The dispensing with Banes for money pag. 100. The Sale of Christian libertie in Marriages pag. 103. That they make lewde and vnlearned Ministers for money pag. 108. That they maintaine an vnlearned Ministery therby be occasion of Reuoltings many other mischiefs to the Prince and the Common weale But it is declared that there is no such vnlearned Ministery as they pretend and therefore can not bee an occasion of Reuolting or any other like mischiefes but that there bee other true and right causes to redresse of which it behoueth them that God hath set in place in time to haue speciall regarde for feare lest those mischiefes that be pretended doe increase pag. 109. c. The Crime of mainteyning Pilling and powling Courts pag. 135. The Crime of abusing Ecclesiasticall discipline pag. 141. The Crime of ambition and griedie seeking after Liuings and promotion pag. 144. That Bishops are carnally disposed which they shewe by hoarding vp great summes of money by purchasing Landes for their wiues and children by furnishing their tables with plate and guilded Cups by filling their purses with vnreasonable Fines and Incomes pag. 148. That the Prince ought to take away their great Lands and Liuings and set them to meane Pensions that in pouertie they may be answerable to the Apostles pag. 157. which they take vpon them to prooue by the whole course of the Scriptures pag. 162. The Lawe pag. 166. The Prophets pag. 177. The example of Christ pag. 190. and the doctrine of his Apostles pag. 221. Answere to the prescription of the old Lawe vvith the true meaning thereof pag. 166. Ansvvere to the Allegations out of the Prophets noting hovve absurdly and affectionately they be abused pag. 177. c. Answere to the example of Christ and the true doctrine that is to be taken of the same pag. 191. c. Answere to the doctrine of the Apostles declating hovv the same is rightly to be vnderstanded pag. 221. A Declaration how Ministers haue bene maintained from the beginning wherein is shevved that they haue had both Lands Houses Rents and Reuenues pag. 231. c. A Declaration that the wealthie state of the Church vvas not y e chiefe cause of setting vp Antichrist in his Throne as it is pretended but that the Histories of that time do declare other causes of more importance which also beginne to growe among vs and therefore good heede to be taken in time pag. 238. c. ¶ AN ADMONITION to the Church and people of England to take heede of the contempt of those Bishops and Preachers which God hath sent to them as messengers to bring vnto them the doctrine of their saluation WHen I call to my remembrance the loathsome contempt hatred and disdaine that the most part of men in these dayes beare and in the face of the vvorld declare tovvarde the Ministers of the Church of God asvvel Bishops as other among vs here in Englande my heart can not but greatly feare tremble at the consideration thereof It hath pleased God novv a long time most plentifully to povvre dovvne vpon vs his manifold great benefits of vvealth riches peace and quietnesse euen in the middest of the flames of discord dissention and miserie round about vs yea and that more is by the space of these thirtie yeeres by the continual preaching of the Gospel hath called vs vnto him as before time he called his chosē people of the Ievves by his Prophets and yet do vve not only not shevv any sound token either of our returning to him that called vs or of our thankefull receiuing his worde which he hath sent vs or of conforming our liues thereunto as hee willeth vs but also euidently to the eyes and eares of all men shew our hatred and misliking of those reuerend persons whome it hath pleased God to vse as his messengers to call vs vnto him and as his instruments to bring vnto vs the glad tidings of the Gospel which before with sworde and fire was taken from vs. For who seeth not in these dayes that hee who can most bitterly inueigh against Bishops and Preachers that can most boldely blaze their discredites that can most vncharitably slaunder their liues and doings thinketh of himselfe and is esteemed of other as the most zealous earnest furtherer of the Gospel Yea they thinke it almost the best way most ready to bring themselues in credite and estimation with many A lamentable state of time it is wherein such vntemperate boldnesse is permitted without any bridle at all What man therefore that feareth God that loueth his Church that hath care of his Prince and countrey can remember this thing and not dread in his heart the sequele thereof When the Israelites derided and contemned the Prophets which God had sent among them his wrath was so kindled that hee brought the Assyrians vpon them to their confusion When the tribe of Iuda did the like to Ieremie and other messengers of God they were cast into the captiuitie of Babylon When the Iewes reprochefully vsed Christ and with vvicked slaunder persecuted his Apostles that brought to them the light of saluation their Citie and Temple vvas burned their people slaine and as Christ threatned their countrey made desolate and giuen ouer to the spoyle And shall wee thinke that God vvill not remaine the same God tovvard vs Is his minde changed is his iustice slaked is his hand shortned that either he wil not or cannot reuenge as he hath bin wont to doe No good Christians let vs neuer deceiue our selues with such vaine and godlesse cogitations God remaineth alwayes one and is not mutable His benefits to the Israelites and Iewes were neuer greater then they novv these many yeeres haue bene toward vs they were neuer more earnestly eyther by Gods blessings allured or by preaching called to repentance then vve haue bene And yet our vnthankefulnesse in some respectes is greater then theirs and our vncourteous vsing of his messengers not much inferiour yea if the willes of many were not brideled by Gods singular grace in our Prince and gouernours it is to bee feared it woulde shewe it selfe as outragious as theirs did We haue iust cause therefore to feare the like plague which they in like case sustained And surely it cannot bee but that it hasteneth fast vpon vs. Obiection But some will say I knowe That I doe great iniury to the Prophets the Apostles and other messengers of God to compare them with such wicked men such blinde guides such couetous hypocrites such antichristian Prelates such symonicall Preachers as our Cleargie men now are Answere I doe not compare them good Reader in worthines of grace and vertue but in likenesse of office and ministerie These haue brought vnto this realme the same light of the Gospell the same trueth of doctrine the same way of saluation that the Apostles brought to the people of God in their time They are the mouth of God whereby hee speaketh to
AN ADMONITION TO THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND VVHEREIN ARE ANSVVERED NOT ONELY THE slaunderous vntruethes reprochfully vttered by Martin the Libeller but also many other Crimes by some of his broode obiected generally against all Bishops and the chiefe of the Cleargie purposely to deface and discredite the present state of the Church Detractor libens auditor vterque Diabolum portat in lingua Seene and allowed by authoritie Imprinted at London by the Deputies of Christopher Barker Printer to the Queenes most excellent Maiestie 1589. TO THE READER I Am not ignoraunt Gentle Reader what daunger I drawe vpon my selfe by this attempt to answere the quarrels and slaunders of late time published in certaine Libelles against the Bishops and other chiefe of the Clergy of the Church of England We see the eagernesse boldenesse of their spirit that bee the authors of them we taste alreadie the bitternes of their tongues and pennes The raging furie of their reuenge vpon all which they mislike themselues dissemble not but lay it downe in words of great threatnings I must needs therfore looke for any hurt that venemous scoffing and vnbridled tongues can worke toward me And how should I hope to escape that when the Saints of God in Heauen doe feele it In the course of their whole Libell when they speake of Peter Paul or the Blessed Virgin Marie c whome other iustly call Saintes their phrase in derision is Sir Peter Sir Paule Sir Marie Surely it had becommed right well the same vnmodest Spirite to haue saide also Sir Christ and so throughly to haue bewrayed himself Seeing they haue sharpned their tongues and heartes against heauen we poore creatures on earth must bee content in our weaknesse to beare them The dartes I confesse of deceitefull and slaunderous tongues are verye sharpe and the burning of the woundes made by them will as hardly in the hearts of many bee quenched as the coales of Iuniper But I thanke God I feare them not though they bring mee greater harme eyther in credite liuing or life then I trust that God that seeth knoweth and defendeth the trueth will suffer them Ambrose beeing in case somewhat like sayeth thus Non tanti est vnius vita quanti est dignitas omnium Sacerdotum If I therefore shoulde hazarde the one for the defence of the other I trust the godlye woulde iudge that I did that duetie which I owe to the Church of God and to my brethren of the same function and calling What is the cause why wee bee with such spight and malice discredited Surely because as the duty of faythfull Subiectes dooth binde vs liuing in the state of a Church refourmed we doo indeuour to preserue those Lawes which her Maiesties authoritie and the whole state of the Realme hath allowed and established and doe not admitte a newe platforme of gouernment deuised I knowe not by whome The reasons that mooue vs so to doe are these two First wee see no proofe brought out of the word of God that of necessitie such forme of Gouernement ought to be Secondly that by the placing of the same it woulde bring so many alterations and inconueniences as in our opinion woulde bee dangerous to the Prince and to the Realme Some of those inconueniences I haue in this treatise laid downe and leaue them to the consideration of them whom God hath set in place of gouernment It may be some will iudge that I am wordly affected because I shewe my selfe so much grieued with losse of our credite and hinderance of good name among the people In trueth although a godly Minister shoulde haue no wordly thing so deere vnto him as his credite yet if the hurt went no further then to our selues wee should make lesse account of it But seeing by our reproche and infamie the doctrine which wee teache is greatly hindered we ought by all lawfull meanes to defend it Christ himselfe in this respect answered such reproches as the enemies obiected against him As that hee vvas a friende vnto Publicanes and sinners That hee vvrought his miracles by the power of Beelsebub That hee broke the Sabbaoth day That hee was a Samaritane That hee had a deuill c. Saint Paul also to the Corinthians against his Aduersaries sheweth that hee was not a vaine Promiser That hee was not light and vnconstant and a wauering Teacher That hee did not teache craftily or corruptly dispensing the worde of God That hee did not teach ambitiously as seeking his owne glorie c. The like did a nomber of learned Fathers of the Primitiue Church at large answering those vile and reprochefull Slaunders raysed against the Christians in those dayes Augustine in a whole woorke answered Assertions falsly fathered vpon him and so did many other Wee seeke not therein our owne prayse and commendation If I doe insert particular prayses and commendations I must say vnto the Libellers as S. Paul sayde to the Corinthians Si insipiens fui in laudando vos me coegistis If I haue bene foolish in ouermuch praising your immodest reproches vntrueths and slaunders do driue me to it In this mine answere I seeke not to fatisfie all kinde of men but onely the moderate and godly For the malicious Back-biter Rayler will neuer be satisfied but the more he is answered the worse he will be If my defence may take moderate place with the better sort I shall be glad if not I may not be excessiuely grieued with sorowe but I must say with Paul Gloria nostra haec est testimonium conscientiae nostrae And with Iob Ecce in caelis testis meus This witnesse in heauen and the witnesse of our owne heart and conscience is sufficient to comfort vs. And for our further helpe we must pray with Dauid who was lamentably beaten and bitten with viperous tongues Leade vs O Lorde in thy righteousnesse because of our enemies make thy way plaine before vs. This God I trust will deliuer vs from the daunger of euill tongues and open their eyes and hearts that they may see and vnderstande what hinderance they bring to the Gospel of Christ which they will seeme to professe so earnestly Amen T. C. The Contents of this Treatise AN Admonition to beware of the contempt of the Bishops and other Preachers Page 1. The ende which the enemy of the Church of God respecteth in woorking their discredite pag. 23. Answeres to the vntrucths and slaunders vttered in Martins late Libell pag. 33. Against my Lord of Canterburie pag. 37. Against my Lord of London pag. 51. Against the Bishop of Rochester Lincolne and Winchester pag. 62. 63. c. The causes why the Bishops desire to maintaine the present state of the gouernment of the Church and what inconucniences they feare vpon the alteration thereof will come to the state of the Realme pag. 79. c. Answeres to certaine generall Crimes obiected to all the Bishops without exception as first The Crime of Simonie and Couetousnesse pag. 66.
