he cannot in iustice punishe you though your people bee not taught Bicause you haue seene al those wel bestowed whom he quallified for that calling so do now expect a blessing from him vpon your labours that you might send more The subterfudge will be but the couert of a net to aske as coÌ„monly our prelats do how there shoulde be possiblie founde as many learned men as Wales requireth seeing they who are founde are not placed there And doe you deale well with the lord that be cause al canot be brought at once to serue him as hee willeth therefore they that may shall not The same is to bee saide of the ministers liuings Remoue the dumb ministers nonfideÌ„ts the L. bb if you will not do this you go beside the word of God so there is no direction for you and there will be mo liuings void able to maintain godly ministers then shal be I feare me good men found to supplie the places And verely I maruaile what men persuade theÌ„selues the Lord to be wheras they thinke hee can be satisfied with suche sielie shifts is it not a strange matter to finde Church liuings in Wales for L. bb nonresideÌ„ts idoles to sin against God and starue soules withal and deny any to be there for godly ministers do honor God and work the saluation of his people The children must starue for want of breade because the dogs before their eies must be fed therewith Good reason yea but the remouing of those men would be likelie to set the land on fire Marke how sutile the deuil is in the maintenance of his kingdome When godly ministers are deprined because they will not link theÌ„selues with wicked B. b to betraie the kingdonm of Christ and ouerthrow the lawes of this land there is no inconuenience sered But if satans messengers be once shoued at behold the land wil not be able to beare this losse I grant in deede my Ll. that men which make no conscience for gaine sake to break the law of the eternal and massaker soules as these do are dangerous subiectes and not to be trusted any further then they are fed The stay therefore must be either in regarde of these men or the common people These men are of 2. sorts some few haue gifts for the ministery those would be imploied that way and compelled to bee faithfull The most of them are vnsauerie salt notwithstanding far be it that they and their families should be turned vnto the wide world to seeke their liuings and therefore some part of that which now they possesse with sacriledge bestowed vpon them being out of the ministerie they might enioy with a good conscience And a small thing this way allotted vnto them woulde be blessed wheras whatsoeuer now they possesse is execrable For the people the stay for them is eyther in regard of the publike meetings on the Sabboth or the sacraments mariage and burial For the keeping of the Sabboth The word requireth they should if possibly they can resorte where preaching is vntill good ministers bee placed in euery parrish If the places be too farre as commonly our parrishes be very large and it is not likely in short time to plant preachers so neere together as the people may euery Sabboth resort to them they must be enioyned to meete togither in their parishe churches some discreet man from among themselues appointed to read the word and vse som forme of praiers as shal be thought meetest by the aduise of the godly learned Concerning the sacraments the word requireth they should resort vnto a preaching minister for them There is adulterie amongst the â—â—fidels therefore a minister is not essentially required in Matrimonle Ruth 4.10.11 not attempt to keepe their children vnbaptized any longer then they must of necessitie Marriage is most conueniently to be done by the minister But it is no proper essentiall worke of the a minister and therfore may be solemnised by others at the magistrats appointment Concerning buriall it is a worke of christian charitie and being the last dutie that we are to performe towards the departed we ought to accompanie them decently and orderly with all comlinesse vnto the graue The word mentioneth or includeth no forme of prayers vsed at burials therefore they ar superfluous nether is the minister as in an actioÌ„ belonginge to his office to haue any more to doe herein then any other of the brethren Thus haue I set downe vnto your Hh. the onelye course in regard of substance that the word waranteth to bee taken in such a deformed estate as ours is And now my Ll. let my counsell bee acceptable vnto you a Dan. 4.24 breake off your sinnes by rooting out these plants which the Lord neuer planted in hys vineyard and your iniquities by adoring the same as much as in you lyeth so there may be an healing of your former ouer-sight If not the lords face will be against you yours and the whole land for euill and not for good O my Ll. is it not a miserable case that meÌ„ shold so liue vnder your gouerment in this life as they canot possibly but liue in hel in the life to come O my Ll. heaen cannot be obtained when we are gone Oh my Ll. now is the time for the gospell to flowrish in Wales or neuer Oh my Ll. if her Maiestie and your Hh. whome from my very heart I wish the Lord to blesse should be gone the way of all the world for mine owne part the very staffe of my hope to see any good doone amongest my brethren should be broken Blame me not therefore if I deale earnestly in a cause of so great a moment and so vnlikely to be obtained of our wofull posterities whome my suit in a most nere sort concerneth Oh whye should they haue cause to saye the Lorde bee iudge betweene vs and the gouernours whiche were vnder Queene Elizabeth in the daies of our fathers for they might haue opened our eies and healed our wounds which now alasse are desperat and past recouerie It is now ful 29. yeares and vpward since Babilon hath bin ouerthrown in Wales rather by the voice of hir Maiesties good lawes whome good Lord forget not for this woorke then by the sound of anye trumpet from the mouthes of the sons of Aaron among vs. But alasse what shall we and our posteritie be the better for this if Syon bee not built And what comfort can Zerubabell or nehemiah haue to bring a people out of Babilon if they meane but to reaedifie Sbilo seeing it is the beautie of Syon wherin the Lord delighteth Wee haue cause indeede to thanke God that this wicked eitie hath bene by hir Maiestie in some sort broken downer but we are neuer the better seeing the walls of Sion lie euen with the ground Nowe for the space 28. yeares no man greatly labored to hir maiesty the Parliament your Hh. or to the people themselues either by
mine holy things they haue put no difference betweene the holy prophane neither discerned between the vncleane and the cleane and haue hidd their eies from my Saboth and I am prophaned among them Hir princes in the midst thereof are like wolues rauening the prey to shed blood to destroy soules for their owne couetous lucre And her I rophets haue dawbed thē with vntempered morter seing vanities diuining hes vnto them saying thus saith the Lord Iehouah when Iehouah hath not spoken The people of the land haue violently oppressed by spoiling and robbing and haue vexed the poore and needy yea they haue oppressed the stranger against right Thus far Ezekiel Be the sinnes of our prophets of our princes of our people the same that heare he speketh against be they greater or be they lesse yet without controuersie Verse 30 if the Lorde may saye I haue sought for a man among the coūsellors of England thatshuld make vp the hedge stand in the gap before me for the land that I should not destroy it but I found none then wo be vnto vs for that shal follow which is set downe in the prophet Therefore haue I powted out mine indignation vpon them Verse 31 consumed them with the fire of my wrath their owne waies haue I rendred vpon their heads saieth the Lord Iehouah And vnlesse there were iust cause to think that this Lord had either already or shortly ment to pronounce this sentence against vs wee might contemne scorne at the carped assaults of the Spanyards or any other the enemies of the gospel and her Maiesties whosoeuer But as long as we giue not the right hande vnto the Lorde by entring into his sanctuarie we haue iust cause to feare a nation that is no nation much more a people in number as the sand which is by the sea shore Our leags and most stable couenants with the enemies the lord will soone disanull standing thus at the staffes end with his maiestie as we do And as a Ierem. 37. Ieremie said vnto the king and states in his time though we had smitten the whole hoast of the Spanyardes that intend our ouerthrow there remained bur wounded men among them yet should euerie man rise vp in his tent and ouerrun this lande Let vs looke assuredlie whensoeuer the abiecte and contemptible enemie shall assaile vs abiect and contemptible I saie in all respects in comparison of the value and strength of our men and munition and the lord increase them a thousand folde more that this God whose seruice is so little esteemed of vs will send a terror into the harts of our valiantest and stoutest men so that he whose heart is as the heart of a lyon shall become as weake as water and one enenimie shal chase a thousand of vs because the hand of the lord will be against vs for our sinnes It is not therefore the Spanishe furniture and preparations but the sinnes within the land that we are most of all to feare For although the armie of the Spanyarde were consumed with the arrowes of famine although the contagious and deuouring pestilence had eaten them vp by thousands although their tottering shippes were dispersed and carried away with the whirle-winde and tempest although madnes astonishment were amongst them from him that sitteth in the throne vnto her that grindeth in the mil although the lords reuenging sword in the hand of the sauage Turke had so preuailed against them as it had left none in that vncircumcised host but languishing and foyled men notwithstandinge a contēptible withered remnant of the plague famine a nauie of winde and weather-shaken ships a refuse of feeble and discomfited men shal be sufficiently able to preuaile against this land vnlesse an other course be taken for Gods glory in Wales by your Hh. then hitherto hath bene If I did speake vnto infidels and vngodly atheists I know I should not be so plaine because vnto such the trueth is at sometimes vnseasonably spoken But I speake vnto your Hh. that haue vndertaken the profession of Christianitie and therefore shoulde be at all times fit to heare the trueth of your God And I know no temporizing trueth no temporising iudgements of God against sinne no trueth that is to be concealed vnto Christians because their Hh. cannot brooke the same no trueth my LL that is either not at all or minsinglye not to bee vttered because states loue not to heare thereof So that I was in this matter not to consider what your high places were content to hear but what was the dutie of your high places to heare And therefore I should thinke it I protest an vndutifull and flattering petition to intreat your Hh. not to be offended with me for vttering the trueth As though I supposed you woulde thinke it wonderfull that a man should aduenture to speake euen in the cause of his GOD anye farther then stood with your good liking I know the infirmities wants of men that deal in good causes are commonly beaten vpon the bak of the cause they handle Therefore the Lord knoeth how carefull I haue beene to keepe it vnspotted and my selfe out of all vnnecessary daunger Setting downe nothing before I had weighed what might ensue either in regard of the mater or maner of deliuery This I am assured that in the whole woorke there is nothing whereby any law of the land canne take holde of me But why did I publish a matter of suche waight before I acquainted your Hh. therewith Grant the pitition I will redeeme mine oversight heerein if it can be prooued any which I know to be none with the losse of my life if you do not meane to yeeld vnto it neither would you haue done it being mooued thervnto by priuate writing The cause I make known to the end it may be granted and herein let not my life be precious vnto me vpon the necessity of the publishing thereof I stand bicause that the world maye see when you redresse those things that you did nothing which you durst leaue vndone vnlesse you would haue brought swift destruction vpon your selues and the whole lande But what folly is it to think that such great matters in our daies wil be reformed Rather what iniury do they to your Hh. that thinke you will countenance any longer the breache of Gods lawes And in this point let the good opinion that they which aleadge such pretences conceiue be weighed with my dutifull perswasions of your Hh. and both our causes iudged accordingly For mine own part I thinke the maiesty of the cause to be such as they who are the lords dare not but entertaine it tremble to think that all this while it hath bene so carelesly attended vpon And it is in the behalf therof that I haue presumed to deale with you who other-wise durst not haue suffered my voice to be hard in the ears of the rulers of my people
