surest freend to God and Gods people which ioyneth the power of the world vnto the mightines of the word the arme of Moses to the tongue of Aron the blessings of God to Gods blessed church that by vniting of both powers either may be stronger Eccle. c. 4. v. 12. that in this greatest light of diuinitie diuines should be in greatest light and reputation yea if it were but to anger the deuill in hell who like a crafty theefe as he is euer seeketh by miserable pouerty to cast them into wofull contemptible estate That vnhappie pouertie may make the men ridiculous as Iuuenall wryteth Satyra 3. or as Synesius bishoppe of Ptolomais singeth in his seconde and thirde Hymne sad pouertie may pull them from heauenly studies to earthly cares as he had learned of Agur the sonne of Iaketh or rather of experience the daughter of trueth that our preachers nowe may pronounce a seuenfold Vae and a mighty malediction ouer thē which empayre Gods tenthes or any other dues as the olde Prophets aforetime did in Iudaea Mala. c. 3. v. 8 10. Amos cap. 4. vers 4. that there is no iust cause why the papistes should be readier to magnifie their Cleargie in a false superstition then the Protestants to vphold rewarde their cleargie in a true religion why the heathen churches should be in greater reuerence with the paganes then the christian churches with the christians as the loue of good men should exceed the loue of the wicked why secular men may get their wealth by testamēt or desert spirituall men hauing the same plea both of testament and desarte may misse of their own goods and lose them by force by tyrāny hypocrisie vnder a mercifull Prince in a peaceable state in their owne natiue countrey of their own neighbors by the waiward and sophisticall wrangling of their own professors and such other deceitfull and vngodly meanes and essayes of the maker the shifter the hooker against the golden rules of vniuersalitie of antiquitie of vnanimitie which Vincentius in his commentarie standeth so well vpon Then to whom may I best liken this race of Reformers and with what may we iustly and truely compare them If I should continua similitudine resemble them to the Vipers broode that kill their owne damme which bred and brought them vp to life I am sure you that know the vse of this kind of simile and the manners of this people against their mother the Church that first bred them will say I speake trueth If in like sort I compare them to the noysome Cuckoo reckoned among other vnclean birdes in Leuiticus which must not be eaten or tasted of c. 11. v. 16 whose propertie is to starue his nest-felowes and destroy his nurce that fed him our dayly experience doth approue it and if Orus or Pïerius were aliue euen they woulde make these two naturall examples the Hierogliphickes of Reformers God graunt they be not like the vnaduised Physitian that would needes cut a veine where no danger was and thinking to ease and lighten the head where the signe was which poynt hee either forgat or neglected let the life bloud out and killed both head and heart together I pray God they prooue not like the hasty and curious husbandman that to make his trees growe in more sightly order as he thought so cropped and disarmed disarayed them that in short time they withered vp I hope in Christ they shall neuer be like that conceited harebrainde Captaine who when by grosse ouersight and blindenes he had lost the Citie in neglectigg one gate which had most neede of defence beyonde his expectation cast himselfe and his neighboures into bondage and death and as it were out of Gods blessed Paradise into the wilde fielde and hote Sunne But alas I see well they are to day like themselues yesterday and to morow like themselues to day seking this day and all other like themselues to make desperate exchanges to bring in fruitlesse amendments stūbling at strawes that hinder not the way and leaping ouer great blockes that halfe stoppe vp the way crying out vpon the godly orders and decent customes of the church as il birds that file their owne neast exclaiming against conuocation robes and graue apparrel because sometimes forsooth there hangs a straw or feather or threads end or some such great thing which a cranke a cursitour a Martin a carter threw or blewe vpon them in his terrible mocking vaine and letting passe the mōstrous vnnaturall vnlawfull vngodly vnciuil and more then Iewish vsurers whom the most learned M. doctor Wilson once her Maiesties Secretarie hath condemned in his Dialogues to the endlesse shame of gromelgayners ill occupiers by heathens by Christians by the old fathers by the auncient counsels by emperors by bishops by decrees by canons by all sectes of regions and of all religions by the gospell of Christ by the mouth of God omitting the outlandish and English corruptions or witcrafts by which and those kinde of people together if we marke well this seminarie of reformers is cheefly vpholden and boulstred out and by such companions as make the bookish vnwary Minister a cloake for their conueyances and a shadowe for their skarres It is but too true which Ptolomy