base minded as to looke about him how hee might raise great summes from the poore people or how hee might vnder some good pretence exact some paiment from the church though his enemies were manie mighty his warre great his troubles innumerable his charges infinite yet hee did not molest any one person belonging to the church nether would he suffer the mightiest of his princes once to meddle with them He could not possiblie be perswaded to increase his treasure with any penny which came from the Church or his honour with their prerogatiue or his securitie with their trouble or his credit with their disgrace But this foster father of the poore dispersed lambs of Iesu Christ he bestowed he founded he erected on high he reedified those temples which the heretickes had pulled downe hee restored the landes which they had taken awaie when hee tooke it into his handes he did not giue one halfe to God kept the other halfe to himselfe saying I haue two eies the one to looke to my kingdome and the other to the church But beeing a good true christian philosopher hee knew that though wee haue two eies yet we must looke but one way nor see but one marke at once We cannot at once loue both God and Mammon sinne and righteousnesse the kingdome of this world and heauen But hee knew it truelie and wayed it wisely in his hart that the high God of heauen did create him that hee blessed him preserued him exalted him gaue him all that he had And therefore hee rendred vnto him and his beloued spouse all honor freedome peace and abundance Hee was taught by the holie fathers out of the booke of life that the Lord is a ielous God he will not part stakes with any nor giue his honor to any other but of him it is said and of him onelie Thine is thy kingdome thy power and thy glorie for euer and euer Amen When the good Emperour beheld this perfect stile of Iesu Christ did see the ensigne on which it was described together with the church of Christ cast downe to the bare earth hee drawing neere as S. Paul did to the altar wherein was written ignoto deo beholding but foure bare letters I. N. R. I. which signified that this was the ensigne of the vnknowen God not acknowledged amongest men forthwith hee humbled himselfe in the flesh and reioiced in the spirit that the vnknowen God the God of heauen of earth had vouchsafed him that speciall grace to reueale himselfe vnto him He cast downe his banner and tooke vp the crosse of Iesu Christ crucified hee cast all dignities courts commissions and kingdomes aside and laid his honor in the dust in regard of the true honor of Iesus Christ as wee haue mentioned hee imploied all the giftes which hee had giuen him euen of mind bodie and goods especially in founding erecting beautifying perfecting adorning priuiledging and freeing the church of Christ as Eusebius testifyeth most plainlie in these words Ecclesias vero Dei incredibile est supra omnem opinionem c. It is incredible and far beyond all mens opinions to recount what giftes and ornamentes hee bestowed on the church of God what freedome what plentie of maintenance what honors he gaue to them which had wholy bent theÌ„selues to serue the Lord in his holy temple daily to pray for the safety of the lande for the honour of the King and the sinnes of the people This was the expressed pietie of that first and most Christian Emperour and the Lord of his great mercie redoubled his kindnesse euen into his bosome for hee not onely shewed him the scale which Iacob saw and the gate of heauen opened at the top therereof but hee gaue him that great and rare gift of perseuerance in his deuout deedes euen vnto the end Therfore the Lord blessed him in his pallace in the field froÌ„ the arow which flieth in the wars abroad and from false friends at home and in such plentiful manner that all things which he tooke in hande did prosper wonderfully His victories are compared with the conquests of Cyrus but his end was much more happie for when he had most honourablye passed the full course of the life of man enioyed all the blessings of the earth aboue the space of sixtie yeares not once troubled with any sicknesse of bodie or vexation of minde but in wisedome and true christian loue florished continuallye like the greene bay tree whose fruite doth comfort the hart of man like the spreading vine like the fat Oliue braunch which maketh him to haue a ioyfull countenance sith hee distilled these sweete drops of his sincere loue into the bosomes of the poore distressed christians of his daies the Lord he kindled the sparke of true christian loue in his heart and made him glad with the ioy of his countenance Hee had alwaies victorie against his enemies conquering from Scythia in the east to this Ile of Britaine in the west Neither was the loue of the Lord extended vnto this good Emperour in his life onely but to the end all men may knowe that the loue of the Lorde is not fained that his iustice neuer changeth that his mercie endureth for euer hee departed out of this life being full of yeares in his ripe olde age euen about the feast of the ascension of our sauiour Christ and the descension of the holy Ghost at high noone At which instant his soule leauing the mortall body heere on earth hee was no doubt receiued vp into heauen by the hands of immortall angels there enioying the crowne of eternall blisse Which the Lord hath prouided for all those assuredly which looue his comming and maintaine his holy militant Church heere on earth Neither was the reward of the Lord onely proportioned by the merit of man neither did his munificent mercie onely exceede the merite of this true christian Emperour so much as the compasse of the heauens whose least starres are much bigger then the lande and sea exceedeth the earth in giuing him his hartes desire which is eternall blisse and felicitie but that which the Lord recounteth to Abraham Isaac and Iacob for a sure blessing here on earth he gaue this Godly Emperour three good and godly sonnes to â—it vppon his seate after him neither for one or two liues onely but as it is written of his posterity Vt imperii sedes c. That as the Empire discended from his father vnto him so by the course and lawe of nature it was continued vnto his childrens children and their posteritie Neither is it all onelie to bee marked what fruite the braunch beareth in the top but if we be good simplicians we will haue recourse vnto the roote from whence the first life and naturall vertue proceedeth Heerein if we consider well and looke more narrowlie into it wee shall plainely perceiue that these former examples more
our face most apparantly I will not long discourse on that part pardon me the glasse is cleare what should I write That prouerbe was vsed of auncient time and we prooue it true Suis quisque malis blanditur euery man flattereth himselfe in his owne humor and though the glasse do shew thee plainely that thy face is foulie spotted in diuers places with vncleannesse of thine owne hands and full of puffed pimples by reason thou drinkest lyquor not ordained for thy stomacke yet to the ende that those small scabbes without may breede great sores within and that thine ende may bee the lue of thy desert flattering thy selfe with thine owne deformrtie and loath to bee corrected by an other thou castest away the glasse which once abandoned qui semel verecundiae limities transilient without all blushing thou affirmest boldly a mould a wart a wrinckle a â—reckle a spotte a wheale is but a toye in a mans face I count but little of the foolishe glasse And shew me reason why not why not if it be not seene it is no blot but if it be no more hid then the nose on your face or the sight in your eye if all men loath the sight thereof and count you carelesse of your health for neglecting the same then knowe that the time is nowe come of which it was foreshewed that men should bee loouers of themselues more then of the Lorde and you are a childe of the same nowe therefore sith the glasse is gone and reason is the rule by the which you leauell knowe yee that your deformities are great and sith you loue to feede on meate forbidden two men of your complection know this for a trueth that all meates are not for al meÌ„ It were a straunge vnnatural kindnes if the little child sucking on his mothers brest shold pull the meate out of her mouth as she is feeding yet much more vnholsome to be eaten of the child then straunge to the beholders If this vnnatural vnkindnes doe seeme so vntollerable in the flesh how much more in the children of the spirite wee must knowe that man as Hermes writeth consisteth of two natures of heauen and earth of bodie and of soule of the fleshe and of the spirite The fleshe is of earth earthlie the spirite is from heauen heauenlie first is that which is spirituall and then that which is bodilie The bodie is quickned last and dieth first but the spirite is that which is first and laste As the spirituall is first so wee ought first of all to walke after the spirit and not after the flesh to become like our spirituall father and to nourish our spirituall mother and brethren redeemed with the same spirituall sacrifice renewed with the same spirituall grace confirmed by the same spiritual pastours vnto sanctimony holines of life reading first aboue al other knowledge science contemplacions and reuelations the true heauenlie doctrine of the spirit Seking with our bodies liues and goods to preserue keepe the volumes the pastours the temples of the spirituall worship of the Lord where the breade of life is broken to those which hunger and thirst after righteousnes and the spirituall foode of the soule After the body followeth the shadowe and next to this spirituall foode of the soule the food of the corruptible bodie is to be prouided Both are necessarie but the former first Therefore let vs not seeke after the foode which perisheth but seeke the foode which preserueth both bodie and soule vnto eternall life knowing that as our sauiout Christ saith man liueth not by bread onely but by euerie worde which proceedeth out of the mouth of God This word is the conduit of the spirit whose substaunce is perfect trueth this word was in the beginning by it all thinges were made It created all thinges of nothing in weakenes strength in vilenes honour in the dust it placed a liuing a heauenly and an vnderstaÌ„ding soule erecting the bodily chariot where in he placed it right vp to heauen that he might aboue al things continually haue his face his eie his hart and cogitacion fixed on heauen and heauenlie conuersation But man would not abide in honour the spiriual grace of the heauenly fountaine infused into him was corrupted with the vncleanes of the vessel FroÌ„ the beginning his enemies prouoked him to offend his maker to leaue y e heauenly spirit to incline to her handmaid this sinful filthy coruptible flesh Therewith he lusted after his sensuall appetite he rowled his