destroy them that hate me that I might breake them as small as the dust of the earth and tread them flat as the clay of the streete O giue thankes vnto the Lord for he is gracious and his mercy endureth for euer Let Israel now confesse that he is gracious and that his mercy endureth for euer Let the house of Aaron now confesse that his mercy endureth for euer Yea let all such as feare the Lord now confesse that his mercy endureth for euer All the Congregations of the Saints in the whole world haue good cause to thanke God our strength and deliuerer Scotland hath good cause for if England had been but a Tuesday breakefast assuredly Scotland should haue been but a Fridaies drinking one morsell as it were for the greedy deuourer The Churches in France relieued often by vs haue good cause to reioyce with vs. Our neighbours of Holland haue good cause to triumphe as they doe for if our house had been set on fire their house being the next would haue been quickly pulled downe The Churches in Germanie Denmarke Hungarie Geneua likewise haue good cause to praise God in this noble act according to his excellent greatnesse More principally the Common-weale of England and in it all men of all factions and all fashions whatsoeuer Atheists if they thinke there be a God haue good cause to thanke God acknowledging his mercie toward them in sparing vs and so sauing the bad for the righteous sake Carnall Gospellers haue good cause to thanke God confessing that so long as Let is in Sodome it cannot be destroyed and so long as Moses standeth in the gap and prayeth for his people Gods wrathfull indignation cannot deuoure vs. Yea let the Gunpowder men themselues if they haue any sparke of grace confesse that God is to bee praised in this noble act for suppose God be thanked we may suppose and dispose thus of these matters vnto our comfort I say suppose their diuelish plot had been acted I assure my selfe our cause had been farre better and our number farre greater then theirs and as for our sinnes which are indeede our greatest enemies they would haue brought into the field so many as we so that hauing so much armour of light and more armour of proofe then they Causa iubet melior superos sperare secundos But suppose the least and the worst part had ouercome the bigger and the better yet if they bee not hewen out of hard rockes if these Romanists haue not sucked the milke of wolues as it is reported of the first founder of Rome they would haue relented to see their natiue Country made nothing els but a very shambles of Italian and lgnatian butchers When Alexander saw the dead corps of Darius and Iulius Caesar the head of Pompey and Marcus Marcellus Syracuse burn and Scipio Numantia spoild and Titus Hierusalem made euen with the ground they could not abstaine from weeping albeit they were mortall enemies But aboue all other in this kingdome the truely zealous and zealously true hearted protestants haue greatest occasion of reioycing for if the Lord had not according to his excellent greatnes and according to his excellent goodnes too deliuered vs out of this gun-powder gulfe our bodies happily might haue beene made food for the foules or else sewel for the fire and that which would haue grieued our posterity more superstition and Idolatry might in short time haue beene replanted in this land I meane that vpstart Antichristian religion of Rome wherein many things especially foure as iudicious Fox well obserued are most abominable 1. Vnlimited iurisdiction derogatorie to all Kings and Emperours 2. Insolent titles preiudiciall to all Bishops and Prelates 3. Corrupt doctrine iniurious to all Christians 4. Filthie life detestable to all men The greater was our danger the greater was our deliuerance the greater our deliuerance the greater our thankes should be for as it followeth in my text God is to be praised according to his excellent greatnes It is true that our most and best praises are few for the number and little for the measure whereas God is infinite for his goodnes and in his greatnes incomprehensible so that the meaning of Dauid is that wee should praise him according to our capacity and not according to his immensity according to the grace bestowed vpon vs and not according to the glory which is in him Ecclesiasticus 43. 