faultes Christian charitie forceth me to winke at them because I know greater matter in my selfe And I see they are men and no Angels and they liue in a perillous time and haue many occasions to offend so that it is harder for them to stande vpright then for some other that are in priuate state Hee is an Angell that neuer falleth hee is no man Men are fraile and in daunger to sinne though they haue otherwise great graces If any of them haue fallen with Aaron to anie great and horrible offence I trust they are with him also risen by repentaunce and with teares in the mercie of God washed away their wickednesse Or if they haue not I must needes say with Christ Better it were that a Milstone were hanged about their neckes and they cast into the sea then that by their continuance in euil they shoulde bee occasion that anie shoulde fall from God or reiect his Gospell As their vertues are more profitable and beneficial to the Church of God then the vertues of other priuate persons so are their vices and faults more hurtfull daungerous They stande on an high place where all mens eyes are fastened vppon them their least faultes cannot be hidde and the greatest are of all men abhorred A wart in the face and a blemish in a Bishoppe is no small disfiguring of either of them If other mens faults be seene the offence is not accounted great but if a bishops be espied it is esteemed not according to the greatnes of the thing but according to the dignitie of the person Hee that knoweth the will of his Master and doth it not shalbe beaten with many stripes Sacerdos saith Chrysostome sipariter cum Subditis peccat non eadem sed acerbiora patietur If a Priest shall offend as the inferiour doeth hee shal suffer not the same punishment but farre greater It behooueth them therefore in the feare of God to looke more diligently about them then any other and specially in these miserable dayes vvherein all mens eyes are so curiously set vpon them that they almost cleane forget to looke any thing vpon themselues or to finde fault vvith any other then vvith Ecclesiasticall persons and officers Obiection Heere some perchaunce vvill take me in mine ovvne turne and conclude against al that hitherto I haue spoken yea and against the vvhole purpose of my vvriting That if Bishoppes offences be so grieuous and hurtfull more then other mens are and that our Bishops and Ecclesiasticall Ministers are seene to commit so soule and heynous faultes that they are worthie of all that euill that is spoken against them and that I cannot iustly blame these persons that with great zeale doe reproue these their doings so hurtful to the Church of Christ and so dangerous to the people of God Answere Surely if all bee true that is vvritten and spoken against them as I trust and in part I knovve it is not I must needs confesse and vvere vvicked if I vvoulde denie that they had iustly deserued vvhatsoeuer euill coulde be vttered of them For sure I am if as I say all vvere true that is spoken that they should be as detestable as any heretikes that euer vvere in the Church yea as the Pope and Antichrist himselfe vvhose pillars and vpholders they are called and accounted vvith many And yet can I not excuse them vvhich in such manner doe persecute them vvith the bitternesse of their tongue and penne no more then I can excuse Nabuchodonosor or any other tyrant that plagued the people of God offending against his lavve For vvhatsoeuer God in his prouidence respected they looked onely to the satisfying of their couetous ambitious cruell and bloody affection And so vvhatsoeuer God regardeth in chastening his negligent Ministers or in vvaking them out of sleepe vvith the sourre of infamy and reproch yet by their virulent and vnseasoned speeches that are vsed by the scornefull and disdainefull reproches by the rash and vncharitable vntruethes I feare it may bee too truely gathered that they vvhich bee the instruments thereof seeke to fulfill their enuious proude and disdainefull appetites or the working of some other purpose which they looke to bring to passe by the discrediting of the Bishops and other chiefe of the Clergie which be as great blockes and stops in their way Qui habet aures ad audiendum audiat But let such persons in time take heede vvhen God as a mercifull father hath chastised his children sufficiently and stirred them to remember their dueties that he cast not the rod into the fire as before time he hath vsed to doe and bring the rewarde of their vnchristian dealing vpon their ovvne heades If right zeale vvith conscience and detestation of euil vvere the roote of these inuectiues which so boyle in loath some choller bitter gall against the Bishops other of the Clergie surely the same spirit would mooue them to breake out into like vehement lamentations against the euils and vices which shew themselues in a great nomber of this Realme I meane the deepe ignorance and contempt of God in the midst of the light of the Gospell the heathenish securitie in sinne and wickednesse the monstrous pride in apparell the voluptuous riot and sensualitie the excessiue buildings and needelesse nestes of mens treasures which bee as cankers consuming the riches of this Realme What shall I say of the loosenesse of whoredome and adulterie the wrongfull wresting by extortion bribery and vsury the crafty cosening for priuate commoditie the libertie in false swearing and periurie with the heape almost of all other vices where with mans life may be distained so that if some stay were not by moderat gouernment and some meane number restrained in conscience by the doctrine of the Gospell it were greatly to be feared that our wickednesse would growe in haste to such perfection as it woulde presently pull out of heauen Gods wrath against vs. But all these thinges are wrapt vp in deepe silence among most of these men vnlesse it bee to vpbraid Bishops as causes thereof and the corrupt gouernment as it is thought of this Church with the rich and wealthy states of Bishops pretended to bee the onely cause of Gods indignation toward vs. But this is the wicked working of the deuill to turne mens eyes from their owne sinnes that they may not acknowledge them and by repentance turne away the displeasure of God and his iustice hanging ouer vs and if it be possible also to destroy the course of the Gospell that hath bene so long with so small fruit among vs. But here I haue to aduertise the godly and chiefely the Prince and Magistrates that they be not abused and ledde by the cunning that Sathan hath alwayes vsed to deface the glory of God and disturbe his Church When Sathan seeth the doctrine of Trueth to spring vp amongst men and somewhat to prosper when hee seeth wickednesse and vice by diligent preaching to bee repressed and thereby his
of other For proofe whereof I referre you to B. Iewell in his worthy booke wherein he answereth Hardings reply against his 27. questions proposed at Pauls Crosse c. I remēber touching this matter of the Sacrament Occolampadius a man of great reading godlines saith of S. August Is primus mihi vellicauit aurem He did first put me in minde of the true vnderstanding of this Sacrament These foure principal Articles I haue laid downe for example that the Christian Reader may the more easily perceiue vvhat comfort it is to any Church to haue the grounds of their faith and religion so established vpon the holy Scriptures that for the interpretation of the same they haue the testimonie consent of the Primitiue Church the ancient learned Fathers From which Consent they should not depart either in doctrine or other matter of weight vnlesse it so fall out in them that we be forced thereto either by the plaine wordes of the Scriptures or by euident and necessary conclusions following vpon the same or the Analogie of our faith Which thing if we shall perceiue we ought safely may take that liberty that themselues especially Augustine hath vsed requireth other to vse Nec Catholicis Episcopis c. Wee must not consent saith Augustine so much as to Catholike Bishops if they be deceiued and be of opinion contrary to the Canonicall Scriptures Againe I am not tied with the authoritie of this Epistle For I haue not the writings of Cyprian in like estimation as I haue the Canonicall Scriptures but I measure them by the rule of the holy Scriptures If I finde any thing in his writings agreeing to the Scriptures I receiue it with commendation and reuerence if otherwise with his good leaue I refuse it The like you haue Epist 48. 111. 112. In Prooemio li. 3. de Trinitate and many other places Otherwise to reiect the testimonie of the ancient Fathers rashly is a token of too much confidence in our owne wits It was noted as a great fault in Nestorius and a chief cause of his heresie that contemning the Fathers hee rested too much vpon his owne iudgement The like confidence drew many learned men and of great gifts to be Patrons of sundry foule and shamefull errours How came it to passe that after that notable Councell of Nice so many detestable heresies arose against the Deitie the Humanitie of Christ against the vniting of both natures and the distinction of the properties of them c. but onely out of this roote that they contemned the graue sentences interpretations determinations of those famous Confessors and great learned Fathers as were in the same assembled and had too much liking in their owne wits learning But woe be vnto them saith Esay that are ouerwise in their owne conceite Vigilius in his first booke against Eutyches saith thus These cloudes of fond and vaine accusations are powred out by them chiefly which are diseased either with the sickenesse of ignorance and of a contentious appetite and while they being puffed vp with confidence of a proud stomacke for this only cause they reiect the rules of faith laide downe by the ancient fathers that they may thrust into the Church their owne wauering deuises which they haue ouerthwartly conceiued This sentence I would our vncharitable accusers troublers of the Church would well weigh and consider with them-selues Therfore good reader I protest for my selfe and for the residue of this church that we dare not in conscience nor thinke it tollerable with contempt to reiect the testimonies of antiquitie in establishing any matter of weight in the Church We leaue that to our hasty Diuines that in three yeeres study thinke themselues able to controll all men to haue more learning then all the Bishops in England And for this cause vvil they giue no credit to ancient writers against their new found equality For with them it is a foule fault once in a sermon to name an ancient father or to alledge any testimonie out of his workes Novve good Christian Reader seeing by the good blessing of God vve haue all parts of Christian fayth and Religion professed and taught in this Church and the same grounded vpon the canonicall Scriptures vvith the consent and exposition of the Primitiue Church and ancient Fathers What a vaunting pride is it as Cyprian speaketh vvhat an vnthankefulnesse to God vvhat vncharitable affection toward the Church of their naturall Countrey that they cannot abide any good to be spoken of it pretending nothing but the priuate faultes and vices of some men or the disagreeing from them in some orders and partes of Gouernement which they vvill neuer be able to proue by the word of GOD to bee of necessitie In other reformed Churches vvhome they so greatly extolle and vvould make paterne to vs haue they not imperfections Haue they not foule faults and great vices among all sortes of men as well Ministers as others Surely their worthiest writers grauest Preachers doe note that they haue And if they woulde denie it the world doth see it and many good men among them doe bevvaile it I vvill not stay in the other blessings of God vvhere with he hath adorned this Church I shall haue occasion to speake somewhat more of it hereafter and God send vs grace that we may vvith true thankefulnesse acknovvledge it But this I may not omitte vvithout great note of vnthankefulnesse towarde our mercifull God vvhich hath not onely preserued maintained and defended the State but also appoynted this Church to be as a Sanctuarie or place of refuge for the Saints of God afflicted and persecuted in other Countries for the profession of the Gospell for whome I am persvvaded vvee doe fare the better at Gods hande And I doubt not but in that respect al reformed Churches in other places feeling the blessing of God by vs thinke reuerently of our State and pray to God for vs as all good men vvith vs ought to doe for them that the true linke of Christian charitie may soundly knitte vs together in one body of right faith and Religion If some fevve persons thinke amisse of our Church I impute the cause thereof only to the malicious vntrue reports made by some of our owne Countreymen vnto them Which persons if they did vnderstande the true State of this our Realme would thinke farre othervvise as diuers of the most graue learned writers haue already euidently declared This also is not the least blessing of God as well in the time of K. Edward as in the reigne of our gracious Soueraigne that this Church hath had as ample ornamēts of learned men Rumpantur vt Ilia Momo as the most reformed Churches in Europe farre more plentifully then some place whose state they seeke to frame vs vnto Only I except those excellēt men whō God had prepared in the beginning to be the restorers of his Trueth doctrine of
