in substance sincerely by law established and by the godly Ministers likewise to Gods people administred without addition or defalking too or fro the worde of God For the Discipline of the Church we also haue it thoughe in some weaker sorte than either the auctoritie of the worde seemeth to me to affoorde or the grauitie of the cause in our pestiferous time doth require it Yet it cannot bée said but we haue established discipline by hir graces godly laws to this Churche of Englande and at thys laste Parliament agaynst the Papists haue the same Christianly augmented God grāt that our godly and reuerende Bishops Iudges Ecclesiasticall Commissioners and officers whych haue the authority may and would so vse thys aucthoritye they haue that God myghte be wonne as it were wyth theyr godly indeuor to enlarge the heartes of higher aucthoritye ouer vs in the Lorde by lawefull power to yéelde vs further and more seuere discipline to one and all in thys Churche of Englande Lord for thy mercies sake graunt it to this thy holy visible Vineyarde of Englande we beseeche thée And in the meane space brethren let vs be obedient to this we haue and heartilye praise God for the same and pray earnestly with conioyned hearts for a further by hir Graces aucthoritie and the strict rule of hys holy worde These holy and sufficient notes of hys visible Church we haue in our English Church at thys day the Lord be praised for them and contynue them wyth vs and therefore agaynste al your blasphemies to God your sinister but subtill suggestions to Princes and people o ye poore Papists we stand by proofe to bée the Figge trée planted indeede in the moste holy Vineyarde of the Lorde and haue our Churche consecrated a sacred member of the Catholike Churche of God visible wyth the rest of that Militante troupe and companye of sanctified men in the vniuersall earth And as for the other forged marks of Vniuersalitie and personall succession we count it sufficient to haue the society with suche the sonnes of God as haue their felowshippe with the Sainctes of Christe 1. Io. 11.2.3 4. and haue learned to forsake the company of the wicked and to auoide the way of sinners but greatly deteste to stoupe to that Cacolike Apostata of Rome Ps 1. whych so arrogantly setteth hymselfe in that chaire of the scorner But touching personall succession of Bishoprickes and Churches we holde it not to be always a sure marke of Gods holye Churche Except ye wil saye of the Church of Israel vnder Ieroboam that Idolatour that she was then the true Churche thoughe an Apostata by hir grosse Idolatrie bicause she could boast of personall succession from the Kyngs and Bishoppes of that people Or that the Churche of Iudah vnder Manasses that idolatrous King was notwythstanding the murther of Gods chyldren their sacrificing to Idols theyr racing out of the lawe of the Lorde and banyshing hys holy sacrifyces was I saye all thys admitted yet the true Church of God bycause they hadde and coulde shewe a personall succession of Kyngs and Byshoppes euen from the firste Moses and Aaron But yée wyll possibly presse vs wyth the auctoritie of the Fathers as wyth Tertullian that ancient whych boasted in truth to haue had succession of the Byshops of Rome for the furtheraunce of hys purpose But forget not you Papists that as yet the Fathers of that Church had not departed from the faith but wyth theyr succession had contynued the Apostolicall doctrine vppon whiche point Tertullian chiefly stoode as it may appeare by hym And also would God you would not wyth malitious heartes séeke to darken that notable doctrine of hys in that hys Booke of prescriptions that althoughe manye Churches haue not to shewe theyr personall succession of Byshoppes yet if so they haue the Apostolicall doctrine taught sincerely in them for that consāguinitie and kinred in Doctrine those Churches are and are to be accompted Apostolicall The Orientall Churches hadde due succession til Arrius had infected them with hys poyson shall personall succession nowe approue the sect of the Arrians to be the church of God So had the Churche of Rome before Antichristes possession therof Shal we therfore now say whē their doctrine theyr malice theyr ambition theyr pride theyr dyuelishe conuersation dothe conuince them to be that whore of Babilon Shal we I say now say bycause they possibly can shew vs a great Catalogue of Byshops from Linus or Anacletus that therefore they are nowe the true Churche of God And yet were that a sufficient proofe of Gods Churche our Bishops in England then haue their personall succession from the firste euen the firste that you can name as by time and nexte course succéeding one an other Thus you sée dearely beloued howe apparant it is that this noble Realme of Englande is planted by Gods greate mercy into the Catholike Vineyarde of the Lorde the visible Churche of God and is it selfe a notable member of the same Now time requireth that we speake something likewise of the inuisible cōpany and Church of God to the