persecute the beloved Spouse of Christ the Church But the Lord hath reserved a peculiar people to himselfe that hâ—ve not bowed the knee unto Baal God hath selected a faithfull and obedient flock that follow the Lamb wheresoever he goeth These the Lord our God the God of Israel who keepeth covenant for ever hath blessed and they are blessed and no adversary power is able to curse them When Jesus Christ was upon earth he prayed thus for his Elect Holy Father keepe through thine owne name those whom thou hast given me that they may be one as we are John 17. But he is entred into Heaven it selfe now to appear in the presence of God for us And this man because he continueth ever hath an unchangeable Priesthood Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them Moses verily was faithfull in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after but Christ as a Sonne over his owne house whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoycing of the hope firme unto the end Let us not be slothfull but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises For God is not unrighteous to forget the work and labour of love which his servants have shewed towards his Name The earth which drinketh in the raine that cometh oft upon it and bringeth herbs meet for them for whom it is dressed receiveth blessing from God But that which beareth thornes and briars is rejected and is nigh unto cursing whose and is to be burned Let us labour therefore faithfully in Gods Vineyard the Church Militant least we fall in unbeliefe for an ensample of a rebellious and stiff-necked people My hearty desire and continuall prayer to Almighty God is that every one of us in our severall places and callings do shew all diligence in the Worke of our great Lord and Master the God of our Fathers whom we serve and that we labour to advance the truth and purity of doctrine taught and delivered by our Saviour Jesus Christ and his Apostles and to resist convince and silence the gain-sayers and enemies of the Gospell Let us be strong and very couragious that we may observe to do according to all the Law that God hath commanded us let us not turn from 〈◊〉 to the right hand or to the left for then the Lord shall make our wayes our indeavours and works prosperous and then we shall have good successe Let us take good heed therefore unto our selves that we love the Lord our God Else if we do in any wise go back and cleave unto the remnant of Idolatry that remaineth among us Know for a certainty that the Lord our God will no more be mercifull unto us will no more be among us and deliver us But those Idol-worshippers false bloudy-hearted Papists shall be snares and traps unto us and scourges in our sides and thornes in our eyes untill we are restrained from all the good things which the Lord our God hath given us Would God that we had the courage and resolution of Joshua and that this charge of his from the Lord unto the people of Israel were written in our hearts Now therefore feare the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth and put away the gods which your Fathers served on the other side of the Floud and in Egypt and serve ye the Lord. And if it seeme evill unto you to serve the Lord choose ye this day whom ye will serve whether the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the Floud or the Gods of the Amorites in whose Land ye dwell But as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. See the 24th of Joshua and the 2d of Judges both remarkable Chapters for this purpose O Eternall and most Gracious God inflame thy Messengers the Ministers of thy Word with a holy Zeal and arme thy servants the Civill Magistrates with a godly courage that they may demolish beat down and root out Popery Superstition Heresie and Prophanesse out of these Isles and Dominions of our Sovereigne Lord King Charles The toleration of Massing Religion is against the grounds of true Christian Religion against reason and against the policy of the Common-wealth as I finde at large in an Answer to the Masse-Priests presumptuous Supplication directed to our late King James of renowned memory and published 1604. Our Adversaries themselves declare that indifferency of Religion or toleration of two contrary Religions in one Kingdome is intolerable Possevin Biblioth Select lib. 1. c. 26. saith 1 It is a divelish invention 2 that it is contrary to Gods Ordinance 3 that it repugneth against the Lawes of Moses of nature and the Gospell it selfe 4 That it is contrary to the substance and proprieties of Christian faith 5 That it taketh away the truth and certainty of Christian faith 6 That it taketh away the certainty of Gods divine Worship and of the Church 7 That it taketh away Christian Discipline 8 That it cutteth asunder the unity of the Church 9 That it is contrary to the Word of God 10 That it is repugnant to the practise of the Primitive Church the authority of Fathers and Decrees of Emperours And finally that it provokrth the wrath of God against the Authours of it If then the Adversaries themselves see Liberty of divers Religions to be so pernicious where they have winde in pupp I hope they will pardon others that will not admit their lewd pernicious and phantasticall opinions We read in our Histories when Ladislaus son of Albert King of Bohemia about the year 1440. went to Bohemia there to be crowned where Pogtebracius had the Governance that during all the time of his being there though being much requested yet would the young King neither enter into the