bishopricks in England be worth For Mat. Paris vvriteth that in the time of king Henry the 3. the Pope had yeerely out of this Lande 60000 markes vnto which if you doe adde his like dealing in Germanie and other countreys you shall perceiue the value to be inestimable And surely I am of that hope and in my conscience I think it to be most true that all the Bishops in this land by Simoniacal practise and couetous oppression doe not gaine the hundred part thereof And if it doe rise to that value it is a great deale too much yea if it be one peny it is wicked and by no good man ought to be defended much lesse by them to bee practised I hope well of all although I wil not take vpon me to excuse all But for some I assuredly know in my conscience dare depose that since they were made Bishops they haue not wittingly gained that way one twenty shillings Therefore in equalling the bishops of Englande in the practise of Simonie vvith the Pope of Rome there must needs be great oddes in the comparison and the whole speech may well be called Hyperbole that is an vncharitable amplification surmounting all likelihood of honest and Christian trueth Obiection But somewhat to giue countenance to an euill slaunder it will be sayde that the Bishop of Rome practized Simonie by al meanes that he had our bishops by as many as they haue Answere Oh a worthie reason Is this to iustifie so shameful a slaūder of the church of God vnder a christian Princes gouernment Is that Christian Preacher and Bishop if any such be that vseth Simoniacall practise in two or three points of smal importance and litle value in grieuousnesse of offence before God and the vvorlde to be equalled to the head of Antichrist and the principall enemy of the Gospel practizing the same in a thousande of great weight and vnestimable value I cannot but wish more charitable hearts to them that will take vpon them the zeale and profession of the Gospel Let sinne be blamed euen in them that fauour the word and chiefly the Clergie but yet so as trueth will beare and modestie with Christian charitie doeth require lest in much amplifying of small offences you become instruments not onely to discredit the parties blamed but also to ouerthrowe the doctrine that they teach There ought to be great difference betweene Christian Preachers writers inueighing against Antichrist and his members enemies of the Gospell and zealous professors blaming reprouing the faults of their owne Bishop and Clergie in the estate of a Church by authoritie setled The one part is kindled with an earnest zeale detestation of the obstinate patrones of errour and idolatrie the other shoulde bee mooued onely with a charitable sorowe and griefe to see Preachers of the trueth not to declare in life that which they vtter to other in doctrine They that by humane frailtie offende in blemish of life onely are not with like bitternesse to bee hated harried rated and defaced as they that with obstinate and vnrepentant hearts offend both in life and doctrine and to the face of the worlde shewe them-selues aduersaries of the truth Christ after one maner blameth the Scribes pharises after another he reprooueth the ignorance the dulnesse the ambition and carnal affection of his owne Disciples that followed him But I pray you let vs consider the particular proofe of this generall accusation and odious comparison Surely they are so trifling that I am ashamed to stay vpon them and yet I must needes speake a word or two of them The Church of England retaineth a good and necessarie order that before the celebration of marriage the Banes should be asked three seuerall Sabboth dayes Obiection This order saith the aduersarie and accuser is by Dispensation abused and by our Bishops solde for money Answere The order I thinke very good and meete to bee obserued in a Christian Church and not without good cause to be altered and yet doth it not beare any necessitie in Religion and holinesse whereby mens consciences should be wrung or wrested But I will demaund of the accuser whether there be not some cases wherein the circumstances being considered this matter may bee dispensed withall among Christians And if there bee as no reasonable man can deny then I aske further whether there bee any lawe in this Church of Englande whereby with the authoritie of the Prince it is granted that a Bishoppe may in such conuenient cases dispense with this order And if there bee such lawe of the Church and of the Realme I marueile howe it can be counted Simonie or couetous selling of the libertie of the Gospell to dispense with it Obiection Yea but if the order be good why is it not kept vnuiolably if it be euill why is it solde for money Answere The order is good no man can deny it or without good cause alter it but there is no externall order so necessary but that authoritie may in some considerations lawfully dispense therewith It was a good order and cōmandement of God that none but the Priests should eat of the shew bread and yet in a case of necessitie Abimelech the hie Priest did dispense with Dauid his company in eating the same bread The external obseruation of the Sabboth day was a good order and a commandement streightly giuen by God and yet we read that the Iewes in necessitie did breake it and fought on the Sabboth day And Christ himselfe defended his Disciples that on that day did bruise Corne and eate it Therefore by lawfull authoritie such orders may bee dispensed with and not deserue iust reproofe much lesse the crime of Couetousnesse and Simonie Obiection Yea but the dispensations are solde for money for some haue for writing and other for sealing and my Lord so granting c. Answere By as good reason may they excuse any Iudge or chiefe officer in this Land of extortion and bribery because his Clearkes and vnder officers take money for the writing dispatch of Processes Writs and other like matters where of happily some small portion commeth to the Iudge or chiefe officer himselfe and the same also warranted and made good by the lawes of this Realme If either Ecclesiasticall Ministers or other officers and Magistrates shall by extortion wrest more then by order is due there lieth lawfull remedie and sharpe punishment for the same And in all societies and common weales that euer haue bene aswell among Christians as other it hath bene counted lawfull that the Ministers to higher officers aswell Ecclesiasticall as other should haue lawfull portions and fees allowed them for such things where in they trauell Therefore how this may be imputed to Bishops as Simonie and sale of Christian libertie I see not Obiection They will say Dispensations for Banes for greedinesse of money are granted more commonly then they should be Answere If that
be true I praise it not I defend it not I excuse it not and I thinke the fault more in inferiour Officers then in Bishops themselues But in whome soeuer the fault be that cannot be so great and hainous that Bishoppes of England may iustly bee accounted Antichristian Prelates Petie Antichrists Subuice-Antichrists c. as some in the heate of their zeale doe tearme them But God I trust in due time will coole their heate with the spirite of mildenesse and gentlenesse If many Bishops haue gained by this kinde of Dispensatiō I maruaile Surely I know some that neuer receiued pennie in that consideration but haue giuen strait charge to their inferiour officers neuer to dispense with that matter but vpon great and weighty cause such order is now generally taken But good Christians here is the griefe that moueth all this grudge that euill persons when either to cloke their whoredome or to preuent another of his lawfull wife or some other like purpose will marrie without orderly asking in the Church they bee for the same conuented punished by the magistrate This they be grieued at count it great extremitie for because they see the lavvfull Magistrate vpon good considerations sometime to dispense with this order they thinke it as conuenient for them vvithout leaue of their ovvne heads to vse the same to the satisfying of their vnlavvfull lust or other lewde affection For such is novv the state of this time that vvhatsoeuer an Officer specially Ecclesiastical may do by lawful authoritie the priuate subiect thinketh he may doe the same at his owne vvill and pleasure And if he be brideled thereof why then it is Lordlinesse Symonie Couetousnesse and Crueltie And I pray God the like boldenesse grovve not tovvard other Officers and magistrates of the Common vveale also Surely vve haue great cause to feare it for the reasons vvhereon they ground their doings may be applied as vvell to the one as to the other Obiection Another Argument of couetousnesse in bishops is farre vvorse as it is said then the former that they prohibite marriage at certaine times most contrary to Gods worde that is say they a Papistical practise to fill the Cleargies purse yea it is a doctrine of Antichrist and of the deuill him selfe prohibiting Marriage euen in Laye men contrarie to S. Paules wordes who sayth Marriage is honourable in all persons Answere Surely for my part I confesse and before God and the vvorlde protest that in my conscience I thinke that who soeuer forbiddeth Marriage to any kinde of men is tainted vvith the corruption of Antichristian doctrine and hath his conscience seared with an hot iron bearing the marke of the beast spoken of in the Apocalypse but I am clearely resolued that the Bishoppes of Englande are free from any touch of that opinion and doe account it no lesse then a token of Antichrist noted by Daniel to prohibite lavvfull Matrimonie Their doctrine openly taught and preached and the practise of their life doth shevve it to be so that no man vnlesse hee bee blinded with malice vvill impute that errour vnto them Who seeth not that by exercise of mariage in their ovvne persons they cast themselues into the displeasure and misliking of a great nomber in that onely they bee married contrary to the corruption of the Popish and antichristian Church Wherefore I pray you good Christian readers weigh and consider with your selues what vnchristian and heathenish dealing this is toward the ministers of God of purpose onely to deface them and bring them in misliking by sinister interpretations to cast vpon them the filth and reproche of that corrupt doctrine of Antichrist vvhich most of all other they doe impugne in their teaching and withstand in their doing Is there feare of God in those hearts that can doe this Obiection Why they will say It is euident that Mariage is prohibited by them at certaine times of the yere and thereby occasion giuen to weake fraile persons to fall into whoredome and fornication or to burne in their consciences with great danger of their soules Answere Vndoubtedly this must needs be thought a captious and rigorous interpretation to say that a stay of mariage for certaine daies and weekes is an vnchristian forbidding of mariage vvorthy so grieuous blame as is cast vpon bishops for it For then it is a Popish disorder also and Antichristian corruption to stay marriage for three weekes vntill the Banes bee asked for in that space light and euill disposed mindes may easily fall to offence And yet this order both is and ought to bee accounted of them a godly and necessary order in the Church Obiection They will ansvvere that it is Popish and superstitious to tye the order of Marriage vnto any time or season more then other For the thing beeing good and lawfull by the worde of God why should it bee say they assigned to any time or place There is no place more holy then Paradise was nor no time so good as was before Adam fell by his disobedience c. Answere I ansvvere if any man appoynt Marriage to bee vsed at this or that time and place for conscience sake or for holinesse as though the time or place coulde make the thing eyther more or lesse holy surely I must needs condemne him as superstitious and cannot thinke well of the doing though all the bishoppes in Englande shoulde affirme the contrarie For to make holy or vnholy those things that God hath left free and bee of them selues indifferent is one of the chiefe groundes of all Papisticall corruption But I suspect no bishop in this Realme to be of that iudgement and I dare say there is not A thing left by Gods lawe free and indifferent may bee accounted more conuenient comely and decent at one time and place then at another but more holy it cannot bee All meats are free at all times by the law of God for nothing is vnclean that is receiued with thankesgiuing neither doeth any thing that goeth into the mouth defile a man And yet because it is now a Positiue law in this common vveale not for holinesse but for orders sake it is not so comely and conuenient for an Englishman to eate flesh on Fridayes and Saturdayes or in the Lent as it is at other times Obiection Heere they will crye and say that both the one law and the other is superstitious and naught and proceeded both out of the Popes mint and there were coyned and had their beginning and therefore that the Bishops doe wickedly and like to popish Prelates that so retaine in the Church and common weale the dregs of Antichristian corruption Answere This is the voice opinion of them only vvhich thinke not any thing tollerable to be vsed that hath bin vsed in the church before time were it of it selfe neuer so good These vvill haue no Font but christen children in basons They wil weare no caps nor surplices many of
