But because he chose them from among the nations not for their worthynes but in his mercie to be a peculiar people to him selfe from heauen by his presence he guided them to them he gaue his statutes ordinances his Priestes and Prophets wyth them he made his speciall couenant and gaue vnto their Tribes the Sacramentes seales of his faythfulnesse to them he promised that of the kindred of Israell he would rayse vp his holy Child Iesus which should be and before all times was of the same our eternall God determined to be the sauiour of al the true Israelites These be the causes why he termeth him the God of Israell Because he hath visited and redeemed c. Thrée principall causes mouing forth such prayses the Prophete here declareth first that our God notwythstanding that the sinnes of his Church seperateth his presence from her and in stead thereof draweth his vengeance vpon her as it were with cordes yet the malice of her sinnes cannot break the faythfulnes of him her god But according to his worde by othe also warranted he would vouchsafe in her most miserie so louingly to visit the same his Church and people Secondly he visiteth his chosen Church with inestimable loue moued wyth compassion vpon the vewe of her great miserie who for her sinnes was by his iustice Captiued into seruitude not onely to Caesar but also to Sathan and so holden of him in thrall that no way could she auoyde Sathans force or at the tribunall seat of Gods iudgement escape the iust sentence of condemnation necessarily following her wickednes as a méete merit to the same At his appoynted time according to his good pleasure he wyth his apparant fauor so visiteth the same perplexed Church that from her Captiuitie in sinne and sathans bondes and also from the iust sentence of his great wrath he by his sonne Christ hath perfectly raunsomed so redéemed her not by violēt force taking hir from her bondage as erst frō Pharao nor mouing the hartes of her Conquerors to pitie her miserie and fauor her deliuerance as somtime he did when she was in Babilons captiuitie but aunswering his iustice wyth the bloud and death of his immaculate and iust sonne Iesus hath payed there by the due price of her sinne and deliuerance from his wrath and from Sathans malice to the end that she so redéemed should leade a purchased life voyd of sinne and by his holy spirite redéeme hereafter such ill time as erst they wasted with gréedinesse to iniquitie and by newnesse of life walke as children which in the dungeon of darknes haue séene so great light that as by their former actions his holines was blasphemed so now by their good woorkes his name may be glorified Thirdly when he sayth He hath redemed his people he sturreth all Israell to a double ioy First that their gouernour and Lorde is no lesse then the Lord God who hath made all things that be the Lord of Aungelles of Men and Deuilles and hath al at his becke ruleth al at his pleasure staieth the rage of Lyons and defendeth the innocencie of Doues and the simplicitie of his beloued shéepe As also that he is a visiting God doth not onely create but dayly direct by gouernements from an hye the steps rhodes of all thinges and in his ielousie ouer the wicked for their crueltie to his people visiteth their sinnes wyth scourges and wyth the sworde of his plagues But his people he in visiting finding in them like corruption of nature the mountains of sinne the lyke little regarde of dutie to God and remorse of themselues doth not wyth the wicked destroy them but as a most mercifull Father regarding for his names sake not their deserued plague but the enemies rage against them doth acknowledge them for his and from the shadow of death the Lyons denne the burning Ouen the manifolde captiuities and fierie cheynes of sinne because they are by his owne worke his people he redéemeth them and translateth them into the kingdome of his deare sonne our sauing health Christ Iesus Now let vs good readers applie the wordes of this verse to our selues which not onely in the morning but at all times of prayer finding the lyke causes working in vs we ought wyth ioyfull hartes to the Lorde vnfainedly to say and sing Blessed be the Lorde c. First this Lorde and God belongeth to vs now as to Israell of olde For as they were after the fleshe the sonnes of Abraham So many of them not hauing the fayth of their father lost the promise to him and his séed and we now are in their stéede grafted into Christ by whose spirite and worde preached we are made the children of Abraham not by birth in fleshe for we are of another stocke Gentilles but by the gyft of fayth whereby our heauenly father maketh vs the members of his son Christ who is the true séede of Abraham wyth the rest of the true Israellites Therfore as many as are the children of faith may they and ought they as sonnes of Abraham in déede to sing wyth thankefulnes vnto