Churches nor hear the service of them which did draw after the Doctrine of Hus. Also before he departed thence he thought first to visit the noble City of Uratislavia in Schlesia In the which City the aforesaid King Ladislaus being there in the high Church at Service many great Princes were about him among whom was also George Pogiebracius who then stood neerest to the King unto whom one Chilianus playing the Parasite about the King as the fashion is of such as feign themselves fooles to make other men as very fooles as they spake in this wise as followeth With what countenance you do behold this our Service I see right well but your heart I do not see Say then doth not the Order of this our Religion seem unto you decent and comely Do you not see how many and how great Princes yea the King himself do follow one Order and Uniformity And why do you rather follow your Preacher Rochezana than these Do you think a few Bohemians to be more wise then all the Church of Christ besides
The English CATHOLIKE CHRISTIAN OR The SAINTS Vtopia By THOMAS de Eschallers de la MORE an unprofitable Servant of Jesus Christ Of Graies-Inne Barrister and Minister of the Gospel of eternall salvation In the Yeer of Grace and Truth 1649. A Treatise consisting of four SECTIONS 1 JOSVAHS Resolution 2 Of the Common LAW 3 Of PHYSICK 4 Of DIVINITY Josh 24.15 As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. Deut. 32.45 46 47. Luke 6.31 1 Pet. 4.8 Prov. 19.29 Heb. 13.1 1 John 4.7 8. Eccles. 12. vers 13 14. Rom. 12. Chap. Chap. 13. Read these Chapters and texts of Scripture with diligencehumility and integrity of heart in the name and fear of God Sâ—â—â—â— Amen LONDON Printed by R. Leybourn in Monks-well street and are to be sold at Graies-Inne 1649. To his most excellent MAJESTY CHARLES King of Great Britain France and Ireland DRead Sovereign my Lord the King may it please your Highness onely once to look over this ensuing Treatise and it will not repent thee ô King to peruse it and read it again and again entituled a Protestation concerning the Church and Common-wealth of England written almost six yeers since viz. in June 1641. by a loyal-hearted subject and a faithfull servant now in all humility prostrate beneath your Majesties feet May your favour descend as dew upon the grass and let me not behold the messengers of death in your countenance A shrub may grow neer unto a Cedar High and low great and small The rich and poor meet together The Lord is the maker of them all I would put a knife to my throat were I man given to appetite or desirous of dainties I am not called to sit and eat with a Ruler but to attend and wait untill I have delivered mine errand to the King it behoveth me therfore to consider diligently what to say Many will intreat the favour of the Prince and every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts But I was born for adversity have bin trained up in afflictioÌ„s have eaten my bread in sorrow and do desire to appear my self a true Nathanael an upright Loyalist at all times Not subjection alone but duty my dread Lord comandest my greatest observance and most obedientiall gratitude for I am a branch spronted from a root this many ages hath grown spread flourished lived and revived in the light of the countenance and sun-shine days of divers Kings of England your Royall Progenitors whose Princely bounty and most munificent constant favours unto mine Ancestors hath been as a cloud of the latter rain videlicet Sir Hugh de Pounts un chivaler que vint de Normandie ove le Conquerour transacto regimine Regis Haroldi Secundi Laurentius de la More qui erat in exercitu Willielmi Bastardi Regis in Conquestu suo Regni Angliae c. Dominus Galfridus de Scalariis miles Sir Thomas de Eschallers Sir John de Chalers Knights Scalarii isti sunt editi atavo Galfridi senioris Hardwino de Scalariis Domino totius Baroniae de Caxton in Comitate Cantabrigiae tempore Willielmi Regis Angliae c. And Sir Thomas de la More Knight who was a Courtier in the Reigns of Edward the First Edward the Second and Edward the Third and was a Servant and wrote the life of King Edward the Second And my Grandfather who was Servant to King Henry the Eighth and divers others of my Ancestors who received most Princely rewards and gifts from their Masters the Kings of England and had great possessions and lands given unto them in the County of Oxon. c. Now therefore if I should not in most humble manner acknowledge this great munificence and pay my due tribute of Loyalty for such Royall favours I should be branded with the blackest note of Infamy and be chronicled ingratefull Moreover as I am a member of the body of Christ my supream Head Christian duty binds me not onely to pray for Kings and all that are in authority but to labour with my hands and assay all lawfull means possible for the building up and repairing of the breaches which all our sins have made in that mystical Temple the Church of God If David hath committed a great wickednesse and sinned secretly and the Prophet tell him Thou art the man he must presently confesse I have sinned against the Lord and the Lord will put away his sin and he shall not die Psal 51. 