sea can seuer Your dangers and feares and griefes haue beene ours All the salt water that runs betwixt vs cannot wash off our interest in all your common causes The deadly blow of that miscreant whose name is iustly sentenced to forgetfulnesse pierced euen our sides VVho hath not bled within himselfe to thinke that he which had so victoriously out-liued the swordes of enemies should fall by the knife of a villaine and that he should die in the peaceable streets whom no fields could kil that all those honorable and happy triumphs should end in so base a violence But oh our idlenesse and impietie if we see not a diuine hād from aboue striking with this hand of disloyalty Sparrows fall not to the ground without him much lesse Kings One dyes by a tyle-sheard another by the splinters of a Launce one by Lice another by a Fly one by poyson another by a knife VVhat are all these but the executioners of that great God which hath saide Ye are Gods but ye shall die like men Perhaps God saw that wee may guesse modestly at the reasons of his acts you reposed too much in this arme of flesh or Perhaps he saw this scourge would haue beene too early to those enemies whose sin though great yet was not full or perhaps hee saw that if that great spirit had beene deliberately yeelded in his bed you shold not haue slept in yours Or perhaps the auncient conniuence at those streames of bloud from your too common deels was now called to reckning or it may be that weake reuolt from the truth He whos 's the rod was knows why he strooke yet may it not passe without a note that he fell by that religion to which he fell How many ages might that great monarch haue liued whatsoeuer the ripe head of your more then mellow Cotton could imagine ere his least finger should haue bled by the hand of an Huguenot All religions may haue some monsters but blessed be the God of heauen ours shall neuer yeeld that good Iesuite either a Mariana to teach treason or a Rauillac to act it But what is that we heare It is no maruell That holy Society is a fit Gardian for the hearts of kings I dare say none more loues to see them none takes more care to purchase them How happy were that Chappell think they if it were full of such shrines I hope all Christian Princes haue long and well learned so great is the courtesie of these good Fathers that they shall neuer by their willes neede bee troubled with the charge of their owne heartes An heart of a KING in a Iesuites hand is as proper as a wafer in a Priests Iustly was it written of old vnder the picture of Ignatius Loyola Cauete vobis Principes Be wise O ye Princes and learne to be the keepers of your owne hearts Yea rather O thou keeper of Israel that neither slumbrest nor sleepest keepe thou the hearts of al Christian Kings whether aliue or dead from the keeping of this traiterous generation whose very religion is wholy rebellion and whose merits bloody Doubtlesse that murderer hoped to haue stabbed thousands with that blow and to haue let out the life of religion at the side of her collapsed Patron God did at once laugh and frowne at his proiect and suffred him to liue to see himselfe no lesse a foole then a villaine Oh the infinite goodnesse of the wise and holy gouernor of the world who could haue looked for such a calme in the middest of a tempest who wold haue thought that violence could beget peace Who durst haue conceiued that King Henry should die alone and that Religion should loose nothing but his person This is the Lords doing and it is marueilous in our eyes You haue now parallel'd vs Out of both our feares hath God fetched security oh that out of our security we could as easily fetch feare not so much of euill as of the Author of good and yet trust him in our feare and in both magnifie him Yea you haue by this act gained some conuerts against the hope of the agents neither can I without many ioyfull congratulations thinke of the estate of your Church which euery day honours with the accesse of new clients whose teares and sad confessions make the Angels to reioyce in heauen the Saints on earth Wee should giue you example if our peace were as plentifull of goodnesse as of pleasure But how seldom hath the Church gained by ease or lost by restraint Blesse you God for our prosperity and wee shall praise him for your progresse To Master THOMAS SVTTON EP. VII Exciting him and in him all others to early and chearfull beneficence shewing the necessity and benefit of good workes SIR I trouble you not with reasons of my writing or with excusds If I doe ill no plea can warrant mee If well I cannot bee discouraged with any censures I craue not your pardon but your acceptation It is no presumption to giue good counsell and presents of loue feare not to bee ill taken of strangers My pen and your substance are both giuen vs for one end to doe good These are our talents how happy are we if wee can improue them well suffer me to doe you good with the one that with the other you may doe good to many and most