Father Let vs not number but weigh your texts The rather for that I finde these as your Master-proofes set as Challengers in euery of your defences In Genes 4.13 CAIN a bloudy Fratricide is excommunicated In Genes 6.1 2. The sonnes of God married the daughters of men In Genes 7.1 7. NOAHS time is approued as righteous and enters the Arke In 1 Pet. 3.20 21. The rest in NOAHS time were disobedient and perished What of all this Alas what mockage is this of the Reader and Scriptures Surely you euen ioyne Scriptures as you separate your selues This is right as your Pastor to proue all members of the visible Church elect and precious stones cites 1 King 7.9 where is speech onely of Salomons house in the Forrest of Lebanon his Porch for his Throne his Hall his Palace for Pharaohs daughter and when he comes to describe the office of his imaginarie Doctor thwacks fourteene Scriptures into the margent whereof not any one hath any iust colour of inference to his purpose and in this discourse of the power of the Church that he might seeme to honour his margent with shew of texts hath repeated six places twice ouer in the space of six lines For these of yours you might obiect the first to the Cainites not to vs Cain was cast out worthily Doe we either denie or vtterly forbeare this censure Take heed you follow him not in your voluntarie exile to the land of Nod. The second you might obiect to those mungrell Christians that match with Turkes and Pagans There are sonnes of God that is members of the visible Church and daughters of men which are without the bounds meere Infidels it is sinne for those sonnes to yoke themselues with those daughters What is this to vs Noah was righteous the multitude disobedient Who denies it yet Noah separated not from the corrupted Church till the floud separated him from the earth but continued an ancient Preacher of righteousnesse euen to that peruerse and rebellious Generation But it sufficeth you that Cain and the Giants were separated from the rest We yeeld it what will follow hence saue onely that notorious Malefactors must bee cast out and professed Heathen not let into the Church We hold and wish no lesse your places euince no more These before the Law In Leuit. 20.24.26 God chose our Israel from other people This was Gods act not theirs a sequestring of his Israelites from the Gentiles not of Israel from it selfe yours is your owne and from men in all maine points of your owne profession But therefore Israel must be holy If any man denie holinesse to be required of euery Christian let him feele your Maranatha In Nehem. 9.2 The Israelites separated themselues from the strangers which were Infidels whether in their marriage or deuotion Neither Gods seruice nor an Israelites bed was for Heathens This was not the constituting of a new Church but reforming of the old If therefore you can parallel vs with Pagans and your selues will be Iewes this place fits you Lastly what if there be an hatred betwixt the World and Christs true Disciples Ioh. 17.14.16 what if PETER charged his Auditors to saue themselues from the errors and practise of that froward Generation whose hands were yet freshly imbrewed with the bloud of Christ Act. 2.40 What if the same which PETER taught PAVL practised in separating his followers from hearing some obstinate and blasphemous Iewes Act. 19.9 What if the Church of Corinth were Saints by calling 1 Cor. 1.2 and therefore must be separated from the yoke of Infidels 2.6.17 Are these your patternes Are these fit matches for your brethren baptized in the same water and name professing euery point of the same true faith vsing for substance the same worship with you He that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother is in darknesse 1 Ioh. 2.9 SEP Which separation the Church of England neither hath made nor doth make but stands actually one with all that part of the World within the Kingdome without separation for which cause amongst others we haue chosen by the grace of God rather to separate our selues to the Lord from it than with it from him in the visible constitution of it SECTION VI. BVT all these examples perhaps are not so much to warrant what you haue done What separation is to bee made by churches in their planting or restauration In his Preface to the Reader and in his causes of separation defended pag. 4. Eiusdem p. 10. Refutat of M. Gyff p. 22. 2. Transgress p. 51. 52. 55. 66. 70. 85. 