Prophet onely howsoeuer diuided both in sects and kingdomes amongst themselues are yet in regard of their common profession of Mahumetisme accounted but as one body of Mahumetans How much more truely doe these 3. bonds of professing one and the same Lord and King of receyuing his one and the same law and word of incorporating themselues into one body by Baptisme in which 3. the essence of Christianity consisteth make al the professed christians of the world of one incorporation howsoeuer they are scattered in the earth and scattered in place and in knowledge one of another yea and in som priuat opinions also differ for they all visibly meete in their one roote Christ and in professing of faith in him To these 4. common bonds the Primitiue Church added as they might a fift bond of communion and mutuall society euery new created Bishoppe and ouerseer of any particular Church sending his synodicall letters of the profession of his faith to his neighbour brethren and they accordingly receiuing one another into the communion and fellowshippe of loue as appeareth by the Ecclesiasticall story Lastly when the Emperor himself became a christian and the bonds of the Empire and of the church were in a maner all one they added a 6. bond the common assemblies of all the ouerseers of the particular Vineyards within the Empire in common counsell to make peace and set down orders for the peaceable and vniform gouernment of the whole But the church of Rome which in the greatnes shee is growne to sayeth of her selfe as Babylon Reuel 18. I am a Queene and am no widow and shall see no mourning that is I cannot faile would teach the world a new lesson or article of christian faith not read in the Scripture not thought of in the Primitiue church not acknowledged by any ancient Father not dremed of by any anciēt Bishop of that See that notwithstanding God thundered and was angry when the Israelites asked a King as therein reiecting God to raigne ouer them yet now the Church cannot be vnder Christ and his Iudges as Israel was vnlesse she haue a King an absolute Monarch ouer her and that is the Bishoppe of Rome that all who acknowledge not this doctrine are heretiques all that yeelde not that obedience are schismatiques none of the Church and body of Christ all as Publicans and Infidels and in the state of damnation A fearefull sentence like that of the Bramble Iugd. 9. If you put not your trust vnder my shadow fire shall come out from me and consume the Cedars of Libanon For if all bee schismatiques and cut off from the Church like branches from the Vine that acknowledged not the Bishop of Rome for their King then was Saint Cyprian in a damnable estate who not onely reiected Stephanus the Bishoppe of Rome in a matter of faith but in matter and cases of iurisdiction also forced appeales to Rome and aduised the Bishops of Spaine to repeale him whom Stephanus had restored to his Bishoprick Then was Saint Augustine in a damnable estate who with 216. Bishops in the 6. Councell of Carthage not onely wrote to Innocentius not to receiue appeales out of Africa nor to send his Legats a letter nor to bring in the smoaky pride of the world into the Church of God but also made a decree purposely against his challenged authority that what Priest or Deacon soeuer should appeale to any beyond the sea he should be excommunicated throughout all Africa But what doe I speake of particular Bishoppes that a canonicall Councell of Calcedon of 630. Catholique Bishoppes was in a damnable state which made a decree that the Archbishoppe of Constantinople should haue equall priuiledges with the Archbishop of Rome and that he hauing the next place of honour should in causes Ecclesiastical be aduanced as farre as the See of Rome And although the Popes Legates did by all meanes labour to stay the decree as being repugnant to a former decree of the Nicene Councell for the church of Antioch yet it passed with generall consent and was pronounced by the Iudge as the decree of the Councell neither is this it selfe so much to be regarded as the reason they gaue for that their decree that as their Father had not giuen without good aduice to the See of elder Rome the first place of honor because that City was the seat of the Empire so with a former councell of 150. Bishops at Constantinople vnder Theodosius the elder moued with like consideration had giuen equall priuiledges to the most holy See of new Rome and they insisting in the steppes of sacred Fathers did againe decree the same thing This was in those dayes the opinion of the Bishops of the whole world concerning the ground reason of the Bishoppe of Romes Primacy neither was that the opinion of the Church for a time but three partes of the Christian world vnder the three Patriarkes of Constantinople of Antioch and of Alexandria haue alwayes since receiued him as hereticall for his claime insomuch that they denied their Emperor Michael Palaeologus christian burial for yeelding to the Church in the councell at Lions euen at this day