amonge the people for the holy Ghoste teacheth that where preachinge fayleth the people goe to hauocke and experience sheweth that one of these twoo mischieues ensueth whē preachynge is stayed to wete either no Religion at all wherof procéedeth Atheisme and Epicuresme or els euery man to haue a Religion by him selfe which is the very Originall cause of all Heresie and Scisme in the Church of Christ. It is the Deuilles policie to haue preachinge set apart to the ende that he may haue a time to scatter his darnell cockle in y e Lordes fielde wherein if he be not spéedely preuented it is to be feared that the Deuill which hath bene cast out will returne againe to his old possession and findinge it vacante readie trimmed for him settle him selfe and seuen other Deuilles with him worse then he is so it fall out with vs as with the froward generatiō whose ende was worse then the beginnynge Which extréeme miserie the Lord vouchsafe to preuent with his mercie that we our posteritie may cōtinewe in y e light of his truth that the same may continewe with vs to the ende At Barwicke the firste of October Anno 1566. Your good Lordshippes most humble to commaunde Arthur Goldinge To Laurence Normandie a man endewed with excellent gyftes Iohn Caluin sendeth gréetinge WHereas for many considerations I had vowed some parte of my trauels vnto you in my hart I haue déemed this little woorke woorthie to be chosen before others bicause your example may auaile and that not smally to bringe in credite the doctrine whiche it conteineth For since the time that forsakynge your countrie willingly you haue come hither as a bānished man we two can best beare witnesse with how many and how violēt practises of Sathā you haue bene assaulted yet there are other also that knowe of it The fourth moneth after your departinge came tidinges of your Fathers death It could not be but that you muste néedes thinke that which malicious persones letted not to speake how the cause of his death might be ascribed to thought to the entent that all the blame might be laide vppon your necke Anon after followed a moste sharpe wounde that your wife beyng suche a woman as euery good man would wishe him selfe the like was takē away in the chiefe flowre of her age Here also it coulde not otherwise be but that diuers tēptatiōs perced your minde beynge not a man of a blockishe nature Now sounded in your eares the slaūders of euill men that she was drawen out of her natiue soyle in an vnluckie hower to leaue her wretched life almoste in an other worlde But this touched you nerer at the hart that they should haue any colour bicause they reported that your purpose was cursed of the Lorde with a sorowfull issue I omit the other innumerable prickinges which you could not but féele inwardly For seynge widowhoode is a grieuous euill it was to excéedinge a griefe to you to be depriued of suche a cōpanion of your life And to encreace the heape of your sorrowes laste of all came also the buriall of your little daughter In the meane while the Deuill powred out of other places all the mischiefe he could deuise to the entēt that ouerwhelminge your wounded hart he might dispatch you out of hāde Finally you were driuē to swallow vp more trouble within one halfe yéere than many that are cōmended for the haultnesse of their courages haue suffered all their liues longe That was a heape of stumblingblockes cast against you by the sutteltie of Sathā euen at your firste settinge foorth in your race to haue compelled you to pull backe your foote againe But you puttyng your affiance in the inuincible power of Gods spirite gaue ensample to all others that there is no let so déepe difficulte which by the same ayde may not be waded out of And therewithal you haue tried with what armour the Lorde is wonte to furnishe his seruantes as often as he calleth them to the encounter I remember whē I first tolde you your Father was dead and that I alledged the example of Abraham whome the men of his age mighte call the murtherer of his Father in that Thare followinge him when he went frō home miscaried by the waye you made me answeare by and by that for asmuche as God did bothe beare witnesse to your doyng and also allowed it you passed nothinge for the slaunders of the wicked and that nothinge grieued you but that your Father bearynge you companie in your iourney had not made you like vnto Abraham For you were neither so nice nor so prowde that you would eyther refuse to be Abrahams companion or that you would shunne that slaunder whiche God setteth out with great commendation Howbeit your wife did of her selfe wonderfully asswage and mitigate the sorrowe of her death before she departed from vs. For there coulde no apter medicine haue bene wisshed than those heroicall woordes of hers whiche she vttered vpon her death bedde when takinge me by the