god Blessed be the lord c. The visitation of our Lord then had and now continually of him vsed chalengeth alwayes ioy of vs For in visiting the wicked wyth his sworde he cutteth the occasion of euill from his people In visiting his people with his rod he deserueth great prayse for to the same his people whensoeuer he sendeth his Rodde to correct their sinnes his stafe of diuine prouidence is also by his mercie therewyth exhibited to be to them a staye of comfort and defence All which most wisely he guideth wyth his merciful hād oftentims not taking from his seruants the smarting salue of his correction vntill the itching sore of their iniquitie by the power of his spirite be taken from them As a most louing Father he visiteth vs for in the middest of his anger he is euer mindful of his mercies He striketh vs but for a season but he consumeth the wicked in his wrath he beateth vs to our good to bring vs vnder his yoke But with his visiting plagues he breaketh in sunder and beateth into morsels the children of iniquitie for the which his holy workes sake we ought euer thankfully to say wyth harte and tongue to the Lorde our god Blessed be the lord c. Thirdly haue not wée manifest cause wyth Zachary dayly to prayse God when wyth him féeling our deserued death readie to deuoure vs and our sinnes prouoking Gods iustice to condemne vs to perpetuall captiuitie to imprison vs in eternall cheynes of darkenesse wyth Sathan he by his spirite doth assure vs that we are his children and enboldeneth vs not whisperingly for feare bringing painefulnesse But to crye out wyth courage enriched wyth his loue that he is
our Father and that his Christ is by his goodnesse geuen to vs and by his spirite hath he grafted vs into his Christ as the braunches are into the true vine by whose sappe euen his sayd spirite wée haue not onely our Arra and earnest penie of his assured couenant But also are set so sure into eternall lyfe that it is impossible for sinne satan flesh or whatso euer to condemne vs For it is our Lorde which hath redéemed vs his people and we are by fayth grafted into him our Lorde So that to vs can come no condemnation nor any want of that which is good Therefore agayne wyth the whole Church of God we most ioyfully ought to say Blessed be the Lorde God c. For he hath visited and redeemed his people Finally note here that the Papistes in their Mattins vsing or rather into abuse bringing and chaunting this song did neuer a right as Zacharie the good Priest did therewith praise the Lord for they worshipped him with lippes alone without vnderstanding the causes why but he first waigheth the cause before hée poureth out by waight the Lordes praise His hart was wholy fraught with conceiued matter of ioy they voyd thereof laden with terrible doubtfulnesse dare not presume say they to bost of their deliuerance which popish vice as it is their deuotion in their life so it purchaseth for them after death the dregges of Gods angrie Cup as dreaming Dirgis and restlesse Masses to purchace requiem where none is to be had and a neuer ceasing paye till land and reuenewes wyll serue no more And yet if eftsones of them it be asked neuer can it by them be aunswered the soule the Lord visiting hath redéemed for then their poperie should decay But thankes be vnto God who by his vnfallible truth in his writtē word hath assured as many as beleue in him of eternall life yea and that presently after and from the moment of naturall death our Lord and redéemer so saying hee that beleeueth in me shall not die for euer c. but shall passe from death to life O ye Papistes learne to repent which God if it be his good wil graunt you for Christes sake and to perceiue with vs the causes why we blesse the Lord for he hath erected vp an horne of saluation in the house of his seruant Dauid for the Church of true Israell as this our good Priest and Prophet Zacharie speaketh on this wise saying Vers 2 And hath raysed vp the horne of saluation vnto vs in the house of his seruaunt Dauid Albeit sayth the Prophet that in the eyes of all men Israel was cast downe his strength worne out and his light extinct his hope gone and no glory left in the house of Dauid yet do I now sée thée O Lord mindfull of thy former promises For in that thou hast sent my sonne the Baptist thy messenger and enriched the wombe of the virgin with child thou hast assured vs of thy erected Christ in the Tabernacle of Dauid which is to vs a most mightie saluation by thy spirit in the mouth of the same Dauid promised saying There will I make the horne of Dauid to bud for I haue ordained a light for mine anoynted And the time now thou hast respected to the inestimable comfort of thy Church in which Herod and thy enemies haue perished in shew thy Dauids line and haue vsurped his throne As thou before time hast promised saying Jn that day will I rayse vp the Tabernacle of