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
good works and the like it is vnpossible for thee to see the face of God to thy saluacion otherwise than the deuils and the reprobate who shall see the face of God I graunt but to their euerlasting condemnation So thou without good workes mayest see the face of God with thē but to thy vtter cōfusion destruction both of body soule for euer Be zealous therefore good Christian of good workes do good whilest thou hast time for the night of death will come when thou canst not work redeme the time with wel doing as the Apostle speaketh yea withdraw from thy sleepe from thy meate drink and frō thy necessary affaires to do good Remember thy yeres are few vpō earth thou hast but a short time to liue to work in Admit thou attainest to fortie fiftie sixtie or it may be eighty yeres wherto fewe doe come in comparison of those that die before alas that time is nothing neither in regard of the perpetuity eternity of the life to come Haue euer in thy minde that golden sentence of the Apostle He that soweth little shall reape little and he that soweth plentifully shall reape plentifully Let the words of our sauior neuer slip out of thy remembrance Beatius est dare potius quam accipere It is a thing more blessed to giue meaning to the poore than to receiue Giue therefore lend freely to them that haue need loking for nothing again and thy reward shall be great in heauen sayth our sauiour Christ. Consider it is sayde What is giuen to the poore is lent to the Lorde and looke what thou laiest out it shall bee paide thee again Distrust not Gods promises for he is yea and amen in all his sayings and faithfull and true in all his dooings Hee both can for that he is almightie and also will for that hee is mercifull most bountifully remunerate and most liberally rewarde them for whatsoeuer good thou dost in this life yea so precise is he herein that he hath bound himselfe with a promise that he wil not leaue so much as a cup of colde water giuen to anie in his name vnrewarded at that day The fifth Section Wherein is shewed the ends of good works and of our iustification by faith onely with a conclusion exhortatorie to good workes NOw as thou art to do good workes so thou must take heed that thou dost them not neither for desire of reward nor yet for feare of punishment but for the loue and obedience which thou bearest to thy God And so farre off oughtest thou to bee from thinking to be iustified or to merit any thing by thy workes as the blasphemous papistes doo contend that thou must both think saie as Christ teacheth thee to say When thou hast done all that is commaunded thee to doe thou art yet an vnprofitable seruant and hast done but thy dutie nay nor thy duetie neither no not in anie small measure No although thou were stable to do all the good workes in the world and all the good workes which the worde of God doth command thee yea and in that perfection which GOD doeth require of thee which thing neuer anie was nor euer shall be found able to performe Christ Iesus only excepted yet couldest thou neither bee iustified before God nor yet merite anie thing by them ex opere operato as the Papistes doo dreame But yet they are in deed notable seales and testimonies to thy conscience that thou art the childe of God and coheire with Christ Iesus of the kingdome of heauen And heereof is it that the Apostle biddeth vs make our saluation sure by good works not that good workes are any efficient cause of our saluation but doe assure confirme and seale vp vnto vs our saluation purchased by Christ. They are therefore most excellent fruites of our faith and infallible pledges of our election in Christe but no causes of our iustification before GOD. For euen as no fruit can make the tree good which by nature is naught so no good workes can make a man good before God who before was wicked euill for as the tree must of necessitie bee good before it canne bring foorth anie good fruite at all so a man must bee sanctified and regenerate by the spirit of God before he can doo anie good workes acceptable vnto God which once being accomplished thē follow good works as the effect from the cause And therefore I cannot but wonder at the more than palpable blindnes of these iusticiaries and merit-mongers the papists who beleeue that good workes can iustifie vs before God Our sauiour Christ sayth Without mee yee can doo nothing Whereto the Apostle seemeth to agree when he sayth It is God which geueth both the wil the deed euen of his good will and then alas what place of merit is there left for vs And whereas they obiect that God hath promised to reward our good works True it is hee giueth vs grace first to will then power to performe and put in practise euerie good worke that we doo and hath bound himselfe with a promise to reward these his own gifts in vs. But this reward standeth in the mercie of God not in the merit of the worke Let vs therefore abandoning our owne merits as filthie dong hold the mercies of God in Christ to bee our righteousnes beeing assured that if the Lord shoulde enter into iudgement with vs waying our verie righteousnes in the ballance of his iustice and rewarding vs according to our deserts we should be vtterly condemned and cast awaie for euer This the Prophet Esay confirmeth where hee saith That all our righteousnes is like a menstruous clout than the which there is nothing more filthy stinking or fulsome To which sentence Saint Barnard seemeth to allude saying Ve vniuersae iusticiae nostrae si remota miserecordia iudicetur Woe be to our righteousnesse if we should be iudged with out mercie And yet the papistes are perswaded that they are not onely iustified that is pronounced iust before God freed from sinne and all punishment due for sinne but also that they merite the kingdome of heauen and euerlasting life by their good workes Yea they haue not onely good works inough to saue themselues withall but others also and these they call works of supererogation that is whē they doe moe good workes and in greater perfection than God eyther can or will require of them as I haue noted before and therefore with the ouerplus of these forsooth they will helpe their fellowes if they will paie well for them else get they none for No pennie no Pater noster And is not this a pretie matter that they can not onely saue themselues but also others to by their workes of supererogation What should a man care for doing of good workes himself when for a little monie hee may buy inough of others The fiue foolish virgines would haue bought oile of the wise but it was answered
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