to your selfe You cannot but know that your full hand and worthy purposes haue possessed the world with much expectation what speake I of the world whose honest and reasonable claymes yet cannot bee contemned with honour nor disappointed without dishonour The God of heauen which hath lent you this aboundance and giuen you these gracious thoughts of charity of piety looks long for the issue of both wil easily complaine either of too little or too late Your wealth and your will are both good but the first is onely made good by the second for if your hand were ful and your heart empty we who now applaud you should iustly pitty you you might haue riches not goods not blessings your burthen should be greater then your estate and you should be richer in sorrowes then in mettalls For if wee looke to no other world what gaine is it to be the keeper of the best earth That which is the common cofer of all the rich mines we doe but tread vpon and account it vile because it doth but holde and hide those treasures Whereas the skilfull metalist that findeth and refineth those precious veines for publick vse is rewarded is honoured The very basest Element yeeldes golde the sauage Indian gets it the seruile prentise workes it the very Midianitish Camell may weare it the miserable worldling admires it the couetous lew swallowes it the vnthrifty Ruffian spends it what are al these the better for it Onely good vse giues praise to earthly possessions Here in therfore you owe more to God that he hath giuen you an heart to doe good a will to bee as rich in
lessons of grace there he learnes what belongs to a Sauiour what one hee is what he hath done and for whom how he became ours we his now finding himselfe in a true state of danger of humilitie of neede of desire of fitnes for Christ he brings home to himself al that he learns and what he knowes he applies His former Tutor he feared this hee loueth that shewed him his wounds yea made them this binds and heales them that killed him this shewes him life and leades him to it Now at once he hates himselfe defies Satan trusts to Christ makes account both of pardon and glory This is his most precious Faith whereby he appropriates yea in grosses Christ Iesus to himselfe whence hee is iustified from his sinnes purified from his corruptions established in his resolutiōs comforted in his doubts defended against temptations ouercomes all his enemies Which vertue as it is most imploied and most opposed so carries the most care from the Christian hart that it be sound liuely growing Sound not rotten not hollow not presumptuous sound in the Act not a superficiall conceit but a true deepe and sensible apprehension an apprehension not of the braine but of the heart and of the heart not approuing or assenting but trusting and reposing Sound in the obiect none but Christ he knows that no friendship in heauen can do him good without this The Angells cannot God will not Ye beleeue in the Father beleeue also in me Liuely for it cannot giue life vnlesse it haue life the faith that is not fruitfull is dead the fruits of faith are good workes whether inward within the roofe of the heart as loue awe sorrow piety zeale ioy and the rest or outward towards God or our bretheren obedience and seruice to the one to the other reliefe and beneficence These he beares in his time sometimes all but alwayes some Growing true faith cannot stand still but as it is fruitfull in workes so it increaseth in degrees from a little seede it proues a large plant reaching from earth to heauen and from one heauen to another euery showre and euery Sun addes something to it Neither is this grace euer solitary but alwaies attended royallie For hee that beleeues what a Sauiour hee hath cannot but loue him he that loues him cannot but hate whatsoeuer may displease him cannot but reioice in him hope to inioy him and desire to enioy his hope and contemne all those vanities which he once desired and enioyed His minde now scorneth to grouell vpon earth but soareth vp to the things aboue where Christ sits at the right hand of God and after it hath seene what is done in heauen looks strangely vpon al worldly things He dare trust his faith aboue his reason and sense and hath learned to weane his appetite from crauing much Hee stands in awe of his owne conscience and dare no more offend it then not displease himselfe Hee feares not his enemies yet neglects them not equally auoiding security and timorousnesse Hee sees him that is inuisible and walks with him awfully familiarly He knowes what he is borne to and therefore digests the miseries of his wardship with patience hee findes more comfort in his afflictions then any worldling in pleasures And as hee hath these graces to comfort him within so hath hee the Angels to attend him without spirits better then his owne more powerfull more glorious These beare him in their armes wake by his bed keepe his soule while hee hath it and receiue it when it leaues him These are some present