them vvil not vse the old pulpits but haue nevv made they wil not accept a collect or praier be it neuer so agreeable to the vvord of God I maruaile that they vse the Churches them selues then which nothing hath bin more prophaned with superstition and idolatrie They should do that Optatus Mileuitanus writeth that the Donatists were wōt to do that is when they obteyned a Church vvhich before had bene vsed by Catholikes they vvoulde scrape the walles therof and breake the Communion tables cups But it may appeare that the learned father August vvas not of that opinion For in his epistle vvritten to Publicola a question was mooued vnto him whether in destroying the idoles temples or their groues a Christian might vse any part of the wood or water or any other thing that did apperteine vnto them His answere was that men might not take those things to their priuate vse least they run into suspicion to haue destroyed such places for couetousnes but that the same things might be imploied in pios necessarios vsus But I recite not this to defend that law whereby mariage for a time is forbidden For I thinke it not a matter of such necessitie neither is it so greatly pressed as they pretend I thinke there is no lawe remaining that is so little executed as that is The other law of forbearing flesh on Fridayes in Lent and other dayes for the state of our countrey I thinke very conuenient and most necessarie to be vsed in Christian policie I woulde to God those men that make so small accompt of this lawe had heard the reasons of the grauest wisest and most expert men of this realme not only for the maintenance of this Lawe but also for some addition to be made vnto it How God hath placed this land there is no reasonable man but seeth The Sea are our walles and if on these walles we haue not some reasonable furniture of ships we shal tempt God in leauing open our countrey to the enemy and not vsing those instrumēts which God hath appointed There is no state of men that doeth so much furnish this realme with sufficient numbers of mariners for our nauie as fishers doe And how shall fishers be maintained if they haue not sufficient vtterance for those things for which they trauell And howe can they haue vtterance if euery daintie mouthed man without infirmitie sickenesse shall eate flesh at his pleasure They cannot pretend religion or restraint of Christian libertie seeing open protestation is made by the lawe that it is not for conscience sake but for the defence and safetie of the realme Therefore this crying out against this lawe is not onely needelesse but also vndiscreete and factious Obiection But there bee other matters that more nighlie touch the quicke and if they be true can receiue no face of defence They make lewde and vnlearned Ministers for gaine they maintaine pouling and pilling courtes they abuse the Churches discipline c. Answere As touching the first if they make lewde Ministers it is one great fault if they doe it wittingly it is farre a more heinous offence if they do it for gaine it is of all other most wicked and horrible and indeede shoulde directly proue deuilish simonie to be in them That some lewde and vnlearned ministers haue bene made it is manifest I will not seeme to defend it I woulde they had had more care herein that the offence of the godly might haue bene lesse And yet I knowe all their faults in this are not alike and some haue smally offended herein And in them all I see a certaine care and determination so much as in them lyeth to amend the inconuenience that hath risen by it Which thing with professours of the Gospell shoulde cause their fault to bee the more charitably borne least they seeme not so much to haue misliking of the offence as of the persons themselues for some other purpose then they will bee openly knowen of But if they shoulde doe as they be I trust vniustly reported of that is to make lewde and vnlearned Ministers for lucre and gaine truly no punishment coulde be too grieuous for them Which way that should be gainefull to Bishops I see not The Clarke or Register I knowe hath his fee allowed for the writing of letters of Orders but that euer Bishop did take any thing in that respect I neuer heard neither thinke I that their greatest enemies be able to proue it vpon many of them Therefore this may goe with the residue of vncharitable slanders Or if there hath bene any one such euil disposed person that hath so vtterly forgot his duetie and calling that eyther this way or any such like in making of Ministers hath sought his owne gaine and commoditie it is hard dealing with the reproch thereof to defame the innocent together with the guiltie and to distaine the honestie of them that neuer deserued it There is no Magistrate in this land so sincere and vpright in his doings but that by this meanes his honesty and good name may be defaced Obiection It will bee sayde that all this is but a glose or colour to hide and turne from you those great crimes that you are iustly charged withall For the worlde seeth and all men crie out against you that you to the great hurt and hinderance of the Church vpholde and maintaine an vnlearned ministerie and wil not suffer any redresse or reformation to be made therein Hereby commeth it to passe that the people of God bee not taught their duetie eyther to God or to their Prince but by their ignoraunce are layde foorth as a pray to Sathan For by that occasion they bee ledde away to euill with euery light perswasion that is put into their heads either against God or their prince so that it may bee iustly thought that all those mischiefes that of late haue fallen foorth haue sprung out of this onely roote aswell in them that haue slidde backe and reuolted from religion as in those that haue conceiued attempted the wicked murthering of our gratious Prince and bringing in of a stranger to sit in her royall seate You are therefore the principall causes of all these mischiefes Answere This is surely a grieuous accusation but God I trust will iudge more vprightly and regard the innocencie of our hearts in these horrible crimes laid to our charge These accusers to satisfie their misliking affection towarde our state not onely suffer themselues to bee deceiued with false and captious reasons but dangerously also seeke to seduce other Logicians among other deceitfull arguments note one principally A non causa vt causa that is when men either to praise or dispraise doe attribute the effects of either part to some things or persons as causes therof which indeed are not the true causes Which false reasoning hath done great harme at all times both in the Church of God and in common weales After the
trueth was in his mouth and there was no iniquitie founde in his lippes he walked with me in peace and in equitie and hee turned many from their iniquitie but yee haue gone out of the way yee haue caused many to fall by the Lawe ye haue corrupted the couenant of Leui saith the Lord of hosts therefore haue I made you despised and vile before the people These wordes of the prophet doe so touch our Bishops and clergie men if they be so euill as they are made as all sentences wherein the Prophets blame the Priests of their time doe touch euill ministers of the Church but howe they eyther specially nippe our bishoppes as it is thought or any thing pertaine to the proofe of the principall matter or reproouing of Preachers liuings by Landes I see not In deede this sentence of Malachy might bee rightly vsed against the pope his prelates which neglecting the whole dutie of Gods ministers both in preaching and liuing stayed themselues vpon the authoritie of Saint Peter and of succession as though the Spirite of God had beene bounde to their succession though they taught and liued neuer so corruptly For so indeede did these priestes whome Malachie reprooueth they neglected the true worshippe of God and yet woulde they bee accompted his good and true priestes because they were of the tribe of Leui with whom God had made his couenant that hee and his seede shoulde haue the office of the high priesthood for euer But Malachie sayth they haue broken the couenaunt on their part That our bishoppes and ministers doe not challenge to holde by succession it is most euident their whole doctrine and preaching is contrarie they vnderstād and teach that neither they nor any other can haue Gods fauour so annexed and tyed to them but that if they leaue their dueties by Gods worde prescribed they must in his sight leese the preheminence of his ministers and bee subiect to his wrath and punishment They knowe and declare to all men that the couenaunt on the behalfe of Leui that is on the behalfe of the ministers of God to be perfourmed consisteth in these three branches by preaching to teach the right way of saluation and to sette foorth the true worship of God to keepe peace and quietnesse in the Church of God and thirdly by honest life to bee example vnto others These branches of the couenant if our bishops and preachers haue corrupted and broken they haue to answere for it before God and their punishment will be exceeding grieuous As for their doctrine I am right sure and in the feare of GOD I speake it will hazard my life to trye it that all their enemies shall neuer bee able so to prooue it but that it shall bee founde sincere and true so that I doubt not but God him selfe will beare witnesse with them as hee did with Leui that Trueth is in their mouth and as touching their doctrine no iniquitie founde in their lippes For they doe both teach the trueth according to the Scriptures sincerely and confounde the errours of the Antichristian Church learnedly and truely They therfore that speake so much against them may seeme lesse to regarde this part of their obseruing the couenant of Leui then the duetie of Christians requireth But I trust our mercifull God will fauourably consider it and beare with some other their imperfections in them I pray God wee bee not lighted into that time that men haue itching eares and can like no preachers but such as clawe their affections and feede their fantasies in vanities and newe deuises The couenaunt of peace they keepe also liuing in vnitie and peace among them-selues and studying so much as they can by teaching and by good order to keepe it among other And that is no small cause of their misliking at this time because they being in some place of gouernment according to their dueties striue to represse those which by vntemperate zeale seeke to disturbe the Church and to giue cause of faction and disorder by altering things externall in a setled and refourmed state As touching their liues and conuersations according to the Lawe of God as before I haue said if I must iudge according to that I knowe I must thinke the best because I know no ill Though there bee imperfections in some things if men woulde charitablie consider in what time wee liue and whose Messengers they are and somewhat withall descend into their owne bosomes and lay their owne dueties before their eyes I thinke surely they woulde iudge of them more christianly then many doe Obiection But they will say that according to the wordes of Malachie God sheweth his iudgement against thē for their wickednesse because hee hath made them so contemptible so vile and despised before all the people for say they wee may see how all men loath and disdaine them Answere It must needes be true I confesse that Malachie spake of the Priests of his time but I doe not take it to be alwayes an vnfallible token of euil Priests and Ministers or a certaine signe of Gods displeasure towarde them when the people do hate disdaine and contemne them I see more commonly in the Scriptures that it is a token of vnthankefull stubborne and hard-hearted people which smally regarde the worde of God and therefore also mislike his ministers Elias Micheas Amos and other Prophets were smally esteemed you knowe among the Israelites Esay Ieremie Ezechiel were euen of as small credite and estimation among the lewes It may appeare so to bee seeing Esay signified that they lilled out their tongues in mocking of him and other of his time And I am sure you knowe the fauour and entertainement that the Apostles had also among the same people I trust then you will not say it was a token of naughtie and corrupt Ministers or of Gods iust iudgement against them for they were the right and true Prophetes Apostles and Messengers of God and yet were in great hatred and misliking of them that thought themselues to be the people of God It may be surely and in deede I thinke it to be very true that God hath touched our bishops Preachers with this scourge of ignominie and reproch for their slackenesse and negligence in their office And I pray God they may take this mercifull warning and shunne his greater plagues But I must say withall as Christ sayeth of the Galileans whose blood Pilate mixed with their sacrifice and of them vpon whome the Tower of Siloe fell Doe you thinke that they onely are sinners nay I say vnto you if you do not repent you shall all taste of the same sharpe iustice If God punish his Ministers he will not suffer the other vntouched Now the time is come that the iudgemēt beginneth at the house of God and if God punish those that he sent with his worde what will hee doe to them that vnthankfully receiue his worde THAT this matter of Ecclesiasticall mens liuings