works of a minister in deed may according to the ordinance of God be performed by those who both haue a function diuers from yea contrarie to these readers function as good is to euill vz. by preachers whose calling being a sanctified calling must needes be in nature not onely diuers from but contrarie to the caling of readers which is not warranted by the worde a calling warranted and a calling not warranted being contrarie and detest without offence vnto Gods children such a ministerie as dumb readers take vpon them Therefore our bare readers though they haue the name and supplie the place of ministers are not ministers in deed And not being in deed ministers it is not left vnto me as a thing indifferent by christian libertie whether I will communicate with thē or no Because that of necessity I am bound to com for the sacraments vnto the ordinaunce of a Math. 21.25 11.11 1. cor 12.4.11 God that is vnto a minister and not vnto the ordinance of the church neither haue I any liberty to attempt the contrarie And as before hath bene prooued euery minister is the ordinaunce of b 1. Cor. 12.5.28 ephes 4.7.11 God not the ordinance of the Church ordained when our sauiour Christe led captiuitie c Ephes 4.8 math 28.19 captiue and not since Nowe our readers being but the ordinance of the Church ordained since that time and the Church hauing no libertie to ordaine sacramentes I haue also no libertie no not in the time of necessitie to come vnto the ordinance of the Church for the sacramentes because there I can haue no more for any thing I know then the Church whence the ordinance is hath power to giue And I pray you what sacrament is that which the bare ordinance of the Church can deliuer These be some of the reasons and I take no delight in the nomber of them wherevpon as on the infallible trueth of Gods sacred word I dare boldly conclude the most within wales supplying the places of ministers to be no ministers in deed and to haue nothing in them that giueth life vnto a minister good or bad And therevpon I dare as boldly affirme the course to bee a wicked and sismatticall course which they take that seperate them selues from the publike assemblies where the word preached is truly taught in this land as from those who serue the true God after a false maner In the examination of whiche reasons I protest with a good conscience that I haue so laboured both at the first edition of the booke some reasons then moouing me to deale more timorouslie in the action since that time especialle as I haue not suffered my selfe to be deceiued by any sophisme or fallation And I prorest before the Lord that vpon these grounds I both assuredly know their course of whome I haue spoken to be dangerous and detestable and am also as surely perswaded that menne not ordained of God for the gathering of the saints are no ministers whatsoeuer calling they haue in the Church as I beleeue the blessed apostle Paule to haue beene an apostle sent from God And bicause I am one daye to bee reckonad with before the iudgement seat of Iesus Christe of my sinceare dealing in both those points and liue now in the church of God the least member whereof Woe be vnto me if I offende because also I liue vnder hir highnes a Christian Magistrate whose sacred ancthoritie I subiect my selfe vnto reuerence as the royall ordinance of gods owne maiestie and whose positiue lawes and proccdings as far as I may with a good conscience tollerate their imperfections I dare not gain-saye because likewise what I haue written shal be recorded and called in question in the church of God when I am gone the way of all flesh vnto whome I am afraide to commend my name as a brocher of newe doctrines therefore I haue beene carefull to sette down nothing but that which will abide the triall of all whosoeuer and abide firme against all If any of my godly teuerēd lerned brethren of the church of Englande will doe me the fauour which thing I earnestly request at their hands in short syllogisms to communicate with mee in writing their reasons for the ministerie of these ignoraunt men I shall haue cause to praise the Lord and thanke them for their loue towards me in this point also and the easier satisfie whatsoeuer may be sayd on the behalf of this vnlearned I woulde vnknowen ministerie I greatlye reuerence many godlye and learned that are contrary minded vnto me in this cause I know my yeares to bee subiect vnto that bolde temerity hoat and heady rashnes which blessed Timothy in a 1. Tim. 2.22 consideration of his age was bidden by the Apostle to auoide notwithstanding in regarde of the cause in humilitie before the Lord his elect angels and children bee it spoken I may iustly for beit I should contemne and despise almost not vouchesafe to answer whatsoeuer man or angell can bring against it And I dare arest and attaint of high treason against the maiestie of the highest all those both men and aungels who either defend the communicating with them lawfull communicate with them or tollerate them as ministers vnder their gouernement TO THE LL. OF THE COVNSEL ANd for asmuch as both in this place for tollerating the dumb ministerie and in the book page 36 for suffering non-residents and the papall Lordships of our 4. L. Bb. in Wales I affirm our gouerriours to be guiltie of fearefull sinnes before the Maiestie of God I am with all the humilitie reuerence and submission my heart can conceiue to vse a speach vnto your HH my Lordes of her maiesties priuy Coūsel The cause that moueth me heerevnto is the discharge of my dutie towards the Lorde my God towards his Church towardes my natiue Countrey and towardes your Honours which could not stand with my silence in this point concerning the Lord because I am a poore wretched sinner vppon whome he hath shewed great mercie in calling mee to the knowledge of his son and pardoning my dreadfull sinnes I haue taken a bond of my selfe by his grace to be come an enemy vnto sinne in my selfe especially and in all others as far as my calling will permitte without respect of persons time place estate or condicion of life whatsoeuer And therfore your Hh. are not to marueile if I seeke the ouerthrowe of these places callings and corruptions L. Bishops readers and non-residents I mean whose continuance standeth with the lords most notable dishonour and detest sinne euen in your Hh. whose aucthority good name credit estimation and high places next vnto her royall Maiesties I ought and by the grace of God will defende against all the detractours there of with the losse of my life when it shall be needfull As for the Church of God wherevnto I haue bene begotten through the word preached by means of my abode
speaking or writing in the behalfe of either of these vnreconcilable eities Men belike thinking no more to bee required at their hands then the razng of Babell the deuil as yet contenting himself with Bethel The last yeare as I am almost pesuaded the verye same day or by all likly-hood the very same week vpon a suddain the enterprises of the building of both in 2. seueral books issuing from two of the remotest corners in our lande South-wales and North-wales was taken in hand The one of the bookes pleading the cause of Sion cōming forch priuiledged by publike authority alowāce was directed vnto hir maiesty the Parliament requiring at their hands by vertue of the lords own mandatory letters the performance of this work shewing by euidence of gretest antiquity this to bee required of duety at their handes as a part of the homage due vnto his highnes whose feudaries and vassalles all the princes states vnder heauen must acknowledge themselues to be a portion of that inheritance beeing theirs by liniall discent from their predecessors the godly kings and rulers who time out of mind alwaies laied their shulders vnto this burthen The other written in Welch printed in an obscure caue in Northwales published by an author vnknown Y druch Christ anogaw more vn learned for I thinke hee had neuer read any thing but the common published resolution of R. P. a book containing many substantiall errors frier Rush and other shamefull fables stood to by none hauinge no reasons to shew why his Babilon should be reaedified it contained it selfe within the handes of a few simple priuate men and neuer durst vnto thys hour be made known vnto your Hh. Both the books in this thing had the same successe in that both togither they fel into the hands of the prelats who as they pretend are enemies vnto both places but vndoubtedly vnto Syon especially as it appeared by their harde dealing with the pation of that cause whereas the fautors of the other were either not at all dealt with or very curteously entertained of thē The reason of their enmitie vnto both but their hatred vnto Syon is that neuer I feare me meaning to go thither This is spoken in regard of the Church-gouermen and constrained by law to be enemies vnto the other they haue of the golde of Caldea the drosse of Ierusalem compacted thē a citie wherwith they meane to content themselues vntill they returne vnto Babel againe or the Lord be merciful vnto them vnto a worse place Haue they not therfore good cause to be the more beholding vnto the one for the golde then to the other for the drosse Well my Ll. bee you assured hereof that they who stirred vp both these instruments both at one time wil neuer suffer them to cease vntil in Wales either a church of Christ or a synagogue of satan be built Out of question the concurring of both causes sheweth that the Lorde hath some secreat worke in the matter Satans instruments for their parts were neuer busier since hir Maiesties raigne then they are at this hower and shall be stil they trecherously against the lawes of God and this land seek to bring the people again vnto AEgypt I acording vnto both dutifully endeuour neuer to let them rest vntill it please God by hir Maiestie and your Hh. to bring them within the lande of promise no though they were vppon mounte Nebo whence with their eies they might view the same They haue dealt deale secretly with poore soules in darke corners dare not make known their fabulous cause I haue dealt all this while in the face of the sun and now before your Hh. I want not a good cause and by the grace of God it shall not want a defender or hide the face as long as I liue Whether you countenaunce it or no I know it shal one day preuaile when this wil be the Lord knoweth best but the matter is whether you wil imbrace christ in the building of his church or sathan in continuing the breaches thereof Therfore my Ll. entertaine THIS CAVSE and you giue satan the foile reiect this and you streng then him And trie if you denye it the hearing whether the very papists in this land will not be thereby encouraged to supplicate vnto your Hh. that you woulde grant them the liberty of their seared consciences to commit publike idolatrie Al that hitherto I haue spoken I haue spoken either in the cause of christ which is a good cause or in the cause of sathā If I seek the building of his synagog wil you let me liue if of the church of christ wil you denie me your helpe which yet againe and againe in the name of the eternall