haue beene of opinion that it was not lawfull for a Christian Magistrate by iustice to put all those to death or any other offendour because Iesus Christ hath forbidden vs to reuenge euill and for that hee hath commanded all christians to suffer all iniuries patiently this is a strange charitie the shepheard for pittie and compassion he taketh on the Wolfes he dare not hunt them from his flocke but suffereth them to deuoure his sheepe and taketh more pitie of the poore wolues then of his sheepe and to be charitable towardes the wolues will be more cruell to the sheepe then the wolues themselues But when all shall bee well examined I Sect. feare much that the disease of our fleshe proceedeth not so much from feare that it hath of offence as for feare of death wherefore without seeking reasons any further to prooue this I aske but the testimonie of conscience of those which loue rather to cloke their infirmitie with his vayle of feare they haue to offende then flatly to confesse it I aske then in conscience if they were out of dāger in such liberty that they durst boldly confesse that they vnderstand whether for feare of offence they durst not speake of Iesus Christ and whether they would ioyne themselues with Idolaters and keepe them companie in all their sacrifices ceremonies It is most certaine they woulde not or els were they very euill instructed in the doctrine of Christ I deny not but there are some things wherin we might beare with the weake and wherein Sect. wee ought to bee well aduised to take from them all iust cause of offence If the question be whether I should eate fleshe or not eate I may well vse my libertie if by eating I know I may alienate driue any poore ignorāt man from the Gospell and in abstayning may draw him to the knowledge of the Gospel surely I ought to absteyne and to haue more regard to the edyfying of him then to my liberty considering that the Apostle sayth knowledge puffeth vp and charity doeth edyfie for God hath not forbidden me to eate fleshe or to abstaine some dayes rather then others but hath left that to my choyce on condition that I doe all thinges to his honour and glory and to the edyfiyng of my neighbour But when question ariseth of any thing Sect. which God hath expressely commanded or forbidden we must no longer there deliberate or take counsell or dispute whether we must doe it or no For it resteth no longer in our power nor our iudgement for the councell is already taken eyther we must doe it or determine to make warre with God and it is most certaine that God hath expressely forbidden and with grieuous threatnings that we should not honour nor worship images nor strange Gods nor yet bowe to them nor doe any homage to them nor to be partaker of the table of Diuels neither by hypocrisie nor of purpose wherefore we ought to beware thereof if that we feare to incur the displeasure of indignation of almightie God and rather to choose the bodily death or if we haue done otherwise we must craue mercy and pardon of God with teares and weeping as Peter did I knowe well that some wise men which take vpon them to teach others and confesse Sect. Iesus Christ priuately but deny him openly tell the faythfull that if they dissemble not they should put themselues in great danger others with them could no longer serue in the church but should leaue it in great trouble It seemeth that suche men will gouerne the Church by their wisedome and not leaue it to be gouerned of God by his prouidence doe we thinke we can finde a Iesus Christ whom we may serue without Crosse without persecution and without thornes Thinke we to finde a Iesus Christ so delicate soft as Ueluet where shall we finde that the holy Apostles true disciples of Christ Iesus haue consented to or allowed eyther in word or deed the idolatry abomination of the Pagans to auoyde dangers persecutions for feare to trouble the churches in deed such were the Apostles of circumsciō who did greatly molest trouble S. Gal. 5. Phi. 1. 3. Paule for they endeuoured to please men because they were enemies to the crosse which they would not beare as S. Paul did After the iudgement of these men S. Paul was a great troubler of the church for through out all places where he was hee was persecuted alwayes driuen away banished or imprisoned because of him and the doctrine that hee preached many good and faythfull men haue been in danger to those both bodies and goods and many haue been put to death and many townes countries moued troubled If S. Paule would haue dissembled supported and approoued their errours abuses and superstitions of Iewes and Gentiles without speaking so plainely and reproouing and condemning them so openlye both in worde and deede hee might well haue auoyded all those inconueniences shall we then condemne him as vndiscrete rash arrogant and one that were mad but if he had done otherwise and if he had