eie to fro according to y e wauering of fleshly sensuallity leauing the mistris in most degenerate sort he bound himself to serue the pleasurs of the body with the los of life he brought in death in affecting the losenes of the flesh he lost the freedome of the spitit in seeking lands honor on the earth he left the spiritual Canaan the heaueÌ„ly IerusaleÌ„ perfect lawe of the libertie Sith therfore the essence of man is his spirit according as it is written Mens vniuscuiusque is est quisque as the minde is so is the man eyther good or bad and that our first and chiefest constitution is spirituall Let vs vnderstand thus much of our selues that it is most consonant to our creation to our constitution to our saluation that aboue all other things we frame all our thoughts and meditations our calling and conuersation our goods and landes our liues and liuinges our bodies and our soules to the nourishing of the doctrine of trueth and the maintaining of the nurses the true teachers and preachers of the same This is the key of knowledge whereby wee must open the doore of heauen the tree of life which feedeth the soule the cleare light which lighteneth euery man which commeth into the world Now the windowe beginneth to open the day spring from an highe now visiteth vs teaching vs truely that as we consist of two natures so we are of two beginnings spirituall and earthly of a spirituall father the creator of heauen and earth a spirituall mother the holy catholique Church on whome hee hath sent his holy spirite visibly descending So we must first and principally apply our selues to the maintaining of the health peace and safety the reuerence renowne and glory of this spirituall father and mother leauing our earthly father and our earthly mother in regard of them because hee created redeemed and sanctified vs vnto himselfe our holy mother She nourisheth vs with the spirituall milke of the holy ghost that wee should be an holie religious generation vnto the Lord. Therefore after wee haue truelie confessed that wee beleeue in the most holie blessed and glorious trinitie three persons and one God next vnto our heauenlie Father wee acknowledge our spirituall mother the holie catholique Church in whose custodie at his departing out of this world he left his will and testament plainlie written and subscribed with his owne hand and the handes of
manie faithfull witnesses surelie sealed with his most precious bloud He fixed it so surelie and with such vertue that therwith the speres did shrinke in the heauens the Moone against nature retired from the East into the Meridian the Sunne lost his light the aire was darke the earth did shake the graues opened the spirits arose the hel below all trēbled so that the powers therof were loosed After this athentical signifying of his most pretious death bitter passion in heauen in earth in hel he gaue it as his owne deed his last wil testamēt vnto his beloued spouse the holy church a sure seale and pledge of eternall saluation to her all her faithfull children for euer As is the loue of her husband so is hirs for she hath it giuen her of him euen breathed from his owne mouth hee is one and his loue is one for euer the heauens shall waxe old like a garment the Sun shal shrinke from his Excentrich the earth shall passe awaie like a tempest but the loue of our spiritual mother is as the loue of our heauenlie father once euer whom she once loueth she loueth them to the end that most entirely according to the saying of the prophet when father and mother forsaketh me then the Lord taketh me vp Therefore if we be his true children we must frame our selues that we bee like our spirituall parents not in countenance onlie outward looke but in sinceritie holy deuotiō We must forsake both father mother concerning the flesh honouring our spirituall father our spiritual mother aboue all other things both in heauen and in earth He hath begotten vs sonnes of the spirit euen by the spirite of life and she through his great grace doth nurse vs vp with the same food she taketh vs vp out of the mirie waies of this sinful flesh she vnfoldeth the sinfull clothes of the bodie wherewith wee are almost smothered she openeth our mouth applying thereto her tender teats from whence she distilleth the drops of spiritual life into our hearts wherby our soules be fed our bodies preserued our vnderstāding increased our eies cleared our faith perfected so that we see most plainly how we should loath the world learne to loue our holy mother the church knowing that it is not meete to leaue the cleare Sunne to waite on shadowes or possible to serue God Mammon this world heauen the flesh the spirit according as Hermes writeth Nisio fili corpus tuum oderis teipsum amare non poteris impossible est vtrisque simul intendere O Sonne vnlesse thou hate thy body thou canst not loue thy soule for it is impossible to applie thy selfe at once to them both Therfore be ye not so blinded with the stinking mist of Sathans deadly smoke or the painted vale of this wicked world or the sinful web of fleshlie corruptions ouerspredding the sight of your eie that you should not look into the cleer glas now set before your face wherein you may plainlie behold the reflexion of your deformities this vnnaturall spot wherewith you greatlie disgrace your selues before the face of God and man at this day If your eies be so dim through the cares of this present world that ye cannot looke into the times of old if you cannot see so far before you by reason of the cloudy tēptations which the world the flesh the deuil beat in your faces yet in regard of your safety look downe vnto your own feet least you depart frō the way of life If you be so intangled with the briers of this wicked world that you cannot goe forward nay that you cannot once turn your selfe to look towards the Church Yet fixe thy feete that thou goe not backward from euill to worse and let thy countenance affect the sight of the heauenly Ierusalem Though thine eies bee dim yet open thine eares harken to the sweet admonitiōs of thy mother foreshewing thee the sweete and the sower of this thy dangerous iourneie wherein sith thou art to walke through the wildernes of this wicked world before thou assaie the isie ground therof know that which elsewhere is wisely written Terra imbrobitatis est prouincia the earth is a prouince full of naughtines through which who so mindeth to walke safelie hee must bee verie circumspect taking heede to his beginninges knowing that hee which beginneth well hath halfe finished the work The first entrance of this waie vnto eternall life is to loue the Lord thy God with all thy hart thy mind thy soul the next step is like vnto it loue thy neighbour as thy selfe according to the rule of nature Quod tibi fieri non vis alterine feceris Do vnto others as yee would that they should doe vnto you againe This rule is generall the meaning large the obseruance thereof hard and tedious therfore before I post forward too fast vnto the ende I will make some litle small spence of time in opening the first beginning thereof and which is that as it is said in the rule of christian faith next to the blessed trinitie is ioyned the holie catholique church as also in the table of the ten commaundements next to those which wholie concerne the worship of God in the first place and before all the rest is placed Honor thy father and thy mother and that with a blessing which who so mindeth to be partaker of hee must not onelie honor his naturall father and mother but he must vnderstand truelie that as the spiritual part soule of man is before the flesh so first and principallie wee must honor our heauenlie father which hath begotten vs of the true spiritual immortal seed wherby as saith S. Paul the faithful daily crieabba father next to this our spiritual father aboue all fleshlie parentes we must honour our spirituall mother the holy catholique church whose children we are before we haue our perfect beeing in the flesh according to the saying of Euaristus in his decrees Scimus Christum esse caput cuius nos membra sumus ipse est sponsus ecclesia est sponsa cuius filii nos sumus wee trulie know that Christ is the head of his Church whose members we are for he is the husband and the church is his spowse we the children of thē both Therefore before wee looke at our naturall parents we must most christianly apply our selues vnto the honour and reuerence of our spirituall father and our spirituall mother Nay we must forsake both goods and landes honour and dignitie frendes kindred brethren yea our naturall father and mother and cleaue vnto our spirituall mother the holie Church according to that most christian aunswere of that learned Tritemius to his naturall mother To whō after she had signified by diuers louing letters that she most earnestly desired to see him face to face hee returned this aunswere Non licet mihi
contrarie you shall easilie see that in no age in no time past they were vsed so beggerlie and so vnworthilie But if in auncient time men were so religious in their errour howe deuout thinke you they would haue bene in the sincere worship of the true euer liuing God Such manner of men ought we to be which doe not worship fained idols or diuels as they did but that great creator the maker of heauen earth all things therein Wherefore I desire O most noble prince I desire most earnestly euen for that great goodwill which I beare to you your commonwelth that you and those which be of your opinion would alter your minds and take better councell concerning the church the clergie the landes and goodes once dedicated to the same Although you are not moued with those examples of your ancestors yet at the least let your late losses present calamites ioined with ill successe be a sufficient warning vnto you For I doubt of my truth am sore afraid least if you go on with the same mind and purpose as you haue begun you shal suffer greater aduersities euen as those which are of a farre better disposition haue plainly foreshewed vnto you In like manner as it is recorded it hath fallen out very daungerously to others in times past for S. Augustine writeth in his booke intituled De ciuitate Dei there was a great plague in Rome both of women and of beastes so that through the huge number of those which died they doubted that all liuing creatures would finallie perish and further also that winter was so exceeding colde that the snowe which was extraordinarie laye of a great deapth euen in the market place for the space of fortie daies and Tyber was frozen ouer verie harde and thicke Then they saie it was aunswered that the cause of the plague was in that many priuate men possessed and dwelt in manie religious houses which being shortlie after restored to their true vse foorthwith that great and wonderfull plague ceased Qu. Fuluius Flaccus as Valerius writeth left a notable example behind him euen an