30. praise the Lord and magnifie him as much as ye can yet doth he farre exceed Exalt him with all your power and be not weary yet can ye not attaine vnto it Now where the Lord giueth a greater meane there he requireth a greater measure where he bestoweth a greater portion of giftes he doth expect a greater proportion of glory wherefore seeing the Lord hath out of his abundant mercy conferred vpon this kingdome inestimable blessings in the preaching of his word for the space of more then fifty yeares it is questionles hee lookes for no little thankes or small praise but for great thankes and great praise according to his excellent greatnes manifested in this our deliuerance I come therefore to the second part of this Psalme shewing with what God is to be praised in the sound of the trumpet c. God is to be praised saith Augustine totis votis de totis vobis with all your soules with al your selues That therefore we may manifest our inward affections by such outward actions as are commendable where there bee trumpets let them sound where there be lutes and harpes let thē strike vp where there be loud Cymbals and well tuned Cymbals let them ring let thē sing the praises of God for this our most happy deliuerance let trumpet and tongue viol and voice lute life witnes our harty reioycing in the Lord If our true zeale were more fiery within it would doubtlesse breake forth into moe publike workes then it doth against that bloody brood of the gun-powder crue There haue beene many collections in euery dioces for the reedifying of the Churches of Saint Albanes and Arthuret the which I assure my selfe were good workes there haue bin in this latter age many gorgeous I might say glorious buildings erected about and in this honorable City to the great ornament of our Country the which I thinke you may number among your good workes there haue bin lotteryes to further Virginean enterprises and these for any thing I know were good workes also there haue bin many new play-houses and one faire Burse lately built Paris garden in a flourishing estate makes a great noyse still and as I heare Charing Crosse shall haue a new coat too but in the meane time while so many monuments are raised either to the honour of the dead or else for the profit and pleasure of the liuing dic mihi musa virum I pray muse and shew me the man who ioynes with that euer zealous reuerend learned Deane in founding
they likewise say Maria consolatio infirmorum redemptio captiuorum liberatio damnatorum salus vniuersorum Giselbertus in lib. altercationis Synagogae et ecclesiae cap. 20. Maria quasi maria saith Augustinus de Leonissa sermon 5 vpon Aue maria for as all riuers come from the seas and returne to the seas againe Ecclesiastes 1. 7 so forsooth if you will vndertake to beleeue him all grace is deriued from Mary and ought to be returned again to Mary We finde so much in Rosario Mariae reparatrix saluatrix desperantis animae c. That which is worse their owne Pope who cannot as they teach erre in a poynt of doctrine as Pope calleth her expresly Deam Pet. Bembus in his epistles written in Pope Leo 10. name lib. 8. epist. 17. printed at Strasburg an 1609. that which is worst of all in their most approued Bible they translate Gen. 3. 15. ipsa conteret caput tuum she shall breake thine head although as their owne Iesuit Ribera confesseth honestly the Hebrew text the Chaldee paraphrase the translation of the Septuagint and all good Latin copies reade ipse conteret he shall bruise the serpents head applying it to Christ according to that of Paul The God of peace shall tread downe Satan vnder your feete Rom. 16. 20. by this euidence you may see that the gunpowder crue praise not God in the saints nor the saints in God but on the contrarie the saints as God Againe these S. Peter men and as I haue warrant to terme them on this day Salt Peter men erre from the true meaning of our text because they doe not praise God in sanctis eius in his saints but dishonour God in sanctis eorum in saints of their owne making vsually praying vnto some who were no men and to many who were not holy men It is doubted by the two great lights in their glorious firmament Bellarmine and Baronius whether there were euer any such man as S. George or such a woman as S. Catharine Cardinall Bellarmine lib. de beatitudine sanct cap. vlt. § respondeo sanctorum doth acknowledge that they worship certaine saints whose stories are vncertaine reputing the legend of S. George apocryphall according to the censure of Pope Gelasius and Cardinall Baronius ecclesiast annal Tom. 2. ad an 290. according to the impression at Rome fol. 650. as also de Martyrologio Romano cap. 2. confesseth as much of Quiriacus and Iulitta declaring plainely that their acts are written either by fooles or heretikes and in his annotations vpon the Romane Martyrologie 23. Aprill he taketh vp Iacobus de Voragine for his leaden Legend of our English S. George concluding in fine that the picture of Saint George fighting with a Dragon is symbolicall and not historicall If the Scripture be true whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne then assuredly these men as Paul speaks are damned of their owne selues in their owne conscience who notwithstanding all their doubts pray still in their publike seruice Deus qui nos beati Georgij martyris tui meritis intercessione laetificas Concede propitius c. An Idoll as Paul affirmes 1. Cor. 8. 