they bee farre off shall heare and the earth though it be stonie shall hearken for the eares of men that should heare and hearken indeede are out of course The Prophet doth not this as though the heauens and earth did vnderstande but to signifie and expresse the abhominable wickednes impiety of the Iewes he speaketh vnto these insensible creatures which did more obay the will of their Creatour than did they whom he had blessed with reason and vnderstanding Wherein the Prophet as in this place so in many other followeth the example of the true trustlie seruant of God Moses who in the 4. of Deutronomie against the Israelites calleth heauen and earth to witnes in these wordes I call heauen and earth to record against you this daie Meaning that if they would defile themselues with strange Gods that then if men would not condemn them the very insensible creatures of God woulde beare testimonie against them and their idolatrie So in the 32. of the same booke hee maketh them witnesses against them of their ingratitude and saith Hearken ye heauens and I will speak and let the earth heare the words of my mouth In like manner the man of God in the first of Kings and 13 when he saw King Ieroboam to stand by the Altar in Bethel to offer incense cried out by the commandement of the Lord not against the Prince or people but against the Altar and saide O Altar Altar thus saith the Lord 1. Kings 13.2.5 and immediately the Altar claue asunder and the ashes fell out from the Altar according to the signe which the man of God had giuen by the mouth of the Lord. So that our Prophet Esaie in this place intendeth no new thing for he taketh Moses and others for example who were wont to doo the like A kinde of speech then most vsuall when as iniquitie hath gotten the vpper hand when it is grown to that fulnes of measure that it astonieth not onely creatures sensible but also insensible and when the hearts of the vngodly are so hardned that they cannot be softned be the admonition neuer so gentle or the correction neuer so fearefull But what doth the Prophet require of the heauens and earth verily to heare and to hearken Heare saith hee O heauens and hearken O earth The Prophet requireth not a slack or a negligent hearing but a diligent and careful hearing fit and conuenient for so great a cause But wherefore would the Lord haue the Prophet thus to exclaim and crie out to the heauens and earth Doubtles for two speciall causes The one was that the heauens and earth might be astonished at the ingratitude and rebellion of his people So in the second of Ieremiah because they were vnthankfull because they made the Lords heritage an abhomination because the Priests taught not the people to seeke the Lorde because the Prophets prophesied in Baal and went after thinges that did not profite because they had changed their glorie euen their God which was their glorie and who had made them glorious aboue all other people and to bee short because all estates were corrupt and out of course the Prophet inferreth hereupon O ye heauens be astonied at this hee afraide and vtterlie confounded saith the Lord Iere. 2.12 Hereby declaring that the very insensible creatures of God did detest and abhorre the sinne of ingratitude vnkindnes and as it were did tremble at Gods most seuere and bitter iudgements against the same The other was that the heauens and earth hearing the complaints of the Lord against his people might iudge and determine between him them So in the Prophet Micah 6.2 the high hills and mountaines the hard rocks and mighty foundations of the earth are taken to witnes and to decide betwixt him and his in this sort Heare ye O mountains the Lords quarrell and ye mightie foundations of the earth for the Lord hath a quarrell against his people and he will pleade with Israell The summe whereof is this that of the one part the wickednes of the people was such and so notorious and of the other the cause and quarrell of the Lorde so iust that if the case were to be decided of the heauens earth of the hills and mountaines of the rocks mighty foundations of the earth they wold stand all together on the Lords part against his people they would giue sentence with him against them and not without astoniednes would iudge and condemne them of extreamest madnes and impietie But alas that the heauens and earth that the hills and mountaines that the rocks and mightie foundations of the earth that such senseles creatures should condemne mankinde of ingratitude and vnkindnes That they should condemne Man the most excelent creature of God indued with reason vnderstanding That the heauens should be summoned to testifie against him which are the Lords seate and the earth to witnes against him which is his footestoole That dull and dumme creatures should be more prompt and readie to follow and obey the Lords will than they his people vnto whō he had giuen eyes to see eares to heare and an heart to perceiue But so it is