God I require for the pretious death passions sake of Iesus christ I earnestly desire at your hands My Ll. as you wold haue the Lorde to entertaine your soules in the life to come as you would haue him shew you any mercie as you loue her Maiestie hir life as you would haue the continuance of her raigne ouer vs which the lord vndoubtedly thretneth to shorten because he would bring ruine vpon you vs all for the contempt of his trueth as you woulde not haue your names razed from vnder heauen as you would not haue the Lord to bring vpon vs the Spanish Italian Romish or Guisian forces as you woulde not haue those who shall liue to see the desolation and desperate sorrowe which the Lorde is to bring vpon this lande not abide to see you and your children ryde or go in the streets as you would not haue the most contemptible to stretche forth his hande vpon the dearest things you possesse offer violence before your eies vnto the fruit of your bodies so entertain this cause graunt this suite and haue a care of the Lords true seruice in Wales etherwise I feare me the vengeance of God will neuer leaue you your posterities as long as there is a man of your houses vnder heauen And notwithstanding the case of the Earle of Pembroke is neuer the better if he stil presume to beare rule within these gates where the Lords Sabboths are not sanctified Ezekiel in deede is not now liuing to put you in minde of the necessitie of redressing of thinges amisse by laying open the corruptions of all estates vnder your gouernement as he doeth cap. 22 of his prophesie His words I will set downe that your Hh. may waye our estate with the time wherin the prophet liued and see whether the Lord will spare you and vs if we still prouoke him to smite There is a conspiracie of her prophets in the middest thereof Ezek. 22.25.26.27.28.29 faith the prophet like a roaring lyon rauening the pray they haue deuoured foules they haue taken the riches and precious things they haue made hir manie widowes in the midst therof hir priests haue broken my law and haue defiled
Let what I haue written be examined yea by mine aduersaries them selues if I haue anye and it shall appeare that I haue made a conscience how I haue dealt with my superiours especially those concerning whome it is said you are gods least I should seeme to leaue behinde mee the least print of a minde in anye sorte tending to diffame them or their gouernment As I haue beene carefull herof so let the Lord yea and no otherwise which I speake as far as my corruptions do permit graunt this cause and my selfe also if it be his wil fauour in your eies Indeede in regarde of the cause I commandatory wise vnto your Hh. but in regard of my selfe I come in feare and trembling as vnto the lords vice-gerents entreating most humbly that the dignitie of so worthy a cause be thought off nothing the more dishonorably because it is brought in my hands And I protest in respect of my sinnes that the Lord may iustly denie it the fauor it deserueth in your eies bicause I am a dealer therein But this should be no cause why your Hh. should giue it a repulse For in the eies and ears of al the world I make it known that it is the cause of the liuing god wherein I deale and that if it had beene possible for me to haue written more humbly dutifully I had done it Or if I had seene any way that might haue bene likelier to preuail with my superiors then this course I take the Lord to record vnto my soul that I would not haue vsed this And I would to GOD I could tell how to make the cause plaucible So far I am from setting down any thing that might carrie with it any shew of occasion to hinder and disgrace the same Well I haue done my endeuour the successe I expect at the lords hands vnto whom I commend the cause and the saluation of that pore people The sworde of iustice reached vnto you by the Lord himselfe to take punishment of him only that is an a Rom 13.4 euil doer I fear not because I haue not offended If it should be drawn against me for this action the president wold be such as they who ment hereafter to prophesie vnto your Hh. might be aduisedly counselled b Micha 2.6 not to prophisie the Lord as a token of your iust destruction to ensue would say they shal not prophesie nor take shame If I haue spoken any vntruth beare witnesse thereof if a truth I dare by the lords assistance stand to it and demand what he is that wil presume to obiect and throw himselfe vnto the vengeance of God by punishing me an innocent The Lord may for my other sinnes bring mine head vnto the graue with bloud but in this cause what haue I offended and therfore vndoubted woe will betide him that shall molest me for this worke Howsoeuer it be thus I haue performed a dutye towardes the Lorde and his church my countrey and your Hh. which I would doe if it were to be done againe though I were sure to endanger my life for it And be it known that I am not afraid of earth in this cause And if I perish I perishe my comfort is that I know whether to go and in that day wherin the secreats of all hearts shabe manifested the sinceritie of my cause also shall appeare It is enough for mee that howsoeuer I be miserable in regard of my sins yet vnto Christ I both liue and die and purpose by his grace if my life should be prloonged to liue herafter not vnto my self but vnto him to his church otherwise then hithertoo I haue doone The Lorde is able to raise vp those that are of purer hands and lippes then I am to speake and write in the cause of his honor in Wales the Lord make them whosoeuer they shal be neuer to be wanting vnto so good a cause the which because it may be the Lordes pleasure I shall leaue them behinde me in the worlde I earnestly and vehemently commende vnto them as by this my will and testament And haue you pore Wales in remembraunce good my Lordes by establishing the word preached there that the blessing of many a saued soule therein may follow her maiestie and your Hh. ouertake you light vpon you and sticke vnto you for euer The eternall God giue hir Maiestye and your Hh. the honour of building hys church in Wales multiply the daies of hir peace ouer vs blesse hir and you so in this life that in the life to come the inheritance of the kingdom of heauen may be hir and your portion so be it good Lord. Were my dutifull heart towards your Hh. throughly knowen then I doubt not but I should bee better knowen vnto you then by my name IOHN PENRI TO THE READER Master D. SOMES booke was published this day I haue read it The man I reuerence from my heart as a godly and learned man The reasons he vseth against me in the questions of the reading ministrie and communicating with them I had aunswered as you may see in this booke before he had written They are faultie either because they desire that for graunted which is the question or make those things of like nature wherein there is a great dissimilitude as the arguments drawen from the magistracie and the Leuiticall Priesthood I haue answered thē The cause the reuerence I owe vnto the man though the reasons he vseth deserue not to be twise read ouer will enforce me to answere him at large There be certaine faults escaped in the print beare with them
22.15 or else you can haue no inheritance among 4 them that are sanctified but bee excluded out of the citie of God amongst dogges theeues murderers and inchanters if you be not wrought vpō by their hands whom the Lord hath sanctified to that office I am bolde therefore in the cause of Gods honour and of your own saluation to intreat you 4 as you meane to haue anie fellowship and communion in heauen with the blessed saints and angels as you intend to haue anie part in that kingdome which the Lorde Iesus hath purchased with his owne bloud as you woulde haue any interest in him and his sacred passions that while you haue time you labour with might and maine to prouide your selues of the meanes whereby you may bee translated out of the kingdome of darknes wherin you now liue vnto the blessed possessiō of sweet Sion the citie of the liuing God In which cause if your endeuours wil be colde and backeward I pronounce vnto you that you shal as surelie perish and bee damned as the Turkes Heathens or any other Idolaters who cannot abide the name of Iesus Christ Be afraide therefore as the apostle a Heb. 4.1 admonisheth you least by forsaking the oportunitie of being saued which at this day is offered vnto you you be depriued of your saluation How shal you be able to beare it when in the day of vengeance you shall see your selues arraigned of high treason before Gods tribunall seate for reiecting the pardon he offreth in Christ Iesus vnto you Would you but vouchsafe to seeke the same in the worde preached In the worde preached I saye for if you will imbrace Christ and haue pardon of your sinnes by his passions you must haue that brought to passe by preaching Christ I graunt may be otherwise taught but as the apostle saith b Ephe. 4.21 not as the truth is in Iesus and therefore wythout comforte and wythout saluation The small reckoning my brethren that hitherto you haue made of Christ truely taught vnto you testifieth vnto your faces that you haue not knowen the Lord c Iere. 4.22 that you are foolish children wise you may be to doe euill but to do well you haue no knowledge as saith the prophet Yea it testifieth that you declare your sinnes as Sodome and hide them not and out of al doubt it will bring woe vnto your soules d Esay 3.9 vnlesse you haue preaching for you haue rewarded euill vnto your selues For Christ his sake then for your owne felieities sake acknowledge in the practise of your liues that the Lorde hath tied 5 the foode of vnderstanding and knowledge vnto the mouthes of those pastors 5 e Ier. 3.15 who at the 6 least in regard of gifts 6 are according vnto his owne heart 7 The Apostle proclaimeth 7 vnto the Colossians f Gollos 1.20.21 that as it was the good will pleasure and decree of the eternal to reconcile all men vnto himselfe by Iesus Christ so he neuer purposed to make this reconciliation knowen vnto any but by the word preached a vers 23.28 he telleth 8 b Rom. 16.25 1. Tim. 3.16 1. Cor. 2.7 vs in many place 8 that saluation is a mystery so of necessitie must haue some wider opening than the withered hands of bare readers can reach vnto 9 Blessed Peter sheweth in plaine wordes that our newe birth can no way be wrought in vs 9 but by the worde preached c 1. Pet. 1.21 Those great and 10 hidden secretes which the very Prophets themselues coulde not attaine vnto wythout greate inquirie 10 d 1. Pet. 1.10 can be made knowen vnto you belike contrarie vnto the expresse word of the holie ghost e vois 12. by those who can not preach the Gospell 11 In what 11 a desperate case then is my deare country the place of the sepulchres of my fathers f Nehe. 1. who hopeth for saluation and hath no meanes to be brought into the knowledge of the truth g 1. Tim. 24. by the publike ministerie And what a publike miniscerie or miserie rather is that in whose handes saluation is not because the knowledge of the truth is not in their handes Ieroboam 12 woulde thou haddest againe thy vnlearned priests 12 h 2. Chro. 13 9 For it is out of controuersie that they are sit to be the ministers onelie of them that woulde haue no God i 2. Cro. 15.3 but we would haue Ichouah for our God 13 and serue him Timotheus 13 to the ende he might be made more fit to cal men to saluation was commaunded to take heede vnto himselfe and vnto learning and to continue therein k 1. Tim. 4.13 15 16 but our Ministers if they can reade are able without any further learning to make saluation knowen vnto vs. Is reading 14 the way whereby the Lord will bestow vpon men the spirite of wisedome 14 and reuelation thorough his knowledge l Ephe. 2.17 No no 15 downe therfore vnto hell with that doctrine whence it sprang 15 and issued that seeketh saluation vnto men by reading of that which canner be vnderstoode without an expounder a Act. 8.30.32 And here I would 16 know of you which so long haue cōtented your selues with bare reading 16 whether for the space of nine and twenty years complet you haue selt either in your selues or perceiued in others the woorde to haue bene so powerfull as it is said to be b Heb. 4.12 If you haue not bee you assured that it is not the worde whereof the apostle speaketh in that place which worketh those effectes in some of the hearers either vnto death or vnto life For the word of God is liuelie as hee there setteth downe and mightie in operation and sharper then anie two edged swoord and entereth through euen to the deuiding asunder of the soul and the spirit and of the ioynts and the marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart Besides that wofull experience sheweth that the spirite of God meaneth not the word read in this place the second verse of the chapter euidentlie conuinceth that it must needes bee the woorde preached vnto whome these imperiall titles as I may say are ascribed But saye the holie ghost what it will say the people of Wales had rather be lims of the deuil to bee euerlastinglie destroyed then labour to haue the woorde that by meanes thereof they might be made the members of Christ and so eternallie saued 17 Though 17 the or dinaunce of God be to demde the worde aright c 2 Tim. 2.15 vnto the seuerall vse of the hearers though 18 saluation be a thing that must be learned 18 euen of them who can read d Colos 15.7 our reading Baalites scane able to reade 19 19 though the decleration of the same bee such a thing as euerie christian who