hande she thanked God who had brought her on his hāde in to such a place where she might die with a quiet cōsciēce when bewailyng in her harte the state of her former life she cried out that she was double happie in that beynge lately drawen out of the cursed iayle of Babilon she should now also depart out of the miserable pryson of the bodie when out of the liuely sence of her conscience disputinge of her owne sinnes of the gilte of eternall death and of the dreadfull iudgement of God not womanlike she extolled highly the grace of Christ with like humblenesse and affiance embraced it as a holly Anchor I doo so well remember her howe she vttered these woordes not onely plainely and distinctly but also with an vnaccustomed earnestnesse euen at her last drawinge on that me thinkes I sée her yet still Therfore when I sawe you on the contrary part nobly striuyng to subdue the heauinesse of your harte I marueled the lesse that a man shoulde be stoute in sorrowe beynge helped with so many and so goodly remedies I will not tarrie in rehearcinge of others This I saye onely when the Deuill had framed a buisie Labyrinth of an vnmeasurable heape of stumblingblockes for you you ouercame them all in such sorte that you maye not onely be a méete admonissher counseller vnto others but also that such as are somewhat weakeharted beynge encouraged by your example may woorthely take a new stoutenesse vnto them Yée may sée that the moderatenesse of an vpright minde is a very defēsible towre wherof you haue giuen a singular proofe partely in other thinges but specially herein in asmuch as hauing lefte in your countrie thinges whiche leade some men to ambition and holde other some faste with their enticementes you are touched with no desire at all of them so that it may appeare you beare the want of them with as quiet and vpright a minde as you
moste wise in their owne conceites when they laughe our simplicitie to skorne in that by assured faith we embrace those thinges whiche not onely wante proofe to the outwarde senses but are also to mans iudgement incredible What idiot say they would suffer himselfe to be perswaded where he seeth no reason to leade him To foolish were I if I would stande in contention with them by such reasons as the sharpenesse of mans witte atteyneth too For wheras we beléeue that Christe was manifested to be God in the fleshe Paule confesseth the same to be a misterie farre remoued from all perceiuerance of man What then if they would obiect vnto vs that it were an absurditie and that we out of hande did readely wash our hands of it in such sort that they should be compelled to stande dombe onlesse they wold impudently barke against vs yet coulde I not bring to passe but that they would counte vs more dulheaded than any Idiotes that would hange onely vppon the bare Scriptures in the debatinge of so weightie matters Wherefore I will turne me to those that are tempted with such kinde of stumblinge blockes but are neuerthelesse as yet curable Unto such I will minister none other Medicine than that whiche Paule hath prescribed namely that they learne to be foolish to the worldwarde to the entent thei may be able to conceiue the heauenly wisedome We meane not by this foolishnesse that men should haue their wittes altogether dulled or amazed neither do we bid that such as are learned in liberal sciences should cast away the knowledge of thē or that suche as are endewed with handsomnesse of witte shoulde become brutish as though he could not be a Christian onlesse he were liker a beast than a man The Christian profession requireth vs to be children not in vnderstandinge but in malice Howbeit least any man shoulde brynge into the schoole of Christe an affiaunce either in his owne witte or in his owne learnyng least any mā either swellyng in pride or ouercome with lothsomnesse should by and by put from him that which is laide before him before he haue throughly tasted of it if we doo but offer our selues willinge to be taught we shall finde here no let at all But they that are wise I saye in their owne conceites only to them their owne pryde is cause of fallinge And why so Bicause the sonne of God hath so muche abased him selfe as to become thy brother and ioyne his eternall Godhead to thy mortall fleash shall that be a lette to thée that thou shouldest not come vnto him wilt thou withdrawe thy selfe the further from God bicause from his vnmeasurable heighte he hath humbled him selfe to come downe to thée what if he shoulde call thée vp into the heighth of heauen whereto there is no accesse for thée of thy selfe how couldest thou make waye to him so farre of that arte offended at hym beynge so néere hande But thou sayest it is a mōstruous thinge to thée when thou hearest that God is become mortall And what other thing is that else than that God beynge immortall dwelled