wryteth in his 12. aphorisme that loue and hatred corrupt mens iudgements either in themselues by extenuating the greatest faults and by extending the least commendations or by enlarging the least faults and abridging the greatest prayses of their aduersaries which like not their proceedings Wherefore I would to Christ they would once leaue off from their vncharitable and vnwarie contradictions and be so gratiously and godly wise to take the lambe of God out of the Lions and Beares mouth as valiant young Dauid did saue his lamb with his cunning and hardy sling and taught some old shepheardes as he learned of other to keep their sheepe and lambes from hungrie and emptie and rauenous beastes of the field and of the wood Saue the lambe of God not because he hath need of your helpe but that yee may bee blessed and saued by him Hurt not the seruants of the Lambe if ye haue any foresight in you least while you goe about to drowne the poore mouse as the enuyous frog did you make your selues a pray to your enemies by the same deuise and thread which drowned him as Aesope said to Delphi for himselfe in a sillie tale conteyning a subtile and solemne precept to beware of reuenge Let vs looke vpon the Princes and heads of Israël let our noblemen allow and follow their actes which shal be renowmed and praysed for euer their offeringes shal be famous throughout all posterities no reformers or misinformers shall euer deforme and defame their good workes and good names and the sixe sonnes of Arcturus in heauen shall not continue longer then the giftes of Naason Nathaniel Eliab Elizur and the other rulers vnto Pagiel and Ahyra which giftes they gaue at the setting vp of
hundred foure score and fiue thousand Assyrians yea and the life of Sennacherib himselfe in the temple of Nisroch by the word of Esay but the sword of Gods angel and his owne sonnes by the praier of that good king Ezechias 4. Kings c. 19. Woe vnto that breach and derision of Gods Sabaoth that caused Gorgias to flie Lysias to be driuen out of Iudea the vanquishing of Ephron the astonishment and sorowfull sicknesse and suddaine death of Antiochus himselfe besides the deaths and deadly woundes of their captaines and souldiers by the arme of the honorable Machabees reuengers of Gods Sabaoth 1. Macha c. 4 5 6. and what surer plague hath Anger then hirselfe which killeth hir selfe with hir owne weapons And woe is likewise to this counterfait reformer that opposeth his Scriptum est against the clergy as the tempter his patterne opposed his Scriptum est against Christ for how can he escape the vengeance of God that maketh a iest of descant vpō our Messias the mighty lion of the tribe of Iuda because he is otherwile analogically called the meeke and louing lambe of God let him be sure he shall neuer flie from the presence of this lambe neither shall he euer hide his head safely from him whom he thus lambacketh and abuseth in his paltry reformatiue and ironicall discipline no more then Martin de Pester did in Gaunt that suddainly died in the heate of his secretariship going about to sweare men against the gospel or then Martin Sward did in England who died like a theefe among traitors when he would haue deposed king Henrie the seuenth by a set battel to install a counterfet in his place But in heauen all honour is giuen to this lambe of God that sitteth on the throne saith S. Iohn in his Reuelation and if the heauens obey him the earth cannot withstand him but all his tempting despising and ironising reformers shall laugh and perish be laughed at and such as know not or feare not the lambe of God shal be put to confusion for wishing him euil Neuertheles this glozing theologer and priuy vnderminer that would in these daies with his creatures dig vp our Church as moules and frogs haue in old time vndermined faire and strong townes according to some old and credible historians is in his earthly labours fennish coaxations persuaded for want of meekenesse and charitable insight that he doth God great seruice and honour to open his wide throate ô an Aristophanes might best handle him in his kinde to set vp a newe house in the old roome to take downe build vp that is well builded already as truly appertaining to him and his presumptuous scismaticks as the reforming of the temple of Ierusalem pertained vnto Herode or the burning of incense belonged to Vzziah who were both too bold lofty in heart and so perished in their confidence and vsurpatiō 2. Chron. c. 26. He might haue learned euen of Numa an heathen prince lege 23. That religion publicke is not subiect to any one or of king Martius lege 1. That religion is no priuate inuention and not exceed them in blind ignorance who thought in naturall reason that none is aboue God or mens soules to make them what he alone listeth as Plato by the same light of nature sawe that self-will in religion which he termeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the roote and originall of all mischiefs and inconueniences l. 10. de legibus a booke made purposely in honour of diuine matters according to the naturall light