example to all posteritie concerning the contempt of religion For this man though he were the controler of the citie yet he scaped not vnpunished in that while he was in office he tooke the marble pillers of Iunoes temple in the citie Locrine and wickedly placed them in that house which he built at Rome For immediately after this fact he fel into a phrensie and was starke madde euer after with fierce mad passions still consuming till at the length hee hearing that of his two sonnes which were soldiers in Ilirium the one was dead the other most grieuously sicke he died most miserably By which great daunger the Senate and people of Rome not a little mooued decreed presently that the marble pillers should bee carried to Iunoes temple from whence they came that thereby the impious fact of the Censour might be corrected and by that excellent example they might note vnto their posterity that whatsoeuer is once dedicated to the immortall God cannot without great impietie be altered in anie wise though it bee imployed to some other honest and very good vses And if anie should bee so wicked and irreligious that they should attempt to violate prophane holie thinges yet they should vnderstand that the Senate would take it greeuously that they would be fully reuenged of theÌ„ for the same euen vnto death On the contrarie Xenophon writeth finely and excellently concerning Agesilaus that famous Emperour that hee alwaies with great diligence and studie did seeke to reuerence the temples of his enemies thinking it reason that the immortall God ought to bee trulie worshipped aswell amongst his enemies as amongst his friendes And likewise the religious and deuout persons euen amongest his enemies he would not suffer them in any wise to bee molested for he said it was vnreasonable and a most barbarous crueltie to take any one thing from the Temples and holy Churches or that the priestes should bee at any charges or losse in any respect Wherefore hee hated such wicked church-robbers euen vnto the death hoping thereby to vanquish his enemies and to strengthen his owne power the which conclusion prooued true as appeareth by that which is excellently written of Mithridates in the life of Lucullus translated out of Greeke into Latine by Leonard Iustinian that noble conncellor and father of your common wealth for whilest hee assaulted the citie of the Ciziceâ—anes being tributorie to the people of Rome and that with an exceeding great power both by sea and lande by and by a sodaine tempest rising and his victualles failing hee was vtterlie vanquished by Lucullus the greatest part of his armie being spoiled and destroied in the fight Afterward when he thought to saue his life only by flying againe hee was so afflicted with a straunge sodayne tempest that leauing the ship in which hee was which through the outragiousnesse of the tempest was almost readie to sincke hee was constrained to yeelde himselfe into the handes of pirats They report that Diana worthily afflicted him with that great ouerthrowe and calamitie which they accounted a goddesse because most iniuriouslie and irreligiouslie euen with wicked handes hee spoiled her temple and presumed to take her ymage from thence No lesse horrible chaunce there was amongest the Romane armie euen on the like occasion For when Carthage a professed enemie to the Romanes at length was woon of them by force of armes a certaine Romane Souldier contemning Religion in the spoiling of the Citie was not afraide to committe sacriledge taking away the goulden vesture from Apollo who was woorshipped as a GOD of all men but he escaped not long vnpunished for that wicked fact in that the most righteous God of his iust iudgement brought it so to passe that the handes of this church-robber were found cutte off amongest the peeces of the vesture wherby other afterwardes might bee taught how carefully wee ought to keepe our handes from violating holie thinges Wee may alledge manie such like examples out of holie Scriptures especiallie as it is written in the booke of the Machabees Antiochus that wicked king yeeldeth vs a plaine example which vaunted himselfe so prowdlie and so arrogantlie aboue all measure that hee seemed to himselfe as though hee could commaund the flowing of the seas and reach the heauens with his finger This man contemning the holie religion of the true and eternall God was not afraide with wicked and prophane handes to spoile that faire and famous Temple of the Iewes Though hee hoped to escape the vengeance of God yet he escaped not long for of a sodaine hee was stricken with so daungerous horrible plague that out of his bodie there issued abundance of woormes and with most horrible torment to him they issued out of his flesh hee yet liuing Hee beeing woonderfully mooued with this plaine and manifest punishment sent from
resembleth perfect truth oft richlie clothed in their golden verse sith they had wit at will and the Muses sounded at their call their pen did flow with droppes distilled from the fountaine of most pleasant inuention their stile was high their words were sweete their sentence true their number perfect their workes admired So that nought but enuie durst once deuise the least disgrace against the same If my skill would yeeld me but a bare resemblance of their perfect stile whereby I might reueale the truth vnto the world with like delight as did those Poets fine or if this age were but halfe so much delighted with the substance of truth it selfe as they were with the portraiture of the shadow I would hope for that good acceptance of this smal simple worke which now I doubt write with him I am sorie for my selfe sith thou shalt be accepted But sith that daie of darkenes hath alreadie dawned in which if wee write the truth plainlie wee are hated if wee write obscurelie we are suspected if we write simplie we are contemned if we write not to please the itching eares of flesh and bloud we are reiected Sith men are so much bent to their owne selfe will and so besotted with the loue of themselues of their owne house their owne goods their owne landes their owne wife their owne children their owne posteritie lastlie with the loue of this present world of dignities honors scepters kingdomes that the kingdome of heauen to them is but a dreame bred in a litle corner of their secret cogitation and he which shall tell them that the kingdome of this world passeth away like a flower a clowde a smoke a shadowe that the kingdome of Christ is not of this world that the further wee enter into worldlie possessions and the higher wee climbe vnto honor the further wee goe backe from the kingdome of heauen and the greater is our fall into the graue sith hee which shall write this plainlie and more than that that the whole regiment of a Christian common wealth ought principally aboue all things to serue for the setting forth of true religion the true worship the true honour of the name of God sith the disgrace of worldlie pride now commonlie receiued and on the contrarie the extolling and magnifying of the beautie of the temple of God is an odious thing amongest worldlinges at this day and my skill verie simple mine inuention slender my treatise rude my words plaine mine eloquence nothing at all I begin with him though to another ende Parue nec inuideo My litle booke I do not enuie thee nay rather I pittie thine estate sith thou art now to passe into the world whose ysie wayes are opposite to God and crauest attentiue eare of those whose fowle deformities thou openlie displaiest Nether would I thinke thy destinie so hard or so much to be lamēted if they were simple at whose harts thou knockest willing them to reuerence the worshippe of God more than the lawes of earthlie princes or easilie to bee recouered from the bewitched waies of this present world But of them manie are high and honourable manie wife and learned manie politique strong and wealthie hardlie bowing downe their eie to behold the low estate of the humble and seldome opening their eare to the crie of poore fatherlesse lying in the streete or to so plaine so simple so vnsauerie a speach as thou seemest willing to vtter in their eares at this time In this dispair of thy good successe I heare an other trumpet sownd whose lowde alarum biddeth thee either retire or else to chaunge thine habite thy countenance thy simple stile and cote wherewith thou art now clothed The solemne courtes of princes haue their Porters to keepe such base coats out who if they once presume to speake beeing controlled then the staffe the rodde the whippe the stockes do make the period of their stile These be the stormes wilt thou shrink for showers of raine God it is which fashioned the globe of the golden tressed sun he raiseth cloudes and discusseth them againe he thundreth lowd and sendeth quiet calme he sendeth grieuous stinges of the bodie oft times to his beloued that he may reioyce his soule with the beautie of his countenaunce Ille meas errare boues vt cernes ipsum Ludere quae vellem calamo permisit agresti he first sent foorth the piersing beame of cleare light he opened mine eye hee bowed the fingers of mine hand and bid me write that in this age we seeme and are not holie learned wise charitable louing and kinde one to an other If this bee the generall course of the world foreshewed long sithence by reuealed Prophesie let no man thinke that trueth proceedes from any euill humor or that this heauenlie darte which spareth none dooth aime at him or her or any one but humblie requesting all in the bowels and mercies of Iesu Christ specially to looke to the saluation of their owne soule it toucheth all that all therby leauing the loue of this present world by his gratious crosse and passion may be made the true children of eternal blisse That auncient Poet Hesiod writte many hundreth yeeres agoe that which our liues doe porfectly fulfill 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whē the Gods mortall men began to multiplie vppon earth the first age was a goulden age for they were simple plaine wise honest religious long liued deuoide of iniury crafte and and subtilty The second like to siluer not so good as was the first The third brasse more corrupt in minde manners and nature O sineque ego quinto interessem hominum generi O saith the Poet that I had not come in the fift age of the world but either had beene dead long before or else not yet borne sith this is an iron age replenished with malitious crimes and mischeefe This was a deformed shadowe and the bodie of our age is like vnto the same according to the exposition of Daniell vnto Nabuchodonozer wherin he foreshewed that the images head of golde and the breast siluer the bellie of brasse the legges and feete halse iron halfe earth signified the nature and inclination of the whole world Three of them be past and seldome commeth the better Sith this in which we liue is the ende of the