2 Sam. 12. If Peter denie his Master and the Lord looke back in mercie upon him he cannot but goe forth immediately and weepe bitterly If God hath humbled Ahab King of Israel Nebuchadnezar King of Babylon the Ninivites and Manasseth King of Judah that Mirrour of mercie and miracle of Gods unchangeable love and everlasting kindnesse and good will towards sinfull men they shall make an humble acknowledgement of their transgressions repent and turn unto the Lord with fasting weeping and mourning And the Lord will turn away his fierce wrath he will cancell his decree of temporall punishment and reverse his judgements denounced against them If that wise King Solomon multiply his whoredoms commit Spirituall Fornications and Idolatry he must become an Ecclesiastes in recantation of his vanities If King Saul make an unadvised adjuration to hinder the victory to retard the successe and weaken the hands of those that fight the Lords Battels Shall Jonathan die who hath wrought salvation in Israel God forbid the people may rescue him that he die not If Joab Captain of the Host advise a disconsolate son-lamenting King to speak comfortably unto his Princes his people his friends and servants that being ashamed have gotten themselves by stealth into their Cities and habitations The Kiâ—â— will presently arise and sit in the gate that all the people throughout all the Tribes of Israel and Judah may be at strife to bring the King back to his house If the people say unto him Thou shalt not goe forth to Battell for if we fly away they will not care for us neither if halfe of us die will they care for us but now thou art worth ten thousand of us therefore now it is better that thou succour us out of the City the King will give them a gracious Answer and say unto them what seemeth you best I will doe If the Prophet Jeremy counsell the captiv'd King by yielding to save his life let him obey the voice of the Lord so it shall be well unto him and his soule shall live A wicked man hardeneth his face but as for the upright he directeth his way There is no Wisdome nor Understanding nor Counsell against the Lord. Let no man presume to touch Gods people the Servants the Prophets the Anointed of the Lord for he reproved Kings for their sakes Let no man speak evil of those things which he knoweth not lest he perish in the gain-saying of Core Let no wicked Pharoah exalt himselfe against Gods people lest the Lord
written in the Book that Hilkiah the Priest found in the House of the Lord. And like unto him was there no King before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soule and with all his might according to all the Law of Moses neither after him arose any like him 2 Kings 22 23. Chapters Now therefore my Lord the King arise and be doing and the Lord be with thee And command all your Children your Confederates and Allies your Nobles and your Commons and all the people of your Kingdoms to help you saying Is not the Lord your God with you And hath he not given you rest on every side for he hath given your enemies into your hands and the Land is subdued before the Lord and before his people Now set your heart and your soul to seeke the Lord your God arise therefore and build ye the Sanctuary of the Lord God establish Religion in its purity according to Gods Word settle the Church government compose the differences and heal the distempers that our sins have made repair ye the breaches and build up the waste places in the Church and State and doe you Judgement and Justice throughout all my Dominions And comand all the people to gather themselves together as one man and to make confession saying O Lord the great and dreadfull God keeping the Covenant and mercie to them that love him and to them that keepe his Comandements We have sinned and have committed iniquity and have done wickedly and have rebelled even hy departing from thy precepts and from thy judgements Neither have we harkned unto thy servants the Ministers and Preachers of thy Word and Ordinances which spake in thy name to our King our Princes and our Fathers and to all the people of the Land O Lord to us belongeth confusion of face because we have sinned against thee To the Lord our God belongeth mercies and forgivenesses though we have rebelled against him O Lord we have been disobedient and rebelled against thee and cast thy Law behinde our backs have slain thy servants which testified against us to turn us unto thee and we have wrought great provocations therefore thou deliverest us into the hands of our enemies who vexed us in the time of our trouble when we cryed unto thee thou heardst us from heaven and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest us Saviours who saved us out of the hands of our enemies But after we had rest we did evill again before thee therefore leftest thou us in the hand of our enemies so that they had the dominion over us yet when we returned and cried unto thee thou heardst us from heaven and many times didst thou deliver us according to thy mercies Thou didst not utterly consume us nor forsake us for thou art a gracious and a mercifull God Now therefore our God the great the mighty and the terrible God who keepest Covenant and mercie Let not all the trouble seeme little before thee that hath come upon us on our King on our Princes and Nobles and on our Ministers and Elders on our fathers on all thy people since the time of the Kings departing from his Parliaments and people unto this day Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us for thou hast done right but we have done wickedly Neither have our King our Princes and Nobles our Elders and Ministers of thy Word nor our Fathers kept thy Law nor hearkned unto thy Commandements and thy Testimonies wherewith thou didst testifie against them For they have not served thee in their Kingdom in thy great goodness that thou gavest