in our mortall fleashe For the matter itselfe crieth out that this thinge was not in vayne preached of Iohn howe there was séene in him suche glory bothe as was méete for the Sonne of God also as shewed no darke token of his owne Godhead onlesse it were thy pleasure to deuise monsters y u couldest surely finde no monsters here Our faith hath that God tooke vpon him a bodie subiect to death Here thou hearest a Misterie whiche thou oughtest to honour and not a tale to scoffe at nor a Monster to starcle at Rather impute it to thine owne vnthankefulnesse that thy wonderinge at so inestimable a grace swalloweth not vp all thoughtes repugnant vnto it I know these thinges are spoken in vaine vnto many Neither is it hidden from me what a laughynge they make at vs bicause we séeke for life in the death of Christe grace in his curse and rightuousnesse in his condemnation Uerely say they so floweth colde water out of a burninge fornace light springeth so out of darknesse And hereuppon they conclude that nothinge is more foolish than we which hope for life at a dead mans hande whiche aske forgiuenesse of a condēned person whiche fetch the grace of God out of one that was cursed flie for refuge to the Crosse as to the onely authour of euerlastinge saluation And therewithall laughyng at our simplicitie they thinke them selues very sharpewitted But I say they wante the thinge which is chiefest in trew wisedome that is to witte the féelinge of the conscience For what maner of wisedome what maner of Reason what maner of Iudgemēt is it where the conscience is dulled But whereof cometh all this that they should so abhorre the principels of Christian Religion but that the Deuill hath altogether so sotted them that they are touched with no feare of Goddes iudgement nor conscience of sinne I said a little before that there was none other way for vs to come to the wisedome of God than by becomminge fooles to the worlde But of this humblenesse like as of all the rest of our Religion the foundation is consciēce and the feare of the Lorde the whiche beinge taken away in vaine thou endeuorest to make vp the buildinge Therfore who so euer will easely vanquishe all the kindes of Offences by me mentioned let him no more but enter déepely into him selfe For assoone as he shall acknowledge his owne wretchednesse the way as well for him vnto Christ as for Christ vnto him shal by and by be paued made leuell The voice of the Prophet crieth prepare yée the waies of the Lorde And what other thing is meant by preparyng of this way but that men knowinge in how great distresse they were should beginne to long after Christ whome heretofore they lothed standynge in theyr owne conceite By the same meanes also we prepare vs a way vnto Christ yea rather that same godly longynge of ours shalbe to vs in stéede of horses shippes to carie vs saufely ouer al letts For like as to the atteininge of the higher sciēces is requisite a fine well furnished witte so to this heauenly Philosophie is requisite a subdewed minde For what taste can there be where as is lothinge what accesse can there be where the hart is enclosed locked vp with yronly hardnesse In vayne therefore shalte thou talke of Christe sauing vnto such as being vnfeinedly humbled doo féele how great néede thei haue of a redéemer by whose benefite they may escape the destructiō of eternall death As many therfore as will not wilfully be deceiued and so perishe let them learne to begin with this lesson to know that thei haue to do with God to whome they must ones giue an accompt Let thē also set before their eies that iudgement seate whiche maketh euen the Angels to trēble Let them thinke that the Deuil is harde
the Gospell there is no region whiche doth not dayly beholde princely triūphes of our doctrine in this behalf The aduersaries themselues also although they dissemble it yet are they ready to burste for madnesse bicause they sée men who heretofore were giuen to riotte wantōnesse vnchastnesse vaine pompes of the world couetousnesse rauin nowe wholy framed to sobernesse temperance chastitie modestie and vpright dealynge And if they séeke at our handes for such as haue ledde the whole processe of theyr life continually in vertue and glorious fame we are not destitute of a very great number of suche I could name a great sorte who excellinge sometime with high cōmendaciō in the Papistrie doo now sithens they were endewed by God with pure knowledge of his Gospell by expressinge the liuely image of vertue in their life shewe thēselues to haue had no more but a shadow of it before But least this talke may for some appearance of boastynge be odious I will conclude shortly If the examples both of men women doo throughly moue any bodie singular godlynesse testified as well in death as life vprightnesse chastitie and temperance ought to be much more