in God then those who dwell in hatred rancor and malice dwell in the deuill and the deuill in them Now then whether these men dwell in God and God in them or not rather in the deuill and the deuill in them let the world iudge Agayne the same Apostle Iohn in the same place aleaged sayth If any man affirme that hee loueth God and yet hateth his brother he is a lyer and the truth is not in hym Nowe then what kynde of people these are and how vnsufferable in a common wealth who delight in nothing so much as to broch lyes slaunders against their brethren and where they heare any thing against any man without examination of the quality and property of the party that told thē of the person whome they concerne or of the matter it selfe they presently spue out their mallice in libelling pamphletting agaynst him as though all were true that is reported of euerie man These kind of fellowes are worser than the caterpillers or locusts of Aegypt who deuoured but the fruits of the earth these the good names of men yea and of such men as in comparison of whome they are notworthie to be named the same daie the others are named in They are worser than rauens or kites who will not eat theyr praie before it bee dead but they will deuour the good names of theyr brethren beeing on liue Such curre dogges woulde bee hanged vp as will snappe euerie bodie by the shinnes liuing to the hurt of all and good of none And therefore I cannot a lyttle meruayle that our graue and reuerend Bishops and other inferiour magistrates and officers to whom the ouersight and charge of such thinges are committed will either lisence which I trust they do not for I wyll hope better of them or in anie sorte tollerate such railing libels slanderous pamphlets as haue beene of late published in print one man against another to the greate dishonour of God corruption of good manners breach of charitie and in a worde to the iust offence scandall of al good christians And truely to speake my conscience freely I thinke there cannot a greater mischiefe be suffered in a common wealth than for one man to write against another and to publish it in print to the viewe of the world I wis the noble science of printing was not giuen vs to that end being indeede one of the chiefest blessings that God hath giuen to the sons of men heere vppon earth For is not this the next way to broach rancor hatred malice emulacion enuie and the like amongst men nay is not this the next way to make bloudshed and murther to rayse vp mutenies insurrections commotions and rebellions in a christian common-wealth and therefore would I wish both the bookes and the authors of them to be vtterly suppressed for euer the one by fire the other by the halter or gallowes if nothing else will serue But what should I say I can not but lament the corruption of our time for alas now adayes it is growen to be a hard matter to get a good booke licensed without staying peraduenture a quarter of a yeare for it yea sometymes two or three yeares before he can haue it allowed and in the end happyly reiected too so that that which many a good man hath studyed sore for and traueyled long in perchance all dayes of his life shall be buryed in silence and smothered vp in forgetfulnes and neuer see the light whilest in the meane tyme other bookes full of all filthines scurrilitie baudry dissolutenes cosonage cony-catching and the lyke which all call for vengeance to heauen are eyther quickely licensed or at least easily tollerate without all denyall or contradiction whatsoeuer And albeit it may be answered that such filthy baudy bookes are not licensed by the Magistrates as I thinke in deede they are not for what man can with a good conscience licence those bookes to be printed which are seared with a hote iron and branded with the blacke cole of Gods cursse yet notwithstanding as long as they tollerate or suffer them eyther to bee printed or to bee soulde in theyr Shops they are as culpable and as guiltie before God for them as the authors of them and looke what euill commeth by them they shal one day aunswere for before the tribunall seate of God because it was in them to haue suppressed them and did not But I will leaue them to theyr iudge to whome they either stand or fall and who will one day reward euery one according to his dooings It is a good worke to meditate and to thinke that this lyfe is but momentarie short and transitorie no life indeed but a shadow of a life or rather a meditation of death for so good men haue called it a pilgrimage a thorough-fare an Inne or hostrie a place of trial of aduersitie calamitie a vale of woe a sea of all afflictions and miseries The consideration of this caused the holy Iob that mirror of patience to burst forth into these speeches Man that is borne of a woman hath but a short time to liue and is ful of misery he springeth vp as a flower and is cut downe he vanisheth also as a shadow cōtinueth not It is a good worke for the children of God to set their minds of heauen and heauenly thinges to meditate of the ioyes of heauen and of the glorie prepared for such as walke here with their God in all holy obedience and christian humilitie before him Finally last of all because I would draw towards an end though there bee no end indeede of good workes it