made themselues by Apostacie the children of Beliall The third is blessed and neuer to bee forfeited This is a happy aduancement that the daughter of Sion is made the daughter of God whom his equall and eternal sonne hath vouchsafed to marry It was no smal preferment in Dauids oÌ„pinion by wedding Saules daughter to bee made sonne in Law to a King how farre higher doth the Churches honour transcend that by marrying the sonne of God is made daughter in Law to the King of Kinges Specially when this bond is indissoluble by the hand of death vncancellable by the sentence of man vndiuorceable by any defect or default in the Spouse for hee that chose her to himselfe will preserue her from all cause why hee may not take pleasure in her beauty And as Christ now in heauen dwels with his Church on earth by grace so shee though partly now on earth dwels with him in heauen all her members being Burgesses of that celestiall Corporation Since animus est vbâ—amat non vbâ—animat Our conuersation is in heauen whence also wee looke for the Sauiour the Lord Iesus Christ. Thus Augustine Et ille adhuc deorsum est noâ— iam sâ—â—sum His mercies are still descending to vs our affections ascending to him The desires of the faithfull Spouse are with her Beloued Such is the insolubility of that misticall vnion which no eloquence of man can expresse no violence of diuels shal suppresse Therefore ascendamus interim corde vt sequamur corpore let vs send vp our affections before that our persons may follow after As Christ hath sent thee downe his spirit as a pawne and pledge of this assurance so doe thou send him vp thy heart for a token of thy acceptance yea of thy hopefull expectation and desire to bee with him Minus anima promisit se Christo quae non praemisit se Christo that soule hath nothing lesse then vowed it selfe to Christ that houers and hankers about the world and is loath to come at him This is ineffable inestimable happines Hence the daughter of Israel vnderstand me not topically but typically not Israel in the flesh but the Israel of God children of that Ierusalem which is aboue or at least from aboue doth apportion all the riches of her Husband If it be vox amici Tuus sum totus the voyce of a friend I am wholy thine it is more liuingly more louingly vox mariti the speech of a husband The Bride among the heathen on the first day of her marriage challenged of the Bridegroome vbi tu Caius ego Câ—â—â— where you are Master I must be mistresse Mariage is a strong bond by Gods ordinance and knowes no other methode but composition God that increation made two of one by marriage made one of two Hence the Daughter of Israell is made one with the sonne of God by an vnion which the heart may feele but no art describe Those gracious and glorious riches which the master of all the world is proprietarie of are in some sort communicate toys His righteousnes holinesse obedience satisfaction expiation inheritance is made ours as our sinne sorrow suffrings death and damnation were made his not by transfusion but by imputation His sorrow paine passion for vs was so heauy so grieuous so pearcing such a Sic that all the world could not match it with a Sicâ—t Our ioy by him is so gracious shall be so glorious that pro qualitate pro aequalitate nihil in comparationem admâ—titur for quality for quantity it refuseth all comparison Oh blessed mutation blessed mutuation â— what wee had ill and what had wee but ill wee changed it away for his good what he hath good and what other nature can come from goodnesse it selfe we happily enioy vel in esse vel in posse either in possession or assurance Our Sauiour died our death that we might liue his life He suffered our hell to bring vs to his heauen It is somewhat not vnworthy the noting that Filia dicitur non filiae Israel is called by the name of daughter not of daughters Sion hath but one daughter The whole people is vnica quia vnita As she is one shee must be at one not â—arring not repugnant to her selfe Confusion belongs to Babel Let peace dwell in the Pallaces of Ierusalem They are refractary spirits vnworthy to dwell in the Daughter of Sions house that are euer in preparation for separation from her The Church consists of a Communion of Saints an vnited Flocke vnder one sheepheard not a company of stragling sheepe getting schisme forgetting their chrisme the vnity of the spirit that makes men bee of one mind in one house But as the spirits in man cease to quicken any member sundred from the body and the scattered bones in Ezechiels vision receiued no life till they were incorporate into a body So the spirit of God which is anima corporis the soule of his mysticall body forbeares the derivation of grace and comfort to those that cut off themselues from it Shee is one vna vnica that is mother of vs all Though there bee threescore Queenes and fourescore Concubines and virgines without number yet my doue my vndefiled is but one shee is the onely one of her mother the choice one of her that bare her There is one body many members 1. Cor. 12. The eye must not quarrell with the hand nor the head with the foot If we be one against another let vs beware least God be against all We haue one Lord whose Liuery is Loue Iohn 15. By this shall all men know that you are my Disciples if yee haue loue one to another whose doctrine is peace Ephes. 