Dauid that is falne downe and close vp the breaches therof And J will rayse vp his ruines and J will build it as in the dayes of olde A horne he calleth Christ our Sauiour significantly thereby checking the pride of Sathan in his members that séeke to destroy the kingdome of Israell as also declaring that he shal be of strēgth to ouercome their strength yea and that his place and dignitie is no where els thē from the Lorde who doth anoynt this Christ aboue his fellow Priestes Princes with the Horne of his Euerlasting strength for his people Vnderstand therfore that this word Cornu a horne in scripture sometime signifieth kingdom and princely power as in Daniell and in Samuel Sometime it is taken for strength and great might as in Daniel againe and in the Psalmist All the hornes of the vngodly will J breake but the hornes of the iust saith he shal be exalted The sum of the Prophets wordes are as if he had sayd To vs depriued of strength hope and comfort by the mightie enemies of god in the world the Lord in despite of them that throw vs downe to the dust hath erected in the midst of them his promised Christ which is to vs that beleue in him a mightie king a strong saluation That and the only sauing health of God giuen to al nations that feare him and call vppon his name Yea and that in the same linage and stocke which the mightie of the world are now in hand to destroy euen in the house of his seruant Dauid Since to vs this horne with his honour and strength is erected let vs consider something further of these the Prophets wordes And first note that in Christ alone which is borne of Dauids stocke the virgin Mary not in the popish wheaten and coniured counterfet Christ hath the heauenly father placed our sauing health and in no other wherefore in him alone must wée repose our trust as in whom the fulnes of the Godhead and his whole fauour dwelleth corporally and in whom alone he resteth with vs pleased whose name is the Lord our righteousnes Secondly he is of God set vp to be our saluation therefor may we not els where séeke for health of Man or Angell neither feare any other power for neither sinne Sathan world or Hell can take our sauing health from vs that rest in him nor separate from him his merites those which the father hath geuen to him Thirdly the same horne that to the wicked is terrible and vgly destroying their kingdomes and tiranny is to the faithfull the horne of their health in God from the sicknes of their sinne And also it is to them life into heauen from and against the death in hel As the same water which drowned the wicked of the world neither sparing Shippe Citie Towne or Castel at the same instant caried the Arke of the obedient Noah and his familie from destruction Yea and as naturall death it selfe is to the wicked the doore to eternall fire So is the same naturall death by this our strength Christ Iesus who hath ouercome death and her sting to vs that rightly beleue in him the passage to eternall ioye and blisse Let the Papists therefore tremble at the presence of this our strength for neither they or the gates of hell shall or can preuayle in battayle against vs because God
Also Christ him selfe sayth that heauen and earth shal passe but not one iote of my word shall passe till all be fulfilled And the Apostle sayth that the doctrine of the Lord is not yea and nay but yea and Amen He speaketh the woord sayth Dauid they were made the times before vs till this presēt witnes of time the beautifull heauens shew forth the faythfulnes of God in his word that the same is most true and strong to the saluation of al that beleue in Christ through it Neither may we imagine that he did sweare thereby to hiue vs example or warrant to vse vaine and blasphemous othes but leauing to the weaknes of our fayth the Lord sware the more to confirme his promises in vs for he hath forbid vs to vse thē by his holy word where nothing is permitted vs to sweare by in heauen or earth no not by the heares of our head but there are we commaunded to frame our harts to honestie truth which shall out of all occasion of othes blasphemies from vs so kepe farre frō our consciēces the accusing worme of the same the vengeance of god which neuer departeth frō the house of the swearer Albeit sometimes we may ought to sweare to the glory of god the end of controuersies in amongst his people being called therto ordinarily thē must we sweare in truth and righteousnes Here would I gladly helpe my countrey of England if in this place I might borowe so large a licence which much vseth this kind of swearing in westminster hal and other the Tribunall seates of this land Many of them sweare and sweat to sweare and offer othes and both borowe and lend the same to satisfie their friends and what is the charge of an oth for the most part many forceth not so to winne their expectatiō by oth they may dispatch their