differences the greatest are future which could not bee so great if themselues were not witnesses no lesse then betwixt heauen and hell torment and glory an incorruptible crowne and fire vnquēchable Whether Infidels be leeue these things or no we know them so shall they but too late What remaynes but that wee applaud our selues in this happines walke on clearly in this heauenly professiō acknowledging that God could not do more for vs that we cānot do enough for him Let others boast as your Ladiship might with others of ancient and noble houses large Patrimonies or dowries honourable commaunds others of famous names high and enuied honors or the fauors of the greatest others of valor or beauty or some perhaps of eminent learning and wit it shall bee our pride that we are Christians To my Lady Honoria Hay Ep. IIII. Discoursing of the necessity of Baptisme and the estate of those which necessarily want it MADAME MEthinks children are like teeth troublesome both in the breeding and loosing oftentimes painful while they stand yet such as we neither would nor can well be without I goe not about to comfort you thus late for your losse I rather congratulate your wise moderation Christian care of these first spirituall priuiledges desiring only to satisfie you in what you hard as a witnesse not in what you needed as a mother Children are the blessings of Parents and baptisme is the blessing of children and parents Wherein there is not only vse but necessity Necessity not in respect so much of the end as of the precept God hath enioyned it to the comfort of parents and behoofe of children which therefore as it may not be superstitiously hastened so not negligently differred That the contempt of baptisme damneth is past all doubt but that the constrained absence thereof should send infants to hel is a cruell rashnesse It is not their sinne to die early death is a punishment not an offence an effect of sinne not a cause of torment they want nothing but time which they could not cōmand Because they could not liue a while longer that therfore they should die euerlastingly is the hard sentence of a bloody religion I am onely sorry that so harsh an opinion should bee graced with the name of a father so reuerend so diuine whose sentence yet let no man pleade by halues He who helde it vnpossible for a child to be saued vnlesse the baptismall water were powred on his face held it also as vnpossible for the same infant vnlesse the sacramētal bread were receiued into his mouth There is the same ground for both the same error in both a weaknes fit for forgetfulnes seeyet how ignorāt or il meaning posterity could single out one half of the opinion for truth and condemne the other of falshood In spight of whom one part shall easily conuince the other yea without al force since both cannot stand both will fall together for company The same mouth which said vnlesse ye be borne againe of water and the holy Ghost said also Except yee eate the flesh of the Sonne of man and drinke his blood An equall necessity of both And lest any one should plead different interpretations the same Saint Austin auerres this later opinion also concerning the necessary communicating of children to haue beene once the common iudgement of the Church of Rome A sentence so displeasing that you
her and cannot be look't vpon you are happy in her fauours and yet complaine Yea so far as that you haue not stucke to thinke of a change No word could haue falne from you more vnwelcome This is Satans policie to make vs out of loue with our callings that our labours may be vnprofitable and our standings tedious Hee knows that all changes are fruitlesse and that whiles we affect to be other we must needs be weary of what we are That there is no successe in any indeauor without pleasure that there can bee no pleasure where the mind longs after alterations If you espie not this craft of the common enemy you are not acquainted with your selfe Vnder what forme soeuer it come repell it and abhorre the first motion of it as you loue your peace as you hope for your reward It is the misery of the most men that they cannot see when they are happie and whiles they see but the out-side of others conditions preferre that which their experience teaches them afterwardes to condemne not without losse and teares Farre be this vnstablenesse from you which haue been so long taught of God All vocations haue their inconueniences which if they cannot be auoided must be digested The more difficulties the greater glory Stand fast therefore and resolue that this calling is the best both in it selfe and for you and know that it cannot stand with your Christian courage to run away from these incident euills but to encounter them Your hand is at the plough if you meete with some tough clods that will not easily yeeld to the share lay on more strength rather seeke not remedie in your feet by flight but in your hands by a constant indeauor Away with this weake timorousnesse and wrongful