of so learned a philosopher He thinketh himselfe the preacher of humilitie and christian libertie as one Wall thought himselfe too in the daies of king Richard the second when as in plaine euident proofe he hindereth one special cause thereof I meane the authoritie and reuerence of Gods diuine lawiers and gospellers as he that readeth the third epistle of S. Cyprian will certainely iudge and would make them of true shepeheards very mercenaries of right patrons right beggers of mē in greatest account by law of nature by law of grace by all true law of reason consciēce men of small reputatiō triobolares mē of smal power of smaller abilitie of least soueraignty in vertuous exercises of christian magistracy of ecclesiasticall hospitalitie of godly correction So Iulian their Emperour tooke away the reuenues of the church that it might be the lighter and nimbler to flie into heauen as he said blessed are the poore for theirs is the kingdome of heauen whereas Christs pouertie is an example of humilitie as well for temporall christians as for spirituall vnles the laity will loose the name nature of christians and bequeath it onely to the clergy which is in the higher sort very poore needy in respect of those domesticall and politicall acts which are regularly belonging to them and in the lower sort with reuerence be it spoken of so good a company as that is or may be when God shall in mercy amend patrons most wofull and miserable in respect of that prouision which is necessary for him that would not be defectiue in his own profession If either be insufficient for life or learning altogither vnworthy of their liuing there are a great number sufficient enough that in peaceable and militar gouerment could supply their wants O sweet country and countrimen let the inheritance and succession remaine in the linage of teachers vnlesse you will haue learning leaue the earth and returne to heauen where aboue all principalities it is adored and is named no lesse thing then God then the word then maker and ruler ouer all For this reformer which is no better then a blinded and hardharted guide may say he loueth Christ the word but you and I and all good christians may hardly beleeue him because we must iudge of a tree by the fruite and neuer call it an apple tree that bringeth forth crabs wee must neuer imagine he can loue and allow Gods lawes which hateth and disaloweth the true preachers thereof and because I am assured that he cannot shew you or me or any Christian another rule and example of better credit then the law of the Lord and the gospell of his lambe both which are euer in building not in spoyling the church in helping euer not in beggering the brethren in dooing good to all companies and honest societies not in vndoing any in giuing to Caesar giuing to God not giuing that distinct part to Caesar that is due to God seing all that Caesar himselfe hath is due to God If this truth be vntruth if this light be darknesse yet all scismaticall Tees and such Cees and such Ems in the world can neuer disproue it shall we once thinke that this or that one man who is in some mens and womens supposes of a most od dispositiō and rare iudgement hath more knowledge in gouernment then Moses had the lawgiuer of Gods owne elect people so peculiarly and wonderfully called and chosen
or will any peeuish vaine and factious tongue on that side once say for his life that maister Reformer knoweth in his wisedome better then did Salomon what is best belonging and behouefull to the Church Christs beloued spouse or may the zealous bounty of Christian Emperours the deuoute giftes of noble and godly Princes the liberall adoptions of magnificent and mightie men bestowing worldly goods on heauenly vses and bequeathing mortall heritages to immortal seruices may these lawfull and iust and successiue possessions priuiledges and charters and codicilles of ecclesiasticall endowmēt and maintenance be once abrogated ought all these liberties and prerogatiues to be made voyde to be disanulled and brought vnder then which none can be or should stand in more full strength and vertue for Bishops and vnder them Elders ought no lesse to bee reuerenced of all christened soules in the churches then fathers are of their children in the familie as Heresbachius writeth in his Christiana iurisprudentia But the liuing Lord of heauen and God of peace the God of our forefathers and king of all kinges preserue and arme his owne christian children from that outrage from that desolation from such abhomination standing in the temple of God where it ought not frō such heathen turkish martinish and carterly brutish rauine and make vs like his owne Moses like his owne Salomon like all his owne godly gouerners and Christian Princes and other good men of his owne in all ages not like any other vnlike them that maintaine seminaries of schisme and malignitie that hatch the Cockatrices egge and weaue the spyders webbe and woulde make men beleeue they are for their eating and wearing which in finall proofe would eate vp and weare them out to the poysoning and vndoing of thēselues