greater comforte of the godlye in thys visible Churche whiche this day heare me or hereafter may heare of this holy labor to their further benefite If thou wouldest knowe certainly beloued in thine owne conscience whether thou arte verily and indéede the member of Christ and so a liuely braunche of the virident Vine end a fruitful Figge trée examine thy selfe by these thrée pointes The true notes of the inuisible Church al which the spirite of God againe hathe laide vp in one most sacred Sentence and thys it is The end of the commandement is loue out of a pure hart 1. Tim. 1.5 and of a good conscience and of saith vnfained In thys sentence beloued in Christ is laid forth vnto vs the verye true and infallibe tokens to euery mans soule whether he be the sonne of God or no. For by degrées from the fruite to the trée from the childe to the parent he goeth fetcheth thence vnto vs the certaine markes whereby we are sealed to the Lorde The purpose of God giuyng his worde is saith the Apostle that yée purely loue one another but your loue muste procéede from a good conscience not from a corrupted hart and this conscience hath his purging from an vnfained faith Then take hence your certaine notes of Gods children and these they are First by the vertue of the spirite and word of God a pure faith vnfained Secondly a renued minde whiche here is called a pure heart And thirdely by the same spirite suche charitie as neither can be cold or hypocriticall In whom soeuer these be vigent warme let him be assured though al the Popes in Rome had sēt their curses against him this honorable natiō yet he is of god the member of Christ one of his inuisible Churche whyche can not be caste forth of the dores But that we maye the better knowe
Christe in thys Parable Amos the Prophet to al Gods Ministers And feare you not good successe of youre prayer and youre godly trauel for thys Parable and other places of Gods Booke doe hearten you hereto namely the Lorde by the Prophet Ezechiell Ezec. 22.26 who accusing the Priestes to haue broken hys lawe to haue defiled the Sacrifices and prophaned the Sabbothes The Princes to be rauenous as wolues and to destroye soules for theyr couetous lucar The Prophets and Preachers to haue dawbed them that is flattered their vices with vntempered morter to saye thus sayth the Lord when the Lorde spake not so The people of the lande by violence and robery vexed the pore and nedy and oppressed the stranger agaynst righte all whyche prouoked Gods greate anger and their deadly destruction yet to the comforte of the ciuill and Ecclesiasticall Gouernors he there sayth Verse 30.31 And I soughte for a manne among them that shoulde make vppe the hedge and stand in the Gappe before mee for the lande that I shoulde not destroye it but I founde none Therefore haue I powred out mine indignation vppon them and consumed them with the fyre of my wrath Theyr owne wayes haue I rendered vppon theyr heades sayth the Lord. Note wel thys howe God in hys anger séeketh for hys Gods and Ministers in earth to haue theyr laboure to dygge and dung to hedge and stande in the breach against God if his vengeance be commyng and they shall preuaile If the loue of Moses be in the Magistrates as wée haue greate cause to confesse it and the bowelles of pitie in our fathers and Ministers of the church of England No doubte they will pray for vs they wyll endeuour to make vs fruitefull Of whose loue for breuities sake I send the Magistrates to Exodus 32.31 and the fatherly Pastor to Amos the Prophet 7.1 Then to discerne the time of standing in the gappe is right necessary for the godlye Magistrates in earth and when to be moste earnest to digge and dung the Figge trée And that is euen when else the Lorde woulde destroy it and saith Cutte it downe God vseth not nowe to speake to vs but by his holy Preachers whiche be ordinary and extraordinary His ordinary Preachers our dayly Pastors we knowe and by his great mercy féele the great blessings of God in thē His extraordinary Prophets are partely from heauen partelye from earth The Lorde by these dothe teache vs into his obedience and forewarneth vs of his plagues when they perceiue oure iniquitie to growe into ripenesse Amos. And surely the Lord doth stil open his secreates to his Prophets and doth giue them eyes to discerne hys iudgements comming by his former hande vppon like transgressions They are called our watchemen and surely we muste yéelde them credite Ezech. 