullo where the Fathers did prayse Iustinian the second because he had assembled them foorth of diuers nations to the imitation of Christ who sought so carefully the straying sheepe in the mountaine This authoritie Temporall ouer the Church was exercised euen by Constantine the great himselfe who was the greatest zealator of the Church of any Emperour and who called them Gods in the Church so long as they did minister the Sacraments and holy things yet when he commeth after that to speake of the subiection and duetie of euery Bishop to him in that letter which he wrote for the assemblie of the Counsell of Tyre he saith that they should conueine vnder the paine of exile and that hee should teach all disobedient Bishops to know that they must liue vnder the
his pontificate Finally if we come to speake of the confirmations of councels and canons which is the last point of Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction we also finde that nothing was solid vntill the imperiall approbation was conioyned to the spirituall The Rolles of the decrees of the counsell of Nice and Constantinople were presented to Constantine and Theodosius to be subscribed and authorised by them against which foresaide policie of the primitiue Church so farre depending vpon the Emperour I know not what we can pretend vnlesse we will be like those ignorant Gnostickes of whom Irenaeus doth make mention in the fourth Chapter of his third booke who held this opinion that while God did commaund vs to obey superior powers he did accommodat that command to the condition of persons and tymes and that the Church is not now in minoribus as she was then but out of Pagerie and able to commaund her selfe Certayne the lawe of God is immutable and eternall and doeth not suffer ecclipse nor is subiect to the measure of our fantasies If one will say the dealing of Arrian Kings with the church vnder the crosse is not to be drawne in example what shall we say to the Iurisdiction of Constantine the greate the first patron of the Church who tooke vpon him in his tyme to establish Bishops and had at his death Athanasius vnder his Iudicature and what shall we answere to Charlemaine a great fauourer of the Church to his son Lues Debonaire who sent to Rome to iudge a Pope for the murther of Theodore a Romane Senatour of the French deuotion wherein the Pope was forced to cleere himself by the kings owne appointment as the letters of Pope Leon to Lues to that effect doth import Thus if we haue done any thing out of purposse in that processe we are readie to amend it by your owne officers whom weâ—…treate you to send outwell disposed men to take triall of that matter The ecclesiasticall histories and the liues of Popes where they are written besoful of such testimonies and so plaine into them I thought it not necessarie to quote them particularlie So concluding this generall Theme in fauours of the lawfull authoritie of Kings I say the primitiue Church had neuer a Bishop nor Pope who did refuse to submit himselfe to the imperiall Iurisdiction after the example and doctrine of Christ in such manner that we are to esteeme all this contrary clergie of Papall parasites to be a false and bastard Theologie of ambitious monsters who striue to vsurpe that power which God hath reserued to himselfe of disposing of Kings and Diadems of the world after the way of his secret and diuine prouidence which power is so alone to him that no mortall flesh may participate of it as Daniel doth approoue in the Dreame of Nebuccadnezar Altissimus habet Potestatem super Regna hominum dat illa cuivult constituit super illa homines vilissimos The most High hath power ouer the Kingdomes of men hee giueth them to whom hee will and placeth in them most vile men And the Prophet Esay in this point in the person of the Ethnicke Cyrus he doth prophesie his victories hee calleth him the Lords Anoynted of whom God did say Whose right hand I haue holden to subdue Nations before him he ordayned him to be obeyed saying Uae ei qui litigauerit contra factorem suum Woe bee to him who doth question with his Maker Numquid lutum dicet factori suo quid facis Shall the Clay say to the Potter What dost thou make Then hee concludeth saying I haue raysed him and he shall let my people goe not for money but freely When God commanded Nolite tangere vnâ—…s meos hee did not except Saul more then Dauid Balthasar more then good King Iosias what then shall these miserable and wretched potshrads of these times reason with their Maker when he saith Dedi eis Regem in furore meo regnare facit hypocritam propter peccata Populi What shal they haue a count of him or how doe