auaileable towarde the cōfirmacion of the faith than it were méete that the disordered life of othermē should anoye it Now let vs passe to the laste sorte of Offences which I saide to consiste partly of surmised slaunders partly to spryng of malicious cauillatiōs which frowarde mē fetchyng a farre of doo vniustly wrest vpon the Gospell Of slaūders I purpose to speake this before that is no maruell if lewde persones by spreadyng them farre abroade endeauour to ouerthrowe the credite of our doctrine amōge the simple For it is not conuenient that we shoulde be exempted from the common law of the seruauntes of God Surely Paule was not so waywarde to make those complaintes for nothinge whiche are to be séene euerywhere in his wrytinges Many things of his wisedome he suppressed with silence many thinges of his modestie he did forgiue many thinges of his noble courage he swallowed vp and sayd nothyng and yet we sée how often he cōplayneth that he was spightfully slaūdered through the congregacions I speake of sinistre backebitinges wherewith malicious persones did burthen him beyng absent knowynge not of it before persones to light of credite vnskilfull of all thinges and ignorant of the truthe For it is to well knowen how the seruauntes of God yea the Sonne of God too haue with open slaunders bene openly assaulted But the Deuill when he seeth he can profite nothing by open assault assayleth the good name of the godly priuely as it were by mynes Therefore when Paule was goynge of his harde souldierfare in countries farre of when through a thousande daungers he endeuored to enlarge the kingdome of Christe hauinge continuall conflictes with sundry enemies rūnynge hither and thither of purpose desire to gather natiōs farre distant asunder into the vnitie of the faith cowardly and currish whisperers burdened him behinde his backe with vndeserued slaunders Whiche of vs maye require to haue his good name vntouched of all y e snatchynges of wicked men seyng that Paules purenesse of liuinge was not able to defende him Yea rather as he witnesseth him selfe to haue done let vs goe through with vnapalled courage by infamie or good name For it is no lesse behouefull for the seruauntes of Christe to set light by slaunderous reportes than to be frée frō the enticementes of vaineglorie For Sathan by burthenyng thē with wrongfull misdéemynges séeketh eyther to breake or at leastwise to hinder their chéerefulnesse in doynge well But like as it is nothinge conuenient y e we should be moued out of our standynge as often as we are ill spoken of for doynge well so they are not troubled but by their own faulte who in admittynge whisperinges and false accusations doo shewe thēselues to light of beliefe Howe many thinges did the enemies of Luther surmise inuent vpon him bothe in sermons bookes that they put foorth by the space of whole fiue twentie yéeres togither There are nolies so prodigious which thei durst not forge and blaste out against vs. Picart a doctor of Paris a man of a troublesome brayne and therewithall frentike but yet of suche estimacion amonge his owne sort that al his olde wiues tales are coūted for Oracles as he playde the dronkē bedlem accordynge to his custome in the pulpit was so bolde to say that we vtterly denied there was any God Undoubtedly he is not ignorant y t he lieth shamefully but for asmuche as such mē are purposed and bente to assaulte vs by any meanes that may be they thinke the law in their owne handes to blab out against vs whatsoeuer may cause vs to be behated And surely seyng they know as well as maye be that they are destitute of all reason but if they make the miserable people as very doltes as themselues it is no maruell that they are compelled of necessitie to abuse that for a shifte Howbeit whatsoeuer it pleaseth them to surmise yea euen without colour ought not foorthwith to obteine so greate credite But it is so ordinarie that it is counted for lawfull If I shoulde make rehersall how many absurde childishe toyes they haue deuised of me it were daunger least I should wrappe my selfe in theyr folies I saye no more but this if there be suche lawe determined against vs that y e more vnbrydled and vnshamefast our enemies be to belie vs so much shoulde the cace of the Gospell be the worse and so muche of the credite thereof should be abated there is no cause why so wrongful iudges may cōplaine that stumblingblockes are caste in their waye whiche they shewe to be a thinge of their owne voluntarie séekyng and we may saufely saye with Paule he that is ignorāt let him be ignorant still I come to another spice of backbityng whiche not onely cōmeth out of the same woorkehouse of Sathan but also is forged almost vpon the same stithie This onely difference there is that those former of whome I haue spoken beynge open and sworne enemies doo diffame the Gospell