fourth Monarch whose euil workes and sinful inclination is resembled to the iron mixt with earth in steede of long life yeelding shorte sinfull wretched daies in steede of sweete peace yeelding wars and rumours of wars in all places in steede of simplicity yeelding double dissembling in steede of true deuotion to the church of Iesu Christ yeelding pilling and polling on euery side in steede of loue to the common wealth and our posterity with the vnsatiable greedy worme of couetousnes prouiding oncly for our owne mouthes our own bellies our owne time in all our dooinges fully expressing the sence and sentence of that auncient Poet Pindarus 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the present commodity is euer most accepted for the subtill age to come will alter all Together with this iron earthly age the seede of corruption is daily sowne whose blossomes nowe already put foorth though they shine cleere and bright as dooth the cockle amiddest the wheate yet if they once beginne to reape to threshe to grinde to grinde to bake to eate they shall soone perceiue that there is cockle amongest the corne and ofte times vnder the painted viserd of great knowledge you shall se blind bayard wax so bold that through many wordes and often speaking amongest the ignorant whose eyes dazell in beholding such painted sepulchers hee is reputed for wise and learned According to that true saying of that lerned Dorne In hoc ferreo postremoque saeculo non nisi faeces artium superesse videmus etsi non nulli putent eas maxime vigere propter sermonis ornatum In this last iron age we haue but the dâ—egges of artes and sciences although manie thinke that learning florisheth more nowe then in times past because we talke more then they did and that more cunninglie more smoothlie more courtlie Which great absurditie of this our age throughly mixt with earth iron to the great perill and daunger of many thousand soules mooued mee first to penne this rudely written treatise in the behalfe of the Church of Iesu Christ and the soules health of all true Christians vnto whose handes it shal come Which secret cogitation taking effect by outward sence and shewing to my bodilie eyes in sundrie places and manie solemne foundations nowe made desolate whereby manie thousandes of learned pastours might haue beene maintained for the preaching of the Gospell of Christ and the dailie praysing of his name credidi propterea loquutus sum with the holie Prophet and Apostle I beleeued and therefore I writte that which the holy scriptures the holy counselles the holy fathers haue plainelie affirmed When I looked backe and considered what wee are and what wee ought to bee what wee haue doone and what we ought to haue doone the truth piersed my spirite my heart rent and my ioyntes did cleaue in sunder the passion of that sight beganne to worke the fyer was kindled within the sayinges of the holie fathers ministred oyle wherewith the flame brake foorth at my mouth crying alowde for Sions sake I will not hold my peace Here with returning to the mirrour of trueth the holie word of God whereby all our thoughtes wordes and workes are to bee tried and furthermore perusing the holie fathers by the assistaunce of the holie Ghost openers of the true vnderstanding thereof I meant to gather some store of testimonies out of them to witnesse with mee that this my affirmation in this matter is a certaine and vndoubted trueth Hauing behelde this radiant sunne of light the word of God and the little starres the holie fathers illuminated with the cleare beames thereof though the trueth appeared plainelie in them both yet their testimonies concerning thinges once dedicated to holie vse seemed to mee neither so manie as I expected nor so plaine Herein hauing made some spence of time in seeking that which was not so plainely figured in the fathers as I hoped and as it was truely meant at length the trueth of that conclusion offered it selfe most plainelie to my cogitation which was that as that auncient Solon hauing made many excellent lawes amongest the Athenians hee made no lawe neither set hee downe any punishment for him which should kil his own father supposing that the earth would neuer nourishe so wicked a creature Euen so it is truely supposed that those holie fathers liuing in the siluer age of olde antiquitie did neuer imagine that out of this earthlie yron age of ours there should spring anie so barbarous so cruell so wicked that would attempt to take awaie any thing from the true worshippe of almightie God Which suppositioÌ„ least in some mens sight it should seeme to want true position and sure ground let vs turne our minds a litle from carnal cogitations of worldlie minded men which thinke of necessitie the course of the world must bee mainteined howsoeuer the seruice of God be neglected and his holie temple your mindes thus turned cleane away from wordlie vanities which in one minute shall all vanish and consume like the paper cast into the fier turne your eies and behold the booke of life therewith conferre the expositions of holie councels and ancient fathers expounding the true sence of the same and you shall see most plainlie that things once dedicated to holie vse are not in anie wise to bee altered vnleast it be in extreame necessitie the braunches whereof are plainlie laied open by that holie father Saint Ambrose in these wordes Vasa ecclesiae initiata in his tribus confringere conflare vendere etiam licet primum vt extremae pauperum egestati succurratur c. In these three cases it is lawfull to breake to melt to sel the vessels of the Church first for the relieuing of the poore secondlie for the redeeming of the Christians beeing captiues to infidels Thirdlie for the preseruing of the Church christian buriall of the dead these extremities make that irreligious fact sometimes lawfull as appeareth though verie seldome in the practise of the primatiue Church according to that which Sozomene writeth in the fourth booke of his ecclesiasticall storie the 24. Chapter Saith hee when the people of Ierusalem wanted meat and were all readie to perish through the great famine which was amongest them Cyrillus the Bishoppe of the citie solde the treasure of the Church with all the costlie clothes belonging to the same distributing to the poore according to their necessitie First of all the goods of the Church being dulie and dutifullie bestowed on the worshippe of God and diuine function the true proper and principall vse and end of the same Secondly in extreame necessitie this is a good lawfull and also a holie vse of them and scarcelie to be called alâ—enating of the Church goods sith the poore are belonging to the same according to that generall sentence of all the councels and fathers Bona ecclesiae sunt bona pauperum the goods of the church are the goods of the poore But to take awaie the landes and goods of the Church whereby the beautiful feete of those which bring the glad tydings of the Gospel are shed their sides clothed their bodies fed and numbers of those which dailie praie in his holy temple are or ought to be mainteined lifting vp pure hands with hartie prayers for the sinnes of the people and those also which dailie sing praises to his holie name for his wonderful mercies shewed to mankind no scripture no councel no father no writer no religioÌ„ whatsoeuer doth allow it If wee looke into the law of nature or the rules of humanitie not much dissonant from the conclusions of morall
philosophie we shall see plainly that those creatures which receaue the greatest portion of blessing they render the most againe not once retracting the former yeilde The fields for one pore graine receaued send forth manie scores againe The fishes multiplie in all the coastes of the wide Ocean seas the beastes their young the Bees their honey the sheepe their lambe their wool their skin the litle poore larke shee mounteth vp into the clowds with a sweet song which solaceth thee either riding by the waie or plowing in the field or sitting in thine howse at home All creatures by kinde yeeld giftes of thankefull grace vnto the Lorde not once retracting anie thing againe And shall onely sinfull man bee founde vnthankfull vnto his maker The Lord of his meere mercie without al merite hath giuen him all the beastes of the field the fowles of the aier the fishes of the sea vnder his dominion he hath giuen him an vnderstanding soule made him steward of his housholde Nay when through disobedience to his maker hee had cast himselfe cleane out of dores our sauiour Christ hee came downe from heauen for his sake hee appeared in the habite of a man hee was counted vile dispited and hated threatned betraied martired euen to the sheading of his most pretious bloud on the crosse for sinful man Neither did his louing kindnes cease with the time for hee left his houshold behinde him eâ—en his catholique Church and his holie spirite to gouerne and guide it to comfort man to instruct him to support him against all his enemies dailie hourelie holding the strings of his heart in his hand and preseruing the breath in his nostrelles least he should vanish from the face of the earth These bee the manifold mercies of the Lord towardes man more than to all other creatures and shal sinful man be more vnthankfull to his maker than the rest shal man onelie of al other creatures take away from the Lord that which is once giuen shal the hart of man waxe hard against bis creator that hee should once thinke ther may be too much giuen to God or forbid any man against the commaundement of Christ to giue al that he hath to the poore distressed members of his church Naie shall not sinfull man rather inuent in his hart write with his pen pronouÌ„ce with his vocie statutes lawes and commissions to the ende that the whole frame of the common wealth especiallie before all other matters whatsoeuer be directed and wholie bent to the glorie of God the worshippe of his holie name the highest point whereof consisteth in mainteining of his holie Temple the house and place of his true worshippe here on earth Naie shall the beastlie hart of that prowde Nabuchodonozer bee placed in the bodie of anie Christian that hee should lay wast the Temples of the Lord or that dronken minde of king Balthasar that he should take to his owne vse the goods of the Church that hee should dissolue the Quire of sweete voices praising the Lord in the Citie and bestowe the foundation thereof on a kennell of houndes crying in the woods If the king call shal we not all runne and if the kinglie prophet Dauid bid vs bring vnto the Lorde shall we waxe hardharted in taking away that which wee neuer gaue If the heathen people through the instinct of heauenlie light secretlie written by the finger of God in the centre of their heart trembled at the entrance of the temples of the Christians and were afraid to touch any thing therein as we reade in