of the whole Realme and of the whole world too as may easily appeare to them which can compare consequents and antecedents together Then looke not to them but looke into Gods owne holy and faultlesse booke the onely chiefe doctor and reformer of gouernment that is by Gods gracious prouidence more common among vs then it was with grandfathers in England by print by translation by expositiō meditatiō in which booke we know the euer lasting will and testament of God more then they did wherin we learne all that pertaineth to our direction and instruction for all spirituall and temporal iurisdictions and regiments whatsoeuer Here you haue and you reade or may haue and reade the Oecomenickes and Politicks of the Hebrew common-wealth which is the most auncient and excellent of all other as Sigonius wryteth in the yeares of his best and ripest iudgement when he had intreated vpon the Athenian and Roman common-wealth in his younger dayes and by which the most and best Nations of the earth haue bin taught and ruled to this present day in all good counsels in all great affayres in euery good intendment or order in personall and actionall and reall causes In this heauenly and righteous booke the same hande of Moses which gaue the Hebrews lawes from aboue and said Thou shalt not steale from the Clergie or Laitie thou shalt not couet thy neighbors house or any thing that he hath in the church or out of the church doth also institute and ordeyne that the measure of the sanctuarie should be much more then the measure of the congregation and the weight as much more againe the sanctuarie seruing God and his ministers the Elders of the Leuites and the high Priest set ouer them the other belonging to the people of Israël and other tribes only among themselues who reckoned in their accounts to the tribe of Leuie two for one and double for single as the sicle and talent of the Sanctuary was as much more as the sicle and talent of the congregation the cubite much more euen a hand breadth which is named a great cubite Ezech. c. 41. v. 8. c. 43. v. 13. Exodus c. 30. v. 13. Leuit. c. 27. v. 25. Num. c. 18. v. 16. Cenalis tomo 5. fol. 87 88 89. and tomo 9. fol. 133 134 c. Whose zealous example and godly deuotion all good men and women that loue God and his rulers ought readily to followe yea much more willingly and earnestly in this light of the trueth that shineth out among vs nowe then other did in time of ignorance next past whose reddinesse notwithstanding was more forwarde then our least we learning more and doing lesse then they be beaten with more terrible and wofull stripes according to Christs owne sentence in Luke c. 12. v. 47. Neyther yet Moses the soueraigne teacher and Lord of the Hebrews staied there but God bad him command the people of Israël and in them all true Israelites for euer to giue the cleanest the purest the fattest and lustiest of the sacrifices of lambs and goates and other cattell the tenths and first-fruites of all fruite vnto Gods vses Gods seruices Gods seruitors and euery thing that belonged to the church and sanctuary both liuing and dead both agent and instrument to bee appointed in the best and goodliest manner that could be deuised beside other certaine and determinate prescriptions giuen indefinitely by God himselfe agreing with that eternall statute of S. Paul 1. Cor. c. 14. where lastly he chargeth them in the name of the holy spirit which he verily beleeued to be in him both to keepe a good order alwaies and specially to haue a special care of adorning and bewtifying it with all seemely supplements or additions euen as the circumstance of the place or the time or the person may deserue and require In this consideration when the Hebrews vsed mettals for the sanctuary they were cleere and pure in the highest degree their wood must euer be that durable Sethim and the best or smoothest their oyle the sweetest and cleanest their frankincense the brightest their odors pleasantest their sacrifices males without blemish their flower similage and no meaner their fruits of the fairest trees the place of offring without all foulnesse the fatte must be the Lords and if any man eat it he shal be cut of from his people their musick choicest of all sorts harpes and trumpets and cymbals and organes and psalteries and other instruments together with lowde harty voices their vestures and garments of finest linnen and finest silke furnished with gold and precious pearle their workemen the most famous and cunning that could be gotten the churchmen without deformities of body comely and cleanly as it euidently and notably appeareth in Exodus from the 25. chapter to the 32 and in Leuiticus almost throughout and much elswhere For seeing these outward and momentany goods are not our but the good blessings of our God lent and giuen vs for his vse and glory then iudge I pray to whom they may so rightly or truly belong by way of dispensation as to Gods owne spirituall and temporall ministers which in all earthly and heauenly businesse and actions serue him and his