in their ministers to the people and these of whome I purpose to speake hereafter doo so winde themselues in vnder the name of the Gospell that neuerthelesse by ouerthwart murmuringe they withdrawe as many as thei can from Christe These are partely hungerstoruen vagabondes whiche will ouerwhelme thée with carteloades of slaūders if thou cram not full theyr gorges and partly naughtie lewde fellowes who being dispatched from our companie for their owne fault or els depriued of some office for ill doynge hunte for a new liuyng in another corner and yet bothe sortes of them haue theyr mindes and tōgues in their bellie Othersome beinge a little more deintie as not so much pinched with hunger and yet shunnyng the Crosse to the entent to haue a cloke for theyr cowardlinesse doo ouerloade the pure doctrine of the Gospel with
longe as they permit to neglect necessarie dueties Yea rather a mā may crie vnto them out of the mouth of our mayster him selfe O ye Hypocrites ye haue made the cōmaundements of God of none effect for your owne traditions sake nowe although weightier caces doo moue vs to speake yet sodeinly they make vs mainteyners of glottonie and all intemperance And yet the lewdnesse of thē against whome I dispute is vnwoorthie to haue so rightfull and earnest a defence made against it For what lawe I beséeche you doth the Pope forbid by his fastinges or rather make for his fastinges That a man shoulde no taste any meate before noone and thē absteine from fleash and to be short that contenting him with his onely dinner he should that day forbeare his Supper Moreouer this is the vsuall maner that the fill themselues well the night afore ere they goe to bedde to the entent a two howres fastyng may be the more tolerable that the same daye they faste because they are allowed no more but onely their dinner they cramme in as much as their croppes will holde that the next day after they take vp their pennyworthes with surfettinge After they haue so carelesly dalied with God as if it were with some boye this also they adde to the heape of their lewdnesse that the measurable and spare diet is broken by vs. But I saye that although they be dissolute in al their whole life yet they no where fall more grossely into a beastly intemperāce than in their fastinges Somewhat also remaineth to be spokeokē of Mariage Our aduersaries surmise that we for womens sakes haue moued as it were the warre of Troye To the entent I omit others at this present thei must néedes graunt that I at least wise am frée from this slaunder By meanes whereof I haue the more libertie to refell their vnsauorie chatteringe Whereas vnder the Tirannie of the Pope I was alwaies frée to take a wife since the time the Lorde tooke me out of it I haue many yéeres liued a single life After the death of my wife a womā of singular example it is now a yéere and a halfe since I haue liued a single life againe These thinges whiche shall perchaunce séeme to make little to the purpose I haue for this consideration spoken by the way partly that thereby the malicious vanitie of our aduersaries maye be reproued and partly that all men may beare witnesse I doo not pleade a priuate cace But what goodnesse then doo these mainteiners of chastitie bringe Marrie they say that Luther and others beyng stirred thereto by the ticklyng of the fleash haue both giuen themselfe libertie to marrie and also drawen the common sorte of Priestes Monkes Nonnes into the like allurementes The thinges whiche might be truely declared of the chastitie of seueral persones whom they falsely and maliciously diffame I passe ouer of set purpose For what were more foolishe than for suche to flie out of the Papistrie as cannot liue chaste Ye maye well thinke there were no libertie for sacrifisinge Priestes Monkes and Nonnes to fulfill their lustes onlesse they sought thē a new sanctuarie a great waye of with theyr great trouble As though all the Cloisters Celles Fraytries of the Mōkes and Nonnes did not stinke of all kinde of fornication and vncleannesse Their prodigious lustes I doo not here touche But to what purpose is it to dissemble a thinge knowen as how that from those lurkinge holes chastitie shamefastnesse for the most part were so banished that the greatest number of them had there some libertie at leastwise to play the harlottes What shall I say of the sacrifising Priestes who are so little ashamed of their lecheries that it is now a glorious matter for them to set vp remembraunces of thē euery where Surely that I maye speake moste fauorably there is no néede at all that muttonmongers should remoue out of the Papistrie And yet I doo not vtterly denie but that some Monkes flie out of their cages to the entent they maye fréely amonge vs féede on the laced mutton whiche there they doo but snatch at by stealth But I dare take themselues to witnesse