is a good worke to mortifie our carnall lusts and to slay our inordinate affections to crucify the old man with the whole bodie of sinne and to put on the new man Christ Iesus walking going on from faith to faith frō hope to hope from repentaunce to repentance from holines to holines from grace to grace from perfectiō to perfection and from one good worke to another till wee attaine to the end of our hope which is euerlasting life in the kingdome of heauen These bee those good workes indeede which as the Apostle witnesseth Christ hath ordeyned that wee shoulde walke in them These bee those good workes which Zachary prooueth to bee the ends of our redemption that wee being deliuered out of the hands of our enimies myght serue hym without feare in holynes and righteousnes all the dayes of our lyfe These are the oyle which euery Christian is to haue in hys Lampe and whiche the foolish Virgins wanting were shut out and excluded the kingdome of God These bee they that I would councell euery Christian man and woman that haue any regard of their saluacion to practise in this life leauing the Antichristian workes of the Papists as abortiues and miscreants to their father the Diuell from whome they fyrst came For perswade thy selfe whosoeuer thou art that without these
and spoyle them And as the same author sayth if he shall burne in hell that hath not clothed the naked fed the hungrie nor harbored the harborlesse oh where shall he burne that hath robbed and depriued the poore of that that they had And yet I am not of that foolish pity that I would haue a man to geue to euery one without exceptiō for herein there is great discretion to be vsed many circumstances to be considered First we are to conferre with them before we geue them any thing of the word of God and of religion to the ende wee may knowe whether they bee true christians indeede or no. Secondly wee are to consider whether they be old blind lame or otherwise diseased and infirmed Thirdly howe they came to this pouertie whether by the hande of God as by fire shipwracke death of cattell or anie other the like iudgment and visitation of GOD. And fourthly what hath beene and is his lyfe and conuersation and in what sorte he spendeth and imploieth his goods all which if we finde to stand with the feare of God and a good conscience then are wee to releeue such a one to the vtterwost of our abilitie But to those that be either Atheists or obstinate Papists yong lustie able to worke and yet wil not I am not to giue any thing for in releeuing of such besides that I maintain them in their idlenes still I also offend both God and my brethren Of such the Apostle geueth a peremptorie commaundement that they who will not labour should not eate Now in the geuing of our almes we must haue regard specially to these sixe things First we must see that we geue our almes for the loue we beare to God and to our brethrē for his sake Secondly that we geue them not for vayneglory to be magnifyed and praysed of men as the Pharises did who sounded trumpets before them when they gaue theyr almes Thirdly we must geue our almes voluntarily willingly and without cōstraint grudging or murmuring for the Lord sayth the Apostle loueth a cheerefull geuer Fourthly we must geue liberally and not niggardly for as the same Apostle in an other place noteth they that sowe sparingly shall reape sparingly Fiftly we must giue our almes whilest we haue tyme in this life as Paule sayth dum tempus habemus faciamus bonum ad omnes whilest wee haue tyme let vs doe good to all men Wee must not leaue it to our executors to doe after vs who peraduenture wyll part stakes and geue one penny to the poore and reserue three for them selues It is not worth a blewe peese to geue them when thou seest thou must needes leaue them and canst inioy them no longer Sixtly and lastly wee must geue freely looking for no reward merite or recompence for it againe But to leaue this and to goe forward to the rest It is also accoumpted by Christ a good worke and a worke of mercy to visite those that be sicke and in prison and to relieue them Those that be sicke we must comfort exhort dehort counsayle and perswade as we see their present state and condicion doth require and besides if they want any necessary thing that eyther we haue or can any way procure them wee are to helpe them to it and to relieue them And those that are in prison wee must visite also and not only relieue them with meate drinke clothes but also with our counsayle and wisedome to the vttermost of our abillitie But as wee are in this case to relieue all so are wee much more bound to relieue those that are indurance for the word of God the testimony of a good conscience not suffering such to lacke in any case It is also a good worke to set vp hospitalls spittles almes houses for the reliefe and sustentation of the poore In which kinde we haue many good men thankes be to God for them that haue done notably I pray God increase the number of them But because I haue spoken of thys matter somewhat more at large in the beginning of this booke I will nowe therefore say no more of it referring the reader to the same place It is also an excellent good worke to erect Colledges and Schooles for the increase and propagation of good letters as