they that should haue liued best in order are found to liue most out of course For if the worlde be considered together with the partes and portions thereof in order and as they lie we by searching shall see and by seeing shal confesse euerie member thereof Man only excepted diligentlie and truely to doe his dutie Saith Dauid The heauens declare the glorie of God and the firmament sheweth the workes of his hands Psa 19.1 The Sun Moone and Starres do keepe their courses the earth bringeth forth frute the Sea passeth not his appointed bounds in all other things a singular dutie and obedience toward their creatour and yet they all without vnderstanding But Man for whose sake all thinges were created and whome God hath inriched with singular gifts farre beyond any other of his creatures and vnto whom he hath giuen the vse of his word a lanterne vnto his feete and a light vnto his pathes Psa 119.105 this Man will not be reclaimed but walketh on still in the stifnes stoutnes of heart that now the prophet is forced to appeale vnto deafe and dumme creatures and saith Heare O Heauens and harken O earth But what Doth the prophet make this exclamation and outcrie to the heauens earth of his own mind Not so for he saith Quoniam Dominus locutus est for the Lorde hath saide As who should say I speake not this of mine owne minde I doe not this of mine owne authoritie I came not before I was sent I vtter nothing of my selfe but what the Lord did first reueale vnto me which yee are bound to heare and hearken beleeue and obey And therefore Heare O heauens and hearken O earth It might haue seemed more methodically done and fitter for manner and order of teaching if the prophet straight way
what Counsells haue decreed what custome hath confirmed and what the Pope his vnlawfull soueraignetie hath established which seemeth to vs all one as if he had said The Scriptures are to no purpose or as good as nothing Of which opinion was Cardinall Hosius who in his booke De expresso Verbo Dei Fol. 242. in lit F. writeth thus Vanus est labor qui scripturis impenditur It is but lost labour that is spent in the scriptures Nos Dei de caelo sententiam potius expectabimus VVee will rather expect Gods pleasure from heauen Scriptura enim creatura est egenum quoddam elementum For the Scripture is a creature and a certaine needy element And in conclusion he pronounceth Sentence definitiue in this wise in Epilogo ad Sigismundum regem Poloniae Quod Ecclesia docet expressum Dei verbum est quod contra sensum et consensum Ecclesiae docetur expressum Diaboli verbum est That which the Church teacheth by the Church I trow meaning the Pope and his Cardinalls is the expresse worde of God what is taught against the meaning and consent of the Church is the expresse word of the Deuil And long before him Guido editus An. 1495. hee which compiled that sottish booke Manipulus curatorum to iustifie the whole matter stuffe of Confirmation putteth this downe for a Maxime infallable truth In Tract 3.1 Par. 2. de mat confir Licet non inueniatur in canonicis epistolis Diui Petri tamen Dominus Papa habet in decretis Romanae ecclesiae c. That though it bee not found in the canonicall Epistles of S. Peter yet our Lord the Pope hath it in the decrees of the Church of Rome this mounteth farre aboue and beyond all other authoritie whatsoeuer Thus Christ must Surrender to Beliall the Spouse must giue place to Babilon Truth to falsehood and the written worde to vnwritten verities humane traditions must be hote and liuelie letters and the scriptures cold dead Elements if wee hunger our meate must bee chaffe in steed of wheate and if we call for drinke it must come from their broken and puddlepits full of mire and filth Ier. 2.13 which neither haue nor are able to hold the water of power to refreshe the withered soule of man for the veines of the fresh and cleare springing waters they haue stopped vp that by this drift the sayings both of Ieremy and Esaie verified in the Iewes as well pore as rich haue beene brought on vs. The Elders of the Iewes saith Ieremie sent their little ones to the wells and they finding no water with shame and confusion returned with their vessels emptie The poore and the needye saith Esaie 41.17 sought water but no where found they any their tongue was euen withered with thirst Euen so these men by breaking in peeces the pipes and conduits and by damming and choaking the fountaines of liuing waters with dirte and mire haue brought the people of God into a pittifull thirst and this was a misery and a rufull state we haue felt it let vs beware We are counselled if we will follow counsell and we are warned if we will take warning to beware of such deceiuers least otherwise it come to passe that as the Serpent beguiled Eue through his subtiltie so our minds should be corrupt from the simplicity that is in Christ 2. Cor. 11.3 If they bring with them Esaies commission and crie as he doth Heare and hearken for