proposed intent But learne a little here of othes good Rearder and first what an oth is An oth is a taking Gods name to witnesse to the better and more stable confirmasion of those things which we vouch in communication or testes or els in couenant or promise assuring those to whom we sweare that nothing but truth procedeth from vs Herein in his due place god is greatly honoured and worshipped hereby we confesse him to be euery where present to behold the hartes and actions of all men to be a reuenger of euil against the offenders in this poynt But if either falsely or for any other respect then for his glories sake and the peace of his people we sweare or séeke to sweare though it be true that we do sweare notwithstanding we sinne though not in the substance of the matter yet in the accidentall part therof because either the fauour of the one or dread of the other or linage bloud or other worldly respectes compelleth vs therto and not the sorce of truth it selfe and this God will plague Surely he wil also plague al such as mixt in their othes the creatures of heauen earth with the name of God by whom alone we must sweare being called therto He that sweareth sayth Esay shal sweare by the true and liuing God. And again Esay saith in the person of God Al knees shal bowe to me and euery tongue shall sweare by my name And as this is commaunded in Scripture so are we there forbidden to sweare by them that are no Gods All that which J haue commaunded you see that ye obserue the same and thinke not vppon the names of their Gods nor let them be once named of you And in Sophony the Lord promiseth and threatneth to destroy and cut of all those that sweare by God and by Malcham That God Maazim the Masse or such blind iudges as offer and geue charge to sweare by God and all saintes or either that wicked vse God our Lady God and saint John. c. Or such as not daring to sweare yet inuent to sweare by fayned new found othes as mat for Masse and gob for GOD and hods body and bloud for our Lordes blessed body and bloud c. There is no lesse wickednesse in the one then in the other for therein we still breake his commaundement that sayth sweare not at all and we declare thereby our willing desire to blasphemie which as we dare not enter into for feare of his vengeance so wée frame our selues as néere thereto as wée can by diuelish daliance much like to Maister Hardinges pleasant spéech of our Ladies spiritual sport with Christ her Sonne when shée in the popish Primer is prayed to saye lube natum c. Considering that these euils are to bée remoued and that swearing is not onely in some respect of GOD permitted but also wée haue now heard commaunded and is a chiefe part of the true seruice and worshippe of our God let vs learne to serue him herein in true holynesse and righteousnesse such as may wel bée accepted before him The which to do wée must obserue that rule in swearing which the Prophet geueth to euery mā appointed to sweare saying Thou shalt sweare sayth he in truth in iudgement and in righteousnes Foure poyntes he teacheth vs to obserue in our swearing First that wée sweare by no lesse then by the liuing God by no dead coniured cake or other Idoll Secondly that we sweare in veritate in truth as if he had sayd play not the hypocrite sweare not with lippes alone but with the hart also séeke not by any meanes to be deceiued in thy soule or to deceaue others by thy craftines in swearing Dare not to pronounce one part of thy mind to the hearing of the Iudge and another secretly to thy selfe As of late a Minister ryding to his reuerend Bishop for a benefice at his returne bostingly sayd as I am credibly informed that he vsed tofore him the same cunning figure of defection called calliditas which in plaine English is lying craftines swearing outwardly to subscribe c. and softly saying to himself as far forth as they are warranted c. Now surely to haue safe warrant of God is necessarie for our subscription in doctrine but to sweare to obserue and to allow of that whereof hée standeth in doubt is a halting with God a mocking of men and a manifest shew of an ill conscience in him that vseth the same which can not bee farre from the curse of God. Sweare truly therefore let heart and tongue goe together and vouch both one thing els thou doest heape Gods wrath vppon thine owne head The third poynt of swearing is to sweare in iudicio that is with discretion not rashly or ouerlightly but first weighing the cause why he sweareth the matter which by oth he is to witnesse the good that may come therof and the wrath of God following false swearing he is