by vvay of persvvasion for that partie commended to him by his neighbors to be a very honest and poore man hauing maried also the vvidovve of a Printer and hee did very well like and allovve of his placing by such as haue interest therein Neither did hee euer heare but by this Libeller vvho hath no conscience in lying that hee uer printed any such bookes This I knowe of a certaintie that Thomas Orwin himselfe hath vpon his booke oath denied that he euer printed either Iesus Psalter or Our Lady Psalter or that hee euer was any worker about them or about any the like bookes But the poysoned serpent careth not whome hee stingeth Whether Waldgraue haue printed any thing against the state or no let the bookes by him printed be iudges I doe not thinke that eyther hee or any Martinist euer heard any Papist say that there was no great iarre betweene the Papistes and the Archbishop in matters of Religion It is but the Libellers Calumniation If they did what is that to him I thinke Martin him selfe doubteth not of the Archbishops soundnesse in such matters of Religion as are in controuersie betwixt the Papists and vs. If hee doe the matter is not great The Vniuersitie of Cambridge where hee liued aboue thirtie yeeres and publiquely read the Diuinitie Lecture aboue seuen yeeres and other places where he hath since remained will testifie for him therein and condemne the Libeller for a meere Sycophant and me also of follie for answering so godlesse and lewde a person It is no disparagement to receiue testimonie of a mans aduersarie and therefore if Master Reinolds haue giuen that commendation to his booke in comparison of others it is no impeachment to the trueth thereof I haue not seene Reinolds his booke the Libell is so full of lies that an honestman cannot beleeue any thing conteined in it My Lorde of Canterburie woulde be sorie from the bottome of his heart if his perswasion and the grounds thereof were not Catholike he detesteth and abhorreth schismaticall grounds and perswasions and thereunto hee professeth himselfe an open enemie which hee woulde haue all Martinists to knowe That of the Spaniardes stealing him away c. is foolish and ridiculous I would the best Martinist in England durst say it to his face before witnesse Hee firmely beleeueth that Christ in soule descended into hell All the Martinists in Christendome are not able to proue the contrary they that indeuour it doe abuse the scriptures and fall into many absurdities Hee is likewise perswaded that there ought to be by the word of God a superioritie among the Ministers of the Church which is sufficiently prooued in his booke against T. C. and in D. Bridges booke likewise and hee is alwayes ready to iustifie it by the holy Scriptures and by the testimonie of all antiquitie Epiphanius and August account them heretikes that holde the contrary The Arguments to the contrary are vaine their answeres absurd the authorities they vse shamefully abused and the Scriptures wrested He hath shewed sufficient reason in his booke against T. C. why Ministers of the Gospell may be called Priests The ancient fathers so cal them The church of England imbraceth that name and that by the authoritie of the highest court in England And vvhy may not Presbyter be called Priest In these three points vvhereof the last is of the least moment he doth agree vvith the holy Scriptures vvith the vniuersall Church of God vvith all antiquitie and in some sort vvith the Church of Rome But he doth disagree from the Church of Rome that now is in the dregges which it hath added as that Christ should harrow hell that the Pope should be head of the vniuersall Church that hee or any other Priest shoulde haue authoritie ouer Kings and Princes to depose them to deliuer their subiects from the othe of their obedience c. These things haue neither the word of God nor the decrees of ancient Councels nor the aucthoritie of antiquitie to approoue them but directly the contrary As for the name of Priest as they take it hee doeth likewise condemne in our Ministers neyther doe themselues ascribe it to them And therefore the Libeller in these poyntes writeth like himselfe Touching Wigginton c. That which he speaketh of Wigginton is like the rest sauing for his saucie and malapert behauiour towarde the Archbishoppe wherein in trueth hee did beare with him too much Wigginton is a man well knowen vnto him and if hee knewe himselfe he woulde confesse that hee had great cause to thanke the Archbishoppe As hee was a foolish proude and vaine boy a laughing stocke for his follie to all the societie with whome hee liued so doeth hee retaine the same qualities being a man sauing that his follie pride and vanitie is much increased so that nowe hee is become ridiculous euen to his owne faction The honestest the most and the best of his parish did exhibite to the high Commissioners articles of very great moment against him the like whereof haue seldome bene seene in that Court The most and woorst of them are prooued by diuers sufficient witnesses and some of them confessed by himselfe as it appeareth in record For which enormities and for that he refused to make condigne satisfaction for the same and to conforme himselfe to the orders of the Church by lawe established he was by due order of lawe deposed from his Ministerie and depriued of his benefice and so remayneth being vnfit and vnworthie of either The tale of Atkinson is a lowde notorious and knowen lie For neither did he euer say so to the Archbishop neither woulde hee haue taken it at his handes neither was that any cause of Wiggintons depriuation but vanitie and hypocrisie causeth this man to haue so small conscience in lying according to that saying Omnis hypocrisis mendacio plena est That heathenish vntrueth vttered diuers times in this booke that the Archbishop shoulde accompt preaching of the word of God to be heresie and mortally abhorre and persecute it is rather to bee pitied then answered If man punish not such sycophants God wil do it to whose iust iudgement the reuenge of this iniurie is referred He doth bridle factious vnlearned Preachers such as the more part of that sect are vvho notwithstanding crye out for a learned Ministerie themselues being vnlearned and so vvould be accounted of all men if it were not propter studium partium I say vvith S. Hierome Nunc loquentibus pronunciantibus plenus est orbis loquuntur quae nesciunt docent quae non didicerunt magistri sunt cùm discipuli antè non fuerint The vvorld is full of them that can speake and talke but they speake the thinges they knovve not they teache the things they haue not learned they take vpon them to teach before they vvere schollers to learne Indeede our Church is too full of such talkers rather then sober teachers vvhome hee professeth himselfe greatly
ascension of Christ whē God sent his Apostles and other holy men to preach the Gospell of our saluation in Christ and the same was among men vnthankfully receiued God did cast sundry plagues punishments vpon them as dearth and scarcitie famine hunger the pestilence and sundry other diseases warre tumult earthquakes and great deluges in sundry places The causes of al this very slāderously blasphemously they imputed to Christian Religion and therby raised those dreadfull persecutiōs which at that time were exercised against the Christians This errour was the cause that Saint Augustine wrote his notable worke De ciuitate Dei and that Orosius by the counsell both of Saint Hierome and Saint Augustine vvrote his historie vvherein he ansvvereth this false argument and shevveth that God in all times had sent the like plagues for the sinnes and offences of mankinde and for the reiecting of his vvorde and trueth In the fourtie foure Chapter of Ieremie The Ievves deceiue themselues with the like argument to confirme their conceiued superstition and idolatrie But we will do say they whatsoeuer thing commeth out of our owne mouth as to burne incense to the Queene of Heauen to powre out drinke offerings vnto her as we haue done both we and our Fathers our Kings our Princes in the Cities of Iudah and in the streetes of Hierusalem for then had we plentie of victuals were well and felt no euill But since wee left off to burne incense to the Queene of Heauen and to powre out drinke offerings vnto her we haue had scarcenesse of all things haue bene consumed by the sword and by the famine In these vvordes you see to the hardening of their owne hearts they attribute the good giftes of God to their idolatrie and their dearth and trouble to the preaching of Ieremie and other Prophets vvhich indeede were not the true causes thereof In like maner reason rebellious subiects in common vveales when they seeke to make odious the Princes gouernors vnder whom they liue vniustly imputing to them the causes of such things wherwith they finde thēselues grieued So reasoned the rebels in the time of King Richard the second against the King against the Counsell and chiefe Nobilitie of the Realme against the Lavvyers and all other States of learning therefore had resolution among them to haue destroyed and ouerthrovven them all and to haue suffered none other to liue in this Realme with them but the Gray Friers onely Seeing therefore this manner of reasoning is so perillous it behooueth all them that feare God and loue the trueth and will not vvillingly be caried into errour to take diligent heed that they be not abused herewith And so I pray God they may doe vvhich at this time so earnestly seeke to make odious the state of the Clergie of England imputing to them the causes of those things vvhich they most detest and abhorre For if they vvill see the trueth and iudge but indifferently they shall finde that there is no such vnlearned Ministerie as they complaine of neyther such vvant of preaching as may iustly prouoke the wrath of God to send such plagues punishments vpon vs as they recite This I dare iustifie that since Englande had first the name of a Christian Church there was neuer so much preaching of the vvorde of God neuer so many in number neuer so sufficient and able persons to teach and set forth the same as be at this day hovvsoeuer they be defamed and defaced There bee I confesse many vnlearned and vnsufficient Ministers but yet I take it to bee captious and odious in respect of them to name the whole Ministerie vnlearned or ignorant For the simplicitie and charitie of Christian iudgement doth giue the name of any Societie according to the better part and not according to the vvorse There were in the Church of Corinth many euill persons aswel in corruption of doctrine as wickednesse of life and yet Saint Paul noteth that Church to bee a reuerend and holy congregation The Church of Christ militant heere in earth hath alwayes a great number of euill mixed vvith them that be good oftentimes the worse part the greater yet were it reprochfull and slaunderous to call the Church vvicked In like sort may it vvell bee thought vncharitable to call the ministerie of the Church of England ignorant when that thenkes be to God there bee so many learued and sufficient preachers in this lande as neuer vvere before in any age or time and the same adorned with Gods excellent good giftes and comparable to any other Church refourmed in Europe If men would cast so curious and captious eyes vpon the Ministers of other countreyes and note the blemishes and imperfections in them as they doe in our owne I am perswaded vnder correction they would not thinke so meanely of the state of the Ministerie of England as they doe But this is the generall disease of vs Englishmen to haue in admiration the persons and states of other foreine countreyes and loath their owne bee they neuer so commendable or good I speake not this to note with reproch any refourmed Church in forreine countries or to diminish the commendations of those excellent giftes which it hath pleased God plentifully to powre downe vpon them as the first renuers and restorers of the Gospel in this latter age to whome in that respect we ovve great loue and reuerence But yet they see and acknowledge that they haue imperfections and cannot haue churches in this world without blemishes Notwithstanding it is not free among them no not for the best learned or of greatest authority in publike speech or vvriting to vtter those things vvhich may tend to the generall reproche of their Church or common weale as it is commonly vsed vvith vs at this day Or if they doe they are sharpely dealt vvithall for the same For as vvise gouernours they see that such doings is the very seede of dissention discorde and faction the very pestilence of all Churches common vveales and societies Wherefore in most Churches they doe tollerate some imperfections setled by order at the beginning least by change of lavves there shoulde bee greater inconuenience Obiection Yea but all their Ministers are learned and able to teach Answere Of that I doubt in some places by good testimony I know it not to be true That is easie to be had in a free Citie that hath no more congregations but those that be within the Citie or within a fevve villages about vvhich is not possible in so great a kingdome as this is replenished with so many Villages almost in euery place as scantly you haue two miles vvithout a Towne or Village inhabited And yet that men doe not conceiue euill opinion of the Bishops for that which cannot bee remedied it behooueth the vvise and godly to consider that the state of this Church is such as of necessitie there must bee some of very meane abilitie in