Ierusalem and the people of his dais b Iam. 2.13 14.36 What thing shall take to witnesse for thee What shall I compare to thee (36) 36 O'daughter Ierusalem What shall I liken to thee that I may comfort thee O virgine daughter Sion For thy breach is greate like the sea who can heale thee Thy prophets haue looked out vaine and foolish things for thee they haue not discouered thine iniquitie to turne awaie thy captiuitie but haue loked out for thee burdensome prophecies and causes of banishment Doubtlesse I know not howe our state might better be disciphered For the wordes of the Lorde are founde true in vs if euer in anie people the leaders of my people cause them to erre and they that are led by them are deceiued and questionlesse it may be trulie saide of vs c Ierem. 5 3â— my people delight therein And forasmuch as men liuing without the worde preached thinke themselues in a tollerable estate before the Lord I woulde know (37) 37 whether they may hope for eternall life which professe not the true religion in that sorte alone as the Lord would haue the same professed the answere will be they cannot Againe I would knowe whether there be anie more true religions that is waies to serue God aright and so to come by saluation than one it will be answered no. And concerning saluation it is manifest that there neither is nor hath bene any more waies since the beginning of the worlde but Christ alone as it is set downe in expresse wordes a Iohn 15.6 I am the waie the truth and the life no man commeth to the father but by me Neither is there saluation in anie other for among menne there is giuen no name vnder Heauen whereby wee must be saued but ouelie the name of b Actes 4.12 Christ Iesus as Peter testifieth I demaund also whether this way both for the substance and manner of Gods seruice be not set downe in the worde of God alone and not elsewhere to be founde It will not be denied I trowe I am sure it cannot For if either the substance or maner of God serurce swarue from the Lordes will reuealed in his worde who knoweth whether it be allowable in his sight or no And therfore who wil aduenture to offer it vnto him These things being thus set downe I affirme that this one onely true religion (38) 38 was neuer publikelie professed this one onelie way to saluation neuer ordinarilie attained vnto since the beginning of the world vnto this day but by the word preached And it will neuer bee otherwise while the worlde standeth Enquire now of the daies of heauen that are past which were before you since the day that Adam fell from his integritie demand from the one end of the heauen vnto the other and all with one consent will answere that from Adam vnto Noach from Noach to Moses from Moses vnto Iesus Christ from his blessed appearing in the flesh vnto this present houre no face of a true church apparant without preaching no ordinarie saluation wythout preaching and this decree shall neuer bee a Gen. 3.15 iud 14. gene 4.26 5.22 hebr 11.5 6. 2. pet 2.5 heb 11 12. 1. pet 3.19 20. genes 9.27 compared with 11.10 14.18 hebr 7.1.8 gala 3.8.6.9 rom 4.3 hebrews 11. the whole chapiter gene 45.6 12.12 17.9 18 19. hebr 12.17 geness 48 49 the two whole cha 50.24 25. exo 3.7 actes 7.20 hebr 11.23 iob 33.23.24 deute 33.9.10 mala 2.5.7 nehem 8.4.8 hezra 7.2.5 hebr 4.2 psa 95 7 8. and 78.5 6. acts 15.21 and 3 22. deute 18.15 heb 1.1.2 Iud. 1.5.1 1. cor 1.21 ephes 4.11 rom 10.14 chaunged I doe not denie but that the Lorde may if hee will saue those who neuer heard or shall heare Sermon in all their liues But wretches as we are what is that to vs Wee haue no warrant to hope for anye such saluation Nay if anie will presume that they may come into heauen not submit themselues vnto the voice of the Preacher I dare tell them were they the greatest potentates vnder Heauen that they shall neuer be saued I woulde to GOD then my brethren that as manie of you as liue this day whereas there is no preaching coulde consider in what an hopelesse condition you liue I know you feele not your own misery if you did you would not continue in it to gain a thousand worlds Although it woulde be the ioie of my soule to see you in the way to heauen where in now you are not yet it wil not be the losse of a button vnto me though you shoulde all of you go to hell and therfore whatsoeuer I write it is doone in good will towardes you of loue and compassion towardes your miserie Deceiue not your selues then ye are not in the estate of saluation hauing neuer enioyed the worde O you are in hell labour to come out in the shadow of death seeke for the sunne of righteousnesse to shine vpon you I will pawne my soule that you are heires of perdition and shall surely go to hell for aught any man knoweth vnlesse you bee otherwise taught than hitherto you haue bene Verely the diuell himselfe may as well hope to be saued as you can who neuer saw the beautie of their feete that bring saluation God will not be mocked at your hands Are you not reasonable men Haue you not soules to be saued Woulde you not bee shrowded from euerlasting woe vnder the wings of Iesus Christ Why then striue you not for the word preached If the Lord shoulde summon you at this houre before his iudgement seate haue you anie thing to shewe why hee may not proceede against you with the sentence of iustice (39) 39 in pursuing you with his eternall cursse for the breach of his lawe What will you answeare for your selues when indeede you shall be arraigned before God and his angelles for contemning the woorde preached I speake now vnto the gentlemen people of Wales will you pleade that the fault was not in you because you haue beene deceiued by those whom the Lorde in his iust indgement hath raised vp to obscure the light of his gospel in this our age I meane the racke-maisters and tormenters of Gods blessed worde who laying the same vppon the racke haue constrained it to confesse what it neuer meant as either that reading is preaching which is senslesse or that men may be saued without preaching which is diuellish This will not serue the turne Wil you protest that you woulde gladly haue hadde preaching It is not so For you neuer as yet opened your mouthes for the same And nowe being stirred therevnto it shall appeare what little reckoning you make thereof by your carelesse enterprises that way One thing more I will say that for anie meanes you haue to be saued in the most congregations in Wales you shall be firebrands of hell Let the magistrates
in the meane time see how well the Lorde is serued vnder their gouernement See you vnto this my Lord or els the cursse of God wil light vpon you for your carelesnesse in this point Hath the Lord called you to be lorde president of Wales vnder her Maiestie to the ende you shoulde fit still when you see your people runne vnto hell and the Lord so notably dishonoured vnder your gouernement The estate of Wales not being amended by your meanes the poore people shall die in their sins and be damned but their bloud will the Lord require at your hands If you say it lieth not in you to build vp our breaches or that you are otherwise emploied and so can not intend this worke that which a seelie olde woman replied vpon Philip king of Macedonie shall be your answeare Shee cryed for iustice at the kings hande and that her cause might be heard the king answered that hee was not at leisure No quoth she then be not my king So my Lord with reuerence be it spoken vnto your Honour if it lie not in you to bring Wales vnto the knowledge of God or if your leisure will not serue thereto then bee not the Lorde president thereof That it essentially belongeth vnto your calling to see all within Wales taught by the woorde preached is prooued by reason that you are gouernor ouer all For you ought to acknowledge your selfe ruler ouer none that doe not subiect themselues at least outwardly vnto true religion because that all whosoeuer are vnder anye mannes iurisdiction ought to keepe a Exod. 20.10 and 12.48 49 Numb 9.19 the Sabboth so that if anie Turke papist or other pagan idolatour remaine in any our cities or townes he ought to be compelled to conforme himselfe to the outward seruice of the true God or expelled This is shewed by the practise of a Neh. 13.15.21.40 Nehemias Now it is a cleere case that no people can keepe the Sabboth (40) 40 hauing not among them the exercises required by the Lorde to be practized on the Sabboth And what exercises of the Sabboth can there bee there where the worde preached is wanting Gouernors my Lorde must gouerne vnder God They haue no allowance to be rulers wher the Lord is not serued where he hath no acknowledgement of superioritie there man hath no commission from him to beare rule Satan hath a kingdome my Lord where Christ ruleth not And dare you be Satans lieuetenant Consider psalm 2. 101.7.8 doe you make no conscience to be regent where the scepter of christs word beareth no sway especially not labouring by all meanes possible that it may haue the authoritie It hath pleased God to sende the word into your honours familie If you would declare vnto the world which thing you ought to be careful of that the power of the worde hath touched your verye soule with a conscience to serue your God you can neuer doe this as long as you haue no care that the Lorde bee glorified in as many as he hath committed vnto your gouerment You are here diligently to take heede then least you deceiue your heart in perswading it of the Lords fauour towards you if he hath not made it carefull to build vp the ruines of Ierusalem Hereby also all the magistrates vnder the sunne may vnderstande that howsoeuer they mainteine the truth of religion yet they haue flatly denied the power of godlines vnles they seriously endeuor to draw their subiects out of the snares of blindnes and ignorance They are further to know that the Lord requireth the very same thing at their handes as a demonstration of their loue towards him which he did of b Ioh. 21.15.16 Peter Howbeit in another manner Saying magistrates loue you me Then see that all the people committed to your charge be fed with knowledge Magistrates loue you me then traine vp your people in my feare Magistrates loue you me then take heed that I be rightly honored of your people The trueth of the things here set downe concerning the magistrates duetie being as stable as the heauens themselues it shal be your H. part to answere the Lord no otherwise then by the execution of those thinges which he hath so necessarily and fatally layde vppon your shoulders Wey them good my Lord and let not another yere of your Presidentshipp passe ouer your head before Wales of a daughter of wrath bee made an heire of mercie and fauor which the Lord graunt I am now to come vnto our Byshops and the rest that supplie the place of ministers in Wales who in asmuch as they are the verye ground-worke of this our miserable confusion must not thinke much to haue the words of the holy Prophets in times past spoken against their predecessors the wicked prists and Leuites applied vnto them But in this place being fallen into this a 2. Tim. 3.1.2 iangling and pratling age of the worlde wherein faith and the power of religion is thought by the most part to consist onely in the detestation of Byshops and withstanders of reformation I confesse from my heart that I haue bin hardly drawne to deale with this wicked generation Not because I would haue these cormorants vntouched but lest I should seeme to feede the humors of busi-bodies b 1. Tim. 14. 