to sweare truely that which hee himselfe knoweth by sight or self hearing and not to leane vpon other mens reportes Furthermore let no man frame himselfe to sweare for trifling things or lightly prouoked but in mere necessitie then with graue consideration and reuerent regard of Gods presence before whom wée all stand whose eyes behold the déedes of all men whose eares receaue the whispering spéech of the déepe dissembling harte Trēble therefore to sweare for light matters or at euery mans first perswasion for an oth is the extreme poynt of Gods ordinance to bée vsed of men and before Magistrates to banish braules and contention and to conserue the peace and vtilitie of his church The fourth and last poynt is that wée sweare in Justicia Let not your othes sayth he be contrary to right and godlines but thereby séeke to geue to euery man that which of right is due vnto him whether in cases pertayning to God to godly Magistrates or to any other sorts of men And let the loue of God and of eour Christian brethren wyth regard of the onely truth hée alwayes your guide in swearing and not the faces of sinfull men In any case beware of too much credite in other men geue thy selfe his true Iusticia that is to say let thine owne eyes thy reason thy conscience thy faith thy honestie thy person with his name fame and crauing credite kéepe him selfe subiect to the Lord his God in holines and righteousnes in the middle of the euill world al the dayes of thy lyfe Farre bée it from thée to become the slaue of the riche in thy swearing the foresworne tenaunt of thy leude prouoking landlord or a chayned lumpe of flesh to the bones of thy kindred by such meanes or any wayes else to bée caried from the truth to the hurt of an other though hée bée thine enemie or to the condemnation of thine owne soule by a false othe to purchase thy friend his pleasure Finally if thou shalt embrace that which here thou art exhorted vnto and shalt abhorre that which thou readest here forbidden of God thou shalt in such swearing blesse his name and he shall acknowledge thée for his child and in his Christ shall defend thée from the force and rage of the mighty wicked in earth and shall geue thée in the end of this thy life thy resting place and dwelling house his holy Tabernacle the heauenly blisse as the Prophet Dauid doth witnesse in the fiftenth Psalme most comfortably to the reading of the which I referre thée Now are we come to that which we erst promised vz. to speake of our deliuerance from our enemies by this erected horne Christ whereto god hath sworne that we should not only giue him the more credit but also shuld frame our selues in him to lead the life that such redemption requireth at our hands But this redemption reacheth to the ends of the world therfore what kind of enemies so euer or in what sort they bend their battrie against vs God by this Scripture with other his promises hath assured vs the victory and from our foes full deliuerance Our enemies are sinne Satan the world and the flesh who in all ages haue not onely troubled the church people of god with grosse and carnall vices but haue set vp in the sayde Church a fourme of Religion deuised in Hell carying the title of holinesse and Gods seruice wherewith they haue more easely drawne the multitude of men from GOD to such sinne vnder the cloke of deuotion to their perpetuall confusion and shame This imagined holinesse and humane religion did Sathan first broche in the church of Iesus vnder Moyses and eftsones renued the same as hée could chaunging him selfe after the fashion of euery age preuayleth till the time of Christ and the Pharisies and since also hath playd his part in the Synagoge of Rome of whose filthie cup the Kynges and Nations of the earth haue tasted to their extreme dronkennes This is the greatest enmitie that Sathan can worke to Gods people vnder coulour of séeking and seruing him to drawe them quite from his Maiestie and in such sort blyndeth their eyes and wyth his fierie Dartes so kendleth their carnall zeale that in the will worshippe of their owne inuention they spare no cost or shunne any payne to séeme more then religious therein In this our age the Church of England is vexed wyth two horrible Impes and messengers of our enemie Sathan as sent of hym to molest our happie state to stoppe the ioyes that wée are to conceiue in our most comfortable Christ The first imphe is the forraine papisticall foe the seconde is our domesticall Englishe hipocrites The forrayne Papistes beyonde the seas haue bent their force agaynst the truth professed here in Englande and to encounter wyth the same haue prepared a double shot agaynst this frontire our religion The one shooting slaunder by rayling penne at the truth and persons professing the same the other charged wyth treason and Popishe pouder shooteth at the state and person of our souereigne as at the Liefetenaunt of the Lordes bande But from them both the Lorde in his great mercie hath and doth deliuer vs And with the truth of his Gospel by such habilitie as he geueth to his church and ministerie in these our dayes doth so ouertake the wylinesse of our aduersaries that