pleased men he had not beene the seruant of Iesus Christ he had been a traytour to Gal. 1. his church if for his owne bodily ease and to procure the same to others hee had hidden the truth of God This great Apostle ought in deed to haue feared Sect. as much that the church shold find lack of him if any harme should come to him as of any of vs for there had beene farre greater losse yet did not that hinder him from executing his office according to the charge giuen him he wil not appoint rules and limites to God but hee followeth the rules limites that God hath lefte vnto him committing him self al things els to his prouidence for he knoweth that all daies and all the heyres of our heade are counted and that nothing shall befall vnto vs but by the ordinance of God who win determine nothing but to his glory and our saluation if he wil that we suffer dye for his name our boundes our troubles yea our death shall doe better seruice perhaps to his Church then our life if he call vs out of this world hee will send others into his harnest if men be not altogether vnworthie thereof If it please him that we liue and serue longer in his church he is mighty and wise inough to keepe vs by such means as shal please him wtout our dreaming inuenting means contrary to his wil wherfore as we ought not to tēpt God nor procure harme or danger to our selues so ought wee not for feare thereof seeke strange meanes nor doe that he hath forbidden and to agree with Idolaters But some will replie herevpon Why then did S. Paule write that he made him selfe the Sect. seruant to all and that to the Iewes he was a Iewe and to the Gentiles a Gentile Let vs Mat.
not doe like the cowardly Souldyers who will kil all as they sitte at table but when they come to the businesse to giue blowes they are the first that fiye away and cause others to be afrayd and go hyde them selues If we be truely faythfull it is necessarie that we confesse Iesus Christ opēly and that we die rather as the Prophets Apostles and Martyres did then to forsake him and commit Idolatrie superstition or any acte that hath any appearance of it If Iesus Christ had once many such champions which would be prodigall of themselues and liues with so holy a prodigalitie as they were Antichrist would soone be ouerthrowne Iesus Christ shoulde shortly raigne ouer al the earth or death would diminishe and kill moe of our enemies then the death of Sampson killed of the Philistians we see what happened in the Iud. 27. tymes of the Apostles and Martyrs if they had been so daintie as we are and had been so fearefull of their skinne the religion of Christe had not been so much encreased in so smal a tyme Luk. 18. but it is harde especially in our time wherein faith almost faileth vpon earth according to the prophesie of our Sauiour Christ to finde men of such fayth and constancie What remedie is there then herein if we can Sect. not come to this high degree and to this christian persecution of the martyrs and if wee dare not openly confesse Iesus Christ with the danger of our life and wee feele not in our selues such constancie to suffer death for his name let vs come at the least to the next degree let vs be secret schollers with Nichodemus and Ioseph of Arimathea And if we shewe not our selues so openly yet at the least let vs do no dishonour to Iesus Christ nor consent vnto his aduersaries in partaking at the table of diuels if wee find our selues weaker thē Nichodemus if we for feare of loosing our goods our estimation liues we be constrained too much to dissemble and to communicate with Idolaters yet at the least let vs not iustifie but condēne our selues in that wherein we fayle let vs acknowledge our ouer great infirmitie the ouer burning loue that we beare to our selues to the goods and dignities of this world more thē to Iesus Christ his word let vs acknowledge in what euill bondage we are let vs confesse that it is a punishment and iudgement of God vpon vs because of our sinnes as it was vpon the people of Israel in Egypt Babylon let vs pray to God that he will encrease our faith to ouercome our infirmitie and let vs confesse our faultes and sinnes vnto him and aske him pardon and mercie for the same let vs weepe and waile vnder this heauie burthen and vnder this great tyrannie of Antichrist which presseth vs so sore let vs aske ayd succour and deliuerance at his hands rather then to excuse and iustifie our selues and so much to please our selues and hee will see our teares and heare our sighes and grones by which he wil be moued to pitie and compassion for to deliuer and succour vs as he was moued by the like of the people of Israel But in the meane time those which remaine in Sect. such miserie so ouercōe by the infirmitie of their fleshe that they are constrayned to communicate with idolaters what excuse can they haue seeyng they knowe well they doe euill doe they