2. He preached peace to you that were farre off and to them that were nigh Let vs then serue him professing one truth with one heart It is wretched when sects vie number with Cities and there are so many creedes as heads Qui conaÌ„tur vel corrumpere fidem vel disrumpere charitatem who striue either to corrupt faith or dissolue charitie none performing his function without faction It is testified of those pure and primitiue times that the multitude of them that beleeued were of one heart and of one soule One mind in many bodies Behold how good and pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in vnitie sayth the Psalmist when inter multa corpora non multa corda as August-sweetly when among diuers men there are not diuers minds Sic viuentes in vnum vt vnum bominem faciant so louing and liuing together in one that they all make but as it were one man There is no knot of loue so sure as that which Religion ties It is able to draw together East and West sea and land and make one of two of ten of thousands of all This is that which gathereth the saints together not to a locall but misticall vnion whereby they are
the Gouernors like ill Physitians haue purged away the good humour and left the bad behind them When they haue imprison'd stripped scourged famished drowned burnt the innocent and rewarded the wretched instruments of such deces When the poore infant falling out by the midwifery of fire from the mothers wombe hath been call backe againe into the â—others flames When the bodies and bones of the dead which by the law of nature should rest in quiet haue beene digged out of their Sepulchres violated curled burnt as if saith their Prouerbe they would kill god-haue-mercie on 's soule When women haue beene dragged out of their â—ousâ—s sick men from their beds the woods haue abounded with saints whiles the temples with their persecutors wild desarâ—s haue been frequented with true worshippers the consecrated Churches with Idolaters When the hoy booâ— was either not had or must be hid It is no impeachment of a churches health to haue these assaults goâ—ing her sides Such a time will giue cause to complain with Israel I â—m in distresse my bowels are troubled mine hart is turned with in me for I haue grieuously rebelled Abroad the sword bereaueth at home ther is death This is the main blow of persecutioÌ„ 2 Treason is a fearefull and prodigious euill Needs must the body of that Realme be in hazard whose head is broken They meane Israel no good that strike at the life of Dauid I confesse that this euill is not so properly in strict termes a sickenes as a danger Yet as a man that hath ill humours in him though by good diet strength of nature they are kept from vniting their forces and casting him down cannot be said in health whiles those enemies â—emaine within him watching their time of mischiefe So the Church though it bee not sâ—nsit us of the seuer which such raw vndigested crudities as traitors can put her into til it be vpon her vet can the nor be perfectly well till purged of such pernicious and malignant aduersaries were not the Faeuxâ—s of that horrid treason a disease burden to the stomacke of the land till it had spewed them â—ut did not those pray against her prey â—â—other Would they not as willingly haue 〈◊〉 through the fire to than Moloeâ— of Rome the whole church as those principal â—llars of it they plotted to blow vpâ—t â—y wanted not wil but power They would haue swell'd their vengeance till it had runne ouer the verges and comprised in one worke Mille actus vetitos milie piacula innumerrble stratagems the easiest whereof was the intention of murther till they had made a Catholicke end with an hereticke church as they call it But the God of Ierusalem preuented the children of Edom who is blessed for euer It appears then Regicides are no lesse then Regnicides for the life of a king containes a thousand thousand liues and traytors make the land sicke which they liue in This is the second dangerous blow of persecution 3 The third is Seducing a Churches Seers and peruerting the children of the Prophets which is most commonly done rather with error then with terror by beguiling then affrighting them I haue read that Iulians cruellest persecution was with rewards How many haue been wasted ouer the seas with golden hands Promotion rather then deuotion hath cast many on the shores of Rome There lies an exorcisme an inchanting power in golde that coniures many weake spirits into that superstitious circle Then at last home they come and proue calthropes to wound the Countries sides that breed and feede them Antichrists spel is gold and they that will worshippe a peece of red earth will not sticke to adore that glorious Beast Selfe-conceite blowes them vp with a swelling imagination of their owne worth if our church doth not numerare munerare inter dignissimos giue regard reward estimation and recoÌ„pence according to their proude desires they will shift Realme and Religion too for a hoped guerdon You will say there is little losse to the body in dropping off of such rotten members It is true that the dammage is principally their owne yet what mother doth not grieue