4. is nothing Ergo the Papists in worshipping S. George which is nothing commit euen themselues being Iudges abominable Idolatrie As they worship some who were no men so many who were not holy men as a reuerend Doctor of our Church accutely Non matyris domini sed mancipes diaboli the Souldiour who peirced Christs holy side was a Pagan neither doth any storie which is authenticall speake of his conuersion and yet they worship him vnder the name of S. Longinus or Longesse March 15. Papias as Eusebius and Hierome report held the heresie of the Millenarians and yet he is honoured as a saint in the Romane Calender vpon the 22. of Februarie Becket was a bad subiect in his life and no good Christian at his death in that hee commended himselfe and the cause of his Church vnto S. Denys and our Lady Yet S. Thomas of Canterburie was honoured at Canterburie in the daies of popish ignorance more then either the worlds Sauiour or the blessed Virgine his mother in which relation I appeale to the records of that Church as also to the very stones vnder his shrine worne with the knees and hands of such as came thither to worship him Boccace reporteth how one Sir Chappelet a notorious Italian Vsurer and Cousoner came to be honoured as a Saint in France Sanders among them is a saint albeit he liued in plotting and dyed in acting rebellion against his gracious Soueraigne Queene Elizabeth of famous and blessed memorie Nay Dauus is Diuus Saul is among the Prophets pater personatus father Parsons all the daies of his life was a perpetual Martyr as his fellow Ribadeneira termeth him and yet one who sometime was his inner man and knew him as I presume better then euer did Ribadeneira transposing the letters of Robertus Pársonius Iesuita found this anagramme Personatus versuti oris abi the wit-foundred drunkard Henry Garnet who did not according to the Counsell of Paul vse vino modico but as Paulinus pretily modio that lecherous treacherous Arch-priest Arch-traitor Arch-diuell in concealing if not in contriuing in patronizing if not in plotting the powder intended massacre is returned a Saint from beyond the seas with à sancte Henrice intercede pro nobis his action is iustified his life commended his death honoured his miracles and memorie celebrated by that Ignatian spirit portentum nominis portentum hominis hauing a great deale of name though a very little modestie Andreas Eudaemon Ioannes Cydonius but notwithstanding his apologie the saintship of Henry Garnet is so buffeted by the replies and antilogies of our accuratlie learned diuines as that his straw face will hereafter hardly be worth a straw Catesbie Winter Rookwood and the rest of the Cole-saints and hole-saints who laboured in the diuels mine by the Popes mint are numbred among the holy ones also Babilon and Egypt praise God in them and for them I haue heard much of roaring gentlemen in London and Canterburie but if the Lord himselfe had not watched ouer his Church if the Lord himselfe had not written England in the palmes of his hands if the Lord himselfe had not kept King Iames as the apple of his eye if the Lord himselfe had not been on our side now may Gods Israell in England say if the Lord himselfe had not been on our side when they rose vp against vs if the Lord himselfe had not out of his vnspeakeable goodnesse toward vs and our posteritie broken their snares and deliuered our soules out of that horrible gunpowder pit these bellowing Buls of Basan and Canon-mouthed hell-hounds would haue made on this day such a roare that all Christendome should haue felt it and the whole world haue feared it O
his courts attend vs and pitch their tents about vs a doctrine very profitable very comfortable yet for as much as I hold it lesse pertinent to the present occasion I thus ouerpasse it and hast to that other exposition interpreting these words as our Church readeth of Gods noble acts Now the workes of God are of two sorts ad intra ad extra some be confined within himselfe other extended towards vs works of the sacred Trinitie within it selfe as that the Father begets and the Sonne is begotten and the holy Ghost proceeds from both are wonderfull acts of such an high nature that it is our dutie rather simply to adore then subtilly to explore them all his acts extended toward vs are summarilie reduced vnto two namely the works of creation and redemption The worke of creation is attributed in the Masse of the matter to God the Father in the disposition of the forme to God the Sonne in the preseruation of both to God the holy Ghost So likewise that of redemption in election vnto God the Father in the consummation vnto God the Sonne in the application vnto the holy Ghost all which are very noble acts and God is to be praised in them according to his excellent greatnesse The worke of creation is so mightie that none could bring it to passe but the Father almightie that God should haue nothing but nothing whereof wherewith whereby to build this high huge goodly faire frame is a principle which nature cannot teach and Philosophie will not beleeue The worke of redemption is of farre greater might and mercy for the making of the world was if I may so speke onely lip-labour vnto God he spake the word and it was done be commanded and it stoodfast Psalm 33. 