howe great oddes there is betwene mariage the voluptuous life whiche they ledde in their lobbies And therefore diuers bicause they by and by smell howe muche streighter the chaste dwellinge togither of man and wife is thā the popish single life of wiuelesse wantonnesse doo retyre betimes to theyr owne nestes Othersome beynge more desperate flie ouer to Rome or to some other place whither fortune carrieth them And this is one of the Angelicall vertues of the Cloysters Neuerthelesse admitte that many doo peruersly abuse our doctrine yet it ought to be séene how iuste cause there is of Offence God hath created mankinde vnder this condition that man should performe the office of a head to the woman and the woman againe be an helper to the man and so in a mutuall bonde he knitte bothe the sexes togither Before man was corrupted mariage was giuen and permitted to them for a greate benefite This benefite of God to be wrested from man beyng mortal I say is not to be suffered Now vnto the first institution of God is come a greater necessitie by reason of incontinencie of the fleashe For the holy Ghost hath not in vaine by the mouthe of Paule appointed this remedie for the auoydinge of fornication that euery man should haue his wife and euery woman also haue her owne husband Christe and the said Paule doo not in vaine giue warnyng that all are not apte and méete for single life And would God the disease of incontinencie were lesse knowen in this our nature growen out of kinde God to the entent to remedie this vice hath not onely ordeined mariage wherein man may lawfully dwell with womā but also with lowde voice calleth vnto the lawful vse thereof al that are burned of their owne fleash The Apostles Martyrs and other chiefest of the Sainctes vsed this benefite A wonderfull estimation of single life arose sodeinly and put mariage quight out of conceit and reputatiō Notwithstandynge the abstinence from mariage was but at will for a time vntill that superstition set open the gate to Tirannie First therefore were the Priests prohibited mariage at length the prohibition crepte to the Deacons too The Monkes and Nonnes beinge intangled in the snare of their Othe gaue ouer the right that God had graūted them Hereupon the worlde beganne to thinke none hallowed to God but onely singlefolke This cruell furie raged so farre that thei noted the maried life to be very reprochfull as an vnholy kinde of life First although suche a chaunge had had good successe to sée to yet we say it had his beginnyng of Diuelish audacitie But the holier vertue that Chastitie is so muche the wickedder and more detestable is forced singlenesse whiche is most certaine to be replenished with all kinde of filthinesse and
stubbornnesse had not driuen them hedlonges they had neuer come to this point of miserie Their returne after thréescore and tenne yeres was vnto them another birthe Notwithstandinge as soone as they were returned home streight waies forgettinge so greate a benefite they degenerate againe into sundrie kindes of naughtines Some defiled themselues with Heathen mariages some to vnworthely to speake of defrauded God of his tēthes and first fruites Other some settinge light and neglectyng the buildinge of the Temple were wholy occupied in makinge gaye houses bestowed excessiue costes thereabout This was too to foule an vnthankfulnesse and suche a one as euery man must confesse ought not to scape vnpunished And therfore that they enioyed not tranquillitie and prosperous fortune any longe time togither they themselues are in the faulte Nowe since the time that Christe the author of peace and of all good thinges shewed himselfe to the worlde men might assuredly haue felte how certaine and well fownded the felicitie of his eternall Kingedome is if they would haue suffred him to reste amonge them But the worlde was neuer shaken with more cruell tēpestes of warre nor neuer drowned in so manifold déepe a sinke of euils The cause wherof is not hidden in such darkenesse but that by searchyng it may easely be foūde out At the time that Christe was borne there was peace and singular quietnesse euerywhere Fortie yeres after or theraboutes his Gospell was spred through diuers coastes of the worlde After it was published farre and néere sodainly as though fortune had chaunged her copie thinges beganne to be on a turmoile euerywhere And wherof came so sodeine alteratiō but that God for the contempt and refusall of his Gospell how muche the sooner so muche also the more manifestly reuenged so great vnthankefulnesse Therefore when lewde men charged the name of Christe with whatsoeuer euill happened in those daies it was an easie matter for the godly teachers of the Churche to disproue their so tryflinge slaunders And why not For when Kinges and their people had despised the peace whiche God offred them was it