33. when rightly they ring the Alarma or else we perish And that they myghte not be deceiued God hathe in hys worde tolde them when to praye and to stirre vppe the Magistrates to digge and giue compose But when bothe the tokens in the worde and the extraordinarie Preachers of Gods sworde doe crye to vs beware this sentence Cutte it downe then it behoueth to digge and dung that is to take awaye that and those things whiche hinder the fruite of the Figge trée and to adde and laye to it that which maye comforte supple and moysten the roote therof The time when to praye to digge and dung the Figgetrée is when the Bridegrome is departed from his spouse for a season in displesure thē must his church mourne and his Prophets pray as it is Math 9. Secondly when God by his extraordinary Prophets in earth and from Heauen dothe crye to vs the foresaide heauy sentence then it is highe time to digge and dung the Figge trée Esay 22. But the Bridegrome is absent from thys Church when in hir peace by hir owne wantonnesse and wilfull disobediēce she turneth to hir stubborne hart to loath his worde and fruitefull voice recallyng hir Fathers house to hir affections Psalm 4.5 and by the luste of carnall Aegipt doth quench in hir the purity of loue and dothe giue hir selfe to hir owne delyghtes so as hir husbande Christe can take no pleasure in hir company Thys is wel signified to vs by the Psalmiste in the 45. Psalme verse 10. Psal 45.10 by the opposite doctrine Hearken o daughter saith Christe to his espoused Churche and consyder and incline thine eare forgette also thy fathers house that Aegiptiacall and idolatrous house So shall the Kyng take pleasure in thy beautie For he is thy Lorde and reuerence thou hym But by that wée haue sufficiently sayde and the experience offered to eache man euery day we maye clearely sée that our Preachers haue at this very instant great cause to call to mourning For the loue to oure Bridegrome Christe is almost al spent we waxe weary of his worde we take vs to our owne direction and beginne to dislike to be ruled longer by it For the Papistes will not heare the Christian doth not consider his backesliding from his former loue neither inclineth with an obedient eare to the voice of the Bridegroome but our delights are wholy sette if not in the golden Calfe yet to eate and drinke and rise vppe to playe as erst we did euen as the Gentiles Exod. 32 6. 1. Cor. 10.7 which knewe not God and that wyth gréedinesse but brethren we haue not so learned Christe Ephe. 4.19 Gods Prophets séeing this and this to growe so greate as growing all abroade and for the ripenesse of it ready to the Haruest wyth one consent they crye to Englande Math. 3.2 Repent for the kingdome of God is at hande Verse 10. Nowe is the Are laide to the trée therefore euery trée which bringeth not forth good fruite is hewen downe and cast into the fire But they crye and lament with Esay Lorde Esa 53.1 Rom. 10.16 who is it that beleeueth our saying Wherefore it behoueth you my Lords Gods Magistrates to ioyne the sworde with the worde and more forcibly yet to digge aboute the Figge trée But let vs consider of Gods extraordinary Preachers from Heauen and with vs here in this land and marke wel whether there be not a consent of bothe in this matter to sommone vs to iudgement From Heauen God by fire hathe sommoned thys land to repentance Anno. 1581. primo Elizab. when in that tempest this most notable monument of Paules Churche by whyche we stand and is now in our eyes he to shewe his kindled wrath set fire vppon the spier of it whych was the beautie of the lande And Christianlye consider it brethren it beganne not at the Church least men might haue imagined it to haue come of trechery or negligence but from the goldē bowle downwardes that one and all might sée it to be the only worke of God Manye other Churches this noble citie hath like subiecte vnto GOD but hys
shoulde they yet make their wiues their children their seruantes their tenantes theyr friendes and kinred theyr associates and countrey thy people hir graces subiects in these growing times so mightily barren Wel wel the iolity of these and the number of our owne sins haue writhen a coard of maruellous length Esa to drawe thys heauie sentence vppon this Nation and people if we repent not Cut it downe Thys sentence is most heauy Cutte it downe But yet it is here intercepted with a most louing petitiō of the dresser of the Vineyarde viz. Lorde let it alone this yeare also till I digge rounde aboute it and dung it and if it bring forth fruite well if no then after thou shalte cut it downe Greater glorie God neuer broughte to nation than to this country of Iudea so as the Princely Prophet Dauid said of it The Lord hath not dealt so with any Nation And yet where he bestowed his greatest loue there they caste vnto him for thankes the vile sin of senslesse securitie contemning his grace despising his lawe slouting hys Prophets killing his Christe murthering his Apostles and persecuting his Churche detesting his Gospell and leading their liues without féeling with the Gentiles in moste gréedye filthinesse Wherefore their glorie is turned into shame Zach. 11. and the staffe of their beautie the band of his couenante is brokē al to péeces and they commaunded to vtter ruine Cut it downe Oh that Englande would looke to this More beautie greater bandes of Gods amitie hath not bin séene no not in Iewrie yet Englande is too carelesse what she giueth God She taketh an argument frō his former fauour and louing band of peace to be incorporate into a perpetual reste but she remembreth not that Ierusalem and Iuda are cut down nor throughly weyeth the cause crauing like censure nowe In truth beloued trée of Englande were it not for that interception of thy dressers petition the intercession of thy only mediatour Iesus Christ ther is no let of this sentence againste thée Cut it downe Consider then with thankefulnesse beloued who is thy safetie Euen Iesus Christe alone our mightie Michaell Daniel 12.1 that standeth in the gap these 22. yeares for thée But here we may not forget the Christ our dresser defender to God his father doth 2. things for his church Ezech. 