at the Apostacy of her children There is some hope whiles they are at home little when reuolted to the enemy Meanetime let it not be denied but the seducers are persecutors and great enemies to the Churches health Thus may a Church be outwardly sicke by mans Persecution she may bee sicke also by Gods affliction This is diuerse accordingly as our sinnes deserue and his iudgement thinkes fit to punish vs 1. By warre 2. by famine 3. by pestilence the easiest of them heauy inough and able to depriue a Church of health Though the first might seeme to be mans weapon and so fitter to haue beene inserted among the former persecutions as Israel tearmed her enemies Our persecutors are swifter then the Eagles of the heauen they pursued vs vpon the mountaines they laide waite for vs in the wildernesse yet because God cals Ashur his rod and it is He that sends eyther peace or warre and no aduersary sword can be lifted vp against vs but by more theÌ„ his permission for he hath a punishing hand in it Let vs see how he can make his Church of Israel sicke 1 Warre is that miserable desolation which finds a land before it like Eden and leaues it behind like Sodome and Gomorrah a desolate and forsaken wildernesse Happy are we that cannot iudge the terrors of war but by report heare-say That neuer saw our towns and Cities burning whiles the flame gaue light to the Souldiers to carry away our goods That neuer saw our houses rifled our temples spoyled our wiues rauished our children bleeding dead on the pauements or sprawling on the mercilesse pikes Wee neuer heard the grones of our own dying and the clamors of our enemles insulting confusedly sounding in our didistracted eares the wife breathing out her life in the armes of her husband the children snatched from the breasts of their mothers as by the terrour of their â—laughters to aggrauate the ensuing torments of their owne Wee haue been strangers to this misery in passion let vs not be so in compassion Thinke you haue seen these miseries with your neighbors eyes and felt them through their sides Let it somewhat touch vs that we haue been threatned Octogâ—simus octanus mirabilis annus Haue we forgotten the wonderfull yeare of 88 an enemie of a sauage face and truculent spirit whose armes were bent to harmes to ruine to bloud to vastation whose numbers were like locusts able to licke vp a countrey as the oxe grasse the Ensignes of whose shippes were Assurance and Victorie whiles they cast lottes vpon our nation and easily swallowed the hope of our destruction a mortall enemie an implacable furie an invincible nauy Loe in the heate and height of all our God laughed them to scorne sunke them drunke them vp with his
â—oâ—le and full of corruption that there could no temptation be shot from vs to wound the breast of Christ with loue Sported wee were and nothing but nakednesse was left to couer vs sicke but without care of our own cure deformed and luxate with the persecution of vanities quadrupedated with an earthly stooping groping groucling couetousnes not onely spotted and speckled in concretâ— but spots and blemishes in abstracto pollution it selfe As Micah cals Ierusalem and Samaria not pecâ—antes but peccata What is the transgression of Iacob Is it not Samaria and what are the high places of Iudah are they not Ierusalem Or as Lucan speakes of the wounded body Totum est pro vulnere corpus The whole body is as one wound Bloud touched bloud and sore broke out into sore all vleers were coagulated into one by a generall rupture that euen our righteousnes was as filthy ragges Oh then how vgly were our sinnes If olde iniquities could prouoke or new ones reuoke his fauour we had store to tempt him If the raw and bleeding wounds of voluntary sinnes if the halting foote of neuterality the bleare eye of ignorance the eare deafe to his word the tongue dumbe in his praise if the sullen brow of auersenesse or the stinking breath of hypocrisie if these could inflame his loue â—oe our beautie What moued thee then Oh Sauiour to loue vs besides the incomprehensible delight and infinite content which God hath in himselfe thousands of Angels stand about him and ten thousands of those glorious spirits minister vnto him What then is man Lord that thou takest knowledge of him or the sonne of man that thou makest account of him the meditation of Saint Augustine is pertinent to this consideration and what sonne of man may not confesse it with him Neque enim equistime aut egotale bonumsum quo tu adiâ—veris nec minor sit potestas tun carens obsequio men Neither didst thou lacke me Oh Lord nor was there that good in me whereby thou mightest bee helped neyther is thy power lessened through the want of my seruice If wee had been good yet God needed vs not being bad whence ariseth his loue what a roughnesse of soule findest thou Oh Christ when thoâ— embracest vs what deformity when thou beholdest vs what stinch of sinne when thou kuâ—est when thou discoursest what rotten speeches drop from vs when thou takest vs into thy garden what contrariety of affection to thy expectation our embraces haue been rougher then thy crosses our persecutions like vineger hidden in the spunge of our sacrifices our words swordes our oathes as bitter as crucifige our kisses haue