they not heare the voyce of the Prophets of Christ himselfe of the Apostles of the Fathers of the primitiue Church all consentient and contrary to that poysoned doctrine of Rome inuented and maintayned by the Iesuites where in place of these sacred priuiledges yeelded vnto Christian Princes as is said consisting in foure or fiue points of Soueraignity in the Ecclesiasticall gouernment wee shall heare foure or fiue such Maximes as these To Christ is giuen all power in Heauen and Earth and Christ hath giuen the keyes of all to Saint Peter therefore the Pope his successor hath all power also of Heauen and Earth hee is aboue Kings and may translate and destroy their authoritie he is aboue generall Councells and may inhibit them hauing all power in his owne person In place of Christian Apostolike and reuerent speeches of Monarchs Kings there is to be heard fastuous contemptible inuectiues against them serpentine insinuations to cut the throat of their Royall power to depose them spoyle their estates and inuade their liues and these by exoterick or publike writtes and who will be curious of their acroamaticke or hidden and cloysterall doctrine shall bee taught to vnderstand this ground for all that after the raigne of the Antichrist all Nations are to be collected vnder one Pastor and to obey him and to that effect God doth establish and raise some puissant Christian authoritie which should be in the occident as some Rabbins and Iewish Doctors who became thereafter Christians haue obserued by these mysticall wordes of our Sauiour vpon the Crosse Vouch chi hammassiah chesche uitlash bannesthimneth hu daieth roscho daiphen nalt sarphat dareth rachen nalcha That is to say Et erit postquam Messias suspensus fuerit in ligno ecce ipse inclinabit caput suum prespiciens ad occidentem dixit miserebor tui The French say they doth expound this mysterie of the Grandor of the French Crowne because their Princes were myraculously brought vnto the Christian faith receiuing the Flower-de-Luce sent from heauen as their Stories record with a supernaturall power to heale the Ecruelles by touching which Flower is holden sacred and in holy Scripture is recommended aboue all other Flowers being imployed in the worke of the great Candlesticke made by Moses and after vsed by Salomon who built the Temple whereof Moses drew the figure so that they esteeme this Flower to be the true hyerogliphicke of their faith and hold it yet for their Armories they haue beene mightie promoters of Gods Church by destroying flouds of Arrians Gots and Visigotti in Spaine in the daies of Carollo Martello and Pipino his sonne by their expulsion of Longobards and succouring of the seat Apostolicall vnder Carolus Magnus by their exploits in the Orient about the conquest of Ierusalem vnder the Armes of Godfred de Bullion and his partners and by their Christian enterprises against the Saracenes vnder Lodouicus sanctus
these iniquities and idolatrie that wee may call it like vnto that monstrous Minotaure kept in the Labyrinth of Daedalus Alter a parte hominem alter a parte bouem when the mother of this monster went in to see it her naturall affection did neuer suffer her to behold the beastly part of it It is iust so with many men when they are brought where they may haue a perfect discouerie of this forged and monstrous worship their naturall inclination to superstition will neuer permit them to behold the wicked and impious parts of it and therefore as multitudes who entred within that Labyrinth were deuoured of that monster because they knew not the way to returne till Theseus did deuise a meanes of retreat by tying a thread to the entire by the one end and carrying the other with him he did come backe by the same Euen so who doth eter within the mysticall Labyrinth of these cunning and craftie superstitions deuised by many Dedalean artificers he is neuer able to make recourse nor to saue himselfe vndeuoured of that monster without he be tyed to the thread of Gods word And he who is so shall not onely passe most securely through the most secret places thereof but as Dauid got out of the hands of Goliah that speare wherwith he slew him so shall he bring as many arguments from that which he shall see among them as shall suffice to confound themselues wee slide into errors peece and peece and peece and peece we must recoile from them we are not to looke for suddaine and miraculous conuersions for that blow comming from heauen which strooke S. Paul to the ground suddainely draue the diuell out of him for that diuine light which in an instant remoued the darkenesse of his soule and made him crie Lord what wilt thou I am