them and in the large and fatland which thou gavest before them neither turned they from their wicked works Behold we are servants this day and for the land which thou gavest unto our Fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof behold we are servants in it And it yieldeth much increase unto them whom thou hast set over us because of our sins also they have dominion over our bodies and over our cattell at their pleasure and we are in great distress And because of all this let us make a sure Covenant and write it and let the King our Princes and Nobles our Elders and Ministers of Gods Word and Ordinances our Fathers and all the people of your Majesties Dominions seal unto it And finally may it please your Excellent Majesty to attend unto the doctrine and exhortations of the Apostle 1 Thes Chap. 5. and Hebrews 13.20 21. Quench not the spirit despise not prophesyings prove all things hold fast that which is good abstain from all appearance of evill And the very God of Peace sanctifie you wholly and I pray God your whole spirit and soule and body be preserved blameless unto the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ Faithfull is he that calleth you who also will do it Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Iesus that great Shepherd of the sheep through the bloud of the everlasting Covenant Make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is pleasing in his sight through Iesus Christ to whom be glory forever Amen I have not omitted for many yeares together my Sovereign Lord daily and constantly to pray for the temporall and eternall happiness of the King the Queen your Consort and Royall Progeny with that integrity of heart zeal and devout affection as I pray for the Church of God and the salvation of my own soul Thus rejoyceth evermore to pray without ceasing Royall Sir Your Majesties humbly devoted Oratour most dutifull loyall and faithfull Subject and Servant in the Lord Thomas de la More Cornet to his Excellencie Sir Thomas Fairfax Knight Generall of England c. From my Quarters at Spaldwick in Huntingdonshire Feb. 22. 1646. Note * Mistakes in the imprinting may be thus amended Page 1. line 7. read unrighteousness p. 4. line 23. blot out neither p. 5. l. 3. read weed p. 7. l. 11. blot out so p. 17. l. 13. read conveying p. 20. l. 10. read butt line 12. blot out the second but. p. 24. l. 8. read we are sold we were sold Imprimatur Iohn Downame A Protestation concerning the Church and Common-wealth of ENGLAND Composed 1641 By Thomas de la More of Graies-Inne Esq revised and published in the Yeer of Grace and Truth 1648. The first Part. SECT I. JOSVAH'S Resolution IEHOVAH our King who ruleth the Hoast of Heaven and scepters the hearts of Princes and great Potentates on earth with the powerfull Arme of his Justice mightily defendeth and with the sovereigne hand of his mercy graciously preserveth these our Kingdomes of great Britaine and Ireland from desolation and miserable confusion Satan rageth and his ministers fight against Christ they take the weapons of righteousnesse and smite their Reprovers like the mad Prophet with obloquie and murtherous intentions They maligne revile and
Why then do you not forsake that rude and rusticall people and joyne to these Nobles as you are a Noble man your selfe Unto whom thus Pogiebracius sagely again doth answer If you speak these words of your self saith he you are not the man whom you faine your self to be and so to you I answer as not to a foole but if you speak this by suggestion of others then must I satisfie them Here therefore as touching the Ceremonies of the Church every man hath a conscience of his own to follow As for us we neither use such Ceremonies as we trust do please God neither is it in our arbitrement to believe what we will our selves The minde of man being perswaded with great reasons is captivated will he nill he and as nature is instructed and taught so is she drawn in some one way and in some another As for my selfe I am fully perswaded in the Religion of my Preachers If I should follow thy Religion I might perchance deceive men going contrary to mine own Conscience but I cannot deceive God who seeth the hearts of all neither shall it become me to frame my selfe like to thy disposition That which is meet for a Jester is not likewise convenient for a Noble man And these words either take to thy self as spoken to thee if thou be a wise man or else I refer them to those which set thee a work To this learned and discreet answer of Pogiebracius let me adde a word or two concerning our Protestant Religion In the gravelly shallows of mens fancies and traditions every Atheist and Papist may wade and dabble in but no humane reason can sound the depths of Religion it may delve and dive to finde Utopia's Land and Purgatories no-where bottome and lose it selfe or at least besmeere and muâ— it selfe in a hood-winked muffled scrutiny and never rise againe but wrapped in a Noli me tangere Pest-house weeds doom'd to pollution and perpetuall shades onely faith wrought in the hearts of Gods Children by the Spirit of Adoption can apprehend the great mysterie of godlinesse and apply the sweets and comforts of Salvation in Jesus Christ A true saving faith only I say can distinctly and perfectly see that life of the Soule which is hid with Christ in God which the blear eye of sence or reason can in no wise discover or discerne There is but one true Religion Man ha's but one way to walke in Howbeit there are many by-paths c. and those too inscrutable