hearts We shal find in the books of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel farre greater spoyles expulsions breakings hewing downe and ransacking of those good kings Ezechiah Iosiah then these were Wherefore these things now should not séeme strange or wonderful vnto vs. And these Kings of Ecclesiasticus in the greater number of other Kings which builded those high places which plāted those groues which ordeined these Priests these Kings I saye which pulled downe their buildings cut downe their plantings and expelled their Priests are counted only famous not infamous onely religions not impious not spoylers but reformers of Gods house Eccl. 49. ver 4. These be his word All kings except Dauid Ezechias and Iosias haue done wickedly For the kings of Iudah forsaking the lawe of the Lord haue forsaken God himselfe These three kings did laye wast groues aulters high places but they forsooke not the lawe of the Lord and therefore their horne is exalted with glorye and their remembrances is for euer So truely with the Lord with al godly faithful men which dare ground their faith on Gods word Our kings which haue pulled downe the Abbeyes expelled their Munkes are also famous and in great estimation Wee may saye O thrise happie and faire Sunneshine dayes of ours the which all the cloudes of ignorance being dispersed all the vailes of superstition being rent in peeces all the monumentes and pillers of Idolatrie being pulled downe haue Iesus Christ the true Sonne of righteousnes of saluation and trueth moste clearely shining and with his beames most plainly glistering in them Neither doe I here iustifie or allowe the wickednes of the world which dayly increaseth the charitie of many which is waxed colde nay plainly frosen Neither do I commend all the ground which we the Lordes husbandmen do till but the fourth parte onely which receiueth the seede and keepeth it We must needes confesse wee haue much thornie grounde much stonie ground manie high wayes wherein we are some time compelled to throwe the Lords seede Therefore I doe not allowe here or commend that olde beaten waye of Papistrie which many do followe when they come to the Church to heare the word of God thinking thus with themselues what seede soeuer shal be sowen in their hearts they will not receiue it They will beleeue as they haue beleeued Neither the stonie grounde of time seruers which ground their religion vpon the Prince and not vpon God and will turne which way the Prince turneth Neither the thornie ground of couetous men which in the Church receiue the worde of God gladly but when they come home or into the field their chestes and their hedges choake it All these groundes I allowe not And these are too too common in euery fielde in euery towne That same beaten waye moste olde men followe that same stonie waye hypocrites treade that same thornie waye couetous misers trace And these being put altogether they will make a great shewe But there shall be such alwayes Our Sauiour hath tolde vs before Therefore the faithfull marueil not when they meete withall and see many such But yet for al this their barrainnesse and vnfruitfulnes cannot nor ought not to defraud or depriue the fourth ground the good grounde the Lordes field of his iust praise and commendation which of one seede yeeldes vnto the Lord some thirtie some sixtie some an hundred folde of fruite This land is worthie of praise and such lande the Lorde be thanked we haue amongst vs. I may iustly pronounce our dayes happie and our selues vnhappie of whome nowe verie many of vs stumble at noone daye and slyde in the light runne headlong into the pittes of sinne in the Sunneshine who woulde not praise the clearenes of our time our Sunneshine our great light and knowledge And againe who would not wonder at the foolishnes and sottishnes of manye men the blindnes of their eyes the stumbling of their feete their falling downe euen groueling for all this light Who would beléeue that charitie should waxe colde in such daily kindling of the Lordes fire amongest vs that couetousnes should once appeare amongest vs being so daily and diligently wed out and plucked vp by the rootes that vsurie durst once shewe her face being arraigned and condemned so often in all courtes by all lawes in all languages both in Lattine and English That oppression of any landlordes to their tenants should be once named thought on or felt amongest vs in such great knowledge of brotherly loue These are the blockishnes of men These are the blindnes of their eyes whose mindes as the Apostle saith the Prince of this world hath blinded lest the glorious light of the Gospel should shine vnto them This is no iust complaint or condemnation of the dayes then the which daies the Lorde gaue to the worlde neuer any more cleare more blessed more laden with all blessings the lanterne of his worde the sunne of his Gospell so many cleare and innumerable starres of his ministers shining glistering and flourishing amongest vs. They therefore that stumble in such great light maye condeme themselues not the times the men not the dayes their wilfull negligence not our wonderfull Sunshine But the greatest and most grieuous and dangerous complaint of all followeth Manye vrge the discentions of our time and the sectes that like Tares are sprung vp with the Gospell and the