shadowed pretence enhaunced themselues and their graceles wits to deface the sonne of God to disgrace the holy one of Israël that is the onely mediator betweene men and God and the onely peacemaker betweene God men Those mad-men blasphemers come to our gates and defie our profession we see them wee reade and heare their notorious blasphemies we abhor and curse them in the name of our God as Eliseus that mighty Prophet in Israël looked backward vpon the malapert and wanton children of Bethel 4. Kings c. 2. v. 23. or as Dauid detested that vncircumcised Giant the rayling Golias 1 Kings c 17. v. 32 34. and slew him though he were his Cosen german as Drusius noteth out of Prudentius and Philo being no better in his eyes then a great wood beare yet these blasphemers more vnlearned and vnruly then all children and more barbarous then all rude gyants and beares this is the way of them this is their foolishnes and yet their posterities prayse their sayings Psal 49. according to the prophesie of Abacuk ca. 1. v. 5. behold ye despisers and wonder and pearish yee for I worke a worke in your dayes a worke that ye shall not beleue though a man should declare it vnto you which word S. Paul confirmeth in his sermon made at Antioche Actes c. 13. v. 41. BVt there remayneth yet a monstrous and a craftie antichristian practisser not alredy touched to the quick one and his mate compounded of many contraries to breede the more confusion in simple vulgar wits who like Passauantius is content to be ridiculous himselfe so that his enuie in any sort make poore Lysetus contemptible that els perhaps had neuer bin knowen he is a boone companion for the nonce a secrete fosterer of illegitimate corner conceptions a graue orator for ruffianly purposes a busie bookeman to helpe the sworde a rebuker of play and yet making a play of himselfe and all thinges a rauening woolfe in sheepes wool a bloudy massacrer and cutthroate in iesters apparrell a poste vpon hackney sillogismes to haue silly ones geue him the way yet like the reasons of Lindanus which may most easilie and fitly be returned vpon the replyer his faction with much more force of proofe consequence a religious pilgrim to gather heapes rāpires of trash a wilie fox in a lambs skin first iesting at mathematicall caps as if round fashions were not more mensurable and mathematicall then quadrates and oblongs or an ace meane as a quater then flinging at manners as if he cared for thē which teacheth nothing so much as malignity and detraction at last fishing with a golden hooke which is all predicables and predicaments with simonists imagining his case and Simon Fishes supplication to be alike being directly opposite in causes in effects in comparisons otherwise he doth not openly and outragiously in set words and coyned phrases despise the lambe of God the sauiour and redeemer of Gods people but closely and a far of prepareth his mines and traps and snares playing secreetly vpon S. Iohns words counting them about ones loines a receit only for the collicke see an impe of antichrist and hell and reckoning all that hee doth vnto Christs flocke as done to lambs that will not once quetch that vse to take all well as if they were ordinary common woolly and fleshy lambs and called lambs only of suffering not of doing as though all parts and ends of euery similitude should euer meete in one and nothing were written of a lambe but it must appeare in Christ or any man should chalenge that of God which commeth of his appointment not our of his mercy not our merite to vse rightly not to abuse But Calumny in hir heat and furie calleth Ioseph an adulterer Daniel a rebell Susanna an whore and Christ Iesus himselfe a nigromancer yet wisdome is iustified of hir owne children no greater enemies to vertue then humorists a man must onely be iudge of that he knoweth certainly the carnall Mammonist cannot rule and direct celestiall things they are as farre beyond his reach as his skill is short of them This is the byway of some carelesse lawlesse quidams which make the holy and most reuerend worde of the only wise God to serue their bastardly turnes vnhonest inuentions and intentions and will not stick to say with the Gentiles with the Iewes with the turks and such as are without God that christians must take two blowes and not smite againe that they are bidden to forgiue their enemies to blesse them that curse them to loue them that hate them to pray for them that persecute them to be like their Lord and master Iesus the lambe of God not geuen to anger or defence more then he was and more then a lambe is geuen to defence This is the groundworke and postulate of Cartwrighttisme and Martinisme without which all their doings are vndone and with which Christianisme will soone be vanquished or abridged Thus they teach other men their dueties but thinke not on their owne dueties they proue if we must doe as God biddeth vs they will not doe as God biddeth them they force a generall text Matth. c. 5. and thrust a rule made for all christians vpon the clergie alone from our obedience they inferre their owne disobedience and thus they stamp a conclusion more against their owne Christendome then the reuerence of the church the Clergie men those elect men professe the innocencie of lambs therefore we neede not feare to handle them at our pleasures as though they were not Christians alike with vs by baptisme and vow by doctrine and policie or ought not likewise to be harmelesse as lambes among their owne christian brethren Euen so that prophane tyrant Antiochus reasoned with the godly Iewes of his time and argued with them out of their owne law concerning the Sabboth day that they must not defile and vnhallow it with murder with battle with violent resistance because they were better bee flapt downe like flies and not hurt his men then breake the law of their God and incurre his displeasure 1. Macab c. 2. And thus hath this sophisticall reformer peruerted Gods word he hath learned the elench which anger moueth against patience in the Soules-fight of Prudentius Die here and weepe not for wayling is against thy profession yea and behaued himselfe heathenishly and angerly he vrgeth the surname of Christ and the nature of a lambe and then he telleth him and his preachers That their wealth their power and strength shoulde bee no greater then the power the wealth and strength of a lamb thus should he be pitomized and thus should his flock be pistled Now marke I pray you what end commeth on these and such men and I beseech you cōsider the seat of the scorner which cōmonly proueth like the seat that old courtier Hely sat vpon 1. Kings c. 4. v. 18. Woe worth the blasphemie of Sennacherib blackmouthed Rabshakeh that cost the liues of an