the Lord hath said Let vs receiue them as embassadours sent vs from God and let vs beleeue them Otherwise if they breed suspition let vs make proofe as did those noble men of Beroea noble not so much for birth as for courage in embracing the word of God with all readinesse and as they did Act. 17.11 let vs searche thr scriptures daylie and diligentlye whether the thinges which they teach be so or not And then if vpon due trial proofe wee finde that they bring vs counterfet coyne that they come with the Reuelations of men which flow not from the mouth of the Lorde what countenance soeuer they carry where they Angells from heauen that did vs the message by the commandement of Saint Paul to the Galathians 1.8 let vs hold them accursed And yet there are that say and will say The Lord hath said it when the Lord neuer spake the worde Such are the Prophets of Antichrist not vnlike vnto those of Israel which Prophesied after their own fantasie and said the Lord saith it albeit the Lorde had not spoken Eze. 13.7 But beholde what the worde of the Lorde is against such Prophets which follow their owne spirite and teach the people the counsailes of their own hearts I am against them mine hand shal be vpon the Prophets that see vanitie diuine lies they shall not be in the assemblie of my people neither shall they bee written in the writing of Israel Verse 8.9 to wit in the booke of life in which the true Israelites are written neither shall they enter into the land of Israell and that because they haue deceiued my people saying peace which Ieremie 6 14. calleth a sweet word but it was not so for there was no peace one built vp a wall and others daubed it with vntempered morter Eze. 13.10 But saith the Lord Ver 13.14 I will destroy the wall which they haue daubed with vntempered morter and bring it downe to the ground by a stormy wind which shall breake forth in my wrath and by a greate shower in mine anger and hailestones in mine indignation so that the foundation thereof shall be discouered and it shall fall they shall be consumed in the midst therof and shall know that I am the Lord. Thus will the Lorde accomplish his wrath vpon the wall and vpon them that daubed it with vntempered morter euen with their own deuises vnder the authoritie of Gods word If then the Lord will thus deale with the wall and with the daubers that daubed it with vntempered morter let the builders take heed how they build the wall and the daubers howe they daube it least the Lorde pull downe both wall and morter Ver 15. and they say the wall is no more neither the daubers thereof And this much of the first part namely how Esaie by way of exclamation hath inioyned by the commaundement of God the heauens to heare and the earth to hearken vnto the message which hee is willed to doe vnto them from the mouth of the Lord. Nowe the Prophet goeth onward with the Lords most lamentable complaint concerning the ingratitude of his people for whome he had done many and great good turnes The complaint is this I haue nourished and brought vp children but they haue rebelled against me A most grieuous complaint which consisteth of two partes In the first he expresseth his benefits bestowed vpon them In the second hee declareth their ingratitude and rebellion against him Hee expresseth his benefits towardes them in
heed of the sound of the Trumpet but we say we will not take heed Ier. 6.17 He hath commanded vs to aske for the old waie which is the good way the waie wherein the patriarks and prophets haue walked directed by the worde of God ver 16. but we say we wil not walke therein we will go rather the broad way that leadeth to destruction Mat. 7.13 we drinke iniquitie like water wee haue as great a desire to sin as they that are thirstie haue a desire to drinke Iob. 15.16 We draw wickednes vnto vs with cordes and sin as it were with cart ropes Esa 5.18 wee vse all the allurements and prouocations that canbe to freese together the conscience in sin and impietie And yet we can speake of truth and of veritie of iustice and mercie of the knowledge of God and his lawes and of sundrie other high points but when we are brought vnto the ballance we are found too light when we are drawen vnto the touchstone for trial we proue drosse For what do the Sunnes of men find in our shops shop-houses in our wares and ware-houses but fraud and deceit if not worse Truely said Tertullian Lib. de patientia pag. 13. sect 7 Lata atque diffusa est operatio mali The operation or handicrafte of mischiefe is wide and diffused all abroad more nowe than euer it was Iohn the Apostle left written many yeares past that the vvhole vvorld lieth in vvickednes First Iohn 5. Chapter and 19. verse which if it lay buried in wickednes then how may wee thinke it to lie buried in wickednesse now being old bowing and winding it selfe euen for age to the pit of destruction Hosea must bee iust and his Prophesie commeth homeward to our dores and the Lorde as then