bitter speaches and sharpe contentions of the professors of the Gospell amongst thēselues They remember not that amongst the Parables of his kingdome our Sauiour also intermingled this of the Tares sowen by the enuious man euen in the midst of his wheat to haue stopped the mouthes of his disciples which maruelled at this and were greatly troubled at this matter by his commaundement and authoritie And also in his doctrine to haue many times taught this principall point to strengthen their faith and to auoide the offences of the wicked chiefe of all other Do ye thinke that I am come to set peace vppon the earth No but rather diuision and this diuision is the ouerthrowe of Sathan the breache of his peace the ouerthrowe of his kingdome For Sathan the diuel himselfe hath a peace in his kingdome as in another place our Sauiour doth teach vs or else his kingdome could not stand and the world loues her owne This peace the doctrine of our Sauiour Iesus Christ breakes and quite takes away The boundes of Lawes shal be broken for my name saith our Sauiour nay the bonds of Nature and that into two partes nay into twentie partes from henceforth there shall be fiue in one house deuyded three against two and two against thrée A small number was wont to be the mother of loue and a greate many the mother of sedition and quarels but here neither frwnes of number nor nighnes of kinred shal make peace for the father shal be at variance against the sonne and the sonne against his father And the mother
their hospitalitie euen as Sathans Apple all their curtesies as Iudas kisse an vnhappie present to mankinde a cruell curtesie and a pestilent liberalitie But yet for all this saith one some of the houses might haue stande it pittieth many to see their ruines he might say the same of Sodome Sodome was a pleasant place profitable to men as it were a Paradise of God But the Lord for their sinnes did ouerthrowe this pleasant Sodome and their possessors for euer And the same hath the Lord pronounced by his Prophet Ieremie in his 50 Chapter of our Babylon and spirituall Sodome which is also called by the same name by S. Iohn in his Reuelation As the Lorde hath destroyed Sodome and her Cities adioyning so shall he surely destroy our Rome and spiritual Sodome Nowe the destruction of Sodome was terrible wonderfull suddaine In the compasse of viii myles to this daye as witnesseth Strabo Strabo The earth yeeldeth nothing where it stoode but fierie smoakes of brimstone and such like And euen so suddeinly forcibly shall Rome one day be destroyed The Lord hath begun her destruction alreadie by pulling down these her high walles Apoc. 18. ver 21. Her plagues shal come in one houre as S. Iohn saith and shee shal be as a Milstone cast into hell neuer to rise vp againe Therefore ceasse to maruell at her desolation or to lament her fall but with speede rather flye out of her euerye one lest you be partakers of her plagues But the Abbeys were good to their tenants they were good land lords Well suppose they were so It is no curtesie which is by compulsion It is no beneuolence which is violent when one can neither will nor choose They were in these dayes compelled almost to this curtesie for by continuall warres which these Popes many times raysed and by grieuous plagues which the Lorde layd vpon them for the contempt of his word men were so consumed and so fewe left aliue so fewe honest substanciall men and good husbands remaining which would paye their rentes till their grounds that manye houses stoode without a tenaunt many fermes without husbandmen yea many lordships without any to dwell in them The landlords in those dayes were glad to seek their tenants yea as I haue heard to hyre them that should till their grounds and be their tenants A good tenant was then hard to be found Euery man then kept that his father occupyed and desired no more Then there was such plentie of all things and so fewe men that they were scant able to paye verie easie rents of verie good fermes This wee haue heard of our auncestours in so much that for this cause manie Fermes haue lyne vntilled And I praye you then what curtesie was this They sold then as deare as they coulde all things they woulde loose nothing of their price They sold all things cheape in deede but there was good cause why because they could get no more for it They let their lands for easie rents but such as often times they were glad to put the keye vnder the dore and departe not being able to paye them And who would not then let a Ferme for a coople of Capons rather then haue it stand without a tenant Who would not sell 24 Egges a pennie then keepe them till they be rotten Surely such was the beneuolence of those days rather of the time it selfe than of the men of necessitie then of free wil among the best sort Although I do not deny in that blinde age there were some which with the Pagans heathen Philosophers in those morall vertues of liberalitie and charitie were famous But because they did that without faith without the light of Gods worde in the darkenesse they did not please God no more then did those Heathens But what do they commende their liberalitie to their tenaunt Pharaoh the Egyptian their paterne patron in this point farre excelled them who comming by his lands not by frée gift as they did commonly but buying them with