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
within vs and coole faith by continuance maketh vs stiffe and halfe dead with sinne and altogither vnfit to be our owne martirs in affection or other mens in example let vs beloued stirre and raise vp our fainting soules to a liuely zealous faith let vs good Countrymen quicken our senseles senses with good woords and good workes as effects of good faith that we be not starke dead in sin and rather seeke the saluation both of our soules senses that lasteth for euer then the delight pleasure of either that vanisheth away like a smoke that wasteth like a snaile that withereth like grasse and neuer continueth in one stay Then where shall we seeke this saluation but in the booke of life and in which part of that booke is it sooner found then in the gospel the law of grace what guide or teacher in the gospell can shewe vs a better pathway then Iohn-baptist who was sent frō God as the forerunner of the Christ saith S. Marke in his gospell c. 1. v. 2.3 to tell vs the way the truth and life the eternall word Iesus Christ For Iesus is the way because his doctrine and precept telleth vs the right and ready way to euerlasting life Iesus is the truth because without error he may alwaies and in truth must alwaies be followed in all our iudgements and consultations that we may walke in the light not in darknes Iesus is the life of our liues because without him we are as dust in the winde and straw in the fire and by him we passe through the greatest difficulties and euen the very seas of all deadly dangers and temptations which S. Iohn speaketh by a metaphore metonimy of the effect for the efficient c. 14. v. 6 in him we passe safely from the first day in the beginning of all yea before all measure of times euen vnto this day as S. Augustine writeth largely to Deogratias against Porphyrius in his 49. Epistle Wherefore in these and other respects heare and read I beseech you beloued Christians what the blessed and right honourable Prophet that most noble preacher Iohn-baptist hath taught vs of Iesus Christ in the gospell according to S. Iohn c. 1. v. 29. The next day Iohn seeth Iesus comming to him and saith Behold the Lambe of God that taketh away the sinne of the world This text is short but sweete and weighty as the sunne in heauen seemeth little but is great and mighty in operation all bodies die without the sunne and all soules and bodies perish without the effect of this Scripture Philosophers thinke that the sunne and a man maketh a man but diuine philosophy wil thinke speake and conclude that this sonne of God the sunne and light of mankind maketh and saueth and crowneth man with glory in that he wipeth out and washeth away the sinne of the world the sunne is the hart of heauen the captaine of the stars the eye of the world this worde is the hart of the Bible the cheefe of al words to which our eares must giue eare and on which our eyes must alwaies looke For in this verse are cōtained the lawes of Moses and Israël with the prophecies of all prophets both great and small in that Iohn calleth Iesus the lambe of God and the fruit of the new Testament both in the Euangelists Apostles springeth and groweth from this ground in that he is said to take away the sinne of the world Then was Simplicius but a hellish iudge to count the tales of Aegypt and the tables of Moses alike and Galen was but a prophane humorist and Lacuna his shadow little better to mislike the creation of man and misreport the wonders of the red sea ignorantly then are the Pelagians peruerse and miserable disputers which denie and euacuate the baptisme of infants because Christ alone washeth and purgeth thē like them which would hinder the beginning of a thing because it shall at last be made perfect or say you must not vse an instrumēt because there is a principall or warme your self at a fire because the sun is the chiefest workemaster of heate warmnes But to let passe all dilating cōparatiue amplifications of words sentēces togither with other necessary occasiōs of discourse Marke beloued what is here written with the finger of God pen of the holy ghost the next day Iohn seeth Iesus cōming to him and saith and tell me if euer you heard a more louing a more gratious and cōfortable saying behold the Lambe of God that taketh away the sinne of the world O bountifull Iesu ô sweete Sauiour ô mercifull annointed of God the Father what is man that thou art so mindfull of him or the sonne of mā that thou so regardest him our bodies are brim full of sinne wickednes as the stables of oxen asses ouerladen and ouercharged with dunge and filthinesse the goodnesse of our soules is like a mēstruous rag as Esay witnesseth c. 64. v. 6. whose word is as an inuiolable seale a sure bond What is then within vs worthy of thy loue ô Christ or what is without vs worthy of thy liking ô son of Dauid ô son of God ô sunne and light of heauē earth we looke vpon thee with Iohn-baptist ô that we could alwaies looke vpō thee we see thee come to vs as did Iohn-baptist ô neuer turne thy backe vpon vs but euer come to vs stay with vs euer we reioyce in thy name that thou art a lambe to vs and a lion of Iuda to the enimies that thou dischargest the debts of the righteous and leauest the wicked in the debtbooke to be arrested and imprisoned till they haue paide the vttermost farthing we looke on thee with ioyfulnesse ô Iesu as infants looke vpon a light the wicked see thee with dazeled eyes as the Sodomites groped in the darke Genesis c. 19. v. 11 we walke in thy sun-light and are comforted we are blacke and sunburnt with walking we are black ô Iesu but louely before thee the wicked are parched with thy beames thy heat maketh their heads to ake their harts to pant their spirits to faile them that they may as it were call for butter out of a lordly dish milke out of a bottle with Sisara or some other delight which their sensuall soules long for and afterward be nayled to the earth with the hammer of one deceitfull Iahel or other close enimie in their sleepe and securitie or come to such like sudden and vile death And this in effect is the generall summe and chiefe purpose of this text Of the ioyfull estate of the godly by seing Christ and The wofull fall of the wicked by turning frō him Now to proceede in the playner exposition of euery portiō and particularity of this verse we see in it both a briefe History and a blessed Doctrine The History is that when Iohn saw Iesus comming to him he gaue out among the people his iudgement of