though their miserable slauery vnder the Turke might force them to yeeld a shew of subiection to any christian of whom they might hope of any comfort yet they cannot in their consciences frame themselues to this grosse and lying flattery Wretched men if vndergoing such miseries vnder the hands of their enemies for Christs name neglecting such liberties and worldly preferments as are proposed to reuolters they are notwithstanding in the damnable estate of the Turkes and Infidels and Aliens from CHRIST for that default though they thus liue as Confessors and many of them die as Martyrs But to conclude the vniuersall Church and Spouse of Christ for many ages after her Lords ascension kept herselfe free from these domesticall yoakes neither could shee bee induced that any decree or cannon should be imposed ouer her by any one of her Bishops but that which her self in the free and common Councel of her elder children concluded to bee good for her selfe and hers for execution of which orders and Canons though shee appointed her elder sonnes to ouersee her younger first some as Bishoppes to ouersee her Presbyters and after some as Primates to ouersee her Bishops and lastly some as Archbishoppes and Patriarks to ouersee her Primates yet all the orders which they exacted of particular persons were the common decrees of their Synods Now wonderfull it is to consider how one of her owne children by getting the elder brothers place hath in the absence of the Lord vsurped and claimed ouer the necks first of all his brethren in particular and lastly ouer the necke of his mother also creeping vp by the Emperour like Iuie by the Oke till he had ouertopped him also from a primacy to a supremacy and after to an absolute and visible Monarchie and Kingdome of Romans and as Lord of all
same kingdome though hee be gone first through Gods mercy you shall shine as starres together and therefore seeing good my Lord he sleepeth but you are waking he is in heauen and you on earth what part or parcell of his writings can challenge as of right protection frō any man that liues saue only your self who haue so truely loued him in his life and so redoubled your affection vpon him in his since his death which his religious constant and truly sorrowfull widdow with her fatherlesse children doe finde and freely confes powring out incessāt praiers to almighty God for you and yours And how can you want the blessings of heauen which haue the widdow and fatherlesse to intercede for you vpon earth Oh giue mee leaue to say of your Lordship concerning this without suspition of flattery as Saint Hierom writes of Origen in his preface before his booke vpon the Canticles In ceteris libris omnes alios vicerit in Cantico Canticorum seipsum vicit So in other of your paynfull works you goe beyond others but in this worke of piety you exceede your selfe But not to trespasse too far vpon your Lordships patience seing thus the God of mercy hath moued your heart sincerely to affect the Author of this Sermon and next vnder God to regard his widdow and fatherlesse children let me presume to make this sute further vnto you in the behalfe of this the liuing Image of his soule the first fruit of his published labours that you being a Reuerend father of the church would giue it your blessing before it goe abroad yea that blessing which Iacob sent with his sonnes into Egypt Gen. 43.14 God Almighty giue you mercy in the sight of the man in the sight of the proud man that you may make him humble in the sight of the poore man that you may make him content in the sight of the stubborne man that you may make him yeeld in the sight of the penitent man that you may binde vp and powre wine and oyle into his wounds in the sight of the barren man that you may make him fruitfull in the sight of euery man that you may touch their consciences and winne their soules but especially in the sight of our Ioseph our Iesus who euer so blesse your Lordship that your waies may bee prosperous your sorrowes easie your comforts manie your vertues eminent your conscience quiet your life holie your death comfortable your election sure and your saluation certaine Amen Your Honours humbly deuoted Hamlett Marshall GODS LOVE TO HIS VINEYARD ESAY the 5. VERSE 2.3 Now therefore O Inhabitants of Ierusalem and men of Iudah Iudge I pray you betweene mee and my Vineyard What could I haue done any more to my Vineyard which I haue not done vnto it Why haue I looked for grapes and it bringeth forth wilde grapes WHereas the beginning of mans saluation the spur and goad which driueth him to Christ is the sence of his owne imperfections and terror of his owne sinnes Strange it is how auerse wee are by nature from this first meanes of our conuersion strange how blinde how partially how corruptly we iudge in our owne causes eyther not once considering or not faithfully acknowledging our own transgressions which forceth God in the ordinary courses of mans saluation sometimes to deale by policies and deuises and to propose his