6.20 2. Tim. 16.23 who increasing themselues still vnto more vngodlines thinke nothing so well spoken or written as that which is satyricall and bitingly done against L. Bysh and the rest of that stamp As I would not nowrishe this frantike conceit in any so far beit I shoulde allowe with my silence the butchers and stranglers of the soules of my deare countrimen Who if they be not driuen by this warning to looke better to their charges I will hereafter so decypher their corrupt dealing that the very ayre it selfe shal be poysoned with the contagion of their filthinesse They who are not guiltie or not touched in the speache following Wales is said to be in a tollerable condition for it hath had many preachers of a long time The more shame then for them that it hath had no more teaching This I dare affirm and stand to that if a view of all the registeries in Wales be taken the name of that shire that towne or of that parishe cannot bee found where for the space of six yeres together with in these 29. yeeres a godly learned minister hath executed the dutie of a faithful teacher and approued his ministery in any meane sort And what then should you tell me of Abbey lubbers who will take no paines though they be able If I vtter an vntruth let me bee reprooued and suffer as a slanderer if a trueth why shall I not be allowed I know very wel that to speake any thing at all in these dayes against the Clergie men is to speake in Bethel with poore a Amos 7.12.13 Amos to prophesie in the kings court and so to
be busie in matters of state Miserable daies Into what times are we fallen That theeues and murtherers of soules the very paternes and patrons of all couetousnes proud and more then popelike tyrants the very defacers of Gods trueth vnlearned dolts blind guides vnseasonable and vnsauory salt drunkardes adulterers foxes and wolues mire and puddle to be briefe the very swinestie of all vncleannes and the very ignomie and reproche of the sacred ministery cannot be spoken against but this will be straightwayes made a matter against the state And therfore although all the miserie all the ignoraunce all the prophanenesse in lyfe and conuersation hath beene for the most part by meanes of our Bishops and our other blinde guides yet may not a man affirme so much with any safety least he be said to be a mutinous and factious fellowe and one that troubleth the state For mine owne part the prophet Malachi shall deale with you and let the reader consider whether his wordes ought not in a fearful sort to strike and astonishe you A sonne a Mal. 1.6 saith the Prophet honoureth his father and a seruaunt his maister if then I bee a father b Read Mala. 1. 2. chap. where is mine honour if a maister where is my feare saith Iehouah of hostes vnto you O ye Bishops of VVales that despise his name If you say wherein haue we dispised him it wil be answered that you offer the blind the lame and the maimed vnto the holie ministery and say it is no euill and so dispise the Lords name bicause you say the Lords ministery is not to be regarded For seeing you your selues knowe and all VVales knoweth that you haue admitted vnto this sacred function rogues and vacabounds gadding about the countrey vnder the names of schollers spend-thrifts and seruing men that made the ministerie their last refuge seeing you permit such to bee in the ministerye as are knowen adulterers knowen drunkardes theeues roisters most abhominable swearers euen the men of whome Iob speaketh c Iob. 30.1.8 who are more vile then the earth doe you not say that the Lords seruice is not to be regarded if you any longer either tollerate others or continue your selues to bee theeuishe non-residents and so sterue the soules of poore innocents do you regard the Lords honour and the saluation of his people Is the law of truth sound in your mouthes Do ye conuert any from iniquitie It should be so indeed a Mala. 1.7 For your lips should preserue knowledge and the ignorant should seeke the law at your mouthes for you ought to bee the messengers of Iehouah b Mala. 2.9 of hosts But may this testimony bee giuen of you I feare me no Nay rather bicause all the world seeeth that iudgement vppon you which the prophet denounced against the prelats of his daies namely that you are vile and contemptible in the sight of the people for what is more contemptible among the best and basest of our people then to be a Priest yea a priestly Lord-Bishop I can iudge no otherwise of you but that you haue not kepte the waies of Iehouah gone out of the way caused many to fall by the law c Deut. 33.10 mala 2.6 and corrupted the couenant of Leuy And will you still continue in these transgressions God forbidde Be awakened nowe at the length considering where vnto you are called Vndergo that calling no longer which you are not able to discharge I speake vnto you all euen vnto you that will be accounted Lord-Bishops though it bee to the Lordes d Luke 22 25. 1. pet 5.3 mar 10.43.43 ier 5.31 dishonour Let the cursse of damned soules cleaue no longer vnto you For it perceth deeply You are one day to giue a reckoning for your mercilesse dealing with pore soules Let not the wicked Papists haue anye more cause to vpbraid the ignorāce of our people as they haue done in that pamphlet which they threwe abroad the last year to seduce our simple people The confutation wherof if legendarie fables wherewyth that skroul is fraught the translation of some part of R.P. his resolution of Didachus Stella Dionysius Carthus deserueth a confutation I shall publish when the Lord shall giue oportunitie If their brutish slaunders will not mooue you let the wordes of Paule stirre you forward whereby from heauen in most Patheticall and earnest sort he speaketh vnto euerie one of you seuerally in the person of Timothie a 2. Tim. 4.1.2 (41) 41 I adiure or charge thee therefore sayth he before God and before the Lord Iesus Christ preach the woord be instant in season and out of season improue rebuke exhort with all long suffering and doctrine Obey this charge or doubtles most irksom shal be your dānation Is it not a shame that Ieremie may crye b Iere. 27.1 that our lande is defiled by such as you are yea in my house haue I found their wickednes saith Iehouah Are not we the inhabitaunts of Wales as odious in the sight of our God as the inhabitants of Gommorrah seeing he c Iere. 8.14 seeth filthines in you our prophets and euerie of you from the greatest to the lowest is giuen to couetousnesse and dealeth falselye d Iere. 23.14 And what with your loitring idlenesse insufficiencie and euil life e Iud. 11. you strengthen the hands of the wicked that none can returne from his wickednes Wo be vnto you all for you haue followed the waye of Caine and are cast away by the deceit of Baalams wages Woe bee vnto you that account it pleasure to liue delitiously for a season vppon the price of soules you shal receue the wages of vnrighteousnes f 2. Pet 2.13 weping and gnashing of teeth in the pit of hell g 1. Pet. 2.15 What comfort is it for you to forsake the right way for a little worldly promotion seeing the blacknes of euerlasting destruction is reserued for you What maye hir Maiestie and the H. I. L. of hir counsell thinke you to be but the curssed shepheards that scatter their flockes seeing you haue not turned your people from their euill waies h Ierem. 23.22 Ieremy prooueth you to be such Therefore wo be to the shepheards of Wales saith Iehouah which feede themselues should not the shepheards feed their flocks you eat the far and cloath you with the wooll a Ezech. 34.23 but you feede not the flocke The sentence pronounced by the Lord against you b Ezech. 34.10 shal be execured with out doubt in the time thereof if you continue still in your vngodlye course Take this from mee also that vnlesse you forsake your idlenes those personages and those chaires of pestilence wherein you sit I mean your Bishops seas will spue you out And the Lorde I hope will make them so abhominable and reprochfull that all men fearing God will be afraid hereafter to enter into those seas of Dauids Asaph Bangor and Landaff
by reason of the character of sure destruction that hee will imprint on as manie as shall supplie your places And I trust in the Lord Iesus to see his church florish in wales when the memorie of Lord-Bishops are buried in hell whence they came Beare witnesse hereof you adges to come And giue you ouer your places or doutlesse the plague and cursse of God will eat you vppe You are vsurpers you tyrannize ouer the Lords people I haue other things to do then to be a contentious man one with whome the whole world should be at debate and I am guiltie vnto my selfe of sins which giue me iust cause to look vpon the ground I haue also a life whereof there is no cause I thanke God I should bee weary notwithstanding this I offer to loose the life of my body before man and the life of my soule before the Lord if I do not prooue that both you our non-residents and you our Lord Bishops of VVales in that you be non-residents and Lord-Bishops cannot be warranted by gods word yea or vtterly condemned by the same and that all magistrates who tollerate such as you are to be vnder their gouernment are guiltie of a fearefull sinne before the Lord. And that the Pope of Rome hath as good warrant yea the verie same warrant for his papall dignitie although I know three differences betweene you and him first hee is a professed Idolater secondlie claimeth authority ouer all pastors thirdly is subiect to no ciuill magistrat that you haue for the maintenance of your papall hierarchy ouer al the Pastors in your dioces which indeed is palpable Anarchie in Gods church If I proue not these things let me be burnt aliue cal me to mine answere when you wil thus I leaue you As for you our dumbe ministers I know you for the most part to be seelie men poore soules that made the ministery a meanes to liue in the world What should I say vnto you who maye say of your selues as did the foolishe Prophetes Though wee weare a surplice black garments to deceiue a Zach. 13.5 (42) 42 yet are we but plaine husbandmen c. Surelie the people may aske counsell as well of their thresh-houlds or desire their staffes to teach them knowledge as come vnto you for anie instruction You are no ministers as I haue and againe wil prooue you do most villanously prophane the sacraments and call for the wrath and vengeance of God to be powred vpon you (43) 43 Giue ouer your places or surely I do not see how it is possible you should be saued Better were it to liue poorelye heere for a time then to be damned for euer It is reason your outward estate should bee considered The Lorde will prouide for you your wiues and chidren if of conscience you leaue the ministery and the magistrate is bound not to see you want You liue nowe vppon stealth sacriledge and the spoile of soules The Lord open your eies my brethren the people of VVales to see these your plagues and to auoid them It is vnpossible you should be saued as long as you content your selues with these men their ministerie alone And the Lord open your Honors eies to reforme these confusions What the estate of my countrie is before the Lorde I haue hitherto shewed nowe in the face of the world how it standeth let vs consider That the most congregations in VVales haue wanted preaching these nine and twenty yeres I take it graunted Their case being thus I tremble to cal to mind what censure the holie