whereof they affirme 1. Timot. c. 1. v. 7. but haue erred from all lawe of religion and honesty and are turned vnto vaine iangling and euen very piperly scurrility like that cursed Cham from whom al wicked sects began or worse then he toward their reuerend Fathers and spirituall Lords delighting to see and lay that naked which blessed Sem and good Iaphet in all modesty desire to couer from their owne and others eyes Genes c. 9. v. 22 23. Of which kind of creatures those inward cynaedi S. Paul warneth al godly christians and not vnlike those lothsome mannermongers that count it finenesse to note filthines and thinking others senses worse then their owne will not sticke to say looke here smell there foh feele or see I pray did you euer know the like whereas they should say smell not vnto it looke not on it or rather not once note it of which thankelesse remembrancers and needlesse inquisitors their good master Galateo biddeth them in the authoritie of his greyheaded courtiership not to take example like hogges that runne from the hearbs to a new muckhill for feare of breeding offence to no purpose as I would be sory to breed disliking in any elderly learned well spokē man be it Aretius probl theol de Matrimonio or Bishop Ponet c. 6. of his Apolog. or other his friends for naming the author that here saith well and elswhere perhaps amisse Then see and touch with Thomas the apostle and then beleeue with Thomas the apostle who was so ready and resolute to go die with Christ his Lord Iohn c. 11 v. 16. and yet too would prouide to stand on a sure ground when time was for all that resolution and then became more incredulous and scrupulous then other in his happy foresight vntill he had a manifest answere in seing and touching which might stop all Antichristian obiections in latest times Many haue desired to see and touch Christ in the flesh to see their intelligible felicity in sensible proofe as namely S. Augustine did like a good harty subiect that wisheth to see the Prince of his country of whom al good men speake and himselfe thinkes most honorably yet blessed are all such as speake and beleeue and haue not seene Iohn c. 20. v. 29. the rather because they which report this vnto thē report no more then they haue seene and heard Acts c. 4. v. 20. The Apostles eyes were the eyes of Christians God grant our eyes may be as cleere and steady as their eyes were their eares were our eares ô that we could shut them from vanitie and open them to verity as they did that the word of Esai be not found in vs they shall see with their eyes and not perceiue they shall heare with their eares and not vnderstand c. 6. v. 9. but that first we may see him and then like him and then loue him and then know him within without Intus in cute his deity and humanity and conuey the image of his countenance into our harts by the most quick and hot spirit of his word and law that our veines and marow and so consequently by them all other partes may be fired and inflamed with this light of man Morning star and Sunne of the day loadstar alwaies euen Iesus Christ and make vs in colour and nature like to himself as one neighbour grape taketh colour of another God being the husbandman and Christ the vine and Christians the branches and their works the grapes Vuaque conspecta liuorem traxit ab vua saith Iuuenal Satyra 2. The ghostly and bodily forefathers desired to see this day and they liued and died in this hope Luke c. 10. v. 24. the prophets foresaw his comming both Esai c. 2. 7. 9. 11. 35. 42. 49. 53. 60. 65. and also Ieremy c. 31. v. 33. c. 32. v. 40. c. 33. v. 20. and other and they which go afore him crie and say Hosanna thou sonne of Dauid blessed be he that commeth in the name of the Lord hosanna thou which art in the high heauens Mark c. 11. v. 9 10. and all such as are true in hart shall be glad and say Saue vs we beseech thee O praise the Lord Hosanna Alleluïa Thus was blind Bartimaeus glad to heare him by whom he might receiue his sight and by and by he saw the light of heauen Mark c. 10. v. 49 52. thus was Simeon glad and willing to die when he had seene this saluation and consolation of Israël which was prepared to be the glory of all people Luke c. 2. v. 30. Thus the angell of the Lord bad the sheephards go to Bethleem and see their Sauior with him an army of heauenly souldiers that praised God said Glory to God in heauen and peace in earth goodwill toward men so notably they were stirred vp and euen rauished with this blessed sight v. 12 13. thus the wisemen of the East euen where all men are of quicke and winged wittes as Herodianus iudgeth lib. 1. and most of all other the wisemen selected from the rest with great wonder saw the starre of Christ which was neuer seene in their Vranoscopies before and went euen from Persia to Bethleem to see himselfe more diuine then the starre not caring for all those parasanges furlongs that were betweene their owne country and Iudaea but still and stil feeding vpon their heauenly meditation at last came vnto him and worshipped him with ioy and gladnes with their myters in their left hands and their presentments of gold of myrre and of frankincense in their right Myrrham homo rex aurum suscipe thura deus saith Claudian in his Epigrams O man take myrrhe ô king take gold ô God take incense Math. c. 2. v. 2. Thus the famous queene of Saba and all the world in those dayes came from farre countries to heare the wisedome of Salomon 1. Kings c. 10. v. 1 2 24. and behold a greater then Salomon is now in Bethabara Thus Iacob the sonne of Isaac sawe a ladder stand vpon the earth the top whereof did reach to heauen and he called that place the gate of heauen Gen. c. 28. v. 12 17. but we see not in a vision as he did we see in the noone day the son of the hiest before vs we see apparantly the sonne of God before our eyes Cuius aspectus decens saith Salomon in his Song c. 2. v. 14. and whose aspect is more happy may England say then all the trines and sextiles and coniunctions and fortunate aspects of the beneuolent starres To be briefe in this one word seeth is the fond and fantasticall heresie of Marchion with the heresie of Manes manifestly ouerturned and condemned for euer of which two Marchion thought Christes body a phantasticall one that is like such bodies as we seeme to see in our sleepe which are but thoughts Epiphanius haer 42. l. 1. tomo 3. The other as fanatically