In the large Maze of Religions professed in Amsterdam I had almost said London Surely the short threed of mans life will scarce clew him through the severall Conclaves of them all and so guide him to the right Variety unhindges the door of the heart and for eagernesse of giving more speedy entrance to all in-commers it blocks up the passage and dispels the timely motions of the spirit and the seeds of of sanctity that would root and settle themselves in the soule In this necessitated coarctation whether shall fickle man betake himselfe The choise of Religion is of some consequence and moment not instantly to be resolved upon by the best judgement This stumbles a man of riper years There is an awing superiour and a sovereigne Diety that scepters the hearts of men Religion carries a confutation along with it and tongue-ties inquisitive nature Propound many things we may and revolve with our thoughts a while uncouth conceits may startle us and unsettle the affections of the minde and yet when we have done all we can in thinking the best of us sit down astonished and as men hurried in a Wildernesse our Pilgrime-speculations amazedly gaze after we know not what And 't is well if we can subside to an holy Admiration If with reverence we prostrate our selves certainly the Spirit will erect us direct our steps and guide us in the way everlasting What our reason cannot reach let the hand of faith apprehend Where the depth of our judgements may not fathom let us trust the mercy of the waves supporting us lest we merge our selves in despaire Where God commands do we must And therefore since we are all made for the service of God Almighty the Maker of all things let us walk in all holinesse of conversation during this our Pilgrimage here upon earth so shall we finde rest unto our soules in the Haven of Felicity 'T is true Happinesse is the Scope whereunto naturally all men do levell their thoughts but it is the just man that attaines the end of his desires that ha's the fruition of his hopes his best intentions onely arrow the white Unâ omnes voco all of us in the Optative Mood can say Faine would we be in that Paradise of Joy and place of Blisse where Crownes and Palmes are given And I could wish that all men I mean the Converts of all Nations would follow 〈◊〉 and the same way of life Christ our fore-runner Surely then maugre the petty differences of Church-Rites and Ceremonies there would be as unanimous consent a Diapason and perfect harmony in the substance of Religion upon which ground we may safely place the prop of our Salvation We are not of them who draw back unto perdition but of them that believe to the saving of the Soule Heb. 10.39 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen Heb. 11.1 And we read in another place of the same Epistle There remaineth a rest to the people of God For he that is entred into his rest he also hath ceased from his owne works as God did from his Let us labour therefore to enter â—nto that Rest lest any man fall after the ensample of those to whom the Word was first preached which entred not in because of unbeliefe For the Word of God is quick and powerfull and sharper then any two edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of Soule and Spirit and of the joynts and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do Seeing then that we have a great High Priest that is passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our profession Heb. 4. For my own particular I shall ever anchor my selfe upon the Faith Doctrine and Religion professed and protected in the Church of England and other Christianly Reformed Churches For I have a sure testimony and am certainly perswaded that the Protestant Religion is grounded upon the Word of God And for this reason I think it to be the safest of all Religions because it most magnifies God it attributes most to the praise of his glory and makes most for the peaceable Conversation of men Now as touching the Grand Case of Episcopacy which hath exercised so many wits this Parliament I shall give my opinion thus
I have been resolved and setled in my judgement of a long time that the Supereminencies Prerogatives Temporall Dignities Barronies intermedling in Secular Affaires and the Lordly Monopolizing of Titles Jurisdictions and Functions by Archbishops and Bishops above the Pastors and Teachers of Gods Word their fellow-latourers and that the High-Commission with the whole Regiment of it's subordinary Offices likewise Deaneries and Chapters with their dependencies are all contrary to Gods Word unlawfull unwarrantable in themselves pernicious destructive of the peace godly unanimity which ought to be in a true Christian Church and Common-wealth But I confesse the many learned Books and Writings which I have seen and diligently perused since this question hath been moved and throughly debated of late by many sage acute Doctors and other learned men of divers Nations and Kingdomes have not only much confirmed but instructed me also in this point 'T is true that ex gratiá Regis by the favour of the Prince and for Government sake the Order of Bishops hath stood a long time in our Nation supported by the Lawes of the Realme and confirmed by Parliaments And so I see no reason why by the same legislative Power it may not be altered Now whereas by the gracious providence and disposing of Almighty God the Honourable Court of Parliament are zealously affected with a magnanimous and godly care of establishing the True Religion in his Majesties