A THEOLOGICALL DISCOVRSE OF THE LAMB OF GOD AND HIS ENEMIES Contayning a briefe Commentarie of Christian faith and felicitie together with a detection of old and new Barbarisme now commonly called Martinisme Newly published both to declare the vnfayned resolution of the wryter in these present controuersies and to exercise the faithfull subiect in godly reuerence and duetiful obedience Speake these things and exhort and rebuke with all authoritie let no man despise thee saith S. Paul to Titus c. 2. v. 15. PATERE ET POTIRE SVRSVM LONDON Imprinted by Iohn Windet for W.P. Anno. 1590. TO THE MOST NOBLE and vertuous Lord the Lord Robard Deuoreux Earle of Essex RIght Honorable my very good Lord your fauourable affection hath bene euer so euident and your bountifull hand alvvaies so open vnto me that I can neuer vvillingly come vnto you vvithout some schollerly exercise or other The readiest at this instant though perhaps not the fittest altogither is a theologicall treatise or diuinitie Discourse vpon the chiefe or rather onely point of christian Religion vvhich I here offer vp if percase your Lordship vvill at the most fauourably admit it into your studie or at least affectionately allovv it as one small part of my dutie and thankfulnes for vvhich only cause I present it not in any other respect euen vpon former premisses heretofore since your Lordships being in Cambridge to this daie not for any future consequents hereafter the Booke desireth not your speciall patronage it is not vvorthie of so honourable a specialitie neither may I trouble your excellent Lordship vvith Theologicall peculiars and proprieties further then as they belong generally to all noble and true Christians In defending and maintaining the religion of their God and faith of their country as the principall ground and very roote of all their ovvne politicke defence and maintenance Herein I remember the common voice of schollers and souldiers of citizens and yeomen of gentlemen their betters That the Noble Earle of Essex is behind none but afore the rest euer ready and more forward then the forwardest in Gods battels and his Princes quarrels with horse and speare to ouerthrow ouerrun Gods foes and hir enemies euen in their owne gates euen in Portugale it selfe a gallant kingdome the most venturous place of such enemies euen at their most populous and royall cittie Lysbon approuing his vertue with as much and haply more felicitie absit assentationis suspitio neque enim soleo auribus verba dare then euer Alexander himself did his valiancy at the cittie Malla Q. Curtius l. 9. neuer vnready with good words and magnificent deedes to honour his Prince or ennoble his countrie when God and Right shall employ him neuer vnready to help any man no not any common man no not with hazarding of his owne person in common sight which I trust is garded with good angels and in truth no hazarding and now lately by vnhorsing himself he mercifully saued a poore wounded souldier from the mouth of the sword therein equall or somewhat comparable with the foresaid great Alexander in right manly nature and honourable disposition that so gratiously relieued and reuiued a silly frosen souldier in his owne chaire at the fire Valer. Maximus l. 5. c. 1. but assuredly euen beyond him adsit bonus candor bono lectori in brooking the rough sea water at Peniche neere Noua Lisbona more easily all day then he did the gentle riuer Cydnus at Tarsus in Cilicia one halfe quarter of an hower Q. Curtius l. 3. When I remember these such Honorable famous reports cōmonly deliuered of my vvorthie good Lord among many other men of Superiour qualitie I am right hartilie glad to see my lot in so faire a ground as to ovve dutie thanks to that Noble good Earle which is so couragious vvith his yeares knovvledge and so courteous vvith his knovvledge and yeares vvhich more and more increaseth that most excellent opiniō euer heretofore conceiued of him for moral and martiall proceedings vvhich vvith prosperous novv renovvned vertue fretteth enuie in peeces neuer teareth himselfe I pray God He may alvvaies vvith all blessed increase be like himselfe that for action is naturally borne Al Hart of his Noble Father for Instruction since his death is artificially made All Studious of his careful Tutor for higher direction counsell hath made al notable choise for ioyful successe vvill assuredly proue All Happie by Gods diuine assistaunce But I must not seeme long vvithout cause lesse I become tedious vvithout effect Novv therfore I most humbly beseech my Noble good Lord only to receiue this little Pamflet for an vnfained remembrance infallible proofe of my continual dutie thankfulnes desiring no further regard or revvard any vvay then his Honour in vvoonted fauour shal thinke good seeing It is old inough best at leysure to speake for it selfe vpon any contingent of confutation or disliking that may ensue With vvhich dutie I daily still and stil recommend your vertuous studies valiant acts to al good and admirable successe euen beyond the impeachment or compasse of doubtfull and deceitfull fortune through the blessed sonne of God the blessed lamb of