of the deuill then a prophet of God as themselues confesse vnawares in their vaine Alcoran and doltish bible His more then triple Dodecamechany to the finall ruine of that tyrannicall kingdome and satanicall iurisdiction in Turky and to the building vp of Gods house in new Sion to the benefit of his housholders his children and seruaunts if they could once be so christianly wise to forgiue their owne quarrels and forget that is past and euer hereafter serue God please him by fighting his battels with a perfit loue and vnanimity among themselues with a perpetuall hatred and magnanimity against such enemies the souldiers of the flesh the sonnes of transgression now more then halfe wearied with their religion and euer remayning in suspition and ielousie one of another Now God for his owne sake make them euer like Oreb and Zeb and like to the princes of Zeba and Salmana the God of our fathers confound their huge armies and militar powers that they may fall vpon their owne swordes that their armes of flesh may be broken that all their beastly cruelties practised against good christians from Mahound to this present day may returne vpon themselues that they goe hence and be no more seene that their name may perish from among the children of men that we and all our posteritie may sing with the seuenth Angel mentioned in the Reuelation and with those great voices in heauen the kingdomes of this world are our Lords and his Christes and he shal reigne for euermore c. 11. v. 15. but the Saracens shall not ouerrule him the Paganisme of Sergius shal not deuour the Christianisme of the Apostles seeing the gospell is dispensed in all parts of the earth as much more then the Alcoran howsoeuer Luter in a furious imitation of Micheas hath rapt out the contrarie as if hee desired rather the name of a Prophet among the infidels then of a frend to Christians Then I meane the blasphemous high-minded swelling Greekes both Iulianists and Lucianists both Emperors and Schollers both mighty and learned men whose naughty ende hath prooued their beginning naught whos 's owne words of euident treason against God haue iudged and condemned them who are in account among godly wise men as the poysonous flyes or as dead dogs who haue vanished like a vapor and beene consumed like a smoke to nothing euen as it pleased the Lord so are these thinges infallibly come to passe by whom is reserued for their last sentence for their vngracious schollers for their frendes and fauourites a lake of brimstone a gnawing worme a consuming fire mingled with percing cold for euermore for thus were the Iewes cursed for their malicious blasphemie against Christ in the time of his earthly and corporall humiliation neither can these and other like them be in better estate which crie out and rayle against him in these dayes of his eternall heauenly exaltation as S. Augustine reasoneth truely vpon a text of S. Matthew And what is become of those wicked Romans which I thē named but shame and discredit reproach and confusion among all vertuous well disposed christians they might for their stile and phrase haue purchased our lyking for their graue and politike gnomes haue beene in good account among good men whereas now their malcontentship against Christianitie and their hauty and scornfull attemptes against Gods annoynted together with their disdainfull termes against our Christian profession and professors haue cast their works into great contempt that might els haue been in greatest price because no honest man will in confcience approue false famous libels or any graue man can scarcely euen in reason beleeue a lyer when he speaketh trueth much lesse when he telles his owne tales or any man shall not measure but like for like and vpon compulsion compare themselues with their enemies these sodaine slidinges with the others wilfull fallinges these suborned reproches with the others iudiciall penalties true conuictions vnchangeable executions If they had beene of so vpright a nature or of so ciuill nurture to report all well of them which did nothing ill or hurtfull to any but were innocent lambs of God they might haue otherwise then now they are beene reckened with the best sort of best writers and gotten our subscriptions as well as their owne friends commendations but seeing their venim was so great and aboundant to thrust out their stinges and spyt out their ranknes at godly and heauenly minded Christians they bewray the stocke and broode they came frō euen the spawne of that old serpent and seede of Satan and make vs al in good consciences freely to denounce and proclayme them enuyers deceyuers falsifiers to brand them with the marke of strong theeues for robbing Gods church to set them in the blacke booke of damned soules for defying and diffaming Gods owne militant teachers and messengers which preach the trueth which spend their liues in defence of the word which offer themselues a dayly sacrifice vnto him that gaue himselfe once a pure and perfect oblation for thē and all which honour both spirituall and temporall fathers without any grudging because of Gods ordinance and for conscience sake which studie and pray continually for the perpetuall glory honour of Gods Church Gods house Gods visible throne which perswade some and exhort all men to vertue to deuotion to loue of God and loue of man which drie vp their harts and braines day and night euen to the decay of their owne health and strength to heale the wounded and afflicted conscience to confirme and stablishe the faith of their countrey to abandon vncharitable disobedient opinions to bid men take heede of furious tedious self-will to remember they are as Gods small sheepefold in the midst of a Wolues forrest to bee as doues among themselues without harme and subtile serpents when the aduersarie commeth to magnifie God for his manifold benefites and to holde out the hand when he geueth his blessings and euer to behold and worship the blessed lamb of God that washeth away the sinnes of the earth But alas there are many strange errors abroad in the earth and there are too many headstrong mainteyners of old paradoxes and newfangled nouelties which either renew those antiquated trifles or giue them a colour a deuise and glosse of the makers which are their craftes maisters and bondslaues such men are girded and wrapped in with splene and brought vp cheefly in the chapters De contradicentibus and so wedded and giuen to alter all statutes and turkisse all states that they are become plaine turkish and rebellious vnnaturall countrimen and vnkind neighbours they doe not behold and follow the harmeles lambe of God that euer most gratiously helpeth offenders and bringeth them from deadly traines I haue hitherto tolde of open knowne and professed enemies I haue already confuted those notorious and famous antichristians such as with a wild and wide throate or infamous tongue and pen haue without al manner of colourable or