owne case to him not as his owne but in Parables and in the person of others that drawing him from himselfe he might also draw from him an vnpartiall sentence against himselfe Thus God dealt with Dauid when he lay asleepe in the sinne of Bershebah and would not awake himselfe to consider of his owne estate that when Dauid had giuen a seuere sentence against the rich man that slew the poore mans lambe and had pronounced death against him with an oath As the Lord liueth hee shall surely die The Prophet might strike him to the heart with the sentence of his owne mouth Thou art the man Thus and thus hast thou done And to omit the manifolde examples in Scriptures of this kind thus doth our Prophet in this place deale with the people of Iudah he proposeth to them a Parable and because it should bee taken vp in euery mans mouth he setteth it downe in verse and maketh a song of a Vineyard which after the infinite care cost of the husbandman in planting fencing weeding watering pruning it could not bee wonne to bring forth any thing but wild vnwholesom as the word signifieth stinking grapes wherin hauing euery mans secret iudgement that such an vnprofitable vine-yard were to bee left desolate and neglected hee concludeth out of this their owne seueritie against themselues Verse 7. Surely this Vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel the men of Iudah are his pleasant plants and he looked for iudgement and behold oppression for righteousnes and behold a crying And first by the way for the Parable it self God hath iudged it profitable thus to teach his Church sometimes by parables which though they be vayles and shadows do hide vnder them spiritual mysteries yet when they are opened and vnfolded they giue a great light to the thing which they shadowed and by their sensible similitude proportion they breed a sensible conceit of things remoued from sense Now to discourse of this whole Parable time will not permit I haue made choice of that one part onely in which the case of the Vineyard is put to the iudgement of the people that is their owne cause is referred to their owne arbitrement Now therefore O inhabitants c. Iudge I pray you c. In which wordes is comprehended the summe of the whole 1. The Church of Israel is proposed vnder the figure of the Lords vineyard 2. Is set downe the Lords care of prouision for his Vineyard What could I haue done for my Vineyard which I haue not done 3. The end of Gods care and benefites fruits good works I looked for grapes 4. The Churches vnthankefulnes It bringeth forth wilde grapes 5. and lastly the iudgement which passed on it Iudge I pray you First for the Church of Israel thus figured by a vineyard As there is one Creator both of heauen and earth so wonderfull are the similitudes and resemblances of one order of his creatures to another of things sensible to things intelligible whereby in earth wise men do beholde a shadow of heauen it selfe but of earthly things which represent spirituall nothing doth more liuely expresse the nature of the visible Church then doth a Vineyard A certaine householder saith our Sauiour Math. 21. planted a Vineyard And Iohn the 15. I am the Vine and yee are the branches and my Father is a husbandman For what property can wee finde in the one which is not in a sort answered in the other Both Church and Vineyard neither of them doe as selfe-sowne things naturally spring and multiply out of the earth both are to bee planted by
vnto God but what is in the eye if man may iudge whose tongue wil not confesse but that as God spake of Iudah Ezec. 16. that shee had iustified her elder sister Samaria by her sinnes so wee haue iustified our eldest sister Iudah by these our sinnes and in steade of grapes haue brought forth oppression vniustice couetousnesse wild grapes full of poyson and the gall of Aspes our peace our plenty the richnes of our soyle in which we liue our want of seuere pruning hath brought forth a luxurious haruest of pestilent weedes in the Vineyard which haue in a manner ouergrowne and choaked piety righteousnesse and all hearty deuotion I know the Lord hath reserued vnto vs a seede a small remnant also but look on the general face of our land how hath this hatefull sinne of vniustice ouergrowne all for the roote thereof couetousnesse and selfe-loue hath got deepe rooting and all men now in a manner doe turne the sappe and the blessings of God their wealth their labors not into clusters of fruits according to their vocation but into their own armes and branches euery one striueth not to bee a good but to be a great tree the bramble wold grow to be of the bignes of the maple and the maple would be strong and tall like vnto the oake ouerdropping and by getting ground starueth another some by an vnsensible soaking from them some by violent and open wrong some vnder colour of right pretence of loue so that in euery quarter and ranke of the Lords Vineyard there is oppression and from oppression there ascendeth a cry to the Lord of the Vineyard But what doe