ghost giueth of all them amongest whome the Gospell of saluation hath not bin preached These two places of scripture Ephes 1.13 2.11.17 conferred togither shew that they are without Christ aliants frō the common-welth of Israel haue no hope and are without God in the world for these be the verie wordes of the apostle who haue not heard of the word preached VVere the Prophet Ionas then now liuing among vs wold he not crie out O you people of Wales you are al reprobats and cast-aways O you people of Wales you are aliaunts from the communion of the true Churche O you people of Wales you are not so much as encluded within the couenāt of promise you are without al hope of heauenly blis O ye people of Wales whatsoeuer you pretend of the knowledge of the true God you are in very deede starke atheists without god as many of you as since the time you came out of the den of idolatrie and Poperie were not made pertakers of the power of God to saluation which is the gospell Of a truth my brethren there is no other true censure to bee giuen of you (44) 44 For it is impossible to make a true face of a Church appear among that nation which hath professed false religion as you haue done vnder poperie without the preaching of the woorde which you haue not enioyed In this place I am sorie I am sorie from my heart that the miserable estate of my poore countrey affoordeth the aduersarie such a demonstration to proue that we want the outwarde face of a church in the most assemblies in Wales as I know to be vnanswerable The marks of a true church a Mat. 28.18.19 out of our sauiour Christs owne wordes are gathered to be three the woord preached the right administration of the Sacramentes and the outwarde forme of gouernement Now if an Idolatrous dog of Rome should affirme that the most congregations in Wales since the time they were Romish sinagogues haue bin marked with neither of these three former markes and therefore must bee written in the blacke bill of insufficiencie to be churches of God hee were able to prooue both the one and the other and we with confusion of face should bee driuen with Hezekias seruants to answer this Rabshaketh not a word For b 2. King 18.36 alas what might be our answere c 1. Pet. 1.21 Begotten again out of the wombe of popery by the word preached most of our assemblies haue not beene As for Discipline our Prophets are not ashamed publikelie to professe that they will not bee reformed by it If we would flie vnto the testimonies that wee might haue from the Sacraments the Lord himselfe will denie it to be possible for them to haue bene rightlie vsed among vs. Which I wil proue by many reasons that my countrey-men may be driuen to seek the remedie if anye thing can driue them of such a pitifull condition as wherein they nowe are being without the woord without the true vse of the Sacraments without Christes holy gouernement by the knowlege of that righteous one who is said a Esay 53.11 thereby to iustifie many Let no man doe me the iniurie to report that I denie anye members of Christ to be in Wales I protest I haue no such meaning and would die vpon the perswasion that the lorde hath his chosen
woulde haue some more stuffe in it than the other for the dumbe ministerie I coulde be well as large in shewing the insufficiencie of the reason as I haue beene already in the whole treatise But I make some conscience of being tedious and therefore I content my selfe with this I haue spoken being ready many wayes to make the weakenesse of it appeare when it shall be requisite I go forward They (4) 4 of whom the Lorde saith a Ierem. 23.21 I haue not sent these although they runne I haue giuen them no commission to deliuer a Sacrament although they are permitted to profane the outward element are no ministers and it is a sinne to communicate with them They are no ministers because the Lord sent them not Do not mistake me b Matth. 7.22 for a wicked hypocrite is sometimes sent of the Lord. It is a sinne to receiue at their hands because we can not ground our assurance vpon the Lords promise that we may haue a Sacrament by their ministerie For the Lorde hauing giuen them no allowance to deliuer the same haue we anie promise to receiue it of them So that the Lorde may say vnto vs receiue and you will of vnpreaching ministers for aught you knowe it is no sacrament Another reason (5) 5 whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne but to communicate with vnsufficient men is not of faith bicause we haue no promise that they can deliuer vs the Sacraments and therfore to communicate with such is a sinne Againe we (6) 6 haue no warrant to receiue an c Rom. 4. extraordinary sacramēt but that which is administred by ignorant ministers is an extraordinarie sacrament if it be any Because according vnto the ordinance of God a preacher is onelie to deliuer the same therefore we haue no warrant to receiue it And what dare wee vndertake with out warrant from the Lordes mouth Belike then will some man say that is no Sacrament which hath bin administred by these who were not preachers and so the most nowe liuing in this age are either not baptized or must be rebaptized The disgrace that is brought vpon the cause as though it went aboute to enforce rebaptisation is easilie wiped away For the action performed is not denied to be a sacramēt though it were As I do not deny that whiche hath bene done to bee a sacramence so if any can prouē it to be non I wil not withstand him yet I would wish none to be rebaptized for many causes First we are already receiued into the bosome of the church and acknowledged to haue the seale of the couenant in as much as wee were once offered and receiued into the number of the godly by the outward element though corruptlie To what ende then shoulde baptisme serue vs againe Secondly the absolute necessitie of baptisme to saluation by this meanes might seeme to be maintained Thirdly least we shoulde seeme to agree with the hereticall Katabaptists If these reasons can be answered I see neither heresie nor error in being rebaptized Fourthlye other Churches haue not publikelie decided the cause Fiftly that the practise shoulde not inforce them to be rebaptized which haue beene alreadie baptized by such as had commission from the Lord to deale in those mysteries Lastly they who being now in the age of discretion haue beene baptized by idoll-ministers are either called or not called to saluation if called why should they be rebaptized seeing alreadie they haue beene made partakers of the outward element and accounted in the number of christians If not called neither should they be baptized vntill they declared by their works that they were Gods children Concerning the controuersie then whether the element administred by an ignorant man be a sacrament being once deliuered deliuered I would wishe all men in modestie to abstaine from so vngodlie a iar because it tendeth not to edificaion and it is not the point it is not the question A priuate communion ministred to one alone may be a sacrament What then are men to receiue at home beeing sicke No for it is a sinfull breach of Gods institution In like sort Baptisme or the Lords supper administred by a dumbe minister may be a sacrament I affirme readers to be no ministers for any thing that is raueled in the word that they can deliuer no sacrament and yet that which hath bene done by them may be be a sacrament and what contrarietie is there id these assertions is it therfore lawfull to receiue it In no wise because it is a sinne and that is sufficient to terrifie anie from that action It hath beene before conuinced for a sinne and again is thus proued to be no lesse It 7 is a sinne either to receiue the Sacraments at the handes of those who are not ministers or to testifie them to bee ministers vnto whom the Lord hath denied that function But they that communicate with dumbe ministers committe either of these sinnes If they saye they doe not receiue at their handes who are not Ministers then they testifie them to be ministers and so are fonnde to gaine-say the Lord. For they say readers are ministers the Lord saith no. Whether shall we beleue That 7 the Lord sayth no and prooueth it no I thus prooue Hee sayth that there is no minister a Mark 28. mar 16.16.1 cor 3.7.1 pet 4.10 but a preaching minister by his institution If it be thoght other-wise then it must be prooued that the Lorde in his word hath ordayned els the confusion that euery priuat mā may administer the sacramēts must ensue two sortes of ministers to deliuer the seales of saluation the one preachers the other not able to preach Shew an vnpreaching minister out of the woord and I will yeelde Out of this reason manie arguments might bee drawen As first that readers 8 are not ministers of b 1. Cor. 21. rom 10.14.1 pet 2.5 2.22 saluation 8 and therefore ought not to deale with the seales thereof Secondly they can not 9 increase our vnion with Christe 9 Thirdly are of them selues ministers 10 10 of damnation onely because that keeping men from the foode of life they starue them and so worke their damnation with manye other which I omitte saue these following We neither 11 ought to receiue at their handes 11 neither ought they to deliuer the Sacraments vnto vs who haue not power by vertue of their publike ministerie to engraffe an infidell into Christ Bare readers haue not this power For by vertue of the publike ministerie this is the proper worke of a Preacher therefore they neither ought a Rom. 10.14 to deliuer the sacramentes vnto vs neither ought we to communicate with them Further 12 12 they that come to a publike minister rather then to a priuate man for the seales of saluation either profanelie consider not what they doe or professe that they would haue the assurance of
point you must or soake for euer in your owne confusion Difficulties in this case must not bee alleadged for if you seeke the Lorde with a sure purpose to serue him hee hath made a promise to be found of you b Prou. 2.16 Away then with those speaches how can we be prouided of preaching our liuinges are impropriated possessed by swine as nonresidents and hierlings Come by it as you can you shall goe to hell vnlesse you haue it A goodlie matter Is there no way to remooue these beasts by supplication to hir Maiestie c. and to place better in their steade Indeede you will seeke none Be it you can not remooue them Can you bestowe noe more to be instructed in the waye of life then that which law alreadie hath allienated from your possessions You neuer made account of your tythes as of your owne For shame bestow some thing that is yours to haue saluation made knowen vnto you Contemne not the grace of God offered vnto you in these daies of your peace For if you refuse to com vnto the Lord when he calleth behold your answer when you call for mercy at his handse There is a time a Prou. 1.24.30 of repentaunce indeede but that is limited according vnto the Lords will and not mans What should I take the paines to shewe howe ministers and their liuings may bee prouided for in Wales Seeing I see none readie as yet to entertain the worde and that which hath bene done heretofore in this point is not practized When anye are willing to entertaine counsell for this matter I dout not but it will be an easie consultation Not to doe in some place what may bee doone because euerie place cannot bee furnished with learned ministers and their liuinges is but to deride the Lorde to his face and delude his people of their saluation The inhabitants of the citie Thasus being besieged by the Athenians made a lawe that whosoeuer would motion a peaco to bee concluded with the enemie shdulde die the death Their citie began to bee distressed the people to perishe both with the swoorde and famine Hegetorides a citizen pitying the estate of his countrey tooke an halter about his necke came into the iudgement place Spake My maisters deale with me as you will but in any case make peace with the Athenians that my countrey may be saued by my death My case is like this mans I know not my daunger in wtiting these things I see you my dere natiue countrimen perish It pitieth me I come with the