22 3 The one is as a vigilant pastor defēder he is redy to help presēt at néed taketh the oportunitie offred to benefite the same For euen at that instant when God cōmandeth to destroy the trée at that present he maketh his harty petition for it The other is Christes prayer for his people but vnder a condition Spare it Lorde saith he c. till I digge it if then it bring fruite wel but if no thou shalt cutte it downe Of Christs vigilancie ouer this land for hir defence we haue moste singular assurance and the same shall appeare moste plainely vnto vs if we looke into the ancient sins of the same in hir elder people and his sentence executed vppon them after hys long sufferyng for that there wanted a Mediator at last to stād in the gap And in sinceritie of our harts doe then leuell the line of oure wicked conuersation with the sins of our ancestors his defending arme vpon vs we shal be driuē to acknowledge his louing vigilancie to be our only stay The antient Brytanes the firste Fathers of thys Iland did liue after Christs incarnation in abundant wealth but they gaue themselues saith the storie to the heresie of the Pelagians to the disdaine of the truth and to great loosenesse of life so as the Nobilitie Clergie were wholy giuen to Bacchus and Venus The Lord first sent them warnings then warres with the Picts and Scots whych mightily molested them But what didde these brute Brytanes They returned not to the Lorde confessing their sins and repenting theyr wicked liues reposing their confidence in Gods hande but continuing in their luste stil they sente for aide against the enimy to the Saxons about the yere of Christ 685. which was the first message of their ouerthrowe For the Lord in his iuste iudgement vsed them his instruments to driue the Brytanes into Wales where they remaine as yet these their confederates possessed thys pleasant Iland So came the Brytanes vnder this Censure Cutte them down Likewise the Saxons possessing this lande and abusing Gods blessings gaue themselues to a declining from God and his truth and charity was key cold amongst them Whiche two horrible vices can neuer dwel alone therefore ignorance came into the countrey and tooke possession of the Churche It was a wonder saith the Booke to haue a Priest to vnderstand his Grammer The Nobilitie became Atheistes and wicked men the common people were solde to sinne For pride whoredome and drunkennesse entred into thē from high Palaces Nicenesse of apparell had then a common habite wyth men for newe deuises were euery day And that which is not at this day amōgest the reste to be forgotten the Saxons did in very muche brauery clip or shaue their beards to the very face all excepte onely the ouer lippe But the Lorde as greatelye grieued at the Lande by some good Bishops reproued them and when no admonition coulde preuaile he bente the heauens wyth blazing Comets to threaten this Sentence Cutte the Saxons down For Anno. 1066. after the Comet came William the Norman and did execute that sentence vpon the Saxons conquering the lande and ouerthrewe the former state O deare brethren in God can wée Englishemen sée our noble trée thus twice cutte downe and not quake for feare of like iudgement or is there not like cause in vs so to procure Gods wrath Be not deceyued GOD is not mocked neither come I to flatter or yet to feare to speak the truth Englande is full of sicknesse byles and soares procuring death We may truely lament for it is as the Prophet Micah Micah 7.12.3 did for his people saying Wo is me for I am as the Sommer gatherings and as the Grapes of the Vintage there is no cluster to eate my soule desired the firste ripe fruites The goodman is perished out of the earth and there is no righteous among men They all laye waite for bloude euery man hunteth his brother with a nette By this sentence the Prophet accuseth his people of 3. pestiferous euils wherof the firste is a Catholike backesliding from religion godlinesse saying the good mā is perished for those that remain are but rare thin euen the gleanings of the Haruest and as the Vine trée after the Vintage whiche maye happilye haue here and there one Grape lefte behind Secondly of a general hipocrisie for he saith Nemo rectus No man treadeth by the measure of the line whych his profession calling doth leuil vnto him but maketh a shew of another than that he is indéede And laste of an vniuersal crueltie vsing the