without which barbarisme and palpable ignorāce would quickly ouerflowe vs as I haue noted before and we in short time should become little differing from bruite beastes I pray God therfore to open the harts of all men and women that be able to be more beneficiall to them but of this I haue spoken more largely before in the second Section of this booke It is also a good worke and a worke wherewithall God is highly pleased to contribute liberally to the mayntenance of godly Pastors and Preachers For as the Apostle Paule reasoneth if they minister vnto vs heauenly things it is a small matter if they reape of vs earthly things And yet there are some nay too many Machianelists that thinke and say they haue too much and that all is well got that is got from them But if they knew the excellency of theyr office and the incomparable dignitie of their high calling if they knew whose place they supply and whose person they represent in their office if they knew how deere they are to the Lord in so much as in a certaine place he sayth they are as deere vnto him as the apple of his eye if they knew that epithites and names of honor are attributed to thē by God himselfe in holy scripture as namely angels lights ambassadors messengers legates pastors preachers doctors besides many other titles and denominacions of honor Briefely I say if they knew that to detract from them is to withdraw from God and from his holy ministery they would not thinke all wonne that is extorted from them God sayth touch not myne annoynted and doe my Prophets no harme And our Sauiour Christ sayth he that receyueth you receyueth me and he hath reiecteth you reiecteth mee accoumpting what soeuer iniury or wrong is done to them to be done to him selfe And therefore doe I hould this as an infallible maxime that who so euer deteyneth or withholdeth any thing of that which is right from his Pastor or Preacher neyther loueth God Christs Iesus nor yet his holy ministery for so our Sauiour affirmeth hee that loueth you loueth me and he that hateth you hateth me and agayne the Prophet speaking in the person of God sayth bring corne into my barnes that there may be meate in my house calling the barne and house of the minister hys owne barne and hys owne house And yet there are some so straight laced that they would not haue the ministery to liue vppon tythes forsooth but vppon contribucions that is playne almes indeede so that euery one should giue them what they would little or much which if it were once effected then might the ministery quickly goe a begging as they
not now bee anie meanes to build vp or repayre his Church agayne any manner of waie The Lorde hath all meanes in his handes and both can and will in his good time build his Church by other meanes than by the reliques of Antichrist orrmaenentes of idolatrie and superstition Therefore let vs rest contented with whatsoeuer he doeth knowing let vs rest coytented with whatsoeuer he doth knowing that his wyll is the perfect square rule of all perfection and that he doth all things for his owne glorie and the good of his Church But to returne to the matter in hand so to conclude this point I graunt indeede that the building of Abbies and Monasteries in regarde of the abuses which afterwards insued of them by them was altogether vnlawfull pernitious and execrable yea altogether abhominable and consequentlie intollerable yet in respect of the intentions of the first founders of them and of the end whereto they were erected as namely to the end that God might bee glorified by them and his religion exercised maintained practised in them amongst all generations to the end of the world and the like I saie in respect of these ends they were not altogether so vnlawfull nor intollerable but beeing done to these ends to maintaine superstition and idolatrie to iustifie vs before God to purchase righteousnes to merit euerlasting life the like thē were they abhominable and detestable before God man But whatsoeeuer the building of thē was good or badde as good it could not be these are not such as the papists that liue in this age do greatly accouut of to be good workes And therefore to the end no man may heereafter bee ignorant hereof I will as briefly as I can endeuor my selfe to set down in order some such as the Papists now a daies do account for good workes in deede and such as deserue say they in this life infinit renumeratiō in the life to come euerlasting saluation These such like are they as followe The third Section Wherein is contained a briefe rehearsall of such workes as the Papists doe account to bee good workes and of great merite and desert before God though they bee repugnant and contrarie to the word of God and therefore cā they merit nothing but damnation in the iustice of God THE Papists account it a worke of infinit merite and vnspeakable deserte to persecute the Church of God to murther and kill his Saintes to massacre his children and to shedde innocent bloud That this is true I refer you to the registers and records of all ages and times that haue bene since the beginning of the worlde to this daie but especially in that famous ecclesiasticall cronologie of Actes and Monumentes of the Church made and published by that reuerend Father and learned diuine master Iohn