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A18641 A Christian discourse vpon certaine poynts of religion Presented vnto the most high & puissant Lorde, the Prince of Conde. Translated out of French into English by Iohn Brooke of Ashe next Sandwich. 1578. Brooke, John, d. 1582. 1578 (1578) STC 5158; ESTC S118872 166,874 382

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eternall life they are they which do testifie of mée And for that cause chiefly the Lord will that the dispensatiō of his word of his sacraments be open manifest vnto all the worlde to the ende that we may seperate the church and congregation of the true chrystians from so many sectes and companies of heritickes whych doe boast themselues to haue the Churche with them according as Lactancius doth write There would be also daunger or it is to be feared that ceasing the exercise of the religion ther would happen that which is written in the booke of Iudges that is to saye that euery man doe not that which séemed right in his owne eies or that which we doe reade in the time of king Asa that ther was no peace to them that go out and in But great vexation of the inhabiters of all lands for one nation shall destroye an other and one citie another for GOD will trounce them with all aduersitie as oftentimes it happeneth that the Lord being not knowen of his as he ought to be did take from his vnderstanding and wisdome and did fill them with blindnesse or darkenesse did giue vnto them a sléeping spirite eyes that they cannot sée eares that they cannot heare doth tourne their table into a snare that for their rewarde Beholde what doth force constraine me to say that it is in the great cities in the which we ought to establish first the exercise of the true christiā religion bicause that oftentimes in the great cities are committed the greatest wickednesse extorcions tyrannies as the Lord so many times hath rebuked by his prophets the inhabiters of Ierusalem that according to the benefites that he hath done vnto them they did multiply increase their iniquities offences And by his prophet Daniel that the iniquitie hath begun of the auncients and doctors of the lawe although that the law was come out of Sion and the word of God from Ierusalem Not without cause the Lorde hath established his temple ordeined his ceremonies in Ierusalem the chiefe citie of Iuda for to repr●sse the sinnes of his people and to holde and kéepe them in the obedience of his holy precepts cōmaundemēts bicause that his word is like a fire like a hammer that breaketh the hard stone quicke mightie in operation and sharper then any two edged swoord and entreth through euen vnto the diuiding a sunder the soule and the spirite wherein the scripture doth teach vs that there is no meanes more greater to same and to bridle the heartes affections of men then the woord of God. The which ought to serue for an example vnto all true Princes for to establish mainteine the exercise of religion I doe meane that in the which the woord of the Lord doth sound daily and is purely and rightly administred for in that point doth consist their power aucthoritie and greatnesse I doe remember for this matter that Licurgus the writer of the lawes of the Lacedemonians could find no time more fitter for to cause the citie of Sparta to florish then to accustome the inhabitaunts of the same to obey the lawes bicause saith hée that the lawes doe teach two things that is to say to commaund and to obey to the commaundement adding ouer and besides the same that the obedience doth consist and lye in the exhortation wherein we are learned taught that the exercise of the true christian religion is so much more necessarie for to mainteine and kéepe the rightes of Princes and Lordes the which by the word of God we doe learne to obey him as our Prince and soueraigne Lord to giue vnto all our superiours that which is due vnto them Tribute to whō tribute belongeth Custom to whō custome is due Feare to whom feare belongeth Honour to whō honour perteyneth not onely for the anger but also for the conscience And although that this onely argument be sufficient for to proue that we haue nothing attempted agaynst the person of a Prince his lawes and preheminences yet truely our enimies haue thought by the meanes to make vs odious hatefull not onely vnto those of the countrey but also vnto straungers But as it happened of late amonge the disciples of the Lord the dooing of the religion béeing troubled for certeine differences or controuersies which were among thē at that time there the Apostles did assemble themselues together and hauing ordred the dooing of the religyon Notwithstanding that they could not do so much but that they were forced afterward both in their persons and in their religion and declared to bée rebels and seditious throughout all the Sinagogges Euen so is it happened of our time For though that by meere deliberation and aduise of the counsaile learned men and of good consciences haue agréed vnto some differences for to mainteine the vnitie of the kinges subiectes yet truely so many people haue risen against vs from all places that in the end haue declared vs to be rebels seditious to conclude we haue bene forced in our persons goodes conscienses In so much that we may bewaile lament that which S. Peter in his time did deplore lament after the saying of the prophet Dauid Why do the heathen rage together why do the people imagine vaine things the Kings of the earth stande vp and the rulers take counsaile together against the Lord and against his annoynted And we must not héere excuse our selues vnder colour of some yea of the most greatest part of the people speaking against the Edict and statute of the king for the gift to interprete the scriptures or to sée perceiue the differences which are done in the church is a light and knoweledge which the Lorde hath printed and imbraced in the heartes of the true and faythfull Christians and of those whiche of redie courage and frée will do beléeue the word of god And it is not bounde or tied to the number of personnes aucthoritie or greatnesse According to that which Iesus Christ did promise his Apostels in Saint Iohn that the holy Ghost shall teach them all things and that they shal be all taught of God. The whiche Sainct Peter doth declare more at large shewing that the scripture came neuer by the will of man but holy men of God speake as they were moued by the holy Ghost It is not then in the number of persons that we must way the dooing of the Religion but to the aucthoritie of the scripture and to the aduise of those which with a good conscience doe bring an eminent and ouerpassing knowledge Euen so the auncients in the primitiue Church do condempne Samosetanus and Arrius do take none other iudges for to discerne perceiue the differences then the word of God with the consenting of those which haue béene Disciples or successours of the
