ioyfull Message or gladsome tidings So spake the Angell to the Shepheards Be not afraid for behold I bring you tidings of great ioy that shall be to all the people that is that vnto you is borne this day in the Citie of Dauid a Sauiour which is Christ the Lord. Luke 2.10.11 Which most heauenly most sweet comfortable doctrine when Philip had once taught and preached to this noble Eunuch it was no maruell though as a man full of gladnesse he went on his way reioycing For if libertie be gratefull to him that hath long been captiue if to be made a free-man be a cause of ioy and reioycing to him that hath long been a bondslaue if to be eased of a heauie burden if to be cured of a dangerous disease if to be brought foorth of a darke dungeon into the cleere light to conclude if to be raised from the death of sinne to the life of grace and to haue our part and portion in the communion of Saints if all and euery of these be blessings much to be esteemed of and true causes of reioycing Thē to be brought into the glorious liberty of the sonnes of God to be made the Lords Free-men to be eased of the heauy burden of sinne to be cured of the infectious diseases which arise from humane corruption to be enlightened by the Spirit of God to liue vnto the Lord the life of righteousnes and to haue our names written in the booke of life all which were offered and exhibited by Philip to this noble Eunuch in his preaching of Iesus vnto him these things I say could not chuse but much affect him and be great causes of great ioy and reioycing vnto him And as Philips preaching of Iesus was to this honorable Eunuch a cause of much reioycing so also should the preaching of the same Iesus be a cause of ioy and reioycing to as many of vs as are by the mercy of God and the labour of his faithfull Ministers made the happy hearers partakers therof For looke what plenty is to men that haue long liued in penury what health is to men that haue been long visited wearied with sicknes what meat is to them that haue been long pinched and almost starued with hunger the same and more is the publishing and preaching of the comfortable assurance of Gods loue and fauour towards vs in Christ Iesus In whom though the traytor Iudas found no excellency aboue the value of thirty peeces of siluer yet his godly and faithfull children can and doe finde in him all the treasures of wisedome of iustification of redemption and saluation When Samson in the time of his extreame thirsting faintnes euen then when he cried out and said Giue me vvater or I die for thirst had tasted of that water which God miraculously sent vnto him his spirit came againe he was reuiued Iudg. 15.19 When Ionathan had tasted a little hony his eyes were opened his spirits comforted and his body strengthened 1. Sa. 14. Yet neither was the water which Samson dranke of nor the hony which Ionathan tasted of halfe so sweet comfortable to them as the preaching of Christ Iesus is to the fainting dying soules of true Beleeuers Great is the ioy vnspeakable are the comforts which the preaching of Iesus affordeth to the children of men the sauour of which comforts is sweeter in the Church of GOD than the sauour of Libanon and the ioy therof like vnto the dropping of milke and hony vpon their soules Samson found a swarme of Bees and hony in a dead Lion Hic est favus qui ex ore Leonis mortui exiuit Out of the mouth out of the word out of the preaching of Iesus Christ which is the Lion of the tribe of Iudah which was dead but is aliue and liueth for euer commeth such sweetnes as cannot be vttered or cōceiued Nemo nouit nisi qui accipit This is such a ioy as is not like worldly ioy which may be taken away Your ioy shall no man take from you Iohn 16.22 Christ like a royall King neuer entreth any citie any towne any village any priuat house or into the soule or minde of any priuate man but hee giueth gifts And it also pleaseth him of his fulness to giue to his Apostles his Disciples his Ministres power and grace also to make them able whersoeuer they come and wheresoeuer they preach him and publish his truth as heere Philip did to this Eunuch to giue great gifts to the sonnes of men to instruct them in the knowledge of God and so to fill their hearts vvith sweet ioyes heauenly comforts The publishing of the word of God the preaching of Iesus Christ is as Chrysostome speaketh in his 5. Homily vpon Gene. a casting of spirituall treasures into the laps or bosomes of men The L. God grant that my preaching of Iesus at this time may be a casting or sowing of such spirituall treasures and heauenly seed as may bring forth in you all much fruite of good liuing to eternall life Amen FINIS
finde if with a single eye and without partialitie wee enquire thereinto that as in the former times so in all succeeding ages times euen to this of ours there was a Church of our Religion And although the Professors therof could not possesse whole Nations or Countries or Cities wherin they might freely openly professe their faith by reason of the great height tyranny of the church of Rome which not onely obscured them but did also cruelly persecute them Yet were there few Nations fevv Countries few Citties wherein there were not some from time to time yea and that also in the very bosome and midst of the Church of Rome that did learnedly and zealously and with the losse many times of their liues professe the same If any man shall heere call vpon vs to make a particular and precise bed-roll or catalogue of their names and aske vs who they vvere that so haue done I answere that besides all those which liuing in former ages and in the times of Popery who either could not by reason they were vnlearned be known publiquely to the world but onely to God and to their ovvne consciences to bee professors of our Religion or if they were learned did yet commit nothing to writing wherby the same might be known of them I say besides all those whose number no doubt was infinite great is the nūber of those godly and learned men of those faithfull