Foxe wherein you shal finde almost infinite millions of blessed martyrs which haue bene murthered and put to most cruell death by these bloud-thirstie Papists yea in fiue yeres space to wit in the daies of Queene Marie you shall finde welneere if not altogether one thousand men women children of all ages degrees and sexes to haue bene some hanged strangled murthered burned racked and otherwise most cruelly tortured and put to death for the testimonie of Iesus and for the word of God If you list to haue further profe I refer you to that most perfidious cruell and more than barbarous massacre of Paris wherein were murthered and put to the swoord aboue fortie or fiftie thousand protestants within the compasse of one month throughout the whole realme of Fraunce And yet was this bloudie crueltie and slaughter of Gods Saintes so much applauded of the Pope that hee not onely dispensed with the murtherers but also graunted them pardon and indulgence of all their sinnes besides large promises of rewardes made to the perpetrators thereof as also bone fires banquettinges and feastinges throughout all the Citie of Rome for ioy as though it had beene the yeere of Iubelie or the creation of a newe Antichrist And heerein they doo but theyr kinde For it is the badge of the Church of Antichrist and the cognisaunce of the synagogue of Sathan to persecute murther and kill the Church of God It hath bene so from the beginning and shall bee so as Iohn in the Reuelation most prophetically speaketh to the end of the worlde Cain was a figure of theyr bloudie Church who persecuted his brother euen to the effusion of his bloud Esau was also a type of theyr Antichristian Church who persecuted Iacob threatning his destruction and which no doubt hee had perfourmed had it not beene wisely preuented by his mother Ishmael was the like who persecuted Isaac Pharao the verie same who persecuted the Israelites And truely this is a notable and an infallible marke to knowe the Church of GOD by from the synagogue of sathan For the badge of the Church of God is to bee afflicted persecuted and to haue theyr bloude shedde Contraryly the marke of the Antichristian church is to persecute to kill to slaie to murther and shed bloud to the end It was neuer read in any age or time that the church of GOD dyd euer persecute or shedde bloud but was alwaies persecuted and had theyr bloud shed by the synagogue of sathan and yet for all that which is myraculous the Church of God hath doeth and euer shall flourishe and increase still more and more maugre the heades and spite of all Papists and schismatikes whatsoeuer Yea by how much the more they goe aboute to suppresse it by so much the more it increaseth dayly much lyke to the Palme tree which the more waight it hath layde vpon it the broader it spreadeth his loppes and branches on euerie side True therefore is that saying of an ancient father Sanguis martyrum semen Ecclesiae The bloude of martyres is the seede of the Church And therfore would I wish all Papists to leaue off from murthering the poore Saintes of God anie longer for this if for no other cause yet for that they shall neuer bee able to preuaile against them no they are so inuinsible through the might of Christ who raigneth in them and strengthneth them that the gates of hell cannot preuaile against them nor death itselfe ouercome or vanguish them but euen in the middest of the raging flames they triumph ouer it The Papists also thinke it a worke of inestimable merite before God to laie violent handes vppon the Lordes annointed to kil and murrher Emperours Kings and Princes when they haue done they are canonized Saintes for theyr labour A fit guerdon for such a facte For as a holy writer sayth Multi adorantur per sanctis in hoc mundo quorum animae in inferno sepeliuntur Many are worshipped for Saintes vppon earth whose soules are buryed in hell Such Saintes are these whom the Pope doeth thus canonize Good king Dauid inspired with the spirit of God was of another mind when he
the crosse in Chepe side Others forsooth wyll kneele before them creepe to them bare foote and bare legged offer to them And others that wil not seeme so grosse wil yet make a thousand crosses on their forheds brests being of this mind that the signe of the crosse hath power to defend any one not only frō all corporall enemies but also frō all the diuels in hell And therfore as it is a moment of great superstition so I pray God it may be remoued from amongst vs. But if it be obiected that it keepeth in our mindes the remembraunce of Christ and of hys death which he suffered vpon it I answere we haue no warrant out of the booke of God to keepe any such superstitious crosses amongst vs to any such ende For the word it selfe was geuen vs to that end to keepe in memory and as it were to paynt out vnto vs the death and passion of our Sauiour Christ and not such Popish trash To that end also were the Sacraments left vs with the ministerie and preaching of the Gospell of Christ and therefore their obiection is scarse worth the answering The Papists also holde it to be a work of vnspeakable merit for a man or woman eyther before they dye or else at their death to giue the greatest part of their goods lāds the more the more merite to popish priestes though in