86. c. Inconstance of Browne p. 110. Inquiry into M White confessed by Fr. Iohnson pag. 63. Passage twixt Clifton and Smith And concerning the constitution of the Churches c. But the constituting of Churches now after the defection of Antichrist may more properly be called a repairing than a constitution c. as to condemne the Church of England for what shee hath not done for such a separation shee neither hath made nor doth make but stands actually one with all that part of the World within the Kingdome without separation Loe here the maine ground of this Schisme which your Proto-Martyr BARROVV hammers vpon in euery page an ill constitution Thus hee comments vpon your words For where such prophane confuse multitudes without any exception separation or choice were all of them from publike Idolatry at one instant receiued or rather compelled to bee members of the Church in some Parish or other where they inhabited without any due calling to the faith by the preaching of the Gospel going before or orderly ioyning together in the faith there being no voluntarie or particular confession of their owne faith and duties made or required of any and lastly no holy walking in the faith amongst them who can say that these Churches consisting of this people were euer rightly gathered or built according to the rule of Christs Testament In his words and yours I finde both a miscollection and a wrong charge For the former the want of noting one poore distinction breeds all this confusion of Doctrine and separation of men for there is one case of a new Church to be called from Heathenisme to Christianitie another of a former Church to be reformed from errors to more sincere Christianitie In the first of these is required indeed a solemne initiation by Baptisme and before that a voluntarie and particular confession of faith and therefore a cleare separation and exception of the Christian from the Infidell In the latter neither is new Baptisme lawfull though some of you belike of old were in hand with a rebaptization which not then speeding succeedeth now to your shame nor a new voluntarie and particular confession of Faith besides that in Baptisme though very commendable will euer be proued simply necessarie to the being of a Church so long as the erring parties doe actually renounce their doctrines and in open profession
6. Leuistis proculdubio pallas Iudicate quid de coâ—â—cibus fecistis Aut vtrumque lauate aut c. Si quod tangit aspectus lauandum est vt parietes c. Videmus rectum videmus coelum c. haec à vobis lauaâ—i non possunt The very name it selfe if at least you haue vnderstood it Kirke or Church which is nothing but an abbreuiation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lords house might haue taught you that ours were dedicated to God theirs to the Deuill in their false gods Augustine answers you as directly as if he were in my roome The Gentiles saith he to their gods erected Temples wee not Temples vnto our Martyrs as vnto Gods but memorials as vnto dead men whose spirits with God are still liuing These then if they were abused by Popish Idolatrie is there no way but Downe with them downe with them to the ground Well fare the Donatists yet your old friends they but washed the walles that were polluted by the Orthodoxe by the same token that Optatus askes them why they did not wash the bookes which ours toucht and the heauens which they lookt vpon What are the very stones sinfull what can be done with them The very earth where they should lye on heapes would bee vncleane But not their pollution angers you more than their proud Maiestie What house can bee too good for the Maker of all things As God is not affected with State so is he not delighted in basenesse If the pompe of the Temple were ceremoniall yet it leaues this moralitie behinde it that Gods house should be decent and what if goodly If we did put holinesse in the stones as you doe vncleanenesse it might be sinne to bee costly Let mee tell you there may bee as much pride in a clay wall as in a carued Proud Maiestie is better than proud basenesse the stone or clay will offend in neither we may in both If you loue cottages the auncient Christians with vs loued to haue Gods house stately as appeares by the example of that worthy Bishop of Alexandria Athanas Apol. Euseb de vita Const Oâ—bo Frising l. 5. c. 3. and that gracious Constantine in whose daies these sacred piles began to lift vp their heads vnto this enuied height Take you your owne choyce giue vs ours let vs neitheir repine nor scorne at each other SEP But your Temples especially your Cathedrall and mother Churches stand still in their proud Maiestie possessed by Arch-Bishops and Lord-Bishops like the Flamins and Arch-Flamins amongst the Gentiles from whom they were deriued and furnished with all manner of pompous and superstitious monuments as carued and painted Images Massing-Copes and Surplices chanting and Organ-musicke and many other glorious ornaments of the Romish Harlot by which her Maiestie is commended to and admired by the vulgar so farre are you in these respects for being gone or fled yea