heere The dayes of miracles are past we haue Moses the Prophets and Apostles we must follow the rule of Christ Scrutamini Scripturas search the Scriprures because they giue testimonie of me The way of conuersion to Gods truth is by diligent Reading of his word by diligent hearing of the preachers of the same by diligent prayer who doth hold the bookes of holie Scripture insufficient hee reades in vaine who prayeth with the Church of Rome which thinkes she cannot erre she hath no need of reformation such Pharisaicall prayers are also in vaine And therefore I meane now to giue your Lordship a Christian aduise first by telling your Lordship by what naturall defects many men lie ouer in this blindnesse Secondly by shewing vnto your Lo that which happened vnto my selfe and by what meanes and degrees I was freed from those errors wherein you are And thirdly by pointing vnto your Lordship out of these a way which I would wish you to follow in particular for your helpe for the first I say that the diuell seekes craftily to ouerthrow vs with our owne weapons also hee worketh vpon the infirmities of our nature he maketh aduantage of our naturall weakenesse he assalteth the walles of our minds there where the breach is likeliest as he wil sooner tempt a man of a fierce and tygrish disposition to commit murther then him who is naturally milde modest and meeke so I hold this ignorance of men giuen ouer to Idolatrie to proceede from one of those two faults in themselues either it is a naturall inclination to superstion that while they will not beleeue the holy Scriptures to be sufficient they will giue faith enough to the most ridiculous Aniles fabulae of the legendaries to the relation of a Straw miracle pretended to bee done heere or there in which kinde of foolishnesse I must say some of our Catholicke Romanes within this kingdome bee the poorest men vnder the heauen Well Pharaoh did see in the myracles of Moses the finger of God working Ego te constituam Deum Pharaonis but he gaue more credit to the Magicall miracles of his Sorcerers and why because his heart was hardned Let vs beware of this fearefull Iudgement therefore which I haue told your Lordship doth follow vpon Idolatrie to be abandoned of the Lord vt credant mendacio qui non crediderunt veritati that they may beleeue lyes and follies who would not beleeue the truth Indura cor populi huius occoeca occulos claude aures c. Obdurate the heart of this people close their cares blinde their eyes that they doe not heare see nor vnderstand lest they turne to me and I heale them saith God to the Prophet Or next this obstinate and wilfull ignorance wherein men cannot be broken no not from one point of most grosse things it proceedes as we haue obserued in many forbearing to iudge so of your Lordship from a secret selfe-loue glorying to be called constant and inflexible Surely constancie and good resolution it is a Cardinall vertue and perseuerance in faith is the height of all Christian vertues but beleeue me this sort of constancie is a despightfull pride it is to haue that which all the herefiarches haue had hereticum ingenium an hereticall inflexible and rebellious ingenie of Nature such were Manicheus Marcion Arrius Pelagius c. Such an heretike was not the good Father Augustine who fell but Timide and Languide into the Manichean opinion and was easily againe reformed by his good and toward nature by the inspiration of Gods Spirit willingly to heare the Sermons disputes and conferences of the holy Saint Ambrose Secondly I will tell your Lordship syncerely by what steps it pleased God to grant me retreait foorth of this fearefull Labyrinth of Idolatrie your Lordship hath heard how I already did distast these things which I did see in Italy but that did not serue the turne it was indeede a good beginning vpon my backe comming to France and new conference with that famous Protestant Mounsieur Causabon resident then at Paris in the seruice of the late King with whom I was familiar before who now finding me somewhat better disposed hee did farre second those beginnings of mine saying to mee that howseeuer it was the tricke of the Consistorie of Rome to deny any cause of reformation on their side and to disclaime generall Councells yet if it pleased God to inspire the hearts of Princes to challenge that auhoritie ouer Ecclesiasticall gouernment which was due to their Predecessors in the primitiue Church that the body of the Catholike Church might be easily reformed he told me that designe of Charl. 5. as I haue relared it vnto your Lordship he told me that two Emperours his successors Ferdinand Maximilian did much labour for the same In token whereof there be yet extant numbers of their letters sollicitatory to that most graue and profound Doctor of the Romane Church George Cassander most zealously entreating him touching his opinion of the deciding of Christian Controuersies which Booke with diuers other learned Treatises of other pacificators he gaue me to read as also these Theames written De auferibilitate