a bill of diuorcement and put it in her hand and send her out of his house Of this mercifull bearing of God with the breach of his commandement Christ shevveth the reason Math. 19. saying in this wise For the hardnesse of your hearts God suffered you to put away your wiues but from the beginning it was not so Heere we learne that our gracious and mercifull God for the shunning and auoyding of a greater mischiefe among stubborne people suffered his seruant Moses to giue foorth a more fauourable interpretation of his iust and perfect Lavve and to suffer diuorcements in such cases as the right and rigor of his iustice in itselfe had forbidden This haue I written not of purpose to incourage men to breake and alter the Lawes and ordinances of God but rather to comfort those consciences whith in this case may bee troubled and to put away that opinion wherewith some are led to thinke that that Congregation is not vvorthie the name of a Christian Church nor meete vvherein a good Christian man shoulde abide as Minister where all things are not reformed to the perfect rule of Gods holy worde Surely the auncient Fathers of the primitiue Church doe not seeme to be of that iudgement For they did all find fault with many enormities in their time as vvell in outvvarde ceremonies as corruption of life yea in some point of doctrine also and yet it is not read that they did therefore separate themselues from the Churches or thinke that they could not as faithfull Ministers serue in them Saint Augustine sheweth of himselfe of Saint Cyprian very notably as in many places so chiefly against the Donatists who were infected with that errour but most plainely of all other places De Baptismo contra Donatistas Lib. 4. Cap. 9. Where at large he disputeth this question which place is vvorthie diligent reading and consideration Cyprian had blamed the Bishops and Ministers in his time of Couetousnesse Extortion and Vsurie And yet saith Saint Augustine Cyprian writeth vnto Antonianus that before the last separation of the wicked and the Godly no man ought to separate himselfe from the vnitie of the Church because of the mixture of euill persons What a swelling pride is it sayeth hee what a forgetting of humilitie and mildenesse what a vaunting arrogancie that hee can thinke himselfe able to doe that which Christ woulde not permit to his Apostles that is to separate the weedes from the Corne c. Yea and S. Paul himselfe as before I haue saide iudgeth the Church of Corinth an honorable blessed Church of God though there vvere in the same not onely some blemishes and imperfections but many great enormious faultes Wherefore to returne againe to my purpose though our Bishops through the necessitie of time neither at the beginning had nor novv can haue perfect good Ministers in euery parish within their charge I see no cause vvhy they may not vse such as vvith their best diligence they may haue especially if they order the matter so as the fault bee not in their ovvne negligence or corruption That you may the better conceiue that an vnlearned Ministery for want of preaching of the Gospel is not the cause of the backesliding and reuolting of so many in these dayes nor of sundry other inconueniences imputed to the same you shall easily vnderstand if you will call to your remembrance that when there were fewer Preachers and lesse teaching by great oddes then oflate yeres hath bene the people did not reuolt as now they doe There is therefore some other cause if we will with vpright mindes looke into it There were fevver Preachers and lesse teaching in the dayes of that King of blessed memorie Edward the sixt and yet did not the people then reuolt as novv although the reformation of the Church was then but greenely setled They had the same imperfection and want of Ministers which wee haue novv and that in greater measure in so much as they were faine to helpe out the want with reading of Homilies as you knowe Which deuise although it be greatly misliked and inueighed against in these dayes as intollerable yet did that reuerend and learned father M. Bucer highly commend the same and shewed his good liking thereof willing moe Homilies to bee prepared for that purpose And vvhat were they that were then Preachers and in the state of gouernment of the Church Surely such persons as did diligently obserue those orders in outwarde thinges vvhich the Bishops now for feare of further inconuenience desire and studie to maintaine In the first ten yeeres of her Maiesties most gracious reigne there was little or no backsliding from the Gospell in comparison of that now is yet was there not then so much preaching by the halfe nor so many Preachers in the Church of England by 1000. as now there are And since that time I speake of good experience and better knowledge then gladly I would that in diuers places where there hath beene often preaching and that by learned graue men there haue bene many that haue reuolted and litle good effect declared among the residue You will aske me then what I thinke to be the true cause thereof Surely the causes are many but I will note vnto you onely two or three that bee of greatest weight First to haue the fruites of the Gospell setled in the consciences of men and declared in their liues It is not sufficient to haue often and much preaching but also to haue diligent and reuerent hearing Though the Preachers be neuer so learned and discreet if it bee not heard as the worde of God it is to no purpose But in these dayes as in all other men be easily induced to disburthen themselues and lay the whole fault vpon the Ministers and Preachers Obiection Oh say they if wee had good and zealous Bishoppes and godly Preachers such as the Apostles were vndoubtedly this doctrine of the Gospell woulde haue had better successe and would more haue preuailed in mens hearts For they are not zealous nor seeme to bee mooued with the spirite of God therefore it cannot be that they should moue other Answere Though this reason seeme somewhat plausible to some kind of men and to be of great force to excuse the common people yet I aduertise all them that haue any sparke of the feare of GOD in their hearts that they take heede of it beware that to their own great dāger they be not caried away with it For it hath bene seldome or neuer heard or read that the people of God among whom true doctrine hath bin preached as the Lorde be thanked it hath bene with vs did euer vse such allegations for their ovvne excuse and defence It hath beene alwayes the pretence of the reprobate and wicked to colour their owne obstinacie and contempt of Gods word vvhen they vvere offered the light of the Gospell and called to repentaunce But that these kinde of
doubt of their consciences which neuer doubted before Many strange Assertions either plainly false or as Paradoxes true in some rare and extraordinarie sense haue beene by sundry persons and some of them well learned vttered and taught to the troubling of many mens mindes and specially such as were not able to reach to the depth of them As for example that it is a grieuous offence to kneele at the receiuing of the Communion A gentleman of good countenaunce hath affirmed to my selfe that hee woulde rather hazard all the land hee had then bee drawen to kneele at the Communion An heauie burthen to lay vpon a mans conscience for an externall gesture The doctrine of the Lords Supper hath bene so slenderly taught by some that a number haue cōceiued with themselues that they receiue nothing but the externall elements in remembrance that Christ died for them And these their cogitatiōs haue they vttered to other to their great misliking Priuat baptism yea publike also if it be ministred by one that is no preacher hath bin so impugned as if it were no sacrament at all whereby questiōs haue bin raised by sundry persons what is become of them that were neuer baptized otherwise Or whether it were not necessary that all such persons as are certainly knovven not to haue receiued any other baptisme thē that was priuatly done ought not to bee baptised againe because the other is esteemed as no Sacrament The article of the common Creed touching Christes descension into hell contrary to the sense of all ancient writers hath bin strangely interpreted and by some with vnreuerent speeches flatly reiected These and a number of such other haue vndoubtedly bred great offence and wounded the hearts of an infinite number causing them partly to reuolt to Papistry partly to Atheisme and neglecting of all Religion as is seene by the liues of many to the exceeding griefe of all them that feare God and loue his trueth As I haue talked with many Recusants so did I neuer confer with any that would vse any speech but that he hath alleadged some of these offences to bee cause of his reuolting And some haue affirmed flatly vnto me that in seeking to presse thē to come to our Church and seruice we do against our owne consciences seeing our most zealous preachers as they be taken openly speake and vvrite that as well our seruice as the administration of the sacraments are contrary to the word of God I beseech Almightie God of his great mercie that he vvill open the eyes of them vvhich thus eagerly haue striuen against the present state of this Church to see vvhat hurt and hinderance hath come to the profession of the Gospell by these vncharitable and needelesse contentions And vndoubtedly if God moue not the heartes of the chiefe Rulers and Gouernours to seeke some ende of this Schisme and faction vvhich nowe renteth in pieces this Church of England it cannot bee but in short time for one Recusant that now is wee shall haue three if the increase of that number which I mention be not greater For I doe heare and see those things that it grieueth my heart to consider What hurt and trouble Satan hath at all times raised in the Church of God by occasion of dissention and discorde mooued not only by heretikes false teachers but also by them vvhich othervvise haue bene good and godly Christians the Ecclesiasticall Histories doe euidently declare What should I recite the Schisme between the East and West Churches for the obseruation of the feast of Easter vvhich continued a great number of yeeres and grevv to such bitternesse that the one excommunicated the other What shal I say of the Schismes and grieuous contentions in the East Church and especially at Antiochia and Alexandria betweene Paulinus and Flauianus Lucifer and Eusebius the Meletians and Eustathians all at the beginning good Christians and imbracing true doctrine And yet did they vvith great troubles eschevve one the others communion as you may reade in Epiphanius lib. 2. Theodor. lib. 1. cap 8. c. Socrat. lib. 1. cap. 23. Sozom lib. 2. cap. 18. for the space of 80. yeres and aboue I omit the great strife betweene Chrysost of the one part and Theophilus Cyrill and Epiphanius on the other for the burning of Origens bookes They vvere all good and learned bishops and vve doe worthily reuerence their memory yet fel this matter so foule among them that because Chrysost vvould not consent to the burning of Origens bookes Theophilus and Cyrill vvould scantly euer acknovvledge him to be a lavvfull Bishop I mention not a great number of other like factiōs vvhich grew in the same age to the trouble and hinderance of true Christianitie as many godly and learned men did then complaine And sundry graue authours vvhich haue written in this our time and before iudge that these wayward contentions in the East Church vvere the chiefe causes that brought vpon them afterward the heauie wrath of God that tooke his Gospel from them and cast them into the tyrannie of Saracens Turkes as we haue seene novv these many yeeres A notable example to vs good Christian Readers to take heede in time and earnestly to pray vnto God that he will so blesse vs with his holy Spirite that wee may be all like minded hauing the selfe same loue being of one minde and of one iudgement that nothing bee done among vs through strife and vaine glory but that in humblenesse of minde euery one will thinke of other better then of himselfe that vve may growe together in one heart and minde against the common aduersarie to the glory of God and the promoting of his Gospel the safetie of our gracious Prince naturall countrey Of such discord in the church S. Basile grieuously cōplaineth When I was growen saith he into mans age often going into strange Countries fel into troubles I obserued and found that in other Artes there was great concord agreement betweene them that were the chiefe of those Artes and Sciences Onely in the Church of God for which Christ died and vpon which he had plentifully powred downe his holy spirit I saw great vehement discord aswell among themselues particularly as in things contrarie to the holie Scriptures And that which is most horrible I sawe them that are the chiefe of the Church so drawen asunder in diuersitie and contrarietie of opinions that without all pitie they did most cruelly teare in pieces the flocke of Christ so that if euer nowe it is verified that the Apostle speaketh From among your selues shall rise men speaking peruerse things that they may drawe Disciples to followe them The third cause and the principall of all other is that the ramping roaring Lion that goeth about seeking whome he may deuoure and watching all occasions to doe mischiefe in the Church of God hath taken the opportunitie of this Schisme diuision among our selues And therefore euer since that began he
true or false laide abroad before mens eies Why is the perfect rule of their office calling according to the patterne of the Apostles time required at their hands onely Is God the God of ecclesiastical ministers alone Is he not the God of his people also doth he require his word to be exactly obserued of bishops and ministers alone doth he hate vice and wickednes in them alone Or doth he lay downe the rule of perfect iustice to them onely and not comprehend in the same all other states of his people as well as them Yes truely I thinke no Christian is otherwise perswaded Obiection Perhaps they will say that all other States do wel and liue according to their calling The worde of God is sincerely euery vvhere imbraced Iustice is vprightly in all places ministred the poore are helped and relieued vice is sharpely of all other men corrected there is no corruption no couetousnesse no extortion no Simonie no vsurie but in the Bishops and in the Cleargie There are no Monopolies in this Realme practised to the gaine of a fewe and the vndoing of great multitudes that were wont to liue by those trades All courtes be without fault and voyde of corruption sauing the Ecclesiasticall courtes onely All officers are vpright and true dealers sauing theirs None other doe so carefully and couetously prouide for their wines and children They onely giue the example of all euill life Answere I would to God it were so I would to God there were no such euils as are recited but in them Yea I woulde to God there were no woorse then in them on condition that neuer a Bishop in Englande had one groate to liue vpon The want surely of the one would easily be recompensed with the goodnesse of the other What then is the cause that Bishops and Preachers haue in these dayes so great fault founde with them Forsooth it followeth in the next branch of a certaine Accusation penned against them Obiection They haue Temporall landes they haue great liuinges They are in the state of Lordes c. The Prince ought therefore to take away the same from thē set them to mean pensions that in pouertie they may bee ansvverable to the Apostles other holy Preachers in the Primitiue Church vvhereby the Queene