been treasonable to thee as Iudas his our contempts thy thornes our oppressions a speare to gore thy side and wound thy bowels Such was our kindenesse to thee Oh blessed Redeemer when thou offeredst thy selfe to vs and to the Father for vs The best thing in vs yea in the best man of vs had nothing of merite nothing neere it Our wages is death thy gift is life bona naturae melior gratiae optima gloriae Thou gauest vs a good life of nature thou gauest vs a better of grace thou wilt giue vs the best of glory Whether it bee pro via or pro vita for the way or the end it is thy gratuitall goodnesse who hast promised of thy mercy both donaere bonatua condonare mala nostra both to giue vs thy good things and to forgiue vs our euill things Wee had miserie from our parents and haue beene parents of our owne greater misery Miseri miserum in hanc lucis miseriam 〈◊〉 Miserable parents haue brought sorth a miserable offspring into the misery of this world And for our selues euen when we were young in yeares wee had an 〈◊〉 about vs Tantillus pâ—er tantus pecâ—â—tor A little child a great sinner Sic generant pater 〈…〉 regeneraâ—â—nt pâ—ter caâ—sstis So wretched our generation left vs so blessed our regeneration hath mad vs. So beggerly were wee till Christ enriched vs. If you aske still what moued Christ I answere his owne free mercy working on our great miserie A fit obiect for so infinite a goodnes to worke on He was not now to part a sea or bring water out of a Rocke or raine Bread from heauen but to conquer Death by death to breake the head of the Leuiathan to ransom captiues from the power of hel to satisfie his owne iustice for sinne and all this by giuing his owne Sonne to die for vs by making him man who was the maker of man This was dignus vindice nodus a worke worth the greatnesse and goodnesse of God Decet enâ—m magnum magna facere For it becommeth him that is Allmighty to doe mighty works Thus to make the Daughter of Ierusalem faire cost the Sonne of God the effusion of his bloud This giues vs strong consolation Qui dilexit pollutos non deseret politos He that loued vs when we were not when we were nought will not now loose vs whom he hath bought with his death interessed to his life Hauing loued his own which were in the world hee loued them vnto the end vsque ad finem nay absque fine vnto the end in the end without end Hee will not neglect Dauid in the Throne that did protect him in the folde He that visited Zacheus a sinner will not forsake him a Saint If he bore affection to vs in our ragges his loue will not leaue vs when highted with his righteousnesse and shining with his rewels If Ruth were louely in the eyes of Boâ—z gleaning after the Reapers what is shee made Mistresse of the Haruest Hee neuer meant to loose vs that laide out his bloud to purchase vs. Sathan hath no tricke to deceiue him of vs vs of him As hee had no power to preuent the first so none against the second Redemption Christ was Agnus in passione but Leo in Râ—surrectione a lambe suffering death but a Lion rising from death If he could saue vs being a Lambe hee will not suffer vs to bee lost being a Lion Feare not thou daughter of Sion he that chose thee sicke sinneful rebellious will preserue thee sound holy his friend his Spouse There is neyther death nor life nor principalâ—itie nor power nor hâ—â—ght nor depth that shall bee able to separate vs from his loue or plucke vs out of the armes of his mercy But tremble yee wicked if yee haue not fought in his Campe you shal neuer shine in his Court. To presse this point too farre 1. were but to write Iliades after the Homers of our Church 2. Besides there are many that offer to sit downe in this chayre before they come at it and presume of God that they shall not bee forsaken when they are not yet taken into his fauour Enow would bee saued by this priuiledge if there were no more matter in it then the
still an outward faire shew and tincture of golde They demand where was the golde demonstrate the place I answere in that Masse But for the extracting therof and purifying it from drosse God hath giuen vs the true touchstone his sacred Word which can onely manifest the true Church and withall reuerend Bishops and worthy Ministers that haue beene instruments to refine purge it from the drosse of superstitions foule ceremonies and iugling inuentions The Papists brag themselues the true ancient Church and taxe ours of nouelty of heresie But wee iustly tell them that Ecclesâ—â—enomen tenent contra Ecclesiam dimicant that they vsurpe the name of the Church yet persecute it For the truth of our Church wee appeale to the Scriptures Nolo humanis documentis sed diuinis oraculis sanctam Ecclesiam demonstrari It is fit the holy Church should be proued rather by diuine oracles then humane precepts or traditions We stand not vpon numbers which yet wee blesse God are not small but vpon truth You see as the Church of the Iewes so any particular Church may be sicke inwardly To describe these internall diseases I will limite them into 4. 