doth threaten lasting payne To those which plentie had on earth and yet for scarcitie sought their furious rage with Chimera a lasting place hath bought And for as much as we do doubt of ioyes for to inshew we will conitinue as wée are lo this is certayn trew Not leauing now our wontid lore each one of vs in kinde proceading so as we began in this you know our mynde When goods we haue all men vs loue as kings among the rest if naught at all then Begger like in ragges must be adrest For Gospels predicacion preach still who that will wée sée therin none other grace we will not come their till For who that will the Scriptures feare shall euer bée in doubt when Skie doeth fall then Larks shall haue a place to sore about Thou Hidra fell deuoyd of grace reforne and that with spéed els lasting payn shalbe thy gayn the Lawe hath so decréed Thalia Plenteusnes PLentifull are the works of the Lord in wisdom hath he made theÌ„ all for with the Lorde ther is mercy and with him is plenteouse redemption for as by the plentifull gracis proceading from God the children of Israell wer delyuerid so shall euery such nacion likewise that seeketh by obedience obtayn the lyke haue due consideracion then of the plentifull gracis proceading froÌ„ God héere on earth to féede not only our corporall bodies with the fruits growing on the same for the tearm of our natural liues but also the vnspeakable vertues which doo as mighty riuers so plentifully ouerwhelme in manner the whole face of the earth that scharcely or not at all any one is able to say he neuer haue passid by or through them or being at one tyme or other mould so that not one of the séeds of mankind is able to excuse him selfe for the not knowing of so plentifull gracis proceding from so mercifull and heauenly father in what damnable state case or being are those meÌ„ who lasciuiously liuing in this vate of misery do séeke to escape from that which séeks to saue them and to imbrace that whiâ—h vtterly if continuance remayne in ill to consume and destroy theÌ„ Tantaleum poculum libernus the very heatheÌ„ Philosophers hath not ceasid to depict out dyuers and sundry warnings and all to that ende that vertues might be imbraced and vice subuertid ouerthrowen because that like as some festcrid vlcer being once rootyd in the flesh and toucheth the bone seaceth not by littel and litle till it haue by such infection masterid the whole body and brought it to subiection forcing it to geue place vnto death the first ende of corporall life Therefore as corrupt infections be the cause of the bodyly death so the wicked thoughts ingendering contempt of godlines hastens the soules distruction who would not therfore seyng so great daungers to inshew by meanes of disobedience séeke to please so excellent a Lorde and protector that so mercifully and so plentifully powrith forth before vs so many seueral gracis therby to plucâ— vs yea as it wer by force from so many euils which for sinne is left to possesse vs for as gold is tried in the fornace so that good men be tried in tyme of aduercite which aduercite is the dayly resisting of the flesh agaynst the spirit The awayting of our aduersary Leo rugens to none other end is but to destroy not the bodies of men only but also their soules And in getting inordinat goods through the desier therof maketh such most miserable Beggers from the knowledge of God And the vayne hope in this life maketh them think to be frée froÌ„ such sinne when in very déed they are most bond imppes of that infernall fuery Such is the sufferance of our iuste Judge when he seeth whervnto man is inclined in that his felicite is wholy set on those things which his fleshy eyes beholdeth regarding it more better assurance then the promised place to come what followeth but a flat distrust of gods promises to this ende therfore is Satan sufferid to be amoÌ„g the sonnes of men to styre vp strife to vere and molest them for which disobedience first of all the great Dragon that olde Serpent was cast out no more to be among the Juste for enuy wherof as a roring â—ioÌ„ he séeketh to deuour the whole race posterite of mankind notwithstanding his power recheth no further then the Lord permitteth as manifestly apperith by that pacient Iob whom the Lord of Ostes sufferid for a tyme to be molestid saying vnto Satan al that he hath be it in thy power only sée that thou spare his life the constancy of that iust moueth euery true Christian to hope that after dark and stormy tempest of tribulacions in this life for the hauen of feliciâ—e or triumphant glory not by due desert but by grace only in Christ and none but he a sufficient warning is this to those that haue â—yes to sée mouths to speak ears to heare hearts to conceue with a continuall wisshing for the coming of our only Lord and sauiour Christ Jesu But to those that haue eyes sée not ears and heare not because they loue not mouth to speake and doo not harts to conceaue and regard not in such the Gospell abides not Because God hath geuen them ouer to vnclennes through the