humilitie Be chearfull and couragious in this great worke of God the end shall be glorious your selfe happy and many in you THE SIXT DECADE Of EPISTLES LONDON 1610. The Sixt Decade EPIST. I. To my LORD DENNY ¶ A particular account how our dayes are or should be spent both common and holy EVery day is a little life and our whole life is but a day repeated whence it is that old Iacob numbers his life by dayes and Moses desires to be taught this point of holy Arithmeticke to number not his yeares but his dayes Those therefore that dare loose a day are daungerously prodigall those that dare mis-spend it desperate We can best teach others by our selues Let mee tell your Lordship how I would passe my dayes whether common or Sacred that you or whosoeuer others ouer-hearing me may eyther approoue my thriftinesse or correct my errors To whom is the account of my houres either more due or more knowne All dayes are his who gaue time a beginning and continuance yet some he hath made ours not to command but to vse In none may we forget him in some we must forget all besides him First therefore I desire to awake at those houres not when I will but when I must pleasure is not a fit rule for rest but health neyther doe I consult so much with the Sunne as mine owne necessity whither of body or in that of the minde If this vassall could welserue mee waking it should neuer sleepe but now it must bee pleased that it may bee seruiceable Now when sleepe is rather driuen away then leaues mee I would euer awake with God my first thoughts are for him who hath made the night for rest and the day for trauell and as he giues so blesses both If my heart be earely seasoned with his presence it will sauour of him all day after While my body is dressing not with an effeminate curiosity nor yet with rude neglect my minde addresses itselfe to her insuing Task bethinking what is to be done and in what order and marshalling as it may my houres with my work That done after some whiles Meditation I walke vp to my Maisters companions my bookes and sitting down amongst them with the best contentment I dare not reach forth my hand to salute any of them till I haue first looked vp to Heauen and craued fauour of him to whom all my Studies are duly referred without whome I can neither profit nor labour After this out of no ouer-great variety J call forth those which may best fit my occasions wherein I am not too scrupulous of age Somtimes I put my selfe to Schoole to one of those Auncients whom the Church hath honoured with the name of Fathers whose Volumes I confesse not to open without a secret reuerence of their holinesse and grauitie Sometimes to those later Doctours which want nothing but age to make them classicall Alwayes to GODS Booke That day is lost wherof some houres are not improued in those Diuine Monuments Others I turn ouer out of choyse these out of duty Ere I can haue sat vnto wearinesse my family hauing now ouercome all household-distractions inuites mee to our common deuotions not without some short preparation These hartily performed send mee vp with a more strong and chearefull appetite to my former worke which I find made easie to me by intermission and variety Now therefore can I deceiue the houres with change of pleasures that is of labours One while mine eyes are busied another while my hand sometimes my minde takes the burden from them both Wherein I would imitate the skilfullest Cookes which make the best dishes with manifold mixtures one houre is spent in Textuall Diuinity another in Controuersy histories relieue them both Now when the minde is weary of others labors it begins to vndertake hir owne sometimes it meditates and windes vp for future vse sometimes it layes foorth her conceits into present discourse sometimes for it selfe ofter for others Neither know I whether it workes or playes in these thoughts I am sure no sport hath more pleasure no work more vse Only the decay of a weake body makes me thinke these delights insensibly laborious Thus could I all day as Ringers vse make my selfe Musicke with chaunges and complain sooner of the day for shortnesse then of the businesse for toyle were it not that this faint moniter interrupts me stil in the midst of my busie pleasures and inforces me both to respite repast I must yeeld to both my body and mind are ioyned together in these vnequal couples the better must follow the weaker Before my meales therefore and after I let my selfe loose from all thoughts and now would forget that I euer studyed A full minde takes away the bodies appetite no lesse then a full body makes a dull and vnweildy minde Company discourse recreations are now seasonable and welcome These prepare me for a diet not gluttonous but medicinall The Palate may not be pleased but the stomack nor that for it owne sake Neither woulde I thinke any of these comforts woorth respect in themselues but in their vse in their end so farre as they may inable me to better things If I see any