with the inhabitants in Israell so nowe with vs in England hath a controuersie because in Hos 4.1.2 there is no truth nor mercie nor knovvledge of God in the land but svvearing and lying killing and stealing and vvhoring they break out and blood toucheth blood mischiefe vppon mischiefe one still falling on the neck of another and all these with many moe committed without any dreade or feare of God at all For so man dooth not see vs we passe not fearing more the face of man than the wrath of God insemblance the very sonnes of Ammon who coueting to force his sister Tamar 2. Sam. 13. caused euery man to go out from him as ashamed to worke that villanie before men which hee feared not to commit in the sight of his God This Ammon wicked Ammon hath left Ammons in great store behinde him as much forgetfull of God and his lawes as euer himselfe was if not more For as he feared so do we the eyes of men and thus and thus we think in our hearts Eccle. 23.18 Who seeth vs wee are compassed about with darkenes the walls couer vs no body marketh vs whome neede wee to feare the most High will not remember our sinnes albeit hee remembreth them well inough and still looketh downe vppon them from his holie Mountaine and beholdeth them in the most secret parts his eies beeing ten thousand times brighter than the sunne beames beholding all the vvaies of men and the ground of the deepe And therefore such imaginations of the thoughts of mens hearts shall perish and they in them such shifts and turning of deuises shall be esteemed as the Potters clay Esay 29.16 For notwithstanding all their craft they shal bee able to escape the Lordes wrath no more than the clay that is in the Potters hand of power to deliuer itself But so long as men will dwell in this minde and opinion that he that planted the eare doth not heare and that hee that formed the eye doth not see what merueile is it if they giue themselues vnto wantonnes to work all vncleannes euen with greedines Eph. 4.19 But there is another sort of vs who thogh we perceiue and will confesse that there is nothing so hid which God seeth not that hee knoweth our downe sitting and our vprising Psa 159.2.3.4 that he vnderstandeth all our thoughtes long before that he is about our pathes and about our beddes and spieth out all our waies that there is not a worde in our tongues which he knoweth not altogether yet wee rest perswaded that God hath feete of woll and will punish slowly or neuer As for the deserued tokens of his wrath nowe hanging ouer our heades and readie to be powred vpon vs for our manifold sinnes and damnable iniquities what of them We count them as buggs bugges to fray children The Lorde our God hath gone by vs in a mightie strong winde but we say the Lord was not in the winde After the minde came an earthquake but wee say the Lord was not in the Earthquake After the Earthquake came fire but we say the Lorde was not in the fire After the fire came a still and soft voice and yet wee will not obey If God withdraw his heauy hand for a time to trie if we wil amend with a gentle correction before hee lay on vs a sharper we fall to our old fashions we forget God his rodde our dutie and his reuerence attributing his plagues to vnseasonable weather pestilent aires or to some vnhappie chaunce as though they were not sent of God to nurture vs rightly in the dutie and obedience of Children to a father So in the daies of most cruell Poperie and bloodie persecution wee cried O Lord our God deliuer vp this once and wee will euer take heede hereafter howe wee fall to Apostasie and offende thy diuine Maiestie But nowe beeing deliuered wee are worse more vnthankefull and disobedient than euer before which apparant wickednesse surely the righteous God in his due time will not suffer to escape without some manifest token of his high indignation and most heauie displeasure When Prince Edvvard the sixt was taken away for our vnthankefulnes there ensued Mariana tempora Lamentable times and then too this was the wish of many one bounded with a vowe O that the Masse Booke were burnt the Communion booke restored againe O that these mitred Bishops were sent packing zealous Pastors placed in their roomes for then said they We vvill enter into the house of the Lord and in his feare vvill vve vvorship tovvard his holie Temple The Lord in his great mercie pitied their desire and heard their mone Queene Marie died Our gracious Ladie and Queene Elizabeth succeeded whom almightie God long preserue with all health wealth and peace to gouerne and the booke in better sort than in former daies through Gods goodnes and hit Maiesties carefulnes was restored againe But of it now A booke saith one blowen vp like vnto a bladder with the wind of confusion and profanation The orders saith another prescribed earthly beggarly dungie drossie lousie Antichristian The frequenting of the Lordes house and worshipping in his holy temple in his feare vowed with the lips and