maye bring 40000. markes yeerely to her Crovvne beside the pleasuring of a great many of other her faithfull subiects and seruants Answere This is the end why bishops and other chiefe of the Clergie are so defaced why their doings are so depraued why such cōmon obloquie is in all mens mouthes vpon them raysed that is to say that the mindes of the Prince Gouernours may thereby be induced to take away the lands and liuings from them and to part the same among themselues to the benefite as some thinke and to the commoditie of their countrey and common weale But it behooueth all Christian Princes and Magistrates to take heede that they bee not intrapped with this sophistrie of Satans schoole This is that Rhetorike that he vseth when he wil worke any mischief in the Church of God or stirre vp any trouble or alteration of a state in a common weale First by defaming and slandering hee bringeth the parties in hatred and misliking and when the peoples heads be filled therewith then stirreth he vp busie and vnquiet persons to reason thus They be wicked and euill men they are couetous persons they oppresse the poore they pill other to inrich themselues they passe not what they doe so they may grow to honour and wealth and beare al the sway in the countrey Therfore bring them to an accompt let them answere their faults pul them downe alter their state condition let vs no more be ruled vnder such tyrants and oppressours we are Gods people as well as they Did not he deale thus in Corah Dathan Abiram did he not by them charge the milde and gentle gouernour Moses and his brother Aaron the chosen Priest of God that they tooke too much vpon them that they lifted themselues vp aboue the congregation of the Lord behaued themselues too Lordly ouer his people that they brought the Israelites out of a lande flowing with milke and honie of purpose to worke vnto them-selues a dominion ouer the people and to make them to perish in the wildernesse By this meanes they so incensed the hearts not onely of the common people but of the Noblemen also that they led a great number with them to rebell against Moses and Aaron and to set themselues in their roomes and offices In like maner and by like policie hath hee wrought in all common weales in all ages and times as the histories doe sufficiently declare In this Realme of England when the lewde and rebellious subiects rose against K. Richard 2. and determined to pull downe the state to dispatch out of the way the counsellers and other Noble worshipfull men together with Iudges Lawyers and al other of any wise or learned calling in the Realme was not the way made before and their states brought in hatred of the people as cruell as couetous as oppressours of the people and as enemies of the common weale yea a countenance made vnto the cause a ground sought out of the Scriptures and word of God to helpe the matter At the beginning say they when God had first made the worlde all men were alike there was no principalitie there was nor bondage or villenage that grewe afterwardes by violence and crueltie Therefore why should we liue in this miserable slauerie vnder these proud Lords and crafty Lawyers c. Wherefore it behooueth all faithfull Christians wise Gouernours to beware of this false and craftie policie If this Argument passe nowe and bee allowed as good at this time against the Ecclesiasticall state it may be you shall hereafter by other instruments then yet are stirring heare the same reason applied to other States also which yet seeme not to be touched and therefore can be content to winke at this dealing toward Bishops Preachers But when the next house is on fire a wise man will take heed least the sparkes therof fall into his owne He that is authour of all perillous alterations and seeketh to worke mischief by them will not attempt all at once but will practise by little and little and make euery former feate that hee worketh to bee a way and meane to draw on the residue For he seeth all men will not be ouercome with all temptations nor will not be made instruments of all euill purposes though happily by his colours and pretenses he bee able to deceiue them in some The practise hereof wee haue seene in this Church of England to the great trouble and daunger thereof At the beginning some learned and godly Preachers for priuate respectes in themselues made strange to weare the Surplesse Cap or Tippet but yet so that they declared themselues to thinke the thing
thus Princes Magistrates and noble men are euil they doe not fulfill that rule of right and perfect gouernment that the worde of God requireth therefore pull them downe set other in their places or alter their state cleane This is a seditious and perillous argument especially when common and inferior subiects not hauing authoritie shall take vpon them to bee iudges in such cases as nowe they doe against bishops With this manner of reasoning as I haue before noted the Deuill filleth the heads and hearts of his troublesome instrumentes when hee intendeth to worke mischiefe either in the Church of God or in the state of any common weale This maner of arguments they alwaies vse which for priuate respects pretend generall reformations or alterations in the state of a Church or countrey wherein they liue Let the Bishops and Cleargie of England haue such iudges and triall as the word of God requireth euer hath bin vsed in the Church of Christ yea or such as other states would thinke reasonable and indifferent for themselues in their calling and then on Gods name let them abide the hazard of the sentence eyther with them or against them and the daunger of such penaltie as in iustice and equitie may bee assigned Another daungerous Argument is this Bishops Preachers by Christ are commaunded not to be careful for the world not to hoord vp treasures in earth yea to renounce all they haue and follow Christ therfore they ought not to haue any lands or Lordships or great wealthie Liuings but to be contented with meate drinke cloth c. The hardnes of this reason will be the better vnderstanded if the like be applied to some other persons Noble men and gentlemen if they wil bee right and true Christians by Gods worde are commaunded not to be carefull for the worlde not to hoord vp riches heere on the earth yea to renounce all that they haue and followe Christ therefore they may not haue so great and ample liuings more then other but shall content themselues vvith such a moderate portion as may tollerably maynteine them in seeing the administration of iustice in their countreys and the refidue that nowe is spent in gaming and vnnecessarie pompe and vanitie of the worlde to be imployed to the maintenance of a great nomber of the Princes subiects and people of God that are not able in meane estate to liue For in such case were the noble men and Gentlemen of the Israelites called Principes familiarum the Princes and chiefe of each tribe and familie among the people of God A many of such factious and seditious arguments may in like maner be framed more meet for rebels then for good subiects or faithful christians which I doe in this place for good considerations omitte For if they shoulde bee so countenanced with particular allegations of the Scriptures and furnished with such learning and examples of histories as factious heads are able to deuise happily they would carrie as much credite and drawe as a great number of followers and mainteiners as nowe the like dealing doeth against the Clergie I will not therfore tarrie any longer in this point I haue set forth vnto you an example or two nakedly and barely to this ende onely if it might be possible to open the eyes of some which seeme in part to be blinded either with affection against bishops or with a desire to worke and bring to passe some speciall drift and purpose that they haue deuised for what cause it may be more easily by wise men coniectured then safely by me laid downe in writing For the further examining of this matter that it may be the better vnderstanded whether ecclesiastical men may with safe cōsciences enioy the state of their liuings by lands or no Let vs briefly consider the condition of the Church how Ministers haue bin mainteined from the beginning euen to this day And here I must protest that the Histories and writers especially such as bee of credite are so imperfect in this point as the trueth must bee gathered by coniecture of certaine braunches rather then by any discourse in their writing For the space of the first three hundred yeeres after Christ it is wel known to all such as haue looked into the Ecclesiasticall Histories that it was almost in continuall persecution vnder heathen tyrantes which with all indeuour sought meanes to oppresse Christian Religion and the true professours therof Wherefore in all that time it was not possible for the church to haue any setled state by Lands or certaine reuenevv to maintaine the Ministers thereof but they were sustained onely by the liberal contribution of godly persons collected at certaine times for that and other like Christian vses For Saint Cyprian signifieth that to certaine persons appointed to the office of readers he distributed the measure of gifts distributiōs as were assigned to the Priests The Canons attributed to the Apostles make mention of oblations and first fruites to be brought home to the house of the bishop beside such things as were offered in the Church Origen somwhat more straightly seemeth to require the tenthes and first fruites of such increase as Christians haue by the blessing of God his words be these It is comely and profitable that the first fruites shoulde be offered to the Priestes of the Gospel also for so the Lorde disposed that he that preacheth the Gospell should liue by the Gospel And as this is good and comely so contrariwise it is euill and vncomely that one that worshippeth God and cōmeth into the Church knowing that the Priests attend on the Altar and serue the worde of God and ministery of the Church shoulde not offer vnto the Priestes the firstlings of those fruites that God giueth by bringing foorth his sunne and seasonable showres vpon them For such a soule seemeth not to to me to haue any remembrance of God or to thinke that it is God that giueth those fruites It may appeare also that euen in this time the Church had certaine houses allotted to their Bishops For when Paulus Samosatenus after his deposition would not depart out of the house that belonged to the Church it was appoynted by the authoritie of the Emperour Aurelius that he should bee remoued from it and the house assigned vnto him to whom the bishops of Italie did agree in doctrine Origen also mentioneth certaine rentes and reuenues due to the Church Many of vs sayth hee haue neede of this warning that wee bee both faithfull and also wise ad dispensandos Ecclesiae redditus to bestowe the rents of the Church And one Petrus de Natalibus writeth that in the time of Vrbane bishop of Rome about 226. yeres after Christ the Church first began to possesse landes tovvard the finding of the Ministers Certaine it is that many godly disposed persons notvvithstāding they vvere letted by the crueltie of tyrantes euen in that time gaue large and
ample giftes vnto the Church not onely in money and plate but as it is to be gathered in reuenue also For Optatus Mileuitanus vvriteth that Mensurius bishop of Carthage before Cecilianus vvhen hee vvas sent for to the Emperor fearing that he should returne no more againe left in the custody of certain persons Ornamenta plurima aurea argentea many ornaments of gold siluer The restoring of which ornaments iewels afterward was one great occasion of the schisme of the Donatists as the same Optatus sheweth Wherefore it may appeare the Church was not in those dayes so poore needie as some men would haue vs thinke it was though it were then vnder heathenish cruel tyrants with al extremitie forbidding that any persons should giue either goods or lands to the releefe of it Sabellicus writeth that in the time of Maxentius the Emperour one Lucina a noble and rich gentlewoman of Rome appointed the Church of Rome to be heire vnto all her substance possessions Which whē that cruell tyrant vnderstoode he for the time banished her out of the citie But when Constantine that good first Christian Emperour vndertooke the defence maintenance of Christian religiō he not only liberally bestowed vpon the Church himselfe but by law made it free to all that would giue any thing vnto the Church were it in lands or otherwise Which law Valentinianus Theodosius other afterward confirmed nor euer was it abridged but by Iulian the Apostata A copy of one decree of Constantine is in Eusebius Those things that belong to the right of other we will not only not to haue retained but plainly to be restored Wherfore our wil plesure is that so soone as thou shalt receiue these our letters if there be any goodes belonging to the Catholike Church of Christians either in cities or other places takē in possession by the citizens or by any other that the same presently be restored in like right as before they had it See therfore that all things either houses or gardens or whatsoeuer be with speed restored to the Church againe By this meanes not only the Emperours themselues gaue both lands many other rich gifts but also sundry other rich godly persons Constantine gaue lands in the country about Sabine and an house a garden at Rome The same Constan out of the tribute of euery city gaue a portion to the churches for the maintenāce of their Ministers established thē to cōtinue as a Law for euer Eusebius writeth that beside many other benefites as contribution of corne building of Churches c. he granted to all Ecclesiastical persons free immunitie of all seruices and taxes sauing only for their lands For the lands of the Church were subiect to tribute as other were by an ordinance made by the sonnes