the land of promise the holy land and patterne of all holy land so far and so long as nothing was done without the lawes of Moses which were the lawes of God Now if it would please God to open the eyes and eares and hearts of our tribes of our hundreds of our counties of our shires of our fathers rulers that they might see and perceiue heare and vnderstand know fully acknowledge freely I say no more yet I might well name our reformers a sort of new Arrians that inuent lies against our spirituall lords as they did against Athanasius deuise one slander of his abusing a woman another of cutting of Arsenius arme both which in the triall proued false and ridiculous as those should doe if the libelling accusers were knowne yet truth wil raigne though they die in the darke and in another kinde of Arrianisme abuse Christs church impudently and profanely as if he were a man no God not caring whether it be true or not true that they write so that the wauering and rude multitude voyde of deliberation and iudgement seeme to like it for whose onely pleasures it is published in the rudest fashion seeing al learned and ciuill men peacemakers abhorre it but God almightie send a true spirite into them that as new borne babes they may be children concerning maliciousnes not in knowledge or a new Iubilee in vs and for vs at his good pleasure These are Gods goods Gods cities Gods suburbs Gods mannors which he himselfe hath geuen before Constantines donation no whit belonging to vs as legacies of his first will and testament to his owne holy and beloued Priesthood Or if our rough smoothed brethren which name they vse for a bayte if our Esaus and Nymrods reformers hunters if our temporizing temporall correctors mammonistes these presumed and supposed iudges of eternall lawes if they will in their wild and wily wilfulnes frustrate this constitution of God if they care not howe short their daies may be vpon the earth which the Lorde hath geuen them so that they may not honour their ghostly fathers without whose authoritie they shall neuer rule Subictes or seruants or children but suppresse and ouer-rule them if they wil clayme and auouch a second wil or testament and disauow and disclayme the old will and testament cancell the auncient actes of Gods former registers make a parlement act of their owne priuate and in deede no better then apostumated braynes which in the second consequence and in the third depending thereon concluding any way either simply or comparatiuely a causis and a partibus will certainly cast themselues and all other into a manifest anarchy into all disturbance and vtter confusion because the same obiections against one state of spirituall Lords may as iustly and more sensibly be deriued vpon secular Lordes of like degree I say if Moses eternall lawes the very true lawes of God be in these new reformations no better then temporarie and transitorie lawes which were a deepe roote for atheisme and a ground-worke for blasphemie yet I hope these Martins will not make themselues worse then Pagans being counted Christians they cannot possibly I trust be so irefull and raging as to exceede the profane Egyptians who allowed their priestes no small commodities in plenty of bread of flesh of wine besides their domesticall immunities and priuiledges whereby they spent nothing of their own neque è re domestica aliquid conterunt neque impendunt saith Herodotus in Euterpe and Danaeus in his Aphorismes gathereth more from that second booke than I doe they wil not for shame doe lesse for other christians thē they did for other idolatrous Egyptians cap. 47. ver 22. of Genesis But in trueth these reformers haue without trueth contemned Moses and Iosua like Iannes and Iambres and the Gibeonites in former times God send them more of his grace and mercie or the rewarde of those men if it be his will now will they also count Ioseph that heauenly politike guyde that true patterne of politickes a partiall and parciall iudge and account him and his rulers al superstitious rulers for not touching and buying the lands of the Egyptian priests and fathers in the seuen yeares of intollerable dearth and famine when all other men of the Temporaltie sold euery man his land his cattle himselfe and all to buy bread Surely those holy men of our so learned dayes and so christiā peace that put almost all Gods husbandrie in lopping and proyning and making euery thing lesse then it shoulde be much like that holines that the Graecians Hyppocrates name in those words sacer morbus sacer piscis os sacrum whereby they vnderstand greatnes more thē goodnes quantitie more then qualitie a diseased holines a fishy holines slicke on the skinne and sicke within a bonish holines and fitter to choake men then to feede them would in their reforming discipline make our gouerners and Iosephs worse affectioned to their naturall and spirituall countreymen or fathers and instructors that haue altogether alike one baptisme one confirmation one communion one beleefe one prayer one law one gospel one God and one mediatour sauiour then Pharao was to the idolatrous Priestes of his kingdome hauing more forcible necessitie then to haue sequestred and impropriated their church-landes and goods then euer other kinges and princes had or ought to haue by the rule of Gods word to empayre their church-lands and goods which euen in the naturall witte of Trebatius are sacred being once dedicated vnto God and therefore inuiolable according to the nature of holy things Macrob. l. 2. Satur. cap. 3. but receiuing al their blessings and fruites for the churches sake whereof they are members which is the onely spouse and best beloued sister of the lamb of God not for any meritorious worke of their owne ought contrariwise rather to increase their annuities and reuenues as they will for a woorse and meaner loues cause in common vsuall fauour increase the liuings of such as they onelie wish well vnto But these our reformers say what they list either like tyrants that cannot be hindered or like wittals that must be tolerated and these will haue their words though the rulers bid peace Then leaue them a while to themselues and let them alone and thinke in your harts beloued christians and iudge in your owne consciences vnfainedly like right Nathanaels without guile or gal iudge I pray soberly aduisedly in your mindes and then marke my communication Is not equitie or law and reason vniuersal and common for all reasonable men is any man forbidden in equity and reason to keepe his owne goods which are lawfully giuen him did Naboth offend God by keeping his inheritance vineyard or Ahab in asking and Iezabel in catching it by false processe and wrongfull execution when hir cosmeticall physitians had cōmended the prospect and recreation of the place and his greedy lawiers told him of his profit and prerogatiue may one man or lord