their penned bookes are in euery respect learnedly and truly made knowne as they are to be ouer weake to breake the Walles of Gods church much lesse to confounde the Doctrine professed in the same Wherfore as men alwearied in wofull wast labors after sundrye conflictes hauing spent all their popish muniments in this war they pray a peace take a day of truce and so by scilence subscribe to the conquering truth which by his force their pouertie they are compelled vnto The charged shot of treason which the Romanistes haue trayled to this nation are they not by the Lord before the time of their discharge and without the strength of man broken al in péeces The smith that framed them the pope I say is he not ashamed to sée his Platforme put to foyle What Nation doth hée more enuie then this our happye Land What confederacies doth he make with sundrie conspiracies both wyth in and wyth out the Lande against the Lord and his anoynted Prince What offers of ayde what practises for proofe of good successe hath his vnholy holinesse assayde in this Lande and yet the Lorde hath deliuered and preserued from al his subtle engines both her maiestie and vs that she should be mauger his bearde the Nurssing Moother not onely to the Churche vnder her gouernement but also to the Afflicted members of Iesus CHRIST which that Huge Dragon doth Persecute from place to place And happye may her Maiestie be that GOD vouchsafeth to select her béeing a weake woman from among the mightie Monarchies of
the worlde to be his chosen nurse to his peculiar persecuted people So may all we her subiectes acknowledge our selues more then most bound to god for her maiestie since we vnder a mayden Prince whose person is vnapt to bodely warres are so defended that against the force of the worlds furie both our soules and bodies are conserued in much peace far aboue the nations rounde about vs The onely cause thereof is Iesus Christ our mighty Michael who himself without our fighting hands or armed bodies breaketh the Dragons force and disapointeth him of his pray The second diabolicall imphe is the domestical foe which the Church harboreth carieth in her arms to quiet make stil his wanton and wrauling cryes Dandleth him on her Mootherly Knée hoping to surpresse his brawling voyce wyth her patient compassion For shew of recompence this poysoned broode calleth her by the name of mother her spouse Christ they worship by the tittle of lord But in déede they are the bond slaues of Agar and beare a deadly hate to Sara Their mindes be set on Sina that gendreth bondage vz. rotten Rome and Hierusalem they séeke but to féede vppon to florishe in to enriche themselues vnder her And espying her liberties and preheminences they doe from time to time busie themselues to betray the same The true church of God now in Englande séeke they to betray to the handes of the wicked and by slaunders to polute the sanctuarie of the lord The engines that these enemies vse agaynst vs are scoffing speches rayling voyces and slaundering wordes Sée you not say these men what discorde sundry sectes and religious are amongest these new broched bretherne how they preach wryte dispute and euer seeke to beate downe another Is not this a marke of Sathans Sinagog And the common refuge of these euilles is to couller their cankred malice with the couert of desired obedience to Lawes whylest such for the most parte liue as though they themselues were priuileadged from all good gouernement The contempt of godly Lawes set downe in this state and present gouernement is to be wyth diligent eye and earnest care redressed And I would to GOD suche rulers Ecclesiastical ciuill were selected as would more diligently looke hereto So should the mouthes of men haue lesse cause of their great outcryes agaynst the present state For I thinke it no reason to pull downe the whole house for the weakenes of on rotten sparre or to cutte of the hande for the fault or defect of a finger or yet vtterly to subuert the state because euery parte hath some infirmitie But as concerning the contentions amongst the learned I answere I lament both the cause and the action yet here by hath the papist no warrant to Blaspheme our Religion or to condemne the Prince or Preachers and professors of the same for if contention amydde the learned and in the Church of God be a sufficient cause to refuse her to slaunder and to reuile her wyth reprochfull tearmes yea and condemne the people state and ministery of christs spoused wife this holy church then shall we finde this Churche in no age among the children of men planted frée from such sharpe censure As if we loke into the church of Israell brought from Pharao into the desert we shall sée the same often to rebell against Moises yet not all the Israelits Wherefore the Church then could not be frée from contentiō Dathan Abiram disliking the priesthood which god