9. but Christ in redeeming the world said many words and did many wonders and suffered also many wounds It is true that the least ake of his least finger is infiniti meriti sed non definiti meriti that is of an infinite merit yet not that determined ransome for the sinnes of the whole world It cost him more to redeeme soules he dyed for our sinnes and rose againe for our iustification hee suffered for vs and that death and that a violent death and of all violent deaths the most accursed death on the Crosse. The worke of sanctification is a noble act also for euery man if you rightly consider his making is a wonder I am saith our Prophet fearfully and wonderfully made but a good man if you consider his new making is a wonderfull wonder as Paul speakes a spectacle to men and Angles as the vulgar Latine runnes in the 68. Psalme at the last verse mirabilis deus in sanctis O God wonderfull art thou in thy Saints But Dauid here meaneth especially the valiant acts of God in gouerning garding his people from their enemies O come hither and behold the workes of God how wonderfull hee is in his doing toward the Children of men he turned the sea into drye land so that his people went on foot thorough the middest of the sea the waters were a wall vnto them on the right hand and on their left but the waues of the Sea returned and couered the chariots and horsemen euen all the hoast of Pharaoh that pursued them Almighty God raigned hailstones out of heauen vpon the cursed Amorites at Bethoran and they were more saith the text that dyed with the haile then they whom the Children of Israell slew with the sword And when Duke Iosua prayed Sunne stay thou in Gibeon thou Moone in the valey of Aialon the Sunne abode and the Moone stood still vntill the people auenged themselues vpon their enemies When Zenacherib and his innumerous hoast came to fight against Hezekiah King of Iuda Gods Angell in one night flew an hundred eighty and fiue thousand Assyrians 2. Kings 19. And vndoubtedly beloued there is no nation vnder the cope of Heauen hath had greater occasion to praise God in this kind then England the preseruation of the most illustrious princesse the Lady Elizabeth vnder the fiery triall of her vnkind sister Queene Marie was a noble act and the seminary of much happinesse vnto this kingdome for many yeares after and so much the more noble because Philip King of Spaine hath often confessed that he spared her life when wildy Winchester and bloodie Bonner had brought her into the snare not out of any pietie or pittie but onely out of policie Her exaltation to the Crowne was another noble act so noble that some Popish Prelats in their enuie burst a sunder and dyed for very griefe of heart Well might that good Lady sing and say with the blessed Virgine He that is mightie hath magnified me and holy is his name he hath put downe the mightie from their seat and hath exalted the humble and meeke her flourishing in health wealth and godlinesse more then 44. yeares in despite of all her foes abroad at home schismaticall hereticall open intestine was another noble act for after once the Bull of Pope Pius Quintus had roared and his fat Calues had begunne to bellow in this Island there passed neuer a yeare neuer a moneth neuer a weeke I thinke I might say neuer a day neuer an houre but some mischiefe was intended either against her person or her people the resisting of the rebellion in the Northerne parts of England was a noble act the discouering and so consequently the defeating of Campians treason a noble act of Parris treason a noble act of the Lupus Lopus his treason a noble act of Squires treason a noble act Her glorious victories against her fell and insolent enemies the Spaniards in Ireland in Flanders in France in their owne dominions of Portugal Indies and Spaine were noble acts It was a wonder of wonders that a Mayden Queene should at one time be both a staffe to Flanders and a stay to France a terror to Pope a mirror to Turke feared abroad loued at home Mistresse of the Sea wonder of the world Shee might truely bee called a Prince of Peace for shee was Crowned in Peace shee liued in Peace she dyed in Peace she was buried in Peace and when shee had slept with her Fathers it was another noble act of the Lord to send vs in the midst of all our feare so learned so meeke so pious a Prince as King Iames in such exceeding sweet peace that neuer a sword was drawn happily neuer a word spoken against him All these were noble acts and ought to be had in a perpetuall remembrance But of all other noble preseruations Our deliuerance from that intended mercilesse and matchlesse Massacre both in fact and fiction the fifth of Nouember in the yeare 1605. is most noblie noble King Iames on this day might haue said with King Dauid O Lord which art my rocke and my fortresse thou hast giuen me the necks of mine enemies that I might