of the forenamed Constantine This may appeare also by Ambrose writing of the second Valentinian If he require tribute we denie it not the lands of the Church do pay tribute The church then had lands and that a good while before Ambrose his time which was about the yeere of our Lord three hundred sixtie and eight Yea Ambrose himselfe liued by his owne lands being Bishop Therefore it may appeare hee did not thinke it to be against the worde of God for a Bishoppe or Minister of the Church to liue vpon the reuenewe of landes After the time of Constantine the wealth of the Church increased as well in landes as other substance prouision not only by the gifts of Emperors Kings and Queenes but partly also as I haue said by the deuotion of other godly persons who oftentimes left to the vse of the Church either a great part or their whole substance and possessions partly by the gift of bishops themselues partly by other ecclesiastical persōs which because they were not married nor had issue or heires were by order bound to leaue vnto the church al their possessions both lands goods Sometime also by the punishment of offēdors For it is read that one Bassus a gētleman falsely accused Sixtus bishop of Rome whē Sixtus had cleared himselfe in a synode of Bishops Bassus for his slaunderous accusation was banished his landes giuen vnto the Church The same Sixtus gaue lands vnto the Church himselfe also Crescentius a noble man gaue vnto the Church of Rome all his substance and a manour in Sicilie called Argianum Eudotia the Empresse wife to Theodosius adorned the Bishops house at Constantinople gaue vnto it a yeerely reuenue By the counsell at Berythe it may appeare the Church of Edessa had rentes manours woods plate set with pretious stones c. This state of wealth y e church grewe vnto not much more then in the space of one hundred yeeres after it pleased God to giue peace vnto it frō outward Heathenish enemies and yet in the meane time had it other tempestes and bitter stormes of aduersitie that did more hinder deuotion and godlinesse then the bloody persecutions of the Emperours did as namely the troubles raised by the Ariā heretikes by the space of many yeres especially in Asia Greece and al the East parts of the world And shortly therupon followed the horrible inuasion of the Goths Vandals Herules other barbarous people which as swarmes came out of the North parts with maruellous cruelty ouerwhelmed all the west Countreyes of Europe to the great hindrance daunger vnquietnesse of the Church of God After these stormes and tempests were somewhat ouerblowen the riches of the Church did very much increase both in lāds otherwise by such means as before I haue rehearsed And this generally I obserue in al histories in al times that the wealth thereof vnder christiā princes was neuer diminished but rather increased nor euer did they murmure at it or thought it too much vntill the Pope chalenged his vsurped dominion did seek to bring the necks of Princes vnder his girdle to alter Empires Kingdomes Principalities at his will and pleasure saying that he had Ius vtriusque gladij the power of both swords Here I know some will say that by mine owne confession I am fallen to acknowledge that botch that first bredde Antichrist and set him vp into his throne aboue Kings and Princes that is to say the immoderate wealth of the Ecclesiasticall men which then did corrupt religion and so say they doth it now with vs. No no good Christians they that so say eyther are blinded with ignoraunce or looke into things with partiall eies seeke rather a secret furthering of priuat purposes thē the knowledge of the true causes of that wherof they speake For they that will indifferently consider the states of times with true iudgement weigh the circumstances of them may easily discerne that it was not the vvealth of the Clergy but other causes of greater vveight and importance that
not rather increased euery thing to an higher degree then euer it was before Shall we thinke then that this our vnsensible dulnesse and vnthankfulnesse can bee without imminent punishment Surely me thinketh the song of Esay the Prophet painteth out our state and condition with the euent that will follow of it The Lord hath chosen this lande as his beloued vineyard hee hath mounded it with his gratious fauour and diuine protection hee hath stoned it by casting out the rubble of the Synagogue of Antichrist the broken stones I meane of idolatrie superstition false doctrine and corrupt worship of God hee hath planted among vs the sweete grape of his most wholesome Gospel and the true vine Christ Iesu he hath set vp a watch Tower of Christian gournement and a wine presse of earnest preaching of repentance to presse and wring mens hearts if it were possible to yeelde foorth the sweete iuice of the fruits of the gospel to the glorie of God And he long hath looked for these his great benefites that wee should haue brought foorth sweete grapes and we haue yeelded nothing but sowre and stinking fruite discord and dissension among our selues couetousnesse oppression extortion drunkennesse banquetting voluptuous pleasure whoredome adulterie securitie in sinne contempt of God disdaine of his Minister despising of his worde selfe-liking in our owne â—oings confidence and trust in our owne wisedome and policie c. I pray God therefore in time wee may take heede of that heauie iudgement that followeth I meane that hee will take away the â—edge and breake downe the wall of his mightie protection whereby onely wee haue hitherto remayned safe and that hee vvill lay vs waste that the beastes of the fielde may ouertrample vs that hee vvill take from vs the teaching and preaching of his Gospell vvherevvith in vayne hee hath so long digged and delued in our barraine heartes that hee vvill forbidde the cloudes of his heauenly prouidence to rayne dovvne vpon vs his great and manifolde blessings vvhich beforetime hee hath giuen vs so that wee shalbe left as a desolate ground breeding nothing but bushes and brambles of ignorance errour idolatrie superstition heresie and vvicked life and bee made subiectes and slaues vnto our greatest enemies The Lorde turne away that which our vnthankfull hearts may iustly feare to be at hand c. By this that I haue written as I doubt not but the godly may perceiue it was not riches and vvealth of the Cleargie that first set vp Antichrist in the vsurped throne of his dominion ouer the Church but that there vvere other more true and right causes that bredde that mischiefe so likewise that conscience that feareth God and vvithout affection looketh into the state of this time among vs and rightly weigheth and considereth thinges may easily iudge that it is not the Lands and great liuings of bishops Ecclesiasticall persons but other matters more heynous more grieuous that wil hasteÌ„ the wrath displeasure of God against this realme which indeed it behoueth bishops principally and all other in their states and conditions to haue care of and in time while wee may by all godly meanes to preuent it The affection of them which at this day speak so much against the Landes and liuinges of Bishops and other Cleargy men is much like the dealing of those persons that murmured against Marie of Bethania which in the house of Simon the leper in testimonie of her thankfulnesse for the great mercies that shee had receiued of Christ powred vpon his head the precious oyntment of Spikenarde For euen in like manner our gracious Queene vvhen God had deliuered her out of the iawes of the greedie Lyons and cruell wolues that sought her blood and by his mighty hande had set her in the throne of this her Fathers kingdome to testifie her thankefull minde and to shewe her liberall and bountifull heart towarde the Church of GOD shee powred vpon it this plentifull gift towarde the maintenance of the Ministers and Preachers of his woorde that shee might declare to the worlde that in imbracing the Gospel and restoring the same to this Realme shee had not that minde and affection which some other haue shewed that is vnder colour thereof to make the increase of her owne benefite and the commoditie of her Crowne But as then Iudas and some other Disciples murmured at Marie and vnder pretence of holinesse and charitie towarde the poore found great fault with that superfluous excesse as they thought it euen so nowe many Disciples among vs with like colour of religion and holinesse and of zeale towarde the perfection of the Church forsooth murmure at the liberal benefit of our prince which she hath bestowed vpon the Church think the same a great superfluitie that might bee better imployed sundry wayes to the benefite of the common weale Whatsoeuer is pretended I pray God the cause of the griefe bee not the same that Iohn mentioneth to haue beene that which first began the murmuring at that time But whatsoeuer is the cause of this reproouing of the liberalitie of our gracious prince and soueraigne if the time did now serue I coulde with better reason and authoritie prooue the Contrary Proposition to that which they take vpon them to maintaine that is That it is not lawfull to bestow such liuings vpon Lay men as are appointed by godly lawes for Ministers and Preachers of the worde of God But the shortnesse of the time wil not now serue to follow that course ⧠Imprinted at London by the Deputies of Christopher Barker Printer to the Queenes most excellent Maiestie 1589. Matth. 9. Matth. 12. Iohn 8. Tertul. Iustin Melito c. 4. Reg. 17. 18. 4. Reg. 24. Matth. 23. Luke 13. Apolog. In 2. epist ad Tim. 2. 1. Matt. 10. De zelo liuore Nom. 16. Mal. 2. 2. Cor. 5. Ephes 2. Esay 57. Chrysost in 2. ad Cor. Chrys in 2. ad Timoth. 1. Tim. 5. Nom. 16. 1. Thes 1. Matth. 5. 1. Pet. 2. Rom. 14. Matth. 12. Chrys in epist ad Rom. Eccle. 3. Chrys in Epist ad Rom. In Matt. 8. homil 27. Hest 3. 4. Matt. 11. Iohn 8. Tertull. Apolog in Epist Mar. Collec apud Euseb Theol. lib. c. 26. Athan. Apol 2. Socrat lib. 1. cap 30. Theodor. Socra lib. 1. cap. 35. Libel pag. 1. Answere Libel Pag. 3. Answere Libel pag. 10 Answere Libel pag. 15 Answere Libel pag. 21. Answere Libel pag. 22 Answere Libel pag. 23 Answere Pag. 24. Pag. 25. Libel pag. 26. 27. Answere Libel pag. 31 Answere Pag. 32. Pag. 34. Libel pag. 37 Libel pag. 44. Answere Libel pag. 50 Answere Prouer. 24. Psalm 55. Esay 5. Psal 120. Pro. 24. De vnitate Eccle. cap. 10 Contra Crescon lib. 2. ca. 31. Lib. 1. contra Celsum Euseb lib. 6. cap. 19. Socr. lib. 1. cap. 9. In Praescript Tertul. Eusebius Euseb lib. 4. cap. 28. Epiphanius Theodor. Psal 34. Epist lib. 7. Epist 44. Super Canâ— Serm. 24. Moral
8. Idem 12. Lib. epist 1. Epist 3. Pag. 272. Pag. 170. Pag. 273. Vide Gualterhm in 1 ad 〈◊〉 Cor. cap. 〈◊〉 5. c. Hom. Aâ— Matth. The obiectioÌ„ of the couetousnesse and Simonie of Bishops Musc de minist verbi Dei Matth. Paris The first proofe of Couetousnesse Dispensing with banes 1. Sam. 21. Maccab. Marke 2. Matth. 12. The second proofe of couetousnes forbidding of Mariage Heb. 13. Apoe 13 The crime of making vnlearned Ministers Walsingham 1. Tim. 3. 1. Tim. 3. Tit. 1. Exod. 29. 1. Reg. 21 Num. 15. Mar. 2. Deut. 24 Aug. de baptis contra Donatist lib. 4. cap. 9. Cypr. de lap The causes why an vnlearned Ministerie is not the occasion of backe sliding c. The first cause why the Gospell prospereth not so well here Esay 5. The second cause of backsliding The third cause of reuolting De Corre Grati. Deut 1â— 17. The quarel of maintayning pouling Courts 1. Tim. 5. The crime of abusing Ecclesiasticall Discipline Tygure The quarrel of ambition and seeking of liuings De inuidia Optat. Mileu lib. 1. Euseb eccl hist lib. 6. c. 42. 43. The obiection that the Bishops be carnall and worldly disposed Theod. lib. 1. cap. 20. Soz. Lib. 4 cap. 26. Socr. Lib. 2. cap. 30. Athan. Apol. 2. Of taking of Fines c. The principall cause why the Bishops be so depraued Nomb. 16. Against the rich Liuings of Bishops 1. Tim. 9. Theodoret. Epiphan Clem. Alex. Gen. 3. Bishops must haue no landes Numb 18. The answere to the obiection of the lawe and ordinance of God Theaduersaries build vpon Popish foundations Leuit. 10. Leuit. 22. Iosh 14. Nom 35. Iere. 32. The right vnderstanding of the places of the olde Lawe 1. Pet. 2. Lib. 2. quest Euang. c. 40. Li. de temp Salom. cap. 16. Heb. 13. Col. 3. Esai 56. Allegations out of the Prophets for the same purpose Ierem. 8. Ezech. 34. Hierome Psal 32. Osee 5. Neither doth pouerty bring a contented mind neither great possessions causeth couetousnes Iob. 31. Matt. 19. Mar. 10. Luke 18. Matth. 5. Serm. delapsis August de bap lib. 2. Not much more then 200. yeeres after Christes alcension Soph 〈…〉 1. 2. Malac. 2. Nom. 25. Luke 13. 1. Pet. 4. Proofes out of the Newe Testament against the rich liuings of Ministers The right cause of Christes pouertie and his Apostles Esay 53. Phil. 2. Iohn 16. Iohn 17. Psalm 2. 1. Cor. 4. Matth. 6. Luke 12. Matth. 13. Mar. 4. Luk. 8. Matth. 19. Luk. 6. Luk. 12. Pro. 10. Psal 112. Hierom. ad Saluinam Epist 89. Matt. 19. Psal 51. Homil. 2. ad popul Antioch Homil. 13. ad popul Antioch Homil. ad popul Antioch 58. Matth. 6. Gene. 32. Matth. 27. Matt. 22. Epist lib. 5. in Orat. contra Auxentium Ierem. 28. Baruc. 1. 1. Pet. 1. Rom. 13. 1. Tim. 2. Tertull. ad Scapulam Tertul. Apolog August de Agon Chri. Hierom ad Theophil Matth. 10. Mar. 3. Luke 9. Luke 22. Act. 3. Matth. 5. 1. Tâ—â— 6. Matth. 6. 1. Cor. 7. How Ministers were mainteined from the beginning Lib. 4. epi 5. Canon 5. Hom. 11. in Numer Euseb Ecclesiast â—ist lib. 7. cap. 30. Orig. tract in Matt. 31. Opt. lib. â— Ennead 7. lib. 8. Lib. 1. de sacrosancto eccles Lib. 16. Cod. Theod. Lib. 10. c. 5. Sabell Ennead 7. lib 8. Sozom. lib. 1. cap. 8. â—useb eccles hist 10. ca. 7 Lege tertia Cod. de episc clericis Lib. epist 5. in orat cont Auxentium Basil epist 140. Platina Sabell ennead 8. lib. â— Nieeph lib. 14. cap. 5. The true causes that set vp Antichrist Esay 5. 〈…〉 12.