sundry histories shall not the true Christian vtterly abhorre from the same if not for loue in regard of the teÌ„der mercies of Iesu Christ bestowed on him yet for feare of those extreame and extraordinarie punishments that hee speedilie powreth vppon all those which spoile his temples O ye kinges and rulers of the earth be wise count not of this crowne of molten mettall which weieth heauy on your heade and presseth you downe to the earth but cast down your crownes before the lambe of God which taketh away the sins of the worlde despise your kingdomes and glorious roialties learne to serue him with a perfect loue of eternall blisle and perfect loathing of these tedious earthly kingdomes striue to finde the narrow gate cast away your iewels heauie ornaments runne runne runne on a pace run swiftly that ye may attaine that crowne which will lift you vp both body and soule aboue all the kingdomes of the world nay farre aboue all heauens euen vnto eternall life That you may more readilie enter this race of a true Christian and more happilie attaine the true perfection of the same first forsake the worlde and all the loue thereof cast away your worldlie delightes and secret inclination denie your selues count not of that flattering constancie whose ende is dolefull miserie Hauing reiected this worldlie habite together with thy fleshlie delightes let the troubled waie of fickle fancie goe and there with entering further the first degree of heauenly meditation weigh wisely with thy selfe and consider what God is and what thou art and thou shalt see plainely that who so is without him or out of his fauour hee is nothing or at the most a verie vile and an euill thing The great desire of the kinges of the earth is long and prosperous reigne Which who so hath enioied long in the court let him but walke out a little into the pleasant woodes and hee shall heare the auncient Poet Symonides sounding that truth in his sweete songe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. a thousand and tenne thousand yeares in respect of eternitie are but a minute or rather the least portion of a minute Sith all is nothing vnto him and hee is one in one eternitie from which vnitie all creatures haue their integritie let vs learne as little children doe by 1. 2. 3. the eternall the incomprehensible the first and simple vnitie in trinitie from which all thinges haue their rising by proportion of number knowing that as hee is the â— and â— so the first and the last loue of our heart the first and the last honour which wee can deuise the first and the last fruites of the labours of our bodie must bee giuen vnto him and in such maner that beeing once giuen vnto him it is the first and the last neuer to bee reuoked againe no not to bee desired in minde and secrete cogitation but there to rest and remaine as in the first and last conclusion for which it was ordained If anie worldly minded man seeme to doubt the truth hereof I will not produce this course begun from the misticall principles of secret philosophie least with the clowdes of reason I should obscure the cleare light of heauenlie truth and hide it from the simple whose good successe in the schoole of Christ I most of all desire The expresse rule of Iustice
Christians to the Church which is the spirituall mother of all Christians as well rich as poore the mightie as the simple the king as the begger according vnto the saying of Saint Chrisostome writing on the Gospell of Saint Mathew Ecclesia primorum regum est mater The Church is the mother of the highest Princes Not many pages after giuing his iudgement concerning the goodes of the Church in this sorte those which builde tombes for the Martyrs of Christ and adorne his temples they do a good worke Thereby signifiyng that they which deface the temples of God and pull them downe they commit a great and greeuous sinne in the sight of the almightie Paulus Diaconus in the fourth booke de gestis longo Bardorum recordeth that Theodelinda that vertuous Queene built a faire Cathedrall Church dedicating it to the name of Saint Iohn Baptist adorning it with manye pretious iewells ornamentes and goodlie landes which the aforesaid Authour sayth oughte not to bee alienated According vnto the sentence of Iustinian in his booke Authent Columna secunda of constitutions intituled of not alienating or chaunging ecclesiasticall goods whatsoeuer All good Emperours in their lawes and constitutions had a special care of preseruing increasing and safekeeping the goods of the Church And sith Iustinians lawes were their direction he not onelie made General statutes for the preseruation thereof but also in his law he affirmeth that the holie vessels and garments of the temples ought not to be pawned except it bee for the redeeming of captiues out of the seruitude and tirannie of infidels nay in another place hee chargeth the Bishops that they take not to themselues the treasure of the Church which holesome lawes so mooued the harts of all Christian Emperours that they bestowed verie deuoutlie and bountifully on the church commaunding straightly that all meÌ„ should restore vnto the same whatsoeuer had bid taken therefrom by wicked tyrantes robbers of the Church and spoilers of the dead which Saint Chrisostome in his booke Defato counteth litle lesse than manslaughter Hereupon Theodoricus commaunded Duke Ibba that he should restore vnto the Church of Marbâ—na the possessions therof taken awaie detained from the Church by Alaricus And in an other epistle to Gelericus hee commaundeth him to restore a fielde which was alienated from the Church of Constance and to punish the possessor thereof in that hee presumed to take to his owne priuate vse the possessions of the Church This censure was giuen without exception of anie person according to that which Turonensis writeth in the fourth booke of his Historie certaine kinges saith hee haue presumed most irreligiouslie to take the goods of the church into their treasure as did Clotharius which made an edict that all the Churches of his realme should paie the third part of their fruits into his treasurie but beeing rebuked by that holie Bishop Iniuriosus he retracted his irreligious opinion and that wicked fact Let no man beare so irreligious a minde or so hard a hart within his breast to thinke otherwise than that it is a most grieuous sinne to take any thing from the holie Church sith first it is giuen to maintaine the holie worshippe of God there Secondlie to feed the poore and to bee bestowed on such like holie and vrgent necessitie according to the which our ancient Beda writeth in the first booke of his historie concerning this Iland Bonorum ecclesiasticorum saith hee of church goods the first part is due to the Bishop for the maintenance of hospitality the second to the inferiour clergie the third to the poore the fourth to the repairing of the church but to other or to those which haue sufficient of themselues the goods of the church are not to be imployed as that learned Prosper in his treatie De vita contemplatiua witnesseth in these wordes ecclesia nihil eis erogare debet c. The church ought not to bestow any thing on those which haue sufficient of their owne Otherwise though some of the Church giue it yet it is plaine sacriledge for them which take it as saint Ierom in his epistle to Damasus sheweth in these wordes qui autem parentum bonis c. Those which haue sufficient left them by their parents to maintaine them if they take anie of those goods which are giuen to maintaine the poore it is sacriledge Caluin writing on the seuenth of Amos calleth the diminishing of the immunities or commodities of the church sacriledge sounding the same with good Saint Barnard writing on the Canticles according to this tenor Proditores dei ecclesiae c. They which take from the temples they are betraiers of God and his church These learned fathers they expresse the true sentence of their mother the holye church pronouncing the true fauour of God and his louing countenance turned clerely vnto them which fauour nourish his holie church with his poore belonging to the same and the seuere wrath of the Lord God kindled against all those which spoile his louing spouse here on earth bereauing her of her beautiful children her costlie garmentes made of needle worke all glorious within concerning whom the Lord hath sayd hee which harmeth you he toucheth the apple of mine eie Bullinger on the fift of the first epistle of saint Paul to Tymothie concerning the reformation of Church goods writeth thus the goods of the Church are the gold of Tolossan which breedeth his distruction that possesseth it Therefore though the churches their goods landes were abused by Monkes and Friers yet there is no cause why Christian Princes should thinke that reformation good and religious which pulleth down the churches and turneth the church goods to the vse and possessions of laie men for they were not first giuen to this end kinges and princes and magistrates haue their reuenewes their tributes their fines their customes their publique treasures appointed for their vses but as for the goods of the church they were first giuen for the maintenance of students in humanitie and diuinitie for the maintaining of Bishops and hospitalitie for the relieuing of the poore widowes stangers and captiues and those which are in necessitie and a certaine portion was appointed for the repairing of Churches Let them restore such sufficiencie of goods to the Church as will fullie suffice for the maintaining of all the premisses before they take one halfe pennie from the Church or else let them surelie looke for the grieuous vengeance of God on them and their house That learned Peter Martir concerning the goods of the church vniustlie required by Magistrates writeth thus in eo quaesto difficilis est in qua dissoluenda c. In that case it is a doubtfull question in answering the which I had rather incline to that point that if the prince or magistrate should take awaie the goods of the church no man ought violentlie to resist them But if