1 Error indeed Heresie cannot possesse a Church but it giues a subuersion to it Errare possum Hereticus esse non Possum sayth that Father I may erre an heretike I cannot be Now Quic quid contra veritatem sapit heresis est etiam vetus consuctudo What is diametrally opposed against the Truth is heresie yea though it be an ancient and long receiued custome But Logicke which is a reasonable discourse of things shewes a great difference betweene diuersae and contraria A Church may bee sicke of errour and yet liue but heresie a wilfull errour against the fundamentall truth violently prosecuted and persisted in kils it Therefore Haeresis potius mors quam morbus Heresie is rather death then sickenesse When the truth of doctrine or rather doctrine of truth hath beene turned to the falshood of Heresie God hath remoued their Candlesticke turned their light into darkenes Error may make it sicke but so that it may be cured The Churches of Corinth Galatia Pergamus had these sicknesses the holy Ghost by Paul and Iohn prescribeth their cures If they had been dead what needed any direction of Physicke If they had not beene sicke to what tended the prescription of their remedy To God alone and to his maiesticall word bee the impossibility of erring That Church that man shall in this erre palpably that will challenge an immunity whosoeuer thinkes he cannot erre doth in this very perswasion erre extreamely I know there is a man on earth a man of earth to say no more that challengeth this priuiledge Let him proue it Giue him a term ad exhibendum and then for want of witnesse ho may write Teste meipso as Kinges doe Witnesse our selfe c. Nay aske his Cardinals Fryers Iesuites This is somewhat to the Prouerbe Aske the sonâ— if the Father be a thiefe But hee cannot erre in his definitiue sentence of Religion Then belike hee hath one spirite in his consistory and another at home and it may in some sort be said of him as Salust of Cicero Alâ—â—d stanâ— aliud sedens de Republica loquitur He is of one opinion sitting of another standing Let God bee true but euerie man a lier One of their owne said Omnis homo errare potest in side etiamsi Papa sit Any man may erre in faith yea though hee were the Pope If they will haue Rome a sanctuary let them take along with them Petrarcha's catachresicall speech calling it a Sanctuary of Errors What particular Church then may not erre now can it erre and be sound Bee the errour small yet the ache of a finger keepes the body from perfect health The greater it is the more dangerous Especially 1. either when it possesseth a vitall part and affecteth infecteth the Rulers of the Church It is ill for the feet when the Head is giddy 2. or when it is infectious and spreading violently communicated from one to another 3. or when it carries a colour of truth The most dangerous vice is that which beares the countenance and weares the cloake of vertue 4. or when it is fitted to the humor and seasoned to the rellish of the people Sedition affectation popularity couetousnesse are enough to driue an errour to an heresie So the disease may proue a Gangrene and then enserecidendum ne pars sinceratrabatur no meanes can saue the whole but cutting off the incurable part Pereat vnus potius quam vnitas 2 Ignorance is a sore sicknesse in a Church whether it bee in the superiour or subordinate members Especially when the Priests lippes preserue not knowledge Ill goes is with the body when the 〈◊〉 are blind Deuotion without instruction often windes it selfe into superstition When learnings head is kept vnder Auarices girdle the land growes sicke Experience hath made this conclusion too manifest Our fore-fathers felt the terrour and tyranny of this affliction who had golden Challices and wodden Priests that had either no Art or no hart to teach the people Sing not thou Romane Syrâ—n that Ignorance is the damme of deuotion to breed it it is rather a damme to stifle restraine and choke it vp Blindnesse is plausible to please men not possible to please God Grant that our faults in the light are more hainous then theirs who wanted true knowledge Ex furibus enim leges eos grauius puniunt qui interdiù furantur For the lawes doe punish those theeues most seuerely that feare not euen by day to commit outrages Yet in all reason their sinnes did exceede in number who knew not when they went awry or what was amisle Rome hath by a strange and incredible kinde of doctrine gone about to proue that the health which is indeede the sicknesse of a Church Ignorance Their Cardinal Cusaen faith that Obedientia irrationalis est consummata obedientia perfectissima c. Ignorant obedience wanting reason is the most absolute and perfect obedience Chrysostome giues the reason why they so oppose themselues against reason Haeretici sacerdotes Claudunt ianuas veritatis c. Hereticall Priestes shut vp the gates of Truth For they know that vpon the manifestation of the Truth their Church would be soone forsaken If the light which maketh all things plaine should shine out Tunc hi qui prius decipiebant nequaquaâ— ad populum accodere valebunt post quam se senserint intellectos then they who before cosoned the people could preserue their credits no longer being now smelt out and espied Hence the people aime at Christ but either short or gone and not with a iust Ieuell But Nemo de Christo credat nisi quod Chrâ—stus de se credi voluit Let no man beleeue other thing of Christ then what Christ would haue beleeued of himselfe Non minus est