Dominions which consisteth in pure and sound Doctrine in a setled Government in a good and decent Discipline agreeable to the Gospell of Christ and to the rules and ensamples of the Apostles and Elders of the Church in the Primitive times From the first sitting of this great Assembly my hearty desires and prayers have been and are continually that in every Parish Countrey Towne lesser Village and Hamblet within the Kingdomes of England Scotland and Ireland a Religious painfull and learned Preacher may be placed with a Competent Livelyhood and Maintenance for the faithfull and true discharge of their Calling I shall forbear to insist upon this matter or to presse it as large for that Mr. Marshall that worthy and laborious Minister of Gods Word by whose preaching and exhortations thousands of souls have profitted much and as I may probably say many have been converted hath fastned upon this Subject already as I finde in a learned Sermon of his preached before the Honourable House of Commons Novemb. 17th 1640. and published by Order of the said House But I protest in the truth of my heart were I of riper years had I been blessed with a convenable estate and fortune had I been of judgement or had the honour and abilities to have supplied a roome as the meanest Member of that Noble and great Assembly in all humility by a discreet observing of the Countenance and Order of that Court I would have used my best endeavours for the promoting and furtherance of this Motion and I would have laboured and assayed all honest wayes and direct courses in this weighty and only speciall affaire for the security and happinesse both of Church and State had I seen any hopes of effecting it Whence come Heresies Breaches in Religion Schismes Sowings of strife between brethren Backslidings to Popery Superstition Ignorance and blind zeale False worship of God Prophaning of his holy Name Word and Ordinances and polluting of his Sabbaths And wheâ—â— cometh the cursed dishonour of Parents despising of Government the reviling of Magistrates vilifying the Pastors of Gods Word and contemning of Superiours Whence come evill thoughts adulteries fornications murthers thefts covetousnesse wickednesse deceit lasciviousnesse an evill eye blasphemy pride foolishnesse Whence proceed all these impieties I say but out of the impure hearts of prophane and ungodly persons not clensed through the Word of Christ The Apostle St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians not to keep company If any man that is called a brother be a fornicatour or covetous or an Idolater or a rayler or a drunkard or an extortioner with such a one no not to eate I am perswaded that many of Gods deare Saints do mourne in secret to behold the crying sinnes of our Nation which they would but know not how to remedy But the wise King Solomon telleth us for our instruction and comfort If the Spirit of the Ruler rise up against thee leave not thy place for yielding pacifieth great offences There is an evill which I have seen under the Sun as an errour which proceedeth from the Ruler Folly is set in great dignity and the rich sit in low place I have seen servants upon Horses and Princes walking as servants upon the earth Eccles 10. If thou seest the oppression of the poore and violent perverting of judgement and justice in a Province marvell not at the matter For he that is higher then the highest regardeth and there be higher then they Eccles 5.8 Verily as touching my selfe my spirit groaneth and my heart lamenteth and even bleeds within me to heare and see the horrible blasphemies rash oathes cursings and evill speaking lying hypocrisie dissimulation envie malice corrupt communication drunkennesse adultery fornication uncleannesse riot gluttony idlenesse chambering and wantonnesse filthy lucre pride with many more like sinnes which even now do reigne among us Protestants that professe the Name and Gospell of Christ Wherefore me thinkes we should lay our hands upon our hearts and consider with our selves that we are become dead to the Law by the Body of Christ that we should be married to another even to him who is raised from the dead that we should bring forth fruit unto God For when we were in the flesh the motions of sinnes which were by the Law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death But now are we delivered from the Law that being dead wherein we were held that we should serve in newnesse of spirit and not in the oldnesse of the letter Rom. 7. Shall we continue in sinne that grace may abound God forbid how shall we that are dead to sinne live any longer therein Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death Therefore we are buried with by baptisme into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walke in newnesse of life For if we have been planted together in the likenesse of his death we shall be also in the likenesse of his resurrection knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sinne might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sinne Also let us minde the Exhortation of Saint Paul to the Ephesians Chap. 4. This I say therefore and testifie in the Lord that ye henceforth walke not as other Gentiles walke in the vanity of their minde Having the understanding darkened being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the