matter what it is to let the true Christian religion I do meane those which are confirmable and agreable to the Christian rule and good manners On the contrarie I beséech them to remember a lawe of the Aegyptians by the which the kings of the countrie did adiure and sweare the iudges not to iudge any thing wrongfully yea when the king hath commaunded them expresly and if they do disalowe me in this matter I wil put before their eyes the exhortation which Iehosaphat made vnto the Iudges of Iuda admonishing and warning them to consider that they doe not exercise the iudgment of men but of GOD and that it shall be with them according to the thing iudged to haue the feare of the Lorde before their eyes to know that there is no vnrighteousnes in the Lord your god nor the regarding of persons nor taking of rewardes They haue written this lawe not with ynke but with the spirite of the liuing God not in tables of stone but in the fleshly tables of their heartes To the end that by their arrestes and Edictes they haue moued by that afore the people vnto a rage and furie more then barbarous and Scythian they may be also an occasion that hereafter the Christian people doe breake their swordes and speares to make sithes sickles and sawes thereof From that time foorth shall not one people lift vp weapon against another neither shall they learne to fight from thencefoorth but as the prophet Iob saith that we may all walke in the feare of the Lord let vs acknowledge also on our parte that God hath ben prouoked iustly against vs for our demerites and transgressions according as he doth menace and threaten some time his people by the Prophet that he wil take from them the Captein the Souldier the Iudge and the Prophet the wise and the aged man the worshipfull of fiftie yeare olde and the honourable the Senatours and men of vnderstanding the maisters of craftes and Oratoures and shall giue vnto them to be their Princes children and babes shall haue the rule ouer them The people shal be pilled and polled one shall euer be doing violence and wronge to an other The boye shall presume against the elder and the vile person against the honourable Bicause saith the Prophet that both their wordes and counseils are against the Lorde they prouoke the presence of his maiestie vnto anger Wherefore O Christian and faithfull people let vs consider our wayes and search them and let vs returne vnto the Lorde and bewaile vs for our sinnes Let vs lift vp our heartes with our handes vnto the Lorde that is in heauen saying We haue bene dissemblers and haue offended wilt thou therefore not be intreated thou hast conuerted vs in thy wrath and persecuted vs thou hast slaine vs without any fauour thou hast hidde thy selfe in a cloude that our prayers shoulde not goe thorowe thou hast made vs outcastes and to be dispised among the heathen All our enimies gape vppon vs feare and snare is come vpon vs yea dispite and destruction O Lorde be not so sore displeased and kéepe not our offences too long in thy remembrance but consider that we are all thy people The cities of thy Sanctuarie lie wast Syon is a wildernesse Ierusalem a desert Our holy house which is our beautie where our fathers praised thée is brent vp yea all our pleasures and commodities are wasted away remember not Lorde our offences but finish the worke which thou hast begunne in vs in this meane libertie of the religion that we may all sing in great hope and assurance with the Prophet Dauid mercie and truth are met together righteousnesse and peace kisse each other truth shal rise out of the earth and righteousnesse shall looke downe from heauen Graunt vs O Lorde that grace in the name and fauour of thy welbeloued sonne our Lorde Iesus Christe vnto whome be glorie for euer Amen ESAY 11. c. The Lord shall set vp a token among the Gentils and gather together the dispersed of Israel yea and of the outcastes of Iuda from the foure corners of the worlde A prayer O Lord which doest disperse and breake the counsells of the nations dost bring too nothing the enterprises of the people shed out the bowels of thy mercies vpon those which do fight daily against thée as their forefathers and woulde chase and driue thée from thy celestiall throne as the king of Babilon To conclude doe put and set them selues against thy sonne Christe teachers and liers as that sonne of perdition for to pull vp by the roote that which thou hast planted to destroy to ruinate that which thou hast builded to hinder and stop that which thou hast shed out euen vnto the vttermost ends of the earth yea do go about by all meanes to marre and to spill that which thou hast tried in the furnesse of the earth and purified seuen times in the fier to ad vnto that which thou hast ordeined in all integrie perfection To cōclud would suppresse abolish by force that which thou hast established for euer O Lord giue thē feare that they may acknowledg confesse him whom thou hast raised vp to set vp the kinreds of Iacob to restore the destruction of Israel and whom thou hast giuen for to lighten the Gentiles that he may be thy health vnto the end of the worlde our Lorde Iesus Christe vnto whome be glorie for euer Amen AN ADVERTISEMENT VNto these which doe crie dayly that wee must not suffer two religions Cap. 4. 1. TIMOTH 4. ¶ Therfore we labour and suffer rebuke bicause we beleeue in the liuing God which is the sauiour of all men but especially of all those that beleeue IT is most euident and knowen by the discourse of the holy scripture that as the Lord is true entire perfect so doth hée require of vs an acknowledging of him neither fained nor cloked That is the cause wherfore he did regard rather the sacrifice of Abel then of Cain did commaunde in the lawe that is written that wée must haue a perfecte and a iust measure and weightes and not to haue two manner of weightes he did rebuke Saul because that he did not wholy and fully accomplish his will and desire inasmuch as he did reserue some of the spoiles which they had gotten against the king of Amalech And in the Gospell is more praised the prayer of the Publican then that of the Pharisie To conclude in the booke of the Actes of the Apostles Ananias is punished bicause he deceiued the Apostles of the price of his possession In the same respect also we do greatly abhorre those which do mingle the sacrifice of the liuing God with that of Baal the doings of the Iewes with the fame of the Samaritans the baptisme with the circumcision the Christian lawe with that of Antichrist And yet