dish to tempt my Palate J feare a Serpent in that Apple and would please my selfe in a wilfull denyall I rise capable of more not desirous not now immediately from my Trencher to my Booke but after some intermission Moderate speede is a sure helpe to all proceedings where those things which are prosecuted with violence of indeuour or desire either succeed not or continue not After my latter meale my thoughts are slight onely my memorie may be charged with her Taske of recalling what was committed to her custodie in the day and my heart is busie in examining mine hands and mouth all other sences of that dayes behauiour And now the Euening is come no Trades-man doth more carefully take in his Wares cleare his Shoppeboord and shut his Windowes then J would shut vp my thoughts clear my minde That Student shall liue miserably which like a Camell lies down vnder his burden All this done calling together my familie we end the day with God Thus do wee rather driue away the time before vs then follow it I graunt neither is my practise worthy to be exemplarie neither are our callings proportionable The lyues of a Nobleman of a Courtier of a Scholler of a Cittizen of a Countreyman differ no lesse then their dispositions yet must all conspire in honest labour Sweat is the destiny of all trades whether of the browes or of the minde God neuer allowed anie man to do nothing How miserable is the condition of those men which spend the time as if it were giuen thē and not lent as if houres were waste Creatures and such as should neuer be accounted for as if GOD would take this for a good Bil of reckoning Item spent vpon my pleasures fortie yeares These men shal once finde that no bloud can priuiledge idlenes and that nothing is more precious to God then that which they desire to cast away Tyme Such are my common daies but Gods day cals for another respect The same Sunne arises on this day and enlightens it yet because that Sun of righteousnesse arose once vpon it gaue a new life vnto the world in it drew the strength of Gods moral precept vnto it therfore iustly do we sing with the psalmist This is the day which the Lorde hath made Now I forget the world and in a sort my selfe and deale with my wonted thoughts as great men vse who at sometimes of their priuacie forbid the accesse of all suters Prayer Meditation reading hearing preaching singing good conference are the businesses of this day which I dare not bestow on anie worke or pleasure but heauenly J hate superstition on the one side and loosenesse on the other but I finde it harde to offend in too much deuotion easie in profanenesse The whole Week is sanctified by this day and according to my care of this is my blessing on the rest I show your Lordship what I would do and what I ought I commit my desires to the imitation of the weake my actions to the censures of the Wise and Holye my weakenesses to the pardon and redresse of my mercifull God EPIST. II. To Mr. T. S. Dedicated to Sir Fulke Greuill ¶ Discoursing how wee may vse the Worlde without daunger HOwe to liue out of the daunger of the Worlde is both a great good care and that which troubles too fewe Some that the World may not hurt them run frō it banish themselues to the toppes of solitary Mountaines changing the Cities for Deserts houses for Gaues and the societie of men for beasts and least their enimy might insinuate himselfe into their secrecy haue abridged themselues of dyet cloathing lodging harbour fit for reasonable creatures seeming to haue left off themselues no lesse then companions As if the Worlde were not euery where as if wee could hide our selues from the Diuel as if solitarinesse were priuiledged from Temptations as if wee did not more violently affect restrained delights as if these Hieromes did not finde Rome in their hart when they had nothing but rockes trees in their eye Hence these places of retyrednesse founded at first vppon necessity mixt with deuotion haue proued infamously vnclean Cels of lust not of piety This course is preposterous If I were worthy to teach you a better way learne to bee an Hermit at home Begin with your owne heart estraunge and weane it from the loue not from the vse of the world Christianity hath taught vs nothing if wee haue not learned this distinction It is a great weakenesse not to see but wee must be inamored Elisha saw the secret state of the Syrian court yet as an enemy The blessed Angelles see our earthly affayres but as strangers Moses his body was in the Court of Pharaoh amongest the delicate Egiptians his heart was suffering with the afflicted Israelites Lot tooke part of the fayre Medowes of Sodom not of theyr sinnes Our blessed Sauiour sawe the glory of al Kingdomes contemned them and cannot the world look vpon vs Christians but wee are be witched We see the Sun daily warme vs at his beames yet make not an Idol of it doth any man hide his face least he should adore it All our safetie or danger therefore is from within In vaine is the body an Anachoret if the heart