not righte and reason that they shoulde be sette together by the eares that one of them mighte wounde another to the death And what can continewe in order amonge them who refuse to submitte themselues to God I speake not onely of the open enemies which haue wilfully striued against the wholesome doctrine of Godlinesse but also of them that haue professed them selues Christians howe coldly and disdainefully many of them and with how false dissimulation othersome haue kissed Christe Suche as are offended at the examples of Gods seueritie in this behalfe woulde be as readie to finde faulte with him if he shoulde holde his hande But onlesse it grieue vs to open our eies to whomesoeuer God at any time manifested himselfe we shall sée that they onely were the let that their own felicitie was not placed in saulftie to endure a longe time and of great continuance and that they became miserable through no other meanes saue their owne faulte We knowe that Ierusalem was the Fountaine from whence Saluation flowed into the vttermoste boundes of the Earth All the sayinges of the Prophetes had promised to it full instrauration at the cominge of Christe Neuerthelesse it fell out farre otherwise For whereas it retained scarce a thinne shadow of the auncient woorthinesse it not onely within a while after loste that that remained but was vtterly caste downe also and made a waste wildernesse What is the reason that no man trauelleth in séekinge the cause of so monstruous a ruine but that the desperate wickednesse of that nation dothe openly crie out that the same was the cause thereof Rome was neuer plagued with so many cruel slaughters in so shorte a time as it hath bene since the Gospell came thither Howe came it to passe that the kingedome of Christe could haue no stedfaste continuaunce in that Citie wherein the lawlesse luste of the commonaltie had borne swinge so longe time wherein wicked parttakinges had reigned and at length also intollerable Tirantes had borne authoritie Undoubtedly bicause that when God brought the Medicine of his Gospel thither as the vttermost remedie against so many deadly diseases they like persones y t had sworne their owne destruction prowdely reiectinge it ceased not to fall from woorse to woorse The very selfe same thinge we may marke in this our age Within these fewe yeres when the Churche beynge as it were new borne againe had had a glorious beginninge we sawe it soone after slide downe and carried backe againe Howbeit before the Lorde laide this punishment vppon vs we saw the Gospell diuers and sundry waies euerywhere filthely abused in so muche that the sodaine turninge vp of thinges that happened is not so greately to be wondered at as Gods longe sufferance in bearinge with the prodigious wickednesse of our time Amonge so many thousande men as to outward appearance had very gladly denied the Pope and professed themselues Gospellers how fewe I beseche you fell to amendement of their vices Nay rather what did the greater part pretende but that when the yoke of superstition was shaken of they might more licentiously giue themselues to all carnall libertie Albeit therefore that they confessed the doctrine of the Gospell to be trew yet where was there one amonge a number that submitted his necke vnder the awe thereof Was not this as muche in effecte as to treade vnder foote the inestimable treasure of our Saluation And surely the sharpnesse of the punishement that ensued so wicked a contempt ought rather to put vs in remembraunce of the preciousnesse thereof than to engendre in our mindes absurde opinions of the casuall afflictions of the Churche But rather it is to be wondered at considerynge our so great vnthankfulnesse that any parte of the woorke remaineth which God hath begonne Now wil I returne to my purpose frō whence I haue by little and little made digression That God is hereby better knowen to be the kéeper of this Churche bicause it hath alwayes bene miserably vexed than if it had florished amonge the greatest commodities in peaceable ioye and tranquillitie At suche time as the name of God was begonne to be called vppon in the householde of Seth as Moyses declareth no doubte but the Ofspringe of Cain like as they were mo in number and bolder in al mischiefe so also they vaunted themselues ouer proudely against them beinge both few and giuen to méekenesse How then could the Lābes haue any while continued saulfe amonge the Woulues if they had not bene shielded with the helpinge hande of God Afterwarde also continually from time to time as the wicked sort grew in malice so grew they in power abilitie to hurte shall we say they stoode by mans power policie who liued like persons ouerwhelmed amōge so many outragious beastes Onlesse peraduenture any man will surmise that the Giantes were of modestie restrained frō doinge harme to the godly