Sanctorum vincent li. 10. cap. 38. Anthonius ex Policrate Part. titul 6. cap. 28. Niceph. li. 10. cap. 11. who all report that they liued and died the one at Ephesus and the other at Creta And as they were ordained by the Apostles so were diuerse others institute Bishops in diuerse places Eusebius witnesseth that about the yeere 45. Euodius was created by the Apostle Peter and Paul Bishop of Antioch and Ignatius who succeeded him in the Apostles time doth witnesse that Peter and Paul ordained Lâ—…nus Bishop of Rome An. 56. whom Anacletus succeeded after him Clemens obserued by Ireneus and Eusebius By the appointment of Saint Peter Marke was first Bishop of Alexandria To whom Aniâ—…us Abilius Cerdo all in the Apostles times witnesseth by Niceph. Gregory Ierome That Iames the iust was Bishop of Ierusalem institute by the Apostles immediately after the passion of our Sauiour Ierome doth affirme it Catalog scrip Eccles. Eusebius bringeth the most ancient testimonies of the Church for the same That to Iames the brother of our Lord surnamed the iust the throne Episcopall of Ierusalem was committed In particular hee bringeth Clemens Alexandrinus testifying that Iames Peter and Iohn did chuse Iames the iust Bishop of Ierusalem after the Ascension and Higesippus whom Ierome and Eusebius affirme to be of the first successours of the Apostles doe hold the same of Iames. Eusebius in his History giueth a Catalogue of 37. Bishops in Ierusalem betweene Iames and Macarius The same is testified by Ambrose and Augustine yea and all the general Councel of Constantinople whose records proue that Iames was the first Bishop to whom the Chayre of Ierusalem was trusted Now if any would say that these were Bishops but of one Church if there was but one in Crete how was it said Opidatim coÌ„stitues sicut ego te Ireneâ—… counted among the first of the primitiue writers speaking of the Church of Rome saith that the holy Apostles Peter and Paul the foundators thereof Tradiderunt Lino potestatem administrandi totius Ecclesiae That as the numbers of Christians did increase at Rome they were diuided in seuerall paroches vnder seuerall Presbyters by Euaristus Bishop of Rome which againe were augmented the Churches I meane by Higinus in the yeere 138 as Platina and Onuphrius doe testifie de Episcopat titul and Eusebius in his sixt Booke cap. 3. doth affirme that vnder Cornelius Bishop and Martyr in the yeere 250. there was in the Church of Rome 46. Presbyters 7. Deacons 100. other Clergy men and but one Bishop But of this point there is a cleere and manifest example and most free from controuersie of the seuen Churches of Asia ouer which was appointed the seuen Angels as Bishops confessed by Doctour Beza himselfe one also of your pretended Patrons calling the Angell of the Church of Ephesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Prelate or gouernour Antistitem saith hee vt vocat Iustinus Of these Churches I say that euery one comprehended in circuite both City and Country Churches and euery one of them had but one Angell or Bishop As Polycarp at Smyrna was Bishop 13. yeeres before the Reuelation was deliuered as is obserued by Bullingerus in Apocal. and hee died a glorious Martyr as Eusebius prooueth in his 4. Booke cap. 15. by an Epistle of the Smyrnenses and Onesimus Bishop of the Church of Ephesus testifieth by Ignatius ad Epiphanium and Ignatius himselfe was at Antioch Epiphanius doth testifie that the Church of Alexandria had besides the Church called Caesarea which was burned in Iulian his time and reedified by Athanasius it had also that Church of Dionisius that of Thomas that of Pierius that of Serapion of Mepdidius of Annianus of Baucalis and Abias and that in one of those Colluthus was a Presbyter and in one Carpones in an other Sarmatas and Arrius a Presbyter in one Aps large testimonies haue wee of those of Asia that Ephesus was a great Metropolis hauing a large Countrey subiect to it That Pergamus was a famous City sometimes the seat of the Church of Asia that Smyrna Sardis Laodicia Philodelphia were great and mother Cities hauing within them many Churches Ignatius to the Smyruenses Viueremini inquit Episcepum Reuerence your Bishop saith hee as Christ and his Apostles doe command and in his