the meane time theyr wife children and whole familyes goe a begging all theyr lyfe long to Monkes and Fryers with the rest of that filthie generation to the ende they may pray for them whē they are dead to saie masses trentalls diriges de profundis Ladies psalters and I can not tell what riffe raffe else for them bearing them in hand that their souls the soules of al their friends parēts kindred and aliance shall not onely bee releeued but also cleerely delyuered thereby out of the pains of purgatorie which otherwise shoulde lye there broiling in firie flames seauen yeeres for euerie sinne that euer they cōmitted in this life either in thoght word or deed Which if it were true as it is most false and blasphemous I could not blame men though they gaue all they had and more too to the Priests But alasse who seeth not the vanitie of this fonde opinion of Purgatorie If Masses Diriges trentals de profundis Ladies psalters and such pelting trash could redeeme vs from paine and punishment after this life and place our soules in ioye and blisse I praie you then what is left to the bloud of Christ to doo for vs iust nothing at all And why died Christ if we might haue bene redeemed by corruptible money lands or pessessions as the Apostles Saint Paule and Saint Peter doe reason What can be more derogatorie to the death of Christ and the efficacie of his bloud than this You were not redeemed sayth Paul from your sinnes neither by golde nor siluer but by the precious bloud of that immaculate lambe Iesus Christ. And doeth not the apostle Iohn thunder out vnto vs The bloude of Iesus Christ doeth cleanse vs from all sinne And as for the ridiculous opinion of purgatory it is so foolish a thing that I am ashamed to bestow anie labour in confuting of it as hauing indeede neyther ground out of the word of God no nor so much as one sillable sounding that waie nor anie approued or autentike writer excepte out of such apocryphas as Ouid Virgil and other heathen Poets And yet for all that the Papists haue gayned as much I suppose by the broching of this fraibugge or scar-crow Purgatorie since it was first hatched as all christendome is worth besides But to proceede The Papistes also holde these to bee singular good workes yea the chiefest of all to heare Masse deuoutly euerie daie to worshippe Saintes to obserue and keepe precisely all holy dayes Saintes daies anp feastiuall dayes as they call them to giue frankely to begging Friers Nunns and Ankresses which were a sort of secluses or rather plain prostitute whoores mued vp in cloisters celles vautes and holes vnder ground onely to serue the Monkes and the Abbots turnes at theyr need whereof I could giue you a thousand instances if it were not from my purpose to mumble vp a great rabble of Pater nosters Creedes Aue Maries and the like vpon their beads to contribute liberally to the making and christning of bels and to bee god-fathers and god-mothers to them to the buying of waxe candles tapers lyghtes to buy coapes challices surplesses and other vestmentes of the Church to giue soule-cakes for so they shame not to cal them or rather foole-cakes agaynst all soules daie for the redemption of all christen soules as they blasphemously speake They account it also a worke of great merite to disple to whip scourge themselues with whippes made of ropes endes of cordes and some of wyre with lyttle rowels of spurres at the ends wherewith forsooth they must whippe themselues naked till theyr bodies appeare all full of bloudie gores and in so doing they merit the deuill and all I should say heauen and all They account it also an excellent good worke and of great merit to lie al night vpon the boords or the bare ground to weare shirts of hayre to fast with bread and water to carry candles tapers and palmes vp and downe the church and round about the Church-yard to see and worship theyr little God of the pix that hangs so pretily in a string like a Bee in a boxe to receiue holy bread and holy water to goe to shrift where euerye one must confesse his sinnes to the Priest and receue absolution but specially the women who many times haue theyr absolution giuen them with a Friers taile These with infinite the like are the good workes of the Papists wherby they trust to gain heauen and to merite euerlasting life whether God will or no. Yea they will haue it by merit and not by mercie and therefore God is bounde to giue it them ex debito and ex opere operato of duetie in regarde of their workes and not ex gratia and good reason if it bee so for doeth not the Apostle affirm that to him that worketh is the hire giuen of duetie not of fauour Nowe they doe all and more too or else they lie which God hath commaunded them and which is more they haue not onelie workes inough of their owne to saue themselues withal but also workes of supererogation which will helpe at a dead lift if need bee to sell or giue to others and therfore they must needs as I say come to heauen whether God will or not but God grant mee and all that appertain to him eternall life for his mercies sake in Christ and let the Papists challenge it stil by their workes merits and deserts And truly I cannot but wonder that the Papists should be so blinded as to think that anie workes at all much lesse these hauing no