be a Ruffian And if that bee retyred in affections the body is but a Cipher Lo then the eyes will looke carelessely and strangely in what they see and the tongue will sometimes answere to that was not asked We eate and recreate because wee must not because we would and when wee are pleased wee are suspicious Lawfull delights we neyther refuse nor dote vpon and all contentments goe and come like strangers That all this may be done take vp your hart with better thoughts be sure it will not be empty if Heauen haue fore-stalled all the roomes the Worlde is disappointed and eyther dares not offer or is repulsed Fixe your selfe vpon the glory of that eternity which abides you after this short pilgrimage You cannot but contemne what you find in comparison of what you expect Leaue not til you attaine to this that you are willing to liue because ye cannot as yet be dissolued Be but one halfe vppon earth let your better part conuerse aboue whence it is and enioy that whereto it was ordained Thinke how little the World can doe for you and what it doth how deceitfully vvhat stings there are with this Hony vvhat farewell succeeds this Welcome When this Iael brings you Milk in the one hand know shee hath a nayle in the other Aske your heart what it is the better what the merrier for all those pleasures where with it hath befriended you let your own trial teach you contempt Thinke how sincere how glorious those ioyes are which abide you elsevvhere and a thousand times more certaine though future then the present And let not these thoughts be flying but fixed Jn vaine do we meditate if
euill Behold they speake for it ioy in it boast of it inforce to it as if they vvould send challenges into heauen make loue to destruction Their leudnesse cals for our sorrowe and zealous obedience that our God may haue as true Seruants as enimies And as vvee see naturall qualities increased vvith the resistaunce of theyr contraries so must our grace vvith others sinnes We shal redeeme somvvhat of Gods dishonour by sinne if vve shal thence grovv holye EPIST. IIII. To Mr. Doctor Milburne ¶ Discoursing how farre and wherein Popery destroyeth the foundation THe meane in all thinges is not more safe then hard whether to finde or keep as in al other morality it lyeth in a narrow roome so most in the matter of our censures especially concerning Religion wherein we are wont to be eyther carelesse or too peremptory How farre and wherein Popery raceth the foundation is worth our inquiry I neede not stay vpon wordes By foundation we mean the necessary groundes of Christian faith This foundation Papistry defaces by laying a new by casting downe the old In these cases addition destroyes he that obtrudes a new worde no lesse ouerthrowes the Scripture then hee that denÌ„yes the olde yea this very obtrusion denies he that sets vp a newe Christ reiects Christ Two foundations cannot stand at once The Arke and Dagon Now Papistry layes a double how foundation The one a new rule of faith that is a new word The other a new Author or guide of Faith that is a newe head besides Christ God neuer layde other foundation then in the Prophets and Apostles vpon their Diuine writing he meant to build his Church which hee therefore inspired that they might be like himselfe perfect and eternall Popery buildes vppon an vn-written word the voyce of old but doubtful Traditions The voyce of the present Church that is as they interpret it theyrs with no lesse confidence and presumption of certainety then any thing euer Written by the finger of God If this be not a new foundation the old was none God neuer taught this holy Spouse to knowe any other husband theÌ„ Christ to acknowledge any other head to followe any other Shepheard to obey any other King he alone may be inioyed without iealousie submitted to without danger without errour beleeued serued without scruple Popery offers to impose on Gods Church a King shepheard head husband besides her owne A man a man of sin He must know all things can erre in nothing direct inform animate coÌ„mand both in earth and Purgatory expounde Scriptures cannonize Saints forgiue Sins create new Articles of Faith and in all these is absolute and infallible as his Maker who sees not that if to attribute these things to the son of God bee to make him the foundation of the Church Then to ascribe them to another is to contradict him that sayde Other foundation can no man lay then that which is layde which is Iesus Christ. To lay a new foundation doth necessarily subuert the old yet see this further actually done in particulars wherein yet this distinction may cleare the way The foundation is ouerthrowne two wayes either in flat tearmes when a mayne principle of faith is absolutely denyed as the deity and consubstantiality of the sonne by Arrius the Trinity of persons by Sabellius and Seruetus the resurrection of the bodye by Himeneus and Philetus the last Iudgement by Saint Peters Mockers Or secondly by consequent when anie opinion is maintained