Epistle ad Trallianos what is a Bishop saith he but one Qui principatum potestatem super omnes obtinet who hath power aboue the rest and what are Presbyters saith he Sed Collegium sacrum Conciliarij Coassessores and in his Epistle ad Magnetianos As Christ saith he doth nothing without the Father so must not the Presbyters or Deacons doe any thing without their Bishops Aliter iniquum est Deo odiosum otherwise it is iniquity and odious to God Cyprian who was the most indulgent Bishop we read of to his Presbyters and the most modest Prelate In the fift Epistle of his second Booke touching one Aurelius whom he did ordinate but aduice of the Church Clergy Wee vse deare brother to deliberate with you before and to weigh the manners and merits of men by your concurrence but wee need not to looke for the testimonies of men Cumprecedant diuina suffragia when wee are strengthened by diuine suffrages Like to this againe we find of him in his ordination of one Numidicus in the tenth Epistle of his fourth Booke Brethren saith he I aduertise you that Numidicâ—… by diuine inspiration is adioyned to the number of our Carthagine Presbyters and that hee doth sit with vs among the Clergy and what hath beene done by Cyprian we read not where it was retracted by any which I doe not put downe heere yet any Bishop should delight to imitate this kinde of rule but onely to shew what doth in cure appertaine to the person of a Bishop and the weight of his authority as the same Cyprian doth testifie in the 27. Epistle Indeper temporum suecessionum vices Episcoporum ordinatio Ecclesia Ratio decurrit vt super Episcopes Ecclesiam constituatur Et omnis actus Ecclesia peripsos gubernetur So hath it fallen out saith hee by length of time that the order of Bishops and the condition of Ecclesiasticall rule is such that it doth altogether rest with them and euery act thereof appertaine to them Now because I intend not to bee tedious in this discourse therefore you are to marke how of all these ancients I haue chosen out three whose testimonies and opinions in the question of Bishops is to bee esteemed most sincere for the reason following Of all the Bishops of Antiquity Cyprian was the most fauourable and most affected to his Presbyters and in his carriage more like to a Compresbyter then a Prelate Of all the Bishoppes of Antiquity whose writings are extant in the Church Ignatius is most ancient and hath drawne his knowledge out of the pure fountaines of Apostolicall wisedome and not from the riuers as his fellowes
I demand what it is that shall make that lawfull and conuenient for Gods seruice Is it the signification of the words or the melodie of the tune and symphonie If the first then singing is not recommended as it is singing but rather as saying and then it were better such psalmes or hymnes were barely pronounced or read for so their sence and signification is best vnderstood If the second then instrumentall musique must likewise be admitted wherein the same sounds for tune and concord of parts are by the same rules of art practised and expressed But it may be oueradded that the musique of the voice is passable as hauing both these together and performing them with one breath Most true and therein is the chiefe excellency of that guift of God that in one and the same sound it edifieth both the vnderstanding and the affections Yet the other which cannot act but one of his properties is not therefore to bee condemned or contemned In physique some ingredients worke attrahende by their searching and vigorous quality of attraction others only adiuuando by diffusing the stronger simples and so helping the operation of them and without these the other would be lesse actiue and profitable Euen so in sacred musique the chiefe vigour of our praiers and adoration commeth from the ditty which worketh immediately vpon our vnderstanding but that is much helped and quickened by adding thereto a proportionable temper of artificiall harmony which shall make it penetrate the deeper into our affections As the Church militant in the three forenamd estates and seuerall times so and much more the Church triumphant in eternity doth out of the Scriptures supplie vs with proofe of the conueniency of setting foorth the praise of God with mellodious harmony For when in reading the Scriptures I view that little yet sufficient for our knowlepge which God hath reuealed concerning the state of the blessed Angels Saints in heauen mee thinkes it must needes bee great rashnesse to condemne that as superstitious or superfluous if imitated heere on earth which the spirit of God testifieth to bee the endlesse imployment of those that