rope about my necke to saue you howsoeuer it goeth with me I labour that you may haue the Gospel preached among you though it cost mee my life I thinke it well bostowed And seing I seeke nothing hereby but the glorie of God and your saluation what deuils will be so shameles as to molest me for this worke and hinder the word preached If any such shall bee found I wishe them to consider before the deale with me what the Apostle setteth downe a 1. Thes 2.15 concerning the persecutours of those that seeke for preaching and the hinderers thereof namely that they please not God and are euen contrarie vnto all men and this their doing is a sealed writing that the vengeaunce of GOD will come vpon them to the full Answere it howe they may Be it as it will bee my comfort is the testimonie of my conscience that in simplicitie and singlenes of heart not onely as in the sight of Gods children vnto whose view and censure this poore labour is offered and his aungels but as in the presence of Iesus Christ I haue behaued my self in this cause hauing before mine eies that I am one day to yeeld an account vnto his maiesty both of my good meaning and also of all circumstaunces ouer-sight vaine and idle words in the action But alasse what can proceed from me that tasteth not of old Adam and the bodie of sinne which I carie about with me whersoeuer I haue offended either in matter or maner let it be shewed and I will with mine own hands destroy that which I haue built amisse be sorye for mine ouersight the most aeger censurer of my selfe and thank them from my heart who shall admonish mee of my fault Yea but the tractate concerning the Idoll ministerie tendeth to stirre vp my countrimen hir Maiesties subiects whereto To feele in what a miserable case they are before God and the worlde being without the word without the administration of the sacraments and without Christes holie discipline and in regarde thereof dutifully to entreat hir Maiesty and their honors that it may be redressed Truth And woulde to God they felt it To mislike of the ecclesiasticall gouernement nowe established among vs truth for it is forrain and Antychristian for the most part To mislike of the ciuil gouernment That is a slaunder and I dare write in in my forhead for a slander But why should I deale in this cause more then others The worthies of the Lord before me in preaching and writing for a learned ministerie ye haue dealt herein If they hadde not this is my reason Though all hir Maiesties subiects yea hir faithfullest counsellers should conspire against her highnes I my selfe against them al wold defend hir and her cause to the losse of my life ten thousand times And shall not I do the like seruice vnto the Lord To ende commending you all both honourable worshipfull ministers and people vnto the Lord and the worde of his grace I take my leaue of you in that exhortation which wee read in Iob. a Iob. 23.21.22.25 Acquaint your selues I pray you with the almightie and make peace with him thereby it shall go well with you receiue I pray you the law of his mouth and lay vppe his wordes in your hearts If you returne vnto him you shal be built vppe if you put iniquitie farre from your tabernacle the almightie shal be your defence you shall make your praier vnto him and hee shall heare you Christ Iesus giue them an heart to returne vnto thee and be thou founde of them for thy mercies sake Amen Amen Amen yea come quickly Lord Iesus Your poore countrey-man who in all dutifull good will hath wholy dedicated him selfe to doe you good in the Lorde IOHN PENRI THus I haue set downe the exhortation word for word as it was in the former impressiō without the altering or deminishing of any one thing three marginall notes added sauing the faults escaped in the printing And hauing heere and there diffused my reasons against the dumb ministers which I perceiue are not so easilie to bee gathered out of the same because the most part of them were brought in for other purposes I thought good in this place to set them downe syllogistically to the end it maye appear vnto the church of God vpon what grounds I denie them to be ministers But here first the state of the
of the Church nor any in the Church but such as are prescribed in the worde which were verie impious to thinke or contained in the gifts of the magrstracie not yet seperated from his outwarde calling For the verie outward calling is it that giueth life vnto the magistracie though the person sustayning it want gifts to discharge the same The reason heereof is euident because the magistracie being an humane constitution a 1. Pet. 2.13 as the holy ghost saith is appropriated vnto his possession vpon whomsoeuer man bestoweth the same if hee bee capable to possesse though vnfit to execute what is allotted vnto him So cannot the ministerie bee vnlesse hee vpon whome the Church imposeth it be made fitte by the Lorde for the execution thereof They who thinke the essence of a magistrate any more to consist in the gifts of courage vnderstanding wisdome fearing God dealing trulie b Exod 18.21 deut 1.13 hating couetousnes the onely properties mentioned by Iethro whence this life of a magistrate is falsely gathered then the being of a minister is contained in his a 1. Cor. 4.7 faithfulnes verie inconsiderately gaine-say the Apostle Peter in the place before quoted because hereby they make the magistracie not to bee an humaine ordinaunce but an ecclesiasticall constitution prescribed in the word The obiection therefore that a minister shold be no more denied to be a minister bicause he wanteth gifts then a magistrate denied to bee a magystrate for the same defect prooueth not woorth the answering Because the Lorde hath tied a mans inherytance no otherwaies vnto him then hee hath the magistracie vnto that person or persons who haue aucthoritie to make a magistrate So that the very magistracie may bee deriued from him by the outwarde calling as well as the substantiall interest of this inheritance by the best conuaiaunce in law No such thing beeing tied vnto the Church in making a minister Because none can say they are in the possession of a ministerie who haue not the same from the Lord. And what ministerie haue our readers from him Any outward thing in the possession of man of which nature all men knowe the magistracie to be may bee conuaied really and indeed ought not alwaies I graunt vnto him vppon whomsoeuer man the possessour thereof will confer the same and there it ought to be inuiolablie inherent as long as man whose right it is to bestow it or take it away wil haue it so Hath a man lesse interest in his money because either for want of witte hee knoweth not how to vse or by his leudnes dooth abuse it Candanles a foole is no lesse a magistrate a far worse I deny not among the Lydians Herod lib. 1. Plato de reip dial 2. then Egesilaus among the Lacedemonians a wise and a politike gouernor The same is to be said of Ioab Benaiah of Licinius a persecutour and Constantine a christan emperor Tib. Ghracchus abuseth his magistracy the senate and people sin because they depriue him not but as long as they tollerat him therin the magistracie is his owne and therefore not lawfull for any priuate man by disobedience to rob him thereof And why so Because the swoorde in his hand is still the Lords sword the sedition tyrannie in him is his owne To come to the ministerie the Church maketh that wretch a minister vnto whom it will be said I a Math. 7.22.23 know thee not thou worker of iniquitie But did the Lorde by enduing him with graces meete for the ministerie say vnto him go prophesie in my name hee did Then there is a ministerie committed vnto him which is neither his nor the churches but the Lordes the same dare not I denie vntill the Lorde take it awaye for the foulnes of his handes Another commeth with the same calling of the church he sayth b I am a plain heardman a Zachary 13.5 neither prophet nor the sonne of a prophet Now Lord if it be thy will bee mercifull vnto them conuert them and disburden thy church of them but I haue my letters of orders from the Lord bishop and am in possession of the liuing I knowe no ministerie he hath And therefore I denie him to be any more a minister for his outward calling sake there Herdonius a traiterous and slauish seruant is a magistrate though by treacherie he with a company of other rogish vagabonds like him selfe hath now gotten possession of the Capitol That the spech may not seeme straunge vnto any let men way but the prerogatiue which the Lord reserueth vnto him selfe in making ministers in hys Church with the priuilege which hir Maiestie hath in ordaining magistrates within hir dominions The whole assembly of Parliament for some causes mouing them ordaine a Lord high Constable of England as France hath hir Maiestie sheweth hir publik disliking therof And that shee will hauen such officer within hir Realme is he a magistrate hee is none neither wil I acknowledge him for any as long as it shal be against hir wil pleasure to haue any such within hir dominions For what magistrate is he in this land which she saith to be none as long as the royall prerogatiue is in hir hand In like maner what minister is he in the Church of God whome the Lord denieth to be any The case is too to manifest The distinctiō that readers are ministers of iudgment that is sent of the Lorde in iudgement to punish the sinnes in this age but not ministers of the mercie and grace of God is as if they were sayd to be ministers of an ordinance neuer ordayned now farre be it we shoulde make a ministery of an ordinance neuer reuealed of an ordinaunce that is but temporary And in very deed I cannot but thinke it a very strange matter that these men who make a conscience of that which they teach being also wise and godly learned are not ashamed to be reported the forgers and setters abroach of such shifting and siely stuffe The other obiection concerning the ministery vnder Moses is as faultie For to square the ministerie of the new couenant according vnto the Leuitical priesthood is to require the Consulship of Rome to be framed after the Maioraltie of London besides manye other foule inconsequentes it hath in it I haue alreadie shewed the weaknes herof and if it deserued a further aunsweare I woulde vouchsafe it the same The reasons expressed in the booke are now to be set downe Such of them as are noted with this marke The thinges which they pretend to seeke I imbrace their seperation I detest * are some of the reasons whereby I am necessarily induced vtterly to condemne that course of those I hope fearing God who haue made a separation from those ministers in this lande their congregations who truely preache the worde And although there bee in our godly assemblies manye corruptions and more wants tollerated whiche euery Christian heart must needs abhorre