or crept either out of Babylon Now if you be thus Babylonish where you repute your selues most Sion-like and thus confounded in your owne euidence what defence could you make in the things whereof an aduersary would challenge you If your light be darknesse how great is your darkenesse SECTION XLVI ALL this while I feared you had beene in Popish Idolatry The Founders and Furnitures of our Churches now I finde you in Heathenish These our Churches are still possessed by their Flamins and Arch Flamins I had thought none of our Temples had beene so ancient certainly I finde but one poore ruinous building reported to haue worne out this long tyranny of time For the most you might haue read their age and their Founders in open records But these were deriued from those surely the Churches as much as the men It is true the Flamins and whateuer other heathen Priests were put downe Lumb l. 4. dist 24. Isid l. 7. Etymol cap. 12. Theophilus Episc cum caeteras statuas deorum confringereâ— vnam integram seruari iussit eamque in loco publico crexit vt Christian Bishops were set vp Are these therefore deriued from those Christianity came in the roome of Iudaisme was it therefore deriued from it Before you told vs that our Prelacie came from that Antichrist of Rome now from the Flamins of the Heathen Both no lesse than either If you cannot be true yet learne to be constant But what meane you to charge our Churches with carued painted Images It is well you write to those that know them Why did not you say wee bow our knees to them and offer incense Perhaps you haue espied some olde dustie statue in an obscure corner couered ouer with Cob-webs Gentiles tempore progrediente non inficiâ—rentur se iuâ—â—smodi deos coluisse Ammonius Grammaticus hacdere valde discruciatus Dixit grauem plagèm religioni Graecorum inflictam quod illa vna statua non cuerteretur Socrat. l. 5. c. 16. with halfe a face that miserably blemisht or perhaps halfe a Crucifixe inuerted in a Church-window and these you surely noted for English Idols no lesse dangerous glasse you might haue seene at Geneua a Church that hates Idolatry as much as you doe vs What more Massing Copes and Surplices some Copes if you will more Surplices no Massing Search your bookes againe you shall finde Albes in the Masse no Surplices As for Organ-musicke you should not haue fetcht it from Rome but from Ierusalem In the Reformed Church at Middleburgh you might haue found this skirt of the Harlot which yet you grant at least crept out of Babylon Iudge now Christian Reader of the weight of these grand exceptions and see whether ten thousand such were able to make vs no Church and argue vs not onely in Babylon but to be Babylon it selfe Thus Babylonish we are to you and thus Sion-like to God euery true Church is Gods Sion euery Church that holds the Foundation is true according to that golden rule Ephes 2.21 Euery building that is coupled together in this corner-stone groweth vnto an holy Temple in the Lord No aduersary either Man or Deuill can confound vs eitheir in our euidences or their owne challenges we may be faultie but we are true And if the darkenesse you finde in vs be light how great is our light SEP But for that not the separation but the cause makes the Schismatike and lest you should seeme to speake euill of the thing you know not and to condemne a cause vnhearâ— you lay downe in the next place the supposed cause of our separation against which you deale as insufficiently And that you pretend to be none other than your consorting with the Papists in certaine Ceremonies touching which and our separation in regard of them thus you write M.H. If you haue taken but the least knowledge of the ground of our iudgement and practice how dare you thus abuse both vs and the Reader as if the onely or chiefe ground of our separation were your Popish Ceremonies But if you goe
to bee members of their Church which by this meanes becomes one bodie with such as bee deliuered vnto Satan therefore none of Christs bodie England can bee but a miscelline rabble of prophane men H. Ainsworth in his Counterpoyson The Dutch and French Churches are belike no better who can be worse than an vnrepentant Excommunicate Goe now and say It is the Apostasie of Antichrist to haue communion with the World in the holy things of God which are the peculiars of the Church and cannot without Sacriledge bee so prostituted and prophaned Goe say that the Plaguy-spirituall-leprosie of sinne rising vp in the foreheads of many in that Church vnshut vp vncouered yea wilfully let loose infects all both persons and things amongst them Goe now and flie out of this Babylon also as the He-Goates before the flocke or returne to ours But how-euer these errors be grosse perhaps they are tractable Not the