Philosophers or Philosophers raigned Herein we learne that euen by the mere motiō and instincte of nature the verie heathen honored wisedome and vertue in what person soeuer aboue all the giftes of the body naie they so highly esteemed of knowledg and vertue that they not onlie gaue them the highest honor and dominion whilest they liued but after their death they built temples vnto them and celebrated their memorie after their heathenish superstition perpetually Their doinges shewed plainely that they had some hidden sparke in them by nature of the fire which ought not onelie to be kindled in the hartes and mindes of all true christians but also it ought to flame forth giue light in their liues conuersations much like a candle which standeth on highe giueth light to the whole house This candle sheweth vs plainelie that man by nature following the better part of his constitution is appointed to worship God and to emploie himselfe his goods his giftes and all his power for the maintaining of the true worship of God in his holy temple aboue all other thinges in heauen in earth Neither let any man thinke that this is the dutie of the clergie onely whose office is in the first place of holie function to be ministers of his diuine worship or that it belongeth onelie to the poore fatherlesse inferior people although of such commonly the kingdome of God dooth most consist as it is written not many mightie not manie rich not many of the most accounted of in this world shall enter into the kingdome of heauen but vnto the worshipfull the honorable the Duke the Prince the King the Emperour who though he bee accounted the greatest among christians yet hee that is least in the kingdome of God is greater then he Sith this little sparke of heathen fire hath lightened the candle euen of christian princes let not our harts be so ouer grown with the choking weeds of this mortalitie Neither let the God of this world either so blinde our eyes or dimme our sight that wee professing the name of Christians with our mouth shold be like the heathen people in our life Herein let vs learne to distinguish the cleere light of a christian candle from the smoking snuffe of the heathen Hee which is the king of kinges and onely ruler ouer all hee said plainlie my kingdome is not of this world Neither those which onely bende themselues to the fleshlie course of this worlde to attaine highe stile dominion and rule the fat of the field or riches of the Citty are the truest christians For what is a christian or what difference doe wee make betwixte the worthie dignitie of christian princes and the tirannicall empire of the heathen Theyr strength is the cursed confidence of flesh and bloud Though an horse be but a vaine thing to saue a man though all fleshe is grasse and the glorie thereof is as the flower of the fielde which florisheth to day and to morrow is cast into the furnace though euerie man liuing and all the liuing of man is but meere vanitie yea lighter then vanitie it selfe yet the heathen and worldly man will disquiet himselfe in vaine hee will make fleshe his arme and the compasse of the earth his dominion hee will plante his foote in the sea and his armie in the highest hils he will displaie his banner before the clowdes and compare his glory to the golden tressed sunne The swelling of sinfull fleshe is aboue measure and desire of rule seeth not God Christian kinges they set the glorie of God before theyr eyes and not their owne glorie they first of all acknowledge their spirituall father and their spirituall mother before their naturall parentes according to that sence and sentence of Hermes Diuina officia praecedere humana sequi debent we must first seeke heauenly things thē those which cōcerne this world But the Kings and rulers of the heathen they are filii terrae the sonnes of the earth Their desire their life their looue their greatest glory and rule is in the earth alone and came from the earth they knowe not their heauenly father and therefore ofte times they spoile their spirituall mother Such as they be such is their rule not for the glory of God or the safetie of his church for they defie her they prophane her they pill and poll her but they rule for their owne glory their owne peace and safetie according to their owne humour as it is plainely described by the mouth of Daniell speaking vnto Balthasar in this manner O King the most high God hath bestowed dominion magnificence glorie and great honor vpon Nabuchodonozar thy father and in regard of that highnes which God gaue him all people kindreds Kinges and nations trembled before him and feared him greatly Whom he would he killed whom he would he did strike whome hee would he aduaunced and whom he would he threw down This is the tyrannical rule of the Kings of the nations concerning which our sauiour Christ hath said principes gentium dominantur eis c. This is the waie of flesh and bloud into the which that younger sonne euen the carnall man is alreadie entered but to the elder children begotten in the spirite borne of our true spirituall mother and nursed in the schoole of Christianitie and by her instructed out of the booke of life in the fayth feare and looue of God our spirituall father hath sayd Vos autem non sic The Kinges of the heathen and rulers of the earth they are called good maister and good grarious lord most highe most renowmed most mighty most glorious most excellent maiesty without exception of heauen and earth They thinke themselues to be Gods making the ende of their power and rule to bee the extolling of their owne honour and dignitie They regard not iustice that they should doe no iniurie nor the poore that they might bee called mercifull nor their brethren that they might seeme naturall nor their inferiours that they might appeare humble nor the goods the landes the peace the priuiledge the honour the glorie of God or man that there might appeare some sparke of Godly life in them But without regard of God of pietie or pittie they say to this man cast thy selfe headlong from yonder rocke before my face breake his legges pearce the other to the heart reache mee the heade of that braue knight let that Lord be pulled in peeces with wilde horses cast that Earle into the dungeon with the Lions destorie that nation burne those temples sley man woman and childe onelie preserue my kingdome my crowne my maiesty and let your praiers be made onely vnto me But christiā Princes must not do so Though the Lord hath giuen the highest honor to the King and put the scepter into his hand in which respect they are said to be gods sitting in the place of God pronouncing the sentence in his name and person yet let
is lighter than vanitie it selfe The wise high mightie honorable politike rulers of this world trouble themselues all the dayes of their life in fetching in casting in compassing goods lands honour dominion and power They rise vp earely and goe to bed late as sayth the prophet they eate the bread of carefulnes they search and seeke many newe waies They inuente many strange pollicies they aduenture many great daungers they loose many frendes they vndoo many poore schollers widowes and fatherles children euen to the losse of their owne soules and yet they say they loue the Lord and his holy temple O sinfull harts besotted with sensualitie Can that shippe be safe which is tost with euerie surge of the sea and ouerwhelmed with euery blast of wind can that minde bee quiet which boyleth with sundry flames of fire Is there any suretie in lightnes it selfe any certainetie in outwarde fortune any safetie in perpetuall warre any securitie in present daunger any frendshippe in open defiaunce any felicite in outwarde riches anye religion in spoyling the Church Be there two heauens that wee should make our paradise heere on earth or is the Lords arme shortened that hee can not execute his will or his iustice decayed that the sinners shoulde escape vengeaunce Is hee asleepe that hee is not stirred vp with the outrage which the heathen and hard harted worldlings commit against his church or is hee deafe that hee heareth not the crie of the poore or blinde that he seeth not the pride of the world openlie disclaiming the brightnes of the heauens No the Lord is not slack as some count slacknes He which made the heauens so high most carefully he beholdeth the lowest the poorest the simplest creatures here below He which made the eare hee will heare the crie of the poore and hee which made the eie hee will beholde the scarres which be inflicted on the face of his beloued spowse In his compassion hee shall pittie her and in his iudgement he shall draw forth the two edged sword of his wrathfull indignation He shall rise vp like the Gyant to the battaile and shall passe forth as the Lyon to deuour his praie Hee shall redouble the wickednesse of his enemies into their bosoms Hee shall cast downe the house on their heads He shall bring the curse of their desert vpon them and who is able to withstand the surie of his wrathfull indignation to endure his anger or to suffer his heauie displeasure though some men prosper for a while with that which is not their owne being reserued to a greater destiny yet let those which hope for the saluation of Israel learne to feare the Lord aright Let vs not abuse the long patience louing kindnes which the Lord hath shewed in sparing vs so long I grant the Lord is merciful long suffering full of patience and mercie sore grieued with the death of a sinner But yet he is iust in reuenging the iniuries of his spowse If anie offer iniurie to the king or to a noble mā or to a meane man before his face he will reuenge it presently but if wee offer violence to the spowse of Christ or the dead or the fatherlesse or the innocent which cannot speake for themselues nor pleade their owne cause then know that the Lord hath taken the defence of these to himselfe Hee which dwelleth in the heauens hee seeth it Though his blow be long in comming it pearceth deepe euen into the Marrow and the bottom of the soule and that to the third and fourth generation of them that hate him Hee beareth long with them but when he commeth he payeth home Hee suffereth the wicked to deuise many vnlawfull means whereby they waxe rich in this world He letteth them passe on their course oft times with great prosperity euen many yeares diuers liues till at the length when the fruit of sinne is ripe and the first sower thereof is readie to reape a plentifull haruest of his vngodlinesse then besides the danger of the soule the sowthwinde ariseth the heauens ouercast the outragious tempest breaketh out of the cloudes aboue it passeth it pearceth it ouerthroweth so that the haruest which hath bene so many yeares in growing of a sodaine is cleane distroyed and vanisheth out of sight Though thou haue thonsandes of landes and tenne thousandes more than the auncient inheritance of the fathers Though thy money bee heaped in bagges and thou wallow in thy wealth hauing all thinges at thine owne will yet if thou haue robbed thine owne mother to enrich thy treasure thou shalt bee a fatherlesse childe and childlesse father thy selfe so that thou shallt haue no parents in whose presence thou maiest ioy nor leaue any childe behinde thee to weepe for thee at thy graues side Nay that which is a visible curs thy goods for which thou hast drudged so sore when thou art dead shall bee translated into the handes of thine enemies to the end they may strongly bee auenged of thy dearest friendes O let not your eies bee blinded with carnall delight and too much carefulnesse of this earthlie bodie let not the delights of the flesh blot out the well meaning motions of the spirite Be wise betimes and vnderstand this true rule of the spirite least the