lusts of their own herts to defile their own bodies among them selues which chaunged his truth for a lye and worshipped and seruid the things that bée made more then him that made them which is to be praysed for euer and euer Amen And as they regardid not to know God euen so God delyuerid them vp vnto a lewd mynd that they should do those things that were not comely being full of all vnrighteousnes fornicacion wickednesse couitousnes maliciousnes full of enuy murther debate dicept euil conditioned whisperers bakebiterâ— haters of God disdaynfull proud bosters bringers vp of euyll thinges disobedient to father and mother without vnderstanding couenant breakers vnlouing truce-breakers vnmercifull which men though they knew the righteusnesse of God consider not how that they which commit such things are worthy of death not only they that do y e same but also they which haue pleasure in them that do them What plentiousnes can be more then this wher such store of ensamples are to bring vs from vyce to vertue from being in bondage to perfect fréedom froÌ„ sorow to ioye from pouerty to riches from werines to ease from sicknes to health from corruptible thoughts to selestial mocions praysing and lawding God for his so plentious gracis worthy deseruing thanks to him which liueth for euer and euer The obstinate for all this will not be reclaymed and therefore voyde of all hope by this my warning without the greater grace mercy of God in Christ Jesus The very heathen are to be preferrid before such whose words remayne to the vtter ruen of all vnthankfull Christians When a resonable
¶ THE NEW ARIVAL OF the three Gracis into Anglia Lamenting the abusis of this present Age. ¶ Esay 58.34.24 ¶ Cry now as lowde as thou canst leaue not of list vp thy voyce like a Trumpet and show my people their offencis and the house of Iacob their sinnes To his moste Louing and frendly Father V. Villiam Beeston Brewer S.B. wisheth continuall health with end-lesse felicitie WHen and at such time beloued Father I had called to my remembrance the great good wil and wished benefites proceeding from you towardes me and on my part very slenderly deserued in comparison the acquiting of suche curtesie After many inuentions had by what meanes to shew forth some such occasion howe to gratifie you as a sure shewe of obedience thereby to occasion no lesse good will to folowe then formally by you was begon And calling to ininde one of the graue sentences of Seneca which sayeth That the remembrance of benefites ought not to be forgotten and that a smal thing geuen willingly is more acceptable then great riches with euell will And that the will of the geuer and not the value of the gift is to be regarded rhese documentes and such like vrged me to deuise some thing whereby you might perceiue in me not only my obedience to fatherly parentage but also to proue such a sonne good will being first preferred to be more worthy a benefite then to haue geuen which benefite that I looke for is your continuall societye and fatherly affection to abide wyth no lesse good will then hitherto it hath bene To that end therfore I haue taken vpon me to write this worke folowing for you to loke vpon And although it seeme barren for lacke of a more furniture and altogether pore like vnto the wryter Neuertheles I hope you wil except it with no les good wil in comparison of mortall fieshe then Iesus the sauioure of mankinde who excepted the two mites put into the treasury by a pore widow being all the substance that shee had so this small worke of mine being all the substance that I possesse as touching good will haue with no les imparted the same vnto you which woorke beareth the name of the three graces Thankfulnes Plenteousnes and Liberalitie which if you peruse thorowly I doubt not but it wil content your minde so as occasion may serue to further remembrance considering that to attain vertues we haue good desire but to obtaine vices we put to all oure workes such is our corruption for the which cause euery desiring minde to obtaine knowledge oughte to take heede where vertue is to be learned for the les time man hath to liue which may be perceiued from the day of birth to the houre of death with what spede it hasteneth and the time stayeth for none to be ready prepared to the hauen of peace to the ende our mortal enemy raigne not ouer vs the more earnestly ought man in vertues study to be proceding in my louing Father therfore ler this my worke be so accepted as good wil in his continuaunce may further a greater And as concerning this already finished there can nothing be amended or rightly corrected but by that which surmouÌ„teth and is better then it as vice by vertue falshode by truthe wrong by iustice folly by wisdome ignorance by learning and such like For the which cause euery perticular being considered I doute not but that you wil as fauourably receiue this my trauaile with no les good wil then I in presuming to dedicate the same vnto you whome I account moste worthiest not for affection but for your