if they were aboue them they speake of peace and make continuall warre they thinke them selues Nathans and good finders out of errors correctors of abuses when as in very deede the parable of Nathan 2. Kings cap. 12. v. 1 2 3 4. is verified by them in the fifth commaundement Honour spirituall and corporall fathers as it was true in Dauid by the tenth thou shalt not couet thy neighbours wife and they are in minde as their works proue thē very Mathans of some one Baals groue or other if all were knowne to vs that is knowne to thee to bring his vilest indignities to passe to make a wofull Democraty without order honour or seemely estate and a right cyclopical and giantlike church and consequently such a commonalty where euery bold one may be a controller of his betters and powre out his fancies like water that runneth apace their arrowes are shot when shall they be rooted out where the stipendiary man may esteeme of his reuerend Lord as the vast rudes by Polyphemus coūteth of superior powers poëtically termed Iupiter and the gods and saith that he is but a cyclops with halfe his eyes yet will do what he list and aske them no leaue though at last he lost his one eye like enough for his blasphemous treason Lord God what a desperate state is this how shall duties be regarded how shall offices bee performed how can thy great name be honored in thy rulers how can the gouernment of ciuill and godly nations endure if the chiefe piller and ankerhold of all feare and obedience be once broken and taken away from thy sanctuary holy church if their hearts be thus set against thy glorie who shall safely trust them in mens affaires if their Deleatur begin at thy house where shall the vngodly and sinners appeare if one lamb and sheepe thus rend another what rendings and tearings shall the woolues make if they behold thy lambe ô God with so cruell and enuious eyes how can they be louing and mercifull toward thy children O how truely haue the Prophets and Apostles compared such men to vnreasonable creatures as Paul hath called the Cretians Euill beasts and Christ surnamed Herod a Fox whom other zealous and learned writers haue followed in like causes of pride and mischiefe but especially Epiphanius aboue other who by his manifold naturall similitudes seemeth to write his bookes of Poisonous beastes being made purposely against rebellious heretickes to omit our countriman Gildas surnamed Sapiens other who dealing plainly against notorious enormities told kings to their faces that they liued like outlawes lions and lions whelps and leopards and beares and dragons and dogs forsaking the rules manners of men and liuing in lust not in order in will not in skill at rouers and rangeal not within bounds and compas madly and drunkenly to let passe the surpassing stile and violent phrases of Luter in this vaine forced vpon causes Therefore from all such reforming discipline that is priuy conspiracie against all rulers from all such falfe doctrine and heresie which no magistrate can allow without periury from such hardnesse and deceitfull contempt of thy word and cōmandement good God saue vs or deliuer vs and let thy will be now done still and still in earth as it hath euer more and more bene in heauen by thy will and lead not thy princes and people into these snares and calumnies of the deuill that in his angelick sophistry goeth looketh like a reformer intending wrong and pretending right that is hony and mealemouthed to looke vnto but hath his entrals compounded of all vnhealthfull bitternesse and is in true tast a wild kinde of Coloquintida or death it selfe in the pot of the prophets children in our schooles and townes which the gatherer shredded in steed of good hearbes being too hasty and presumptuous to aske too ignorant to know of himselfe what he should haue gathered How can I but be mooued hartily to write against some such graue and some such bragging conspirators in these daies whose heresie is more dangerous then any old one being a more winding crooked mutiny then any of them And now at last it is proued no better then a spitefull sect a very mocking Ismaëliticall kindle Gen. c. 21. v. 9 10 11. a counterfet holines a proude selfe-loue an old militar obiection and barbarous paradox renued a fresh and misalledged tush man quoth he temporall and ecclesiastical are synonima it is popery to count ecclesia and ecclesiastica for coniugata cedant togae armis it is a stubburne and arrogant quarel begun vpon priuate aemulation and continued with a brasen forehead vttered first in heate and haste and then defended in earnest one great cause of corrupted artes as Viues iudgeth rightly l. 1. de disciplinis herein following the iudgement of Salomon Bion Seneca and experience it selfe a swelling and harmefull scisme sprung from a colledge mal-contentship to a common-wealth-braule a clamarous and wrangling doctrine of another brytish Sphynx a spotted linx or such not innocent harmelesse as the doctrine of Gods blessed lambe an hypocriticall imposture which hath the face of a man and the tayle of a Scorpion a shew of peace before it and fire powder following it which propoundeth conscience and concludeth iniurie pretendeth purest diuinity and is farthest from charitable necessary christian humanitie a most perfite enmitie to the lambe of God and God himselfe in defacing and supplanting the magistracies of both For seeing in Greece this day not only the doctrine and rites of christian religion but also the order and degree of Bishops and the whole ecclesiasticall regiment and iurisdiction are both tolerated and defended vnder the Turkish tyrannie as many faithfull men which liued there a long time haue witnessed in an oration of Dauid Chitreus written about twenty yeares since and as he there telleth more plentifully how can we esteme them so godly as Turkes that seek in their owne countrey to hurt the Church more than those infidels antichristians doe though they can and these cannot as God forbid they shoulde euer doe it Church goods are onely to be reserued to the churches vse saith Hadamarius in his institution of a Prince Or if these words seem any way hard to any good christian which to the well disposed and skilfull reader are no lesse allowable by good example then apparantly true and more true than he or I would they were by reason I desire some good Christian euen in christian charitie and godly brotherhode to thinke vpon to consider and examine the proofes and grounds of this assertion and then iudge thereafter accordingly in conscience as he ought specially when he remembreth that the heathen writers themselues neuer set any men but the vaynest and maddest of all the rest against their Priestes which men either liued in reproach or came to shame or for the time were generally reputed reprochefull and shamefull men as may appeare in their gigantomachies