which by iust sequell ouer turneth the trueth of that principle which the defendant professes to holde yet so as hee will not graunt the necessity of that deduction so the Ancient Mâ—nâ—i of whom Ierom speaketh while they vrged Circumcision by consequent according to Paules rule reiected Christ so the Pelagians while they defended a full perfection of our righteoushes in our selues ouerthrew Christes iustification and in effect sayde I beleeue in Christ and in myselfe so some Vbiauitaries while they hold the possibility of the conuersion and saluation of reprobates ouerthrow the Doctrine of Gods eternall decree and immutability Popery comes in this latter rank and may iustly be tearmed heresie by direct consequent Though not in their graunt yet in necessarie proofe and inference Thus it ouerthrowes the truth of Christs humanity while it holds his whole humaine body locally circumscribed in heauen at once the same instant wholy present in ten thousand places on earth without circumscription That whole Christ is in the formes of bread with all his dimensions euery part hauing his own place and figure and yet so as that he is wholly in euery part of the breade Our iustification while it ascribes it to our owne workes The Al-sufficiency of Christs owne Sacrifice whiles they reiterate it daily by the handes of a Priest Of his satisfaction while they holde a payment of our vtmost farthings in a deuised Purgatory Of his mediation while they implore others to ayde them not only by their intercession but their merites suing not onely for their Prayes but their gifts The value of the Scriptures whiles they hold them insufficient obscure in points essentiall to saluation bind them to an vncertaine dependance vpon the Church Besides hundreds of this kind there are heresies in actions contrary to those fundamentall practises which God requires of his As prohibitions of Scriptures to the Laity Prescriptions of deuotion in vnknowne tongues Tying the effect of Sacraments and Prayers to the externall worke Adoration of Angels Saints Bread Reliques Crosses Jmages All which are as so many reall vnderminings of the sacred foundation which is no lesse actiue then vocall By this the simplest may see what we must holde of Papists neyther as no Heretiques nor yet so palpable as the worst If any man aske for theyr conuiction In the simpler sort I grant this excuse fayre and tollerable Poore soules they cannot bee any otherwise informed much lesse perswaded Whiles in trueth of heart they hold the maine principles which they know doubtlesse the mercie of God may passe ouer their ignorant weakenesse in what they cannot know For the other I feare not to say that many of their errours are wilfull The light of truth hath shined out of heauen to them and they loue darkenesse more then light Jn this state of the Church hee shall speake and hope idly that shall call for a publique and vniuersall euiction How can that be when they pretend to bee Iudges in their owne cause Vnlesse they wil not be aduersaries to themselues or iudge of vs this course is but impossible As the Diuell so Antichrist will not yeelde both shall bee subdued neyther will treat of peace what remains but that the Lorde shall consume that wicked man which is now clearely reuealed with the breath of his mouth abolish him with the brightnes of his coÌ„ming Euen so Lord Iesus come quickly This briefly is my conceit of Popery which I willingly refer to your clear deepe iudgement being
Christ her husband neuer diuorc't her No his loue is still aboue their hatred his blessinges aboue their censures Do but ask them were we euer the true church of God If they deny it Who then were so Had God neuer Church vpon earth since the Apostles time till Barrow Greenwood arose And euen then scarce a number nay when or where was euer any man in the worlde except in the Schooles perhaps of Donatus or Nouatus that taught their Doctrine and now still hath hee none but in a blind lane at Amsterdam Can you thinke this probable If they affirme it when ceased we Are not the pointes controuerted still the same The same Gouernment the same doctrine Their minds are changed not our estate Who hath admonished euinced eccommunicated vs and when All these must be done Will it not be a shame to say that Francis Iohnson as he tooke power to excommunicate his Brother and Father so had power to excōmunicate his Mother the Church How base and idle are these conceits Are we then heretickes condemned in ourselues wherin ouerthroew wee the foundation What other God Sauiour Scriptures Iustification Sacraments Heauen do they teach beside vs Can al the Maisters of seperation yea can al the churches in Christendome set forth a more exquisite and woorthy confession of Faith then is contained in the Articles of the Church of England Who can hold these and be hereticall Or from which of these are we reuolted But to make this good they haue taught you to say that euery trueth in Scripture is fundamentall so