witnesses which frō time to time both by writing by preaching and by dying haue shewed to the world that they groned vnder the burthen of Popery that they wished a reformation and that they were of our Church and professed our Religion The names of which men with the times in which they liued together with those passages and parts of their bookes and writings in which they witnesse that which I haue affirmed of them are collected together and set downe by many learned men of our part and therefore I will spare my selfe the labour of naming them vnto you at this time If any man shall further except and say They are but few that are named in comparison of the rest that their number is small let such a one know that the number is not small and if it were yet that it is no maruell that so few are named it is rather a maruell that so many are named seeing that the Church of Rome hath in all ages times so earnestly laboured to blot out and to deface the memory of all both men and matters which might speake for vs or beare witnesse vnto vs. For if at this day our Aduersaries wipe our very names out of bookes and command that no man shall name vs but in contempt wee may well assure our selues that their Ancestors haue done the like in former ages to the men of our Religion and hence it commeth that so few are mentioned and named in ancient stories The practice of the Papists at this day with vs defacing our names belying our opinions burying our memory corrupting our books suppressing the truth of things purging and razing all manner of Euidence by that diuelish deuice of their Indices expurgatorij their purging tables maketh vs assure our selues that in the same manner our Ancestors were vsed And this is a principall reason why wee yeeld not so perfect a catalogue as else we might doe 2. Proposition My second proposition vvhich I deliuered was this that They did not all die Papists which in their life time and in outward profession were Papists For seeing it pleaseth God sometimes euen at the eleuenth howre to call men to the knowledge of himself and to repentance and seeing Gods mercy is not bounded or confined to any times but that as hee will haue mercy on whom he wil haue mercy so also hee will shew mercy at vvhat time it pleaseth him to shevv mercie VVho can tell but that many of our Ancestors and forefathers being touched in conscience and renouncing themselues and all humane satisfactions haue at the time of their dissolution the approching of death changed their mindes and so in that faith and religion which wee professe yeelded vp their soules into the hands of God A thing the more probable and like to bee true because in these our dayes many Papists haue bin by most certaine and true experience obserued to haue done and to do the like who in articulo mortis beeing at the brink and point of death haue been content not onely to suspect and feare but to renounce their own merits and their owne works to disclaime the vvhole body of humane satisfactions and to cleaue onely and alone to the mercie of God in Christ for their saluation and so though they liued Papists haue died Protestants And no maruaile though many Papists haue so done and do so daily for alas what comfort or consolation can a wounded conscience and a soule laden with sinne now ready to depart the vvorld and to appeare before the maiestie of GOD in whose presence the Cherubins are polluted the Angels are vnholy and the heauens are vncleane there to answere the iustice of God and to giue an account for all things that it hath done in the bodie I say what comfort or consolation can such a sinfull and dying soule finde in reflecting it selfe vpon it selfe in the works of it owne hands in the worth of it owne merites in the fruites of it owne labours in crosses crucifixes Saints Agnus Dei's blessed graines holy reliques pilgrimages extreame vnction dirges trentalls masses in Priests absolutions in Bishops blessings in Popes pardons or in all or any of these or other the trash trumpery of Rome Will such Figge-leaues couer our shame will such sacrifices satisfie for sinne or can such stubble and strawe endure the fierie triall of Gods iustice and yet not be consumed Foolish Semele great was thy folly and thou art worthily taxed branded with a marke of folly and dangerous indiscretion euē by Poets themselues for desiring that Iupiter would in the selfe-same manner visit thee at his next comming in which hee vsed to visite Iuno by vvhich meanes it came to passe that thou wast not onely amazed at his brightnes but also by the lightning and thunder which attended him when he was in his maiestie wast burnt vp quick quite consumed So may I truly say and it is no poeticall fiction but an vndoubted truth which I am about to vtter to all proud Papists proud Pharisees and Iusticiaries whatsoeuer which gird themselues with their owne righteousnesse and arme themselues vvith their owne good deseruings and merites as it were with armour of proofe and coats of steele Foolish Papist great is thy folly thou art woorthily taxed and branded with a marke of folly and dangerous indiscretion who puffed vp with the winde of thine owne worth and being tickled in thine own heart with the wanton conceit of I wot not what proportionable agreement between thine owne proper inherent