God our blessed God our blessed Sauiour to the full fruition of his grace euermore redounding in your vvoorthie and noble mind Your Honours in all bounden duty R. H. T.D. Hexasticon siue gratulatio in Theologicon R.H. Cedite sectarum primates cedite puri Harueius patriae seruiet atque Deo Non curat fatuos nō christomastigas audit Non credit placitis principiisque nouis Perge liber certa ingenii praedictio recti Et patriae populo principibusque place Vnio gemmarum Regina Mat. c. 9. v. 37 38. Luke c. 10. v. 2. The haruest is great but the labourers are fevve pray ye therefore the Lord of the haruest that he vvould sende more labourers into his haruest A THEOLOGICALL Discourse of the Lambe of God and his Enemies IF I shoulde reason about the choise of a text to examine which is most fit for vs then at the first this ioyfull and marueilous peace in our daies setteth before mine eyes that sentence of Christ in the gospel by S. Iohn c. 13. v. 35. By this all men shall know that ye are my disciples if ye haue loue one to an other And then this whole realme which no doubt is in high fauour with God for hauing fed so many zealous confessors and constant martyrs of righteousnes as euen some of our selues may remember and the godly booke of Monumentes will euer witnesse layeth open vnto mee this saying of Christ in the gospell after S. Matthew c. 10. v. 39. He that looseth his life for my sake shall saue it These and other good causes of like effect call for other tenours and texts of Scripture Yet because peace by long quietnes bringeth securitie in our carnall natures and naturall bodies security by forgetfulnes breedeth a cold or coole faith
a rhetoricall rule were more precious then a morall neyther Irenaeus nor Epiphanius nor other old or yoong schollers are blasphemous for repeating the blasphemies of written heresies he that knew Alipius well did not once thinke him guilty of theft because he studied in the place and by chaunce handled the hammer and other tooles that a robber left there S. Augustine would not accuse him more in his confessions to God then those hasty fellowes which tooke them out of his hands and handled those instruments more then he had done he is strangely wise that feareth shadowes and yet taketh his enemy by the hand that strayneth at a gnat and swalloweth a camell that condemneth an heresie in one schoole and yet commendeth it in another that thinketh no mans gowne whole cloth but only his owne as Aristotle iudged all writers erroneous beside himselfe He was without doubt in some points an excellent philosopher but sometimes euen his naturall reason faileth and our common sense confuteth his common sense but the particulars of his questions and disputations wherein he transcendently exceedeth other men are not very fit for this place Come to supernaturall and diuine matters and alas what are his Metaphisicks where he maketh any mention of god or gods but either absurd Paganisme or intollerable Atheisme If we doubt hereof let vs search better l. 12. metap c. 7 6 8 9 10. and not fondly goe about to excuse or salue the matter by distinction of a Philosophicall truth and a Theologicall truth or by any like fruitlesse suttilty and quiddity of the schooles there is but one perfection truth of one the same matter that truth must be fet out of the diuinitie and highest schooles euen into the philosophy and lower schooles wheresoeuer heathenish philosophy is cōtrary or contradictory to Christs diuinity as Viues speaketh more instantly l. 5. cor art Beware lesse any man spoile you through philosophy and vaine deceipt after the traditions of men and after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ saith S. Paul Colos c. 2. v. 8. We must not be miscarried with the plausible name of Aristotle or Philosophy no more then of Therapontigonus of Pyrgopolynices or such but must christianly consider what becommeth Christians to beleeue most christianly defend that which may be warranted by good christianity whereby in our infancy we were incorporated into the church and in our last end hereafter shal be receiued into the triūph of heauen Aristotle no doubt had a notable high reach in many controuersies of common reason notwithstanding his errors of the number of spheres the order of planets the saltnes of the sea the cause of fountains the time of the rainebow the Salamanders quality the proportion of mans body and other particulars noted by Viues Greuinus Albertus Bessarion Bodinus the rest but Christ knoweth how far he was frō the true knowledge of a regenerate minde a more perfit reason directed and reformed according to Gods owne philosophy in the only fountain of all truth cōcerning matters of beleefe the very perfit truth it selfe for they which knew not God nor his word that is the bread of life vnderstanding and the water of wisdome without which none can liue saith Iesus c. 15. v. 3. nor glorified him as God became vaine in their imaginations and their foolish heart was full of darkenes filling their hungrie schollers with swines meate in steade of the childrens bread Luke c. 15. v. 