terriblenesse of the example cause you to tremble at the first sight and after further view breede great amasement in your hart and conscience If thou haue children and childrens children and great store of earthie offices honors and dignities for them all yet if thou spend more time and care in prouiding for them and herein count more of thine owne honour now begunne and budding in thy posteritie then of the prosperitie of the Church of Christ of his diuine worship of of his holie ministers Thy wife shall prooue a stinging serpent in thy bosome thy children shall bee wastfull distroyers of that which thou so carefullie hast built vp thy bodie agonished with sundrie malladies altogether vncurable thy groning daie and night will marre thy melodie conceiued of thine abundance of riches thy hart shall quake with doubtfull feare of thine enemies death will double the discord of thy disquietnesse and if thou were the mightiest and most puissant prince in the world yet if thou count of any earthlie thing before or in comparison of God and his holie Church vnlesse thou repent thy desire shall neuer prosper Concerning this conclusion I minde onely to giue you a tast of which if it please you to pervse Celsus of Verona hereunto annexed yee shall find the whole seruice represented in sundry deynty dishes which manie wicked worldlings take from the ministers of the Chuch setting them on their owne tables Hee hath described the whole course and named sundrie costlie meates whereon the Venetians vsed to feede adioyning thereto their sower sawces which once receiued in at the mouth but hardlie afterwardes digested did breede great hart burninges in their breastes And good
often and so plainly to haue opened the glasse before your face or to the ende that you should acknowledge your deformity wherewith your fleshly hands haue fowlie bespotted the beautiful countenance of your soules I should not haue needed to haue trauailed into strange countries amongst the Iewes and heathen people to shewe you by the true consent of sundrie glasses that as it appeareth without so it is that you haue fowlie stained your christian consciences inwardly with this fowle sin of taking from the Church Neither should I neede nowe after the proposing of those two faire wel steeled glasses of the heathen and the Iewes to adde the thirde which is the true mirror of christianity shewing most plainly that the Lorde Iesu hath an especiall eie vnto his beloued spowse the holie Church and most seuerelie punisheth the detracters of the same Herein as we haue begunne if wee goe forwarde and pierce the fountaine wee shall soone perceiue great riuers flowing from the same For first of all in the daies of our Sauiour Christ let vs marke what was concerning the Church what ought to haue beene and what followed The Lord of light was made a man he walked amongst vs in the habit of man he was vsed verie hardly he liued in very meane estate he was reuiled persecuted whipped despited with mockings mowings with spittings with a reede in his hand and a crowne of thornes on his head And lastlie with a most bitter and cursed death for our sakes and for our saluation Likewise also the Disciples though they preached the glad tidinges of the Gospell with the great power vertue and Maiestie of the holie Ghost yet concerning the worlde they were poore simple contemptible persecuted men In so lowe a valley it pleased the Lord to sow the first seed of his Gospel and to the end that the Roofe of the Church might afterwardes rise farre and high aboue first of all he laid the foundation in great humilitie farre belowe Thus it was then and worldlie minded men regarding more the prosperitie of their bodies then the health of their soules and the safetie of the holie church misconstruing that voice of truth Vos autem non sic say that as the simplicitie of the Church was then euen so it ought to bee now in the flourishing state of the Gospel Wherein I wish them to beware that they looke not on this Christall mirrour too much or that they hold it not too neere for fear lest their fleshlie breath doe dimme the same Remooue the sight of the glasse a little and let vs see what was then and what ought to haue beene they contemned the Gospell of grace they crucified the Lord of light and cruelly persecuted his disciples what were these according to the prophecy the Kings and Rulers of the earth euen Pontius Pilat high deputie of Iurie Herode the Tetrarch of Galilee with the high priests the Iudges the scribes and the pharises and the whole multitude of the Iewes so that in these daies the Church was trodden downe the poore Ministers contemned afflicted persecuted by that faithlesse generation But nowe you which so much allude to those darke daies of persecution in the Church Doe but alter the case a little and suppose that the Emperour and Pontius Pilate his deputie Annas and Caiphas with the rest of the Rulers in those daies had beleeued in Christ and confessed plainely that he was the Sauiour of the world that he created them that he came to redeeme them that he nourished them in their mothers wombe that hee perserued the breath in their nostrels and that it was he by whom they shoulde bee either exalted or put downe either accepted or reiected either saued or condemned in the daie of iudgement If this had bin so let vs thinke what a strange metamorphosis had followed in their doings how would they haue falleÌ„ downe before the Lorde with what humilitie would they haue cast down their crownes scepters at his feete with what ioy woulde they haue exalted the Lord of light what honour magnificence would they haue yeelded to that heauenly bridegrome and the children of the marriage what great freedomes and foundations would they haue bestowed on his Church litle flocke for euer No say some though Iupiters priests with the whole City when they did see the mighty woorking of the holy Ghost by the hands of Paul Barnabas would haue sacrificed to them giuen them the honour title of gods Yet they refused it knowing that the true worshippers would worship him in truth an spirit outwardly yelding him but meane reuerence belonging to simpler state Neither would he or his disciples haue accepted of any worldly honour sith he said plainely my kingdome is not of this worlde As was the roote of humilitie so were the braunches springing from the same As the Lord though he would not openly bee proclaimed a king yet he had ordained in his secrete counsell that the Church shoulde haue hir time of infancie of childhoode of strong age of florishing and decaying Euen so it pleased him that this seede shoulde not bee both sowne and reaped in one daie that it should not first spring and bring foorth seede in one houre and that the Church shoulde not bee founded and perfected both in one minute Though by diuine prouidence the Church was in the infancie that time of our Sauiours beeing heere on earth and his Apostles and though the space of three hundreth yeares after it was trodden downe verie low by persecution vnder the heathen vnder Ebion Cherinthus and Arrius heretiques of the first head whereby the account and calling of the Ministerie waxed verie poore and meane contemned of some misliked of many little reuerenced of the most yet if these Kinges and Rulers had had the grace to haue acknowledged Christ to bee the GOD of of heauen and earth out of doubt they woulde haue applied themselues in all loiall manner to â—he enlarging and amplifying of the true profession of his name they would haue left their princely pallaces and founded solemne temples for the seruice of the Lorde they woulde haue founded largelie for the maintenance of his holy worship and giuen perfect freedome to his Ministers Which if anie now blinded with this beggerly conceited errour concerning the poore simple estate of the primatiue Church whereunto in hope of our liuinges they desire to reduce vs doubt what these Kings and Rulers if they had beleeued woulde or ought to haue done Let them but marke a litle what the first Christian Emperour did who being guided by the spirite of God his doinges shewed plainely what the Lord woulde haue done Beholde a while the gratious feature of this most Christian Emperours minde reade the histories of his life and marke diligentlie what great account he made of the holie fathers of his time aboue all other men Magistrates Rulers and Princes of his dominions How
he opened his hart vnto thē and made them of his secrete counsell what speciall care he had of their good estate and prosperitie not that they shoulde goe vp and downe in his dominions on foote in threed bare coates But he gaue them freedome title and honour and to the ende that it might endure when he was dead and rotten an example for all christian Princes which shoulde succeede him he founded many goodlie temples endowing them with large and ample possessions with a christian care he reedified the temples which were wasted by the heretiques and Infidels building and raising them an exceeding great height He established all thinges concerning Christian religion and the professours of the same in most honourable and religious manner Therefore the Lorde blessed him most aboundantlie with perfect health with exceeding wealth with true Christian liberty of obtaining al which he did desire in this world and in the world to come with euerlasting felicitie If the life of this right vertuous Emperor cannot dissuade you from the contrarie but still you will proceede in this erronious opinion that the Church of Christ amongst Christians ought to be poore simple and naked as it was in the time of persecution vnder hereticks and Infidels If you be so constant in this errour that you will not regard that Constantine then goe forwarde in the way which you like so well and passing on marke by the way howe it fareth with those which though they professe the name of Christ yet in life and conuersation they denie him in that no lesse cruel then the Iews they take from him his clothes they afflict his spirituall bodie they disgrace him keepe him downe to the ende they may haue no riches in price but the mucke of the world no profession in account but worldly authoritie no glorie but the childish decking of the bodie no honour but outward pompe and vanitie no King but Cesar. As the hardharted Iewes cried out his bloud be vpon vs and our children Euen so the fleshlie worldlings answere at this daie What tell you vs of had I wist of times to come of doomes day If wee shall not answere till then then care away graunt vs so long a day to answere in and we will haue the rest O that men would learne by earthlie similitudes to vnderstand heauenlie wisedome If a clowde doe but rise South or Southwest we say it is like to raine and can wee not see the Sunne of our saluation euen nowe setting in a darke deadlie clowde before our faces Consider that the destruction of