righteousnes and the iustice of God darest to meet God in the face and to confront his very iustice and art so indifferent that thou doost not much reckon or greatly regard whether God that is the Lord of glory do come vnto thee in maiestie or in mercie in the Law or in the Gospel in equitie and iustice or in pitie and compassion to iudge thy good works in some of you works of Supererogation and to giue sentence of thy righteousnesse which in many of you so aboundeth that as you beleeue and teach others they may reserue enough for themselues and yet spare some for others to make them also righteous And what maruaile is it if beeing but dust and ashes sinfull flesh yea stubble and straw fuell quickly kindled his maiestie amaze thee and the fire of his iustice and iudgement doe fearfully consume thee Beloued in the Lord it is dangerous building on the sand They build on the sand that make flesh their arme that put any confidence in their owne works It is safe building on a Rock they build on a rock which build on Christ The Rock is Christ. And as Extra Arcam without the Arke the Doue found no rest for the soale of her foote so likewise Extra Christum without Christ the soule of a sinner can finde no comfort And bee it spoken to the glory of God and to the honour of that truth and that religion which wee professe This is that powerful motiue and the very true cause why so many that are professed Papists in their life doe notwithstanding at the approaching of death and the very point of their dissolution die Protestants renouncing themselues wholly laying fast hold onely vpon Christ I will trouble you but vvith tvvo instances or examples for the clearing of this point the one ancient the other moderne and of later time When Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester lay sicke Doctor Day Bishop of Chichester comming to visite him began to comfort him repeating to him some such places of Scripture as did expresse and import the free iustification of repentant sinners in the bloud of Christ VVhereunto Winchester replyed What my Lord quoth hee vvill you open that gap now then farewel all together To mee and such other in my case you may speake it but open this window vnto the people and then farewell all together When those two vnholy and trayterous Priests Watson and Clark suffered condigne punishment for the treasonable practices whereof they were conuicted at Winchester some few yeeres since the one of them immediatly before hee was ready to ascend the ladder disposing himselfe to priuate prayer was by two verie reuerend and eminent men of our Church as one of them hath diuerse times related it in my hearing ouer-heard to haue vsed these or the like words O Lord said he I haue not any thing to offer vp vnto thee that is woorthy thy acceptance I haue nothing but a corruptible carcasse and a sinfull soule to present vnto thee At his vttering of vvhich vvords one of those reuerend Diuines calling to the other Harken I pray you harken said hee how hee disableth himselfe and renounceth his owne merits Which words when the Priest heard hee breaking off the course of his prayer made this reply to those graue Diuines Though said hee I haue no merits to offer vp vnto God yet it may be that many other of our religion haue merits which both they may offer vnto God and for vvhich his Maiestie may be graciously pleased to be mercifull vnto them See I pray you how the truth of God preuailed with both these men when their end drew neere and when death approached obserue I pray you farther how they did in some sort disclaiming all confidence in themselues and their owne merites beare witnesse to the truth of God for the free iustification of sinners onely by Christ But whether or not by their farther answeres and replies they laboured to hide that truth and to put out that candle after it vvas lighted in them I take not vpon mee to iudge but doe leaue that to God 3. Proposition My third proposition which I deliuered by occasion of our Aduersaries demands was this All our Ancestors perished not neither were all our Forefathers that liued in the time of Popery damned For first some of them which both liued and died Papists in many points yet holding the principall and fundamentall parts of Gods blessed and holy truth might be and were also as in the iudgement of charity we may well thinke partakers of saluation Secondly it is one thing to hold an error obstinately and wilfully ioyning the holding and professing therof with the hatred and persecution of the truth and another thing to erre ignorantly being seduced by such as are Pastors and Teachers with a minde notwithstanding alway ready to embrace the trueth whensoeuer men shall bee further enlightened And in this later kinde many of our Ancestors and Forefathers erred carrying a minde alwaies ready and willing to be taught though the streame of the Times carried them away Now as of the former sort of these our Ancestours and Forefathers which not onely erred in the capitall fundamentall parts of Gods truth but erred wilfully and obstinately hating presecuting the truth vnto their death we say as Saint Paul saith They perished because they receiued not the loue of the truth that they might be saued 2. Thes 2.10 So in respect of the later sort of them we are farre from pronouncing the Sentence of damnation against them we are not the Authors of any such vncharitable and peremptorie assertions we vtterly disclaime all such black and bloody conclusions Genesis 37.33 Iacob seeing the coat of Ioseph rent torne and bloody cryed out and said that Fera pessima deuorauit eum Some euill beast hath deuoured him yet God prouided for Ioseph and he was safe So although the religion of our Forefathers like the garment of Ioseph seemeth rent torne and bloody vnto vs and we in probability may cry and say that Fera pessima deuorauit eos yet wee must not rashly condemne them because God hath as wel extraordinary means to saue as ordinary True it is that many of our Forefathers relied vpon the opinion of merrit and therefore were like to the brethren of Ioseph who tooke money in their sacks when they went to Egypt for corne But as Ioseph returned them their money againe and gaue them corne for nothing so who can tell but that God giuing them grace at the last to change their opinions refusing their merits yet gaue them corn for nothing accepting them in his beloued and Christ as Ioseph receiuing them as his brethren into eternall life As in charity wee are forbidden to thinke that none of the Israelites entred into heauen who entred not into the holy Land or into the Land of Canaan but died in the Wildernesse so wee are not to thinke that all those our Forefathers perished which