godly life and christian religion in the which the almighty father sonne and holy ghost strengthen with continuance that bothe father and sonne by the holy ghost with father sonne and holy ghost may praise the almight in the celestial heauens worlde without end Amen Your obedient sonne Steuen Batman THE EPISTLE TO THE READER WHen and at such tyme belouid as the miserable state and maners of men were espied the vntruthes the craftie imaginacions and wicked practises of peruersse and frowarde persons TheÌ„ by diuine sufferaÌ„ce diuers learned and auncient Fathers began no soner the euils perceiued to set foorth against such their abusis with the threatnings of gods vengance for y e same diuers and sundry ensamples to the withdrawinge of such as much as in them lay from the infernall pit prepared for offence to that ende that as carefull Parents perceuing their children to wander from the line of obedience mought in time by mesurid correction bring theÌ„ from such their disorder to a better passe In which so doing although some children by ouermuch sufferance in the beginning of their enterance through induranci hardnesse of heart not only neglect theyr tymes from such obedience but also as froward Imps continew in their vngodlynesse shall for their so doing reape no lesse infamy then the Zodomits dyd who refusing the intreaty of that auncient Father Lot were consumid with Fyer or as when Moyses rebuked him that wrongid y e Hebrwe very charitably but he tooke it ill and spake iniuriustye saying bout thou kill me as thou dyddest the Egiptian c. Not far unlike are the aunswers of sundry Scctarians in these dayes who for brotherly repprehensions geueth the like answers Note hâ—w discreetly Nathan y e prophet rebuked Dauid after he had committed adoultery murder he said not angerly thou hast don wickedly but with an apt â— meete â—militude he intrappid him by the wordz of his owne mouth Steuen being with the Iewes in couÌ„sail dyd boldly reprehende them sayinge among other things Dye stiffenecked and of vnuÌ„â—â—umcised heartes and eares ye haue alwayes resisted the holy ghost as your forefathers did so do ye a worthy note to such as will enter into iudgment in matters of religion before they know what it meaneth and although that among many some may haue iudgment yet after the maner of meÌ„ it is not iustice therfore most metest to be reformed when the Thessalonians walked vnquietly y e Apostle Paul with brotherly reprehension saide vnto them why walk ye in ordinaâ—ly working not at all but being curius and busibodies and therfore he rebuked them Many diuerz and sundry ensamples ther are which moueth brotherly affection to consider such substaunce for the which cause after many auctorities vewid and diuers historis redd being moâ—id not with a few griefes to see this present tyme so alterid from kinde deuised this slender and vnfurnished woork to the profit of my Countrey yet not altogither so vnfurnished but that by diligent perusing some good thing may be founde It was good will that forced me to write according to my skill yet considering w t my selfe how far vnable I was to frame that which affection monid after good will had inforcid In remembring the Bee with the same affection went forwarde For among the Bees such
none like vnto him he kept the lawe of the hiest and came into a couenant with him he set the couenant in his flesh and when he was prâ—uid he was found faithful Likewise of Moyses Aaron Phinches Iosue Caleb Samuel Nathan Dauid Salamon Elyah Elyzeus Hezekiah Esaye Iosyah Ieremy Ezechyel Zorobabel Iesus Nehemyah Enoch Ioseph Simon the sonne of Onias with diuers other Prophets kings These in that they walkid according to the commandement of God haue left behind them a perpetual cause of prayse and commendacions and as these in godly life practised to please God so the wicked by contempte of the same haue left behind them a discomendacion of their wicked and most pestilent behauiour Abimelech the Sonne of Ieroboam flew thrée score and ten of his brethreÌ„ to the intent he might raygne alone and yet he ruled not long ther but sustayned great misfortune and made and euill ende NOtwithstanding that Ioab was a valiant man at armes yet in as much as he deceytfully flew two men al that euer he had done before was counted as nothing And so Salomon causid him to be slayne notwithstanding he heald the corner of the aultar IOas the king of Iuda commandid Zacharias the sonne of Ioiada the Preste to be stonid to death and yet his father restorid him the kingdom and slew Athalia PTholome the sonne of Abobus made the hie Prest and his two Sonnes a banquet And when they were mery and had drunk wel traiterusly he slew them It was showed Holofernes that the childreÌ„ of Israel preparid themselues to make resistaÌ„ce against him for the which he was exceding wrough and at the last in his drunkennesse he was slayne by Iudith THe cruelty of Antiochus of Nabuchodonosor of Pharao of Herod of Zambrye Achab Achitophel Benadab Aman Balthazar Alchimus Ananias