16. as Gabriel Biel applyeth that text in his initial oration against philosophical curiositie and ignorance and for christian profession to his prelections de canone missae when they professed thē selues wise they became fooles saith S. Paul that great Doctor Rom. c. 1. v. 21 28. But no maruell though before Christes comming the heathenish Philosophers hauing no conference with the people of God preferring Athens before Ierusalem and the kingdome of Macedonia or Persia before the kingdome of Israël no maruell though such Philosophers before Christ had no sense or but very little feeling of God and Christ considering how many great Scholers and famous writers euen since the incarnation of our Sauiour Christ according to his humanitie euen since this Christian Philosopher S. Iohn cried out Behold the lamb of God haue either blindly of ignorance or spitefully of malice or diuelishly of impiety and wickednes not only not acknowledged this lambe of God or any such saluation or redemption of the world by this lambe of God but also denied and defaced blasphemed this most innocent and most righteous lambe of God I let passe the rabble of Scribes and Pharisees and Iewish Rabbines and other hypocrites that not regarding Christs vnmatchable starre or Gods irrefragable voice from heauen either with hand or with heart did conspire the bitter most intollerable passion of this most innocent lambe of God and so vniustly and vnmercifully crucified the most mercifull Sauiour of the worlde We are taught by S. Paul not to take heede of any Iewish fables or commandementes of men turning from the truth Tit. c. 1. v. 14. He that readeth of their Thalmud or doctrine may soone see their blasphemies against God in fayning him euery day to weepe once to be angry once then the creste of the cock is white and pale in accusing him of sinne when hee made the Moone lesse then the Sunne of a lie when he calleth the Sunne a greater light and the Moon a lesse against Christ in supposing that the temple of Ierusalem was not so rased and destroyed but that three or foure cubites were vntouched and those stones left one vpon another where a Rabbine might sitte and studie the Thalmud against heauen by deuising a hole in the North-parts which is vnfinished to trie by way of chalenge if any can match Gods worke and make it vp Whereupon certaine new Buylders with new wittes haue set a Chappel with the high end to the North that their faces being turned that way in prayers time God at their humble suit may himselfe make vp that hole after so many yeares triall of other defectiue efficients Nowe they saide all euill comes from the North because that part is open which being stopped the euill may perhaps be stopped and thus they builded If our Emanuel like well of this dedication who may or dare call it mis-went or mis-set and what new founder wil not follow this patterne by the counsell of that Quidam in Munster he that seeketh riches goeth and looketh toward the North perhappes hereby to obtaine an increase of yerely reuenues by praying that way for dayly bread or to be contrarie vnto Mahomet whose face is toward the South as other Christians are contrarie to the Iewes in looking towards the East O happie times and happie men that reuiue Homer and Auerroes and other renowmed Pagans to make them builders and Architects in Christes Church wee are too common and vulgar now but they are so
wordes following in him will not suffer you to be cōtent with this answer euen from that which followeth there I reason thus That which taketh away the seed of scismes is necessarie in our church wherein the people is so ready to say I am of one I am of another I am of neither as they were in former times but to choose one among the priests to be ouerseer or bishop aboue the rest by Ieroms confession taketh away the seede of scisme in the church now as it did aforetime or els euery parish priest will be a bishop a iudge without check of any there and marre all obedience for want of bishop-like gouernment in himselfe and due reuerence in the neighbors Ergo it is necessarie in our church to choose one among the priests to be ouerseer and bishoppe aboue the rest and to rule them with discretion and knowledge If any man argue against this argument of the effect and vrge the word of S. Paul Philip. c. 1. v. 1. we may deny the consequence of the reason either because it is a synecdoche of a generall for a speciall or such a speech as this To the prince people taking away lords herein reckoning them with the people as S. Paul contriueth priests in the word deacōs which in respect of bishops are deacōs as lords in respect of their princes are of the people according to that parcel of a praier in our cōmon seruice booke Vpō our bishops and curates which iudgeth the dioces the bishops parish and priestes vnder them in seuerall parishes their curates which take their cure and charge of them by institution as the spirituall sonnes of spirituall fathers If any shall yet reason from S. Peter 1. Epist. c. 5. v. 1. wee may answere that either hee might call himselfe a priest