God vppon such Magistrates as tollerate them The proposition is not to be doubted off The assumption is thus prouided That gouernement and that booke whiche holdeth Iesus Christ God and man to haue prescribed no external form of gouernment in his church but such as at the pleasure of the magistrate when time and place requireth may without sinne be altered preferreth Moses before the Lord Iesus This is manifest out of the expresse word out of the text Heb. 3.2.6 Because that the Lorde Iesus beeing the sonne in this place is compared with Moses a faithful seruaunt is preferred before Moses in regarde of the externall gouernement which Moses had so faithfully prescribed as it was not to bee altered or chaunged at the pleasure of any magistrate vntill the messiah should cause the oblations to ceas a Dan. 9 27. For whatking was there euer in Iudah that without the breach of Gods lawe could euer alter the externall forme of the iewish Church in the Leuitical priesthood officers And that the comparison between the sonne and the seruant Christ and Moses is concerning the externall and not concerning the spyrituall gouernment of the inner man as D. bridges sayth it is plaine bieause that Moses had nothing to doe with the gouerning of the inner man therefore it were no prerogatiue for the Lorde to be preferred in faithfulnes before Moses b page 55. lin 30. in that thinge wherein Moses neuer dealt Nowe I assume that our fourme of Church-gouernement in Wales and this wicked booke holdeth Iesus Christ to haue ordained such an externall forme of gouernment in his Church at his departure from earth to heauen as at the pleasure of the magistrate may be altered without the brech of Gods institution which thing D. Bridges affirmeth page 55. and all our prelates will graunt that the magistrate may alter the forme of gouernement now established and therefore this gouernement and this booke preferreth Moses before Iesus Christ And I cannot see how far this differeth from blasphemie Now if Christ shuld be saide to haue ordained no externall regiment then Moses is far before him and so the thirst of superioritie in our prelates and their accomplishes is turned into extreme drunkennes of impietie by this assertion I beseech the Lord in mercie to open your Hh. eies that you may see how he and his people haue bene dealt with by retaining such lawes in force as iustle and ouerthrow the royall prerogatiue of his sonne And the Lord make you to see whether those men that defend the interest of the sonne of God in this point against the tyrannicall vsurpation of prelats and haue brought for his title vnaunswerable euidence out of the sacred records of Gods owne writings offending either in matter or circumstance in no one thing but that they haue not dealt more earnestly with your Hh. and more ronndly with the aduersaries in the right of their master haue deserued to be imprisoned thrust out of their liuings reuiled railed vppon and slaundered by vngodly and wicked prelates vnto your Hh. as seditious and discontented men with the ciuill gouernment dangerous subiects and enemies to her Maiesties crowne And surely the cause being made knowen vnto you as it is howsoeuer the Lord may beare with your ouersight heretofore in the ignorance of the waight thereof yet if you do not now abrogate and abolish such a Church gouernement wel may you hope for the fauour and entertainment of Moses that is the curse of the law but the fauour and louing countenance of Iesus Christ I doe not see how you shall euer inioy My second reason That forme of church-gouerment and booke or bookes whiche maketh the ecclesiasticall regiment to bee an humane constitution that is such a constitution as is inclusiuely acording to the word any more then the ciuill gouernment which a 1. Pet. 2.13 2. Pet. 2.10 also must be inclusiuely according to the word and so may at the magistrates pleasure be changed as the ciuill gouernment may that gouerment and that booke or bookes besides that they prefer Moses before Iesus Christ as before is a wicked gouernment and they wicked sophisticall and vngodly bookes But our gouernement in Churche causes and b page 55. this booke with all other books of this greist make the ecclesiasticall gouernment to bee nothing else but an humaine constitution whiche may bee altered at the magistrates pleasure Therefore our Church-gouernement in Wales and this booke or bookes are vngodly and wicked The proposition is prooued by these reasons First because they make no difference betweene that which belongeth to the true worship of God as ecclesiastical gouernement doth that which appertaineth vnto ciuill pollicie 2. Peter 1.3 Contrary to the Apostle who affirmeth in expres words that we haue receiued by the knowledge of God whatsoeuer belongeth vnto true religion for so the word Eusebeia translated godlines signifieth in that place wheras there was neuer yet any place of scripture found wherin we are said to haue by the knowledge of God whatsoeuer belongeth to anthropinen kteisin the ciuill magistrat called mans ordinance by the same apostle a Peter 3. â—3 Wherin those thinges which are inuented by them that neuer knew God may be inclusiuelie according to the worde Secondly Ecclesiasticall gouernement being granted to be an humaine constitution maketh the Pope to haue sufficient b warraunt out of the worde not of his idolatrous and false religion And D. Bridges auoucheth this for good doctrin as I will shew but of his superioritie ouer ciuil magistrates and al the Pastors in the Churche For why should not hee the ciuill magistrate granting him this superioritie as they vnder his iurisdiction do be allowed by the word to be aboue the Emperour and all other magistrates and ministers whosoeuer if the ecclesiasticall gouernement be an humane ordinance For I am assured that the Emperor and all other princes in Europe may chuse a magistrate superiour vnto them all if they will And why may not he be a Byshop or an Arch-bishop if the Church-gouerment be an humane ordinance or if it be lawful for either of them to be a Lord and be are ciuill office Thirdly if Church-gouernment bee an humane constitution then it may be lawful for a Church-gouernour to preach administer the sacraments ouersee excommunicate c. and to be a king For the Apostle maketh it lawfull for any supplying the place of an humane constitution lawfully to bee a king and I would they durst denie it And where then learned they that diuinitie that it is more against the word for a Bishop to be Basileus a king Hyperichon a suriour Hegamon a captaine or gouernour b 1. Pet. â— 13 Luk. 22.25 beeing titles sanctified by the holy ghost for ciuill offices then Curios a Lord Hyperpheron a prelat of the garter Euergetes a lords grace The former the latter being by our Sauiour himself forbidden vnto Bishops or
the whole land with pestilence or with blood as he is likely to do for these wadges of execrable gold it is not the pontificall Lordships of byshops at whose commaundement the lordes sword will b Ierem. 47.6 returne againe into his sheath when your gasping soules shall cry for mercy at the Lords hands it is not the proud popelike Lordships of bishops their vsurped iurisdictions their prophane excommunications their railing slaunders against Gods truth and his seruants their blasphemous breathing of the holye ghost vppon their Idol priests that will driue the Lord to giue you and coÌ„fort Let me therfore though my person bee base conteÌ„ptible entreat your Hh. that the iudgements of God against sin both in this life and in the other of eternal woe and miserie may appeare so terrible in your eies of that vndoubted consequence as you will no longer retaine vnder your gouernment these thynges whose continuance doe giue the Lord iust cause in this life to pronounce this sentence by the mouth of c Iere. 22.29.30 Ieremiah against euery one of you and execute the same O earth earth earth heare the wordes of Iehouah write these men destitude of children men that shall not prosper in their daies yea there shall not be a man of their seed that shall prosper and sit at the counsell table or beare rule in England anye more And in the life to come to saye moreouer these a Luke 29.27 mine enemies that would not suffer mee to beare rule ouer them and their people bring hither and stay before my face yea binde them hand and foot and throw them to vtter darknes where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth And let me crauing vppon my knees with all submission and earnestnesse and more earnest if it were possible obtaine that my countrey-men by your meanes may haue the word preached euen the meanes wherby they may liue for euer with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the kingdome of heauen Graunt them this my Lords though I die for it Oh I would thinke it an happie death which shoulde make mee the first messenger to carie such ioyful newes vnto the blessed b Luke 16. Saincts and aungels in heauen as that Wales were conuerted from sinne And this the Lord knoeth is the only scope of my writing and not the discrediting and galling of our lord-bishops Let not their places withstand the saluation of my brethren and the true seruice of God among them and if euer I either write or speak more against them any further then their sears are like to bee the ruine of her Maiestie and your Hh. let it cost mee my life Heare me in this sute good my Lords the rewarde whereof your soules shall find otherwise I am likelye to become a wearisome and an importunate sutor vnto you The couÌ„tenance of that creature is as yet vnseene that shal enforce me by the lords assistance to take a deniall at your hands The cause is so iust that if it were as sometimes it was by the c Act. 17.19 Apostle himselfe decided in the Athenians Areopago a court for heathen iustice of famous and celebrated memorie I doubt not but it should be heard And shall it not haue iustice at the christian counsell table of England Iustice my Ll. I say for I seeke nothing els but that the statutes of the God of iudgement iustice may be made knowen in my deare countrie where now they are vnheard off Then the which I knowe not what can be more iust neither can I see what iustice in trueth canne bee ministred by them that neglecte this cause Verelye for mine owne part GOD ayding me I will neuer leaue the suit vntill I either obtain it at your hands or bring the Lord in vengeance blood to plead with you for repelling his own cause Here I know it will be answered that counsellors can do nothing in the matter her Maiestie hath referted all vnto the prelates in church causes They haue dealt with her they cannot they may not be heard Be it that her maiestie hath bin mooued by you for the redresse of the church you shuld do it again againe and neuer leaue vntill you be heard Great matters are neuer brought to passe without great mightie endeuours Our sinnes haue otherwise deserued then that the Lord should at the first incline mercie vnto vs in the sight of her highnes would any of you alter any part of the gouernment of his familie being perswaded by leude flatterers that all were well vnlesse the abuse were shewed you earnestly delt with for a reformation And can you blame that our soueraigne is hardly drawen to reforme the Church whose estate euen in her hearing is said daily out of the pulpit to bee most flowrishing whereas the deformitie thereof is not made knowne vnto her I knowe it is no small perswasion that should draw a Monarch to alter and establishe new lawes vnles the vnanswerable necessitie thereof were made knowne vnto hir or him Hir Maiestie knoweth not I speake as I am perswaded the exacting necessitie that lieth vpon her shouldrrs of reâ—â—â—ning the Church e She knoweth not the estate of her vntaught and damned subiects to bee as it is Wherefore serue Counsellers if her eies must be euerie where to see euerie thing And what do your Hh. see if you see not our case and lament it In this point I grant her eies should be her owne chusers but if of ouersight the waightiest matters bee omitted should not you my Ll. put her in minde hereof and in submission intreat her yea and neuer leaue entreating vntill she yeeld to turne away the wrath of God from her selfe and her kingdome by abolishing vngodly ordinances and restoring beutie vnto SioÌ„ Which of you is he that hath that doth or wil performe this duetie to our Soueraigne which of you will make knowne vnto her this which I haue written I knowe I shal be traducted and torne againe in pieces with slaunders as a seditious firebrand of newe attemptes to stir vp her people to innouation at the least let me be made knowne vnto her by this name that some way I may come to the triall of my cause in hand and my warrantable proceedings therein I am neither papist Annabaptist libertine familian one that dareth seperate himself from the godly assemblies in this lande where the worde preached soundeth nor yet one that holdeth any thing either in substance or circumstance contrary to the wholsome doctrine expressed or included in Gods reuealed word of the old and new testament therefore let me haue the benefite of a Christian if not of a christian subiect not to be condemned before my cause be hearde whiche is not mine owne but the cause of God his Churches my countries and your Hh. I haue forged the most notable slaunders that euer were coyned or else the estate of my country is most miserable and yours no lesse lamentable