beginning of the world And this is true humility when we presume nothing upon our owne strength or worthinesse but depend wholly upon the truth of Gods promises Moreover marke the Comandement of the Apostle to the Cor. Prove your selves whether you are in faith examine your selves know you not your own selves how that Jesus Christ dwelleth in you except ye be reprobates 1 Cor. 3.5 Know yâ— not saith the Apostle know ye not that is assuredly and certainly without doubting c. The Prophet Nathan said to David 1 Sam. 12. Thy sin is done away And our Saviour Christ said Son be of good cheere thy sinnes are forgiven thee Mat. 9. And thy faith hath made thee whole hath hath not shall shall it is done doubt not c. Therefore we justly conclude out of the stable Word of God That faith is a knowledge firme and certaine But Popery doth crosse this plaine truth That knowledge ought to go with faith There is nothing more hatefull in that Kingdome of darknesse than to heare of knowledge and in this particular most they abide it not For Nic Cusanus Epist 2. ad Baron a great pillar of their Church is not ashamed to write that Obedientia irrationalis est consummata obedientia perfectissima quando obeditur sine inquisitione rationis sicut iâ—mentum obedit Domino suo Obedience without reason is a full and most perfect obedience when thou obeyest without asking any reason as the horse doth his Master Upon these words Bishop Babington in his Exposition upon the first Article of the Creed saith thus A most strange speech and fitter for a horse or Baalams Asse than for a man surely most ill beseeming a Cardinall but that errour will often be most grosse Yet he stayeth not here but again in the same Epistle answering to this Objection What if the Church comand contrary to Christ whom must we obey with as great grosnesse he saith againe Ab hoc est omnium praesumptionum initium c. This is the beginning of all presumption when particular men thinke their own judgement to be more agreeable to Gods Comandements than the judgement of the Universall Church Whereby you see that he utterly disliketh the people should any way seeke to know what they believe or what they obey unto but simply and sillily to follow blind guides whithersoever they please to lead them The very selfe same darknesse doth Doctor Smith and other of their Catholick teachers againe deliver in one of his Books where he saith That albeit a man do by the comandement of his Bishop or Priest a wicked thing yet this very cloak of his simple obedience shall excuse him But the blessed Apostles knew no such obedience when they answered Whether it is better to obey God or man judge you c. Sir Thomas Moore and other of that side not unlearned boldly avoucheth that If ten should preach in a day and every one contrary to another yet shall he never thrive that will search who saith true directly contrary to the Commandement of our Saviour Christ John 5. Search the Scriptures and to that notable example of the men of Berea so comended and liked by the Holy Ghost that believed not even Saint Paul himselfe without triall but searched the Scriptures whether those things were so Acts 17. And we further read in the Scriptures 1 Thes 5. and 1 John 4.1 and 1 Cor. 11.1 Prove all things hold fast that which is good believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they be of God or no be ye followers of me but how even as I am of Christ Mark this example well and consider in your own heart whether any Priest or Prelate under heaven may challenge more obedience of Gods people than the blessed Apostle might but the Apostles will be obeyed no further than he obeyeth and followeth Christ which he leaveth us ever to try him in As this Doctrine of Proving all things now in question doth reprove the palpable ignorance and blinde zeale of the Papists so it doth comend the activity and diligence of many of the Laity as of the Clergy in those last times that have attained unto a great measure of knowledge of Gods revealed Will by an industrious and frequent reading of the Scriptures joyned with prayer and hearing of the Word not omitting conference with the learned and using other good means for the right understanding of them This Doctrine I say doth approve the labours of some that in humility of heart sâ—eke the Lord but withall it condemneth the arrogancy and over-boldnesse of others that have a zeale of God but not according to knowledge Rom. 10.2 That boast much of the spirit but can they shew the fruits thereof in their words and actions If we live in the spirit let us also walke in the spirit Let us not be desirous of vaine glory provoking one another The Apostle telleth us The fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long suffering gentlenesse goodnesse faith meeknesse temperance against such there is no law Galat. 5.22 23. Moreover the Papists are more blinde in their beliefe than they are grosly idolatrous in their worship and service of God It shall be worth our time and paines to consider the worshipping of Images whether it be lawfull for a Christian man or woman cringing kneeling creeping crossing kissing lighting up candles to it and such like as we see done in the Church of Rome with great observation In the Scriptures of God we have a plaine Comandement Thou shalt not make any graven image c. Read the 4.5.6 and 7 Chapters of Deut. Neither shalt thou set thee up any graven image which the Lord thy God hateth Deut. 16. Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image an abomination unto the Lord the workes of the hands of the craftsman and putteth it in a secret place Deut. 27. See Exod. 23.24 Levit. 