Ierusalem was a plaine resemblāce of the end of the world As it was in those daies euen so it shall be immediatelie before the ending of the world they cried awaie with him they tooke away his coate and parted his raiment they crucified him and all those which professed his name they stoned Saint Steeuen the Archdeacon and Iames the Cosin of our Lorde who after he had beene placed Bishop of Ierusalem manie yeares most rebelliouslie they pulled him out of his chaire casting him downe from a pinacle of the Citie wall and when hee laie gasping on the earth most barbarouslie they dasht out his braines with a Fullers clubbe These were the first which sought the decaie of the Church of Christ. And what destenie followed this euill aduenture The Lorde brought a huge Armie into their Citie with a destroying plague and consuming famine with ciuill sedition slayings and wastings domesticall murders inward anguish bred by ciuill discord so that through feare without and deadlie anguish within there died manie thousands nay hundreth thousandes within the walles of that Citie Many thousands laie gasping in the streete for breath of life many laie groning ruthfully in their houses many as they were putting vp their hands to their mouth to feed themselues were slaine with the deuouring sword of the seditious which destroied so on al sides of the City that the bloud of those which were slaine within by themselues came running out at the gutters of the gates and out at the sinkes vnderneath the walles The noble men were fain to eat their owne flesh from off their armes and that good auncient gentlewoman which when the wars began fled to that Citie for succor with hir litle infant sucking on hir brest after hir house had been often ransacked spoiled by the seditious hir men maides slaine in hir house hir victuals cleane consumed hir colour wan hir milke and bloude dried vp hir bodie fainting with hunger shee was compelled to thinke an vnnaturall thought in hir heart and to execute a deadly deuise with hir hands shee tooke hir litle boy now sucking on hir breast she held it a part from hir with both hir handes beholding the sweete countenance of hir prety childe the boy smiled but alas the mothers teares did shewe hir heauy cheare it were too much griefe to rehearse the mothers sorrowfull voice in this wofull distresse vttered to hir sonne Shee laid the litle infant on the table before hir face hir trickling teares redoubled their course enterchangeably after many distillations sent down from hir weeping eies shee saith vnto hir litle infant my little boy the childe of mee a most vnfortunate mother I nourished thee within my wombe and haue fedde thee a long time with the milke of my breasts and nowe thou must bee meate for mee thy wretched and most distressed mother With these words hir knife infixed into the breast and bowels of hir little infant the bloud springing vp into hir face shee dismembred shee rosted shee eate of him the smell whereof beeing once entered the nostrels of those seditious souldiers they brake open the dore they came rushing in running into hir they pulled the meate violently out of hir hande eating it most greedily Of which because shee had no more store ready they cruelly murthered that poore old gentlewoman To this and a hundred thowsand like miseries seldome heard of succeeded the destruction of the whole nation with the vtter destruction of the City the walles the Temple and all the auncient Monumentes of the most famous Kinges of Israell Though no Christian hart can take pleasure in walking this way yet sith wee are entered into it let vs passe on a litle further and wee shall easilie see that this sinne of defacing of the profession of Iesu Christ and his holy Temples here on earth is so hainous so contumelious so heathenish in the sight of God that he neuer suffreth it to lie long vnpunished Neither be the plagues and punishments sent vpon the earth for this sinne of spoiling the Temples of the Lorde due to ordinary or common infirmities incident by the course of nature vnto man but as it is a much more hainous and grieuous offence for the child vnnaturally to despoile his owne father which begot him into this light and cruelly with bloudy handes to take his life from him euen so
reward of those which defaced the Temple of the Lorde and decaied his holy Ministerie but it is most plaine and euident by sundrie auncient histories that in all ages when wisdome learning and religion once gaue place to worldly pollicie when the vertues of the mind were subdued to the force of flesh when vertuous life waxed out of vse and sensualitie increased when the bodie robbed the soule and the naturall man imprisoned the freedome of the spirite when the pride of the worlde mainteined it selfe with the goods of the Church then shortly after followed the vtter subuersion of the whole common wealth Therefore let sinfull man looke downe vpon himselfe with great humilitie let the pride of corruptible flesh strike saile in time leâ—t with the sodaine puffes and pirreies of vnnaturall windes which commonlie rise from such mens hearts it be violently driuen into the swift currents of perdition whose end is the gulfe of eternall sorrowe Let not worldly men goe on daie by daie minding nothing else but earth and earthly ioies like brutish beastes which haue no vnderstanding but let them looke vp vnto heauen from whence commeth our ioy and true felicitie let them consider that which the Philosopher gathered by plaine reason that man consisteth not of bodie onelie neither that his beginning is meere naturall as is the stone the flower the tree the oxe the asse but that he is indued with a soule of heauenly and angelicall substance made vnto eternitie that his stature was framed vpright and his countenance erected to the heauens to the ende that aboue all thinges hee shoulde haue a diligent eie vnto God his Creatour who dwelleth in the heauen aboue and a speciall regard vnto his diuine worshippe which hee hath appointed heere belowe That this duetie is inioined him from the day of his birth to the day of his death that in obseruing the same is life and in neglecting it is death not the death onely of the bodie but the eternall death both of bodie and soule If this be so how diligently ought we to looke about vs how readie to walke the steppes of our Sauiour Christ whose meate and drinke was to doe the will of God here an earth howe willing should we bee and desirous to imitate those godly Christians of the primatiue Church who sold their goods and their lands laying them downe at the Apostles feete or their successours which imploied themselues their goods and their lands on the diuine seruice and reuerent Temple of Iesu Christ Let no man presume so farre in his blind zeale altogether deuoid of knowledge and sauering rather the doctrine of men then of God to say that God dwelleth not in temples made with hands neither is he worshipped with outwarde worship but in truth and spirite thereby most prophanely concluding that we ought to put no religion in outward things or to ascribe any holines to the same Wee haue heard that the Temple sanctifieth the gold thereof and if any man doubt of the same let him adde prophane hands vnto the arke though vnder colour to holde it vp and trie with Oza whether he shall presently be stroken from the Lord with sodaine death Or let him but holde out his hande against the Prophet and trie with Roboam whether it will be presently dried vp or no. Though the Lorde strike thee not presently with Oza or at thy returne chaunge thee into a Leaper as white as â—nowe with Gehesey though he doth not accurse thee as hee did the figtree yet assure thy selfe that with the burning sinnes of thy body the winges of thy soule wherewith thou shouldest flie vp into heauen shall bee scorched thy heart shall melt thy conscience shall burne and thou shalt be consumed in the great daie of the Lord. Let all men knowe this for a truth that those which diminish the worshippe of God heere vppon earth the Lord will cut of the line of their posteritie in this life and blot out their portion in the lande of the liuing If this be fearefull O ye sonnes of men then let the daily remembraunce thereof enter into your brestes let it sinke downe into your harts and ransacke your inward spirits that ye may therby learne to kisse the louing son of your saluation to imbrace his manifolde mercies and to tremble at his iudgements Say not God is mercifull and therein abuse him he is farre off and therefore deny him a thousand yeares with him is but a daie and therewith forget him but remember with your selues and consider wiselie that all his wordes are truth and hee hath saide long since I come and I will not staye behold I come quickly He hath girt vp his loynes he hath taken his two edged sword into his hande his trumpet is now ready to sound that great alarum of the day of iudgement His thousand thousandes of angels are ready to deuide the heauens to inflame the aire to dry vp the waters and to shake the earth with all the kingdoms therein and now he is comming euen at the doore Though some may thinke that my penne declyneth to this fading conclusion rather by course of stile than for the euidence of truth therein contayned for the glorie of Iesu Christ or for our dutifull readines against the day of our saluation yet in so great daunger remaine not doubtfull through the flattering shew of sinfull delusions But rather sith it greatly concerneth our soules health let vs harken to that plaine voice of truth when you see these things then thinke that your redemption is at hand and bee yee perswaded fully of the same by euident reason by that which you see with your eyes which you heare with your eares which you haue felt with your sensuall bodies not many yeares since And now after the meditation thereof more truly vnderstand with your harts Whereby you are forewarned hereof euen by secret thoughts when you lie in your beds considering that the bridegroome of our eternal saluation is at hand Cast off the loue of this present world scarce go backe into thine owne house to thy wife and thy little children if thou bee at home within thy doores goe not out into the field to see thy cattell or into the streets to bid thy friends farewell or looke once aside from this present comfort the redemption of all the godly Resolue thy selfe to giue account to come to iudgement for nowe the course of this worlde by all computation is run out all flesh is come to an ende And would you haue it set more plainely before your face Lift vp your eies and you shall see that long since the figge tree is budded the fields are all white vnto haruest the heauens are shrunke in their seat and waxen olde like a garment If you yet doubt that the world is not at the point to bee dissolued or that there is no such present appearance why wee should looke for a newe heauen