in his humilitie in respect of Christ the cheefe bishop of soules as Emperors haue in modestie named themselues their souldiers felowes yet none will I trowe be so wise to conclude hereupon that captaines and souldiers aforetime were all one or that he being in the order of a bishop now was withall a priest and writte to them which had beene his felow priests were not yet elected bishops as a doctor may call a master his felow pupill in remēbrance of old frendshippe though he neuer minde to make both dignities one If the text of the Acts c. 20. v. 28. be vrged vpon vs where S. Paul calleth them bishoppes whom before in the seuenteenth verse he named priests which seemeth more forcible at the first sight then any other text among their obiections yet I pray S. Paul had sent for the fathers and masters of families and in his exhortation called them kings and captaines ouer their owne houses you could not deny them to be subiects still or say they are kings It is written that they to whome the law was geuen were called gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but not the gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that were simplie to make them gods and cōmit idolatrie Iohn c. 10. v. 34. so in this text it is written that the holy Ghost appointed them bishoppes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but not the bishoppes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it were bishops comparatiuely not the very bishoppes themselues looking carefully and vigilantly to their Churches by the example of the bishops which were as S. Paul testifieth carefull for all churches as the bishops are in their owne and other dioces and prouinces 2. Cor. c. 11. v. 28. As for the obiections of Chemnisius taken frō Ierom from the counsell of Toletum and from Gregories 95. distinction 2. part 70. page they moue mee no more then if he had said They that vse viceroyes and vicegerents haue no necessary places and offices Such magistrates vse substitutes ergo they are not needfull for so I may best answere him with a parallele euen as our hundred thousand Martins with their protestations may be answered to make as speedy a dispatch in temporals as in spirituals vpon as probable accusations causes articles And looke what this examiner writeth vpon the fourth chapter in the same part it prooueth nothing but a superioritie a regiment a place ouer other a bishoprick which some sons vassals of enuie prick against tollerable by the confession of Chēnisius among true bishops so partiall is he in his tolleration when as S. Pauls Examen 1. Tim. c. 5. v. 17. appointeth double honour to worthie men which are with vertuous men as S. Augustine and S. Ierome in their Epistles call one another Domini verè sancti and beatissimi papae and in christi visceribus honorandi and venerandi not Popes not Antichrists not Beelzebubs as these new Iacobines lately famous count all men Esaus which please not them Iacobines that haue begun in Fraunce and would goe in England with mischiefes and spoyles they goe to their lords Esaus as they call them and send three rayling Rabshakees messengers as Iacob sent humble seruants they stande at defiance with all the hundreds of Esau as Iacob was greatly afrayde and sore troubled they curse and rage as Iacob prayed and blessed they present as many lies and foule wordes as Iacob did scores and hundreds of cattle they striue and are disallowed of all discrete men and worse reputed then the vainest rimers and players that euer liued as Iacob wrastled and was blessed of the Angel they desire to pull and catch from their lords Esaus as Iacob would needes bestow a gift vpon his brother so that we cannot esteeme them Esaus till these prooue themselues Iacobites seeing there can be no Esau where no Iacob is no Antichrist without Christ no Popes without Papists no diuell vnlesse he that is against him be a God but alas poore Iacob thy prudent Rebecca is tky enemy thine owne speach bewrayeth thee surely thou art Esau ô thou french and popish and antichristian and diuelish counterfaite thou art nothing but Esau in euery part and so will prooue in soule as thou art already in body vnlesse thou become a newborne babe in innocencie and concerning malice Let vs good Christians not striue to be like lions and eagles like beares and other beastes in crueltie in rauine in such other qualities which are by Gods own will made our owne seruants and put in subiection vnder our feete Gen. c. 9. v. 2. but follow the nature of Salomons doue that is washed with milke and of a cleane faire behauiour which hath a sweete voice or louing conferences for peacemakers which hath a comely face and threatneth no mischiefe Cant. cap. 2. ver 15. c. 5. v. 12. but follow the nature of the innocent lambe and specially of this principall and righteous Lambe of God that cleanseth and taketh out our spottes blots sinnes filthinesse and all our corruptions to giue vs a contented and peaceable minde a quiet and thankeful tongue a brotherlie and neighbourly helping hand toward one another to giue vs soft tender handes and