and Saphira Herod Dioclesian Astiages Maxinilian Emperour of the Romans Cambices Tomiris Tullia Tarquine Nero Iulianus with an infinet numbers who Sathan hath not a litlte triumphed at their ouerthrow I omit to speak of the Sea of Rome who hath not sparid to put more to death by tyranicall deuices then before their originall was euer heared of sence the flud Milions of thowsands whose blood requirith no small reuenge THe very heatheÌ„ in their kind are to be preferrid before those and such like percecuting tyrants and in especiall the Philosophers haue left behind a worthy comendacioÌ„ of their wisdoms to the great discomendacion of such tiranny Papal as Anacharsis Anaxagoras Archelaus Alex Seuerus Augustus Caesar Chilon Cicero Crates Diogines Democritus Demostines Epimenides Hermes Homer Horace Isocrates Iustinus Licurgus Marcus Aurelius Pitagoras Pline Plato Solon Socrates Seneca Thales Xenophon with many others whose wise senteuris and faythfull sayings are to be found in our vulgar tong by such worthy members as diserue perpetuall fame for such their paynfull labours THe wise graue learnid and ancient Doctors of the Church did not in their time more paynfuâ—â—y studie to kepe the Church in purite of doctrine then the wicked generacions of papisticall inuencioÌ„ haue laborid to bring all to ruen and decay to this ende that such lawes as they deuised might take place and yet in despit of satanicall tyrany the Lord hath reseruid some since the tyme of Quintilianus Timotheus Victorius Dionisius Ignacius Policarpus Hyreneus Origen Cypranus Erasmus Hilarius Athanasius Gregorius Basilius Magnus Ambrosius Hilarius Cyrillus Hieroimus Auguistinus that haue valiently defendid the Gospell to their perpetuall fame and worthy comendacion not by writing only not by preaching and teaching of the sacarid word and Gospell but also with their blood haue seaâ—id the sayd testimony of truth the most part hereof if not by present death yet by inprisonment perceusioÌ„ with diuers strange maners of punishmeÌ„ts as Huldricus Huttenus Adamas Sibertus Albertus Brandeburgen Alexander Alexis Andreas Musculus Andreas Osiander Antonius Anglus Arturus Britanus Antonij Reuclim Bartholomeus Bernardi Bernardus Zieglerus Bullingerus Caluinus Hieronimus de Prage Carolus Molinaeus Cornelius Agrippa Conradus Gesnerus Gulielmus Tindalus Ioannes Frith Ioannes Fox Ioannes Hoperus Oecolampadius Ioannes Oldecastle Ioannes Bale Nicolaus Herford Nicolaus Ridley Robertus Stephanus Vuolfangus Musculus Erasmus Rotorodam Ioannes Iuel with a number more which would requier no small volume to be nominatid at large All and euery of these with the rest godly professors and martiers although their bodâ—ly presence be absent yet their works remayn to aperpetuall encouraging of those which be leuing The omnipotent God so graunt that this my small enterprise occasion some that are learnid to note at large this my short collectioÌ„ which being done wil deserue dwe commendacion for as the enemies of the Gospel of Christ Iesu haue made Books by the name of an vniuersall inquisition and therin haue named not only the names of the Christian sort but also their Books to the ende that their generacions may y e better know what they alow what they hate or dislike so were it as necesseray for these present dayes some such Books to be made wherin the true Christian may both sée and â—now which Books were to abolished as well for the maintenance of christian religion as the wicked ones haue for the glory of theirs which glory shalbe don away The God of peace and loue so blesse vs that in all our workes words and déedes it may be to his glory with the preseruacion of this our Déene and countrie with due obedience in the same that Satan may be suppressed Antichrist ouerthrowen that y e gospel may haue cléere passage through the whole world And that those which are blinde may thereby be made sée through the dimned cloudes of supersticion the cléers lighte of Euangelion the Gospell and those which are gon astray may once finde the way home And that those which are at home may depart in peace y e after this Pilgrimage here on earth we may rest with Abraham Isaack Iacob in the kingdom of heaueÌ„ Amen ¶ A commendacion of such as desier knowledge with a wished mind of the numbers increase Striue by truth thy fame to win take héed betimes ere thou begin Euermore be sure of this perhappes thou maist in time else mis. Hold by truth as ancker sure euels present will procure Nothing better saueth life then to eschue debate and strife Couit only God to please prouide in time so followe ease Enuy is not now alone restles rage doth cause to mone These notes doth proue by gods decrée where grace is not none saued we sée Then find your name by letters due so shall you know if this be true WIthout the true knowledge of God I doubt good rule to finde lies highly being magnified leues of when time assind Imagine then what flesh doth gayne a show by proofe of endlesse paine Master then corrupted lust requiring ayde of Ioue the