his corne let them it againe for the fifth parte a great deale easier then they did Surely a good bountifull landlords For so Ioseph his steward declared his pleasure vnto the people Gen. 47. ver 23.24 Then Ioseph said to the people Behold I haue bought you this daye your land for Pharaoh Lo here is seede for you sowe therefore the ground and of the increase yee shall giue the fifth parte vnto Pharaoh and foure partes shal be yours for the séede of the field for your meate and for them of your houshold and for your children to eate Behold the goodnes of this Pharaoh to his tenants he was content that they should occupy his land he would finde them séede and they should pay but the fifth parte of their profits and no more to him whether it were great or smalle for his rent He had care of their families and children which a great sorte of our landlords in letting of their lands at this day haue not The foure partes saith he shal be for your wiues and children Wee nowe a dayes will scantly let our land to halfe part with many reseruations and bonds Ioseph did not decree this without Pharaohs mind else he had béene an vnfaithfull Steward But this Pharaoh so good to his subiects which did not change the rentes of his auncestours onely he changed his minde towarde the people of God which put from him Moses and Aaron the Lords ministers which neglected and set lightly by the Lordes lawe his commaundements is afflicted with manye plagues is counted the Lords open enimie and at length is drowned in the red Sea Our Byshops and Abbots were not so curteous as this Pharaoh was to their tenants neither were they good to so manye as he was he was good to all his whole realme But to heare the word of God to receiue curteously his Embassadours to obey only his commandements is the onelye worke and chiefe worke of all other And this is a work of the eares to heare not of the earerings to make an Image of Gods word not of our will And without the worke of hearing and obeying Gods worde Pharaoes goodnes to his tenants Saules sacrifices to God himselfe Dauids readie and willing mind to buyld Gods house the straite lawes and ceremonies of fasting and liuing of the Pharisies receiued by tradition from their fathers are vaine worshippings are as the sinne of witchcraft are abhominations vnto the Lorde And because they lacked this worke so were all their workes so were all their goodnes to their tenaunts so were al their straite rules of fasting and of their rough apparell and scourging of themselues What shall I repeat or rippe vp here the cutting downe of woods the spoyling of vestments coapes the breaking of Images the expulsion of Monkes Nunnes the ransaking of those rich goodly houses which things many complaine of grieue very many to remember at the
but they haue lyingly and falsly taught him vnto the people they haue limited and set boundes to his infinit mercy that they might sell their masses their pardons and their reliques dearer that men might trust in them that they might get and prouide them But marke I beséech you how greatly the world was blinded The good workes of others which was commanded of God in his law can profit none but them selues And doe we thinke that their workes then which were not commanded of God for the most part can profit any When as the Apostle Paule saith plainely we must all appeare before the iudgement seat of Christ 2. Cor. 5. ver 10. and euery one whether he bee monke or masse Priest or Pope himselfe or people shall receiue according to those thinges which he hath done in his owne bodie and not according to those thinges which other hath done for him or according to those things which he hath left by his will to be done for him after his death While life remaines according to our Sauiours doctrine there is a day allotted to euery man in the which he may labour in the which he may worke and bring forth the signes of faith merits of mercie and fruites pleasant to the Lorde But when death commeth then it is night in the which no man can worke any more Wherefore all their workes done after death done for them bought so dearely prouided for so carefully done so deuoutly in truth were nothing worth were vnprofitable vnto them did them no good and were of no force with the Lorde What profiteth any man that is deade without faith without repentance now being in torments masses himnes songes meat to be deuided yearely in remembrance of him or some dayly for his sake After death there is no place of prayers no place of repentance no place of translation or alteration no place of teares and good workes to any man as the Story of the rich glutton and Lazarus doth plainely teach vs wherefore we must worke our selues in our owne bodies the workes that must doe vs good at the day of iudgement When the trée is once hewed downe where it falles there it lyeth whether it be towards the North or towards the South that is whether it be in the pleasures of heauen or in the colde stormes of hell Eccle. 