extreme vengible reformatiues these new metrapolitanes that haue pasports and inuestitures of the deuils good holines to Nymrodize and Iudaize their filles these that care not if heauen fall downe and earth rise vp so they haue their willes and get themselues a day and a name being now wearie of their right surnames and christian and wishing to bee their owne godfathers or nicknamers for here is their great theme and maxime of pure and purpure misrule I warrant you largely and illuminately handled here is the goale and price they runne at and long for here is that crucifige which they cried so long here is a correctiue Leiger and Factor for their new-shapen worships their humors of all sortes here is their vpright patrico or Abraham man as they tearme him at a beck at an inch with his dieu garde that can and will at a dead lift proue it good by his lawes and canons by his reasons and senses by his fathers and brothers and sisters by his angels and perhaps paredrall diuels that bare such a sway in their booke Nemith vel legum Orci Inferorum That Hazael and Ioas princes were base kings and as it were flattering dogs to call the ecclesiasticall prophet Elisaeus their lord and father 4. Kings c. 8 v. 12. c. 13. v. 14. that the third Semicenturion or captain of king Ochoziah with al his fifty men was but a swaine to fall on his knee and do the ecclesiasticall prophet Elias reuerence and cal him his good lord 4. Kings c. 1. v. 13 14. that king Benhadad Naaman the captaine and the rest in holy Chronicle did amisse to call prophets their fathers and lords themselues being noble and mightie men 4. Kings c. 5. v. 17. c. 8. v. 9. that God did not well to make Moses that was but a lawgiuer and counseller the God of Pharao a king drad soueraigne Exod. c. 7. v. 1. that al men in the earth which haue called the heads rulers of the church their lords in bookes in sermons in other meetings shall for that idle word giue account at the last day but not for calling other mē their lords that our Church is maymed vnlesse we turne 7. into 4 and yet so we mayme it more that our bishops are blasphemers and traitors vnlesse they set downe 4. sortes of churchmen by those texts where S. Paul setteth downe 7. seuerall things Prophecie Office Teachers Exhorters Distributers Rulers Mercymen Rom. c. 12. v. 6 7 8 c. where he setteth downe nine gifts of the spirite wisedome knowledge faith healing great workes prophecie discerning of spirits diuersities of tongues interpretation of tongues 1. Cor. c. 12. v. 8 9 10. where he setteth downe fiue orders with the fruits of them apostles prophets euangelists pastors teachers c. Ephes c. 4 v. 11 12. that deacons must not teach wisdome but pastors that elders must not teach knowledge but doctors that pastors must not meddle with goods but deacons that doctors must not deale with manners but elders that wisedome knowledge manners accounts these foure things belong not to euery pastor to euery doctor to euery elder to euery deacon because euery one in himself belike and in other men must not looke to the soule and bodie to the mind and māners to the inward and outward man that our confessors and martyrs of late time men as carefull of euery worde they spake as men might be and specially that most innocent and righteous preacher M. Bradford was ouerseen in being so dutifull and curteous to call the Bishops lords that these our Eliae Elisaei Moses our spirituall captaines and fathers should not be called lords nor charret strength of England any more though they euer were and wil be so that teachers must be poorer then their inferiours and schollers that the magistracies for none or least causes must bee contemned and ouerthrowne that the sheepherd must not be richer then a sheepe and Christ put from his See in the church because he is not corporally resident that laughing and reioycing vpon supposed faults betokeneth Gods spirit that the watchman in the tower must be kept of the meanest that saueth me best and al that he may in conscience be fostered that standeth stifly in a lewde cause that Philemon did not owe himselfe to Paul his spirituall father v. 19. that physicians of the bodies shall be in great account for healing an outward maladie that would cast into the graue and looking to the mortall part of man and our ghostly and heauenly physicians of the soule must be out of account for preseruing the immortall part of a man and curing the inward diseases that otherwise would cast downe to hell that the minoritie of Saul and the Iudaisme of Paul must preiudice the ones title and roialtie and the others doctrine and diuinitie that Edgars and Iustinians and the first Williams or third Edwards Henries lawes or Magna charta should set their lawiers aflote in wealth in magnificencie in all ability and Gods lawe descending from heauen vpon the holy mountaine Sinai in all maiestie and honorable reuerēce the prophets words writtē by the wisest spirit of the whole world euē Gods own holy Ghost the gospell of Christ that hath by Gods prouidence conquered heauen and earth as I coulde easily shewe vnto you if puritanisme were not and the spirituall true decretals of the Apostles which keepe all men from follies and lawmen from iniuries these 4. chartae maximae of God himself that hold vp euen the foure corners or quarters of heauen ouer our heads that else for our sin would contrarie to all philosophicall quintessences fall vpon vs shall set their students their barresters their counsellers and iudges at an eb or in a drought in more penury in greater want and contemptible estate Such reasons and conclusions which either must be vpholden with many other like inconueniences and mischiefes or else these nouelties and quarrels must be cast downe are more fit for the oration of Catiline with the coniuration of Lentulus Cethegus once in Rome then for reformation of our English church which is not of the same manner of spirit that Elias was for so our Sauiour teacheth his Apostles in the gospell of S. Luke c. 9. v. 55. euen as this commonwelth is not in such distresse by Gods fauourable goodnesse wherein it liueth for according to the times God raiseth vp diuerse graces in the world as those regions were at that day vnder persecution when notwithstanding the prophet was thus highly honoured and reuerenced of princes which if it were otherwise in deede then it was yet in right what argument call you this by your reformatiō what consequence is this in your witcraft your new logicke which desire to seeme so logical and sensible wittie men To set worldly magistrates vp on height for good seruice done to their prince and countrie duly and iustly to thrust downe these magistrates of magistrates as