sinne vndoes the Church but obstinacie here is no euasion For behold you doe no more accuse those Churches of corruption than of wilfulnesse for diuers times haue you dealt with them about these fearefull enormities yea you haue often desired that knowledge thereof might bee by themselues giuen to the whole bodie of their Church or that at least they would take order it might be done by you They haue refused both What remaines but they bee our fellow-Heathens and Publicans And not they alone but all Reformed Churches beside in Christendome which doe ioyntly partake in all these except one or two personall abominations will you neuer leaue till you haue wrangled your selues out of the world But now I feare I haue drawne you to say that the Hellish impieties both in the Citie and Church of Amsterdam arâ— but Frogs Lice Flies Murraine and other Aegyptian plagues not preiudicing your Goshen Say so if you dare I feare they would soone make the Ocean your Red Sea and Virginia your Wildernesse The Church is Noahs Arke which gaue safety to her Guests whereof ye are part but remember that it had vncleane beasts also and some sauage If the waues drowne you not yet me thinkes you should complaine of noisome societie Satans throne could not preiudice the Church of Pergamus but did not the Balaamites the Nicolaitans Yet their heauenly Communion stood and the Angell is sent away with but threats SEP It is the will of God and of Christ that his Church should abide in the world and conuerse with it in the affaires thereof which are common to both But it is the Apostasie of Antichrist to haue Câ—â—â—â—nion wiâ—h the World in the holy things of God which are the peculiars of the Church and 〈◊〉 without great sacriledge be so prostituteâ— and prophaned SECTION LIV. AS it were madnesse to deny that the Church should conuerse with the World in the affaires thereof So to deny her Communion in Gods Holy things Conuersation with the World with any of those of the World which professe Christianity as yet vnconsuted is a point of Anâ—baptisticall Apostasie such â—f the World are still of the Church As my censure cannot eiect them so their sinne after my priuate endeuour of redresse cannot defile me I speake of priuate Communicants If an vnbidden Guest come with a râ—gged garment and vnwashen hands shall I forbeare Gods heauenly dainties The Master of the Feast can say Friend how camest thou in hither not Friends why came you hither with such a Guest God bids mee come Hee hath imposed this necessity neuer allowed this excuse Duobus nodis non te maculat malus videlicet si non consentis si redâ—â—guis d. 23. q. 4. à maliâ— My teeth shall not beset on edge with the fowre Grapes of others If the Church cast not out the knowne vnworthy the sinne is hers If a man will come vnworthy the sinne is his But if I come not because he comes the sinne is mine I shall not answer for that others sinne I shall answer for mine owne neglect Another mans fault cannot dispense with my duty SEP The aire of the Gospell which you draw in is nothing so free and cleare as you make shew it is onely because you are vsed to it that makes you so iudge The thicke smoke of your Canons especially of such as are planted against the Kingdome of Christ the visible Church and the administration of it doe both obscure and poison the aire which you all draw in and wherein you breathe The plâ—gâ—y spirituall 〈◊〉 of seâ— rising vp in the forthâ—â—ds of so many thousands in the Church vnshut vp vncouered infects all both persons and things amongst you Leuit 13.45 46 47. 2 Cor. 6.17 The blasting Hierarchie suffers no good thing to grow or prosper but withers all both bud and branch The daily sacrifice of the Seruice-booke which in stead of spirituall Prayer sweâ—â— as Incense you offer vp Morning and Euening smels so stronâ— of the Popes Portuise as it makes many hundreds amongst your selues stop their noses as it and yet you boast of the free and cleere aire of the Gospell wherein you breathe SECTION LV. The impure mixtures of the Church of England AS there is no Element which is not through many mixtures departed from the first simplicity So no Church euer breathed in so pure an aire as that it might not iustly complaine of some thicke and vnwholsome euaporations of errour and sinne If you challenge an immunitie you are herein the true broode of the ancient Puritanes But if too many sinnes in practise haue thickned the aire of our Church yet not one Heresie that smoke of the bottomlesse pit hath neuer corrupted it and therefore iustly may I auerre that here you might draw in the cleare aire of the Gospell No where vpon earth more freely And if this be but the opinion of custome you whom absence hath helped with a more nice and dainty sent speake your worst