26.30 and Isai 41.29 and 44.10 and Jer. 43.13 and Psalm 97. Let it fall then even in the feare of God what mans head inventeth against the Lord in his own duty and at the last let us see it to be a vain mocks to think we can worship God in an Image and by it or under it Our Adversaries have a shift for defence of Images in the Church but it is a very ill favoured one They are say they Lay-mens books and stand in very good stead to put us in mind of God Now that they are no good Books but very dangerous and deceiving sights for lay-men or other whatsoever let the Word of the Lord himself be Judge The Prophet Jeremie in Zeal of Spirit detesteth such books and refuseth to be put in minde of God by any such deceitfull means For the Stock saith he is a doctrine of vanity yea they are vanity and the work of errours and in the time of their visitation they shall perish Jer. 10. The Prophet Habakuk againe saith That the image is a teacher
Church and Commonwealth Why such a one as I so obscure to the eye of the world and so mean in many respects would adventure or dare once to peepe forth among the press of Wits that justle abroad by whole Troops and Bands like so many Armed Souldiers fit for Rencontre in this understanding eagle-ey'd literate knowing age To this I answer First albeit I am of green years and 't is true I am of a weak and raw judgement of small experience learning and ability yet it is now almost thirteen years since I was admitted a Scholar into the University at Oxford where I continued six years and upwards and sithence I have been resident for the most part in London and a Student in the Municipall or Common Laws of the Realm and some knowledge I have gained in Travell Secondly I have met with great oppositions and contradictions of the Religion which I professe by Papists Arminians selfe-knowing conceited men and others popishly affected in the Society wherein I live and in other places where I have been conversant And herein I would gladly quit my selfe of the prejudice and misprisions of mine Adversaries by protesting against them and their Tenets And thirdly only for holding and defending the Doctrine of the Reformed Protestant Religion as it is expressed in the 39 Articles of the Church of England and agreeable to Gods Word and for my obedience thereunto and likewise for maintaining the honour the Wisdome and Justice of the proceedings of the High-Court of Parliament against the malice and force of Ignorance and blinde Zeal against the rash opinions of unsetled vain-heads and against the intoxicating poysonous breath of malevolent Tongues This I had for my paines I was counted and esteemed of as a Time-server a Puritan a Brownist an Ignoranius if not a Separatist a Schismatick an Heretick and one that had the spirit of giddinesse These things I say were strong motives unto me to make this Apologeticall profession of my faith the sincerity of mine intentions and actions But the chief reason indeed that moved me to write this my Protestation was the faithfull and true discharge of my conscience For where God hath given a minde a will and in some measure abilities there ought not to be an unprofitable doing nothing But the Talents of Grace according to our Saviours precept are to be well imployed that when we are called to give an account of our Stewardships our Master Christ Jesus may receive from us his servants the glory and praise of his own grace And since I might not and in truth it were unseemly that I should bring a rough and unpolished Talent to the Common Gazophilacy or Treasury of Religion I deem it meet to cast this Mite into my Spirituall mothers lap the Church of England And though I am no Pilot to guide or to steer the course of our Church which like a ship tossed and blown to and fro with storms and tempests is floating in a Sea of Errours Schismes and Heresies yet as a Passenger being on ship-board I may put forth a hand to help take in Sailes when this great Vessell is either in danger of running a ground upon the quicke-sands of prophanesse or of being bruised by clashing against the Rock of Popery and Superstitions But I know that our Saviour Jesus Christ our onely Mediatour our mercifull Redeemer Head and Governour is both able to keep and he will preserve his Church the pillar and ground of Truth from a finall merging and sinking Now that I may draw to a period of this my Discourse I will cast anchor upon a Resolve Notwithstanding all the pestilent and wicked oppositions the malice envy and hellish projects whereby any Adversary powers do endeavour and plot our ruine and destruction yet let us be strong and very courageous let us resolve and say with Joshuah we will serve the Lord. And let us pray O Eternall God our heavenly Father graciously heare us that those evils which the craft and subtilty of the devill or man worketh against us be brought to nought and by the providence of thy goodnesse they may be dispersed that we thy servants being hurt by no persecutions may evermore give thanks unto thee in thy holy Churh Through Jesus Christ our Lord. I will conclude with the usuall prayer of Martin Luther Confirme O God in us that thou hast wrought and perfect the worke that thou hast begun in us to thy glory So be it Now unto God alone who in his own Substance is Originall in and by himselfe the very Essence of all naturall created existences and beings and the Authour of all Order and Authority be ascribed all due Honour Majesty Might and Dominion by men here by Saints and Angels in the Heaven of Heavens Halelelujahs be sung evermore Amen Amen FINIS