and violent robbery valiant ielousie and false dealing godly insinuation Lord God amend them if it bee thy will for they know not what they say Salomon writeth in his sure promise and exhortation that if his spouse be a wall he will build a siluer bulwark vpon it to make it the more venerable and glorious among men Reformers in their discipline and exhortation are as ready to steale his siluer worke away by a false plea as he was to set it vp by a good conscience they are ready to rob the Church for loue they now with all blasphemous impudencie professe it openly set a price on it as the malecious men in in old time did on Ioseph and Iudas in later time on Iesus himselfe and souldiers cast lots on his owne garment Gen. c. 37. v. 27. Math. c. 27. v. 5. and some care not in their madnesse if he were stripped from top to toe such is their lunacie and so are they puffed vp with pecuniary logick which Verres a worthy teacher hath taught thē making more account of monie then of men teaching other men how to buy the best princes aliue of their owne men but shal this Iugurth say of you relatiuely ô angliam venalem si inuenerit venditorem shall he thus vilely dishonor the iudges of this age with such proffers as if they were for his tooth maligning secretly our gracious blessed prince and deuising how to blot hir Royall immaculate glory in this hir mercifull and right Christian raigne by some such villanous desperate act whereby shee might be stained in all posterities and records by pleasuring Martinish malcontents once and displeasuring all learned men for euer euen for loue they would worse then that excessiue tyrant Richard the third play an enemies part to the Church for the loue they haue to God they wish the decay of Gods tēple these Antidauids and Antichrists haue not loued the habitation of his house nor the place where his honour dwelleth as their S. Dionysius to whom the hotter wittier they are the liker they are robbed the church of his god whome he worshipped because hee would tast of the goodnesse of his God but we see what sorow came on him euen by deriding that religion which was bad or as mad men and fooles and drunkerds cōdemne their own soules for mony and loose the blessings and ioyes of Gods kingdome to win the transitory goods of the earth by mischieuous waies being misled of an ignorant wil and vnaduised resolution blinded with a fond desire of innouation onely and presuming to rule the wheele which themselues neuer made or knew Salomon saith in the aboundance of that wisedome which God gaue him that if his sister and spouse be a dore as Christ metaphorically calleth himselfe a dore by which we enter into heauen as by his Church wee enter vnto him he will keepe hir in with the best wood he can come by euen with the boordes of Cedar wood which is a wood euer good of greatest continuance of fairest bewtie of noblest worthinesse insomuch that yong grāmarians can say prouerbially Cedro digna of a thing that deserueth immortality and the renowne of all posterity that preserueth it selfe and other things that are in it from corruption but these supposed gentlemen as far from gentlenesse as the goates be from sweetnes these courtiers as farre from curtesie as diuels are from goodnesse these shrewde reformers of Moses and Ioseph Salomon I pray God if it be possible they may once proue reformers of themselues and learne to be ruled by their rulers had rather that preseruation that future renowne that immortalitie of name those cedar bords should only or chiefly be giuen to the temporall scholler then the spirituall teacher to the easie hearer then the painefull speaker to the externall ruler the image of God then the internall ruler the other image of God then to the kings of all kings euen God himselfe or to his house for his owne sake that giueth all goods only for his houses sake as he blessed Pharao for Iofephs sake and the poore widdow of Sarepta for Elias sake and Laban for Iacobs sake where his blessed name is called vpon where his eares are open out of heauen to our praiers where the bottomlesse graces and immeasurable benefites and all happines begin where his owne word is once and for euer sent from aboue where in a better imitation of heauenly harmonie then Macrobius mentioneth l. 2. c. 3 Satur. the nightingale and the larke and al sweet birds for so I may well name them sing Iesus Gloria all the yeare where Gods owne worde is in mans phrase that men may vnderstand it a thousand times more worthy of golden couer and golden deske then the furious Iliads and fraudulent Iliads then the lion and fox of Homer were in the iudgement of Great Alexander according to the like cōparitiue argument of the kingly prophet Dauid who thinketh it no reason that himselfe should dwel within cedar walles and the Arke of God should abide in tentes and be carried vpon cart wheels in a more penurious and simple manner then was eyther lawful or expedient 2. Kings c. 6. v. 3. c. 7. v. 2. For Dauid did not make such a conclusiō as our deformers doe he was not so headstrong a gentleman or so presumptuous a man of worship as this great mender thus counselling all before he be called and cancelling that he neuer had with a metrapolitanisme of his owne making and fashion he said not that the arke of Gods couenant should stay on a cart still in other ages after him because in the primitiue necessitie it was first caried vpon cart wheeles as these seniors in rayling and iuniors in obeying say that the church must stand for euer as she stoode in her apodemicall mobilitie at the first in trauaile in trouble in sorow in persecution like the first churchmen and if that were granted yet euen at those dayes the true christians of the laytie layd downe their goods at the churchmens feete and they did not the like only that were infidels and very pagans Acts c. 4. v. 32. which bounty shewed in the dreadful time of persecution when themselues might haue neede shoulde teach our men to doe the like in time of peace and liberally supply the wants of the clergie which by vngodly Martinish vnreasonable absurdest meanes are beyond a meane very grieuous and many and if christian patience were not most intollerable ô yee diuelish cormorāts reade the 83. Psa v. 12 13 14 15 16 17 18. repent make restitutiō of those church lands goods so lewdly and vngratiously gotten and kept and spent in pride and lecherie vnlesse with your other hellish paradoxes yee will make the time of peace in a setled state more niggardly and rauenous then that time of affliction in a moueable wandring common-wealth so that they may as readily protest and maintain this with Wall and