11. ver 3. as the wise man teacheth vs. After it be cut downe it can flourish no more neither can it beare fruit any more No more no doubt can we this trée is a parable of vs. Then besides this these Huxters these selles of merits and workes and Masses they doe not onely beguile others but they beguile themselues For though perchance you will say they are Virgins and liue straitly and punish themselues more then other men doe Math. 25. Yet they are but foolish Virgins as the Gospell doth plainely teach vs. The wise Virgins durst not deminish or lend any of the oyle of their good workes no not one droppe And what fooles are these then that dare bee so bolde to doe it They durst not giue any of their oyle which was a worke of mercy commended and commaunded of God him selfe in his lawe And these dare sell theirs They feared least they shoulde want themselues but these thinke that they haue ouerplus and to spare for others and doe make the dearest and gainefull occupation of selling their workes No occupation euer got or purchased so much lande as they did by this their trade of selling their Masses and merites All the Saintes of God crye and sigh with Dauid euen from their hartes Enter not into iudgement with thy seruantes O Lorde for in thy sight shall no man liuing bee iustified And in another place If thou Lorde wilt bee extreeme to marke what is done amisse O Lord who may abide it And with Iob wee are not able to answere one for a thousand And hauing learned that good lesson of their maister Iesus Christ in the Gospell all his seruantes whether they bee Virgins or married folkes or Martyres say when they haue done all what they can wee are vnprofitable seruants wee haue done but our dueties Wherefore this hope in trusting to other mens workes is death this staffe of leaning to other mens merits is the staffe of Egypt it woundeth his hande that trusteth vnto it The other staffe of Iacob with the which alone hee passed ouer that Iordaine of this life that is Iesus Christ and to trust to his merits to his workes to his death and passion is a sure staffe Psal 3.5 Psal 3.8 ver 15. Psal 3.9 ver 8. Psal 18. ver 29. is the staffe of all the Saintes of God With this staffe Dauid leaped ouer the wall Pleade thou my cause O Lorde saith hee with them that fight against mee and thou shalt answere for mee O Lorde my God And in another Psalme And now truely what is my hope truely my hope is euen in thée and with the helpe of the Lorde my GOD I shall leape ouer the wall This staffe our Fathers catching euen at the pitte brinke of death Wee doe not doubt but they were saued by this they went ouer Iordaine with Iacob safely by this they leaped ouer the wall of their sinnes and former superstition which did separate them from God with Dauid by this with the théefe of the crosse they passed from death to life All their former sinnes were couered and they were euen that day with Iesus Christ in Paradise Thus wee hope of our Fathers and this was their saluation Wherefore let vs imbrace the Gospell and be thankefull to God for the same Our Fathers nay many Kings and Princes nay the auncient Fathers haue not séene the thinges that wee haue séene this great light shined not in their dayes Let vs expresse in our liues and conuersations Let vs doe all the thinges it commandeth In times past how many thinges woulde they obserue for mens pleasures now let vs bee obedient for the Lordes sake Let vs forsake that Romish Babylon with her Antichrist and all his trumperie They haue not one title nor iot for testimony of thy truth in the word of God But as you see all their doctrine is flatly condemned in the same Let vs venture our liues for Iesus Christ his Gospel not for the pope and his Church as his Iesuites doe We haue no such commandement in the word of God Let not the wickednesse of the worlde or of some carnall gospellers which say and do not any whit dismaie vs or make vs stumble There hath béene such and shal be such alwaies The séede is good but the ground is naught Let vs be of the small flocke of Iesus Christ which heare his word and kéepe it Let vs in all thinges which chaunce vnto vs either in the weather or in our wealth and goods or in our bodies blesse and praise the Lord with blessed Iob. Let vs possesse our soules with patience Let vs arme our soules to temptation for the Lorde will trye all that be his Wilt thou be a Paule thou shalt haue an Angel of Sathan to buffet thée Wilt thou be a Dauid thou shalt haue Saule to persecute thée Wilt thou be Peter thou shalt haue Sathan to sift thée And to be short as many as will liue godly in Christ Iesus shall suffer persecution Let vs now waite for the comming of the bridegroome The Cockes haue crowne a great while the day dawneth great knowledge and light is in the world surely the Sunne is not farre off I meane Iesus Christ Luke 12. ver 35. he is euen now in a rising Let our loines be girded vp not flaunting with our vaine garments and our torches of faith and good workes in our handes and let vs be as seruants euery day and houre waiting when our maister will come from the marriage who hath promised he will come quickly And surely he will kéepe his promise And the spirit Apoc. 22. ver 17. and the Bride saide Come Lord Iesus And let him that heareth say Come and let him that is a thirst come And let whosoeuer will take of the water of life fréely Euen so come Lorde Iesus as thou hast promised and make vs all readie against thy coming and make vs thirst and long for the water of life which is thy holy worde that we bée not fruitlesse and deade at thy coming To thée the Father and the holy Ghost be all praise power and saluation for euermore Amen FINIS