Shew vs our Heresies and shame vs you haue done it and behold foure maine infections of our English aire 1. Canons The first the smoke of our Canons Wittily I feare the great Ordinances of the Church haue troubled you more with the blow than the smoke For you tell vs of their Plantation against the Kingdome of Christ What Kingdome The visible Church Which is that Not the Reformedst peece of ours whose best are but Goats and Swine Not the close Nicodemians of your owne Sect amongst vs which would be loth to be visible Not forrainers to them they extend not None therefore in all the World but the English Parlour-full at Amsterdam Can there be any truer Donatisme Cry you still out of their poysoning the aire We hold it the best cleansed by the batteries of your idle fancies by ridding you from our aire and by making this your Church inuisible to vs smart you thus till we complaine 2. Sinne vncensured The second is the plague or leprosie of sin vnshut vp and vncouered We know that
can shew vs the true nayles Assuredly both these Iugglers smile one vpon another while they shew these Relikes to their people and now euen the silly vulgar begins not without indignation to descrie this coozenage To omit therefore these ridiculous tricks and knauish conueyances of their shauelings Cass Consult de Reliq Sanct. let vs in this case appeale euen to Cassanders owne moderation who hauing first honestly acknowledged the ancient complaints of Basil Ambrose Augustine about the businesse of these abuses goes on thus It appeares saith he that in the latter times there hath beene too much giuen to the Relikes and Monuments of the Saints So as euen good men and those which were zealously deuout were growne to that passe that they placed the summe of all Religion in gathering together the Relikes of the Saints and in garnishing them richly with Gold and Pearles and building sumptuous Chappels and Temples to them And againe those that were lewd and godlesse put all their confidence though vaine and false in the foolish and superfluous worship of Relikes wherefore in the Councell of Cabilâ—n those are reprooued who in a pretence of deuotion goe on Pilgrimage to Rome or Turon or any other like places as if they thought that the frequenting of these holy Shrines could both purge them from sinne and licence them to sinne with impunitie And vnto this yet another mischiefe hath beene added that for couetousnesse sake to intice the simple people false Relikes haue beene deuised and fained Miracles reported and by those Miracles the Superstition of the multitude was so fed that they were rather taken vp with an admiration of the Wonders then drawne to an holy imitation of the Saints and many times by the subtletie and illusion of the Deuill abusing the superstition of men new Relikes were by Dreames and Visions reuealed to the World and by the operation of the same Deuill Miracles seemed to be wrought for the confirmation thereof Thus saith Cassander like a true German shall I say or like a true Israelite But wee that haue beene better caught dare freely and confidently say of our selues Hier. ad Riparili aduers Vigil as Hierom professed of old in the name of all Christians So farre are wee from adoring the Relikes of Martyrs that we worship neither Sunne nor Moone nor Angels nor Archangels nor Cherubin nor Seraphin nor any name that is named either in the present World or the future lest we should serue the creature rather than the Creator which is blessed for euer Then that from Relikes wee may descend to Images Is it possible that we should not be euer displeased with that franticke superstition of the Romish Church That against the Tables of Gods Law against the Institutions of the Apostles against the practise of the ancient Church against the manifest Decrees of Councels against the cleere Testimonies of Fathers in defiance of God and men the Churches of Christians should bee no lesse pestered with Idols than the Temples of the Heathen That as Ierome complained of old the natiue beautie of the Church should bee polluted with the filth of Paganisme Hier. Magno Oratori Rom. That which Eusebius iustly taxeth of madnesse there should bee a visible and bodily Image or representation made of the Inuisible and Spirituall God Lib. Sacr. Cerem That wee should put our confidence in Agnis Dei Graines Tapers Roses Swords Ensignes Bels ridiculously after their manner inchanted That by certaine Magicall Exorcismes the Deuill should bee driuen out of those Creatures wherein he neuer was Nay let vs euen enter into league with Satan himselfe if wee shall giue either allowance or coâ—niuence to such Diabolicall practises of will-worship I doe purposely forbeare to speake of that prophane paradox of the sufficiencie of the outward