I speake of priuate vniustice betweene men and men when there is found in our Vineyard a kinde of oppression not heard of amongst the heathen Christians in their greedinesse to lay hands vpon their God and father and vnnaturally to seeke to rob him of that which the bounty of his better children had bestowed on him for the maintenance of his worship amongst men Doth any man rob his gods sayth the Lord Malachy 3.8 yet this people robbeth their God and they aske wherein euen in tythes and offerings This is one maine roote of vnnaturall impiety a principall cause of all our corruption when the branches of the Vine doe not onely sucke and draw one from another but doe intercept that also which should maintaine the principall roote on which wee all grow euen Christ his seruice in his Church When God sent his sonne vnto the Iewes Come said they let vs cast him out of the Vineyard kill him and the inheritance shall be ours The Lord our life hath yet some inheritance and patrimony in his owne Vineyard amongst vs for the maintenance of his labourers which should plant Christ amongst vs and in graft vs in him vnto his inheritance how many couetous men doe cast their greedy eyes and put to their hands also that first the Labourers might bee cast out and the inheritance may be theirs What is this but by consequence to cast out Christ himselfe out of his owne Vineyard and as much as in vs lieth to kill Religion and Piety to kill Christ himselfe within our hearts For it is not the losse onely of earthly liuing and the dayly diminishing of the maintenance of his Labourers which is to bee lamented though when you mussell the mouth of the Oxe that treadeth out your corne and detract from the ordinary allowance of your labouring beast you shall find the want therof in their hartles trauell and in your own empty haruest but the greatest cause of lamentation complaint herein is the corruption of the Ministery of Christ whilst Patrones and such as deale in the disposing of Church liuings doe shut vp all the ordinary wayes for the Labourers to enter into the Lords Vineyard but onely by the dore of Simonie by which men of good conscience will not enter Thus is the Lords worke and tillage of his vineyard vnfruitfully followed whilest men of corruptest minds and the basest of the people take vp the places of should bee plentifull among vs crying I haue looked for righteous dealing as amongst brethren who should rather suffer then offer wrong and behold a crying I haue heard a voyce saith Moses Exod. 32. when hee descended from the Mount the noise neither of them that haue the victory nor of them that haue the worse for the people had sate downe to eate and were risen vp to play But where there is oppression and wrong there is a kind of warre some haue the better and some haue the worse and therefore amongst them there is alwayes heard the noise of them that haue the worse the noise of Oppression the noise of complayning and of crying A dangerous thing to haue any crying heard in the family of God amongst brethren a fearefull thing that the complaint of the oppressed should come to his eare Omne sub Regno grauiore regnum est Euery Court is subiect to a higher Court. That there should be no wrongs it cannot bee prouided but for redresse there is refuge to Gods officers and ministers of Iustice vpon earth and if they by righteous iudgement do take away the cause of crying God is satisfied but if the wronged party can find no ease in those inferiour Courts but that in griefe of soule hee appealeth to the supreme Court when hee cryeth after the Iudge of the world as Dauid Psalme 10. Arise O Lord lift vp thy arme forget not the poore wherefore doe the wicked contemne and say thou wilt not regard thē the righteous God the refuge of the fatherles prouoked with those often appeales taketh iudgement into his owne hands and as Psalme 12. Now for the oppressing of the needy and sighes of the poore I will rise vp sayth the Lord for seeing Deut. 15.9 hee chargeth vs not to harden our hearts from giuing to our wanting brother lest he cry vnto the Lord and it bee sinne vnto vs How much more certainely will hee performe that which he protesteth Exod. 22. If thou trouble or vex the widdow or fatherles so they call cry vnto me I will surely heare their cry and my wrath shal be kindled and I will kill thee with the sword thy wife shall bee a widdow and thy children fatherlesse Oh my beloued as there is much vniustice in euery estate cōtrary to Pharaohs dream the fat doe feed vpon the leane the stronger vpon the weaker as the fishes doe in the sea so let no man presume vpon the weakenes of the Plainetiffe or vpon his own means to beare out his cause in the world for though men should be silent in their owne wrongs the stones shall cry and the dumbe creatures shall make complaint the detained hire of the labourer though it lie in our chest yet it sendeth vp a crie into the eares of the Lord of hostes Iacob 5. The stone that lyeth in the wall of our owne buildings crieth