ouer them had set vpō Aron his line stirred vp sharpe cōtention tumultuous vprore for the same Consider her condition in the time of Saule his persecuting of Dauid behold small vnitie Saule commended of some Dauid reaping the greater praise What vnity had the church whē 400. salse prophets contended with Helias the prophet of the Lord for the idoll Baal their false god After Israel retorned from her captiuity was not the church cut into diuers sectes factiōs in outward show they professed gods law penned by Moises the Prophets but in déede truth they were seperated into diuers opinions sundrie sects euery party receiued his name according to his opiniō The holy scripture approued authors tell vs that in the Iewes church there were Pharises Saduces Esseis yet who dare say that at this presēt ther was not in the place thē gods holy church It is therfore now no strāg or new thing to haue dissēting opiniōs in amōgst mē professing one religion about some points conteined in the same The new Testamēt witnesseth the like In the time of the Apostles what sharpe contention was there betwixt Paule Peter at Antioch for cause in religiō Peter offēding against the rules therof was openly reproued by Paule Also betwixt Paule Barnabas was such vnitie that they parted asonder the one from the other about John Marke a disciple Notable is that long sharpe disputation sore cōtention which crept into the church betwixt Paule Barnabas on the one part the Pharises which were cōuerted to the gospell at Antioch on the other about iustification whether it came by faith alone or that circūcision the law were of necessitie to be ioined thereto This strife was such that it could not nor was otherwise abandoned the church then by that Apostolicall councell holden at Hierusalem About this time and shortly after the Apostles there arose out of the church sundry sectaries as the Corinthiani Martionisti Gnostici and Carpocratiani The Gentilles then as some papistes doe now sayde the christians are troublesome and contentious they cannot agrée about their christ and his religion but we holde one vnitie in our profession therefore they offer vs more then great cause to haue in suspence our hast to subscribe to their professed Gospel Yet all this their friuolous speches set a part both the Apostles and others wyth them at that presēt ioyning in the sinceritie of the professed trueth were of the true church of god Also that church whereout these wicked Sectories Heritykes came was that and the best beloued Wyfe the Church of Iesus Christ notwithstanding such contentions and variable mindes as then that state caryed to the posteritie And euen so is our church now holding fast the substance of Doctrine geuen by the scriptures and the administration of the Sacraments according to his worde Lykewise in substance though in some matter accidentreth there arise question the same yet offe-no ioy to the professed papist for as they contende so doe both sides striue to be far from popish affects This our Church also I say of and in England is the true church of God the reuerend fathers the Bishops with others the preachers of his holy word in this our nation now gouernment abiding in the truth of doctrine though ther be amids their harmony in the
stones with Carbuncle lay thy foundations with Saphire I wil make thy windows of Emraudes thy gates shining stones all thy borders of pleasant stones and all thy Children shal be taught of God and much peace shal be vnto thy Children in righteousnesse shalt thou be established and be farre from oppression for thou shalt not feare it and from feare for it shall not come nie thée Beholde the Enemye shall gather himselfe but wythout me whosoeuer shall gather hymselfe in thée agaynst thée shall fall Beholde I haue made the Smyth that bloweth the Coales in the Fyre and him that bringeth forth an Instrument for his worke and I haue Created the Destroyer to destroy but all the Weapons that are made agaynst thée shall not prosper And euery Tongue that shall aryse vp against thée in Iudgement thou shalt Condemne Thys is the Lordes Heritage and their ryghteousnesse is of mée sayth the LORDE Thus farre the Prophete speaketh to teache thée good Reader great cause of comfort and courage agaynst dispayre though England which is Gods church haue now many enemies risen vp against her her religion yea though her owne skirtes doe carie suche as insult agaynst her she is Promised that theyr Weapons and the smith that framed them shal not prosper Their lybelling bookes which séeke to persecute her though they come from the house of counsell and séeme to procede from the seate of learnings iudgement yet shal this church of God be set a Iudge ouer their wearie trauels and toyling spite and shall condemne them Let that worthy Jewel of famous memory the holy confessor and Saint of and by Iesus Christ treasured vp in the