worke-done without good inward dispositions the idle mumbling vp of Prayers in a forraine tongue the number and vertue of Sacraments the Sacrilegious mutilation of the Eucharist and a thousand other Monsters both of Opinions and ceremonies These that I haue reckoned are errors more than enow And I would to God those which we haue here particularized were not such that there is no remedie but that we must needs eternally fall out either with God or with Rome Since therefore neither Truth can euer yeeld nor Obstinacie will yeeld let vs serue cheerefully vnder the colours of our Heauenly Leader and both proclaime and maintaine an vnreconcilable warre with these Romish Heresies SECTION XXII Of the Impossibilitie of the Meanes of Reconciliation AND now since no wise man can suspect of vs that wee will euer grow to that height of madnes as to run perfidiously from the Standerd of God to the Tents of that Roman Antichrist Is there any hope that the Papists will euer bee drawne backe to the sound and pure iudgement of the Primitiue Antiquitie Oh that God would vouchsafe this grace to the Christian World that wee could but comfort our selues with the hope of so great happinesse What a sight were this how pleasant how worthy of God and his Angels that as it is said of the Nouatian Faction and the Orthodox of old men women Socr. l. 2. c. 30. children of both parts without all guile and close harbors of discontentment should mutually bring stones and matter to the building vp of this Temple of another yet true Resurrection We will gladly speake vnto them and if need bee vpon our knees in Cyprians words Cypr. l. 3. Ep. 2. Sithence we may not come forth of the sound and true Church of God and come vnto you Let vs beseech and intreat you by whatsoeuer should bee most deare vnto you that you would returne to our fraternitie and into the bosome of that Mother-Church Theocr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. whence yee are reuolted and as he said in Theocritus yet at last be perswaded wee are both brothers of one bloud why will you needs fight more against your selues than your brethren But alas sooner may God create a new Rome than reforme the old Yea needes must that Church put off it selfe and cease to be what it is ere it can begin to be once againe what it was for as the Comicke Poet said in the like both substance credit Plau. Mostellar Simulenim res fides fama virtus decusque deseruerunt atque ipsa in vsu Facta est nimio nequior nec vidcor mihi c. fame vertue honour haue at once forsaken her and by long dis-use haue left her worse than nought neither doe I see how these houses can be repaired but they must be pulled downe to the very foundations and then built from the ground But if there be any likelyhood of remedie yet to be hoped for surely it must needs come either from her selfe or from others Can it be first from her selfe which obstinately defends her errors not onely with tongue and pen but with fire and
and Iustice as therefore euill dispositions cannot be changed with ayres no more will good Now then he sits him downe by a Well in Midian There he might haue to drinke but where to eat he knew not The case was altred with Moses To come from the dainties of the Court of Aegypt to the hunger of the fields of Midian it is a lesson that al Gods childreÌ„ must learn to take out To want and to abound Who can think strange of penury when the great gouernor of Gods people once hath nothing Who would not haue thought in this case Moses should haue been heartlesse and sullen so cast downe with his owne coÌ„plaints that he should haue had no feeling of others yet how hot is he vpon iustice No aduersity can make a good man neglect good duties he sees the oppression of the Shepherds the image of that other he left behind him in Aegypt the Mayds daughters of so great a Peere draw water for their flocks the inhumane shepherds driue them away rudenesse hath no respect either to Sâ—â—â— or Condition if we liued not vnder lawes this were one case Might would be the measure of Iustice wee should not so much as 〈◊〉 our owne water vniust courses will not euer prosper Moses shall rather come from Aegypt to Midian to beat the shepheards then they shall vex the daughters of Iethro This act of â—ustice was not better done then taken Reuel requires it kindly with an hospitall entertainment A good nature is ready to answer courtesies we cannot doe 〈◊〉 much fore thankfull man And if a courteous Heathen reward the watring of a â—â—â—pe in this bountifull manner how shall our God recompence but a cup of cold water that is giuen to a Disciple This fauour hath won Moses who now consents to dwell with him though out of the Church Curiosity or whatsoeuer idle occasions may not draw vs for our residence