see God face to face in heauen Is not the Ierusalem which is aboue the mother of vs all into whose bosome we hope to be gathered Is it not that which wee hope and grone for in the vale of this flesh to become once 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like to the Angells Is it not that which we daily pray for that Gods will may be done on earth as it is in heauen why then may wee not why ought we not euen now to imitate the worke of the Angells in their adoring the most High and as farre as we can performe that in our Churches the type of the euerlasting Temple which we shall when we are hereafter cloathed with immortalitie intend in heauen perpetually If we will open the booke of God the very window of heauen wee shall there see heare the blessed Seraphins thus blessing and adoring him that sitteth on an high throne crying to one another saying Holy holy holy Lord of hosts The whole world is full of his glory If we looke in further we may see the foure Euangelists figured out by the foure beasts full of eyes encompassing the throne without ceasing day and night singing the like Antiphone Holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and which is and which is to come If wee will yet view to the vtmost end we may behold Gods champions after their conquest ouer the beast holding in their hand as banners of that victory displaied more audibly then visibly the harpes of God The melody of which instruments they doe animate by singing the song of Moses the seruant of God and the song of the Lambe saying Great and maruellous are thy workes Lord God Almighty c. Apo. 19. 6. The voyce of a great multitude as the voyce of manie waters and as the voice of strong thundrings saying Halleluiah verse 3. And againe they sayd Halleluiah Loe here we haue plainly represented vnto vs not only singing and that by repetition againe againe but interchangeable chaunting in the Seraphins in that they are sayd to cry one to another holy holy holy which three sacred words the embleme of the euer-blessed Trinitie when I heare in the Te Deum in the vulgar tongue with a point of maiesticall correspondence grauely and reuerently sung in the Cathedrall Churches of England how others are affected I know not but for my selfe me thinks the very Celestiall Temple of God is brought downe among vs or we in these bodies rapt vp among the Seraphims and bearing parts in the Quyre of heauenly souldiers More ouer vnto such vocall singing here is distinctly added the other helpe of adoring and adorning the heauenly Maiestie by instrumentall harmonie the harpes and they honoured with an attribute euen the Harpes of God so styled either in regard of the subiect to whose praise they are vsed or of the Author by whose gift that and the like blessings are afforded to the best of the creatures both wayes designing one and the same fountaine GOD. I will not heere lest I should lose my selfe intrude into the search of hidden secrets treasured vp in heauen how and in what sense Angels and blessed Saints in heauen are to be vnderstood to sing before the throne of the Almightie whether this be in the Scripture described in a sensible forme onely for our capacity but to bee interpreted in a spirituall and allegoricall allusion surely if the substance of Angels and soules of men be not meerely incorporall it is not absurd to maintaine that they may immediately ex iunatis principijs similitudine substantiae in the most pure body or space of the heauen of heauens the seat of the blessed both raise such reall and corporeall voyces also be affected with the sweet harmonie and proportions of such sounds And when after the resurrection the soules of the faithfull shall bee clothed againe with their bodies it is not amisse to thinke that the bodie shall partake with the soule as of fullnesse of ioy so of the act and exercise of perpetuall adoration And as our naturall eyes shall then really and corporally behold the most beautifull obiect of our Sauiours glorified humanitie oculis meis videbo Redemptorē meū saith Iob so it is not against the analogie of faith to thinke that our tongues and mouthes may then employ them selues in endlesse vocall hymnes and songs of thanksgiuing of glory and worship to him that sitteth vpon the throne and to the Lambe who by his bloud hath redeemed vs out of euery kindred and tongue people and nation and hath made vs Kings and Priests vnto God his Father And sithence I haue been comforted from probable sweet and reuerend contemplations of the more learned to thinke that some sympathie may be betwixt the musicall Harmonie and the Angelicall nature it maketh me to presume a