Lapydarie of the heauens for the glory of our God let his excellent workes I say stand for an ample warrant hereto to this age to her posteritie for euer And let others whether at home or abroade looke for the same end of their molesting troubles which they cast into this our age and Church But thou wilt say why doth the Lord suffer so long our weake consciences to be troubled with these contending strifes What art thou O man that wilt dispute with God These troubles to vs yet in respect of the Schismes of old are but as an entring into the first moment of the day Waite thou the lords leysure and be still learne thy song framed by firme hope in truth which Micah hath taught the church of God alwayes in her trouble to sing thou shalt be relieued though thy enemies yet séeke to triumph ouer thée Reioyce not against me O my enemie saith the church there for though I fal I shal arise when I shal sit in darknes the Lord shall be a light vnto me I will beare the wrath of the Lord because I haue sinned against him vntil he plead my cause and execute iudgement for me then wil he bring me forth to the light I shal sée his righteousnes Then she that is my enemie shall looke vpon it shame shall couer her which said vnto me Where is the Lord thy God my eyes shall behold her now shal she be troden downe as the myre of the stréets c. Thus much forth of the prophet Micah where thou maist learn to accuse thy self for thy sinne as Dauid did séeing the people afflicted not with Achab to charge the Lord or his profession Prophets whē troubles plagues arise in the church but to turne thy eyes into thy owne conscience sée the booke of thy iniquities there written to confesse before god man that thy sinne is the cause of such trouble plague brought into the church people by Satan his malice the pollicie of these his wicked impes Last of all discourage not at the romish scoffes taunting reproches nor yet despaire in the bottome of her darke dungeons sharpe persecutions for the lord wil comfort thée in them if thou rest vpon his laysure remaine constant in the end deliuering thée wil stampe thy enemie into dirt make thée beautiful in the sight of al men that thou maist serue him thy god thus deliuered frō feare in new holines deuoid of hypocrisie in iustice righteous dealing to with al men in the place of thy abode traffike els where amōgst men in earth And euer respect thy deliuerāce frō sinne regard thy state so that Satan eftsones pul thée not to thy former sinne which cōpelleth his erst bondage for the end of such as so fal is worse then the beginning And thus much for the first part of this Hymne in which I haue bene more prolixe then first I purposed but I trust that the profite which may rise vppon the attentiue reading of the matter simply set downe wil coūteruaile the tedious sight of so much blotted paper sith my willing trauayles hath forced me to dwell in comfortable spéech with the lesse learned some thing the longer because they of themselues can not conceiue such profitable matter as this our text doth exhibite to the serching eye assuredly perswaded that the better so godly learned will vouchsafe soueraigne Censure to this my vnpolished pen. And wherein I erre from the truth if by the same I may heare louingly therof as I hope I haue geuen no poyson to the Church so I wil be glad to reforme that and those thinges which godly reasons with learned truth shall require at my hands The Lord graunt continuance of his gospell in this Nation preseruation to her Maiestie with encrease of Gods knowledge and zeale to his holy name and to vs and his whole Church from all heresies Scismes and ciuill dissentions if it stand with his good wil and pleasure once full deliuerance that we may serue the Lord our god in sinceritie of hart and integritie of life in his sight by his holy spirite all the dayes of our life to whom by and with Christ our Lord to that deitie in the trinal vnitie be al praise power glory for euer Amen Vers 9 And thou child shalt be called the Prophet of the most high for thou shalt goe before the face of the Lord to prepare his wayes As the sacred Priest before had declared Gods great benefites and faithfulnes in performing his louing promises to the redemption of his elect So now he returneth to this present action and vsing the person of an interpreter expoundeth the Oracle of God declaring his sonne this child to be the same preacher and Doctor which erst by the Prophet Malachy was promised to precede Christ By whose trauel in Doctrine the way should be prepared for the Lordes comming his and our Messias Which office this babe in his appoynted time executed right wel with sinceritie of hart ▪ sparing no person place time or people or omitted any occasiō when he might most aptly performe such his calling This Baptistes voyce was euer crying against the sinnes of all exhibiting the remedie