fruitfull is errour of absurdities Whereof stil one breedes another more deformed then it selfe That Trophimus was left at Miletum sicke that Pauls Cloake was left at Troas that Gaius Paules hoast saluted the Romaines that Naball was drunke or that Thamar baked Cakes and a thousand of this nature are fundamentall how large is the separatists Creed that hath all these Articles If they say al Scripture is of the same author of the same authority so say we but not of the same vse is it as necessary for a Christian to knowe that Peter hosted with one Simon a tanner in Ioppd as that Iesus Christ the son of God was born of the Virgin Mary What a mōster is this of an opiniō that al trueths are equal that this spiritual house should be all foundation no wals no roofe Can no man be saued but hee that knowes euery thing in scripture Then both they and we are excluded heauē wold not haue so many as their Parlor at Amsterdam Can any man be saued that knowes nothing in Scripture It is far frō them to bee so ouercharitable to affirm it you see thē that both al truths must not of necessity be known some must these we iustly call fundamental which who so holdeth al his hay stubble through the mercy of God condemn him not stil he hath right to the church on erth hope in heauē but whither euery truth be fundamētal or necessary discipline you say is so indeed necessary to the wel-being of a church no more it may be true without it not perfect Christ cōpares his spouse to an army with banners as order is to an army so is Discipline to the Church if the troups be not well marshalled in their seuerall ranks moue not forward acording to the discipline of warre it is an army stil cōfusion may hinder their succes it cannot bereaue thē of their name it is as beautiful proportiō to the body an hedge to a vineyard a wal to a Citty an hem to a garment seeling to an house It may be a body vineyard Citty garment house without them it cannot be wel and perfect yet which of our aduersaries vvill say wee haue no Discipline Some they graunt but not the right as if they sayde Your Citty hath a Bricke-wall indeede but it should haue one of hewen stone your Vineyard is hedged but it should be paled ditched while they cauill at what wee want wee thanke God for what wee haue and so much we haue in spight of all detraction as makes vs both a true Church and a worthy one But the mayn quarrel is against our Ministery and forme of worship let these be examined this is the Circle of their censure No Church therefore no Ministery and no Ministery therefore no Church vnnatural sons that spit in the face of those spirituall Fathers that be got them and the Mother that bore them What woulde they haue Haue wee not competent guifts from aboue for so great a function Are we all vnlearned vnsufficient Not a man that knowes to deuide the word aright As Paul to the Corinthes is it so that there is not one wise man amongest vs No man vvill affirm it some of them haue censured our excesse in some knowledge none our defect in all What then Haue we not a true desire to do faithful seruice to God and his Church No zeal for Gods glory Who hath beene in our harts to see this Who dare vsurp vpon God condemn our thoughts Yea we appeale to that only Iudge of harts whether he hath not giuen vs a sincere longing for the good of his Syon he shall make the thoughts of al hearts manifest and then shall euerie man haue praise of God if then wee haue both ability and will to do publick good our inward calling which is the mayne poynt is good and perfect for the outward what want wee Are we not first after good triall presented approued by the learned in our Colledges examined by our church-gouernors ordaind by imposition of hāds of the eldership alowed by the congregations we are set ouer do we not labor in word doctrine do we not carefully administer the sacraments of the Lord Iesus haue we not by our publick means won many soules to God what shuld we haue do more Al this yet no true Ministers we passe very little to be iudged of thē or of mans day but our ordainers you say are Antichristian surely our censurers are vnchristian tho we shold grant it some of vs were baptized by hereticks is the sacrament annihilated and must it bee redoubled How much lesse ordination which is but an outward admission to preach the gospel God forbid that we shold thus condemne the innocent more hands were laid vpon vs then one of them for the principall except but their perpetual honor som few immateriall rites let an enemy say what they differ from Super-intendents can their double honor make them no elders Jf they haue any personal falts why is their calling scourged Looke into our Sauiours times what corruptions were in the very Priesthood It was now made annual which was before fixed singular Christ saw these abuses was silent heere was much dislike and no clamour we for lesse exclaim seperate euen personal offences are fetcht into the condemnation of lawfull courses God giue both pardon