not sinne against the holy Ghost this is a question that some wil make and a doubt that tormenteth many consciences if al sinnes that we commit knowing that wee do euill were sinne against the holy ghost we should commit fewe the were not sin against the holy ghost the adulterie murder of Dauid and the denial blasphemy and periurie of Saint Peter should bee sinnes agaynst the holy ghost for they were not ignoraunt that that was forbiddē of God but it is an other thing to sinne of certayne malice and in despite of God and in contempt of his woorde and to sinne through ignoraunce or through infirmitie of the fleshe which displeaseth vs and wee cannot ouercome it But we must not so far stretch out this skinne Sect. of mans infirmitie that we wil wholly couer defēd our selues by it giue our selues to vnderstand that sin is not sinne for in stead of lessoning the sinne wee may aggrauate it and may well make it irremissible as the sinne vnto death for there is no great difference between the hypocrites the contemners and mockers of God and betweene the blasphemers which sinne against the holy ghost they are almost cosen germans wee see also by experience that from one of the degrees man falleth into the other for many of those which become Atheistes and Epicures and men without God which haue at the first had some knowledge of the truth and nowe blaspheme it they are fallen into these pits by degrees for they haue fayned to themselues a Iesus Christ after their owne fancie without amending their life and without any repentance they haue dallied with him and haue made it an art to blaspheme him wherefore they haue altogether lost him and God with him whom without him we cannot haue And therefore sinne is no more to them sinne nor blasphemie blasphemie for Iesus Christ is no more to them Iesus Christ nor God to them God Let vs learne to feare the Lord by others Sect. losse and to flee such curse and fury of God let vs beware that seeing Iesus Christ hath driuen that wicked spirit out of our body that wherewith he threatneth the Iewes befall not vnto vs that is that he returne not thither with seuen others woorse then the first and that the latter thinges be not worse then the first for it followeth not if all sinnes be not sinnes vnto death and as great and as wicked the one as the other that yet they be not sinnes sufficient to bring vs to eternall damnation if God of his mercy tooke not pitie of vs and did pardon them vnto vs let vs not thinke that wee are not bound to acknowledge and confesse them and to pray euery day O heauenly father forgiue vs our sinnes enter not into iudgement with thy seruant reprooue vs not nor correct vs in thine anger and furie lead not vs into temptation but deliuer vs from euill I condemne not Dauid nor S. Peter as Sect. touching their persons nor the Israelites which worshipped the Images of Nabuchodonozer in such sort as I condemne them for reprobates but I allow not therfore the murder of Dauid nor the denial of S. Peter nor the idolatrie of the Israelites but do condemne them as sinnes greeuous and greatly displeasing to God and worthy of eternall death if God of his grace had not pardoned them Yet because the persons acknowledged their faultes and asked him mercy for the same their sinne was not imputed vnto them I haue also like
which are made to the Image of God But that which worst is wee deny and blaspheme him with the tongue and mouth which he gaue vs to glorifie and confesse him and we make of our members which should be the weapons of Iustice and holynesse the weapons of vnrighteousnes and iniquitie Iesus Christ sayth that out of the abundance of the hearte the mouth speaketh And that the good Mat. 12. man out of the good treasure of his heart vttereth good thinges and the wicked man vttereth euill thinges Wherfore by the same reasons Iesus Christ conuinceth the Scribes and Mat. 12. Pharisees of the malice peruersenes of their hearts by their own words saying thou shalt be iustified that is to say knowne to be suche as thou art and be declared iust or vniust condemned or absolued by thy doings and sayings For if they had had Iesus Christ in their harts they had not had Belzebub in their mouths for as Saint Paule witnesseth No man can say the Lorde Iesus but by the spirite of God no man speaking by the holy Ghost can call Iesus 1. Cor. 12. Sect. execrable nor speake euill of him nor blaspheme him Wherefore for a full conclusion if we will of right be counted Christians before God before his elect and his Church it is necessary to lay this foundation that as it is requisite to haue a true faith planted in heart to be incorporated in him and his Churche so must we confesse him otherwise what else is our fayth but a dreame a fantasie a foolish imagination of our owne braine but the faith of a christian is not onely as a speculatiue knowledge without falling to actiō