out of the bounds of the Church of God danger of life may we loue not the Church if we easily leaue it if in a case of life we leaue it not vpon opportunity for a time of respit we loue not our selues The first part of Moses his requitall was his wife one of those whom he had formerly protected I doe not so much maruell that Iethro gaue him his daughter for hee saw him vallant wise learned nobly bred as that Moses would take her a stranger both in Blood and Religion I could plead for him necessity his own nation was shut vp to him if he would haue tried to fetch a daughter of Israel her had endangered to leaue himselfe behind I could plead some correspondence in common principles of Religion for doubtlesse Moses his zeale could not suffer him to smother the truth in himselfe hee should haue beene an vnfaithfull seruant if he had not beene his Masters teacher Yet neither of these can make this match either safe or good The euent bewrayes it dangerously inconuenient This choice had like to haue cost him deare she stood in his way for circumcision God stands in his way for reuenge Though hee was now in Gods message yet might he not be forborne in this neglect No circumstance either of the dearnesse of the Sollicitor or our owne ingagement can beare out a sinne with God Those which are vnequally yoked may not euer look to draw one way The loue to â—he person cannot long agree with dislike of the religion He had need to be more then a man that hath a Zipporaâ— in his bosome and would haue true zeale in his heart Al this while Moses his affection was not so tied to Midian that he could forget Aegypt Hee was a stranger in Midian what was he else in Aegypt Surely either Aegypt was not his home or a miserable one yet in reference to it he cals his son Gershom a stranger there Much better were it to be a stranger there then a dweller in Aegypt How hardly can we forget the place of our abode or education although neuer so homely And if he so thought of his Aegyptian home where was nothing but bondage and tyranny how should wee thinke of that home of ours aboue where is nothing but rest and blessednesse Of MOSES calling FOrty yeares was Moses a Courtier and forty yeares after that a Shepheard That great men may not bee ashamed of honest vocations the greatest that euer were haue beene content to take vp with meane trades The contempt of honest callings in those which are well borne argues pride without wit How constantly did Moses sticke to his hooke and yet a man of great spirits of excellent learning of curious education and if God had not after his forty yeares seruice called him off he had so ended his dayes Humble resolutions are so much more heroicall as they fall into higher subiects There can be no fitter disposition for a leader of Gods people then constancy in his vndertakings without either wearinesse or change How had he learned to subdue all ambitious desires and to rest content with his obscurity So he might haue the freedome of his thoughts and ful opportunity of holy meditations he willingly leaues the World to others and enuies not his proudest acquaintance of the Court of Pharaoh He that hath true world in himselfe and familiarity with God finds more pleasure in the Desarts of Midiâ—â— then others can doe in the Palaces of Kings Whiles he is tending his sheepe God appeared vnto him God neuer graces the idle with his visions when he finds vs in our callings we find him in the 〈◊〉 of his mercy Satan appeares to the idle man in manifold temptations or rather presents himselfe and appeares not God was euer with Moses yet was he not seene till now He is neuer absent from his but sometimes he makes their senses witnesses of his presence In small matters may be greater wonders That a bush should burne is no marueâ—â— but that it should not consume in burning is iustly miraculous God chuseth not euer great subiects wherin to exercise his power It is enough that his power is great in the smallest When I look vpon this burning bush with Moses me thinkes I can neuer see a worthier and more liuely Embleme of the Church that in Aegypt was in the furnace yet wasted not Since then how oft hath it beene flaming neuer consumed The same power that enlightens it preserues it and to none but his enemies is he a consuming fire Moses was a great Philosopher but small skill would haue serued to know the nature of fire and of the bush that fire meeting with combustible matter could not but consume If it had been some solid wood it would haue yeelded later to the flame but bushes are of so quicke dispatch that the ioy of the wicked is compared to a fire of thornes He noted a while saw it continued and beganne to wonder It was some maruell how it should come there but how it should continue without supply