putting nothing to effect for it can be in no place wtout shewing it self it fareth so with it as Ieremie witnesseth that he hath prooued it in the word of God whiche he willingly sometimes haue kept in seeing as seemeth to him that it profited not much when he vttered it but that it was had in scorne and he set him selfe in displeasure and danger of death amongst the wicked which were hardened more and more therefore he said I will make no more mention of the Lord and will The vertue of the word of God of fayth speake no more in his name Then his woorde was in my hearte as a burning fire shut vp in my bones and I fayled and was weery with forbearing that I could stay no more He can not resist the spirit of God for the zeale that he hath to the glory of God enflameth him so that he cannot hold his peace Seeing then that the word of God is so vehemēt a fire wherby faith is enflamed how is it possible but the flāe light and heat or at the least some little smoke will shew forth for when as fayth is almost wholy extinguished yet there remaineth some little spark is it not possible but that it wil cast some little smoke as the flaxe brāds with yet smoke whilest there is yet a little fire or hath been lately I say not this to fauour and stir vp more a Sect. sort of rashe and raging spirits which without any wit or discretion will counterfeit to be zelous professours of the Gospel and will speake of all matters and crie out against Idols without measure and without seeking occasions considering circumstances which seeme to edification but serue only to trouble the weake and to put them in danger which truely feare God and to coulor their fury and madnes they alleadge the zeale of the Prophets Apostles the feruentnes of the spirit which they cannot keepe in wherein they declare themselues rather to resemble that glorious Elihu the Buzite who was one of the comforters or rather discomforters of Iob then to Hieremy Anatathite for they vse the same talke say as hee doth I am full of wordes and the spirit within me constraineth me Behold my stomack is as the wine which hath no vent and is as newe vessels the breake I wil speake therfore breath my selfe They are like to newe wines with haue not yet wrought cānot be cōteyned within the vessels but it breaketh thē or els must haue vēt But as the spirite of God cannot be Idle in Sect. mans heart so doth it not enforce man beyonde the bondes of Christian modestie he aloweth not the zeale without spirituall knowledge wisdome therfore the Apostle saith the spirits of the prophets are subiect to the prophets as he Rom. 10. 1. Cor. 14. Act. 9. 13. 19. 21. Act. 17. himselfe hath shewed it by experience for although he were excellēt in all the giftes of god aboue others neuerthelesse he alwayes submitted him selfe to the iudgement of the church and neuer despised the coūcell of his brethrē as it appeareth in that which was done in that church of Damas Antioche Hierusalem Ephesus when he was in the town of Athēs tarying for Silas Timotheus his spirit was stirred vp in himself seeing the town so much giuē to idolatry wherfore he disputed in the assembly with the Iewes and with those that feared God euery day in the marked publike places with those with by chance came vnto him but hee cried not out in the streetes like a mad man he cried not against the Idols without reason he ran not into the temples to breake beate them downe also he went not to doe reuerēce vnto them was wary enough to giue any signe either in deede or woorde whereby any mought iudge that hee hadde them in honoure or anye estimation he made no conscience to enter into the temples and to behold their Altars and Idoles but he wēt not thither with the Idolaters when they made their sacrifices to please them and for feare of offending the Athenians but contrariwise he went thither to finde occasion to drawe them from their Idolatrie and superstition which he condemned by his publike testimonie but not without great reason and christian wisdome and modestie So then as I cannot allowe these enuious Sect. frantike offensiue persons so wil I not condemne all those which shewe not the like zeale as Saint Paule did for I knowe where one may finde such but I speake especially against those wise spirits which feare so greatly to fall into any danger for the name of Iesus Christ that they gouerne themselues so warily that they suffer not to passe from thē any little shadow of smoke whereby one may iudge that there is not one only sparke of faith in their hearts for they feare so much that any shoulde knowe that there is any fire of the Gospel in them that they endeuour by al meanes to put it out and gouerne themselues in such sort that none of good iudgement can account them other then for enemies of Iesus Christ Iesus Christ taught no suche lesson to his Sect. Disciples it is necessarie if we will followe them